Would you turn to 1 Samuel chapter
4? While you're turning there, I
hadn't seen Ernie and Barbara here for several weeks and maybe
even longer than that. And I know that around tax time
you don't see much of them because he prepares taxes. And I called
him this week and he's had cancer and had an operation. Everybody
remember them, and I'm going to go see him this week. But it sounded very serious. He said it was spread all over
the place. It was in his tongue, and it was all over the place. So everybody remember them. 1 Samuel chapter 4, I'd like to
read these first 11 verses together. And the word of Samuel came to
all Israel. Now Israel went out against the
Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer. And the Philistines
pitched in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves
in array against Israel. And when they joined battle,
Israel was smitten before the Philistines. And they slew of
the army in the field about 4,000 men. And when the people were come
into the camp, the elders of Israel said, wherefore hath the
Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? Now notice how
they speak. They didn't say the Philistines beat us. They said
the Lord smote us through 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 cherubim. And the
two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the
covenant of God. 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 again. Well, something good's
going to happen now. The ark's here. 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 coming to the
camp, and the Philistines were afraid. For they said, God is
coming to 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 smote
the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong
and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that you 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 their fellow of Israel, 30,000 footmen. And the ark of God was
taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in the high and holy name of your blessed son. And we ask
in his name that you would be pleased to meet with us and to
speak in power to our hearts from your word. Lord, we ask
that we might be enabled to worship. Lord, let your gospel be preached
in the power of your spirit and give us hearing ears and receptive
hearts. Grant us your presence and your
blessing. Lord, forgive us of our sins
and cleanse us, oh, that we might be found in Christ. Be with all
your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's name we
pray, amen. Now Israel was doing battle with
the Philistines. I think it's interesting the
word Philistine means rolling in the dust or wallowing in the
flesh. That would pretty much describe
our greatest problem, isn't it? Wallowing in the flesh. And they
were perpetually enemies to Israel. And they defeated Israel when
they were fighting. Israel was smitten before the
Philistines, and they slew of the army of the field about 4,000
men. And I think it's so interesting
in verse 3, when the people were come into the camp, the elders
of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before
the Philistines? May the Lord always enable us
to see Him as the first cause behind all things. He's behind
our victories. He's behind our defeats. He's
in control of everything. And we love it being that way,
don't we? The Lord is in control of everything. But look what
they say. In verse three, they say, 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
hands of our enemies. This is what we call superstition. That's all it is, superstition. talk about the Ark of God, and
they said, oh, let it save us from our enemies. Now, this word
it, an it doesn't save me or you. A person saves me or you,
not an it. You know, a lot of times when
somebody's having a child, and I'll ask Lynn, what kind was
it? And Lynn always corrects me, it's not an it. It's not
an it. An it doesn't save. only a person
saves. Now the Ark of the Covenant of
God represented Christ himself, but they looked to this material
Ark as their Savior and they made a superstition out of it.
Now the Ark, I want to talk a few moments about the Ark. The Ark
was a part of the furniture of the tabernacle. Now you remember
the tabernacle had two rooms. Outside of the rooms there was
a courtyard The tabernacle was in Shiloh at this time and in
this courtyard there was a brazen altar and there was a basin with
water and in order for the high priest to get in to the tabernacle,
first blood had to be shed and he had to be washed. with pure
water. Christ Jesus. Now, what that
tells me, the only way I can come into God's presence is through
the blood of Christ. Out of His side, do you remember,
came blood and water? Christ, my justification. That's
Christ's blood. Christ, my sanctification. You
know, most folks think, well, if you go You go to Christ for
justification, then you go to the law to make yourself better
after that. No, you go to Christ for justification
and sanctification, blood and water. Now, once you got into
the tabernacle, there were two rooms. In the first room, which
was called the holy place, there was an altar for incense, there
was a candle, a bunch of candelabra, and there was a table of showbread
showing Christ, our light, He's the light of how God can save
me. Christ our showbread, our sustenance.
Christ our incense. He prays for us. That represents
his intercession. And then there was a veil that
separated the holy of holies from the holy place. And that's
where the Ark of the Covenant was with the mercy seat. And
the high priest would go in there once a year with blood. And he
would sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat. And the children
of Israel would be accepted only because of that. Now that ark,
what was inside of the ark? The law. A copy of the law that
Israel had broken. Aaron's bud, or Aaron's rod that
budded, Christ our life, the law, Christ our righteousness,
Aaron's rod that budded, Christ Jesus is my life, and the table
of showbread, Christ my sustenance, it's who I feed on. Now that,
how significant the ark is. It pictures the person and work
of Christ. Now, I think of the significance
of this in the history of Israel. You remember when Israel first
crossed the Jordan to go into the promised land. The priests
were bearing the ark the way they should, and then as soon
as their feet touched the water, the water spread, and they went
right in. to Jericho. Do you remember how
they marched around Jericho seven times and finally with the ark?
And before that ark, all the walls of Jericho fell down and
Israel took possession. I mean the significance of the
ark. But here they're saying, let's get the ark. That sounds
like a good idea. We got whipped. We got beat. Let's get the ark
and it will save us. Salvation's not an it. They had taken something good
and made it bad. We're not saved by an it. We're
only saved by a person. Now, they took something good
and made it bad. Now, how many times have we done
that? Think of all the good things
there are in the Scripture. Baptism is a good thing. That's
a believer's confession of Christ and how beautiful it is. It's
so simple and beautiful. When Christ lived, I lived. When
He died, I died. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. And somebody takes that good
thing and they make an idol of it. Your sins are washed away
by going underwater. The Lord's table is a good thing.
We're going to observe the Lord's table tonight. What a simple,
blessed thing this is of taking the broken body and shed blood. That's what this represents of
the Lord. And this is our food. This is how we live. And people
think, That act, eating the bread and drinking the wine, actually
puts away sin. They take something good and
make it bad. The means of grace, what we're doing right now, hearing
the gospel preached. Looking into the Word of God,
this is a good thing, isn't it? I'm thankful to be able to stand
before you and preach the gospel to you. What a blessing this
is. But when someone takes the means of grace and thinks, well,
I'm saved because I do this. I'm here. I must be saved. You
turn the means of grace into a work. It's always wrong to
take a good thing and make it bad. And we do that with everything. You know it's a good thing to
read the Bible, isn't it? It's a good thing to study the
Scriptures. It's a good thing to pray. But if I think I'm saved
because of those acts, I turn it into a bad thing. You can
turn anything that's good into something bad. And that's what
the children of Israel did. You see, faith is a purely spiritual
act. We're trusting someone we can't
see. We've never seen him. We've never
heard his voice audibly. We've never felt his physical
embrace. This is a purely spiritual thing. Whom having not seen, you love,
the scripture says. You've never seen him. Faith
is a purely spiritual act, and they were trusting something
they could see physically. The ark will save us. Let's bring
the ark in, and that will ensure our victory. Let's go on reading. Verse 4. So the people went to
Shiloh, that they might bring from them to the ark of the covenant
of the Lord of hosts, which dwells between the cherubim and the
two sons of Eli. Hophni and Phinehas were there with the ark of the
covenant of God. 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 again. I guess they thought, we're going
to win now. They were excited. They had enthusiasm. They had
the ark. I mean, we're getting ready for a big victory. Can
you? This is like your average religious service, I guess. This
great big shout going on. We've got the ark. We're going
to win. We're in good shape. But what
happened? 6 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? 7 And they understood
that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp, and the Philistines
were afraid. 8 For they said, God is come
into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us, for
there hath not been such a thing heretofore. 9 We are in trouble. Woe unto us! Who shall deliver
us out of the hands of these mighty gods? 10 These are the
gods that smoke the Egyptians with all their plagues in the
wilderness. Now be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye
Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have
been unto you. Quit yourselves like men, and fight, and be strong."
The Philistines were scared. They were superstitious as well.
Did you notice how they said, the gods, not the God, the gods,
they had their superstition, and they were all afraid of the
ark, just like everybody else was. They thought, this is going
to happen to us. Verse 10. 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 thirty
thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken,
and the two sons of Hophni and Phinehas were slain." Now, what
that means is, everything God said came to pass. He said Hophni
and Phinehas would be slain, didn't he? He said it would take
place. They were slain. The ark was
taken, and don't worry about the ark. I love to read the next
two chapters in chapter 5 and 6 as to what took place in the
land of the Philistines when the ark was there. Scripture
says the hand of the Lord was heavy upon that place. And thousands
and thousands of people died. And I love it when it says that
Dagon, their false god, fell before the ark. And it was made
to lay there in the ground. And they come and raise it back
up, and they come the next day, and it's fallen again. And it's
broken in half, and it's nothing but a stub. Don't worry about
the ark. Lord's in control, but their ark, symbolizing God's
presence, was taken from them. As a matter of fact, you go on
reading in this chapter, and this is what we're gonna consider
next week, where we get that name Ichabod. The glory is departed
because the ark has been taken. But they were smitten before
these 3,000 people, or 30,000 people, and Hophni and Phinehas
died just like God said they would. Now, Israel was defeated
and the one reason was superstition. Superstition. They had the literal
ark, they had the form of the truth, but not the substance.
They were trusting in that ark to save them. And I repeat, an
it never saves. You know, If I put, if I talk about I'm
saved and I put an I, I'm saved because I this, or if I'm saved
because it took place, I'm missing Jesus Christ altogether. I'm missing him. Somebody said,
I must be saved because I, and wherever I put an I, it's empty
religious superstition. I believe I'm saved because I
experienced this, or I felt this, or I heard this, or this happened
to me in the past. Anything like that is religious
superstition. Now, what I would like to do
with the remainder of our time is, what is faith? What does
it mean to believe? I mean, they had the ark, and
they trusted in the ark, and they had the enthusiasm, they
shouted, yet they were all smitten. That didn't do them any good.
It was nothing but religious superstition. Now, what does it mean to believe?
Do I know, do I personally know what it means to actually believe
the gospel? Do I have this thing of faith,
God-given faith, because faith saves. It's the object of faith
that saves, you and I realize that, but we're not saved apart
from actual faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what does it
mean to believe? Would you turn to the book of
Titus? Verse one. Paul, a servant of God, and an
apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect."
I love that statement, don't you? God's elect all have faith,
and they have the same faith. All of God's elect do. Look what
it says, and here's what this faith is. It's the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness. Now, that word after,
means that this acknowledging of the truth, this thing of faith,
is the product of godliness. It comes from godliness. It comes from God giving you
a new nature. And that's where that faith comes from and it's
called the acknowledging, the embracing, the acknowledging
of the truth. Look in verse 4. He's speaking
to Titus. He says, Titus, my own son, after
the common faith. I love that description of faith.
You know, it's The faith that all of God's elect possess. They
all have this in common. Every one of God's people believe
the same thing. There's not different faiths.
There's only one faith. The common faith. The faith of
God's elect. Now turn back to 2 Timothy chapter 1. I don't want, oh, may the Lord
deliver me and you from just being superstitious and like
the children of Israel were, thinking we're saved because
it, because I, because I don't want to have anything to do with
that. I want to be someone who actually trusts the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, what does it mean? Now, look in 2 Timothy chapter
1, verse 12. We've looked at this so many
times, but it's what I believe is the clearest definition of
faith in all the Bible. Second Timothy 1.12, for the
witch cause, Paul says, I also suffer these things because of
my preaching of the gospel. I suffer these things. Nevertheless,
I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. Now, here is faith. 1st Paul
begins with these words, I know. I know. Now, understand this. You cannot believe what you do
not know. There is no faith apart from
knowledge. Now, my knowledge doesn't save
me. Christ does. I know that. That's the knowledge
you have. You see, I'm not looking to my
orthodox. I'm orthodox. I believe grace. I believe what
the Bible teaches, but I'm not relying on my orthodoxy to save
me. I'm relying on Him. And I know
that. I know whom I have believed. I know what I believe, but it's
because I know whom I have believed. You see, that one I believe,
All that I believe is determined by who He is. He's God. I know whom I have believed. And I, Paul says, am persuaded. I'm convinced that He is able. All my faith is right here. I'm
convinced I'm persuaded, I know whom I have believed, and I'm
persuaded that He is able. He's able to save me. Do you
believe that Jesus Christ is able to save you without any
help from you? Do you really believe that? You know, I do. I do. I believe that He is able
to keep that which I've committed to Him. And I love this word,
commitment. I have committed the salvation of my soul to him. My hands are off. I've committed
the complete salvation of my soul to who he is and what he
did and my hands are off. I'm not looking to do anything
I do. I'm not looking to any it. I'm
not looking to any experience. I've committed the salvation
of my soul to him. And here's the best way I could
illustrate this. What if you had $100,000 in your pocket. Now, to anybody
in this room, that's a lot of money. $100,000. And you could
not get to the bank to put that money in the bank. Now, if you
had that $100,000, would you just come up to somebody on the
street that you didn't even know and say, here, I'm going to give
you this money. I want you to get it in the bank for me. Nobody in this room would
do anything like that, would you? I mean, you couldn't trust
them. You don't know who they are. You don't know where they
get it in the bank. So you would have to know someone. before
you would give them that money to get in the bank. You'd have
to know them, and you would have to know them to be trustworthy,
wouldn't you? You wouldn't give that money
to someone you couldn't implicitly trust to get it into the bank.
You'd have to really trust that that person would get that money
in the bank. And then you commit the money
to them. You hand them over the $100,000. And that's an amazing amount
of trust, because I'd be thinking, well, what if they run off? When
I first got out of college, I was a bank teller. And every day, I'd have tens
of $50,000 going through my, that's the only job I've ever
been fired from, by the way. I got fired from it because I couldn't
balance. I just, I was always out of balance. Something would
always go wrong. But every day, I would think at some point,
I'm just going to run off. I'm going to take this money.
Nobody's going to catch me. I mean, you just think things like that,
you know. And somebody says, well, you would have too. You just think about it. I didn't. At any rate, I'd give you that
$100,000, and I might be thinking, what if they'll end up running
off with it? But here's the point I want to make. The fact, after
I give the money to you to get it into the bank, It's totally
dependent on what you do with the money. Not me at this point.
I'm out of the equation. If the money gets into the bank,
it's up to the trustworthiness of that person to get it in.
Now that's what faith is. I am entrusting the salvation
of my soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. He must do it all. If he doesn't do it all, it's
over for me. That's what it is to trust the
Lord Jesus Christ. I've committed. I've committed
the salvation of my soul to Him. Now, a belief in works in any
way is a failure to commit. Let me repeat that, and I want
you to think about that. If I believe in salvation by works in any
way to any degree, if I believe my works, my free will, My efforts,
my growth, where I end up in heaven, if I think any of that
is dependent upon my works, I failed to commit to Jesus Christ. You
only commit to Jesus Christ when you trust Him only. That He is able. You really believe
that His righteousness is all that's needed to make you perfect
before God. You really believe that His shed
blood, His precious blood, makes you perfect before God. My salvation
is Christ. You know what I fear? I fear saying
something and just saying it because I know it's so. You ever
fear that? I fear saying this simply because
I know it's so. But my salvation is Christ. It's
not my faith. It's not my preaching. It's not
my knowledge, it's not my feelings, it's not my experience, it's
not my intentions. My salvation is Jesus Christ
the Lord. Just like Simeon said, now let
us thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. Christ Jesus is God's salvation. I'm to look to Christ only, not
an it, the way they look to that covenant. It shall save us, no
it won't. Only Christ himself saves. Let's finish by looking
at Hebrews chapter 12. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, talking
about everybody mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, let us lay
aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us. What is that? Somebody says,
well, my particular weakness is this. No, what he's talking
about is unbelief. That's the sin that doth so easily
beset us. And let us run with patience
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. And I love this further description
of Him, the author and the finisher of our faith. Would to God that you and I would
just now look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our
faith. I'm not looking to my faith,
am I? I'm looking to Him as the author of it, the giver of it, and the
finisher of it. I'm not looking to my faith.
I'm looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what faith
is. Look nowhere else. You look at
the children of Israel. The ark's here. It'll save us.
They were shouting. They were excited. They had some
enthusiasm. But it didn't do them any good
at all, did it? May the Lord give me and you the grace to
look to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what faith is. You know,
if I say, look at me, you don't look at the windy. You look at
me. Look to him. Amen.