If you would, turn with me again
to Judges chapter 14 tonight. We just read the words a moment
ago, the beloved John, who said, he that committed sin is of the
devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. But those
words at the end of that verse, for this purpose, the Son of
God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. Why did
Christ come that he might do just that, destroy the works
of the devil? Now, I know you know, and I know,
and everyone should know, that the devil is not a physically
red man with horns and a long forked tail. It carries a pitchfork. But Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians
11, verse 13, he said, for such are false prophets or false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And no marvel, this shouldn't
surprise you, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. Therefore, it's no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works." So none of us
should marvel that false apostles and deceitful workers are found
in religious circles. That shouldn't surprise us knowing
that Satan himself is transformed into an angel, a messenger of
light, a messenger of the gospel. Now, you won't find Satan in
the bar rooms and brothels. You're more likely to find him
in the pulpit. And Satan doesn't look like Hollywood
has made him to look. Satan looks like a preacher,
a messenger of the gospel. Why was Christ made manifest?
To destroy the works of the devil. Now we're first introduced to
Satan, the devil, in the garden when he deceived Eve with his
subtlety. And then we find him again in
the presence of God in the book of Job chapter one, the Lord
asked Satan, he came into the presence of God and he said,
where comest thou or whence comest thou? And Satan answered and
said, from going to and fro in the earth and walking up and
down in it. What was he doing that? Why was
he doing that? He was seeking whom he may devour.
And it was then that God suggested that Satan should consider his
servant Job. And God told Satan, he said,
there's none like Job. He said, he's a perfect and upright
man, one that feared God and departed, eschewed evil, departed
from evil. But Satan was already aware of
Job. And he'd already considered Job. And he'd left him alone
because he knew that God had hedged him about. That's what
he told him, you've hedged him about. He knew that God had watched
over him and protected him. It was then that God said, well,
okay, you can put forth your hand, you can touch him, you
can take everything that he's got, but you can't touch him.
And you know the rest of the story. Satan, with God's permission,
took everything that Job had within a very short time. A little
later, we find Satan again in the presence of God, and the
same conversation ensues. And Satan said, the only reason
Job didn't curse you and didn't curse you when I took everything
that he had was because you wouldn't let me touch him. You let me
touch him. You let me touch his body, and
he'll curse you to your face. And God said, go ahead. You can
touch him. You can touch his flesh. You
can touch his bone. But you can't take his life. You see, God is in control. God
puts the restrictions upon what Satan can do. Satan is God's
dog on a chain. I have relatives always talking
about taking authority over the devil. Taking power over the
devil. God's got authority over him. The Lord Jesus already conquered
him. He's on a chain. He's God's guard
dog or whatever you want to call him. We don't need to take authority
over him. We better not. We don't match
for him. So, you know, again, the story
Satan struck Job with bolts from the top of his head to the soles
of his feet. So we see from the beginning that Satan's work is
to destroy the people of God. The Lord Jesus called Satan a
thief. He said, the thief cometh not but to steal and to kill
and destroy, but I've come that you might have life more abundantly. And this is the work of the devil.
The Lord said in Mark chapter four, verse 14, the sower soweth
the word, and these are they which fell by the wayside where
the word is sown. And when they had heard, Satan
cometh immediately and taketh away the word that was sown in
their heart. The devil's a thief and he's
out to steal and kill and destroy. He's the father of all lies.
And the Lord said he was a murderer from the beginning. In Luke chapter
22, verse three, we're told, then entered Satan into Judas.
surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the 12. And he went
his way and he communed with the chief priest and captains
how he might betray Christ unto them." He's out to destroy the
Lord Jesus and the gospel and God's people. But for this purpose,
our Lord came into this world to destroy him. Satan's work
is to kill and destroy. Also in Luke chapter 22, the
Lord told Peter, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you
that he may sift you as wheat. And he did, he did. Peter denied
the Lord three times shortly after this. But the Lord said
this, I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail thee not. And
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Peter was restored. to the Lord and his gospel. So
his prayer for Peter was effectual. In Mark chapter eight, the Lord
told his disciples openly that he'd be rejected, arrested, and
killed. And Peter began to rebuke the
Lord, take issue with the Lord. He said, I'm not going to let
this happen. And you remember what the Lord said to Peter?
He said, get thee behind me, Satan. For thou savest not the
things that be of God, but the things that be of men. Peter
was being influenced by the devil, which never savors the things
of God, and always the things of men. And this is Satan's work.
I'm trying to establish this from the scriptures. And this
is why Christ came, to destroy him. And that's what we have
a picture of tonight, the Lord Jesus destroying the works of
the devil. So let's look again at Judges
chapter 14 together, beginning in verse five. Then when Samson
down and his father and his mother to Timnath, and came to the vineyards
of Timnath, and behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came
mightily upon him, Samson, and he rent him. Samson rent the
lion as he would have rent a kid, a small goat. And he had nothing
in his hand, but he told not his father or mother what he
had done. Now, again, we see that it wasn't
Samson's long hair or being a Nazarite that gave him this great power,
that it was the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him and
Samson tore rent into this lion with nothing in his hand. The
Lord Jesus, who had the Spirit of God without measure, destroyed
the works of the devil with nothing in his hand either. We're not
a match for Satan, as I said earlier, but Satan is no match
for our Lord. Last time we saw that Samson
went down to Timnath. Timnath means, as I told you,
appointed portion. Verse one tells us that Samson
went among the Philistines to get a wife. The Lord Jesus didn't
sing. He came to seek and to save an
ungodly people. They are his appointed portion.
Appointed to be his portion from the foundation of the world.
He's going to present this ungodly Philistine bride to himself,
a glorious church, according to Ephesians 5, verse 27. But first he must conquer, he
must defeat and slay this lion. That's the picture we have before
us. Samson slays this lion with his bare hands. He had nothing
in his hand. He didn't have a staff to keep
the lion away. He didn't have a spear or sword
or a knife to pierce the lion. And as a type of Christ, the
Lord destroyed this adversary that stood between him and his
future bride. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did when he destroyed the works of the devil. our enemy,
our adversary, our accuser. Satan is compared to a roaring
lion who seeks whom he may devour. And he is cruel and he seems
ferocious, but he is as a roaring lion. Did you ever notice that
in the scripture? As a roaring lion. He's a roaring
lion with no teeth. The Lord's pulled his teeth.
And this is not a picture of some cosmic battle between good
and bad. This is not a blow by blow account
of good versus evil. It's not an epic struggle of
good and evil like we see in the movies. The Lord Jesus destroyed
the works of the devil with his own bare hands. Our Lord needed
no weapons. The Lord destroyed the devil
by his work of righteousness accomplished by his own bare
hands. The hand in the scriptures is a picture of works. It was
by his perfect work of righteousness that he destroyed the work of
Satan. Adam and Eve, you remember, with
their own hands, they sewed fig leaves together to cover them.
But God wouldn't accept it because it was a covering by the works
of their hands. God covered them with the skins
that came from the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of
blood, there is no remission of sin. Cain, Cain brought as
an offering to the Lord, the fruit of his own hands. And what
did God do? God rejected his offering because
there was no shedding of blood. God accepted Abel's sacrifice
and offering of the lamb because blood was shed. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission for sin. Here we have a beautiful
picture of our Lord defeating Satan with nothing but his hands,
his work of righteousness finished and accomplished. Samson went
down to Timnath and he saw a woman, a daughter of the Philistines.
I mentioned this last time, Philistine means immigrant, migrants, foreigners,
aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise. That's what we are by nature.
That's what we are. What did Samson tell his parents?
He said, go get her for me to wife. And you see, friends, it
was God the Father who elected and chose a bride for his son. And it was God the Holy Spirit
that was sent to fetch that bride and bring her to faith in Christ.
And if he had to, we'd have never come. Verse three, why? For she pleaseth me well. When
I think about the Lord saying those words concerning you and
I, I just, it's flabbergasting to me. That's what Samson said,
and that's what the Lord Jesus said. The Lord loves his bride,
and he set his affection on her with an everlasting love. And he loved her so much that
he gave himself for, And by His blood, He presented her washed
and cleansed. And the scripture says she has
no spot, no wrinkle, or any such thing. Perfect. Perfect. He presented her to Himself that
way. The evidence of Christ's love
for his people is what he accomplished on Calvary's cross when he ripped
the devil with his own bare hands and took this obstacle of a roaring
lion out of the way, delivering his people from their sin. And
this bride, this woman among the ungodly, this immigrant,
she pleased Samson well, but it wasn't because she was the
most beautiful of women. Yeah, that's not why Samson loved
her. Well, you say, how do you know
that, Brother David? Well, her father in the next chapter, Judges
chapter 15, after giving his daughter away to one of Samson's
friends, told Samson, said, is not her younger sister fairer
than she? You can have her. It wasn't her
outward beauty that Samson loved. I think about that verse in Deuteronomy
chapter seven, verse seven, the Lord did not set his love upon
you nor chose you because you were more in number than any
people for you were the fewest of all people. You know, the
word fewest there refers to both quantity and quality. Yes, Israel
was fewer than the Egyptians whom they had left, and they
were fewer than the Canaanites where they were going. But they
were just as evil and just as idolatrous as both the Egyptians
and the Canaanites. We've seen that over and over
again in these studies. And it's the same with us. There
was a time when every believer was children of wrath, even as
others. Why did the Lord set his love
upon them? One reason only, because of his
own faithfulness to them, because it simply pleased him to do so. That passage of Deuteronomy goes
on to say, but because the Lord loved you and because he would
keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord
brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of
the house of bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
Now, therefore, that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful
God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him
and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. Salvation's
of the Lord. It's taught throughout the Scriptures. It's not that we love God, but
that He loved us. Here in His love. Not, not that
we love God. Oh, how I love Jesus, because
He first loved me. Samson loved this woman freely,
without a cause. That's what freely means, without
a cause. And Christ loves us the same
way, freely, without a cause. Nothing in us that attracts us
to the Lord Jesus. His love for us is unmerited. His love for us is undeserved.
And it's most certainly unearned. You know, I've often wondered
what Homer, what Gomer, excuse me, not Homer of... Gomer looked like after all those
years of whoredom and righteous living, as she stood there on
that slave block. Can you imagine? Once beautiful,
I'm sure now she's ragged and worn. And what a toll Life pays
on the appearance of one that looks to other gods and loves
plaguings of wine. Yet in spite of her, Hosea chose
her and he redeemed her and he bought her with a price, a great
price. And what a picture that is of
Christ choosing the believer. There was nothing in us that
would cause him to love us. In verse four, we're told that
that that at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. You
see that? Now listen to me. Sin will have
dominion over you until this lion is killed. This lion's gotta
be destroyed. Our strong man, the Lord Jesus,
must kill our roaring adversary in order to procure the least
attractive of a bride. In verse five, we see that Samson
went down with his mother and father to Timnath and came to
the vineyards of Timnath. That's where he met the young
lion. And it's the same with our Lord. He met our adversary
at the vineyard, didn't he? The wine press is at the vineyard.
It was at the wine press that Christ trod out the wrath of
God's justice for the sins of his people. This is where the
shedding of his blood became a covering for our sin. Christ came down to the vineyard
and a young lion roared against him. The only thing this lion
can do is roar. It's important to understand
that it wasn't the devil that killed the Lord Jesus on Calvary's
cross. It wasn't. It was God the Father
that was pleased to bruise him. It was God the Father that made
his soul an offering for sin. You see, the devil is nothing
but a pawn, nothing but a pawn. He's a puppet, a hostage of God. One of the synonyms of the word
pawn is catpaw. His catpaws have been declawed. Look back at 1 Peter, not back,
but 1 Peter chapter 5 with me if you would. Verse 8, 1 Peter chapter
5. Verse eight, be sober, be vigilant
because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. He is as a roaring lion, his
teeth and his claws have been removed. He roars, he accuses
and he tries to bring us under the law He's seeking whom he
may devour. We're the only ones, friends,
who can let him. May I devour you? No, you may
not. James said, submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the
devil and he'll flee from you. How do we resist him? Well, look
at verse nine here. Whom resist steadfast in the
faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished
in your brethren. that are in the world. We look
around this world that we're in and we see this hopelessness
and what we see is the accomplishments of a roaring lion. But if we
resist him steadfast in the faith, believing the Christ, our strong
husband has rent him as though he was nothing. We see that in
what verse 10 tells us, but the God of all grace who have called
us into his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you
have suffered a while, make you perfect. Stab us, strengthen,
and settle you. As we'll see later, honey is
found in the lion's carcass. Honey in the Bible pictures the
word of God, the sweet honey of the word of God points us
to Christ. and him alone. What we have here
before us tonight is a spiritual picture of our salvation. This
is not a story of the battle of good and evil. This is not
a story about a battle between Samson and a lion. Christ exchanging
blow for blow with the devil. It's much more than that. This
is a story about God Almighty slaying his son on the cross
when he saw the sin of his people. This is a story about how the
justice of God was meted out on the one and only sacrifice
for sin. This is a story about God's beloved
son who loved his bride so much that in the end, as Samson did,
he died to deliver her from the oppressor of sin, our greatest
enemy. And in the providence of God,
Samson looked down on the Philistines and Timnath, and he saw a woman
that well pleased him. And on the way to make her his
bride, there is a lion that roars and has to be killed and destroyed
before he can take that wife unto himself. And that's exactly
what the Lord Jesus Christ did. There's a lion that roars and
he's gotta be killed. He's gotta be destroyed before
he can take unto himself this wife. And that is exactly what
the Lord did. For this purpose, we read, the
Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of
the devil. What are the works of the devil?
Accuse us of sin. Sin is a transgression of God's
holy law. How did the Lord destroy the
works of the devil on the cross of Calvary? He fulfilled the
requirements of the law perfectly for it. He satisfied God's justice
in his bride's room and place. And the devil uses our sin to
accuse us. He points to the law and he reminds
us of just how short we come of it. But, and the hard part
is that all his accusations are true. We truly are under the
curse of the law if Christ does not keep the law for us. But to the church of God, his
wife, the riddle's been revealed. The honey of God's word, Christ,
who is the word of God, has slain the lion. He's fulfilled all
the requirements of God's law. You know, in Romans chapter seven,
verse 18, the apostle Paul wrote, for I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing, for to will is present
with me, And then he said this, but how to perform that which
is good, I find not. That's our problem. We can't
find any comfort in the law because our flesh is weak and can't keep
the law. So what is to keep Satan from
accusing us? Paul asked himself this question,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Then he answered
his own question and said, I thank God through Jesus Christ. In
other words, I am delivered only through, in, and by the one who
loved me and gave himself for me. And because of that, Paul
went on to say, there's therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. Is that not the best news you
ever heard? The law has no claims on God's people. He fulfilled
the law. He satisfied God's justice. And
you and I are not guilty of the law. And because of that, there's
no condemnation. In Christ, Satan can't accuse
God's people of offending the law. Christ kept the law for
them. By his substitution and sacrifice,
the line of the tribe of Judah has prevailed over he who was
a counterfeit line. He is a roaring lion that's had
his roar box removed. The only man that could ever
enter into heaven and touch God without being destroyed is the
same man that reached down and touched the sinner without being
defiled. This is the same man, the God
man that defeated the works of the devil. You see, you and I
couldn't. We're no match for him. We'll be sifted as weed,
but Christ destroyed the works of the devil. He's prayed for
us that our faith fail us not, and because of that, it never
will. Friends, in Christ, we've been
justified. In Christ, we're as perfect as
he is. But as long as we live here in
this flesh, we're gonna struggle and we're gonna be accused. The
good that we would do, we don't. The evil that we would not do,
that we do. When Rebecca conceived and became
pregnant with twins in Genesis chapter 25, verse 22, listen
to me on this. If you don't get anything else
out of night, this message, get this. We're told that when she
became pregnant with these twins, Jacob and Esau, that the children
struggled within her. And she said, why am I thus?
And when she inquired of the Lord, the Lord said, two nations
are in your womb. Two manner of people shall be
separated from my bowels, and the one people shall be stronger
than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.
You see, within her was Esau, the reprobate, and Jacob, the
elect. One who was nothing but sin,
and the other perfectly righteous before the Lord. Now this is
a representation of our two natures. They constantly struggle with
one another. We were high on the mountaintop
one day, serving the Lord, you know, feel good about it, and
the next day we're down in the valley, overcome with sin, depressed,
discouraged. Why is that? Well, two natures
constantly struggling, one with the other. But the Lord told
Rebekah, the elder shall serve the younger. Esau, who pitchers
our flesh, shall serve the younger Jacob, who pitchers our new man. No saved sinner will endeavor
to excuse their sin. But when they sin, they know
that It's that sin that the Lord uses to remind them of what they
are when they're outside of Christ. And it's that same sin that drives
them back and back again to Christ for all righteousness and acceptance
with God. When Satan begins to accuse us
of breaking the law, we now in Christ have no guilt of sin. Why? Because he kept the law
perfectly for us. And it's in this that our Lord
destroyed the works of the devil forever. The line that stood
between us and the Lord is dead. Look at verse 7. And when he
went down, Samson, and talked with the woman, and she pleased
Samson well. Now this is what I hope and pray
that our Samson, our strong man, our deliverer is doing right
now. He's talking with us. I sure
hope so. If not, we've come tonight in
vain. Can you hear him communing with
you at this very moment? Has his spirit come to you in
power? Can you see and hear the things
that your blind and cold heart can never see before? Do you
know his voice? Will you follow me? That's what
his church, his sheep do. And look at verse eight. And
after a time, he returned to take her and he turned aside
to see the carcass of the lion. Now we're not told how much time
transpired here, but just as we don't know the hour or the
day that our Lord will return, but enough time has passed that
the lion's carcass has decayed. And read on, and behold, there
was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion. And as I mentioned a moment ago,
honey is, in the Bible, is a picture of the sweetness of God's Word.
It's like honey to our taste. The Word of God is, isn't it?
Verse nine, and he took thereof in his own hands and went on
eating. and came to his father and mother,
and he gave them, and they did eat. But he told them not that
he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion." And
I hope we can see the sweetness of the picture here. The very
hand that slew the lion, our judge, our deliverer, takes the
honey from the lion and feeds his people the sweetness of his
grace. What does that mean? Was it not the blindness of Bartimaeus
that caused him to cry out for mercy and sight? Was it not the
issue of blood that caused that woman who'd spent all she had
on doctors to come crawling to Christ to touch the hem of his
garment? Was it not the rotting flesh
of the leper that caused him to cry, Lord, I know you can,
but will you please make me whole again? And was it not the deadness
of Lazarus who could not cry that caused the Lord to cry,
Lazarus, come forth? Are these not pictures of honey
coming out of the carcass of the once roaring lion? God takes
the honey of His Word and He reminds us that the Lord Jesus
has put our sin away and fulfilled all the requirements of the law
that Satan accused us of breaking. Samson fought the battle and
he slew the beast. His parents didn't have any part
in that battle. They didn't know where the honey
came from, but they reaped the benefits of Samson's victory. And that's what every child of
God does. We can't understand the great
mystery of godliness. I don't understand how God could
become a man. I can't fathom that. We can't understand how the God
was manifest in the flesh. But we can certainly reap the
benefits of it. We don't have to understand it.
We just have to believe it. And Lord, I believe. But help
thou mine unbelief. So I pray what I told you Sunday. Lord, help me. Lord, save me. And Lord, have mercy on me. And
I'm hopeful that He will.