The Wedding Crasher
Searching for a True Savior: An Exposition of Judges

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Good morning church! We’re continuing our series this morning through the book of Judges. We’re in Judges, chapters 14 and 15 today. We will be looking at the life of Samson. Samson is the twelfth of the twelve judges. There are six “minor” and six “major” judges in the book of Judges. We call them “minor” judges because many of them only have one verse mentioning them; the major judges have much more. For instance, Samson has four chapters about him. Gideon and Samson are the two that we have the most information about.

We will be finishing up with Samson, but there’s still a lot more going on in the book of Judges. Even after Samson, we’ll see that in the book of Judges, the people of Israel continue to decline and become more and more like the world around them.

I’ve named this sermon, “The Wedding Crasher.” The wedding crasher is someone you may not suspect , because, what we have here is not a reference to the 2005 silly comedy, “The Wedding Crashers,” except for just one thing – this twelfth judge, Samson, has plans to marry a beautiful Philistine woman, a woman that’s outside of his faith, but there’s an uninvited guest, an “unseen” guest, if you will, Who crashes that wedding. He has His own plans for Samson.

Last week in Judges, chapter 13, we learned that Samson had a great deal of potential. There’s a lot of great expectation with Samson. We see that, in chapter 13, he had a Godly heritage. He had a mother who was a believing mother, who was ready to receive him. She’d been barren and God miraculously gave her a supernatural birth. Samso n had a special calling on his life to be a savior in Israel. He was empowered, from his birth, with the spirit of God stirring within him. Here’s a man who had great potential, but we’ll find today that he does not live up to it .

There’s only one who lives up to it and His name is Jesus. All of these judges, all of these human “saviors” in the book of Judges point to their fulfillment in Christ. We will see that Samson not only is the one who has a special calling on his life and the spirit is stirring in him, but he’s really like Israel. He’s emblematic of Israel, the people of Israel. He’s really like many Christians today in the church today, because Samson was a compromised man. He was a called man, but he was a man who had a compromised faith. He wanted to marry the world, because in this story, Samson represents us and the Philistines represent the world. Samson wants to have the best of both. He wants God’s calling and blessing, but he also wants what his eyes see. He wants whatever he desires and so, we see this tension between him and the world.

We see this other thing about the Philistine rulers– they’ve been over Israel now for forty years. This is, by far, the longest oppression they’ve ever been under. Israel, who had cried out before, every other time to God in sorrow, asking God to rescue them, is silent. Israel isn’t crying out.

Compromise is the most insidious, dangerous kind of attack on our faith. Persecution comes at us; we need to turn to God, we need to cry out.

The Philistine rulers were, apparently, easier to get along with. In fact, they had technology and other things that were attractive. It’s like the Israelites willingly just said, ‘You know what? Let’s not upset the apple cart. We don’t need to cry out to God.’ They were dangerously becoming more and more like the world; they were becoming more and more like the nations around them. They’re not crying out, so, God allows this story to happen with Samson so that he might stir up trouble between the world and the believers, so that they would see the world for what it is.

God is the “wedding crasher” in this story; He’s the one that uses this in order to wake up Israel and to help Samson and Israel snap out of their compromised faith.

Now, what do I mean by compromise faith? It’s where you say you’re a believer but no one at the workplace knows that you are because you talk like they do; you behave as they do. You don’t look any different than the world. That’s compromised faith. You say you believe, but you don’t live like you’re a follower of Jesus. Do your neighbors know that you’re a follower? Do your coworkers, your fellow students if you’re still in school, know that you’re a Christ follower? What about your family? Do they know or do you look just like the world? You are a “007” Christ follower; you’re like a “secret agent” Christ follower. You have a compromised faith. You’re not living fully devoted to Christ. T

There are generally four reasons that Christians compromise: One is fear of rejection. We want people to like us. We fear their rejection. Another is false tolerance. We live in this day and age of false tolerance. We are unwilling to express disagreement with beliefs or practices differing from God’s. Not only are we supposed to accept people, even though they have diverse opinions, we’re supposed to affirm their opinions even when we disagree. That’s false tolerance. True tolerance is to respect you as a person but not having to agree with you. That’s true. Another is pleasure; we want what we want and so we compromise. Lastly, there is apathy; this is a dangerous reason to compromise. We’re just kind of lazy about our faith; we are too lazy to seek after what God has called us to be and do, I see that a lot in Christians today, especially since COVID; there’s been an apathetic spirit that has fallen on many Christians in our churches. You can see it in the way church attendance has gone down; believers have become apathetic.

Here are some of the reasons that we compromise with the world. There are at least four stages: One is attraction; you see something that “twinkles” and you go towards it. Another is justification; you start making up reasons why the “wrongs” are ok because you desire it. Another is indulgence; restraints are removed and the conscience is hardened. It leads to re-definition; you start redefining what you know was wrong as right so that you can placate your conscience. This is what compromise looks like.

The Philistines represent the most deadly enemy Israel has faced because they’re causing the Israelites to compromise their faith; they’re causing them to want to marry into the Philistine culture and just become just like them, but in Judges, chapters 14 and 15 , God is working behind the scenes to “crash” this wedding. God is going to “crash” this marriage between the world and the people of God. He wants them to have an uncompromised faith.

As we read today, we’ll see three ways that God wants to lead us to have an uncompromised faith. We’re going to be reading chapters 14 and 15. This is a well- known story about Samson and this wedding that he’s about to go and be part of, but before we start, let’s pray.

“Lord Jesus, we pray, right now, that You would open our ears to hear and give us obedient hearts to repent and obey where you call us. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Judges 14-15 (ESV) 14:1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there notnot a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” 4 His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel. 5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. 6 Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes. 8 After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion. 10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, 13 but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes .” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14 And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” And in three days they could not solve the riddle. 15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?” 16 And Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?” 17 She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, her , because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. 18 And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.” 19 And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man. 15:1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” 4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam. 9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” 12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. 16 And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. 18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned , and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. This is God’s word. Amen.

THREE WAYS GOD LEADS US TO AN UNCOMPROMISED FAITH:

1. He allows our sinful desires to take us down to lead us to desire Him.

He allows us to go down, down, down, so that we’ll finally look up. He allows us to get the thing that we want, even though it’s bad for us, so that we’ll finally get a taste of it and recognize that we really can only be satisfied by tasting and seeing that the Lord is good, seeing that He is our true desire.

I had several possible working titles for this message. As I was working on it, I first named it, “Samson’s ‘No Honey’ Honeymoon.” That was my first thought. Then I started thinking, ok, “It’s the Monkey Wrench in Samson’s wedding.” I played with that. I, also, had this one , “The Lion, the Winch and the Wardrobes.” Ultimately, I thought, Samson is emblematic of a compromised faith. He’s really emblematic of Israel and even of Christians today who’ve compromised with the world.

God’s at work behind the scenes here. His name is only mentioned five times in two chapters. In the previous chapter, His name is in there 19 times, but here, God’s working behind the scenes.

Notice that Samson “goes down” in five different verses. Samson “went down” in verse one to Timnah. Timnah was about six miles south of his hometown of Zorah. He was a boy from the “hills” and he went down in the valley of Timnah. If you look at a map, you can see that the tribe of Dan is a sea coast, a possession that God gave him, which puts him right up against the Philistines. The town of Timnah was supposed to have been in the tribe of Dan, but they lost it to the Philistines. It is now a Philistine town. Timnah is just south of Zorah. He has to go down to Timnah. Later, we find out that he goes down farther, about 20 miles, to Ashkelon and kills those thirty men to get their clothes – their linen garments and their outer garments. Somebody asked me after the first service, “Are you going to say the same thing at the second service?” I’m just interpreting the Bible –he got their underwear and their outerwear. I don’t think he took it to the dry cleaners first. He just dropped it back off. He was mad. I think that he probably went there because he didn’t want any blowback from people finding out where he went and got those clothes.

This is some kind of story. How isGod in this story? Well, you have to look “behind the scenes.” What is God trying to do? He’s concerned that Israel is becoming just like the nations around them. They’re not even crying out, they’re not even repenting. God needs to “pick a fight.”

Did anybody ever watch the movie, “Braveheart,” back in the day? In the movie, the main character, William Wallace, is asked, “Where are you going?” and he tells them, “I’m going to pick a fight.” That’s what God is doing right here. He wants Samson to “pick a fight,” so that he can get Israel to wake up and recognize they’re falling into a compromised faith, which is even more insidious and dangerous than persecution, because then you become just like the world.

It’s like putting a frog in the kettle when the water is cool and then starting to turn the temperature up little by little. The frog doesn’t jump out, because he doesn’t notice that he’s getting cooked little by little, one degree at a time, until the water is boiling.

That’s what’s happening to Israel right here . Samson goes down, in verse one, he goes down in verse five, he goes down in verse seven, he goes down in verse 19, all the way to a cave. Then, in verse eight of chapter 15, he goes down. Samson goes down five times.

Over in the book of Genesis, Abraham went down to Egypt. What happens to him? He gets in trouble. Jacob and Isaac went down to Egypt; what happened to them? They get in trouble, They start trying to solve problems on their own. Every time they try to solve problems on their own, they compromise with the world, they go down, down, down and God lets them, so that they’ll finally look up, up, up. Sometimes that’s the only way we can learn. He goes down to that Philistine village and guess what he sees? He sees a beautiful Philistine woman. He knows he’s not supposed to marry outside his faith. She’s an uncircumcised woman. His parents warn him, ‘Can’t you get a woman from, from your hometown? Can’t you get a woman at least from one of the tribes of Israel? Why do you have to get an uncircumcised woman (which means outside the covenant of the Jews)? Samson shouldn’t do this.

Even in the New Testament, we, as Christians, are warned about this. It says in 2 Corinthians 6:14 (ESV) “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” God has warned us about this. Here goes Samson; he wants what he wants. He sees her. Notice what he said in verse one, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah.” In verse three, his godly parents say to him, ‘Can’t you find someone that’s in the faith?’ He tells them, ‘No, she’s right in my eyes. She’s a looker and I like the way she looks.’

Don’t miss this, because this is a repetitive phrase in the book of Judges. You’ll see it in Judges 17:6, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” and 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” You couldn’t find a better description of our world today; people do what they want to do. They don’t care if it’s right or wrong; they do what’s right in their eyes.

That’s what Samson tells his mom and dad – ‘Go get her for me. She looks right in my eyes.’ Samson’s going down to get her, but on his way there, a lion jumps him. I don’t think this is an accident; I think the Lord allows this lion to come.

If you remember from last week, Samson was born into the Nazarite vow, which had three parts. He’s not supposed to cut his hair, he’s not supposed to eat or drink from the fruit of the vine and any unclean thing and he’s not supposed to go near a dead body. Here he is, walking through a vineyard on his way to Timnah and then a lion jumps him. Samson kills it. He goes down with his father and mother and they work out the arrangement with her father and mother for when the wedding is going to be and when the feast is going to be. They start heading back home.

On his way back, Samson sees that the lion’s dead body is still there.He’s not supposed to go near a dead body, but he does. Not only does he approach the dead body, but he sees honey on the inside of it and so he scoops out a handful of it. He is like this ”Conan the Barbarian” character or maybe, he’s like a “Wreck it Ralph” character. He’s a wild man. Whatever he sees he wants.

Samson breaks his Nazarite vow and he goes near a dead body, but that’s not good enough. Then, he eats unclean honey, because something out of a dead body would be unclean. He just scoops it out of the dead carcass and carries some back to his mom and dad. He doesn’t tell them where he got it. Samson gets some honey, gives it to his parents and makes them unclean. He doesn’t even tell them.

This is Samson. God’s going to use this guy. This is God’s man. You see, Samson is us. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been. If you will turn your life over to Him, He will use you. Now, Samson is a hard, crude tool, but God’s using him. God is using him anyway; in spite of Samson’s character, God is using him.

The Philistines provided thirty companions for Samson. Why? Because Samson’s a loner; he’s rebellious against his parents, right? He wants what he wants. He’s impulsive. He’s a loner. He comes to the wedding and the only people he brings are his mom and dad. Where’s the wedding party that the bride groom is supposed to bring? The Philistines provide him with thirty companions. These are not his friends. When he gets with them, because he’s this bored kind of guy, he says, ‘I’ve got a riddle for you.’ He makes a wager with these guys. He says, ‘If you can solve this riddle, I will give you thirtysets of underwear and 30 sets of outerwear. If you can’t solve it, then you have to give me the same.’ They then say, ‘Ok, give us the riddle.’ He tells the riddle to them, “Out of the eater something to eat. Out of the strong, something sweet.” It stumped them for days.

On the third day, they went to his wife (they call her his “wife,” even though they hadn’t consummated the marriage. On the night of the seventh day of the feast would be when the consummation would take place) and they said to her, ‘You brought this fella in here and now he’s going to take everything we have. We’re going to burn you and your family’s house down with you in it.’ She starts crying. Now, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to call your fiance’ a “heifer.” It didn’t work out for Samson. Samson says, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”

So, Samson went down to Elon, which was a good distance away from Timnah, so he could hide his crime of killing thirty men, stealing their wardrobes and bringing the wardrobes back. He was so “ticked” at her. He paid those guys off and went home. He did not consummate the wedding.

In chapter 15, Samson thought better of it. He’s probably sitting at the house, thinking, You know what? She was pretty. He starts to think about it. You know, I think I’m going to go back.

Our first point is that God will allow us to go down and go after our desires and let us get a big old taste of it so that we’ll recognize that it doesn’t taste as good as we thought it would . Also, in order to get our attention.

James 4:4 (ESV) “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” You can’t have both; the Lord wants your complete desire to be upon Him.

The psalmist says it like this, Psalm 73:25 (ESV) “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” If you’ll put your desire on the Lord, then He will give you the desires of your heart. If you will delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart. There cannot be a harmonious coexistence between the world and the church. We are enemies. When I speak of the world, I mean the evil, fallen culture of the world and His mercy. Believe it or not, this is mercy. God lets us have our sinful desires so that we will acquire a taste for Him, when we want to get that sorry taste out of our mouths. You don’t have to go down though. You don’t have to go down at all. You can listen to God’s word today and turn to Him today.

THREE WAYS GOD LEADS US TO AN UNCOMPROMISED FAITH:

2. He removes our sinful devotions that we might be totally devoted to Him.

As we get into chapter 15, Samson is at his daddy’s house and he thinks, You know what? I didn’t even consummate my marriage. It cost me a fortune. I had to go get thirty sets of clothes. I went to all this trouble and didn’t even consummate the wedding. I have a good idea. I’m going to go back down there and take her a goat. He could have taken her a bouquet of flowers. But, you know, he did call her a “heifer,” so he took her a goat. I don’t know what he was thinking, but that’s how Samson rolls. He took a goat and told her father that he was going into her chambers. The father stops him and says, ‘No, you’re not. I gave her to your best man.’ Boy, Samson flew mad on that. Now, the Philistines really have it coming. You’ve done Samson wrong. The father says, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute, look at her younger sister.’ What kind of family is this? ‘Here’s her younger sister. She’s pretty, you know,’ because he’d already worked out a business arrangement. There was a bride price agreed on and all this stuff. He knew that he needed to come clean with Samson, but Samson would have none of it. He wanted that first girl.

Samson had a way with animals. He was with goats, lions and now, he goes after foxes. He catches three hundred of them and ties them tail to tail. He’s got one hundred and fifty pairs of foxes. Then, he ties a torch to their tails and sets them loose in the wheat fields. It was the season of harvest. It says in the scripture, that the wheat is drying in the fields. So, it’s either lying there or it’s been stacked up “teepee style” to dry. It’s very susceptible to fire. He sets those foxes loose. You better believe that they ran all over the place, burning up their wheat fields and their olive fields. The Philistines are “ticked;” they said, in verse 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.”

The Philistines went and burned their house down–the very thing she’d been threatened about got done because of what the father in-law had done. And so burn. Samson hears about this after he’d done the burning of the fields. Samson gets his vengeance on them. I don’t know exactly what he did to them, because it’s not specific. The scripture says this, 8 “And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow…” I believe that would hurt. I think it means that he “wiped them out.” The Philistines had burned down his father in-law’s house and killed that family. I think that Samson killed all of them. It doesn’t name numbers or how it went.

After this, Samson went down, all the way to the land of Judah, this time to another tribe’s possession, where he hid in the cleft of a rock. He’s sitting in a cave now thinking, I didn’t get married. I didn’t get to consummate the marriage. I didn’t have any ‘honey in my honeymoon.’ What have I done here? He’s in a mess; his wedding has been crashed. All of his plans have gone to nothing and now he is in a “woe is me” condition. God is removing his sinful devotions from him. God is not allowing him to be happy with the choices he’s made in his life because he wants him to be totally devoted to Him.

It says in 1 Corinthians 7:35 (ESV) I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.” God wants your undivided, uncompromised devotion to Him.

Friends, you can even make “idols” of your family, of your children and of your spouse. You can even make idols of God’s blessings on your life and you begin to worship the blessing rather than the Blesser. You begin to worship what He’s given you rather than He the giver. God wants us to wake up from, to snap out of and recognize the blessings of God in our lives.

When I was a sophomore in college, the Fall of that year, I got serious with a girl. She was pretty. She was a freshman. I got serious with her really quickly. Some of my Christian friends would tell me, “I don’t think she’s right for you.” It was too late. By “too late,” I mean that you’re no longer using your brain; you’re just using your heart. I was already at that point, but I heard my friends’ concerns. I guess I had better pray about it. So I prayed like this, I’m not saying the Lord would answer this prayer every time, but He did for me. He showed me a lot of grace in this. I said, “God, if this girl is not for me, if she’s not the girl I’m supposed to marry, I want you to take her out of my life. I don’t have the power to do it myself. I love her.” It wasn’t but a couple of weeks that she dropped me like a bag of rocks. It broke my little heart. I didn’t go to a cave like Samson. I just laid in my dorm room. She left me right before Christmas; that was no Christmas present. Only a couple of months later, I met this little girl named Robin. God had set her aside for me and she’s been my wife to this day. Amen. God answered my prayer. I’m not saying he’ll do it every time, but he did for me. He took that girl out of my life.

God took this Philistine girl out of Samson’s life and woke him up. Even good things, even blessings can become idolatry if you’re more devoted to them than you are to the Lord. He doesn’t want that. He wants you to be devoted to Him.

THREE WAYS GOD LEADS US TO AN UNCOMPROMISED FAITH:

3. He loosens the bonds of our sinful world that we might be free to serve Him.

He loosens the bonds of our sinful world that we might be free to serve Him . He loosens the bonds of our sinful world so that we can wake up and recognize that the world is not our truth.

If you look down into the final verses here, you see that the Philistines came into the land of Judah because they’d heard Samson had headed that way. The Philistines came to Judah to bind Samson and Judahites were so happy with the status quo under the Philistines that they agreed to bind him for them. They go over to that cave to get Samson. Sampson says, ‘What are you doing here?’ They said, ‘You’ve caused us a lot of trouble. Don’t you know that those Philistines are our rulers?’ Do you see what’s happened? Even Judah, the tribe that was supposed to go first, they’ve now compromised their faith and they’ve willingly come under the Philistines. They don’t want to “upset the apple cart.” The Judahites come to bind Samson and turn him over to the Philistines. He tells them, ‘Now, wait a minute; if I let you tie me up, you must promise not to kill me.’ They promise not to kill him. ‘We will just tie you up and hand you over to the people that want to kill you, but we’re not gonna kill you, ok?’

What does this sound like? It sounds like the night before Jesus was crucified. The soldiers came into the garden and they bound Him. The next day, they turned Him over to the Romans. His own brethren came and they did not want to “upset the apple cart.” They had compromised with Rome. They were happy with the status quo. They didn’t want it to change, so they rejected our Jesus, our Savior; they were like Judah, who had rejected Samson as their savior, even though he was God’s called man.They had heard stories about him, so they didn’t go there with two or three guys. They “pulled up in there” with 3000 men. They’d heard stories about Samson.

Samson allowed them to tie him up. They tied him up with new ropes. He goes towards the Philistines. I believe the Judahites were still watching. I bet this was quite a spectacle. They turned him over to the Philistines and he walked up with his hands tied behind his back. Verse 14, “…Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.” I don’t know what Samson looked like. I don’t know if he was just a normal looking guy or if he looked like Conan the barbarian.

Samson saw, lying on the ground, the jawbone of a donkey. We know that he has no qualms going near dead things. He grabs the jawbone up and he “whacks” one thousand Philistines. He kills one thousand men right there on that spot.

Afterwards, Samson got such a thirst. Just imagine – heaps and heaps of men that he has killed all around him. They must be piled up in heaps around him. This is a crazy story. Here’s “Wreck It Ralph;” just one man. Conan the barbarian. He’s just wild with the Spirit of God on him because this is what God wanted the whole time. He wanted to “pick a fight” between Israel and the Philistines so that Israel would wake up and serve God only.

Samson prays for the first time. We’ve been through three chapters before we hear Samson pray. It’s not a good prayer; I wouldn’t say it’s even close to a good prayer, but it’s a prayer nonetheless. He calls out to the Lord. In chapter 15:18, “And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” What kind of prayer is that? Well, that’s the way he talks to his earthly daddy. That’s the way he talks to everybody else, so that’s the way he talks to God. This guy is a mess.

At that point, you feel like God might just slap him up beside the head, right? No. He causes a cleft to break in the rock, in a hollow place in the rock, and water rises up in it. Cool water rises up. That’s what He does. Samson drinks the water.

Samson is a rough man but he’s God’s man and God is using him to “pick a fight” with the Philistines. So, that place was called

That place was called “Ramath-lehi,” which means “place of the jawbone” or “height of the jawbone” in Hebrew. They called that place where the spring broke forth, “En-hakkore;” it is at Lehi to this day. That water just kept running on, which means “the spring of one’s calling.” Samson had called for it and God had answered.

Here is what those bonds represent. They represent what the world will do to us, so that we feel in bondage, but because Jesus is our truth, He’s the overcomer. He helps us break free so that we can see the truth of what’s going on around us.

John 8:31-38 (ESV) 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” He gives us the truth so that we can be set free from all the lies that the world tells us. He’s the only one that can overcome.

John 16:33 (ESV) I have saidthese these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. That’s what He wants us to be. He wants us to be overcomers in the world today.

1 John 5:4 (ESV) “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” That’s what God wants. He wants us to be separate from the world. We’re in the world but not of the world. We’re to be a unique holy people, called out by God.

God is still working on Samson. We’ve got another chapter to go next week. I hope you’ll come back. He is going to meet up with this other girl. He’s just got problems with his eyes. He sees another girl he wants named Delilah. We’ll be talking about that story next week.

Samson’s life is imperfect and flawed as it points to our true Savior –Jesus was announced by an angel, miraculously born to a faithful mother, empowered and called from the womb to be the Savior in Israel, bound and turned over by His own people. These are all fragments foreshadowing of what Jesus will look like when He comes. This story is in the Bible to help Israel recognize the true Savior when He comes, but unlike Samson, his bonds didn’t break immediately. He was turned over to the Romans and crucified. His bonds weren’t on Him because He had done something wrong. Samson had done something wrong and that’s why his bonds were on him. Those bonds were our bonds and He took them. He was crucified and died our death, that we might receive His eternal life and three days later, the true Savior conquered sin, death and the grave. He was raised from the grave and He lives today. He wants to live in us and He’s the true overcomer.

God was the real “wedding crasher” in this story of Samson. He wants to let you know that He doesn’t want you married to the world, believer. He wants you to have your full devotion, desire and calling to serve Him.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank You for Your word. Thank You, that even in a difficult story and a challenging story like this, we see You at work behind the scenes. Lord, I pray for that person, here today, that is going his own way and doing what’s right in his own eyes. Today, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you and calling you to the true Savior, Jesus. If this is true, would you pray with me, right where you are? You can pray like this, “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I know You died on the cross for my sins and I need a Savior. Would You come into my life? I believe that You died on the cross, You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. I want to be a child of God . I want You as my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sin. Make me what You want me to be. If you’re praying that prayer, believing, He will save you. Turn your life over to Him. Others are here today and you’ve done that, you’ve received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but you’ve been compromising in some areas and the Holy Spirit has told you what they are. It’s something at work, something you’re watching on TV or on your computer, it’s something you’re putting in your body that you’re not supposed to… you know where you’re compromising. Your conscience is from the Holy Spirit, telling you it’s wrong and you’ve been lying to yourself. Right now, would you just say, “I don’t want to have a compromised faith anymore. I want to be completely devoted to You. I turn it all over to You now. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.”