The Source of Our Strength

Well, as many of you know, we have set apart our summer this year to look through the book of
Judges and study the book of Judges. And as we're wrapping up our summer series, we've been looking
at for the past two weeks, this week included, the life of Samson. And this Sunday we'll be in
Judges chapter 16, wrapping up the life of Samson and seeing just how all the wonderful ways that
the Lord used him. to accomplish his purposes. And as many of you have already probably noticed,
the story of Samson is a complex one. Because again, here we see this lust-driven,
angry, selfish man who despite his proclivity to disobey the will of God,
the Lord uses him to accomplish his purposes. And all in all, Judges 14 through 16 gives us a
historically reliable account of these ten feats of strength that Samson performed.
Last week we looked at the first five, and this week we'll look at the final five.
But as I'm reminded of these ten feats of strength, and being someone who's fascinated by Greek
mythology, I'm reminded of the twelve labors of Hercules. Maybe you've heard of Hercules,
maybe you've seen the Disney cartoon about him, but are you aware of the 12 labors that made him
famous? You see, Hercules would become a household name in ancient Greece because of these 12
labors. As the story goes, the goddess Hera strikes... with a fit of madness.
And this fit of madness causes Hercules to murder his wife and kids.
And it's because of the cold-blooded murder of his family, he goes on to perform these seemingly
impossible labors, these seemingly impossible feats of strength that make for great drama.
And while I'm not going to point out to you all the different laborers and how Hercules was able to
accomplish them, I will point out one monumental difference between Hercules and Samson.
The source of Hercules' mythological strength was just that, myth.
The human imagination lies at the heart of Hercules' strength. Meanwhile,
the source of Samson's strength was no one else but the Lord. The God of the Bible who's real,
who steps inside of space, time, and history to accomplish his purposes. And before we read about
this God in the book of Judges 16, let's pray for our time in his word this morning.
Heavenly Father, we come before you again asking for the sweet manna of your word.
Give it to us so that our souls would be nourished and strengthened this morning. We ask for your
spirit to fill the hearts and minds of every believer here this morning. And Lord,
would you do a work among the non-believer who's also joining us? Remove their hearts of stone and
give them a heart of flesh so that they may respond in faith and repentance.
But Lord, most of all, may you be glorified in the preaching of your word. May I decrease as you
increase. Amen. Now would you please stand in the reading of God's Word in Judges chapter 16.
Judges chapter 16.
The Word of the Lord says this, Samson went to Gaza,
and there he saw a prostitute, and he went into her. The Gazites were told,
Samson has come here. And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate
of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, Let us wait till the light of the morning, then
we'll kill him. But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he rose and took hold of the doors of
the gate of the city and the two posts and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his
shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
After this, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, seduce him and see where his great
strength lies and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him,
and we will give you 1,100 pieces of silver. So Delilah said to Samson,
please tell me where your great strength lies and how you might be bound and that one could subdue
you.
Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried,
then I shall become weak and be like any other man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to
her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
Now she had men lying in ambush in her chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon you,
Samson. But he snapped the bowstrings as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire.
So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, Behold,
you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound. And he said to her,
If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any
other man. So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him,
The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber.
But he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread. Then Delilah said to Samson,
Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound. He said to her,
If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pen, then I shall
become weak and be like any other man. So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head
and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pen and said to him, The Philistines
are upon you, Samson. But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pen, the loom and the web.
And she said to him, How can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me
these three times and you have not told me where your great strength lies. And when she pressed him
hard with her words day after day and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
He told her all his heart and said to her, A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a
Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me,
and I shall become weak and be like any other man. Then when Delilah saw that he had told all his
heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up again, for he has told me
all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought them...
The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke from his sleep and said, But he did not know
that the Lord had left him. And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him
down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. Now the lords of the
Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their god, and to rejoice.
So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the
pillars. And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, Let me feel the pillars on
which the house rests, that I may lean against them. Now the house was full of men and women.
All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women
who looked on while Samson entertained. Then Samson called to the Lord and said,
O Lord God. Please remember me and please strengthen me only this once,
O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson grasped the two middle
pillars on which the house rested. He leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and
his left hand on the other. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. Then he bowed with
all his strength and the house fell upon the Lord's, upon all the people who were in it. So the
dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his
brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah
and Eshtol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel 20 years.
Thank you. You may be seated. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God
endures forever.
Well, it seems that Samson's decision-making skills have not improved from the events of chapter
14 and 15. If anything, they've worsened, right? And what's even more glaringly obvious is that the
presence of the Spirit is noticeably absent. He's not explicitly mentioned in chapter 16 as he was
in chapters 14 and 15. The Spirit of the Lord does not come upon Samson as he did in previous
chapters. The absence of the Spirit in chapter 16 is meant to serve as a poignant reminder of
Samson's persistent flesh-driven disobedience. And yet,
we still see these superhuman feats of strength from Samson.
Is that because he's just naturally strong? Or is it because he still draws strength from God?
My answer is the latter because, first of all, no one is that strong to pick up a city gate and
bear it on their shoulders or to break new ropes as if they were thread.
But the question still remains, and this is the question, the central driving question of the whole
narrative in chapter 16. Who or what is the source of Samson's strength?
This is the central driving question in Judges 16.
And you've already heard me say this, but it is the Lord, God alone, who is the source of Samson's
strength.
But in Judges 16, up until the very end, this is not a fact to Samson. It was more of a theory for
him. The Lord, being the source of his strength, was more a theory for him to test,
to play with, than it was an actual reality for him to revel in. You see,
it took Samson losing his strength to recognize where it truly came from.
I'll say that again. It took Samson losing his strength to recognize where it truly came from.
But when Samson began to slowly realize this, that the Lord is the source of his strength,
when he starts to see the Lord as the source of his strength, he truly starts to serve the Lord and
to save the Israelites from the hands of the Philistines. When Samson recognized where his strength
came from, he began to serve the Lord with it. Before then, yes, he was strengthened by God,
but he used his strength to serve his own flesh-driven impulses.
But the principle remains for us as 21st century Christians, and it helps us formulate a main idea
for us this morning.
Here's the main idea. When we recognize where our spiritual strength comes from, we will begin to
serve the Lord with it. When we recognize where our strength lies, we'll begin to serve the Lord
with it. How do I know this? Well, look no further than the life of Samson in Judges 16.
When Samson didn't know the source of his strength, he lived a life marked by,
one, immoral sex, two, immense stupidity, and three, ineffective and sightless servitude.
This is when Samson didn't know the source of his strength. But when he does recognize the source
of his strength, when he realizes where his strength truly comes from, he serves God.
He serves God by dethroning idols. Two, defeating God's enemies.
And three, delivering God's people.
So this is where we're going this morning. This is our outline for this morning. So let's first
talk about the immoral sex that Samson committed as a result of not knowing where his strength
lies. And chapter 16 begins with a bit of mystery, right? Why Samson has decided to yet again
forsake his homeland and go live among the Gazites and the Philistines is unclear.
Why he does this, we don't know. What is clear is Samson's unchanging desire to be with Philistine
women. And this time, Samson doesn't even think of marrying this unnamed prostitute in verse 1.
went into her, which is, of course, a nice way of saying in Hebrew that he had sex with her.
Sexual lust permeated the heart of Samson, so much so that Samson decides to have immoral sex with
a prostitute.
And it's at this point I want to share a lengthy but good quote from J.C. Ryle with the men in the
room. It's such a rich exhortation. Listen to this. Here I will not shrink from warning all young
men to remember the seventh commandment, to beware of adultery and fornication of all impurity of
every kind. I fear there's often a want or a lack of plain speaking on this part of God's law.
It is a sin that slays its thousands in every age and has overthrown not a few saints of God in
time past. Lot and Samson and David are fearful proofs. Young men,
flee fornication if you love life. Flee the occasions for it,
the company of those who might draw you into it, the places where you might be tempted to it. Read
what our Lord says about it in Matthew 5. Be like holy Job. Make a covenant with your eyes.
Flee talking of it. It is one of the things that ought not so much as to be named. You cannot
handle pitch and not be defiled. Flee the thoughts of it. Resist them.
Mortify them. Pray against them. Make any sacrifice rather than give way. Imagination.
I like what he says here. Imagination is the hotbed where this sin is too often hatched.
Guard your thoughts and there is little... about your deeds. You can hear the pastoral urgency in
his tone, and I hope you can hear the urgency in mine, because you can best believe that Samson
would have never violated the seventh commandment if he would have just guarded his heart and mind,
if he would have just said a covenant over his eyes, he would not have found himself in the
situation that's presented to us in verses two through three. What's the situation?
Well, it seems as though Samson has a bounty on his head. He's surrounded by the Philistines.
They want to capture him and seize him, and they wait there until he wakes up in the morning.
The only problem is that Samson did not wake up when the Philistines anticipated. He awoke at
midnight, and he used his strength to carry the gate of the city to the hill.
Presumably, this gate... is the same gate that would have housed all the soldiers that were lying
in wait for him.
So, here again, we see another example of Samson using his strength to get out of another sticky
situation.
A situation that was brought about by his desire for immoral sex.
From Samson's perspective, because he was unsure where his strength came from,
he used his strength in the service of his own sexual lusts.
And if we're going to talk about sex, we must talk about it from a redemptive lens, particularly if
you know you've been redeemed.
You see, from the very beginning, sex was a gift from God, still is a gift from God. And he
designed sex in such a way that the participants of the sexual act are to be one man and one woman
who are in the covenant confines of marriage. But we've defied, we've defiled the original purposes
of sexual intimacy through things like prostitution in Samson's case, things like pornography,
homosexuality, and sex outside of wedlock. The gift of sex has by and large been trampled on and
warped to fit our own sexual desires.
We, like Samson, had no issue violating the Seventh Commandment because we could have cared less
about their original designs for sex. But Christ came to redeem lawbreakers and the sexually
immoral like me and you. Our sexual brokenness and proclivity to warp the gift of sex into our own
designs can be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
He forgives us all of our sexual promiscuity and immorality if we but repent and trust in Him for
salvation. Don't believe me. Just listen to the powerful words of 1 Corinthians 6.
Listen to this. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who
practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers,
will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed.
You are sanctified. You're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our
God.
Such were some of you. You've been washed. You've been sanctified.
You've been justified in the name of Jesus by the Holy Spirit.
We now view sex as we were meant to view sex. We no longer try to warp it in our own designs,
but seek to uphold the original design. When we recognize where our strength comes from,
we will begin to do this and serve God by fleeing from all forms of sexual immorality.
But next we see immoral sex from the life of Samson when he doesn't know the source of his
strength. But next we see immense stupidity from the life of Samson when he does not know the
source of his strength. Now I grew up hearing from my mom. to never call anyone stupid, okay? But
there's no other way to describe Samson in verses 4 through 17. I mean,
and to quote Forrest Gump's mother, right? Stupid is as stupid does.
Do we not see how Samson was a complete and utter blockhead here? And again,
I'm making this case because he doesn't know the source of his strength, and he participates in
immense stupidity. Look with me in verses 4 through 17. So you see,
it's at this point where he meets and falls in love with another Philistine woman. And we're all
going, oh boy, here we go again, right? Because while lover boy Samson is falling head over heels,
Delilah has ulterior motives. She's looking to collect the bounty on his head.
And to do this, she must entice Samson to reveal where his strength comes from.
And as we know, she tries and fails to do this three times, with each time Samson deceiving her and
giving her a lie. He tells him, if I'm bound with bow strings, or if you use new ropes,
or if you weave my hair, these were all the lies Samson told Delilah as if it were some game to
Samson.
The source of Samson's strength was a game to him. He was playing this out.
Like, if you're going to do this, this is how I'm going to lose my strength. No, if you really do
this, this is how I'm going to lose my strength. It was all a game to him.
Now, we can all assume that the enticement of Samson certainly involved more immoral sex,
since to our knowledge, Samson and Delilah were not married. But rather than focus on the immoral
sex once more, I would like for us to focus on the immense stupidity.
At some level, Samson had to realize and recognize Delilah's ulterior motives.
Whether he knew it or not, Delilah was clearly using Samson to find out the true source of his
strength. No matter how many times it took, Delilah was determined to collect that reward money.
I think the subtle irony of this relationship is that Samson probably thought he was the clever
one. I mean, he goes on to deceive her and outwit Delilah and overpower the Philistines.
But Samson's strength was put into service for more stupidity.
For this is what happens when we don't know the source of our strength. Foolishness and stupidity
abounds.
But then we look at verse 17 and all sorts of questions emerge. Because it's this point that
Delilah wears him down. He grinds him down and gets Samson to reveal the true source of his
strength.
It says that his soul was vexed to death. In other words, Delilah kept pestering him and pestering
him and emotionally manipulating him into telling her the true source of his strength.
But looking at verse 17. My first question is, how on earth does Samson still see himself as a
Nazarite? Right? Because remember what I said last week, according to Old Testament law,
a Nazarite, first of all, could not consume any great products, which we know Samson violated on at
least one occasion. Two, they could not come into contact with the dead, which we know Samson
violated on multiple occasions. And then three, they could not have a razor touch their head and
shave their hair, which as far as we know, he hasn't violated yet.
So this leads me to believe that Samson still saw himself as a Nazarite because no one had cut his
hair yet.
In the back of Samson's mind, He's thinking, okay, I've broken every other Nazarite vow in the book
except for this one about the hair, and now let's really put God to the test. Right?
Samson foolishly puts the Lord to the test by willingly divulging the hidden source of his strength
and telling Delilah about his hair.
But another question emerges. Doesn't this just prove that Samson knew all along the source of his
strength? Remember, Samson is only divulging this information to put God to the test.
It wasn't a real experiential knowledge of the God who strengthens him. It's a theoretical one that
he looks to play games with.
He wants to test God to see if he's really strengthening him.
Here's how I know this. Look at how Samson refers to God in verse 17. He doesn't call him by his
covenant name as he would later do in verse 28. There does not seem to be a personal relationship
where Samson truly knows the source of his strength. He only knows God as Elohim,
but he has yet to come to know him as Yahweh, the Lord, his personal covenant name.
But in all this, we can say that Samson displays his immense stupidity.
And thinking he can outwit Delilah, he eventually gives up and tells her what she's ultimately
after. And herein lies the application for us. Sin didn't just make Samson immensely stupid.
It makes us immensely stupid as well. We're sitting here pointing the finger at Samson saying,
oh, look at this dunderhead. He's all brawn and no brains. But how many of us have done something
as foolish as Samson?
And this is because of what theologians like to call the noetic effects of sin. The noetic effects
of sin. In other words, sin has a way of messing with our minds. It can oftentimes prevent us from
thinking rationally and thinking clearly and making wise choices. It's how intelligent people who
are created in the image of God can oftentimes believe in false and erroneous things.
Sin has such has so shrouded the mind and has corrupted our nature that we oftentimes do foolish
things.
This is why when Jesus comes, he does not just remove the penalty of sin. No,
brothers and sisters, he removes the pollution of sin. He is the great physician who gives us a new
nature when we're united to him by faith, a new nature that is no longer under the dominion of sin,
that is no longer under the effects, the noetic effects of sin.
Friends, he's freed you from that. We're no longer under those effects. We can make wise choices.
Christ, our wisdom, we just sang.
But next, let us see how when Samson didn't know the source of his strength, his life was marked by
ineffective and sightless servitude. His life was marked by ineffective and sightless servitude.
Look with me in verses 18 through 21. You see, Delilah once again calls the Philistines back to
capture Samson, claiming that she has finally found the solution to their problem.
Then somehow she gets Samson to fall asleep while a barber comes and shaves off his head.
And I'm not going to speculate all the logistical details here and how Samson was able to sleep
through someone shaving his head. But needless to say, he wakes up without the seven locks of hair
he grew up as a Nazarite.
And here's how I know that Samson didn't know the source of his strength. Look at verse 20.
Assured in his smug self-confidence, he said, I will go out as at other times and shake myself
free.
When he knows that the Philistines are pressing upon him, he says, you know what, I've done this
before, been there, done that, I'm going to shake them off.
Look again in verse 20. He did not know that the Lord had left him.
His intimacy with the Lord was so minimal that he didn't even know when the Lord had departed from
him.
I mean, friends, can the same be said of you? Do you experience the abiding presence of God so much
so that you know when he leaves?
Because as a result, Samson's failure to truly see where his strength lies results in weak and
ineffective servitude. He can't break free from his captors. Additionally,
because Samson's failure to see the Lord as his strength, he ends up having his eyes gouged out.
He can't see at all.
And what a subtle irony this is, right? That Samson, the man who's accustomed to coming and going
as he pleases, breaking the bonds of the Philistines, and living the majority of his life by his
own impulsive will, he's now held in chains, and he cannot break free from them.
And the irony only deepens when you realize that this is Samson, the same man who was controlled by
what pleased his eye, has now had... His eyes gouged out,
right? But this is where we find our judge. This is where we find Samson this morning.
A lifetime of flesh-driven decision-making and actions have led him here.
All of it has led him to weak and blind servitude. He can't do anything to save himself.
He can't rely on his own strength anymore. The great Samson has been reduced to less than a lowly
millstone grinder for the other prisoners in that Philistine jail.
And notice again that what's applied here to the individual is also applied to the whole nation of
Israel. We saw that last week that With Samson doing what was right in his own eyes was applied to
the whole nation later on in the book of Judges. But here, Samson is an individual representation
of Israel experiencing weakened and blind servitude. He,
like the Israelites, is experiencing the same covenant curses laid out on Israel in Leviticus 26
and Deuteronomy 28. And if the nation of Israel is to persist in their apostasy,
they'll continue to be seized, to be blinded, exiled, and in prison and humiliated with forced
labor.
Samson is just a representation of the whole. And so he's a representation in a lot of ways for us.
Like Samson, if we simply refuse to know the Lord and we go on denying the source of our strength,
we too will live weakened by the power of sin and be blind to the ugliness of sin.
When we go on denying the Lord and his power, we too live in service to sin,
shackled to it and unable to free ourselves from it. Brothers and sisters,
this was your existence before the Lord began pursuing you. But guess what?
He did not forget you. He did not leave you abandoned. He did not leave you helpless,
weak, and blind.
And we see this same reality played out in the life of Samson, that the Lord did not abandon him in
that Philistine prison cell. Because guess what begins to take shape? Look at verse 22.
But the hair of his head began to grow again.
Friends, this was good news to Samson because this was the Lord drawing near to Samson.
Once again, by his grace, he was recreating Samson anew and restoring his Nazarite status.
Friends, when I envision this portion of Judges chapter 16, I'm reminded of the fourth verse of
Charles Wesley's, And can it be? And long my imprisoned spirit lay.
When God draws near to us in salvation, He changes us and gives us freedom over our slavery to sin.
Our response is a life spent following Him, serving Him, obeying Him.
And it's from this point on in Judges 16, we get a different picture of Samson,
right? He begins to truly know the source of his strength and uses it in the service of the Lord.
Because he truly knows the source of his strength, he begins to dethrone idols,
defeat God's enemies, and deliver God's people. Because he truly knows the source of his strength,
he begins to dethrone idols. defeat God's enemies, and deliver God's people.
So let's look at verse 23. We don't know how much time has elapsed between his capture and the time
of this great religious festival, but we do know that the Lord is not yet done with Samson.
I don't know if you've noticed this yet, but through Samson, God has gone after the Philistines in
a number of different ways. He's gone after their farmland with the fire foxes. He's gone after
their resources with the 30 linen garments. And he's gone after their infrastructure with the city
gate being uprooted. And he's gone after their standing army with the jawbone of a donkey.
And now, God is going after the Philistine panther.
That's right, the gods of the Philistines, in particular Dagon, is going to be desecrated by the
end of this religious festival. The Philistines keep praising Dagon for giving Samson into their
hands, and yet the Lord is about to use the hands of Samson to cease the worship of Dagon.
Yahweh is not some localized deity like Dagon. Yahweh is the true and living God and not some idle
fashion by human hands.
This is what he's about to prove through a blind and weakened Samson who's being restored.
God is the source of Samson's restored strength, who's ready to take down this false god.
And indeed, God strengthens us also to dethrone our idols. Is the report of the Thessalonians the
same report of our own lives? That we, like the Thessalonians, have turned to the true and living
God and turned away from false idols.
When God gives us strength to follow Him, part of that strength is used in what I like to call the
dethronement process. What is the dethronement process you ask?
Well, it's first, you identify the idol you're worshiping. Identify the idol you're worshiping.
Ask yourself such question as, what am I putting in the place of God? What am I worshiping more
than the Lord? What's one thing that I'm consuming, that's consuming all of my time and resources?
The second part of the dethronement process is simple. Recognize how much greater God is in
comparison to your idol, right? For example, I've found that I've been making an idol out of
people's approval. I've been driven by what people say of me. And that's step one,
right? I've identified the idol. Now step two is for me to see how much God is greater in
comparison than people's approval of me.
And I find that what God says of me in his word is much greater than what any man has to say about
me.
Step three of the dethronement process is to repeat. Because this is a process.
It's not a one and done deal. It's a process of constantly finding the idols that you're praising
more than God, recognizing the much grander and greater majesty than God,
and repeating the process.
Compare your idol to the great and divine majesty of God, and you'll begin to worship God more than
your idol. That's how your idols become dethroned.
Samson's strength was used to dethrone idols. Eventually, this great house of worship was brought
down and Dagon was dethroned. His strength was also used to defeat the enemies of God.
Samson's strength was also used to defeat the enemies of God. Look at verses 25 through 27.
In this mass worship service to Dagon, Samson is called upon by the Philistines to act as
entertainment for the Philistines. You see, the Philistines add insult to injury by taking God's
chosen servant and making him an object of ridicule. Samson has essentially become their court
jester. And it seems pretty clear that Samson doesn't want to be their court jester because with
the request to put his hands on the pillars, you start to see the wheels start to turn,
right? The wheels are turning. He starts to lean on the pillars and he's hatching,
he's formulating this plan that involves the strength that God is restoring to him.
When the Philistines sought to be entertained by Samson, God was going to use Samson to eradicate
them. And he was going to use a blind Samson, a Samson that was dependent upon a young aide to
accomplish that. He's doing this to accomplish. the purpose that was stated at the very beginning
of chapter 14. Remember what the Word says back in chapter 14?
God was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. And this,
friends, is that opportunity.
Thousands upon thousands of Philistines, many of them high-ranking officials and noblemen,
are about to be wiped out by the judgment of God. And make no mistake,
God never fumbles on the opportunities he creates himself. He creates himself for that which he has
purposed will come to pass. And friends, this is just what we see in Judges 16 with the
Philistines. This is just a microcosm of what God has planned for his enemies.
All of those who are without Christ, who are left in their sin, can expect great judgment.
It is much better to be God's friend than his foe. Final victory awaits those who have been united
to Christ by faith. God's enemies can only expect defeat.
Friends, though it may seem like the world has won, though it may seem like the world looks at the
church and laughs, though it may seem like the church is this source of entertainment or this
object of ridicule for the world, Jesus says to his followers, listen to this,
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have
tribulation, but take heart, for I have overcome the world.
King Jesus, our deliverer, our judge, has defeated and overcome a world filled with enemies.
He's overcome the world.
Brothers and sisters, don't believe for a second that the world has won.
And we don't have to be intimidated by the mockings and jeers of a watching world.
And going back to what I said earlier, we can uphold the original view of sex and not being
intimidated to do so. When the world and the culture is ever-progressing and ever-evolving view
of sex, we can hold firm to what the Bible says and not be intimidated. Because Christ has overcome
the world.
The practical expectation for us is to take heart, to be of good courage, and to not be afraid of a
world that mocks and jeers over Christians.
But next we see how in the defeat of God's enemies, God's people are delivered.
At the very same time when Samson brings down the house, he defeats God's enemies,
but also simultaneously delivers God's people. When Samson knew the source of his strength,
he finally began to serve the Lord and save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
Look at verse 28. With one simple prayer, Samson began to do what he was called to do from the very
beginning.
In this simple prayer, he does two things. One, he acknowledges Yahweh.
Not just Elohim, Yahweh. He acknowledges him as Lord, as Adonai,
recognizing his absolute and divine sovereignty that the Lord, Yahweh,
has over his life. So he acknowledges him as Yahweh. Second, he asks him to remember him and
strengthen him. So he acknowledges him as Yahweh and he asks him for something. Friends,
let this be a model for our own prayer lives. Yes, Samson has a model for something,
right? Let this be a model for our prayer lives. We acknowledge the Lord as sovereign over us.
And we come to him with our petitions. So he asked God to remember him and strengthen him so that
he may be avenged. So this is by no means a perfect plea for help,
right? Because it seems like all Samson wants is justice for his gouged out eyes.
And yet, the Lord decides to answer him and give him the strength required to bring down the
building. And what's more, Samson needed to have faith that God was going to give him the strength.
It would have looked really silly if he would have prayed for this and done this and nothing's
happening. But no, he exercised faith here that the Lord was going to give him the strength to do
it. And I'm convinced that because of verse 28, Samson is included in the hall of faith in Hebrews
11. The author of Hebrews looked at Samson's life, the good,
the bad, and the ugly, and saw this defining moment of faith in verse 28.
Because it was at this moment, Samson was surrendering his life over to the Lord.
That whether in life or in death, whatever may happen, that I may be used for your purposes.
He was trusting the Lord was going to use him in both his life and his death to accomplish his
purposes.
Now, little did Samson know that the Lord had been doing this from the beginning. But in verse 28,
this is when Samson begins to see his purpose for saving the Israelites from the hand of the
Philistines. Clicks for him.
And such an efficacious salvation it was because in the summary in verse 30,
it's quite fitting. So the dead he, Samson, killed at his death were more than those he had killed
during his life. Samson's sacrificial death had saved the Israelites from the Philistines.
So much so that even though Samson desired to die and be buried among the wreck of Philistines,
his own people, his own kinsmen, came to collect his bones so that he can be buried in the tomb of
his father.
The Israelites saw Samson's death not just as another feat of strength,
but as an act of sacrificial service.
An act of service that was honored by the geographic location of his burial.
A proper Israelite burial for a proper Israelite judge.
But this Savior of God's people, this Savior of God's people was buried and remained buried.
For another Savior would come and die and be resurrected. This Savior,
the Savior, the one who truly delivers God's people, he delivers us from the penalty of sin.
He is delivering us from the power of sin. And one day, friends, one day, brothers and sisters in
Christ, he will decisively and finally remove us from the presence of sin.
This is Jesus I'm talking about here. The source of all our strength. Do you know him?
Do you know him as the source of your strength? If not, what's holding you back? Would you like to
know him? He pursues you with all his strength, doing everything possible for your salvation.
Can you sense him drawing near to you even when you've denied him all your life?
For those of us who know Christ, do you know him as the source of your strength?
I think we sometimes mistakenly believe that good habits, whether it be good diet,
good things that we do in the morning maybe, or morning routine, that this is somehow the source of
our strength. Friends, I'm not downplaying the importance of good habits. Those are great things to
have in your life.
But do you see them as the true source of your strength?
What other things? Do we look at it and say, that's where my strength lies? Is it your bank
account? Is it your job? Your house?
Samson is a prime example of when we truly know who gives us strength,
we will serve God and yield our life over to Him. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
don't leave here today without knowing who it is that gives you strength.
surrendering that strength over to him in humble service to his purposes.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Oh Lord God, please, please remember us and please strengthen us.
Help us to know you, the God of the Bible, the God who gave Samson his strength.
Help us not just to know you theoretically, but to know you.
Experientially. Strengthen us so that we may follow You and serve You, O God.
Father, we pray all these things in Your precious name.