The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1938-07-28

LESSON TE&T-JudSeS l4:o, b; 10. II-lf;
16:15-21
GOLDEN TEXT-Be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might.-Ephesians
6:1O.
PRIMARY TOPIC-A Man Who Wasted
His Strength.
JUNIOR TOPIC-How Strong Was Sam
son?
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC
Who Is Strong?
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOPIC
Physical Strength and Moral Weakness.
There is no more tragic individual
among the sons of men than the
one who entered upon life with
every promise of success, who has
lived for a time in favor with God
and with man, and then because of
moral failure is set aside by God,
Stunned by man, and ends life as a
disappointment and failure. "And
yet such disastrous climaXes Of
what should have been great and
victorious careers lie all about us,
and nowhere with such frequency
and ineXcusableness as among those
whom God has called to preach,
evangelize, and teach His Word. The
saddest tragedy in all the world is a
man who once knew the power of
the Holy Spirit and who now walks
the streets of some great city or is
buried in the cottage of an unknown
countryside, without power, without
work, without joy, without the lead
ing of the Lord. He knows a Weari-
ness that labor never gives, for he
WakenS every morning more tired
and weary than when he went to
sleep the night before" (Wilbur M.
Smith).
The life story of Samson brings
us the picture of Gods patient and
gracious dealing with such a failure,
reveals the memorable law of cause
and effect in the moral realm as
well as the certainty that the wages
of sin not repented of and forsaken
is death.
1. Physical Strength and Favor
With God (15:5, g..
Samson had the distinction (given
to only one other Old Testament
character) of having his birth an
nounced beforehand. He was to be
a Nazarite and was to "begin to
deliver Israel out of the hand of the
Philistine"-a commission which
sin kept him from ever finishing.
God gave him the marvellous herit-
age of strong and healthy body
as well as His own blessing upon
him for carrying out the Lord s
work. The fact that he is named
among the heroes of faith in He
brews indicates that he did have
faith in God. Yet his life was a
failure.
Samson would have been a great
favorite in this athletic age. Let
those who worship the body and
glorify physical prowess take note
that such strength is not sufficient
to guarantee success in life, and
may indeed be a source of tempta-
ton which may lead to spiritual and
moral downfall. Those who live for
the flesh shall of the flesh reap
COrruptlOn (Gal. 6:0).
III. Moral Weakness and Spiritual
Decay Q5:11-14).
The portion of the lesson selected
for our consideration from Judges
Is gives only an act of proWess on
the part of Samson, but the reader
will recognize it as one of the many
deeds of Samson done as an ex-
preston of his uncontrolled sensual
nature. Read the entire chapter
and it will be evident that here is a
man who, while occasionally re-
spending to Gods leading, is on the
downward path of moral and spir-
itual decadence.
Scripture is absolutely honest in
relating the facts as they are-and
here it is not at all an attractive pic
ture. 1t never is, although the
world tries to make it appear to be.
A learned audience Of university
people laughed with evident appre-
citation at the statement of a pro-
fessor that ''vice is always more
interesting than virtue" little real
izing that they thus bore testimony
to their own attitude toward sin.
If the liquor advertisements were
honest enough to picture the agony
of drunkard dying of delirium
tremens they would present the real
truth, but they would sell no
booze"
iii. Failure, Darkness, and Death
(l6:15-2D.
Delilah finally betrayed the foolish
Samson who apparently had become
so sure of himself that he dared to
venture anything The man who
was to be strong for God is now
in prison, shorn of his strength.
blinded by his enemies, and finally
he kills himself even as he slays
his enemies Q6:23-3D. Thus he
threw away the life that had become
to him but a burden and a disgrace.
"Thus he who began never COM
pleted his work. The column was
broken in the middle. The story
ends with comma and a dash, bis
tered over by tear. For the light
is turned into darkness, and how
great is the darkness q. M. Lang)