Topic: Sunday Sermon Series – Living By Faith
Title: The Flaws and Faith of Samson (Part 2)
Text: Hebrews 11:32-34; Judges 13.
Proposition: Though Samson is listed as a man of faith in Hebrews 11; his moral flaws proved to be fatal! We can learn many valuable lessons from the biblical record of his life!
VIII. The Appropriation of the gift!
Judges 13:19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched:
IX. The Ascension in the gift!
Judges 13:20a As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame.
John Gill - Making use of the smoke, as a vehicle in which he openly went up to heaven!
John Trapp – By this He most sweetly represented and shadowed forth, the office of Christ, whose work it is to present all our services before God, and to procure them to be graciously accepted of him.
Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
A) Point?
B) Person?
1. JESUS!
a) Christophany!
b) This is not the only time we’ve seen Jesus showed up in the Old Testament. A few more of His “Christophanies” are:
· He appeared to Hagar, Gen. 16:7-14, Gen. 21:16-20
· He appeared to Abraham, Gen.18:10; Gen.18:17, Gen. 22:11
· He appeared to Jacob, Gen. 28:12-15, Gen. 32:24-30
· He appeared to Moses, Exod. 3:4-5, Exod. 23:20, Exod. 33:22
· He appeared to Joshua, Josh. 5:13-15
· He appeared to Gideon, Judg. 6:11-24
· He appeared to Samson's parents, Judg. 13
X. The Anxiety resulting from the ascension in the gift!
A) Response?
Judges 13:20b Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.
1. That is an act of worship in the bible!
Genesis 17:3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying…
1 Chronicles 21:16 Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces
Revelation 1: 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
B) Realization?
Judges 13:21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
1. Angel only?
Judges 13:22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
Exodus 33:20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
2. We did and now we are doomed to die!
D) Reasonableness of the Mrs. Manoah!
Judges 13:23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”
Joseph Excell- The woman's faith saw more clearly than the man's fear! With the acceptance of the sacrifice the conscience was cleared from guilt. The ascent of the angel in the flame of the altar was to her the same evidence of an accepted sacrifice as the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus are to us.
E) Result?
XI. The Arrival of Samson!
Judges 13:24a The woman gave birth to a boy
A) Result?
B) Rejoicing!
Judges 13:24b and named him Samson.
1. Samson ?????????? shim·shon'
a) Samson = "like the sun"= Sunlight = Sunny!
C) Rearing?
Judges 13:24b He grew…
1. Grew, ???????????? (way·yi?·dal)
a) to grow, become great or important, promoted, made powerful, praiseworthy
b) to grow up, to become great
c) to do great things
D) Reflection:
1. Jesus
Luke 2:52 “AND JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM AND STATURE AND IN FAVOUR WITH GOD AND MAN
a) MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY, SPIRITUALLY, SOCIALLY.
Judges 13:24c and the Lord blessed him,
2. Lord Blessed Him - "To endue with power for success, prosperity, longevity, etc."
While other judges had the Spirit of the Lord come upon them, it is only said of Samson that “the Lord blessed him,” which means that the hand of God was on him in a very special way.
Judges 13:25 and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him…
Judges Notes G.Bush 1852 – “The Spirit of the Lord began to move him, to stir him up to bold exploits; inspiring him, in view of the degrading bondage of his countrymen, with an ardent zeal to do something towards their deliverance. Under this supernatural impulse he was led from time to time to put forth astonishing specimens of valor and strength.
Judges Notes G.Bush 1852 –The import of the original (???? lepaamo) for ‘moved,’ is peculiar. As ??? paam, the radical form, signifies an anvil, the metaphor is probably drawn from the repeated and somewhat violent strokes of the workman with his hammer. It implies therefore a peculiar urgency, an impelling influence on the part of the Spirit, which made its subject invincible.
XII. The Application of the story of the birth of Samson?
A) Analogous
1. Similar or comparable to something else either in general or in some specific ways.
a) Like Samson , if you are a Christian, are the product of a MIRACULOUS BIRTH!
ii. Born again!
John 3:1 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Adrian Rodgers- Nicodemus was so impressed with the miracles Jesus had done that he wanted to find out more. He asked Jesus about miracles, and Jesus began to talk to him about births. It’s as if Jesus were saying, “Nicodemus, if you want to understand miracles, you’re going to have to become a miracle.”
John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
By its very nature, the new birth excludes human participation or initiative. It is a miracle of grace, exclusively the work of Christ through the Holy Spirit in the human heart.
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Colin Smith - The new birth is Christ regenerating your soul. It is a miracle of such breathtaking proportions that it can only be compared to the re-creation of the heavens and the earth.
Alan Carr - Jesus uses the image of the wind to describe the action of the Spirit. His movements, like those of the wind, cannot be predicted or anticipated. Like the wind, the movement of the Spirit is invisible, but powerful! When He passes by, He touches whom He wills and His presence is easily seen!
Isaac Watts
The Spirit, like some heavenly wind,
Breathes on the sons of flesh,
Creates anew the carnal mind,
And forms the man afresh.
Our quickened souls awake and rise
From their long sleep of death;
On heavenly things we fix our eyes,
And praise employs our breath.
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
W.A. Criswell- We are fallen, we are defiled, we are sinners, we are lost in our hearts within us; now, this is an incurable defilement.
W.A. Criswell- We are fallen in our hearts, and it is an incurable fallenness. We are undone. We are defiled. We have stony hearts; our hearts are hard. And how can you preach the gospel to a stone? And how can you argue with a rock? The man in his nature is hard. His heart is like a stone. And you can talk to him, and you can plead with him, and you can speak to him of the grace of the Lord. He is impervious. He is unmoved. He is untouched. His heart is like a rock. He is lost.
W.A. Criswell- God must do something. God must give him a new heart if he is ever responsive, if he is ever teachable, if he ever is sensitive, if he ever repents.
W.A. Criswell-What God does is. “I will give you a new heart. I will take out the stony heart and give you a heart”
[Ezekiel 36:26], sensitive, full of the grace and love of the Lord Jesus.
Not only does He say, “I will give you a new heart,” but He says, “I will put My Spirit within you.” [Ezekiel 36:27]. He does not say, “My Spirit will influence you, or guide you, or teach you.” He says, “I will place My Spirit,” the Holy Spirit of God, “within you.” This is a miraculous mystery! It is a miraculous mystery, the Spirit of God incarnate in us. It is an indescribable miraculous mystery—the incarnation of God in Christ, within us.
2. And we like Samson been given amazing endowments, EVEN GREATER ONES!
a) According to Ephesians:
Ephesians 1:4b In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ
Ephesians 1:9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
Ephesians 1:13 When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
2. Like Samson we are empowered by the Spirit!
Judges 14:6 The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson with power.
Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
a) And what can be done “potentially” through us?
Ephesians 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, -KJV
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
3. Like Samson we have been given a God- given mission!
Judges 14:5b He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
Ephesians 3: 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
But let me close with this….
4. May we be unlike Samson, in the sense that he was empowered but not controlled by the Spirit.
a) His lusts, his emotions, his anger, his desire for revenge, his gambling, ie, his vices, won out at the end of the day.
b) He has what you could liken to a death bed recommitment, so sad!
c) Samson’s beginning which was filled with promise and potential. Sadly, his potential turned into unrealized possibilities.
FOR ALL THE SAD WORDS OF TONGUE AND PEN, THE SADDEST ARE THESE, ‘IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.’” -John Greenleaf Whittier
Howard G. Hendricks - Nothing is more common than unfulfilled potential.
Illustration – There was a young man who grew up in the state of Texas, that was a high school football star. He was nationally recruited out of high school as a dual-threat quarterback,[1] and went to the Texas A&M Aggies. He the first freshman and fifth player in NCAA history to pass for 3,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season. At the end of that season, he became the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy, Manning Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award. He was so good at the game of football that he was nicknamed "Johnny Football." He applied for and was granted a registered trademark for the nickname.
He was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft in 2014, but released by them the following year 2015.
Why?
He could not control his own passions and desires!
HE LOST THE WAR WITHIN!
Yet is do not cast stones at him, I recall what the former NFL quarterback once said of greate potential:
Don Meredith – “Life’s heaviest burden is great potential.”
Yet I read somewhere that a psychologist once said that…
“The purpose of life is finding the largest burden that you can bear, and bearing it.”
THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT JESUS DID!
1Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed
Close:
1. Are you fulfilling your God given potential?
Philippians 2:12b I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
a) Do you even know what it is?
b) Paul said of himself:
1 Corinthians 9:26b I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. - NIV
c) You can be disqualified if you lose that battle!!
Galatians 5: 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Remember :
“IT DOES NOT TAKE GREAT MEN TO DO GREAT THINGS; IT ONLY TAKES CONSECRATED MEN.”- Phillips Brooks
