All right, good work. Thank you very much. Back to Judges 13. I'm going, Lord willing, to bring
another Old Testament type of Christ tonight. I've told you before that I learned
to value preaching of the types of Christ from not only my pastor,
A faithful elder in the church in Ashland, Kentucky, of many
years, named Charles Payne, who is right now looking at the substance,
not the shadow. He who liked to preach the type
so much is now looking face to face with him. I ran across these
statements here by two eminent saints and preachers of old,
Robert Murray McShane and John Bunyan, both of whom made this
quote, and I'll put them in for this Sunday's bulletin. You'll
want this copy of this. Listen very carefully, OK? As
they speak of these Old Testament types of Christ in Scripture,
listen very carefully, all right? Suppose that one to whom you,
and I may paraphrase so you can understand, suppose that one
to whom you were a stranger was wrapped in a thick bagel so that
you could not discern his feet. Somebody didn't know. Still,
if his outline could be pointed out to you through the folds
or through the cloth, you could form some idea of the form of
the veiled one. But suppose that one whom you
know and love, whose features you've often studied
face to face, suppose he were to be veiled up in this way,
how easily you would discern the features and form of that
one you knew. Did you catch that? Now, we've seen the person of
Christ, we've seen him, we've seen it. And we look back at
these veiled forms of him, we see clearly. Even though veiled,
we see very clearly right through the cloth, through the veil. But some, he says here, the Jews,
the Jews looked upon a veiled Savior whom they had never seen
unveiled. We, under the New Testament,
look upon an unveiled Savior, and going back on the Old Testament,
we can see far better than the Jews could the features and form
of Jesus Christ, the Beloved, under that veil. We see him in
Isaac Offred, in the scapegoat, in the shadow of the rock. What
exquisite pictures they are seeing of Christ, and how much more
plainly we can see than believers of others. Isn't that true? I never heard it put any better,
except maybe this way, by John Bunyan. Now that was Robert Murray
McShane. Now listen to this. This came
from Bunyan's Holy War. Bunyan writes in his book, The
Holy War, the people of Mansoul feasting. This is when the prince,
Emmanuel, came back in and set up It captured back the town
for himself, and they were feasting at a big table now, the wedding
supper. This is great. They were feasting
at the prince's table, and riddles were set before them. And these
riddles were made about the king and about his son, and upon his
wars and doings with Mansoul. And when they read where the
riddles were written and looked in the face of the prince They look so alike, one to the
other, that they couldn't help but say, this is the lamb. This is the sacrifice. That's
the rock. This is the red heifer. This
is the door. This is the way. Isn't that great? But you have a copy. It's a little
easier maybe to read for yourself and enjoy it. I have for you tonight, I believe,
what should be very, extremely edifying, as well as interesting,
up top. Now, listen carefully as I build
this up, what I'm about to say. I'm going to make an assertion
that I stand by. The scripture says
that it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness
dwell. All fullness dwell in Christ. Fullness of what? In him dwelleth
all the secrets. of wisdom and knowledge. That
Colossians, all the way through Colossians, talks about in him,
in him. It pleased the Father that in
him should all fullness dwell, the fullness of Scripture, the
fullness of mercy and love, and so on. In him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead. Can you quote the rest of it?
Louder. in Christ dwelleth all the fullness
of the triune God in a body. John 1.14 says the Word was made
flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory. 1 Timothy 3.16 says, Great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. All right, quite often in the
Old Testament scriptures it says, And the Lord appeared unto so
and so. Doesn't it? The Lord appeared unto so and
so. Since God is spirit, since God
is a consuming fire, since no man can see God and live, the
scripture said, no man hath seen God at any time nor can see him,
the scripture said, the only begotten Son which is in the
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. I assert that every
single appearance of God in scriptures is Jesus Christ. Every time someone
spoke to a man, or God spoke to a man, it was through Christ.
Based on those four scriptures I just quoted you from, Colossians
and John 1 and 1 Timothy 3. OK? And Christ, I personally
believe, bodily appeared. Many times in the Old Testament
scriptures we find the name, we find this name, the Angel
of the Lord. Many times. A couple of times
it is, you want some good reading tonight? Go over to Exodus 23. Not now. I said tonight, Rebecca. Okay. Not now. Exodus 23, and read for yourself. It has the word angel capitalized.
You read there how the children of Israel—well, I'm getting ahead
of myself. The name, the angel of the Lord,
is found quite often and at very extremely important times in
Scripture. When Abraham—you remember we
studied when Abraham received the covenant promise in Genesis
18? It says the angel of the Lord came to him. When Jacob
had that same covenant confirmed to him for him and his sons,
remember that? When Jacob had his name changed,
he wrestled with a man. A man wrestled with him, rather.
And that one changed his name and blessed him. Now, who can
do that? You remember what he called that,
Bethel, the house of God. And I'll give you these references
sometime if you want them. When Moses received the law,
when Moses stood before the burning bush, you know what it says was
in the bush? The angel of the Lord was in
the bush. But it said, the angel of the
Lord was in the bush. That burned. When Israel, when
the children of Israel there in Exodus 23 were told that God's
angel would go before them, the angel of the Lord would go before
them, and you better be sure that you obey him. You obey him. And he'll go before you and drive
out your enemies. When Joshua met, remember our study not too
long ago, when Joshua met the captain of the Lord's host, and
he had a sword drawn. Remember that joke? Between a
rock and a hard place? There's a man that stood in front
of him, and remember Joshua said, are you on our side? He said,
no, you better be on mine. When Gideon received his call,
it says the angel of the Lord did Well, and I'm not saying
all this for the sake of originality or sensationalism or to capture
your attention, but I believe since Christ is all and in all,
in him dwelleth all the fullness, that please God that in him should
all fullness dwell, and all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Since Malachi 3.1 says he's the messenger of the covenant, do
you know what messenger means? Do you know what the word messenger
is? It's the same word as angel. Every time the word angel is
used in the scripture, it means messenger and vice versa. Malachi 3.1 says suddenly the
messenger of the covenant shall come to his people, the angel
of the covenant. And that's Christ, there's no
clearer picture, no clearer prophecy of Christ than that Malachi 3.1. Since Christ is, listen, Christ
is called the word, Christ is called the messenger of the covenant,
he's called the mediator of the covenant, he's the intercessor,
he's the one that speaks for God to men and men to God. That's
what intercessor means. Because he's the captain of the
salvation and the Lord of hosts, I believe Christ came himself
at the most important times to do what only he could do. No man can see God. God's voice is the sound of many
waters to it. God's going to have to put it
in language we can understand. He hath in these last days spoken
unto us by son, in son language, S-O-N language. And I believe
he came at the most important times. I gave you a few of them.
Abraham, Jacob. He said, I'm the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. You sons of Jacob. When he came
and gave that covenant to Jacob, he said, I'm the Lord, I change
not. Therefore, old Joe Jacob is not
consumed. He's Israel. Israel parched. Same Lord. And he came, you remember when
it says the voice of God came walking in the garden, the cool
of day, when Adam the first sinner fell? Who preached the gospel? He talked
about an important time in history. The first time the gospels to
be preached, God's going to turn that over to an angel. Angels
don't preach the gospel. Do they stand? They don't know
it. 1 Peter 1.12 says, Which things angels desire to look
into. They delivered the law, but when
the voice of God came walking in the cool of the garden, Adam,
where are you? And told of that woman's seed
it was to come, I believe that was the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lamb slain before the foundation of the Savior came to the first
sinner. That's the reason I believe Adam was a saved man, and he's
going to have the victory. The first sinner. The last sinner
is going to be saved. When God established the covenant,
when he called out his own, when he leads his people into the
promised land, and here in Judges 13. Judges 13. The angel of the Lord appears
to a man and his wife. See if all this doesn't sound
real familiar, like it's happened before, and it happened after
this. He appears to a barren woman. I remember the angel of the Lord
appearing to another barren woman named Sarah. You remember that? when he told her and her husband
that the son of promise, the seed of Abraham, which figures
Christ, the seed. And Hannah, you remember Hannah,
the barren woman? You remember who Hannah gave
birth to, don't you? Samuel. Samuel, two of the greatest
of men, God's real prophet, true prophet, Samuel. Now he appears
to announce the conception and birth of one who would deliver
Israel from the Philistines, Samson, the one to deliver Israel from
the hand of their enemies. Sound familiar? By himself, this
one man, by himself, Samson, is going to single-handedly deliver
Israel from the hand of his enemy, from their enemy, Samson. And
I believe this is a type, he's a type of Christ as well, who
delivers us by himself, who purged our sin, delivered us from captivity. All right, the angel appears
to the woman first. Notice as we read it, the angel
appeared to the woman first. Does that sound familiar? Christ came to marry Did he not? He came to the woman first. Now
let's begin in verse six. Then the woman came and told
her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance
like the countenance of an angel of God. Very terrible. Terrible. I didn't ask him where he came
from, and he didn't tell me his name. He wouldn't tell me his
name. Very terrible. Others in scriptures
sought to give a description of the Lord
Jesus Christ when he appeared unto them. Daniel. Remember Daniel
giving that description? It sounded just like John's description
in Revelation 1. It doesn't sound like Oral Roberts'
description. The description Daniel gave and
the description John gave was one of a terrible countenance.
That is, it would strike terror in flesh and blood. That's the
Lord Jesus' cry. Look at verse 8 and 9. So the
woman came and told her husband, or the angel of the Lord told
her what she was to do and was not to do. The woman came and
told her husband. Then Manoah prayed to the Lord
and treated the Lord and said, O my Lord, let the man of God
which thou didst send come again unto us. Let the man of God come
again. He appeared once. Scripture says
that. He appeared once. And now in
the end of the world shall he appear again without sin the
second time unto salvation. Once, yea, twice. And that's
what God's people pray for, that he would come again. Even so,
come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Read on. Manoah said,
Tell us, teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall
be born. Or, in other words, what kind
of child he will be. Teacher. What kind of child? And verse 8 and 9, let's read
these together. And God hearkened to the voice
of Manoah, and the angel of God came again unto the woman. The second time he appeared,
he appeared again to the woman. Does that sound familiar? When
Christ came the first time, he appeared to Mary, right? OK? When he died and rose again and
came back and reappeared, who did he appear to? A woman. The men weren't with her. Read
on. He came again under the woman
as she sat in the field, but Manoah, her husband, was not
with her. Manoah prayed and the angel reappeared
to the woman. Christ, like I said, first appeared
to the woman and appeared a second time, a second time after his
resurrection unto the woman. Verse ten, And the woman made
haste and ran and showed her husband. Does that sound familiar,
Sherry? And he just didn't hardly believe
her. And Christ appeared to Mary.
Remember, she came running and told the disciples. They didn't
believe her, and finally he appeared to them, too. Read on. A woman made haste and ran and
showed her husband and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared
unto me. Yeah, the same one that came
unto me the other day. The same man appeared unto me. The same man. The scripture says
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. When the disciples
stood on that mountain and watched him go back into heaven, you
remember what the angel said? You men of Israel, why stand
ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus whom you've seen
ascend shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go.
Same one. Just wait, he'll appear again.
You come again, same man, same man. Verse 11, all right? And Manoah arose and went after
his wife. And he came to the man and said
unto him, Are thou the man that speaketh like the son of the
woman? Are you the one we look for? Or do we look for another? Does that sound familiar? John
told his disciples, Go ask This one, are you the one we look
for? Or do we look for another? Are you the one? Are thou to
Christ? Tell us plainly. Are you the
one Manoah said? Look how he answered. He really,
I am. Men came to seek Christ in the
garden, you remember? And soldiers. He said, Whom do
you seek? He said, Jesus of Nazareth. He
said, I am. And they fell back. Well, Manoah
didn't quite yet know who this was, or he would have done the
same. Look at verse 12 now. Manoah said, Now, what all you
told to the woman here? Let thy words come to pass. How
shall we order the child? How shall we do unto him? My
margin says, what is the manner of the child? What shall he do? What's the manner of the child?
What sort of child is he? What's his worth? Now, he'd already
told this, hadn't he? He'd already told the woman.
And now here he is speaking the second time. He repeats himself.
Well, at the mouth of two. or three witnesses, the thing
is established. See, he spoke, and then the woman told the man,
and then he spoke again. See, he spoke once, and now here
he speaks twice. Once after he's spoken, yet twice
this thing is established. Does that sound familiar? And
here he gives orders concerning the birth of this child. Verses
thirteen and fourteen. The angel of the Lord said unto
Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware, or
let her believe, let her heed, let her be a doer of what I said,
not a hearer only. 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." Now turn to Luke chapter 1 with me. Luke chapter
1. And here we have the account
of the angel appearing to Mary and to Joseph concerning the
birth of Christ. The angel the Lord there is giving
to Manoah's wife, he's not just giving her good prenatal instructions. I'm not trying to be clever here,
but it was good advice. Right? Everything the Lord says
has practical and good reason behind it. Practical reason,
but it chiefly has spiritual meaning. This is typical. See the Nazarite of old. The
Nazarite of old, Christ has called it, he came from Nazareth, wasn't
he? They called him the Nazarene.
Well, a Nazarite of old is a holy man unto God. That's what Samuel
was, a Nazarite, or Samson was, a Nazarite unto the Lord, holy
unto the Lord. And what this typifies, all of
this that he gives this woman, tells her not to touch anything
unclean, that this child shall be born of you and be a Nazarite,
holy unto the Lord, this is typical of the sinless nature of Christ
that was born of Mary, of woman, the seed of woman. That's the
reason he's called the seed of woman. He's not the seed of man.
He's the sinless one. He does not have Adam's nature
in him. He does not have the seed of
man in him. That's the reason Christ had to be born of a virgin.
See, a woman doesn't have a seed. It's the seed of man that impregnates
a woman, right? Well, how Mary was impregnated
was by the Holy Spirit of God. And that's what God said, this
holy thing. That's what the angel said, this
holy thing shall overshadow Mary, and he'll be holy, the Holy One
of Israel. All of this typifies the holy
nature of Christ. Look at Luke 1, verses 31 through
35. And behold, here is the angel
speaking to Mary. Verse 31, And behold, thou shalt
conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son. And thou shalt call his name
Jesus." Matthew 1 says, call his name Jesus for, here's the
reason, here's what it means, he shall save his people from
their sin. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin. He shall be, what is he going
to be like? What's he going to be like, Mary Medivac? That's
what Manoah is. What's he going to be like? He
shall be great. and shall be called the Son of
the Highest." Listen to this. Do you know what Samson means?
Sunshine. The Son of the Highest! The Son has arisen with healing
in his wing. The Son of the Highest. And the
Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David,
and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his
kingdom there shall be no end. Sounds like Isaiah 9, doesn't
it? Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be? I have never
known a man, I know not a man. And here's his instructions unto
her. The angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God. And this angel's name
was given in Matthew 1, Gabriel. They told his name, specifically
said, this is his name, Gabriel. No mystery. It wasn't the angel
of the Lord. It was Gabriel. Well, back here
in our story, the angel of the Lord, back in Judges 13, the
angel of the Lord appeared, and strikingly similar to the announcement
of our Lord's birth. Now, look at verse 15 in the
text. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee,
I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready
a kid. Let's see, honey, what can we
fix? What do you got in there? Well, I got some lamb. That's
good. We'll fix some lamb. All right?
Stay here. He didn't know where he was standing. Let us detain thee, stay here,
and we'll make ready a kid." He just thought he was an ordinary
man. Make a kid for you, a lamb, or
a slave, a lamb. The aims of the Lord said unto
Manoah, look at verse 16. He said, 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. And Manoah knew not that he was
an angel of the Lord. I remember when that young ruler
came to Christ and said, Good Master. He said, Wait a minute. Why callest thou me good? There
is none good but God. You can offer sacrifice or worship
or call anybody good, call God that. He is trying, Manoah, here. You offer an offering unto the
Lord. He didn't know him yet, Joe. He said, you offer it to
the Lord, and we'll find out in a moment. Look at Luke 22. Keep your place there. Turn over
to Luke 22. The angel of the Lord said to Manoah,
I will not eat. I will not eat. Now, you offer
a burnt offering unto the Lord. And Manoah knew him not. Now,
look at Luke 22 here. Just before our Lord went to
the cross, just before our Lord went to
the cross, to Calvary, to become that sin sacrifier, Christ bore
our sins in his own body on the tree. That's what every single
Jewish sacrifice represented, was the death of Christ on the
cross. The burnt offering, every single
lamb and bullock and turd, everything that was offered on the altar
was burnt by fire. It was consumed on the altar. That's representative of Christ
who hung on the cross bearing the fiery wrath and indignation
of a holy God against our sin. Christ went through hell on the
cross for his people. He was a burnt offering. on that
cross. He was a lamb slain and he was
also a burnt offering on that cross. And right before Christ
went to the cross to become our burnt offering, you know what
he said to his disciples? Look at Luke 22, verse 15. He
said, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. sacrifice needs to be made to
the Lord first. We'll eat again in a little while. unto the kingdom of God, and
took bread, and gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it unto
them, saying, This is my body which is given for you, this
do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup at the
supper, saying, This cup is a new testament in my blood, which
is shed for you. I am not going to eat, but offer
a sacrifice to the Lord first." Now, back to the text. Judges
13. No, no, no, wait a minute, wait
a minute. Turn first over to Luke 24, all right? Luke 24. I wrote this down, and you're
familiar with this. Luke 24, look over here. Look
at verse 29. You know this well. Disciples
were on the road to Emmaus, talking, and here this man appeared unto
them, and they didn't know who he was. And they constrained
him and said, stay and eat a while. Does that sound familiar? And
he was known," read on, verse 29, "...they constrained him
to abide with us. It stored the evening and the day as far as
spent. He went in to tarry with them, and it came to pass that
as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it,
and broke and gave them their eyes, and were opened, and they
knew him, and he vanished out of their sight." It's no mere coincidence. The
Lord bears witness of himself. over and over and over and over,
and who he is, who he is. Now back to the text there in
Luke, or Judges 13. So the angel of the Lord said
to Manoah, I will not eat, offer a burnt offering unto the Lord.
Manoah didn't know him. Verse 17, Manoah said unto the
angel of the Lord, What is thy name? that when thy sayings come to
pass, we may do thee honor. What's your name?" And the angel
of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name? See, and it is secret." Why wouldn't
he tell him his name? Why didn't Gabriel or Michael,
the archangel, some name, why didn't he tell him his name?
You uttered it, you whispered it. Did your margin say something
beside that? What does it say? Somebody say it. Say it louder. Wonderful. Wonderful. It said,
Under us a child is born, Isaiah 9, 6. Under us a son is given. His name shall be called Secret. Wonderful. Over in Revelation
3, I believe it is. or five, I forget which one it
is, it says, three. It says that he had a name which
no man knew except him to whom it was revealed. And in Revelation 19, it says that
he had a name written which no man knew, and on down it says,
and this is his name, the Word, the Word of God. And as I've
often said, you don't understand the Word of God unless you see
the Word of God in the Word of God. This story here, what's
it about? What's all this about if it doesn't
picture Christ? What is anything about in the
Old Testament if it's not of Christ? Christ may have preached
this to those disciples on the road. It says he opened up the
books. and preached unto them the things concerning himself."
Oh, my! The secret things belong unto
us and our children. The secret name of this angel
is Jesus Christ. He couldn't say Jesus Christ
because he wasn't manifest in the flesh yet, as a body, as
a man. But here he is. He's veiled up.
All right? Let's go on. So Manoah took a
kid, or took a lamb with a meat offering, and offered it on a
rock. A lamb on a rock, Joe. A lamb
on a rock. And unto the Lord. And the angel
did wondrously. The angel did wondrously. And
Manoah and his wife looked on as the angel did wondrously.
Here's what the angel did. Verse 20. When the flame went
up, when the flame was kindled on the altar and the sacrifice
began burning toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel
of the Lord ascended up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah
and his wife looked on it all, saw it all, and they fell on
their faces. Now, this is why I know this
is no angel, mere angel. Nobody touches or gets near or
has anything to do with the sacrifice of the Lamb. Right? God killed a man named Uzzah
one time for just touching the Ark. Would any angel dare go
in that flame and mingle himself with that holy sacrifice of the
Lord? Who is this? Is there any doubt in your mind?
This is Jesus Christ. And they looked on, Manoah and
his wife looked on this sacrifice, the angel of the Lord in the
sacrifice, the burnt offering, ascending up unto the Lord. And
they fell on their faces. They fell on their faces. After
Christ was made sin for us on that altar of the cross, was
made a burnt offering for us, the scripture says, he arose
and ascended on high where he led captivity captive. sat down
at the right hand of the majesty on high where he ever lives to
make intercession for us. This is the one sacrifice that
was not consumed. He will not suffer his Holy One
to suffer corruption. He was not consumed in the flame, but he was changed, and he sat
down at the right hand of God. Now, Manoah knows who this is. Verse 21, The angel of the Lord
did no more appear to Manoah and his wife. He vanished. After
they knew who he was, he vanished. That's what it said in Luke 24,
didn't it? He vanished. Then Manoah knew this was the
angel of the Lord. And look at what Manoah said
unto his wife. We're going to die. We shall
surely die. Because we have seen God, we've
looked on God, we're going to die. No, Manoah. God said, look unto me and live. Look unto me and be saved, all
the ends of the earth. But no man has seen God at any
time, nor can see God, Paul said, didn't he? In 2 Timothy. No man has, nor can see God.
But the only begotten Son, he had declared it, and we have
seen him, John said. We've handled him. Maybe you
know where he shook his hand. Thank you for coming, man. We've seen God. That's what John and Peter and
James were saying, weren't they? We have beheld his glory. God
was manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
John, all John could say was, that, that. What did you see,
John? That. Holy thing. Oh, my, we beheld
the Shekinah glory of God in the face of a person. If you
want to call it his face, because it shined as the sun in all its
strength. Well, Manoah's wife was a wise
woman, wasn't she? I like what she said here. Look
at this in closing, three things that she told Manoah, and three
things we need to remember. Those who have looked to Christ
by faith and seen his glory, we've seen God. Look at this. His wife said unto Manoah, Now,
if the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received
a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. You know what that is? That's
a successful sacrifice. That's particular redemption. That's exactly what that is. Whoever offered that sacrifice
and the Lord received it, that person is not going to die. They're
going to live. And whoever Jesus Christ died
for, whoever he shed his precious blood for, won't die. They're
going to live. As sins paid for, who is he that
condemns? Christ dies. God accepted the sacrifice. We
are accepted in the Beloved. Well, I'm going to die, I'm a
sinner. No. Christ, that is the faithful
saying worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus died for sinners.
He receiveth sinners. He died for sin. That's why he
came. He said he didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners.
He came to make a sacrifice for sinners, and God accepted the
sacrifice. The bells are still ringing on
the garment of the high priest. Do you hear them? I'm trying
right now to ring it. The bells are still ringing.
He lives. God accepted the sacrifice. Whoever lives to make intercession
for who? If any man sins, we have an advocate.
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He's not going
to kill us, though we be certain. Read on. She says, If the Lord
were pleased to kill us, the next thing she said, would he
have showed us all these things? So Christ said, Go tell John
that the blind receive their sight. He said, some people,
he said, I'm going to harden their heart. He said, because
you say you see and you don't, you're blind, you're going to
remain blind. If you say you sit blind, you're
going to see. Christ came to give eyesight
to the blind. He said, tell unto them, they
that walk in darkness have seen a great light. The children that walked in darkness
have seen a great light. He said he caused us to see out
of obscurity. Obscure passages such as this.
We've seen the glory of God in the face of Christ. Now, would
the Lord have showed us all this if he intended to kill him? No,
he doesn't show these things to people he intends to kill.
He just leaves them in the dark. That's what he said. He said
Satan had blinded their minds, thus they should see and be converted,
and I should heal them. He's opened our eyes. Read on. There's another thing she said.
If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he wouldn't have, as at this
time, told us such things as this. He showed us glorious things,
but he told us glorious things. He wouldn't have said what he
said to us. And what did he say? He said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He said to his disciples over
there, John, he said, Peter, he said, and James and
John, I go in my father's house, he said, are many mentions. If it were not so, I would have
told. But it's so. I can't lie. I don't lie. My words settle
forever. Now, I go to prepare a place
for you. If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Father, I will
that they be with me where I am. If the Lord were pleased to kill
us, he wouldn't have told us those things. I give unto them
eternal life. Whoever trusts me, come unto
me, all you labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Do you know what Manoah's name
means? Rest. Manoah troubled. You have trouble? Rest. If the Lord were pleased
to kill us. He wouldn't have accepted the
sacrifice. He wouldn't have shown us all this. He wouldn't have
told us this glorious thing. He can't lie. He can't lie. And the result of all this was
a mighty son was born, Samson. Sunlight. Sunlight. What a good name. Sunlight. A son was born. Sunlight out
of all this story. Oh my, it's too deep for me.
It's too late for me. Oh, my. Who can find out God
unto perfection? Oh, my. It's ways past finding
out. All right. For we beheld his
glory. All right, let's stand. Our Heavenly Father, I'm a man
of unclean lips. dwell in the midst of a people
of unclean lips. We're vessels, earthen vessels,
sinful, vile, wretched, wicked creatures. And we feel like saying
with Manoah at times, oh, the Lord ought to kill us. But dear
Lord, we plead with Manoah's wife. This is our plea. O Lord, we don't believe your
pleas to kill us, or you wouldn't have accepted the sacrifice on
our behalf. You wouldn't have shown us these
glorious pictures of Christ which we so delight in. The Holy Spirit
must surely be the one who has taken these things of Christ
and shown them unto us, or else we could not see them for ourselves.
They are spiritually discerned. You wouldn't have told us these
things. That your word which liveth and abideth forever and
which passeth not away is settled, and we believe it and base all
our hope and our assurance for eternal life on the word of the
living God. Hope is built. What more can
you say to us than you have said? We believe, Lord, we believe.
Now, and we are sure that you will be true to your promise
to us as you were to Manoah. Lord, thank you. Thank you for
showing us these things and show us more wondrous things as Christ,
the messenger of the covenant, has done so wondrously for his
people. Him whose name is wonderful,
the mighty God, show us more wonderful things. Open our eyes
that we might behold wondrous things out of thy word. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.