I direct your attention for one
verse of scripture over in the book of Hebrews, book of Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 12 we
have in that passage of scripture some of those great, excuse me,
verse 32. Some great men of faith, women
of faith are mentioned here. And this faith is a faith that
was given to these folks by God. It was a gift of faith, the faith
of God's elect. And they're mentioned here in
this chapter from the very beginning about what faith is. And there
is a man mentioned in this verse of scripture that for a long
time I had some reservations about. And then I was drawn to
this verse of scripture and I found out that just as with Lot, He
was a justified man. He lived in a terrible place,
but he was a justified man, just lot. Here we read about this
man in the book of Hebrews 11, verse 32. The scripture says
there, and what shall I more say for the time would fail me
to tell of Gideon, one of the judges, and Barak, one of the
judges, and Samson, one of the judges, and of Jephthah, of David
also, and Samuel, and of the prophets. I was so blessed when
I ran into his name in this passage of Scripture, this man by the
name of Samson." We direct your attention back to the book of
Judges now, if you would. The book of Judges, we find that
Samson, there are four chapters in the book of Judges that are
dedicated to the message about Samson. And Samson is a type
of Christ in a number of ways. Samson had a very special birth. His mother was barren and she
could never have children. And yet the angel of the Lord
came to her and said, you're going to have a son. And another
way that Samson was a type of Christ, he was a Nazarite. He's
one of the few that's mentioned by name. There are those that
were Nazarites, as it's mentioned there in the Pentateuch, but
here is one mentioned by name and he's going to be a Nazarite
from his birth, from the womb. Now the Lord Jesus was not a
Nazirite, he was a Nazarene. He did not have the restrictions
on him that this man did, but to be a Nazirite meant you were
set aside for a special task. And we find that the Lord Jesus
was set aside for a special task before the foundation of the
world. He's a lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He's set aside in the covenant grace before the foundation of
the world. Before there was sin, there was
a covenant and that covenant was made between the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit on the behalf of God's people
that he chosen Christ before the foundation of the world.
Another thing that we read about Samuel being a type of Christ
is that he killed a lion. And he killed that lion with
his own hands. I can't imagine the strength
that this man had to do such a task as that. And he left it
beside the road and he came back in a short time and there's a
bunch of bees in it, honeybees. And they built a honeycomb in
there. Now you know as we think about the Lord Jesus Christ,
He was taken and He was slain on the cross. The Lion of the
tribe of Judah was slain on the cross. But out of that slain
comes the sweetest message this world has ever heard. The message
of the gospel. It is sweeter than honey in the
honeycomb. So here we have these types of
Christ in this man by the name of Samson. Now, Samson also married
a Philistine. His mother and dad said, you
know, there are just plenty of women around here. Why don't
you marry one of them? And he said, I'm going down there
and marry that girl because she pleases me. You know, of all
of the celestial beings that God had in his creation, the
angels, the seraphims, the cherubims, and all of the celestial beings
that he had, Jesus Christ did not choose any of those for his
bride. He chose terrestrial beings. He chose flesh and blood. He chose the descendants of Adam
in the covenant of grace. He chose his people and their
failings and their falterings and all the things that go with
it. The very dead in trespasses and sin people that we read about. So he went down to this earth
and married a Philistine. Oh, unwanted by everybody, challenged
to everybody, and yet we find the Lord Jesus is going to have
her as his bride. Well, here in this 15th chapter
of the book of Judges, if you turn there with me, Judges chapter
15, verse 4, we find that the words of the Lord are going to
come to pass in the sense that when Samuel married that woman,
that Philistine woman, And his parents were having a conniption
fit about that. Now I don't know whether my in-laws
had a conniption fit when they found out I was going to marry
Nancy or not. But I've known of moms and dads that have had
some real problems with the people that their children are going
to marry. I've had a couple of those issues.
But you know what? They didn't listen to me. Very
seldom do they. Well anyway, Samson didn't listen
to his parents. And yet we find here in this
scriptural reading, Back up one chapter there to the book of
Judges chapter 14, and there in verse four, this just clears
it up for us. We don't have to worry about
what's gonna take place here in the book of Judges under this
judge by the name of Samson. He looks like he's doing the
wrong thing all the time, and yet we read here in the book
of Judges chapter 14, verse four, it says, but his father and his
mother knew not that it was of the Lord. Now they didn't comprehend
what he was doing was of the Lord, that the Lord is going
to work out his purpose through this marriage to this Philistine.
And the purpose of God was to get rid of the Philistines there
in Israel. So he's going to use Samson to
do that. And through this process, it tells us going on there. In
the book of Judges chapter 14 and verse 4 it says that he sought
that God sought an occasion against the Philistines for at that time
the Philistines had dominion over Israel. So we need somebody
to come along and free Israel. We need someone to come along
and free Israel from the captivity of the Philistines and he's going
to use Samson to do that. Samson is going to do some strange
things and I can tell you right up front that there was a long
time I wondered, what is this about this guy? And then I find
out he's an absolute instrument in the hand of God. A whole bunch
of people came to John the Baptist and he dressed funny and he ate
funny. And you know what? He preached
funny. He preached the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace and they did not like it. he had
all of the things going against him uneducated my goodness this
man had three strikes against him before he went out but you
know what he was called of God to introduce the Lamb of God
so he was a very special person and we think very highly of him.
Well in the book of Judges chapter 15 and verse 4 we find that Samson
does something that I just you know you look at this and you
say how could this happen? How could this happen? You know
I've seen a couple of foxes in my life but for the life of me
I never thought about catching them. And I never thought about catching
them and tying their tails together. And I never thought about catching
them, tying their tails together and lighting a fire between them
and having them run off. Now let's just look at this verse
of scripture here in the book of judges chapter 15 and verse
four. And the word of the Lord says,
and Samson wet went and caught 300 foxes. Now I was talking about two,
he caught 300. It goes on to tell us in that verse of scripture
and this is all in the purpose of God to destroy the Philistines. This is going to be used to destroy
their food supply. He is going to burn their food
supply up. Samson is going to be used to
do that. But in order to do that, God determined and gave him the
information and the mind to capture 300 foxes. And it goes on to
tell us there in the book of Judges chapter 15 and verse 4,
and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst
between two tails. And then he's gonna let them
go and they're gonna burn up the crops. You know, I was thinking
about that. How in the world could a man,
single man, do what he did as recorded here? And it struck
me like lightning that God put in the mind of all of those foxes
to come to one place and allow this man to capture him. God
had all power and all authority over all things and it is a small
thing to deal with a fox. He had those foxes brought to
him, you know, he made them willing in the day of his power. They came, and he captured them,
and he tied them up, and he turned them loose, and it burned up
the grain crop of the Philistines. You know, as we think about this,
we find that there's quite a number of places in the scripture that
God used the strangest things to accomplish his purpose. We
find that Samson caught those 300 foxes, but God captured them. God created them. God had them
handy. God brought them. God settled
them down. I don't know about you, but I'd
never want to get a hold of a fox with these teeth bare. They can
be very vicious, but we find here that not one mention is
how dangerous they were to Samson. He was used of God to bring this
crop of the Philistines to zero. I had to ask myself the question
as we go through the word of God and I just would like to
spend a few minutes on this question. How God used the almost impossible
to accomplish his purpose and that verse of scripture over
there in the book of Psalms 110 that those he deals with he makes
them by his grace willing in the day of his power. You know,
when it comes to the salvation of my children, I have to depend
on that verse of scripture. When it comes to the salvation
of people that come to Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in the Dalles,
I have to depend on that verse of scripture because the only
thing that I can do and the only thing that your pastor can do
is declare the gospel. From the point it leaves here,
we have no control over it. And in fact, we don't want any
control over it. That has to be a miracle of God's
grace to take care of that from this point on. You know, the
question I ask myself, where did that serpent that was in
the garden of Eden come from? You know, we hear about what
a terrible creature it was, but that was God's created being. God created that thing, not the
devil. The devil didn't create that
serpent, God created that serpent. And he created that serpent on
purpose. And he purposed that that serpent would do exactly
what he did. And as a result of that, we find
that Adam fell, Adam sinned, and the whole human race fell
with him. And sin was such a companion of every human being on this
earth. We are dead in trespasses and sin. What is the outcome? God saves his people by his grace. We'd have never known grace.
You know, the angels that did not keep their first estate,
there was never an opportunity ever for them to ever come out
of that position. And those who kept their first
estate, they can't leave it. God has marked them out. The
elect angels and the non-elect angels, do you think he's gonna
treat humanity differently? He is going to have elect people
and He's going to have non-elect. And those who He reveals Christ
to are going to rejoice in His grace. And we look back at the
events there in the Garden of Eden and as great as they were,
and as harmful as they were, and as bad as they were, we know
grace like we would have never known grace because Jesus Christ
came to save sinners. And the Apostle Paul said he
was the chief, and I read the other day by an old preacher,
he said, He was the chief until I came along. And I think every
believer thinks that about themselves. He was the chief until I came
along. Well, who did, who created that? You know, another thing
that's amazing is over there in the book of Genesis chapter
seven, would you turn there with me? Genesis chapter seven, it
tells us in Genesis chapter seven of the great event of the flood.
The earth that we look out on, and it's a beautiful place. I'm
telling you, we live in an area there, the Columbia River Gorge.
It's a very special, dedicated place now. It's beautiful. And
it just demonstrates how that river carved through that lava,
that basalt, went to the sea. Now it's not like it was when
it was created because there are places there that are six
or seven hundred feet of lava stacked up and no one knows where
that lava came from. We can't find the cone but it's
there. That was not there in creation. That came as a result of Noah and the great flood that God
brought on this earth, the fountains of the deep broke up. I'm convinced
that this earth was one, all of the land mass was at one time,
one place. And it tells us in the book of
Genesis that in the days of Peleg was the earth divided. So it
spread out. Now God did it, I'm not going
to argue with it. But here we find in the book
of Genesis prior to the flood, prior to the rain coming, and
a monstrous amount of rain and fountains of the deep breaking
up so much that it covered the mountains over. Now I don't think
that there was Mount Everest at that time, but it covered
all the mountains that were here at that time. The whole earth
was covered with that. You know, God told Noah that
we need to deliver a bunch of critters I don't know how many
critters were in that ark. There was quite a few. I do know
this about how many bedrooms were in that ark. You know, there
was not one extra bedroom. There were four. Why? Because there was Noah and his
wife and their three sons and their wives. No one else was
in the ark. God did not have them build anything
else. And there was no knocking on
the outside of that arc. Once the flood came, we, we can
just see them scrambling for high ground, but not for the
arc. If that were true, everybody today would be scrambling for
Jesus Christ. But they're not, they have to
be given the grace to do that. And Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. What about those critters? Well
here in the book of Genesis chapter 7 verse 9, would you read that
with me? Chapter 7 and verse 9 the scripture
says this, Isn't it amazing that he didn't
have to saddle up his cowboy horse and go out and find all
those animals and bring them in a big drive a big roundup
those animals came to the ark and those animals went into the
ark why my people shall be willing in the day of my power and so
shall ever critter that's on the face of this earth. My critters
will be willing in the day of my power." And they came up there
and they went into the ark and they were delivered from that
great flood. Only the ones in the ark were
delivered. Now there were two by two of
all of the unclean and seven by seven of all the clean beasts. I don't know how the ark was
set up. You cannot build an ark with the dimensions and the description
that we have in the Bible and woe unto people who try. It was
not intended for us to have the ark because we do the same thing
with it that Israel did with that brazen serpent 400 years
after the brazen serpent, they're worshiping that thing. What would
people do today if they actually found the ark? They'd be down
there in droves, just like we find worshiping little splinters,
quote unquote, of the cross. Well, we have all these critters
brought on to the ark, and then if you look with me to the book
of Numbers chapter 22, another incident takes place here. In
the book of Numbers chapter 22, we read these words, there was
a man by the name of Balaam, and Balaam is riding his donkey,
and Balaam is trying to go through a place. It's a narrow place. And you know what God did for
that donkey? Balaam didn't have to train that donkey to talk.
If he had, he couldn't have taught that donkey to talk. There's
just no capabilities of it because a donkey can't normally talk.
But the scriptures tell us here in the book of Numbers chapter
22, and I think it's in verse 39 that I want to go to here,
Numbers chapter 22, and there, verses 21 on down, Balaam and
so forth, and it tells us here, Verse 28, and the Lord opened
the mouth of the ass and she said unto Balaam. Now, can you
imagine that? It's hard to imagine what is
in black and white. And we believe it with every
fiber of our being that Balaam had a donkey and ass that would
talk to him. And it says, what have I done
unto thee that thou hast smitten me these three times? So that donkey, that ass speaks
to him because what do we find in the scriptures with regard
to humanity? In the day of his power, they
will be made willing in the day of his power So this donkey was
made willing in the day of God's power. It wasn't a normal thing
for it to do. You know, it doesn't take us
long to think about there was a man by the name of Elijah.
And Elijah is afraid that he's the last prophet in the world.
Well, God shares with him, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I have protected,
watched over 7,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal. We
are looking for those, aren't we? I would love to find one. or two or five or ten in the
state of Oregon where I could fellowship with. They may be
there. I don't know. I haven't been
able to find them. Elijah couldn't find them, but
God had them protected for one reason and that was they were
going to be preachers of righteousness. There is 7,000 that have not
bowed the knee to Baal. Hallelujah! God was protecting
them. But Elijah is told to go by a
brook. Now, out in Oregon we have lots
of crows and we have lots of ravens. And those critters will
eat anything. Carry-on, bread, stuff off the
road, it doesn't matter. They're always looking for a
meal. God commands some ravens to feed his prophet Elijah there
by that creek, by that stream, and that raven did not eat the
food that he had in his mouth, he delivered it. Why? God ordered it that way. He was
made willing in the day of his power. We find with Jonah, my
goodness, what a story. I used to hear that in Sunday
school. That's a great story. You know, that's a story about
Christ. That's the story. Christ said this. It is an evil
and adulterous generation that seek after a sign. I will tell
you the truth, he says, there's not one sign going to be given
except the sign of the prophet Jonah. As he was three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth, excuse me, in the
great fish's belly, the whale's belly, so shall the son of man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. What
did he declare? He declared the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. He was swallowed by a great fish. The book of Jonah chapter 1 tells
us it was a fish prepared by God. It didn't necessarily be
like any other fish that God had ever created because this
one was prepared by God and how did it know where to go and what
to do when it got there? He was made willing. in the day
of his power. The time goes on as we look through
the scriptures. One of those incidents in the
book of Daniel that just, I just appreciate so much Daniel chapter
six. Would you turn over there with
me to the book of Daniel chapter six over there in the book of
Hebrews that says that they were those who were so mistreated
and maltreated. that they were saints of God,
sawing asunder, and all these things. And we read about Daniel.
Daniel is a person that has been taken into Babylonian captivity. He is a Jew that's taken into
Babylonian captivity when Israel fell under Nebuchadnezzar, came
in and took him over and took him into Babylon. Now part of
the punishment that he had was he had to be neutered. He was never going to have any
children. But you know that didn't change him one iota when it came
to worshiping God. He didn't feel sorry for himself
about what had happened. This is the price he paid to
be in Babylonian captivity. Now he is a declarer of the gospel. I firmly believe it was Daniel
or the three Hebrew children or somebody down there in Babylon
during this period of time that knew something about the gospel
is why we have the Magi coming to Nazareth and bringing three
gifts. They're coming from the same
area that Daniel and the three Hebrew children are there at
that time many years before. So someone told somebody about
something and when they came and said we saw the star in the
east and we're here to worship the king You know, that was such
a shock to Herod. He could not he couldn't get
around the word king They got around it very easily Just like
we say King of Kings and Lord of Lords and Here in the book
of Daniel chapter six, verse 22. Daniel chapter six and verse
22, we read the words of Daniel. Now, the king that ordered him
to be thrown into the den of lions is concerned about him. Oh my goodness, I wish I hadn't
have done that. I wish I hadn't have done that. I wish I hadn't
have done that, but he did it. He did it because of the false
pretenses of some of his counselors. And he threw Daniel in the lion's
den. And here in the book of Daniel chapter six, Verse 22,
we have these words recorded. Daniel understood what had happened. In Daniel chapter 6 and verse
22, it says, let me get there. This new Bible, the pages are
sticking together. There we go. Daniel chapter 6 and verse 22,
it says, my God, Daniel saying in verse 21, then said Daniel
unto the king, oh, king live forever. My God has sent his
angel and has shut the lion's mouths that they have not hurt
me for as much as before him, innocency was found in me. And
also before the old king, have I done no hurt? God had sent
his angel, the angel of the covenant, the everlasting God Almighty
came and shut the lion's mouth. Went completely against the nature
of those beasts because we're going to find out in an instant
that they're going to have some food that they were not planning
on having. That's the people that said throw
him in there. Now, how did they know not to
eat this man? How did they know to keep their
mouths shut? How did they know all of that?
They shall be willing in the day of my power. Only reason
that they didn't consume Daniel was God and his purpose of grace. We find in the book of Luke, chapter 5, would you go there
with me, Luke chapter 5, as we think about the things that God
does in order to do his business and they're such marvelous things
that he does. Luke chapter 5 verse 4, Luke
chapter 5 and verse 4, it tells us there Now, when they had left
speaking, he said unto Simon, launch out into the deep and
let down your nets for a draught, a lot of fish, in other words.
And Simon answering, he said unto him, master, we have toiled
all night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I
will let down the net. And they, when they had thus
done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net break. How did those fish know to be
there at the right time? They were made willing in the
day of his power. And a great draught was brought
in, breaking their nets. In another place it is said,
at thy word. And after that's over with, Peter
says, depart from me, Lord, for I'm a sinful man. I doubted my
Savior. God in his marvelous work of
grace as he even demonstrates through all of these critters
that he used in such a marvelous way. We find that one time they
owed it some tax money and Jesus told one of his apostles go down
and catch a fish and open his mouth and pull out a coin and
pay the taxes with it. How did that fish know to be
there and how did that fish know to pick up something that he's
not commonly eating? It had no food value. There was
nothing that he could ingest that would have food value, but
he picked up a coin, carried it in his mouth, and when this
apostle went down there and threw out his hook, he voluntarily
grabbed that hook So the master could pay his taxes. How did
he know to do that? He was made willing in the day
of God's power. And the taxes was paid. You know,
it doesn't take us very long. Have you ever been bucked off
a horse? It isn't the being bucked off that's the problem, it's
the landing on the ground. That's the problem. And I didn't
like that part of horse riding at all. You know, it's a marvelous
thing to go over here to the book of Matthew and read about
the Lord Jesus Christ, telling his disciples, go over here to
such a street and there is a, there's a mama and there's a
baby mule. And if anybody asks you about
it, you just tell them the master has need of it. And so the owner
said, what are you doing? And they said, the master has
need of it. And he says, okay, sure. Take that mule. And they took that mule over
to the Lord Jesus Christ and put him on that colt and that
colt didn't even crow foot. It was so brought to zero in
its rebellion against the master of the universe, the Lord Jesus
Christ. How did it know to do that? He was made willing in
the day of his power. You know, as we think about this,
We just cannot lose heart about those we've been praying for.
We cannot lose heart. Oh my goodness. I had a preacher
tell me not long ago, he said he quit praying for his children.
And I said, what? He says, now I cry for them. I cry for my
children. You know, don't lose heart about
your family. Don't lose heart about your children. Don't lose heart about your friends.
Don't lose heart about your aunts and uncles. Don't lose heart
because just as God has used his great power upon beasts of
the field, and bees if you please, and donkeys if you please, and
fish if you please, he caused them to do his great purpose
because he made them willing in the day of his power. Now
what must he do for us? He must make us willing. in the
day of his power. The fall is so serious. We cannot
comprehend how serious it is. We see our friends and family
die of some of the most tragic diseases, and they're taken out
of this world in the most serious way, and we find out that's just
part of the fall. It gets worse and worse the older
we get. We find truly what Paul mentioned
about being the chiefest of sinners. It's us. You know, a lot of people
are blaming the devil for a lot of things that he's not guilty
of. This heart is our problem. And I find it more and more.
My heart is my problem. It isn't because the devil did
something because he can't do anything. He could not put in
the mind of Eve or of Adam or you to do wrong. Our heart does that on its own.
All right. So we have here. Just as, turn
with me if you would to the book of Ezra. The book of Ezra chapter
1 and verse 1 is one of my favorite verses in all the Bible. Ezra
chapter 1 verse 1. It's chronologically, it's out
of its, it should be towards the end of this Old Testament,
but it's been tucked in here prior to the Psalms And in Ezra
chapter 1 verse 1, we have a verse of scripture that just shares
so much about the importance of God's eternal purpose. And
here, he's not going to let anything pass that he doesn't intend to
pass. Everything will be carried out just like he purposed it.
And here in the book of Ezra chapter 1, it says, now in the
first year of Cyrus, king of Persia. Now we have a new king,
not Nebuchadnezzar any longer. the children of Israel have been
there for 70 years. That's how long he said they'd
be there and now Cyrus is on the throne. Now notice what God
did for Cyrus. This is what God must do for
us. Now I don't find any place in
the scripture that Cyrus was ever made a believer but the
same thing must happen to believers to God's elect It tells us in
that verse of scripture that the word of the Lord by the mouth
of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit
of Cyrus king of Persia. Oh my goodness, the marvelous
work of God to stir our hearts. to bring us to the knowledge
of a Savior, the Lord Jesus, to take us past our own purpose,
to take us past our own life, to take us past our own sin,
to do what God alone could do. There's a remnant according to
the election of grace. We find that in the book of Romans
chapter 11. And for it is God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. We could
almost say that about every critter we read about tonight. It is,
for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure. Those animals that came to the
ark, to that serpent in that garden, to those ravens that
came, to that donkey, to the great fish, all through the scriptures,
the same thing. Now, is he going to do any different
for his elect? He's going to have to come to
them just like we find him dealing with them. Why did those 300
foxes come? Because God determined that they
would come and they would please God by doing God's purpose. We read there in the book of In the book of the Psalms, they
will be made willing in the day of His power. Oh, the grace through
the blood of Jesus Christ, saving a people that are so dead. But they shall be made willing
in the day of His power. How glorious is the gospel of
Jesus Christ that he would quicken dead sinners and they would say,
Lord.