The Failures And Faith Of Samson - Part 2 Series

Topic: Sunday Sermon Series – Living By Faith

Title: The Flaws and Faith of Samson (Part 2)

Text: Hebrews 11:32-34; Judges 13.

Proposition: Though Samson is listed as a man of faith in Hebrews 11; his moral flaws proved to be fatal! We can learn many valuable lessons from the biblical record of his life!

VIII. The Appropriation of the gift!

Judges 13:19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched:

IX. The Ascension in the gift!

Judges 13:20a As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame.

John Gill - Making use of the smoke, as a vehicle in which he openly went up to heaven!

John Trapp – By this He most sweetly represented and shadowed forth, the office of Christ, whose work it is to present all our services before God, and to procure them to be graciously accepted of him.

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

A) Point?

B) Person?

1. JESUS!

a) Christophany!

b) This is not the only time we’ve seen Jesus showed up in the Old Testament. A few more of His “Christophanies” are:

· He appeared to Hagar, Gen. 16:7-14, Gen. 21:16-20

· He appeared to Abraham, Gen.18:10; Gen.18:17, Gen. 22:11

· He appeared to Jacob, Gen. 28:12-15, Gen. 32:24-30

· He appeared to Moses, Exod. 3:4-5, Exod. 23:20, Exod. 33:22

· He appeared to Joshua, Josh. 5:13-15

· He appeared to Gideon, Judg. 6:11-24

· He appeared to Samson's parents, Judg. 13

X. The Anxiety resulting from the ascension in the gift!

A) Response?

Judges 13:20b Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.

1. That is an act of worship in the bible!

Genesis 17:3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying…

1 Chronicles 21:16 Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces

Revelation 1: 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

B) Realization?

Judges 13:21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.

1. Angel only?

Judges 13:22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”

Exodus 33:20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”

2. We did and now we are doomed to die!

D) Reasonableness of the Mrs. Manoah!

Judges 13:23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”

Joseph Excell- The woman's faith saw more clearly than the man's fear! With the acceptance of the sacrifice the conscience was cleared from guilt. The ascent of the angel in the flame of the altar was to her the same evidence of an accepted sacrifice as the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus are to us.

E) Result?

XI. The Arrival of Samson!

Judges 13:24a The woman gave birth to a boy

A) Result?

B) Rejoicing!

Judges 13:24b and named him Samson.

1. Samson ?????????? shim·shon'

a) Samson = "like the sun"= Sunlight = Sunny!

C) Rearing?

Judges 13:24b He grew…

1. Grew, ???????????? (way·yi?·dal)

a) to grow, become great or important, promoted, made powerful, praiseworthy

b) to grow up, to become great

c) to do great things

D) Reflection:

1. Jesus

Luke 2:52 “AND JESUS INCREASED IN WISDOM AND STATURE AND IN FAVOUR WITH GOD AND MAN

a) MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY, SPIRITUALLY, SOCIALLY.

Judges 13:24c and the Lord blessed him,