Signposts along the Wide Road
Text: Judges 14-16
Introduction
Recruiting spies during the cold war--First they would ask for just a public information phone book, little by little they would ask for more.
The enemy of our souls has a battle plan that’s very similar, The Scripture tells us that road that leads to destruction is wide and let me tell you that the signs pointing to that road aren’t neon signs that flash "This way to hell" No the tempter is much smoother than that he has a great deal of subtlety in luring us down that wide road. This morning I’d like us to look at the life of Samson as he goes carrening down that path and look for those signposts along the way. Because if we can recognize how Samson got on the wrong path with temptation and sin then perhaps we can recognize the signs in our own lives in time to get back on the straight and narrow.
Transition: The first signpost is the simple one, the seemingly insignificant one, like the public record phonebook, it’s simply...
1. Carlessness
14:1-2 Samson went down to Timnah and saw [or noticed] there a young Philistine woman. 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."
I’m convinced Samson wasn’t trying to get in trouble at this point, I don’t even think he was going down to Timnah, looking for a Philistine woman. I think the translation that says he "noticed" her is more accurate.
The point is he was careless, he may not have gone down there looking but he was certainly looking while he was down there. He put himself within temptation’s reach.
The Scripture is plain in it’s message about our first line of defense against temptation--retreat! Run Away, Paul tells Timothy to flee youthful lust. Don’t put yourself in temptation’s path.
If the producer of "Temptation Island" Invites you to be a contestant on the show say "No Thanks."
Don’t be careless, live your life as if your life depended on it.
The next sign on the wide road reads...
2. Compromise
14:8-9 Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, 9which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.
By this point Samson’s behavior can’t be blamed on mere carelessness. You may wonder what the big deal is. It’s Samson’s Nazarite vow. He is to have no contact with dead things, touching a dead, unclean animal would have made any Israelite ceremonially unclean, even if absolutely necessary.
As a Nazarite Samson had absolutely no business being anywhere near a place where he knew a dead lion to be, yet the text says he turned aside from his path to see it, Not only that, he doesn’t just touch the carcass, he eatsd out of it, and then he feeds his parents from it and covers it up. Prior planning and coverup puts Samson smack dab into the realm of compromise. And it gets worse:
16:1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.
Having given way to temptation, which found him through his carelessness, Samson has come to the place where he intentionally puts himself in temptation’s way and willingly turns aside from God’s expectations of Him. Compromise is a slippery slope
ILLUSTRATION: When the first federal income tax was being debated in the US Senate in 1913, a senator speaking in opposition to the bill stated: "If we allow this 1 percent foot-in-the-door, at some future date it might rise to 5 percent."
Compromise is indeed a slippery slope, one which eventually leads to the third sign along the wide downhill road...
3. Contempt
Now we come to the story we read today, Samson has found himself another Philistine woman who is working as a spy for the Philistines to learn from Samson the secret of His great strength. You know the story. He lies to her about it several times, eventually coming close to the truch telling her it has something to do with His hair--of course it’s not his hair but the life that’s supposed to be dedicated to the Lord that the hair represents. Finally she pesters him so much he gives in...
16:17So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."
20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I’ll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
Why does Samson give up this vital piece of information? I think it’s because he has come to regard God’s blessings with contempt--in the sense conveyed by the saying "familiarity breeds contempt." Samson has not known life without the blessing of God and to this point it has seemed that it doesn’t matter what he does, God needs him so bad that He will always be there when the chips are down. It didn’t matter that he ate honey out of the Lion’s carcass, it didn’t matter that he broke his nazarite vow again with a prostitute, God’s blessing was still there. He’s come to the place that he believes his misdeeds would never catch up to him.
If you’ve really read the story, you’ve got to believe by this point Samson knows that having been given this information, that Delilah and the Philistines would cut his hair, He simply didn’t think it would matter. When he woke up the text doesn’t say that He didn’t know his hair was cut--I think he did know, it says he didn’t know that the Lord had left Him. He thought no matter what he did, he could go out as always before and shake himself free.
He regarded God’s blessing with contempt--he didn’t value God’s blessing on his life as a treaured thing to be guarded.
CONCLUSION
I think God has something to say directly into the hearts of some of you this morning. You live with God’s blessing, perhaps you are gifted, you work in the chapel, God blesses your efforts, but in your private life you have been flirting with temptation,
You’ve been careless, you’ve allowed yourself to get in tempation’s path and you’ve given in to temptation.
More than that, you’ve stepped over into compromise, you’ve begun to intentionally flirt with temptation enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin.
At first you might have been nervous, wondering when it was going to catch up with you but now you’re beginning to think that you can have both God’s blessing and your secret sin.
You’ve begun to treat God and his grace through the blood of Jesus Christ with contempt, taking no thought of the costly sacrifice that paid for your sin.
If that’s where you’re at this morning I urge you to be warned by the story of Samson, God will not be mocked, you will not forever treat his grace so carelessly and pay no price.
If the Holy Spirit is echoing in your heart the words your ears are hearing, If your heart is pounding in your throat because you know this word is for you this morning, right now before we join together in communion to remember the sacrifice of Christ that paid for your sin, Follow the final signpost, the signpost of...
4. Contrition
28aThen Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more,
Unfortunately for Samson, contrition came too late and he paid for it with His life, but at least he did find his way back.
You this morning don’t have to wait that long. If in your heart you are genuinely contrite--sorry for your sin--If you will resolve this day to turn from your sin God will hear and answer your prayer for forgiveness.
