Join me if you would tonight
in the book of Judges chapter 14. We have four chapters here
that deal with Samson, and my opinion of Samson is changing
a little. It's such an intriguing study
here in the book of Judges. I listened to about 15 minutes
of the first one I did, 60 lessons ago, and I mentioned there this
is a tremendous statement about the fall of man. And it's a tremendous
statement about the grace of God. And that's all we have. In between, works are accomplishing
nothing. Samson, as we've read in the
previous chapter, was a promised child. He had been promised to
his father, Manoah. He'd been promised to his mother. And she had no question about
the fulfillment of that promise. And that's really what faith
does for us. We don't question God in the fulfillment of a promise.
And so she, when it came time for her husband to say, we're
going to die, she gave three great reasons why we can't. God
had done that. So number one was, we're going
to have a baby. Well, here in the 14th chapter,
we have some time has passed because Samson is now grown.
It tells us in the 14th chapter of the book of Judges, chapter
14, verses one, two, three, and four, it's what I'd like to read.
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've seen a woman in Timnath of the
daughters of the Philistines. Now, therefore, get her for me
to wife. Then his father and his mother
said unto him, is there never a woman among the daughters of
thy people that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised
Philistines. And Samson said unto his father,
get her for me, for she pleaseth me well. But his father and his
mother, now notice what they didn't know, but Samson understood. Father and mother didn't know
that this, that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion,
Now, whether Samson did understand that he sought an occasion, but
I wish that they had capitalized that H-E right there, that he. For he sought an occasion against
the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines
had dominion over Israel. Now, if you go back with me to
the last chapter, the previous chapter, chapter 13, and I want
to read that first verse again because that first verse explains
so much about what is happening in this chapter. It tells us
in chapter 13 and verse 1, and the children of Israel did evil
in the sight of the Lord, evil again in the sight of the Lord,
and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines 40
years. So when we find that Samson's mother and father said, isn't
there a young lady out there of our tribe that you could go
marry? This is God's commentary on it.
Israel had once again gone after idols, and they showed the nature
of natural man never ever to worship God on their own. They
must be interceded with, and that's what we find with regard
to Manoah, with his wife, and also with Samson. God had to
deal with them and bring them out of that darkness into his
marvelous light. The children of Israel did so
much against God. Now, while Samson was growing
up, there was not much choice of a wife among the children
of Israel. And we must face the fact of
verse four of this chapter that we're in right now, that God
had a plan. Now, I've had people tell me,
right to my face, when I've read things about what God does in
the scripture, and they will tell me, my God wouldn't do that. And you know what? Their God
wouldn't, but the God of the Bible does. The God of the Bible
does all things that He pleases to do. And it may be so contrary
to our natural thought processes, but they will work out for His
glory. And as we've mentioned in the past, that only God can
make good come out of sin. When we try to make good come
out of sin, we're gonna have a problem, but God can make good
come out of sin according to His purpose, and He does that
very thing. Well, going back here, we find
that if we just think about it a little bit, there's several
instances in the Bible where someone was involved in helping
pick out someone for a wife or someone else. Remember the account
of Abraham? I don't want my son marrying
these folks around here. He was quite adamant about that.
I'd like to read about four verses in Genesis chapter 24. Now I
thought about having Mike over here read the whole chapter of
all 64 verses as we were going on, but I said no. Genesis chapter
24, if you look there with me, Isaac has grown up, he's matured,
and Abraham says he needs a wife. Now, he immediately gives instructions
about where to find this wife. In Genesis chapter 24, verses
one through four, we read these words, and Abraham was old and
well-stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in,
look at that, all things. The Lord had blessed him. Now
Abraham started out life as a wicked, idolatrous individual down in
Ur of the Chaldees. There was not one positive thing
that God saw in him to ever save him. He had nothing to present. He was only a wicked, idolatrous
man, just like Israel was in Judges chapter 13, verse one. Wicked, idolatrous people that
had no love for God. And in fact, it says every man
did what was right in their own eyes. So that's just natural
man's idea of pleasing themselves. Well, in verse two, and Abraham
said unto his eldest servant of his house that ruled over
all that he had, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh.
Now this was an Old Testament custom of I want you to make
me a promise. You're going to promise this,
and I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and
the God of earth, that thou shall not take a wife unto my son of
the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but thou
shall go unto my country. and to my kindred, and take a
wife, and to my son Isaac." Well, the rest of the chapter gives
us what went on, and we know a lot about what happened there.
But I encourage you to read the rest of that chapter at your
leisure. Now, there is another marriage in the Bible that is
just as interesting. But it is so contrary to what
we read here about Abraham. And that's over in the book of
Hosea. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Hosea. Now, God
put in Abraham's mind to go back to where he came from and have
his servant pick out. And we know Rebecca. Rebecca,
she came, never met the guy before, only heard about him. And when
she got off her camel, they went into a tent, they were married,
and she's gonna bear some children for him. Well, here in the book
of Hosea, in the book of Hosea, we have another instance where
someone is instructed about a marriage, a wedding. And it's in Hosea
chapter one and verse two. Here we have God instructing
Hosea Now, how can this be? This is just one of those places
where natural man says, my God would not do that. But the God
of the Bible does as he pleases, when he pleases, how he pleases,
wherever he pleases. And there's none that can say
unto him, what doest thou, or resist his hand. Now, he went
to Hosea. Hosea is a prophet. Hosea is
a preacher of the gospel. Hosea has been called of God,
not only to salvation, but called to this ministry to preach the
gospel. Hosea is a sound man in Christ Jesus. He is righteous
in Christ Jesus. He's sanctified in Christ Jesus.
He has redemption in Christ Jesus. And God calls on him to do something
that we would find almost abhorrable. But because we know the rest
of the story, we can say, okay, God, It says in the beginning,
verse two, the beginning of the word of the Lord by Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, go
take unto thee a wife of Hortums. And not only that, but a child
of Hortums. We have an ancestry here. For
the land hath committed great Hortum departing from the Lord. Now, what did Hosea do? He said,
yes, sir. And he went and married a harlot.
Now we know the rest of the story and it just gets better. Chapter
one, Hosea chapter one, verse two. We know the rest of the
story because Hosea was used to hedge her about and demonstrate
love to her. And that's just what Christ does
for his harlot, the church. The word came to him. And, you
know, I have to ask myself, and I was thinking of Brother Duane,
because some time ago, a year or so ago, two years ago, in
listening to one of the messages on the Zoom, and, you know, I
should have thanked Timber. for helping him do that every
week, because that was such a blessing to him. But anyway, this passage
of Scripture in the book of Deuteronomy was read, and when I talked to
him the next time, we spent most of our conversation on this very
verse. He said, it straightened out so much for me. So would
you turn with me to the book of Deuteronomy? The book of Deuteronomy,
Old Testament verse that explains so much about our God. Deuteronomy
chapter 29. In the book of Deuteronomy chapter
29, We are going to answer the question, what can we say about
these things? Samson says, I found a girl,
she's a Philistine, and I want you to go set up the wedding.
And we find Abraham saying, don't you dare let my son marry anybody
around here. And then we find God commanding
Hosea to marry a harlot. You know, God doth all things
after the counsel of His own will. And to many people, it
is just distrustful that God would act like that, and to the
church we just say, yay and amen. Here it is in the book of Deuteronomy
chapter 29, in the last verse of chapter 29, and it says, the
secret things belong unto the Lord our God. Now there's a lot
of secret things. Why did God do what he did? That's
a secret thing. I don't understand. I do know
this, that as we find and we know that all things work together
for the good of them that love God to those who are the called
according to his purpose. So we know that. We have by the
faith of Jesus Christ, by the faith God gives us, we trust
God with the matter. And we don't go around saying,
my God wouldn't do that. But notice what it goes on. But
those things which are revealed belong unto us. So there's a
bunch, more than we deserve by a whole lot, a bunch that God
reveals, but there's some things that are just secret things to
the Lord, and He's going to do. He has a purpose. He has a plan. He's going to carry it out exactly
as He purposed it, as He planned. I am thankful from time to time
He reveals something unto us. I've often said if we have know
that much about the Bible, we ought to be thankful because
that's that much more than we ever knew by our own. It's a
revelation. Jesus Christ is revealed in the
scriptures. So we can say that Moses The
secretary for the book of Deuteronomy was led to have written in the
original form, God has some secret things, and there are some things
that are revealed. They're revealed, they belong
to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words
of this law. How do we do all the words of
the law? In Christ Jesus alone, and that's the only way that
can be done. If you think for a moment by
keeping the law you've made one stride better towards Christ,
you're gravely mistaken. We cannot get any better in Christ
by keeping the law. We are made righteous by him
and that righteousness is eternal. All right, as we follow this
out, we find In the book of Amos, again on this subject, this wonderful
subject of God does his business as he does his business. In the
book of Amos, the book of Amos chapter three, verse seven, Amos
chapter three and verse seven, we read these words, that there's
gonna be some things revealed by the prophets. Isn't it wonderful
by the preaching of the gospel, he reveals the truth of the gospel
to his church? And here it says, surely the
Lord God will do nothing. But he revealed his secret unto
his servants, the prophets. It just tells us in this verse
of scripture that we must hear the gospel from a preacher. God called preacher. We have
to hear the gospel. God's not going to come down
in an audible voice and speak to us. The only voice he speaks
to us through at this time in history. Now he may have spoke
to people in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy,
up till we have the end of the canon at Book of Revelation. But once that happened, there
is no reason that God has to come down in an audible voice
because he has it all written in his word. We don't have to,
well, I wonder what Jesus is going to tell me today. Read
Matthew, you'll find out. I wonder what God's going to
instruct me today. Read Malachi. The only way we'll
ever learn what God wants us to do is through His Word. And
He's not going to come down and tell us, whisper something in
our ear. We better be careful when that happens. We've gone
over the edge, cheese falling off the cracker, whatever you
want to say. All right, it says, surely the Lord God will do nothing
but he revealeth his secret unto his servants, the prophets. Now,
we're going to find out that secret was the gospel. That secret
is about Christ, but it's revealed through the preaching of the
word through his prophets. Someone preached the gospel to
Saul of Tarsus. Many times I've thought it was
Stephen. It may have been earlier than
that. He may have been there when Jesus was crucified. I don't
know. But I know this. He said he must
have heard the gospel. There must be someone that preaches
the gospel to us. We're not going to find it in
a field. I've had a conversation with a young man for a number
of years and he said, well, someone could have a Bible wash up on
their island way out in the South Pacific and they could read that
Bible and get saved. And I says, you cannot. That's
not gonna happen. Now, if that's gonna happen,
there's gonna be a preacher carrying that Bible. He was a wash too. So it is necessary that somebody
who knows something been revealed brought the gospel to us, preached
the gospel, and I don't, it doesn't say we have to know this much
or this much. It just says we must hear the
gospel, the truth of the gospel, and we'll get that to there in
just a moment. Surely the Lord will do nothing but he will reveal
it but the secret unto his servants, the prophets. And then if you'll
join me over in the book of Matthew, the Lord Jesus Christ in his
own personal ministry brought up this subject in the book of
Matthew chapter 13, Matthew chapter 13, and there in verse 35, we
read these words about this great subject. Jesus says that it might,
well, he's just spoken prior to this, and this is a comment
with regard to what he had to say, that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by the prophet saying, I will open my mouth
in parables, I will utter things which have been kept secret from
the foundation of the world." So some things have been kept
secret from the foundation of the world, but in God's time,
it has been revealed through the gospel. You know, we're going
to get over there in just a short time to the book of Ephesians
chapter 5, and the apostle Paul was led to write, but I declare
unto you a mystery, Christ and his church. A lot of people had
that as a mystery. I think some people understood
it from the very beginning, that Christ was going to have a bride. And that's what we read about
Samson, we read about Abraham, we read about Hosea. They are
types, shadows, and pictures. So Samson went down to Timnath
and saw a woman that was there. We read in the book of Go to
the book of Judges, chapter 13. So we have a little better understanding
of that. We read this last time, but I
just want to review it. Judges, chapter 13. Something
God had done. for Samson that is absolutely
essential. And that's why I'm going to say
I have a little difference of opinion about Samson. You know,
we've mentioned this in the past, but he is one of the four that
are mentioned in the book of Hebrews chapter 11, a man of
faith, Samson. We read this a little bit and
we say, how could that be? because God gave it and that's
how it could be. How do you have it? How do I
have it? It's by the grace of God. All
right, here in the book of Judges 13, 25, and the spirit of the
Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah
and Eshtoel. The spirit of the Lord moved
in him. How essential this is. Ye must
be born again. You must have a spiritual birth.
And so we have that brought out. Now, why did he show this? Why did he deal with Samson in
such a manner? And I firmly believe, I know
his wife knew the gospel, but we don't have this record written
about them. There's going to be a special
calling that Samson is going to have, and that's why he had
this. But he has no more than his parents when it comes to
the essentials of salvation. He has no more than Manoah. He
has no more than his mother, as she's mentioned that way.
He is not a special kind of Christian. There is no special kind of Christian. Paul is not a special Christian. In fact, he would be the first
to say, I'm not special. In fact, I'm the chiefest of
sinners. So we don't look at him and say, well, he's special.
God dealt with him in a special way. Well, we have a record that
he did some wonderful things through Paul. But you know what? If you had the opportunity ever
to speak one time to one person about the gospel, you and Paul
are in the same league. Grace declaring grace. All right. Go with me over to the book of
1 Corinthians if you would. There's an interesting verse.
There's 11 verses here I intended to read, but I'm not going to.
1 Corinthians 12, verses 1-11. And this has to do with the gifts
of the Spirit. And, you know, sometimes our
translators did us a disservice when they added some words in
parenthesis in our Bible. And when it gets to the gifts
of the Holy Spirit, we have several added there that do not apply
the way that they're often used. Here in the book of First Corinthians,
chapter... First Corinthians chapter 12. And this has to do with, if you'll
notice verse one, let's just read that. There's a word gifts
in italics. He says, now concerning spiritual
brethren, he's not talking about some spiritual gift, speaking
in tongues or healing or all that stuff. He's talking about
spiritual. the spiritual things and he's
going to go on and explain that. I would not have you to be ignorant.
Now drop down with me to verse 11 and sometime at your leisure
read all that section because it is so valuable for our understanding
about the Spirit. But here in verse 11 it says,
but all these worketh that one and self same spirit. Now the
Holy Spirit is the author of all of this and he's the worker
of all of this. And we notice here that he will
dividing to every man severally as he will. Now, why was Saul
of Tarsus, Paul the Apostle, a great preacher and used so
mightily? Because God sovereignly chose him for that business.
Why was Stephen a preacher for a short period of time and then
taken out and stoned? Because God is sovereign over
his business. He has that in his mind. Now,
Paul the Apostle could simply say, my friend Stephen was promoted
before I was. He worketh, as it tells us there,
severally, after the same Spirit, verse 11, dividing it, every
man severally as he will. So I'm not gonna get a gift that's
not given to me. It doesn't matter how much I
might want it. So, and I have just come to the conclusion,
the church is not in that frame of mind. The church is not in
the frame of mind. People in the church are not
in the frame of mind, I want that gift. The people in the
church are satisfied with the gifts that God had given them.
Now we might find that we're going to hone that. The Holy
Spirit may bring us more understanding about it, but it's God that gives
the gifts severally. And that's why we have Samson
set apart to do something for the people of Israel and that's
get rid of the Philistines. Now we may say, that is a really
hard way of getting it done, Samson. Take it to God, because
he's the one that authored it. Just take it to God. In the book
of Galatians, stop with me before you get there.
Well, no, it's after, but go to Colossians chapter one for
just a moment. Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one, we have
this letter to the church at Colossae and verse eight it says,
who also declared unto us your love in the spirit for this cause
we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you
and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of
his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Now let me ask
this question, is this prayer only applicable to New Testament
saints? No. Couldn't this prayer be the
prayer that the prophets offered with regard to other prophets,
preachers, saved people? We're praying for you that you'd
be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and
spiritual understanding. Now we're gonna go back over
there to Samson and he had some understanding about what God
had said to him that I don't have the understanding, neither
did his parents. They were caught up, why in the world? Can you
just imagine them laying in bed talking about the marriage coming
up? My goodness, our son is making a terrible mistake. He wants to marry that gal over
there in the Philistines. Look around. Look at all these
beautiful ladies we have over here. They're all worshiping
Baal. What's the difference between this Baal and that Baal? Well,
we find out that God overruled, God purposed, God led Samson
to do exactly what he did because he was led of the Spirit. In
the book of Galatians chapter 5, I just love this passage of
scripture because it shares with us that this is the fruit of
the Spirit. Colossians 1.9 and Galatians 5.22, but the fruit
of the Spirit. And you know, it was a revelation.
I can say that sincerely, I can say that honestly, and I can
say it truthfully. It was a revelation the first time I read this after
I was saved and read that word fruit. The fruit of the Spirit. This is not my fruit. This is
not our fruit. This is the fruit of the Spirit.
This is a manifestation of regeneration. This is a telltale sign of regeneration
that God has given us this fruit. And we might say, I don't have
much of it. Well, God said we have some. That's the fruit of
the Spirit. And it tells us here in the book
of Galatians chapter five, and is it verse 20, I think it is,
verse 22. Chapter five and verse 22. But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against that there is no law.
Now is this where the fruit of the Spirit began in the Bible?
upon the mentioning of this to the saints at Galatia? Absolutely
not. Abraham had the same fruit. Isaac,
Jacob, all of those patriarchs, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Noah had this. Abel had this. This is not just
new. This is what God has given to
his people in all ages. So we're not going to find that
Samson is just over here an oddball. We have him a child of God. He has the fruit of the Spirit.
He has the leadership of the Holy Spirit. And he's going to
do some things that you and I say, well, I don't know about that.
God is in favor of it. And that is the answer to the
question. Does this only apply to saved
people since the cross? And we have to say, no, no, no.
God has not changed His salvation over the 6,000 years that this
people have been on this earth. Now I'm just being generous about
6,000, maybe it was 10, I don't know. But anyway, Judges chapter
4 and verse 14. Let's go back there and read
that. Judges chapter 4. And verse 14. This is that statement. Judges chapter 14, verse 4. This is the reason that God chose
this plan and this purpose through Samson. Judges chapter 14, verse
4. But his father and his mother
knew not that it was of the Lord. that he saw an occasion against
the Philistines. Now, Samson did not look at this
woman because she was absolutely gorgeous or he didn't look at
her for a physical position. He didn't look at her in that
way that we normally would think he did. He's been led of the
Holy Spirit. In fact, her daddy says, I got a better looking
daughter than her. And that's found just a little
bit further there in Judges 15. In the book of Judges chapter
15, we find that there are some circumstances that take place
that are very significant in this account of Samson and his
wife, and the story that it tells, what it gives us some insight
into the gospel. Here in the book of Judges chapter
15, verse 2, It says, and her father said,
I verily thought that thou hast utterly hated her. Therefore
I gave her to thy companion. Is not her younger sister fairer
than she? She's more beautiful than the
one you had. I'm going to give her to you.
Take her, I pray thee, instead of her. Well, it wasn't that
beauty that he was looking at. It wasn't that at all. This is
the way God is going to carry out his business there in the
book of Judges chapter 14, 15, and 16. This is the beginning
of it. Now, if you please, may we move
our investigation to another interesting Marriage. And I think that's what Samson
is talking about here when he went down to the Philistines
and found a wife among the Philistines. You know, the Bible tells us
that there's a great mystery. As Ephesians chapter 5 has been
used to beat people nearly to death. And yet we find in that passage
of scripture in verse 32, that the Apostle Paul, let's just
go over there to the book of Ephesians chapter five, and we find here
that the Lord Jesus, Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians chapter five, now you're
gonna have to read verses 22 through 33, but let's look at
verse 32. There's a mystery that is being
mentioned here. The Apostle Paul, after he was
used to go down through that great thought about husband love
your wives, wives, what, down through there, down through there,
down through there, and he comes to the real reason he's writing
the whole thing. The Holy Spirit gave him the real reason right
here for us to take into consideration. Now the rest of it is great,
but this is the reason he wrote it. He says, this is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and his church. Now Christ
and his church, he's going to speak about, we're going to find
in the scriptures, that that church is going to be his bride.
That church that he's talking about here is his bride. Now
there's some very interesting things that we find in the scripture
about his bride. When we begin to look at the
subjects of his bride, the members of his bride, the people that
make up his bride, we're going to find out that they are just
Philistines by nature. They're the worshipers of idols,
just like Samson had around him. And over there in that valley
where the Philistines are and his girlfriend is, they're worshiping
exactly the same gods. They may call them a little different
name because of the change of language, but here we have the
Christ bride. It's a mystery, and we're gonna
look into it just a little bit. In the book of Colossians, Colossians
chapter one, Colossians chapter one. You know, as we think about
who Christ had opportunity to marry, I just want to keep that
in the back of our mind. Who did Christ have opportunity
to marry? Now, Samson had opportunity to
marry those ladies in his area, but he chose one over there.
a Philistine girl. Well, here we read about the
option in the book of Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter
one, we read this in verses, well, let's just go out here
to verse 16. A lot more to read here. Well, let's start with verse
12. Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him
This is the verse I want to look at. By him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. Now there isn't
a thing that wasn't created that he didn't create. And he brings
that out in this. And you know, if you go through
there, sometimes I have trouble thinking about the spiritual
application of thrones and dominions. If you look this up in a Greek
dictionary, you find out it's talking about Celestial beings,
most of them. Beings in his presence, most
of them. He created all beings, celestial beings and there's
one terrestrial being. Man. But he has a number of celestial
beings that he created. And here's the list of some of
them. Thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers.
All things were created by him. And another place we find over
in the book of Revelation chapter 4. Revelation chapter 4 and verse
11. He created all things, celestial,
terrestrial. One terrestrial being was created. That's man. The rest are celestial,
and there's a number of them as we look into the scripture.
So here in the book of Revelation chapter 4, and there in verse
11, we read this. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for thou has created all things And
for thy pleasure, they are and were created. Every celestial
being was created for his pleasure. And there's one that is so noted
among those celestial beings that seems to be ruling the world
in the minds of most people. And yet he is a created celestial
being, just like the angels, cherubims, and seraphims. And
that's Satan himself. He's God's Satan. All right,
as we think about this, and then over in the book of Romans, let's
just back up to the book of Romans again, as we look at this subject
matter of the creation of God and who he created, what he created,
and what his choices were out of all his creation for the bride. In the book of Romans chapter
eight, verse 38. Romans 8, verse 38, just think
of this verse of scripture here. I am persuaded, for I am persuaded,
Romans 8, verse 38, for I am persuaded that neither death
nor life, now we understand that, death or life, that's not gonna
keep us away from the love of Christ, the love of God in Christ
Jesus. But look at this, nor angels,
Now can you wrap your head around that? Nor principalities, nor
powers, nor thing present, nor things to come, nor height, nor
depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now
what that is telling me, one of the things, is there is celestial
beings that is completely out of our sensitory ability. We just can't grab them. We can't
see them. They're thrones and dominions.
We know the names of some of them. You know, the Bible tells
us, and oftentimes the word angel should have been pastor or preacher.
That's what we find in the book of Romans, or excuse me, Revelation,
the seven angels. They're one cent. All right, the celestial beings,
they're angels. And you know, among the angels,
there's elect angels. And then there are non-elect
angels, and the elect angels couldn't fall, and the non-elect
angels can't be retrieved. God never demonstrated that.
They're celestial. They are spiritual in some capacity,
and they're out of my realm of understanding. I know they're
powerful. I read about the power that they
have given to them. I know that they cry, holy, holy,
holy. is the Lord God Almighty. That's
what we read in the book of Isaiah chapter six. I know that there's
a cherubim that guarded that tree in the garden. I don't know
what he's like. I can read what's mentioned in
a book about what some people think about it. And there's seraphims
around the throne. There's angels which kept not
their first estate. Jesus said, I saw Satan fall. He saw the fall of Satan and
we know him. There's eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels. There's a whole realm of celestial
things that I can't get ahold of. And the powers are made subject
unto him. All of this is subject unto Christ. You know, as we think about it,
who did he have for a choice? Celestial beings, you know, In
many ways, that makes more sense. Because look what he got when
he got us. Terrestrial sinners. Terrestrial sinners. The Lord
Jesus, it says, who has gone into heaven and is at the right
hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject
unto him. 1 Peter 3, verse 22. The terrestrial
beings, there's only one. There's male and female of the
one. There's men. There is only one terrestrial
being, and that is man, created in the image of God. And as we
think about this, the Godhead... Sorry, 1 Peter what? 1 Peter
3, verse 22. He created man, the dust of the
ground. He said, let us make man in our
image. And as God, the Godhead prepared
for creation and all the celestial beings and the terrestrial beings,
thoughts went out for a bride. Now I'm just creating a picture
here. I'm on very thin ice from a scriptural
standpoint. But in some way, in eternity
past, in the councils of eternity, God determined that his son would
have a bride. The father was going to give
his son a bride. That is fact. There was going
to be a bride. Jesus Christ is going to have
a bride. And of all the beings, that were
able to be picked from, He chose the terrestrial, God-made, fallen
creatures, descendants of Adam, and left the holy angels alone,
left the seraphims alone, and we say, well, He had the right
to do that. Yes, He did. But look what He
chose. as Samson chose a Philistine
girl, to the cry and moan of mom and dad. Jesus Christ looked
out across the entire universe that he had created, every principality
and power, angel, seraphim, cherubim, and he was settled on one bride. And that was a bunch of people
that are mongrels, if you please. Then he might show his great
glory. The Lord did not set his love
upon Israel, nor choose them, because they were more in number
than any people. He did not look at Israel. And
Israel is the type of the church. Israel is the type of the bride.
And Israel is rascals. All we have to do is follow them
about five minutes and we find out they're just rascals. Did
you know what? They were so stupid that God
had to instruct them to bury their matters when they were
out in the wilderness that they left behind. They're uneating. If he hadn't instructed them,
they'd have left their fecal matter around. But he told them,
dig a hole with a shovel and bury it. That's just the kind
of thing we are by nature. Well, who did the Godhead choose
for a bride for his son? Terrestrial beings? Yes. Philistines, Moabites, and Canaanites. The ring-streaked and the speckled,
sinners, fallen children of Adam. In Revelation chapter 21, verse
2. Would you turn there with me?
Revelation chapter 21 in verse 2. Two, we read this about the
church. It doesn't take us very long
to find out that Jesus Christ died for sinners. And those sinners
that are saved by his grace, regenerated by his power, by
his spirit, those sinners are gonna be make up his bride, every
one of them. Nobody is going to be left out.
All those he called will be in the bride. I grew up in a church
that there was going to be visitors. There's going to be a bride and
there was going to be those guests. Well, guess what? That's wrong.
Everybody that's ever saved, God is going to call his bride.
And here's a description of it in the book of Revelation chapter
21. Revelation chapter 21. And here we read in verse two,
Revelation chapter 21, verse two, and I saw the holy city. Now that's what it is now. Holy. That's what he does for
terrestrial beings. He makes them holy. It's what's
that Mike has been mentioning, be holy as I'm holy. How many
people are trying to get that done? and only the church understands
that's done for us. He gives us his holiness. I saw
the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Then if you'll
travel with me down to verse nine of this chapter, verse nine,
it says here, And there came unto me one of the seven angels,
which had seven vials full of seven last plagues, and talked
with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the
Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the
spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city,
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Holy
Jerusalem. That's what we read the Apostle
Paul wrote about Jerusalem, which is now is, is in bondage of her
children. The Jerusalem which is above
is in freedom, in freedom. Samson's word to his father. Judges chapter 14 and verse four. And Samson said unto his father,
get her for me. I can hear my savior say to the
father, Get her for me. I love her with an everlasting
love. She is wicked to the core, but I'll give her a new heart.
I'll establish her goings. I'll lay down my life, a ransom
for her. I'll pay her sin debt. And then
she will be noted as my bride. Now he had her, had his church
as his bride all the time. All the time. The cords of love.
did not just get hitched up to us when he came to us. They've
always been hitched up to us. You know, my uncle used to run
horses, drive horses, three teams, six horses, had those straps
he's in. Whether they wanted to go or not, his control was
over them. And that's what God's control
over the church is. Before we're saved, after we're
saved, he has complete control over the church. And I just love
hearing the son say to his father, Get her for me. We'll stop there tonight and
we'll