Purity Week #2
April 18 & 19, 2009

Big Idea: “Just This Once”

Core Scripture: Judges 13-16 (Samson and his choices)

Memory Verse: Matthew 5:27-28 (MSG) "You know the next commandment pretty
well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' But don't think
you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your
heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those
leering looks you think nobody notices—they also corrupt.

They led this muscular guy out into the courtyard, his eyes had been gouged out and people were making fun of him and his God. Thousands of people were crowded into this facility and suddenly, without warning, this man turned his face toward heaven and said these words “God, remember me, just this one time”. That phrase is just a snapshot of the life of Samson… Samson, as you look at him, is a tragedy of what might have been. He was a man who was literally leveled by lust.

Let’s look at how he started, let’s look in Judges 13:24
Here’s the situation, Samson was from the tribe of Dan and they had just moved into the Promised Land and they hadn’t actually settled it yet.

Every time you think about temptation, you have to think about your purpose – because the devil uses temptation to throw you off of your purpose. Samson’s purpose was to lead Israel, to be a judge of Israel. The enemy used lust to get Samson off of his purpose. The enemy used temptation to get Jesus off of His purpose (it didn’t work – but he used temptation). He wanted Jesus to not live a sinless life – he wanted to get Jesus off track. What things in your life have tried to get you off purpose or off track?

Judges 14: “Now Samson went down to Timnah” (a Philistine city) The Israelites were SPECIFICALLY told not to associate with, talk to, or marry the Philistines. Well, Samson had a problem with lust.

What is lust? Lust is when a God-given desire (our sex and/or sexuality) goes haywire. Or when an attraction, segues into an illicit action that is physical, emotional, or mental.

Samson went DOWN to Timnah… geographically and spiritually. Lust is always going to take you down – it’s looking for leverage to take you down.

Back to Judges 14 – talking about Delilah. Those Philistines dressed MUCH more provocatively than the Israelites. You go to the wrong places, you’re going to meet the wrong people and miss the purpose of God for your life!

Judges 14:2 – He saw a woman in Timnah… he wanted that woman! His mom and dad knew not to do it, but they did, they went and got this forbidden woman for their son.

Let me tell you something about Samson – Samson was a man who was devoted to God. He took something called a Nazarite vow. The Nazarite vow was a outward symbolic thing of an inward commitment. Here’s what a Nazarite vow entailed – Samson could not touch anything that was dead, he could not partake of any grape products (wine, juice, jelly), also Samson could not have a razor near his head (no haircuts). Those were outward symbols of an inward commitment.

Then going through verses 5-9 – him touching the dead lion and eating the honey. He probably said to himself “just this once”. He even took some back to his parents… (and didn’t tell them where he got it from)
1. Lust always looks for leverage. Eph 4:27 “Don’t give Satan a toe hole.”
2. Lust always lies to us.

“Just this once”… (touch the dead, lust after the women, have some wine) always turns into one more, one more and one more. Lust is that powerful – it can rule us, dominate us and take us down a path that we don’t want to go.

Look at all the awful things that Samson did after that point – the foxes, killing men,

Judges 16:1 – He saw a prostitute, then in verse 4 he runs into Delilah (there’s a “lie” in there). Women have a power, don’t they guys? Vs 6 – her strategy… she “nagged” him to death! He told her all that was in his heart – that’s what the Nazarite vow was all about, his heart.

Look at how sad it really was, in verse 20 it says “and he didn’t even know that the Lord had left him”.

3. Lust always leads to destruction

Look at verse 21 – they gouged out his eyes, bound him, he became a grinder in prision. Lust blinds, it binds and it grinds. Samson’s problem was with his eyes! Lust is all about the eyes! It’s not about the look – its about the linger. He couldn’t control his lust for women. Now he was doing the work of a woman – grinding grain at the mill.

Then he began to cry out to God – what else was he going to do?

His heart began to grow for God again. Then vs. 29 & 30 – “God, remember me again just this once.”