That's such a powerful song,
isn't it? I hope I never become taken up
with the melody more so than the fact that my sin was nailed
to the cross and I bear it no more. Let's go back to Judges 13. Judges chapter 13, this wonderful story, this is a wonderful
story. If you know this story, you love
this story. This wonderful story of a man
named Manoah and his wife. This is a very clear picture
of man and of God and of life and of death and of salvation. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel. If anybody wants to hear the
gospel, what is written in Judges 13 is the gospel. This is the story of every single
child of God start to finish. What we're going to do is we're
going to look at the whole chapter. We're just going to. See the
whole story. And you will see if you are a
child of God, you will recognize this. This will be your story.
This is my story. And I pray it's your story. This story of the child of God
starts in the same place for every child. And this story finishes
in the same place for every child. Start to finish. Now look at
verse 1. And 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. Our story starts in
sin. That's where it starts. Evil
in the sight of the Lord. There is no denying that that's
where I started. And there's no denying that's
where you started. Absolutely no denying it. All have sinned. Can anybody say, well, I've never
sinned? Well, if you say that you're lying and you've sinned. Verse two says, and there was
a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites whose name
was Manoah and his wife was barren and bare not. She was barren. What that means is she was dead
inside. That's what it means. No life
in her. She was dead and she was in sin. And is that not us? Dead and
in sin. That is me. That's me. Dead and in sin. I thought about
all the dear women in the scripture that our Lord made to be this
way. To prove a spiritual truth. Abraham's
wife, Sarah, was barren. You remember that? And the Lord made her that way
so that we could all hope in the promised son. A son was promised,
but he didn't come and he didn't come and he didn't. And they
thought, well, maybe he's not coming. He came. And here we are and
here we are. And you ever wonder, well, maybe
he's not coming. He's coming. He's coming. And then they had
Isaac, the promised son. Well, Isaac's wife, Rebecca,
was barren. Okay, now Isaac represents Christ. And the bride of Christ, in and
of herself, is a barren bride. There's no life in her, there's
no life in us, in and of ourselves. And then Jacob's wife, Rachel,
she was barren. Samuel's mother, Hannah, she
was barren. John the Baptist's mother, Elizabeth,
she was barren. Our Lord proves, when I work,
I'm starting with the barren. But do you know what Isaiah 54
verse 1 says? It says, sing, O barren, thou
that didst not bear. Why? Because Isaiah 53 says,
he bore. He travailed. He suffered the pain. And he
did it for you, so sing, barren. But this is where every child
of God begins, dead and in sin, dead and in sin. Verse three
says, And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said
unto her, Behold now, thou art barren and bearest not, but thou
shalt conceive and bear a son." Is that not the gospel? You are
dead now. There is no life in you at all,
in and of yourself, but life is coming. Life is coming. The Son is coming. Verse 4, Now
therefore, beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong
drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For lo, thou shalt conceive
and bear a son, and no razor shall come 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."
What he's telling her is, you have been set apart for holy
use. That's what he's telling her.
sanctified. You have been set apart for holy
use. Why this son? That's why. It's all about the son. This
is everything I'm telling you is for the son and it's all unto
the son. This announcement unto life is
a declaration of the son. Everything he's going to accomplish
in you and for you. Verse six, then the woman came
and told her husband saying, a man of God came unto me and
his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God.
Very terrible. But I asked him not whence he
was, neither told me his name. And that's what you will find
in God's true messenger. He's not going to promote himself.
He just will not do it. John the Baptist would not say
his own name. Our Lord said that the Holy Spirit,
when he comes, the Holy Spirit shall not speak of himself. Not
even the Holy Spirit. He's going to point men and women
to Christ. That's what he's going to do. Verse six, Then the woman
came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me. And
his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God,
very terrible. But I asked him not whence he
was, neither told he me his name. But he said unto me, Behold,
thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And now drink no wine
nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing, for the child
shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death."
Now, Nazarite was a man who was under a vow to God. That's what
a Nazarite was, a man who was under a vow to accomplish something,
a given period of time, a consecrated man. And while he was under that
vow he could not touch any wine and he could not cut his hair
and he couldn't come in contact with anything that was dead,
any dead thing. He had to represent perfection,
he had to represent purity, he had to represent holiness. And the messenger told her the
one who is coming He is undefiled. He is perfect. Consecrated to
God, not of corruptible seed. Now they had this son and brother
Chris already read for us that his name is Samson. So was he
born of corruptible seed? Yes. Yes, Manoah, Adam. But spiritually speaking, the
reason that this story is written is to tell every child of God
a new man is going to be created in you. There's a new creature
that's going to be put in you. And this is the Holy One Himself.
That first man is Adam. That second man is Christ Himself,
the Holy One. Verse 8 says, Then Manoah entreated
the Lord, and said, Oh my Lord, let the man of God which thou
did sin come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto
the child that shall be born. When a sinner hears the message
of God and he hears it from God's servant, it is a fearful thing. You know that I don't ever want
to lose that fear of the Lord. That beginning of wisdom. It
is a fearful thing. It is a reverent thing. And it's
a saver of life unto life for the first time. If this is a
child of God, hearing the truth of God from the word of God,
from the servant of God for the first time in his life, something
is a little bit different. It is a savor of life unto life. And that sinner says, I need
to hear this again. I need to hear it again. You
know, the truth is offensive. You know that this word is so
offensive. And you tell men and women the truth and you think
I'm going to run them all off. But the fact of the matter is,
is it's the truth of God's word that opens blind eyes and opens
deaf ears and calls a sinner. And if we don't declare the truth,
we'll run them all off. No matter how truthful this word
is, no matter how piercing this word is, a child of God, if that's
a chosen child of God, if God brings that child in contact
with his gospel, something's going to pull him back. Something's
going to pull him back and he's going to say, can we hear this
again? I didn't, I don't know if I liked it or not, but I've
got to hear it again. Tell you that. One more time. Isn't that what
we say? One more time. Let me hear this one more time.
Verse nine, and God hearkened to the voice of Manoah and the
angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband was not
with her. Now, he answered Manoah's call
unto the Lord and he came again, but Manoah was not with her.
She was sitting alone in the field. When God calls, it's individual. It's individual. And I read that
verse and I thought about you ladies, and I know that the word
of God says man for mankind. And everybody's lumped into mankind.
And when I stand up here, I'll say if a man ever, and what I
mean is if a man or a woman ever, we say man. And I know and believe
that the word of God has said that the man is the head of the
house, even as Christ is the head of the church. But when
God calls, he does not come to the head of the house. He comes
to you. I mean, he comes to you. directly and he speaks to you,
he talks to us individually. In Christ there is no male, there
is no female, there is no bond, there is no free. He calls everyone
by name, and I encourage all of us men in here to cry out
to God, speak to me. And I encourage all of us women,
all of you women, to cry out to God saying, speak to me, speak
to me. I encourage all of you children
to call on the Lord and say, speak to me, individually. Now here's the good news of the
gospel. Our God's ways are not our ways. His ways are not man's
ways, and He does not come to the strong. He doesn't come to
the strong in this world, and He doesn't come to the self-sufficient,
and He does not come to the self-righteous, and He does not come to the one
who can live on his own. He comes to the barren. He comes
to the barren. God helps those who cannot help
themselves. That's the only people he comes
to. If you can help yourself, you don't need God and he won't
come to you. You don't need him. That would
be a waste of his time. God helps those who cannot help
themselves. Verse 9 says, And God hearkened
to the voice of Manoah, And the angel of God came again unto
the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband, was
not with her. And the woman made haste and
ran and showed her husband and said unto him, Behold, the man
hath appeared unto me that came unto me the other day. And Manoah
arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said
unto him, Art thou the man that speakest unto the woman? And
he said, I am. Now, when God reveals the truth
to a sinner, the first thing that sinner wants to do is run
and tell everybody else what God has revealed to him or her. That's the first thing they want
to do. The Lord has shown me great things. It reminds me of
the woman at the well. Go over to John chapter four
with me. John chapter 4 verse 7, There cometh a woman of Samaria
to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me
to drink. Verse 9, Then saith the woman
of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou being a Jew askest
drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have
no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto
her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith
to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and
he would have given thee living water. Verse 13, Jesus answered
and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall
thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life. Verse 16 says, Jesus saith unto
her, Go call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered
and said, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou hast
well said, I have no husband. For thou hast had five husbands,
and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst
thou truly, the woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou
art a prophet. How do you know all that? How
do you know that? Are you a prophet? Verse 25,
the woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is
called Christ. When he is come, he will tell
us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee am. Verse 28, the woman then left
her water pot and went her way into the city and saith to the
men, come see a man. Come see a man. Which told me
all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? Then
they went out of the city and came to him. As soon as he revealed
himself to her, she ran and told everybody, come see a man. Come see a man. He knows everything
about me. He knows my thoughts. He knows
my deeds. He knows my sin. But he said
that he has living water and he said he would give it to me.
And I believe He'll give it to you too. You know why people
run and tell others about Christ? It's because Christ has given
them something and they believe with all their heart. I believe
He'll give it to you too. I believe you need it. I believe
you don't have it. And I believe He'll give it.
If you would just come see a man. Come see a man. Go with me back
to Judges 13. Verse 10, And the woman made
haste and ran and showed her husband and said unto him, Behold,
the man hath appeared unto me that came unto me the other day.
And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man
and said unto him, Art thou the man that speakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. I am. If God in mercy ever causes
a sinner to run to Christ, if God ever brings a sinner to Christ. And if God ever causes that sinner
to ask him from the heart, are thou he that should come? If a sinner ever asks Christ
himself, Christ himself, that sinner will get an answer. He'll
get an answer. If you seek Christ himself, you
will get an answer. You will. He told the woman at
the well, I that speak unto thee am he. When they came to take our Lord,
and they came with sticks and swords and all those things,
and he asked them, whom seek ye? And they said, we seek Jesus
of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And every
single man that was there fell back like a tree. That's what
they hear every time. I am. Moses said, Who should
I say sent me? He said, You tell them I am. And that's what every sinner
hears. Every sinner who is brought to Christ, every sinner who comes
seeking the truth, they hear I am. I am. Verse 11. And Manoah arose and
went after his wife. and came to the man and said
unto him, art thou the man that speakest unto the woman? And
he said, I am. And Manoah said, now let thy
words come to pass. How shall we order the child
and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware.
She may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine, neither let
her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing, all
that I commanded her, let her observe." What he's saying is,
don't do anything. Manoah said, what should we do?
He said, don't you do a thing. Don't do anything. Don't add
one work to what is taking place inside you. Verse 15, and Manoah
said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee
until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel
of the Lord said unto Manoah, though thou detain me, I will
not eat of thy bread. There is nothing you can bring
in this matter that will be accepted. You know, men think, well, I've
got to bring something to God to be accepted. No, if you bring
it, I won't eat it. Nothing. Verse 16 goes on to
say, and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it
unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was
an angel of the Lord. That angel told Manoah, there
is only one thing that will be accepted. A burnt offering. That's the only thing. A sacrifice,
something must be sacrificed unto God to appease God for your
sin. Verse 17, And Manoah said unto
the angel of the Lord, What is thy name? That when thy sayings
come to pass, we may do thee honor. And the angel of the Lord
said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it
is secret? Now, if you have a margin in
your Bible, the word secret means wonderful. It's wonderful. Who is this man Jesus? Who is
Jesus Christ? Isaiah 9, 6 says, Unto us a child
is born. And that's what most people think,
especially those in Hollywood. Little baby Jesus. Unto us a
child is born. Yes, unto us a son is given.
But who is this? All of the government shall be
laid on his shoulder. Every bit of it. And his name
shall be called Wonderful. It's a secret. Everybody knows
the name Jesus, but nobody outside of those that Christ has revealed
himself to has a clue who this man Jesus is. It's a secret.
And his name shall be called Wonderful, and his name shall
be called Counselor, and his name shall be called the Mighty
God, and his name shall be called the Everlasting Father, and his
name shall be called the Prince of Peace. Well, I know who Jesus
is. He's the little son who was born
to Mary. No, Mary is the daughter who
was born to him. Well, I know who he is. He is
the one who's running for office. He's the one who's trying to
get votes so he can win the election. Oh, I believe in election and
I'm going to vote for him. No, he's the one who already
has all of the government on his shoulder, the governor. Well, I know who he is. Jesus
is God's son. No, he is the everlasting father. And he tells his seeking sinners,
my name is wonderful. It's a secret that must be revealed. It just must be revealed. Verse
19, so Manoah 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, for it came to pass when
the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar that the angel
of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and
his wife looked on it and fell on their faces to the ground.
But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and
to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was
an angel of the Lord. Now, I'm sure they had made sacrifices
before. I'm sure they had gone through
the ritual, gone through the motions. But when God sends his
messenger with the truth of God himself, something is different. Something is fearful. And when
God says to the heart, I am. That sinner knows just like Jacob
knew. When God wrestled with him, that
sinner knows, I have seen God face to face through his word. By his spirit. Verse 19, So Manoah
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. For it came to pass when
the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the
angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah
and his wife looked on it and fell on their faces to the ground.
But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and
to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was
an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife,
we shall surely die because we have seen God." He is about to
kill us. all of our rituals, everything
that we thought we were doing for God, everything we were so
proud of, everything we thought He would accept, now we see this
is God Almighty and He's going to kill us. The fear of the Lord
really is the beginning of wisdom. It really is. The Word of God
Himself grips the heart, and it grips the mind, and it grips
the soul. And Manoah here, he said, like
every believer sees, no man can see God and live. No man can see God and live.
You know, we think about going and standing before the judgment
throne before God and telling him what we've done and then
waiting to see if that's good enough and waiting to get our
answer. If we're not in Christ, as soon as we see God, we'll
die. No man can see God and live. I understand why now, that's
what Manoah is saying, I get it. It's because he's holy, that's
why. And no sin can be in his presence,
none. And sin is all that I am. And he must punish sin and he
cannot clear the guilty. God be merciful to me, a sinner. God be merciful to me, a sinner.
Verse 22, And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die,
because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, Now
here is the gospel. Here it is. This poor sinner
has seen God, and he acknowledges his transgressions. And his sin
is ever before him. And he knows against God and
God only has he sinned and done this evil in his sight. And he
knows that God will be justified when he speaks and God will be
clear when he judges. And he has fallen on his face
to beg the true and living God for mercy. Verse 22, 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 showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have
told us such things as these. If he were going to kill us,
and I can tell all of us in this room this morning, if God was
going to kill us, He would never have accepted
Christ on our behalf. Never. Never. He never would have revealed
the mystery of his gospel to us. He would not have done that.
And he never would have spoken such sweet and comforting words
into our ears. He wouldn't have done it. The
good news is God has accepted the burnt offering and God is
appeased, God is satisfied and we're safe in Christ, we're safe. Verse 24, and the woman bare
a son and called his name Samuel and the child grew And the Lord
blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began
to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshter. God's word will not return void.
He will not do it. She bore fruit. He put life in
her. He put his spirit in her. He
blessed her. And she called his name Samson and his name means
sunlight. It means the eastern sun. You know who that is? That's
Christ. That's the day star, the son
of righteousness who is risen with healing in his wings. She
received Christ. And that's every believer story. That's every believer story.
I was born in sin. I was born dead in sin. But God
came to me. And he said, I am. And then he
revealed to me the truth of who Christ really is. And I quit
thinking about a man named Jesus and I started thinking about
my Lord, the Christ, Jehovah. And it broke me and it caused
me to realize that I am lower than the dirt. But then God in
mercy showed me Christ crucified and told my soul rest in him. God is satisfied. That's my story. Come the end of this whole matter,
all we can say is we received Christ. That's it. We just received
Christ. We received the grace and mercy
of God in Christ. Manoah and his wife had to run
and tell everybody it was all by grace. It was all by grace. All right, let's stand together.