This morning we will be looking
at the book of 1st Samuel chapter 3 through 4. 1st Samuel chapter
3 is a striking story. The title of this message is
Ichabod. Ichabod. 1st Samuel chapter 3
Now, Eli was the high priest at this time. Eli was the leader
of religion in Israel. And Eli had grown old, fat, lazy,
and his eyes had gone dim. And it says in verses 2 and 3
of 1 Samuel 3, it came to pass when Eli was laid down in his
place His eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. And ere,
the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the
ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep. Samuel let
the lamp go out where the ark was. Now God Almighty had instructed
Moses to tell all the sons of Levi, the priests that he had
chosen, the ones he had put in the ministry, in Exodus chapter
27, he said, cause the lamp to always burn. Cause the lamp to
burn always where the ark is, to illuminate the ark. Now, David
wrote in the Psalm, Psalm 119, David wrote, Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, a light to my path. God's word is a lamp, the illuminating
light of God, without which man is in darkness. And as in this
story, the word was to illuminate where the ark was. And so it
is, God's word was written to tell us the gospel. The ark in this story represents
the gospel. The ark of the covenant represented
the true way to worship God, the living and true God. The
ark represented the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
Word of God illuminates or enlightens every man's understanding of
who Christ is, what salvation is, the Gospel. That's what the
Word of God is primarily. Peter said that. He said, we're
born again, not by corruptible seed, but by incorruptible, the
Word of God. And he went on to say, this is
the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. But, O
Eli, had grown old and fat and lazy, and his eyes grew dim,
and he let the lamp go out where the ark was. He let the lamp
go out, which was to illuminate the place where the ark was,
to illuminate the ark. Well, God's Word, I'm here to
tell you now, with no apology, that God's Word has virtually
diminished in our day, virtually gone out in the hands of blind
religious leaders today, such as Eli was. Eli had two sons
who were coming up in the ministry, so to speak. Two sons, two priests,
sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas. They were both wicked young men. God told Eli, He told him through
Samuel, the true prophet, He told him to discipline his boy,
to take care of his sons, that they were wicked, that they were
carrying on wicked practices in the ministry. They were in
the priesthood. Hophni and Phinehas were in the
priesthood for money and for women. That's what they were
in it for. And God told Eli to take care
of them, and he didn't. And so Eli suffered, and all
of Israel did. The state of Israel at this time
was sad indeed. The spiritual state of Israel
was very sad. They did not know, nor worship,
nor follow the true God. They didn't care. Much like Eli was, everything
was pretty prosperous at the time. And the state of Israel,
the sad state, spiritual state of Israel was due mostly to the
sad state of its religious leaders, Eli, Hophni, and Phineh. And
the Ark, finally, eventually, eventually, in chapter 4, the Ark, the Ark of the Covenant,
Israel's most precious possession, was taken, was stolen by the
enemy, by the Philistines. And one of Eli's daughters, one
of the wives of one of his sons, giving birth to a child, Phineas'
wife, was giving birth to a child in chapter 4, verse 21. And she died in childbirth. But
while she was dying, in verse 21, she named the child Ichabod,
saying, The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark
of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her
husband." And she said, the glory is departed from Israel for the
ark of God is taken. Eli's daughter-in-law summed
up things then and things now. has departed. Ichabod is over
the door. Ichabod should be written over
the door of the average so-called church house today, because the
glory hath departed. The glory hath departed. God hath created all things for
His glory. Everything is to redound unto
the glory of God Almighty. Everything, every one. God said
concerning his people, I have created you for my glory. Everything should be to the glory
of God. But no, the glory hath departed. Why? The lamp's gone out and
the ark is missing. The Word of God is missing and
the gospel is missing. And so the glory hath departed.
These things, the word of God, the gospel of Christ, has been
replaced with everything and anything. And the glory hath
departed. Yes, the glory of God hath departed. The glory of God, as it's declared
in God's word, from God's word, hath departed. The glory of God
is His character, His attributes. God, people, God has more than
one attribute. Love is not His principal attribute. Holiness is. Holiness. The angels which stood around
His throne, which do stand around His throne right now, cry, Holy,
Holy, Holy is the Lord God of hosts. Holy. God is holy. That means unapproachably pure
as a consuming fire. It means much more than moral
purity. It means His essence. God dwelleth
in light, the Scripture says, which no man can approach unto.
But no, the glory hath departed. They got God waiting outside
the door for man to let him in whenever he feels like it. The
glory of God hath departed. His holiness. His justice. His justice. He said, look unto
me and be ye saved. I am a just God. God is first just. Would somebody
answer the question asked in Romans 3, how can God be just? And Job 19, how can God be just
and justifier? God must be just. God must and
will punish sin. cannot sweep it under the rug,
or he wouldn't be God. He must be just. God is just. God will and must punish sin. Every sin, Hebrews says, shall
receive a just recompense of reward. Why? Because God is just. No, today the glory of God hath
departed. His sovereign power that God
reigns and rules among the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stay His hand and say unto Him, You
can't do that. Oh, yes, He can. He's the potter.
We're the clay. He's the creator. We're the creature. He's God. We're man. We're in His hands, not vice
versa. Man turned man into a god and
God into a man. The glory hath departed. Preachers
are preaching that man can do anything he wants to with God,
and God can't do anything except what man lets Him do. The glory
hath departed. Ichabod. The glory of God. His sovereign
mercy. Salvation is the sovereign mercy
of God bestowed upon guilty, hell-deserving sinners. Mercy
means Not getting what we deserve. Mercy is undeserved. It's not a right. It's not a
privilege. It's not something we can take anytime we want.
It must be sovereign or it's not mercy. It's up to the judge
to bestow mercy. It's not up to the guilty to
accept it. It's up to the judge to grant
it. Ichabod is over the door. The
glory hath departed. God's sovereign grace, the glory
of His sovereign grace. Salvation is 100% by the grace
of God Almighty. It's an absolute free gift, not
offered, but bestowed upon undeserving, hell-deserving sinners. And it's totally without man's
will, man's choice, man's works. It's by grace are you saved. Through faith, and that is not
of yourselves, that's grace too. Yes, the glory hath departed.
Man is preaching that God has just thrown His grace out there
for wicked men to tread on and do whatever they want to with,
except that whenever they get good and ready, Ichabod is over
the door. Ichabod, the glory of God's Son,
hath departed. The glory of God's Son hath departed. His sovereign power, He said,
Jesus Christ said, all authority is given unto me in heaven and
earth. The Father hath given all authority
to the Son to give eternal life to as many as God has given Him,
not give eternal life to as many as who will accept Him as their
personal Savior. That is not in the Bible. Ichabod. The glory hath departed,
the glory of God's Son, all judgment. He says the keys of hell and
death are at my side. I decide who goes where, when,
and why. He is Lord not because you make
Him so, because He is so. Ichabod is over the door. The
glory of God's Son hath departed. The glory of His sovereign, effectual,
imputed righteousness which He bestows upon His elect. It's
not an insurance policy. It's a bestowal of righteousness
without anything in man. The glory of His sovereign saving
blood, which is now reduced to a mere offer to be trampled underfoot
by men to accept whatever they please? No! The blood of Jesus
Christ was shed for His elect sheep, and every one of them,
their sins are completely paid for. They will never have to
pay for them. The blood of Jesus Christ absolutely
secured their salvation for all eternity. but no, Ichabod, the
glory of God's Son, His power, His blood, the glory of God's
Spirit, the invincible, irresistible, sovereign Holy Spirit of God
who regenerates, who God sends Him to, who calls sovereignly
calls, and every one of them must answer his call, who sovereignly
keeps for all eternity from falling, is now reduced, this Holy Spirit
is now reduced to someone who merely makes men and women babble
and wallow and act silly. Ichabod, the glory of God's church,
which is the pillar and ground of the truth, but now is a stage
for men and women to cavort on. The glory of God's church, which
is made up of worshippers of God in spirit and in truth, but
no, is now a country club full of nothing but entertainment.
The glory of God's preachers, who were once sons of thunder
and fire, are no, they are afraid of men, they are man-pleasers,
and they are in it for the money. Ichabod is over the door. Ichabod. But no, not the true
church. God still has a Samuel, and the
ark remains. and the light is burning bright.
You better find you one and go where it is. Until next Sunday,
good day.