Well, as we prepare to enter the Christmas season, it's only fitting that we meditate together on the birth of a savior. And instead of opening our Bibles to Matthew or Luke this morning, I'd like to invite you to open your Bibles to Judges 13, Judges 13, where we see the birth of Samson, who would begin to save Israel from their enemies. I know it's not customary to hear the story of Samson as preparation for celebrating the birth of Jesus, but I hope by the end of our time this morning that you will see how Samson's birth, life and death prefigure that of Jesus and also how Samson is in some ways not like Jesus at all and announces a need, as we've already heard prayed this morning, for a better judge and king than he was. And I also hope that you'll be moved to give thanks for all that God has done for us in Christ and for planning our salvation from sin, even before we ever wanted it. So we're going to walk through Samson's life from beginning to end, and as we do, we'll try to understand the point of the story in its own right so that we can finish by thinking about eight applications for us in light of Christ. So if you would turn to. Judges 13 and we'll start in verse one. The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. There was a certain man of Zora. But wait. Something's missing. Where's the cry for deliverance? We're used to seeing a pattern. Rebellion. Retribution. Repentance, kind of, but not really. And rescue. But here there's only rebellion and retribution and all of a sudden there's a certain man of Zorah. So is there even going to be a rescue this time? We've got to keep reading. There was a certain man of Zorah of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, which means comfort. And his wife was barren and had no children, and the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Behold, you are barren and have not born children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore, be careful and drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. So this whole story starts in total obscurity. Some guy from Zora named Manoah and his nameless barren wife. And the author wants to make sure everybody remembers how it started. She's barren, had no children, barren, has not born children. It's repetitive and redundant and makes the same point over and over. Why does he do that? It's because barrenness is God's favorite canvas for creating life because it leaves all the credit to him alone. What's going to happen is not going to be to Manoah's credit, and it's not going to be to the credit of his nameless wife. It's going to be to God's credit. Her son is going to be a Nazarite from the womb, someone called by God to be set apart from the world for God. Nazarite had to abstain from grapes and anything made with them. Had to abstain. Really, what that's saying is he's being set apart from normal human pleasures. Couldn't touch anything ritually unclean. He could never touch a corpse and he could never get a haircut. And since the boy will be a Nazarite, mom's going to have to abstain, too, and the reason he'll be a Nazarite is he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. This kid is going to be special. Well, Manoah's wife is absolutely ecstatic in verse six. Then the woman came and told her husband, a man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God. Very awesome. I didn't ask him where he was from and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean for the child should be a Nazarite to God from his womb, from the womb to the day of his death. What does she leave out? She leaves out that he's going to begin to save Israel from the Philistines. The most important part. As if that's not really what's exciting to her, she's just excited to be pregnant. But in verse 8, Manoah is jealous. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us. Not to my wife. To us. Come again when I'm around. And teach us what we are to do with a child who will be born. What's my part as the dad? What do I get to do? He wants to see an angel. He wants a special message from God. He wants in on the secret, but with what his wife just told him, his question seems a little bit hard headed, don't you think? Were you not listening to your wife, Manoah? Typical husband. His wife just told him what to do with him, and we've already read it twice. Raise the kid as a Nazarite. Even so, in verse nine, God listened to the voice of Manoah, but then look at what the angel does. Angel starts to kind of play with Manoah. The angel of God came again to the woman, not to them both, as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband, was not with her. So the angel is not going to be manipulated by Manoah. OK, I'll come back to your wife while she's in the field and you're inside. He comes again, but not on Manoah's terms, on his own terms, just like he came the first time. You're not going to change my mind. But Manoah still tries to kind of finagle his way into being an insider with a little bit of control. So when she comes and tells him the angel is back, he goes and says, the angel, are you the man that spoke with this woman? And he said, yes, I am. And Manoah said, now, when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life and what is his mission? And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, of all that I said to the woman, let her be careful. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink or eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her, let her observe. Manoah didn't get a whole lot of new information out of that meeting, did he? Translation, this is not about you, Manoah. This boy is not really going to be yours. He's going to be the Lord's. Well, that's not exactly what Manoah wanted to hear, but he's eager to entertain this unusual guest, so he says in verse 15, please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you. It kind of reminds us of how Gideon treated the angel of the Lord to please do not part depart from here until I come and bring out my present and set it before you. So Gideon said, and the Lord's response is going to be the same to Manoah as it was to Gideon. Meanwhile, the angel says here in 1316, if you detain me, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord. For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. So the angel is already kind of tipping his hand at his identity, he's no mortal and he's not going to be treated like one. I'm not going to eat your food. But Manoah still has no idea who he's dealing with, and he feels his cluelessness. So he tries to fix it. And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, what is your name? So that when your words come true, we may honor you. Now, that's a kind of veiled attempt at getting a little bit of control. The demons try to gain control over Jesus by saying his name, the holy one of God, and Mark one, it's the same here, Manoah is trying to wring a little more out of him than he's revealed. He tests God like Gideon and tries to manipulate God kind of like Jephthah, which implies that Manoah is just as much a Canaanite as he is an Israelite. He's treating him like an idol. He doesn't even recognize the Lord when he appears to him, so he treats God like he'd treat a pagan oracle. It's a really good corrective to our sometimes demand if God would just show up, I believe in him. Friend, if God just showed up, you probably wouldn't even recognize him. He showed up in Christ. Very few recognized him. So the angel of the Lord replies, why do you ask my name? Seeing it is wonderful. That's enigmatic. What does that mean? Seeing it is, what do you mean by that? That word wonderful is also used in Psalm 139, 6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. What do you mean, Psalmist? I mean, it is high. I cannot attain it. The angel is basically saying, Manoah, you want to know my name? You can't handle my name. But the word wonderful also has occurred in Exodus 15, 11, right after the Exodus, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods who is like you, majestic and holiness, awesome and glorious deeds doing wonders. Exodus 15, 11. The angel Manoah is talking with is the Lord himself, the one who did wonders at the Exodus, and it's hard not to understand that since he's here. Another exodus is on the way. Something wonderful is about to happen, like it happened at the exodus. So Manoah prepares the offering and he offered it to he offered it on the rock to the one who works wonders, a repeat of the Lord's name. Something wonderful is about to happen. And as he and his wife are watching when the flame went up towards heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now, Manoah and his wife were watching. They were watching, says that twice. Because it makes sense of Manoah's reaction in verse twenty one, then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord and Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die for we have seen God finally gets it. But his wife said to him, if the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands or shown us all these things are now announced to us such things as these. Manoah's wife shows way more biblical sense than he himself shows. Which also shows that male leadership in Israel is probably at an all time low at this point. God is not exactly working with the sharpest tools in the shed. God's faithfulness is recorded then in verse 24, and the woman bore a son. But oddly, she calls his name Samson. Samson. which memorializes the sun God. She's just as canonized as the Noah is. So why did God pick these two again? And where's all this going? When 1325, the spirit of the Lord began to stir him, Samson in Mahana, Dan, between Zora and Eshto. And that explains everything that follows in chapter fourteen, which is surprising to say the least. Samson went down to Timna and at Timna, he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father and mother, I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timna. Now get her for me as a wife. Well, it seems a little demanding, doesn't it? And it seems a whole lot canonized. Good looking for listings down there. Get me one of them. So one. I want her. Deuteronomy 7-3 forbids Israelites from intermarrying with Canaanites. That's why mom and dad say in verse 3, Is there not a woman among the daughters of your own relatives or among all our people that you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? But Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes. Samson isn't exactly honoring his father and mother here, is he? Samson doesn't even care to be a good Israelite, much less a good Nazarite. And his phrase, she is right in my eyes, reflects the national situation in Israel at the time, because that's the phrase that ends the whole book in chapter 21, verse 25. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. The end. And Samson puts that phrase on his own lips. Samson's love for foreign women reflects Israel's love for foreign gods. That's what's going on here. His disobedience to his own parents illustrates Israel's disobedience to God as her father. He personifies Israel's spiritual infidelity. You want to know what's wrong with Israel? Take a look at Samson. Samson is everything that's wrong with Israel. Yet. Yet, in verse four, his father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord. For he, the Lord, was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines ruled over Israel. So. Let's get this straight, the spirit is the one who stirs Samson in 1325, the Lord is the one seeking an opportunity against the Philistines in 14 for and in between, Samson is just following his own appetites. Doing his own thing. God is using Samson's carnal, un-Christian, un-Israelite, un-Nazirite appetites to accomplish his own sovereign and holy plan to save his people from Philistine rule, even though that salvation is not on anybody else's radar screen but God's, not even Samson's. So this is a program that God is going to use everything that's about to happen to save Israel from Philistine rule. The author is basically saying, Watch this. Watch what God did next. And watch how he did it. And if we're reading it in the context of the whole Bible, this is another instance of the seed warfare from Genesis 315. God is putting hostility, enmity, animosity in between Israel and her enemies, in between Israel and the people who worship the gods that Israel is tempted to worship. He's renewing the hostility here. He's making sure that the peace is not going to last between Israel and her enemies. Fourteen five, then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timna and they came to the vineyards of Timna. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. Whoa. God's Spirit strengthened Samson to kill the lion, which is really a preview of everything that's about to happen with the Philistines. Samson is strong and he's about to rip apart more than just a lion. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. Well, why in the world not? That seems like a pretty big deal. Hey, Mom and Dad, I was on my way home from school the other day and I ripped open a lion. That's kind of a big thing to keep from Mom and Dad. Dad would be proud of that, you would think. And Mom would cook you a nice supper. Why would you hold that back from your parents? Well, Samson has a pretty good reason to hold it back. It's because a Nazarite wasn't ever supposed to touch a dead body, according to number six, which we just read. All the days he separates himself to the Lord, he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or his mother or for his brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean? He's not even allowed to give his dead mom a hug at the funeral. Samson just killed a lion that violates Nazarite standards. And the way the text goes on, though, Samson's attitude is, hmm, oh well. Then he went down and talked with a woman and she was right in Samson's eyes. It's no big deal to him. There's that phrase again, Samson's doing what's right in Samson's eyes. God's eyes don't seem to matter to Samson. Samson does whatever Samson feels like doing. She looks good to me, get her for me. Samson is the standard for Samson. But as if that weren't enough, after some days, he returned to take her as his wife and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. Oh. Looks like his vow is going to be broken again, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and he went on eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion. Samson is the most nonchalant Nazarite in the history of Nazarites. I mean, look at the way that's told. He's bopping along now, get me a flistine wine. That's some money in there. And he went on eating as he went. It's almost like a cartoon. And as if it weren't enough that he's breaking his own vow, he's now helping his own mom break hers. She's not supposed to eat anything like that either. We've now read three different times, 13, 4, 13, 7, 13, 14, that his mom was not supposed to eat grapes and wasn't supposed to touch anything unclean. And what does Samson do? Takes her to a vineyard to get him a Canaanite wife and gives her unclean food to eat without telling her that it came out of the carcass of a lion. And it gets even worse in verses 10 to 14, because he hosts a bachelor party that's really a seven day kegger. The word for feast is a word that means a drinking party, not just a banquet. They are drinking themselves under the table at this party. Apparently, number six three through four meant nothing to Samson. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink, shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes fresh or dried. All the days of the separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins. What kind of Nazarite is Samson? It means nothing to Samson that he's an Israelite, and it means even less to him that he's a Nazarite. He's now breaking three of the four Nazarite knows. In the first 14 verses of what we know of his life. He's touched the carcass, eaten unclean food, gotten tipsy. And it is all literally a big joke to him. Look at verse 14, out of the eater came something to eat out of the strong came something sweet. I can't drink all day, can't drink forever. So how about a little joke? How about a little wager? And as if. The riddle about his disobedience isn't irreverent enough, he bets them a whole wardrobe that they can't figure it out by the end of the party, which is seven days. Now, it's unclear who these 30 Philistine guys are. But whoever they are, they're three days in and they don't have any. They're not even started on solving the riddle. What does that mean? How do they either give something to eat out of something sweet? What does that mean? So in verse 15, they blackmail Samson's wife. And she lets herself be blackmailed. I mean, her loyalty really isn't to Samson, which makes you wonder, does she really want to marry him at all? Does she maybe know what kind of guy this is? Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us? They're getting mad. They're not they're not happy with Samson. It takes four days, but it works. And Samson starts out strong. Behold, I have not told my father or my mother, am I going to tell you? So much for leaving Cleve, right? It's as if she means nothing to him, but she wears him down eventually, and on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him hard and then she told the riddle to her people. But Samson figures out they used her, which is why he says in verse 18, if you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle. I don't think Samson thinks too much of his new bride. That's no way to talk about your newlywed wife. So Samson loses his own bet. Because they're cheating. And he has to give them 30 linen garments, an undergarment, and 30 changes of clothes, 30 suits. Now, where in the world is Samson going to come up with that kind of thread? Well, knowing Samson, he's not going to buy it and he's not putting it on credit. He's going to go out and kill 30 Philistines. He's going to take their clothes and he's going to do it because the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. Since, of course, all this was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines, God's purposes are clearly coming to pass. God was using Samson's natural passion for personal vengeance and turning it to the divine purpose of saving Israel from the Philistine rule. When Samson gets back to his dad's house, he is irate. And to add insult to injury in verse 20, Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his best man. Oh. This is not good. From our perspective, so we think it's not good. He's sowing the seeds of hostility between Samson and the Philistines, and God is doing it unbeknownst to Samson, who still thinks and will think to the bitter end that this is all really about him getting revenge. Well, in 1501, a few days pass by, Samson cools off a little at home, goes back to Timna to see what he thinks is still his wife. Brings her a little goat. Hey, let's make up. He's got another thing coming, doesn't he? Because her dad gave her to his best man, which lights up Sampson even more because her dad thought, well, I didn't. Well, you stormed out. I didn't think you wanted her anymore. Well, this really makes Samson mad. And so he catches 300 foxes, again, so nonchalant as if that's nothing. You know how long it would take me to catch 300 foxes? Catches 300 foxes as if it's nothing. Ties them by the tail, two by two. Lights their tails to a torch. This is some guy. and sends them through the Philistines grain fields, olive orchards and storage bins at harvest time. That's a hit to the Philistine economy. And when the Philistines find out who did it and why they go kill Samson's wife and her dad, because he's the guy who upset Samson by giving her to Samson's best man. But that move by his former father-in-law upset Samson even more in fifteen seven when they kill his father-in-law and his former bride that upsets him even more. If this is what you do, Philistines, I swear I will be avenged on you. Samson's temper is getting totally out of control. He is operating solely on the motive of personal vengeance, and yet God is using him to save Israel all the while, unbeknownst to Samson. It is not Samson's purpose to save Israel from Philistine rule. It's Samson's purpose to get even. It's so bad in Israel that the only reason any Israelite will ever go against the Philistines is for personal revenge. Otherwise, everyone was cool with Philistine rule. I've met some Philistines are really nice and nicer than you thought. They're fun to party with. Got good wine. No one will step up for the right reasons, so Samson, unbeknownst to him, steps up, but for all the wrong reasons. And all of this, all of it is from the God of the Bible. So, Samson strikes them hip and thigh, brings them to their knees and then he heads for the hills. He thinks, I got to get out of here. Persona non grata, I'm not welcome here anymore. So, he goes and hides. Well, the Philistines aren't just going to take that sitting down, are they? In 1509, they attacked Judah and the men of Judah wonder, what's up? I thought we were cool. Why have you come up against us, they said. And they said, we have come up to bind Samson to do to him as he did to us. They want revenge against Samson. Now, here you expect and you're kind of hoping that the men of Judah would wise up and say, well, we got Samson's back. He's our guy. Because after all, We know the Philistines are the enemy. But instead, look at where they send the three thousand men, the three thousand men of Judah don't go down to Philistia, they don't go down to Gaza, they don't go down to Timna. They go down to the cleft of the rock at Itam, where Samson's hiding out, and they say to Samson, do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? Are you stupid? What then is this thing that you have done to us? Not for us, to us. Judah no longer even wants to be saved from the Philistines. Samson is messing up their truce. They're quite comfortable in Canaan. They're fine with the Philistines. But Samson pushes the blame back on the Philistines in verse eleven, as they did to me, so I've done to them. They killed my wife, so I took down Timna. But instead of taking Samson's side, the men of Judah say to Samson. We have come down to bind you. That we may give you into the hand of the Philistines. Seriously. His own countrymen betray him. They tie him up. They bring him to Lehi, where the Philistines come out swinging at him. But just in time, in verse 14, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire and his bonds melted off his hand and he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey and put out his hand and took it. And with it, he struck a thousand men. And then Samson writes a little ditty. After that, he sits down and thinks, man, You guys see what just happened? You see what I just did? That was awesome. With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey, I have struck down a thousand men. A little bit different from Deborah's song that's praising God for defeating his enemies. Nothing about thanking God, nothing about praising him for doing wonderful works, nothing about thanking him for causing the Spirit of the Lord to rush upon him. Samson likes to sing songs about Samson. But all this fighting has made him thirsty. In 1518, he called upon the Lord. First time he calls upon the Lord in the whole story. Notice that? First time Samson ever calls upon the Lord. It's because he's thirsty. Because he has an appetite that is not satisfying. And he said, you have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant and shall not and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? Wait a minute. Samson, you were just partying with the uncircumcised. What was your concern for ritual purity then? And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi and water came out from it. First time, Samson is called on the Lord for anything, and he only does it because he's thirsty, but remarkably, God is gracious and grants his request. And the way he grants it reminds you of Exodus 17, where God says to Moses, you shall strike the rock and water shall come out of it and the people will drink. Here as their God provides for Samson, even though his whole life has been one giant testing of God's patience with him, just like the Israelites tested God. In Exodus 17 and in both cases, it's not because God's people are obedient that he provides for them, it's because God is patient and gracious and merciful to them. In chapter 15, verse 20, we realize that 20 years have passed with Samson judging Israel. So it looks like Samson's done so in his wild oats. But apparently in 16-1, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Samson goes back to his old ways, to a prostitute in Gaza, a Philistine town, and his old enemies get word that he's there. So they surround the city to arrest him in the morning. But Samson gets up at midnight, beats him to the punch. In verse three, he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts and pulled them up bar and all and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. The city gate is the place of authority and security for any city. That's where you do judgment. And that's what keeps enemies out. And he rips up the gate and carries it on his shoulders. To the Israelite city of Hebron, which is 40 miles uphill all the way. Samson wants Israel to know that he's against the Philistines for his own purposes, and he wants to take him down and he's got the gate to prove it. But as soon as he puts down, so that kind of gives you hope. Well, OK, this is this is where Samson grows up. This is this coming out party. This is where he assembles the Israelite army and says, let's go get him like we should have done at the beginning of the whole book. Doesn't happen, does it? Soon as he puts down the gates, he goes after Delilah. Samson has a literal love-hate relationship with the Philistine. Hates their men, loves their women. And the Philistine Lords see the opportunity to exploit Samson's weakness. They offered Delilah 1100 pieces of silver, which some scholars have valued as much as $15,000,000. They're going to set her for life and then some. And she's all in. So just like in the case with Samson's wife from Timna, so here Delilah seduces him. Tell me where your great strength lies and how you might be bound. One could subdue you. Seriously, this is how it's going to happen. Yeah, it's how it happened. It's like Samson, you've got to understand Samson, though. Samson is into danger, right? He loves it. He loves getting in trouble. He loves pushing limits. He loves seeing if he can get away with stuff. And so it's almost like Samson loves the danger of getting caught by sharing his secret. He's a thrill seeker. And this is all one big game to him. It's a revenge game. So he toys with her. I'll play along. First, he tells her fresh bowstrings would weaken me. And then it's new ropes. Both things that if you use your imagination could look like hair. And now even closer to the truth, weaving his hair together might do it. Closer, closer, closer. This is fun. It's getting more exciting, more dangerous. She might figure it out. What's going to happen? That's Samson's thinking. And all the while, it's almost like the Philistines are hiding somewhere in a closet, ready to pounce. But every time they pounce, Samson gets away. And finally, in 1615, Delilah plays the love card. How can you say I love you? When your heart is not with me. You've mocked me these three times and you have told me you've not told me where your great strength lies. And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day and urged him, just like his Tim Knight wife, his soul was vexed to death, which is a hint of things to come. Well, we will be vexed to death. She's going to be your undoing. She is going to be the death of you. And he told her all his heart and said to her, a razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man. Now, that's surprising, because all this time. You're reading and you're wondering, does Samson even know he's a Nazarite? Did his mom even tell him about that conversation? Because he's not acting like one. And here we find out, yeah, he's known all along. A little disappointing. He's just been blowing it off. And he assumes he'll be able to escape just like before, but he's in for a rude awakening this time. Look at 1620, and she said the Philistines are upon you, Samson, and he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that the Lord had left him. It wasn't just he did not know that she had shaved his hair. He did not know that the Lord had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. That line is so great, because everything is lost here. He has broken his fourth and final Nazarite vow. The secret of his strength was the presence of the Lord, and when he broke his fourth and final Nazarite vow, the Lord left him. If you're no longer going to treat me as special, I'm not going to treat you as special. And it illustrated the fact that the Lord had left Israel at large for her own disobedience to his covenant with them. That's what it illustrated. The eyes that love foreign women were gouged out, and instead of burning Philistine grain as a joke, he ends up grinding it as a slave. But just when you think all is lost, His hair starts to grow back quietly, slowly. And because his hair has been identified with God's presence and Samson's strength, there's a glimmer of hope which propels us into Samson's final scene in 1623 to 31. Now, the Lord, the Lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their God, and to rejoice. And they said, Our God, Dagon, has given Samson, our enemy, into our hand. And when the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, Our God has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country who has killed many of us. This is a religious party. They're at church to a false god. And they look at Samson Impressive as he must have been. And they said, our God Dagon captured that. Let's sing to him. So this is not just about Samson's reputation, this is about God's reputation. And if you know anything about the God of the Bible, you know that he cares most about his reputation. These will prove famous last words. When their hearts were married, they said, call Samson, that he may entertain us. So they called Samson out of the prison and he entertained them. There's a world of shame in that one word, entertained. They made him stand between the pillars and Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, let me feel the pillars on which the house rests that. The text puts it like that for a reason, let me feel the pillars on which the house rests. What's going to happen? That I may lean against them. Now, the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there. And on the roof, there were about three thousand men and women who looked on while Samson entertained. It's putting on a big show. And this is a big setup. Everybody who's anybody is at this party. The Philistines are using the occasion to humiliate Samson, but God uses it to humiliate them because all the Philistine glitterati are together in the temple and Samson's about to literally bring down the house. So what does Samson think of all this? Well, let's listen to him praying in verse 28. Then Samson called to the Lord. That's good. He's praying again and said. Oh, Lord God. Please remember what the glory of your great name that these Philistines are blaspheming by worshiping Dagon. Now. Not what he said. Oh, Lord, God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once. Oh, God, you almost get the feeling like it's sinking in that he knows he's kind of been a failure. That I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes. That's all he's thinking about. Those are the last words of Samson. that I may be avenged for my two eyes. Samson's not offended by what they're saying about Dagon and what that implies about the true God who has filled him with his spirit. Samson isn't interested in defending God's reputation. He's not interested in all the nations, knowing that the Lord God, he is God over all the nations. All Samson wants all the way to the end of his life is personal vengeance on the Philistines for stealing his riddle, gouging out his eyes and killing his wife. Let me get back at them. Let me make them pay for what they did to me. Because they humiliated me, they wronged me. Now, if the story of Samson is just a moralism, if God only say helps those who help themselves. God waits for us to clean ourselves up before he answers our prayers and saves his people. If God makes us righteous before he declares us righteous, then there is no way in heaven that God answers this kind of selfish prayer. No way. But look what happens in verse twenty nine, and Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. That is maybe the most sad, pathetic. Ungodly prayer in the Bible, let me die with the Philistines. All he's ever wanted was to be just like everybody else. And now he is just like everybody else. And all he wants to do is die just like anybody else. He doesn't pray that God would let him die with his parents or his people. The Nazarite asks to die with the Philistines. And yet, he bowed with all his strength and the house fell upon the Lord's and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshterol in the tomb of Manoah, his father. He had judged Israel 20 years. Strange as it is, so it was that God found the opportunity against the Philistines that he was seeking all the way back in chapter fourteen verse four. So what's the point? What's the point of that whole thing? The point is that God is far more committed to our salvation than we are. He is more committed to every aspect of our salvation than we are. He's more committed to freeing us from the clutches of our own sin than we are to being freed from it. We would rather just make peace with it and live with it. Just like the Judahites, God is more committed to our holiness and our special status in the world as his people. He's more committed to conforming us to the image of a son, Jesus Christ, who's more committed to our mission in the world and our calling as a light to the nations and as a city on a hill. Samson was content to philander with a few philistine floozies. That's what his life. That's what he wanted his life to be. Just let me fool around. Judah was so content serving the Philistines that they handed over Samson to them just to keep the peace. And yet, while Samson and Israel are off doing whatever looked right in their own eyes. God, precisely through Samson's apathy. Through his I don't care about being a Nazarite ness. was finding an opportunity against the Philistines, because God is far more committed to our salvation than we are. So, what do we do at that point? What do we do with this story? Eight applications. Eight applications. First, Samson's story is a gut check for our view of God. Samson's story is a gut check for our view of God. It's a theological application. Scripture has to shape our view of God. We cannot let our own assumptions shape how we think about God or what we think God will or won't do or would or would not allow or who he will or will not use. And here we're taught that God is sovereign in our salvation, and God is even sovereign over sin. God gave Israel over to the Philistines in the first place for precisely because Israel did sin and gave them to the Philistines as a punishment. And then he looks for an opportunity against those same Philistines to whom he had given Israel when God says that's enough. And when he can't stand it any longer because he has compassion for his people. And as he looks for that opportunity, he uses man's voluntary, uncoerced and often sinful actions to accomplish his own holy, sovereign, saving purposes. If you want to worship the God of the Bible, You have to accept that because that's how he is. That's what he does. That's how sovereign he is. Samson's only motive throughout this whole passage are self-indulgence and personal vengeance. That's what Samson's about. Give me some honey. Give me that honey. And give me vengeance. Even to the very end, Samson appears totally unconcerned to defend God's glory against the false praises of Dagon. Samson doesn't care about God's reputation or Israel's public interest. Samson cares only for private pleasure and personal revenge. His dying prayer was to avenge his own two eyes, not to spread the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. Samson meant what he did as evil against the Philistines. And the Philistines meant what they did as evil against Samson. But God meant all of it. for good on Israel's behalf. Now, we sometimes find that hard to believe, how can a good God allow or cause evil people to do evil things? I mean, doesn't that make him less worthy of worship? Do I really want to God, do I really want to serve and worship a God who lets this kind of thing happen or uses this kind of stuff? How can all this, this death, this betrayal, this abuse, this immorality, Be from a good God. I don't get that. That's not rational to me. That can't be. I can't get my head around that. But friend, if you will not submit to God's sovereignty over this story because it's too ironic and mind bending for you. Then you'll have even more trouble submitting your mind to the defining act of Christianity. Because nowhere is God's saving sovereignty over sin more evident than in the cross of Christ. The early Christians prayed just that way about Jesus' crucifixion in Acts 4, 27, 28, just as Judas sold Samson to the Philistines, so both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered in Jerusalem to do whatever they wanted to do. Oh, whatever God's hand and plan had predestined to take place. God is sovereign and he saves however he wants to save, and we ought to be grateful for that. Second application, there's something to learn here about ourselves as people, not just about God, but as ourselves, but ourselves as people. Manoah's wife was barren and had no children, that's how the whole thing starts. And we are barren, too, in the sense that we are helpless before God to save ourselves. The Samson narrative is an Old Testament version of Ephesians 2. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were, by nature, children of wrath, just like the rest of mankind, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. That's conversion. That's the life of the church, God creating life out of death, something out of nothing. We cannot give ourselves new desires and inclinations to obey God. We cannot overcome our taste for our favorite sins, we cannot overcome our sinful condition, we cannot produce anything that can impress God or convince him to save us because we're making ourselves savable. The truth is that just like Judah, we don't even want to be safe from our sins. We are totally helpless. We are even unaware that there's anything to be safe from. What do I need to be safe? But praise God, he is our great helper. And just as God was looking for an opportunity against the Philistines while Israel was still content to serve them. So God was already looking for an opportunity against our sin when we were still content serving it. Even before the foundation of the world, God was looking for an opportunity against our sin and against Satan, even while we were working out a peace agreement with our own sin, God was working out his saving plan. And even while we were still God's enemies, Christ died for us. God can give life where there is only barrenness. He can give obedience where there was only disobedience. He can give righteousness where there was only sin. And he does it by his grace in spite of our sin, by the power of his spirit and through the saving death and resurrection of Jesus, precisely because he knows we are helpless to help ourselves. God doesn't help those who help themselves. God helps those who cannot help themselves. Which leads us to our third application, which is a moral application. Nowhere in the text is there repentance for anything. Israel doesn't cry out to God or confess their sin at the beginning. Samson is never motivated by anything but passion and vengeance. Judah has made peace with Philistine rule so much they don't even want Samson to save. So what about you, friend, have you made peace with your sin? And then there's the moral relativism in judges. Samson says, get her for me, for she is right in my eyes. And the whole book ends with that very phrase. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. If you're a non-Christian listening to this this morning, is that not precisely the definition of the modern moral mindset? Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. But look at how self-destructive moral relativism is. Look at what happens when you follow your heart. Look at what happens when you let passion drive you. Look at what your heart makes you want, what leads you. To do what's right in your own eyes is to lose your eyes altogether. Not your physical eyes, but your moral vision. Without God's truth, his law, his love, humanity does not know how to act. And you and I are no exception to that rule. And it's been like this ever since we ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So we might ask, was Samson even saved? Yeah, I think he was. Hebrews 11 indicates that we will see him in heaven. He was a model of faith. Should we imitate his morality? No. We should not. We should only imitate his faith in the God who saves and take comfort in the fact that God saves people because of who he is, not because of who we are and not even because of the quality of our faith or repentance. Yet that does not excuse moral carelessness, which leads us to a devotional application, a devotional application. Samson was totally flippant about being a Nazarene. Just like Israel was flippant about being Israelite, neither Samson nor Israel ever really ever really came to terms with what it means to be God's people. It means that we should be holy as God is holy. If we are God's children, we should bear the family likeness of holiness, and if we don't, we're calling into question whose family am I really a part of? If I don't look like my daddy, then who is my daddy? Is God really my father? So let's not be flippant, either as Christians or as a church, about what it means to be God's people. Let's care about personal holiness. We are not our own. We have been bought with a price, so we should glorify God in our bodies. There's also a cultural application. Samson wanted to be just like anybody else. Just like Israel wanted to be just like all the other nations, Samson resented being a Nazirite, just like Israel resented being Israelites. Samson's mom had just met Yahweh, heard his promise of a son, but when she gives birth, she names him after the sun god. She was an Israelite who had been canonized, and as for Samson, he grew up wanting nothing to do with his Nazarite calling. By the time he meets Delilah, he's so tired of being nagged by Nazarite restrictions and he's so in love with the thrill of all that Delilah represents. Danger, excitement, freedom. That he all but asks her to shave his head so that he can finally be normal, just like everybody else. But as soon as he's clean-shaven, he becomes a slave to his own normality. Samson learns the hard way that being just like the world is not all that is cracked up to be. There's a short-term thrill to it, you better believe it. That little game that he was playing with Delilah in the bedroom, that was probably exhilarating to Samson. But in the end, it's far better to be special to God, far better to be a Nazirite, far better to be a slave to righteousness than to be a slave to sin. Learn that lesson from Samson Sorrows so that you don't have to learn it from your own. True humanity is not found in defining ourselves by our favorite sins, pushing moral boundaries, and trying to agree as much as we can with the world's consensus. It's found in submitting to the boundaries that God has set for us as our creator. Moral self-determination is a myth. You're either a slave to sin or you're a slave to righteousness. So what will it be for you? But Samson doesn't just teach us about individual morality. He teaches us about the distinctiveness of the church. God wants a clear, thick line between his people and the world. Samson blurred that line by his trists with foreign women. Israel blurred that line by her trists with foreign gods. The church should be careful to keep that line clear and bright. We're not supposed to blend in. We're supposed to stick out. In a good way, it's not that we leave the world to live in a Christian compound or have zero non-Christian friends, nor is it that we should separate from other Christians who don't separate from people we think they should separate from. But we should be different from the world in our character, in our conduct and in our worship. As Christians, we should be salt and light at work and in our neighborhood. That's why we pray like we do on Sunday mornings. As a church, we should be a city on a hill, a temple for God's dwelling, set apart for the express purpose of bringing him spiritual sacrifices of worship. But Samson's story, as old as it is, was not even new in his own day. It was a revival of the age old war of the seeds, which we hinted at earlier. When Adam refused to accept God's limitations, this is the seventh application, by the way, for you diligent note takers. When Adam refused to accept God's limitations on his humanity, he allied himself with Satan's rebellion against God's rule. He showed which side he was on, and it wasn't God's, it was Satan's. Satan's got my best interest at heart. I better eat from the tree of the knowledge of good or evil, or I am going to be a slave to God for the rest of my life. And I don't want to be morally ignorant. When he did that, God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden. But before he evicted them, he gave him a promise in Genesis 315. I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. God would break Adam's alliance with Satan. Israel did the same thing, she came into Canaan to clean house, but she ended up playing house. She made peace with Philistine rule, Philistine ways, Philistine gods, Philistine women. But God drove a wedge between Israel and the Philistines, and his name was Samson. It was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines, who at that time ruled over Israel. Humanity has allied itself with Satan, and yet God has put animosity between us and him. God has driven a wedge between us and Satan, and his name is Jesus. Final eighth application is Christological to Christ in so many ways. Samson's life is a prequel to what Jesus would eventually be and do. Samson's birth is announced by an angel. He's born of a woman who is naturally powerless to give birth. He was supernaturally filled with the Holy Spirit. He comes to a people who don't want to be saved and who end up giving him over into the hands of his enemies. When Judah asked Samson, do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? They sound just like the chief priests in John 19 handing Jesus over to Pilate with a line. We have no king but Caesar. It's the same thing. Don't mess up what we got going here. We don't want to be saved. We got this. Like Jesus, Samson was sold out by those who profess to be closest to him, like Jesus, Samson's enemies publicly humiliated him. And yet just when his enemies think they've neutralized him, the hair of his head began to grow again. And he rises, as it were, to break his bonds and defeat God's enemies and bring God's promises of salvation to pass through his death. Like Jesus, Samson brings God's promises to pass through his own death, and in the end, he prevails over God's enemies by reliance on the spirit. Jesus' death and resurrection are the ultimate proof that God is still committed to our salvation far more than we are. Samson's very last prayer was selflessly motivated. All he was thinking about was personal vengeance for his eyes, and yet God had a greater purpose for the desires in Samson's heart. And when Samson prayed that God would remember him, God heard and God granted Samson's request in spite of his sinful motivation, in spite of Samson's lifelong contempt for his calling as a Nazarite. God said. Yes. I will. That is not God helping those who help themselves, that is grace, that is mercy. By the end of the story, what we should be marveling at is not Samson's sin, but God's faithfulness and mercy to Samson in spite of his sin. It is God's commitment to his people, even though they have rejected their special status, just like Samson rejected his. What about you, Christian? When was the last time you marveled at God's mercy to you? Let's pray together.