1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:29,980 I want you to see what God is doing in this passage. Let's pray. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:52,580 Good morning. We are glad to be able to worship together this morning. In a few minutes, we're going to be in 1 Samuel chapter 7. 3 00:00:52,580 --> 00:01:06,260 We've been spending the summer with Samuel, and the first section of Samuel ends in chapter 7, so this is kind of our last sermon in our summer in Samuel. 4 00:01:06,260 --> 00:01:18,840 We're going to be starting a series on Jesus' call of his apostles and his call to follow him, starting on the 15th of September. 5 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:35,480 But this morning we're wrapping up Samuel with a life of faithfulness, and so one of the things that's happening in 1 Samuel chapter 7 is God's people are returning to him, and they are worshiping him, and they are repenting of their sins against God. 6 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:44,100 They are seeing God's providence and his provision and his protection in all of these wonderful and amazing and miraculous ways. 7 00:01:44,100 --> 00:02:10,360 So, as we read Scripture, as we sing, as we gather around the table, one of the things we want to do this morning is, like Israel, in 1 Samuel chapter 7, we want to turn our eyes to see God and his strength and his provision and his goodness, whether that's in repentance or in praise or in celebration of the gospel or in opening the word of God. 8 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:19,760 So we're going to pray, and then we're going to stand, and we're going to begin with the 130th Psalm, the first six verses. So if you would, let's pray together. 9 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:30,120 Father in heaven, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for grace. We thank you for the work of your spirit in our lives. 10 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:59,760 I ask, as we worship together, reading your word and singing, that we would be drawn to see you more clearly, to focus on you more deeply, to repent of those areas where we have been distracted or chased after something else, that you would restore our souls, that you would fill us with joy, and that you would help us to see the good news of the gospel. 11 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:24,160 Be with us this morning, and we pray. If you would, be standing with me as we read from the 130th Psalm. It's a song of both repentance, focusing on God's mercy, and in His grace, and then also how He redeems His people. We'll end our service with that. 12 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:46,560 Let's read from the 130th Psalm. It says this, "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 13 00:03:46,560 --> 00:04:07,960 But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in his word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than the watchman for the morning. More than the watchman for the morning." 14 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:25,360 And I like how this section of the psalm ends, where the watchman, having gone through the dark of night, is waiting for that glimpse of hope, that glimpse of light, that glimpse of joy that the danger of night is over and the joy of morning has come. 15 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:33,360 We're going to begin by singing "This is our God," followed by immediately singing "His mercy is more." 16 00:04:37,960 --> 00:05:03,960 Remember those walls that we called sin and shame? They were like prisons that we couldn't escape. But He came, and He died, and He rose. Those walls are rubble now. 17 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:28,960 Remember those giants we called death and grave? They were like mountains that stood in our way. But He came, and He died, and He rose. Those giants are dead now. 18 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:52,960 This is our God. This is who He is. He loves us. This is our God. This is what He does. He saves us. He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. 19 00:05:52,960 --> 00:06:20,960 Remember that fear that took our breath away. Faith so weak that we could barely pray. But He heard every word, every whisper. Now those altars in the wilderness tell the story of His faithfulness. 20 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:48,960 Never once did He fail, and He never will. This is our God. This is who He is. He loves us. This is our God. This is what He does. He saves us. We bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. 21 00:06:48,960 --> 00:07:16,960 King Jesus. Who poured me out of that pit? He did. He did. Who paid for all of our sin? Nobody but Jesus. Who poured me out of that pit? He did. He did. Who paid for all of our sin? Nobody but Jesus. 22 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:44,960 Who rescued me from that grave? Yahweh, Yahweh. Who gets the glory and praise? Nobody but Jesus. Who rescued me from that grave? Yahweh, Yahweh. Who gets the glory and praise? Nobody but Him. This is our God. This is who He is. He loves us. 23 00:07:44,960 --> 00:08:12,960 This is our God. This is what He does. He saves us. He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. 24 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:40,960 What love could remember, no wrongs we have done. Our nations all knowing He counts not their sum. Thrown into a sea without bottom of shore. 25 00:08:40,960 --> 00:09:08,960 Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. Praise the Lord, His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness knew every morn. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. 26 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:36,960 What patience would wait as we constantly roam. What Father so tender is calling us home. He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. 27 00:09:36,960 --> 00:10:04,960 Praise the Lord, His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness, new every morn. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. 28 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:32,960 What riches of kindness He lavished on us. His blood was the payment, His life was the cost. We stood neath a debt we could never afford. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. Praise the Lord. 29 00:10:32,960 --> 00:11:00,960 His mercy is more. Stronger than darkness new every morn. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. Praise the Lord. His mercy is more. 30 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:14,960 Stronger than darkness new every morn. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. Our sins they are many, His mercy is more. 31 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:38,960 You are the only one who has come to mind. You are the one who has come to mind. You are the only one who has come to mind. 32 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:45,960 You are the only one who has come to mind. You are the only one who has come to mind. You are the only one who has come to mind. 33 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:51,960 We are the only one who has come to mind. We are the only one who has come to mind. We are the only one who has come to mind. 34 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:58,960 We are the only one who has come to mind. We are the only one who has come to mind. We are the only one who has come to mind. 35 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:02,960 We are the only one who has come to mind. We are the only one who has come to mind. 36 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,960 We are the only one who has come to mind. We are the only one who has come to mind. 37 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:10,960 We are the only one who has come to mind. We are the only one who has come to mind. 38 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:43,960 Celebrating the Gospel through the Lord's Supper, we are going to sing "Turn Your Eyes." 39 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:11,960 Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of the Lord's Supper, we are going to sing. 40 00:23:36,960 --> 00:24:06,940 The love of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Turn your eyes to that little sight where justice and mercy embrace. 41 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:21,960 There, the Son of God gave His life for us, and our measureless death was He brave. 42 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:34,960 Jesus, to You we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our Christ. 43 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:46,960 We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to You. 44 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:26,960 Turn your eyes to the morning and see Christ lying away. What a glorious dawn, fear of death is gone, for we carry His life in our veins. 45 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:53,960 Jesus, to You we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our prize. We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to You. 46 00:25:53,960 --> 00:26:20,960 Turn our eyes to You. Turn your eyes to the heavens. Our King will return for His own. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will shout. 47 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:47,960 All glory to Jesus, Lord. Jesus, to You You lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our might. We adore You, behold You, our Savior and our Lord. 48 00:26:47,960 --> 00:27:14,960 We hold You, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our lives to You. Jesus, to You You lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our might. We adore You, behold You. 49 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:41,960 We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to You. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to You. 50 00:27:41,960 --> 00:28:08,960 In Philippians, the second chapter, Paul writes this: "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love and any participation in the Spirit, any affection and 51 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:22,960 sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others as more 52 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:35,960 significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." And as Paul makes this call 53 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:47,960 and this instruction to unity in Philippians, the second chapter, if we are honest, when we hear his words, right, this is a big task. If you want a simple example 54 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:58,960 of how hard it is for us to be unified, just try ordering pizza and asking opinions from a large group of people about what kind of pizza 55 00:28:58,960 --> 00:29:04,960 you're going to get. There's a reason why when you go somewhere and there's pizza for a large group, there's pepperoni and 56 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:12,960 there's cheese, right, because nobody can agree on everything that you'd like to eat on that pizza. And that's just a simple 57 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:25,960 illustration of a simple meal, and here Paul is saying nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. In humility, count others as 58 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:33,960 more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 59 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:40,960 And if we're honest, this seems a little bit beyond our capability. Maybe not all the time. 60 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:48,960 There are some times where we do well at this, but as a lifestyle and as a way of living, right, this is a struggle. 61 00:29:48,960 --> 00:30:02,960 And so Paul's solution to the Philippians in regard to this massive task of loving each other, being unified with each other, 62 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:14,960 caring for one another, is not to try harder, not to do better, not to stuff your emotions down inside and just put a smile on your face and get along with everybody. 63 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:29,960 His solution is to turn our eyes to Jesus. And it's not just for unity. In fact, this is the answer for all of the Christian life. 64 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:37,960 In our discouragement, Hebrews chapter 12 tells us to look to our author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus, 65 00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:44,960 who for the joy set before him, despising the shame, endured the cross and is seated at the right hand. 66 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:52,960 And he'll go on to say, "Consider him who endured such hostility from himself against sinners that you do not grow weary and lose heart." 67 00:30:52,960 --> 00:31:02,960 When we're struggling with forgiveness, the answer that Paul gives in Ephesians is forgive as Christ has forgiven you. 68 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:12,960 For all of the struggles and the challenges of the Christian life, the answer is not me. It's Jesus. 69 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:20,960 And so as Paul speaks to the Philippians in Philippians chapter 2, let's turn our eyes to Jesus with him. 70 00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:33,960 He says this, "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. 71 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:42,960 But it emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. 72 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:48,960 He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. 73 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:55,960 Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. 74 00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:09,960 So at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father." 75 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:17,960 Let's pray. Father, help us to turn our eyes to the good news of the gospel. 76 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:34,960 To your Son, given to stand in our place for our sins, who died for us, who was buried, and who rose again, and who is one day returning in glory. 77 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:46,960 Father, if we come to this table with struggling and discouraged hearts, may we see that Jesus is our strength and our joy. 78 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:56,960 And if we come fighting sin and in repentance, may we see the grace and the mercy that is found in your Son. 79 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:07,960 If we come hopeless, help us to see that there is hope, not just for the future, but of hope and strength in this moment. 80 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:14,960 May this bread and this cup turn our eyes to the good news. 81 00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:24,960 We ask that you bless this bread and this cup. That as we, as a family, partake of this, that you would direct our eyes to Jesus. 82 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,960 It's in his name we pray. Amen. 83 00:33:28,960 --> 00:33:42,960 If you would, take the bread with me as Jesus shared with his disciples, telling them to do this in remembrance of me. 84 00:33:42,960 --> 00:34:02,960 And as Jesus took the cup, and in the Jewish Passover, the cup of redemption, and in being about to redeem his people, he said, "As often as you drink this, do so in remembrance of me." 85 00:34:02,960 --> 00:34:10,960 And we eat this bread, and we drink this cup, and we proclaim Jesus until he comes again. 86 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:31,960 We're going to be in 1 Samuel, chapter 7. We're going to be our last sermon in 1 Samuel. I'm going to pray, and then we'll jump into it this morning. 87 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:55,960 Father in heaven, I thank you for Jesus, and I ask that as we look at your word, as we look at the water and the lamb and the rock and the altar this morning, that you would help us to turn aside from our sin and to put our whole hearts directly to you. 88 00:34:55,960 --> 00:35:06,960 That you would help us to move towards you, to live for you, not just to think, but to think and to feel and to act, and always for you. 89 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:11,960 Bring us to faithfulness. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 90 00:35:11,960 --> 00:35:23,960 So, a bunch of years ago, probably, I think maybe Evelyn was a year and a half old, not quite two yet. 91 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:33,960 I was officiating a wedding about 30 minutes north of Indianapolis, and we had kind of made it a family trip with some of Rachel's cousins on the way there. 92 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:39,960 So we went down in to the bottom of Ohio and road tripped across with them. 93 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:47,960 And then on the way back, we were going to travel back, kind of stopping for some fun along the way, as much fun as you can have. 94 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:55,960 It was like roadside attraction, like the Amish cheese shop, the 10 million square foot candle warehouse, those kind of places, with her aunt and uncle. 95 00:35:55,960 --> 00:36:00,960 And so we were getting ready to leave the hotel, and it was early. Everybody was feeling good. We were joyful. 96 00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:03,960 Her aunt and uncle got on the road and said, "We'll meet you at the cheese shop." 97 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:09,960 And so we looked at the map. I looked at the map, and I said, "You know what? I'm in the mood for adventure today. 98 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:20,960 I think that I can get to where I'm going for this first stop without having to use the GPS and without having to go the normally accepted route, 99 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:28,960 which would be south down the highway to Indianapolis and then on Interstate 70 across. I can do this just with my atlas." 100 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:37,960 And so the first two turns went really, really well. We drove out through this massive wind farm, and windows are down. 101 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:45,960 Right? We're enjoying the day. And then we come to this little town that on the atlas, you know, is just a dot, right? 102 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:54,960 There's no streets. There's no points. There's no directions. And all of a sudden, this little town wasn't quite as little as it looked in my atlas. 103 00:36:54,960 --> 00:37:05,960 And so I'm just kind of picking roads at random in the direction that I want to go. Now, unbeknownst to me, Rachel, who is much wiser than I am in a lot of situations, 104 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:13,960 had quietly, and so as not to embarrass me, pulled up the route on her GPS. And so I was like, "Well, I think I'm going to turn right here." 105 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:21,960 And she would go, "No." And then we'd go a little further, and I'd be like, "Oh, maybe this right." And she'd be like, "Oh, yeah, that looks like a good way to go." 106 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:33,960 And kind of directed me to get back on track. And in 1 Samuel chapter 7, what we find is God's people have gotten all turned around. 107 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:39,960 They've gone the wrong way, and Samuel is bringing them back on track. 108 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:42,960 In fact, listen to what it says in verses 3 and 4. 109 00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:48,960 And Samuel said to the house of Israel, "If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, 110 00:37:48,960 --> 00:37:57,960 then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtra from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve Him only. 111 00:37:57,960 --> 00:38:00,960 And He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." 112 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:07,960 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtra and serve the Lord only. 113 00:38:07,960 --> 00:38:12,960 And I want to zoom in this morning on what Samuel says right there in the middle. 114 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:18,960 Because he starts by saying, "Get rid of all of the sin that's in your life, 115 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:28,960 all of these false gods that you have put away. Remove them, destroy them, set them aside, and no longer chase after them." 116 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:33,960 And we talked last week how repentance is a turning away from all of that sin. 117 00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:39,960 But one of the important things that we must realize when it comes to following God 118 00:38:39,960 --> 00:38:46,960 is that it's not just about turning away from our sin and setting aside all of our idols. 119 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:56,960 We have to turn to something. It's not just that we have to turn away from all of those distractions and desires 120 00:38:56,960 --> 00:39:02,960 and the brokenness of sin. It's not just that we clean all the sin out of our life, 121 00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:08,960 but we have to fill that with something else. 122 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:13,960 In fact, Jesus talks about it as He casts out an evil spirit from a man. 123 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,960 And the point Jesus is making is that if your life isn't filled with something, 124 00:39:17,960 --> 00:39:21,960 you're going to be in worse trouble. And He talks about how the man hasn't filled his life 125 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:25,960 and so the demon is cast out and he goes and he wanders the waste 126 00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:31,960 and he comes back to this life or this house that has not been filled with the goodness of God. 127 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:38,960 And he finds it all clean and swept and put in order like a hotel room that has just been cleaned and set up for the next guest. 128 00:39:38,960 --> 00:39:43,960 And so he gets a bunch of his friends who are way worse than he is and moves back in. 129 00:39:43,960 --> 00:39:53,960 And Jesus' point is that it's not enough to simply turn aside and remove the evil and the brokenness or have it removed from your life, 130 00:39:53,960 --> 00:40:00,960 that you must be filled with something good. And look at what Samuel says in the middle of this. 131 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:10,960 As he says, "Put away your foreign gods and your ashtra," he says something, "Direct your heart to the Lord." 132 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:20,960 Direct your heart to the Lord. And at the end of these verses, it says, "They served the Lord only." 133 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:31,960 So I want to talk just for a few minutes this morning about how we see our hearts directed to the Lord here in 1 Samuel 7. 134 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:42,960 And the first thing we see, that directing our heart to the Lord means placing Him above everything else. 135 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:50,960 That if we are to turn our heart to the Lord, He must be greater than anything else in our life. 136 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:52,960 Look at verses 5 and 6. 137 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:59,960 Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you." 138 00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:08,960 And so they gathered at Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, 139 00:41:08,960 --> 00:41:11,960 "We have sinned against the Lord." 140 00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:15,960 And Samuel judged the people at Mizpah. 141 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:22,960 Now this instruction, and this event of gathering at Mizpah, occurs immediately. 142 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:27,960 The people have turned away from the foreign gods, and served only the Lord. 143 00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:31,960 After Samuel's instruction, "Turn away. Direct your hearts to the Lord." 144 00:41:31,960 --> 00:41:43,960 They have done that. Now they gather, not just as a few people, not as a few families, or a few tribes, but they gather as a nation. 145 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:48,960 And they gather in repentance and commitment. 146 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:56,960 And they're gathering, I think, both individually repenting, but also as a nation, as a group corporately repenting. 147 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:10,960 And a lot of times we think about repentance as solely the responsibility of the individual, but we see, while that's true, it's also the responsibility of the group to gather and to repent corporately. 148 00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:19,960 And now they do something very strange here. It says, "They drew water, and they poured it out before the Lord." 149 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:26,960 And now before we talk a little bit about what that means, let's talk about what is happening. 150 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:33,960 Because our view of water is probably a little bit different than it was in the times of Samuel. 151 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:40,960 So in the modern world, we have water everywhere, right? We've got a bottle of water up here, thanks to Debbie, 152 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:47,960 who every week makes sure that I have a bottle of water, and I'm so thankful because I never would remember it otherwise. 153 00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:54,960 We have three cases of water under the table down there. Not knowing that, I bought another case, and it's sitting by the door downstairs. 154 00:42:54,960 --> 00:43:00,960 We can go to the taps. There's one in this room. There's some downstairs. Turn on a faucet, right? There's water. 155 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:05,960 Water for us is something that we almost always take for granted. 156 00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:12,960 Now, if I was to drink out of my bottle of water this morning and spill a few drops on the floor, right? Not a big deal. It's going to dry. 157 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:20,960 In fact, even if I spilled the whole bottle of water, right, we'll probably, like, clean up some of the excess, but it's going to dry by itself. 158 00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:30,960 And if we're somewhere where the floor is slippery, we might dry it a little more quickly, but we're not going to be angry and upset over spilled water. 159 00:43:30,960 --> 00:43:37,960 Now, if somebody came in and intentionally poured out a bottle of water, we might be upset about wasting it or making a mess. 160 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:44,960 But at the end of the day, what's our thought? Really, it's just, it's just water. 161 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:55,960 Now, think about the ancient world where water wasn't as common, right? We have so many ways to get water, and they did not. 162 00:43:55,960 --> 00:44:04,960 And water was far more precious. And in some cases, water was dependent upon the rain and the graciousness of God. 163 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:11,960 So I want to take a little closer of a look at verse 6, keeping in mind that we're sort of flipping about water. 164 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:22,960 God's people would not. So they gathered at Mizpah, and they drew water, and they poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, 165 00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:31,960 and said, "We have sinned against the Lord." Notice it says, "They drew it up." That means this is a well. 166 00:44:31,960 --> 00:44:39,960 And the who here is not Samuel coming and drawing up the water. It says they did, meaning the people as a nation. 167 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:48,960 They're waiting in line, and they're drawing up water. And then what are they doing? They are pouring it out. 168 00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:57,960 And so they're not just pouring out this precious, life-giving, life-saving resource. They're also, from our perspective, 169 00:44:57,960 --> 00:45:05,960 wasting their labor, right? I've just drawn a bucket of water up out of a well, and when I get it to the top 170 00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:12,960 after doing that, you pour it on the ground? I'm going to be upset. I just wasted my work. But here they are. 171 00:45:12,960 --> 00:45:19,960 They're not only pouring out the precious, life-giving resource, they're expending their time and energy 172 00:45:19,960 --> 00:45:26,960 to draw it up out of the well. And the question is, "Why would these people do this?" Right? It's a puzzle. 173 00:45:26,960 --> 00:45:33,960 It's a puzzle for the commentators. They go back and forth with different theories. 174 00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:38,960 Because there's not really a biblical precedent for pouring out water. Other things get poured out. 175 00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:45,960 Wine and oil at the drink offering. David in the Psalms will talk about pouring out his heart. 176 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:54,960 But in corporate worship in Israel, this is the only picture in all of Scripture about pouring out water. 177 00:45:54,960 --> 00:46:05,960 I think, however, there's two clues. One here, and one in 2 Samuel 23. Remember, Samuel is all one book in the Hebrew Bible. 178 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:14,960 Two books in our Bible. The first clue is this. It says, "And fasted on that day." 179 00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:22,960 Alright, so the Israelites are fasting, and fasting just means to abstain from food, sometimes from water. 180 00:46:22,960 --> 00:46:27,960 And in the case of the Bible, it's done for a very specific reason. 181 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:34,960 So in the Old Testament, you could fast to seek God's guidance or His protection. You could fast in repentance. 182 00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:43,960 You could fast to humble yourself by saying, "God, you're so much greater, and I view you as far more important than water." 183 00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:50,960 One of the things going without food and water did in humbling yourself and in repenting of your sin was saying, 184 00:46:50,960 --> 00:46:56,960 "God, you're more wonderful, and you are greater and more sustaining than this food or water." 185 00:46:56,960 --> 00:47:06,960 The psalmist says this in Psalm 69, "When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach." 186 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:11,960 He says, "I took and I humbled myself before the Lord." 187 00:47:11,960 --> 00:47:19,960 And so by pouring out the water, what they're saying is that God is more important to my life than water. 188 00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:25,960 Now, the second clue, I think, to what is happening here is in 2 Samuel, the 23rd chapter. 189 00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:33,960 And in 2 Samuel 23, beginning in verse 8, we find a list of David's mighty men. 190 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:39,960 And we would sort of compare them in modern day terms to like special forces soldiers. 191 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:45,960 As they're talking about these mighty men, it begins with one who begins to fight, and he fights the Philistines. 192 00:47:45,960 --> 00:47:56,960 And there's so many of them that everybody else runs away, and this guy will fight until his hand can't let go of the sword, and all the Philistines are dead. 193 00:47:56,960 --> 00:48:02,960 And then the army comes back and loots all the stuff that is left behind. 194 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:12,960 And then, what happens? David is in a cave, and I think he's probably feeling a little down in the dumps. 195 00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:17,960 He's feeling a little nostalgic, and he thinks back to his hometown of Bethlehem. 196 00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:23,960 And he just sort of says longingly, "Man, remember how good the water was at Bethlehem? 197 00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:28,960 Remember how good it tasted from that well? 198 00:48:28,960 --> 00:48:33,960 What I would give for a drink of the water from the well at Bethlehem?" 199 00:48:33,960 --> 00:48:38,960 And it's not just that this water tastes good and is likely nice and cold and fresh. 200 00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:47,960 It's that he remembers those times as a shepherd and singing to God and those times where he didn't have to worry about a Philistine army. 201 00:48:47,960 --> 00:48:55,960 The problem is that between him and Bethlehem aren't just the Philistine battle lines, 202 00:48:55,960 --> 00:49:00,960 but Bethlehem is literally the garrison of the Philistine army. 203 00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:06,960 And three of these dudes, his mighty men, sneak out of the cave. 204 00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:10,960 They break through the Philistine encampment. 205 00:49:10,960 --> 00:49:16,960 They get water out of this well, and they bring it back to David, 206 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:22,960 risking their lives in this amazing feat of loyalty. 207 00:49:22,960 --> 00:49:26,960 Listen to what it says, "And the mighty men, three mighty men, broke through the camp of the Philistines, 208 00:49:26,960 --> 00:49:32,960 and drew the water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and carried it and brought it to David." 209 00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:36,960 And you would think, David was like, "Man, guys, so thoughtful. It's what I wanted." 210 00:49:36,960 --> 00:49:38,960 He didn't want them to go get it. He was just reminiscing. 211 00:49:38,960 --> 00:49:42,960 But here's what David says. He would not drink of it. 212 00:49:42,960 --> 00:49:51,960 He poured it out to the Lord and said, "Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. 213 00:49:51,960 --> 00:49:56,960 Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives? 214 00:49:56,960 --> 00:50:01,960 Therefore, he would not drink it." And then he goes on to say, "These are the things the mighty men did." 215 00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:08,960 You see, what is David doing? He's saying that this water is so precious. 216 00:50:08,960 --> 00:50:14,960 Because of the lives of the men who risked their lives for it, and the love and the respect they have shown to me. 217 00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:18,960 This is too precious. I don't deserve it. It's too wonderful. 218 00:50:18,960 --> 00:50:26,960 And so, by pouring it on the ground, he's giving this precious gift that is precious to him, to God. 219 00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:30,960 And when the Israelites gather at Mizpah, they pull water out of the ground. 220 00:50:30,960 --> 00:50:35,960 And as an angel, they take that water and they just pour it back onto the ground. 221 00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:44,960 What they're saying is this is so precious to us. It's life-giving. It's wonderful. 222 00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:51,960 And in pouring out this water, the people of Israel, like David later on, will say, "God is more important. 223 00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:55,960 God is more precious. He deserves this water." 224 00:50:55,960 --> 00:50:59,960 What the people are saying is, "God is more than my desires and my wants." 225 00:50:59,960 --> 00:51:05,960 He is my greatest need. My greatest need in this moment of thirst is not water. 226 00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:10,960 It is God in the depths of my soul, filling my being. 227 00:51:10,960 --> 00:51:19,960 God is bigger than any desire or any ease or convenience, that He is everything. 228 00:51:19,960 --> 00:51:25,960 It's like the psalmist says in the 73rd Psalm, "Who have I in heaven but you? 229 00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:29,960 And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you. 230 00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:37,960 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 231 00:51:37,960 --> 00:51:41,960 So that's where Israel is at. God is above everything. 232 00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:44,960 So let's talk about us for a minute. 233 00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:50,960 As we see Israel's repentance and worship, we're called to consider our own lives. 234 00:51:50,960 --> 00:51:55,960 And it is easy for us to treat God simply as a means to an end, right? 235 00:51:55,960 --> 00:52:00,960 Like a car gets me where I need to go to do the things that I want to do. 236 00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:07,960 And for some of us, and for some Christians, we treat God simply as a means to an end. 237 00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:10,960 God, you're going to get me to this place and help me do what I need to do. 238 00:52:10,960 --> 00:52:15,960 But ultimately, it's not about God. It's about us. 239 00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:21,960 This is what happens in chapter 4 of 1 Samuel, with the ark. 240 00:52:21,960 --> 00:52:25,960 God is not their treasure. He is a means to an end. 241 00:52:25,960 --> 00:52:32,960 And here in 1 Samuel 7, they are repenting of that, that God, you are not a means to an end. 242 00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:38,960 You're not the vehicle that gets us to where we need to go, but you are the treasure of our soul. 243 00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:46,960 That same repentance needs to, not just needs to, must happen in our lives and in our churches. 244 00:52:46,960 --> 00:52:54,960 It's also easy to treat our relationship with God as one ingredient in a good life. 245 00:52:54,960 --> 00:53:02,960 Alright, there's a lot of ingredients that are good, and sometimes, if you're cooking, you may not have the thing that you want, but you can substitute something else. 246 00:53:02,960 --> 00:53:11,960 And it is so easy for us as Christians and as the church to see God as one good thing rather than the good thing. 247 00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:17,960 Yes, we have God and He's good, but I also have this, and I have this, and I have this as well. 248 00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:25,960 And what happens is we begin to treat God like Israel did through much of the time in these first seven chapters of Samuel. 249 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:31,960 It's great to have God, but I've got all of these other things as well. 250 00:53:31,960 --> 00:53:39,960 God might be nice to have and to help us, but I can do it without Him. 251 00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:45,960 Do you know how Israel ultimately sees their need for God? It's by His absence. 252 00:53:45,960 --> 00:53:53,960 They experience God's apparent absence. And I say apparent because God's still working, and He was still teaching and raising up Samuel, 253 00:53:53,960 --> 00:54:00,960 and He's still at work among His people, but God's people saw the glory depart. That's how chapter 4 ends. 254 00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:08,960 Right? God's glory has departed. 255 00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:13,960 Now we understand that idea a little bit because we don't understand things until they're gone either. 256 00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:18,960 Don't appreciate how good running water is until there's a water main break down the street. 257 00:54:18,960 --> 00:54:25,960 Don't appreciate how nice electricity and air conditioning and lights are until the transformer blows across the road. 258 00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:32,960 Israel doesn't really appreciate or see God until he is absent. 259 00:54:32,960 --> 00:54:36,960 And my prayer for you that this would not be your reality, right? 260 00:54:36,960 --> 00:54:44,960 Treating God as a means to an end or sort of an optional agreement, but rather that today you would evaluate your heart. 261 00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:51,960 One of the ways we can do that is ask ourselves, "What is it that if I lost would hurt the worst?" 262 00:54:51,960 --> 00:55:00,960 What is it that I treasure the most? And the way to see what we treasure most is ask, "If I lost it, what would hurt the worst?" 263 00:55:00,960 --> 00:55:09,960 Here's the thing. A lot of those things we treasure are not bad, but they are not meant to carry the weight of our soul for eternity. 264 00:55:09,960 --> 00:55:18,960 Jesus is greater. He will satisfy more deeply. And those good things he will allow me to hold on to more lightly, 265 00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:23,960 and see that they're good gifts of God, and to enjoy them, and to share them, and to steward them. 266 00:55:23,960 --> 00:55:29,960 But if he is not ultimate, if he is not first in my heart, 267 00:55:29,960 --> 00:55:34,960 those things will crumble under the weight of my desires and my expectations. 268 00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:41,960 The first thing we see in this text is that directing our heart to the Lord means placing him above everything. 269 00:55:41,960 --> 00:55:48,960 Secondly, directing our heart to the Lord means seeing and trusting in his provision. 270 00:55:48,960 --> 00:55:53,960 Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, 271 00:55:53,960 --> 00:55:58,960 the lords, that's the five rulers of the great cities of the Philistines, went up against Israel. 272 00:55:58,960 --> 00:56:02,960 And when the people of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines, 273 00:56:02,960 --> 00:56:08,960 and the people of Israel said to Samuel, "Do not cease to cry out to our God for us, 274 00:56:08,960 --> 00:56:11,960 that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines." 275 00:56:11,960 --> 00:56:16,960 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord, 276 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:19,960 and Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel. 277 00:56:19,960 --> 00:56:23,960 And the Lord answered him, "As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, 278 00:56:23,960 --> 00:56:26,960 the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. 279 00:56:26,960 --> 00:56:31,960 But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines 280 00:56:31,960 --> 00:56:35,960 and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel." 281 00:56:35,960 --> 00:56:39,960 One of the ways the Israelites have put God above everything. 282 00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:45,960 One of the ways that we see that first lesson that God is ultimate is that they have gathered together. 283 00:56:45,960 --> 00:56:53,960 It's likely that the Philistines, as the oppressing army and the continually oppressing army of Israel, 284 00:56:53,960 --> 00:56:57,960 would have forbidden Israel from gathering together in public. 285 00:56:57,960 --> 00:57:04,960 And by gathering together, what the Philistines would have seen is not people gathered to repent before the Lord, 286 00:57:04,960 --> 00:57:10,960 but people gathering to rebel and to attack the Philistines. 287 00:57:10,960 --> 00:57:15,960 And so by gathering together, they are saying God is greater than our fears of the Philistines, 288 00:57:15,960 --> 00:57:21,960 that God is stronger, and He's even more valuable than our lives. 289 00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:27,960 This gathering is a dangerous declaration that their dependence is upon God. 290 00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:33,960 And what we see first is a lamb that God provides a way to deal with their sin. 291 00:57:33,960 --> 00:57:41,960 You see, before the lamb, there is this request, "Don't stop crying out to God for us, that He may save us." 292 00:57:41,960 --> 00:57:47,960 And the question is, "How can unrighteous people approach a holy and righteous God?" 293 00:57:47,960 --> 00:57:53,960 Right? This is what Eli says to his sons as he rebukes them for their behavior. 294 00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:58,960 And he's rebuking them not because he's worried about consequences, but because people are talking. 295 00:57:58,960 --> 00:58:02,960 And he says, "Sons, who can stand before a holy God?" 296 00:58:02,960 --> 00:58:11,960 And the answer is, nobody, right? Nobody can stand before a righteous God. 297 00:58:11,960 --> 00:58:16,960 The only way to a relationship with God is there must be an atonement, a payment for sin. 298 00:58:16,960 --> 00:58:24,960 And our sin is so costly. The price is only satisfied with death. 299 00:58:24,960 --> 00:58:31,960 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering. 300 00:58:31,960 --> 00:58:34,960 And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered them. 301 00:58:34,960 --> 00:58:46,960 And if this seems strange that he took this lamb that was so young, still dependent upon his mother or her mother for nourishment, 302 00:58:46,960 --> 00:58:51,960 it seems strange and it seems unsettling. That's kind of the point of the text. 303 00:58:51,960 --> 00:59:00,960 The innocence of the lamb is the point. The lamb, in all its innocence, if you've ever seen a lamb or held a lamb, 304 00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:10,960 they're innocent and they're pure. This lamb is receiving the punishment that an unpure, non-innocent, guilty people deserve. 305 00:59:10,960 --> 00:59:18,960 This lamb is taking their place. And you have to be hard-hearted not to struggle with this, a little bit, a brand new lamb. 306 00:59:18,960 --> 00:59:29,960 And if we see our sin is costly and feel that weight, but it's in this uncomfortable Old Testament sacrifice, 307 00:59:29,960 --> 00:59:39,960 that God provides a way for relationship to be restored. And what's interesting is before God meets their physical need of protection from the Philistines, 308 00:59:39,960 --> 00:59:50,960 He provides a way for their spiritual needs to be met and addressed. Who can stand before God? 309 00:59:50,960 --> 00:59:58,960 The answer is just as true for us as it's true for Samuel. Nobody can stand before God. And unholy people cannot stand before a righteous God. 310 00:59:58,960 --> 01:00:15,960 It's why it's such good news when John the baptizer, proclaiming in the wilderness, looks off in the distance and sees his cousin Jesus approaching, and he says, "Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." 311 01:00:15,960 --> 01:00:27,960 Or in 1 Peter, Peter reminds us of the value and the weight of our salvation. Peter says this, "Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways 312 01:00:27,960 --> 01:00:46,960 inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things like silver and gold, but that with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." Their deepest need is dealt with first. God provides. 313 01:00:46,960 --> 01:00:56,960 We trust God's provision, and he provides a way to atone for their sin, and he provides for us a lamb, his son. 314 01:00:56,960 --> 01:01:03,960 And we, like they, are covered by the blood of the lamb. The second thing God provides is deliverance. Just listen to what happens. 315 01:01:03,960 --> 01:01:11,960 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack, but the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines, 316 01:01:11,960 --> 01:01:25,960 threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. They're not prepared for battle, but God is. And they trust that God provides. Not only does God 317 01:01:25,960 --> 01:01:34,960 provide a lamb, and salvation and deliverance, He also restores. Look at verses 13 and 14. It says this: 318 01:01:34,960 --> 01:01:43,960 "The Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 319 01:01:43,960 --> 01:01:48,960 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. 320 01:01:48,960 --> 01:01:54,960 And Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel 321 01:01:54,960 --> 01:02:03,960 and the Ammonites." So two things we've seen moving into a third is that directing our heart to the Lord means 322 01:02:03,960 --> 01:02:09,960 placing Him above everything. Directing our heart to the Lord means seeing and trusting His provision. 323 01:02:09,960 --> 01:02:16,960 And third, directing our heart to the Lord means continually and hopefully remembering Him. 324 01:02:16,960 --> 01:02:23,960 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, and he said, 325 01:02:23,960 --> 01:02:30,960 "Till now the Lord has helped us." And Samuel uses this stone as a monument to God. 326 01:02:30,960 --> 01:02:38,960 Ebenezer simply means a stone of help. Look at this stone, he's saying, and remember the help of God. 327 01:02:38,960 --> 01:02:46,960 In 1 Samuel chapter 4, there's another battle. It's almost a very similar picture to what's happening in chapter 7. 328 01:02:46,960 --> 01:02:52,960 The Israelites against the Philistines. The difference is the Israelites are challenging the Philistine oppression. 329 01:02:52,960 --> 01:02:57,960 They start it. The Israelites are defeated. They say, "What should we do?" 330 01:02:57,960 --> 01:03:06,960 And so they bring the ark, not because they put God above everything, or because they've seen and trusted in His provision. 331 01:03:06,960 --> 01:03:13,960 They bring the ark, and it struck me this week, they bring the ark almost as if a way to threaten or force God's hand. 332 01:03:13,960 --> 01:03:19,960 By saying, by bringing the ark into the camp of God, they're saying, "God, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your ark, would you?" 333 01:03:19,960 --> 01:03:25,960 Like the guy going in saying, "You want to buy fire insurance? You really wouldn't want your place to burn down." 334 01:03:25,960 --> 01:03:31,960 They bring the ark in saying, "God's going to be with us because He's not going to let anything happen to His ark." 335 01:03:31,960 --> 01:03:43,960 And on that day of the battle, Israel loses thousands, and they lose the ark, and they lose the priests Hophni and Phinehas, and they lose Eli. 336 01:03:43,960 --> 01:03:53,960 And that chapter ends with a woman saying, "The glory of God has left Israel." They left everything. 337 01:03:53,960 --> 01:04:07,960 Do you know where this battle took place? Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and they encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. 338 01:04:07,960 --> 01:04:13,960 Same Ebenezer? We're not sure. And that's not the point of what's being written here. 339 01:04:13,960 --> 01:04:26,960 The point is that Israel in chapter 4 and in chapter 7, same situation. Very different responses. 340 01:04:26,960 --> 01:04:31,960 Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called the name Ebenezer. 341 01:04:31,960 --> 01:04:38,960 He said, "For now, till now, the Lord has helped us." At the first Ebenezer, God is ignored and disrespected. 342 01:04:38,960 --> 01:04:50,960 There is loss and brokenness. And at this new Ebenezer, or maybe the same Ebenezer, but now with a monument, we see transformation. 343 01:04:50,960 --> 01:05:00,960 That God helps. There is a fresh start. And the purpose of this Ebenezer, this stone of help, was that God's people would see and remember. 344 01:05:00,960 --> 01:05:10,960 In fact, if you've sung old hymns, you know this. "Here I raise my Ebenezer." A hopeful remembrance. 345 01:05:10,960 --> 01:05:17,960 Not just what God has done in the past, but looking at this stone and saying, "This is what God can do in the future." 346 01:05:17,960 --> 01:05:22,960 It's not just about looking back. It's looking forward. It's a hopeful remembrance. 347 01:05:22,960 --> 01:05:29,960 These words sound familiar to you, right? "Through many dangers, toils and snares." 348 01:05:29,960 --> 01:05:42,960 "I have already come." "Twas grace that brought me safe thus far." Remember how it ends? "And grace will bring me home." 349 01:05:42,960 --> 01:05:49,960 Several years ago, I think everybody knows, I had a kidney transplant. At the beginning, it was chaos, and there was rushing. 350 01:05:49,960 --> 01:05:58,960 A lot of pre-op, and a lot of waiting, and then they bring me down to the room right before I go into the transplant, stuff me in a corner, 351 01:05:58,960 --> 01:06:03,960 and it was dark and I didn't have a phone to distract me from all the thoughts that are going through my head. 352 01:06:03,960 --> 01:06:11,960 Nobody's there just waiting. Don't know what's happening. And I don't know that I've shared this before, but it was dark and it was quiet. 353 01:06:11,960 --> 01:06:17,960 There's no phone, no TV, not even any nurses or techs to distract every 10 minutes. They come, "You doing okay?" 354 01:06:17,960 --> 01:06:27,960 "We're working on everything. We'll get you there eventually." And the only thought that I could think during that, as I'm nervous and uncertain, 355 01:06:27,960 --> 01:06:33,960 is that grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace would bring me home. 356 01:06:33,960 --> 01:06:41,960 I'm not a tattoo guy. I don't care if you are. If I had to get one thing, it would be that, that grace will bring me home. 357 01:06:41,960 --> 01:06:54,960 And for me, whether that was back to Winchester or to be with Jesus, right, grace has brought me to this point and it'll take me home. 358 01:06:54,960 --> 01:07:05,960 Right, that's the picture of the Ebenezer, the stone, to look back and say, "Look, God's grace has brought me through all the toils and trials and snares, and I've already come from them. 359 01:07:05,960 --> 01:07:13,960 And grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will bring me home." 360 01:07:13,960 --> 01:07:18,960 There's an Ebenezer, a stone of hell, and his name is Jesus. 361 01:07:18,960 --> 01:07:25,960 So the first thing we see is directing our hearts to the Lord means putting Him above everything. 362 01:07:25,960 --> 01:07:29,960 Directing our hearts to the Lord means seeing and trusting His provision. 363 01:07:29,960 --> 01:07:34,960 Directing our hearts to the Lord means continually and hopefully remembering Him. 364 01:07:34,960 --> 01:07:44,960 And then we see that directing our hearts to the Lord means living faithfully all the days of our lives. 365 01:07:44,960 --> 01:07:50,960 These last verses of this chapter read like this: 366 01:07:50,960 --> 01:07:53,960 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 367 01:07:53,960 --> 01:07:58,960 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, to Gilgal, to Mizpah. 368 01:07:58,960 --> 01:08:02,960 And he judged Israel in all these places. 369 01:08:02,960 --> 01:08:05,960 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there. 370 01:08:05,960 --> 01:08:08,960 And there he also judged Israel. 371 01:08:08,960 --> 01:08:11,960 And he built an altar to the Lord. 372 01:08:11,960 --> 01:08:14,960 Samuel's legacy is this. 373 01:08:14,960 --> 01:08:18,960 Moses and Aaron, this is from the 99th Psalm. 374 01:08:18,960 --> 01:08:21,960 Moses and Aaron were among his priests. 375 01:08:21,960 --> 01:08:25,960 Samuel was among those who called upon his name. 376 01:08:25,960 --> 01:08:30,960 They called to the Lord, and he answered them. 377 01:08:30,960 --> 01:08:33,960 There are moments in our life that are big and exciting. 378 01:08:33,960 --> 01:08:40,960 There are the moments of Israel at Mizpah, where they put God above everything, pouring water onto the ground. 379 01:08:40,960 --> 01:08:46,960 You're greater to us than our very survival, where they see and turn their hearts to God's provision, 380 01:08:46,960 --> 01:08:53,960 and they turn their hearts to the hope that they have seen in God in the past, and the promises of the future, 381 01:08:53,960 --> 01:08:59,960 and they raise the Ebenezer, the stone of help, but then they go home. 382 01:08:59,960 --> 01:09:06,960 And it's quiet, and faithfulness, and putting God and directing our hearts toward him 383 01:09:06,960 --> 01:09:14,960 doesn't just happen in those big, exciting moments. It happens when we go home. 384 01:09:14,960 --> 01:09:22,960 And look at what Samuel does. He faithfully proclaims and prays for the people, 385 01:09:22,960 --> 01:09:31,960 and teaches the people throughout the land from city to city, and then back home faithfully serving God. 386 01:09:31,960 --> 01:09:36,960 And it's publicly out here as he journeys, but also if you look at his home, 387 01:09:36,960 --> 01:09:41,960 he builds an altar to worship God at home. How do you find Samuel's home? 388 01:09:41,960 --> 01:09:46,960 He's the guy who built an altar in the front yard or the back yard. 389 01:09:46,960 --> 01:09:52,960 He's known because he has an altar. Right? Mizpah, this moment is big and amazing, 390 01:09:52,960 --> 01:09:57,960 and it's powerful and it's life-changing, but faithfulness doesn't just happen there. 391 01:09:57,960 --> 01:10:04,960 It happens in the everyday moments and those journeys back and forth and those quiet moments at home. 392 01:10:04,960 --> 01:10:12,960 And Samuel isn't perfect, and as he gets older, he tries to get his sons to take over and they're unrighteous. 393 01:10:12,960 --> 01:10:20,960 And even that moment reminds us that faithfulness is not just in this moment. 394 01:10:20,960 --> 01:10:24,960 It's in every moment that goes before us. 395 01:10:24,960 --> 01:10:29,960 You see, when we direct our hearts to the Lord, one of the things we're going to do is we're going to see he's our treasure. 396 01:10:29,960 --> 01:10:40,960 He's greater than anything, that he is the one who provides, and we trust in his provision, that we continually and hopefully look to him. 397 01:10:40,960 --> 01:10:46,960 And it means living faithfully all the days of his life, all the days of our lives. 398 01:10:46,960 --> 01:10:53,960 Not by our strength and not by our power, but by the goodness and the grace of God. 399 01:10:53,960 --> 01:11:04,960 Let's pray. Father, thank you for this chapter. Direct our hearts to you. 400 01:11:04,960 --> 01:11:12,960 We would pour out those things that we hold above you, and we would hold you in the place above all things. 401 01:11:12,960 --> 01:11:18,960 That we would trust your provision, even when it seems that the enemy is too big and too strong. 402 01:11:18,960 --> 01:11:23,940 That we would not turn to our own plans, but to you. And that when, 403 01:11:23,960 --> 01:11:33,960 you protect, and when you save, and when you help, that we would erect those stones in our lives to your goodness and to your strength. 404 01:11:33,960 --> 01:11:40,960 And that by your grace and for your glory, may we live faithfully for you all the days of our life. 405 01:11:40,960 --> 01:11:44,960 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 406 01:11:44,960 --> 01:11:51,960 We're going to stand, and we are going to sing "This is Amazing Grace." 407 01:11:53,960 --> 01:12:16,960 Who breaks the power of sin and darkness, whose love is mighty and so much stronger, the King of glory, the King above all kings. 408 01:12:16,960 --> 01:12:34,960 Who shakes the whole earth with holy thunder, who leaves us breathless in awe and wonder, the King of glory, the King above all kings. 409 01:12:34,960 --> 01:13:02,960 This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. That you would bend my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. 410 01:13:02,960 --> 01:13:30,960 Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Who brings our chaos back into order? Who makes the orphan a son and daughter? The King of glory. The King above all kings. 411 01:13:30,960 --> 01:13:58,960 Who rules the nations with truth and justice? Shines like the sun in all of its brilliance. The King of glory. The King above all kings. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. 412 01:13:58,960 --> 01:14:26,960 That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. Worthy is the Lamb we're slain. 413 01:14:26,960 --> 01:14:54,960 Worthy is the King who conquered the grave. Worthy is the Lamb we're slain. Worthy is the King who conquered the grave. This is amazing grace. This is unfailing love. That you would take my place. 414 01:14:54,960 --> 01:15:22,960 That you would bear my cross. You would lay down your life. That I would be set free. Jesus, I sing for all that you've done for me. 415 01:15:22,960 --> 01:15:24,960 Amen. 416 01:15:52,960 --> 01:15:54,960 Amen. 417 01:16:22,960 --> 01:16:24,960 Amen. 418 01:18:52,960 --> 01:19:00,960 Jesus said, "Follow me." Let's pray, Lord. Let's pray, Lord. Let's pray, Lord. Let's pray, Lord. 419 01:19:00,960 --> 01:19:06,960 Amen. 420 01:19:06,960 --> 01:19:22,940 Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye 421 01:19:22,940 --> 01:19:32,940 Holy Ghost. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 422 01:19:52,940 --> 01:20:22,920 Jesus said, "Follow me." Let's pray. 423 01:20:22,940 --> 01:20:37,560 Let's pray.