[0:00] Now as we come together in an act of worship, let us seek the Lord's blessing upon our worship. Let us pray. Eternal and ever-blessed Lord, as we come together this morning in this act of worship, we acknowledge thine own sovereignty over us, that thou art the one who ruleth in heaven and on earth, and that our times are in thine own hands.
[0:35] And we give thee thanks, O Lord, that thou hast enabled us to come together this day, thine own day, the Lord's day, the day that reminds us that thou art the risen Lord and Saviour, that thou art the one who rose from the dead, that thou art the one who had victory over death and the grave, and that thou art the one who ascended to the right hand of the Father, and that thou art the one who is seated there, having completed the work that was given, to thee to do.
[1:14] And so we give thanks for that finished work, for that salvation that thou hast brought out for sinners such as we are.
[1:26] And as we come together to acknowledge thine own sovereignty over us, and to acknowledge thine own present ministry at the right hand of the Father in the intercession, that thou dost make for those who were given to thee by him in the covenant of redemption, those whom thou hast purchased by thine own blood.
[1:51] We give thanks, O Lord, for the great promise, that thou shalt return, that thou wilt return to engather all those who have put their trust in thee, and that thou shalt bring them to be with thyself forever, in the inheritance that thou hast prepared for them.
[2:13] We give thanks that we can have that living hope today, that we can have that assurance, that we are among those for whom that hope is true, for all those who have come to follow thee, to have committed and devoted their lives to thee.
[2:34] And we pray, O Lord, that we may indeed have that assurance today. And if there be any among us who lack that assurance, we pray that thou would bless thy word to them, even at this hour, that through thy spirit thou would take thy word and apply it to their hearts.
[2:54] For we acknowledge, O Lord, that we are sinners. We acknowledge that we are in need of that salvation that thou hast brought out for sinners such as we are through thy Son.
[3:07] And we pray, O Lord, that this day that the gospel may go forth in the power and demonstration of thine own spirit, in convicting and in converting, and in the building of thine own church here on earth.
[3:21] And so we pray that those of thy servants who proclaim thy truth this day may be conscious of thine own help and of thine own upholding hand upon them, granting to them boldness and confidence as they proclaim thine own word.
[3:41] And we pray, O Lord, that through thy spirit thou would open the hearts of our people so that thy word may be lodged in their hearts and bring forth evidence in their lives to the glory of thy name and to the eternal good of their souls.
[3:59] We pray, O Lord, that thou would bless our community, that thou would bless every home and every family within our community. Thou knowest their needs. And we pray that out of the riches of thy grace that thou would meet with their needs.
[4:15] We pray, O Lord, for those who are ill, may thy healing hand be upon them, and those who may be anxious regarding their loved ones. We pray that thine own comfort would fill their hearts.
[4:29] Remember any who this day and reflecting over the years have sore hearts. Those especially who have been bereft of loved ones.
[4:42] We pray, Lord, that thou would heal up their broken hearts, that thou, O Lord, would apply thine own healing balm to their hearts.
[4:53] For we acknowledge that here we have no continuing city, that we are sojourners in the world, that we are on our journey to our long home, and that our long home depends upon our relationship with thyself.
[5:08] We give thanks, O Lord, that that relationship that was broken by sin can be restored to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, so that we can have peace with God, that we can be reconciled to our God.
[5:24] We pray that thou would bless our young people and our children, or raise up a generation that would fear thine own name. With compassion, O Lord, we pray that thou remember those who are indifferent and careless.
[5:39] We pray, O Lord, that through thy Spirit thou would draw them to thyself. Pray, O Lord, for thy people, that they may be faithful in their witness for thee.
[5:51] And as we pray those things for our own community here, we remember our islands and our nation. And pray, O Lord, that thou would bring days of revival and awakening among us, that thou would bring us to that place of repentance, where we would mourn over our sin, and where we would seek the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.
[6:14] We pray, O Lord, that thou would continue with us for the moments that we are together this morning around thine own word, that thou would enlighten our understanding and lead us into thine own truth.
[6:27] We pray, O Lord, that we may be encouraged and strengthened in our faith, and all that we ask with the forgiveness of our many sins, in Jesus' name and for his sake.
[6:38] Amen. We shall now read the word of God, as we find it in the book of Judges, and chapter 13, and we'll read part of 14 as well.
[6:51] The book of Judges, chapter 13. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
[7:07] And there was a certain man of Sora of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was Baran and Bearnot. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, Behold now thou art barren, and bearest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son.
[7:26] Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For, Lord, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head.
[7:41] For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver his three out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband, Say, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible.
[7:59] But I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name. But he said unto me, Behold thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and now drink no wine, nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing.
[8:13] For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
[8:30] And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband, was not with her. And the woman made haste and ran and showed her husband and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me that came unto me the other day.
[8:49] And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said unto him, Art thou the man that speakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass.
[9:02] How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware.
[9:14] She may not eat of anything that cometh with the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her, let her observe.
[9:25] And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall make ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread.
[9:43] And if thou wilt offer a bount offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name?
[9:55] And that when those sayings come to pass, we may do thee honour. And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?
[10:08] So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it up upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up to heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.
[10:27] And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their knees to the ground. But the angel of the Lord did not know more, appeared to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.
[10:39] And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering, and a meat offering at our hands.
[10:53] Neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would us at this time have told us such things as these. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson.
[11:04] And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Ashdale. And Samson went down to Timae, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
[11:20] And he came up and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me to wife. Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumsticed Philistines?
[11:43] And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me, for she pleaseth me well. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord that he sought an occasion against the Philistines.
[11:54] For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Then went Samson down on his father and his mother to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath.
[12:05] And behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid. And he had nothing in his hand, but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.
[12:18] And he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well. And after that time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.
[12:31] And he took that off in his hands and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat. But he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.
[12:44] And so on. May the Lord bless unto us the reading of that portion of his word. And seeking his help and blessing. Let us read the words that we find in chapter 13, verse 24.
[12:58] And the woman bade a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.
[13:08] Now we are going to reflect this morning on Samson. We find the story of Samson from chapter 13 to chapter 16.
[13:22] And there is no doubt that if my time was longer among you as a congregation, that we would start a series of sermons on Samson.
[13:32] But seeing your time together is short. I want today just to look at Samson and some incidents in his life and try and learn lessons from that.
[13:45] Look at his birth and some incidents in his life. Samson was physically the strongest man who ever lived.
[13:56] Yet he was also a very weak man. And his moral weakness overcame his strength. I believe Samson history is an illustration of Paul's warning to us that we find in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 27.
[14:15] That reads, We have more details of Samson's life from the scripture than we do of any of the other judges.
[14:35] But mostly what we learn is a tragic story of failure. When you read the story of Samson, one is almost surprised that his name appears in Hebrews chapter 11, where the writer tells us that Samson was a great man of faith.
[14:57] So what we find is that although there are several instances when Samson failed the Lord, yet in spite of his failures, he did indeed demonstrate significant faith in God.
[15:12] Samson is unique among the judges, for all the other judges introduced for us in this book are in their adult life. But Samson is introduced to us at the beginning of his life.
[15:27] In fact, it goes beyond his beginning, for not only is his birth recorded, but also recorded as a divine revelation, announcing his coming, which was given to his mother before he was even conceived.
[15:43] And there was a certain man of Sora, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and bare not. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren and barest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son.
[16:03] Well, the first thing I want to say about Samson is this, that he was a child of promise. God's people needed a deliverer, and God sent them a child of promise.
[16:19] How often do we read the scripture, and we find that when God needs to send a deliverer, he sends an angel to visit a couple, and usually the woman is sparring and cannot bear children.
[16:31] And God's angel promises them a child. When he wanted a nation, he came to Abraham and Sarah, and he gave them Isaac.
[16:43] Later, when Israel needed a revival, he sent a child to Hannah, whom she named Samuel. And when we come to the New Testament, the Gospels record for us that an angel appeared to a woman who was a virgin from the city of Nazareth, and said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.
[17:05] And behold, thou shalt conceive and thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shalt be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.
[17:20] And then, later on in the New Testament, in the letter of Paul to the Galatians, we read that, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth a son, made under the law, born of a woman.
[17:34] Jesus was also truly the child of promise. You had come, not only to deliver us from a physical occupation or captivity like Israel was at this time under the captivity of the Philistines, but Jesus came to deliver us spiritually from the bondage and slavery of sin.
[18:04] Now here we know that the one that brought the message is called the Angel of the Lord. Now we have every reason to believe that the Angel of the Lord here is a pre-incarnate forum, of our Lord Jesus Christ, a Christophany.
[18:22] The first Christophany recognised as such by scholars, of course, is the appearance of God walking in the garden with Adam and Eve. Jonathan Edwards writes, when we read of God appearing after the fall from time to time in some visible form or outward symbol of his presence, we are ordinary, if not universally, to understand it of the second person of the Trinity, which may be argued from John chapter 1, verse 18, where we read, No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
[19:07] Jesus Christ is named as the image of the invisible God by Paul in Colossians chapter 1, where he writes, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin, who is the image of the invisible God.
[19:31] Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. If you want to know God, then you will know God through Jesus Christ.
[19:45] Paul is teaching us that of God the Father be invisible, yet Jesus Christ is his image by which God is seen. We find the love, the mercy, the grace, the compassion of God.
[20:01] It is all manifested to us, shown to us, proved to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. So in the Old Testament, these appearances of the angel of the Lord were known as Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, before he took our nature unto himself and became incarnate.
[20:28] There are those who believe that Melchizedek, whom we come across in the early chapters of Genesis as king and priest, were actually a manifestation of Christ, a Christophany.
[20:39] But that is not explicitly stated at all in the New Testament in Hebrews chapter 7. The early church fathers also identified the commander of the army of the Lord mentioned in the book of Joshua chapter 5 as a Christophany.
[20:56] Well, the one who appeared then to Manoah's wife, Samson's mother, was none other than the second person of the Trinity, who in the fullness of time was to be born into the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[21:13] And the angel of the Lord said to her, Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor stone drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
[21:39] What a promising start Samson had. We are told that he would be a Nazarite from his womb. Now this simply means that he would be a separated one, a holy one for God's special use.
[21:54] The rules of the Nazarite are given to us in the book of Numbers and chapter 6. His hair was to go uncut, and he was to refrain from wine, no strong drink, and it was not just that he was not to get drunk, but he was not to touch wine or grapes or raisins.
[22:14] He was not to have contact with dead bodies. We know from the Old Testament that to touch a dead thing made you unfit for tabernacle service, which fellowship with God was.
[22:29] That signified that this man, because he was not to go near dead things or touch them, he was to be in constant fellowship with the Lord.
[22:41] This was to be an extra special consecration, so much so that the angel tells his mother that she is to obey these rules until the child is born.
[22:54] Now, just let me say this, that Jesus was not a Nazarite. People often think he was. He was a Nazarene, and that simply tells us where Jesus came from.
[23:06] Not a vow that he was under like Samson is here. But for Samson, this was a vow, the vow of a Nazarite, which for him was a perpetual Nazarite vow.
[23:20] He was a Nazarite from birth to death. It was something that was by divine appointment. God had chosen it for him.
[23:31] That was the case. Now, let me say, it was perfectly acceptable, indeed advisable, for men to cut their hair in that day. It was perfect for them to drink wine, and it was perfect for them to touch even their own dead relatives.
[23:47] But to this man, Samson, things that were acceptable for others became inappropriate for him, because he was God's man.
[23:58] He was a Nazarite. He was to be distinct from all others around him. Now, let me say this to you. Paul spoke to the Corinthians, and he called them saints, called saints by God.
[24:15] And he told them that they had to be separate. They had to be the temples of God's Holy Spirit. They were not their own. They had been bought with a price. And he says, All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient.
[24:30] All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. In a sense, Christians are like the Nazarites, although the rules are different.
[24:41] Yet the element of distinctiveness that was true of the Nazarite is to be true of every believer. This element of distinctiveness.
[24:54] They are to be distinct from all others around them. Now, like our own day, it was not an easy thing to raise children.
[25:05] So we'll read that his father and mother prayed to the Lord. Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
[25:22] Manoah asked God that he would be shown how to teach and how to bring up this child. Then in verse 12 we read the same.
[25:33] Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child and how shall we do unto him? They not only prayed for him, but they sought divine guidance for the upbringing of this child.
[25:50] They wanted God to teach them how to prepare Samson for the divine purpose in his life. For God revealed to them that Samson was going to be a mighty man of God.
[26:04] And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Now Manoah and his wife cherished the presence of God, especially the presence of Christ in their home.
[26:19] In verse 15 we read, Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. Of course it was his wife who saw the angel on the first two occasions and then she brings Manoah to see him and Manoah cherishes the angel of the Lord's presence so much that he wants him to stay and he wants to make a meal for him.
[26:44] And that was the kind of environment that Samson was born into. His parents had prayed for him, they sought divine guidance in his upbringing, they cherished Christ's presence in their home, they brought offerings and made sacrifices for the Lord.
[27:02] They were a people who feared the Lord. His home was a God-fearing home. When Manoah and his wife, Manoah said, we shall surely die because we have seen God, then when he thinks that the Lord is going to kill them in verse 24 too, his wife explains, she says, well, the Lord won't receive a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have showed all these things.
[27:34] if he was going to kill us. You know, she was a very wise and she was a very spiritual woman and her name is not given to us. We don't know the name of Samson's mother, we only know the name of his father, Manoah.
[27:52] Samson's mother. Samson's mother, Samson, not only the best spiritual start he could have in life, he had the best family start as well, the best family background that anybody could want.
[28:05] But the question is, what did he do with it? Well, you are here this morning and what have you done with all the spiritual privileges that you were given?
[28:18] Some of you from an early age, some had a very spiritual and Christian home life. Even if you do not literally have Christian parents or brought up in a Christian home, I am sure that there is some godly examples that have been in your life.
[28:37] And the question is, how have you reacted and related to those experiences? Those that have prayed for you, those who may have sacrificed things for you, who have tried to instruct you.
[28:50] Well, that was Samson in early life. But although his home environment was good, he was born when things were quite different in the life of the nation.
[29:04] In these first verses we find for the seventh time in the book of Judges that it is said that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They kept going in this cycle of sin.
[29:18] Now this is the seventh time that they find themselves in this situation. We also see that the Philistines enslaved Israel for 40 years and there is no evidence in the text whatsoever that Israel cried out to God for deliverance.
[29:36] All the other times they did, whilst it was as superficial and the repentance was very shallow at times. you find that they never called to God however on this particular occasion.
[29:51] The Philistines really had them. They had them for 40 years to such an extent that they did not even feel their need to cry out to God.
[30:02] They had become accustomed to having their enemies the Philistines to roll over them. They were quite happy to be oppressed by them. It is very frightening how quickly we can become accustomed with our current situation with the existing state of affairs.
[30:25] What was it that caused God's people not even to feel the need to cry out to God for deliverance and look for a deliverer? Well I think it would be spiritual apathy and the loss of distinction.
[30:41] They did not even see their need. They did not see themselves as God saw them. And even when Samson tried to deliver them they were trying to hold him back.
[30:51] In chapter 15 we read that there was a time when 3,000 men of Judah met with Samson and said to him knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us?
[31:03] What is this that Samson do not rock the boat were quite happy the way that we are.
[31:14] Spiritual apathy which accepts the current situation as it is. What made the Philistines especially dangerous I believe it was the method that they used to entrap Israel.
[31:36] The Philistines were great in military strength the reason being that they had learned to smelt iron. Because of that they could overrun all armies with direct attack because of the great advanced weapons that they had.
[31:53] And that is the way the other nations tried to overcome Israel by their armies and by the sophisticated weapons that they had in those days. They would try to conquer them by their military might.
[32:08] But that is not the way the Philistines came on this occasion. We find that the two main weapons that the Philistines used were one trade and the other inter marriage.
[32:20] Now let me illustrate this for you. If the Israelites wanted an axe or a plough they had to go to the Philistines to get it. They had to go to those who were their oppressors to get it.
[32:34] If you want evidence for that you'll find it in 1 Samuel 13 verse 19 where we read If they wanted to marry the sons or daughters of the Philistines the Philistines had no objection to them doing it.
[33:05] In fact they encouraged it because in it they saw that they were getting a stranglehold over God's people by intermarriage. So Samson was born with a godly heritage in his family home but he was born in an environment that was hostile towards God.
[33:28] An environment that was hostile to God's people. As we said he had a promising start a child of promise godly parents set apart as holy and we know that he experienced God's spirit.
[33:47] Verse 24 25 and the woman bear a son and called his name Samson and the child grew and the Lord blessed him. It is stated several times that the spirit of God came upon Samson helping him out.
[34:05] However Samson was a sinner. Despite all the privileges that we have already mentioned we must remember that he was still like me and you that he was a sinner.
[34:20] Samson's downfall was that he came as close to the forbidden things as he possibly could. He was continually sailing close to the wind.
[34:34] One sometimes wondered what would have been true if he had continued in the place God had placed him and blessed him. But here we see the sovereignty of God.
[34:47] That's a great lesson that we have throughout the Bible throughout life even today we have to acknowledge the sovereignty of God it is the sovereignty of God that has enabled us to meet together today.
[35:02] The sovereignty of God is seen also in the life of the man that we are reflecting upon today Samson even in his failure God's purpose could not be frustrated.
[35:19] We see the sovereignty of God that even in his people's failures God's purpose cannot be frustrated. The Lord is gracious and in his mercy he is plentiful.
[35:35] In chapter 14 there we read of the escape of Samson from a lion. The great escape from the lion was certainly a result of the mercy of God.
[35:48] But note that Samson at this stage of his life was in the wrong place. He was in a vineyard.
[35:59] Now remember what we said earlier about him he was a Nazirite. He was under the Nazirite vow. Yet here we find that he was in a vineyard.
[36:14] You know as we have already noted he was coming close to the forbidden things as close as he possibly could. Here we find him in a vineyard.
[36:26] He was also heading for another wrong place the home of a Philistine girl in Timnath. A girl which God's law forbid him to marry because she was a Philistine.
[36:39] She was a heathen. Yet God delivered him by endowing him with strength and through the Holy Spirit to kill the lion.
[36:52] And the Spirit of the Lord came mightly upon him and he rent him as he would have rent a kid and he had nothing in his hand. The Spirit of the Lord coming upon Samson to deliver him from the lion does not in any way justify Samson for being in the wrong place.
[37:12] But it does show to us the extent of God's mercy towards his erring servant, his erring people.
[37:23] the extent of God's mercy. Sadly, this demonstration of God's mercy that was extended to Samson did not lead him to repentance or to amend his way.
[37:42] We are told, but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. I wonder why he was hiding that from his father and mother.
[37:55] Well, Samson kept quiet because in killing the lion he defiled himself because again according to the law he would be unclean at least until that evening.
[38:07] And on another occasion afterwards he again visited the vineyard he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion and behold a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion and took that off in his hands and went on eating.
[38:23] Now again Samson as a Nazarite was not even to come near a dead body let alone touch it. Samson made himself unclean in getting the honey because he would go near the carcass he would touch the carcass to get the honey.
[38:38] but all the defilement involved there did not stop Samson from enjoying the honey. You know really Samson was like many today who say I am not going to let some old Bible commandment keep me from having a good time.
[38:59] Father we are told and he took there off in his hands and went on eating and came to his mother and father and he gave them and they did eat. But this act of Samson was not one of kindness for what he did was to bring his parents down with them in defiling themselves and taking of the unclean thing they became unclean themselves.
[39:23] You see he wanted to bring his parents down to his own level but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.
[39:35] Samson carefully concealed the truth honey which were so sweet and yet defiled and that is the way sin is is it not? We are not going to deny that sin is not sweet because we are sinners we have a sinful nature sin is sweet to us and yet it defiles us it defiles us it makes us unclean in the sight of God now there are much more that we could say about Samson but the Philistines took him and they put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetish of brass and he did grind in the prison house you see rebellion from God's command catches us all out at the end we cannot sin and think that we can escape from its consequences the Philistines pulled out his eyes which must have been an excursion experience but interesting it was the use of the eyes that had led him into sin for if he had been more disciplined about the use of his eyes more careful about the lust of the eyes instead of allowing his eyes to dwell sinfully upon a defiled woman which eventually put him now into the hands of the
[41:01] Philistines and he is brought to grind in the prison house we are told that grinding was the hardest and lowest kind of slave labour it is a reminder to us that sin always pays its wages however I believe that Samson's greatest discomfort in the prison house would be more than just his physical pain his greatest suffering was the guilt of a rebellious heart the guilt of a rebellious heart in chapter 16 it is said then the lord of the philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice and to take on their god and to rejoice for they said our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand and when the people saw him they praised their god for they said our god has delivered into our hands our enemy and the destroyer of our country which slew many of us his sin provided an opportunity for the enemy to rejoice you know that's something we must remember our sin can provide an opportunity for the enemy to rejoice in this instance we see the heathen god is honoured what can we say about
[42:29] Samson well we can say this that he was truly a brand plucked out of the burning Samson had sunk extremely low and one would wonder if he was a child of faith nevertheless in the prison house Samson reflected upon his life and in the prison house we noticed something else his hair began to grow Samson regained his strength and he called upon the Lord and Samson called unto the Lord and said oh Lord God remember me I pray thee and strengthen me I pray thee only this once oh God that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes and we are told that the dead which he slew at his death was more than which he slew in his life now we have just picked incidents in the life of
[43:31] Samson but enough I think we have picked up to warn us that sin is a great force and we've all got to be aware of that that sin is a great force as the Bible warns us but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin now just read over the life of Samson from chapter 13 to 16 and you'll see again and again and again the deceitfulness of sin no wonder then that the Bible tells us to exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin but we also saw today the sovereignty of God the sovereignty of God his eternal purpose will not be frustrated by the failures of his people we have seen also the sovereignty of
[44:40] God in his grace in his loving kindness and in his mercy and dear friend is that not an encouragement for us today you may be here today and you may be so conscious of the failures in your own life but my friend look at the sovereignty of God his eternal purpose will not be frustrated look at the sovereignty of his grace at the sovereignty of his mercy and take encouragement and come to him for he is plenteous in mercy he is plenteous in grace his loving kindness doth not fail so in the midst of our failures let us take our failures and let us take them to the
[45:41] Lord for with him there is plenteous mercy may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray eternal and ever blessed Lord this week come before thee at this hour we acknowledge our own failures oh Lord we acknowledge that so often we are trapped in sin so often the temptations overcome us but we bless thy name that thou art the God who is sovereign sovereign in thy mercy sovereign in thy grace and that we are encouraged to come to thee and to seek that mercy and to seek that grace to help us in our time of need we give thanks that despite our failures that thine own eternal purpose will not be frustrated we ask oh Lord that thou would meet with each one of us today at our point of need now may may the grace of our
[46:44] Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever more amen amen