Let us commence our service this
evening by singing together hymn number 14. The tune is Bishop's
Thought 104. Begin my tongue some heavenly
theme, and speak some boundless theme, the mighty works or mightier
name of our eternal King. Hymn number 14, tune Bishop's
Thought 104. you. ? In the roots of heavenly peace
? ? And speaks of boundless days ? ? The Mighty One ? the mightiest name of every kind
of being. Tell of His wondrous faithfulness, and sound it far and wide. Sing thou sweet chorus of his
praise, and earth a-throbbing loud. Perfect salvation from the Lord,
Perfect joy in heav'n, This land has been the sacred
land With an immortal quest. Let faith have seen its banner
thrust, The mighty promise shines. Look how the clouds of darkness
raise. Those there cannot sing lies. If one can run the world to death,
and make them, and make peace. He speaks and acts, O mighty
Prince, ? Of heaven's disgrace he brings
? ? Let everyone ? ? Embrace his throne ? As that which filled the skies,
The voice of God, the stars above, before our reading this evening let us turn
to the first book of samuel the first book of samuel We'll begin
reading in chapter 6 verse 10 and we'll read down to the end
of chapter 7. 1 Samuel chapter 6 and we'll begin
reading at verse 10. This being after the Philistines
had decided how to send back the ark. 1 Samuel chapter 6 and verse 10.
And the men did so and took two milch kine and tied them to the
cart and shut up their calves at home. They laid the Ark of
the Lord upon the cart and the coffer with the mice of gold
and the images of their emeralds. And the kine took the straight
way to the way of Beth Shemesh and went along the highway. glowing
as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to
the left. And the lords of the Philistines
went after them unto the border of Beth Shemesh. And they of
Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley.
And they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced
to see it. And the cart came into the field
of Joshua, a Beth Shammai, and stood there, where there was
a great stone, and they claved the wood of the cart, and offered
the kine, a burnt offering, unto the Lord. And the Levites took
down the ark of the Lord, and the coffer that was with it,
wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone.
And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed
sacrifices the same day unto the Lord. And when the five lords
of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same
day. And these are the golden emeralds
which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto
the Lord. For Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for
Gath one, for Ekron one. And the golden mice, according
to the number of all the cities of the Philistines, belonging
to the five lords, both of fence cities and of country villages,
even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the
ark of the Lord, which stone remaineth unto this day in the
field of Joshua. the Beth Shemai. And he smote
the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark
of the Lord. Even he smote of the people 50,000
and three score and ten men. And the people lamented because
the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth Shemesh said,
who is able to stand before this holy Lord God and to whom shall
he go up from us?' And they sent messengers to the inhabitants
of Kerjath-jerim saying, the Philistines have brought again
the Ark of the Lord, come ye down and fetch it up to you. And the men of Kerjath-jerim
came and fetched up the Ark of the Lord and brought it into
the house of Abinadab in the hill. and sanctified Eliezer,
his son, to keep the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, while
the ark abode in Kerjath-Jerim, that the time was long, for it
was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after
the Lord. And Samuel spake unto all the
house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with
all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth
from among you and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve
him only and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.'
Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtaroth
and served the Lord only. And Samuel said, Gather all Israel
to Mizpah and I will pray for you unto the Lord.' And they
gathered together to Mizpah and drew water and poured it out
before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, we have
sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children
of Israel in Mizpah. And when the Philistines heard
that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah,
the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when
the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the children of Israel said
to Samuel, cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that
he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Samuel
took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly
unto the Lord. And Samuel cried unto the Lord
for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel was offering
up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a
great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited
them, and they were smitten before Israel. And the men of Israel
went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them
until they came under Bethkar. 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. So the Philistines
were subdued And they came no more into the coast of Israel.
And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the
days of Samuel. And the cities which the Philistines
had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto
Gath. And the coast thereof did Israel
deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace
between Israel and the Amorites. And Samuel judged Israel all
the days of his life. And he went from year to year
in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel
in all those places. And his return was to Ramah,
for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there
he built an altar unto the Lord. We'll leave the reading of God's
word there this evening in May. He help and teach us each now
to truly pray. Most holy. Holy, holy Lord God
Almighty. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed Trinity. Grant unto us each that right
reverence and respect as we come unto thee in prayer. Thou art
indeed the thrice holy God, and we have sinned and come so far
short of thy glory. We have to prove that in us that
is in our flesh dwelleth no good thing. And Lord, as we come before Thee
this evening, we dare not and we cannot approach unto Thee
in and of ourselves, but enable us through faith to approach
unto Thee through that great mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus. Help us to come boldly to the
throne of grace. to find mercy and grace to help
in time of need. And bless us as we stand before
thee. Lord, show us more and more what
we are. Not that we may grovel in what
sinners we are, but that through that sight of what we are, we
may more and more praise thy name for thy great and holy majesty
in thy great mercy unto us each. O Lord, we are on praying ground
tonight. There is yet that hope. And if
there be one or another here tonight, dead, spiritually lifeless,
far off from thee, do quicken them. By the convicting power
of thy spirit, Show them what they are, and implant within
them that true seed of faith so that they cry, God be merciful
to me a sinner. Draw them by thy irresistible
grace. But Lord, if they haven't got
ears to hear, if they haven't got eyes to see, we cannot grant
it to them. In thy power and might, Lord,
do bring to life the dead. But Lord, there may be those
here tonight who are not spiritually dead, but feel they are not what
they need to be or do not know what they need to know. Maybe
they feel to be like thy disciples who had to cry, Lord, increase
our faith. Or that dear man who had to cry,
Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Crush that sin of unbelief. Cause
them to see with clear eyes what a friend there is in Jesus, what
a friend there is, the friend of sinners, and to be drawn unto
him. There may be those here tonight
who do know thee and have known thee, and seen thee so sweetly,
and yet they feel their love as wax cold. May there be both
light tonight and heat from thy word. That warms them again,
that gives them that good sight again, to see that yes, our soul
through many changes goes, but thy love no variation knows. And so whatever spiritual state
we are in tonight, whatever our condition is, may we not go home
as we came in, but go home rather bettered from our gathering together. Lord, for that we need thee,
for we are nothing. And we plead for the power and
presence of thy spirit. Lord, we would come, seek to
come with that right confession of sin. Thou knowest the besetting sins
of all of us. Thou knowest that which we need
to fight. Thou knowest that which we need
to flee from, by thy grace. Thou knowest how quickly we can
become proud, if that is our problem, where we are sufficient
and do not need thee and independent. Lord, thou knowest what trials
we need to bring us back. Lord, maybe our love has grown
cold, and varying idols have sprung up within us to rival
Thee. Lord, by Thy Spirit, may we be enabled to mortify the
deeds of the flesh, cast out that which is wrong, and have
that whole heart devoted unto Thee. And so, Lord, whatever
we are in, Lord, may we cry to be made more conformable to the
image of thy dear son. May we know more fully and sweetly
Christ in us, the hope of glory. Have our affections drawn away
from all this world has to offer and to see chiefly the one true
and living God. And yet Lord we would not be
unthankful and ungrateful for everything that we have in this
life, for we have much We have many provisions. We live in an
era of relative prosperity and peace. We can go about our daily
lives and yet we fear this sometimes leads us into a fatalistic and
complacent spirit. Lord, we do not look for trouble.
May we be stirred up and enlivened without trouble. But Lord, if
that is necessary for our spiritual good and for the good of our
nation, Lord, send thy hand upon us to turn us again unto thee
in true repentance, true confession, and true humility. And Lord, we will pray for our
nation, a nation that has so far departed from thee. a nation
in which right is called wrong and wrong is called right, where
thy word is viewed as being narrow and discriminating, where thy
truth is old-fashioned and conservative. Oh, have mercy upon us. Where will these things end?
where wrong relationships are rewarded and right relationships
are discriminated against. God, be merciful unto us. Imroth,
remember mercy. Raise up loud voices in our Parliament. Lord, we mourn the loss of those
faithful members of Parliament at the last election who did
have the courage to stand up in thy name. Oh, we pray that
there may be those brought back again, those true living witnesses
of thy word and thy name, turning our nation right around. And yet, Lord, we do not just
focus on our nation. Lord, we thank thee that there
is now that relative peace in the Middle East. And notice how
quickly these matters could have unfolded in the past week. And
yet, Lord, we are reminded that the King of kings and Lord of
lords is on the throne, that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Help us to be rightly concerned about the matters throughout
this earth, but not to be overly fretful, knowing that not a single
shaft can hit till the God of love sees fit. And yet, Lord, wherever thy people
are caught up in warfare, in persecution, in great peril and
distress, Lord, do comfort. And yet, Lord, we feel and we
know not only from thy word but from history that it is so frequently
where there is persecution and trial where thy word greatly
flourishes. So we thank thee that thy word
is going forth with power in so many nations of the earth.
Has there ever been a time in the history of this world when
so many are coming unto thee. Lord, we know not, but thou knowest,
but we are thankful for thy powerful work in the one true and living
church throughout this globe. So, Lord, we will bring before
thee once more the dear pastor of this cause of truth. Lord,
do bless him in his labours. Give him strength to continue.
And as it is not far off those 20 years now that he has been
pastor over this flock here. Lord, there are those ups and
downs, those trials and those tribulations. Oh, but Lord, we
pray that they may richly see those blessings that have come
from his time amongst the people here. And may it continue if
it be thy will. May there be that blessing attending
the preached word. May there be that real prayer
in the hearts of the church and congregation. May they be those
that are bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the
law of Christ. Lord, do we pray, work mightily
in our day. What we pray for here, we pray
for all places of worship represented here and all those causes of
truth and labourers in thy word that we know and love for the
truth's sake. Lord we bring before thee in
prayer Tim Parrish this evening as he has that installation service
at Grand Rapids today. Lord do help him in that and
Mr Tembroke as he takes that service and may thy rich blessing
rest upon him, his family in the sacrifice that they have
made and in the cause over there. Lord do bless them and be with
them and we pray for all those that preach the word that we
know and love. Those that have taken up pastorates this year,
continue to bless their ministry and favour them with those encouragements
and increases. And we pray that there may yet
be much more. And our brother here from Cranbrook, likewise,
do help him in the pathway that thou hast placed him in. Give
him that strength to continue in the way that thou wilt have
him to go. And Lord, do we pray, help us to help one another. Lord, be with each and every
soul here tonight. Lord, it is a concern that our churches are brought
very low. Lord, there must be a reason. Give us eyes to see it. Strength
to act upon it and that faithful and rich returning
of thy people unto thee. Lord, we beg, have mercy upon
us still. Lead us in that right way. Deliver
us, Lord, from the dangers that are all about us. Deliver us
from the era of this age which can so quickly creep in where
everything is about us as individuals and not about one another and
thyself. O Lord, so help us and favour
us still. But Lord, we may mourn the era
that we are in and how small things are, but this is the era
that thou hast placed us in, and we are called to be faithful,
to serve thee, to carry on in the way that thou hast commanded
us, every one of us. And we pray for grace to continue
to do that which is right in thy sight. But may we know more
of the outpouring of thy Spirit, that alone, Lord, will do helpless
sinners good. Christ in him crucified, thy
love, O heavenly Father. Oh, may we know it more fully
and more deeply. May we be overwhelmed more frequently
on our knees more regularly, oh, in communion and fellowship
with thee. Oh, grant it, Lord. Take away
the idols and the snares and the treasures of this life, Lord,
if that is what is necessary for us. Bring us nearer, nearer
to thee, my God, nearer to thee. May that be where we are found.
So young and old here tonight, give each ears to hear and give
us every word to speak. Lord, we pray that we may be
thy messenger with thy message tonight, that we may be able
to preach clearly and faithfully, that we may be nothing and Christ may be
all and in all for the good of our never-dying souls and for
thy namesake. who forgive all and everything
that we have asked amiss, that which we have forgotten to pray
for may have been prayed for by one and another before us,
and do intercede for us, dear Lord Jesus, for we ask all in
and through thy precious name. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
579, the tune is Sheffield 235. Salvation, O my soul, rejoice. Salvation is of God. He speaks
and that almighty voice proclaims his grace abroad. Hymn 579, tune
Sheffield 235. Now they should know my sorry choice Salvation
is a crown. He speaks and laughs, O mighty
voice, God bless his grace abroad. How wonderful now grants the
holy at his Engages to rescue the
vulnerable and from Satan's power and rage. Happy birthday to you, happy
birthday to you. O'er the path, O'er the, O'er
hell, is the road from Zion to birth. ? That took him to old age ? ? Has shown he does act good ?
? And on his authority ? Enscribe the name of For whom he stood
? Nor is there short he shall fall
down ? ? He doth stay on the tree ? ? Nor doth stand up ?
Divine colour now to thy holding. and the Rock of the Spirit. And Jesus, He reveals To Minocras,
his sin and bounty, all their sorrows, sins, In love forever rest. And Zion's shall in glory be,
And her praise shall be, the Lord to help us each in the
preaching and hearing of his word this evening. I'll ask you
to turn with me please to where we read from 1 Samuel chapter
7 and particularly verse 9. 1 Samuel chapter 7 and verse 9. And Samuel took a sucking lamb
and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord. And Samuel
cried unto the Lord for Israel. And the Lord heard him. And Samuel took a sucking lamb
and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord. And Samuel
cried unto the Lord for Israel. and the Lord heard him. We see from this chapter that
Israel is in serious trouble. They are spiritually compromised
as we can see in verse 3. Samuel says to them, if you return
unto the Lord with all your hearts, put away the strange gods and
Asherah from among you and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and
serve him only, he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
They had been drawn to idol worship. They had been drawn away from
the true and living God. And it is interesting, in the
word of God, there are those matters that we are called to
fight against, but there are also those matters that we are
called to flee from. And idolatry is one of those. Idolatry is one of those because
it so entangles the heart. And this is what happened to
the children of Israel. But not only that, were they
spiritually compromised. They were militarily threatened
too. Verse 7, we read the Philistines,
they were gathered together. They gathered together and the
children of Israel were afraid. Their enemies were about them,
and they were concerned. But there's a turning point in
this chapter. And that turning point really
is verse nine. And in that verse, we have one
man, Samuel. We have one lamb, as that burnt
offering. And we have one cry, the prayer
for deliverance. We may not have those strange
gods literally and those stone idols, but do we have those idols? We may not have those literal
armies Against us seeking to destroy us But you may have those
things that feel like you're destroying you Do we have an
intercessor Do we have a sacrificial offering and do we have a prayer
for deliverance But before we get to this verse
9 There is something we need to
consider. The children of Israel, the house
of Israel here, were brought to repentance. Samuel highlighted to them their
sin. We think of Nathan the prophet
with David, who likewise did the same through that parable
of that lamb and that rich man who took that poor man's lamb. But have you been brought to
see your need of repentance, your need of an intercessor,
your need of a lamb, and to be brought to cry for deliverance? because we've all got these strange
gods. We've all got these things that
dare to rival our God in our hearts. And before we can get
to true prayer, we need to have that right heart. Think of David in that great
penitential psalm in Psalm 51. What do we read of in verse 17?
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite
heart, oh God, thou will not despise. Some need more breaking
than others. Some need to be brought into
deeper things to be brought to repentance, and some can be turned
in a moment. The Lord knows what you need
tonight. The Lord knows if you are far off from Him. The Lord
knows what it will take to bring you back. But it begins with
a returning unto the Lord. That's what we need as individuals. That's what we need collectively
as churches. A returning unto the Lord. These are just words without
action. We need to start first with our
own hearts. Search me Lord, try my ways,
turn me inside out. Is there any wicked way within
me personally that we may know deliverance
from our enemies, that we may know a building up, a strengthening
and encouraging. Where have we strayed? Because
the children of Israel, that ark had sat there for 20 years
and they had just drifted and bumbled along those 20 years. Is that us? Dear friends, if
you do return unto the Lord, With what? Not a part of your
heart. With all your hearts. It's very searching isn't it?
All your hearts. Because as I alluded to in prayer
was it we are living in an era and a society where primarily
Everybody's own personal interests are put above everybody else's.
Whether it be, you know, in any sector of society, anything,
it's all about the individual. But it goes so against the Word
of God. As the acronym is often used,
JOY, Jesus first, others second, and yourself last. Dear friends,
the time has come to turn unto the Lord with all your hearts. I don't know what your strange
gods are. I need the Lord to show me truly
what my strange gods are. But dear friends, we can get
fatalistic about it and say we need the Lord to do it. We need
the Lord to do it. We need the Lord to do it. And
then just sit back and do nothing. Well yes, there is that way in
which we need the Lord to do it. But what do we read in Romans
chapter 8? We read there about mortifying
the deeds of the flesh. And in that chapter, we read
in verse 13, if ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if
ye, if ye through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body,
ye shall live. Yes, empowered by the Holy Spirit
of God. But it is us that does it, dear
friends. It is us that throws out the
idols. It is us that takes the action
and stops whatever it is that tempts us. Because we're very
good at flirting around the edges with our idols and having a half-hearted
prayer to God to keep us. but do nothing ourselves. Yes,
we need the power of the Spirit, but let us never be brought to
that place where we blame the Spirit of God. If ye through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. But
the children of Israel here have been brought to that point by
and through Samuel to see what they had to do. May we see it. May we throw them out, and may
we return. But to get on to our text specifically,
firstly there was that repentance. But there was one man, and Samuel. The children of Israel said to
Samuel, they looked to him as the intercessor,
that one that would work on their behalf, that one
that would take their case to God. Without getting sidetracked,
dear friends, there's a great sweetness in interceding one
for another. Think of the words of Paul to
the church at Thessalonica, brethren, Pray for us. Because in our individualistic
age, it's very easy just to pray for ourselves. And there can
be a real sweetness when we pray truly and from the heart for
one another. And we are decreased. And others
are put before us. And Christ is put first. It's
that Christ-like spirit. Intercessory prayer. May we never
forget it. But we do not want to get distracted
on that. But Samuel here was standing between the people and
God. Do you have an intercessor tonight?
Do you have one standing between you and a holy God? Because be in no doubt, dear
friends, we need one. God is holy and must punish sins. And our iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you, that he will not hear you. That's what our iniquities have
done. Separated between you and your God. The children of Israel needed
Samuel. Dear friends, we cannot save
ourselves. Think of that hymn number 119. Great God, from thee there's
not concealed, thou seest my inward frame. To thee I always
stand revealed, exactly as I am. But since my saviour stands between,
in garments dyed in blood, tis he instead of me is seen when
I approach to God. Thus though a sinner, I am safe. He pleads before the throne,
his life and death in my behalf and calls my sins his own. What wondrous love, what mysteries
in this appointment shine. My breaches of the law are his
and his obedience, mine. We need that intercessor. We
cannot save ourselves. There was that one man in Samuel.
We need the God-man, the man, Christ Jesus. The book of Hebrews
speaks so beautifully on Christ throughout every chapter of it,
doesn't it? The superiority of Christ in all things. But we have that verse in chapter
seven, verse 25, this man, because he continue with ever hath an
unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able also to save them
to the uttermost that come unto God by him. That's the way we approach our
Heavenly Father through our great intercessor, our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them, the eternal Son of God. Dear friends, the vilest sinner
out of hell who lives to feel his need is welcome to the throne
of grace, the Saviour's blood to plead. There is an intercessor,
this great high priest. That one that was verily God
and verily man. Truly man to represent mankind. The second Adam. That one that
could truly suffer, could truly be tempted, could truly die. It's no good having something
else. The blood of bulls and of goats
could not take away our sin. Because we are not bulls and
we are not goats. We need a perfect substitute. We need one that was attempted
in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. And dear friends,
if you tonight, in one way or another, think, how can Christ
represent me? Dear friends, there is a great
depth in this. He was in all points. tempted
like as we are in all points more deeply and more fully in that he himself has suffered
being tempted he is able to sucker them that are tempted don't ever
let the devil think my intercessor your intercessor doesn't know
your pathway He's a real man, as we said this afternoon. He
hungered, he thirsted, he sorrowed, he was wearied. And in so many
other ways which we do not have time to expound upon, in all
points, like as we are, this great intercessor, dear friends,
that we have, Christ at the right hand of God, truly man. Man to represent, but it could
be no good if it was just a man. Be no good if it was just a mere
man. Have you ever known? I trust
there are those, I know there are those here, that have known
a little of the weight and burden of sin upon you. The guilt of
it. And it can become almost crushing. That is a tiny fragment of the
sin that has been revealed to you. A tiny fragment of your
understanding of what you are before a holy God. Christ, that
Calvary, took upon the sin of all his people. Past, present,
and future. No mere man could bear that. God could. That one that is infinitely
powerful, only He could bear it. The children of Israel, we read
here, said to Samuel, they approached through Samuel, cease not to
cry unto the Lord our God for us. And Samuel. Oh, that's a sweet word, isn't
it? And Samuel. and Samuel but can you change
that this evening to say and Christ and Christ represented
me and Christ is pleading my cause before my Heavenly Father
I have nothing else to plead but Him and Samuel and Christ They approached humbly. They
approached repenting. They approached brought low. Dear friends, that is what we
need. Another hymn comes to my mind. At hymn 686, praying for humility. The children of Israel there
were brought to humility. Saying, Jesus cast a look on
me. Give me sweet simplicity, make
me poor, keep me low, Seeking only thee to know. All that feeds
my busy pride, cast it evermore aside, Bid my will to thine submit,
lay me humbly at thy feet. Leaning on thy loving breast,
where a weary soul may rest, Feeling well the peace of God
flowing from thy precious blood. That peace doesn't flow from
our own merits, our own good works, anything we may have done
or may yet do, it only flows from Christ. So there was one
man here. The children of Israel looked to
one man and Samuel. But what about Samuel? What did
he do? And Samuel took a sucking lamb
and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord. There is
one man, but there is one lamb, that sacrificial offering. This points to, doesn't it, the
substitutionary atonement of Christ. It points us to Christ,
dear friends. That burnt offering holy unto
the Lord, that sacrifice. Dear friends, Samuel could approach. But in Christ, what do we see?
We see both the priest and the sacrifice. We could say the sacrifice
and the sacrificer. Do you see him as that for you? Once more, the book of Hebrews
speaks better on this and many other places of scripture, doesn't
it? But what do we see in that chapter 7 once more? We see that
intercession again. Him as our great priest. But then we see, don't we, going
into chapter 9. Then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world, but now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. Oh, that's it, dear friends.
That's the sinner's hope. This one lamb, the sacrifice
of himself. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. This is what Samuel took this
lamb. Dear friends, Christ, as we said
this afternoon, the Lamb of God. Samuel took a sucking lamb and
offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord. You know, as I was considering
this today, we see in this portion, don't we? Repentance and sacrifice,
they go hand in hand. They go together. They cannot be separated one
from another. And with us, dear friends, faith
and repentance cannot be separated. Because when we are repentant, there is a turning. That's really
what it means. It means a turning away from one thing and a turning
to another. The children of Israel here were
to turn away from their strange gods, but they had to turn to
something. by faith, they had to look to
the Lord. And you may say, you've spoken
about repentance, you've spoken about sin, but have I felt enough
of my sin? The Lord leads his people as
he sees fit to lead them. Some may be brought under great
condemnation of sin, others not so. But in all cases, there will
be repentance, there will be faith. They are two sides of
the same coin. Sometimes one is seen more in
one than in the other. But how can we have faith if
we haven't repented? And how can we repent if we have
not faith? Samuel took a sucking lamb. He
offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord because
those people had repented. But what I wanted to get onto
mainly this evening was this. Samuel cried unto the Lord for
Israel. There is one man, there is one
lamb, but there is one cry. The prayer of deliverance. There
is repentance, there is sacrifice, then there is the cry. There
is a turning unto God. When there is that turning unto
God, there is that sacrifice, that broken heart, that contrite
spirit, and then the heart is ready to open to the Lord. Because if we haven't been brought
to repentance, if we haven't been brought to that truly contrite
and broken heart, is it real prayer? Or is it just words? Samuel cried unto the Lord for
Israel. And dear friends, we need to
be brought to this humility. Cried unto the Lord, because
you may be crying to all manner of things in your life and in
your pathway. You may be looking for this and
that and the other to sort yourself out and to sort your problems
out, whatever they may be. It's the Lord that will do it. It's only the Lord that can do
it. And it's a humbling truth. The
psalmist knew that so clearly, didn't he, in Psalm 20. And it says towards the end of
that psalm, doesn't it? I know that the Lord saveth his
anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand, some trust
in chariots and some in horses. but we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. Is that where you've gone wrong?
Because I often find that's where I go wrong. I look to chariots,
and I look to horses, and I look to everything else until there
is nothing else. Then, in God's mercy, we remember
his name. Then in God's mercy, we cry. Then in God's mercy, he hears. It's a humbling truth that there's
a God in heaven that hears our prayers. And never forget that
this evening. And you children here tonight,
there is nothing too small or too insignificant to bring to
the Lord in prayer. You may think, how can I tell
Almighty God about this tiny thing in my life. He knows it.
It's not too insignificant for Him. And likewise, something
too big, there's nothing too big for an all-powerful God that
is ever-present, that is infinite. Do not mock Him by judging His
power or His willingness to hear and answer His people's prayers.
But it's a humbling truth. What are we trusting in? I thought
much in this past week of the powerful characters we have in
this world. The leaders of the powerful nations
of the earth. They trust in this and they trust
in that and they trust in the other. They trust in massive
bombs. They trust in the Air Force and
the Navy and they trust in their diplomacy. But we've got something greater.
the name of the Lord our God. Because less than a hundred years,
all those leaders will be gone. And everybody that looks to them,
they will have nothing to look to. And if you have raised anything
above our God, when it's stripped from you, you'll feel incredibly
empty. But we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. But it's that prayer, isn't it?
Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel. Do you value this weapon?
Do you value this weapon? It is a great weapon. The weapon
of prayer. It really is. The righteous cry,
and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
The Lord is nigh unto them, that are of broken heart, and saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit." Oh, bring it to the Lord in prayer.
Bring it to the Lord in prayer. He hears. We think of Jehoshaphat. Neither know we what to do, but
our eyes are up unto thee. Same with the children of Israel,
wasn't it? were the many times that they were in great and exceedingly
difficult situations in the book of Exodus. When Pharaoh drew near and they
had the Red Sea before them, what were they to do? They cried
to the Lord. They looked to Moses. They looked
to that one that could approach unto a holy God on their behalf.
And what did Moses say? The Lord shall fight for you
and ye shall hold your peace. Sometimes there are those times
where we want to fight. In this occasion they were told
to hold their peace. Maybe that's where you are this
evening. Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel. But what do we see in the last
part of this verse? And the Lord heard him Or it
says in the margin, and the Lord answered him. What confidence
could we have in just someone that heard you? You could tell me tonight at
the end of this service all your problems. And I could sympathize
with you, I might be able to empathize with you. But in all
likelihood, I probably wouldn't be able to make those problems
go away. What about our God? Samuel cried unto the Lord for
Israel, and the Lord heard him, or answered him. But dear friends, it does trouble me that sometimes
we think that God only answers prayer with a yes, Sometimes God answers prayer
very clearly with a no. Or a wait. Here, in this example, the Lord
heard, the Lord answered with action, with thundering, with
a great thunder, and discomfited the Philistines. But we have
enough examples in the Word of God to know that this is not
always the will of the Lord for his people. Sometimes they need
to be brought more deeply before his glory and majesty is shown
unto them and his delivering all-powerful hand. Sometimes
they need to be brought more into the depths of sin to see
a precious savior. Some will have to cry for years.
Some will be brought into great depths. Some will be felt like
they've been almost forgotten, like we looked at Moses maybe
in the wilderness this afternoon. But dear friends, the Lord hears. and He does answer. And what
we need to plead for is faith, to trust in Him. To know that
behind that frowning providence He hides a smiling face, and
if in our pathway He brings us down, if it brings us to our
knees, is it not a good thing? If we have through the dealings
of our God, are drawing nearer unto our Saviour. Is it not for
our benefit? It was here for the children
of Israel. Strange gods they had within
them. Mighty enemies about them. They
thought they were going to be overthrown. But through it, the
Lord appeared. The Lord thundered with a great
thunder and discomfited them and they were smitten before
Israel. But not only that, they were
pursued. Not only that, they were subdued. Not only that,
the cities that the Philistines had taken were brought back and
restored. They were remarkably delivered. All through, one man, one lamb
and one cry. But for you tonight, is this
one man, Christ, our great intercessor? Is this one lamb, both Christ,
the priest and the sacrifice? And is this one cry from you,
that cry of the publican, God be merciful, to be a sinner. If it is, then we are in a good
place. And if it is, and we have got
Philistines about us, and we have Christ near us, we can do
as Samuel. We can take up a stone. We can
set it between Mizpah and Shem, and we can call the name of it
Ebenezer, saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. And as we
say in the lines of that hymn, he who has helped me hitherto
will help me all my journey through. And why is that? Because Jesus
Christ, our great intercessor, is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. So what are your strange gods
in conclusion? Have you got that and have we
got that collectively, which is separating us from God? May the Lord show it unto us.
May he give us grace by his spirit to mortify those deeds of the
flesh in true and humble repentance to turn unto him, to seek Christ
as our great intercessor, to look to Christ as our lamb, and
to cry unto him in continual prayer and dependence upon him. Humble dependence and confident
hope. That's that Ebenezer Stone, isn't
it? Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. So we draw our thoughts to
a close on this anniversary occasion. Samuel's God, He is the same
God today. He's still there to hear and
answer our prayer. He will not turn his back upon
those that come humbly unto him through Christ. May we brought
nearer him, more closely unto him, and be found at peace from
our enemies. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 129, the tune is Stockton 913. 129, tune Stockton 913. Wish that the weak and helpless
and poor, were no more to speak, but less to do more. Thou is the foundation of comfort
and peace. In Christ is salvation, the kingdom is His. With family, foes, and wonders
before. Give strong love to foes, and
courage to us. by agents of devils and fountains
of sin. When the hour to take all power
is giv'n, To Jesus' hand the burden now can be bared. Through him we will conquer the
mightiest foes. Our captain is stronger than all that confines. Kissed her from above, still kindly
impart. So free is this love, so tender
is heart. Redeemed with His merit, Eros
in His blood, Renewed by His Spirit, With power, with power, Grace we adore, thy rector divine,
the kingdom and power and glory are thine. These have us from
running our own sorrow on shelves. From those strong and cunning
campers May all our souls be in the company
of Thy hand, And have holy faith, thus far from all ill. ? The calling, the calling ? ?
The o'erthrowing of pain ? ? The springing of glory ? ? To God
and the Lamb ? After the benediction we'll sing
the doxology. We'll just say the collection
taken today is for our friend the pastor here and may the Lord
open your hearts to give freely and bless you richly in your
giving. Lord we thank thee for thy word.
May it be a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. May it
be both lights and warms us, encourages us and chastens us,
that which brings us nearer to thee. That which has been of
thee in our worship today, Lord, do own and bless and seal by
the power of thy spirit. And that which has been of ourselves,
Lord, do forgive and remove from our minds. the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you each now and forevermore. Amen. We'll sing our usual doxology
which is the last verse of hymn 220. The tune is Celeste 736. This God is the God we adore,
our faithful, unchangeable friend, whose love is as large as his
power and neither knows measure nor end. It is Jesus, the first
and the last, whose spirit shall guide us safe home. We'll praise
him for all that is past and trust him for all that's to come. This God is the God we adore,
a faithful, unchangeable friend, whose love is as strong as its
power, and thy honor's mention of prayer. If Jesus, the first and the last, His Spirit shall guide us safe
home, We'll praise Him And trust him for all that you
are.