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Amen, all right we're in Acts chapter 18 look down at your Bibles at verse number 17 it says then all the Greeks took Sosthenes the chief ruler of the synagogue and beat him before the judgment seat and Galileo cared for none of those things and Paul after this tared he had a good while and then took his leave of the brethren and sailed thence into Syria and with him Priscilla and Aquila having shorn his head in Chantria for he had a vow. Now the title of the sermon this evening is the Nazarite Vow I'm going to teach on what the Nazarite Vow is in the Bible. Now what we see here in Acts chapter 18 is actually a fulfillment of the Nazarite Vow we see Paul shaving his head because he had a vow and we know according to what we see in Numbers chapter 6 that when someone were to do that when they had a vow that means they took that Nazarite Vow. Now what is a vow just in general well a vow is simply a pledge it's a promise or a commitment that one makes okay it is an earnest declaration of something that someone makes and go with me if you would to Ecclesiastes chapter number 5 first and foremost Ecclesiastes chapter number 5 that is what a vow is now the Nazarite Vow is a little more unique because there's certain things that a person if they were to take a Nazarite Vow had to abstain from. This is a very special vow that God has specifically instructed his people if they were to make a vow this is what they would have to do this is what they would have to abstain from in order to accomplish this what the Bible would call a Nazarite Vow. Look at Ecclesiastes chapter 5 verse number 4 says when thou vows to vow unto God defer not to pay it for he has no pleasure in fools pay that which thou hast vowed better is it that thou shouldest not vow that thou shouldest vow and not pay suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin neither say thou before the angel that it was in error wherefore should God be angry at thy voice and destroy the work of thine hands. So we see here that the Bible has a strong admonition against just making flippant vows that's why it's important that we don't just promise things flippantly without making sure that we're going to follow through on that promise follow through on that declaration let your yay be nay and your nay be nay don't commit yourself to something if you don't know if you're going to keep it or not okay that is an important concept not just in the Bible but just just in life in general that we're supposed to be a people of our word now obviously there's times when we make mistakes for whatever reason something outside of our control doesn't allow us to keep a vow maybe but for the most part we ought to be characterized as people that keeps our word we keep our promise we keep the vows that we make now there are a couple of Nazarites in the Bible in the Bible and one of the ones that I think of obviously is John the Baptist now go with everyone to Luke chapter one Luke chapter number one we're just going to go through some of the scriptures here tonight's not necessarily going to be a bombastic sermon so you're going to have to really work hard on staying awake now I might you know if I feel like you're just like doing the nodding of the head type of thing I might just rip on homos or something just to wake you up amen so Luke chapter one and verse 13 says but the angel said unto him fear not Zacharias for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son and thou shall call his name John and thou shall have joy and gladness and many shall rejoice at his birth for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God to the Lord their God and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord go with me if you would to first Samuel chapter number one he said what does that have I don't see a Nazarite on there well we're going to look at numbers chapter six one of the requirements for being a Nazarite to take a Nazarite vow was that you had to abstain from wine and there's a reason why the Bible specifically mentions that about John the Baptist it wasn't just like a flippant instruction that he gave to him that was something specific in regards to that value we see in number chapter six look at first Samuel chapter one Samuel is another example of a Nazarite verse number nine says so Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore and she vowed a vow and said oh Lord of hosts if thou will indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid but will give unto thine handmaid a man child then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no razor come upon his head and it came to pass as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth there's another example of someone who was a Nazarite how do you know because the Bible says there that a razor should not come upon his head which is also a requirement that we see for the Nazarite vow in number chapter six now the most obvious person who was a Nazarite was who? Samson very popular character in the Old Testament the book of Judges this man was mightily used of God this man would be considered one of the strongest men in the Bible not because he you know was bench pressing a lot or because he dead lifted a lot or he went to the gym a whole lot amen but it was because of the fact that he had the spirit of God upon his life he was used as the judge during the time of Israel when they had no king in order to deliver Israel from the hand of the oppressors he was going to be used mightily of God but he was a perfect example of who a Nazarite was now he did not finish his life well obviously and we see that he did not follow the instructions that we're going to look at in number chapter six and because of that he ended his life in a very bad way he ended dishonorably in fact we would consider him to be a byword and a proverb we look at him as an example of what not to do in our Christian lives we were looking to say make sure we don't do what he did don't act like Samson did and we're going to look at some of his mistakes this evening but he is an example of a Nazarite now let me just clarify something and say that Jesus Christ is not a Nazarite okay people confuse that because of the fact that he came from he was a Nazarene but Nazarene and Nazarite are two different things a Nazarene is someone who is from Nazareth a Nazarite is someone who has taken the vow of a Nazarite in number chapter six he said well that's obvious yeah but you know there's people out there who want to label Jesus Christ as a Nazarite because they got this faggoty looking Jesus as an image who has long hair okay I see some people fall asleep so I have to mention that I'm just kidding no I had that in my notes okay people think that or they want to impose that title upon him they want to impose the Nazarite vow upon Jesus Christ because they want him to maintain his long luxurious hair and say you know because you know of course Jesus Christ had long hair he was a Nazarite and he wasn't able to shave no you're you're you're a fool you're an idiot you don't know what the Bible really says about what a Nazarene is and what a Nazarite is he was not a Nazarite and a couple things to prove that was the fact that he drank wine now non-alcoholic obviously he drank juice but he drank wine the Bible tells us specifically that he drank wine you know during the Lord's Supper tells us in different parts of the Bible where he came to the the wedding feast and he turned water into wine okay but not only that one of the requirements of a Nazarene excuse me of a Nazarite was that they weren't supposed to come to a dead body a corpse well he did that multiple times when he raised them from the dead so we see multiple times Jesus Christ completely violating the Nazarite vow all right including the fact that he didn't have long hair now people kind of that kind of bothers them a little bit when they hear about the Nazarite vow and the fact that they could not shave their head they cannot pull their head they they're supposed to allow the hair of their head to grow and they wonder why is that if the Bible is completely against you know allowing a man to grow out his hair you know because it is a shame unto him why is the Bible saying according to the Nazarite vow that they can do that and we're going to answer that this evening but I just want to clarify that Jesus Christ was not a Nazarite now go to Numbers chapter 6 we're going to look at the the literal interpretation of what we're going to look at in Numbers chapter 6 as far as the responsibilities and how are they there to execute this office but also we're going to look at the spiritual application that we can apply to our personal lives and how you know we can apply it just in modern days because obviously there's no such thing as a Nazarite vow today all right we don't have to do these Nazarite vows this doesn't apply to us today but it does have spiritual significance in the spiritual application that we can apply look at number 6 in verse number 1 and the Lord speaking to Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel and saying to them when either a man or a woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord 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 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 into 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 we're not going to read the whole entire chapter but basically we see the instructions that we're looking at here for number chapter 6 and what a Nazarite vow was is was a period of time when a man or a woman would consecrate themselves unto the Lord for a specific purpose now I believe that purpose was simply to draw closer unto the Lord because it doesn't really specify why they were taken as Nazarite vow other than that it was to be consecrated unto the Lord and it says here that a man or a woman can partake in this Nazarite vow another thing that we can look at that we can glean from this is that it was only for a period of time now you have unique cases such as Samson who when he was a Nazarite for his entire life but for the most part it was not like that and to prove that we saw in Acts chapter 18 where the apostle Paul shortened his head because he had a vow it was only for a season a period of time now another thing that we can look at here regarding the Nazarite vow is that it could be likened unto fasting ok fasting is a practice in the Bible that we can practice still today where you abstain from food for a specific purpose you give yourself unto prayer there's a specific need that you have in your life there's a specific goal that you're trying to accomplish or a prayer that you need met and what do you do you fast and you pray for that need in order to get that from the Lord ok now here's the thing with fasting is that the Bible gives examples of fasting and there's times when you can fast for a day there's times you can fast for a week you know you have Jesus Christ who fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and that's not something that the Bible actually imposes upon us ok now one thing about fasting is that when you fast you're not supposed to tell anybody that you're fasting ok you know the Bible says to wash your face anoint your face with oil to anoint your head with oil to make sure you put a smile on your face and don't look sickly when you're fasting it's like what's wrong with nothing it's like are you ok man I just I can't say you know you just you're like a Pharisee who's trying to look all spiritual you haven't eaten now there's a guy his name is Doug Fisher pastor Doug Fisher and Lemon I think it's Lemon Grove California and this man fasted for 40 days and 40 nights ok he did it and you know what his body looked like it ok he had wasted away like big time but here's the thing he was telling everyone about it you know it was like this guy fasted for 40 days that's a lot of work you know if you want to do that hey you know more power to more Holy Spirit power to you but you know that's not something you want to just flush down the toilet by just telling everyone because you know what he got his reward because you know what everyone who heard it was like wow this guy is spiritual this guy has character this guy is disciplined this guy was able to abstain from food for entire 40 days he's like the Lord well there goes his reward whatever he was fasting for you know he ain't getting that no more now that is a very unique case that we see with Jesus Christ and that's not to say that people have not done that in history at least that we know about but for the most part when people fast it's only for like a day sometimes it can be for weeks I've known people who fasted for weeks for a specific need it was a big need that they had and they just chose to do that they didn't tell anybody you know but I can tell that they were fasting simple for the fact that they were just losing a lot of weight and you know it's like when you invite them to eat it's like no I'm good you know I gotta go do something or whatever you know I said okay and you don't want to ask questions because you don't want to kill it for them like whoa are you fasting or something or what man it's just like make you lose their reward but the Nazarite vial can be compared into that simple for the fact that it can be more of an extensive version of fasting because obviously you can't fast forever right eventually you got to eat or else you can die right but let's say you wanted a need man or you wanted to just draw closer to the Lord you want to be consecrated unto the Lord you know an alternative for fasting would be the Nazarite vial because this is something that can be accomplished for many years it can be carried throughout a lifetime even okay and so that can be compared into that so number one the purpose for the Nazarite vow would be to draw closer unto the Lord verse two says speaking to the children of Israel and saying to them when either a man or a woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord sorry I keep cutting off my verses here separate themselves unto the Lord he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink so again as I mentioned this vow was meant to just consecrate themselves unto God now what were they doing during this time who knows maybe they were praying more they were just reading the Bible more they were spending more time in meditation and prayer but we do know this go to 2 Timothy 1 Timothy chapter 6 we do know this is that the examples in the Bible that we have of people who did the Nazarite vow were used greatly okay and they were able to accomplish great tasks for the Lord because they had taken this Nazarite vow upon themselves they consecrated themselves unto the Lord therefore God used them greatly and it goes without saying that when we spend time with God when we draw nigh unto God when we spend time to consecrate ourselves unto the Lord God is going to use us you know don't depend on your flesh don't depend on your own wisdom and your own knowledge that element exists because we have to do our part but at the end of the day we need to make sure that we're spear-filled Christians we need to make sure that we're consecrating ourselves unto the Lord we need to make sure that we're living clean lives we're living righteous lives that we not only believe the right things but we're doing the right things as well don't expect to just have all your doctrines you know ducks in order but you're living a wicked life but you're involved in sin but you're involved in some wicked vice that God does not approve of God's not going to use you the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy you're in 1 Timothy I'm gonna read to you from 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse number 20 it says here but in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wooded of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor if a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be vessels unto honor sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work flee also youthful lust but follow righteousness faith charity peace with them to call on the Lord out of a pure heart so what are the Bible telling us here is that in order to be used of God to be a vessel and to honor me for the master's use we have to separate ourselves from certain things and it's not just a separation from the wrong things it's a separation unto the right things you know you separate yourself from the world but you consecrate yourself unto the Lord you know what good is it if you stop smoking pot and you're not listening to the wrong kind of music but you're not listening to the right kind of music and you're not applying spiritual disciplines in your personal life it's not going to profit you anything spiritually speaking you know what good is it if you're in an independent fundamental Baptist Church you're hearing the word of God but you're not doing the word of God the Bible says that you're deceiving yourselves you're lying to yourself it's self-deception because you got to separate yourself from something and unto something as well consecrate yourself unto the Lord and that's what we see here now look at first Timothy chapter 6 and verse number 11 I don't know about you but I want to be used of the Lord you know I want to be used of the Lord to win many people to Christ to do great things for God to be useful in this lifetime I want my life to count on this on this earth but in order to do that I need to make sure that I'm consecrated unto God okay not be a hypocrite not have secret sins in my personal life that maybe no one knows about just myself no live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord when when I'm by myself but also when I'm before people you know when I'm in church but also outside of church live a life that's pleasing unto the Lord the Bible tells us that God has separated the ungodly from self okay he seeks to use those people who are following after these things look at first Timothy 6 verse 11 but thou old man of God flee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life where unto thou are also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses now go back to numbers chapter 6 if you would hold your place there because we're going to be going back and forth there so we see here that the Nazarite vows started off with someone just recognizing I want to be consecrated unto the Lord okay I want to be separated unto God I want God to use me look at verse number 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 nor eat moist grapes or dried all the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree from the kernels even to the husk now this is a very austere practice that we see here because he says they can't even they can't have juice they can't have wine obviously we understand that they're the Bible tells us they're separate themselves from strong drink now a lot of people will look at this and say well because the Nazarite God commands the Nazarite to abstain from strong drink that gives us the excuse because we're not separated unto the Lord like that to have strong drink that's not what it's saying because God commands all Christians to abstain from strong drink he said why is he saying anything he's simply reiterating the obvious obviously you're supposed to abstain from strong drink but not only that you're also to abstain from just juice in general I mean it'll be foolish to think that you know a Christian can drink strong drink and the Nazarite can't when you see that the Nazarite can't even touch grapes obviously this is very unique to the Nazarite they couldn't even have grapes they couldn't have just the simplest most the simplest pleasures in life why because they were to live an austere type of life during this vow during this consecration okay now here's the foolish thing about this because I think about Christians who believe that you can you know you know have a little wine every once in a while or you know just drink a beer here now and then when it's just my wife and I and no one's looking you're wicked you're wicked and you're foolish okay why is that because the Bible strongly strongly condemns alcoholic beverages and look go to Deuteronomy chapter 14 you know this is the Calvinist crowd who these bunch of wine bibbers who you know want to justify drinking alcohol they want to justify drinking why so they can consume it upon their own lust they want to pervert the Bible which is exactly what they're doing in order to justify their drinking habits right now the Bible does talk about strong drink and we understand that strong drink is in reference to alcohol look at Deuteronomy 14 verse 26 it says and thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after for oxen or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink or for whatsoever thy soul desireth thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God and thou shalt rejoice thou in thine household and the Levi that is within thy gates thou shalt not forsake him for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee and they say there you go see whatever your soul desires even strong drink as it says it right there but look what it says and now shall eat there before the Lord when it talks about thou shalt eat there it's not in reference to strong drink and there's a reason why he's mentioning strong drink here go to Leviticus chapter 10 now this is a stupid way of interpreting the Bible because in Deuteronomy 14 verse 27 says and the Levi that is within thy gates thou shalt not forsake him what is that referring to giving him that food and the drink now if he's saying giving him that food and that drink because that's what will sustain him and it's saying strong drink is God contradicting himself no look what Leviticus 10 verse 9 says do not drink wine speaking to those Levi's it says do not drink wine nor strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest he die it shall be a statue forever throughout your generations you see if Deuteronomy 14 saying that you can give strong drink up to the Levi's then it would contradict Leviticus chapter 10 all right I get that but why is he saying still strong drink well because of the fact that in the law when you were to bring an offering before the Lord a lamb offering and bullock offering it was to be coupled with a drink offering as well and guess what that drink offering was it was strong drink so it's not like they were taking strong drink it was like for the homies no they were taking that strong drink and poured it out unto the Lord and never touched their lips go to numbers 28 numbers 28 so you know the Calvinists need to read these verses from the King James Bible and understand that the strong drink when it says that that's that is what they had it was it is what they had but it wasn't what they were drinking they were using it as a drink offering you see the sacrifices that we see are not the only offerings that we see in the Bible offering drink offerings were also supposed to be coupled with those burnt offerings as well look at verse number seven it says in the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of in him for the one lamb in the holy place shall thou cause a strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering doesn't say poured into your mouth just pour it out unto the Lord pretty clear okay so the instruction that we see for the Nazarite is just reiterating what the entire Bible says he's saying look obviously you got to abstain from strong drink but you're also abstaining from juice this is a very austere way of living for the Nazarite during that time period that they're keeping that vow okay now now and here's the thing you know eating grapes is not sinful right drinking juice is not sinful so it shows us the discipline that these people had to have during this time okay now what is the spiritual application that we can see from this well the spiritual application is this is that in order for us to really be consecrated unto the Lord we should discipline ourselves in certain ways you know go without certain things go without the pleasures of this life in order to obtain fellowship with the Lord in order to get the deep truths of the Word of God in order to be used of God greatly you know it's gonna take some sacrificing on our part in order to get those things you know it's gonna take you turning off the television study your Bible to get these truths it's gonna take you know you getting rid of these extracurricular activities like I don't know like the Super Bowl I think isn't is it the World Cup or the Super Bowl today I don't know which one I'm just kidding you know in order for you to come to church to learn something get fellowship in and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the matter of some is and look coming to church is not a sacrifice now I understand some people drive from afar and it is it is a bit of a sacrifice as far as you know making the drive out here and all that but for the most part in general it's not necessarily you're sitting there for like 50 minutes you know you can even sleep if you want you know sleep with your eyes open chill out you know you're just it doesn't it's not like you're you're a martyr when you come to church okay it's just like it's just so hard you know no it's not quit whining it's not hard okay you know you're sitting there you listen to the Word of God the word comes obviously when you go sowing the word comes is when you're studying to show their selves approve them to God a workman the need is not to be ashamed it doesn't really take much work to for me to tell you hey go to this reference and you just open it to that reference and you read what we're looking at it does take work to go back home open up your Bible and actually study it for yourself you know to compare Scripture with Scripture to make time to seek the Lord through the Word of God you know it doesn't take a lot of work to pray as a congregation for the service it does take work to go home and take time to pray by yourself you know to make a list of needs that you have the needs of the church or people that you know of and pray for those things that takes work but it doesn't necessarily take work for you to do those things as a congregation okay now I didn't know where I was going with that but here we all just you know abstaining from certain things you know letting go of certain things in order for us to be used of the Lord the Bible tells us go to Ephesians chapter number five Ephesians chapter five you know you think of the grapes you think of the wine the juices that we see in number chapter six and the thing that should come to mind is pleasure right and you think of pleasure when it comes to Moses the Bible tells us that he he basically for he didn't enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season he chose rather to suffer the afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season okay he chose rather to suffer the light affliction so he knew because he knew he would have an eternal weight of glory he knew the eternal riches in Christ that he would receive if he paid now he would be able to play later and that's what we see here with the Nazarite vow it was for a period of time that they were to suffer they were to go without there to discipline themselves and live in austere conditions for a period of time so that they can receive that which they wanted of the Lord and the spiritual application that we get there is that we go without we suffer for a while we suffer that light affliction in order to obtain that eternal weight of glory look at Ephesians 5 verse 17 wherefore be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is and be not drunk with wine where in his excess but be filled with the Spirit speaking to yourselves and Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord you know one thing we don't sometimes we it kind of goes over our heads is that we think of being filled with the Spirit is what helps us to be a good witness to be a good soul winner right but here we see that being filled with the Spirit is necessary in order to understand what the will of the Lord is what that is to just make good decisions on a daily basis you know to be able to discern between good and evil to know what's going to benefit you and what's not to know what is expedient and what is not to know what is profitable and what is not that takes wisdom that takes understanding what the will of the Lord is and to get that that takes a spirit-filled Christian but that takes us going without something in order for us to gain that knowledge the Bible tells us also go to first Peter chapter number five so the Nazarites were to abstain from grapes from wine from husks the Bible says these simple pleasures these simple basic things in order to to obtain something greater and look at first Peter chapter 5 verse 8 says be sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil has a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour now you know obviously we understand that we the Nazarite was supposed to abstain from juice but we see also the strong drink and that is also applicable to us because we as Christians should never allow strong drink wine alcoholic beverages to ever touch our mouth okay ever touch your mouth it's such a wicked sin that the Bible says in first Corinthians chapter 5 the people who are involved in such a wicked sin we ought to put away from among us that wicked person they can't even come to church if they allowed alcohol to touch their lips if they're drinking they're not allowed that's how wicked it is in the eyes of the Lord and this is something we should always be reminded of right and by the way it's not just alcohol it's also marijuana ganja kush or whatever level of weed that you that people like to smoke these days you know abstain from all of it oh yeah but it says strong drink well you know strong weed and I don't think God's mad if I say strong weed as well okay yeah but I do I use a little stress you know I don't use the good stuff it's weed and if you're smoking it guess what you can't be sober you can't be vigilant you cannot discern what the will of the Lord is you become lazy slothful and ungodly when you smoke that stuff and please let me know if you're involved in that okay you know if you're smoking pot if you stumble and you're just like you know what just everyone said it helps me go to sleep at night it just helps me to relax a little bit just one toke you know just so I can go to sleep and I'm a little stressed okay why don't you work that helps you know you don't need you know stress for your stress if you just work okay how about getting up very early in the morning and working so that when you come home you just knock out you know what I'm talking about we work up super early you work a strenuous day and by the time seven o'clock eight o'clock comes around you like I'm beat and you just like you just go unconscious you go in a coma okay then you don't need stress you don't need God you don't need cush you don't need any of that garbage okay first Thessalonians 5 6 says therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night and they they be drunken are drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for in helmet the hope of salvation you see the Bible's continually instructing us to be a sober type of a people to make sure that we're constantly alert to know what's going on you know to be like the the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times all right now go back to Numbers chapter 6 we'll go to some other passages in just a moment here's another instruction that we see in verse number five it says 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 now one thing that we want to notice here and there I need to mention is that in the beginning of the chapter you see that a man or a woman can take the vow but here in verse five it says to let his lot the locks of his hair grow okay because obviously we understand you know maybe for whatever reason this aspect of the Nazariah vow did not apply to one because she was already gonna have long hair and God was strict against a woman cutting off her hair shorning her head so we can see that in verse five it says all the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head until the days be fulfilled now people have a problem with this even people who believe in the Bible they believe in these things they think to themselves no I couldn't have meant like you know growing your hair long you know it couldn't man growing your hair long because God is against a man having long hair he's against you know it's a shame unto him it can't be but it says there that that he shall let the locks of his hair grow locks are like bundles of hair I mean it's almost compared to like dreadlocks if you know what dreadlocks are right these long those ugly long unwashed pest infested just icky hair okay it's gross but anyways so the locks of the hair that's that's what it can be compared to it it's long okay and look Samson was a Nazarite for the most of I mean till he died up until he was shaven by you know by Delilah's buddies he had long hair okay no no that was sinful but here's the thing is you understand that the exception does prove the rule and there's times in the Bible where you'll see something that's completely out of the ordinary and it's something that's the situation that is unique for that specific event that specific person for example we're going through the book of Hosea on Thursday evenings and Hosea was a prophet who had to marry a whore now you know God's not commanded us to go marry prostitutes obviously understand that you know we should not be joined unto and harlot the Bible says you know we're causing our bodies to sin we're you know the this is the body of Christ we should not be joined unto and harlot the Bible tells us specifically and strictly about that but you know what that was a situation that was unique to Hosea so we should not look at Hosea as an example of what to do for all of us but at the same time don't just throw out the baby with the bathwater and say no well it wasn't really like a prostitute you know she was just like an adulteress in her heart no she was a whore she had children from other fathers and the whole shebang okay not sugarcoating it she was a whore you had you think of Isaiah who preached in the nude okay read the book of Isaiah he preached in the nude look pastors they're not supposed to get up and preach in the nude you know that's wicked that's sinful that one oh yeah but maybe he wasn't really you know what I who knows maybe he preached in his undergarments maybe it was just the fact that his thighs were showing we don't know because the thighs are the nakedness but you know we're not gonna say that it didn't happen you know just to make it fit with our what we want the Bible to say the reason I say this because I remember even when I was in Bible college I was teaching this about Samson and it's like no I disagree with you I disagree with you you know that's not you know it's it's sinful it's a shame I'm like yeah but for this guy it God told him to do it you see right there says locks of hair do you want a lock of hair looks like no no no it's just like sit down and shut up you don't know what you're talking about locks of hair explain Samson for it you think I mean how fast do you think his hair grew or how slow do you think his hair grew you think it was just like up to here by the time he met Delilah come on it's just the exception that proves the rule okay you said then how do you explain this then well let's just look at a couple verses first before we get into that go to Judges chapter 13. Judges chapter 13 and verse number one it says and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years there was a certain man of Zorah of this family of the day-nights whose name was Manoah and his wife was barren and bare not and the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her behold now thou are barren and barest not but thou shalt conceive and barest son now therefore beware I pray thee and drink not wine nor strong drink and eat not any unclean thing for lo thou shalt conceive and barest son and no razor shall come upon his head for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Go to Judges chapter 16. Judges chapter 16 and verse number 18. It says here in verse 18 this is a story now we're getting into him being with Delilah and she's basically deceiving him multiple times and this is the last time she basically finds out where his power lies verse 18 says 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 had showed me all his heart then the Lord of the Philistines came up unto her and brought money in her hand and she made him sleep upon her knees and she called for a man and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head and 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 other times before and shake myself and he wished not that the Lord was departed from him 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 did grind in the prison house how be it the hairs of his head began to grow again after he was shaven so we see here that as soon as he was shaven the power went from him okay now we understand that the power came from the Holy Spirit and not necessarily from the locks of his head but the locks of his head was symbolic of the power that he had okay and once that was gone his power was gone and he wished not that the Lord was taken from him but then we see that God was giving him a second chance that the hairs of his head began to grow again after he was shaven now make no mistake about it that Samson is symbolic and he is a picture of Jesus Christ just like many of the prophets many of the judges in the Old Testament they had a certain characteristic or an attribute that you can apply to the Lord Jesus Christ they all had some sort of attribute about them that we can see Christ in now go to 1st Corinthians chapter 11 1st Corinthians chapter number 11 here's the thing about a Nazarite okay because remember they're taking this vow and they're living this austere life for this period of time in order to be consecrated unto the Lord so in order for them to be used of God they had to go without certain things and let me look I mean the concept that we see in the Bible when we draw nigh to God and he draws nigh unto us is that we're supposed to humble ourselves you know we cannot be used of God if we're proud okay if we're boastful if we're proud if we're haughty if we have these types of attributes God is gonna resist that he's not gonna use us and in fact the Bible says that whosoever that exalted themselves shall be abased so one characteristic that we see of the of the Nazarites is that when they would consecrate themselves the reason why they would allow the locks of their hair to grow is because it was shameful okay it was shameful for them to have long hair look at 1st Corinthians 11 13 says judging yourselves is it comely that a woman praying to God uncovered doth not nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him but if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering a man don't cut your hair ladies amen so we see here that when a man has long hair it's a shame so by the way if this is not just a New Testament teaching this is from times past this has always been and this is something that everyone knew so when people would look at Samson walking about with the seven locks of hair that would be shameful he would be ashamed of the fact that he had long hair people think sometimes that he was like this Fabio guy with this luxurious hair and he's just like like just showing it off this Pantene Pro V like model or something or people like wow that guy looks beautiful or something you know that's not what it was like it probably looked very ugly it was very shameful he probably didn't look very masculine it was something that people look and be like man this guy is it looks bad so it's not like they're like whoa Sam's looking good man you know what's your man bun over there nice man bun it's a fag bun is what it is you know the law the seven locks of his hair represented shamefulness okay and that's why he was used of God mightily seven locks of hair he's grown it for all his life that represents a lot of humility that's why God used them greatly okay the Spirit of the Lord was upon him by the way if you want the Spirit of God upon your life be humble okay the Bible talks about a woman having shame-facedness this is a good quality to have and the reason why God has to command us to have that is because we're just naturally proud we think we're all that and a bag of chips we think we're just like the best of this the best preacher the best soul winner the best Christian and sometimes God has to sweep the carpet from under our feet to show us that we're really not that great there anything that good good that comes out of us is because of the Lord and other people who have invested in us but this is the reason why he had long hair because it was a shame in order for him to be used and in fact the Bible go to Hebrews chapter 12 if you would Hebrews chapter number 12 the Bible says in verse number one wherefore seeing we also are compassed about so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every way in the sin which thus so easily beset us and let us run with patience to raise the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God you see think about put yourself in the Lord's shoes when he was crucified this is this is God in the flesh this is the Word of God manifested made you know he was made flesh he dwelt among them they're beholding his glory he was made a little lower than the angels the Bible says and yet he's on the cross they're they're they're casting lots for his garments we don't know if he was naked maybe he was the we understand he had shame it could potentially be that he only had his undergarments but his thighs were exposed we don't know but we do know this that was a shameful thing to do to be crucified on the cross as the Son of God he humbled himself and became obedient the Bible says unto death even the death of the cross but what but what was the result of that that God had highly exalted him and given him a name above every name that every knee should bow unto him so we see that the greatest example of humility the greatest example of someone who was shamed was the Lord Jesus Christ and is there any coincidence that he ends up being the one that is exalted above everyone else you know that's the example that we see there and that is why the Nazarites would take that vow and they would allow the hair on their head to grow in order to produce that shame see even people back then knew man this is shameful by way guys look make it's not bad you know obviously obviously you're not we understand we're not supposed to have long hair but don't just try to like be right there at the line either okay don't try to get so close to the line like well you know I'm not trying to have long hair obviously I don't want to I don't want to you know violate the Bible but let's see how close we can get to that line no you don't want you abstain from all appearance of evil okay so go with me if you would to James chapter 4 James chapter number 4 so sorry you know yeah he did have long hair and to say that he didn't because you want to fit what you believe about the Bible and to every single permeate you know your beliefs throughout the Bible is to take away from the beautiful picture that we see here of the shame of Jesus Christ because he is symbolic of that okay look at James 4 verse 6 it says but he giveth more grace wherefore he saith God resisteth the proud but giveth grace unto the humble submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil he will flee from you draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter return to morning and your joy to heaviness humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up now go back to Numbers chapter 6 if you would this is my last point here regarding the Nazariah regarding the Nazariah vow so what have we seen well Nazariah vow was for a man or a woman and it was for the purpose of consecrating themselves unto the Lord they were to abstain from wine but even from grapes and even the small pleasures in life not only that they're allowed there they were to allow their the hair on their head to grow and no razor should come upon it but also we see in verse number six it says in 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 now get this don't just you know breeze over that that means if a person took a Nazariah vow let's say for example for an entire year and within the span of that year their family dies they can't go nowhere near their family member so that means the funeral all the the process of burying their family member they could not come near unto that even if it was their family member they could not come here this is how strict and austere this vow was that they could not come near not just their family but just anyone in general any dead body in general they could not come near unto it okay go to judges chapter 14 judges chapter 14 now what is the spiritual application that we can get from this well let's read judges chapter 14 verse 6 it says in the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him referring to Samson and he rent him as he would have rent a kid and he had nothing in his hand but he told not his father or his mother what he had done and he went down and talked with the woman and she pleased Samson well and after a time he returned to take her and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion and behold there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion and he took her off 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 carcass of the lion now this is something that no one should even do not just the Nazarites no one so he's like violating above and beyond what his vow was supposed to be for okay now the application that we can get from this is the fact that when we're consecrated unto the Lord hey we're to love the Lord our God with all our heart soul mind and strength how do we love God by keeping his commandments and that even exceeds the love that we should even have for our own family members okay because there's gonna be times when the line is drawn okay where you have family members who don't agree with you they don't agree with your position they don't agree with your beliefs they don't agree with your church they don't like me they don't like Pastor Stephen Anderson whatever it may be you know they don't agree with your doctrines they're completely in disagreement with it but you know what if you're to be consecrated unto the Lord you got to choose God and separate from your family we're not talking about cult stuff here okay cult stuff is like you just you separate from the entire world and you can't even leave here you know we're talking about the fact of living a life of separation now look don't be like Samson where you're compromising that thing where you just you're kind of just having it both ways you know you don't want to hold you don't want to cause a lot of friction with your family because you love them but at the same time they're causing you to basically compromise on your biblical convictions that out not to be you know if we're to be consecrated unto the Lord we need to separate even from those who are our loved ones who would cause us or even tempt us to compromise our biblical convictions and standards what the Bible tells us to do why because we're to love the Lord our God with all our heart soul mind and strength now let me say this is that when a man's waist please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him okay and if you live the right type of life you use biblical wisdom you have biblical love and you're not a hypocrite and you're not a jerk guess what you probably be able to win your family to the Lord they'll respect you for your stance they respect that and they'll even come to your side okay go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 but another thing that we can apply to this is that you know a spiritual application to the fact that we should come in no dead body is that we should not touch the dead body but we should not touch the old man you know we are made up of the new man as well as the old man when we got saved the Bible tells us that our spirit was quickened we have the new man living inside of us who wants to submit himself to the law of God who delights in the Word of God who delights in spiritual things but the old man still lives within us okay the old man is still present and if we're to be used of the Lord if the Spirit of God is gonna come upon us we need to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh who's the flesh the old man the man who is dead the Bible tells us you're in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 I'm a retreat from Romans chapter 6 verse 6 therefore we are buried with them by baptism and to death the like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of light for if you have it for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin you know in order to be used of God in order to see people saved in order to do great things for the Lord to have the Spirit of God come upon you we need to make sure that we're not walking in the old man feeding the flesh doing the things that you used to do listening to the type of music that you used to listen to okay you know not do not watching the things that you used to watch this is the old man and the old man is gonna drag you down it's gonna render you useless for the Lord that is the old man and sometimes Christians like to dip into the old man every once in a while don't they that's fine but you know what you're not gonna be used of God you know and here's the thing the more you feed the old man the harder it is when you don't want to feed them to not beat them the harder it is to resist temptation the harder it is to do that which is right in the sight of the Lord why because you've been feeding the old man he's strong you know we ought to spend our lives striving to starve the old man and walk in the new man which is created in righteousness in true holiness seek to walk in the new man not to fulfill the desires of the flesh okay look at 2nd Corinthians 6 verse 14 says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness and what Concord hath Christ with Belial or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols for the temple of the living God as God hath said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people wherefore come out from among them and be separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a father unto you and he shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty now when it says that he shall be my sons and daughters people who are saved are already sons and daughters but as many as received unto them give you power to become the sons of God even unto them that believe on his name this is speaking to the fact that when we walk in the spirit we're behaving as children of God read you know John 1st John read the book of 1st John read Romans chapter number 8 this is speaking to walking and living as the sons of God okay so what is the Sherman today regarding well it's regarding the Nazariah vow but it's the spiritual applications that we make to our personal life now at the end of their vow they were simply to offer a sacrifice and they can finish that but you know what we as Christians ought to seek to kind of live like this spiritually speaking throughout our entire lives and we have an example of what not to do with Samson but we do have an example what to do with John the Baptist who lived a strict life up up until the very end you know we look at him 2,000 years later as being an example of someone who was successful in his Nazariah vow and I'm not saying make a vow before God you're gonna make about it you're just gonna read 10 chapters a day or of the Bible and do well I'm not saying that I'm saying you know we ought to seek to apply the spiritual application to the Nazariah vow to our personal lives you know to abstain from certain things in order to be used of God to be consecrated unto him you know to make sure that we stay humble don't be prideful stay humble you know if God is using you in a great way amen to that okay but God will no longer use you if you have a haughty prideful arrogant spirit we need to make sure that we have shame facing us that we're ashamed that we are humble in order for God to continue to use us okay and lastly hey if we're gonna continue to be used above God we can't touch the dead carcasses which is what the old man you know obviously we're not perfect we're gonna stumble we're gonna fall but at the end of the day it should be said that we're walking in a new man at all times as much as we can and abstaining from that old man amen let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you for your word and thank you for the teaching of the Nazariah vow number chapter 6 I pray that you'd help us to be as John the Baptist be as Samuel be as Paul and Lord help us to apply these spiritual truths to our personal lives that we may be consecrated unto you so you can use this in a great way whether as a husband maybe it's not necessary to do a great work that everyone can see maybe it's just to be a success a successful wife a successful child an employee these all these roles and positions require a spirit-filled Christian in order to do abundantly above what we can ask or think and I pray that you'd help us to do so in Jesus name we pray amen