13 People who Changed History - Samson

Do you love hanging around someone who's got a really really big ego. Don't really think a lot of their own opinions would love to give you a chance to let you know their opinions. wretched company, they are

This world's full of them, other self-serving people. I have to say this, if we're not careful we become similar to the person. We least like Unlike the sunset of Samson's life, I want to encourage you today to don't wait for the regrets and spiritual blindness to forcefully. Rekindle your one true love for God. Now is the time to say, God, I'm yours, my motives are pure. Plain, and simple after all of the scriptures say blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. You want to see God? You want to see what he looks like. Be pure in heart, be pure and your motives. And when you read the word of God, you will see him page after page. We're going to look at Samson's light this morning from Judges chapter 14, 15 and 16. And we're not going to read all three chapters to take him time, but you might be thinking, within this series of 13 people who changed history. How in the world did a failure of a man like Samson wind up an amazing list of people like this. I mean, really he, he's got to be the worst moral character, all the people,

Well, if you understand the whole context of Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews 11, rather, you'll understand that these people aren't the hero of the story God's. The hero of the story, Why is such a failure of a human included in the Hall of Faith at the sunset of Senses? Life is very end of his life. His faith recognize that the God's strength is made perfect. Only in weakness but in Repentance repentance is just a fancy word of turning away from something and turning to something is really a change of mind that always leads to a change of action. In chapter 14, we're going to read several verses. Starting at verse 1. Samson went down to Timnath install women of 10 math of the daughters of the Philistines and it came up and told his father, and his mother. And he said I've seen a woman of Timnath of the doctors at the list eye. And now, therefore, get her to me, to be my wife and my guy first three, then his father, and his mother said unto him. Is there never a woman, isn't there? A woman among the daughters of your brother and a visual of knowing all that people that I thought were going to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistine Idol, worshippers and Samson said unto his father. Get her for me. She pleases me. Well What a guy wears number for but his father and his mother knew not that it was at the Lord that he saw an occasion against the Philistines have dominion over Israel. Then when Samson down his father's mother to Tim came to The Vineyards of tennis and behold a young lion roared, against them in the spirit of the Lord came upon him and he told her the lion as he would have torn a lamb, a kid and he had nothing in his hand and he told not his father or his mother what he had done and he went down and talk with a woman and she please Samson. Well, skip to chapter 15 verses 1 to 5. It came to pass within a while. After in the time of wheat Harvest at Samson visited, his wife with the lamb and it said, I will go into my wife into the chamber. I'm going to go spend some time with my wife privately, but her father would not allow him to go in her father said, I truthfully thought that you would Totally hated her cuz she let out a secret of his therefore. I gave her to your companion. Her younger sister fairer than she take her. Instead of her. I would you like to be that younger? Sister. Not me. That verse number 3, Samsung said concerning them now shall I be more blameless in all the Philistines pleasure he's going to get even and Simpson went down and caught 300. Foxes took firebrands turn tale to tell, you set, the tales of the foxes on fire. But a Firebrand in the midst between the zoo to tails-u-win set the Friends On Fire. He let them go into the standing corn, to the Philistines, and burnt up, both the shocks and also, the standing corn with The Vineyards and olives. Takes a long time for all of us to grow, by the way. And then, in chapter 16, verses 23 to 30.

Simpsons been caught. By this time, by the Philistines, been stripped of all his strength verse 23, then the Lords of the Philistines gather them together for to offer a great stock. If I sent the Dagon their God and rejoice for they said, I would God has delivered Simpson. Our enemy into our hand. When the people saw him they praise our God. For they said our God is delivered into our hands or enemy and the destroyer of our country which slew many of us and it came to pass when the heart from Mary that they said call for Samsung that he may make a sport, going to make fun of him and they called for Samsung out of the prison house. Anime them Sport and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, allow me that I might feel the pillars where we're putting the house stand that I'm a lean upon them know, that house is full of men and women and all the lures that list irons were there. They were upon the roof about three thousand men and women may be held while Samsung made sport called unto the Lord. And said, oh Lord, God remember me. I pray you and strengthen me. I pray you only this one to God, that I may be at once of ends of the Philistines from eye to eye the gouged, his eyes out for a 29in. Samsung take hold of the two middle pillars upon which to house stood and upon, which was born up the one with his right hand in the other with his lap. And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines and about himself with all his might and the house fell upon the Lord and upon all the people that were there in. So, the dead which is flu in his death or more than they would, you slew in his life. May the Lord at his Blessing. Meaning of this word. What a man stands in big ego, God wanted to use him for his bigger plan. But I want to bring to your attention three, regrets that Samson had that cover. I go through these three chapters first is the regret of relationships and the regret of Revenge and then the regret of repercussions. Had a rather impulsive decision making process when it came to women. When it came to his choice of women in this relatively short passage, he was with three of them. And just think if a, if a minister today, a pastor of a church had, let's just say had been with three different women. What would we do? We would just miss him. If he had been unfaithful to his one and only wife, where is still this missing. But yet somehow he remains in a position of influence and Authority within Israel. No, I want to put forward to why it was so bad, his choice of the first woman that he chose she worshipped. Other gods, who is a Canaanite? God told people, don't don't take husbands or wives of the Canaanite people. Puppy. Look at this passage chapter 14. From a twenty-first-century perspective. You might think, well, that's rather racist not allowed to marry someone from another culture, you know, maybe another skin color than yourself. What, what kind of God is this? But that wasn't it at all. I see God did permit from time to time marrying into the Canaanites marrying into people who weren't part of Israel Ruth for instance. Rahab. For instance, it wasn't a total ban on marrying people from another culture. It was a ban on marrying. People who worshipped a different God, that's altogether. Different that's what 1st Corinthians, chapter seven calls being unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now, one of those Canaanites came to know, God, as their savior. That was okay, marriage was that person is okay, because you're like two oxen pulling a plow the same direction by. They don't put an AUX in a donkey together cuz I Two different mindsets. The animals are used for two very different things ones typically for a load-bearing the others / plow pulling. So it's really important to cover this impulsive choice and relationships because Samson came to understand the hard way. The truth of Galatians 6 or 7 be not deceived. God is Not mocked whatsoever. A man soweth that shall he? Also reap. Here. Last week I gave my neighbor some seedlings. And I had to tell her what they were. She told me that she was looking to have some small toe plants. Well as you know from previous illustration that that when my tomato my tomatoes rotting out at the end of the season, they had this amazing tenancy. The next spring I get hundreds upon hundreds of these ceilings. I come up and I've got three tomato plants is like this never-ending supply of tomato plant year in year out. Well I still have one's right now. If anyone wants one or you're happy to have them because they just said grow like mad, they grow like weeds in my garden. This model plans. So we we've just given them to her but I didn't really look much different than the other plant. You have to be told what they are. Whatever you. So even though they're only a few centimetres tall I took one and I weeded out the rest of them early on in the season and I let the one grow strong. I plucked out all the soccer schutz and I watered it. I fertilized it and that's about all I did a side from tethering at once or twice to upholster, wouldn't flop over but really, that's, that's all I do nowadays. I just water it. I plucked off all the soccer schutz. All the nutrients don't go to useless parts of the plant, that's what I do. But if you were to look at what I'm selling you say well what is that? There's nothing to that. But once it grows and grows and grows anybody with a gardening head, on their shoulders would say that's a tomato plant. It only has flowers on it at the moment, but I'm, I'm very certain that I'm going to have lots of amazing Tomatoes by the end of the season. Hope I'm not making anybody hungry, but I mean, there are dozens and dozens of flowers on this thing now. And is, it's almost as tall as I am, which isn't saying a whole lot, but that's big. Whatever you so you're going to reap, I knew what they were because of where it where they were springing up. I thought. I'm looking forward to a great harvest but here's the odd thing. We so sin and we expect that we're going to reap health. In our lives, you can't do that. I've been reading a really good book about pastors and refreshment and encouragement in the ministry. And this is one statement that stands out the, the author is Carrie Schmidt. The one who wrote the done book that we give out and he said that healthy pastors mean healthy Church. And the opposite is true. Unhealthy pastors lead to unhealthy churches and no, it doesn't mean that whatever I'm doing in my spiritual life. You're just sort of doomed to follow in those footsteps, but you can guarantee if the pastor is not healthy, then the church is going to be anemic spiritually anemic and he's not going to be able to deliver the past, the fruit of the word that his mind and harvested and consume for himself during the week to deliver to you. Because if I just do the pier in drones, on asleep, remind me to get jaded. Your mind, to go off to whatever is going on in the week. I need have very little interest. In fact, eventually he might not even attend the church because you're not getting paid on the word from someone who's healthy and the word, and Samson was a bit surprised in his regret over his relationships. You cannot mock the justice of God. You will always Harvest what do you plant and enjoyed is 14? We find that Samson harvested from the relationship that he planted but despite this failure, despite his his first wife being given away to someone else which is really weird. I don't understand how someone can possibly do that and then and then stay face to say, but you can have a sister, you can have her sister, he was think. Dimension are you off for ending in? Of course he would be mad but don't blame his father-in-law, blame him. Despite all this though, God worked through his failures, how could pause God possibly work through a failure like this but he has an amazing ability to redeem, our mistakes for his purposes. Don't forget that. Maybe you're in a place right now where you are reeling from the regret of your relationship choices. Maybe something has happened in your life. Maybe. You've made an impulsive decision regarding your relationship and you have regrets. Maybe. Not just a person, you chose maybe not that at all. Maybe it's the anger that you had in that relationship and you're reeling from regret in it. Could I tell you it's not game over for you, put your hand on your chest, your heart still beating you're not done, God's not done with you to redeem the worst of failures and he did that for Samsung. He had a lot of regret from this relationship that he had, but then over invert and chapter 15, we find out that this first life has been given to someone else. And Samson decides. Well, it was the Philistines who got the riddle out of me. If you read chapter 14, you'll know what I mean? Who is kind of got the riddle out of me because they went to my, my wife-to-be and they said, you tell you, tell Samson to tell you, the answer to the riddle to finally see we've gotten them and she said, you don't love me and all this kind and then she gets the riddle answer out of him. And then she goes and tells the police signs in the Philistines. Say, course, he didn't have very nice words. You said you been plowing with my heifer, not a nice word to call you wipe, but then he says, I'm going to get even with these people. Have you ever had within yourself that little desire, may be a big desire to get even with someone and made you mad and then your mind start turning, you go to plan a plan B plan. See what can I do? That's maybe not quite certain that I can get away with you know if our minds are already going down that path, you've already sent. And God has seen it.

He was soon. Samson was soon to figure out the regret of his revenge. Do I find it? Amazing that there is 300 boxes in the general vicinity of Samson. I mean, nowadays, we would call that an infestation. Would wait if it was suddenly 300 boxes and one small area. By the way, anyone here know that London actually has a problem with foxes. Does anybody know that? London, I just think of this big Metropolitan Concrete, Jungle actually have a problem with boxes, where they live people's Gardens, I guess, but I daresay that Gaza or wherever. Whenever the Philistines were camped out at the moment, they had a problem with foxes the Simpson said, I'm going to rid them of that problem. Actually, a, he wasn't trying to help him out, he gathers, 300 boxes. I don't know. How were they able to do this in such a little time, anybody's our Tails together, like the tails on fire, and then set them free through through the field. This revenge is kind of a big humorous because you're kind of playing it out in the movie of your mind, right. You can't help it. I mean, when I say a fox with its tail on fire going through a cornfield, you immediately think of a fox with his tail and fire going through a cornfield you can't help it by say ice cream. You imagine ice cream on a cone has how our minds work so you can imagine what kind of Destruction. All these boxes would have done and of course plus signs in choir and they they figure out Samsung is done this. We are told in Romans 12:19 and we know the Simpson had a conscience. So he knew this principle in his heart, the Romans have been written yet. That we are not to take revenge dear friends. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. It it says it like this that God is the Avenger of all that is evil Lee. The Vengeance to toomey's. His vengeance is mine. I will repay says the Lord. Samson had this idea in his mind? No, no. I'm going to repay. God, I'm going to settle the scale. And yet, he finds that just makes the Philistines angrier and angrier and then they come out against them. After they figure out all, this is Samsung has done this, they come out and then we're going to kill you, you're dead, you let all of our fields on fire now. We're going to kill you. And so the spirit of God comes upon him the strength and him because God wasn't done with him. And and he gets cornered. And is his, there's this donkey that's died by the Israelites will be ceremony. I can't say it ceremonially unclean if they touched a dead animal, but further to that Sampson was a Nazarite now and that is right with someone who had made a vow to the Lord for a particular purpose. In this case, it was to be a judge. Not all judges were not as writes. But for this case, he was set aside for the Lord, God said, this is how it'll be his hair won't be cut. He's not allowed to touch the that the fruit of the vine not wine. And he's also not allowed to touch dead animals. So he violated that a few times to grab this Jawbone and he uses it as a weapon and killed a thousand Philistines with the Jawbone. You can imagine these pretty weary after this, after 8 hours of work. And yet he says, I'm going to die of thirst 15:18. He calls in the Lord, you've given this great deliverance and the Hand of your servant. Now I died for thirst and fall into the hands of the unbelievers. But God clave, a hollow place that was in the jaw and there came water out when a drunk is Spirit came. Again, he was revived Really interesting that God. Split open this job. Oh, and gives him plenty of water. I mean, that's not a place for water. Stored in an animal is stored, other places but not the job on. God, did a miracle, what's God doing? He gives Grace amidst. The chaos. Have you created a bit of chaos? I create chaos in my own life. If I ever stayed for Revenge, if I have impulse anise in my relationships, maybe it's what I'm saying. Maybe was thinking, maybe it's what I'm doing impulsivity, we're all prone to especially when we're at the end of our tether, the end of our capacity, we say things, we do things, we think things we are not

Samsung Experience regret relationships, the regret of Revenge and yet God works through the failures. He gives Grace amidst the chaos. That's what kind of God he is. Are you and I prone to give people Grace when they really messed up against us. We're not we are not prone to this. We are we don't have the internal capacity of Grace to poor upon someone. We have some we have a lot if we're walking in Christ were filled with the spirit but we are not Eternal suppliers of Grace. God is and he gives Grace and miss the chaos. Barely though, I want to point out to you not only the regret of relationships and revenge but also the regrets of repercussions if we turn over to chapter 16,

vs23 230 what we cover before? We find out that Samsung has been robbed of all his superhuman strength. I tend to think of Samson not not as a gaunt man dressed in a long robe. How do you send a picture of Samson in your mind's eye? I'm here it. He's got muscles bulging, Tony completely bony. I mean, he probably had muscles on top of his shins. He could have been a perfect footballer, no, shin guards needed. I mean, he was, he was superhuman. And it's because the spirit of the Lord came upon him, but the secret of his strength was obedience to God. If he was to cut his hair, he would lose his strength. Know I'm missing a lot of hair that I had before according to this rash. Now, I should be superhuman by now. But I also should be weak by now. To anyway. I didn't take a Nazarite vow in the spirit. Lord didn't come up on me. Like you did him. Any tells Delilah The Secret of my strength is in my hair, cut my hair, and it will all be gone. Why was Samson in that place? Why was he in that place of compromise? Because again, is choice of relationships, was regrettable He ignored God's boundaries he chooses yet. Another relationship. That was outside of God's perfect will No, I want to be careful today because it's not a person who tells you who you're going to marry and who you're not in some cultures. There are arranged marriages. That's, that's not this culture and it really needs to be loved over the right thing. And he's been love over God and a love of each other. I love of putting another person first. What can I get out of this relationship? Any relationship that starts out with what can I get out of? It is doomed for failure, doesn't matter. If you're both Christians, what does Master? But even if you are both Christians, if one of you, is what can I get out of this relationship? Instead of, how can I serve you? That relationship is doomed for failure, and so was Samson's with Delilah. And finally, she says, in verse 20, the Philistines are upon you Samson. They're attacking. Once again, he wakes from his sleep. He says, I'll go out as all the time before and shake myself but he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. I wonder today. if some of us here, have these times recently when we don't know that the Lord is not even with us because we've got her head out of the game and in her own who got her head out of God's Will and then our own will Don't ignore God's boundaries, whatever you sow, you will reap you so lost, you will reap death. That's what James chapter. One says, when last has conceived to bring Sports tents and when it is finished brings forth. Whatever it might be, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes pride of life. But even despite all this even despite Samson being captured by his enemies, his superhuman strength is now gone. His muscles are now flab, he's nothing. Big Dow job, both of his eyes with a hot iron. Can you imagine what that would be like, searing pain? And is taking these tied up and he's actually put into the place of an ox and he's made to grind grain just like a cow. So he's treated like an animal. After he kills, thousands of signs, you might think all is hopeless with him. Now, I'm reeling from the repercussions. I'm blind. And now, I'm a slave till the day I die. So either I die here or I die by the sword. I don't really care. But actually, he did care about things of the Lord. He did care about promises that would come up later. Like, in Joel 2:25, where God, promise is all of Israel, restoration and offers hope for those facing the repercussion of their choices. Samuel is a microcosm. He's like an example of what all of Israel would be these cycles of Disobedience, and then strength and following God, then back into disobedience.

God says, there's people in Joel 2:25. I will I will give back to you what the locusts have eaten. Any goes to four types of locust and it's almost like the first wave of locusts came in and ate like half the fruit. And then the second wave of the locusts came in, at all, the rest of the fruit, the third wave of locusts came in and ate half of the plan in the fourth wave of locusts came in and they all the rest of the plans. So they not only have fruit but they've got no way of growing it. Like we talked last week about the midianites who came in like a wave of locust and just ate everything. And torched all the rest of it, really a microcosm of what Sampson had been doing to the Philistines. And really what's going on, is a fact that the that weighs have invading hordes would come in one people Group, after one people Group, after one, people group will come and wipe out of Israel and now they're in the standing God. Now, what do we do? And God says, I'm glad you finally bowed the knee. I will restore what all the invading armies have done, God's grace, restores strength, whatever it is, you're reeling from whatever regrets you and I have today. we think like the the great commentator Albert Barnes said this, when we have a Christ view of the scriptures through repentance, all which had been lost by sin is restored, In itself. Deadly sin isn't a reputable evil. It deprives the soul of Grace of its hope of glory before fits Heaven. There until God through Christ restores the center block tops in and does away with this eternal consequences. What does Samsung do? Finally, he calls to the Lord in 16:28 finally first instead of his own will and he says, oh Lord, remember me. I pray, you strengthen me. I pray you only this one through. God, that I may be Avenged by the Philistines from my two eyes. This is different than him taking out Vengeance himself. He actually speaks the Lord, who says vengeance is mine? I will repay. Lenny, says God. If it Be Your Will, Please with you avenge me, strengthen me to do this work. That is altogether different and by the way we should not read Judges chapter 16 in the era of gospel Grace. Okay. I'm not praying for vengeance upon my enemies. I let God take care of that. In fact, when, when I'm feeling rather shall we say, dropping at those who done evil to me, I say Okay, God they're in your hands, your will be done and that's our prayers. Like the Lord's Prayer, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Okay. God they're in your hands. You do with them as you see fit but ultimately would you save them from their sin? That's what they needed the most. And what a brilliant picture of gospel Grace, this passage is Samson is he calls upon the name of the Lord to be strengthened and what a picture of The Sinner, who vows and repentance is God, I cannot do anything. He's stripped of everything, he stripped of his strength, his stripped of his dignity. He stripped of his his own willpower and finally he falls to his knees and says, Okay, God you win Please save me and that is a picture of The Sinner coming to Christ and say. Okay God, I give up, I've got nothing else. I believe in the fact that Jesus died and rose again to pay the penalty for my scriptures, for my sins. Rather, according to the scriptures and I'm asking you to save me, that's repentance turning away from sin turning to Christ. God does strengthen him, God does restore his strength. That word restoration, what a sweet and tangible picture of gospel truth. That is the God would restore Sinners to himself. Lost broken. Sinners Like Me, Like You restored to him and life of Samson. In our lives. I love what? Romans five or six says, it's almost an echo of. This passage says, when we were yet without strength Christ, died for the ungodly. Give me turn their for a moment Romans 5:6.

When for, when we were yet without Strength In Due Time Christ died for the ungodly, what an echo of Simpsons like this is, was he without strength 100%. He was bound to that Grist Mill. Grinding day-in-day-out wallowing in the regret of his relationships of his revenge. Another repercussions of it all and he calls upon the Lord, he's without strength. This is God, I can't please with you Christ died for the ungodly at that time. How about you my friend? How about me? Where are we at today? Maybe if not had such Preposterous relationship choices, as Samson did, but maybe you've made some choices within those relationships that you do have regret over. Maybe you've had thoughts of Vengeance. Thoughts of unbridled anger within you that have lead to regret has led to the disintegration of the destruction of relationships. Whatever it is. Give it over to God now. Offer yourself as a Living. Sacrifice unto God. Holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service? Let's pray. Father we come before you. Thank you that when we were weak and without strength you died for us. Lord, Jesus. To give us strength and hope and eternal life of Christ. And now we have the abiding life, and strength, and peace of Christ. Hope of glory within us. Lord, I pray that you would help us to live in it like the whole Sermon on the Mount to live as Kingdom citizens within the kingdom of Christ. That all who see us would know that no matter what has been done to us. We'd Express wisdom and our relationships that we would give over Revenge unto God, who repays? And that the repercussions of what we've done would be the reward of our faithfulness to Christ. It's in Christ's name, we pray

Thank you Pastor, would you send it?