Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 485 from your hardback timinal, 485. And let's all stand together. Number 485. We praise thee, O God, for the
Son of thy love, for Jesus who died and is now gone above. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, thine the glory. Revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for thy
Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Hallelujah, bind the glory. Hallelujah, amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory. Revive us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed
every stain. ? Hallelujah, thine the glory
? Hallelujah, amen ? Hallelujah, thine the glory ? Revive us again
? Revive us again ? Fill each heart with thy love ? May each
soul be rekindled ? With fire from above ? Hallelujah, thine
the glory ? Hallelujah, amen ? Hallelujah, thine the glory
? Revive us again Please be seated. That's our hope and prayer. Every
time we come together, the Lord would revive us in Christ and
show us a fresh measure of his grace and his love. I can remember
in religion planning revival meetings and how presumptuous
we were think that we could plan such a thing. But it is our hope
when we get here, when we come here, isn't it, that the Lord
would revive us. I want you to open your Bibles
with me to Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. I remember hearing a man say
one time, I don't preach in Revelation because I don't understand it.
It's not really that complicated if you have any understanding
of the gospel. The book of Revelation is written
in apocalyptic language that is veiled in its meaning, but
the meaning is clear. The meaning is clear, and I think
you'll see that in this chapter. Revelation chapter 12 verse 1,
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with
the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown
of twelve stars. That's the Old Testament Church.
It's not Mary, as the Catholics promote this. And she, being
with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder
in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads
and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. And his tail drew
a third part of the stars of heaven, and it cast them to the
earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to
be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born."
That's exactly what Herod tried to do in the birth of the Lord. This is the birth of Christ,
and this is the enemy of God seeking to thwart the purpose
of God. And she brought forth a child.
was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was
caught up unto God and to his throne. And the woman fled into
the wilderness where she had the place prepared of God that
they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days."
Now that's the period of time between the first and second
of the coming of Christ. It's three and a half years,
and it's the age in which we live right now. So here's the
church, living in the wilderness, having a place prepared for her.
And this is that place right here. God has prepared this place
for us. And there was war in heaven.
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon
fought against his angels and prevailed not. Neither was their
place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
out, that old serpent called the devil. The word devil means
slanderer or accuser. And Satan, which means adversary,
which deceived the whole world. He was cast out into the earth
and his angels were cast out with him. These are the fallen
angels that rebelled against God and were cast out into the
earth. And I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven, now, has come salvation and strength,
the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before
our God day and night." Salvation couldn't come until Satan came
and brought sin. There is no salvation apart from
being apart from there being sin. And
so this is what our Lord's telling us here. Look at verse 11. And
they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of
their testimony. And they loved not their lives
unto death. Therefore rejoice ye heavens and ye that dwell
in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the
earth and of the sea. For the devil has come down unto
you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a
short time. When the dragon saw that he was
cut, that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman
which brought forth the man-child." Again, this woman is the church. This is us living in the wilderness,
tempted by the adversary or the accuser of the brethren. And to the woman were given two
wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times,
and half a time." Three and a half years. That's the 1,260 days
that we just read about. The same period of time. That's
time between the first and second coming of Christ. So here's what
the Lord is telling us. The church is in this world for
this period of time. Satan, our adversary, is making
accusations against us before our God. And the Lord has prepared a place
for us and he's given us two wings of a great eagle. These
two wings are also mentioned as the two golden candlesticks
that feed the oil into the lamp. Also referred to as the two witnesses
who lie dead in the streets of Jerusalem. It is the Spirit of
God and the Word of God. That's the two wings that God
has given us. We come here, we look to God's
word, we pray to God's spirit, and we ask the Lord to deliver
us and to help us as we struggle in this world against our adversary,
the devil. Look at verse 15, and the serpent
cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman. This
is the tool that Satan uses. The water is the word of God.
Satan is called an angel of light and a minister of righteousness,
and he uses God's word so that the scriptures, the Lord Jesus
said that even the elect would be deceived if it was possible.
So he's twisting the scriptures, pouring out this false gospel
in an attempt to destroy the woman, the church. But he opened
his mouth, and the earth that he might cause her to be carried
away of the flood. This is Satan's hope that he
could use God's word in such a way as to pervert the gospel
and deceive God's people. But look what happens in verse
16. And the earth helped the woman,
and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which
the dragon cast out of his mouth. The whole world swallows up the
lies of Satan. And by them swallowing them up,
it only confirms more to the hearts of God's people that they
are lies. Is there anything that convinces
you more of the gospel than when you hear a lie being told against
the gospel? Oh, here's the earth swallowing
up the water coming out of the mouth of the devil. And the dragon was wroth with
the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,
which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of
Jesus Christ. Now there's the difference, brethren.
What is it to keep the commandment of God is to believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. What is the testimony of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the gospel of his free grace in the finished
work and glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a picture. This is our life in this world. This is our adversary. More importantly,
This is our Lord's grace to provide a place for his bride and for
his church and for this woman that she be not deceived. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for your spirit. Thank
you for providing us a place in this wilderness. Lord, the
floods of water that come from our adversary. our many. We thank you that you've given the world the swallowing up of this water,
Lord, that we might be preserved from the flood and that we might
be saved by your grace. We pray that you will confirm
to our hearts again tonight the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the commandment to believe on him. For it's in his name
we pray, amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 15 from the Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book, number 15. It is finished, Jesus cried. Then he bowed his head and died. Died for sins, but not his own. And redemption's work was done. Justice then was satisfied, God's
elect are justified. Righteousness our Lord brought
in, and removed His people's sin. Sin and death and hell subdued
by the power of Christ's blood. Grace to sinners now is given,
hardened holiness and death. It is finished, can it be, that
Christ's blood was shed for me? Yes, I know, He died for me,
for by grace I now believe. Please be seated. now has come the salvation. It wasn't until the fall of Satan,
bringing sin into this world, deceiving us and slaying us by
that sin that we could be saved. And I've titled this message,
Good Out of Evil. And we're going to be looking
at a passage in Judges chapter 14, if you'd like to turn with
me there. Judges chapter 14. God's people believe God. And they have the testimony of
Jesus Christ. And they keep by God's grace,
the commandment of God to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the rest of the world is swallowing up. I wanted to read this passage
from Revelation chapter 14 or 12, because it relates so much
to this text in Judges 14. The whole world is swallowing
up the lies of the devil. And the Lord has provided a place
for his church. And he's provided these two great
wings of an eagle, the Spirit of God and the Word of God, to
preserve her. Though she troubles in this world
and though this life is filled with trials and temptations,
we have the faithfulness of our God to keep us and to present
us faultless before his throne of glory with great joy. I hope
we can leave here tonight with that hope. and with that assurance. We saw this past Sunday from
Judges chapter 14, how Samson, the strong man, is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who took this roaring lion, which
the scripture says, seeketh whom he may devour, Satan himself. And he came upon him, and the
scripture says, he rent him with his bare hands as if he was a
baby goat. And there's our Lord defeating
the works of the devil on Calvary's cross. It wasn't much of a struggle. He made a short end of it. As
far as his adversary was concerned, as far as the struggle with his
father and with justice and righteousness, that was every bit of a struggle. But what I'm trying to say is
that this idea of Satan being, you know, the great adversary
or the equal power against Noah, he rent him with his bare hands
as if he was a kid. There's our hope. Look at verse
8, and after a time he returned to take her. Now, Samson had
to destroy the works of the devil before he could bring to himself
his wife, his bride. And that's exactly what we just
read in Revelation chapter 12. And after
a time he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the
carcass of the lion. And behold, there was a swarm
of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion. And he took thereof
in his hands and he went on eating and came to his father and his
mother and he gave them and they did eat. But he told not them
that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion."
So here's our Lord returning. We know what honey is a picture
of. It's the sweetness of God's grace and his word and his gospel. Honey is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here, Samson takes with
his own hand and he takes out of the carcass of this lion honey
and gives it to his mother and his father, and they don't know
where it comes from. We don't really understand where the sustenance
for our soul comes from. We have very little understanding
as to what it is that the Lord Jesus Christ did, and how he
provides that for us, and how the new birth comes, and faith,
and righteousness, and justification. All these things are a mystery
to us in so many ways. Verse 10, so his father and his
mother went down unto the woman and Samson made there a feast
for so used the young man to do. So used the young man to
do. And it came to pass when they saw him that they brought
30 companions to be with him. Now these young men represent
the world that is swallowing up the water that comes out of
the mouth of the dragon or of the devil. And Samson said unto them, I
will now put forth a riddle unto you. The gospel is a riddle. It is a mystery. It cannot be
understood by the natural man. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the spirit. They're spiritually discerned.
The Lord has to give us some understanding of what it means
to be a sinner and what it means to have Christ as our righteousness
before God. And so Samson puts forth to them
a riddle. And if you can ascertain, or
if you can certainly declare it to me within the seven days
of the feast and find it out, then I will give you 30 sheets
and 30 changes of garments." The word sheets here is the word
shirts. So here's, Samson says to these
men, if you can figure out the meaning of this riddle, I will
give you a new set of clothes, each one of you. But if you don't,
then you have to give me your clothes. But if you cannot declare it
unto me, then shall you give me 30 sheets and 30 changes of
garments. And they said unto him, put forth
thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them, out
of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth
sweetness. The eater, we know who that is.
The one who devours everything in his path, including the souls
of men. This was the roaring lion that
Samson slew. And he will devour our souls,
but for the grace of God and the work of Christ. As I said Sunday, we're no match
to him. He's no match to God. The devil's
God's devil. And the Lord is going to use
him. The wrath of man, the scripture
says, shall praise him and the remainder he shall restrain. And so just as we just read in
Revelation 12, it wasn't until the devil came to the earth that
salvation came. This is what we're learning here
in this type. Out of the eater came meat. In Psalm 27, verse two, the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking through David says, when mine enemies
and my foes come up against me to eat my flesh, they stumbled
and fell. Now, out of the eater came meat. It was God that put his son to
death on Calvary's cross for the sins of his people. The devil
was certainly participant in that whole affair, but he was
nothing but a pawn in God's hands. And when he came to eat up the
flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, he stumbled and fell. It was
his very act of hatred toward the Lord Jesus Christ and desire
to have him put away that accomplished the salvation of God's people.
This is the meat that comes out of the eater. My body is your meat indeed,
and unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you shall
have no life in me. Speaking of the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ as our righteousness before God. And we had no righteousness before
he came to provide for us his righteousness. Out of the eater came forth meat,
and out of the strong came forth sweetness. This is the mystery
of the gospel. This is what the natural man
cannot understand. This is what these men did not
understand. They didn't understand how meat
could come from the lion and how sweetness could come from
his death. This is the meaning of the gospel
that the believer holds to. That it's the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ that satisfied the justice of God, and that it's
his life that's my meat before God. And it's the sweetness of
his grace that he has brought to me through my sin to bring
me to God. And they could not in three days
expound the riddle. And it came to pass on the seventh
day that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband that
he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's
house with fire. Have you called us to take that
we have? Is this not so? Is it not true? You've called us here to this
gathering to strip us naked and to take away our clothing. Entice him to tell us the meaning
of the riddle." And Samson's wife wept before him and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest
me not. Thou hast put forth a riddle
unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me.' And
he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my
mother, and how shall I tell thee? And she wept before him
the seven days while the feast lasted, and it came to pass on
the seventh day that he told her. Because she lay sore upon
him, And she told the riddle to the children of her people.
And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before
the sun went down, what is sweeter than honey and what is stronger
than a lion? And he said unto them, if you had not plowed with
my heifer, you would have not found out my riddle. And the
spirit of the Lord came upon him and he went down to Ascalon,
which was one of the Philistine cities. and slew thirty men of
them, and took their spoil, and gave the change of garments of
them unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was
kindled, and he went up to his father's house. But Samson's
wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend." Out of the eater came meat, and
out of the strong came forth sweetness. Turn with me to Hebrews
chapter two, Hebrews chapter two. Verse 14, for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself
likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject
to bondage. Brethren, Only the believer understands
the bondage of a sinful nature. We didn't know we had a conflict.
We didn't know that there was a war raging until we were given
a new nature. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers, against wickedness
in dark places. And the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. They are mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds. This life for the believer is
a struggle with the old man. That's what Paul was saying in
Romans chapter 7 when he said, we know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold under sin. I've got this daily struggle
going on where the flesh is warring against the spirit and the spirit
is against the flesh so that I cannot be what I would be.
Satan, my adversary and my accuser, is always there to tempt me and
to try me and to accuse me. And he uses the law to do it. And here's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did in Revelation chapter 12. This is what he's doing through
Samson in Judges chapter 14. This is what Hebrews chapter
two is all about. He destroyed the works of the
devil. Let's read that verse 15 again.
And delivered them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. all their lifetime. They're not
talking about the subject to sin that we had before we were
converted. He's talking about our entire
life. All our lives are in, are subject to bondage. Can you not identify with the
apostle Paul when he said, I am sold under sinned? And he goes
on to say, when I would do good, evil is ever present with me,
and to will is present, but how to perform that which is good,
I find not. He's talking about this wretched
man, oh, wretched man, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death. And then he concludes the argument with this. Thanks
be to God. Through Christ Jesus, I'm free.
He came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He bore my sins in his
body on Calvary's cross. He put them away by the sacrifice
of himself. He fulfilled the requirements
of the law, which makes the lies of the devil just what they are,
lies. He's the liar and the father
of lies. And this daily struggle with sin is what causes me to
look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ and discover a new and
a fresh every day. That he has, how does it say? That he has delivered us. All the thoughts that believers
have. If the Lord, we have a, You know, David said the unbeliever
has no bonds in their death. They look at death, they said,
we've made a covenant with death, and hell, we're in agreement.
We have no fear. When the overflowing scourge
comes, it's not gonna take us. And the child of God, with some
understanding of eternal judgment, and some understanding of their
own sin, is in a constant struggle every day. And God is saying
to his people, out of the eater comes meat and out of the strong
comes sweet. This is what I'm going to use
to bring you to faith in Christ every day. The spirit of God
is going to convict you of your sin because you believe not.
He's going to convince you of your righteousness because I
go to my father. And he's going to comfort you
of the judgment because the prince of this world has been judged. There's our hope. The believer
has the testimony of Jesus Christ and they keep the commandments
of God. And the Lord has provided for them in the wilderness, a
place for three and a half years, however many years that actually
is in time, I don't know. But the entire period of time
between the first and second coming of Christ. The Spirit
of God and the Word of God will be there to direct the people
of God through this wilderness and in their struggles with sin
and with Satan and deliver them from fear of death, who all their
lifetime are going to be subject to bondage. You're a child of God believer.
Do you ever get to the point where you think, you know, I'm
going to be done with that sin. I'm going to be done with that
thought and with that idea and with that behavior and with that,
you know, I'm just, you know, and, and, and before you, it's
right back again in it. All your lifetime, you are going
to be subject to bondage. You are in the bondage of your
old man. You're carrying around a dead
corpse. You have an unbelieving nature. And the old man shall serve the
younger. Your old man's your flesh. That's
who you were first born with. And he's going to continue to
serve your new man. Now, these men had an answer
to the riddle. because they had gotten it from
Samson's wife, but they didn't understand the meaning of the
riddle. What a picture of religion. This is the water that pours
out of the mouth of the devil. The devil is called an angel
of light and a minister of righteousness. And the Lord said, beware for
the false prophets have gone out into the world and they've
deceived many. And if it were possible, they would deceive
even the elect, but it's not possible. Why? Because two great
wings of an eagle have been given unto them. The word of God and
the spirit of God will keep them. They will not be deceived. They
will not believe the false gospel. I'll see to it. They're going
to struggle. They're going to oftentimes think
themselves to be unbelievers. They're going to grieve over
their sin. But it's the very presence of
the devil that's going to drive them every day to Christ, to
find that he has delivered them. He has slain Satan as if he was
a young goat, a baby goat with his bare hands. He's killed him. He's put away your sin. All these lies and accusations
of the devil are not true for the child of God. I'm thinking about Jacob. Jacob,
you remember when he was fleeing from Esau, he had left Laban's
and was coming home and been 20 years has been gone, but he
was afraid that Esau's wrath was still kindled and that Esau
was going to kill him. And Jacob ends up at a river
called Jabbok and he divides up his family and he's scared
to death. Are you ever afraid? What do
you do when you're afraid? You do the same thing Jacob did.
You pray. You wrestle with God. All night
long, Jacob wrestled with the Lord. What was the cause of his
wrestling? It was his sin. It was his fear. That's what caused him to wrestle
with God. And the Lord delivered him and
changed his name that night from Jacob to Israel. You're a prince. Oh, by the way, I'm going to
touch the hollow of your thigh and you're going to limp the
rest of your life. Every day, every step that you
make in this world, you're going to be reminded of this night. And through your weakness, my
strength is going to be made perfect. That's Samson's slain. That's
what these men didn't understand. Child of God, do you have some
understanding of what the meat is that came out of the eater?
This is your experience. This is your life. The sweetness
that comes out of the strength of your sin and Satan. This is
your life. And it will be until the day
in which you draw your last breath and you leave this body of death
behind and you see him as he is and you're made like him.
Not going to get much better. And in fact, the more we grow
in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more
the struggle rages, the more of our sin we see, things we
didn't see before we begin to see how unbelieving we are. Before we may have thought, well,
it was just the shameful behavior that I want other people to know
about. But now I know it's my unbelieving heart and my thoughts
and all these things. And the more I grow in grace,
the more the accuser, the brethren through fear of death holds me
in bondage. But I've been set free. I have
hope. and the one who destroyed the
works of the devil. That's his works. That's his
works. These men didn't know anything
about that. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
13. Here's a I want I want to make something
very clear tonight. Because Our Lord doesn't use
fear and intimidation to motivate his children. It's the goodness
of God that leads to repentance. It's the love of Christ that
constraineth us. You know, men use fear in order
to manipulate and control and overpower one another. Sinners
were never afraid to come to Christ. They never were. What did these
30 men say to Samson's wife? You go find out the meaning of
the riddle, the answer to the riddle. They didn't know the
meaning. They never knew the meaning. They had the proper answer, but
they didn't know the meaning. You go find out or we're going
to burn you and your father. They used the thread of judgment
and hell to get the answer. to the riddle. Not the way it
is in religion. Men use the threat of, nobody
wants to go to hell. But the threatenings of the law
never saved anyone. Never saved anyone. Before we look at this passage
in Matthew, I have to show you this in Isaiah chapter one. Turn
with me to Isaiah chapter one. Look at verse five. Here's what
the Lord says to Israel when they are in rebellion against
God. In verse five, why should you
be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick and the
whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even
to the head, there's no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They've not been mollified, closed,
neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. The more I punish
you, the worse you get. Now, someone might hear that
and say, look at verse 18 of that same chapter. Come now,
let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be
as scarlet, they should be made white as snow. And though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Here's what breaks
the heart of God's people. It's the forgiveness of sin.
It's the destruction of the devil. It's the power that he has to
save. That's what brings us. The Lord
say, these men threatened, they said, we're going to, we're going
to burn you and your father, by the way, in the next chapter,
they did burn her and her father's house. So they threatened to
do it. If she didn't give them the answer,
she gave them the answer, they did it anyway. Isn't that religion? They think they have an answer
to the gospel because they have the right words to speak, but
they don't know the meaning of them. I ask you to turn to Matthew
chapter 13. And this is what I want us to
see. So I want to make this clear tonight. I think I've muddied
the waters with this in the past. The verse of scripture in Isaiah
chapter six, where the Lord says to the prophet Isaiah, I want
you to preach the gospel to Israel. And they will have ears, but
they will not hear. Eyes they will have, but they
will not see. And Isaiah said, how long, Lord,
do I have to do that to this rebellious and stiff-necked nation?
And the Lord said, until the cities be wasted without inhabitants
and the earth be, the land be utterly desolate, you just be
faithful to preach, but they're not going to hear you. And, you know, perhaps you've
had the thought that I've had. Maybe I have eyes, but I don't
really see. Maybe I have ears, but I don't really hear. Maybe
I just know things about God. Maybe I'm like these men who
know the right answer, but don't really know the meaning. And
that's not the Lord's purpose here. That is not His purpose,
is not to cause His children to be afraid, not to cause them
to doubt. Our Lord, speaking of these self-righteous
works, freewill Pharisees that have no understanding of the
meat that came out of the eater or the sweetness that came out
of the strong, They've got some biblical answers. They've got
some biblical language that they can use, but they have no understanding. They have no faith. They have
no faith. Look what our Lord says in Matthew
chapter 13, beginning at verse 10. And the disciples came and
said unto him, why speakest thou to them in parables? Now this
riddle that Samson gave to these men was a parable. It's a parable
of the gospel. A parable is a physical picture
that has a spiritual meaning. Lord, why are you speaking to
them in parables? And he answered and said to them,
because it's not given unto them to know the mystery of the kingdom
of the heaven. But to them, I'm sorry, because
it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them it is not given. I'm speaking to them
in parables because though they may be able to say, well, what's
stronger than a lion and what's sweeter than honey, they don't
know what that means. They have eyes, but they do not
see. Ears they have, but they do not
hear. They don't believe the gospel. It's all a parable to
them. It's all a mystery to them. the
mystery of iniquity, and the mystery of sin, and righteousness,
and judgment, and satisfaction, and these things, they don't
believe Christ. Look at verse 12. For whosoever hath, to him shall
it be given, and he shall have more abundantly, and whosoever
hath not from him shall be taken away, even that he hath. Therefore
speak I unto them in parables, because they seeing see not,
and hearing hear not, neither do they understand." Now that
is the most often quoted Old Testament passage in the New
Testament from Isaiah chapter six. And child of God, it's not
a reference to your fear of death and struggle with sin and conflicts with the devil. No,
that's a confirmation of your salvation. It's a testimony against the
religious who are swallowing up the lies that come out of
the mouth of the devil. that flood of lies that being
told. And they've taken from the... If you had not plowed with my
heifer, you would not have had an answer. Now the religious
are plowing the word of God. They're plowing the scriptures. The Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees,
you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal
life, but these are they which testify of me. The mystery of
the gospel is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is our salvation. He is the meat that came out
of the carcass of the lion. He's
the sweetness that came out of that which was strong. And you believe that, don't you?
You do. You do believe that all of your
salvation is dependent on the accomplished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ in destroying the works of the devil and putting
away your sin and establishing your righteousness before God. The Lord tells us to try the
spirits to see whether to be of God for many false prophets
have gone out into the world. That's what he's talking about
here. He's talking about the lies of the false prophets. The false
prophets will use the threat of fire to acquire the answer
that they want and end up burning up anyway. The law is for the lawless. Someone might hear what you,
well, it was love that turns men's hearts. No, it's love that
constrains the hearts of God's people. But the lawless still
need the law. The law does restrain the lawless.
You're not under the law, you're under grace. The unbeliever,
These men who think they have an answer to the riddle, but
they don't even know what it means, who are using the threat
of hell and judgment in order to get their way. They're under
the law and they need the law. They need the law to restrain
them. Men use fear to manipulate and
control other men. Someone might ask, well, what
is the difference between the fear of God and this kind of
fear? Because God's, the scripture
says, perfect love casteth out fear. The fear of God is what
causes us to run to Christ. Godly fear. The kind of fear of the law will
cause you to hide from Christ. it'll cause you to run from him
and try to cover up your nakedness with sewing together fig leaves. That's the difference. Does your
fear of God cause you to hide from him or flee to him? That will define what kind of
fear you have. If it's a legal fear, a sinful
fear, then you're going to try to find some way to But if God's
given you some understanding of the meat that came out of
the eater or the sweetness that came out of the strong, then
you're gonna find yourself fleeing to the one who delivered you
from the fear of death because all your life you're in bondage
to this old man and in need of Christ to deliver you again and
again and again. Notice also that these men were
only interested in losing their clothing. Look at verse 15 in our text. Go back with me to our text quickly.
Look at verse 15. And it came to pass on the seventh
day that they said to Samson's wife, entice thy husband that
he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's
house with fire. Have you called us to take that
which we have? Did you call us to this thing
in order to take away from us what we have? That's why men
won't come to Christ. Light has come into the world,
but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
are evil. They won't come to Christ because
they don't want to lose their clothing. The Lord told a parable
of a man, a king who gave a wedding to his son and everybody comes
into the wedding and the doors closed and the king's looking
at all the guests. They had given each one of the
guests a wedding garment when they came in. But there was a
man in the wedding that had his own clothes on. Don't you know
when he came to the door and the servant there at the door
was trying to put a wedding garment on him, he looked at that wedding
garment and he looked at the fine clothes that he had on and
he said, that's okay, I look better in this. And the king saw him and told
his servants, you take that man and cast him out into utter darkness. You're gonna take away our clothes.
That's what the gospel does. It strips you naked. Blind Bartimaeus,
when he said, son of David, have mercy upon me, what did blind
Bartimaeus do? He took off his dirty coat. He left it there
on the ground. It's what men won't have. Say, do I believe the gospel?
Well, let me ask you this. Are you trying to cover your
sin? by sewing together fig leaves? Are you refusing to believe on
Christ because you're holding on to your own righteousness? All of the unrighteous believe
themselves to be righteous. And all of the righteous believe
themselves to be unrighteous. No exceptions. You've come to take away our
clothes. Notice also that they got an
answer to the riddle. They achieved the answer to the
riddle by an emotional appeal. Samson's wife wept and wept and
wept until he finally just gave in and told her what it was Now what man-made religions all
that, you know, if I just if I can you've had this thought
I've had it we've all had it well if I can just if I can just
feel sorry enough for my sin and If I can just somehow be
broken enough, if I can be repentant enough, if I can be sincere enough,
surely I can persuade God to have mercy upon me. If I could just try a little
harder. That's the bondage that we're in. That's the thoughts
of unbelief that rear their ugly heads. That's why when we hear
the Gospel, we say, oh, thank You, Lord. Thank you. It's not on how sorry I am or
how much I weep or how much I try or how hard I work or how much
I believe. That's being under the law. It's believing that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that He actually defeated
Satan on Calvary's cross. He put away my sin. He fulfilled
the law. And all these accusations and
all these lies that are coming out of the mouth of the devil
are being swallowed up by the earth. And He has delivered them, who
through all their life, through fear of death, remain in bondage
and he keeps delivering us. Every time we have these fleshly,
worldly thoughts of salvation based on something that we do, meat comes out of the eater and sweetness comes out of the
strong. good comes out of evil. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for your spirit. Thank you for your word. Thank
you most of all for your dear son, our savior, our substitute. Lord, thank you for causing us
to believe on him. and to be able to discern the
difference between the flood of lies that come out of the
mouth of the devil and the truth of the gospel that is proceeded
from your mouth. We thank you in Christ's name,
amen. 36 in the hardbacked hymnal, let's
stand together. A mighty fortress is our God,
a cool work never failing. Our helper, he amid the flood
of mortal guilt prevailing. For still our ancient foe Doth
seek to work us foe His craft and power are great And armed
with cruel hate On earth is not his equal Did we in our own strength
confide Our striving would be losing? Were not the right man on our
side The man of God's own choosing? Thus cast who that may be Christ
Jesus it is He, Lord Sabbath is His name, from age to age
the same. and he must win the battle. And though this world with devil's
filth should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God
hath willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness
grim We tremble not for him His rage we can endure For lo, his
doom is sure One little word shall fell him That word above
all earthly powers, no thanks to them provided. The Spirit and the gifts are
ours through him who with us sided. Let roots and kindred
go This mortal life also The body they may kill God's truth
abideth still His kingdom is forever