Let's open our Bibles to Judges
chapter 16. Judges chapter 16. I want to thank Michael and Hugo for
faithfully preaching the gospel to us here last Sunday. And thank you for your prayers. The meeting, I thought, in Lexington
went really well. Then I had an opportunity to
preach in Danville on Sunday morning and was very encouraged
by the the church there. Also, we sent out an email yesterday,
I think, about our conference schedule coming up in January.
If you haven't seen that, check your email. The dates and times
are all there. I wanted to get it out early
so that everybody could schedule their time around those It's
a very special time. We do it once a year. Chris Cunningham will be here,
Lord willing. Todd Nybert. Help me out. Gabe Stoniker and
Donny Bell. And we'll do something different
this year that we haven't been doing. We will have services
on Saturday evening. So there'll be eight messages,
Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday evening, Sunday morning,
and each of the men will be preaching twice. So I hope everybody will
be able to be a part of all of that. I've titled this message, He
Loved a Woman. He Loved a Woman. We've been looking at the life
of Samson for the past couple of months. And what we have here
in chapter 16 is the third time that we see Samson get in trouble
because of a woman. You remember the first time was
in chapters 14 and 15, the woman of Timnath and, and, uh, the
conflicts that it caused in Samson's life as a result of that woman
that he actually married in Timnath. And then in chapter 15, we find
him going down into Gaza and the scripture says he went in
to a harlot and the problems that that caused him. And now,
He goes back down to where the Philistines live and he loves
a woman by the name of Delilah. Delilah. Delilah's name translated
means feeble. And as was the case in the previous
two women, she pictures the bride of Christ. the church of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a story about illicit
love. This is a story about Christ
getting in trouble because of his love for his wife. The trouble that he suffered
as a result of his love for her is brought to its pinnacle at
Zenith at Calvary's cross when the Lord Jesus Christ suffered
the judgment of God's wrath for his bride. But here's the result
of every time that Samson got in trouble with a woman, it actually
resulted in him getting the victory over his enemy. The Philistines
ultimately suffered in each one of these three cases. Samson at the end of chapter
16 is going to die. He's going to pull down the temple
of Dagon, but in his death, he's going to destroy all the Philistines.
This is a picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done because
of his love for his bride. He ends up bringing much trouble
on himself, but at the end, he destroys the enemy. You have your Bibles open to
Judges chapter 16, look at verse four. And it came to pass afterwards
that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was
Delilah. Feeble. When we were yet without
strength, feeble, powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. When we could do nothing to save
ourselves, we were like Delilah. The Lord set his affection on
us. He set his love on us. The love
that he has for his church is the first cause of our salvation. He loved us, the scripture says
in Jeremiah chapter 31, with an everlasting love, therefore
he has drawn us with cords of kindness. There was never a time
when the Lord did not love his bride, Delilah. those whom he
foreknew. And that word foreknow means
that he loved them before they loved him. Those whom he foreknew
eternally, he did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of his son. And them whom he predestinated,
he called. And them that he called, he justified.
And them that he justified, he glorified. All because of his
love for his bride. He loved a woman. He got himself in trouble beyond
our comprehension when he bore our sins and suffered the wrath
and judgment of his heavenly father. Beyond our comprehension,
he got himself in trouble because of his love for a woman. Yet at the end, he destroyed
the works of the devil. He delivered, he took away the
gates of Gaza, carried them all the way to Hebron. He destroyed
the crops of the Philistines. And in the end, he's going to
destroy all the Philistines and pull down their temple and call
his bride unto himself. Herein is love. Herein is love. Not that we love God. We don't
measure love by our fickled feelings and emotions. We do love him. We love him because he first
loved us. But our love is so inconsistent and so unstable. But herein is love. Not that
we love God, but that he loved us and gave his son to be a propitiation
for our sins. And after this, he loved a woman
and her name was Delilah. The Lord tells us some things
about who he is when he says, God is love. God is love. He is the source of all love.
He is the truth of love. He is what love is. We love and we have love as part
of our being, but he is love. God is light. God is holy. God is spirit. That's his nature. There's not a whole lot given
to us in the Bible about the very nature of God in that
regard. But those are the four things
that the Lord tells us. God is spirit, God is light,
God is holy, and God is love. It's who he is. It's not what he possesses. It's
not what he has. It's not part of his character.
It is the essence of his very nature. And he saw a woman. and he loved her, and her name
was Delilah. It is the first cause of our
salvation, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son. Here is the demonstration of
God's love. Greater love hath no man than
this, that he lay down his life for his friends. No longer do
I call you my servant for servant doesn't know what his master's
doing, but I call you my friends. I've revealed to you what it
is I'm doing for you. He saw a woman, her name was
feeble and he loved her. 1 John chapter 3 verse 16, hereby
perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us. As is the case with all the attributes
of God, we look to what the Lord Jesus Christ did on Calvary's
cross to see the fullness of it. And so if we ever have any
question about his love for us, how? How wrong it is for us to judge
the love of God based on the providential circumstances that
he ordains for us. How wrong it is for us when the
Lord in his providence sends clouds instead of sunshine and
we begin to question the love of God because things aren't
comfortable for us. Things aren't easy for us. How
sinful that is for us to do such a thing. Hereby we perceive the love of
God because He laid down His life for us. Might the Lord enable
us to remember in those dark times, in those troubled times,
in those hard times, to look back to what the Lord Jesus Christ
did for us when we were yet without strength. He died for us. First John chapter four, verse
nine, in this was manifested the love of God toward us because
that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
have life through his name. What? What love? He saw a woman. And many men have gotten themselves
in trouble. with the illicit love of a woman.
This was not illicit. Oh no, this was perfectly in
order with the very law of God, which he had established in the
covenant of grace when he saw Delilah and he loved her. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
have I drawn thee." Never been a time when he didn't love his
bride. Romans chapter 11, and speaking
of the true Israel of God, the Lord says, as touching election,
they are beloved, beloved. And his love is immutable. Can't
doesn't change. We, we fall in and out of love
really easy, don't we? And we've got a lot of different
kinds of love. God's got one kind of love. It's a, it's a
holy love. It's a perfect love. And he said, I am the Lord and
I change not. And therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He saw a woman. Her name was
Delilah and he loved her. It brought about his death. Just
read the rest of the chapter. But it also brought around the
destruction of the enemies of God. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight, Romans chapter eight. You know, we were, talking, some of the men were
talking before the service and talking about intellectualism
and how knowledge puffs up and how in religion we used to pretend
to understand things that we didn't believe. We used to pretend to understand
things that we did not believe. We had the right theological
definitions and the right words to use, but we didn't understand
them. We didn't believe them. Now,
we believe things that we don't understand. We just believe. How are you
going to understand the love of God? How are you gonna understand
how it is that God made you saints, sanctified, adopted you into
the very family of God, made you kings and priests, put away
your sin by the sacrifice of himself? How are you gonna understand
that? How are you gonna understand
that God was made flesh and dwelt among us? You say, we don't understand
anything. We believe it. Faith believes
what God has said. Romans chapter eight, how you
gonna understand this? Look at verse 35. Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Who shall separate us? He saw
a woman, her name was Delilah and he loved her. It brought about his death and
it brought about the destruction of the enemies of God. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
For as it is written, here's what God has said, for by sake
we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. loved us. For I am persuaded. Here's faith. I'm persuaded. I don't understand
it. And I'm so prone to wander away
from it and to forget. But I am persuaded right now. Right now I am persuaded. that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God. Today's 9-11, I just remembered
something. President Bush, 21 years ago, read this verse to the nation
to try to encourage the people of America. But you know what
he did? He left out the last seven words. He stopped right where I just
stopped. There is no love of God outside
of Christ. Jacob I have loved, Esau I have
hated. This love which cannot be separated,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There's no understanding
of the love of God. There's no ability to receive
the love of God. He saw a woman, a particular
woman. Christ didn't die for everybody. He died for those who he loved. John chapter 11, when they brought
news from Bethany about Lazarus' sickness, here's what they said. Lord, he whom thou lovest is
sick. And you remember the Lord tarried,
waiting for Lazarus to die and waiting for him to be dead in
the tomb for four days before he got back to demonstrate his
glory. And the shortest verse in all
the Bible is found in John chapter 11, when the scripture says,
Jesus wept with the grievers at Lazarus tomb. And here's what
they said when they saw him weeping. Oh, how he loved him. His love is very particular. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
pray not for the world, I pray for them which thou hast given
me out of the world, that they might know thee, that I have
loved them even as thou hast loved me. How are we going to
understand that? How are we going to comprehend
that? That the Lord Jesus Christ loves
his people in the same way that God the Father loves him. God
is love. He saw a woman and he loved her. He loved her not because of any
beauty in her. You know, men get in trouble
because they're attracted to the beauty of a woman. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
set his affection on Delilah, there wasn't anything in her
to attract him in that regard. He loved her. He chose to love her. He loved
her according to his own will and his own purpose. Scripture says that He chose
the base things of the world, the things which are not, that
the things which are might be humbled, that no flesh
could glory in his presence. So the bride of Christ says,
Lord, why would you love me? What is there? Why would you
choose me? And yet we rejoice that he has.
His love is effectual. His love is irresistible. Turn
with me to Ezekiel chapter 16. Ezekiel 16. We cannot preach on the love
of God without looking at this passage of scripture. Ezekiel chapter 16. Verse one, and again, the word
of the Lord came unto me saying, son of man, cause Israel to know
her abominations. Cause her to know her filthiness,
her unworthiness, her inability. Cause her to believe that the
love of God was not merited in any way, that she didn't deserve
it. Does her unworthiness for his
love weaken her love? Weaken his love for her? Oh,
no, no. It just gives him all the glory
for it. And say, thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land
of Canaan and thy father in Ammonite and thy mother Hittite. You were
born pagans, you were born sinners. And as for thy nativity in the
day which thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither was
thou washed in water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted at
all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee to do any
of these things to thee, to have compassion upon thee. But thou
wast cast out into the open field to the loathing of thy person
in the day that thou wast born." Here's what God says about our
natural birth. And when I pass by they. And
when I pass by they. and saw thee polluted in thine
own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood,
live, yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood,
live, I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and
thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent
ornaments, thy breast are fashioned and thy hair is grown, whereas
thou wast naked and bare, and when I passed by thee and looked
upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread
my skirt over thee." Thy time was a time of love. His love is irresistible. You cannot say no to the love
of God. If He loves you, you will love
Him in return. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
63. Isaiah chapter 63. Verse nine, in all their affliction,
he was afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity,
he redeemed them and he buried, he, he, he bare them and carried
them all the days of old. His love is effectual. His love
is eternal. He saw a woman and he loved her. His love for her resulted in
his death. And it resulted in the destruction
of the enemies of God. Psalm 118 verse 27 says, bind
the sacrifice with cords even unto the horns of the altar.
And that's where our Lord was bound. He was bound to the horns of
the altar with cords of love and kindness. This love causes the objects
of his love to know the source of his love and his glory. And so go back with me to our
text. Let me show you something. And verse five, and the lords
of the Philistines came up unto her and said unto her, entice
him and see wherein his great strength lieth. And by what means
we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him,
that we may give thee every one of us 1100 pieces of silver.
And Delilah said to Samson, tell me, I pray thee, where in thy
great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict
thee? And Samson said unto him, if
they bind me with seven green widths that were never dried,
then shall I be weak and be as another man. Then the lords of
the Philistines brought up to her seven green widths, which
had not been dried, and she bound him with them. And there were
men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said
unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he broke
the widths as thread of toe is broken when it touched the fire. So his strength was not known.
And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me,
and thou hast told me. Now tell me, I pray thee, Wherewith thou mightest be bound?
And he said unto her, if they bind me fast with new ropes that
never were occupied, then shall I be weak and be as another man.
And Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound him therewith,
and said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there
were liars in wait abiding in the chamber, and he break them
off his arms like a thread. And Delilah said unto Samson,
hitherto thou hast mocked me and told me lies. Tell me wherewith
thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, if thou
weavest the seven locks of my hair with the web. And she fastened
it with a pin and said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee,
Samson. And he waked out of his sleep and went away with the
pin of the beam and with the web. And she said unto him, How
canst thou say I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou
hast mocked me these three times, and hast told me wherewith thy
great strength lieth. It is not told me. And it came
to pass when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged
him so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her
all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor
upon mine head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's
womb. If I be shaven, then my strength
will go from me and I will become weak and become like other men. And when Delilah saw that he
had told her all his heart, she went and called the lords of
the Philistines saying, come up this once. For he hath showed
me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her and brought money in their hands. And she
said, she made him sleep upon her knees and she called for
a man and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.
And she began to afflict him and his strength went from him.
And he said, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he
awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as of other times
before and shake myself And he wist not that the Lord was departed
from him. Delilah pleaded to know the source
of his strength. Is this not what we do? Do we not plead with the Lord?
to show us the source of the strength. Is that not what the
rich young ruler did when he said, good master, what must
I do to inherit eternal life? And the Lord Jesus Christ said
to him, why callest thou me good? There's none good but God. And then the Lord said, you know
the commandments. You know the commandments. Keep
them and you shall live. And the rich young ruler said,
which ones? And he gave him only the second part of the Ten Commandments. You know, thou shalt not lie,
thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false, thou shalt not
commit adultery. And what the rich young ruler,
these things have I done since my youth. The Lord said, go and sell all
that you have. Give it to the poor and follow me. And he went
away sad. The scripture says the Lord looked
at him and loved him. Whoever that rich young man was,
he was one of God's elect. But he wasn't ready. He wasn't
ready to give up the riches of his righteousness, trust Christ
alone for his salvation. The Lord will bring him to that
place. What did the Lord do? He pointed him to the law. He
wanted, he asked the question, what can I do to inherit eternal
life? And the Lord said to the law,
this is exactly what Delilah's doing. And here's what Samson
is doing to her. He's saying, take seven, green
widths that have not been dried and bind me with them. The word
widths in our scripture is the word rest. It's the word rest. And seven is a picture of the
Sabbath. And so he was saying, if you're
able If you're able to rest, you know, the Sabbath was a sign
of all the commandments. This shall be a sign unto you.
And Hebrews chapter four makes it clear that the Lord Jesus
Christ is our Sabbath. And so he's pointing her to the
law. Go to the law, seven green widths
and bind me with them. If you can bind me with them,
then you can know. the source of my strength. And
he broke them. His work was finished before
the foundation of the world, Hebrews chapter four. He's the
only one that can rest and we rest only in him. This idea of being able to keep
the Sabbath You know, men violate the Sabbath in their attempt
to keep it. They will, if I can do this and that and the other
on the Sabbath day, then I can earn favor with God. The Lord
Jesus Christ himself is our Sabbath. Bind me, see if you can find
your rest in keeping the Sabbath. We keep the Sabbath when we rest
in Christ. And then he said, take seven
new ropes that were never occupied. That word occupied means work. Take new ropes that have never
been used for work and bind me with them. And they did. Why did the heathen rage? And
why did the princes of this world imagine a vain thing. Let us
break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. Let us see if we can, if we can
keep the law of God. That's how we'll, I want to know
the source of your strength. And Delilah is being told, go
to the law, go to the law. There's the source of my strength.
You remember the, the men in Acts 26 that Paul told him is
cut the ropes to those light boats. The law is not your light
boat. It's not the source of my strength.
You're not going to, here's what, here's what Delilah's saying.
How can I bind you in order to, in order to get to the source
of your glory and your strength? And he sends her to the law in
every case. And then he tells her what the
real source of his strength is. It's his hair. A hair is a picture
of strength and glory in the scriptures. A woman's hair is
her crown of glory. A man's baldness is spoken of
as shameless, shameful. The Lord Jesus himself is described
as having hair like wool, describing his white like wool, describing
his wisdom and black like raven, describing his youth and his
power. So the Lord Jesus Christ says, you can't bind me. You can't bind me, but I'll bind
myself. I'll bind myself with ropes of
kindness and grace and love to that cross. And I'll have my
glory taken from me. And that's exactly what happened
when Christ was made sin who knew no sin. He laid down his
glory. He had his head shaved. We say, Lord, what can I do that
I might have eternal life? And the Lord's saying to me and
you, I've already done it. I've already done it. I had my, I bound myself. You can't bind me. I bound myself. Think of Absalom having his hair caught in the
bow of that tree, being thrust through with, the scripture says,
10 spears. When David's men found Absalom
hanging there in that tree, hanging by his hair, scripture says they
surrounded him and they thrust him through with 10 spears. What
a glorious picture. of what our Samson, our Absalom,
the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us to love us. Justice had to be satisfied.
The law had to be fulfilled. Christ himself is the end of
the law. He was thrust through with 10 spears. His head was
shaven. He lost his glory at Calvary's
cross. He laid it down. His glory is
his union with the Father. When he cried, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He saw a woman and he loved her. And she pleaded with him how
it is that she might get to the source of his strength. And he
pointed her to the law. But the ropes and the green widths
and the rest that she tried to do never worked. Shaving of his
hair did. And if you read the rest of the
story, and we're going to look at the rest of it in the next week or
so, Samson is, his eyes are put out. Who is blind as my servant? That's
what Isaiah said. Seeing yet not perceiving. I've
separated your sin from you as far as these east from the west.
I remember them no more. The Lord put away our sin. He can't see them. And he's been
strapped to the two pillars of this temple of Dagon. And then the scripture says,
and his hair began to grow back. There's his resurrection. And
he pulled down those pillars. And all the Philistines were
destroyed. What a picture. Her name was
Delilah. Feeble. But he loved her. And gave himself for her. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your word. Thank you for the pictures of
thy dear son. Pray, Lord, that you would burn
these images in our hearts and cause us to look to Christ and
find our hope in him. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. 103. 103? 103. Let's stand together. One day when heaven was filled
with his praises One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men, my
example is He. Living He loved me, dying He
saved me, barely carrying my sins far away. Rising he justified
freely forever One day he's coming, oh glorious day One day they
led him up Calvary's mountain One day they nailed him to die
on a tree Suffering anguish, despised and rejected Bearing
our sins, my Redeemer is He Living He loved me, dying He saved me
Buried he carried my sins far away Rising he justified freely
forever One day he's coming, oh glorious day One day they
left him alone in the garden One day he rested from suffering
free Angels came down for his tomb to keep vigil Hope of the
hopeless, my savior is he Living he loved me, dying he saved me
Buried he carried my sins far away Rising he justified, freely
forever One day he's coming, O glorious day! One day the grave could conceal
him no longer One day the stone rolled away from the door Then
he arose, over death he had conquered Now is ascended, my Lord, evermore
Living, He loved me. Dying, He saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day, He's coming, a glorious
day. One day the trumpet will sound
for His coming One day the skies with His glory will shine Wonderful
day, my beloved one's bringing Glorious Savior, this Jesus is
mine Living He loved me, dying He saved me Buried he carried
my sins far away Rising he justified freely forever One day he's coming,
O glorious day