Audio Access Available Above
“The Road To Rest” • 3.15.15 • Calvary Christian Fellowship,
Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- In chapter 4, we saw the defeat of Israel. They had come to believe that God
could be reduced to a box that they controlled at their whim. They lost the
battle and the box!
- In
chapter 5, we saw the decimation of
Philistia. They had come to believe that the Hebrew God was beaten because of
Israel's defeat.
- God
graciously introduced Himself until they understood better. This led to chapter
6 and the decision of the elders of
Philistia to send the ark back to the people of God!
-
This brings us to chapter 7 and the
deep renewal of Israel. After the ark came to rest in Kirjath Jearim, the
people of God lamented after the Lord. (I
Samuel 7:2)
- If
there is to be a revival in any person's heart, it will begin here, with a
mourning over sin that produces a longing to be restored to a right place with
God. I would suggest a 4 part outline.
I. Israel's Repentance (v.3-6)
II. Philistia's Reaction (v.7,8)
III. God's Response (v.9-12)
IV. Israel's Repose (v.13-17)
Intro.
I. Israel's Repentance (v.3-6)
• I Samuel
7:3,4
: "Then
Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, 'If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put
away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your
hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will
deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.' So the children of Israel put away
the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only." : You may be
wondering why Samuel did not speak before this time.
-
First, we aren't sure that he hadn't spoken prior to what is recorded here.
-
Samuel may well have been speaking, but it may have been like speaking to a
brick wall! Here, he speaks to a nation that is lamenting after the Lord. After
20 years, they are ready to listen.
- If
he had spoken before, it's at this time that his words meet an annointed set of
national ears.
-
It's really not enough to have a great speaker. There is much to be said about
great receivers as well. This was the Lord's point when He spoke of the parable
of the sower.
- The
sower employed the same method in scattering the seed. The seed proved that it
could produce in three out of four types of soil. The difference was in the
good soil!
- It
represented hearers who heard the word, accepted it and bore fruit! (Mark 4:20) The speaking and the hearing
came together on this occasion in Israel to incredibly fruitful results!
-
Samuel spoke of a new beginning conditioned on the nation's return to the Lord.
They had not left Israel geographically, but they had gone great distances away
from the Lord spiritually.
-
There are those who attend church in much the same way. They are physically
present, but their hearts belong to another Master that isn't here!
-
Thankfully with the Lord, there is always hope! They could return to the Lord
and if they can, you can! Notice the truth that is stated in a profoundly clear
way.
- When
you feel distant from God, it is not God who has moved! You have. You need to
return. God will not move to your position and "meet you half way!"
- God
demands that you come back to Him, His way. Perhaps that is what you need to
hear most today: God welcomes your return, but only a return which is complete,
with all your heart!
- The
heart speaks of the seat of all desire and the place where you are ruled.
- A
return to the Lord with all their hearts would occur mentally, but would issue in
a decision to put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths that were among them
physically!
-
Repentance is a mental decision which is proved by decisive action!
- The
foreign gods were Canaanite gods that the people had held onto, though, they
had carried foreign gods with them from the time of Jacob! (Genesis 35:1,2)
- The
people had carried gods with them when they came out of Egypt. (Amos 5:26) Idolatry in general was a
major problem among the people of Israel.
-
Specifically Canaanite were the Ashtoreths which were among them. The name is
also synonymous with "Asherah" as well as Astarte, the goddess of
fertility and reproduction.
- She
was considered to be the Moon Goddess, the "Queen of Heaven," and cohort
to Baal. In Judah's final days, the women confessed to worshipping her! (Jeremiah 44:17-19)
- The
most common instrument in Asherah worship were the limbless tree trunks with explicit
images carved into them.
- "Asherim"
were poles that were collected in areas which were known as "groves"
where ritual prostitution was practiced as a form of "worship."
-
Before there was pornography in magazine form, it was found in Asherah's form!
-
Some token of these places were found in their possessions, in their very
homes! If they were to return the Lord, they could not do so and maintain their
relationship to these idols!
-
Before you believe yourself to be immune, Asherah was the goddess of sexual
pleasure and Baal was the god of material fulfillment. Both would need to go if
God would have His place.
-
That was true then and it is true now! God tolerates no competition. God wants
your whole heart and nothing less!
- Once
they had put away these articles, denoting the truth of their confessed desire,
they were to prepare their hearts, referring to arrangement.
- The
concept is to train their hearts in such a way, so as to receive it's new
occupant as the sole possessor of the property, in this case, your heart!
- No
other love, no other loyalty, no other Name, but the Name of their God! Prepare
your hearts for Him and begin to serve Him exclusively!
-
Honestly, nothing solidifies a heart commitment like finding a place to give.
When you go from being invested in to investing in others, there is complete
cooperation with God.
-
Serve Him with the same fervor that served your self! Serve Him to a greater
degree in giving of yourself to Him!
- "Wow
God, you're pretty harsh! How about some understanding!? Let's go at this
slowly!"
-
Nobody said that and do you know why? Because they had seen where their
tolerance had led them: To a defeated miserable existence at the mercy of their
enemies! Israel said "no thanks!"
-
When the pain is turned up and every false god turns out to be helpless, the
person who mercifully discerns God's call to return to Him, happily complies
with any of God's condition!
- I'm
reminded of the Prodigal son, who would have been happy with His Father's
servant's food over the slop he found himself in! He resigned to come back to
be a servant! (Luke 15:17-19)
-
That is the heart of every person who has ever found themselves at the end of
sin's pleasure! And yet, what they find with God is that He is not looking for
another servant. He's seeking His son!
-
Verse 4 shows us what an incredible
turnaround they experienced! They bought into God's conditions fully and
completely! What a beautiful place to be mentally?
- You
have come to the end of your trust in other gods and you are now willing to
come to the Lord with all of your heart! May He make that real to you!
• I Samuel
7:5,6
: "And
Samuel said, 'Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.' So they gathered together at
Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day, and
said there, 'We have sinned against the Lord.' And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah." : Mizpah or
"watchtower," is the virtual center of the land of Israel and would
become a place of spiritual renewal. Samuel would meet them there to pray for
them.
-
Samuel knew that what God wanted to do, He would do as they were assembled!
"Have them all come to this place to meet with me!"
-
There is something that happens when believers gather together that does not
happen when they are apart!
- God
calls us to meet together, to witness to a community and to strengthen each other
in our unity! It's hard to tell someone that you love Jesus when you don't love
His people or His church!
-
When they gathered, they drew out water from a well and poured it out onto the
ground, primarily symbolizing
tears and mourning for their condition.
- There
is an element of symbolic cleansing as well, especially as the tears of the
penitent heart is precious to God.
-
That day they spent all their concentration upon the Lord, abstaining even from
physical food.
-
Please take this in: The order is a contrite heart that is so taken with God
that they have put aside all other appetites! This was their natural response
to God.
-
They were so consumed with Him that they put of consuming anything else on that
day! And they made a confession: They had sinned against the Lord!
-
What a cleansing moment that this was for a group of people to finally and
fully acknowledge that they had sinned and that against the Lord!
-
Their confession agreed with God's assessment of the situation before them. All
sin ultimately is against the Lord and there can be no freedom or right
relationship without dealing with this!
- Israel
did not try to justify their actions. They were no longer seeking to defend
themselves.
- They
agreed with God. They called their action sin. They owned up to their true
condition. They humbled themselves before the God of the Universe! Samuel
became their visible leader there.
II. Philistia's Reaction (v.7,8)
• I Samuel
7:7,8
: "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. 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.'" : Consider what is happening in Mizpah. There is
renewal and obvious emotional expression. There is such a time of focused
attention on the Lord and being right with Him.
- The
Philistines, the enemies of the Lord found out about this and viewed it through
the lens of opportunity. They had obviously recovered from their ailments and
see Israel consolidated in MIzpah.
-
This is a worshipping nation before the God that brutally assailed Philistia 20
years earlier! You'd think that Philistia would want to join in, given their
experience!
-
Sadly, even with all that they went through, they were intent upon an attack
and in the process, furnish us with insight into the spiritual war that this
physical confrontation exemplifies.
- The
enemy never takes a day off in his attempts to thwart the growth of God's
people! When the people heard of the Philistine's aggression they were afraid,
but their response shows maturity.
-
Look at what they say to Samuel: "Don't stop crying out to the Lord our
God on our behalf." Our power isn't going to come from a symbol, but to
the reality behind it. They had learned this!
- Yes
they were afraid. Nobody gets to opt out of natural fear and emotion. But when
we are in right relation to God, our fear is subject to our faith!
-
They knew that the power was in their relationship to their God! It's no longer
the "it" of chapter 4, but
the "He" who will save them from the Philistines!
-
Whatever happens in this moment, they are resigned to allow God to be their
defender through the vehicle of Samuel's intercession! This is fantastic! Look
at what happens next.
III. God's Response (v.9-12)
• I Samuel
7:9-12
: "And
Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. Now as Samuel was offering up the
burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon
the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before
Israel. And the
men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them
back as far as below Beth Car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen,
and called its name Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far the Lord has helped us.'" : Samuel
takes a young baby Lamb and kills it before the Lord!
- As
the Lamb was placed upon the altar, it was wholly burnt, signifying that the
offerer's , in this case, the renewed people of God, belonged wholly, fully
consecrated unto the Lord.
-
When Samuel offered the Lamb and cried out to the Lord, God answered Him by
revealing Himself. Notice the timing here.
- Samuel
is sacrificing and praying and while this was happening, the Philistines drew
ever closer to battle against Israel.
-
Nobody seems to be decrying the relevance of Samuel's action or potential
inaction for not ordering the military into action. There doesn't seem to be
concern about the enemy at all!
-
Some of this may be related to the possibility that the Philistines came up by
surprise. They may not have had time to respond militarily.
-
What is important is that whether one was true or the other, the Holy Spirit
keeps the focus on what moved Heaven, not Earth!
-
Let's assume even that there was military deployment. Take note of the fact
that God chooses to leave that detail out for the sake of the more important
detail!
- The
battle in this life, against any foe, isn't going to be won with fleshly,
worldly ways! Israel had been down that road and had failed.
-
God's people must always remember that their strength is not tied to carnal
weapons, but mighty weapons of God! When their focus was correct, heaven
responded!
- As
Philistia drew near, God used a peal of thunder that was loud enough to bring
confusion upon the Philistines.
- The
NLT says that the Lord spoke "with a mighty voice of thunder!" The
result was that the Philistines lost all sense of direction and were thrown for
a loop that they didn't recover from!
-
Now, the men of Israel, fresh from their prayer service, went out and beat the
Philiistines back to Beth Car, which has long been unidentified, but is some
distance from Mizpah.
- This
was as one sided a victory for Israel as the previous battle had been for the
Philistines! God produced significant relief for Israel and a significant
setback for Philistia.
-
Samuel set up a stone of remembrance marking the victory, calling it Ebenezer,
the stone of help! God had helped Israel that day! Why set up a stone?
- To
remember what they would soon forget! How vital to our faith that we have some
markers that reminds us of the faithfulness of God! Every victory He wins is
worthy of our remembrance!
IV. Israel's Repose (v.13-17)
• I Samuel
7:13-17
: "So the Philistines were subdued,
and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the
Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. Then the cities which
the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to
Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines.
Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. And Samuel judged Israel
all the days of his life. He went from year to year on a circuit to
Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places. But he
always returned to Ramah, for his home was there. There he judged Israel, and
there he built an altar to the Lord." : The Philistines had gone from
being the dominant to the dominated. They were humbled and didn't threaten
again for a long time.
- That time coincides
with Samuel's ministry which saw a return of much of the land that Philistia
had come to occupy. There was even peace with the Amorites!
- Proverbs 16:7 tells us that when a
man's ways are right, God even makes his enemies to be at peace with him! What
is true for a man is true for a nation! This was a great time of peace.
- Samuel made his
circuit from year to year covering a relatively small distance, always
returning home. The point is that there was a consistent, healthy routine
centered on God's Word.
- Samuel's
ministry was one that was settled in the heart of Israel. Ramah was his home
and God's altar was there for all of Israel to see. The prophetic word and
worship led to Israel's rest.
- When the Word
is your rule and worship is your practice, you will find your greatest rest as
well!
Conclusion
-
Let's pray!
No comments:
Post a Comment