The recent California fires have burned up about 8.3 million acres of land. The financial cost in damages is estimated to be in excess of 10 billion dollars!
A question that needs to be asked is how did is start? Experts say that it could have been ignited by heat from the sun or a lightning strike, most likely however, the cause is human carelessness such as the discarding lit cigarettes, or not burning debris properly, or playing with matches or fireworks.
This reminds me of what James wrote:
James 3:5b Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. -_NIV
Among many things, the bible is a book of WARNINGS! Consider the 2nd chapter of the very first book:
Genesis 2: 15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”-NLT
The bible says that God issued a warning in Noah’s day…
Hebrews 11:7a It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. -NLT
Who in turn…
2 Peter 2:5b Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. – NLT
Yet no one heeded the warning, save Noah and his family!
It is important to remember that Old Testament history is recorded in the bible for us to serve as a WARNING, as Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians…
1 Corinthians 10:11 These things happened to them (Israelites) as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13a No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.– NIV
And the writer of Hebrews clearly warns us…
Hebrews 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? -NIV
A study of the life of Samson reminds us that IF YOU PLAY WITH FIRE YOU MAY GET BURNED!
That is why I’ve entitled the message thusly:
Samson - Living by Faith, Yet Playing with Fire!
What do I mean by that? He seemed to be the kind of person who walked as close to the edge as he could, never believing that he could “fall in” or that it would ever catch up with him, like many people do, whose attitude’s seem to say…
I can use drink or drugs, but I’ll never get addicted
I can gamble but it will never become a problem for me
I can break the law, but it will never catch up with me,
I can play with fire, but I won’t get burned!
Yet Samson’s life proves other wise!
A study of his life will indeed remind us the reality that if you play with fire, you just might get burned!
Let’s begin by considering what I would call:
I. Samson’s Ways! (And consider ours)
A) Ways- ??????? -derek
1. Our road, way, path
2. Our journey
3. Our direction
4. Our manner of life,
5. Our habits, practices, course of life
B) We need to remember that OUR WAYS are not of GOD’S WAYS!
Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. -KJV
6. That is why we need a BIBLE!
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.-NKJV
Psalm 119:9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.- NKJV
Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.-NKJV
Let’s consider next…
II. Samson’s Want:
A) Want - Deficiency!
1. Is spite of the:
a) Angelic Announcement of his birth:
Judges 13:2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son
b) Amazing Anointing on his life:
Judges 14:5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.
Judges 14:6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat.
3. There is nothing in Samson’s life, no decision that he made thus far, that we would want to emulate!
4. The only commendable thing that can be attached to his life at this point is not what he did, but rather what God had determined to do in and thru his life!
a) God predetermined his course
b) God powerfully came upon him to fulfill it.
i. Not because of Samson decisions, in spite of his decisions!
B) What do we need to remember?
Psalm 7: 14 Behold, the wicked brings forth iniquity; Yes, he conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood. 15 He made a pit and dug it out, And has fallen into the ditch which he made.-NKJV
1. If we dig ourselves a ditch, God will let us fall in it!
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.-NKJV
2. If we sow bad decisions, we will reap dire consequences!
Proverbs 1:31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. -NIV
Proverbs 6:27 Can a man scoop a flame into his lap and not have his clothes catch on fire? 28 Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet?
2. These are rhetorical questions that the obvious answer is – NO!!
Next let’s consider:
III. Samson’s Wrong
A) Wrong –
1. What is not in accordance to what is morally right or good!
2. Deviation from the truth.
Judges 14:1a Samson went down to Timnah….
a) Direction was wrong!
Judges 14:1b and saw there a young Philistine woman.
Saw -????????? (way·yar)
1. To see, look at, inspect, consider.
Judges 14:2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”
b) Decisions were wrong!
i. Based on the wrong criteria!
Judges 14:3b But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” -NIV
Judges 14:3 Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” – NLT
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
ii. By faith not the flesh!
a. Lust of the eyes!
Judges 14:3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”
c) Disregard was wrong for:
i. His parents advice
ii. Word of God
a. That forbade marrying gentiles.
Next…
IV. Samson’s Wedding
Judges 14:10a Now his father went down to see the woman.
A) Father went down!
1. Seal the deal!
2. Pay the dowry.
3. Make the arrangements.
B) Samson went down even further!
Judges 14:105b And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men.
1. Feast – ????????? – mishteh
a) A banquet or (generally) a feast, that includes drinking.
b) A drinking party!
2. Forbidden!
a) He was a Nazarite set apart to God from birth, and was not to touch fermented drink, or grapes at all!
Judges 14:11 When the people (of Timnah) saw him, they (the Philistines) chose thirty men to be his companions.
3. Further down still!
a) Since he was a Jew marrying a Gentile he brought no guest’s with him.
b) So the brides side of the family provided for him his “bridal party.”
c) Instead of this wedding reflecting the sacredness of what a marriage is, something sacred ordained by God, it reflected something that defied the design of God!
Ephesians 5: 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5: 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.
John MacArthur -The sacredness of the church is wed to the sacredness of marriage; so by your marriage, you are either a symbol or a denial of Christ and His church
John Piper - The meaning of marriage is this: it’s a symbol of Christ’s love for the church represented in the husband’s loving headship toward his wife; and it’s a symbol of the church’s glad submission to Christ represented in the wife’s relation to her husband.
John Piper – So marriage is like a metaphor or an image or a picture or parable that stands for something more than a man and a woman becoming one flesh. It stands for the relationship between Christ and the church. That’s the deepest meaning of marriage. It’s meant to be a living drama of how Christ and the church relate to each other.
Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.-NASB
R.A. Torrey - This post-Christian society in American is rapidly and radically jettisoning all Biblical truth related to the divine institution of marriage and in so doing is removing one of the foundational pillars of our society. It is time for the Church of Jesus Christ to take a radical stand for righteousness and holiness!
Anyway….let’s return back to….
D) Samson’s free-fall!
1. Marrying a Philistine
2. Threw a drinking party
a) What does the bible say about that?
Proverbs 23 (NIV)
9 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has strife? Who has complaints?
Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine,
who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red,
when it sparkles in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly!
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and poisons like a viper.
Joseph Excell – It is Satan’s anesthetic!!
Ephesians 5: 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, -NIV
Proverbs 31 (NIV)
4 It is not for kings, Lemuel—
it is not for kings to drink wine,
not for rulers to crave beer,
Proverbs 31 (NIV)
6 Let beer be for those who are perishing,
wine for those who are in anguish!
7 Let them drink and forget their poverty
and remember their misery no more.
3. No doubt, Samson himself was drinking at his “drinking banquet”, breaking again his Nazarite vow, throwing his relationship with God to the wind!
V. Samson’s Wager
He was probably feeling “pretty good” and this time, a bit inebriated so he initiates a wager….
Judges 14:12a “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them.
A) What is a Riddle?
1. A question or statement intentionally phrased so as to require ingenuity in ascertaining its answer or meaning, typically presented as a game.
2. It was an ancient custom among different nations to entertain one another by presenting difficult riddles to each other to try to figure out!
B) Wrong?
1. With a riddle – nothing.
2. But Samson initiates it; to attach a wager to it!
C) Wagering?
1. Wrong?
a) The bible doesn’t say it directly but it does say:
b) God has assigned a means by which we gain our wealth!
D) Work!
1. Work was assigned by God in the garden!
Genesis 2:15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.- ESV
Joseph Excell - EVERY SON OF ADAM IS BOUND TO SOME EMPLOYMENT OR OTHER IN A PARTICULAR CALLING.
James Burton Coffman - The ideal state of man was not one of idleness, but one of labor and responsibility.
E) Warning!
1. To those who don’t work:
1 Thessalonians 5:14a And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle – NIV
2 Thessalonians 3:6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. -NIV
2 Thessalonians 3:9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” - NIV
Ephesians 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.- ESV
2. Not only does Samson initiate a wager, it is a LARGE wager!
Judges 14:12b “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13a If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
Bruce Hurst – This is hardly the statement of a Spirit-filled man but in fact seems more like the type of wager one would hear from the lips of a "spirits" (as in wine or beer) filled man enjoying his wedding feast.
a) These were very expensive items of apparel. A man might expect to own one in his entire lifetime!
b) Unfortunately drinking and wagering (vices) seem to go hand in hand!
Judges 14:13b “Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”
Judges 14:14a He replied,
“Out of the eater, something to eat;
out of the strong, something sweet.”
3. Further proof of Samson’s fall?
Warren Wiersbe - Sad to say, he constructed the riddle out of the experience of his sin! He didn’t take seriously the fact that he had violated his Nazirite vows. It’s bad enough to disobey God, but when you make a joke out of it, you’ve sunk to new depths of spiritual insensitivity.
a) Because he was a Nazarite, he sinned by going into a vineyard, scooping honey out of a carcass, and he makes light of it!
Judges 14:14b For three days they could not give the answer.
3. Wedding feast lasted 7 days
a) Samson was sure they could never solve his riddle.
b) He was laughing all the way to the bank!
c) THEY ARE NOT!
Judges 14:15 On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”
Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - In this threat the barbarism and covetousness of the Philistines came openly to light.
Let’s look at next..
VI. Samson’s Woe!!
A) Woe -???? -'owy
1. Source of grief, despair, misery?
Judges 14:16a Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”
2. A nagging wife!!
3. Bible has quite a bit to say on the subject!
Proverbs 21:19 Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife.
Proverbs 25:24 Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife
a) Why?
Proverbs 27:15 A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
b) What does this reveal?
i. She has spoken truly!
ii. Samson’s response?
Judges 14:16b “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?”
a. Samson is also defying the law of marriage by putting his parents before his bride!
Matthew 19: 3 The Pharisees also came unto him (Jesus), tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.-KJV
Greg Laurie- A successful marriage begins with leaving. In effect, you leave all other relationships. This doesn’t mean that when you get married, you are no longer a son or a daughter or a sibling. But what it does mean is that you have a new, primary responsibility, and that is to your spouse. You must still honor your mother and father, but leaving has taken place. Leaving implies giving other relationships a lesser degree of importance.
Focus on the Family – Ted Cunningham
MARRIAGE MEANS LEAVING HOME AND CLEAVING TO EACH OTHER
1) Leave home physically. Two or more families living under one roof has its challenges. If at all possible, start and maintain married life with your very own physical address. Your own home is a tangible expression of leaving and cleaving.
2) Leave home relationally. Marriage requires new priorities. Your preferred person in life is now your spouse.
3) Leave home emotionally. If you need to process a decision, talk it through with your spouse before calling a parent. Just as you need physical and relational space, you need emotional distance, too.
4) Leave home financially. - It’s time to blaze your own financial trail. One of the greatest mistakes young marrieds make is wanting to have in three years what their parents spent 30 years accumulating.
5) Leave home spiritually. When did your parents’ faith become your own? Being raised in a Christian home and going to church your whole life does not make you a Christian. Your family heritage does not bring you into a right relationship with God. Personal faith in Jesus saves you.
b. What is the point of all this?
i) Samson - Your wife is to come first!
ii) Samson’s response proved that his parents came first!
Judges 14:17a She cried the whole seven days of the feast.
iii) Samson finally give in!
Judges 14:17b So on the seventh day he finally told her,
iv) Why did he tell her then?
Judges 14:17c because she continued to press him.
v) What happens at the end of the wedding ceremony at the end of the day?
a. Consummation!
vi) This is further proof that this relationship was based on purely the physical!!
vii) What happens next?
Judges 14:17d She in turn explained the riddle to her people.
vii) Proving she had more of a loyalty to her people than her husband!
viii) She could have told Samson about the threat, he could have called off the bet, but she knew that he didn’t REALLY LOVE her anyhow!
Judges 14:18a Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”
VII. Samson’s Wit
Even in a heated moment – he showed that he was clever…
A) Response?
1. Riddle!
Judges 14:18b Samson said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.”
B) Ridicule?
1. In calling her a “heifer” he was ridiculing her for her untamed and stubborn spirit
Hosea 4:16 Since Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn heifer, Can the Lord now pasture them, Like a lamb in a large field? -NASB
Rabbi Levi Ben Gershom - This proverbial phrase is an implication that Samson suspected his wife of adultery.
VIII. Samson’s Wrath!
Judges 14:19a Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.
A) Wrath?
Judges 14:19b He went down to Ashkelon,
1. He went down – Again!
Judges 14:19c struck down thirty of their men,
NKJV- killed thirty of their men
2. 30 unsuspecting, uninvolved men!
Judges 14:19d stripped them of everything…
3. Stripped dead men, thus defiling himself AGAIN!
Judges 14:19e and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.
4. He payed his gambling debt, by killing 30 men and stripping them of their clothes!
Judges 14:19f Burning with anger,
i. Literally "His nose became hot"
Judges 14:19g he returned to his father’s home.
IX. Samson’s Waffling/Wavering!
A) Waffle/waver?
1. He never followed thru with the marriage!
B) Why?
1.Burned with anger!
a) Couldn’t control the fire within!
b) Anger is often likened to fire in the scrictures:
Deuteronomy 32:22 For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains. Isaiah 9:18 For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets which roll upward in columns of smoke.
c) What does the bible say about that?
Pro 14:17 A quick-tempered person does foolish things, and the one who devises evil schemes is hated.
Pro 14:29 Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.
Pro 19:19 A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again.
Pro 22:24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered,
Pro 29:22 An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.
IX. Samson’s Weakness?
A) Immorality?
1. Lust for woman?
a) Yes but even more:
B) Immaturity!
James 1: 19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Ephesians 4:26 When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. 27 Leave no [such] room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].- AMPC
Q: What’s the point?
A: When the devil looks for people to live in he looks for ANGRY PEOPLE!
1. Point?
a) When you are righteously angry, deal with it carefully, and biblically, so that the devil does not gain a door of opportunity in your life!
"If it be allowed to lie in the mind, it degenerates into enmity, hatred, or revenge, all of which are positively and in all circumstances sinful. To harbor ill-will; to feed a grudge, and keep it rankling in the bosom; or to wait a fitting opportunity for successful retaliation, is inconsistent with Christian discipleship."
2. Perspective?
a) If Samson was to be angry with anyone, he should have been angry with - HIMSELF!!!
Q; Why?
1. He’s the one who went to Philistine territory in the first place.
2. He’s the one who picked out the girl.
3. He’s the one who decided to marry her.
4. He’s the one who thought up the riddle.
5. He’s the one who made the bet.
6. He’s the one who named the price.
7. He’s the only one who knew the meaning of the riddle.
8. He’s the one who gave the meaning of the riddle away!!
9. If Samson, needed to be get angry with somebody, it should have been himself!
Q: How does it end?
Judges 14:20 And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.
A: His wife to be is given to his best man!
Conclusion: And as you look further into the story this whole episode reminds us that a "match was lit," as spark was struck that literally caused his would be wife and father in law to be eventually, and actually burned to death!
Judges 15:6b So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
This episode in Samson's lfe reminds us that if we do not heed the Word of the Lord or sound biblical advices, and insist on "playing with fire" someone get's burned, and eventually we will be burned eternally, if we disregard the way of the Lord!
Luke 16:23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
Again I ask the question in closing:
Proverbs 6: 27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without his feet being scorched?
The answer is obviously no! If you play with fire you or others are going to get burned!
