Brothers and sisters, if you have your Bibles, would you turn with me to Judges chapter 14. We'll be looking in chapters 14 and 15 this morning. We're continuing to examine the downward spiral of the Judges. We've gone from Othniel, a deliverer who brought rest, a deliverer, remember, who brought rest to the people and to the land, to Samson, who by his actions is disturbing Israel's rest, if you will, or their peace that they have made with the Philistines. We'll spend the next two weeks in these next three chapters that deal with Samson. Follow as I read. A portion is printed for you on the front of the bulletin or in the bulletin, Or in the insert, I think. Judges chapter 14, beginning at verse 1. Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and he told his father and mother, I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife. And that's a good translation in terms of the command that he gave there. But his father and mother said to him, is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives or among all your people that you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? But Samson said to his father, get her for me, for she is right in my eyes. His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines ruled over Israel. Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him, roaring. Then the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman. And she was right in Samson's eyes. After some days he returned to take her and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and went on eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion. His father went down to the woman And Samson prepared a feast there for so the young men used to do. As soon as the people saw him, they brought 30 companions to be with him. And Samson said to them, let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. But if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. And they said to him, put your riddle that we may hear it. And he said to them, out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet. And in three days they could not solve the riddle. On the fourth day, they said to Samson's wife, entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us? And Samson's wife wept over him and said, you only hate me. You do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people and you have not told me what it is. And he said to her, behold, I have not told my father nor my mother. And shall I tell you? She wept before him the seven days that the feast lasted. And on the seventh day, he told her because she pressed him hard. And he told the riddle to her people. And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, what is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, if you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle. I think that's an agrarian analogy there. I would be careful using that, men. And the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down 30 men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger, he went back to his father's house and Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his best man. Let us pray. Father, we do ask that you would open our ears and hearts to hear and understand your word. Acknowledging, Father, that here your truth is set before us. But, Lord, apart from the ministry of the Spirit, we would not just be weak, Lord, we would be deaf. So guide us, we ask and pray, in Jesus' name, amen. with no offense to the Nickishes. We were on a family vacation one time, headed to the Badlands in South Dakota. And round about, oh, Pittsburgh or so, we started seeing signs for Waldrug. And of course, the four kids in the car, sign after sign after sign, I don't know how many hundreds of miles, but boy, the anticipation was building. We were going to stop at Waldrug. I think my parents were probably not as disappointed as the kids were or some of the older kids, you know, because it was one gigantic novelty store is what it was. And this was back in the early 60s. So I imagine it's gargantuan now, but it was, you know, the anticipation, the fruition was kind of a letdown from the anticipation that had been stirred. Let's put it that way. When we look at Samson, there's that sense, you know, last week we saw God moving. The angel of the Lord appears, a woman who has been barren her whole life. She's going to bear a child. This child is going to be set apart from the womb, from conception, set apart to be a Nazarite. And she is going to spend years maintaining that Nazarite vow. And the Lord, it says, at the end of chapter 14, it says that, and the spirit of the Lord began to stir him. And so there's that anticipation. We've been waiting so long now for a deliverer, for a judge who's going to rise up and really stand for the people. And I'm afraid we face some serious disappointment in Samson, the last judge of the book of Judges. In chapter 14, I read the whole thing because it establishes the pattern that we see in Samson's adult life. We're never disappointed by his strength, but we are disappointed by his character. We see a pattern in his life and it's set before us. He's ruled by desires. his desire for women. There's one early on. I saw a woman. Get her for me. She's right in my eyes. He will sleep with prostitutes. He will have a terminal attraction to Delilah later. And his parents, when this announcement comes, get her for me, I mean, they're dismayed. Well, they're beyond dismayed. They're apoplectic, I think. She's a Philistine. Can't you find anyone among your tribe, among your people, none? You have to go to the uncircumcised Philistines. In other words, these are not God's people. They understood. They knew what Moses had said, do not take of their daughters for your sons, Exodus 34, 11 and following. Deuteronomy 7, you shall not intermarry with them. And of course, most of the dilemmas that that Samson enters into have to do with women and his penchant for them. It had to be devastating to his parents who have invested themselves, who saw, you know, Manoah even fearing for his life because the Lord appeared there, the angel of the Lord appeared. And the years they spent trying to raise him, guide him, direct him, protecting him, Helping them to keep his vows. Kids ever done that to you? Felt that way? Behaved in ways you just never anticipated? Caused grief, pain, sorrow? Made decisions that you knew and you know are going to cause them pain and sorrow with no clue to the effect that it was going to have even on so many around them? Very few families who haven't known that sorrow, that disappointment. But I'm fairly certain as I look around that quite a number of you were that child, myself included. We don't want to be that child before the Lord. before the one who redeems and transforms, before the one who can mend and heal and restore and make new. We don't want to be those children. And Samson is behaving like one. He's ruled by his poor judgment. When he comes to the wedding, those Friends who are sent over are 30 Philistines to come join the party. And of course, that's what he does. He throws a party. Let's have a kegger. That just doesn't seem like the smartest thing to do in the midst of these people whom God has sent in many ways simply to antagonize. But antagonize he does. He gives them a challenge, a riddle. Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet. And they take the challenge. As I say, you're antagonizing a bunch of drunken guys who would just as soon see you dead as married. I'm not sure it was a good idea. It wasn't an unusual custom, however. 30 changes of clothes, underwear and overwear. Now, clothing isn't terribly expensive for us today. It was then. Per man, not too costly. In the aggregate, 30 new outfits like that, that was a kingly gift and he was making fools of them to which they would not take lightly. And so the result is somewhat predictable. The Philistines want a way out and so they threaten his bride-to-be. We'll burn you and your family. We'll burn everything. You find out what this is and you tell us. Now right here, Samson and his betrothed need to get into counseling. Okay? Communication is the key to your marriage. We were told some years ago, you know, you don't think like other people. I don't think it was meant as a compliment at the time. But my wife will attest to this. I lose it so many times in movies or in books or things where if someone just said, Did you really mean blah, blah, blah by that? End of story. No. No, that's not what's happening at all. And so the discussion starts and the problem is solved. Now, I realize that that would end the plot of 95% of all movies and books, but it would save 95% of every marriage. Had she, I mean, I have a feeling Samson was not a weak man without the spirit. He was probably, he demonstrates some unusual strength all by himself. Had she said to him, why isn't he saying to her, we're getting married, what is the problem here? You are crying, you are whining, you are falling apart. This is supposed to be, what's going on? If he'd have asked and pursued as much as she was saying, won't you tell me, oh, please tell me, oh, you hate me, you don't love me, why doesn't he just Well, anyway, it doesn't happen. Don't let that be the mark of your marriages. Talk. Something's on your heart, something you don't understand, something was offensive. You bring it up. You try and deal with it. Now, I'm not, you know, I can't say that I'm the model there. I have certainly had some spectacular miscues myself. But what a difference it would have made. Had she said to Samson, well, you know, they're threatening me and my family. I have a feeling Samson could have dealt with it. But instead, he tells it, another of his weaknesses. And of course, they solve the riddle. And he knows how they did it. And so the spirit of the Lord came on him and he runs 25 miles away to Ashkelon, kills 30 Philistines, gathers their wardrobes, packs them up, you know, either in something he could carry or something he could drag, plunders them and brings it back. And then in his... So 30 Philistines died at that point. And he leaves his bride. standing at the altar and goes home in hot anger, we are told. Another one of his issues, if you will, is his vengeance. He wanted what was right in his own eyes. His concern was for his self, not for the people, not for the nation that he had. And so there is that judgment and there is that anger in him. In chapter 14, he was in hot anger. We see other places where it was in vengeance that he struck. He avenged himself. Chapter 15, verse 7, I swear I will be avenged on you. and we'll see his desires for it even later on. It's a pattern that he keeps consistent throughout these accounts. He is a different judge. He breaks the mold as far as judges go. He ruled for 20, it says he judged for 20 years. We're actually told that twice and I wonder if at the end of Chapter 15 we're told that because in a sense the writer wants it to end there. It was a high note. in terms of God's provision for him. Samson's no model judge. Set apart from birth under a Nazirite vow, he breaks every aspect, every element of that vow. There's no moral purity. There's no ceremonial purity. Don't touch anything dead. So he reaches into the rotting carcass of a lion to pull out honey. and then gives it to defile his parents as well. There's no cultural purity. He's feasting with these Philistines, which meant drinking, of course. He would one day allow his hair to be cut, the last standing symbol of that vow, of that Nazirite vow. We expect a judge in the power of the spirit. great, noble, mighty to save, but we find instead a man who is terribly flawed. He never rallies the people to fight the Philistines. There's no call to battle. There's no drive to pursue them. He never brings peace. He doesn't deliver them from the hands of the Philistines. He certainly doesn't provide for rest in the land. Actually, he keeps Baiting the Philistines he keeps stirring them up and creating anger and enmity between Israel and the Philistines He's a personal in in his person, I think he's a representation of Israel Israel was set apart for the Lord They were to be attuned to his desires and his pleasures as Samson was set apart for the Lord and for the work of the Lord. But like the people, more ready to complain to the Lord, with little evidence of giving thanks, he was to be trusting and resting in the Lord. But he, like the people around him, had become like the culture. Cruel, self-centered, conscious of the covenant, but not in conformity to it. Not under any compulsion, it seemed, to obey it, all part of a pattern that we see running through all three chapters here. There's one more part, one more aspect of that pattern, and that is we'll see he never learns, but that will come to next week. There's a pattern, although we don't see it right away as easily, in the Philistines as well. They have a solution to every dilemma they face, and it is always violent. They're going to lose their shirts over a riddle. But they find a way to get around it. They plow with the heifer. They threaten the bride. They lose their crops because they give away his wife. And when Samson retaliates, they burn, as they had promised earlier, that woman and her family. They get Samson in chapter 15 finally cornered and he's handed over to them. That's what they wanted. Well, the way they did that was they threatened the people of Judah with their own destruction if they didn't turn him over. But every time, so there's the dilemma they face and they've always got a solution, but every time it turns to disaster. Samson demonstrates his strength over and over and over again. And he doesn't need spears or swords. There probably weren't very many in the hands of the Israelites as a people in bondage. Anything at hand or even just his hand would do. And so he gets 30 new outfits from the men of Ashkelon. And when his wife is taken away, he takes 300 foxes and ties their tails together and burns down their crops and their groves, their olive groves. And when they burn and destroy and kill her family and the woman, they pay dearly for it. The scriptures tells us that he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow. And in their anger, they come and they threaten the people of Judah. And they turn him over to them, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and those bonds burst like burned flax. And a thousand died that day. You see, no matter what they did, they lose. It's like Psalm 2. The Lord sits in the heavens and laughs, and the Lord holds them in derision. They keep crying out, let us burst their bonds apart, let us cast away their cords from us. I love the imagery there, because the ones who we can see are really tied in their anger and in their sin and their rebellion against God are bound. I think this had to be great encouragement to the people of God. In the years that would follow us, they would read these stories, these wonderful stories, generation after generation. Who knows what kind of irrepressible, intractable force they were facing. Was there ever going to be relief? Things are not always as they seem, are they? God's strength can yet be made manifest. Now, I do want us to see Samson's powerful presence and actions, but we have to see as well very clearly God's power is what is at work. We are told repeatedly in chapters 14 and 15 that the Lord came upon him. The Lord, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. It says three times in verse six, in verse 19 of chapter 14, and then in chapter 15 at verse 14, after he's been bound up. The spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, flooded on him, filled him, and his power and his strength in the Lord exploded. And so he could tear a lion apart with his bare hands. There was no fear. There was no danger. He could run 25 miles to Ashkelon, take down whatever was before him. It was likely in that same power that he could lift up those gates and run out of the town. It was in that power that those bonds were burst because they became like flags. And the Lord sustained him as well. After that episode of killing a thousand with a jawbone, the scripture says, as he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand and the place was called Ramath Lehi, that's the jawbone hill we could call it. And he was very thirsty and he called upon the Lord and said, you have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant. And shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi and water came out of it. And when he drank, his spirit returned and he revived. Yes, the Lord was upon him. He was a chosen instrument for the Lord, even before he was born. He was an instrument of extraordinary power. The Spirit would rush upon him, though strong in his own might, extraordinarily so in the strength of the Lord. When he prays, the Lord sustains him. He provides for him. And it reminds us that God's It reminds me, at least, of God's provision for the Israelites in the wilderness. He actually cracked the stone so that water came out. Go back to Exodus 17 or to Numbers 20, how God provided for his people. He provides for Samson in the same way. It should grab our attention. But it should also help us understand that when Samson falls into the hands of the Philistines, and he will, for we know the story. It will not be because of the Lord's failure for him or his lack of provision. It will be the result of his own sin and failing. And neither, brothers and sisters, neither can we blame God for not rescuing us from the consequences of our foolish, risky, disobedient acts. The word tells us no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. And God who is faithful will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also that you may endure it. Did Samson have opportunities to escape his quote unquote fate? Oh, yes, he did. Yes, he did. As do we. Now there are such things as accidents and tragedies and illnesses where the suffering that we endure is not related to our personal actions or our choices. But even in those trials we will see in these passages that God will use and does use those for his purposes and for his ends. Before we move into that topic, we have to see, and I don't want us to miss, God's patience with Samson. When I read his prayer, I don't really sense a humble plea there. You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant. And shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? Wait a minute, buddy. You're the one who said, that's the one that's right in my eyes. You get her for me. The uncircumcised? Yeah, that's the one I want. And yet, God does answer. God preserves. God protects him. He is patient with him. because God is going to work out his purposes there. We'll see his power, we'll see his provision, we'll see his patience for and with Samson because, as I say, God is working out his purposes. Key verse, chapter 14, verse 4. His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. He was judging the nations. Israel was brought into that land as an instrument of judgment. Remember, they were to clean the land out. Samson is raised up now as an instrument of judgment. He's using Samson to that end and he provides those provides through him numerous opportunities against the Philistines. Yes, he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. But if we understand God's purpose here, it's not just against the Philistines. It is for his people. I think what we're reading in Judges And at this point, particularly, and forward, we're looking at a people who are losing their identity. They are on the verge of becoming extinct. Gone. The Philistines are everywhere. He sees a woman in Timna. Do you know where Timna is? It's in the center of Judah. And it's all Philistines. We saw it last week. Twenty years they have been under oppression, but nobody's crying out. Nobody's saying, oh, get me out of here, save us, Lord, deliver us, raise us. No, no. They've become very accustomed to the situation. So accustomed to it, we can read in chapter 15, beginning at verse 9. Now, this is after Samson has struck them hip and thigh. He's crippled them, these folks who have burned his wife and family. The Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. And the men of Judah said, why have you come against us? You know, we're doing everything you want. We're living in your midst. We're not causing you any trouble. We're just going along with everything you want. What's the problem here? We've come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us. Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Edom and said to Samson, do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? I think he knew that. What then is this that you have done to us? And he said to them as they did to me, so I have done to them. And they said to him, we have come down to bind you that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines. And he said to them, swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves. No, we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you. So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. And we know what happened from there when the spirit rushed upon him. They were seeking peace with their rulers rather than have their rulers, rather than Let me say that again. They were seeking peace with their quote-unquote rulers. They would rather that than take their place as God's people, God's called ones, chosen ones. No, they wanted peace, peace with their captives. because they'd ceased to be held captive by the power and the glory of the only true God, the God of Israel, the Lord God. They were being assimilated. They were being absorbed by the culture. They were not being sanctified anymore. They were not seeking to be set apart. They were willing to submit to the Borg. By the way, I think that's another element of a key to a successful marriage is understanding Star Trek. Our first dates involved watching episodes of Star Trek some 50 years ago. So, you know, you can see the fruit right there. But the word is right. They were being assimilated. They were just becoming absorbed by the culture around them. They didn't even want to be distinct anymore. They didn't want to be set apart. They didn't want to be recognized. They didn't want the Philistines coming down and saying, you're not obeying. You're not submitting. Oh, OK, we'll hand him over to you. You just take him. And God was using Samson to create a stench in their nostrils, if you will. The church today must never become comfortable with, can never become acceptable to the culture around us. We cannot allow ourselves simply to mimic the culture. We can't let ourselves become so acclimated to the world around us that it looks normal to us, that we can easily and comfortably acquiesce to it. When it is, when we reach that point, we cannot, we do not preach the gospel. We cease to be or bring good news. Here's the problem, the biggest problem with the prosperity gospel, is that it's simply taking a very comfortable culture that we like and baptizing it. Oh, this is exactly what God wants. No suffering, wealth, happiness, peace. We don't need to talk about sin, we don't need to talk about struggle, we don't need to talk about anything other than how good God can make me feel. What gospel are we preaching to a world that is dying? To a world that is finding itself more and more experiencing the condemnation of God? If we just try and get along with the culture, we can't call them out. We can't talk about sin because, hey, it isn't sin. It's what we do. The world doesn't call sin, sin, because the world likes its sin and it doesn't want it labeled. If we are apart, coming apart, being sanctified, we are going to be at enmity with the world. Because Jesus said, they persecuted me, they will persecute you, John 15, 20. They hated me, it says, without cause. Israel was on the verge of extinction, of totally losing its identity, of being absorbed by the Philistines. I am concerned, brothers and sisters, that the American church may be in the same danger. God, give us the grace to be a church that will not surrender the gospel to the culture around it, even if it means they come against us. What are you doing? What are you saying? We thought you were really comfortable here. Aren't you like us? Don't you want to be like us? No, I want to be sanctified. I want to be made holy. because this is not my home. I don't end up here. I belong to another kingdom, glorious and holy, wondrous and beautiful, where there is only rest and peace and life and hope. That's my home, and I want you to have it too. And I can't live like you, I can't act like you, I can't think like you if I'm going to tell you the truth. God raised up a champion for Israel who would stir up the enmity with the Philistines so that they could see there must be, there needed to be a distinction. He judged the Philistines. But it was also a judgment of Israel. There God used a broken vessel. In Christ, he uses a holy vessel. One who has all power and all authority. One who will set us apart like we read in 1 Peter. set apart, holy, called by him, separated, separated from the ways of the world around us. Now we're citizens here and we have to live here, but we dare not become the culture around us. We need to be sanctified, changed through the one who has the power to make that change. to break those bonds of sin, to break whatever would bind us from the knowledge of God and walking and living with our God and King. Yes, Samson points us to the need for a righteous judge who can strengthen us and empower us to be his people. No, he will never leave us. He will not leave us alone. God guard us as his people to know that we are set apart so that we might be, as 1 Corinthians 2 talks about, that aroma of Christ. When we are those people, then that passage makes sense because to those who are being saved, we are the aroma of Christ, of life, of beauty and glory and hope and grace. But to those who are not called, we will be, what does it say? The aroma of death. We'll be that dead lion carcass rotting as far as the world is concerned. Brothers and sisters, if you're not facing any enmity, If you're not having opportunity, if you're not taking opportunity to preach the good news and finding those who hear and want it and those who want nothing to do with you or it, then we may be coming too much of the culture. When we are those people separate, we are going to experience that tension. God, give us the grace and the strength to live there. Father, hear us. Let us be the church. your people set apart wholly. Make us, Lord, blameless and innocent, so that even those who speak against our good behavior in Christ might be ashamed of their slander when they stand before you. But Father, protect your church, that we do not, Lord, become a light buried, captured under a a bushel of the culture above us. Let us stand fast by your grace and power and so experience it in our lives and in the world. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.