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"THE BIBLE’S SUPERMAN"
Judges 13:1-16:31
We are all familiar with the Comic Character, Superman: He was "Faster than a locomotive. More powerful than a speeding bullet. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the air! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, It’s Superman.
He was a visitor from a strange planet endowed with powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men. Who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet, wages a never ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way."
But it is all fiction.
The red caped Superman has never existed except in the lands of TV, movies and comic books.
THERE WAS IN THE BIBLE A REAL LIVE SUPERMAN.
HIS NAME WAS SAMSON.
He lived at a time when the Nation of Israel was in bondage to the Philistines.
I love children’s explanation of Bible incidents.
"King David defeated the Finklestine when he cut off the head of their giant with the ax of the apostle."
EXAMPLES OF HIS STRENGTH:
• He killed a lion with his bare hands. Judges 14:5-6
* He took the jawbone of an ass, and killed a thousand Philistines. 15:14
* He uprooted a city gate, carrying it nearly 40 miles away. 16:2
* HE BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE: Judges 16
WHY WAS SUPERMAN SO STRONG?
Was it because of his cape?
Was it because of his uniform?
Was it because of what he ate?
It was because the origin of his power came from another world.
WHY WAS SAMSON SO STRONG?
Was it because he did not cut his hair?
Was it because he lifted weights?
No, his strength came from another world. It came from God.
SAMSON IS AN OBJECT LESSON TO GOD’S PEOPLE THAT OUR STRENGTH DOES NOT COME FROM THIS WORLD BUT FROM GOD HIMSELF.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trusts. Psa. 28:7
The Lord is the strength of his people, He is the saving refuge of his anointed. Psa. 28:8
. . .be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Eph 6:10
HOWEVER – You will remember than there was something that caused Superman to lose all his strength. It was: KRYTONITE
SAMSON HAD HIS KRYPTONITE. It is called the FLESH NATURE. By the way – you and I have our Kryptonite also. It is called the FLESH NATURE. Your Flesh Nature may not attack you the same way that it attacks me or it attacked Sampson – BUT IT WILL ATTACK YOU. You can count on that fact.
Dr. McGhee use to say about the flesh nature, "It’s never removed and it’s never improved. It was flesh the day God saved us and it will still be just flesh the day we lay it down in death. It’s never removed and it never improved."
THE TEXT:
We see five wrong choices that Samson took by yielding to the flesh nature.
1. HE WENT TO THE WRONG PLACE.
“Samson went down to Timnah” V-1
There is a little children’s song that says, "Be careful little feet where you go . . .There’s a Savior Up above looking down with tender live so be careful little feet where you Go." That would have been great advice for Samson.
Have you heard people say, "They were in the wrong place at the wrong time." You can cut the odds down by not being in the wrong place.
2. HE WAS LOOKING AT THE WRONG THING.
“He saw there a young Philistine woman.” V-1
Is it not amazing that over the many years since God created man and woman that the devil has not come up with any new strategy. Eve: When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eye.
3. HE REJECTED GODLY COUNSEL.
His mother and father said, “Is there not the right kind of woman for you”. V-3
Don’t you just hate people that tell you what is right when your already have you mind made up to do what is wrong?
4. WHAT HAD STARTED IN HIS MIND, HE NOW PRACTICED WITH HIS BODY.
He took the woman. V-8
Backsliding does not start with the total fall. "The most deadly sins do not leap upon us they creep up on us."
5. HE VIOLATED HIS COMMITMENT TO GOD.
He broke every vow he had taken.
CONCLUSION:
ONE OF THE SADDEST VERSES IN THE BIBLE
He did not know that the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him. Judges 16:20
