In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of Samson from the book of Judges. He emphasizes the theme of restoration and the grace of God. The preacher highlights how Samson, despite his flaws and mistakes, was restored by God and used mightily for His glory. The sermon also emphasizes the importance of learning from Samson's life and the consequences of giving in to the lusts of the flesh. The preacher encourages the audience to turn their eyes upon God and seek His deliverance and guidance in their own lives.

550 please. 550. Hold thou my hand, so weak I am and helpless, I dare not take one step without thy aid. Hold thou my hand, for then, O loving Saviour, no dread of hell shall make my soul afraid. 550 please. I am helpless, I dare not take one step without thy aid. Hold thou my hand, for then, O loving Saviour, no dread of hell shall make my soul afraid. Hold thou my hand, for then, O loving Saviour, no dread of hell shall make my soul afraid. Our subject this evening, men, God made, and we're looking at the training techniques of the great teacher. And we have a mighty character on our hands this evening. We're looking at Samson. And I want to look at his birth, because that's very important when we're getting the whole history of any man. I want to look at his birth. And then I want to look at his blessings. And I'm thinking about his godly father and his godly mother. And I must take a moment or two with his boyhood, because it's put him here first in this history of his. And then we'll come to his blunders and take a little more time there, and his battles, and his blindness. And strange enough, his bouquet, because when you see some of the blunders that Samson made, you'd wonder how his name ever got into this wonderful picture gallery of men of faith in Hebrews 11. But it's there all right. And make no mistakes, there were times when he walked by flesh. Oh, but there were many times when he walked by faith. And so this is the character that we're going to look at very carefully this evening. And we're in Judges, chapter 13, see. Book of Judges, chapter 13. I'm commencing to read at verse 1. Judges, chapter 13, verse 1. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And I think I ought to underline the word again. They did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And this brings us to the period into which Samson was born. He was born in that period when the children of Israel, the nation, the people of God, had got away from their God by doing evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord had to chasten them. And this is what happened. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. And you know, these all circumcised Philistines, when God allowed them to be the masters of Israel, they were very cruel to the people of God. Now, it was into that period that Samson was born. When the people of God were under the hand of a cruel, uncircumcised foe in days when they were being chastened by the Lord. Verse 2, And there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites. And I think it's good for us to sort of get it into our minds, the geography of the place. I think you know all about the map of Palestine and how the Jordan runs down the center. And if you could visualize something of the portion that belonged to the tribes, you will find that the bottom part of the country right down south, it belonged to the tribe of Judah. And just a little portion above it belonged to Dan. And that's where Zorah was. It was almost on the border between Judah and the tribe of Dan. Just a little bit over the border, but it really belonged to the Danites. And there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was Baran and Beresnacht. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, Behold, thou art Baran and Beresnacht, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And you know Daniel has this unique distinction, that his birth was foretold just the way that John the Baptist's birth was foretold by the angel. And here's the angel coming to this Baran woman and saying, Thou shalt conceive and bear a son. You remember that the angel Gabriel came to the blessed Virgin Mary and said the same words, Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son. Only there is a difference, of course. You see, the conception that the blessed Virgin Mary had was a miraculous conception. There was no man there at all. There was a wonderful miracle took place. She conceived while she was still a virgin. It was the work of the Holy Ghost. But this conception, while it is foretold, and while Samson has the unique distinction of his birth being divinely foretold, yet it was perfectly straightforward. And here's what it says, Therefore, now therefore beware, the angel is talking to this woman. I pray thee and drink not wine nor strong drink, nor eat any unclean things. For thou shalt conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazareth unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. So you can see the period when he was born, and you can see this unique distinction that he had of his birth being foretold. And you can see that the angel was laying down the rules. He was to be a Nazareth from his mother's womb. Right to the day of his death, of course. And of course he declared to be the deliverer of Israel, and he shall deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. So I think that's all we need to underline as far as his birth is concerned. Now I want to take a moment or two just to talk about his blessings. See verse 6? Then, just like that, just immediately, no hesitating, no questioning, no debating, no doubting. Then the woman came and told her husband saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible. And I asked him not whence he was, neither told me his name. But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and now drink no wine or strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazareth to God from the womb to the day of his death. And I think that you can get the hold of this, can't you? You can see the simplicity of this woman. Don't you? To get her simplicity. And I think you can see her honesty. You know, she came to her husband and she told the whole story so honestly, so clearly, so simply. I think you can see the sincerity. This is the bit I'm trying to get the hold of. That this woman was a sincere and simple but godly woman. Now this is the bit I want you to watch. She just came to her husband immediately and simply, very sincerely, and told him everything that had been told to her and all that had taken place. Where she had said, Then, Then, then Menor entreated the Lord. See the first thing this man did? I'll tell you what he did. He didn't question the woman and he didn't ask her what the angel was like and he didn't say maybe you're dreaming or he didn't argue and he didn't put any doubts in her mind. This man began to pray immediately. Let's get the word entreated. Then Menor entreated the Lord. Which tells me something that I need to know. I can see that Samson's mother was a godly woman and I can see that Samson's father was a godly man. I can get that just while you reach. Sometimes we read so fast that we miss it. You can see this. It's the mark of a godly man to get down immediately before the Lord and pray. And watch closely the prayer. Then Menor entreated the Lord and said, Oh my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. He wasn't questioning the truth. He was accepting that this barren wife of his was indeed going to bear a son and I just want to know exactly what you want done. So I think you can see this. You see, both of them have faith and both of them have obedience. Verse 9, And God hearkened to the voice of Menor. Because God does hear, you know, dances, prayers. It's a great thing when it can be recorded that God hearkened to the voice. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man. Always availed, you know. And God hearkened to the voice of Menor and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field. But Menor, her husband, was not with her. And the woman made haste and ran and showed her husband and said unto him, Behold, a man hath repieved unto me that came unto me the other day. And Menor rose and went after his wife and came to the man and said unto him, Art thou the man that speakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. And Menor said, Let, now let my words come to pass. How shall we order the child and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the Lord said unto Menor, Of all that I have said unto the woman, let her be well. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine, nor strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her, let her observe. And Menor said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee until we have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said unto Menor, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread. But if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. For Menor knew not that he was an angel of the Lord. And Menor said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name? And when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honour. The angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou after my name, seeing it as secret? So Menor took a kid, and a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously. And Menor and his wife looked on, and it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Menor and his wife looked on, and sailed on their faces to the ground. They're worshipping now. And such a gathered that they're godly, that both of them have faith, and they're prepared to obey the Lord no matter what it costs. And now you can see them on their faces before the Lord worshipping. I'm just trying to establish that Samson had a pretty good start in life. That's all I'm working for. He had a godly father and a godly mother. Now I know this little bit is here. Verse 22, And Menor said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received the burnt offering and the meat offering at our hands. Neither would he have sued us all these things, nor would I at this time have told us such things as these. You know, I must say for the woman she had more sense than the man. Oh, I know he was a godly man. I know she was a godly woman. I know they both had faith, and I know they were prepared to obey the Lord, and they're on the faces worshipping. But the woman had the more sense of the two. I don't know how we would react, you know, if an angel appeared and went up in a flame of fire from before us. We might be frightened a little bit. And the man was frightened and thought he must surely die. And the woman said, Now, if he's talking about giving us a child, and what we're to do, and how we're to bring him up, we're not going to die. And I think that's the way you treat the promises of God, you know. Because when God comes and talks to you about this and that and the other, I don't think you should worry about anything. Yes, it's almost 26 years ago since I came here, and the promise that I came with was, God said to me, Behold three men secretly. Arise and go with them. Here's the best. Doubting nothing. I've never doubted. I've never doubted once in my life. There's been many problems, many storms, many battles. But if God said to me, Doubt nothing, then I don't doubt anything. I'll be here as long as God wants me, and I shall finish the journey, just whatever way God wants it finished. I think you've got to have common sense with faith. So I think we start to establish, and maybe took too long in doing it, that Samson had a good start. Yes, he had a godly father and a godly mother. Now, I want you to look at his boyhood days. It'll not take just quite as long. Verse 24, And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson. Now, the word means distinguished. That's what the word Samson means. Means distinguished. And I think they called his name Samson because they believed he was going to distinguish himself of the deliverer of Israel. Yes, I think he was going to be a distinguished soldier of the Lord. But it worked out two ways. He was not only a distinguished soldier of the Lord, but he was a distinguished slave of the Lord. And we'd better see it two ways too, because it worked out two ways. Oh, he was a mighty warrior, and the mighty things he did. And his name is in, of course, Hebrews 11. Of course, he was not only a mighty soldier of the Lord, distinguished such. He was a distinguished slave of the flesh. But that's his name. And you can see the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson under child grief. That's what you call physical blessing. Because the Lord blessed the child physically. Because I don't think, you know, some of the children's storybooks try to get over to us. That he was a big muscled man or anything like that. I don't think his strength lay in physical muscle power. I don't think they would have been searching for the secret of his power if it had been such. And now the secret of his power was the power of the Holy Ghost. I think we've got to get the hold of that bit. He's a very ordinary looking look, but the Holy Ghost came upon him at times mightily. But what we're looking at now is just how he grew. And that's what you call physical blessing. Great when God blesses your wee child physically. And you see his legs and arms and eyes and knees developing in that physical blessing. It goes further than that, doesn't it? It says, under child grief. And the Lord blessed him with that spiritual blessing. Oh yes, you know, he got to know the Lord in his early days. The Lord blessed him. And then it goes a bit further, under spirit, let's keep capital S in here, under spirit of the Lord began to move him. Oh, that's a mighty little phrase, isn't it? Began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Thora and Eshtiol. And if you get that inheritance of Dan on the map sometime, you'll find that Dora is almost on the border, and Eshtiol is only a few miles away. And in between them lay the camp of Dan. Because that's where the young men of the tribe went to do military training. And so he had gone there, and it was there at the military camp that the spirit of God began to move him. It's a mighty thing, you know. A great thing to be saved. We must remember the dispensations as we study this. Because we're living in the dispensation of grace, and the moment you believe, at that very moment, you're indwelt by the spirit of God. But in the old dispensation, the spirit of God came upon whom he would, when he would, for what he would. And he's beginning to come upon this young man in military training in the camp, because he's going to be the deliverer of Israel. And it must have been a mighty time when he began the movement first. You see, I had saved, poor old drunkard, saved one evening with no shoes on my feet, no shirt on my back, and was quite content just with that. Happy to know the Lord, and I wasn't bruising anymore, and I'm okay for heaven, and I was happy, and I had peace. And I got a job in Dixon's nursery, the Rolf's people. Nine and fourpence a week in those days, the infants off for the stunt. Ten bob a week, nine and fourpence, starting at seven in the morning to six at night, ten hour day. I don't know where the unions were then, but they weren't doing very well anyway. Never mind. But I can remember weeding roses once. Remember this, I could kick you to the spot, and I must confess this, many times I've gone back to the spot. And as I was weeding these roses, the Lord began to talk to me about a message in the gospel for the very first time. Frightened me. And I began to say the things to myself, weeding away with my eyes sort of shut, and pulling these old man weeds, and all the rest of it. And the Lord was moving! And the Spirit of God had given me a gift, and I knew nothing about it! It was just the beginning of the thing! Oh, he has moved me a thousand times since. But this was what was happening. And here were the boyhood days, the young manhood days too, of Samson. And you can see this, the Spirit of the Lord was moving him. And we knew from his birth, and his blessings, and his boyhood, through his blunders. You see chapter 13 ends with the Spirit of God moving him. Chapter 14 begins, and Samson went down to Timnath. And if you find the map tonight when you go home, and find the great portion of the land that was given to Judah, and you find the border, and you find the portion that was given to Dan, and you find Zorah, then you'll find, if you come over the border, just a couple of miles over the border, you'll find Timnath. Because I can tell you that if God sets out to bless you, the devil will set out to upset the blessing. And there was a woman not very far away across the border. You work it out, and you see, and every man that's going to be used of God, the devil will have some sort of horrible temptation to place before him. And so Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And you know, he's just going to hurt her no matter about anything. And he came up and told his father and mother. He said, I've seen a woman in Timnath of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me. The wife. Then his father and mother said unto him, is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, nor among all my people, that thou dost to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, get her for me. For she pleased with me well. Now I want you to get this. Maybe I should go a little bit further. Let's skip a chapter and go over a little bit. See 6, season 1. Then went Samson to Gaza. And it's a little bit further over the border. Timnath is just a mile or two, but Gaza's quite a little bit. And this time it's a harlot that he gets his eye upon. A prostitute, if you like. They went then on to her. Now, do you see verse 4? And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman. And let's get this phrase correctly. He loved a woman in the valley of Zorak. Now, we saw that Zorah was just over the border in Dan. And Eshtiel was not far away. And the valley of Zorak is in between the two. And Dan did see this once upon a time, just to make sure of my facts. Now, I want you to get the hold of this. I don't need to go into all that's happened, you know. All that I want you to get the hold of is, you know, there were times when the Spirit of God was moving him. And there were times when the lust of the flesh was moving him. But I want to get this bit over to everybody. That while he was conscious of the Spirit's movings, he was never conscious about what the flesh was doing to him. Just like his father-in-law. Look, you just get her for me. So come on, sir. I need her. He can go in openly to the harlot. He doesn't seem to get the hold of this. And you know, the danger for all of us is this. That if you're being moved by the flesh, and you don't even know it, that's when you're in danger. Let me say this to this meeting. Shall I go over to Galatians, first of all? Let's go through Galatians, chapter 5. We're at the fifth chapter. Now, this goes for all of us who are saved in this meeting. Verse 17 is to save time. Verse 17. Galatians 5, 17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. You know, that battle goes on in every breast. I think you remember Paul talking about this in Romans, chapter 7. Let's look at Romans 7, just beside that now. And we're at Romans 7. When you get saved, you know, you get a new nature, you're born again, you become a new creature. But remember there's an old nature there still, and the flesh, which is the old nature, lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh. And these are contrary, the one to the other. And Paul, writing in Romans chapter 7, said this, verse 19. For the good that I would, I do not. Did you ever have that sort of experience? Somehow you know there's something you should do, and somehow you know it's right to do it. And the good that I would, I do not. But the evil that I would not, that I do. And you find this striving going on, and you find this battle raging. And Paul had this battle raging, until in verse 24 of chapter 7 he said this, O wretched man that I am! There's this striving and lusting that's going on. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And then he gets the answer quite clearly, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, because he's the great deliverer, and he's the distinguished deliverer. When I was at the meetings in the iron hall, a gentleman came to see me, he said, you know there's something that bothers me. I said, what bothers you? Cigarettes, he said. I feel that they're even against the temple of the Holy Ghost. I believe that they're doing me harm. And I don't think it's right for a Christian at all. And I must be grieving God. And I try and try and try, and I do well for a day or two. And then I'm overcome. You ever had anything like this? Well I'll tell you. I said, now I'll tell you what's wrong with you. You see you've got two natures now. You've got a new nature, and you're a new creature. There's no question at all about it, or you wouldn't be worried about this. But you have an old nature, and the old nature doesn't only crave cigarettes. You know that's a small item. It craves a whole lot of things. Now I'll tell you this. You're going sailing along with Christ like the disciples in the boat. And all of a sudden the storm comes. That's the temptation, your particular one. And before you know it, your boat's filled with water. And what you're doing, you're trying to row it. You're trying your best. But the more you try, the more you'll be defeated. You can't do it. Because the things that you would, you do not. You see you need to go to the Lord, because only the Lord can deliver you. I used to row the boat, but it's no good. Don't bother rowing the boat now. I just turn round to the Lord and say, Lord, are you seeing this old thing? It's back again. And you see I found this out, that if I go to the Lord on my very spot, at the very moment when the temptation reaches, when the storm comes, if the devil drives me to the Lord, he'll soon chuck it up, won't he? He will, he will. And the old hymn writer got this. He says, the devil doesn't know that the very winds that blow only drives me nearer to the other shore. And if I go to the Lord, and talk to the Lord, he's in a bit of a fix. He's only driving me to the Lord. And surely the Lord is the distinguished deliverer. Oh yes, you can see this. But you see, you're in danger. Let me not mix this now. You're in danger when the flesh starts moving, and you don't even know it. You see, the flesh can start moving in the prayer meeting. You can stand up, so Jesus said. He said to his own disciples, and thou, when thou prayest, be not as the herpetics who stand at the corners of the streets and in the synagogues, but to be seen of men. You see, you could stand up in the prayer meeting, and close your eyes, and shout the half of the night, and get all the phrases right, and the whole thing is baloney, it's flesh that's at work. You can enter into the prayer meeting. You see, Diotrephes, who was in one of the meetings, and this is what it said, I wrote on to the church, but Diotrephes, who loveth to have a preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, preaching against us with malicious words. Here is somebody who wants preeminence. It's not spiritual, it's flesh. And it's in the meeting, it's flesh. If he may come and advise you, walking into the temple, and strange spires there, oh, they're supposed to be priests. I'll tell you this, it's all flesh. I'll tell you this, you know, we're going to learn in a moment, that Samson, his great danger was that he didn't know about his flesh the way he ought to have known, and what was more, he didn't know when the Lord had left him in. And that's worse, that's double. That's the blunder that's here. You see, I want you to get this, let's go back again, and we're at 16. You know, he went out at another time, and it says in verse 20, and this is Delilah talking and saying to him, she said, that Philistines be upon thee, Samson. He woke out of his sleep and said, I will go out at another time before and shake myself. And he wished not that the Lord was departed from him. Oh, what a blunder. You see, he had played with sin for a while, and that's how he lost his eyes. I don't need to go into the battles tonight. He took the lion and he tore it asunder the way you would tear a kid. He went up to the mountain and slew 30 men, all on his own. And then with the jawbone of an ass, one day he slew a thousand Philistines. Oh, that's the time the Lord had him, just the way the Lord wanted him. And when the Lord was moving mightily upon him, all the battles were fought for the glory of God's name. But I want you to see his blindness before we stop this evening. You see, it says in verse 21 of chapter 16, but the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison house. What a sight this is. You know, he has played around with sin. And he has been unconscious of his own fleshly lusts. And he has been doubly unconscious when the Lord has left him. Because that can happen in that particular dispensation. And here he is, this mighty deliverer. And I want you to get the mold of this. It says one word in this story that I love above another. It's in verse 22 of chapter 16 of Judges. It says, Howbeit. Oh, that's the bit I like. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. You see, friends, God is wonderful. And the grace of God is wonderful. And you see, God is prepared to have mercy, and to reconcile, and to restore. Oh, men that have let flesh take control, and upset the upper carton, have done despite and so all the rest, you know that it's restoration. His function was restored again, you know. And you know the end of the story, just how many he flew at his death. There were more than he flew in his life. And when it comes to Hebrews, isn't it wonderful that the writers of the Hebrews said, time would fail me to tell a assumption. Oh, he did exploits for God, you know. Can we learn? Did God put him in the school that we might learn? Can we learn to judge our own flesh? Can we learn that we can grieve the Holy Ghost? Can we learn from this mighty story as we look at the blackboards of man? Yes. See the blindness. Oh, I'll tell you this, there's nothing so sad in this world as to see a child of God, who through the lusts of his flesh, is at the swine's rock, or the broken cisterns, or blinded by the enemy, or bound in shepherds, or grinding in the prison house. Can we look at the blackboard of Samson's life tonight? See what flesh can do. Can we stand there and see what the Spirit can do? Can we take another moment there and learn the arithmetic of life and see what the Lord can do? Yea, the Lord can make any one of us in this meeting more than conquerors, if we give him his rightful place, because he's the distinguished deliverer. It's never I. It's always Christ. May God bring us to that place. Next week we're looking at Caleb. He was an old man who was always young. Great cancer. Let's bow together before the Lord. Not sing anymore, just let's bow before the Lord. Lord, without our feet, we can't see that we're thine. So many of us in this place tonight, we know we're thine. We're brought with the price, we're not our own. And yet we learn, Lord, that the old flesh is still there, and that the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and the things that we know we should do, we just don't get round the times. O Lord, help us to turn our eyes upon thee, who shall deliver us? Only thee, Lord. Thou art the distinguished deliverer. O may we look to thee for grace, and look to thee for wisdom, and look to thee for guidance, and look to thee for help and courage. Lord, everything we need is in thee. Help us to be more than conquerors through him that loved us. Hark us in thy fear, and with thy blessing, for thy name's sake. Amen. Thank you.