Judges chapter 13 and verse 1
has so much to say about chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16. After those four judges had been
taken off the scene by death, we find that the children of
Israel, here in verse one of chapter 13, shares with us the
problems that were going on in Israel at that time. It says
the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord.
And the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines 40
years. It's important to recognize the fact that it was the Lord
that delivered them into the hands of the Philistines. And
it's also very important as we go through this chapter to notice
the conditions that were on the outside. And then we are introduced
to two, to a husband and wife, Manoah and his wife. Now, tonight
we'd like to spend a little time on the subject of faith because
that's exactly what we have given to Manoah and to his wife concerning
a child. It tells us here early on in
this chapter that there was a woman and she was the wife of Manoah,
verse 2, barren and barren not. And we looked at that one time
to find out that's just kind of a double statement She'd never
been in a position or capable of having a child, and it has
continued on. And there was just no possibility,
and yet we're going to find the Lord steps in, and this has been
according to his providence, according to his purpose. We're
going to find out here that we're dealing in a time that every
man was doing what was right in his own eyes. That's what
we find in verse one. And that's mentioned twice here
in the book of Judges. Every man did what was right
in his own eyes. That's found in Judges 17, and
it's also found in Judges chapter 21. Every man did what was right
in his own eyes. So we have a problem going here.
And that is just the problem of the fall. We're learning more. I think I'm learning more about
the fall, particularly the older I get, the more I see my own
corruption, the more I see the fall in me as my body begins
to deteriorate. And then to see, be around people
like we have here, we just see that there is absolutely no intention
or on anybody's part to ever turn to God unless God works
on them. And that's just what's going
to be here. In this passage of scripture, we found of all the
evil that was going on here in Israel, and it was continually,
God was pleased to show grace. all the evil that was going on
continually, God was pleased to show grace. Now, I think if
we backed up 10 years, five years, a year, whatever time we'd back
up, we'd find that Manoah and his wife were also involved in
the worship of idols, somewhere along the line, because nobody
is born with salvation. We hear people that have been
a Christian all their life, and I like what Brother Barnard said,
that's just too long. We're not always been a Christian. And so there's a continuous show
here. And in this chapter, we are shown
and it's pleased of God to show grace to some. And we have two
specific people in here. And as far as we know, up to
two or three chapters, that's the only people that God had
shown grace to in this passage, in this whole section. So whether
there's an enclave over here of believers and an enclave over
here of believers, it doesn't tell us, but it does tell us
that there was Manoah and his wife. Now, how do we know that
they had faith? Well, number one, God appeared
unto them. You know, when we read Barnabas's
account of Saul's conversion, the Lord appeared unto him in
the way. I like what Barnabas had to say
about Saul's conversion, about Saul's salvation. The Lord appeared
unto him in a way. Well, we're going to find out
the angel of the Lord, which is an Old Testament statement
about the same person that appeared unto Saul of Tarsus in the New
Testament. The angel of the Lord, the messenger
of the Lord, the messenger of the covenant is just a pre-incarnate
Christ. Before he came and was born in
the flesh, He appears several times here in the Old Testament,
and it's a statement of His grace that He appears at this time.
And you know, we also find out that He spoke to Manoah's wife. Now, that's a blessing, that
God would speak to anybody. that God would condescend to
give his message to anybody. That's a blessing of grace. And
we're going to see that grace was here. And as a result of
grace, they're going to have faith. God granted faith. So God has blessed them, blessed
the woman. He's going to do the same for
the man soon, but he's blessed the woman by his appearance.
He came to her. She's not seeking him out. She
may have prayed every day for a child, but the first we know
of the Lord appearing unto her is right here. Now, whether he
did it in the past, I don't know, but I can confess what it has
to say here. And then it tells us that he
instructed her. Now, we are told that when God
saves us, God's gonna teach us. God teaches his children. He
teaches us the gospel. He teaches us about God. And
we may not understand. And we're gonna get to a couple
of verses that I've heard, I believe, taken out of context a great
deal. But I think we are caught sometimes with the idea, well,
what's going on? I just don't understand the scripture."
Well, that's because God hasn't revealed it to us, but we never
say, I don't believe the scripture. I don't believe in the sovereignty
of God. I don't believe in election because
God has not taught us if we say that. We have not been instructed
because the instructions of the Lord are clear and plain in the
word of God and he's going to teach us out of his word and
what his word has to say. So as the Lord appeared unto
Saul, as the Lord appeared unto Nathanael, as the Lord appeared
unto Peter, as the Lord appeared unto all of his disciples and
apostles, all Old Testament prophets he appeared unto, spoke to them
personally, spoke to Moses out of the burning bush, spoke to
him a number of times there in the wilderness. He's gonna speak
to his people. And when he is in that mode,
when he does that very thing, he is going to grant grace. He
is a gracious God, but he's only gracious to the sheep. Nobody
that's a goat will ever know the first thing about grace.
You know, the angels don't know the first thing about grace.
Those who kept their first estate don't know anything about grace.
Only God's people that He saves by His grace understand what
grace is. And that is really unmerited
favor. How could you love me? What I am and what I was and
what I'm going to be, how could you love me? Well, as we travel
through here, it says in verse three, the angel of the Lord
appeared unto the woman. He said unto her, behold, now
thou art barren and barest not, but thou shall conceive and bear
a son. And you know, as we read down through here, I don't find
a word about her saying, how can that be? Because I'm barren
and I've never bore. God convinced her immediately
that she's going to have a son, and this is far beyond her ability
to have a child. For lo, verse five, oh, verse
four, now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine or strong
drink, and eat not any unclean thing. Well, the Lord instructs
her, and how gracious it is that the Lord would instruct anybody.
Faith coming by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And so we have the Word of God
given to Manoah's wife. And then it says in verse 5,
For lo thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall
come 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. long before he's born, before
he's conceived. The instructions are already
given about what he's going to do for Israel. And that's God's
blessing. Not only does he permit, not
only does he know, but he purposes what is going to take place.
And then in verse six, like so often we find in the New Testament,
who was it that first findeth his own brother? It says, we
found him. We found the Messiah, we found
the Christ, we found the promised one, and Jesus of Nazareth, and
the response that was made by the brotherhood, any good thing
come out of Nazareth. Well, it wasn't very long, and
the Lord convinced him that there was something good out of Nazareth,
that is the Savior. Now, the Savior was not born
in Nazareth, but he grew up in Nazareth. That's the thing. If you don't believe the Bible,
just like those high priests didn't, they believed he was
born in Nazareth, but they never took time to ask him, where were
you born? I'm convinced he'd have told them where he was born.
But they just assumed that he was from Nazareth and the Messiah
didn't come out of Nazareth, no way. So the woman came and
told her husband, saying, a man of God came unto me. How he appeared in such a manner
that she was able to go back convinced in her soul that the
The one that appeared unto her was a man of God, came unto me,
and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of
God, very terrible, fearful. You know, there's a reverence
about God that God gives to his people about God. He is not my
co-pilot. He is not the man upstairs. All
of the terms that the world uses about God, he's not that. He
is sovereign king of all. And that's what he reveals to
us about himself. He's not a play thing. He's not
Santa Claus. He's not someone we just come
to when we have a need. As brother Henry had a friend
that said, he's not a peanut God. He's not that. He's not what we always hear
people say about God. He's not the God that answers
all our requests. He answers according to his will. And you know what? God's people
will eventually be convinced of that. All right, he goes on
to say, countless like the angel, very terrible. But I asked him
not whence he was, neither told me his name. But he said unto
me, Behold, thou shall conceive and bear a son, and now drink
no wine or strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing, for the
child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day
of his death. Now it's interesting that she
understood a whole lot more. The Holy Spirit. revealing to
her those words that the man of God, that the Messiah, gave
to her as she went out and heard those words. And she understood.
And, you know, as we think about Samson, in many ways he has some
great similarities to our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And we also have
some similarities here about John. John was filled with the
Holy Spirit. Now, I don't understand all that
said there, but I believe it. Filled with the Holy Spirit before
he was born in his mother's womb. And here we have that in the
mother's womb, this is the requirements. I have to fulfill these requirements.
I cannot drink wine, and I cannot eat raisins, and I can't eat
anything that is of the vine. And because I can't, it is out
of respect for God because he told me not to do that. Now,
after he was born, I am convinced that she went back and she had
her glass of wine once in a while, and she put raisins in her raisin
bread, just like she had in the past, and she went ahead with
her life. But for this period of time,
now, we find that according to the rules of the law of the Nazarite,
Samson was not to drink wine or strong drink. or eat raisins
and the other things, but those probably were not whole to her.
You know, and Manoah tells us here, Manoah entreated the Lord
and said, oh my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst sin
come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the
child that shall be born. You know, those words just struck
me this last week as I was reading through here. he needed was someone
to tell him what the Lord had told her. You know, we've tried
for years to have a child, and I just, I wonder about this.
What was his words as we have them here? It says, teach us
what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. He was convinced
faith had been granted to him and he was convinced what that
his wife had to say, which had been delivered to her by the
angel of the Lord, was the truth of the matter and what shall
we expect out of this. So God had given a faith to him
and to her. You know, turn with me if you
would, for just a moment, over to the book of Titus. Titus chapter
one. I just, what a wonderful passage
of scripture this is, Titus chapter one, about this faith that God
gives. And Titus chapter one, verse
one. How often, as the Apostle Paul
was the secretary to write to individuals, as well as to churches,
he brought up this subject. You are not your own. You were
chosen before the foundation of the world. And here in Titus
chapter one, verse one, it says, Paul, a servant of God, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect. and
the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness." So
God's people are going to acknowledge the truth about God and what
he had to say, but also he grants to them, as we find here, everyone
that he ever chose before the foundation of the world, he is
going to grant them sometime in their life the faith of God's
elect. And, you know, I've tried to
dissect faith. I've tried to come up, well,
the only place that I can get even a grasp on it is found over
in the book of Hebrews. Now we often go to the book of
Hebrews chapter 11, but tonight I was in there and I said, I
wonder what Hebrews chapter 10 has to say, because they're all
connected. And sometimes we look at Hebrews
chapter 11 as just a total separate chapter. But Hebrews chapter
10, turn there with me if you would. In the book of Hebrews
chapter 10, we have these words that the Holy Spirit intended
for the church to have. Chapter 11 is a wonderful statement
about faith, but notice here, in the book of Hebrews chapter
11, excuse me, chapter 10, and the last two verses of that,
we're gonna have a tie-in here. We're gonna have a tie-in to
faith. Now, the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now, we've read about
those people over in the book of 1 John. They went out from
us because they were not of us. They didn't believe. Now, they
said to begin with that they believed what we believe, but
they went out from us. Now, John is talking about them in his
day. They went out from us because
they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they
would have continued with us. So the gospel is so tied together
with believers, and we're not gonna split hair, and we're not
split over things. We may have a problem with who
buys the turkey, but we're not gonna have a problem with grace.
And that's going to melt a lot of attitudes that we have, if
we have grace, if we have faith. So going on, it says, but we
are not of them that draw back under perdition, but of them
that believe to the saving of the soul. Next chapter, verses
one, two, and three, if you'd look at that. This whole chapter
is just a statement about those God gave faith to. And then he
says, this is what faith is. Well, he just went, the just
shall live by faith. If we go over to the book of
Habakkuk, we can find the just shall live by his faith. Now
I am convinced that should have been a capital H. His faith. The just shall live by his faith. Because faith is a gift of God.
It's not something that we're born with. Now we may have faith
to sit down in a chair knowing it will support us, but that's
not saving faith. Faith is a gift of God. It's
the ability to trust a God that we didn't trust. It's the ability
to believe God who we didn't believe. It's the ability to
do something supernatural. God gives us a supernatural. faith far out of our realm, and
we're able to trust God, believe God. It's so contrary to that
passage of scripture there in the book of Romans, where it
says the natural man doesn't hold the things of God. We're
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. We are
at enmity with God. So something has to counteract
that. Something has to get involved in that. Something has to, you
know, Sodium is a poison. What's the other part of salt?
Chlorides. Chloride is a poison. Put them
together and you got salt. And our bodies need it. Well,
look over here. Enmity with God. He throws the
blood of Christ in there. Guess what? We have faith in
God. All right. Now, faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. What does he say in there? when
God spoke to Manoah, when God spoke to Manoah's wife, and they
were totally unexpecting that conversation. I don't believe
she went out one day to work in the garden and she said, well,
I think God's gonna speak to me today. She went out there
not expecting it, and God came to her in a miraculous way and
said, you're going to have a son. She went and told her husband,
And immediately from what we read, he said, oh my goodness,
I'm going to be a dad. How shall we instruct? How shall
we deal with this? Well, look here, it says in verse
two, for by it the elders obtained a good report. Well, we can go
to the Old Testament and find out that any of the prophets,
any of the kings, any of those that were elders according to
the grace of God, they always gave a good report. But we also
can go to the two. that went into the promised land
and came back with a good report. So God's people are gonna give
a good report about God. Doesn't matter who, where, when,
at what period of time in the world's history, God is going
to give them a good report. And that good report's gonna
be about God. And that good report's gonna be about how God saves
his people, and where faith came from, and the blood of Christ,
and all the other things that we had no part nor interest in
by ourself. And then in verse three, through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God. And what does he say in there? It's much bigger than
God just creating the heavens and the earth. He also, in such a miraculous
way, deals with our unconverted, dead in trespasses and sin heart,
and new creation in Christ Jesus is done by God. And we believe,
as it goes on here, framed by the word of God, so that the
things which are seen are not made of things which do appear.
Now, I don't have any problem with the heavens and the earth
and all the stars being created by God, because it says it right
there. I don't need any more proof. I don't have to be on
a star. I don't have to look at a star
through a telescope. Now, it's fun to do that. It's fun to see
the planets through a telescope. But I'll tell you what, they
don't prove that God created them. This tells me that God
created them. Now I get to observe them. So,
faith. Now, turn with me to chapter
12, if you would. First time I think I've ever
got started with chapter 10, chapter 11. Now chapter 12 is
a summation of faith. It says here, wherefore seeing
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witness.
Well, all we have to do is back up in chapter 11, we got a great
cloud of witness. My goodness, all of those people
God talked about having faith. All of his Old Testament children
talks about having the faith. God granted them faith. They
believed God. They had a good report. He says
here, let us lay aside every weight and sin which they'll
see easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us. Now, I don't know whether we're
gonna have time to finish up tonight. But there's a couple
of verses of scripture where the God, the Lord Jesus, upbraids
his disciples for not having belief. And you know, I've had
preachers rail on the disciples for not having belief. And then
you look into the scripture and say, where did they get faith? If it's up to me, then go ahead
and rail. but if it's up to you to grant me my faith. Now I'm
not finding fault at all, because God is gracious to give faith.
We'll look at that in just a little bit though. Then in chapter 12
and verse two, it says, looking unto Jesus, some in substance,
the total, the subject of, who spoke to Manoah and his wife,
the subject who spoke to Manoah, spoke to Abel, spoke to Cain. He spoke to Cain. And Cain's
response was, am I my brother's keeper? You know, there's one
thing about faith, giving to God's elect. There's one thing
that will happen as a result. Now there are many things, but
this I have found as I look into the scriptures and I'm around
God's people. God's faith makes them teachable. When we get over
there and the Lord upbraids his disciples for not having faith,
there's not one of them that says, I have faith. They know
where they're born and where they came from. They know that
we're faithless left to ourselves. But he instructed them and they
took the instruction. That's the thing. He makes his
people teachable. And the Holy Spirit is a teacher. All right, he says here, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Now, I don't know
how many times I've been told that that doesn't mean what you're
saying it means, Norm. Well, you don't have to believe
me. Just take the word of God. It says, Jesus, the author and
finisher of our faith. Now, it's not the definition
of the words that has a problem. You know what the problem is?
Unbelief. Can't believe it. I don't want
to believe it. It's just too serious. It means
my faith is worthless. Amen. Our faith is worthless. We don't have faith of God's
elect. He grants to us the faith. So
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, as
we look at Manoah and as we look at his wife, and I've said this
a number of times, her name is never mentioned. But she is a
sister in Christ. She's one we can have fellowship
with. She's one that heard God. God appeared unto her, spoke
to her, instructed her. She went and told someone else
about the instructions, and he was convinced that what she had
to say was the truth. Author and finisher of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God. He's the author and finisher of our faith. And
how did he do it? The cross. He went to the cross. He has the ability throughout
all history to grant faith because of going to the cross. In 1st
John, turn with me to 1st John chapter 5 if you would. 1st John
chapter 5. 1st John chapter 5 and I would
like to read beginning with verse 9. I just heard today on the radio
that in 1789, today, General Washington became the first president
of the United States. He was sworn in as the first
president of the United States. Listen to this. If we receive
the witness of men, someone told me that today, and I think history
brings it out, but I wasn't there, were you? If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son hath the witness in himself. God has been gracious to grant
us the witness in us. He that believeth not, God hath
made him believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his son. And who are those? Us by nature, by the grace of
God, we are able to say what we find out in verse 12 of this
section of scripture. He that hath the son hath life,
and he that hath not the son hath not life. So he made him
a liar. He believeth not God hath made
him a liar. David said, in my haste, all men are liars. And
I like what Brother Clark said, he could have said it walking
away too. So you don't have to be in haste, all men are liars.
And we lied about God. I'll never forget Brother Jim
Williams telling me, I'm sorry every day for the songs that
I sang at revival meetings. Because they were a lie. New
name written down in glory. Oh, how terrible. All right, this is the record. And then in verse 12, he that
hath the son hath life. And if you have life, you've
been granted faith. And if you have faith, you believe God.
It will be God's faith granted to you to believe God. He that
hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not
life. Pretty explicit. Having life
and having not life. In Luke 17, would you turn there
with me? As I follow Manoah and his wife,
it's just so plain, so open. What God had done for them when
he appeared, spoke, instructed, and they just completely were
overwhelmed and believed every word. They didn't walk away. He says, I don't know about this.
You know, when we go to the Old Testament, we find out Sarah
had a little bit of difficulty. when she was told she was going
to have a child. In fact, the Bible says she laughed.
And you know the glorious thing is, we get to the book of Hebrews
when God talks about it, God's view of it, God looking at that
subject, looking at her through the perfect eyes of grace, had
no problem at all with Sarah. By faith, Sarah. So hallelujah,
he doesn't look at our imperfections. He looks at us through grace.
And the result of grace is the faith that he gives us. All right,
I wanna look at Luke 17, Luke 17. And how true this is, that
the apostles said unto the Lord, increase. Now, how could they
ask increase our faith? if they thought faith was their
faith. It's not going to happen. How is it they have their faith
increase? It's God's faith granted to them.
And that should be our prayer every day and then be satisfied
with the grace that God gave us every day. So the apostles
asked for this. You know, we read over in the
book of Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8, for by grace are you
saved through faith. And then the next words are what?
And that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. For by grace
are you saved through faith. Now we can say grace and faith
are a gift of God. Not of yourselves. You didn't
have this. It's a gift of God. Not of works
lest any man should boast. So the faith that we have is
not our faith. If we're expressing our faith,
if it's our faith, I believe Jesus and therefore it's because
of that God traded to me salvation. We don't have faith. Faith believes
God, and faith trusts God, and faith says God is right in what
he has to say. For by grace are you saved through
faith. Faith is described as a supernatural gift of God. It
is a gift. And we find out that repentance
and faith are gifts of God. And over there in the book of
Acts chapter 11, it hasn't been that long ago we read this, but
let's do it again. Over in the book of Acts chapter
11, it tells us about the Lord and what he does with repentance. Now there's, as far as I know,
there's two types of repentance in the New Testament. There's
two words in the New Testament. One of them, Judas expressed,
and it really boils down, sorry I got caught. And the other one
is a change of mind. Now that change of mind is about
God. Here it says, in the book of Acts chapter 11, verse 18,
when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified
God saying, then hath God also to the Gentiles, what's the next
word? Granted. He's not saying you
have to have repentance before I will give you the new birth.
He is saying that our repentance is granted by God. Then hath
God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. He grants
us the ability to view God differently, to have a different mind about
God, and the new birth brings that. We have a different mind
about God. And then there's another verse
of scripture I'd like to look at, and that's 2 Timothy, if
you would, 2 Timothy chapter two. As we think about Manoah
and his wife, and how God blessed them with these words, and how
they're going to be a mom and a dad, and they're going to have
a son, here's some instructions on raising him. Here in the book
of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 25. 2 Timothy chapter
2, verse 25. I'm going to go back to verse
24. The servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto
all men, apt to teach, patient. We can't expect anything out
of the individual. It's just not going to be done.
But he goes, in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.
And what does that mean? I don't believe that. Not only
that, their definition of grace, their definition of faith, my
definition of grace and faith and repentance were totally different,
all different before the Lord gave me salvation. It was totally
different. So instructing those that oppose
themselves, if God per adventure will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth. So if they ever acknowledge the
truth, it is God that granted them the repentance to do that. So faith falls into the same
line. John six, a couple of verses
in John six. You know what John 6, 6, 6 says? Well, this is just a little bit
before John 6, 6, 6. Here in John 6, 44. And this
is what really upset those folks and why they walked away to begin
with. Verses like this. It doesn't fit natural man's
scheme of things. Oh my goodness, you cannot tell
me that I can't come to Jesus on my own. Are you telling me
that? Yeah, I'm sorry. Well, how do
I get there? God, that's how you get there. No man, verse 44, John says,
no man can come to me except the father which has sent me
draw him and I will raise him up in the last day. Now, did
that apply to Manoah and his wife? Absolutely. Same grace God gives us is the
grace He gave them. And they didn't come except the
Father which has sent the Lord, the Messiah, draw them. And in
the same vein, would you just drop down to verse 65 of this? Yeah, verse 65 of John 6. It says here in John 6, 65, He
said, therefore said I unto you, that no man can come to me except it were given unto him
of my Father." So grace is a gift of God, repentance is a gift
of God, there are so many spiritual gifts of God. We read a few of
them, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. There's
two more, I think. Patience, there we go. They are
gifts of God. It's fruit of the Spirit. Turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Philippians, chapter
one. Philippians, chapter one. And verse 29. I think we'll conclude that God provides in our salvation,
what God provides in our salvation is equally proportional to the
extent of the fall. Now if it's a total fall, he
has to provide total, everything. And religion has the fall is
not total, so therefore I have to add something. Well, the fall
is total. God's provision must be total. Alright, here in the book of
Philippians, chapter 1, verse 29. For unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him. How did
you get to believe on Him? In the behalf of Christ. For
Christ's sake, for Christ's purpose. But also, to suffer for His sake. Now I think the Lord gives his
people the ability at the time necessary to do that. And we
may not be going through a lot of suffering right now, physical
or otherwise, but I believe that God grants the ability to do
that at the appropriate time, at the time necessary. we'll
be granted that grace. So as Manoah is told by his wife,
we're gonna have a baby, he says, oh wow, good, what can I do? And that's gonna be the tone
of the rest of this chapter. Faith of God's elect. We'll stop there for tonight.