Strong Man
Part 3
Small Steps Toward Big Destruction

Judges 15:19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore,[c] and it is still there in Lehi. 20 Samson led[d] Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Key thought: Men don’t ruin his life all at once, they ruined it one step at a time.

Judges 16:1 “One day Samson went to Gaza.”

3 steps that Samson takes on the pathway to destruction.

1. Samson was involved with the wrong people.

Judges 16:1 “One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.”

Verse 4 “Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.”

I Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.

Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Proverbs 13:20 “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”

2. Samson fell in love with the wrong things.

Judges 16:4 “Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.”

Matthew 6:21 MSG “It’s obvious isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be and end up being.”

James 4:4 MSG “You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.


Matthew 22:37 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[

Deuteronomy 6:3 “Fear the Lord and serve Him only”

Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

3. Samson ignored the warnings

Judges 16:4-6 “Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.”
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

Proverbs 22:3 NCV “The wise see danger ahead and avoid it, but fools keep going and get into trouble.”

verse 20 “Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.”

verse 19 “ After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.[c] And his strength left him.”

verse 20-21 “Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.”

Verse 22 “But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.”

Strong Man Part 2
Emotion Driven or Spirit Led?

Samson was an incredibly strong man with a dangerously weak will.

Romans 7:18-19 “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”

Galatians 5:16-17 “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

Judges 14:14 “Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.”

verse 18 “So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”

Verse 18b “Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”

2 emotions that bring this Strong Men down.

1. Anger

Verse 19 “Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.”

verse 20 “Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.

James 1:19-20 “take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

Proverbs 14:17 “A quick-tempered man acts foolishly”

Proverbs 19:3 “A man's own folly ruins his life, yet his heart rages against the LORD.”

2. Pride

Judges 15:15 “ Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.”


Judges 15:16 “Then Samson said, “With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them.[a]
With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.”

Judges 15:18-19 “When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone…18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived.

I Peter 5:6-7 “humble yourself under his mighty hand.”