The Destructive Wake Of Sin

The Destructive Wake of Sin

Judges 13:1-7

Today I want to deal with a very serious subject… The destructive Wake of Sin.

Not what I had planned… God often moves in ways different than I have planned.

Today we will be looking at negative example… Samson.

Today I will plan to do something I only plan to do once a year…

deliver half a message

just the negative

Usually do that on Palm Sunday so I can offer the good news on Easter

Today we are going to see half the message in the life of Samson

Next week we will get the good stuff

Samson has much to teach us about the destructive nature of Sin

both on the guilty person

and on others

Lessons:

1. THE BLESSING OF A GOODLY START

Every racer… whether they race on foot, or in NASCAR… knows the importance of a good start.

If you get a bad start you may never be able to overcome it.

If you get a good start it may be the difference between victory and defeat.

Racers will tell you there are few blessings better than a good start.

I know one… A GODLY START !

There are few blessings in this world that are greater than being raised in a Christian home, by Christian parents, taken to a Christian church and taught the Christian truths.

Samson was the beneficiary of such a blessing.

Judges 13 the angel of the Lord, [God in disguise] came to a woman and told her she had been chosen by God to give birth to a special son who was to be a NAZARITE.

You can tell that they were godly persons because of the choice.

You can see it in their prayer life.

You can see it in their desire to do things just right.

Having Christian parents does not guarantee that a child will turn out right… or that they will not at least get off the right road for a while.

But having godly parents, who are godly examples, and actively take their children to Christian church, and teach the Christian disciplines, and expose them to godly people and protect them from un-godly things and people

Makes that child is about 50 times more likely to become a Christian.

I know there are the horror stories of godly parents who have little demons

But THOSE ARE THE EXCEPTIONS....

A godly home gives the child a HUGE HEAD START.

Samson had that head start.

2. THE DESTRUCTION OF BAD CHOICES

Life is all about choices.

What you get in life, what you become, who you marry, is very much a product of choices.

Let me illustrate..

Life is all about choices… every time you make one choice you slam the door on other choices.

Look at the screen… explain

Bad choices limit you and your choices. They can lead to disaster.

Godless choices are even more disastrous.

The 13th chapter was such a tremendous story of godliness, of seeking God and God’s will, of surrender and of obedience.

But that was Samson’s parent’s story.

The 14th chapter begins Samson’s story.

It begins with four tragic words... "Then Samson went down,.."

THEN denotes the passing of time... as Samson grew.... when he was older… no longer a minor, no longer UNDER his parents control and influence

Samson is a man now… making his own choices.

WENT denotes intentional action.

Samson did not accidentally fall into sin or accidently become godless

it was BY CHOICE

it was BY REPEATED DISOBEDIENCE

DOWN denotes a

away from the godliness of his parents,

away from the path God had designed for him,

a plunging into a habit of sin, not one slip up.

DOWN is always the direction of nature.... nature always runs downhill as surely as does the anatomy of a man over 50.

DOWN means that Samson was following his fallen nature, the way of the world, and the temptation of the enemy.

The first three verses of chapter 14 give us some clue to Samson’s decline and how he got here.

a. He cared nothing for the rules

He knew that he was not to fraternize with the enemy, the Philistines, but he went there and rubbed elbows with the enemy.

After enough time with them he ceased the see them as the enemy and they became his friends. DESENSITISATION

He knew that he was not to marry a non-believer, but he did not care

after you break one rule, it gets easier and easier.

he had started breaking the rules and it snowballed.

b. He ceased to value the things of God.

He said, "I saw a woman in Timnah... and she looks good to me.

All that mattered to him now was the object to be grasped, the thing to be had, the object of his desire.