Judges 16:23-31

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 93
• Hymn — The Lord Reigns Over All (Psalm 93, #93)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism Reading — Lord's Day Questions 31–32
• Hymn — My Song Is Love Unknown (#326)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Judges 16:23–31
• Sermon
• Hymn — There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood (#340)
• Benediction

---

Sermon Title: The Lord Alone — Worthy of Praise, Answering Prayer, Winning Victoriously

Scripture: Judges 16:23–31

I. The Lord Alone Deserves Praise

A. The Philistine lords gather in the temple of Dagon to offer sacrifice and rejoice, crediting their god with delivering Samson — Judges 16:23–24 B. This is theological history written for God's people, not merely ancient record

1. Israel had previously worshiped Dagon and the gods of the Philistines — Judges 10:6
2. The passage is meant to convict the reader: does the mocking of God and his servant grieve you? C. Application: examine your heart toward the worship of God
3. Are you grieved when God's name is taken in vain, or when you yourself treat it flippantly?
4. Are you grieved by apathy toward God's Word, the Lord's Day, and corporate worship?
5. We may never worship Dagon, but we can still fail to worship the living God as we ought D. The Lord alone deserves all glory and recognition for his works — Proverbs 20:12

II. The Lord Alone Answers Prayer

A. Samson, blind and captive, does not grumble or despair — he calls on God — Judges 16:28–29 B. Samson addresses God by two names

1. Adonai Yahweh — the great covenant God who makes and keeps promises
2. Elohim — the most high God, the one God C. Samson's specific requests: "Remember me and strengthen me"
3. He does not trust in his own strength but in his God's
4. His prayer matches the purposes and plan of God, and God answers D. God is not a genie; he is the sovereign covenant Lord who answers according to his will and purposes — Matthew 6:10 E. Samson's impulse to pray in the midst of trial is a model for believers, even if his death is not
5. Jesus likewise prays in the midst of his trial
6. Are you calling on God when prayer feels like speaking to a wall?

III. The Lord Alone Wins Personally

A. The account ends with Samson's death accomplishing more than his entire life — Judges 16:30

1. Not only the quantity but the quality of those who died — all the lords of the Philistines
2. Through Samson's sacrificial death, the Lord strikes a decisive blow at the heart of Philistine power
3. The oppression of Israel by the Philistines ends — understated but unmistakable B. It was not Dagon but Yahweh who accomplished this victory — he wins personally
4. He planned it; he was the providential hand behind all events
5. His preferred means in Judges is to work through chosen persons C. Samson as type pointing forward to Christ
6. Before Samson's birth, his life was announced as unto a purposed salvation — so also Christ — Matthew 1:21; Luke 1
7. Samson's death crushes the heads of enemies — a picture of the seed crushing the serpent's head
8. Christ's death accomplishes full, not merely begun, salvation — he puts away sin, defeats death, and casts down the accuser
9. Christ's death is substitutionary — he bore the condemnation we deserve — Romans 8:1
10. Death is swallowed up in victory; the resurrection guarantees death's sting is no more
11. Samson prayed "Remember me" — as did the thief on the cross, who received the promise of paradise D. Key dissimilarities between Samson and Christ
12. Samson was deeply flawed; Christ is the profoundly faithful, sinless Savior
13. Samson began salvation; Christ is the founder and finisher of salvation — 2 Corinthians 5:21
14. Samson dies and is buried — the end; Christ dies, is buried, and rises — the beginning of new life E. The message of the book of Revelation and of the Samson narrative: God wins
15. No athlete or military commander can guarantee victory as God does
16. In Christ, believers are made winners — adopted as sons and daughters who share in his victory