Would you join me tonight in
the book of Judges again? The book of Judges. I'm so excited
about this book. It's a pleasure to go through
and see God's handiwork, His overseeing all things, taking
care of all providences. And here in this book, I'd like
to read a verse in a couple of three verses in the 13th chapter
before we go to the 14th chapter to read a couple of verses and
then into the 15th chapter for our lesson tonight. I just need
to be reminded as we go through here, these four chapters, they
begin, these four chapters begin with a very, very solemn position
that Israel is in and it's not good. There's not a good thing
about it. In fact, it says in Judges chapter
13, and there in verse one, 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 40 years. And the period of time
that we are studying is part of that 40 years. And there's
going to be a judge raised up during that period of time by
the name of Samson. Now, during this period of time,
It would take a miracle of God's grace for anybody to know anything
about the gospel. But we look at verse 2 of this
chapter, and it says there was a certain man of Zorah, of the
family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife
was Baran and Baranot. Now, it's no mistake that we
have a certain man. He is certain to God, he is certain
to the gospel, he is certain to our word as we read about
it, and he has a certain wife, and we don't know her name, but
the next verse, well, that verse, it says, you have a wife, she's
never had a child. Now, she's gonna have a child.
The angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto
her, behold now, thou art barren, bearest not, but thou shall conceive
and bear a son. What a promise. And as we follow
this chapter out, she believed that promise. It was not just
something God said and it was like a water on a duck's back.
She believed that promise. And when we come to the conclusion
of that chapter, when her husband said, we're going to die because
we've seen God, he says, she said, no, no, no, we're not going
to do that. We have a baby coming. So how
gracious that is that the Lord shared us. What do we find out? of remnant according to the election
of grace. That's what we find out throughout
the scriptures that as bad as it looks, and the same is true
today, wherever God has his people is a glorious place. You know,
Brother Wayne was told by a man that he visits with quite a bit
over there in the McDonald's. He's been told that this town
would be better off if that church wasn't here. And I just mentioned
there, if that church wasn't there, that'd be a terrible place
to live. That church is a bright and shining lighthouse in a very
dark place, just like it is here. So we're thankful where God has
his churches and has his people. Now, in the 14th chapter of the
book of Judges, would you turn there with me as we continue
this a little bit of introduction again, going over some things
that we've gone over in the past, but it's just good for me, at
least, to go over them again. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. When Noah and his wife, at least
they know something here in this land that nobody else seems to
know. They're given over to the idolatry.
And in chapter 14, it tells us here that Samson, he's going
off to the Philistines to get a wife. And his parents say, we got women right here that
are of the tribe of Judah or Benjamin or whatever. And he
says, no, I want her. And you know what? As we follow
the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, he married a bunch of
Philistines. They were down and outers. They were Samaritans, if you
please. They were lost, bound, hell-bound,
and hell-deserving people. And yet God came in, in the covenant
of grace, and said, I will keep them from ever going astray. They'll go astray for a season,
but I'll recover them. And so we find here that the,
Verse four of that, it says, but his father and his mother
knew not that it was of the Lord that he go marry a Samaritan.
They didn't understand this. They're looking at the situation
from a good parental standpoint, but we're looking at it, God's
looking at it from an eternal standpoint and saying, his father
and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord. This is key. Whatever is going to happen has
been of the Lord. Now we may look back and say,
oh man, how could Samson ever do that? Well, God is going to
work his eternal purpose out as a result of what Samson is
led to do. And one of those things, he is
led to marry a Philistine girl. His father and mother knew not
it was of the Lord that he sought an occasion against, he, God,
sought an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time
the Philistines had dominion over Israel. And then the last
place that I'm just gonna mention, but you can go over there to
the book of Hebrews chapter 11 and we find Samson's name mentioned
along with Moses and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all of
those great people of faith, and the church is the continuation,
in our day and time, the church is the continuation of that list. Everyone that God has saved by
His grace, everyone that He has given the new birth to, is in
that list. They have faith given to them
and God has granted them faith. We're demanded to have it, but
can't get it. We don't have enough. We just
can't get it on our own, but God supplies it. And then we're
given faith. We're in that great line. Oh,
I'm not very faithful. Well, thank God for the faith
that he gives us. because it isn't ours, it is
that he has given. All right, as we go over here
into the next chapter now, in chapter 15 of this book of Judges,
we notice here in chapter 15 of the book of Judges that we
start a new adventure. We're starting a new adventure.
We read a little bit about this, but we want to look at it again
tonight. Over here in the 15th chapter,
it tells us that Samson went to visit his wife. And his father-in-law
prevented him from doing it and would not allow him to go in
and visit with his wife. Samson tells them there in verse
three, Samson said concerning them, now shall I be more blameless
than the Philistines, though I do them displeasure. He says,
I am going to do a lot of things to the Philistines and it is
on them. I am led of God Almighty, it's on
them. Now he does some things here.
You know, some of the commentaries, no doubt, I didn't read it because
I just knew that that's what it was gonna be. This really
didn't happen. What we're gonna read, really
didn't happen. It did happen. And it just shares much more
how God works his business. And it tells us here in verse
four and five, Samson went and caught 300 foxes. Now the first fox I ever saw
was after I moved here. Had a den right up there on a
curve above where Mike used to work, or close up there. I would
have never in my life stopped my car with the idea of going
to catch that fox. Because I've got a hold of dogs,
and their pets, and they're friendly. And they've been captive and
they'll bite you. I know what a fox would do. You
know, as I think about this, it says he went and caught 300
foxes. Now a couple of the translations
say jackals, it doesn't matter. They're both wild beasts and
they're not accustomed to being caught. And if they are, they
are going to have a fit. They're just not used to being
captured. Says he caught 300 foxes and took firebrands and
tied two of their tails together and put that firebrand in between
the tails and in the midst of the two tails. So here he's got
150 pair of foxes. You know what? This happened.
Just as sure as the flood, just as sure as the fall, and just
as sure as the cross. This incident happened because
God's in charge of it. Now there's a verse of scripture
that comes to my mind as we think about what's going on here. So
often we think of it in the mind of God doing stuff with his people,
but I'm convinced that that's exactly what is happening here.
I don't think that these foxes were fighting what Samson was
doing. You know, how many thousands of sheep, and goats and heifers
and bullocks were slaughtered there in the tabernacle and in
the temple. And today I was thinking of that,
I had to write it down. I was over fisting with Gene
and I had to write it down in my notebook so I wouldn't forget
it. Hope you don't have that trouble. But I wrote down, I wrote down, none of those animals ever balked
at being led to the slaughter. Now, I've been around cows after
they smell blood. They go berserk. But here we
have, in God's design, when it was their time, just as we find
the Lamb of God silent at His crucifixion, we find all of those
critters. Now, turn with me, if you would,
over to the book of Psalm 110. You know where I'm going because
this explains so much about people and so much about what we're
going to study tonight here with regard to these 300 foxes. They have submitted themselves. They have had their mouths closed
if necessary. They have submitted themselves.
Psalm 110. Now, how could this happen? How
could what's happening here happen just as it's happened? What is
there about it? Psalm 110 and verse 3, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. So as I looked at
these foxes gathered together, tails tied together, sitting
there waiting for the command to go. They don't need to be
in a cage. They don't need to be handled.
They are made willing in the day of His power. Now, you know,
if we were to do this today, and we took 300 foxes and tied
their tails together, and we had them all in a pin so that
that would happen, and we let their tails on fire, just like
it happened there, and we opened the gate, they'd go in 360 degree
different ways. Every direction they'd be going out. I mean,
north, south, east, and west, and every point in between. They
would have no orderliness in it at all. But here we have absolute,
complete orderliness because God has them to do a mission.
It saved Samson from dragging fire through all of the fields. 300 foxes tied tail to tail with
a firebrand between them. That means that he was able to
light it and it would continue to burn. Now he didn't light
them on fire and I don't think that they were consumed. I think
when the job was done, they were out again. But as they were turned
loose, they had an orderliness about them. They went and as
we look at here, just remember, they were made willing in the
day of his power. Over here again, in the book
of Judges, chapter 15, Judges chapter 15, we find this goings
on, that when they were released, when they left, Judges chapter
15, and there in verse five, it says, and when he had set
the fire, the brands on fire. So he went along in some way,
he took his lighter and went, Whatever he had, stick up with
fire on it, went down through that list. They're just ready
to go, sitting there, waiting for the command to go. They are
made willing in the day of his power. So he goes down there
and it says, he let them go into the standing corner of the Philistines.
I can see them going through there like harvesters over here
in the wheat fields. just stacked so they covered
everything that was necessary and went through those fields
side by side. Goes on to tell us here that
they burn up both the shocks and also the standing corn with
the vineyards and the ollies. They took care of business and
this is the beginning of God taking care of The Philistines,
and he's using Samson to do this. Well, we find that this principle
that we find here in this passage of scripture has been used a
number of times by God in the Bible. You know, it struck me,
where did that serpent in the Garden of Eden come from? Wasn't created by Satan, wasn't
created by the devil. part of God's creation, under
God's control. And what it did is he made it
willing in the day of his power. God used that serpent to fulfill
his purpose and to glorify the gospel. Now, what happened to
it? We know that it ate dust all
the rest of its life. Whether snakes today are the
descendants of it, I can't give you a real definitive answer
on that. But I do know this, that serpent
was used on purpose by God. And that serpent didn't make
Eve sin and did not make Adam sin. That serpent was used of
God. All right, now in the book of
Genesis chapter seven, Genesis chapter seven, we think of another
incident where God had to make them willing in the day of his
power. In Genesis chapter seven, we
have the preparation for the great ark. Oh, what a structure. But I can tell you this right
up front, there's not enough in the Bible to build an ark.
We don't have the plans. Good enough. We can make an imagination
in our mind. And that's as far as we can go.
How the rooms were set out? I don't know. How many rooms
there were? I don't know. What did it look like? Was it
flat-bottomed? I don't know. Was it curb-bottomed?
I don't know. We don't have the instructions
on it. God gave the instructions to Noah and that was enough.
Now there's one reason that we have never found it. People would
worship it like they worship the brazen serpent. Oh, I've
been to the ark. It's almost like that in Kentucky. I've been to the ark. Whoa-ho. I've been told it would increase
my faith. If that ark is needed to increase
my faith, then I don't have any faith. My faith is from the Lord,
and I don't need to see that thing. I don't need to see pictures
of it. I don't need to see the tomb. I don't need to see Golgotha. I don't need to see any of that
stuff. I don't need to hold a cross in my hand. God has given his
people the faith of God's elect. All right, here in the seventh
chapter of the book of Genesis, we have what in the world is,
can you imagine Noah out there like John Wayne on the back of
a horse bringing in all the animals to the ark? How long would that
take? Now I don't think that the earth
was in the same kind as it is today. I think it's been divided. I think in the days of Peleg
was the earth divided and that's why we have peoples, different
peoples in different places and different animals in different
places. But at one time it was one connected. I don't think
it had high mountains like we have today. I think Mount Everest
is after the fact of the flood. But there was enough place for
a whole bunch of animals to live and God determined that there
would be two by two of the unclean beasts and seven of seven of
the clean beasts. All right, notice here in the
book of Genesis chapter 7, what a delightful verse of scripture
this is as we read about the ark getting full, God taking
care of it. I mentioned in the past how many
bedrooms were in that ark? Four. How many were determined
to be in that ark? Four. There's no empty chairs
in heaven. There's not one chair too few
in heaven, every chair. And I'm using that in a metaphorical
sense, whether we sit down on a chair or sit on a gold, I don't
know, but we're going to be in the presence of the Lord and
every space we have is determined by the Lord. So here in the book
of Genesis chapter seven, Genesis chapter seven, there in verse
nine, it says, there went in two and two unto Noah into the
ark. Now, where'd they come from?
They were made willing in the day of his power. In the purpose
of God, he made every one of these critters willing to come
into the ark. Now, there's going to be a whole
bunch of them. They didn't get the message. Whole bunch of them
says, where are they going? No, I'm being facetious. But
there was a lot of animals that were not in the ark, and they
had no interest in getting into the ark. They had been just like
animals today, trying to load them into a pickup. We're gonna
have a little trouble here. But these that God called out
of all the world were brought in without a bit of trouble,
and they came into the ark. Now, whether they hibernated
or slept or had room to move around, I'm not gonna discuss
it, because I don't know. But I know this, that all the
animals in there, they lived through those perilous days of
being in that ark. And they were removed from that
ark after it was over with. And those that were clean, many
of them were offered in sacrifice. But the giraffes and rhinoceroses
and horned toads, no, they were set free. You know, as we follow
this out, I was thinking about Balaam and his donkey. How long
did he have to train that donkey before he could get it to talk?
That donkey was made willing in the day of God's power. And that donkey was used of God
to speak to Balaam. And that message is still in
the word of God. That's found in the book of Numbers.
But would you turn with me over to the book of 1 Kings chapter
17? I don't think I've ever lived
in a place where there's so many crows and ravens. You know, sometimes
I've just had a lot of fun. If you go on your telephone and
type in crow calls and hit the speaker, you can hold it up and
crows go berserk. Because there are several different
calls that they make and just the right one, I've had them
fly all around me. Last week was out here with Caleb.
There was a crow over here on a wire and I just did it. And
before you know it, that crow was right over our pickup on
the wire. How cool is that? Well, I know what those guys
eat. They're carrion eaters. They'll eat anything. Well, here
in the book of 1 Kings, would you join me there? 1 Kings chapter
17, we read about this. And again, we find out that everything
is moved by almighty God. He makes them willing in the
day of his power. Now we're gonna get down to the
end of this and we say, would we be just a bit foolish in saying
that he can't take care of humanity, a human being? and make them
willing in the day of his power? I would have to be just a little
bit foolish in saying something like that. Well, I follow this
through the scriptures. First Kings chapter 17, verses
five and six. Would you look those with me?
Elijah has been told to go camp on a brook, take a vacation,
go camp on a brook. And you know what? His food ran
out. And the Lord said, I want to
feed Elijah with those dirty, dirty, dirty birds that will
eat roadkill. And if you gave them some bread,
they're not going to carry it to someone else. They're going
to eat that. Well, God went against their very nature. It tells us
here in 1 Kings 17, verse 5. So he went and did according
to the word of the Lord. And he went and dwelt in the
brook chariot that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought
him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening.
And he drank the brook. Why did they do that? It is so total against their
nature, their very nature that they would do that. them willing
in the day of his power." That's what we find God did with those
foxes. That's what we find God did with
those animals when he loaded them into the ark. And here we
have a prophet of the Lord, a believer of the gospel, a preacher of
righteousness, told to go camp on this brook, and there was
fed by these ravens. As we go on, what in the world
did God do with Jonah? You know, it says God prepared
a great fish. He didn't have to use a whale.
In fact, the word is a fish. Now, Jesus, it tells us in the
book of Luke, the word is whale there, but it should have been
translated fish, a great fish. But this great fish came from
where? And what was his goal? That fish
being as stupid as fish are, and will bite anything, came
up and swallowed Jonah at the command of God. Jonah cast himself into the sea. God prepared a great fish, swallowed
him. And he was in the great fish's
belly for three days and three nights. I don't think he ever
looked the same. I think he carried about in his
body the marks of that experience. I may be wrong, but how did that
fish know what to do? Psalm 110 verse three, God moved
in him to do his purpose and he went and swallowed. Now Jonah,
after spending that time in that In that great fish, when he said
salvation is of the Lord, you know what that fish did? The
King James just vomited. And you know, we know what that
is. He vomited up Jonah on dry land. He didn't have to swim. And maybe he couldn't. God was
gracious to him and told him, go preach in Nineveh, go preach
in Nineveh. He was made willing, that great
fish was made willing in the day of his power. In the book
of Daniel, Daniel chapter six, in Daniel chapter six, here again,
we have some critters that were made willing in the, day of God's
power. And in the book of Daniel, Daniel
has been condemned to the method of capital punishment in that
day. They kept those lions around for a reason. They're going to
use them. This is their means of capital
punishment, or one of the methods at least. And Daniel had broken
the law and had been judged by the king to be cast into the
den of lions, the capital punishment phase. Here in the book of Daniel
chapter 6, Daniel chapter six, we read this in verse 22. Now the king is really concerned
because he'd been kind of trapped in descending Daniel into the
lion's den. And he's kind of concerned all
night. He can't sleep. He has insomnia. He's wondering what's going on.
He's heard about this place. He's seen this place before.
And it tells us here in verse 22, verse 21. And then said Daniel
unto the king, oh, king live forever. My God has sent his
angel. My God has sent his angel and
shut the lion's mouths. that they have not hurt me for
as much as before him innocence he was found in me and also before
the old king have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad
for him and commanded that They should take Daniel out of the
den. So Daniel was taken up out of
the den and no manner of hurt was upon him because he believed
in God. God moved in those vicious lions
to do of his goodwill. And he shut the lion's mouth.
Now the next batch of people that got cast into the lion's
den, God didn't do that for them. And they were consumed instantly. The lions did what come naturally. They were made willing in the
day of his power and they kept Daniel. Well, they really kept
him safe all night. He didn't have any worries down
there. Well, the word of God goes on. I, Luke chapter five,
let's just go over here. Luke chapter five is, we think
of how God does his business. He sent those foxes down rows,
burn up rows of corn, rows of wheat, vines and trees. They consumed the food supply
of the Philistines in one day. And I think that they probably
ended up in those firebrands' boat, and they went off and visited
their family. No harm came to them. Well, here
in the book of Luke, chapter 5, we read this. Luke, chapter
5, verse 4. It says here, And when he had
left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and
let down your nets for a draught. Now notice Simon's, Peter's words. Simon answering and said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all night. Now there's one thing
about fishing all night for fun, and there's another thing about
fishing all night for your job. And they were fishing all night
for their job, and they didn't catch anything all night long. And they are just a little bit
out of sorts about this and have taken nothing. Nevertheless,
at thy word, I will let down the net, because you have mentioned
it." Now, they fished all night. Why didn't they catch anything?
Because the fish were not made willing in the day of his power.
There was no need to do it at that time. Now, why are there
going to be a whole host caught on the other side of this boat?
They were made willing. Can you imagine coming from all
over that lake to cram themselves into those nets? Because God
moved in them to do according to his eternal purpose. Simon
said that. And verse six, and when they
had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and
their net break. Can you see that in your mind's
eye? Those fish crammed themselves
in such a small spot that those nets, which are not near as big
as the ones they use in the oceans today, these are hand nets, captured
a great batch of fish to the point that their nets were breaking. And they beckoned their partners,
which were in the other ship. And they said, come and help
us. And they came and filled both the ships so that they began
to sink. Now, why? He made them willing
in the day of his power. Well, there's an account, another
fish. I'd love to run in a fish like this, carry a gold coin
in their mouth and I could pay my taxes. What moved that fish? to eat a coin to begin with.
It is not their normal diet. There is no food value. And then
to carry it around in his mouth for that period of time and to
send it down to where Peter was going to be. Now, Peter didn't
know where the fish was, but the fish knew where Peter was
because it was made willing in the day of his power. Here we
have that fish moved over to exactly where Peter was gonna
cast in his line. He caught that fish. And this
is recorded in the book of Matthew chapter 17. Let's go over there,
back up to the book of Matthew chapter 17 for just a moment.
And we pick up here what is going on. There's the need and you
know, it wasn't income tax. It was tribute. And it says here
in Matthew chapter 17, And when they were come to Capernaum,
they that received tribute money came to Peter and said, Doth
not your master pay tribute? And he said, Yes. And when he came into the house,
Jesus prevented him saying, what thinkest thou, Simon, of whom
do the kings of the earth take customer tribute, of their own
children or of strangers? And Peter said unto him, of strangers.
Jesus saith unto him, then are the children free? Notwithstanding,
lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, cast in a hook,
and take up the fish that first cometh up." Matthew chapter 17,
verse 27. And it says, cast and hook, and
take up the fish that first cometh up. And when thou opened his
mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money that take and give unto
for me and thee. You know, most people say, well,
that's a nice story. This is the truth. It is as truthful
as the cross. If we cannot believe this, we
don't have faith to believe the truth of the cross. As we go
through the scriptures, we find this is It was very close to
his time to go to the cross. And he told his disciples, go
into the town and get, I need to ride in. You know, the book
of Zacharias is the king is gonna ride into Jerusalem. Well, he
needed a donkey to ride on. So he says, go over there. I'll
tell you where to go. There's gonna be a man that owns
it. When you take that colt, he's gonna say, what are you
gonna do? He says, the master have need of it. Oh, take him,
take him. took that colt over Jesus, lifted
him on it, and this is a miracle happened. That colt didn't resist
the master. Now I've been put on horses that
were not completely broke, and I found out I was glad to be
in plowed ground, because I'm off the horse very quickly. That
cult, unwritten cult, had never been written and Jesus has sat
down on it. I like what we read in the book
of Job, man be born like a wild ass's cult. What does he do?
He makes us willing in the day of his power. And that's exactly
what he did with this cult. He made it willing in the day
of his power. He brought the cult. Why did
the cult not buck? He made him willing in the day
of his power. One of my favorite verses for today. It'll change in about five minutes. Turn with me to the book of Ezra,
if you would. The book of Ezra 1.1. The book
of Ezra 1.1. In the book of Ezra 1.1, we have
a delightful verse of scripture about a man being made willing
in the day of God's power. Now, I don't believe he was a
believer. He wasn't a believer here. He's
not probably going to be a believer all his life. God didn't move
him in that direction. But this man is a very special
person. His name is Cyrus. He's been
mentioned 400 years by name before he is born. Cyrus has taken over
Babylon. And they didn't do that by sending
letters. There was a war went on. You
know, we talk about wars, rumors of wars. That's the way it is. And you know, if people believe
that wars and rumors of wars and hurricanes and earthquakes
and all that stuff is going to, and they say it means that Jesus
is coming back, then let's have more of it. Let's have more. Let's start some more. Let's
get Jesus back. Well, my goodness, he's just
telling us that as time goes on, it's going to be just like
it's always been. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it
be in the days of the coming of the Lord. They were marrying
and giving in marriage. They were just living their lives
just like we do. But when the last elect is saved,
this will be wrapped up and there will be no more wars or rumors
of wars. There will be no more earthquakes.
There will be no more hurricanes. There will be no more trouble
for God's people. So whatever it takes for the
Lord to come back, let's do it. But if we have no power over
it, let's quit worrying about it. Let's take the gospel. Trust Christ, don't move a muscle,
and he's the issue. He's the issue. All right, over
here in the book of Ezra, chapter one, verse one. Now in the first
year of Cyrus, king of Persia, Cyrus is mentioned earlier by
the prophets. By name, he's going to be God's
shepherd, it says. that the word of the Lord by
the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. How valuable is that
to take place? God's word must be fulfilled.
The prophecies must be fulfilled. And what he had Jeremiah write
that the children of Israel would be in Babylonian captivity for
70 years. The time is now ripe. And they
must go. Now, not everyone left, but the
elect left a picture that tied up the shadow of the elect. It
says here that they might be fulfilled, Jeremiah's words,
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia. You know, I can just see that
same Lord stirring up the spirit of the great fish, the lions,
all those animals coming down to the ark, It was the Lord that
moved in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He makes us willing and them
willing in the day of His power. And He made Cyrus, king of Persia,
willing in the day of His power to let Israel go. A bunch of
the best folks in the land, the skilled people, He let go and
He paid for their transportation. So he, not only did he appear,
but he stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that
he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also
in writing saying, and then you can go ahead and read the rest
of that. The Lord stirred up. You know,
as we think through the scriptures, we find, turn with me. Let's just go there. Second Timothy
chapter one. Second Timothy chapter one. In
2 Timothy 1, verse 9. He had a purpose in gathering all
those critters to the ark. He had a purpose in those 300
foxes. He had a purpose in those lions. He had a purpose in that
great fish. He had a purpose in that great
host of fish. He had a purpose in that fish with that coin in
his mouth. He had a purpose in that colt. Well, look here, 2 Timothy 1, verse 9, who have
saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace. You know,
I just find it kind of foolish for someone to say, now I understand
why they say it, because they just don't know. But it's foolish
to say that God cannot make people do what they normally wouldn't
do. He's already done that with Cyrus.
And he's going to make every one of his lost sheep do what
they normally wouldn't do, and that is bow. We have this holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose of grace,
which was given us in Christ Jesus, when? Before the world
began. God knew, purposed, that he was
gonna have all those animals come out of the woods and get
on the ark. God knew before the foundation of the world, there
were gonna be 300 foxes needed, and he had them supplied right
there. Not 299, not 301. There was the
exact 300 that were there. Whenever it was, he had the exact
number. In another place, they caught
157 great fishes. Odd number. Here's a number. The fish was where he needed
to be and it was caught. And I can just see, I took Caleb
fishing and he would not even touch that fish. I can just see
Peter trying to shake that fish mouth out without even touching
it. Got that coin, paid the tribute. What a blessing we find. He hath
made his people willing in the day of their power, of his power,
the day of his power. We're a remnant according to
the election of grace, just like it was in the days of the Noah
and his wife. Everything else is going to heck
in a handbasket. And out of all that, there are
two that the Holy Spirit comes to, that God Almighty comes to,
that the angel of the Lord comes to. And it is, they know, by
the angel of the Lord appearing, that they have been set aside
by Almighty God and that's for their only reason. For it is
God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure. Our last one. A shepherd has
a hundred sheep. One of them gets lost. Now why did it leave? On purpose. Why didn't it come home? Didn't
know how. Who went after it? The shepherd. And when he found it, he put
it on his shoulders and brought it home. And then there was a
big celebration over one lost sheep rather than 99 self-righteous
ones. Oh, the grace of God through
the blood of Jesus Christ saving his people that are so dead. If God can do this with 300 foxes,
they're completely against their nature. make them do what He
wants them to do and have His servant, Samson, go through the
process as they back up to Him and say, tie me next, tie me
next, tie me next. I'm ready, I'm ready. I can just
see that. There's just no fussing going on. They're not nipping
at each other. They're not nipping at Samson. They're just ready
to do what they have been called to do and they don't even know
what that is. And God can't do that with His people. He can
and he does. Well, we'll stop there tonight
and we'll pick this up next time as Samson now is going to be
dealing with the Philistines.