Right in God’s Eyes Part 7 - Strength Through Separation

Samson - A judge in Israel whose strength and moral weakness made him famous.

Judges 13:1 (ESV)

1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

7th time in book of Judges – “evil in the sight of the Lord”

Judges 13:2–5 (ESV)

2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

Infertile couple

            Crying out to God

            Answers prayer

            Sends JESUS! (Angel of the Lord) – even when the world is doing what is right in their own eyes, Jesus is still around changing lives. True today!

            This BOY IS SPECIAL!

                        “Begin to save Israel from the Philistines”

            BEGIN? Begin to save?

Judges 13:6–7 (ESV)

6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”

Special kid – special treatment

Nazirite Vow 3 commitments:

1.     No grapes or alcohol (no unclean foods assumed for good Jews)

2.     No haircuts

3.     No dead things

            Why? – some did it for deliverance from disease or sickness; penance; fulfillment of a wish (according to Josephus and early church fathers)

            What? 30 days or longer (or lifetime)

            Others?

                        Samson

                        Samuel 1 Samuel 1:10–11 (ESV)

                     John the Baptist

                        Paul for season?

the Hebrew word nazir, simply means “to be separated or consecrated”

Nazirite vow – consecrating oneself to the Lord

Judges 13:8 (ESV)

8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”

Teach us how to parent this special child!

 ANGEL APPEARS to her, She gets Manoah

Judges 13:12–14 (ESV)

12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

Be careful to do everything- BUT YOU DON’T GET THE WHOLE STORY/MISSION

Numbers 6 – describes the Nazirite vow

            Already a custom, chapter describes how to do it

Judges 13:24–25 (ESV)

24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

About 20 miles west of Jerusalem.

Timnah – about 6 miles away

The Spirit began to stir him

Judges 14:1–3 (ESV)

1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

LUST at first sight!

“right in my eyes” – God’s word forbids it!

            Samson separated to God – but feels he only needs to do that to have favor of God.

Pick and choose what parts of God’s Word

            We all have our list of things that we think are bad and say, “I would never…”

James 2:10–11 (CSB)

10 For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all. 11 For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.

We can’t pick and choose what parts of the moral law to obey.

ILLUSTRATION: if I have a fear of spiders and I see a spider out of the corner of my eye, my body and heart immediately go into fight or flight. Heart beats faster, I may jump, all physical responses to what I perceive is there. When I look closer and realize it is a dust bunny. – I had feelings based on what I perceived to be reality, but was not reality.

Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)

23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

SAMSON didn’t guard his heart. He was led by feelings instead of faith.

Judges 14:4 (ESV)

4 His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

Judges 14:5–6 (ESV)

5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

Timnah where the girl was

Now, not with parents –

            Notice in the “vineyards of Timnah”

WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN A VINEYARD???? Not supposed to even touch grapes

            Lion attack – Satan trying to thwart the plan of God

“If that roaring lion, that goes about continually seeking whom he may devour, find us alone among the vineyards of the Philistines, where is our hope? Not in our heels, he is swifter than we: not in our weapons, we are naturally unarmed: not in our hands, which are weak and languishing; but in the Spirit of God, by whom we can do all things. If God fight in us, who can resist us? There is a stronger lion in us than that against us.” (Charles Spurgeon)     - David Guzik, Judges, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Jdg 14:5–9.

Judges 14:8–9 (ESV)

8 After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.

SAMSON’S COMPROMISE

1.     Wanting to marry a Philistine  (sin)

2.     Walking in the vineyard (flirting with sin)

3.     Touching the dead carcass (breaking vow)

Honey in the lion

            CARCASS- dead body .

Didn’t tell mom and dad. Knew it was wrong, but thought benefit outweighed the cost.

When we rationalize our actions, we tell ourselves “rational lies” to justify ourselves.

Right in our own eyes.

Rationalize – “rational lies” = “Right in our own eyes”

SAMSON – Self-made man; doesn’t lead others into battle, does it all himself

IN VINEYARD – permissible, but not beneficial

1 Corinthians 10:23 (NLT)

23 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial.

TEMPTATION comes in the permissible

*COMPROMISE DULLS YOUR SPIRITUAL SENSES

Proverbs 5:21–23 (NLT)

21 For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. 22 An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. 23 He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.

Judges 14:10–11 (ESV)

10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

“feast” = drinking party

Samson – throwing drinking party? (supposed to be the designated driver)

Judges 14:12–14 (ESV)

12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, 13 but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14 And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” And in three days they could not solve the riddle.

Judges 14:19–20 (ESV)

19 And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

Spirit of the Lord “rushed upon him” –

Samson relied on the Spirit of the Lord for strength

Not a body builder

What was the source of his strength?

Judges 16:4–6 (ESV)

4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 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.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

Strength was in his vow of separation – not the hair

Strength in separation

NAZIRITE VOW HANDOUT

https://www.revealfellowship.com/extreme

Encourage to do in a group of 3 or 4 and commit to do (month of October?)

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Application

Where are you flirting with temptation? (walking in a vineyard)

What things of death are you touching?

Where do you fear identifying with Jesus?