in the book of Judges, chapter
14. Now, as I was going through here, it's like some of the other
places we've been, I said to myself, and me and Dr. Hawker agreed on this, you know,
the Lord didn't leave it for us without having some significance,
but what the significance is at this point, I don't understand.
Well, I went through that a little bit and I said, you know, there
are a couple of things here I want to bring out. They're very important. They share with us a couple of
things about our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ in type here
with Samson. I'm beginning to see Samson in
a different light than I've ever seen him before. And that is
he is God's judge. He is a man of faith. And most
of what he does is in accordance with what God had to do with
getting rid of the Philistines. This is his purpose of grace
in how to get rid of the Philistines. Now, once that happened, nobody
could say, well, you know, they just withdrew from the property
lines here and went home. They're gonna understand that
God was involved in this. And we're just thankful for that.
I'd like to begin reading here in verse 10 of the 14th chapter. So his father, and this is Samson's
father, Samson has, as we've noticed in the past, Samson has
been attracted to a Philistine girl. And his parents bring up
the subject, isn't there a girl in our own tribe that you could
be married to? And he says, no, there's one
down there that I really like. And when we went through that,
it just struck me that how the Lord had all the options of all
of his creation to choose for his bride, and he chose created
man. Out of that whole host of created
man, he chose a people that he called his elect. So we have
a great affinity to him because we being terrestrial, being of
the earth, and him being terrestrial, being all spirits and holy and
righteous all together, it causes us to rejoice in that he would
make that choice. So we find that a little bit
in the type with regard to Samson, he picked a Philistine girl,
and now there's gonna be some arrangements for a wedding, and
that's what we have here. So his father went down, unto
the woman and Samson made there a feast for so used the young
men to do. And it came to pass when they
saw him that they brought 30 companions to be with him." Now,
I'd like to read those two verses out of another translation that
helped me a great deal in getting this sorted out. And that is,
it tells us here in chapter 14, verse 10, it says, As his father was making final
arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah,
as was the custom for elite young men. When the bride's parents
saw him, they selected 30 young men from the town to be his companions."
So it was the people of the town that selected these 30 men. I
think that that just, it helped me a whole lot to see what was
going on here. Well, as we go on, Samson said unto them, I
will now put forth a riddle. unto you, if you can certainly
declare it me within the seven days of the feast and find it
out, then I will give you 30 sheets and 30 changes of garments. But if you cannot declare it,
me, then shall you give me thirty sheets and thirty changes of
garments.' And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that
we may hear it. And he said unto them, 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.
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 ye called
us to take that we have, or is it not so? And Samson's wife
felt before him, 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 to me. And
he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it to my father nor
my mother, and shall I tell it to thee? And she wept before
him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it came to
pass on the seventh day that he told her, because she lay
sore upon him, and she told the told a riddle to the children
of her people. And the man of the city said
unto him, 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
would not have found out my riddle. The Spirit of the Lord came upon
him, and he went down to Ascalon, and slew thirty men of them,
and took their spoil, and gave the change of garments unto them
which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and
he went up to his father's house, but Samson's wife was given to
his companion, whom he had used as his friend or his best man.
All right, some very interesting things take place in there. And
the first thing I'd like to look at is that Samson brings up a
riddle. Now, riddles are very interesting things. They have
the truth in them, but they're not revealing the truth to anyone.
And you know, this just reminded me of something the Lord Jesus
Christ did at least 37 times in the New Testament. He brought
up a parable. Now, if you would turn with me
over to the book of, well, before we get there, I want to just
look at this, what may have looked like a disjointed. I just read
through there and I said, this is the most disjointed thing
going on. Everything is topsy-turvy. Samson's
out here, his dad's out here, his wife is over here, his best
friends are over there, and things are going on, and yet we find
out that everything turned out exactly as God had planned it. There was nothing out of the
way. Turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 110. We find here, it's
just God's way of doing His business. Now, we might say, where did
most of us start? our journey in some way to Christ. It was, most everyone I've ever
talked to, it started in religion. And we might say, why in the
world would God have us start in religion and then have us
acquainted with the gospel? Well, I just find out that that's
the way God does his business. He acquaints us with the, as
the lost son would eat with the pigs And once you eat with the
pigs and find out what good food is, you never want to go back
to eating with the pigs. Well, here in the book of the
Psalms, Psalm 103. Let's read this in Psalm 103. Psalm 103 in verse 19. Verse 19. It shares with us here,
the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens. Psalm 103. And
three, verse 19, the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens
and his kingdom ruleth over all. So everything that we find out
here in the book of Judges, particularly as we read about this judge who
was one of four that was mentioned in the book of Hebrews chapter
11, we're going to find out as things play out, they are playing
out exactly as God would have them done And it is going to
fulfill what he said he was going to do with Samson, and that was
to get rid of the Philistines. So this is going to all play
out. If you notice there, when he went to collect his 30 pairs
of clothes for his bet that he lost, he went and just killed
30 people. The Philistines got their clothes
and gave it back to him. So the way God does his business. Samson uses that word riddle,
and it's not used often in the scriptures. It's used about 24
times in the scriptures, but there's a couple of very interesting
places that this particular word is used. And so let's look at
a couple of those places. One is found in the book of Numbers.
In the book of Numbers, chapter 12. In the book of Numbers, chapter
12, we have this particular word used that is translated for us,
riddle, there in the book of Judges. He had a riddle for these
folks. Now a riddle always has a hidden
meaning. A riddle always has, it's just
not easily figured out. And here in the book of Numbers
chapter 12, we have this word used in chapter 12 in verse eight,
It says, here with him. Now God is speaking about Moses.
In verse seven it says, my servant is not so, who is faithful in
all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to
mouth. Even apparently, I will share
with him everything. And then he goes on in the next
phrase and says, and not in dark speeches, I will I will reveal
to him, I will open up his mind, I will show him the things in
the mount, I will do all of this, but he will not do it in dark
speeches. And the similitude in that word,
dark speeches, is the same word we find for riddle over there.
The similitude of the Lord shall behold, wherefore, then were
ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? I have him
in the palm of my hand. I have him in the hollow of my
hand. He is my man. I have chosen him. And everything
that I've said to him is not in dark speeches. Now, I don't
speak to him in riddles. I don't speak to him in parables.
I speak to him face to face with the truth. And we find that that's
just what we find carried out through the scriptures that the
Lord does. Another place we want to look at before we get to the
New Testament is here in the book of 1 Kings chapter 10. In
1 Kings chapter 10, we read this, and this word again is used,
translated here, riddle is brought out here in 1 Kings chapter 10
in verse 1. Now this is mentioned twice,
once in 1 Kings and once in the Chronicles, because they're covering
the same subject. One of them asked just a little
bit, as we follow the Gospels, we're gonna find out that there's
gonna be things added to accounts and so forth. It doesn't mean
that there's contradictions. It just means that God spoke
through four men to bring out the truth of the Gospel and you
put them all together and you have the whole. Don't take just
one and say, this is all there is. Well, here in 1 Kings 10
and verse one, we read about the Queen of Sheba. And it says
here, she heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of
the Lord, and she came to prove him with hard questions. Now
she had some under, that's what the word means. She had some
riddles to come with him, see how good he is at telling and
having wisdom. She didn't come up there for
information. She came up there to prove him,
and she proved him with riddles. She proved him with hard questions,
and that's what it means there. So she had something to hide. Samson had something to hide.
God said he didn't hide these things from Moses. I didn't speak
to him in parables. I didn't speak to him with hard
questions. I told him the truth. We spoke
face to face. So as we get to the New Testament,
we find that the disciples ask a very, very important question
when Jesus was teaching in parables. So if you join me over in the
book of Matthew chapter 13, In Matthew chapter 13, verse 10. Matthew chapter 13, verse 10.
Now this is a great question, because some 37 times, and some
people feel that there are probably 50 parables, but most can agree
on at least 37. 37 different times, and some
of them take quite a bit of space in the chapter. that he spoke
in parables. Now his disciples were not fools,
and they came to him and asked him why he spoke in parables.
Now why did they ask him that? For our benefit, for us. We get
to read it today and find out why did he speak in parables.
Now, it doesn't mean we can understand everything that's in the parable,
but he spoke in parables for one particular reason. And that's
what Samson did. He spoke in a riddle for one
particular reason. He was not revealing the truth
to them. He was speaking in a riddle.
They're Philistines. They're Philistines. And we find
here, the Lord is gonna share with us that the reason he spoke
in riddles or in parables, it was for his church to understand
and not for the Philistines. All right, turn with me here
to the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 13, and there in verse
10. Matthew chapter 13 and verse 10. And the disciples came and said
unto him, what a question. They had an inquiry and they
came to someone who could explain why. Now it's interesting, they
didn't spend a lot of time among themselves trying to figure out
why this was. They came to the master. They came to their savior. They came to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they simply said, we noticed that you do a lot of teaching
in parables, why? Now notice his reasoning here.
They said, why speakest thou unto them in parables? Why don't
you speak plain? You speak plain to us when we're
one-on-one with you. You declare things unto us. We don't even understand yet.
I'm going down to Jerusalem. I'm going to suffer many things.
I'm going to be crucified. I'll be buried and raised again
the third day. And they looked at each other
and said, what's he talking about? But he was honest with them.
They didn't understand all that was gonna happen, but once it
happened, they understood it. Well, notice here in verse 11,
he answered and said unto them, now, you know, Samson could have
answered the same thing if they'd have said, why are
you talking to us in a riddle? He could have said the same thing
because it is given unto you, believers, my elect, my lost
sheep, to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but
to them, it is not given. Now, my mom and dad understand
this, but you don't understand this.
To the best of our knowledge, there were three people at that
time in all Israel that knew anything about the gospel. Now,
I pray there were more, but those are the three that we know about.
Manoah, his wife, and Samson. That's all we know of. So it
was for them to understand, but it wasn't for the Philistines
to understand. It goes on here, it says, for whosoever hath,
to him shall be given, and to him that hath more abundance,
but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away, even
that he hath. Contradiction of terms? No, absolutely speaking
the truth about the church. Therefore spake I to them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not." Now this is so contrary to the modern gospel. Well, Jesus wouldn't do this.
Well, he said he would do that. And he doesn't just mention it
here, he mentions it in other places too. He said he would
do that. If there is a people that I am
going to reveal my truth to, and there are a whole bunch of
people, they will never know the truth. He goes on to tell
us here, because they see and see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. It's for you to know the truth
of this matter, but it's not for them to know the truth of
this matter. And that is so contrary to anything we were taught in
religion and is so contrary to almost everyone we're ever going
to visit with in this world. My God wouldn't do that. And
I just have to say, no, your God wouldn't do that. The God
of the Bible did this. In verse 14, and in them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear
and shall not understand, and seeing shall see and not perceive. Old Testament, Isaiah was preaching
exactly the same thing to the people. There are some people
that are going to be understanding what I have to say. To whom is
the arm of the Lord revealed? And then it goes down through
that gospel message. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Who is able to understand the
truths of the gospel? Only those it is revealed to. I'm going to speak in parables.
I'll tell you the parable, but for them, they're going to go
home and say, you know, that was a pretty nice story he told me. No wonder
he's a pretty good guy and a good leader, you know. We could probably
take him as king, as long as he supplied the bread for us.
Well, a lot of feelings about this man, but the disciples are
beginning to understand what this is all about. And then,
In verse 15, for these people's heart is wax gross and their
ears are dull of hearing. Where did those qualities come
from? Did they grow into them? Were we born with good hearing
and sense or was this an actual part of the fall that every person
has ever been born is part of? People's heart is wax gross and
we read about the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Their ears are dull of hearing.
I don't want to hear that. And their eyes they have closed,
lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should
be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes." Your eyes are so blessed. And he goes on to say, and your
ears. Your eyes see and your ears hear. What is the tremendous
difference between the elect and the non-elect. What is so
different between the believer and the unbeliever? You get to
see and you get to hear. And to them, they close their
eyes, they close their ears because of the fall. They can't get out
of the mess they're in. And it goes on, and for verily
I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired
to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and
to hear those things which ye have heard and have not heard
them." We can go back to the Old Testament prophets and we
find out they were writing a lot of things. It wasn't quite plain
to them, but they knew this, the gospel of the Messiah. They
knew the gospel of Christ. They knew that. Now he's revealed
things in the New Testament times. The book of Hebrews did a fantastic
job of dealing with the book of Leviticus for us. So there's
so much there, all right? So we find that the Lord Jesus,
some 37 times, our Lord spoke in parables to keep some things
visible to some people and to keep some things invisible to
the rest. And Samson brings that principle
up when he says, I have a riddle for you. Let's look at a couple
more places here. In 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians
chapter four. Would you turn there, 1 Corinthians
chapter four? In 1 Corinthians chapter four,
verse one, we read this. And there's so much said in the
Bible about having things hidden, that he would hide things from
the wise and prudent and reveal them unto babes. Here in the
book of, I said 1 Corinthians, it needs to be 2 Corinthians,
I apologize. 2 Corinthians, it will read better. Second Corinthians chapter four
in verse one. Therefore, seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness,
nor handling the word of God deceitfully. Now the apostle
Paul is writing this, by inspiration he's writing this, but I think
he is reflecting at the same time on how he handled the word
of God before he was saved. He handled it in craftiness,
deceitfully. He handed it dishonestly. That's
what people that don't know Christ will do with the Word of God.
It's not an honest, it's crafty, it's not handling the Word of
God rightfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, committing ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But if our
gospel be hid, If it is a riddle, if it is not understood, what
group of people do not understand it? To what group of people was
the riddle given to? To what group of people was the
parable given to? And as the disciple said, why
do you speak in parables? And he said, it's for you to
know the kingdom, the blessings of the kingdom, but not for them.
So he said here, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not. Now I'm gonna let you work on
the God of this world. I have my opinion about it. My
opinion is the God of this world is the human will. We worship
it with every fiber of our being in our natural state. It is the
most important thing that we worship. Now if there's some
other form that is causing some of that, go ahead. But I don't
need someone else influencing me. I've got a heart that is
deceitful, I have a mind that is dead in trespasses and sin,
and by the grace of God, he lifts us out of that pit. So, in whom
the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine upon them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servant for Jesus'
sake. So if our gospel be hid, now
it just brings out the subject that the gospel is hid, hasn't
been revealed to everyone, it's a parable. It's a parable for
them, they're not to understand, and you are to understand. I
will reveal it. It's a parable in the sense that
they have eyes, but they can't see. They have ears, but cannot
hear. But you have ears that hear, and you have eyes that
see the blessings of the kingdom. How glorious is our Savior to
reveal all the truth of the gospel to us, and we can go away and
say, you know, I didn't know anything, but now I know something. All right, as we look at this,
again, backing up just one chapter in here in the book of 2 Corinthians,
chapter three. 2 Corinthians chapter three. Notice with me here, beginning
with verse 12. I want to give you a riddle.
That's what Samson said. And you know what his wife did? His wife said, you don't love
me if you don't tell me. I thought you loved me, but you
really don't. And the moment he told her, she
proved she didn't. The betrayer was his wife. Alright, let's look at this and
then we'll get to that point. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 12. Seeing then that we have such
hope, we use great plainness of speech. Make it as plain as you can. Not with craftiness and not with
making up a lie and taking one or two words out of a verse of
scripture and proving your point with it. Take the whole scripture. And not as Moses, which put a
veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
look to the end of that which was abolished. Abolished? The law was abolished? But their
minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil
untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil
is done away in Christ. Is it hidden from them? Yes.
They asked for that veil. Yes. They wanted it hidden from
them. They did not want to see Moses's
face. They assumed this hiding of the
glory of Moses. So their minds are still blinded
until this very day. It still remains on them, this
blindness, unless There it says, remaineth the same veil untaken
away in the reading of the Old Testament, which veil is done
away in Christ. But even unto this day, when
Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Oh, I love the law. If you don't know the first thing
about the gospel then, the veil's still over you. When you hear
Christ, when you see him and his blessings and you hear him
and his truth, then you'll say, oh my goodness, throw that thing
away. Even then, until this day, when
Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when
it shall turn to the Lord, when they shall turn to the Lord,
turn me and I shall be turned, the veil shall be taken away. They will understand the parable. They will know the truth of the
riddle. Everything that has been hidden
to them and from them shall be done away. And they will hear
Moses, excuse me, Isaiah, I have had the arm of the Lord revealed
unto me. I know the blessings of the rest
of the chapter, of the rest of the book. I know the blessings
of the gospel. What a blessing that is to God's
people. In the book of Matthew chapter
11, Matthew chapter 11, the Lord brings this up, Matthew chapter
11, about the Father keeping some things from people. In Matthew
chapter 11, there in verse 25, Matthew chapter 11, verse 25,
I have a riddle for you. He just didn't come out and say,
now, let me tell you a tale. I was coming down here to get
married and a lion came out and I tore its jaws apart and killed
that lion and left it beside the road and came back and a
bunch of bees had taken up a home there and they made some honey
in it. He didn't say a word about that. But he said, I have a riddle,
and it covered that whole event. They couldn't see it on their
own. They can't see it on their own. We can't see it on our own.
It has to be revealed. All right, here in the book of
Matthew, chapter 11, verse 25, 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 prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seems
right in thy sight. It is right in your sight that
these parables be given unto the people that they hearing
may not hear, and they seeing may not see. The gift of this
is in the hands of the Lord and is not discovered out of our
own wit or digging. It is revealed by the Lord Jesus
Christ. 2 Thessalonians mentions that for
this reason, God shall send them strong delusion. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse
9, 10, and 11. Turn over there with me if you
would. God sends them strong delusion. It's amazing what we,
when we start on this path, how many times we find that God dealt
with the world in this way. He dealt with people in this
way. In the book of 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, and there in verse 9, reading through verse 11,
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believeth
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." Now there's
only one group that has pleasure in unrighteousness, and that's
the lost. We may have unrighteousness in
ourselves, but we don't have any pleasure in it. That's not
our favorite thing. We relish and delight in the
righteousness of Christ, which is imputed to us so that it is
really now my righteousness and overcomes and overthrows and
does away with all of that unrighteousness. I'll put forth a riddle, Samson
said, and he gave him a riddle. And the entire experience was
for one reason, and that was to remove the Philistines from
Israel. And you know, he just gives us
a little bit. One man going up against 30 men
and slew them for their clothes and brought back and paid his
debt. Now we're going to be looking
at that a little more because I don't have everything I want to know
about it yet. But I would like to say a few words about Samson
was hiding some facts of what he knew from the Philistines
guests at his wedding. And you know, the betrayer was
his wife. The betrayer. And what does this
scripture say about the bride of Christ? What did the bride
of Christ do? We betrayed Christ. I like a
couple of verses I want to read. You know, I used to hear all
the time, they'll look on him whom they pierced and they'll
weep over it. There's only one group that knows what it is to
look on someone they pierced. The lost will never have that. It will not be an impression
upon them. They will never know him whom
they pierced because he was not pierced for them. He was only
pierced for his people, for the church. So let's look at a couple
of verses over here along this line. In the book of Luke chapter
23, what was it? And it could very easily have
been, in the crowd, a very notorious legalist by the name of Saul
of Tarsus. The more I read about what was
going on in the first few chapters of the book of Acts, the more
I can see very easily that he could have been in a number of
those places at the time of Christ. that it's just so plausible that
he would have been there. He's so powerful in the Sanhedrin
court and such a zealous Pharisee of the Pharisees. He had been
promoted. The guy that gave the speech
in our last lesson there in the book of Acts, Gamaliel. That
was his teacher, and he had been promoted to almost equal standing
with that man. Well, here in the book of Luke
chapter 23, we find these words that took place. Who was it?
What did the bride do with Christ? Betrayed him. That took place
in Adam. We were there and betrayed him.
There was no greater betrayal by anybody in all the world than
Adam's betrayal of Christ, and here we are in the middle of
it. We betrayed the Savior. We went against Him. Well, Luke
chapter 23, in Luke chapter 23, we read this, verse 21. Chapter 23, verse 21, we read
this, and it says, they cried saying, crucify Him, crucify
Him. Who is saying that? Well, I know
that, well, I believe that there was a whole bunch of these folks
that got to hear the gospel on the day of Pentecost. But they're
out there in the middle of the street when they bring Jesus
out there. Now, he's gone through a religious trial and he's going
through a civil trial. And the reason that he went through
the civil trial is that that council could not crucify him,
could not put him to death. So they had to appeal to Pilate,
and they told Pilate, he said, what charge do you have against
him? And they said, well, if he wasn't a criminal, we'd never
brought him to you. If he wasn't a malfactor, we'd
have never brought him to you, insinuating, you've got to be
smart enough to trigger this outpilot. Well, here it says,
and he said unto them the third time, why, what evil hath he
done? I have found no cause of death
in him. I will therefore chastise him
and let him go. And they were instant with loud
voices requiring that he might be crucified. My goodness, his
own bride betrayed him in the streets of Jerusalem and cried,
crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. And we'd say that to this
day, if it wasn't for a new heart, we'd say that to this day, if
it wasn't for the new birth, we would be crying, still crying,
crucify him, crucify him. So they cried with a loud voice,
all of that, and Pilate finally gave in to them and they crucified
him. And you know what? This guy's gone. He's been messing
with our religion and he's out of the way. Well, turn with me
again to the book of John chapter 19. John chapter 19, as we think
about Samson's wife, working him and working him and working
him and working him, finally getting that riddle cried out
of him. And she doesn't say thank you
or buy your leave. She takes it to the Philistines. Those 30 men that were to be
his wedding party. 30 Philistines. Well, read here with me in John
chapter 19. John 19, beginning with verse 35. And he that saw it bear record. And his record is true. It seems
like the writer that God used to write this book, John, is
talking about what he knew about this. His record is true. He knoweth that he sayeth true,
that ye might believe. For these things were done that
the scripture should be fulfilled. A bone of him shall not be broken. And again another scripture saith,
they shall look on him whom they have pierced, whom they have
betrayed, who they've said I don't want anything to do with. So
they'll look on him whom they have pierced. Now let me reemphasize
the fact there's only one group of people that knows anything
about piercing Christ, and that's the church. A lost person doesn't
know that, doesn't have any understanding. Oh, he can say, my sins put him
on the cross. They don't understand a thing
about that. It is the church that recognizes the fact and
with weeping understands the fact it was our sins that pierced
him. It is we that put him on the
cross. It was we that caused the great justice of God being
poured out on him in that wrath that the father poured out on
him. And then it was we that caused him to say, it is finished,
gave up the ghost and died. It was not the world. It was
not those who end up in hell. It was only the church. And we
can weep about it. Oh, Lord, I'm so sorry for what
my betrayal did to you. And he would be glad to say,
but without it, I couldn't call you my son or my daughter. All right, another place that
I wanna go, verse Zechariah chapter 12. In Zechariah chapter 12, Old Testament. Zechariah chapter
12, we have almost the identical thing here in chapter 12 and
verse 10. It says here that he's gonna
pour out upon the house of David. I think that's quite interesting.
In the book of Zechariah chapter 12, verse 10. Zechariah chapter
12, verse 10. Now, he's not saying, I'm gonna
pour it out on the world. He says, I'm gonna pour it out
on the house of David, which the church is. The church is
the house of David. We're the house of the real David. It says in verse 10, I will pour
upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
upon the church, the spirit of grace and of supplications. What blessings the Lord is giving
to his church. I'll give them, I'll pour it
out without measure upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
spirit of grace and supplications. And they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son. What is it that we do when we
come before the Lord says, Lord, forgive me of my sins. pierced and say, thank you. We betrayed him. We did nothing
more than Samson's wife did. Betrayed her husband. We betrayed
our husband. in the Garden of Eden with our
life after we're born. And yet the Lord will bring us
to that and says, I'll pour upon the house of David. The church
is going to get the blessing of all that. They shall mourn
for him as one mourns for his only son and he shall be in bitterness
for him. And as one that is in bitterness
for his firstborn. I like what that says, the Lord
said about a woman, she can travail. in pain to bring forth a child. And as soon as the child is born,
most of that is forgotten when she looks upon her child. And
the Lord forgives us. So Samson said, I've got a riddle. And you know the Lord said the
same thing. I've got a riddle. And it's not for everyone. It's
for my church to understand the blessings of the kingdom. Not
for everyone. And he said, Samson said, he
whispered in his wife's ear, this is the answer. I can't help but think that he
knew exactly what was going to happen because he's not stupid. The Holy Spirit comes upon him
and she turns around and leaves and goes to her 30 companions
and says, this is the answer. And Samson had to pay his debt
and he went and paid his debt with the clothes off of 30 dead
Philistines. The Lord is gracious to us that
he would give us of his death the clothes that were such as
us as Philistines, this robe of righteousness. Well, we're
going to, I just want to go back to the book of Judges for just
a moment and share with you where we're going to pick up next time.
And if you just pray about this and do some investigation or
read it once, that would be wonderful. But in the book of Judges chapter
14, that section there, verse 16
through the end of the chapter. Now we're not going to mention
a lot about what happened there because we've done that tonight,
but he mentions, if you'd not plowed with my heifer, you'd
have not known this. We're going to look at that.
And then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he went down
to Ascalon. So the Lord is in complete compliance. I mean,
He's the one that laid it out. He's the purposeful one. And
he's the one that said, go take care of 30 of these lion philistines
and give those clothes to those lion philistines. Well, we'll
stop there tonight and we'll pick this up.