Wednesday, November 21, 2007

"What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets" (Hebrews 11:32).

IDEA: We are made more vulnerable when we may never have felt defeat.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand that a “victorious life” may lead to spiritual defeat.

In the letter Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, he asked a rhetorical question in 6:1: “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that God’s grace may increase?”

Where did that strange question come from?

What is Paul’s answer to his own question?

I. Is it possible that a life of successes may set us up for a fall?

In Judges 16, Samson must have felt that he was invincible.

He deliberately went to Gaza, a major city of the Philistines, and exposed himself to danger.

He had a sexual encounter with a high-priced prostitute that he didn’t try to hide. Everyone in Gaza knew that he was there (Judges 16:2).

Why would he deliberately expose himself to the enemy with a self-confidence that made him vulnerable physically and spiritually?

Up to this point he had lived his life with little concern for God’s claim on him, and he had won victories over his enemies.

He had ignored two of the conditions of being a Nazirite (touching a dead body, 14:8, and drinking—the wedding feast would have included alcohol, 14:10).

No matter what he did, God did not intervene. There weren’t even any minor set-backs.

For at least 20 years Samson suffered no defeats. His victories must have made him bold enough to go to an enemy stronghold by himself and have intercourse with a prostitute. Why else would he do that?

How did the episode in Gaza turn out? Judges 16:1.

As a feat of strength, walking away with the gates of the city is one of the greatest exploits in human history. There were two results.

The Philistines were paralyzed with fear. Imagine their reaction to having the gates they were sure would protect them stolen. They feared Samson and probably feared Samson’s God.

Samson would have answered Paul’s question, “Yes, God is so interested in defeating the Philistines that He doesn’t care what I do.”

II. Samson’s victories helped to set him up for his final fall with Delilah.

Unless we continually give glory to God for His victories in us and through us, those victories can well lead to spiritual disaster.