Pursuing You Your Whole Life

[0:00] Take your Bibles, please.

[0:16] And you can go to the book of Judges or if you're visiting with us, you need a Bible, there's a black Bible in the chair in front of you. You can pull that out and find page 193, starting in Genesis, page one, find page 193 in that black Bible, Judges chapter 16, Judges 16.

[0:37] I think, I don't know if Kaylin probably mentioned this, but if you're visiting with us, there's a card there, you can fill out that card. But did you mention, I don't remember if you did. Okay. You can bring the card, put it here in the plate, or you can put it there in the back table.

[0:50] We'll pick that up and thank you for visiting. We appreciate that. Judges chapter 16, we're finishing the book of Judges. We already did 17 through 21, because that happened earlier in the time of the Judges, so we went through that earlier.

[1:03] So we're gonna finish up the book of Judges today, Judges chapter 16. Let me read the last chapter of Samson's life and we'll see how God is the hero of this story, of this historical, real story.

[1:23] Oh, look at you. Thanks, Aaron. Appreciate that. Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into her. It was told to the Gazites, saying, Samson has come here.

[1:36] They surrounded it and lay in wait for him all night to the gate of the city. Kept silent all night, saying, let's wait until the morning, then we'll kill him. Now Samson lay until midnight and at midnight he rose and took hold of the doors of the city gates and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars.

[1:55] Excuse me. Then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain, which is opposite Hebron. After this, it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Surak, whose name was Delilah.

[2:08] Excuse me. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, entice him and see whose great strength is and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we'll give each, each of you give, each give you, excuse me, 1100 pieces of silver.

[2:25] So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to you. And Samson said to her, if they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dry, then I shall become weak and be like any man.

[2:41] Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried and she bound them with them. Now she had men lying in wait in the inner room and she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson.

[2:51] But he snapped the cords as a string of toe snaps when it touches fire so strength was not discovered. Then Delilah said to Samson, behold, you've deceived me, told me lies.

[3:02] Now please tell me how you may be bound. And he said to her, if they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any man. So Delilah took new ropes and bound them with them and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson.

[3:16] For the men were lying in wait in the inner room, but he snapped the ropes from his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, up to now, you've deceived me and told me lies.

[3:27] Tell me how you may be bound. And he said to her, if you weave the seven locks of my hair with the web and fasten it with a pin, and I shall become weak and be like any other man. So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his hair and wove them into the web and she fastened it with the pin and said to him, the Philistines are upon you, Samson.

[3:46] But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web. Verse 15, then she said to him, how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? You've deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.

[4:01] And it came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him that his soul was annoyed to death. So he told her all in his heart and said to her, a razor has never come upon my head.

[4:13] For I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will lead me and I shall become weak and be like any man. When Delilah saw that he had told her all in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines saying, come up once more.

[4:30] For he has told me all in his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands and she made him sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair.

[4:44] Then she began to afflict him and his strength left him. And she said, the Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke from his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times and shake myself free. But he did not know that Yahweh had departed from him.

[5:00] Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains and he was a grinder in the prison. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

[5:15] Now the lords of the Philistines assembled there to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their God and to rejoice for they said, our God has given Samson our enemy to our hands. When the people saw him they praised their God for they said, our God has given our enemy to our hands even the destroyer of our country who has slain many of us.

[5:32] And so it happened when they were in high spirits that they said, call for Samson and he may amuse us. So he called for Samson from the prison and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.

[5:43] Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his 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 and all the lords of the Philistines were there and about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was entertaining them.

[6:00] Verse 28, Then Samson called to Yahweh and said, O sovereign Yahweh, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

[6:16] And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bent with all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people were in it so the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.

[6:37] Then his brothers and all his father's household came down, took him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtoah in the tomb of Manoah, his father. Thus he judged Israel 20 years. Thanks, Aaron.

[6:55] I'll read you lyrics to a familiar song for some of you, probably familiar to you in more ways than one.

[7:07] Here's the lyrics to the song. Hey there, Delilah, this is your ex-boyfriend, Samson. I know you thought that lifting weights made me so buff and handsome.

[7:19] You were wrong. It's because I let my hair grow long. That makes me strong. Hey there, Delilah, you came in while I was sleeping and I couldn't feel you cutting. I didn't hear you creeping out the door.

[7:32] You left my hair piled on the floor while I just snored. Oh, what you did to me. Oh, while I was asleep. Oh, I'm a Nazarene.

[7:43] Oh, but you shaved me clean. Delilah, you're so mean. I killed a lion, big and mean, and slaughtered many Philistines, all with a donkey's jawbone.

[7:54] That's no lie. Now I'm chained up to the wall and I can't cry no tears at all because they came and gouged out both my eyes. Why'd you grab your clipping shears and shave my head like Britney Spears?

[8:07] And now I'm standing here in total shame. You're to blame. Hey there, Delilah. Why did you have to deceive me? And it's hard for me to think not long ago I wanted you to be my bride but you took too much off the sides.

[8:24] Hey there, Delilah. When you die, just tell the devil I said hi. He'll know why. Oh, it's what you did to me. Oh, now I'm up a creek.

[8:35] Oh, now I feel so weak and oh, I look like a freak, Delilah. You're a geek. That's from Tim Hawkins. He did a parody from the song Green Day.

[8:47] Green Day did a song called Delilah and Tim Hawkins took that song and took chapter 16 and put the lyrics to that actual tune. Just Google it.

[8:58] Tim Hawkins, Delilah and you can actually watch him perform the song. It's pretty funny. He did a good job. Good job. And then we laugh and it's not bad.

[9:09] I mean, it's funny. But just remember though when we read this chapter it brings a sense of solemnity. It's somber.

[9:23] It's sad. It's tragic. And yet it is also full of grace, compassion, hope, and relentless love.

[9:41] Never ending love. Overwhelming love that God has for His people. And this love, this overwhelming, never ending, relentless love that God has for His people, which you'll see here as we finish up the book of Judges about this love.

[10:01] Great way to finish. This love is pursuing you your whole life. You, Christian, you, follower of Jesus, His love is gonna pursue you your whole life.

[10:18] How much does God love His people? How much does God love His people? So much that He and His love will pursue you your whole life so that you would love Him.

[10:39] His love will pursue you so that you would love Him. He wants us to solely want Him. This is what Judges has been all about.

[10:53] He wanted Israel to want Him, to desire Him more than anything else, more than anyone else. That's how much He loves His people.

[11:05] And He will discipline, He will discipline His people, He will discipline us to make that happen. He will squeeze because God is deeply involved and sovereignly at work in your life.

[11:23] His love is pursuing you. See, I put away how you can sum up this chapter in one statement and we're gonna walk through each one of these phrases.

[11:38] It's long, but this is how you can sum up this chapter. Through all those worldly attractions and deceptions, all your temptations and your bucklings under those temptations, when you get trapped and you feel alone, God and His love is still there disciplining you and showing you His grace, turning tragedy into victory.

[12:06] that's chapter 16. No, that's actually the Bible. This is life. All those worldly attractions, all those deceptions, all the temptations and all the times that you buckle under those temptations, willfully, you get trapped and you feel alone.

[12:40] God and His love, oh Christian, He is still there and He'll discipline you and He'll show you His grace and He'll turn the tragedies into victory.

[12:52] He's in the business of doing that. and He'll bring you to the point where you cry out to Him in total helplessness and guess what?

[13:04] He'll answer. That's how much He loves His people. That's how much He loves His chosen people, His elect people. Why?

[13:14] Why? Because God is so gracious. You don't deserve any of it. That's the meaning of grace. Have you noticed the theme of grace in all the songs we've sung today?

[13:29] Undeserved favor. God's gracious love for you. You don't deserve it. He decided to save you. Ah, Samson's weakness with women, it made him feel like butter.

[13:49] His passion and lust for women would be his ruin. And he could never come to grips with his separateness as God's servant.

[13:59] He could never come to grips with that and yet God would still show His grace to His people displaying His love even using this, should I dare say, clown.

[14:14] And yet there go I. Remember, God used this real historical event, this really happened, the story of Samson, to teach His people the great truth of His love for sinners by showing them His gracious compassion.

[14:34] If there's anything you missed this morning, if there's anything you missed, don't miss this. God is the real hero of this story. It's God and His grace and His mercy.

[14:48] Don't miss that. You know, we can think of Samson as like a mini Israel. As Israel was set apart for Yahweh, so was Samson.

[15:02] He was set apart for Yahweh. He was a Nazarite. And Samson played the harlot pursuing her lust, his lust, so did Israel.

[15:15] This is why Israel needed to hear the details about Judge Samson. So they would pick up the story of Samson and they would actually read it and then they'd be looking in a mirror.

[15:30] That was the point. That's why Samuel took so long to write all these details about Samson because Samson was Israel's mirror.

[15:41] When they looked at Samson, they were looking at themselves. Raised from nothing. Richly gifted by God. Going after other loves to satisfy them and then expecting to simply run back to Yahweh on a whim.

[16:00] Oh, we're so sorry. Oh, oh, oh, oh. And then God's trying to instill in them, but do you love me? And I'm gonna squeeze so that you will.

[16:15] That's how much I love you. Throughout the time period of the judges, Israel sought after other gods. That's what you see throughout the book of the judges.

[16:26] They kept doing that. They were attracted to other men, so to speak. And this historical story of Samson showed how irrelevant and false these gods were and that the only one true God is Yahweh God.

[16:43] He is the supreme Lord of all. And Israel, Israel had received grace upon grace upon grace upon grace and yet they kept going after other loves.

[16:55] This is the book of Judges. This was Israel and their history. This is you, Christian. Did you forget what you just sang?

[17:13] Prone to wander? Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love? You sang that. Here's my heart.

[17:24] Take, seal it. Seal it for your courts above. Learn from Samson. See, they assumed all was peachy keen and they thought Yahweh was simply, quote, always at their disposal, end quote.

[17:42] Learn from Samson. God would squeeze Israel, disciplining them so that they would be a people who loved him first and foremost and God's gonna do the same thing to you.

[17:54] That's how much he loves you. So that really, when you, when you pick up the story of Samson, now you're looking in a mirror.

[18:09] You're looking at yourself. Samson is also our mirror. When we look at Samson, we're really looking at ourselves. Saved by grace, richly gifted by God with his spirit, by the way.

[18:28] And yet prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love. Have we become flippant with our first love for him? And yet, there's the wonderful grace of God and your love, it pursues me.

[18:46] That's in another song. We didn't sing that today. It's in the song Shepherd. And your love, it pursues me. His love will pursue you your whole life. Because he wants you to want him.

[19:00] He wants me to want him. And guess what? He's gonna do whatever it takes to make that happen in your life. He will. So in the midst of this tragic ending, we still see God's hand of grace because Samson points us forward to Christ.

[19:27] Samson points us forward to the fulfillment of Jesus because see, Samson is a type of Jesus. Jesus who will be faithful and fully dedicated to God. Jesus who would have a life of perfection and obedience.

[19:40] Jesus who would solely love and desire God and his word. And then, Jesus who would die to deliver us from our enemies. He would die.

[19:52] He would take upon himself the wrath of God, our punishment, where we should be separated from God forever. Jesus took that upon himself so that if you are here and you're not a Christian, you can repent, you can trust in Christ Jesus and God will save you.

[20:09] God will give you his love, which is never ending. It's overwhelming and it's relentless. Come, trust Christ and he'll save you.

[20:24] So Samson's pointing us to the fulfillment of Jesus, pointing us how Jesus will be the ultimate Samson. So, this love, his love is pursuing, his love is pursuing you your whole life.

[20:41] Let's unpack this chapter. First, verses one through four. His love is pursuing your whole life in the worldly attractions that you face. Notice verse one.

[20:53] Way to go, Samson. Way to go, see a prostitute. All right. All right. Samson. Saw a harlot there and went into her. A number of years had passed.

[21:07] Samson came back around and so did his lusts and passions. He spent the night with the harlot. Notice, the Gazites, they said, oh, we're gonna wait for him. The end of verse two, we'll wait until the morning light then we'll kill him.

[21:20] So what does he do? He grabs the doors and then the side posts of the city's gates, he pulls them out with the bar included and he trucks 40 miles to Hebron.

[21:35] One commentator says that he did it over days. No, he didn't. He did it that night and if he woke up at midnight and figured sunrise around six o'clock, it took him six hours to go 40 miles.

[21:45] So he's doing six minutes a mile with like who knows how much on his back, carrying the stuff on his shoulders. That's how powerful and strong Samson was. Whoa. Not to mention the fact these gates were expensive.

[22:00] Not to mention the fact the city was now open to invasion. But notice how the worldly attractions came to Samson again.

[22:12] And notice, look at verse four. After this, it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorak whose name was Delilah. Then there's Delilah. She's the only woman mentioned by name in this historical Samson stories.

[22:26] Do you know that? Was she a Philistine? We don't know. But don't miss this part in verse four. Don't miss this part.

[22:37] Look at it again. He loved a woman. He was already in the wrong. He was acting just like Israel.

[22:51] He was acting just like Israel. And he was allowing the attractions of the world to lure him. And that's what we do, don't we? That's exactly what we do.

[23:03] We allow the attractions of the world to lure us in. And then notice the next one, not just in our worldly attractions, in the deadly deceptions. Look at verse five. The lords of the Philistines came with her and said, entice him.

[23:15] See where his great strength is and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Now whether she loved him, that's up for grabs. What we do know is that she loved money more than him.

[23:27] Do you see this? The end of verse five, then we will each give you. So how many lords of the Philistines were there? Five? Seven? Twelve?

[23:37] Ten? Let's just say there was five. So five of them each will give her eleven hundred pieces of silver. That's a lot of moolah. She would entice him to get him to tell her the source of his strength.

[23:55] And she would use her deceptions to do that. Which leads us to the next point. Not just in worldly attractions, not just in deadly deceptions, but through taunting temptations as well.

[24:07] Samson was messing with her. Samson thought this was fun. Samson loved to have a good time.

[24:19] Yeah. Notice. Verse six, it starts here. Tell me how your great strength. Samson, well, here's the bow strings. The new unused ropes.

[24:32] The locks, if they're a pin. Now, by the way, this doesn't mean that she took a little bobby pin. Oh, there you go. No, that's not what that means.

[24:43] It's not a bobby pin. There was actually two beams that supported, they were supported by four pegs that were driven into the ground. And then it was fastened with a pin, like a huge pin.

[24:55] So that's the idea. So his head is fastened to the ground with a huge pin. And he just popped it off. He's messing with her.

[25:08] Three times it goes through here, verses seven through 14. And we're thinking this, Samson, are you stupid? I mean, why are you even doing this?

[25:22] Why are you playing this game with her? Is this a game to you? Yet we do the same thing with our own temptations, don't we?

[25:39] What did Jesus say? If your right eye causes you to sin, cut it off. Pluck it out. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Take radical steps to not put yourself in the situations, and yet what do we do?

[25:54] We taunt those things. And we just kind of, well, the temptation's over there, so I'm not that close to it. See, that's right there. See, I'm still far away. I'm fine.

[26:05] Look, it's right there. Look, I'm fine. Look, I'm not touching it. Not touching it, not touching it. Ha ha. That's what we do, don't we? We do that with our temptations, and we think it's funny.

[26:17] Or maybe not. God's love will pursue you even through those taunting temptations. And notice, you see here in verse 15, how can you say I love you when your heart's not with me?

[26:35] You've deceived me. And verse 16, came out when she pressed him. That's the same word that's used in chapter 14, verse 17, with his first wife. Pressed him. She was nagging him to death to the point where he couldn't stand it anymore.

[26:51] You should tell me everything. You should be vulnerable. Don't lie. Tell me right now. He was nagging him. Well, he had great strength, physical strength, but he was totally weak when it came to women.

[27:06] Through taunting temptations and notice, and willful buckling, he buckled under this, verse 16, excuse me, verse 17. So he told her all in his heart and said to her, a razor has never come on my head for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb.

[27:25] If I'm shaved, then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any man. He buckled willfully. He caved in willfully.

[27:40] The most important feature of his dedication and devotion to Yahweh was his hair. I know I don't look like that from here. I just cut it last night.

[27:53] It was wonderful. But it's what set him apart from everyone. It was the external sign. Israel was also set apart by Yahweh, right?

[28:04] By external signs like Sabbath, sacrifices, other things that they would do and would not do. It would set them apart. Israel was to be the model nation to the whole world.

[28:21] Set apart by Yahweh God. It should direct everyone to worship the one true God, Yahweh God. And really direct them to the Messiah.

[28:33] And Samson was a small display of Israel. Especially in his weaknesses. His strength was tied to the spirit of Yahweh which would rush upon him but it seems also to be tied to his vow or his hair.

[28:50] So his hair symbolized his vow to Yahweh so that if he lost his hair the vow would become null and void. So it's not so much about the hair.

[29:04] It's about the vow. The hair was a symbol of that vow. The hair was a symbol. I'm dedicated to Yahweh. I've been set apart by Yahweh. And now he's telling her. He buckled willfully under this temptation.

[29:23] You see that? And then he's trapped. Look at verse 18.

[29:35] Deliah Saul he told her all in his heart. Did you see this phrase all in his heart is said three times in the text. Three times.

[29:45] I think he's trying to make a point. Samuel. About Samson. She called the Lord to the Philistines come! He's told me all in his heart.

[29:57] They came to her brought the money she made him sleep on her knees called for a man had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. Notice I think this is rather interesting intriguing and she began to afflict him.

[30:10] That's interesting don't you think? Notice what happens in verse 20. And she said the Samson's are upon you Samson the Philistines are upon you Samson and he awoke from his sleep and said I will go out as other times and shake myself free.

[30:28] Then notice this phrase but he did not know that Yahweh had departed from him. Trapped now he's alone.

[30:47] Yahweh had left him. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to be left alone. So God allowed it to happen.

[30:59] He allowed it to happen. You're alone. You want your sin? Go ahead. What did the Lord say to Israel in chapter 10?

[31:16] You cry out to me to come save you. Go to your gods that you went after. The Lord lets you have that temptation and lets you sin.

[31:29] You want that so bad he lets you have it. And when you sin tell me how do you feel alone?

[31:43] Don't you? God's left me. Don't you? And notice trapped alone and now the disciplining humiliation.

[32:00] Look at verse 21. Samson. The Philistines seized him gouged out his eyes brought him down to Gaza bound him with bronze chains.

[32:11] He was a grinder in the prison. A grinder was a job for slaves and women. So it was to humiliate him. Here's God's disciplining humiliation upon Samson and you see God's disciplining humiliation upon Israel.

[32:38] He was completely and totally humiliated because he left his first love. He did not love Yahweh chiefly or solely. He sold himself out to sin thinking I could just go back to Yahweh it'd be fine and he'd be good.

[32:52] It's fine. It's fine. He acted just like Israel. He acted just like Israel. And remember the first part the title of the message his love is pursuing you your whole life is pursuing you through disciplining humiliation.

[33:09] Remember his love is pursuing you and we're going to go back to the disciplining humiliation which continues in verses 23 through 27 but I want you to know something in verse 22. Look at verse 22.

[33:21] However the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off. What does that mean? you're not alone.

[33:36] You may feel alone but this is here to remind Samson that he wasn't fully alone. Now the Philistines see this is happening maybe who knows some say they did some say he didn't but here's the point God did not leave him totally alone God was still there His grace is still there His love is still there You see that with Samson you see that with Israel and you see that in your own life don't you?

[34:19] Yeah The discipline and humiliation continues on verse 23 to 27 Notice the lords of Philistines in verse 23 they rejoiced they said our God has given Samson our enemy to our hands verse 24 they praised their God our God has given our enemy to our hands the destroyer of our country they admitted he destroyed their country Samson they admitted that he killed many of them and as Samson was humiliated so was Yahweh this was what Israel did when they went after other gods they were humiliating themselves and they were humiliating their God because of their sin they gave praise to this false

[35:20] God Dagon he was one who gave Samson we can see the story we can see what truly happened can't we? we know what really happened they were sorely and gravely mistaken Yahweh sovereign God did this not their false God that's why we sang whatever my God ordains is right you're sovereign you're making things happen in my life you're doing it notice how the humiliation continues verse 25 they're drinking they're entertaining themselves they said hey bring Samson out here we want him to entertain us and he entertained them verse 25 they made him stand between the pillars he asked the boy to let him feel the pillars in which the house rests notice verse 27 the house was full of men and women all the lords of Philistines were there 3,000 men and women this is what God does to his people he humiliated his people but he would humiliate the Philistines and would end up vindicating his servant

[36:40] Samson and yet notice how things change here in verse 28 God's love pursues you your whole life creating a heartfelt cry look at what Samson does verse 28 this was his last prayer Samson called to Yahweh and said oh Adonai Yahweh Adonai is the Hebrew word for sovereign so sovereign covenant God Yahweh please remember me and please strengthen me this time oh God this was his last prayer to sovereign Yahweh when he as Yahweh's servant cried out to him in his desperate dire circumstances and he says avenge me for my two eyes oh boy is that really what it was about Samson your two eyes but as one writer put it in the wake of miserable failure notice

[37:42] Yahweh heard his cry one writer puts it like this faithless foolish fallen Samson was heard by Yahweh he was heard faithless foolish fallen Israel was heard by Yahweh let's change the words again okay shall we let's do that again faithless foolish fallen Jim was heard by Yahweh okay now insert your name in there faithless foolish fallen put your name in there was heard by Yahweh his love will pursue you creating in you a heartfelt cry well how do you explain this whole scenario taking place you can explain it in just one word folks grace grace undeserved favor by God that he's showing to

[38:59] Samson undeserved favor he's showing to Israel undeserved favor he's showing to you which brings us such great hope because it tells us that our God loves us so much he will hear our cries and he's ready to act for us isn't this amazing when we humble ourselves and cry out to God please remember me please God remember God will remember us I loved how this writer put it though we may have stupidly and miserably failed our Lord he'll come to our aid because of his grace and then notice you see the wonderful gracious love of God 29 to 30 Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which house rest embraced himself against him verse 30 Samson said let me die with the

[39:59] Philistines and he bent with all his might so the house fell and the Lord all the people were in it so the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life what does this tell us God gave him grace and he was avenged but most important he was used by Yahweh to begin to deliver Israel that's what you see God was faithful to his promise he delivered his people and notice how you see as well the victorious tragedy the tragedy was turned into victory verse 30 he died that's the tragedy his family came they buried him notice it says the end of verse 31 he judged Israel 20 years yet in the midst of this tragedy we see victory because Yahweh delivered Israel he was faithful to his promise Samson the quote unconventional unfaithful judge as one writer put it he just couldn't come to grips with his separateness

[41:06] Samson didn't get the fact that God was so gracious to him gifting him as Yahweh did for the glory of Yahweh's name not simply to mess with people not simply to just take his revenge out on people and yet you read Hebrews chapter 11 verse 32 guess whose name is in there Samson he's in the hall of faith grace so here we are there's a bunch of Samson's in the room you know you have no idea Christian the power over Satan you can resist him the power over the world you can stop loving it and the power over your flesh you can kill it that you have

[42:07] Yahweh is for me I will not fear what can man do to me and yet we as Christians live in defeat why but you know God is remarkably and astonishingly graciously patient and loving toward us and calls us to love him chiefly because his love is going to pursue you your whole life trust him and obey him through all those worldly attractions and deceptions all our temptations and your bucklings under those temptations when we get trapped and then we feel alone God and his love is still there disciplining us and showing us his grace turning tragedy and sin into victory he loves to do that it's his grace so how much does

[43:12] God love his people so much that he and his love will pursue you your whole life so you love him that's the book of judges our father we need a great sense of your love so we pray that we will see that display of love found at the cross of Christ who died as our substitute penal substitute who took punishment and death for us so we can have life and compassion and love from you holy spirit work in us that we may be a people of grace so overwhelmed by the grace that you oh God have shown to us thank you that your love pursues us your love pursues us to love you and as we do each week

[44:28] I ask for you please take this moment what about a minute and a half or so to pray to think to ponder to let your mind be filled with gospel truth maybe reflecting on the notes maybe reading through parts of the passage take these few moments between you and the Lord to let your mind be filled with his word the truth of the gospel do that now please if you would do that maybe and then we would like another forend we would turn across and get in or the way to do love to which of you are done