Here at Church of the Messiah, we preach through books of the Bible, and what I'm going to continue to do,
while God gives me strength until Jesus comes back, and while I'm still the rector of this place,
we're going to preach through books of the Bible, and we're going through Judges,
which is what I'm going to preach on today.
But by the providence of God, the text that we look at today actually has an awful lot to say about our current crisis in Canada,
and I won't say, and in many parts of the world.
By the providence of God, it has a lot to say.
Judges 16 has a lot to say about what's going on in Canada and how we are reacting to it.
So I encourage you to turn to it, and just as you're turning to Judges 16, just a couple of things.
Judges is that book in the Bible which covers the time between Israel entering the Promised Land under Joshua.
Joshua has died, and the time between his death and basically the first kings of Israel, Saul and then David.
That time period is the time period covered in the book of Judges.
And Samson, the book of Judges, is organized around 12 judges, and Samson is the last of the judges.
And next week and the week after, we look at the two-part conclusion to the book.
And Samson, I mean, he's one of the characters that many non-Christians know about him and know about Samson and Delilah.
And that's what we're going to look at today, the story of Samson and Delilah.
But here's the interesting thing.
If you go back or if you remember, in Chapter 13, we see the first part.
We see the birth of Samson.
And we see both quite a remarkable miracle that authenticates that God's going to use this man.
He says very directly, God is going to use this boy that will be born to begin to deliver Israel, God's people, from their enemies, from those who oppress them, from the idols and gods that bind them.
And then in the birth story, we see that the Holy Spirit begins to move in Samson's life as he grows up.
And we have very, very high hopes for him.
But then in Chapter 14 and 15, which is the second part of the Samson story, all of those hopes are dashed.
It's actually, I think I was sharing with you last week that for many, many years, I had fears about trying to preach on the Old Testament.
Because I sort of grew up in a church context that we're always trying to find good moral lessons from the Old Testament stories.
But if you're intellectually honest, you can't find good moral lessons from Chapter 14 and 15.
Samson's a despicable man.
And in fact, part of the mystery of the story is that the Holy Spirit comes upon Samson and he uses, the Holy Spirit's power comes upon Samson, but Samson uses that power for evil.
I mean, it begins with Samson going to get married to a Philistine.
I mean, rather than delivering people, Israel, from the Philistines, he wants to marry them.
And he figures out a way to rip off his 30 companions who are Philistines by telling them a riddle.
And after that attempt to rip them off fails, he goes to pay off his debt.
And then he goes to another city and murders 30 innocent people and steals their clothes to pay off the debt.
And then it gets worse.
There's this cycle of vengeance and he kills other people and his people betray him.
And he kills a thousand people with a jawbone.
Just every time the Holy Spirit comes upon him, in a sense, Samson uses his free will to use that spirit's power for violent, selfish ends.
And now we come to chapter 16, the end of the stories of Samson.
It's the story that we'll talk about the death of Samson.
And here's how it begins.
Chapter 16, verse 1.
Samson went to...
Oh, I should put up the scripture text.
We can do that for those of you who are here and don't have Bibles.
There we go.
Samson went to Gaza and there he saw a prostitute and he went into her.
Just pause here for a very fraction of a second.
And I haven't mentioned this, but I'm going to mention it right now.
Christians, just by being Christians and trusting the Bible, end up having a side on the Palestinian Jewish question.
Because for many of the Palestinian leadership in around what we now call in the Canaan area,
and I'm trying to think of the right word.
The word's gone from me.
In that whole contested area, they basically say that the Jewish people have no historic connection to the land.
And these texts that we're going through, just by being intellectually honest,
show that, in fact, the Jewish people have had a connection to this land that goes back thousands and thousands of years.
We, in a sense, just by trying to be...
By being intellectually honest and being faithful to the Bible, both at the same time,
we end up undercutting one particular side of a current political debate and supporting another side.
Doesn't mean we have to support everything else that goes on.
But the Philistines aren't Arabs.
The Philistines are, if you know a little bit about English history,
in the British Isles, what is now called England,
there were these constant raids by the Norsemen, the Danes.
And they would come to England and they would pillage and steal,
eventually setting up more permanent settlements.
But the Philistines are like the ancient Vikings.
They're a sea people.
And they're not Arabs.
They're a sea people.
And they've come from somewhere in the Mediterranean.
They come in waves to steal, to set up their own colonies.
And at the time of this writing, there's sort of five different groups of Philistines,
five sort of families or tribes or movements,
and they each have a center of power.
And Gaza is one of the five centers.
So these are like Vikings.
They're seafaring invaders somewhere in the Mediterranean,
not entirely clear where they've come from.
And they've settled here in Gaza.
Go back to read chapter 16, verse 1 again.
Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute.
Remember I told you, this man doesn't live an exemplary life.
And he went into her.
The Gazites were told, Samson has come here.
And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city.
They kept quiet all night, saying, let us wait till the light of the morning,
and then we will kill him.
But Samson lay till midnight.
And at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts
and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders
and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
Now, here's what's going on in the story.
It's very, very important.
The Philistines hate Samson.
They keep attacking him.
They're trying to find him.
They want to kill him.
And Samson goes right into one of their principal cities,
inside a walled city with a closed gate.
And he goes there just because he wants to satisfy his desire for sexual intercourse.
I mean, this is an unbelievably foolish and reckless thing to do.
And it comes, it's a little bit of a picture, a window into the soul of Samson.
Samson is arrogant in his power,
and he believes he is too strong to ever fail,
too strong to ever be defeated,
too strong to ever have his world collapse.
And the story shows his great strength.
The archaeological evidence from the time period suggests that in a walled city like this,
the gates were two stories high.
So I don't know how high that would be.
It might be at the top of the arch here from the bottom to the arch.
Two huge gates.
And he picks them up and he carries them 75 kilometers.
It's an unbelievable, well, I shouldn't say unbelievable.
It's an immense feat of strength.
And for his attackers, it must have just been a jaw-dropping,
gobsmacking, mind-blowing demonstration of his great power.
Which is why they don't attack him.
They just look at this.
He just rips these massive gates out of the way they're held
and carries them 75 kilometers and drops them in the middle of a Jewish majority area.
And in doing this, he's also completely and utterly humiliated the principal city of the Philistines.
A walled city without a gate is, in a sense, defenseless.
He's shamed them, he's humiliated them, and he's profoundly weakened them
until they're able to finally try to get those gates either back
or fix them themselves back and fix them.
So part of the story is showing the fact is he does have this unbelievable strength and power,
yet at the same time that goes with it, he has this arrogant belief
that he is too strong to fail, too strong to be defeated,
too strong to ever have his world collapse.
And because he is so strong and so powerful,
he can do whatever he wants in his own world.
And if he feels like going into a walled city of his enemies
because he has a sexual need that he wants to gratify with a prostitute,
he'll do it.
And to common morality and to God be,
well, I don't care because I'm strong, I'm powerful,
and my world will never collapse.
It's in this context, you see, one of the things which is so wise about the Bible
is the Bible continues to have these profound stories that are,
if we read them, are meditations upon the mystery of arrogance
and the mystery of strength and the mystery of power.
They're profound meditations and stories which help us to think
about arrogance and power and people who don't think their world can collapse.
So right after this remarkable display of strength,
Delilah is introduced.
Verse 4,
After this, he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek,
which is in Philistine-majority territory,
whose name was Delilah.
And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her,
seduce him and see where his great strength lies
and by what means we may overpower him,
that we may bind him to humble him.
And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.
So Delilah said to Samson,
please tell me where your great strength lies
and how you might be bound,
that one could subdue you.
And in the original language,
it's very clear that there are five principal tribes
or movements or centers of Philistine power,
and it's describing all of them.
So it's all five of the lords,
and whatever sub-lords and under-lords that there are,
it's the lords as a whole
of all of the Philistines who come together
to speak to Delilah
to see if they can figure out a way
to overcome him.
So he thinks he's too powerful
and too strong to collapse,
but he doesn't realize that his doom is upon him.
It begins as yet just another sexual conquest
on his part.
He doesn't think of Delilah seducing him.
He thinks of it as yet another sexual conquest
to satisfy his appetites.
Well, what happens?
We're just going to read the first one
because, and we're not going to read all three of them,
but there comes to be three different sort of moments
with Samson and Delilah
where Delilah bugs Samson.
Well, let's look at this story,
and I'll tell you what they are.
Samson said to her, verse 7,
if they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings,
blah, blah, blah, blah,
bowstrings that have not been dried,
then I shall become weak and be like any other man.
And if you go on later on,
it's going to be the same thing happens.
Next, it's going to be if you take some ropes
that have never been used,
and then after that is if you weave my hair
in a certain way and hold it with a certain type of pin.
But it's always the same thing.
So he says if you do all of these things,
and here's the really important thing.
It's going to be important later on,
and I'll mention it,
but notice what he says again in verse 7.
If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings
that have not been dried,
then I shall become weak and be like any other man.
This phrase is going to be repeated four times.
I shall become weak and be like any other man.
But she goes ahead.
Verse 8,
Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her
seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried,
just as they'll later on bring ropes
and a man to weave his hair.
And she bound him with them.
Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber,
and she said to him,
The Philistines are upon you, Samson.
But he snapped the bowstrings as a thread of flax
snaps when it touches the fire,
so the secret of his strength was not known.
And this thing's going to happen three times.
And once again,
see this is where the Bible is this,
through this simple story,
it invites us to enter into a profound meditation
upon arrogance and power
and the blindness that comes with arrogance and power.
Like, for any single one of us,
if we had a friend,
and they told you of the first story,
you'd say to them,
one moment,
like, time out.
Your girlfriend or your boyfriend,
they tried to weasel out
one of the deepest secrets of your life,
and then they used it to betray you,
so that people could capture you
and destroy you?
And then the next day you went back to her or him?
Like, what's wrong with this picture?
You see,
Samson's arrogance
and his belief in his power
is making him weak.
So if you just skip down,
skip down after it's happened three times
and we skip down to verse 15,
and here's how it goes.
I have to turn the page.
So now,
verse 15,
and she said to him
after the third time
that it hasn't worked,
how can you say I love you
when your heart is not with me?
You have mocked me these three times
and you have not told me
where your great strength lies.
And when she pressed him hard with her words
day after day
and urged him,
his soul was vexed to death.
And he told her all his heart
and said to her,
a razor has never come upon my head,
for I have been a Nazarite to God
from my mother's womb.
If my head is shaved,
then my strength will leave me
and I shall become weak
the fourth time
and I shall become weak
and be like any other man.
Now,
one of the things here about this,
we're going to talk about this
a tiny bit more.
It's not,
we shouldn't believe Samson here
because the fact of the matter is
is that he's been violating
his Nazarite vows constantly.
I mean,
the fact of the matter is
he's having sex with a woman
he's not married with,
which violates
his Nazarite vows.
He's been drinking
and getting drunk
and he's been not only,
how do we know
he's got to touch dead bodies?
Because he killed the people
and you can't kill them
without touching a dead body.
Like,
his whole life
has been a complete
and utter
disregard of the Nazarite vows
and it's not as if,
this story isn't as if,
isn't about,
that it isn't a story
about religion.
You see,
how religion works
is it's all right
if you do this
and you do this
but you can't get your hair cut.
What?
Like,
that's not what the Bible teaches.
That God's sort of happy with him
or doesn't have any consequences
to his action
but if he gets his hair cut
then there's consequences.
No.
It's going to become obvious
in the next little bit.
Look what happens.
I move it along.
Andrew,
help me if I didn't move it correctly
because sometimes
I press the button
and it doesn't work.
So what happens?
He tells her
what he thinks is going on
and then in verse 18,
when Delilah saw
that he had told her
all his heart,
she sent and called
the lords of the Philistines
saying,
come up again
for he has told me
all his heart.
Now,
he has told her
all his heart,
by the way,
but that's,
it's not dependent
upon that.
Then the lords
of the Philistines
came up to her
and brought the money
in their hands.
She made him sleep
on her knees
and she called a man
and had him shave off
the seven locks
of his head.
Then she began
to torment him
and his strength
left him.
And she said,
the Philistines
are upon you,
Samson.
And he woke
from his sleep
and said,
I will go out
as at other times
and shake myself free.
But he did not know
that the Lord
had left him.
Now,
just sort of notice here
how the story works.
It isn't when his hair
is cut
that his strength
leaves him.
It's after his hair
is cut
as she torments him.
And then we discover
that it's all about
the Lord leaving him,
that his strength
is gone.
So the fact of the matter
is,
is his great strength
was never his.
It was never his.
It was the Lord's presence
that made him strong.
It was the Lord's blessing.
It was the Lord's gift.
It was the Lord's
undeserved favor
to him
that made him strong.
He was made strong
so he would deliver Israel
and he has not done that
with his strength.
He's used his strength
to show off,
to be arrogant.
And his strength
has led him,
the blessing of God
has led him
to the belief
that he,
his world,
can never collapse.
He can never be defeated.
His plans will always work.
And the Lord's blessing
has led him
to puff himself up
in such a way
without ever understanding
that it came from the Lord,
not from him.
And the fact of the matter is,
is he is weak
like any other man.
He is frail
and mortal
like every other
human being.
And so the hair is cut,
she torments him,
then the spirit leaves,
and then we discover
the reason
is that the Lord
has left him.
And then we see
the terrible state
that his arrogance
has brought him.
Look at verse 21.
And the Philistines
seized him
and gouged out his eyes
and brought him down
to Gaza
and bound him
with bronze shackles
and he ground
at the mill
and the prison.
But the hair of his head
began to grow again
after it had been shaved.
Now once again,
the issue isn't the hair.
The issue here is,
those some of you
might remember
if you heard me
preach last week,
is that if you look
at the chapter 14 and 15,
nobody comes out
good in the stories.
The Philistines
don't come out good either.
It's not as if
this is a story
about these nasty Israelites
or this powerful Israelite
and the Philistines
are all very,
very humble and godly.
No, everybody in that story
looks terrible.
And the same thing is here.
As we're going to see,
this thing about
the hair growing long
is a bridge thing
which is what's going
to happen next
and it shows
that in fact
the Philistines
are just as arrogant
and believe
that their God
means that
they have a God
that gives them power
which means that
their world
won't collapse.
And so they can be
completely and utterly
disregarding of things
like hair.
Why?
Because,
as we're going to see
in a moment,
it's because they have
a far more powerful God
and they're far more powerful
and technologically
advanced people
and so their world
can never collapse.
They will ultimately
triumph over all
of their enemies
and this text
is a bridge
not to make you think
there's something magic
about long hair
but to show
that the arrogance
and the problem
of believing
that your world
can never collapse
is a human problem.
It's a human problem.
See what happens next.
Verses,
so Samson's humble.
Verse 23.
Now the lords
of the Philistines,
it's the same type
of idea
that I mentioned earlier
with Delilah.
It's all of the lords
and the underlords.
The lords of the Philistines
gathered
to offer a great sacrifice
to Dagon,
their God,
and to rejoice
and they said,
just by the way,
just before I read this,
you know,
you don't have to read
Christopher Hitchens
to have a great critique
of religion.
The best critique
of religion
in the world
is the Bible.
The Bible
constantly critiques
religion
and here's how
it critiques religion.
Just listen to it.
I'll read verse 23 again.
Now the lords
of the Philistines,
now the lords
of the Philistines
gathered together
to offer a great sacrifice
to Dagon,
their God,
and to rejoice.
They said,
our God
has given Samson
our enemy
into our hand.
You know,
because religion
is just used
for your own power.
That's why
they worship Dagon
because he makes
them more powerful.
They think
they're special.
Isn't that the critique
of Christopher Hitchens?
People believe
these fairy tales
about gods
but it's all about hypocrisy.
It's all about their power.
It's all about
looking down
their nose of people
and that's just
what the Bible's teaching.
It's revealing
the religious spirit,
the spiritual spirit
of the human problem.
And it's emphasized.
Look at verse 24.
And when the people
saw him,
that's Samson,
they praised their God
for they said again,
our God
has given
our enemy
into our hand.
the ravager
of our country
who has killed
many of us
and when their hearts
were merry
they said,
call Samson
that he may entertain us.
So they called Samson
out of the prison
and he entertained them
and they made him stand
between the pillars
in the very,
very central place.
So we here have
in a very subtle way
a critique
of religion.
And now we see this
once again
just as in Samson
and he meets Delilah
who's just a woman.
I mean,
this isn't being sexist
but this is just
imagine,
like just imagine
a guy who's strong enough.
Just picture the most
macho guys
you see portrayed.
A guy able to pick up
two story things
and carry them 75 kilometers.
What does he have to worry about?
A mere woman.
Smaller than him.
Weaker than him.
And we see here
that the lords
of the Philistines
do not know
that their doom
is upon them.
They see a man
who's weak
like any other man
who has had his eyes
gouged out
that they can humiliate him
in public
and they can make
merry of him
and they can laugh at him
and they do not realize
that their God
is not real
and their arrogance
is masking
the reality
that they
are weak
and frail
like every
other human being.
look what it says
verse
did I move it?
26?
Yes.
And Samson said
to the young man
who held him by the hand
let me feel the pillars
on which the house rests
that I may lean against them.
The house was full
of men and women
all the lords
of the Philistines
were there
and on the roof
there were about
3,000 men and women
who looked on
while Samson entertained.
And to try to put it
in the context of Canada
it's imagine
that you have
the cabinet
and in fact
you have the house
of commons
you have the senate
you have the supreme court
you have the privy council
you have the editors
and the owners
and the producers
of the elite media
you have the elite
academics of the country
you have the elite
business people
of the country
and those are
who are all there
and not just for Gaza
but for all five.
all five
of the centers
of Philistine power
they're all there
and their key officials
and their family
3,000 of them
all of the elites
of the elite
are all there
to mock Samson.
And now we have
this very very simple
and often very misunderstood verse.
Then Samson called
to the Lord
and said
O Lord God
please remember me
and please strengthen me
only this once
O God
that I may be avenged
on the Philistines
from my two eyes.
Now just before
I try to open
this text up
and it's not going
to be on the screen
those of you
who actually have
Bibles in your hand
turn to Hebrews chapter 11
Hebrews chapter 11
verse 32
and I haven't talked
about this at all
but it's always been
in the back of my mind
and I knew
as I was preparing these
looking through
the three stories
of Samson
that I was going
to eventually deal
with it
and probably today
and I am dealing
with it today.
Those of you
who have remembered
how I've summarized
Samson
how he uses his power
to murder innocent people
steal their clothes
wage war
how he's a despicable
human being
look at this
very very odd verse
Hebrews chapter 11
verse 32
and Hebrews chapter 11
for those of you
who don't know
the Bible very well
or you're just listening
in for the first time
because you're puzzled
about the Christian faith
Hebrews 11
is the famous chapter
on what faith is
and heroes of the faith
and look what it says
and what more shall I say
for time would fail
to tell me
he's talking about
heroes of the faith
of Gideon Barak
Samson
what?
how does he make it
on the list?
this guy who murders
innocent people
heaps on the list?
read it again
for time would fail
to tell me
to tell of Gideon Barak
Samson Jephthah
David and Samuel
and the prophets
who through faith
conquered kingdoms
enforced justice
obtained promises
stopped the mouths
of lions
quenched the power
of fire
escaped the edge
of the sword
and here's the thing
that refers to Samson
we're made strong
out of weakness
we're made strong
out of weakness
became mighty in war
put foreign armies
to flight
just go back
to the story
in Judges chapter 16
remember I said
four times in this story
I will become weak
like any other man
he was a ladies man
nobody would think
he's a ladies man now
two eyes
gouged out
they wouldn't have
done it pretty
by the way
probably would have
just been some
big thing
to make two
gaping holes
right there
and his strength
is gone
he'd be dirty
he'd be filthy
it's an odd prayer
and people puzzle
over this thing
about his two eyes
the thing to do
when read the story
is that this isn't
the arrogant
Samson
this is Samson
filled with
melancholy
and regret
you know
for those of us
who have had
failures
and disappointments
in life
and we have
what I call
the three o'clock
and four o'clock
in the morning
moments
when we can't
sleep
because it's as if
some demonic
being
just keeps
bringing our
failures
to our attention
and that
would have been
Samson's life
for this
undisclosed
length of time
failure
and now
for the first time
in the entire story
if you look again
at what he says
he calls out
to the Lord
and says
O
Yahweh
Adonai
see we only have
the word God
in Canada
but in the ancient
world
for the Jewish people
there was a general
name for God
which was Elohim
which he's going
to say in a moment
but they had a name
which was only
for Jewish people
it's
not just Elohim
God in general
God in the abstract
it's Elohim
it is
my God
it is
as if
when Jesus
tells Christians
that have become
Christians
to learn to pray
to their father
in heaven
as dad
it's daddy
it's the personal
intimate
name
and for the first
time in the story
he calls out
in his weakness
in his failure
by the way
the Bible never
encourages deathbed
conversions
but this is a
very very very
powerful text
for those
who understand
themselves
to have been
a failure
no failure
no person
is so broken
so failed
such a wreck
or a ruin
that God
does not
love them
and so
Samson
wrecked
and ruined
and a failure
calls out
to the God
of the covenant
the forgotten
God
that he now
calls in a sense
as dad
you are
dad
of all
who put their
trust in you
you are the one
who desires
to be in covenant
with human beings
ordinary human beings
like me
and when we
enter into covenant
with a human being
like you
unworthy as we are
you invite us
to know you
not as God
in the abstract
or a mere force
or nature
but as dad
as God
that I know you
by name
and Adonai
means you are sovereign
I stand here
amidst
the mocking
cries
of 3,000
devotees
to an idol
who believe
that their
illusory
their idol
they believe
the illusion
and the delusion
that their idol
is actually real
and a God
and they are singing
his praises
and I am shackled
in their presence
and I have been
a failure
but you are my father
and you are in heaven
and despite
all appearances
you
are sovereign
you are
Adonai
and the word
remember
is a humble word
it's not
a word
of memory
techniques
learning how to
remember things
better
in the original
language
it's a humble
word
it's saying
have mercy upon me
and worthy as I am
that you would note
me
I have nothing
that I can bring
all I have
is failure
and all I have
is weakness
and all I have
is frailty
and you are
sovereign
but you are not
just a distant
God
you are Yahweh
you are the
God who desires
to be in covenant
with me
and as he
stands
and calls out
in such a place
to such a God
he says
I ask for justice
out of humility
he only asked
for justice
in regards
to his two eyes
how does the story
continue
verse 29
and Samson
the word grasp
is a good word
but it really just means
he's put his hands on
the two middle pillars
on which the house
rested
and he leaned
his weight against them
his right hand
on the one
and his left hand
on the other
and by the way
he would have probably
felt as he's leaning
on them
he realizes
gosh I have no strength
to knock these things over
not there
he's putting his hands
on them
as a reminder
that he is like
any other human being
he is mortal
he is weak
and he is frail
and he prays again
and Samson said
let me die
with the Philistines
asking
the source of strength
for strength
it's not an argument
for doctor
assisted suicide
it's a humble
acknowledgement
that he doesn't want
to have that
superhuman
arrogant
making
delusion
that comes from
arrogance
type of power
that means
that I can knock
these pillars
down
through your strength
but somehow
or another
I will not share
the fate of
all other human beings
who are mortal
I'm not asking
for some type
of vindication
of my person
that the rocks
will hit me
but just bounce off me
and I will be able
to walk
out of the rubble
strong
and triumphant
again
he is saying
Lord
you are the source
of my strength
give me this one
strength
one time
of strength
again
and let me
die
like any
mortal
frail
human being
in the midst
of the rubble
and it has nothing
to do with his hair
verse 30
then he bowed
with all his strength
and the house
fell upon the lords
and upon all the people
who were in it
so the dead
whom he killed
at his death
were more than those
whom he had killed
during his life
and his brothers
and all his family
came down
and took him
and brought him up
and buried him
between Zerah
and Eszital
in the tomb
of Manoah
his father
he had judged
Israel 20 years
I have to wrap
things up
just a couple
of things
you know
one of the
big problems
in modern
thought
is the problem
of evil
and
people
basically
saying
how can
a good God
and an all-powerful
God
let evil
happen to people
and
the Bible
has very
very powerful
resources
to talk
about that
but it's been
pointed out
by many people
that the Bible
doesn't actually
have an argument
against the problem
the problem
of evil
it has
profound
resources
about it
you can read
Job
and in particular
you look at
Jesus
and his life
and death
and his crucifixion
and his resurrection
and you realize
there's profound
resources to think
about it
in terms of
the problem
of evil
but if you
think about it
underneath
as part of
the problem
of evil
there's in fact
a different
type of an argument
which is this
that if God
really exists
if God
really is all-powerful
he's really good
then what he should
always do
is bless us
that's what he should
do
he should bless
us
he should bless
good people
but you see
the Bible
takes
is the only
book
that very wisely
deals with
a different
problem
and that is
the problem
of blessing
you see
if you think
about it
for a second
what's happened
to Samson
is he's been
blessed and blessed
and blessed
but what's
happened to him
is his blessing
has led to
his arrogance
his blessing
has led him
to be contemptuous
an abuser
of women
and a murderer
his blessing
has led him
to the delusional
belief
that his world
can never
collapse
his blessing
has led him
to not help
other people
or be generous
but to only
feed
his own
ego
and his own
project
and we tend
not to think
about that
but you think
about it
for a second
and I'm not
casting down
rich people
but do we
really think
that the richest
people in the world
and the most
powerful people
in the world
are the nicest
people in the world
do we really
think they're
the kindest
the gentlest
the most generous
the most
self-effacing
the most
concerned
for the good
of others
don't we
in fact
constantly
recognize
that people
with profound
gifts
have problems
of deep
arrogance
and self-centeredness
and a sense
of entitlement
isn't that
in fact
a profoundly
Canadian
problem
I'm going to
make a slight
political statement
how is it
that people
think that we
can shut down
all mining
and they'll
still have
iPhones
it's the
definition
of delusion
how is it
we think
that we can
shut down
shut all gas
and still
drive cars
that is the
definition
of delusion
connected
to arrogant
entitlement
and isn't
it in fact
a regular
thing
for us
to look
in the
paper
and see
that some
beautiful
movie star
or musician
who's profoundly
rich
and profoundly
talented
and profoundly
praised
has committed
suicide
out of a
deep
inner
despair
or that you
have radio
contests
occasionally
because we
ten years
ago the
person who's
talked about
everywhere and
praised and
now we don't
even know if
they're still
alive
and only the
bible talks
about the
fact we
think that
if god only
blessed us
that would
show that
god exists
but there is
a far more
deep human
problem of
blessing
turning into
arrogance
and believing
that your
world will
never collapse
so just a
couple of
thoughts to
run through
very quickly
being blessed
with great
power
can make
you arrogant
foolish
and contemptuous
of the
triune god
who is the
source of
blessing
being blessed
with great
power can
in fact make
you arrogant
foolish and
contemptuous
of the
triune god
who is the
source of
blessing
and by
the way
one of the
characteristics of
arrogant people
is they don't
think they're
arrogant
and one of the
characteristics of
proud people
is they don't
think they're
proud
and one of the
characteristics of
entitled people
is they don't
think they're
entitled
they notice we notice arrogance and pride and entitlement in others
and are blind to it in our own lives
you see you and i easily believe that we are too powerful that you are too powerful
to collapse
one of the things that this bible is the bible text is pointing to is this
the bible wants to make us aware of the problem of mere blessing feeding our arrogance
the bible time and time and time and time again reminds us that we human beings are frail
and we are mortal
and that death comes to all
but it does not tell us these stories to depress us
but to wake us up
that we might connect with the true and living god
and so it is that we see that this jesus is the true and greater samson
that in chapter 14 verse 4 when it says that god was going to use samson to begin to deliver the
people of israel we see that he does begin to deliver the people of israel by the end of samson's
life as i talked about last week israel is once again understanding itself as distinct from the philistines
he's removed the philistine leadership and he's preparing the day for the one who will defeat philistines which is david
but then when you go and you look at the story of david you realize david has the power to defeat the philistines
but he cannot defeat his own sin and his own death and david himself points down the lines of history
to the day when he will say oh lord my lord when he acknowledges that through his line god will send one
who will look at our mortality and our frailty and our foolishness
but just as yahweh entered into the old testament people
out of love to desire to be in a relationship with us
that yahweh that god himself will send his very son to take into himself
the frailty of our human nature and as a fully human being only with and tempted in all ways as we are only without sin
that he would die upon a cross bearing all that separates us from god
that he would not come amongst us frail but never die that he would come amongst us to die
as the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world
despised and rejected and that he would be the one who would defeat what david could not defeat
that he would be the one to defeat our sin and our arrogance
and our inability to save ourselves and death itself
and that jesus comes as god with us to be amongst us
and with us as a community and as individuals in the midst of our weakness and our frailty
and the power of the gospel is to remind us day by day that i george am weak and frail
but i have a savior who has defeated sin
and a savior who has defeated death
a savior who did this because he loves me
and as a result of my putting my faith and trust in jesus
i live in my father's world
i have a father who loves me
and who cares for me
and a savior who will walk with me through the valley of the shadow of death
and even into death and beyond
to be in life with the father
and it is the father's world
and the gospel is there to both constantly humble me
as it grips me
and constantly reassure me
that my life does not depend upon me being strong and powerful enough
so that my world will never collapse
but that the final word about me is
welcome into my kingdom my beloved son
whom i've loved you and saved you out of my love
not weighing your merits but pardoning your offenses
and i will i have never left you
i have never abandoned you
i have never forsaken you
i never will
welcome
the lord takes no delight in the death of a sinner
he delights when you turn and call on him
to redeem you as his own
and in the real world
the triune god is present powerful active sovereign
and never needs a contingency plan
and that's how the gospel invites us to live
in a world
that has a lot of fear
to live
knowing that the triune god
he never has a contingency plan
nothing catches him by surprise
he's always working on plan a
and that little
weak
frail
mortal
me
and little
weak
mortal
frail
you
when you reach your hand out
to such a god
in the name of jesus
and you cannot possibly reach him
he can reach you
and he will take your hand
and he will never let you go
he will hold your hand
through all your trials
and all your temptations
and all your success
and all your failure
and he
will never
let you go
to the moment of your death
and beyond
his hand
is life
and it is offered
to you
invite you to stand
let's bow our heads in prayer
father
thank you for your word
thank you that you
confront us
like samson
with our mortality
our weakness
our frailty
that you confront us
of our arrogance
and of our delusion
not to humiliate us
not to shame us
not
to make us
live as defeated
human beings
but to help us
to wake up
to who we are
and who you are
that you are real
that you are true
that you are mighty
that you are strong
that you are just
that you are good
that you are the source
of blessing
and that you bless us
by redeeming us
despite ourselves
and making us
your children
when any person
calls out to you
like samson
that you will be their god
that jesus will be their savior
and you never turn anyone away
and we thank you father
for this
and we ask
if there's any who are here
any listening to this online
or listening to it
later on audio
that
the holy spirit father
that they will give in
to the holy spirit
and allow you
to grab them
and take their hand
so that they will know
jesus as their savior
and you as their father
in heaven
and we ask father
that you do a mighty work
in us
that we live
not out of fear
but out of faith
that you are the sovereign god
you hold our hands
and will never let us go
day by day
and all god's people said
amen