So tonight we are carrying on with our series and judges and tonight and for the next two weeks
and we're going to look at Samson
The last judge in the book, but maybe the first one that comes to mind when we think of the judges and from Sunday school all the way up and
His life story is a favorite and it's a story
Although being a favorite that I think maybe
Confuses us ahead the older that we get and the more that we read it and his relationship with his parents and his wife
His relationship with Delilah and his superhuman strength and the riddles that he tells he's he's one of the more
unforgettable and figures in the Bible, so in chapter 13 which we have just read and
We are at the beginning of a new cycle the Israelites are
Worshipping false gods
They're worshiping foreign idols left right in center and
They are again oppressed and made slaves, but again God raises a judge
And he raises a savior a deliverer who is going to come and deliver them from their enemy and in this case
Tonight we're not really introduced to Samson. We're just introduced to his his parents. They are childless
and but the angel of the Lord appears in this chapter and
Tells his mother that she will soon have a son who will live by a certain code who will live by certain rules and
Who will save the people from the Philistines who are ruling over them? She tells her husband about it
He praised the gods that this this mysterious figure would appear again
and the angel does come back tells him to make a burnt offering and
When they make this offering the angel disappears in the flames
Up into heaven and it's not until all of that is passed that we are at last
introduced to Samson the judge
If you've been here for the rest of the series or you even read this book yourself
Looking back over the past 12 chapters
one of the recurring themes is
Is the people of God crying out?
Whenever the enemy oppresses them so they worship false idols
God gives them over to the enemy. They cry out and then God comes and saves them through through a judge
That doesn't that doesn't happen in chapter 13 and
No one cries out
It says in verse 1 that they were ruled over by the Philistines for 40 years. They live in misery and they live in trouble
And they are not free, but they do not ask God
to save them
There is very much a sense that this is the way it is and so the problem in chapter 13 the problem in
Samson's day is that the people are self-dependent
When they are dealing and facing trouble
They look everywhere apart from God to have their needs met
They give all their attention to idols that they have made for themselves and they are self-dependent and inward-looking
When life really gets miserable
They don't cry out
And yet God in chapter 13
Sends Samson. He sends the judge. He sends the deliverer still a
question and you can ask yourself
when reading judges 13 a question that we can ask ourselves tonight is
Are we self-dependent?
Even if you're a Christian you can ask this question. Am I am I self-dependent and the answer
likely at times is going to be yes. It's got to be yes if we are being honest
When I am upset and even miserable. Am I the first port of call?
Do I have the answers to my trouble?
Am I the one who will conquer my fear and worry about the next week month?
year
If your relationships with your friends and family bring pain if if you dread going into the workplace
And every every week if you find that the plans you want to work out are not working out
Are you self-dependent in that situation? Are you the one who will fix it? If you ask yourself that and the answer is yes
God gives you relief in chapter 13 to the self-dependent
God still brings hope
That is what happens in chapter 13. And so just two ways
Tonight to think about how he does that to the self-dependent God still promises to bring hope
He does that firstly
by taking the initiative
He God moves first before anyone else does
in the day of trouble and then secondly
God he reveals himself
And not necessarily his plans
So firstly God he takes he takes the initiative if you're a Christian and and you
get up every morning
And wondering if you could fix your circumstances or if for this past week
You've just been accepting that that life is just the way it is and there's no getting about it
And the truth is that God takes the initiative
God moves towards you
To bring joy into your life look at verse two there was a certain man of Zora
Of the tribe of the Danites whose name was Manoa and his wife was barren
And had no children
Manoa and the father here is a nobody
And his wife she doesn't even get named. She's even more of a nobody
In in this chapter and all we're told about her is the fact that she cannot have children
It says that she is barren the only two people we meet in this chapter apart from God himself
Are of really little significance
and
They have their status or their role completely
Minimised when you when you look at every scene that Manoa appears in in this chapter
and
The commentaries have different views in this but some some would say and it's quite likely that the writer
of the book of judges
He minimizes Manoa's
Character he shrinks his character
Deliberately in this chapter so in verse two he's only a certain man. It's not that important
And then when he eventually meets the angel of the Lord
Everything he says is downplayed or rejected
And in verse 12 he asks the angel what his son's mission is going to be the angel
Dismisses that question completely and just talks about Manoa's wife instead in verse 15
It seems that Manoa wants to cook for the angel that that offer is declined
Verse 17 he wants to know the angel's name
The angel doesn't give it or not directly at least and then when the angel disappears in the flames up to heaven
He is in complete fear
And it's his wife that talks him
Back to his senses his fear is lacking her faith. So in the little we know about Manoa
And in the little we know about Samson's father and his failed attempts
At having some control over what is happening in this chapter
And Manoa is very much a diminished or a dwindling
Figure in this story
And then there's his wife. She's not even named
and
We don't she is completely unknown and the most the most agonizing
aspect to her life the most agonizing aspect to their lives in this story is that
She is bad and she cannot she cannot have children and in this time in history and this ancient history and
in this culture
Being unable to have children is very shameful
and
It wasn't until the likes of sara or rebecca and genesis or manoa's wife here
It's not until they are able to have children that they have any sense of honor
In the culture that they are living in
So the role or the status that manoa and his wife hold
Is completely reduced in chapter 13. That's that's what the writer here is getting at for 40 years
And this land that is being controlled by the philistines
Their hands are in the lives of their enemy for most of their lives if not all of it they're living every day in trouble
And they are part of the self dependent inward looking people and it's in that very moment
In that very place
Where we have to ask how does god bring deliverance?
Well, he takes the initiative it's it's him who works before they could even think of how that would happen
It's him who moves to bring joy
Before it's even a thought in their minds
One writer says this god often begins precisely there
And human obscurity and hopelessness where there is no human energy or ability to serve as a starter
God will bring salvation out of nothingness
In in that nothingness twice the angel says
To manoa's wife behold you shall conceive and bear a son words that were impossible yesterday
Are absolute certainty today
For manoa's wife where manoa and his wife are nobody's god begins to work right in that place
In that situation he moves to give joy and hope to his people he moves first
To bring peace to them
The outcome for you
The outcome for us
Is that god still works he still moves in the same way
You might be anxious that how the next three months of summer are going to look for you you could be
unhappy in your job despite having to spend five out of seven days in that place
You might be finding your relationships with your friends or family extremely difficult
To work out to the point that maybe you do not know what to do
If you find that you are self dependent in in that place
If you find that you are the one who who can fix your trouble god says no
He says that's his job in your life
He is the one who moves to bring joy paul says this in in romans 15 it's the god of hope
uh who brings peace
To your soul the truth is that whether there is no hope where you look forward
And see no joy whatsoever
But it's in that situation that god moves first god takes the initiative he is the one who moves
For the self dependent and judges 13 for the self dependent today
and
god comes to you
He creates hope out of nothing he frees you he brings joy he takes the initiative when you can do
Nothing
So god god moves first secondly
and god god reveals himself
To manoa and his wife and not not his plans not down to the finest detail
so
When we are looking at manoa
And the way in which he tries to control this interaction with the angel
And the writer uses that to show us how insignificant this man is really
Um and in verse 12 is this question that he asks the angel which which gets ignored it gets completely
Bypassed the angel comes to his wife tells her how her son is supposed to live
He tells her that our child will eventually free the people or begin to free them
How that is done the specific details of that?
And that's the question that manoa has
He says in verse 12 now when your words come true
What is to be the child's manner of life and what is his mission?
and the angel's answer to that
Is to talk about manoa's wife the angel's answer to that is not to answer it at all
And you can ask why not you can ask why that is the case
Until you see what he does reveal
God reveals himself not completely but he reveals something of himself
And who he is and what he is like so
The main point here is that it's the angel of the Lord who appears to the couple
um
It's the angel of the Lord and the the keyword
In the Hebrew the keyword in the original language is messenger
The messenger of the Lord so in one way this is a messenger sent from God and in another way this messenger this angel
is unlike any other angel
Um in the bible he first appears in Genesis 16 to haigar a slave woman
Who who falls pregnant by her master Abraham?
and she is treated awfully by
Abraham's wife sara and so she runs away she flees she has to get away
And the angel of the Lord appears to her and tells her that
Her descendants from from this from this time of trouble her descendants are going to be more than she could ever number
He tells her that good will come from this and after the angel says this
She asks the question
Have I really seen him?
Who sees me
Is she's asking if she's actually seen God physically?
Is the messenger divine is the question has he been sent by God?
Or is this God appearing in physical form to manoa's wife? What what is vague?
um in the old testament
becomes clearer
When jesus appears in the new in john's gospel. He says what I say
Therefore I say as the father has told me
Jesus the son of God who is God
Speaks as he has been sent by God the father
It's high it's highly likely it's it's it's most likely in the early church and the church throughout history has supported this view
That the angel of the lord who appears in the old testament
Who appears in judges 13 is is jesus?
He is pre-incarnate. This is the physical the visible existence of jesus
Before he became human
God the father sends out the message and god the son brings it to the people he is the messenger
Manoa and his wife meet with god who reveals himself
To them so when Manoa asks god what his plan is for the unborn son. He doesn't answer it. He just shows
who he is
When Manoa asks the angel his name he doesn't give it. He just says that it's wonderful
And all he is saying is that it is it is too much to take in his name encompasses too much about him
And
He is far too holy and just and yet far too kind and gentle that this couple will ever fully understand it
God's concern and love towards nobody
Like Manoa and his wife and every other human is impossible to fully understand Manoa doesn't get his name
But he begins to work out who he's speaking to
He will not be fed but he asks for the sacrifice. He doesn't tell him his name
In other words, they can never fully know his character
And he disappears in the flames of the sacrifice and Manoa says in verse white two we have seen god
God god does not tell them
How the next 20 years of their lives are going to work out looking after this child
He doesn't tell them how their son will begin to save the people from the enemy. He tells them that it's far more important that they know him
And what he is like and know what the future is if if you are desperately trying to work out
How the rest of the year is going to look at if if you want the answers right now god
God calls you to be satisfied and knowing him
And not
Simply his plans it's far more important
That you wake up in the morning and remind yourself that god is so gentle and so caring towards you that they
That you will never fully understand it
The next few weeks and months of your life are completely outside of your control
But god thinks so much of you in that place
And he loves you so much that he protects you in ways that you will never know
To the self-dependent god says it's far more important that you know him
than know his plans
And so the question is the question from that is
Do you know him?
And not just know about him not just know often, but do you actually know him?
It is his love and gentleness real real towards you or do you reject it because you are the one who's in charge
of your life
Are you so self-dependent that it's enough to know about god and not really know him?
God calls you to trust in him so that you can really know him
And not just about him
When you prepare for the rest of the week when when you want to fix the trouble that's in it
God says be satisfied and knowing him rather than his plans see how gentle and loving he is towards you
Towards those who trust in him so loving and so gentle that it's too wonderful
for us to fully understand
So to the self-dependent
God moves first he brings hope where there is nothing
And he wants you to know him
Before you know his plans. Lastly, this is a sound that I want to hear from you
Before you know his plans lastly this this is a samsung series
So we should we should probably say something about samsung. There are so many parallels here between the sending of samsung
and the sending of jesus
And at the end of the chapter samsung is born and it says that god blessed him as he grew up and the spirit of god
stirred him
And and it's just telling us that his character is being molded from a young age. Maybe even as he's growing up
He realizes that he begins to realize this this gift of strength and health that he has
so much so much in this chapter
It points us to to believing that samsung really is going to be the greatest judge
Where all the other judges appear and deliver the people in some way
Their stories usually end in failure of some kind. We think surely not with samsung
His birth is announced by the angel god himself who appears twice
The angel gives his mother strict instructions how to raise her son. He's supposed to be a nazarite
um
Which just means well it comes from number six
Where there is a code or rules given to people who want to live especially close to god
Who want to have a more intense communion with him?
And so they're not allowed to drink from the vine. They're not allowed to have the haircut. They're not allowed to touch any dead body
and everything about this chapter tells us that samsung is the judge that we are waiting for at last
We are supposed to be excited when we read this chapter because
Because finally here is a true judge
Who is going to save the people properly
And yet we read the next three chapters and we are let down in almost every way
When we look at him
Maybe possibly more so than every judge before him samsung fails it just about every turn
Even even thing of the rules that he's supposed to live by the rules that are given to his mother
um
He he kills a lion
He kills a 30 men and then a thousand men and then thousands at the end of his life
His head is cut
Who knows what he did when he walked through the vineyard?
One writer summarizes samsung quite helpfully he says samsung will prove to be the judge who is the least interested
In being a delivery that the last hope of israel in judges is
a judge delivery who chases women instead of enemies and who avenges
And who avenges personal grievances instead of delivering his nation from the oppression
Because he fails
Because he only begins to save his people from the philistines
Because he only partly saves them from their trouble another judge needs to be sent and 1400 years later one is sent
And his birth is announced by an angel too many
And she is told that he will really be the savior
Offer people who are oppressed and where samsung was controlled by his impulses
Where he chased every woman who came across his way
And killed out of rage jesus walks into the wilderness and though he is tempted he gives up all the power in the world
Where samsung gets so angry and kills jesus asks the father to forgive those who are torturing him
Samson is supposed to deliver these self dependent people who have no problem living with the philistines and yet he fails and he dies
jesus went to the cross and he died not out of rage
Not out of revenge
But to deliver to save to really save everyone who would believe in him
Are you are you self dependent? Do you get up in the morning and immediately think how you're going to fix your trouble?
God took the initiative 2000 years ago
When he sent jesus
When you go into this week your hope the hope that god gives you this week is the fact that the perfect judge died and yet rose again
God took the initiative and the hope that he gives you
Is the fact that jesus died and rose again for all who would believe no matter how weak they are
Just to finish two things you could do this week
After after reading judges 13
We at times tend towards being self dependent if we're being honest we think we can fix our trouble when really we we cannot
And yet god promises deliverance
For that very pain
God promises to relieve us from that
And we can't do that
Pain and god promises to relieve us from that two things you can do
Do not do not be passive
the the opposite
of self dependency
Or self dependency is one extreme being passive is the other extreme and pro proverbs 16 9 answers that
The heart of man plans his way
But the lord establishes his steps
You can plan you can prepare for
How this week is going to look
You can think and pray about how to be active in your trouble, but you need to do that in a way that pleases god
In a way that acknowledges that his way is best his way is so much better than yours
That he might redirect your steps
Do not be self dependent going on what you think is best do not be passive either
And and said watch that your ways align with him secondly
Pray pray really specifically what what we read earlier or what we quoted earlier from paul and romans 15
Pray that the god of hope would give you peace
Pray that god would make jesus resurrection your greatest hope god takes the initiative he moves first he did it by sending his son
Your greatest hope is the resurrection telling you that nothing in your life is going to separate you from the life
that you have with jesus
And telling you that everything broken will be fixed so paul encourages us in romans 15 13 to pray that we would be filled with peace
The simplest the the best thing you can do this week is pray that god would fill you with peace
in the day of trouble
If you're self dependent pray and realize like samson's parents did
That your hope comes from someone else who someone who took the initiative someone who chooses to reveal himself to you every day
Though not necessarily his plans
Let's pray
Our lord and god we thank you for your word
We pray this week as we head into that we would be satisfied knowing you
And maybe not necessarily knowing the specifics of how it will look
But even in trouble even in our self dependency lord we pray
That we would turn to you and
Find hope in the fact that your son came and died for us so help us we ask for jesus' sake amen