Victory Over the Flesh

Would you please turn in your Bibles to Judges chapter 14, Judges chapter 14.
As many of you know, we've been working our way through the book of Judges this summer, and two
Sundays ago we were introduced to the character of Samson. and his miraculous birth.
And for the next two Sundays, we'll be looking at the life and times of Samson. And we'll look at
all his flaws and foibles. We'll look at his strength and heroism. But more importantly,
we'll look at the God who used Samson despite all of his flaws. But before we do,
I want to turn your attention to the screens for just a second. Because believe it or not,
I think we have a picture here, a toy maker, or several toy makers, decided it was a good idea to
make an action figure of Samson. And the only reason why I know this is because I had one.
And, you know, this action figure was complete with huge jacked muscles,
with long flowing hair, and even had a donkey jawbone weapon accessory,
okay? And I still wish I had it with me today, but I can assure you that thing was donated to
Goodwill or sold at a garage sale long, long ago. And of course, these are the types of gifts that
you receive when you grow up in the church, and along with other... And you remember pitting Samson
against other biblical action figures like David, or even, I think I remember sometimes pitting
Samson against Ninja Turtles. So yes, I've wondered who would win in a fight, Samson or a Ninja
Turtle. But I digress and return to a much larger point I'm trying to make, and that's,
I think many who read the Bible and read the story of Samson are drawn to him because of his unique
strength. And I remember reading as a young boy and finding something honorable in that strength.
I aspired to have this physical superhuman strength that Samson had.
Yeah, you kind of look up to him as this biblical Superman, right? But is this the complete picture
we're to have of Samson? Of course not. As we're about to read, Samson is a deeply flawed
individual. And yet, despite his flaws, God still accomplishes his purposes through Samson.
In fact, as we're about to say, even though Samson wants to be the center of his own story,
God is still in control, carrying out his own agenda and prerogatives.
So without further ado, I'll pray for our time in God's word this morning, then begin reading in
Judges 14. So let's pray.
Heavenly Father, bless our time in your word this morning. As we spend time reading about the story
of Samson, may we see with the eyes of faith your perfect and holy character shining through the
life of Samson. Make the scriptures come alive for us this morning,
O God. Speak into our hearts. Grant us repentance where we feel the Holy Spirit's conviction.
and help us to rely more and more on your grace as we walk with you. And Lord,
I pray this sermon would be an act of worship, exalting you and not myself. Amen.
So read along. I won't ask you to stand because we've got quite a bit to read, but read along with
me in Judges chapter 14. The word of the Lord says this. Samson went down to Timnah,
and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. Then he came up and told his father
and mother, I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.
But his father and mother said to him, Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives
or among all your people that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?
But Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.
His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity
against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines ruled over Israel.
Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of
Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon
him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat.
But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with
the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes. After some days he returned to take her,
and he returned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, there was a swarm of bees in the
body of the lion and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and went on,
eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them and they ate.
And he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion. His father
went down to the woman and Samson prepared a feast there for so the young men used to do. As soon
as the people saw him, they brought 30 companions to be with him. And Samson said to them,
let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is within the seven days of the feast
and find it out, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes. But if you
cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes.
And they said to him, put your riddle that we may hear it. And he said to them,
out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.
And in three days they could not solve the riddle. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife,
Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with
fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us? And Samson's wife wept over him and said,
You only hate me. You do not love me. You've put a riddle to my people and you have not told me
what it is. He said to her, Behold. I have not told my father nor my mother,
and shall I tell you? She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted,
and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her
people. And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is
sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If you had not plowed with
my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him,
and he went down to Eshcolon and struck down 30 men of the town and took their spoil and gave the
garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger, he went back to his father's house,
and Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
After some days, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat.
And he said, I will go into my wife in the chamber. But her father would not allow him to go in.
And her father said, I really thought that you utterly hated her. So I gave her to your companion.
Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead. And Samson said to
them, this time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.
So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches.
Then the Philistine says, Who has done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the
Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up
and burned her and her father with fire. And Samson said to them, If this is what you do,
I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit. And he struck them hip and thigh with
a great blow. And he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Edom.
Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. And the men of Judah
said, Why have you come up against us? They said, We have come up to bind Samson.
to do with him as he did to us. Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock
of Edom and said to Samson, Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us?
What then is this that you have done to us? He said to them, As they did to me,
so I have done to them. And they said to him, We have come down to bind you.
that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Swear to me that
you will not attack me yourselves. They said to him, No, we will only bind you and give you into
their hands. We will surely not kill you. So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up
from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him.
Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax.
And as he caught fire, that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.
And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it,
and with it he struck one thousand men. And Samson said, With the jawbone of a donkey,
heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men. As soon as he had
finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand, and that place was called Ramoth
Lehi. And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said,
You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall now I die of thirst
and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi,
and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned.
And he revived. Therefore, the name of it is called En-Hakor. It is at Lehi to this day.
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines, 20 years. The grass may wither and the flower
may fade, but the word of our Lord will endure forever.
Now, in order to communicate to you what the author of Judges is trying to convey,
I need to give a little context. You see, it's at this point in the 400...
year period of the Judges, that the cycle of misery has reached an all-time low.
And I know that we've been repeatedly saying that each and every week, that each story that we read
about in the book of Judges has reached an all-time low. But that's really truly the case.
Things go from bad to worse in the book of Judges. And remember, even before Samson is born in
Judges 13, the Lord has given the Israelites into the hands of the Philistines. Now,
why did the Lord do this? Well, it's because the people of Israel did again what was evil on the
side of the Lord. And it's at this point that the people aren't even crying out for deliverance.
So it's in this context that Samson grows up in. It's in this context that he was born in.
He grows up in a culture that has embraced Philistine rule. There's not a single Israelite that
questions whether or not this should be the norm.
Samson also grows up in a home with parents who were convinced they have seen the Lord.
Samson's parents were also told that their son was to take the Nazarite vow and that he would begin
to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. So despite Samson growing up in a pagan culture,
it seems that his parents had very good intentions for him to serve the Lord.
But from what we just read in Judges 14, Those good intentions only made it so far.
By the time Samson is of marrying age, he completely disrespects his parents.
He disrespects their wishes for him to marry an Israelite woman. And he even commands them to go
get for them a Philistine bride. Now this should say something to the Christian parents in the
room. It can be very easy for a Christian parent to have good and godly intentions for their child.
But as we have just seen, intentions can only take you so far.
You can intend for your child to follow the Lord.
In fact, this is a very honorable and good desire. But if your actions in parenting are not
reflective of your original intentions, then we should not be surprised with how some of our
children grow up.
One of the joys I have as a student pastor here at Redeemer is to partner with parents in their
endeavors to disciple their children. It's an objective of both the kids ministry and the student
ministry to see that parents are fulfilling their calling as the primary disciple makers in the
home. If you're a parent here this morning and you're scratching your head and you're wondering,
how on earth am I going to disciple my kids? Just know that the staff, the pastors,
the elders, the church at large is here for you. We're praying for you. We want to help you in your
endeavors to disciple your kids.
But as much as we can talk about parenting and family dynamics in the life of Samson,
that's not what the text is ultimately about.
So if parenting is not the main point of the text, then what is? Well,
when we encounter Samson in the pages of Scripture, two things are constantly at play. One,
Samson being driven by his fleshly impulses, right? And then two,
God's sovereign power being displayed in the systematic defeat of the Philistines.
Those are the two things that are constantly at play in Judges 14 and 15. Can you see how at every
turn of the story, every sequence of events, Samson acts on a sinful whim?
And yet, despite this morally reprehensible judge, God seeks victory over the Philistine powers
that be.
So what is the main idea for us this morning? How do we bridge the gap between Samson and our own
lives? It's this, and here's the main point for this morning, that God empowers us to overcome our
fleshly impulses. God empowers us to overcome our fleshly impulses. Just as God empowered Samson by
his Spirit to gradually weaken the Philistines, God empowers us by the Spirit to diminish the
influence our flesh has over us.
You see, if you're a believer here this morning and have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, you
are, as Anthony Hoikama describes, as being genuinely new.
That's where we are as believers. We're genuinely new. We've been given the new birth, but not yet
totally new. We haven't been glorified yet. This means that we still have fleshly impulses that we
must wage war against each and every day.
But we see how God empowers us to do so. We see that in four episodes of Samson's life,
we see how God empowers us to overcome our fleshly impulses.
The first episode we see this from is from lust to lion killing. And here's the outline for this
morning and where we're going. We see that in the first episode,
it's from lust to lion killing in chapter 14, 1 through 7. From old vows being broken to a new one
being upheld in chapter 14, 8 through 20. And then from angry vengeance to amazing victory in 15,
1 through 8. And then finally, we'll see the selfishness of Samson to salvation in chapter 15,
9 through 20. So these four episodes tell us that God empowers us to overcome our fleshly impulses.
But let's first look at this first episode from lust to lion killing in chapter 14.
Now it's already been established that Samson went against the wishes of his parents and he wanted
to marry a Philistine woman. But the question to ask is, why? Why does he want to marry this
Philistine woman? Against the wishes of his parents, why? Well,
we're told why in verses 3 and 7. Samson saw this woman and wanted to marry her because she was
right in his eyes. She was right in his eyes. And if you're familiar with the book of Judges,
you know this is not an arbitrary choice of words. By the time we get to the end of the book,
what's applied here to the individual in Samson is applied to the whole nation of Israel.
Eventually, Samson won't be the only one doing what is right in his own eyes.
And this phrase is not just applied to any old individual. It's applied to a judge, a deliverer of
Israel. All that he has done so far is modeled how to live a life driven by the flesh and what's
right in his own eyes.
His reasons for marrying this Philistine woman were purely visual.
From Samson's fleshly perspective, he saw a woman and wanted to marry her. That's it.
He cared nothing about her Philistine heritage or how it could potentially lead him astray.
None of this crosses his mind as he demands her hand in marriage from his parents.
The marriage itself was not built on the love and care of the spouses or their families.
It was built on Samson's carnal lust. Again, he saw a woman and wanted to marry her.
That's it. There's no consideration of how she might influence him. But verse 4 clues us in to what
really is going on here. See, behind the scenes, God, with his hidden purposes,
permits the marriage to go forward because he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.
He was going to use Samson's lust-filled marriage to accomplish his own purposes.
And we're going to find out how he's at work because Samson and his family,
on their way to Timnah, we're introduced to this kind of secondary plot line,
right? Which kind of confirms that God is up to something here. We're told that on their way to
Timnah, Samson encounters a charging and roaring lion who is getting ready to tear Samson to
shreds. But instead, the Spirit of the Lord steps in and rushes upon Samson,
and Samson tears the lion to shreds. In fact, we're told that Samson tears the lion as one tears a
young goat. Now, I'm not sure how you tear a young goat,
but you get the picture, right? Samson makes quick work of the lion, and he does so by the power of
the Holy Spirit.
Now, we can clearly see that God is up to something here, right? Why is the lion in the story at
all? The lion being killed is a secondary plot line in comparison to the marriage plot.
The point seems very clear to me that despite Samson's tendency to be driven by the fleshly impulse
of lust, God wants him to know he can overcome these impulses by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Look, if the Spirit's power can be used to tear a lion apart, he can be used to diminish the power
of sin.
And this is the application for us. Though our sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is for
us, it wants to consume us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can best it. We do not have to live
a life dominated by the flesh, and nor should we. Brothers and sisters, we've been given the Holy
Spirit to wage war and fight against the flesh. If you're prone to give into your lusts,
like Samson was, Would you make a commitment today to walk by the Spirit and not gratify the
desires of the flesh? And I can speak from personal experience.
He will help you slay the beast if you but rely on his power.
But next, I want us to see how God empowered Samson in the next episode of his life.
Let us look at how God was at work in Samson's vows being broken.
and a new one being upheld. Let's see how God was at work in Samson's life and old vows being
broken to a new one being upheld in chapter 14, 8 through 20.
Now you're probably wondering what vows am I referring to? Well, again, do you guys remember back
in chapter 13, the Lord enlists Samson to be a Nazarite? And according to Old Testament law,
When someone vowed to be a Nazarite, they were barred from three things, right? They were barred
from three things that normal Israelites had access to. They were barred from consuming any and all
great products. They were barred from shaving their head. And then thirdly,
they were barred from contact with the dead. And over the course of Samson's life,
he would eventually go on to violate all three of these bans. But right here in this specific
episode, I want us to see how Samson is guilty of breaking his vows in two ways.
You see, after time had passed since he killed a lion, a honeycomb of bees began to cultivate
inside the carcass of a dead lion. Now, I don't know about you or if you've spent any extended...
period of time around roadkill or the like, but it's fair to say that flies or maggots are more
likely to develop in a carcass than bees are, right? So this begs the question,
what on earth are a hive of bees doing in a dead lion's carcass, specifically this dead lion's
carcass?
I would contend to you that the Lord put that that honeycomb of bees,
there to test Samson.
God wanted to see if Samson will either A, stay true to his Nazarite vows,
stay away from the dead lion, or B, indulge in his appetites. He put that honeycomb in the lion to
test Samson to see whether he would break his vows or not.
So not only does Samson eat the honey, right? He eats the honey from a rot.
He scoops it out from a dead lion. breaking his vows to not come into contact with the dead, but he
also tricks his parents into unwittingly eating the honey as well in verse 9.
And then in verse 10, Samson hosts what effectively is a Philistine stag party,
okay? Meaning that as a part of the wedding festivities, Samson would have certainly indulged in
the libations and once again break his Nazarite vows.
I mean, Again, he's consuming great products. He's touching and coming to contact with the dead.
Do we see how Samson, in breaking his vows, is becoming less like a Nazarite and more like a
Philistine?
Nowhere along the way does he stop and consider the Lord's desire for him to be obedient to his
vows.
He simply just goes along with it. He sees some honey, scrapes it from the lion,
and eats.
And then from this great drinking feast, we get a riddle posed by Samson.
And not only is it a riddle, it's a riddle that has a wager attached to it. 30 lemon garments and
30 changes of clothes. And Samson, being who he is, can't pass up the opportunity to not only
deceive the Philistines, but to gamble away his possessions in the process.
The riddle... ties together two plot lines mentioned earlier. Since the riddle is given at the
wedding feast, and since the answer to the riddle has to do with the honey and the lion, both the
marriage plot line and the lion plot line come together at the riddle.
And from the sequence of events immediately following the riddle, we find the truth of verse 4
coming into play once again, that God was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.
He was up to something. Though Samson wanted to marry a Philistine, God was still seeking an
opportunity to defeat the Philistines.
So let's look at the sequence of events. I'm just going to breeze by these because it's a lot of
summary, right? The sequence of events after Samson gives this riddle. The Philistines aren't
initially able to solve the riddle, so the Philistines... threaten Samson's new wife to entice
Samson. If she doesn't, they're going to burn her and her father. And then once Samson is enticed
to give the riddle, he's realizing that marrying a Philistine woman is now biting him in the butt.
And then the last few hours of the riddle challenge, surprise, surprise, the Philistines come
forward with the answer. And then Samson insults his wife.
by calling her a heifer, which is as insulting in the Hebrew as it is in the English. And finally,
most importantly, the Holy Spirit rushes upon Samson to pay off his gambling debts,
but he doesn't pay them off in the way that you would expect. He doesn't pay them off with clothes
from his own closet. No, he goes and robs the Philistines and takes their clothes and pays off
other Philistines with their own clothes.
Do we see the importance of this? Samson fulfilled his end of the wager, but he didn't do it in a
way that the Philistines expected.
He didn't even do it in a way that honored the Philistines. The Philistines' concern for being
impoverished still ends up being the case. Despite having the answer to the riddle,
they still were impoverished.
But... In breaking his Nazarite vows, Samson fulfilled the vow to bring 30 linen shirts and 30
changes of clothes. So an old vow is being broken, a new one being upheld.
And looking at this sequence of events from a theological perspective, we can't help but see the
providence of God and sending the Holy Spirit at the right time.
No matter what the results of the riddle challenge was or were, God was going to take the
opportunity to weaken the Philistines, right? And so from our own perspective,
God helps us to fight against our own creaturely impulses to break vows that we've made.
If you're a believer here this morning, maybe you haven't taken the Nazarite vow, but you have
committed, you've taken a vow to follow Christ and do what he commands.
And as we walk with Him in obedience, there are many things we as Christians commit ourselves to.
A commitment to join a local church and covenant membership. A commitment to be a gospel witness to
the lost. A commitment to advance the kingdom in all that we say and do. These are commitments that
we as Christians take on.
And in my mind, there are two main things that every believer should commit themselves to.
And if I can just boil it down to just two core Christian commitments, it's this,
that we all commit to putting off sin and to put on righteousness.
Those are two core Christian commitments that I think every believer should commit themselves to.
Putting off sin and putting on righteousness. It's what every believer is called to,
and it's what every believer should be committed to do.
But we, like Samson, have the fleshly impulse to not follow up on those commitments,
to no longer remain committed, right? We feel constrained by the commitments we make to walk by the
Spirit.
If we're honest, we don't like the constraint of putting off sin and putting on righteousness.
But remember, the Holy Spirit empowers us to remain committed.
in our pursuit of putting off sin, in our practice of putting on righteousness. He gives us the
strength to continue on being committed in these things. He gives us the power to say yes to
righteousness and no to sin. And pastorally, if I can just quickly recommend two books to you that
will give you some clear and simple truth. Two books from the same author, Jerry Bridges.
He wrote two easy-to-read books on the process of putting off sin and putting on righteousness.
One's called The Pursuit of Holiness. This talks about how to put off sin practically in your own
life. And then the other called The Practice of Godliness, which talks about putting on
righteousness practically in your own life. Both of these have helped me tremendously,
and I would strongly, strongly recommend to anyone who is looking to practically put off sin and
put on righteousness, to practically live these two commitments out, right?
Again, these are commitments that I think every believer should commit to. But we do it by the
power and strength of the Holy Spirit.
But as for now, let's look at more ways God wants to help us fight our fleshly impulses and gain a
victory over them. So let me ask a question. Do we have any angry people in the room?
Many of you are like, I can't believe you would ask that. I'm not angry, right? Well, this next
episode of Samson's life is especially for angry people like you and me.
Look at how God turns angry vengeance into amazing victory in chapter 15,
1 through 8.
And if I can just kind of summarize here again, what begins to take shape after this riddle
debacle, each one of these events occur in such rapid succession. So follow along with me.
So after storming off in a huff to his parents' house, Samson returns to Timnah to claim his bride,
only to find out that his bride has been given to his best man. I mean,
it's at this point, can you blame the father-in-law here, right? I mean, he doesn't give her hand
in marriage to Samson because what he just saw was a display from a hothead, and he did just call
her a heifer. and storm off in anger away from the wedding festivities. So again,
can you blame the father-in-law? But this decision by the father-in-law angers Samson so much
that he takes matters into his own hands. He doesn't just stop and talk things out with the father
-in-law. He doesn't try to reason with him or even explain his purpose of why he's there.
No, he just takes matters into his own hands. Samson does.
Samson takes vengeance by ingeniously setting fire to Philistine farmland.
By tying the foxes together and lighting the tail torches, Samson was angrily settling the score
against the perceived wrongs done to him. But in Samson's personal vendetta against the
Philistines, God was again at work stripping away precious resources from them.
I'm convinced Samson was unknowingly accomplishing the purposes of God.
To him, it was just about getting even. To God, it was about defeating the enemies of his people.
When the Philistines catch wind of who started the fire, they immediately burn Samson's father-in
-law and bride.
Perhaps they needed a scapegoat. I don't know why they burned them. But this is ironic because the
bride feared that this would happen back in chapter 14. We see it happening. And again,
we see Samson playing the role of an avenger, and he strikes down the guilty party of the
Philistines in another display of strength. So in the midst of much anger,
he strikes them down hip and thigh. And you're probably like, what does that mean? To strike
someone down hip and thigh is what one commentator says, a wrestling idiom for total victory.
So to strike someone down, hip and thigh, is to gain total victory over them.
So in the midst of drawing the ire of the Philistines, drawing out their anger, Samson wins a
victory over them and then flees and hides in the caves of Edom.
In the midst of much anger from both Samson and the Philistines, God achieves the victory over his
enemies.
And I'll say this. One of the great enemies of the Christian life is our sinful flesh.
As evidenced by Samson, our flesh can oftentimes drive us into great fits of sinful anger.
Let me just say a quick word about anger.
I believe there are four common types of sinfully expressed anger.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but perhaps you've seen one or more of these types of anger in
your own life.
First of all, sinful anger can be expressed internally. How is this possible?
Anger can be bottled up after a prolonged period of time. And the question to ask yourself is this,
are you holding on to anger internally? Is it bottling up inside of you?
Because the second type of anger is external anger. When it's expressed in such a way that there's
a blow up, right? Bottled up anger typically turns into external blowing up anger.
And I believe this is the type of anger that Samson struggles with the most. What many of us
struggle with. But he also struggled with a third type of anger.
Thirdly, anger can be expressed in grudging vindictiveness. Grudging vindictiveness.
Perhaps someone has wronged you in some way, or at least you perceive that you've been wronged by
someone. But grudging vindictiveness won't go away until you take action against them,
until you take matters into your own hands, as Samson did. And even then,
though, even then, it still doesn't go away. like what we saw with Samson. He was vindictive,
he got vengeance, but he only remained more vindictive and more vengeful.
The fourth expression of anger is one we're probably a little bit more comfortable with as
Christians, okay? And that's gradual annoyance. Perhaps someone hasn't intentionally done something
wrong against you, but there's still something about them that rubs you the wrong way. And friends,
Hear me when I say this. I'm including myself in this reproof, but I'm convinced that we've become
far too comfortable with getting gradually annoyed because we refuse to see our annoyance as anger.
Our flesh tells us that annoyance is just another acceptable,
it is an acceptable form of anger, but it isn't.
I want to encourage you to put off anger by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Put off. the internal, put off the external, the grudging vindictiveness,
the gradual annoyance that you have for people by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because God,
again, God empowers us to do so.
So the next time you get angry with your spouse or your kids, remember that God empowers you to
fight and defeat your anger.
But Samson wasn't just an angry man. He was a selfish man.
Notice with me in the next episode of his life, selfishness to salvation, and see how God saves us,
though we too are selfish like Samson.
And he empowers us to overcome the fleshly impulse of selfishness.
So let's look at from selfishness to salvation in chapter 15.
So in this episode of Samson, encounter yet another group of cowardly Judites.
From the very beginning of Judges to the very end, Judah has simply refused to confront and defeat
the enemy. They're cowards.
And rather than fight the Philistines, which they outnumbered, by the way, they turn in their own
countrymen. Instead of actually wanting to fight the Philistines,
they say, you know what, we're just going to give up. Samson in the worst prisoner exchange of all
time.
None of them, none of them wanted to sacrificially lay down their lives in defense of their
promised inheritance. So not only do we see selfishness from Samson, but we see selfishness coming
from the Judahites.
They wanted to just live out their lives under the comfort of pagan rule.
In fact, they seem upset with Samson for even disrupting the Philistine status quo.
They say, They questioned Samson and scolded him and said, Don't you know that the Philistines rule
over us? What is this that you've done?
And Samson, his response is very telling of someone that's governed by the fleshly impulse of
selfishness.
He doesn't say that his attacks on the Philistines are done out of obedience to the Lord. He
doesn't say, you know what, I want to defeat the Philistines because God told me to, because this
is a purpose that God has for me. No, friends, what does he say? Look at his response in verse 11
and tell me if Samson doesn't sound like a selfish man-child right here. As they did to me,
so I have done to them.
The selfishness of this. I mean, his attack on the Philistines was not done in obedience to God.
It's done for his own ego.
And so the Judites bind Samson with new rope while promising they won't harm him.
But what does the Lord do? Again, in the midst of Samson's impulse to be selfish,
the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon him, breaks his bonds apart. He holds out his hand and he grabs
the jawbone of a donkey and slays 1,000 Philistines.
Clearly, Samson would not have been able to do this if he were not rescued by the rushing presence
of the Holy Spirit.
He would not have been able to do that on his own strength.
But then, in poetic language, Samson proceeds to give all the credit of victory to himself.
With the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down 1,000 men. It's almost as if Samson is singing a
worship song dedicated to himself.
There's absolutely no reference to God in this poetic psalm to himself.
Friends, what does that say about us?
Is our worship directed to the one true and living God who empowers us,
who gives us his spirit to defeat our fleshly impulses?
I'll say this about Samson. he does eventually call out to God in verse 18.
But he does so not to give him thanks for giving him a victory, but he does so because he's
thirsty.
Samson's not thankful for just being delivered from the hands of a thousand Philistines.
He's thirsty.
And that strikes the core of a lot of us, right? I mean,
think about that in your own life. When God has given you great deliverance, the person and work of
Christ, how often do we go before him in thankfulness versus how often do we go before him
complaining about something?
But so he calls out to him, not out of thanksgiving, but out of thirst. And I think that's just so
characteristic of someone who is so self-absorbed. The grumblings of his stomach were louder than
his gratitude for God's deliverance.
God would have had every right. to let Samson just die at thirst at this point.
Here's this selfish, angry, vow-breaking man-child who is completely driven by what his flesh
craves. Here's this man who has great physical strength and yet can't keep his flesh in check.
But on the brink, I want you to see this, church, on the brink of Samson almost dying of thirst,
what does God decide to do? God splits open the hollow place.
He splits open the rock and gives Samson water. And look at the language of verse 19.
Samson drank, his spirit returned, and he revived.
Friends, what a picture, what a portrait of God's grace. What a picture of God's...
grace, despite our selfishness, despite how flesh-driven we are,
God's grace comes to restore us. His grace comes to restore us through the living waters of Christ.
For Jesus himself said to the Samaritan woman, another person who is both thirsty and flesh
-driven, whoever drinks of this physical water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the
water that I will give them will never be thirsty again.
The water that Jesus gives, the water he will give, will become in him a spring of water welling up
inside.
Friends, this spring of water, if I can be so bold to say, is no one other than the Holy Spirit who
works to revive us, who works to satisfy our deepest thirsts.
Can I leave you with this exhortation? Satisfy and silence the impulses of the flesh with the
sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.
All of our strong creaturely urges that we have can be satisfied and silenced by the strength that
the Holy Spirit provides. He's the water that we drink from,
that satisfies our every longing.
But perhaps you've never experienced this revivifying power. Perhaps you've never tasted of the
living waters and have never been satisfied. Remember our main idea.
God empowers us to overcome our fleshly impulses. And hopefully, through the story of Samson,
we've learned how the Lord specifically does this. Brothers and sisters in Christ, He does this
specifically through the work of the Holy Spirit. The vilest, flesh-driven sinner can be born
again and trust Christ for salvation for the very first time and be satisfied from all their
longings.
But He doesn't stop there. Whether we've been walking with Christ for 10 days or 10 decades,
we still have indwelling sin that needs to be defeated by the power of the Holy Spirit. His
sanctifying work to conform us more into the image of Christ strengthens us so that we can say no
to ungodly passions and yes to righteous ones.
Friends, let's not be driven by the flesh like Samson was. Let's instead rely on the same Spirit
that gave Samson his strength.
Let's rely on his power as we seek to walk by the Spirit.
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, may we be a spirit-driven people, not a flesh-driven one.
May your church, locally expressed here at Redeemer, find strength in the empowering work of the
Holy Spirit.
May Samson teach us something in spirit-filled restraint against our impulses.
Lord, I ask that this day we would commit, we would take a vow.
to no longer gratify the desires of the flesh, but instead walk by the Spirit.
Amen.