Address—C. Hendricks
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Start by reading a verse from Revelation 3. One verse.
Revelation 311.
Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast.
That no man take thy crown.
2nd Corinthians 12 verse 7. And lest I should be exalted above, measure through the abundance of the revelations.
There was given to me a thorn in the flesh or a thorn for the flesh.
The messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in your in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches.
In necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak.
Then Am I Strong? John's Gospel, chapter 15.
Verse 11.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Chapter 17. Verse 13.
And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world.
That they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I want to read one more verse in Hebrew 7.
Hebrews 7 verse 25 Wherefore he is able.
Also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth, to make intercession for them for such an high priest.
Became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled.
Separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.
Now let's turn back in our Bibles to Numbers chapter 6. Numbers chapter 6 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when either man or woman.
Shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord.
I want to emphasize before reading the rest of this portion, the word separate. It's found over and over again.
Verse three. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink.
And shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, or eat moist grapes, or dry.
All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree from the kernels even to the husk.
All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall no razor come upon his head.
Until the days be fulfilled in the which he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy.
And shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
All the days that he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister when they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head. All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord.
And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration.
Then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing. On the 7th day shall he shave it. And on the 8th day she'll bring 2 turtles or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.
And he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering. But the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled. And this is the law of the Nazarite. When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought of the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and he shall offer his offering unto the Lord. 1 He lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one you lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering.
Ram without blemish for peace offerings and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their meat offerings and their drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them before the Lord, and shall offer his sin offering in his burnt offering. And he shall offer the ram of a sack for a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also his meat offering and his drink offering.
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And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation.
At the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation.
And put it in the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings. And the priest shall take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and she'll put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after the hair of his separation is shaved.
And the priest shall waive them for a wave offering before the Lord. This is holy for the priest with a wave breast and his shoulder.
And after that, the Nazarite may drink wine.
This is the law of the Nazarite, who hath vowed, and of his offering unto the Lord for his separation.
Besides that that his hand shall get according to the vow which he voweth, so he must do after the law.
Of his separation, you've probably discerned that the word Nazarite is connected with. In fact, it comes from the same root as the word that's translated separation, and some of the times, like in verse 7, it's translated consecration.
And again in verse 9, the head of his consecration, that's the same Hebrew word.
That's rendered separation and consecration and the same route, in fact, in verse 12, the end of the verse, because his separation was defiled. That's the very word for Nazarite.
What you have in the Nazarite is true separation to God, and that's why I read that verse in Hebrew seven. He was wholly harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He was the true Nazarite, the Lord Jesus.
He was the one who was not separate in the sense of the pharisaical type of separation, because the word Pharisee means a separated 1.
The word Pharisee carries with it the same meaning as the word Nazarite, but what a difference.
The difference the pharisaical type of separation is stand by thyself, for I am holier than thou. It's looking down upon others, it's praying. I thank thee, God, that I'm not like this other man. I fast twice in the week and and he recites all his religious virtues that he was proud of. And the publican would not so much as lift up his eyes to heaven, but smote upon his breast and said, God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
And it was that man, the one who owned his.
Being a Sinner that went to down to his house justified, not the Pharisee. So the Pharisaical type of separation is not of God, it's not approved of God. And this is the company, this is the group that the Lord Jesus spoke so severely to.
When He was here, below in this world, He was the true Nazarite. He was the one who was separated morally to God. The Pharisees were separated outwardly.
And the danger, of course, is to mistake that outward separation which many practice today as being synonymous with an inward separation to God, a real consecration to God, a devotedness to God, a separation in heart and will to God. This is what we find in the Nazarite.
Now there's three things especially mentioned in verses.
At 3:00 and 4:00.
We have the Nazarite was to abstain from everything that came from the vine.
And in verses in verse 5.
He was not to shave his hair. He was number razor was to come upon his head. His hair was to let be let grow. It was to grow and in verse.
Six and seven, he was not to have to come in contact with a dead body and the claims in verse 7, his father, mother, brother, sister. He wasn't to make himself unclean for them.
Now this word Nazarite is very intimately associated with the word St.
The Apostle Paul addressed the Saints at Ephesus, the Saints at Coliseum, the Saints at Philippi, and so on. The separated ones, those who were sanctified in Christ Jesus, call Saints.
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They were Nazarites. There's two kinds of Nazarites mentioned in the scripture that though there's those.
Who become Nazarites by a vow of a Nazarite, verse 2. When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord, evidently in those days.
When one took the vow of the Nazarite, it lasted for a period of time and they were totally separated and dedicated to the Lord. It's something like you get.
It's something like you get in that verse and I'll read it in First Corinthians 7.
In First Corinthians 7 verse 5 talking about the marriage relationship, he says defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer and come together again. So there was this period of time that he even in the New Testament that he speaks of where a husband and wife may decide to be.
To to keep themselves from one another, that they might be just totally devoted.
To the Lord in fasting and prayer. That's even, it's even mentioned in the New Testament. It's it's something like the vow of the Nazarite where he would just set aside a period of time in his life to be separated unto the Lord. Now when we accept Christ.
We, as it were, take the vow, the Nazarite. We say that we are going to be separated and consecrated and devoted to the Lord Jesus that He is, He is our everything and we commit ourselves without reservation to Him. He has absolute claim upon us and the claims of nature, especially the claims of the world and the claims that are on the level of the the natural man.
Are superseded and.
Are overcome by this claim that we have in our commitment to the Lord Jesus.
There's another kind of Nazarite mentioned. You see it for instance, in Samson. He was born in Nazarite, John the Baptist, He was a Nazarite by birth. These were separated unto God even from their mother's womb. Well, that's another sense which is true of the Christian. When we're born again, we receive that new nature which is holy, and we're sanctified by the Holy Spirit, by the impartation of a life which is, which is holy and sinless.
And incapable of sin, the holy new nature that is imparted to us when we receive the Lord Jesus. So there's I say in both of these aspects, whether it's viewed as taking the vowel of Nazarite or whether being born into that position, both are true of the Christian. We are Nazarites by birth. We are Nazarites by accepting him, owning his claims upon us and by commitment.
Verse 3 of #6 Now let's look at some of these details that characterize the Nazarite separation. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink.
And shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes.
Nor eat moist grapes or dried.
That goes all the way from strong drink wine and strong drink, which is intoxicating, to the liquor of grapes, which is grape juice or just.
Grapes themselves, or dried grapes which are raisins, goes all the way.
From that which is very strong and powerful and can render 1 senses inoperative so that he doesn't know what he's doing. And he's so intoxicated and filled with this intoxicating beverage that he's not really responsible in a sense for what he's doing. He's he's drunk.
But then you can't get drunk on drinking grape juice or eating grapes. What does this speak of? It speaks of it speaks of the the joys that this world have to offer and to give us.
Now, there are many legitimate joys that the Christian can partake of.
The the Nazarite lives.
You know, you might say he lives in a sphere which is above the mere natural joys of natural relationships. We are in natural relationships, but even being in them. And we will look at some more New Testament Scriptures to substantiate this, even being in these natural relationships. And in a very passage I'm thinking of, which is First Corinthians 7 again, where the apostle Paul regulates.
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The relationship between the husband and the wife in the natural relationship of marriage.
He brings in a principle there, which is the principle of the Nazarite. Having made that comment, let's look at it in First Corinthians 7. The whole chapter is establishing the lawfulness of marriage, and he makes that very, very clear.
He says he also makes it very clear that there is a path which is to be preferred to marriage and that is the path that the apostle Paul was in. And he says in the end of verse 1 he says it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband, and all through this chapter he is establishing the propriety of marriage.
In chat in verse 25.
Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, yet I give my judgment, as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord, to be faithful. I suppose, therefore, that this is good for the present distress. I say that it is good for a man so to be.
That is to remain as as he is. Art thou bound unto a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? Seek not a wife but, and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned. He makes that very clear, That marriage, contrary to some of the teachings that are extant in Christendom, is of God.
He does also bring out in this very passage that there is a path that some are called to, to serve with the Lord without distraction, and he goes into that.
Let's read that verse, those verses in verse 32 he says, I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord, but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There's a difference also between a wife and a virgin.
The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband. For. And this I say for your own prophet, not that I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely, and that he ye wait, ye tend upon the Lord without distraction. But if any man thinketh that he behaveth himself uncommonly toward his, and that ought to read virginity.
If he passed the flower of his age, and need so require, let him do what he will. He sinneth not let him.
Mary. And he establishes that again and again. But let's go to the verses that speak of in the marriage relationship, the path of the Nazarite, verse 29.
This I say, brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not. If if tremendous sorrow comes into your life, and the tears flow. He says the path of the Nazarite was something like Remember, when Aaron lost his two sons, They were destroyed by the fire from.
Because they offered strange fire. The word to Aaron was you're not to weep, you're not to mourn. He was. God had dealt there, and he was to be above that. In the position that he was in, he was to be above that.
That's being above nature, isn't it? That's, that's being lifted by a power that is a power from God himself to enable us to walk above nature. The nature demands that we have a partner in life. That's the normal process. And the and the apostle thoroughly establishes that as being lawful and legitimate for the Christian. But he also establishes in this passage that to remain single is is better.
Because there won't be the many, many things that come in in married life, children and all that, that require our being having to do with the things of this world.
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So he says, does that mean then that a married person can't be a Nazarite? No, it doesn't mean that. But in this marriage relationship, they that have wives be as though they had none. That is, don't allow the the natural claims to to have such a priority over us that the Lord's claims come secondary to us. His claims are always primary.
And that is what true Nazarite ship is.
He also says they that weep as though they wept not, they that rejoice as though they rejoice not. The true Nazarite goes through this scene with a joy and that's why I read those verses in John 15 and John 17. The Lord says He gives us his joy. Now His joy was a joy that he had in communion with the Father, the consciousness of walking in in the will of the Father and fulfilling the will of the Father and pleasing the.
Father in all his path down here, it it didn't depend upon his circumstances, it it wasn't up one day and down another, but it was the joy that flowed from the conscious sense in communion with his Father that he was doing always those things that please him. He says in John 829, the Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. And in John 17, Father, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the.
Which thou gave us me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was now. That's the path of the Nazarite. It was his path. And as we study the Nazarite, we must always remember there was only one true Nazarite that was down here, and that was the Lord Jesus in every other instance of those that that were Nazarites. And we're all position.
Nazareth practically is another matter, but positionally we're all Nazarites. We're All Saints by calling. We're all separated ones by the call of God. He has set us apart. We are different from the world. We are those whom God has elected and chosen and blessed and brought into nearness to Himself and relationship to Himself. To be all together for Him, to be all together committed to Him. That's the path of the Nazarite.
Nazarite finds his joy not in the wine and strong drink of this world, not even in the grape juice of this world, not even in the grapes of this world, not even in the skin of the grape or in the kernel of the the the seed of the grape. No part of it, no part of that kind of joy, that kind of.
Happiness that the world gives, and we all enter into that. And I think we have to be very careful in presenting the subject of the Nazarite that we don't misrepresent things. We are down here in this world and he's given us all things richly to enjoy. But if that's our object, if that is our life, the enjoyment of earthly joys and earthly relationships and all that he's given to us, if that's what we're living.
Before we are not in the path of the Nazareth, the Nazareth has something higher, something deeper, something fuller, something richer, something far more blessed. And it's the joy that comes into the soul when he knows he's doing the will of God. It was his joy. It was the joy of the Lord Jesus. And he had it even in the midst of tremendous persecution and opposition and misunderstanding and and slander that was leveled against him. All the evil things that were said of.
He had that joy and nothing disturbed it. That was the joy of the Nazarite. He was the one that fully abstained from.
From.
The fruit of the vine, in that sense of the word.
Now let's go on to the next one, which is verse 5, all the days of the vow, number six, verse 5, all the days of the vow of his separation. There shall no razor come upon his head.
Please be fulfilled in the which he separated himself unto the Lord. He shall be.
Holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.
The long hair.
Which the Nazarite had was a sign of weakness.
It was, for the male, a sign of shame.
It was a sign of the weaker vessel whose glory it is to have long hair. The woman's glory is her hair, long hair. But the man was not to have long hair and.
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It the razor that which would expose the bare flesh was never to come upon his head, that's which would.
Make him prominent because that long hair was his covering.
It hid him, It was that which hid him, and it was that which was the secret of his strength. And so I read 2nd Corinthians 12 when Paul learned that secret. It's the secret of the Nazarite. It's the secret of all true testimony for God in this world. And that's the the path of separation, the path of devotedness and consecration to the Lord.
It's something that looks to the world like weakness, that long hair, that which hides the man and keeps him in his proper place of nothingness. Paul could say when he learned that secret. Most gladly, therefore do I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I take pleasure in reproaches.
In distresses, in infirmities, in, in all of these things that we try to avoid.
And seek to escape from, he says. I take pleasure in them because when I am weak, then am I strong. That is the opportunity for the power of God to be manifested in the life. It's not the strength of nature, It's just the opposite of that. It's the it's the outward sign of weakness.
And as we'll see a little bit later with Samson and the Philistines, this this secret that Samson had, the secret of his strength, the Philistines couldn't discover it. They, the, the man, the natural man intruding into the things of God.
Which is what the Philistine represents. It's it's the natural man bringing his energies and thoughts and way of doing things into the things of God. This is what?
This can never discover the secret, the true secret of Nazarite strength. It lies in our weakness. It lies in our being hidden. It lies in our nothingness.
In our dependence, in our conscious felt.
Weakness before the Lord, and this is the secret of true strength.
This is what you find in the Philadelphia movement, in the seven churches. That was truly a Nazarite movement, a movement separated to God. Certainly Thyatira, there's no separation there. And Sardis, there's no separation there. The Protestant bodies never, never learned the secret of what true separation to God means.
And and so they were weak.
We can in not having God's strength.
And the Philadelphians who had little strength, a picture of weakness, they're the ones that had the power of Christ resting upon them.
No razor was to come upon his head.
No exposing of the flesh.
And then the Third Point.
The first is the Nazarite was to abstain from the fruit of the vine in every aspect, from the wine and the strong drink, right down to the grapes themselves and even to raisins, dried grapes.
Then we have the Nazarite was to let his hair grow.
He was to bear the sign of femininity. She is the woman is called the weaker vessel, and she is the one that whose glory is her long hair.
And here in the Nazarite, he had to wear that sign as a symbol of his consecration, his separation to God.
Is his weakness was symbolized by his long hair. That was his weakness. That was his separation. The very word carries with it the thought of his separation, and we'll see that as we trace this through the Scriptures. The third one is verse 6. All the days that he separated himself unto the Lord, he should come at no dead body.
He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister when they die, because the consecration of his God, that word consecration, is the same word translated separation, the consecration of his God, is upon his head.
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What was upon his head? His long hair. That was the sign of his separation. It's something like you get in First Corinthians 11 where the woman is to have a head covering. That head covering is is the sign of her.
Being in the position of dependence and acknowledging the headship of the man.
And so it's the same thought here. Well, he wasn't to make himself unclean for his father, for his mother, for his brother, for his sister.
You get this thought and let's just look at one passage. There are so many. We could look at Luke 9. We'll just look at a passage.
Verse 57. It came to pass that as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Now, his father hadn't died, but what he's saying here is I won't follow you.
Until my father is gone and then the claims of nature, I am responsible to care for my father while he is living, and when he is gone then I will follow thee. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God.
And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first go and bid them farewell, which are at home at my house.
And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.
The principle of the Nazarite is found all through the New Testament.
These passages of Scripture, and we could cite many more, the principle of the Nazarite, the claims of Christ are preeminent. They are above all other earthly claims, even the claims of nature, even the claims of near of kin. You remember Abraham, he failed to answer the call of God. God had said, get thee out from thy father's house, and from thy country, and from thy land and from thy relatives unto a land that I will show thee, and I will.
Thee a great nation. And we read that Terah, his father took him, he took Abraham and they went to Haran and dwelt there. And not until Terah died did Abraham move on from Haran and enter into the the promised land in answer to the call of God. God hadn't called Tara to that land. He called Abram there, but Abraham took Tara. No, it doesn't say it that way. It says that Terah took Abram. And so he was led by nature's claims and.
Failed to answer the call of God when he allowed that claim to have such a place in his life. How many times you might find in the assembly there's a brother and a sister and a husband and a wife and one is adverse to coming to the to meeting and the other wants to come. But the one that wants to come doesn't out of deference to the to the other one. Well, that's putting the claims of nature.
Above the claims of Christ.
I know there are certain circumstances that might modify that, but I think in general that principle would apply. In that case. Christ's claims are prominent and preeminent, and this is what we have with the Nazarite.
He shall come at no dead body. He wasn't even to make himself unclean. This was allowed even in the case of the priest, not for the high priest, but in the case of the priest in Leviticus 21. They could make themselves unclean for their father or mother and so on. But the Nazarite wasn't allowed that. And this is very interesting and instructive. And what it's bringing before us in all of these instances is that the Nazarite strength lies in his weakness.
His acknowledged weakness, it's that which hides his long hair is that which hides him.
And conceals him so that he's not prominent. When that hair is cut off, then the man becomes prominent, the flesh is exposed and the strength is gone. We see that so sadly in Sampsons case.
But let's now let's trace a little bit more at the end, towards the end of what we were reading in #6 verse 18. The Nazarites shall shave the head of his separation. He shaves the head of his separation. So what's he doing? He's shaving his hair off. His hair is his separation at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings, and the priest shall take the sodden.
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Of the ram and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer and she'll put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after Now notice the hair of is in italics. It's been added by the translators to give the sense and correctly added. There's nothing wrong with that addition. It gives the sense after the hair of his separation is shaved. But if you take that the hair of out and let's just read it without that what it really says in the Hebrew is.
Shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after his separation.
Is shaved and clearly his separation is represented there by the hair that was on his head.
Now you might say, why did I read that verse in Revelation 3?
Hold fast what thou hast spoken to the Philadelphian, that no man take thy crown. Why did I read that verse? In Second Samuel, chapter one, verse 10, we have this same Hebrew word translated, consecration and separation.
And here it's talking about Saul after he was slain, and the Amalekite is describing it, verse 10, he says, So I stood upon him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen, and I took the crown. Now that's that same Hebrew word that was translated separation in number six or consecration. I took the crown that was upon his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and had brought them hit her unto my Lord.
Now in number six, the hair is his separation. The hair is his crown, his long hair. But here it was. It was a literal crown that marked Saul out as the king of Israel.
So it's a distinguishing feature that marked him out as being in a special place of prominence. He was the king. Second Kings 11, first 12. There's a number of scriptures I want to read.
That bring this truth up again. We have another king.
And this was Joash.
And he brought forth the King's son.
And put the crown upon him. Now the crown again is.
The same Hebrew word, Identical Hebrew word rendered separation in #6.
I put the crown upon him and gave him the testimony and made him king and anointed him. So again here we have two scriptures that refer to the the kingly crown that was placed upon a king, a monarch as being that word meaning separation. He was separated to that office by that crown placed upon his head. You can see the the force of the word.
Exodus 29. Six.
And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. Now this has to do with the consecration of the priests in Exodus 29. And this holy crown which is placed upon the mitre, that's that same word again. And it, it, it distinguished the priest. Now it's not the king here, it's the priest being consecrated to the Lord. And this holy crown is placed upon the mitre to mark him out as.
Being in this special office of priests.
He was separated to that office by that crown, so to speak.
Exodus 3930 is another one. And they made the plate of the Holy Crown, same word again of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing like to the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord.
There we have the same thought.
So I want to read two more and they're very important. Leviticus 21 verse 12 here.
It's not a kingly crown, it's not the Holy Crown that was placed upon the mitre, but it's the anointing oil.
Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am the Lord. Now that's talking about the the high priest, verse 10. He that is the high priest among his brethren upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, he has this anointing oil poured upon his head. He's anointed of God to be high priest and it's called the crown.
Of the anointing oil.
It's that distinguishing feature that marks him out, as in that special office.
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As High Priest.
And the last one is Jeremiah 7 verse 29.
There are more, but I've picked these out.
Now this is interesting. This is about Jerusalem.
Jerusalem had been unfaithful, and he outlines her unfaithfulness. Verse 26 Yet they hearken not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shalt also call unto them, but they will not answer thee.
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction. Truth is perished, and is cut off from the their mouth. Now verse 29, cut off thine hair.
Now there that same Hebrew word translated consecration, separation, crown, Nazarite is here translated hair. And we saw number six, that the hair of his separation when he was cleansed and that was cut off, that was removed, that is his separation, his consecration to God represented by that which is the symbol of weakness.
Weakness.
Was was removed and so the Lord says to Jerusalem, cut off thine hair.
Now, I've looked that up in other translations. I think Mr. Darby has it the same way, but I've looked it up in some other translations and some render it Cut off thy crown. And that's a proper translation as we've been seeing. The hair was her crown. She had no right to wear the symbol of in in her long hair. Jerusalem had no right to wear the symbol of holy consecration and separation to God when she was an unfaithful.
As unfaithful as she was, and so God says to her, cut off thine hair, you have no right to have that long hair. That's a denial. Your life, your path, your course is a denial of what that long hair symbolizes. So he says, cut off thine hair, oh Jerusalem, and cast it away. He takes away her crown, her distinguishing feature. Our distinguishing feature as Saints of God in this present day is our separation.
And when we lose our separation to God?
We lose our crown, and when the Lord said to Philadelphia, Hold fast what thou hast, that no man take thy crown, what was that crown? It was this crown of the Nazareth. It was, it was Philadelphia's holy separation to God.
Let no man take thy crown while Jerusalem lost her crown. Cut off thine hair, cut off thy crown, O Jerusalem, cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places. For the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. For the children of Israel have done evil in my sight, sayeth the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to pollute it. So Jerusalem lost her crown.
As the church lost its crown.
Have we lost our crowd?
Are we truly separated?
God, according to.
What we've looked at.
As to the Nazarite.
Now let's turn to judges quickly. Chapter 13. Well, I'm not going to read 13. I don't have time for it. We're going to look at 16.
Chapter 16.
Verse 4.
It came to pass afterward that Samson, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, resting. Sorek means choicest vine, choicest vine. The very thing that the Nazarite was to abstain from anything that came from the vine. That's where Delilah was in the valley of Soret, and her name was Delilah, meaning exhausted, languid, exhausted.
The Philistine. She was a philistine. The Philistines represent the intrusion.
Of man in the flesh, into the things of God.
Man in the flesh into the things of God, the Philistine, and the only way to combat it is by Nazarite separation. The only way to combat the intrusion of the Philistine element into the church, which is the bringing in the principles of the world, bringing in the principles of the first man, bringing in the principles and the claims of nature. These are all things we saw that the Nazarite was to abstain from.
And he was, he was to go forward in the conscious acknowledged witness, with his long hair, that crown upon his head, of his separation to God, true, devoted separation to God. That was his crown. And.
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He seemed to be able to resist and defeat the Philistine men.
But the Philistine women were his downfall. The Philistine women, the very first woman, her name isn't mentioned, but the place where she lived is mentioned, and that's in the, I think, 14. But the first thing that he says, get her for me, he says to his parents, get her for me, for she pleases me much. She pleaseth me well.
And there's something about the things in the camp.
That.
Please, please. An element in US that that likes those things. And what what element is it in us? It's the flesh, of course. It's the old nature that that wants to have a standing, that wants to be acknowledged, that wants to be respected. You might say, I can put it that way. And this is this is the intrusion of the Philistine influence into the things of God.
True separation to God.
Which is what you see in the Philadelphia movement.
Was not to not to borrow from or to draw from any of the world's resources any of those things that come from the Philistines.
True separation to God.
And Samson could combat the Philistine men when the enemy came against him with with the force and power of the male. He he defeated them with no power, no no problem. But when the enemy came against him as the wily.
Subtle. Enticing.
Amorous female he felt he felt when the world.
Raged as a lion against the Christians. They became stronger and more firm and strong in their faith. But when the world smiled upon them, when the world treated them with a friendly air, we don't we're not against you. We really are for you. Come and join with us and help us to in our endeavors to to make things better down here. Join with us. We're not against you. We've we've received the Christian message. We're different.
We're not like the world was back in those first days when the Christians were thrown to the lions and put on the stake. We've changed, don't you see? We've changed. That's the that's the the wildliness of a Delilah.
Verse 5 And the Lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And we will give thee, every one of us. 1100 pieces of silver. That was quite a bit of quite a bit of money. There were 5 Lords of the Philistines coming from the five major Philistine cities. 1100 each 5500 pieces of silver. Quite a handsome sum for Delilah, in order to entice him and to find out.
Where his strength was. When you see pictures of Samson, you see one that had bulging muscles and it looked powerful physically. If that was the secret of his strength, they would have seen that. If that's the way he appeared, they would have seen that. They would have known where his strength lay. Now his strength lay in something they would never have dreamed of. His hair. His hair. Strengthen your hair. Why? We know. We know that naturally you can cut your hair off completely and doesn't change your physical strength at all. But it did. It did.
Because that's where his strength lay. His strength lay in his separation. That was his crown. And they could never find it out. In a million years, the Philistines will never find out the secret of the Christian strength.
The only way she could find it out is if he told her.
And so she wasn't. She was hired to entice him to tell her the secret of his strength. Delilah said to Samson, verse 6, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. And Samson said unto her, Now in every one of these clues he gives her three false clues. And then he tells her, But in every one of these he's giving a clue to where his strength lay. He says, in the first one, If they bind me with 7 green widths that were never dried, then shall I be?
Can be as another man.
These 7 green widths would be something like hair, but they were different, and the number 7 significant here because he had those seven blocks of hair in which his strength lays. So there's a clue here, 7 green widths. And she then she says, the Lords of the Philistines brought her up to her 7 green widths which had not been dried. She bound him with them. Now there were men lying in way, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
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Break the widths as a threat of toes broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known, and delighted said unto Samson, Behold, I was mocked me.
And told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. You know we read this story and we shake our heads. And how could Samson?
Be so foolish. It was obvious what she was up to.
She was up to, she was up to ruin him. She was hired. She was out to ruin him.
And yet Christians are so foolish.
When they accept the false overtures of the philistine world, they're not our friends.
The world will never be our friends.
They're our enemies and all they want to do is find out where our strength lies and take it from us.
That we might be reduced to the level of a mere natural man.
That's what they're up to, and how well Satan has succeeded in using the world to accomplish that.
Evil objective to render us weak just like any other man.
So he said unto her, verse 11 If they bind me fast with new ropes.
That were never occupied, they were never used, they were never worked with. Then shall I be weak, and be as another man Now Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound them, bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson.
You can see how that just the rope was made-up of fibers and strands, just like you might say, human hair. So everything that he's bringing before her is close and it's getting closer and here now we have unused, unworked on ropes. There were layers in weight. She says The Philistines be upon thee, Samson, and he break them from off his arms like a thread.
Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me and told me lies. Tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound.
And he said unto her, Now notice how close he gets.
If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.
And she fastened it with the pin. What does he do here?
A Samson permits Delilah to interweave his Nazarite crown with her works.
Samson permits Delilah to interweave this Philistine woman, his Nazarite crown, with her works. And that's what Christians have done. They have They have clasped hands with the world, and in their religious endeavor to reach the lost, they have adopted worldly principles, worldly methods. The works of the Philistines have been incorporated into evangelistic efforts to reach the lost.
Dangerous. Very close, very near to losing.
His strength.
And again.
The word is given, the Philistines be upon me. He waked out of his sleep and went away with the pin of the beam and with the web. And notice what he says she says in verse 15. She said unto him, How canst thou say I love thee? Now if you look at that first woman back earlier in Samson's history, that's exactly what she said when he wouldn't tell her the Riddle.
And the Philistines were about to kill her and her father, because they had not learned Samson's Riddle. And she comes to him. And how can you say you love me? And so Delilah says, How can thou say I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou has mocked me these three times, and has not told me wherewith thy great strength.
If you really love this, you'd help us. This is the This is what Delilah was saying here to Samson. How can thou say I love thee when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times. In other words, give up your separation, Samson, and come and reveal your secret. Came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come.
A razor upon mine head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb.
If I be shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the Lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he has showed me all his heart. And the Lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.
And she made him sleep upon her knees.
Has Delilah done that to the church? Yes, the Philistines have made the church to sleep upon her niece. Sleep Samson.
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Sleep, my beloved.
I love you.
Just sleep, sleep.
And during that sleep.
He lost his separation. He lost his crown.
He lost his hair, he lost his strength, he lost his testimony.
Just because he revealed that his strength lay in his weakness.
She caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head. She began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. A picture of Laodicea.
But the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass, and he ground in the prison house, and it says of Laodicea.
Thou knowest not the dark, miserable and wretched and poor and blind and naked. Every one of those, every one of those terms applied to Samson after he lost his hair, after he lost his eyes, after he lost his discernment, after he lost his strength.
After he lost that which covered him, the man was then exposed.
The flesh was exposed and there was number strength left for God.
But it does say in verse 22, and this is such an encouraging verse, even if we failed in our Nazarite ship, and who of us hasn't?
Howbeit, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaved.
It's not all over if we fail. It's not all over if we've been untrue to our Nazarite separation to God. The hair of his head began to grow again.
And so it did grow and they made sport of Samson and they had this great feast. We know all about it. I won't read it. I've gone too long and.
The last act of Samson.
As he's there, the support of the Philistines, he grabs, puts his hand on the two pillars that was holding up that massive building. And he said, Lord, give me, strengthen me just once for my two eyes, that I may be avenged on the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might, and he pulled the building down and he died. Let me die with the Philistines. He died. But so it shows the very end, shows that there is even for the one who has.
That untrue to his Nazarite separation. There is there's recovery possible and still to be useful. He destroyed more in his death than he did in his entire life. And so there was a work that was done for that restored Nazarite that was used of God. It was the end of him, but it was also a great defeat upon the enemy.
Well, may, May God encourage us and not not cause us to be discouraged if we failed in our Nazarite ship. And who hasn't?
Who hasn't failed in it? There was only one that never failed, never failed. Think of it. If he had faltered just once, if he had failed just once in his entire complete commitment and devotedness to the will of the Father, all would have been lost. We wouldn't be here tonight. There would be no salvation for us. It would have all been lost. But there was one that was perfect in his commitment to God, his Father.
Praised his blessed name.