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We open the word together today
in the book of Judges, chapter 12, the end of chapter
12 and into chapter 13. We spent a few weeks looking
at Jephthah, three chapters there with Jephthah dealing with the
Ammonites. And now we'll take four chapters in Samson as he
begins to take on the Philistines. Now, I want us to be careful
because what we're not really doing in these next few weeks
is a character study of Samson, although that can be a lot of
fun and we're certainly not going to ignore Samson. But if that's
all we see, we're going to miss the central character and we're
going to miss really what God is doing in Samson, through Samson,
and where he's pointing. If we're looking only at Samson,
we're going to miss the perfect judge and savior to which this
account points. So we've printed part of the
passage. We're going back to backing up
a little bit into Chapter 12 because it sets the stage for
this announcement and for the work that God is going to do.
So follow as I read. Judges chapter 12 beginning in
verse 7. Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died
and was buried in his city in Gilead. After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem
judged Israel. He had 30 sons and 30 daughters
he gave in marriage outside his clan and 30 daughters he brought
in from outside for his sons. He judged Israel seven years.
Then Ibsen died and was buried at Bethlehem. And after him,
Elon, the Zebulonite, judged Israel. And he judged Israel
10 years. Then Elon, the Zebulonite, died
and was buried at Ajalon in the land of Zebulon. After him, Abdon,
the son of Hillel, the Parathonite, judged Israel. He had 40 sons
and 30 grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys, and he judged Israel
eight years. Then Abednon, the son of Hillel,
the Parathenite, died and was buried at Parathon in the land
of Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites. And then at
verse 1 of chapter 13, and the people of Israel again was evil
in the sight of the Lord, So the Lord gave them into the hand
of the Philistines for 40 years. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
open our ears, open our hearts. Lord, we would have the power
of your word and its truth at work, Lord, to pierce our hearts
and to cleanse us, to lead us into that truth and in truth
into life. So lead us now, Lord, we ask
and pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Friday, after all the wind, I
thought, sure, need to go to work. Only took me a little over
an hour and a half to get here because every route I took, I
was turned and detoured and back. And so with the help of chainsaws
and giant tractors, I eventually made it here. where of course
we had no power. So I packed up my computer because
I hadn't printed anything off and didn't have my sermon and
took it home. And of course I was thwarted
getting home as well. But every day I take essentially
the same route and there's one strong curve that I go around.
And so I see this beautiful and very large walnut tree every
day, at least twice a day, going home I saw the walnut tree. It had some damage in the top
of it some years ago, but it looked strong and healthy. But
as I came around the curve this time, the tree was split in half. Well, actually, one half was
still up, but the other half was down completely. And what
was as clear as day, because it was clear at that point, was
that the trunk had looked perfectly solid, but there was nothing
inside the bark. It was completely hollow, except
for the exterior of maybe two or three inches. And so a good
strong wind didn't have any trouble at all knocking that down. The situation in Israel, I think,
as we're getting the introduction here, is like that. The people
were living, functioning as if everything was okay. On the surface,
it was bearable, but what was happening underneath is that
Israel was rotting away. All is not well. And that's what these verses,
I think, point out to us. Things were falling apart. Things
weren't. Let me say that again. Things
weren't falling apart under these, we call them minor judges, but
underneath, There was an absence of rest. There was an absence
of peace. There is this that peace you'll
notice was not mentioned throughout those judges nor rest. We haven't heard it since Gideon. And so we go through judges number
9 10 and 11 with these minor judges and we come to judge number
12, we're coming to Samson. We read of these judges and their
names read really like something out of the rocks and minerals
exhibit at the Natural History Museum. We have the pyromorphite,
we have the rhodochrosite, the pyrite, the zebulonite, the pyrathonite,
the gileadite. I think we could fit them in
there. But what we hear is this ominous refrain. Now, we've heard
it before. It's been there all along. But
now it hits us like it's like a gunshot that comes now. And so Jephthah judged six years,
and he died. And Ibsen judged seven years,
and Ibsen died. And Elon judged 10 years, and
he died. And Abdon eight years, and he
died over and over again. And now we're beginning to hear
it. We've kind of passed over it. Well, yes, that's just the
natural way of things. But now it's being fired at us,
if you will. No peace. No rest. Short periods. And they died. Five judges over a period of
31 years. And that's the period when we
had some stability with the judges. Double that. and you have the
bondage periods throughout that time. But there's an appearance
of rest. I mean, as judges, we're prosperous.
Jephthah is sandwiched between two men who have 30 sons, if
you will. And so we have these prosperous
men, Ibsen, With his alliances, he
brings in other tribes for wives for his son, and he sends his
daughters out to other tribes. And so he's building his alliances.
Abdon, 40 sons, 30 grandsons, puts them all on donkeys and
sends them out like royalty into the countryside wherever they
go. Reminds us of Jair and his sons
on their donkeys. But again, there's no mention
of rest. There's no deliverance. There's no like Shamgar who's
saved. There's no Othniel who delivered
his people. Is rest simply the absence of
conflict that Brian talked about a few weeks ago? You know, that
desire that we have for peace and for rest. Is there any really
here? And I think we have to say the answer is no. There's no rest at all. Abdon's
grave is in the land of Ephraim in the hill country of the Amalekites. Well, they aren't supposed to
be there. They should have been driven out centuries before. But now we get the impression
that it may be the land of Ephraim, but it's dominated by the Amalekites. And so he's buried among the
Amalekites. What peace is there? And so here
we have them in a sense, we get this picture like people are
thinking all is well. Meanwhile, what's happening is
things are rotting away and it's evil in the sight of the Lord
is what's going on underneath. The more I read the book of Judges,
the more I'm convinced that he's talking. It is not bound to 12
or 1400 BC, folks. It's where we are right now.
when everything appears on the surface to be going quite well
and everybody's really content because, ooh, hey, we're doing
pretty well. We're prosperous. The economy
is beginning to pick up and run again and, you know, we're going
to take our place in the world and we're going to, you know,
reestablish ourselves. It's going pretty well. Meanwhile,
even in the church, it appears that we are being, many are being
captured by the ideals, the philosophies, the entertainments, the values,
the mores of the kingdoms of this world. We're not even sure
where we're really living. Are we really seeking the kingdom
of God knowing that the Lord will, if we do that, add everything
that we need to us readily and abundantly? Or are we instead
thinking, doing pretty well, doing just fine, we can manage
it, and the world around us saying,
yes, especially if we can get rid of those religious nuts who
want their spiritual privileges of a conscience. All is well? I think not. And all was not well in Israel
because judgment would fall upon them. And the people of Israel
again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And again, that's a refrain we've
heard over and over again. It's the last time we're going
to hear it because from now on it will be, and the people did
what was right in their own eyes. The Lord will be removed from
the equation altogether. But what we see here is the people
were now trying to define what was good and evil. They did evil
in the sight of the Lord because it's God who defines what is
good and what is evil. And he has given us clear, unchanging,
inalterable standards and laws that would govern, that would
encourage life to flourish, that would encourage us to know goodness
and grace and his work in us. But the world says, Follow your
heart. When the Bible says the heart
is deceitful above all things. And the world says what I desire
I should have. And of course Proverbs 19 too
says desire without knowledge is not good. And whoever makes haste with
his feet misses his way. You just follow what your desires
are and you're going to end up with things that you never wanted
or anticipated, but it's what the world says. We do not define
what is good. If what my heart tells me is
my standard, then you and any rational, reasonable person reasonable
person understands that there is then no standard whatsoever
for what is good or right, because your heart tells you one thing
and your heart tells you something else. And of course, since I'm
the judge, you can't tell me I'm wrong, although we try. No, it's God who defines what
is good and right. Their actions were and their
attitudes and their practices and their syncretism. They're
trying to join together their various gods and and the Lord
was justified in their own eyes. They didn't see the offense because
it wasn't wrong in their eyes. Lord protect us. Lord deliver
us from such blindness. because that's what it is. We
can readily be justified in our own eyes because we can easily
be deceived by our own hearts. Personally, culturally, we can
deceive ourselves and we do. And as a result of that rot that
was spreading through the people, The Lord gave them into the hand
of the Philistines, 40 years. They became blind, and this is
why I say all is not well, because they become blind even to the
bondage that it brought or it created. They were living under
the rule and under the oppression of the Philistines, but it became
normal. To be buried among the Amalekites,
well, that's just perfectly normal. They didn't see it. They were
blind. They grew accustomed to the captivity.
The ways of the Philistines became their ways. And so they lived
in bondage and didn't even know it. There is no cry for deliverance
in those 40 years and not at the end of those 40 years. You
remember that cycle that we saw. This is what's but it's not there.
It is not there. Even that is now missing in God's
people. And yet. God provides. God shows his compassion and
I I contend that at every turn through this book when God acts
to deliver it is an act of his compassion. It is not because
of the strength or the power of their confession or how passionately
they cried out to the Lord. It was because the Lord was compassionate. And so and because he would show
mercy. And so as we press on, we see mercy revealed. Follow
from verse two of chapter 13. And I believe this is printed
for you. There was a certain man of Zora
of the tribe 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, behold, you are barren and have
not born children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore,
be careful and drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing
unclean. For behold, you shall conceive
and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his
head, for he, for the child, shall be a Nazarite to God from
the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand
of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told
her husband, a man of God came to me, and his appearance was
like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not
ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name.
But he said to me, behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong
drink and eat nothing 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, oh Lord, please let the man of God whom
you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with
the child who will be born. And God listened to the voice
of Manoah, and the angel of God 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? And 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 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. Hear the mercy of God. is revealed. He comes to a barren woman. We don't even get her name. That's
how much we know about her. We have the name of Elon, although
we know nothing about him other than the length of his reign.
We don't even have this woman's name. He comes to a childish
woman, to a childless woman. to bring forth one who will begin
to save his people. Now we're beginning to get the
picture because the Lord will, the angel of the Lord, the spirit
of the Lord will come upon a childless woman, a virgin, in order to
bring forth the one who will bring to completion that work
of salvation. But we meet Mrs. Manoa, nameless
and obscure, because the Lord uses the weak and the barren
and the lonely. Like Sarah, who would bring forth Isaac in
her old age. Like Hannah, who was barren for
years and dedicated Samuel, the last of the of the judges, if
you will, whom the Lord would raise up to anoint the first
kings of Israel. Or Elizabeth, barren and in her
old age, bringing forth another who would be set apart for that
work and ministry to prepare the way of the Lord. There aren't
many, but it's a distinguished group. And of course, Mary, another
childless woman. And so the power of God is revealed
through the angel of the Lord. This woman will bear a son. He
is going to take away her reproach because it was, at the time,
a reproach to be without children. It's hard for us today, I think,
to understand that particularly, although even today For those
who cannot have children, the sorrow and weight of that is
always there when they stand in a group of moms and they wonder
and they long for that same joy. Today we've reversed it, haven't
we? If you have too many children, be prepared. You are going to
be shamed. Now you're going to bear reproach
for having all of those children because we no longer understand
what it is to trust God and to look and understand the blessings
that he pours out. And so I do pray for you moms
and dads who have seen the blessing of God upon your household and
seen it grow that you will be able to bear graciously and steadfastly
the approach that the culture would heap upon us. But here the angel of the Lord
appears. Now, he's not recognized as that.
They keep talking about the man, the man, the man who appeared.
Oh, yeah, he was kind of glorious, but I couldn't get his name,
and I don't know where he was from. I don't know which tribe, so
I don't know how we can get him back. Well, I'm going to pray.
Manoah prays, and the Lord answers his prayer so that he might meet
this one who has given this great news of one who is going to be
set apart, because here God's purpose is being revealed. This child that you are going
to bear, judge number 12, as I said, will be a Nazarite from
birth, chosen as the first of the judges, the first judge who
is chosen before he's even born. It's usually voluntary, but not
in this case. And so a Nazirite would undergo
that vow and what was included in there was the abstention from
any wine or strong drink, anything to do with the grape, not even
the grape skins, not raisins, nothing. You can't have any of
those nor any unclean foods. The hair will not be cut as long
as the vow, as long as you are under the vow. And in Samson's
case, it was to be his entire life because the vow would never
be set aside it would never be completed, if you will. And finally,
you abstain from any dead bodies. And as we'll see in Samson, every
one of those is violated, but we'll pick that up. We'll pick
that up later. But because from his conception
he will be set apart to the Lord, she too must maintain no strong
drink. Nothing from the vine. No unclean
things. Because everything that comes
into her is going to the child. In utero and as a nursing infant. So she is under that Nazarite
vow until such time as he is weaned. And here's God's purpose. He
shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. What an amazing word. Amazing
word. The Philistines, if you go back
to Chapter 3 of Judges, was the first of the peoples listed of
those who were supposed to be driven out but are left behind,
essentially to test Israel. Now the beginning. has started
of driving them out. He will be set apart for this
purpose not for a specific period of time but for his life not
for some personal reason of thanksgiving or petition or desire that they
have but to begin to save them from the Philistines from conception. But it's a work he will begin
but he can't finish it. because deliverance simply from
worldly oppression isn't going to cleanse what we were talking
about with you, children, what's going on in our own lives, what's
going on on the inside. We're being pointed to one who
would have to come to complete that deliverance, who would do
more than simply drive out a foreign power, but who would drive out
the wickedness, the sin of our own hearts. Samson would begin
that work. And so I was wrestling with this
announcement, this presentation, if you would, the Lord's power
being revealed, His purpose being revealed, His compassion and
His mercy being revealed in this lengthy introduction to the birth
of this boy. And I was struck by the assurance
that God gives here. Verse 9, he has prayed that the
Lord would send him back. Manoah prays, okay, it's not
that he didn't believe, but would you send him back so that I can
hear that message so that I can know just what it is I need to
do. And his prayer is answered. The
messenger comes back. He returns again. They still
think of the man and they don't know. They don't recognize him
as the angel of the Lord. Verse 12, he asks his his question,
if you will. Now, when your words come true,
and I love that because it's a statement of faith. OK, When
your words come true, what's to be the child's manner of life
and what is his mission? There's no doubt there. He just
wants some more information. But he doesn't get information,
does he? The Lord doesn't add to the message
that he gave to Mrs. Minoa at all. What he gets is
affirmation. I think Noah would have been
happy to have kind of a rule book. These are all the things
you need to do, and this is how it's going to work, and you can
watch this. But he doesn't get that. The messenger says, I told
you what you need to know. Let her do everything that I've
commanded. You already have the information. You believe. You
trust. There's the affirmation. And
as the passage goes on, he asks this messenger to stay so that
he can prepare a meal for him. And the messenger says, no, skip
the meal, but you can bring an offering to the Lord, to Yahweh,
literally, you can bring that offering. And now the revelation,
the self-revelation begins in the passage. Noah is given affirmation
but not information. As he's preparing that offering,
he wants to know his name. And he doesn't get that either.
Well, yes, he does, in a sense, because the passage says, in
verse 18, why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful? And then
Manoah took his young goat and the grain offering, and he offered
it on the rock to the one who works wonders. And Manoah and
his wife were watching. And when the flame went up toward
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. As I said, now it's revelation. Why do you want to know my name?
My name is wonderful. In other words, you cannot even
comprehend my name. It is beyond you. It's Job in
chapter 42 when he has been humbled before God and finally says,
therefore, I uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful
for me, which I did not know. Or we think of Psalm 139. When
he is pondering God's omnipresence, he cannot escape God anywhere. His omniscience, he knows absolutely
everything. His omnipotence, there is nothing
that is not under the control and the power of God. And what
does the psalmist say? Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It's too high. I cannot attain
it. My name is wonderful. Isaiah nine, verse six. My name is too wonderful for
you. Wonderful counselor. That is
a counselor whose wisdom and knowledge and and grace and power
is beyond what we have or can fully grasp. Mighty God, everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace. Yes, I do believe that this is
what we call a theophany, that it is an appearance of the Lord.
They fall down in worship and Manoah rightly says, Manoah knew it was the angel
of the Lord and he said to his wife, we shall surely die for
we have seen God. But that wasn't the Lord's purpose
in making himself known. To kill them? Thank God for a
good wife. You know, it's dawning on Manoah
what is going on here, where I'm dead. He knows enough about
his faith to know Exodus 33, 20 of the warnings. You can't
see God and live. And yet, what does his wonderful
nameless wife say to him, if it was his intention to destroy
us, why would he give us such gifts? Why would he tell us such
glorious and wonderful things? Why would he make such a promise
and call us to this obedience? Why would he even receive our
offerings and our gifts? No his intention was not to destroy. It was to show his favor. His
mercy. His power. His kindness. He is bringing salvation. It is beginning. Deliverance
is coming. We're not being destroyed we're
being saved. What a promise. And what was
Manoah's work? And what was Mrs. Manoah's work here? To believe. To believe. What work are we called to, brothers
and sisters, when the Lord reveals his glory, when he sets before
us not the one who will begin to save, but sets before us the
one who will finish, indeed has finished that work of salvation. What are we called to do? Believe. And so we hear, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. how we should be stirred, rejoicing,
delighting in such wonderful words. It is not what I must
bring as an offering. It is not what power I have.
It's not what knowledge I can conjure up to bring in order
to present something to God that He is finally going to say, that's
good enough, I take it, I accept it. No, it is to believe when
God says, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. This is the
one in whom salvation is found. There's no other name in heaven
or on earth where salvation will be found. It is in the name of
Jesus. And we're called simply to believe. You know, one whose name is so
wonderful, we spend our whole lives contemplating it and still
can't grasp its glory. and beauty and wonder. And so
why did I read John 14? Hey, I'm like Philip or Thomas
or Peter or you pick them. I think I could have been the
guy. Well, hey, you know, I've missed this completely. Just
show us the father. OK. And Jesus has to say, have
I been with you so long? and you still don't understand.
If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. How? By faith, by believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Samson, in dramatic and
some spectacular ways, is going to point us to the need, and
not just the need of, but point to that Savior, the true Deliverer,
the one who can and will save fully and mightily. Like Manoah and like nameless
Manoah's wife, believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Confess your sins. Acknowledge your Stand before
God knowing that what's on the inside just is not as cleaned
up as well as what I can do with the outside. And believe in the
one who can save. And then let me just close with
this. You don't need to be great. You don't need to be important.
You don't need to be a completely finished work to be used as an
instrument for God, as a tool, as a servant before him. Think of that barren woman whose
name we don't even know. It wasn't important. What was
important is that she would believe and receive, and God would work
through her to begin to deliver God's people and point to the
one who would bring that complete deliverance. We're just like them. We don't need to be great people,
famous. named. We just need to believe
and trust that he will use you and me. Father, open our eyes,
open our hearts. Father, we would not be a people
who have, who declare all is well, we're doing just fine,
but don't even see what is going on in us or around us. Open the
eyes. of those you have brought here
today, Lord, to see with eyes of faith, to
see that need for a deliverer, for one who can save, save us
from ourselves, from our blindness and from our sin. And then, Lord,
let us walk, believing. all of our days we pray in Jesus
name. Amen.
Beginning Salvation
| Sermon ID | 34181641212 |
| Duration | 39:48 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Judges 12:7 |
| Language | English |