Let us turn in the word of God to the chapter that we read, Judges chapter 13. Our text this evening is Judges 13 verses 22 and 23. Now this, I'm going to read a sermon that was originally preached by Mr B. A. Ramsbottom. It was preached at Bethel Chapel Luton on the 22nd of January 1989. The title of the sermon is A Godly Woman's Faith. So the text, as I say, is Judges 13, verses 22 and 23.

And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. Neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these. Manoah was a godly man, and he was not as well established in the truth as his wife was.

It is made very clear in this chapter that he was a godly man, We find him praying and we find him receiving answers to his prayers. This is a really important point in vital godliness, to pray and to receive answers to our prayers. We find also that he had a very tender conscience. He was very concerned that in the gift of this child from God, Samson, he might be blessed with grace to honour God. He did not want to do anything that was displeasing to the Lord. He wanted the Lord very clearly and very graciously to lead him and to direct him. Now may we each in our families have that same spirit to seek the Lord's gracious direction and gracious help day by day. And then Manoah was especially favoured to see, to use the words of the hymn writer, the wonders God alone can do.

Most of the godly divines have believed that this angel who appeared to Manoah and his wife was the Lord Jesus, the angel of the covenant or messenger of the covenant. The Lord Jesus in one of his pre-incarnation appearances. Now let us be very clear, the eternal Son of God never took flesh of our flesh until his wonderful incarnation at Bethlehem. But there were various occasions in the Old Testament when he did appear and when he came in the likeness, in the appearance of human form.

What a word is that! And the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. I'm sure some of you can go back to times in your life when you have known an experience like that when the Lord has worked wondrously for you and all you could do was look on look on in wonder and amazement look on in humble gratitude look on feeling why me Lord why me the angel did wondrously and Manoa and his wife looked on now although Manoah was a godly man he was not as well established in the truth as his wife and his faith was not as strong as that of his wife you see there are degrees of faith all faith looks to the Lord Jesus all faith believes on him all faith hangs on him depends on him some have great faith some have little faith You remember it was to the apostles that the Lord Jesus said, how is it that ye have no faith?

To the apostles, Peter and James and John and the others, be very clear on this point, that little faith will take a sinner to heaven just as surely as great faith. It is not the degree of faith, not the amount of faith that will take you to heaven. It is the glorious object of faith. And if your faith, however weak, however fearing, however trembling, rests upon Christ and Him crucified as your object, then that faith will take you to heaven. If you can only come here, my faith would lay her hand on that dear head of thine, while like a penitent I stand and there confess my sin. That will take you to heaven, whether it's weak or strong. I suppose some of you will ask the question, if weak faith will take a sinner to heaven just as much as strong faith, what is the advantage of one over the other?

Well, as the Apostle Paul would have put it, much every way. But especially this, that the person blessed with strong faith enjoys more peace, more comfort, more assurance, more blessing while here on earth in his pilgrimage. It will not make the slightest difference between getting to heaven at last, but it will make a great difference in your enjoyment of divine favours.

It is a remarkable thing in this chapter that when the Lord appeared, it was not to Manoah, it was to Manoah's wife. Even when Minoa so earnestly prayed that the Lord would come again, the second time also it was to Minoa's wife. And she went and told her husband and brought him.

I wonder if in the history of the Church of God there have been perhaps more godly women than godly men. Now that may surprise you. Have you ever noticed if you take our churches almost invariably there are twice the number of lady members to men members in those churches almost invariably and sometimes it is a much greater proportion of godly women and that does not just belong to the present day it was so in the past now that must be a mystery i do not profess to be able to give you the answer, but it is a fact that in our churches there have been many more godly women who have made an open profession of faith than men have. It seems that in a special way these godly women have been honoured with a greater proportion of faith.

Well in these two verses I've read to you we see little faith and great faith. We see one who is sorely tried and tempted and harassed and another who knows the answer. We find one plagued with fear and another one who can say fear not. Oh what a wonderful thing it is when there are those who are well established in the faith who can be a help to those who are not. There is not so much of this today as there was in former years.

Manoah's wife was a mother in Israel and she was a mother in Israel even to her own husband. Now have we got these mothers in Israel amongst us? You can speak to someone and be a help and you can encourage them and you can confirm them and God himself will bless your testimony. And Manoah said unto his wife we shall surely God. You think of these amazing things that have been taking place. Manoah was a hospitable man, he not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. So the apostle writes in Hebrews 13, and one to whom he is referring is Manoah. But you remember that the angel would not eat of the bread or of the meat that was provided. He said, I will not eat of thy bread, and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. And the angel refused to give his name.

Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? He noticed your margin renders the word wonderful. Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is wonderful? Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful. Manasseh took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. Now just remember what took place suddenly this offering of the sacrifice on the rock which was being used as a rough altar suddenly without any human hand it burst into flames and there the flames ascended to heaven but more than that the angel himself disappeared he went up in that flame toward heaven and he was received up out of their sight and when Noah and his wife looked on and fell on their faces to the ground And Manoah said unto his wife, we shall surely die because we have seen God. He was labouring under a temptation from Satan. He was plagued with fears. He felt everything was going to go wrong. He felt he was going to be left. He was going to perish.

Do not be at all surprised if the Lord has specially helped you or favoured you, or blessed you in any way, if the next day you almost sink in black despair. Some of the most eminent ministers have found that if they have preached even to thousands on the Lord's Day evening, and abundantly experienced the blessing of the Lord, they have felt on the Monday morning that they were completely out of the secret themselves, that they must perish in their sins. They have felt the Lord was going to destroy them.

Now do not sit in judgment on Manoah. None of us know how we may feel if the Lord does not bless us with faith, if the Lord does not uphold us and support us. Really, you would say if there was a man in the Bible who had no cause to fear, it was Manoah, after the Lord had so wondrously appeared and blessed him and his wife so much. If you will, these were groundless fears, fears without any foundation. We sometimes sing, creatures of fear, we fear where no fear is.

But one thing you will prove, that a groundless fear will be just as painful as a real fear. But a person who has these fears, however groundless they are, those fears are terribly real. I remember years ago a person coming to see me and she was prostrated with fear. What she told me, when she told me what it was, it was so ridiculous that I could have laughed if I had not realized that this person was prostrated by it. It was so real.

Now groundless fears, however foolish they may be, to the person who is troubled with those fears, they are terribly real. All that Manoa could see facing him was darkness and death and destruction. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, You see, it was a good divinity, wasn't it?

She was very well established in the truth, and she was able to speak so graciously. If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. She did not just laugh at his fears. She did not just tell him to cheer up. She did not just tell him to stop fearing. She most graciously answered him.

And that is the mercy of scripture. And that is the mercy of the gospel. It doesn't take this poor, trembling, fearing sinner and tell him to cheer up. or that he should not have these fears. It comes right where he is, just like the Good Samaritan, and deals with his case and lifts him right up out of all those fears that trouble him.

Christ has blessings to impart, grace to save thee from thy fears. but his wife said unto him if the Lord were pleased to kill us he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands rather he would have showed us all these things and neither would he have showed us all these things nor would as at this time have told us such things as these this is very gracious reasoning and it is very good divinity this is the way Manara's wife spoke. The angel of God has spoken most graciously to us, most kindly to us, and given us such precious promises.

Now this would never have taken place if it were God's intention afterwards to destroy us. This angel has done such wonderful things for us. We have looked on with wonder and amazement. He has revealed things to us that 10,000 in the world never see. Now is it possible that the Lord would deal with us in this way and then cut us off and cast us away and destroy us? You remember that we offered that burnt offering and the meat offering to the Lord and very clearly, very graciously, He accepted it.

He performed a miracle to accept it. That flame of fire and the angel ascending to heaven Now surely the Lord would not have done this for us if he were against us, if he did not love us, if he were going to cast us off, if he were going to destroy us.

That is good divinity isn't it? She had very clear views of the faithfulness of God. that the Lord would not give a kind word and then not fulfil it, that the Lord would not give a promise and then break it, and certainly the Lord would not deal so kindly and graciously with anyone and then turn against that person. She was very well grounded in the faithfulness of God. may we as a congregation be well established in this truth he is faithful that promised the faithful god have he said and shall he not do it she was also well grounded in the truth of divine immutability that God does not change, that God cannot change, that the Lord would not be kind and gracious to them yesterday and then turn against them today, favour them yesterday and forsake them today, be such a help to them in the past and then in the future leave them.

She knew more of God than this. She knew the wonders of divine immutability. And can he have taught me to trust in his name and thus far have brought me to put me to shame? She could have sung these words if they had been written then and wouldn't she have rejoiced in the closing part of Hebrews 6? wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. You see, she was well established in the faithfulness of God, in the immutability of God, and in the loving, merciful character of God.

I once heard a preacher say many years ago that God never tantalises a sinner. That was a good word to me. Satan will tantalise you and the world will tantalise you. The world will hold something out before you, the world will promise you pleasures and you will go after those pleasures and they will tantalise you. We get the word from the old Greek story of Tantalus.

He suffered from a raging thirst, and spent his life seeking after cool streams, and when he bent down to drink of the stream, it flowed away from him. The world, with all its pleasures, is just like this. You bend down to drink of its streams, and they disappear.

The Lord will never give you a little taste and dash it to the ground. Beloved, there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off. Shall the foretaste thou hast wrought be to disappointment brought, though thy promise calls it sure, of the life that shall endure?

The Lord will not raise up a little hope and then disappoint it, promise something and then dash it all to the ground. That is not the way which God works. His wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would He have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these. Well, with the Lord's help, let us just look at one or two aspects of it.

Have you got a sweet hope that the Lord has ever begun His work of grace in your heart, taught you your need, shown you the solemnity of eternity, the vanity of the world, that this is not your rest, it is polluted? Has he ever given you that real concern about your sin and your soul and eternity? Has he ever brought you to pray, compelled you to pray, that you might be made right, made ready, fitted and prepared for heaven, washed in the Saviour's blood? then if the Lord were pleased to destroy you, He would never have shown you such things as these. The Lord never begins and then does not finish.

Oh, what a word is that in Zechariah chapter 4! The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it. There is no unfinished work with God. the work which His goodness began, the arm of His strength will complete. His promise is yea and amen and never was forfeited yet. There are two scriptures. One is this, The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever.

Forsake not the works of thine own hands. And the other, He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. Neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

Some of you will look back in your life and you can go to those spots and places where the Lord has been with you. Some of you can lay hold on that promise you believe God has given. you've had to rest upon it some of you can remember the time when you felt the Lord Jesus so attractive to your soul and some of you even in the seat where you are sitting now can remember the time when the Lord came and favoured your spirit some of you have your little spots and places in your own house or in a busy street or when you were out in the country and you cannot deny it that the Lord visited you there helped you there, blessed you there now if the Lord were going to destroy you he would never have done such things for you he would never have done such things for you would he ever have shown you such things as these? now there are some of you you have you who have not got what you want but you but you know You are not what you once were.

The world no longer attracts you. You can say, one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see. You no longer envy the world, its pleasures can no longer please. Now you just want to be identified with the people of God. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.

If the Lord were pleased to destroy you, if he were going to cut you off and cast you away at last, would he ever have made this difference in your life? Was it Satan who brought you out of the world? Was it Satan who taught you to pray? Was it Satan who made the Lord Jesus so attractive, so precious in your desires after him? If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. Neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

Now there are some of you who cannot deny that you have an urgent, pressing case, that you fill within an aching void the world can never fill. that it is the things of God you want more than anything else, His blessing. Some of you say and painfully feel that you have waited long and the blessing you have long sought for you've waited long and the blessing you have long sought you have never received and because of this Satan reasons very closely with you and at times when your fears prevail you think like this that you will never find peace at last that in the great day it will be eternal destruction but if the Lord were going to cast you off if the Lord were going to destroy you Would he ever have brought you to seek after his name, ever have brought you to seek his forgiveness, have given these desires and then disappoint them, those longings and then crush them, these hungerings and then mock them? There was a hymn that the godly used to sing many years ago. My fears sometimes say I shall never find in death's awful day true peace in my mind. But though thus surrounded, yet when I come there, not before, when I come there, I can't be confounded, the Lord will appear. If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. Neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

Well, beloved friends, what is it that is worrying you, concerning you, filling your heart with fear? What day is this?

What a trying day is it, when you are tempted the Lord will leave you, that he will cast you off, He will not be with you, He will forsake you and it will end in destruction and it shall end in death. Is it the day of trouble that you are in and you wonder where the scene is going to end? You fear at times it is going to end in confusion, that the Lord is no more going to hear your prayers, smile upon you, but He is going to cast you off. Is it this day of trouble that you fear is going to be the day of destruction to you?

Or what about those former troubles when you felt you were going to sink, and yet the Lord upheld you? He did not destroy you, did He? His love in time past forbids me to think He will leave me at last in trouble to sink. Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review confirms His good pleasure to help me quite through. If the Lord were going to destroy you in this trouble, he would never have helped you, been with you as he has in days past.

But with some of you, you look to the unknown way and you see a day before you and you fear that day and you shrink from that day. You think you cannot face it. How can I stand then? And Satan tells you that you'll be put to confusion, it will be the day of your destruction.

Do you believe what we sing? He who has helped me hitherto will help me all my journey through. Do you believe what we do believe? that what the Lord has been to his people, he will ever be. Do you believe that rock foundation, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and now you have got your yesterday, the same yesterday and today and forever?

If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. Neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these. and then you see there is the day of your death and we must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again and neither does God respect any person now that day is certain and that will be a terrible day oh to have one grain of real religion when you and I come there as come there we must it is one thing to sing about it and to read about it but it is to come there. If thou hast run with the footmen and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? And if in the land of peace wherein thou trustest they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?

At times you fear that that will be your death and that will be your destruction. But do you think that the Lord has done so much for you, and you cannot deny it, that He has helped you in times past, He has never failed you, never forsaken you, and that at last, in that great day of His promise, will fail you forevermore? Do you think that? He who has helped you hitherto will help you all your journey through, and at the end of your journey. But faith sometimes does sink low. There is that 77th Psalm.

Will the Lord cast off forever and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever? Does his promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Six impossible things and yet this godly man Asaph thought that they were going to happen to him. And then the Lord intervened. Do you know what he said then? He said, This is my infirmity. But, O one of those blessed buts, but, I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. Neither would He have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these. If the Lord were going to destroy us as a church, if he were going to leave us, if he were going to forsake us, is it possible that he would have done all these things for us and shown us such things as these and blessed us in the way that he has?

Beloved friends, he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. He says, According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you. Fear ye not. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering as our hands. Neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these. Amen. Let us now sing that hymn number 981 and the tune is Ombudsley 385.