Okay, if you would turn with
me to our text again tonight, found in Joshua, excuse me, Judges
chapter 14. Judges chapter 14. Let me tell you again what you
already know. False teaching and false doctrine,
false religion. is a capable counterfeit of the
truth. How do I know that? Well, the
scripture says, for if it were possible, but it's not, it would
deceive even the very elect. That's from the mouth of the
Lord himself. He said, for false Christ and
false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders
to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. Now, what do
false prophets and false Christs do? They teach false doctrines.
They show false signs and false wonders. And why? To seduce and deceive. Now, both
those words, both words for seduce and deceive in the Greek mean
the very same thing. They mean to lead astray. And in the scriptures, a great
deal is said about these seducers and deceivers. They use Bible
language as their speech. They often are sincere, but they're
sincerely wrong. They have a form of godliness. That word form means an appearance
of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. They deny the
power of God in the salvation of sin. Paul told Timothy, from such
turn away. Have no fellowship with them.
Withdraw from them. Come out from among them. And
such as these are students of the scriptures. They are ever
and always learning, the Bible says, but they never come to
the knowledge of the truth. They search the scriptures and
in them, they think that they have life, but the scriptures
testify of Christ. And if you don't see Christ in
the scriptures, then you've missed life. And these who search the
scrippers thinking that they have life will not come to Christ
so that they might have life. And the Lord went on to say,
but I know you that you have not the love of God in you. And the Lord continued and said,
if one comes in his own name, him you will receive. But if
I come in my father's name, you won't receive me, you won't believe
me. And it's only in Christ that
we have life. And if you don't see Christ to
whom the scriptures point and testify and trust in Him alone
to put your sin away, you'll perish. And that's just how serious
this is. He that hath the Son hath life. I love the simplicity of the
scriptures. There's not anyone here that
doesn't understand that. He that has Christ has life. and he that hath not the Son
hath not life. So we see very clearly that Jesus
Christ is eternal life. In John 17, three, that is such
a simple verse of scripture, so clear and plain, and this
is life eternal. He's fixing to tell us what life
eternal is, that they might know thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. Well, don't I have to know
the history of the scriptures? No, you have to know Christ.
Don't I have to know the Greek and the Hebrew language? No,
you have to know Christ. That's life. And I often wonder,
why do men go about to establish their own righteousness? when
we don't have any? Well, first, Paul tells us they're
ignorant of God's righteousness, and they go about to establish
their own, and secondly, they have not submitted to the righteousness
of God. You see, Jesus Christ is the
righteousness of God, and there's no righteousness that God will
accept apart from His perfect righteousness, and for that very
reason, it's perfect. God won't accept anything less
than perfection. We know these things. And the reason men trust in a
supposed righteousness that they possess is because they profess
to know what righteousness is. They profess that they themselves
have it, but they're ignorant. They're ignorant. They're ignorant
of the righteousness of Christ that God has provided as the
only means of acceptance. And you know, the threat of judgment
has never saved a soul. I can remember as a young boy
growing up in the Baptist church, they'd show these films on hell. It'd scare the hell out of you.
But it never saved a soul. You can threaten a man with the
fire of hell and it won't change his mind about what he feels
he has to offer God, he'll keep right on offering up his own
righteousness to the Lord. Lord, haven't we, haven't we?
Look what we've done. But it's the love of Christ that
constrains us. I don't understand that, but
that's what it is. It's the goodness of God that
leads sinners to repentance. When this is something that men
and women by nature know nothing about. Just like Adam and Eve.
After they sinned, after sin came into the world, every man
and woman by nature only knows about covering themselves with
a work of their own hands. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned,
what'd they do? They hid from God and they sewed
fig leaves together to cover themselves. Well, that's not
gonna do it because blood has to be shed and God covered them.
God killed and provided the skins to cover them. Blood has to be shed, it has
to be. God won't accept it, it has to
be. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin,
no covering of sin. And men are ignorant of the only
righteousness that God will accept. And it's a great mystery that
has to be revealed to folks. You and I did the same thing. I'm not speaking for you. Some
of you may not have grown up in religion, but I did. And until God intervened and revealed
these things to me, I would have just kept right on doing the
best I could all the way to hell. Now, like Samson's Riddle, we
looked at it a bit last week. It's a great secret that only
the righteous judge knows, and it's... only revealed to whosoever
He will reveal it to. And that's what our Lord said.
He said, all things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no
man knoweth the Son, but the Father, and no man knoweth the
Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal
Him. So we see right there from that
verse that we'll never see these things if God doesn't reveal
them to us. And that's what we see in our
study tonight. Now in our last study, we saw
that when Samson returned to take this woman to be his wife,
he saw that carcass of the lion that he had slain with his own
hands. And he saw the swarm of bees
and the honey in the carcass of the lion, according to verse
eight. And he partook of the honey, and then you remember
he gave it to his mother and father and they did eat, but
he didn't tell them where it came from. You see, this was
Samson's secret. It was a mystery to his mother
and father. They partook of it, they enjoyed the sweetness of
it, the nourishment of it, but they didn't know how it came
about. Now look at verse 10. So his father, Manoah, went down
unto the woman, and Samson made there a feast, for so used the
young man to do." Now, it was a custom for the bridegroom's
father to prepare a marriage feast, and Manoah undoubtedly
did so with the help of some young men that he hired to help. And then in verse 11, we read,
and it came to pass when they saw him that they brought 30
companions to be with him. These men, these so-called companions
were often referred to as friends of the bridegroom. The Lord talked
about that some in the New Testament about the friends of the bridegroom. As we'll see, these weren't Samson's
friends at all. These so-called friends were
supposed to guard the bridegroom, but these 30 men were actually
there not to guard Samson, but to be on guard against him. And
look at verse 12, and Samson said unto them, I will now put
forth a riddle unto you, and if you can certainly declare
it me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then
I'll give you 30 sheets and 30 chains of garments. The word
sheets there simply means shirts. In other words, I'll clothe you
with a complete outfit, so to speak. But if you cannot declare
it to me, then you shall give me 30 sheets and 30 chains of
garments.' And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that
we may hear it. Now, in reading many of the old
writers, there's some debate here about whether Samson introduced
this riddle simply to entertain these fellas. Matthew Henry and John Gill said
that that's why he did it, to entertain them. You know, it
was something to do during the feast and it was a game, so to
speak. But ultimately, it was the will
and purpose of God. You know, all things ultimately
are, whatever comes to pass. And according to verse four,
it was because the Lord sought occasion against the Philistines
to destroy them. And that's exactly what came
to pass. And according to verse 19, this
riddle was given for the result that it produced. Everything
that God providentially does is according to the result that
it produces. Providence, as we've often said,
is God working out in time what He purposed in eternity. Verse
14, and he, Samson, said unto them, here's the riddle. Out
of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth
sweetness. And they could not in three days
expound the riddle. Now, in verses 12 through 14,
we're given the riddle and we're given the wager. And if these
30 men could solve the riddle in the seven days of the feast,
Samson would provide for them a change of garments. But if
they couldn't solve the riddle within the seven days, they would
have to give him their garments, leaving them naked without a
covering. And after three days, these men
were stumped. So in verse 15, we see something
here of the sin and the wickedness and the evil nature of men by
nature and the deceitfulness of false religion. Look at it.
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 it not so? And what they're
saying here is this, did you invite us to your wedding just
to take from us? Is it not so? That's what evil
men think of the gospel, which is compared to a wedding feast. Are you going to strip us of
our righteousness? Are you saying that what we do
and what we've done And what we have to offer God is of no
value? Are you gonna take from us that
which we have to offer God? Well, we wore our own wedding
garments, and you're gonna let this Samson take them from us?
That's what men accuse Christ of. They accuse Him of stripping
them of their righteousness, their clothing. And this is where
men are ignorant, because they think that their filthy rags
will suffice. And they're not only ignorant,
but willingly so. God has left them to themselves,
and he hasn't divinely intervened with his revelation to the mystery,
the riddle of the gospel. The gospel is a great mystery.
And the only reason you know it, and the only reason I know
it, is because God has revealed it to us. Now, our Lord said
to His chosen 12 in Mark chapter four, He said, unto you is given,
revealed, to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but unto
them that are without, all these things are done in parables.
that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they
may hear." Now, the reason was their hearts were waxed gross.
The Lord went on to tell us that. Their eyes, their ears were dull
of hearing. Their eyes, they had themselves
clothed. They hated the thought of salvation
being of the Lord alone. Men still hate that. They wanted
to add something to Christ's finished work. Men still wanna
do that. Like I've said before, it'd be
like me going to one of these museums and taking out a crayon
and going up to the Mona Lisa or some great work and say, I'm
gonna doctor this up a little bit. Well, it would not only
take away from the finished brilliance of the masterpiece, it would
be a criminal act and I'd be in jail for doing it. Paul told
the church at Rome, for I would not, brethren, that you should
be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your
own conceits. And that's the problem with men
today. They're wise in their own conceits. Why, to think that
we could offer God something that he'd accept. How conceited man is to think
that he can provide a righteousness that's perfect. that perfect
covering that God will accept above the perfect righteousness
that the Lord Jesus wrought and gave to us by the shedding of
His precious blood. We read it a moment ago, now
to Him that is a power to establish you according to my gospel and
the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of
the mystery. which was kept secret since the
world began, but now is made manifest by the scriptures of
the prophets according to the commandment of the everlasting
God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith."
That's talking about the gospel, that gospel that is revealed,
that gospel that's made known to us. And Christ is the gospel. the revelation of the mystery
that's kept secret. And you know, there are three
lies, and you know this, we've talked about this many times,
there are three lies that dominate the teaching of false religion
today. A dedicated student of scripture
knows that these three things are contrary to what God's word
teaches. God loves everyone, that's the
first one. Christ died for everyone, that's
the second. And thirdly, man's salvation
is contingent on the exercise of his own free will. And they'll
use verses, they'll use scriptural language, they'll use verses
to prove these things, or to try to prove them. Look at verse 16, 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've not told it my father or my mother,
and shall I tell it thee? And she wept before him the seven
days, while their feast lasted. that it came to pass on the seventh
day that he told her. Now, ladies, I don't mean to
offend you here, but she wore him down. It says, because she lay sore
upon him and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
What a picture here we have of the religion of men. Here they
get the answer to the riddle. They get an answer to the mystery.
without understanding at all the meaning of it. Many in our
day say that salvation's of the Lord, but they have no understanding
in the very least as to what the Lord did to accomplish it.
There's a life and death difference in knowing about Christ and actually
knowing Christ. You can know a lot of things
about the Lord Jesus Christ and not know Him. The believer knows
Christ by divine revelation. You're gonna hear that a lot
tonight. God divinely intervened and he revealed these things
to us. A believer knows the grace of
God by personal experience. Isn't that right? The religious
simply give mental assent to facts about him. Yeah, that's
true. Samson's wife wept. She lay sore
upon him. Now, in most cases, if a man's
wife cries long enough, he'll give her what she wants and desires.
And he does so because he loves her. But she calls into question
Samson's love. She accuses him of hating her.
And even though Samson hadn't told his mother or his father,
he now told this secret, this riddle to his bride, his wife,
and she gave it to the man that threatened her. And she did so
out of fear for her life. They had said, we're going to
burn your father's house with you and him in it. And verse 18, and the men of
the city said unto him, Samson, 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 had not found out my riddle. You know, most everyone in religion
says that they believe the salvations of the Lord. You just ask them.
You believe salvation's of the Lord? Oh yeah, salvation's of
the Lord. But they don't have any idea
what the Lord did to accomplish that salvation. If they did,
they wouldn't think that they must help the Lord in the accomplishment
of it. If the Lord only made salvation
possible, which is what many think, then he might need some
help. But God made salvation certain
for some, and He doesn't require any help from them at all. And
I'm so thankful, because what help can I provide? If it has
to be perfect to be accepted, and I can provide no perfection,
then what can I do? And if that was true, salvation
would not be of the Lord. Christ doesn't love everyone,
some love Him because He first loved them. Jesus Christ didn't
die for everyone, He died for some, and they are most certainly
saved. Man's salvation doesn't become
certain when they decide to let God save them, they're saved
for certain because God saves them. And that's what the Scriptures
teach. The salvation of God's people
was certain from the foundation of the world, Paul said before
we had done any good or evil that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, not of works, not of believing, not
of deciding, not by anything that we ourselves has done, not
by our will, but of Him that calleth. That means salvations
of the Lord. Lock, stock, and bear from first
to last, beginning to end. Now, They gave the answer to
Samson's riddle. What is sweeter than honey? What
is stronger than a lion? But they didn't know what it
meant. They didn't. They didn't know what Samson
had done. They didn't see Samson defeat
the lion. Men don't know that Christ defeated
Satan. Religion still gives way too
much credit to the devil. Just listen to him talk. They
didn't know what had transpired to bring about the sweetness
of this honey. All they had was an answer. And
there are many today, dear friends, that have an answer concerning
everything in the Scriptures, but they don't know how salvation
was accomplished. I heard a man recently say, I
believe in Jesus. And then he went on to attempt
to strip the Lord of his glory by making salvation all about
something that he had done. Men say they believe, they say
that they decide, they claim to exercise their will. They
brag on doing many wonderful works. Well, then how can they
say that salvation's of the Lord when they really believe that
salvation is all about what they themselves have done? Men today
still threaten death by fire. Unless you exercise your will,
unless you make a decision, unless you make Jesus Lord, unless you
give God your heart, unless you let God have His way and His
will in your life, well, you're gonna perish in the fire of hell. You may not have to turn the
page, but look over at chapter 15. Our Lord Jesus said in three
of the four gospels, for whosoever will save his life shall lose
it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. And that's what we have here.
Look at verse one. I wanna read these first six
verses. But it came to pass within a
while after in the time of wheat harvest that Samson visited his
wife with a kid, And he said, I will go into my wife into the
chamber, but her father would not suffer him to go in. And
her father said, I barely thought that thou utterly hated her.
Therefore, I gave her to thy companion. Is not her younger
sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray thee, instead
of her. And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless
than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. And
Samson went and he caught 300 foxes. Can you imagine how difficult
that was? It'd be hard to catch one, wouldn't
it? He caught 300. And he took firebrands and he
turned those foxes tail to tail, and he put a firebrand in the
midst between two tails. And when he had set the brands
on fire, he let them, the foxes, go into the standing corn of
the Philistines and burned up both the shocks and also the
standing corn with the vineyards and olives. Then the Philistines
said, who had done this? And they answered Samson, the
son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife and given
her to his companion. And look at this, and the Philistines
came up and burnt her and her father with fire. Men and women try to save their
lives from the fire of judgment only to lose it that very way. like this woman, Samson's wife,
she tried to escape judgment by fire only to wind up suffering
the very judgment that she tried to escape. Religious men and
women think that they have the answer but they don't know. We're
not dealing with open and obvious infidels. We're dealing with
men and women who claim to know the scriptures, who quote the
scriptures, memorize them, know them, can recite them better
than we can. They claim to know the scriptures,
believe the truth, and to love Christ. This woman claimed to
love Samson, and it's nothing but false religion. To those
who are not given saving grace and faith, the gospel is wrapped
in a riddle and hidden in a mystery. You cannot easily understand
the answer, and this is why, for the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are
His judgments and His ways pass finally now. I've heard people say things
like, I wish I could figure God out. Well, you can't. And you don't need a God you
can figure out. You need God. Who hath known the mind of the
Lord? We read that. Who's been his counselor? Who's
been his teacher? Who first gave him anything? For of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever. He's the author
and the finisher of our faith. He's Alpha and Omega. He's the
first and the last. He's beginning and the end. The
mystery of God has to be revealed to us. Let me read a couple of
verses out of Matthew 11. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent and
has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed
good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me and my Father, and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father,
neither knoweth any man the Father, but the Son, and he whomsoever
the Son will reveal him." Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, but
the natural man, "'Perceiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God, "'their foolishness unto him? "'Neither can he know them,
"'because they're spiritually discerned.'" They're a mystery,
they're a riddle, they have to be revealed. "'But he that is
spiritual judgeth all things, "'yet he himself is judged of
no man. "'For who hath known the mind
of the Lord, "'that he may instruct him? "'But we have the mind of
Christ.'" There's a way that seems right unto man, but the
end thereof are the ways of death. And Samson's wife and the men
of Timnath are pictures of false religion and false hope. How
so? Samson's wife proves to be false because she's given to
another. That's the destiny of a false church. She'll do whatever's
necessary to save herself. Her motivation for existence
is simply to continue existing. That's so easily seen by what
so-called churches boast of today. They talk about their numbers.
They claim acceptance based upon their personal righteousness.
They profess to give all the glory to God, but everything
they do is designed to exalt man. They seek to know the riddle
only to avoid death. They thrive on emotion and tears
to prove their sincerity. These are false lives at best. The men of Timnath seek to know
the riddle. They do so for fear of loss.
Well, you're not gonna strip me naked. You're not gonna strip
me of my righteousness, my righteous covering. They care about nothing
but themselves. They're willing to kill Samson's
wife to ensure that they don't lose their personal comfort. Men love to win, but even more
than that, men by nature hate to lose. And they gain the world
and they build bigger barns, and yet they lose their own souls. The clothing they received covered
them, but it came not from the riches of Samson. They were clothed
with the garments of the slain enemies of God. You know the
story, Samson went out and killed 30 Philistines to pay his debt. Men and women today aren't clothed
with the righteousness of Christ, but with the filthy rags of leprous
bandages. And that's all we have if we
endeavor to offer God what we have. And the amazing thing is behind
all this was the purpose of God. God saw to it that Samson found
occasion against the Philistines, just as he said. These men knew the answer, but
not the purpose behind it. They knew about the riddle, but
knew not what it meant. And religion can tell you historical
facts about the Lord Jesus. I know some historical facts
about George Washington, but I didn't know George Washington.
And I can tell you some true things about Elvis Presley, but
I didn't know Elvis. These men knew that honey was
sweet. These men knew that a lion was
strong. but they didn't slay the lion or taste the honey,
and they had no idea that the one who told them the riddle
did so for their own ruin. Religion and those of it are
ever learning, ever learning, never coming to the knowledge
of the truth. And you can know some things
about someone that you don't know, but eternal life. Life everlasting is to know the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. If you know God
and his Christ, you know everything that you need to know. And this is the Apostle Paul's
desire and the desire of every believer that I may know him,
that I may know Christ. the Lord Jesus Christ. Friends,
Jesus Christ is the sweetness and the strength of the gospel. And he's the mystery of the gospel.
And he's got to be revealed to you. And those of you that know
that are thankful for it. And you thank him and you praise
him for revealing it to you. Well, I hope that I didn't mess
it up too bad and that you got something out of that. Shelly,
why don't you come? Let's sing 255. You can remain
seated. Blessed assurance and that we
have in the Lord Jesus. 255. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.