20 Years of Heartache
1 Samuel 6:1-7:17
The Ark has become a
proverbial Hot potato
A) Review Ch.4
Encamped at Ebenezer Great idea Take the ark { Captured
B) Ch. 5 Dagon The ark has got to go but problem was wherever they sent it
the people were inflicted with TUMORS
C) Ch. 6 Leaders Called the priest &
Diviners what do we do?
RD V.1-6
Their
advice: Send it back - The suggestion made by the priest, is, Dont send it back empty; youve trespassed
against the God of Israel.
A)If
you want to be free of these plagues, when you send the ark back, send back a
trespassing offering with it;
B)
5 Golden tumors / 5 golden Rats { One for
each main city of the lords of the Philistines
1)
Gold = Value / Tumors the Plague / Rats
their view of themselves before the God of Israel like Mice -
C) Note v. 6 Their advice : dont harden
your hearts towards God, because it will only get worse.
D) Remember what happened to the
Egyptians: they were smitten by ten different plagues.
1) Every time they hardened their heart
against God, it got worse. So learn
from them.
E) It is always wise to learn from history. It is always wise to look back and see how
God has worked in the past, learning from the mistakes that others have made. Thus,
the priests are encouraging them, Dont be like the Egyptians who harden their hearts.
It is interesting that God said this very
same thing to His own people in the Psalms.
Harden not your hearts, as you did in the day of rebellion
in the wilderness.
A) So the priests are saying, Hey! Learn.
Dont harden your hearts.
B) Good word for
our nation !!! Learn from History what has happened over time to
nations that rebelled against God
1) Why it should be a serious thing
talking with Aaron about Neb Mighty but humbled
..
V.7-9 THE TEST
Here, the Philistines are conducting an experiment. They think
all the
calamity of the plagues has been from the LORD God of Israel.
A)
But
they are not 100% sure. So, they devise another test.
The test was simple, and stacked against
God.
B) By nature, two milk cows which have
never been yoked should not
pull a cart at all, and they should have resisted their yokes.
C) Additionally, they decided to take their
calves home, away
from them.
1) The maternal instinct of the cows
would have drawn them not towards the land of Israel, but back home to their
own calves.
D) SO The Philistines devised a test
that forced the God of
Israel to do something miraculous to demonstrate He had really been the cause
of the plagues upon them.
RD V.10-12
Then the cows headed
straight for the road to Beth Shemesh:
A) They should not have done this. The
cows should have been resisting the yoke, because they had never been
harnessed before.
B) They should have headed back for
their Philistine homes out of concern for their young calves. But they headed
straight for Beth Shemesh
C) Not only were they headed straight for the road, they did
not turn aside to
the right hand or the left.
1) They didnt meander around the way;
they went straight where they
were supposed to go!
D) What a miracle! Two cows who had never pulled a cart
before, either alone or together. No driver leads them, yet they leave
home, and march the ten miles or so to a city they had never been to.
E) They leave their own calves behind,
and go straight on a certain road, with never a wrong turn, never a stop, never
turning aside into the fields to feed themselves, never turning back to feed
their own calves.
F) God
was able to overpower the instinctive nature of the cows.
He can overpower our instinctive nature also.
1) See Who we are in Jesus has more
power than who we are in Adam.
Note also how the Philistines transported the Ark A CART
DAVID LATER WOULD FOLLOW THEIR EXAMPLE 2 SAM 6
A) Result a man would die David mad
But God had given thorough instructions Ark carried by Priest Poles
rings on the side
RD V 13-15
B)
Now the fact that they were in the fields Harvesting means it was probably May
or June
C) Bethshemesh was a city that
was given to the Levites.
1) Its set on a knoll above a beautiful
valley that stretched on down to their coastal plains.
D) It is in the area of Eshtaol where
Samson grew up. This was a glorious,
beautiful valley.
As they were harvesting their wheat, when they looked up,
hearing, no doubt, the lowing of these cows.
A) They looked up and saw this cart: on
it was the ark of the covenant.
B) You could imagine the emotions and
reactions of these people when they saw the ark of God coming back to them
in this fashion.
1) They rejoiced to see it.
C) Note v.15 . the priests were the ones that took the ark off of the cart.
1) They broke the cart up, made a fire
of the wood, burned the cows as a burnt offering unto the Lord, and had a great
celebration. RD V 16-21
Now it seems that during this time of celebrating some of
the men of Israel got Curious what is in the Ark anyway Looked Slaughter
A)
Speculation on the # 50,070 70 of the 50,000 ? A lot of people for a small place only
70,000 in Jerusalem at this time -
B)
The
point is they were not showing a respect for God a Reverence for God
Disregard for his holiness
1) Problem today The Big guy The man up stairs / A good Buddy
C) Listen we must not forget that the
only way that we can even approach God is thru Jesus Christ { His Death -
God is Holy !!! One of the most used Descriptions Holy Holy Holy
A)
We need to remember that Treat Him w/ reverence & respect
B)
Paradox Closeness of a Father ABBA But also the respect as God where is the
Balance
1)
Only as we remember what it took for Him to become FATHER
C)
See they asked a good question Who
is able to stand before this holy LORD
God? They offended Gods HOLINESS
1) Now, they know the LORD is holy,
but it doesnt make them want to be closer to God; it makes them want to
distance themselves from God.
D) The PSALMIST asked a similar question Ps 24:3-4
3 Who may
ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who
has clean hands and a pure heart,
E)
How made clean thru the blood of Jesus only way of Access before a Holy God
CH.7 v.1- 2
For 20 long years Israel was snared by sin
A)
After 20 years they FINALLY lamented That is what happens to you and
I Sin FINALLY brings lamenting
RD
V.3-4
B) True LAMENTATION will ALWAYS bring about
REFORMATION
2Co 7:10 For godly
sorrow produces repentance leading
to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
C) SO we see that very thing happen in 1 Sam. 7
Ba-al was the major male deity of the Canaanites He was the
most prominent of their deities He was the son of Dagon
A) He was the god of the intellect and prosperity / He was the
god who would bring them success
B) Ashteroth
was the oldest and most prominent of the female Canaanite deities
1) She was worshipped throughout every
other culture in the ancient world
2) Astarte in the Greek
culture
3) Ishtar in the Babylonian culture'
4) Venus in the Roman culture
C) She
was the goddess of sexuality - She was worshipped by means of al
sorts of perverted sexual practices
1) These two gods would constantly
seduce the Israelites / and they are prominent in our world today: BEWARE
Today we in the Church can suffer from Intellectual Pride
A)
In many ways the most learned technological age but the Church is powerless
B) Intellectual Pride has led us to look
to our own ingenuity and Devices to reach people instead of the Lord
C) Prosperity here in the States has brought a
laziness & powerlessness to the Church
D) And one of the biggest problems in
the Church today is Sexual immorality Pornography and the like
E) Another
god was Molech Sacrifice Children -
Today Abortion
1) Millions every year - cover sin / convenience - / selfishness
Paul gave insight into these pagan deities 1 Cor 10:20
Sacrifice to Demons The idols might be gone the spiritual entities arent
A)
New Day same TACTICS new Pitch
B)
So Samuel calls the nation back to Purity -
RD v 5- 6
C) So it was a
time of spiritual renewal. A time for
the confession of sins.
1)It seems that
spiritual renewal usually begins with the confession of sins.
D) When you read
of some of the great revivals, they sprang out of confession of sin. The people began to confess, We have sinned against God!
E)A revival was
then prompted & sparked as the result of confession of sins.
F)
And as an OUTWARD sign of an inward reality of washing hands of idolatry,
they
poured out water before the Lord
1)
So too Baptism, communion, the lifting of hands, the bowing of knees ALL are expressions of an inward attitude an OUTWARD display of where we are at
So They are getting RIGHT with the Lord - BUT - Whenever
you are getting RIGHT with the Lord, you can expect
a FIGHT from the devil
V 7 Now when the Philistines heard that
the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the
Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of
it, they were afraid of the Philistines
A) Right after RESTORATION you will face a CONFRONTATION
Right after a BLESSING you will face a BATTLE
B) EXAMPLE:
After
the Baptism of Jesus ("This is my beloved son)
Jesus faced the devil......
1) After the transfiguration of Jesus they came down
from the mountain and faced a demon.
C) Whenever you have a GREAT day in the
Lord, Satan will be there to
fight you
1) Satan NEVER has a good day - Satan
NEVER says: "I think
I'll back off CCV" Continually Pray
D) Satan NEVER says: "I think
I'll give so and so a break this week"
1) Every day, minute, and hour he seeks
to tear you down
E) SO AFTER a blessing, brace for a
blasting!!!!
v8 So the children of Israel said to Samuel,"Do not
cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand
of the Philistines."
A) So they turned their fears into
prayers. The Bible says, to cast all your cares on Him; for He cares for you.
B) The Bible tells us that we arent to
be worried. We are not to be full of
care.
1) How we need to learn to take our
fears, our cares, misgivings, and just cast them on the Lord, saying, Lord,
help us!
C) So they said to Samuel, Hey, dont
stop praying Samuel. RD V 9-12
D) So God joined the battle and just confused them.
1) The tremendous thunderstorm gave
chance for the Israelites to come rushing down from Mizpeh, which is on a
higher mount, onto the Philistines.
E) They began to really wipe them
out.
Now there are two things that I want to note here: Beth Car
in v.11 the name means the House of the Lamb
A)
V.9 Samuel began by sacrificing a lamb interesting picture
B)
The
day
of victory BEGAN with the sacrifice of a lamb and ENDED
at the house of the lamb
C) Victory ALWAYS starts with THE Lamb
Jesus Christ and comes to completion
in the lamb
1) Our victory started on Calvary and
will end in our home in the heavenlies
All of Heaven sings Worthy is the
lamb
D) It STARTS with the sacrificial work
of Christ and ENDS with us
dwelling in the house of the Lord forever
2nd things AFTER the victory, Samuel erected a
stone monument
A) ebenezer = the Stone of help-
B) 20 yrs before they were defeated here at Ebenezer Ark dibocal
1) This time they put their trust in the
Lord instead of an Ark and God delivered them they set up this stone for
REMEBRANCE
C) Remembering what the Lord did in
response to their prayer
1) We need to Erect - Ebenezer stones Journals Plants
paintings
D) Painting of a Shepherd - Encouragement -
The EBENEZER STONE stands as a great encouragement to me
A)
I
KNOW that the Lord hasn't brought me this far just to dump me
B) IF the Lord has brought me this far,
THEN He will take me ALL the way
Ps 138:8 The LORD will
work out his plans for my lifefor your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever.
Php 1:6 Being
confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will
perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:
1Th
5:24
24Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to
pass.
C) THIS is the value of raising your
EBENEZER STONES
1) He has been faithful to me thus far
BECAUSE He is going to bring all of the way to heaven
D) Current staff Changes - God is Faithful
SO the Ebenezer stone is a reminder of the Faithfulness of
God but The EBENEZER STONE also keeps
us from leaning on the arm of the flesh
A) See The EBENEZER STONE reminds us that
we have come this far BECAUSE of His
work
B) Having BEGUN IN THE SPIRIT may we
FINISH in the Spirit
Ga 3:3 Are ye so
foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
C) Personally - reliance on the Lord
D) Also as a Church - Do we say: "Thanks for
the start Lord, now we'll take it from here"....... "We'll get our
finance committees and growth committees"
1) NOTE:
The MINUTE we look to man the church will fail
E)
Legacy of Calvary Chapel Vista Pastor at Conference Everywhere I go I
meet guys from your Church
1) That is a God thing 4 more guys
this year
The
Ebenezer stones in our lives solidify our confidence in God