The One Who Works Wonders

Good morning.

My name's Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here.

And we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good.

They don't need God's grace.

And no one's so bad that they can't have it,

which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word.

We're continuing our series in the book of Judges,

and you'll remember that the book of Judges is about a number of things.

It's about the need for constant renewal and revival among God's people.

It's about the need for a true and faithful king,

a king who can do what no human can do,

which is to change the hearts of men.

It's about the power of spirit-filled leadership,

and it's about God's mercy to hard-hearted people,

people like you and me.

Last time we were in Judges, we finished the story of Jethwa,

and you'll remember that it did not end well.

There was disunity among God's people,

so much so that they were fighting and killing one another.

This morning we move on to the story of the judge Samson.

Samson's going to be the last judge we encounter in Judges,

and so we've made it quite some time.

And you'll remember our principle,

the main principle I've been pressing home in interpreting Judges,

comes from chapter 2, verse 19,

which tells us each generation was more corrupt than the one before them.

And so we see this constant downward trajectory or this spiral.

So the very first judge, I told you,

Othniel was the best judge of all time.

Samson, the last judge, the worst judge of all time.

And so things are getting worse and worse in Israel,

if that can be believed,

that they're even worse than under the judge Jethwa.

But in fact, that is the case.

And after we end the story of Samson,

we will see Israel continue in decline.

And so our question this morning as we come to Judges chapter 13 is very simple.

Judges 13 · chapter mention

What is our hope when it appears that the lights have gone out?

What is our hope when it appears that people have forgotten God completely?

What is our hope in our lives when we look and we see tragedy and devastation behind us?

Not just because of what other people have done,

but because of what we have done as well.

So with that, I invite you to turn with me to Judges chapter 13.

Judges 13 · chapter mention

You can turn in your Bible.

You can turn on your phone.

You can turn in your worship guide.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's word.

Proverbs chapter 30 tells us every word of God proves true.

Proverbs 30 · chapter mention

He's a shield to those who take refuge in him.

And so that's why we read now Judges chapter 13, starting at verse 1.

Judges 13 · chapter mention

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 40 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 hand 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 Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.

Verse 8.

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 the Lord 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 arose 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.

Verse 12.

And Manoah said, Now when your words come true,

what is to be the 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 of anything that comes from the vine,

neither let her drink wine or strong drink,

or eat any unclean thing.

All that I commanded her, let her observe.

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 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 it is wonderful?

So Manoah took the young goat with a 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.

Verse 21.

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.

Verse 23.

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 announced to us such things as these.

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 Mahanadan, between Zorah and Eshtel.

I invite you to pray with me

as we come to this portion of God's Word.

Our Father in heaven,

we do thank you one more time

that you have spoken to us.

You haven't left us to figure things out on our own,

or to stumble around,

but instead you've given us your Word

to guide us and direct us.

We thank you that it does more than that.

It doesn't just guide and direct,

but it shows us your Son and our Savior,

our Lord Jesus,

who died for us even when we were still sinners.

It shows us your grace and your mercy,

which we have not earned,

and we do not deserve.

And we ask that you would remind us

of those things this morning,

that we would see them in a fresh way.

We'd believe them more than before.

We'd live with greater hope.

We thank you that we don't have to worry

about whether we've earned these things

or deserve them.

We know that we don't, and we haven't.

And so we simply ask for them

in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

If you've been with us through the book of Judges,

I hope that you recognize the very first phrase

that begins this chapter.

It tells us,

and the people of Israel again

did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

And this is the phrase that begins

basically every section.

It's what we saw that began the story of Jethpah

in Judges chapter 10.

Judges 10 · chapter mention

It's the same phrase that began the story of Gideon.

It's the phrase that began the story of Deborah

in chapter four, and then Ehud and Othniel.

We see the same thing,

that there is this pattern in the book of Judges.

And so hopefully you're getting used to it at this point,

that the same things occur over and over.

We find out also in verse one, what does the Lord do?

The same thing he does every time, right?

When they turn away from him,

he gives them into the hand of a foreign country.

This time it's into the hand of the Philistines.

We get a hint though,

that something is worse than before

because it is not like last time.

Remember when they're in the hands of the Ammonites,

it's for 18 years.

This time we get more than twice that.

They are oppressed for 40 years.

And so we've seen this before.

It might be tempting for us to go into autopilot

as we read chapter 13.

Okay, here's another judge and another cycle.

We know what has happened before.

We know what's going to happen this time.

Except suddenly there's a disruption.

There is a deafening silence that we should feel here.

There is something that has happened every other time

that does not happen this time.

There is something that God's people always do

that they don't do.

There is something missing between verse one and verse two.

The people of Israel do not cry out to God.

The people of Israel do not repent.

The author of Judges is telling us this.

Israel is closer to death than ever before.

Israel has become so bad

that she doesn't even need no to cry out to God for mercy.

Israel has become so twisted in her view

and understanding of the world

that it feels normal at this point

to have a foreign oppressor.

Of course the Philistines are over us.

That's just how life is.

Of course we live among a pagan nation.

That's just how things go.

Israel has finally come to the point

where she is inoculated

against the presence of foreign rulers and foreign gods.

This is normal, right?

This is just the way it should be.

It's been this way for years in the past.

It'll be this way for years in the future.

This is the pattern that I've told you about all along.

Judges chapter two, verse 19 tells us

every generation is getting worse.

Every generation, the phrase is,

is more corrupt than the generation before.

They refuse to give up the ways of their fathers.

Things in Israel are very bad.

Israel doesn't just need help.

Israel really needs help.

Israel is not just wicked.

Israel is really wicked.

Israel is not just gone.

She is real far gone.

And it's not because of the Philistines.

That's not the ultimate problem.

The ultimate problem is that Israel has forgotten her God.

The ultimate problem is that they are removed from reality

more than ever before.

It's with that missing section there

that we come to verse two

and we find out there is not just a problem

for the people and nation of Israel.

There's also a problem being faced

by this particular couple.

Manoah and his wife have a challenge.

And the challenge is that they are not able

to have children.

And we might think this is somehow a coincidence,

but in fact, these two things are meant to go together.

The problem of Israel

and the problem of Manoah and his wife

are intertwined with one another.

You'll see this on page nine of your worship guide.

Just as Israel was helpless and hopeless,

so were Manoah and his wife.

Hopeless nation, hopeless couple.

Not a coincidence.

And so that returns us to our question,

what does God do?

What is our hope when it appears

that the lights have been turned off?

What is our hope when things are so bad

that Israel does not even know

that she needs to cry out to God?

Well, again, we see these two things

going side by side, hand in hand.

Verse three,

the angel of the Lord appears to Manoah's wife

and says,

behold, you are barren

and have not born children,

but you shall conceive and bear a son.

Okay, great.

That's a solution to the problem

of Manoah and his wife.

What's the solution to the problem

of the people of Israel?

Well, it turns out they are one and the same.

Verse five,

this son's going to be a Nazarite

and he shall begin to save Israel

from the hand of the Philistines.

What God does for Manoah and his wife

is the same thing he's going to do for Israel.

He is going to bring hope

where there is no hope.

He is going to bring new life

where there is despair.

He's going to bring literal life

to literal barrenness.

He's going to bring spiritual life

to spiritual barrenness.

Now you'll note here in verses five and seven,

we're told that this son

who's going to come as the solution

to both problems

is going to be a Nazarite.

We're not going to talk a lot this morning

about what it means to be a Nazarite

because we have a lot of other things to discuss,

but it is going to become

incredibly important next week.

So just remember a couple things.

If someone is a Nazarite,

they are set apart to God

in a special way

for a time of focus and dedication.

And there are three rules

that they need to keep.

Those are laid out here.

They should not touch alcohol,

can't cut their hair,

can't touch dead bodies.

Okay, just remember that.

That's going to become incredibly important

in chapter 14

and chapter 15 and 16 as well.

So we have this situation of barrenness.

There's despair for Manoah and his wife

and also for the people of Israel.

God comes in in the midst of that.

He intervenes.

He brings life into those situations.

And then we're presented

with the rest of this narrative,

which appears to be

simply a comedy of errors.

Verses 8 through 14,

Manoah is not happy,

it appears,

that the angel appeared to the wife,

but not to him.

And so he starts praying to God like,

hey, I want the angel to come back to us.

So Manoah wants his own word.

He wants to speak directly with the angel.

And the angel,

it says God answers his prayer,

but either God or the angel or both

seem to troll Manoah a little bit here.

He says, I want the angel to come to us.

God says, fine.

He sends the angel to his wife again.

Manoah is cut out.

And so then she has to run to Manoah

and get him.

And he comes and he says,

look, I want all this new information.

Tell me about the mission.

Tell me how we're supposed to raise the kid.

And what does the angel do?

He just repeats the exact same information over again.

Manoah wants new things.

He gets the same things all over again.

He seems to maybe have missed something

in his wife's communication.

The only time that's happened

in the history of the world.

He's asked in verse 12,

what is this kid's mission supposed to be?

Well, we've already been told in verse five,

his mission is to begin to save Israel.

And so at the very best,

Manoah seems to be very confused.

He goes on to be afraid at the very end

that they're actually going to die,

that God's going to kill them

because they've seen his presence.

And his wife has to step in and remind him,

this is verse 23,

actually, honey, that doesn't make sense.

If God killed us, we couldn't have the kid.

Okay, so these things are not adding up here.

In the midst of that,

Manoah decides it's time for him

to offer this young goat as an offering.

And there's all kinds of debate

about what is Manoah trying to do here?

Is he simply offering hospitality

because he's in the ancient Near East?

Is he trying to exercise

some sort of power play over the angels

so he can get the upper hand in the situation?

Whatever he is trying to do,

we know this.

Manoah is very confused.

Manoah is unclear on what's happening.

He doesn't even realize who this figure is

that he's speaking to.

He doesn't know that it's a representative

of God himself.

And so everything really that's happening

in this section can be summarized.

Verse 18,

Manoah asks the angel for his name

and the angel says,

why do you ask my name

seeing it is wonderful?

In other words,

not only do you not know what's going on,

but even if I were to explain it,

you would be confused.

This is way out of your league, Manoah.

What is happening is above your pay grade.

Okay?

You can ask my name,

but there's no point.

This is wonderful.

This is more than you can wrap your head around.

This is more than you are set up

to comprehend and understand.

And so in the midst of all of this confusion

and running around and drama

and comedy of errors between Manoah and his wife,

underlying all of the details is this.

Israel, Manoah, Manoah's wife,

can thank no one but God.

They are clearly not smart enough,

competent enough, or good enough

to deserve any of this.

No, in the midst of Israel's rebellion,

in the midst of her inoculation

against foreign-occupied,

God comes in and saves them.

And so as we look at all these details

and these stories, we see this.

They are not smart enough or clever enough

to figure things out on their own.

The point of the story is not Samson.

The point of the story is not Manoah.

The point of the story is not the angel

or Manoah's wife.

The point is this.

Israel may have forgotten God.

God has not forgotten Israel.

In the midst of rebellion and dysfunction

and sin and confusion,

God is still at work.

Doesn't mean that there aren't consequences

for what Israel's done.

It doesn't mean they're not going to suffer

for their rebellion and mistakes.

Doesn't mean that their disobedience

doesn't hurt them, right?

We've seen it.

We've seen the sobering effects of sin.

We saw it in the story of Jethro.

As we've gone through the book of Judges,

we have seen the warnings are many

and the consequences are real.

And so I'm not saying this morning

that sin doesn't matter.

What I am saying is this.

There is still hope.

God never gives up on his people.

In fact, we already sang it this morning.

Because of his great love,

we are not overcome.

That brings us back to our question.

What is our hope when it appears

that the light has gone out?

What is Israel's hope when she has forgotten

even to cry out to God for hope and help?

And our hope is simply this.

God does not give up on his people.

God does not give up on us.

Even if it means life support,

God is still there.

God does not give up on us.

God does not give up on us.

What is our hope when it appears

that the light has gone out?

Our hope is that it only appears.

In the midst of sin and apostasy

and rebellion and confusion,

the sun still rises.

The sun still rises.

Brothers and sisters,

the same is true for us and our sin

if we love and follow and trust Jesus.

God still brings hope

to hopeless situations.

God still brings life

to barren places.

You might look at your own life

and think about your ongoing battle against sin,

things that you have said

and you can't take back.

People you've hurt,

addictions that you've entertained

and coddled.

And the Bible says this,

if you are still alive,

the story is not over.

If you are still alive,

God is at work.

If you're still alive,

there is still hope.

You might be a parent

and look back

at your numerous failures.

And this passage reminds us

that God is more powerful

than your mistakes.

His arm is not too short to save.

Those things do not have the last word.

You might look at the disappointments,

perhaps betrayal,

that you've experienced

in your marriage

and wonder if it's all over.

And the truth is this,

God has not abandoned you.

We might look at the church broadly

and around the world

filled with confusion

and division

and disagreement

and error.

God is still at work

redeeming a people

for himself.

You might look,

not at the church around the world,

you might look at this particular church,

Cheyenne Mountain,

in the midst of our preferences

and disagreements

and failures

and mistakes.

God is still using this church

to bring his kingdom

on earth

as it is in heaven.

God's grace

is greater

than our sin.

And so we're reminded

of the promise

from 1 Corinthians 2,

1 Corinthians 2:9

verse 9.

But as it is written,

what no eye has seen,

nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has prepared

for those

who love him.

someone about a month ago

who is not a Christian

asked me this question.

He said,

what do you think

is going to happen

to our world

in 10 years?

And he was asking me

in light of

all the wild things

that are happening

in politics

and finance,

what's happening

with artificial intelligence,

what's happening

with people being changed

by their phones

and technology

and media.

And part of his question

was like,

are we even going

to be here

in 10 years?

And what I told him

was this.

I said,

as a Christian,

I believe

that God

holds our world

together.

And so I have

sort of this

inherent optimism

that in the midst

of all of these things,

God has not given up

on his world.

And then I told him

the other side

of the coin,

I said,

it's not just

that I have

this great optimism,

it's also this.

I'm confident

that if God

was not holding

us together,

you and I

would not be

having this conversation

because we would

have already

crumbled.

Left to ourselves,

we would have

already destroyed

this world.

So the hope

of Christians

is the same hope

we're reminded of

in Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

God holds

the world together

by the word

of his power.

That we are not

victims of chance

and circumstance.

Yes,

things are bad

in judges.

Things are bad

in this world.

Hope

never

disappears.

God

never

gives up

on his

world.

God's people

may forget

him.

God

never

forgets

his people.

Christian,

God

has not

given up

on you.

That's what

we're told

in verse 19.

Manoah

offers this

offering to the

Lord

to the one

who works

wonders.

The one

who holds

the world

together.

the one

who has

not

forgotten

his people.

The one

whose eyes

are still

on you

when you're

distracted.

The one

whose love

is for you

when you're

worried.

The one

who works

wonders.

Now

this great

hope is

coming to

Israel.

They're

oppressed

by the

Philan.

Samson

is the

worst

judge

of all

the

judges.

Samson

is going

to prove

to be

incredibly

disappointing.

Samson

is ruled

by his

lusts

and his

desires.

Samson

is a

misogynist

who's also

incredibly

violent.

He has

no

self-control.

He seems

to disregard

God's call

on his

life and

the importance

of being

a Nazarite.

And so

as we

go on

here,

our hope

is not

going to

be lifted

up by

Samson.

Yes,

he's going

to be

used by

God.

he is

going

to kill

a lot

of

Philistines.

But we're

also given

a hint

here that

Samson

is not

enough.

Note on

verse 5

what we're

told,

he shall

begin

to save

Israel

from the

hand of

the Philistines.

In other

words,

as God

intervenes

to save

and rescue

his people,

this fallen

and sinful

man will

not be

enough.

Yes,

God has

remembered

Israel and

they will

need something

and someone

much greater

than Samson.

And so

Samson reminds

us once again

of our need

for a true

and faithful

king.

A king who

can do what

no human

can do,

which is to

change the

hearts of

men.

Samson's

birth and

the angel's

visit to

his mother

points us

forward to

another visit

by an

angel to

another

mother.

You may

be wondering

why we

read the

Christmas story

this morning

from Matthew

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1

and that's

the reason

because Samson

tells us

there is

something more

that we

need.

We're told

in verse 5

here he's

going to

begin to

save Israel.

If you go

back on

verse 3

of your

worship guide,

what are we

told about

our Lord

Jesus?

verse 21,

he is not

going to

begin.

She will

bear a

son and

you shall

call his

name Jesus

for he

will save

his people

from their

sins.

Israel

needs

something and

someone greater

than Samson.

They will

not have it

until this

son is

born.

Jesus will

not begin

to save

them.

He will

save them.

He will

not just

start.

He will

also

finish.

That's our

hope as

Christians.

Our hope is

not in

Samson.

Our hope is

in the one

who truly

and really

does hold

the world

together.

What is

our hope

when it

appears that

the lights

have gone

out?

Our hope

is what the

children's

storybook

Bible reminds

us of,

of God's

never stopping,

never giving

up,

unbreaking,

always and

forever love.

Our hope

is what we're

reminded of

in 2

2 Timothy 2:15

Timothy 2

verse 15.

If we

are faithless,

he remains

faithful,

for he

cannot deny

himself.

Let's

pray.

Our

Father in

heaven,

we do

praise you

and thank

you that

we don't

rely on

earthly leaders

and rulers.

That as

they always

disappoint and

fall short,

as they

always only

begin to

save,

we have

great hope

in your

son and

our savior,

our Lord

Jesus,

who doesn't

just begin,

he also

finishes.

We ask

that you

would remind

us of that,

that it

would grow

our hope

and our

faith and

our confidence

in you,

that we

would follow

you with

joy no

matter how

dark our

world seems.

We ask

these things

in the mighty

name of

Jesus Christ.

Amen.