WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.680 Well, we're back in the Old Testament book of Judges. 00:00:03.759 --> 00:00:07.200 It's this weird ancient book in the Old Testament that most of us never read. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:10.320 And when you read it, um, it's just it's weird. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:11.679 We can just admit that. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:12.320 It's weird. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:17.120 Uh it's a soap opera, and we've been at the end of this book of Samson's life. 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:20.239 And this guy, he's married his enemy's daughter. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:22.879 So the other people group that's enslaving his people. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:25.519 He went and married one of their ladies. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:27.440 He then abandons her. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:29.600 He burns their fields. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:34.399 He kills in total, at this point, 1,030 of their men. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:36.079 Um he's a bit of a Rambo. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:38.479 And then he has a God moment, right? 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:40.000 We saw that in the last week. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:42.479 We were looking at it, we're like, oh, okay, finally. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.520 Like he's begging for God, like God to quench his thirst. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:46.719 We're like, here it is. 00:00:46.799 --> 00:00:47.600 Like this is it. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:48.640 This is the moment. 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:50.640 This will be his turning point, right? 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:54.640 Like this is the this is the retreat, top of the mountain. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:57.119 Like everything's gonna be just fine in his life. 00:00:57.200 --> 00:01:00.159 He's gonna find the sweet woman and a few acres and settle down. 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:01.920 And that's what his life's gonna be about. 00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:05.439 And then we get Judges 16:1, which says Samson went to Gaza. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.239 There he saw a prostitute and went in to her. 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:10.959 So that's what he does right after his big God moment. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:16.000 Um, that's his follow-up uh sanctification process is uh 16.1. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:19.439 Well, let's try to make sense of this if we can possibly make sense of it. 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:25.519 Um we begin with our third point from last week's sermon, and that's point number one for this week. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:31.519 Idols and our hearts are always toxic lies, empty promises, and dry wells. 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:40.480 Now, let's not let that terminology about idols or idolatry or idols in the heart be too like super religious, because sometimes you hear something like that and you go, ah, not for me. 00:01:40.640 --> 00:01:41.519 Here's what it means. 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:44.959 This is sort of like our ongoing working definition in our church. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:56.959 Idols are anything we love too much, anything, even good things, anything we love too much that end up holding power over us from actually being at peace. 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:03.680 And they do that because idols aren't really God, but we position them in our hearts as God. 00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.079 But really, they're just like something else. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:15.439 Like they're just part of our life, they're just something that can't deliver on that level of filling the holes that are in our heart. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:19.280 Christy and I are watching the seventh season of Alone. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:20.560 Or anybody watch Alone? 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:21.840 I've talked about Alone before. 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:23.120 I love this show. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:31.039 And mainly because we watch it and I pause, and then I tell Christy everything that they're doing wrong. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:36.800 That's just our and she sits there and takes it, and eventually she falls asleep, and then I'm just talking to the room about everything. 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:42.639 In the seventh season, I think it's like the third episode, Sean loses his fire starter. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:48.479 So remember the setup here is it's like 10 people or 20 people get dropped off out in the middle of nowhere. 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:50.240 They're totally alone, separate from each other. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.639 They get to pick 10 items, they have to work their own camera. 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.280 They are alone in the Arctic wilderness. 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:58.879 So a fire starter is a big deal, right? 00:02:59.120 --> 00:02:59.759 Big deal. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.919 Sean loses it, I lose it. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:04.159 I lose it in my living room. 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:12.719 How can you, how can you possibly lose your fire starter when you are alone in the Arctic wilderness? 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:19.759 Like, I'm telling Christy everywhere you could hang it, how I would hang it and where I'd put it and what I would do. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:23.840 And then some of these people, they don't even take a gill net to fish, hadn't figured that out yet. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:25.520 Like, you have to take a gill net. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:29.599 I've never fished with a gill net, but like that's apparently a big deal. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:31.840 And I know how to kill a wolverine at this point, right? 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:34.479 Like, I know how to do all of this. 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:35.840 And I love it. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:38.800 Like, it's like, you know, I get to be the judge, right? 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:41.439 I mean, that's why we love so many of these shows. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:46.319 And most importantly, I'm just I'm not like him, right? 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:49.280 Like, I would not lose my fire starter. 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:50.719 That would not be me, right? 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:54.319 And we do this, we can do this with Samson when we read this story, right? 00:03:54.400 --> 00:04:02.240 We can read Samson and read all this absurdity and insanity and violence and abreaction. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:08.000 We can and we just we can pause the story and go, well, at least I'm not like that. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:12.159 Like I may be messed up, but at least I'm not Samson, right? 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:13.680 That's why you watch The Bachelor. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.160 You're like, well, at least I'm not that. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.639 Like I may be messed up, but I ain't that. 00:04:18.800 --> 00:04:19.600 And you know what? 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:20.879 It does work a little bit. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:22.480 It does make you feel better about yourself. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:28.959 But slowly, what happens in this story with Samson is this story starts to read us, right? 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:39.360 Because if we're gonna talk about it on the level of what's going on inside of us, where we're all inside jobs, uh, eventually it reads us. 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:43.120 And so as we unpack this, this is what's gonna happen even again this morning. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:51.519 Verse 2 the Gazette were told Samson has come here, and they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:56.240 They kept quiet all night, saying, Let us wait till the light of the morning, then we will kill him. 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:09.120 But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:14.959 After this, he loved a woman in the valley of Soric, whose name was Delilah. 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:18.800 So remember the idols in this guy's heart that we talked about last week. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:25.519 We see them in action here again because he's with another woman, and then he falls in love with another woman, third woman in the story. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:33.839 And then also, you know, when these people surround him to come and get him, he doesn't just like sneak away and go lay low. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:39.920 No, he rips the doors off, puts them on his shoulder, puts them at the top of a hill for everyone to see. 00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:42.399 Like, how dare you try to come against me? 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:43.360 Right? 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:49.759 So here's the idols that we've talked about in his heart romance or sex, idolatry. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:58.240 If I don't have him, if I don't have her, if I don't have it, I won't be okay or I won't be enough. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:03.120 I just keep needing her, him, that next person, the next person. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:06.800 Power, idolatry, or even influence idolatry. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:11.519 If I don't have power or influence, I won't be okay. 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:13.120 I won't be enough. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:13.920 Right? 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:23.120 These are those toxic lies, empty promises, and dry wells that we can live out of, out of our hearts, but never really fulfill. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:23.439 Right? 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:26.639 You just keep getting to the next place, keep getting to the next place. 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:32.720 Delilah is the third woman in the story of Samson, but she's the only woman with a name. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:34.000 They all have names. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:36.399 She's the only woman given a name in the story. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:39.199 And Delilah means feeble. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:42.480 Okay, so her parents named her that. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:43.600 So let's pick up on that. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:44.879 Just kind of like pause. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:47.439 Her parents named her feeble. 00:06:47.839 --> 00:06:51.759 So, I mean, talk about putting you on a mission in life to overcompensate, right? 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:54.480 Like that's that's where Delilah's coming out of here. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:58.959 So we're gonna see something going on in her own heart as we unfold the story. 00:06:59.120 --> 00:06:59.680 Verse 5. 00:06:59.839 --> 00:07:16.720 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, said to her, Seduce him and see where this great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him, and we will give you 1,100 pieces of silver. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:19.120 Okay, here we go, right? 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:25.360 So Delilah said to Samson, please tell me where your great strength lies and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:30.319 So Delilah will sell out her man for money. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:38.720 That feeble heart of hers thinks, if I can only get 1,100 pieces of silver, then I'll be okay. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:40.000 That'll be it, right? 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:41.839 That's money idolatry. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:43.439 Works in our hearts also. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:45.360 Works in my heart, works in your heart. 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:51.600 If I don't have that amount, that salary, that investment, I won't be okay or enough. 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:53.680 And we can reverse the sentence, right? 00:07:54.160 --> 00:08:01.519 If I have that amount, that next amount, that next raise, like it's the next one, right? 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:02.720 Like the next one. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:05.040 Then finally I will be okay. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:14.000 If I if I could live like that, them, the other person, the person that you've been looking at, like them and what they do and how they live and what they have, if I have that, then I will be okay. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:17.120 It's a toxic lie, empty promise, dry well. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:24.639 So Delilah starts to work this manipulative magic on Samson. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:30.160 I mean, she's she's loving on him, you know, like, hey babe, you know, just tell me, why can't you tell me? 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:30.959 Don't you trust me? 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.600 I mean, we're in a relationship, you know, a good relationship. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:35.360 We're supposed to be vulnerable with each other. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:37.519 You can be vulnerable with me, you can tell me. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:39.519 And Samson kind of likes the game. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:45.200 Like he's playing the game and he's lying to her, and then she's going back to them and telling them, and then it's the wrong information. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:50.559 She comes back and you embarrassed me, and I thought we're in this relationship, and why can't you tell me? 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.360 And here's verse 15. 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:59.919 And she said to him, so to Samson, How can you say I love you when your heart is not with me? 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:05.360 You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:09.440 And when she pressed him hard with her words, day after day. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:11.279 Anybody resonate with that? 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:12.720 And urged him. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:16.000 His soul was vexed to death. 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:17.600 Why are y'all laughing? 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:21.360 I didn't even plan on that being a laugh, but apparently this is resonating. 00:09:21.840 --> 00:09:31.679 And he told her all his heart and said to her, A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite to God. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:33.600 So remember talking about that, like way back. 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:41.200 Like that's like he was he was devoted to God, set apart from early on in this devotion to God, from my mother's womb. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:46.240 If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:54.320 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, and she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up again, for he has told me all his heart. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:58.080 Then the Lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:04.320 She made him sleep on her knees, and she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:08.559 Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 00:10:08.879 --> 00:10:15.600 Now, what in the world, what in the world could this have to do with like us today, right now, where we live? 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:22.879 Well, the very thing that Samson wrongly loved is the thing that stole his strength. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:24.720 That's something to take note of. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:35.679 For me, a contemplative question for application, for like growth and grace, for our walk with God, what it means to honor God, would start with a question like this. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:44.080 What idol of the heart do I keep toying with that will never give strength to my heart? 00:10:44.399 --> 00:10:48.399 And we could replace strength with wholeness or forgiveness or righteousness. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:51.600 But what's the idol you just keep playing with? 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:57.120 That motive, that thing you think will deliver like only God can deliver. 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:02.720 I mean, this is his calling into a contemplative and confessional life. 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:07.120 And confession, like we've said before, is not despair. 00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:09.120 Confession is relief. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:11.279 It's bringing to light something that needs to be brought. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:12.720 God already knows. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:14.720 He already knows. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:19.519 And in his kindness, he's saying, hey, let's bring that to light for your own healing. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:27.120 We're the ones who need to voice these fears, these idols, the sin inside of our heart to him. 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:30.960 We are already in his grace in Jesus. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:39.120 In our weakness, we actually know a more profound strength than us acting like we're just like always and forever strong. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:40.480 And haven't you known it? 00:11:40.639 --> 00:11:52.159 Haven't you known it that like in moments and seasons of like extreme brokenness, and maybe you're there this morning, extreme brokenness and difficulty, like some transformation comes out of that. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:55.279 Like some greater strength in some way. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:59.360 It didn't happen like that afternoon or like right after lunch, right? 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:02.559 I mean, it might take a while, it can take a while. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:11.120 But always out of a weakness comes a more profound strength because we're tapping into where our real strength lies, which is not really in us. 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:20.480 It's in the fact that God accepts us, welcomes us, delights in us, dotes in us, forgives us, grants us righteousness, forever loves us. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:23.200 So the Philistines take Samson, they finally get him. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:25.120 Boy, this has been a long journey for that. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:30.000 They gouge out his eyes, they bound him in shackles, and they put him to work for them. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:32.399 But, but, verse 22. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:36.240 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:37.200 So the hair's growing. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:40.240 That's an imagery for us to see. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:42.159 Something's going on. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:44.000 The end is not the end. 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.080 The bottom is not the bottom. 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:48.159 War's going on. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:55.519 The Philistines they gather to worship their false God, and the text says, when their hearts are merry, they called Samson in. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:00.320 3,000 people in this huge building, 3,000. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:01.919 And they're having a great time. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:03.039 So their hearts are married. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:07.519 So they are having a great time, and they can't wait to bring Samson in. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:10.240 I mean, this guy is a legend. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.759 They're going to bring him in, but he is weak, so they're not afraid anymore. 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:15.840 They're going to bring him in and they're going to mock him. 00:13:15.919 --> 00:13:18.080 They're going to be entertained by his weakness. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:19.519 They can't wait for this to happen. 00:13:19.679 --> 00:13:22.799 And remember, these people are Samson's enemies, okay? 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:26.240 So these people are the ones enslaving his people. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:30.399 And then we get verse 28. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:39.679 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, O Lord God, please remember me, and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:47.919 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one, his left hand on the other. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:50.320 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:55.279 Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the Lord's and upon all the people who were in it. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:14:01.600 So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:08.559 Point number two is this in our nothingness we are open to God's victory for us and God's strength in us. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:11.759 Here's how we see this in the arc of this story in the book of Judges. 00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:15.360 We have to kind of back out and get a little macro level view on this. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:20.399 At the beginning, the nation of Israel did rise up and fight. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:25.200 And then by the time of Gideon, 300 people fought. 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:30.559 And now, and this is how this book's such a brilliant piece of literary work. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.519 Now only one will fight. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:38.320 And now we understand this in terms of this is a military situation. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.360 This is nations enslaving another nation. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:46.480 At first the nation will fight, then only 300, and now just one. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.399 And the others are so apathetic in their slavery they don't even care. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:15:02.480 It's a brilliant picture for us to see that God can save and welcome us and love us and have us and we can be safe with him. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:07.759 Not because of 300 of us or our entire nation, but just because of one. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:09.759 Because of him. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:18.399 A couple of years ago, Christian and I we were given some tickets from some family to go down to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to go to the Garth Brooks concert. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:28.639 So for me, that was like a highlight as a big deal for me who owned the Garth Brooks uh hits CD in my truck, in my four-wheel drive truck, as a teenage boy. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:30.720 And so I was ready for this. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:35.919 And so we get into the stadium and we have on a lanyard, our tickets in a lanyard. 00:15:36.080 --> 00:15:38.720 And if you've worn a lanyard, you know a couple things are possible. 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:40.480 Number one, you're in charge of something, right? 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:41.759 You get to be bossy. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:46.000 Or number two, you're going somewhere other people can't go if you have a lanyard on. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:48.080 That's what's going on with the lanyard. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:50.720 And so at first I'm going, okay, this is gonna be good. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:52.559 This is gonna be a good situation here. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:16:01.279 We start to follow where the numbers are at and walking down the concourse, follow the numbers, and we get to a door with a guy in front of it that has a suit on. 00:16:01.360 --> 00:16:08.480 So one of the doors, non-lanyard people walk by and look in, and you're like, oh, okay. 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:10.559 So that's going on in there. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:14.320 So I have the lanyard, just splash that sucker, walk right in. 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:16.879 It's a beautiful lobby. 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.120 There's two counters over here. 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.960 You could order food. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.480 No lines, no lines, all lanyard people. 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:31.840 Big bar, all these tables and chairs, comfortably sit with your children. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:35.200 It's a very relaxed atmosphere there at the stadium. 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:37.360 You could go down to your seats and watch. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.480 You come back up, come back up, get more food, get more drinks. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:42.639 And then I went to the restroom. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:44.080 It was unbelievable. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:45.919 It was only Lanyard People restroom. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:47.759 It wasn't like you didn't have to go back out in the hall. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:49.440 Like it was just in there. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:51.679 And it was pristine. 00:16:52.080 --> 00:16:53.519 You had TVs in there. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:55.440 I hung out in there for a while. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:57.600 I mean, this was amazing. 00:16:57.759 --> 00:16:59.919 It was an amazing experience. 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:05.920 And all of this, I didn't, I didn't pay for anything. 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:07.680 Like I didn't buy anything, right? 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:09.599 Like it was gifted, right? 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.880 It was gifted on me, on us. 00:17:13.839 --> 00:17:15.359 I received it. 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:18.079 And receiving is always a position of weakness. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:19.680 It makes us feel really strange sometimes. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:21.599 Sometimes we want to pay it back. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:27.279 Live your whole Christian life trying to pay back something that was a gift rather than in response to it. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:35.119 It's a position of weakness, but that position of weakness has such joy and freedom. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:44.960 I mean, if you think back on the Samson story as this unfolds in that position of weakness where he finally admits he doesn't have anything, he needs to receive something, right? 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:49.200 He is bound, his eyes are gone, his strength is gone. 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:54.160 But something actually does happen there because his strength starts to come back. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:17:56.640 He's probably embarrassed. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:17:58.880 He has no moral upstand. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:01.759 I mean, this guy is not a moral example at all. 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:03.920 This guy's a train wreck. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:08.720 But something happens when everything has been taken away from him. 00:18:09.839 --> 00:18:10.160 Right? 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:12.240 I mean, it's like we say what David said. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:13.920 We're more broken than we originally thought. 00:18:14.079 --> 00:18:20.799 I mean, we're we are we are beautiful and worth in the image of God, but we are more broken than originally thought. 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:27.920 And as we open that up in God's grace, we realize we're more loved by God and Jesus than we dare to dream. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.039 That is such a freeing reality for the Christian life. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:39.519 So Samson wipes out 3,000 people, and that military victory is given to all his people. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:42.480 This is what we see throughout the Old Testament. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:45.200 We see victory by representation. 00:18:45.359 --> 00:18:52.960 It's not victory by your victory, it's victory by one guy wins, and the victory is given to all of them. 00:18:53.119 --> 00:19:12.079 It's a foreshadowing for sure, of a coming victory for our secure position with God, not because of everything we do to get all the right fights correct, all the moral fights correct, but rather that God Himself, that's what Christ Jesus is for us. 00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:13.759 Our victory. 00:19:14.319 --> 00:19:18.720 And our effort ceases to be a performance to finally be okay. 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:21.519 No, it's an effort inside of God's grace to us. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:22.079 Listen to this. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:24.240 There's a whole bunch of Bible for us just in a row. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:26.640 Just perhaps you've heard these verses, very possible. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:28.400 If you've been around church, maybe you've heard these verses. 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:33.920 Just contemplate and be astonished of the victory have, but where the victory is coming from. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:37.039 So in Christ we have victory over law and death. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:42.160 1 Corinthians 15, 22, and then jumping to 54 and 56 through 56. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:45.440 For as in Adam all die, there's a representation. 00:19:45.759 --> 00:19:48.720 So also in Christ shall all be made alive. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:51.039 Death is swallowed up in victory. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:52.480 O death, where is your victory? 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:53.839 O death, where is your sting? 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:57.839 So if you're nervous at all about death, you don't have to be. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:00.960 You can be nervous in terms of it being like, like, what in the world? 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:02.640 What in the world will that be, right? 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:04.400 Like what's that gonna be? 00:20:05.039 --> 00:20:08.160 But you don't have to be worried about any suffering if you're in Jesus. 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:15.440 The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:19.440 Also, in Christ, victory over sin and guilt and shame, all the stuff we carry around. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:20.880 Romans 8, 1 through 2. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:30.079 Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:32.240 So you may hear a condemning voice. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:34.480 I hear a condemning voice all the time. 00:20:35.039 --> 00:20:37.039 But it's not God's voice. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:38.960 It won't be God. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:40.559 It may be me. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:44.720 It may be like something weird I ate last night, but it's not God. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:46.000 It's not from God. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:48.240 And we don't have to be governed by it. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.680 In Christ, we have victory into righteous standing. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:57.599 So God's provision for us is a full righteousness we don't have to earn by our performative life. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:04.000 2 Corinthians 5.21, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:08.079 In Christ, we have victory over any suffering, any possibility that you'd be separated from God. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:14.640 So if you think, oh, if I if I just ah, I just don't know if he's still with me, because I did this or did that or this stuff's going on in my life, and is he still with me? 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:15.519 Where'd he go? 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:16.240 Where'd he go? 00:21:16.480 --> 00:21:18.480 Romans 8, 37 through 38. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:20.079 No, no. 00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:25.279 In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:39.920 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:44.640 Last one, in Christ we have victory over fear and anxiety. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:48.160 Philippians 4, 6 through 7. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:59.759 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.039 In Christ Jesus. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:03.519 Now that's not an equation to fulfill. 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:05.200 It's not an equation. 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:14.000 It's a description of a relational life with a God who delights in you and welcomes you and accepts you. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:19.119 2 Corinthians 12, 9 through 11. 00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:22.240 This is what came to mind thinking about Samson. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:25.279 But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:40.240 For the sake of Christ, then I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:40.799 Why? 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:41.200 Why? 00:22:41.359 --> 00:22:42.160 Why would you say that? 00:22:42.319 --> 00:22:43.279 That's insanity, right? 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:44.400 That's my response. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:45.279 What? 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:49.599 For when I am weak, then I am strong. 00:22:49.839 --> 00:22:53.839 So maybe here and you would say, Yeah, but you don't know me. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:23:01.119 You'd say, that's great, church talk, but you don't know me. 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:10.640 And you don't know because I'm not strong enough and I don't hold it together, and maybe I can put on some good church clothes on a Sunday morning, but you don't really know. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:12.319 You don't really know. 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:16.720 And you're right, maybe I don't know. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:21.119 But I know me. 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:26.480 I know Samson. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.319 I know a few of you. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:31.759 I know none of us are as good as we've let on. 00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:35.920 I know all of us have stuff in our hearts that isn't great. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:41.200 Like idols in our hearts that never fulfill, and we can keep toying with them. 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:50.400 But in our weakness, we find a more profound strength because finally we're freed from a performance-oriented life. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:54.160 For us having to be strong enough. 00:23:56.319 --> 00:23:58.480 Here's how I think it works out. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:05.440 Because I know I'm welcomed by God and perfectly loved by Jesus. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:07.440 I get to rest in him. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:17.599 That I can be enough for God, and I can be enough in this world because of him. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:19.359 Okay? 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:21.920 There's the freedom. 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:28.000 Then, second, because of that, I get to rely less. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:29.759 It won't be perfect. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:32.000 It will not be perfect. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:47.039 But I get to rely less on the idols in my heart to make me feel validated, affirmed, important, in control, to feel okay. 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:50.000 I get to do that less. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:54.720 Which means I'm free and I'm becoming free. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:24:58.559 And that's the good news we have in the gift of Jesus. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:00.160 Let's pray together. 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:02.400 God, thank you for your love for us. 00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:16.240 That while we are more like Samson than we would wish to admit, maybe we don't have the stats of violent deaths, but we certainly have hearts that rely on things that never deliver. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:28.240 And forgive us for all the ways we turn to the things of this world to grant us fulfillment and wholeness and even a sense of salvation or forgiveness or righteousness. 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:45.519 Help us to trust more in you, to understand that you are pursuing us in your love, calling us to a confessional life, not to burden us, to condemn us, not to put us in despair, but to free us. 00:25:46.319 --> 00:25:59.920 Help us to see that your grace is always bigger and deeper than any of our sin, any of our faults and imperfections, and help us to see that in our weakness we can find a more profound strength than we would ever imagine. 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:01.920 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:02.880 Amen.