How Grace Changes Everything

Intro:

Well today we finish up the story of Samson. And as we’ve been looking at his life, his potential, his mistakes , there have been alot of things that we have been able to draw out of it , many things that still apply to our lives today.

and so as we finish up today the life of Samson i wanted to break it down for us and to look at his life as a whole. Because when we look at the life of Samson we really see it broken up into (2) areas

Samson’s Downward Spiral ( chp. 14,15, 16: 1-21)

Samson’s Second Chance ( 16:22-31)

I. Samson’s Downward Spriral ( chp. 14, 15, 16:1-21)

See from chp. 14 we picked up the birth of Samson and we saw the calling on his life by God. God had called him to be the man He would use to deliver the people from the hand of the Philistines.

He had a great calling , great potential and you remember that with this great calling came a great responsibility. For Samson was to keep the Nazerite vow his whole life, and what that meant was that he was to keep himself consecrated to God. Set apart for His purpose.

and right from the beginning we began to see that Samson had an issue with women as he got himself involved with the woman from Timnah and little by little we began to see Samson break his commitment to God as he would break every vow that he was to keep.

And so we walked through the last 2 1/2 chapters watching Samson make some dumb mistakes that were dishonoring God and were putting him in a bad place. And so last week we started going through climax of the story and of Samson’s final demise

And so as we look at Samson’s Downward Spiral lets look at what that looked like in chp. 16. Because all that has happened before has really lead us to this. But i want you to consider how this applies to our lives. Because even though we are looking at a story that happened a long time ago, the spiritual principals are the same for us today. The spiritual downward spiral works the same for our lives as it did for Samson. So lets break it down.

Samson Was Where he Didn’t Belong

we started the chapter seeing that Samson Went down to Gaza where the Philistines were. Samson found himself where he didn’t belong.

2. Samson Saw a Woman

because Samson was where he didn’t belong , he put himself in a place where he could be tempted. He would never had seen the woman unless he was in Gaza

3. Samson Went into the Woman

Samson now gave in to the temptation and had sex with the woman

4. Samson continued in his daily life as before

after going into the woman , he gets up and uses the strength that God gave him to carry the door post and the gate up to a hill. Samson after his sin has gone on to business as usual assuming that God’s strength in his life would always be there.

5. Samson loved a woman

It said that Samson loved Delilah , yet Jay put it into perspective that he did not know what love was as he had practiced nothing but lust, and the fulfilling of the pyshical attractions not love

6. The enemy comes up with a plan to destroy Samson

the philistines come to Delilah and offer her money to find out what the secret to his strength is in order that they would bind him

7. Samson Comes Closer and Closer to his Demise

(3) different times Delilah asks Samson for the secret to his strength and each time he told her a different lie. You would think that he would have figured it out after the first time that she had him bound that this woman was crazy, but no he continued to stay there and allow himself each time to get closer and closer to giving in to the pressure of the enemy.

8. Samson Finally Gives in

After much pressure and the fact that instead of fleeing the pressure he remained in the lap of the enemy, he finally gave in to the pressure and he told Delilah what the secret was .

9. Samson’s Strength Leaves

this is a sad statement. For Samson just got up after giving in to the pressure of the enemy and assumed that because he had gotten up every other time, that this time would be the same, that God’s strength would always be with him. And the reality was that after Samson finally broke the last vow , the spirit of God left him along with His strength

10. Samson’s final condition

A. He was in Darkness

B. He was in Chains

C. He was in Enslaved

And so that is a quick review of what we looked at last week, and this is really the first part of Samson’s story. And the reality is that this should have been the end of the story. A man who had great potential, had great gifts and talent, had everything at his finger tips to accomplish God’s will and purpose yet , this guy made some real bad choices and it cost him

And over the years we have seen stories like this within the youth, within the church and in the bible. But i am so glad that the story doesn’t end there. Because this story really has a second act.

it’s a second chance. And the reason that this is important is because the story of Samson really sums up the life of the Nation of Israel. The book of Judges. The fact that everything was given to these people, they had the blessings, they had the spirit of God moving in them, they had the strength of God.... and yet even as Samson , they continued to turn their hearts to worship false Gods and to get entangled with people they were not supposed to

And this speaks to you and I as well as this is in our nature. a constant bent in our nature to turn our hearts from God and to turn to other things.

And if Samson’s story ended there it would be a really sad story and would leave no hope for us or for the Nation of Israel . But the fact that there is this second act, this second chance gives us HOPE , hope that God is not finished with you and I.

Transition

II. Samson’s Second Act (v. 22-31)

God’s Grace (v.22)

And so Samson has now had his eyes plucked out, he has chains put around him and he has been put to grind at the mill. And we don’t know exactly how much time had past at this point, but it is obvious that enough time has past that his hair has began to grow.

And this is a significant statement for us to notice. Because it was the long hair that was a pyshical representation of the vow that Samson was to keep inwardly. It was a pyshical picture of a life consecrated to God.

And so as we look at this, Samson is has hit rock bottom , he is blind , he is in chains and he is grinding at the mill. And you can imagine now with his life consisting of just grinding at the mill, day in and out , you can imagine what was going on in his mind.

he probably had a lot of time to think about what he had done, alot of time to think about all of the chances that God had given him, of all the opportunity he had and how he had blown it.

this would probably drive a man crazy to think of all of the “ What if”

And so the picture of his hair beginning to grow back, gives us insight as to what was happening in his heart. He was a man who was beginning to look up with his heart to cry out to God. And the fact that God allowed his hair to grow back allows us to see that God was not finished with Samson yet.

Transition

What we call this is “Grace”

Grace - God’s un merited favor , “ the state of kindness and favor toward someone, often with a focus on a benefit given to the object”.

In other words God’s Grace is- giving you and I what we do not deserve

See the story of Samson is a great picture of God’s grace. Because for all intended purposes Samson got what he deserved . He lived a life of rebellion to God and his vow. He lived to please himself and his desires. And the last portion of the story as Samson is blind, in chains and enslaved.... by all means you could say that he got what he deserved . That’s called justice.

but lets take this a bit further. Because you and I if we are honest , we are not perfect. We have made mistakes, we have committed sins, things that do not please God.

And if what Samson got was justice, then the reality is that you and i deserved justice for our sins. And the requirement for our sins is death. You and I are very similar to Samson in the fact that we deserved to be blind, to be in chains, to be enslaved and to die , in accordance to God’s law.

But what we will see in the life of Samson is what we see in our lives, God’s mercy.... Mercy is not getting what we deserve

because of our sins we deserve judgement, but God in his great mercy has not given us judgement . Because of the death of Jesus on the cross , He paid the price that was due for our sins, He paid the price that we could not pay. And the blood of Jesus cleanses us and allows for the forgiveness of sin. This is God’s mercy.

1 Peter 2:24

“ He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

Isaiah 53: 5

“ But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by his wounds we are healed.”

and so God’s mercy is evident in the death of his son to pay the price for you and i that we would not receive judgement. But God did not stop there . He did not only just spare us from judgement, he has brought us into his family, he has adopted us into his family, he has chosen us to an inheritance , to sit in the heavenly places with him

This is God’s grace. He is giving us now what we do not deserve.

it is by grace that you and i are saved, through our faith in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:4–5 NKJV

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

And so When we look at the life of Samson at this point, when we look at our lives we can see and declare....

How Grace Changes Everything

it is because of the Grace of God working in my life that i have a second chance to life. I once lived a life of sin that deserved death yet because of God’s love, his mercy and Grace, he has given you and i a new life. A second chance if you will.

God’s grace changes everything about you and i....

How Grace Changes Everything

God’s Grace Changes my Destination ( Eph. 2:1-9)

see Eph. 2 tells us that we once lived according to the course of the world, being lead and directed by satan and his influence and by nature we were sons of disobedience on our way directly to hell

But God...... because of his love and mercy and grace, extended a way out of that life through the death of his Son. And now by grace i can change that direction in my life by placing my faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savoir. There is nothing i can do about salvation other than accept the grace of God by placing my faith in Jesus

and so my destination changes from hell to heaven, from being lost and blind to being saved and rescued.

2. God’s Grace Changes my Position ( Rom. 5:1-2)

God’s grace changes how God views you and I. Because of our failure, because of our sins, God looked at us with the need to be punished or judged. But because of the grace of God and because of the blood of Jesus , God sees you and i Justified.

in other words he sees us just as if we had never sinned.

Romans 5:1–2 NKJV

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

we now have this new position before God, considered Justified , just as if we have never sinned , and it is because of the Grace of God that we now stand before him in peace.

3. God’s Grace Changes my Abilities ( Titus 2: 11-12)

Samson was able to have victory in his life over the enemies because of God’s spirit moving in him, when the spirit of God left him, he was left with no strength. He was an easy target to the enemy.

Titus 2:11–12 NKJV

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,

and what this passage speaks about is that not only does God’s Grace work in you and me in salvation, but God’s Grace continues to work in us teaching us and enabling us to live a life that pleases God.

it is not on our own strength that we will have victory over the enemy in our lives but it is through the grace of God , by his spirit working in me.

Transition

and so as we continue to look at the second act of Samson its important to remember all these things, of God’s Grace working in his life even after he had mad bad choices.

2. The Enemy Attempted to Humiliate Samson (v. 23-25)

so now time has passed and the Philistines are rejoicing in their victory. They are declaring this victory because of their God, Dagon. The people are declaring praise to their God

and when they are drunk they decided to bring our Samson before the people in order that they could humiliate him. One of the things that will happen to you and I as we fall and make mistakes , is the enemy will use every effort to bring humiliation before us but more importantly they will use an excuse to bring a bad rap to God, and to attempt to humiliate God and his people.

3. Samson Hits Rock Bottom (v. 26-27)

and so what we see now is the reality that Samson has hit rock bottom.

Here is this Samson, this champion of Israel who killed thousands, who was the deliver, now is being lead by the hand of a young boy.

He is blind, he is in chains and he is a slave, he is being led by a young boy, he is without strength and without God.

this will always be the case for you and I if we make the choices to follow after other things other than God, if we make daily bad choices, we will end up giving in to sin and a consistent life of sin will always leave us in this same condition that Samson is in.

Spiritually blind

spiritually in chains to the sin

spiritually a slave without a way out on our own

but the reality is that many people need to hit rock bottom before they are able to look up. For many of you , your are learning and listening to the things we teach you and it will help you over time. you will begin to make good choices and to follow God.

but the truth is many will not listen to what we have to say or what their parents will have to say and you will do what you want. And many will end up in this path just like Samson, and many will have to hit rock bottom before they will look up. Hopefully thats not you because with that comes a lot of hurt

4. Samson Cries out to the Lord (v. 28-29)

watch here as Samson hits rock bottom what does he do? He looks up and cries out.

you can imagine that this is exactly what God was waiting for, for Samson to come to the end of himself and to cry out to God. See one of Samson’s biggest problems was that he was selfreliant . He trusted in himself, in his own abilities

and what God needed was for him to come to the end of himself. Remember salvation is because of God’s grace not of our own works.

and what God desires out of us just like Samson is to stop doing things on our own strength. But to seek God on the basis of his Grace and what his has done for me, through faith.

5. God’s Grace Enables His Will to be Accomplished (v. 30-31)

Here you see that God...

Hears Samson’s prayer

He Answers Samson’s Prayer

and so as Samson cries out and prays to God we see that God heard his prayer and he answered.

Know and understand that, that even in our deepest failure, God is willing to hear out cries and is willing to help us out of our pits. He is willing to give us second chances , he is a God of Grace.

3.He Gives Samson Strength

God will give us the necessary strength out of our pit , the necessary strength to live for him,

4.He accomplishes His Will

God was still able to accomplish his will through the life of Samson as he destroyed the Philistines, yet this was not the way God had intended. Samson could have done so much more for God