Well, I am going to be doing some editing as I go here today. So if it's not quite as cohesive as it may sound to you today, just remember that I taught Lucas how to preach. Actually, we started looking at the character of Samson a couple of weeks ago, who is one of the, if not the, most interesting of all the judges in this general era in the history of Israel. I'd like to briefly review where we are in that story since it was a couple of weeks ago. And my intention is to pick up where we left off in August when we were covering the first part of Judges 13. And the review that we would make today comes by way of three points. First of all, in this 13th chapter of the Book of Judges, and this led to the life of this particular Savior of God's people, that is Samson, we noticed the progressive deterioration of the souls of the people of Israel. And we observed that the collective consciousnesses of the people had become seared so much so that while in times past the people cried out to God when they had become oppressed, at this juncture the people were deep enough into their sin that they didn't even recognize that they were drowning in their own sin. They saw no connection between the circumstantial dilemma their own circumstantial dilemma and the sorry state of their souls. That's the first observation, the first point of our review. A second point, a second observation we made two weeks ago was that while Samson's mother Now I know in your outlines it says Samson's other. Well sometimes when I get in a hurry I leave the M off of mother. But while Samson's mother was referred to 19 times in this chapter of scripture, Her name was never used. She's referred to as her, as she, as his wife, or as Samson's mother. And this literary device was used to make the point that, though important to the plot, she was nonetheless obscure. Clearly that was the intention of the author and from this we extrapolated that God's best and brightest in the whole scheme of things are nonetheless obscure in the scope of history. last century, we were introduced to the greatest evangelist in history. In the 1900s, the greatest evangelist in history. He preached to more people across the nation than anyone. Consequently, it was a time of revival because maybe millions of people from all walks of life came to faith in Christ. And of course, you know who I'm talking about, Stephen Tong. He is a Chinese evangelist that lives, is still living, still preaching, but came on the scene last century. He has spoken to more people than even Billy Graham, except he did it in his own country, China. Consequently, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of men and women in China have come to faith in Jesus Christ, yet to us and to perhaps history, He was and is obscure in God's economy. Everybody is equally obscure, but that way the credit and the glory go to God alone. And we also, as a companion point, noted that availability trumps obscurity. availability trumps obscurity. To this dear woman in this chapter and to her husband Manoah, they in the end sought to bless God and to be used by him. They were available. So though they were obscure, they were nonetheless integral to the story. And so it is with us. And the third point of review is that Samson would be a savior who would only begin to save God's people. Judges 13 verse 5 says, No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb, a vow maker to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. And we noted that Samson was, at best, an imperfect Savior who, while making multiple poor choices during the course of his life, yet in the end saved the people by means of his death, pointing forward to another Savior. This one perfect, who would not only begin to save God's people, but he would save to the uttermost God's chosen people. That's what we read in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 7, verses 23 and 25. The former priests and judges, we might add, were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office. But he, that is Jesus, holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever, consequently. he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. And that is the third point of review. So let's pick up from there and move on. And I would tell you that this is, we are actually taking a look at the life of Samson, but we haven't even gotten to his birth yet. We are still considering his parents. And as we go forward in this passage, we see an unusual encounter. So far, in the first seven verses, the Angel of the Lord has come to speak to Manoah's wife, who's referred to as Manoah's wife, a woman, Samson's mother, her, she, all sorts of pronouns, and told that though she was barren, unable to conceive, nonetheless she would be with Jile. This dear lady comes to her husband and reports this unusual encounter with the angel of the Lord. And one could easily read this benignly, almost admiringly, of Manoah, the male lead thus far in the story. He prays for the presence of God to be made known to him as well. And many have read it this way, that it's laudable of Manoah that he should pray this prayer, that he should express his interest in seeing the angel of God. But I would like to offer a little different take to that story. You see, I believe that Manoah is a little bit resentful that the angel had appeared to his wife rather than to him. The commentator Daniel Bloch says as much. Others have intimated it. But Manoah goes to great lengths to try to take control of the situation. He wants to ensure that he knows as much about the promise of the son as his wife does. And then he tries to assert his control and preeminence over the divine envoy, this angel of the Lord. And he does this first by serving as a host in a meal, and then by demanding the name of his guest. In both instances, in both respects, he's turned back. In fact, he's told no more than his wife had already told him. In fact, in the first appearance, the angel of the Lord intimates that she is to be the focal point of God's workings. And after the second encounter, not only is her control position affirmed, but she ends up teaching her husband about the ways of Almighty God. And the story begins in verse eight, and it goes through verse 14, and it reads like this. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to teach us what we are to do with a child who will be born. And God listened to the voice of Manoah. And the angel of the Lord came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband, was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me. And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, are you the man who spoke to this woman? He said, I am. And Manoah said, now when your words come true, what is to be the child's manner of life and what is his mission? And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, of all that I said to the woman, let her be very careful. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her, let her observe. And then we had a name, an offering, a rock, and a flame. See there's four pieces to this next section. First of all, the name. And you're going to recall that sometime before, Jacob, as we read, as Rachel read earlier, that Jacob and the nation's namesake, Israel, same person, two names, had wrestled with an angel through the night seeking a blessing from God and trying to gain ascendancy over him. He wrestled with God through the night. And the result for Jacob was a dislocated hip, a new name, and a new nature. He realized that his confrontation was with God. What you may not realize is that the dialogue was quite similar, and while the attendant circumstances were different, the intent of Jacob and Manoah were the same, and that is control. According to one prominent professor of psychology formerly of the University of Illinois, he says that there are four compelling life motivations, and one of those motivations is control. Your life is about control. My life is about control. We all struggle to gain control. Both Jacob and Manoah wanted control from and over God. Genesis 32 verse 29, Then Jacob asked him, Please tell me your name. But he said, Why do you ask my name? And there he blessed him. In verse 30, so Jacob called the name of this place Peniel, saying, for I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. And Manoah's dialogue was similar. In Judges 13, verses 17 and 18, then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, what is your name? So that when your words come true, we may honor you. And the angel of the Lord said, why do you ask my name? seeing that it is wonderful. By wonderful, full of wonder, that's exactly what he means. That my name is full of wonder. That means it is bigger than you are and I am not going to give you my name because It is bigger than you are able to take in. I've often heard it said that we, our biggest issue in life is experiencing all the love and grace God has for us to receive. because his name is wonderful. He's full of wonder. In both cases, the angel's name was requested. In neither case was it given. Naming implies control. For those of you who had children, You remember when your baby was born and there was a nursery behind that glass and you could look in and there were, you know, 15 babies there in the nursery? You had every right to take that little one that you had given birth to and name that baby. You didn't have the right to walk around that nursery and replace the card on every bassinet with a name that you wanted to give to those babies. because naming involves control. Both Manoah and Jacob wanted to control God, but God denied them both by refusing the request to name God. God is in control, and the only time God cedes control is when he shows us what life would be like if he were not to restrain evil and were to dole out and not to dole out his gracious blessings. I was thinking a couple weeks ago that God could crush me like a bug if all he did was stop restraining evil. If all he did was stop pouring out his blessings, if he said, okay, Anderson, I've heard it and I've had it up to here with you. You're on your own, just like you asked to be. That would crush me like a bug. I can't understand the amount of evil that exists in this world that God restrains. I have a hard enough time with that which he doesn't restrain. It was interesting, as you read through the book of Deuteronomy, you find it's being written at the end of the Israelites' journey through the desert. And one of the things he says to them was, he says, you're going to remember all the days that you had in the desert. He said, I blessed you because your clothes did not wear out and your sandals did not wear out. How long were they in the desert? 40 years. Have you ever had any clothes that you wore every day for 40 years? I tell you, that's pretty stinky after a while. 40 years in the same clothes. But you know what? God preserved their clothes. They didn't even know it. They didn't even realize it. They assume, well, everybody's clothes last 40 years. See Joe's over there? Joe, his clothes are 40 years. Ben, see Ben? His clothes are 40. Everybody's clothes are 40. God restrained the clothes from, you know what? God restrained your car from falling apart. God does so many things. Tom is teaching on the providence of God. This is the work of the providence of God. He prevents evil. He prevents so much evil that you can't even imagine it. Why? Because his name is wonderful. He is full of wonder. But you know what? The people didn't understand it in their day. As a matter of fact, Manoah and his wife named their boy Samson. That was of their design. It means little son. S-U-N. Little son. So you might have called him sonny boy. But they were living in an area where son worship was prevalent. They named their boy after this encounter, after the miracle, whereas Manoah's wife could not conceive. She was without child. It says she was barren. After that, she was able to conceive. God worked a miracle in her womb. And with that miracle, they named their boy after the pagan sun god. And that is a demonstration of the sorry state of the soul among the Israelites in that day. So first of all a name, then an offering. We mentioned earlier that Manoah sought to get control of the situation by becoming a host. He offered a meal of a goat. You know when you're the host you get to call the shots. I just got off the road for 10 days and I was taken care of by any number of people. And I suppose, I mean, these were all wonderful, wonderful people. And if I had gone to their house and said, I don't like this. How about a filet instead? They may have complied. But you see, it was their prerogative because they were the host. I was the guest. Manoah sought to get control of the situation by becoming the host. And he offered a meal of goat to the angel of the Lord. And he was refused. And he was advised that instead of giving me a meal, why don't you make a sacrifice to the Lord, a request with which Manoah complied. They offered the goat by placing it on a rock. This is a story very much like Gideon had done under similar circumstances. and the offering was consumed by fire. The angel disappeared with a goat. Fire historically had signaled the presence of God and Manoah and his wife fell on their faces before what they intuitively knew to be Almighty God. And we read this in Judges 13 from verse 15 through 20. Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you. And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, if you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare to burn offering, then offer it to the Lord. For Manoah did not know that this was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name? So that when your words come true, 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 a grain offering and offered on the rock to the Lord, and the one who works wonders. And Manoah and his wife were watching, and when the flame went up towards heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. Well, then there was finally a processing of all these events. Their response was really the same as Gideon's to a similar event. In Judges 6.22, in the story of Gideon, it says, then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, alas, O Lord God, for now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. that alas is the prophetic alas, a curse, a death sentence. But the Lord said to him, you shall not die. And then we want to compare that with Judges chapter 13, verses 21 and 22, where it says, the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. And then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die, for we have seen God. As they processed this, as they worked it through in their mind, Manoah's wife made the case that God would not have accepted that burnt offering had his intention been to kill them, and not only that, that God would not have promised a child to them if his intention was to do away with them. In this story we read from verse 21 through 25, the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoan and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, we shall surely die for we have seen God. But his wife said to him, if the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burn offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things are now announced to us such things as these. And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Menachem Dan, between Sorah and Esthal. So that's the story. Interestingly, this story is very much like Jesus, who was born of an obscure woman, Born by means of a miraculous conception, Mary was unable to conceive, she was not married. Manoah's wife was unable physically, unable to conceive. We're only told about Samson's pre-adolescent and adolescent years in two verses. When we start again in chapter 14, he's going to be looking for a wife. That means that his entire life is encapsulated in these two verses in Judges chapter 13. just like Jesus, who we have some great detail about his birth, and then we have quite a bit of detail about his ministry, but of everything in between the Bible is virtually silent. Jesus would save utterly God's people as the perfect judge, and Samson was a shadow of that in the Old Testament. Well, what do we take away from this story? Well, first of all, we learn of a God of grace and a God of glory. In spite of Manoah's insecurity and his attempt to control the angel of the Lord, God deals graciously with him. Manoah wants to have a similar experience with God as did his wife. Irrespective of the motivation, of Manoah, God graciously gave him an unforgettable, unmistakable experience with him and gave him as an enduring reminder of that unmerited favor by giving him the gift of a son. That son was an everyday reminder that God had done a miracle in their lives. We are all, to one degree or another, Manoahs. We want to be in control. We want to, from time to time, gain ascendancy and preeminence over God. I have a little piece of paper, I put it on my computer, and it says, If I were God, dot, dot, dot. How many times have I thought, gosh, I wouldn't have done it that way. We're all to one degree or another, but no, we want to be in control. We want to have that ascendancy. We want to tell God how to run things. But God gives us gracious experiences with him and memories and occasionally enduring reminders. And while perhaps it wasn't a child, we have lasting reminders of God's favor in our lives. I think there's a second takeaway from this, and that is that we have an innate idea of the holiness of God. together with an innate knowledge of our inability to live up to that holiness and the moral culpability that comes with that shortfall. One day we're all going to have to appear before Almighty God. We're going to have to answer for our lives to the righteous judge. And Manoah and his wife struck the appropriate pose, I believe, instinctively. They fell on their faces before God. It is sinful man before what Rudolf Otto called the Mysterium Tremendum. The tremendous mystery of the holiness of God. And as the angel said, God's name is wonderful. He's full of wonder. The psalmist said it before him. In Psalm chapter 2 and verse 11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Manoah and his wife had seen God and they knew that they were morally bankrupt before him and they knew that they should die for it, but God did not take their lives. Manoah explained it to him. Judges 13 23, but his wife said to him, if the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering. God has made an offering. God has given us Jesus, and he was given so that the gap between a holy God and us as sinners might be traversed. One commentator put it this way, he said, even when he overwhelms us with awe-inspiring glimpses of his majesty, it is not to destroy. but to assure us of his power as well as his will to save. That's pretty much what John ascribes to Jesus when he said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever should believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The table of the Lord is a time of commitment. When the elements are passed and we hold them in our hands, what are we supposed to think? What should go through our minds as we sit and hold those elements? I think the first thing we should think about is our moral failure before God, our inability to live up to his holy law and his righteous standards. But as Alexander McLaren, the Scottish preacher said, for every look at your sin, then look 10 times at the cross of Christ because God made a sacrifice for you with joy, personally for you and particularly for you, and the Savior is for you. And if you have never fallen on your face, figuratively speaking, before Almighty God, confessing your sins to God, and then putting your trust in Jesus, who is his provision that God made for your sin, then today is an excellent time to do just that. Everyone's journey is different. We had a lady in our church who was 90 years old when she came to faith in Christ. Another man was 85 when he first understood the gospel, and his life was changed. He said, I'm now ready for the final exam. Whenever you believe in Jesus, He can save you utterly from the catastrophic consequences of your sin. In this regard, one commentator says, even Judges 13 wants us to jump up and sing the doxology. Today, we are