Dear congregation, our scripture reading comes from Judges chapter 13. Judges chapter 13, we'll read the entire chapter. Judges 13, let us hear the word of the Lord as it comes to us this morning. Again, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. Now there was a certain man from Zorah of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Indeed, now you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine, or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarene to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. So the woman came and told her husband, saying, a man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God. Very awesome. But I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. And he said to me, behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born. And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field. But Manoah, her husband was not with her. Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, look, the man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me. So Manoah rose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man, he said to him, are you the man who spoke to this woman? And he said, I am. Manoah said, now let your words come to pass. What will be the boy's rule of life and his work? So the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, of all that I said to the woman, let her be careful. She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her, let her observe. Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, please let us detain you, and we will prepare a young goat for you. And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord. For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, what is your name, that when your words come to pass, we may honor you? And the angel of the Lord said to him, why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it upon the rock to the Lord, and he did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. It happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. When the angel of the Lord appeared No more to Manoah and his wife than Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die because we have seen God. And his wife said to him, if the Lord had desired to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would have he shown us all these things, nor would have he told us such things as these at this time. So the woman bore 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 upon him at Mahana, Dan, between Zorah and Eshaw. Amen, may God bless the reading of his precious and infallible word. May he also add his blessing on the exposition of it As we turn to Judges chapter 13, we recognize that the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. And this is obviously a recurring theme through the book of Judges, and really you could always even go back to a recurring theme even from the Garden of Eden, where evil and sin came into this world. And yet, there's a great significance also here of the national sorrow of Israel, as 40 years they were afflicted by the Philistines. This really began even You might say that God was using the Philistines as a tool to judge His people Israel when they would depart from His ways already back in Joshua, but it didn't fully come to deliverance even until David. So it was many more than 40 years, but these 40 years must have been a great oppression on the people of Israel. And yet it's God who makes the difference when He comes here to Samson's mother in her own sorrows, not only in the national sorrows, but her own sorrows of being barren without a child. And He comes and He promises that her womb would be fruitful and the child that would be born would be the one to bring national deliverance to Israel. And we read that as the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife. But we also recognize these same things are applicable to baptism. We recognize that our children are born in sin and are by nature children of wrath and And they need to be born again. They need to have the Holy Spirit and the gift of faith and repentance in order to be saved. They need the promises that come through His Word of that sacrifice and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that is a payment for all of our sins and to know indeed that Christ lived a perfect life, that we might be delivered. And we really see this in seed form in the Old Testament, especially in this account of Manoah and his wife getting a visit from the angel of the Lord. And we can learn many things about how Samson's parents regarded this in way of attitude toward the very promises of God. And we can learn also about that and how we raise our children. And so I would like to look at this with the theme, God's Promises to Samson's Parents. And we'll see four things. We'll see first that they're received by faith. Secondly, they motivate obedience. Thirdly, these promises are revealed in Christ. And fourthly, these promises produce reverence. First of all, then, God's promises to Samson's parents are received by faith. As the angel of the Lord comes to Manoah's wife in verse 2, we recognize that she's barren, has no children, and there's a national crisis on their hands. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Indeed now you are barren and have borne no children. He acknowledges that. But you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or a similar drink. or not to eat anything unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. And so God is addressing all three of these problems. This woman is barren, and even her name is not mentioned in this chapter. We don't even know her name. She's simply Manoah's wife. She's Mrs. Manoah. And she becomes Samson's mother. And she's barren. And really what this is pointing to is that God is in control of this whole situation, whether it be in their nation or in her own life, in her own barrenness. And so Samson's birth really here is another instance of the many instances in God's Word that God's way of doing an exceptional work of salvation despite exceptional difficulties. And so, it is God who is the help of the helpless. It is God who is the hope of the hopeless. It is God who gives us confidence through His promises. And they must be received by faith alone. And this is really the faith of Mrs. Minoa. In verse 6, you see that faith. She doesn't question this faith, but she goes and she tells her husband and tells him exactly what the angel of the Lord had said to her. Notice, she didn't laugh like Sarah laughed. She didn't lay out a fleece like Gideon laid out a fleece. She received this promise by faith. And she goes and she tells her husband. She doesn't say, I'll just wait and see what comes to pass, and then I'll tell my husband, yeah, by the way, nine months ago, the angel of the Lord was in our home and told me all of these things, but I just wanted to wait and see, but now I have it confirmed. That's not what she does. She believes it, and she goes immediately to tell her husband. And the faith of Mr. Manoah is very similar. The faith of Mr. Minow isn't to question what his wife is saying. It isn't to question what the word of the Lord was. But rather, he comes in prayer to the Lord with confidence. With confidence. He says, he says, oh my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent to us again teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born. He had confidence that this child would be born, and he wanted to instruct this child in the way that he should go. And even when, second to counter, when the angel of the Lord comes again, Manoah's faith is really evident in verse 12 when he says, Now let your words come to pass. He has confidence that these words are true, and he pleads upon them saying, Now let them come to pass. Even in way of baptism, parents are addressed as those who are beloved in the Lord, those who have faith, those who are united in the Lord, those who submit to one another in the Lord. And they share with one another their comforts and their joys. They share with one another in their responsibilities of raising their children in the fear of the Lord. And when their children are backsliding and when they see their sinfulness and their struggle with sin just as in their own life, then we need to recognize that parents are to encourage one another, even to bring our children to the Lord and with confidence in His Word and in what He has done and what He is doing. And so we see this, especially in baptism, that God comes first, and He separates our children unto Himself, not because of something good within us, but because of His covenant mercies. Even as we're extended to Manoah and his wife, and even as we read in Acts 2 to all those who are in, by faith, Abraham's seat. Manoah and his wife, they can teach us a lot about our own parenting and their own open communication and how they're not hiding things from each other, but openly, with confidence in the Lord, with faith in God, they want to depend upon God and his word for instruction. That's what we see in their faith, isn't it? It's a dependence on the Lord. Notice Manoah's prayer again. Oh my Lord, please let the man of God who you sent come again to teach us what we shall do for this child. What will be the boy's rule in life and in his work? In verse 12. He's asking what manner of work must we prepare him for and how must we do that? If this child is to have a special work, we want to prepare him for it. And he wants to hear that directly from God Himself. Do we, as parents, go back to the Scriptures, praying, Lord, teach us how to raise our children. Give us Your Spirit to guide us as we raise our children, as we pray for our children. We would know that we are dependent upon you as we train them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Let us do so with absolute dependence. And that will motivate obedience. Obedience. And that's what we see. These promises not only are received by faith, but they also motivate obedience in Mr. and Mrs. Manoa. Notice the specific instructions that are given. They're told again to listen to all that the angel had told his wife and that this child must be a Nazirite. And notice in verse seven what that meant. Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death. And what does that mean, that he would be a Nazirite? That means that he must be separated unto the specific work that God is going to give him to be a deliverer. And to do so, God had ordained for Samson that he must be a Nazirite. And that would mean that he couldn't drink wine or any alcohol or even any grape juice of any sort, of any kind. He couldn't shave any hair on his head. A razor couldn't come to his head, and nor could he come into contact with any type of corpse. He must be separate unto this calling, and it must affect his food, it must affect his appearance, and he must live a life that is separated to this calling. Now, sometimes the vow of a Nazirite would be given for a specific period of life, maybe three years of training or something, and they would take on the vow of being a Nazirite. But for Samson, this must be even from conception in the womb until the very day of his death. is what God is saying. That's quite something to consider, wouldn't it? As Mr. and Mrs. Manoa are hearing this, that already the mother must refrain from these things so that her son would be separate and be a Nazirite, and he must do this until the day of his death. You would think Manoa and his wife would be already saying to the angel of the Lord, but But what about just giving a little bit of a trim job? He would look a lot better if we could just trim his hair just a little bit. Or if he could just have a little bit of grape juice or a little, you know, a few raisins once in a while if he's hungry. Or what if he would accidentally touch some dead corpse or animal or anything? Isn't this really too strict for someone? Wouldn't you agree that Mr. and Mrs. Monoa could have asked the angel of the Lord that? But they didn't. They obediently submitted to God's revelation to them. You see, the very promises of God to Mr. and Mrs. Monoa motivated them to this obedience. Certainly we will raise him according to the word of the Lord. So that Samson could be this deliverer that God had appointed him to be for Israel. Well, you say, well, what's the significance for us? Well, the significance for us is that our children are also called to be separate. We are to direct them to Christ, to his blood. We are to train them and disciple them to be prophets, priests, and kings in this world. Although the Nazarite vow is an Old Testament vow and concept, The New Testament parallel to the Nazarite vow could be found in Romans 12, verse 1 through 2, where Paul says, Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of all God's mercies, that we would offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. That's our spiritual act of worship and being separate from the world, and that we would not be conformed to the world but be transformed through the renewing of our mind to prove what that what God's will is. And so, for Christians, really, we have a vow as well to be separate from the world, a holy people that are consecrated to God, who lay down their lives as a living sacrifice. That we would not be conformed to this world, but be transformed through the renewing of our mind, and be conformed to the image of Christ. That's a great responsibility and way of baptism for not only us as parents and for a congregation, but also for our children. To be a separate people, to be a covenant people unto the Lord our God, and to raise our children in such a way. Maybe we can ask ourselves, where do we get our guidance for parenting? Do we look first to all of the magazines of the world and good parenting magazines even? Do we buy endless self-help books? Do we go to secular psychology? Or do we turn to God's Word as to how He would have us to raise our children, the children that He has given to us? Do we like Manoah say, come again, show us more, teach us how to raise our children. And to depend upon him in obedience when he shows us in his word how to do so. You see, obedience to God's word and to really, the message of God is an act of repentance, conforming our thoughts and our desires and our actions to God and submitting to Him in His Word. But thirdly, we also see that these promises are revealed in Christ. We ask ourselves, who is this angel of the Lord? And I, with our translations, agree that this is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in our In our Bibles, it's capitalized. Angel of the Lord, and the pronouns that are referring to him are all in capital letters. And even though they didn't fully understand that, at first, this angel of the Lord came to Manoah's wife, and she comes and tells her husband that it had continent-sized, the angel of the Lord, and it was very awesome. It was very awesome. Did she understand that it was Christ, and did they understand all of this? Well, absolutely not. But the angel, when Manoah said to the angel of the Lord in verse 15 and 16 that, we want to detain you, we want you to stay here, and we'll bring a young goat for you, and we're going to eat together. And the angel of the Lord said, no, though you would detain me and keep me here, I will not eat your food. Because Manoah didn't know that it was the angel of the Lord, says the scriptures. The fact that Manoah didn't really know that this was the angel of the Lord, He knew that there was something very awesome about him, as his wife had said, and what he could also witness, this was still a very ordinary person. And so we call that a theophany. We call that a visible manifestation of who God is as he comes and reveals himself to us. Jesus himself ultimately came to this world. Not only did he become a human being while being God, but he took the very nature of a servant upon himself. Though the world didn't know him and didn't recognize him, those who believe in him know that he is the only begotten of the Father, that he is God himself. And Jesus is revealing that about himself even here in Judges chapter 13. Notice when Manoah asks him, what is your name? in verse 17. He wants to know his name so that he can give honor to the one who has made these promises and now they come to pass. He wants to be able to honor him. And the angel of the Lord said to him, why do you ask my name? Saying it is wonderful. Well, where do we ever hear that word wonderful? Isaiah nine, verse six. He shall be called wonderful, consular, the prince of peace. He is wonderful and his name is wonderful. But not only is his name wonderful, his very work is wonderful. You see, these promises are revealing the very work of Christ. As when Noah laid this goat in the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord. What do we read? In verse 19, and he, the angel of the Lord, did a wondrous thing. while Manoah and his wife looked on. While they're looking on, he does a wondrous thing. And what is that wondrous thing? Well, as the fire and the flame went up to heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. What's happening here? Manoah and his wife's sacrifice is accepted. Their offering is accepted. They offered it in faith and obedience and now these promises are being revealed to them in the Lord Jesus Christ as he does a wondrous thing. As he goes up to heaven in the flame of that altar. That had to be amazing to witness. But what's more amazing is the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ made Himself an offering for sin. That He was in the flames of the wrath of God as He bore our sins on Calvary's tree. And His offering was received. It was accepted by God. Although he died and was buried, he was raised from the dead and he ascended into heaven because his sacrifice was accepted by God. He did a wondrous thing. Here for Manoah and his wife. But in the pages of Scripture we read of that wondrous thing that Christ has done, taking upon himself our flesh, dying for sinners such as us. We also might be dead to sin and raised with Him in newness of life. And notice what Manoah and his wife did. They just looked on. That's all they did. He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. Isn't that amazing? Sometimes we think that our Our children and our lives need to be conformed and we need to work hard. And I'm not saying we don't. We need to be disciplined. We need to be instructing our children and using all of the tools that God has given us to do so. But as we make our lives a living sacrifice unto God, what we do is we look on, like Manoah and his wife, and we see what Christ has done for sinners. We look on. Because there's nothing that we can do to ultimately save our children. There's nothing that we can do to save ourselves. There's nothing we can do to save anyone else. We can use all the means that God has given us, but then we look on and we watch what Christ is doing and what he has done. He's done a wondrous thing. And it's not up to us to earn our way into salvation. It's not up to us to merit that for ourself. We look on and we see a finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ that is perfectly satisfactory and sufficient for each one of us. We look on and know what Christ has done. And that ought to produce in us worship, even as it did for Manoah and his wife. When they saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground, and the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah. Then they knew it was the angel of the Lord." You see how, in our fourth point, this produced reverence. It produced worship. They worshiped God. But then when they realized for sure this was the angel of the Lord, when they realized this was God himself manifesting himself to them, Manoah says to his wife, oh we shall surely die because we have seen God. It's interesting here that Manoah and his wife are contrasted here, and it's a beautiful thing to see, especially in their relationship. Because Manoah's wife balances his fear and his doom and his gloom out with confidence in what God has done. And she says to him, if the Lord had desired to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering. He would have not have shown us all of these things. He would have not told us how to raise Samson. She took comfort in the fact that God had accepted the sacrifice. That God's work is perfect. That Christ's sacrifice, His wondrous work, His gospel is sufficient. And she tells her husband. She grounds him in his faith. She goes to him and says, no, no, no. God is not meant to harm you. But God is meaning this for our blessing. You see, we need to also recognize that as parents. And we can be greatly encouraged by our spouses. Sometimes we get overwhelmed by our sinfulness and we get overwhelmed by who God is and we might Surrender to doom and gloom. How could God ever deal with us? And we can encourage us again, one another again and again with the gospel promises. God has a sacrifice that is accepted in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can look to Him. You can direct your children to Him. When you see their brokenness and their sinfulness, there is salvation in Him. For he has done a wonderful, a glorious thing. We need to have an attitude of reverence to God. Not one that is pessimistic and gloomy and doomed. Not one that treats God with familiar contempt. But one that reverences his gospel. and worships Him for it. Really what Manoah's wife is saying, He has spoken to us His Word, and His Word is sufficient. His promises are sufficient. and we find that in the fulfillment. The woman bore 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 upon him. Well, maybe, maybe you today struggle with seeing God's fulfillment always in your children. Maybe some of them have gone their own ways into the world, and maybe you even feel like a failure, continue to take your children back to God. He is the difference. The difference is not in how much water is used. The difference is not in how good of parents we are. The difference is It's not in how assured we are, but the difference is in God Himself and what He has done. He has done a wonderful thing. And Acts 2 says the promises to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call. And we can take those promises back to Him and say, Lord, teach us how to order our children. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit. And O Holy Spirit, give us wisdom. Give us instruction. Give us guidance to help bring our children to Jesus, that they might be instructed. And that they might know Your rock-solid promises. Let us never get enough of Christ. Like Mr. and Mrs. Manoa, let us always pray Lord, tell me more. Tell me more about wonderful, about the Lord Jesus Christ. Show us more of your marvelous and wondrous works and grant us grace that we might believe your promises. Grant us grace that we would be moved to obedience. Grant us grace that we would reveal the promises in Christ. and reverently worship you as we watch your Holy Spirit work mightily upon us and our children and we would be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ who is wonderful. Amen. Let's pray. Gracious God, we give thanks for the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is wonderful, and who's done wondrous works, and revealed yourself even to Manoah and his wife. Grant us grace to believe your promises. Grant us grace to repent and be obedient. not being conformed to this world, but being transformed through the renewing of our mind. May we see Christ and worship Him. Lord, go with us, granting us spirit of wisdom, instruction, In all righteousness and holiness, we ask this for Jesus' sake. Amen.