If you will, open your Bible
tonight with me to 1 Samuel chapter 4. 1 Samuel chapter 4, and we'll read
verse number 4. 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 of God." The Lord willing, I plan to bring
a few messages to us that will all have this common theme, and
that is the ark of the covenant, the ark of the covenant. When
God gave instructions to Moses for the making of the ark, for
the making of the furniture inside the tabernacle, God told Moses
that in this ark, this wooden ark overlaid with gold, is about
two feet wide by less than four feet long, that he should put
in it the testimony that I shall give thee. Now the testimony
that God gave Moses to put in the ark was the two tablets of
stone upon which, with the finger of God, the Ten Commandments
had been written. Thus, the ark's name, the Ark
of the Covenant, because the covenant was placed in the ark,
the Ten Commandments, a covenant that God made with Israel at
Mount Sinai. Then there was a mercy seat made
that was like a lid covering the ark of pure gold. And it
was on the mercy seat that the blood of the sin offering was
sprinkled once a year on the day of atonement. And it was
there that God told Moses, in giving the instructions for the
ark and for the mercy seat, it was there that God told Moses
he would meet with thee. There I will meet with thee and
commune with thee from above the mercy seat. Now in the New
Testament, in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 1, we read, for
the law having a shadow of good things to come. Now you know
and I know for there to be a shadow, there must be something substantial. There must be a substance to
cast the shadow. The light behind the substance
to produce the shadow. In the case of the Ark of the
Testimony or the Ark of the Covenant, we know that it was a shadow
of that which is substantial, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ
and His atoning work. The scripture says, for there
is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. That's a verse of scripture that
we are all familiar with and a very important verse of scripture,
I might add, because We live in a time and in a day when people
would like to believe that there's many ways to God. And yet the
scripture is very clear. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is very clear. I am the way, the truth, and
the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. We know that that Ark of the
Covenant with the mercy seat, as I said, that it was a shadow
of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only
in Christ. Think about this, what God told
Moses concerning that ark. and the mercy seat, he said,
there will I meet with thee and commune with thee from above
the mercy seat. It is only in Christ that God
will meet with and commune with men and women, fallen men and
women. If we are going to meet God in
mercy and grace, it must be in Christ. If we try to meet God
by our works, by our doings, no matter what they may be and
no matter how good they may be, God will not accept us. He will meet with us in Christ. He will commune with us in Christ. Remember what the Apostle Peter
said early on in the book of Acts. For there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
The name of Christ, the person of Christ. There's none other
name. Now, with this in mind, what I've just mentioned to us,
with this in mind, I want us to look at several things concerning
the Ark of the Covenant at this particular point in the history
of Israel. This particular point. that we
read of in 1 Samuel chapter 4. And I have three parts to the
message. First, I want us to see the time
was dark and sinful in the history of the nation of Israel. At this
particular point that we read about here in 1 Samuel chapter
4 and verse 4 concerning the Ark of the Covenant, The time
was dark and sinful in the history of Israel. I say, first of all,
it was dark. If you turn back just a page
to 1st Samuel chapter 3, 1st Samuel chapter 3 and verse 1,
we read, and the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before
Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, There
was no open vision. The word of the Lord was precious
in those days. Now, you know, things that are
precious are scarce. As they say, scarce as hen's
teeth. Things that are precious. If gold was like weeds, it wouldn't
have much value, would it? Gold is not like weeds. Weeds are plentiful. That which
is precious is scarce for the most part. And certainly, when
we read here, the word of the Lord was precious in those days. Think about the fact that the
only part of the written word of God that existed at this time
was the Pentateuch, the first five books which Moses wrote,
and then Judges and Joshua, and now We are into the first book
of Samuel. So the word of God was precious
in those days. It was scarce. There wasn't that
much of the written word of God. And then we are told there was
no open vision. Now, that means no open vision. And remember this, there's a
verse in Proverbs, one of the Proverbs tells us where there
is no vision, the people perish. Vision here has to do with prophets. There was no open vision. If
you will think about this in reading the word of God, you
will find the prophets usually began with Samuel. Samuel and
the prophets. But there were very few prophets
Very few, I can think of Moses, he was a prophet of God. I can
think of Deborah, she was a prophetess, but those judges, none of them
we're told were prophets. So there was no open vision,
there were no prophets. It was a dark day in the history
of the nation of Israel. And then number two, it was a
sinful time. And they go together, don't they?
They go together. Where there's darkness, then
there's sin. And it was a time, a very sinful
time. Look back into chapter 2, verse
Samuel chapter 2, and verse 17. We read, Wherefore the sin of
the young man, now the young man here refers to Hophni and
Phinehas. two sons of Eli the priest. Wherefore the sin of the young
men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering
of the Lord." God provided for the priest. God provided food
for the priest. And one way He provided was they
had a hook that they could put down into the pot and pull out
whatever they hooked on to. And it was theirs as a priest.
God provided for the priest. God always provides for those
that He calls into the ministry. We know that. I know that by
experience. I know there's probably others
here tonight who could say the very same thing. Where God leads,
God provides. But these priests They were not,
these two men, they were wicked men. They were not content to
take the offering as they should have. But they would come, let's
read this, look back to verse 12. Now the sons of Eli were
sons of Belial, that's Satan. They were sons of the devil. They knew not the Lord. And everyone
who does not know Christ as their Lord and Savior is a son of the
wicked one, is under the influence of the evil one. One thing we
always need to keep in our minds, beloved, there's only two camps. There are not three. And there's
no demilitarized zone between the two camps. We are either
for Christ or we are against Christ. And he said no man can
serve two masters. Now these two sons of Eli, they
were sons of Belial, they knew not the Lord. And the priest's
custom with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice,
The priest's servant came while the flesh was in seething with
a flesh yoke of three teeth in his hand, and he struck it into
the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the flesh yoke
brought up, the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh
unto all the Israelites that came thither. Also before they
burnt the fat, the priest's servant came and said to the man that
sacrificed, give flesh to roast for the priest. He wanted meat
to grill on his barbecue pit, I suppose. He didn't want to
reach into the cauldron and pull out what that flesh grabbed hold
of, but no, he came before it was offered in sacrifice and
said, give flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have
sodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any man said unto him,
let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take
as much as thy soul desireth, then he would answer him, no,
nay, but thou shalt give it me now. And if not, I will take
it by force. Wherefore, the sin of the young
men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering
of the Lord. It was a dark day and it was
a sinful day. Not only were the priests, as
we see here, guilty of covetousness concerning the offerings, but
if you notice in verse 22, they were also adulterers. Verse 22, it says, Now Eli was
very old and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel. and
how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation. So here we have two priests. They were covetous. They were
adulterous. Their wickedness caused the people
to abhor the worship of the Lord. No one wanted to obey the law
of God, to worship God, because it entailed meeting these two
wicked men. And notice what Eli told his
sons in verse 24. Nay, my sons, for it is no good
report that I hear. You make, now think about this. He's speaking to his two sons. You make the people, the Lord's
people, to transgress. So that's the first thing that
I see tonight. The time was dark. and sinful
in the history of the nation of Israel. It was also a time
of war. If you notice back in chapter
4, verses 1 and 2, God brought the enemies, the Philistines,
upon the nation of Israel. 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 Aphod. 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." Dark day, sinful day, and
it was a day of war in which God's people, that is the nation
of Israel, they were defeated. by the Philistines. Now the second
thing I want us to notice, the eras. The eras that Israel made
concerning the Ark of the Covenant. That's where we began, the Ark
of the Covenant. I want us to see the eras that
they made concerning the Ark of the Covenant. The first era
that I see is they look to the shadow and not to the substance
of the Ark of the Covenant. Remember what I said, the ark
was a shadow of the substance. The substance is Christ, the
Lord Jesus Christ. But rather than look to the Lord,
the Israelites, they look to the shadow. Let me show you that
in verse three of chapter four. They look to the shadow. And
when the people were coming to 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. Now notice, that when it
cometh. The Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah
God is not an it. They look to the shadow. They
look to that box, to that ark. When it comes, when it is here,
that's when we're going to have victory. That's when we are going
to defeat the Philistines. You see what I'm saying? They're
looking to the shadow and not to the substance. Rather than
to look to God to defeat their enemies, they are of the opinion
that just bringing this ark into the camp would suffice and they
would have victory over 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. The Lord God is not an it. He is a personal being, a personal
God. Yet He has all power And there's
nothing too hard or too great for him, certainly not the Philistines. But they do not look to God,
they look to the shadow. I want you to turn with me to
2 Chronicles chapter 14, just a moment. This is the history
of a king of Judah later by the name of Asa. And this is such
a blessing to read this part of the history of Asa in 2nd
Chronicles chapter 14 and verse 8. The scripture said, And Asa
had an army of men that bear targets and spears, out of Judah
three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin that bear shields
and drew bows two hundred and four score thousand. All these
were mighty men of valor. That's over 500,000 men. That's a big army. That's a big
army. But what if someone comes against
you with a larger army? In fact, an army twice the size
of your army. Notice the next verse. There
came out against Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousands. Now I believe that's a million. Asa has 500 plus thousand, and
an enemy comes against him with a million. Not only a million
soldiers, but 300 chariots came unto Mereshah. Then Asa went
out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley
of Zephathah at Mereshah. This is what's so beautiful to
me. And Asa cried unto the Lord his God. Now that's what the
Israelites in our text did not do. They did not cry unto the
Lord. They fetched the ark. They fetched
the shadow. But here this king, he cries
unto the Lord his God and said, Lord, notice what he says in
his prayer. It's nothing with thee to help
whether with many or with them that have no power." God can do anything. There's
nothing too hard for God. And Asa knew that and confessed
that unto the Lord. You can help whether with many
or with them that have no power. And what he is confessing is
his weakness and his need of God's help. And that's always
the position that we should be in, always. Whenever we think
we are self-sufficient and we do not have need, need of nothing,
that's like those Laodiceans, rich and increased in goods and
have need of nothing. And all the time the Lord says,
you don't realize you're poor and blind and naked. Asa realized
his situation, but he also realized his God's ability and power. So he cries unto the Lord, O
Lord our God, for we rest on thee. Rest, that's faith, isn't
it? Resting, leaning, trusting, we
rest on thee. And in thy name, we go against
this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God, Let
not man prevail against thee. Notice how he said, he didn't
say let not the enemy prevail against us. No, it's your battle. We're your people. Lord, let
not the enemy prevail against you. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians
before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians bled. That's
a beautiful story, isn't it? But you know, the sad thing,
Asa was just a man. Just like you and just like me.
And in that particular time, what a beautiful lesson. But
later on, if you read on there in 2 Chronicles, you will find
when Israel, the nation of Israel, came against him, Then he sent
all the silver and gold he had over to, I believe, Syria and
hired them to come and help him. It's easy to see their mistakes,
isn't it? We do the same thing. We lean
on an arm of flesh instead of trusting in God Almighty. We do it all the time. So that's
the first thing we see. They look to the shadow and not
the substance of the Ark of the Covenant. Number two, the second thing,
they were guilty of presumption. The nation of Israel, back here
in 1 Samuel chapter 4. They were guilty of presumption. And I see this, their presumption,
in at least these two ways. First of all, you do not read
that they prayed. You don't see that because they
didn't. Notice what the elder said in
verse 3. It doesn't say the elders prayed
and sought the Lord's face. What we read here is they just
said, 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. In other words, they're not seeking
God's will. They do not pray about fetching
the ark. No, this is our solution. This is our solution. and he
is bound to honor our way, our solution. No, God isn't, never
has been, never will be. It's not a matter of getting
God on our side, it's getting us on his side. Their presumption
is manifested to me in the fact they don't pray, Seek God's will. They just said, well, let's fetch
that ark. The elders did. We know what
to do. We know the solution. And they
not only did not pray, they did not repent. That was their problem. It was their sin. It was their
sin that caused God to sell them into the hands of the Philistines. They did not repent. In fact,
think about this. They had the very ringleaders,
as we've already seen, the ringleaders, Hophni and Phinehas. If there
were any wicked men in Judah at that time, it was these two
men, Hophni and Phinehas. And so when they fetched the
ark, who comes into the camp? and Phinehas, and they greet
them with a great shout." A great shout. Notice that in verse 5. 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. You know, their presumption
resulted by that big shout, that just caused the Philistines to
think, we've got to really fight now. Because they recognized they
shouted because the Ark of the Covenant had come into their
camp. We've got to fight for our lives now, men. And so they
did. And their presumption resulted
And not only Israel being defeated, but the Ark of the Covenant was
taken. Notice that, verses 10 and 11. 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 Eli, Hophni and Phinehas
were slain. When I was a very young preacher,
I bought a book entitled Sermons of the Great Ejection. It has
seven sermons in this book. In the year 1662, 2,000 ministers in the Church of England
were ejected. That's the reason it's called
Sermons of the Great Ejection. 2,000 ministers in the Church
of England were ejected from their pulpits by a law of parliament
which was called the Act of Uniformity. They could not conscientiously
agree that everything in the common book of prayer that the
Church of England had come up with, that they could agree with
everything in the Church of England. So they were turned out. Philip
Henry was one of those turned out, the father of Matthew Henry.
He was turned out. And the laws, if I remember right,
there was a certain radius They couldn't preach within a certain
radius of the church building where they had pastored. And
so most of those men, they lost their houses, they lost their
income, but they didn't lose God. They didn't lose their God,
thank God. But the reason I mention this
to us tonight, the first sermon in that book, I can still remember
it after all of these years, and I still have the book, In
fact, I looked at it yesterday when I was preparing these notes.
Paid 89 cents for it. I'll tell you how old the book
is. 89 cents. But the first sermon
in that book, I believe it was preached by a man named Callaway. But anyway, his text was verse
number 13 here. in chapter 4. And when he came,
lo, this runner out of the camp of Israel, when he came, lo,
Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching. Now notice this, here
was his text. For his heart was trembling for
the ark of God. His heart was trembling for the
ark of God. And when he heard that the ark
of God was taken. It wasn't when he heard that
his two sons were dead, but it was when he heard that the ark
of God was taken that he fell backward, broke his neck, and
died. Notice that in verses 17 and
18. The messenger answered and said, Israel has fled before
the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among
the people, and thy two sons, also Hophni and Phinehas, are
dead, and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he
made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat
backward by the side of the gate. his neck break, and he died,
for he was an old man and heavy. And not only did he, but Phinehas,
one of his son's wife, went into labor at this time, and she gave
birth to a son. They tried to encourage her because
she was bringing a boy into the world, but she named him Ichabod. Ichabod. And notice in verse
22 how this reads. And she said, the glory, that's
what Ichabod means, isn't it? The glory is departed from Israel,
for the ark of God is taken. Now, here's the third part of
my message. I have four practical lessons,
and I'll be brief. Four practical lessons for us.
First of all, you and I, we also live in a dark and sinful time. No one would disagree with that. The word of God, the word of
God is not held forth in many places today that are called
Christian. The word of God is not held forth. We read that in Philippians chapter
2 where the Apostle Paul concerning that church at Philippi, they
were holding forth the word of life. They were holding forth
the word of life. And not only is the word of God not held forth
in many places, but there are very few, very few preachers
today who boldly, consistently proclaim the gospel of God's
sovereign grace. And once again, I remind us there
is only one gospel. There's not two gospels. There's
one gospel, and the gospel is the gospel of God's sovereign
grace in Christ. The word of the Lord is precious,
and so I ask you and I tonight, is it precious to us? Is God's
word precious to us? Wherewithal shall a young man
cleanse his way, and for that matter, an old man? Wherewithal,
by taking heed thereto according to thy word, according to the
word of God. This is where the gospel is contained. Number two, let us beware of
not looking to the end or substance of those things which are ordained
of God. Let me explain what I mean. Baptism
is ordained of God, isn't it? But look to the end of it. Not
look upon baptism as a substance. Baptism has no power to cleanse
a person, to worship a person. It's merely a picture. Look to
the end, the substance of the shadow. The same thing is true
about the Lord's Supper. When we take the Lord's Supper,
the bread, the wine has no intrinsic power in it to change us, but
it pictures, we look to the end, at the substance, the body and
blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord. When we pray, when we sing, and
when we come together to worship, we must not forget our God and
Savior. is both a privilege and a blessing. But it's not merely saying words. It's not merely articulating
words. It's speaking to God. We have
to remind ourselves we're speaking to God. We have access through
the blood of Jesus Christ to the very presence of God. We
have the ear of God. Through Christ, what a privilege,
what a blessing. But if we're not careful, we
look at the shadow and we don't look to the end of it. And the
same thing is true of our hymn singing. Same thing is true of
our worship, our public worship. It's very important. And I know
that us here tonight and those of this congregation, we love
to meet each other and visit with each other and what a wonderful
time. The love of God is manifested
in this congregation. But we need to remember, first
of all, we come here to worship God. Worship Him in spirit and
in truth. And then third, the third practical
lesson, let us beware of presumption. David prayed and he said, keep
back thy servant from presumptuous sins. The dictionary definition
of presumption is an attitude or belief dictated by probability,
by probability. We must not presume or assume
upon anything that has to do with our relationship with God. We must not do that. In the New
Testament, Peter writes of men who walk after the flesh, and
then he says, they're presumptuous, presumptuous are they, self-willed,
they're not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. And number four,
it should not be assumed that the gospel will always remain
among a nation or a country. Just like the ark was taken at
this time from the nation of Israel, it should not be assumed
that the gospel will always remain among a nation or a country. This should be of utmost concern
unto all of us, and we should do everything in our power to
maintain the truth. And that, of course, is what
you folks do. I understand that. But we must
not neglect to do everything that we can to maintain the truth,
the light that goes out from this congregation.