Let us now return then to Judges chapter 15, to that chapter we read earlier. We have taken a short break from the book of Judges, but the last time we looked was in chapter 14, and we noticed there Samson, and we noticed the disappointment that his parents would have felt when Samson went down to Timnath and chose for his wife a woman of the Philistines. But we are of the opinion that ultimately this was certainly used of God and indeed may have been directly influenced by God in order that Samson might have an occasion to begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. And we left the story of Samson with Samson being somewhat disappointed because his wife or the lady that he wanted to be his wife was given to another. And we are told that he went up to his father's house But now we want to begin at chapter 15 and to take up the story again of Samson. And there are, we do believe, one or two lessons for us in this period in the life of the last judge. A wee bit of history might help us to understand what's going on here. A bit of background might help us to appreciate more what Samson did. By the time of Samson, the period of the judges was drawing to a close. It was coming to the end. And from our reading in verse 20 there, we know that Samson judged Israel for 20 years. And we do believe that these 20 years coincided with the 40 years that the Philistines oppressed the people of Israel. We are distinctly told in the scriptures that during this time, the Philistines had the Israelites in oppression for some 40 years. And we are led to believe that Samson judged Israel in the latter part of that 40-year period. Samson ruled between the Battle of Aphek, you may well remember that battle, It's recorded for us in 1 Samuel chapter four. And the battle of Apec in which Israel was defeated and the Ark of the Covenant captured. When the sons of Eli were killed and when the news came to Eli that the Ark had been captured, that he fell backwards and died. Well, Samson ruled between that battle and between the battle of Mizpe, in which Samuel crushed the Philistines. And that's recorded for us in 1 Samuel chapter 7. So it was during that period between the two battles, between the battle of Aphek, when one of Eli's sons, when one of his son's wives give birth to a child. And when she found out it was a son, she said, Ichabod, she called him Ichabod because the glory had departed from Israel at this time. And therefore it was at a very dark time when Samson began to rule and when he began to bring about the deliverance of the Israelites from the hand of the Philistines. And Samson would have grown up during the time of Eli's ministry in Shiloh. Now we do know that Eli was a good high priest, but his sons were far from it. And it's during that time that Samson would have grown up. And he began to lead Israel in the west of the country. when Jephthah, who we dealt with earlier, was active in the east of Israel. And about the time of Eli's death, and he continued until the prophet Samuel rose to the leadership of God's people. So that's some history, some background to help us to fit Samson into a chronological order. And whatever our views are on Samson, we must remind ourselves that he was a man of God. He was a man of faith. There are three chapters, I do believe, three or four chapters in Judges that are concerned with Samson. And this chapter that we read here is a chapter when Samson is reigning, he is ruling, he is judging. And we know that he was a faithful judge and he was without doubt God's man for that particular time and occasion. We know, and certainly we'll look at it in chapter 16, we see something of Samuel's faults and failings and sins. That is true, and we can learn something from that, and we will do. But we must also learn something of Samson's life, that he was a man of faith. And why do we say that? We say that because, friends, that's the verdict of the word of God. We go to the book of Hebrews, there in chapter 11, where the heroes of faith are outlined for us. And he's one of the heroes of faith. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 32, the writer says, what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, that's Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson. He's among the heroes of faith. Yes, he's not a perfect hero. Yes, he's not one that we follow perfectly, but he had faith. And of course, faith, friends, in a biblical sense, faith in a salvation sense means he had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ ultimately. And the book of Hebrews goes on to say, and these all having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise. I don't know about you friends. I don't know about you, but in the light of what we said earlier on today, Would it not be a wonderful comfort to all of us to know and to realize that the Holy Spirit might say this about our lives, obtained a good report through faith. That's what Samson achieved. That's what's recorded of him despite his shortcomings. Despite his evident clear sins, he obtained a good report through faith. And surely this is something that we should all seek to have, and we can have it, friends, only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, only by having Him before us. And as we look at Samson, the clear lesson from his life is that he points to another great deliverer, even the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he does. Samson indeed is a bit of a enigma. He's a bit of a mystery. But surely as we look at Samson, as we look at his life, is it not a picture of Israel at the time that when he was judging them? What do I mean? Well, we know that Samson was a Nazarite. He was devoted to God. This was not something that he chose himself. This was something that God had ordained. He was to be one who would be totally consecrated to God, not for a time, not for a season, but for all of his life, absolutely completely and utterly devoted to God and to his service. His hair would not be cut. He would not drink wine or strong drink or not even the grapes itself. He was forbidden to eat that. And he would have no contact with a dead body. These were the marks of the Nazarite. Because that person was to be totally consecrated and dedicated to God. And friends, when Samson lived out these vows. When he maintained these conditions, he was strong, he was powerful, he was mighty, he was a great judge in his day and in his generation. But when he did not, he was just weak as any other. And is this not a picture of Israel? Is it not true in some sense the Bible tells us that Israel is God's son? And if Israel was consecrated and dedicated to the Lord, they would be in some sense invincible? And the very fact that the Philistines were ruling over them at this time showed that they had turned their backs upon the living God. that God who had taken them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, with an outstretched arm and a mighty hand, and who had destroyed seven nations before them and brought them into the promised land, the land that flows with milk and honey, when they were dedicated and when they were consecrated and when they were serving the living Lord, friends, then they were a nation to be reckoned with. It's only when they embraced idolatry and when they turned from serving Jehovah, it's only then when the decline came and they began to be ones who were under the servitude of others. That's all very well, minister, is it not? We're not looking for history lessons. Is that not true? Well, there is a clear lesson for us. There's a clear lesson for every Christian. We're only strong. We'll only fight against the enemy successfully. We'll only live a victorious Christian life the more we cling to the Lord Jesus. The more He is closer to us, the more He is before us, the more that we submit unto Him. It's only then will we experience the victory of the Christian life. And is this not one reason why many of us are not what we should be? How long have we been on the road? How long since we first embraced Christ? How long since we were united to Him by faith? How long since that wonderful, glorious change came upon us? and we became sons of the living God and the life of God came into our souls. Yet friends, are we not living lives of like spiritual paupers? Should we not be in the clouds in some sense? The Lord Jesus Christ He's mighty to save. He will save to the uttermost. We are told to resist the devil and he shall flee from us. We are strong in the Lord Jesus. The devils had to obey the Lord Jesus. Death itself had to give way to the Lord Jesus. And friends, this is the Savior we have. This is the one who's mighty to save. And we should, as Christians, be living a victorious Christian life. Oh, I'm not talking about health and wealth and prosperity. Far from it. I'm talking about spiritual realities. Are we crucifying our spiritual sins? Are we crucifying our pride? Are we crucifying our lusts? Are we crucifying our slothfulness? What about our lack of love to the Lord Jesus? Is it not true, friends, that we come to occasions like this? We come unto the means of grace. We come to the house of God. And our hearts are not warm. Is it not true that the radiator will be warmer than our hearts? And is it not true when we come to this place and the radiator's off, our hearts will be colder than the radiator? Friends, there's victory in the Lord Jesus. Samson was invincible. Israel would be a mighty, strong, powerful nation, fearful of nothing or of no one if they remain close to the Lord. And had Samson maintained these vows, he would have been a far better judge than he was. Although he did serve very well for at least 20 years. Well, what else can we learn from this chapter here? We notice that Samson, after he found, in chapter 14, after he found that the guests had discovered the riddle by getting at his wife. He left his own wedding reception and went back to his father's house in a rage. But chapter 15 tells us after some time had passed, he had in some sense cooled down and he wanted to be restored. and to make things up with his wife. In modern terms, he would have gone to her with some flowers and some chocolate or some gift. Instead, he goes with a kid hoping to make it up, hoping to rekindle the relationship. And what do we find? We find that his wife has been given unto someone else, one of Samson's companions. And when his father hears the request of Samson, his father would not let Samson go in and consummate the marriage. And instead he offers the younger sister instead. Samson obviously then feels this and he begins to take revenge against the Philistines. He goes and catches 300 foxes and ties their tails together and puts fire in between them and sends them out onto the fields of the Philistines to burn their crops. And when the Philistines find out what has happened and who did it and why it happened, they go and burn the house. of his wife and their family. Well, there is a lesson there for us, a very clear and simple lesson. His wife pestered Samson that he might explain to her the riddle. in order that she might tell the Philistines. Now, why did she want Samson to explain the riddle to her? Well, she wanted Samson to explain the riddle to her because the Philistines had said to her, if you don't find out from your husband what the riddle is, we're going to come and burn your house. And instead of trusting Samson, she began to get at him and to provoke him and to annoy him to the extent that he gave in to her and revealed the riddle. And hoping that she would escape fire, she gives the riddle to the Philistines. But of course she didn't. Because later on, the Philistines did eventually burn her and her father's house. And her fault was she should have trusted her husband. She should have realized that this was her husband and she should have put her trust and her faith upon him that he would deliver her. And although the Philistines had threatened to burn her and her father's house, she should have relied upon her husband. What is the lesson then? What can we draw from this for ourselves? Well, the lesson is quite clear, friends. Many shall perish. Many shall be lost on that great day Why? Because they trust in man and not in the living God. She should have realized that before her was God's man and he was worthy of her trust. Instead, she trusted in the Philistines. And truly, friends, there is a lesson for all of us there. We must have our faith and trust upon the Word of God, and the Word of God would lead us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when all around will tell us that we're not to trust in Him, what's the point in trusting in someone who has suffered and died on Calvary's tree? Surely your faith and hope is not upon that one who was crucified? We, friends, are to say yes. We trust in Him. It may indeed be foolishness to the Greeks. It may be a stumbling block to the Jews. But oh friends, the scripture tells us it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. And no matter how foolish the world may say, think of us. Friends, our faith and our hope is on upon the word of God and upon what we find in the scriptures. And if your faith is in anything else, you will be sadly disappointed. Therefore, let us be stirred up and let us have this faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we go through this story then, we notice that Following the fact that the Philistines burnt the house of Samson's wife and her family, he uses that situation to further humiliate his enemies. In verse 8 of chapter 15, And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter, and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Edom. Here the Lord used this situation to stir up Samson. They had destroyed his wife and her home. Samson then was going to get at the Philistines. And of course, friends, this is all of the Lord. that he might bring about a deliverance, that he might subdue the Philistines, and that the people of God might be saved from their enemies. And you see, friends, how the Lord uses this loss to promote his own cause and to bless his own people. For Samson brought about a great deliverance that day, and many were brought to recognize that he was the judge that God had appointed to deliver Israel out of bondage. And friends, we want to notice here too, as the story goes on, that after this great slaughter, the Philistines then come to the men of Judah. And they wonder, what has happened? Why have you come to Judah? Why have you come against us? Verse 10, and they answered, to bind Samson, or we come up, and to do to him as he has done to us. And the men of Judah entertained the Philistines. And instead of resisting them, 3,000 of them go up to the mount where Samson was, and they bind him and take him and deliver him to the Philistines. What a disgrace it was for the once proud tribe of Judah. This tribe that had been so large and so notable and had been so heroic on many occasions, They succumbed to the enemy. They recognized that the Philistines were over them. And again, they didn't recognize that Samson was the God-appointed judge, whom God had set in place to bring about their deliverance, that they might escape from the thralldom of the Philistines. They were so happy, in some sense, with the servitude they were under, that they were prepared to bind their deliverer. and hand their deliverer over to the Philistines in order that they might do to him as they deemed what they wanted. Well, again, is there something that we can draw from this, from ourselves? Well, we certainly can, friends, because From the tribe of Judah came the Lord Jesus Christ. And the book of Revelation describes him as the lion from the tribe of Judah. And this is a very apt description of Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ came And he came that he might deliver his people from their sins. And there was tremendous opposition against the Lord Jesus. But the Lord Jesus, like a lion, who's the king of the jungle, A lion is an animal that does not retreat from anyone. And so it was with the Lord Jesus. He did everything necessary, everything possible to bring about the salvation of his people. And so unlike the people of Judah who handed over their deliverer to the enemy, instead the lion from the tribe of Judah He defeated our greatest enemy. And friends, we are to have faith, we are to have hope, we are to have confidence in this great and this glorious savior, this one who is mighty to save. I'm not quoting it accurately or verbatim, but in the book of Colossians in chapter two, it talks about what Christ did on the cross. And it says to us that there on the cross, he spoiled principalities. That's what it says. And that's a reference, friends, to the fact that there on the cross, when he was giving up himself, when he was suffering in our place and in our room, there, friends, he spoiled principalities. In other words, in modern words, he made a fool of the devil. For that reference to principalities is a reference to the devils. There, you see, friends, as they were gathered around the cross, there as the invisible host of heaven around the cross, they were all in glee. They were all absolutely delighted. There was the Son of God suffering. There was the Savior about to expire. There was the Savior about to go into the grave. And they thought they had the victory. Instead, we might say the last laugh was upon the Lord Jesus. For he most certainly did die. He gave up the ghost. He voluntarily gave up of himself and he went to the tomb and he was there for three days. But as we know, for this is a wonderful and glorious cardinal truth of the scriptures, the death could not hold him. The coldness of the grave could not hold him. He had to rise again. And all those who thought they had seen the last of Christ, and who were in some sense rubbing their hands at his death on Calvary's tree, got a rude awakening when he rose victorious over the grave. The people of Judah here, the men of Judah, did not act like men at all. They should have embraced Samson. They should have heartily welcomed him. They should have signed up beside him and to do all that they possibly could to encourage him. Instead, they bound him and handed him over. How so unlike the Lord Jesus Christ. Lion from the tribe of Judah. This one who would not be distracted. This one whom Peter said, you will not go to the cross. It shall not be. This one who was resolute and determined to suffer in our room and in our place. But this lesson also teaches us that as the men of Judah rejected their Savior, so friends, it is true that when the Lord Jesus Christ came, the lion from the tribe of Judah, the God-appointed Savior, when he came, he knew this rejection. He knew it in his own people. We are told in John chapter 1, he came unto his own and his own received him not. Can you imagine it? The Jews longing for the Messiah to come and Jesus Christ showing by his life, by his witness, by his testimony, by his miracles, that he is the long appointed and awaited Messiah, yet they reject him. It is amazing to us. We can hardly comprehend it. But you know, friends, it's true in our own experience. It's true even of the Christian. Because once upon a time, you were not a Christian. Once upon a time, you were an unbeliever. Once upon a time, you were dead in trespasses and sins. And what happened, friends? The gospel came with power to you. The gospel came. You were convicted of your sins, and what did you do? Did you embrace the Lord Jesus? No, you did not. You resisted him. You said in some manner, in some way, I will not have this man. And God came again by his Holy Spirit, and you were freshly convicted. And you were brought to realize you're a lost sinner in the hands of an angry God, and Christ was presented to you as a savior from sin? And did you open up your arms and did you embrace him? Well, you may have, but more than likely, you rejected him. Did this not happen on many occasions? It certainly happened once. Because friends, no one, no one receives Christ the first time. There's always some kind of resistance, some more than others. But thanks be to the wonderful grace of God. Grace is able to break the most hardest of hearts. so that those who are once prime rejecters of Christ, those who are just like the men of Judah, who would tie the hands of their savior and say, be away with you. They come to that experience when they embrace him. When they open up their arms and they welcome him, And they wonder how foolish they have been for years, that they have resisted the spirit of the living God, and they are amazed at the grace of God, that God should persist with such an individual. Maybe you're resisting tonight. You don't need, in some sense, a preacher. You don't need to be told about the Lord Jesus. You don't need to be reminded of your sin. You know that. You know old age is coming if you're spared. You know death is coming. You know there's going to be a day of judgment, not just because what the minister says, but because it's in your heart. Eternity is written in your heart. It's stamped upon your heart. You know these things. You know you'll have an audience with God. You know the Lord Jesus is the only God-appointed Savior. You know He will save. You know because others have been saved round about you. Families and friends have been saved. You have seen their lives being transformed. But you're still resisting. You're still pushing away the Savior. Friends, what a dangerous position that is to be in. The Scriptures tell us, I will not always strive with man. God will not always, as it were, knock on your door. He will not always prick your conscience. Maybe you come to the house of God and you hear sermons like this, when once upon a time you would be terrified. Now it goes over your head and maybe you have a wee snooze. What a dangerous position. Friends, Awaken. Awaken yourselves. Don't resist the only Savior. Don't turn your back upon Him. Don't send Him away. Embrace Him. Come. Receive Him. Come and follow Him. Come and Ask that your conscience again might be stirred up. That you might feel your sin. That he would save you. Save you from the stupid of this world. Save you from sleeping unto death. Save you. Make you alive. that you would see the wonder and the glory and the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. May God bless his word to us. Let us pray together.