It's impossible. It's hopeless. It can't be fixed. Have you ever said or felt that about something to your congregation belonging to Jesus Christ? Have you ever encountered something that was broken that was beyond your ability, beyond anyone's ability to fix? Probably we all have. The other day, I was taking one of our clocks off the wall to readjust the time on it because it was a little bit behind and as I was hanging it back up, it slipped. It wasn't quite on the nail and it slipped and it fell and it crashed to the ground and the glass face just shattered in pieces. I couldn't fix it. It was broken. couldn't be fixed. And that can happen with many things, can't it? Children, maybe you've had it before, you've had a toy that broke, and it couldn't be fixed. Or it could be you're cooking, or you're baking something, and something goes wrong. And whatever you are making is ruined beyond repair. Or perhaps something in your car or in your truck breaks and it just can't be fixed. It can't be fixed no matter what you try. It's impossible. It's hopeless. It can be true of many things, can't it? Sometimes it can seem like that with salvation too. I mean, when you look at the world, and you consider all of the evil, and all of the violence, and all of the ungodliness, and all of the misery, and the pain, and the suffering, and the death, how can this mess ever be fixed? Or maybe you wonder, how can my friend, how can my child, my loved one, ever be saved when they've lived so long in unbelief and in the grip of sin and perhaps even have ruined their lives by their sinful choices? Or maybe even closer to home, how can I? be saved when I've lived in sin and unbelief for so long, or when I've committed such a terrible sin as I have, when I've made such a mess. Or how can I be saved when I am seeking the Lord in faith, and yet I still struggle with sin and temptation, and I come short every day of God's glory? When my progress in sanctification seems so slow at times, it can seem impossible. And we can be tempted to doubt God's saving power. But we don't need to doubt it, and we ought not to doubt it. That's what our passage this morning, Judges 16, verses 23 through 31, makes so very clear. Over the past month and a half or so, we've been considering the life of Samson in Judges 13 to 16. Samson, you remember, had a special calling from God. He was to be a Nazarite from the womb. His life was to be, in other words, his life was to be devoted to God and to his service. And specifically, Samson was to begin to deliver God's people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. When he married a Philistine girl, it seemed like that wouldn't happen. But God worked in spite of that and even through it. And then he gave Samson power to overcome the Philistines on numerous occasions. We also looked at how he used affliction to humble Samson and to cause him to depend upon the Lord. That was at the beginning before he started to judge Israel. And then he judged Israel for 20 years. But how things changed in Judges 16. Samson, the once mighty judge, became the miserable prisoner of the Philistines. How did that happen? Well, do you remember from last time? Samson had persistently pursued sin and even carelessly disregarded his Nazirite calling from God. And so the Lord had departed from him. He had taken his favor, his smile away. And Samson ended up in Gaza as a blind prisoner of the Philistines, grinding flour for them like a female slave. That's where we left Samson last time. What a sad picture of this once mighty deliverer. And what a warning to us of what happens when we persist in sin. And yet, it is not hopeless. It seems that way. It seems like it's all over for Samson. It seems like Samson's ruin is final and Israel's doom is sealed. The Philistines certainly think it is. We see that in verses 23 and 24 as they celebrate and gloat over Samson's defeat. And they give praise to their idol god Dagon for delivering him into their hand. But what happens? What happens when they bring Samson out and make fun of him in Dagon's temple? Samson prays to the Lord. He prays, verse 28, for grace and strength one more time. He may be at once avenged of the Philistines for his two eyes. And then what happens? What happens? Do you know, children? Samson takes hold of those two pillars, those two middle pillars holding up the roof of Dagon's temple. And he prays, let me die with the Philistines. And then he bows himself with all his might and he pushes those pillars and then crack, crack, boom. The house collapses upon the Philistines and their leaders. In other words, the Lord heard and answered Samson's prayer for strength. The end of verse 30 tells us that the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. And then his family comes and they take Samson's body and bury it in his father Manoah's burying place. So what is this all telling us? It's telling us we don't need to doubt the Lord's saving power. It's almighty. That's what we hope to see with God's help from this passage in this last sermon on Samson. So our theme is the Lord shows His saving power through Samson's death, and He shows it in three ways. First, with the caller He answers. Secondly, with the victory he accomplishes. And thirdly, with the Savior he points to. The Lord shows his saving power through Samson's death. We see that, first of all, with the caller he answers. Well, what do I mean by that? Who is the caller he answers? Obviously, it's Samson, isn't it? Verse 28, And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once. Oh God, that I may be at once advantage of the Philistines for my two eyes. So Samson is calling here unto the Lord and the Lord answers him. That's the caller he answers. Now it's easy to just pass over that and not really think much of it, but we should. The Lord here, he's showing us his saving power with the caller he answers. I mean, just think about Samson's situation. For one thing, he's completely and utterly humiliated. God had left him. He's lost God's smile. He's lost God's favor. His power is gone. His eyes have been put out, gouged out by the Philistines so he can't see. And he's been bound with strong and heavy brass chains, doing the work of a female slave in prison, grinding flour for the Philistines. And why? It's all because of his own sinful folly. But then it gets even worse. The Philistines decide that their victory over Samson was because of Dagon. Dagon was their main idol god at the time, and so they hold a celebration of Samson's defeat in honor of Dagon at a house or a temple dedicated to him. That's what we see happening in verses 23 and 24. We read there that, a great sacrifice, and to deagon their God, and to rejoice. For they said, Our God has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hand. And when the people saw him, they praised their God. For they said, Our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us." So they're having this pagan festival, this pagan party, as it were, honoring Dagon in celebration of Samson's defeat. And during that celebration, they decide to bring Samson out and make fun of him, publicly humiliate him. Verse 25, And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport, literally, that he might make us laugh. And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport. He made them laugh. And they set him between the pillars. And so Samson stands there, and he stands there helplessly. Maybe they were getting him to do certain things, but maybe they were just making fun of him by calling him strong and all of that, but we don't know. We're not given the details. But the point is, he's helpless there as the people mock him and laugh at him. He can't see or do anything. Just close your eyes for a minute and try and imagine yourself in that. I mean, he even needs a boy, a little boy, to help him put his hands on the pillars so that he might lean on them. Verse 26, And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me, that I may feel, or let me feel, the pillars whereupon the house stands. that I may lean on. So he's completely helpless as the Philistines laugh at him. And there's not just a few of them. Verse 27 says that now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords, in other words, the leaders of the Philistines were there. And there were upon the roof about 3,000 men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. Now just imagine that. It's bad enough to have one person mocking and laughing at you. But to have a whole multitude like this mocking you and laughing at you in your face and being completely helpless, unable to do anything about it. How awful. How awful. So behold, Samson standing there, reduced to nothing but a source of entertainment for others, totally powerless, mocked, laughed at, completely and utterly humiliated, and it was all his own fault. It was his own folly and sin that had brought this all about. All hope of salvation seems lost for this poor, miserable, wretched man, and yet it's not. When he humbly cries out to the Lord for help in his humiliation, the Lord doesn't laugh at him. The Lord doesn't mock him. He doesn't say to him, as Samson comes before his throne and pleads for grace, he doesn't say to him, what are you doing here? Serves you right, Samson. This is your own fault. You chose sin instead of me. In spite of how patient I was with you, you can suffer the consequences. I don't have any grace for you. The Lord doesn't do that, does he? It's still the day of grace for Samson. And so the Lord answers Samson's humble call. He remembers him, he pays attention to him, and he gives him strength once again. He shows his saving power in answering Samson in all of his misery, in all of his humiliation. Isn't that encouraging? You see, we too can suffer humiliation. Sometimes, like Samson, it's because of our own sin. How often that was the case for Israel as a nation, especially in the book of Judges. But also later, the persistent idolatry led over and over again to shame and humiliation as God delivered them into the hands of their enemies. And that can happen today too, can't it? Maybe it's true of you or a loved one, a family member perhaps. Sinful choices that you or they have made living for the passing pleasures of this world have led to ruin and to shame. Sometimes that's why we can suffer humiliation. Other times it's not. Sometimes we suffer humiliation and shame when others sin against us through no fault of our own. And that can happen too, can't it? We can suffer humiliation also as Christians for being faithful, for seeking to do good. The point is we can suffer humiliation for different reasons. Think of Job when he lost everything, how humiliated he was by his three friends as they judged him, as they repeatedly criticized him, as they continually condemned him and maliciously slandered him. How humiliated he was in spite of his innocence. At times salvation, deliverance, it seemed hopeless to him, it seemed impossible. You can read that in the book of Job. Maybe it seems that way for you. For whatever reason, you may be humiliated. You're tempted to despair. You feel like there's no hope. No hope of deliverance. No hope of salvation. But then think of Samson. Think of Samson. Think of how the Lord answered him when he called, humbly, completely, and utterly humiliated as he was. And take heart, take heart. God's saving power in Christ is almighty. Let's not doubt it. Let's put our full trust and hope in Christ. Let's come to the Lord with all of our shame, all of our humiliation, and humbly call upon Him for help and for salvation, looking to Christ. He will answer. He will save in His way and time. Maybe you say, I'm unworthy. Well, yes, you are. We all are. Aren't we? In fact, the only way God will answer us is when we come to Him confessing that from the heart. That's what Samson does here. He's not just completely and utterly humiliated, he's humbled. The affliction God sent him, it's been for his prophet, hasn't it? That affliction has by God's grace, that imprisonment, that blindness, that Humiliation of serving as a slave in the prison of the Philistines. It has borne fruit in Samson. It has brought him once again to the end of himself. It has brought him once again to repentance. The mention of his hair, the symbol of his Nazarite calling growing back in verse 22 hints at that as we saw last time, but it becomes clear in verse 28. when he calls unto the Lord, when he comes to Him in prayer, how does he come? How does he come? Does he come on the basis of his own faithfulness, of his own righteousness? Is that what he pleads? No. He comes to God in repentance and faith. He comes to God confessing his unworthiness, relying on God and on his sovereign grace alone. That's where he puts all his hope. Oh Lord God. And here the word Lord is Adonai. In the Hebrew, it refers to God especially as the sovereign ruler. And the word for God there in all capital letters, that's the one that usually appears as Lord in all capital letters. It's the one that we sometimes translate as Jehovah or Yahweh. It's his personal name. The name that highlights not only his self-sufficiency, but also and especially his faithfulness. His faithfulness to his word. Yes, also to his gospel promises. That's where Samson puts his hope. You see that? Not in himself, but in the sovereign, faithful Lord. The one who had revealed himself to Israel as merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. And he humbly and earnestly pleads for grace. Oh Lord God, remember me. I pray thee, please, and strengthen me. I pray thee, strengthen me, please, only this once, O God, there's another name he uses, the Almighty One, that I may be avenged at once of the Philistines for my two eyes. He comes humbly in repentance and faith, asking for strength to defeat the Philistines one more time. To fulfill his calling from God. That's his primary aim here. It's not his own death. He's not committing suicide. His motive, you might say, well, that appears to be personal vengeance. And perhaps it was, in part. Maybe his prayer wasn't perfect. That's not so unique to Samson, though, is it? But perhaps it was more than that. Perhaps Samson was so identifying himself here as the servant of God separated to his service as a Nazirite now, once again. That when he says here that I may be at once advantaged of the Philistines for my two eyes, perhaps that's not so much personal vengeance, but the desire for divine vengeance. Perhaps it was not so much his honor as God's honor. that he was concerned about. But even if his prayer was motivated by a selfish desire, in part, for personal vengeance, it's still humble. That's the point we need to see. Do you see that? Samson here is confessing, you see, what he had ignored when he was pursuing sin. That his strength was not in himself, but in God alone. And he is humbly pleading with the Lord to give that strength in his grace one more time. He's not just humiliated, he's humbled, humbled by a sense of his own unworthiness. And that's how he comes to God, humbly pleading nothing in himself, putting his hope entirely in the Lord and in his grace. And the Lord answers him. He remembers him in grace. And he gives him the strength he seeks. Now, here's the point. It doesn't matter how unworthy you are. Think how unworthy Samson was. how deeply he had fallen, how faithless and foolish he had been. He had sinned repeatedly. He had sinned high-handedly. He had sinned against grace. He had despised God's calling and gifts, and God had justly chastened him. And yet, when he called out to God in humility, confessing his unworthiness, God heard him, and God answered him and saved him. He showed him mercy. He made him strong. Do you see? Perhaps like Samson. Like Samson, you have sinned repeatedly or high-handedly. Perhaps you have sinned against grace. Perhaps young people or even older ones here, you have despised your promises and calling from God. signed and sealed to you in your baptism. Perhaps, just perhaps, you are trembling even this evening with fear, that there's no hope. It's all over. Listen. Yes, sin is serious, but you are not too unworthy that the Lord cannot save you, that He cannot forgive you, that He cannot renew you, that He cannot restore you, that He cannot revive you. His saving power is almighty. His hand is not shortened, that it cannot save you. So call out to Him. Come to Him for the first time or again in repentance and faith, just as you are, confessing and forsaking your sins. Cast yourself like Samson, humbly on the Lord, humbly on His mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. For as it says in Isaiah 57 verse 15, thus says the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy. I dwell in a holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble one. or the contract ones, and to revive the heart of the contract. Yes, unworthy as they are in themselves. Let's never forget that. Let's never forget that. Oh, but my enemies, the sin and evil in the world around, as well as within me, they seem so strong. Can the Lord really save me from all of that? Well, that brings us to the second way the Lord shows us His saving power through Samson's death. Not just with the collar He answers, but also with the victory He accomplishes. That's what verses 29 and 30 highlight for us. Samson has just prayed to the Lord for strength one more time, and what happens? And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might. And the house fell upon the Lord's, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. That's the victory the Lord accomplishes through Samson's death. And it's showing us, the Lord is showing us with that victory, his saving power. Think of how clear a victory it is. Picture it, picture it again in your mind. There's Samson, standing between the two pillars. Multitudes of Philistines all around him, including their chief leaders, and another 3,000 on the flat roof overhead. And he prays, and then he bows, or he stretches, he pushes out with all of his might, and then what happens? The two pillars holding up the house, they shift out of place. And the people's praises to Dagon. and mocking laughter at Samson turns into terrified screams as the roof begins with a weight of 3,000 people on top of it to crack and come crashing down. And who does it fall upon? Who does it fall upon? It falls upon the Philistine Lord. and upon all the people inside the house. More people died by Samson's death than all the ones whom he killed in his life. But here's the thing, on top of that, the Philistines have lost their chief leaders, the lords of their main cities. What a clear victory! Doesn't that show us the greatness of the Lord's saving power? Just like that, He, through Samson, destroys the Philistine leaders, as well as a great number of their people. He buries them under a heap of rubble, and so also prevents them from strengthening their hold on His people Israel. They're apparently in so much disarray and dismay that they don't even prevent Samson's family from recovering his body. Verse 31 tells us that Samson's brethren and all the house of his father came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtoel in the burying place of Manoah, his father. The point is, even through Samson's death, the Lord has put these enemies of His people thoroughly to shame. He has broken their power. You see what this is saying? There is nothing too hard for the Lord. You see that? There's nothing too hard for the Lord. His saving power is almighty. Do you see what that means? It means that however strong the grip of sin and evil might seem to be, either around us or within us, the Lord is able to save us from it. He's able to save you from it. He's able to save your loved one from it. Let's not despair. Even when sin and evil and the devil seems to be winning, when they all seem to be so secure, and when God seems to be losing, and when His people are treated with contempt. That's exactly what it looked like here. The Philistines looked victorious. They were praising Dagon instead of the one true and living God. And they were mocking and laughing at one of his people, one of his servants. True, true, it was in many ways Samson's own fault. And we might be tempted to kind of, well, it's just kind of just say, well, you deserved it, Samson. But you know, it's worth listening to Matthew Henry's comment in reference to this. This is what he says. Nothing fills the measure of the iniquity of any person or people faster than mocking and misusing the servants of God. Yea, though it is by their own folly that they are brought low. Those know not what they do, nor whom they affront, that make sport with a good man. It's worth thinking about, isn't it? The point is, it seemed like the enemies of God and His people and plan, they had won, but it was just then, just at that moment, with one divinely empowered push, that the boastful, oppressive, idolatrous, mocking Philistines were buried under the rubble of the house of their so-called God. On the one hand, congregation, that's a warning, isn't it? It's a warning to all of you here who are unconverted. who are living in enmity against the Lord and His people and plan. Don't deceive yourself. You cannot win. And that's no joke. If you do not repent and turn in faith to Christ Jesus, you will one day be crushed, like those Philistines, under the holy judgment and wrath of God. And it could happen in an instant. And you won't just die. You will suffer forever in hell. What a warning that is. And what a call to repent and to believe the gospel today. Today. But also, what an encouragement to do that, to put your full trust and hope in Christ, and to keep doing that, to persevere in the way of repentance and faith, to live that way. Because then when you belong to Christ, you see the enemies you see around and within, they are doomed. And not even death can change that. Yes, Samson died with the Philistines. And maybe you've been thinking as we've been going through this, well yeah, you're talking about the Lord saving power, but look, Samson died. Doesn't that make the victory less? Does it? Oh true, he died in part because of his own folly and sin. And that's a warning to us to guard against sin ourselves. But Samson died looking to the Lord. That's what Hebrews 11 makes clear. And so when he died, his soul was delivered from all corruption, all that sinful tendency he had to lust. It was delivered from his sin, and he went to be with the Lord, which is far better, to wait for the resurrection of his body from the dead. And even now. Even now, Samson, by grace, is part of that great cloud of witnesses that we read about in Hebrews 12 as a monument, as a testimony to God's saving power. calling us to lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and to run with patience, to run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. So don't be afraid. Don't despair. Don't give up. One day, the Lord will deliver us from all our enemies completely, and we will never see them again. The Lord's saving power is almighty. But maybe you're thinking, you're thinking, how can we know that? I mean, Samson is still dead. He's been dead for thousands of years. Well, that brings us yet to the third way the Lord shows his saving power through Samson's death. Not only with the collar he answers and the victory he accomplishes, but lastly, with the Savior Samson points to. You see, this is what, this is what it's all ultimately about. It's about far more than the Lord's victory over the Philistines and their idol god Dagon. No, it's about His salvation from sin and Satan and death and hell through the Savior He had promised in the beginning. The Savior whom he had said would one day come and who now for us has come. The Savior whose name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's who the Lord is pointing to in his answer of Samson's prayer and his victory over the Philistines. He's pointing to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Savior from sin and death and Satan and hell. And what a Savior he is. He's the Savior of sinners. That's what Samson's prayer and God's acceptance of his prayer and answer to it tells us. Samson had sinned everything away. He had forfeited every right to God's favor. He was a terrible sinner and yet he cried out as a poor man to the Lord and the Lord heard him and had mercy on him. How can that be? How can that be? There's only one answer. is that Jesus is the great savior of sinners. Yes, of sinners like Samson, because he's the greater than Samson. You see, Jesus, unlike Samson, he was faithful. He never sinned, not even once, not one sinful thought, not one sinful glance. And yet, though he never sinned, like Samson, he suffered complete and utter humiliation. He was despised and rejected of men. He was even stripped and then crucified to a wooden cross. And as he hung there on his cross, what did people do? They mocked him, they laughed at him. Not only that. His own God, His Father, forsook Him. Departed from Him. And then He died. And He suffered all that, not for any sin of His own, but for all the sins of His people. Yes, even the sins of Samson and sinners like him. Sinners like you and like me. And by his death, he accomplished a far greater victory than Samson. Matthew Henry puts it better than I ever could. Christ, he says, pulled down the devil's kingdom as Samson did Dagon's temple. And when he died, he obtained the most glorious victory over the powers of darkness. Then when his arms were stretched out upon the cross, as Samson's to the two pillars, he gave a fatal shake to the gates of hell, and through death destroyed him that had the power of death. That is the devil. And then he goes on, he says, and herein exceeded Samson, that he not only died with the Philistines, but rose again to triumph over them. You see, that's how we know the Lord's saving power is almighty. Yes, Samson is dead. But Jesus, his Savior, is not. He's alive. And he, with glorified body and soul, is now sitting at God's right hand. You see, Jesus didn't just begin a work of deliverance. His resurrection from the dead proves that. And so let's run the race. Let's run the race of faith that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. He's not just the author, you see, of our faith, but He's the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God, because the Lord's saving power in Christ is almighty. There's no doubt about it. That's what the Lord is showing us through Samson's death, with the caller he answers, with the victory he accomplishes, and above all, with the Savior he points to. And so when we look at the world, and when we look at our unsaved and struggling friends and loved ones, And yes, when we look also at our own selves and the ongoing struggles we face, and we're tempted to think it's hopeless, it's impossible. Let's remember Samson. Let's remember the Lord's saving power in Christ, revealed through Samson's death, and let's not doubt it, but let's humbly put our full trust and hope in our almighty Savior, Jesus Christ, and live in submission and praise to him. Amen. Let us pray.