1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,520 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,480 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:10,480 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,680 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,080 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:17,560 Now, come along. 8 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,440 Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today. 9 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:27,120 All right, well, we're going to continue on in our study in 1st 10 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:29,200 Samuel, so if you have your Bibles, turn with me. 11 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:31,910 First Samuel, chapter number seven. 12 00:00:32,230 --> 00:00:33,510 First Samuel seven. 13 00:00:33,750 --> 00:00:36,750 If you weren't here last week, I'll try to catch you up with where 14 00:00:36,750 --> 00:00:37,270 we are. 15 00:00:37,750 --> 00:00:40,910 Basically, what happened was the Philistines had taken the Ark 16 00:00:40,910 --> 00:00:46,430 of the Covenant from the Israelites in battle, and the Philistines 17 00:00:46,430 --> 00:00:49,590 had put the Ark of the Covenant in the house of Dagon, their 18 00:00:49,590 --> 00:00:50,230 false God. 19 00:00:50,310 --> 00:00:55,590 And God showed himself strong and sovereign over Dagon and defeated 20 00:00:55,590 --> 00:01:00,160 him by knocking the idol over and ultimately striking, striking 21 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:04,920 the Philistines with tumors and sickness and all that kind of 22 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:05,120 stuff. 23 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:07,720 And so they were getting rid of the ark, and if you remember, 24 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,840 they put the Ark on a cart and they sent it to Beshemesh. 25 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:16,360 And they put two milking cows in front of the cart and said, well, 26 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:17,960 let's see if God really is in control. 27 00:01:18,360 --> 00:01:23,320 And the God of Israel led the cart all the way to a new place where 28 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:26,510 we left off at their Kira Jarem. 29 00:01:26,510 --> 00:01:27,870 And that's where we're picking up the story. 30 00:01:27,950 --> 00:01:31,070 So the Ark is there, but if you remember, while the ark was. 31 00:01:32,110 --> 00:01:33,670 Well, actually it was in Beshemesh. 32 00:01:33,670 --> 00:01:36,710 And then the guys looked into the ark, if you remember that, they 33 00:01:36,710 --> 00:01:38,190 looked into the ark, they didn't obey God. 34 00:01:38,190 --> 00:01:39,790 God struck them down. 35 00:01:39,790 --> 00:01:43,590 And the people in Kira at Jarem, didn't they? 36 00:01:43,590 --> 00:01:45,910 They came and they picked up the ark because the people there 37 00:01:45,910 --> 00:01:47,550 in Bet Shemesh didn't want it anymore. 38 00:01:47,550 --> 00:01:50,110 They didn't want to come to a place of repentance. 39 00:01:50,110 --> 00:01:52,830 They wanted to just get rid of the Ark and the presence of God. 40 00:01:53,220 --> 00:01:56,020 So where we pick it up in chapter seven, First Samuel seven, 41 00:01:56,500 --> 00:01:58,660 there's going to be the men from Kirat Jarem. 42 00:01:58,660 --> 00:02:01,300 They come and they fetch the ark and they bring it back to their 43 00:02:01,300 --> 00:02:01,620 town. 44 00:02:01,780 --> 00:02:04,060 And that's where the story is going to pick up here. 45 00:02:04,060 --> 00:02:07,260 So verse one, it says, in the men of Kirat Jarem came and fetched 46 00:02:07,260 --> 00:02:10,180 up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab 47 00:02:10,180 --> 00:02:13,940 in the hill and sanctified Eliezer his son, to keep the ark 48 00:02:13,940 --> 00:02:14,380 of The Lord. 49 00:02:14,380 --> 00:02:17,820 And it came to pass while the ark of Bone and Kirath Jarem, that 50 00:02:17,820 --> 00:02:19,780 the time was long, for it was 20 years. 51 00:02:19,780 --> 00:02:22,980 And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. 52 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:24,640 So, so what happens here? 53 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:29,400 Well, essentially we see that these men take the ark to the house 54 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:30,320 of Abinadab. 55 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,440 They don't take it to the tabernacle, which is where they should 56 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:34,120 have taken it. 57 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:34,360 They. 58 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,480 They put it here in the house of Abinadab. 59 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,840 And then so instead of resting in the house of God, it was resting 60 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:42,200 in the house of Abinadab. 61 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,360 And then they consecrate Eliezer as essentially this. 62 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:50,360 This new priest to watch over the ark of the Lord. 63 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,620 And we don't know much about Eleazar's past. 64 00:02:53,940 --> 00:02:56,260 We don't know if he has a proper priestly lineage. 65 00:02:56,820 --> 00:03:01,460 We know that they didn't Follow the Exodus 29 model of setting 66 00:03:01,460 --> 00:03:02,260 up a priest. 67 00:03:02,260 --> 00:03:05,620 And so even in the midst of all this, there is disobedience with 68 00:03:05,620 --> 00:03:06,460 the Israelites. 69 00:03:06,460 --> 00:03:09,420 And we see that the result of that disobedience is at the end of 70 00:03:09,420 --> 00:03:12,380 verse two, it says, all the house of Israel lamented after the 71 00:03:12,380 --> 00:03:12,700 Lord. 72 00:03:12,700 --> 00:03:14,820 So Israel had the ark back. 73 00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:17,980 And we would think that that's the big victory. 74 00:03:17,980 --> 00:03:21,060 But even so, they have what they consider to be the presence 75 00:03:21,060 --> 00:03:21,940 of God in their midst. 76 00:03:21,940 --> 00:03:25,440 But still ISRA finds themselves not enjoy, not in victory, 77 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,000 but still in sadness, still in ruin. 78 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:28,960 And they. 79 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:32,440 They had a good reason to be in this place because essentially 80 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,840 at this point in time, their cities were still in ruins, their 81 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,800 armies were defeated, and it looked like the Philistines were 82 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:41,440 still more powerful than them, and obviously in their minds, more 83 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:42,280 powerful than God. 84 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,320 Because remember, if you go back a few chapters, the. 85 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,690 The people's heart was basically saying that, hey, all the 86 00:03:48,690 --> 00:03:50,050 glory has left Israel. 87 00:03:50,050 --> 00:03:52,570 So they find themselves just in a really bad place. 88 00:03:52,570 --> 00:03:56,130 What we would consider today to be what many people call a spiritual 89 00:03:56,130 --> 00:03:56,570 rut. 90 00:03:56,890 --> 00:03:58,610 It looks like there's not victory. 91 00:03:58,610 --> 00:04:00,170 It looks like God's not winning. 92 00:04:00,490 --> 00:04:05,690 And many times what happens is that we as the people of God live 93 00:04:05,690 --> 00:04:06,490 in rebellion. 94 00:04:06,490 --> 00:04:07,810 We live in our own way. 95 00:04:07,810 --> 00:04:11,090 We live worshiping God the way that we want to worship him and not 96 00:04:11,090 --> 00:04:12,650 the way that he tells us to worship Him. 97 00:04:12,730 --> 00:04:16,450 And we don't find joy, we don't find peace, we don't find satisfaction. 98 00:04:16,450 --> 00:04:18,380 And then we blame God for that. 99 00:04:18,380 --> 00:04:21,380 And so what we're seeing here is that Israel is basically setting 100 00:04:21,380 --> 00:04:25,140 themselves up to find spiritual despair, spiritual hopelessness. 101 00:04:25,140 --> 00:04:27,180 Now, why do they find themselves in that place? 102 00:04:27,180 --> 00:04:27,460 Again? 103 00:04:27,460 --> 00:04:30,300 We See that they're not obeying God and they are kind of 104 00:04:30,300 --> 00:04:33,580 wallowing in this lament, they're wallowing in this hopelessness, 105 00:04:33,580 --> 00:04:35,500 they're wallowing in despair. 106 00:04:35,580 --> 00:04:39,940 And so we see verse three, Samuel comes and he preaches the 107 00:04:39,940 --> 00:04:41,380 truth, he preaches repentance. 108 00:04:41,380 --> 00:04:45,200 And we really see in verse number three the remedy to this spiritual 109 00:04:45,200 --> 00:04:45,840 hopelessness. 110 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:51,560 We see the remedy to how we as people can find satisfaction in the 111 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:51,920 Lord. 112 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:55,200 We can find joy in the Lord, and ultimately we can find purpose 113 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,520 and we can find future and we can find forgiveness. 114 00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,120 And so how was that done? 115 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:00,960 It's done through the preaching of the word of God. 116 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:01,400 Verse 3. 117 00:05:01,400 --> 00:05:05,680 And Samuel Spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, if you do 118 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:09,560 not return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the 119 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:12,930 strange gods and Asheroth from among you and prepare your hearts 120 00:05:12,930 --> 00:05:16,410 unto the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out 121 00:05:16,410 --> 00:05:17,490 of the hand of the Philistines. 122 00:05:17,490 --> 00:05:21,330 So right here Samuel gives the people of Israel the direction on 123 00:05:21,330 --> 00:05:26,130 how to find salvation, how to find revival, how to find new hope. 124 00:05:26,130 --> 00:05:28,170 And he breaks it down there very clearly. 125 00:05:28,170 --> 00:05:30,610 And I think it's important for us to see here in verse number three 126 00:05:30,930 --> 00:05:34,530 the path in which they could find this type of revival, this type 127 00:05:34,530 --> 00:05:35,170 of renewal. 128 00:05:35,170 --> 00:05:38,650 So God raised up Samuel to do something very important and that 129 00:05:38,650 --> 00:05:39,570 is to be a prophet. 130 00:05:39,890 --> 00:05:42,170 And we also see in this passage that he's called to be a 131 00:05:42,170 --> 00:05:42,610 judge. 132 00:05:42,930 --> 00:05:45,850 Now if you remember what the biblical judges would do, they would 133 00:05:45,850 --> 00:05:48,770 come and they would basically call out the sin of the people. 134 00:05:49,090 --> 00:05:51,770 They would essentially tell the people that, hey, this is where 135 00:05:51,770 --> 00:05:53,970 you're wrong and this is where you need to go. 136 00:05:54,210 --> 00:05:57,130 And it wasn't in their own wisdom, it wasn't in their own strength. 137 00:05:57,130 --> 00:05:58,850 They were speaking as prophets of God. 138 00:05:58,850 --> 00:05:59,970 Remember what a prophet is? 139 00:06:00,130 --> 00:06:02,810 A prophet is someone who speaks forth the truth of God. 140 00:06:02,810 --> 00:06:05,570 So what Samuel essentially does is he comes to the people of 141 00:06:05,570 --> 00:06:08,830 Israel and he speaks forth the truth of God to them. 142 00:06:08,830 --> 00:06:10,350 And he says a few things here. 143 00:06:10,590 --> 00:06:15,350 He says, number one, here, if you do return unto the Lord with 144 00:06:15,350 --> 00:06:18,790 all your hearts, and so he calls them to return back to God, 145 00:06:18,790 --> 00:06:22,550 but not just on an outward level, not just in a half hearted 146 00:06:22,550 --> 00:06:22,710 way. 147 00:06:22,710 --> 00:06:26,390 He says to come back to God with everything, to rededicate their 148 00:06:26,390 --> 00:06:29,550 lives, their, their hearts to the Lord. 149 00:06:29,550 --> 00:06:33,630 And so he says for them to come to a place of repentance. 150 00:06:33,630 --> 00:06:36,960 And we need to talk about that term, repentance, because you're 151 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:39,080 going to hear a lot of that talked about here this evening. 152 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:41,120 And I think we do need to know where repentance means. 153 00:06:41,280 --> 00:06:45,200 Repentance essentially means to turn away from something to. 154 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:45,520 To. 155 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,040 It's like a military term to. 156 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:48,000 To about face. 157 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,360 And really, with repentance, it's turning away from something 158 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:55,440 and turning to something, turning away from one direction and 159 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:56,640 turning in another direction. 160 00:06:56,640 --> 00:06:58,960 And so what Samuel is essentially telling these people 161 00:06:58,960 --> 00:06:59,440 is this. 162 00:06:59,610 --> 00:07:02,890 You need to turn away from some things, and he lists those things 163 00:07:02,890 --> 00:07:03,210 here. 164 00:07:03,370 --> 00:07:05,810 And you need to turn to God. 165 00:07:05,810 --> 00:07:08,530 And he says to do it with all of your hearts. 166 00:07:08,530 --> 00:07:11,370 And so he says this needs to start with an inward change. 167 00:07:11,930 --> 00:07:14,290 You know, a lot of times we would think about the outward changes 168 00:07:14,290 --> 00:07:15,290 that need to happen, right? 169 00:07:15,370 --> 00:07:16,930 You need to get rid of the idols. 170 00:07:16,930 --> 00:07:18,490 You need to get rid of the sin. 171 00:07:18,490 --> 00:07:23,250 You need to get rid of the compromising values that you have 172 00:07:23,250 --> 00:07:26,050 with these other people that you have allowed to come into your 173 00:07:26,050 --> 00:07:26,290 camp. 174 00:07:26,290 --> 00:07:28,170 But no, he starts with the inward change. 175 00:07:28,170 --> 00:07:30,010 And that's where, really, where it always starts. 176 00:07:30,450 --> 00:07:31,490 It's always a heart change. 177 00:07:31,730 --> 00:07:34,690 God definitely wants to see our actions change, right? 178 00:07:34,690 --> 00:07:38,690 When God calls us to a place of obedience to him, he wants our 179 00:07:38,690 --> 00:07:40,610 actions to be aligned with his word. 180 00:07:40,690 --> 00:07:42,770 He wants us to be where we need to be. 181 00:07:42,770 --> 00:07:45,250 He wants us to be saying the things that we need to say. 182 00:07:45,410 --> 00:07:48,650 He wants us to be following him in every way that he has called 183 00:07:48,650 --> 00:07:49,410 us to follow Him. 184 00:07:49,410 --> 00:07:53,410 But a lot of times what happens is we try to do the outward 185 00:07:53,410 --> 00:07:56,610 things that show that without having a true inward change. 186 00:07:56,610 --> 00:07:59,220 And so Samuel addresses the heart here. 187 00:07:59,700 --> 00:08:03,620 And so the inward was more important than the outward. 188 00:08:03,860 --> 00:08:07,020 The inward change had to come before the outward changes could 189 00:08:07,020 --> 00:08:07,220 come. 190 00:08:07,220 --> 00:08:10,220 And so instead of just saying, hey, tear down the idols, which he 191 00:08:10,220 --> 00:08:12,340 does say that they need to do, and. 192 00:08:12,340 --> 00:08:14,060 And to get rid of that, he. 193 00:08:14,060 --> 00:08:18,580 He says to start with, come back to love God with all your hearts. 194 00:08:18,740 --> 00:08:20,500 You go back to the book of Deuteronomy. 195 00:08:20,500 --> 00:08:24,340 Deuteronomy tells us that it's the thing that they call the Shema, 196 00:08:24,770 --> 00:08:27,490 which is, love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind, 197 00:08:27,490 --> 00:08:28,130 and strength. 198 00:08:28,290 --> 00:08:30,970 And to love your neighbor as yourself, to love God with everything. 199 00:08:30,970 --> 00:08:32,610 It's restated in the New Testament. 200 00:08:32,610 --> 00:08:35,410 Remember, Jesus is asked, what's the greatest commandment? 201 00:08:35,410 --> 00:08:38,010 And Jesus could have listed all the different commandments that 202 00:08:38,010 --> 00:08:38,530 they had there. 203 00:08:38,530 --> 00:08:39,210 But what does he say? 204 00:08:39,210 --> 00:08:42,290 He says, to love God with everything, to love my neighbor as 205 00:08:42,290 --> 00:08:42,690 myself. 206 00:08:42,690 --> 00:08:45,090 And so it starts with a love for God. 207 00:08:45,090 --> 00:08:47,970 And so I think that's really where it is in America today that, 208 00:08:47,970 --> 00:08:48,450 you know, we. 209 00:08:48,450 --> 00:08:51,410 We look in our context and we say, you know, Sometimes, maybe we 210 00:08:51,410 --> 00:08:53,010 pray for revival or. 211 00:08:53,010 --> 00:08:55,370 Or we pray for repentance, we pray for change. 212 00:08:55,370 --> 00:08:59,130 We pray for churches to stand up for the cause of the truth of 213 00:08:59,130 --> 00:08:59,770 the gospel. 214 00:08:59,930 --> 00:09:02,970 But oftentimes we aren't thinking about what that really means. 215 00:09:02,970 --> 00:09:03,290 We. 216 00:09:03,290 --> 00:09:04,810 We don't really know where that starts. 217 00:09:04,810 --> 00:09:09,210 It starts with individuals having inward change that eventually 218 00:09:09,210 --> 00:09:13,690 will manifest itself to corporate change and external changes. 219 00:09:14,410 --> 00:09:17,730 So what happens sometimes, and what I've seen in my own life, and 220 00:09:17,730 --> 00:09:20,690 maybe you've seen this as well, is we pray for revival, and 221 00:09:20,690 --> 00:09:22,570 we look for it to happen with other people. 222 00:09:22,890 --> 00:09:24,450 Like, okay, Lord, bring revival. 223 00:09:24,450 --> 00:09:25,930 Now, where is everyone else going to change? 224 00:09:26,090 --> 00:09:29,090 How was that church over across town going to change instead? 225 00:09:29,090 --> 00:09:32,290 Biblically speaking, what Samuel does is he goes to the individuals 226 00:09:32,290 --> 00:09:34,810 and he says, look, Israel, where are you going to change? 227 00:09:35,210 --> 00:09:38,450 If you want to see revival happen in our nation, if you want 228 00:09:38,450 --> 00:09:40,690 to see change happen, it starts with you. 229 00:09:40,690 --> 00:09:44,770 And so he has this direction of the inward change that eventually 230 00:09:44,770 --> 00:09:46,730 will manifest itself to an outward change. 231 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:50,280 And so the inward was more important than the outward in the 232 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:50,560 start. 233 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:54,600 And that's why Samuel first calls Israel to return with all of 234 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,840 their hearts, and then he tells them to put away the foreign 235 00:09:57,840 --> 00:09:58,320 gods. 236 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:02,360 So I want to kind of throw some words out at you here this evening, 237 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:06,080 and I want you to think about them in a way that we can tangibly 238 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:08,360 apply to our lives. 239 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:10,360 And so the first word I want you to think about is revival. 240 00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:11,320 What does revival mean? 241 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:17,350 It means to have new life, to have new energy, to have new direction, 242 00:10:18,070 --> 00:10:18,430 to. 243 00:10:18,430 --> 00:10:22,310 To be able to serve God with joy, with passion, with zeal. 244 00:10:22,710 --> 00:10:26,550 And so to have revival, which we all would admit that there's a 245 00:10:26,550 --> 00:10:30,870 great need of revival in our church, in our world, we. 246 00:10:31,030 --> 00:10:32,030 We have to. 247 00:10:32,030 --> 00:10:37,510 To have revival, there must be repentance, because in revival comes 248 00:10:37,510 --> 00:10:39,030 a change of heart, right? 249 00:10:39,420 --> 00:10:39,580 And. 250 00:10:39,580 --> 00:10:42,260 And to have that change of heart, we have to recognize that 251 00:10:42,260 --> 00:10:43,740 we're going in the wrong direction. 252 00:10:43,740 --> 00:10:46,700 And then we have to recognize which direction we need to go. 253 00:10:47,500 --> 00:10:50,260 So for revival, we must have repentance. 254 00:10:50,260 --> 00:10:53,860 And to have repentance, we must have a recognition of what sin 255 00:10:53,860 --> 00:10:54,140 is. 256 00:10:54,540 --> 00:10:55,419 What, what, what. 257 00:10:55,419 --> 00:10:56,340 What does it mean for me? 258 00:10:56,340 --> 00:10:59,580 And how am I falling into that when it comes to my own life? 259 00:10:59,580 --> 00:11:04,780 And so he says there, return unto the Lord, revive your hearts. 260 00:11:05,250 --> 00:11:06,490 That starts with repentance. 261 00:11:06,490 --> 00:11:09,090 That starts with recognition, which brings renewal. 262 00:11:09,410 --> 00:11:11,450 And so he says, turn to God with all your hearts. 263 00:11:11,450 --> 00:11:12,690 And so this is a dedication. 264 00:11:12,850 --> 00:11:16,130 He's not asking for someone to be a lukewarm follower of God. 265 00:11:16,210 --> 00:11:19,730 He's asking for someone to come and give everything to the Lord. 266 00:11:20,290 --> 00:11:24,330 You know, a lot of times we, we think about it from a Western 267 00:11:24,330 --> 00:11:27,210 perspective, you know, and if I'm committed to my job, I go to 268 00:11:27,210 --> 00:11:30,370 my job Monday through Friday, 9 to 5. 269 00:11:30,450 --> 00:11:31,450 That's commitment. 270 00:11:31,450 --> 00:11:34,630 If you do that for 50 years, people will say, man, that was the 271 00:11:34,630 --> 00:11:37,310 most committed worker I ever had in my, my workplace. 272 00:11:37,310 --> 00:11:38,830 They were, they never took a day off. 273 00:11:39,630 --> 00:11:42,870 But the reality is, is God's not just asking for nine to five. 274 00:11:42,870 --> 00:11:44,630 He's not just asking for Monday through Friday. 275 00:11:44,630 --> 00:11:45,510 God wants everything. 276 00:11:45,510 --> 00:11:46,590 He wants our hearts. 277 00:11:46,750 --> 00:11:47,830 Romans, chapter 12. 278 00:11:47,830 --> 00:11:50,110 If, if you know that passage, we're going to get there in our study 279 00:11:50,110 --> 00:11:50,950 on Sunday mornings. 280 00:11:50,950 --> 00:11:53,670 But he says that he wants us to give our. 281 00:11:53,670 --> 00:11:54,990 Our whole bodies, everything. 282 00:11:54,990 --> 00:11:58,710 A living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is our 283 00:11:58,710 --> 00:11:59,630 reasonable service. 284 00:12:00,270 --> 00:12:02,430 And so we really think about what God has done for us, and it's 285 00:12:02,430 --> 00:12:04,350 only reasonable that we would give him everything. 286 00:12:04,990 --> 00:12:06,790 And that's what Samuel is preaching here. 287 00:12:06,790 --> 00:12:10,430 He's preaching for this inward repentance that leads to revival, 288 00:12:10,430 --> 00:12:13,390 which leads to dedication to God. 289 00:12:14,430 --> 00:12:17,470 And this change isn't seen like, I can't see your heart. 290 00:12:17,550 --> 00:12:19,310 None of us can see each other's hearts. 291 00:12:19,790 --> 00:12:23,270 And so a lot of times we're, we're looking to gauge revival off 292 00:12:23,270 --> 00:12:25,710 of the outward action, which that's natural. 293 00:12:25,710 --> 00:12:29,100 But the inward change is something that only God understands 294 00:12:29,100 --> 00:12:30,540 and that God knows and that we know. 295 00:12:30,540 --> 00:12:33,700 And so the inward change is proved by the outward. 296 00:12:33,700 --> 00:12:37,100 So he says, start there, but then don't just say to everyone, 297 00:12:37,180 --> 00:12:39,100 hey, my heart is committed to God. 298 00:12:39,820 --> 00:12:40,780 If, if in. 299 00:12:40,780 --> 00:12:44,380 What he says here is, if your heart is committed to God, this is 300 00:12:44,380 --> 00:12:45,420 what it's going to look like. 301 00:12:46,140 --> 00:12:47,580 We see that in the book of James. 302 00:12:48,140 --> 00:12:50,340 What does it, what does it mean for someone just to say, well, 303 00:12:50,340 --> 00:12:52,620 I've got faith, but nothing changes. 304 00:12:53,370 --> 00:12:54,690 The reality is, is that it's. 305 00:12:54,690 --> 00:12:58,530 It's not that our works save us, but what the Bible says is that 306 00:12:58,530 --> 00:13:01,930 when we are in true faith, it will manifest fruit. 307 00:13:01,930 --> 00:13:05,810 It will manifest works not perfectly in every setting, but what 308 00:13:05,810 --> 00:13:08,170 we will see is that there will be that change of heart. 309 00:13:08,170 --> 00:13:11,730 And so Samuel says, okay, follow God with all of your hearts, 310 00:13:11,730 --> 00:13:14,410 then put away the strange gods. 311 00:13:15,450 --> 00:13:18,370 And so he says, get rid of these foreign gods. 312 00:13:18,370 --> 00:13:20,760 Get rid of these pagan rituals. 313 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:24,760 Get rid of this sin that has engulfed your camp. 314 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:28,080 And so he says, return with all of your hearts. 315 00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:32,840 And this is what it will look like this, this change, rejecting 316 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:37,560 the other ways, rejecting the other religions, rejecting these 317 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:38,640 sinful actions. 318 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:40,960 And so he says, get Rid of that. 319 00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:44,560 And he lists this two. 320 00:13:44,560 --> 00:13:45,240 Two gods. 321 00:13:45,320 --> 00:13:46,600 Eventually he's going to list two. 322 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:47,880 He lists only one here. 323 00:13:48,500 --> 00:13:49,660 Ashtaroth is one. 324 00:13:49,660 --> 00:13:51,580 He says, get rid of the strange gods. 325 00:13:51,580 --> 00:13:53,540 And specifically Ashtaroth, which. 326 00:13:53,940 --> 00:14:00,020 Ashtaroth was a goddess of fertility, a goddess of pleasure, 327 00:14:00,420 --> 00:14:01,540 of sensuality. 328 00:14:02,100 --> 00:14:04,980 And so, you know, there's a picture here that he says, get rid 329 00:14:04,980 --> 00:14:10,980 of the worship of this, this, this goddess of sexuality is essentially 330 00:14:10,980 --> 00:14:11,580 what he's saying. 331 00:14:11,580 --> 00:14:13,670 So obviously this type of. 332 00:14:13,820 --> 00:14:17,660 Of worship had permeated the Israelite camp. 333 00:14:18,060 --> 00:14:21,100 Essentially what we see is they've allowed sensuality, they've 334 00:14:21,100 --> 00:14:23,580 allowed fleshly living to come into the camp. 335 00:14:23,580 --> 00:14:25,020 So he says, get rid of that. 336 00:14:25,020 --> 00:14:26,380 That's not what you should be doing. 337 00:14:26,380 --> 00:14:29,820 You should not be living in a way that is the same as these pagan 338 00:14:29,820 --> 00:14:30,380 cultures. 339 00:14:30,860 --> 00:14:32,460 And that's a call for all of us, right? 340 00:14:32,460 --> 00:14:34,220 We, we say that we are the church. 341 00:14:35,820 --> 00:14:36,380 We should. 342 00:14:36,620 --> 00:14:39,180 But at the same time, we should look different than the world. 343 00:14:39,180 --> 00:14:40,060 He says, look different. 344 00:14:40,460 --> 00:14:43,180 Don't be like the other cultures that have these strange 345 00:14:43,180 --> 00:14:46,140 gods that has Ashtaroth, who eventually we're going to see has 346 00:14:46,140 --> 00:14:47,180 Balaam or baal. 347 00:14:47,340 --> 00:14:49,380 He says, don't be like them, don't look like them. 348 00:14:49,380 --> 00:14:51,180 Don't join in with what they're doing. 349 00:14:51,340 --> 00:14:55,060 So what's the practical application for us in that is, yes, 350 00:14:55,060 --> 00:14:56,699 we're the church, we should look different. 351 00:14:57,660 --> 00:14:59,660 We should not look the same as the world. 352 00:14:59,660 --> 00:15:02,580 We should not celebrate the same things as the world. 353 00:15:02,580 --> 00:15:05,660 We should not partake in the same things of the world. 354 00:15:05,660 --> 00:15:10,030 Now, there is a reality that we see throughout the Bible and particularly 355 00:15:10,030 --> 00:15:12,390 in the New Testament that says that, yes, we're going to be in the 356 00:15:12,390 --> 00:15:12,550 world. 357 00:15:12,550 --> 00:15:15,230 You can't avoid the things that are around us. 358 00:15:15,230 --> 00:15:17,630 But one of the things that we can take note of is that we can be 359 00:15:17,630 --> 00:15:21,350 in the world, but not of the world, not, not defined by the world. 360 00:15:22,070 --> 00:15:25,670 And so I'm going to speak very freely here this evening, but what 361 00:15:25,670 --> 00:15:27,550 I'm going to say is that there's too many Christians that 362 00:15:27,550 --> 00:15:28,270 say, you know what? 363 00:15:28,270 --> 00:15:31,510 I can be just like my unsaved neighbor, but that's okay. 364 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:33,520 And the truth is that we should be different. 365 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:36,520 We shouldn't be entertaining the same things as the unsaved. 366 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,880 That should not be something that we take into our life. 367 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:41,640 And essentially what he says here is, he says, stop worshiping 368 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:42,240 these gods. 369 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:48,760 Now, most of us wouldn't admit or even understand that we've worshiped 370 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:49,320 a false God. 371 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:50,360 We would say, no, no, no, we. 372 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:51,600 I only worship one God. 373 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:54,320 But think about what Worship really is. 374 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,440 Worship is just giving value to something. 375 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:00,840 Worship is, is dedicating ourselves to something. 376 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,360 Isn't it obvious that sometimes in our culture today, even 377 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:08,400 Christians could value something higher than their relationship 378 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:09,000 with God. 379 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:13,000 Maybe they would, they would put something on a higher pedestal 380 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,200 than what the word of God tells us to do within worship. 381 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:20,880 And so we often don't think about idolatry being something that 382 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:24,240 we do in our culture, because maybe, maybe you would say, well, 383 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:29,070 I don't have a statue of Deon or Ashtaroth or BAAL in my house. 384 00:16:29,470 --> 00:16:32,510 But what we've allowed to have happen in our culture is that we've 385 00:16:32,510 --> 00:16:36,430 allowed to either worship ourselves or worship things around 386 00:16:36,430 --> 00:16:36,830 us. 387 00:16:37,230 --> 00:16:40,430 I mean, I'm going to tell you, I'm not saying any of you do this, 388 00:16:41,070 --> 00:16:43,110 but in our culture, right, we. 389 00:16:43,110 --> 00:16:46,870 We have these things where basically these people that act in 390 00:16:46,870 --> 00:16:50,030 these movies that mean nothing get in these big award shows and 391 00:16:50,030 --> 00:16:52,800 people sit there and basically worship them and give them a literal 392 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:53,200 idol. 393 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,320 They give him a statue and they say, look, you guys are, are 394 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:58,640 people that we worship and adore. 395 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,240 And I'm not saying that all actors are evil, but what I'm saying 396 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:05,320 is, is that we've seen our culture just basically elevate people 397 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:09,600 that are, are not to be worshiped, not to be praised. 398 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:12,680 And so what he says here is, he says, get rid of Ashtaroth from 399 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:13,280 among you. 400 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:14,760 And then he says, what? 401 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:16,720 And prepare your hearts unto the Lord. 402 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:18,840 So, so this is really interesting here. 403 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:22,260 He says, number one, commit yourself completely to God. 404 00:17:22,740 --> 00:17:25,260 Number two, get rid of those false gods. 405 00:17:25,260 --> 00:17:28,500 Get rid of that influence into your life. 406 00:17:28,580 --> 00:17:28,940 Now. 407 00:17:28,940 --> 00:17:31,260 Then prepare your hearts unto the Lord. 408 00:17:31,260 --> 00:17:33,700 Meaning now get ready to serve. 409 00:17:34,420 --> 00:17:36,020 Now get ready to sacrifice. 410 00:17:36,900 --> 00:17:40,860 Now you're ready to commit yourself to not just worshiping God, 411 00:17:40,860 --> 00:17:43,060 but serving him to every capacity. 412 00:17:43,060 --> 00:17:44,500 Now what does that look like for us? 413 00:17:44,500 --> 00:17:45,380 Well, it's a. 414 00:17:45,380 --> 00:17:46,500 It's a progression thing. 415 00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:48,900 Number one, I can't serve God properly. 416 00:17:49,460 --> 00:17:50,060 I can't. 417 00:17:50,060 --> 00:17:53,220 I can't do the work of the gospel ministry if I'm caught up 418 00:17:53,220 --> 00:17:56,460 in the things of this world, if my heart is given over to the 419 00:17:56,460 --> 00:17:58,100 passions and lust of the world. 420 00:17:58,100 --> 00:18:00,340 And so he says, get your heart right with God. 421 00:18:00,500 --> 00:18:04,220 Get rid of the bad influences, and then get ready and prepared to 422 00:18:04,220 --> 00:18:04,500 serve. 423 00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:05,540 That's what he's saying here. 424 00:18:05,860 --> 00:18:08,020 And that's the same message that we could preach today. 425 00:18:08,100 --> 00:18:11,580 Number one, rededicate your life to Christ before, before you 426 00:18:11,580 --> 00:18:13,380 try to get anything out of your life. 427 00:18:13,380 --> 00:18:15,940 I've had people come up to me say, you know, there's this thing 428 00:18:15,940 --> 00:18:16,700 plaguing me in my life. 429 00:18:16,700 --> 00:18:17,740 I want to get rid of it. 430 00:18:17,980 --> 00:18:20,220 I. I never say, well, just have more willpower. 431 00:18:20,700 --> 00:18:22,460 Just completely try to avoid that. 432 00:18:22,460 --> 00:18:23,900 No, it starts with the heart. 433 00:18:24,620 --> 00:18:25,020 Because. 434 00:18:25,020 --> 00:18:29,420 Because if I get rid of this problem just by avoiding it, guess 435 00:18:29,420 --> 00:18:29,540 what? 436 00:18:29,540 --> 00:18:31,059 There's going to be another problem that pops up. 437 00:18:31,059 --> 00:18:34,660 And if I don't get to the core element of my problem, which is a 438 00:18:34,660 --> 00:18:37,580 love for the things of this world, I'm not going to be able to 439 00:18:37,740 --> 00:18:39,380 overcome those temptations. 440 00:18:39,380 --> 00:18:43,240 And so he says here, get your heart right with God, get rid of 441 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:44,240 the bad influences. 442 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:47,360 And then number three, then prepare your heart for service. 443 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:49,360 A lot of times we flip that. 444 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:52,480 A lot of times we want to see all the benefits and the blessings 445 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,480 of serving God without doing these first two steps. 446 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:58,160 And so he says, prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve him 447 00:18:58,239 --> 00:18:58,640 only. 448 00:18:58,800 --> 00:18:59,680 So it's a re. 449 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,640 Restatement of what he's basically already said, is that be 450 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:04,440 exclusive to God. 451 00:19:04,440 --> 00:19:06,720 God wants an exclusive relationship with us. 452 00:19:08,250 --> 00:19:11,490 I know that you guys understand the importance of that 453 00:19:11,490 --> 00:19:16,610 exclusive relationship, but oftentimes the Bible uses as an analogy 454 00:19:16,610 --> 00:19:21,770 Israel basically running into adultery in sin with other people, 455 00:19:21,770 --> 00:19:22,170 right? 456 00:19:22,410 --> 00:19:25,810 So God says basically that, that he's married to Israel and Israel 457 00:19:25,810 --> 00:19:26,490 is unfaithful. 458 00:19:26,490 --> 00:19:27,890 You study the whole book of Hosea. 459 00:19:27,890 --> 00:19:29,810 It's a whole lesson about that. 460 00:19:29,810 --> 00:19:32,450 And even in the New Testament, we see the same thing as a church. 461 00:19:32,450 --> 00:19:36,640 We're the bride of Christ, were to be exclusively serving him 462 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:37,480 and him alone. 463 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:42,880 So the irony of all of this would be that as Israel being God's 464 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,640 chosen people, they go out and they serve other kings, they serve 465 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:48,560 other false gods. 466 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:50,600 And so he says, no, serve me alone. 467 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:52,120 He wants an exclusive relationship. 468 00:19:52,120 --> 00:19:55,080 And there's nothing wrong with saying that God is a jealous God. 469 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:00,000 There's, there's biblical godly jealousy just as, as, as a 470 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,830 husband, I'm not selfishly jealous of my wife, but there's Godly 471 00:20:03,830 --> 00:20:05,510 jealousy to say, I want to be exclusive. 472 00:20:05,510 --> 00:20:07,310 I want to have that exclusive relationship. 473 00:20:07,470 --> 00:20:09,910 And that's what I've committed to, and that's what I will live for. 474 00:20:09,910 --> 00:20:12,710 And so that's what God is saying for those people of Israel, 475 00:20:12,710 --> 00:20:16,270 if you want to be in this relationship, be exclusive. 476 00:20:16,749 --> 00:20:18,750 And he says, then what will happen? 477 00:20:18,750 --> 00:20:21,390 And he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. 478 00:20:22,110 --> 00:20:25,750 And so he addresses these issues that they have. 479 00:20:25,750 --> 00:20:26,310 Verse 4. 480 00:20:26,310 --> 00:20:29,380 Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtaroth. 481 00:20:29,380 --> 00:20:32,180 And so the response is that they do follow. 482 00:20:32,580 --> 00:20:34,820 And so we see Ashtaroth and Balaam. 483 00:20:35,060 --> 00:20:39,860 BAAL was a false God of weather and financial success. 484 00:20:40,420 --> 00:20:43,180 And so this would have been a big draw for the Israelites because 485 00:20:43,180 --> 00:20:45,700 they wanted to have financial success, they wanted to have good 486 00:20:45,700 --> 00:20:47,380 weather, good crops. 487 00:20:47,380 --> 00:20:51,300 And so that's one of the things that we see leaking into their 488 00:20:51,300 --> 00:20:55,440 culture, was that materialism, that fleshly desire in Balaam and 489 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:56,080 Ashtaroth. 490 00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,840 And that's repeated over and over again in the Old Testament. 491 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,640 But what we see here is that God gives them the formula to find 492 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:07,760 salvation, to find revival, to find victory. 493 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:11,360 And initially here we see that they obey. 494 00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:14,200 Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtaroth 495 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:15,280 and serve the Lord only. 496 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:17,200 So it's good news. 497 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:18,000 It's good news. 498 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,360 They change, they turn away. 499 00:21:19,900 --> 00:21:24,500 And with everything that we see here, this is a legitimate change. 500 00:21:24,500 --> 00:21:24,980 This is. 501 00:21:24,980 --> 00:21:26,860 Their heart is turned to the Lord. 502 00:21:27,260 --> 00:21:28,620 And we're going to see that. 503 00:21:28,780 --> 00:21:30,900 There's a dedication service here, verse five. 504 00:21:30,900 --> 00:21:34,980 And Samuel say, gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray 505 00:21:34,980 --> 00:21:36,300 for you unto the Lord. 506 00:21:36,300 --> 00:21:39,380 So essentially what we see here is there's like a dedication 507 00:21:39,380 --> 00:21:41,860 time where they're going to consecrate their heart, they're going 508 00:21:41,860 --> 00:21:43,340 to make a promise to God. 509 00:21:43,340 --> 00:21:48,090 And this is very significant there in Mizpah, because before in 510 00:21:48,090 --> 00:21:51,290 Genesis chapter 31, Jacob separated from Laban there. 511 00:21:51,770 --> 00:21:53,490 So there was a distinction of. 512 00:21:53,490 --> 00:21:55,770 Of separating away from evil. 513 00:21:55,770 --> 00:21:56,730 And then there was. 514 00:21:56,730 --> 00:22:00,890 It was a gathering place in Judges chapter 20, a place where 515 00:22:00,890 --> 00:22:02,530 Israel came in their repentance. 516 00:22:02,530 --> 00:22:05,650 And so it's a very significant place there, Mispa. 517 00:22:05,650 --> 00:22:09,610 And it's a place that symbolizes and shows a separation 518 00:22:09,610 --> 00:22:13,410 away from something evil and something separated to something 519 00:22:13,410 --> 00:22:15,170 good, which is a relationship with God. 520 00:22:15,170 --> 00:22:17,170 And so Samuel says, what am I going to do? 521 00:22:17,170 --> 00:22:18,130 I'm going to pray for you. 522 00:22:18,770 --> 00:22:21,970 Samuel had called them to repentance by preaching the truth, 523 00:22:22,450 --> 00:22:24,450 and they follow. 524 00:22:24,530 --> 00:22:27,530 And Samuel says, okay, you made an initial step, but I'm going 525 00:22:27,530 --> 00:22:28,970 to pray that you stay faithful to this. 526 00:22:28,970 --> 00:22:31,690 And that's what we should do with folks that are coming to the 527 00:22:31,690 --> 00:22:32,450 truth of Jesus. 528 00:22:32,450 --> 00:22:35,490 We should celebrate their repentant heart. 529 00:22:35,490 --> 00:22:39,730 But then we should also pray for their faithfulness to stay true 530 00:22:39,730 --> 00:22:43,050 to what they have decided to do in their life by committing their 531 00:22:43,050 --> 00:22:44,050 life to the Lord. 532 00:22:45,100 --> 00:22:46,140 So where did this all start? 533 00:22:46,220 --> 00:22:49,340 It all started with Samuel obeying God and preaching the truth. 534 00:22:49,340 --> 00:22:50,740 And that's where revival always starts. 535 00:22:50,740 --> 00:22:53,980 Revival is not going to start just by accident. 536 00:22:54,620 --> 00:22:57,620 Revival is always going to be centered around the word of God, 537 00:22:57,620 --> 00:22:58,540 the truth of God. 538 00:22:58,620 --> 00:23:03,060 The Bible Says one of my favorite verses is in John 17, John 539 00:23:03,060 --> 00:23:03,820 17:17. 540 00:23:03,900 --> 00:23:07,500 Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is true. 541 00:23:07,500 --> 00:23:09,420 Now what does that word sanctify mean? 542 00:23:09,910 --> 00:23:12,590 You should know that that's, that's a word that is going to be 543 00:23:12,590 --> 00:23:14,230 repeated throughout the whole Bible. 544 00:23:14,470 --> 00:23:18,710 Sanctify means to be set aside, to be set apart for a special 545 00:23:18,710 --> 00:23:19,110 use. 546 00:23:19,830 --> 00:23:22,830 So the Bible says the way that we can be set aside away from the 547 00:23:22,830 --> 00:23:25,470 world is, is by what sanctified them. 548 00:23:25,470 --> 00:23:26,270 By thy truth. 549 00:23:26,270 --> 00:23:27,350 Thy word is truth. 550 00:23:27,350 --> 00:23:28,470 God's word is truth. 551 00:23:28,790 --> 00:23:34,430 And so we are led to that special place of service to God through 552 00:23:34,430 --> 00:23:36,390 the word of God, through the truth of God. 553 00:23:36,860 --> 00:23:39,260 And so Samuel says, I'm going to pray that you stay faithful to 554 00:23:39,260 --> 00:23:39,460 that. 555 00:23:39,460 --> 00:23:39,860 So they do. 556 00:23:39,860 --> 00:23:41,260 They gather there, verse 6. 557 00:23:41,260 --> 00:23:44,820 And they gathered together in mispah and drew water and poured 558 00:23:44,820 --> 00:23:48,220 it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said, there 559 00:23:48,380 --> 00:23:50,540 we have sinned against the Lord. 560 00:23:51,260 --> 00:23:54,100 And so there's a couple things that happens here. 561 00:23:54,100 --> 00:23:58,340 It's a ceremony, ceremonial pouring of the water, which would 562 00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:01,500 have been a picture of them pouring themselves out to God. 563 00:24:02,550 --> 00:24:05,390 Obviously, the water itself didn't have any miraculous healing 564 00:24:05,390 --> 00:24:05,670 power. 565 00:24:05,670 --> 00:24:09,030 It was an expression of what they already were deciding to do. 566 00:24:09,670 --> 00:24:13,990 But they, they poured out this water as a sign of repentance. 567 00:24:13,990 --> 00:24:18,670 And then basically it was a, it was a, it was a picture of emptying 568 00:24:18,670 --> 00:24:21,590 themselves and then a need to be filled. 569 00:24:21,670 --> 00:24:21,990 Right. 570 00:24:21,990 --> 00:24:23,190 And that's what we have to do. 571 00:24:23,270 --> 00:24:26,710 The Bible teaches in the New Testament in, in a couple of different 572 00:24:26,710 --> 00:24:33,350 places, in Ephesians and, and in Colossians to, to put off and 573 00:24:33,350 --> 00:24:34,190 then put on. 574 00:24:34,830 --> 00:24:36,470 So, so to get rid of the bad. 575 00:24:36,470 --> 00:24:40,430 Yes, but then to put in the good, to infuse the Holy Spirit into 576 00:24:40,430 --> 00:24:42,710 our lives, to make Holy Spirit discern decisions. 577 00:24:42,710 --> 00:24:45,870 And so as they're pouring out the water, it's, hey, look, I'm emptying 578 00:24:45,870 --> 00:24:47,990 out the bad, but I'm not just going to stay empty. 579 00:24:47,990 --> 00:24:49,830 I'm going to fill myself with the good. 580 00:24:49,830 --> 00:24:52,350 I'm going to allow God to direct me. 581 00:24:52,350 --> 00:24:54,630 And so this is a picture of them doing that. 582 00:24:54,630 --> 00:24:56,430 They, they drew the water, they poured it out. 583 00:24:56,890 --> 00:24:59,930 Then of course, with fasting, that's a recognition of, of being 584 00:24:59,930 --> 00:25:05,010 committed to God, to deny oneself of that food so that they 585 00:25:05,010 --> 00:25:07,770 can be hungry and thirsting after God. 586 00:25:07,770 --> 00:25:09,250 And so that's a picture of what they would do. 587 00:25:09,250 --> 00:25:11,210 They would fast to make a commitment. 588 00:25:11,210 --> 00:25:15,490 And then they, what they do says they recognize their sin. 589 00:25:15,490 --> 00:25:18,130 They're, what they're essentially doing is they're confessing 590 00:25:18,130 --> 00:25:18,890 their sin. 591 00:25:20,010 --> 00:25:23,410 Now, if you've been with me long enough here in Middletown, you 592 00:25:23,410 --> 00:25:25,930 should know what the word confess means, literally means. 593 00:25:26,570 --> 00:25:28,970 But it's a Greek word, homologeo. 594 00:25:29,050 --> 00:25:32,010 Say the same thing to agree with somebody about something. 595 00:25:32,490 --> 00:25:37,770 So to confess means to recognize the same thing that God 596 00:25:37,770 --> 00:25:39,290 recognizes about our sin. 597 00:25:39,930 --> 00:25:41,290 So that's what confession is. 598 00:25:41,450 --> 00:25:43,290 And so that's what they're essentially doing here. 599 00:25:43,450 --> 00:25:43,810 And. 600 00:25:43,810 --> 00:25:44,330 And so they. 601 00:25:44,330 --> 00:25:48,690 They say, we have sinned against the Lord and Samuel judged 602 00:25:48,690 --> 00:25:51,450 the children of Israel in Mizpah. 603 00:25:52,100 --> 00:25:52,300 So. 604 00:25:52,300 --> 00:25:54,420 So they're confessing now. 605 00:25:54,500 --> 00:25:58,620 First John, chapter one, verse nine, says, if we confess our sins, 606 00:25:58,620 --> 00:26:01,300 he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse 607 00:26:01,300 --> 00:26:02,300 us from all unrighteousness. 608 00:26:02,300 --> 00:26:05,500 And so that's speaking of a restorative relationship with our 609 00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:08,420 heavenly Father when we have fallen into sin. 610 00:26:08,900 --> 00:26:11,620 And so that's exactly what we see happening here in First Samuel, 611 00:26:11,620 --> 00:26:12,180 chapter seven. 612 00:26:12,180 --> 00:26:15,660 A restorative relationship that starts with a recognition of 613 00:26:15,660 --> 00:26:17,860 sin, confession and repentance. 614 00:26:18,500 --> 00:26:22,260 And so that's the technical way you could describe revival. 615 00:26:22,740 --> 00:26:24,740 Revival is a renewal of the heart. 616 00:26:24,980 --> 00:26:26,500 It's an admission of sin. 617 00:26:26,500 --> 00:26:27,940 It's a recognition of sin. 618 00:26:27,940 --> 00:26:30,500 It's a confession of sin, and it's a repentance. 619 00:26:30,500 --> 00:26:34,419 It's a turning away from that sin and turning to God in commitment 620 00:26:34,419 --> 00:26:37,140 to him, and then in the process, getting rid of those things 621 00:26:37,380 --> 00:26:40,500 which cause us to turn back to those sins. 622 00:26:40,500 --> 00:26:44,730 And so I think it's important to note that when it comes to the 623 00:26:44,730 --> 00:26:49,010 church and how we can describe revival and how we can seek revival, 624 00:26:49,090 --> 00:26:49,490 right? 625 00:26:49,490 --> 00:26:55,450 What if I came in front of the church and never described or read 626 00:26:55,450 --> 00:26:57,170 passages of scripture about revival? 627 00:26:57,170 --> 00:26:59,250 And I just got up in front of the church and said, we need revival, 628 00:26:59,969 --> 00:27:03,170 with the assumption that everyone knows what I say we're needing, 629 00:27:03,330 --> 00:27:05,730 and then everyone maybe has heard, you know, what revival meant 630 00:27:05,730 --> 00:27:06,770 for me when I was a kid. 631 00:27:06,930 --> 00:27:08,770 Okay, some of you might not get this. 632 00:27:09,010 --> 00:27:11,010 Some of you may get this depending on how you grew up. 633 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:11,640 Okay? 634 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,680 What revival meant for me was that this guy would come into our 635 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:19,080 church who was a really loud preacher, and everyone seemed to, 636 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:21,760 like, really appreciate him, that he was coming into our church. 637 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:23,880 And we sometimes would even have a big white tent outside. 638 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:25,800 And we would have service Monday. 639 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,360 We would have service on Sunday, but then Monday through Friday, 640 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:29,560 and it would be every night. 641 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:31,680 And I didn't have homework that week because our school was 642 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:32,640 attached to the church. 643 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:33,560 So I'd always say, great. 644 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:35,400 No homework during revival week. 645 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:40,530 And for me, and I'm not blaming my Church, they were preaching 646 00:27:40,530 --> 00:27:40,850 the truth. 647 00:27:40,850 --> 00:27:43,730 But for me, revival was just like, hey, we're gonna do something 648 00:27:43,730 --> 00:27:44,370 different this week. 649 00:27:44,370 --> 00:27:46,130 And then we're all gonna go down forward. 650 00:27:46,130 --> 00:27:48,810 We're all gonna pray a certain prayer, we're all gonna cry about 651 00:27:48,810 --> 00:27:51,650 our sin, and then probably next week go right back to what we 652 00:27:51,650 --> 00:27:52,250 were doing before. 653 00:27:52,330 --> 00:27:52,770 Okay. 654 00:27:52,770 --> 00:27:56,050 I was at services where, I mean, they had this big bonfire and 655 00:27:56,050 --> 00:27:58,730 people were coming out and they were throwing CDs into the fire. 656 00:27:58,810 --> 00:27:59,450 You know, their. 657 00:27:59,530 --> 00:28:02,570 Their worldly music, and they were throwing things, and that's 658 00:28:02,570 --> 00:28:03,690 all fine and good. 659 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:06,200 The problem was, is that some of the people that I knew that were 660 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:09,200 throwing things in the fire had already burned a couple backup 661 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:10,240 CDs for themselves. 662 00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:12,720 So later they could just go back and they. 663 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:13,760 They had backup plans. 664 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:13,920 So. 665 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,520 So those outward signs of repentance, those. 666 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,200 Those outward signs of, hey, look, I'm getting rid of that. 667 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:22,920 If there's not a heart change, it's. 668 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,240 It's really just kind of going through traditional motion. 669 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:29,200 It's just kind of going through the motions of recognition 670 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:31,830 of, well, that's what everyone else is doing, so I should do that. 671 00:28:31,830 --> 00:28:34,830 So going back to my analogy, if I just got in front of the church 672 00:28:34,830 --> 00:28:37,470 and said, hey, we all need revival, so do it. 673 00:28:37,950 --> 00:28:40,150 Well, if we don't know what revival is, it's going to be really 674 00:28:40,150 --> 00:28:40,830 hard to do that. 675 00:28:41,150 --> 00:28:45,230 And so what I would say is we need to clearly define when we're 676 00:28:45,230 --> 00:28:48,270 talking about revival, repentance, renewal, refreshment, 677 00:28:48,350 --> 00:28:50,350 all those things, Biblically speaking, what is that? 678 00:28:50,350 --> 00:28:53,110 And I think that this is one of the many passages of scripture 679 00:28:53,110 --> 00:28:56,430 that can point us to what godly revival really looks like. 680 00:28:57,270 --> 00:28:59,870 And sometimes it's not loud and boisterous. 681 00:28:59,870 --> 00:29:01,270 Sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. 682 00:29:01,270 --> 00:29:01,750 We don't. 683 00:29:01,750 --> 00:29:06,510 We don't necessarily have one particular outcome of revival other 684 00:29:06,510 --> 00:29:09,790 than we know that it's a heart back to God and away from the things 685 00:29:09,790 --> 00:29:10,630 of this world. 686 00:29:11,270 --> 00:29:11,910 And it's. 687 00:29:11,910 --> 00:29:12,950 It's continuous. 688 00:29:13,110 --> 00:29:14,630 So just because I had a. 689 00:29:14,710 --> 00:29:19,030 A moment of rededication 10 years ago, it didn't mean that maybe 690 00:29:19,030 --> 00:29:22,630 I need to be rededicated today and I need to come back to him more. 691 00:29:22,710 --> 00:29:24,460 So again, remember what the promise was? 692 00:29:24,460 --> 00:29:25,500 The promise was a victory. 693 00:29:25,500 --> 00:29:27,140 The promise was that God would bless them. 694 00:29:28,100 --> 00:29:32,580 And so verse seven, they're preparing for battle, verse seven. 695 00:29:32,580 --> 00:29:35,100 And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were 696 00:29:35,100 --> 00:29:38,180 gathered together in Misbah, they would have known that was significant 697 00:29:38,580 --> 00:29:42,260 because they're reviving their hearts back to the Lord, the lords 698 00:29:42,260 --> 00:29:43,140 of the Philistines. 699 00:29:43,140 --> 00:29:44,340 Went up against Israel. 700 00:29:44,660 --> 00:29:48,140 So they said, okay, we need to strike them now, we need to attack 701 00:29:48,140 --> 00:29:48,740 them now. 702 00:29:49,620 --> 00:29:53,420 And when the children of Israel heard it, and this is. 703 00:29:53,420 --> 00:29:54,740 I get so frustrated with the Phil. 704 00:29:54,740 --> 00:29:58,060 The Israelites, but I know this is me, so I have to identify 705 00:29:58,060 --> 00:29:58,540 and understand. 706 00:29:58,540 --> 00:30:02,100 I do this too right off for right after that spiritual victory. 707 00:30:02,180 --> 00:30:03,300 What does it say they do? 708 00:30:03,540 --> 00:30:04,340 They fear. 709 00:30:04,420 --> 00:30:06,100 They're afraid of the Philistines. 710 00:30:06,420 --> 00:30:07,220 So right then they. 711 00:30:07,220 --> 00:30:08,820 They rededicate their life to the Lord. 712 00:30:08,820 --> 00:30:10,900 They say, lord, we're getting rid of the things of this world. 713 00:30:10,980 --> 00:30:12,180 We're going to come after you. 714 00:30:12,180 --> 00:30:13,780 We're going to commit our hearts to you. 715 00:30:13,940 --> 00:30:16,900 And then they come to this place and they have the ceremony 716 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,760 and they pour out the water and Samuel, their judge, prays for 717 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:21,040 them. 718 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:23,040 Then they hear the Philistines are coming. 719 00:30:23,040 --> 00:30:24,240 They immediately get afraid. 720 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:25,360 And. 721 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:29,120 And so again, this is showing their human frailty to the fact that 722 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:30,960 it didn't last very long. 723 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:32,840 But nonetheless, God's still faithful. 724 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:33,239 Verse 8. 725 00:30:33,239 --> 00:30:35,760 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, cease not to cry 726 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:40,120 unto the Lord our God for us that he will save us out of the hand 727 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:40,880 of the Philistines. 728 00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,460 And so, so again, there's a lot of ways that you could look at 729 00:30:44,460 --> 00:30:46,940 this, but essentially they're still seeking the Lord, like, we're 730 00:30:46,940 --> 00:30:47,340 afraid. 731 00:30:47,420 --> 00:30:48,620 Samuel, pray for us. 732 00:30:48,860 --> 00:30:52,100 Now, there is a little bit of a different dynamic in the Old Testament. 733 00:30:52,100 --> 00:30:54,980 You know, today we have something called priesthood of believers, 734 00:30:54,980 --> 00:30:57,940 which means you can go to the God, you can go to God anytime, you 735 00:30:57,940 --> 00:30:58,899 have that connection with him. 736 00:30:58,899 --> 00:31:02,140 But prior to the New Testament, prior to the veil being 737 00:31:02,140 --> 00:31:05,540 torn, there were some elements of having the priests go to the Lord 738 00:31:05,540 --> 00:31:05,940 for you. 739 00:31:05,940 --> 00:31:08,300 So that's essentially somewhat what's happening here. 740 00:31:08,710 --> 00:31:12,230 And Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering 741 00:31:12,230 --> 00:31:13,150 holy unto the Lord. 742 00:31:13,150 --> 00:31:16,870 And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. 743 00:31:16,870 --> 00:31:21,470 So even in Israel's inconsistency, we could say it that 744 00:31:21,470 --> 00:31:21,750 way. 745 00:31:22,470 --> 00:31:26,870 The heart cry of Samuel to the Lord is heard and the Lord is faithful. 746 00:31:26,950 --> 00:31:27,510 Verse 10. 747 00:31:27,510 --> 00:31:29,830 And Samuel was offering up the burnt offering. 748 00:31:29,910 --> 00:31:32,470 The Philistines drew near to the battle against Israel. 749 00:31:33,030 --> 00:31:35,480 And so know it's. 750 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:36,960 It's about to come, it's about to happen. 751 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:38,640 Israel is about to fight. 752 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:40,320 And then this is amazing, verse 10. 753 00:31:40,320 --> 00:31:43,000 This shows how God is more powerful than us. 754 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:47,360 He's all knowing and he can step in at any point, in any time 755 00:31:47,360 --> 00:31:48,160 to deal with things. 756 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:51,200 And it says, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on 757 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:52,560 the day upon the Philistines. 758 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,120 And discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel. 759 00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:00,000 And so what we can essentially see here is that Israel doesn't even 760 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:01,120 have to fight the battle. 761 00:32:02,380 --> 00:32:04,380 God fought the battle for them. 762 00:32:04,620 --> 00:32:06,780 And this was a special work of God. 763 00:32:06,860 --> 00:32:10,380 The Israelites heard it, but it confused the Philistines. 764 00:32:11,180 --> 00:32:14,500 And essentially what we can see here is that even in their fear, 765 00:32:14,500 --> 00:32:16,340 God comes in and gives them the victory. 766 00:32:16,340 --> 00:32:16,900 And this is. 767 00:32:16,900 --> 00:32:18,540 This is really how it is with our own life. 768 00:32:18,540 --> 00:32:22,100 Because I wish I could come up here and tell you that, hey, you 769 00:32:22,100 --> 00:32:24,740 know, you have the capability of being perfectly faithful, and 770 00:32:24,740 --> 00:32:26,540 that's when God's going to be faithful to you. 771 00:32:26,540 --> 00:32:29,140 But I'm going to tell you that all of us to some degree, are going 772 00:32:29,140 --> 00:32:29,900 to be unfaithful. 773 00:32:29,900 --> 00:32:32,180 All of us are going to waver, all of us are going to stumble. 774 00:32:32,180 --> 00:32:35,060 But the beauty is, is that when God makes a promise to us, he 775 00:32:35,060 --> 00:32:38,300 keeps that promise and he sees our heart and he recognizes that. 776 00:32:38,300 --> 00:32:40,220 And then God fights that battle for us. 777 00:32:40,780 --> 00:32:42,620 And so they recognize this battle. 778 00:32:42,620 --> 00:32:46,980 This is the type of victory that they had seen in the past, one 779 00:32:46,980 --> 00:32:48,460 that they hadn't seen in a while. 780 00:32:48,700 --> 00:32:52,220 But essentially it's a renewal and God is going to bless them and 781 00:32:52,220 --> 00:32:53,100 give them the victory. 782 00:32:53,660 --> 00:32:58,460 And so verse number 11, it says, and the men of Israel went 783 00:32:58,460 --> 00:33:01,220 out a mispah and pursued the Philistines and smote them until 784 00:33:01,220 --> 00:33:04,060 they came under, under Beth car. 785 00:33:04,060 --> 00:33:08,580 So obviously the Israelites go out and actually finish the battle. 786 00:33:08,580 --> 00:33:12,220 But it's ultimately given to them through the hand of God because 787 00:33:12,220 --> 00:33:14,700 the Philistines are essentially disarmed. 788 00:33:14,780 --> 00:33:15,340 Verse 12. 789 00:33:15,340 --> 00:33:19,220 Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Misfah and Shen and 790 00:33:19,220 --> 00:33:21,020 called the name of it Ebenezer. 791 00:33:21,900 --> 00:33:24,460 Now you have to know what Ebenezer means to understand the 792 00:33:24,460 --> 00:33:26,340 significance, but it kind of explains it. 793 00:33:26,340 --> 00:33:28,700 At the end of that verse, verse 12, it says, saying, hitherto 794 00:33:28,700 --> 00:33:29,900 hath the Lord helped us. 795 00:33:29,900 --> 00:33:33,420 And the word Ebenezer literally means stone of hell. 796 00:33:34,220 --> 00:33:38,660 And so essentially what we see here is that Samuel recognizes the 797 00:33:38,660 --> 00:33:39,260 help of God. 798 00:33:39,260 --> 00:33:42,100 He sets this stone up recognizing that God is the one who 799 00:33:42,100 --> 00:33:43,340 helped them for this victory. 800 00:33:43,580 --> 00:33:46,580 And I think it's important for us to have Ebenezer stones. 801 00:33:46,580 --> 00:33:49,710 Okay, So I don't think that we literally have to have an Ebenezer 802 00:33:49,710 --> 00:33:52,870 stone in our life, but we need to have things in our life that can 803 00:33:52,870 --> 00:33:55,470 remind us of God's faithfulness in the midst of battle. 804 00:33:55,470 --> 00:33:58,710 I know one of the things that Alicia and I used to do. 805 00:33:58,710 --> 00:34:00,390 We haven't been as faithful with this. 806 00:34:00,630 --> 00:34:04,350 But we had at one point in time an Ebenezer book that I was 807 00:34:04,350 --> 00:34:07,670 trying to write down all the things that God had done in our life. 808 00:34:07,750 --> 00:34:08,950 And it was. 809 00:34:08,950 --> 00:34:11,390 It was amazing because once you start writing down all the things 810 00:34:11,390 --> 00:34:15,310 that God does for you, it starts becoming obviously a lot harder 811 00:34:15,310 --> 00:34:18,070 for you to complain about the things that you don't have when you 812 00:34:18,070 --> 00:34:19,350 see all the things that you do have. 813 00:34:19,430 --> 00:34:22,750 And I think that sometimes as Christians, we forget about all the 814 00:34:22,750 --> 00:34:25,710 times that God has been faithful to us before in the midst 815 00:34:25,710 --> 00:34:26,750 of this next battle. 816 00:34:26,750 --> 00:34:29,870 But when we're reminded of those beautiful things that God has 817 00:34:29,870 --> 00:34:32,430 done for us, we're able to go back and say, just as God has been 818 00:34:32,430 --> 00:34:35,870 faithful to me before, he will be faithful to me now and he'll be 819 00:34:35,870 --> 00:34:37,670 faithful to me tomorrow. 820 00:34:37,670 --> 00:34:40,180 And that's what Samuel does there, which I think is. 821 00:34:40,180 --> 00:34:41,260 Is a wise thing to do. 822 00:34:41,260 --> 00:34:41,820 Verse 13. 823 00:34:41,900 --> 00:34:44,580 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into 824 00:34:44,580 --> 00:34:45,660 the coast of Israel. 825 00:34:45,820 --> 00:34:48,900 And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days 826 00:34:48,900 --> 00:34:49,740 of Samuel. 827 00:34:50,220 --> 00:34:54,860 And so this shows really the power of God ultimately. 828 00:34:54,860 --> 00:34:55,740 And it always does. 829 00:34:55,740 --> 00:35:00,460 It always shows that God is all powerful, but it also shows the 830 00:35:00,460 --> 00:35:02,780 blessing of one man who is faithful. 831 00:35:02,860 --> 00:35:07,370 Samuel is faithful to the Lord by coming and preaching the Word, 832 00:35:07,450 --> 00:35:09,130 and a hard word at that. 833 00:35:10,010 --> 00:35:13,530 And then on top of that, his prayer of faithfulness after they 834 00:35:13,530 --> 00:35:14,330 had committed. 835 00:35:14,730 --> 00:35:18,330 And ultimately we see one man's faithfulness to the Lord is 836 00:35:18,410 --> 00:35:20,970 multiplied amongst many people there in Israel. 837 00:35:21,449 --> 00:35:22,050 Verse 14. 838 00:35:22,050 --> 00:35:24,410 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel 839 00:35:24,410 --> 00:35:29,210 were restored to Israel, from Ekron, even unto Gath and the coast 840 00:35:29,210 --> 00:35:31,930 thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. 841 00:35:32,410 --> 00:35:35,530 And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. 842 00:35:35,530 --> 00:35:39,210 And so what we can see here at the end of this chapter, it might 843 00:35:39,210 --> 00:35:42,890 not mean a lot to us because we're not there at that time and 844 00:35:42,970 --> 00:35:46,170 understanding the culture, but the fact that, as it says in verse 845 00:35:46,170 --> 00:35:51,650 13, all the way down to the verse 17, that there's this victory, 846 00:35:51,650 --> 00:35:54,050 this is ultimate victory, and there's peace with Israel. 847 00:35:54,050 --> 00:35:56,370 And the Philistines essentially are no longer having 848 00:35:56,370 --> 00:35:59,960 any strongholds in the land of Canaan and the land of Israel. 849 00:35:59,960 --> 00:36:01,840 And there's just this wonderful victory. 850 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:07,040 Even though Samuel wasn't a military leader, he obviously allowed 851 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:09,600 the Lord, or he didn't allow the Lord, but he allowed the people 852 00:36:09,600 --> 00:36:12,640 of Israel to see the Lord and to have those spiritual victories 853 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:14,280 and military victories. 854 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,920 And so there were these wonderful things happening. 855 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:18,400 Verse 15. 856 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,560 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 857 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:24,600 And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal. 858 00:36:24,600 --> 00:36:27,580 So basically tells us that Samuel traveled around, kind of like 859 00:36:27,580 --> 00:36:30,180 a circuit rider to encourage the people. 860 00:36:30,820 --> 00:36:34,380 He went from Bethel to Gilgal to Mispa and judge Israel in all 861 00:36:34,380 --> 00:36:34,860 those places. 862 00:36:34,860 --> 00:36:38,500 And that idea of judgment is just essentially confronting them, 863 00:36:39,140 --> 00:36:42,740 administrating, leading all those different types of things. 864 00:36:42,740 --> 00:36:45,220 He's not a king, which is going to play a role in the next 865 00:36:45,220 --> 00:36:49,820 chapter, but he's basically God's emissary there in Israel. 866 00:36:49,820 --> 00:36:52,420 He's the ambassador of God to the people. 867 00:36:53,350 --> 00:36:53,590 And. 868 00:36:53,590 --> 00:36:54,510 And then verse 17. 869 00:36:54,510 --> 00:36:59,430 And his return was to Rama, for there was his house, and there 870 00:36:59,430 --> 00:37:02,550 he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord. 871 00:37:02,550 --> 00:37:03,430 So it kind of. 872 00:37:03,430 --> 00:37:04,590 It like, sounds really great. 873 00:37:04,590 --> 00:37:07,790 It ties it all into a beautiful abode there at the end. 874 00:37:07,790 --> 00:37:09,270 Samuel is faithful. 875 00:37:09,510 --> 00:37:10,710 God is faithful. 876 00:37:10,710 --> 00:37:11,990 Israel is on top. 877 00:37:11,990 --> 00:37:13,350 Israel is victorious. 878 00:37:14,230 --> 00:37:14,670 It's. 879 00:37:14,670 --> 00:37:16,550 It's kind of like if it was a Hollywood movie, right? 880 00:37:16,550 --> 00:37:17,230 It's the ending. 881 00:37:17,230 --> 00:37:18,230 You see the credits rolling. 882 00:37:18,230 --> 00:37:19,390 Samuel is victorious. 883 00:37:19,390 --> 00:37:23,750 He's riding around, giving people encouragement, guiding people, 884 00:37:23,750 --> 00:37:26,190 teaching people, administrating people. 885 00:37:26,430 --> 00:37:29,630 But then you see chapter eight, first Samuel, Chapter eight, 886 00:37:29,630 --> 00:37:30,270 Israel. 887 00:37:30,350 --> 00:37:32,030 And we'll jump on this next week. 888 00:37:32,030 --> 00:37:36,430 But essentially Israel isn't happy with this setting. 889 00:37:36,669 --> 00:37:38,510 They're not happy with this scenario. 890 00:37:38,510 --> 00:37:40,590 They want a king just like everybody else. 891 00:37:41,070 --> 00:37:44,950 Instead of allowing God to be their king and allowing God to choose 892 00:37:44,950 --> 00:37:47,830 the way that it should be, they wanted to choose their own way. 893 00:37:47,830 --> 00:37:50,720 And so we're going to talk about that next week. 894 00:37:50,720 --> 00:37:57,120 As Samuel is an old man, there is a call, a cry for a king. 895 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:02,160 And many of you know that the first human king of Israel is Saul. 896 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,799 And we're going to talk about how Saul is chosen. 897 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:09,120 And that's going to play out as as many of you know the story 898 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:09,440 there. 899 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:13,280 But then ultimately we know that, that coming after Saul comes 900 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,810 David, and we're going to hit that as we come along here in the 901 00:38:16,810 --> 00:38:17,130 study. 902 00:38:17,130 --> 00:38:22,690 So I. I definitely wish that I could tell you that the end of chapter 903 00:38:22,690 --> 00:38:26,210 seven was smooth and everything went that way forever. 904 00:38:26,210 --> 00:38:30,250 But most of you know, if not all of you know that there's going 905 00:38:30,250 --> 00:38:31,170 to be ups and downs. 906 00:38:31,170 --> 00:38:34,370 And just like in our own life, there's ups and downs and there's 907 00:38:34,370 --> 00:38:36,690 struggles and there's rebellion and there's always a need 908 00:38:36,690 --> 00:38:37,530 for revival. 909 00:38:38,010 --> 00:38:39,370 And ultimately, if. 910 00:38:39,570 --> 00:38:42,410 If you know the story of the judges, there's that cycle that just 911 00:38:42,410 --> 00:38:43,250 keeps happening. 912 00:38:43,730 --> 00:38:44,130 And. 913 00:38:44,290 --> 00:38:46,130 And that's what we're going to see happen here. 914 00:38:46,370 --> 00:38:47,610 Maybe in a different way, though. 915 00:38:47,610 --> 00:38:49,250 So we'll end there. 916 00:38:49,250 --> 00:38:51,890 We'll come back next week and we'll look at First Samuel Chapter. 917 00:38:52,690 --> 00:38:55,330 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 918 00:38:55,330 --> 00:38:55,970 podcast. 919 00:38:56,210 --> 00:38:58,530 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 920 00:38:59,170 --> 00:39:01,530 If you would like to find out more information about our church 921 00:39:01,530 --> 00:39:04,930 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 922 00:39:05,420 --> 00:39:07,820 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 923 00:39:08,540 --> 00:39:13,500 You could also email me directly at Josh massaro@middletownbaptistchurch.com. 924 00:39:13,980 --> 00:39:17,460 if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow 925 00:39:17,460 --> 00:39:20,220 along for future podcast and updates. 926 00:39:21,020 --> 00:39:21,900 Thank you so much. 927 00:39:22,140 --> 00:39:22,860 God Bless. 928 00:39:23,100 --> 00:39:24,380 Have a wonderful day.