Samson

 We all long for deliverance, don't we? Maybe it's being delivered from zero championships for the Bills and Sabres, to at least one, maybe five. Can I get an amen? Amen.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Maybe we long to be delivered from negative temperatures in the middle of wintertime, to maybe more weather like today throughout the year. If you like the cold, I'll pray for you. I will. Maybe we long to be delivered from slow traffic at rush hour, 'cause we need to get to where we're going, right? And we'll bob and weave until we arrive at our destination. You know, I realize that those are kind of lighthearted examples of everyday life. But maybe you're in a difficult spot today. You're in a difficult place and you are longing for a deliverer. You are longing for deliverance in your life, within your world. Maybe you're in a situation where you're just, you're desperate and hoping for a sense of rescue and freedom, and maybe that's ever present today. Regardless, and I'm not sure what everyone has walked in here with today. But I do realize this, is that the longing that we have for deliverance can be satisfied as we turn to the scripture. And in fact, we're going to continue in our series called "Hall of Faith" in Hebrews chapter 11. And today we're gonna be looking at a unique character, and his name is Samson. That's right, he's in the "Hall of Faith". Hebrews 11, "And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barack, Samson, and Jephthah about David and Samuel, and the prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword. Whose weakness was turned to strength, and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies." You see, when we look at the story of Samson, it's a bit unique to say the least. When we think of who he was it's a bit intriguing maybe to find his name in Hebrews chapter 11, right? These are heroes of the faith. These are people that we have studied so far and thinking, "Okay, well, what is Samson maybe doing in there?" Because maybe we think to ourselves, "Wasn't he a bit self-absorbed, super strong, driven by lust? Like isn't that Samson who we read about?" Well, you know, it's a fair question to maybe think about, maybe why he's listed in Hebrews chapter 11. But I believe that as we journey through our time together today, that we'll land in a place of great hope, and that we'll be able to more clearly see maybe why Samson's name is listed here. So what I'm gonna do is I am going to give an overview of Judges 13 through Judges 16. That's where Samson's story is, so stay with me. And then I'm going to give us a few principles for us to think about when it comes to faith, okay? So let's start with Judges 13. It says this, Again, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. Now, there was a certain man named... Or from Zorah, of the family 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, "Indeed now, you are barren and have born no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. And he shall, listen to this, he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." When we look at this verse here, and even this statement, this was Samson's call. This was what he was designed to do. This is what God had set him apart to do that. He would be one who would help to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. He was to be, in other words, a deliverer for the people of God in this sense. Now, because of the waywardness of Israel here, and them kind of giving themselves over to sin and the bondage of sin, they were delivered into the hands of the Philistines. And the Philistines were ruthless, powerful enemies of Israel. And this was in part God's consequence to his people, because they weren't following him wholeheartedly. And in fact, when you look at the book of Judges, it's tumultuous. You see just so many different things happening, and Israel continuing to give themselves over to waywardness and whatnot. But God would use Samson, this was Samson's call. He would use Samson to take the lead in beginning to deliver Israel from the Philippines. Now, when we see the word Nazarite there, that's a word that helps us understand. It comes from the Hebrew word "nazir", all right? This was a part of Samson's call, he was to be a Nazarite. And what it means is that, it means to be separated or consecrated to God. This was because the plan of God for Samson was for him to help and begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines, from their enemies. And so as a Nazarite, there's a few different things. You can look at Numbers chapter six, if you wanted to, I'm not gonna put it up on the screen. But Numbers six, it helps to give you a better understanding of what this Nazarite vow entail. And so just from a high level, it entailed this. Samson as a Nazarite taking this vow, was to abstain from all products of the vine. So I think grapes, wine, even some fermented drink and whatnot. One was also called to not come in contact with a dead body, or corpse, or carcass, and defile themselves in that way. That was just part of the call of what that looked like. And then also as we saw there as well in Judges 13, that one's hair was to be uncut. No razor was to touch his head. And so this was just part of the Nazarite vow for Samson as he was again, called apart, consecrated, set apart to God, for a specific purpose, for a specific reason. And that was to begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. And as we journey throughout Judges chapter 13, what we'll find is we see Samson's parents. They interact with the Lord and end up dedicating and offering to him, as they even talk with an angel of the Lord. And then they end up making an offering to God. And then this is kind of how Judges 13 wraps up. The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and the spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. And so this is what we see, Judges 13 wraps up, Samson strong, you know? And even that stirring that we see there, that's a firm stirring that Samson had. That's just a part of what that word means. And so that's how Judges 13 concludes. Now, we get to Judges 14. And as we get to Judges 14, let me say this. We're introduced to Samson's love life, which wasn't always helpful for him, to say the least. In fact, take a in Judges 14. Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah, now get her for me as my wife." His father and mother replied, "Isn't there unacceptable woman among your relatives or among all of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" And of course that's a very reasonable response from his parents. But Samson's like, all right, I see a Philistine woman, she looks good, I wanna marry her. Marriage has worked a little bit differently back then. He's like, "You know, get her for me as my wife." And then his parents are like, "Dude, what are you doing?" Like come on man, wake up. This was of course reasonable because they were thinking, why give yourself over to enemy ground like that? She's a Philistine, what are you doing? And so they of course wanted Samson to marry within the faith, knowing his Nazarite vow, knowing the calling that he had, knowing what God was for him to do. And this was really something that what we see for Samson, he's just like, "Ah, I'm..." I'm in fact, listen to his response. But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me." His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines, for at that time they were ruling over Israel. And so Samson wanted this Philistine to marry. And unfortunately what we see there is something that is important for us to pay attention to. Samson said this, "She's the right one for me." Now, when we look at the book of Judges, that's actually representing by the way, much of the people of God. That's essentially so much of the theme of Judges. It was a perilous time for the people of God. Why? Because everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. Everyone wanted to do what they saw fit to do. And so, unfortunately, this was going to cause some consequence for Samson as we'll continue to read. So Samson, he ends up going down to a place called Timnah, because he is going to marry this Philistine. And on his way there a young lion comes and attack him. I'd be running for my life, if a young line was coming at me. But the text says that the spirit of the Lord actually came upon Samson so powerfully, that he ended up battling and winning over the lion with his bare hands. He ends up taking this lion head on with his bare hands and he wins.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- If there's... Man, if you can take on a battle with a lion with your bare hands and win... Game over, right? Oh my goodness, game over, goodness gracious. And so as we journey throughout Judges 14, right after the defeat of the lion, here's what happened. Sometime later when he went back to marry her, this Philistine woman, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some and they too ate it. Listen to this. But he did not tell them, that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass. Oh, not good, not good for Samson, right? He's taking honey touching the carcass against his Nazarite vow, against his calling. And so, as this happens though, he... And that's why he didn't tell his parents where he had gotten the honey from. Because as we saw with him earlier, they probably would not have taken too kindly to that. And so, as we continue to journey throughout the story, you know, Samson gets married to a Philistine woman. He ends up getting married to her. And as he does, at his wedding, there's this feast and celebration to go along with this. And then it's through this though, that he decides to confront the Philistines. Because even though by the way, Samson married this Philistine, God was orchestrating all of this behind the scenes. 'Cause we know, we knew he was called, right? To begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. And so even though his parents weren't a huge fan of this, even though Samson probably wasn't aware, consciously aware of gods sovereignty in this, likely, God was going to use this as a way to still confront the enemies. And so at this wedding, festival, celebration, Samson decides to confront them. And do you know how he does it? He does it by telling a riddle. What a unique way to confront the enemy? Hey, let me tell you a riddle. In fact, let's pick it up on Judges 14. "Let me tell you riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 sets of clothes. If you can't tell me the answer, you must give me 30 linen garments and 30 sets of clothes." 'Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let us hear it." He replied, "Out of the eater, something to eat." That's actually referring to the honey, that he had just passed with the lion, right? "Out of the eater, something to eat," honey. "Out of the strong, something sweet." Out of the strong, the lion, okay? So that's where he's telling this riddle, that's where he's getting this from. For three days, they could not give the answer. And so now the Philistines are getting upset. They don't know this riddle, and they're trying to figure out, "Okay, what's going on here, Samson? Fell us what's the deal here." They can't figure it out. And then it ends up getting to a place where the Philistines, they end up threatening Samson's wife. And they threaten his wife to say, "Okay, Hey, you're one of us get that riddle out of him, because we don't wanna give away these linen garments and all this stuff." Like this... It would've cost money and such for them. So they they're like... "Get that riddle out of alright, or else we're coming after you." And Samson's wife, she ends up pleading with Samson. "Samson, can you tell me this riddle. Tell me, are you making a fool out of me among my own people?" And so eventually, Samson gives in, tells her the answer to the riddle. And in the very last moment, the very last moment, the Philippines tell Samson the answer to the riddle. And in fact, why don't we take a look at that? Listen to Judges chapter 14. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. So when we look at this though, what happens is when we think of the last day, and they end up telling Samson the riddle here, it's interesting because even when we see this answer. And Samson ends up giving this answer away to his wife and his wife tells the Philistines. Samson, he gets infuriated. Samson is absolutely infuriated, that he had lost this bet with the enemy. And so what he ends up doing, he ends up making good on the promise. He ends up getting the 30 linen garments and 30 sets of clothes. He ends up making good on that. An interesting way he does that. By the way, you can read about it. And then unfortunately though what he does, is he pretty much abandons his wife and disrespects her. And that's how chapter 14 wraps up. It's an interesting story, to say the least. It's kind of a roller coaster ride here. And then as we get to chapter 15, it's a pretty intense chapter, that would begin between Samson and the Philistines. The conflict is growing. The conflict is continuing to arise. And Samson what he ends up doing because he's so upset when we continue to read about, Samson's wife ended up going with one of his companions. He takes this out on the Philistines. And Samson finds a creative way, I'll say that, a creative way to burn the land of the Philistines, some of their land. And then the Philistines retaliate against Samson, Samson then retaliate. And then you just start to see this is boiling up, this is getting intense. And so it got to a point, where the Israelites, they're like, "Hey, you know what? Even though Samson's been our judge, our leader here for however long..." At this point, he would be for 20 years. But at this point, the Israelites are like, we've had enough of Samson, we're good. He's causing this rift between our enemies and we're not liking that. But again, knowing God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty in all of this was to begin to deliver Israel from the enemy's hands. And so as we continue to look at that, the spirit of the Lord would come upon Samson. Because the Israelites take Samson, and they hand him over to the Philistines. And so now, Samson is handed over to the Philistines, and then the spirit of the Lord comes upon Samson, and listen to this. He would take on 1000 members of the Philistine army by himself. His weapon? A donkey's jaw bone. That's crazy. And so he ends up taking 1,000 Philistines by himself. And undoubtedly, this battle was one that the Lord helped him in. This battle was one that the spirit of the Lord came over Samson, and he was able to defeat all of these people, remarkable. And then as we journey to chapter 16, here's where it begins to take a bit of a sad turn, if it hasn't already for Samson. Again, his love life wasn't always very helpful for him. He ends up falling in love with a lady named Delilah. You may have recognized her before, if you're familiar with this story. And so what ends up happening is the Philistines talk with... It's so interesting because what we saw with his previous wife and the enemies, kind of working through his previous wife to get at Samson. It's a very similar play out here with the Delilah. Philistines bribe Delilah with money and say, "Hey, we just lost this battle with a thousand guys to one. What is this dude's secret? What is it? Like, how in the world is he able to take on, by himself, like all of these people?" And so they bribe Delilah. Say, "You know what, we'll give you some money if you can get it, you know, get us the secret." And the Philippines, they talk with Delilah, and Delilah ends up following through with this, to learn the secret of Samson's strength. And so this plays out in a variety of different ways. She begins a process of really trying to get the secret out of him, you know? So, first time, Samson goes, "Well, if you tied up some bow strings to me, that'll do the trick. So get some bow strings, tie me up with them, and that'll take away my strength." And so that's what happens. Philistines come an attack, Samson breaks loose, he still has his strength, not it. Second time this place out. Now, they're they're wondering, "Okay, it wasn't bow strings." So then Samson says, "Well, yeah, you know what? It's new ropes, new ropes actually that have never been used, Delilah." And so that's what he tells her. And so sure enough, Samson's tied up with these newer ropes Philistines come and attack, and boom, he's out, strength not revealed. You would think the dude would've learned his lesson at this point. I mean, how many times does this have to play over with him telling Delilah, Philistine army showing up. Wow, okay, hey, let me tell you again. Like what in the world, right? And so we get to then the third time. Samson's like, "Oh, you know, if you weave my hair into fabric, tighten it with a pin, that will do the trick." So sure enough, his hair is weaved, tightened with a pin into some fabric. Philistines show up, attack, boom, he still has his strength. Unsuccessful, multiple, three times, three times. This is happening over, and over, and over. And then Delilah says, "Okay, you know, if you really love me, you would tell me." And Samson ends up confiding in her, because he really did love her. And so here's what it says in Judges 16, "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazarite dedicated to God from my mother's womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man," he tells her. And that night, while Samson falls asleep, Delilah shaves his head, and his strength left him. Philistines come and attack, and this time they're able to take him captive. He's imprisoned, his eyes were gouged out. And the strong hero of Israel, supposedly, is now weak, and he's brought into prison. And what ends up happening is the Philistines end up putting on this festival to their god, dagon, because we've done it, we've conquered our enemy. So right, this is kind of what's happening. You know, I'm sure that's exactly what happened. But as we conclude Judges 16, listen to actually how the story wraps up. Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple so that I made lean against them." Now, the temple was crowded with men and women, all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about 3000 men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson then prayed to the Lord. "Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." Although his motive me not have been exactly pure, he still cried out to God, God used him. Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood, bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." Then he pushed with all of his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than when he lived. And that's Samson. Interesting story, isn't it? And when we think of his story, it's kind of a roller coaster ride a little bit. But remember his purpose, right? His purpose was to begin to deliver Israel from their enemies, from the Philistines. And we see that at the beginning, where God had called Samson apart, that he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. And at the end, we see this culmination of that taking place. Now, the Philistines would eventually, some years later, be conquered in full and defeated by the Philistines. But God's call on Samson's life was a beginning of this, to purify his people, to get his enemy, to get their enemies out of there, to get their gods and their influence, their influences away from his people. And so, when we look at Hebrews chapter 11, and we find Samson's name there, again, similar to Rahab last week, he's... The writer of Hebrews isn't commending Samson for all of his perfect choices. Wink, wink, right? I mean, he had many flawed choices. But what we see here is Samson is commended for his faith. Because even though he had many, many character flaws, and many things that gripped him maybe away from God's purpose, what we see is that when his faith was in God, when he did apply his faith in the Lord his God, remember the object of our faith, he was powerful in battle. He helped to route the foreign army of the Philistines, and he helped to bring about their conquering, even though that would happen sometime later. And by the way, some of those major battles, like the one time when he had the jaw bone, and took on 100 men, and then the last time he cries out to God, and he tears down the pillars, that's a level of faith. For one person to take on this many people? I mean, if I'm one-on-one army against 1,000 people, I'm losing that one maybe. No, I'm not gonna win that anytime. But I'm losing that time. I'm losing that every time. But Samson, when the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he actually, in some moments put his faith in God, God came through. And some of these moments, the writer of Hebrews, although I don't know for sure, but likely he had to keep some of those in mind as he included Samson's name there. Because what we find is that God still used Samson, even in spite of Samson.

- And in fact, maybe I could ask us this question that might be helpful. What can we learn about faith from the story of Samson? What can we learn about faith from the story of Samson? Here's the first truth that would tell us. Is that our faith is in a God, who uses broken people to accomplish his purposes. You see, our faith is in a God who uses broken people to accomplish his purposes. When we look at Hebrews chapter 11, here's what we have to pay attention to. Everyone was flawed. Everyone was broken by sin. Now, some of them are more obvious to us like Samson, some of them certainly not so much at all, but what we have to pay attention to? None of them were Jesus. They were all broken in some way, shape, or form. They were all flawed by the curse of sin. But what we have to keep in mind as we journey throughout Hebrews 11, is that their stories are all foreshadowing one who would come, who would be unbroken.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Who would be whole, who would be perfect in every way. And all of them regardless of who they were, whether how much or how little, all of them in some degree put their faith in God, applied their faith, put their faith in the object of our faith. And so as we see that though, in all of them and even throughout history, even throughout this time in the book of Judges, when we looked at Samson, God was weaving his plan of redemption all the way through. He's weaving it all the way through, as it would culminate in the Lord, Jesus Christ, who would come on our behalf. And so here's where I tell you, ladies and gentlemen, you are not too broken for God to use. You're not too broken for God to use. You're not too far gone to be redeemed. You are not too far gone to be used for the purposes of God. Maybe you have a story of shame, of regret, of guilt, and maybe you're feeling awful today, maybe these things are kind of haunting you. Listen, if God can use someone like Samson, God can use you. Whether or not it's obvious to, whether or not it's obvious to us, here's what we have to realize. We are all far more broken than we ever dared believe. We are far more broken, even if it's obvious to the person next to you or not. We are all far more broken than we ever dared can... Than we ever dared to believe. And maybe we might say, "Well, can you believe what this person did? Can you believe what that person did?" As if grace wasn't applied to you and me? You see, we're more broken than we ever dared believe, including the guy up here with the microphone. Whether that's pride that can surface, I can deal with levels of fear, and anxiousness, and insufficiency, and the list can go on, and on, and on. And maybe sometimes I could ask God, "God, can you really, can you really use me?" Here's the answer, yes, yes. Why? Because God uses broken people to accomplish his purposes. I can't say it better than Tim Keller how he said it. Listen to what he said. "The gospel is this. We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope." You see, yes, we are more broken and flawed than we ever dared believe. But in Jesus, in Jesus, we're more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope. That's the gospel. The gospel is that God can use us, that God can mend us, put us back together. And even in the meantime, he will use you to accomplish his purposes, what he's doing in the world that we live in. And the question is, it's by faith. Are we going to believe that? By faith. Are we going to say, "God, you have my yes, wherever you lead, however you do so, I'm gonna follow you. And I'm not gonna look at all the reasons maybe why I can't. Instead I'm gonna look at the reason why I can." And that's because God's called me. That's because God is with me. That's because by faith, he will use broken people to accomplish his purposes. He did it in Samson's life, and he can do that in ours as well. Secondly, I would tell us this, is that our faith is in a God who gives grace to the undeserving. Our faith is in a God who gives grace to the undeserving. When we look at Judges chapter 16, I wanna point your attention back here, listen to what it says. Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza, binding him with bronze shackles. They set him to grinding grain in the prison. And then listen to this. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. What grace for Samson? That even in the midst of all of this happening, even in the... You know, maybe we might think the story's over, Samson's handed over to the Philistines. His hair is gone, but the hair on his head began to grow again.

- [Lady] Amen.

- What grace? Samson didn't deserve that, yet God still graced him, and allowed his hair to grow again, which would help to signify and represent his strength. And even in the last waking moments, we end up finding that Samson's strength is revived. And it's a beautiful thing to see him finally, you know, crying out to the Lord. Even if it was maybe, "Hey, let me take out this justice for my eyes." But he says, "Sovereign Lord," and his strength is restored to him. You see, maybe we have to think about this for a second. Because when Samson was at his weakest, when Samson seemed to be at his lowest, the grace of God appeared to him. A good reminder for all of us, that maybe when it seems like the story could have ended, the grace of God appeared. When we're at our weakest, when we're at our lowest, the grace of God will appear. When we seem like we have run out of strength, maybe our circumstances, maybe we're feeling that we have run out of strength, may the grace of God flood your life again. Because when the apostle Paul was writing about this thorn in his flesh, that he pleaded with God to have removed, listen to what it says. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me, but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. Here it is, listen, for when I am weak, then I am strong. You see, when our strength has run out... When we are weak, that's where the strength of God actually meets us. When we get to the end of ourselves and surrender it over to God as we're weak, and we just say, "God, fill me with your grace, fill me with your strength," that's where his strength will meet us. You see, Samson, he needed to be weakened, so that he would be reminded again of where his strength actually came from, it was God. And Samson was weakened so that he could remember, that his strength came from the Lord. And maybe, just maybe, we might be in seasons and in times, where we're feeling like that circumstance is weakening us. And we feel that weakening of our own strength. Maybe, just maybe, that weakening of your strength is an opportunity for God to reveal his strength in you. "Because when we are weak, Paul said, that's when I'm strong." Because it's the grace of God. Not anything I can do, not success, or fame, or different things along, nothing I can do. But it's the grace of God that meets me, that makes me strong. You see, our faith is in a God who gives grace to the undeserving. We're all undeserving, folks. We haven't done anything to merit our salvation, but yet the grace of, the grace of God appeared to us in Jesus, and continues to meet us every day, where it's his life, his strength, his power in us. And we thank God for that. But thirdly, I would tell us this, is that our faith is in a God who will deliver his people. You see, our faith is in a God who will deliver his people. When we read the story of Samson, he was to be a deliverer for the people of Israel, right? He would begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. But here's the problem. When we survey Judges 13 through Judges 16, we get to the end of the story, and we almost feel this sense of incompleteness, don't we? And it's like, that's how it ends, right? We almost sense this incompleteness. It's a bit challenging to wrap our minds around Samson's story. But here's what we have to realize, Samson's a picture of Israel. Samson, like Israel, was called apart to have a specific purpose, to have a specific role. Israel was called apart, to represent the glory of God to the nations. However, both Samson and Israel would not live fully up to that call Samson would allow his heart to get captured by a foreign woman. Israel would allow their affections to get captured by foreign gods. When Samson though cried out to the Lord, his God, he would receive strength, and the spirit of the Lord would come powerfully upon him. And when Israel would cry out to God and turn from their wicked ways, God would offer forgiveness, and they would be revived. However, when sinfulness and pride ran its course in Samson's life, he was given over to the hands of a foreign army. When Israel would allow their sinfulness, their pride, their idolatry to run its course, they would be given over into captivity to foreign armies. And all along in this whole story, in this grand story of the Old Testament, we are longing for a true and perfect deliverer, aren't we? Because there's this sense of incompleteness. Samson wasn't able to fully live that out. Israel wasn't able to fully live that out, but there would be one who would come, that Hebrews 11 and 12 are all pointing to. And when we look at that, I believe it's important that we don't miss how the story of Samson actually opens up our eyes to a more perfect, to a perfect deliverer. You see, Samson would be a flawed deliverer, but his story points to a perfect one. Samson's mom would receive news, that she was going to miraculously give birth to a son, even though she was childless and unable to give birth. There would also be an angel, it reminds me of another story, that would come to a teenage mom named Mary, and tell her that she would miraculously give birth as a virgin. The angel announced that Samson would begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. The angel when he appeared to Joseph announced that the child's name would be Jesus, because he would not just begin, but he would save people, deliver people from their sins. You see, Samson was destined to live a holy life as a Nazarite. But ultimately he failed in that, he did not live fully up to that, clearly. Jesus was destined to live a holy purified life, and he did so, as he would be completely obedient to the will of his father. Samson would be rejected by his own people, and he would ultimately be handed over to the Philistines by them. Jesus would be rejected by his own people, and he would be handed over to the Roman Empire Samson would be mocked as he would be entertainment for the Philistines because they thought that they had finally... They did, they defeated him, they conquered him. But when we look at the story of Jesus, he was mocked and scorned by the Romans because they thought they had won. And as Samson is about ready to give up his life, he ended up stretching out his right arm, and stretching out his left arm, tearing down the temple, as he would begin to deliver Israel from their enemy. You see, Jesus, after being mocked and scorned, he would stretch out his right arm, and he would stretch out his left arm, not just to begin, to bring about deliverance for the people of God, but to bring ultimate deliverance for the people of God, as he would conquer the enemy and provide a way for every person to be delivered from the bondage of their sin. You see, in Samson, as we read this story, we have an incomplete and flawed deliverer in Samson. But the story actually, when we look at even some of these parallels, it leads, it opens up our eyes to a more perfect, and beautiful, and complete, and whole deliverer that we have, and his name is Jesus.

- [Congregation] Amen.

- Maybe I could say it this way. Jesus is our perfect deliverer. Jesus is our perfect deliverer. Jesus is the perfect deliverer for your sin. Jesus is the perfect deliverer for your bondage. Jesus is the perfect deliverer for your fear. Jesus is the perfect deliverer for your shame, for your regret. Jesus is the perfect deliverer for your addiction. Jesus is the perfect deliverer for your broken story. Jesus is the perfect deliverer for all time, and in all things, forevermore. Jesus is our perfect deliver. You see, we all long for deliverance, don't we? We all long for rescue and freedom. But this story opens up our eyes to see this, we have one, and his name is Jesus. He's a perfect deliverer, you can trust him. Maybe it's allowing God to use you in some way, shape, or form. You trust today God, you're prompting me to do that? I'm not gonna look at all the reasons why I can't, instead, I'm gonna trust and believe that you can use broken people to accomplish your purposes, because Christ in me, that's the hope of glory. Christ in me, that's where I'm made whole. It's his power, his strength in me, not my own. Maybe it's just resting and marveling again in the grace of God, that's appeared to you, that's appeared to me. The hair on Samson's head began to grow back. God's grace is rich and abundant, you can't exhaust it. It covers all of our sin. And maybe it's just trusting, and believing, and resting in the grace of God that's appeared. And maybe it's whatever circumstance you're walking through, whatever you're facing, knowing that longing that we have for deliverance is found in the Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus is his name. Don't run to anything else, 'cause maybe that longing creates this fleshly kind of reaction, to maybe run in different directions, and a bottle won't deliver you. It won't do it, a pill won't do it. Jesus will. Jesus can. Maybe it's just trusting and believing, that Jesus, you can do it. Not money, not chasing things. We have a deliverer, a perfect one. And so maybe it's just surrendering whatever that is over to him, and believing his sovereignty in that. Jesus is our perfect deliverer.