Judges 16:22-30 – Samson’s Fatal Flaws – Bible study

Judges 16:22-30 Samsons Fatal Flaws The life of Samson is a strange life. Samson was a man of God. He was called of God, anointed by the Holy Spirit, and empowered by God. 1. 4 chapters (Judges 13-16) in the Word of God are dedicated to Samson. 2. 4 times the Bible says the Spirit of Lord came upon him. \#Judges 13:25, 14:6, 14:19, 15:14\ 3. Samson had angels announce his birth and declare his life purpose was to be Israels ruler \#Judges 13:5\. 4. He had the miracle of super-strength. a. Slew a lion with his bare hands \#Judges 14:6\. b. Killed 30 Philistines by himself \#Judges 14:19\. c. Fought an armysingle-handed \#Judges 15:8\. d. Killed 1000 soldiers with a mules jawbone \#Judges 15:16\. e. Prayed and received water out of the mules jawbone \#Jud 15:19\. f. And my own personal favorite, when Samson was in Gaza and knew his life was in danger, he picked up the gates of the citystone and all, and carried the gates 40 miles to Hebron (Judges 16). g. Pulled down a coliseum \#Judges 16:30\. Yet, Samson was a very sinful man. A person of God whose life was repeated marked by sin! How tragic and, yet, how common. This evening, may I show you three fatal flaws of Samson? I. Samson was selfish. A. Selfish is the sin of putting yourself above others. 1. Some gave the following definitions: a. Selfishness is the state of putting yourself above others. b. Pride is the state of loving yourself above others. c. And foolishness is the state of worshipping yourself above God. 2. I think Samson was afflicted with all three of these, but we will put them all under the category of selfishness. B. Samson exhibited selfishness when he put his desires above the desires of others, a trait that he did often. 1. Samson was being selfish when in \#Judges 14:2\, he loved and became engaged to a Philistine womanagainst the objects of his parents. 2. When in \#Judges 14:9\, he took honey out of the lions carcass, breaking his Nazarite vow. 3. When in \#Judges 14:11-13\, he made a bet with thirty men at his engagement feast. 4. When in \#Judges 14:19\, he slew 30 Philistines so that pay the bet and then left his bride at the altar! 5. When in \#Judges 15:4\, he burnt the Philistines fields because his wife married another when he stood her up at the altar. 6. And so it goes. a. Not once do we read of Samson avenging the glory of God or even another Israelite. b. Never once did he set a wrong right or stand for a principal or an honorable thing. c. Every single battle he found and every demonstration of his God-given strength was because he felt wrong or slighted in some fashion. d. His second biggest display of strength came in \#Judges 15:8\, where he fought the Philistine army with the jawbone of an ass and slew 1,000 of them, but it was over what they had done to his fiancee whom he had stood up. C. Selfishness is the root of all sin. 1. It was the sin of Satan. Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 2. It was the sin of Adam and Eve. Ge 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 3. If you and I will look back in our lives, we will see that our biggest mistakes (sins) were made when we were attempting to please ourselves at the expense of someone else! a. Achan wanted a Babylonian garment. b. Judas wanted a few coins. c. Samson wanted pleasure. 4. It is all selfishness and it all leads to the same heap of ruin. a. You cannot live discounting others and God and come out ahead! b. God has woven judgment and disaster into the fabric of the cosmos. It simply wont work. 5. Hence, the Bible teaches us to deny ourselves and our wants. Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; 6. Those who live selfishly are condemning themselves to a lonely life of misery. a. Selfishness cuts us off from God. b. Selfishness makes us displeased by others. c. Selfish people dont even like themselves. II. Samson was rebellious. A. Being rebellious as an outgrowth of being selfish. 1. It is the act of putting yourself over authority. 2. This is selfishness not merely of the heart but of actions. 3. Obviously, rebellion puts you on a collision course with authority. B. You can see rebellion in Samsons disrespecting his parents. 1. Samsons parents tried to guide their son in the right path. Judges 14:3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? 2. Samsons response was to disrespectful rebellion. Judges 14:3 And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well. 3. I dont know how Samsons strength worked. a. It does not appear that he was always super strong. b. It does appear that he was always rebellious. 4. Moms and Dads, rebellion is a by product of being born a sinner. a. The only remedy for rebellion is correction that slightly exceeds the rebellion. b. How far should I go? (1) Just a little bit further than your children. (2) Just enough to win the battle of the wills. c. Does that mean spanking a child? (1) When it is necessary. (2) The earlier the parents start winning the battle of the will, the less corporal punishment will be necessary. (3) For some, it may seldom or never be necessary. d. But Moms and Dads, you have to win the battle of the will. (1) This is not for your pride. (2) It is to teach your child submission. (3) Anger, retribution, frustration, aggravation they should never enter into discipline. (4) The only emotions that should enter are ones like humility, love, compassion, brokenness. e. Every child will be a Samson some day. (1) The children get strong and the parents get weaker and brute force is not the answer. (2) Teaching your children to submit to authority is the answer. (3) For whatever the reason, Samsons parents were not able to do that. B. You can see Samsons rebellion in making light of serious things. 1. \#Judges 14:10-15:20\ a. He was in a relationship with a Philistine woman. b. As far as we know, this woman was a pure woman, but she was not a godly woman. c. Marrying her was foolish, forbidden by the Law, and sinful. d. Yet Samson thought it was something to joke at. (1) He made riddles of it. (2) Stormed off in anger when his riddle was found out. (3) And used the incident to stir up bad relations with a ruling nation. 2. \#Judges 16:1\ He was with a Philistine harlot. 3. \#Judges 16:4-21\ He was in a long term relationship with yet another Philistine harlot. 4. Samson had no respect for purity, for marriage, for the wishes of his parents, for the Word of God, for the position that by now he must have certainly know God had called him to. a. To Samson, holy things were a joke. b. So the world today laughs at the things that are holyeverything that is holy. c. It is all a sign of rebellion and selfishness. C. You can see his rebellion in disobeying God. 1. To disobey God is not a sign of rebellion. It is the height of rebellion. 2. Why? Because God is the height of authority. a. Adultery, breaking his Nazarite vow, letting his hair be cutthese were all indications that Samson had not respect for God. b. What did Samson hope to accomplish by rebelling against God? c. To rebel against the omnipotent is to place yourself in an unwinnable situation. d. It guarantees your demiseSamsons selfishness and rebellion had only one destination. III. \#Judges 16:28\ Samson was unrepentant. A. Samson never did repent. 1. He asked God for another chance but he did not repent. a. He never said acknowledge he had sinned. b. He never asked God for forgiveness. c. He never turning to obeying God. 2. He asked God to let him kill some more Philistines and because the Philistines were blasphemers of God, God allowed himbut he never repented. Judges 16:28 And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. B. Why did Samson not repent? 1. I suspect that he did not know how. 2. He did not know how to humble himself, how to put himself down, how to take himself off the throne. 3. He was so filled with selfishness, pride, foolishness, he simply could not bring himself to humbly acknowledge that he had been wrong and to ask forgiveness of another, even God. 4. To be honest, I do have some suspicions that Samson was ever Gods to begin with. C. And what did his selfishness get Samson? 1. It cost him every happiness the world could have offered. a. He lost his wife and chance for a family. b. He lost his rulership. c. He lost his eyesight. d. He was left to grind like a ox and laughed at like a clown. e. He died prematurely and unnecessarily. 2. What a waste of the good gift of God! Samsons story is ancient history. What will you do with what God has given to you?