Judges chapter 13. And the title of the message is,
A Bride Betrothed and a Lion Slain. A Bride Betrothed and
a lion slain." Now, we're going to begin in Judges 13 here with
the situation that Israel finds itself in, in verse 1, "...and
the children of Israel did again evil in the sight of the Lord.
And the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty
years." Now, this leads to what happens next, the raising up
of this judge called Samson. Samson, who was purposed of God
to be a picture of the coming Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 2
it says, And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of
the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and did
not bear. And the angel of the Lord appeared
unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold, now thou art barren,
and bearest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And this son, we see, was conceived
and born, and they named him Samson. Verse 24, And the woman
bare a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and
the Lord blessed him. So the first thing I want us
to see regarding this man, Samson, specifically, is that he is a
picture, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. First of all, notice
Samson's birth. It was a miraculous birth. He was born of a miraculous birth. His mother, as it says in verse
2, was barren. She could not bear children.
It was physically impossible for her to bear children. But
God, in a miracle of grace, opened her womb and brought forth life. Brought forth life, this man
Samson. But how much more miraculous
was the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His birth
was of greater worth and value than all of these miracle births
in the Old Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ, His body
was not made of the seed of Adam, like Samson. You can, when you
read Samson's life, you're going to see a mess. Samson is, his
life is a mess. I love the way God portrays the
saints. He exposes every filthy detail
about his saints. I like, like Oliver Cromwell,
when they painted his picture, he had a prominent wart on his
face. And back then they erased all the warts from those kings
for fear of death. The king's picture looked bad,
they'd kill the painter. But they did that to Cromwell,
and he said, no, you paint me warts and all. And that's exactly
how God does his people. He paints every wart, every sin. So we know that Samson, but Samson
is just a type, he's just a picture. This, our Lord Jesus Christ,
was made of the Holy Ghost, his body. in the womb of the virgin. Behold, the Scripture testifies
that the Lord, in Jeremiah, it says, I have created a new thing
in the earth. A woman shall compass a man. This same thing was revealed
in Isaiah 7 and verse 14. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which we learn
in the New Testament means God with us. God with us. This only testifies of the Lord
Jesus Christ and His birth and none other. Now, Samson was a
miracle child for sure. But He was born to deliver, and
He was born to deliver national Israel. As we read in the first
verse, Israel again sinned. Again they turned from God to
serve other gods. And God chastened His people. God brought the Philistines in
to rule over them for 40 years. Israel was opposed by wicked
men, even because they sinned against God. Now, the truth of
our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was born of a virgin, He was
no regular man. Samson was a very miraculous
man in that he had great physical strength. The Spirit of God gave
him physical strength to do Feats that no mortal man can do he
killed a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass He gathered
300 foxes together tied him to tie their tails and lit him on
fire We couldn't do that. Those were miraculous things
he did but how much more miraculous was the Lord Jesus Christ? Born
of the Virgin's womb. He was the Son of God made flesh
He was made under the law in order to deliver His people from
the bondage of the law and sin. So Samson delivered Israel from
a physical oppression. But how much greater is the Lord
Jesus Christ who came into the world to deliver us from a spiritual
oppression, to deliver us from sin and death. Surely the elect of God we can
identify with Israel, can we not? We, like Israel, have sinned
against our God. We have sinned against God, we
did evil in the sight of God, and by nature we rebelled against
God Even as others the elect there's no difference in us by
nature from any other man We were talking earlier about some
wicked men We were talking about some wicked men. Well, you know
who some wicked men are us That's who's wicked We by nature are
all spiritually born dead and depraved. So then there is no
difference among us. There may be difference in statue,
or there may be difference in our rank in society, our wealth,
or our privilege, but I tell you there is no difference in
our birth. We're all born under the same
curse. Over in Ephesians chapter 2, Paul says, of his elect, of God's
elect, whom he has quickened. He said, you hath he quickened,
who were dead in trespasses and sins. Listen, where and in time
past you walked according to the course of this world. According
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom we also had our conversation
in time past, in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, by nature,
the children of wrath. Even as others that wrath is
not God's wrath. That's ours We by nature hated
God even as others There was no difference in us And this evil we did as a result
of two things. A result of, first of all, Adam's
transgression. Adam's transgression. We were
all made sinners by the sin of one man. By Adam's disobedience, we all
died. We all are estranged from the
womb, speaking lies. You know, it is every person's
experience. If you've been around children
long enough to just watch them, they lie. You don't have to wait
very long, they lie. And you know what? We don't teach
them to lie. They lie on their own because
it is their nature to lie. We are estranged from the womb
speaking lies. We were truly dead even though
we were physically alive. And because of the deadness of
our nature, We cannot do good. We cannot understand or know
God. None of us by nature can or will
seek after God. Doesn't that oppose all earthly
religions? All earthly religions say that
man is naturally seeking after God. The true religion, this
Bible says that there is none, none that seeketh after God. That's what God says. So I'm
gonna take his word over theirs. He says, there's none that seeks
after me. No man seeketh after God. Why? Because none of us are good.
None of us are good. And nothing we do by nature is
good. It's wicked. Like this woman, Samson's mother
was barren in her womb. Listen, we were barren in our
nature. There is nothing in us to produce
life. Her womb was dead. Even so are
men unable to give life to themselves or make themselves acceptable
to God, either by works or by will. Listen to what the Scripture
says. Romans 9 tells us, It is not
of him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but God who showeth mercy. It's of God to show mercy. Our Lord Jesus, in Luke 12, was
speaking on the foolishness of anxious thoughts. He said, Which
of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to a statue? When
I was little, I always wanted to be tall. Everybody, all my
family is tall. Really, I'm the shortest male
in my family. I'm six foot, but I'm the shortest
male in my family. I always wanted to be tall like
my brother. You know what? No matter how much I thought
about it, I could not add one inch to my height. I couldn't
do it. You can be as anxious as you want about getting tall.
You can't add one thing to your height. Well, see then how foolish this
generation is who believes in the power of positive thinking.
Doesn't that just set that whole thing aside? They say, well,
if you just believe it, if you just put your mind to it, you
can do it. That's just, that's their belief.
That's their God, is their positive thinking. But we know this, that
God is sovereign. We know that God controls all
outcomes. How high, how tall you are, how
short you are, what color eyes you have. And I tell you, He
controls those things. Is it not just reasonable to
know that He controls this matter of salvation? He controls this. It is only in His hands to give
or to withhold salvation. It's His. It belongs to God. And He gives it to whomsoever
He will. And no man, by taking thought
of it, can make himself alive or accepted before God. Man is so foolish. Jesus said, if you can't do this
least thing, what makes you think you can do the greatest thing?
Salvation is the greatest thing, isn't it? But you can't do the
least, what makes you think you can do the best? Matter of fact,
Jesus answered this when his disciples said, you know, he
said, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
And his disciples said, who then can be saved? How is that? No
camel can go through the eye of a needle. No way. It's impossible. And he said, well, with men it
is impossible. Salvation with men is impossible. But with God, nothing's impossible.
This gives us hope. This is why I'm here. Because
God has promised to give salvation to His people. Salvation of men
is only possible if God does it. Therefore, this is why Jesus
Christ came into the world. This is why He was made flesh. Not to make salvation possible,
but to actually accomplish salvation. He sent Samson to deliver Israel. He sent Christ to deliver Israel,
His people, from their sins. Matter of fact, that's what Matthew
says in Matthew 1 and verse 21, Thou shalt call His name Jehovah
Saves. For He shall save His people
from their sins. This is why the Son of God was
made flesh and dwelt among us, that He should save us from our
sins. It was by our sins that God delivered us over to
death and Satan. This was a just reward for our
sins. Just as He delivered Israel over
to the Philistines, I tell you that it was a just reward what
He gave us. He told Adam, In the day thou
eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. He told him the judgment. It was a just judgment. Men might
not think it's just, but really, they're not judged. God is. And
God says it's a just judgment. But hear this, Jesus, our Samson,
He was born to be a representative man of all the elect of God,
and He has come to save Israel, all of Israel. Matter of fact,
that's what Paul tells us in Romans 11. Romans 11 and verse 26. And so,
all Israel shall be saved. That's not that little land over
there in Palestine. That's not that nation of Abraham's
seed. Paul's already dealt with that
in Romans 9. He said not all of those that
are of Abraham or Jacob's seed are of true Israel. He's talking
about spiritual. All Israel shall be saved. All
of the elect, either Jew or Gentile, all of them shall come in and
be saved. Why? Because he sent Christ to
save them. He sent Christ to save them.
And secondly, now I want us to consider how the Lord pictures in this passage those whom He
came to save. Now go to chapter 14. I want
us to see the picture of the elect. The picture of the elect
here given. And Samson. And 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. O believer, consider the glory
of this, that before the world was made, Before the first note
of Sarah's song was sung, the father chose a people that he
would save. He chose a people and gave them
to his son. And how does the scriptures describe
this people? They are described as a bride. A bride. Is that what John said
when he saw the vision? He said, I saw New Jerusalem
coming down from heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. The Father chose a bride. And this elect people is pictured
in our text. It is the bride of Christ. But
notice how they're first mentioned. The daughters. of the daughters
of the Philistines. Now, Samson went down and he
saw this woman. And she was a Gentile woman. She was a daughter of the bondage,
of the people that enslaved them. And he came up to his dad and
he said, Dad, I found a woman. Oh, she's so beautiful. Father,
I want her. You get her for me. I have to
have her. Oh, you who are believers in
Christ, may by the Spirit of God He show you that that's exactly
what Christ said about you. He said, Oh, I've got to have
her. I've got to have them. They're
mine. That's my bride. I've got to
have them. Father, choose them for me. And the father chose
them for his son. Go over to Hosea and see this
in picture in Hosea. You remember the prophet of God
was told to marry that harlot woman, Gomer, as a picture of
God marrying Israel. And notice what he says in chapter
2 and verse 19. And I will betroth thee unto
me forever. Yes, I will betroth thee. Me? I like that. I just put that in there. When
I read that, I go, me? And he says, yes. I will betroth
thee unto me. Yea, I will betroth thee unto
me, listen, in righteousness, in judgment, and in lovingkindness,
and in mercy. I will even betroth thee unto
me in faithfulness. And thou shalt know the Lord. Behold, the church of God are
betrothed to God are betrothed to Christ, and they are all given
by the Father to Christ, and they are all pleasing to Him. Isn't that what Samson said of
this bride? He said, She pleaseth me. She was pleasing to Samson. And so is his elect bride, his
church that he loved, And she was from eternity the object
of his immutable, unchangeable, and infinite love. Get that.
He says in Jeremiah 31, I have loved thee. I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. I have loved thee. And from eternity
he betrothed us to him. But listen, there's a huge problem
with Samson's choice, isn't there? She's a daughter of the Philistines. She's a daughter of the Philistines.
If you were to go back to Deuteronomy 7, you could read it later, but
the law says this, that the people of Israel were not allowed to
marry the strangers. When they came into that land,
God forbid them to marry the daughters of those heathens. It was against the law to take
this wife. Samson, it was against the law.
Matter of fact, his parents here object. They object, say, hey,
is there not one of the daughters of... Can we settle you down,
boy, and just try to pick somebody over here? No! You can't settle
him down. He wants that one. But how in
the world can he have that one? And this raises the question
of regarding Christ and His bride. How can Christ who is pure, holy, be married to us. How is that possible? How is
that possible for Him to be betrothed to us who are by nature sinners? We have broken the law and surely
are like the harlot Gomer, which means, her name means wasted. That's what we are by nature,
wasted. We are as a harlot, defiled,
used up. Not as one that was raped, but
rather one that played the harlot. We did it willingly. How can Christ ever desire us
or be betrothed to us? How then shall we be betrothed
in righteousness? Isn't that what he said? I'll
betroth thee to me in righteousness. How can that possibly be, seeing
we have no righteousness? Nothing to add to the union. We are unrighteous. How shall
God betroth us in judgment, seeing we only deserve wrath? How shall
we be wed in loving kindness to the Son when we by nature
hated Him? And here in verse 5, he tells
us how. Go back to your text. Look. And
he's going to tell you how. Then went Samson down, and his
father and his mother to Timnath. This is how it is that Samson
would marry this woman is that they went down to her. Behold here the picture of the
Trinity of God coming down to save us. Coming down to wed us. The picture of the Trinity of
God's persons to get His bride. It was surely the Son who came
down in the flesh, but also did not the Father come with the
Son? You bet He did. In John chapter
8, the Lord Jesus tells us this. Chapter 8, verse 29, He said,
He that sent Me is with Me. So who came with? Our Lord Jesus
Christ. The Father did. The Father came. The Father hath not left me alone,
Christ said, for I do always those things that please Him. And surely the Son was seen of
men and was pleased of the Father in His fleshly nature. How? By the Holy Spirit being in Christ. So we see that the Spirit of
God was with Christ as He came to save His people, to get His
bride. Scripture says that the Holy
Spirit in John 3 was given to him without measure. As we read
of Samson, you're going to see spurts of the Spirit given to
Samson. But our Samson, our husband,
was given the Spirit of God without measure. Without measure. And surely this was greatly seen,
most clearly seen. If you want to see that all three
came down, you see the baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can't
you see them all plainly there? The Father spoke as He was baptized,
and He said, this is My beloved Son. And the Son was baptized,
immersed in the water, and brought up out of the water. You see
the Son come in the flesh, but you also see the Spirit of God
descending on Him like a dove. You see the manifestation of
the Trinity, of the persons of God. So how is it that God saves? The whole person of God saves. Salvation is a work of the triune
God. It's a work of God. Remember,
God the Father chose. God the Son redeems. And God the Holy Spirit calls
and keeps. So it is a work of God completely. And so we see that all of them
came down. Now Paul declares this, in Christ
dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily. But notice in
our text, go back to your text and look at this. Now they all
came down, but notice this, they came to the vineyards of Timnath
and behold, a young lion roared against Him. Not against them, but against
Samson. They all three went down, but
who is it that the lion comes against? It comes against Samson. And behold, the lion here is
a picture of the Law of God. The Law of God. Behold, the law and justice of
God is as a young lion in his strength, thirsting for the blood
of all who would pass by this way. Therefore, Jesus came as our
Samson for his bride, and not the other way around. Imagine
if the bride had gone to Samson. What would have happened? She
would have been torn to pieces. That's the same way it is with
us. If we were to go to God, if man tries to work his way
into the presence of God, he'll be devoured. By what principle? The law of God would devour him. Because he sinned against God. But in order to rescue the desire
of his heart, Christ must first come and deal with the lion of
the law of God that condemns us, that thirsted for justice
to be satisfied. But see what Samson did to this
lion. The lion roared against him,
and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and he rent
him as he would have rent a goat. He rent him as he would a baby
goat. And he had nothing in his hand. Nothing in his hand. See what
our Savior did then to the lion of the law is that he tore it
apart. He rent it in twain. He did this in the strength of
the Holy Spirit and by his own two hands. Listen, he honored
the law of God. That's how he did it. He honored
it. He honored it. The law of God. And he did it
without anything in his hands. In other words, he didn't have
any help. He didn't require any help to
fulfill the law of God, did he? He did it all on His own. Isaiah 42 verse 21 said, The
Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake. Sinner,
then see how God can betroth sinners in righteousness to Christ,
even because of Christ's righteous merits, because of His righteousness,
which He imputes to us. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. That's a blessed man. You want
to find a happy person? You find a person to whom God
won't impute sin. Jesus is able to betroth sinners
to Himself in judgment, even because by His one offering for
sin. Listen, the Scriptures tell us
He hath slain the enemy. The enmity. He had slain the
enemy. Excuse my thought. Enmity. He had slain the enmity. What
is the enmity? Go to Ephesians. I want you to
see this. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
13. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who were sometimes a far off, that's us who were the bride,
we were a far off, we were the daughters of the Philistines,
we were of the Gentiles, we are made now, how? By the blood of
Christ. For He is our peace, who hath
made both one, and have broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments, contained in ordinances, for to make in
Himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and that He
might reconcile both unto God in one body, By the cross, having,
listen, slain the enmity. What's the enmity? The law of
commandments. That's what stood between us
and God. That's what stood between us being betrothed and in union
with our Christ, our Lord, our Savior. That's what stood between
us and God. And yet by His one death, by
His one offering for sin, He hath slain the enmity. There's
no more enmity. As there was no more lion to
roar, there's no more enmity between God and us. The law is
no longer roaring at us. Why? It's been slain. The enmity
of it's been slain. And so now then the law is at
peace with us. We are at peace with the law.
Because Christ has forever removed our transgressions from us. That's
how He did it. That's how He could make us His
bride. Listen, making of twain two,
one new man. What is marriage? Isn't marriage
making two one? Well, that's what He did when
He betrothed us. He put us in union with Himself. How can that be? He was pure
and we're sinful because He took our sins in His own body on the
tree and suffered the vengeance of God for them. And God hath
seen His blood and said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. The sin is gone. Our Lord Jesus loved His church.
He loved His bride and gave Himself. to be slain by the justice of
God, being rent in twain. Isn't that what happened to the
veil? Wasn't it rent in twain? That separated the people from
God. But now that that has been removed,
we may have access to God. When Jesus died He opened the
way and made it possible for him to betroth us in righteousness,
judgment, in mercies, in loving kindness. Now look at verse 7. And he went down and talked with
the woman. Now this is the first time he's talked to her. Did
you notice that? He saw her. He wanted her. Told
His Father He wanted her. Went down, slew the lion for
her. And now, He talks to her. Isn't
that the way He comes to us? He's already removed our sins
as far as east is from the west. He's already satisfied the law
of God. He's already chose us. And then what does He do? At
the appointed time, He comes and speaks. He speaks. And when He speaks, our hearts
are instantly betrothed to Him. When He speaks, He said, The
dower is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. He speaks to
us. He comes to us at the appointed
time and He conquers our hearts. Our Lord Jesus now is seated
on the throne of heaven. He's risen from the dead. How
does He come to us? How does He speak to us? Even
through the preaching of the gospel by the power of the Holy
Spirit. That's how. In 2 Thessalonians
2 verse 13, He said, We are bound always to give thanks to you,
beloved of the Lord Job, because God hath chosen you for the foundation
of the world unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth, whereunto you were called by our gospel. You were called by our Gospel.
Sinners, behold Jesus, who is the champion of His church. He
hath betrothed us in love. He hath slain the enmity between
us and God. And now He comes and speaks.
He clothes our nakedness with His righteousness. He washes
us with His blood. He justifies us before God. And all this was even done before
he talked with us. In Hosea chapter 2 and verse
16, before he says, I will betroth thee, he says, in that day. It shall be in that day, sayeth
the Lord. What day is that? The day he
talks with you. thou shalt call me Isha. In that day you'll call
me beloved husband. In that day when I speak to you. My beloved spake and said to
me, rise up my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the
winter is past and the rain is over and gone. What is that?
The law, justice, death, hell, sin, all of that is removed. Come away with me. Come away. The flowers appear on the earth,
the flowers of righteousness, bloom in the heart of every believer
and grace appears and is given freely. Singing of the birds
has come and the voice of the turtle dove is heard in the land.
Behold, you who believe on Jesus Christ, God speaks to you, not
as your judge, but as your beloved. For judgment is passed, and now
he sings for thee. Do you realize that, that God
sings for you? He does. He does. You read that later in Zephaniah
chapter 3 if you want to. God sings for thee. He sings,
O dove, fly to me. Fly to Christ and be forever
safe. And lastly, notice this. What Samson finds when he returns
with his bride. Go back to your text and look
at this. in verse 8. And after the time he returned
to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion,
and behold, there was a swarm of bees, and honey was in the
carcass of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands,
and went on eating, and came to his father and his mother,
and gave them, and they did eat. When Jesus comes to his bride
and saves one of his precious lambs, it is honey to his lips. The scripture says this of God,
the Lord's portion is his people. You are his portion. I tell you what, that is unbelievable
if he hadn't said it. I wouldn't dare say it if God
didn't say it. Didn't Jesus say that when one
of the lost lambs is found, there is rejoicing in heaven? Jesus, when he saved that woman
at the well, didn't he say, I have meat to eat that you know not
of? I have joy in my heart that you
don't know about. This is the honey from His sacrifice,
even His people. The salvation of His elect is
sweet as honey and joy to His heart. I know at times, believer, you
and I still having this old man, we know ourselves. And we say
within ourselves, how is that possible for him to love me so? How is it possible? It's possible because of his
blood, his sacrifice, his righteousness. And listen, this is honey for
us too. that his law cannot demand twice
payment. That thing which roared at us
now is sweetness to us. It's now sweetness. I love the
law. And you know what? The law has
nothing against me. Has nothing against me. It cannot
demand twice payment, but now only demands our glory. because of the death of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Believer in Christ, see that
he, our Samson, has come to deliver us, Israel, who were by nature
the daughter of the Philistines. He chose us to be his bride. He was pleased to save us. And as He came down from heaven,
He did redeem us by His own blood and righteousness. And then He
spoke to us. He called us. And we believed
on him. And I tell you, we still believe
on him. And no matter what other lion
roars in this world, and I'll tell you, you've got a bunch
of them. You've got your own flesh, you've got the world,
and you've got the devil constantly roaring at you. If he's slain
the greatest, how shall he not take care of these smaller ones?
Shall he not protect his own? You bet he will. And isn't it
every time He allows us to go into trouble, isn't it always
end in sweetness? It does. Because all He means
for you is good and not evil. That's what He told us in His
covenant. He said, I desire to do them
good and not evil. May God give us grace ever to
see our Lord Jesus Christ who is our Samson, our champion,
our husband. And you know what, Samson, this
type breaks down because Samson, he got mad at this woman and
went off and came back and her father gave her to another. This
type breaks down. And if you want to see it, it'll
break down. But listen to this, Christ is always faithful to
you. Samson may not have been always faithful, but I tell you
Christ is Christ is He said I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. I Pray that God blesses. Let's stand will be dismissed
in prayer