Judges 16:28-31 (ESV)

Judges 16:28-31 (ESV) “The Death of Samson”

INTRO:

Good evening everyone, it is truly so good to see all of you.

I hope you all had a good week, and I am excited that you are here tonight.

I love hanging out with you guys, but more importantly I love opening up God’s Word to see what our savior is trying to tell us.

We serve a God who does not remain silent. He saved us, speaks to us, and wants to steer our lives towards his Son - Jesus. So that we can truly know love, grace, mercy, and joy!

PHYSICAL COPY OF GOD’s WORD:

Oh I hope you brought a physical copy of God’s Word with you this evening. My hope and prayer is that God’s Word would not be far off, rather I pray that God’s Word would familiar and near to your heart… that you would know it, recognize it, and obey it…

I hope you brought your Bible with you because you can begin to underline, circle, and highlight key passages, words, or phrases that stand out to you… And so that you begin to interact with God’s Word…

OPENING PASSAGE - PSALM:

I want to turn your attention to Psalm 77:10-13

Psalm 77:10–13 (ESV)

Then I said, “I will appeal to this,

to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work,

and meditate on your mighty deeds.

Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?

MEDITATE = “To Reflect Deeply on a Subject”

DEEDS = “The things that you have done and caused to happen”

In other words, this Psalm is saying, that we can look back and deeply reflect on all that God has done for us. We can look back and deeply reflect upon the all things that God has caused or done in our lives for assurance that he will show up continue to work in our lives over and over again…

Question: Do you meditate and deeply reflect all that God has done or caused to happen in your own life? And have you mediated and deeply reflected on all that God has done throughout history through reading his Word?

I know that my dad will pull through for me… because he has a track record and history of always being there for me and for always being faithful to me… I know all that my dad has done for me, all that he has sacrificed for me… and I because of what he had done for me in the past… I have no doubts that he will show up for me in the future…

Friends Gods Word is so important to become familiar with and not let it be far off because this is where we see all that God has done for us… so that we can have a confidence that he will continue to show up for us…

TRANSITION - MAIN PASSAGE:

Our main passage that we will be diving into this evening is Judges 16:28-31

Judges 16:28–31 (ESV)

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, and 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 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 all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

CLIFF NOTES - SAMSON

Before we unpack these verses and the death of Samson… allow me to give you some cliff notes and highlights about the life of Samson leading up to this point:

Introduced to Samson in Judges Chapter 13

At the time of Samsons Birth, The Israelites had been given into the hand of the Philistines. The Philistines were in opposition to the Lord and did not follow God

Samsons father’s name was Manoah which means = “rest”. Something that the Israelites desperately needed and desired since they had been facing the Philistines

Samsons Mother was a barren woman - meaning she was unable and did not have any children

The angel of the Lord appears to her and says that she will have a child and she was instructed to drink no wine or eat anything that was considered unclean

The angel of the Lord then instructed the woman by telling her that no razor shall touch his head for the child will be a Nazarite - a person who made a vow to the Lord and would abstain from unclean things

The angel of the Lord told her that Samson shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines

Samson makes some interesting decisions…

He finds a Philistine woman whom he wants to marry…

Samson ends up losing a bet to the Philistines which leads to the woman he was going to marry being given to his best man…

Samson then kills philistines… and the philistines kill the woman and her father…

Fast forward… Samson meets another Philistine woman named Delilah…

Samson meets Delilah in Gaza… Gaza was the most distant city of the Philistines from Samsons home - symbolizing how far from God Samson had gone… Drifting from God always leads to distancing yourself from God…

POINT #1:

STORY/EXAMPLE #1 -

POINT#2:

POINT #3: