Thank you, Sherry. Kemp accused me of saving the
best messages for Sunday. I have a small group here tonight,
but I hope you'll be glad you came. Judges 13, verse 1 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 forty years.
in the sight of the Lord. What they did was, well, it says
back in chapter 2, it says that there was a generation
that rose after their fathers that didn't know the Lord, know
the works of the Lord. They did evil in the sight of
the Lord and served a false god, idolatry. They forsook the Lord
God of their fathers that brought them out of the land of Egypt,
followed other gods. the gods of the people around
about them, bowed themselves unto them, provoked the Lord,
but besook the Lord, served Baal, Astrid, false gods, did evil
in the sight of the Lord. Like today, in idolatry. Our
land is full of idolatry. And it's said here they did evil
in the sight of the Lord, in plain view of the Lord. I do
want you to look at the last verse of the last chapter, the
very last verse in this book, chapter 21. This is said four
times in the Scripture, in this Judges. Four times. The last verse says, In those
days there was no king in Israel, no sovereign, no lord over them,
no law. The king passes laws, you know.
There's no king in history, and every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. Whatever they thought was right,
or whatever they wanted to do, they did. That's today. No sovereign God being preached. No king. No law. No absolute right or wrong. And men and women are doing whatever
they think is right, and it may be right to them, that is evil
in God's sight. And it's so corrupt, as Isaiah
59 said, they twisted it, judgments turned way backward. And men
are calling good evil and evil good now. But there's a certain man and
his wife. Verse 2, a certain man and his
wife. God had a remnant back then,
in spite of all that idolatry. All those false gods, how that
whole land was full of idolatry. God had His elect. God had His
certain men and women that He had chosen before the foundation
of the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
This man and this woman, God chose to reveal the truth to
them. To believe the truth. What mercy?
What grace? What love? And if you know the
truth and believe it, in the midst of this crooked generation,
evil generation. How blessed you are. You've been
chosen. Blessed art thou, Irene. Blessed
art. Highly favored. Highly favored. Well, his name was Manoah, and
his wife was Baron and Baronauts. A certain man, his wife. It doesn't
say that they were any better than anybody else. It doesn't
say anything about their character or virtue, but I know after the
Lord revealed Himself to them, they were the salt of the earth. God has sent His angel to this
man and this woman. And verse 2 says his name was
Manoah, but it never does tell his wife's name. It never does
give her name. And it doesn't matter, does it?
It doesn't matter. He said his wife was barren and
barren not, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman
and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren and barrest not,
but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. Doubtless this is a picture
of how the angel of the Lord appeared to Mary, Joseph's future
wife, virgin Mary, and told her of the Christ that was to be
born of her womb. Doubtless, that's a picture of
that. But this is a story of how all
of God's elect hear from the Lord. And every sinner, saved
by grace, how the Lord comes to us and speaks to us. Now, the first thing He did was
remind her, you're barren and have borne none. You're barren. You're fruitless. You're unfruitful. And when the Lord comes to us,
the first thing He reveals to us is there is nothing in us. We have nothing. As the psalm
says, in my hands, no price I bring, no goodness in me, no fruit in
me, no faith, no goodness, no nothing in me, barren and unfruitful. Now, this angel of the Lord is
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. I know. without reservation, without
a shadow of a doubt, that every appearance of the Lord, every
bodily appearance, every incarnation appearance of the Lord in a body,
it was the Lord Jesus Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. When the Lord made Adam and Eve,
you remember He said, let us make man in our own image. It says this is an angel of the
Lord. Malachi 3 says this, I will send
my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord
whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant. The word angel means messenger. That's what the word angel means.
Messenger. So this angel of the Lord that
appeared unto them was none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. The same one that appeared to
Gideon. The same one that appeared to
Adam and Eve in the garden. The same one. Jesus Christ the
same. Yesterday, today, appearing unto
us through his word and forever. The messenger of the covenant
who speaks to his people. He said, my people hear my voice.
My sheep hear my voice. So the Lord appeared to this
woman, and her name is never mentioned, only Manoah's. But
her name is not important. And He told her that she was
barren. He reminded her that she was
barren and bore not. Bore not. Unfruitful. Now, was
that an insult to her? She knew she was barren, but
it's not an insult. The Lord wasn't adding insult
to injury. But he's reminding her, you're
barren, you're unfruitful, you can't produce, can you? But you
shall. You shall. How? It's going to
be from the Lord. What is created in her will be
of the Lord. Now, man was created for the
glory of God, was he not? He was created for the glory
of God. What was the first thing he told Adam and Eve? What was
the very first words that the Lord said to the man and the
woman? Be fruitful. That's the very first words the
Lord told Adam and Eve. He created them for His glory.
He created all things that were created by Him and for His glory
they were created, Scripture says. And He said to the man
and the woman, Be fruitful. And I know He meant more than
just having children. The fruit of the Spirit is. Love. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy neighbors, I say. Love. Joy. Rejoice in the Lord. Joy. Peace. Long-suffering. Gentleness. Goodness. Faith.
Meekness. Temperance. Thanksgiving. We're
to give thanks, aren't we? We're to praise the Lord. We're
to worship the Lord. That's why He created us. To
enjoy Him and He to enjoy us as we worship Him. And we've fallen short of the
glory of God. And we're born unfruitful. We're
born without the fruit of the Spirit. We're born with the works
of the flesh. We're born without the fruit
of the Spirit. We're unfruitful. We're barren. We're unfruitful,
unprofitable, empty, barren, only full of sin. And it's a
great mercy of the Lord if He tells us that. Great grace and
great mercy if the Lord tells comes to us and tells us, You're
empty. You're vain. You're unfruitful. You have not glorified me. You're
only full of sin, not full of the Spirit of God. But you shall
be fruitful unto me. You shall. I've created you for
my glory. I'm going to give new birth to you. Thou shalt conceive
and bear fruit. Thou shalt conceive. A man can
receive nothing except it be given him. A woman can't conceive
except seed is planted in her, right? She's a receiver. A woman
is a receiver of the seed. Okay? She doesn't give life. Life is put in her. Right? So we receive the seed. James said this, that of his
own will begat he us with what? The word of truth. And Peter
said, it's not corruptible seed, but incorruptible, the Word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. And the Scripture says
this, as many as received Him, to them gave He the right and
the power to become the sons of God, to them they were born
of God. Not of the will of the flesh,
but born of God. So we receive the Word of God
through the preaching of the Gospel. God sends a messenger.
to all His elect ladies, like her, with a message, the Word
of Truth, the Gospel, and reveals Christ to them. The Lord is going
to reveal Himself to Manoah and his wife. They don't know that
this is the Lord. He's going to reveal Himself to them, and
He's going to create something in her. That's what the Scripture says.
He that hath the Son hath light. To the Lord in mercy comes to
this barren woman And he first convicts her, and then he comforts
her. You're barren. You're unfruitful. But you shall bear fruit. And
it's going to be by me. It's going to be by me. Then
he warns her of the law. Thou shalt not. Then he tells
her of a deliverer. Look at this, verse 4 and 5.
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, drink not wine, nor strong
drink. Eat not. Thou shalt not. Do any
of these things. For lo, thou shalt conceive and
bear a son, 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 Philistine. He warns her of the
law, what not to do, and then tells her of the deliverer. And what the Lord does is comes
to us, and by the law we are convicted of sin, and then he
tells us of the deliverer from the curse of the law. In the
fullness of time, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made
under the law that He might redeem us who are under the law. Well,
this woman, Manoah's wife, ran to tell her husband. The Lord Himself came to this
woman and revealed to her her barrenness and told her she would
conceive and no longer be barren. And she ran to tell her husband.
He was not with her. And if our spouse is not with
us, we need to run home and tell him or her what we've heard,
what you hear. It's not what, it's who. She
went home and told her husband about a man. She thought it was
just a man. Told her husband about a man
and what he said to her, what she heard from his lips. So if
our spouse is not with us, we need to run home, tell him or
her who you saw and what you heard. And if they're an unbeliever,
maybe the Lord will use you. Maybe the Lord will use you for
their salvation. If you're a believer, the Lord may strengthen their
faith through you. Matthew Henry said this. He said,
yokefellows. That's what we are, the husband
and wife. Yokefellows. Or we're all yokefellows. You and I are yokefellows. We're
yoked together. The yoke of Christ around us. Yokefellas should
communicate to one another their experience of communion with
the Lord. Go tell your brother who you saw and what you heard.
That would be a great help to them. Just in the time when they
need it. Manoah needed it. Manoah needed
it. We're going to see that in a
minute. Alright, verse 6 and 7. 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.
I asked him not which 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. So she went home and told her
husband, who she saw and what he said. Does that remind you of anybody? A
woman at the well. When the Lord appeared to her,
she didn't know it was the Lord. She said, Sir, I perceive that
thou art a prophet. A man, but a knowing man. After he revealed to her her
sin. And then he finally, when she
said, Messiah has come. He'll tell us all things. What
did the Lord say? I am. She dropped her water pot. It was everything to her. That's
about all she had. And she ran home and she told the men, whoever
it was in her house, what she said. It was the first thing
out of her mouth. Come see a man. You need to see
this man I saw. You need to hear what he said. What he told me. Oh my, is not
this the Christ? Yes, it is. Yes, it is. But you
know, she recognized in him something different. She said, this man
wasn't like any man I've ever seen. His countenance, she couldn't
describe him, Bonnie. All she could say is he was terrible.
Beautiful, but terrible. Like the sun that shines in his
dreams. His eyes like a flame of fire. If she went on, she
might say that. And his voice? No man spake like
this man. No man spake like this man. That
was the Lord Jesus Christ she saw. And that's what John saw.
That's what Ezekiel saw. That's who they saw. Now, this
is something interesting. She added something to what he
said. Look at it. at the end of the
verse, she said, you'll be a Masorette from the womb to the day of his
death. He didn't say that. She added
that. Then she left out something,
he said. He said, he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. She didn't say that. You know what I thought about
when I saw that? You know, when the Lord first
revealed Himself to me, I butchered the Scripture. I butchered it. I didn't know anything. And I
went out and tried to tell people, saying, people that didn't know
anything, I didn't know anything. They knew less. And, oh, I just
abused the Scripture. I left things out and I added
things to it. But the Lord overruled. The Lord
overruled. She said to him, caused him to
call on the Lord. He believed what she said, or
rather who she spoke of. That gave me great comfort. You
know, the Lord, think about the disciples going out, preaching,
with no training, brand new occupation. But with people with a stammering
lips, the Lord said, well, I speak to this generation. And we try. We endeavor to speak to people.
We can't recall the Scripture. We wish we could. We fumble,
we mumble, don't we? We try and we misquote, but that's
alright. The Lord can take it. One word. One word. So don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid. Tell what you know. Just go,
like the Lord said to another, go and tell what great things
the Lord has done for you. If you can't quote Scripture,
just tell what the Lord has done for you. what he means to you. Well, the Lord used Manoah's
wife to start him calling on the Lord, because verse 8 says,
Manoah entreated the Lord, called on the Lord, said, Oh, my Lord,
let the man of God which thou didst send come again to us and
teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.
Oh, Lord, send that man again to teach us. David cried in Psalm
25, Lead me in thy truth and teach me. It says, good and upright
is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The
meek will he teach his way. What's his way? Christ said,
I'm the way. But here's the thing Manoah didn't
realize, that it's not what we shall do for the son. He said,
what shall we do for the child? That's not it. It's what he's
going to do for us. What shall he do for us? Nevertheless, nevertheless,
Manoah and his wife are going to have a child, and they believe
the Lord. And it would do an expected parent
well to call on the Lord, or those who have children, no matter
what age, to call on the Lord to teach him or her how to raise
up a child in the way it should go, because the Lord promised
they will not depart from it. Lord, teach us. We need wisdom
from above, don't we? That's why being a parent is
a great responsibility. Being a mother, father, is such
a responsibility. God has entrusted a soul into
your care. Teach them. Call on the Lord. If any man or woman lacks wisdom,
let him ask. And he upbraideth not. But he
gives liberally. He gives liberally. We need the
wisdom of Solomon to teach our children, don't we? Especially
the older they get. And Manoah entreated the Lord,
Lord, teach us what we shall do. Lord, he called on the Lord.
And the Lord, verse 9, God hearkened to the voice of Manoah. God hearkened
to a voice of a man. Will God hear a man when he calls? What is man that God is mindful
of him? or would visit him. Will he hearken unto a man? Yes,
he will. Will he visit him? Yes, he will. God hearkened to
the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again unto
the woman. Not to him, but to the woman. Well, you know, Manoah nor his
wife knew that this was the Lord. They only thought it was a man
of God. But they so They were so thankful that the Lord sent
this man of God. And they called on the Lord,
send him back. They loved what they heard from
him. They loved him. They esteemed him highly as a
man sent from God. They didn't know it was the Lord,
but they knew he was sent from the Lord. And they cried to the
Lord, send him back. We want to hear it again. I heard
it once. Listen, we've got to hear it
again. I earnestly desired Him to come
back and to teach them again. Like the disciples on the road
to Emmaus, remember? They didn't want the Lord to
leave. They thought He was just a man. The disciples walking
on that road thought He was just a preacher. They didn't just
think of preachers as just being preachers. They thought of them
as men sent from God. A gift from God. And they besought Him to not
leave. Carry with us. That's when the
Lord revealed Himself to them. Their hearts burned within them. Well, so did Manoah and his wife.
And Manoah cried, send him back, send him back. And he came back, but he came
to the woman. Now, why did he speak to the
woman? Why did he keep speaking to the woman and not the man? Well, the woman here represents
And the church is always referred to as the bride, a woman. You know, we're in Revelation
22 when it talks about the Lord says, come, come. Who is it that
first says come? The spirit and the bride say
come. The Lord uses his church to bring
the gospel to people. The Lord brings people into the
gospel, so where two or three are gathered in my name, I am
in the midst. I will reveal myself to them. I will speak to them. My sheep
hear my voice. And it's always in the... The
Lord speaks to us in private, His people, through His Word.
But you can always count on Him speaking where two or three are
gathered, that is in the church. or two or three organic, the
Lord is always there. He's promised to do that. Always
to be where His church meets His bride. Where the bride is,
the husband is always there. So the Lord speaks to us through
the church, in the church. If we hear from God, it will
be in the midst of His church. And I thought about this, and
I said this to one of our ladies the other day And the Lord said,
where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst. And I don't always feel good
about the message. Many times I feel like a failure.
But that doesn't matter. It doesn't depend on how I feel.
It doesn't depend on if I have what you might call liberty.
It doesn't depend on how I feel. It doesn't depend on how you
feel. If two or three people are there in His name, the Lord
is going to bless them. As feeble as the attempt is, as much a
failure as a preacher may feel, the Word of God shall not fail. It shall accomplish what... And
I told one of our ladies who came up to me not long ago after
I had one of those failures, I thought. I thought. It felt
like a failure. And one of the ladies, who almost
always comes up to me, said, what a blessing that was to me.
And what a blessing that was to hear it from her. And I thought
of that Scripture. There's always going to be two
or three people met in His name in the church. And those two
or three are going to get a blessing every time. Every time. So if somehow we can call on
the Lord and ask Him, Lord, let me meet in Your name. Give me
a hunger and a thirst. You're going to get a blessing.
The Lord has promised it. I'm so thankful for that. And
a preacher is a weak vessel. A woman, you know, is called
the weaker vessel. And the world, you know, it's
a man's world in that they think women are foolish. Foolish women,
silly women, especially those that believe the truth, and the
weaker vessel. Well, God is pleased by the foolishness
of preaching. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels, weak vessels. Who's weak? Paul said, I'm not
weak. Paul said that. The great apostle said that.
Who's weak and I'm not weak? Who's afraid of standing before
men and I'm not afraid? Paul said. But God uses that. Women are prohibited from preaching
publicly in the church, but they can sure go home and preach.
I know. I call my wife Manoah's wife
all the time. In fact, I've given you some
outlines that she gave me. I hadn't told you that. The woman at the well did, didn't
she? Went home and preached. But not publicly in the church.
Well, anyway, that's why the Lord spoke to the woman. A couple
of reasons. There are many more. I'm certain
of that. But look at verse 10 and 11. The woman made haste
and ran and showed her husband and said unto him, the Lord appeared
to her again, Behold, the man that appeared unto me, that came
unto me the other day. The same one. Same one. Same message. Nothing new. Same. Manoah arose and went after his
wife. He followed his wife. Should a man follow his wife?
If she knows the Lord, he should. Yes, he should. And came to the
man and said unto him, Art thou the man that speakest unto the
woman? And he said, How do we know this is the Lord?
I am. I am. I am. And Manoah said, now stick with
me because this is going to get better. It builds up to a wonderful
conclusion. Manoah said, let thy words come
to pass. Let thy words come to pass. Let
it be so. And how shall we order the child?
How shall we do unto him? And the Lord told him again. The same thing. What he'd already
told twice. Now, how gracious is the Lord,
how long-suffering is the Lord to keep telling us over and over
and over the same thing? How gracious, how long-suffering
is that He keeps up telling us? We're like little children, aren't
we? He needs to keep reminding us
and repeating to us the same blessed promises. We forget so
quickly. and were so full of doubts and
fears. So he keeps telling them. He kept telling them the same
promise. Now, verse 15 and 16, I'll jump down to that. He told
them the same thing. And Manoah said unto the angel
of the Lord, I pray Thee, let us detain Thee until we've made
ready a kid for Thee. That sounds just like Luke 24. Anyway, they said, let us detain
Thee until we've made ready a kid for Thee. A goat. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread.
If thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord.
Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord. They don't know this, but they're
going to know when they see him ascend up. They're going to know
who this is when the sacrifice is made. And He ascends up to
heaven in a flame of fire. That's how He's known. That's
how He's known. And nobody knows the Son but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal. And how He is known. Christ is
not known. Most people think of Him as just
a man. But His people know Him when they see Him high and lifted
up. Now they see Christ and Him crucified, ascended and seated
at the right hand of God. That's how we know who He is.
Not just a man. They knew Him not. We read tonight
in Isaiah 45, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself. He was in
the world, the world was made by Him, but the world knew Him
not. But He revealed Himself to certain ones, as He does now. The Lord here refused meat and
drink. His meat and drink was to do
the will of God. He didn't need their meat and
drink. He said, if you must offer an offering, offer it unto the
Lord. Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord. And
I was going to have us go back to Leviticus 4. You jot this
down because I want you to read it in private for yourself. Leviticus 4 is a chapter all
about sins of ignorance. And buddy, if you don't think
you need that, because, and I'll just paraphrase it for you, it
talks about all the different people, their sins of ignorance.
Sins against the Lord of ignorance. And the Lord gave us, had us
sacrifice for all those sins of ignorance. If you're an ignorant
fool, Here's what you bring, and the Lord will forgive you
of your ignorance." And one to one, he said to the ruler, that's
me. Remember then to have the rule
over you. If they sin, sins of ignorance. You bring a kid, a
goat, and offer it up and say, the Lord will forgive you. Then
the next thing he says, those common people, the common people
in here, if they sin ignorantly, let them bring a kid. A goat. See, that's a poor man's sacrifice.
Goat. Bring it, and he says, you'll
forgive me. So that's what that said. A kid. That's why he told
them to bring a kid. At any rate, verse 17 and 18. 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? Manoah believed in that. Not
if your sayings come to pass, but when they come to pass. He
believed him. He counted on him for righteousness. He believed. And he wanted to
honor the angel. And Matthew Henry said this,
and I love, oh, how I love Matthew Henry. I'm so thankful for him.
I gave Gabe a whole set of his commentaries, and he is greatly
enjoying them. But Matthew Henry said this,
that the angels never did give their name until after they were
delivered from captivity. It was idolatry that put them
in captivity in the first place. OK? They would have made idols
out of the angels. They would have worshipped the
angels. John almost did that on the Isle of Patmos, didn't
he? And that was just one of his brand names. Remember? In other words, the angels didn't
ever give their name until after Daniel, after they were delivered,
until the prophecy of after they were delivered from bondage because
of idolatry. Then he said, it's Michael the
archangel. Now that was an interesting note
to me. But he didn't give his name. But this is the Lord Jesus
Christ who said unto him, verse 18, the angel said unto him,
why askest thou after my name, seeing it is secret? Secret. And over in Revelation
it says this, he has a name, speaking of the Lord, his eyes
as a flame of fire, on his head many crowns, and a name written
that no man knew. Secret. But he himself was clothed
with a vesture dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of
God. That's his name. And down in
verse 16 of that same chapter it says, on his thigh he had
a name, King of kings and Lord of lords. Secret. Why ask to
stow my name? Do you remember another time
when somebody asked him his name? Jacob. Why do you ask me my name? What's your name? What's your
name? But you know, you have a middle
reference that says, wonderful name. This is wonderful. This is He whose name is Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. No angel
says that about himself, does he? There's no angel that says,
my name is Wonderful. Christ, His name. Wonderful counselor. Well, now, look at this. Verse 19. So Manoah took a kit,
took that goat. Somebody said he laid his hands
on the head of that goat, confessed his sin. With a meat offering,
offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel, in parenthesis
it says, in italics, this mysterious one, did wondrously. He whose
name was Wonderful did wondrously. And Manoah, while Manoah and
his wife looked on, where 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." The angel got
right into that sacrifice, got right into the middle of that.
The angel got right into the middle of that goat being burnt,
that burnt offering, that flame of fire, but was not consumed. Instead, he was exalted. He was not consumed in the midst
of the fire, but not consumed. He was right in the middle of
that sacrifice as if he was one with it. And he ascended up to
heaven. While Manoah and his wife looked at the sacrifice ascending. They looked on. And then they
fell on their faces. Fear of the Lord. Who is this? No angel would dare touch the
sacrifice. Who is it? No angel, nobody can
put their hand to the sacrifice. Christ alone, a high priest bears
that sacrifice alone under the Lord, offering under the Lord.
Christ did this sacrifice by Himself. No one must touch it.
Uzzah one time touched the ark. Remember in the Old Testament,
Uzzah, the ark was teetering, and Uzzah thought, I'll help
it out. Oh, the Lord doesn't need your help. And God struck
him dead. Don't touch your hands on that
pure sacrifice. Well, this angel has got right
into the sacrifice. That tells me clearly that this
is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the sacrifice,
who is the rock, who is the meat offering, who is that consuming
fire, who hung on Calvary's tree, suffered the fiery wrath of God
against our sins, but was not consumed like that burning bush.
that Moses stood before. Christ died, was buried, and
the third day rose and ascended on high where He sits right now.
Thou wilt not suffer thy holy want to seek corruption. Oh, my. Well, then He disappeared. Verse 21. The angel of the Lord
did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. When Christ
ascended on high, He sat down. no more to appear on this earth
until He comes again. Right? But He speaks to us through
His Word. And here's what Manoah and his
wife, they knew, verse 21, they knew that it was an angel of
the Lord, the messenger of the Lord, of the covenant. Manoah
said unto his wife, we shall surely die because we've seen God. We shall die. God's going to
kill us. Now, why did he think that? Well,
anybody that knows anything about God who's a consuming fire. All of God's people do. They
all know God is holy. God is just. He will by no means
clear the guilty. God is a consuming fire. Manoah
saw something of the power and the majesty and the purity, the
holiness of God. The fire of God that fell. And he knew that he was a sinner. He knew he was a sinner. Both
of them were sinners. He and his wife. And he thought,
he's going to kill me. I'm such a sinner. He's going
to kill me. Anybody in here ever thought
that? Huh? And we still think that at times.
I do. I must confess, I do all the time. I think, oh, you're no better than the people
of this world. You're guilty. You're guilty
of the same thing you were guilty of before you knew the Lord.
If not worse. Surely, the Lord is going to
kill you for those sins. He's going to cast you out of
His presence. Anybody ever thought that? Daily, that rises, that
comes up in our mind. Daily. And no, no one's ever
died who looked to the Lord. They just looked. That's what
they did. They looked on the Lord. Our
Lord said, He that seeth the sun and believeth on him shall
not perish. The child hath everlasting life. And I'll raise him up again at
the last day. He won't kill her. His wife said it well. His wife
said it well. And every one of us, those of
you who have heard this before, when you heard we were going
to deal with it, you thought, oh boy, I want to hear it again.
Because if you've read it before, you like to read it again, don't
you? You like to hear it again. These three things. This is one
of my favorite passages in all the Scripture. as it is to every
sinner saved by God's grace. His wife said unto him, verse
23, if the Lord were pleased to kill us, if God was going
to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and
a meat offering in our hands. He wouldn't have done this. He
wouldn't have told us to bring an offering, a burnt offering,
And he would not have received it. See, they saw the angel enter
the sacrifice, and the sacrifice was consumed. They weren't consumed.
They should have been consumed. They're sinners. The fire consumed
the sacrifice, not them. If God were pleased to kill them,
he would have killed them right there with the fire. But he didn't.
He killed the kid. He consumed the kid, not them.
They're looking. while the kid was killed and
consumed and burnt. If the Lord were pleased to kill
us, He wouldn't have sent Jesus Christ to this earth to die.
This is a faithful saint. Shall I quote it? And worthy
of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save good people. It doesn't say that, does it?
That Christ came into the world to save righteous people. Doesn't
say. That Christ came into the world
to those that promised to do. No, it didn't say that, does
it, John? That Christ came into the world to those who turn over,
to those who quit, that those who quit that, that those who
promised, those that do. Safe centers. That whosoever,
what? Huh? Whosoever, what? God so
loved the world that whosoever, what? Believe it. Look, look unto me. I got a message from the Lord.
Hallelujah. It's only that you look and live. Have you seen that? Him? God
wouldn't have killed his son in the stead of sinners if he
intended to kill us. And he wouldn't have raised him
from the dead. He raised him from the dead. and received up
into glory. See, he accepted the sacrifice.
He accepted the sacrifice. And he ever lives to make intercession
for who? What does Isaiah 53 say? Who
does he make intercession for? The transgressors. Right now,
we have a sacrifice seated at the right hand of God for transgressors
like that. No, he's not going to kill us.
You see that? You see Him? You need Him? And
then she said, if God were pleased to kill us, He wouldn't have
showed us all these things. He wouldn't have showed us all
these things. What did He show them? What did
God show them? All these things. All these things.
What things? What things did He show them?
What did they see? All that the angel did. They
didn't see anything else. They saw the angel do wondrous
things. They saw all that the angel did.
What things did they see? They saw that the angel did it
all. And we see clearly that Christ
is all. We see His work, don't we? Do you see His work? Everybody
doesn't see that. There's people all over the world
running around trying to establish their own righteousness, trying
to do this, trying to do that, when that's not it. Christ did
it all. It's done. As God has showed
you that, He's not going to kill you. He's not going to kill you. And He keeps showing us that.
He keeps showing us. And that's the next thing. She said, if God were pleased
to kill us, He wouldn't have told us the same things over
and over again. If He were pleased to kill us,
He wouldn't keep telling us the same things over and over and
over and over again. Didn't our Lord say, I go to prepare a place for you? Didn't
he? I go, that where I am, you may
be also. Seeding precious promises. Not,
if you do this now, I'll receive you. No, I go to prepare a place
for you, and if I go, I'll come again and receive you unto myself.
That's a promise. Not, if you, anything. This is
what I'm going to do. And he did. He went to Calvary
and made that sacrifice, put away the sins of his people,
Gave them a perfect righteousness. Ascended to glory. The Father
accepted the sacrifice. And we have a place. Seated. Where's our place? At the right
hand of God. At the table of the King. Right
where Mephibosheth is now. And he keeps telling us that
over and over and over and over again. And he said, if it were
not so, I would have told you. Because he can't lie. But it
is so, so he told us. And he keeps telling us over
and over again. If the Lord were pleased to kill
us, he wouldn't keep telling us, no, Manoah, or a doubting
believer. That's my name, Manoah. You know
what? That's my name. He's going to kill me. I think
that all the time. No, Manoah, if God were pleased to kill us,
he wouldn't have killed Christ. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's name? It is God that justifies it.
Who is He that condemned it? Can you finish it? Christ died. Christ died. And He wouldn't
keep telling us to look to Him. But He kept telling us, come
unto Me. Look unto Me and live. Look. Believe. Believe. Look.
Believe. Look. Believe. Look. Believe.
Look. Believe. Come. Look. Believe. But I wandered,
come again. Keep coming again. Tell me again. I told you before, well, I'll
tell you again. Okay, stand with me. Dear Lord, we thank you for
your great sacrifice, for sending your Son to make that great sacrifice,
the Son of thy love, who for the great love wherewith he loved
us, my, my, went to Calvary's tree and bore thy wrath against
us. and secured our place with Thee
and accept us with Thee through the blood, through the burnt
offering. Thank You, Lord, for sending
Your sons. Thank You for that unspeakable gift. And thank You,
Lord, for telling us about Him, for sending a gospel preacher
to reveal Him to us and in us, giving us a love for Him, a need
for Him, a hunger and a thirst for Him, to hear it again and
again like Manoah and his wife. And we do. Lord, we believe. Help our unbelief. Cause us to
keep looking to Christ. There's peace in a look. Joy
in a look. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
by the Word of God. Lord, keep the Word before us.
And reveal Thyself to some more, if it be that will, our children,
our spouses, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our friends
and family. Make us like Manoah's wife, an
unknown woman. Make us to be messengers of this
Good News to others, Lord. Bring them in to hear the Good
News. Reveal Yourself to them. It will be Thy will. It's in
Christ's name that we've met here tonight. Amen. I don't know if that's the right
way to do it, but I don't think it's the right way.