Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, if you want to follow along,
I'm gonna be in Judges chapter 13. Judges chapter 13. And I'm gonna read verses 21
through 24. Judges chapter 13, verse 21.
But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah
and 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. 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 he, as at this time,
have told us such things as these. And the woman bare a son and
called his name Samson. 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 Eshtoel. The title of this message is,
If the Lord Were Pleased to Kill Us. I wanted to come back with a
cheerful Christmas message. This is what I got, this is what
I got. I heard Henry preaching a bit
from this verse and it really struck me hard and it's like,
okay, I'm gonna pass it on. But this is the account of the
parents of Samson. Now, they were visited twice
by what it says in the book, an angel of the Lord. I'm gonna tell you this from
the start, and we might get into it a little bit later, but I
actually believe this angel of the Lord here is like that captain
of our salvation that appeared to Joshua. I believe this is
what they call a Christophany. This is the appearance of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, before his incarnation in the flesh.
It's happened several times. I believe it happened in the
garden to Adam and Eve. That's who came and talked to
them. That's who gave us the gospel. It came from Jesus Christ
himself. Now some may disagree and I can
be wrong. I don't think I am. But hey,
God is true. and this account is true, and
there's a good blessing in here, I think, for all of us believers
in here. But here it says, well, let me just give you a
little background. The first verse tells us this.
And the children of Israel did evil, and look at this word,
again, in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord delivered them into
the hand of the Philistines, 40 years, now they've been under
the hand of the Philistines. What's that mean? I mean, they've
been ruled over. Remember them Jews telling Jesus
Christ, we've never been in bondage to any man. What? Yeah, here, the Lord delivered
them into the hand of the Philistines. You understand, God appoints
rulers. Even over his people. And he
may appoint, well he's got to for the most part, he may appoint
ungodly rulers over his people. Why? The children of Israel did
evil again in the sight of the Lord. Now they may have been
wonderful, law-abiding Jews. They didn't break any of the
Jewish laws of the nation, put it that way. But they did evil
in the sight of the Lord. You know, some people talk about,
well, there's a moral law. Well, no, sorry. Moral laws change
as far as man is concerned. God's law never changes, and
it never will change. It's not changed now. It's not
gone anywhere, but these people did evil in the sight of the
Lord, and he put them under the rule of Philistines for 40 years. And then there was this man whose
name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and didn't have a
child. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said,
you're gonna have a son. Out of the clear blue sky, 40
years they've been under the rule of the Philistines. You're
gonna have a son. He told her, verse three, behold
now thou art barren and barren not, but thou shalt conceive
and bear a son. 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 upon his head. For the child
shall be a Nazarite unto God. When? From the womb. From the womb. Ah. And, here's the thing, he shall
begin, begin. to deliver Israel out of the
hand of the Philistines. The Philistines' time was up.
The Philistines didn't know it. You understand? God didn't go
to the Philistines and said, y'all better get out. No, no,
no, no, no. I'm gonna run you out. How was
Israel delivered out of Egypt? What? By a mighty hand. And here's the thing. It wasn't
the Israelites' hand. It was the hand of God. Matter
of fact, they told the Israelites, please go. Guess what happens
here? The Philistines are gonna be
told to go. And it's gonna start with this man, Samson. And he's
gonna be a Nazirite, and a Nazirite what? Appointed by God from the
womb. Isn't that amazing? A deliverer
from the womb. And the woman come and told Manoah,
see now this angel of the Lord this first time appeared to Manoah's
wife only. And she went and told Manoah.
And now here's the thing. Manoah believed her. He said,
what? We're gonna have a son. Great.
Then Manoah got this thought in his head. What do we do? What do we do? So Manoah prayed. Manoah entreated the Lord, verse
eight, and said, oh my Lord, let the man of God which thou
didst send come again to us and teach us what shall we do, what
we shall do under the child that shall be born. Now, Manoah, it
tells us directly later on, Manoah didn't think she saw an angel
of the Lord. He thought she saw a man. He thought it was a prophet,
a man of God come to prophesy and tell me. Now, Manoah believed. Manoah had faith, Manoah believed
God. But he wanted a little more instruction.
But God hearkened, verse nine, to the voice of Manoah and the
angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field.
But Manoah wasn't there. So the wife went and got Manoah,
brought him back, and said, behold, the man appeared to me the other
day. And Manoah arose and went after
his wife, that's verse 11, and came to the man and said unto
him, art thou the man that spaketh unto the woman? And he said,
I am. I am, how about that? 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, nor strong drink,
nor eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her, let
her observe. I'm gonna point out one little
thing here. This is just for y'all. The screen's
gone blank, Paul, on that, on the phone. But I wanna point
this out for you. This angel of the Lord has appeared
twice, okay? The message both times is exactly
the same. See, people think this thing's
coming. When Jesus Christ comes again, things are gonna be different. No, the gospel's still the same,
folks. The gospel never changes, there's
only one gospel, there's been one gospel from the beginning
of the world. And it's this, believe on him
whom the Father has sent. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Oh my, anyhow. And Manoah said
this, and this is where things get really interesting. Manoah
said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee
until we've made ready a kid for thee. I wanna feed you. We
wanna have a feast because of this news you've brought to us,
this good news that we're gonna have a son. And the angel of
the Lord said unto Manoah, though thou detain me, I will not eat
of thy bread, and If thou wilt offer a burnt offering,
thou must offer it unto the Lord. And here's the thing, where he
tells you, for Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord. That's verse 16. And Manoah asked
the angel of the Lord, what's your name? When these sayings
come to pass that we may do thee honor, and the angel of the Lord
said unto him, why askest thou thus after my name? Seeing it
as secret. Some things are not our business. You can just take that now. There are things in the scripture
that I don't understand. Rejoice in what you do understand.
Because not everybody knows. You understand? I rejoiced when
I heard this and when I read this. and we'll get to it here
in a minute. So Manoah, verse 19, took a kid
with a meat offering and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel of the Lord, the
angel, did wondrously. I love this. And Manoah and his
wife looked on. It came to pass verse 20 when
the flame went up toward heaven from off of the altar that the
angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar and Manoah
and his wife looked on it and what happened? Fell on their
faces to the ground And then the angel of the Lord
appeared no more to Manoah. That's where I started reading.
And then Manoah said, we're gonna die. We're gonna die. Why? Because Manoah didn't know
at this time this was an angel of the Lord. But what's he say? He says, we're gonna die because
we have seen God. And I believe Manoah's exactly
right. Now, don't be too hard on Manoah,
because this man feared God. How can you tell? Well, when
he saw God, he fell on his face. And not only that, his wife fell
on her face too. Both of them did. Both of them
hit the ground. What did Isaiah say when he saw
the Lord high and lifted up? He said, woe is me, woe is me. You see these preachers on TV
and you hear them on the radio talking about, I saw God and
I jumped up in Yippee-Yo-Ki-Yay. That's not the way of the Lord. Because I'm gonna tell you something,
Manoah and his wife feared God. And I'm gonna tell you this right
now, that's what's missing from religion today. There is no fear
of God before their eyes. None. And they show it every
day. Oh, I tell you. I got this here. This is something Scott Richardson
wrote. I don't know when. It was printed
in 2012 in one of Tim James' bulletin. And he asked this question.
And it hit me when I was reading this. Where's the fear of God
today? Is this not what is wrong with
us? And yes it is. Is this not the
whole story? Because this present generation
has taken up with the idea of our own importance and so occupied
with the dignity of man. That we no longer fear God. If
we ever really feared it. We are presumptuous, self-willed,
unruly, and dying a slow but sure death, and on the verge
of complete ruin. You understand, every generation
thinks that. You know why? Because every generation's
right. Man has never changed. Man has
never changed. Here, I read this and I thought,
oh my, this is something good. If there is one word that describes
this generation of religious people, it is irreverence. Irreverent. You gotta love Scott Richardson.
Sophistication will yet kill this present generation. Ain't that something? Sophistication
will yet kill this present generation. Men go to church today to patronize
God and not worship. And that's the God honest truth.
The majority of church going people, judging from their attitude,
believe that in attending church, they are conferring a great honor
upon God. Oh man. Church attendance is used as
an excuse for a fashion parade. and a show of pride. Men go to
church to be entertained and amused, and they insist that
their preacher be a good mixer, an entertainer, an actor, and
a pulpit clown. The preacher who dares declare
the gospel of Christ is one thought as being hopelessly out of date. I hear everywhere, now you realize
this is Scott Richardson saying this, I hear everywhere I go
this statement. He sounds like an old country
preacher. Whatever that means. I like that. I did. Manoah feared God and his wife
feared God and what happened? When they saw God, they hit the
ground. They bowed down their faces to the ground. And Manoah
said, we shall surely die. He was worried. Like I said,
the man feared God, but the man saw God. Now, he was worried about dying, but
he shouldn't have been. Because, and here's the thing,
I'm gonna tell you this, I'll confess to myself, and I'll confess
for you. Inside every believer is still
an evil heart of unbelief. But God bless him. God gave Manoah
a godly wife. He gave her, he gave him a godly
wife. and what a blessing that is.
He told his wife, we're gonna die because we've seen God, and
his wife said unto him, if the Lord were pleased to kill us.
Isn't that a strange statement today? That sounds like something
an old country preacher would say. If God was pleased to kill
you, listen here, if God was pleased to kill you, here's the
first thing, you'd be dead. and then conversation would be
done. Because here's the thing, God
kills and God makes alive. And that means more than most
people will ever know. We end that in a minute here.
But here's the thing, Manoah feared God and Manoah, I believe,
maybe knew some scripture. Exodus 33 and 20 says, and he
said, thou can't see my face, this is God speaking to Moses,
for there shall no man see me and live, and live. So Manoah
was fearful. You know, in verse six, I didn't
read it, when Manoah's wife was telling him about the first coming
of this divine creature, He said his face was very terrible. Now, that don't mean that he
was really ugly. The woman came and told her husband,
saying, a man of God come unto me, and his countenance was like
the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible. What does that mean? Very scary.
That's what that is, it's fear. Causing fear, causing awe. Very terrible. The face of God
is a terrible thing. The beginning of knowledge is
the fear of the Lord. The beginning of wisdom is the
fear of the Lord. Well, which of those is right?
Both of them. Both of them. Oh my. But here's Manoah, very fearful, and his wife comforting him, telling
him, flat out, God's not gonna kill us. It was good that they
both fell on their face before God. But it's also good to realize
that just because you were scared, you had the fear of the Lord,
that doesn't mean God's gonna kill you. You might be afraid
God's gonna kill you, but God might send you someone that's
gonna tell you a little different. And you might need to be told
that God's not gonna kill you. that you might be in fear of
your life. What is it? The Apostle Paul wrote, God has
not sent again, again, to us the spirit of bondage unto fear. But listen folks, that actually
means that at one time he did send unto you the spirit of bondage
He's not sending it again. But there is such a thing. To
fear, to fear. Not to die, not to be killed,
but to fear. And I do believe, especially
from verse 20, that this angel of the Lord was the pre-incarnate
Christ. When it says the angel of the
Lord ascended in the flame of the altar, This was a burnt offering
and a meal offering unto God. And I don't think, I'm going
out on a limb here, now this is me thinking out loud, but
I don't think an angel would have entered into that sacrifice.
Because that sacrifice was being received. It's being received
by God, the flames were going up. And it's a burnt offering. It is the complete animal being
offered as a picture of the complete Christ offering himself to God. The priest doesn't get any of
the burnt offering, the person offering it doesn't get any of
the burnt offering. But that angel of the Lord, that
divine creature, and I believe that pre-incarnate Christ went
right up in those flames. Went right up in those flames.
And what's the first thing that Manoah's wife tells him about
why? Why? Three reasons she gives.
Why don't worry if the Lord was pleased to kill us, this wouldn't
have happened. She gives three reasons. The first one is, if
the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received
a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands. The burnt offering, like I said,
is representing the total perfection of Jesus
Christ, offered completely to God. Everything's burned up. The blood is offered, the head,
the fat, the meat, and the inwards. Oh, and that meat offering, that
meat offering, that meat offering is flying, Fine flour, oil, and
frankincense. And then, when it gets offered
on there, you sprinkle some salt on it. Now, it is unleavened
flour. These offerings are pictures
of Jesus Christ, and that angel of the Lord ascended right up
in the flames of them. I don't think an angel did that.
I believe that is Christ. Here's the other thing. That person appeared to them
twice. And I already said it, the message was the same both
times. The gospel never changes, folks.
The gospel never changes. The gospel was the gospel before
Christ offered himself to God, and the gospel is the same after
Christ has offered himself to God. Ah, but still, Manoah thought
he was gonna, he was gonna die, but his wife comforted him. Now, do I mean to tell you that
the Lord kills people as he pleases? No, that's not what I wanna tell
you, but the Bible does. Yes, you know. You understand,
people die every day. And what does the scripture say
about what our Lord does? It says this. Our God is in the
heavens, and he has done whatsoever he hath pleased. He's pleased. Your hairs on your head may be
numbered, God knows how many hairs are on your head. And God
knows every sparrow. And not a sparrow falls without
the father. Now it doesn't say not a sparrow
falls without the father knowing about it. No, it says not a sparrow
falls without him. Oh, life is too precious to be
left up to us. And that goes for physical life. Spiritual life ain't up to us
at all. And here's the thing, your physical
life, you can't give yourself one more day of physical life.
You can't give yourself one more hour of physical life. You can't
even give yourself the next breath if God takes it away. So if the
Lord pleases to kill us, he will. He will.