Would you turn to Judges chapter
13? I've entitled this message, The Faith of Samson, and we know
from Hebrews chapter 11 that Samson was a man of faith. He's
somebody who believed God. He's mentioned in that hall of
faith in Hebrews chapter 11. And I also want to remind you
that whenever we look at these stories in the Old Testament,
they're given to illustrate the gospel of Christ, every single
one of them without exception. Let me remind you of Galatians
chapter four, where Paul speaks of Abraham going into Hagar and
then Sarah having Isaac, and he uses that to illustrate law
and grace. And, you know, we wouldn't know
that. We would have just read it as some story. But he tells
us this is given to illustrate law and grace. You can read about
it in Galatians chapter four. And what that does, that tells
us that every one of these stories in the Old Testament are given
to illustrate gospel truth. And such is the story of Samson. in many ways was an enigma. His birth was foretold by an
angel, or the angel, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a Nazarite
from the womb, just like John the Baptist was. You remember
the law of the Nazarites in Numbers chapter 6, where a razor was
to never touch their head and they were to never touch alcohol. They were wholly separated to
the Lord. And Samson was given superhuman
strength. To read of his feats of strength,
he tore apart a lion with his bare hands. He lifted up the
gates of a city. and walked up a hill with it
on his shoulders. He killed 1,000 men all by himself
with nothing as a weapon but the jaw of an ass. What strength he demonstrated
even in his death when he brought that temple down and destroyed
the Philistines. Oh, how strong he was, and that's
what we think of when we think of Samson. Now, Samson also went
after women that he should not have gone after. He even went
into a harlot. He demonstrated a petty and vindicative
spirit. He lost his strength. He lost
his strength because of his relationship with Delilah, and he had his
eyes gouged out. And he ended up committing suicide
to gain his vengeance against the Philistines. As I said, he was an enigma. But that doesn't surprise me.
I'm an enigma to myself. and I'm sure you feel the same
way about yourself. But leaving all that, he is a
beautiful type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the mighty power of God,
the true Nazarite. Samson's name means sunlight. His birth was foretold by the
angel of the Lord. Look in chapter 13, verse 1.
We read, a familiar story, and the children
of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. We've seen
it three or four weeks in a row, haven't we? The children of Israel
again did evil in the sight of the Lord. And we don't even read
where they asked the Lord for deliverance at this time. We
don't read where they cried to the Lord. In the previous weeks,
we've seen how they cried to the Lord when something would
happen. But here, they don't cry to the
Lord, but the Lord sent a deliverer anyway. Look in verse 2. And
there was a certain man of Zorah, the family of the Danites, whose
name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and bare
not. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto the woman and said unto her, Behold, now thou art barren
and barest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. Now
therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, nor strong
drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For lo, thou shalt conceive
and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon 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."
Now, this Nazarite, is someone who was completely and totally
consecrated to God. The Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the one who was completely and totally consecrated to God. Now Samson was given superhuman
strength. Look in chapter 14. And Samson went down to Timnath
and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughter of the Philistines.
Now, here we see his weakness. And he came up and told his father
and his mother and said, I've seen a woman in Timnah, the daughters
of the Philistines. Now, therefore, get her for me
to wife. That was wrong. They weren't supposed to go outside
of Israel for their wife. Then his father and his mother
said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of
thy brother, and among all my people, that thou goest to take
a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father,
Get her for me, for she pleaseth me well. Now, Samson was wrong,
and his father was wrong in getting her for him. It was forbidden
in the law. It was wrong. But look at verse
4. But his father and his 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. Now the Lord is
always behind the scenes working his work. Aren't you thankful
for that? I would never ever look for an
excuse for my sin in any way. I hate my sin. Do you know the
Lord even uses my sin to drive me to himself? That's just the
truth. That's just the truth. I'm thankful
for that passage of scripture right there, aren't you? I'm
thankful for that reminder. Now let's go on reading. Then
went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and
came to the vineyard of Timnath. And behold, a young lion roared
against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him.
And he rent him as he would have rent a kid. And he had nothing
in his hand, but he told not his father or mother what he
had done. And he went down and talked with the woman, and she
pleased Samson well. And after a time, he returned
to take her and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion.
And behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass
of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands
and went on eating and came to his father and mother and he
gave them and they did eat. But he told them not that he'd
taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. Now, here I see
my Lord Jesus defeating the mighty lion of my sin. and the sweetness
that comes out, the honey that comes out of what he did. Samson killed many Philistines. We're going to get to Samson
and Delilah in a moment, but I just want you to go over some
of his history. Samson killed many Philistines,
and the children of Israel were afraid of the Philistine armies.
They had occupation of Israel at that time, so they wanted
to deliver Samson to the Philistines. Now look in chapter 15, beginning
in verse 9. Then the Philistines went up
and pitched in Judah and spread themselves in Lehi. And the men
of Judah said unto him, Why are you come up against us? And they
answered, To bind Samson. or we come up to do to him as
he had done to us. He killed a bunch of them. Then
three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock of Edom
and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are
rulers over us? What is this that thou hast done
unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have
I done to them. And they 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. And they
spake unto him, 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.
And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him,
And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords
that were upon his arms became as flax, that were burnt with
the fire, and his bands loose from off 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. And Samson said, With the jawbone
of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I
slain a thousand men. And it came to pass when he'd
made an end of speaking that he cast away the jawbone out
of his hand and called the name of that place, Rameth Lehi. And you know, the Lord still
uses the jawbone of an ass. That's the preaching of the gospel.
That's what he uses. He took a jawbone of an ass.
And I don't know of a more apt description of the preacher and
the preaching. It's the jawbone of an ass, but
the Lord uses it. He uses the preaching of the
gospel. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them from that belief. Now, there was a
time when the Philistines had him locked into a city and thought
they had him captured. Look in chapter 16. Then went
Samson to Gaza and saw therein Harlot and went in unto her. And you know, interestingly,
I started to not read that part of the scripture, thinking, well,
that'll just make everybody wonder about Samson. But God revealed
it for a purpose. It needs to be in there, and
it needs to be read. We see Samson going into this
harlot and was told the Gazite, 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's day, we shall kill him. And Samson
lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors
of the gates of the city, and the two posts, and went away
with him, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and
carried them up to the top of the hill." This is before Hebron.
They're waiting to slay him, and so he just picks up the entire
gates of the city. They thought he had them locked
in, and he takes it up the hill. And I just think of the Lord
walking up Calvary with that mighty burden. But what Samson
is known for most is Delilah. Samson and Delilah. Most of us
are familiar with that story. Look in verse 3, or verse 4,
of 1 Samuel 16. And it came to pass afterward
that he loved a woman in the valley of whose name was Delilah. And this was a treacherous woman,
and she ended up being his downfall. And the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein
his great strength lies. by what means we may prevail
against him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And we'll
give thee, every one of us, eleven hundred pieces of silver. We'll
make you a wealthy woman, if you find the key to his great
strength and let us know about it." And Delilah said to Samson,
"'Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and
wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.' And Samson
said unto her, If they bind me with seven green weeds that were
never dried, then Shall I be weak and be as another man? I'll be just like everybody else.
Then the Lord of the Philistines brought up to her seven green
whiz, which had not been dried, green branch sticks, and she
bound them with them. You know how strong green wood
is. 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 whiz as a thread
of toe is broken when it touches the fire, so his strength was
not known. And Delilah said unto Samson,
Behold, thou hast mocked me. You 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 bounding therewith, and said unto him, Befulisting
to be upon thee, Samson. And there were liars in wait
abiding in the chamber, and he break them off his arms like
a thread. And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto hath thou mocked
me and told me lies. Tell me wherewith thou mightest
be bound. And he said unto her, Thou weavest the seven locks
of my head with the web. Remember, his hair had never
been cut. Seven locks. Speaking of the
perfection of strength. And she fastened it with the
pin. And said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson, verse 14.
And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of
the beam, and with the web. And she said unto him, How canst
thou say I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast
loved me these three times, and thou hast not told me wherein
thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, When she
pressed him daily with her words, she nagged him and nagged him
and nagged him and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto
death. Then he told her all his heart. And he said, there's not come
a razor upon my 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 be 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 has 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 her 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 blessing be
upon thee, Samson. He awoke out of his sleep and
said, I'll go out at another time and shake myself. And he
wished not that the Lord had departed from him. He didn't
know it, but God had left him. He shouldn't have let that secret
out, should he? God left him. Verse 21, but the Philistines
took him and put out his eyes, literally gouged out his eyes,
and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with the fetters
of grass. And he did grind in the prison
house. Who knows how long he was doing
this? How be it? The hair of his head began to
grow again after he was shaven. Then the lords of the Philistines
gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto
Dagon, their God, and to rejoice. And they said, Our God hath delivered
Samson, our enemy, into our hand. And when the people saw him,
they praised their God, for they said, Our God hath delivered
into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our country, which
slew many of us. And it came to pass, when their
hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he
may make us sport. They wanted to make fun of him.
And they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made
them sport, and they set him between the pillars. And Samson
said unto the lad that led him by the hand, Suffer me, that
I may feel the pillars whereon the house standeth, that I may
lean upon them. 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 three thousand men and
women, and behold, while Samson, they beheld while Samson made
sport, while they made fun of him. 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, O God, that I may be at once
avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took
hold of the 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 with all
his might, and the house fell upon the Lord, and upon all the
people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at
his death were more than they which he slew in his life." Now
you think about this. This is a sad story. In many respects. I mean, Samson,
he's got this great strength. The Lord has blessed him in this
unusual way. And he, he loses it all. He ends up having his eyes gouged
out. And I think there's a lot of
typical significance to that. Losing sight. Losing sight. Unable to see God's favor toward
you. Unable to see God's grace toward
you. Unable to see that he loves you.
You feel like you've been left to yourself. Because of his sin,
he got himself in this mess, and his eyes got gouged out.
I thought of that passage of scripture in 2 Peter chapter
1, where it said, He that lacketh these things is blind and can't
see afar off. He's forgotten that he was purged
from his old sins. That's where Samson was. He lost
all assurance. He couldn't see a thing. But his hair starts growing back. Now this is a glorious illustration,
this story of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Samson the Nazarite, the one
who was truly committed to God. Now you read Samson's life, he
wasn't much of a Nazarite, was he? There's a whole lot of things
about this man that don't seem very committed to God, but I
know one who was totally and truly committed to God. That was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Listen to me. He never sinned. Not once. He always did that which pleased
His Father. He never had a bad thought. He
never had a bad action. He never had a bad motive. He
never disobeyed God's holy law. He obeyed God's law perfectly. He's the true Nazarite to God,
separated to God, consecrated to God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the one true Nazarite. His strength His righteousness was taken away
from him. Just like the hair of Samson
was taken away, and he lost his great strength. And the Lord
departed from Samson, and the Lord departed from the Lord Jesus
Christ. He departed from him. That's
why he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You see, the Lord will never
forsake a righteous man. On the cross, he was made sin. Now what all that means, I don't
know, but it's awful. All that sin is, he was made
to be. He became guilty and the Lord
departed from him. He lost his eyes. He lost his
eyes. I think how cruel that is to
think of his eyes getting gouged out. But this is what was getting
me about this. The Lord, when he was on the
cross, the Lord departed from him. His father departed from
him because my sin became his, so that he became guilty of it.
And he couldn't see the Father. He couldn't see any favor. He
couldn't see any grace. He couldn't see any mercy. He
couldn't see anything but the awful frown and wrath of his
father. Nothing else. And it's not like
he was thinking, well, this will be over within three days. No,
he suffered the full equivalent of an eternal hell, and he couldn't
see any favor from his father. His eyes were gouged out. what our Lord suffered on the
cross. But His hair started coming back. I see the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His hair started coming back. Now, the death of Christ is utterly
like nothing else we can even consider. Hell lasts forever. And the reason is that no mere
man could ever satisfy the justice of God. This is a if somebody
murdered my daughter. If you put him in prison forever,
that's still not enough. I'm not satisfied. I'm not satisfied. Justice has not been done. Sin is an infinite evil. The
reason hell is eternal is because God's justice is never satisfied. Sin is such an infinite... We
just don't really have any idea how bad sin is, do we? We talk
about it, but we don't really understand it. But something
that gives us some understanding of how evil sin is, is that hell
lasts forever, and the punishment fits the crime. God is just. God is holy. That's why hell
lasts forever. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, was able to satisfy the demands of God's justice, so
that God would say, Ask no more. All I require, I have. His hair started growing back
where he got his great strength. Justice was satisfied. And God
says, I can ask no more. And that's why Christ was raised
from the dead. Now, he died. That's a great
mystery, isn't it? The fact that the God-man could
die. That's as miraculous as anything
I can think of. He's God, he's man, he died.
I've had somebody say to me, well, he couldn't have died as
God. Well, I know the God-man died. I know that. I don't know
how to explain that. I don't know how the God-man
died, but he did. He died, and he was raised from the dead.
Samson's hair returns. His strength returns. And I think
it's very interesting. Look in verse 30 once again. 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
the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with
the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all
his might, and the house fell upon the Lord, and upon all the
people that were therein, so that the dead which he slew at
his death were more than they which he slew at his life. His
greatest accomplishment was his death. There was more slain in
his death than there was in his life. His greatest accomplishment
was his death. Now, let's talk about that for
just a couple of minutes. The accomplishments of his death.
I think of what the Lord said in Luke chapter 9, verse 31,
where Moses and Elijah were talking to him on the Mount of Transfiguration.
You know what they were talking about? They were speaking of
the death, the disease, which he should accomplish. Now, our
Lord accomplished something in his death. Now, when we die,
it's not an accomplishment. It's the end of our sin. You
know, the wages of sin is death. But when he died, it was totally
different than my death or your death. He accomplished something. Now, the first thing that I find
so remarkable in thinking about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ
is just the fact that he died. It's no It's no surprise if I
die. It's no surprise if you die.
We're weak, sinful flesh. And your Lord can take our breath
in just a second. We're all so close to death.
We're just close to death. So weak, so liable to death. That's us. Death. But the Lord
Jesus. He's God. He's man. He's the God-man. And he died. Now, how did that happen? I don't
know, but he did. But I know this. For God to be
satisfied, the only one who can satisfy God is God. Man could
never satisfy. Only God can be satisfied with
God. He can't be satisfied with mere
you. He can only be satisfied with himself. Man can't satisfy. But God can't die. The wages
of sin is death. God can't die. So how are we
going to get out of this quandary? The God-man did both. He satisfied
God. He died. The God-man did both. Acts 20, 28 says, Feed the church
of God which he purchased with his own blood. Now, there ain't nobody that
can explain this. We can just Proclaim it and believe
it. That's it. There's no explanation
of this. This is one of the great mysteries
of the gospel. And in Samson's death, all of
the lords of the Philistines were destroyed. Every one of
them. Every one of my enemies were
destroyed in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll tell
you what the first enemy I think of, my enemy is my sin. My sin
is my deadly enemy. My sin is ever before me. And
in His death, He put it away. When He said it is finished,
the sins of all the elect were put away. I have no sin. What an accomplishment that is.
He put away my sin. He made it to where I don't have
any sin. And when God looks at me right
now, He looks at a man without sin. But what about your sins? Christ
put them away. I have no sin. What accomplishments there are
in his death. Oh, the power that he displayed
in his death in satisfying God and putting away sin. Now, Hebrews chapter 11, verse
32, speaks of the faith of Samson. Well, what was his faith? Now
you look at the man, and like I said, the man's an enigma,
isn't he? You read all this stuff about him. I mean, in some respects,
he shows the mighty power of God. In some respects, he's just
an utterly unimpressive man. I mean, you can see that a weak
man, a weak man, a vindictive man, even when he's getting vengeance
on the Pharisees, he doesn't do it for Israel's sake. He's
doing it to get vengeance for his two eyes. I mean, he seems
like a childish, vindictive man in many respects, an immoral
man in many respects. And I'm not justifying that,
but that's just the record of this man. Yet the scripture says
he was a man of faith. Well, what was his faith? Samson believed that the only
reason that he wasn't as other men were was God. You believe that? If you're a
believer, if you've been saved by the grace of God, you're an
enigma to yourself in many respects. You know that so. Just like Satan. And you know that the only difference
between you and somebody else is God Himself. He made you a
Nazarite. And if your hair is taken, your
righteousness is taken, what makes you a Nazarite to God,
His grace, you'd be just like anybody else. You know that salvation
is of the Lord. And you believe that. Samson
was a true picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in many respects
he wasn't. I realize that. But oh, the accomplishments
of his death. More were saved by his death
than all the accomplishments of the strength of his life.
And the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus in his death. You
know, we preach Christ crucified. We preach the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we preach He didn't stay
dead. He didn't stay dead. His hair
growing back. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is He that can convene? It's Christ that dies. Only answer
I need, yea rather, that's risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Samson,
a man of faith. Let's pray.