Andrew Johns – Examples of Youth in Service & Action – Class 2 – Samson – Fighting Human Weakness in Youth

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We’ll now invite Brother Andrew
to come forward and speak to us

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to the subject Samson, fighting
human weakness in youth.

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My dearly beloved brethren and
sisters and our dear young

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people, we have this afternoon a
character who forms a very great

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contrast to Joseph that we
considered last night in many

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respects.
And yet interestingly enough,

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God used both of them in you,
and both are mentioned in

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Hebrews Chapter 11.
And yet the the nature of their

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lives, both from the start to
the end were very, very

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different.
And God called upon both of

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those young men to do very
different things with very

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different responses.
See, Joseph grew up in a in a

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home that was anything but a
stable, good Christadelphian

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home.
Sampson grew up in a model

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Christadelphian home.
And yet when he got in company

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with the enemy, he was unable,
because of human weakness, to

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maintain the stand that Joseph
was able to maintain.

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When he arrived into Egypt.
We’re probably very familiar

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with the background to to
Samson’s life, so there’s no

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real need for us to spend a lot
of time on that.

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He lived at the end of the
period of the judges and we know

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what the period of the judges
was characterised by.

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In fact, at the start of that
period, recorded in the appendix

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at the end of the book of Judges
in Chapter 17 onwards, we have

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that phrase OFT repeated that
every man did that which was

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right in his own eyes.
It’s characteristic of our

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generation.
It’s been characteristic of many

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generations down through
history, but that was what it

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was like at the start of those
400 years, and it just got

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worse.
As if when men don’t do that,

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which is right in their own
eyes, it can get worse.

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When it did get worse, it got
worse.

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There was a gradual
deterioration over that period,

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and God, we know, delivered
Israel on many occasions, and

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there was.
This cycle.

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Which we’re all familiar with,
when the children of Israel got

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themselves into great difficulty
through thin, which brought

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suffering as it always does.
And in their distress they cried

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unto Yahweh, who raised up a
deliverer and brought salvation.

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Only to find that some short
time later the whole cycle of

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human endeavour began again.
But the interesting thing is by

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the time we get to the end of
the period of the judges, while

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there was sin and suffering, we
get to the point, brothers and

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sisters and young people, that
there was no supplication.

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And that tells us the depths of
the degradation of society.

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By the time we reached this man
Samson, he wasn’t living in an

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in an easy time.
There was on the part of Israel

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at that time no repentance, no
recognition of God, no crying

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for his help.
Even though the previous

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generations had done that and at
the peak of apostasy we find God

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doing something.
Verse one of Judges chapter 13.

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And the children of Israel did
evil again in the sight of

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Yahweh.
And Yahweh delivered them.

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That’s different from every
other cycle in the judges.

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Because there is no recognition
of God by the people, there is

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no crying unto Him now.
But in Yahweh’s mercy He

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provided A deliverer, and Samson
was to be that man.

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This was the longest period of
oppression by Israel’s worst

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enemy, and that’s what Samson
was being raised up to do.

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There was flesh unrestrained.
There was no moral influence

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left in Israel.
Apostasy at its absolute peak

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and at that point in history,
God sent a deliverer.

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It echoes, does it not, in the?
Fourth in the 6000.

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Years of human.
History.

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It got to a point after 4. 1000
years where no longer was Israel

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or the Gentiles calling out for
God, and at that point, at the

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peak of human wickedness, God
sent his own Son.

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And here he sends a deliverer,
and you know, he couldn’t find

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anyone suitable in all of
Israel.

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He looked through all the tribes
and do you know what he had to

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do?
He had to raise one up from

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birth.
And it so seems, as we commented

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last night, that at times when
the people of Israel had got

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into such degradation, when
things were so bad and the

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difficulties of the deliverance
were so intense, that God had to

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start even earlier.
With individuals whom he called

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to his purpose.
And now we’re told that he’s

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starting.
In the womb, and we know he had

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to do that with his own son
because of the wickedness in the

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world and because of the.
Great need amongst humankind.

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Look at verse. 2.
And there was a certain man of

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Zorah of the family of the
Danites, whose name was Manoah,

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and his wife was Baron.
And bear not the Angel of Yahweh

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appeared unto the woman, and
said unto her, Behold, now thou

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art Baron, and bearest not, but
thou shalt conceive and bear a

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son.
We’ll have to read that

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casually, don’t we, to see the
emphasis?

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On her.
Barrenness 4 times in 2 verses

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we’re told there that she was
barren and she bare not.

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There was no hope of that
happening in her life but God.

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Came and said there’s going to
be a miracle here.

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I’m going to work in Israel.
And a son is going to come

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forth.
There is a laboured.

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Emphasis that this.
Had to be God’s work.

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Had it not been for his
intervention, there would have

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been no hope for Israel in that
generation.

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There is a miraculous birth
here, and God is the prime

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mover, and you’ll notice there
in verse 3 this unusual term.

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The woman.
It’s not a very nice term to

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call Manoah’s wife.
Why not give her name?

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It’s much more personal.
But all through this chapter, 7

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times she’s called the woman
she’s never ever named in the

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record.
And here was typically God

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moving into human affairs.
With a miraculous provision of a

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deliverer to the woman and
anyone’s mind who knows anything

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about the Bible should go back
to Genesis chapter 3 and verse

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15, divine intervention.
And a woman is going to bring

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forth a son who’s going to
deliver God’s people.

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You see, brothers and sisters,
the parallels are all there.

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Israel had lost the dominion,
just like man had in the

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beginning.
He’d lost.

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They’d lost dominion to the
Philistines, who were now ruling

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over them because of their own
wickedness.

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They were unable to deliver
themselves out of that

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situation.
And God alone could work.

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And he had to move, and he works
on a barren woman to bring forth

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a deliverer.
But the tragedy is that that

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deliverer, miraculous though his
birth was, never ever finished

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the work that he was called to
do because of human weakness, He

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was in many respects a type of
the great deliverer to come who

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would complete the work that
this man failed to do because of

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his own weakness.
And so in the Scriptures,

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brethren and sisters, Samson
types no, not only the Lord, the

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work of the Lord Jesus Christ in
many respects, but because also

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of his human weakness, he types
Israel’s behaviour and ours too.

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And on the Bible marking sheet
for today, you’ll find some of

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those parallels lifted which you
might find useful.

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But we must see brethren and
sisters and young people in his

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life, not just a life that we
can identify with because of his

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weakness.
And very often you hear young

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people saying, well, Samson’s
one of those people in the

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Scriptures that I can at least
identify with.

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It’s very difficult to identify
with with.

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An.
Amazing examples like Joseph or

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Christ himself or John the
Baptist.

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But many people feel that they
can identify with the weakness

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of Samson.
But you know, young people and

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brothers and sisters.
Samson’s life is not here in the

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divine record just so that we
can identify with his weakness.

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What it’s there for is to show
us the principles by which

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deliverance and dominion over
the enemy can finally be

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achieved.
That’s what it’s actually there

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for.
It’s not so much about his

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strengths or his weaknesses, and
he had great strengths and great

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weaknesses, but it’s about God’s
way to overcome sin and human

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weakness, despite what we might
think, that’s what.

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Samson’s life is all about and
we’ve all got to come to grips

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with that because we’re never,
ever going to overcome sin,

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brethren and sisters, unless we
do it God’s way.

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Samson learnt that the hard way.
The earlier we learn it,

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brethren, sisters and young
people, particularly, the

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earlier we learn God’s way to
overcome sin.

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The better off we’ll be.
And the less pain and agony

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we’ll suffer all through our
lives as.

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Samson’s life is witnessed.
You know the Angel didn’t just

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come and promised a son.
If we read our Bibles more

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carefully than that, we’ll see
something else.

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Verse 4 Because he said, You’re
going to conceive and bear a

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son.
This is what he said to Manoah’s

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wife.
But verse 4 continues Now.

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Therefore beware, I pray thee,
he says, and drink not wine, nor

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strong drink, and eat not any
unclean thing.

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For lo, thou shalt conceive and
bear a son, and no razor shall

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come on his head.
For the child shall be a

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Nazarite unto God from the womb,
and he shall begin.

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Isn’t that interesting?
He shall begin.

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He would never finish.
Delivering Israel out of the

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hand of the Philistines.
Because of his own limitations.

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And it would be left.
To the greater Nazarite, the

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greater son of the woman who
would later come.

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But that important message in
verses four and five are

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repeated twice by the Angel that
he was to be a Nazarite from the

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womb and.
There is the fundamental crux of

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Samson’s life.
It is the foundation principle

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of deliverance, the deliverance
that God can offer.

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It’s the foundation of it all.
Here right at the start.

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Of his life.
God is telling us that a

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Nazarite life from birth is
essential before deliverance can

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come.
We.

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Can’t overcome or have dominion
over the enemy until we have

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dominion over ourselves.
And that, in a nutshell, is what

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Samson’s life is about.
And his life, dramatically, in

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fact tragically at times,
illustrates that principles.

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You know his failure to have
dominion were due to his lapses

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in his in maintaining his
Nazarite principles.

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And He would only begin to
deliver because of those lapses.

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I’d like you to go back to
Numbers chapter 6 for a moment.

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You’re probably all familiar
that Numbers chapter 6 contains

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the details of the Nazarite law.
But in Numbers chapter 6 and at

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verse 2, Yahweh said to Moses,
Speak unto the children of

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Israel, and say unto them, When
either man or woman shall

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separate themselves to vow vow
of a Nazarite to separate

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themselves unto Yahweh, He shall
separate himself from wine and

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strong drink, and shall drink no
vinegar of the of the wine or

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vinegar of strong drink.
Neither shall he drink any

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liquor of the grapes, nor eat
moist grapes or dried.

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And so it goes on listing all
the details of that which was

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expected of a Nazarite.
But what we notice first of all

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is that.
If a man.

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Or a woman wanted to be a
Nazarite.

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They could.
There was no compulsion.

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It was a voluntary devotion to
God for a chosen period of time.

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And it’s very clear the further
we look into that and we haven’t

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got time to prove all this, this
afternoon, but it’s very clear

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that there was a an association
between the Nazarites in what he

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did and what he was commanded to
do and that of the high priest.

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And so on the overhead here, it
says that he was to be

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identified really with the high
priest because the priests were

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to drink no wine.
There was to be no contact with

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death, just as with the Nazarite
and the priests.

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Sorry.
The Nazarite was to keep his

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hair uncut and the High priest
was to wear a crown which said

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holiness to to Yahweh.
In fact, the word for crown is

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as used for the high priest
occurs in this chapter in

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relation to the Nazarite.
But he was also.

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Identified with the the.
King in some respects, and so in

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00:15:52,040 –> 00:15:54,840
principle what God was saying.
Is that a man?

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00:15:54,960 –> 00:15:58,120
Though he was not of the tribe
of Judah or of the tribe of

219
00:15:58,120 –> 00:16:04,720
Levi, could in fact imitate the
behaviour of the king priest for

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00:16:04,720 –> 00:16:08,840
a short period of time of his
own choosing, he would volunteer

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00:16:08,840 –> 00:16:11,840
to devote himself to that.
Because God had called.

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00:16:11,840 –> 00:16:14,680
The nation as a Kingdom of
priests and an holy nation.

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00:16:15,600 –> 00:16:18,760
And so any individual in Israel
could do that.

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00:16:19,120 –> 00:16:23,760
But there are several
fundamental things, two in fact

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00:16:23,880 –> 00:16:27,880
fundamental principles upon
which the Nazarite vow was

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00:16:27,880 –> 00:16:30,160
based.
The first we’ve just read in

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00:16:30,320 –> 00:16:35,560
verse 3, and that is a
separation from wine, a

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00:16:35,600 –> 00:16:38,680
separation from all intoxicating
influences on the mind.

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00:16:38,680 –> 00:16:41,160
That’s really what what God was
concerned.

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00:16:41,160 –> 00:16:43,720
About and from death, the
avoiding.

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00:16:43,720 –> 00:16:49,520
All corrupting and degrading
influences upon the mind because

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00:16:49,520 –> 00:16:52,560
God is really concerned with the
mind more than anything else.

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00:16:53,600 –> 00:16:57,080
And in verse 8 we find the other
principle.

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00:16:58,120 –> 00:17:04,560
All the days of His separation,
He is holy unto Yahweh.

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00:17:05,680 –> 00:17:09,440
So it wasn’t.
Just a matter of abstaining from

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00:17:09,440 –> 00:17:12,200
some things.
There was a positive side to

237
00:17:12,200 –> 00:17:18,599
Nazarite’s ship, and he was to
be holy unto Yahweh all the days

238
00:17:18,839 –> 00:17:22,960
that he had chosen, and there
his mind was to be elevated in

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00:17:22,960 –> 00:17:26,680
divine things.
It was to be seen in his life

240
00:17:26,680 –> 00:17:29,360
and in his actions.
And so we have.

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00:17:29,400 –> 00:17:35,560
Two fundamental principles,
separation and holiness, or

242
00:17:35,560 –> 00:17:39,120
separation and consecration,
dedication to God and.

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00:17:39,120 –> 00:17:43,240
Both of those were essential.
Characteristics of a Nazarite

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00:17:43,520 –> 00:17:47,320
And if you have a look in verse
5, the hair in fact, of the

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00:17:47,320 –> 00:17:52,240
Nazarite really symbolized both
of those two foundation

246
00:17:52,240 –> 00:17:55,040
principles.
Verse 5 says and all the days of

247
00:17:55,040 –> 00:17:57,880
the vow of his separation, there
shall no razor come upon his

248
00:17:57,880 –> 00:18:01,520
head until the days be fulfilled
in which he separated himself

249
00:18:01,560 –> 00:18:05,240
unto Yahweh.
He shall be holy and shall let

250
00:18:05,240 –> 00:18:07,640
the locks of his hair, head of
his hair grow.

251
00:18:07,880 –> 00:18:10,760
So he’s got to separate all his
days from those other things,

252
00:18:10,920 –> 00:18:13,120
and he’s got to be holy unto
Yahweh.

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00:18:13,440 –> 00:18:17,440
And in that context, we’re told
that he must let the locks of

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00:18:17,440 –> 00:18:23,320
his head grow to show that he is
separate and consecrated in

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00:18:23,560 –> 00:18:27,000
holiness to God.
I want you to remember that that

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00:18:27,000 –> 00:18:30,880
the hair was a symbol of.
Both of those foundation

257
00:18:30,880 –> 00:18:34,040
principles of Nazarite ship,
well, that’s.

258
00:18:34,040 –> 00:18:36,320
What the law said about Nazarite
ship.

259
00:18:44,510 –> 00:18:46,990
But when we come back to
numbers, Chapter 13.

260
00:18:47,350 –> 00:18:48,910
Sorry Judges.
Chapter 13.

261
00:18:51,270 –> 00:18:56,910
And we look at Samson.
He was an unusual Nazarite to

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00:18:56,910 –> 00:19:01,560
say the least, because we’ll
notice that there are at least

263
00:19:01,640 –> 00:19:05,840
three major departures from the
Nazarite law.

264
00:19:06,600 –> 00:19:13,800
The 1st is that he was not a
voluntary candidate for Nazarite

265
00:19:13,800 –> 00:19:18,080
ship.
God said this lad will be a

266
00:19:18,080 –> 00:19:21,960
Nazarite before.
He comes out of the womb.

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00:19:23,000 –> 00:19:27,280
He had no choice.
Not only that, he had to be a

268
00:19:27,280 –> 00:19:30,800
Nazarite for life.
A Nazarite normally could choose

269
00:19:30,800 –> 00:19:32,800
how long he was going to be a
Nazarite for.

270
00:19:33,320 –> 00:19:35,000
And the third thing is that his
mother.

271
00:19:35,000 –> 00:19:38,720
Actually shared that Nazarite
ship with him, which is a very

272
00:19:38,720 –> 00:19:42,400
unusual thing.
Well, there must must.

273
00:19:42,400 –> 00:19:45,400
Be some reason for all of those
things, brethren and sisters,

274
00:19:46,160 –> 00:19:51,680
and they’re very, very powerful.
God is telling us this.

275
00:19:52,800 –> 00:19:58,760
Young people listen that if we
want dominion over the

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00:19:58,760 –> 00:20:04,680
Philistine influence, there’s
only one way to get it.

277
00:20:06,520 –> 00:20:12,240
Nazarite ship.
Is not optional, it’s mandatory.

278
00:20:14,160 –> 00:20:18,720
It’s got to be for life.
It can’t just be when you feel

279
00:20:18,720 –> 00:20:22,360
like it, and it’s got to start
young if.

280
00:20:22,400 –> 00:20:27,280
It’s going to be effective.
What an amazing thing, and

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00:20:27,280 –> 00:20:30,920
they’re the principles of godly
life and how do I overcome the

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00:20:30,920 –> 00:20:35,120
enemy I laid down in the life of
this individual that God called.

283
00:20:35,640 –> 00:20:39,800
In fact, what God said about
that Nazarite ship, unique as it

284
00:20:39,800 –> 00:20:43,560
is here to Manoah’s wife, is the
most important thing.

285
00:20:43,560 –> 00:20:46,000
It’s not just that he was going
to be a miraculous boy.

286
00:20:46,320 –> 00:20:49,600
It’s what the Angel said he was
going to do.

287
00:20:50,600 –> 00:20:56,000
And what he was going to be
separation from all the filing

288
00:20:56,000 –> 00:21:01,120
influences of sin and its
effects and a consecration of a

289
00:21:01,120 –> 00:21:03,280
life to.
God in holiness.

290
00:21:03,320 –> 00:21:07,800
And the earlier the better.
God says the earlier the better.

291
00:21:08,240 –> 00:21:09,760
Perhaps we’re starting to get a
little.

292
00:21:09,760 –> 00:21:13,400
Closer to our theme, which we’ll
come back to tonight, you know

293
00:21:13,400 –> 00:21:15,360
the.
Lesson is, young people, this

294
00:21:15,360 –> 00:21:18,720
world is screaming at you.
If you’re still at school,

295
00:21:18,920 –> 00:21:23,000
you’re getting this every day
and even in the workforce and

296
00:21:23,000 –> 00:21:26,720
the training courses, people are
getting this thrust down their

297
00:21:26,720 –> 00:21:32,880
throat all the time.
Expand your horizons, broaden

298
00:21:32,880 –> 00:21:37,360
your outlook, fulfil your
desires, be yourself, make your

299
00:21:37,360 –> 00:21:39,920
mark.
Inhibition is bad.

300
00:21:39,920 –> 00:21:48,920
For you and God says Nazarite,
ship is the only way.

301
00:21:50,520 –> 00:21:57,400
Narrow down the influences of
your life, abstain from ungodly

302
00:21:57,400 –> 00:22:02,280
and defiling ways and behaviour
and seek that which is good,

303
00:22:02,360 –> 00:22:06,600
true, positive and honest.
It’s the only way to have

304
00:22:06,600 –> 00:22:07,800
dominion.
It’s.

305
00:22:07,800 –> 00:22:09,680
The only way to have.
Happiness.

306
00:22:10,920 –> 00:22:13,920
And did you notice, young
people, that the Angel did not

307
00:22:13,920 –> 00:22:18,600
say to Manoah’s wife?
That when this.

308
00:22:18,600 –> 00:22:22,480
Lad grows up, he will be a
nazarite and learn that when he

309
00:22:22,480 –> 00:22:24,480
learns the truth.
Didn’t say that at all.

310
00:22:25,880 –> 00:22:31,840
The Angel said this Nazarite
influence will start in the

311
00:22:31,840 –> 00:22:36,240
womb, and those of you who’ve
grown up in the.

312
00:22:36,240 –> 00:22:40,960
Truth, Be thankful for that
marvellous privilege.

313
00:22:42,040 –> 00:22:45,080
It’s good to bear the yoking
youth.

314
00:22:46,680 –> 00:22:51,840
And a woman was to be involved
as a result in the Nazarite vow.

315
00:22:52,360 –> 00:22:55,200
Look at verse 4.
We read that a moment ago.

316
00:22:55,600 –> 00:22:59,400
It begins and says now therefore
beware, I pray.

317
00:22:59,400 –> 00:23:02,720
Thee.
Drink not He’s talking to the

318
00:23:02,720 –> 00:23:07,560
woman and she repeats that to
her husband in verse 7.

319
00:23:08,720 –> 00:23:11,480
And then in verse 8, Manoah.
Who was a godly man?

320
00:23:11,720 –> 00:23:16,200
Praise to God for direction they
they saw the significance of of

321
00:23:16,200 –> 00:23:21,320
the marvel of what God was going
to do in Israel and and he is on

322
00:23:21,320 –> 00:23:26,280
his knees and praise to God and
says in verse 80, please send

323
00:23:26,280 –> 00:23:29,120
the Angel to come and tell us
how we should direct this child.

324
00:23:29,280 –> 00:23:33,040
This is such an important thing.
We want to know how we should,

325
00:23:33,400 –> 00:23:35,960
how we should bring up this.
Lad, if he’s going to deliver

326
00:23:35,960 –> 00:23:41,240
Israel.
But in verse 9, God hearkened to

327
00:23:41,240 –> 00:23:47,080
the voice of Manoah, and the
Angel came again unto the woman

328
00:23:48,680 –> 00:23:51,480
as she sat in the field, but
Manoah, her husband, was not

329
00:23:51,480 –> 00:23:53,720
there.
This is being very deliberate.

330
00:23:53,840 –> 00:23:57,040
This Angel is avoiding Manoah
for some reason and is going

331
00:23:57,040 –> 00:24:01,320
back to the woman all the time.
And the woman in verse 10, we

332
00:24:01,320 –> 00:24:04,360
find runs off and gets her
husband and comes brings him

333
00:24:04,360 –> 00:24:06,680
back and the angel’s still
there.

334
00:24:07,640 –> 00:24:12,080
We find that Manoah in verse 12
asks the Angel directly the

335
00:24:12,080 –> 00:24:13,840
question that he asked in
prayer.

336
00:24:14,080 –> 00:24:16,600
He’s very concerned to do the
right thing.

337
00:24:17,280 –> 00:24:19,320
He’s a very godly and honest
man.

338
00:24:20,760 –> 00:24:24,040
And the answer comes back in
verse 13.

339
00:24:24,440 –> 00:24:27,800
And the Angel said, The Angel of
Yahweh said unto Manoah.

340
00:24:29,000 –> 00:24:34,000
Of all that I.
Said unto the woman, Let her

341
00:24:34,320 –> 00:24:39,240
beware she.
May not eat of anything that

342
00:24:39,240 –> 00:24:42,080
cometh of the vine.
Neither let her drink wine or

343
00:24:42,080 –> 00:24:44,360
strong drink, nor eat any
unclean thing.

344
00:24:44,640 –> 00:24:50,000
Of all that I command her, let
her beware.

345
00:24:50,160 –> 00:24:51,520
It’s the same word.
Fact.

346
00:24:51,520 –> 00:24:55,320
It’s probably better translated.
Observe in fact, three times in

347
00:24:55,320 –> 00:24:58,040
that chapter you’ll find in
verse 4 the word beware.

348
00:24:58,560 –> 00:25:02,440
It’s occurs in verse 13 and in
verse 14 is all the same word

349
00:25:02,440 –> 00:25:05,520
and it means to very carefully
guard or observe.

350
00:25:07,240 –> 00:25:11,480
What an amazing answer that was
when Manoah had prayed to God

351
00:25:11,480 –> 00:25:14,600
and then asked the Angel, what
should we do to bring up this

352
00:25:14,600 –> 00:25:16,960
young lad so that he’s a godly
young man?

353
00:25:17,440 –> 00:25:19,960
And the Angel just kept on
repeating what he’d said before.

354
00:25:20,520 –> 00:25:24,320
Of everything that I’ve said to
the woman, let her beware.

355
00:25:24,360 –> 00:25:28,760
She shall not drink wine.
She shall not blah blah.

356
00:25:29,440 –> 00:25:31,560
What was he trying to tell
Manoah?

357
00:25:32,440 –> 00:25:36,880
What was he saying was saying
this?

358
00:25:39,400 –> 00:25:45,320
It’s the divine influence on
that child Manoa that’s going to

359
00:25:45,320 –> 00:25:49,040
be important.
This is my work, said God.

360
00:25:50,040 –> 00:25:54,640
It’s not a matter of what you,
Manoa, are going to do in your

361
00:25:54,640 –> 00:25:57,880
own strength and how you will
bring him up, even though he was

362
00:25:57,880 –> 00:25:59,440
determined to bring him up.
As a godly.

363
00:25:59,440 –> 00:26:03,720
Young man, God’s not denying
that he was a godly man.

364
00:26:03,720 –> 00:26:06,640
You know.
But the way.

365
00:26:07,320 –> 00:26:12,480
For them to bring up this child
was for the woman to be a

366
00:26:12,480 –> 00:26:17,560
Nazarite.
What a powerful lesson that is

367
00:26:17,560 –> 00:26:23,280
for all parents the way.
To bring up young Nazarites,

368
00:26:23,280 –> 00:26:31,400
brethren and sisters, is to be a
Nazarite, not in Word, but in

369
00:26:31,400 –> 00:26:32,560
deed.
And in truth.

370
00:26:33,520 –> 00:26:37,600
It was no good Samson’s mother
as he was growing up, saying.

371
00:26:37,600 –> 00:26:40,480
Now, Samson, I’ve told you
before, the Angel said you’re

372
00:26:40,480 –> 00:26:42,720
not to drink wine.
Glug glug glug.

373
00:26:43,160 –> 00:26:46,160
And she had some of her own.
What would that have taught

374
00:26:46,160 –> 00:26:48,760
Samson?
No good at all.

375
00:26:49,520 –> 00:26:55,800
She was also to live exactly the
same life that she was going to

376
00:26:55,800 –> 00:27:02,000
expect in her son, who was God’s
son in a sense, for doing a very

377
00:27:02,000 –> 00:27:04,480
great work.
The actions are much more

378
00:27:04,480 –> 00:27:05,840
powerful than words, aren’t
they?

379
00:27:05,840 –> 00:27:09,240
We all know, brothers and
sisters, that words don’t

380
00:27:09,240 –> 00:27:13,800
influence our children, but
actions do, You know, it’s no

381
00:27:13,800 –> 00:27:16,400
good telling our children to do
this or that and then doing it

382
00:27:16,400 –> 00:27:18,440
ourselves.
It’s no good telling them.

383
00:27:18,480 –> 00:27:21,880
They’ll be patient and getting
impatient with them.

384
00:27:23,200 –> 00:27:28,240
They will learn what they see.
They won’t learn what they hear

385
00:27:28,920 –> 00:27:32,600
told them.
Well, not very often anyway.

386
00:27:33,280 –> 00:27:36,160
Children learn to become what
they see lived.

387
00:27:36,440 –> 00:27:38,960
What an enormous responsibility
that places on us.

388
00:27:38,960 –> 00:27:43,840
All parents have a controlling
influence on the lives of their

389
00:27:43,840 –> 00:27:46,040
children as to whether they are
NAD right.

390
00:27:46,240 –> 00:27:48,840
And young people don’t think
you’re exempt from that lesson

391
00:27:48,840 –> 00:27:52,400
either, because there’s a
fundamental principle that you

392
00:27:52,400 –> 00:27:56,160
ought to come to grips with
before you get married.

393
00:27:56,480 –> 00:28:01,120
And that is if you are ever, by
the grace of God, blessed with

394
00:28:01,520 –> 00:28:05,600
an inheritance of his in seed
that follows you.

395
00:28:06,280 –> 00:28:10,520
If you’re blessed with a family
in days to come, just make sure

396
00:28:10,520 –> 00:28:13,760
that your life.
Is sorted out before they come

397
00:28:13,760 –> 00:28:17,520
into the world because it’s too
late to sort it out afterwards,

398
00:28:18,520 –> 00:28:21,440
but Samson’s parents had their
lives sorted out.

399
00:28:22,320 –> 00:28:25,160
And we have.
Nothing in the record to to make

400
00:28:25,160 –> 00:28:30,760
us think anything else that than
that Samson’s mother or was a

401
00:28:30,760 –> 00:28:32,800
Nazarite the whole of their
life.

402
00:28:33,840 –> 00:28:36,000
They were a faithful and godly
couple.

403
00:28:36,400 –> 00:28:40,200
They’re portrayed very
favourably in this record.

404
00:28:40,480 –> 00:28:43,600
Not only chosen by.
God for this miraculous birth of

405
00:28:43,600 –> 00:28:47,760
the Deliverer.
But she herself appreciated

406
00:28:47,760 –> 00:28:51,120
those principles of Nazarites.
Shiban accepted.

407
00:28:51,120 –> 00:28:53,400
It we find that.
Menorah is a man of prayer.

408
00:28:53,920 –> 00:28:57,320
We find them endeavouring to
bring up Samson in godly.

409
00:28:57,320 –> 00:29:00,640
Ways day later in this chapter.
You remember it was as it was

410
00:29:00,640 –> 00:29:03,680
read in our hearing today, they
brought a voluntary burnt

411
00:29:03,680 –> 00:29:07,560
offering indicating their
dedication and it was accepted

412
00:29:07,560 –> 00:29:12,120
miraculously by God.
And the other thing we know

413
00:29:12,120 –> 00:29:15,560
about them is that they were
Danites.

414
00:29:16,880 –> 00:29:40,560
Danites living in Zora.
Sorry, I just lost the.

415
00:29:40,560 –> 00:29:46,640
Transparency The tribe of Dan at
the beginning of the period of

416
00:29:46,640 –> 00:29:50,720
the judges had tried for a very
short time.

417
00:29:50,840 –> 00:29:53,720
The yellow area there is the is
the territory that was allotted

418
00:29:53,720 –> 00:29:57,960
to Dan not far from Jerusalem
down towards the coastal plain

419
00:29:57,960 –> 00:30:00,680
of the Philistines in Philistine
country largely.

420
00:30:01,280 –> 00:30:03,560
They were unable.
To take that territory because

421
00:30:03,560 –> 00:30:07,320
of the ferocity of the
Philistines at the time, and

422
00:30:07,320 –> 00:30:10,720
they therefore looked for an
easier option and they went.

423
00:30:10,720 –> 00:30:13,840
Way up north.
Where the Zeidanians dwelt

424
00:30:13,840 –> 00:30:16,800
carelessly and were not in a
fighting mood.

425
00:30:17,000 –> 00:30:19,640
And they killed them all and
took their territory.

426
00:30:20,800 –> 00:30:24,720
Marvelously brave and courageous
Danites, and the majority of the

427
00:30:24,720 –> 00:30:27,920
tribe was up there.
But there were a few tenaciously

428
00:30:27,920 –> 00:30:30,320
hanging on to the original
inheritance because they knew

429
00:30:30,320 –> 00:30:33,120
Yahweh had promised it to them,
and they had enough faith to

430
00:30:33,120 –> 00:30:35,680
stay there and to defend it
against the.

431
00:30:35,680 –> 00:30:38,280
Inroads of the Philistines and
of the world.

432
00:30:38,280 –> 00:30:41,560
And Samson was born into a
household in that circumstance

433
00:30:41,560 –> 00:30:46,680
here at Zorah, right on the
border of the territory of Dan.

434
00:30:46,680 –> 00:30:51,160
So he’s born into a very
favourable environment.

435
00:30:51,920 –> 00:30:56,760
What a marvellous privilege that
was for him, verse 24 tells us.

436
00:30:58,280 –> 00:31:00,240
And the woman?
Bare a son and called his name

437
00:31:00,240 –> 00:31:03,520
Samson.
And the child grew, and Yahweh

438
00:31:03,520 –> 00:31:07,520
blessed him.
His name means brilliant

439
00:31:07,520 –> 00:31:11,520
sunlight.
And finally, there would now be

440
00:31:11,520 –> 00:31:17,360
a ray of lights amidst the
darkness of Israel’s sin, or so

441
00:31:17,360 –> 00:31:20,880
it seems.
His mother named him that way

442
00:31:20,880 –> 00:31:24,480
for.
And Yahweh blessed him.

443
00:31:25,560 –> 00:31:28,520
What does that mean?
What?

444
00:31:28,520 –> 00:31:31,760
Can it mean?
Brethren, sisters, except that

445
00:31:32,040 –> 00:31:39,240
from an early age he began to to
appreciate divine things, and

446
00:31:39,240 –> 00:31:42,480
Can you imagine anything else
with a mother and a father like

447
00:31:42,480 –> 00:31:45,320
that?
His mother would have taught him

448
00:31:45,320 –> 00:31:49,720
carefully about Nazarite
principles, what it meant, and

449
00:31:49,720 –> 00:31:52,840
who the enemy really was.
And God’s deliverance in the

450
00:31:52,840 –> 00:31:57,240
past and all that had happened
to their forebears through the

451
00:31:57,240 –> 00:32:00,680
period of the Judges and the
inheritance that God had given

452
00:32:00,680 –> 00:32:04,520
that was now overrun by these
enemies and the promises that

453
00:32:04,520 –> 00:32:06,640
God had given to the fathers of
the nation.

454
00:32:06,760 –> 00:32:08,320
And so and so, and so it went
on.

455
00:32:08,320 –> 00:32:10,000
And day after day, she would
have.

456
00:32:10,000 –> 00:32:13,520
Drummed that into that little
child as he was growing up and

457
00:32:13,520 –> 00:32:18,120
Yahweh blessed him.
He was a growing young mind that

458
00:32:18,120 –> 00:32:23,680
was appreciating divine things
and accepting and knowing what

459
00:32:23,680 –> 00:32:26,520
Yahweh really wanted in his
youth.

460
00:32:27,720 –> 00:32:30,320
Verse 25 Fill.
Then the Spirit of Yahweh began

461
00:32:30,320 –> 00:32:32,880
to move.
Him, and so he now as he came.

462
00:32:32,880 –> 00:32:34,480
Became a little more
independent.

463
00:32:34,480 –> 00:32:37,880
Brothers and sisters and young
people, the spirit of Yahweh

464
00:32:38,360 –> 00:32:43,200
actually started to generate in
this man, and he’s probably

465
00:32:43,200 –> 00:32:47,880
still a teenager.
It’s very fitting that the

466
00:32:47,880 –> 00:32:52,120
spirit of Yahweh was moving in
him because it was God’s work.

467
00:32:52,120 –> 00:32:56,840
Remember, Israel hadn’t cried.
God was going to show his mercy

468
00:32:56,840 –> 00:33:00,360
to the nation.
Through a man that he had raised

469
00:33:00,360 –> 00:33:02,600
up.
And we have here a picture of a

470
00:33:03,000 –> 00:33:07,120
of a godly.
Enthusiastic young man who’s

471
00:33:07,120 –> 00:33:11,480
moved by the word of God and by
divine things, and it began to

472
00:33:11,480 –> 00:33:13,920
move him the.
Word at times is not in the

473
00:33:13,920 –> 00:33:17,240
original the the translators
have translated move him at

474
00:33:17,240 –> 00:33:21,880
times from one Hebrew word.
And that word really means to

475
00:33:21,880 –> 00:33:25,440
impale or to agitate.
It’s it’s rendered to stir or to

476
00:33:25,600 –> 00:33:30,280
urge on.
And he’s urged on in the camp of

477
00:33:30,280 –> 00:33:34,280
Dan.
And he wasn’t really a young man

478
00:33:34,280 –> 00:33:36,440
who was seeking his own
interests.

479
00:33:36,680 –> 00:33:39,040
There was a camp and that was
all it was.

480
00:33:39,040 –> 00:33:40,480
It wasn’t the inheritance of
the.

481
00:33:40,480 –> 00:33:43,320
Tribe, though it should have
been one of the biggest.

482
00:33:44,360 –> 00:33:48,200
It was a camp.
With a few faithful tenaciously

483
00:33:48,200 –> 00:33:50,160
hanging.
On to the truth there and the

484
00:33:50,160 –> 00:33:52,480
remnant.
Had forsaken it and gone to the

485
00:33:52,480 –> 00:33:56,720
world and he’s hanging on in the
camp of Dad and the word of

486
00:33:56,760 –> 00:33:59,760
Yahweh is moving this young man.
Take the picture.

487
00:34:00,400 –> 00:34:07,080
There’s a young lad who’s fired
by the truth and he’s moved in

488
00:34:07,080 –> 00:34:10,920
the camp of Dan and we shouldn’t
have the chapter break there.

489
00:34:11,600 –> 00:34:14,560
He’s under great pressure
because of the Philistines in

490
00:34:14,560 –> 00:34:16,639
there.
And we find in verse 1 of

491
00:34:16,639 –> 00:34:22,320
chapter 14 and Samson went down
to Timnath, moved by the Spirit

492
00:34:22,320 –> 00:34:24,639
of Yahweh.
You know what Timnath means?

493
00:34:25,520 –> 00:34:29,040
Means the assigned portion.
And it should not have been into

494
00:34:29,040 –> 00:34:31,920
the hands of the Philistines.
It should have been in the hands

495
00:34:31,920 –> 00:34:35,560
of Danites.
And he goes down to the assigned

496
00:34:35,560 –> 00:34:39,679
portion that Yahweh had given
him, because Yahweh was moving

497
00:34:39,679 –> 00:34:42,159
him.
He was fed up with the

498
00:34:42,159 –> 00:34:44,880
Philistines.
He knew that God had.

499
00:34:44,880 –> 00:34:48,040
Promised this to him, and he
moved down into that territory

500
00:34:48,040 –> 00:34:52,280
which was occupied.
Verse 4 tells us that his father

501
00:34:52,280 –> 00:34:54,840
and mother knew not that it was
of Yahweh that he sought an

502
00:34:54,840 –> 00:34:57,320
occasion against the
Philistines, for at that time

503
00:34:57,320 –> 00:35:00,160
the Philistines had dominion
over Israel.

504
00:35:00,160 –> 00:35:05,280
Oh, what an awful word that is.
Comes straight out of Genesis 1

505
00:35:06,000 –> 00:35:08,800
when men lost dominion because
of sin.

506
00:35:09,640 –> 00:35:12,840
It was meant to have dominion
over all things, but lost it.

507
00:35:13,120 –> 00:35:16,520
And now of all the people in the
world that have got dominion

508
00:35:16,680 –> 00:35:20,400
over Israel, it has to be the
filthy Philistines.

509
00:35:21,120 –> 00:35:25,000
That’s why he was agitated.
He could see God’s purpose

510
00:35:25,000 –> 00:35:29,200
turned on its head and he went
down to the assigned portion.

511
00:35:30,080 –> 00:35:34,000
Israel had never been at a lower
point since they came out of

512
00:35:34,000 –> 00:35:36,480
Israel under the dominion of sin
of the.

513
00:35:36,480 –> 00:35:39,200
Land of sin.
And they were.

514
00:35:39,200 –> 00:35:43,480
Content for it to be so, because
in chapter 15 of Judges and

515
00:35:43,480 –> 00:35:45,960
verse 11 they say that to
Samson.

516
00:35:45,960 –> 00:35:47,680
The men of Judas said that to
Samson.

517
00:35:48,520 –> 00:35:51,800
But he saw the situation.
Samson saw very clearly what the

518
00:35:51,800 –> 00:35:53,600
situation was and it.
Ought.

519
00:35:53,600 –> 00:35:58,440
Never to have existed.
So down he goes, and he.

520
00:35:58,760 –> 00:36:04,440
Saw a woman in timnath of the
daughters of.

521
00:36:04,640 –> 00:36:11,160
The Philistines.
It is Samson’s great and only

522
00:36:11,160 –> 00:36:16,960
recorded weakness, and at times
we think, oh, what a fool.

523
00:36:17,600 –> 00:36:23,000
He went down there, fired by the
word of God to wrest back the

524
00:36:23,000 –> 00:36:29,280
dominion that belonged to
Israel, and he happened just to

525
00:36:29,280 –> 00:36:34,760
see a.
Woman and thought she looks

526
00:36:34,800 –> 00:36:41,160
pretty nice and his original
intention was waylaid.

527
00:36:41,920 –> 00:36:46,240
What a tragic thing.
We do think, don’t we, at times,

528
00:36:46,240 –> 00:36:48,440
that Samson was a fool, all he
was.

529
00:36:50,440 –> 00:36:53,560
But let’s translate that into
our own experiences.

530
00:36:54,080 –> 00:37:01,040
Let’s translate his weakness,
his only recorded weakness, for

531
00:37:01,040 –> 00:37:04,320
one of ours, brothers and
sisters and young people.

532
00:37:04,480 –> 00:37:06,560
Go on, do that in your own mind.
You.

533
00:37:06,560 –> 00:37:10,520
Think of a weakness that you
know you have.

534
00:37:12,400 –> 00:37:16,440
And think of it from now on in
the context of Samson’s life.

535
00:37:17,240 –> 00:37:21,720
Do you know this woman?
Should never have been in

536
00:37:21,720 –> 00:37:24,840
Timnath, and it was only because
of the failure of.

537
00:37:24,840 –> 00:37:28,720
His brethren in an earlier.
Generation to uphold the truth

538
00:37:28,720 –> 00:37:34,040
that that woman was even there.
What a tragedy when he’s coming

539
00:37:34,040 –> 00:37:36,920
down there to fix what that they
had failed to do before.

540
00:37:37,080 –> 00:37:40,320
He bumps into the remnant of
what was leftover.

541
00:37:40,320 –> 00:37:42,240
Because they hadn’t lived the
truth.

542
00:37:44,120 –> 00:37:50,200
He bumped into it nevertheless.
She should have been gone along

543
00:37:50,200 –> 00:37:52,640
with all the Philistines 400
years before.

544
00:37:53,960 –> 00:38:00,400
But the lusts of his eyes had
blinded his mind, derailed his

545
00:38:00,400 –> 00:38:04,400
original objective.
And we’ve no longer got the

546
00:38:04,400 –> 00:38:08,800
Samson of chapter 13 at verse
25.

547
00:38:10,760 –> 00:38:15,200
You see, in Philistine
territory, brothers and sisters,

548
00:38:16,520 –> 00:38:21,280
things always look a little.
Different than they do when

549
00:38:21,280 –> 00:38:27,440
we’re here or when we’re home.
They’re always a little

550
00:38:27,440 –> 00:38:31,280
different.
You know, we might be moved to

551
00:38:31,280 –> 00:38:35,960
do the right things when we’re
home, when we’re comfortably

552
00:38:35,960 –> 00:38:39,560
reading our Bibles, when we’re
thinking about the word of God

553
00:38:39,760 –> 00:38:46,560
in a godly home environment.
But beware, when we walk into

554
00:38:46,560 –> 00:38:52,520
Philistine territory, there are
many, many casualties, young

555
00:38:52,520 –> 00:38:58,920
people, brethren and sisters of
experience and age who’ve had to

556
00:38:58,920 –> 00:39:03,160
learn that lesson the hard way.
You know, it’s much.

557
00:39:03,160 –> 00:39:07,040
Easier for us to say no at a
distance than when we’re face to

558
00:39:07,040 –> 00:39:11,720
face with a human being who’s
attractive, who’s got

559
00:39:11,720 –> 00:39:15,240
personality, who’s got feelings
and emotions.

560
00:39:15,520 –> 00:39:20,400
It’s much, much more difficult
to say no, or to think is just

561
00:39:20,600 –> 00:39:22,520
quite as clearly as we saw them
when we were.

562
00:39:22,520 –> 00:39:26,920
Home and we’ve got to be very,
very careful because we all

563
00:39:26,920 –> 00:39:30,800
possess all of us.
It’s not just denounce Samson,

564
00:39:30,800 –> 00:39:36,240
brothers and sisters, all of us
possess powerful emotions in our

565
00:39:36,240 –> 00:39:40,200
bodies.
The lust of the eyes, the lust

566
00:39:40,200 –> 00:39:44,000
of the flesh, the pride of life.
Which are not of the Father and

567
00:39:44,000 –> 00:39:47,200
that do influence us all at
times.

568
00:39:47,600 –> 00:39:51,520
And they pulled a blind down
over all.

569
00:39:51,520 –> 00:39:57,040
That he knew and he lost
control.

570
00:39:58,480 –> 00:40:01,080
All he ever knew.
About the Philistines was

571
00:40:01,080 –> 00:40:05,680
temporarily blotted out and his
mind lost control of his

572
00:40:05,680 –> 00:40:08,080
actions.
What of all his Nazarite

573
00:40:08,080 –> 00:40:10,600
principles?
He’d had them ground into his

574
00:40:10,600 –> 00:40:13,120
mind since he was this high.
He knew them backwards.

575
00:40:13,240 –> 00:40:16,360
He knew about separation.
He knew about dedication to God.

576
00:40:18,120 –> 00:40:22,760
The spirit mind must control the
actions of the body.

577
00:40:22,800 –> 00:40:28,760
And now it’s all back to front.
He marches back up to his father

578
00:40:28,760 –> 00:40:31,720
and mother.
In verse 2 he came up and told

579
00:40:31,720 –> 00:40:35,120
his father and his mother and
said, I have seen a.

580
00:40:35,120 –> 00:40:39,240
Woman out of the daughters of
the Philistines now therefore

581
00:40:39,720 –> 00:40:48,040
get her for me to wife.
What a terrible thing he’d

582
00:40:48,040 –> 00:40:50,360
allowed.
His lust to concede and instead.

583
00:40:50,360 –> 00:40:54,560
Of bringing back 16 heads.
Of the Philistines, he came back

584
00:40:55,360 –> 00:40:59,960
to tell his parents that he’d
seen a woman in Timnath.

585
00:41:01,160 –> 00:41:03,160
His spiritual vision had been
blinded.

586
00:41:03,920 –> 00:41:08,280
Conscience temporarily blocked
young people.

587
00:41:08,280 –> 00:41:16,320
Sin always has that effect.
It’s the first effect A.

588
00:41:16,320 –> 00:41:18,560
Blind and shutters will come
down.

589
00:41:18,560 –> 00:41:23,160
Over our eyes, over our moral.
Faculties so that we can’t.

590
00:41:23,160 –> 00:41:28,080
Any longer see things as clearly
as we could see them before.

591
00:41:28,600 –> 00:41:33,040
And there is a very important
reason for confining and

592
00:41:33,040 –> 00:41:37,760
narrowing the influences of our
lives, because once our lusts,

593
00:41:37,760 –> 00:41:41,160
whatever they are.
Don’t have to be in the same.

594
00:41:41,160 –> 00:41:44,440
Direction as Samson’s whatever.
Our lusts are if they are.

595
00:41:44,440 –> 00:41:46,400
Inflamed brethren, sisters, it’s
almost.

596
00:41:46,400 –> 00:41:50,560
Impossible to take control of
them and horrified parents Here

597
00:41:51,400 –> 00:41:54,480
his mother and father who had
brought him up all this time and

598
00:41:54,480 –> 00:41:57,840
are faced with a with an
unmitigated tragedy.

599
00:41:59,040 –> 00:42:01,480
God’s work was about to be
undone.

600
00:42:02,160 –> 00:42:05,160
All those years that they’d
carefully nurtured and nourished

601
00:42:05,160 –> 00:42:09,440
this land, he’d grown up into a
fine young man, virile and

602
00:42:09,440 –> 00:42:13,640
active in the truth, determined
to take action.

603
00:42:13,640 –> 00:42:16,240
Against the Philistines.
And now he.

604
00:42:16,240 –> 00:42:21,440
Wants to marry a philistine and
uncircumcised and unbaptised.

605
00:42:21,800 –> 00:42:26,400
Woman, that’s what it amounted
to absolutely unthinkable to

606
00:42:26,400 –> 00:42:29,880
Manoah’s wife and to Manoah
himself and that his parents

607
00:42:29,880 –> 00:42:34,280
make a passionate appeal to him.
Very clearly reasoned in verse

608
00:42:34,280 –> 00:42:36,200
3.
His father and his mother said

609
00:42:36,360 –> 00:42:38,720
is there.
Never a woman among the.

610
00:42:38,720 –> 00:42:41,080
Daughters of thy brethren, that
is.

611
00:42:41,080 –> 00:42:44,240
Isn’t there anyone?
In the truth, or among all my

612
00:42:44,240 –> 00:42:47,920
people whom thou goest to that
thou goest to take a wife of the

613
00:42:48,000 –> 00:42:54,240
uncircumcised Philistines.
If only he’d heeded that,

614
00:42:54,240 –> 00:42:57,600
brothers and sisters and young
people, if only he’d heeded that

615
00:42:57,600 –> 00:43:02,440
sound advice, it would have
saved so much tragedy, so much

616
00:43:02,440 –> 00:43:04,880
heartache for him and his
family.

617
00:43:06,040 –> 00:43:07,440
But he’s.
Totally.

618
00:43:07,440 –> 00:43:15,320
Irrational Samson said unto his
father, Get her for me.

619
00:43:16,360 –> 00:43:21,040
For as the margin says.
She is right in mine eyes.

620
00:43:21,880 –> 00:43:25,200
Oh, he’s really gone.
She is right.

621
00:43:25,200 –> 00:43:27,720
What tragic.
Words out of the mouth of the

622
00:43:27,720 –> 00:43:30,480
potential deliverer.
He’s been raised up to deliver a

623
00:43:30,480 –> 00:43:33,200
people who could do nothing else
but that which was right in

624
00:43:33,200 –> 00:43:36,560
their own eyes.
And now he is saying that he

625
00:43:36,560 –> 00:43:39,720
wants to marry one of the enemy
because she’s right in mine

626
00:43:39,720 –> 00:43:41,360
eyes.
What a tragedy.

627
00:43:44,880 –> 00:43:47,280
Back in Joshua, just make a note
of this, We won’t turn to it.

628
00:43:48,000 –> 00:43:51,200
In Joshua chapter 23 and verse
11 to 13 in.

629
00:43:51,200 –> 00:43:54,280
Joshua’s last.
Words He warned the people and

630
00:43:54,280 –> 00:43:57,160
said if you make marriages with
the heathen, when you go into

631
00:43:57,160 –> 00:44:01,880
that land, make sure you
understand that God will not

632
00:44:02,280 –> 00:44:03,440
deliver you.
Oh.

633
00:44:06,240 –> 00:44:09,200
Powerful things.
And he went on to say, there’ll

634
00:44:09,200 –> 00:44:16,560
be thorns in your eyes, thorns
in your eyes and that enemy

635
00:44:16,560 –> 00:44:18,880
eventually.
Poked his eyes out.

636
00:44:21,240 –> 00:44:24,120
Just be careful.
Just be careful, young people

637
00:44:24,160 –> 00:44:28,160
and brothers and sisters, where
we let our eyes go and where?

638
00:44:28,160 –> 00:44:30,920
We let our feet wander, you
know.

639
00:44:30,920 –> 00:44:36,440
Over recent months.
I’ve heard of of young people

640
00:44:37,400 –> 00:44:40,240
who have.
TV’s in their own rooms, their

641
00:44:40,240 –> 00:44:45,600
own bedrooms.
What unmitigated folly.

642
00:44:47,920 –> 00:44:54,160
To bring philistine territory
right back home and young

643
00:44:54,160 –> 00:44:59,280
people.
Who will go out to discos or to

644
00:44:59,280 –> 00:45:05,640
nightclubs and think that they
can wander into the meetings?

645
00:45:06,160 –> 00:45:08,960
Or youth group on the next
occasion.

646
00:45:11,400 –> 00:45:18,520
What utter folly.
Inflamed lusts infect the mind,

647
00:45:18,920 –> 00:45:23,160
inevitably affect the mind, and
sin deteriorates.

648
00:45:23,160 –> 00:45:26,600
It always deteriorates the mind.
Do you know what happened to

649
00:45:26,600 –> 00:45:28,320
Sampson here?
You count them later.

650
00:45:29,080 –> 00:45:35,360
But 10 * 10 times God tried to
intervene providentially to stop

651
00:45:35,400 –> 00:45:39,440
this marriage that Sampson
wanted to contract from going

652
00:45:39,440 –> 00:45:41,800
ahead 10 times.
God wanted that.

653
00:45:42,080 –> 00:45:47,240
And a tragedy is that Samson
became increasingly unresponsive

654
00:45:48,160 –> 00:45:52,200
because the further he dabbled
with sin and fiddled around with

655
00:45:52,200 –> 00:45:56,320
the Philistines, the more locked
in he got.

656
00:45:57,360 –> 00:46:00,360
And it was only all finished
when she was a pile of ashes.

657
00:46:01,640 –> 00:46:03,880
God had tried 10 times to stop
that.

658
00:46:05,320 –> 00:46:09,600
And he wouldn’t listen because
once sin has started it.

659
00:46:09,680 –> 00:46:13,080
It affects our minds.
Young people learn that lesson

660
00:46:13,120 –> 00:46:16,760
early.
Sin affects the mind.

661
00:46:17,040 –> 00:46:20,640
It affects the thinking process.
It affects the judgement.

662
00:46:21,480 –> 00:46:24,440
And we might think that we would
never marry outside the tree.

663
00:46:24,440 –> 00:46:26,920
We’d never do what anything,
anything that Samson did.

664
00:46:27,120 –> 00:46:29,000
Well, Samson didn’t think he
would either.

665
00:46:29,120 –> 00:46:32,000
He went down there to get the
Philistines, and look what he

666
00:46:32,000 –> 00:46:35,400
bumped into.
He didn’t know it was there.

667
00:46:38,120 –> 00:46:39,720
Samson didn’t think he would
either.

668
00:46:39,880 –> 00:46:42,720
He went down there to keep the
Philistines and look what he

669
00:46:42,720 –> 00:46:46,120
bumped into.
He didn’t know it was there.

670
00:46:47,240 –> 00:46:48,160
He didn’t.
Know what to?

671
00:46:48,160 –> 00:46:52,840
Expect and it brought absolute
heartache to his parents,

672
00:46:53,080 –> 00:46:56,360
anguish and frustration,
bitterness and suffering to him

673
00:46:56,800 –> 00:46:59,920
that never ever left him for the
rest of his days.

674
00:47:00,280 –> 00:47:06,360
It it scars on his.
Mind that he could never ever

675
00:47:06,360 –> 00:47:10,440
arise, young people.
And it gave great pain to Yahweh

676
00:47:10,440 –> 00:47:12,520
and the heavens who’d raised him
up to be a deliverer.

677
00:47:12,520 –> 00:47:16,960
It gave opportunity enemy to to
blasphemy.

678
00:47:26,810 –> 00:47:29,370
I’d like you to turn to that
passage, Second of Corinthians,

679
00:47:29,370 –> 00:47:34,370
chapter 6.
We all know it well.

680
00:47:36,970 –> 00:47:40,490
We hardly need it to be
reinforced that marriage is only

681
00:47:40,490 –> 00:47:46,880
in the Lord.
Young people, keep reinforcing

682
00:47:46,880 –> 00:47:52,560
that idea in your minds and be.
Careful where you let your feet.

683
00:47:52,640 –> 00:47:58,480
And your eyes wander because
there the apostle says in verse

684
00:47:58,480 –> 00:48:01,880
14 be you’re not unequally yoked
together with unbelievers.

685
00:48:03,440 –> 00:48:05,800
For what fellowship are the
righteousness with

686
00:48:05,800 –> 00:48:07,480
unrighteousness?
It’s that serious?

687
00:48:08,680 –> 00:48:10,800
What Communion?
Hath light with darkness, What

688
00:48:10,800 –> 00:48:14,840
concord hath Christ with Belial
are he that believeth, Or what

689
00:48:14,840 –> 00:48:16,680
part hath he that believeth with
an infidel?

690
00:48:16,800 –> 00:48:19,400
And what agreement hath the
temple of God with idols?

691
00:48:20,040 –> 00:48:24,400
For ye are the temple of the
living God, as God hath said.

692
00:48:24,400 –> 00:48:26,920
I will dwell in them, and walk
in them, and they shall be my,

693
00:48:27,200 –> 00:48:29,400
and I will be their God, and
they shall be my people.

694
00:48:30,720 –> 00:48:36,120
And Samson accepted the yoke of
the truth early in age.

695
00:48:36,960 –> 00:48:41,800
Now he wants to be unequally
yoked together with an

696
00:48:41,800 –> 00:48:45,120
unbeliever.
That unequal yoking, as can be

697
00:48:45,120 –> 00:48:49,160
seen from that that illustration
will cause chafing and pain and

698
00:48:49,160 –> 00:48:51,920
aggravation.
Now, but the real.

699
00:48:51,920 –> 00:48:57,360
Issue is really in verse 17
because there Paul goes on to

700
00:48:57,360 –> 00:49:05,440
say wherefore come out from
among them and be ye separate.

701
00:49:06,320 –> 00:49:08,040
Now where have you heard that
word?

702
00:49:08,920 –> 00:49:13,800
Saith the Lord.
And touch not the unclean thing,

703
00:49:14,280 –> 00:49:18,560
and I will receive you.
You see what God is saying,

704
00:49:19,000 –> 00:49:23,080
Marriage out of the truth is a
denial of Nazarite ship.

705
00:49:24,400 –> 00:49:29,960
Be separate and touch not the
unclean thing and I will receive

706
00:49:29,960 –> 00:49:32,640
you.
The corollary of that is if we

707
00:49:32,640 –> 00:49:37,200
don’t, God won’t.
You know that’s not the end.

708
00:49:37,280 –> 00:49:41,160
Read verse 18 and I’ll be a
father unto you, and ye shall be

709
00:49:41,160 –> 00:49:43,440
my sons and daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty.

710
00:49:43,920 –> 00:49:46,840
Having therefore, he goes on to
say in Chapter 7, verse one,

711
00:49:46,840 –> 00:49:50,320
these promises.
Dearly beloved, let us cleanse

712
00:49:50,400 –> 00:49:56,720
ourselves from all filthiness of
the flesh and spirit, perfecting

713
00:49:57,520 –> 00:50:06,120
holiness in the fear of God, and
there in the context of marrying

714
00:50:06,120 –> 00:50:10,280
out the truth.
I believe the Apostle Paul,

715
00:50:10,280 –> 00:50:15,200
without any question of a doubt,
had the Nazarite principle in

716
00:50:15,200 –> 00:50:20,200
mind.
Separate verse 17 and perfect

717
00:50:20,880 –> 00:50:24,360
holiness.
The two foundation principles of

718
00:50:24,360 –> 00:50:28,840
Nazarite ship and you will be my
sons and daughters, said the

719
00:50:28,840 –> 00:50:31,840
living God.
What a marvellous.

720
00:50:31,840 –> 00:50:36,000
Principle, that is, you know,
true Prince, true Nazarites have

721
00:50:36,000 –> 00:50:38,720
their bodies in subjection to
their minds.

722
00:50:39,320 –> 00:50:41,840
And they will take very great.
Care where they go and what they

723
00:50:41,840 –> 00:50:42,800
do.
Take.

724
00:50:42,800 –> 00:50:45,080
Care young people with whom you
associate at.

725
00:50:45,080 –> 00:50:49,760
School or at work?
The apostle said in First of

726
00:50:49,760 –> 00:50:53,880
Corinthians 15.
Bad company ruins good morals.

727
00:50:54,720 –> 00:50:56,880
That is a very.
Important principle.

728
00:50:57,960 –> 00:51:03,560
Don’t learn it the hard way.
Bad company ruins good morals.

729
00:51:04,520 –> 00:51:07,920
If we think we can socially join
with those at work or at school,

730
00:51:08,240 –> 00:51:10,960
in whatever activity or
whatever, without being

731
00:51:10,960 –> 00:51:14,160
affected, let’s think again,
because we’ve already been

732
00:51:14,160 –> 00:51:17,840
deceived by sin and by its
effects.

733
00:51:20,440 –> 00:51:23,800
We must live in this evil world,
young people and brothers and

734
00:51:23,800 –> 00:51:31,120
sisters, but not be part of it.
Come back to Judges chapter 14

735
00:51:33,360 –> 00:51:35,960
and see Samson’s response to his
parents.

736
00:51:36,600 –> 00:51:43,560
His parents pleading in verse 5
and Samson went down.

737
00:51:43,920 –> 00:51:46,960
That’s how much notice he took
of his parents.

738
00:51:48,960 –> 00:51:54,600
He went down, and his father and
mother went to Tim.

739
00:51:55,960 –> 00:51:59,520
Sorry, let’s read that again.
Then went Samson down, and his

740
00:51:59,520 –> 00:52:03,480
father and mother to Timnath,
and came to the vineyards of

741
00:52:03,480 –> 00:52:05,400
Timnath.
And behold, a young lion roared

742
00:52:05,400 –> 00:52:09,960
against him, and the spirit of
Yahweh came mightily upon him,

743
00:52:11,320 –> 00:52:14,240
and he rent him as he would have
a kid, and he had nothing in his

744
00:52:14,240 –> 00:52:17,240
hands.
But he told not his father or

745
00:52:17,240 –> 00:52:19,640
his mother what he’d done.
So it’s evident that they

746
00:52:19,640 –> 00:52:22,800
weren’t with Him when that
happened, and it’s intriguing

747
00:52:22,800 –> 00:52:25,440
that the Spirit of Yahweh should
come upon him when he’s going

748
00:52:25,440 –> 00:52:27,760
down to Timnath to see this
woman.

749
00:52:28,040 –> 00:52:31,080
Why, when he is going down there
did the spirit of Yahweh come?

750
00:52:31,280 –> 00:52:33,080
And why did His mother and
father go down there in the

751
00:52:33,080 –> 00:52:34,840
first place?
And what’s he doing?

752
00:52:34,840 –> 00:52:38,760
In a vineyard, of all places.
His mother was evidently not in

753
00:52:38,760 –> 00:52:42,680
a vineyard.
But we’re told in that in that

754
00:52:42,680 –> 00:52:45,080
story.
There that he had nothing in his

755
00:52:45,080 –> 00:52:47,520
hand and he just ripped.
The line apart.

756
00:52:48,040 –> 00:52:51,080
Because the Spirit of Yahweh
came upon him, and when he must

757
00:52:51,080 –> 00:52:53,040
have looked at that line.
Afterwards all over.

758
00:52:53,240 –> 00:52:55,720
He must have been.
Absolutely staggered.

759
00:52:56,080 –> 00:52:59,560
It wasn’t in his strength.
He wasn’t such a powerful man

760
00:52:59,560 –> 00:53:01,880
that he could just get a line
and just RIP it apart.

761
00:53:01,880 –> 00:53:05,000
Out of His natural strength, the
spirit of Yahweh came upon him,

762
00:53:05,200 –> 00:53:09,480
and he must have known that in
fact He did know it, and it

763
00:53:09,480 –> 00:53:13,000
played on his conscience.
Now what God was?

764
00:53:13,000 –> 00:53:17,440
Saying to him, Samson, you’re
going down to Timnath and the

765
00:53:17,440 –> 00:53:19,320
Philistines are going to roar
upon.

766
00:53:19,320 –> 00:53:24,280
You as a lion.
If you’re prepared, I’ll RIP

767
00:53:24,280 –> 00:53:29,000
them apart in your hands, the
spirit which comes from me.

768
00:53:29,000 –> 00:53:31,200
Said God is.
Going to RIP.

769
00:53:31,360 –> 00:53:37,840
Them apart, Samson, but you
can’t lay around with lions.

770
00:53:39,360 –> 00:53:43,080
You have to grab them by the
jaws and RIP them apart.

771
00:53:44,200 –> 00:53:46,720
You can’t hat them and say nice
Pussycat.

772
00:53:47,880 –> 00:53:51,160
Which is what he was.
Wanting to do at this stage and

773
00:53:51,160 –> 00:53:54,640
the longer he played around and
thought about that.

774
00:53:54,640 –> 00:53:58,760
Woman that he wanted to marry,
the harder it became to turn

775
00:53:58,760 –> 00:54:02,480
back and the less impact it had
on him.

776
00:54:02,760 –> 00:54:08,840
You know he did not tell his
mother and father why he told

777
00:54:08,840 –> 00:54:11,080
them a lot of other he.
Went back and said I want to

778
00:54:11,080 –> 00:54:13,040
marry this, this Philistine
woman.

779
00:54:13,200 –> 00:54:14,800
Why didn’t he now tell him about
the line?

780
00:54:14,960 –> 00:54:18,240
Because he knew there was
something in that and God was

781
00:54:18,240 –> 00:54:21,120
trying to teach him a lesson.
He knew that there was something

782
00:54:21,120 –> 00:54:22,960
there, and it was.
Playing on his mind and he

783
00:54:22,960 –> 00:54:25,120
didn’t.
Want to tell them because they

784
00:54:25,120 –> 00:54:28,080
would have immediately picked up
the issue and said, Samson,

785
00:54:28,120 –> 00:54:30,400
can’t you see what that’s doing
in your life?

786
00:54:31,440 –> 00:54:34,320
He knew God was doing something,
but he wanted to go that way,

787
00:54:34,320 –> 00:54:38,040
and he procrastinated for so
long that he didn’t know where

788
00:54:38,040 –> 00:54:40,120
he was going to go, and he just
kept on leaning.

789
00:54:40,120 –> 00:54:43,520
Back over towards Timnath to see
this woman all the time.

790
00:54:43,760 –> 00:54:49,240
Here’s a graphic picture of the
deteriorating effect of sin and

791
00:54:49,240 –> 00:54:54,280
of indecision in our lives,
young people.

792
00:54:55,880 –> 00:55:01,040
And he went back in verse 7 to
see the woman, and he went and

793
00:55:01,040 –> 00:55:03,840
talked to the woman, he told and
she.

794
00:55:03,840 –> 00:55:05,880
Pleased Sensing.
Well, I don’t know why he went

795
00:55:05,880 –> 00:55:07,720
back.
You know, I think he went back

796
00:55:08,080 –> 00:55:10,240
well.
This incident of the line was

797
00:55:10,240 –> 00:55:13,760
worrying him and and he really
believed he probably shouldn’t

798
00:55:13,760 –> 00:55:15,280
go.
But then he thought.

799
00:55:15,280 –> 00:55:17,960
Well, I’ll just go back once and
it’ll convince me once and for

800
00:55:17,960 –> 00:55:19,800
all.
Whether I should be there or

801
00:55:19,800 –> 00:55:22,880
not.
And he went, what a stupid thing

802
00:55:22,880 –> 00:55:26,520
it was, because when he got
talking to her, of course he

803
00:55:26,520 –> 00:55:30,440
liked it.
She pleased him well and he’s

804
00:55:30,440 –> 00:55:33,320
decided to keep on going with
the relationship.

805
00:55:33,600 –> 00:55:37,120
But he should have stayed.
Away and that interaction

806
00:55:37,120 –> 00:55:40,480
destroyed any growing doubts
that there were in his mind that

807
00:55:40,480 –> 00:55:41,920
so it made it.
Easier for him to.

808
00:55:41,920 –> 00:55:46,520
Rationalize and the impact of
that lesson that God was driving

809
00:55:46,520 –> 00:55:49,160
home with a lion was lost.
It was a God-given.

810
00:55:49,160 –> 00:55:52,560
Opportunity, and he’d thrown it
away.

811
00:55:53,520 –> 00:56:00,200
The more we capitulate, the more
we oscillate with sin and making

812
00:56:00,200 –> 00:56:05,720
decisions, young people, the
more likely we are to give in.

813
00:56:08,160 –> 00:56:11,640
The more quickly, the more
decisively we make a decision

814
00:56:11,640 –> 00:56:16,080
for what is right, the easier it
will be to to do it again.

815
00:56:17,400 –> 00:56:19,320
But there’s further degradation
of his thinking.

816
00:56:19,320 –> 00:56:21,600
Look at verse 8.
And after a time he returned to

817
00:56:21,600 –> 00:56:25,120
take her, and he turned the side
to see the carcass of the lion.

818
00:56:26,280 –> 00:56:29,520
And behold, there was a swarm of
bees and honey in the carcass of

819
00:56:29,520 –> 00:56:33,800
the lion.
Now that first word carcass

820
00:56:33,800 –> 00:56:36,480
there is different to the word
in the end of verse 8 and in

821
00:56:36,480 –> 00:56:40,240
verse 9, and it really means the
ruin or the fall of that lion.

822
00:56:41,200 –> 00:56:44,760
It’s an unusual word.
But he goes down and and

823
00:56:44,760 –> 00:56:47,520
interestingly, he digresses
across to see this line.

824
00:56:47,560 –> 00:56:49,640
It was still.
Plaguing it was still niggling

825
00:56:49,640 –> 00:56:55,000
at his conscience.
Young people Never, ever ignore

826
00:56:55,000 –> 00:57:02,680
the twinges of conscience.
God is telling us something and

827
00:57:02,680 –> 00:57:05,920
some practical advice about
overcoming weakness and problems

828
00:57:05,920 –> 00:57:07,560
in our.
If you know that you have a

829
00:57:07,560 –> 00:57:13,080
weakness or a problem.
When you’re in a saner moment

830
00:57:13,080 –> 00:57:15,120
and it’s not, the problem is not
there.

831
00:57:15,320 –> 00:57:18,080
Sit.
Down with your Bible and

832
00:57:18,080 –> 00:57:21,160
determine the course of action
as to what you would do if that

833
00:57:21,160 –> 00:57:24,720
problem faces.
You again determined that when

834
00:57:24,720 –> 00:57:28,960
you’re not in the prompt.
Or that weakness and.

835
00:57:29,000 –> 00:57:30,280
I could rest.
You can rest.

836
00:57:30,280 –> 00:57:33,680
Assured that when that.
Rears its head again in your

837
00:57:33,680 –> 00:57:37,320
life.
The first thing that will come

838
00:57:37,320 –> 00:57:41,120
into your mind is what you
determined was the right thing

839
00:57:41,120 –> 00:57:43,640
to do.
And if you have.

840
00:57:43,640 –> 00:57:46,960
A plan of action to follow.
You’ve got something to rest on

841
00:57:46,960 –> 00:57:50,920
and to hold and to walk straight
out of that temptation or of

842
00:57:50,920 –> 00:57:53,040
that weakness and take that
course of action.

843
00:57:53,920 –> 00:57:56,360
‘Cause there’s no guarantee that
we’re going to necessarily take

844
00:57:56,360 –> 00:57:59,160
it, but it will come back to our
mind.

845
00:57:59,560 –> 00:58:03,280
If we’ve made a determined
effort to to determine.

846
00:58:03,280 –> 00:58:05,520
How we might overcome what we.
Will do.

847
00:58:05,520 –> 00:58:08,400
What we will do in those
circumstances is very important.

848
00:58:08,400 –> 00:58:09,800
To be.
Don’t leave it to chance.

849
00:58:11,560 –> 00:58:16,960
But now Samson looks at the ruin
of the Philistines, because

850
00:58:16,960 –> 00:58:20,560
that’s what it represented, and
he’s amazed at the whole

851
00:58:20,560 –> 00:58:22,320
instant.
He stands back and thinks about

852
00:58:22,520 –> 00:58:24,760
when it happened.
And now there’s something even

853
00:58:24,760 –> 00:58:26,680
more unusual.
There’s bees in a carcass, and

854
00:58:26,680 –> 00:58:29,200
bees never, never build, carc
build.

855
00:58:29,200 –> 00:58:32,760
They’re hives in carcasses or in
putrefying remains.

856
00:58:33,200 –> 00:58:35,840
And there’s something strange,
there’s something awfully

857
00:58:35,840 –> 00:58:39,520
strange about this whole thing.
And he took the honey.

858
00:58:40,840 –> 00:58:45,800
Now what that word means in
verse 9, He took thereof in his

859
00:58:45,800 –> 00:58:50,040
hands, and went on eating, and
he told them not at the end of

860
00:58:50,040 –> 00:58:54,480
verse 9 that He had taken the
honey out of the carcass of the

861
00:58:54,480 –> 00:58:58,200
lion.
That is exactly the same word in

862
00:58:58,200 –> 00:59:04,680
the Hebrew that is rendered in
verse 4, Dominion He.

863
00:59:05,040 –> 00:59:11,280
Out of the carcass of that lion.
Took Dominion and went back home

864
00:59:12,520 –> 00:59:14,640
and he gave to his mother.
He didn’t tell them where it

865
00:59:14,640 –> 00:59:16,960
came from, he just gave them
some of this honey.

866
00:59:18,200 –> 00:59:19,360
Or what was it?
What was it?

867
00:59:19,360 –> 00:59:22,280
Telling him brothers and
sisters, he didn’t tell them

868
00:59:22,280 –> 00:59:26,000
about that line, but God was
trying to teach Samson a lesson.

869
00:59:26,480 –> 00:59:29,640
He was saying to him that
Samson, it’s only the Spirit of

870
00:59:29,640 –> 00:59:33,160
Yahweh that can ruin the
oppressor and bring dominion.

871
00:59:34,160 –> 00:59:38,280
And it will only be.
Then that sweetness and

872
00:59:38,280 –> 00:59:41,600
blessing, which is what Honey
represents, would come.

873
00:59:42,400 –> 00:59:47,080
Samson, while you’re playing
around with a live lion, there

874
00:59:47,080 –> 00:59:53,160
can be no sweetness.
Stop dabbling with Philistine.

875
00:59:53,160 –> 00:59:59,480
Women RIP the Philistines apart
and sweetness will come out of

876
00:59:59,480 –> 01:00:04,800
that ruin.
It’s powerful, isn’t it?

877
01:00:07,120 –> 01:00:10,240
That Samson by this stage has
oscillated for so long that

878
01:00:10,240 –> 01:00:13,040
though he sees there’s something
there, he doesn’t want to listen

879
01:00:13,040 –> 01:00:14,720
to that little voice in his
head.

880
01:00:15,520 –> 01:00:19,520
Unless we make decisive action,
we’ll always be in trouble,

881
01:00:19,520 –> 01:00:23,000
brothers and sisters, in the
face of the providential hand of

882
01:00:23,000 –> 01:00:25,880
God.
There seen in his life in verse

883
01:00:25,880 –> 01:00:28,560
10.
So his father went down under

884
01:00:28,560 –> 01:00:30,520
the woman, and Samson there made
a feast.

885
01:00:31,080 –> 01:00:36,560
For so the young men used to do,
and in the face of God’s

886
01:00:36,560 –> 01:00:40,680
Proverbs, he goes down.
Notice his mother didn’t go.

887
01:00:52,960 –> 01:01:00,160
But the wise man in Proverbs
chapter 3 said Trust in Yahweh,

888
01:01:01,920 –> 01:01:05,360
and leaned with all thine heart,
and leaned not unto thine own

889
01:01:05,360 –> 01:01:09,840
understanding.
In all thy ways, acknowledge

890
01:01:09,840 –> 01:01:16,440
him, and he will direct thy
paths, underlined the words all,

891
01:01:17,080 –> 01:01:23,400
in all thy way acknowledge.
And Samson wasn’t doing that at

892
01:01:23,400 –> 01:01:27,400
the moment.
And so he was allowed by God to

893
01:01:27,400 –> 01:01:32,720
go down, tragic as that was.
If we will not acknowledge him

894
01:01:32,720 –> 01:01:36,920
in all our ways, young people,
He will allow us to go our way.

895
01:01:38,320 –> 01:01:40,840
And what a tragedy that is.
And Samson.

896
01:01:40,840 –> 01:01:45,720
Threw a drinking party with his
philistine uncircumcised

897
01:01:45,800 –> 01:01:50,880
philistine mates.
That’s how far sin and its

898
01:01:50,880 –> 01:01:54,120
effects had deteriorated.
And now he himself is under

899
01:01:54,120 –> 01:01:58,960
demeaning of the Philistines.
He’s following their customs and

900
01:01:59,160 –> 01:02:02,640
what was the enemy and now his
friends.

901
01:02:03,560 –> 01:02:06,200
What an amazing thing and don’t
think.

902
01:02:06,200 –> 01:02:09,760
That that won’t happen to us.
Don’t think that the enemy out

903
01:02:09,760 –> 01:02:12,960
there and those who think
diametrically opposed to all

904
01:02:12,960 –> 01:02:17,160
that God upholds us right and
true, can’t become our friends

905
01:02:17,360 –> 01:02:19,160
because they can become our
friends.

906
01:02:19,160 –> 01:02:25,320
As soon as we let down our guard
and we sell ourselves out and

907
01:02:25,320 –> 01:02:29,240
follow their customs, we’ll be
their friends.

908
01:02:29,720 –> 01:02:32,840
If we stand up for what’s right,
we’ll be their enemies and they

909
01:02:32,840 –> 01:02:37,720
won’t have a bar of us.
Because he didn’t make a firm

910
01:02:37,720 –> 01:02:40,000
stand.
He just went down and down.

911
01:02:40,000 –> 01:02:41,560
His mind just got worse and
worse.

912
01:02:41,560 –> 01:02:43,240
And Singh defiled his
conscience.

913
01:02:43,440 –> 01:02:45,000
It became.
Easy and easy, and in fact, we

914
01:02:45,720 –> 01:02:47,600
got to the point.
Where he could make a joke.

915
01:02:47,720 –> 01:02:50,960
Out of the Providence of God
Never Riddle about the line a

916
01:02:51,080 –> 01:02:53,280
joke out of the Providence of
God.

917
01:02:54,040 –> 01:02:58,280
We can’t be involved in the
world’s activities and it have

918
01:02:58,280 –> 01:03:00,720
no effect on us.
We can’t.

919
01:03:01,400 –> 01:03:04,920
It will have an effect.
And Samson’s party goes on and

920
01:03:04,920 –> 01:03:08,920
he only comes to his senses when
he’s so deceived, betrayed and

921
01:03:08,920 –> 01:03:15,360
hurt because they found out he’s
real by pressing his wife to be

922
01:03:15,640 –> 01:03:20,680
that he storms out in disgust.
And verse 19 says and the

923
01:03:20,680 –> 01:03:23,840
Spirit.
Of Yahweh came upon him, and he

924
01:03:23,840 –> 01:03:26,200
went down to Ascol and he.
Slew 30 men.

925
01:03:26,480 –> 01:03:29,640
That’s why the spirit of Yahweh
came back to him, because he was

926
01:03:29,640 –> 01:03:35,480
ready to RIP the lion He put
turned his back on all the

927
01:03:35,480 –> 01:03:38,760
Philistine ways and walked out
to do.

928
01:03:38,760 –> 01:03:43,400
Damage to them and to uphold the
principles of Yahweh and Yahweh

929
01:03:43,440 –> 01:03:46,160
was with Him.
What a powerful lesson that is.

930
01:03:47,520 –> 01:03:50,520
Every time he turns his back on
the Philistines in the record,

931
01:03:50,520 –> 01:03:53,720
Yahweh comes, comes back, isn’t.
Isn’t that what?

932
01:03:53,880 –> 01:03:56,840
Kong said in in that to verse in
Second of Corinthians that we

933
01:03:56,840 –> 01:03:59,120
saw.
Be ye separate and touch, not

934
01:03:59,120 –> 01:04:02,880
the unclean thing, and I will
receive you while you’re

935
01:04:02,880 –> 01:04:08,120
dabbling, Samson, Don’t think.
That the Almighty can be close

936
01:04:08,120 –> 01:04:10,920
to you and He.
Went up interestingly, isn’t it?

937
01:04:10,920 –> 01:04:13,960
He went.
Up to his father’s house.

938
01:04:14,280 –> 01:04:19,080
End of verse 19.
And you’d think, well, Samson,

939
01:04:19,080 –> 01:04:23,160
thank goodness you’ve learnt
your lesson after all that.

940
01:04:23,160 –> 01:04:26,520
It took an awful lot.
But chapter 15 verse one says,

941
01:04:26,520 –> 01:04:31,720
but it came to pass within a
while after, in the time of the

942
01:04:31,720 –> 01:04:34,560
wheat harvest, that Samson
visited his wife.

943
01:04:34,560 –> 01:04:38,680
With a kid.
And said I’ll go into my wife,

944
01:04:39,120 –> 01:04:41,440
into the chamber to consummate
the marriage.

945
01:04:42,760 –> 01:04:48,720
What an amazing thing.
Surely he had learnt his lesson.

946
01:04:50,040 –> 01:04:53,360
Well, young people, this is the
lesson.

947
01:04:54,280 –> 01:04:58,560
Sin permanently affects the
mind.

948
01:04:59,600 –> 01:05:07,360
That’s why he went back.
He had paths cut into his mind

949
01:05:07,360 –> 01:05:12,120
that he couldn’t eradicate, and
he kept on coming back to that

950
01:05:12,120 –> 01:05:15,640
woman because he dabbled around
with it for too long.

951
01:05:16,400 –> 01:05:20,800
And now he comes back.
Sin degrades.

952
01:05:21,400 –> 01:05:24,840
But you know young people, the
reverse is also very true.

953
01:05:26,240 –> 01:05:30,240
The experience or practice of
what is right, of righteousness,

954
01:05:30,800 –> 01:05:34,560
of godliness, of truthful
things, of holiness, has a

955
01:05:34,560 –> 01:05:39,720
powerful effect on our minds if
we make conscious decisions.

956
01:05:39,880 –> 01:05:42,040
Positive decisions to do what is
right.

957
01:05:42,040 –> 01:05:45,080
It will become easier to do what
is right.

958
01:05:45,760 –> 01:05:48,000
You know, It’s the analogy of
practicing any skill.

959
01:05:48,160 –> 01:05:50,360
If you want to be able to play
tennis well, you’ve got to get

960
01:05:50,360 –> 01:05:52,120
out of there at court and you’ve
got to practice.

961
01:05:52,280 –> 01:05:54,040
You don’t just hit 2 balls or
know.

962
01:05:54,040 –> 01:05:57,120
How to do?
It and then you can play tennis,

963
01:05:57,800 –> 01:06:01,520
not well anyway.
And with the expression of

964
01:06:01,520 –> 01:06:05,080
righteousness in our lives,
young people, we have to have

965
01:06:05,080 –> 01:06:08,000
practice.
It’s the analogy.

966
01:06:08,400 –> 01:06:11,000
That we are very familiar with
in everyday life, and the

967
01:06:11,000 –> 01:06:13,000
apostle Paul says this in
Hebrews 5.

968
01:06:17,960 –> 01:06:21,520
Solid food and this is taken
from Weymouth translation Solid.

969
01:06:21,520 –> 01:06:24,040
Food is for adults, that is,
those who through.

970
01:06:24,040 –> 01:06:30,920
Constant practice have their
spiritual faculties carefully

971
01:06:30,920 –> 01:06:33,720
trained.
To distinguish between good and

972
01:06:33,720 –> 01:06:34,680
evil, you.
Know what that’s?

973
01:06:34,680 –> 01:06:40,360
Saying when we practice doing
what is right, our moral

974
01:06:40,360 –> 01:06:44,720
faculties will become sharper
and sharper and we’ll be able to

975
01:06:47,520 –> 01:06:50,400
what is right and wrong.
But if we have practice of

976
01:06:50,400 –> 01:06:53,520
unrighteousness and you’re in
that environment all the time,

977
01:06:54,120 –> 01:06:58,360
our senses will become duller
and duller and duller and we

978
01:06:58,360 –> 01:07:00,360
won’t be able to see what we’re
doing.

979
01:07:00,880 –> 01:07:03,240
Then Samson’s.
Saga goes on and on.

980
01:07:03,320 –> 01:07:05,320
We don’t.
We’re not going to look at any

981
01:07:05,320 –> 01:07:07,720
more.
Of Samson’s life today, apart

982
01:07:07,720 –> 01:07:09,320
from right at the very end of
his.

983
01:07:09,320 –> 01:07:13,040
Life he afflicted great.
Losses on the Philistines.

984
01:07:13,600 –> 01:07:17,840
And then they burned his wife.
He brought great slaughter on

985
01:07:17,840 –> 01:07:22,440
another occasion when his mind
was focused on his on what God

986
01:07:22,440 –> 01:07:24,760
had actually called him for.
His life is.

987
01:07:24,760 –> 01:07:29,440
Characterized by great highs,
great courage, great space for

988
01:07:29,440 –> 01:07:32,760
which he.
Stands in Hebrews Chapter 11.

989
01:07:33,560 –> 01:07:37,400
But there is also great troughs
of personal weakness.

990
01:07:38,360 –> 01:07:42,520
And it was that weakness that
hindered God’s ability to work

991
01:07:42,560 –> 01:07:47,520
through him.
And he never, ever resolved that

992
01:07:47,520 –> 01:07:51,040
problem, brethren and sisters,
to start with the problem that

993
01:07:51,840 –> 01:07:55,160
that was a problem at the
beginning of his life.

994
01:07:57,000 –> 01:08:00,800
And we find, as we know in
Chapter 16, the end of his life.

995
01:08:04,440 –> 01:08:10,200
He loved a woman again.
And the problem, the problem

996
01:08:10,200 –> 01:08:14,200
that he had not effectively
dealt with, came back.

997
01:08:16,720 –> 01:08:21,560
And it’s again in the territory
of Dan, in the valley of Soric

998
01:08:21,560 –> 01:08:25,560
that belonged to Dan, but is.
Possessed by Philistines.

999
01:08:25,760 –> 01:08:31,520
And there in that place, he sold
his heart, soul, and.

1000
01:08:31,520 –> 01:08:40,760
Strength into the lap of a
Philistine woman and the scars.

1001
01:08:40,760 –> 01:08:43,040
Of his previous.
Experiences had led him to

1002
01:08:43,040 –> 01:08:45,279
ignore his conscience.
Compare that with Joseph.

1003
01:08:46,800 –> 01:08:50,040
The practice of righteousness,
when it came to a difficult

1004
01:08:50,040 –> 01:08:53,120
decision, made the right stand
because his faculties were

1005
01:08:53,120 –> 01:08:56,560
sharpened.
But Samson’s mind has been

1006
01:08:56,560 –> 01:08:58,120
affected by sin.
And.

1007
01:08:59,040 –> 01:09:03,120
He can’t see as clearly and he
hadn’t worked strongly enough to

1008
01:09:03,120 –> 01:09:07,920
overcome.
That and now the symbol of his,

1009
01:09:08,800 –> 01:09:10,960
of his separation and his
consecration.

1010
01:09:10,960 –> 01:09:15,399
His hair drops into the lap of a
woman and the source of his

1011
01:09:15,399 –> 01:09:19,960
power to gain dominion is
snuffed out.

1012
01:09:21,080 –> 01:09:26,479
That power lay in his separation
of thinking and his devotion to

1013
01:09:26,479 –> 01:09:30,680
holiness.
That’s where our power lays,

1014
01:09:30,680 –> 01:09:34,600
young people and brethren and
sisters, in the separation of

1015
01:09:34,600 –> 01:09:38,200
our thinking and a devotion to
holiness.

1016
01:09:39,040 –> 01:09:45,200
There is power that can match
nothing on earth in that but a

1017
01:09:45,399 –> 01:09:51,000
woman, a Philistine woman,
robbed him of the greatest power

1018
01:09:51,000 –> 01:09:55,160
on earth and bound him in
chains.

1019
01:09:56,960 –> 01:10:01,880
What a powerful lesson.
The world with its the lust of

1020
01:10:01,880 –> 01:10:03,960
the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life.

1021
01:10:04,480 –> 01:10:06,040
All the ways.
And activities that are

1022
01:10:06,040 –> 01:10:11,600
associated with its philosophies
can SAP the vital power that we

1023
01:10:11,600 –> 01:10:16,920
have and take dominion.
If we allow.

1024
01:10:16,920 –> 01:10:20,960
Too close a contact and allow
the distinctions to blur.

1025
01:10:21,440 –> 01:10:24,280
But that wasn’t even the
greatest tragedy in Samson’s

1026
01:10:24,280 –> 01:10:28,600
life.
The greatest tragedy is in verse

1027
01:10:28,760 –> 01:10:36,720
6, verse 20 of chapter 16.
And she said the Philistines are

1028
01:10:36,720 –> 01:10:38,360
upon the Samson and he woke out
of sleep.

1029
01:10:38,360 –> 01:10:40,400
And he said I will go out of
that other times and shake

1030
01:10:40,400 –> 01:10:48,040
myself.
And he whisked, not that Yahweh

1031
01:10:48,600 –> 01:10:56,200
was departed, he just thought he
could dabble.

1032
01:10:56,200 –> 01:11:00,760
Around.
With the worldly things play,

1033
01:11:01,000 –> 01:11:07,800
loosen light and still go back
and have all the benefits of

1034
01:11:07,960 –> 01:11:15,200
Yahweh’s association.
And he was deceived, sadly

1035
01:11:15,200 –> 01:11:20,080
deceived, and he didn’t even
know that Yahweh had left him,

1036
01:11:22,160 –> 01:11:26,040
deceived by sin and his
involvement in worldly things.

1037
01:11:27,160 –> 01:11:29,560
And it put him in bondage with
no power.

1038
01:11:30,080 –> 01:11:35,040
Absolute bondage and sin will do
the same, Young people, it’ll do

1039
01:11:35,040 –> 01:11:37,920
the same.
Samson was in a prison.

1040
01:11:37,920 –> 01:11:40,920
House.
His hair shaved, his eyes gouged

1041
01:11:40,920 –> 01:11:43,840
out chains in darkness, in
solitude.

1042
01:11:43,840 –> 01:11:48,640
In agony, day after day, month
after month, year after year.

1043
01:11:50,280 –> 01:11:57,600
And in that circumstance, with
nothing else, what he’d learned

1044
01:11:57,720 –> 01:12:06,040
in youth began to come back.
He heard his mother’s voice in

1045
01:12:06,040 –> 01:12:12,800
that prison.
Young people Samson Nazarite

1046
01:12:12,800 –> 01:12:16,680
ship is the only way to overcome
the Philistines.

1047
01:12:20,520 –> 01:12:25,920
And all the events of his life
fluttered back, and with no eyes

1048
01:12:26,880 –> 01:12:32,240
he began to see with the clarity
he’d never ever appreciated

1049
01:12:32,240 –> 01:12:35,400
before.
The true issues of life,

1050
01:12:37,240 –> 01:12:44,000
separation from ungodly
influences, and consecration in

1051
01:12:44,000 –> 01:12:48,760
holiness are the only things
worth striving after.

1052
01:12:50,280 –> 01:12:54,480
Look at verse 22.
Howbeit, the record tells us the

1053
01:12:54,480 –> 01:13:00,720
hair of his head began to grow
again margin as when he was

1054
01:13:00,720 –> 01:13:03,640
shaved.
This had taken some considerable

1055
01:13:03,640 –> 01:13:06,440
time.
And it’s not just saying his

1056
01:13:06,440 –> 01:13:08,680
hair grew.
His hair was a symbol of the

1057
01:13:08,680 –> 01:13:12,960
consecration and the separation
that bespoke the Nazarite.

1058
01:13:13,720 –> 01:13:16,880
His hair was taken away because
he wasn’t consecrated and he

1059
01:13:16,880 –> 01:13:18,920
wasn’t separate.
But now it was growing again.

1060
01:13:18,920 –> 01:13:21,600
It was telling us that his
separation of mind and the

1061
01:13:21,600 –> 01:13:24,720
consecration in holiness, though
he was in a prison and could do

1062
01:13:24,720 –> 01:13:27,440
nothing much.
Was beginning to return.

1063
01:13:27,640 –> 01:13:32,360
And they took him out at that
time, after all this had gone

1064
01:13:32,360 –> 01:13:35,240
round in his mind, and he’d seen
the folly of his whole life.

1065
01:13:35,640 –> 01:13:39,200
They took him out amidst the
mocking and humiliation and

1066
01:13:39,200 –> 01:13:43,440
ribald laughter of the cruelest
and filthiest people on earth,

1067
01:13:45,160 –> 01:13:48,200
and they joined with their God
to despise him.

1068
01:13:51,880 –> 01:13:56,720
And he couldn’t see them.
He could only hear them, but he

1069
01:13:56,720 –> 01:13:59,960
hated.
What he heard, he despised it.

1070
01:14:01,960 –> 01:14:11,480
And he whispered a prayer, O
Yahweh, Remember Me I pray thee,

1071
01:14:13,200 –> 01:14:20,720
and strengthen me.
I pray thee only this once, and

1072
01:14:20,720 –> 01:14:28,160
let me die with the Philistines,
because I’m no better than they

1073
01:14:28,160 –> 01:14:34,320
are.
And he bowed himself with might

1074
01:14:35,640 –> 01:14:43,720
not his own, and in his death
brought the greatest victory of

1075
01:14:43,720 –> 01:14:49,720
his life, a victory that’s
typical now, which would be

1076
01:14:49,760 –> 01:14:51,760
later carried out by the
greatest.

1077
01:14:51,760 –> 01:14:54,440
Seed of the woman.
Who all his life would have the

1078
01:14:54,440 –> 01:14:57,680
minion over himself?
So that in death he might

1079
01:14:57,680 –> 01:15:00,280
deliver those who all their
lifetime had been subject to

1080
01:15:00,280 –> 01:15:03,160
bondage.
Samson’s life, brethren, sisters

1081
01:15:03,160 –> 01:15:07,880
and young people, shows that
despite human weakness,

1082
01:15:09,760 –> 01:15:12,400
pressures that he himself
brought to bear because of his

1083
01:15:12,400 –> 01:15:18,600
own folly, we can, through the
mercy and grace of God, be

1084
01:15:18,600 –> 01:15:28,160
victorious.
But not until we recognize the

1085
01:15:28,160 –> 01:15:35,240
Nazarite principles in our life.
In conclusion, I’d like you to

1086
01:15:35,240 –> 01:15:38,080
come with me through Paul’s
words in Second of Corinthians

1087
01:15:38,080 –> 01:15:47,680
chapter 10, 2nd of Corinthians
chapter 10.

1088
01:15:50,160 –> 01:15:52,600
Here’s the issue.
Young people and brother and.

1089
01:15:52,600 –> 01:15:57,600
Sisters for our lives and the
apostle says in second of

1090
01:15:57,600 –> 01:16:01,240
Corinthians 10 and verse 3.
For though we.

1091
01:16:01,240 –> 01:16:05,920
Walk in the flesh.
We do not war after the flesh,

1092
01:16:05,920 –> 01:16:09,520
as Samson didn’t.
He ought to have been fighting

1093
01:16:09,520 –> 01:16:11,680
with a power that they knew
nothing of.

1094
01:16:12,600 –> 01:16:17,920
For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty.

1095
01:16:17,920 –> 01:16:21,920
Through God to the pulling down
of strongholds, we can do

1096
01:16:22,040 –> 01:16:24,000
anything.
Through God’s power.

1097
01:16:25,760 –> 01:16:31,480
But verse 5 says, casting down
imaginations, and every high

1098
01:16:31,480 –> 01:16:34,000
thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God,

1099
01:16:34,560 –> 01:16:39,240
and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience

1100
01:16:39,240 –> 01:16:40,920
of Christ.
Let me read you that verse from

1101
01:16:40,920 –> 01:16:46,040
the RSV.
We destroy, Paul says, arguments

1102
01:16:46,040 –> 01:16:50,760
and every proud obstacle to the
knowledge of God, and take every

1103
01:16:50,840 –> 01:16:58,000
thought captive to obey Christ.
Dominion is not won or lost in

1104
01:16:58,000 –> 01:17:00,760
the world.
It’s won or lost in the mind.

1105
01:17:04,640 –> 01:17:07,120
The world is out.
To control and to influence our

1106
01:17:07,120 –> 01:17:09,480
thinking.
But our greatest enemy is

1107
01:17:09,480 –> 01:17:13,000
within, and God has given us the
weapons to deal with it.

1108
01:17:13,800 –> 01:17:17,120
It’s no good being in a book,
young people, because it.

1109
01:17:17,240 –> 01:17:19,160
Won’t do us any good when we
need it.

1110
01:17:19,720 –> 01:17:24,080
It must be in our minds.
We’ve got to spend time

1111
01:17:24,080 –> 01:17:29,880
exercising our minds on godly
things so that when high and

1112
01:17:29,880 –> 01:17:32,720
lofty things, arguments, proud
obstacles to the knowledge of

1113
01:17:32,720 –> 01:17:37,240
God, whatever it might be,
weaknesses raise their heads.

1114
01:17:37,560 –> 01:17:41,360
We can destroy and take active
the thoughts.

1115
01:17:43,480 –> 01:17:47,080
Which if not taken captive, will
lead to hideous monsters in our

1116
01:17:47,080 –> 01:17:49,680
lives.
Before they come out, that’s

1117
01:17:49,680 –> 01:17:52,600
what the apostle is saying and
the Proverbs said.

1118
01:17:53,080 –> 01:17:55,920
Better is he that ruleth his own
spirit than he that taketh the

1119
01:17:55,920 –> 01:17:59,200
city.
Samson could take a city, but he

1120
01:17:59,200 –> 01:18:02,400
couldn’t rule his own spirit
during part of his life.

1121
01:18:02,720 –> 01:18:09,600
And the challenge of his life is
that dominion will only come by

1122
01:18:09,600 –> 01:18:14,520
separation of our thinking from
defiling influences and devotion

1123
01:18:14,520 –> 01:18:18,280
of our minds and our lives to
holiness.

1124
01:18:27,080 –> 01:18:28,720
In summary, then, what have we
seen?

1125
01:18:31,040 –> 01:18:36,360
That only Nazarites will have
dominion, which involves

1126
01:18:36,360 –> 01:18:40,760
separation from all defiling
influences and consecration and

1127
01:18:40,760 –> 01:18:46,400
dedication to God in holiness.
That parents too, need to be

1128
01:18:46,400 –> 01:18:49,120
Nazarites if their children are
to be.

1129
01:18:49,960 –> 01:18:54,120
We need to narrow the sphere of
our lives to marry only in the

1130
01:18:54,120 –> 01:18:58,160
Lord.
And take notice of this, young

1131
01:18:58,160 –> 01:19:04,240
people, before sin has made deep
tracks in your mind.

1132
01:19:05,320 –> 01:19:12,760
Sin deceives, it deteriorates
the mind, and because the mind

1133
01:19:12,760 –> 01:19:17,040
is the area where the battle
will be lost or won, take

1134
01:19:17,320 –> 01:19:23,200
thoughts and practice
righteousness, being aware

1135
01:19:23,200 –> 01:19:28,960
always of God’s providential
hand that we might in the age to

1136
01:19:28,960 –> 01:19:32,720
come have dominion over all
things.