1 SAMUEL 4:1-11 EVIDENCE OF MISPLACED FAITH2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 4:1-11 Evidence Of Misplaced Faith

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015.

Well, this morning as we look at 1 Samuel chapter 4 verses 1 through 11, I titled the message this morning, Evidence of Misplaced Faith. Evidence of Misplaced Faith. Because what we see with the Israelites here in this passage is that they were trusting the

In the wrong thing. And trusting really in the wrong way. They had placed their hopes and trust and faith in this particular object called the Ark of the Covenant.

Now the Ark of the Covenant was something that God instructed the children of Israel to make. It was part of his design and his plans for the tabernacle. And it had a special place in the furnishings of the tabernacle because God declared that he would dwell there in the midst of these cherubim that were covering the Ark of the Covenant. And so this Ark of the Covenant had a special place as far as God is concerned in

But the way that Israel is viewing and using the Ark of the Covenant here in this passage is completely different than what God had designed.

And so I would ask you to consider, as you look at their example this morning, their misplaced faith, I would ask you to consider, do you have misplaced faith? And we'll look at some of the evidence that we can find of misplaced faith as we look at the examples of the Israelites here in 1 Samuel chapter 4.

I'm sure you've heard it said, it's a very common saying, Christianity is not a religion, it is what? It's a relationship, right? It's a saying that we've heard, it's a saying that we know, and yet as often as we say that, I wonder sometimes if we reflect and understand what it really means and what it's really talking about.

And I would ask you to consider, as you talk about, or as we talk about misplaced faith today, I would ask you to consider that saying and wonder, are you involved in religion? I would say that the children of Israel in this passage are very religious, but they're not involved in the relationship with God that they need to have and that he desires with them. And that's the big reason for the issues that they have.

And we need to be challenged because it's a constant temptation and a constant tendency for us to kind of drift into religion mode where we are not really engaging in relationship with God. And so we have to watch out for ourselves and make sure that we maintain that closeness and that walk with God that he desires and requires.

Pastor John Corson says something great about this. He says, in looking at this passage, he says, the same thing can happen to me. Just as the children of Israel trusted in this Ark of the Covenant, he says, I bring the Ark into my camp. He says, my boxes are all checked off on my spiritual to-do list. And the Lord would say to me, it's not about bringing a box into your camp or checking a box off on a list. Only a relationship with me will bring victory as I guide you step by step through

day by day. We can get caught up in religion, much like the children of Israel, and trust in things that are really in a substitute for a real relationship with God. And Corson says, only a relationship with God will bring victory as he guides you step by step and day by day. Do you have that kind of relationship with God, or is your faith misplaced?

There's five evidences of misplaced faith that we'll see as we work through our passage together. The first one is found in verses one through three. The first evidence that your faith is not where it should be or in something that it should not be in is you move before seeking God. Here's a sure sign that you are trusting in something other than right relationship with God. And that is when you move, when you go forward, you make decisions that

before you've heard from God. We pick up the account again in verse 1, and it says, It's setting the stage for us for this battle that's about to take place.

Now, I would describe this pretty much as normal life for the Israelites. They are going to battle against the Philistines. This was not something brand new. This was something they were used to. Last year, they were going to battle against the Philistines.

Last week, we looked at the account of Samson, and we saw Samson engaged with battle with the Philistines as well. The Philistines have been in the land for some time, invading the territory and always seeking to expand their territory, taking from Israel the land that God had given to them.

And so it was pretty much a normal thing. Every year, you know, the season for war would come around and they would be battling against the Philistines, defending their territory or maybe trying to take back territory that the Philistines had conquered. This was their normal. This was their routine. They were going to battle as they usually would. Verse 2,

So in this particular battle, Israel is defeated. And it's a pretty strong defeat. I mean, 4,000 of their soldiers are killed in this battle. They're defeated and they feel it pretty strongly. They're distressed about it.

And so it tells us in verse 3 that when the people had come into 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 from Shiloh to us, that when it comes to us, it may save us from the hand of our enemies. Here we begin to see the first evidence of misplaced faith. That is, the children of Israel here think about God only because

After they've been defeated, they are defeated. It's a big defeat. 4,000 of their soldiers are killed. And because they're distressed about it, now they begin to think about God. And they begin to wonder, how could God let this happen? How could God allow this to go on? How could God let this unfold and let these many soldiers die? They're wondering why God would let this happen.

But as you look at this account here in these first few verses, you can clearly see there's an absence of God giving them instruction to go to battle. There's an absence of them going to God to ask for guidance, for his direction and for will before they head out to battle. And so there's no indication that they sought the Lord, that they heard from God, but they went to battle without instruction.

hearing from God, without seeking God. And as we maybe imagine the situation, perhaps we could understand why. The Philistines are engaged in battle. They're moving north. This area, Aphek, where the Philistines were camped, was farther north than their normal territory that they had. And so they're making some progress. They're moving north, invading territory, and

And Israel is reacting. They're responding and saying, all right, we got to get on this because they're taking land. They're taking cities. People are dying. And so mount up, let's go. And they go to battle against the Philistines. But they do that and they arrive there at the campsite. They engage in the battle, but it's only after they're defeated that they start thinking about God.

that they start wondering what God has to say or why God would allow this. Again, in verse 3, when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? So they start to think about God here. But Israel, they really had an opportunity here.

to correct the situation right away, to recognize, oh, wow, we went to battle without asking God. We went to battle without seeking God, without hearing from God.

So let's do that now. Let's turn and hear what does God want for us to do now in this predicament, in this situation. And as we walk through these different evidences of misplaced faith this morning, I want to encourage you that at any point, if God shows you that there is some areas where your faith is in the wrong place, that you have the opportunity at that time, just like Israel did right here, that you can correct that and you can turn to God and say, okay, God, I'm going to do this.

I've been trusting in some things that are not right, that are not of you. That's not where you want me to be, but I'd like to be where you want me to be. And so now would you please direct me and give me instruction of what you would have me to do? That's what the children of Israel should have done.

But instead, as they start to think about God now, they don't turn to him and try to get, you know, some insight from him, some instruction from him. They take their problem further and they don't actually ask God. Instead, they come up with their own ideas, their own plan about why they think God let this happen. Because their faith is,

is misplaced. And so they're going to reach out to the object, to the Ark of the Covenant, and bring that instead of seeking God to hear from him. This morning, I would ask you to consider, and I will ask you to consider over and over again, is your faith misplaced? Do you move before seeking God? Do you make decisions? Do you go forward? Do you perhaps go to battle? Do you make some changes in your life that

without hearing from God? I would ask you to consider some decisions that you've made recently. How have you made those decisions? What brought you to the conclusions that you came to? Why did you do those things that you decided to do? Did you seek God first in those decisions? Did you hear from Him what He desires for you and for your life? You see, if we move before we're seeking God,

It means that our faith is misplaced. It means that we're trusting in something else. We're trusting in perhaps our wisdom. And so, well, I don't really need to hear from God on this because I know what's best in this situation. I know what needs to be done.

Maybe you're trusting in your strength. Well, I can handle this, or this is what I want. Maybe you're trusting in other people's opinions. Well, I asked, you know, four or five people, and they all said the same thing, and they're godly people. And so, you know, I'm going to trust their opinions and do what they suggested that I do. We have to watch out for misplaced faith. What is it that God wants you to do?

What is it that God desires for you and in your life? Again, if you see that your faith has been misplaced, don't make the problem worse like the elders of Israel did.

But you have an opportunity to turn and to call out to God and to hear from him. I would ask you to consider the words of the commentator Alexander McLaren. He said, Except the true one, their own departure from him.

Many times we can be like Israel and we can think, well, why was there this defeat? Why did this plan not come together the way that I expected? Why didn't I get the birthday present that I wanted for my birthday? Why? Why is God allowing this in my life?

Why did I lose this job? Why, you know, whatever. Whatever we perceive as a defeat in our lives. Why would God allow this? And we can come up with all kinds of reasons. Well, maybe it's because, you know, I didn't do this particular thing. Maybe I didn't read my Bible enough. I didn't pray enough today. That's why I got in a car accident. Maybe, and we can invent all kinds of things that perhaps, you know, that's the reason why God

But the core issue here for the nation of Israel and many times for us, the real issue is their departure from God. And that's the question for us to consider. Are you where you need to be in your relationship with the Lord? You know where God's called you to be. You know the kind of relationship that God's called you to have with Him. Are you there, engaged in that relationship? Or have you departed from Him? One clear evidence that you have misplaced faith

is when you begin to move, you begin to make decisions, you begin to do things without hearing from God. It's a clear sign that that relationship that you're supposed to have with God, it's not where it needs to be. And God would have you to come back and get right with Him, to engage once again in that relationship with Him. Well, the second evidence of misplaced faith found in verse 3, as we continue on, is that you trust in things of God.

You trust in things of God. Again, verse 3 says, Here in verse 3, we can clearly see there is a major problem here.

with the condition of the people of Israel. Their hearts are really off. Their faith is misplaced because as they call out for the Ark of the Covenant to be brought, their declaration is that it may save us from the hand of our enemies. Now, the Ark of the Covenant was something that God had given to them. So this wasn't like them calling out to, you know, some idolatrous statue or

This was something that God had initiated, that God had established for them and called them to create this Ark of the Covenant. But as God gave them the instructions for the Ark of the Covenant, as he gave them the designs and the dimensions and instructed them how to build it, he also gave some clear instruction about what it was for.

In Exodus chapter 25 verse 22, God says to Moses, and there I will meet with you and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim, which are on the ark of the testimony about everything, which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel. So here in Exodus chapter 25, God says, there I will meet with you.

He's talking about on the Ark of the Covenant, you had the Ark itself, which is basically just a box. And then there was a lid to the box. It was the mercy seat. And as part of this mercy seat, there was two cherubim, two angels that were fashioned on it. And God says there on the mercy seat between the angels, that's where my presence is going to dwell. And that's where I'm going to meet with you.

And so God says, that's what this is for. This is a place for me to dwell and for me to meet with you. But as the children of Israel here are calling out for the Ark of the Covenant to be brought, they're not bringing it in order to meet with God. They're not attempting to hear from God. They're not attempting to dwell in his presence and to have him speak in their lives. They're, in essence, using it as a good luck charm.

You know, it's like a lucky rabbit's foot or, you know, some other symbol perhaps that people might hold on to and say, well, I keep this with me because then I always have good fortune, good luck, things go well with me. So they say, well, let's bring the ark and it will save us. The ark will protect us.

There's another possibility here that they might have been thinking as well, in addition to it being a good luck charm, they might have been thinking, well, we can force God to give us victory by having the Ark here, because surely God will not allow the Ark of the Covenant to be captured.

For sure, they would have thought, God's not going to let that happen. He's not going to let that be dishonored or defiled in that way. And so if we have it with us, then God will be forced to give us victory. Either way, their faith is misplaced. They're going about things the wrong way, and they're trusting in the things of God, but they're not actually trusting in God himself. They're trusting in the object of

and not the creator. Now, it's a good object. The Ark of the Covenant was God's design. It was part of the holy furnishings, and that's an important lesson for us. Good things, things that God has given to us, can be used the wrong way. And things that God has given to us can become idols in our hearts and in our lives. When we trust them instead of walking with God, our faith is misplaced.

Is your faith misplaced? Are you trusting in the things of God rather than God himself? For a couple examples of what I might mean by that, I give you this quote from Thomas Constable, the commentator. He says, modern believers base their hope of spiritual success on a spiritually strong spouse, regular church attendance, or even the daily reading of the Bible.

He says, these things are no substitute for a vital personal relationship with God. So Israel brought the ark into the camp, and they thought, that will save us. The ark will save us. Now, for us today, I don't think any of us are tempted to bring the ark of the covenant into our home or into our workplace because, well, we don't really have access to it. If we did, you know, that would be a different story. But we have the same experience.

tendency, in the same capacity, to start to trust in things that are good, but miss out on the relationship with God as a part of them. So he gives the example of a strong, spiritually strong spouse. And there are many who trust in their spouse. Well, if we're going the wrong direction, if we're doing something that's out of line, well,

You know, God will show it to him. God will show it to her. And instead of having your own relationship with God, you rest on, you rely on someone else to have relationship with God for you. And that is misplaced faith. Regular church attendance, he gives us another example.

And that's something that we can easily fall prey to. We begin to think that, well, because I went to church, because I'm faithful in church, then, well, God owes me these things, or these things will take place, these things will happen. I'll be able to have success in life, or I'll be able to accomplish certain things because...

I'm faithful to go to church. Or we think the other way, I'll be protected from things. I'll be protected because I was faithful to attend church. The other example that he gives here is the daily reading of the Bible.

Now, Pastor Tom, a couple weeks back, really gave us a strong encouragement, right, to be spending time in the Word of God every day. And that's something that we consistently encourage the congregation here with. Be involved in the Word of God. And that's why we have a Bible in three years reading schedule, because it's really important, it's really good for us to be in the Word of God, reading the Word of God every day. But,

understand what the purpose of that is. Just like the Ark of the Covenant, its purpose was for God to be in the presence of his people and to meet with them. The word of God and spending time in the word of God has the same purpose. If we are reading through the word of God and we're spending time faithfully, diligently in the word every day, but we're not connecting with God, our faith is misplaced. We're trusting in something that is not able to save us or protect us.

Because the whole purpose of studying and reading and spending time in the word of God is to have and further and grow in our relationship with God. Think about what Jesus told the religious leaders. He says, you search the scriptures because in them you think you have life. But he says, these are they which testify of me.

Same pattern, same peril that Israel did with the Ark of the Covenant. The religious leaders trusted in the scriptures and they knew them well. They had them memorized. They could quote them back and forth, but they missed Jesus. They missed what it was all about. They didn't connect with God through the scriptures. They just learned them.

They knew them, and that is a potential for us. So make sure you don't read your Bible so you don't fall into that trap. No, no, no, that's not what I'm saying, right? The point is, make sure you get into the Word of God, but make sure that you do so not with the idea, well, this will save me. This will preserve me. This will protect me. This is what I'm trusting in. But make sure that you get into the Word of God in order to

to connect with God, to hear from God, to walk with God. And I think the same things could be said of prayer as well. Prayer is something that is good, that is good for us, that is needed and necessary. But sometimes we get our minds messed up when we think about prayer. And we get involved with something, we go forward with something, and we say, God won't let this fail because I prayed.

I prayed today, so God's not going to let this fail. It's going to be successful. It's going to be, you know, a victory. It's not going to go wrong. But I would ask you in that situation, well, you prayed. What did God say? You see, the issue is not so much whether or not you prayed, but what did you pray for? Did you pray so that you could tell God to bless the thing that you wanted to do? Or did you pray to find out what does God want you to do?

It's a big difference. It's one thing for us to go do what we want to do and say, okay, God, now bless what I'm doing. That's what the children of Israel did. They said, we're going to battle. Bring the ark. Okay, God, now bless the battle because we've asked you to come and be part of it now. That's a whole different thing than saying to God, Lord, do you want us to go to battle? And then being obedient as he gives the instruction. Don't try to use prayer as a means to get God to do what you want. Use prayer.

to submit yourself to what God wants, to hear from him and to follow his instruction. And so it's misplaced faith when we are trusting the things of God. We're trusting that, well, I prayed. We're trusting that, well, I read the Bible. We're trusting in these rituals, in these things that we do, the disciplines that we have, and not actually having a real connection with God and hearing from him. Well, the third evidence of misplaced faith is found in verse four and five.

You have strong emotions without God's presence. Something to consider. Do you have strong emotions, strong emotional experiences, but no substance of a real connection with God? In verse 4, it tells us, "...so the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of the covenant of God."

And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. So the elders say, here's what we need to do. Go get the ark. So they send the messengers. The two sons of Eli bring the ark. And as it comes into the camp, the soldiers of Israel get very excited. And they shout so loudly that the earth shook.

Have you ever encountered that kind of excitement, that kind of shout, perhaps at some type of sporting event or maybe at the Harvest Crusade, you know, as there's this great joining together, unity of voices, and it's just like a loud waterfall. It's overwhelming, the power of the shout, the power of the voices as they come together.

And so it was like the earth shook because there was this loud shouting of all of Israel. They were so excited. The ark of God is here. So excited. But the problem is they weren't excited about the presence of God. In verse 4 it mentions, they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who dwells between the cherubim. So

That's the point of the ark. But they were excited about the presence of the object, but not the presence of God. And still at this point, they're not seeking God. They're not trying to hear from God. They're not inviting God to instruct them. Instead, they're caught up in this really strong emotional experience, and they're excited about it. Now,

In no way am I trying to say that emotional experiences are always bad. Different people have different levels of emotion, right? This is me really excited. I don't have that much emotion compared to, well, some other people. Some have real strong emotions. Some have lesser emotions. There's nothing wrong with that. Emotions are part of God's design.

They're part of who we are. They're a valid part of who God has created us to be. And he's created us all unique. And we all experience different levels and different types of emotion in different ways. It's not the emotions itself that are wrong, that are bad. But here Israel has had this huge emotional experience. And the real problem here is that there was no substance there.

And so it's all emotion. It's all excitement. It's all cheering and ground shaking. But there's no real valid connection to God. Now, they had this strong emotional response. Understand, their response was so strong because their faith was misplaced. This is really important to understand. Sometimes when we're going to emotional extremes, it's because we're trusting in something other than God.

relationship with God. Now, again, please understand, emotional extremes, I'm not saying that they are absolutely always wrong. If you read through the Psalms, you can see the emotional extremes. I mean, you know, David went through the emotional extremes, but he was anchored to God, and he always came back to that faith and that trust in God, that relationship with God, and that's the key.

That we need to have emotional experiences as God moves and stirs up great emotion. That's important. That's good. It's helpful for us. But we need to allow that to be part of our relationship with God and not as a substitute for it. So the emotions by themselves don't mean...

that God is there. It doesn't mean that God is working. We can have the emotions without the presence of God and without the working of God. Is your faith misplaced? Do you have strong emotions without the presence of God, without that connection to God? I like what David Guzik had to say about this. He said, certainly this would have been considered a great church service. Think about that.

I think it's been interesting for us as we've been doing the construction here. And we've had to make all these changes and stuff. And for many months, we were doing service without any type of sound system. Because with the wood on the floor and everything, there's a nice echo. And so it really wasn't necessary. And because we were having to clean up every week, it was a little bit too much to also set up the sound system as well. So we went without.

And one of the interesting things, as we went without the sound system, was it allowed for us-- and I don't know if you noticed this, but certainly I did, and I know a few others have as well-- to hear the congregation sing during the worship time. It's been just a great blessing. I mean, it's just awesome, because everybody's been-- I don't know if everybody's singing differently than before, but you can hear that. And it's exciting, and it brings joy.

To hear, especially for those who are leading worship. Hey, if you ever want to bless someone who's leading worship, let them hear your voice. And as they hear you singing and joining in, it's just exciting. It's a great blessing. Now, if we came in today and we had time of worship and everybody was singing and we all were lifting up our voices and the ground was shaking because we were praising God so much, that would be exciting. And we would consider that a great service. And oh man, the spirit moved. But if we only have the emotion...

we only have that excitement and we don't actually hear from God and we don't actually obey him as he speaks to us, then our faith is misplaced. And that will put us in the position of always being in search for that next big emotional experience. And now we're just kind of chasing this emotional thirst that we have to try to like, oh yeah, let's do it like that. Like when we had that one time and it was like really good. Oh yeah, the worship was so great. Hey, those times are great and praise God for those.

But if we have those without actually hearing from God and submitting ourselves to him, our faith is misplaced. Fourthly, as we go on to verses four through six, the fourth evidence of misplaced faith is your beliefs match the unbelievers. If your beliefs are consistent with the world around us, there's a problem.

And that's what we see happening here in verses 6 through 8. Let's read through those verses. It says,

So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, woe to us, for such a thing has never happened before. Woe to us, who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. As strong as the response was from the Israelites when the ark came into the camp,

The Philistines had an equally strong reaction because the Philistines and Israel viewed the ark of God the same way. They were both incorrect. Their faith was misplaced on both sides. If the Philistines had received the ark into their camp, they would have been so excited that they would have shouted so that the earth shook. And Israel would have been dismayed, just as the Philistines were.

They were looking at this object. They were looking at this particular thing. Again, it was something that God had designed and given to them, but they were looking at it all wrong. And think about this with the Philistines. They said in verse 8, These Philistines had heard about how God delivered Israel out of Egypt. This is

them looking back and remembering or hearing about events that happened hundreds of years earlier. But they'd heard about these incredible events, how God used the plagues and brought Israel out of Egypt and delivered them from the Pharaoh. So they heard about God's greatness and his strength. They heard about God and what had taken place. But notice, here's the issue. The Philistines are still invading the land. So they knew about God.

They heard about how big God was. They heard about his greatness. They recognized and confessed their God is greater than all other gods. But they did not submit to God. Even though they knew about him, even though they'd heard about him, they were not submitted to God. They were invading the land that God had given to his people. They didn't turn and say, let's get to know God. Let's meet God. Let's serve God. Let's be submitted to this God. They continued to fight against God.

even when they knew about him. The Philistines and the Israelites had similar beliefs. Their hearts were about the same. Now, it's not surprising when unbelievers have a wrong understanding of what God wants or how God works. Sometimes,

personally, individually, we get surprised, right? Maybe someone around us, not a believer, we're surprised by the things that they say about God. We're surprised by the way that they talk about God or what they think about God. And that's surprising to us. But it really shouldn't be because, well, they don't know God. And because they don't know God, they don't know what it means to walk with God. They don't know how God works. They don't know his nature or character. And

So it really shouldn't be that surprising. As we look at the Philistines, it's not that surprising that they responded this way and that they believed, you know, these things about the Ark of the Covenant, about the object itself. But the children of Israel, they should have known better. And sometimes you and I, even though we should know better, we fall into this pattern of, well, we start to believe the same way that the world around us believes.

It's an evidence that our faith is misplaced. Think about your friends and family that are not saved, that are not walking with the Lord, or maybe they're involved in some other type of religion. How much are you able to agree with them on spiritual things? How much do you have in common? How much are you able to talk about and you're in agreement even though they do not know the Lord?

You see, that's a concerning thing if it is there. It's something that we should be considering because, well, think about what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14. He said, He says the natural man, the unbeliever, the person who's not been born again, they're not able to receive the things of the Spirit of God.

It's like foolishness to an unbeliever, the things of the Spirit of God. And so when we are in sync with what the world around us believes, there's an issue. Because the world around us should look at what we believe and think, you know, that's pretty foolish. Because unbelievers are not able to receive the things of the Spirit of God.

You have to be born again. You have to have been redeemed by Christ, by believing in Jesus, in order to have that spiritual discernment to receive from God. Remember what Isaiah said. I think it's Isaiah chapter 55. He says, as high as the heavens are above the earth, God says, that's how high my ways are above your ways. In other words, radically different. And things that we would say naturally say, well, that's foolish.

That's not helpful. That's not good. That's not beneficial. God would say, that's my way and it's what's best. And there has to be this submission on our part to say, well, my natural understanding, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't work in my head, but this is what God says. And so God, I'm going to obey you. I'm going to trust you and submit to you. I'm going to place my faith in you instead of what I think. And I'm going to do what you say.

And so I'm going to forgive when you say to forgive, even though it doesn't make sense for me to forgive. But I'm going to forgive. And then you find God has his ways. And they are right. They are what's best. Well, the world around you would say, you don't ever have to forgive that. You never need to forgive that person. Don't ever. Why would you even think about that? Now, if you and the world around you get together and say, oh, yeah, we should never forgive that guy, you know, then understand, hey,

there's potentially a problem. There's maybe some faith that's misplaced because you're viewing things the same as the world. You're not hearing from the Spirit of God. And when you hear from the Spirit of God, it's not going to match up with, it's not going to line up with what the world thinks, with what unbelievers think. Now, there are those who are religious in the world around us, and they have the idea that, hey, good works earn favor with God.

And you and I can get caught up in that mentality as well. And so again, when we begin to be in sync with those who are saying, well, yes, God blessed me because I, and you know, all the credit goes to me. I did whatever I did because I did this. And then God blessed me. Watch out. There's some evidence there that your faith is misplaced. If you begin to agree with the world around you, those who are following other doctrines, things that are not of God.

We could look at a variety of examples, but moving on with just one more example, and that is, you might have heard recently, back in July, Jimmy Carter was interviewed by the Huffington Post, and the issue of gay marriage was discussed, and Jimmy Carter says, I believe Jesus would approve gay marriage. Now, what his sources were for his conclusions here, not stated, but clearly not the scriptures, not what God says.

But Jimmy Carter identifies himself as a born-again Christian. He calls himself, hey, I'm a born-again Christian. But he comes to the same conclusion, and he's in agreement with the world around us. Their beliefs match. Oh, yeah, Jesus would totally approve that. He says, they say, but what does God actually say? What do the scriptures say? We must be submitted to God. And if we're submitted to God, it's not going to match up with what the world says.

It's going to be like foolishness to the world. Well, the fifth point, final point for this morning, the object of your faith can be taken. You know your faith is misplaced when the object of your faith can be taken away from you. Verses 9 through 11 say this,

Verse 1.

Here's the Philistines. They have this misplaced faith. They think, well, the ark's there. That means they're going to win. Their gods are bigger than our gods. And so they encourage each other and they say, hey guys, our gods are not going to win this battle for us. So you Philistines, you got to be like men and you got to fight. And so there's this pep rally going on there. Pep rally? I don't know if that's the right, that sounds kind of girly. I don't know. There's

There's this locker room speech going on, right? They're drumming up some adrenaline. They're building up some strength. And they're going to go out and fight like men because they know their gods are bigger than our gods. And so they go out and fight with all that they got, with all their might. And they have victory over Israel. And the slaughter is far greater than before. Before, 4,000 died. But now 30,000 of Israel are put to death.

Israel suffered a greater defeat, again, because their faith was misplaced. The Philistines fought hard. I would ask you to consider this. Our enemy, like the Philistines, recognizes the power of God, and so he is fighting ferociously. And if your faith is misplaced, like Israel's was, and you're trusting in something else that is not a genuine, real relationship with God, you're

If you're only pretending to have God, you're going to be defeated because the enemy is fighting with everything he's got and he wants to destroy you. He knows God's bigger than he is. If you're trusting in objects, you're going to be defeated. If you're trusting in rituals, if you're trusting in religion or disciplines that you have, you will be defeated. Is your faith misplaced? Can the object of your faith be taken from you?

If it can be taken from you, it's a clear evidence that your faith is misplaced. Maybe think about it this way. Can your faith endure prison? Now, on the one hand, we could say, well, who would really know that, you know, unless I actually went to prison? Like, you know, I would only know that if the situation presented itself. But think about it in terms of, well, we've been praying for Pastor Saeed, right? Pastor Saeed has been in prison in Iran for the gospel, right?

For several years now. Stripped away of, well, perhaps the things that you would think about regarding your own walk with God. He's not able to go to church. He's not able to gather together in fellowship with believers. He's not able to, you know, spend time in the word of God. He's not able to do a lot of the things that we would associate with, this is my walk with God. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't have a walk with God. His faith endures prison.

He can have that strong relationship with God, even with everything else stripped away. Can your faith endure that? Can the object of your faith be taken from you? Is there some part of your religious experience that if it was taken from you, you would not have a walk with God anymore? If that's the case, your faith is misplaced. You're trusting in something else. Not that we shouldn't engage in all of those things. They're good things, but

But we need to engage in them in order to further our relationship with God, to draw near to him, to grow, and to be obedient to him. I like what Charles Spurgeon says about this. He says, we think of 1,000 inventions, but we neglect the one thing needful. We forget the main matter, which is to enthrone God in the life and to seek to do his will by faith in Christ Jesus. He says, we think of 1,000 inventions,

We come up with all kinds of things. All right, here's my plan. Here's how I'm going to please God. Here's how I'm going to make God happy with me. Here's how I'm going to secure this or that or whatever, protect myself from that. We can come up with all kinds of things of how to bring the ark into our camp. But we forget the main thing. I really like what he says here. To enthrone God in the life. That's the main thing. To put God on the throne of your life. So that, again, as we go back to the beginning here,

You don't move before seeking God because God's on the throne. He has the final say. He has the final authority so that you don't just trust in the things of God, but that you trust God himself because you're relating to him. You're hearing from him. You're discussing with him. You're submitting to him. Enthrone God in your heart. Enthrone God in your life. And Spurgeon went on to say, "'And seek to do his will by faith in Jesus Christ, "'by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ "'upon the cross.'"

by trusting in what he has accomplished for us, seek to do God's will and be submitted to him. We're going to conclude our time together this morning with a time of communion. And I'll invite Ronnie and Kim to come on up and prepare to lead us. The ushers are going to prepare the bread and the cup. And during the song, they're going to pass out the bread and the cup. And I would encourage you to partake of the bread and the cup at any time during the song. But here's the thing.

Communion can be just another ritual. It can be just another thing that we do, you know, just another thing that we trust in. If it's just that, if it's just a ritual. But I would encourage you this morning, don't let it be just a religious ritual. Jesus gave us communion and said, do this often in remembrance of me. And so he gave us the bread, which represents his body that was broken. He gave us the cup, which represents his blood that was shed. And he said, partake of these.

And as you do, remember me. And you can go through this time and, you know, sing the song and eat the food and drink the drink and not be any better for it if your faith is misplaced. But I would ask you to consider, where is your relationship with God? Where are you at with him? Are you in submission to him? Use this time to genuinely remember what Christ has done for you.

Use this time genuinely to receive again what Christ has done for you and accept his sacrifice upon the cross for you. Use this time to thank Jesus, but also use this time to submit yourself to him once again, to make sure that he's enthroned in your life. And so they're going to pass out the bread and the cup. And at any time during the song, feel free, you partake, but make sure you do so not as a ritual,

but as you have engaged with Jesus Christ. Let's worship the Lord together.