Sermon Tone Analysis

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Theme: Samson is the picture of the nominal Christian who plays at his faith, and falls into sin.

Theme: Samson is the picture of the nominal Christian who plays at his faith, and falls into sin.

Tonight we pick up the story of the last Judge in the Book of Judges.

His name is Samson.

He is one of the most tragic characters in the Bible.

Samson is a “What-if-man” “What if” Samson had remained true to his Nazarite vow? “What if” Samson’s hedonistic impulses had not got the better of him.

“What if” Samson had never met Delilah?

Tonight we pick up the story of the last Judge in the Book of Judges.

His name is Samson.

He is one of the most tragic characters in the Bible.

Samson is a “What-if-man” “What if” Samson had remained true to his Nazarite vow? “What if” Samson’s hedonistic impulses had not got the better of him.

“What if” Samson had never met Delilah?

His story is the most complete of all the Judges, and perhaps the most tragic, It begins in chapter 13 with the story of his promised birth.

Zorah and Manoah are from the tribe of Dan, and they are childless.

The angel of the Lord appears to Manoah and promises that she will become pregnant and have a son.

He is to be a Nazarite.

The word means consecrated or separated.

A Nazarite was to abstain from wine, wine vinegar, grapes, raisins, intoxicating liquors, refrain from cutting the hair on one's head — in fact they couldn’t even comb their hair lest they pull hair out.

Finally, they could not to touch anything that was dead since that would make them unclean.

Normally a Nazarite vow was voluntary and for a limited period of time.

After the vow was complete, the person would immerse himself in a ritual bath, and make three offerings: A burnt offering, a sin offering, and a peace offering.

Their head would be shaved and the hair would be placed on the same fire as the peace offering.

Some Nazarites were life-long Nazarites and Samson is one of those.

Such a vow might be made for any number of reasons, but whatever the reason, it was meant to be a time of service and ministry to God.

Samson’s time as a Judge is significantly different than his predecessors.

God intends for Samson to be a Judge from his conception, “because you will conceive and give birth to a son.

No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.””

(, NIV84)

• He was a man who reveled in vengeance, “Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs.

He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines.

He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.”

(, NIV84)

He was a man who reveled in vengeance, “Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs.

He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines.

He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.”

(, NIV84)

• He will fight all his battles alone with a supernatural strength, “As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting.

The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power.

The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.

15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.” (, NIV84)

He will fight all his battles alone with a supernatural strength, “As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting.

The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power.

The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.

15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.” (, NIV84)

• He will lead Israel for twenty years, “Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.”

(, NIV84)

He will lead Israel for twenty years, “Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.”

(, NIV84)

Samson’s problem is that he doesn’t know how to tell himself “no”.

As a result became a slave to his passions.

Samson is the picture the Christian who doesn’t take their sanctification of heart and life seriously.

He is a picture of the Christian who pay only lip-service to their faith.

To see what sin will do to you we merely need to look at what it did to Samson.

I. SIN WILL BLIND YOU

"Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza.

Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison."

(, NIV84)

1. the Philistines were the arch-enemy of the people of Israel

2. they were constantly raiding their land, burning their homes and killing the people

3. Samson had continually defeated them, which puts him on their most wanted list of Israelites to capture or kill

Israelites to capture or kill

a. with the help of Delilah they finally achieve that end

4. sin will also blind us

A. SIN WILL BLIND YOU TO THE SCHEMES OF SATAN

A. SIN WILL BLIND YOU TO THE SCHEMES OF SATAN

“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”

(, NIV84)

“Be self-controlled and alert.

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

(, NIV84)

• “Be self-controlled and alert.

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

(, NIV84)

1. how does Satan blind people?

2. The Devil Blinds People with Semantics

a. it's interesting how we have euphemized away sin in our society:

1) abortion is no longer murder — it's simply a woman exercising her right of privacy or terminating a product of conception

privacy or terminating a product of conception

2) homosexuality is merely a difference in sexual preference and an alternative life-style

life-style

3) fornication is "living together"

4) Illegitimate babies are "love children"

3. The Devil Blinds People to God's Truth

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

In their case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (,).

a. the truth of the gospel is what sets people free

b.

Satan attempts to blind people from that truth

4. The Devil Blinds People by Encouraging Participation in False Religion and False Religious Teachers

Religious Teachers

“There is a way which seems right unto a person, but the end thereof are the ways of death” ()

• “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.