God's Gracious Intervention

Well, good morning. It's good to see all of you this morning. I want to encourage you, if you would please, to open your Bibles to Judges chapter 13.

! Judges 13. If you're using the Pew Bible, it's on page 100 to 13. 213. Yes. Yes. Before we really dive into the text this morning, I want to just let you know about some exciting things that are happening.

As many of you are aware of, we've had a chance as a church to partner with several sister churches over the last several years.

And men from our congregation, from our fellowship, have had the chance to fill pulpits and to encourage, with the Word, churches that are part of our fellowship in other parts of the city of Columbus.

And that, of course, is really a blessing. I am so grateful for godly men who are gifted to teach the Scriptures and that we have a chance to do that just around Columbus.

This past week, I got a call from a church. They have an interim pastor who's been at their fellowship for the last couple of years.

He had kind of a medical issue the past week. And they said, hey, can you please send us, the church, will you please send us someone to fill a pulpit so that we can do our services on Sunday?

And it's been neat. We have several young men who are trying to raise up and be part of what we hope to become kind of a pulpit team, a preaching team.

And investing in their lives, younger men who are either in seminary right now, have finished Bible college, or have plans to move into ministry at some point.

And being able to invest in them and help them along the process, but also give them opportunities. So, this morning, one of our young men has a chance to preach and teach.

And we trust that in the subsequent weeks, there may be opportunities to do some more of that. That's something that God has done for us. You know, we have a heart for investing in young men and a chance now to be able to give these young men the opportunity to preach and to teach for another congregation.

Our hope is that every second Sunday of the month, beginning in, not October, but beginning, excuse me, not in September, but in October, every Sunday of the, second Sunday of the month, to have someone from our fellowship be able to put these gifts to work, a younger man, raising them up, and discipling them in this process.

So, just wanted to share that with you and ask that you would pray with us and pray for these men as God is raising them up.

We are in the book of Judges. And so, for those of you who may be here for the first time, we've been working through the book of Judges this summer. And now we're kind of in the last leg, as it were.

We're kind of closing things out. And anyone who's read the book of Judges will come to understand that the further you go into the book, the worse things get. The darker things are.

The more this moral decline is taking place among the nation. And we've traced that along. And the summary phrase for us is found in Judges chapter 2, verse 19, that talks about every subsequent generation, when the children rise up, then they depart further from the Lord.

But you might think that this story, while it's getting darker, becomes a lesson for us as it relates to, well, we can't be those kinds of people.

And God has turned His back on these individuals. And there's no hope for them anymore. And actually, this morning and next week, will help us to realize that while the nation continues to decline, that God remains faithful to His Word.

We have a God who initiates with His people. We have a God who's faithful. A God who's trustworthy. A God who is the main character of this book.

And while all the judges are departing from God, or so it seems, or the nation is moving further away from God, God remains fixed.

His promises are true. He is dependable. And He continues to exercise and to demonstrate His faithful love to them. There is one main character.

The Lord Himself. Who stands preeminent over the book of Judges and calls us to see Him and to experience Him the way He wants to be experienced.

In His holiness. In His trueness. We're meant to acknowledge that He is not only the one who's the main character, but He is the main deliverer of all of the experiences that we have.

All the crisis you may go through, there is one solution. There's one fix. Know the Lord. Serve the Lord. Follow the Lord.

So we come to Judges chapter 13. We begin this study. We pick up this study in verse 1. Let me read this for us. And you can see, as we get going here, that we have an initiating God.

That this story, all along, we've been looking at various judges throughout the timeline, or the history, of this nation. In the early stages of this nation.

And while there may be many judges, there is one main figure. And I want to just draw our attention to that main figure, the Lord Himself, as we work our way through these couple of chapters.

First is, we have an initiating God. Notice this. And the people of Israel, again, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines, for forty years.

And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, you are barren, and have not born children.

But you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore, be careful, and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.

No razor shall come upon his head. For the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

We have an initiating God. The story of his initiating power is remarkable, as it comes to light in the story of Samson. It's a story of us as well.

And that's important for us to understand and to recognize it. That while things are getting darker and darker for the nation of Israel, back in the time of the judges, we can all sense, I trust that you are sensing, in our day and age, darker and darker times, one generation after the next.

We're living in those times. But we have an initiating God. The same God who initiated his love to his nation, to his people, back during the time of the judges, is the same God who initiates love for us.

One of our favorite verses, John 3.16, you could probably quote it with me, for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him, will not perish, but have everlasting life.

We have in initiating God. And God's initiation happens in spite of our rebellion.

God extends his love, his offer of forgiveness, his invitation for relationship with him, in spite of our rebellion.

It's incredible. Why does he do this? We are undeserving. It's because he's an initiating God. He's a God who extends himself.

He's a God who invites us to participate in fellowship with him. He's a God who wants to reveal to us the areas of our life that are out of step.

But it doesn't mean that we are turned away. We're invited closer. We're invited inward. We're invited to participate with him as we come to a place of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and then we'll be saved.

Of confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead, and then enjoying the offer of forgiveness. Understanding our sin, turning our hearts to him, confessing our sin, repenting from our sin, and enjoying the benefits of forgiveness.

John will also say in his letter in 1 John 4, verse 19, he will say this. You know this. We love him because he first loved us.

That is our initiating God. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the same God today as he was during the time of the judges.

He initiated his kindness to people who did not deserve it. That is our problem so often, though, is we often think that we deserve the kindness of God.

We do not put ourselves in the category of rebels. And so we think that the love that God has extended to us is because we are so lovable, when in fact, we are rebels.

And God, in his kindness, has extended that love so that we can experience it. And here in Judges chapter 13, this final leg of this journey, as it were, before we turn the page to 17 to 21, where there are no more judges, and the people have essentially pushed God away in totality, God graciously extends himself one more time to a wayward people.

We find here, again, verse 1, the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Now, in some translations, I believe this is misleading because it gives the impression that at some point in time, there was spiritual reform.

There was some sort of revival that had taken place, some sort of awakening that had happened, and now they're turning again to things that were evil. Well, what we need to recognize is that Judges 13 is bound together with Judges chapter 10.

It's one story in two parts. So just turn with me for a moment to Judges chapter 10. You can see this in verse 6 and 7. It says this, The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and the Ashtore, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines.

You see that? The Ammonites were the gods and the people that God used Jephthah to oppose. The gods of the Philistines, we're going to find in our story, are the gods that God is opposing through Samson.

Then it goes on, verse 7. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. He sold them into the hand of the, now in reverse order, the Philistines, and into the hand of the Ammonites.

One story, two parts, bound together in this passage to help us know, this is a unit. We're to see this together. We're to understand the rebellion of God's people as this continuing pattern that will now work its way out from, to the end, till we finally get God showing up in the book of Samuel.

And that's the next story. This is one movement in two scenes. And the Hebrew word again, again is actually the word to add.

It's the word to increase. It's the word to do more. The word will only mean again if it's coupled together with an adverb, which it's not here.

So it's better to understand if the people increased in their evil against the Lord, or the people continued to do evil against the Lord. this is a rebel people.

This is a people that haven't turned to God in decades. And God initiates in spite of a rebellious people.

Marvel at the wonder of a God who initiates. A God who demonstrates his kindness that's undeserved. In Romans chapter 5 verse 8 it says, But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We were hostile towards him. We were in enmity against him, enemies of him. We pushed him away, and God still sent and demonstrated his love in spite of our rebellion to draw us to himself in spite of what we deserve.

What a great God. But God is showing initiative also in spite of their track record. In spite of their track record. The Danites that we're looking at here, the text is zoomed in on verse 2.

You see there was a certain man of Zorah of the tribe of the Danites whose name was Manoah and his wife was barren and had no children. Now the Danites from the very beginning of this book are those who had been characterized by incomplete obedience.

In chapter 1 verses 34 and 35 they were the ones who were pressed back into the hill country by the Amorites. They refused to do what God had said and to fill out in full obedience to God and to press in and trust him by taking and occupying the land.

Instead they were pushed back and they were okay with it. Then in Judges chapter 5 verse 17 Deborah will sing this song of the victory that God has wrought for the people, for the nation of Israel and the Danites are mentioned.

They're mentioned as those who were unwilling to participate at all in the victory over Sisera. They wanted no part of it. They wanted to remain comfortable.

They wanted to remain distant. They will be mentioned again in our final chapter. So the Danites kind of formed this bookends to our book of Judges to help us see apostasy, to help us see incomplete obedience, to help us see that this is a rebel people.

And so when we come to chapter 13 and we read about the Danites, what should go off in our mind is this is a people that have rebelled against the Lord. But God shows his initiating love and kindness in spite of their track record.

They have a track record. And I imagine that many of us in this room have a track record. You have history. You have things you're a little ashamed of. Maybe things that you're embarrassed to talk about.

Maybe skeletons in the closet as it were. But we have a God who is willing to extend mercy in spite of our track record.

We have a wonder-working, merciful Savior. He does that. He shows his wonder-working mercy here at the beginning of this story, initiating this miraculous birth that we're going to read about in just a moment.

And as Samson walks onto the scene, his story welcomes us with a hope of real change. Maybe, finally, God will do something in the people.

Maybe, maybe God's Spirit in coming on this barren woman and birthing this miraculous son, maybe, finally, something will change.

The moral climate of this nation will be turned around. That's the hope we get. Maybe this time, it'll be different. It harkens back to the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who each had barren wives.

And the work of God to interact in their life and to allow these men and their wives to experience miraculous delivery is meant to showcase the dependability and trustworthiness of our God.

That's what is meant to be on display. God is faithful. God will preserve his people in spite of their track record, in spite of their rebellion. And then this, in verses 3 to 5, God initiates in spite of ignorance, in spite of their ignorance.

It says, This birth announcement is given to this barren woman.

We are, again, reminded of the faithfulness of God. His promise to preserve his people. His promise to deliver them. His promise to eventually give them a king.

And now, this birth announcement is carried with conditions. We see those conditions that are built in. He's to be a Nazirite to God. And this word, Nazirite, is the Hebrew word, Nazir.

It's from a root, a Hebrew word that means consecrate or to dedicate. You see, the first salvation, the first reform that needed to take place was a reform of the heart.

It was a reform of the man. If God was going to use the man to change a country, to change a nation, he had to begin with the man. God is intentional in prioritizing spiritual reform.

We've been learning about that in our time through the book of Judges. That God is interested in a people that are worshiping him with their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And if you're ever, if we are ever as moms and dads going to influence our culture, influence our families, we have to be influenced. We have to be transformed by God himself.

We have to see his word and allow his word to change us from the inside out so that we can have the hope of being able to transform the people that God puts in our circles through his power.

You see, Samson's entire life was to be set apart. Especially important at this point in our story because God cares about the moral decline of the people and he wants to change the nation but he has to start with changing the man.

God cares about the spiritual deliverance because while man looks on the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. Nothing is hidden from his eyes. God knows the things that are going on in your life and he wants to reform you before he can reform others.

So he is to be set apart to God. It says a Nazarite to God and it does have an outward working. He is not to drink strong drink. We see that in verse 4.

He is not to eat anything unclean. No razor is to touch his head. So, Manoah's wife takes this announcement and she brings that announcement back to her husband.

She tells him what is about to happen. this promise of a son that is about to come. But notice verse 6.

Judges 13 verse 6. She runs to tell her husband and she says, A man of God came to me and his appearance was the appearance of an angel of God.

Very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from. he did not tell me his name. He did not tell me his name?

How can you be so oblivious to the angel of the Lord? The angel of Yahweh that is standing in front of you. He is the one who has been promising to carry you and you are totally oblivious to his work.

The angel of the Lord is standing face to face with you and you can't identify it. You know it's a divine messenger. You can't place him in your inventory of deities.

Manoah's wife is totally unaware of God's name and throughout this narrative in chapters 13, actually 12, 13, 14, and 15 and even spilling into chapter 16 there is no mention of Yahweh like either Manoah or his wife.

It's just Elohim which is the word for God or Adonai which is the name for Lord. Yahweh is active in this section even though he's not mentioned by name.

She relays these words of the angel to her husband in verse 7. He said to me, Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.

Now Manoah wasn't able to hear this announcement himself. He prays to the Lord in verse 8 that God would allow him to hear this message for himself.

God listens in verse 9 to the voice of Manoah and then shows up again to Manoah's wife and not to Manoah himself. So then Manoah's wife has to run and retrieve her husband and when Manoah returns in verse 11 he asks this question.

Are you the man who spoke to this woman? And the response was one Hebrew word, I am. The angel reiterates the instructions not to eat anything that's offered that's from the vine or anything unclean and then we have this in verse 15.

Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you and the angel of the Lord said to Manoah if you detain me I will not eat your food but if you prepare a burnt offering then offer it to the Lord to Yahweh.

The angel of the Lord is now allowing Manoah in on the story of who he really is. And in this phrase for Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord the angel of Yahweh completely oblivious.

And Manoah said in verse 17 to the angel of the Lord what is your name so that when your words come true we may honor you. And the angel of the Lord said to him why do you ask my name seeing it is wonderful.

For 300 years of history since the conquest leading up to this point God had faithfully delivered his people.

And here we are in Samson's story and they are completely oblivious now to Yahweh the God who has made promises to a nation. What is your name?

What kind of question is that? It's because the people have become so distant from God. They have been serving the pantheon. All of the gods of these other countries they know them by name and they want to make sure that whatever service they're to give they give that service to the right deity.

Their service to the deities has been aligned to everyone else except for Yahweh himself. But God has taken the initiative with a people who are rebellious a people who have a bad track record and a people by the way who are completely oblivious to him.

He does it for his name for his glory and not because the people deserve it. We find in Judges chapter 13 21 the angel of the Lord then appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife than Manoah that he knew that he was the angel of the Lord.

Finally there's recollection. Finally there's a truth that's dawning on his life. the governing priority has been set.

This obligation these conditions that God has given now on three different occasions to set yourself apart and to do it this way. This reform of the heart that works its way out in a reform of life a set apartness.

One commentator says this the conception and birth of Samson declare emphatically God's refusal to let this nation die. Israel may be doing all in its power to destroy itself from within but God must preserve this nation.

The honor of his name and the cosmic mission of his grace is at stake. Oh we have a God who delights in keeping his promises for the sake of his name.

But I wonder how often is it true of our own lives. We put on these external forms of spirituality we may dress ourselves up as it were in the Nazarite vow we call ourselves as those who are a Nazarite to God and of course I'm using language descriptive language for what we will do in our context the things that we put on to say hey look I'm dedicated to God and I trust that is true because it does have outward forms but we allow so often those outward forms to be a counterfeit for what God really wants he really wants a heart a heart that's devoted to him that we would love the Lord our God with all our heart all our soul all our mind all our strength that's how reform begins to happen it happens first on the inside and then is able to spill out and so we have an initiating

God we're going to see in chapter 13 verse 24 through the end of chapter 15 that we also have an empowering God we have an empowering God and we're going to pick up this theme about the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Lord coming on Samson next week but I want to just touch on this here chapter 13 verse 24 notice and the woman bore a son and called his name Samson and the young man grew and the Lord blessed him and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahan and Dan between Zorah and Eschatol God graciously delivers a son God graciously gives his promise he fulfills!

His word the things that God says you can bank on you can trust him and the woman names him Samson and the word the name Samson means little son and it's caused some commentators to wonder what is this all about is he just a bright spot in the darkness of this culture is he is that why he's the little son but I think what might be a little closer to the answer is that just a couple miles away from the place where Samson grew up is a little village named Beth Shemesh and Beth Shemesh was known as the focal point of son worship the focal point of son worship so just in the back door as it were of this village is son worship that's taking place and Samson's mom calls him little son but God's activity in this narrative has been unmistakable hasn't it a promised birth a divine encounter a special announcement a set apart to the

Lord a miraculous delivery God's blessing can you understand God's blessing on Samson we have learned kind of in the church age that when God is present and his blessing is on an individual we have come to equate that well then if God's blessing and God's favor and God's spirit is on an individual then certainly that person is validated by God he's directed by God he's pointed by God he's confirmed by God commissioned by God and what becomes quite disturbing or perplexing perhaps is when we encounter Samson and wonder how can God's spirit be on a man in every activity of every decision every motive of Samson's heart his Samson's life is completely self directed self motivated self focused and it's his desire his fleshly desires that drive

Samson to the various things he does and it's this vendetta complex that he has this tit for tat kind of posture we get to see and we also see in the entire narrative it's outlined by one Hebrew word this five fold repetition and it's this to go down judges chapter 14 verse 1 Samson went down to Timnah judges 14 verse 5 Samson went down with his father judges 14 7 then he went down and talked with the woman judges 14 9 and the spirit of Lord rushed upon him and he went down to Ashkelon then judges chapter 15 verse 8 he struck them with hip and thigh with a great blow he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock at Etam why does that matter because it's describing this continual moral decline this erosion that's taking place and Samson is the embodiment of this moral decline he goes down it's not coincidental it correlates exactly what we find as the summary statement of this book with every step of this narrative

Samson keeps sinking lower but God still blesses God still blesses and God still knows that by raising him up that even Samson will unknowingly unwittingly be used of God to accomplish God's objectives God is still sovereign even over Samson's life and God still not just blesses him but God empowers him this is a credit to the Lord not a credit to Samson God keeps his promises God also we find in verse 25 God gives his spirit he gives his spirit notice verse 25 and the spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahanan Dan between Zorah and Eskel this is one of the most incredible parts of the story God does not remain distant God should have abandoned his people he did not abandon his people as a matter of fact not only was his presence there but his power was on

Samson God steps in and we're going to find as we work through this even a bit more next week the spirit of the Lord is upon him and and and what's incredible about this is seven times throughout the book of judges we find that God's spirit comes on a life on a man seven times four of those times are here in the life of Samson four times the spirit of the Lord comes on Samson and is a hallmark of God's mercy we're meant to see that while the presence of God is here we should not equate the presence of God with God's validation Samson had the greatest resources at his disposal and he is entirely self motivated everything he does is self directed we find that in chapter 14 verse 1 Samson went down to

Timna and at Timna he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines then he came up and told his father and mother I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timna now get her for me as my wife but his father and mother said to him is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives or among all the people that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines but Samson said to his father get her for me for she is right in my eyes now this is the first time we're going to see this she is right in my eyes we'll see this again in Samson's story she's right in my eyes it becomes now the new pattern that we're going to see as we move our way to the final moral collapse of the people 21 where it says there was no king in Israel everyone did what was right in their own eyes and

Samson becomes the catalyst of all of that we're meant to see he's a man who's completely driven by self desire this phrase will mark his life and it will also mark the people after him and Samson becomes this first example this first example of one who is chasing after his flesh he's driven by desire and he runs after and he's unhindered because God's spirit has empowered him and whatever he wants to do he sets his heart to doing and he accomplishes it and we don't have time this morning to run through the entire narrative I just want to summarize it for you we're going to see this about Samson we're going to see that he is entirely driven by desire as we work our way through this book it begins with chasing after this woman in

Timnah and so he tells his dad to go get her for him and so then they go down towards Timnah and as they're on their way there is this incident where the spirit of Lord comes upon Samson and a lion attacks he's able to rip that lion to shreds God's power is on him but this will become a snare for Samson because as time will expire we don't know how much time is involved but as time will expire Samson will return back to that lion you'll see honey in the carcass but instead of being consecrated to God instead of being dedicated to God God he defiles himself by touching an unclean animal that's been that's dead and then instead of consecrating a nation he defiles his family who are completely unknown have no idea where this honey has come from

Samson after this will make his way and we're going to find that he will throw this drunken party this seven day bridal feast that happens before his marriage thirty companions will come and attend they've been hired essentially to come and to attend this wedding feast and Samson will pose a riddle to this wedding party and this riddle that he will pose has to do with a lion and has to do with honey and these men of Philistia have no idea how in the world to answer this riddle so they put some pressure on Samson's soon to be bride and they say if you do not tell us how to answer this riddle we're going to burn your house over you along with your father you find now this beginning of conflict that's taking place you find the oppression that's happening among the

Philistines and among Samson himself and God is instrumental in all of this and while Samson is unaware and while his parents are unaware of what God is doing God is using this conflict he will continue to use the conflict between the Philistines and Samson to accomplish his objectives so these men of Philistia are able to answer the riddle so Samson says well I've got this obligation to fulfill I've got 30 changes of clothes that I need to deliver on and so he goes to a neighboring village he kills 30 men he robs them of their clothing he brings it back to Philistia and he's settled this score as it were but he's so angry about his soon to be bride knowing the riddle the answer to this riddle that he takes off he takes off and the father is left to wonder does

Samson really want her anymore and when Samson finally returns he finds that his soon to be bride was then offered to another man so then he goes on a rampage again and he begins to kill and slaughter the men of Philistia and he sets their crops on fire with foxes and again you find this this complex tit for tat this this settling scores this revenge complex he's driven by these tactics these these tactics of of settling scores and getting even we find in Judges chapter 14 verse 4 his father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel you continue to trace Samson's life and you find again and again that

Samson is driven by desire and seems to be completely unaware of the Lord himself and yet God is using Samson in spite of himself Samson's power is completely self directed we've come in our culture even to understand that when we have this invincible strength as it were it comes with certain obligations those of you who grew up in the Superman era those of you who grew up in the Spider-Man era the Justice League we understand the significance of power that's given comes with responsibility responsibility for others this story is meant to show that Samson given all of this potential all of this strength should be using this strength to deliver God's people in totality but all of his strength is wasted on himself and not spent to deliver

God's people not spent to bring God glory not spent to oppose Israel's! enemies we'll pick this up again next week but the lesson that we learn from Samson is that even having the Spirit of the Lord in the Old Testament did not equate transformation but New Testament era is different in the New Testament era we've come to see and understand the wonder of what happens when the Holy Spirit comes on life it's transformational that we have a transforming God he delights in changing us he delights in not leaving us where we are Titus chapter 3 verse 5 says not by works of righteousness which we've done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit that is the work of

God on a life that has accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior has come to terms with their sin and has repented and turned away and has made Jesus the Lord of their life he's the one who calls the shots there is hope for us who live in this day and age where Christ has come he's died he's risen again he's now offered to us the terms of life that come through faith and repentance so next week I trust you'll come back we're going to finish our study on the transforming work of God the spirit who transforms but then finishing off the story with Samson and to see how God rescues in spite of a rebel judge let's pray Lord thank you that you are faithful that when we are faithless you remain faithful and that doesn't mean that we live without consequences because that is built in to the design of your faithfulness that

God in your faithfulness you discipline those that you love I pray as we look at the story of Samson Lord that you would not just cause us to see the moral depravity and decline of a nation but to turn inward and recognize that we we're so often blind to the spiritual drift in our own hearts!

please awaken us Lord please allow us to see the radiance of your glory confront us with your truth and help us to walk in likeness to Jesus through the power of your spirit in Jesus name Amen God bless you have a great week may may