1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:04,320 You may be seated well. Good morning. 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:09,520 Thank you so much. Who was that? 3 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:13,080 Good morning. Way back there. 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:16,160 Hey, it's good to see the rest of you, too. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:22,160 I hope you're awake now. My name is Andrew Evans. 6 00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,240 I'm one of the pastors here at Church of the Resurrection. 7 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:28,320 Let me invite you to open in your Bibles to First Samuel 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:34,200 Chapter 7 that's on page in the Pew Bible 200 and 15215. 9 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:42,240 We are continuing our series looking at First Samuel, which 10 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,200 is really just the first half of of the book of Samuel, which 11 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,760 tradition over the years is divided into two books, but it's 12 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,800 really just one book. And we're going to be looking 13 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:53,400 this fall at the story of Samuel, the story of David. 14 00:00:55,520 --> 00:00:57,360 Before we get started, let me pray for us. 15 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:03,680 Father, you are a God who loves your people. 16 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:13,280 And you do not leave us alone, but you send us help, You send 17 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:15,120 us direction, You send us guidance, You send us 18 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:16,880 leadership. And I pray that you would meet 19 00:01:16,880 --> 00:01:22,680 us in your word and meet us with your Spirit, and point us to our 20 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,480 Savior and our King Jesus. Amen. 21 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:35,600 The people of Israel, as our passage begins, are in a really 22 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,960 bad spot. They were defeated by the 23 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:44,240 Philistines in battle 20 years earlier, and the reverberations 24 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,640 from that have been continuing for two decades. 25 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:50,640 The Tabernacle was likely destroyed. 26 00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:56,000 The Ark was brought back, but for two decades has sat in a 27 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,560 city that's largely inhabited by Canaanites. 28 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:06,200 The Philistines have continued to enslave and oppress the 29 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:08,600 Israelites. But one thing that I think is 30 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:13,000 most striking about the narrative is how for the last 31 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:18,680 two chapters and how for the last two decades, Israel has 32 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,760 lacked a leader. Last leader, Eli was weak, 33 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,360 conflicted, and when he learned that the Philistines had 34 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,280 captured the ark, he fell and his neck broke. 35 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,600 It's like he was decapitated. And when his head came off, it 36 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:41,160 was like the entire nation of Israel lost their head. 37 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:47,960 There was no leader in Israel. So as our passage begins and the 38 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:52,560 length of this time, the length of his leadership vacuum comes 39 00:02:52,560 --> 00:03:00,040 into focus, we are forced to ask the question, will God provide 40 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,080 his people a leader to save them? 41 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:08,000 As it happens, this is, in a sense the question that has 42 00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:11,320 animated God's people for hundreds of years at this point. 43 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,200 After the Hebrews grew into a large people in Egypt, the 44 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:17,880 Egyptians enslaved them. And So what did God do? 45 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:23,160 God sent a leader, Moses, who led God's people out of slavery. 46 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:28,360 Moses LED God's people all the way to the border of the 47 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:30,440 Promised Land. And then God provided another 48 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:36,600 leader, Joshua, whose name means God saves, to lead Israel the 49 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:38,760 rest of the way into the Promised Land. 50 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:44,960 God provided another leader to save his people and to lead them 51 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:50,640 in conquest of their enemies. Now, Moses and Joshua were great 52 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:52,000 leaders, there's no doubt about it. 53 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,760 There's a reason Moses is in the Supreme Court chambers on the 54 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:57,840 wall, some of the greatest leaders ever. 55 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,880 But even in them we start to see some faults. 56 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:08,760 Moses became angry and sinned. Joshua rashly made a pact with 57 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:13,040 the people who tricked him, people who happened to live in 58 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,360 the city that we've seen today of Kirioth Jirium. 59 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:21,519 And Israel failed to complete the conquest of the promised 60 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:22,880 land. They disobeyed. 61 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:28,040 And then for 300 years we have story after story of Israel 62 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:32,640 falling into sin and idolatry and then God sending a judge, a 63 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:34,760 leader to save them, to rescue them. 64 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,720 Now, these judges, they start out reasonably competent, 65 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,200 reasonably faithful. But the book of Judges is just 66 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:47,920 this spiraling downward spiral of Israel and its leaders 67 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:52,000 getting further and further away from God. 68 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:56,640 There's a reason one of the longest stories and judges is 69 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,680 the story of Samson, who was far from a faithful leader. 70 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:04,120 And by the end of the book, there's this refrain that keeps 71 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,680 getting repeated that shows us the problem. 72 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:14,040 There was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in 73 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,440 his own eyes. And so we come now to the book 74 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,440 of Samuel, which comes right after the book of Judges, 75 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:23,960 actually in some ways overlaps with the time period of the 76 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,560 judges. The people have been starved of 77 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:32,280 godly leadership for centuries. The time of the judges has been 78 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,560 a disaster. Will God, will God in his mercy, 79 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:40,760 send another leader to save his people? 80 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:51,760 And the answer seems to be, at least initially, no Eli, the 81 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,400 latest judge. He's feckless and lazy. 82 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:59,800 His sons are lecherous thieves. And the result is that the Ark 83 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:04,640 is taken into captivity. And it actually takes God. 84 00:06:04,640 --> 00:06:07,560 As Dan showed us last week, it takes God re enacting the 85 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:12,360 plagues of Egypt to bring the Ark back to the Israelites. 86 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,600 The Ark has its own exodus, just like Israel did centuries 87 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,280 before. But the result of these two 88 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:24,440 exoduses in some ways couldn't be more different. 89 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:29,240 See, when Moses LED Israel out of Egypt, they come to Mount 90 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,680 Sinai. They received the law. 91 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:36,040 And then Moses, Aaron and 70 leaders, 70 elders go up the 92 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,840 mountain. They behold God, They eat and 93 00:06:39,840 --> 00:06:43,120 drink. It's it's the climax. 94 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,160 It is the ratification of the covenant, the ratification of 95 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:51,520 the leadership of God's people. But when the ark is rescued from 96 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:55,160 captivity, goes on its own exodus, almost the opposite 97 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:58,520 happens. At the end of chapter 6, the ark 98 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:01,360 is taken into a city of the Levites. 99 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,800 These people should know how to handle the ark, but they again 100 00:07:05,800 --> 00:07:10,040 treat the art with contempt. They try to look inside it and 101 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:15,080 instead of 70 elders beholding God and eating and drinking in 102 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:21,960 his presence, 70 Levites die. This is why at the start of our 103 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:25,880 chapter, the ark is in the city of Kiryat Jarian. 104 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,760 If we weren't sure before, now we are absolutely clear. 105 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:34,080 God's people have no capable leadership. 106 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:39,360 Will God provide a leader for his people? 107 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:44,360 This is a massive problem for Israel, isn't it? 108 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,840 It's just a sociological reality that groups of any size need 109 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:52,640 leadership. A leader animates, guides, 110 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:55,280 points people to where they should go, where they should not 111 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:57,960 go. Leader looks out for dangers. 112 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:03,200 A leader fights off enemies. We as Christians need good and 113 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,400 godly leadership just like Israel did then. 114 00:08:06,760 --> 00:08:10,920 And as the story of Israel shows, godly leadership leads to 115 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:16,720 flourishing, but unfaithful leadership leads to oppression 116 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:23,120 and slavery. Israel here is oppressed and 117 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:27,800 enslaved. Will God provide a leader to 118 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:34,240 save his people? Chapter 7 here is, you could 119 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,480 say, the end of the first part of the book of Samuel. 120 00:08:38,039 --> 00:08:41,240 And here we see the prophet Samuel step firmly into the 121 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:46,520 center of Israel's civic life. And this passage shows us, as 122 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,760 we'll see that that Samuel is the new Moses who will lead his 123 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:54,520 people out of slavery. But more than that, Samuel 124 00:08:54,680 --> 00:08:59,200 points forward to how God will continue to act to save his 125 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:03,880 people all the way up to today. He's establishing a pattern or 126 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:08,320 helping us to see a pattern. God saves his people by sending 127 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:11,680 a capable leader. God saves his people by sending 128 00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:16,480 a faithful, capable leader. And this culminates in Christ, 129 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:21,040 the Son of God, the son of the great King David, who will lead 130 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,280 his people just as Samuel leads them here. 131 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,480 So let's walk through this passage together and see how 132 00:09:27,720 --> 00:09:32,000 Samuel both leads God's people here and then points us to our 133 00:09:32,000 --> 00:09:37,560 greater leader, the Lord Jesus. So we learned in verse 2 that 134 00:09:37,560 --> 00:09:40,760 the people of Israel are lamenting after the Lord. 135 00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:43,720 They're feeling the oppression of the Philistines, and so 136 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:45,880 they're lamenting and looking for salvation from God. 137 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:49,360 This has been Israel's pattern all through the book of the 138 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:52,760 Judges, right? Drift from God, become 139 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:56,400 oppressed, call on God again, and he sends the judge. 140 00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:58,480 They hope. Rinse and repeat. 141 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:04,400 Will the cycle continue? And we have strong reason to 142 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:08,600 hope that the cycle could in fact be broken when Samuel steps 143 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:10,720 in. Samuel is the son of a barren 144 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:15,360 woman, just like the patriarchs. God has spoken directly to him, 145 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,280 which He hasn't done for anybody else in a very long time. 146 00:10:20,240 --> 00:10:23,520 Samuel is different. Maybe this time will be 147 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,680 different. And what Samuel says in verse 3 148 00:10:26,680 --> 00:10:31,200 here confirms that Israel is on the cusp of a renaissance. 149 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,200 Now look at with me at what he says in verse three. 150 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:39,800 If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put 151 00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:43,720 away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and 152 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,840 direct your heart to the Lord and serve Him. 153 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,680 Only then and only then will He save you. 154 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:58,040 Samuel is calling for true deep heart level repentance and 155 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:03,360 reformation of God's people. Samuel, the leader of God's 156 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:06,320 people, is directing their heart. 157 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:12,120 Now God cares about how we act. Certainly He cares about what's 158 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:16,280 visible on the outside, but he also cares about what's on the 159 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,760 inside, what other people can't see. 160 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:24,720 He cares about our hearts, our emotions, our desires, our 161 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:29,880 thoughts, our inclinations. And so as a result, does the 162 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:36,520 leader that God sends Samuel here isn't innovating, though. 163 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,400 This isn't a new teaching. He's following the example of 164 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:43,720 Moses over and over in the book of Deuteronomy, which is Moses 165 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:46,400 is sort of final sermon to Israel. 166 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:51,520 Moses calls on the people of Israel to follow God with their 167 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,120 hearts. One of the most famous verses, 168 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:56,480 perhaps the most famous in Deuteronomy verse in Deuteronomy 169 00:11:56,600 --> 00:12:00,160 here, O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is 1 You shall 170 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:04,880 love the Lord your God with all your heart. 171 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:07,720 He says that over and over and over. 172 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:13,440 The first great leader of God's people wants them to love God 173 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:16,400 from their heart, not just obey him. 174 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:23,360 Samuel here is showing himself to be a new Moses, ready to lead 175 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:27,080 God's people out of slavery by directing their hearts. 176 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:32,640 And Jesus follows exactly this pattern and does that when he 177 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:34,520 applies the law to the heart as well. 178 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,520 Perhaps most famous is in the Sermon on the Mount, where he 179 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:42,640 takes the law and then applies it to your heart, applies it to 180 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:44,920 our hearts. He is interested in the 181 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:50,600 condition of our heart. He is the true and final leader 182 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,440 of God's people. And as our leader, he wants our 183 00:12:53,440 --> 00:12:57,440 hearts to be fully devoted to God. 184 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:02,240 In fact, this is the only way to root out idolatry. 185 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:06,200 Now, until now, we actually haven't heard about idolatry in 186 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,800 the book of Samuel. We've heard about theft. 187 00:13:09,800 --> 00:13:11,720 We've heard about sexual immorality. 188 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:13,200 We've heard about presumptuousness. 189 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:18,600 But underlying all of this sin is idolatry, worshipping other 190 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:22,360 gods. What was true then is true now 191 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:26,080 as well. Idolatry drives us away from God 192 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,120 and into sin. And the only way to stop 193 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:32,240 sinning, the only way to defeat these idols, is not some sort of 194 00:13:32,280 --> 00:13:35,800 outward conformity to rules. It'll work for a little bit of 195 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:40,160 time, but that will never last. The only way is an inner turning 196 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:42,600 back to the Lord with our hearts. 197 00:13:42,920 --> 00:13:48,600 Our hearts must be gods. This is what Samuel is calling 198 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:52,160 Israel to. It's what Jesus calls us to as 199 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,760 well. So the leader of God's people 200 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,280 first directs our hearts, but he does more than that. 201 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,560 Let's keep looking. The people put away their idols 202 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:07,360 and then Samuel calls them to Mizpah for a worship service and 203 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:13,000 a covenant renewal ceremony. Now Samuel here doesn't pretend 204 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:16,880 that Israel can just go there alone and you know, talk to God 205 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:19,000 on their own. You know, like they somehow have 206 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:21,880 this this direct access to the big man upstairs. 207 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:24,200 Sometimes that's your help here here. 208 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:26,800 It put that way. Look at verse 5. 209 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:32,360 Then Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will 210 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:38,520 pray to the Lord for you. Samuel, as their leader, will 211 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:44,640 stand between them and God, and he will pray for them. 212 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:49,880 Samuel is the faithful leader, and he as the leader will 213 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:56,720 represent Israel before God. He will intercede for them. 214 00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:00,640 Now the people confess their sins, and in the Philistines 215 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:04,200 they sense an opportunity here to strike another blow against 216 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:05,600 them. And so they start to attack. 217 00:15:05,880 --> 00:15:07,840 Israelites, naturally enough, are afraid. 218 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:13,160 And so in verse 8 they say to Samuel, do not cease to cry out 219 00:15:13,160 --> 00:15:16,800 to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of 220 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:20,160 the Philistines. And that's exactly what Samuel 221 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,080 does. He intercedes for the people. 222 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:30,160 He prays to God on their behalf. And again here, Samuel isn't 223 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,800 innovating. This is just what the leaders of 224 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,600 God's people do. Abraham did this. 225 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:42,160 Moses did this repeatedly. Daniel does this later in the 226 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:46,120 Old Testament. And all of these examples of the 227 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:50,760 leaders of God's people point us ultimately to Jesus, who is 228 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:55,080 always interceding for us before God. 229 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:02,800 Maybe you have fallen into sin. You know that you're not right 230 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:06,640 with God. You're feeling distant from him. 231 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:11,000 And you know deep down that this is because of your sin. 232 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,000 You struggle to pray. You don't really want to read 233 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,080 your Bible. Coming to church makes you 234 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:20,120 anxious. You're afraid of being called 235 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:26,320 out, and you wonder in your most honest moments, who will bring 236 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:32,720 me back into God's presence? Who can restore me to him and to 237 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:36,120 God's people? My friends, this is what the 238 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:42,280 leader of God's people does. Samuel here is representing 239 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:47,400 God's people before God in order to restore them to him. 240 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,440 And as he does this, he is pointing us to Jesus. 241 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,600 Jesus represents you to the Father. 242 00:16:55,840 --> 00:17:01,880 Jesus asks God to forgive you. Who will restore you to God? 243 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:06,319 Jesus, look to Jesus, call on him. 244 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,800 He will not leave you. He will come with you and stand 245 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:16,200 before you with the Father. And even now he's interceding 246 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:21,160 for you. So as Samuel is interceding, the 247 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:24,680 pressure continues to rise on the Israelites. 248 00:17:25,839 --> 00:17:29,240 Samuel prays and then he offers a sacrifice of an innocent lamb 249 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,080 to atone for the sins of the Israelites. 250 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:35,440 And just as he's offering the sacrifice, verse 10, the 251 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:39,240 Philistines drew near to attack Israel. 252 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,840 Well, text is pretty clear that the Israelites knew that the 253 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:48,520 Philistines were coming. Samuel almost certainly, it's 254 00:17:48,520 --> 00:17:50,800 not almost certainly, certainly knew that they were coming as 255 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:54,600 well. But what does Samuel not do? 256 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:57,880 He doesn't draw them up into battle lines, does he? 257 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:00,720 He doesn't become an army commanders. 258 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:03,040 Maybe some other judges have done that, but that's not what's 259 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,600 going on right here. He leads them. 260 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:12,560 Samuel here leads God's people by setting their priorities and 261 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:16,760 the highest priority, even with the Philistines right there, the 262 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:21,040 highest priority is becoming reconciled to God. 263 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:28,000 I think it's so important that we're always asking ourselves if 264 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,000 we are letting Jesus set our priorities. 265 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:34,240 Just like Samuel here is setting the priorities for Israel. 266 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:37,720 Now we as a church are setting out on a strategic planning 267 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:39,800 process. Looking forward to that, I 268 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:44,400 think. Please pray for us, pray for 269 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:46,960 your for the pastors, pray for the PC as we work on that 270 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,880 together. Pray specifically that we would 271 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:55,440 follow the priorities of our leader, Jesus. 272 00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,080 We want Jesus, our leader through the Holy Spirit to lead 273 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:04,320 us, to guide us, to set our priorities, and what is true of 274 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,720 us as a church corporately is true of us as individuals and 275 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,040 families as well. In just a few minutes, we will 276 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:14,560 be baptizing Rowan Murphy. What a joy, what a privilege to 277 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,840 have you guys here. And we will, we will charge him 278 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,440 and pray for him that he will fight boldly under Christ's 279 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:27,480 banner, that he will follow the Lord Jesus in his life, that the 280 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:31,760 Lord Jesus would be his leader. And what's true for him is is 281 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,320 true for all of us. Are we willing to follow Jesus 282 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,600 even when it's inconvenient and even dangerous? 283 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:45,800 Jesus tells us to love our enemies, to give generously, to 284 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:50,720 forgive readily, to be hospitable even to strangers. 285 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:55,400 We must do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with our God. 286 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:58,080 The world will tell us different things will. 287 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,880 The world will tell us that we are being naive. 288 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:06,120 But we must let our leader, our Lord Jesus, set our priorities. 289 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:09,920 We must follow Jesus in our lives. 290 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,240 Our passage here pushes us even deeper, though. 291 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:19,880 When Samuel focuses on reconciliation with God here, 292 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:24,200 he's revealing what should be our highest priority as well. 293 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:30,640 My friends, there is nothing more important for you and for 294 00:20:30,640 --> 00:20:34,600 everybody else in this world than to be reconciled to God. 295 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:37,920 It may feel like the Philistines are breathing down your neck. 296 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,720 Maybe work is overwhelming your marriage on the rocks. 297 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:45,360 Health crisis has left you spinning. 298 00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:51,120 Maybe current events have left you angry and anxious, and the 299 00:20:51,120 --> 00:20:55,040 saving work of Jesus to reconcile us to God through his 300 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,840 death and resurrection feels like a distant and frankly 301 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:01,400 irrelevant abstraction from the needs of the day. 302 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:08,080 But think about the situation of Israel when Jesus actually came. 303 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:14,920 Jesus came to a people who were oppressed by outside forces led 304 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:18,720 by corrupt leaders. Sounds an awful lot like the 305 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:22,960 Israelites here, doesn't it? His disciples and so many other 306 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,440 people expected him to be a great political leader. 307 00:21:27,880 --> 00:21:31,720 But instead of raising up an army, Jesus became an innocent 308 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:36,600 lamb. It was slaughtered to atone for 309 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:38,880 our sins. All seemed lost. 310 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:45,960 What a waste. But it is precisely here, in the 311 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:50,120 atoning death and resurrection of Jesus that the greatest 312 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,920 victory over the powers of the world took place. 313 00:21:55,160 --> 00:21:58,400 Jesus conquered your greatest enemies. 314 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,160 You were no longer enslaved to the world, the flesh, and the 315 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:06,400 devil. You are a new person because of 316 00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,960 Christ and what He did for you on the cross and in the empty 317 00:22:09,960 --> 00:22:11,360 tomb. If you were looking to Him in 318 00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:18,480 faith, He is working now to set all things right, and He will 319 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:24,160 finish that work and He calls you to rest in that promise. 320 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:31,280 The greatest need that we have is to be reconciled to God. 321 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:38,120 The greatest need that the world has is to be reconciled to God. 322 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,480 My friends look to Christ in faith, receive that 323 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:48,560 reconciliation from him, bring other people to the Lord so that 324 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,320 they might look to him and receive that reconciliation. 325 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:58,480 Christ's atoning sacrifice is the wellspring of all that this 326 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:04,160 world needs, just like it was the wellspring for what Israel 327 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:07,080 needed as well. The Philistines. 328 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:09,360 They're closing in on the worshipping Israelites. 329 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:15,440 Just as the Paschal lamb dies, God thunders against the 330 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,640 Philistines and throws them into confusion. 331 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:26,280 They are defeated before Israel. All Israel then has to do is to 332 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:31,120 chase them away. The result is that the land is 333 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:33,640 free from oppression and slavery. 334 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:38,920 God won the victory. God saved his people who were 335 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:43,000 trusting in him. And as if to drive this point 336 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,560 home, look with me at what's highlighted in verse 14. 337 00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:51,000 The victory is so great that Israel actually reclaims several 338 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:54,880 cities that they had lost. Cities from Ekron to Gath. 339 00:23:55,160 --> 00:23:56,960 Now, we've already seen these cities in this narrative. 340 00:23:56,960 --> 00:24:01,160 They're the same cities that had passed the ark between them, 341 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:06,960 cities owned by the Philistines. But when they pass the ark 342 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:12,920 through them, God demonstrated his power and defeated them by 343 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:15,680 sending plagues and reclaiming these cities for Israel. 344 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:20,840 Here is only finalizing the victory that God alone won many 345 00:24:20,880 --> 00:24:24,440 years earlier. God won the victory. 346 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:29,480 He fought here for his people, and he'd been fighting for years 347 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:33,600 actually for them. And as a result, Samuel sets up 348 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,320 a monument near the place of Israel's covenant renewal, and 349 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:40,720 he calls it Ebenezer Stone of help. 350 00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:43,280 Thus far, the Lord has helped us. 351 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,120 He marks a place. He wants Israel to remember 352 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:49,440 where their salvation comes from. 353 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:54,920 It's not from him that salvation comes from the Lord. 354 00:24:57,240 --> 00:24:59,360 Now, of course, though, there is a sense in which it did come 355 00:24:59,360 --> 00:25:03,200 through him, right? Samuel is the leader whom God 356 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:07,160 used, just like God used Moses, just like you would use kings 357 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,800 later. The problem though is that all 358 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:15,600 of these leaders will fail. None of them are God. 359 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:23,040 For them to exalt themselves would be blasphemy until Jesus. 360 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:33,360 Jesus is the perfect leader, He never fails and he is God by 361 00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:36,840 drawing people to himself while saying look to me, put your 362 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:41,520 faith in me. He's pointing them to the very 363 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,240 one who saves them. Jesus wants all people to be 364 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,800 reconciled to God, and that means for him, unlike for 365 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:54,960 Samuel, pointing people to himself, the cross in the empty 366 00:25:54,960 --> 00:26:01,720 tomb, the places of of Christ's passion and victory are the 367 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:08,080 greatest Ebenezer friends right now, so many of us are anxious 368 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,520 and angry. We're worried about our jobs, 369 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:14,400 worried about our friends, worried about our city, worried 370 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:17,240 about our country. It can feel like the Philistines 371 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:20,400 are attacking us right when we are most vulnerable. 372 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:28,000 We so desperately need a leader, one who will guide us and guard 373 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:34,640 us and gather us together. Many people offer themselves as 374 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:37,880 that leader. Pretenders to the throne have 375 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:40,680 always existed, and they always will. 376 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:48,400 But we have a leader, the greater Samuel, the greater 377 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:53,720 Moses, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the son of King David. 378 00:26:55,120 --> 00:26:57,760 We have a leader who took the attack of the Philistines, who 379 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:05,200 absorbed its blow, and who now stands victorious, ready to lead 380 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:08,200 us. He directs our hearts, He 381 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:13,160 intercedes for us, He sets our priorities. 382 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:19,080 And then he calls us to himself, for he is the one who saves us. 383 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:21,880 There is no leader who is better to follow. 384 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:25,960 There is no leader who is more faithful. 385 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:31,120 He will never fail you. He will never be defeated, so 386 00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:35,080 let's follow Him and follow him always, in the name of the 387 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:37,320 Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.