God Rescues His Ark
The Gospel Project • Sermon • Submitted
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· 3 viewsGod's people are called to trust God alone and to avoid sinful superstitions
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I. God’s People Confuse God’s Symbol for God’s Presence
I. God’s People Confuse God’s Symbol for God’s Presence
The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. As the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. The Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.
1 sam 4
Two things have happened just before this takes place:
God has confirmed Samuel as a Prophet.
God has pronounced judgment on the house of Eli.
The elders were quick to recognize that God was the cause of their defeat.
When we suggest that God could be the cause of modern calamities, how do people react?
Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
What are some symbols of Christianity we can revere without honoring the God behind the symbol?
Church attendance.
Giving.
Church membership.
So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.
‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.
Modern Christians focus ONLY on the compassion passages recorded in the Bible and take those passages either to be the sum of Christ’s person or the most important aspect of Christ’s ministry.
Where should our focus be as Christians?
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition The Larger Catechism
Quest. 1. What is the chief and highest end of man?
Ans. Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him for ever.b
God is exalted in our weakness
7-10
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
The People Receive the Symbol of God’s Presence with Joy and Worship
The People Receive the Symbol of God’s Presence with Joy and Worship
Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it. The cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stood there where there was a large stone; and they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the Lord. When the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day.
What role do God’s people have in God receiving glory?
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
To glorify God is not to add anything to God that God does not already possess. We cannot lift God any higher, objectively speaking, than he already is. God is lifted up and magnified in us, not in reality.
Ethics in Philosophy asks the question, what is the Summum Bonum?
Christian ethics says that the greatest good is God’s glory.
What should worship look like?
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
We are to present our bodies as living and holy sacrifices.
Acceptable to God.
This is our spiritual service of worship.
Do not be conformed to this world.
Be transformed
By the renewing of your mind
SO THAT…you may PROVE what the will of God is
Prove: dokimadzo - to make a critical examination of something to determine determine genuineness.
Richard Longenecker says:
The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle to the Romans Exegetical Comments
The result of this inner renewal of the believer’s mind, which is brought about by the work of God’s Spirit, is this: “Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”
The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle to the Romans Exegetical Comments
What the apostle means by his use of the three articular substantival adjectives τὸ ἀγαθόν (“the good,” “what is good,” “the right”), τὸ εὐάρεστον (“the pleasing,” “the acceptable”), and τὸ τέλειον (“the perfect,” “the complete”)—which he uses in characterizing the nature of God’s will that the Christian, by means of the renewing actions of the Holy Spirit on the believer’s mind, comes to experience—can be aptly summarized as “that kind of life which the renewed mind of the Christian person can see to be good in itself, satisfying, and complete.
For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
Other texts to speak to Christians presenting themselves to Go
you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The People Fail to Honor the Holiness of God’s Presence
The People Fail to Honor the Holiness of God’s Presence
He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. The men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?” So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up to you.”
How many of you noticed that your translation might say 50,070 instead of 70?
God’s holiness refers to His uniqueness in being separate from all He has created. The Hebrew word for “holy” means “separate” or “set apart.” God’s holiness also refers to His absolute purity. God is unstained by the evil of the world.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
How can repentance distinguish Christians from the world and be a witness to the world?
“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
What is the problem with focusing too much on outward expressions of worship?
Rock bands; light shows; loud rocky music; etc?
They appeal to the most shallow side of human beings and leave the heart unchanged.
Repentance is a heart issue.
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.
1 cor 3 16-17
“Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
שְׁמַ֖ע יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ יְהוָ֥ה׀ אֶחָֽד׃
and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’