If you would open your Bibles
this morning to 1 Samuel chapter 5. 1 Samuel 5. The title of my message today is the ark alone. The ark alone. If you'll notice in 1 Samuel
5, in the first verse, it begins, And the Philistines took the
ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. They've just been defeated in
the battle Israel has, and this precious center of all worship
has been taken captive by the Philistines. In the center of the Holy of
Holies was this box overlaid with gold, with two golden cherubims on
each end of a golden lid called a mercy seat. And God said, I'll dwell with
you there. It was a symbol of God's presence. But they were defeated because
they had superstitiously taken that ark out into the battle,
thinking that the presence of the ark would enable them to
be victorious in the battle. If we ever wonder why such things
as this have been recorded to us, for us, then we'd have to listen to the
words of the Apostle Paul. He says, now all these things
happened unto them for our examples. And they are written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. They are
not merely history records. but they were written for the
people of God, even down to those upon to whom the end of the age
shall come. And if what goes on in this world
is any evidence, then surely we must be at the last times. He also wrote to the Corinthians,
for I delivered unto you first of all that which I receive,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. He was talking about these Old
Testament scriptures. He was talking about how they
showed something about the Lord Jesus Christ, how they showed
something about how sin was put away. And then the writer of Hebrews
says this concerning all things such as the priest and the tabernacle
and the Ark of the Covenant. He said, for Christ is not entered
into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures
of the true, but into heaven itself now to
appear in the presence of God. The Ark and all those Old Testament
things were figures or types, as we say, pictures. And the figures in this particular
instance are Israel, the nation of Israel, being a type of God's
elect, being a type of God's people. showing them a distinguished
people from all the nations of the world. And the second figure that we
find here is the Philistines, who are a type and a picture
of Satan, of the world, of sin, and everything that is an enemy
to God and to his people. But the chief figure here, the
chief figure of all things is this Ark of the Covenant, this
box. made of particular wood and covered
with gold, showing the humanity and the divinity and perfection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and showing that in Christ is only
where God will meet with us and bless us. And I believe the example here
is to show us that salvation is in Christ alone, plus nothing. I believe that it is given to
show that salvation is His work alone, is His accomplishment
alone. and that he is utterly successful
in the saving of all his elect by himself. You see, he does not help us
to save ourselves. He does not enable us to do the
things that would work for our salvation. The ark being with
them in the battle did not accomplish the victory. Look back over in
1 Samuel chapter 4. where we read in verse 3, And
when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel
said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant
of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that when it cometh among
us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh
that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the
Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims. And the
two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the
Covenant. They were wicked men, these two
sons and priests of Eli. And when the Ark of the Covenant
of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great
shout, so that the earth rang out. And when the Philistines
heard the noise of the shout, they said, what meaneth the noise
of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood
that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp, and the Philistines
were afraid. For they said, God is come into
the camp. And they said, woe unto us, for
there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us, who
shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods. These are
the gods that smoke the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. But some said among them, be
strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye
be not servants unto the Hebrews as they have been to you. Quit
yourselves like men and fight. And the Philistines fought, and
Israel was smitten. And they fled every man into
his tent, and there was a very great slaughter, for there fell
of Israel 30,000 footmen. And the ark of God was taken,
and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. Neither the superstitious imagining
that the presence of the Ark would help them have the victory. Not all of the wicked idolatrous
priests that were among them would help them. They fell into
a great defeat. God showing us that nothing that
he enables us to do, or nothing that he gives us, no strength,
no matter what, is able to save us. As a matter of fact, he says
in Ezekiel 22, And I sought for a man among them that should
make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land,
that I should not destroy it, but I found none. Not an earthly priest. Not a
super superstitious thing such as trusting in something that
has to do with God. Only the ark. And the ark here is given as
a picture of substitution. It's a picture of Christ the
substitute, the ark. went into the land of the Philistines
alone. Not one soldier, not one priest,
not one help, but the Ark of the Covenant was carried off
by the Philistines alone. And the truth is, Israel should
have been the ones that went into exile. They should have
been, by virtue of their disobedience and sin, they should have been
the one that went into this exile, but only the Ark went. And I can't help but think that
the death of Christ, this signifies for us how the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ for his people was absolutely voluntarily. When you think about the power
that was demonstrated in so many ways at so many times by this
ark and God's presence in the ark. But here as it is, the ark
is allowed to be taken by wicked men and carried off down to the
land of the Philistines, a land disassociated with God in every
way. But God just let them take it,
carry it off, do what they would with it seemingly. Just like
the Lord Jesus Christ says He was taken by wicked hands and
slain. He could have called 10,000 angels. He could have stopped it in a
moment. But he came and laid down his
life. He gave his life for his sheep. He came like a sheep before her
shears is done and opened not his mouth. He came and died willingly,
freely. But as I said, the thing that
I want us to notice most today is that this Ark, this Ark of
the Covenant, which is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ, he
accomplished the victory by the Ark alone. By the Ark alone. Notice what happens here in 1
Samuel chapter 5 and beginning with verse 2. When the Philistines took the
ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it
by Dagon. They brought the ark of the covenant.
in a symbol of their victory or their victory over, their
God's victory over Jehovah. They took it and they set this
holy ark of the covenant right before Dagon in their temple. Dagon being the God of the Philistines,
which was a symbol of half fish and half man. And when they of Ashdod arose
early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face
to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon
and set him in his place again. They had to take their God and
pick him up and prop him up. and stand him up again, he always
is like the gods of this world, the gods of false religion who
must have your help. We've got to do something for
God. We've got to give God a hand.
We've got to, the only hands he's got is the hands we've got.
That's what they say. But he came the next morning,
it says, and when they rose early on the morning, behold, Dagon
was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the
Lord. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were
cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left
to him. Therefore, neither the priests
of Dagon nor any that come in into Dagon's house tread on the
threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day." In other words, without the help
of any Israelite, without the hand of any priest, Without the
hand of any man, woman, or boy, or girl that was associated with
this people of Israel, the ark defeated the devil, the world, sin, and
every enemy against God and his people. He does it always alone. always alone. Whenever the devil in the beginning
of his rebellion cried out, I will be as the most high, God said,
no, you won't. You will be brought down just
like this Dagon was brought down. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
1 and look at what it says here in Hebrews chapter 1. In verse 3 it says that He, that is Christ, who being
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when
he had by himself, you see that? when he had by himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. everything necessary to the forgiveness
of sins and the purging or cleansing of a sinner from their sins,
everything necessary to that, he did by himself. The Ark pictured that salvation
is of the Lord. In Hebrews chapter 2 and verse
14 it says, for as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same,
that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil. by himself, absolutely, not only
in the actual destruction and the binding and the deliverance
from Satan on every hand, but in this same way, he accomplishes
their salvation in this world and delivers them from every
enemy through the gospel. There are a lot of preachers
that think we have to debate, that we have to discuss, that
we have to do a multitude of things in order to get the victory
for God in this world. But all that had to happen was
for them to put the Ark of the Covenant before Dagon, and the
Ark of the Covenant destroyed Dagon. and all that's necessary for
the destruction and victory over Satan in this world and the advancement
of God's kingdom in this world is not a bunch of preachers and
people debating issues and so forth, only the proclamation of the gospel. I don't spend any time debating. I don't spend any time arguing. I don't spend any time trying
to defend my position theologically. I seek to spend all my time preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and I'm not alone. That's what Paul said. I determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And Christ as the victorious
Savior, as the one who accomplished His salvation all by Himself,
everything that was necessary to get the victory in whatever
sense forever for His people, He did it alone. Look back over here in I Samuel 5 at verse 6. But the hand of the Lord was
heavy upon them in Ashdod. When will we ever learn that
God is not only the Savior, but he's the one who alone is victorious
over his enemies and does everything? His hand was heavy upon them
of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and smote them with emeralds,
even Ashdod and the coast thereof. And when the men of Ashdod saw
that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall
not abide with us, for his hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon
our God. And they sent, therefore, and
gathered all the lords." There were five lords of these Philistines. And they sent and gathered all
the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall
we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered,
Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the
God of Israel about thither. And it was so that after they
had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city
with a great, very great destruction. And he smote the men of the city,
both great and small, and they had emeralds in their secret
parts. Therefore they sent the ark of
God to Ekron and it came to pass as the ark of God came to Ekron
that the Ekronites cried out saying they have brought about
the ark of the God of Israel to us to slay us and our people. So they sent and gathered together
all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of
the God of Israel and let it go again to his own place, that
it slay us not and our people, for there was a deadly destruction
throughout all the city. that at the hand of the Lord
was very heavy there, and the men that died not were smitten
with emeralds, and the cry of the city went up to heaven."
Now here's the picture. They take it to Ashdod, and God
brings judgment. He defeats them. He destroys
them. He smites them at Ashdod. Well, they said, well, maybe
it's best to move it to one of the other chief cities of the
Philistines. And they took it again, and it
did the same thing. And they took it to another city,
and it did the same thing. They took it to all the five
cities of Philistia amongst the Philistines, and the same thing
happened. God slew many men, and God smoked
them with tumors in their private parts, and in the private areas,
and they were cursed with mice. Now, there have been all kinds
of descriptions and definitions and stuff about what these emeralds
and what these mice were all about. Why was it? But most likely, According to
all the descriptions we're given and according to all the symptoms
of disease and such that we're given, it was most likely that
they had these tumors under their arms and in their private parts,
tumors that were a result of bubonic plague, which was caused by the infestation
of all these mice. But in every city, God got himself the victory. In every city, he showed you
and me and them and everybody else, that he is the mighty God. He is the one who is going to
judge sin, but most of all, he's the God that's mighty to save
by himself. You see, these cities, Represent
all that is against us. Ashdod. The name means stronghold
or oppressor or destroyer. He's the deliverer. He breaks
the bondage. He saves us from all our sin. He delivers us from all our enemies. Gath, you remember Goliath was
Goliath from Gath. He was from that city whose name
means wine press. You know what Isaiah said about
the one who treads the wine press of God's wrath? He said, he treadeth the winepress
alone. God's people will never have
to endure the wrath of God for their sins. He says, we have been saved from
wrath through him. He tread the winepress of God's
wrath. And you know what happens in
a winepress. The grapes are crushed. And as
a result of the crushing, the wine flows forward. He treads the winepress alone. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained redemption for us." Not to make a people redeemable.
Not to help them redeem themselves. but he actually obtained or manifested
eternal redemption for them. Then there's the city of Ekron,
which meant barrenness. In Christ, God's people are made
the righteousness of God in him. They're not barren, they're not
unfruitful, because he imputes to them his perfect righteousness
so that they stand fully accepted. And God says to them, like he
did his bride in the Song of Solomon, thou art all fair. There is no spot in thee. Then there, the city of Gaza,
which means strong, strong. Well, they weren't very strong
in the presence of God, were they? Man is characterized by the imagination
that he's strong. The devil is characterized by
the imagination that he's stronger. that in Mark we read no man can
enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he
will first bind the strong man and then he will spoil his house. You can't go into a strong man's
house and tie him up and take his goods unless you're stronger. And that's
exactly what Christ did in his life and death. He bound the
strong man. And all of his elect that were
held captive, that are called captives, but are called captives
of hope, he bound the strong man and delivered
them. Everyone. And then their last one was Ascalon. which means weighing place, which has to do with weighing.
They weighed things at Ashkelon, and this speaks of the justice
of God. Because the Lord said to Israel
in Leviticus 19, you shall do no unrighteousness in judgment,
in matriarch, in wake, and in measure, just balances, just
weights, a just ephod, a just hen, shall ye have. I am the Lord your God who brought
you out of the land of Egypt. Whatever God does in mercy for
his people, it has to be just. Whenever he delivered those people
out of Egypt and their bondage, he did so showing the type and
the way that he always delivers his people in a just manner. And that was by the blood of
that innocent lamb, the Passover lamb that was taken and spread
and sprinkled on the doorpost. And he said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. And it's only in the blood of
Christ, only in His sacrifice, only in His life laid down for
the sheep that they're enabled to go free and to go free justly,
be declared righteous by God Himself. Christ paid the debt of sin. He bore the punishment of sin
in his own body on the tree. And all the sins of all his people
of all time were imputed to him. It says the Lord hath laid on
him the iniquity of us all. And he makes an end of them justly. Justly. These cities and the people were
all smitten. Everywhere they would take the
ark, it defeated them, it destroyed them, just as Christ conquered
every enemy that is against the believer and did all the work
necessary to save us, and he was alone victorious on our behalf. I remember being raised up in religion,
being raised up in a church, so-called. And I was often told what Christ
could do for you. What Christ would do for you
if you let him. What Christ would do for you
if you acted in faith toward Him. But my friends, faith, even faith,
is not what causes God to do for us. Faith receives what God
has done for us. He's finished it. He's absolutely done everything
necessary. The ark alone is the picture
of Christ alone, of whom Isaiah said, and he saw that there was
no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore,
his arm brought salvation unto him and his righteousness sustained
it. Where and when did this happen? Turn over to Colossians chapter
2 a minute. Colossians chapter 2. Look at verse 13, Colossians
2. And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross. and having spoiled principalities
and powers. He made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it." Now, what's the it there? The
it is his cross. He triumphed over all principalities,
just like we have in our picture. All these Philistines, men of
Gath, if Goliath is any evidence, hearty men, hearty people. He triumphed against all that's
against us. You say, but what about this?
What about that? Principalities and powers. all things in His cross. You see, His cross was not in
any way a failure. It was not in any way things
gone amuck or amiss. It was the purpose of God's grace
to his people that he should send his son and that he should
die and deliver and save from their sin all his people. Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins." All of them. Well, what about if I... All
of them. What about if I... that I did
back so many years ago that I... I just can't get it off of my
mind? You may not be able to get it off your mind. But if
the blood of Christ was shed for that sin, it's off the books
of God. It's out of the mind of God.
He remembers it no more. Oh, the priest went in many times,
but not this one. For 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. You see, this was the Ark of
the Covenant. You know what a covenant is? Well, it's the same thing as
a testament that we read about in Hebrews 9, and it tells us
that the death of the testator of this testament or this covenant
has therefore put it in effect. You might say, that a covenant or a testament
is like a will. You know what a will is. When we read the will, we determine
how the person who died distributed everything and gave everything.
Well, in this covenant, in this testament, in this last will
and testament, he's given his people everything, because it's all of grace. You know how the reading of a
will is, there always is somebody disappointed. God gave, I mean the person gave,
he left more to this disobedient son than he did to disobedient
daughter or to disobedient friend, and this just always is a mess. But all of God's children receive
every covenant blessing, dependent on who the Ark of the Covenant represented
and depended on what he actually did. That's why this business
of rewards is so foolishness. Can't be if salvation is all
of grace. God said to Abram, I'm your exceeding
great reward. There ain't going to be any big
eyes and little yous, any big houses and small houses. And
no, it's all of grace. Nobody deserves it. Nobody can
earn it. Nobody can marry. It's a covenant. It's dependent upon if the covenant
head fulfills all the obligations. And just like the arc of the
covenant here. The Lord Jesus Christ. That's why people don't seem
to be thrilled very much about Christ. All they can think about
is what He might have done for you. God's people are thankful
for what He's done. For what He's done. John said, Behold the Lamb of
God which takes away sin. Hebrews says, But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down on the right
hand of God. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. You see, he alone could do it. He alone is sinless. He alone is divine. He alone is acceptable to God. He alone is appointed of God. And also because nobody else
has done it. But when he hung on that cross,
all the promises of God, all the covenant blessings, Everything
that God in mercy and grace has to give to a sinful people, he
said, it is finished. We are complete in him. He did it completely. He did
it perfectly. He finished it. Look in verse
1 of chapter 6, And the ark of the LORD was in the country of
the Philistines seven months. Seven months. Seven is always God's number
of completion. perfection. He just did it all,
finished it all, and his salvation is therefore complete. And when the work was done, Christ rose from the dead, just like
this Ark of the Covenant. without any damage, without any
missing parts, without anything having happened to it all, it
came up out of the land of the Philistines. And that's the way
God is. And Christ, he accomplished it,
and he rose, as we read in that Verse in Hebrews 1 and verse
3, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. He came
back out just like the ark came out. Verse 2 of chapter 6, And the
Philistines called the priests and the diviners, saying, What
shall we do to the ark of the Lord? Tell us wherewith we shall
send it to its place. And they said, If you send away
the ark of the God of Israel, don't send it empty. But in any
wise return him a trespass offering, when then you shall be healed,
and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from
you. And then they said they, what
shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him?
And he answered, five golden emeralds and five golden mice,
according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for
one plague was on you all and on all your lords. Wherefore,
you shall make images of your emeralds and images of your mice
that mar the land, and you shall give glory unto the God of Israel. Peradventure, he will lighten
his hand from off you and from off your gods and from off your
land. Wherefore, then do ye harden
your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts.
when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let
the people go, and departed, and they departed. Now therefore
make a new cart, and take two milk kind, on which there has
come no yoke, and bind the kind to the cart, and bring their
calves home from them. I won't go on and read all that,
but here's a picture. They put the cart, put the ox
on a cart, put the ark on a cart, built new, never before had there
been carried on anything. And that work of Christ is altogether
new. But anyway, they took these kind,
these cows, who had just given birth to a calf, and they took
the calves to the home, hitched up the cows, if they be such,
to the cart, put the Ark of the Covenant on the back of it, and
they said this. If the cows act against nature,
you can just imagine these little calves over here lowing, and
it's natural to the cow, to the mother, to go to them. If they
act unnatural to them and go the way back to Israel, we'll know that God has accepted
it. And so they put the ark on their
cart, and these mother cows, acting so contrary to nature,
they went just as straight toward Israel. And it meant God had accepted. And the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, the fact that he came back, he rose again, that's the
evidence that God has accepted his sacrifice and work just like
the high priest when he came out alive of the Holy of Holies. But he didn't just come back
empty-handed. They were to take and make five golden tumors and
five golden mice, put it in a coffer, not put it in the ark, but put
it beside the ark. Now, I don't pretend to know
any more significance of those things except this. They were gold. And they were
gold, and they represented what Christ had done in dealing with
our sins, in saving us from our sins, and all the gifts and blessings
that we have in Him as a result of that. the proof that God had accepted
the sacrifice. Now, any time we preach the gospel and declare this finished work
and salvation by grace freely given to us through the redemption
that is in Christ, somebody says, Well, what do we do? What do we do now? What can we do for God? Turn over to Psalm 98 in closing. Psalm 98, listen to what it says. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song, for he hath done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm
have gotten him the victory. We ascribe all the glory in our
salvation to Christ alone. I was thinking about this this
morning. All men and women by nature in
Adam, we have a song. It's always me, me, me. We get over into salvation, it's
me, me, me. Religion, it's really me, me,
me. I'm doing the best I can. I'm
a member of the church. I've been baptized. Oh, it's
always I. But when God saves us, we sing
a new song. The Lord himself, by himself. has gotten the victory. It is
he who is all my salvation. He hath made, David said with
me, an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, ensured,
and this is all my salvation. The Lord hath made known His
salvation. His righteousness hath He openly
showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered His mercy
and His truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the
earth have seen the salvation of our God. What do we do? Praise Him. Thank Him. Seek to obey Him, but not for
salvation. Seek to glorify Him, exalt Him,
but not to be saved, but because He has saved us, because He has
mercy on us. And He, like the ark, did it
all by Himself. Glory be to our Savior. Our Father, this morning we thank
you in the name, the worthy name, of our precious Ark, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who alone has wrought for us and accomplished so great
a salvation. Give us faith, enable us to look
to him alone, to give all the glory to him,
and to be able to rest and rejoice in his finished work. He did it alone, and therefore
he alone is to receive the glory. We pray in his name, and for
his sake, amen.