Taking God Out of the Box

Scripture reading comes from 1 Samuel chapters 4 and 5.

1 Samuel 4 · chapter mention

Please follow along on the screen, in your bulletin, or your own Bible.

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines.

They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistine encamped at Aphek.

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.

And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said,

Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?

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.

So the people sent to Shiloh, and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord, a host.

He was enthroned on a cherubim.

And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

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.

And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said,

What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?

And when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp,

the Philistines were afraid.

For they said,

A God has come into the camp.

And they said,

Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before.

Woe to us.

Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?

These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.

Take courage and be men, O Philistines,

lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you.

Be men and fight.

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated,

and they fled every man to his home.

And there was a very great slaughter,

and thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.

And the ark of God was captured,

and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day,

with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head.

When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road,

watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God.

And when the man came into the city and told the news,

all the city cried out.

When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said,

What is this uproar?

Then the man hurried and came and told Eli.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

And the man said to Eli,

I am he who has come from the battle.

I fled from the battle today.

And he said,

How did it go, my son?

He who brought the news answered and said,

Israel has fled before the Philistines,

and there has also been a great defeat among the people.

Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead,

and the ark of God has been captured.

As soon as he mentioned the ark of God,

Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate,

and his neck was broken and he died.

For the man was old and heavy.

He had judged Israel forty years.

Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant,

about to give birth.

And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured,

and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead,

she bowed and gave birth.

For her pains came upon her.

And about the time of her death,

the women attending her said to her,

Do not be afraid, for ye have born a son.

But she did not answer or pay attention.

And she named the child Ishabod, saying,

The glory has departed from Israel,

because the ark of God had been captured,

and because her father-in-law and her husband.

And she said,

The glory has departed from Israel,

for the ark of God has been captured.

When the Philistines captured the ark of God,

they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,

then the Philistines took the ark of God,

and brought it into the house of Dagon,

and set it up beside Dagon.

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.

So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.

But when they rose early on the next morning,

behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground

before the ark of the Lord,

and the head of Dagon and both his hands

were lying cut off on the threshold.

Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.

This is why the priests of Dagon

and all who enter the house of Dagon

do not tread on the threshold of Dagon

in Ashdod to this day.

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.

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.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Thank you so much, Celeste, for reading to us.

I know it's a long passage that we're looking at.

As we go through Samuel,

some of these are going to be longer passages,

but it's really important for us

to actually hear God's word in full.

We've actually going to,

I'm going to summarize some of the last part

because we haven't looked at all of it.

But I hope actually,

as we're back on Zoom again,

that we can actually just still our hearts

to really hear what God wants to say to us this morning.

I don't know what kind of day you've had.

I don't know what kind of morning you've had.

I had a little bit of a crazy morning with my kids.

But actually, Jesus is still on the throne.

Whether we're gathering physically

or whether we're on Zoom,

Jesus is still here with us.

So let me just pray for us

as we get into God's word

and invite him to speak to us.

Father, we thank you that you

are not the God that we imagine you to be.

You're not the God that we try and make you to be,

but you're a God who's so much better than you,

than we think you are.

And I pray today,

even as we look at this tricky passage

where there's a whole load of stuff,

even about judgment.

And Lord, I pray that we would see you

for who you really are,

that you would come and open our eyes

to see that we don't come before you casually,

but we come before you joyfully

because you're a God who is so awesome

and yet so present and so merciful and gracious.

So speak to us, we pray.

Amen.

In Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

Great.

Great to see a lot of you.

I can see,

I saw Jesse and Victoria earlier.

I saw the Yangs and Edward and Ada

and a few others.

Great to see you.

So we're continuing in our series in Samuel.

And today's going to be,

there's a challenging passage in many ways.

But as I start,

I was reading a professor from New York University.

He's an atheist

and he's a very prominent philosopher

called Thomas Nagel.

And he said this,

he said,

I want atheism to be true.

It isn't just that I don't believe in God.

It's that I hope there is no God.

I don't want there to be a God.

I don't want the universe to be like that.

Now, I actually appreciate his honesty

because what he's saying is how we view God

is often less to do with our kind of rational arguments

that we live by,

but more to do with the desires

that we have in our hearts.

An atheist like Nagel

might not want God to exist

so his life can carry on without interference.

Or a religious person

might want God to exist

but to be the kind of God that they want

rather than the God that he actually is.

I was talking to Alan in the week

and he told me in Nepalese culture,

the Nepalese church is fine with a God of judgment,

but they have real problems

with a God of mercy and forgiveness and grace.

I've spoken to some other people who said to me,

yeah, I believe in a God of compassion and forgiveness,

but I don't like this kind of God

and this stuff about a God of judgment.

You see, today's passage is difficult for many of us

because it calls us to stop making God in our own image.

It calls us to take God for who he really is,

not for who I want him to be,

you want him to be,

or your culture wants him to be

because actually who he really is

is a place of life

and a place of blessing

better than we can ever conjure up for ourselves.

And so this series we're looking at in 1 Samuel,

we've seen how the real theme that's going through

is how man looks at the outward appearance,

but God looks at the heart.

God raises up the humble who turn to him

and he brings down the proud who trust in themselves.

And we've seen that with Hannah,

who was honored as she ran with desperation to God

and God provided her with a son.

We've seen that with Samuel, the little boy,

but actually he was listening to God's word

and how God honors him as the last judge of Israel

and how God has promised to bring down the sons of Eli

and Eli himself and his household

because they were dishonoring God

and treating his word with contempt.

And today in chapters four through to seven,

this is the kind of block we're gonna look at,

we see how God plays out his promises

of what he had said to the sons,

how his judgment comes.

So he removes the weeds from the garden of Israel

so that new life and new flowers

can flourish and blossom in the kingdom

and the new king can come.

So I'm gonna look at three things.

I'm gonna look at putting God in a box

and then when God breaks the box

and then our response to that.

So let's start off, putting God in a box.

And so I encourage you to have the passage in front of you.

I'm just gonna pull through a few key verses

to show you what's going on.

So background, Israel has been in an on and off conflict

with the tribes of the Philistines

and it's been going on throughout the book of the Judges

and now they're back on the battlefield again.

And this time they suffer a crushing defeat.

And in the book of Judges, which were dark times,

when they were kept defeating,

even then the people would actually cry out to God

and God would come and deliver them.

But here we see the Israelites don't do that at all

because we see the Israelites are users of God,

not those who turn to God.

And so here we see verse three.

Their response is,

why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?

That's a good reflection question.

And notice they say,

why has the Lord defeated us?

Not the Philistines defeated us.

Because you see defeat in battle

in those times was seen as either a sign

of the weakness of your God

or a sign that your God was displeased with you.

And here we see the Israelites

see that their God, Yahweh,

is not happy with them.

But how do they respond?

Do they repent?

Do they go back to see what does God require of us?

No, they come up with their own little fix,

their own plan to deal with the situation.

Verse three continues.

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.

Well, just stop and think about it.

What is the ark of the covenant?

If you know your Old Testament,

you know the ark was a wooden box

overlaid with gold,

which symbolized the footstool

of the throne of God himself.

It's the throne of the Lord of hosts.

And that means the God of the heavenly armies,

the all-powerful one.

This is a sign of his rule.

And it's a holy thing.

Numbers four tells us

that no one was to look at it.

It was meant to be kept hidden

behind a curtain in the tabernacle,

in the holiest place,

and treated with great reverence

because it shows the presence of God himself.

And it's the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

And so inside were the Ten Commandments,

the tablets of the Ten Commandments,

showing that God's covenant

with his word, with his people,

is right at the center

of a relationship with him.

And then on the very top

was what's called the mercy seat.

And this is the place

where the high priest would come in

and would offer blood

from the sacrifice of an animal

to bring forgiveness and cleansing

for the people's sin.

You see, the ark was about

God's holy rule,

his presence.

It's about his covenant

through his word.

And it's about the place

of forgiveness and reconciliation

to a sinful people.

It's a highly significant thing.

And so the Israelites,

they figure,

well, this box is from the Lord of hosts,

God of the armies.

So like Joshua defeated Jericho

when he took the ark before him,

let's bring out our secret weapon,

carry out the ark,

out of the tabernacle,

put it on the battlefield,

and ya-ra-ra,

we're going to win this thing.

And do you see

who's actually organizing

the whole thing?

It's da-da-da,

the sons of Eli.

Remember them?

Okay, they're the ones

who just treated God

with utter contempt.

They had taken

and used their position,

priestly position,

to get for themselves,

sleeping with all the women around,

because it was all about them,

their whole religion.

And yet,

they're organizing

the whole of this,

and the Israelites

go wild.

They're excited.

They're now confident

they've got their box with them.

Okay?

God's going to come

and defeat the Israelites,

Philistines for them.

But it's all a load of hot air,

because they have literally

put God in a box

to use him

to get them out of trouble,

but they don't actually want him

for who he really is.

You see,

isn't that actually sometimes

what we often do?

You know,

we can have problems at work,

or you've got a job interview,

or you've got a health crisis,

and suddenly,

you haven't really been

praying very much,

you haven't really been

engaging with God,

but suddenly,

your prayer life just takes off.

You're kind of at church,

you're really trying to do

whatever it takes

that you can get from God

the answer that you need.

And then,

when he fixes your situation,

what do we do?

What happens to our prayer life?

Suddenly,

we go back to

what we always were.

We just kind of move on.

We kind of put God

back in the box.

You know,

we kind of wheel him out,

like giving us some licey,

for New Year,

like an elderly relative,

and then wheeling him back

to his nursing home,

leaving him there,

ignoring him for the rest of the time

until we need him again.

I don't know if you've ever felt

used by someone,

but it's not nice.

Because when we do that,

we're not seeking

the holy God of the universe

in relationship with him.

We're using him,

putting him in a box,

and that's actually contempt of God.

And the thing this passage

is going to show us

is God will not be put in a box.

That's the Israelites.

They're religious users.

But then,

let's look at the pagan,

the Philistines.

They are pagan refusers.

Because what do they do

as the ark comes out?

They go,

a God has come into the camp.

Who can deliver us

from the power

of these mighty gods?

You see,

they've actually got more reverence

for this

than the Israelites.

They've heard of the power

of this God.

They've heard of the victory

over the Egyptians.

But they don't go,

wow,

let's just surrender

before this awesome,

powerful God.

Instead,

they go,

take courage,

be men of Philistines,

lest you become slaves

to the Hebrews

as they have been to you.

Be men and fight.

You see,

they've heard this God,

but they,

like Thomas Nagel,

don't want him

to be their God.

They prefer their idols

because they think

they're going to lose

their freedom

if they surrender to him.

They'll become slaves

and restricted.

And so they refuse God

and they actually fight

against him.

Because you see,

some of us may be users,

some of us may be refuses.

But the result of this

is bad.

Israel is demolished

by the Philistines.

30,000 dead,

Eli's son's dead,

the ark of the covenant

of God captured,

and Eli waits trembling

to hear the news.

Remember,

in chapter 2,

verse 34,

God had promised him

that both of his sons

would die on the same day.

The news,

when the news came

of their death,

it didn't shock him.

What did shock him

was the news

that the ark

of God's presence

had gone,

had been captured.

And it kills him,

literally.

He falls over backwards

and he dies.

And it says,

because the man

was old and heavy.

And actually,

it's a play on words here,

because the word for heavy

is the word kabod,

kabod in Hebrew.

It's actually the same word

for glory.

See,

the glory of God

in the Old Testament

is his weightiness,

his substance,

that when he speaks,

there is power

and weight

behind who he is.

But Eli,

in honoring his sons

above God,

you see,

he had lived

for his own kabod,

his own glory,

and it ends up

killing him.

That's really sobering.

And then,

his daughter-in-law

hears the news,

and it gets even worse,

because she goes into labor

and she dies,

proclaiming,

in the name of her son,

she says,

her son is called

Ichabod,

kabod,

same word,

saying,

the glory,

kabod,

has departed from Israel,

for the ark of God

has been captured.

You see,

literally,

she says,

the glory has gone

into exile.

But do you know

she was wrong?

God's glory

and God's presence

didn't depart

from them

when the ark left.

The glory of God

had long since departed

because Israel

had long since departed

from honoring their God.

And the amazing thing

is this,

the pagan news

at the time,

would have gone,

Yahweh defeated,

Dagon,

the Philistine god,

reigns supreme,

because warfare shows

whose God is strongest.

But God doesn't work

in our ways.

You see,

man looks at the outward

appearance of defeat,

but God was fulfilling

his promise to Eli,

he was bringing an end

to the family's corrupt rule,

and he was wiping

the slate clean

to prepare

for a fresh,

clean start

that he wanted to bring.

God's judgment

clears the dead branches

out so that new life

can come.

A scholar

named Dale Ralph Davis

said this,

a very challenging quote,

he says,

Yahweh

will suffer shame

rather than allow you

to carry on

a false relationship

with him.

He will allow you

to be disappointed

with him

if it will awaken you

to the sort of God

that he is.

You know,

when I was in the UK,

where I studied,

the university,

many of the lecture halls

and the drama studio

and even flats

were actually

old church buildings

which had closed

and they'd been taken over.

And many people

I heard lamented,

oh,

the glory departed

when the building shut.

No,

the glory doesn't depart

then.

It departed long before

when people

had treated God

as a user

and weren't lovers

of him.

You see,

God may,

and this is challenging,

but this is what

the passage is saying,

God may allow

your plans,

he may allow

your prayers,

he may even allow

his church

to be defeated

to wake us up

to who he really is.

And you know,

I've talked to people

who say things like,

I used to pray

before job interviews

and every time I prayed,

God gave me the job,

but I prayed this time

and I didn't get the job.

Like,

what went wrong?

Like,

what's the point

in praying?

But maybe

we've made God

our genie,

we've put him in a box,

he is so gracious

to us,

but sometimes

he'll disappoint us

so that we come

to him for him,

we come to him

for his face,

not just for his hand

of what he's going

to give us.

So that we learn

how to honour him

as the holy God,

the sovereign God,

the gracious God,

but who God really is

not to use him.

That's the first thing.

When we put God

in a box.

But the second thing

is this.

When God

breaks the box.

And

I love this,

this is kind of,

I'd love to see this

acted out,

but maybe Annabelle

and Justin

can do this for us later.

But just when

Yahweh

seems down

and out

for the count,

God proves

that he's still

on the throne.

Do you remember

in chapter 2,

Hannah's prayer

says,

the adversaries

of the Lord

will be broken

in pieces.

And so what happens?

Verse 5,

sorry,

chapter 5,

verse 1 and 2.

When the Philistines

captured the Ark of God,

they brought it

from Ebenezer

to Ashdod.

And then the Philistines

took the Ark of God

and they brought it

into the house

of Dagon

and set it up

beside Dagon.

See,

remember,

I said warfare

was a battle of gods.

And so when pagans

won a victory,

pagan nations

won a victory

over another nation,

what would they do?

They would bring

the image

of that nation's god

and like a hunter's

trophy cabinet,

they'd put it

in their temple

to show,

look at all the people

we've defeated.

It was,

because you know,

refusers,

when they seem successful,

they love to mock

and to look down

on those who seem

defeated and weak.

But here's what I love.

I love this part.

And when,

this is verse 3,

when the people

of Ashdod

rose early next day,

okay,

they're probably

like kind of,

a bit kind of cocky

after the victory

of the day before,

they walk into

their temple

and it says this,

behold,

Dagon had fallen

face down

on the ground

before the Ark

of the Lord.

You see,

what's happening

is Dagon

is literally

prostrate

on the floor

before the Ark

of Yahweh.

That's actually

how people

used to work,

worship.

If you see

how Muslims pray,

that's how people

would do it.

Dagon is worshipping

Yahweh.

It's kind of comical.

It's tragic.

And so,

what do the people do?

They go,

oh,

do they repent?

No.

They prop their idol

back up into their place.

And so,

what does it say?

They took Dagon,

put him back in his place,

and the next morning,

okay,

what happens?

Behold,

Dagon had fallen

face down on the ground

before the Ark

of the Lord.

And now,

the head of Dagon

and both his hands

were lying cut off

on the threshold.

Only the trunk

of Dagon

was left to him.

Do you get the message?

Okay?

Your idols suck.

That's what he's saying.

Okay?

What you think

is the source

of your success

actually is just

a museum piece.

because anything

you trust in,

anything you give glory

to for your success

or for anything

in your life

other than God himself

will ultimately

at some point

be exposed

and brought low

and been shown

for a dead,

worthless idol

for what it really is.

You see,

you haven't kind of

COVID

and even you think back

to like the financial crisis

in 2008

and a thousand

other things

shown us things like

we're not in control.

Our plans

are not God.

Yet how many of us

kind of,

we continue to prop

that idol

back up in its place,

you know,

trust our own plans,

our own abilities,

our own success

for what can make us through.

And you know,

God is sometimes

so gracious to us

to actually smash our plans,

to actually smash

the things we trust

into pieces

to wake us up

to see that

his holiness

is the source

of life

that you are craving

for and longing for.

He is the source

of everything

that you ultimately desire.

He is our oxygen.

He is our life.

And he keeps going,

come to me.

I want to give you life.

Let me show you

that,

you know,

that your kind of,

your self-made snorkels

don't work in deep water.

Let me show you,

come to me.

But if you,

like the Philistines

and like a diver

who continually refuses,

no,

I don't want your oxygen.

I don't want your oxygen.

I can do it by myself.

I'm going to cut the line.

Trust yourself.

At some point,

God will not force

his life upon us.

And we will die

cut off

eternally from God

if we continually,

continually refuse him.

And you can't go,

well,

God's just mean,

isn't he?

No,

if you choose

to go,

hey,

I want my life,

my way,

not his way,

he will eventually

hand us over

to the consequences

of our choices.

And even if you're

a believer,

you're not going to,

there's not a place

of eternal death,

but actually he can

wake us up

through bringing

consequences

of our decisions

to us.

you know,

Paul in the Romans

says the wages

of sin is death.

God says,

don't walk away

from me.

And what happens

is God brings

a deadly plague

on the Philistines.

It's quite heavy

in many ways.

And that's where

we got up to

in the reading.

Because actually

scripture is really clear.

All of us

at some point

are users

or refusers of God.

at some point.

All of us

have sinned

and fallen short

of the kavod,

the glory of God.

We all of us

have not treated

God as God

in some way.

And all of us

experience our sin

and at some point

experience the consequences

when we get exposed

and God exposes us

in different ways.

And God is gracious

to bring our idols

to fail.

But when you feel

the consequences

of your sin,

do you know

what uses

and refusers do?

They either

become self-atoners

or they become

minimizers

and deniers

of their sin.

And here's where

chapter 6

comes into play.

We didn't read this

but here's where

chapter 6

kind of

picks up the story

and I'm going to go

quickly and summarize this.

But what happens is

the Philistines

seek to self-atone

and remove

the consequences

by appeasing God.

So they produce

a guilt offering

for God.

And that's good.

Scripture tells you

that sin requires

a guilt offering

for healing.

But what offering

do they bring?

Do they bring

a sacrifice

of an animal

blood to God's altar

as he required?

No.

They actually say

this and this is

verse 5.

They say

you must make

images

the word is

idols

of your tumors

and images

idols of your mice

that's actually rats

that ravage the land

and give glory

to the God of Israel

perhaps he will

lighten his hands

off you

and your gods

and your land.

Do you see

what they're doing?

They feel the consequence

of their sin on them.

Okay.

And so they're

appeasing God

by making

golden idols

of boils

and rats.

That's just gross.

In fact

in scripture

it's unclean

all of it.

And they're putting them

they put them

on a car

next to the

holy ark

of God

and they think

that these

disgusting images

in some way

are going to

please this God.

And they send it

back with the ark

and kind of hope

that they've just

kind of removed

the consequences

they can get on

with their lives

and their gods

and all the other stuff.

Because you see

this is them

self-atoning

making up

trying to remove

the consequences

of their sin

while still trying

to stay in control

without coming

to God

on his terms.

You know

I've got friends

who self-harm

and you know

self-harm

is a way

to try and remove

feelings of guilt

and shame

through shedding

our own blood.

It's a form

of self-atonement

and it's devastating.

It feels good

for a moment

but it leaves scars.

But it's

I think we can do that

also psychologically too.

You know

I talked to

a lady

who said

I know

God forgives me

but I can't

forgive myself

for what I've done.

You know

what she's saying

is

sure I understand

the idea

that God forgives

but that's not enough

so I've got to

self-atone

by being really

hard on myself.

Thinking that

maybe the worse

or the more guilty

I feel

the more likely

God is to forgive you

or to get you

out of it.

That's actually

psychological self-harm.

Some of us

self-atone

by serving

or doing charity.

Others

through confessing

your sin

in CG

removing the guilty feeling

you just had a nice

therapy session

in your CG

and then

you go away

and you just carry on

with the rest of your life

and then you come back

again next week

just confess the same

thing

but you have no sense

of actually trying

to really change

or to make any difference

in your life.

It's actually a form

of self-atonement.

Remove the consequences

of sin

without running to God

to truly cleanse you

from your sin

and to truly change you

so that you want him

for him.

Now that's

what the Philistines do

self-atonement.

The Israelites

they do something else.

When the ark returns

they are ones

who minimize

or fail to own

their sin.

The ark gets back

and the Israelites

don't kind of repent

sorry God

we've just been

users of you.

No they go

oh everything's fine

the ark's back

let's have a party.

They sacrifice the cows

when only bulls

were meant to be sacrificed.

They put the ark

on a huge stone

for everyone to look at

when actually it was

meant to be hidden

and treated respect

behind the curtain

of the tabernacle.

God is still in their box.

They're still users

after all that has

happened to them

and the judgment

of God comes upon them

and death comes upon them

and they go

oh this is a problem.

Who is able

to stand before the Lord

this holy God?

Okay that's a great question.

Psalm 24 says

yeah only those

who've got a pure heart

and clean hands.

And so they don't go

let's repent.

They go

oh to whom shall he

go up away from us?

Let's get rid of him.

We don't want him.

Okay.

We don't want him

because he doesn't

fit in our box.

You see

when self-atoners

and minimizers

still have God

in their box

they do so

because they don't realize

that when you come to God

on his terms

when you let him

break your box

you can quit

being hard on yourself.

You can quit

all your self-atonement.

You can quit

denying or minimizing

your sin

because he has made

a way

to face it fully

and to remove

all of your sin

and consequences.

Because the crazy thing

in the story is

the whole way along

the top of this

holy ark

of the covenant

which has been

with the Israelites

which has been

with the Philistines

all along

was the mercy seat

where

through the blood

of an animal sacrifice

the people

would be cleansed

forgiven

healed

and could experience

God's blessing

into their life again.

And we know

as Christians

if you kind of

fast track the story

those of us

who've been

in Watermark a while

we know

that actually

we have a

new covenant

that's the ark

of the old covenant

that we have

a new covenant

in Jesus' blood

which as we celebrate

communion later

we're celebrating

this new covenant

which is sealed

with Christ

came to die

to atone

for every ounce

of God's judgment

on us

every ounce

of all need

for self-atoning

removed

because Jesus

paid it all.

He drained

every morsel

and every drop

of it.

There's nothing

but grace left

it's a throne

of grace

Hebrew says

for those

who come to it

and who come

to him.

God's mercy

triumphs over judgment

for those

who come to God

in his way

not in our way.

His forgiveness

is total.

No believer

needs to live

in a cringing fear

that God

is somehow

going to condemn you

God is somehow

going to be

disappointed in you

God is somehow

going to turn

his back on you

you haven't done

enough for him

because

if you run

to the one

who wants to

give you oxygen

and life

he's not

withholding

it from you

he's been wanting

to give it

to you all along.

Nothing delights

him more

than when sinners

come and repent

before him.

He delights

to call us

his beloved

sons and daughters

and the only

condition

to receive mercy

is to quit

using

and quit

refusing

God

and return

to God

on his terms

with empty

hands

in repentance.

20 years later

chapter 7

Samuel

finally appears

he hasn't been

anywhere in these

last two chapters

he finally appears

and he calls

the people

back to relationship

to himself.

7 verse 3

says this

he says

if you are

returning to the

Lord with all

your heart

put away the

foreign gods

the Ashteroth

that's an idol

from among you

and direct your

heart to the

Lord

not just to use him

not just to refuse him

but to actually

want him

and do you know

what they did?

I mean

this is like

one of the highlights

of the book of Samuel

it's like the one

of the few times

to actually do

something right

so the people

of Israel

they put away

the Baals

and the Ashteroth

and they served

the Lord

only

you see

what happens

revival

begins to break

out in the people

of Israel

and God

brings them

the very

victory

over the Philistines

that they had

wanted all along

because finally

they've woken up

to see that when

you love God

for God

when you honestly

turn to him

he can deal

with everything

else in our lives

when you come

in his way

there is life

there is life

there is life

what does this

mean for us?

here's the final thing

we're going to take

communion

actually in a second

and that's that

symbol I said

of the presence

of a holy God

with us

bringing us

this incredible

forgiveness

through Jesus

death

as the only way

that you can

come to God

do you know

some of us

don't truly

enjoy communion

and everything

it represents

we don't truly

enjoy

and get excited

at the grace

of God

because you read

passages about

judgment like this

in the Bible

and because of

upbringing you've had

or experiences

you've had

we know

theoretically

that God

loves us

and that Jesus

forgives us

we kind of know

that because you've

been in church a while

but we still put God

in this box of harsh

or hard

or demanding

or disappointed

but you know

God so loved

the world

that he sent Jesus

to die for you

not to forgive you

theoretically

but to smash

that box

it's actually a false idol

it's a false image

it's an idol

the box

that God

is harsh

towards you

that's maybe

your parents

that's maybe

your culture

but it's not God

he wants you

to come to him

as you come

to communion

firstly to repent

of all the ways

that we try

and self-atone

be totally honest

and real before him

about sin

don't have any hiding

and when you do that

you can find

the most joy

filled freedom

that there is

full forgiveness

for you

every time

you confess sin

let me tell you

never just confess sin

and confess sin

always finish

thanking God

that it is dealt with

and don't take it up

and don't

you know that phrase

in that song

it says

when Satan tempts me

to despair

and tells me

of the guilt within

upward I look

and see him there

who made an end

of all my sin

if Satan comes

to make you despair

you tell him where to go

because Jesus

has already dealt with it

some of you need to hear that

some of us

need to hear a different message

some of us

we get God's forgiveness

but here's the challenge

of the passage

we actually take it lightly

it doesn't thrill us

we come casually

to communion

we come casually

confessing

we respond to sermons

casually

because we don't want

to face the cost

of change

we don't really want

God to be God

in every area

of our lives

John the Baptist

says bear fruit

in keeping

with repentance

let's not carry on

as users

or refusers

of God

Paul actually says

and here's actually

we often don't read

this part

but Paul says

in 1 Corinthians 11

some people have died

after taking communion

because they took it

so lightly

because they didn't

think about the sin

of the way they were

treating their other

relationships

and the way they were

treating God

God says

take my discipline

seriously

it's gracious

it's gracious

but I want to break

the box where you

treat me as your mate

I'm not a tame lion

as C.S. Lewis says

in the Chronicles of Narnia

but I am good

really good

so take me for who I am

on my terms

come and repent

and that is where

you're going to find life

I want you to

just take a minute

and just think

for yourself

where are you

with God

who do you

resonate more

within this story

what's the box

that you've placed

God in

are you a user

are you a refuser

if you haven't

got the communion

elements

I encourage you

to have them now

because we're going

to take it in a second

but before we do

we don't come lightly

this is a holy moment

this is an awesome moment

this is a joyful moment

for those who come

to God on his terms

so let's just

really take a moment

to actually examine

where we are

with God

how are you viewing him

what does your life

show you

about where you are

with him

he longs for you

to run back

if you need to repent

just take this time

to actually come

before him and repent

if you're not a believer

you need to take seriously

who is this God

don't make him

in your own image

you've got to take him

as he is

will you be like

the Philistines

or will you be like

the Israelites

at the end

who really do turn

and recognise

that he is the only one

some of you

actually need to

allow him

to just show you

his grace

maybe you just need

to actually

open up your hands

and release to him

some of

those boxes

that you've placed him in

and ask him

to change them

and break

break out of those boxes