All right, let's begin our service
with the reading of Ephesians chapter 2. We'll read the first
nine verses of Ephesians chapter 2. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein 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, and
the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation, our citizenship in times past, and the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
God, who's rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace you are saved, and have
raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might show the
exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. All right, let's stand together
as Jonathan leads us in singing our call to worship. Remember, Lord, the blood and
sweat Of him who more than paid my debt. Remember Christ upon
the tree And now be merciful to me Remember how that Jesus
bled In this poor guilty sinner's stead He bore your wrath and
curse for me In His own body on the tree A perfect righteousness He wrought,
And by His blood my pardon bought. so that His righteousness may
be by grace imputed now to me. I believe the merits of the of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The sinner's substitute is He,
a mighty substitute for me. Turn with me to page 299, day
by day, 299. Day by day and with each passing
moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here. Trusting in my Father's wise
bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind behind
all measure Gives unto each day what he deems best. Lovingly,
it's part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and
rest. Every day the Lord himself is
near me, With a special mercy for each hour. All my cares He feigned would
bear and cheer me He whose name is Counselor and Power The protection
of His child and treasure is a charge that on Himself He laid. As Thy days Thy strength shall
be in measure, this the pledge to me He made. Help me then in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord, That I lose not faith's sweet
consolation, Offer me within Thy holy Word. Turn back a few pages to 226. 226, My Savior. I am not skilled to understand
what God hath willed, what God hath planned. I only know at
His right hand is one who is my Savior. I take him at his
word indeed, Christ died for sinners, this I read. Of Him to be my Savior. That He should leave His place
on high, And come for sinful man to die, You count it strange,
so once did I, Before I knew my Savior. Oh, that good fulfilled may see
the travail of His soul in me, and with His Word contented be,
as I with my dear Savior. A living, dying, let me bring
My strength, my solace from this spring That He who lives to be
my King Once died to be my Savior Let's open our Bibles now to
Judges chapter 13. Judges 13, you may want to mark
this. We'll be coming back and looking
at a few different places and chapters here in Judges 13 throughout
the message this morning. And the children of Israel did
evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered
them into the hand of the Philistines 40 years. And there was a certain
man absorbed of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and bare
not. And the angel of the Lord appeared under the woman and
said unto her, behold, now thou art barren, embarrassed not,
but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. Now, therefore, beware,
I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink and eat not
any unclean thing for lo thou shalt conceive and bear a son
and no razor shall come on his head for the child should be
a Nazarite unto God from the womb and he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the woman came
and told her husband saying a man of God came unto me and his countenance
was like the countenance of an angel of God. Very terrible.
And I asked him not whence he was, neither told me he his name. But he said unto me, behold,
thou shalt conceive and bear a son and now drink no wine nor
strong drink, neither any unclean thing. For the child shall be
a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then
Manoah entreated the Lord and said, Oh my Lord, let the man
of God, which thou did sin, come again unto us and teach us what
we shall do unto the child that shall be born. God hearkened
to the voice of Manoah and the angel of God came again unto
the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband was not
with her. And the woman made haste and ran and showed her
husband and said unto him, behold, the man hath appeared unto me
that came unto me the other day. And Manoah rose and went after
his wife and came to the man and said unto him, art thou the
man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. And Manoah
said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the
child and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the Lord
said unto Manoah, of all that I said unto the woman, let her
beware. She may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither
let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I have commanded her,
let her observe. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I
pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have made ready
a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread.
And if thou would offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it
under the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was
an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said under the angel
of the Lord, what is thy name? That when thy sayings come to
pass, we may do the honor. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Why ask us thou thus after my name, seeing it as secret,
wonderful. So Manoah took a kid with a meat
offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord and the
angel did wondrously and Manoah and his wife looked on for it
came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the
altar that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the
altar and Manoah and his wife looked on it and fell on their
faces to the ground. but the angel of the Lord did
no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew
that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife,
we shall surely die because we've seen God. But his wife said unto
him, if the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have
received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands.
Neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would
as at this time have told us such things as these. And the
woman bear a son and called his name Samson. And the child grew
and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord began
to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtael. And we'll end our reading there.
Let's bow together in prayer. Our great God, our holy, sovereign,
merciful and gracious heavenly father. Oh, how we thank you
that you are God, that you're God alone, ruling and reigning,
and none can stay your hand. None can stop or delay your purpose,
your purpose of mercy and grace to your people, of salvation
through your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we bow before
you this morning, praying that you would send your spirit upon
us and give us an hour of true worship. We know that you have
all the power, all the right to be merciful to whom you will
be merciful, to be gracious unto whom you will be gracious. So
father, we beg of thee that you'd be merciful and gracious to your
people this morning. We pray that you would bear your
mighty right arm of power, your mercy and grace to your people.
in the Lord Jesus Christ and reveal Christ to our hearts this
morning through the preaching of your word. Enable us to see
and to believe the Lord Jesus Christ, to rest in him, to leave
here this morning with faith in him and confidence, trust
and rest for our souls in the Lord Jesus Christ. Enable us
to worship him this morning, to lift up and praise the name
Christ our Savior, that name which is above every name. And
let us leave here this morning with that precious name in our
hearts and on our lips, in our minds. Let us go home and think
about and meditate and feed upon the things of Christ that we've
heard this day, this day that you've given us to meet together
and to worship. And Father, I thank you for this
place. I thank you that you've given us a place where we can
meet together in peace and and unity with one heartfelt desire
to worship Christ our Savior, to hear of him, to hear his gospel
preached. And Father, I pray you'd preserve
it and protect it. I pray that you'd give each of
us a wise heart that would earnestly protect the unity that we have
here, the unity of the spirit, that we would not allow the desire
for the praise of our flesh and the notice of our flesh to become
preeminent and disrupt what you've given us here, a place of worship. Protect it and preserve it, Father.
We pray for your great namesake, for your glory, that your glory
might be preached and proclaimed in this place. And we beg this
great blessing for ourselves, for ourselves, our children,
our grandchildren, our community. that this might be a place where
poor sinners can come and hear the Savior, where your poor and
weak and needy sheep can come and be fed, to lay down, to be
made to lay down in the green pastures, if you were, to be
led beside the deep, still waters of Christ our Savior. Father,
we pray for those who are sick and who are afflicted. It seems
like that there are so many at this time who are hurting so
bad, who face uncertainty and loss and sickness and pain. Father, I pray you'd be with
them. I pray that you'd speak peace to the hearts of your people. As soon as it could be thy will,
Father, that you'd provide a way out, that you'd lead and guide
according to the riches of your wisdom and your mercy and your
grace towards your people. The Father again, we pray you
bless us, bless us this morning with your word. Cause your word
to run well in the power of thy spirit this morning. All these
things we ask and we give thanks in that great name, which is
above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. All right,
Isaac Floyd's going to come and give us a special at this time. Just as that leaf hung on the
tree Next to Christ, the surety Oh Lord, remember us Oh Lord,
remember us And as Stephen was being stoned
And God stood up there at his throne Oh Lord, remember us Oh
Lord, remember us Cause some will stand before the throne
But some will stand in Christ alone Oh Lord, remember us As you've said, and we believe
All who ask, they shall receive Oh Lord, remember us Oh Lord,
remember us Cause some will stand before you But some will stand
in Christ alone Oh Lord, remember us Oh Lord, remember us When you come back with trumpet
sound And all the saints rise from the ground Oh, Lord, remember us, as some
will stand before the throne, but some will stand in Christ
alone. Oh, Lord, remember us. Oh, Lord, remember us. All right, if you would, let's
begin opening our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 11. Verses served as
our text are springing off point for a few weeks and are willing
for a few weeks more. Verse 32. Hebrews chapter 11, I titled
the message this morning, The Faith of Samson. The writer here
in Hebrews 11 verse 32 says, And what shall I more say? For
time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, of Samson,
and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets. Now before the Lord gave Israel
a king, Israel was ruled by judges. And one of those judges was a
man named Samson. Now, Samson is a very well-known
man, isn't he? And he's well-known for two things,
primarily. He's known for great strength
and great weakness. He's known for his great physical
strength. He's known for his weakness,
bad taste in women. And this morning, I hope to show
you how both of those things, both of those traits are types
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of His people. Now, in
a way, Samson is a type of all of us. Samson was a man of flesh,
just like you and me. Men and women alike, men and
women alike. Samson loved women who God's
law forbid him to marry. He knew God's law forbid him
to marry these women, and he went after them anyway. Samson
loved women based upon their looks, all the while ignoring
the fact that they did not love nor worship his God, but instead
stood opposed to him. And that got Samson in trouble
every single time without exception. Now we can identify, can't we? How often do men love a woman
because of her good looks and ignore the fact she's just not
a nice person? I mean, you see that happen often,
don't you? And women, hang on now, you can identify with Samson
too. How often do you see women loving a bad boy? Oh, he got
good looks. He's a bad boy, though. I'm telling
you. I worked at a convenience store. You know, we'd hire young
people all the time. And invariably, it seemed like,
this young girl would start working for us, and she's doing so good.
Oh, she's just doing great. And suddenly, her work just drops
off the charts. And you think, what happened?
almost every single time is the boy. I'm just telling you. Women love bad boys for some
reason. I don't know. And what I wish is this. Oh,
this is what I wish. That men would be men. I mean, in the biblical sense
of the word, that men would be men. Strong and gracious and
kind. Wise. And that women, that they
would marry women who are women. Ladies. in the biblical sense
of the word and vice versa. I wish our ladies would be ladies
and marry men who are men. That's what I wish. I think our
lives would be happier. I know our lives would be better
off for it. But Samson did not do that. And Samson suffered
greatly for it. So in that way, Samson is a type
of us. But if that's all we get from
this story, Don't sin and don't make bad choices or you'll suffer
for it. If that's all we get from this
story, we've missed the blessing. See, if that's all we get from
this story, don't sin. Well, we're going to be discouraged
because we can't stop sinning. And if all we get from this story
is don't make bad choices and make right choices, we're going
to be discouraged because spiritually we cannot make good choices. Our sin nature, always chooses
sin and self and never chooses Christ and his righteousness.
The blessing in the story of Samson is how Samson is a type
of Christ. The word of God never tells us
how to live by giving us moral stories. If you want that, find
a book of Aesop's fables. That's not what the word of God
is written for because we fail at being moral. We fail at being
moral. You already know what's right
and wrong. Our problem is we can't do it. The Word of God is written
to reveal Christ, the Savior of sinners. He is the Word of
God. So if we want to find a blessing
in this passage, in any passage, we've got to find Christ in it. I believe the Spirit of God has
given that to me this morning to give to you. Now, if you'll
look back at Judges chapter 13, I want to show us three or four
things here. Number one is this. Samson is
a type of Christ in his birth. That's what we read to open the
service in our scripture reading in Judges 13. This angel that
came and appeared to Manoah and to his wife, this angel is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He appeared to this barren woman
and told her, you're going to have a son. Now this is a miracle. This woman's barren. She cannot
bear a child. Yet this angel appeared and told
her, you're going to have a child. Just like that angel came and
told Mary that you're going to have a son, even though it was
impossible for her to have a son. She's a virgin, yet she's going
to bear a son. And I know this angel that came
to Manoah's wife was the Lord Jesus Christ, the angel of the
covenant, because look what he says his name is in verse 18.
The angel of the Lord said unto him, why askest thou thus after
my name? Seeing it a secret. It's wonderful. His name is wonderful counselor.
the mighty God, the everlasting father. And his name is secret
in this way. His name must be revealed. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at verse 19. So Manoah
took a kid with the meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto
the Lord. And the angel did wondrously. And Manoah and his wife looked
on, for it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven
from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in
the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked
on it and fell on their faces to the ground. Now, this is no
mere angel, no mere angel, no created being would have dared
touch that sacrifice or identify with that sacrifice by getting
in the smoke of and ascending back to heaven. Only the Lord
Jesus Christ, who this sacrifice pictured, could ever do that.
So this shows us that the Lord Jesus Christ came not to damn,
but to save. Verse 22, when Noah said unto
his wife, we shall surely die because we've seen God. But his
wife said unto him, oh, aren't we thankful for a wise wife.
His wife said unto him, if the Lord were pleased to kill us,
he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering
in our hands. Neither would he have showed us all these things.
Nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.
The Lord wouldn't have promised us we're going to have a son
and this son's going to begin to deliver Israel if he's going
to kill us right now. The Lord's not going to do that.
See, Christ came to save sinners. That's why he came. He sent the
gospel to you. Now you believe it. Today, right
now, where you sit, you believe it. Christ came to save sinners. He sent us the gospel that reveals
Christ. our Savior. So Samson was a type
of Christ in his birth. And also he's a type of Christ
in his early youth. He was early about this business
of beginning to deliver Israel. Look here at verse 24. And the
woman bared a son and called his name Samson. And the child
grew and the Lord blessed him. And the spirit of the Lord began
to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtael. Now Samson early in his life
was moving around between these camps and he was scouting out
the Philistines. He was scouting out, learning
how the Philistines operate. He was doing that early in his
youth. Isn't that just like our Lord Jesus who said early in
his life, 12 years old, I must be about my father's business.
So Samson is a type of Christ in his birth. Then second, Samson
is a type of Christ in killing a lion with his bare hands. In
Judges 14 verse 5, then went Samson down and his father and
his mother to Timnath and came to the vineyards of Timnath and
behold, a young lion roared against him and the spirit of the Lord
came mightily upon him and he rent him, he tore his throat
out. That's what that word means.
As he would have rent a kid and he had nothing in his hand, but
he told not his father or his mother what he had done. Here
Samson is walking down to another village, and we'll come back
to this in a moment. He's going down to a village to a woman
he ought not have been loving, and on his way there he meets
this lion. This lion had been hiding in
the weeds and jumped out and roared to kill Samson. That lion
had been stalking and hunting Samson, and it jumped out and
roared at Samson right at the very point when he thought he
had Samson just exactly where he wanted him. And Samson with
his bare hands reached out and grabbed hold of that lion. I
mean, a lion and ripped his throat out. Wow. I mean, can you imagine
the strength and the courage that took? Wow. But now that's
given to us as a picture of Christ, our Redeemer. Who has defeated
Satan, that lion, roaring lion, going about seeking whom he may
devour, sneaking around in the weeds, hunting, trying to trap
and kill God's people. Our Savior destroyed Satan with
his bare hands at Calvary. Right when Satan thought he had
the Savior exactly where he wanted him, with his bare hands, the
Savior destroyed him. Crushed his head and put him
out of business. And sweetness to God's people
came from that defeat. Look here at verse 8 in Judges
14. And after a time he returned to take her, this woman that
he loved, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion,
And behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass
of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands
and went on eating and came to his father and mother and he
gave them and they did eat. But he told, but he told not
them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of a lion.
Now, sweetness, this sweetness of the gospel, it comes from
Christ's victory over our enemies, over every enemy of his people,
over Satan, Yes, at Calvary, the Savior crushed Satan's head.
But at Calvary, the Savior also put away the sin of His people.
The sin that would damn them, He put away. He removed the sting
of death for His people, so they don't have to fear death. He
took away the fear of hell for His people by suffering it for
them. He took the law out of the way by obeying it for His
people and obeying its last demand, there be death for sin. Sweetness,
all the sweetness that comes to God's people through the victory
of Christ our Savior. And that sweetness comes from
the most unlikely source, doesn't it? It would seem very unlikely
to find such sweetness as honey in the carcass of a lion. I mean,
I don't know how often that happens, but it seems to me like that
would be pretty rare. Well, to our way of thinking,
to human logic, it seems very unlikely that we'd find such
sweetness in the death of God's Son. But that, in the death of
Christ, that's where all sweetness, the sweetness of God's grace
is found in the death of Christ. There's no sweeter story to be
told than Christ and Him crucified. Thirdly, Samson is a type of
Christ in winning the victory through his people through a
picture of preaching. Now Samson had gone And he burned up the
crops of the Philistines and killed several of their men.
What they did was they took his first wife from him and gave
him to another. And then they killed her. So
Samson in retribution burned up their crops. But now the Philistines,
of course, are not going to let that stand. So Judges 15, we'll
pick up our story here in verse 9. Then the Philistines went
up and pitched in Judah and spread themselves in Lehi, And the men
of Judah said, why are you come up against us? And they answered
to bind Samson. Are we come up to do to him as
he had done to us. Then 3000 men of Judah went to
the top of the rock, eat him and said to Samson, no, it's
not that the Philistines are rulers over us. And what is this
that thou has done unto us? And he said unto them as they
did unto me. So if I done unto them, And they said unto him,
we are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into
the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, swear
unto me that you will not fall upon me yourselves. They spake
unto him saying, no, but we will bind thee fast and deliver thee
into their hand, but surely we will not kill thee. And they
bound him with two new cords and they brought him up from
the rock. And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted
against him, And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him,
and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that
was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of
an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and slew a thousand
men therewith. And Samson said, With the jawbone
of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I
slain a thousand men. Now it just doesn't seem possible
that Samson could kill 1,000 well-armed, well-trained soldiers
all by himself, especially when his only weapon that he had in
his hand was a jawbone of an ass he found laying there on
the ground. I mean, you think what a strength or a feat of
strength and power that must have been to kill 1,000 men single-handedly. Samson just broke off those cords
that were binding him like they were nothing, picked up a jawbone
of an ass and killed a thousand soldiers. But that's given to
us as a picture of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ destroyed
every enemy of his people by breaking off the bands of death
like they were nothing, and by his power, raising himself from
the dead. And when he did that, he destroyed
every enemy. was put away from his people.
Well, all right, what about the jawbone of this ass? Well, the
only thing that can possibly be a picture of is preaching
the gospel. That's the only thing that can
be a picture. God uses to preach his gospel the jawbone of an
ass. He uses the mouth of a man who
was born unclean and stubborn. That's who God uses to preach
his gospel. And the gospel The preaching
of the gospel is the only weapon we need to save God's people
and to deliver them. We don't need psychology. We
don't need, you know, tricks to get people to do what we want
them to do. We don't need to use tricks to get people to come
in the door. God will draw his people. The only thing we need
to set God's people free is the preaching of the gospel. All
right. Those are all pictures of Christ,
ways that Samson pictured our Lord Jesus Christ. But that wasn't
what the writer of the Hebrews was talking about. He didn't
say Samson's a picture of Christ. He said that by faith, Samson
delivered Israel. He did this something. Something
he did was by faith. Well, what is it that Samson
did by faith? What is it this act of faith,
this act of great faith that the writer of the Hebrews is
talking about? It's his death. in his death by faith. He did
this by faith to deliver Israel. And this is the fourth thing
I want us to see. Samson's faith is seen in his death, which is
a picture of Christ. This is how God delivered his
people. Now, like I said, Samson, this
fellow is hard to figure out. He's known for his great strength,
his great valor, his belief in God. And he's also known for
his weakness, which seems to be almost as great, doesn't it?
But isn't that how true faith is seen in every believer? It
is. In every believer, there is faith,
the strength of God-given faith. And it's in a body that is so
weak, a body of flesh that is so weak. It's Samson's weakness. This was his weakness. It's his
bad taste in women. You always find Samson loving
idolaters who hated God, who could only ever make him fall
into sin and fall away from the Lord. Judges 16, verse one, we
meet such a woman. Then went Samson to Gaza and
saw there a harlot and went in unto her. Now you don't need
me to tell you, Samson was wrong in this. He was wrong. This woman
is a harlot. And she's a Philistine. She's
a heathen. God's law had forbidden this. And we should never follow Samson
in his example here, going into a harlot or tying ourself to
a spouse that hates God and would never worship God with us. Because
if we follow Samson's example, it will open up our souls to
great danger. Just like it opened up Samson
to great danger. Look at verse two. And it was
told the Gazites saying Samson's come hither. And they compassed
him. They compassed him in and they
laid, they circled him, surrounded him. And they laid wait for him
all night in the gate of the city and were quiet all the night
saying in the morning when it's day, we shall kill him. And Samson
lay till midnight and arose at midnight and took the doors of
the gate of the city and the two posts. And he went away with
them. and bar it all and put them on
his shoulders and carry them up to the top of a hill that
is beyond Hebron. Now, Samson was wrong to open
his life up to danger by being with this harlot. But in this
way, Samson is a type of Christ. In his great strength, an unimaginable
feat of strength, Samson took the gates of the city Barred
off, the post, I mean, you think, now, I mean, these things are
not light. I mean, you can imagine how far down they sunk those
posts into the ground to hold up those gates. Samson just picked
them up, posts and all, put them on his back and carried them
away, took to the top of this hill. That's a picture of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who by his great strength, in a feat of
unimaginable strength and power, put away the sin of his people.
Isaiah prophesied that the Lord Jesus Christ would come to set
the prisoner free. This was the text our Lord used
in his first public message. He said, this day, this scripture
fulfilled in your eyes, I've come to set the prisoner free.
Christ set his people free, not just by unlocking and opening
the gates of the prison, but he tore them off the hinges and
he took them away. so that they could never hold
his people captive to the law anymore. Carried it away. But you know this woman, this
harlot that Samson fell in love with, this wasn't the first woman
like this he fell in love with and it won't be the last. Now
flip back for a moment to Judges chapter 14. Here's the first
woman like this that Samson loved. Judges 14 verse 1. 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 brethren? Isn't there a good Jewish girl
here you can fall in love with among all thy people that thou
goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? Why are you doing
this? And Samson said unto his father,
get her for me, for she pleaseth me well. Now Samson, he loved
this Philistine woman and he ended up marrying her. Now he
shouldn't have done it. God's law forbid it. And it caused
so much death and destruction of this marriage with this woman.
And then, I mean, he shouldn't have done it, but he did. And
he didn't learn his lesson, because then he went into this harlot.
And then, we're going to see this in a few minutes, Samson
went down and fell in love with a woman named Delilah. Now you
cannot tell, it's impossible to tell the story of Samson without
Delilah. Samson just had such bad taste
in women. This was his weakness. And it
ended up killing him. His bad taste in women ended
up killing him. But you know what? Samson's bad taste in women
is one of the great pictures, one of the great ways that Samson
pictures our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, it was wrong for Samson
to be with his women, God forbid. But Samson chose those women
by faith. I'm going to show you that. Look
here at verse four, Judges 14. But his father and his mother
knew not that it was of the Lord. It was of the Lord that he sought
an occasion against the Philistines. For that time, the Philistines
had dominion over Israel. This was of the Lord. The Lord
moved Samson to choose these women so he could be a type of
Christ, by setting Israel free. And he set his people free. He
set Israel free through his relationship with these women, these bad-tasting
women, harlots, and sinful heathen. You see where I'm going here?
Those women are a picture of Christ's bride. They're a picture
of Christ's bride. The sinful, sinful, harlot, shameful
people that the Son of God loved. They're a picture of Christ's
bride and how He set them free from their sin. Now, look back
at Judges 16. Let's look at this story of Samson
and Delilah. Verse four, Judges 16. And it
came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the valley of
Sorok, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her and said unto her, entice him and see wherein
his great strength lieth. And by what means we may prevail
against him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And we will
give thee every one of us 1100 pieces of silver. Now here Samson
goes. He's doing it again. He never
learns his lesson, does he? He's fallen in love with this
heathen harlot. And we believe she was a harlot.
Her name, Delilah, means languishing. And we don't think this is the
name. This is a very shameful name. We don't think this is
the name her parents gave her. We believe this is the name the
men of the town gave her. Because she's languishing. She's
a harlot. And the name that the part of the meaning of the word
woman that's used there, the woman Delilah, it means an adulteress. That's part of the meaning of
the word. And the men in town knew this about Delilah. They
knew her character. They knew she could be bought
and she could be enticed to use her feminine wiles to destroy
Samson. But all this is being done as
a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ came to save a bride.
that inexplicably he loved. He loved her from eternity. But she's a disgrace. I mean,
she is a disgrace. She is not the kind of girl you
want to bring home to meet your parents. You know, Samson's parents
asking, can't you find a good Jewish girl here? No, she's not
a good Jewish girl. She's nothing but sin. She's
a heathen. She's a harlot. She hates God. She's a rebel against Him. Yet
Christ loved her. He set His affection upon her
from all of eternity. She didn't do anything during
His love, did she? But He set His affection upon her. And He
determined, I'm going to do whatever it takes to have her. And He
came and did it. And you know what that sinful
bride cost Him? cost him his life, cost him his life. One of his friends would betray
him for a few pieces of silver, just like Delilah would betray
Samson for a few pieces of silver. Verse six, Delilah said unto
Samson, tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth,
and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. And Samson
said unto her, if they bind me with seven green wits that were
never dried, then shall I be weak and be as another man. And
the Lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green
whips, which had not been dried. And she bound him with them.
Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber.
And she said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he
break the whips as a thread of toe is broken when it touches
the fire. So his strength was not known. And Delilah said unto
Samson, behold, thou has mocked me and told me lies. Now tell
me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said
unto her, if they bind me fast with new ropes, they were never
occupied. Then shall I be weak and be as
another man. Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound him
there with and said unto him, the listings be upon the Samson.
And there were liars in weight abiding in the chamber. And he
break them from off his arms like a thread. And Delilah said
unto Samson, hitherto thou smocked me and told me lies. Tell me
wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, if thou
weavest the seven locks of my head with the web, and she fastened
it with the pin and said unto him, the Philistines be upon
thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep and went away with
the pin of the beam and with the web. And she said unto him,
how canst thou now say I love thee when thine heart is not
with me? Thus mocked me these three times, hath not told me
wherewith thy great strength lieth. Now, Robert Hawker wrote
a commentary, called it the poor man's commentary. And he will
often say in his poor man's commentary about a passage of scripture,
he says, this is so obvious. There's no need for me to swell
the pages of this book saying anything about it. Well, that
would apply to these verses. However, let me swell the pages
just a moment. I want to give a, you understand
this saying. But let me reiterate it. Let
me say it again. I want to warn our unmarried young people about
what these verses are saying. You pay close attention. If you
grow up and you marry someone who openly says to you, I will
not worship your God, I will not sit under that gospel here
or someplace else where the gospel is preached. They just don't
have, they won't do it. They don't like it. They don't
have a taste for it. Like Brother Marvin told us about Thursday
night, they don't have a taste for it. And they say, I just
won't do it. I won't have it. And you marry
them anyway. You can expect this to happen
to you. You can just expect it. Maybe the Lord will bless it,
but you can't count on that. You can count on this very thing
happening to you. I warn you now. I warn you because you You
cannot imagine what you mean to me. You cannot imagine how
you're on my heart. And if you do this, it will break
my heart. And so I warn you, out of great,
great love for you, just don't do it. Just don't do it. Samson
should have known what's going on here, shouldn't he? I mean,
come on, Samson. I mean, she was probably a beautiful
woman. But now, come on, Samson. You've got to see what's going
on here. But he kept going back, he kept going back, he kept going
back. That dumb, wasn't it? Yet, it's a picture of Christ
our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ came down,
came down to this earth because he loved his people. He loved
his bride and he came knowing full well what he was doing,
knowing that it would cost him his life. came anyway. And he kept going after her.
He kept going after her. He kept going after her. He set
his face like a flint toward Jerusalem and would not be deterred
because of his great love for his bride. Now, verse 16, it
came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words and
urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told
her all his heart. And he said unto her, there hath
not come a razor upon mine head, For I've been a Nazirite unto
God from my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength
will go for me and I shall become weak and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he
had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords
of the Philistines saying, come up this once. For he showed me
all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines
came up unto her and brought money in their hand. And she
made him sleep upon her knees and she called for a man. And
she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head. And
she began to afflict him and his strength went from him. And
she said, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke
out of his sleep and said, I will go out as at other times before
and shake myself. And he wished not that the Lord
was departed from him. Now Delilah nagged Samson. She
nagged him and she nagged him and she nagged him to death until
she finally got her way. And Samson told her the truth.
He told her how he could be taken and killed. And then, after telling
her that, he lay down to sleep in her lap. Come on, Samson. I mean, come on. How stupid. It sounds like Samson's just
trying to give himself to the Philistines. You know, that is exactly what
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, did. He went exactly where he
knew a mob would be, wanting to take him. And he went there
and he gave himself willingly into their hands so they could
bind him and afflict him and do to him as they pleased. Now
Samson, his power was taken away, so the Philistines could take
him away. Our Lord did not give his power. They didn't take him
because he was powerless. Oh, no. No, he asked him, who
are you looking for? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And he said, I am. And they felt flat on their back.
Oh, no, they didn't. He made sure they knew you're
not taking me. So any power that you're taking me in my power,
in my power, you're taking me because I have the power I own. I only have the power to set
my people free from their sin. I have the power to deliver my
bride and to give her life. So you're taking me in my power. You're not the ones in control
here. I am. And he went willingly in his
power to save his people. But when Samson awoke, he didn't
know it at first, but he figured it out right quick. The Lord
had departed from him. His strength was not there and
the Philistines took him. The strength, the beauty of Christ
our Savior was taken from him when he was made sin. It was
such an ugly sight to the father. The father turned his back on
him. The father refused to look on him in love and pity. So the Savior cried out. He wouldn't
ask him this question for his information. He was asking him
so we would know. My God, my God. Why has He not
forsaken me? He asked that question so we'd
know. Because of the sin of His people being laid upon Him, the
Father forsook Him. The Father took His loving presence
away from His Son. His Son was made sin for His
people. The Father could not look on
Him in love because He had been made sin. And instead of looking
on Him in love, the Father poured out His wrath, poured out all
of his wrath for seeing upon his son as the sacrifice for
the sin of his people. And the savior willingly endured
all that humiliation. He willingly endured all that
pain. He willingly endured death because he loved his body. He
loved her. And this is the only way she
could be set free. Verse 21, but the Philistines
took him. And they put out, they bored
out his eyes. They took an awl and bored out
his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters
of brass. And he did grind in the prison
house. The Philistines bored out Samson's
eyes. I mean, I just, I can't imagine
the pain of that. I mean, I just, I wear contacts
and sometimes I put that contact in and boy, it's just not in
there just right. Or if it gets buckled, you all wear contacts
and you've done that, contact just buckles a little bit and
you think, can you imagine having an awe
and boring your eye out? Oh, the pain of that. But you
know, that's a picture of Christ our Savior. At Calvary, God the
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, could not see his father's
smiling face. He said in Psalm 40, mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me. I'm not able to look up. He couldn't
see his father's loving presence. He couldn't see his father's
mercy and grace. And he suffered in darkness. Suffering, soul suffering that
is unimaginable to us. Yet he suffered it willingly.
for His great love for His people. I've been looking at this this
week and just thought about me personally as a husband. That
is mighty humbling, isn't it? Isn't that humbling? The Word
of God tells husbands, love your wives. Because Christ loved the
church. Gave Himself for it. How God make us able to do a
little bit of that, to suffer a little bit, whatever it takes
for her. This is what our savior did for
his people. He took the sin of his people
and he suffered for it willingly, willingly with joy, but joy,
joy that was set before him, the joy of seeing her redeemed
clothed in the wedding garment of his righteousness. on his
arm at the wedding supper of the Lamb. He did that willingly
with joy. Well, verse 22, how be it the
hair of his head, Samson's head began to grow again after he
was shaven. And Samson's strength begins
to return to him as his hair grew back. Now, here he is, he's
in bondage and he's blind, but now his strength's back. The
Philistines just couldn't see it. Now, like I said a minute
ago, the Savior, He never lost his strength, his strength, his
powers, God. He was made sin, but never lost
his holiness. He was made sin, but he was never
unrighteous. He was never, he made sin, but
never made sinful. And Christ gave himself willingly. He gave himself to those who
would crucify him, but they were never in control. He was always
the one controlling everything, wasn't he? Pilate tried to let
him go, but he couldn't, because this thing wasn't happening according
to Pilate's will. This is happening according to the Savior's will.
And the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and he died in power, power to
save, power to cleanse from sin, power to give life. God's people
can see that, can't they? But the self-righteous, they
can't see it. The Philistines couldn't see his strength was
coming back. So verse 23, then the lords of the Philistines
gather them together for to offer a great sacrifice on a day gone,
their God, their idol. And to rejoice, for they said,
Our God has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hand. And
the people saw him, they praised their God. For they said, Our
God has delivered into our hands our enemy and the destroyer of
our country, which slew many of us. When you read and hear
what the Pharisees, what they said at the cross, sounds like
the very same joy, the very same satisfaction in their idols,
wasn't it? As they watched the Lord Jesus suffer. Well, verse
25, it came to pass when their hearts were married, that they
said, call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called
for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport. And they set him between the
pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the
hand, Suffer me, that I may feel the pillars, whereupon the house
standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full
of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were
there. And there were upon the roof about 3,000 men and women
that beheld while Samson made sport. You know, maybe they were
smacking him and saying, who hit you? They were hitting him
and saying, who hit you? You know, you're this judge, you're
this prophet, can you tell who hit you? Just like they did our
Lord. And Samson called unto the Lord and said, O Lord God,
remember me. That's the song what Isaac sang
just a minute ago. Lord, remember me. I pray thee
and strengthen me. I pray thee only this once, O
God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two
eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which
the house stood and on which it was borne up, of the one with
his right hand and of the other with his left. And Samson said,
let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all
his might and the house fell upon the Lord and upon all the
people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at
his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Now,
Samson's death was an act of faith. This is the faith that
the writer to the Hebrews was talking about. By an act of faith,
Samson gave his life and delivered Israel from bondage to the Philistines. We know it was an act of faith
because he was calling on the Lord in prayer and asking the
Lord, depending upon the Lord, to give him the strength to do
it. Now, think of all the great feats of Samson's life and how
many of the enemy he killed in his life. But he killed many
more than that in his death, more in his death than in his
life. So he delivered Israel by his death. He took hold of
the two pillars that held up the house and tore them down
and delivered, killed all those Philistines and delivered Israel. That's a picture of our Savior
who worked many miracles during his earthly ministry. He healed
the sick and the lame. He raised the dead. He fed the
hungry by creating food. He controlled the weather and
the seas, but his greatest act was in his death. When by his
death, he delivered his people from their sin by putting it
away under the blood of his sacrifice. And even as he suffered and died,
he couldn't see the loving presence of his father. He couldn't feel
the love of his father, but he never lost faith in his father. He never doubted. that His Father
would accept His sacrifice and that He would accept everyone
for whom He was dying. And in great strength, the Lord
Jesus Christ took hold of the two pillars that were holding
up condemnation over His people, the law and justice. And He bowed Himself and He tore
those two pillars down in dying for His people. He bowed Himself
in strength and willingly gave up His life to give his people
salvation. And God's people are set free. They're set free because Christ
loved and he died for a sinful, undeserving people. Samson died
along with all the Philistines. Isn't that how our Savior died?
He died numbered with the transgressors, putting their sin away in his
great love and power for his people. Samson died by the hand
of the woman he loved. So did Christ our Savior. Willingly
died by the hand of that beloved bride that the father gave on
him. Died bearing her sin and putting it away. Reckon she loves
him? I'd say she does. Our Father, how we thank you.
How we thank you for the clear declaration of salvation in our
Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for this clear
demonstration that Christ our Savior loves a bride who's unlovable. She's ugly. She's defiled with
sin. She's a wretch, a harlot, an
adulteress. Yet He said, his love upon her
and did everything necessary to redeem her from her sin, to
clothe her in his righteousness, make her beautiful in his beauty
which he put upon her. Father, how we thank you. Oh,
how we thank you. And how we pray that you'd allow
us to leave here this morning in faith in this beloved bridegroom
who did everything it was necessary save His people from their sin.
Father, reveal Him to our hearts by faith, we pray. Enable us
to praise Him and to love Him and follow Him all the days of
our lives. It is in His precious name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. If you would stand and turn with
me to page 228. My faith has found a resting place. 228. My faith has found a resting
place, not in device nor greed. I trust the Ever-Living One,
His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves,
this ends my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to Him,
He'll never cast me out. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. My great physician heals the
sick, The lost he came to save. For me his precious blood he
shed, For me his life he gave. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea, It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for
me.