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welcome to everyone it's good to be back in the house of our God you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 124 for our call to worship psalm 124. mm-hmm I'll begin reading in verse one a song of a sense of David if it had not been the Lord who was on our side let Israel now say if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us then they would have swallowed us alive when their wrath was kindled against us then the waters would have overwhelmed us the stream would have gone over our soul then the swollen Waters would have gone over our soul blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth our soul has escaped as a bird From The Snare of the Fowlers the snare is broken and we have escaped our help is in the name of the Lord who made Heaven and Earth amen will turn in your hymn books to Psalm 138 Psalm 138 be as in bravo and will stand as we sing together [Music] give me more my days praise God [Music] thank you Lord forever okay [Music] all right [Music] Glory [Music] letters before [Music] your ideas [Music] our glory is [Music] the Lord foreign [Music] let us pray our blessed God and Father we thank you for this beautiful day we thank you for the privilege to gather again in your house on your day to worship you in spirit and in truth we we confess that you are most high that you are from Everlasting to Everlasting we confess that you are Father Son and Holy Spirit one living and true God most glorious most wondrous and most worthy to be praised we ask tonight that you would bless our worship time together we pray that your spirit would be upon us that you would produce in us that reverence for you and that joy and Thanksgiving that is fitting to to express to such a good and gracious God we acknowledge your handiwork in the created order we see your power and your sovereignty displayed in in Providence and we rejoice in your grace and mercy displayed to us demonstrated to us in the gospel of our Salvation we thank you for the coming of the son of man we thank you for his life and his death and his resurrection we thank you for his current session at your right hand and we do look forward to his his coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead and we ask God in heaven that you would be pleased to bless the preaching of your word as it goes forth throughout the Earth that there would be a great multitude prepared and ready for when Jesus comes again in glory we ask you would look with favor with mercy and Grace upon our children and upon our young people we pray that by Grace they would remember their creator in their youth we ask that you would strengthen and encourage each of us we confess at times Lord God a weariness in this present evil age and yet we look at a Psalm like we read and we see that the god of Heaven and Earth fights for us the god of Heaven and Earth is our is our portion and our lot and As We Gather now we come into your presence we acknowledge your absolute and utter Holiness we see that the scriptures declare that you are righteous that your eye is too pure to look approvingly upon any evil and so we confess our remaining corruption we know that we are called to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel and yet father we find in us that that remaining corruption that sin that that breach of your holy law so we confess that now and we trust in the advocacy of our Blessed Redeemer at the right hand of the father we thank you for those words of John that if we confess our sins you are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness he goes on to exhort that we may that we do not said but if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the father even Jesus Christ the righteous so God cleanse us now in that precious blood and for any and all here tonight that is still dead in their trespasses and sins we pray that you would awaken them that the Holy Spirit would come and produce that conviction for sin and set forth Christ in his in his ability to save to the uttermost as well God we pray for the temporal needs in our congregation we continue to ask that you would look with favor upon the sick among us we pray that you would strengthen each one and though the inner man or the outer man does Decay May the inner man be renewed day by day we pray for our sister Stephanie that you would just continue to watch over her and this little baby in the womb we pray that all would go well and that there would be great rejoicing in their home as well God we pray for our our sister churches and Surrey and in Armstrong and in Dryden we thank you for the churches in Honduras and pray God that they would know your blessing they would know your encouragement and your strength and that you would use each of these to proclaim the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to a lost and Dying World we pray for other churches here in our community we thank you for the alliance that we forged over the last several years we pray for your blessing upon the free Reformed Church that you would uphold them you would encourage them that you would bless Pastor coopman be with Pastor champ as well and use him for your glory and the the free Reformed Church in Abbotsford and God may it be the case that all these all these pulpits would be on fire with the the word of the living and true God and that sinners in this Lower Mainland would be called out of darkness and a Marvelous Light to proclaim the excellencies of God Almighty and our father we pray for your blessing upon the persecuted church we know there is great suffering in this world we know that the people of God face oppression and persecution and violence and all sorts of evil we pray that you would be merciful that you would encourage that you would strengthen that you would fortify them to continue to persevere in the midst of great Calamity we pray for the situation situation in Myanmar she would continue to surround that Orange Grove with your had your protection you would continue to bless Peter and the others as they Minister the word and as they care for the orphan and the Widow as well God we pray for the nation of China we know that they face great difficulty there we pray for the underground church that they would remain faithful and steadfast and that there would be many many more converts in that land and God be merciful to that nation of Cuba we pray for the church is there that they would continue to grow that they would continue to Proclaim Christ and him crucified and resurrected and that they would do so for the glory of God Almighty and Lord finally we pray for our nation we know that there is increasing difficulty and hardship here we pray for our civil government that you would put the fear of God in their hearts we know that these are days in which the prophet are similar to which the prophet Isaiah lived when he said woe to those who call good evil and evil good we see the celebration of abortion and euthanasia and sexual perversion and all kinds of wickedness and lawlessness and ultimately Lord we don't look to these political leaders to fix things we look to the power of the Christian Gospel to change men from within so God bless that word as it goes forth from sea to Sea may it run swiftly may it be glorified and may you be pleased almighty God to extend that Kingdom of Jesus Christ here on on Earth and we pray in his most blessed and wonderful name amen we can turn with me again in your hymn books to 153 153 will stand as we sing together foreign [Music] today is [Music] conversations [Music] thank you the spirits and our lives [Music] Christine [Music] is free please [Music] Glory Jesus Christ [Music] well you can turn in your Bibles with me to the Book of Numbers we're in Numbers chapter 35 for our scripture reading this evening Numbers Chapter 35. I'll begin reading in verse 1. and the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho saying command the children of Israel that they give the Levites cities to dwell in from the inheritance of their possession and you shall also give the Levites common land around the cities they shall have the cities to dwell in and their common land shall be for their cattle for their herds and for all their animals the common land of the Cities which you will give the Levites shall extend from the wall of the city outward a thousand cubits all around and you shall measure outside the city on the east side two thousand cubits on the south side two thousand cubits on the west side two thousand cubits and on the North side two thousand cubits the city shall be in the middle this shall belong to them as common land for the cities now among the cities which you will give to the Levites you shall appoint six Cities of Refuge to which a manslayer May flee and to these you shall add 42 cities so all the cities you will give to the Levites shall be 48. these you shall give with their common land and the cities which you will give which you will give shall be from the possession of the children of Israel from the larger tribe you shall give many from the smaller you shall give few each shall give some of its cities to the Levites in proportion to The Inheritance that each receives then the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the children of Israel and say to them when you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan then you shall appoint cities to be Cities of Refuge for you that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally May flee there they shall be Cities of Refuge for you from the Avenger the demand Slayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment and of the Cities which you give you shall have six Cities of Refuge you shall appoint three cities on this side of the Jordan and three cities you shall appoint in the land of Canaan which will be Cities of Refuge these six cities shall be for refuge for the children of Israel for the stranger and for the Sojourner among them that anyone who kills a person accidentally May flee there but if he strikes him with an iron Implement so that he dies he is a murderer the murderer shall surely be put to death and if he strikes him with a stone in The Hand by which one could die and he does die he is a murderer the murderer shall surely be put to death or if he strikes him with a wooden hand Weapon by which one could die and he does die he is a murderer the murderer shall surely be put to death the Avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death when he meets him he shall put him to death if he pushes him out of hatred or while lying in wait hurl something at him so that he dies or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies the one who struck him shall surely be put to death he is a murderer the Avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him however if he pushes him suddenly without an enmity or throws anything at him without lying in wait or uses a stone by which a man could die throwing it at him without seeing him so that he dies while he was not his enemy or seeking his arm then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the Avenger of blood according to these judgments so the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the Avenger of blood and the congregation shall return him to the City of Refuge where he had fled and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the Holy oil but if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the City of Refuge where he fled and the Avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his City of Refuge and the event and the Avenger of blood kills the manslayer he shall not be guilty of blood because he should have remained in his City of Refuge until the death of the high priest but after the death of the high priest the manslayer May return to the land of his possession and these things shall be a statute of judgment to you throughout your Generations in all your dwellings whoever kills a person the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death but he shall surely be put to death and you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his City of Refuge that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest so you shall not pollute the land where you are for blood defiles the land and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it except by the blood of him who shed it therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit in the midst of which I dwell for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel amen well here we see the allotments with reference to the Levites they did not by tribe inherit a particular parcel but they receive from the other tribes that place or those places where they would live and then this requirement with reference to the Cities of Refuge and the sort of rationale behind this is to distinguish between murder and manslaughter and old Covenant Israel like in sort of New Covenant Jello act there are those accidental homicides that once in a while occur somebody takes their acts out and they go to swing it at a tree and the ax head flies off and buries itself in their neighbor's head there was no malice of forethought there was no premeditation there was no enmity so that's not murder rather that is manslaughter so the Cities of Refuge were appointed for that particular eventuality and I think the idea behind it was to stress that be responsible if at all possible make sure your ax head is connected firmly to your uh to the uh the the shaft of the acts so that there is some sort of repercussion if you engage in accidental homicide but if it's if it's not accidental if it's an intentional murder well then you see the absolute penalty is the death penalty and then toward the end of the chapter it says no Ransom or no sacrifice can be made in a capital crime such as murder now I realize the Old Testament has been sort of fulfilled by our blessed savior we are in this uh the old Covenant we are in this new covenant setting but the Noah Covenant is universal it is binding upon all men everywhere at all times and the Noah Covenant stipulates execution for the crime of murder whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood will be Shed from the image of God he made man the sword that the magistrate possesses in Romans chapter 13 is not simply a symbol but rather it is that aspect of his government wherein he executes criminal offenders in the body politic it ought to cause us a great deal of concern that this is never an issue within our political leaders none of them have any sort of policy or design to deal with criminal elements in the in society I would argue that's one of their foundational requirements civil government isn't there to school you to take care of your health to make sure that you don't get sick civil government there is there to punish evil doers that's the emphasis in Romans chapter 13 not to celebrate evil doers not to rejoice in evildoers but rather to provide a context where non-evil doers can live and move and have their being without threat of being murdered or raped or having other sorts of things happen to that and again you've got to see the necessity behind this in this particular passage look at verse 33 so you shall not pollute the land where you are for blood defiles the land and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it except by the blood of him who shot it that we absolutely have disregarded this principle in the West does not bode well in terms of our future in terms of the way things ought to go we are a nation that has abandoned the god of Heaven and Earth we've abandoned his law we celebrate murder instead of punishing it we celebrate perversion instead of punishing it we celebrate the wickedness and all the while we are now entering into a phase we're actually penalizing the decent and the good we ought to be a prayerful people with reference to our civil government that God would put it in their hearts to do what is right to do what is lawful according to his word and not what will simply Garner them votes and uh secure their particular Prestige or or power well let us pray Our God and our father we thank you for your word we see it's Clarity with reference to matters of punishment in the in a civil polity and yet God we see in our own Western World such a departure from such things we see so much wickedness and so much evil and yet father we know that ultimately you are sovereign you are over these things help us as the church and as people to be faithful to shine his lights in this crooked and perverse generation to hold forth your word of Truth as we have opportunity and increase our courage increase our boldness and cause us to bring Glory and Honor unto you and we ask through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen well you can turn with me to 421 in your hymn book 421 and again we'll stand as we sing together [Music] somebody [Music] living things [Music] foreign [Music] blessings [Music] [Applause] [Music] Happy New Year foreign [Music] what about your blessings [Music] mercy of History [Music] we can turn with me the Book of Judges Judges chapter 16. we're going to take a break from our studies in the book of Ephesians God willing will return to that in a month or two we'll do some random things on Sunday nights over the summer time we looked at judges 15 two weeks ago Samson's victory over the Philistines at Jawbone height tonight we see Samson's victory over the Philistines at Gaza so Judges chapter 16 I'll begin reading in verse 1. now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into her when the gazites were told Samson has come here they surrounded the place and lay and wait for him all night at the Gate of the city they were quiet all night saying in the morning when it is daylight we will kill him and Samson lay low till midnight then he arose at midnight took hold of the doors of the Gate of the city and the two gate posts pulled them up bar and all put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of sorek whose name was Delilah and the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her entice him and find out where his great strength lies and by what means we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him and every one of us will give you 1100 pieces of silver so Delilah said to Samson please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you may be bound to afflict you and Samson said to her if they bind me with seven fresh bow strings not yet dried then I shall become weak and be like any other man so the Lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bow strings not yet dried and she bound him with them now men were lying in wait staying with her in the room and she said to him the Philistines are upon you Samson but he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire so the secret of his strength was not known then Delilah said to Samson look you have mocked me and told me lies now please tell me what you may be bound with so he said to her if they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used then I shall become weak and be like any other man therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him the Philistines are upon you Samson and men were lying in wait staying in the room but he broke them off his arms like a thread Delilah said to Samson until now you have mocked me and told me lies tell me what you may be bound with and he said to her if you weave the Seven Locks of my head into the web of the Loom so she wove it tightly with the Baton of the Loom and said to him the Philistines are upon you Samson but he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the Baton and the web from the loom then she said to him how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me you have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies and it came to pass when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vexed to death that he told her all his heart and said to her no razor has ever come upon my head for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother's womb if I am shaven then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart she sent and called for the Lords of the Philistines saying come up once more for he has told me all his heart so the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand then she lulled them to sleep on her knees and called for 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 so he awoke from his sleep and said I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free but he did not know that the Lord had departed from him then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza they bound him with bronze Fetters and he became a grinder in the prison however the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven now the Lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their God and to rejoice 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 so 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 two between the pillars then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand 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 three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson perform then Samson called to the Lord saying O 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 from my two eyes and Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple and embraced 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 ashtail in the Tomb of his father Manoa he had judged Israel 20 years amen well let us pray Our God again we thank you for your word we thank you that all scripture is given by inspiration of God that it's profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousness and may we see here in this passage the glory the strength the power of God Almighty enabling his servants to serve him well we ask that you would guide us by the power of your Holy Spirit again forgive us for all of our sin and unrighteousness and bless our time together now we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen well this is the last section in the Samson cycle so the Samson cycle is Chapter 13 Verse 1 to chapter 16 and verse 31. and basically you have the birth of Samson in chapter 13. go back there for just a moment we can see what the nature of his particular Mission would be in terms of his judgeship over Israel remember the judges at the time of the judges were not like you know Judge Wapner at the People's Court banging his gavel listening to sort of minor complaints within the Civil polity but the judges functioned in sort of a kingly or monarchical manner they protected Israel there are cycles that you see throughout the Book of Judges the people of God sin against God God then chastises them by raising up a foreign oppressor and then the people repent or cry out over the pain and the distress and then God raises up a judge to deliver that so that's the function of the judges in Israel it's more kingly than it is circuit court so notice what Judges 13 says concerning the mission of Samson verse 5 for behold you shall conceive and bear a son and no razor shall come upon his head for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines the judges in general are typical of our Lord Jesus they prefigure the salvation of God that we find in the New Covenant Sam exemption specifically is a type of our Lord Jesus you could compare this with Matthew chapter 1 and verse 21 concerning the birth Narrative of Our Lord for he will save his people from their sins that's precisely what the nature of Samson's judgeship is so chapter 13 deals with his birth chapter 14 is his marriage in timna chapter 15 is his betrayal and then his victory over Philistines in a Jawbone height and then we have that same pattern here in Gaza so in the last lesson or the last message in chapter 15 the end of chapter 14 you see Victory Samson savages the Philistines according to Samson the only good Philistine is a dead one and he kills a bunch of them at the end of chapter 14. well then he's betrayed in chapter 15 by his father-in-law but even worse by Judah Judah gives him up to the Philistines well that's the Vantage Point by which he then slayed is a thousand Philistines same sort of thing happens here God uses Delilah and this betrayal to bring Samson into close contact with these Philistines that he brings death upon so I want to look at chapter 16 under three heads first the removal of the city's gates in verses one to three second the departure of the Living God in Verses 4 to 21 and then finally the destruction of the enemies of God in verses 22 to 31. now let's look first at the removal of the city's Gates and hopefully disa value of the notion that Samson is in the language of a of a popular and and very much utilize New Old Testament introduction uh the the book by Dillard and Longman it's an Old Testament introduction probably used in conservative seminaries conservative Bible colleges all over the all over the world they say of Samson he is he is full of self-indulgence and refuses to control his sexual appetite that's not what we find when we look at Judges 13 to 16. of course some suggest that he goes into physically uh in a conjugal manner this Harlot at Gaza but that's not what's happening here in chapter 16 verses one to three notice in the first place it is in fact the city of Gaza it's a chief city of the of philistia notice in verse 1 Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went into her again that is a convention utilized in the Bible to speak of sexual Congress but not every instance it's not ever it's not always the case that that language suggests that there has been sexual activity the fact that he went into her the fact that persons assumed that he was sexually Unfaithful the fact that Dillard and Longman right is full of self-indulgence and refuses to control his sexual appetite is to read into the text a meaning or to read into the text and idea or to read into the tax assumption that we carry to it when we look at this phrase used throughout the Old Testament again it can mean that but it doesn't necessarily mean that and I would suggest based on leaning on a fellow by the name of Gordon Hegenberger he has a great uh essay in a book called from creation to New Creation biblical Theology and exegesis it's called Samson and the Harlot at Gaza judges 16 1-3 he argues that he was not sexually Unfaithful he argues that the going in here was similar to the spies at the time of Joshua 2. remember in Joshua chapter 2 Joshua sends out two spies to do what to conduct a reconnaissance mission of the city of Jericho to find out whether or not they would be able to gain Victory there and so the two spies go to the city of Jericho they end up at the house of a harlot and they go into that house when they go into that house I don't think of any Christians believe that they a sort of engaged in sexual sort of uh permissiveness there I don't think any Christians would argue that those two spies were were unfaithful to Yahweh and engaged in some sort of sexual sin well when we read that Samson goes into her it's not necessarily the case that it was sexual or sinful in nature consider the following pieces of evidence in terms of Joshua 2 and judges 16. the narratives are introduced with the sequence of went and saw the woman to whom they come is identified as a woman a prostitute the expression came to and went into is used to describe what the spies and Samson did with reference to the woman the report of the presence of the spies and Samson is given in the same words the spies and Samson are in the city during the night in both instances mention is made of The City Gate which plays a prominent role in the futile attempt to keep the spies and Samson out of the Cities the spies and Samson lie down in the home of the Harlot the spies and Samson both leave for the Hill Country when they heart when there's that many parallels between a between passages we ought to assume that it's telling us something it's the same convention it's the same situation Samson the defender of Israel is not there to engage in sexual sin Samson the defender of Israel is there to engage in Warfare against the Philistines and the activity that he undertakes evidence is that to be the case in terms of the city Gates hugenberger says Samson intention for coming to the Harlot at Gaza was deliberately the same as the intention of Joshua's spies for coming to Rahab the Harlot at Jericho to take an appropriate step that would enable the divinely approved work of dispossession to begin he's fighting for Israel he takes cover in a in an unlikely place though the gazaites the Philistines heard that he went there so notice what happens in terms of verse two when gazites were told Samson has come here they surrounded the place in Land wait for him all night at the Gate of the city they were quiet all night saying in the morning when it is daylight we will kill him they must have read Dillard and Longman they must have thought that Samson was there for sexual reasons they must have thought that Samson would be there all night long indulging a sexual appetite pre-critical commentators do not make this this lame the Geneva Bible says they went there because she was a vicular she had food the the historian Josephus says after his fight Samson held the Philistines in contempt and came to Gaza and took up lodgings at a certain end they don't believe her they don't teach or they don't think that that Samson was unfaithful with reference to this particular woman and then notice that the gazites learn of his presence they surround the place and they purpose to kill him in the morning again thinking he's going to be there all night satisfying and gratifying his carnal lusts but that's not what happens that's not his intention that's not his purpose that's not his strategy that is in his tactic he's there to kill Philistines he's there to try to Rouse the interest of Judah to participate with him in the killing of Philistines look at verse 3 Samson lay low till midnight they weren't expecting that they thought he would be there tucked in till morning and then they would seize him and then they would kill him which again follows if he's a man driven by sexual lust but if he's a man's driven by the glory of God and the protection of Israel then his actions make perfect sense so Samson lay low till midnight then arose at Mid then he arose at midnight took hold of the doors of the Gate of the city and the two gate posts pulled them up bar and all put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron this was a Herculean task you ask well how does he do it I don't know the man that was able to kill all those Philistines with the Jawbone of an ass the man that was able to tie those torches to the foxes and and burn down the standing grain and Philistine Philistine contrary I don't know God's power was upon Him such that he was able to do this but the act itself is absolutely positively significant the fact that he takes away their Gates ancient cities had Gates they didn't have open immigration policies they didn't just let anybody wander in and then confer upon them the benefits that were requisite to persons that did such things no they defended their cities so what do you think is communicated when Samson takes these City Gates marches 40 miles up on a hill and then he faces toward Hebron he's communicating to Judah Heights come and help me let us dispatch these Philistines in Gaza Genesis 22 17 blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the Gate of their enemies the fact that he possesses the Gate of his enemies shows his power over them and again shows that he is Israel's leader and they should follow behind him hugenberger again says in keeping with the general symbolism of Genesis 22 17 and 2460 the removal of the gates to the summit of a hill in the direction of Hebron was an unmistakable demonstration of the subjugation of Gaza before Samson and his Lord you take the city's Gates away you won you bested them you beat them you're Victorious over them he says it was perhaps also a sign of the consequent vulnerability of the inhabitants of the chief city of philistia to the inhabitants of the chief city of Judah which tribe was responsible to dispossess Gaza If Only They would accept the leadership of Samson but instead of accepting the leadership of Samson they can't stand him why because they quite like life under Philistine oppression they quite liked life under that particular regime they got comfortable with the culture that was prevent uh prevalent and so instead of backing Sam said in the defeat of the Philistines they betray Samson and hand him over to the Philistines in chapter 15. and here we see when it comes to do business with the Philistines there's no Judah Heights present they probably saw him holding those cities Gates but they didn't run to his Aid they didn't say oh look he subjugated Gaza let's come and assist him in dispossessing that city of those wretched Philistines so Samson did not go into the Harlot at Gaza Samson went there for the purpose of a covert operation to take those City Gates and to communicate the fact that God was going to bring judgment to Bear upon that City and that Judah should stand behind them now notice next the departure of the Living God this is a sad account this is a sad situation this is what we know you know probably remember the best of Samson it's Samson and Delilah now before we proceed it's not wrong for Samson to have another wife now brother and I'm not suggesting Samson was without sin I'm not suggesting with he was wholly harmless and undefiled like our savior according to Hebrews 7. but he's not the guy that Dylan Longman suggests he is he's not the guy that so many Christians suggest that he is he's not the guy that so many pagans suggest that he is he's simply a man of God charged with defending the people of God from the enemies of God for him to have Delilah as a love interest isn't necessarily sinful he had been married lawfully initially and what happened to his wife and her father they were burned to death by the Philistines if he doesn't go into this of this Harlot at Gaza he's not engaged in any sexual infidelity it's not wrong for him to love Delilah we're not even sure that she was necessarily a Philistine Delilah is a Semitic name it could be the case that she was a Jewish could be the case that she wasn't even a Philistine so let's look at the departure of the Living God notice the background his love for her according to verse 4. afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the valley of sorek whose name was Delilah and the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her entice her or entice him and find out where his great strength lies and by what means we may overpower him then we may bind him to afflict him and every one of us will give you 1100 pieces of silver now Davis says whether she was a Philistine or Israelite does not matter it didn't even matter to Delilah all that mattered was Philistine money in the former account they threatened to burn his original wife or his first wife and her father now there's threat uh enticing her with money and this is a great deal of money the the Philistines offer her a positive incentive the uh I think which highlights the threat of the great threat posed by Samson so this would have been 5500 shekels of silver 1100 per Lord to this woman to betray Samson into their hand now as we move through this there's some puzzling stuff not least of which is verses six and seven so Delilah said to Samson please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you may be bound to afflict you hmm I think I'd have shut down that conversation right then and there what do you mean to afflict me honey that's not pillow talk that's not anything I'm used to that's not something I'm you know down with this right there shows you the weakness of Samson isn't Philistines even a thousand of them at Jawbone height the weakness of Samson isn't even 3 000 Philistines in the temple of Dagon the weakness of Samson is a pretty woman and this is what's going on in this particular exchange there are unsuccessful attempts three of that you see it in verses six to nine verses 10 to 12 and then verses 13 to 14. and the fact that she has the wherewithal the hutzpah as the Jews might say to say why are you mocking me why aren't you telling me the truth why aren't you doing what I'm asking you in light of the fact that Philistines had been there to capture him in light of the fact that they wanted to take him away and destroy him if anything Samson is quite the long-suffering fellow Samson is quite patient Samson has a degree of virtue that I think few men actually possess he's not the man that Dillard and Longman says he's the man that most of us kind of wish that we were who of us have that ability to not lash out in anger and say off with you woman I want nothing more to do with you so there's three unsuccessful attempts to try and bind him on the part of Delilah plying him now notice the successful attempt the fourth time in verses 15 to 28 verse 15 then she said to him how can you say I love you when your heart is not with me you have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies again Brethren this is a patient fellow what would you be doing at this point are you kidding me lady are you absolutely out of your mind this is nutty you are out of your out of your gourd if you think that I'm going to tell you my where my strength lies notice as well the persistent pestering and I think this is what wore them down well the text says so it came to pass when she pastored him daily with her words and pressed him so that his soul was vaxed to death go back to chapter 14 for just a moment Samson has this riddle and the Philistines again threaten his wife to find out the riddle and in 1415 it says but it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson's wife entice your husband that they may that he may explain the riddle to us or else we will burn you in your father's house with fire have you invited us in order to take what is ours is that not so then Samson's wife wept on him and said you only hate me you do not love me you have posed a riddle to the sons of my people but you have not explained it to me and he said to her look I have not explained it to my father and my mother so should I explain it to you now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted and it happened on the seventh day that he told her because she pressed him so much a commentator by the name of Daniel block says Samson may be able to uproot the gates of a major city and carry them 40 miles uphill but he cannot withstand The Wiles of a woman again this doesn't underscore he's a a bumbling fool with ungoverned loss he loves this woman he is long-suffering toward this woman notice he now confesses his secret in verse 17. that he told her all his heart and said to her no razor has ever come upon my head for I have been an azerite to God from my mother's womb if I am shaven then my strength will leave me and I shall become weak and be like any other man now he acknowledges a vow that he had taken and if you survey the scene and if you've listened to me at any point during this sermon and the one two weeks ago again Samson's not without sin Samson is not wholly harmless and undefiled but what was the sin here I think the sin goes back to his judgeship if his task as a judge is to protect Israel and to deliver them from Philistine bondage if his task is to kill Philistines then he better not give away his secret he better not jeopardize that particular Mission he better not call into question his ability to serve out and carry out the function of the Lord because if you ask the question of the text why does the Lord depart from him again many people out in the Christian world would say because he's a ratch and he's governed by his sexual lust no he's not is he any more wretched than any other man that's ever LED people no he's not in fact he's probably a lot more virtuous than a whole lot of man that ever a whole lot of men that ever LED people I mentioned the other time four times in the Samson narrative we find that the spirit of the Lord comes upon him there's just not many people in the Bible that get that kind of favor from God not suggesting thing that we don't get favor from God but for conspicuous references to the spirit of the Lord coming upon Samson so when we ask the question why does Yahweh apart from him because he jeopardized His function he jeopardized his role he jeopardized his task in the protection of the people that he was charged to protect so that's why we find the departure of Yahweh later on in the narrative that if we go back to verse 18 when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart she sent and called for the Lords of the Philistines saying come up once more for he has told me all his heart and then notice in verse verse 19 she lulled him to sleep on her knees and called for 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 so he awoke from his sleep and said I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free but he did not know that the Lord had departed from him that's a sad and pathetic scene isn't it when you look at this man this hero in Israel this judge who rules for 20 years see it's easy to read the very end of verse 31 and just glance over that a rule a rain a keeping a people peaceful and and safe for 20 years that is a Monumental task that he engaged at so at this point when the spirit or when God rather departs from him it is a real tragedy it is a real tragedy that he's betrayed by the woman that he loves and then Yahweh departs from him and then notice with reference to that departure verse 21 it says then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza they bound him with bronze Fetters and he became a grinder in the prison they treat him with the sort of contempt that you would expect for them to treat him with this is the Philistine response to their enemy this is the Philistine response to one who is struck at their economy in the burning of their grain who has struck at their religion in the burning of the grain that that Dagon and supposedly are allegedly over and in terms of getting rid of so many of their fellow Philistines they want to destroy him and so the gouging out of the eyes The Binding him with the bronze Cutters and the making of him a grinder in the prison that's the way Philistines dealt with Samson at that particular time and that brings us thirdly and finally to the destruction of the enemies of the Lord in each step of the way when Samson wants to marry the woman from timna his parents object but the narrator tells us this was from the Lord why because at every step of the way the Lord is getting Samson closer to the enemy if Judah is going to be a cowardice cowardice people if Judah is not going to go into battle if Judah is not going to take up the mantle and dispossess the land of the Canaanites somebody's got to do it somebody's got to obey God so God brings Samson into this close connection each and every time with the Philistines so that he can do it and that is precisely how the narrative Flows In This Place notice in the first place under the destruction of the enemies of the lord The Return of the Lord in verse 22. however the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven it's a sermon by Ian Paisley called haircut in the devil's barber shop and when he says or what he rehearses or just cites that text it's pretty inspiring I just commend that to you if you want to listen to that some down sometime down the road it's a it's a pretty rousing sermon on on Samson here but notice the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven this is a message of Hope for we the reader why because the hair was magic as long as he had hair he was able to defeat the Philistines no the hair wasn't magic in fact Davis says not that there was any magic in Samson's hair his strength came only from Yahweh however his hair was the sign of that strength and we must not sever the sign from the reality which it signifies so you see this is a great indicator a message of Hope to us the reader that Samson is got his strength back and Samson is going to deal a death blow to these Philistine enemies notice the sacrifice to Dagon look at Pagan Worship in verses 23 to 27. now the Lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their God and to Rejoice why because they have bested Samson and look at the language Our God has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy on the one hand what a great testimony concerning Sam said on the other hand what a miserable testimony concerning Judah Philistines are afraid of one man from The Covenant people of Israel the Philistines are in danger from one man out of that Nation where's Judah so much of this narrative is not only designed to promote the glory of God to show the faithfulness of Samson but to serve as a rebuke to those cowards that inhabit the nation of Israel that don't foray out into battle against their enemies and then notice 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 the one who multiplied our dead he was a great threat but look at their their their heresy here was Samson captured because of the glory of Dagon absolutely positively not Samson was captured because of the departure of Yahweh this is God's project this is God's government this is God's Providence they're celebrating Victory by the hand of Dagon when we know in reality it is Victory because of Yahweh of Israel and again it's ultimately demise for these Philistines notice the Vindication of God's honor in verses 28 and following well back to verse 25. 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 and Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand 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 three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed why do you think that part of the narrative to show us the glory of God to show us the wisdom of God how do you get rid of a bunch of Philistines bring them together to rejoice and day God remember jehu calling all of the ballists that that lived in Israel why don't we all get together and have a love fast toward Baal what happens when they all get together jehu has his troops around the place and they execute all the bailists so bring them together for a worship service let them get into their frenzy let them praise Dagon from whom all blessings flow so that they're under one location so that God through Samson can deal the death blow upon their heads notice Samson's prayer go back to his prayer in chapter 15. just for a moment notice in chapter 15 he kills a thousand uh Philistines with the Jawbone of the Donkey and as you might imagine he became very thirsty according to verse 18. so he cried out to the Lord and said you have given this great Deliverance by the hand of your servant and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised so God answered he split the hollow place that is in Lehigh water came out and he drank and his Spirit returned and he revived back to our text in 1628 then Samson called to the Lord saying O 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 now before we say well you know that's pretty greedy that's pretty selfish all he's concerned about is his two eyes he's concerned with the glory of God he's the judge of Israel appointed by God the gouging out of his eyes show the victory of God's enemies and as far as Samson's concerned that cannot stand as far as Samson's concerned he's going to offer up one more one more prayer Justice once God hear me and answer For Your Glory Samson's eyes here are in indicative of the glory of God most high and we know that because of the response of God God doesn't Thunder out from heaven and say it doesn't matter about your eyes it matters about my glory god answers him verse 29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported 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 debt that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life and before we go thinking that Samson committed suicide and what a Wretched Man that he was this isn't suicide This Is War it's not suicide when a man jumps on a live grenade to protect his fellows in a combat situation it's not suicide when a man takes out the enemies of Yahweh in order to protect the children of Israel listen to John Gill on this text he says as for his own death he did not simply desire that only as he could not be Avenged on his enemies without it he was willing to submit to it nor did he lay hands on himself and cannot be charged with being guilty of suicide and did no other than that then what was uh then what a man of Valor and public spirit will do I love that phrase listen to what Gil says this is what a man of Valor does he doesn't hide he doesn't run he doesn't you know cry and and snivel and and only value himself I saw a video this week of a stabbing in Toronto on a subway and when this fight broke out everybody around just ran Brethren instead of running we probably should try to help people once in a while or all the videos that we have of these horrific fights I've got a bit of encouragement put your phone down and go help people it doesn't matter to get a viral video while somebody's getting their head pounded in when you should put your phone down and come to the rescue Gil doesn't see oh Samson what an ethical dilemma did he kill himself this is what a man of Valor does this is what a general leading troops does this is what a king does the Monarch is out leading the troops he's not hiding in his castle he's not sniveling behind his wife's skirts he's out there are fighting he's out there dispatching Philistines he's out there doing the job that God called him to do there is a lack of Bravery in our world today not just in the church but certainly in the church as well we need to put down the phone quit looking for the viral video and actually help people who are getting pummeled to death he goes on to say who for the good of his country will not only expose his life to danger in common but for the sake of that will engage in a desperate Enterprise when he knows most certainly that he must perish in it besides Samson said this and did what he did under the direction and influence of the spirit of God and then I love this last statement because it's so perceptive and herein was a type of Christ who freely laid down his life for his people that he might destroy his and their enemies huh you mean Samson does something that Jesus would later do absolutely positively he's a type he's a savior in Israel he's come to vindicate his people he's come to free them from philistino Prussia that he dies in the midst of it is heroic it is absolutely virtuous we shouldn't Monday Morning Quarterback and say oh that was a that was a suicidal act turretin the reformed Faith the tradition says no it wasn't suicide it was an Act of Valor and then notice how the text summarizes him his brothers and all his father's household came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zora and ashtail in the Tomb of his father Manoa he had judged Israel 20 years this was an effective bit of Godly service on the part of a Spirit-filled man for the Vindication of the glory of God and for the protection of people in Israel even cowards even sissies even Nancy boys that instead of going behind him in battle against Philistines would betray him and give him over to the enemies of God almighty in conclusion we ought to appreciate in the judge's narratives as a whole the grace of God they send the oppressors come they cry out for help and the Lord brings Deliverance vis-a-vis through the Earthly judges through these men that are tasked with protecting Israel from their foreign enemies God's grace in the midst of the Book of Judges is absolutely amazing I mentioned this this morning when we're in the confession study he is long-suffering if you doubt that read judges read the Book of Judges and see these continual cycles of sin on the part of the people of God and as I mentioned when we're in chapter 15 they get to a certain low point in chapter 15 because prior to that in the various Cycles when the oppressor came they would cry out they didn't like midianite oppression they didn't like the fact that when they sowed crops the midianites would come and basically decimate everything they would cry out to God we get to this Philistine oppression they don't cry out to God out anymore they like Philistine oprahed they don't like Samson because he's going to upset the apple cart he's going to ruin the wonderful sort of situation that they have and yet in the midst of this God uses Samson to bring judgment to Bear upon their enemy vis-a-vis the uh the Philistines as well notice the Folly of idolatry I know that's not the main emphasis I know that's just a bit of a snapshot it's a bit of background it's a bit of a uh here's how they all got together but to ascribe praise to Dagon who's a fake for victory over Samson who's a threat shows how foolish idolatry is our God is in the heavens he does whatever he pleases and that is well Illustrated in the Samson narrative get him near the Philistines because Samson knows the only good Philistine is a dead one and when he's around them he gets rid of that and that's what God does throughout the Samson cycle the Philistines attribute Samson's captured the dagon's power the Philistines sing praises today God Brethren I would imagine they did so with anxious or with gusto or they did so with Ernest Nas I love the singing in our church I think it's wonderful but I've been in other churches it's like you want to look are we here to sing what are we doing open your mouth open your book and sing praise to God when the pagans or the heathens him their God in a way that that that exceeds the the people of God that's sad that's pathetic we actually have a reason to sing praises to our living and true God and as well the Philistines get this they glorify a god who couldn't protect them in his own house where are they during this Temple to today God you surely think that with home field advantage Dagon could stay the the enemies of philistia you would surely think that with that home field advantage Dagon would be successful in providing safety for these three thousand Philistines including the Lords of the Philistines I mean after all they're the Lords of the Philistines we have to afford them special protection they were the elitists then you got to make sure they they don't get hurt Dagon couldn't do it why because he's a fake in the book of Isaiah the prophet mocks the Babylonian idolaters they have to pick their gods up and put them on the carts they have to carry their gods Brethren it is good news that our God carries us and we don't have to carry him and then finally the faithfulness of Samson Samson appears in the book of Hebrews the Hall of faith in chapter 11 verse 32. Paul says for the time would fail me to tell Gideon and Barrick and Samson and Jaffa he looks at the period of the judges a period when a lot of people roll their eyes because it's a lot of blood it's a lot of guts it's a lot of killing I mean jail what does she do she she drives a tent Peg through Cicero's head I mean to me that stuff is inspiring but I guess there's some people out there that say oh we don't like that kind of Christianity we don't like that kind of the advancement of the kingdom of God interesting because Deborah the prophet Tess composed a song after that extolling her in the language that would be applied to Mary in the New Testament blessed are you among women that is predicated of jail the sturdy woman that took a tent bag I'm guessing she was sturdy to be able to drive this through Cicero's head one man actually calls that murder I wouldn't want to be that man well I'm not going to go that far but that was not murder Brethren Warfare is not murder we saw what murder is in numbers 35 malice a forethought premeditation and enmity in your enmity in your heart hatred toward one another standing in weight lying in weight actually going after them to try to that's not war war is legitimate homicide there's three instances of authorized homicide in the Bible uh War uh and you know that that's a you know another topic for another discussion in terms of what's a just war war self-defense and capital punishment those are three instances of lawful killing that the Bible sets forth so to say that JL committed Murder by driving a tent Peg through Cicero's head sisra is extolled later Sister we have every reason to believe that he engaged in rape of Israelite women it 10 Peg was the best thing happening for that fellow so when it comes to Samson when it comes to the period of the judges this was an expression of faith in the living and true God his mission he shall begin to be deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines his empowerment the Holy Spirit comes upon him to do the work that he engaged in and then the victory of Samson I quoted a lengthy quote from Davis a couple of weeks ago I'll just pick up the last bit say what you will about Samson at least he knew who the enemy was at least he knew Philistines were for fighting at least he didn't roll over and play dead in the warmth of the status quo as the Mighty Man of Judah did perhaps we will eventually get over our surprise at the kind of servants that Yahweh Delights to use and then the typical nature of Samson points us to the Savior gang points us to the one who shall save his people from their sins the one who does so through his death on the cross through his resurrection again the third day and if we fail to see that in this Samson narrative we need to see it we need to understand that when he brings that Temple down on these three thousand and the text tells us he saved more through his death than then in his life we need to hear Jesus Christ and his gospel in Judges chapter 16. well let us pray Our Father we thank you for your word we thank you for its Clarity we thank you for the fact that the people of God throughout the ages have expressed boldness and courage for God they've been empowered by the spirit to do these Mighty acts and we praise you that we are in that tradition help us Lord God to be faithful help us Lord God to be persevering help us Lord God to embrace which you have given to us in each of our vocations and callings and cause us to bring glory and honor and praise unto you go with us now watch over us in this coming week bless all of the brothers and sisters in this local church and may you be worshiped and praised as we gather together and in our families and we pray through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation