First Samuel chapter seven, verse
one. And the men of Kirjath-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. So we see here from verse
one that the men of Kirjath-Jerim come and they retrieve the ark
from the men in Beth Shemesh, and they put it here in the house
of this man named Abinadab. And the obvious difference between
the men of Beth Shemesh and Kiriath-Jerim is very obvious. If you remember
from past studies, the men of Beth Shemesh had a lax attitude
toward the Ark of the Covenant. and along with their disobedience
to the word of God on how to handle the ark. They were not
to touch it. You remember when David had the ark moved and it
shook on the means of moving it and he just put his hand up
to stable it and the Lord killed him. That's how holy God is. I think sometimes we forget that
first and foremost, God is holy. I hear men today talk a lot about
the love of God, but first and foremost, God is holy. God's
so holy, he can by no means clear the guilty, the wages of sin
is death. And we can't approach God in
and on our own. And we can't appease God by the
works of our hands. It's such a picture of that.
So, and this is such a warning to professing believers everywhere,
not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven. I did a funeral this morning
in Owensboro for a lifelong friend of mine. And you know, there's
nobody that goes through funeral homes today that isn't saved.
And I told them about speaking to a man who was 60 years a funeral
director in Texas, and he was about to retire. And on the way
to the gravesite, I asked him, I said, has there ever been anyone
in the 60 years here that you've done this that was lost? He said, not a woman. They all
made a profession of faith. They all walked an hour to the
front of the church. They all got baptized. They all
said a sinner's prayer. And even though they hadn't been
to church in years, he said, you know, they were saved. The
preacher said they were saved. But not everyone that says, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Salvation has everything
to do with what a man or woman thinks of Christ. You can profess
Christ in unknowing. What do you think of Christ?
It's the most urgent question in all of scripture. What do
you think of the Lord Jesus? Who is he to you? Is he just a prophet or is he God? Did he just pray for your sins
or did he die for them? Night and day difference. has
everything to do with what you think of Christ. It had everything
to do with the gospel of God. The ark is a type of the gospel
and the men of Bethshemesh, their attitude was lackadaisical to
say the least. And it wasn't according to the
word of God. The gospel is a holy God fulfilling
for us what we cannot fulfill. I don't know what makes men and
women think that they can, by work of their own doing, appease
a holy God. Everything we do is tainted with
sin. Nothing we can do can appease
God. You can ask Cain about that.
He brought the best work of his hands and God rejected it. It's only a blood sacrifice that
causes the Lord Jesus to put away our sin. And it's his blood. Oh my, Lord help us. The people
of Bathsheba, they failed the test. They tried to do things
their way instead of God's. And so is believing and trusting
and worshiping Christ. Is that the most important, crucial,
urgent thing in your life? Will you take serious what God
and His word commands? Do you believe it? Do you want
to please Him? Will you believe and trust in
Christ alone? Or can you just take Him and
leave Him? You know, sometimes I wonder, I wonder, how we really
feel. Now make no mistake about it,
the Lord will cause one who professes to know Christ and believe the
gospel, he'll prove if they really do. Let me just read a couple
of verses to you, Exodus 20, 20. And Moses said unto the people,
fear not for God has come to prove you and that his fear may
be before your faces that you sin not. Is God a holy God or
is He not? Deuteronomy 8, two, and thou
shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these
40 years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee,
to know what was in thine heart. God gonna prove what's in your
heart. Whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or no. Deuteronomy 8, 16, who fed thee
in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that
he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee to do thee
good at the latter end. Do you really believe that God
is out to do you good? Do you really, do you see that
it's Christ alone that causes God to do you good? These are
important things. We saw in our study of the book
of Judges that there were idolatrous nations that the Lord left in
the land of promise, the land of Canaan. And the scripture
says he did so to prove Israel by them. You know, Israel, you
know, they worshiped idols in Egypt, obviously, because of
the Egyptians. And now God moves them into the
land of promise. He did all he did for them in
the land of Egypt, that he might bring them out. And no sooner
than they get out in the wilderness, they begin to murmur and complain,
and pretty quickly started worshiping idols. He delivers them into
the land of promise. They do the same thing. They
don't wipe out the people like God told them to. And pretty
soon they're worshiping their little idols. We saw it time
and time again in the book of Judges. The Lord would, they
would, the people of Israel would begin to worship idols. Then
they would fall into bondage and they'd pray unto the Lord
and cry unto the Lord. He'd send a judge. The judge
would deliver them, the judge would die, and they'd do it right
again and again. They'd time and time again fail
miserably, and so do we. So we, David said, examine me,
O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins in my heart, Psalm
26. Paul wrote, and be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove. What is that good, acceptable,
and perfect will of God? Romans 12, two. Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 13, verse five, examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Prove
your own selves. Know ye not your own selves how
that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates? The
only way we'll ever be saved, the only way that we'll ever,
can ever provide the righteousness that God requires is that it's
Christ that provides it for us. God will accept nothing but perfection
and Christ is the only perfect one. Galatians 6, 4, but let
every man prove his own work, and then shall he ever rejoice
in himself alone and not in another. Now that word prove in both the
Old Testament and the New Testament means to test, to test. Our attitude towards Christ and
his word, the same as Israel's attitude of the Ark of the Covenant,
this is what I want you to see, is a true test and it's proof
of your faith. God said, this represents me. This represents my gospel and
it's holy. You can't touch it. You can't
add anything to it. And Christ is the same thing
to us. He's holy. We can't add anything
to his perfect work. So between verses one and two
here of our text, 20 years passes. Look at it again with me. It
said, and it came, verse one, and the men of Kirjath-Jerim
came and fetched up the ark and brought it into the house of
Benadab in the hill and sanctified Eleazar, his son, to keep the
ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, while the
ark abode in Kirjath-Jerim, that the time was long, for it was
20 years. and all the house of Israel lamented
after the Lord. They sanctified, set apart Eliezer,
Abinadab's son, to keep, attend the ark. But as high priest,
Eliezer had not in all those 20 years offered sacrifice for
the people's sin. The mercy seat was the top of
the Ark of the Covenant. And I guess they just rolled
this thing into a warehouse there at Abinadab's house and just,
okay, we got the Ark back. But they didn't perform the ceremonies
that God had required them to provide. It was then that Samuel spoke
to the house of Israel. He exhorted them. to return unto
the Lord. Look at verse three, and Samuel
spake unto 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. With all your hearts, put away
these strange gods. Anything and everything that
you put before God is an idol. Idol can be anything. Trish and
I heard Brother Paul on livestream on the way over. He said the
same thing. I thought, well, he's preaching my message. But
it is the same message. Anything. Sports. It doesn't
matter what it is. Our children. Anything we put
before the Lord can become an idol, becomes an idol. And Samuel
said in verse three, if you do, he'll deliver you out of the
hand of the Philistines. If you return to him with your
whole heart, oh, that we could worship the Lord as he ought
to be worshiped with our whole hearts. Now it was after this
exhortation from Samuel and the command of the Lord, that we
read in verse four, then the children of Israel did put away
Balaam and Ashtaroth and served the Lord only. It seems like
every time Israel does that, then it's more of the same. They
fall right back into it. This has been their practice,
as I said, ever since they were delivered out of Egypt. And again,
we see that if the Lord doesn't intercede If the Lord doesn't
divinely interrupt and intervene, men and women are just happily
skipped right on their way to hell. That's just a fact. You know, we pray that the Lord
save us and we ought to every time add and keep us. Lord, you're
the only one that can save us and you're the only one that
can keep us. We're prone to wonder. We just sung that a minute ago.
We're prone to leave the God we love. Am I right? Yes, we
know that about ourselves. And it seems here that Israel
was comfortable in their idolatry for 20 years in a sense of security
simply because the ark was now back among them. And it's just security, false security. In the name of God and in the
name of Jesus, men today continue in numerous practices that defy
the God of the Bible and His Word. I can't fathom all the
things that religion does in the name of God today that the
Bible doesn't even mention. Where is an altar call found
in the Bible? Where in the Bible does God say,
okay, get up and come down front and let the priest or preacher
lay hands on you and you say it? Where in the Bible is a man
or a woman saved by repeating a sinner's prayer? It's not in
there, not in there. Where does the Bible speak about
reaping and sowing money to become wealthy? Heard a man again say
not long ago, if you give 10, the Lord will give you back 100.
Well, who wouldn't do that? But that's not what God does.
This is talking about sowing and reaping spiritual things. Seeking first the kingdom of
God and all His righteousness and all these other things will
be added unto you. Faith, mercy, love, grace, all
the fruits of the Spirit. It seems that the people of Israel
showed no remorse until the end of the 20 year period. And the
Lord addresses such actions through the prophet Samuel. And this applies to Israel of
old and it applies to those today who lie and continue in their
sin. Where is the sorrow for sin today? Where is it? People make light of sin. You
know, say silly things like me and the man upstairs, we got
a good thing going. You don't know the first thing
about God or about sin to say something like that. Jeremiah
7, 8, behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, and commit
adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and
walk after other gods whom you know not, and then come and stand
before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say,
we are delivered to do all these abominations? That's what religion
is. That's all it does. That's exactly
what's going on today in religion. As I read the words of our text,
or as I read through them, I thought and wondered to myself, what
was Samuel doing these 20 years? We're not told. Well, I know
he was doing the work of the Lord, but when he speaks here
in verse three, all the house of Israel begin to lament after
the Lord. It's the declaration of the word
of God that causes sinners to lament. God shows us in His Word our
sin and our need to come to Christ. God shows us through this Word
what we are, sins what we are, and there's only one that can
put it away, and that's Christ. Throughout the scriptures, water
is often a picture of repentance and revival. In the words of
Samuel, verses three and four are conditional words. Now, remember
the Old Testament with the old covenant was a covenant of words. And we'll talk more about that
in a moment. Verse three, and Samuel spake unto all the house
of Israel saying, if you do return unto the Lord with all your hearts,
then put away the strange gods of Ashtoreth 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. And then the children of Israel
did put away Balaam and Ashtoreth and served the Lord only. Samuel's
words are conditional because they're operating under the old
covenant. This was a covenant of God's
law. This was a covenant of doing. This was a covenant of obedience. It was a covenant of obeying
God at his word. And verse five says, and Samuel
said, gather all Israel to Mizpah and I'll pray for you and to
the Lord. And I thought as I read that, here Samuel pictures the
Lord as our intercessor. Aren't you glad that you have
an intercessor, a mediator with God the Father? And it's none
other than God the Son himself. He sits at the right hand of
God. He's got the ear of God. And he pleads our cause for us. I died for that sin. I died for
that sinner and all his sin. And God says, Satisfied, everything's all right. Verse six, 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. We have sinned against the Lord. Now sin cannot be forgiven if
one's not sorry for their sin. And sin cannot be forgiven if
one doesn't confess their sin. And here Israel does both. We have sinned against the Lord. That's who all our sin is against.
Against him and him only have we sinned and done this evil.
Psalm 54, Sif 51. Against thee, God, and only you,
God, have we sinned. And Samuel preached, and he called
for Israel's repentance, and then he praised for them. Now,
I want you to see that the act here of drawing water and pouring
it out before the Lord is very significant. It's a, first of
all, it's an act of humble worship. You remember when David was running
from Saul and his men and his friends disregarding their own
safety? David said one time in that cave,
he said, I am sure hungry. And they risked their own life
and they went out and got some water and brought it back to
Quench David's thirst. They loved him. They'd have done
anything for him. You remember what he did with
that water? He poured it out. He was thirsty. Why didn't he
drink it? Well, he did so to reveal that he was not worthy
of such honor and sacrifice. Such honor and sacrifice belonged
only to the Lord. That's the first reason he poured
it out. And when the children of Israel here pour out the water
before the Lord, they're worshiping him, and they're saying, Lord,
we don't deserve your mercy, your grace, and your forgiveness.
And you know what? They didn't. Mercy is undeserved, and grace
is unmerited. If I say, Lord, I deserve your
grace, then it ceases to be grace. If we say, Lord, You know, I did this in order
to receive mercy from you. Then it becomes anything but
mercy, it becomes works. When Israel poured out this water
before the Lord, they were saying that they were thirsty for Christ
and Him alone and His presence and no mere water was gonna satisfy
them. They wanted the rivers that flowed
of living water. They wanted the fountain of life,
the Lord Himself. The source of their satisfaction
was Christ and Him alone. Nothing and no one else would
do. And this is a way for them by their own actions to say,
we're not important. We're not important. They symbolically
poured out their souls. unto the Lord, saying, if you
don't forgive us, we won't be forgiven. And that's what every
child of God does. We know that we, unless the Lord
forgives us, according to his grace and mercy, we won't be
forgiven. So why would we cry out to anyone
but the Lord to forgive our sin? Now look at verse seven. These
words are just crucial in understanding the mindset of the enemies of
the gospel. Now, do you know that that those
of you who believe the gospel, you've got enemies. When the
Philistines get word that the Israelites are worshiping God,
they immediately set themselves against them. For 20 years, the
Philistines hadn't moved against them. They just remained idle.
You ever stop to think about why? Because Israel is worshiping
their gods and their idols. They're no threat to them. They're
not worshiping the God of the Bible, the God of Israel. They were no threat. Everything's
just fine. Just, hey, they're all right.
They ain't gonna cause us any trouble. They're worshiping our
God's name. But the instance that the Philistines
hear that Israel has reconciled with their God, they get upset. You see this, Religion, the religion
of the world accepts and tolerates all manner of false worship. Men and women, whether they're
idol worshipers or Southern Baptists, they join hands together because
they don't oppose a threat to one another. But the minute the
gospel is preached and the true people of God begin to worship
the true and living God, it's Katie bar the door. In other
words, take caution, there's trouble ahead. All hell's about
to break out. And how dare anyone give all
the glory to God, people say. We deserve some glory. We did
our part in this. True worship disallows all other
gods. God's not gonna share his glory
with another. Balaam and Ashtoreth, long as
they're worshiped, everything was okay. But the minute they
stopped, it wasn't. You know, when I was 16 or 17,
I've always said that when I was big enough to quit going to church
and my mom and dad couldn't make me, probably about 16, 17, I quit going to the church I
was raised in. And for years, I never heard
a thing from them. No one ever called me, you okay? And when Teresa and I got married
and word got out that I was attending another church, all of a sudden
my phone starts ringing. Where are you at? I've been gone
for seven years. You just now missing me? They
called to check on me. It was almost a decade later. And then the first thing they
asked me, are you going to another church now? Yes, I am. Well, have you ever thought about
moving your membership? You see, as long as I was on
their role and considered part of their group, they were content
to just let me pass and perish. But that all changed. Notice
also that Israel no longer found the presence of the Ark necessary
to be with them in order to give them confidence. You remember
before when the Philistines came against them, they said, go to
Shiloh and bring the Ark here. You know, it was kind of a good
luck charm. We looked at that in detail. But now they don't
need a good luck charm. No, they don't need a good luck
charm. They don't cry that the ark be brought to battle. They
beseech Samuel, their intercessor, to plead their cause. Look at
verse eight. 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 then
we see Samuel's response, which is a beautiful picture of the
gospel. Verse nine, look what Samuel does. And Samuel took
a suckling lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto
the Lord. And Samuel cried unto the Lord
for Israel. And look at those last words,
and the Lord heard him. When our intercessor cries unto
God Almighty, the Lord hears him, God hears him. Samuel offers
the lamb for burnt offering. This fills God's view with the
blood of the lamb. This is the basis that causes
God to be satisfied with sin. When I see the blood, you do
what? I'll pass over you. Pass over
you and all your sin. And this basis is enough. The
Lord heard him. Friends, when we sin, we've got
an advocate with the Father. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the righteous, 1 John 2, 1. And this is the reason that God
intervened. Look at verse 10. 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. And on that day, upon
the Philistines, and disconfited them, he thundered upon them,
disconfited them, destroyed them, and they were smitten before
Israel." What did Israel do? They just sat in there watching. The Lord destroyed them. Verse
11, and the men of Israel went out of Mizpah. By the way, that
word means, that name means watchtower. and pursued the Philistines and
smoked them. And until they came into Bethkar."
You know what Bethkar means? House of the Lamb. The Philistines
were disconfitted by the thunder and the lightning. In verse 12,
then Samuel took a stone and he set it between Mizpah and
Shin and called the name of it Ebenezer. That means stone of
help. saying hitherto hath the Lord
helped us." Isn't that our confession? The Lord helped me. The Lord
helped me, the Lord saved me, and the Lord does. Who's the believer's watchtower?
Who's the believer's house of the Lamb? Who's the child of
God's stone of help? Jesus Christ, our sure foundation. As a memorial, Samuel raises
up a stone, giving all the glory to God for his help, his deliverance,
and his grace, and the help, deliverance, and grace for Israel. And you know, an interesting
thing about it, this is Ebenezer is the same place that the Israelites
lost 4,000, 400,000 footmen when they were routed by the Philistines. the time before. It's the same
place that the Israelites watched as the Philistines took and captured
the Ark of the Covenant. That's redemption. That's redemption. That's God buying back in full
what I lost. Does that mean anything to you?
Verse 13, so the Philistines were subdued and they came no
more into the coast of Israel. Now you think about it, they
came no more. And they were restored, Israel
were restored to, taken from Israel, and the cities which
the Philistines had taken, I'll get it right here in a minute,
from Israel were restored to Israel from Ekron even to Gath,
and the coast thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the
Philistines. The God of Israel did. And look
at that last line there in verse 14, and there was peace between
Israel and the Amorites. Here's another result of the
Lord's deliverance. There was peace between Israel
and the Amorites, because the Amorites dare not come against
Israel. You see, the word was out. The
word gets out when God does something, doesn't it? That's what the Scriptures
say of Pharaoh. I raised Pharaoh up that my name,
my glory, my power might be declared throughout all the earth. And
it was. Rahab heard about it all the
way there in Jericho. We've heard. We heard about your
God at the Red Sea. We heard about your God, what
he did in Egypt. We heard what your God did against
those two evil kings, Sihon and all. Oh, words out about your
God. Words out about your God. God
was in the midst of Israel, and the man that God had appointed
judge, Samuel, had God's ear. Christ has God's ear. The highway
of the upright is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way,
preserveth his soul. Proverbs 16, 17. Now look at
verse 15, 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 and all those places. And his
return was to Ramah and there was his house and there he judged
Israel and there he built an altar unto the Lord. That little
young boy that Hannah dedicated to the Lord from his birth was
now the prophet and judge of Israel. And that little infant
boy born in that manger, born in that stable and laid in that
manger is now prophet, priest, and king. And he rules and he
judges. The remainder of Samuel's life
was spent diligently pursuing the welfare of God's people.
And our Lord Jesus Christ, for 33 and a half years, did exactly
the same thing. Then the story of Esther, Mordecai,
in the book of Esther, was next to the king, Esther 10.3, and
it says, in great among the Jews, accepted of the multitude of
his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people." That's what Christ
does for us. He's out to do you good. I love
to say that. God's out to do me good. Who
can be against me if God's for me? God for me, who can be against
me? I'm more than a conqueror. So Samuel was among the people
of Israel in his day. Friends, God is still in the
midst of his people, the Lord Jesus Christ, our prophet, priest,
and king. Deuteronomy 18, 15, the Lord
thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee
of thy brethren like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. Isaiah 12, 6, cry out and shout
thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel
in the midst of thee. There's more than two of the
three of us gather here tonight. Price is in the midst of us and
that's something. In closing, I want you to look
with me to Hebrews chapter 2 verse 7. Will will finish up with these
words, but Hebrews 2. Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor and did set him over the works of thy hands. That's
speaking of the Lord Jesus. Thou has put all things in subjection
under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection
under him, he left nothing. nothing that is not put under
him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him, but we see Jesus, we see Christ, who was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man." And you know that doesn't mean every
man and woman in the world. That means every man or woman
that believes on him. That's who this letter was written
to, believers, not the whole world. Verse 10, for it became
him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons and daughters, I'll add, under glory, to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For
both he that sanctified and they who are sanctified are all of
one. for which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren. Saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church. There it is, the
midst of the church. Will I sing praise unto thee.
And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I
and the children of God are to the children which God hath given
me. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself likewise took part of the same, and through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were
all their lifetime subject to bondage in their sin. For verily
he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him
the seed of Abraham. Wherefore, in all things, it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God. Why? To make reconciliation for
the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.
Beloved is our Lord Jesus, who all his days on earth, and even
now and forevermore, diligently finish the work of righteousness
that was gifted to us for our eternal good and redemption.
I love the simple words of John. He says, he that hath a son has
life. Do you have Christ? Then you've
got life. He hath not son, hath not life.
If you don't have Christ, you don't have life. It's just that
simple. This then is the message, as John said, and this is the
message of 1 Samuel 7. It's the same message in both
the Old and New Testament. If we walk in the light as he
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. and the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. How much sin? All of it. Not just a little of it, not
just part of it, not just 80% of it. All of it. It cleanses
us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. You
know, when men say silly things like, Well, I'm not perfect,
but I'm not all that bad. They're deceiving themselves. It's exactly what they're doing.
And the truth's not in them. But if we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Boy, isn't that a wonderful three-letter
word, all? When it comes to sin, In righteousness
it is. Well, may God be pleased to cause
us to repent of our sin, as Israel did, and receive the forgiveness
that God has provided for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. I titled
this message, Repentance and Forgiveness. There's no forgiveness
without repentance. May God enable us to truly repent
of our sin.