We're gonna be studying Samson in the first half of the evening sessions, starting in the book of Judges. Now, in Judges chapter 13, if you have your Bible, you can turn there, if not, The PowerPoint's not going to be complicated for the life of Samson. It's going to be the Scripture passages. So if you don't have your Bible, you can follow along. But we're going to be looking at the life of Samson now. In my opinion, Samson is probably the most famous judge or possibly second most famous judge to Gideon. I would suspect he's probably the most famous, known especially for his physical exploits. But if you recall in times past when I've been here, I've encouraged you when you study the scriptures, to study two things. Number one, study what they say. Number two, pay attention to what they don't say. If we're not careful, we can glorify Samson. The Scripture has some sobering things to say about him, and a lot of things that we would add are left out. They're not in there. So we're going to look at him today. The Lord did some amazing things through Samson, but if I could sum up his life in one way, it would be unrealized potential. It was a man that had amazing potential. One writer said, unlike any other man that had walked the face of the earth up to that point, Samson had amazing potential. We're going to look at before Samson's birth tonight. We're going to try to move quickly. I understand there's snack time that we want to make sure that we get to and do so in a timely manner now. going to look at verse number 1. The Bible says, So things I want you to consider from this first verse here in Judges chapter 13, verse number 1. The Bible says, in the sight of the Lord, right? They did evil, but it was in the sight of the Lord. Was it in their eyes, evil? Probably not. In fact, you'll find a phrase later on in the book of Judges that says every man did that which was right in his... Own eyes, yes, very much. Now, let me ask you this. When we study the life of Samson, I want you to consider if he appears to match the American culture in 2024. And you'll find he does in a lot of ways, sadly. So they did evil or they sinned in the sight of the Lord. Number two, the Bible says that the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines. God has every right to do with the nation of Israel and us as he chooses. Sometimes we get the idea that we're not getting a fair shake, we're not getting what we deserve. We can be thankful we're not getting what we deserve, right? So it's every bit his prerogative or choice to do so. The third thing I want you to consider is the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years. That is a long time. I'm 42, all right? 40 years ago, we were starting or getting ready to start the second Reagan administration. That's a long time, okay? Things can happen a lot in that amount of time. Look at verses two and three with me, if you would. There was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was Baran, and Baranot. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, Behold now, thou art Baran, and Barasnot, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. All right? They were of the tribe of Dan. If you look later on around chapter 17 and 18, you'll find that the tribe of Dan is steeped in idolatry and has become very idolatrous during this time. But in the tribe of Dan, there was a couple that had been doing right all along. Now, their names are Manoah and his wife. We're going to call her Mrs. Manoah, all right? Trick question, not on your sheet. What's Noah's wife's name? Grace, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It's a good place to find a wife. Told you it was a trick question. The family name Zorah means dawn or light. The name Manoah means place of rest. Jesus said in Matthew 11, 28, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now keep in mind in that culture, it was seen as a reproach to be childless. Today we understand that there are medical reasons why a couple may not be able to have children. We understand that. But back then it was considered to be a reproach. And so you remember that something that obviously Hannah wept for, Zacharias and Elizabeth prayed for, Abraham and Sarah longed for, the list goes on and on and on. And we'll look at some of those in that way. The Bible has several examples of these barren couples. You find Sarah mentioned Hebrews 11, 11, Galatians chapter 4, 22 and 23 talk of that miracle. Isaac was born of a miracle, Samuel was born, Joseph to Rachel and Benjamin for that matter, John the Baptist, et cetera. The Bible says that here in verse number three, the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman. Now, what's noteworthy in this passage is the message that was sent. You are barren, but now you are going to have a child. There is a promise. God has a very specific plan in mind for this child, okay? And we're gonna find that mentioned here in verses four and five. 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 upon his head, or excuse me, on his head. For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." There's a specific plan. Now, He was to be a Nazarite from the womb, which we'll see, but there are some instructions given to her. She's not to drink neither wine nor strong drink. The Bible distinguishes between the two here. It is never right or appropriate for a child of God or anyone to drink alcoholic beverages. I've been coming long enough. I'm pretty sure you're aware of how I feel. In fact, if I recall, I actually preached a message about alcohol here. It's never appropriate. There is a movement today pushing for sipping saints. I've had pastors tell me that there are people in their congregation pushing for the communion grape juice to be alcoholic wine. And one of the excuses told to them is you're not getting the full blessing unless it's alcoholic wine. Kind of gets my ire up, but we're not gonna fall off that soapbox tonight, all right? So, Ephesians 5.18 says this, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. I have here in my notes, nothing good or spiritual comes from the consumption of intoxicating beverages. Now, she was not to drink wine or strong drinks. She was not to eat any unclean thing. The Old Testament law was very clear in regards to what that was. The Bible says here in verse number five that the angel confirms that there was not to be a razor to come upon his head. Now, the scriptures are very specific on that. And some may disagree with me, and you're certainly welcome to do so. But I want you to consider something. There is a difference between razor and scissor. Scissors had been invented by then by several hundred years. All right, the Bible says it's a shame for a man to have long hair. Nature teaches you that. Now, the assumption made by Benny was he was to never cut his hair at all. There is a difference in regards to that. The Bible says that 1 Corinthians 11, verse one, doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him. Oftentimes the vow of a Nazirite was for a short period of time, but Samson was to be a Nazirite from the womb. All right, he was to be that for the extent of his life. Now, we're gonna look at some of the vows of a Nazirite and what those had. And I'm not gonna turn to it in the PowerPoint, but if you have your Bible, turn to Numbers chapter six. Numbers chapter six, and we'll look at verses one through eight and see what the vow of a Nazirite was to have. Numbers chapter six, verses one through eight. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes or dried. Essentially, stay away from every fruit of the vine, okay? That comes into play later. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall no razor come upon his head until the days be fulfilled in which he separated himself unto the Lord. He shall be holy and let the locks of his head grow. All the days that he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister when they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head. All the days of his separation, he is holy unto the Lord." Samson was to be holy to God from the time of his birth, wasn't he? He was consecrated for that very purpose. And that's what the angel is saying here. Now, In 1 Samuel 1, verse 11, you find Hannah talking about the vow of the Nazarite. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a manchild, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. She was gonna dedicate Samuel to the Lord. Well, back with Samson, we find the angel of the Lord speaking to Mrs. Manoah. And so she does what she knows best. Let me pause here for a moment. Note who the angel of the Lord came to at first, Mrs. Manoah. There are people who are of the persuasion or opinion that ladies cannot have a relationship with God without the influence of their husband. meaning without a man to push them or dictate to them spiritually, they can't have a relationship with God. And there's a danger in that because there are a lot of ladies that are married to lost men. How are they supposed to have a relationship with God if they can't have a relationship without their husband's input? They can have a relationship with God. The angel comes to her first. And I think you'll understand why here in a little while. When the angel comes, she goes and tells her husband. Bible says here, then a woman came, 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, very terrible. But I asked him not whence he was, neither told me his name. But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing, for the Lord shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death. Now consider in verse number six, she says, A man of God came unto me, his countenance was like the countenance of an angel, very terrible. And she confesses she didn't ask where he was from or who he was. But I'd say if you look at verse number seven, she got the message pretty well, didn't she? Mind you, they didn't have video, they didn't have texting or any way to record things easily, but when she replies to her husband and says what the angel commanded her or told her, she did remarkably well, didn't she? I'm impressed with Mrs. Minoa. She's done a tremendous job. Now, let me tell you this. In a situation where husband and wife are both saved, it's crucial that mom and dad be on the same page in raising their children. If mom and dad are not on the same page, guess what? You'll have one spouse undercutting the other. You say, well, what about situations where one spouse is saved and the other is not? That's a very difficult situation, and I understand. But when you are saved, you should make sure that you're on the same page and not pulling against each other. She goes directly to her husband and tells what had happened. She is a tremendous lady in that aspect. Now, we see in verse number eight, look at verse eight. Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, oh my Lord, let the man of God which thou did send come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. I want to cover the actions of Manoah here in verse number eight. The Bible says he entreated the Lord. Your paper says entreat means to request or beg strongly. It's not a mild request. It's not a passing fancy. He's begging God to come back on his behalf. Let me say this. it's important to be on what the Southerners call good praying ground. You ever heard that phrase, good praying ground? That means that they're able to pray, they have a good relationship with the Lord, there's no sin in their life to affect their ability to pray. Manoah is on good praying ground. Now, we're gonna find here in a little bit that he does come back. Look at verse number nine. And Manoah said, now let the words come to pass, how shall we order the child and how shall we do unto him? His request is this, how shall we do unto him? Now, you'll find that people in life turn to everywhere but where they should. When people face crisis in life, where do they usually turn? Alcohol. drugs, hobbies, friends, any kind of entertainment that will take their mind off of things for a short period of time. We find that Manoah is in treating of the Lord and his instruction is this, how shall we order the child? It's important to understand that she is, excuse me, he is asking for instructions from God on how to raise their child. People ask questions. What's the best way to raise a child? We have a neighbor who has come to us and said, how can you have children in this environment today? They say that the world's in trouble. Well, I can imagine there are times in our world where things have been a whole lot worse than they are today, for me anyway. And how do I know that God did not bring them to this earth for, as it says in the book of Esther, for such a time as this? Right? That's not for me to determine. My time, or excuse me, my responsibility is in this time, is to raise my children for the glory of God. Now, they turned out of faith. They turned out of faith. Keep in mind, all they have right now is the promise of a child, don't they? They have no evidence that she's gonna have a child. She's been barren. but they have the promise from God that there's gonna be a child. Would the God that we took God at his promises so faithfully that when he says, Mark, we know this is gonna happen, then my next question is, how shall I proceed? The question is, how shall we order the child? Well, Proverbs 22.6 tells us this, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. They came to God by faith. Faith in God's promise. I will tell you this, they had more faith in Abraham and Sarah. Do you remember when God came to Abraham and told him that they were going to have a child? What did Sarah do? She laughed. Can I also add this? They had more faith in Zacharias. Does Zacharias believe the angel the first time he was told there would be a child? No, and as a result, God did what to him? Made him unable to speak till the time of the birth, right? Now, ladies, you can chuckle here, but having your husband silent for nine months might not be the worst thing in the world. But in this case, it was because of a lack of faith on Zacharias' part, wasn't it? Manoah and Mrs. Manoah had more faith in God than these others, didn't they? It's pretty amazing to think about it. Now, they want to understand the path that God has in store for their child. When you raise children, there will be resistance. Ephesians chapter six, four tells fathers, provoke not your children unto wrath. Colossians, I think it may be chapter three, also tells us not to provoke unless you discourage them. In raising your children, there'll be enough friction as it is. You don't have to provoke them, but listen, there will be resistance if you want to raise your children according to the way that God wants them to be raised. And it will not always make sense to you as a human, but always follow what the Scriptures say. Train up a child, Proverbs 22, 6. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. All right, let me give you an example. I had the blessing to be out here with you in February for your Pastor Brown's retirement. I've had the opportunity several times in the winter to come and to be able to fly into here in the winter and fly back from Milwaukee into Baltimore. Baltimore is my home flight. And when you fly from here to Baltimore in the winter, the path is very unusual. Instead of going straight from here down southwest, do you know the direction, or southeast, do you know the direction they head at first? Straight north. First time they did that, I was watching on my tablet and thought, where are they going? We don't go across Lake Michigan and go up that direction. We're going to Baltimore. Maybe he forgot. And then we get up over Lake Michigan, they make a right-hand turn, and all of a sudden you go from about 440 knots to almost 600. Do you know why? There's a jet stream, and we took off a few minutes late. We were just trying to barely beat a snowstorm. In fact, it was snowing on the runway as we took off, and I thought, we're not going to make it. We're going to go right in the snowstorm, went up, and gone. We landed 15 minutes early. Jet stream. Raising kids is not like that. There's no gesturing, you're like, oh, if I put my kids in this club or this environment or something, it's gonna be super easy. No, no, no, that does not work quite like that, all right? But you find the plan that God has for you and go from there. All right, how shall we order the child? Look back at verse 13 through 20, you don't need to turn there, but it talks of instructions from the angel to Manoah and Mrs. Manoah. It's interesting that the angel suggests a sacrifice. They make it, it was offered on a rock, and it was before the Lord, when the flames went up, the angel ascended back up into heaven in the flames. Now, does that sound familiar to any other judge in the book of Judges? Who offered a sacrifice to the Lord on a rock and it was consumed? Did somebody say it? Gideon. Gideon in the book, maybe chapter six or seven, you'll find that Gideon submitted a sacrifice to the Lord up there. All right, so moving on, how are they going to behave? Verse 21, but the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife than Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord. You have to give him credit, he figured it out eventually, didn't he? All right, sometimes we don't figure things out the first time or second time, but Manoah, you've got to give him credit, figured it out eventually. It was an angel of the Lord. Now, something to consider. How more blessed are we than the people of the Old Testament. The angel of the Lord doesn't appear to them anymore. They have to remember what the angel told them. We have the benefit of having scripture in its totality available to us at any time, particularly in the English language. I was talking with Dr. Zeiner, a mutual friend of ours, who is working with some people in Kenya, and there are men preaching in tribal languages that have no scripture at all. And so what they do is they take the scripture that they do have in another language, and as they go in preaching, try to translate it for the people. But there's nothing for the people to be able to look at and read for themselves. We're blessed. Every one of us either came with a Bible, or have the capability of putting it on any one of a number devices, or, I'm thinking you have few Bibles, am I correct? Do I remember? Just reach forward, you can grab one. It's not hard. We have such access, it's just absolutely amazing. They had to take what the angel had told them and go from there. Verse number 22, Manoah said unto his wife, we shall surely die because we have seen God. A couple of things to consider here. People who tell you that they encounter an angel and are not affected by it at all ought to read their Bible. People, when an angel approached someone in the scriptures, oftentimes you would find fear not, fear not. And do angels approach people now? Highly unlikely. All right? What happens is people desire the sensational. They desire sensational things to make them feel better. I have a lot of people talk about their guardian angel. Good for them. They need to actually spend more attention focusing on the God of the Bible instead of other things. Well, Manoah said we're going to die. We're surely going to die because we have seen God. Verse number 23, I want you to consider this. Who is the clear-minded person in the relationship? Mrs. Manoa, right? Sometimes men, we would be wise to pay attention to our wives. They can be the calming influence in our lives. Mrs. Manoa seems to have a good head on her shoulders. Manoa, he does not. He tends to be more emotional. It's kind of sad in this situation. Now, the Bible tells us that men are to honor their wives as unto the weaker vessel. But weaker does not mean less. Weaker does not mean less at all. There's a tendency for some people to say that. I've met some of them. Shame on them. When Manoah needs comforting, it comes from his wife. So findeth a wife, findeth a good thing. If you have a good godly wife, be thankful for her. Be thankful for her influence in your life. Mind you, the angel of the Lord came to Manoah's wife twice. Not to Manoah. And then she obviously took the angel to him. Now, her questions are very, very good. She says, number one, if the Lord were going to kill us, would he have received our burnt offering? It's a great question, isn't it? Think about it. Did God accept Abel's offering? Yes. Did God accept Cain's offering? No. Did he accept the offering of Mrs. Manoa and Manoa? He sure did. All right, it's a good question. Secondly, if the Lord were going to kill us, would he have shown us these things? I would add in the promise of a son. We're barren, God's promised us a son. Number three, if the Lord were going to kill us, would he have told us such things as he has? The answer clearly is no. Bible says in Proverbs 21, 27, the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination. How much more when he bringeth it with a wicked hand. Proverbs 15, 8, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. But the prayer of the upright is his delight. Bible says in verse 24, so the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson, and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. Looks like I skipped, like, some of your things, didn't I? My wife assembled the sheets, and I skipped right over the passages for the sake of time. And to answer your question, Proverbs 23, 13 says not to withhold chastening from a child or discipline. Chastening is God's way of correcting His children when they stray. All right? Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, yes. If there are six kids out in the hallway misbehaving, one of them's mine. If you've never met me or my children, you'll figure out fairly quickly which one's mine. Why? Because I'm gonna correct mine. Now, if the others are doing something terrible or really dangerous, I might address them or go find somebody else to do. My children are gonna hear fairly quickly because they belong to me. Children should be raised to be godly. They should be raised to follow directions right away. Now, I won't dwell too long on this, but instant obedience is the only kind of obedience. God expects us to be obedient instantly and with the right attitude, and so should our children. I may have told you this illustration in times past. We had a family in our church that ran a beef farm, and I was helping them put away hay. And in the process of doing hay, on the elevator that went from the hay wagon up into the loft, the chain came unattached from the gears. And so somebody turned off the elevator, and I climbed up and went to reattach the chain onto the gears. What we didn't know is the farmer's grandson had walked in the hayloft in behind us and saw the switch on the wall. Now I'm hanging off the elevator with my hands in the gears, one side's already attached, and he goes to flick the switch. My brother's already up in the loft, looks down and sees it and screams, Mark, jump off. Now, would it have been in my best interest to say, John, why? I could get hurt. No. What do you think I did? I jumped off. I didn't know why, but somebody told me, my brother told me to jump off. And as I jumped, I heard the click of the switch in the motor and the chain came around and hit me in the shoulder as I went falling down. If my hands had been in the gears, I'd have lost my right fingers and it well could have been worse. Instant obedience. That's what God expects of us. That's what we should expect of our children. Now, a woman bear a son and called his name Samson. And the child grew and the Lord blessed him. The son that was promised, God gave. God keeps his promises. That can be an enjoyable thing when you're on the blessing side of God's promises, right? But can I also say it's a sobering thing when you're on the judgment side of God's promises? If God promises to judge something, you can rest assured He will. The promise of the Son came, she called His name Samson, and the Lord blessed Him. The name Samson means like the Son, the strength of the Son, or the shining of the sun. And forever he's a witness of what God could do through somebody if they all follow him. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 32 and 33 say, and what shall I more say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of Samson of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, and stopped the mouths of lions." Now, among all those things, Samson subdued kingdoms through faith, he wrought righteousness, obtained promises, and he surely stopped the mouth of lions, didn't he? We find out that he stopped one quite literally. The Lord blessed him. We find that similar things happen through scripture. 1 Samuel 3, 19, and the Samuel grew, and the Lord was with them and did let none of his words fall to the ground. In Luke 1, verse 80, speaking of John the Baptist, and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the desert until his showing unto Israel, until the day of his showing, excuse me. In Luke 2, 52, and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. So Samson's off to a good start, no? We are encouraged by that. Well, the Bible says, begin to move him at times. That word move means to stir. For example, in John chapter five, verse four, Jesus did that miracle at the pool of Bethesda. Remember the man had been laying beside the pool for a long time. Once a year, an angel would come down and stir or move the pool there and the first person in would be healed. The guy had no one to help him to get in. So he just stood there or sat there frustratingly. Now, if we're going to do anything for God in closing, it's going to have to be because the spirit of God moves us. Where do you think Samson goes wrong between Judges chapter 13 and the rest of his life? Any guesses? What's that? His own will, right? You're gonna find in Lord Willing starting tomorrow night in chapter 14, Samson decides to do things his way. When do we get in trouble with God? Exact same, yes, thank you. When we decide we're gonna do things our will. Now here's the thing. We may not audibly or out loud say, God, good suggestion, but I think I wanna do things my way. Or we may not flat out admit it, but we may just take it under consultation and go about doing things our own way. We may not admit out loud, Lord, we know better than you do, but our lives may show it. Samson's being blessed. He's being moved at times, but then we find things go south for him very quickly. So Lord willing, we'll pick up in chapter 14 tomorrow night and study the life of Samson.