BORN TO LEAD
Judges 15:9-20
INTRODUCTION
His Commission
Judges 13:2-5
2 A certain man of Zorah,
named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and
remained childless. 3 The angel of the Lord
appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you
are going to conceive and have a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or
other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you
will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head,
because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will
begin the deliverance of Israel
Married in Disobedience
Judges 15:1-3
1 Later on, at the time of
wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said,
"I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go
in.
2 "I was so sure you
thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend.
Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead."
3 Samson said to them,
"This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really
harm them."
A. From birth, God chose
Samson to be the judge of Israel
1. God gave Samson's mother strict
instructions on how to
raise him.
B. Early in his life, Samson
was a ladies man.
1. The troubles in his life were do to his
pursuit of love.
2. Against the advice of his father, He
chose a Philistine woman to be his
first wife.
3. The father of Samson helped him get the
Philistine woman as his wife
in disobedience to the command of God. Judges 14:3
Deut 7:3-4
Do not intermarry with them. Do not give
your daughters to their sons
or take their daughters for your sons, 4
for they will turn your sons away
from following me to serve other gods,
and the Lord 's anger will burn
against you and will quickly destroy
you.
2. The nation of Israel
their sins.
3. The Philistine father in law gave
Samson’s wife to another man.
4. This set Samson in a rage to get even
with the Philistines.
5.
Samson took 300 foxes, tied their tails together in pairs with a fire
ball, and loose them on the Philistine
crops which were burnt down.
6.
Samson act of revenge was selfish, considering only himself and not
welfare of Israel
The Text
THE BATTLE
V:9 The Philistines went up
and camped in Judah Judah
"We have come to take
Samson prisoner," they answered, "to do to him as he did to us."
A. At that time, Samson had
not begun to act as a leader to free Israel
from the hands of the Philistines.
1. God used Samson’s encounter with the
Philistines to stirred up an anger
in him to become the leader he was
chosen to be.
2. It is our imperfections that God works to
grow our faith.
B. Israel had become
accustomed to being under the control of the
Philistines.
1. They had forgotten that God designed
them to be a free nation and
role models for His righteousness.
2. They did not see Samson as their leader
because he was not acting
as a leader.
3. They readily gave him up to the
Philistines rather than to stand and
fight before God.
REJECTED BY FAMILY
V:11 Then three thousand men
from Judah
He answered, "I merely
did to them what they did to me."
12 They said to him,
"We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines."
Samson said, "Swear to
me that you won't kill me yourselves."
13 "Agreed," they
answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not
kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the
rock.
A. Samson was gifted with
extraordinary strength.
1. This is evident by the 3000 men Israel
2. In his early years, Samson was not
known for his wisdom but
his boyish desire to please women.
3. God did not judge him for his sins, but
allowed him to suffer
the consequence of them.
4. The death of his wife was the result of
his disobedience to God’s
command.
5. However, even in his foolish, he was
wise enough to persuade
his people not to kill him so he could
fight the Philistines.
THE BATTLE
V:14. As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came
toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. The ropes
on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.
15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a
thousand men.
16 Then Samson said,
"With a donkey's jawbone
I have made donkeys of them.
With a donkey's jawbone
I have killed a thousand
men."
17 When he finished speaking,
he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.
A. It was with the power of
God that Samson was strengthened to single
handedly kill a thousand of Israel
1. This gave the Israelites confidence in
Samson's ability to lead
them.
2. At the moment the battle was to be won,
God laid aside the foolishness
Samson, and empowered him with the
victory for Israel
B. It was with the power of
the Holy Spirit that ropes that bind him was
Changed to weeds.
1. The Holy Spirit put a song in his heart
so he did the work of any army
defeating the Philistines.
2. Sometimes it is our selfish desires that
place us in the battlefield of
life.
3. Samson said, “I killed”. He would soon
learn that it was God who
killed using him as an instrument of His
divine glory.
4. God’s plan for us is not changed by our
foolishness.
5. Instead, God uses our foolish hearts to
bring us to the place where he
can use us.
DESIRE THE LIVING WATER
V:18. Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to
the Lord, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die
of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" 19 Then God
opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank,
his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and
it is still there in Lehi.
20 Samson led Israel
A. It was Samson's thirst for
water that brought him back to the reality, that
he needed God.
1. Sometimes it is our physical needs that
bring us to the reality of the
spiritual enlightenment of the Word of
God.
2. When we work hard we sweat which brings
us to a need for God's
life giving water.
3. The source of the living water is Jesus
Christ.
B. Our spiritual strength
comes from the living water of Jesus Christ.
1. The living water is where we are, to
refresh us in times of need.
2. When we wage a battle against Satan we
will thirst for the water
of Christ.
John 7:38
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture
has said, streams of living
water will flow from within him."
C. Samson knew God because He
had been taught the Word by his
parents.
1. He strayed away pursuing the desires of
the world.
2. It was God who brought him back to the
mission he was
born
to do.
Prov 22:6
Train up a child in the way he should
go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it.
3. He was blinded by the desires of the
world, but God restored his sight
to lead Israel
Rev. M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia Baptist Church
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Revmmitchell.com and
goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com
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