My text this morning will be
found in the Old Testament book of Judges. Judges chapter 15. While you're turning there, let
me just, in way of introduction, tell you that when I was young,
my mother used to read to me out of a Bible storybook that
I had received as a gift. It was an illustrated book for
young boys and girls. I love the stories of creation,
Adam and Eve and the serpent. I love the story of Noah's Ark,
the story of God dividing the Red Sea, the story of David and
Goliath. But I suppose my favorite biblical
character was Samson. Every boy loves the idea of a
strong, larger-than-life hero. Samson's great strength always
captured the imagination of my young mind. I loved how he toyed
with his enemies with riddles and defeated and conquered them
with little or no effort. Often in illustrated Bible stories,
like the one I had, Samson is this big, large man ripping with
muscles. But more than likely, in all
reality, Samson was probably a man of ordinary stature, not
having any outward evidence of strength that would bring any
attention to him. You see, like our Lord in that
respect, Samson had the appearance of an ordinary man. And concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ, the prophet Isaiah wrote, when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Samson's
strength and Samson's power was a miraculous gift given by God,
not something that was based upon his personal physique. Samson,
like all God's saints, was a recipient of God's love, mercy, and grace. in the book of Judges concerning
Samson. In many ways, many, many ways,
he pictures and typifies Christ, our great champion and hero. And yet in many other ways, he
pictures and reveals to us what men and women are by nature,
desperate sinners. constantly in need of God's love,
mercy, and grace. Do you see your need of God's
love, mercy, and grace this day? You know, we can't say much about
Samson being a good example to believers. A man that no other
man could overcome, yet he was a man who lost his eyes, his
sight, over his love for a woman whom God had forbidden him to
marry. His worldly demise came about through his disobedience
to God. Here was a man who could choke
the life out of a young lion in the prime of his life, the
lion being in the prime of his life with his own bare hands,
and yet he was rendered helpless by a haircut. Blinded, had his
eyes put out by his love for a woman. Bound with fetters of
brass and made to turn the hand mill, as a beast in the prison
house. And in the end, he lost his life
as he delivered his people from their enemies. Does that sound
familiar to you? Samson certainly in many ways
pictures Christ, our Savior and Deliverer, our Lord, as a man
was rendered helpless and forsaken of God as he hung upon the cross. His hair wasn't cut, it was plucked
out. by those that hated him without
a cause. Our Lord was blind to the sin
of his people as he was making their sin his own. And our Lord, he lost his life
in his people's place, nailed to the cross as a beaten beast
of burden. And the Old Testament biographies
were never written for our imitation, but they were most certainly
written for our instruction. We are to learn from them. And
Samson provides for us a unique look at a man who was in many
ways like our Savior, and yet in many other ways was like you
and I, the sinners that we are. Now this morning as we read these
verses together, I desire for us to be comforted. You know,
that's God's command to the preacher. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. So I want you to be comforted
this morning by knowing that salvation is by God's mercy and
grace to you. It's not by a work of righteousness
that we attempt to do ourselves. And that's nothing new to your
ears. You hear that time and time again
from this pulpit. You have some of you for 40 years
or better. Let me first give you just a
little bit of history of what's going on here in Chapter 15 of
Judges. In this chapter, Samson has for
some time been alienated from his Philistine wife. He goes
to see her, but her father denies him of doing so. We see that
in verse 1. And his father-in-law tells him
that he's given her to another man. He offers him her younger
sister instead. And then in verse three, Samson
says that because of this act against him, that it would make
him blameless in his retaliation to them. In other words, they
would deserve what they had coming to them by his hand. And it's
important to remember that Samson was, according to the will and
purpose of God, a judge in Israel. He was Israel's deliverer from
the bondage of the Philistines. And isn't this a picture of what
God will do to all who deal unjustly with His appointed Savior and
deliverer? You better believe that Christ
is blameless in His judgment and wrath against unbelievers. Every rebellious sinner deserves
exactly what they get from God. So look at what Samson does,
verse four. And Samson went and caught 300
foxes and took far brands and turned tail to tail and put a
far brand in the midst between two tails. Now let me try to
explain to you what's going on here. Samson traps 300 foxes. That's no small feat in itself. And he ties a rope to each of
the foxes' tails. And then he ties each of those
ropes to a torch. And the end result, you've got
two foxes tied together with a torch in between them. Can
you picture this? You've got 150 pairs, 300 in
all, foxes tied together with fire between their tails, trying
to go in two different directions, and they're setting on fire everything
in between them. Look at verse five, and when
he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing
corn of the Philistines and burn up both the shocks, meaning the
corn that had already been harvested, and also the standing corn with
the vineyards and olives. Boy, you talking about some serious
devastation here to the Philistines. They lost crops of corn, grapes
for wine, olives to make oil. And verse 6, then the Philistines
said, who had done this? And they answered, Samson, the
son-in-law of the Timnite. Because he had taken his wife
and given her to his companion, and the Philistines came up and
burnt her and her father with fire. And when I read that at
the end of that verse, and I don't know if I'd ever noticed that
before, but I thought to myself, isn't that just like the world?
Isn't that just like religion? That's what the Philistines picture
here, just like the Babylonians and all those idolatrous nations,
they picture this world and the religion, the self-centered religion
that it possesses. I'm telling you, both will kill
you and claim they're doing God great service. The world, men
and women by nature, religious and non-religious, are always
looking for someone or somewhere to place the blame for their
actions. The Lord Jesus said in John 16 verse 2, They shall
put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service. Now, verse
7, And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, this
act against him, Yet will I be avenged of you. In other words,
I'm going to wipe you out and I'm going to make you extinct.
And after that, I will see. Samson is saying that he's not
going to stop until all of them are dead. In verse 8, he smote
them hip and thigh with a great slaughter and he went down and
dwelt in the top of the rock of Edom. Then the Philistines
went up and pitched in Judah and spread themselves in Lehi. And notice verse 10, and the
men of Judah said, now these are Samson's own people. They
asked the Philistines, they said, why are you come up against us?
And they answered, to bind Samson are we come to do to him as he
had done to us. You see, the Philistines here
were gonna render to Samson an eye for an eye and a tooth for
a tooth. But God had made Samson, as I
said a moment ago, a judge and a deliverer to his chosen people.
Men cannot make themselves, now listen to me, men cannot make
themselves God's judge. They try, but mankind's in no
position to judge one another, much, much more God. They may have come to see to
it that Samson reaped what he had sown, but their efforts would
be futile. God had ordained Samson to destroy
these God-hating idolaters. And God had predetermined the
time which had not yet come. So they're not going to do anything
to him. And when Samson was finally taken, as you read on in the
book of Judges, it was by the will, purpose, and good pleasure
of God who allowed it for a whole other reason. If you remember
the end of the story, as he was there where they were having
great games in the big arena, Blind as he was, the Lord restored
his strength and I think with the act of pushing on the pillars
of that place, wiped out the biggest part of the Philistines.
So that's what's going on here. And I thought to myself, like
our Lord Jesus, Samson was eventually taken by the wicked hands of
his enemies, but it was according to the determinate counsel and
for knowledge of God. Just the same as it was with
our Lord. Now verse 11 says, Then three thousand men of Judah,
these being Samson's own people, went to the top of the rock Edom,
and they said to Samson, now this is his own people coming
to him, and they say, Knowest thou not that the Philistines
are rulers over us? Well sure he knew it. And He
knew that He was their Deliverer from them. And they asked Him,
What is this that Thou hast done unto us? And He said unto them,
As they did unto Me, so have I done unto them. Now, if you'll
notice the words here, it's pretty much the same statement Samson
makes to the men of Judah. as the Philistines did in verse
10. Samson said, as they did unto
me, so have I done unto them. But here's the difference. Here's
the difference between the Philistines and Samson. Samson was God's
judge of Israel. He was God's deliverer. His purpose
in life, The purpose to which God called him was to deliver
his people out of the bondage of these Philistines. If he murdered
every one of them, he was only doing what God had purposed for
him to do. And doesn't that picture our
Lord Jesus Christ? Oh my, He came into this world
to seek and to save that which was lost. He came into the world
to save sinners. He died the just for the unjust
that He might bring us to God. His purpose in life was to save
His people from their sin. Here Samson pictures the justice
of God's holy law. He claims, as they did unto me,
so have I done unto them. That's what God's law says. If
you're determined to trust in your own works, do some work
of righteousness of your own as a means of salvation, I'm
telling you right now, you're going to lose. You're going to
come out on the short end of the stick. Your righteous work
has to be perfect to be accepted. And no man or woman can do a
perfect work of righteousness. God's justice will not accept
anything less than perfection. Paul said in Galatians 4, he
says, tell me ye that desire to be under the law, do you not
hear the law? Do you not hear what the law
says? Sinner, if you desire to be under the law, then you've
not yet heard what the law says. The law says guilty. All are
guilty. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Are we dare gonna stand before
God in a work of righteousness that we do? For whosoever shall
keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, guilty of all.
Guilty, guilty, James 2.10. Under God's law, listen, men
and women reap what they sow. Under God's law, we are but guilty,
and we deserve the judgment and the wrath of God. Under God's
law, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Okay, verse 12. And they, the men of Judah, being
his own people, said unto him, we are come down to bind thee,
that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.
And Samson said unto them, swear unto me that you will not fall
upon me yourselves. Now what does he mean here? What
he's saying to them is though Judah was 3,000 men strong, Samson
lets them know that he does not fear them. And if they in any
way harm him themselves, that he'll defend himself even against
them. His request for them to promise him no harm is really
one of mercy and grace, when you think about it. Because any
opposition to Samson, who was their deliverer, would have brought
them great harm. And he didn't wish to harm his
own people. Why, his God-given purpose was
to deliver them out of their bondage. Now again, I ask you,
does that not picture our Lord and His mercy and grace toward
His people? Any opposition to Christ as Savior
and Deliverer brings only condemnation and judgment and wrath and death
to the sinner. Why? Because the adversaries
of the Lord will be broken to pieces. Christ himself warns
us of that in Matthew 21, broken to pieces those that fall upon
Christ the rock. So in verse 13, they promise
and swear unto Samson saying, no, but we will bind thee fast
and deliver thee into their hand, but surely we will not kill thee.
And they bound him with two new cords and brought him up from
the rock. Now the 3,000 men of Judah swore
not to harm him. Samson submits to their arrest. And that's what he did. He voluntarily
submitted, didn't he? Why, he could have ripped those
scores. He does. He submits to their arrest. Boy, didn't that sound familiar.
They bind him with these ropes, and they bring him down from
the mountain peacefully. Then something happens. Oh, I'm
telling you. Verse 14, and when he, Samson,
came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him. Now, that
word shout here means with joy. They shouted. They were patting each other
on the back. They were giving each other a
high five. We got him. We got him right where we want
him. And I don't have any doubt that
they begin to mock the inability of Samson's God, I thought he
was God's man. I thought he was God's deliverer
for the people of Israel. Look at him now. He's bound in
ropes and we've got him right where we want him. But read on,
verse 14. And the Spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon him. And the cords that were upon
his arms became as flax. That word means thread. Flax
burned with fire and his bands loosed from his hands. And he
found a new jawbone of an ass. and put forth his hand and took
it, and slew a thousand men therewith." Can you imagine? A thousand men.
And Samson said, with the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps,
with the jaw of an ass, have I slain a thousand men. Now isn't that an amazing story? Isn't that an amazing deliverance? But it's not the end of the story.
Do you notice that the last words out of Samson's mouth in verse
16 were with the jaw of an ass? Have I slain a thousand men? There's no doubt there's a little
arrogance and a little vainglory in that statement. I'm telling
you now, God will never, He'll never allow His servants to take
credit for His work of deliverance. God has a way, doesn't He, of
reminding us who's in control of every act of providence. God
has a way to show His people that He's large and in charge. God's not going to allow His
people to get puffed up with pride. Not His people He's not. By humility and the fear of the
Lord are riches and honor and life. Proverbs 22, four. Okay, read on verse 17. And it
came to pass when he had made an end of speaking, no sooner
than his bragging words fell from his mouth that he cast away
the job bone out of his hand and called that place Rahmat
Lehi. And he was sore a thirst. Here we have a great lesson for
the child of God. If you don't get anything else
out of this message this morning, I hope you get there. Child of
God, like Samson and the people of Israel, you and I have experienced
many, many great deliverances at his hand in our life. Is that
not so? God in Christ has delivered us
from sin, Oh, what a great deliverance. All of our sin are like giants.
Any one of them is sufficient to send us forever to hell. But
rejoice, you've been delivered from your sin. There's not a
single sin that speaks a word against you. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Christ
has alone trodden the winepress of God's wrath for you. Has Christ
not delivered you from your sin? Has he not delivered you from
many doubts and fears? Boy, I tell you, we're just full
of doubts and fears, aren't we? By nature we are. Do you remember
how you doubted that God would ever have mercy on you? Do you
remember when you feared that God would or could save anyone
but you? Oh, that was something I used
to struggle with. Oh, I can see how He can save
others, but not me. Do we think that God's not able
to save all His people to the uttermost? Even now we've got
doubts and fears, within and without. The reason we take our
eyes off Christ, just like Peter did when he got out on that water,
We observe the wind and the rain and the waves of life's storms
against us, and we begin to sink. Oh, keep your eyes on Him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and walk with Him on top of the water. He's
delivered us time and time and time again from sin, doubts,
and fear. What about temptations? Temptations
are all around us, aren't they? Though the believers tempted
by many things, were comforted in knowing that we have not a
high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. There is no temptation that hath
taken you as is common to man, but God is faithful who will
not suffer you, allow you to be tempted, Above that ye are
able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that
ye may be able to bear it." God's not going to put anything on
you that you cannot bear. What about sorrows? The Lord
has delivered us from many sorrows. I look out upon you today, know
many of you for years. Some have lost parents, some
have lost children, some have lost spouses, some have lost,
all of us have lost friends. Like Job's messengers, it seems
sometimes as though sad tidings just bring sorrow after sorrow.
After one comes, here comes another. This one goes away and then here
comes another one, just like the messengers of Job. While
one finished speaking, here came another. Oh, I'm telling you,
many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth
him out of them all. That's God's Word to you. Oh,
many, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord
delivereth out of them all, every one of them. David said, it's
good for me that I've been afflicted. Why in the world would anybody
say that? That sure ain't what the world thinks, is it? David
said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted. Why, David? Because
in my affliction, it brought me to the Lord. I've learned
His ways. I've been taught who He is and
taught that He's working all these things together for my
good and for His glory. Oh, it's good for me. It's good
for me. And would I be out of line to
say, if you are here today without Christ, I pray that He might
send you some trouble. If it brings you to Christ, I
don't think that's an unreasonable prayer. Oh Lord, send us trouble
that we might trust in Thee. Mr. Spurgeon once said that whatever
form our affliction takes, Mercy always takes a suitable form
to meet it. When the arrow flew to kill us, God was our shield. When the darkness gathered against
us, Christ is our light. When you had to fight, He was
our sword. When you needed support, He's
our staff. We're all debtors to God, aren't
we? Our greatest boast is that we have nothing to boast of. Regardless of all the deliverances
though, listen to me. I want this to help you, I really
do. I want it to help me. Regardless of all the deliverances
that we've experienced, know this. Fresh trouble always comes. It's coming. It's coming. After Samson's great fight with
these Philistines, he finds a new kind of trouble. Look at verse
18. And he was sore thirst. And he called on the Lord, and
he said, thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand
of thy servant. His attitude changed a little.
Did you notice that? And now shall I die for thirst
and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? And as I read
that verse, I thought, what a profession of both faith and fear in one
brief statement. First he claims that God had
given him this great deliverance. And then he believes that he's
going to die of thirst. Boy, isn't that a picture of
you and I? Boy, we're on the mountaintop one minute and down
in the valley the next. Is that not the case with you?
Boy, it is me. Man, I'm telling you, Lord, I
believe. Lord, help my unbelief. Up one
minute, down the next. That's such a picture of us.
Faithful and faithless, all wrapped up in one sad package. God's
going to teach His people something of their smallness, something
of their nothingness. Has He taught you? Has He shown
you who and what you are? No doubt God has done great things
for us. He's done great things for us
thereof we are glad. That's what the psalmist said.
But isn't it amazing how one small inconvenience, one little
difficulty along the way can steal away the comfort of our
great salvation. It ought not be so. It's lack
of faith in He who loved us and gave Himself for us. Samson faces
and slays a thousand Philistines. He piles them up in what's heaps. I mean, he's got, he's piling
up probably three or four bodies deep. Then he worries about God
providing him with a little water. Oh my, there's a picture of us.
Isn't it amazing how dry God can make the boasting throat
of a proud sinner? Man, He can dry you up quick. The psalmist said this, in my
prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. And then just a few
words later, the next words out of his mouth were, thou didst
hide thy face and I was troubled. Oh, if the Lord just hide his
face for a moment, my, my. We fall to pieces, don't we?
Do you see your weakness? Do you see your nothingness?
Our Father has prepared a feast before us in the presence of
our enemies. Our cup runs over. God's manna
falls from heaven fresh every day, and it's always close at
hand. Do we dare fret that God will
not provide a little drink of water in time of trouble? Dear
believer, you've been weighed in the balance of God's justice
and are found wanting. But let me tell you this. This
is the good news that I have for you. You're still secure
in Christ. You're still secure. Everything's
still gonna be all right. Your salvation is not based upon
your work of righteousness, but upon His. God will certainly
deliver you out of your trouble. Present trouble, whether large,
whether small, He'll deliver you as He always has. Don't we
quickly forget how often the Lord has delivered us? Our confidence
is found in the fact that God's already delivered us. You look
over the battlefield of your life and observe the heaps of
slaughtered sins, fears, doubts, temptations, and trouble that
lie behind you. Do you think that he would now
let you die after all he's done for you? God will not allow you
to fall into the hand of your enemy, not if you're one of his. Isn't that what concerned Samson?
He says, and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the
hand of the uncircumcised? Faint, weary, thirsty, Samson
says, shall I become their victim? No, sir. God won't allow it. God's not going to allow it.
You know the road to sorrow is a well-traveled road. It's a
regular sheep path. to heaven. All the flock of God
have walked it. God's going to see to it that
you stay dependent on Him. He is. You know it so. He's going
to see to it that you continue to trust in Him and Him alone. He'll always see to it that you
need Him. Only those that are sick have
need of a physician. Those that are well have no need.
The question is, do you see your sickness? Do you see your need
of Christ our Savior? God always provides that which
we need. Look at verse 19. But God claimed
a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water there
out. And when he had drunk, his spirit
came again, and he revived. Wherefore, he called the name
thereof in Hachoree, which is in Lehi, and to this day." Now,
God caused water to come out of that jawbone of an ass. And
don't you just imagine, I thought about this. Now, I'm not trying
to stretch the picture or the type here, but it's a very good
thought, really an interesting thought. Don't you imagine that
that jawbone was bloody, being used to kill a thousand men?
Well, you know it had to be. And then out of that jawbone
flowed water and blood. We sing Rock of Ages. Cleft for
me, let me hide myself in thee. That's the only refuge, the only
hiding place we have. And then the hymn writer wrote,
let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure, safe from wrath and make me pure.
Samson called the place, I believe I'm pronouncing this right, Anhockree. And you know what that means?
It means the well for him who cries. Is Jesus Christ not that well?
He's the well for those who cry. Cry unto Him. Oh, out of the
depths have I cried unto Thee, O Lord. Hear my voice. Do you need water? Are you thirsty? Will you cry for it? Do you believe
the words of our Lord when He said, if any man thirsts, let
him come unto Me and drink? Do you believe Him when He said,
I'll give unto him that is a thirst the fountain of water of the
water of life freely? You see, it's this water that
will revive you. Do you want a drink from this
well? It's the well for whom Christ, oh my God, enable you
to drink.