Samson: A Most Unlikely Savior - [Judges 13-16]

I would invite you to take a Bible and to open it to Judges Not Acts, but Judges Primarily because I didn't think

Judges being the seventh book of the Old Testament. I didn't think I really would have Sufficient time to do justice to the narrative of Paul getting saved so We're going to Judges chapter 13 14 15 and 16 talk about time

It's kind of strap -in time

I like mysteries Janet and I will watch mysteries and try to figure out who's doing what?

question each other and Then you know explain why we are wrong later on But you know one of the things that drew me to this many years ago was the mystery and JC Ryle the reason

I brought this up is because I thought you know well this sums it up well suppose an unholy man went to heaven

I Dare say you could probably search throughout

The entire Bible and you would struggle to find somebody more unholy than Samson He might be

I don't know you know we can discuss this after the service, but he might be the worst guy in the

Bible in terms of people who get to heaven He's in Hebrews 11 the hall of faith and That is a mystery.

How can an unholy man? Get to heaven

The theme of judges as many of you know is in judges 21 25 in those days there was no king in Israel Everyone did what was right in his own eyes

Let me just say that describes Samson to a tee He did what was and whatever was right in his own eyes

And this morning we're going to move rather quickly through these chapters although. I'm going to try to read all of it if I can

We have three Three unz Three unz all in regard to Samson so that we might be encouraged not by Samson You know this isn't

I this isn't a dare to be a Samson Sermon, you know

I like to think about it that way to dare to be a Samson Live like however you want and then see if God will save you at the last

Not a good plan If the Old Testament as it's written exists to provide us examples

Samson is mr.. Bad example Don't do this but the story of Samson is a great example of the faithfulness of Yahweh his patience and his steadfast love our first on is

Samson's unlikely parents His unlikely parents and by the way point number two is way long

And so it's got three sub points. Just warning you ahead of time Samson's unlikely parents

Look at verse 1 Chapter 13 and the people of Israel again

Did what was evil in the sight of the Lord? So the Lord gave them into the hands or the hand of the

Philistines for 40 years now Here's the typical cycle of Israel during the time of the judges

They apostatized which is to say they follow after false gods The Lord Punishes them he oppresses them with some foreign power of another or another

Then there's a cry of relief from the people and then the Lord delivers them in other words

They repent and then they get deliverance they get forgiveness So again looking at verse 1 the people of Israel again, this is their habit

It's a nice way of saying they've fallen into a widespread pattern of idolatry as Scott just read they carve themselves a little image out of a piece of wood and Fall down on the ground and worship it

Israel's living under Philistine rule That's what it means when it says that the Lord gave them into the hand of the

Philistines for 40 years The Philistines control the area So we should see them in this oppression because they're in oppression, but we should see them then crying for relief

But they don't in fact one of the things we'll observe in this text is not only they're not crying for relief

They're very content with the status quo that they have with the Philistines Why is that?

Before I answer that question Let's just talk about these Philistines the bad guys the guys are the black hats the people that we don't like And during the time of Samson they were

Israel's major enemy They were a group of people who came from islands near Greece around 1200

BC and they eventually Settle in the southern coastal plain of Israel, which is where all the good farmland is that's where you want to be

The Philistines also had better technology than Israel They had iron versus the bronze of Israel so they could have used military means to just wipe out the

Israelites But they didn't do that They were more clever than that They were using intermarriage

That is to say They were going to essentially Marry the

Jews out of existence and it was because they were using this

Nonviolent method of controlling them that they weren't crying that the Israelites were not crying out for deliverance

They were not suffering So instead they just turned their back on God The Philistines were

God's chosen means to chase in his people for their idolatry and instead of seeing the danger

That was upon them they were just enjoying peace and prosperity So now we have the stage is set for one of the most amazing birth announcements ever getting back to their

Samson's unlikely parents His birth announcement is absolutely amazing and it's amazing because it's made by the pre -incarnate

Jesus and he shows up not just once but twice look at verse 2

There was a certain man of Zorah of the tribe of the Danites whose name was Manoah and his wife was barren and had no children and the angel of the

Lord Appeared to the woman and said to her behold You are barren and have not born children, but you shall conceive and bear a son

Therefore be careful and drink no wine or drink and eat nothing unclean For behold you shall conceive and bear a son

No razor shall come upon his head for the child shall be a Nazarite to God From the womb and he shall begin to save Israel from the hands of the

Philistines Now the angel of the Lord as will become plain here is

God in the flesh in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's interesting that Samson's mom

Who's not named here But she's told about this upcoming birth,

I mean first of all, you know, you're barren and you don't have any children Okay, tell me something. I don't know right

But she's she is given the command to start obeying the Nazarite vow in Preparation for the coming of her son.

It's not normal to tell somebody I mean, maybe you know Don't drink or anything like that while you're pregnant

But she's to obey You know, no, no razor on her head or anything like that.

Don't cut your hair. Don't touch any dead thing Before the baby's even born

Now normally that's a voluntary vow and there are three Nazarite prohibitions number one no wine or intoxicated intoxicating drink

No cutting of the hair and no contact with the dead So Samson was to be a

Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death, so Samson's mom the woman verse 6

Then the woman came and told her husband a man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God Very awesome, so you could say that kids very awesome.

I Did not tell me his name But he said to me behold you will conceive and bear a son So then drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean for the child should be a

Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death then Manoah dad

Prayed to the Lord and said Oh Lord Please let the man of God whom you sent

Come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born in other words

We're going to get this young Nazarite we don't know anything about what his life how he's supposed to be raised or anything about him and God listened to the voice of Manoah and the angel of God again came again to the woman as she sat in the field

But Manoah her husband was not with her So it's like hang on look at this

So the woman ran quickly and told her husband behold the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me

And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him Are you the man who spoke to this woman?

I just this just it amuses me only because like she didn't remember

She'd forgotten. No, this is him. But listen to his answer and he said I am

Not yes But I am I think there's a clue there and Manoah said

Now when your words come true What is to be the child's manner of life? And what is his mission and the angel of the

Lord said to Manoah of all that? I said to the woman let her be careful She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine either let her drink wine or strong drink or eat any unclean thing all that I commanded her let her observe you notice what's missing there an

Answer to Manoah's question. There's nothing he says. What are we supposed to do with this kid? The angel of the

Lord says Restates the instructions for the wife

Manoah says to the angel of the Lord, please. Let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you and The angel of the

Lord said to Manoah if you detain me, I will not eat of your food But if you prepare a burnt offering then offer it to the

Lord For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord and Manoah said to the angel of the

Lord What is your name? So that when your words come true, we may honor you and the angel of the

Lord said to him Why do you ask my name seeing it is wonderful? Now when he says that why do you ask my name seeing it is wonderful when we?

Oftentimes in the in the Bible a person's name reflects who they are and when we're talking about God It reflects his character and his attributes the

Hebrew word here means Marvelous, it's translated wonderful, but it's either marvelous or Incomprehensible From Psalm 139 6 such knowledge is too wonderful to me.

It's too high. I Cannot attain to it. So that idea of wonderful he says that's my name

I'm incomprehensible Back to the text verse 19

So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the

Lord the one to the one who works wonders and Manoah and his wife were watching and When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar the angel of the

Lord went up in the flame of the altar Now Manoah and his wife were watching and they fell on their faces to the ground

I could remember when somebody else ascended up into heaven and people were watching and what do they do?

Stood there in awe they were amazed And look what they do

Now Manoah and his wife were watching and they fell on their faces to the ground

They just watched him disappear The angel of the

Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the

Lord and Manoah said to his wife We're in trouble

We shall surely die for we have seen God But his wife said to him if the

Lord had meant to kill us He would not have accepted a burn offering and a grain offering at our hands or shown us all these things or now

Announced to us such things as these if he wanted to kill us. He wouldn't be giving us this baby

He wouldn't be giving us this responsibility Verse 24 and the woman bore a son and called his name

Samson Now I have to pause there for a moment when we just think about what's happened

God appearing to them God promising them this son after years of being barren

They named their son Samson scholars think that basically this is a

A name that honors a local Sun God In other words, they're surrounded by idolatry.

God's determined to put an end to idolatry and these parents are so Ignorant That they name their son

After an idol, I mean we would expect to see a name like Samuel You know something true a tribute to God but no we get

Samson and the young man grew and the

Lord blessed him and As the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in him in manhattan between Zora and Eshtoal so those are his

Unlikely parents they name him after a local Sun God because again in judges

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes our second on Samson's ungodly behavior and I said, this is the longest one and I wasn't kidding

Samson was called to be a judge but in Israel the judges were different than how we think of judges.

We think of them as people in black robes who run around interpreting the law Declaring people innocent or guilty but in ancient

Eastern culture Ruling and judging Were intimately connected

I mean even if we just think about how Moses got caught up in having to adjudicate all these things

So they eventually appointed helpers But the judges were not kings.

They did not rule because Israel was still a theocracy with Yahweh as her king

So rather than sitting in courtrooms, the judges were kind of Avengers. Did I say that?

They were warriors whom God used to rescue his people from whatever danger they faced in other words

They judged Israel's enemies on behalf of the Lord but Samson is more a reflection of God's people than he was a reformer of them and we'll see that by his only ungodly behavior first ungodly behavior seeking a

Philistine wife now, that's just That's mind -blowing His job

What what God told his parents was that he was begin he was to begin separating

Israel from the philistines separating them out so they could go back to being god's holy people

But look at chapter 14 verse 1 Seeking a philistine wife then samson

Went down to timnah And saw a woman of in timnah one of the daughters of the philistines

So he came back and told his father and mother I saw a woman in timnah one of the daughters of the philistines now therefore

Get her for me as a wife Make it happen by the way if any

Child ever speaks to a parent like that Give me a call so He sees this woman

She attracts him so that he then commands his parents to arrange a wedding with her

Everything about this is wrong The israelites were not to be I mean There wasn't a specific prohibition against marrying philistines because they didn't exist when all the laws were handed down They didn't they weren't a threat back then

But this can hardly be construed as honoring your mother and father our first little picture of Samson as an adult

Is that he's lustful? proud and selfish And that's a pretty accurate picture of him

We also get some additional insights into his parents in verse Three here

But his father and mother chapter 14 his father and mother said to him Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives?

Or among all our people that you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised philistines

They they're trying to Say don't do this But they don't do it

But samson said to his father Get her for me for she is right in my eyes other translations say she looks good to me

His father and mother did not know that it was from the lord for he was seeking an opportunity Against the philistines at the time the philistines ruled over israel again emphasizing that what does that mean?

Did god cause samson to do this? No, because god is not the author of sin

But he uses secondary causes and in this case samson's lust samson's failure

Was part of god's plan to bring about the salvation of his people first five then samson went down to his father and mother went down with them to timnah

And they came to the vineyards of timnah Now I have to pause here for just a moment and say

Apparently There's some kind of separation here because his parents don't know that this happens so they go down there and then sometime later

A young lion comes toward him samson 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 mother what he had done.

Obviously, they're not with him Then he went down and talked with the woman the woman that he wanted

And she was right in samson's eyes. And by the way, even that's wrong because the custom then was not to talk to a woman

Until you were engaged And he's not engaged A little different than it is now, right?

Everybody wants to date He didn't do that then After some days he returned to take her again wrong

And he turned 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 As he came to his father and mother

And gave some to them And they ate but he did not tell them that he scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.

Why? Because that would have made them ceremonially unclean in other words He's not only sinning breaking his nazirite vow by touching dead things but he's even

Giving uncleanness to his mother and father Verse 10 his father went down to the woman

And samson prepared a feast there. So For so the young men used to do

So here's the picture dad has arranged kind of a Premarital feast and we'll see that here in a moment

As soon as the people saw him Samson they brought 30 companions to be with him.

Now. These are all philistines. This is like his bachelor party And samson said to them

I mean this thing would go on for seven days. There's a lot of drinking and raucous behavior. So basically we can assume

Because the customs of the day that he's drinking another violation of his nazirite vow And samson said to them to these 30 philistines.

Now, let me 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 sweet Or some came something to eat out of the strong came something sweet now this wager

What is this? We talked about it for several weeks in sunday school. It's gambling Why is he doing it?

Because he's arrogant and proud and he thinks nobody knows what he did And because he's greedy

And in three days, they could not solve the riddle verse 15 on the fourth day. They said to samson's wife

Now again, they're not married yet, but they would be treated by the jewish law

This is the this is kind of like the mary and joseph situation They're betrothed, but they're not married

Entice your husband and we'll see that come to fruition here in a moment entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is

Now listen These are you know, the philistines her people Tell us what the riddle is lest we burn you in your father's house with fire.

I don't know. I Sounds like blackmail Sounds like a threat Sounds very dangerous

Have you invited us here to impoverish us? In other words, we lose this bet. It's going to be very costly

And samson's wife wept over him and said you only hate me. You do not love me You have put a riddle in my people and you've not told me what it is

And he said to her behold. I've 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 Other translations say basically she wore him out.

She wore him down. She he he was just tired of her nagging Then she told the riddle to her people

She betrayed him And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down What is sweeter than honey that answers the first part?

And what is stronger than a lion? So they solved it Because she told them

And he said to them if you'd not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle. In other words, you guys cheated

You you you went out of bounds. You broke the rules What does he do

This is what he does he seeks revenge this is samson's mode here

And this is ungodly behavior number two seeking vengeance Verse 19 and the spirit of the lord rushed upon him and he went down to ashkelon and struck down 30 men

Of the town and took their spoil and gave garments to those Who had told the riddle in other words, he kills 30 philistines and then gives the garments to philistines

In hot anger he went back to his father's house and samson's wife was given to his companion

That's what I mean. The marriage is never actually finalized His fiancee gets given to his best man so chapter 15

After some days at the time of the wheat harvest Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat.

In other words, he's going to make amends He's going to patch things up. He doesn't know That his fiancee's husband or a father has given him away

And he said I will go into my into my wife in the chamber But her father would not allow him to go in And her father said

I really thought you utterly hated her. So I gave her to your companion Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she please take her instead

What's behind door number two? And samson said to them this time

I shall be innocent in regard to the philistines when I do them harm They say he's he's he's going on another campaign of vengeance, right?

So samson went and caught 300 foxes I mean again these feats that he accomplishes are amazing 300 foxes and took torches

And he put them all he turned them all tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails So he lights the these fox tails on fire and they go running of course

And when he set fire to the torches He let the foxes go in the standing grain of the philistines and set fire to the stack grain

And the standing grain and as well as the olive orches orchards Then the philistines said who has done this?

and they said Most likely the jews said

Samson the son -in -law of the tim knight because he has taken his wife And given her to his companion

And the philistines came up listen and burned her and her father with fire

It's your fault and you're going to pay the price they don't go after samson 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 the text says and he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow.

It basically means he slaughtered them And he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock at 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?

In other words here come the The philistines and the men of judah

Don't want to fight The philistines tell them they said we have come up to bind samson to do to him as he did to us

And apparently there's some kind of negotiation because here's what happens next Then three thousand men of judah went down to the cleft of the rock at edom

And said to samson. Do you not know that the philistines are rulers over us? What then is it that you have done to us?

And he said to them As they did to me so I have done to them And they the jews 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. In other words

I'll turn myself into you 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 as the philistine or the philistines came shouting to meet him. They were very excited

Then the spirit of the lord rushed upon him and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that had caught fire

And his bonds melded off his hands. In other words, he grew strength and he snapped the ropes

He was a free man and he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey And put his hand put out his hand and took it and with it he struck 1 000 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? That's a hard day's work

As soon as he had finished speaking he threw away the jawbone out of his hand and that place was called ramath lehi

Now I like what one translation Called this they said They they called it jawbone hill and i'm like, okay, that's pretty basic But basically the idea is this is where he slayed all these people.

He names it in honor of himself And he was very thirsty and he called out upon the lord said you have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servants

No small irony there because he he was a servant by Not by Design, but or not by his design, but by god's design

And shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? And god split open the hollow place that is in Is that lehi and water came out from it and when he drank his spirit returned and he revived

Therefore the name of it was called in hakor It is at lehi to this day and hakor

Meaning the one he names again after himself the one who called upon the lord And he judged israel in the days of the philistines 20 years, okay now we come to his third

Ungodly behavior which was seeking sexual fulfillment verse 60 or chapter 16 samson went to gaza

And there he saw a prostitute And he went into her And the gaza the the gazites were told the

Citizens of gaza were told that samson has come here And they surrounded the place and set up to ambush

An ambush for him all night at the gate of the city They kept quiet all night long saying let us wait until the light of the morning.

Then we will kill him Safer but samson laid till midnight and at midnight he arose

And he took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts and pulled them up bar at all

And put them on his shoulders and carried them To the top of the hill that is front of hebron of hebron

Which I believe I measured out is about 40 miles 40 miles that he he carried those

After this, I mean we're not done with lust yet after this He loved a woman in the valley of sabaoth. He loved a woman in the valley of sabaoth Sorak whose name was delilah

And the lords of the philistines came to her And said to her seduce him and see where his great strength lies and by what means we may over Come overpower him that we may bind him to humble him

And we will give each give you 1100 pieces of silver and we're talking about at least five liters of the philistines

So that's quite a bit of money here So delilah said to samson and again, this is free marital advice

If a woman says to you, please tell me where your great strength lies and how you may be bound that one could subdue you

She's not the girl for you Samson said to her if they bind me with seven fresh bow strings.

I mean he lies That have not been dried then I shall become weak like any other man

Then the lords of the philistines brought up her seven bow strings that had not been dried and she bound him with him with them

Now she had been She had been lying. She had men lying in an ambush in an inner chamber and she said to him the philistines are upon you samson

But he snapped the bow strings 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 No And he said to her if they bind me with new ropes that have not yet been used then

I will be weak and Be like any other man again false skipping down to verse 13 then delilah said to samson

Until now you have mocked me and told me lies tell me how you may be bound might be bound and he said to her

Excuse me, if you weave the seven locks of my head With the web and fasten it tight with the pin then

I shall become weak like any other man So while he slept she did it same thing happened

Down to verse 15 And she said to him, how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me when you won't tell me how to Destroy you come on Get with the program

You have mocked me these three times You have mocked me these three times and you've 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 she literally

Wore him down wore him out And he told her all his heart and said to her

A razor has never Come upon my head for i've been a nazirite to god for my mother's womb

If my head is shaved then my strength will leave me And I shall be weak and be like any other man when delilah saw that she

Or that he had told her 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 and brought her brought the money She made him sleep on her knees then

She Had his head shaved verse 20 and she said the philistines are upon you samson, and he awoke from his sleep and said

Basically, he's going to do exactly what he's done before he's going to free himself I will go out as at other times to shake myself free, but he did not know that the lord had left him

When he shaved his head he lost the power That the holy spirit provided And the philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes

And brought him down to gaza and bound him with bronze shackles Now we're going to see the final

On we've seen samson's unlikely parents Samson's ungodly behavior and now we look at samson's unwavering god samson's unwavering god

He was seized Had his eyes gouged out.

He's blinded And now he's at the mill in the prison Just walking around in circles doing what was considered at that time

Work only fit for a woman All his pride is gone his hair is gone, but it begins verse 22 begins to grow again

Verse 23 now the lords of the philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to dagon their god

And to rejoice and they said our god has given samson our enemy into our hand this great tool of yahweh

In their hands because they believed of dagon And when the people saw him they praised their god for they said our god has given our enemy into our hand

The ravager over our country who has killed many of us and this is how you measured your strength

Was by what your god could do to the other god And when their hearts were merry, they said call samson that he may entertain us

This great warrior now reduced to just being a jester a laughingstock

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 on the lord and said oh lord god

Please remember me and please strengthen me Only this once oh god that I may be avenged of the philistines for my two eyes

And samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested and he leaned his weight against them

His right hand on the one that is left 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 lords and 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 his family came down and took him And brought him up and buried him between zora and eshtoel

In the tomb of minoah's father He had judged israel 20 years now when

We see that When he says Oh lord god, what is he saying?

It's the only time we see anything like this He says adonai yahweh then he says remember me and Block says it's better understood as act on my behalf

Block goes on to say if anything positive comes of samson's life. It is due to the gracious intervention of yahweh

Suppose we could all say that He goes on and he says the man whose birth had promised so much is a disappointment nevertheless by the exercise of his own immoral will

Samson serves as an agent of the lord's will And by the narrator's own acknowledgement, he accomplishes more dying than living

It's amazing His final testimony is one of god's redeeming love for his own.

How did he get into heaven? I believe that right there at the end. We finally see a repentant heart.

We finally see somebody who Trusts the lord more than he trusts himself

Because all of his strength is gone He's desperate and he cries out to god who answers his prayer now if we just think for a moment about The mystery of how samson gets into the hall of faith

We know it's not up to the man who runs or the man who wills but on god who has mercy

And he had abundant mercy Was samson obedient? No Was samson worthy?

No But think about this was samson cast out was he disowned was he condemned?

I'm, not suggesting we grade ourselves on the samson curve But if we think about the love of god and that's what this is about his steadfast love

He doesn't disown samson in spite of all his sin Why because samson ultimately

Depended On god to deliver him from his sin. He looked forward to the cross

He believed in one who would deliver him from his sin I did briefly just want to compare the differences

Because the birth announcements everything struck me as similar samson birth announced to the mother jesus birth announced to the mother samson's father clueless

Jesus's father concerned And then visited in a dream told what to do samson

His mom's told that he's to be a nazirite from his conception jesus mom

He's going he's anointed from conception and he's going to do what deliver his people from their sins

Samson meanwhile was to deliver his people but temporarily he was to deliver them from the philistines

Samson was selfish lustful had fits of rage jesus sinless samson's last act to destroy his enemies

Jesus's last act Tasked the father to forgive

And by his death and resurrection he makes enemies his enemies his brothers and sisters samson needed faith samson needed a savior

And god provided that savior in the person and work of jesus christ his life his perfect life

Samson was a sinner his perfect death to Wash away the sins of samson and every believer and his resurrection proving that god had accepted the payment in full

Well, let's pray father It is amazing to think and to consider that unholy

Sinners will enter into heaven. How can that be?

Because you're a god who is full of loving kindness grace mercy

Compassion your forgiveness knows no bounds

And a man like samson displays that fully father we often underestimate our own sin our own guiltiness our own failures teach us to look to christ

Teach us to trust in him wholly Father we thank you for these examples not because of samson but because we think if He Samson can be redeemed if he is not rejected

If you set your affections on one such as that and keep him no matter what Father we can trust you no matter what we're going through help us to do so we pray in jesus name