God's Faithfulness (Samson)(2)

We are here in Judges. We're going to be looking at 14 and 15. And this is a very popular story. Most people know at least who Samson is. Maybe not know the details. As we look at it, I want to think about it here. Hero stories? I love a good hero story. A hero's story is defined really by somebody who has a great adversary, but more importantly, they have some kind of internal weakness or conflict that they have to overcome to beat that adversary. Right? So we can think of the Karate Kid and Cobra Kai, and how Danielson, he has to submit to his master, Mr. Miyagi, and learn how to paint the fence in order to finally overcome his adversary. Or Rocky on his way to beat Apollo, Mr. T, Hulk Hogan, and the USSR. He has to get down deep and find the eye of the tiger to train hard because he's just weaker than all those people. So he works harder. He takes a bigger beating. Or you can look at the movie Miracle, a fantastic sports movie where the 1980 US hockey team, they've got to learn that the name on the front of their jersey is more important than the name on the back. I go through just a simple explanation of what a hero is, someone who overcomes their own internal weakness, their own problems so that they would beat their adversary. To say this, there are no hero stories in the Bible. There is not a single hero in the Bible. There's one champion. There's one champion, Jesus Christ, who didn't have to overcome anything of his own weakness. No, he actually humbles himself to save us. There's one champion, God, who saves sinners. The rest of us are walking around like fools without anything we can do for ourselves. There's no heroes. There's just us sinners and the great mighty God who saves us. As we look at Samson, he's too easy to think, wow, this guy's mighty, he's powerful, he's strong. No, he's weak. He lacks internal character. He lacks true self-discipline and self-control. He is not a hero. The great almighty God who saves us uses even men like Samson to bring about his plan. If you're with us, we're in Judges. We're in chapters 14 and 15. And last week we looked at the birth narrative of Samson. So you can look back at chapter 13 here. This is really unique. We don't have a lot of birth narratives, right? The last birth narrative was Moses. Now all of a sudden you have Samson, and you're thinking, wow, something significant's gonna happen. But remember, judges, things keep getting progressively worse. But here, this man really stands out because his mother is barren before the angel appears. She's given special instructions for the boy, and even a promise he will begin to save God's people. And from last week, I think the most important thing we need to remember about Samson, it's not that he's strong. It's that God set him apart. Samson is not unique because he's strong. I actually really assume he's probably a very little guy. He doesn't have a great muscular features. He's probably a little guy because that's just how God works. He's set apart and appointed. And remember, he has the Nazirite instructions. His mother has given the instructions. He's not supposed to touch something that's undefiled, a carcass. He's not supposed to touch a dead carcass. He's not supposed to take anything from the fruit of the vine, not even touch a grape. And he's not supposed to cut his hair. And that's important for what we're going to see now when we get into Samson's own story. Look with me to chapter 14. Again, this man has been set apart for a purpose. He has special instructions. And as you heard, read, the first thing Samson does when he himself appears in the scene, assuming he's a young man, he goes down to take a wife from among the Philistines. For an outline, chapter 14, verses one to four, God is at work even in Samson's sinful demands. What we see here in verses one to four, Samson is very demanding, and he demands something that's clearly outside of bounds of God, but God is still at work. God is still at work in Samson's demands. He goes down to Timnah. He's intentionally going to the Philistines. And notice the repetition. Verse 2, I saw one of the daughters. In verse 1, it says, he saw one of the daughters. And then, verse 3, she was right in his eyes. It'll even be repeated later. Remember, Judges starts turning to the problem of everyone doing what's right in their own eyes. Samson is like Israel here. When he sees something he likes, he has to have it. He lacks self-control. He lacks being corrected and controlled and, and led by God's Word. So he's going and he's seeking to get a wife from the wrong people. Israel, all of Israelites. This is not something just a Nazarite is not supposed to do. All of Israel was committed. Do not marry among the nations, because marrying among the nations is how you ultimately lead to, to idolatry. And his parents, Their answer, when he says, first of all, notice how he talks to his parents. This is like a rude child. I saw one of the daughters. Now go get her for me. That's not how you talk to your parents. Children, that's not how you're supposed to talk to your parents. Go get her for me. And they respond, I saw one of the, are there not any women among the daughters of your relatives? Now, why wouldn't the response be, son, you've been set apart by God? You're supposed to be the one who saved us from the Philistines. Why would you go intermarry with them? They try to keep them back, but it's a very weak response. It's not a theologically informed response. It's just, why not among your relatives? No, God has forbid this. God has set you apart. God has told us He has a plan for you. This is out of bounds. So we have this very rude young man who demands... I mean, I think this is a clear sin here. When he sees it's what he wants, and he has to have it. He lacks self-control. He lacks respect for his parents. And he's going after something he's not supposed to have. Now, verse 4 is really the key to this entire passage, both chapters. It's the most difficult verse that has to inform everything else we're going to talk about. His father and mother did not know that it, Samson demanding to marry among the nations, that's what it refers back to, is from the Lord. The Lord's in this. Almighty God, the Holy One who said do not marry among the nations, the Almighty God who has set him apart, He is orchestrating this. He's not the author of the sin of Samson. Samson is responsible for his own sinful desires and actions. God is in this. Four, God was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. Because at that time the Philistines had ruled over Israel. For 40 years the Philistines have been ruling over Israel. Israel has not cried out. God has raised this man up. And God is now working in his sinful, his sinful decisions to bring about his own plans. This is kind of difficult. We can't brush over this too quickly because we don't realize there's something going on. Samson is fully responsible for his sin, but God is sovereign even in the midst of his sin to bring about his own plan and purpose. God's at work. We could go back to Genesis 50. Remember Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. And when his brothers came and said, are you gonna kill us now that our dads died because we sold you to sin? Joseph says, no. What you intended for good, God used. What you intended for evil, God used for good. There's an amazing power there that God is able to even use our evil intentions to bring about his good. That is how powerful God is. Or what David read earlier from Acts 2. God predestined and preordained that his own son would die, but yet it was these sinful actions of the Romans and of Pilate and of the scribes and of the Pharisees that actually led him to that cross. It's actually pretty amazing when we think about what this passage is saying. Our sin does not deter God. He's faithful. He's powerful. Even when we are faithless, He is faithful. We can look at another parallel, Hosea. A man who's ordered to marry a prostitute. And there I think it actually is a better parallel because Joseph and Jesus, they're victims of sinful actions. Samson, he's supposed to be the helper here, the judge, and it's his own sinful actions God's using. But in Hosea, God says, go and marry a prostitute. Do something you're not supposed to do so that I can teach my people the lesson They're like a prostitute. I believe here God is using Samson. You see, Israel was a nation set apart, given special instructions, and given a special purpose, to be the light of the nations. And the leader that they are now given is just like them. He's set apart, given special instructions, supposed to be a savior to his people, and they both, Israel and Samson, fail. to be who God has called them to be. The leader God has used to save Israel of their sin is just like Israel, to show that it's all of God. Our sin does not deter God. Two things I think we're supposed to see from this as we wrestle with God being perfectly sovereign over what's happening, but yet Samson clearly sinning against God We see a man who only serves as a warning to us as to how dangerous sin is. And we're gonna see a God who is mighty to save in his own power, in his power only. This is something worth wrestling with. God's sovereignty, our responsibility. Because this is important to remember. In the middle of life's difficulties, God is with us. God is for us. Our sin doesn't take away His love, His care, His provision. Somebody else's sin doesn't take away His love, care, provision. He is able to do what He wants to do. That's what makes Him God. And what He wants to do for His children is always good. We might be frustrated by our sin and others' sin. God is not. We can trust Him. Let's look at the next section. So what we see here, Samson is going astray. His parents give him a weak warning. And above all else, this is of the Lord. God is going to use this man's sin to accomplish his own goal. So Samson goes down with his father to Timnah. They come to a vineyard. A simple observation, why is he in a vineyard? He's a Nazirite. He's not where he's supposed to be, or where he's not supposed to be. So he's there, he's in the vineyard, and behold, okay, twice we're gonna see behold and something significant happens. A young lion comes roaring at him, and then he's in the wrong place, he's in danger. God saves him. The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he tore the lion in pieces like a young goat. Now, there's a cultural barrier here for me. I can't imagine what it'd be like to tear a young goat. I don't even want to think about it. You know, we got some guys who might be able to walk us through that, and I don't think that'd be a helpful illustration, but why? Why like a young goat? We're moving on, but it shows how powerful the Lord comes upon him that he takes this ferocious beast that would devour anybody by themselves, but the power of the Lord makes him just tear it apart. And then he told no one. That's kind of odd, right? Who here would beat a lion with his bare hands and not tell anyone? The story just has some oddities to it. Then he went down and talked with a woman. And again, we're reminded here, she was right in his eyes. Okay, we're gonna keep going, verse eight. Behold, he goes to look at the carcass of the lion. I don't know what for, but just to maybe check out, remember how great that was. And a swarm of bees has made a hive in the carcass of a lion. Now this isn't really my area of expertise, but as I understand it, when you go to a carcass, you're normally not looking for a swarm of bees. You normally find maggots. A beehive normally is found somewhere where it's dry, not in a carcass of an animal. It seems as if even God's doing something unique here. Maybe this is a test of God. Is this man, who seems to be so impulsive and demanding, is he just going to take what he wants? And indeed he does. As he's demanded to take the wife that he wants without question, without warning, here he scrapes out the honey from the carcass of a lion. Now, what's wrong with that? He's a Nazirite. This man has no regard for God's instruction. His appetite rules him, not God. He lacks self-control. He then even involves his parents in the sin, and that he gives them part of the honey, and again doesn't tell them. So we see God at work in His demanding. We even see God at work in His taking. Now we're going to see God at work in His mischievous nature. And this is where these riddles come in. He comes in and Samson prepares a feast. Now this is a unique feast. The Hebrew word here implies a drinking feast. Again, what's wrong with that? He's a Nazarite. He throws a drinking party. for his wedding. He has no regard. They give him 30 companions. Some people think this might be 30 people to kind of watch this guy. Because again, he's a foreigner. He doesn't have friends. He's in a different nation. He's in a different land. These could be 30 people to kind of keep an eye on him. So he's got 30 companions. And he decides to enter into a bit of a game. He wants to have fun with them. If you don't solve my riddle, you owe me 30 garments. Okay, he's gonna walk away a rich man with a full wardrobe. Or if you don't get my riddle, or if you do get my riddle, I'm gonna have to give you all a garment. That's a pretty high stakes gamble. Now he does have the upper hand. He's basing the riddle on a unique experience that no one knows about, right? No one else knows about the honey and the hive and the lion. And so at some level, he's making a good bet because he's the only one who has a clue what he'd be talking about. But another level, this is a big wager for him. And it gets worse. By the way, Samson's life can really be categorized or organized around the four women. His mom, who's been given the vision, or the message from the angel. The woman from Temna, another unnamed woman, who he marries, his wife, the woman he's supposed to marry. The prostitute, the next section, and then Delilah, the only one that's actually named. There's four women here, and here, the wife now, he's seeking the wrong kind of woman. Notice it talks about how she wept. You hate me, you don't love me. She's manipulating him and controlling him. Because her own people have turned her against him. And she presses in, verse 17, that's very important for the next section, next week. She pressed him hard, and so he told her, and she tells her people. And they respond. What's sweeter than honey? What's stronger than a lion? He responds back by insulting his wife. If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle. Now, that is just as offensive in that culture as it is ours. And then verse 19, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. All right. This man set apart by God to begin saving the people of Israel. God is, remember, God is going to use him and his decisions to bring about what God wants. But here he's gotten himself in a real pickle. He owes 30 garments. That is a hefty wage. That is a, that is a hefty debt. It's kind of amazing. This is his wedding. His wedding day is supposed to end how? With a wife. What does he end up with? A debt. Then he goes down to murder, and what does he leave without? A wife. He's foolish. He has nothing but compulsion, and he's erratic. He has no self-control. So the Spirit of the Lord comes down, and God saves him. He strikes down 30 men from the neighboring town. He brings their garments back, and he pays his debt. And notice he goes off in hot anger, verse 19. God is not blessing his disobedience. I believe we need to see very clear, God is using this as the occasion he wants to begin the salvation against the Philistines. The neighboring town would have been Philistines. God is using Samson to bring about his great plan. Let's continue, chapter 15, verse one. After some days at the time of wheat harvest, that's important. We haven't had any time frame so far, but the wheat harvest is important. Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. Now one pastor friend hypothesized that the young goat must be something like the equivalent of forgiveness flowers, like I'm sorry. He'd bring a young goat to give a sacrifice of I'm sorry for ruining our wedding. And he said, I will go into my wife in the chamber. But her father would not allow him because the father has given his wife to one of his companions. So her father says, I really thought you really hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Take her. This seems like the way of the pagan. Just give women away like they're objects. And Samson said to them, this time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do harm to them." Now this is a pretty amazing prank. He's gonna go catch foxes, tie their tails together, put torches in their tails, and let them run about in the time of the wheat harvest. Their primary source of food, they've planted, they've sown, they've even reaped and bundled much of it. It's all ruined. He attacks their very livelihood and source of life by burning up even the olive orchards. So what do the Philistines do? Who has done this? Verse 6, they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion, and the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. They act just like Philistines. They're very vindictive. They must have vengeance. This is the way they think they bring peace to the gods and to their own nation, is to continue being vicious. And what's sad is Samson acts just like them. So Samson to them, if this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you. After that, I will quit. I'm going to do to you the same. I'm going to go at him with a great blow, hip and thigh with a great blow. It sounds like he's twisting them in knots by beating them so badly. And then he left. And it's very clear, chapter 14, verse 4, this is of the Lord. This wedding, this, this, this pursuit of this woman is of the Lord, because God wanted to take the occasion for Samson to beat the Philistines. God is using this occasion of Samson's sin to actually bring about his will. Let's not lose focus there, or that, that intention. Let's keep going. God has given Samson victory. God has worked in the middle of Samson's demands, his taking. Now I want you to see, really in verse 9, God gives Samson a great victory. The Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. And the men of Judah said, why have you come up against us? And they said, we have come up to bind Samson to do to him as he did to us. Again we see that vindictiveness, the vengeance. Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the Rock of Edom and said to Samson, do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? That when this, what then is this that you have done to us? And he said to them, as they did to me, so I have done to them. He thinks like a Philistine. And they said to him, why have you come down to bind you? We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves. They said to him, no, we will only bind you and give you into their hands. He will surely not kill you. We will surely not kill you. So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him again. And the ropes that were on his arms became as flax as caught fire. And his bones melted off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey and put out his hand and took it. And with it he struck one thousand men. And Samson said, with the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men. As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand, and that place was called Ramoth-Leha. A couple interesting things here is the Philistines, they go to do business with Judah. Judah is a tribe of Israel, the most significant tribe in the sense that the king, the true champion, has been promised he will come from the tribe of Judah. While Samson is hiding in the rocks of the mountain, the Philistines come up and they oppress Judah more in the city. And what Judah could do here is turn and say, Samson, deliver us. God, would you help us? But instead what they do is they betray the man God has raised up to deliver them. They decide to do business rather than pray. They still are not crying out to God. And so the men of Judah go up to Samson and they make a deal with him. Can we take you down to the Philistines? And he makes them make a promise. You yourself will not attack me. So they give him new ropes. The Spirit of the Lord rushes upon him. The bonds melt off his hands. And then he takes a fresh jawbone of a donkey. This is his weapon of choice. What's wrong with him choosing that weapon? He's a Nazirite. He's not supposed to touch anything unclean. But here we see the power of God He's not deterred by his sinfulness. He's not deterred by Samson's lack of faithfulness. He is faithful. He uses this occasion to strike down a thousand men, to have vengeance, to deliver his people. It shows how great God is. Now we could tell the story and talk about how great it is when the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon you so you can strike down a thousand men. We could be amazed by the mightiness of Samson, but that's not the point. We should be amazed by how quick Judah is to betray God and the one he's chosen to deliver them. We can be amazed by how quick God has appointed, how quickly the one who's appointed by God, that is Samson, to ignore God's word. We can be amazed by how God is so faithful to help, even in the midst of all this denying him. He has sought the opportunity He has made the opportunity, and the sin has not changed his plan. Finally, this very odd story, well told by the narrator. This is an amazing story. It comes to a conclusion. And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord. This is the only actual acknowledgement we've had so far by Samson of God in any way. He's famished, he's wore out, he's at a weak moment, and so he calls upon the Lord, and he acknowledges something that's good. You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant. Remember last week we talked about how it's, you know, Samson's in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11. He's described as a man of faith. We can see here, he has faith that God does give salvation. There's a faith that God is going to accomplish his purposes. He has no faith that he should commit himself to the manner of life that God has prescribed for him though. You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant. Okay, that's good. He's acknowledging God's sovereignty. But, but now he, he starts to sound like an Israelite in the wilderness. You can hear the echo of Israel right after they were saved from Egypt. And shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? That last one really has just a bitter taste of irony. He's the one who went down to Timna and put himself in the hands of the Philistines. He's the one who made a silly game with the Philistines. He's the one who committed to marry a Philistine. He's the one who re-engaged and caused all kinds of trouble with those Philistines. And now he's going to say, God are you going to let me die to beheader of the Philistines? When I know you're the one who keeps putting yourself in the hands of the Philistines, God is the one who keeps saving you. And there's even accusation, are you now going to let me die? Are you not good, God? How merciful God is. Look at verse 19. I would have smited him. Side note, we're moving on. And God split open the hollow place, that is at Lehi, and water came out, and he drank, and his spirit returned, and he was revived. God helped him. That question is accusatory. That question is complaining and grumbling. And even in the middle of complaining and grumbling, God gives him what he needs, and he's revived. Oh, Samson. Let's see what happens next. Therefore the name of it was called Enhachore. All right. That name means, I called out. Usually when you name something after God has done something good for you, it's usually God, you're the one who sees me. God, you're the one who hears me. God, you're the provider. The subject of the name that Samson gives is I. I call it out. Who just got the glory? Samson. The frustration is that I'm too much like this guy. It's amazing. He ignores God. He does whatever he wants to do. He gets in a little trouble. He cries out. And then he says, you're welcome God. I cried out. I'm going to get the glory. It's incredible how clear sin is in this story. And it's clear how God is so merciful and faithful in the midst of unfaithfulness. All right, so let's think of some applications here. Let's think of why we should be thinking of the story. First, should we look at this story, as with other stories in the Bible, as models for how to live? This is a common way that we look at stories. Stories in general, is this the way we should look at the Bible? Okay, if we're gonna look at Samson and make a bracelet, what would Samson do? Okay, let's ignore God's word. Let's don't worry about his restrictions at all. He probably didn't mean it anyway. Let's then expect him to always help us no matter what kind of problem we get ourselves into, and then let's boast when we actually do look up to God and pray. That's what would Samson do. No, this is a perfect story for somebody who wants to protect their own sin, who wants to remain in their selfishness to say, this is what I'm gonna be like. No. Again, the Bible isn't a story of heroes. The Bible is a story of broken, twisted, sick people. The Bible is full of people who need help. He gets himself in trouble, God gets him out, and he's a faithful God. He has a bigger purpose, to save his nation. If you're not a Christian this morning, It's important you understand that the Bible, it only tells the story of one righteous person. There's only one good human being. It's Jesus Christ. He's the only one who ever lived a perfect life without sin. But what's amazing is you know about Jesus, He died on the cross. The cross was reserved for the worst criminal to be a place of severe punishment and shame. How is it that that perfectly righteous Savior, Jesus Christ, who's the opposite of Samson, how is it that if He was so perfect, why did He die such a painful, shameful death? It's all according to God's plan. You see, the shame and pain of the actual cross was nothing compared to the wrath of God being poured upon His own Son, Jesus Christ. Because He came to live the life we refuse to live. He came to obey the commands we refuse to acknowledge. He came to die the death and suffer the wrath we deserve. So one day we're gonna have to stand before God and give an account for our sins. And that's gonna mean an eternity of judgment. Unless Christ says, I have come to take upon the wrath that he or she deserves, they're forgiven. They're one of ours, Father. My blood has washed them. I have taken on their sin. I have taken on their guilt. They get to come home. There's no way to be forgiven. There is no other way for your sin to be removed from you. There is no other way for your guilt to be taken away. We are all like Samson. We all need a real Savior, the only champion, Jesus Christ. You must believe that you're a sinner. The church isn't for good people. It's for sinners who come before God and say, I need help. It's for folks who realize what the law says is good but can't do it. We need God to forgive us and empower us. You must believe in Jesus. Do not leave here without talking to someone about that, please. The point is not to be like Samson However, we need to realize that he is a reflection of Israel's sin. He is the leader they deserve. Israel's called out, empowered, and instructed. He is called out, empowered, and instructed. He set apart, and it's amazing how many times he completely ignores what God has set him apart for. He goes into a vineyard. He takes the honey from the carcass. He throws a drinking party. He grabs the jawbone of a donkey. Think about his wedding. It's supposed to be a time of celebration, but he turns it into a melee of, he has to go kill 30 people. He leaves hot and angry. Sin is self-destructive. As we look to Samson and see he reflects Israel, we all of a sudden realize he reflects us. We're very selfish. We like to be self-indulging. When we don't look to God's Word and trust God, what do you want me to do and what kinds of things do you want me to keep myself from? We make excuses. You know, I'm special. I can handle this movie. I don't need to keep myself pure in eye and ear. I'm mature enough. Really? You think you're so mature you can listen to things and see things that God's Word clearly restricts you from? It's like Samson. That's immaturity, foolishness. Young men, it's too easy to think, I want to be a strong guy like Samson. No, realize this guy is so weak. The strength you want, young men, is to have character, which comes from discipline and self-control. Be self-controlled. Young ladies, don't look for some guy who looks strong on the outside. Look for a man who has self-control. As Israel is being warned of their sin, church, we must be warned of ours. Do we boast in the position God has set us apart in? We've been transferred from the domain of darkness and the kingdom of the Lord's Son. Do we really rejoice in that? Do we love His laws that tell us what to do and what not to do? Or are we denying ourself, carrying the cross, and following Jesus in a way that pours ourselves out like Jesus does? As we look at the story, Samson's really the secondary story, the character in the story. Primary character is God. The primary focus that we should have is to walk away and realize God's grace is great. His purposes always come to fruition. There's really two kinds of people that are challenged here when we think of Samson and the fact that God would use them. First is the person who thinks too much of himself. You know, this person comes in and thinks, you know, I have so much to offer God. I have so many strengths. I have so many talents. I just can't wait for God to use everything I've got. No, that person thinks too much of themselves. The other person says, I'm useless. I have nothing to offer. I don't know if God could ever use me. That person also thinks too much of themselves. It's not about us. If God can use Samson in his sin, in his weakness, God can use us. It's not what we bring to the table. It's the very fact that the Holy Spirit will come upon us and use us. And I want to say it very clearly. The goal is not to be amazed if God would actually use us in the middle of sin. No, the goal is to set ourselves apart in such a way that we're ready to be used because we've been living the kind of life that's sanctified. Again, I'll point to the young men Look at 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. Are you setting yourself apart to think, here's the kind of man I want to be, that God might actually call me to be a leader, an elder? That kind of quality of character? One of the key things in Titus, you'll see the word, the exhortation to be self-controlled over and over again. But again, the main point here, God is great. He's gracious. His purposes come to fruition. The judgment He wants to bring, He brings, and nothing hinders it. The salvation He wants to bring, He brings, and nothing hinders it. What God has chosen to do, He brings about. Our sins, there are many. His mercy is more. What an anthem. Our sin, even our sin, our own unfaithfulness does not cause His plan of salvation to fail for us where our sin abounds, His grace abounds. Let's consider how we will do two things. One, rejoice. Rejoice in this God who has decided to set Himself towards us to love us and save us. Rejoice. That plan cannot be changed. He has set Himself towards it. And secondly, how do we then now live in that plan according to what He has instructed? Those are the two things I hope we walk away with today. Let's pray. Father, we thank You, Lord, that You are a great and mighty God that has saved sinners. Lord, help us reflect upon the sin of Samson and realize how we are too much like this selfish, self-indulgent, childish, demanding person whom you've set apart, whom you chose to use, and whom you still use by your grace. Let's reflect how great it is that even while we're sinners, you loved us. Even while we still sin, you still love us. Thank you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.