PASTOR JOHN COWLES
FAMILY WORSHIP ASSEMBLY
*THE DANGER OF GOING TOO FAR
SAMSON
JUDGES 14 & 16 *
John 15:5 ESV – I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Judges 13:5 ESV – 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.
Judges 13:24-25b ESV – 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…
1 John 2:15 ESV - Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to live an opposite type of lifestyle. We are called to live “set a part” for God’s purpose and His glory.
Judges 14:5b-7 ESV – …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.
Judges 14:5b-7 ESV – But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.
“I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
Judges 14:8-9 ESV – 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.
Judges 14:8-9 ESV – 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.
SIN CLOUDED HIS JUDGMENT AND PUSHED HIM OVER THE EDGE!
Judges 16:18 ESV – When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.
Judges 16:19 ESV – She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
Judges 16:20 ESV - And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Judges 16:21 EVS - And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
What you DO for God does matter, however God is more interested in WHO YOU ARE than WHAT YOU DO! Your character MATTERS greatly to God.
LED HIM TO A
Judges 16:4 ESV – After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Judges 16:16 ESV – And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
Judges 16:22 ESV – But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
Judges 16:28 ESV – O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.