May it please God to bless us
together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
first book of Samuel chapter 7 and we'll read verse 12. The first book of Samuel chapter
7 and reading verse 12. Then Samuel took a stone and
set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer,
saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." It is quite clear from this statement
that Samuel did not want Israel to forget the wonderful deliverance
that had been granted to them. And it's interesting to realize
that at this place of this victory, they had, not many years previously,
been defeated by the Philistines on two occasions. And on this
occasion, it really was a wonderful victory, and what a wonderful
influence there was from God himself. As we read the accounts
in the Word of God, there are many situations and circumstances
where we can observe God interfered, we might say. God ordained that
there should be something rather special. And there was on this
occasion, because what did the Lord do? He thundered with a
great thunder on that day upon the Philistines. and discomfited
them and they were smitten before Israel. Well, perhaps we know
that when thunder is very loud and very near and the lightning
flashes, it's very frightening and it's very, very powerful.
I remember one occasion a few years ago when we were in the
Lake District. I think Frank was with me on that occasion
and we were there and the lightning came right down very close and
struck a rock and it spitted and spat some little influence
of the great power of God in that shaft of lightning. So it's
not surprising here that when God did this and we're told that
it thundered with a great thunder, it wasn't just a little quiet,
it was very loud. And no doubt they were disquieted
and therefore it made them easy prey to Israel. Well, God clearly
gain the victory. And having gained the victory,
then Samuel took this stone and set it between Mishpa and Shean,
and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord
helped us." Well, we might think that's a good thing to do, and
you young people might remember, perhaps, that there have been
stones set up, stones set up in our own country, to remember
important occasions of victories. You only have to think of Trafalgar
Square and Nelson's Column with Nelson on the top and what did
it illustrate? It showed that there was a great
victory at Trafalgar and Nelson of course was the admiral of
that fleet that gained the victory and therefore that wonderful
big statue was erected and when you go there you cannot but notice
it. You can't but notice, well, there is a great column, and
you must automatically think, why is it there? And when you
think of Nelson, well, why was Nelson there? It's because there
was a great victory. And I think there was no doubt,
even on that occasion, God helped the British to that wonderful
victory. And so we should think of these
things and remember how God did help. Well, here was this occasion
when this stone was taken. And of course there are other
occasions in the Word of God. There are really quite a lot
of occasions in the Word of God when stones were taken, but just
refer to a couple of occasions. In the book of Joshua, we read
in the fourth chapter of that book, and we read in Joshua,
set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan. Remember that's when
they came across Jordan. It was a wonderful occasion for
Israel. It was a time when they were
going to come out of the wilderness, across Jordan, and therefore
he set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place
where the feet of the priests which bear the ark of the covenant
stood, and they are there unto this day." Well, what was it
for? It was so that they would remember how God appeared for
them, how God indeed helped them on that occasion. And then there
was Another occasion we read of in the 22nd chapter of this
same book, where again the children of Israel were blessed and we're
told, and Phinehas the son of Eliezer the priest and the princes
returned from the children of Reuben And from the children
of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the
children of Israel, and brought them word again. And a thing
pleased the children of Israel. And the children of Israel blessed
God, and did not intend to go up against them in battle, to
destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the
altar Ed. for it shall be a witness between
us that the Lord is God." That was when, of course, Israel had
conquered all those lands in Canaan, and the two tribes, Reuben
and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, went back across the
river, across Jordan, to have that land which they desired
and had been given to them. And what they decided to do was
to erect this big altar so that they would not forget. And when
Israel first of all heard of it, they thought they were erecting
an altar they were going to worship. And they were very distressed. But when they came and asked
the people, and they explained what they'd done it for, so that
their children and their children's children would see this and would
remember the great deliverance and would also remember the true
way to worship God. Here was that which was erected
on that occasion. There are other examples in the
Word of God. But here we have today this statement. Samuel then, taking this stone,
and he wanted therefore to erect it so that the children of Israel,
whenever they saw it, would remember what the Lord had done for them.
Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. That means up to the present
moment of time. Well, that should be true in
all of our lives. The thing that we can say today, hitherto, up to the present time. We don't know what the future
holds, do we? But you know if the Lord has helped us thus far
in our lives, Surely that should be a wonderful encouragement
to believe He will continue to help us. He won't leave us and
He won't forsake us. And we realise here that Samuel
took this stone and he called it Ebenezer, which really means
the stone of help. Well, here was a good example
we have here in this account. of what Samuel did for the purpose
of reminding Israel of the wonderful deliverance that they'd had.
And I suppose the relevance of that for us today is firstly
to realise the goodness and the mercy and the favour of God,
and secondly recognise that it does speak to us really with
regards to not forgetting the helps that God has done for us. We don't tend to keep diaries
like perhaps our forefathers did. Some of you may, but I don't. But I do remember my father used
to keep a diary and every day he would write those things,
just a few things which had occurred in that day. And amongst all
the many things were those helps that he had received. And therefore
he would have been able to look back in those diaries and recall
those things which God had done for him over the years. He never
threw his diaries away, and I think as a family we still have them.
So it's a record of God's mercy and of God's favour. Well today
we should perhaps not write everything down every day, but when the
Lord does help us in a particular way, to write it down would be
a good thing. And that can be over a variety
of things. It can be in our daily life,
it can be in our school days, when God perhaps has helped us,
perhaps in exams, perhaps we've had a situation where we may
have been bullied by people and the Lord has changed the situation
and delivered us from that. Well, what does it really mean?
It means that the Lord has helped us. And it's a good thing to
write down such helps that the Lord has done, because it is
really for the honour and glory of his great and holy name. And
surely that should be our concern, our continued concern, to recognise
what God has done for us. And so, here we have this example. It's a fairly well-known example.
as indeed most of the examples are when stones were taken and
erected. But here it would seem that it
was just a single stone. It wasn't gathering stones together.
It was a single stone, and it was a single stone to recall
a certain deliverance, a certain blessing. And if you ponder this,
I think, well, if they came back perhaps and passed that way where
this stone was set up, and then think, yes, that was a wonderful
day. When the Lord appeared, the Lord helped us. We would
have been defeated again, as the Philistines had done on previous
occasions. But this time the Lord intervened. And by his help, we gained the
victory. Well, what a blessing in your
life and my life, if we can also recall times when The Lord intervened
in our lives. Yes, it's a mercy, isn't it,
when God hears and answers prayer. Because, you know, the concern
here was that Samuel was asked, cease not to cry unto the Lord
our God for us. That he will save us out of the
hand of the Philistines. They realized the importance
of prayer. And may we realise the importance
of prayer. And here was his statement. Cease
not. Cease not to cry unto the Lord. You know, the Apostle Paul, when
he wrote to the Thessalonians, he encouraged them to pray without
ceasing, to pray often and to really pray all the time as we
walk about the streets and go about our work, to remember,
Pray to God. Now this was a great time of
need. You and I may have great times
of need. We may have lesser times of need as we may consider it,
but nonetheless, in all our times of need, we should cry to God
that he will help us. And we can be sure of this, that
if we cry in a right way, if we pray in a right way, that
he may grant us the victory because it is not of our ability and
not of our skill and not of our understanding. You see, Israel
here, they couldn't say, well it was all our great skill that
we had that we managed to gain the victory. No, it was God that
sent the thunder. And so in our lives, sometimes
God appears and opens ways, opens doors. There may have appeared to be
no way through. God opens doors. God's our helper. God shuts doors. And that's a
good thing as well. Yes, God helps us in that way. We don't always like it when
doors are shut. But you know, when you pray for
God's help, when you pray for God's direction, it should be
with an open mind submitting yourselves to The will of God
said that when the door is shut, you don't say, well, I didn't
want that. You're able to say, well, that's the purpose of God. And that's the answer to my prayers.
And God's helped me in it. So don't be disappointed and
don't be surprised when perhaps an answer comes in the opposite
direction to what we may have been expecting. God's ways, don't
forget, are higher than our ways. We should always remember that,
to realize that when God works for us, when God appears for
us, when God helps us, it doesn't always work out in accordance
to our little plans, which are always, of course, filled with
wrong desires and pride and everything else. Well, Samuel then took
this stone and set it up between Mizprachin and called it Ebenezer
saying hitherto hath the Lord helped us. Well what a blessing
today if you and I can look back in our lives and be able to say
from our heart the truth of these words yes whether we haven't
always realized it or not yet the fact is true he has helped
us sometimes he's helped us when we haven't really prayed for
it and that's sad isn't it But you know what a blessing it is
and how humbling it is when God does come and help us. And then
we look back and we realise, well I couldn't have done that
myself. God's helped me and God's instructed me. Well there are
many wonderful occasions really with regards to God's help and
God setting up stones Or at least people, we think of Jacob. When
he left his father and mother and went out to Haran, he was
a lonely person, wasn't he? He didn't know what was in store.
And he lay down at night, put a stone for his pillow, and the
Lord appeared. And he saw the angels of God
ascending and descending from earth to heaven. What a comfort
that was to him. Yes, he laid the stones, he gathered
the stones together, so that when he came and came across
it again, he might remember the wonderful appearance of God for
him and to him. You know, the outlook wasn't
very good. It was totally unknown to him,
wasn't it? He didn't know what the future was holding. And of
course, we don't at all. But God does. And therefore,
God does sometimes give. wonderful encouragement to realize
that we are walking that way, which is the right way. He encouraged
Jacob to show to him he was indeed walking in that right way. And he helped him. He helped
him. Well, has God helped us? Has God helped us? I hope we
can say. I hope we can look back. It's
good to examine ourselves. and to try and remember the times
that the Lord has helped us. You go home today and think perhaps
how the Lord helped you. You children, God willing, are
going to recite some texts that you learned and you will need
God's help. You will need God's help to remember
those things, because your mind could just go blank, couldn't
it? And God can make a mind go blank so you can't remember anything. So it's a good thing if God comes
and blesses you with His help this afternoon, so that we are
indeed able to say that the Lord has helped us. There was an occasion
in the history of Israel when the Lord helped Israel. And we read in Chronicles in
the fifth chapter and the 20th verse, and they were helped against
them. And the Hagarites were delivered
into their hand and all that were with them for they cried
to God in the battle. And he was entreated of them
because they put their trust in him. God helped them, God
heard that prayer, God answered that prayer and he helped them.
What a wonderful favour for us then to come to God in prayer
and to then be able to acknowledge the Lord has helped us so that
you and I may be able to perhaps erect stones, perhaps not in
a physical way but perhaps in a written way. We may sit down
and write what God has done for us and how he has appeared for
us. You know, I remember that one
occasion, of course, in the life of Jehoshaphat. Well, Jehoshaphat
was a man of God, but he was an ordinary man. And he was fearful. And he came to pray to God. And we read a number of things
about Jehoshaphat, but just one. And it came to pass when the
captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said,
It is the king of Israel. Remember, he had dressed up as
the king, as he was, and also Ahab had taken off his garment
so he wouldn't be found as king. And here Jehoshaphat was. And
it is the king of Israel. Therefore they compassed about
him to fight. But, and I hope we've got some
buts in our life. But, Jehoshaphat cried out. And what happened? Did God ignore
him? And the Lord helped him. And
God moved them to depart from him. He didn't have to get his
sword and fight all these people. The Lord helped him and God moved
them to depart from him. And you see, such an occasion
and such a victory, as we referred to previously, is very clearly
the work of God. And it's a wonderful evidence
in our lives when we are, as it were, dormant. We've prayed,
we've committed our way to the Lord, we've cried unto him mightily
perhaps, and then the Lord's appeared. And then the Lord's
done that for us, which we couldn't do for ourselves, and we realised
it was the work of God. Well, here was Samuel then concerned
that Israel might not forget it was the work of God. And it's so important, is it
not, in our lives today, to not forget it is the work of God,
and not forget that it is his help that we've been blessed
with. Well, we know that David on so
many occasions was helped in his life. And he tells us a number
of occasions with just a few just to encourage us because
you think of David's life, he had many difficult times, didn't
he? In battle, chased by Saul, and
yet God helped him. Psalm 28. We read, blessed be
the Lord because he has heard the voice of my supplications.
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in him
and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices
and with my song will I praise him. The Lord is their strength.
And he is a saving strength of his anointed. Well, here was
a clear evidence of David's confidence in his God. He'd come to him,
hadn't he? Believing the Lord would hear. You see, we are to come to God
in prayer, believing the Lord will hear. We're not praying
to the unknown God like the Athenians were. We're praying to the ever-living
God, the true God. And so here is David able to
confirm that the Lord had heard his prayer, and the Lord is his
strength and shield, and he trusted in this same God who helped him.
Well, it's a great blessing, is it not, for us to realize
today we worship the same God, that same God who does not change. I am the Lord, I change not.
In the 54th Psalm, David tells us, it's a Psalm when the Ziphims
came and said to Saul, doth not David hide himself with us? David needed deliverance. David
needed help. What are we told? Behold, God
is mine helper. The Lord is with them that uphold
my soul. Yes, he shall reward evil unto
my enemies, cut them off in thy truth. And he says, I will freely
sacrifice unto thee. I will praise thy name, O Lord,
for it is good, for you've delivered me out of all trouble. And mine
eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies. So when the Lord
has helped us, the Lord has answered prayer. We ought to acknowledge
it. We're not to just bury it and forget about it. We are to
acknowledge the goodness of God because God is worthy to be praised
and surely is if he's helped us in all our times of need. Then there's the well-known Psalm
46, God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. You see, a very present help
in trouble. is a very present help at all
times. But what a mercy, isn't it, when you and I are in trouble,
and we will be in trouble. You and I won't get through life
without many troubles. But what a favour it is that
when we are in these troubles to realise that God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble. The Lord is
with us. You may not always think of it
like that. When you're in trouble, you're not alone. God is with you. What a blessing, therefore, to
have the testimony that God has helped you in the trouble and
brought you out of the trouble in ways which perhaps were much
higher than your ways. Let us never forget God's ways
are higher than our ways. Our ways are very limited, very
limited. But what a blessing it is that
God's ways are so high and glorious. And Isaiah tells us, he's a prophet
as we know who was wonderfully instructed by the Lord and he
tells us In the in the 44th chapter he says Yet now here Oh Jacob
my servant and Israel whom I have chosen. It's good sometimes to
just sit down and listen to God speaking Just calmly listen to
what God's saying And what does God say here? Thus saith the
Lord that made thee That should bring us down in size, shouldn't
it? Realise that God is speaking to us as those who he's made. And form thee from the womb,
which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant,
thou Jeshurim, whom I have chosen. We do fear, don't we? But here
we have such an encouraging word, to fear not. Why? Because God's
going to help us. God's going to help us. God's
going to take us by the hand, as it were, and lead us on, support
us in every time of need. Yes, so, which will help thee? Well, may we thank God that we
can have a God. You know, there are all those
gods today that people worship, the Hindus and the Muslims, etc. and they all worship a false
God, a God who cannot help them because they are no gods. Today
we have the ever-living and true God. Well, you know, we've looked
at the Old Testament, we can look at the New Testament and
we can think of the Apostle Paul, can't we? We're familiar, I'm
sure, with the life of the Apostle Paul and how he was upheld and
how the Lord helped him on so many occasions. And when he was
speaking before King Agrippa, on that wonderful occasion, and
he was able to speak to him, he wasn't fearful, he declared
the whole counsel of God, not fearing for his life, and he
tells them, tells that, or still accompanied these words, having
therefore obtained help from where? Of God. I continue unto
this day, witnessing both the small and great, saying none
other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say
should come." Well, he was helped wonderfully of God, wasn't he? And you know what also? Paul was blessed with, and all
the Church of God are blessed with, and that is this, to be helped to understand the
great and glorious plan of salvation. Now, naturally, we can read about
it, we can understand it in theory, but when the Spirit of God shines
light into our hearts, He helps us then to understand the great
and glorious truth of it as it's applied to our own hearts. And that is an amazing blessing. And how you and I should rejoice
today if we have received the help of the Holy Spirit to appreciate
and understand that great plan. It's a plan that you and I could
never have worked out or put into action ourselves. But you
see, God, from the beginning of Genesis, right to the end
of Revelation, we see that wonderful plan as it was worked out, as
it was fulfilled, and as it brought honour and glory to God. And
my friends, it will do just that, you know. And here was this statement. What happened? Samuel wanted
to acknowledge what God had done. His help, He wanted to acknowledge
it, and therefore He set this stone up. If God comes and blesses
our souls, He helps us to understand the great doctrines of the Word
of God, you'll be thankful for it, and you'll desire to acknowledge
that He it is who has helped you. helped you to understand what
you are by nature. A black, unrepentant, hard-hearted,
rebellious sinner. And you've been, like Paul was,
proud of it. Yes, didn't want to have anything
to do really with God. And yet, if the Lord has helped
you to understand yourself. You and I don't want to do that
naturally. It's a blessing when the Spirit of God helps us to
understand ourselves and to show us how bad we are, not how good
we are, how bad we are. And then you see to bring us
to that point that we see there's no good in ourselves. You look
for it, we can't find it. What does it do then? Believe
it does this, it drives us out of ourself and it drives us by
the Spirit's aid to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. You think
of that lovely illustration in Numbers, where Israel were passing
through the wilderness and they sinned against God, as they also
often did, and the Lord sent those serpents to bite them and
They were so poisonous when they were bitten, they died and hundreds
and thousands were dying. The Lord commanded Moses to make
that brazen serpent, to put it on a pole and hold it up and
to tell the Israelites who were bitten to look to that pole,
to that brazen serpent. And those that looked lived. That's a lovely illustration
for our consideration as we think of the way of salvation. That
those who are bitten, as we all are, by the serpent, the devil,
so that we've sinned and we're lost and we're dying. We shall
die out of Christ unless God gives us that grace to look.
He gives us that help. He helps us to look. to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as those Israelites looked
and lived, so it is exactly the same today. By God's grace as
we look to the Lord Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation,
to that one who has died upon that cross at Calvary and shed
his most precious blood in order to deliver our souls from the
wrath to come, it's his help that we received to understand
the great and glorious truths of the everlasting Gospel. What
a blessing it would be then if we are able to set up a stone
to make a note of what God has done for us, how it occurred,
when it was done, so that his name might be honoured and glorified
and our souls would indeed be blessed. Well, the Apostle, when
he wrote to the Hebrews, as we know, he so beautifully illustrated
so many great truths there. But in the last chapter of the
Hebrews, he tells us this. He says, let your conversation
be without covetousness and be content with such things as you
have. For he has said, I will never
leave thee. nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me." It's good to have a very positive outlook, isn't
it? And here the apostle, by the grace of God, is able to
speak these words and say it so that we may boldly say, The
Lord is my helper. What is that? Honouring and glorifying
our God, is it not? He has helped us, therefore hitherto
will help us all our journey through and give us daily cause
to raise new Ebenezers to his praise. Well, here were the words
of the apostle directed to the Hebrews so many years ago and
how Appropriate are they for us, because he goes on to say,
Remember them which have the rule over you and have spoken
unto you the word of God, whose faith follow, considering the
end of their conversation. And what's the end? What do you
think the end is? Jesus Christ. The same yesterday
and today and forever. Well, what a blessing if God
helps us. to come to this realization of
such a truth as that that we come today to that same great
God that delivered Israel on this occasion and enabled Samuel
to take this stone and to set it up so that they would not
forget and called it the stone of help. The stone of help. Well I hope today you and I are
able to raise up perhaps many stones of help and be able to
say, to God's honour and glory, hitherto up to the present moment
of time, hath the Lord helped us, hath the Lord helped me. Amen.