Samson – Strong, Shallow, Self-willed (Part A)

God has to deal without sin, because we can't.

We can just make movement in that direction, desiring it. But in the end, we need divine intervention. Law is inadequate, but it is not imperfect. The law is perfect, converting the soul. Galatians 2 21, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. If I can get to be righteous without Christ, then who needs the death of Christ?

Well, I need it because I cannot do it. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Rick is currently teaching through the book of Judges.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Judges, chapter 14, as he begins a new message, Samson Strong, Shallow Self-Will. This 14th chapter begins the story of retaliation, of deception, shallowness and self-will, as I mentioned, hatred and violence and killings. I'm not so ready to say that he murdered because those whom he killed were oppressing his people. They were the enemy. They were to be driven out of the land. They were not nice people.

We cannot lose sight of that. It's going to come out in the story, too, and so with that, we'll look at verse 1 of Judges, chapter 14. Now Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Verse 2, so he went up and told his father and mother, saying, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

Now, therefore, get her for me as a wife. We'll go back up to verse 1. He went down to Timnah. That's the Philistine territory in the Promised Land. It should have all been Israel's land, but he's roaming in the bad lands. He's in the wrong side of town for a godly man.

God did not disallow Samson's feet to rove. He let him do it. What was he supposed to do? Kill him?

Cripple him? God did expect him to remain separated in those bad lands, separated from the ungodliness in all of its forms, which it was a cauldron of ungodliness in the Philistine territories. He had no business there. There's nothing that should have drawn him there according to righteousness. The only thing that drew him there were the Philistine women that he liked. He preferred, evidently, because he has at least four episodes with them mentioned.

All of them are bad. So he saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistine. Now this is carnal. I won't say lustful. It is carnal.

It may have been lustful, too, but there's not enough there to elevate the charge. And, of course, the Philistines represent all that God did not want his people to be. Samson knew that.

Much of, well, the first five books, the book of Joshua, much of what had taken place in Judges was already in circulation. It was a bad match from the beginning, and it brought about a lifetime of trouble. And it led to his death. It was early, a premature death. Did he consider himself an exception because of his calling? I'm a Nazarite. God, before I was born, the angel of the Lord showed my parents.

Those laws are for the little people. Is that what he felt? Well, we're not told explicitly. But what we do know, there was never an effort on his part to be denied what he wanted. No restraint is noticed in this man's life, and it ends up in rubble. He's buried amongst the enemies. They will retrieve his corpse, but not a happy ending for such a gallant beginning. Verse 2, so he went up and told his father and mother, saying, I have seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines.

Now, therefore, get her for me as a wife. These are the first words we hear out of Samson's mouth, and they speak words in violation of God's law. There's no way to put a ribbon on this and call it anything other than what it is, sinful. This was forbidden.

It was a prohibition against this. And it is not a small act of disobedience as acted out throughout the rest of the Old Testament. You see, the prophets and the leaders of Israel constantly fighting this behavior in their people.

Moses would live it over. I mean, that great hero of the camp of Moses, he would not tolerate this. Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughters to their son, nor shall you take their daughters for your son. Deuteronomy 7, 3. His parents were drawn into this sin with him, which worsens the story.

They were drawn in by arranging the marriage. They did not stand their ground. I don't know about you, but I've seen Christian parents cave to their children after their children become old or go off to college or just go off somewhere, and all of a sudden the parents are thinking like the child, and the child is still thinking like a child and an unbeliever. You say, what is going on?

You're made of better stuff than this. Why are you trying to appease your child? Stand your ground, parents. You raise them the right way and they opt to go the wrong way.

There's no cue for you to then follow them or defend a wrong opinion because they're your child. God comes first, and that is a good thing. We take courage by that. Has Satan beat you to death any other way?

At least far as I can see. Perhaps, perhaps he foolishly argued, well, I'm not going to worship their gods. I just like her.

I just want her. That's still foolish. Then convert her.

Certainly no effort to convert her shows up. Samson, Nazarite, he becomes a living parable of selfishness, of disobedience, of carelessness before God. And it's more careless. You know, there's the disobedience of man. I just couldn't say no. That's one thing. It's another thing that I don't care. And again, he's like the spoiled athlete that is so used to having people falling over them, giving them whatever they want, a deal in every round. Don't pay for the meal.

That's all right. You know, and just expecting until they get to a place where they expect to be treated like some sort of a god. Well, that's expected in the world, but it is not expected amongst the righteous.

Nazarite was to be a living type, an image of dedication to God. Like the high priest. When you saw the high priest in his garb, you were to say there's, there's, he's looking to serve the Lord with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

He repeats that every morning. Or he recites, I should say. A walking sermon on priorities in the light of eternity. That was the life of the Nazarite, and that is also our goal as Christians.

We're supposed to have this devotion. Galatians, Paul writes, putting them in their place so subtly, so perfectly, so the gentleman, Paul, ever the gentleman, even when he was upset he was still the gentleman. Galatians, he says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. That is a New Testament Nazarite.

He can have all the grape and the raisins that he wants. He's free in grace, but he is not free to stop chasing devotion. Samson and Solomon, both of them together in their lifestyle, these men that had so much, they had a call on their lives. They weren't fit for the calling, but they received it anyway, and neither one of them subdued their flesh.

It almost as if they'd stopped, didn't even try. Peter, you know, Peter the apostle, he tried to, you know, get a grip on himself. Multiple times he failed. He'd get back up and get into it, and so he wasn't faithful to his parents' teachings. Remember the father said, what shall be his rule of life? Devotion to God, that's his rule of life. He lost almost everything the Lord gave him except his strength, and in the end he loses that.

Well, he gets it back, but he loses his life as well. Verse 3, then his father and mother said to him, is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren or among all my people that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? Samson said to his father, get her for me, for she pleases me well. I have, my mother would never tolerate us talking any kind of way, raising our voice at her or anything. My father, forget about it. My father pledged to kill us if we ever, you just didn't. And so when I read this verse, I hear a brat, get her for me.

You don't talk to your parents that way, but he did. These are decent people. We were charmed, at least I was charmed by their behavior in chapter 13.

Godly, decent people, but they seem to have thought at this point that they had done their duty by stating their position, and there was no more for them to do, because they are going to go to Timna to arrange the marriage. Why? It has to be that from birth, anything Samson, maybe Samson wants it, I mean, here we go.

And at this point, no one knows he's got this strength. The story reads that way. It comes out in this story.

We remember Eli, he voiced his protest towards his sons, Hophni and Phineas, but it was an insufficient discipline, and God dealt with Eli directly. You want to raise a brat, give them anything they want. I know it's hard, it's so cute, but they're also cute when they're disciplined. I don't mean abused at all, of course.

It's demonic. It's necessary. Dads, of course, many dads, you know, they want their sons to be a certain way, and maybe dads can be too harsh, and moms can be the other way, be too easy. Well, the parents have got to strike that rhythm and get it together. Get her for me, for she pleases me well.

Now, let me go back. It's hard being a parent, you know, it is, but there's no excuse to stop grinding at the mill to get what you're supposed to get from raising the child. We all make mistakes. Well, my wife makes mistakes.

I help her out because I'm kind. But anyway, don't beat yourself up too much as a parent is where I'm trying to go with this. They're not my intention to say, here, Mr. and Mrs. Manoa goofed. Don't be like them, and I'm not trying to thunder them, but the Scripture speaks for itself.

And so if you read this and say, yeah, you know, I got this problem, too, then start to find solutions and work on it. But I'm not looking to clobber you from the Scripture. The Scripture can do that on its own. So here he says, get her for me, for she pleases me well. Literally, in the Hebrew, she's right in my eyes.

This is good for me. Don't question me. It voices the spirit of the age. Judges 17, in those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Well, she's right in my eyes. His parents did not like this, and they didn't like it for one, well, they may have other reasons. You remember, Rebecca was just, you know, she just couldn't take Esau's wives. She's like, I'm going to die if I got to live another day with these people. Well, this went deeper than that.

Manoah and his wife did not like Samson's choice of a wife because God didn't like the choice. That is the main part. And in life, we, of course, we meet ourselves, our defeated abilities, and we have to constantly check our outlook in the midst of our defeats.

Make sure our outlook leads to an outlook. The parents, did they ask God, why would you give us such a grand beginning to this child's life, only for it to come to this? What did we do to deserve such a beautiful boy who wants to marry a Philistine? The answer more than likely would be you didn't do anything to deserve this. There are many forces at work in this world. They don't care about you.

I do. This is why the mercy of God is such an important thing in the scripture in our hearts, that we understand that whatever happens in this life that seems to portray God as careless, indifferent, and unmercyful is not true. He is letting these things happen.

He has his grander, bigger purposes for these things. And in the end, if we adhere to him, it's going to work out. And the righteous, the righteous sense that enough to know God is merciful. God is good. He is righteous. He knows what he's doing.

It may hurt me now, but in the end, it will be straight and worth it. And this is supposed to separate us from the unbeliever. I don't understand half the miserable things that happen in this life.

I detest all of them. I hate mosquito bites just because it's my body. What gives them the right to suck my blood? But that's how it is. I say that a lot in my head. I don't know if I say it out loud, but that's how it is, and it forces me to just face it and deal with it. And it's not so hard.

In fact, I find it better than trying to pretend it's not what it is. Pain is not the elephant in the room that everybody is ignoring. Pain is something you can't get away from. But victory over the pain is something God's looking for. Verse 4 now, but his father and mother did not know that it was of Yahweh, that he was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines, for at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

That's a powerful pact. This verse is packed with information. Mom and Dad did not know that Yahweh was going to make a move through this. Not that he was sanctioning this.

Not at all. God works with the resources he has. The sin of Samson was not of the Lord. The deliverance was of the Lord through Samson in spite of Samson. That is the message. And it is the Lord that's going to seek occasion because the Philistines had dominion over Israel. What's so powerful about that little phrase is it sounds like they're just, you know, well, you pay taxes to us and that's that.

No, they were brutal. I mean, they're going to threaten Samson's wife that he meets here in Timna, that he's his betrothed wife, at least. They're going to say, if you don't tell us the riddle, we're going to burn you and your dad alive, your whole family. So that's the Bible saying, don't lose sight of who these people are.

They're not people who are just going to, you know, I'm not going to shop at your supermarket anymore. They're going to kill you in a horrific way if you don't give them their way. So God did not put the urge in Samson's heart for what was wrong. He simply used it. And throughout scripture, in its language, God has frequently said to do that which he permits. This is the whole thing with Pharaoh.

Pharaoh hardened Pharaoh's heart. And God ratified that and used it, worked with it to deliver his people. You will not be able to charge God with wrong. And you cannot say what we say is wrong for another person to do. You know, you can't say, well, it's despicable that you would lie to me. But it's okay for God to lie to me.

You can't do that. If it's despicable for someone to lie to you, then God's not going to lie to you. He's not afraid of us. So he's God. The unbeliever does not know what that means. It's up for us to kind of lay that out for them. We understand how encompassing that one title is, God.

All-knowing, omniscient, self-existent, loving, merciful. He put blood on his love. Well, someone had to begin to serve the Philistines' damage because if they continued at the pace, evidently, if they continued at the pace of growth and dominance that they now had, they may have pushed the people of the Promised Land out of the Promised Land.

They may have pushed the Jews out. So God is beginning his work through Samson and looking back over the many dead Philistines over the 20 years of Samson's life and you get the sense that, you know, God did know what he was doing. Even though Samson did the wrong thing, God stayed the course and said, well, what was God supposed to do? Again, strike him dead and try to find another guy?

That would not do. Then what if that guy messed up? So God says, I'm going to keep Samson and I'm going to use him nonetheless. I should add, though he was reckless and careless, we have no evidence of him being an idolater.

That is very great relief. So at the time, no one had a knowledge that this was going on. Judges 15, verse 20, and he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines. So he had a long reign.

We're not getting all of it in these four chapters, but we are getting the hard stuff. He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. Again, not an approval, but God adapting to, okay, if Samson's going to go this way, then I'm going to have to do this with him nonetheless.

And he often does this. When God is not permitted to rule, he will overrule when he is determined to have what he wants accomplished. And God's will was that the judge move against the Philistines, not marry them. That would have ruined the work if Samson was allowed to consummate the marriage. And so God sees the occasion, accomplished his objective, and Samson, in his mind, well, you know, I can, he's going to get to a place where, you know, I can deal with the Philistines anytime I want to, but I want this woman now and, because of this event, Samson will go on to kill 30, I believe, troops of the Philistines. I'll bring that out when we get there. He'll burn up their crops.

That will inflict economic damage on them, you know, the whole foxtail thing. He slaughtered a great number of them, we're told in chapter 15. The number is not given. He's still a thousand men one day at one time in one battle with one jawbone of a donkey. And then on his way out at his death, he killed over a thousand more.

He did so much damage at that last day, especially by taking out the leadership, that this one man who didn't need an army made such an impact on the Philistines that it did begin the processes of deliverance and bring relief to the people. And though he was wrong, God was with him. Psalm 19, who can understand his errors? Not God's, of course, he has none. Speaking of the individual, who can understand, who, can you understand your errors? Sometimes you say, I'm God, I'm so messed up in my head, can you help me out? And the psalmist says, cleanse me from secret faults.

Well, secrets to who? God? No. Me? Maybe. Others? Often. Man, what if people could read your mind?

Some of you, you would just constantly be sending this, say little gummy bears, gummy bears, gummy bears, or some other treat. Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins. The church needs to learn that. Don't presume on God.

Well, he's got to be in this. What are you basing this conviction off of? Is it conviction or is it because you really want it? Let them not have dominion over me, then I shall be blameless and I shall be innocent of great transgressions. So he says, you know, who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from my secret faults. Keep me back from presumptuous sins and I'll be blameless. It's a beautiful prayer. Too bad Samson did not have it.

He says, get her for me, for she pleases me well. There's a spoiled part. Spoiled. It's a behavioral problem from being overindulged by parents is one definition from one dictionary.

A behavioral problem from being overindulged by parents. Or at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel for 40 years. We read that in Judges chapter 13 verse 1. Now verse 5, so Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timna.

Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. Well, mom and dad are going with him to the Philistine neighborhood to negotiate the marriage transaction. Marriages in those days in that part of the world were much like a business transaction. If you're familiar with Fiddler on the Roof, you know that Reteviah and Lasel Wolf were negotiating the marriage of his eldest daughter. She knew nothing about this and that they captured that Fiddler on the Roof captured that part of their culture, which still is alive in certain parts of their culture. Anyway, Timna geographically was at a lower elevation than Zorah, where Samson is from, coming from, his hometown.

So the language becomes now symbolic. It says he went down. It's not without meaning. He's taking his parents down with him by looking to marry someone that God has forbidden.

And made my comments about we as parents need to watch that. And you children, when you become parents, go into it understanding that you don't want to be taken down by your own children and came to the vineyards of Timna. Now he parts with his parents at this point. And that too has some symbolism in it because they parted in agreement. Why can't you get a nice Jewish girl? Why do you have to go find a Philistine woman?

And they were not in agreement. But why did he depart? Why did they go down to Timna? Why does he say, you know what, I've taken a shortcut. It's a rougher route.

You stay on the main road. I'm cutting through the vineyards. And it is grape season.

I think he's munching on grapes as he's popping through the vineyard. He's not supposed to. He's a separated one. Remember the difference in Nazarite means a separated one. Nazareth means watchtower. Two different words, two different meanings.

I don't think he was flaunting his abstention. Watch me, I can go through the vineyard. I won't touch the fruit.

Yeah. We have no reason to believe that. The law of the flesh, it is this. It's weak.

It was just as much weak then as it is today. But love covers a multitude of sin. Not law. Law doesn't cover a multitude of sin. Law says you are guilty.

You are busted. Romans 3, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. God has to deal without sin because we can't.

We can just make movement in that direction, desiring it. But in the end, we need divine intervention. The law is inadequate, but it is not imperfect. The law is perfect converting the soul. Galatians 2 21, I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing. If I can get to be righteous without Christ, then who needs the death of Christ?

Well, I need it because I cannot do it. And so we need to keep sight of this, these laws, that even under the Jewish dispensation of the law, it still was in place. And if we lose sight of this, one or two things I think are likely to happen at some point.

One, you'll beat yourself up too hard and Satan will take advantage of you, and he will make you feel so low and miserable you won't do anything for the king. The other is that if we don't want to become careless, we want to understand that it costs the Lord to bring this grace to us that we enjoy so much. And so we strike the balance, which is what grace is. You know, we talk about a ballerina moving so gracefully. But if he was tripping and stumbling all over the place, that's not grace.

Samson was comfortable where he did not belong. We find a Jew in Timna, a Nazarite in the vineyard, and later we will find the Jew in Gaza. Thanks for tuning in to Cross-Reference Radio for this study in the book of Judges. Cross-Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. If you'd like more information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. You'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick available there, and we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. By doing so, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross-Reference Radio. You can search for Cross-Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app, or just follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. That's all the time we have for today. Join us next time to continue learning more from the book of Judges, right here on Cross-Reference Radio.