Doing Your Own Thing!

Judges 13:5

Samson is one of the greatest puzzle in the Bible.
No one was ever so richly endowed with potential for glorious blessing and victory as Samson.
Yet, at the end, he was one of the greatest failures in history.

He came at a time of great need as we see in Chapter 13.
Chapter 13 begins with the old story of sin and failure.
"And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord;
and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years."

So it was that after 40 years of the Philistine domination, the Lord brought in Samson
to restore the people to Himself, and to release them from their bondage.
Undoubtedly, God had a glorious plan for victory, but Samson's response to the challenge
and the many opportunities resulted in a fearful plan for failure.

This is surely one of the reasons for exposing his life.
Each one of us who knows and loves the Lord should take careful heed how we act and react.
God has a plan for each of us, but we can do what Samson did.
We can choose our own way, and do our own thing; and insist upon our schemes
and our cleverness.
And, in doing so we will condemn ourselves to a similar life of failure.

Compared with every other judge in the book Samson had more of everything
that really mattered.
We noticed that Samson was always a "loner."
No one was a companion to him because no one could compete or keep up with him.

Judges 16:31 tells us that he judged Israel for 20 years.
God gave him those 20 years in which to accomplish his task, but he never succeeded.
He was the only one who failed.
Unlike every other judge, he was separated to God from the day of his birth.
The angel told his mother, "For the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb:
and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." (13:5)

He was dedicated by the Lord to deliver.
Samson was dedicated to deliver, but his whole attitude was, "Not Thy will, but mine, be done!"
Not only was he dedicated by God, he was also greatly blessed of the Lord:
"And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson:
and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him." (13:24)

Besides this verse, we read four times that the. Spirit of the Lord came upon him.
This event is recorded once only concerning Gideon (6:34) and only one time
concerning Jephthah. (11:29)

It is interesting to compare the way, God's Holy Spirit came to people
in the Old and New Testaments.
In the Old Testament, He came upon a person for a special purpose.
When the purpose was fulfilled the Spirit was withdrawn.
The verb used is "upon," not indwelling.

In the New Testament He came to dwell so that He might fill the heart and life of the believer.
This is clearly shown in Acts 2:3, 4 where the Holy Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost.
"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost…"

First, He came upon them, and then, they were filled.
In the Old Testament, He came, then went.
In the New Testament, He came to stay.

These Scriptures remind us how outstanding Samson was.
"And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him…" (13:25)
"And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him…" (14:6)
"And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him…" (14:9)
"And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him…" (15:14)

Humanly speaking, Samson was a superman in every way.
Physically, his name is synonymous with tremendous strength.
Potentially, he was the chosen one.
Mentally, he was intelligent and alert.
Spiritually, he had this unusual relationship with the Holy Spirit.
But, in spite of all this, he became an utter failure.

He did not deliver his people, but by a miserable contrast, he delivered himself
into the hands of his enemies.
Ehud's life produced 80 years of rest.
Deborah's won 40 years of peace.
Judges 8:28 says, "And the country was in quietness 40 years in the days of Gideon."
But there was no rest, peace, or quietness in connection with Samson's life.

The main purpose of this story is to show why it was the one so chosen and gifted
and yet ended up in absolute ruin.
Samson had one overruling area of failure, he was undisciplined.

He allowed all his rich potential to be dissipated in selfish and ugly ways.
Because he never disciplined himself, he could not disciplined others.
Because he was undisciplined, he was unspiritual.

Although he was God's chosen man, he refused to recognize the leadership of God in his life.
It could truly be said of him, "In those days there was no king in Israel:
every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

This is how a permissive society comes into being -- "when every man did that
which was right in his own eyes."
This was so in Samson's day because it was also true in his own life.
It can be equally true in our lives.
We live in a world which is dedicated to humanism, where God is either unknown or forgotten.
We must not allow our culture to mold our lives that we, too, even in our Christian lives,
follow the same example.

An undisciplined life is the cause of all the tragedy and heartache around us.
We can have all the ability, brains, and skill available, but if Jesus is not Lord of our lives,
the result will be worthless.
Inasmuch as we choose to live like Samson, in that we also condemn ourselves
to the same failure of Samson.

We see two prayers which are recorded in 15:18 and in 16:28.
Both of them are utterly selfish.
They are both about "I… Me… My."

An undisciplined life is a selfish life.

One of Samson's biggest problems was that he was trying to live with a guilty conscience.
Anyone who is undisciplined and conscious of his own unconfessed guilt is bound
to suffer in many ways.
Samson's guilt came from the words we read in 13:5:
"For the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb."
God's plan for Samson was that he should be a Nazirite.
Samson knew this, and this is where his guilt developed.

The teaching regarding the Nazirite is found in Numbers 6:1-21.
The key words in the entire chapter are "separate" and "separation."
"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
when either a man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow
of a Nazirite to separate themselves unto the Lord." (Verse two)

The word, Nazirite, means separated.
Being a Nazirite was not the same as belonging to the town of Nazareth.
The Lord Jesus was a Nazarene, but He was not a Nazirite as described in Numbers 6.

A man or woman could take on the vow of the Nazirite for as long as he or she chose.
In doing so, they accepted the strict discipline of four high standards in their lives.
Samson's was to be a Nazirite all his life.
God gave him the ability and potential to keep these four high standards,
but he chose "to do what was right in his own eyes."

Here are the four rules which he was to follow:
1. "He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shell drink no vinegar of wine,
or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes,
nor eat moist grapes, or dried." (Verse 3)

2. "All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head." (Verse 5)

3. "All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body."
(Verse 6)

4. "All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord." (Verse 8)

As you read the story of Samson, you will find that one by one he breaks those Nazirite vows.
He did not need to; he did not have to.
God had given him enough potential to remain true.
He simply chose to do what he wanted, regardless of the consequences.
This is just like many of us do today.

In Judges 14, we find Samson breaking the first prohibition.
Against all advice, he chose to marry a pagan girl from Timnath.
The pagan custom of those days was to hold a feast which lasted seven days.
Being a prospective bridegroom, was the chief man at this gathering,
and during the week long celebration, he must have joined the others in drinking and carousing.

This was customary and proper for the other guests, but Samson was different.
He was a separated man -- separated from all wine and strong drink.
But he drank and enjoyed it all with the rest, and in doing so,
he deliberately did what was right in his own eyes.

The vow concerning separation from a dead carcass was broken when, in the same chapter,
he killed the young lion.
Afterward, he handled the body to remove the honey from within it.
It is strange that the riddle he said in verse 14 concerned that this act
whereby he broke his third vow.

His involvement with prostitutes and harlots shattered any hope of him being a holy man of God.
"Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot and went in unto her." (16:1)
Here he was taking that wonderful strong body, especially given him from God,
and uniting it with the abused body of a common prostitute.

He also did this in 16:4.
"And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek,
whose name was Delilah."

The Bible is showing us that instead of seeking to deliver God's people,
he was intent on nothing but his own carnal pleasure.
Instead of exalting the name of Jehovah, he was seeking women for his own lustful purposes.
His involvement with Delilah was the height of sheer stupidity.
He knew that she was seeking to trick him, and yet, he went headlong to his doom.

A pastor tells of visiting a small country village in Scotland.
He said: "I happened to pass by the place where animals were slaughtered for their meat.
I saw a small corral in which were a dozen hogs.
I saw the man coming to kill these animals.
And I wondered what on earth he would do.
How could he capture them, for there were 12, and they were all loose?

But it was all so easy.
He carried a bucket in which there were some handfuls of tasty food nuts that hogs like to eat.
First, he threw up a few of these nuts into the corral, and there were squeals of delight
from the victims.

Then, he opened the gate and walked away, dropping a nut ever so often.
Those hogs loved it.
They scampered along behind him, not knowing where he was leading them.
He did not use a whip or any compelling force.
They followed him of their own free will.

I watched them disappear through an open door, which was closed behind them.
They had walked their way to their death."

This was true with Samson.
Delilah simply "rattled the bucket" and he followed to his death.

Of his four Nazirite vowels only one remained unbroken.
No razor had ever shaved his hair.

The pitiful story goes on from verse 6 telling how Delilah asked,
"Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound
to afflict thee."
She even told him why she wanted this knowledge -- so that he could be afflicted.
So the scene was set for the tragic event.

There were five lords of the Philistines each offering 1100 pieces of silver,
there was this avaricious woman with her eyes on the 5500 pieces of silver.
And there was this one man, God's chosen man, blessed and called of Him
to the high office of judge of all Israel.

Samson was full of self-confidence.
He had never lost a fight in his life, and he had never known defeat.
Here was God's man, and somehow, the Lord had kept him safe these 20 years.
He had broken three of his vows, and nothing had happened.
There was no thunder from the heavens, and no angel had appeared to condemn him.

And so he went on into the valley of death.
He teased the woman with false answers until we read in verse 15:
"And she said unto him, How can thou say, I love the, when thine heart is not with me?"
Here is where we come to the center of the situation -- his heart was not with her.
Somehow he was holding back, still seeking to maintain his heart relationship to Jehovah God.

Verses 16 and 17 show that Samson is weakening:
"And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him,
so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart…"

He had deliberately signed his own death warrant!
For he said: "There have not come a razor upon my head;
for I have been a Nazirite unto God from my mother's womb."
What amazing words!

He still considers himself a Nazirite -- still considered himself separated to God.
He had behind him 20 years of miserable failure, with nothing to show for the glory of God,
with every Nazirite vow broken, with every lustful passion satisfied,
and he still thought he was God's man.

He had told Delilah how he could be humbled and ruined.
Notice her reaction: "And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart…"
There is that key phrase once more.
"She sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying,
Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart."

In Luke 12:34, the Lord Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
Until that fateful night Samson's heart had some link with the Lord, but he took that awful step
and with "all his heart" became the possession of this evil woman.

The peak of agony in this story comes when his head had been shaved,
and he was roused to defend himself, "And he awoke out of his sleep, and said,
I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself.
And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him."

His previous position had been, "Sin and you can get away with it."
But this time, he shook himself and nothing happened.
No mighty strength came surging through his body.
These awful words were true: "And he [knew] not that the Lord was departed from him."

In a strange way, he had counted upon the presence of the Lord.
He had taken it for granted, and assumed that God would put up with any and every sin
that he cared to commit.
But he found out the truth -- too late!
God will not tolerate his sin or ours.

They took him, and bound him, and put out his eyes.
He sent himself into a world of darkness.
He who had been so free now became a human machine only to grind in the prison house.

There was great celebration and jubilation among the Philistines.
A special day of Thanksgiving was planned at the temple of Dagon, their god.
"Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice
unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice:
For they said, Our god hath delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hand."

As their rejoicing continued, they called for Samson to be brought before them
so they could mock him.
A lad let him by the hand, and he stood blind and helpless between two pillars.
It was then that Samson cried to the Lord God -- but notice, there is no sign of repentance.
There is no word of regret.
There is only a burning passion for revenge.

Verse 30 presents the final episode: "And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.
And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords,
and upon all the people that were therein.
So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life."

His death was in keeping with his lifestyle which was always having his own will
and always having his own way.

We need to remember that the lords who paid for his capture perished with him.
Delilah was sure to have been there because she was the great heroine.
She also perished in this final massacre.
The building which collapsed was the temple of Dagon.
So, at the end, the Lord used Samson to execute judgment and destruction
on the place, the priests, and the people.

All through this message, the Holy Spirit has been challenging us to search our own hearts.
Is God, Lord, of our lives?
Are we willing to follow God's plan for our lives?
Or are we more like those who "talk big and live a little," of whom it could be said:
"In those days there was no king… Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes?"
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
(Galatians 6:7)

"When you think to do wrong, know that God on His throne
Sees and hears everything you do or say;
Not one thing can go by from His all-seeing eye,
God knows all, and remember, we will reap what we sow.

We will reap seeds we've sown, they'll bring tears or bring joy,
Have you brought grief to some kind, loving heart?
Or have you sown some love, and pointed souls above?
God sees all, and remember, we will reap what we sow.

So be careful, dear ones, what kind of seeds you sow,
Lest some day there will be sad regrets and misery;
Be careful, I say, what kind of seed you sow today,
Lest some day you will weep when you reap what you sow."
-- By Lottie Porter

Sermon adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White