SAMSON WEEK 4

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Introduction
How did the last chapter end? Samson was doing pretty well right, he had just defeated 1,000 of the philistines and then they Lord granted him 20 years where he was judge over the Israelites. 20 years of peace. How many of you know the end of the story of Samson? Samson ends up with his eyes gouged out grinding grain for his enemies. They basically take him and make a donkey out of him. They remembered how he made fun of them and called them all donkeys and at the end of his life the tables had turned and he is the philistines donkey grinding grain. We are left with the question, How in the world did his life go down hills so fast? How did he go from ruling to destruction? Have you ever seen a great person fall and you ask yourself the question how did that happen?
Samson was an incredibly strong man with an incredibly weak will. He was strong physically yet he was weak in his character. What Samson should have done is allow the weakness that was so evident in his life draw him to God. He should have seen his weakness and said Lord I need your strength. But instead he tried to do life on his own in his own way apart from God and His Word.
So how does a person seemingly so strong destroy his life? One little step at a time. All self-destructed lives happen the same way, one little step at a time, till you look back and wonder how I got here…
Andy Stanley says this about Choices. “Your direction not your intention, determine your destination.”

5 LITTLE STEPS TO DESTROY YOUR LIFE

1. A LITTLE LUST

Judges 16:1 ESV
Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.
Samson took about 50,000 steps to travel the 25 miles from his hometown to Gaza. He went from the Israelites territory to one of the main cities of the Philistines. And let me tell you in philistine country Samson was public enemy number 1. They hated him for what he had done. And he risked everything for a little bit of lust. And I would bet this was not his first time in Gaza.
The lust of pornography, the lust of greed, the lust of an affair, the lust of power and prestige, all of those sins start with little steps of walking away from God. Samson was taking steps in the direction of Gaza and away from God. I ask myself what would posses Samson to do that? Maybe he thought “well I am strong enough, no one can hurt me. I can handle this, or its only one more time or surely its not a big deal, I’m not living there so it can’t be that big of a deal.
Let me tell you that the self destruction of a life always starts with the rationalizing of ones sin. Samson was taking steps away from God. In what direction are you taking steps this morning. Your direction not your intention determines your destination.

2. A LITTLE TAUNTING

Judges 16:2–3 ESV
The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
Samson could have sneaked away without making a sound. But that was not his style. He decided to make a statement. He decided to take the gate of the city which is estimated to be between 700 and 1000 pounds and carry it up on the hill towards Hebron so when they woke up they would know what he did and where he was from. The gates of the city represented the security of the city, and he wanted to taunt them and make the point that he was stronger than the rest of them.
You see Samson’s problem was that he overestimated himself and underestimated his enemy. Do not make the same mistake Samson made.
ILLUSTRATION: Underestimating the deer on the pine creek rail trail. When you underestimate the enemy you are caught of guard.

3. A LITTLE LOVE

Judges 16:4 ESV
After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Love is not wrong. In fact it is a wonderful thing, but loving the wrong thing is absolutely wrong. You see this was not a matter of loving someone of a different race. There is nothing wrong with that at all, but the problem is that she loved and served Dagon a false God. And Samson was to love and serve the one true God. In the NT this is talked about as one that is unequally yoked. What happens if you yoke two animals together that want to go in different directions? You go nowhere.
2 Corinthians 6:14 ESV
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Christians and especially young people if you want to be challenged in every direction spiritually in your marriage, if you want to make spiritual life difficult. Marry an unbeliever. You see God gives us this command because it is best for us, because that is what works best and Samson decided he was going to love what God told him he should avoid and eventually paid a terrible price. When you choose to love anything more than you love God and when you choose to go against God’s plans understand that destruction is in your path. And you put it there .
Samson chose the little step of love, loving someone he was not to love. Why... because he was compulsive and selfish. And he took another step towards destruction.

4. A LITTLE LYING

Judges 16:5–19 ESV
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.” Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web. And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
She was a real sweetheart huh… Nothing quite like having a live in girlfriend that nags you to know end to find out your secrets to sell them to someone that wants to kill you. Yep you know how to pick em Samson. Good thinking, do things your own way and then you wonder how you got into this.
You know that is not much unlike how we can be sometimes. You know we get ourselves into a situation because we wanted to do things on our own apart from God and then we wonder how God could allow this to happen to us. I don’t think that Samson is wondering this yet but I bet he does. You see our own plans will deceive us. We think that we know what is best for our life but in reality we are often incapable of seeing our own blind spots and that is 1 reason among many that God is a much better life planner than we are. And here is the thing, we can often go sideways in the area of picking a spouse.
The most important decision you will ever make outside of salvation is who you will marry. If you make a wise decision in this area it can be a well of encouragement and strength for a lifetime. And you can provide the same for your spouse. And if you have missed on this one it will be felt for years to come. Young people, choose wisely. And if you are in a difficult marriage choose to follow God with all of your heart the Lord can redeem and restore. Lean into the Lord and draw your strength from Him.

5. A LITTLE SELF-INFLATION

Judges 16:20 ESV
And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Samson was so full of himself, that he thought that he could break every part of the Nazerite vow without consequence from God. He thought that even though he had told Delilah the “truth” that it was that cutting of his hair that would take his strength, he thought he could not be stopped. He thought that he was too strong for God’s strength to leave him, He thought that he couldn’t fail, that he couldn’t be beaten, and that was his fatal mistake.
Notice the last part of verse 20. What does it say? The Lord had left and he didn’t even know. Let it never be the case in your life. It is a scary thing when God says “ok, here is the full weight of your decisions”. The power of God on his life was gone and he didn’t have a clue. But he would soon learn who was really supplying the strength.

THE SELF-DESTRUCTED LIFE

Judges 16:21 ESV
And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
How sad… Can you imagine what it would have looked like if he was totally sold out to God? His eyes are gouged out and I imagine he took quite a beating. He goes from leading a nation to doing the work of a donkey. He goes from seeing God give him miraculous power to seeing nothing at all. It appears as though he was humbled in this process. We have no clue how long the humbling process was but it took his life being destroyed for him to recognize that God provided the power. It took him losing his eyesight for him to see what he needed to see long ago about himself and God.
His destruction did not come in one decision or one moment but in the little steps of sin away from God. And finally enough was enough and the consequences of that life came rushing in and destroyed him.

THE HOPE IN THE MIDST OF DESTRUCTION

Judges 16:22 ESV
But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
I love this, not just because the bald mans hair was growing back but because this portion of scripture shows a turn that even in the midst and ruins of destruction that even in that moment God is at work towards restoration. Let me tell you that when we are in rebellion and doing things our own way whether we have come to find ourselves in the ashes of a destroyed life or we are have caught it before the wheels fell of, all it takes in those moments is to turn. Turn to God. Turn to God in the midst of our mess and say God I am tired of doing it my way I need you. I will follow you and your way. The Bible calls this repentance. It is a simple change of direction a change from doing my own thing to doing God’s thing. Where are you this morning? Do you need to turn?

5 LITTLE STEPS TO DESTROY YOUR LIFE

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