Our scripture text this evening will be from Judges chapter 16. Joshua, Judges, Ruth. Right in between Joshua and Ruth. We'll turn to Judges chapter 16 and we'll begin reading at verse 21 and we'll read to the end of the chapter. Judges chapter 16 beginning at verse 21. Then the Philistines took him, that is Samson, 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. And 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. And so it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may perform for us. And so they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. Then Samson said to the lad who had helped 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. Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, O Lord God, remember me, I pray. Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes. And 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 dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. And his brothers and his father's household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtoel in the tomb of his father Minoah. He judged Israel twenty years." Thus far the reading of God's holy word. What congregation would it help to have a little bit of background information before we look at the end of Samson's life? For before the end came the beginning and the middle. When we think of Samson, perhaps we think of the Nazarite vow that his parents took for him. Maybe you first think of his long hair. Most notably, probably, his strength. Maybe his victories over the Philistines. But something perhaps we don't consider all that often is that Samson's eyes had caused him trouble throughout all of his life. In fact, the first thing that we read about Samson after his birth, in Judges chapter 14 verse 1, was that Samson went down to Timnah and he saw a woman in Timnah, the daughters of the Philistines. And so here the author of Judges gives us a little bit of information that even Samson's parents didn't have. He says that it was the Lord was seeking a way to move against the Philistines. And so Samson goes back to his mother and father and he says to them, I've seen a woman from Timnah. She's of the daughters of Philistine. Now therefore go and get her to be my wife. He demands that his parents bring back an idolater for him to take in as his wife. And so his parents asked with much worry and surprise, is there not a woman among the daughters of your brethren? Or among all my people that you must go get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? Samson was asking to be unequally yoked with no apologies. In fact, Israel was in the new land, in the promised land. They were supposed to have gone through and decimated the people who were against the Lord. They were supposed to cleanse the land, that they could be in it free and clear. They were supposed to have removed all the idolaters within the land. But had they done it? They had not. The Lord had warned them before they entered the land about what would happen if they took to themselves wives from foreign countries. In Deuteronomy 7, verses 3 and 4, we read this. It's a prohibition from the Lord. After telling them not to make treaties with foreigners, He says, Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughters to their son, nor take their daughters for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. And so the anger of the Lord be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. And this is what Israel experiences over and over and over again in the book of Judges. They sin. They become like the other nations. The Lord punishes them. They cry out for mercy. He brings up a judge, a deliverer. And for a small time, Israel is at peace again. But it never lasts, and the cycle continues time and time again. So anyways, what is Samson's answer to his parents when they ask, is there not someone in Israel for you to marry? No, Samson demands of his father, get her for me, for she pleases me well. And as a sidebar, for those of us marrying age, let us not forget that dating is never a form of evangelism. Dating outside of the faith never ends well. And Samson's marriage didn't last long at all. After the debacle of the riddle, out of the eater came something to eat. Samson's wife is given to his best man. And we never even learn what his wife-to-be's name was. All we know is that Samson saw her and he demanded to have her. The man who had been set aside for a special level of purity by the Nazirite vows which his parents had taken, he lets his roving eyes take him outside of the covenant community. You see, Deuteronomy 6 gives us some of the demands of the Nazirite vow. There was no drinking of alcohol whatsoever. One who took a Nazirite vow was never to cut their hair. One who took a Nazarite vow was never to go near dead bodies. And they were told to make several offerings. One who took a Nazarite vow was supposed to be set apart for a special level of purity amongst God's people. But the text tells us explicitly, again, in chapter 16, verse 1, that Samson saw a woman. She was a harlot, and he made use of her profession. And finally, Samson falls in love with Delilah, whom we all know well. And his way with women was well known enough amongst his peers that Samson's enemies tell her in Judges 16 verse 5, 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 eleven hundred pieces of silver. And so after four tries, Delilah's whining breaks down Samson. And he shares his Nazarite vow with her, something that he should have been doing from the very get-go of their relationship. Hi, I'm Samson. I've taken vows of purity. But it's certainly not the way he was living his life. But Samson lets her know his secret. She has his head shaved and his strength leaves him. And we find out why in Judges 16 verse 20. It says there that the Lord departed from him. So Samson's roving eyes had finally completely done him in. The Philistines gouged out his eyes and they made him a grinder of wheat while he remained in prison. But what's interesting is now with his eyes gone, perhaps Samson is seen more clearly than he ever had before. As the Philistines gathered from peasant to king to celebrate their victory over their archenemy, God will use this opportunity to move against the wicked Philistines in judgment. And so this afternoon we note that Samson sees the judgment of the Philistines with new eyes. And we'll see this through three points. First, a false hope. Second, a true hope. And third, real judgment. A false hope, a true hope, and real judgment. So first, the false hope. As we pick up this story of Samson today, we see in verses 23 and 24 that the lords of the people of Philistia had gathered to celebrate their great victory over Samson. They were rejoicing by sacrificing to their God, Dagon. And they cried out, Our God has delivered into our hands Samson, our enemy. And when Samson came out after they demanded him, they cried, Our God has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, and the one who multiplied our dead. You see, this would be like all the state governors of America getting together to celebrate a victory over ISIS. It was a really big deal that all these men and women had come from across the land. And it's a bit ironic that as a pagan nation gets together to celebrate their victory, they credit their false deity. And if you know anything else about the book of Judges, you know that everybody in Israel was doing what was right in their own eyes, just like Samson. And so even while Israel's so-called hero, Samson, is before them, he had been crediting his strength to his hair. And so in Judges 16 verse 17, Samson says to Delilah, his lover, No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave, and I shall become weak and be like any other man." So Samson says, if you shave my hair, I will lose my strength. He's convinced that his strength comes from his hair, from the symbol of his Nazirite vow. But what might the text itself, what might the Word of God tell us about the source of Samson's strength? If you remember, Samson tore apart a lion on the way to his first wedding. In Judges 14, 6, we are told that the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat. And when Samson took vengeance upon the men of Ashkelon in Judges 14, 9, we are reminded that Samson's hair was a source of his strength. Is that what it was? Does it say, and Samson's hair strengthened him? No, in Judges 14, 9, we read that the spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed 30 of their men. Furthermore, we can take another example. And in Judges 15 verse 14, wasn't Samson's hair which gave him power to break his bonds and to kill a thousand Philistines? No, look at Judges 15 verse 14. When he came to Lahi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands. He found a fresh jawbone from a donkey, reached out of his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it." Remember that in Judges 16 verse 20, the reasons that Samson's strength had left him was because the Lord had left him. Not because he had cut his hair, but because the Spirit of the Lord had left Samson. And so knowing what we know about Samson so far, and about the Philistines, there was plenty of false hope to go around. The Philistines were trusting in Dagon, a sea god who was supposedly protecting them and their cities. And Samson's been trusting in the length of his hair. He's been pursuing the things that were easy on his eyes. He followed his heart straight into his very downfall. The bottom line is that the Philistines were worshiping a false god and harassing the covenant people of God. And they were doing this unto their own condemnation and their own judgment. And Samson had misidentified the real source of his strength, which was God, with the symbol of his strength, his hair. So where was Stamson's hope in all of this? Where was his trust? Any faithful remnant member of Israel must have wondered, is there any hope at all? And so now Stamson stands completely humbled before his enemies, his eyes gouged out, beaten, stricken, mocked. He's unable to defend Israel. He cannot judge them any longer. Samson, the once strong and mighty man, is weak. He's helpless. He has to be led around by a young boy. And in their drunkenness, the Philistines wanted to have some fun with their fallen enemy. Look with me at verses 25 through 27 of our passage. And 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, and they stationed him between the pillars. Then Samson said to the lad which 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 3,000 men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. When we read that the Philistines wanted Samson to perform for them, it means that they wanted to make a big joke out of him. It means they wanted to laugh at his humiliation. They wanted to play games with him, to mock him, to poke fun at him. Can there be any hope left? At first glance, it may look to us like all is lost. The once promising career of the strongman Samson is all but over, and Israel is left without their key protector. That's what it looks like to our human eyes. It looks like there is no hope left. Well, thankfully, secondly, this afternoon, there is real and true hope. And that is in the Lord who has worked all of this evil for his good. Remember that when Samson pursued his first wife in Timnah, we were told that it was of the Lord that he was doing this. That the Lord was seeking an occasion to, quote, move against the Philistines. Judges 14 verse 4. And so in spite of Samson's complete unfaithfulness, in spite of oppression from a powerful enemy who had dominion over Israel, the Lord was still at work. He was on the move. Nothing in this situation was outside of his grasp or his control. It's in God's work alone that true hope can ever be found. Only God can take such an evil situation Such a flawed man, and to use this for good. Only a God who holds all things in His hands could turn this situation on its head. No congregation true hope can only be found in our sovereign God. No man, no mighty man, could ever deliver us. Well, Samson has been silent about his trust in God in all of these previous encounters. He's never given any glory or credit to God in any of these situations in which he was delivered. In fact, he seemed indifferent or even oblivious to the fact that it was the Spirit of God who had rushed upon him and to give him his strength. But between the Delilah story and our story of his death this afternoon, some key things have changed. If we look back at Judges 16, verse 22, we read that even though he's in prison, however, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. It's a subtle hint that things are changing. He's in prison, but the author prods us a little bit. However, his hair began to grow back. Why add that detail? Because things are changing. Not all is bleak as it appears. Without Samson's physical eyes to lead him astray, the eyes of his heart seem to be opening up to the true source of his strength. Consider what Samson says after the lords and the people of Philistia mock and jeer at him. We read for the first time in the story of Samson that he cries out and that he talks to God. We don't read any of that in any of his previous encounters, but here he cries out to God. In verse 28 we read that Samson prayed. He called out to the Lord. Look with me at verse 28. Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, O Lord God, remember me, I pray. Strengthen me, I pray, just this once. O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes." You see, Samson had found the one and only true hope that he had. The one that had been with him all along. It was not the false god Dagon. It wasn't following his desires and his lusts. It was not in the length of his hair. No, Samson's strength, his source of hope, was in the Lord God in whom he cries out to. And so, when Samson cries out to our Lord God, he is addressing God in a way which shows great earnestness and trust to cry out to God using the names that we see Samson use here. shows real humility. It shows that Samson knows who this great and powerful God is. He's saying that he knows he can only do one last great feat of strength if the Lord comes to him. He knows that he can take down this house of false worship by the power of the Spirit of God alone, not in his own strength, not because his hair is long, but because God is his refuge and strength. And so yes, indeed, these circumstances are bleak, but Samson knows the one who is sovereign over all things. Samson knows the one who is about to move against the Philistines. Israel's covenant God, Adonai Yahweh, is about to move. And so the Lord makes a big move against the Philistines, thirdly this afternoon, in real judgment. Look with me at the final verses, chapter sixteen, verses twenty-nine through thirty. And 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 dead that he killed at his death were more than he killed in his life." You see these temples, like this temple of Dagon, They were designed in such a way that there would be two or four main pillars which would hold up the roof. And the roof served as a gallery or a place where princes and lords, dignitaries, people could stand above and watch what would happen below. And so when Samson pushes down these pillars, the roof collapses and all the inhabitants die. In one fell swoop, at least 3,000 Philistines died. And this included many of their most important political figures. Verse 30 says that the dead that he killed in his death were more than he killed in his life. The Philistines' false hope had led them to destruction and to a bitter end. They ate, drank, and were merry, hoping and rejoicing in a false God. And it has cost them dearly." And as he died, Samson knew who the one true God was. He died knowing where his strength came from. And yet, he was a fallen sinner like you and me. His motives weren't even pure. Congregation, like Samson, Our Lord Jesus Christ stood before a gallery of mockers and scoffers and some of the most important political figures of the day. He was humiliated in the worst possible ways. He was stripped. He was beaten. He was whipped. He was condemned ultimately for crimes he never committed. But unlike Samson, Christ, our Lord, was innocent. Unlike Samson, Jesus never flinched in his trust in God's sovereignty. In the garden, our Lord prayed to his Father, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will. And unlike Samson, from our Lord Jesus Christ's death, came life for those who placed their hope in Him. But eternal death comes to those who reject Him as the only way, truth, and life. Christ went to the cross and He died saving the souls of many people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Through Him, the Trinity has moved against enemies far fiercer than any Philistine. There were no selfish motives in Christ's death. There was no confusion about what His mission was. No lack of commitment to His plan. Christ gave Himself up because He loves us. And so today, look with me, brothers and sisters. Look with me with the eyes of faith on the one who has sovereignly moved against your enemies. Look at the one who has taken such a wicked situation and moved it for your good and for your salvation. Look with the eyes of faith to Jesus Christ, the one who condescended, the one who came to this earth, took on your flesh and my flesh, the one who was humiliated so that we could be glorified in Him. Look with me to the One who preserves you from the judgment in which all false hopes end." Congregation, look to Jesus Christ, our only true hope. Amen. Father, You have indeed given us this glorious news in the Gospel. By Your Spirit, we ask that You would open our hearts to receive it. That you would open our hearts to receive Christ, that we would only put our hope in him. That we would not trust in princes, that we would not trust in the political leaders of the day, that we would not trust in our money. But Father, that we would look to the giver of all those good gifts and put our trust in him. And that is you, our Heavenly Father, and our triune God, and in that God alone. May you receive all the glory. And that we pray this, Father, by your grace and in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, alone. Amen.