Pursued By Grace
Today, we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Judges. We’re calling this series Broken Saviors, and it’s about how everybody needs a savior at some point in life. Sometimes we face situations in life that are beyond our control, and we need a savior to save us. The problem is we’re often turning to things or pursuing things that are broken saviors, instead of real saviors. If you’re a skeptic, you’re most likely pursuing all kinds of things in life, trying to find something to save you, transform you, give you satisfaction and purpose in life. You’re most likely pursuing all kinds of things, trying to find something to fill the joy void in your heart, but nothing ever does because you’re pursuing broken saviors, instead of a real savior.
If you’re a believer, you already know Jesus is a real savior, but you sometimes drift to pursuing broken saviors like a skeptic. You sometimes drift to pursuing other things more than Jesus, and that’s when you start feeling a joy void in your heart like a skeptic. So the problem for both skeptics and believers is we’re often pursuing broken saviors, instead of the real savior. But the good news is Jesus is a real savior who still pursues us to offer salvation and daily restoration in him, even though we’re often pursuing broken saviors instead of him. He’s a real savior who still pursues us, even though we aren’t always pursuing him, and that’s what we’re talking about today. So let’s turn to Judges 12 and get into it. If you open the bible to the middle and keep turning left, you’ll find the book of Judges. We’ll be in Judges Ch. 12:8-13:25. The title of today’s message is Pursued by grace, and the big idea of the message is Jesus still pursues us, even though we aren’t always pursuing him...Jesus still pursues us, even though we aren’t always pursuing him...
Here’s your context. The book of Judges records the historical events that took place after the Israelites were freed from Egyptian slavery and entered the Promised Land. They were supposed to live and be faithful to the Lord in the Promised Land, but they started being unfaithful to the Lord. They started going through a continual cycle of sin, suffering, and crying out to the Lord for salvation. So the Lord raises up some judges, some leaders to save them, but they’re all broken saviors, including Samson who we’re about to study today. We’ll be studying Samson for the next two weeks, and this week we’ll learn the Israelites stopped crying out to the Lord for help. They stopped pursuing the Lord, but the Lord never stopped pursuing them. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Vs. 8, “Ibzan, who was from Bethlehem, judged Israel after Jephthah, 9 and had thirty sons. He gave his thirty daughters in marriage to men outside the tribe, and brought back thirty wives for his sons from outside the tribe. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years, 10 and when he died, he was buried in Bethlehem. 11 Elon, who was from Zebulun, judged Israel after Ibzan. He judged Israel for ten years, 12 and when he died, he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. 13 After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, who was from Pirathon, judged Israel. 14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. Abdon judged Israel for eight years, 15 and when he died, he was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.” Okay last week we learned about a judge named Jephthah, and after he died the Israelites had 3 more judges named Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. We know very little about these judges, because their entire 25 yrs of combined leadership is summarized in only a few verses. These verses are written like a short obituary, where we’re told they had many sons, daughters, and wealth. Most scholars agree the focus is primarily on them building their own dynasties. The reason they had many wives was to have many children to grow their dynasties. So there’s a lot of talk about their dynasties, but zero talk about God. In fact there isn’t a single verse saying anything about these judges or the Israelites pursuing, praying, worshiping, or crying out to God for deliverance like in the past. It’s because these judges and the Israelites stopped pursuing God, which leads to more sin and suffering.
Ch. 13:1 states, “The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight. So the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.” It’s the same cycle happening all over again. The Israelites again did what was evil. They stopped pursuing God, they stopped worshiping God, and started worshiping other broken saviors and gods, which leads to more sin and suffering in their lives. The text says the Lord allowed them to be handed over to the Philistines, to suffer oppression from the Philistines for 40 yrs! They stopped pursuing the Lord, and so at this point in history the Lord gives them what they wanted, which is life without him. They didn’t want to go through life with him, so he let them experience what life is like without him. Sometimes the Lord does this same thing with us. If we don’t want to go through life with him, he’ll sometimes let us experience what life is like without him. If we stop pursuing him, he’ll sometimes let us experience hardship in life so we’ll wake up and realize how much we really need him. So we’ll wake up and realize we need to start pursuing him again, which is exactly what’s happening with the Israelites. They stopped pursuing the Lord, and it led to their suffering. But the good news is the Lord doesn’t stop loving and pursuing them, even though they stopped loving and pursuing him.
Vs. 2, “There was a certain man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, ‘Although you’re unable to conceive, you’ll conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Be careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean; 5 for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.’” What’s happening here is the Lord sends an angelic messenger, and the message is clear. It’s that he hasn’t stopped loving and pursuing the Israelites, even though they’ve stopped loving and pursuing him. He’s promising to send them another judge to help deliver them, which we’ll later learn is Samson. The text says his parents are to raise him to be a Nazirite, and the Nazirite vow was a voluntary choice people would make for a limited time. They would dedicate their lives to deeply pursuing the Lord, and they would make a vow to not cut their hair, not drink any alcohol, and not touch dead bodies. The vow about not touching dead bodies was a way to imitate being ceremonially clean like the priests working daily in the tabernacle. The Nazirites vowed to remain ceremonially clean, while seeking to live in the presence of the Lord daily like the priests. So the Israelites stopped pursuing the Lord, but Samson’s being set apart from birth to pursue the Lord as a Nazirite.
Now there are two important things I want you to notice in these verses, and the 1st thing is that there still isn’t anything in the text saying the Israelites repented, cried out to the Lord for help, or started pursuing the Lord again like they did in the past. So it’s still the Lord who’s loving and pursuing them, even though they aren’t loving and pursuing him. It’s still the Lord who’s bringing salvation to them, instead of them bringing salvation to themselves. The 2nd thing is vs. 5 says Samson will begin to save Israel. The implication is that he’ll start to save Israel, but he won’t be able to finish saving Israel. It’s because Samson will eventually sin, he’ll eventually become just another broken savior, which means Israel will need an even greater savior than Samson.
Again vs. 5, “‘The boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.’ 6 Then the woman went and told her husband, ‘A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring angel of God...7 He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son...the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.’ 8 Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Please Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.’” This is the first time in ch. 13 that we’re seeing somebody pursuing the Lord, and it comes after the Lord brings hope into the lives of Manoah and his wife. Manoah starts pursuing the Lord in prayer. The text says he prayed to the Lord, and he’s specifically praying for the Lord to send the angelic messenger again so he can get more details on what they should do for Samson. In vs. 9-16 the Lord graciously grants his request, but the angelic messenger doesn’t give them any more details than what’s already been given.
Vs. 17, “Then Manoah said to the angel, ‘What’s your name, so we may honor you when your words come true?’ 18 ‘Why do you ask my name,’ the angel of the Lord asked him, ‘since it’s beyond understanding?’” The reason Manoah asks for this angelic messenger’s name, is because he’s still pushing for more details. He’s trying to figure out who this angelic messenger is and what his divine purpose is. See names had a lot more meaning in their culture compared to ours. In their culture, they didn’t choose names because they sounded beautiful or because they didn’t want their kids being made fun of. If that were the case we wouldn’t have names in the bible like Methuselah or Mahershalalhashbaz (Maher-Shallal-Hash-Baz.). If you want your kids being made fun of in our culture, then give them the names Methuselah or Maher-shalal-hash-baz. But in their culture, those names had a lot more meaning. For example in Genesis 5 we learn Methuselah is the oldest man in the bible, he's Noah’s grandfather, and his name means man of the spear. In Isaiah 8 we learn Maher-shalal-hash-baz is the longest name in the bible, he’s the son of Isaiah, and his name means swift is the booty, or swift is the plunder...So names had a lot more meaning in their culture compared to ours. They often represented where a person was from and what their divine purpose was in life, which is exactly why Manoah is trying to get this angelic messenger’s name! He’s trying to get more details about who this angelic messenger is and what his divine purpose is. But the angelic messenger won’t tell Manoah his name, because it’s beyond understanding. A better translation of the original Hebrew is that his name is too wonderful to understand. In other words his name is so wonderful, it’s filled with so much meaning and significance, that humans can’t comprehend it. Manoah’s asking for answers to something his human mind can’t comprehend.
But we do that same thing! We sometimes ask God for answers to things our human minds can’t comprehend. We sometimes ask God questions and expect answers, but he doesn’t give us answers because we can’t possibly comprehend the thousands of details involved in his answers. In the words of John Piper, “God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may only be aware of three of them.” City Awakening you need to remember that no matter what you’re going through in life, God is always doing 10,000 things in your life you can’t see or fully comprehend. So the question isn’t is God doing something in your life, it’s are you willing to trust God with the details of your life?...Are you willing to trust God, even if you don’t have all the answers to the things he’s doing in your life?...If you’re waiting for God to give you all the answers to your questions before finally trusting him, then you’ll never trust him. It’s because there are some answers God won’t give you since your human mind can’t comprehend it...Manoah wanted more answers, and when he didn’t get it he had to make a decision. Will he trust God and God’s plans for his life, even if he doesn’t have all the answers to God’s plans?...In vs. 19-23 we learn he does, because he makes a grain offering to God, as a way of thanking, honoring, and worshiping God. They’re trusting God and his plans for their lives, even though they don’t have all the answers.
Vs. 24, “So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.” So Manoah and his wife have a son, they named him Samson, and like I said before names had a lot of meaning in their culture. So what does Samson’s name mean? It means Little Sun. That’s S-U-N, not S-O-N. They named him Samson, which means Little Sun. Simply put, they named him after a Canaanite god. The Canaanites believed in a Sun god, and so they’re basically naming him after the Canaanite Sun god, which shows that Manoah and his wife eventually started pursuing other gods again. But in vs. 25 we learn the Spirit of the Lord began to stir in Samson’s heart, which means the Lord kept his promise to begin saving the Israelites. It means God kept loving and pursuing them, even though they stopped loving and pursuing him.
Now next we’ll learn that Samson eventually becomes just another broken savior. We’ll learn he eventually compromises on his faith, breaks his Nazirite vow to feed his sinful desires, and his sinful failures are another reminder that we need to be pursuing a greater savior than the broken saviors we’re pursuing. Jesus is that greater savior we need to be pursuing, and he will one day finish the salvation work that Samson couldn’t finish. Just like the birth of Samson was announced by an angel, the birth of Jesus was announced by an angel. Just like the birth of Samson was a miraculous birth through a barren woman, the birth of Jesus was a miraculous incarnate birth through a virgin woman. Just like vs. 5 said Samson would begin saving Israel from the Philistines, Jesus would come to die for our sins on the cross to begin saving people from every nation, tribe, and tongue from Satan, sin, and death. But the major difference between Samson and Jesus, is that Jesus will always finish what he started. Samson couldn’t finish the saving work he began, but the resurrection of Jesus proves he’ll always finish the saving work he began.
The big idea of the message is that Jesus still pursues us, even though we aren’t always pursuing him...Judges Ch. 13 is a reminder that we need to keep loving and pursuing the God who loved and pursued us so much, that he was willing to die for us. Romans 5:8 says, “God proves his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”He didn’t die for us because we were pursuing him like saints; he died for us because we weren’t pursuing him like sinners. If you’re a believer, you need to remember if he was willing to love and pursue you to the point of his death, then he’s still willing to love and pursue you here today in the mess of your life. If you’re a skeptic, put your faith in Jesus today and stop waiting for all the answers. You’ll never have all the answers, because you’ll never have answers to the things your limited mind can’t comprehend.
What the Lord said to Manoah and his wife through the angelic messenger back then, is the same thing he’s saying to all of us today. He’s saying, “You want answers, but I want your trust...You want answers and details about what’s happening in your life, but I want your trust...I want you to trust that I’m still your wonderful counselor and savior, even on the days when you aren’t feeling wonderful or you don’t get the answers to the 10,000 things I’m doing in your life.” You want answers, but Jesus wants your trust. He wants you to trust him, love him, pursue a deeper relationship with him. Jesus loves you so much, he wants to pursue a deeper relationship with you so much, that he was willing to die on the cross for you. So the question isn’t is Jesus willing to love and pursue you, it’s are you willing to love and pursue Jesus?...Are you willing to turn away from the broken saviors you’ve been pursuing and trust Jesus as your real savior, even on the days when you don’t have all the answers to the 10,000 things he’s doing in your life?...Let’s pray...