WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:02.160 The glory departs. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:04.639 1 Samuel 4. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:08.880 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:12.560 Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:15.039 They encamped at Ebenezer. 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:18.800 And the Philistines encamped at Aphakh. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:29.600 The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about 4,000 men on the field of battle. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:41.920 And when the people came, excuse me, and when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:50.240 Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies. 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:57.840 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:04.079 And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 00:01:04.719 --> 00:01:11.599 As soon as the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:18.640 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean? 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:23.439 And when they learned that the Ark of the Lord had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid. 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:31.599 For they said, A god has come into the camp, and they said, Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. 00:01:31.840 --> 00:01:32.799 Woe to us. 00:01:32.959 --> 00:01:36.079 Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:40.959 These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:46.480 Take courage and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:48.079 Be men and fight. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.640 So the Philistines fought. 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:52.799 And Israel was defeated. 00:01:53.519 --> 00:01:55.840 And they fled, every man to his home. 00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.719 And there was a very great slaughter. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:03.120 For thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:06.000 And the ark of God was captured. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:10.719 And the two sons of Eli, Hofni and Phineas, died. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:13.360 The word of the Lord. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:15.199 Good morning. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:17.759 Welcome to church this morning. 00:02:17.840 --> 00:02:19.120 My name is James Rathman. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:21.759 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.360 I've got a bit of a cold this morning, so I brought up some tea. 00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:28.400 If my voice goes out, I'm just going to drink tea up here. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:30.800 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:34.879 I've got a couple of announcements before we get into our sermon for the day. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:49.280 First, uh, as Zach mentioned, immediately following the service today, well, about 10 minutes after the service concludes, uh, we're gonna remain in here, and the board of Redemption Church is going to make a financial presentation. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:53.280 We'll also be available to answer questions regarding the church finances. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:00.319 It'll basically be a recap of the past year and a looking forward to where we're headed this next year financially. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:04.960 Uh also, this week, redemption groups begin. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:09.039 So there are two ways to get connected here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:10.080 Do you know what they are? 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:13.919 So cool. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:15.120 It's catching on. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:18.080 You gather large and we we gather large and we gather small. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:23.759 If you wonder what gathering large is, you're doing it right now on our Sunday morning whole church gathering. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:30.879 And throughout the week, we gather small in each other's homes to go deeper in the text together. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:36.879 Uh, because we believe that the text is really understood in the context of community. 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:45.039 And so, in order to really capture what's in the Bible, we need to do that together with the insights from those who you're in the church with. 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:52.159 Uh also, so the uh that about redemption groups, the this is the first week that they are starting. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:53.919 It's not too late to sign up. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.719 If you'd like to sign up, you can do that in the app. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:59.360 Just click groups and then join a group. 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:11.599 Or you can go downstairs after the service, and someone on the welcome team with an iPad will be able to get you signed up and will uh connect you with a group that still has space, um, uh although they are filling up. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:16.160 So uh also elder application period is still open. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:18.160 That closes February 10th. 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:25.120 And on February 24th, we will be having a baby dedication before the service. 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:33.600 So our church uh takes the command to make disciples very literally, and we tend to just make them. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:37.120 Uh and so we have a lot of babies in the church. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:41.680 Um, and baby dedication will be on February 24th. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:44.000 You can sign up for that in the app. 00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:54.480 If you go to the calendar, uh you'll see that event on February 24th, and you can uh sign up for that there if you have a baby, hopefully your own, who you'd like to dedicate. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:56.000 All right. 00:04:56.560 --> 00:05:05.759 So with that, uh let's uh enter the Word of God about a battle that the Israelites lose. 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:07.680 Let's pray. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:18.160 Holy Father, I pray that your word would be known this morning, that it would impact our hearts and shape them. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:33.279 And that for those of us especially who are seeking you and who you seem far off from or a mystery to, Lord, that your word this morning would be like a light, a guidepost that reveals yourself to us. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:35.360 Father, lift us up in Jesus' name. 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:36.240 Amen. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:41.120 So many of you are on a quest for God. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:46.160 You think God is someone that I am seeking. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:06:01.600 And even now, if you've been in the church for a while, and and uh I know that there's many who attend church regularly in this room who consider that this is still kind of an option among many. 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:16.079 It feels as though this is part of a healthy life or a healthy lifestyle to participate in Christianity, but there's still a deep quest and a deep longing to see God as He really is. 00:06:18.399 --> 00:06:23.360 Now, that type of quest is a hard thing to participate in. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:33.040 I I used to work with this uh carpenter, he's a furniture maker, and I can't do that, but I can hand people tools. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.120 And so that's why he hired me. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:45.839 And he we he always had too many projects going in this really tiny wood shop, and so we'd get caught painting something, and uh he'd be like, Oh, I need that clamp over there. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:53.920 And he would, his favorite joke to make is to stand up and realize that it'll be really difficult to get there, and he goes, Oh no, we can't get there from here. 00:06:54.319 --> 00:07:00.160 Which is my favorite type of joke because it's really corny and it's a little metaphysical. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:14.240 When we start our quest for God, we bring to it these cultural assumptions that are just built into what we think that should look like. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:20.000 When we're questing for God, we're questing for something that we think we know already. 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:29.040 When we start with those assumptions, there's this danger that we just can't get there from here. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:39.600 We just can't get to who God really is when we're carrying these assumptions of what we expect to find. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.360 In this morning's text, we're gonna go through a lot of scripture. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:46.319 Uh, we're really covering chapters four to six. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:49.040 I won't read it all, but we're gonna be covering this story. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:08:02.399 And what we'll see are two different cultures, the Israelites and the Philistines, approaching God with the same baseline assumptions about who he is. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:19.120 And because who they assume that he is is more powerful in their minds than who he actually has revealed himself to be, they miss out on knowing God in these incredibly dangerous ways. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:27.519 So while we're seeking God this morning, that's something we would say that we're doing, then let's heed these warnings. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:33.360 We'll see it in three things, three approaches that both of these cultures take. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.519 The first is that God cannot be summoned. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:42.720 The second is that God cannot be appropriated. 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:47.840 And the third is that God cannot be ignored. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:50.639 That's what we're gonna look at this morning. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:54.799 So, our first point: God cannot be summoned. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:56.399 Let's get into our story. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:08:59.519 This is 1 Samuel 4, verses 2 to 4. 00:08:59.679 --> 00:09:06.799 And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:15.519 Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies. 00:09:15.840 --> 00:09:28.320 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim, and the two sons of Eli, Hapni, and Phineas were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:30.639 So, what's happened just before this? 00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:35.279 Just before this, the Philistines drew up in battle against the Israelites. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:41.919 These are two uh people groups that uh lay claim to the same land in the Middle East. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:48.080 It's a story that will uh remain only in this time period and never continue afterwards. 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:57.840 And they are the Philistines draw up in battle against the Israelites, and the Israelites are defeated. 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:04.399 In the Hebrew, it's they're described as melting away before the Philistines. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:06.639 They each run to their own homes. 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:10.720 And so they gather back together and they say, Why were we defeated? 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:13.840 And they even say, Why did the Lord defeat us? 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:16.799 See, they have this concept of God as being in control. 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:18.320 That wasn't missing. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:21.120 They say, Why did the Lord defeat us? 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:26.159 And then they think, let's go get the Ark of the Covenant. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:32.720 And we'll bring that into the battle, and then that will serve to protect us. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:41.120 God will see his ark there, and we'll be able to sort of conjure or summon God's presence so that he will fight for us. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:46.320 Now, what is the Ark of the Covenant? 00:10:46.559 --> 00:10:51.519 The Ark of the Covenant was a container that God described to Moses to have built. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:56.159 It held the Ten Commandments that God chiseled onto tablets and gave to Moses. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:11:01.120 It contained those tablets in this sort of box. 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.519 And the top of the ark, you guys have seen Indiana Jones, right? 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:07.120 It's that thing. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:12.000 It's in some government uh warehouse somewhere right now. 00:11:12.480 --> 00:11:16.960 The top of the ark uh is called the mercy seat. 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:27.759 And the mercy seat is where God promised to meet Moses and speak to him and share all that he commanded to Israel. 00:11:28.399 --> 00:11:34.639 Likewise, the mercy seat is where a particular action took place once a year during the Day of Atonement. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:51.120 The high priest, after making sacrifices for himself, would sacrifice a bull and a ram, and he would sprinkle the blood from the bull and the ram onto the mercy seat, which is the top of the Ark of the Covenant, and he would atone for the sins of the people of Israel. 00:11:51.759 --> 00:12:06.879 Now, the Ark was probably on the minds of the Israelites at this moment, when they're seeking to use it to give them the upper hand in battle, because in the history of Israel's conquest, the Ark had played an important role. 00:12:07.360 --> 00:12:17.039 When they go across the Jordan, and Israel leaves the wilderness and they move into the Jordan, or excuse me, and they and the Jordan parts. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:19.679 Did you know that two rivers part in the Bible? 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:22.320 That sounds like the setup to a joke, doesn't it? 00:12:22.879 --> 00:12:24.559 Do you know the two rivers part in the Bible? 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.440 It's the part of Paul's hair or something, I don't know. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:28.480 Terrible joke. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:30.000 But there's two rivers that part in the Bible. 00:12:30.080 --> 00:12:33.840 One is the Jordan when they move into Michelle, that really got you. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:37.440 It still is. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:38.720 Everybody look. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:42.480 Okay. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:49.279 And it is the ark that they follow into the promised land. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:53.679 It's sort of the mark of their receiving the promised land from God. 00:12:53.919 --> 00:13:02.879 Also, when they march around Jericho and Jericho uh collapses to the ground, they're following the Ark of the Covenant around. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:09.600 It had been this symbol of the presence of God in his battle for Israel. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:20.799 And so it's not unreasonable for them to think, let's just go get the ark, and then God will certainly come in and defeat our enemies. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:24.080 But this brings us to our first point. 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:28.960 That's that God cannot be summoned. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:45.679 The way that they are approaching God is they are saying, God, you will be the means that we will use to get what it is that we really want. 00:13:46.960 --> 00:13:52.799 And what we really want is for the Philistines to be destroyed in this battle. 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:57.200 And so we will take you, God, as our possession. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:03.840 And we will present you, and you will then do our bidding for us. 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:07.919 God is used as a means to an end. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:14.639 Right when we start treating God that way, we're no longer dealing with God. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:17.759 We're dealing with a different type of thing. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:32.480 We're dealing with something that's more akin to a very powerful man or some sort of genie or some sort of mystical power, but we're not dealing with God anymore as he shows himself to us in Scripture. 00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:39.120 Many of us live with a superstitious type of mindset towards who God is. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:52.320 And the way that we approach him is just as a means to get what it is that we really want, not approaching him as God, the most desirable thing in all of creation. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:56.799 The way that the Philistines try and conjure him is sort of strange. 00:14:56.960 --> 00:15:01.120 They all gather together, the art comes in and they make this huge shout. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:04.720 And the Philistines get really afraid when they hear the shout. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:17.519 And they uh uh the strange thing is that when they hear the shout, it actually ends up motivating them further to go and conquer Israel. 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:28.000 In the very act of their trying to summon God, in the very act of trying to treat God as a possession, they lead to their own destruction. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:30.240 So, how do we do this? 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:33.279 We think, well, what is it that I really want? 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:36.960 What I really want is peace. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:43.919 And so I'm gonna summon God to try and give me that peace. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:45.440 And you know what? 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:50.960 If I got peace and I didn't get God, I'd be okay with it. 00:15:51.679 --> 00:15:54.399 I would have gotten what I really wanted. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:00.559 If I got financial security and I didn't get God, I'd be okay with it. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:04.480 In fact, I'd probably even say, thanks, God, for getting me what I really wanted. 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:09.440 And then you'd continue a life of worship of this thing that isn't God. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:11.600 God is not a means to an end. 00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:16.320 He is the end that all things are arcing towards. 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:35.919 At the end of probably the best theological treatise in Scripture, Romans 1 through 11, the very last verses, several verses in Romans 11, Paul reaches this exclamation, and he just explodes at the seams in one of my favorite moments in Scripture. 00:16:36.799 --> 00:16:39.600 And he describes God in this way. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:47.840 And I want you to consider is this something that you can possess and then summon to your own ends? 00:16:49.120 --> 00:17:02.000 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways. 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:11.359 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:21.759 For from him and through him and to him are all things. 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.279 To him be glory forever. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:35.599 God is not to be summoned as our own possession, but is to be followed by his own instruction. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:46.480 This is the great irony of them summoning the Lord in this way, in this sort of superstitious means to get him to accomplish what they want. 00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:49.440 It's innately, it's disobedient. 00:17:52.160 --> 00:17:54.160 What does the ark contain? 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:56.880 The Ten Commandments. 00:17:57.119 --> 00:17:59.119 What's the first commandment? 00:18:02.160 --> 00:18:03.680 Thanks, Matthew. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:07.119 You should have no other gods before me. 00:18:07.839 --> 00:18:09.759 It's the first commandment. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:36.079 When we use God as a means to an end, we're saying this thing, my career, my family, my peace, my financial security, whatever it may be, whatever your thing is, my father's approval, whatever it is, we're saying that's the ultimate thing in my life. 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:45.920 When you summon God, when you use him to get what you really want, you're having another God before him. 00:18:48.720 --> 00:18:54.000 The very thing written in the ark they're violating by trying to summon its power. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:00.960 So the first question in seeking God is are you really seeking him? 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.640 Or are you summoning him for some other purpose? 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:06.799 Alright, intermission. 00:19:12.240 --> 00:19:12.880 All right. 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:18.960 Let's return to our story. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.880 As we move into our next point, which is God cannot be appropriated. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:29.440 So the Philistines capture the ark, they devastate the psyche of the Israelites. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:43.119 Eli, the high priest, who we've become familiar with in the past couple sermons, he gets news that the ark has been captured and that both of his sons have been killed in the battle. 00:19:43.359 --> 00:19:51.359 And so he dies on the spot, thus fulfilling the prophecy that Samuel delivered as we looked at last week. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:56.319 So the story now moves into the Philistines. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:04.240 And what we see is actually a bit of a comedy about how they interact with the Ark of the Covenant. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:14.319 So here's what they do: 1 Samuel 5, 1 to 4, when the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:22.720 Then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:33.279 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:37.599 Dagon is their local deity, right? 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:38.720 It's their tribal god. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:41.279 And so they have a statue of him in a temple. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.000 They placed the ark next to him. 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:53.759 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon, this statue, had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.119 So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:00.319 Like, oh, our deity fell. 00:21:01.279 --> 00:21:02.319 Don't worry about it. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:04.079 We'll just stand him back up. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:14.319 But when they rose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, like worshiping. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:19.839 And the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:23.279 Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 00:21:24.960 --> 00:21:30.480 They capture the ark and they say, We've got their God. 00:21:31.680 --> 00:21:37.200 He's probably like our God, who seems to enjoy the temple that we've built for him. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:40.960 So let's go place him in this temple. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:45.440 They wake up in the morning, Dagon is falling, worshiping the ark. 00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:51.839 They put him back up, they wake up the next morning, Dagon is falling, his head and hands are chopped off, and he's worshiping the ark. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:56.960 And the people of Ashdod, needless to say, are a little spooked. 00:21:57.920 --> 00:21:59.759 This is said, uh, the next verse is. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:15.519 Says that's why nobody treads on the threshold of the temple of Dagon to this day, which answers that riddle for you of why nobody treads on that threshold anymore. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:25.119 From this, I want us to see the simple picture that God cannot be appropriated. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:32.640 Meaning that you can't take God and bring him into your life as it is. 00:22:33.920 --> 00:22:39.039 God is not something where we see all of these options. 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:44.880 You know, if you were educated out here, this is the way that religions were described to you. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:47.839 We take classes called comparative religions. 00:22:48.160 --> 00:23:01.119 And you get, you're given sort of a spread of all these different religious experiences that take place across the world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:11.519 And all these come with their own sort of story, and there seem to be a lot of gods among many, and then you're given the option to choose which God you would then submit to. 00:23:11.839 --> 00:23:20.960 And you then take that God and you incorporate him into your life so that you become a whole, well-rounded type of person. 00:23:21.519 --> 00:23:26.079 The way I like to say it is Jesus is a part of this complete breakfast. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:29.599 You take care of yourself physically. 00:23:30.079 --> 00:23:36.559 So you exercise and you read the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:38.960 So you're well-rounded. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:47.519 You try and get your family in order, you try and make sure your finances are set up so that you have a future. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:49.920 And you attend church on Sundays. 00:23:50.160 --> 00:23:53.519 And when all those things are together, then you're a well-rounded person. 00:23:54.240 --> 00:24:01.200 You've incorporated, you've appropriated the concepts of Christianity into your life as it is. 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:03.200 What do you worship? 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:05.039 You worship your finances. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:10.720 You worship modernity, whatever happens to be new and current. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:14.240 You worship your family. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:16.880 All of these good things, right? 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:23.039 And then you come in and you stand up, Jesus, in the temple of your heart next to those things. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:34.079 And God, as he shows the Philistines, says, I will not be worshipped as one God among equals. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:43.279 If I were to reveal myself to you in that way, I would be misrepresenting who I am. 00:24:44.319 --> 00:24:46.079 I am the God of gods. 00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:52.400 You put me in a temple with another God, I will crush that God, destroy it, and make it worship me. 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:58.799 And that's the picture of what it means to bring Jesus into our hearts. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:05.039 All of a sudden, this thing that might have been one among equals, you know what my finances are really for? 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:06.799 They're to glorify Jesus. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:15.440 And so that financial idol gets crushed and its hands chopped off and its head cut off, and now it worships Jesus who stands alone. 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:28.720 You know, this is perhaps one of the most difficult things to overcome in our culture as someone who's really questing or searching for God. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:41.920 And the reason is because we're all sort of forced into this position that uh I heard a I read a great term describing it this week. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:47.440 It's called the heretical imperative, which means that you're all heretics. 00:25:47.599 --> 00:25:48.640 Congratulations. 00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:50.400 Welcome to church. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:52.559 You're all heretics. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:54.160 So, what do I mean by that? 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:57.039 Uh I'll explain with a very long quote. 00:25:59.759 --> 00:26:05.359 This is from a man named Leslie Nubigan, and it's in his book called Foolishness to the Greeks. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:33.920 Leslie Nubigan was a missionary to India for most of his adult life for about 40 years, and then he returned to his home of Scotland in the 80s and realized that the culture of the West had changed so drastically in his time away that he had to now approach this new Western culture in the same way that he had had to learn to approach the Indian culture that he had lived in. 00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:39.920 And so he came back and he was really helpful to the Western church, which is us. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:47.920 Because he has these fresh eyes that are able to peer into the culture that we live in, which just feels normal. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:50.960 And he was able to see this isn't normal. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:55.359 There's actually some strangeness in here, and this isn't the way things have to be. 00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:57.599 It's just the way things happen to be. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:19.039 So he says this the distinctive feature of this culture, which is our culture, is that there is no generally acknowledged plausibility structure, acceptance of which is normally taken for granted without argument, and descent from which is regarded as heresy. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:33.359 That is, according to the original meaning of hierasis, choosing for oneself, making one's own personal decision instead of accepting the given tradition. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:42.640 In modern Western culture, we are all required to be heretics, for there is no accepted plausibility structure. 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:53.279 With respect to ultimate beliefs, pluralism rules, and thus each individual has to make a personal decision about ultimate questions. 00:27:54.079 --> 00:27:59.200 In that sense, we are all now subject to the heretical imperative. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:19.519 What Nubigan goes on to describe is that this heretical imperative actually is our culture's plausibility structure in such a way that we can't really claw our way out of it. 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:25.599 It's even infected our language about the way that we talk about Jesus in Christianity. 00:28:26.079 --> 00:28:30.880 Where we say things like, I made my decision for Christ. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:29:00.160 The difference being, in one instance, we stand over a series of gods that we get to choose. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:05.599 And we pick one and we appropriate him into our lives. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:16.480 In the other instance, we stand under the one God who would make us and our other gods tremble. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:29.359 We stand under a holy creator in fear and brokenness, and our only hope in the world is that he would have mercy upon us, and the good news is that he has. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:33.119 And so I respond in kind to his mercy. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:44.559 That's a big difference between incorporating aspects of God to make you well-rounded and submitting yourself beneath the God who will crush your idols. 00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:58.400 All right, let's get back into our story and look at our last point, which is that God cannot be ignored. 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:13.680 So this idol remains in Ashdod, and it says, The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:26.160 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon, our God. 00:30:26.319 --> 00:30:29.200 I'm probably gonna pronounce that word differently every time I say it. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:35.519 So they say in Ashdod, they're breaking out in these tumors. 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:40.319 They're really receiving these plagues from God because they're holding the ark. 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:43.279 And they're like, look, we gotta get rid of this thing. 00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:52.799 And so they send it from Ashdod and then they move it to another city called Gath, and the same thing happens in that city where tumors are breaking out. 00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:56.720 Actually, mice are sent and they're devouring all the crops. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.720 And then that's Gath is like, well, we gotta get rid of this thing too. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:05.839 And so they take, they send it to Ekron, and in Ekron, the same thing happens. 00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:11.279 In fact, when it arrives in Ekron, they say, Oh gosh, the people from Gath are trying to kill us. 00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:13.759 That's why they're sending the ark over here. 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:23.039 And so finally, the people of Ekron gather together and they get together all the other people, the leaders from the cities of the Philistines. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:26.720 They're saying, We have to get rid of this ark. 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:29.759 Do you realize what God has done alone? 00:31:30.240 --> 00:31:34.240 He's forced the surrender of the Philistines. 00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:50.640 God, who is summoned to defeat the Philistines, doesn't when he's summoned to do so, and the ark is stolen, but the glory of God is not stolen. 00:31:51.359 --> 00:32:02.799 And so God takes himself on a victory tour through the cities of the Philistines as they move him around and surrender one by one. 00:32:02.960 --> 00:32:06.000 And ultimately the priests of the Philistines gather together. 00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:08.720 They say, This God is not like ours. 00:32:10.400 --> 00:32:21.519 And the God that they thought they could try and ignore, now they have to deal with, and they deal with him now on his terms, treating him as God. 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:23.839 The priests gather together. 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:26.480 They say, How will we get rid of this? 00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:29.920 And this is what they reason to do. 00:32:30.160 --> 00:32:32.000 1 Samuel 6, 5 through 6. 00:32:32.319 --> 00:32:41.119 So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land and give glory to the God of Israel. 00:32:42.319 --> 00:32:43.599 Perhaps. 00:32:44.799 --> 00:32:48.480 Not once you do this, it will make him do this. 00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:50.799 Perhaps. 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:55.039 This God isn't like our gods that we control with our sacrifices. 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:59.039 He's not the type of God that we summon and he does our bidding for us. 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:02.799 We just have to hope that he'll be merciful. 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:07.119 Because he's above us and our other gods. 00:33:08.720 --> 00:33:14.400 Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land. 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:19.119 And then they will remember what God has done before. 00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:24.160 Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:25.279 These are the Philistines. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:26.799 It's not the Israelites. 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:28.640 But they've heard the story. 00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:35.039 After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away and they departed? 00:33:35.599 --> 00:33:43.119 They say, look, after the people departed, he had dealt severely with them, but then they just went away. 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:45.039 And then it was okay. 00:33:45.279 --> 00:33:47.359 Maybe we could be so lucky. 00:33:47.599 --> 00:34:07.839 And so what they decided to do is put uh create these sacrifices, the golden tumors, the golden mice, and they uh hook some cows up to the ark on a trailer, and they say, okay, we're gonna send this back to the Israelites, and if the cows just walk there on their own, then we know that God was doing this. 00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:12.880 If they kind of wander around, then we'll know it was the tumor thing is just a coincidence. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.239 And that's really what they say. 00:34:16.480 --> 00:34:23.920 And so they go to the ark, the cows walk directly into the nearest Israelite city. 00:34:25.280 --> 00:34:34.880 And we see this picture that the Philistines are shown this mercy, they're the plagues are lifted because they're treating God as He has revealed Himself to be. 00:34:35.119 --> 00:34:39.360 And the Israelites don't change. 00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:44.000 They don't change their approach to God. 00:34:44.159 --> 00:34:55.920 It's right when it shows up, it's it's been in the city, and they don't move it into the temple, they don't move it to the high priest, and uh instead it just remains in this city called Beth-Shemash. 00:34:56.159 --> 00:34:56.800 Bethshem. 00:34:57.280 --> 00:34:59.519 It's a it's it starts with Beth. 00:35:01.199 --> 00:35:04.400 And he struck some of the men of Beth-Shemesh. 00:35:04.559 --> 00:35:07.199 This is 1 Samuel 6, 19-20. 00:35:07.440 --> 00:35:16.800 And he, God, struck some of the men of Beth-Shemesh, these are Israelites now, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. 00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:19.599 He struck seventy men of them. 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:26.559 And the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. 00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:33.199 Then the men of Beth Shemesh said, Who is able to stand before the Lord? 00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:36.800 This holy God. 00:35:39.519 --> 00:35:42.719 And to whom shall he go up away from us? 00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:50.800 See, they're looking to do the same things that the Philistines did, saying, Get him away. 00:35:52.880 --> 00:36:06.880 And that's because when they learned something about who God really is, that he wasn't their possession to summon, to get what they really wanted, they also learn something about themselves. 00:36:08.159 --> 00:36:28.159 If God is as holy as he describes himself to be, if God is as completely unapproachable, if God really is the type of God who looks upon our sin and wars with wrath against it, who can approach him? 00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:34.559 Who can stand before this holy God? 00:36:36.079 --> 00:36:39.360 We can't even look at him without being destroyed. 00:36:43.519 --> 00:36:45.199 That's who God really is. 00:36:48.079 --> 00:36:50.400 So we'll return to our first question. 00:36:52.079 --> 00:37:03.440 If that's who God really is, how do you seek a God like that? 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:09.360 A God who even when you look at it would destroy you. 00:37:09.840 --> 00:37:15.039 Who, when you get to know him, what you learn about yourself is that you're vile and you ought to be destroyed. 00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:18.639 How do you seek a God like that? 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:32.559 When we start to ask that question, now we're seeing God as he really is. 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:45.760 Martin Lloyd Jones was a pastor in London in the middle of the last century, which is a cool way to say that. 00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:50.400 He says this. 00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:57.280 He says, that is the great message of this book from beginning to end. 00:37:57.440 --> 00:37:58.880 That's the Bible. 00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:04.000 It is God revealing himself. 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:09.920 It is not the great religious quest of mankind, no. 00:38:11.360 --> 00:38:23.360 It is the great eternal God drawing back the veil and giving insight into and a knowledge of himself and of his great and gracious purposes. 00:38:23.679 --> 00:38:26.559 This is the subject matter of the Bible. 00:38:26.800 --> 00:38:30.559 The good news is that God seeks. 00:38:31.519 --> 00:38:34.320 God has revealed himself. 00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:44.719 And the greatest revelation that we've been given of God so that we can know him, even when we're incapable of seeking a God like that. 00:38:45.519 --> 00:38:48.320 That God revealed himself to us. 00:38:49.519 --> 00:38:54.719 He revealed himself to us by taking on flesh and being in our very form. 00:38:56.239 --> 00:38:58.639 Who can look upon a God like that? 00:38:58.880 --> 00:39:00.320 We couldn't. 00:39:00.719 --> 00:39:09.280 But Jesus could be that God that we could look upon and he could come and touch us. 00:39:10.800 --> 00:39:39.039 And the vileness that's in our hearts that makes it impossible for us to stand before that holy God, Jesus was able to bear that punishment so that we might be utterly free, completely forgiven, standing whole before this holy God, not some manufactured copycat of a God, but really God. 00:39:41.360 --> 00:39:46.320 In that revelation of Christ, we see that God has sought his people. 00:39:51.519 --> 00:39:55.280 That is the real picture of who God is. 00:39:56.559 --> 00:39:59.280 That's the good news of Scripture. 00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:15.280 So if you're seeking God, if you're on a quest like that, consider that perhaps the way you're seeking him, maybe you can't get there from here. 00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:29.039 Maybe it would really take someone like Jesus to reveal who God really is so that you could see him. 00:40:32.480 --> 00:40:32.800 Okay. 00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:35.840 Let's take a question. 00:40:38.000 --> 00:40:42.960 Why does it seem sometimes in the Old Testament that people are expendable to God? 00:40:43.599 --> 00:40:47.199 I.e., so many Israelite soldiers dying in these two battles. 00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:50.000 Yeah, it's a great and sensitive question. 00:40:56.719 --> 00:40:59.119 There's two ways to answer it. 00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:01.679 One feels bad, one feels good. 00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:04.559 So let's start with the one that feels bad. 00:41:09.599 --> 00:41:18.159 This ties into our theme for the day, which is that God is God. 00:41:20.559 --> 00:41:25.519 And we don't relate to him like we relate to a stronger person than us. 00:41:26.559 --> 00:41:31.119 We relate to him as a creature relates to its creator. 00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:36.320 We all exist now on his whim. 00:41:38.159 --> 00:41:40.400 He has no obligation toward us. 00:41:41.599 --> 00:41:46.639 Our very existence is just contingent upon him and his desires. 00:41:47.679 --> 00:41:51.599 When we see God like that, we're actually seeing God. 00:41:53.199 --> 00:41:59.840 And so there's a little, there's a small correction in our hearts that we may need to make when we ask this question. 00:42:01.039 --> 00:42:06.480 When you zoom out and consider his perspective on a matter such as that, what is the life of a man? 00:42:07.280 --> 00:42:09.039 At that point, it's like C.S. 00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:13.679 Lewis talking about the fear that World War II was causing in his students. 00:42:13.840 --> 00:42:17.840 And he was saying that, why are we so afraid? 00:42:18.159 --> 00:42:23.039