ANCIENT PATHS SERMON SERIES: MESSAGE 10 OF 17 CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel Ancient Paths Sermon Series Message 10 of 17: The Danger of Distractions (The Tragic Life of Samson) JUDGES 13-16 Scripture Text: Judges 13:1-5; 24-25 INTRODUCTION Life is full of distractions. The dictionary defines a distraction as anything which distracts, divides or diverts one s attention. something which misdirects or confuses ones focus and attention. ILLUSTRATION Every day an average of 4,300 American drivers are injured or killed in automobile accidents, many of which are caused by driver distractions. Some of the most common distractions include.. *Adjusting the radio or temperature settings. *Talking to others in the vehicle. *Talking on a cell phone. *Trying to read a map while driving. *Eating and drinking fast foods *Putting on make-up or grooming hair. *And gawking at automobile accidents, house fires, scenery, attractive women or men. This just goes to show you that distractions aren t just dangerous, sometimes they can be deadly. This is the TRUTH we are going to see tonight in the tragic life of SAMSON.
The account of SAMSON S life covers four chapters in the Bible.JUDGES CHAPTERS 13-16. Time does not permit us to read this entire account, so I want to cover the main highlights. In this message we will look at I. SAMSON S POTENTIAL II. SAMSON S PROBLEMS III. SAMSON S PRISON IV. SAMSON S PASSING ************************************************************ I. Samson s Potential Judges 13:1-5 1. Over the course of our lifetime we have all known people who just seemed to have unlimited potential. Those individuals seemed to be blessed with all the tools necessary for guaranteed success. They had talent, ability, intelligence, personality and good looks. They had it all! 2. SAMSON was one of those people. First of all, I would have you to notice (A) God Blessed Samson With A SPECIAL POSITION Verses 4, 5 Before Samson was ever born, GOD already had a special position for him. To prepare Samson for this special position, God placed him under a NAZIRITE vow. To be under a Nazirite vow meant one was separated completely to the LORD.
Those placed under a Nazirite vow had to adhere to a strict lifestyle of HOLINESS, which included three things: *First, a RAZOR was never to touch the head of one under the Nazirite vow. In other words they were not to cut their hair. Now what was the significance of not cutting the hair? LONG HAIR was considered a reproach to men. So the LONG HAIR of a Nazirite was a visible sign to others that the Nazirite was willing to endure reproach and ridicule for the sake of GOD. *Secondly, one under a Nazirite vow was to abstain from wine or any form of alcohol. The significance of that was that the Nazirite was to be filled with the JOY of the LORD rather than the short-lived, artificial kind of joy one gets from alcohol consumption. *And thirdly, one under a Nazirite vow was never to touch or even go near a dead body even if his own father or mother or sister or brother died. The significance of that was that the Nazirite was to remain ceremonially clean at all times. And coming in contact with something dead would make him ceremonially unclean. But not only had GOD blessed SAMSON with a SPECIAL POSITION. (B) God also blessed Samson with SPECIAL POWER SAMSON was probably the closest thing to a real, live, walking, talking SUPERMAN this world has ever seen. Now he wasn t faster than a speeding bullet..and I don t know if he was more powerful than a locomotive and I m pretty sure he couldn t LEAP tall buildings in a single bound..
But Judges chapters 14-16 tells us account after account of the amazing POWER of SAMSON. JUDGES 14:5,6 We read about Samson killing a young LION with his bare hands. JUDGES 14:15-20 We read about SAMSON going down to the Philistine city of Askelon and killing 30 men and taking their clothes to pay off a bet. JUDGES 15:1-8 We read about the night SAMSON went out and caught 300 FOXES.. tied their tails together in PAIRS and with LIT TORCHES attached to their tails, set them loose in the Philistine wheat fields, vineyards and olive groves, totally wrecking the Philistine economy. JUDGES 15:9-17 We read the incredible account of how SAMSON killed 1,000 Philistines with the JAWBONE of a DONKEY as his only weapon. JUDGES 16:1-3 We read while in the Philistine city of GAZA, Samson pulled the city gates, posts and all, off the wall and carried the gate 40 miles to the hill facing HEB-RON. 3. Pretty incredible stuff isn t it? God had blessed SAMSON with a SPECIAL POSITION and with SPECIAL POWER. 4. Samson had such incredible POTENTIAL there was no way he could fail. How could he possibly fail? ******************** Let s consider
II. Samson s Problem 1. When I was in Bible College I had to take a literature course under professor Jim Pierson, called World Masterpieces. As you might imagine, this course required a tremendous amount of reading. After all it was a literature course. We had to read the writings of William Shakespeare and John Milton as well as the ancient writings of Homer, Plato and Aristotle. (Sounds like fun doesn t it?) Actually I did enjoy the class a lot! One lesson Professor Pierson taught us was to always look for the fatal flaw or tragic flaw in the main character s life. That fatal flaw was the one weakness, the one area of vulnerability, that would eventually lead to the downfall of the character. 2. SAMSON is often referred to as The HE-man who had a SHE-problem. Samson s fatal flaw, his biggest weakness, his greatest area of vulnerability was his passion for Philistine women. 3. Between Judges 14 and Judges 16 gets involved with three different Philistine women. All three were of questionable character. And all three DISTRACTED Samson from his God-given mission in life.
4. Let s briefly look at these three relationships and see how each woman took Samson farther away from God. (a) Samson s First Relationship Judges 14:1-4 The Philistines were NOT among the SEVEN nations of CANAAN which GOD forbid the Israelites to marry. Even though the Philistine women were not on that DO NOT MARRY list, it was still not a wise choice on Samson s part, because the Philistines worshiped heathen gods. In verse 4 where it says, His parents did not know that this was from the Lord it didn t mean this relationship had God s seal of approval on it, but rather God used Samson s bad choice as an opportunity to confront the Philistines. By marrying this Philistine woman, Samson had an inside track to the enemy. In time Samson s father-in-law ended up giving this woman to the guy who had been the best man at Samson s wedding. (sounds just like a soap opera doesn t it!) Well to make amends, the now ex-father-in-law plays matchmaker and sets Samson up with another Philistine woman, which happened to be his other daughter. (b) Samson s Second Relationship Judges 15:1,2 Now this relationship lasted no time at all. Because we read in verses 3-5 that Samson was so ticked off at his Father-in-law for giving his first wife to his best friend, he took his anger out on the Philistines. This is when Samson caught those 300 foxes and set fire to the Philistine wheatfields, vineyards and olive groves.
When the Philistines found out Samson was the one responsible for destroying their crops, they went to Timnah and burned up Samson s father-inlaw and his new bride. Do you see what is happening to Samson? He is so distracted by his relationships with these Philistine women he being driven by his own passions rather than being led by God s Spirit. Samson s pride has blinded him to the fact his life is in a downward spiral. He doesn t know it yet, but he is in self-destruct mode. Between his second relationship and his third, Samson spent time with a Philistine prostitute one night, which put his life in grave danger. (c) This now brings us to Samson s most familiar relationship. And that is with a Philistine woman named, DELILAH. Judges 16:4-5 Between verses 6-20 Samson and Delilah play this little game of cat and mouse. Only to Delilah this was more than a game. She stood to profit about $3,500 if she could deliver Samson to the Philistine rulers. Three times Delilah asked Samson to reveal the secret of his great strength. Three times Samson gave her a different response. And all three times the Philistines tried to seize unsuccessfully. I m sure you ve heard the old saying, Loose lips sink ships. Every time Samson played cat and mouse with Delilah, his lips were getting looser and looser. Finally in VERSE 17 Samson spilled the beans.
Many people think Samson s hair was the source of his strength. His hair was only the symbol of the true source of his strength was God and his vow to Him. Well as Paul Harvey would say, Now you know the rest of the story. After putting Samson to sleep on her lap (no doubt by stroking his long hair) Delilah called a man to come in and shave off the seven braids of Samson s hair. Once the dastardly deed was done, Delilah gave the signal, Samson, the Philistines are upon you. And SAMSON fell into the hands of the ENEMY!!! We have looked at SAMSON S POTENTIAL We have looked at SAMSON S PROBLEM Briefly, let s look at III. Samson s Prison 1. Like the old saying goes, Play with fire and you will get burned. 2. Samson s pride convinced him he could dabble in sin play with sin and tap dance all around sin and never get burned. But he was wrong.
3. Let s look at ALL Samson lost. (A) Samson Lost His FELLOWSHIP verse 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. Samson was so out of fellowship with God he didn t even realize the absence of God s presence in his life. Herein lies a stern warning to every Christian. When we, as children of God, rebel against Him, and refuse to repent and forsake our sinful ways, God may very well remove His presence from us, to let us feel the awful sting of sin s consequences. SAMSON LOST THAT SWEET FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD! (B) Samson Lost His FACULTIES verse 21a Then the Philistines seized him, GOUGED OUT HIS EYES and took him down to Gaza. Long before Samson lost his physical sight, he lost his spiritual sight. He had taken his eyes off the Lord and look what happened. (C) Samson Lost His FREEDOM verse 21b Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to GRINDING IN A PRISON. 4. Samson has now gone from the PINNACLE OF FAITH to the PIT OF DESPAIR! ****************
We have looked at SAMSON S POTENTIAL We have looked at SAMSON S PROBLEM We have looked at SAMSON S PRISON Finally, let s look at.. IV. Samson s Passing READ-------JUDGES 16:22-30 1. The story of Samson is the story of What Might Have Been. *What if Samson had remained true and faithful to his vow to GOD. *What if Samson had stayed completely away from Philistine women. *What if Samson had lived up to all that great potential God had blessed him with? We can only wonder about what might have been. 2. But in the midst of this tragic story there is beautiful picture of God s grace and mercy. God could very easily have allowed Samson to just rot in that prison and die in total depravity and obscurity. But even though Samson never lived up to his God-given potential, God still used Samson to accomplish His purpose in the end.
3. Likewise, many of us may have taken paths or made choices in life that prevented us from living up to our God given potential. But by His great grace and mercy, God can still use us to accomplish His purpose, when we humbly yield to His will. **************************** APPLICATION AND CONCLUSION ILLUSTRATION: In the classic comedy, Young Frankenstein the late Marty Feldman played the role of Dr. Fronkensteen s faithful assistant, IGOR. IGOR was a rather bizarre looking man who had a HUGE HUMP on his right shoulder and walked with a noticeable limp. About half way through the movie, Dr. Fronkensteen notices IGOR S hump has moved from his RIGHT shoulder to his LEFT SHOULDER. He says to IGOR, IGOR, what happened to your HUMP? IGOR says, What hump? Sometimes we don t want to admit we have a hump. SIN, what SIN? PROBLEM, what PROBLEM? Tonight we have learned from this Ancient account that when we FAIL to confront a SIN problem in our life it will come back again and again and again. My friend, what s distracting you? Admit it! Confess it! And forsake it!