During the time that Samson was born, Israel was occupied by the Philistines. As you will see in the scripture below God set him apart for himself. Does that mean he lived a perfect life and did no wrong? No, as you will see he was far from it.
We are not going to go into the whole life of Samson in this message, rather I am going to just highlight some key points to make a point.
Judges 13:2-4 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines."
The above passage tells us that besides God setting Samson apart for himself he is to be a Nazirite.
So what is a Nazirite?
There are three principal marks that distinguished the Nazirite:
(1) renunciation of wine and all products of the vine, including grapes. In plain English: he is not to drink wine or eat any kind of grapes.
(2) prohibition of the use of the razor. In plain English: he is not to cut any of his hair.
(3) avoidance of contact with a dead body. In plain English: Stay away from anything that is dead.
So, do you think Samson lived the way he was supposed to? You have to read the book of Judges chapter 13, 14, 15 and 16 to hear the whole story of his life. Right now I will just highlight some of it.
He eats honey out of the dead carcass of a lion that he killed earlier. If you remember he was not to touch any dead body.
He marries a Philistine woman. God was planning on using this for his purpose, but Israelites where not to marry Non-Israelites.
Because of his marriage he gets 30 companions from the Philistines as customary. He gives them a riddle. When they get the answer to the riddle from his wife it angers him and he kills thirty Philistines (probably the companions).
He goes home to his father and his wife is given to a friend. This angered him, so he torched their grain fields, olive groves and vineyards. Now the Philistines burn his wife and her father to death. He again gets revenge.
All this scares the Israelites so they talk him into giving himself up to Philistines. He gives himself up to them, but it is under falls pretenses. As soon as they turn him over to the Philistines he kills 1000 of them we a donkey jawbone. Each time he fought it says the Spirit of the Lord was on him. Does this mean God agreed with Samson's motive? No, but it worked towards Gods goals so he used this to accomplish his purpose. Samson leads the Israelites for twenty years. Does he live right during the rest of this time?
No. Now he takes up with a prostitute (lady of the evening)
Then he takes up with a woman in the Valley of Sorek named Delilah.
He continually does what he wants to do rather then what God wants.
The Philistines want Delilah to find out what makes Samson strong. After three attempts he gives in to her and tells her it is his hair that makes him strong as you will see below.
JDG 16:17 So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."
Sure enough in his sleep she shaves his head. He is seized and his eyes are gouged out. It was the Spirit of the Lord that made him strong but the Spirit had left him. During his time in prison Samson's hair grows back without the Philistines realizing it. He is brought out to entertain them in their temple. He talks the guards into putting him by the pillars that hold up the temple.
Here is what happens:
Judges 16:28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.
Here is the point I am trying to make:
Samson lived the way he wanted to rather then the way he should have. Even though God was able to use what he was doing for his purpose, there came a time when the Spirit left Samson. I believe his hair is a symbol of the Spirit. During Samson's time in prison his hair grew back. Just like his hair grew back the Spirit returned. In the end he was able to do what God wanted him to do, freeing the Israelites from there captors the Philistines.
Okay, now you say: "I am a Christian and can live however I want to and in the end everything will be okay." Are you sure about that? All of us can fall into sin and yes God can even use what we do for his purpose during that time if he chooses to. But do we know, at what point we turn our back on God and when we need the Spirit it is no longer there, because we have walked away? That is a scary thought.
Here is what I want you to remember: Walk in a way that is pleasing to God to the best of your ability, don't think because of being saved you can do anything you want. You may find that when you truly need the Spirit it is no longer there. God will never leave you or forsake you that is his promise, but don't think you can live your life however you want and there will be no consequences.
This is a scary subject, but all we have to do is receive Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Believe that he paid the price for our sins by dying on the cross and rose three days later. If you live for Jesus you will never have to be concerned.
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