Drew Boswell

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“No One Is Beyond the Reach of His Amazing Grace” Galatians 1:10-24

Grace Abounds

A Sermon Series Through the Book of Galatians

“No One Is Beyond the Reach of His Amazing Grace”

Galatians 1:10-24

 Introduction

There once was a man who was searching for his keys under the street light. His friends came along stopped and asked him “Exactly, where did you drop your keys?” “In my house,” the man answered. “In your house? Then why are you looking out here?” “Because the light is better out here.”

You are not going to find what you are looking for unless you are looking in the right place. Most people are looking for spiritual life in the wrong place. Originally the Galatian people knew where to find the key to salvation. They had heard Paul’s message and had been saved by putting their faith in Jesus Christ. Now they were confused. They began to listen to legalists who said they needed two keys to be saved – faith and good works. Confused the Galatians were looking for the key to salvation and Christian maturity in the wrong place.[1]

 Prayer

Paul’s Defense of His Authority to Share the Gospel (vv.10-11)

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul’s critics were saying that Paul had watered down what it takes to please God, or to be right with him (justification) by removing the requirement to follow the law. Paul then refutes this claim by asking two questions (v. 10). His motive is to please God and not men.

Regarding Paul following the earthly traditions of man, or looking religious to others, Paul says, Philippians 3:4-6 “. . . If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”

If salvation was about keeping rules, and appearing religious Paul had accomplished that. He walked away from trying to appear a certain way to men, and is now seeking the approval of God alone. You can’t follow the rules of this world, to be liked by the people of this world, and preach the gospel (and please God at the same time).

Martin Luther said, “. . . For the world finds nothing more irritating and intolerable than hearing its wisdom, righteousness, religion, and power condemned . . . For if we denounce men and all their efforts, it is inevitable that we quickly encounter bitter hatred, persecution, excommunication, condemnation, and execution.”[2]

Have you ever heard the saying, “God really doesn’t mind what you believe as long as you are sincere?” Paul was incredibly sincere against those he saw as the enemy of God – even to the point of killing them. Emotionally Paul was invested fully in the belief that Jesus followers had to be stamped out. His mind was not going to be changed by a reasonably stated argument. Nothing was going to convince him that what he was doing was wrong – God had to do it. He was violent, a persecutor, and an arrogant man.

God can change the heart of any man.

11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.

No one led Paul to the Lord. He did not read a gospel tract, he did not go forward and talk to a preacher at the end of a worship service. He did not receive it, and he was not taught the gospel – then how does he know the gospel? Paul doesn’t argue proofs from theology – he simply tells his story. “He argues for the divine origin and nature of the gospel by describing the profound change the gospel has made in his life.”[3]

 Paul Was an Enemy of the Gospel – Paul’s Need For Grace (vv. 12-14)

12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

“For you have heard of my former life . . .”

Paul did not make himself an apostle, and the gospel did not come from men – (v. 1) “Paul, an apostle — not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father . . .” Paul points to his own life as proof that God changes lives. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

Paul fully understood what the false teachers were pushing – he himself had taught and believed the same thing before he came to know Christ. He was zealous for this belief to the point of trying to stamp out the early Christian church (Acts 7).

(v. 13) “I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it,” – His use of the word “destroy” stresses that in his former life his actions against the church were exceptionally violent and that he had intended to obliterate it. Acts 8:3 “But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.” He was “breathing threats and murder” against the church (9:1).

Paul was sincere in his beliefs – he persecuted other people who thought differently than he did, he was violent and destructive. He was extremely zealous for the traditions of his beliefs.

Paul Moved From Persecutor to Preacher – Paul Receives Grace (vv. 15-17)

15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born,[4] and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

 “But when he . . . called me by his grace, . . .”

So how did Paul go from zealously persecuting the church to being a top leader in its ranks? Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and he was saved (Acts 9). God called Paul (destined before he was even born) to preach the gospel.

He was saved by God’s grace, and he was called to gospel ministry by God’s grace – both were from God, not his own doing. He went from persecutor to preacher because God worked in his heart.

The other 12 had seen Christ, lived with him, were called by him, trained by him and commissioned by him – Paul was not there during any of that. How could he then claim to be an apostle? Paul’s salvation and calling was based on revelation. Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and there called him to salvation and ministry. Once saved, Paul could have gone straight to the other apostles and learned from them. Instead, he did not consult any man, “his purpose in going to Arabia was to pray, study, and be alone with the Lord.”[5]

(v. 17) So, when Paul says, “nor did I go up to Jerusalem,” – Paul wants us to understand that the gospel he received from God was not influenced by the teaching of any men.

 Paul Met With Certain Apostles – Paul’s Life Having Received Grace (vv. 18-20)

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!)

 After having been taught by Christ for three years, now he could move to fellowship with other apostles as a fellow apostle (not student). Paul uses the word, “to visit” – it is a very specific word, and it is only used here in the NT. It means “to inquire, to get acquainted.”[6] He wants us to understand that he did not go there to be taught.

Acts 9:29 shows that while he was visiting with Peter and James there was a plot to kill him, so he flees to Syria and Cilicia (Acts 21:39, 22:3).

So he swears an oath, “In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!” (v. 20) this is the type of oath that one would swear in court. Paul is giving this account to show that he did not receive the gospel from anyone, it was revealed to him from God. “He neither invented nor inherited his gospel. He did not make it up on his own and he did not get it from anyone else – not before his conversion, not during his conversion, and not after.”[7]

There is Glory to God Because of Heart Change – Paul’s Life After His Conversion (vv. 21-24)

 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”  24 And they glorified God because of me.

“He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith”

So where did the gospel come from? Paul says, v. 12 “I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” And again in v. 16 “was pleased to reveal his Son to me,” It was something unknown and covered by God, but then revealed or uncovered and shown to Paul. When Paul was on the road to Damascus and Christ appeared to him, Acts 9:4 “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Paul knew that he was Jesus, and that He was killed on a Roman cross (for our sin), had risen now from the dead because He is appearing to him.

(v. 23) ““He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” This is the effect of the gospel upon a person. Paul held the coats of those that killed the first Christian martyr Stephen. He was zealous in his attempt to wipe out those that followed Jesus. His reputation was that of man who was incredibly religious and fought against threats to his beliefs.

So when he arrives as a Christian, the churches were concerned – but the power of the gospel is that it radically changes a person’s heart. When the church heard of what Jesus did in Paul’s heart, “they glorified God because of me.” Paul also said in 1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

If you have a false gospel there is no hope for a transformed life.

The reason we gather, in the name of Christ, is because we know and have come to understand that we needed and continue to need radical life transformation. We are sinners in need of salvation. We continue to be sinners in need of grace and, like Pail, we share in the responsibility to share this gospel so that others can know life transformation and be set free from sin.

Paul’s argument for the soul changing power of the gospel was to tell his story. There is no difference for us today, you are the best argument for the transformational power of the gospel. Nothing is more real than you telling your story of how you came to know and understand the gospel. Remember Paul’s words and le them help you share your story:

“For you have heard of my former life . . .” This is what your life was like before you knew Jesus. “But when he . . . called me by his grace, . . .” This is when you heard the gospel and placed your faith in Jesus. “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith” This is what your life is life after you were saved by God’s grace.

For me my grandparents would come and pick me up and take me to church. But I had no interest in what was taught there, in fact it taught me how to appear good on the outside and disguise who I was on the inside. Then one day, in middle school I was sitting on the school bus when a special-needs little boy sat next to me. He smiled too much, and was just not cool like I was.

When it came time for the boy to step off the bus, I tripped him and he fell down the steps of the bus. His mom was there to pick him up, dust off his clothes, gather the scattered parts of his lunch box, and hold his hand as they walked back to their house. The other kids on the bus laughed and pointed fingers at him as we drove off – but I was not laughing. I knew my heart was dark and that I was pretending.

Later that summer I went to a VBS where the pastor came and explained the gospel during craft time – and I jumped at the chance to be saved from my sin. I knew I needed Jesus and His grace, and now I have been called by Jesus to preach the gospel that has changed my soul.

Paul said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” The gospel is the power of God to save the most hardened violent criminal. We forget the power of the gospel to change the hardened heart.

“John Newton, the eighteen-century pastor, was a man who understands the power of the gospel and the grace of God. He was the author of the timeless hymn, “Amazing Grace,” whose lyrics seem to tell each of our stories better than we ourselves could. But before Newton was a great Christian hymn writer, he was a rascal, a slave trader, a rebel.

But God stepped in and saved Newton, and before his death he wrote is own epitaph that he wanted put into marble, It read, “John Newton, Clerk, Once an Infidel and Libertine, A servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith, He had long labored to destroy.”[8]

The violent slave trader radically saved by the gospel and died a preacher of what changed him forever. That is Amazing Grace. Do you know Jesus today? Do you want Him to change your wicked heart and free you from your sin?

____________________

[1] Illustration from Anders, 19.

[2] Ryken, 24.

[3] Todd Wilson, Preaching the Word, Galatians, Gospel Rooted Living (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2013) 44.

[4] The Pharisees believed that they were set apart for God because of their keeping the law, Paul explains that it was God and his plan that set Paul apart (God’s grace), not how Paul lived his life or followed the law.

[5] Max Anders, Holman New Testament Commentary, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, & Colossians (Nashville, Tennessee; Homan Reference, 1999) 9.

[6] L. Ann Jervis, New International Biblical Commentary, Galatians (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishing, 2005) 47.

[7] Ryken, 30.

[8] Wilson, 48.

“A Letter to the Recovering Pharisee” Galatians 1:1-9

Grace Abounds

A Sermon Series Through the Book of Galatians

“A Letter to the Recovering Pharisee”

Galatians 1:1-9

Introduction

The Pharisees who lived during the early church times were very religious. They paid very close attention to their theology, they were regular in their worship, and they would be considered a very moral group of people. But in all that attention to religious activities God was not in their hearts. Their religion was little more than hypocrisy – this hypocrisy was rooted in their belief that if they read their Bibles, tithed, kept the Sabbath, then God would do for them, what they had done for God.

This constant attention to trying to be good, follow the rules, and appear to be a good person was exhausting and ultimately was not pleasing to God because they were substituting their own righteousness for Jesus’ righteousness. They would say, “I don’t need Jesus’ gift of salvation, I can earn it myself.” So their daily lives reflected this idea of trying to earn God’s favor, and trying to manipulate God by their action to get him to do something.[1]

It is hard for a legalistic person, once they receive Christ, to leave legalism behind. So Jewish people become followers of Jesus, and while they say they need Jesus and his gift of salvation, secretly (deep down in their hearts), they believe God’s love for them is conditional upon how they behave.

Performance based “Christianity” denies the grace of God.

 While we are saved by grace, recovering legalists struggle to live by grace. The gospel is something we receive for salvation, but it is also something that we live and breathe every day. The gospel gives us freedom – as we move through the book of Galatians, I want you to ask yourself, “Am I living my Christian life, as if I know God loves me and that His grace is enough? Or are you trying to make God love you by doing religious activity?”

Paul’s Salutation to the Churches In Galatia (vv. 1-5)

Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man[2], but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Paul in the opening verses comes out fighting. We can tell from these verses that there were people who were attacking Paul’s authority as an apostle. An apostle was an official spokesperson for Jesus, “an envoy, ambassador, or messenger who was chosen and trained by Jesus Christ as a special emissary for proclaiming His truth during the formative years of the church.”[3] The first 12 disciples were chosen, called, and commissioned by Christ himself to teach on his behalf (Luke 6:13-16; Mark 3:14-19). Paul understands that people have to accept him as an apostle before they will accept the gospel.

Paul was not apart of the original 12, and so his critics attack his authority. In order to advance their doctrinal error, they are attacking his credentials. These false teachers are arguing that Paul’s gospel was not from God but from man (Paul made it up), and that Paul appointed himself to be an apostle – Paul is explaining where Christianity came from. But also, they are accusing him of watering down the gospel to make it easy – so that he would popular saying what people wanted to hear.

When the authority of Scripture is denied,

a person can make truth into whatever they want Him to be.

They denied Paul’s authority (as an apostle) and then created their own gospel. When the authority of Scripture is denied, you can then add or take away the parts you don’t agree with.

“To the churches of Galatia,” – “The Galatians were going astray because they are adding Judaism to the gospel of Faith in Christ . . . Disturbed by these tendencies Paul writes this letter . . . I order that they may preserve faith in Christ alone.”[4] These false teachers are called “Judaizers” in other places because they wanted to require the new Gentile (non-Jewish) followers of Jesus to become a Jew before they could become a Christian. It is the gospel of Jesus plus the law of Moses (dietary laws, circumcision, and other ceremonial law, feasts and holidays) .

We see this in Acts 15:1 “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” . . . (v. 5) “But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

“In turning from grace to a legalistic system of salvation by works, the Galatians had ignored the significance of the death of Christ. The heart of the gospel is Christ’s willing sacrifice of Himself for our sins. Salvation is not earned by one’s efforts to eliminate sin, but by one’s trust in God’s promise to forgive sin through the work of Jesus Christ.”[5] Without the cross, Jesus’ teachings and life example would introduce us to God, but we would have no way of having a relationship with Him – we cannot, in our own self-effort, be rid of our sin.

In these opening verses reminds the churches of the what the gospel is; the resurrection, “who raised him from the dead,” and his crucifixion, “who gave himself for our sins.” In his rescuing us from the danger of our sin it was not for a “second chance” – “giving us another opportunity to get life right and stay right with God. He did all we needed to do, but cannot do. If Jesus’ death really paid for our sins on our behalf, we can never fall back into condemnation.”[6]

From these we see four things about the gospel 1) Jesus gave himself willingly, “who gave himself.” Jesus’ life was not taken, it was given. It was a voluntary self-sacrifice. John 10:17-18 “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” Matthew 27:50 when Jesus is on the cross he “yielded up his spirit.”

2) The purpose of the cross is that Jesus gave up his life willingly for our sins. We had a sin debt that we could not pay, and on the cross “Jesus paid it all.” The punishment we deserved, He took upon himself. He became our substitute (substitutionary atonement). It enabled God to forgive us by satisfying his pure justice. Even if your acts of goodness counted, what was owed is eternally more than you can contribute toward your salvation.

3) “to deliver us from the present evil age,” – The purpose of the gospel is to deliver – Jesus came to rescue us. We are saved so that one day, we can enter into eternity, but God’s grace and salvation extend also, to our present day-to-day lives. We have been freed from the evil of this age.

We were slaves to sin, now we are slaves to righteousness – the consequence of being a Christ follower is that we are freed from behavior that brings us destruction. Lightfoot said, “The Gospel is a rescue, an emancipation from a state of bondage.” Because we are free our lives now reflect Christ – an abundant life.

4) God initiatives our salvation, it originates from God “according to the will of our God and Father,” The cross was not an accident, or a historical tragic event that caught God off guard. He wasn’t in heaven hoping that everything would work out. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prays that the cup of wrath that was coming with the cross be removed, Matthew 26:39 “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” It was the Father’s will that the Son die for the salvation of the world.

Peter says in Acts 2:23, “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” It has always been the plan for God the Father to give His Son for the salvation of the world. In these opening verses Paul discusses salvation and we don’t play any part in it. “The gospel is not about what we do for God; it is about what God has done for us.”

Paul then says, “to whom be the glory forever and ever .” – All the glory goes to God, not to us for being good. Ephesians 2:9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

“The great point that the Galatians are to note is the fact that grace and peace are ours (v. 3) “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” through the merits of Christ’s self-sacrifice alone. All is due to his death for our sins. We are able to add nothing by any works of ours. We are not delivered by any observance of the law. The whole epistle is aimed at this error; the foundation is laid already in the greeting.”[7]

Paul’s Concern and Reason For Writing the Letter (vv. 6-7)

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ (the gospel that originates from Christ).

Paul’s writing this letter is in response to his astonishment that the churches were in danger – there is an urgency in his writing. They like soldiers on the battlefield they are “so quickly deserting” – they are switching sides. The tense tells us that it has begin but has not yet been completed – there is still a chance for them to see their error.

An OT example of a similar event was Exodus 32:7-8 “And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” When people don’t honor the authority of Scripture, they want to add to it, or take from if; “They think they are improving the gospel, but what they are actually doing is forging a golden calf in the furnace of unbelief . . . we’ve abandoned it for an idol made by human hands.”[8]

They were not just switching from one man’s philosophy to another man’s philosophy – they were deserting the God who gave them the true gospel. And they were accepting a distorted Paul and Barnabas had gone through and preached the gospel, they had received it, and then they went back (on their second missionary journey)[9] and spent time teaching them – and then when they left these false teachers have followed behind them and are trying to undermine their work. Paul is astonished at how quickly they swept in, and how quickly the churches were listening to them.

 I think it’s important to note that these were teachers who said they were Christians – they would have acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah, and they would have recognized his death on the cross as being important (otherwise no one would listened to them).

They would have claimed to believe all the truths other Christians believed. But they wanted to improve the gospel by adding to it. If you add anything to grace then you have corrupted the gospel – it becomes a different gospel. The good news of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, is the only gospel that saves the sinner.

The word Paul uses in v. 7, “want to distort the gospel,” perverts the gospel, literally “reverses.”[10] All other world religions say that you do something to save yourself. The grace of God, and the gospel from Jesus reverses this – God does everything, you do nothing. Any edits to the gospel reverses it, and places it in the giant pile of worthless world religions. There is only one way to be rid of our sin – there are not multiple ways to God.

How does one go from following the true gospel, to readily accepting man’s attempt at religion? There are two things involved, “but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel,” The false teachers were troubling the church, so trouble or heartache comes along, and then combined with distortion of the truth (to make God in one’s own image). Something in your life happens, and an alternate version of reality presents itself.

Paul’s Warning For Those That Preach a False Gospel (vv. 8-9)

8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Paul then gives scenarios where a false gospel may appear – suppose Paul, or those who were with him on his journeys, or even an angel from heaven appeared – if anyone preaches a gospel different than grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone – they are to be accursed. The true standard of Christianity is not the messenger, but the message. Preachers can change and move away from the truth they once preached, and demons can appear as angels.

Paul is saying that even his apostolic authority derives from the gospel’s authority, not the other way around. The Bible judges the church, the church does not judge the Bible. Scripture is the plumbline that we hold up everything the church does and believes. My authority as your pastor comes from Scripture – you should follow me as long as what I say lines up with the Word of God. The word of God does not means what I want it to mean – I have authority only as long as what I say lines up with Scripture.

Paul uses the word accursed or anathema, referring to what should happen to someone who preaches a false gospel – This is an OT concept of setting something aside or devoting something to destruction. A different gospel brings condemnation – it is ternal life that is at stake.

______________________

[1] Philip Graham Ryken, Reformed Expository Commentary, Galatians (Philipsburg, New Jersey; P&R Publishing, 2005) 3.

[2] This could be a reference to Paul and Barnabas being sent out on the first missionary journey from the church in Antioch.

[3] John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Galatians (Chicago, Illinois; Moody Press, 1987) 2.

[4] C. Marius Victorinus, Ad Galatas, quoted in F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Eerdmans, 1982) 21.

[5] MacArthur, 6.

[6] Timothy Keller, Galatians For You (USA; The Good Book Company, 2013) 16.

[7] R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (Minneapolis, Minnesota; Augsburg Publishing House, 1961) 29.

[8] Todd Wilson, Preaching the Word, Galatians Gospel-Rooted Living (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2013) 30.

[9] Acts 13:13-14:23

[10] Keller, 18.

“Samson Is Not the Hero” Judges 16:23-31

The Story of Samson

A Sermon Series

“Samson Is Not the Hero”

Judges 16:23-31

Introduction

Judges 16:21-22 “And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. (v. 22)

This verse is not given to us so that we think, “his hair is back, so his strength is back.” The Philistines think his strength is gone because his vow to God had been broken (he had drank from the vine, he had touched the dead, and his hair had been cut). But, God is not constrained to his people keeping their side of a promise.

There is a difference between the Israelite God and the false gods of the Philistines. For the Philistines they would serve their gods, keeping rules, giving offerings, etc and their gods would be moved by their offerings to do something they wanted (good crops, fertility, etc.) If they didn’t do these things then they would fear being wiped out or abandoned.

But the God of the Bible always keeps his promises to His people regardless if they keep their promise or not (now he disciplines them, they rebel and get carried off into exile, and various plagues – but when they cry out, repent of their sin, he hears their cries, forgives them, and they are once again restored).

2 Chronicles 7:13-14 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Earlier in Judges 13:7 “Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.” God said that Samson would be a Nazarite from before he was born to the day of his death. God had established a plan for Samson’s life. Samson’s strength did not come from his vow, or his keeping his side of the promise, but the strength came from the God who also made a promise.

God Always Keeps His Promises.

 Samson has only lived for himself, he married, went into a prostitute, and fell in love with all Philistine women – and two of the three betrayed him so that he was blinded, bound, and carried off to grind grain on a millstone (like an animal). Samson has lost everything. But then we see v. 22, “But the hair of his head began to grow again.” Is there still a chance for Samson? Can he come back from all of it, or is he too far gone? The only reason we have hope for Samson, and even ourselves is because God is always faithful.

Waiting on A Hero to Arrive (vv. 23-27)

Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars.

It’s important to note that Samson (not the Israelites) is identified as their enemy, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” The Israelites, even after over twenty years of oppression by the Philistines are content to remain oppressed and ruled by an enemy. They are essentially the same people, with no moral distinctions between the peoples. God sent Samson to cause a division between them – because they are so intertwined.

When given a chance to build an army and fight, they handed over Samson instead. They said to Samson, Judges 15:11 “Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?”

26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

The highest ranking officials of the Philistine people have all assembled in one place, “Now the house was full of men and women.” They are there to worship their god Dagon. They are rejoicing because they have captured, blinded, and humiliated the Israelite God’s champion. Samson is brought so they can see him, to parade him around, to entertain them.

The temple has a lower and upper level – Samson is on the lower level where he can he been by those on the upper level. The upper level is supported by large pillars. So the scene is set – It seems like Dagon is more powerful than Yahweh. But in this great contest the question is who will Yahweh’s people serve – morally and culturally there is no discernable difference between the two peoples. God’s people, “did what was right in their own eyes.” Would God remain faithful to them, even though they were morally corrupt?

God’s people had been set apart from the beginning to be His people, Leviticus 20:26 “You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” (like Samson was set apart to be a judge).

Early in the history of God’s people, God made a promise to a man named Abraham Genesis 15:12 “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, . . . When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, . . .” God made a promise to Abram and his descendant as God’s people, but Abram does not make the same promise because in God’s grace he makes him go to sleep (knowing that they will not keep their side of the agreement).

God has called and gifted us to do certain things (like the Israelites and Samson), but we are morally corrupt and don’t do what God has called us to do. “Samson serves as a microcosm of Israel for its respective failures to fulfill their obligations to Yahweh. Just as he repeatedly neglects his Nazarite obligations to Yahweh by engaging in impure acts and relations with foreign women, so the tribes of Israel [are] negligent of their obligations to Yahweh as an elect people by engaging in cultically disloyal acts and by neglecting to expel foreigners from the land.”[1]

Samson (in chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16 up until now) has completely lived for himself – he has used his super-human gift of strength only for himself. His eyes and a twisted morality have led him to go from bed to bed, a failed marriage, various feats of strength that only served his own sense of vengeance and pride. He chased an addict’s desire for increasing highs taking riskier and even more dangerous chances – until eventually he was captured, blinded, and humiliated. Samson has lost everything.

God is the Hero Who Arrives In His Own Timing (vv. 28-31)

28 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.” 29 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 and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. 31 Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

Something is different about Samson here. He is humble and reverent. The only other time we see his prayer it is brazen, demanding, and irreverent (15:18). But here, he knows if he is to bring the temple down, he needs super human strength and now finally recognizes where his strength comes from, “God please strengthen me.” Before, he had always assumed that it would be there, but now he pleads with God to strengthen him, one last time.

God will always be there for His people,

when they turn from their sin (repent) and have faith in Him

because He has promised to be faithful. God always keeps his promises.

 Did God abandon Samson? The last we heard, “But he did not know that the Lord had left him.” God lets us go into that which we want after we pull and pull, and pull away from Him. He disciplines us by allowing the partial consequences of our actions to consume us. If you don’t want God in your life, then you can experience (in part) what that is like.

Destruction, pain, and sin’s consequence is humbling (Samson is with the people he has been trying to be apart of since the beginning, his eyes that control every part of his life are gouged out, the love he thought he wanted has betrayed him, and his strength to be a judge, a deliverer, is gone. Now he is just like any other man. God allowed Samson to experience what he had always thought he wanted.

Ok so he’s humbled, but where is the faith? In his prayer he uses two words for God, One is (elohim) this is a personal God to him, and (Yahweh) which is a saving, covenantal, relational God of his people Israel.[2] By calling out to the Lord God Samson is recognizing that God is sovereign over all things.

Hebrews 11:34 “And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith . . . , were made strong out of weakness, . . .” Faith in his God made Samson strong when he was weak. Despite all his failings, when he finally showed (just a little) faith in his God, God kept His promise to be there with him.

 You can run a thousand miles from God,

but it only takes one step to return back to Him.

Samson was finally able to see, even though he was blind, that he was weak, the only way for him to have any strength was if God gave it to him. “Samson’s story begins with a strong man who is revealed to be weak (pride, revenge, lust, his own eyes controlled him), but it ends with a weak man who is stronger than he ever was before.”[3]

In the Hebrews 11 “fall of faith” Samson is listed with men of great faith (like Enoch, Abraham, or Joseph) but the point is not that Samson had enough faith to make into the list. The list itself is an overview of the history of God’s people. It is a record of where God has moved with men and women who showed great faith – and those that only showed one small act of faith, one time in their entire lives (like Samson).

Jesus’ disciples at one point struggled to cast out a demon, so they pull Jesus aside and ask him, Matthew 17:19-20 “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

If all we had were Judges chapters 13-16:20, he was not a hero worth remembering. He had failed at every opportunity he had been given. His feats only brought him glory, and only delivered himself. But having been humbled, weakened, he lifts his head to heaven finally and says, “O Lord God, please remember me.” In Hebrew to remember is not the opposite of to forget. Rather, the verb means “to take note of, to act on behalf of.”[4] Samson is saying, “Act on my behalf, by giving me strength, that I recognize only comes from the sovereign God.”

Therefore, showing one moment, in his entire story, that is an act of faith. This is not a story that points to a human hero, but instead to a great and merciful God who is faithful to His Word, and desires to use us in spite of our rebellious and being hard hearted. God is the hero of the story – Samson is the anti-hero most of the time. God just wants us to show a little faith. Samson’s faith included 1) he trusted the Lord, 2) he knew no other God was true or real, 3) he knew that God was the source of his strength, and 4) he knew that he had to depend upon the Lord to salvage anything from his life.”[5]

Realizing this grace, it should drive us to repentance, Romans 2:4 “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” God works in Samson’s life again and again, in spite of his sinful heart. God’s kindness in his life, should lead him to repent of his sin – ultimately it does (but only after having to be greatly humbled).

 God requires turning from sin (repentance) and turning to Christ (faith).

 But there are a few things that Samson misses. First, as the Philistine people are chanting and singing worship songs to their god, Samson does not discuss Yahweh’s reputation or His God’s name being lifted up. He is not concerned about God’s name being lifted up in the Promised Land. Secondly, He is not concerned with Israel, God’s people, being delivered – which is his life-long calling from God. Third, His thought process in this prayer to God goes “remember me,” “strengthen me,” “let me get revenge,” “for my two eyes.” Samson (even though he has shown faith and renewed understanding of where his strength comes from) still is still only focused on Samson.

Samson reaches out, feels the pillars, and begins to push with all his strength. This is the most important moment in Samson’s life – and it is how he dies. “So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.”

Samson “stands as a tragic example of a man of great potential who lacked stability of character. Still God in His sovereignty used him.”[6] We should base our faith on God, not men. Whether we follow Him should be based on our relationship with him, because all men will fail you eventually in moral character, “for all have sinned and fallen short.”

 Abraham surrendered his wife over to Pharoah, David committed adultery and murder, Moses lost his temper, Noah was a drunk, etc. all men are sinners. In my lifetime many of my heroes have fallen or horrible truths have been revealed about them, but Christ has never let me down – He has been and will always be faithful. My faith is in Him, not in men’s ability to be without sin. If you go a restaurant and gave a horrible meal, you don’t give up eating.

_________________

[1] K. Lawson Younger, The NIV Application Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Academic, 2020) 407.

[2] Timothy Keller, Judges For You (USA; the Good Book Company, 2013) 161.

[3] Keller, 164.

[4] Daniel I. Block, The New American Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman & Holman Publishing, 2002) 467.

[5] W. Gary Phillips, Holman Old Testament Commentary, Judges, Ruth (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman and Holman Publishing, 2004) 257.

[6] Herbert Wolf, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 1992) 479.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8

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