[0:00] Seeking God's blessing will turn to the first part of the scripture we read, the book of Judges and chapter 15.
[0:30] And we'll read at verse 15. Chapter 15 at verse 15. And he found a new jawbone of Anas, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
[0:49] And again, verse 18. And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant, and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised.
[1:05] But God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout. And when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived.
[1:16] Wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakore, which means the caller spring, which is in Leahy unto this day. Now we've seen how God prepared Samson for the work of deliverance that was his.
[1:37] Samson was to be raised up to be a Messiah to Israel in the Old Testament, and so God prepared him for that. Thirty years near on as a Nazarite, and then just when his ministry began, God caused the lion to come at him in the vineyards.
[1:56] And that encounter with the lion was to encourage Samson in the ministry, which was just beginning. And then we saw last time how the ministry actually began with his marriage to the Philistine girl.
[2:12] Now this was an unusual way to begin the deliverance of Israel. But we saw that that marriage was, in a sense, the proclamation of the gospel.
[2:24] It was a statement to the Philistines that if they would accept Samson as God's anointed, and if they would embrace his teaching and enter into the covenant God made with Israel, they would be saved.
[2:37] But if they would not, then they would be judged or destroyed. So before God judges the Philistines, he gives them an opportunity to repent.
[2:49] And that is the significance of the gospel riddle, which we looked at last week. Samson, in a veiled form, proclaimed the gospel. If they would seek humbly to find the meaning of it, they would.
[3:01] But rather they mocked it and trifled with it. And because they therefore reject the gospel, then Samson began the work of judgment. And we saw how he did that first by slaying the 30 men in Ashkelon.
[3:17] And we saw how they were probably engaged in an act of idolatrous worship even at that time. And then secondly, we saw how he destroyed their harvest by means of 300 foxes set out in pairs of 150.
[3:33] And that again spoke of the way that God was bringing judgment upon the Philistines. And last of all, when the Philistines burnt his wife and burnt Samson's father-in-law, then Samson smites many of their soldiers, hip and thigh, with a great slaughter.
[3:52] Now these are all pictures of the judgment that God will bring upon sinners who do not embrace him and close in with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[4:03] In other words, unless we yield to him, and unless we are conquered by grace, then we will be conquered by judgment. But interestingly, the conquest of the Philistines is still not complete.
[4:17] And that in itself tells us of the long suffering of God. He is still not willing to utterly smite the Philistines or to utterly destroy them.
[4:28] And therefore, time is still given to see how they respond to what Samson has done. Now interestingly, after the last act of judgment, Samson retreats from the Philistines and he goes back to dwell in the top of a rock called Eta.
[4:48] And you find this 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 Eta.
[5:02] Now that expression means the crevice of the rock. It is some kind of place where Samson was able to go down into a deep ravine or crevice so that he was more or less inaccessible.
[5:15] He was in hiding. It was a kind of hideout which he found for himself. And this was in Etam. It was a rock in Etam which was itself a town in the north of Judah.
[5:28] Now this is interesting because Samson belonged to the tribe of Dan. Judah bordered Dan. And both Dan and Judah bordered Philistia.
[5:41] Dan was a small tribe. Judah was, of course, a powerful tribe. And instead of going back to his home tribe, this time he goes to Etam in Judah.
[5:52] And there he dwells in a rock. Now I suppose you could ask the question, why doesn't he go back to Dan? And many people would say that it was probably to save his mother and father from any act of vengeance that the Philistines would bring.
[6:07] But I think the real reason lies somewhere else. That God made him retreat to Judah because God is going to test his own people.
[6:20] And he's supremely going to test the strongest tribe of all. He's going to test the royal tribe, the messianic tribe, the lion of the tribe of Judah.
[6:30] Now I think there's a significance here because when Jacob was blessing his sons, he blessed Judah in terms which revolved continually around a lion.
[6:45] Judah's strength would be lion-like. Judah, he said, as his hand was on his son Judah. Judah is a lion's whelp. And he spoke of the lion being roused and the power of the lion.
[7:00] And so Samson retreats here into the lion-like tribe to see how they will respond. In other words, he will put them to the test. Now I think what really brings this before us is the fact that Etam was built up by Rehoboam many years afterwards to be a fortified city of defense.
[7:23] Now that tells us that Etam was strategically positioned in a very important place in terms of national defense. So for Samson to deliberately come to Etam meant that he was staging some kind of conflict or that he was bringing some matter to a head.
[7:41] It was as though he was inviting the Philistines to come to Judah to see how Judah, the tribe of the lion, would respond to the lion of the Philistines.
[7:52] And sad to say, the response was this, that the people of Judah betrayed himself into the hand of the Philistines.
[8:03] But God overruled that so that Samson conquered the Philistines. And just after his conquest, he is smitten with such a thirst that he's just on the verge of death.
[8:15] But God meets him in that thirst and he revives him. And Samson calls that place the Caller Spring. Now there's a lot going on here and I want to look at it with you under three heads.
[8:29] First of all, the betrayal of Samson. And this, you'll notice, is his second betrayal. He has been betrayed by his wife. Now he will be betrayed by his own people.
[8:40] His betrayal, secondly, the battle which he fought with the Philistines. And thirdly, the thirst which came upon him after the battle.
[8:51] Now first, the betrayal. And you'll read in verse 9 that the Philistines went up and pitched in Judah and spread themselves in Leahy.
[9:04] Now notice all these terms are military terms. This isn't a small deputation going up from the Philistines saying, what's going on here? This is a massive movement of their army.
[9:17] They have mobilized their forces. They went up and pitched in Judah. Right at the heartland. Right to the royal tribe. They pitched there and they spread themselves in Leahy.
[9:30] Now that means that they have prepared themselves and established their war camp in a place called Leahy. Now the word Leahy means jobo. And I don't think it was called Leahy at this particular point.
[9:45] But it's just referred to here as Leahy. It was this incident that was going to give it the name of Leahy. But that doesn't matter. They came to this place called Leahy. And there they established their camp.
[9:56] Now you notice what's happening. The lion is beginning to roar. For a long time the lion had charge. And nothing bothered him. But now God has moved something.
[10:08] And God has stirred up Samson at least. And so the lion roars back. And begins to threaten the people of God. And whenever you smite Satan's kingdom.
[10:22] The lion will roar against you. You can take that as a rule in the kingdom. You do anything to advance Christ's cause. And Satan will roar.
[10:32] And he will threaten. Now when they pitched in Judah and spread themselves in Leahy. You'll notice the response of the tribe of Judah in verse 10. And the men of Judah said, Why are you come up against us?
[10:47] Now this was a deputation which they sent. And the deputation went to the armed camp and asked, Well what's the meaning of this? Why have you come up against us in this threatening kind of posture?
[10:59] And they answered quite simply, We have come to bind Samson. And to do to him as he has done to us. And that was enough for them. When they heard that they wished to bind Samson.
[11:12] What the men of Judah did was that they went up to the rock Etam. Now they must have known where he was. They must have known where his hideout was. And they went up there.
[11:23] And look at the strength of the force that they sent up. The men of Judah themselves sent up 3,000 men. Now you can imagine. Here is Samson in the crevice of a rock.
[11:34] He's apart on a hill in Judah. And 3,000 men of the royal tribe come up to him to confront him. And these 3,000 say to him, What have you done?
[11:49] Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them.
[12:00] In other words, They have judged me and despised me. And therefore I have judged them. And they said to him, We have come down to bind you up, To deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.
[12:14] Samson says to them simply, Swear to me, That's all, That you will not fall upon me and kill me yourselves. And so they swear that. And they give their word that they will not destroy Samson themselves.
[12:28] But what they do is they bind him with two new ropes. And these are particularly strong forms of rope. And they use two of them to bind Samson up thoroughly. And then they lead him out to the cleft of the rock.
[12:42] And they march him to Leahy. Now Leahy, at least from what people can gather, Is probably several miles away from the rock Eta. In other words, These 3,000 men marched with Samson in their midst.
[12:58] Bound with his hands with two new ropes. Ready to be yielded over into the camp. Of the Philistines. Now, Regarding this betrayal, I just want us to notice one or two things.
[13:11] Who does it? Well, first, It's the royal tribe that does it. Judah is a lion's web. But how far from being a lion Is Judah at this particular point?
[13:25] Judah is behaving more like a lamb. In other words, I think it would be better If we would understand exactly what they should have done. Instead of standing up And putting Samson at their head.
[13:40] And with 3,000 men Fighting the army of the Philistines. What they did Was in their weakness, They took Samson And they handed him over.
[13:50] And nothing better Illustrated The weakness of the church Than that. When you expect a people To be strong, That people Becomes weak.
[14:03] And they show their weakness. And interestingly, Christ had 12 disciples. Or I should say 12 apostles. Only one Was from the tribe of Judah.
[14:16] And that man was Judas Iscariot. And is it not interesting That that was the man Who betrayed him. As much as to say He came unto his own And his own Received him not.
[14:31] And the tribe Which should have been most ready To welcome him And to embrace him And to acknowledge him Was the tribe Most instrumental In betraying him And in selling him.
[14:43] And so you find Through here. And Samson finds To his own Bitter disappointment That instead of Rousing The church To fight the Philistines What happens Is that the church Betrays himself To the Philistines.
[15:01] Now, What does this indicate? Well, In the first place It indicates Fear. There is fear. And this fear Comes through Perhaps in one or two ways.
[15:14] First of all, Notice The way that everyone Is afraid of Samson. The Philistines Have sent a whole army up To capture one man.
[15:25] And not only that, But when the Judah people Are going up To deliver Samson, They send Three thousand. Now we're talking Here about one man. It's just a matter Of binding up One man, But three thousand Are sent by the tribe Of Judah To catch and to deliver him.
[15:40] Why? Because the man Is filled with the power Of God. That is why. The man has the Lord On his side. And even The whole church Knows that.
[15:51] And the people Outside know that. That God Is present In this man. That doesn't stop them. It makes them Careful in their maneuvers. But it does not stop them.
[16:02] And the power of God Reveals itself In many different Kinds of ways. Remember when the Lord Jesus Christ himself Was arrested. He was arrested Outside the garden Of Gethsemane.
[16:16] And Matthew In chapter 26 And verse 47 Says this That a great multitude Came towards him With swords And with staves. And Judas Iscariot From the tribe of Judah At their head.
[16:31] And where did the multitude Come from? Were they a multitude Of Romans? No they were not. We're told that they were The deputation Of whom? Of the chief priests And the scribes And the Pharisees.
[16:44] In other words They were men Of the covenant. People of the church. That came out. A multitude of them. With a man From the royal tribe At their head.
[16:56] To bind him up And to hand him over To the Romans Who are here. The Philistines. That is what happened.
[17:06] And the Lord said Are you come out? He says Against me With swords And with staves. The power of God Was in the man And they knew it. But that didn't stop them.
[17:18] And isn't it terrible When there's a kind of Darkness In the heart of anyone? Is it in your own? A kind of darkness That just keeps on And on And on Going down The path of sin When your conscience Is telling you That you're going Against God And you know What you're doing But nothing seems To be able to stop you You just go on And on Down And down Deeper into the darkness That's what they did And even in his mercy Christ showed them His power there When he met The great multitude With the flaming torches And the swords And the staves He said Whom do you seek?
[17:54] And they said Jesus of Nazareth And he said I am he And we're told That they fell back To the ground With the sheer Power Of the presence Of God That was with the Lord They fell Backwards To the ground Did that stop them?
[18:11] Remarkably They got themselves up And dusted themselves down And carried on With the job Of betraying The Lord Into the hands Of the Romans Now my friends It is a sad thing When the church Becomes like that And when people In the church Raised within the church Raised under the commandments And under the preaching Of the gospel Move so far away That they move Headlong Into destruction And into the spiritual Darkness of the night That is what they did And very often It is the most privileged Who do that Judas Iscariot From the royal tribe Was the man Who betrayed The Lord You see to it That you respect And reverence The presence of God And when God Is speaking to you Urging you To obey To obey And to embrace The gospel You listen to it
[19:12] And you give way To it And close in With the Lord Jesus Christ As the saviour Of the soul Lest you find Yourself betraying him And lest you find Yourself becoming His enemy And selling him And as it were Crucifying him And another thing It says is this The sheer weakness Of the people Here of Judah Their sheer weakness Now I don't know I read a comment Recently who said And I agree with this That he doubts If there is a more Pathetic scene In the whole of the Scripture than this Three thousand men Handing over one man Into the camp Of the Philistines And by the way It is possible That there was only A thousand Philistines Here It doesn't say that It just says that Samson slew a thousand You could infer from that That there was only A thousand In the armed camp If so And that's only an if But if so It is even more pathetic
[20:13] And you have the sad Spectacle of a numerous Church of Christ Selling them Well we understand it Like this The church had fallen Into sin It had backslidden God had chastened them And was chasing them Chastening them But instead of Turning back to the Lord What we have is What we have in Hebrews 12 They are fainting And despairing When the Lord Is chastening them It's as though They're saying this What was said in Malachi What use is there In serving the Lord And they've become So dispirited So weak So depressed And so downhearted That they have almost Lost sense Of the victories That can be obtained And the ground That can be won And the land That can be conquered That's been lost sight of And here in poverty
[21:14] They are selling Samson Into the hands Of the Philistines What use is there In serving the Lord Our Christian friend Are you like that tonight?
[21:26] Is it possible That there are people In here Who are so dispirited And so despondent That you have just Ceased to fight? It's better for you To accept the rule Of the Philistines And be quiet under it Rather than to seek Great things For God My friend The Lord would have it Not be so He would have you Stand up And he would have you Fight Because there is a lot Of land to be done To be won And there's a lot Of ground To be gained And isn't it a beautiful Thing in Samson here That he doesn't turn Around to smite The people of Judah He doesn't call upon God To enable him To smite the people Of Judah He just Stretches out his hands And he asks them To bind him Or in other words I should say He yields himself To be bound Because he loves His own people He loves his people And he knows That the Lord Loves his people And in spite of this
[22:26] God will have mercy On his people And he's not The first person Who wondered Why he was being Wounded In the house Of his friends Did Joseph Not wonder that When Judah Notice again Judah Betrayed him To the Ishmaelites Did Moses Not wonder The same thing When he tried To help his people And they resisted Him Did Christ Not speak the same Thing when he Preached the gospel And found himself Crucified Was the same Not true then Is it not still True now And Christian friend Let me tell you Sometimes you will Find that That in the very Act of trying To help You will be Misunderstood And rejected Now it may be Hard But remember It is the portion Of God's people And just as they Bore it graciously So you Are to bear it Graciously As well And you know Your brethren Can hurt you And that's a Difficult thing To say And but it's True But sometimes
[23:27] You can be Hurt by your Brethren You must not Cease to love Them And you must Always try To understand What they do In the best Light possible And leave it All in the Hands of God Never cease To fight for Them and to Love them And God Will bring All these Things round That is the Example that we Learn from Moses From Joseph From Samson And supremely By the Lord And Saviour Jesus Christ So here you Have the spectacle They are marching Down Delivering Samson Into the hands Of the Philistines Just as many Years afterwards The true Messiah Was led by the Great multitude Into the hands Of the Romans Now let's turn Secondly To the battle Itself We'll turn to The battle Verse 14 And when he Came to Leah The Philistines Shouted against Him And the spirit Of the Lord
[24:28] Came mightily Upon him Now this Takes us back To the incident Involving the Lion In the vineyards Right at the Beginning of his Ministry Remember we're Told that the Lion roared Against him And the spirit Of the Lord Came upon him And he tore Him with his Own bare hands Here you have It realized It's one thing To be done In a symbol It is another Thing to have It confront you The Philistines Rush because They can hardly Believe the Spectacle in Front of them That the People of Judah are Betraying the Man who is Raking such Havoc in Their own Majest They are Actually betraying Them into Their own Hands And they Roar With the Anticipation of Victory They can Smell the Smell of a Defeated church And of a Weak church And the Spoils belonging To themselves But just at That moment I believe Samson prayed We're not told That but we
[25:28] Can infer it From every Other analogous Case in the Scripture we Can infer that He called Upon the name Of the Lord At such a Time And the Spirit of The Lord We're told Came down Mightily upon Him and He broke The ropes The word Is melted They just Melted away Under the Power of God And he Looks around Them and He finds Beside him The jawbone Of an Ass Moist We're told In the Hebrew language It was still Moist It was fresh It wasn't An old one It hadn't Become dry Or brittle Under the Heat of The sun It was still Lying there New And fresh And he Takes up That jawbone Now apparently The asses Over there Are larger Than the Ass that We're Accustomed To He takes That jawbone And with It he Wields Havoc In the Midst of The philistines To the Point where He destroys Ten Thousand
[26:28] Of their Men And when It is Finished He throws Away the Jawbone And he Sings A song He makes A memorial First In the Form Of a Song And that Is a Good Thing To do Always To Memorialize These Kinds Of Things In Writing Or In Songs With The Jawbone Of Anas He Says Heaps Upon Heaps With The Jaw Of Anas Have I Slain A Thousand Men And not Only Does he Memorialize It In A Song But he Gives It A Memorial In A Name When He Calls When He Throws Away The Jawbone He Calls The Name Of The Place Ramath Leahy Or Jawbone Heights Or The Hill Of The Jawbone Now Before I Go Into The Meaning Of These Things A Bit Some People Find The Whole Picture Ridiculous Of A Man Slaying A Thousand Others With The Jawbone Of Anas But I Think It Probably Works Like This I Know That The
[27:28] Spirit Of The Lord Was Present But I Think In Natural Terms It Would Work Something Like This That The Moment They Saw Samson Breaking The New Ropes From His Hands The Fear Present In A Particular Kind Of Way And God Can Reveal Himself In Such A Way As To Awe The People And I'm Sure At That Very Moment The Minds Of The Philistines Went Back To The Thirty Slain In Ashkelon How Quickly That Story Had Gone Round The City And Gone Round Amongst The Philistines That He Just Went In To That Temple Or To That Place Where They Were Worshipping And Slew Thirty Like That And Who Had Smitten Others Hip And Thigh In A Great Slaughter And Who Had Wreaked Havoc In The Harvest And Immediately Fear Seizes Their Heart Fear On Every Side Fear All Around It Is The Presence Of The Lord And They Cannot Stand And I Think We Could Imagine That The Philistines Were In Retreat
[28:29] And That This Slaying Of The Thousand Was Done Essentially With People Who Were In The Retreat And Fleeing From The Great Messiah Of God Now What Are We Taught In This Battle Well I Think First Of All We Have To Remember This That There Are Two Ways In Which God Conquers Men And I Think We Should Remember That Every Time We Read Of A Battle Like This There Are Two Ways In Which God Conquers Men He Conquers Us By Grace And He Conquers Us In Judgment And I Think It's Useful For Us To Look At His Conquest In Both These Ways He Conquers Us By Grace And He Conquers Us By Judgment Now Conquering By Grace What I Mean By That Is That God Stretches Out The Rod Of His Mercy And Breaks Our Heart In Loving Kindness He Breaks The Hardness Of Our Heart And He Breaks The Rebellion Of It He Conquers
[29:29] Our Enmity And He Conquers Our Opposition And He Brings Us By His Loving Kindness Into Subjection To Himself So That We Kiss The Son Lest In His Wrath We Perish From The Way We Are Brought To Kiss Him In The Gospel And To Subject Now When God Does That He Does It Using Very Mean Instruments And When God Is Conquering The Enemy In Grace He Uses Mean Instruments To Do It Now Of Course Samson Has The Jawbone Of Anas Probably Incidentally There Is Nothing Else That He Could Have Anyway If This Philistine Occupation Was The Same At This Point As It Was Later There Was No Control Of Iron In The Iron Was In The Hands Of The Philistines Lest They Would Make Weapons They Had To Sharpen The Axes But He Still Takes Up The Jawbone
[30:30] Of Anas That Is Moist Fresh And New And With That He Makes The Conquest And That Is What God Uses Still To Conquer In His Own Kingdom It Is Foolish Things Or Things That We Despise Or Things That The World Despises And Look At Conquering A Thousand Or Two Thousand People They Would Fall About Laughing But The Fact Of The Matter Is That The Power That God Gives Is Mighty Through God For The Pulling Down Of Strongholds When A Man Goes Down On His Knees To Pray Satan Trembles At The Sight Of That When The Church Of God Really Uses These Weapons The Kingdoms Of Darkness Tremble Because These Weapons Work They Work And That Is Why Very Often In The Bible You Have Foolish Things Used To Bring About Remarkable Consequences
[31:31] How Did The Walls Of Jericho Fall Flat How Did They Collapse It Was With The Blowing Of A Ram's Horn And When The Ram's Horn Blew The Spirit Of God Took Down The Walls And I Can Imagine The People Of Jericho On Top Of The Walls These Walls Were Thick You Know They Used To Build Houses On Top Of These Walls They Were Thick And You Can Imagine The People Standing On Top Of Them Looking Down At The Israelites Marching Round The City And Blowing Their Horns And You Can Imagine The Complete Hysteria And The Laughter And The Disdain With Which The Church Was Seen By And God Was Found Victorious Again It Is True And I Mentioned It A Couple Of Weeks Ago When David Went Forward Having Rejected Saul's Armour And When He Had A Sling And Five Smooth Stones
[32:31] The Philistines Would Have Laughed Goliath Would Have Laughed If He Wasn't So Angry At The Insult To His Own Power But At The End Of The Day It Was The Sling And The Stone That Got Into His Forehead And Slew The Serpent Yes It Was The Sling Of God's Power And It's The Same Not True On The Cross When Christ Is Going To Bring A Church To Himself When He's Going To Save People What Weapon Does He Use His Own Death The Last Thing You Could Expect Anyone To Use For Any Purpose How Could The Demise Uses To Conquer Your Heart And Mine And It Was His Own Death That Brought You Into The Kingdom It Was His Own Death That Melted My Heart And Melted Yours And It Is His Own Death That Can Melt Yours Also Yes The Foolish Things Of This World God Uses And What Is More Foolish
[33:32] In A Sense Than A Preacher's Own Job And Your Job When You Speak Your Poor Words And Mine I Suppose We All Feel That In Another Way It Is The Jawbone Of A Donkey But My Friend God Blesses The Words You Speak And The Words That I Speak And He Uses It To Bring Down The Powers And The Principalities Of Darkness Yes He Does The Words We Have This Treasure Paul Says In Earth And Vessels That The Excellency Of The Power May Be Of God And Not Of Us You Take The Armor Of God And Wield It And You'll Find That God Does Great Things And May God Enable Us Just To Use The Resources That He Has Given Us Himself But Then Again Not Only Does God Conquer In Grace But God Also So Solemnly Conquers In Judgment And I Think That Is The Particular Picture That Brought Before
[34:36] Let Me Bring That Before You In This Way If Samson Slew A Thousand With The Hard Job On Of Hanas There's Only One Way In Which That Could Have Been Done One Way And That Is By A Blow To The Head By A Blow To The Head What Does That Remind Us Of Again It's The Same Thing You See It Running Like A Scarlet Cord Through The Scripture Jail In The Temple In The Tent Puts The Peg Through The Head Of Sisera Through His Temples We See The Woman In The Tone Putting The Millstone Notice It's A Woman Very Often It's A Woman Putting The Millstone Down So That It Crushes The Head Of Abimele Frequently It's This Picture Of The Head And Actually I Didn't Notice That Before But I Just Noticed It When I Was Reading The Psalm The Same Is True In Psalm 110
[35:36] Where It Speaks Of The Messiah's Conquest Psalm 110 He Shall Among The Heathen Judge He Shall With Bodies Dead The Places Fill Over Many Lands He Shall Wound Every Head Head Again It's The Head You See Why Because It is The Seed Of The Woman Crushing The Head Of The Serpent And The Point Here Is The Powers Of Darkness Are Being Crushed By God And God Is Using The Cross To Achieve Exactly That And When Christ Was On The Cross Whom Was He Destroying Principalities And Powers And Made A Display Of Them Openly That's Where He Destroyed Them With What Weapon His Cross His Death As Foolish To The World As The Jawbone Of An Ass He Wields That Cross Like A Sword And Destroys Principalities
[36:37] And Destroys Powers Now My Friends This Saviour Who Walked In Humility In This World Jesus Of Nazareth A Man Born At A Certain Time Living In A Certain Place Walking In This World In Many Ways In The Way In Which You Walk In It Will One Day Destroy Those Who Do Not Embrace Him In The Gospel And That Is The Gospel Truth And It Is The Two Edges Of The Sword If You Do Not Submit To Him In Love And Mercy Then Surely He Will Wound The Head Of Those Who Do Not Believe And That Is The Victorious Messiah And I Think Samson Here Stands Again As A Type Of The Great Redeemer And The Great Judge Of All Who Shall Destroy And Conquer Some In Grace And Some In Judgment But
[37:38] Interestingly There's Another Situation Here And It's The Situation Of Thirst And I Think In Many Respects That This Is The Most Interesting Part Of This Narrative At First It Seems Tagged On As Though There's Not Much Of A Reason For It But The More You Look At Samson's Thirst The More Interesting It Becomes He Throws Away That Jawboard And He Calls The Name Of The Place Jawbone Heights Or The Hill Of The Jawbone And Is It Not On A Hill That Christ's Victory Is Obtained Is The Foolish Weapon Not Situated On The Top Of A Hill Calvary Hill Where The Cross Lies There Is The Weapon That Conquers In Grace And In Judgment But Just As He Does That We're Told In Verse 18 Now And Called On The Lord And Said Thou Has Given This Great Deliverance Into The Hand
[38:38] Of Thy Servant And Now Shall I Die For Thirst And Fall Into The Hand Of The Uncircumcised But God Clave A Hollow Place That Was In The Jaw Now Well I'll Come To That In A Moment And There Came Water There Out And When He Had Drunk His Spirit Came Again And He Revived Wherefore He Called The Name Thereof The Caller Spring Which Is In Lahey Unto This Day Now At One Level It's Easy To Understand How Samson Is Utterly Exhausted By This Conflict He Slew A Thousand Men With The Jawbone Of An Ass And While He Was Engaged In The Conflict I Suppose He Didn't Feel The Tiredness And We All Know That When We Do A Thing And In The Middle Of It We Don't Feel Exhausted At All And That Even Applies To The Natural Life You Do A Thing And You're In The Middle Of It And You're Not Conscious Of
[39:38] Tiredness But The Minute It's Over The Tiredness Overwhelms You There Was Another One Of The Scriptures Eliezer He Was One Of David's Mighty Soldiers And He He Was Wielding It Like That And When It Was Finished His Hand Had Hardened Around The Sword Which He Was Holding So Tight Would That We Would Hold God's Word That Tightly Elijah Too At The Moment Of His Victory When He Had Confronted 400 Prophets Of Baal On Top Of The Mountain Almost Immediately After That He Is Utterly Exhausted In The Wilderness Under A Juniper Tree So Tired Spiritually Physically Mentally That He Is At The Point Of Death And If It Were Not For God Reviving Him With Bread And Water At That Point
[40:38] Who Knows What Would Have Overcome Him That Is The Way Samson Is He Is Exhausted After The Conquest And Let Me Tell You Just As It's True In The Natural Life It's True In The Spiritual Life If You Find Yourself In A Hard Situation Where You How To Fight Or Where You Really Dependent Upon God When That Thing Is Over You Are Suddenly Weak And Let Me Tell You Too I Think This Is Important You Are Just As Exposed To The Temptations Of God Then As You Were Before A Trial In Fact It's Probably Fair To Say That You Are Even More Exposed At That Point When Was Noah Overcome With Wine It Wasn't During The Years That The People Mocked Him Building The Ark It Was As Soon As The Flood Was Finished As Soon As He Got Rest That Was When He Was Overcome With Temptation I Think There's A Lesson There There's A Lesson There It's When You're Weak And Exhausted That The Temptation
[41:38] Can Come In And Here Is Samson He Has Finished The Battle And Immediately He Finds Himself Exhausted He Finds Himself Exhausted Now I Think There's A Reason For That Too In This That God Would Have Us Be Humble And Not Exhausted And I Think It's Good For A Person Whenever Anything Goes For Him That Something Happens To Us All Just To Remind Us That We're Just Flesh And Blood That It's Not To Us But To God That The Glory Is Given And Really Sometimes We Wonder Well Why Is This In My Portion And Why Is This In My Cup Well Friends It's Probably Just To Humble Us It's Probably Just To Humble Us Paul Himself Said That If It Wasn't For The Thorn In His Side Then He Would Probably Be Exalted Above Measure By The Abundance Of The Revelations That He Got God Gave Him So Much So He Had To Have A Thorn In His Side Now When God Gives Us Something Usually
[42:38] There's Something Along With It That Says Stay Small Stay Small Remember Who You Are Remember What You Are Remember The Rock From Whence You Are Hewn Remember That You Are But Dust And That All Your Strength And All Your Power Flows From Me And Maybe I Should Just Mention This I'll Leave It To Yourselves Because I'm Not Inclined To It Personally But Some People Think That Samson's Song Was Giving Too Much Praise To Himself With The Jawbone Of Anas Heaps Upon Heaps With The Jaw Of Anas I Have Slain A Thousand Men And Therefore God Brings This Acute Thirst Of To Make Him Conscious Of His Weakness Personally I Don't Accept That Kind Of Interpretation Of It But I'll Give It To You Nonetheless Perhaps Even Just To Think Over It In Any Case God Brings Him To A Consciousness Of His Weakness He Has An Intense Thirst And What Does He Do He Prays He Prays And He Says This Thou
[43:39] Hast Given This Great Deliverance He's Giving It To God There Anyway The Whole Glory Is Given To God Thou Hast Given This Great Deliverance Into The Hand Of Thy Servant And Now He Says Shall I Die For Thirst And Fall Into The Hand Of The Uncircumcised Notice Samson Knows Where His Strength Comes From It's From God And Whenever A Person Really Prays What's A Person Doing When He's Praying Well When A Person Is Praying To Thy Great Name A Person Who Prays Is A Person Who Knows That He's Got Nothing Himself But That Everything He's Got Comes From God And That's Why I Said Recently You Can Tell A Man Spirituality From His Prayer When A Person Prays He Knows That He's God Made And Not Self Made But A Person Who Has A Prayerless Life Is Self Made More Than God Made This Man Throws Himself
[44:39] Upon God And What Does God Do Well Just Beside Him In Leahy On Top Of The Hill God Splits A Rock We're Told That God Claimed In Verse 19 A Hollow Place That Was In The Jaw Now I Don't Know If Your Bible Has A Note Beside It I Don't Have One On Here But Probably There Will Be A Note On Yours Beside The Word Jaw And In The Margin It Will Read Leahy And That's Really How We Should Read It Some People Think That This Water Actually Came Out Of The Jaw That It Came Out Of The Jaw Bo Now Leahy Here Does Not Mean The Jaw I Think It Is The Name Of The Place And It's More Sensible To Understand It As The Name Of The Place That God Clave A Hollow Place He Made A Hollow Place He Cut Or Split A Rock That Was In Leahy The Place Near Where Samson Was Beside Him And Water
[45:39] Began To Gush Out And From That Water Samson Drunk And We're Told That When He Drunk His Spirit Came Back And He Revived So He Called The Name Of The Place En Hakori Which Is The Caller Spring Or The Spring That Was Given To The Caller The Spring That Answered The Call The Spring To The Man Of Prayer Now my Friends That Again Is Another Rich Biblical Theme And It's One That You Could Pursue Yourself From The Beginning Of The Bible Right Through The End And The Theme Is Us Calling And God Answering Us In A Dry Parched Land And God Miraculously Giving Water I was Thinking This Morning In The Gaelic Of Psalm 84 Where The Pilgrims Going Up To Zion Are Passing Through Baikos Vale And And And That And
[46:40] And How Many Valleys There Are Like That In Our Pilgrimage Places That Just Make Us Cry Because Of The Hardship Of Our Life Or The Disappointments Or The Deaths Or Whatever Tears And Crying But There We're Told To Dig Up Wells And The Rain That Falls Down Will Fill The Pools With Water Not Just Half Full But Overflowing God Will Fill Them In Other Words You Dig Channels Whenever You're Weeping Dig Channels In Your Prayer And God Will Come To You With Grace God's Water Is Always A Symbol Of The Grace Of God God's Help God's Sustaining Strength That Comes To You From Himself That's What Samson Did He Just Prayed And When He Prayed God Split The Rock And It Doesn't Matter How Rocky Your Providence Is Or How Hard Your Circumstance Out Of It God Can Make Water To Flow It Is The God Of Grace He Can Give You Honey From A Rock
[47:40] God Blesses Us In The Hardest Providences And In The Hardest Circumstances And That's Exactly What Samson Found Here God Split The Rock And Gave Him Water To Drink Samson Lives By Grace And It's Grace That Sustains Whenever We Find Ourselves Weak Or Thirsty Or Cast Down Dig Dig In Prayer And God Will Send You Water Through That Channel Of Prayer That You Are Digging And However Deep You Make It He'll Fill It With Pools He'll Fill It There's No Shortage In His Supply Now I Want To Close By Referring You Here To Something Else Psalm 110 It Is Very Interesting Because It Speaks Of Christ's Triumph As The Messiah But There's An Interesting Verse At The End Of It Doesn't Seem To Fit Into
[48:40] The Rest Of The Psalm It Speaks Of Christ Conquering As The Messiah But Then Suddenly At Verse 7 We Have This He Shall Drink Of The Brook In The Way And Therefore He Shall Lift Up The Head Now Right Throughout The Psalm We See Christ Conquering In Grace Bringing Souls Into His Kingdom And Conquering In Judgment But Suddenly Here He Is Beside A Brook And He Is Lifting Up His Head were many times in the Savior's own life when he was just as we are ourselves, sin accepted, when he was tired, when he was weak, and when it was just hard for him to live the life that he had to live. It was difficult. He was making his way himself many times through Baker's Vale, the
[50:06] Valley of Weeping, and sometimes his head hung low. What did he do? He went to pray. How often you find him going to pray? In the Garden of Gethsemane he is fighting, so he prays. He gets down on his knees and he prays. He digs the channels so that God will come in his prayer to bless him and to help them.
[50:33] And when Christ drinks of the help of God, he lifts up his head, just as he does in the Garden of Gethsemane, and he walks on. And we all need to do that. We need the help of God and the grace of God that will bring us out of the Valley of Baker and enable us to walk on so that we can go from strength to strength until we appear in Zion at length. And I want to tie this especially to the last moments in the Savior's life. You know, I was looking this up the other night. I was wondering, when Christ said, I thirst? When he said, I thirst? And he said he thirsted on the cross just before he said, it is finished. That becomes clear especially in John's Gospel, that he expressed his thirst just before he said, it is finished. In fact, what John says is this, that Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, he saith, I thirst? And then we're told that vinegar was given him, and he drank it. And then he said, it is finished. And he yielded up his spirit unto the Father. Now I'll tell you why I think that is remarkable, and the connection with this Old Testament Messiah here, the connection is this. When Christ said, I thirst, his battle was finished. His battle was finished. He had slain the principalities and the powers. He had recited
[52:10] Psalm 22. He had gone through the experience of, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He had fought them. And he completed the work. And now he says, he is thirsty. God has brought him out of the agony of soul that he was enduring during the darkness on the cross. His Father, I brought him out of it. And what does he say? He says, I thirst. And is that just physical?
[52:38] No, it is not. He is thirsty for glory. He is thirsty for his Father's presence. He is thirsty for everything, to be put back and to be restored the way it was before his humiliation and his pain.
[52:54] And when he says, I thirst, do you not think that it was then that God gave him the consolation of the latter part of Psalm 22, that God poured into his soul the hopes of Psalm 22 and of Psalm 16 and of other Psalms like that, that speaks of declaring his name amongst the brethren, that speaks of himself going home and into his father's house. He thirsted and God poured water into his parched lips. Yes, the water of grace and the water of hell, because he was a conquering warrior and he did it.
[53:29] He slew the powers and he slew the principalities that we might have life. And when he finished it, he was thirsty. But God gave him a drink. And interestingly, when he gets that drink, he says, it is finished. And he bows the head. Is it in weakness? No, it is not. Because it was with a loud voice that he said it. It is finished. And he yielded up his spirit. He was refreshed by God's water. And he did his death. It was a doing. It didn't overtake him. He accomplished it. He died.
[54:08] He did it. He did it. By the grace and by the strength of God, I thirst and God gave the water. And so will God do for you. He'll turn the wilderness into springs, streams in the desert, if you but just call on him in your hour of need. Now, just to notice in conclusion here, the very last verse of the chapter, we're told that Samson judged Israel in the days of the Philistines 20 years. We're told exactly the same thing at the end of his life, that he had judged the Philistines 20 years. Why are we told that twice? Well, I'll leave you this just for next week, God willing.
[54:53] We're told that, and they formed two brackets. Because for 20 years, he was proclaiming the gospel in Israel. He was judging their affairs. They eventually acknowledged him as God's appointed ruler.
[55:07] But at the end of the 20 years, something happens to Samson. Something happens to him. He begins to fall into sin.