Well, this morning, one of the things that I tried to emphasize to you is that I believe it would be so helpful to us. And I believe the Bible calls us to spend more and more time and effort getting to know Jesus. And one of the ways we can do that is see how truth about Jesus is revealed in all of the Bible. I grew up in church from the time I was little. I was in church every Sunday. But I think for a lot of those years growing up, I tended to think that the Old Testament was mostly just stories about God and about God's people. And those stories could give us lessons on how we should live. It was later on in my studying and growing, and especially going to seminary, when I began to understand that all of the Bible is about Jesus. And in the Old Testament, a lot of what we find is that God teaches how insufficient anything and anyone other than Jesus is. And so even now for us, for you all, for me, there's a lot that we can learn about Jesus from the Old Testament. And I think we have a biblical principle to follow for that. You remember after Jesus died and rose from the grave and how he began appearing to the disciples, Remember how they had a hard time believing that he really had risen? At the end of the Gospel of Luke, one of the stories that is given there is that there were some disciples who were walking to Emmaus, and while they were traveling to Emmaus, Jesus came and started walking with them. And you may remember that when Jesus came to them, they didn't recognize him. They didn't know who he was. And Jesus said to them, why are you so sad? What's wrong? And they basically said, are you the only one around here who hasn't heard? Jesus of Nazareth, who we thought was the Messiah, died on the cross. We saw it. And now it's been three days and we don't know what we're going to do. So the Bible says that Jesus told them, well, haven't the scriptures taught that the Messiah had to suffer and die? And then he began with the Old Testament, the Law and the Prophets, explaining to them everything about himself. And he did that on the whole walk to Emmaus. And again, you may remember from the story, they still didn't know who he was, but when they sat down to eat and he asked the blessing over the food, he opened up their eyes and they realized it was him. And then he was gone and they went back so that they could tell the others, Jesus is alive. Well, that principle right there that Jesus himself used is that all the Old Testament points to him. So I thought that tonight what we could do is take a look at an Old Testament story you're probably very familiar with, and let's see what this story teaches us about Jesus. So if you would turn to Judges chapter 16. Book of Judges chapter 16. We're going to talk tonight about a man with long hair and strong arms. So you know who it is, don't you? We're going to talk about the Samson's. The Book of Judges has a common theme all the way through. And I wanted to take a minute. I mean, I know I'm mostly doing the teaching, but especially on or in settings like this, I like to ask questions and have you give some responses, too. So I want to ask you this question. As you think about the Book of Judges, can you think of any phrase or sentence that seems to be repeated over and over again in the book of Judges. Yes, over and over again, the children of Israel did evil on the side of the Lord. And the author gets even a little bit more specific, and he says, every man did what was right in his own eyes. You remember that phrase, don't you? It kind of stands out. And over and over again in the book of Judges, in the history of God's people, you see where they get in trouble, They're being oppressed, and they cry out to God for a deliverer, and God provides them with a deliverer, and for a little while they're faithful, and then the deliverer dies, and then they start wandering again, spiritually. And every man does what's right in his own eyes, and once again they suffer, and once again they cry out to God, and once again God gives them a deliverer. Well, one of those deliverers was Samson. And again, if I go back to growing up, I think probably I heard a lot of Sunday school lessons on ways that we should be like Samson or not be like Samson, to be a good man or a good woman. But there's a lot more to the story than that. So I want us to look at that story tonight and see what we can learn, not only about Samson, but what we can learn about Jesus. Because again, all of the Old Testament points to Jesus. So let's see what kind of a deliverer that Samson is. We'll begin with chapter 13, verses 1-5. Here's the phrase that Greg mentioned just a moment ago. Again, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. I want to pause there just a moment. and encourage you, when you read the Bible, take time to think about what you're reading. Sometimes we get so accustomed to the Bible, we read through verses and we don't stop and think. How many years were the Israelites in captivity to the Philistines? Forty years. Everybody, well, almost everybody here has lived at least 40 years. Maybe there's a few exceptions, but that's a long time, isn't it? In captivity for 40 years. Oppressed by the Philistines for 40 years. That's a pretty hard thing to go through. There was a certain man from Zorah of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Indeed, now you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now, therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head. For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." Imagine if you were a woman who was married, but you were barren, had no children. Your people had been under oppression from a neighboring country for 40 years. One day, an angel of the Lord comes to you and says, you're going to have a child. That would be pretty shocking all by itself, wouldn't it? But on top of that, your child is going to be a very special child. He is going to begin to deliver your whole nation from the oppression of your enemy. That'd be pretty good news, wouldn't it? I promise from God, you're going to have a child. Samson was special from before his birth, wasn't he? Not every child gets that kind of an announcement. Not every child has that kind of calling, do they? This woman is going to have a very special boy. God's put a very unique call on his life, and because of that call, not only is he going to have to live a certain way, but even his mother is going to have to live a certain way. God says that she is going to be under the Nazarite vow as well, and that Nazarite vow is a total commitment to God's service, and one of the consequences of that was that there were certain things you couldn't do. You shouldn't touch anything unclean, no wine or similar drink, and for this child, Samson, who would be born, he was not to ever have his hair cut. Just let his hair grow long. As far as we know, Samson's parents honored that command. We're not told anything different in Scripture, and best we can understand from what the Bible tells us, They wanted to honor God in this. In fact, if we went on and read the rest of chapter 13, we find out that when the woman goes to her husband and says, an angel came to me and here's what he told me, her husband apparently wasn't real sure about it. And in a short time, he got to hear the same thing. He prayed and asked God, would you let me see and hear from your messenger too? And God honored that prayer. And the angel of God came to his wife again. And this time when the angel of God came, she said, wait a minute, let me go get my husband. She got him. He heard the message as well. He heard the prophecy about this son. And then he said, I really want this prophecy to come true. Will you wait here so that we can offer up a sacrifice? And he goes and gets a young goat and prepares it. And the angel of the Lord says, I won't eat it, but if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord. And so Manoah asked, well, what's your name? Because we want to honor you when we have this son and when what you promised comes to pass. And the angel of the Lord says, why do you ask my name? Seeing it is wonderful. Noah doesn't exactly know what to do, but he goes ahead and offers up the sacrifice, and then the angel of the Lord ascends in the plane of the altar, and when Noah sees this, he falls to the ground. He later tells his wife, we've seen God, we're going to die. His wife says, no, he made a promise to us. He will not kill us. If He wanted to kill us, He would have accepted the offering. He wouldn't have told us these things. We just need to believe. And so Manoah and his wife do believe. And the woman bears a son. She gives him the name Samson. The child grew, and the Lord blessed him. We're told at the end of chapter 13, the Spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahanadam, between Zorah and Ishtael. So far so good, right? Prophecy has been given. The promise has been given. The parents believe and they receive the promise that God has made to them. They have a son. God is blessing him. But things don't continue very well. Samson begins to experience a number of failures in his life. This one who was promised to be the deliverer can't really deliver. He can't even control himself, let alone deliver his people. First failure is found in chapter 14. Let's read the first two verses. Now Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now, who were the enemies of the Israelites? Philistines. And who had been oppressing the Israelites for 40 years? The Philistines. And where does Samson find a woman he wants to marry? The Philistines. Doesn't sound like a good thing, does it? And it's not. So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, I've seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of Philistines. Now, therefore, get her for me as a wife. She looks good to me, is what he is saying. And I want to have her as a wife. So mom and dad, get her for me. His father and mother said to him, is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren or among all my people that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? Samson said to his father, get her for me, for she pleases me well. Mom and dad are saying, get a woman who fears the Lord. Don't take a wife from our enemy, from the ones who are oppressing us. But Samson kind of sounds like a spoiled brat, doesn't he? I like her. Get her for me. Some of us have seen things like that, haven't we? Maybe sometimes we've even been like that, haven't we? God says, here is what you should do, here is what you should desire, and we say, no, but I want this. Really, we can identify with Samson pretty well. We're told in verse 4, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord. See, even Samson's disobedience and his failure did not cause a problem with God's plan. Now, I cannot explain fully the relationship between God's sovereignty and our responsibility. The Bible teaches both things, doesn't it? God is absolutely sovereign. Not a hair falls from our head that he doesn't know. Not a sparrow falls to the ground, Jesus said, and are you not worth more than many sparrows? But at the same time, we bear responsibility for our sin. And God somehow uses all of that to accomplish His purpose. We find out with Samson, he shouldn't have done this. And yet God is using this to accomplish His purpose. In fact, it tells us here, He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel. So, mom and dad are not very pleased with this, but they did agree with his demands. So now, the next verse describes how they traveled to Timna to make arrangements for this marriage. Let's continue reading. So Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timna. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. But let's just pause there for a moment. What was the conditions of the Nazirite vow that God had given to Samson's mother and also to Samson before he was ever born? What was she to stay away from? So why is Samson in a vineyard? Just kind of put that in the back of your mind, alright? And apparently he's not with his mom and dad. Yeah, that's where the line was. He knew that mom and dad wouldn't want him to have that, right? But you see, a young lion comes against him, the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. This is a strong man. A lion attacks him with his bare hands. He kills him and tears him apart. This is great, great strength and courage too. But he didn't tell his father or his mother what he had done. Why didn't he tell his father or mother what he had done? Yeah. Oh, you fought a lion, didn't you? Well, where were you? Well, that's not important, Mom and Dad. He's just like us, isn't he? Or we're just like him. So, he went down, talked to the woman. She pleased Samson well. Apparently they finalized their arrangements for the marriage. After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. Okay, let's just stop there again. He not only was supposed to stay away from wine and strong drink, what else was he supposed to avoid? Anything unclean. What's a dead body? That's unclean. Why was he even going back? Maybe he wanted more wine. We're not told exactly, but he's back where he shouldn't be. And now he sees a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass. Verse 9, he took some of it in his hands and went along eating. He should have been doing that, right? And, when he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. His mother didn't know where it came from, did she? He did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. Remember, his mom was under that vow too. She wasn't supposed to touch anything unclean. And now he's given her honey that came from the carcass of the lion. Boy, we can learn some things about sin here, can't we? Sin is never satisfied. It always wants more. And when we do sin, it not only affects us, it affects other people, doesn't it? Sometimes without them even knowing. His father went down to the woman. Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so. In Old Testament times and New Testament times too, weddings were a huge celebration. It went on for days. There was feasting, dancing, all kinds of celebration at a wedding ceremony. So they begin the feast. Verse 11, it happened when they saw him that they brought 30 companions to be with him. That's a lot of people, isn't it? To be responsible for all of this, that's a huge undertaking of his parents. Samson says to the 30, let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing. It's a pretty big promise, isn't it? It would not be cheap to clothe 30 men. That's what he's promising. I'm going to give a riddle, and if you can solve it, then I'll get each of you a new set of clothes. That's a lot of expense there. If you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me 30 thin garments. Pretty good deal for those guys, right? Even if they lose, it's just going to cost them one set of clothes. If he loses, it's going to cost him 30 sets of clothes. If you cannot explain it to me, you shall give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing. And they said to him, pose your riddle that we may hear it. So he said to them, out of the eater came something to eat and out of the strong came something sweet. For three days, they could not explain the riddle. They just couldn't figure it out. It came to pass on the seventh day. Now, that's the last day of the feast. So the deadline is here. Now, they don't have any more time to try and figure out this riddle. And so they go to Samson's wife and they say, Entice your husband that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Again, don't just read over that. Think about what this woman is faced with. If you don't find out the answer, we're going to burn down your house. We're going to take the lives of your family. These are 30 men, so they probably have the wherewithal to do it. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so? So Samson's wife comes to him. She wept on him and said, You only hate me. You don't love me. You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me. And he said to her, Look, I have not explained it to my father and my mother. Should I explain it to you? Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people. So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before the sun went down, what is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, if you had not vowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle. He knew where they got the answer, didn't he? And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily. Okay, how's he going to get these 30 changes of clothing? There's not a Walmart down the street. What's he going to do? He goes to a neighboring town, to Ashclon, and kills 30 of their men and takes their apparel. And he gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. I didn't tell you it was going to be brand new. I said it would be new to you. He goes and kills 30 men. Again, the strength and skill of Samson is astounding. He was angry. He went back to his father's house and Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man. Not real smart to cross Samson, is it? But think about what has happened here. His wife has betrayed him. He's murdered 30 men in order to keep his end of the bargain. He's left his wife, and now she's been given to the best man for his wedding. I think Samson might have a little bit of an anger issue now. Failure again and again in Samson's life. Did he suffer? Yes. Was he provoked? Yes. But all those things came about because he went where he shouldn't go. He did what he shouldn't do. He was reaping what he had sown, wasn't he? After a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife with a young goat. He's been missing her. So he comes and he says, let me go into my wife, into her room. But her father would not permit him to go in. Her father said, I really thought that you thoroughly hated her. Therefore, I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead. Pretty wicked man. I don't have any way to justify how her father acted. That's just wrong. It's wrong. He's a Philistine, right? A Philistine is going to act like a Philistine, right? They don't know God, they don't love God, they don't have any care for what is important and true and right before God. Of course, Samson lived that way sometimes too, didn't he? So, when Samson hears this, he says, this time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them. And Samson went and caught 300 foxes. Again, don't just read over it. How many? 300 foxes. He tied them, tail to tail, put a torch, to those tales, and then he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves." This was a big fire, wasn't it? A lot of destruction that Samson carried out on the Philistines. So, verse 6, the Philistines said, who did it? Who has done this? They answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion. So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire." Again, the Philistines are acting like Philistines, right? Vengeance? That's all they know. There's not really any sense of right and wrong, is there? It's just revenge. You cross me and I'll get you. That's how they live. But again, that's kind of how Samson's living, isn't it? That's what sin does. So when Samson learns of this, he says, since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you. And after that, I will cease. So he attacked them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. Then he went down and dwelled in the clefts of the Rock of Edom." Now we don't know how many men he killed, but I think it would be safe to say a lot. A lot. Now the Philistines went up and camped in Judah and deployed themselves against Lehi. And the men of Judah said, Why have you come up against us? So they answered, We have come up to arrest Samson, to do to him as he has done to us. Revenge again, right? Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the Rock of Edom and said to Samson, Now again, how many men? 3,000. Do you think maybe they understood how strong Samson was? I'd say they did. I can't imagine a group of 3,000 coming to one man to confront him. But that was the scene that day. 3,000 men come to Samson and they say, do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? In modern day speech we would say, are you an idiot? Why are you doing that to the people who rule over us? What have you done to us? Samson said, as they did to me, so I have done to them. Well, not exactly, right? He's done worse to them than they've done to him. But that's kind of how revenge works too, isn't it? Never satisfied. Just keeps taking more and more. They said to him, we have come down to arrest you that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves. So they spoke to him saying, no, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand, but we will surely not kill you. So Samson says, okay. As long as you don't kill me, you can turn me over to them." So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Phoistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, and took it, and killed a thousand men with it." All he had was the jawbone of a donkey, and he killed a thousand men. And I just don't picture that these guys were standing around just waiting for him to attack them. Do you? Again, incredible strength, incredible skills as a warrior. Somebody you wouldn't want to face at all. Then Samson said, with the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey, I have slain a thousand men. In the Hebrew, the word for heap sounds very much like the word for jawbone. So it's almost as if Samson is a guy who enjoyed riddles, apparently. You see that kind of over and over again. So pretty much what he was saying was, with the jawbone of a donkey, donkeys upon donkeys. With the jawbone of a donkey, I've killed a thousand men. He's saying they're just like a bunch of donkeys to me. That's all they are. So it was when he had finished speaking that he threw the jawbone from his hand and called that place Ramoth, Lehi. And he became very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? Boy, he sounds like a spoiled brat, doesn't he? Look at all that I've done, and now you're going to make me die of thirst? It's pretty unreasonable. But God heard his prayer, God gave him water. Then in verse 20 we're told, he judged Israel 20 years in the days of the Philistines. It's kind of like 20 years of silence, because we're not told if he did good things or bad things. We're not told if he turned to the Lord or didn't turn to the Lord. We're not told if he continues to be rebellious and wicked and independent. It's just he ruled for 20 years. That's all we're told. Apparently, nothing real significant happened in that time. Maybe everybody had gotten the message, you don't want to mess with him. So things were quiet. But things didn't stay quiet. And so in chapter 16, we come to probably the part of Samson's life that is even more familiar to all of us. And that's when Samson met up with Delilah. But first, we're told, he went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into her. When the Gazites were told Samson has come here, they surrounded the place and laid wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, in the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him. Here's our chance. This guy has been causing us trouble for a long time. Samson lay low till midnight. Then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. He goes to the gates of this walled city and he picks up the gates, posts and all, and takes them out on the hillside and puts them down. There's a lot of symbolism there, isn't there? You can't tie me up with ropes and you can't lock me in a city, can you? And you can't bring enough men against me. Samson is a strong, a mighty man. He's not a good man, but he's a strong man. Afterward, it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorak, whose name was Delilah. Apparently, Samson had trouble with women. That's just what it looks like, doesn't it? This Delilah is the one, again, that's more famous. The lords of the place came up to her and said, they're enticing. Find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver." Okay, again, stop and think. This is a huge amount of money, isn't it? Delilah, all you have to do is to trick Samson into telling you where his strength comes from, and we will pay you all this money. We've tried fighting him, we've tried everything we could. We're going to use a woman now. See if we can find out how to defeat Samson. So, Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you. And Samson said to her, if they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. So the Lord's Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she found him with them. Now, men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room, and she said to them, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. But he broke the bowstrings, and a strand of yarn breaks, and it touches fire." What a picture. Those bowstrings weren't anything. It was like a thread to him. The secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now please tell me what you may be bound with. So he said to her, if they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man. Therefore Delilah took Nero's and bound him with them and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. Delilah said to Samson, until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with. And he said to her, if you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom, So she wove it tightly with the baton of the loom and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the baton and the web from the loom. And she said to him, How can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies. And it came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all of his heart." He didn't learn last time, did he? So he told her, No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarene to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man. When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistine, saying, Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart. So the Lords of the Twistings came up to her and brought the money in their hand. She lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him." Quite a picture there, isn't it? This man who had killed so many, who had such great strength, he could tear apart a lion with his bare hands, he could pick up city gates, posts, and all. Now a woman is tormenting him. His strength lets him. Then she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. So he woke from his sleep and said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. This is sad, isn't it? Even though Samson was not a good man, Even though he did so many wicked things, doesn't it just hurt your heart to read those words? Because this was a man who was supposed to deliver God's people. This was a man that they were putting their hope in. This was a man who was supposed to spare them from people who were abusing them and oppressing them. God has left him. It's sad. The Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters and he became a grinder in the prison. He was, you know, the grinding wheels where they would hook up an animal and as the animal goes around it would grind the grain. Now that's what Samson is doing. He's doing the work of a donkey now, right? A lot of ironies in this story aren't there. However, verse 22, this is very interesting. We're given this detail. And any time the Bible gives you a detail that you could read the story and the story would still make sense if that detail wasn't there, that detail must be important. God put it there for a reason. The hair of his head began to grow again. There's a little glimmer of hope in all this bad news, sad news. Now, the lords of the Thwisting gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, and to rejoice. And they said, Our god has delivered him to our hands, sanctioned our enemy. And the people saw him. They praised their God, for they said, Our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead. So it happened, when their hearts were married, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may perform for us. So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. So picture, this is a large building, we'll read later, there's 3,000 lords of the Philistines there in that building. They're all gathered around watching him. So you can kind of picture something that would look like a palace or a temple. There's columns holding up the second floor and they're all gathered around. Again, a huge place. And they've been mocking Samson and praising their God. And now he's standing between two pillars. And the young man who led him out, Samson says to him, let me feel the pillars which support the temple so that I can lean on them. Again, picture it, there's two columns there, and Samson is standing with a hand on each pillar, a hand on each column. Now the temple was full of men and women, all the lords of the placings were there, about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, O Lord God, remember me, I pray. Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines from my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Then Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed in his death were more than he had killed in his life. And his brothers and all his father's household came down and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zor and Eshtel, in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years." Quite a scene, isn't it? You can just picture it. I think at various times through the years they've made movies about Samson and Delilah. I've never seen any of them, so I can't comment on whether they're good or not or accurate or not, but you can picture it in your mind, can't you? A temple, a big palace-type building with pillars that support an upper floor, and Samson standing there, his eyes gouged out, hair starting to grow back, and pushing out those two columns and the whole thing come crashing down. A sad story, isn't it? It started with a lot of promise, a lot of hope, but it ends so sad. What does all that have to do with us? Again, I think we limit this story when we try to find moral lessons about do this or don't do this. That's not what this story is about. This story is about showing that there never was a man who really could deliver God's people. All of those deliverers in the Old Testament, as well as all the sacrifices, they pointed to something greater. Samson pointed to Jesus. You may wonder, well, how do you come up with that? I didn't see anything about Jesus here. Well, let me remind you of some of the similarities. An angel of the Lord came to Samson's mother before he was even conceived and gave her a promise. You're going to have a child. He's going to begin to deliver his people to Israel. What about Mary? The angel of the Lord came to her before she conceived and said, you're going to have a child, and his name will be Jesus. And what else did the angel tell her? He will save his people from their sin. There's some similarities there, isn't there? Called to a very special role before birth, a role of deliverance. What about Jesus' life? Not only did he have this promise, Jesus faced temptation, didn't he? Just like Samson did. Samson faced temptation, and what happened when Samson faced temptation? Down he went, right? Every time. What happened when Jesus faced temptation? Never failed, did he? Someone who could truly deliver God's people from their sin had to be able to face temptation and never give in. Samson couldn't do it. Even on a physical level, he couldn't do it. Jesus did it on far more than a physical level. Remember, after he was baptized and the Spirit compelled him to go into the wilderness, what happened there in the wilderness? Forty days and nights. Again, it kind of sounds like a parallel, right? When Samson arrived on the scene, the Israelites had been under oppression from the Philistines for forty years. Forty is one of those pretty important numbers in the Bible, isn't it? Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness. Nothing to eat. What happened? Satan comes. He says, here, if you'll just do these things, and by the way, I've got some scripture for you. If you'll just do these things, you can accomplish what God has sent you for. You'll be recognized as the Son of God. Jesus said, no, here's what the Bible really says. Jesus wouldn't compromise on the mission that his father had given him. Samson compromised all the way through, didn't he? It was human ways of trying to get back at the Philistines. It was based on revenge. Jesus, again, tempted, but he was never sinned. Jesus was betrayed over and over again, wasn't he? Did he ever take vengeance? Never. That's all that Samson was about. You do me wrong, I'll get you. If I don't get what I want, I'll get you. If my mom and dad won't give me what I want, I'll still find a way to work around it. He was all about his own plan and purpose. Jesus was all about his Father's plan and purpose. Samson used his strength to get revenge, didn't he? Jesus has way more strength than Samson. And he restrained it in order to suffer, rather than use it in order to make others suffer. What a contrast! A huge contrast. Jesus was captured by his enemies too, wasn't he? But like a lamb led to the slaughter, he never opened his mouth, did he? He suffered all of that willingly. for us. Especially when we come to the end of his life. What a difference. Samson cries out and his arms are up. You can't help but see the symbolism, can you? Samson's arms are up and he says, God, just give me strength so that I can kill them as I die. Let me die with my enemies. What did Jesus say when His arms were raised? Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. What a difference! Samson exerted all of his strength to kill, and Jesus exerted all of His strength to save. You couldn't ask for more of a difference than that, could you? You see, Samson really does point to Jesus. Because what Israel needed back in Samson's day is the same thing they needed in Jesus' day. It's the same thing that we need now. We need deliverance, but not just from a physical enemy. We need deliverance from a far worse enemy. Sin and Satan and death. And Jesus came and He suffered in our place so that we could have that. And He really does deliver us, doesn't He? He really has succeeded at the task that God the Father gave to him. Jesus said over and over again, I've come not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. And he struggled with it. That's something that's become increasingly powerful in my own heart over the last probably 10 or 15 years, just to think about what Jesus experienced as He went to the cross. It wasn't just an easy, hasty decision, was it? In the Gospel of John, from about chapter 13 to the end of the Gospel, we get a very personal glimpse into Jesus' life. The last week of His life. And one of the things that John records for us is that on that night when he was betrayed, after he had washed the disciples' feet, after he gave them the Lord's Supper, what we call the Lord's Supper, after he celebrated Passover with them and said, what we're doing now is pointing to something far, far better. We're not just remembering how God delivered his people from the Egyptians. This cup is the new covenant in my mind. And this bread is my body, which will be broken. After that, Jesus went to the garden. And the Bible says he was so overcome with the struggle of what he was about to face that he fell to the ground and cried out, Father, If there is any way for this cup to be removed from me, please remove it. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. You see, Jesus remaining faithful and Jesus delivering us from our sin was not an easy thing for Him. And sometimes we have such an exalted view of Jesus Godness, that we can forget He was fully God and fully man. And as fully God and fully man, He faced that temptation. He faced the struggle. And He submitted to His Father's will. And He did deliver us. He didn't fail. Even though it was a great, great cost to Him. So I just want to encourage you tonight. As you read the Old Testament, as you see broken men and women sinning and doing stupid things, remember that the whole purpose is to point to Jesus. And that He did fully complete everything that was necessary. And because of His death, we have life. Eternal life. God acknowledged and exalted His Son's service by not leaving Him in the grave, didn't He? Samson was buried, and however much his bones have decomposed and rotted since then, whatever remains is still there. Not so with Jesus. There's no body in the tomb. He was raised and seated at the right hand of the Father. He's our great warrior, our great deliverer, our great king who loved us and gave himself for us. So Stephen Sampson can point us to Jesus. And that's what I want to do for goodnight. So let's pray. Father, we bow before you and we thank you for all that your word teaches about Jesus. Not only what he actually did, but also how insufficient and broken any attempts that man makes to serve you, to make a way to be reconciled with you. We see, Father, how all of those things, they just never work out. There's only one who could reconcile us with you, and that's Jesus. So help us, Father, not just to read the stories in the Old Testament and pass on by without thinking about them. I pray that as we read Your Word, all the way through every page, we would be pointed to the perfections of Jesus in some way or another, so that our view of Jesus would be getting bigger and bigger and bigger, that we would be more and more in awe of what He has done, that our hearts would be humbled before Him, but also full of joy and gratitude and devotion as we think about all that You have done for us in Him. We praise You and thank You for our faithful Savior. Father, we confess we belong to You. We belong to Jesus and we are willing to do whatever you want us to do so that Jesus would be glorified. We ask for your help in this. We pray in Jesus' name. God's people say, Amen.