March 1, Ash Wednesday Service 7:00 pm

Lesson: Judges 13.1-25

Sermon Title: Not Again!

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. This is the sixth time this has happened.

    1. I was wrong.

    2. Sampson is not the sixth judge but the thirteenth.

MAIN BODY:

  1. Thirteen judges from Othniel to Sampson

    1. The names may not be one's that you recognize

Othniel, Judg 3:9

Ehud, Judg 3:15

Shamgar, Judg 3:31

Deborah (Jael), Judg 4:5

Gideon, Judg 6:36

Abimelech, Judg 9:1

Tola, Judg 10:1

Jair, Judg 10:3

Jephthah, Judg 11:11

Ibzan, Judg 12:8

Elon, Judg 12:11

Abdon, Judg 12:13

Samson, Judg 16:30

    1. Judges were the governors of Israel.

    2. They were also the military leaders.

    3. They are a type of savior.

  1. Why look at Sampson this evening?

    1. In our adult Bible study class, we are studying angels.

    2. An angel appeared to Manoah's wife (She is not named).

    3. What is fascinating is the ways in which Manoah's wife and Manoah responded to the presence of the angel.

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  1. Open your Bibles to Judges 13 and let us follow the conversation:

2There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. 3And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son. 4Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean, 5for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth. IT IS HE WHO SHALL BEGIN TO DELIVER ISRAEL FROM THE HAND OF THE PHILISTINES."

6Then the woman came and told her husband, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angel of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name; 7but he said to me, 'You shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.'"

8Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, "O LORD, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born."

9God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.

10So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me."

11Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to this woman?"

And he said, "I am."

12Then Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy's rule of life; what is he to do?"

13The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her. 14She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine. She is not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her."

15Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Allow us to detain you, and prepare a kid for you."

16The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "If you detain me, I will not eat your food; but if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD." (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.)

17Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?"

18But the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful."

19So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to him who works wonders. 20When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. 21The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife.

Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD. 22And Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God."

23But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these."

      1. We were struck by the differences in approach by Manoah and the wife.

      2. The angel is God in angelic form.

    1. This is the beginning of the deliverance of Israel from the subjugation of the Philistines.

      1. We know the story of Sampson.

        1. He finally revealed the secret of his strength.

        2. His eyes were put out and he was made to do the work of a draft animal.

      2. He died pulling down the pillars and crushing the Philistine ruling class in the collapse of the building.

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  1. What is amazing is how many times God came to the rescue of Israel by raising up judges and kings to throw off the oppression.

  2. There may be times when we question the faithfulness of God.

    1. How many times will he forgive us?

      1. What did he do for Israel?

      2. How many times did Jesus say that we are to be forgiving, which translates into our own forgiveness.

        1. Jesus teaches prayer and in Luke 11:4 (NRSVA) the Lord's prayer reads:

4And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."

        1. Jesus speaking of forgiveness in Luke 17:1-4 (NRSVA) says:

1Jesus said to his disciples, "Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! 2It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. 4And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive."

        1. To answer Peter's quest-on of "How many times?" in Matthew 18:21 through Matthew 18:22 (NRSVA) Jesus responds

21Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" 22Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

    1. We ought not to have any concern for the numbers of times.

      1. Forgives is a constant.

      2. God will always forgive.

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CONCLUSION

  1. Before the Reformation Martin Luther was in his monk's cell weeping because of his sins.

His confessor, a young man, simply didn't know what to do, so he began repeating the Apostles' Creed. (1)

"I believe in God the Father Almighty. Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

"I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the...."

"Wait!" Luther interrupted his confessor. "What did you say?"

"What do you mean, what did I say?"

"That last part. What was it again?"

"Oh, that. I said, 'I believe in the forgiveness of sins.'"

"The forgiveness of sins." Luther said as if savoring each word.

"The forgiveness of sins. Then there is hope for me somewhere. Then maybe there is a way to God."

    1. That, of course, was the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

    2. It is also the continuation of the reformation in our own lives.

Amen.

1. Stephen Brown, WHEN BEING GOOD ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH (Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990).

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