Judges 13-14: The sovereign..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good brothers and sisters and friends. As I said, I want to speak to you about the sovereign mercy of the Lord.

And I want to do that from these two chapters that we have in front of us, chapter number 13 and chapter number 14. And if you have one of those Bibles that have titles in each one of the chapters, you will see that we are approaching to a section in which we have perhaps one of the most well-known of the judges. This is Samson. Judge number 12, this is indeed actually going to be the last of the judges in the Book of Judges. The story of Samson is going to expand through chapter 16.

And after chapter 16, we're going to have those very dark and very difficult stories of the Book of Judges. As we find ourselves now in chapter 13 and 14, brother and sister, the pattern of the people of Israel repeats. We have in verse 1 of chapter 13 that the people of Israel did evil once again in the sight of the Lord. And because of this disobedience, the Lord is going to hand them over to the Philistines, in this case, for 40 years. The cycle repeats.

Disobedience, the judgment of the Lord comes upon them. And then, in this case, they're going to be delivered unto the Philistines for 40 years. This is the judgment of the Lord. Once again, here we have a judge that will come to start this process of deliverance of the people of Israel. And in this case, it's Samson.

As I said, this is perhaps one of the most known, if that is the way that you put together those two words in English, But this is one of the most known judges among the judges in Christian knowledge and Christian understanding. Samson with Gideon, perhaps, and Othniel, perhaps. This is one of those very well-known judges of the people of Israel. And perhaps one of the reasons why Samson is known is because of the strength and because of the power. You remember that Samson has a strength and a power that is supernatural.

It's not that he has big muscles, or it's not that he's big, but rather the Spirit of the Lord, as we are going to read in these two chapters at least three times, comes upon him in such a way that Samson is equipped by the presence of the Holy Spirit to have this might, this strength, this power that is supernatural above every other man. And the question perhaps that you have asked, or that I asked at least this morning was, why is he so strong? And the reason why he is so strong is answered for us in chapter 16, verse 17, from the mouth of Samson himself. He explains why he is so strong. The reason why Samson is that strong is because he's a Nazarite.

He's a Nazirite from the wound. And some of you children, and perhaps some of you who have not yet read your Bible completely, you may be asking yourself, what is a Nazirite? Well, if you want to know what a Nazirite is, you can go to Numbers chapter 6. And in Numbers chapter 6, you see the explanation of what a Nazirite or what a Nazirite vow is. Basically, the Nazarite is just simply a person who is consecrated unto the Lord for a specific purpose.

You understand this word, right? Consecrated or separated. He's a person that has been separated unto the Lord with a specific purpose. And as you read there in Numbers chapter 6 and other scriptures of the Old Testament and the New Testament, and even here in Judges chapter 13, you will see that the Nazarite of the person who will enter into this vow of the Nazarite was required a couple of things. Three important things were required of the Nazarite of this person.

The first one is that this person will not drink wine or a strong drink. That was a requirement of the Nazarite or the vow of the Nazarite. No wine, no strong drink. The second one is that the Nazarite will not enter in contact or touch a dead body. If the Nazarite was going to keep the vow of consecration unto the Lord, then the Nazarite was not to touch a dead body.

And then the third one was that the Nazarite person was not to cut their hair. They were not supposed to cut their hair. Now, one of the interesting things about this Nazarite vow, of this Nazarite condition, brother and sister, is that this was supposed to be something that came out of the will of men. Either the person who went to enter into a Nazarite vow will decide out of their own will to enter into this vow, this commitment of consecration unto the Lord. You have the example in Acts chapter 18 of the Apostle Paul, who vows in this Nazarite vow, out of human will.

Or, sometimes the parents will decide that one of the children was going to be consecrated as a Nazirite. You have the example of Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 1, where Hannah consecrates Samuel to be in this Nazirite commitment, consecrated unto the Lord. The interesting thing that we have here in Judges chapter 13 and 14 is that the Nazarite vow or the Nazarite condition of Samson is not out of the will of men, but it's out of the will of God. Sovereignly decreed to be a Nazirite with a particular purpose. This man, Samson, who is not even born, we are going to be reading that in chapter 13.

He is going to be set apart as a Nazirite, not to drink any strong drink or anything that isn't clean, not to cut his hair or not to touch anything that is dead. He is going to be consecrated out of the will of the Lord Himself. And the way that God is going to do it is that He's going to come down, brethren. He's going to come down and visit the people of Israel, these people that are in so much rebellion, these people that are in so much sin. God is going to come down.

The angel of the Lord is going to come down to visit Manoah and his wife. And He's going to announce the angel of the Lord, who is God Himself, whose name is wonderful, literally meaning beyond comprehension. He's going to manifest, first of all, to the mother of Samson to announce that you are barren, you don't have children, but you are going to have a son. His name is going to be Samson, of course, as we know, and he's going to be a Nazarite. We're told in chapter 13 that this Nazarite, this boy, is going to be the one who shall begin the deliverance of the people of Israel.

Such was the importance of the consecration of Samson that God, in the angel of the Lord, is going to require Samson's mother, who is unnamed and we don't know her name. She is going to be required not to drink any wine, not to drink any strong drink, not to eat any unclean thing because the consecration of Samson was from the womb, separated sovereignly by the Lord. So what we have in these 2 chapters, my dear brother and sister, is just very 2 simple things. In chapter 13, we have the sovereign appointment of Samson as the deliverer of the people of Israel. This is the sovereign appointment.

God is going to come down to announce. the birth of this man that is going to deliver. And in chapter 14, my dear brother and sister, we have the confirmation of this sovereignly divine appointment to be a Nazarite consecrated unto the Lord with the purpose of the deliverance of the Philistines. He is going to confirm that calling. The confirmation, brothers and sisters, is very important.

Because if you remember the previous judges, they were chosen out of the people of Israel. The previous judges had already seen the going down of the people of Israel in disobedience and unrighteousness. But the appointment of Samson as one of the judges is very different from the womb. He is going to be ordained to be a judge that is going to liberate the people of Israel from the wound. And he's not going to do it in one day old or two day old.

He has to grow and he has to be a man. And when he's a man, this appointment is going to be confirmed to him. The way that this is going to be confirmed, and please bear with me, then my explanation is going to be very short. But please bear with me. The way that this is going to be confirmed to Samson, my dear brother and sister, is through miraculous things that are going to go in escalation.

The way that Samson is going to deliver the people of Israel is through his strength. And I'm doing this because this is the way that you see visually strength. But it was not that he had muscles. It was that the Spirit of God was upon him. Not that I have muscles, but you know what I mean.

But the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, empowering him to do all of these things. And the way that Israel is going to be delivered, brother and sister, is through only one man. Only one man. Remember the other judges that they have people, soldiers and people that will come with them and battle and fight against whatever other oppressor? In this case, God is going to have one man delivering the people of Israel.

And the way that He is going to do it is through this might, through this power, through this strength, this supernatural strength. So this supernatural strength is going to be confirmed to Samson in a progressive way. First of all, he's going to kill a lion. You may remember that story that is, I think, that is famous among Christians. In chapter 14, we're going to see that he's going to come and he's going to throw a vineyard and he's going to destroy a young lion that is approaching him to attack him.

Such is the surprise of Samson that he's not going to say absolutely anything. He's going to keep that as a secret. He's not going to tell his parents that he has destroyed a lion, like a young goat with the hands. He has destroyed a big, young lion with his hands. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and confirmed this might, this strength in him.

He does not say anything to anyone. He thinks that is such a secret. that when he's about to marry one of the Philistines in chapter number 14, he is going to make of this secret a riddle to win clothing unto himself, to make some profit for him, like 30 pieces of garment and linen. He's going to make a riddle out of this secret that he thinks that nobody knows. In the end of chapter 14, brothers and sisters, we're going to see that this Samson, who is the deliverer of the people of Israel, is not only going to marry a Philistine that he shouldn't have done it, but he's also going to divorce or separate from that Philistine.

And in the end, once again, this power of Samson is going to be confirmed, not by the destruction of a lion, but by the destruction of 30 men of the Philistines. Then in chapter 15, that escalates to 1,000 of the Philistines. And then in the following chapter, with his death, 3,000 of the Philistines. And we are told in the following chapter that he killed more people with his death than when he was alive. It started with a lion, 30 men, 1,000 men, and then 3,000 of the people of the Philistines.

And that is the beginning of the deliverance of the people of Israel. Let me please read with you all of these two chapters together, and I hope that that explanation will give us a little bit of insight into the things that we read, and then a brief application into the sovereign mercy of the Lord. Chapter number 13, this is the book of Judges. And the people of Israel again did what was civil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

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. 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 hands of the Philistines.

Then the woman came and told her husband, A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God. Very awesome! I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. But 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 nacerite to God from the womb to the day of his death." Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, O Lord, please let the man of God whom You sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born. And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah, her husband, was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.

And Manoah rose and went after 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. And Manoah said, Now when your words come through, what is to be this child's manner of life and what is his mission? And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman, let her be careful. She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat anything unclean.

All that I commanded her, let her observe. 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 of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord. For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.

And Manoah said 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 that it is wonderful, literally beyond comprehension? 19. So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders. And Manoah and his wife were watching.

And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, for we have seen God.

But 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 announce to us such things as this. 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 Mahamedan, between Zorah and Eshtoel.

Samson went down to Timnah..." That's grown up now, verse 1. "...Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah 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 Timnah.

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 of our 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. His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for the Lord was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines ruled over Israel.

Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Tingna, and they came to the vineyards of Tingna. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hands, he tore the lion in pieces, as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, And she was right in Samson's eyes.

After some days he turned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey. He scraped it out into his hand and went on eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.

His father went down to the woman and Samson prepared a feast there for the young men used to do." That's the marriage. As soon as the people saw him, they brought 30 companions to be with him. And Samson said to them, let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothes.

But if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me 30 linens of garments and 30 changes of clothes.' And they said to him, Put your riddle, that we may hear it. And he said to them, Out of the eater came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet. And in three days they could not solve the riddle. On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire.

Have you invited us here to impoverish us? And Samson's wife wept over him and said, You only hate me. You do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is. And he said to her, Behold, I have not told my father, nor my mother.

And shall I tell you? She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. And the men of the city said to him, on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey?

And what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If you had not plowed within my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle. And the Spirit of the Lord, 2nd Confirmation, and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him. And he went down to Ashkelon and struck down 13 men, 13 men of the town, and took their spoils and gave the garments to those who had not told the riddle. In hot anger, he went back to his father's house, and Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man, married and divorced."

This is the Word of the Lord. And as I said to you, I want to speak now and apply this to the sovereign mercy of the Lord. And if you pay careful attention in your New Testament, my dear brother and sister and soul, in the Book of James, in the 2nd chapter, in the first 13 verses of that 2nd chapter of James, James is addressing a very particular situation that helps us understand, from a biblical perspective, the concept of mercy. He's addressing a situation that was dividing the church and that was the situation of partiality. James is not content that the church is showing signs of partiality.

Some people were having preference over others. So James comes to exhort the people of the church and he says, That they are to remember that they are not to have partiality one with the other, but rather they are to fulfill the law. And the law is fulfilled in this simple commandment, that they should love one another. Because loving one another, or loving your neighbor as yourself, as he says in verse 9, is the fulfillment of the royal law. And then he continues and says, don't you know that if you break at least one of the commandments, it is like if you have broken the entirety of the law of this royal law of liberty.

And don't you know that you Christians are going to be judged by this law of liberty? In other words, you Christians are going to be judged by this law of loving one another? Why are you to then have partiality among yourselves? You are going to be judged! And when he introduces the topic of judgment, he says something very important, trying to pierce the hearts of those Christians who were entering into partiality.

He says, don't you know that judgment without mercy is without mercy for the one who judges? But judgment or mercy triumphs over judgment. He says in verse 13, "...judgment without mercy has no mercy to the one who has shown no mercy." He gives us this powerful teaching that mercy triumphs over judgment.

That is when a person deserves punishment, when a person deserves judgment, The only way that that can be paid is either by the application of that judgment and that discipline, that which they rightly deserve, or that the one who has the power to inflict that judgment will give mercy instead of the judgment that they deserve. And James says that mercy triumphs over judgment. And my dear brother and sister, this is a glorious picture, of course, of the gospel in which mercy triumphs over the judgment that we deserve. And that is the mercy, brethren, that this Lord God of us is manifesting, not only in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament here in verses 13 and 14. Brethren, pay attention to this.

These people of Israel have experienced, they have seen, witnessed with their eyes, and they have heard in their oral traditions how the previous generations have been delivered unto oppressors multiple times, and how the Lord has raised judges to deliver them from the oppressing hand of their enemies. And yet, once again, we find ourselves in Judges chapter 13, seeing these people of Israel giving themselves over to Practices that are not according to the Lord, breaking the covenant and disobeying in the eyes of the Lord. The pattern repeats and continues, but as we arrive to verse 1 of chapter 13, there's something very important that is missing, my dear brother and sister. In all the previous cycles of disobedience of the people of Israel, the judgment of the Lord will come upon the people of Israel, and the oppression of the oppressor will be such that the people of Israel will be moved to cry out unto the Lord. The oppression of the nation will be so much that they will be moved to supplicate unto the Lord and to come before the Lord, crying out for mercy so that they will be delivered.

In this case, from the Philistines, we have a sound of silence. And that silence is that the people of Israel have not cried out to the Lord. They had been under bondage for 40 years, and they have not cried out unto the Lord for the oppression of the Philistines. Which shows us that the people of Israel had grew accustomed now to the presence of the Philistines among them, oppressing them. And now the way of living of the Philistines was the rule for the people of Israel, and their hearts had been hardened in such a way that now the normal situation for them was to be under the bondage of the people of the Philistines to such a point that they saw no need of crying out to the Lord that He will liberate them from these Philistines that were ruling over them.

But my dear brother and sister, here's where we see the glorious sovereign mercy of the Lord. Because the sovereign mercy of the Lord is not contingent upon the crying out of His people. Rather, this God Lord who is so merciful responds in His sovereign decree, not even with the presence of supplication or crying out of the people of Israel. And that is exactly what we see in Judges chapter 13. the sovereign mercy of the Lord being manifested in the midst of silence and conformity to the things of the world.

And the way, brethren, that this mercy now is manifested is miraculous, because He is now going to ordain a judge that is going to deliver them. And you know what is the powerful thing about the ordination of the calling of Samson? That while the mercy of the Lord is operating in the midst of the people of Israel, all the Israelites are completely ignorant of what the Lord is doing to liberate them years down the track. The mercy of the Lord is working. He has come descended and come down to rescue these people.

There's no crying out. They deserve to be left under the Philistines. They deserve to be left under the hand of their master. They deserve this judgment that God has put upon them. They deserve to be there for eternity, all the time.

But God has come down in His condescension to bring liberation. And these people are completely ignorant. of what the mercy of the Lord is doing from the womb, preparing a man that only this man in the power, supernatural power of his might is going to bring liberation to the people of Israel. And my dear brother, my dear sister, this sovereign mercy of the Lord is a sovereign mercy that is always with a purpose. Of course, as we have seen in chapter 13, the purpose of the sovereign mercy of the Lord is the liberation of the people of Israel.

That the deliverance of the people of Israel will begin. But also, every time that there's deliverance for the people of God through the mercy of the Lord, the judgment of the Lord comes upon the enemies of the Lord. If you pay careful attention to chapter 14, we have a powerful truth that is given to us in verse 4 of chapter number 14. Samson is going to be raised not only to liberate the people of Israel as a Nazarite consecrated unto the Lord with His might and His power. But the way that the Lord is going to do it is by bringing judgment upon the Philistines.

And the way that He does it is so sovereign that nobody knows. We are told in chapter 14, verse 4, as Samson went down to the Philistines and fell in love with this Philistine woman, we are told in verse 4, his father and mother, Did Noah know that this, in other words, falling in love of Samson with this Philistine was from the Lord? Why was it from the Lord? For he, the Lord, was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. The Lord was ordaining even the emotions and the feelings of Samson, even dominating over his eyes, sovereign control of his mercy for his people, that he will allow Samson to go down to the Philistines, that he will open his eyes and he will be attracted to this Philistine woman that he was not supposed to fall in love with.

And the Lord was in control of all of these events with the purpose not only of bringing liberation to the people of Israel through Samson, but also to bring the judgment upon the enemies of the Lord, the Philistines. And this judgment is going to be brought to consummation as we progress through this story, my dear brother and sister. Because the sovereign mercy of the Lord is sweet for those who are the people of the Lord, who receive the mercy of the Lord. Not even when they open their mouth to cry out unto the Lord, to ask for this mercy. A mercy that works even when we don't know that it is working.

But at the same time, this mercy that sustains and keeps the people of God works for the destruction of those who do not receive mercy, but rather receive the judgment of the Lord. What a terrifying thing it is not to be the object of the mercy of the Lord, brethren. What a terrifying thing it is not to be the object of the love of God, of course, in the New Testament, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because even God is going to work in such a way that not even the affections and the heart of men can escape to the decree of the Lord. It was prohibited for Samson to fall in love with one of the Philistines.

Yet his affections and his emotions were driven towards that direction so that the purposes of the sovereign mercy of the Lord will be accomplished. My dear brother and dear sister, we can see the mercy of the Lord triumphing in the midst of the people of Israel in this way. Samson represents, in a very particular way, the people of Israel. Samson was separated from the womb to be holy and for a particular purpose. Israel was also separated among the nations to be the people of God.

The people of Israel had prostituted themselves with the nations and with other gods. And as we have just read here, and we'll continue to read, Samson is not going to be the best of the judges. Actually, for me, he's the worst of the judges. He is going to not only divorce a woman just for something that it was reasonable to understand that she would do. He is going to men of different women.

He is going to be a man that even when he was supposed to keep his vow, He is going to touch a dead lion. He is going to drink wine and a strong drink in a feast. And the Lord still uses him to bring the deliverance to the people of Israel. Oh, my dear brother and sister, this is the glorious mercy of this God who rules over absolutely all things. And if it was not because of this mercy that triumphs over judgment, There will be absolutely no one who will be able to escape the firing hand of God, who will take an account of everyone according to their works and according to their deeds.

The only reason why we can find refuge and we can find a good place of rest in the mercy of the Lord is because, indeed, mercy has triumphed over judgment. And the way that mercy has triumphed over judgment is, of course, because of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are the saints who are within the sound of my voice that in their heart can rejoice? Because they are the object of the mercy of the Lord and not the object of the wrath of God. If you are one of those whose heart consciously you know that you are apart from God and that you're apart from Christ, This is the call of the gospel that you will repent of your sins, that you will turn to Christ, that today is the day of your salvation, that you will come to this Jesus Christ because it's only in him that is found the mercy of God, the mercy of liberation and deliverance of God.

Otherwise, you're going to be like the Philistines. The object of the judgment of God. And you're not even able to escape the judgment of the Lord with your intellect, with your emotions, or with your efforts. Because when God decides, that is accomplished. And He says today, come to me, come to Christ, and you will find rest.

Amen, brethren? Amen.