Amen. Well, let's read together from
the Word of God. Reading this morning from Judges
chapter 13, Judges 13. For those online, the words will
come up on screen. And we're reading, of course,
from the King James Bible. Judges chapter 13 Let's hear the
Word of God. Judges 13 actually introduces us
to the life of Samson. Judges 13 verse one.
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the
Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the
Philistines. 40 years. And there was a certain man of
Zora, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah,
and his wife was Baron and Bernard.
And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and
said unto her, Behold now thou art Baron, and bear us not, but
thy shalt conceive and bear a son.
Therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine or strong
drink, and eat not any unclean thing.
For lo, thy shall conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall
come on his head. For the child shall be a
Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God
came unto me, and his countenance was like the
countenance of an Angel of God, very terrible.
But I asked him not whence he was.
Neither told me his name, but he said unto me, Behold, they shall
conceive and bear a son. And now you drink no wine or
strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing, for the child
shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his
death. Then Manoa entreated the Lord,
and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou did send, come
again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that
shall be born. And God hearken to the voice of
Manoah. And the Angel of God came again
unto the woman as she sat in the field.
But Manoah her husband was not with her.
And the woman made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and
said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came
unto me the other day. And Manoah arose and went after
his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the
man that speakest unto the woman?
And he said, I am. And Manoah said, Now let thy
words come to pass. How shall we order the child,
and how shall we do unto him? And the Angel of the Lord said
unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware,
she may not eat of anything that cometh of the vine.
Neither let her drink wine, or strong drink, nor eat any
unclean thing. All that I commanded her, let
her observe. We'll end the reading there at
verse 14, and we pray God will stamp with His own approval and
blessing this reading of His own precious and infallible Word.
Amen. This is Mother's Day, or
Mothering Sunday 2025, and very often in such a Lord's Day as
this, we focus on well known mothers in the Bible.
In the past, we've thought of Eve, we've thought of Jochebe,
we've thought of Sarah, we've thought of Hannah.
But did you know that the Bible often records the faith of
unnamed mothers? And one such character is
revealed here in Judges 13. So my theme today is taken from
our reading Judges 13. My text is found in Judges 13,
verses 2 and five. And for this theme I've entitled
The Portrait of an Unnamed Mother.
Now, I could change the word portrait.
I could put in faith of an unnamed mother.
I could put the word testimony of an unnamed mother.
I want you to imagine with me a small home in a certain village
in the northern part of Israel. Sadly, it's a dark and troubled
land, a land full of rage and violence and much bloodshed.
The whole of the country is in despair.
The people are very poor, but the people are oppressed and
persecuted. Outside, the Philistines rule
with cruel hands. There is much fear, There's lots
of death, there's great despair. But inside a certain home in the
northern part of Israel, a woman kneels at her bedside.
She prays quietly. Tears roll down her cheeks.
She is passionately serious as she pours out her heart to the
Lord. Nobody notices her.
Nobody thinks she matters. Nobody maybe loves her except
her husband. Yet that woman's prayers are
heard in heaven. God is listening, He knows her,
He sees her, His ear is open to her cry.
And amazingly, in free sovereign grace, the Lord comes and meets
with her in that room on a particular given day, and
announces to her, a child will be born unto her who will begin
to deliver Israel. But the promise, of course, of a
deliverer is connected to a life of communion and a life of
consecration unto the Lord. Now that woman is unnamed in
Scripture. She's simply known as the Bible
as Manoah's wife. Look at verse 2.
And there was a certain man of Zoraf, the family of the day
Nights, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was Baron.
And Bear not. I want to encourage you today
because God is still working through mothers whose names the
world may never know. Think of it.
God often works through mothers whose name the world may never
know. Now if you're a mother, this
morning here is wonderful encouragement.
God works through ordinary unnoticed mothers, unnamed
mothers, to accomplish great things.
Now, 4 things this morning. One, the salvation of this
unnamed mother. Listen to verses one to three
again. And the children of Israel did
evil again in the sight of the Lord, And the Lord delivered
them into the hand of the Philistines 40 years.
And there was a certain man of Zora, of the family of the
Dayanites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was Baron,
And she bare not. And the Angel of the Lord
appeared unto the woman and said unto her, You see, sadly, the
children of Israel are once to gain in the dark cycle of sin
and judgement and oppression. The whole book of Judges.
Let me summarise it for you. Rebellion against God, Israel
sins. This leads to ruination.
God judges them, and that judgement leads to retribution.
And part of that retribution is part of the punishment for their
sin, is that the Lord delivered them into the hand of the
Philistines. The Philistines, of course, came
up from Gaza and notice it says 40 years.
There's the time frame, a whole generation, a long time.
And then of course, there is repentance.
A remnant begin to cry out to God earnestly and passionately.
They seek God. They asked him to forgive their
sin. And then of course, in grace,
God raises up a deliverer and that leads to their redemption
and their restoration. And that's the story of the book
of Judges. It's all about rebellion and
ruination and retribution and repentance and redemption and
restoration. They look with me at verse 3
very carefully, and the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the
woman. The word and is a conjunction.
It joins up to what we have already heard.
The word appeared, means manifested, revealed himself.
Now notice this, it says, and the Angel of the Lord appeared
unto the woman. You see, God's grace doesn't
begin with a man's cry. God's grace begins with God's
own sovereign initiative. Even in the worst of times, God
is at work. And God is preparing at this
point in their history a deliverer, and that deliverers
are ready in the heart and mind of God.
Samson was chosen of the Lord long before his mother asked for
a Saviour. Remember what we read in the
book of Romans in Romans chapter 5 and in the verse 8?
It says there, But God commanded his love toward us, and while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
John 3 and 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth an end should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
See God's salvation doesn't begin with a man seeking God.
It begins with God in sovereign grace coming to the man, God
seeking individuals, God redeeming individuals.
And I want you to think this morning of God at work.
I want you to think of the heart and life of Manoah's wife,
because I believe God was working.
I believe God was carrying out his covenant work.
And God's covenant work usually begins in a quiet space in the
corner of a house, doesn't really begin in the battlefield,
doesn't begin in the palace in this instant, I believe it
begins with a converted woman, a woman with the fear of God, a
woman who believes in the fact we have none to help us but God
himself is not what the great cry of David was in Psalm 124A
tremendous Psalm, he tells us there in Psalm 124.
Let me just quoted directly Psalm 124 and in the verse one,
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel
say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when man
rose up against us. See, this was a saved woman, an
Old Testament believer, one of the Saints of God, a woman
filled with the fear of God, a woman in fellowship with God.
It tells us here in verse 2. And his wife was barren, and
bear not. And the Angel of the Lord
appeared unto the woman and said unto her, notice she's unnamed.
Notice that she's barren. Notice that she's living in
terrible times. And yet this was the woman who
had an experience and an encounter with the God of
heaven. An ordinary woman.
A woman overlooked, a woman undervalued.
And isn't it sweet that how often the Lord works through
women, that the world overlooks the woman whom the world
undervalues? We could think of Hagar.
We could think of Hannah. We could think of Elizabeth.
So I'm going to ask mothers, do you feel overlooked today?
Do you feel undervalued? Do you feel under stress in the
home and in the school and in the workplace and maybe even in
church? Well, if you are and you just
feel I'm an ordinary woman, but I'm overlooked, yes.
And I'm undervalued, yes, And I'm under stress, yes.
But I want to ask you this question.
Are you saved this morning? Do you know and love Jesus
Christ? Are you living in fear of Him?
Are you living in fellowship and communion with Him?
Do you know Him? Do you do you trust Him?
Are you trusting in one who's your Redeemer?
One who's the builder of your family?
One who's the provider for you, who loves you and knows you and
cares for you? One who's your protector?
One who's like a a leader to you?
One who's a ruler over you. You see, that's the key to a
life of power and victory. That's the key to a life of
blessing. When you live a life of
dependence and a life of delight unto the Lord, then the Lord is
your Redeemer, your builder, your provider, your leader, your
ruler. Remember Matthew 6 and 33 says,
But seek ye first, the Kingdom of God, His righteousness shall
be out unto you. The problem is that many women
in Ulster this morning are not putting the Lord first.
They're not seeking the Kingdom of God for themselves and their
family. They, they, they, they, they
know nothing of God's righteousness.
They live for time and trinkets, things of the world.
Think of the salvation of this room very quickly.
Think of the supplication of this unnoticed mother.
I believe that Menorah's wife was a woman of prayer.
Not just a woman of faith in God, in the true and living God,
and dark and difficult days, but also out of that faith she was a
woman of prayer. Notice this.
Who did the Angel of the Lord appear to unto the woman?
Who did the Angel of the Lord speak to?
1st it says and said unto her, Isn't it striking?
That's a woman unnamed, a barren woman.
The Angel said, Behold now the word barren and bear us not and
notice as well. I've no doubt that she probably
wanted a child. She was living in terrible
times, and yet God saw her, God heard her, God knew her, God
came to her, and God revealed himself unto her.
I put it to you this morning that this was a praying woman.
I believe that's at least the inference here.
This woman is pleading the promise of God.
This woman is faith in God. 40 years of fear and oppression and
despair and just trusting in God and in his provinces, even in a
dark and difficult, impossible situation, to raise up a
deliverer to bring about change. Let me ask you mummies.
Let me ask you young ladies this morning.
They're listening online, maybe planning to get married in a
short while in the future. You profess to be saved, and
that's tremendous. I'm not asking you.
Are you only saved? I'm asking you, are you also
woman of prayer? Do you believe the promises of
God? Do you pray over those promises?
Second Corinthians 1 and 20, it says yay and all the promises of
God and hammer yay and Amen. There's 7300 promises in the
book, according to Herbert Luckier.
And you can stand in those promises, and you can plead
those promises, and you can cry out to the Lord.
Yes, the days are dark. Yes, we're living in terrible
times of depravity and sin and iniquity.
But where's the woman for prayer?
Now I know it's important that we thank God for men who preach
the Word of God. We thank God for missionaries
who are sent them into different parts of the world, leaders who
serve and take it seriously. But I believe that behind the
man who preached the word behind the missionaries, behind the the
godly leaders are praying mothers, mothers who have a
burden to call on the Lord. And I asked mummies, have you
got such a burden for yourself, for your country and your
family? Let me illustrate very quickly,
Spurgeon said. I cannot tell how much I owe to
the solemn words of my good mother.
He testified that her prayers followed him everywhere he went,
even when he was trying to get away from them as a young boy.
Do you know that in the early church there was a brilliant
young man called Augustine of Hippo?
And for years he rejected the Bible.
For years he refused to believe in Christianity.
He lived a sinful life. His motto was wine and woman.
His mother was called Monica and she prayed for him.
She wept. She pleaded with God.
She asked the Lord to save him. Now, mummies, are you doing that
for your children? Yes, the children have gone AWOL
from God. Yes, the children and the young
people have to face this. In the Free Presbyterian Church,
many young people are growing up with little fear or thought of
God. And in the Sabbath day, they're
not in the House of God. They're not with you as you come
to worship. Why?
As part of the reason because we have failed to pray, is it
because there's been a lack of prayer?
Oh yes. It's easy to sigh and despair.
Wish all were different. But this woman in her day of
darkness and difficulty went to God.
She kneeled in prayer and she cried out help Lord.
You see, that's what Monica did in the 4th century.
And one day her boy was in Milan.
He was at a friend's house. He was there for a garden party.
There was girls, of course, in wine.
He became sleepy, probably like a drunken stupor, in the next
garden. And he couldn't see anybody, but
he could hear children. They were playing.
They were playing a game. And this is what they were
playing. Take and read, Take and read.
And in his stupor he woke up and he could hear these words.
Take and read, take and read. And somehow there was an urge
come in his heart to find a Bible.
And he found the Bible and he just opened it and he opened it
randomly and this is where he opened it at.
He opened it at Romans chapter 13.
And this is what he read. And that knowing the time that
now it is high time to wake out of sleep.
For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed the night
is far. Spent the days at hand.
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, let us put on
the armour of light, Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not
in striving and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the
lusts thereof. And immediately he was convicted
and he became convinced of his need for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he was converted and and he was changed.
And afterwards he became one of the most influential theologians
in the history of the early church.
And this is what he said. Now listen to me carefully.
This was Augustine of Hippo's testimony for his mother.
My mother wept for me more than mothers wept for the death of
our children. Now, death's a terrible thing,
and a lot in here have experienced death, myself
included, in recent times. But you think of the death of a
child in the home. You you think of Mrs Clark and
the death of her son. You think of the McVeigh home on
the death of their son on Christmas Eve.
Now think of the death of our children, not physically but
spiritually. And this is what she said.
Augustine said. My mother wept for me more than
mother's weep for the death of their children.
I want to tell you this morning the land of Ulster is poorer.
Why? Because we're without hundreds
of praying mothers. Mothers, I urge you to go to the
prayer meeting. Mothers, I urge you to pray at
home. You, you, you.
Think of the the woman and the mothers in the prayer meeting,
crying unto God at private and in public times.
Think of the two women in the Isle of Lewis Burden for their
land. You know, it's great to have
rallies, it's great to have conferences.
I'm not against that. I'll go and preach if I'm
invited. But I want to tell you our
greatest need is for prayer warriors to get before God and
to cry out for God to come and visit Ulster again.
Can God do that? I believe he can, but it begins
with a spirit of grace and supplication.
Where is the burden to pray? The Bible says you have not Why?
Because you ask not. Or are we too proud?
Are we too poor to beg? Where's the cry?
Oh God? Where's the broken dependent
spirit? This woman was barren.
She had no child, and I believe part of it was to cry under God
for a child. This woman believed in God when
the Angel appeared unto her. Are you seeking such a blessing
from God? Am I as a father?
Are you as a mother? For our children who are absent
from the House of God and AWOL from God at this time, Very
quickly time always goes the sanctification of this unnamed
mother. Look at verses four and five.
It says, Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine or
strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.
For lo, thou shall conceive and bear a son, and no razors will
come on his head. For the child shall be a
Nazareth unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver
Israel out of the land of the Philistines.
Now what is sanctification? The Catechism says question 35.
Here's the answer. Sanctification is the work of
God's free grace, whereby we are renewed and the whole man after
the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die
unto sin and live unto righteousness.
You see, this one was not only saved and this one was not only
supplicating God's throne, but this woman had a call when God
met with her to a sanctified life.
Notice it was a life of consecration.
This woman has called you a life of self denial, holiness unto
the Lord, obedience unto the Lord.
Notice she has called and charged a holy living.
The child she will bear will be a nazirite unto God from the
womb. But notice that the life of
consecration begins with the mother.
God gave her instruction before the child is born.
Here's a mother who's told your walk with God will impact and
affect the spiritual direction of your son.
And we can link it up this morning to Eunice and Louis in
second Timothy 1:00 and 5:00 because their lifestyle had an
impact upon young Timothy. Here is a life of self denial, a
life of self-discipline, a life of spiritual dependence and
devotion, delight in the Lord, a life of holiness and obedience
unto God. That is the life that God has
called us all to over there. In Ephesians chapter 1 and in
the verse 4, the apostle Paul made this emphasis.
Listen to what he said according as He had chosen us and him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him and love.
Our motto should be holiness unto the Lord.
Notice what it says in verse 4. Beware, I pray thee, and drink
not wine or strong drink and eat not any unclean thing.
That's a call to personal voluntary abstinence from
alcohol and unclean meat unto God.
This woman was told, You've got to deny self.
You've got to say no, but also a life of communion very quickly.
Look at verse 6. Then the woman came and told her
husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his
countenance was like the countenance of an Angel of God,
very terrible. But I asked him not whence he
was, neither told me his name. Notice three things, the reality
of her communion. God met her in the secret place,
and it's not where God meet with us.
Remember the Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 6, whenever he
was teaching about prayer and a sermon in the mount.
This is what he says in Matthew 6 and six.
But thou, when thou prayest see, it's assumed, enter into thy
closet, and when there's shut thy door, pray to thy Father,
which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly. What a tremendous encouragement
it is. I often think of the words of
Oswald Chambers in Psalm 91, verse 1.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall
abide under the shadow of the Almighty, choosing the secret
place to meet with God. God met with this woman in the
secret place. Do you have a secret place?
Do you have a place where you go to to meet with God, get alone,
cry out to him? The Spirit of God works in your
heart and works in your mind and you feel that call.
You feel that urge to pray and there's a discipline comes and
there's a a denial comes and, and there's a devotion and
there's a delight and a dependence as you pour out your
heart to the Lord. This was a personal, passionate,
powerful meeting with God. The woman's alone, even the
second time he meets you in the field, she's alone.
A place of loneliness, brokenness, emptiness, a place
of darkness. Is that where you're at this
morning? Because that's where this woman
was. And yet a man of God, she says,
came unto me. Here was the reality of her
communion. Something happened.
The Lord came to her home. The Lord met with her.
It was real. It was tangible.
You know, I have to confess something.
As a preacher, it's easy to talk and preach in prayer.
It's easy to instruct you about meeting with God and asking you
to sing and offer praise. But so often it's all in the
surface. So often it's all second hand.
So often it's just words. It's on the surface.
It's easy for me to preach to you do this and do that.
It's easy for me to preach, don't do this and don't do that.
This woman was told in a negative way what not to do.
She was called to a life of abstinence from certain drink
and certain foods, and yet that was no substitute for a meeting
with God. And I believe we as preachers in
the free church, ourselves and our women, we need to have a
meeting with God. We need to have an encounter
with the Lord. This woman was so overwhelmed.
She didn't ask them where you came from.
She didn't even ask them her name.
And doesn't the Bible exhort us in the book of Jeremiah?
In Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 16?
Listen to these words. In Jeremiah 6 and 16.
Let's hear the word of God. Here's advice for every Free
Presbyterian. Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in
the ways, and see and ask for the old paths, for in is the
good way, and work therein, and ye shall find rest for your
souls. But you know what they did in
the days of the children of Israel in Jeremiah's day, when
he told them that, when he preached that to them, this is
what they said. We will not walk therein.
May the Lord of mercy, may the Lord deliver us.
Remember what we read again in the book of Isaiah, in Isaiah
chapter 58 and over there in the verse 11.
In Isaiah 58 and verse 11. We read these words.
And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy
soul, and dright, and make fat thy bones, and thou shall be
like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters
feel not not only the reality of her communion, but think of the
radiance of the countenance. What did you say about the
Angel? The man of God came unto me, and
his countenance was like what? The countenance of an Angel of
God. Very terrible.
Do you know what that means? It means frightening something
should not seen before. The woman was fearful in the
presence of this Angel of the Lord.
Is that not something that's lacking in our day, in our
lives? Where is the real fear of the
Lord? Where's the sight of His
Majesty? Where's the delight in His
glory? Where's a sense of His Holiness
and purity? There's so little reference, so
little oh, so little fear of God, and we wonder why things
are the way they are. Not only the reality of the
communion and the radiance of the countenance, but think about
the repetition of the consecration.
It says here, But He said unto me, Behold, thou shall conceive
and bear a son. There's the promise and thou
drink no wine, nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing.
There's the call to purity, for the child shall be a Nazarite to
God from the womb to the day of his death.
There's the purpose. See, what was this woman saying
when she got this promise and she heard about this purity,
this holy life that you had to conform to and this purpose that
was being revealed? What she was saying was this, I
believe God, I believe God's word.
Gee, God keeps his word. This was a woman of faith, a
woman who feared the Lord, a woman in fellowship with God.
Very quickly the last thing in her time is gone, the service of
the unnamed mother. Verse 3 it says, Behold, now
thou word barren and bear us not, but thou shall conceive and
bear a son. Just told the same thing in
verse 5. For lo, thou shall conceive and
bear a son. And then again in verse 7 But he
said unto me, Behold, thou shall conceive and bear a son.
The wonderful thing is that God used this unnamed mother.
He promised her a son and it was fulfilled.
Listen to the last verse, Judges 13 and verse 24.
And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson.
And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.
And it was an Angel that announced his birth, just like
an Angel announced the birth of the Lord Jesus.
For they shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Samson was deceived from
physical enemies. He was strong, but he was
flawed. The Lord Jesus was sent to save
us from sin, from death, from hail, from the grave, from Satan
himself, a woman to give birth to a son.
Samsung's life was transitory and temporary.
It was a foreshadowing of the Saviour who was to come into the
world to bring about ultimate deliverance from sin, death,
hail the grave, and Satan himself.
Let me finish this morning. God uses mothers, unnamed
mothers, ordinary undervalued woman, and God uses mothers
today. And a mother under God, in the
hand of God, can be helped to shape eternal destinies.
And there's no estimate what 1 godly mother can do.
A mother who knows God, a mother who prays, a mother who say no
to sin. The best mothers pray.
The best mothers point to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Your prayers, you're teaching, your godly example has an impact
on your children and in your home.
And the best mothers have their story recorded by God, even if
they're unnamed and undervalued and unknown.
I pray this morning the Lord will take these few remarks our
time has gone, and bless them to you and apply them in our hearts
and in our lives.