“Wasted Potential”
Pastor David Peterman, Sr.
In Judges chapter 13, we observe the GREAT POTENTIAL in the life of this young man!
*The Heritage of Samson (His Parents faithfulness)
-Believed the Angel of the Lord concerning a son (vs. 6-7)
-Entreated God and He answered (Prayer life) (vs. 8-9)
-Obeyed the commandment of the Lord (vs. 23-24)
From what we know, Manoah and his wife obeyed the Lord, making Samson indeed a Nazarite from the womb!
*The Hand of God on his Life (His Promising early years)
-Promise…. 13:5
-Perception….. 14:4
-Power …. 14:5-7
-Prevailing….. Chapter 15 vs. 1-8, 14-20
Judg 13:24-25
24 And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.
25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.
*I heard a well known preacher once say that at every occasion to preach to young people he would write the word “potential” on a 3″ x 5″ card and carry it with him as a reminder of what would be before him as he preached.
*What we must realize is that if others can see the potential in our lives for God, certainly the enemy can see it as well!
*Just as we see in the natural world around us, it is much easier for a predator to kill the young than it is to kill a healthy adult…Satan knows it is much more effective and much easier to destroy God’s “future servants”! Oh the tragedy of a wasted potential!!!
I. Detoured by Temptation Judges 14: 8-9
*Numbers 6:1-8* ~ As a Nazarite, Samson was forbidden to go near the dead corpse…
Though the roaring lion seemed to have no power over Samson, the dead lion began his downfall!
Satan detoured Samson as a young man! Samson kept the source of the honey a secret from his parents because he knew he was wrong!
Judg 14:8-9
8 And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion.
1 Pet 5:8-9
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
II. Deceived by Delayed Consequences Judges 16:1-3
Samson committed wickedness and yet saw no immediate consequence, for he rose at midnight and walked away with the gate of the city!
11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. 12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:
From Ecclesiaties we learn that:
*Judgement is slow…
*Judgement is SURE!
The delayed consequences for his sin totally deceived Samson!
Prov 6:23-2923 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.
1 Cor 6:15-20
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
III. Destroyed by Devilish Woman Judges 16:4-5,15-19
also 16: 20-31
Just a sobering thought, both the strongest of men (Samson) and the wisest of men (Solomon) saw their lives and testimonies destroyed…the potential wasted, by strange women!
Oh that our young people would understand the consequences of the WRONG RELATIONSHIPS! How many like Samson ignore the counsel and pleading of both parents and preachers only to see their lives destroyed!
Samson’s Life became a living Illustration of the old cliche:
“Sin will Blind you, Bind you, and Grind you!” (verse 21)
Sin will Blind you…He wist not that the LORD was departed from him
Isa 59:1-2
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
2 Pet 1:8-10
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Rev 3:15-17
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Sin will Bind you….Bound him with fetters
2 Tim 2:24-26
24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
Sin will Grind you….He did grind in the prison house
Rom 6:15-23
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
