Sampson -The Strong Loser

THE STRONG LOSER

Forget not your covenant.

Do not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or join in with sinners,

 for they are like chaff that the wind blows away

 and they will not stand in the assembly of the righteous.

The Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

 but the way of the wicked will perish.

 Woe unto the man who once walked in covenant

 but soon forgets where his strength came from.

The people in the bible are what makes the bible and if you took the characters out of the bible it would be a skeleton.  God intended for us to learn about him through these characters.  Just like the church, we need people, because we learn from each other.  Sometimes its good lessons and sometimes its lessons that teach us our boundaries with God.   Sampson is one of those people in the bible that we can learn much through.

I'm going to teach you something about Sampson today. (Judges 13:24)  He was strong. He was educated.  He was a judge of Israel.  He was God's man, and he was anointed.   He was the strongest man that ever lived.  One day he went down to Timnath and a young lion came out to destroy him and he killed the lion. (Judges 14:6)  He should have been referred to as the greatest judge of Israel but sin cut him short of that destiny.

Sampson walked a perfect pattern of sin and God had blessed him.  What attracted him to sin?  The enticement of the world.  He went down into the town and he saw Delilah in Timnath.  He went back and told his parents of this beautiful woman.  His father said to him, "Is there not any other woman among our people that you have to go to these Philistines to get one?"


Here's a man who played with three women in his life time.  The three women represent the world, the flesh and the devil.  That's the way the devil seeks to destroy all of us.  First, he attracts you to the world with all its glitter.  Then he wants you to walk in the flesh and give yourself over to carnality.  Then he gives you the final touch, the devil and his bondages. We're going to see these three enticements of the devil and see clearly how in a slow process sin spirals us down into bondage.

Sampson was a strong man in God, but he forgot that and became bent on what was in the world.  He had been directly touched by God, yet it meant nothing to him after he met Delilah.  He said, "for she pleases me well."  Sampson took Delilah, stepping out of God's will.   

The Lord blessed Sampson but instead of protecting the anointing on his life, he began to visit the enemy's camp.  Delilah was beautiful and he wanted her.  Sampson was smart and he should have become the greatest leader and judge of Israel.   He didn't think about what his acts were going to do to the nation of Israel.  Delilah was a pagan, morals were nothing to her.  Sampson was about to fall into the abyss.  There's nothing more important than who you marry. Young people, you don't have to go to the devil's people to find a spouse.  The bible tells us not be unequally yoked.

Sampson had forgotten where his strength came from and the devil was setting a trap for him.  Sampson's strength became his problem.  Sometimes it's not your weakness that gets you in trouble, but your strength. Especially when you come to believe it is through your own power that you can operate.  You watch your weaknesses all the time but the devil can move in on your strength and cause you to miss God. Sampson had been attracted by the world and now the devil begins to lure him by the flesh.

Preachers, don't ever get up in the pulpit and think that your gift is of your own self. You must humbly pray for anointing every time you step behind the pulpit and depend on Him for your delivery to the people. Because I can tell you now that without anointing you can only touch the people's minds but if you preach with anointing you can pierce their soul and heart.  Never glory in yourself, because you are what you are because of Him.  Once you lose position with the Lord you will fall.

Look at Judges 15:15 and see Sampson's protection.  Sampson took a jaw bone of an ass and slew a thousand men. Do you use all your protection?  Some are great preachers that don't prepare.  We have great singers but uncommitted.  We have great writers but choose to write of their own knowledge.  We need to use our gifts God has given us and be committed and prepare when we use those gifts to serve Him. Most serve themselves and that is why we see gifted people still in lack and can't see the blessing upon them.  It is a dangerous thing to be once enlightened by God and then turn from Him.

Sampson fell because he didn't listen to his parents or God.  He went his own way.  He was anointed but he allowed the devil to cause him to fall.  He was moving in all the wrong directions led by his desire to partake of the world.  He went and slept with a harlot.  He killed the lion and the people said, "Oh here he comes the strong one", and they began to plan on how to kill him as he lay in his sin with the harlot. 

Sampson frequented places that could only cause him to fall one day. He climbed a mountain top to show the enemy his strength, but sin has a downward spiral.  How could Sampson still have this anointing and why?  Because God has a covenant with you.  And Satan is after that covenant you have with the Lord to get you to break it.  Sampson's covenant was hidden in his long hair.

If you're not living right, and have anointing, don't brag because you're on your way down.  Take some notes here because you'll see they won't stay in ministry long.  You see, the devil is a pusher.  You think a drug dealer is a pusher? They are nothing compared to the devil pushing on a called man by God that takes his eye off the Lord.

What takes us into sin like that?  One step at a time.  It doesn't happen over night.  This is what happens to God's people.  They think they can get away with it because after all, they are so gifted and too important to fall.  Take a look back into recent history at the famous ministers that have fallen.  But, to be sure, your sins will find you out.

Don't dance with the devil because soon you will lie down with him, and don't ever give him a ride because if you do, he'll take over the driving.  Let's take a closer look at how Sampson spiraled down in phases with sin.


The first woman in Sampson's life represented the world.  Sampson had married wrong.  With the first woman there was no sin involved.  She was just a foreigner, and unbeliever, and Sampson had married her because she was pretty.  So she represents the world; she was fascinating.


The second woman represents the flesh.  Sampson went to Gaza and there he slept with a harlot.  So it was told among the people, Sampson the strong one is here.  He obviously frequented these bad places. The Philistines planned to kill him the next morning.


Now some of you may be asking how could he sleep with a harlot and still be anointed?  It's very simple.  When God makes a covenant with you he keeps that covenant.  You can sin, and God will still use you, until you break your covenant.  And let me tell you, if you keep messing with the devil he will see to it that you break your covenant.  Sampson had a covenant of a Nazarite, and he had not broken the covenant yet.  God will use you but it doesn't mean you will enter into his gates with a crown of righteousness.


This second woman was unclean and she was a harlot.  She represents the flesh with its sinful desires.  Sampson had learned nothing from either one, yet they were not able to overcome him. They hadn't touched his covenant yet.

The third woman Delilah represented the tempter, the devil.  Delilah is a temptress and she was a very clever woman.  Sampson didn't commit just adultery with her but he began to hang around her quite a bit and too long.  While he was there the enemy, the Philistines got a hold of the woman.  They said, "Now listen, he's killed thousands of us and we're afraid of him."  He's not any bigger than us but he has strength that we don't have nor do we know where it comes from."


The enemy didn't know where Sampson's strength was.  That's the way the devil does us, he keeps on until he finds out where your strength comes from and he will attack that.  If you dabble with the devil he will get you.  Delilah was beautiful, voluptuous, and sensuous.  She starts to pick Sampson's mind, "If you really love me you would tell me where your strength comes from."


Delilah begins to make love to him and ask him, "Why are you so strong?"  She lied to him, and she duped him.  You would think Sampson had learned but he went back one more time.  She said again, "If you loved me, you would tell me all. Where does your strength come from?"  Each time he speaks to her she gets closer to his strength, his anointing, his hair and his covenant with God.

Make no mistake about it, the devil wants to destroy you.  Finally, Sampson told Delilah all, "It's my hair," and he went on to say, "and if I shaved it I would lose my strength."  He told the devil all of his heart.  That night she bound him while he slept, in the enemy's camp.  She called for a man to come and shave his head.

After she began to afflict him he lost his strength.  He cried out to God, "Oh God you are always with me."  But when you break your covenant God is no longer with you.  Sampson should have been a champion but he played.  He was a judge but the Philistine's reduced him to an animal.  They made him like a mule to grain their mill.  Around and around in a circle grinding and grinding.  He became a grinder at the devil's mills.

Sampson was well dressed man, and they took his image and his strength to become a nobody.  He asked God for forgiveness, "Give me one more chance. Remember me Lord."

God will forgive you.  Sampson said to God, "I don't ask for my eyesight back but just one more time to have my strength and anointing."

The devil dismembers you but God puts you back together.  That's what the criminal asked Jesus beside him on Calvary, "Jesus, remember me."  This mighty man, Sampson cries out, "Oh god remember me."

Sampson said to the lad that led him around and around, "lead me to the pillars in the city."  This event came fast and swift and destroyed the enemy's camp.  God's champion was blind now.  He calls upon God as he starts pushing the pillars.  There were 3,000 men that died that day when the pillars that Sampson pushed down collapsed the city. 

Sin's payday had come and Sampson died with them that day.  He will go to heaven but he stands before God with all his works burned up.  Is that the way you want to stand before God one day?  Sampson went down in history as the Strong Loser.