I'm going to read the entire
fifth chapter, but I'm going to have to go back and kind of
do a slight recap of what's going on here in this fifth chapter. And the Philistines took the
ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. When the
Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it in to the house
of Dagon and set it by Dagon. Now Dagon was their deity, and
actually he was supposed to be the deity over Babel. So he was quite the deity, and
he's found all through Mesopotamia. And he's got the hands of a man,
the head, and the body of a fish. That's what Dag means in the
Hebrew. So it's not a little thing, it's a big thing. And
then I can see him bringing in the ark, And it's almost like
they're going to categorize, well, what do we do with this?
Let's see, our religion, let's put it here. We'll put it next
to our God. And when they of Ashdod arose
early on the morrow, and this is supposedly would be the temple
where the Dagon is being housed. So most writers think that this
was the priest that came in early, the first ones in the temple.
And behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before
the ark of the Lord. So what do you do with the God
that can't speak, can't talk? And they took Dagon and set him
in his place again. They lifted him up and put him
back in place. And when they arose early on
the morrow morning, the next 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 into Dagon's house tread on the threshold
of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. So they made a superstitious
ritual of it. But the hand of the Lord was
heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and smote them
with emeralds, even Ashdod and the coasts 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. They sent, therefore, and gathered
all the lords of the Philistines unto them. And they said, what
shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered,
let the ark of God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And
they carried the Ark of God of Israel about thither. And it
was so that after they carried it about, the hand of the Lord
was sore, was against the city and very great destruction. And
he smote the men of the city, both small and great. And they
had emeralds in their secret parts. Therefore they sent the
Ark of God to Ekron they gather they got together and they get
the Lords of the Philistines What are we going to do? This
is the third time 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 God of Israel and let it go again
to its own place and that it slayeth not, and our people.
For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city, and
the hand of God was very heavy there. And the men that died
not were smitten with the emirates, and the cry of the city went
up to heaven." Now, before we get into this fifth chapter,
we'll talk a little bit about what's going on before. And the
ark of God, Resided in Shiloh That's where it was housed and
as we noticed Hannah back in like the second chapter when
they went to it says worship God and the sacrifice to God
they went to Shiloh they went they came to where the ark of
God was housed now the ark of God is Miss has many symbols
many pictures. It's the presence of God and It pictures the Lord Jesus Christ.
It pictures His gospel. It's where God met with men. So they come and they gather.
Now, in the fourth chapter of 1 Samuel, the Philistines pitched
in battle against Israel beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines
pitched in Aphex. The Israelites were on one side
and the Philistines were on the other. They didn't inquire of
the Lord as to how they were to fight or how they were to
battle. But in the power of their own strength and the wisdom of
their own mind, they said, go get the ark and bring it out
in the field. Go get it and bring it where
we are. They didn't inquire from Eli. They just went and got it. So
that was ill-advised. So what happens? First of all,
when we use something that God honors and God holds dear, and
we kind of put it up as a superstition, which is what a lot of people
do today with religion. Religion and superstition is
hand in hand in a lot of... Well, the gospel is not preached,
that's for sure. But they said when they brought the ark, the
Israelites, they said, well, they didn't say God, they said
the ark. That we got this powerful tool. And then they shouted in
the camp. And the Philistines, at the end
of chapter 4, the Philistines were like, what's this shout? What's going on? And then they
found out the ark of God was in the camp, and they were afraid.
But like all fleshly conviction, you get afraid of God, you know,
foxhole, you hear of foxhole conversions, no such thing. You
hear somebody's about ready to die, and then they get afraid
and they get God, or you hear somebody saying, that'll put
the fear of God in them, something happens. No, it won't. It won't. It won't do that. Because they
were afraid and they were genuinely trembled. But we notice in James
that the demons tremble, yet they believe, they understand
a little bit more about God than what natural man does. And so
then they said, ok, let's be men. Just quiet yourself down. And the Philistines, they said,
just quiet yourself down. And so just like the stony ground
here, a little excited, a little conviction. And conviction is
not salvation. And then they quieted themselves.
They started in the flesh. And it can end in the flesh.
Quieted themselves down. And then they go fight the Israelites. And they thoroughly thumped them. 30 or 40,000 just thumped them. And they took the ark. They took
the ark. The Philistines. Eli, it said three things about him
at the latter part of chapter 4. This man came running in,
sackcloth and ashes, and he's sitting by the gate, and he can't
see. He's an old man. He says, what's
going on? And the boy comes back and he
said, Israel got whipped. And you don't really see, I'm
sure as they profit, he was grieved. But he didn't say anything. And
he says, your two sons, which were the priests that guarded
the tabernacle, which were terribly wicked and horrible, he said,
they got slain. And he still says nothing. But
as a father, I'm sure he was upset. You can't hear something
like that. But there was no reaction. But
then the man said, the ark has been taken. The glory of God. is gone. He falls over backwards,
breaks his neck, he's gone. So there was something about
Shiloh, there's something about the guy comes running in with
sackcloth and ashes, he comes back to Shiloh, he tells him
all this news. The gospel's gone. The gospel's
departed. Where God meets with men. The Philistines, it's in the
hand of our enemies. When I read this chapter, chapter
5, the first thing I look at, I wonder, how come there's no
counterattack? How come if the ark is so important
to the Israelites, how come they don't sacrifice themselves to
try to recover the ark to get the glory of God back or lose
everything they got trying. No, we see the spiritual status
of Israel was in such a state of declension and fleshliness
that there's no action taken. Of course, the Lord is going
to, I don't want to say defend, but He's going to get honor and
get glory as what we saw already. My thought would be to you and
to me, me first and then to you, woe is us if we have such a small
concern for His Son, for His presence, for His gospel, and
for His fellowship, that we don't do anything about it. And historically,
the ark of God never again was placed in Shiloh. Now, we'll
see later as we look in Wednesdays as we go through, the ark comes
back and it goes here and it goes, I can't remember his name,
it goes to this gentleman's house, a godly man's house and it stays
here for years, but it never comes back to Shiloh. It never
comes back to Shiloh. The second thing I see here,
the heathen, the Philistines, The unbeliever, the unregenerate.
I think you see the whole summary of what they believe and what's
going on there. Turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. In verses 18, through 25, for the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness." Now, the Philistines
didn't even have the truth, but on the other hand, they had the
ark of God. So they've got it. And this is no different than
what's going on today in most churches. Men stand behind a
pulpit. They've got this King James Bible.
They've got the New King. They've got this Scripture. and
they're holding it in unrighteousness because they're not telling the
truth about who God is or who man is. and that charge against
them is going to be very horrible on that day. Because that which
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed
it unto them. For the invisible things of Him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhood,
so that they are without excuse." Every time you wake up in the
morning, and you see that sun, and you see those trees, Spring,
summer, fall, winter, every time that comes by, without excuse.
I've always said it takes a whole lot more faith to believe in
evolution than creation. You've got to be kidding me.
Anyway, don't get me on that subject. But look at what it
says in verse 14, "...because that when they knew God, And these Philistines said, the
God of Israel, the Ark of the God of Israel. So they understood
when they shouted in the camp before the battle even began.
They understood who this God is. Now I'll tell you what, when
you talk to somebody, you can say God and have, not fellowship,
but you can say, oh yeah, God's great this and that. But when
you begin to speak of Jesus the Christ, that's where they'll
be an issue. That's where they'll definitely
be an issue. Because when they knew God, they glorified Him
not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools." Now look at this, Dagon, this is what's
exactly going on, "...and they changed the glory of the incorruptible
God into an image, made like unto corruptible man, birds,
four-footed beasts, and creeping things." Dagon, the fish God. Wherefore, God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts, to
dishonor their own bodies between themselves, who changed the truth
of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more
than the Creator, who is blessed forever." That is, in a nutshell,
what the Philistines, the creature, they worship things. Thirdly, we see here in the Ark
of God, the one true God over all. I think it's funny that they
bring the Ark in and then Dagon falls. And then before anybody
could see, the elders and the pastors and the Sunday school
teachers, let's prop him back up, let's get this guy back up. Psalm 135, verse 5, For I know
that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. He's sovereign. He's immutable. He's omnipotent. Our God bows
before no other. Our God rules and reigns in heaven
and all the earth. And also, just like the ark and
Dagon, these two items cannot coexist. He's going to bow. He's going to bow. He's going
to be broken. They can't coexist. So you've got to separate them. They don't exist. Neither can
the true Gospel and the words or works of man coexist. cannot exist with works unto
salvation. Love unto salvation cannot agree
with law. What does Galatians 1 say? Cast out the bondwoman and her
son. Because the son of the bondwoman,
it can't be heir with the son of the free woman. It's like oil and water. Anytime
you try to mix grace and works, You've got nothing. You've got
nothing. We can look at Galatians 1 verses
6-9, Galatians 2 verse 21, Galatians 4 verses 25-31. He's saying the
same thing. You cannot... I don't care what
denominational heading they go under, you cannot mix works and
grace. Paul says in Romans, grace is
no more grace, works is no more... this is one or the other. Let me share this, if I can,
a little bit clearer. Turn to 1 Kings 3. I've been
itching to look at this for about a month or two. And I just worked
it right in. 1 Corinthians 3. You'll be familiar with the story
once I start reading it. In chapter 16, there came two
women that were harlots unto the king. Solomon and stood before
him one woman said oh my lord and This woman oh my lord. I
and this woman dwell in one house, and I was delivered of a child
With her in the house, and it came to pass the third day after
that I was delivered that this woman was delivered also three
days apart two babies two women in the house We were together
There was no stranger with us in the house save we two in the
house And this woman's child died in the night because she
smothered it, overlaid it. She arose at midnight, took my
son from beside me while I was sleeping, laid it in her bosom,
and then took her dead child and put it in my bosom. When
I arose in the morning to give child suck, behold, it was dead.
But when I considered, when I looked it over, It wasn't my child. It wasn't my child, which I did
bear. And the other woman said, nay, but the living is my son
and the dead is your son. And I said, no, but the dead
is thy son and the living is my son. And they spake this before
the king. Classic example. He said, I'm
sorry, she said, she said back and forth, what are you going
to do? Solomon wasn't there. Well, this story goes out to
how wise Solomon was. The king said, He reiterates
the story. Do I understand this right? And
he said, this is right. And the king said, bring me a sword.
And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said,
divide the living child in two and give half to one and give
half to the other. We'll take care of it. Cut him right in two. Then spake
the woman whose living child it was. For her bowels yearned
for her son. She said, oh my Lord, give her
the living child. Because in no way, don't kill
it. But the other woman, whose child it wasn't, said, let it
be divided. But divide it. So you see what's
going on. Then the king answered and said,
give her the living child and in no wise slay it. She's the
mother of it. What am I talking about here? Half a baby, no life. Half a gospel, No life. Full baby, life. Full gospel,
life. Now I've heard, not from here,
but I've heard it too many times that I can recount, well this
guy, you know, he's so-and-so and everything, and then, you
know, he says a few good things, he reads a few good scriptures,
and then he invites people, or then he calls, then he makes
a decision for Jesus. A half-lie, or I'm sorry, a half-truth
is a full lie. Do you want the half baby? It's
no good. There's no life in that half
baby. The whole gospel. Paul says, I've shunned not to
declare, what? A half a gospel? The whole truth. And I'm not saying all the scriptures. I'm not saying that. I'm saying
it because I'm a sinner. And I'm sure some of the things
I say may be right, may be wrong. But the gospel. The truth on
how God saves sinners. If I believe I know it, and I'm
telling it, and I believe I am, it's the whole gospel. The whole
gospel. We'll get to another point or
something that I heard that I'll also mention. So that's the second
thing. The whole half are whole. They
can't coexist. God and mammon. You either serve one or it just
doesn't work. But also, this is just like the
gospel. As Dagon fell and broke up, so
will all hard hearts unto salvation in the day of his electing grace.
He's got an elect. He will have His way. And we're
just like that, you know, religious and sacrilegious and superstitious. And we come by birth speaking
lies. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. There's none good in us. No,
not one. And yet God is able by Himself
to break. to pieces the stoning heart,
such as what he does. Lastly, even though, back to our text,
even though they have taken this ark from city to city to city,
and the Lord is just wiping them out. Even though sentence is happening,
judgment is happening, In these Philistines, we see the utter
depths of depravity that we fell in the garden. Totally blind. You know, after a couple cities,
do you think maybe a white flag would have come up and they would
have said, send Sam, send over a prophet, send over, tell us
something about what's going on because obviously our gods
are not doing anything. And we're getting wiped out.
But no, such is the hardness of the human heart. They're sensible
of it? No. Are they able to change? Can a leper change his spots?
No. They don't even want to change.
That's us. Until God, in His grace, comes
through the gospel, you see the Lord of glory. These Philistines,
they're like in Matthew 8, the Gadareans. Those folks, they
came out and they saw all the swine were departed, and they
were more concerned about their swine. And it says they pleaded
with Christ to depart from them. Here's the man who has eternal
life, the words of eternal life. And they're saying, get out,
get away from us. Oh, the vileness and blackness
of the human heart and condition. And in Luke chapter 16, which
we won't turn there, even if one were to come back from the
dead, He said, they will not believe. Christ said, they've
got the law and the prophets. Let them hear, hear them. Let them hear them. They won't believe. I had a tremendous
experience, and I had this and that. And I don't doubt experiences,
because I've learned not to question, because I wasn't there when somebody
had the experience. But I'll tell you what, if your experience
doesn't match the experience of the Scriptures, the truth
of God, it needs to be chucked. It needs to get rid of. This
is how depraved we are. I heard this story. I think it's
very good. This guy cuts to the chase. There
was an Armenian free will preacher. He'd been preaching in a town.
He'd come through every, it's the same town, every year, 40
years. I think it's Tennessee or somewhere. He would come through
a town 40 years in a row. And there's one man who never
would come. And he would always stop by,
say, I'm going to have services, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, He was retiring or something. He went by the man's house, not
ignoring him, and the guy, you know, come on in, sat down and
he said, I've been coming for 40 years, free will preacher,
and you never come. How come? He says, well preacher,
you tell me you want me to go to heaven, God wants me to go
to heaven, Christ wants me to go to heaven, but I won't let
him. So I just figured, when it's time for him to send me
to hell, I'm not going to let him. That is Armenian junk religion. Isn't that the truth? And that
man, he just cut to the chase. When I heard that story, and
I can't remember who told it, I'm like, oh my word, I've got to
use that. That's exactly right. Isn't that
right? You just stay home. If I have
to, if I can't, if God has to wait on me, go to heaven, then
when it's time for him to send me to hell, I'm going to say,
nope, I ain't going. That is how exactly diametrically
opposed we are to the gospel. Our spiritual death is so complete,
salvation must be by grace and that not of ourselves. May the Lord be pleased to allow
us and cause us to believe in what He has said and to believe
all what the prophets have said concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to be, I don't want
to have the ark of God, in a sense, Old Testament Christ, the gospel
being preached. Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.
Go around here, drive around here, look at, oh, that's a nice
church. It's small. They don't have any programs.
I don't want to be that person who had the ark of God and said,
get it out of here. No, I want to snuggle up to Christ
as long as I can and be found in Him having His righteousness
and His righteousness alone. Bruce, would you close this please?