Judges 16:23-31

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions. This morning, we are going to wrap up the story of Samson. I think it is one of the most redemptive parts of this entire story. So, let's go ahead and talk about Samson. Look at the arc of his life and what happens as he's weak and blind. How's his life end? Let's have him coffee. We'll pray to God. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the blessing it is to get to read your word as a gift from your hand for us to be able to read your word. And we pray that by your Holy Spirit, you would strengthen us and enlighten our eyes that we might see and believe. Lord, you are an amazing God working in mysterious ways. Help us, Lord, to have faith in Jesus's name. Amen. All right, here we go. We are at Judges, the second half of chapter 12. Judges, second half of, sorry, chapter 12. Whoa, I'm four chapters off. Judges chapter 16. Second half of Judges chapter 16, beginning at verse 23. Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to digg on their god and to rejoice. Pardon me. And they said, "Our God has delivered into our hands Samson, our enemy." When the people saw him, they praised their God, for they said, "Our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead. Now it happened when their hearts were merry that they said, "Call for Samson that he may perform for us." So they called for Samson from the prison. And he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, "Let me feel the pill. Let me feel the pillars which support the temple so that I can lean on them." Now, the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. Then Samson called to Yhovah, saying, "Oh Lord God, remember me, I pray. Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, oh God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes. Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported at the temple. And he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. and his brothers and all his father's household came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zora and Ashto and the tomb of his father Monoah he had judged Israel 20 years well we need to ask ourselves our three questions A what's this about B what's the best vers to summarize this and C what are we called to do Samson in verse 21 and 22 had his two eyes gouged out. He was put in chains and forced into labor. He was a slave grinding wheat, doing an ox's work. He had been the judge 20 years. That's what verse 20 said. It's interesting. Verse 20 of chapter 15. And he judged Israel 20 years in the day of the Philistines. It ends chapter 16 verse 31. He had judged Israel 20 years, two decades. He had judged Israel. But in his final days, he's a laughingstock. He's a mockery. This is the strong man of Israel. This is a strong man of Yhovah. This is a strong man of God. And where do they bring him? They bring him to the temple of Deeon. Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to to offer a great sacrifice to Deeon, their god and rejoice, right? They thank Deeon, their merman type god, half fish, half man. Our god has delivered into our hands Samson, our enemy. They saw him and the people see Samson and they praise Deaeon and they say, "Our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, the one who multiplied our dead." Right? They're mocking Samson and by way they're exalting their god and this is god warfare in the ancient world. is saying that guy's gods are are are defeated and we have a strong man and so we praise you God because you've given you praise you Deegon because you've given us peace and you've given us victory and this man's humiliated and so they call out Samson to perform for them this is a show this is entertainment Right? It's one thing to just murder or kill your enemy. It's the other thing to keep them alive just to torment them, mock them, and torture them. And the blind Samson goes out, asks to feel the two pillars, and this is the first time we hear him pray. We've not heard many prayers in the book of Judges at all, have we? We haven't found much of that at all. We haven't found much godliness. We haven't found much holiness. We haven't found much devotion to the Lord. But here we find Samson crying out to God. He called to the Lord. Oh Lord God, remembering me I pray. strengthen me, I pray just this once, oh God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes. Cries out to God for help and he pushes with all of his might. There's no way some ordinary man can do this. It's not said, it's not spoken in the text. God gives him the strength, pushes out, pushes out the two pillars, and the whole thing comes down collapsing and kills 3,000 people. The Lord has a laugh, last laugh. Sadly, I can't imagine being his dad. His dad and his brothers come down and get his remains, take him home and bury him in the family tomb. Now Samson's not a perfect judge man by any means. He's going down and he wants to marry a Philistine against his parents wishes. He's going and seeing harlots falling in into the traps of Delilah. He presumes upon God's grace. And yet the Lord was seeking a reason to provoke to fight against to punish the Philistines. God's got a purpose for this and he's showing that he's the sovereign one even over the Philistines. The day gone is nothing. And so I'm just going to, you know, in in my Bible, uh, I have verse 28 underlined. Well, 27 and 28 I have underlined. I think I'd probably just do 28 if I only had one verse, but this is where I want to go, right? See, calling Samson ended his race. Well, he called out to the Lord. He's taking vengeance upon his enemies. Now, I don't know where you are in your Christian walk, but maybe there's sins you need to deal with. Maybe the Lord has even seemed to have departed from you for a time. Maybe you've grown cold. You've presumed upon his grace. You have just kind of gone on with doing what you want to do, going on with life, and it's not good. you strayed away. It's not too late. The Lord can still work. The Lord can do mighty things even through the weakest of his people. Everyone may have thought by this point, Samson's just a mockery and a failure. But God had a purpose and God had a plan. And I think God likes to use the unlikely because he gets all the glory. Maybe he still has a plan to use you. Maybe in your life, he still knows exactly how he's going to work out his plan for you. This is the amazing thing I find about and the comfort I find in the God of the Bible. They thought they won in Jerusalem when they put to death that impostor king. They thought they had destroyed the one who claimed that God was his father. Put him to death by the hands of the Romans. And yet God had a plan. God always has a plan. Thank God. He's a sovereign one. Finish your race well, Christian. Look to Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. Lord, we thank you that you are still able to use sinful people. We thank you that you have a plan. God, it's hard for us emotionally, spiritually, to understand, to come to grips with these things, but you, Lord God, are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. You're the Alpha and the Omega. You know the beginning from the end. You've written the story. And Father, you receive all the glory. So help us, Lord. Help us to finish our race well. Let us run with endurance what you've set before us, competing as for a prize in the upward call of Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, to walk worthy of that calling in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. May you rest in him all the days of your life. And I'll see you next time. Bye.