Okay, go ahead and turn with
me again to Judges chapter 16, if you would. I had intended
to cover this pretty much whole chapter, and in my study, I got
through one verse. So we're gonna just look at one
verse tonight, verse four. Judges chapter 16, verse four. It says, and it came to pass
afterward that he, that being Samson, now look at this, loved
a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And we've all heard the story
of Samson and Delilah. There's been songs written about
it. But let me say that I never grow tired of hearing or reading
about the love that God has for his people in Christ. It's an
unconditional love, which simply means that it's not conditioned
on something that I do. It's given by unmerited grace,
grace that's undeserved, grace that's unearned. There's nothing
I can do to obtain this love, and there's nothing I can do
to lose it. For no reason outside of himself,
God and the person and work of His beloved Son came and He suffered
the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. And the only way we're ever gonna
get to God is if He bring us. I love the truth that a sovereign
God always displays sovereign love. Nothing or no one can separate
us from His love. That's why I love that. People
say, why are you always talking about the sovereignty of God? Because my God does what He wills,
in the armies of heaven, among the inhabitants of the earth,
in the heavens, and in the earth, and in the seas, and all deep
place, even in hell. And He has set His love and affection
upon a people, and they're gonna be saved. He cannot fail. Can I say, I love the truth that
a sovereign God displays sovereign love. You know, this thing of
preaching that God loves everybody and that Christ died for everybody,
it's so much more than just a difference in doctrine. Well, it's the difference
in God getting all the glory or not. If God loves everybody,
if Christ died for everyone and sinners can still be lost, where
is the glory of God in that? That makes God and His Christ
a failure. So that's much more than just
a doctrine. It's much more than just a difference
of opinion. It's the glory of God at stake
in that kind of preaching. The Lord Jesus said, my Father,
which gave them me, not just gave us to Christ, but gave Christ
to us, is greater than all, and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Oh, folks that believe that you
can be lost and saved and lost and backslide and saved and,
oh, What comfort, what peace, what rest is in such teaching? There's none. No man's able to
pluck them out of my Father's hand. He's sovereign, He's in
control. And that's what our study's about
tonight. And it, verse four again, and it came to pass afterward
that He, loved a woman in the Valley of Sorok, whose name was
Delilah. You know, the name Delilah means
feeble. The name Delilah means brought
low. It means languished. It means weakened. It means to
be without strength. Delilah is a picture of Christ's
bride, His church. She too was without strength,
feeble, languished, but in due time, Christ died for her. Speaking
of the church, speaking of His bride, Christ died for the ungodly
who were without strength. That's talking about us. those
who believe and trust in Christ. You know, we live in a religious
world today that's always talking about the love of God, but they
don't understand that the love of God is not for everyone and everybody. God loves a particular people.
It's all through this book. God loves those who love His
Son. God loves those who believe on
Christ. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son. And they stop right there and
they say, that's for everybody. No, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish. but have everlasting life. And
how people can take this verse to mean that God loves everybody
and Christ died for everyone, I'll never understand. For God
so loved the world, those in this world, that He gave His
only begotten Son. Who did God give His Son to?
Well, the Lord Jesus tells us right there in that verse, that,
and this is who, whosoever believes in Him, Christ. should not perish,
but have everlasting life. That's who He died for, that's
who He loves. Who does God love in this world?
Who did God give His Son to? Whosoever believes in Him. Who will not perish, but have
everlasting life? The Lord tells us, whosoever
believes in Him. That's talking about Jesus Christ. They're the ones who have everlasting
life, Believe in Him, trust in Him, depend upon Him wholly and
completely. And the Lord went on to say,
for God sent not His Son in the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on
Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. There's no love to
anyone apart from it being a just love. God could not love a sinner
apart from divine justice. Not in remaining God. I remember
years ago hearing the story of the chief and the thief. There was once a great Indian
chief who was a just man. He was a man that loved his tribe
and he ruled justly. He had the respect of his people. And there had been some theft
in his tribe, and he needed to get to the bottom of it. So he
actually set a trap with some goods that were left out on purpose,
and he hoped that those would trap the thief. And he only told
two of his braves, and then those two braves hid and wait. They waited. At dawn, they came
to the chief's teepee, and one brave entered, and he said, we've
caught the thief. And the chief said, good, we're
gonna sentence him to 20 lashes with the whip. So the braves
brought in the thief, who had been caught in the very act,
and to the shock and to the horror of the chief, it was his own
mother. Well, word spread very quickly
through the tribe because There was to be punishment of 20 stripes
with a whip, and the people begin to say, okay, now we're gonna
find out which is greater, the chief's justice or his love. You know, men today preach God's
love for everyone apart from holy justice. Well, he just loves
everyone. Well, he can part from justice,
not remain God. He can, apart from holy justice.
You can't have one without the other. God can't love apart from
His justice, and justice cannot be appeased apart from love. At noon, the chief's mother was
tied to the stake in the midst of the camp, and her garment
was loosened to expose her back. And as the warrior drew back
with the whip to inflict the whip, Suddenly there was an order
that came from the chief and he said, stop. And then the tribe
began to whisper among themselves and saying, the chief is going
to set aside his justice for his love. His love is greater
than his justice. And that's when something happened
that no one there would ever forget. The chief took off his
robe. and he, so that his back was
exposed, and he placed his body between his mother and the whip,
put his arms around her, and then gave the order, just two
words, the whip, the whip. And that day, the punishment
fell 20 lashes, not on the one that deserved it, but on the
one who loved her enough to take the punishment that she deserved. Now, that's a good story, and
that very well illustrates what I'm trying to say concerning
justice and love. But that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ did for His people, those that He loves. God made
a way for Himself to be both just and justifier of them which
believe in Christ. Romans 3, 26. There is no God,
but this God of love and justice. That's what God himself said.
He said, no God else beside me, a just God and a savior. He's both. And Christ is the
only way that he could be both just and justifier. And that's the difference in
the true love of God and the love man makes God's love to
be. Hereby, we perceive we the love
of God. How do we perceive it? How do
we discern? How do we recognize? How do we
become aware of God's love? It says, because he laid down
his life for us. God loves no one who doesn't
love His Son. God saves no one who doesn't
believe in Christ. When divine providence falls
in a way, and often it does in a way we don't understand, we
begin to doubt God's love for us in Christ. Oh, if and when
that happens, I encourage you to always look again to Mount
Calvary. Look to the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ. and know His love for us when
we look there. We see God in the flesh, God
who became a man, dying on the cross to put away our sin justly. And oh, how it screams how much
that He loves us. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Looking
to Christ and Him crucified, we should never doubt or question
His love for us. We shouldn't. Salvation is of
the Lord. No, to doubt and to question
our salvation is to question Christ's love for us. Christ
having laid down His life voluntarily. He said, no man takes it, I lay
it down. He did so voluntarily for His
people, His friends. How precious are those words? The friends of God. Oh, that's
the greatest proof of His love. It's called greater love, and
it certainly is. Christ loved a woman. Her name was feeble. Her name
was languished. Her name was weakened. Her name
was without strength. And in due time, He died for
her. And she, like Delilah, proved to be ungodly. But Christ loves
us with exceeding abundant faith and love. Paul said to Timothy,
which is in Christ Jesus, that's where it's at, that's where God's
love is, that's where God's mercy and grace to us is, it's in Christ. How do we know that? By the very
next verse. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world.
Who do you come to save? Sinners, sinners. Oh, I'm so
thankful he came to save sinners. That means there's hope for me.
The child of God won't talk much about their love for God, their
love for Christ. No, they won't. But they'll talk
a great deal about his love for them. And we sing, I know a whole
how I love Jesus. And when we do, I'm so glad that
the songwriter, the hymn writer added that because he first loved
me. I can sing, oh, how I love Jesus.
By faith, I don't love him as I should. Oh, but I do love him.
But why? Because he first loved me. I
don't know if I could sing that hymn if he hadn't written those
words. I love him because he first loved
me. That's the only reason we love him. Turn with me to 1 John
chapter four, hold you, stick your marker here and judge, even
though we're only gonna look at one verse, we'll come back
to it. But 1 John chapter four, look at verse 10. These are all
very familiar verses to you, but my, how beautiful they are
considering that the Lord Jesus loved a woman. And when we consider
who that woman is, Verse 10, herein is love. Now here's the love of God. Not that we love God. That's
why we don't talk about our love for God. Not that we love God.
That's not what it is. But that he loved us and sent
his son to be the propitiation, the atonement for our sins. How much did he love us? Why
do we love him? Well, John goes on to tell us,
look down at verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect. That word there means complete,
whole. Made perfect that we may have
boldness in the day of judgment because, I love how the scripture
tells us something and it always tells us why. Because as He is,
so are we in this world. Our love is made perfect, complete,
and full by His love for us. Our love is like His. Not naturally speaking, only
because as He is, by way of substitution, so are we. Not how we're gonna
be, He says, so as we are in this world right now. You know,
the Bible gives us four things that God is. God is a spirit,
God is holy, God is light, and God is love. These four things are the essence
of His nature. How do we know that God loves
us? Look up there, look at verse
nine there in 1 John chapter four. And this was manifested,
the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten
Son into the world that we might live through Him. That's why.
What did we do that God might love us? That's easy, nothing. Nothing. We were without strength.
We were feeble. We were weak and languished. And what did our Lord do? He
did everything, everything for us. He loved us and He died for
us. And that's such a wonderful gospel message. That's such good
news. It is if you see that you're
without strength, that you can do nothing. You know, many men
throughout the ages have gotten themselves into trouble with
illicit affairs with women, but in most cases, it wasn't love. In most cases, it was nothing
but lust. You know, as we've already seen
in Judges chapter 14, Samson saw a woman in Timnath, remember
that? We're told that she pleased him.
He told his parents, get her for me. We're told that he wanted
her. but we're never told that he
loved her. Seems to be simply a case of
lust. Then here back in Judges chapter
16, verse one, we see that Samson saw a woman,
she was a harlot, and he went in to her, and no doubt this
is just another case of lust. The word love is not mentioned.
Nothing to do with love. But here in verse four, we read,
and it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the
Valley of Sorok, whose name was Delilah, feeble, languished,
without strength, weakened, in trouble. She was in the Valley
of Sorok, You know that names always mean something, so I looked
that name up. Sorek means red. Sorek means
choice wine. Christ loved his feeble, languished,
and weak church so much that he shed his crimson, scarlet
blood that was trodden in the winepress of God's fierce wrath,
judgment, and justice against her sin. The Valley of Sorok. He loved her and he washed her
clean, and he loved her and presented her to himself, as Ephesians
5 says, without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. That's what Christ
has done for you. Samson loved Delilah, and Christ
loves his church. You know that word love there
in Judges 16 verse four means to have affection for. We know
what affection is. The word affection here means
endearment, to have feelings for. It means to have sentiment,
tenderness, warmth, devotion, attentiveness, closeness, intimacy,
favor, regard, respect. Basically everything that we
don't deserve. Samson loved a woman in the valley
of Sorek, and this, my friends, is a picture of Christ loving
us. You know, our love is so fickle,
it's ever-changing, but Christ's love's unchanging. Christ's love
is everlasting. He's the Lord who changes not.
Therefore, this is the result. ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."
Isn't that good news? In the end, Samson's love for
Delilah brought him great suffering and death, as we'll see. Christ's
love for his church also brought him great suffering and death,
much more so than Samson's. Samson suffered and died physically. Well, our Lord died physically,
and yet his soul was made an offering for sin. Isaiah 53,
10. In the end, Samson's death destroyed
the nation Israel's enemy, the Philistines. But in the end,
Christ's death destroyed all his people's enemies, including
sin and death and the grave. God's people don't fear death.
No, sir. Christ has destroyed death for
the child of God, for his bride, his church. For he, Christ, must
reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy
that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things, all
things under his feet. One day the church is gonna cry,
oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? And that's why right now we shouldn't
fear death. It's coming for all of us, none
of us gonna get out of this alive. Well yes, all God's people gonna
get out of it alive, every one of them. Why? Because death no longer has any
sting and the grave has no longer any victory. Samson loved a woman,
a particular woman. Christ loved a woman, a particular
woman. Not everyone, but particular
ones. They were often described as
certain men and women. You know, when Mary and Martha
sent word to tell the Lord about Lazarus being sick unto death,
you remember what they said? They said, Lord, behold, he whom
thou lovest is sick. Oh, if you're gonna appeal to
the Lord for help, appeal to him on his love for those that
he died for. He whom thou lovest. That's who
Christ came to save. Those that He loved and love
Him because He first loved them. You just almost have to add that
every time when we talk about our love for Him, don't we? Oh,
I love Him because He first loved me. Oh, how I love Jesus because
He first loved me. He saw a woman and He loved her. There was no beauty in this particular
woman. There was nothing in Delilah
that merited Samson's love. You know, the movies, I remember
the movie that Hollywood made of Samson, you know, and Delilah
was, oh, she was so beautiful. You know, the woman that played
her, we don't know what she looked like. And he simply loved her. He chose to love her. It was
the purpose of God for Samson to love her. His love for her
would, in the end, destroy the enemy. Samson couldn't help but
to love her. She may look like me in a dress,
who knows? Now I have to turn you here,
Ezekiel chapter 16. Verse one, you know where I'm
going with this, but my how it applies so beautifully here.
Ezekiel chapter 16, verse one. Ezekiel 16, verse one, again,
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, son, a man calls
Jerusalem to know her abominations. God causes his people to see
their filthiness. He causes them to see their unworthiness. God causes us to see our inability. God tells the prophet Ezekiel,
he said, cause them to see. And he must, and he does. Cause them to see that they didn't
merit Christ's love in any way, shape, or form. It was freely
given to them. Now, here's the question. Does
the believer's unworthiness change or weaken his love for them?
Absolutely not. You know, if anything, it simply
gives him all the glory for it. I don't deserve his love, but
it doesn't change his love for me. And it gives him more glory, it seems. The name Delilah is mentioned
six times in the Bible, and all six times are right here in Judges
chapter 16. We're told very little about
Delilah, really. You know why? Because it's not
about her. The story's not about her. It's about God's judge.
It's about God's deliverer. We're told only about her unfaithfulness. We're told only about her deception. We're told only that Samson loved
her. That's all that matters. This book is not about us. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not about what we did for Him. Not about what we did to
Him. It's about what He did for us. This is what we know about us.
This is what God says about us. Look at verse three, Ezekiel
16. Thus saith the Lord God unto
Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan.
Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother a Hittite. You're
just a bunch of heathen. And as for thy nativity, thy
birth, and the day thou was born, my navel was not cut, neither
was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou was not salted at
all, nor swaddled at all, and none I pitied thee to do any
of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast
out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou was born." That's every man and woman born of woman
by nature. We're heathen. We're ungodly.
We're dead in trespasses and sin. We're the worst of the worst.
We're less than the least. We're unfit. We're unable. No
eye pitied us. Because of sin and iniquity,
we were left to die, cast out to die. None had compassion on us. No eye pitied us. We were loathed. We were found repulsive by all
who looked upon us. How then could we be spared?
How then could we be saved? How then could Christ love us?
Verse six, and when I passed by thee. That's how. He passed by. God passed by us
in mercy and grace. God had compassion on us. God
saw us polluted in our own blood. God saw our condition and he
said, live. He saw us and he loved us and
look what all God did for us. Let me read through these verses
quickly. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field,
and thou hast increased in wax and grape, and thou art come
to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned, and
thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now
when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was
a time of what? Love. And I spread my skirt over
thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. Then washed I thee with water,
yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered
work, and shod thee with badger skin, and girded thee with fine
linen, and I covered thee with silk. And I decked thee also
with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on
thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in
thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus was thou decked with gold
and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk embroidered
work, and thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil, and
thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a
kingdom, and thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy
beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put
upon thee, saith the Lord God. Now how much there is said about
what we did for our sake? How much is said about what the
Lord did for us? What a glorious passage of Scripture. Verse six, He passes by us and
He saw us and He caused us to live. Verse seven, He caused
us to multiply and He increased us. Verse eight, He looked upon
us. He spread His skirt upon us, His righteousness. He covered
our nakedness. He swore to do us good. He entered
into a covenant with us. We became His, verse nine, He
washed us, He anointed us. Verse 10, He clothed us, He girded
us, He covered us with silk. Verse 11, He decked us with ornaments,
He put bracelets on our hands, He put a chain around our neck.
That's what He did. I don't see anything that we
did. Verse 12, He put a jewel in our forehead. He put earrings
in our ears. He put a beautiful crown on our
head. Verse 13, He decked us with gold and silver. He clothed
us, He fed us, He prospered us. And verse 14, He made us perfect
through His comeliness. were made perfect in His righteousness. Oh, the Lord Jesus loved a feeble,
languished, weak, pathetic woman, and He loved her until the end.
But in the end, it resulted in His death. But it resulted in her life.
And this is the gospel of substitution. This is the gospel of Christ
crucified. Now, if I make my salvation about
my love for God, if I make my salvation about my work for God,
I cannot and will not ever be saved. So, in closing, I want
you to turn with me to Galatians chapter 2 and rejoice with me. Look at verse 20, Galatians 2. Here in verse 20, Paul says,
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. The Lord Jesus was crucified
for his people, crucified in their room instead. That should
have been me on that cross. That should have been you. So
we were crucified with him because he's our head and he's our representative. He's our substitute. He's our
mediator. And he suffered in our name and
for our shame. He paid the penalty of our offenses. He was crucified and all our
sins was laid upon him and he put them away. He made an end
of them. They don't have any damning power over us anymore,
none. Paul says, nevertheless, I live,
I spiritually live. By faith, I live the life of
justification that He lived. I really do. By faith in the righteousness
of Christ, by the quickening influences of His Spirit that
live in me. I'm crucified with Christ. I'm
dead to the law and the crucified Christ lives in me. Dead to the
law. If you're charged for a crime
and you die, the law can't hold you accountable. You're dead. I'm dead to the law. And this
life, this life that I now live, I live in this body, in this
flesh right now. That life, I live by faith. That's
how we live. You know, I was thinking of one
of the songs we sung tonight. I thought, my, my, I just have
to sing that by faith. I don't love Him as I, oh, how
I love Jesus. I don't love Him like I ought.
I love Him by faith. Not faith in my love, not faith
in my works, not faith in my faith. I live by the faith of
Christ. He's the Son of God. I look to
Him alone for pardon. I look to Him alone for righteousness.
I look to Him alone for peace, comfort, and joy. I look to Christ
to supply every and all grace. And I look to Christ alone for
salvation. Now look at this. It says, who
loved me. He loved me. How do I know He
loves me? Well, remember what I told you
in the beginning? He loved me and He gave Himself for me. That's how I know He loves me.
For God so loved the whole wide, did God so love the whole wide
world? No, He gave Himself for those that He loved. So did Christ
die for the whole wide world? No, He died for those who believed
on Him. We know that the whole world
doesn't believe on Him. We wish that they did. Well,
I have children that are yet without Christ. They don't love
Christ, but I wish they did. And I hope and pray that they will.
But those whom He loves love Him because He first loved them. and they love Him and believe
on Him because they know there's no other way to be saved. You
sitting right there in the night, you that know Him, you that have
walked with Him for a while, you know there's no other way
for you to be saved. There is no other way. He is
the way, He is the truth, He is the life, and no man comes
to the Father but by Him. How do they come to God by Him? They're brought by Him, He brings
them. So I leave you again with the beloved John's words concerning
what love truly is. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that he loved us. And what did he do in love for
us? He sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Samson loved a woman. She was feeble, needful, languished. Thank you, Lord, for loving the
unlovable. Those who are unlovable, He made
lovable.