Go with me back to Judges 16. This is the last chapter of the
record of Samson's life. And from the time that he became
a man, Everything that is recorded concerning him is in connection
with a woman. Everything. In all the details
that are given about his life, they are the details of his relationship
with a woman. That really struck me. Everything that is declared concerning
him has to do with his love for a woman. What came from his love for a
woman, what that love cost him. And that's a picture of Christ
because that is exactly what the record of Christ is concerning,
this entire record of Christ. Everything that is recorded in
all of God's word is concerning the relationship of Christ and
his bride. All of it is concerning his love
for his bride and what his love for his bride cost him. It's not that his bride loved
him. It's that he loved his bride
and gave himself for her. That is the record. If his bride loves him, it's
only because he loved her first, only. We see that through this
entire book concerning Christ, this entire book. And as a picture
of Christ, we see that through this entire record concerning
Samson. As I've pointed out to you, there
are three women mentioned in the life of Samson. One in chapter
14, two here in chapter 16. The first one was a Philistine,
the enemy, all right? The enemy of Samson, Samson's
enemy. The second one we're about to
see is a harlot, a sinner. A sinful woman of the night.
The third one, just like the first one, is a traitor. She's one of the most famous
traitors that there is. Everybody's heard of the story
of Samson and Delilah. So three women, okay? They came
from three different cities. The first one in chapter 14,
was from Timnath. That name means assigned portion. And God's elect people were the
assigned portion to Christ. And Christ is the assigned portion
to God's people. Lamentations 3 says, the Lord
is my portion. The second city here in chapter
16 is Gaza. Verse 1 says, then went Samson
to, it's pronounced Gaza in the scripture, but everybody in the
world today says Gaza, so we'll go with that. Then went Samson
to Gaza. That name means the strong. And that's Christ. And that's
his people in Christ. The third city here in chapter
16 is in verse four. If you look there, it says, and
it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley
of Sorek. That name means choice vines. Christ said, I am the vine. Christ
is the choice vine. But he said his people were the
branches of that vine. They are the choice vines in
him. So we can see how these three
women collectively represent the bride of Christ. These three
women represent the bride of Christ. In herself, the bride
in herself, and the bride in Christ. In herself, the bride
is an enemy, harlot, traitor. But in Christ, in the election
of the father, in the redemption of the son, in the calling and
quickening of the spirit. She is the assigned portion,
strong choice bond. This is very interesting to me,
but of all these women, only one name is given. His wife,
in chapter 14, a name was never given. Just kept calling her
his wife, no name given. The harlot's name is not given. But we're told what this third
woman's name is. Her name very perfectly describes
the bride of Christ. Verse four, it came to pass afterward
he loved a woman in the valley of Sorok whose name was Delilah. Her name means feeble. That's
what the bride of Christ is, feeble. That's what we are, feeble. We just sang our first song tonight,
said frail children of dust and feeble as frail. That's worse
than frail. That's what we are, feeble as
frail. So let's look at this last chapter
here. Let's see this picture of what
Christ had to endure to love and deliver his people, spiritual
Israel, his bride. All right, verse one, it says,
then went Samson to Gaza and saw there and harlot, and went
in unto her. You know, you read that and think,
how could a man that is supposed to represent Christ, how could that be said of a man
that is pointing us to Christ? Well, there's another man in
the scripture who is pointing us to Christ and his name is
Hosea. The Lord devoted an entire book
in the Bible to the story of Hosea. In that story, the Lord
told that man, there is a harlot in the gutter whose name is Gomer. I want you to go to her and take
her to be your wife. A harlot. Why would the Lord
tell Hosea to do that? It's because that's a picture
of what Christ did. That is exactly what Christ did. That's a picture
of what we are in our flesh. Every soul in this room had our
conversation in times past, and it wasn't that long ago, could
have been seconds, lived our lives, In the lust
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the
mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others,
vile, wicked, wretched, unfaithful harlots. But in the blood of Christ, that's
who was made to be a chaste virgin to him. That's amazing, isn't
it? Verse 1, Then went Samson to
Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. And it
was told the Gazite, saying, Samson is come hither. And they
compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate
of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning,
when it is day, we shall kill him. The enemies of Christ. They are the enemies of God's
people. And those enemies are sin, death,
and hell. Everything that came upon us
encompassed us to consume us. All of that was laid on Him.
All of that was turned to Him on the cross of Calvary. But
by the victory of the cross, we see that sin, death, and hell
didn't have any dominion over Him. And it doesn't have dominion
over his people in him. Verse two, it was told the Gazites
saying Samson has come hither and they compassed him in and
laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city and were
quiet all the night saying in the morning when it is day, we
shall kill him. At 6 a.m., that was the morning
for them. You know, when it's the next
day, we're just gonna be quiet and wait this out. And at six
o'clock in the morning, we're gonna kill him. Verse three,
and Samson lay till midnight, six hours before that, and arose
at midnight and took the doors of the gate of the city and the
two posts and went away with them, bar and all, and put them
on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of an hill
that is before Hebron. They surrounded the city and
said, we have him locked in. All we have to do is wait. And
at midnight, he walked up to the gate of that city and ripped
it out of the ground. Post, gates, post, bar, you know,
they bar the gates. Gates, post, bar and all. Carried him on his shoulders
from Gaza to Hebron, 37 miles. He walked with those gates for
10 hours. He took the gates away. Psalm
9 verse 13 says, Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death. Psalm 107 says, Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful
works to the children of men, for he hath broken the gates
of brass and cut in sundry, cut the bars of iron in sundry. He
busted the gates down. He set his people free from the
gates and the bars of sin, death, and hell. Verse 4, and it came
to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek,
whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein
his great strength lieth. And by what means we may prevail
against him, that we may bind him to afflict him, and we will
give thee, every one of us, 1,100 pieces of silver. We have a new
woman, so we have a new picture that starts all over with sin.
We've come back to sin again. After all that, we've come back
to the sin of God's people again. Sin came upon this woman. That's what happened in the Garden
of Eden. That's what happened with one that was supposed to
be Christ's own familiar friend, Judas. They said to him, we're
gonna give you silver. You'll just turn him over to
us. And I will tell you, that is
what happens in the heart, in the mind, and in the deeds of
every one of his people still to this day. Every one of us,
we still sin against Him. We do it consciously, aware,
yes, in awareness, we know we shouldn't, and in boldness to
His face, knowing He's looking right on us, we do it anyway. We sin against Him, and we sin
against Him, and we sin against Him. We've been delivered from the
power of sin, we've been delivered from the penalty of sin, but
we still have the presence of sin. And we will until the day
that we lay this sinful body down. Verse six. And Delilah said to Samson, tell
me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith
thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. What arrogance. Tell me exactly what it would
take to weaken you. And Samson said unto her, if
they bind me with seven green widths that were never dried,
then shall I be weak and be as another man. Then the lords of
the Philistines brought up to her seven green widths, which
had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were
men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber, and she said
unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson, and he break
the widths as a thread of toe is broken when it toucheth the
fire, so his strength was not known. She sinned against him. Verse 10, and Delilah said unto
Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me and told me lies. Now tell
me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound? And he said
unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were
occupied, then shall I be weak and be as another man. Delilah
therefore took new ropes and bound him therewith and said
unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there
were liars in wait abiding in the chamber and he break them
from off his arms like a thread. She sinned against him. Verse
13. And Delilah said unto Samson,
hitherto hast thou mocked me and told me lies. Tell me wherewith
thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, if thou
weavest the seven locks of my head with the web, if you put
my hair in a spinning weave, in a weaver's web. So she did, and she fastened
it with the pin and said unto him, the Philistines be upon
thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep
and went away with the pin of the beam. And with the web, she
sinned against him. She sinned against him. She sinned
against him. She sinned against him. Did he
know she was sinning against him? Sure he did. He saw the
green widths. He saw the ropes. He saw the
weaver's beam. Sure he did. Does our God know that we're
sinning against him? Sure he does. What amazing love. This is the
bride of Christ. This right here is the bride
of Christ. This is you and me. Verse 15. She said unto him, how canst
thou say I love thee when thine heart is not with me? That thou hast mocked me these
three times and has not told me wherewith thy great strength
lieth. And it came to pass when she
pressed him daily with her words and urged him so that his soul
was vexed unto death. Because of her, his soul was
vexed unto death. Verse 16, it came to pass when
she pressed him daily with her words and urged him so that his
soul was vexed unto death that he told her all his heart. and said unto her, there hath
not come a razor upon mine head, for I have been a Nazarite unto
God from my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength
will go from me, and I shall become weak and be like any other
man. In his love for her, he willingly
told her all his heart. allowed her, you know, our God
will allow us to continue in sin. He will allow
us to continue in sin. And He knew her heart and He knew
what she was doing. In his own willingness, he told
her all of his heart. He didn't hide it. He said, here
it is, if I lay my glory by, if my glory is taken from me,
like as a sheep dumb before his shearer, if I am shorn, If I am the lamb sheared, if I'm humbled, as a Nazirite,
shaving the hair meant the covenant was fulfilled. That's what you
grew the hair until the covenant was fulfilled. And then as soon
as it was fulfilled, you shaved the hair, cast it into a fire. And he's saying, if the fulfillment
and finishing of the covenant is brought to me, I will enter into the weakness
of man. And that's what was brought on
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. He, in that moment, sweat great
drops of blood. He was crying, Father, if it
be possible, remove this cup from me. Weakness, I hate to even say
that, but our weakness was laid on him. He bore the burden of the strength
and weight of our sin. He said, this sorrow is so great
I could die from this. Verse 17, or verse 16, it came
to pass when she pressed him daily with her words and urged
him so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her
all his heart and said unto her, there hath not come a razor upon
mine head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb.
If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall
become weak and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that
he had told her all his heart, She sent and called for the lords
of the Philistines saying, come up this once for he hath showed
me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her and brought money in their hand. And she
made him sleep upon her knees and she called for a man and
she caused him to shave off the seven locks on his head. And
she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. This started with the Philistines
saying, we want to afflict him. That's how all this started.
The Philistines said, we want to afflict him. Verse 19 says,
she afflicted him. It was Christ's own bride that
afflicted him. But verse 19 says, it was all
at the hand of a man. A man shaved his head. That man
represents God the Father. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. This was all done at the hand
of God Almighty. God's people only did what he
predetermined for to be done. Verse 19, and she made him sleep
upon her knees and she called for a man and she caused him
to shave off the seven locks of his head and she began to
afflict him. And his strength went from him.
And she said, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he
awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times
before and shake myself. And he wished not, he knew not
that the Lord was departed from him. The Lord departed from him. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me? That's what it took for Christ
to deliver his people. The Lord had to depart from him.
Verse 21, but the Philistines took him and put out his eyes. I have a margin in my Bible that
says, Bored out. I mean they removed his eyes. Total darkness. He entered into
total darkness. That's what our sin did to Christ. It brought him and led him into
total darkness. Lamentations 3, speaking of Christ,
says, He hath led me and brought me into darkness but not into
light. He hath set me in dark places
as they that be dead of old. While our Lord hung on that cross,
he was in darkness. Darkness was all over the land
for three hours. Darkness. Verse 21, but the Philistines
took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza
and bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the
prison house. In his darkness, Christ endured
the work that his father sent him to do, the work of leading
his captivity captive, the work of delivering his people from
the prison cell. by entering that prison cell
in their place. Verse 21, the Philistines took
him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and
bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison
house. Howbeit, the hair of his head began to grow again after
he was shaven. It began to grow in that darkness,
in the midst of that work, Verse 23, then the lords of the Philistines
gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto
Dagon, their God, and to rejoice, for they said, our God hath delivered
Samson, our enemy, into our hand. As so many people say, Satan
did this, the devil did this, the adversary did this. And when
the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, our
God hath delivered into our hands our enemy. and the destroyer
of our country, which slew many of us. The enemy said, we have
gotten the victory in this. Our little G God has delivered
him into our hands. And that's what the enemies of
Christ said too. They said, his death is our victory. For a brief
moment, they said, his death is our victory. No, his death
was God's victory. When they bruised his heel, he
crushed their heads. Verse 25, And it came to pass,
when their hearts were merry, 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. And they set him
between the pillars. He was taken from prison. Verse 26, 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. He said, I want to feel the two
pillars that this house of idolatry is standing on, sin and death. Hebrews 4 says, Our Lord touched
the feeling of our infirmities. Verse 27, 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. How many Psalms do we have being
the words of our Lord crying from the grave? Hear me, remember
me, be merciful unto me. I know you will not leave me
here. 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. He said, once is
all it's gonna take. Once. This one time, this will
take care of it. Verse 29, 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. John 19 says, and gave up the
ghost. Bowed his head and gave up the
ghost. He bowed himself with all his
might and the house fell upon the lords and upon the people
that were therein. So the dead which he slew at
his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Isaiah 53 says he was numbered
with the transgressors. He made his grave with the wicked. He died with the sin of his people. He died with that sin. When that
sin died, he died. The end of verse 30 says, so
the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which
he slew in his life. Christ's greatest victory was
in his death. His decease which he accomplished. Thanks be unto God which gave
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the death,
the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 31 says, Then his
brethren and all the house of his father came down and took
him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtiol
in the burying place of Manoah his father. That means they glorified
him. They glorified him. They returned him to the place
of his father. That's exactly where Christ returned,
to the place of his father. The end of verse 31 says, and
he judged Israel 20 years. I don't know if you remember,
but that's exactly what it said at the end of chapter 15. The
last verse in Judges 15 says, and he judged Israel in the days
of the Philistines 20 years. In his life and in his death,
he was the judge. By him and in him, he was the
judge. We're either going to be judged
by him or we're going to be judged in him. We're either going to
be judged by his life or we're going to be judged by his death,
in his death. Samson, only being a picture,
was judged for 20 years. Christ is judged forever. Amen.