WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:03.839 Well, welcome back to the soap opera of the book of Judges. 00:00:03.919 --> 00:00:11.439 I mean, it's the kind of scripture readings you hear at church, and you're like, uh, yeah, that's why I quit going to church, maybe, or I don't even read that book of the Bible. 00:00:11.519 --> 00:00:13.279 That can be our reactions very easily. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:17.199 I mean, Samson's life is certainly uh it's a soap opera. 00:00:17.280 --> 00:00:26.640 I mean, it's a series of foolishness and uh bad decision making, yet, in that, God's purposes are not being thwarted, his sovereignty is not being threatened. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:36.399 Last week we saw how his decision making, he went and he married a woman from the people group enslaving his people. 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:38.320 So just get that in your mind. 00:00:38.719 --> 00:00:42.960 This guy goes and marries his enemy, basically, is the setup. 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:44.000 Then he gets angry. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:44.719 Remember this? 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:46.799 He gets angry at those people. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:56.000 He kills 30 of his wife's people's people, 30 of them, and then he's angry at all of them, and so he storms off and he leaves. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:04.239 And so that's the storyline, the setup here, where in Judges 15 he comes back thinking everything's gonna get smoothed over with a goat. 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:12.959 Um, let's read verses 1 through 6 again, just to have them fresh in our memory, and then we'll uh chat about how this could possibly have something to do with our life. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:15.040 Judges 15, 1 through 6. 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:23.840 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 into my wife in the chamber. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.000 Don't you love how he just shows up with that assurance? 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:26.959 I got a goat. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:30.560 You know, I killed 30 of you, but I'm back and I'm coming in. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:35.120 But her father, and going into the chamber means exactly what you think. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:37.280 Okay, by the way, that's what that means. 00:01:37.439 --> 00:01:43.280 But her father would not let him to go in, and her father said, I really thought you utterly hated her. 00:01:43.439 --> 00:01:45.120 So I gave her to your companion. 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.640 Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she, please take her instead. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:54.400 And Samson said to them, This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:01.280 Now that is Samson's opinion there about what he's gonna go do, because he's definitely acting out of a lot of rage and anger here, as we'll see. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:02.000 Verse 4. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:06.000 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. 00:02:07.200 --> 00:02:08.560 I don't know how you do that. 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:11.360 Like I'm I I was just thinking about it this week. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:14.719 Don't even know how long that takes, right? 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:16.719 How long does that take? 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:18.800 A couple weeks? 00:02:19.120 --> 00:02:19.759 A couple days? 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:20.639 I have no idea. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:23.280 But I'm assuming it wasn't like just in the afternoon, right? 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.240 Like, so this is like rage building in him. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:30.960 And he takes some torches and he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each tail. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:34.400 So he's tying them all up, torch, two tails, tied them all up. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:44.400 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. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:46.400 Then the Philistines said, Who's done this? 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:53.199 And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion. 00:02:53.360 --> 00:03:02.080 And the Philistines came up, so their reaction to this, his reaction to what happened, now their reaction to what he did, they come up and they they burned her. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:03.759 The bride. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:05.599 She didn't do anything wrong, right? 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:11.680 Like in this story, if you're thinking about this series of events, burned her and her father with fire. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:16.319 And we all responded with the word of the Lord, thanks be to God, to this story. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:17.039 Right? 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:20.080 Like this is VBS quality material for our children. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:32.560 All right, here's point number one: loving others is facilitated by self-awareness and confession of our faults and sin. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:38.879 Loving others is facilitated by self-awareness and confession of our faults and sin. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:41.439 Samson shows up with a goat. 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:48.080 He's abandoned his wife, he's killed 30 of her people, shows up with a goat. 00:03:48.319 --> 00:03:48.639 Right? 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:51.199 So he's trying to buy them off. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:53.520 There's no record of an apology. 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:54.000 Right? 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.479 We don't get the full conversation here, but there's no record. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:04:00.080 Seems like if if that happened, that would be an important thing to include in the text. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:02.719 The thing that's included is a payoff. 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:07.360 Like I'm the show up and I'm gonna bring a goat, I'm gonna bring something worth something. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:22.959 And then when he can't have his wife, because she already got passed on to be married to another guy and have a relationship there, his response is not anything to do with maybe he messed up. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:24.800 Maybe he shouldn't have killed the 30 people. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:25.680 Like just maybe. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:26.079 I don't know. 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:28.399 Like, right, just maybe he shouldn't have abandoned his wife. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:29.120 Like, none of that. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:33.040 No, he just rages and he burns their fields. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:40.560 So he'd rather burn people's lives down than face his own mistakes. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:50.480 All right, I mean, there's a reason why Jesus teaches us in Matthew 7, verse 5, you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.680 And then you will see clearly, just take the speck out of your brother's eye. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:59.040 And all the people in this story as we see it unfold. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:07.680 Samson to the Philistines, the Philistine back to Samson, the Philistines over to the people in Judah, Judah back to Samson, then Samson back to the Philistines. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:23.199 I mean, all of this is like people abreacting to things being done to them, and then instead of having any measure of self-awareness of what they could possibly have contributed to the pain, they just go and act revenge again. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.279 And what Jesus teaches us is start with yourself, right? 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:36.000 Like I need to start with myself, I need to start with my heart before I go start picking apart anybody else's. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:38.800 But of course, you know the problem with that. 00:05:39.040 --> 00:05:40.720 Because I know the problem with it. 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:43.519 It's hard. 00:05:43.680 --> 00:05:45.040 That's the problem with it, right? 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:46.480 It's just hard. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:52.399 And so so often what we do, and it's a psychological term, it's called transference. 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:59.680 So in psychology, this term transference is the redirection of feelings from one person to another person. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:13.680 So rather than facing your own pain, your own woundedness, confessing your sin, you transfer that frustrating emotion, perhaps guilt, perhaps woundedness, shame, you transfer it over to somebody else. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:18.160 And it works for a little bit of time. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:29.519 Like a really small amount of time, because it relieves you of that pain and that moment that you're feeling if you have to actually acknowledge your sin and confess your fault. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:48.879 This is why you're on the highway, you're going on the expressway, you're with your sweetheart, uh, you got the fish on, you're one with the Lord, you're going to speed limit, you are headed on date night, you know, you're going to Applebee's, you're going to do that, and you are headed there, and everything is good. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:50.560 It's been a great week. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:53.519 I mean, great conversation with your sweetie. 00:06:53.600 --> 00:07:04.160 And you know, and out of nowhere, a car pulls up next to you, and that one finger right up, like right at you, and you have two fingers and you're ready to give those back, right? 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:07.680 And you're ready to do that because that lit something in you. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:17.360 And right before you do that, your sweet person says to you, and you've heard this, babe, that ain't about you. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:18.399 Right? 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:19.120 Okay? 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:21.360 You know that moment. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:32.639 It's the same reason you come home from work, you walk in, and your sweetheart, your sweet person there is wiping down the counters. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:37.759 But they're not using like the granite spray, they're using the Myers spray. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.399 And they're supposed to use the granite spray. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:42.720 You can't believe it. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:43.839 Right? 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:50.480 And you you tell them, I can't, you know, I've told you before, we have to use the granite spray on the granite. 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:51.680 Like that's what it's for. 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.720 I ordered it, I researched it, that's what it's for. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:55.279 Right? 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:57.519 A little mini explosion, right? 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:07.120 You go off, you change your clothes, you come into some sanity, and you come back, and then you have to say, I'm sorry. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:09.279 That wasn't about you. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:09.759 Right? 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:15.199 Like you just took the frustration of your day, the frustration in your feeling, and then just transferred it over. 00:08:15.519 --> 00:08:17.040 We do that all the time. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:19.519 We do it all the time. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:25.759 Samson sinned, but he doesn't take the log out of his own eye. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:28.399 He just transfers all that frustration, anger. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:32.559 He lets it become rage, and he just enacts that back onto them. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:39.279 But our call to walk with the Lord and to love each other. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:43.440 It is a call to more self-awareness and quicker confession. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:45.360 That's how it's facilitated. 00:08:45.600 --> 00:09:03.759 Because we're not perfect, we need the self-awareness and we need these quicker confessions in order for us to be loving each other, in order for all this abreaction between each other to die down, to be forgiven, for there to be life within a gracious framework instead of all judgment and reaction. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:06.799 Not for Samson, though. 00:09:06.879 --> 00:09:08.399 He burns their fields down. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:15.360 And then the Philistines, their reaction, they move up into camp in Judah, they raid a town. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:19.600 Now Judah, they're upset about what the Philistines did. 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:21.919 The Philistines did it because of what Samson did. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:23.840 And so now Judah reacts. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:29.919 They go down and they get Samson, their own family, their own family. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.600 They don't fight back against Judah, they come back and they grab Samson. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:35.840 Here's what happens in Judges 15, 10, and 11. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.120 And the men of Judah said, Why have you come up against us? 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:39.440 Right? 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:40.799 They said that to the Philistines. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:45.600 The Philistines say, We have come up to bind Samson to do to him as he did to us. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:55.039 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Edom and said to Samson, Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:56.000 Right? 00:09:56.080 --> 00:10:00.240 And this would be the point where you'd say, Do you not know? 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:03.360 Like, do you not know that you're enslaved? 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.559 You're enslaved and you don't even care. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:09.519 But they're not willing to face any of that. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:14.720 No, no, no, they just turned to Sam and said, Do you not know that they're rulers over us? 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.120 What then is this that you have done to us? 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:21.279 And he said to them, as they did to me, so have I done to them. 00:10:22.159 --> 00:10:24.639 See, am I just reacting against each other? 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:27.200 Perpetuating pain and sin. 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:29.759 Here's the sobering point. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:30.799 Number two. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:37.120 In our lack of self-awareness and confession, we can make enemies out of those closest to us. 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:38.480 Right? 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:42.480 Judah goes down, these people, they're a family. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:44.720 They're the same people group. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.559 And they bind up their own guy. 00:10:50.240 --> 00:10:53.759 So we should, of course, take Jesus' teaching to heart about this. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:55.600 Hey, pause a little here. 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:57.759 Like, inspect your own heart. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:10:59.759 And we should have the heart of Paul. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:04.399 Paul doesn't seem throughout the New Testament in his writings, he doesn't seem to have a problem with self-awareness. 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:10.960 Like after his point of conversion and brokenness, he just, he's so safe in Jesus. 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:22.240 He's so safe in his relationship with God that Jesus is fully sufficient, that he is beloved, that he can be aware and ask for even more awareness. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.519 What a sinner, what a wretched man I am, right? 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:27.279 It's that kind of confession. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:49.120 Listen, the more you realize how deeply you are welcomed and forgiven and righteous and safe and whole you are in Jesus, that your identity is held outside of your justification for your identity, that freedom that you don't have to use other people, you don't have to use your reaction to other people to be safe or whole. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:54.080 Man, the more that we can ask God, hey, show me even more of my heart. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:55.919 Show me more. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:04.080 We can grow in that awareness of our sin and live in confession, quicker confession to God, and quicker confession to other people. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:08.159 In grace, we get to confess quicker. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:13.200 My mentor always says, you'll cry more, but you will laugh more. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.840 Now God's using all this to free these people, right? 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:20.080 Like Samson's foolishness, all these people's fools. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:23.600 He's orchestrating all this to free his people. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:31.360 So our lack of wisdom and our foolishness, or anybody else's, it does not thwart God's purposes for his people. 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:32.960 That's not a threat. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:35.039 We don't have to worry about that. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:37.120 But this story does go on. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:39.039 Samson gets handed over to the Philistines. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:40.480 He's tied up, he breaks free. 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:47.919 When he breaks free, he grabs a fresh jawbone, which means it would be a big old bone with a bunch of sharp teeth. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:49.039 That's what that means. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:52.559 And then he goes Rambo, right? 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:56.080 First blood, part two, Rambo. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:00.320 He's going through and he is mowing people down. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:03.679 A thousand men is what it says. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:15.759 So this story's giving us a big God working in foolishness and rage and sin and hurt and pain. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:19.200 So we can trust in what God is doing. 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:21.519 At the same time, we can learn from these people's foolishness. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:22.320 Hopefully we can. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:24.639 Hopefully, we can learn from our own foolishness. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:28.799 So a little pastoral preaching conjecture here. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:34.159 It seems like Samson has a couple of idols at play in his heart. 00:13:34.399 --> 00:13:38.559 So here at our church, this is how we tend to word idolatry of the heart. 00:13:38.720 --> 00:13:42.559 For Samson, it seems like we have some romance or sex idolatry. 00:13:42.720 --> 00:13:46.639 We definitely kind of saw it in the way in which he wanted this first wife of his. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:47.919 His eye was pleased. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:52.639 I want her, it doesn't matter the repercussions, and then later we're going to see it in the next chapter as well. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:55.519 So romance or sex idolatry would work like this. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:14:07.279 If I don't have him, if I don't have her, I don't have it, I won't be okay, I won't be enough. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:21.039 Seems like Samson might have a little power idolatry, which would say something like, if I don't have power or influence, I won't be okay or enough. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.720 Now, of course, Judah is not innocent either, these people. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.120 They seem to be operating under some sort of comfort or safety idolatry, right? 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.279 They don't want to disturb the status quo. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:37.440 Yeah, we're enslaved, but but you know, it's set, everything's stable. 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:49.120 Comfort and safety idolatry says something like if I don't have that comfort, that safety, that quality of life, I won't be okay or I'm not enough. 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:50.480 Now we all have our own. 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.879 Like none of maybe neither of those or any of those connect with you, but something does. 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:58.320 Like we we play that sentence out, and that's a sentence of idolatry. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:01.519 Like, if I don't have that, then I won't be okay. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:02.480 Then I'm not enough. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:07.279 And the gospel's the reverse is God saying, I make you enough. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:09.039 I deem you enough. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:14.480 I make you whole, that you can have an identity secure in me and my love for you. 00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:17.759 You don't have to go trying to get this love from other places. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:25.759 Point number three is this idols in our hearts are always toxic lies, empty promises, and dry wells. 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:30.399 So Samson mows down these thousand men. 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:35.360 After he mows them down, he kills them in Judges 15, 17. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:37.200 He calls that place. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:44.000 That place becomes known as Ramathi, which means height of the jawbone. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:46.000 So hold on to that. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:48.159 Height of the jawbone, that's the name of this place. 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:51.360 He just wiped out all these people, height of the jawbone. 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:52.000 Right? 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:53.600 Like, like I did this. 00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:55.440 This is the height of me. 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:58.080 This is the height of my abilities. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.799 And then something changes. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:02.799 Verse 18. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.000 And he was very thirsty. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:19.360 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? 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:20.559 He's a little dramatic. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:27.120 I mean, I mean, he just wiped out a thousand people, but there's something in this moment where he's at the end of himself. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:32.960 And at the end of himself, he's realizing, I need, I need more than me. 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:40.559 Verse 19, and God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.879 And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:48.639 Therefore the name of it was called Enhakar. 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.360 It is at Lehi to this day. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:55.519 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines 20 years. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:59.759 So first we have the place called Height of Jawbone. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:03.120 It's this imagery for us of what we can do. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:05.359 Like our abilities. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:07.359 And we can do stuff. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:08.559 Like you can do stuff. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:10.160 I know, I know a lot of y'all. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:12.160 Like y'all are talented, smart people. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:14.240 You can get some stuff done, right? 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:15.920 You can swing a jawbone, right? 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:16.640 You know what I'm saying? 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:19.039 Like you wake up in the morning, you're like, I'm gonna get some stuff done today. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:20.720 I'll check it off the list. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:22.640 Like we can do that. 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:36.079 But even then, you're gonna get the end of it, and there's still heart and soul issues that your abilities and your performance and your achievement can't settle. 00:17:36.240 --> 00:17:37.519 And that's good news. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:44.160 If you're 15 or you're 50, if you're like a new Christian or you remember Petra, like it's good news. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:45.759 It's good news for us. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:47.279 Some of you remember Petra. 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:48.880 You had a little flashback. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.799 This summer a friend of mine went and he climbed one of the Teton Peaks. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:18:03.599 And because he's a stud and he's really skilled, he flew into Jackson Hole, he hitchhiked to the trailhead, and then he hiked up above tree line all in one day from Atlanta. 00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:08.160 Okay, which meant he woke up in the middle of the night spitting up blood, but he doesn't care. 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:08.880 He's a stud. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:19.519 He's skilled, he spits the blood up, wakes up super early, he hikes up to the top of the peak, he's on his way down, and because he's just so confident in himself over time, he runs out of food. 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:20.319 He didn't bring enough. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:22.160 He's like, uh, I'll figure it out. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:23.279 He runs out of water. 00:18:23.359 --> 00:18:25.599 He also forgot the to pack his pump. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:27.839 Now let's just think about this for most of us. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.759 For most of us, we're going to hike a mountain peak. 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:35.839 Like we're reviewing that list like ten times over, right? 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:38.720 But he's so set in his abilities. 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.400 Like, he doesn't even have his pump. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:42.640 He's running out of food, he's hiking back down. 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:45.359 He already peaked, which shows you like he can get some stuff done. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.799 Like the guy has the guy has some chops, he can swing a jawbone. 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:57.759 He's hiking his way back down, he's run out of his own water, he doesn't have a pump, he's out of food, he's just dying of thirst, his day's getting a little long. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:04.240 So finally he gives in, he drinks from like just a stream, a creek, which of course gives him diarrhea. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:07.119 Sorry, too much information, but that's just what happened. 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:12.480 He comes limping in to the to the ranch there at the valley. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:15.200 He comes limping in in need of clean water. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:21.920 All right, so the point is, even in all he can do, and he can do a lot, that's pretty impressive. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:23.279 That's impressive to me at least. 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:24.160 I can't do that. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:32.000 But even in all he can do, even all Samson can do, he still needed something beyond himself. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:44.880 See, we need and have a source of nourishment for our souls beyond our resources, for our identities beyond our resources, for our forgiveness, for our righteousness. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:49.039 We can just imagine Samson here at the end of all his rage. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:51.839 All that rage is, he's at the end of it. 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:55.759 And he was using that to feel like he was enough. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:57.680 But he's at the end of it now. 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:00.319 All he has left is thirst. 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:04.640 And then God splits open a hollow place and provides water. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:11.200 Point number four, we live in a land of dry cisterns, but God nourishes our souls. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:23.599 So the place that we once call height of jawbone becomes called in Hakor, which means spring of the one calling. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.000 Isn't that a cool little thing hidden in the text for us? 00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:27.680 That's like one of those little nuggets, right? 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:28.880 Like the same place. 00:20:29.039 --> 00:20:31.119 It started out being called height of jawbone. 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:37.359 Look what I did, look what I can do, and then it is renamed Spring of the One Calling. 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:43.279 I received an email from a friend of mine, not like one of you, like I'm like, no, what not? 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:45.839 It could be, like, it could be, but it's not. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:46.559 It really isn't. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:49.519 But it might sound like it, because it might kind of associate with you. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:50.240 But it's not you. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:51.839 He's from out of state. 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:56.799 He emailed me and he said, could be one of you, but it's not. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:57.599 It's not you. 00:20:57.839 --> 00:20:58.559 It could be. 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:01.599 Because when you hear it, you might be like, that sounds like it. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:03.519 Great job. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:06.240 Loving spouse. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:08.640 Four kids. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:11.839 Leader in the church. 00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:16.720 And then in of his email, it says, My soul is bone. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:18.400 Dry. 00:21:24.000 --> 00:21:26.319 If you're like me, it has been. 00:21:26.640 --> 00:21:27.359 It has been me. 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:28.319 Right? 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:30.000 Not me today. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:32.240 Might be me next week. 00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:34.240 Might be you next week. 00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:41.119 We can get some stuff done. 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:42.960 We can swing a jawbone. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:45.920 But eventually we get to the end of ourselves. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:49.680 Eventually we end up at the place that has to be renamed. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:52.000 Spring of the one calling. 00:21:54.079 --> 00:21:59.759 In Jeremiah chapter 2, this prophet he speaks for God to a forgetful. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.359 And rebellious people. 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:05.519 Listen to this imagery, thinking about the imagery already built up for us in Judges. 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:08.079 Jeremiah speaking to this people of Israel. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:16.480 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:28.400 They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.720 And that's all that our idols and our hearts are. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:34.559 Just broken cisterns, right? 00:22:34.880 --> 00:22:36.960 Toxic lies, empty promises. 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:42.880 Now listen to the imagery that the prophet Isaiah gives to his people during his time. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:53.359 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:23:00.640 And you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. 00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:07.519 I think this is why we associate with the woman in John chapter 4 who's thirsty. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:08.960 You remember what Jesus says to her? 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:20.000 Jesus says, John 4, 13 and 14, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:27.039 The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:33.519 And of course, Jesus was talking about himself, his work for them, his love for them. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:36.480 God is our eternal fount. 00:23:37.920 --> 00:23:39.599 We won't be perfect. 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:44.799 We're more like Samson than we want to become aware of or confess. 00:23:45.200 --> 00:23:46.960 Like we have that in us. 00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:52.240 To Abriact like that, to transfer, to not face our pain, to not face our sin. 00:23:53.440 --> 00:23:54.960 We have that in us. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:24:00.960 Yet in Jesus, God sees us as fully as beloved. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:02.880 In Jesus, we're fully forgiven. 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:04.880 In Jesus, we're fully righteous. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:10.400 In Jesus, we have an identity that is so safe, so secure. 00:24:10.640 --> 00:24:20.079 We're so free from having to justify with what's going on in the world or going on in our worlds, that we can live in greater awareness and greater confession. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:22.799 And life won't be perfect, right? 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:28.720 Won't even close, won't even be close to perfect, but we will have a spring of water in us. 00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:36.079 The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God who lives in us and who will never leave and is always for us. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:49.599 My brothers and sisters, we live in a scorched land with empty promises, but you shall be like a well-watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:51.039 Let's pray together. 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:53.519 God, thank you for this story. 00:24:55.519 --> 00:25:01.599 That in Samson's foolishness we are reminded of our own foolishness. 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:11.519 How many idols we entertain in our hearts that bring temporary relief, but they never heal, they never satisfy. 00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:19.440 Forgive us for all the ways that we continually do this, for all the ways that we wander or forget or rebel. 00:25:20.079 --> 00:25:22.799 Thank you that you never give up on us. 00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:28.079 Thank you that in Jesus we are fully forgiven and fully righteous. 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:32.000 That you are for us and you love us. 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:39.599 Help us to live in greater faith today, and that we might honor you with our hearts and our lives. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:41.359 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:42.319 Amen.