so I hardly know where to begin
this morning. Brother Mark Henson met me at
the door Tuesday night, I think it was, and was asking me about
Samson. He had no way of knowing that
I had planned for some time to prepare and preach to you about
this man, Samson. And that's what was on my mind
then. And I want to try, if I can,
to expound to you the teachings of scripture with regard to this
man. how that he is a type picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
if I had two or three hours, we would just begin in chapter
13, verse one and go through chapter 16 and take it all. But you will be relieved to know
I'm not going to preach two or three hours. So we'll just pick
up some highlights. And I want you to follow with
me through the scriptures here and judges chapter 13, 14, 15
and 16. Now, without question, Samson
was a man of remarkable, remarkable faith, a man of extreme, extreme
strength, and a man of terrible, terrible weakness, all at the
same time. As such, he stands as a vivid
example and representative of believers. Believers are men
and women of faith, men and women of strength, and men and women
of terrible weakness. When preachers preach about Samson,
usually they hold him up as an example of what we ought not
to be and what we ought not to do. I've heard and seen many
sermons on the blinding, grinding power of sin and how the Samson
represents that terrible power of sin in men's lives. I want,
however, this morning to talk to you about Samson only as he
represents our Lord Jesus Christ. So you follow me carefully through
the Scriptures. If you're taking notes, the title
of my message is Samson and Me. Or if you want to put it Christ
and Me, you'll see that it makes no difference. Let's begin in
chapter 14, verse 1. Judges chapter 14, verse 1. Samson went down to Timnath,
and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And let me call your attention
to several things about this man. First, his coming. His coming into this world shows
him to be a representative of Christ. In his birth, as in his
life and in his death, Samson portrays our Savior. We read
the 13th chapter, hath the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah
and his wife and told them of the birth of Samson. And this
birth of Samson represents our Savior in many ways as shown
in that chapter. First, like our Savior, Samson's
birth was a matter of a miraculous intervention of God. The angel
of the Lord came to this woman who was barren and caused her
dead womb to be made alive to give birth to a son. This son
was a special gift of God, a gift of God for a specific purpose.
And his birth was accomplished by divine intervention. So it
was with our Lord Jesus. The angel of the Lord came and
told Mary how that that thing formed in her, that holy thing
formed in her for the sacrifice of God's dear son. His holy body,
his holy humanity was conceived in her womb by the intervention
of God, by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. Not only that,
but Samson's birth was foretold by an angel of the Lord. The
angel of the Lord first came to Manoah's wife and then to
Manoah and told them what was going to happen. And so it was
with our Savior. Mary first heard the good news
of the incarnation and then she told Joseph and the angel of
the Lord spoke to Joseph concerning it. But primarily with regard
to his coming into this world. I want you to understand that
everything about Samson, everything about his birth, his life, and
his death was intimately connected with three specific things. If
you miss everything else I say this morning, be sure you get
this. Everything about Samson was intimately connected with
these three things. Number one, Samson was born,
he lived, and he died according to the merciful promise and purpose
of God Almighty spoken of in chapter 13 verse 5. 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 or to save Israel. So it was
with our Lord Jesus. The Son of God came into this
world on an errand of mercy, according to the purpose and
promise of God Almighty given to us in Christ before the world
began. In 2 Timothy 1, the Apostle Paul
speaks of Jesus Christ, whom he served by the will of God,
according to the promise of eternal life, which is in Christ. In
Titus 1, verse 2, the Apostle speaks of the hope of eternal
life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began.
So the Lord Jesus came into this world to save those sinners to
whom God from eternity had promised eternal life. He came here according
to the specific purpose of God Almighty. Secondly, everything
about this man was related to and for the glory of the name
by which the angel of the Lord showed himself to Manoah and
his wife. when Manoah asked after his name,
the angel of the Lord answered him in verse 18 and said unto
him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? And I pointed out to you as we
read this chapter, That word secret means wonderful. The Lord
Jesus Christ is that one whose name is wonderful, counselor,
the mighty God, the prince of peace. He is that one, wonderful
in all his works. And everything that he did, everything
he does, everything he brings to pass or allows anyone to do
is for the glory and honor of his name. Read Revelation chapters
four and five. As you read those chapters and
you see the throne and the book and the and the ark and you see
the Lamb of God rising up out of the midst of the throne and
you see the four and twenty elders falling down before the throne
and casting their crowns at his feet who sat on the throne when
all's done everything shall be down to the praise honor and
glory of him whose name is wonderful. It's secret. Most folks never
know it until that day, but his name is wonderful in all he does
and then thirdly Everything that Samson was and everything he
did for Israel was connected with arose from and pointed to
a sacrifice look at verse 19 judges night chapter 13 and verse
19 So Manoah took a kid with the meat offering and offered
it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously. And 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 it was the angel of the Lord. He'd seen God. Now there's
no difficulty determining what this refers to. It speaks of
that great sin atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ made
for sinners at Calvary. The offering Manoah made was
a slain lamb, a picture of Christ who is the Lamb of God who was
sacrificed for us by the will and purpose of God for the satisfaction
of divine justice. Once the offering had been made,
once the sacrifice was made, we read here that the angel of
the Lord did wonder us. before Manoah and his wife. I
can almost picture the scene. They've offered a sacrifice.
The flame is consuming the sacrifice. And as the flame goes up, the
angel of the Lord seems to dance in the flames before them. Arising
up before them. That's exactly what the Son of
God did once justice was satisfied. He did a wondrous thing Bobby
came forth out of the earth Demonstrating clearly that he had satisfied
the justice of God and put away the sins of those for whom he
was sacrificed And then we're told that the angel of the Lord
ascended up in the flame of the altar So it was that our Lord
Jesus Christ ascended up into heaven, obtained eternal redemption
for us by his own blood, and took his seat at the right hand
of the majesty on high by the merit of his sacrifice in the
flame of the altar. And the scripture tells us here,
Manoah and his wife stood back and looked at that. They just
looked up, what else are they going to do? Nothing. We have
nothing to do with the sacrifice. We have nothing to do with this
thing that is done between God the Father and God the Son. We
have nothing to do with the atonement of sin. We have nothing to do
with putting away sin. We have nothing to do with satisfying
the justice of God. All we do is look old. God gives
us faith we look on and believe him trusting him and that's a
picture what faith is this day I bid you weary sinners you who
are under the curse of God's law look on Jesus Christ the
Lamb slain for sinners believe him right where you are now I
know in this in this day of religious nonsense and confusion everybody
Wonders what it is to believe on Christ and they think that
walking to the front of a church or saying a prayer or signing
a decision card Somehow has got something to do with salvation.
Now you listen carefully to me listen carefully If you rest
your soul on the fact that you sometime or another went forward
in a meeting made a decision and said I believe in Jesus You
haven't yet met the master Nobody has ever been saved kneeling
in an altar nobody Well, I was. No, you weren't. You'll find
out in hell you weren't saved if you don't find out now. Oh,
no, nobody has ever been saved coming to the front of the church.
Well, preacher, what is faith? Looking on. You don't do anything. You just
look on. It's an act of the heart. It's
believing on the son of God. All right, Samson then was a
picture of Christ in his coming. Secondly, he represents the Lord
Jesus Christ in his commission. Look at verse 5 of chapter 13
again. He shall begin, last sentence of the verse, he shall begin
to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Now
then, you know the parallel passage in the New Testament. Go ahead
and turn to it, Matthew chapter 1, Matthew chapter 1. The angel of the Lord said almost
exactly the same thing with regard to our Redeemer when he came
into this world. The angel here says concerning Samson, he shall
begin to deliver, the word is save or redeem, Israel out of
the hand of the Philistines. Here in Matthew chapter 1 and
verse 21, when our great Samson was about to come into the world,
this is what the scripture says, the angel of the Lord said, she
shall bring forth a son Thou shalt call his name Jesus. That's the New Testament equivalent
of Joshua It means Savior or Redeemer or Deliverer and he
shall save his people from their sin now Most everybody quotes
that verse of scripture. We live in this religious age. We live in what folks call the
Bible belt and everybody's religious and been saved two or three times.
Most of them have been saved all their lives. But nobody knows
what scripture means. What's this mean? Thou shalt
call his name Jesus. Call him what he is, Savior. Call him what he came to do save
his people from their sins. Well, Jesus came to save the
world No, he didn't he came save his people and they were his
people before he came into the world They were a people sold
in bondage to the Philistines of this world Spiritually because
of a sin that took place long ago back yonder in the garden,
but they were still his people were His people by choice, His
people by covenant relationship, His people because He said, I
will be their God and they shall be My people, His people because
the Father gave them to Him before the world began. And the Scripture
says He shall. Oh, I love that. He shall, not
He's going to try, not He's going to offer, not He's going to say
that they will, not He's going to pretty please hope you'll
let Him save you. No, no, no, no. He'll save His
people from their sins, totally. And just exactly as Samson, when
he left this world, pulled down the pillars of the house and
destroyed the Philistines, saving Israel out of their hands, so
the Son of God in His death as He left this world said, it's
finished. And He pulled down the pillars
of the house on hell itself and saved His people from their sins. Thirdly, Samson was a picture
in type of Christ in his consecration now Look again this fifth verse
in chapter 13 This is perhaps the most difficult
part of the whole story to understand it always has been for me He
is to be a Nazarite unto God you see that and Then later in
chapter. He's to be a Nazarite to God
from the womb to the day of his death. I Nazarite was a man or
a woman who under Hebrew law bound himself to abstain from
wine from all products of the great and a razor was not to
touch his head as a symbol of purification. Now you can read
about this Nazarite vow in Numbers chapter 6. In Samson's case it
was to be a lifelong vow so that from his conception in the womb
unto the day that he left this world, he was to be consecrated
to God Almighty in purity as a Nazarite. What a picture of
our Redeemer, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sin. But what was the significance of Samson's long hair? I've wondered
this all my life. I think God gave me some help.
A Nazarite was required to wear long hair. Now, In the Scriptures,
according to Scripture, I know it's contrary to our age. Our
age is contrary to Scripture, always has been. In the Scriptures,
it's a shame for a man to wear long hair. I mean, it's an abomination. It's forbidden for a man to walk
around looking like a sissy, to walk around looking effeminate,
limp-wristed. That was an abomination. And
I'm telling you, it ought to be to you now. It ought to be
to you now. A young fellow came up to me one time. It had been
years ago. He got in his ears, brought him
an earring. He said, Brother Don, how do you like my earring?
I said, I just didn't see you wearing a dress. I'm dead serious. It's an abomination for me to
act like sissies, to look like sissies, to walk around like
that. But Samson was commanded to wear long hair, as were Samuel
and other Nazarites in the Old Testament. No razor to come on
their head. Well, what was the significance of that? Why was
this required? It was a symbol of consecration to God. That's
what it was. Well, how is this somehow relevant? This man, because he was dedicated
to God, must appear in this world in such a way as to constantly
bring reproach and shame on himself. Got to be willing to walk here
in a manner that brings shame and reproach on him in the eyes
of men. I can just picture old Samson.
I don't expect human nature was much different that day than
it is now. Man, when I was in school, now if everybody in the
world was wearing long hair, you know, it'd be one thing,
but when I was in school, some fella walking around with hair
hanging down to his waist and, you know, kind of prancing around,
if he was too big, you wouldn't say anything in front of him,
but you'd sneak around behind him, do you see him? Man alive,
talked about him all the time. And fully aware that's what's
going on. This is exactly how Samson lived all the days of
his life. And if you follow Christ, that's
where you're going to live all the days of your life. Constantly
the object of ridicule and scorn. I agree fully with B.A. Ramsbottom
who made this statement. He said Samson's strength which
he received from God did not literally lie in his hair. It
lay in his separation and sanctification and complete dedication to God,
his Savior. That's where it was. The hair
simply represented that. Samson's strength, like our Savior's
strength as a man, was in his consecration to God. Oh, what a lesson there is for
you and me here. Here is our strength, children
of God, in this world. consecration to our Savior. Let
us be true Nazarites to God, true Nazarites. Emptied of earth,
I fain would be the world myself and all but the only reserve
for Christ that died, surrendered to the crucified. Fourth, Samson
was a type and representative of our Lord Jesus and this to
me is perhaps most precious of it all, in his choices. Particularly in his choices in
the women he loved. This otherwise great man seemed
to have an insatiable love for Harlots. Lots of virtuous women
in Israel. Lots of women he could choose
from, but he always chose harlots. He always chose harlots. In chapter
14, verse 1, he took a Philistine woman. He took a Gentile woman,
an uncircumcised Gentile woman, a woman from among the uncircumcision,
the unclean, us Gentiles. That's who Christ came to save. Then he took a woman who was
a harlot. Chapter 16, verse 1. And then he laid his head in
the lap of Delilah, who was so well known as a harlot that the
men of Gaza did not hesitate to suggest to her that she should
come and entice Samson with her charms and her allurements the
word translated woman here in chapter 16 in verse 4 is not
the common word for woman it's a word which means a wild adulterous
woman the word Delilah means languishing
And some suggest, and I think with good reason, that perhaps
Delilah was not the name that her father gave her. Not many
fathers would give their daughters a name that means she lays down
all the time. Not many would. But it was a
name that the men of the Philistines had given her because of her
character and reputation. And in Samson's case, the choice
of harlots was a terrible evil. The choice of a Gentile was a
terrible wickedness, a direct violation of God's law in both
cases. Yet, even in this, perhaps most
in this, Baba He is a blessed type of our Redeemer. Look in
chapter 14, let me show you. The scriptures tell us plainly
that this too was of the Lord. He found this woman of Timnath,
he said to his daddy, he said, go get her for me, she pleases
me well. And his daddy said, there's plenty of women over
in Israel, why go down here among the uncircumcised Philistines?
In verse four, look at it. But his father and his mother
knew not that it was of the Lord. How come? Because the Lord sought
an occasion against the Philistines. Nobody understood it. This was
hidden in the secret purposes of God. Samson did wickedly in
choosing the woman, no question about that. And he suffered greatly
for his choices. But our great and glorious, sovereign,
merciful God wisely overruled Samson's wicked choice to accomplish
the saving of his people according to his purpose. Oh, don't you love God's sovereign
providence? He wisely and graciously manipulates
the hearts and actions, the thoughts and words, even of the most abominable
beings, even of the demons of hell, to accomplish His purpose
of grace toward you, His chosen. Surely the wrath of man then
shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
much the same way all that was done by the Jews and the Romans
in crucifying our dear Savior was wicked, abominable, horrible,
and they suffered the consequences of what they did. But it was
altogether exactly what God had purposed to be done. Read the
book of Acts. We're told three times in Acts
chapter 4, later on in the latter part of Acts chapter 4, and then
in Acts chapter 13 they did exactly what God from eternity ordained
that they should do. When our Lord Jesus Christ came
into the world to get a bride for Himself, He chose publicans,
Gentiles, harlots, and sinners as the objects of His love and
grace. Thank you. Thank you. Even in His genealogy in His
family tree, as He came into the world, the Son of God identified
Himself with Tamar, incest. Ruth, a Boabitis, a cursed woman
from a cursed race, chosen of God. Bathsheba, adulterer. Those are the folks he identified
himself with. He took into his family tree,
Rahab the harlot. Now, this may shock the pants
off of good, upright boy, folks, you who, well, Boy, I tell you,
I wouldn't have anything to do with a harlot. The sooner you
find out you are one, the better off you'll be. Well, preacher, what do you mean?
I've never behaved like that. You've behaved like that all
your life. All your life, you and me too. Of course, we think
of that as only referring to A woman who sleeps with another
man. Let me tell you something. Have I got your attention now?
I believe I do. That's nothing compared with going a-whoring
after other gods. Read this book. That's nothing.
And we all went a-whoring after other gods all the days of our
lives. Every one of us. Every one of us just harlots.
Harlots. Boy, I never thought of it that
way. It's time you start thinking of it that way. You will never,
never, never come to know the grace of God in the experience
of free grace until you take your place at the foot of the
cross with this poor harlot, just like the Son of God did.
You find him always in the company of publicans, harlots, and sinners. He doesn't go home with the self-righteous. He goes home to eat with sinners.
And I'm telling you this day, oh, God help you. place right
now at the foot of the cross with sinners and the Son of God
will go home with you today. He'll go home with you today.
I stand here today preaching the Gospel of God's free grace
to you because my beloved Samson willingly takes for his bride
publicans, harlots, and sinners. If he'd been looking for the
good, the mighty, the noble, He'd been looking for the righteous,
the upright, the commendable. He would have passed me by and
you too. One more thing. Samson is a beautiful
picture of our Redeemer in his conquest. In chapters 14, 15, and 16, there
are a number of things that show the power of our Samson. Let
me just call your attention to a few and you read the chapters
at your leisure. First you'll remember in chapter 14 when he
went down to see the scout Timnath, he was going down, a lion roared
against him. And Samson just, well he tore
that lion in two like he was tearing a young kid. He just,
with his bare hands. Didn't even have a knife in his
hands. That's the picture of our Redeemer. The Lord Jesus
Christ took him who is as a roaring lion, roaring against our souls
and conquered him by the power of his shed blood at Calvary.
Now is the prince of this world cast out. And then another time
when Samson went down again, he stopped and he said, I'll
stop by there and see where I put that lion. And there was a bunch
of bees had made him a nest in there. And they just swarmed
in that lion's carcass. And it's plum full of honey.
And honey lightens the eyes. It's like, like taking somebody
who needs some little sugar and they just, boy perks them up
right now. Samson's walking a long way and
he reached in, got him some honey. Tasted so good, he went and got
some, gave it to his mother and daddy. Let me tell you something. When the son of God comes again
to fetch his bride home to himself, he shall eat of the honey out
of this carcass to the delight of his soul forever and give
to his father to eat as well. And then Samson came upon some
Philistines and he killed them. A thousand Philistines with the
jawbone of an ass. Now I've seen a lot of things
written about that, heard a lot of talk about it. The best I
ever heard, I heard when I was 18 years old. I was sitting in
the homiletics class and He said, he looked around at
a bunch of young preachers and he said, God's still using the
jawbones of asses to accomplish His purpose and save His people.
Well, that's not very complimentary to the preachers. No, but it
is to God. He takes worthless, worthless fallen humanity and
makes them in the hands of His grace a weapon for the accomplishing
of His purpose. And then Samson in his death,
pulled down the gates of the city. He took the pillars of
the city, and as he voluntarily laid down his life, he accomplished
deliverance for his people. That's our Savior. He voluntarily
laid down his life and accomplished our salvation. And one more picture. This man Samson, when he woke
up and the folks of Gaza had surrounded him. They'd locked
the gates of the city, put the bar in and they said, we'll lay
in wait for him all night long and tomorrow we'll kill him.
So it was that those who are our accusers laid in wait for
our souls to destroy us. But at the time when the day
began to break at midnight, our great Samson arose and he took
the bars of the gates and the gates and the post and he jerked
them up like you pick up a piece of straw and he carried them
on his shoulders into a high mountain 20 miles out of town. That was gates 90 feet. That's 20 feet longer than this
building is. 90 foot of gates. He laid them
on his shoulder. and it carried him away. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, carrying all the weight of our sin, took death,
hell, and the grave when he came forth from the tomb and carried
it away forever. And as my buddy Larry Brown said
to me, you know what? He never staggered. Never even
stumbled. This great Deliverer is Christ,
our Deliverer. The Lord Jesus, our Savior. God,
make him yours for Christ's sake. Amen.