1 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:05,080 Good morning, Church of the Resurrection. 2 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:09,320 It's been a while since I've heard that, so it's really nice. 3 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:14,440 If you are new, my name is Somane Megadi. 4 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:16,880 I'm one of the pastors here at the church. 5 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:18,880 I've been gone for two months or so. 6 00:00:18,880 --> 00:00:21,200 So if you've been coming and you didn't see me, here I am. 7 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:26,480 This is my first sermon since I came back, and I get to preach 8 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:28,720 on these exciting passages that we just read today. 9 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,240 We're walking through the book of First Samuel and so far we've 10 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:41,000 seen some very troubling things. Eli's sons, Hofni and Phinehas 11 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:45,840 have abused the priesthood with greed and immorality. 12 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:50,480 Eli has dishonored God by not correcting his sons properly, 13 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:54,920 and in fact, he is living off of the sin of his sons. 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:00,640 And we know that everyone in Israel was doing what was right 15 00:01:00,640 --> 00:01:03,480 in their own eyes. Yet there is a bright light in 16 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:09,200 young Samuel who grows up in the Lord's presence, hearing his 17 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:14,040 voice and obeying God. Our passage today is first 18 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:21,400 Samuel 3 verse 19 to 422. It's found on page two, 13213 At 19 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,640 the beginning of that passage, we see that Samuel now is 20 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:30,480 recognized as a prophet all across Israel, from Dan to 21 00:01:30,480 --> 00:01:34,560 Beersheba, north to South, and that God appears to him at 22 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,680 Shiloh, where the ark and the Tabernacle are, speaks to him. 23 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:44,120 Samuel receives God's word, and then he tells God's word to all 24 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,440 of Israel. He delivers it faithfully to 25 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:50,400 them. And then we come to chapter 4, 26 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:59,600 which is very dark, very heavy. In chapter 4, God brings about 27 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,880 the judgement that He promised against Eli and his family. 28 00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:06,840 And even worse, something happens that has never happened 29 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:12,560 in the history of Israel before. The ark of the Covenant of God, 30 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:19,600 the throne of God, that holy place where God met with Moses 31 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:26,280 in the wilderness, is captured. God sends himself into exile. 32 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:33,000 This chapter confronts us with those two sobering realities, 33 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,480 the Lord's judgement and the Lord's exile. 34 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,920 And so we're going to explore both of these as we look in our 35 00:02:39,920 --> 00:02:42,720 passage today. We're going to see how God, 36 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:47,560 God's judgement comes on his people for their sins, but also 37 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:54,120 how his exile, paradoxically, is actually a sign of hope, the 38 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:56,320 very means of deliverance for his people. 39 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,880 So yes, there is darkness and heaviness in this sermon, but 40 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,520 there is light as well. There is hope. 41 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:12,120 So let me pray for us. Your Word, Heavenly Father, is a 42 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,520 light into our path, a lamp for our feet. 43 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:20,120 And we pray that you illuminate our hearts by your Holy Spirit 44 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:24,840 so that we can see your word, that it would speak to us and we 45 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:26,840 would glorify your Son Jesus Christ. 46 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:30,640 In your name I pray. Amen. 47 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:35,160 Amen. All right, stick with me. 48 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:37,920 The first part of this is heavy, so stick with me. 49 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:43,440 So back in chapter 2, God condemned Eli for his complicity 50 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,960 in his son's corruption, for letting them defile the 51 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,720 sacrifices and molest the women who were working in the temple. 52 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,200 He promised to bring discipline for their unrepentant hearts, 53 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:55,680 and that's what chapter 4 talks about. 54 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:59,440 But Eli and his sons weren't the only ones who were guilty of 55 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:02,280 sin. The whole nation shared in the 56 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,960 sin. So Psalm 78, the Psalm that we 57 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,240 just read, is actually a summary of Israel history, and part of 58 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,600 that includes covers this particular story as well. 59 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,920 Psalm 78 tells us that all the people were faithless, breaking 60 00:04:19,079 --> 00:04:24,200 God's covenant, and we get a sense of the weight of the sin 61 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:26,880 right from the start of chapter 4. 62 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,880 The Israelites March out to battle against the Philistine. 63 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,200 There is no order from the Lord. He didn't say do this. 64 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,520 They just went out to do it. They didn't talk to Samuel about 65 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:39,400 it. And it's probably because 66 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,640 they're seeking freedom from oppression, which is a good 67 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:47,760 thing. But in the first clash, Israel 68 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:56,600 loses 4000 men and the elders are wondering why Verse 3 Why 69 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:01,680 has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? 70 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:06,360 Now notice that they recognize that it was the Lord that 71 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:08,720 defeated them before the Philistines. 72 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:13,080 Now if these elders were worth their salt, they would have 73 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:17,680 remembered Deuteronomy 28, which says, But if you will not obey 74 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,400 the voice of the Lord your God, the Lord will cause you to be 75 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:25,360 defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against 76 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:27,640 them and flee seven ways before them. 77 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:32,080 And if they had really been worth their salt, these elders, 78 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:34,000 they would have gone straight to Samuel. 79 00:05:34,840 --> 00:05:37,840 They knew he was a prophet and they would have said what should 80 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:41,720 we do? And at the very least they would 81 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:43,120 have called the people to repentance. 82 00:05:43,120 --> 00:05:48,560 But that's not what they did. They said to themselves, hold 83 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:49,560 on, guys, come on. Wait. 84 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,400 God might have fought against us just now, but we've got the Ark 85 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,240 of the Covenant. We need to bring it to the 86 00:05:57,240 --> 00:06:03,440 battlefield because if we do that, God must protect us. 87 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:10,040 The Philistines will have no power over us, as though the Ark 88 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:14,120 of the Covenant of God were a Talisman. 89 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,680 So they sent for the Ark from Shiloh, this ark. 90 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,920 Now remember the Ark of the Covenant has in it the 10 91 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:30,320 commandments, right? And when you look at verse 4, 92 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:34,320 the the the writer says it was the ark of the covenant of the 93 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,520 Lord of host who is enthroned on the cherubim. 94 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:41,320 It's like he wants to emphasize that this is the emblem of God's 95 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:45,160 glory, right? It's being brought into the camp 96 00:06:45,160 --> 00:06:51,800 by the priests under the supervision of Hofni and 97 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:56,520 Phinehas, sort of the poster children of Israel's corruption, 98 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:02,960 with their unrepentant hearts weighed down by sin. 99 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:07,440 The people don't realize that they were not bringing victory 100 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:10,200 into the camp. They were bringing judgment, and 101 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:15,920 so they rejoice loudly. But God's glory and his covenant 102 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,400 carried, carried in the ark, stood as judgment against them. 103 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:22,320 And at the very least they were breaking the third commandment 104 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,880 by reducing the relationship with God to a transaction. 105 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,240 Or worse yet, they were treating him like a genie. 106 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:31,920 Give me whatever I want right now. 107 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:37,800 They were commanding God to bless the work of their hands 108 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,160 while they remain steeped in their sin. 109 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:45,880 And in so doing they were taking the name of the Lord their God 110 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:51,040 in vain. These idolatrous, Sabbath 111 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:56,440 breaking parent dishonouring, murderous, adulterous, lying, 112 00:07:56,880 --> 00:08:01,960 covetous, unrepentant sinners, we're daring to ask God to bless 113 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:09,200 the work of their hands. In 2014, several news outlets in 114 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:13,840 Nigeria ran a story about four armed robbers that have been 115 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,200 arrested in Lagos. And these armed robbers 116 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:21,120 confessed that before every one of their operations, they would 117 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:24,480 pray to God Almighty to grant them success. 118 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:31,080 And they were very clear to God, please only send us sinners so 119 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:37,960 that the innocent would escape. I mean, I OK, so I think of 120 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,600 that. And the thing that comes to mind 121 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:45,360 is Psalm chapter 2, where God laughs in derision against the 122 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:47,080 witches. Like what are you all doing? 123 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,000 And that's exactly what's going on here with Israel. 124 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:57,000 But Psalm 78 tells us that God was not having it. 125 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,400 And so he stirred up the fears of the Philistines. 126 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:03,680 What is that loud uproar that we are hearing? 127 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:07,200 The camp of the Israelites, their gods have come amongst 128 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:08,320 them. These are the gods that 129 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,040 devastated Egypt, that superpower. 130 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:13,520 Whoa. We need to man up and fight. 131 00:09:13,560 --> 00:09:16,240 Otherwise they're going to make us slaves the same way that we 132 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:21,440 have made them slaves. So take courage and fight, and 133 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:26,280 God hands His people over to the sword of the Philistines. 134 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:31,840 Their priests, Hofni and Phinehas were cut down in the 135 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:35,400 slaughter. And most devastating of all, 136 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:41,640 Psalm 78, verse 61, God delivered His power to 137 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:45,760 captivity, His glory to the hand of the folk. 138 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,800 You see, the Philistines didn't on their own power capture the 139 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:51,280 ark. God gave Himself over to them. 140 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:58,360 He went into exile. Judgment had come, but the 141 00:09:58,360 --> 00:09:59,920 judgment wasn't complete just yet. 142 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:06,160 The story continues in verse 12, a man from Benjamin runs back 143 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:09,400 with the news to Shiloh. He sees Eli sitting at the 144 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:14,120 gates, the gate where judgment is usually meted out, ironically 145 00:10:14,120 --> 00:10:16,240 enough. But he doesn't stop there. 146 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:21,240 He runs into the city, and he tells the people the news, and 147 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:27,800 there is an uproar. The people are mourning, and 148 00:10:27,800 --> 00:10:30,720 this one stands in stark contrast. 149 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:35,120 The shout of joy when the Ark first arrived at the 150 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,840 battlefield. This uproar is right. 151 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,600 The people were right to weep over what had happened. 152 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:51,240 At least now they were beginning to feel, if only faintly, the 153 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:56,640 sorrow the God himself had carried for years as they 154 00:10:56,640 --> 00:11:04,640 languished in their sin. Has anyone heard of drunken 155 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,400 Shakespeare? Yeah, yeah. 156 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:12,240 It's a theatre show where actors perform Shakespeare well while 157 00:11:12,240 --> 00:11:16,440 one of them is deliberately intoxicated the whole time 158 00:11:17,560 --> 00:11:21,120 they're drunk. The show is probably very, very 159 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:22,800 funny. I've never been there, but the 160 00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:27,480 mastery is in how do these sober actors work with this one actor 161 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:29,120 who is really, really drunk the whole time? 162 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,200 When I first heard about it, I laughed. 163 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:35,040 It's a hilarious concept. It's probably very funny. 164 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,400 But then I have to check my spirit because the question came 165 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:44,920 to mind, Would Jesus be laughing at this or mourning because of 166 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:48,560 this? And what other things in my life 167 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:51,720 do I treat the same way? Things where my feelings don't 168 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:55,200 line up with God's feelings about that particular thing? 169 00:11:55,320 --> 00:12:00,200 Am I really attuned to the sorrow that God feels over sin 170 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:05,400 in my life, in my community, in my city, in my nation, over what 171 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,200 I watch, what I read, listen to, participate and promote or 172 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:14,600 oppose? So I've been praying prayers 173 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,000 that God would give me his heart for all things. 174 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:20,200 God, you say I should love my enemies. 175 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:22,040 Well, please give me love for my enemies. 176 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:25,480 You said I should love all the people in this room, so please 177 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,480 give me love for all the people in this room. 178 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:31,560 You have told me that there are some things that I should abhor 179 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,120 and I should hate, and I should call an abomination because you 180 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,280 call them an abomination. So give me a heart that sees 181 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:42,840 these things as abominations, A righteous indignation against 182 00:12:42,960 --> 00:12:47,440 these things, because I don't want to be rejoicing in the camp 183 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:49,720 when I actually should be mourning. 184 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,560 I don't want the judgement of God to be the thing that wakes 185 00:12:53,560 --> 00:12:56,600 me up to the reality of his heart in my life. 186 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:05,120 Eli, blind as a bat. His physical blindness is 187 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:07,400 mirroring the dullness of his heart toward the Lord. 188 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:13,880 He hears the uproar and he asks what does this commotion mean? 189 00:13:14,120 --> 00:13:16,280 And the man tells Eli everything. 190 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:20,520 Each piece of news is devastating, but nothing was as 191 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:25,120 catastrophic as the ark being carried off into exile. 192 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:31,480 Eli in his heart trembled. Rightly so, for the Ark of God, 193 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:38,120 the Kabode, the weight, the glory of Israel, was taken into 194 00:13:38,320 --> 00:13:41,400 exile. And when this old priest heard 195 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:46,160 it, he fell backward. His own kabad, his own 196 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:51,480 heaviness, his own weight of sin was too much for him, and he 197 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:55,520 broke his neck. He was the high priest of God. 198 00:13:56,880 --> 00:14:00,160 Rather than be filled with the kabad, the heaviness, the weight 199 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:04,440 of God's glory, he was filled with the kabad, the heaviness of 200 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,640 his own sin. And in one day, the word of 201 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:10,920 judgement spoken against Eli's family came to pass. 202 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,520 Now Eli stands as a warning to all of us who confess that Jesus 203 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:18,720 Christ is our Lord, our King, our Savior. 204 00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:25,800 We too can become weighed down with sin to the point that even 205 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:31,520 though we carry some kind of pious concern for the things of 206 00:14:31,520 --> 00:14:36,000 God, which is good, we do nothing about it. 207 00:14:37,200 --> 00:14:42,760 We remain confined to our spiritual wheelchairs, unable to 208 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:48,200 see the light of God's truth. God wants more than just the 209 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,080 heart posture. He sees. 210 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:54,400 My heart is not enough. He actually wants us to do what 211 00:14:54,400 --> 00:15:00,160 is right in His eyes. And this is especially a warning 212 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:04,680 to church leadership, to me, to Dan, to Andrew, to anyone who is 213 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,640 in spiritual authority, because we have agency and 214 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,200 responsibility to set things right in the sphere of 215 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:14,520 influence. In our sphere of influence, if 216 00:15:14,520 --> 00:15:18,160 we sit in the sidelines and do nothing, we are in for it. 217 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:23,880 We must call out sin when we see it to do what Eli and the elders 218 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:27,920 of Israel refused to do. And we want to be able to say to 219 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:30,800 you, like Paul said to the Ephesians, that we are innocent 220 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,400 of the blood of all, for we did not shrink from declaring to you 221 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:38,200 the whole council of God. If we do not call out sin when 222 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:41,840 we see it and repent of it when God reveals it to us, we have 223 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:45,280 failed you. And most importantly, we fear 224 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:50,080 the Lord Jesus Christ. We want to be Samuel to you, not 225 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,240 Eli. And you know, this is really 226 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:55,440 hard work. It's overwhelming. 227 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,200 Trust me, it's over. If you are thinking of becoming 228 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,360 a minister, really take time to think about it. 229 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,560 This is not easy work. I plead with you, please pray 230 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:09,600 for us as we pray for you. We want to be Samuel to you, not 231 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:15,000 Eli. The story gets darker. 232 00:16:16,920 --> 00:16:20,360 God had promised that Eli would have descendants and the 233 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:23,760 judgment on him and his house would pass down to them. 234 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:29,800 So Phinehas's wife gives birth to a boy she named Ichabod. 235 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:35,080 The glory has departed. The glory is in exile for the 236 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,760 rest of his life. Here's what Ichabod had to look 237 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:43,920 forward to for Samuel 233. The only one of you whom I shall 238 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:49,800 not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out, 239 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:54,280 to grieve his heart. And all the descendants of your 240 00:16:54,280 --> 00:17:01,080 house shall die by the sword of men, Ichabod, a man of sorrows. 241 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,400 And you know it's entirely possible that he died before the 242 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,119 ark of God was ever returned to Israel. 243 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,599 Now that seems atrociously unfair. 244 00:17:12,599 --> 00:17:14,359 Unfair. I mean, why should the Son 245 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:16,040 suffer for the sins of the Father? 246 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:20,720 But let's remember Ezekiel, what Ezekiel said. 247 00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:25,160 If Ichabod walked in righteousness, he would not not 248 00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:31,720 die for his father's guilt. Yet still his birthright now in 249 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:36,000 this chapter stood as a sign that God's glory had departed 250 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:40,280 into exile. And what about Finhas's wife? 251 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:47,600 Poor woman, being married to such a scum like Phinehas, what 252 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:55,200 did she go through? There are no victimless sins. 253 00:17:56,400 --> 00:18:02,480 Even private sins have victims. And I know that many of us feel 254 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:06,840 like we are Ichabod or like we are Phinehas's wife, Suffering 255 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:11,520 for the sins of other people. Your whole life of felt like has 256 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,640 felt like 1 suffering after another laid on you by the sins 257 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:18,320 of others. Hold on with me just a little 258 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:24,640 longer, because there is hope. What adds to the tragedy of 259 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:28,240 First Samuel 4 is that the judgement was not only on Eli's 260 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,640 house and on the people and on his descendants. 261 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:36,600 It also fell on Shiloh, God's own dwelling place. 262 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:42,600 Psalm 78 verse 60 says God forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, 263 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:46,080 the tent where he dwelt among mankind. 264 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:51,600 And you know something, He never returned to Shiloh ever. 265 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:57,400 Rather, during Solomon's time, Solomon builds a temple for God 266 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:02,680 where God's glory settles in. But even that temple would prove 267 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:04,720 just as vulnerable to the people sin. 268 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:09,160 Listen to what God says to Israel centuries later when they 269 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:10,760 were yet in another cycle of sin. 270 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:17,240 Jeremiah 7 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made 271 00:19:17,240 --> 00:19:21,360 my name dwell at 1st and see what I did to it for the 272 00:19:21,360 --> 00:19:26,840 wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because you have done 273 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:30,840 all these things, says the Lord, and when I spoke to you 274 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:33,040 persistently, you did not listen. 275 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,200 And when I called you, you did not answer. 276 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:41,080 Therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, in 277 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,920 which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to 278 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:49,040 your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh. 279 00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:50,760 And that's exactly what happened. 280 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:55,400 God's glory left Solomon's temple and it was destroyed. 281 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:03,080 The Church of God today globally carries. 282 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:07,120 The glory of God, but it also carries the glory of God 283 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:11,920 individually, more importantly as a community. 284 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:19,640 Jesus Christ, since enthroned in and through us the fierce glory 285 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:25,080 and power of the Almighty is upon our shoulders. 286 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:32,160 If the Church of God, if the Church of the resurrection. 287 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:36,880 If you and I have been overtaken by sin and are unrepentant, if 288 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:41,640 you and I, all of us, are as heavy as Eli, weighed down by 289 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:46,760 sins that so easily ensnare us with no heart of repentance, 290 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:52,080 Make no mistake, God will remove our lampstand from before Him. 291 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:58,760 This church will not last. It won't, because the judgment 292 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:05,200 begins with the House of God, with his temple. 293 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,160 Take a breather. Let's pivot a little. 294 00:21:13,600 --> 00:21:15,760 I applaud you for sticking with me, because these are hard 295 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:20,200 things to hear, and rightly so. Sin is not to be trifled with. 296 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:25,720 God is not to be trifled with. But paradoxically, God's exile 297 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,320 is actually a means of redemption and salvation for His 298 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:34,520 people. So Psalm 78, verse 65 to 66 as 299 00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,960 then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man 300 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:42,440 shouting because of wine, and He put his adversaries to rout. 301 00:21:42,880 --> 00:21:45,640 He put them to everlasting shape. 302 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,360 You see, under normal circumstances, it should have 303 00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:53,560 been the people who were sent into exile, and that will happen 304 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:59,280 later on in Israel's history. But here God Himself steps in, 305 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:05,040 goes into exile in in their place, and he tramples their 306 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:07,560 enemies. In the chapters that follow, 307 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:12,520 chapter 5-6 and seven, we see God in Philistine territory, 308 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:17,920 sort of the realm of death, and he defeats and humiliates Dagon, 309 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:21,400 the God of the Philistines. And he inflicts the Philistines 310 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:26,280 with tumors and with panic, and then he compels them, forces 311 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:32,520 him, forces them to take his art back to Israel, sort of like a 312 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:36,680 resurrection of sorts. And then in Chapter 7, he grants 313 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:41,280 people, his people, victory over the Philistines through Samuel. 314 00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,880 If that sounds familiar, it's because it is. 315 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:50,320 This is the Jesus story right there, chapters 5-6 and seven. 316 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,640 And I think it's right to hyperlink Ichabod's birth to 317 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:02,480 another birth centuries later. Ichabod's birth was a sign of 318 00:23:02,480 --> 00:23:06,920 God's absence. Jesus's birth is a sign of God's 319 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:11,120 glory coming to dwell permanently amongst his people. 320 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:15,880 And when he arrived, one of the things he did was to go to 321 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:19,360 Jerusalem. And just like God shut down 322 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:24,040 Shiloh, Jesus shut down Jerusalem's temple and he 323 00:23:24,040 --> 00:23:26,680 declared that it was going to be destroyed. 324 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:31,760 And then he declared I am the new temple, a new Shiloh, if you 325 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:35,000 will. Then he enters into the exile of 326 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:40,480 death and he tramples hell and Satan under his feet. 327 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:46,880 He defeats sin and death, and then he resurrects from the dead 328 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:53,720 and then offers us freedom and triumph from death and sin and 329 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:58,880 anything that causes pain and evil in this world. 330 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,440 Somebody please say Hallelujah. I mean, come on. 331 00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:08,760 So while this message in First Samuel 4 is a sobering message 332 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:12,880 of judgment, it's in the end points us to the love of Christ 333 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:17,760 that surpasses all knowledge found in the life, death and 334 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:20,280 resurrection of Jesus Christ. Look it. 335 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:26,080 Jesus loves us. He who died, heaven's gates to 336 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:30,320 open wide. He will wash away our sin. 337 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:35,320 Let his children come in. That's what we. 338 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:44,360 OK, I wish, I wish that I and all of us here knew how much 339 00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,320 Jesus loves us. It's an impossible thing to 340 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,800 actually know, which is why in Ephesians, Paul prays this 341 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,120 prayer. He says to them, I pray that God 342 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:56,920 will give you strength by his Holy Spirit so that you will 343 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:02,280 know the height, the depth, the length, the width of the love of 344 00:25:02,280 --> 00:25:06,680 Christ for you, which is beyond all comprehension, so that you 345 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:10,400 might be filled with the fruits of righteousness in Christ 346 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:13,480 Jesus. We cast off the heaviness that 347 00:25:13,480 --> 00:25:17,200 weighs us down. We can awaken to the light of 348 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:21,240 Christ so that we are no longer blind in Christ Jesus. 349 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:26,280 Every Ichabod, everything he has, his wife has abundant life, 350 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,600 freedom. That's what he does for us. 351 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:41,120 OK, we carry the glory of God with No Fear because of what 352 00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:47,240 Jesus did, but we must remain repentant before Him. 353 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:52,320 Now you might be thinking of the sins that all the people around 354 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,240 you need to repent of. I have done the same thing. 355 00:25:55,680 --> 00:25:57,920 But you can't control other people's repentance. 356 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:02,920 You can only control your own. And you might rightly be 357 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:08,000 thinking, but I truly have no sin that I'm aware of. 358 00:26:08,120 --> 00:26:11,800 That is a fair, that's possibly a fair estimation. 359 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:17,160 So I recommend that you frequently read the 10 360 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:22,320 Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount slowly, other passages of 361 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:25,840 Scripture that teach us how to love God and love neighbors 362 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:28,960 slowly, and then have this prayer as you read. 363 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:34,160 Lord, search me and try me. I think I'm living righteously, 364 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:36,360 but I might very well be deceived. 365 00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:41,440 See if there is evil or wickedness in me, and please 366 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,040 lead me in the way of righteousness. 367 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:49,960 Let that prayer be on your lips for yourself, for your people, 368 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,280 for other believers around you, for the church at large. 369 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:00,680 The parable that Jesus told in Luke chapter 13, it's a very 370 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,560 scary parable to think about. You've got this fig tree that 371 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:08,560 he's planted and three years coming and going, he sees no 372 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:13,240 fruit on that fig tree. And he says to the vine of the 373 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,520 the vineyard dresser, it's like there is no fruit here. 374 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:20,720 Let's just cut it down. It's using up ground and the man 375 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:25,160 says to him, one more year I'm going to apply fertilizer and 376 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:33,360 let's see if it bears fruit. And I, I'm just wondering, are 377 00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:38,120 we that fig tree as a church? I don't think so, because I do 378 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:44,160 believe we are bearing fruit, but perhaps we need to bear more 379 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:50,280 fruit. The glory of the Lord rests upon 380 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:54,120 us. Let us be worthy of that glory 381 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:59,720 through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the name of the Father, of 382 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,720 the Son of the Holy Spirit, Amen.