Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Samson was a man of big muscles but weak morals. His exploits were amazing, but his judgment calls revealed a lack of wisdom. Today we begin his story and find some lessons all of us can use.
Stay with us for more of We've Been Down This Road Before. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, I think, as you will be teaching, that Samson was a study in contrasts. Dave, not only is he a study in contrasts, but actually I have to say that his life is very puzzling. On the one hand, as you emphasized, a tremendously strong man, morally weak, of course, and yet at the same time God used him.
I think that on the one hand we can understand all of Samson's weaknesses, but there's a positive aspect to this that I want to emphasize, and that is that this man, with all of the ambiguity connected to his life, ends up as a hero of faith in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. What a study, and indeed, what a contrast. Now, for all those who are listening, I want to give you some very important information. At the end of this week, well, it ends our fiscal year here at Running to Win, and we have a very special offer.
Every gift that you give will be doubled. What an opportunity it is for you to invest in the gospel. Now, if you've been listening to Running to Win for any length of time, you know that we are gospel-centered. We are always exalting Christ and helping people in their Christian walk, and of course also leading people to faith in Christ. Thank you so much for helping us do that. I consider all who are listening as our partners in this ministry. Now, here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com.
That's rtwoffer.com, or you can pick up the phone even now and call us at 1-888-218-9337. Thank you in advance for helping us get the gospel to the ends of the earth, even as we preach the word from the pulpit of Moody Church. The greater the potential there is for success, the greater the potential is for failure. And one of the reasons why a man in the Old Testament by the name of Samson failed so badly is because he was so incredibly gifted and he had the potential for such great success, but he blew it. Samson was a cauldron of contradictions. On the one hand, he was the strongest man who ever lived.
He made Arnold Schwarzenegger look as if he should go back to the Boy Scouts. And on the other hand, he had a great weakness for women, Samson. Every time he was involved with the Philistines, it was because of some dispute regarding a woman. On the one hand, he was a man upon whom the Spirit of God came mightily, the Bible says, as we shall see in a moment. Yet on the other hand, he was a man who was consumed by trivia.
He twaddled, he messed up his life by trivializing it and fooling it away. He was a man of God and yet he lacked common sense. He slept with a harlot and yet interestingly, he did make the 11th chapter, the book of Hebrews, as a hero of faith.
He was a very strange man indeed, somewhat of a mystery. And I want you to be introduced to him and I hope that during the next few weeks you read Judges chapter 13, which is where I would like you to turn this morning if you would please. Judges chapter 13, 14, 15, and 16, which is the story of his life.
And as we look at his life in these four messages, I hope that we will not only understand some spiritual truth, but that we will be quite aware of the dangers because we could do the same thing that Samson did. Judges chapter 13, we pick it up at verse one. Now the sons of Israel did again evil in the sight of the Lord so that the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years. I want you to notice that the whole book of Judges, as you might know, is cyclical. The people repent, God sends a deliverer and then they again compromise their faith and they end up needing to be delivered again and it goes over and over.
The same cycle is repeated many, many times. But don't miss it that here in chapter 13 verse 1 of Judges, notice clearly that there is no national repentance and therefore there is no national deliverance. God sovereignly intervenes by having Samson to be born to help the people, but really there is no repentance on the part of the people and therefore Samson always is acting alone.
Wherever he is, he's doing his own thing. Not in one instance does somebody else help Samson. Now how did the Philistines control Israel?
Where was the compromise? Well, first of all, the Philistines had iron and Israel didn't. We read in the next books, in the books of 1 Samuel, that whenever the Israelites wanted to get some iron or to have something sharpened, they had to go down to the Philistines to have it done.
And the second way was through intermarriage. So the people were not that concerned about the Philistines because the infiltration of paganism was somewhat slow and so they didn't recognize it and they didn't repent. But I want you to notice that even in the midst of their situation, God does something special. Samson is born. Now what I'd like to do as we move through the thirteenth chapter is to have you notice with me how privileged this boy was. We want you to notice the privileges Samson had and then we're going to talk about some lessons that grow out of the text, so that's the agenda.
First of all, the privileges though that Samson had. First of all, he had a privileged birth, very privileged, and there was a certain man of Zorah, the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah and his wife was barren and bore no children. Ever since Genesis 3.15 where the Bible says that the Lord will put enmity between thee and the woman when the Lord is speaking to the serpent between thy seed and her seed, ever since that time within the Jewish culture there was always this feeling that if you did not have children you were cursed. Now if Manoah and his wife had not had children they would not have been cursed, but people had this feeling that children being a heritage from the Lord, if you were barren, somehow it meant that God did not bless you and that he had cursed you. And so you have this extraordinary godly family going through the disappointment of not having a child.
But in this instance at least, God intervenes and does something very special. The angel of the Lord comes and speaks to this nameless wife of Manoah. Notice it says, verse 3, the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said, behold now you are barren and have borne no children but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. Now therefore be careful not to drink any wine or strong drink or any unclean thing, for behold you shall conceive and give birth to a son and no razor shall come upon his head for the boy shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband saying, a man of God came to me and his appearance was the appearance of an angel, very awesome, I did not ask him where he came from nor did he tell his name, and then she repeats what the angel said to her.
Now I want you to notice how special this is. How many times in the Bible did God send an angel to predict a birth? The only times that I can think of it is Sarah and she gave birth to Isaac, then of course Elizabeth in the New Testament and she gave birth to John the Baptist, then you have the angel who comes to Mary, that was the angel Gabriel and tells her that she is going to bear the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's really about it. You think of all of the action that is concentrated here on the birth of Samson, that God himself is watching in heaven as it were because a boy is to be born who is to have special significance. Talk about a privileged birth, very privileged.
Secondly I want you to notice he had a very privileged occupation, a very privileged occupation or career. Notice that the angel of the Lord says first of all he's going to be a Nazarite right from his mother's womb. If you take your Bibles and turn to Numbers chapter 6, we can see here what the vow of the Nazarite entailed. In our culture this is very difficult for us to grasp because we're not used to this kind of a vow, but in the Old Testament God said that if you wish to take a vow you may. Notice it says verse 2 of Numbers chapter 6, speak to the sons of Israel and say to them when a man or woman makes a special vow of a Nazarite to dedicate himself to the Lord, he shall abstain from wine and strong drink, he shall drink no vinegar whether made from wine or strong drink, neither shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grapevine from the seeds even to the skin. No razor shall pass over his head and he shall not touch a dead body.
The word Nazarite means separate. And God says if you wish to take this vow, first of all it is voluntary. Nobody is being asked to take it, at least in the book of Numbers. It is something that you can choose to do or not to do or you can decide to do it for a year or for six months. That's your decision.
It is a voluntary decision. Furthermore, you're to abstain from anything that has to do with grapes, anything that has to do with alcoholic beverages. Now in the Bible that oftentimes wine is associated with good times and even became a symbol of joy and what the Lord said is I want you during this period of time to live a very simple life and furthermore I want you to find your joy in me.
I don't want you to think that you have to party to be joyful but rather I want you to have this discipline upon your life and I want you to seek me and there's nothing wrong with that. In the New Testament as well as in the old you have fasting. Fasting is the denial of certain things but God says there are times when you have to be willing to restrain yourself and you have to seek me exclusively. They were not to touch a dead body because that was symbolic really of sin and so the Lord says that if you do touch a dead body accidentally there's a special procedure you can go through to cleanse yourself but don't do it. Now let's suppose you invited a Nazarite over for lunch. How would you know that he was a Nazarite? Well you could be very embarrassed because you would offer him wine and he would say no but God says I want an outward sign of this inner separation to me and that is if he's a man no razor shall touch his head. He's supposed to let his hair grow as long as those hair would grow and so that was the sign of a Nazarite. You saw a man with long hair and you knew that you had seen a Nazarite.
Now recently here in Chicago we had a rock concert at Soldier Field and I was watching on TV and I was thinking to myself we just have a whole host of Nazarites that are showing up for the for the event but but if you know anything about our culture you know that it's a pretty safe guess that that was not a group of Nazarites that were meeting there in Soldier Field. But the point to be made is that this was symbolic now of their relationship with God and so the Lord said this is to be done. Now Judges chapter 13 notice this in this instance Samson didn't have anything to say about it. The Lord says I want you as his mother I want you to take the vow I want you not to touch strong drink etc and Samson is to be a Nazarite from his mother's womb. What is the symbolism there? God is saying that this isn't something that you are choosing Samson this is something that I am choosing for you. I am going to choose that you will be special.
What an honor. And if you want to know what his vocation is you'll notice in the last part of verse five it says you will be a Nazarite to God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. He will begin but he won't do it.
And the reason that he won't do it is because the repentance was superficial possibly non-existent and all that he will do is somehow fight against them and put a dent in them so to speak but the Philistines will continue to harass Israel he will only begin to do the work that really needs to be done. Do you get a sense of his importance? A very privileged birth a very privileged career and you know who brought the word I should have pointed this out earlier was the angel of the Lord and who is the angel of the Lord is this Gabriel? This isn't Gabriel. Remember that whenever you have in the Bible the expression an angel of the Lord then it's referring to Gabriel or one of the other angels but when you have the angel of the Lord it is always a reference to Christ. If you remember a couple of years ago at Christmas time I preached a message showing that that was the case that wherever you have the angel of the Lord appearing and this was the angel of the Lord. Notice when Manoah later on prays that the angel will come back and help them to understand what is happening and the angel does that it says in verse 16 the angel of the Lord said to Manoah though you detain me I will not eat your food but if you prepare a burnt offering then offer it to the Lord for Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. Verse 17 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord what is your name so that when your words come to pass we may honor you but the angel of the Lord said to him why do you ask my name it is wonderful it is wonderful my margin says incomprehensible it means beyond understanding and Jesus Christ is the wonderful counselor the mighty God the everlasting father the prince of peace this is Christ. Privileged birth, privileged career, a privileged anointing. Samson is born verse 24 the woman gave birth to a son named him Samson the child grew up the Lord blessed him and the spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Manoah between Zorah and Eshtaqol and the Holy Spirit came upon Samson and made him mighty and strong and this is the Samson now who is going to trivialize all that God is doing in his life this is the Samson who's going to catch 300 foxes tie them together at their tails two by two light their tails and send them through the flax fields of the Philistines and think that this is really funny this is the Samson now who's going to slay a thousand people with the jawbone of a donkey he's the one who's going to pick up the gates of the city but he's also a man who's going to fall morally and spiritually he is a very very mixed kind of personality the anointing of the spirit and yet incredible carnality I told you he was a mystery well what do we learn from this what are the lessons that come to us that should be life-changing and that should be put upon our minds in such a way that we will never forget them number one remember this that when God prepares a leader he begins by preparing the parents first when God prepares a leader he begins by preparing the parents because the greatest means of communication communicating scriptural truth and transforming power is still the lives of mom and dad I want you to notice how Manoah and his wife were an exceptional couple because God chose them they they were able to handle the intrusion of this angel they didn't complain about the new responsibility that was put upon their shoulders and I want you to notice how Manoah prayed to God in verse 8 remember now his wife has this revelation he's not present she tells him about it and we pick it up in verse 8 then Manoah entreated the Lord and said oh Lord please let the man of God whom thou has sent come to us again that he might teach us plural that he might teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born he said God we're going to look to you for wisdom we are going to seek your face that we might know how to rear this special child for your glory and for your honor that he might be able to fulfill the role that you have cut out for him now what's remarkable is that the wife the mother of Samson also is asked to take this vow and I think that God did this because he knew that the impact of a mother upon the life of a child is so great that what God is saying is if we want Samson to abide by the law of the Nazarite and the vow of the Nazarite well then if he sees his mother drink strong drink if he sees her violate what he's not supposed to violate he's going to end up being greatly tempted to violate the vow and so she must provide that example because particularly in the early years the mother is going to have the greatest impact now I can't prove it scripturally but my suspicion is that Manoah himself also may have voluntarily taken this vow what we do know is that together the couple is saying oh God grant us the wisdom that we need to rear this boy for your glory and for your honor God said I want to have a strong leader in Israel he begins with making the parents what they should be I don't think that it's by accident that when God wanted to prepare the Wesley brothers he has Susanna Wesley who what was it had 19 children and she taught them in the ways of truth I'm not sure that her husband was greatly involved in her children's Christian education but when you trace the history of those who are leaders often though not always often they come from homes where there was stability and where there was Christian example and where the lives of the parents greatly impacted the lives of the children and to this day the repercussion of the children continues because the parents began the process I have the privilege of having two godly parents and they are still my best prayer warriors praying for me every day praying for all their children for all their great grandchildren and the impact that my mom and dad have through the lives of other people and through the lives of their children my sister's a missionary in Africa I have another sister who's been a missionary in Mexico what God says is what I would like to do is to see parents who walk with God and then the Lord says I will bless their children so that they can follow in their parents footsteps so first of all when God wants to prepare a leader he prepares the parents first but second and now what I have to say will not contradict my first statement though it may appear to be that way the commitment of the parents is often greater than the commitment of the children there is such a thing as the second generation syndrome the second generation does not necessarily feel the fervency and the devotion and the commitment of the first generation who forged their own faith made it their own who were ablaze for God who communicated the fire but somehow it begins to die out and that certainly is true you look at the life of Samson Samson ended up being very mixed as we know I want you to listen very carefully one of the things that I have noticed is this that parents who do things in moderation oftentimes their children will do those things in excess and indeed there is such a thing as the second generation syndrome we see that in the book of Judges we see that all throughout history so you and I have to be very careful and very diligent in making sure that we do all that we possibly can to pass that torch and may the torch be lit when we pass it here at running to win we are deeply committed to getting the gospel of Jesus Christ to young people as well as old people those who are in different countries 50 different countries seven different languages why can we do that it's because people just like you help us and now as we approach the end of our fiscal year it ends at the end of this month it's my opportunity to challenge you and to remind you that this is a time when you can give a gift that will be doubled you give fifty dollars it turns out to be a hundred two hundred turns out to be four hundred well you can do the math of course the amount is entirely your discretion but here's what you can do to help us hope that you have a pen or pencil handy so that you can write this down go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 rtwoffer.com pick up the phone right now if you wish call us at 1-888-218-9337 from my heart to yours thanks for helping us. You can write to us at Running to Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614 Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Erwin Lutzer has brought part one of Samson the man who had it all the ninth of twelve messages taken from the book of Judges all on the topic we've been down this road before next time the saga of Samson continues thanks for listening for Pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
