You'll be turning, if you will,
to Judges chapter 16. Judges chapter 16. My subject
tonight is our mighty Samson. Or, if you prefer, Christ as
a type of Samson. In the 11th chapter of Hebrews,
God the Holy Spirit specifically tells us that Samson was one
of the great examples of faith by which believers are taught
to walk before God in faith. It is strange to me, having read
the scriptures, to recall all that I've heard people say about
Samson over the years. I recall as a young boy hearing
folks talk about Samson, and he's always used as an example
of what believers should not be and should not do. Preachers
and Sunday school teachers talk about the blinding, binding,
grinding power of sin and Samson's the example. But God the Holy
Spirit chooses Samson only as a representation of faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ. and in the book of Judges we
see clearly that this man Samson was one of the judges of the
children of Israel that is he was one of their deliverers,
one of their saviors, one whom God raised up to be a deliverer
of Israel when Israel had brought herself into bondage and captivity
by her rebellion, her disobedience, her idolatry, and her many countless
sins. So Samson clearly, like Adam
and Moses and David and Solomon, stands before us in the book
of God as a marvelous picture and type of our Lord Jesus Christ,
our great God and Savior, by whom we are delivered from sin
and all the consequences of sin by the mighty grace of God Almighty. So well, Samson's a very poor
type. Would you please show me one
that isn't? There are many types of Christ in the scripture because
there is no perfect type of Christ so the Lord uses many types both
human beings and events and inanimate objects to portray who Christ
is and what he has done for us. To portray his wonderful name
unto us. Your pastor read in Judges 13
a little bit ago when Manoah asked the angel of the Lord,
tell me your name. Tell me your name that we may
honor you when this comes to pass. Manoah understood what
few people understand. There is no possibility of honoring
God if you don't know him. There's no possibility of honoring
God if you don't know his name. And his name is who he is. His name is all his glorious
attributes. So that we speak of God and honor
him when we speak of God as he reveals himself in this book
in the person and work of his darling son. Let's begin tonight
in Judges 16 and verse 4. If I had time, I would simply
begin at chapter 13 and go through chapter 16 and give a running
commentary on these chapters. But that might take a little
time. So let me give you some highlights.
We'll begin at Judges 16 and verse 4. And it came to pass
afterward that he, Samson, loved a woman in the valley of Sorek,
whose name was Delilah. The name Samson means sunshine,
or shining sun. And of course, he typifies the
Lord Jesus Christ, the son of righteousness. Samson, we're
told here, loved a woman of the valley of Sorok. Sorok means
a vine, or redness, as in wine. The Lord Jesus Christ loved a
woman, the church of God's elect. He calls us his vine, his fruitful
vine, in the red earth, a church, his woman washed in the red blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The woman's name was Delilah. This woman, Delilah, is a vivid
representation of you and me. This is what Delilah means. Lanquishing,
feeble, oppressed, low, emptied, failing, impoverished, thin,
wasted. My name's Delilah. That's my name. Liquishing. Feeble. Oppressed. Low. Ipted. Failing. Impoverished. Thin. Wasted. Wasted. Samson loved Delilah. And so
the Lord Jesus loved his people, such as we are, with an everlasting
love. And he never changes his mind. In his birth, in his life, and
in his death, Samson portrays our Lord Jesus Christ in many
ways. Let me give you five. If you
want to write down the outline, it'll be very easy to follow.
Samson portrays and typifies our Lord Jesus in his coming,
and second, in his commission. Third, in his consecration. Fourth,
in his choices, and then fifth, in his conquest. All right, let's
go back to Judges 13, passage your pastor read a little bit
ago. Here's the first thing. Samson was typical of our great
Savior in his coming into this world. Samson was born to deliver
Israel from the hand of the Philistines. They had held them in captivity,
I think we read, for 40 years. They had been in bondage to the
Philistines. And the Lord God sent an angel
to visit a woman by the name, or she was Manoah's wife. We're
not told her name. And he made a promise to her.
The angel appears in the form of a man. This angel was none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself in one of his many pre-incarnate
appearances in the Old Testament. In fact, whenever you read in
the Old Testament scriptures about the angel of the Lord appearing
to a man, It is always the Lord Jesus Christ who is the angel
of the covenant. Now, please don't misunderstand
and misrepresent this idea as it is commonly done by ignorant
men. They say, well, Christ can't be referred to as an angel. The
word angel simply means messenger. Christ is God's messenger, his
principal messenger. He is the one by whom God is
revealed to men and the one who reveals God to men. So the Lord
Jesus Christ comes in the form of a man and he's called the
angel of the Lord and appears to Manoah and his wife. Like
our Savior's birth, Samson's birth was miraculous. Manoah's
wife, Samson's mother, was barren. She had never born any children
and had no ability to do so until the Lord intervened. His birth
was given by a special gift from God, just as our Lord Jesus came
by a special gift from God. His birth was accomplished by
divine intervention. God stepped in. God performed
a miracle. Just as our Lord Jesus in the
fullness of time came into this world being conceived in the
womb of the Virgin by God the Holy Spirit working in her without
the aid of a man to form in her womb that holy thing which would
accomplish all the will of God and be suitable for our redeeming
Savior in the sacrifice of himself. Samson's birth was foretold by
the angel of the Lord just as the angel came to Mary and told
her and her husband about the Lord Jesus being born of Mary's
virgin womb. So everything about Samson Everything
about his birth everything about his life is coming into this
world portrays our Savior in that it was all centered around
three things three things that Just stand out as we read this
13th chapter first. There was a promise then a sacrifice
then a name look at verse 5 judges chapter 13 and Samson was born. He lived and he died according
to the purpose and merciful promise of God Almighty to save his people. Look at this. For lo, thou shalt
conceive and bear a son and no razor shall come on his head.
for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb and he
shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines
so it was with our Lord Jesus Christ he came into this world
on an errand of mercy to save his people from their sins because
God promised eternal life to his elect before the world began
Hold your hands here in Judges 13 and turn over to the book
of 2nd Timothy. 2nd Timothy chapter 2, chapter
1. 2nd Timothy chapter 1. Paul writes to his son in the
faith, Timothy. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, now watch this, according to the promise
of life. which is in Christ Jesus. Before
the world began, God made a promise of life to somebody. He promised
eternal life to a covenant people. A people given to his son in
covenant mercy. Turn over a couple of pages to
Titus chapter 1 and verse 2. We understand that this promise
was made from eternity. For Christ comes in hope of eternal
life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world
began. Before the worlds were made,
God, in covenant mercy, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, looked
upon Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
from the beginning. and promised eternal life unto
those people whom he loved with everlasting love, his own elect. All right, back in Judges. Judges
chapter 13. Here's the second thing about
Samson's coming. Everything about this man was
related to the glory of the name by which the angel of the Lord
Revealed himself to Manoah and his wife look at verse 18 judges
chapter 13 verse 18 and The angel of the Lord said unto him why
askest thou thus after my name? Seeing it is secret Do you have
a marginal reference in your Bible? Marginal translation,
that word secret, do you see what it means? Wonderful. Why do you ask after my name,
the angel says to Manoah, seeing it is wonderful. His name shall
be called Wonderful. Jesus Christ our Redeemer is
here revealed to Manoah and his wife the wonderful God and our
Savior. Most particularly our Savior
is wonderful in his work of redemption and grace and salvation by which
he shows forth his praise, honor, and glory. And it is His name
which is the name by which we must be saved. It is His name
by which we are accepted of God. It is in His name that we are
gathered to worship God and we are gathered together. Our Lord
said where two or three are gathered together in my name. Not where
two or three come together, not where two or three gather together,
but where two or three are by the Spirit of God gathered together
in my name, trusting me, believing me for my glory, for my honor,
trusting my righteousness and my blood, there am I in the midst
of them. Not two or three thousand, just
two or three. Just two or three. I'm often, I hear preachers say
things they shouldn't say. They talk foolishly. There are
folks I go preach to all over the world who meet two or three,
half a dozen, dozen, and have no pastor, but they gather. They
are gathered, I trust, in the name of God, by the Spirit of
God, to worship the Redeemer. Somebody says, well, you can't
really call them a church, I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon. They're gathered together in
his name. And where two or three are gathered in his name, there,
he says, am I in the midst of them. It is in his name that
we come to God and pray and find acceptance. And God hears our
prayers. The Lord Jesus is that name by
which we live and consecrate ourselves unto God. And then
third, look at Judges 13 again. Everything Samson was and did
for Israel was connected with and arose from and pointed back
to a sacrifice. Look at verse 19. So Manoah took
a kid with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the
Lord. And the angel did wondrously. Wonderful did wondrously. And
Manoah and his wife looked on. There's a sermon there. When
God works, all you can do is look on. Manoah and his wife
looked on, for it came to pass, when the flame went up toward
heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended
in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked
on and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of
the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah
knew that he was an angel of the Lord. Now, there's no difficulty
determining what this refers to. It speaks of the great sin-atoning
sacrifice of our great Samson, our all-glorious life, when he
laid down his life upon the cursed tree as our substitute. And he
ascends in the flame. and does wondrously he does wondrously
behold the Christ of God by his one sacrifice has fulfilled everything
written of the Christ in the scriptures he brought in everlasting
righteousness put away sin and obtained eternal redemption by
the sacrifice of himself and now by the merit of his obedience
unto death By the merit of his life sacrificed for us he sits
upon the throne of glory having ascended to the right hand of
the majesty on high because he has purged our sins by the sacrifice
of his own self. This offering that Manoah made
The slain lamb pictures Christ, the Lamb of God, sacrificed for
us. And once the sacrifice was made
to the Lord, the angel did wondrously. Justice was satisfied by his
blood. Our crucified Savior did this
wondrous thing. And on the third day, he was
raised up from the grave and ascended up into heaven. Alright,
here's the second thing. Samson typifies our Lord in his
coming and it typifies our Savior in his commission from God to
deliver Israel When the angel announced the birth of Samson
He declared that his he would come into the world with a specific
Commission from the Lord God look back at verse 5 again judges
16 verse 5 or 13 verse 5 and In this commission, Samson typifies
our Savior. But in the last sentence of the
verse, he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines. You know the parallel. You know
the parallel. Thou shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. When our Lord
Jesus came into the world He began to deliver Israel out of
the hands of the prince of darkness, out from under the curse of God's
holy law. He began the work of salvation
which he would accomplish for his elect. And his obedience
in life Our Savior established for us that perfect righteousness
that God requires of us. He came into the temple when
he was eight days old and was circumcised, thereby signifying
that he has come to fulfill the law. Not to nullify the law,
not to abrogate the law, not to push the law aside, but to
fulfill the law. Now, I hear folks, you'll hear
them cuss me all the time all over the country and bring up
my name or your pastor's name because he's associated with
me. Well, those folks believe that Christ came to destroy the
law. You never heard such a thing from me. You never heard such
a thing from me. No, no. Christ fulfilled it. That means he's the end of it.
That means I don't have any obligation. That means I had no covenant.
That means I had no constraint. I had no curse from the law.
Christ is the E-N-D of the law. Oh, what does that mean? What
does that mean? Turn around and look at that
right there. Every one of you, turn around
and look. That's the E-N-D of the rule. Do y'all know where
the E-N-D is? Do you have to look it up in
a dictionary? That's the end. That means when you get there,
you've come to the end of the road. Christ is the end of the
law. And when you get to Christ, you've
come to the end of the law. Got nothing to fear, nothing
to dread from the law. Christ is the end of it. And
by the body of Christ, we are D-E-A-D, dead to the law. Oh, let's get the dictionaries
and concordances and commentaries out and see what Owen and Calvin
and Luther said about that. Well, you can do that, or you
can read the book of God. Christ is one who made us dead
to the law. Dead to it. Dead to it. The fellow's
a criminal. You remember the name Jeffrey
Dahmer? He was found guilty. While he was in prison awaiting
execution, folks murdered him. He's dead. Do you know what his
sentence means to him now? Do you know what bearing the
law has on him now? Do you know what influence the
law has on him now? He's dead. The law can't touch
him. His body is rotting in the earth.
He's dead. And so you and I who are in Christ
are dead to the law. free from the law totally absolutely
so because Christ came to fulfill it and by his obedience on this
earth he brought in everlasting righteousness and then satisfied
all the demands of justice by the sacrifice of himself on our
behalf so that God Almighty declares to Jacob fury is not in me God
has no reason ever to be angry with Carter Brown You can't believe that, can you?
If you believe Christ, you can. Does God have any reason ever
to be angry with his son? Does God have any reason ever
to frown upon his son? Does God have any reason ever
to look upon his son with displeasure? Oh no, that would be blasphemy! It sure would, to say something
like that. It sure would. And I'm one with his son. I'm
in Christ. Before our Lord Jesus came into
the world, indeed from all eternity, He had a people called His people,
God's elect. The Son of God came specifically
on an errand of mercy to save His people, the Israel of God,
from their sins. Not to save everybody in the
world. If He had come to save everybody in the world, everybody
would be saved. That just makes good sense. Either
that or He's a failure. Take your choice. If he came
here to redeem everybody, everybody would be redeemed. Either that
or he's a failure. If he loved everybody, everybody'd
be saved. Either that or his love's not
worth spit. Take your choice. Jesus Christ had a people whom
he came to save. They were his people from eternity.
And Justice Simpson, as he was leaving this world, destroyed the Philistines, and
delivered Israel from their oppressors. So the Lord Jesus Christ, as
he was leaving this world, delivered his people from their sins, and
delivered his people from the prince of darkness, and delivered
his people from the curse of bondage, and brought us into
the blessed liberty of the sons of God. All right, here's the
third thing. Back in Judges 13 again. Samson
was also a type and picture of our Lord Jesus in his coming
and in his commission, and thirdly, in his consecration to God from
his mother's womb. This man was a Nazarite, a Nazarite. You remember reading in the scriptures
in the Gospel of Matthew where the Lord Jesus came out of Ramoth
and they said it was done? that he might be called the Nazarene
as is written in the scriptures? I challenge you to find anywhere
else in the scriptures where Christ is called a Nazarene.
Find anywhere else in the scriptures. He's not called a Nazarene anywhere.
But Matthew said it's written in the scriptures. He shall be
called the Nazarene. Where is it written? There is
a law in the book of Numbers chapter 6. The law of the Nazarites. And if you read the law carefully,
you will soon discover that no one ever really fulfilled that
law except one man. And that one man was Christ Jesus,
the Lord. John the Baptist had a Nazirite
vow. Samson is here portrayed as one
who is a Nazirite from birth through his life. But Samson
broke the vow. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
true Nazarene of whom Samson is just a type. Look here in
verse 5, Judges 13. For lo, thou shalt conceive and
bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head. For the child
shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb. and he shall begin
to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, verse
6. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, a man of
God came unto me, and his countenance was likened to the countenance
of an angel of God, very terrible. But I asked him not which he
was, neither told he me his name. But he said unto me, Behold,
thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and now drink no wine,
nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing. For the child
shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. A Nazirite was a man who was
bound under the law of God and bound himself to abstain from
wine and all products of the grape, to wear long hair uncut,
and to observe the various forms of purification required by the
law. And you can read about this in number six, when the Nazarite
had finished everything, fulfilled it all, then you have that great
benediction of grace. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.
Samson was a Nazarite, consecrated to God from the womb. So our blessed Savior born of
the Virgin, was consecrated to God from the womb. Samson's consecration
was made for him by someone else. Our Lord's consecration was made
by himself for himself. When he came forth from his mother's
womb, Hebrews chapter 10, he said, lo, I come. In the volume
of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O my God. And so our Lord Jesus came here
to do his father's will. When his parents sought after
him, he said, didn't you know I must be about my father's business? The Nazarite was required to
wear long hair, uncut. Now that strikes me as strange.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11 that it's a shame for a man
to wear long hair. It's a shame for a man to wear
long hair and the sense of the passage clearly is not that it's
a shame for a man to have hair over his ears. The sense is it's
a shame for a man to wear hair that appears to be effeminate.
It's a shame for a man to have the appearance of effeminacy.
Why then does God require that the Nazarite wear long hair uncut
all his life? The scriptures give explicit,
clear instruction against it. But here, God requires it of
the Nazirite. The very appearance of a man
being effeminate is obnoxious to God and to men, and it ought
to be to us. You mamas and grandmamas have
little boys. Don't dress them like little
girls and don't treat them like little girls. Don't raise them
up to act like little girls. That's shameful. It's shameful. Mamas ought not do that with
boys. But Samson's long hair had to have some other significance.
It was a symbol of consecration to God. In order to be consecrated
to God, he had to be willing to appear before men in a manner
that other people would despise. Knowing the law of the Nazarite,
and knowing this shameful thing with regard to men, can you imagine
the ridicule Samson must have taken from boys his age growing
up? Can you imagine how boys, if not to his face, must have
secretly talked about Samson? And yet, this was required because
this hair sets him apart as one consecrated to God distinctly. I fully agree with B.A. Ramsbottom,
who said Samson's strength, that which he received from God, was
not literally in the length of his hair, but in that which was
represented by the length of his hair. His consecration to
God. And so it is with you, sons and
daughters of God Almighty, your strength in this world It's consecration
to God Almighty through faith in Christ. Bob was saying a little
bit ago, oh God, make it my unceasing, undying prayer. Take my life
and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Lord, you're not too old to pray
like that. And you have a constant struggle with it till you quit
breathing on this earth. And the only strength we have
to walk in this earth with God is the consecration of faith
to Christ. Now watch this. In order to be
our Redeemer, our mighty Samson came here in humiliation. In utter humiliation before men. He was the object of ridicule
and scorn by all around him, so that even his own kinsmen
looked at him and said he's lost his mind. He humbled himself
and became obedient unto God, obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. He emptied himself, made himself
of no reputation, and he did so that he might be our Redeemer. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Samson typifies our Lord in his
coming, in his commission, in his consecration. And it typifies
our Lord Jesus in his choices, particularly his choice or choices
in the women he loved. Now, you can write this down. And before you get too shocked
with it, write it down and mull it over a little bit. This otherwise
great man appears to have had an insatiable love for harlots. In chapter 14, verse 1, we're
told first that he took a Philistine, a Gentile woman, to wife in direct
violation of God's law. Then in chapter 16, verse 1,
we're told that he went into a harlot. And then in verse 4,
we're told that he laid his head in the lap of Delilah, who was
so well known as a harlot among the Philistines that they did
not hesitate to ask her to entice Samson to her bed. Look at verse
4, chapter 16. It came to pass afterward that
he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek. whose name was Delilah. The word
translated woman here means specifically a wild, adulterous woman. Delilah's name means languishing. In Samson's case, his choice
of harlots was a terrible evil, just as was his choice of a Gentile
to be his wife. Now, let that sink in good. I
made no excuse for what Samson did. In his case, Pastor, it
was a terrible evil to love a Gentile woman and to love a harlot. Both
were forbidden by God in his law. Yet, even in this, and perhaps
more imminently in this than in anything else, he was a type
of our blessed Savior. You see, the scriptures tell
us plainly that this too was of the Lord. Back up to verse
1 of Judges 14. Samson went down to Timnath and
saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
And he came up and told his father and his mother and said, I have
seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Now therefore, get her for me to wife. Then his father and
mother said to him, is there never a woman among the daughters
of thy brethren or among all my people that thou goest to
take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said
to his father, get her for me, for she pleaseth me well. Now
watch verse four. But his father and mother knew
not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against
the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion
over Israel. I repeat, Samson did wickedly
in choosing the woman he chose, and he suffered greatly for his
choice. But our great, glorious, sovereign, merciful God wisely
overruled evil for good in Samson's case. as he does in our case
and as he did specifically with regard to our Lord Jesus Christ
you see our Lord Jesus himself loved a people of the Gentiles
a cursed people who were strangers and foreigners from the Commonwealth
of Israel you and me a people who are base vile harlots Oh
brother Don, don't talk about me like that. Excuse yourself
if you will. I can't and I won't excuse myself
or you. That's just what Christ Jesus
came to say. He found himself always comfortable in the presence
of publicans and sinners and harlots. Isn't that amazing?
Isn't that amazing? Publicans and sinners and harlots
never thought the Lord Jesus would push them aside. They never
imagined that he would have nothing to do with them. But rather,
they flocked to him when Pharisees and Sadducees would not come
near him. Our Lord Jesus came into this
world and at last was crucified by the hands of wicked men. And
the things they did were horribly evil. But read the scriptures. What they did by their hands
and by their wicked wills, they did by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. And if you read the scriptures,
you read about the crucifixion story of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John, it almost looks like uh... louis vannes said wait
a minute, what does scripture say we're supposed to do next?
And they fulfilled the scriptures to the letter. How can that be? They fulfilled all that was written
of Him. And they took Him down from the
cross and laid Him in the tomb. Because God our Father rules
this world in all things for the saving of His people and
the glory of His own great name. When the Lord Jesus came into
this world to get a bride for Himself, He chose publicans,
Gentiles, harlots, sinners as the objects of his grace. I find
it wonderful that in our Lord's genealogy, the women who are
named in his genealogy other than Mother Eve were all women
with a blight on their name. One of his grandmothers was a
woman named Tamar. She was guilty of incest. Another
of his grandmothers was a woman named Ruth. She was a Moabitess,
a woman of accursed people. Another of his grandmothers was
a woman named Bathsheba, Bathsheba the adulteress. Another was Rahab
the harlot. So that even in his long genealogy,
our Lord Jesus always identifies himself as the sinner's savior.
Now this may shock the pants off good self-righteous religious
folks, but I like to do that. I'm here to tell you my great
Samson, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to this day has
an insatiable love for harlots like us. An insatiable love for harlots
like us. In Samson's case, that's his
greatest shame. In Christ's case, that's his
greatest glory. He has an insatiable love for
harlots like us. All right, let's move on. Here's the last thing. In chapters
14, 15, and 16, we're given numerous pictures of our great savior,
that which he possessed. And he is represented and typified
by Samson in the conquest that are here recorded. We're told
in chapter 14 verses 5 through 9, Samson went down to Timnath
and he was met with a lion, came out roaring against him. Satan's
a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. And Samson took the
lion by the beard, ripped him apart like he would a young kid.
It had no weapon in his hand. And he came back down and he
decided to turn aside and see where that lion was that he slew.
And inside the lion's carcass, some bees had made a hive. And
there was honey in the lion's carcass in Samson. He said, oh,
that's good. And he took some of it and gave
it to his father and mother. And they tasted the honey. And
it was good. And then he gave a riddle. He
gave a riddle to the Philistines. You remember Samson's riddle?
And he said, if you can tell me my riddle, if you can answer
my riddle for me, I'll give you great reward. Now look at verse
14. Here's his riddle. Judges 14,
14. He said unto them, out of the
eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they didn't understand it.
They couldn't get it. They couldn't get it. They finally
got his wife to tell him what the riddle was. And he said,
if you hadn't found my heifer, you wouldn't know what it was.
What's this mean? What's this mean? Well, here's
what it means. Verse 18, what is sweeter than
honey? And what's stronger than a lion?
Now here is the honey out of the lion's carcass. The God of
peace shall brew Satan under your heels shortly. And for you and I who are gods,
we are far, far, far, far better off. having fallen through the
influence of Satan into death and sin and condemnation that
we might be redeemed and saved by God's free grace and God show
his glory in us and now we eat the sweet honey of free forgiveness
from the hands of our crucified Redeemer who conquered the prince
of darkness on our behalf and we'll continue to forever with
this wonderful exception Today, we look upon our transgressions,
our iniquities, our sins, and our hearts break in repentance,
as rightly they must and should. But when God's done with us,
when God's done with us, Lester Buckner, we will look back over
the ages of time fully aware of all that he's done for us
in saving our souls and we will have no sense of sorrow even
for sin. Our God shall wipe away all tears
in their eyes and we will see that here in the redemption of
our souls by the sacrifice of God's Son God our Savior has
shown himself most glorious so that the angels themselves look
upon God's people with astonishment seeking to understand the wonders
and the mysteries of the sweet experience of forgiveness and
redemption Then in chapter 15 of Judges, Samson slaughtered
a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. He took the jawbone of an ass
and slaughtered a thousand Philistines. Now I've read a lot of commentaries
on that. And I'll tell you the best commentary I've ever heard
on it. My first year in Bible college, I believe it was the
only good thing I heard from one of the professors when I
was out there. He said, one occasion God used
the jawbone of an ass to slay a thousand Philistines. And there
were about 800 other preacher boys sitting in the class. And
he looked over. This is the first day we were
in his class. He said, looks to me like he's
still using the jawbones of asses to slay Philistines. And you know what? That's what
he uses. That's what he uses. That's what
he uses. Not smart, learned fella. Some
fella wrote something in one of his papers recently. I don't
even know his name. He was attacking some doctrine.
He said a trained theologian would know better. And I smiled. I thought about you're born of
an ass. I'll take that place. I'll take
it, that's alright God takes nothings and nobodies like you
and me worthless pieces of human waste and makes us messengers
of his grace for the building of his kingdom and the saving
of his land he takes such as we are to preach the gospel such
as you are his people That which is nothing to bring to naught
the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. All right? Now let's look at
chapter 16 and begin reading at verse 28. And Samson called unto the Lord
and said, O Lord God, remember me. I pray thee, and strengthen
me, I pray thee, only this once. The Philistines have had him
in prison. They shaved his hair off his head. They put out his
eyes and they made sport with him. And now his hair is beginning
to grow. He says, oh God, I pray thee,
oh God, only this once, that I may be once more, once avenged
of the Philistines for my two eyes. Verse 29. And Samson took
hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood. and
on which it was bored up, the one with his right hand and
the other with his left hand. And Samson said, let me die with
the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all
his might, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the
people that were therein. So the dead which he slew in
his death were more than they, which he slew in his life Samson voluntarily laid down
his life for us for his people as Christ laid down his life
for us he destroyed forever all those who would destroy his people
and so Christ by his death destroyed forever sin and death and hell
and the grave now look at chapter 16 again verse 1 Then went Samson to Gaza and
saw there in Harlot and went in unto her and it was told the
Gazites saying Samson has come hither and they compassed him
in and they lay wait for him all night in the gate of the
city and were quiet all the night saying in the morning when it's
day we shall kill him And Samson lay till midnight, and rose at
midnight, and took the doors of the gates of the city, and
the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put
them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of
a high hill that is before Hebron." Our Lord Jesus Christ. when he
voluntarily stooped with all his might and bowed himself to
death, being numbered with the transgressors, died for us. And three days later,
he arose and he took the bars and the gates and the post to
the city he took all the weight of our guilt and our sins and
our transgressions and carried them on his broad shoulders up
to the high hill before Hebron before the very law of God and
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself That's Christ, our
mighty Samson, who loves us with an everlasting love and saves
us by omnipotent grace. Amen.