This morning, turn with me again
to the Book of Judges, Old Testament Book of Judges, this time chapter
15, if you would. This will be our third study
in a short series that I've titled, Samson, a Type of Christ. The
first study, we talked about the accepted sacrifice. Manoah,
Samson's father. had made a sacrifice unto the
Lord, and the angel of the Lord went up in the sacrifice, showing
his acceptance of the sacrifice. The only way that any sinner
can be saved is that if God provide himself for them as a sacrifice. And in that study, we saw Christ
as that sacrifice. The second study was the wife
and the riddle. And we saw just the kind of wife
that Samson chose and just the kind of wife that the Lord Jesus
chose. She was a pagan, a Gentile. She was a worshiper of false
gods. So were we by nature. And yet
he made this wife his own and her beauty was found in him,
her Samson. And then today's study, I've
given the title of the jawbone and the cross. Both are God's
means of deliverance. To the church of Corinth, Paul
wrote this. He wrote these very familiar
words. He said, for I determined I purpose judged not to know
anything among you save or except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You've heard that verse many
times if you've attended here regularly. What Paul's saying
here is I'm not your judge. I have determined, I have decided,
I've judged myself not to judge. None of us should judge another.
Why? Because we're all guilty of the
same things. God has, for Christ's sake, forgiven
you, and God has, for Christ's sake, forgiven me. And apart
from that, none of us will be forgiven. I judge myself not to judge.
All I want to know about you is this. I take these words for
myself this morning. This is what I want to know concerning
you. Do you know Jesus Christ and
Him crucified? When it's all narrowed down to
one thing, when it all comes down to one thing, that'll be
it. What do you think of Jesus Christ? Now, if it's of no importance
to you, then I don't have that much Good news for you this morning. But if you're a needy sinner
that needs to be saved, redeemed, have your sin put away, I've
got gospel good news for you. Do you know who Jesus Christ
is? Do you personally know Him? Not
just know about Him, but do you know Him? Do you believe in Him?
Do you trust in Him to put all your sin away? Secondly, do you know what Jesus
Christ did? Do you know that Jesus Christ
was crucified? Well, sure, Brother David, everybody
knows that. But do you know why Jesus Christ
was crucified? That's the message of the gospel.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Do you know who He is? Do you
know Him? Do you know what He did? Christ
died upon a cross. Do you know why He died upon
the cross? The answer is good news for sinners. to know Him,
what He did, and why He did it. To have some understanding of
this gospel that we preach is to have some understanding of
God's salvation in the saving of sinners. In knowing those
things, we must have some understanding that Christ's crucifixion on
the cross was purposed by God. God purposed and ordained to
save sinners. It's to know when Christ's crucifixion
was purposed and ordained by God. Why is that important? I
hope you see that. It was purposed and ordained
and initiated by God before the world began. Well, there you
go, preacher, on that predestination stuff. No, it's the gospel stuff. That God, before the foundation
of the world, set His affection on no count, no good sinners,
and He gave them to Christ. And all that He gave to the Lord
Jesus Christ will come to Him. Not a one will be lost. All of
them will be saved. And God purposed this before
the foundation of the world. Salvation is knowing Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Knowing that His death was purposed
by God. Knowing that God purposed it
before the world ever began. Knowing that they would be saved
by His cruel death, that shameful and agonizing death of crucifixion. That crucifixion that God purposed
without the sinner's cooperation and assistance. That's why it's
important to know when. Before any sinner had done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to election,
might stand not of works, not of anything that you've done
or that I've done that would merit God's favor, but of Him,
of God, that calleth, Romans 9 11. Christ was the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. That's what your Bible says.
I'm not sure which translation you have, but if it's a good
one at all, that's what it says. Because that's when He was, before
the foundation of the world. Not just made the Lamb before
the foundation of the world, That's what many think, he's
just made a lamb. No, Christ was ordained and made
to be the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Before
there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. Did you hear me? Before there was ever a sinner,
there was a Savior. Our Lord Himself said, all that
the Father giveth me, all of them shall come to me. He didn't
say all the world you gave me. He said, all the ones in the
world that you gave me. He came to save every single
one of them. And you might say, well, what's
all this got to do with Samson? I thought this was a series on
Samson. Well, it has everything to do
with Samson. That's what the story in Samson's
story here in Judges chapter 15 is about. The work Samson
finished in Lehi. That's called the place of the
jawbone. And the Lord Jesus Christ finished
his work on Mount Calvary called the place of the skull. And only
one of the two were actually finished. Samson finished his
work with an ass's jawbone and Christ finished his work nailed
to a cross. And you might be surprised at
how closely the two are associated. Judges 15, verse one. 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 hast 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. Now you remember we touched
on this last time. Samson was angry with his wife.
He took a wife from among the Gentiles. She was a Philistine. He was angry with her because
she had betrayed his confidence. He came up with that riddle and
she told his enemies the secret of the riddle. And he got, he
flew hot. He got upset. And now Samson's
passion of anger had subsided. So he visits his wife with a
kid with a goat to eat a private meal with her. And this was considered
by the historians to be a great honor for someone to do this,
to bring a goat and kill the goat and prepare the food. And
he did this for his wife. It was in an effort to reconcile
with her. How merciful Samson was after
what she had done. But her father wouldn't allow
it. When the elect of God fell on Adam, now listen to me, it
was just the opposite. God's holy justice would not
allow ungodly, unholy, unjust sinners to be in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of our sin, we have forfeited
the right to come into His presence. The holy justice of God will
not look the other way. God cannot be holy and just and
just sweep sin under a rug. It's got to be dealt with. It's
got to be punished. The wages of sin is debt. The
soul that sins, it shall die. God is gonna deal with sin. Because of our sin, Our sin must be dealt with. The holy justice of God will
not just look over it. So God gave Christ's wife to
his companion. We talked about that, that being
the law. And the law of God says, well, I thought that you hated
her, utterly hated her. After all, God is angry with
the wicked every day. And the Lord Jesus says, no,
no, I loved her with an everlasting love. I with loving kindness
have drawn her and have called her unto me. No, my anger subsided. Verse three, and Samson said
concerning them, now shall I be more blameless
than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. And
Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took firebrands and turned
tail to tail and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
Now he's captured 300 foxes and he ties them tail to tail and
he sets a little fire between the two tails. And can you imagine
300 foxes with their tails on fire, what havoc they could cause? And that's exactly what happened.
Verse five, and when he had set the brands on fire, he let them
go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and he burned
up both the shocks and also the standing corn and the vineyards
and olives. And then the Philistines said,
who had done this? And they answered, Samson, the
son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had given his wife and given
her to his companion. You know, look at the last part
of verse six carefully. And the Philistines went up and
burnt her and her father with fire, and Samson's gonna make
them pay. You know, no harm can be done
to Samson's wife and there not be consequence. And it's the same for the bride
of Christ. You know, Samson in the scriptures, I've heard him
preach from time to time in the past. For the most part, Samson
is taught and preached as an example of what we shouldn't
be and what we shouldn't do. Oh, don't be like Samson. Well,
you know, brother, Samson got in trouble with that Delilah.
You be careful. But there's a great, great deal
more to his story than just that. He's a vivid type, as we've said,
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Samson was a great deliverer. And he pictures and he typifies
our great deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's pay particular
attention to that. Now let's read a few verses here,
beginning in verse seven, that tells us the story before us.
Verse seven, and Samson said unto them, though you have done
this, yet will I be avenged of you. And after that, I'll cease. And he smoked them hip and thigh
with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in
the top of the rock, Edom. And then the Philistines went
up and pitched in Judah and spread themselves in Lehi. And the men
of Judah said to the Philistines, why are you come up against us?
And they answered, to bind Samson are we come, to him as he gunned
us. We're not here to harm you. We're
here to get this Samson fellow. Verse 11, then 3,000 men of Judah,
not 3,000 Philistines, but 3,000 men of his own nation went up
to the top of the rock, Mount Edom, and said to Samson, knowest
thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this
that you've done to us? Samson hadn't done anything to
them. And he said unto them, as they did unto me, so have
I done unto you." Friends, it's a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God. God is not a man that he should
lie, son of man that he should repent. And God is not mocked.
Whatsoever a man soweth, whatsoever a woman soweth, they shall reap. And they said unto him, we are
come down to bind thee that we may deliver thee into the hand
of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, swear
unto me that you will not fall upon me yourselves. And he did
that out of mercy and grace, because he didn't want to harm
them. Verse 13, and they spake unto him saying, no, but we will
bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hand, but surely we
will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new
cords and brought him up from the rock. And when he came unto
Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him, and the spirit of
the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon
his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire. and his
bands loosed from off his hands. You know, I remember reading
in the Scripture of another day when the enemies of God with
one voice and with one accord began to shout, crucify him,
crucify him. Pilate said, well, what evil
hath he done? I'm innocent of the blood of this just person.
And they said, his blood be on us and our children. Crucify
him, crucify him. My, my. Shows you something of
men and women by nature. Pilate said, what evil hath he
done? I'm innocent of his blood. And then look what Samson did
next. He did the same thing our Lord did. I hope to show you
that. Verse 15. And he, Samson, found a new jawbone
of an ass. Now remember, that was God's
provision for Samson and the instrument that he used to avenge
his enemies. The jawbone of an ass. And Samson
put forth his hand and took it, that being the jawbone, and he
slew a thousand men therewith. With a jawbone of an ass, he
slew a thousand men. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ
was given an instrument for avenging his enemies. And it was the cross
of Calvary. And by it multitudes were slain
and then born again to ever live. Did you know that the root meaning
of the Hebrew word that we translate as jawbone actually means to
be soft? It's referring to the fleshliness
of the cheek. if your parents ever did this,
but my mother had friends that was always coming up to me as
a kid and go, grabbing me by the cheeks, that freshly fat
part there, and go, oh, he's just precious. Well, I wouldn't. But they sure could grab you
there and make you pay, couldn't they? That's what that's referring
to. And anyway, It was on the cross, now hear
me on this, where the holy justice of God, His anger, His wrath,
His judgment was exhausted on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it
was made to be soft in mercy and grace to those whom Christ
died for. Oh, the wages of sin is death.
But Christ, my Deliverer, died in my room instead. And all God's
wrath and judgment fell upon Him. And me, the sinner, went
soft on, more than soft. And this was Samson's message.
I don't know if you noticed in this passage before, but Samson
here has a new riddle. He has a new mystery. It's the
mystery of godliness, how God was manifest in the flesh. That's
what the Bible is about. How God, God Almighty became
a man, came in the flesh and put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. That's what this book is about.
How God saves sinners. And Samson said here in verse
16, with the jawbone, or the cheeks of an ass, heaps upon
heaps with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
And it came to pass, when he, Samson, had made an end of speaking,
that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and he called
the place Ramoth Lehi, meaning the height of a jawbone, And
Samson lifted up that job. When he lifted up that job, old
friends, the glory of God and the power of God were clearly
seen. I think about the passage of
Scripture that says, and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Why? To look to Him and live. Just
as Moses lifted up that brazen serpent, God lifts up the Lord
Jesus on the cross, and we must look to Him to live. Won't you
look to Him? The Lord Jesus said, if I be
lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all unto me. All men, the
word men is italicized, that again meaning all that the Father
gave Him. All that He came and died for.
all that believed and trusted in him. That's who he died for. And when Samson made an end of
speaking, The word speaking means subduing. It means conquering
and destroying. When Samson made an end of his
work, when he finished destroying these enemies, the verse reads
as though Samson was slain one after another, all the while
saying, with the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps. And he
just keeps swinging that jawbone of an ass and killing his enemies. I've slain a thousand men, and
all the while Samson's killing them and saying these words.
But when Samson made an end of speaking, when Samson made an
end of his destroying, when Samson was finished, he cast that jawbone
out of his hand and he called the place Ramath-Lehi, the place
of the jawbone. Now, he cast away the jawbone. And that's a good indication
and instruction to us that the cross, that the Lord Jesus, that
God uses the means to save His people, is not what saves. It's not the cross that saves.
I sure wish folks could learn that. They'd probably quit wearing
them around their neck and hanging them on their walls and putting
them... crosses in their earrings. I
don't mean to offend anybody, but if we truly saw there was
no efficacy, no saving mercy in the cross, that piece of wood,
why would we do so? When Christ finished His work
on Calvary's tree, He said, I thirst. Look at verse 18, and he, Samson,
was sore of thirst and called on the Lord and said, thou hast
given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant,
and now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hands of the
uncircumcised. You notice what Samson's praying
here. He said, Lord, thou hast given, Isn't it amazing how often
the Lord says things in the past tense? Why? Because it's already
finished, Tom. It's already done. It's already
accomplished. Thus, given this great deliverance
into my hand, I finish the work you gave me to do. That's what
the Lord Jesus said. Now hold your place here in Judges
15 and turn with me to John chapter 19 if you would. I want you to
see this. I'm going to try not to keep
you very long. But look at John chapter 19 if you would. Verse 28. I'm trying to show
you how the jawbone of an ass and the cross of Christ are pretty much one and the same
when it comes to deliverance. In verse 28, it says, after this,
Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, finished,
that the scripture might be fulfilled, he saith, I thirst. It's exactly
what Samson said. Now there was set a vessel full
of vinegar and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon
a hyssop put it to his mouth, and when Jesus therefore had
received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed
his head, and he gave up the ghost. Now you see the type. Samson began to deliver Israel. The scripture says he began to
deliver Israel. It was a work that was never
really finished until the Lord finished it. And Samson began
to deliver Israel with the means that God provided, and that was
a jawbone of an ass. And Christ delivered His people
by the ordained purpose and means that God provided, and that was
the cross of Calvary. And one in the thousand of Philistines
said to the other, he said, what's going on up ahead? They're fighting.
And have we killed Samson yet? You know, there's a thousand
of us, just one of him. And another said, no, he's still
fighting. And said, not only that, he's still winning. He's
still killing men. Men keep dying. Another asked,
well, what's he using for a weapon? And the response is, you won't
believe it. You won't believe what he's using
for a weapon. He's using the jawbone of an ass. And many must
have said, well, that's the most foolish thing I ever heard. And it was, to them that perished. So was the cross of Christ. So
was the Christ of the cross. To them who perish, it's foolishness. Many who perish and who will
perish have said Christ crucified, how foolish, how foolish. Surely we've got to do something
to be saved. We've got to participate. We've
got to cooperate in some way. We've got to do something. You
know, most folks don't have any difficulty believing that Samson
finished his work on Rock Edom, and yet it seems that many have
great difficulty believing that the Lord Jesus Christ has finished
His work on Mount Calvary, and they still believe that they
themselves must do something to be saved. My, my. That's a very frequent
question among the guilty, what must I do to be saved? Both the jawbone and the cross
were offensive means, nothing beautiful about a decaying jawbone, and nothing but shame and disgrace
in the offense of the cross. Both were objects of disgust.
The ass was once alive and now dead. The cross was once a living
tree but now dead. No effectual saving properties
in either of them. Not in the jawbone, not in the
cross. Victory was in the hand of the
one who fought with the jawbone and victory and deliverance was
in the hands of those that were nailed to the cross. And back in Judges chapter 15,
Samson thirsted and he prayed for water. If you got it, look
at verse 19 with me. Judges 15 verse 19. But God claimed. God broke. God cut out. God divided. God tore a hollow
place that was in the jaw. And there came water there out.
And when he had drunk, his spirit came again and he revived. Wherefore
he called the name, therefore, Enhachoreh, which is in Lehi
unto this day. And that name simply means the
spring that burst forth. Oh, friends, you see the gospel
in this? You see the gospel, Jesus Christ
our Lord is that fountain of living water. And all those who
drink of that water shall never thirst again. They shall have
life everlasting. Christ is the fountain that never
shall run dry. Why? Because he drank the cup
of God's wrath dry, his work was finished, and God was satisfied,
and there's nothing for you to do, and there's nothing for me
to do, but to rest in His finished work. That's what we've said
all morning long, the first hour and the second. I told you it
was the same message. It is. It's the same message. Brother Tim James wrote, Samson
beseeches the Lord for water on the basis of the glory of
God. If he dies and he stays dead,
having delivered Israel, the Lord would lose his glory. The
glory of God requires that Christ die and live again by a voluntary
act. Now stay with me on this. I'm
almost finished, but you, this is so, so important. His death, his redeeming death,
the shedding of his blood cannot be effectual if it's by force. Or if it's by need, it has to
be voluntarily. He has to give up the ghost.
He has to lay down his life for his people. It's according to
his will and purpose. It has to be initiated by him.
Christ must. He said, I must lay down my life
for the sheep. And that's exactly what He did.
That's what the Good Shepherd does. He lays down His life for
the sheep. The glory of God is that Christ
died of His own deletion. His death was an accomplishment.
And that's what He said in John chapter 10. Matter of fact, look
back there. Look with me to John 10. And
I'll finish. I'll finish with this. John chapter
10, verse 11. This is what the Lord Jesus Himself
said. John 10-11, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd does what?
He gives His life for the sheep. He that is a harling, one that's
just been hired, just a hard gun. That's what a lot of preachers
are today. Just hard guns, harlings. He
that is a harling and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep
are not, Why, he seeth the wolf coming, and he leaveth the sheep,
and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.
And the harling, what does he do? Well, he flees, because he's
a harling, and he careth not for the sheep. Who cares for
the sheep? The shepherd, and he's the good
shepherd. Verse 14, I'm the good shepherd,
and know my sheep, and have known of mine. And as the Father knoweth
me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the
sheep. What does he do for the sheep?
He lays down, voluntarily lays down his life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. Oh, dear sinner,
are you one of those sheep here this morning? Do you hear the
voice of the Savior calling? Are you one of His lost sheep? I must bring them, I must also
bring, and they shall hear my voice, and they'll be one foe
to one shepherd. Do you hear His voice? Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might
take it again. No man taketh it from me. Here
we go. But I lay it down of myself. And I have power to lay it down
and I have power to take it again. And this commandment have I received
of my father. Yes, wicked men with wicked hands
took and crucified the Lord of glory. but it was by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God." God was behind it all,
Adel, every bit of it. He's the first cause of all things. Before the foundation of the
world, it was there that Christ was slain in the mind and heart
of God for His chosen people. And men and women who hated Christ
without a cause, They did not end his life any more than the
Philistines did Samson's. God in the three hours of darkness
punished the Lord Jesus Christ for the sin that you and I deserve. But that didn't end his life
either. Christ laid down his life. He gave up the ghost when
his work was finished. And that is the only way that
a perfect law can be perfectly satisfied. A perfect death fulfills
the law's perfect demands and it's glorified, it glorifies
the Lord who provided that sacrifice. And again, God gets all the glory.
Not unto us, O Lord, unto thine name. You get all the glory. And it's... It's amazing, the
Lord performs a miracle for the thirst of Samson, and Christ
is the living water that flows from the preached word. What
a miracle this is. The preaching of the gospel,
the sinner believing the gospel, what a miracle. My, my, it's
Christ, it's in Christ, it's through the gospel that satisfies
the sinner's thirst for righteousness. And in the gospel, the gospel
in a believer comes out, bursts forth rivers of living water. And like Samson, when we drink
from the water, we'll never thirst again. Our spirit is revived
and we have eternal life. We're born again, new creatures
in Christ. So friends, I am determined not
to judge you, I can only hope that you're determined not to
judge me. I can only hope that you and I know Christ. I can only hope that you're trusting
in His finished work, His crucifixion. I can only hope that you're resting
right there. I'm determined to know that much.
What think ye of Christ? Do ye see who He is? Yes, He's
the Son of God, but He's also God the Son. Are you determined to know who
He is? Are you determined to know what He did? If you are,
you will. None have ever sought Him in
vain. While you and I were ungodly,
Christ died for us. He died that we might live. It's
called substitution. Christ doing for sinners what
sinners could not do for themselves. I spoke with a young man the
other day. He seemingly had a lot of family problems. You know,
a lot of those things really come out this time of year, you
know. I tried my best to. Encourage
him in the gospel. Nothing happened that God himself
did not ordain and that young man brokenhearted said this as
sincerely as he could. Well, everybody has to make decisions
in life. And see, that's what this world's
been taught. There's decisions to make. I believe that my salvation
was according to a decision, but it wasn't mine. It was God's. It was God's decision. I love
Him because He first loved me. I have not chosen Him, but He
chosen me and He ordained me. He predestinated me. He purposed
me. to bring forth fruit worthy of
repentance. You see, He didn't come to call
the righteous. He'd come to call rotten, stinking, no good, wretched
sinners like me. I'm a testimony of God's grace. Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. It's free. It's a free gift. You can't buy
it. You can't earn it. You don't
deserve it. You can't merit it. willing that any should perish,
what, the whole world? No, all that He's given to Christ,
all that He has made His own. You see, to repent is to see
your need of Christ and Him crucified. You need God and you need Jesus
Christ. He doesn't need you. I'm so tired
of men telling people how much God needs you. No, God doesn't
need you, but you need Him. Everything that God requires
of you being perfection to the uttermost, Jesus Christ provided
for you, for He is at perfection. There's a popular song that's
been out for some time. It's called, I Believe in a Hill
Called Mount Calvary. Beautiful song, but I don't believe
in a hill called Mount Calvary. Do you, Gene? No, I believe on
the Christ of the cross. who died on Mount Calvary. And
I put all my trust in Him. And I'm resting in what He's
done for me. And I believe that Christ had given Himself for
us and to us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
savor. And I believe that Christ offered
this sacrifice once when He offered up Himself. And I believe my
Lord Jesus must have suffered since the foundation of the world,
but now in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away
sin. How? By the sacrifice of Himself. Whenever I see that word jawbone
again, I'm going to think about the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
who died there as the means God used to save me from my sin. Oh my God, make that the one
thing needful in your heart, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.