What Makes Strong Men Weak?
SAMSON Part 1
If you’re a follower of Christ,
then you have within you
a potential for supernatural greatness.
God wants to raise up some spiritual leaders
from people right in this room
who he can use to make a tremendous difference in this world.
This is so important to talk about on Fathers day,
because historically, there's often been
a shortage of godly men.
In fact, I want to start this morning
with one of the most tragic verses in the Bible,
God said in Ezek 22:30 NIV
"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap, on behalf of the land, so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.
God said:
...I looked for a man...
But how many did He find?
Scripture says:
...but I found none.
Zero, zippo, not one;
not one man who would stand in the gap!
Maybe if God were speaking that verse today,
He would say:
I'm looking for a man with integrity;
I'm looking for a man of courage;
I'm looking for a man who will stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves;
I'm looking for a man who would lay down his life to serve his bride
as Christ laid down His life to serve the church.
I'm looking for a man who would speak and model spiritual truth
to the next generation.
I'm looking for a man who would stand in the gap.
And I believe with all of my heart,
if God looked for such a man at this church,
He wouldn't find none,
He’d find many.
I believe that God would find many people
who are so fully committed to Him,
they’d stand in the gap,
they’d do whatever it takes to serve him.
Years ago there was a guy named Henry Varley, in England,
He was talking to a young man from Chicago,
who was visiting England,
and he said this:
The world has yet to see what God can do through one man whose heart is totally surrendered unto Him.
The young man he was talking to was named D.L. Moody.
And Moody heard those words,
and he let them sink in,
and he thought about them,
and it was like they started burning inside him.
A year later he came back to England,
and he found Henry Varley again,
and said, you remember those words you spoke to me?
Varley couldn’t even remember specifically what he’d said.
But Moody reminded him, You said…
The world has yet to see what God can do through one man whose heart is totally surrendered unto Him.
Then Moody said,
I aim to be that man.
And DL Moody became one of the greatest evangelists
of the last several hundred years:
I aim to be that man!
God is looking for men of
integrity and honor and courage and faithfulness…
I aim to be that man.
Today we're starting a new series
studying the life of Samson.
If you want to read ahead,
you can find the story of Samson in Judges Chapter 13 - 16.
Samson's accomplishments are amazing…
But at the same time,
so are his weaknesses.
In fact, he's like a lot of us.
Samson had so much God-given potential;
and yet, again and again he made bad decisions
and pretty much self-destructed.
God had given him, just like you,
so much potential to make a difference with his life;
and yet, again and again, he made poor decisions.
In fact, if I would summarize his life with one statement,:
Samson was an incredibly strong man, with a dangerously weak will.
And that actually describes many of us here:
We’re strong in many ways,
we have a lot or resources, and education, and connections,
We’re stronger than we realize,
which means we have tremendous spiritual potential,
but at the same time
we have a dangerously weak will,
like Samson did.
Let me give you the background of Samson’s story:
Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt,
through the desert,
but after 40 years in the desert he died,
so Joshua led the people into the promised land,
the land of Israel.
They conquered the land and lived there,
but eventually Joshua died,
and the people turned away from God,
and because of that,
God stopped protecting them and blessing them.
So various enemies were able to conquer them.
At the time of Samson,
the Philistines were in control of Israel.
After years of slavery to the Philistines,
God said, 'Hopefully you've learned your lesson.
So I'm going to raise up a man, Samson,
to help my people get free from bondage to the Philistines.'
So, God sent an angel to this couple
that hadn’t been able to conceive.
And the angel says,
'You're going to give birth to boy named Samson.'
They did,
and from the very beginning of Samson's life,
God’s Spirit started working powerfully in him,
and God gave him physical strength
that is beyond anything we could imagine.
And the angel also told Samson,
'I want you to live by Nazirite vows.'
You might say,
"What in the world is a Nazirite vow?"
Well you can go read about it in Numbers Chapter Six,
Essentially this was a way under the OT law,
where a non-priest,
an ordinary person,
could make some vows
to be set apart, for the use and glory of God.
So, a non-priest could say,
"I'm living by these vows.
I am devoting myself to serve God totally."
And there were three vows we are going to see
that Samson had to live by.
The first vow was:
No drinking alcohol!
No bud light, no martinis,
no margaritas with your Mexican food!
On Wednesday evening Kathy and I and a few other leaders from our church were having dinner with some African visitors from Ghana.
One of them told a story about his church in Ghana. He said the pastor there was against any kind of drinking, so he was preaching about the dangers of alcohol, and he really got worked up, and he said we’re going to gather up all the whiskey, and pour it in the river, wine… beer… and went on… At the end of the service the song leader came up and said,
now for our closing hymn, lets sing, Shall we gather at the river.
A person living under Nazirite vows couldn’t touch alcohol!
The second vow was:
Don't touch anything dead.
Especially dead people or animals.
Couldn’t touch anything dead.
Third vow was:
No hair cuts, let your hair grow long.
Now, some of you are thinking,
what’s up with the hair thing?
Does God not like crew cuts?
I can understand the alcohol and maybe the dead thing,
although that would make it tough in deer season,
but what’s the purpose of the hair?
Some of you older guys are thinking,
When I was growing up in the 60’s, I was living with Nazirite vows,
except maybe the getting drunk part.
What’s the purpose of this long hair thing?
Well, remember about a month ago, on a Sunday morning
we had about 20 people get baptized up here?
It was very exciting.
Well, baptism was put in place by God,
as an outward and visible sign,
of an inward and spiritual truth.
You’re doing something on the outside,
that shows the spiritual commitment you made on the inside.
In the same way, Samson’s hair was
an outward and visible sign,
of an inward, spiritual commitment.
Or another example.
My wedding ring is an outward sign
that I am married to Kathy.
My ring doesn’t make me married,
anyone can put on a ring,
but it’s a sign that I am married.
In the same way, Samson’s long hair
was an outward and a visible sign
everybody could see,
that he was set apart to be used by God.
So Samson is told by God to live by these 3 Nazirite vows
Don’t drink alcohol,
Don’t touch anything dead,
Don’t cut your hair.
These are obviously not things
that God asks us all to do today,
this was for a particular situation at a particular time.
And because Samson is set apart for God,
God gives Samson amazing strength.
We’re going to read stories about him
battling 1,000 Philistine men by himself,
and ripping a lion apart with his bare hands,
carrying 2 to 4,000 pounds on his back,
just amazing strength.
And yet, with all of this God-given potential,
his weak will got him into trouble
again and again.
We are going to watch as Samson betrays God
for a handful of honey.
We're going to watch as his temper gets the best of him
and he kills 30 innocent men because he lost a bet.
We're going to watch as
his lust for women gets him in trouble again and again.
In fact, as I read about Samson,
I realize more and more,
he's just like us.
He had so much potential for greatness,
and yet again and again
he squandered that potential
with stupid living.
And I see that happening all the time.
How many people have you seen
that are really aggressive at work,
they’re type A leaders,
they take charge, and conquer;
But then they come home
and they're passive, hands off,
they don't lead their family or their kids.
They're committed in one place
and uncommitted where it matters even more.
How many men have you seen,
that are committed to their finances, their career, and their hobby;
and yet, they can't commit to a woman!
What's up with that?
I know men that’ll spend hours researching,
what's the best rod and reel?
or what's that best kind of TV to buy,
they’ll spend hours watching the Reds or Bengals,
they devote hours to that,
but won't spend five minutes in God's Word
so they can grow spiritually.
Other men truly do love God,
and truly do love their wives.
And yet, these men with so much potential,
are locked in a prison of lust,
or deception,
or destructive habits,
and won’t do what it takes
to get help, and get out of it.
So much potential
and yet, at the same time, self-destructing,
with bad decision after bad decision.
That was Samson.
In fact, his life shows us 3 very specific attitudes
that make strong men weak.
Those attitudes in your notes, they are:
Lust, entitlement and pride.
What is lust?
When a man sees something that he desires,
what does he say?
He lusts after it and he says:
I want it!
… gotta have it!
… gonna get it!
Some of you strong guys, say that with me,
and you have to put a little growl into your voice.
I want it!
… gotta have it!
… gonna get it!
All of us have had to deal with that.
We see something,
and we want it,
and we want it now.
And what’ll happen is,
a man who wants something like that,
who slips into a pattern of lust,
he forgets about all logic.
Maybe he wants a woman,
or maybe a quick fix,
he’s got a habit or addiction,
maybe its a sexual thrill.
It could be that he wants that promotion,
or that money,
It may be the new boat or new house, or car,
But whatever it is.
when he wants it,
he forgets about logic
because I want it, gotta have it, gonna get it.
We see Samson do this in Judges 14:1-2:
Samson went down to Timnah and there saw there a smoking hot young Philistine woman...
Okay, I added a couple words,
but I’m sure it was true,
because Samson was a sucker for hot women!
Verse two:
When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."
You hear what he’s saying?
I want it! … gotta have it! … gonna get it!
Now, what was going on here?
Even though the Philistines had conquered Israel,
the people still lived separately.
So Samson left Zora, his home town in Israel,
and he walked four miles to Timnah,
across the border,
into enemy territory,
a Philistine town.
And there he saw a woman,
that was forbidden to him
because God had told the people of Israel,
'Don’t intermarry with people who don’t worship me'.
But Samson sees her,
and lust takes over.
He says,
I want it, gotta have it, gonna get it.
Samson says,
I don't care what God says;
I don't care what my Dad says.
I don't care what my Mom says,
I don't care what's right
and I don't care what's wise,
because I'm a man
and I want it, gotta have it, gonna get it.
Lust makes strong men weak.
The second thing we see in this story,
is a spirit of entitlement.
Not only do I want it,
but I believe that I deserve it.
In fact, help me out here,
everybody say it,
I deserve it!
"I work hard, I deserve it!"
"I've been slaving away, I deserve it!"
"I put up with her, I deserve it!"
"I put up with him, I deserve it!"
Samson gets this attitude.
Judges 14:5-6
Suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came on him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat.
So he came across a lion
and the Spirit of God came on him
and he ripped this lion apart!
When I was reading this, I was trying to think of the last time I ripped apart a lion with my bare hands. Its been quite a while. Okay, I admit it, I’ve never fought a lion.
When I was trying to think of the most fierce animal attack I ever encountered, I had to go way back to when I was about 16 years old, and I took a job driving this pontoon boat around a lake for a real estate company that was selling lakefront property.
So I showed up the first day for work, and they said the boats down there at the dock, you can go check it out. But by the way there’s a couple mean geese that live by the dock, so watch out for them. I’m thinking, mean geese. Oh come on.
But sure enough when I walk out on the dock, these two geese come charging at me. So I waited till they were almost on me, then quickly sidestepped, and swept them into the water. And they never bothered me again.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You’re thinking, Ken, come on. Geese are not exactly ferocious creatures. That is not like Samson fighting a lion.
Little do you know.
You are just saying that because you’ve never experienced, a life threatening goose attack.
I thought I show you a few examples of just how vicious these dangerous geese can be.
VIDEO>
Here is an innocent businessman, who doesn’t realize his life is actually in danger.
(he thinks he’s safe now, but nooooooo.)
Here’s another victim – I’m sad to say that after this brutal attack he was never seen again.
I’m sorry to tell you, your children are not safe.
Finally, an innocent fisherman forever traumatized by an undercover ninja goose.
Yes, this goose looks innocent – but just wait.
Okay, I think that’s pre-tty conclusive proof
that my goose attack story rates right up there
with Samson and his lion.
So now that I’ve established my manhood,
Lets go on to Verse 8
Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along.
Now, I want you to notice a couple things.
First of all, that's pretty nasty!
You got a dead, decaying lion,
probably maggots crawling all over it,
and he scoops honey out of the carcass.
You've got to admit that's nasty!
But at the same time, a lot of us guys think
that’s kind of cool.
Yeah, I ate some honey out of a dead lion,
because I’m tough, I’m mean, I’m nasty.
I’m a man.
We read about Samson and we’re impressed.
Hey Samson, that was nasty,
way to go buddy.
"Because, men, we are nasty, right!"
In fact, women if you don't believe me,
just watch how a man determines if a pair of underwear on the floor
is clean or dirty!
What does a man do to figure that out?
Well, I'm not even going to tell you how,
but you women think its nasty!
And men, if it is dirty
what do you do?
Well, duhhh.
You turn it inside out and wear it again!
A lot of people just decided not to come back to the Vineyard!
So anyway, the point was,
getting honey out of a dead lion is nasty:
But the real point is:
What was Samson not supposed to touch?
With his Nazirite vows,
he wasn't supposed to touch dead things…
like, for example, the carcass of a dead lion.
And what did he do?
He betrays his vow
to the God who blessed him
and gave him the power to rip apart the lion.
And what causes him to betray that vow?
A handful of honey.
Who would be stupid enough to betray God
for a handful of honey?
Is that ridiculous
to do that over something so little?
Yet the truth is,
people all around us do it every single day.
We betray our God
who blessed us in so many ways,
and we do it for stupid, sinful things
that only hurt us
and hurt those around us.
We do it because of Lust,
I want it,
gotta have it,
gonna get it.
And we do it because of Entitlement:
I deserve it.
Now when it comes to temptation,
there's the 3rd attitude that makes strong men weak,
and that is: Pride.
What do we think men?
We think,
"Oh, I can handle it!
I'm strong, I can handle it!
Judges 14:10
Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men.
Samson tells his parents, I want to marry this chick,
so his dad goes down to see her…
because they're planning a wedding:
And then Samson says,
I’ve got a great idea,
I’ll have a bachelor party.
The Hebrew word that's translated as feast
is the word 'mishteh'.
The literal meaning is a drinking party.
This is not a formal sit-down dinner,
this is a kegger,
a party for everyone to get drunk.
Now hold on…
what were those 3 vows?
Don't cut your hair.
Don't touch dead things.
What was the 3rd Nazirite vow?
Don't drink alcohol.
Now, the bible tells us not to get drunk,
but with that stipulation,
there’s nothing wrong in itself
with alcohol, or bachelor parties,
but Samson had made a vow to God,
and so he knew it was not okay for him.
But he gets proud, and says,
I can handle it, I can handle it.'
No big deal.
He has now broken 2 out of his 3 vows.
But I can handle it.
No big deal.
That’s an attitude that makes strong men weak.
Lust, entitlement, and pride.
Let me tell you,
there are many of us here today,
that God has given us great potential
to do things that would bring glory to His name;
And yet we think,
"I'm strong, I can handle it!"
Or we feel entitled and say, I deserve it.
Or we see something and say,
I want it, gotta have it, gonna get it.
Why do we do that?
Well, we see people all around us
with those 3 attitudes, lust—entitlement--pride
so we just go along,
But those are the attitudes
that will destroy your strength,
and destroy your purpose in life,
destroy your ability to make a difference with your life,
those attitudes will make you weak.
Now, I don't know what exactly it looks like for you,
It could be any number of things,
you’re dealing with.
it could be an addictive habit,
thoughts or fantasy’s,
it could be the way you’re spending your time,
and you know it doesn’t honor God.
It could be excessive desires for stuff,
so you’re always saying,
"I want better stuff, I want the car, I want the toy!
I deserve it!
I can handle the payments!"
"It could be sexual temptation.
You say, it’s not hurting anyone,
I deserve it.
"I want it, I deserve it, I can handle it!"
You know the area God is speaking to you about.
What’s the end result of those attitudes?
If you fast forward to the end of Samson's life,
you see the strongest man who ever lived,
the man who right from birth
had God's hand upon him,
and God's Spirit strengthening him,
You see this man blind,
with his eyes gouged out,
now he’s the laughingstock of the Philistines,
tied to a grinding wheel,
in the place of an ox, grinding grain.
He couldn’t have sunk any lower.
That is the end that
lust and entitlement and pride
will bring to someone
who should have made a huge difference in this world.
You say, Ken, are you saying I'm going to have my eyes gouged out?"
No, actually, it could be something much worse than that,
You could be in your 40’s or 50’s or 60’s,
and you look back at a failed marriage
and you realize,
"Oh man, it was mostly my fault!
And now I can't believe I'm here with these regrets!"
You could look back at a day
when your children don't want to see you at Christmas time.
They have no respect for you,
they don't want to be around you.
And you'll have to live with that
because of decisions you made.
That’s worse than being blind.
You could look back at a day
toward the end of your life,
and you realize you’ve pretty much wasted your life,
by one bad decision after another,
one destroyed relationship after another,
one wasted opportunity after another,
because that is where sin leads.
But here's the great news,
it doesn't have to happen that way.
No matter how many times you’ve blown it already,
no matter how old or young you are,
it is not too late,
and it doesn't have to turn out that way, for you.
If you are a follower of Christ,
I want you to know
there is spiritual greatness within you.
Because you have God's power,
his Holy Spirit, living in you.
That means that no matter what you've been into,
you can be transformed,
you can be new,
you can be different.
You can make a difference in this world,
you can be that man or woman of God.
You can be that man or woman of courage,
you can be that man or woman of spiritual strength,
you can be that man or woman of faith,
you can be a godly husband or wife,
father or mother.
No matter what's happened in the past,
you can be that.
You see, our spiritual enemy Satan,
loves to make strong men weak,
but God loves to make weak men strong!
And if you’re a follower of Christ,
then our God is with you
and our God is for you!
We serve a God who
when someone admits,
"I'm weak, I need strength, I need God’s help,"
God hears that,
and he specializes in making weak people strong!
Satan wants to take you out,
he wants to shame you
he wants to make you waste your God-given potential
on stupid stuff,
But our God wants to redeem you
and lift you up,
and use you for His glory,
and give you a great purpose for your life
that will bless many, many people.
There are attitudes that make strong men weak,
"I want it, I deserve it, I can handle it!"
I don’t care how strong you think you are,
those attitudes will tear you down, and make you weak.
But now I want to give you three attitudes,
that make weak men strong.
The first one…
Instead of saying, "I want it";
whatever 'it' is,
instead you say:
I want God.
In fact, lets all say that, together…
I want God!
I want God's strength!
I want His daily power;
I want His Word living inside me.
I want Him ordering my steps.
I want His Spirit guiding me,
and correcting me
and leading me in righteousness.
I want God!
Some of you have heard that religion and God
is a crutch for the weak."
Well I want to tell you,
that is absolutely true.
You see,
I am weak, and so are you.
I cannot live the kind of life I want, on my own,
I can’t be the kind of person I want to be, on my own.
I can’t change this world on my own,
I am weak,
and because of that, I want God!
I want His strength!
Lets talk about the second attitude…
"I deserve it! I deserve these things!"
No, actually you don’t deserve that;
The truth is,
and the attitude that makes weak men strong is this…
"I deserve death."
Isn’t that comforting?
What do you deserve men?
You deserve death!
Women, you're sitting back going,
Hey, way to go Ken,
Give it to those men!"
Ladies, sorry to tell you,
you deserve death too.
The bible tells us that,
the wages of sin is death,
And all of us have sinned,
so without Christ in our lives,
all that you and I deserve
is death.
We don't deserve anything more,
we're not entitled to anything more.
God doesn't owe us anything more.
But when we follow Christ,
and put our hope in him,
then God in His goodness,
gives us everything,
He gives us life, love, joy,
and everything else we need.
But it starts when we realize
that we're not entitled,
instead, we are humble before a Holy God
So instead of saying,
I want it,
we say, I want God.
Instead of saying I deserve it,
we say, I deserve death, but Jesus took it for me.
And then the third attitude,
instead of saying, I can handle it,
you say,
"I can't handle anything without God!"
Because that’s the real truth.
Without God, I can’t do anything that will last,
I can’t do anything that will change this world,
or make a difference,
Without God
I can’t love my wife and family like they need to be loved,
I can’t be the example I want to be,
I can’t do anything that matters without God.
So instead of saying, I can handle it,
what are we going to say?
Help me out…
I can't handle anything without God.
Men, I want you to hear this.
We all want to be strong, but listen;
the men that change the world
are the ones who admit their need for God,
They admit, without God, "I am weak!"
You think you're strong on your own?
Let me tell you,
Satan is looking all over for guys just like you,
that think they’re strong.
and eventually, he will take you out!
Because Satan loves to make strong men weak,
but God loves to make weak men strong.
I want all of you here to know,
there is spiritual greatness in you.
God can stir you, and strengthen you,
and turn your life into something great.
It doesn't matter what happened in the past,
From this moment forward,
The world has yet to see what God can do
through one person, wholly surrendered unto Him!
You can be that one!
You can be that person!
You can be the one to stand in the gap,
when everyone else is sitting at the tv,
You can be the man or woman of courage;
the example of integrity;
the one who has God's own heart!
But you'll never be that person
as long as you're strong in your own strength,
because God loves to make weak people strong.
His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
Lets Stand For Prayer:
God, make some weak men strong in Your Spirit, by Your Power, for Your glory, that we could serve and honor you in every way.
God I ask today, that your presence, your Word, your Spirit would speak to every single man young and old. I pray that you would stir everyone God, men and women, to a desperate point of need where we realize our weakness and call on you to be our strength. Some of you are facing a temptation you cannot overcome. You've got a problem, it's too big for you to handle. There's a mountain that you cannot move. You need Him. You may be tempted to think, "Well, I want this, I deserve that, I can handle whatever," and you're realizing that that's nothing but pride, that's nothing but lust, that's nothing but entitlement, "I want God, I need God, I deserve death, I can't handle anything without Him." God, for those with a relational challenge, be their strength and their wisdom. God, for someone who is cornered and doesn't see a way out, God I pray that your presence would be real to them at this moment. God, you be their strength.
God, to the one who wants to give up and feels like a failure and feels like it's all gone; God, I pray that your Spirit would be their strength, God, that they would realize that you can make all things new. And God, I pray especially for the men that you would cause them to rise up to live out their full potential for your glory and for your name sake. God, for the world is yet to see what you could do through these men, wholly surrendered to you. I pray God, you would raise up such men.
Everybody pray aloud. Pray Heavenly Father, save me from my sins, make me new. I believe Jesus died for me so I could live for you. Fill me with your Spirit so I could serve you for the rest of my life. In my weakness, you be strong. Thank you for new life, I give you mine. In Jesus' name I pray.
