Now we'll turn for the last time for this season to the book of Judges again, chapter number 16. The book of Judges, chapter 16, and we're going to take up our reading at verse 25, reading down to the last part of the chapter, and God willing today we're finishing our study on the life of Samson. Some of you will be glad to know that. We've been looking at him for quite a number of weeks now. I think this is our 20th study in the life of Samson. I was speaking to the Reverend Thomas Martin a while ago and he was talking about Samson and we said we're doing a study on this and he's been looking at it on the internet and he asking when we're getting it finished and I was just saying well he's not dead yet but we're going to we're going to kill him off soon so we're finishing with Samson today and Samson's going to have his last stand and that's our subject title for this morning Samson's Last stand and I want to apply this in the gospel because there's some lovely gospel truths in this last part of Judges chapter 16. We'll read together the word of the Lord and we encourage you to keep God's word open before you for the rest of our time together. Judges 16 verse 25. And it came to pass when their hearts were merry that they said call for Samson that we may make a sport And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport, and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me, that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And there were upon the roof about 3,000 men and women that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once. O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might. And the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. And his brethren and all the house of his father came down and took him up. and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtiol in the burying place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel 20 years. We know the Lord will bless the reading of his precious truth to all of our hearts. And we'll just wait upon the Lord for a few moments and cry unto him for his help. And we encourage you also to pray and unite your heart with us. Our Father and our God, we are so thankful again that we can just cast ourselves at Thy feet. We thank Thee for the precious, precious Word of God. We're mindful of the words of the Apostle who encouraged his hearers to receive with meekness the engrafted Word that is able to receive or to save your souls. And oh God, we pray that the Word of God might be buried within every heart, Thou wilt save souls this morning, and grant, O God, today that the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, might be uplifted and magnified far above all. Lord, I confess my weakness, I confess my inability, and I cast myself at Thy feet, praying for the power of God. I give myself afresh to Thee, body and soul and spirit, and all that I am and have and ever hope to be. And I pray, Lord, that I will speak through this earthen vessel. Let my name perish and be forgotten. But, Lord, glorify the man of Calvary. Speak to hearts. Encourage thy people. Bless us, we pray now, in the Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen. As we've said already, we have reached at last the end of our study in the life of Samson, coming to our 20th study in the life of this unusual man of God. And today we're going to consider Samson's last stand. Now the story of Samson has been one of triumph and sadly one of tragedy. It has been a story of a man who knew what it was to be filled with the Spirit and also a man that knew what it was to fall into sin. And we can't help, as we've said on other occasions, as we look at the life of this man of God, we can't help but wonder what might have been if only this man had kept his eyes upon the Lord, and kept his eyes upon the prize. Yes, he was used of God. Yes, he's recorded in Hebrews 11 as being found amongst the faithful. Yes, he did exploits that no man had done before, or perhaps very few have ever done since. But yet he never really reached his true and his full potential. And we can't help but wonder what might have been if Samson had only walked closely with the Lord. And sometimes whenever we look at our own lives and the lives of Christians and the lives of churches, we often wonder what might have been or what could be if we would reach our full potential. But here at the end of Judges 16, the feast of thanksgiving to Dagon is in full swing and the Philistines are singing, they're dancing, they're eating, they're drinking. And this great big temple and there's thousands of people gathered together. We're told there in verse number 27 that the house was full of men and women. And on the roof or the balcony of the house, there was another 3,000. So we can only begin to guess just how many people were gathered together in that temple at that time as the Philistines worshipped the fish god, Dagon, this pagan, this heathen deity they had worshipped for years and they were fully convinced now and fully persuaded that Dagon had defeated the God of Israel, the God Jehovah. Having run out of things to do, somebody suggests that they go down to the prison house. They bring out Samson, this man that delivered Israel at different times. Now his eyes have been put out. And they feel that he's finished, he's on the scrap heap for God. But remember, failure is never final. And while so many of the world's religions have such a strict policy, and once you break protocol, and once you sin, and once you get out of fellowship with their God, so often there's no mercy. But the true God, the God of the Bible, is a God who's abundant in mercy, a God who delights to restore His people, even whenever we've sinned against Him and we've fallen so far short and we've broken our vows and we've lost out with God, He delights in mercy. And that is one thing that the Philistines did not think upon. They felt that Samson was finished, and they felt that without his eyes, he would be useless. And so they bring out Samson and they say, let us make sport of Samson. In other words, let us bring out this man and let's make an ape out of him. Let's make a fool out of him. And we'll laugh at the one time strong man who is now so weak, just like any other man. And Samson, of course, is brought out. And it seems that Samson just gives the audience what they want. He plays along with it. He does what they ask him to do. But all the while in his mind he's been praying for weeks and for months that the Lord would give him an occasion against the Philistines and Samson's great opportunity has arisen. I believe that Samson knew the layout of this pagan temple. It was etched upon his mind, as he was found in Philistia at various times, and he knew that right in the center of that temple, there were two large pillars, just how it's designed, we do not know, but we're told that there were two large pillars, maybe just five or six feet apart, and Samson knew that those pillars held up the roof and the structure of this temple. And so having given them what they want, they lead him towards these two pillars and a little unknown lad comes along, one of the Bible's unsung heroes. We come across young people that the Lord has used so many times in scripture and often their names are not given. I can think about the little maid that spoke to Naaman's wife about the God of Israel who could heal Naaman. I think about the little boy that bought us two fish and his five loaves and used it to feed a multitude. And now here's a little boy and he takes this blind man and leads him between the two pillars. And between those two pillars, Samson calls upon the name of the Lord and exerts the strength that the Lord has now restored to him. And the temple comes down and we see Samson's last stand. And it was the most powerful event of Samson's life. He was strong, mighty in death. And he slew more, we're told, at his death than he slew in his whole life. 3,000 on the roof, all came tumbling down, and that roof crushed and pulverized everybody who was inside the temple. At Samson's last stand, he was mighty in death. And as I studied and looked at this portion of Scripture, I saw so many lovely types and shadows and pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ. just like Samson was mighty in death. And I also saw some very solemn warnings for those who are like the Philistines and are not ready to meet their Lord and are not right to meet God. And so I just want to speak very simply in the gospel about Samson's last stand from this portion of Scripture. Some very simple things. Well, you notice, first of all, it says in verse number 25, and it came to pass when their hearts were married, that is the Philistines, that they said, call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport, he entertained them, and they set him between the pillars. I don't read about anybody else being called out to entertain the Philistines, and so this verse, to me, reminds us of the solitude of Samson. Samson on his own, very lonely now before this large crowd of Philistines, is a very lonely man. And whenever we looked at the life of Samson from his birth, his boyhood, right through his manhood, we see that so often Samson was a man who was found alone. And here at the end of his life, Samson is alone. He's friendless. He's despised by the Philistines. He's largely been given up by his own people, and he entertains his enemies. And what a sad spectacle this is. But doesn't it remind us, friends, of the solitude of the Savior? The Lord Jesus Christ was a solitary figure in many respects. Yes, he had a large following. Yes, he had a large family. Yes, he was known far and wide. Yes, he had faithful followers. But by and large, he was a solitary figure. Scripture says that he rose up a great while before day to spend time alone with the Lord. And while he entered into our humanity, there's a very real sense in which none of us can fully enter into his because he was a solitary figure and his solitude is seen so many times. I think of the garden of Gethsemane. Do you remember whenever the Lord, the night before he was crucified, went into the garden to pray and to seek the Lord? And as he prayed, he found his disciples were sleeping for sorrow. They were so overwhelmed just by what the Lord had told them, and what the Lord was now going through, and their hearts were heavy, they were tired, they were weary, and they were asleep. And it was as if the Lord went through that night vigil of prayer alone. and he said to his disciples what could you not watch with me one hour and then at the end of that prayer vigil were told that all of his disciples forsook him and fled and like samson the lord is led into the into the courts of the enemy where they begin to make sport of him and he's there and he's alone in pilot's judgment hall And then on the cross, of course, he was forsaken by the Lord himself, by Jehovah God. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The solitude of Samson, the solitude of the Savior. What about the solitude of the sinner? You know, sin in a person's life will make a man lonely. Nothing will make a man or a woman or a young person feel so lonely as sin. The reason Samson is now alone is because of his sin. The reason the Lord was forsaken and lonely upon the cross was because of our sin. And nothing robs a man of fellowship and of communion and of fulfillment and of union with people and with God so much as sin. What about the prodigal son? Was there ever a man in scripture outside of the Lord Jesus Christ that was so lonely, who left a good home, a good family, good prospects, went into the far country where he didn't really know anybody, made a lot of superficial friends who didn't really care about him, and whenever the money ran out, there's the young prodigal feeding pigs and nobody cares about the prodigal, not even his employer. And he knew what it was to feel lonely. What about Judas Iscariot? Wasn't he so popular whenever he went to the chief priests and the rulers and the scribes and says, what will you give me if I deliver him unto you? And he covenanted with them for 30 pieces of silver. But how lonely did he feel as he stood that night in Gethsemane, all the disciples fled, the religious crowd went back to Pilate's judgment hall, and he kissed the door of heaven and kissed goodbye to his soul. And all he has got now in the world is a little bag with 30 little pieces of metal inside it. And he sees that he's condemned and he feels lonely. And he runs back to the priests and he throws the money down in the temple and he says, I have betrayed innocent blood. I'm guilty. And he tries to put things right, but he can't. And he goes to a suicide's grave. The solitude of the sinner. I wonder if I speak to somebody this morning and in your heart there's loneliness there and it's because of sin. And you feel this morning that nobody understands you and nobody knows who you really are. Maybe not even your parents. Maybe not even your husband or your spouse, your children. And nobody knows who you really are. And you feel cut off and you feel separated. The solitude of the sinner. But friend, that's only the beginning. Because the Bible tells us about a day whenever the Lord's going to separate the sheep from the goats. And every person that dies without mercy and dies without Christ will be cast out alone into God's hell. And they'll be separated from God forever. The solitude of Samson. But look as well at verse 25. Consider the shame of Samson. Call for Samson that he may make us sport. You see, the Philistines remind us of the society in which we live. They're just like the world that we're now living in. They're bent on entertainment. They're just living for the here and the now, and they just want to be entertained. They want to sit back, and they want to have a great laugh, and they want to just treat life as if it's a joke, and they want to mock the Deliverer that God has sent. Israel's hero was brought in to be mocked. Israel's Deliverer. is called in to entertain a drunken crowd of idolaters. And they revel in watching this once powerful man act like an ape in the temple of Dagon. What a shame it was for Samson. This man that was known for strength now appears to the world to be so weak. This man that was known for his spiritual vision is now seen as a man that is so blind. This man that mocked the Philistines, burnt their cornfields, slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass, carried away the gates of their city, and set them up as a memorial as to the power of God, is now a man that just seems to be so weak. And my, what a shame it is to see Samson entertaining the Philistines. The shame of Samson. But you know, the word of God speaks about the shame of the Savior. Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. Exhort us to look on to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. And that's the only way you can live the Christian life. That's the only way you can be successful as a child of God. It's not looking inward to your gifts or talents or abilities. And very often I'd be guilty of looking at all the discouragements, and that's something that we can all be overwhelmed by. But the Word of God exhorts us to look on to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, to run with patience the race that is set before us, and to look on to the Lord, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of God. And what a shame they made of our Savior. They put him to an open shame. having taken him from Gethsemane, they take him to Pilate's judgment hall, they strip him of his garments, they put a crown of thorns upon his head, they laugh at him, they spit him, they mock him, they say, heal the king of the Jews, they take a reed and they smite him with it, they blindfolded him, they did all sorts of vile things, and I believe that on the cross as they spat upon the Son of God and he was put to an open shame. That word shame really speaks of his nakedness because they stripped him of his garments and they made sport of the Son of God. And for so many it was so entertaining to see this once strong man who healed the sick who raised the dead, who opened blinded eyes, who unstopped deaf ears, who loved the unlovable, who reached the unreachable, and they look at him and he says, if you're the Christ, come down from off the cross. And what a shame they put him to. And it was all for our sins, folks. Such was the love of God. He allowed himself to be put to this open shame, and bearing shame, the hymn writer says, and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood. He sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah, what a Savior. But what about the shame of the sinner? Isn't it true to say this morning that there's nothing that makes a man so lonely as sin? And there's nothing that will mock a person as much as sin. Sin is a mocker. Sin makes a fool out of a man. Sin makes a fool out of a young person. What about the young person who goes out into the world, and before their friends, they take that first drink, and they can't walk home, and everybody thinks it's such a laughingstock to see this person no longer in control of themselves. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Sexual immorality is a mocker. How many people have fallen for the lie that somebody loved them? And if you loved me, you'd only sleep with me, and then they fall pregnant and something happens, and it's just a mockery, isn't it? Or drugs, or wealth, or fame, or pride, whatever it may be, there's nothing that causes a man as much shame as sin. But what about the shame of standing before the great white throne? And all of our sins just put up there before the whole world to see. None of them under the blood, none of them forgiven. Just an open record of every sin that we thought God had forgotten about, man had forgotten about, we had forgotten about. The things that we thought nobody else saw. The things that we thought maybe God didn't even see. The thing that the pastor didn't see. The thing that your parents didn't see. The things that your peers didn't see. The things that your prosperity didn't see. And it's all there. And so often people say, well, you know, whenever I stand before God, I will just argue my cause. And if it means God has to give me my shovel, I'll do whatever he wants me to do, but I'm not scared to go out and meet God. But you know, there's going to come a day, friend, if you're not a Christian, it's God is going to mock you. Some of the most solemn words in all the Bible are found in the writings of Solomon in Proverbs chapter 1. Whenever the Lord says, because I called and ye have refused, Proverbs 1 verse 24, I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But ye have said it not, all my counsel, and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity, and I will mock whenever your fear cometh. You see the laughter of the Philistines would soon turn into weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And then we see also the silence of Samson. Verse 25, call for Samson that he may make a sport. And then it says at the end of the verse, and he made them sport, and they sat in between the pillars. Samson didn't taunt them. Samson didn't seem to argue back. Samson didn't make any pleas for mercy. Samson didn't seem to make any threats of impending judgment. He just came out, and he had done what he had to do for all of his life, and he comes out now, and he just keeps his mouth closed. and he panders to the crowd, as it were. No threats, no pleas, no accusations, no justification for what he's done, no cries for mercy. He just comes out and he remains silent. We don't read of Samson saying anything until the moment that he asked the little boy to lead him to feel the pillars. And so Samson remains silent. What about the silence of the Savior? Is it not true that whenever Isaiah spoke of this one who would come into the world, and he said concerning him, 700 years before the Lord was ever born in Bethlehem, as he is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth not his mouth. Do we not see the Lord standing before Pilate? And Pilate's saying to this stopless, sinless, impeccable Lamb of God, he says, hear how many things they witness against you. What have you to say for yourself? And he answered him to never a word. He remained silent. And as they led him through the streets of Jerusalem, and as he watched as they put the nails to his hands and feet, he didn't once stand up and say, do you not know who I am? Do you not know that I'm the Son of God? He didn't try to defend himself. He didn't say to that crowd that day, I have done so much for you. Will you not have mercy upon me and save me from this agonizing death and this agonizing torment? He did not argue. He did not even accuse them of their sin. He did not threaten them with judgment, but he remained silent. He preached for three years. They'd heard everything that he had to say, and he'd nothing more to say to that crowd. And I'll tell you, friend, it's the most fearful thing in all the world whenever God is no longer speaking. Whenever God has said everything he has to say to an individual, and that man or that woman or that young person, they know the gospel. They know the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. They've heard the call of God. They've felt conviction for sin. They've felt troubled about eternity. They've felt concerned about their soul. They've felt concerned about their past. They've made vows before God. They've promised to serve God. They've broken those vows, and God just remains silent. And they almost think, you know, this is wonderful. I don't feel guilty anymore. I don't feel troubled anymore. It was awful sitting in those meetings whenever God was speaking. It was awful going to that gospel mission, and God challenging me, and I'm going home at night, and maybe other people would get saved, and I knew that I had to get saved, and God troubled me about my sin, but that's all gone, and my, it's, I just feel, I feel okay. God stops speaking, friend. It's the most tragic thing in all the world. The silence of Samson reminds me of the silence of the Savior, but what about the silence of the sinner? There's a little verse in the book of Romans chapter 3 verse 19 where it talks about the law of God. In the book of Romans chapters 1, 2, and 3 speak a lot about God's law. And it talks about God's law being written in the conscience. And it talks about the inexhaustibility of God's law that it covers all bases. And it says that it's a universal thing. So much so that every man, woman, boy and girl born into this world is without excuse. And the whole world is guilty before God. Because that law is written upon our conscience, and there's no man or woman or any person apart from the Savior who has ever obeyed every single impulse of the conscience. Haven't done it. We mightn't be able to quote the Ten Commandments. You mightn't even know what Exodus chapter 20 says, but the law of God is written to a degree upon these corrupt consciences of ours. And we'll not have anything to say before the Lord, because we know that we're guilty. Whenever we stand before the Lord on that day, nobody's going to argue with the Lord and be able to say, well, Lord, look, I was a member of the church, and I put money on the plate, and we're going to see all of our sin. And then we're going to see our measly good works that are marred and defiled by our sin. And we're just going to think, I can't say anything. You see, the Lord told a parable in Matthew 22. about a certain king that made a great supper for his son. And it says, there came a man into that wedding feast, and he did not have on a wedding garment. It was part of the tradition, part of the culture, Jewish culture, that any person coming to a wedding ceremony, a wedding feast, they had to have a wedding garment. And it speaks to us of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. imputed to us and received by faith alone. And this man came in and he's just standing about. I can just picture this fellow sauntering about, maybe a glass in his hand and maybe some little prophet arose in the other and he's just enjoying himself and swinging it around the crowd. And then somebody comes up and says, how did you get in without a garment? And all of a sudden he begins to look at everybody else and he thought he's got away with this. And then the king comes and says, how did you get in without a garment? And he was speechless. No answers. He didn't try to defend himself because he knew the claims and the commandments that were given that he had to have a garment. And it just reminds us of what a person will be whenever they try to get into heaven. And the Lord says, what about the righteousness of Christ? And they're speechless. Silence of Samson. What about the supplication of Samson? Look at verse 28. It says, Samson called unto the Lord and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for mine eyes. At last, this little boy leads Samson between the two pillars, and with his blinded eyes, he reaches out and he feels these marble pillars, and Samson begins to pray. Now I believe during those lonely hours of grinding corn round and round and round and round, week after week, month after month, until his hair began to grow again, and the seven locks of his hair appeared again, that Samson has been praying in the secret place, getting to know God again, in fellowship with God again. And now in the public place, a very short prayer, and there's a lesson there for us all. that so often whenever we're praying publicly, it's a good thing to keep our prayers brief and to the point, and that's what Samson does here, and he has good power with God in the secret place, and the Lord's about to reward him openly, and he evidently prays two things, Lord, remember me. Lord, remember me just this once, and friend, that is the prayer of the backslider, that's the prayer of the penitent sinner. do lord oh do lord oh do you remember me the dying thief upon the cross what did he pray lord remember me he didn't know all the theology he wasn't able to come off with this avalanche of burning words or a tsunami of eloquence all he could do was say lord remember me i'm guilty lord i've just i deserve what i've what this punishment he says i'm receiving the the just rewards for our deeds but you have done nothing amiss you're innocent you're guilt you're you're you're guiltless and he says remember me lord and he acknowledged that jesus christ was sinless he was lord and he could save him and friend that's all that we can do lord remember me backslider you need to pray that prayer this morning lord remember me Lord, you know all about my past and all about my guilt and all about my shame, but Lord, please just remember me. And then Samson says, strengthen me. Lord, give me back that thing that I lost. The one thing that I needed to succeed as a believer, as a child of God in this world, Holy Ghost power, Lord, give me it back. Strengthen me just this once. And friends, if we've lost something somewhere along the way, we need to retrace our steps and we need to say, Lord, give me back that strength. Give me back that power. The supplication of Samson. What about the supplication of the Savior? In his dying hours, we see the Lord Jesus Christ showing himself to be what he's always been and always will be, a man of prayer. Somebody say to you, sum up the Lord Jesus Christ, his walk with God, in just a simple sentence, humanly speaking, what was he? He was a man of prayer. Before he commenced his public ministry, he went into the wilderness and he fasted and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights. Whenever he appeared with John the Baptist at the River Jordan, the Word of God says he was baptized, and as he was baptized, he was praying. The Word of God tells us that He rose up a great while before day to pray. He departed into solitary places to pray. He went up into mountainsides to pray. He tarried all night in prayer. Before He performed miracles, He often prayed. After He preached, He often prayed. Before He went to the cross, He spent a whole night in prayer. John 17, He prayed for His people. The greatest prayer that was ever prayed And then on the cross, we often talk about the seven sayings or the seven cries that went up from the cross, but essentially they're all prayers. Father, forgive them, they know not what they do. I thirst into thy hand, I commit my spirit. It is finished. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And that's why he can save you today. Hebrews 7.25 says, wherefore he is able to save to the uttermost or save completely all that come unto God by him. Why? How can he do this? Seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. He's alive forevermore. Yes, he was mighty in death, but he's risen victorious and he prays for his people continually. But what about the supplication of the sinner? How the sinner needs to learn how to pray. Cry unto God for mercy. Was I fully convinced and fully persuaded that every person who does not learn how to pray in time will certainly learn how to pray in eternity? Did you know that there are some of the greatest prayer meetings are in hell? Some of the greatest prayer meetings come from the lips of the damned in the lost eternity. Luke 16, 19 through 31, we read about a rich man that died, and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torments, and within seconds of opening his eyes in the lost eternity, this man is earnest in prayer. Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus, let him come to me and just cool my tongue. I'm tormented in this flame. It's not going to happen. Well, if you can't have mercy on me, send them to my family. I have five brethren, lest they also come to this place of torments. Not going to happen. There's mighty prayer meetings in hell, but there's no answers. The supplication of the sinner. I wonder, will you leave your praying in earnest until you find yourself in a lost eternity? Or will you say, I'm going to give myself to God today and I'm going to pray and I'm going to ask the Lord to save me. The supplication of Samson. What about the situation of Samson? The position that he finds himself in? He finds himself in the midst, it says in verse 25 at the end of the verse, between two pillars. We know that Samson's eyes have been put out. Samson's a man that now lives a life that's shrouded in darkness. His life is just shrouded in blackness. In verse number 30, it says, he bowed himself with all of his might. And I don't believe that Samson is merely and only bowing there to get himself into a position whereby he can exert all the strength that God can give him. But I believe there's a real sense in which he's bowing his head in worship. The position that Samson's in reminds us, doesn't it, of Calvary. The situation that the Savior found himself in, where was he? He wasn't between two pillars, but he was in the midst between two crosses. And we're told as well that he was in darkness, his eyes weren't put out, but darkness covered the whole earth for the space of three hours. And that darkness extinguished the light of the world. And none of the ransomed ever knew how deep were the waters crossed or how dark was the night that our Lord passed through ere he found the sheep that was lost. And just before he yielded up his spirit, the Bible tells us in John 19.30 that he bowed his head before he yielded up the ghost. That was an act of the will. He willingly bowed his head and he says, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit. It wasn't that his spirit was ebbing out of his life and departing from him or the Lord was receiving his spirit, but he was willingly giving up his spirit. It was a miraculous death. No one took his life from him. He laid it down of himself. He says, I have power to lay it down and I have power to receive it again. And he bowed his head in the darkness as he was crucified in the midst between the two thieves. But what about the situation of the sinner? One day in eternity, the book of God tells us in Romans 14, 11, that every sinner will bow the knee, bow the head. and confess Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father, Satan himself will bow the knee. Every single one of us, we're going to bow the knee, whether we love him or whether we lose him, we're going to bow the knee and we're going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And sadly some, having bowed the knee, will be cast, the Lord says, into outer darkness. Matthew 25, 30, and there'll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth concerning the ungodly. Jude's epistle, verse 13 says, is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And they'll be cast out into the midst of God's eternity, into the midst of a lake that burns with fire and brimstone. What a picture here we have of Samson in the Gospel, and what happens to the people who do not obey the Gospel. But lastly and in closing, the sacrifice of Samson. You see, we know that Samson's really there, don't we, because of his own sin. Samson would never have died such a death if he'd only obeyed the Lord, and because of his sin, Samson is there. But he's got right with God now, and he's offering up his life, a sacrifice unto the Lord. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. That's what he's doing. And I find myself returning again and again and again to those wonderful, monumental verses in Romans 12, 1 and 2, where Paul says, present your bodies a living sacrifice. Because then, friends, that is what the Christian life is. Romans 12, 1 and 2 is just a synopsis of what God wants us to be as believers. Lives that are sacrificed, lives that are given over to God, lives that are placed upon God's altar. And rather than die in Israel, Samson is going to die amongst the ungodly, but his death is going to bring victory to God's people. Because in that temple, there's all the presidents, and the ministers, and the princes of the Philistines, and all the great and the mighty men, they're all there, and Samson's going to bring them out in his death. The sacrifice of Samson speaks, doesn't it? And it reminds us very clearly of the sacrifice of the Savior. Crucified between two thieves, and he was there because of sin. Not his own sin, because he had no sin of his own, but as 1 Corinthians 15 verse 3 says, Christ died for our sins. That's the greatest love that the world has ever known. Was my sin that held him there? Just as Samson's between these two pillars and his arms are stretched out, the Lord Jesus upon the cross, arms stretched out in prayer in the darkness. Offering up his life Hebrews 10 12 says a once for all sacrifice for sins forever And that's the only sacrifice that God accepts That's the only sacrifice that God will accept to bring you into your right standing with himself. He took our sins and our sorrows and he became the sin bearer, the substitute and the sin offering. He was prophet, he was priest, he was king on the cross, king of the Jews written above his head. He was a prophet because from his lips as he hung upon that cross, he's making prophecies and he's He's expounding the Word of God, he's prophesying of Scripture, reciting Scripture, explaining Scripture by what he's doing. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And I'm sure there were people around the cross thinking he's reciting from the 22nd Psalm. And he was also the priest, because he's in prayer, and he's offering a sacrifice, and he himself is that sacrifice. And that sacrifice, friend, can cover a multitude of sins. Every sin that you've ever committed can be washed away in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and in death he is victorious. Colossians 2 15 tells us that he destroyed principalities and powers that is to say demonic and devilish influences that are very real in the world today. The demons of hell their power was destroyed as concerning God's people and it says he triumphed over them in Sacrifice of Samson, the sacrifice of the Savior. What about the sacrifice of the sinner? There's no sacrifice that a sinner can make that will be acceptable to God for his own sin. You need to cast yourself upon the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Cast yourself at his feet. There's a solemn verse in Hebrews 10, 26 that says, if we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth. Now that's not just speaking about letting the Lord down or having a problem with a besetting sin or tripping and stumbling and falling. It's not speaking about sinless perfection, but it's speaking about a particular sin. The sin of rejecting that once for all sacrifice. If we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth, it says there is no more sacrifice for sin. That is to say that once you receive the knowledge of the truth, and you understand the gospel, and you know that you're condemned, and you know that there's only one way of salvation, and you sin in rejecting continually, the Lord Jesus Christ says, there's no other way out. There's no other way to be forgiven. And maybe than rather accepting that sacrifice, you're making a sacrifice. You're sacrificing heaven. You're sacrificing paradise. You're sacrificing the gift of eternal life for a few years of sin. And in exchange for a few fleeting years of sin that will bind you and destroy you and will never satisfy you, you're giving up an eternity in God's heaven, in a place of paradise. What a sacrifice. You're making us a sinner for a few fleeting, unsatisfying pleasures. You're sacrificing your soul. Scripture asks the question, and it's the question that there's no answer to. There's questions in the Bible and there's no answer to them. How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Can you answer that question? I can't. There's no answer to it. We can't escape. What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? There's nothing. that you can give in exchange for your soul. What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? There's nothing, a question that can't be answered. Samson's last stand reminds us of a victorious savior. It also speaks to us of these Philistines on the brink of eternity, on the brink of judgment, not ready. I wonder how it is with you today. I wonder, will you come, taste and see that the Lord is good? Come to Christ and give your heart and life to Him.