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Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
RIDING THE ROLLER COASTER
Sunday, August 25, 2002 PM
One of the things that I remember most about growing up was the times that we would go to the fairs and festivals that would come around each year. We would ride the rides as long as our money held out. We rode the Ferris wheel where it felt as though you were going to the top of the world and back down again. My favorite ride, in those days, was the roller coaster. Riding roller coasters is bumpy, fast and slow, then fast again, as you twist and turn going up and down. Roller coasters at the fair were fun but I don’t ride them anymore.
Tonight I want to talk to you about a young man who had everything going for him but he never made a decision to give it all to God. Instead he chose to ride on the roller coaster of spirituality. His life is one long story of spiritual highs and lows. It was as though he was gambling with the anointing of God and his eternal soul.
That young man’s name was Samson.
Samson was a handsome kid and was raised as a Nazarene according to Judges 13:5, "For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."
The mark of his anointing and the call of God would be represented in Samson’s long flowing hair. As a Nazarene, he would never be allowed to cut his hair for this was a symbol of his promise to God.
Samson grew up to be a big, strapping kid with a physical power way beyond the ability of normal men. You might say that God had given Samson the gift of being an Old Testament Superman for he was able to do great things with his physical strength.
Samson would flex his muscles and all the girls would swoon. He would shake his beautiful head of hair and everyone would turn green with envy. He was a man’s man and every woman’s dreamboat and he knew it.
It would seem that Samson had everything going for him, prosperity, power, prestige, good looks, a great physique; he was good-natured and had the call of God upon his life. How much more could you ask for?
But Samson had a major flaw in his character. He loved to play around with the things of the world too much. His was a life filled with great contrasts.
Judges 14:1-3, "And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people,"
Do you see the problem that Samson had? He loved to flirt with sin. He loved to hang around with the world’s crowd. He would leave his Nazarene home and go where the action was. He was a party animal, in today’s vernacular, and he loved to play with fire. You can be sure of one thing. If you play with fire you will surely get burned one day.
There were times when Samson was very spiritual and God moved within him to do great things.
Judges 13:25, "And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol."
Samson was constantly going from Zorah , a place of wasps, to the town of Eshtaol, which had a narrow pass or recess, a town in the low country, and one of the strongholds of Israel against their enemies. This reminds me that we often run from the narrow way of righteousness and the protection of God’s presence to go and flirt with the world of sin where there is danger from the stings of sin. Samson couldn’t make up his mind what to do. He was divided between God and the worldly pleasures that were his for the taking. Every time Samson sinned, it was as though he was throwing the dice to see if God would still be with him or if God would depart. He became too over-confident and presumptuous of the power of God in his life and it wasn’t long until Samson was in deep trouble.
Judges 15:14, "And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands."
In this instance strong flax ropes bound Samson, but when the Spirit of the Lord moved upon him, he just popped the ropes like they were made of thread, then he picked up the jawbone of a donkey and killed 1000 of the Philistine soldiers
Even this great victory was contrasted by Samson’s weakness of the flesh. Judges 15:18, "And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?"
Can you picture this man of God who has just done a mighty thing for God against the enemies of Israel as he starts to complain about being thirsty? He was behaving like an immature child crying for something to drink. Well, so much for being a mighty man of war.
Samson must have been a sanguine personality because he was always playing with sin and doing crazy things to show that God was still with him. He would flirt with death; play the Philistines for fools and then do some wild and crazy thing to get even with them.
Judges 15:4-5, "And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives."
Judges 16:1-3, "Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, in the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron."
With all of the “flirting with sin” that Samson did it was inevitable that Satan would lay a trap to destroy him.
Samson found a beautiful young woman named Delilah! It was love at first sight and they became inseparable. Little did Samson realize that Delilah would be the instrument of his ultimate destruction. Samson just wanted to have some fun but Satan doesn’t play and he was out to kill Samson and enslave all of Israel.
Every time they would get together Delilah would attempt to discover the secret of Samson’s power. She would playfully ask him to reveal it to her with her eyelashes fluttering. That would make Samson’s heart pound and his infatuation with Delilah would make him do things and say things that he knew he should not have.
I’m sure Samson thought, “Oh what does it matter? As long as I don’t reveal the truth it’s okay. I’m just going to play along and then leave when it gets too serious!”
Don’t you know that Satan will take you farther than you want to go and leave you where you don’t want to be? You can’t play with the Devil’s crowd and then expect to maintain your spiritual strength. You can’t assume that God’s presence will always be there, even when you have grieved the Spirit of God by playing with sin. It would be best to do as Joseph did and run from that sin – run back to God where your strength lies.
Several times Delilah tempted Samson to tell her the truth and each time he would get a little closer to telling her the truth. I believe that the Spirit of God within Samson kept trying to warn him to get away from temptation but Samson wouldn’t listen.
Each time he barely avoided disaster because he was so confident that God would be with him in the end. He was bound with 7 green vines and broke those with ease. He was then bound with new ropes and broke those like they were thread. Then Delilah weaved 7 locks of Samson’s hair into a weaver but he just walked away dragging the weave behind him by his hair.
Why could not Samson see what was happening? Why didn’t he realize that Satan was using Delilah to defeat him? Why, because sin blinds us to the truth and the longer we flirt with sin, the weaker the voice of the Spirit of God becomes until, one day, we can’t hear the warnings of the Lord anymore. That’s when we are ready for the kill and Satan is quick to oblige us.
The day came when Delilah had Samson wrapped around her little finger. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. He was totally blinded spiritually now and it wasn’t long until he revealed the real secret of his strength. All she had to do was cut his hair and Samson would be weak as other men.
Be sure that Satan is looking for your weaknesses. Be sure that he will do his best to destroy your soul. Be sure your sin will find you out! Samson not only loved Delilah more than he loved God but now he placed his total trust in the very one who was determined to destroy him.
Satan’s power of deception is so very powerful. He will make us believe that we can only be really happy if we give in to his temptations. We forget so quickly that he is a liar and that the only real happiness is in serving Jesus.
Samson lost his strength when they cut his hair. He was chained up, his eyes were put out and he was made to turn a millstone like an ox. Then when they were finished with him as a beast of burden they tied him between the great pillars of the temple to make fun of him as they all partied.
That’s the way of Satan. He will make everything look so wonderful in your temptation but when you have yielded and been defeated, he will have his way with you and then leave you alone and lost in your guilt and shame. He won’t care, your friends won’t care, and you will be left alone and in despair. Your roller coaster will come crashing down into a wrecked heap upon the ground and you may never rise again. Are you willing to take that chance?
Can you imagine the emptiness Samson felt? Can you feel the desperation in his soul?
Finally, in despair, Samson sought God for one last opportunity to avenge his sight and his defeat at the hands of Delilah. God granted his wish and Samson toppled the pillars that supported the porch where his captors were partying. In his death he took many of them with him but Samson had lost his battle for the last time and there was no turning back for him.
After all of the great miracles and great power of God that Samson had during his lifetime, he suddenly was lost forever. There is no record that he repented; only that he sought revenge. It was in God’s plan for the Philistines to be destroyed so he allowed Samson one last wish.
In closing let me say that riding the spiritual roller coaster is just as dangerous for each of us as it was for Samson. We must make an eternal decision to follow the Lord and then run from the things of this world for they will bring utter defeat.
God wants all of your heart and not just a part of it. God wants your total commitment and not just your convenient times. God wants all or nothing!
