It feels kind of like a little
boy taking his calf and walking across the railroad track, came
to a trestle, and he looked real carefully, leading that calf
across the trestle. And suddenly, he heard a train
coming. And so he stepped aside where
there's just a little place where they used to have little barrels
and hold that calf there. The engineer saw that calf and
that little boy, and he let down that whistle and made that calf
jump. right down in the gorge. And
the fellow got his train stopped, and he ran back to the boys and
said, I'm so sorry, sons. I didn't mean to scare your calf
like that. He said, all I did was toot my
whistle. He said, but that was a mighty big toot for such a
little calf. So good to be with you all. So
good to be here. So good to hear the gospel preached
and to see God's hand of mercy upon you. Open your Bibles with
me, if you will, to Judges 16. Judges 16. Some years ago, a young man down in Southern California
started getting our messages and listening to them. And he
sent them up to his aunt up in the very top part of Washington
state. She'd been in religious circles
all her life and a very religious lady. And she started listening. After a while, I started to hear
from her. Then she started to order tapes
and videos and listen to them. And God saved her. She wrote
to me one day. She said, I've been in church
all my life, been reading the Bible all my life. I started
to listen to you preaching the scriptures and the Old Testament
scriptures, and suddenly the Old Testament popped to life
for me. And God revealed Christ to her.
In a few years, she found out she had cancer and was dying
with cancer. One of her sisters wanted to
do something for her, just because she wanted to do something for
her dying sister. And she said, I'd like to drive you across
the United States. And she said, I'll do that on one condition.
If you'll take me to Danville, Kentucky, so I can confess Christ
in baptism. And she came. And I had the privilege
of baptizing her. And she lived a few months longer.
But I said all of that to say this to you. The Old Testament
scriptures. like the New Testament scriptures,
speak of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Just a couple of weeks
ago, I had a man who is a very well-known, popular writer ask
me about, how do you find Christ in the scriptures? And we had
a long conversation. I said to him, It's not just
a matter of finding things to show that it's talking about
the Messiah and Christ coming and living in this world, but
rather the scriptures speak of Christ telling us who he is,
why he came into this world, what he accomplished while he
was in this world, where he is now, and what he's doing. Now,
when you understand who Jesus Christ is, why he came into this
world, what he accomplished while he was here, where he is now,
and what he's doing, you understand the message of this book. Jesus
Christ is God. God came into this world in human
flesh, in our nature. He came here to save his people. from their sins, and he did it. I don't mean he made it possible.
I mean he did it. I don't mean he provided for
it. I mean he did it. Jesus Christ by his obedience
unto death brought in everlasting righteousness fully satisfied
the justice of God and Redeemed his people from their sins so
that when he ascended into heaven With his own blood that is by
the merit of his blood atonement he obtained eternal redemption
for us and he's sitting on the throne of glory now and ruling
the universe ruling the universe Absolutely Manipulating the universe. I don't mind the word God manipulates
you You don't manipulate God God's got you in his hands. You
don't have God in your hands God does what he will with you.
You don't do what you will with God and that God is who rules
the universe is Christ, who obtained eternal redemption for us. And
he rules the universe to give that redemption to chosen redeemed
sinners at the appointed hour of his grace, to give us life
and faith in himself, and bring us at last to heavenly glory
with him. Now, we have that picture marvelously
in Judges chapter 16 and verse 4. The title of my message this
morning is Our Mighty Samson, or Samson, a type of Christ. Either way is all right. God
the Holy Ghost specifically names Samson as one of the great heroes
of faith in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. But if you've heard
Old Testament stories given to Sunday school children, or you've
heard preachers preach about things in the Old Testament,
When I was a boy growing up, I didn't go to church much. But
when I went and I'd hear those things, I thought, man, that's
better than Aesop's fables. That sounded like Jack London
tales. They were moral stories, speaking of supernatural things,
but said nothing about God's grace, God's salvation, or God's
son. They were just moralisms. And
that's how they were used. Don't ever read the word of God
like that. I can't tell you how many times
in preparing this message I read comments like this. And this
is what was always taught as I'd hear preachers preach about
Samson, or hear people talk about Samson, the blinding, binding,
grinding power of sin. You're all familiar with Samson's
great sin, and Samson being taken captive, and Samson being tortured
because of his sin, and folks making fun of him because he
was such a weak, weak man in so many ways, though once a mighty
strong man. In that regard, it is true. Samson is very much like you
and me. Samson was a sinner saved by
God's free grace, a man who lived for God by faith in this world,
A man who from his mother's womb had been by his parents dedicated
to God, but a sinner still. A man on whom in time God the
Holy Ghost came in mighty power, and he was himself consecrated
to God experimentally, but a man who is a sinner still. A man
strong in faith. and a man full of weakness and
sin. That's a pretty good picture
of Eric Lutter. And that's a pretty good picture of Don Fortner.
That's what we are. But Samson was indescribably
more than that. Samson was raised up by God as
a judge in Israel. When you read the book of Judges,
the judges in Israel were deliverers. They were men raised up by God
to deliver his people from their cruel oppressors who took them
into captivity. Israel would sin against God. And God would turn them over
to the hands of wicked men to show his displeasure for their
sin. And then God would raise up Gideon. And he said, go after
the Midianites. And God would deliver Israel.
And then they would turn from God and God would turn them over
a wicked man and he would show his displeasure with their idolatry
and ungodliness and he would raise up another judge, go deliver
my people. Samson was just such a man. A judge in Israel. As such, this
man Samson was preeminently a type and picture of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's begin in Judges chapter
16 and verse 4. Now you might think immediately,
well Samson wasn't much of a type of Christ. You're right. None
of the types were. None of them were. Adam was a
type of Christ, but not much. Moses was a type of Christ, but
not much. David was a type of Christ, but not much. Solomon
was a type of Christ, but not much. The ark was a type of Christ,
but not much. The Passover lamb was a type
of Christ, but not much. What do you say, Brother Don?
It takes a lot of types to show one picture when you're talking
about our Redeemer. And Samson is one of those types of our
Redeemer. Let's begin in Judges 16, verse
4. And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the
valley of Sorok, whose name was Delilah. The name Samson means
sunshine or shining sun. He is a picture for us of Christ,
the son of righteousness, who arises with healing in his wings.
Samson, we're told here, loved a woman of Sorok. Sorok means
a vine. or redness, as in red wine. This woman that Samson loved
like you and me was a daughter of Adam, whose name means red
earth. The Lord Jesus loved a woman, the church of God's elect. He
calls her his vine, his fruitful vine. In the red earth, a woman
washed in the fountain of his red blood. And the woman's name
that he loved was Delilah. Delilah, what a vivid representation
she is of the ones loved of God in this world. Delilah means
languishing. Probably her name was not a name
given her by her father, probably. Her name means languishing. It
is probably a name she got from the men of the town. because
she was known to be on her back all the time. Delilah was an
ungodly woman, languishing, feeble, oppressed, low, emptied, always
falling, impoverished, thin, wasted. That's what Delilah means. My name is Delilah. In his birth, In his life and
in his death, Samson portrayed our Savior in many ways. Now
let's keep our Bibles open in Judges 13, 14, 15, and 16. And you stay with me. I want
to show you an obvious five-fold comparison of Samson and the
Lord Jesus Christ, our great Savior. Samson was a type of
Christ in his coming, in his commission, in his consecration,
in his choices and in his conquest. First, it is coming. Samson was
typical of our great Savior in his coming into this world. In
Judges chapter 13, Samson was born to deliver Israel. And many things about his birth,
his coming into the world, showed to be a type of our Savior. We
read in Judges 13 how that the angel of the Lord appeared unto
Manoah. I remind you of what I told you
the other night, and you have been told by your pastor countless
times, I'm sure. Whenever you read in the Old
Testament of the appearance of the angel of the Lord, It is
a pre-incarnate revelation of Jesus Christ, the God-man, our
Savior. Our Lord Jesus, in his manhood,
was not eternally a man. Manhood is not eternal. But Jesus
Christ, our Savior, stepped forth as our mediator and surety in
the covenant of grace before the world was and volunteered
to become one of us. And the Father, the triune Jehovah,
trusted to him as our surety all things. And our Lord Jesus
constantly throughout the Old Testament appeared to chosen
sinners as the angel of the Lord, a man coming to save. a man coming
to save, a man coming to save, a man who is God coming to save,
a man who is God's messenger, God's covenant messenger. And
he appears so to Manoah and his wife here in Judges 13. It was
Christ himself who graciously appeared to Manoah and his wife
and promised the Samson would be born to a barren woman like
our saviors Samson's birth was miraculous you see his mother
Manoah was childless woman She was barren But Samson was the
special gift of God to her She being barren her womb closed
up Samson was conceived in her womb by the direct intervention
of God and And so Samson's birth was much like our Savior's. His
birth was foretold by an angel of the Lord. Just as the angel
came to Mary first and then to her husband Joseph, so here the
angel of the Lord first came to Manoah's wife and then to
him. Everything about Samson, everything
about his birth, his life, and his death were intimately connected
with three things. Now, if you miss everything else,
be sure you get these three things. Everything about Samson's birth,
his life, and his death were intimately connected with these
three things. First, everything about this man was intimately
connected with a promise. Look at verse 5, chapter 13.
Samson was born, he lived, and he died according to the merciful
purpose and promise of God to save his people. For lo, thou
shalt conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come on his
head, for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the
womb. And he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. So it was with our
Savior. He came into this world on an
errand of mercy to save his people, because God promised eternal
life to his elect before the world began. Imagine that. God, who cannot lie, promised
life eternal to chosen sinners before ever the world was made.
God created the heavens and the earth. God created the heavens
and the earth. You're not listening to me. If
you would, you couldn't sit still. God created the heavens and the
earth. because he promised me eternal
life before the world began. I don't half believe that. Ah! Would to God they'd get hold
of my soul. God made this world. so that on this little speck
of thing called the earth, he might display to the angels and
principalities and powers and wandering worlds his glory in
saving a people for his namesake. According to the promise of God,
Samson was born. According to the promise of God,
Christ came into this world. Everything about this man was
related to and for the glory of the name by which the angel
of the Lord revealed himself to Manoah and his wife. Look
at verse 18. The angel of the Lord said to
him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? They that know thy name put their
trust in thee. Manoah said, what's your name?
What's your name? And the Lord Jesus said, why
are you asking my name? What you want to know my name for?
They that know thy name put their trust in thee. And he says, why
did you ask after my name, seeing it is secret? Secret. If you have a marginal translation,
the word is translated wonderful. Why do you ask about my name?
You wonder who I am? My name is Wonderful. His name
should be called Wonderful. Counselor, the mighty God, the
everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is Christ, our Wonderful
Savior. Wonderful in all his being. Wonderful
in all he does. Wonderful in all he accomplishes.
Read Revelation chapters 4 and 5. And the book opens with a
door opened in heaven. and a throne set, and one sitting
on the throne, and a covenant surrounding the throne, and the
24 elders around there, and the living creatures leading the
24 elders in the worship of God, and there's a lamb ascending,
as it were, out of the midst of the altar of God, the throne
of God, a lamb that had been slain, and it takes the book,
and opens the seals, and fulfills everything ordered of God. for
whom or by whom the world is ruled and for whom redemption
was accomplished. He rules the world for us. And the angels and the elders
and the seraphim all fall down and cast their crowns before
him and say, you're worthy, whose name is wonderful, wonderful. Our dear Savior is such a Savior
that we cannot begin to describe his glory, we just declare it. We cannot begin to explain his
glory, we simply bow before it. His is the name in which salvation
comes to sinners. We come to the Lord Jesus and
pray in his name. If you ask anything in my name,
what do you say? What do you say? Ask anything
in my name, it's yours. And I preach, that just doesn't
make sense. I've been praying for this or
for that, and I always say, in Jesus' name, that's not what
he's talking about. That's not what he's talking about. In fact,
that had become such a tradition that generally, when I pray in
public, I seldom ever say, in Jesus' name. Well, I've been
there always. I always said, if it's according
to your will, generally, I never say that either, because it's
become a tradition. And folks think it's magic. It's
like rubbing a rabbit's foot. Said, Lord, we're asking for
this now. According to your will, in Jesus' name, amen. Oh, no,
no, no. What's it mean, then, to believe
on his name, to pray in his name, to come to God in his name, to
gather in his name? We come to God. trusting Christ,
trusting his righteousness, trusting his blood, nothing else for our
acceptance with God, bowing to your will. So that when we pray,
I see your family goes through
some difficulties, pray for your dad. Watch your granddaddy die,
pray for him. And you know what happened with
your granddaddy? Exactly what I wanted. God took
him. God took him. Now, I would have
never turned loose of him. I'd have never turned loose of
him. You wouldn't have either. But God took him. And what we're
asking is, Lord, your will be done. Your will be done. Because this is best. That's
what I really want. Glorify your name. That's best. That's what I really want. Accomplish
your purpose. Save your people. Build your
kingdom. That's what I'm asking for when
I call on you to do something in Christ's name. We trust him. We bow to him. We believe him. It is his name by which we are
accepted of God and forgiven of all sin, accepted in the beloved,
so that we come to God and we bring our songs of praise. in
our worship, in our reading of his word, in our efforts to live
for his glory. And the apostle Peter tells us
that we offer sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The wise man Solomon said a very
similar thing in a much broader way in Ecclesiastes chapter 7
and verse 9. He said, Go down. Enjoy the life of your youth. Live your days on this earth,
he's saying. Go about your business, you dear
sisters. Get up in the morning. change
diapers, and make beds, and cook breakfast, and clean the house,
and have supper ready for your husband when he comes home. You
men, go to work. Go dig the ditches, or sell the
shoes, or sell the insurance, or rule the nation. Go about
your business. Do your work. Do your work. In
the totality of your life, for God now accepteth thy works. Isn't that amazing? God accepts
us in the totality of our lives in the beloved, in Christ's precious
name. Third, everything Samson was
and everything he did for Israel was connected with, arose from,
and pointed to a marvelous sacrifice he could hardly explain. Look
at verse 19, Judges 13. So Manoah took a kid with the
meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord and
the angel of the Lord I love this did wondrously The angel
the Lord did wondrously here here, but no one and his wife.
They've got a they've got a little lamb And a meat offering in there. They're offering it in fire And
they set back watch the angel the Lord standing there Christ
is steady right beside him And as that flame consumes the offering,
the angel of the Lord enters into the fire and just dances
before him. The angel of the Lord did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked
on. I reckon they did. For it came to pass when the
flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, the angel of the
Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his
wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. But
the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to
his wife. Then Manoah knew. There he understood
what was going on. Then Manoah knew he was the angel
of the Lord. Now, there's no difficulty in
determining what this refers to. It speaks of the great sin-atoning
sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Great Samson, our all-glorious
Redeemer, when he laid down his life at Calvary. The offering
Manoah made, the slain lamb, is a picture of Christ, the Lamb
of God, sacrificed for us. And once the sacrifice was made
to the Lord, the angel of the Lord did wondrously. Oh, what a wondrous thing when
justice is magnified in mercy. What a wondrous thing when righteousness
is established in forgiveness. What a marvelous, marvelous thing
when wrath is consumed with love. What a marvelous thing that Christ
has accomplished in his redemption when he satisfied every claim
of divine justice against his people by the sacrifice of himself. And then, having fulfilled it
all, our Lord Jesus ascended up. the flame He ascended up
into heaven itself having obtained redemption for us Next we're
told that the angel of the Lord ascending in the flame Ascending
in the flame in the flame of the altar that is the very thing
that makes him accepted in heaven the very thing that makes him
Accepted in heaven. Are you listening? I go to my
father and I go to my father. When the spirit of truth has
come, he'll convince you of sin because of your unbelief, because
you believe not on me, of righteousness, righteousness fully established,
righteousness perfectly done, because I go to my father. He'll
send it in the flame. And the only way God, man, our
Savior, could go back to glory is if he accomplished everything
he came here to do. He could not ascend to the Father
if one transgression had not been put away for his people.
He could not ascend to the Father if everlasting righteousness
had not been brought in. He goes to the Father in the
flame. Now second, Samuel, or Samson
rather, was typical of our Redeemer in his commission. This man was
born with a commission from God, a commission announced by the
angel of the Lord at his birth. He was declared then to be a
great deliverer who would come into the world and deliver Israel
from their oppressors, verse 5. In that commission, he was
also typical of our Savior. He shall deliver Israel out of
the hand of the Philistines You're familiar with our Savior's Commission,
aren't you? It was given by the angel to
his parents Joseph and Mary before he was born Thou shalt call his
name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins Jesus
Christ did not come here to be a king sitting on that little
peanut throne over in Palestine, over in Israel. Now, I started
to say, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm glad to disappoint you,
if you think so. If you've got one of those Bibles
that's been messed with, I suggest you throw it away and get you
a good one. The Schofield reference Bible and folks who follow suit
from Schofield have been telling us since what the 1920s 1930s
that God had plan a now you're not going to believe this When
I was in Bible college, I went to two of the best Bible colleges
in the country and they're both rotten But when I was in Bible
college We were taught my wife attended one of them. She'll
verify it. This is what we were taught Christ came to be king
in Israel. That was plan A. Imagine, God
got plan A and plan B. That was plan A. But the Jews
wouldn't pretty please let him have their throne. They said,
no, we won't have him be our king. So God switched to plan
B and put him to death. God is not put at straits by
what men do. The Lord Jesus came to save his
people from their sins by the sacrifice of himself. They were
his people before he came. He didn't come to get a people.
He came to save his people. They were given to him in covenant
love and electing mercy before the world began. They were his
from eternity, put in his hands, trusted to him. He's the shepherd. They're the sheep put in his
hands. Now, I'm going to tell you a little something that surprises
folks. It's just dumbfounded. It's surprising. This is deep,
deep, deep stuff. Have you got it? You ready? If
you have a shepherd, and you commit to his trust 100 sheep,
and one of them is lost, who do you hold responsible for the
loss of the sheep? Who do you hold responsible?
It's the shepherd's responsibility, not the sheep's. I trust you
with the sheep. Give them to me. I'll bring them
home. I'll bring them everyone into the fold. I'll trust you
with them. The sheep are not responsible
for themselves. The shepherd is responsible for
the sheep. Jesus Christ was trusted, Ephesians
1, chapter 1, verse 12, as our surety before the world began,
so that God Almighty from eternity Ceased to look to me for anything You got that God Almighty doesn't
look to me for righteousness He doesn't look to me for satisfaction. He doesn't look to me for holiness
He doesn't look to me for obedience you said but aren't we responsible
for our sins if you're out of Christ? You'll find out soon
enough But if you're in Christ, he assumed total responsibility
for our souls and met the responsibility. We were his sheep long before
we came into this world. And he came here specifically
to save those sheep trusted to his hands. I am the good shepherd. I give my life for everybody. I am the good shepherd. I give
my life for the sheep and the goats if the goats want to get
on it. That's not what he said. He said, I'm the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. And there were some Pharisees standing around.
They said, we don't like that. He said, I wasn't talking to
you. You're not my sheep. Now, I say that with a little bit
of levity, because the most serious thing in this world, to deny
the factual accomplishment of redemption by Jesus Christ is
to deny his Godhead. I would just as soon hear a man
say that Jesus Christ is the bastard son of a German soldier
stationed in Palestine at the time he was born as to say he
died for folks who go to hell. Neither is more blasphemous than
the other. To deny his virgin birth is to
deny his Godhead. To deny his accomplished redemption
is to deny his Godhead. Both are blasphemy. Just as Samson
before he left this world. delivered his people. So the
Lord Jesus, as he was leaving this world, saved his people,
every one of them from their sins, by the sacrifice of himself. Now third, Samson was a type
in picture of our Lord in his consecration to God. Look at
verses 5, 6, and 7. He was from his mother's womb
a Nazirite. A Nazirite. He was typical of
him of whom all Nazarites were typical. The law of the Nazarite
is given in Numbers chapter 6. It's a strange law. It's a strange law. You read
the law and you think, there ain't nobody ever really fulfilled
that law. You shouldn't talk like that,
brother Don. You heard it, didn't you? There ain't nobody ever really fulfilled
that law. Well, there has been one, and that's Jesus of Nazareth. And on the basis of his obedience
as the Nazarite, we read the promise and blessing of God he
gave to Aaron to give to his people. The Lord bless thee and
keep thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. The Lord make his face to shine
upon thee. And God said, I'll do it. How
come? Because one Nazarite lived in
this world. Many, though, were pictures of
him, and Samson was one. Look at verse 5. Lo, thou shalt
conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head.
For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he
shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistine.
Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, a man of
God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an
angel of God, very terrible. But I asked him not which he
was, neither told me He told he me his name But he said to
me behold thou shalt conceive and bear a son and now drink
no wine nor strong drink Neither eat any unclean thing for the
child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day
of his death a Nazarite was a man whose hair
was never cut and He was a man who never tasted
anything that came from the vine. No wine, no grapes, nothing came
from the vine. He was a man ceremonially separated
from all other people, and by that ceremonial separation, purified
from all other people. Nothing about the man was necessarily
pure, as you see, obviously, from Samson. But he was a Nazirite
from his mother's womb. He married a harlot, but he was
a Nazirite. He married a Philistine, but
he was a Nazirite. He was vengeful, but he was a
Nazirite. What's that tell you? This is
talking about another man. This is talking about another
man. But the Nazirite was ceremonially pure. His hair was uncut. He never ate or drank anything
that was produced from the vine. So our Savior. from his conception
in the womb of the virgin, to his last breath on the cursed
tree, did always those things that pleased and honored God
his father. Samson had the vow. Christ fulfilled
it. But why the long hair? Boy, I
puzzled over that. Why the long hair? Somebody asked
me the other day. I think it was Janet asked me
if I was a hippie when I was growing up. No, not me. Not even before God saved
me. I thought all the beetles were
fags. No, I just, I had long hair. It's sissy. And if you wore long
hair where I grew up, you just thought you was redneck. I grew
up redneck, boy. If you had long hair and went to school with
me, you went home with bruises every day. I mean, that's just
the way it was. And forgive me if you've got
long hair. I don't feel that way anymore. But that's just
the way it was. That's the way it was. The Nazirite
wears long hair, and that will send him some strength. That just doesn't make any sense.
That just doesn't make any sense, unless you understand what it
signifies. For a man to wear long hair,
1 Corinthians chapter 11, is a shame. It's a shame. You think men ought not wear
long hair? They ought not wear long hair.
That's what it means. Greg, you and I are safe. But
that's not what it's all about either. That's not what it's
all about either. What's he talking about shame? Do you remember long-haired boys
when you were going to school? If they were big enough to whip
you, they still took a ribbon. Behind their back, they were
ridiculed, poked fun at. Everybody looked at them and
said, look at that sissy. Look at that sissy. Can you imagine
the ribbon Samson took? It was a shame. His shame before
men was his consecration to God. And that long hair, which calls
him humiliation and shame before men, is that by which he had
strength above all men in this world. Child of God, understand the
picture. Your strength to do the will
of God, your strength to serve God, your strength to serve this
generation, your strength as the people of God in this world
is your devotion and consecration to God. Oh, God, consecrate me. to yourself. Our mighty Samson
was totally consecrated to us. Can you get that? God our Savior,
in the totality of his being, is totally consecrated to you. Oh, for grace to be utterly,
totally consecrated to Him in everything. And this was our
Savior's strength. Samson's strength, like our Savior's
as a man, was his consecration to God. And like ours, it's consecration
to God, but that strength is his shame. Our Lord Jesus took
our shame. He took our humanity, and he
took our sin. And he said, shame has covered
my face. Fourth, Samson was a beautiful,
clear picture of our Savior in the choices he made, particularly
in the women he loved. this otherwise great man. And he was a great man. Oh, he
was a great man. He had a little problem. He had
an insatiable love for harlots. It's written as plain as it can
be right here. He had an insatiable love for harlots. First, we're
told in chapter 14 that he took a Philistine, a Gentile, to be
his wife in direct violation of God's law. Then in chapter
16, verse 1, he went to a harlot. And then we find him in chapter
16 with his head in the lap of Delilah, who was so well known
as a harlot that the Philistines did not hesitate to ask her to
entice Samson to her bed. Look at verse 4. It came to pass,
chapter 16, verse 4, afterward that he loved a woman in the
valley of Sorok whose name was Delilah. The word woman here
means a wild, adulterous woman. Delilah, a languishing woman. In Samson's case, the choice
of harlots was a terrible evil, just as it was the choice of
a Philistine or a Gentile woman. Both were forbidden by God. Yet,
even here, maybe here more than anywhere else, Samson is a type
of our Redeemer. Look at verse 4, chapter 14.
Samson went down to Timnath and saw a woman in Timnath. of the daughters of the Philistines.
And he came up and told his father and his mother and said, I have
seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Now, therefore, get her for me to wife. Then his father and
his mother said to him, is there never a woman among the daughters
of thy brethren or among all my people that thou goest to
take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said
unto his father, get her for me. Go get that harlot among the
Philistines for she pleaseth me well Well, what was the problem
with all this verse 4? But his father and his mother
Knew not that it was of the Lord That he saw an occasion against
the Philistines Samson did wickedly in choosing a woman who was a
harlot to be his wife and in choosing multiple harlots to
be his wives. He suffered greatly for his choices.
But our great, glorious, sovereign, all-wise, all-merciful God overruled
the evil for good. He always does. He always does. What's the good? He overruled Samson's choices
for the deliverance of his people. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
In much the same way, all that was done by the Jews and the
Romans in crucifying our Lord Jesus was done according to the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. They didn't do anything
to him that God did not ordain from eternity for the saving
of his people, overruling evil for good. When the Lord Jesus
came into this world to get a bride for himself, he chose publicans,
Gentiles, harlots, and sinners as the objects of his mercy,
love, and grace. In his family tree, I just love
this. In his family tree, our Lord
identified himself with such things. Let me tell you, or remind
you, who his grandmothers were. His grandmothers were Tamar,
an incestuous adulteress. Rahab, a harlot. The inn she ran wasn't the kind
of inn you'd want to have your husband spend the night in. She
was Rahab the harlot. Ruth the Moabitess, the dark-skinned
woman from Moab, a cursed people whose children were of a cursed
race of incestuous people. And Bathsheba, an adulteress. And this may shock the pants
off some good self-righteous religious folks, but I like to
shock your pants off. You need to be embarrassed. I'm
preaching this message to you today because my great Samson,
the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, has an insatiable love for harlots like you and me, an insatiable
love for dirty Lanquishing on your back filthy harlots like
you and me Those kind of folks he says and he won't save anybody
else He won't save anybody. Well, I'm not like that. Oh,
I hope God will make you see you are Until he does you'll
never seek his mercy Until he strips you of your righteousness,
you'll never seek his righteousness. Until he makes you filthy, you
will never seek his cleansing blood. Until he makes you in
need of mercy, you'll never seek his mercy. In Samson's case,
this was his greatest shame. In our Savior's case, it's his
greatest honor. You always find him in the company
of publicans, harlots, and sinners. Can you take your place there?
If you can, he came to save you. Find me a sinner. Oh, find me
a sinner anywhere. You find me a sinner. I'll find
you a man to whom I will say, God loves you. Christ died for
you. God has saved you by his grace.
Find me a sinner anywhere in the world. A sinner anywhere
in the world. I'll tell him just exactly that.
Because there are not many sinners to be found. A sinner is a sacred
thing. The Holy Ghost hath made him
so. Much, much more could be said
here, but I got to move on. Let me show you one more picture.
Samson is a type of our Lord Jesus in his conquest. We're
told in chapter 14 that he killed a young lion as if it had been
a kid. His lion roared against him,
and he killed it. And then he came back by to see,
he just saw out of them, see what I'd done. And he saw that
there was some, there was some bees who had made a nest in the
carcass of that lion. And he, uh, he was a little hungry,
need a little refreshment. See, he walked over there and
got him hands full of honey and ate the honey out of the carcass
of that slain lion. And he took some home to his
daddy and said, taste this, best honey you ever tasted. The God of peace shall brew Satan
under your heels shortly. And from the carcass of that
lion slain by our Samson, you will find the sweetest, most
refreshing honey your soul can imagine. In chapter 15, we read that Samson slaughtered
1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. And I read a lot about
that. And lots of things good to be
said about it. This is the best thing I ever
heard about it. I've been in college out in Springfield, Missouri,
about three or four days. And we had our first class in
theology class. And had about 800 preachers in this. Well,
fellows who thought they were preachers in this one class.
It's starting out freshman year in Bible college, our first theology
class. And the professor read from Judges
chapter 15. He said, isn't it amazing? God
used the jawbone of an ass to slay 1,000 Philistines. And he
paused, and he looked around. He said, looks to me like judging
from this crowd, God still uses the jawbones of asses to slay
Philistines. And most of us didn't catch it. Well, that was kind of insulting
to preachers. No, that's insulting to the ass. That's about all God ever uses,
just the worthless, empty jawbones of dirty animals like you and
me. And if God doesn't make that
of you, you'll never make a preacher. I don't care how well-trained
you are. Look at chapter 60. In his voluntary death, what
a picture Samson is of our Savior. Let's read this, verse 28. Samson
called into the Lord. He's arrested now, been blinded,
but his hair beginning to grow. And he said, oh, Lord God, remember
me. I pray thee and strengthen me.
I pray thee only this once, oh, God, that I may at once be avenged
of the thristings for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of
the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and on which
it was borne up. of the one with his right hand
and of the other with his left hand. And Samson said, let me
die with the Philistines. Now watch this. And he bowed
himself with all his might. And the house fell upon the lords
and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which
he slew at his death were more than all they which he slew in
his life. Like Samson, our great Redeemer
voluntarily laid down his life. And he destroyed forever all
those who would destroy us, sin, Satan, and death, and hell, and
the grave. Chapter 16 begins with him carrying
away the gates of the city of Gaza. They're 90 feet broad,
and he takes them on his shoulders, pulls them out of the ground
post and all, and carries them 20 miles away to Hebron. So he
carried away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. So he destroys
our accusers and the accuser, Satan himself. Our Lord Jesus. carries his own by the power
of his blood and power of his righteousness as our mighty forerunner
into heaven's glory, and there secures our everlasting salvation. But here in his death, we see
Samson at his greatest glory. He died by the hand of the woman he loved. He died with the Philistines. And our Lord Jesus, being put
to death by our hands, died as one numbered with the transgressors. He died when he bowed himself, as no man could ever bow him. He bowed with all his might. And he said, reproach hath broken
my heart. The reproaches of them that reproach
thee have fallen upon me. O God, thou knowest my guiltiness,
for he who knew no sin. was made sin for us, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And when He did,
now watch me, watch carefully, with one tremendous draft of
love, He drank damnation dry. And there is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, the Lord, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. That is, who
trust not the works of their flesh, but trust Jesus Christ,
the Redeemer. God give you grace to trust Him.
Amen.