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WORDS OF WISDOM FROM MANOAH’S WIFE

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

A sermon preached at the Fundamentalist Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
Lord’s Day Morning, January 7, 2001

 

"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 shewed us all these things,
nor would as at this time have told us such things as these"
(Judges 13:23).

Manoah’s wife was a sensible woman. She drew her conclusion based on facts. She knew it would not make sense for the Lord to reveal to her husband and her that they would have a son if He was thinking of killing them. Her reasoning was logical. It would be good for you also to use logic regarding salvation.
We do not live in a time of belief and faith. This is an age of materialism – a godless era. People have a tendency to think of a material universe without God, or angels, or Christ.
When my wife and I were in San Antonio, Texas last year, we went to the Alamo. It was night, and the Alamo was lit up with lights. Across the street a crowd was gathering. We went over to see what the attraction was. There, on the sidewalk, a man was spray-painting a picture of the Universe. We watched him spraying many colors onto a canvas. When he was finished, his friend held it up for the audience to see. It was a picture of the earth, seen from the moon, with other stars around it. It was beautiful. But it was absolutely dead – a picture of a lifeless world, without God, even without plants and animals – just a cold, dead, lifeless universe.
That’s what the pseudo-religion of "scientism" gave us back in the 20th century. But many young people are rebelling against a false religion based on a materialistic, so-called "scientific" view. These young people, the world over, are saying that they don’t want to live in a world without God. They have rebelled by the tens of millions against atheistic Communism in the former Soviet Union, and more recently in the People’s Republic of China.
But what kind of a God do you believe in? That is a crucial question. For many people, the God of the Bible is portrayed as a cruel God. They say that God is merciless and mean. Many people with a Roman Catholic background think of God as vindictive and cruel. Often people stop going to church and spend the rest of their lives angry at a God they see as cruel and heartless. Sometimes people think God is out to "get" them. Others think that God doesn’t care about them and is going to let them die without hope.
Manoah had a twisted concept of God, like that of many young people today. He said that God was against him and out to get him. But Manoah’s wife was wiser and more spiritual than him. She said
"If the Lord were pleased (wanted to) kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands (from us), neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these" (Judges 13:23).
Now, there are three things which are inferred or stated in this verse that I want to bring out this morning:

         

      1. The God of Scripture does not wish to destroy you.
      2. The accepted sacrifice of Christ for you puts an end to fear.
      3. The doctrines of salvation show that God does not wish to destroy you.

I. First, the God of the Bible does not want to kill you or destroy you.

 

In fact, the exact opposite is true – God loves you. We are told this repeatedly in the Bible. "For God so loved the world" (John 3:16). "God is love" (I John 4:16). "We love him because he first loved us" (I John 4:19). "The God of love and peace shall be with you" (II Corinthians 13:11).
Manoah’s wife said, "If the Lord were pleased to kill us…" (Judges 13:23). The very beginning of her reasoning rejects the thought of a cruel and merciless God. God is not pleased to kill you!
"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved" (John 3:17).
Many with a Catholic background don’t believe that verse. They have been taught that Jesus is furious with them for their sins. Jesus is full of anger and great wrath against sinners, according to them. That’s why they come to Mary or the Holy Spirit instead of Jesus. But the Catholic Church misrepresents the love of Jesus and the love of God.
God says to you:
"I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).
We went to the white cliffs of Dover when we were in England. Near these cliffs is an ancient lighthouse. It is not at all like a modern lighthouse. It is a high cone. They used to put wood in the bottom of it, and the flames leaped up the tall cone and made a light, so the ships would not come close and dash on the rocks. They said that lighthouse was nearly two thousand years old. My mind fairly reeled as I thought of the age of it, as I walked into it and looked way up into the blackened walls of the ancient structure.
But that lighthouse, made by Englishmen two thousand years ago, was nothing in its age when compared with the love of God. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3). God has drawn you to this church with everlasting love. God wants to preserve you throughout time and eternity and draw you into Heaven with everlasting love. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3).
The Bible says:
"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love: and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (I John 4:16).
"We love him, because he first loved us" (I John 4:19).

God loved you before you were born. He loved you from all eternity past. He loves you now. Don’t turn away from His love. Turn fully to Jesus Christ, His Son, and He will save you, because He loves you.

The Lord is not pleased to kill you, because by His very nature He loves you.

II. Secondly, the accepted sacrifice of Christ for you puts an end to fear.

 

Manoah’s wife correctly said:
"If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands…" (Judges 13:23).

The offerings they made were types or pictures of Jesus Christ’s offering for sin on the Cross.

In Leviticus 1:3-6, in the Old Testament, we are told of the burnt offering. The high priest was to "put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him" (Leviticus 1:4). This is a picture of Jesus Christ making atonement for you, paying for your sins, on the Cross.
"And the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar…" (Leviticus 1:5).

This pictures, this typifies, the Blood of Jesus which was sprinkled to wash away your sins. And the Bible says, "It shall be accepted for him to make an atonement for him" (Leviticus 1:4).

God has accepted the offering of Christ! How can you fear that God will kill you or punish you since He has accepted Christ’s death and Christ’s Blood as a payment and expiation of your sins?
Furthermore, the Bible gives the picture of the meat offering:
"A meat (or meal) offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour" (Leviticus 2:1).
"It is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord" (Leviticus 2:9).
The meat, or meal, offering "speaks of the evenness and balance of the character of Christ; of that perfection in which no quality was in excess, none lacking; the fire (speaks) of his testing by suffering, even unto death" (Scofield note on Leviticus 2:1).
In the New Testament we read:
"But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Hebrews 9:11-12).
"So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:28).
When God accepted the sacrifices of Manoah and his wife it proved that He would not judge them or kill them:
"If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands…" (Judges 13:23).
In a like figure, God would not have received the offering of the Son of God on the Cross to pay for your sins if He had intended to kill you or judge you. The very act of Jesus going to the Cross to pay for your sins shows God’s love for you – not His judgment.
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
"If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands" (Judges 13:23).
The burnt offering and meat offering given by Manoah and his wife "at our hands" shows that our sins sent Jesus to the Cross – at our hands. It was our hands, and hearts, and minds – so full of sins – that sent Jesus to the Cross. And God has accepted Christ’s payment on the Cross for your sins. Therefore He will not punish you or kill you if you believe on His Son. The accepted sacrifice of Christ for you puts an end to fear. Believe it! And receive Christ now!
Once for all, O sinner receive it;                                     
Once for all, O sinner, believe it;                             
Cling to the Cross, the burden will fall,                              
Christ hath redeemed us once for all.                           
          ("Once For All," by Philip P. Bliss, 1838-1876).

III. But, going on a little further, the doctrines of salvation show that God
         does not wish to destroy you.

"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 shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these" (Judges 13:23).
God has showed us such things as our election, our adoption, our union with Christ, our marriage to Him. How can He destroy you after showing you such things? These promises make it necessary for the Lord to preserve you. It is not possible for Him to throw you out, and destroy you, after making such promises.
Take the doctrine of election, for instance. The Bible says you are "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…" (I Peter 1:2). God foreknew you! You are therefore among the elect. And the Bible says:
"Who shall lay anything (who will bring an accusation) to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth" (Romans 8:33).

Election is a very sweet doctrine, which is one of the things God has showed us, that He would not have showed us if He meant to destroy you. Jesus said:

"As thou hast given him (Jesus) power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou (God) hast given him" (John 17:2).

Your life is eternal because you are elect, chosen by Jesus.

"If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not…have shewed us…such things as these" (Judges 13:23).
Then the Lord has showed us the doctrine of adoption:
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Galatians 4:4-5).
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God" (I John 3:2).

How marvelous! Now we are the sons and daughters of God! We are God’s children by adoption by one look at the Saviour!

"If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not…have shewed us…such things as these" (Judges 13:23).
Union with Christ is another great thing God has showed us. Jesus prayed,
"That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them (Christians), and I in them" (John 17:26).

This is the doctrine of union with Christ.

"But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit"             
      (I Corinthians 6:17).

Joined to the Lord! Married to Christ!

"For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:29-32).

As a man loves his wife, so Jesus loves you. As a man is joined to his wife in marriage, so Jesus is joined to you:

"If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not…have shewed us…such things as these" (Judges 13:23).
Also, He has said that He would preserve us.
"To them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called" (Jude 1).

I was reading these words in Jude the very moment that the phone rang and the doctor told me my mother had just died. I put those words on her gravestone, "preserved in Jesus Christ."

Isn’t that a wonderful promise? And why would the Lord have given such a promise if He meant to destroy you? No! You are preserved unto the coming of Christ! You are preserved unto the rapture!
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (shall not precede) them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (I Thessalonians 4:14-18).
Why would the Lord have given you these words of comfort and triumph if He meant to slay you? Why would He promise you the rapture if He wanted to damn you?
"The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand…I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish" (John 10:28-29,28).
"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 shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these" (Judges 13:23).
The God of the Bible loves you. The sacrifice of Christ on the Cross has made full payment for your sins. The promises of the Bible are loaded with blessings for you.
Why should you die? Why should you spend eternity in Hell? Take a look, just for a moment, at Jesus. Look to Him slightly. Look to Him dimly. Look to Him falteringly – and all is yours!
"Look unto me, and be ye saved" (Isaiah 45:22).
"To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).
If you from sin are longing to be free,                              
     Look to the Lamb of God;                              
He, to redeem you, died on Calvary,                              
     Look to the Lamb of God.                              
Look to the Lamb of God, Look to the Lamb of God,              
For He alone is able to save you, Look to the Lamb of God.
                       ("Look to the Lamb of God, by H. G. Jackson, 19th century)

Scripture Read Before Sermon: Judges 13:1-24.

Solo by Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: "Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness"

                                    by Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760)/

                                "There Is a Fountain"

                                    by William Cowper (1731-1800).

 

You can read Dr. Hymers' sermons each week on the Internet

at www.rlhymersjr.com. Click on "Sermon Manuscripts."

THE OUTLINE OF

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM MANOAH’S WIFE

by Dr. R. L. Hymers, Jr.

"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 shewed us all these things,
nor would as at this time have told us such things as
these" (Judges 13:23).

       

    1. The God of the Bible does not wish to destroy you,                
      John 3:16; I John 4:16; I John 4:19; II Corinthians 13:11;               
      John 3:17; Jeremiah 31:3.
    2. The accepted sacrifice of Christ for you puts an end to fear,           
      Leviticus 1:3-6; Leviticus 2:1,9; Hebrews 9:11-12,28;                 
      John 3:16.
    3. The doctrines of salvation show that God does not wish to             
      destroy you, I Peter 1:2; Romans 8:33; John 17:2; Galatians 4:4-5;
      I John 3:2; John 17:26; I Corinthians 6:17; Ephesians 5:29-32; 
      Jude 1; I Thessalonians 4:14-18; II Peter 3:9; John 10:28-29;
      Isaiah 45:22; Romans 3:26.