Would you join me tonight in
the book of Judges, The Gospel According to Judges. This great
book has many things in it that I didn't know was here until
just recently, going through it this time. And in this 14th
chapter, I want to read verse 20 and then read a few verses
out of the 15th chapter and then look at some thoughts here about
this situation. Day before yesterday, I read
a commentary, and this is what this man said about Samson. This
chapter describes in a practical sense the end of Samson's service
to God. Now that's the general recognized
view. And you know, I'm sad to say
that it was kind of my view for a long time. I looked at him
as such a rascal. And yet I am reminded, just as
I'm reminded about Lot, Lot lived in a terrible, terrible place. And yet the reference to him
in the New Testament is he was justified Lot. And God protected
him and watched over him and cared for him and got him out
of that mess. And I am absolutely convinced that that is the same
thing that God is doing here with Samson. He has not turned
him loose. He never turns his children loose. He never says, you're on your
own. You've just done so much, you're
on your own. He is always with his children.
In fact, there's such an attachment. He said, I am the vine, you are
the branches. So there's that intimate relationship
that God has with every one of his children. And he will never,
ever say, I'm done with you. Now, as we look, I just want
to read a couple more thoughts here. The last verse makes this
clear. In the next chapter, Samson is
no longer recognized by God as his servant. You know, I can
understand a man writing that if he doesn't have any understanding
about God's salvation in Christ Jesus, taken care of before the
foundation of the world. So I read that and I read it
down there and most of it was just for me because I'll throw
this up in my pile when I'm finished with this book and may never
look at it again. But for the moment, I looked
at that. We find out here as it says, but Samson's wife was
given to his companion, his best man, whom he had used as his
friend, his best man at his wedding. Now, when you turn to the next
chapter here, chapter 15, and it says here, but it came to
pass within a while after in the time of the wheat harvest
that Samson visited his wife with a kid, an animal, a goat. And he said, I will go into my
wife, into the chamber, but her father would not suffer him to
go in. Now, I find with Samson that
he had a lot of self-control and resolve because from what
we know about Samson and what we're going to read about him,
he could have taken that guy and threw him to the moon. But
he gave that respect to him. And then it says, and her father
said, I verily thought that thou hast utterly hated her. Therefore,
I gave her to thy companion. Is not her younger sister fairer
than she? Take her, I pray thee, instead
of her." So he's basing this whole relationship on whether
it looks good or not. And so he just, he does a terrible
thing to Samson. And it's, I'm not saying that
Samson hadn't done some things there, but his father-in-law
does a terrible thing. And then in verse three, and
Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless
than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. So you
can't blame me for what's going to happen. And that is the fulfillment. He is bringing a reckoning with
the very passage of scripture that we've looked at a couple
of times. And that is found in Judges 14. If you go back to
the book of Judges 14, and there in verse I had it right here. Verse four,
thank you. But his father and his mother
knew not that it was of the Lord. Now the situation here, if we
just carry that thought out through the entire history of Samson,
and if we use that same thought and carry that out in our study
of the word of God, we will not be in the wrong. that he sought
an occasion against the Philistines. Now God is doing this. He's moving
in Samson. Samson is his servant. Samson
is his chosen judge. Samson may have done some things
that you and I do not find very pleasant, but I'm telling you,
if we sit down and compared our notes, we'd find out we're just
about in the same boat as Samson is. None of us have any better
relationship with God on our own than he did, but we're thankful
for his everlasting purpose to save his people from their sin.
For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel. So
he's going to be the judge of Israel and God is going to use
him in a different way than we find most of the times he used
the judge. He is going to allow him to marry
a Philistine girl. He's going to allow that Philistine
girl to be taken and given to another man. His father's going
to say, you have this daughter and just forget the rest. And then we find out that in
the rest of this chapter, Samson doesn't forget about what just
happened to him. As we read this, Samson faced
a great wrong. He was married to a girl and
her dad would not permit him to see her. He faced a great
wrong, but in so doing, Samson is going to be God's servant
in taking care of the Philistines. Now sometimes it's hard for us
to just wrap our mind around some of the things that we read
about in scripture and how they could turn out for good. But
we find out God has this worked out to the very nth degree. There's not one tooth in the
machinery of God that is off one tooth. It is absolutely in
synchronization with all of His eternal purpose. So as we think
about this, we find that the wrong that Samson was done by
his father-in-law, we find that that often happens in Scripture,
that there is a wrong that happens. And that in God's eternal purpose,
it is according to His will. Now, God is not the author of
sin. Don't ever say that. I've had
a young preacher tell me that a half a dozen times. If I believe
what I believe, then God's the author of sin. Well, he's not.
We're the author of sin. And yet we find out that God
is the only one that can take a great wrong and turn it into
something for his glory. And he does take great wrongs. Now I see him in the background
of this all directing it. This is exactly what he purposed
to take place. And he purposed to take place
the destruction of the Philistines. And he had this wife taken from
him. And now we're going to see him
acting for God, acting in God's business. Now, you know, as we
go through the scriptures, we can count great wrongs in God's
eternal purpose and according to his purpose. And one of them
that comes to my mind is a young man by the name of Abel. a great
wrong. His brother would rise up against
him because his brother was so put out with his acceptance by
God and that he wasn't accepted by God. Now, Abel understood
that he was a sinner. God had revealed that unto him.
Abel understood that there's only salvation in a substitute.
God had revealed that unto him. He understood that God was the
creator of heaven and earth, but far beyond that, he understood
that he is the savior of his people. that there's necessary,
it's necessary that there be a substitute for sinners and
that he looked at that when he offered that lamb. He is the
first one to declare this great substitutionary process as we
have it in the scriptures. Now whether Adam did it or before
this, I don't know, but I do know that Abel did it. And you
know, his brother raised up against him, and I'm convinced that his
brother believed that God created the heavens and the earth, but
that didn't do a thing for his heart. He had no idea about salvation
because it had not been revealed to him. Now, there's three verses
in the New Testament I want to read about Abel, because they
speak so highly of this great wrong being a good thing. Now, don't try to figure it out. It's like most of the Bible.
Don't try to figure it out. Believe it. That's all we can
do. All right. Would you turn with me to the
book of Matthew chapter 23? Matthew chapter 23. As we find
in the New Testament, this person is brought up three different
times. At least three. That's what I want to read about
here tonight. In the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew
chapter 23, We read these words, chapter 23, verse 35. That upon you may come, let me
back up there just a, wherefore, verse 34, behold, I send unto
you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them ye
shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your
synagogues and persecute them from city to city. that upon
you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from
the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of
Barchaios, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar, the
blood of righteous Abel He was righteous before God. He offered
a righteous sacrifice. He believed in a righteous Savior.
Now, travel with me just a little further into the book of Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11, we read in that great hall of
faith, in Hebrews chapter 11, we read here about Abel. In Hebrews
chapter 11, verse four, read this with me if you would. It
says here, by faith, That's a wonderful thing that God provides. I appreciated
the lesson on Sunday that salvation is God's gift to us. And it is
a gift, and it is a great gift, and it is a gift of God. And
Abel would have to say, just as we have to say, that that
faith was granted to him, and that's the only reason he offered
an acceptable sacrifice. Now, him being righteous, he
was not made righteous by that sacrifice. He's made righteous
by the blood of Christ. It only pictured what made him
righteous, but that blood of the animal did not. Goes on to
tell us here, by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous.
God testifying of his gifts. and by it he being dead yet speaketh."
Now the great wrong that was done by his brother Cain in that
garden and he slew his brother, killed his brother, destroyed
his brother because he was so angry at him over his acceptance,
God's acceptance of him and God's rejection of Cain. that he slew him. But you know
what? We still read about that blood. Centuries later, we're still
involved in that. A great A great tragedy, we can
say, took place. And yet, we have a message that's
given to us as a result of that. He's a righteous person. He had
faith, the faith of God's elect. And he, as it says here, being
dead, he yet speaketh. He's still telling us the same
message he told his brother by the sacrifice that he gave. I
did not come to God in myself, I came to God in a substitute. Now, one other verse found here
in the book of Hebrews chapter 12. If you'd turn there with
me, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 24. We find so often a great
wrong in the shadows of that great wrong. And then as the
more we look into that, we find out they are so out in the open
too. These great wrongs that took
place in the Bible, just as the killing, the murder of Abel. that he had a legacy given to
him that it wasn't children, but the message of grace that
he still preaches. Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
12 verse 24, we read this, Hebrews chapter 12 verse 24, and to Jesus,
the mediator of a new covenant. and to a blood sprinkling that
speaketh better things than that of Abel. Now, what is written
about him is good, but what is written about the shed blood
of Christ is so much better. One is the type The other is
the reality. So we have speaketh better things. Abel, his shed blood speaketh
to us yet today. He was a righteous man. He was
a saved man. He loved God. He loved his Lord. He recognized the fact that he
was an out and out sinner. He was as bad as his dad was,
you know, that's what he recognized, that there was no betterness
about him. So here we have, that speaketh
better things than Abel, the blood of Jesus Christ speaks
liberty, forgiveness, pardon, and all the things we are so
in desperate need of. You know, as we follow through
the scriptures, we find a number of wrongs, and I just picked
out a few of them. One of them, I read about Judah and his relationship
with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, and she had twins. Turn with me to the book of Luke
chapter 33, if you would. Luke chapter 33, that whole thing,
and there's about two chapters that go with it over here in
the book of Genesis, Genesis 38. But turn with me, if you
would, to Luke 33. In the book of Luke chapter 33,
as we look at that great wrong, Judah did what he did, and then
he got word that this woman was with child, his daughter was
with child, and he says, bring her here so we can burn her. He was very serious. And then, when it came out, he
was the father. He knew exactly what had happened.
Alright, here in the book of Luke chapter 3, verse 33. And this just happens to be one
of the lineages of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. It says, which
was the son of Abimadab, which was the son of Arimmon, which
was the son of Eshrom, which was the son of Phares, which
was the son of Judah. Right here in the middle of this
lineage is a man His name was Pharos, and he is in the lineage
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, through a relationship,
Judah and his daughter-in-law. And we can say that was a terrible
thing to do, but the outcome driven by God is such a glorious
thing. Our Savior is brought into the
world through a sinner's line. Is there anybody in the lineage
of the Lord Jesus Christ that could say, I'm okay by myself? Every one of them, we will find
out, admitted by the grace of God that they were the chiefest
of sinners. All right, let's follow this
out. I was just thinking about David
and Bathsheba, and the outcome of that was Solomon. No wiser man, human being, ever
walked the face of the earth. Our queen came from the south. And when she had conversation
with Solomon, said, I've heard of you, but not half has been
told. My goodness, God gave, granted
him wisdom beyond the measure of anybody. God granted peace
throughout the entire realm during his reign. It was not going to
be very long, then all that's going to be disrupted by Brehoboam
and Jeroboam. One of them is given 10 tribes
and one of them is given two tribes. If we read that, we find out
that's exactly what God determined to do. Don't fight Jeroboam. He's chosen by me to do what
he's doing. All right. In the book of Second
Kings, chapter 5, another wrong. Samson, a great wrong was committed,
and the outcome of that great wrong is the liberty of Israel. All those Philistines are going
to be removed from their position. They're no longer going to rule
over Israel. He is a judge that overthrew
the Philistines. Here in the book of 2 Kings chapter
5 is one of my, I just love going over here and reading. Now we
know this incident is about Naaman. And I like connecting that with
what the Lord Jesus said there to those people at Nazareth,
when he's in the synagogue and he started teaching this passage
of scriptures, been fulfilled in your hearing. And then he
just broke off and says, you know, there were many widows
in Israel and there were many lepers in Israel. And God did
not help one of the widows or one of the lepers in Israel.
And the outcome of that was they picked up stones and were ready
to kill him. Now, over here in the book of
2 Kings 5, we read this about that whole incident. 2 Kings
5, verse 1, it says, Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king
of Syria, was a great man, with his master, and honorable, because
by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. I don't think for a moment at
this time Naaman understands the first thing about God, but
God used him. Mighty man of valor, but he was
a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies and had
brought away captive out of the land of Israel, a little maid. And she waited on Naaman's wife. I could say that what a great
wrong this young lady probably in her teens is captured by the
army of Naaman and taken away from her homeland and taken away
from her family. But she's taken away on purpose
because she has some information that's going to be shared about
a prophet of God. What great wrong turned into
such a right thing as it is brought out here. And there in verse
three, and she said unto her mistress, would God my Lord were
with the prophet that is in Samaria for he would recover him of his
leprosy. What a message she delivered. Even after going through all
of that displacement, going through being taken away from her parents,
being taken away from her family, being taken away from her home,
being taken away, captive, and this is the regency's been taken
away, I know a prophet. in Israel. Now, we follow this
through. We find that Daniel and his three
friends... Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of 2 Kings, chapter 24. 2 Kings, chapter 24. Now, we could go over to the
book of Daniel, but we're not. We're going to go over here to
2 Kings, chapter 24, and verses 15 and 16. This is the... time that Israel is going to
be taken into Babylonian captivity. And there's some really nice
people, educated people, powerful people. It says here, and he carried
away Jehoiakim to Babylon, that's the king of Israel, or of Judah. And king's mother and king's
wives and his officers and the mighty of the land, those carried
he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon and all the men of
might, even 7,000 and craftsmen and smiths, 1,000 and all that
were strong and apt to war Even them, the king of Babylon brought
captive to Babylon. Now, how did Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego and Daniel get into Babylon? Right here. This is
what happened to them. They are selected out by the
eternal purpose of God and carried over to Babylon. And we read
their exploits over there. It wasn't until just recently
that someone mentioned to me that Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, or somebody that knew something about God, preached
the gospel to somebody, and then somebody else, and somebody else.
And this is the place that the Magi came from, that came and
gave gifts to the Lord Jesus at his home. The Magi from the
east saw the star in the heaven. They came as a result of some
preaching that they'd heard over here and probably was a result
of Daniel or his three friends or someone that they had preached
to while they're over there. So God works out his wonders
to display how wonderful it is. In the book of Esther, we read
there in the book of Esther chapter two, How terrible wrong again. Esther chapter two. In Esther
chapter two, there in verse five through eight. Esther chapter
two, beginning with verse five. And now in Shushan the palace. And we've been there. Vashti
has rebelled against her husband. A new queen is going to be selected.
And here by the grace of God, we have a Jewish woman. in the right place at the right
time. Esther chapter 2 verse 5, Now in Shushan the palace
there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of
Jair, the son of Jehameh, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. who
had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity, which had
been carried away with Jehoiakim, king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah,
that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither
father nor mother. And the maid was fair and beautiful,
whom Mordecai, when her father and mother was dead, took her
as his own daughter." a situation. Mordecai takes this
young girl with him in captivity. And before we know it, she is
promoted to the kingship of the biggest empire in the world at
the time and saves the Jews. Terrible thing, she's taken off
into captivity. Wonderful thing, she's in the
right place at the right time. And she is used of God to deliver
Israel. All in God's eternal purpose.
You know, as we get to the book of Acts, it's just been amazing
here as we go through the book of Acts, the wrong that we're
gonna see happen to Stephen. a preacher of the gospel. And
the Lord Jesus has already mentioned in his ministry, they're going
to take you and they're going to kill you. My disciples are
going to be taken and many of them are going to be killed,
crucified, all sorts of things. And we read there about Stephen
and those verses of scripture as he goes to the Old Testament
and presents the Old Testament to this council. And then he brings out Your fathers
didn't believe those prophets, and neither do you. God came through all of these
men, these prophets, and preached them to your fathers, and not
one of them ever believed on their own. Took the grace of
God. Now, go with me, if you would,
into Acts 7, 58. We're gonna get there eventually.
in our study, but in Acts chapter 7 and verse 58. And they cast him out of the
city, and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet whose name was Saul. All right,
we got that in our picture, in our mind. This is where the close. He is going to admit later that
he's the one that consented to his death. But follow me as we
go to the Acts chapter 11, if you would. Acts chapter 11. Some
more of the outcome of Stephen's death. What a tragedy. that Stephen would be taken out
of the way so quickly and in such a terrible way to be stoned
to death. And then he cried just before
his death was, do not lay this charge to them. But here in the
book of Acts chapter 11, verse 19, it says, now they which were
scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, So
after Stephen is killed, there's a great persecution there in
Jerusalem. And it says, and they travel
as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word
to none but the Jews only. And some of them were men of
Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they would come to Antioch, spake
unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. So as a result
of his being killed, a persecution takes place, and that persecution
drives people out to this island of Cyprus and to other towns. And what do they have? They're
not bemoaning the fact. They're saying, let me tell you
about someone who can save anybody, the Lord Jesus. So he brings
that up. And then in the book of Acts
chapter 22, Stephen again is brought up, Acts chapter 22,
verse 19. In Acts chapter 20 verse 19,
this is Saul of Tarsus, the Apostle Paul recounting. Now I can't
help but think when he recounted this, that there was some tears
shed as he remembered what he did with Stephen, that he consented
to his death. He was an innocent man. And the
only reason that they stoned him is he just brought up their
very nature about them. They were practicing perfectness. They were legalists, they had
obeyed the law and he just brought up they weren't. And they got
so irritated at him, they took him out of town, gnashed on him
with their teeth and stoned him to death. Here it says in the
book of Acts chapter 22 verse 19, and I said, Lord, they know
that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed
on thee. And when the blood of thy martyr
Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto
his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he
said unto me, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the
Gentiles. with what a great crime against
man, against Stephen, against God, and yet God calls him into
the ministry to share the same gospel that he killed Stephen
over. I imprisoned and beat in every
synagogue, and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed,
I also was standing by and consenting to this very thing. But as we
found over there in the book of Judges, a man is denied the
privilege of going in and even visiting with his wife. And then
the father says, well, why don't you just take her? Take my daughter.
And Samuel says, what's going to happen here? It's not going
to be laid at my charge. And we're going to find out he
did some very interesting things with foxes. You know, the greatest
wrong that has ever happened on this earth was not World War
I or II or the Civil War. It isn't even the terribleness
of Herod's command or Pharaoh's command to destroy a bunch of
babies. That wasn't the worst thing that
ever happened. It wasn't a revolt against authority. It was none
of these things. The greatest wrong that ever
took place on this earth is recorded in Matthew 27. Turn with me,
if you would, to Matthew chapter 27. Matthew chapter 27, beginning
with verse 24. I believe it's three times Pilate
says, I find no fault in him. And he gives in to the wishes
of a mob because they simply bring up, if you don't do this,
you're not Caesar's friend. And my goodness, that was his
job, his life, his livelihood, and probably the lives of his
children and wife, if that got back to Caesar in those circumstances. So as Pilate saw that he could
prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water
and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent
of the blood of this just man. See to it. Then answered all
the people and said, his blood be upon us and on our children. Do you remember there in the
book of Acts chapter five, I think, where they said, do you intend
to bring his blood upon us? That was their comment to James
and to John. Then released he Barabbas unto
them, and when they had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be
crucified. And then the soldiers of the
governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto
him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him, and put
on a scarlet robe, and when they had plaited a crown of thorns,
they put it upon his head, and a reed in his hand, and they
bowed the knee before him, mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the
Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote
him on the head. And after that they had mocked
him. They took the robe off him, and put his own raiment on, and
led him away to crucify him. And as they came out, they found
a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear his
cross. And when they had gone unto the
place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull, they
gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall. And when he had tasted
thereof, he would not drink. And they crucified him and parted
his garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet. and they parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down,
they watched him there, and set up over his head his accusation,
written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." What a terrible
act took place, but we are so glad, because we go A number
of places in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, and
we find the wonderful benefits of this wrong thing. Our salvation. Beautiful benefits of this wrong
thing. The Son of God was crucified. The Lord of glory allowed himself
to be crucified. You must be kidding. And yet,
we find out, no, he's not kidding. This is just the way it has been
purposed that he would save his people from their sins. A couple
of verses I want to look at, and one is found in Hebrews chapter
9. Hebrews chapter 9. And verse 26, we've read this
verse of scripture a number of times with regard to the Lord
Jesus and the benefits of his death on the cross. For then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
Now go back and read the other part. But if he'd have been a
human, You'd have to suffer since the beginning of the world. All
of those priests that were throughout the Old Testament, their offerings
could not take away one of their sins, not alone the sins of people. The animal sacrifices did not
take away sin. And a human could not take away
sin. We need the God-man to do that.
It goes on to say, but now once in the end of the world hath
he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. What great wrong took place to
take care of a great wrong that took place in the Garden of Eden.
Adam sinned a great wrong against a great God. And now we have
the requirement placed upon the Lord Jesus in the covenant of
grace that he must go and pay their debt. And this is the way
God determined that that debt would be paid. He would be crucified,
and then our sins would be laid upon Him, as we read in the 53rd
chapter of the book of Isaiah. And over in the book of Ephesians
chapter one, Ephesians chapter one, we read this in verse seven,
Ephesians chapter one, verse seven, A great wrong, the crucifixion
of the God of glory, the Lord Jesus, the great benefit, the
salvation of his people. Here in the book of Ephesians
chapter one and verse seven it says, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. Now all of that fell out on Samson,
that he would take care of the Philistines. And we find out
how God had used great wrongs throughout human history to do
great rights, deliver his people, deliver sinners. moved the gospel
to where he wanted to preach. All of those incidents that took
place, we find that God had worked out according to his good pleasure
that they would be a benefit, even though they were great wrongs.
So as we follow this Samson out, we're gonna find out that he
was given a great wrong, but now he has his marching orders. All of the food supply of the
Philistines must be destroyed. And he does. He destroys all
the food supplies. It's the beginning of the downfall
of the Philistines that God promised was going to take place. And
so it is with us. When he went to the cross, he
took care of our sin debt. Great wrong produced great benefits
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we'll pick up here, Lord willing,
next Wednesday. Nancy and I will be back, and
I'm taking my book with me, and we'll get ready for that. All
right, let's stop right there.