SUPER MEN - Samson: It’s Time to Flex
June 23, 2019
Judges 16:23-31 (p. 177)
Introduction:
I did a study for this sermon on some of the strongest men in history and here are some of them.
Pierre Gasnier - The French Hercules. He was born in 1862 and lived until 1923. He could rip a deck of cards in half…break a chain over his chest while expanding his rib cage…and even though he was only 5’3 and weighed 144 pounds, he could lift a dumbbell weighing 260 lbs. over his head.
Angus MacAskill - (1825-1863) - Nicknamed Giant MacAskill was known as the World’s Largest True Giant (no growth abnormalities)…at 20 he was 7’4 and eventually reached 7’10 and weighed 580 lbs. He performed for P.T. Barnum…He would lift a ship’s anchor weighing 280 lbs. to his chest…and he would also carry barrels weighing 300 lbs. a piece under each arm.
Alexander Zass - (1888-1962) was known as the Iron Samson…He could carry a horse on his shoulders and bend steel bars and break chains…He was captured while serving in the Russian army and escaped from prison by ripping the bars out of his cell.
Thomas Topham - (1702-1749) had his strengths faithfully documented by Dr. John Theo Desaguliers in a work called “A Course of Experimental Philosophy.” Topham’s feats included bending thick iron pokers against his forearm…He could lift 224 lbs. easily over his head with just his little fingers…His most famous act of strength occurred on May 28, 1741 when Topham filled 3 barrels with water weighing 1386 lbs. and lifted them from a tower.
We still seem to be amazed at feats of strength…I’ve got a good friend named Jason Aaron Witt that participates in the World’s Strongest Man competitions…I used to feed him cheeseburgers. Yes I paid LOL…It amazed me to watch him deadlift 500 lbs…pick up the back of cars…move giant stones to raise platforms and turn over giant tractor truck tires…I’m pretty sure my buddy Jason didn’t have any trouble opening pickle jars.
Our Superman today, Samson, would have been right at home with these guys…Judges 14:6 says he tore a lion to pieces with his bare hands…verse 19 says he killed 30 men in Ashkelon and stripped them of their clothes just to pay off a debt…In chapter 15 verse 4 he caught 300 foxes, ties their tails together with torches and used them to burn down the Philistine’s grain fields.
He could break new rope that the Philistines bound him with like thread…He killed 3,000 men in a fight with just the jaw bone of a donkey…he ripped out the city gates at Gaza, posts and all, and carried them to the top of the hill that faced Hebron.
Samson’s life is recorded in the book of Judges. After the Israelites inherit and possess the Land of Canaan from God, Joshua dies…and as the Lord predicted the Israelites forgot Him and His covenant…As a result a cycle begins in their history…they break covenant with God…God sends a nation to conquer and oppress them…they cry out for help…God responds by raising up “Judges” to fight for them. Judges are both military leaders and legal authorities…The book of Judges lists 12 Judges…Samson is one of them…
Here’s his introduction:
I. HE WAS BORN DEDICATED TO GOD
JUDGES 13:1-5 (p. 175)
Verse 24 tells us…“This woman gave birth to a boy. He grew up and the Lord blessed him and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him…
Bob Dylan wrote a song called “Everything Is Broken.” It’s lyrics say:
Broken bottles, broken plates, broken switches, broken gates, broken dishes, broken parts, streets are filled with broken hearts, broken words never meant to be spoken EVERYTHING IS BROKEN.”
He’s right…Everything is indeed broken. The Israelites got comfortable in the Land flowing with Milk and Honey (always loved that description of the Promised Land). They lived in houses they had not built…in cities others had constructed…they ate from fields others had planted…God blessed them tremendously…and then when they got comfortable…They forgot Him…And when you forget about God…things get broken!
In individual families and as a nation “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord,” so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years. (v. 2) The Angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and said, “You are barren and childless…but you are going to become pregnant and have a son.” (v. 3)
John Beukema describes it this way:
Everything is broken. The entire nation is in crisis, and on top of that there is a family in turmoil. God’s people, Israel, have failed spiritually, running after the gods of their neighbors, breaking the laws of the Lord. This spiritual failure led to social upheaval. God allowed the enemy to conquer and oppress them. 40 years of suffering at the hand of the Philistine army. Although God sent this discipline on his people, there is no record of them repenting or calling out to him for help. On top of this national spiritual failure and social upheaval, we meet a couple who struggled with infertility. Manoah and his wife are surrounded by brokenness. For 40 years they knew nothing but subjugation and defeat. The present looked as dismal as the past. And there was no glimmer of hope for the future. They couldn’t raise a family. There was no one to carry on the name, help their struggle to exist, or take care of them in old age. Everything is broken.
And that’s when God enters into the brokenness with a baby…one dedicated to Him from birth…sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
God wasn’t sending a deliverer to lift barrels, or break physical chains…He was sending a judge to fight for His people and deliver them from slavery.
Samson was born dedicated to God as a Nazarite…that means a razor was never to touch his hair, he was to never drink wine or fermented drink or eat anything the law deemed unclean…His mother also took this vow before his birth…It simply means “I am totally dedicated to God.”
I love the baby dedication in this scripture…Manoah doesn’t realize the messenger is sent by God so he offers him something to eat…Listen to what happens…
JUDGES 13:16-24 (p. 175)
Manoah’s wife gets it…After the angel ascends back into heaven…and Manoah thinks they’re going to be killed…she says, “If the Lord meant to kill us He wouldn’t have accepted our sacrifice…nor would He have given us His message…and shown us all this.”
She gives birth to this baby dedicated to God…she names Him Samson…He grew up knowing who he was…a Nazarite dedicated to God…and the Lord blessed Him…and then the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him…
It gets personal now…huh? God is calling to Samson…but when that happens to us or our children…to anyone, there will be a struggle.
II. A STRUGGLE BETWEEN OUR DESIRES AND GOD’S
JUDGES 14:1-4 (p. 175)
I love God’s Word…it teaches us so much about who we are…and even more about who God is! If you remember what Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the scriptures (that’s the Old Testament) and the encouragement they provide, WE MIGHT HAVE HOPE.”
Here’s what scripture teaches us about God and us through Samson…
1. God’s plan is to use us for His purpose…and we are sinful.
Samson has a desire…I want that Philistine woman…It’s a direct contradiction from God’s Word, “not to marry someone who worships false gods.” But Samson, even though he’s stirred by God’s Spirt pursues his desires over God’s…The marriage and subsequent feast find Samson in a position where he’s surrounded by people who don’t have his best interest at heart…including his wife.
It’s no wonder God’s Word tells us “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What fellowship can light have with darkness? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?”
(2 Cor. 6:14-16)
Samson wants this girl…It will be a repeat performance with the famous Delilah, both will use him…both will trick him.
There will be consequences…and yet God will still accomplish His purpose…Deliverance from the Philistines.
When our desires stir within us…and the Holy Spirit’s calling stirs within us…we can learn a great lesson from Samson…God can’t be stopped…He’ll let us follow the desire we want…but He’s still going to do what He plans to do.
Samson kills a lion on his way to see his first wife…some time later he returns for the wedding feast…and inside the carcass is a hive of bees…and there’s honey…he scoops it out and eats it…when he gets to the wedding festivities he tells them a riddle…with the promise if they guess it he’ll give them 30 new suits of clothes. Here’s the riddle…“Our of the eater, something to eat…out of the strong, something sweet.” For 3 days they can’t answer the riddle and then…
JUDGES 14:15-20 (p. 176)
God is accomplishing His plan…even when Samson breaks his Nazarite vow and touches dead things…He is defeating the Philistines even as Samson follows his desires, gets thrown under the bus and is heartbroken…Sounds a lot like how many of us treat God…and we should remember…God’s going to fulfill His plan…and it’s a much better idea…and less heartbreaking if we are in His will.
But as we all know…and as we all do…we repeat our sins…most of us are prone to the same temptation…over and over again.
Judges 16:4 says, “Sometime later Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek…(once again a Philistine woman). Her name was Delilah.”
Same verse, 2nd stanza…we all know the story…Delilah in league with the Philistines want to know the source of his strength…He lies to her 3 times.
1. It’s 7 fresh bowstrings…tie me up with these. When Delilah does so…in run the Philistines. He snaps them like thread. (False Voice) “Oh Samson the Philistines are upon you!”
2. “Naw”…really it’s new ropes…tie me with these.” She does…Philistines run in… (False Voice) “Oh Samson the Philistines are upon you!” He snaps the ropes like pasta.
3. “Weave my hair into 7 braids on a loom…that’ll do it.” She does…Wanna guess what happens…Boom…Pow…Whack.
But finally after constant prodding and nagging…and guilt trips…“How can I say I love you if you won’t confide in me?” Samson tells her everything.
JUDGES 16:17-22 (p. 177)
Let me end with this final lesson from Samson’s life.
2. OUR GOD IS A GOD OF SECOND CHANCES.
Samson’s hair didn’t give him his strength…God did…And Samson like so many of us thought he could do it on his own…Pride goes before our fall…The saddest line in Samson’s story…“but he didn’t know the Lord had left him.” He didn’t know!!! He just assumed…“I’ll do it like I’ve always done it…” Problem was…it wasn’t his strength…it was a gift from God…a gift so he could accomplish God’s purpose. Remember the purpose? Delivering Israel from the Philistines…and in the midst of blindness and humility…Samson remembers “the Sovereign Lord again too.”
JUDGES 16:23-31 (p. 177)
“Sovereign Lord, remember me…” It’s the prayer of revival and renewal…The moment it’s spoken from a humble heart, it’s heard…It’s been God’s plan all along…
