Samson: A Man With Two Hearts "“ Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Jesus said, a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Neither can a man who is trying to go in two directions at once. Samson's path of life was complicated by disobedience to God. Today, how to learn from his mistakes.

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, why did you title today's message, A Man with Two Hearts?

Dave, I did that because I can't think of a better way to describe Samson. On the one hand, he was morally a failure. He loved sensuality. On the other hand, he did love God. And of course, as he vacillated between the two, he got into a lot of trouble. But in the end, God did bless him. You know, as you've been listening to this series of messages, perhaps you've asked yourself, how can I have this series so that I can listen to it again and again?

Because one of the things that we learn is history does repeat itself. So for a gift of any amount, here's what you can do. Go to RTWOffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. I'll be giving you that contact info again. But for now, let's listen to the story of a man who had two hearts. A problem always is an impure heart or a divided heart. Martin Luther said that he feared his own heart more than he did the Pope. And the reason for that is because the Bible says that a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. And then it adds, let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord. Perhaps one of the reasons that we do not have answered prayer as frequently as we do is because of double mindedness, a divided heart.

How would we characterize someone with a double mind? First of all, he breaks promises he intends to keep. He wants to keep his promises. When he's making the promises, he believes he's going to because he wants to. But he does not understand the depth of his need. He is still half hearted in his commitment.

Consequently, though he makes the promise, he does not follow through. That's one way to characterize him. The second way is to say that he's controlled by convenience rather than convictions. Convenience is really what controls him so that when he's in difficulty, a double minded person cries to the Lord and says, Lord, help me and be near me. And then God comes through for him and then he forgets about God and he continues to go his own way. If you were to try to characterize him, he's something like a yo-yo.

He's up one day, down the next, and he simply does not have that deep sense of focused commitment. Third way to characterize him is that he attempts the impossible. Jesus said, no man can serve God and man, no man can serve God and money, but the double minded man thinks that he can do it. He believes that he can give half his heart to God and half his heart to the world and all will be well. What he doesn't understand is as he gives that half heart to the world, he is taking his entire heart away from God.

Because the scripture says that we cannot serve God and man. It says that there is within us the principle of the spirit and the principle of the flesh and these are contrary to one another and if we are lovers of the world, we are enemies of God. Do you see today how double mindedness grows in all of our hearts? As you look at this description that I've given so briefly, the simple fact is that all of us at times are double minded. Now what God wants to do in the process is to purify our hearts as we've been singing about. He wants to rid us of these two hearts and give us one that is holy his because the scripture says that the eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the whole earth seeking him whose heart is perfect toward him. You say well is it necessary to be unsaved to have a double heart to be double minded?

Not necessarily. There are Christians who have double minds. As I mentioned a moment ago, all of us from time to time have struggled with double mindedness and as we grow in the Christian life, it is God's desire to rid us of two commitments that we really cannot make. Today we're going to study the life of Samson who I take to be someone who is often double minded. Samson. The story is found in the 15th chapter of the book of Judges.

As you know this is a third message on the life of Samson. Judges chapter 15 and the context has to do with this bad marriage that we spoke about last time. Remember Samson made so many mistakes in his marriage and in choosing a bride and he never really recovered from them and actually after the wedding feast he goes back home and in the process of going back home his wife is really given to his best man and yet Samson maybe doesn't know about it. He doesn't know about it at the time and he's going to visit her later. Now sometimes in those days you did get married and then you made an occasional visit to your wife which was not a bad idea at all that is a visiting her.

You didn't live with her and this is what's happening here in the text. The problem is that when he goes back he discovers the bad news that his father-in-law has given the bride to somebody else. What we're going to see in our study today is that it was God's intention to move Samson from double-mindedness to single-mindedness to purify him and to make him a real man of God and it appears as if it's working. Though in the end next time we'll see Samson and Delilah he falls into the snare of sensuality.

But now let's pick up the text chapter 15 of Judges. Later on at the time of the wheat harvest Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said I'm going to my wife's room but her father would not let him go in. He says I was so sure you thoroughly hated her that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive?

Take her instead. It was a bad idea from the father, a bad idea for Samson. He was not impressed and that's where Samson decides now to take vengeance. Now what we're going to do today is to bring our video cameras and we're going to take three portraits of Samson and all three are going to have a lot of action. Portrait number one I want you to see Samson today as an avenger.

He's an avenger. He's going to get even with the Philistines. He says in verse three this time I have a right to get even with the Philistines. I will really harm them and that's the story now that I alluded to last week where he catches 300 foxes and he ties their tails together with a thong probably an oil-soaked thong and then he lights this torch this thong and these foxes run throughout the barley fields.

If your video camera is working this would be very interesting to capture wouldn't it? Now I read a commentator who said you have 300 foxes going in 300 different directions. I think that's wrong. If I'm reading this text correctly it's 300 foxes going in 150 different directions because you remember they're tied together and they're going throughout the fields and because it's the time of harvest everything is dry and ripe and fire starts and the scripture says that the grain was burned the standing grain and the olive groves were burned as well. So Samson reeks his vengeance. The Philistines are not amused. They don't see the humor in this and so they form a congressional committee and they say to themselves what we want to do is to find out who did this and so they go to Samson or at least they ask and they are told what happened. Verse six when the Philistines asked who did this they were told Samson the Timnite's son-in-law because his wife was given to his friend and so the Philistines don't like this and they think well we're going to heap vengeance on this father-in-law and Samson's bride and that will take care of the problem. So wouldn't you know it they become very nasty and they burn her that is the bride and her father to death.

That was their response. They maybe thought that he did socially do something that was very inappropriate by giving her to somebody else but at any rate the Philistines I'm sure think Samson is going to leave us alone because we have avenged him by killing his father-in-law and his bride which was never really his bride. Samson uses this as an occasion however to an excuse to kill the Philistines.

You'll notice what it says. He says since you've acted like this I won't stop until I get my revenge on you. He attacked them viciously and scattered many of them then he went down and stayed in a cave in a rock of Etham. Now Samson is wreaking vengeance a second time.

We have to pause here and ask this question. What's going on here in the text? What do you think of Samson? Samson is supposed to be a man of God but he doesn't appear to be a man of God exactly.

He's part clown, part prankster. We see him as he reaps vengeance upon the people. Now he was supposed to overcome and subdue the Philistines but you can't help but say to yourself this does not seem to be the actions of a man of God. This petty vengeance, this business of getting even in that way. There's no systematic plan to fight.

There's no desire to recruit other Israelites to help fight and to get up an army. He's just going about doing as much damage as he possibly can. Samson is a mixed bag as we've emphasized. Part of him can be decent and strong as we'll notice a part of him immature and silly.

He's a grown child. Let's look at a second snapshot of Samson and that is Samson the peacemaker. What happens in the cave is remarkable. I think in this cave Samson really did meet God. We pick it up in verse 9. It says the Philistines went up and camped in Judah spreading out near Lehi and the men of Judah asked why have you come to fight us? They're asking the Philistines this and they said we have come to take Samson prisoner they answered to do him as he did to us. Now what do the men of Judah do? These are supposed to be Samson's friends. Well they go down to the cave in the rock and they say to Samson don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us? He answered I merely did to them what they did to me. They've said well we've come to tie you up and to hand you over to the Philistines and Samson says just swear that you won't kill me and they said we won't kill you but let us bind you up and so they take two brand new ropes and they bind Samson and he lets them do it.

Have you got the second scene in your mind? The most remarkable thing is you have three thousand men of Judah. These are the Israelites of all things. They should be standing up with Samson. They should be saying Samson you have been able to avenge us of the Philistines and you are our hero. How can we help you fight? Instead what they say is because we don't want to be hurt we want to give you over to the Philistines. He's being given over by three thousand sniveling cowards who should have been fighting with him and they're saying we're betraying you to the enemy. You can see that there are some people who can make peace with their enemy. There's some people who are so absorbed in their own life that they will not fight as long as there is a struggle and they say to themselves I will not get involved just as long as my peace and security and my comfort is unaffected and so they want to get rid of Samson.

They're willing to do that. Why did I tell you a moment ago that I think Samson really met God in this cave? Because of his reaction to them. Notice how he controlled his words. He didn't lash out and say now as a result of what you're doing I just can't believe this I'm going to destroy you folks here it is I lay my life on the line I'm heaping vengeance upon the Philistines these people who worship false gods and what do I get in return all that I get in return is the fact that you begin to side with the enemy and hand me over to him.

That would have been a legitimate speech to give but he doesn't give it. He's willing to be submissive that's why I say he's a very complex character he controlled his words he controlled his strength as long as he had a promise that they would not kill him he was willing to simply give himself up to them and to be handed over to the Philistines and so he was willing to do that humiliated though he was he was under the subjection of his own people. So I say Samson the peacemaker. Samson the avenger. Samson the peacemaker. Now there's a third portrait of him and that is Samson the victor. Let's read the text. The scripture says in verse 14 of Judges 15 as he approached Lehi the Philistines came toward him shouting and 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 finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

Wow are you catching that on your video. Can you imagine Samson he's got this jawbone and there's some men the Philistines who come against him and say we're going to overcome you we're going to fight against you we're going to kill you then he starts swatting with this jawbone and and people are being killed and then there are other recruits who say we can't let this happen just look at what's happening to our men let's gang up on him and do it but the more they gang up on him the more he continues to to kill them until you have and this is difficult for us to grasp you have there on the battlefield at Lehi one thousand men essentially or approximately who are lying dead what a scene. Now you'll notice what Samson said and there's a play on words going on here in the text but because your Bible is open you'll be able to follow first of all that word Lehi that I've spoken about before it's the word in Hebrew for jawbone and and so Lehi was jawbone that was where perhaps carcasses were put and there was a carcass of a donkey that was lying there and that's the one that Samson picked up but you'll notice after he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men he said with a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them with a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men.

Now if you're here with a different translation of the Bible you may wonder why the NIV translates it this way. What you need to understand is that essentially the word for donkey and the word for heap or pile is related essentially the same word so some translations say you know with a donkey's jawbone heap upon heap and so forth so translators have been a little bit challenged as to how they should translate this. This translation says with a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them with a donkey's jawbone I've killed a thousand men. Let me just cut through all the translation problems and say that I think what Samson was trying to say is with the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand donkeys that's essentially what what he's trying to say to the people and to himself. So Samson is there having won this tremendous victory he's the victor obviously it made a great impact upon the Philistine army and no doubt they are quite ready to to throw in the towel at this point because the victory was so complete. Then we find that the place was called Ramoth. Ramoth means heap or it can also mean hill, jawbone hill, Ramoth Lehi and because he was very thirsty can't understand why I mean he's only killed a thousand people he cried out to the Lord you have given your servant this great victory must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised. Then God opens up the hollow place there in Lehi and water comes out and Samson drank it and his strength returned. What we also find is that in the last part of the chapter verse 20 he led Israel for 20 years in the days of the Philistines. He was a judge for 20 years.

Can you imagine for 20 years the people came to him to settle their disputes. Do you see how God matured this immature man? Also I want you to notice in the text when he prayed here so far as I know it's the only time really that he prayed until the day of his death at least the only recorded time when he's praying and saying God you've given me this great victory don't let me die of thirst.

I don't know about you but I think most of us would like to die if we had to die young to die for something significant and not just because of something silly. If you're going to die die for something significant Samson says don't let me die of thirst after all this and God graciously grants him his request. Well today's message has been a little unusual hasn't it because all that I've been able to do so far is to tell you the story of chapter 15.

We've talked about the three portraits of him in the field he is an avenger with the foxes in the cave he becomes a peacemaker and now on jawbone hill he becomes a victor. So how does this transform our lives? What difference should it make? How can we live this week differently because of the story recorded in Judges chapter 15?

I'd like to give you three life-changing lessons so that the application becomes very personal and very direct. First of all God often uses our friends and not our enemies to purify us. God often uses our friends and not our enemies to purify us.

You'll notice that as long as the Philistines were after Samson as long as they were the ones who were fighting against him he had no problem with him. I believe that when his own people betrayed him it hurt him very deeply but it also made him a more spiritual person and I want you to know that the deepest hurts that we sometimes endure of life in life are those hurts of betrayal where we feel people who should have stood up for us have not done so and therefore it hurts. Now the Bible does say faithful are the wounds of a friend but sometimes when we have expectations for people and we think that most assuredly they should support us they should stand up for us they should speak in our behalf and they don't sometimes those hurts are used by God in the most pointed way to bring about the transformation of life that we so desperately need. God hurts his people. God takes the pruning knife since we're talking about a pure heart. God takes a pruning knife and he cuts back the branches. You know this is Pastor Lutzer and I want to speak to you very personally because some of you have experienced betrayal and I can't think of any emotion that is more difficult to accept and to work through than if you've been betrayed by someone who should have indeed stood up for you.

In fact I might be speaking to some of you who have been betrayed by your marriage partner. I hope that you go for help but at the same time I want to remind you that God is with you and in this series of messages which I've entitled we've been down this road before one of the things that we emphasize is that history does repeat itself and the kind of hurts that we are experiencing today and the struggles within our culture are not new. If you want to listen to these messages again and again and share them with your friends we're making them available for you for a gift of any amount. Remember the title we've been down this road before I hope that you have a pen or pencil handy as I give you some contact info.

Go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. You see my friend as we look back on history even the history found in the book of Judges we not only see parallels to today but we also see the pitfalls that we ourselves must avoid that's why this series of messages is so crucial. It's important for us as a country but it's also important for us as individuals and yes as the series title is we have been down this road before let's learn from the past. 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 a man with two hearts the 11th of 12 messages taken from the book of Judges all on the topic we've been down this road before. God is not yet finished with this imperfect servant. Next time the surprising ending to this story plan to join us. Thanks for listening for Pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.