The Strength of Samson
Playback speed
Forget the heroes. These days, we want authenticity. We want personal vision. We’ve done away with hero worship.
In the story of Samson, we see that the Bible doesn’t give us hero worship, but it also doesn’t give us hero hatred or deconstruction. Some people have called Samson an old-fashioned hero, like Superman—but he’s not. I’ve been waiting for people to call him the anti-hero—he even makes jokes when he’s killing people. Samson is physically quite strong and morally quite weak. But in spite of this, God actually judges Israel with him. What does it all mean?
In the story of Samson we see that 1) hero worship does not help, 2) but hero deconstruction doesn’t help either, and 3) we need something else.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on October 12, 1997. Series: Pointers to Christ – Directional Signs in History. Scripture: Judges 15:9-20.
Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
Released on 13 Oct 2023
Coming up next
An Immigrant’s Courage
It takes tremendous courage to leave the land you’ve always lived in and permanently move to another land. People don’t usually do it unless they expect a better life. In the book of Ruth, we have the story of two immigrant women—Naomi and Ruth—who f...
A Preacher’s Disobedience
When we hear the word “sin,” we think we know what it means. But we don’t—not really. If we don’t understand sin, then Christianity makes no sense. But even more so, if we don’t understand sin, then the knowledge of God’s love and grace won’t really...
A Leader’s Passion
Exodus 33-34 remarkably depicts, in the most concrete way, how to find God. And not only how to find God, but how to find him when you’ve lost him. The Bible often talks about our relationship with God as if it’s fire. It comes down into our lives....