1 Samuel chapter 7. 1 Samuel chapter 7. We're going to read the first 12 verses
of this chapter. The Philistines had captured
the ark and then the ark was causing them all sorts of trouble.
So they put it on a cart and sent the oxen to go that way.
Go back to your owners. And so that's where we pick it
up in chapter 7. The ark has returned. And in 1 Samuel 7, verse 1, And
the men of Kirjath-Jerim came and fetched up the ark of the
Lord, and brought it into the house of Binadab, 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 Cajathgarim, that
the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house
of Israel lamented after the Lord." The ark is supposed to
be in Israel, in Jerusalem. That's where it belongs. And
it's working its way back, but it's not there yet. And it's
been there 20 years. 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 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 Ashtoreth, 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 at 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 Saul, 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 suckling 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 discomforted
them, and they were smitten before Israel." And after this took
place, the men of Israel went out of Mizpih and pursued the
Philistines and smote them until they came to Bethkar. And Samuel
took a stone and set it between Mizpih and Shen, and called the
name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord. helped us. Now, I've got this
message entitled, Leading up to Ebenezer. Leading up to Ebenezer. Let's look at Israel's history
as it leads them to Ebenezer, and we see how they were truly
worshiping God. But the first thing we've got
to look at here is, I don't know what's going on here. The Ark
of the Covenant, which is a picture of the Gospel, which is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a place where God met with
man. It's sitting there at this Kerjeth
Jerom, it's there 20 years. 20 years, there's not much going
on. No years of atonement, because
I looked up this Eleazar, and he's one of many, but this one,
he just was sanctified to take care of the Ark. He's not a high
priest. If you're not a high priest, you can't make atonement. So, 20 years. I don't know where
Samuel was during all this. There's not much going on. No
years of atonement, perhaps no real sincere worship of God.
It's just sitting there, 20 years. I got to thinking about us. Perhaps
we are here today just going through the motions. It happens. You just go through the motions.
We've been coming here for how many years? Well, 30. I've been
pastor 30 years. And to say that I've been resolute
and astute and focused every time, no. That's not true. We sing hymns. Year after year,
we become accustomed to going to church, doing religious things,
etc. And I want you to notice verse
2 and the last phrases of verse 2. It was there 20 years. It was a long time. And all the
house of Israel lamented after the Lord. Now this again is like
parallel passage to the prodigal son. He's gone, he forgets about
his God, he forgets about his father, he's hungry, he's starving,
he's eating the husk that the swine would eat, and then he
comes to himself. Well, that's sovereign awakening.
That's sovereign quickening. They were there for 20 years.
How come they wasn't 19 years? And then the house of Israel
lamented. God, this is the first point,
the Lord will have His people. He is not going to forsake His
people whom He foreknew. God will fetch His people unto
the ends of the earth. Electing love will surely be
seen, it will be known, and be experienced. This is a heart
from the God of all grace. He makes us willing in His day,
His time, by His Holy Spirit. Twenty years and then all of
a sudden you got this break. And all the house of Israel lamented
after the Lord. Whether it's a lost sheep or
a fallen sheep, whether you know the Gospel or don't know the
Gospel, God's going to have His way. God's going to get His people.
He will be found of us to the praise and the glory of His grace.
We sing that song, All Hail Sovereign Love, that gave our soul a hiding
place. We sing that. The second point,
so whatever's going on here, I don't know what's going on
in 20 years, but I know it's lackadaisical, presumption, and
then the Lord seeks His people. The Lord seeks His people, and
they will hear, and they will return, they will be aroused
by the preaching of His truth. Look at verse 3. And Samuel spake. He spake. The Lord uses the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Now, I'm not saying
He's got to use an ordained, whatever that means, minister
behind a pulpit, He'll use his people. He may use a little Israelite
maiden to send Gehazi, to send that whole incident that when
he got cured of his leprosy. He'll send that. Nahum, I'm sorry,
he'll send Nahum. It'll get his attention. He may
use a little Jewish girl. But God will cross our path And
he will through his word spoken, alive in us once again or anew. And look at what he says here. And Samuel spake unto all the
house of Israel, saying, if you do return unto the Lord with
all your hearts and put away these strange gods and serve
him only. Now, again, this is Old Testament. So this is Old Covenant. So this
is conditional. But with us, we know there's
no conditions on the salvation. But the types hold up. The Lord
will bring somebody and will tell you about what you're doing. Well, I thought my mama's religion. No, that was idolatry. Well,
I thought when we came to worship you had to have robes and we
had to have a choir. No, that's man's invention. Well,
I thought I had to have an invitation and call somebody down front.
No, that's an invitation of man. The servant of God, like Bruce
said this morning in Bible class, we're going to tell the one whom
we love. All the house of Israel, whoever
will hear, whoever will forbear, put away the strange God. The
God of the Scriptures is not the God of man. Put away strange
gods. It's called spiritual idolatry.
And you could be perfect and pure and right in your own eyes
at home and don't do anything and don't, you know, as Henry
would say, don't run around and chew and those who do, that type
of thing. You could do all that and think you're good, but no,
it's repenting from this and going to the Scriptures, going
to the God of the Scriptures. The children of Israel did put
away Balaam and Ashtaroth and served the Lord, that last word,
verse 4, only. Only. Repent. The Lord is at
hand. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ
for security, for safety, and for forgiveness of sins. And
we know that as we sin, if we're believers and we've strayed away,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And as I said, His Word, the preached Word is always effectual. It's always effectual all the
time. They serve the Lord only. The
Lord's people do. And we stray, like perhaps we
strayed for 20 years, or perhaps we played religion for 20 years
and don't know Him, but He's going to have His people. As
Maurice would say, it's called fetching grace. We'll look at
verse 6. Repentance is known, sin is acknowledged,
and the heart is poured forth. And they gathered together at
Mizpe and drew water, and poured out before the Lord, and fasted
on that day, and said, We have sinned against the Lord. We have
sinned against the Lord. And that's, David says, against
thee and thee only have I sinned. No, he sinned against his first,
he sinned against his wife, he sinned against the children of
Israel. When he was supposed to be out at war, he stayed back
and he saw Bathsheba. He saw, he looked, and he took. That's the progression of sin.
But he said, when he was repenting, he said, I've sinned against
you, and you only. So they say, In this drawing
of water and pouring it out, it's like David did when he was
at the cave agilum and he was talking about how thirsty he
was and this and that. And those men went behind enemy lines and
got a cold thing of water and gave it to him. He poured it
out. It says, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. And God has humbled
me. And I'm pouring out my heart
like this water. In my hands I bring nothing but
looking to you and you alone. Acknowledge, sin is acknowledged,
the heart is poured out in humility. Our nothingness is known and
felt and true worship is known. We are brought down before we
are lifted up. We are emptied before we're filled.
were made to see sin exceeding sinful in order to see our sins
judged upon our Redeemer. The next phrase, and Samuel judged
the children of Israel in Misbe. We realize our sins have been
judged on Christ and we're free. Oh, happy condition. Jesus has
bled And there is remission. And I know that that song causes
legalists, it causes them angst. They cannot stand that. Because
I've heard them say that to me. But we know our sins have been
judged. It says it right here in type.
And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mishpah. It's a
beautiful type of Christ. He's a type of Christ here. And
then He offers a sacrifice. And that's a type of Christ.
And it's always heard. And it's, you know, the Lord
heard Him. The Lord heard Him. But here's
what happens. And I've seen this happen in
my own situation or I've seen it happen before. Verse 7, the Philistines heard
The children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpe, and the lords
of the Philistines went up to fight against Israel. And 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. Don't stop interceding. And then
we always cry that every morning. Lord, do not stop interceding
for me. that He will save us out of the
hands of the Philistines and He will deliver us. And He does
continually, time and time again. And Samuel took a suckling lamb
and offered it for a burnt offering, holy unto the Lord. And Samuel
cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And look
at verse 10. At that moment, when this is
going on, as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines
drew near to battle against Israel. Now, false religion, when you
understand the truth, the truth of Christ and Him crucified,
the truth of the sovereignty of God, the sovereign grace of
God towards undeserving vile sinners, then the religious world
gets mad and they start to come against you. We can abide, they
say that we can abide near you if you aren't too Christ-centered
or Christ-honoring, but once the true and only gospel, the
grace of God is received and believed upon, watch out. The enemies will gather their
ugly head against the Lord and His Christ when they hear of
a slain sacrifice, a full atonement made, a sovereign free election
had for the most vile and most criminal of sinners. No, they
will not have this Christ to reign over us. No, they, false
religion, cannot handle a full pardon without some works put
in on their part, or some words of free will or man's worth.
They've got to have all that to make them feel comfortable.
But when that's all excluded, they will not abide. And the
Israelites, the Philistines, they took this exact moment.
This is not by coincidence or by accident. It's in the Scriptures.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. And as soon as they saw,
as soon as they had left their strange gods, as soon as the
20 years were over, and things started happening. It's just
like this throughout the whole Scriptures. In Kings, when they were going
to rebuild the temple, the enemies were trying to distract them.
They kept on trying to distract them over and over and over.
They will not abide. What's the difference? Turn to
the 4th chapter and the 12th verse. What's going on? What's
the difference now? going on now. 1 Samuel chapter
4 and verse 12. Well, we'll look at verses 5, verses
1 and 2. And the Philistines took the
ark of God and brought it from where? Ebenezer. They're in Ebenezer. They're in Mishpah, but they're
there. And the Philistines took the
Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it
by Dagon. Also at Ebenezer, and I guess
I don't have the right passage, also at Ebenezer, is when the
children of Israel were defeated. So they were defeated at Ebenezer
prior, my point is, and the ark was taken at Ebenezer. What's the difference? Our enemies are not bothered
or threatened when the Lord's people or we act like we're just
religious. But look at Ebenezer now. 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 lamb and offered it, a picture of Christ, a burnt offering,
holy. And Samuel cried unto the Lord,
for who? For Israel, and Israel only.
That's the difference. Before, my point is, they had
the ark. It's just a religious relic.
And in the passage in chapter 4, I was trying to find it, they
had the ark with them. We'll get the ark. They said,
let's go get the ark. Let's make sure we got our little crosses
around our necks. That's what I'm saying. They
were playing religion. They knew God, but they're playing
religion. Let's have our little lapel, this little thing I used
to carry when I was in college, the cross in my pocket. Take
it out. I was trusting in that. And it's
easy for believers to do that. I mean, we can do that. My point
is, 20 years, I don't know what's going on. But I'm saying, then,
relics of religion without the reality of it. Then, in Ebenezer,
the names are the same. It's Ebenezer, it's Ebenezer.
What's the difference? Everybody loves Jesus. No, now
we can go through a real mediator. That's what they're doing. The
Ark, they're not even talking about the Ark, is my point. They're
not talking about religious relics. Remember that brass, the brass
serpent? It was used of God. Moses made
that, etc. And then years later, they said
they were worshipping it. David said, break it, it's just
a piece of brass. That's what's going on now. A
real mediator. What's going on now? Our Mediator
is interceding on our behalf. God is now their God, our God,
and there's nothing artificial or any religious relics between
us and Him. Now, Christ is always heard of
by His Father. Christ is offered up to God for
us. Now, each and every believer,
elect, remnant, chosen sinner is safe because it says, Samuel
cried unto the Lord for Israel. before they had this thing. You think the Philistines? This
is the same thing we had before. This is the same thing that happened
before. They got this ark. They're not worried about that
ark. I'm not worried about a wailing wall, if it's standing or not.
I told you that story about a friend of mine, a working friend of
mine at the park department. He started talking about the
ark and I said, boy, if we could just find that. That's Indiana
Jones stuff. He goes, no, I'm serious. He
goes, if we had that ark. And I said, it's just a box.
And people all over the place, they have stuff, they have relics. That's all they are. Not for everyone, for Israel
only, but specifically, personally and truly for His people. He
says it in John 17, I pray not for these only, but for them
who will believe through Your Word. So now we're up to this
true Ebenezer. And the beautiful thing is the
Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines.
They were watching. He said the Lord will fight our
battle. They were standing there watching.
Scared to death, asking, A picture of Christ to intercede for them,
and He did, and it says the Lord heard and He always hears. The
Father always hears when the Son speaks. The Son has the Father's
ear. And the Holy Spirit is part of
that trinity, and they all work in harmony, and all work and
jelly together. And He will make His people strong.
And when the Philistines, they thundered upon the day of the
Philistines and discomforted them. And they were smitten before
Israel. And then the men of Israel went
out and pursued them and smote them. Here I raise my Ebenezer. We
sing that song. This place right here is an Ebenezer.
No, this place isn't the stone of God. But we gather together
to say, hitherto the Lord has helped us. So right here, and
the churches that the Lord has throughout this country and this
world, they're Ebenezers. Because here we speak of our
Ebenezer. The saint of God shouts constantly
of a truth, hitherto the Lord has helped us and saved us time
and time again. And I'll tell you, once the Father
gives grace to see our Emmanuel in everything, in every circumstance,
in every situation, like what's going on here in
this country, whether it's crazy or not, but once the Father gives
us grace to see Emmanuel, to see hitherto the Lord has helped
us, The name of it is Ebenezer. It's the stone of health. It's Ebenezer. But Ebenezer with
religious relics didn't do any good. And Ebenezer, the place
is where they got spoiled. So it's not this building, but
this is the place that the Lord has given us to gather together.
When the Lord does that, this is what's going to happen. And
let's close in verse 13. So the Philistines were subdued,
And they came no more into the coast of Israel, and the land
of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel." Peace. Do we seek peace? They have peace. They had peace.
They had no more war. And then it's also, I think the
Amorites and then the other tribes, they were afraid of them because
God was in their midst. They had peace. In a world full
of confusion and nonsense and false gospels, they gathered
together at Ebenezer and had peace all the days of
Samuel. Well, why is that so important? Because in Ephesians chapter
2 verse 14 forward, because Christ is our peace. He's broken that
wall down. that wall between us, petition.
So my desire is for us to have peace. My responsibility is to
preach the Prince of Peace and God's people. Surrounded by the enemy, He'll let us lie down beside
still waters. So brethren, may we be surrounded
by our true help and the way we surround ourselves with our
true Helper, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Ebenezer.