And they were a blessing to us. This evening we're going to speak about the Jolly Green Giant. And if you turn to Hebrews chapter 11, you'll find out who he is. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 32. What shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, and of David also, and of Samuel, and of the prophets." Here's some homework for you. When I come back this way next time, you can tell me the answer to this question. It says, Gideon and Barak, Samson and Jephthah, David also and Samuel. If you go back to the historical record in the book of Judges, you'll discover that Barak comes before Gideon, you'll discover that Jephthah comes before Samson, and you'll discover that Samuel comes before David. Why does the Holy Spirit reverse the order? Why does he say Gideon and Barak instead of Barak and Gideon? And why does he say Samson and Jephthah instead of Jephthah and Samson? And why does he say David also and Samuel instead of Samuel also and David? As I say, that's a little bit of homework for us, shall we pray. Now Lord, we do pray as we conclude this series of meetings this evening that Thy Holy Spirit will be pleased to speak to our hearts afresh. And grant, Lord, we pray that we may leave this place this evening knowing that we have been brought into thy presence. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. I don't suppose the Hebrew settlers of Palestine during Israel's Iron Age do anything at all about Greek mythology, but if they did, I suppose they would have been unanimous in calling Samson Mr. Hercules, because he was big and tough and strong. The glory of a young man is his strength," said Solomon. And perhaps Israel's wisest man was thinking of Israel's strongest man. The glory that rested upon Samson was full-orbed and splendid and undimmed. And when the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, came upon that mighty young man. Samson could rend a lion, he could uproot pillar and post, gates made to withstand a siege, and he could pull down a temple's towering colonnades. It would seem that Samson was perhaps little more, if indeed wasn't actually a teenager at the time that the Spirit of God began to move him at times. He was 19 or 20 years of age. The expression that is used to describe the visitations of the Spirit of God in his life began to move him It's interesting because it really means that the Spirit of God began to stir him with trouble. The same expression is used in connection with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, after his two dreams in the morning, we are told, his spirit was troubled. The Spirit of God began to move and to stir young Samson with trouble. We know a lot today about young people in trouble, but here was a man who was in trouble of a different kind. Samson came under the Holy Spirit conviction that all was not right with the world, and particularly with the world of the people of God. With all his thoughts and failings, Samson is given a place of high honor in the New Testament. He's listed in the Westminster Abbey of the Christian faith. Amongst all these great, illustrious Hebrews, heroes, And I suppose it adds an additional interest and luster to his name when we remember that in this list we do not find the name of Isaiah, nor the name of Jeremiah, nor Job, nor Hezekiah, nor Daniel. But Samson is there. And the Holy Spirit tells us of Samson that time would fail to tell Samson. I suppose if Jopham had been alive in the days of Samson to take up his parable about this remarkable young man, as he had about Abimelech the Bramble, that he would have said The trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the mighty oak that grew in Dan between Zora and Eshtael, come thou and reign over us. But that mighty tree, for all its girth and height and arms outspread and seeming strength, was rotten at the core. Before I moved into the United States, I used to live way up in northern British Columbia, way up in the forest country of British Columbia. Worked as an accountant for a number of years for a lumber company. Two friends of mine were one day in the great forest of the British Columbia One of them was a missionary, the other was a woodsman, wise in the ways of trees. The day was still and calm, with hardly a breath of air to rustle even the leaves, when suddenly there was a tearing, crashing sound and a mighty thud. One of the great giants of the bush had fallen prostrate on the ground. They went over to look at the tree. No woodsman's axe had held it, no forest fire, no howling gale. It fell simply because disease from within had eaten out its heart. But it had all been eaten away inside, and there was nothing but rottenness and hollowness within. And on a perfectly still day, suddenly it collapsed and down it came. That tree reminds us of Samson. For Samson didn't fall in a day. Nobody falls in a day. For days and weeks and months and years in the life of Samson there had been neglect of God in the secret place, and there had been a deliberate toying and tampering and play with Sid, until suddenly a grieved and groaning spirit left that mighty man to the bitter harvest of his folly and his pride. The clue to understanding Samson's life is in his name. Samson. It means shining like the sun. And Samson's life may be divided into four distinct divisions. There was the morning sunrise of his life so full of there was the meridian splendor, when in all his strength and power he stood head and shoulders above all the people, with the Spirit of God resting upon him. And then we have the evening shadows, as there began to creep into his life those things that led to his downfall when he was still a young man. And at last we have the gory sunset. The first thing that we notice about the morning sunrise of Samson's remarkable life is his He had that greatest of all early blessings. He had godly parents. His father and his mother were folk who had experienced definite, personal, individual dealings with God. "'Beware, I pray thee,' said the angel to Samson's mother. "'Beware and drink, no wine and touch, no unclean things.' Samson was born into a home that it wasn't merely that his parents were true Israelites, it wasn't simply that his mother and his father were true believers in the living God. His parents were a man and a woman who had had definite dealings with God, and God had Blessed them, they had an encounter with God, and God had so spoken in their lives that they determined that their whole life was going to be lived for God, and to bringing up this child for God. And they had committed themselves unreservedly and sacrificially to the claim and cause of God. And they did everything that parents could do. to see that this child of theirs was nurtured in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord. My young friend, if you have parents like that, you thank God for them. It's very easy to chase under their restraint Children born into a Christian home are born into a place of unique privilege. And, you know, your parents are not nearly so naive about the world and its wickedness and its ways as you may think they are. They have simply felt the tug and the pull of a higher and a holier world than this. and God will hold you personally responsible and accountable for any reaction that you may have against the standards of godliness proclaimed and practiced by your parents. The morning sunrise of Samson's life was marked, first of all, by his godly parents. A man, only a man of great stature and unusual reach of arm could do what Samson did. Who but a man of great girth and great natural physic could wrap his arms around the pillars of Dagon's temple as Samson did? He was a giant of a man. God always fits the man for the task, you see. just as he fitted Samson with great physical powers, so he fitted Saul Aparthas with great intellectual power. God never tries to make a Samuel out of a Samson, or a Samson out of a Samuel. He doesn't try to make a Peter out of a Paul, or a Paul out of a Peter. God knows what he's about. and he fitted Samson for the task that he wanted him to do, just as he has fitted you uniquely for the task that he's planned for you. And your great responsibility is, and mine, is to find out what unique gifts has God given to me, and how can I best use these gifts for his glory? And how can I take these native talents and abilities that God has entrusted to me and so develop them, so work on them, so study and develop these things so that I can lay them at the feet of the Lord Jesus and say, here they are Lord, use them. There's a work for Jesus ready at your hand to surpass the master just for you has planned. haste to do his bidding. Leave him service too. There's a work for Jesus, none that you can do. God has uniquely gifted you. He has created you. He has made you. He has poured you into a mold, and then He broke the mold, and you stand before Him as an absolutely unique individual. There's not another person like you in the entire universe. God has something specifically in mind for you to do. That's why he made you. And your job is to find out what that is, and do it. And as we look then at the morning sunrise of Samuel's life, we see first of all his godly parents, we see his great powers that God uniquely endowed him with, and we see his glowing personality. For Samson means sunny. That's why I called him the Jolly Giant. He was radiant, sunny, warm and glowing. He shed laughter and good fellowship and joviality everywhere he went. He loved nothing better than a practical joke. He delighted not only to defeat the enemies of God's people, he liked to deride them too. And victory for Samson was all the more savoury if he could get some pun out of it while he was at it. He liked to play with words and make puns and set riddles. It would be so much easier, wouldn't it, for Samson just to set fire to the fuel of the Philistines as he did. Now, it was a jolly sight more fun to catch some wild jackals and tie their tails together and put flaming firebrands between their tails and turn them loose in the standing court. He was a laughing, boisterous schoolboy of a man, was Samson. I suppose he overdid it at times. Practical jokers always do. If you give me a Christian who can throw back his head and laugh anytime over the fellow who looks like he's been baptized in lemon juice, you can keep that one. I don't want to have anything to do with it." So, we have his glowing personality. He began life in that early morning sunrise of his life, with everything going for him—godly parents, great powers. and a glowing personality. If ever a man was marked for success, if ever God created a man and placed him in a strategic position and said, Now man, you look to me, and I'll turn the world upside down with you. Samson was that man. And yet, you know, he accomplished practically nothing. Nothing worthwhile, and certainly nothing lasting. We think of the meridian splendor of Samson's life. Samson's victories were all sensational victories, such as they were. He was the kind of man who could not be denied nor ignored. He made front-page news in the enemies' camp from Dan to Beersheba. His name was a household's word. Tellers go into market in the morning, you see. You hear what Samson did this morning? But there were four things that stood out about Samson in the zenith of his day. There was his strict consecration. He was a Nazarite. His was to be a presented body. He had entered experientially into the truth of Romans 12 and 1, I beseech you, therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies therein living, sacrificed, holy, acceptable unto God. which is your reasonable service." He was a Nazirite. At least he was supposed to. There were three things that a Nazirite in the Old Testament was not allowed to do. He was not allowed to drink any wine, he was forbidden to touch any dead body, and he was to allow no razor to come upon his head. And, of course, these rather singular prohibitions of the Nazirite carry each one a spiritual lesson. He was to touch no wine. In other words, he was to place his appetites upon the altar. Now, certainly no illegitimate pleasures would be indulged, but even legitimate pleasures were placed upon the altar. The Nazarite refused all artificial stimuli. Any thirst he had was to be a thirst for God, and he placed his appetites upon the altar. Then, he was to touch no dead body, all his affections were to be on the altar. He was to have no contact with the dead world. He was to live a life that was completely emancipated from everything that savored of death. Not even for a near one or a dear one would he break this part of his vow of consecration. His wife might die, his child might die, his parents might die. He wouldn't touch their body. Even his affections were on the offer. In effect, the dearest idol I have known, whatever that idol be, help me to tear it from thy throne and worship only thee." Then he was not allowed to allow a razor to come upon his head, and I take it that means that not only his appetites and his affections, but his very appearance was on the altar. You didn't have to say to people, If Samson is a Nazarite, it was obvious that he was a Nazarite. You could see it in his appearance. And so, we observe the strict consecration that marked the meridian splendor of Samson's life. And it wasn't until he started tampering with that that he lost his power. And then there was his sterling courage. You might be able to accuse Samson of folly, but you could never accuse him of fear. It's courage, of course, that adds value to every other virtue. It's not much use a man having conviction, is it, if he doesn't have the courage of his conviction. Peter loved the Lord, no question about that, but he didn't have the courage to stand up for him, so he denied it. I remember old Banner Williams. When I was a boy, you know, we used to have a parade a couple of times a year in our hometown, and they'd bring out everything, the brass bands and the military contingents and all kinds of things, and a great big parade right down the center of the city. And we had an old brother in one of our meetings in our hometown. He was built like a bulldog. He was a tough old gruff saint. We used to call him Banner Williams He had one of these great big banners on a pole, and he strapped a great big belt around his middle, and he fitted that banner into a pocket on his belt, and exerting all his strong physique against the wind or whatever, he marched in front of the parade with that big banner that said, The witches shall be turned into hell, and all the nations to forget God. He took courage to do that. When I first came to North America, I was in Vancouver for a year with the Bank of Montreal, and there were two men that I heard about in Vancouver. They had a very strange way of witnessing for the Lord. I don't recommend it, but they'd get on a streetcar, one to get on the streetcar at this stop and sit in the back of the streetcar, and a block later another fellow would get on and sit in the front of the streetcar. Then when the streetcar pulled away again, the fellow in the back would jump up and he'd say, "'Anybody in this streetcar know the way to heaven?' The fellow down the front would jump up and say, "'Yes, I do. John 3, 16. For God told of the world, He gave His only begotten Son, for whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So rusheth to eternity. Now I want to tell all you people on this streetcar that you're on the way to a last eternity, and that you get saved.' And he'd go on like that till the next stop. Then he'd get chucked off. The other fellow would get off, too. They'd get on the next three cars. I don't think they had much sense, but I think they had a lot of courage. There was Samson's sterling courage. There was his striking cooperation, because God gifts, you know, to you and to me as members of the body of Christ. As born-again believers on our way to heaven, the gifts that God has entrusted to you and to me are not to be used in independence of God's people. They're to be used in cooperation with the people of God. They are to be used for the edifying of the body of Christ. They're to be used for the building up of the local assembly, the local church. And I can hear, perhaps, some young person saying, yes, but you don't know what the elders are like in our assembly. Well, God does, and he's placed a very high value on them, and he's said you're not to criticize them. And he says if they rule well, they're to be accounted worthy of double honor. and he says that no accusation is to be brought against them except before two witnesses. You couldn't have a worse set of elders than Samson had, the elders of Judah. Do you know what they wanted to do? They actually wanted to take this young man. They said, look Samson, you're disturbing the peacemakers. Look, we're really supposed to serve the Philistines, and you keep rocking the boat and you make it uncomfortable. Everything was all right until you come along and start waving your jawbone of an ass around. Now we should stop him, man. Be quiet. But they tried to bind him. What a miserable set of elders. Choosing a man uniquely anointed by the Spirit of God, given unique gifts for the people of God, and the elders wanted to shut him up. Samson said, okay, bind me. We'll see what the Spirit of God does about that. Would you buy me?" Striking cooperation. And then there was Samson's startling Christ-likeness. I can see all the old theologians in the meeting shaking their heads, saying, we've got it this time. We've been waiting all week to catch you. Now we've made a mistake. We're going to get him when he gets off that pulpit. What do you mean Samson's like Christ? How can you make a statement like that? Well, maybe you've heard about the fellow who met a friend he hadn't met for some years. And he said to him, how is your wife? And he said, oh, she's gone home to heaven. And the man said, oh, I'm sorry. Then he realized that wasn't the right thing to say. So he said, I'm glad. And then he realized that wasn't the right thing to say either, so he said, I'm surprised. Well, maybe you're surprised that Samson is a Christ-like man. I tell you, I'd be more surprised if he wasn't, when we think of the visitations of the Spirit of God in his life. There are more mentions of the Holy Spirit and connection with Samson than with any other hero in the book of Judges. And I tell you that any life which at times, maybe not all the time, but which at times is genuinely Spirit-controlled, at times has to be genuinely Christ-like. And as you take that remarkable career of Samson, as it's unfolded in the book of Judges, there are several occasions in which his Christ-likeness is startling. Take, for example, the time that Samson sought out for himself a Gentile bride. Those of you who are theologians will know what that means. It's a picture of Christ in his church. And I can see Samson going to get this bride of his, and a lion stands before him and bars the way. That old lion. And what does Samson do? He takes that lion and he runs it as he would a kid. And I can see her later, and she says, Samson, how do I know you love me? He says, look at me. Can't you see these scars? No man can hug a lion to his breast, and come away unscathed, and then back to the scene again and again to taste the sweetness that flowed from that victory over his foe. And what about the change of raiment offered to any man who could enter into that mystery wrapped up in the great victory over the roaring lion? Of course Samson failed, so did every other type of Christ in the Bible fail. David failed, Isaac failed, Moses failed, Solomon failed, Jonah failed, yet they were all in their day and in their generation and at one time, if not all together, sparkling in their Christ-likeness, and so was Samson. And you know, if you know anything at all in your life about the fulfilling of the Holy Spirit, there are going to be times in your life, too, when people will look at you and they'll think of Jesus. And can it be, I shall be like thy son? Is this the grace that he for me has won? And shall we look at the meridian splendor of Samson's life? It would be wonderful if we could leave it there, but as we read on in the Old Testament story, we see that the meridian splendor gives way at last to the evening shadows, and we discover that Samson's downfall had its root in two things. There was the abuse of gift, and there was the abuse of grace. Thus the Apostle Paul, writing to the Christians in the church of Rome, what he says, "'What shall we sin that grace may abound?' God forbid. You know, Samson's besetting sin was sex. Women held a fatal fascination for this man. You see him flipping from one affair to another, getting ever closer to the flame like a moth You read the story and you feel like weeping with a man so strong, with such a lovely personality, with such tremendous potential for God, that such a man could be so weak and so wicked. look at Tamsin, he indulges the flesh. He drags himself away. He enjoys victory for a little while, and then back he goes again, worse than ever. And we would think it absolutely incredible, were it not for the fact that we find within our own hearts the ability to do the same thing with our own besetting sins. Every time he goes back to that wicked thing, that wicked thing, that thing thoroughly and uniformly condemned by God from cover to cover on his book, every time he goes back to it, the groove becomes a little deeper until at last the groove becomes a grave. For God is not mocked, and whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. It's not only a law of the soil, it's a law of the soul. The abuse of grace, thinking that because God is forgiving that you can take advantage of God. perish the thought. It's the way J.B. Phillips translates it in Romans chapter 6, perish the thought. There was not only the abuse of grace, there was the abuse of gift. When God created you, he made an investment in you. He made you a unique person, he gave you unique gifts. set you in a unique set of circumstances, gave you a unique upbringing. He made an investment in you, and then when he redeemed you, he increased that investment by a value that staggers the mind of man to conceive. Who can ever measure the value of the precious blood of Christ? But now God is looking to you, my friend, as he looks to me. He's looking for a return on his investment. What kind of a return is he getting? When he lived on earth, he himself told the parable of a man who had a fig tree in his vineyard, and three years in succession The gardener, the farmer, came looking for fruit on this tree and found none. And he said, why cumber it at the ground? Chop it down. The gardener pleaded for more time. Just one more year, he said. Just one more year. My friend, how much time has God already given you to produce some fruit? Have you developed those gifts he has given to you? Are you using those gifts for God, or are you abusing them and using them for your own selfish ends? It is one of the most constant of temptations to use God's given gifts. for self-gratification. And so the evening shadows begin to steal across the sky, and Samson begins to play around with the grace of God. He's got away with it before, and he plays around with this wicked thing in his life until he can't put it down anymore. And he begins to use the gifts that God has given him for wrong ends, and until at last he finds himself in the toils of a temptation too strong for him, and it begins by binding him hand and foot. He can't break the bonds any more. He has grieved the Holy Spirit one time too many, and now he's left to his fate. And it ended by blinding him. And now this man who had such tremendous potential for God, he gropes around in the dark, useless. And then there comes the gory sunset I don't suppose there's a sadder chapter in the Bible than the chapter that tells us of Samson making sports for the Philistines. He's been brought so low, and now he's grinding corn at the mill. He's a slave of his enemies, and he's blind, and he's doing a woman's work, and he's the butt of every obscene joke that comes to the enemy's mind. By his behavior he has given great cause to the enemies of God to blaspheme. He has played with his temptation once too often, and his lusts have now laid him in the dust. And the Spirit of God will have nothing more to do with him. and scalding tears run down the cheeks of their poor man. Those poor blind eyes of his that once twinkled at the thought of a joke or flashed with terrible fire as he rushed upon his foe, tears of remorse and regret run down his cheeks from his blinded eyes. And now comes the end. The lords of the Philistines have called a giant banquet to celebrate the downfall of their enemy, and Dagon's temple is packed to capacity to the very doors. Everybody in the five cities of any importance is there. The rafters of the temple ring and ring again with the shouts of the people and the priests and the princes of the Philistines. has triumphed gloriously. And then somebody has an idea. They say, let's have a look at Samson. Fetch him in here. Let's have some fun. And Samson is brought in. Poor, blind Samson. He's led by a mere slip of a lad. They don't even need a soldier to guard him now. A mere bit of a boy will do. And he gropes before him, blind, broken, he gropes before him to the huge glee of the Philistines shouting, clapping, cheering, deriding him. And he stumbles and gropes his way along, led by a little boy with a rope around his neck. But Samson's enemies hadn't noticed. something, his hair, that which marked out his peculiar consecration to God, his hair has begun to grow, and once again it curls, and now it curls beneath the brass petter that he wears for a collar around his neck. Whispers Samson to the little boy, Addie, where are we son? We're in Dagon's temple of course. Yes sonny I know, but where are we in Dagon's temple? Oh mister, you're by the main central pillars of the temple. Now, Landy, one little question more, son. Are the fellows big? Are they very far apart? Oh, they think all right, mister. But they're pretty close together. Let me feel them, son. Thank you, boy. Now, Sonny, run for your life!" And Samson's mighty arms creep around those pillars. Oh, Lord God, he cried just once more! And with a mighty surge as the Spirit of God in grace comes back again for the last time Samson tears down Dagon's temple, pillar and post, stone and wood, lords and ladies, multitude and all, it was a gory sunset. You know, when you see a gory sunset, it tells you that there's going to be a good tomorrow. And I see that Hebrews 11 was right after all. Time has failed to tell of Samson. Let me leave you with this last thought. It sums up Samson's life. It's from the pen of the great apostle. Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth for sin, and sin, when it's finished, bringeth for death. You can't escape that law. May we take home to our hearts the lesson of this man's life. Shall we sing a hymn? 365 Take time to be holy speak oft with thy Lord. Abide in him always, and feed on his word. Make friends of God's children. Help those who are weak, forgetting in nothing his blessing to seek. Take time to be holy as the world rushes on. Spend much time in secret with Jesus alone by looking to Jesus like him thou shalt be, thy friends in thy conduct, his likeness shalt see. Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul, each thought and each motive beneath his control. Thus led by his Spirit to fountains of love, thou soon shalt be fitted for service above." at the last verses of 365. The strength of God's children helps those who are weak. Forgiving in nothing is flashing to see. Take time, Ruby, hold me, be calm in the Oh. Oh. O God, art You will deliver us from the abuse of grace and from the abuse of gift. Grant, Lord, that we may find what it is for which You have created us and redeemed us and set us in the body of the Church. Grant, Lord, we pray that we may know increasingly fillings of Thy Holy Spirit to enable us to serve Thee, as Thou dost indeed deserve to be served, to yield to Thee a full return on Thine investment in our lives. Deliver us, Lord, from our besetting sins, lest they lay us low like Samson. We ask it in Jesus' name.