1 SAMUEL 7 A CALL TO PURSUE GODS HEART2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 7 A Call To Pursue Gods Heart

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 2017. Well, this evening, we're going to be here in 1 Samuel chapter 7, and so let's begin by reading through the first six verses together, and then we'll get into what the Lord has for us this evening. 1 Samuel chapter 7, verse 1 says...

Then the men of Kirjath-Jerim came and took the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill and consecrated Eleazar, his son, to keep the ark of the Lord. So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath-Jerim for a long time. It was there 20 years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord."

Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel saying, if you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the asterisks from among you and prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve him only. And he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. Verse four. So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the asterisks and served the Lord only.

And Samuel said, gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you. So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day and said, we have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.

Here, as we look at 1 Samuel chapter 7, we really get to see the beginning of the ministry of Samuel. We had like little glimpses of his upcoming ministry in earlier chapters when the Lord called out to him and had him deliver a message to Eli. And then in chapter 3 also, it says that, you know, the Lord allowed his words to be established and all of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, from the north to south, knew that Samuel was a prophet of the Lord. But

There's a lot of time that passes from Samuel at a young age, first hearing from the Lord and being raised in the tabernacle, to this time in chapter 7. And a lot of time passes before he actually begins the full-time ministry that we would think of when we think of Samuel the prophet. And so Samuel is one who has been raised by the Lord and prepared for this time to minister to the nation of Israel and call Israel back

to a right relationship with God. Now, as we've looked at 1 Samuel chapter, well, all of 1 Samuel, we've been talking about the theme pursuing God's heart. And the idea there of getting right with God is in line with that. The pursuit of the heart of God as later on, God's going to

to declare that Saul, King Saul, does not follow God, does not obey the commands, does not seek after the heart of God. And instead, he's going to replace Saul with David, who is a man after God's own heart. And it gives us that idea of pursuing God's own heart.

pursuing the heart of God. Now, before there was David who pursued the heart of God, there was Samuel who pursued the heart of God. And it's this man that God is able to use to reach the nation and call the nation back to pursuing God's heart because they are not, they're far from God at this point. But now here in chapter seven, we get to see the revival take place. We get to see the change happen where they lay aside their other gods and begin to seek after God again.

And as we continue to consider this subject of pursuing God's heart, again, I would ask you, are you a man, are you a woman after God's own heart? Are you one who is in pursuit of the heart of God, that you are all out as far as your obedience to God, you're seeking after God, you're wanting to do God's will, you're wanting to please God? Is that the most important thing in your life and in your heart? Because that's what it means to pursue God's heart.

Well, this evening, as we look at 1 Samuel 7, the title is A Call to Pursue God's Heart, because that's what we see happen. From Samuel, a man after God's own heart, we see the call go out to others to pursue the heart of God. And as we look at this, I think there's two ways that we can look at this and should consider this this evening. First of all, it's a call to ourselves to

to pursue the heart of God. And I pray that we would all be responding to that as the Lord is speaking that to our hearts.

But also I would suggest that we look at this in the example of Samuel in modeling for us our role in the lives of the people that God has placed around us and that we have the opportunity as we are individuals who pursue God's heart, we then have the opportunity to be part of a call to the people around us to pursue the heart of God and to seek after the things that God has set in place.

The commentator William MacDonald says this about 1 Samuel chapter 7. He says,

He says, these are the steps to individual as well as national revival. And I would suggest that that continues today, that these are the steps. This is what we're seeing take place, this revival to a pursuit of the heart of God. And first it happens in Samuel, and then he is used by God to call the people to repentance and confession and cleansing and intercession and

and there is this change that takes place. And so it's a call to pursue God's heart for us individually, but then also for us to extend to people around us. Four points we'll look at as we work our way through chapter seven this evening.

The first point is found in these verses that we read, verses 1 through 6, and that is repent completely. What we see take place in this call to repentance that Samuel gives is a full and all-out, a complete repentance that is required.

Now, we begin in verses 1 and 2, kind of introducing the chapter. In verse 1, it says, So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath-Jerim a long time. It was there 20 years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

We're picking it up as the Ark of the Covenant had been returned. Last week we saw that it was returned from the Philistines who had captured the Ark in a battle earlier. They now, because of all the trouble that they had with the Ark in their midst, they returned the Ark to Israel.

Israel also has some trouble because they disobey God and try to look within the ark. And so the men of Beth Shemesh experienced a great slaughter as a result of their disobedience to God. And so they call the guys of Kirjath-Jerub and say, hey, you guys keep the ark.

We don't want to have it in our midst. And so that's how the ark gets there to this particular location. And it's going to stay there for a long time, not just for the 20 years that is mentioned here, but really almost 100 years until David later on brings the ark into Jerusalem. The ark stays here in this location. But it's there for a long time, it says in verse 2.

It was there for 20 years. Now that's a way to tell us about the time that has passed since the battle that took place when the Philistines captured the ark to now in chapter 7 where Samuel steps up and is going to be on the scene calling the people to repentance. Notice in verse 3 it says, Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel saying, If you return to the Lord with all your hearts filled,

Here we have Samuel now kind of as his first role, first opportunity to minister to the nation as a whole, as a prophet, a spokesman of God. And he speaks to all of Israel. And he says,

Warren Wiersbe points out the ark had been returned to Israel, but Israel had not returned to the Lord. So Samuel here is calling them to repentance. They got the ark back and it's been there for 20 years, but they still haven't got right with God. They still haven't begun to pursue the heart of God, even though they had received the ark of the covenant back from the Philistines. And so now the ark has been there for 20 years and

And then it tells us in verse 3, So the timing is specifically highlighted here. It's the exact right timing. I think this is interesting for us to consider. Samuel is recognized as a prophet 20 years earlier or more.

In chapter 3, it tells us that his words were established. Everybody from Dan to Bathsheba knew, or Beersheba, not Bathsheba, Beersheba. Everyone knew that he was a prophet of the Lord, but this call to repentance, this address of the nation doesn't happen for another 20 years after it's recognized that Samuel is a prophet of the Lord.

And this is recorded here because this is the exact right time for the nation of Israel where they're in a condition and they're ready to come to repentance and to begin to pursue the heart of God. Notice the end of verse 2. It tells us, Ark was there in Kirjath-Jerim a long time. It was there 20 years. And then, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

And this is a key element to the rest of this chapter. The rest of this chapter would not happen if verse 2 was not verse 2. That is, if Israel was not in this condition of lamentation after the Lord. That is, if they weren't mourning their state with the Lord, their position with the Lord. They weren't at a point to listen before. They weren't at a point to receive the call to repentance before.

But now their hearts have been brought to this place where they are mourning. They're lamenting after the Lord. They're regretting that they have not been walking with the Lord. They're regretting that they have not had a relationship with God as he's called them to have. And they are wanting to have. The tabernacle by this time is...

it seems, in pieces. That when the Philistines conquered Israel in chapter 4 and 5, we saw that, that they actually destroyed Shiloh, where the tabernacle was, and so they lost the ark, they lost the tabernacle, or it's in pieces, it's not set up. They have not had a real relationship with God for a long time, and

Now they're at the point where they're really regretting that. They're lamenting. They're wishing that they could have a right relationship with God again. And it's only at this point now that they're able to listen to what Samuel has to say.

And this is a truth. This is a reality for us. You know, we can have the best prophet in all of history stand right in front of us and still not heed the call to repentance, the call to pursue God's heart, because your heart has to be ready to receive it. It doesn't matter if you have, you know, Billy Graham in front of you, if your heart's not ready to

And if your heart is ready, well, then it doesn't matter if you have Billy Graham or Dave Burt in front of you calling you to repentance. Because the real issue is, what's most important is the heart. And God uses his servants and his spokesmen, but...

But the real issue here is they, it's not so much that Samuel wasn't ready until right now, but it's that the people weren't ready to receive this message. As they're lamenting after the Lord, now the Lord says, all right, now you're in a place where I can send my messenger Samuel. Remember that guy? You know he's a prophet.

And so he's able to, you know, pull up this guy and bring in Samuel, who they know, they recognize he's a prophet of the Lord. And so they're going to recognize him as a spokesman of the Lord, and they're going to respond to what the Lord speaks through him. And now they're ready to do that. Now they're ready to receive that message. And so Samuel in verse 3 speaks to all the house of Israel and says, if you return to the Lord with all your hearts, notice the condition.

You guys are lamenting, and you're expressing this desire to want to return to the Lord. You want to get right with God. And so Samuel here is going to explain how to do that, but it is a condition. If you really want to return to the Lord, well then return to the Lord, first of all, with all your heart. You can't return to the Lord half-heartedly. You can't return to the Lord partially. Now, as we'll see, as the language kind of clarifies this later on, that

They were still, if you ask them, hey, do you love God? Oh, yes, I love God. They were still sacrificing to God, even though there wasn't a tabernacle, even though there wasn't. They would still think that they're worshiping God while they were worshiping all these other false gods. They worshiped Jehovah. They worshiped Yahweh. They worshiped God along with other gods, right?

And what Samuel is calling them to is to return to the Lord with all their hearts, not just give God a piece of their heart, a little bit of their heart, but a complete giving over to God. And so he goes on to say, then put away all the foreign gods and the asterisks from among you. So step number one, return with all your heart. Number two, but really kind of goes hand in hand, put away the foreign gods because you can't return to God with all your heart alone.

If you still have foreign gods. Because then you're not returning to God with all your heart. You're returning to God with part of your heart. There has to be a letting go. In order to cling to the Lord. And so he says put away all the foreign gods. The asterisks. Now the asterisk and we'll see the balls. Mentioned in the next verse. These are idols. These are false gods. That the people of the land worshipped. And Israel had adopted these idols.

of worship and began to worship these false gods and

Again, we can see a lot of parallels here that we can learn from as we look at the world and society around us. And there is a lot of false gods that are around us. And I'm not just talking about false religions, but the pursuits of life, the passions of the heart. There's a lot of things that are not of God that are pursued by the people all around us. And it's so easy for us to adopt those manners of worship and those objects of worship and

And God would call us to return to him with all of our hearts and put away the foreign gods, put away the values and the things and the priorities of this world and the people of this world to pursue the heart of God wholly and completely. And so we need to return with all of our heart. We need to put away the foreign gods. He says, prepare your heart for the Lord.

Get ready for the Lord. Get ready to receive the Lord. There's some preparation that is required. There's some preparation that is necessary for us to be able to have hearts that pursue the heart of God. And so we need to, well, do the work.

We need to put in some time, put in some preparation, invest some time with God to prepare our hearts for the Lord. And then he goes on to say, serve him only. And so again, there's an exclusivity that God is the only one I'm going to serve. I'm not going to serve myself. I'm not going to serve this pursuit or this passion. I'm not going to serve this person. I'm not going to serve that thing. I'm going to serve God only. That is the condition that God

We need to have, that is the condition that Samuel calls the people to. That is what it means to pursue the heart of God. It's when you come to God with all your heart, everything else is put away. Your heart is prepared and you're ready to serve him only. And notice that this call to repentance, to complete and total repentance comes with a great promise. There at the end of verse three, he says, and he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.

For the past 20 years, they've suffered at the hand of the Philistines. They've been oppressed by the Philistines. It's not just the battle that they lost back in chapter 4, but ever since then, the Philistines have ruled over them, much like we saw throughout the book of Judges, that there was these nations that would rise up and rule over Israel and subject them. And the Philistines were ruling over Israel,

And Israel is now regretting that they have not been walking with the Lord as they suffer at the hand of the Philistines. But as they're in this place now where they're willing to listen, to hear the call, to repent, God gives them a promise. Look, if you return, I will deliver you from your oppressor. I will deliver you from the afflictor of your soul. I will deliver you from the one who has hurt you so much. I will deliver you. There's a promise of deliverance.

for those who return to the Lord and repent completely. Verse 4. So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths and served the Lord only. Again, it specifies these two false gods, these two idols that they were worshiping, the Baals and the Ashtoreths. Both of these were worshipers.

well, the practice of serving these gods were involving sexual immorality and those kinds of things, but all was believed to be the god of basically success, you know, the weather and success in their produce and their harvest and all of that. And then the Asherah was the goddess of fertility. And so they would worship these gods for entertainment, for success, for pleasure. There's all kinds of, you know, things that you could consider, but

The point is they put away the Baals. As they got this call, as they received this call from Samuel, they responded. And this is important because, well, you go back to verse 2, they had the lamentation in their heart. They had the conviction in their heart. They had the recognition that we're wrong. We're out of line. We're out of sync with God.

but that was now joined with their outward action. And both of those have to go together. That's what real repentance is. Real repentance is not just the lamenting of verse 2, and it's not just the putting away

things of verse four, it's the combination of both. You see, because we can be very religious and put away things, but not actually have an inward work that's going on. And so the children of Israel at this point, they are in a place to get right with God, where their hearts are turned to God, and now their actions, their lives are bearing forth fruit.

The fruit of repentance. And Paul tells us that in the New Testament. He calls us to bear fruits of repentance. That we would not just lament sin, not just lament our disobedience to God, not just be sorry for it or be convicted about it.

but that we would actually then take steps to change it, to put those things away, to not continue in them any longer. And so Israel is taking the first step here. They're doing good. They're not just lamenting, but they're responding to Samuel's call and putting away all of those false gods. Verse five, Samuel said, gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.

And so they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day and said there, we have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.

So Samuel sees this response. He sees them. Hey, they're serious about this. They're not just talking. They're not just lamenting, but they're actually putting away stuff. Okay, so now let's take it to the next step. Let's get together. Let's gather at Mizpah, which was a city nearby where Samuel lived. And it was a gathering place for them. And he says, let's gather there and I will pray to the Lord for you. We're going to call out to God together.

You're ready. You're putting away those false gods. You're convicted about your state and your condition with God. And so now it's time for us to go and call out to the Lord together. And so as they go to Mizpah, they do something interesting in verse six. It says they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. Now there's no instruction of God in this.

in the scriptures to do that anywhere. So we don't know exactly the significance of what that was, to draw water and pour it out. There is elements of the Feast of Tabernacles where they would draw water and pour it out as a symbol of trust that God was providing for them water as He reflected on their time in the wilderness.

But there's various ideas and interpretations. But the idea of just being completely poured out before the Lord is a good picture. That is, this is, you know, the condition of the hearts of the people, whether this is the exact significance that they intended or not. But

but to be completely poured out, to be completely given over to the Lord is the state of the people at this time, that they are surrendering themselves. They're turning themselves over and completely giving themselves over to the hand of God. It's a full repentance that they're, uh,

experiencing and practicing, and they fast that day. And so they're fasting, they're separating themselves from food, from the nourishment of this world to grasp hold of the nourishment of God. And this is all combined with confession as they testify, we have sinned against the Lord.

And so here we see a full repentance of the nation of Israel. This is a good thing. This isn't some fake thing that sometimes we see that they say, oh, we're gonna serve the Lord and then they walk away immediately and stuff. But no, this is a real repentance that's taking place. It's a full repentance.

that God uses Samuel to call the people of Israel back to right relationship with God. So understand at this time that angels in heaven are rejoicing and celebrating. There's a huge party in heaven in 1 Samuel 7 as the nation of Israel turns back to God, confesses their sin, turns themselves completely over to God. There's a full repentance that is taking place.

They've been away from God for a long time, but now God invites them to repent. And let me just say, as a reminder for all of us, it's never too late to repent completely. As long as we have breath, as long as we have life, we have the opportunity and God gives us the opportunity to repent, to turn and to get right with God. And we can repent completely no matter how long, no matter how far, no matter how messed up we've been.

But I would also say the opposite of that is true. It's not too early to repent. It's not too late to repent, and it's not too early to repent. We talked about that last week as we looked at the Philistines, and they're like doing a test because, well, we don't know for sure that it's God, and so we don't want to, you know, repent unnecessarily, you know, and I think we've all kind of had that struggle in our mind, in our hearts that, hey, maybe, you know, I don't really have to repent of this thing, and we put those tests before the Lord. But

The reality is it's never too early to repent. Anything's out of line. God's brought anything to your attention that's not right. It's time to repent. And you have the opportunity right then to repent. You don't have to wait 20 years to then lament and regret all of the consequences of that sin for the past 20 years to then come to the point that, well, I'll repent and turn and get right with God. But...

But it's the time right now. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of repentance. And so we need to begin to pursue God's heart again if we've been away. Return with all your heart.

Put away the foreign gods. Prepare your heart for the Lord. Serve him only. He promises deliverance for those who will come to him in this way. And I think it's not coincidence. I think there's design in God's plan that he also had us in Acts chapter 3 this morning, reading through the Bible in three years.

Acts chapter 3 verse 19, as Peter preaches to a multitude after a healing takes place and people rush in to see what's going on and hear this message from Peter, they're cut to the heart by the Holy Spirit and they say, what do we need to do? They're lamenting just like Israel was lamenting. And in Acts chapter 3 verse 19, Peter says, repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.

And I've always loved this verse because, well, I have clear memories of times of refreshing coming from the Lord after repentance. I don't know if you have some clear memories about that, but I know what it's like to have the burden of guilt. I know what it's like to have the burden of sin and the misery that accompanies sin. And even though, you know, correction may not feel amazing at the moment, but

When you respond to that correction and receive that correction, the times of refreshing, God can refresh your heart like nothing else. And the burden of sin and the weight of sin is so heavy.

David will later on talk about after he sins with Bathsheba, he talks about and describes in the Psalms that burden that he carried, the guilt that he carried, and how he grew old, and it was hard on him, and life was hard, and things were difficult, and just everything weighed upon him as he held on to that sin. But in repentance, there's that releasing of the burden of

And sometimes we're so stubborn and we carry around these heavy weights that would be released and times of refreshing would come.

If we would repent completely and turn those things over to God, turn away from those things to grasp hold of God completely. And just as God promised deliverance to the nation of Israel, he promises refreshing to those who repent and turn to him as he delivers us from the bondage to sin and death that we are engaged in when we are holding on to our sin and not repenting of it.

Well, moving on to verses 7 through 11, here we have point number two. First, we repent completely in this call to pursue God's heart. But then in verses 7 through 11, we have point number two, and that is trust God in the battle. Here's what you need to know about repentance. Anytime there's repentance, it's going to be followed by a battle. I could say we could guarantee that. We could, you know, stake millions of dollars on it. That is a guaranteed thing.

aftermath of repentance. There's going to be a battle. There's going to be opposition that comes. Anytime you attempt to turn your heart towards God, there's going to be a resistance to that. We, of course, know that our enemy hates us, doesn't want us to have anything to do with God. And so anytime we desire to go near to God, to draw near to God, to pursue God's heart,

There's going to be opposition. And we see that happen here in chapter 7, demonstrated, modeled by the Philistines. In verse 7, it says, Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

Again, it's something that we can count on. Every time you make a decision to pursue God's heart, the enemy will attack. There will be opposition. And the Philistines here go up against Israel.

Their decision now is going to be challenged. Will you really follow the Lord, Israel? Will you really trust in the Lord? Will you really call out to God and not to your false gods? Will you really stay the course and be faithful to the commitments that you just made? That is a challenge every one of us is familiar with and will continue to experience as we seek to walk with God. There's going to be opposition to it. Now, the last time Israel fought the Philistines, they lost.

and they lost severely. It's described as a great slaughter. In 1 Samuel chapter 4, 30,000 men died in the battle. In addition to that, they lost the Ark of the Covenant. It was a huge defeat that took place. And then not only that, but as I mentioned, it seems that

After that victory, then they came and destroyed Shiloh. That's where the tabernacle was. That's where, remember, Samuel was raised there in Shiloh in the tabernacle. But they don't go back to Shiloh anymore. The tabernacle is not there anymore after 1 Samuel chapter 4. It seems that the Philistines destroyed the city of Shiloh. And ever since then, the Philistines have oppressed Israel and taken much territory. And so it's not surprising in verse 7 that

It tells us the children of Israel, when they heard, they were afraid of the Philistines. You can see this kind of gathering, right? They're just worshiping God. They're repenting. They're sacrificing. They're devoting themselves to God. And then they get the news. The Philistines are gathered together to fight against us. And it strikes fear in their hearts.

They begin to be very fearful about their condition because they've experienced 20 years of affliction and oppression by these Philistines. They've already attempted to defeat the Philistines. They know they can't defeat the Philistines. They can't have victory over this enemy. And so they're fearful. They're afraid. But they respond fearfully.

It's reasonable for them to be afraid. It's not surprising that they're afraid. In fact, it's probably very appropriate that they're afraid. But the important part is that they respond to that fear correctly. In verse 8, they call to Samuel and say, do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.

So as this threat comes, they respond appropriately and they call out to God. They look to God to save them. And it's a little bit subtle, but it's a huge contrast if you'll take a look at it. It says that he may save us. Now you remember 1 Samuel 4, verse 3? They lost the first battle to the Philistines. They say, oh man, why did we lose? I know what we need to do. Let's bring in the Ark of the Covenant. Let's bring in the Ark of the Covenant.

And then we'll have victory. And in 1 Samuel 4, verse 3, it says that when it, the Ark of the Covenant, comes among us, it may save us from the hand of our enemies. Back a few chapters earlier, 20 years earlier, they trusted in the Ark of the Covenant. And it's a huge difference. It will save us. We're now here in verse 8, he will save us. There is a big difference between trusting in

artifacts, trusting in things, trusting in anything besides God. And it's an important thing that we need to understand because there is, well, it maybe is subtle on the surface, but it is a real big difference. If you're trusting in the church to save you, well, then you're going to be sorely disappointed.

If you're trusting in good counsel, as we talked about last week, to save you, well, you may be sorely disappointed. It really needs to be a connection to God, trusting in God to save you. If you come and meet with us for counsel and you want some direction for your life, you want some insight for your life, that's great and that's good. But if you're not getting insight from God and you're just trusting, well, that's what Pastor so-and-so said, that's what Pastor Pooley told me, so...

That's different. Trusting in Pule's word is not the same as trusting in God's word. Now, God may deliver his word through Pule, but it's not necessarily the same. And there's a big difference between trusting in someone or trusting in, well, I read my Bible every day, and you can trust in your rituals, and at the same time, not be trusting in God to save you. And there is a distinction there. And so here we understand that there is a need to call out to God that,

As we experience opposition in our pursuit of God, it's appropriate to have fear. The enemy is going to come at you and none of us are above this. We all experience fear at the attacks of the enemy because the enemy knows how to get to us. And we're all going to have to learn to trust God in the midst of the battle.

To trust God, to take those fears of our hearts, to take those things that we're terrified of, to take those things that freak us out and keep us awake at night and to take them to the Lord and to trust in him and call out to him and cast our cares upon him. And so the children of Israel come to Samuel and say, Samuel, pray for us that God may save us.

We're looking to God. We can't save ourselves. The Ark of the Covenant can't save us. We're not going to look at a religious ritual or a practice or some artifact. We need the work of God and the hand of God. And Samuel responds in verse 9. It says, Samuel, Samuel,

In response to the call of the people of Israel, he joins with them and he says, yes, I will call out to God for you. And as a means of doing that, he offers a burnt offering. Now, the burnt offering was the offering that was completely put upon the altar, right?

Most of the other offerings were just partially put on the altar. But the burnt offering was unique in that the whole animal was put upon the altar. And the idea was, it was a full commitment to God, a full consecration. Lord, you have all of us, all of me, every part of me. You know, it's a full commitment to God. And Samuel here, as he burns this offering, it's significant only because it accurately represents the condition of the people of Israel.

If their heart was not represented by the burnt offering, then the burnt offering meant nothing. Sometimes we get that confused. We think about the ritual. We think, well, communion, or we think of, you know, baptism. We think of that, that it means something, that it has some great significance. And it does when it aligns with the actual condition of the heart. But if it's not aligned, it doesn't mean anything. And so here the children of Israel are completely given over to God.

And so this burnt offering is a beautiful representation of where they're at. And Samuel here cries out to the Lord and says, look, Lord, we're all yours. We're completely on the altar. You have all of us. We're completely yours. We're surrendered to you. And it tells us in verse 9 that the Lord answered him. We see God respond as his people are in this place of being completely devoted and trusting in God for victory in the midst of this battle. Verse 10 says,

Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and drove them back as far as below Beth-kar.

And so God responds to his people and to this cry, to this offering that is represented there on the altar. And as the Philistines draw near, God begins to fight for them. It tells us the Lord thundered with a loud thunder. The Philistines are confused. They're freaked out by this thunder. God rattles their cages. But then notice what it says in verse 10.

so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And then in verse 11, the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and drove them back as far as below Bethkar. Kind of tying back to some things I was sharing on Sunday. God works on our behalf and he does miraculous things and he confuses the Philistines, but Israel still had to go to battle.

They had to go on to the battlefield. They had to actually engage and be part of this victory that God was going to give to them. And this is important. To trust God in battle is not just to sit back at Mizpah and do nothing and say, yeah, get him with the thunder, Lord. Get him with the thunder. Yeah, go. Strike him with lightning. But then they had to actually get on the battlefield themselves, which would have been a very fearful thing to do because they've spent 20 years living in defeat and

But they actually trusted God with their lives. They actually trusted God with their behavior, with their action. And they trusted God and went on the battlefield and engaged in the battle, pursued the Philistines. Again, in the same way that the burnt offering accurately represented them, they really did trust God. And they demonstrated that.

By getting on the battlefield and engaging with the Philistines, trusting in God to give them victory. They put their lives on the line and saying, Lord, we're going to trust you. We're going to do what you say. And we're going to engage in this battle. And we're going to trust you to give the victory. Are you going to pursue God's heart? As we look at these things this evening, again, this call to pursue God's heart. Will you pursue God's heart? Understand that

Your acceptance to pursue God's heart comes with a battle, and you're going to have to engage in the battle. Listen, the battle is going to affect you. And this is kind of hard for us to understand sometimes because we look up to people. We look up and we kind of think that, you know, Pastor Pooley doesn't struggle with some of the things that we struggle with. But listen, when Pastor Pooley responds to the call to pursue God's heart and the battle comes, he gets fearful. It really affects him.

He has to trust God, just like you have to trust God, just like I have to trust God. And you know, when Dave Byrne accepts the call and responds as God is speaking to him and pursues the heart of God, there's opposition and he gets fearful. There's a battle that has to fight and there's an actual trust in God that has to take place. It affects him. And when Richard and when Jackie and when you get the point.

Every one of us, we go through this. This is the reality. Don't think that other people don't have this struggle or that special people don't battle these things.

Every believer is experienced in the spiritual warfare that is engaged because again, the enemy hates us. He wants to destroy us. He wants us to abandon God, to not engage in the battle, to continue in captivity, to continue experiencing the oppression. And so he brings opposition as we seek to draw near to God. And so you can count on it.

You decide, hey, I'm going to go on a mission trip and take my family to go visit Tim in Okinawa. There's going to be opposition. You sign up to serve in Sunday school and yeah, I'm going to be part of that. There's going to be opposition. You sign up to say, you know, I'm going to

Be faithful to attend church. There's going to be opposition. I'm going to read the word and go through the Bible in three years. There's going to be opposition. I'm going to call out to God and worship him. I'm going to learn how to worship on the guitar. There's going to be opposition. You get the point. Every time we are desiring to draw near to God, there's going to be opposition, and it's going to strike fear in our hearts. And what we need to do is to call out to God and trust in God and not give up on that commitment to pursue the heart of God just because of the threat of the enemy.

We need to trust God and engage in the battle, knowing that God will take care of us. I like what Pastor Dave Guzik shared about this. He says, our feelings of confidence can be very deceptive. He says, in 1 Samuel chapter 4, that's the original battle with the Philistines, Israel was completely confident against the Philistines. When the ark came into the army camp, remember, they shouted, they rejoiced so loudly, the earth shook, and the Philistine camp heard it. I mean, it was a huge celebration. Their confidence was huge.

But he points out their confidence was false and they were completely defeated. Here in this battle, now in chapter seven, we see Israel is fearful and they're sure of defeat. They have no confidence at all, but they're humble and they're repentant and the Lord will give them a great victory. We can't trust our confidence sometimes. Well, anytime really. If it's not from God, we can't trust our confidence. We can't trust our feelings sometimes.

I got this. How many times do we think that? Do we say that? I got this when we don't have it. We're convinced we have it, but we don't have it. The reality is what we need most is repentance and humility to trust in God and let him fight the battle on our behalf as we go on to the battlefield with him.

Well, moving on to verses 12 through 14, here we have point number three, and that is maintain your progress. Verse 12 says, Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, Thus far the Lord has helped us. So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come any more into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

Here we see in verses 12 through 14 that Israel now is established in this victory. They've established themselves. They've established their sovereignty. And they're able to have some stability during the life of Samuel.

And so it began with this great victory that takes place. We just talked about in verses 7 through 11. And so at the end of that battle in verse 12, it tells us that Samuel takes a stone and he sets it up in this particular location between Mizpah and Shen. We don't know exactly where that is, but he sets up this stone and he gives it a name. He calls its name Ebenezer, which means stone of help.

He sets up this stone. He says it's a stone of help. And he says, thus far, the Lord has helped us. Thus far, geographically. This is the point that the Lord brought us to. We had victory over the Philistines right here. But also thus far, chronologically, God has brought us to this point in time. He's helped us. And he's brought us here to this place where we now have victory over the Philistines after 20 years of defeat.

He sets up what you might call a memorial, the Ebenezer Stone. And sometimes in Christianese, we refer to that, the Ebenezer Stone. And this is where it comes from. This establishing of a monument, this establishing of a memorial to say, we need to remember the Lord helped us right here at this point, up to this point. He helped us and he worked miraculously. And I'd like to share with you this evening, you know, memorials,

can be very important and helpful in our lives. Now, of course, you know, we need to not get into the condition of worshiping a memorial or relying upon a memorial like Israel did with the Ark of the Covenant. But we all know how it is to have God work in our lives and then kind of have it fade away. And maybe it's years later sometimes that all of a sudden it dawns on you

You remember the work that God did here, and then you look at your life and wonder, how did I get from there to here? And sometimes memorials can be helpful for keeping us in that place that God has established us. Think about when the children of Israel crossed the Jordan. God had them set up a memorial. He told Joshua, take 12 stones out of the midst of the Jordan River and set them up in a pile. Set a pile of stones, you know, a monument there.

Verse 1.

And he told, it tells us in Joshua chapter 4 verse 8, the Lord spoke to Joshua and told him to do this. It wasn't just Joshua's idea, but there's many things that we find in the scriptures that God does on purpose to help his people remember things that he has done, things that he has said, places that they've gone. So many of the feasts that Israel celebrated, the Passover feast, right? You know what that's for? It's a memorial, right?

of the Exodus and what God did in delivering them from Egypt. Now, God also used it as a foreshadowing of Christ, but he set it up. He set it up to establish the Feast of Tabernacles was set up that they would stop and remember how God delivered them in the wilderness and provided for them for 40 years with the manna, with the water from the rock. And they celebrated that each year to remember to have a memorial about what God had done in their lives.

Jesus also gave us the institution of communion. And we do it once a month because Jesus says, do this in remembrance of me. It's a memorial. It's a reminder so that we don't backslide, that we have something to remind us and refresh us and stir us up that this is something that God did. Now here in the case of Israel, this Ebenezer stone would be a clear indicator of where they were at.

If they lost this territory again and the Philistines now occupied the place where the Ebenezer Stone was, it would be obvious, right? They're like, look across the enemy lines. And there it says on the big stone, thus far God has helped us. What has happened? The enemy occupies that territory again. What has happened? It would be clear. It would be a call to action. It would be a reminder for them. It would protect them from gradual loss.

Right? If the Philistines took a little bit of territory and then just like a little bit more and then a little bit more, we understand that a lot of times things happen in our lives and our walking away from God and allowing issues to dominate our lives that are not of God, it usually doesn't happen with a wake up and decide, I'm going to rebel against God today. But it usually happens gradually. It's a little bit of ground and a little bit of ground and a little bit of ground. Like you don't notice how bald I'm getting, right?

But if I tattooed my hairline, then you would know, wow, that's where it was. And look where it is now, right? That's the idea here of this memorial. And I would encourage you to consider that. Maybe there's some things that you need to do to help you memorialize. Not that you would count on that for salvation or anything like that, but just to refresh your memory. This is something that God has done in my life. This is a point in my life where I'm

where I got back to pursuing the heart of God. I think it's appropriate when you come to a point in your life where you commit or recommit yourself, I think it's good to set up a memorial. Now, I'm not getting off in too far of a tangent, maybe a little bit, but I would encourage you, maybe consider baptism. Now, theologically, baptism isn't required for salvation. Theologically, baptism isn't necessary to be repeated, but

But you know, sometimes when God does a new fresh work in your life, it's appropriate and maybe it's good just for you to remember. I have specific instances where I've been baptized in my life in response to, well, things that God has been doing in line with what God has been doing and calling me to a certain relationship with him or a right walk with him. And that's appropriate. And I look back and to me, those are Ebenezer stones.

Maybe it would be appropriate for you to come forward after service and receive prayer and be anointed with the oil and ask for a pouring out of the Holy Spirit. And not so much because like the burnt offering, there's something special in that formula, but just so that you have that reminder, you have that memorial. It was real. I

I know, and Dave could testify because he prayed with me. I know God did a work in my heart and he called me to repentance and I turned to him and it helps us. It helps solidify that work in our hearts so that the enemy doesn't come and rob us later and it doesn't slide away. He sets up this memorial stone to maintain their progress, to say, this is the boundary. This is where God helped us. This is where God met us. This is what God did. Let's not forget that.

And let's not let that territory be taken back. In verse 13, it tells us the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. They held their ground. They got territory back and they held their ground all the days of Samuel. They didn't backslide. The Philistines didn't take back.

more territory. They didn't take the territory that they had. Israel got their land back, and they held on to it as they continued to walk with the Lord. I think it's interesting to point out, important for us to consider. Again, as we look at these things, first of all, it's a call for us to pursue God's heart, but also that God would use us to extend that call to others around us to pursue the heart of God. We look at Samuel here, and we see he had a

an important and huge influence. He was instrumental in this work of God in the lives of the people around him. And the commentator Thomas Constable puts it this way. He says, Samuel gave intercession priority in his ministry because he realized how essential it was to Israel's welfare.

All spiritual leaders should realize this need and should give prayer priority in their ministries. It's a good reminder, a good important thing that we need to be praying. God has entrusted people to you. You need to be praying for them. You need to be interceding on their behalf. And just like Samuel gets to play an important role and an influential role in the lives of Israel, you have that opportunity as well to be part of the victory that God wants to do and to bring in other people's lives.

Well, moving on to verse 14, it says, Here we see Israel not only had the victory that day, but that victory continued. They held, they maintained that victory, but it also continued to progress.

And that's important. Victory is not just a one-time, one-day event. Over the life of Samuel, Israel recovered more territory. They were able to hold on to what they got back that day. But here it's just kind of summarizing. They continued. And the things that were restored, the cities from Ekron to Gath, they expanded their territory, taking back some of the land that they had lost to the Philistines over the past 20 years.

They got some back immediately, but they continued to progress over time. And that here is the point. Maintain your progress. Take on the heart of Philippians chapter 3 where Paul says, look, I haven't attained, I haven't already perfected, but I press on, I lay hold for that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me. And he says, look, if you're mature, have this mind. Take on this same mind that you would be

Not just maintaining how far you've come, that's important, but that you would be growing in your relationship with God and expanding your relationship with the Lord, pursuing God's heart more and more as you walk with him. But Paul also says in Philippians chapter three, nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. That is,

Look at how far God has brought you. And you have your Ebenezer stone set up. God delivered me from that sin. God delivered me from that issue, that situation, that rebellion. And Paul says, to that degree that you've attained, walk in that. Let me ask you to consider, have you found yourself back involved in things that God has previously delivered you from?

Have you found yourself wrapped back up in things that, there was a great deliverance. I mean, it was a Philistines deliverance, you know, kind of day. There was thundering and everything and God did a great work. And then at some point later now, you find yourself wrapped up again. Like Hebrews talks about the sin which so easily entangles us, ensnares us. Maintain your progress. God's delivered you. Don't let that become a foothold again.

Don't let that become a stronghold again, but maintain the deliverance that God has brought. Maintain the work that God has done. And how do you do that? Well, that brings us to point number four, finishing up in verses 15 through 17, and that is repeat consistently. All of the above. Repent completely. Trust God in the battle. Maintain your progress, and then do it again. And this will be

us for the rest of our lives if we are pursuing the heart of God, repeating consistently repentance, trusting in God, and maintaining, holding on to the ground, and expanding and growing as God calls us. In verse 15, it says, Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places. He

It tells us that Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life in verse 15. It kind of summarizes his whole life here. All of his, you know, we get the introduction to his ministry and kind of the conclusion of his ministry. Now we'll still see him in the next few chapters as he lives.

is used by God to bring Saul to the throne. And throughout Saul's kingdom, Samuel's involved and influential. So he still has a lot of ministry left to go. But just generally speaking, all the days of his life, he had this role. He ministered to Israel. He called Israel back to God. But notice, it's all the days of his life. And this is important to understand and remember. None of these things are once real.

for a lifetime decisions. To repent completely is not a, you do it once and then you're set for life. To trust God in the battle is not a, you do it once and you're set for life. To maintain your progress is not a, you do it once and you're set for life. But Samuel ministered all the days of his life.

Every day he got up and he pursued the heart of God and he fulfilled his role to the people of Israel. And then the next day he had to get up and pursue the heart of God and fulfill his role to the people of Israel. It wasn't just God used him on this one occasion, that was it. His ministry was done. And you can see that in verse 16. Every year he goes on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah. It's these cities that are

there in the heart of Israel. And he goes from place to place to place, always going back to Ramah, it says, which was where his home was. He went back to where he had set up the altar and he's connecting to the Lord. And then he's going out and ministering to the people and he comes back to the Lord and he goes out and ministers to people and comes back to the Lord. And he models for us what it is to have a consistent walk with God and a pursuit of God's heart. None of these things are once for a lifetime decisions.

But it's decisions that we have to make every day to repent, to trust God, to maintain our progress. And this is what it looks like to pursue God's heart. It requires a continual repeating of this process. We're going to have to get up again and seek after and call out to God and pursue his heart. Again, it begins with repenting completely. Samuel called Israel and said, if you want to return, return with all your heart and

And put away all the foreign gods. Don't hold on to anything. You can't decide, oh, I want to completely turn to God, but I just need to hold on to this one little thing, and I can't give that up. That's not turning to God with your whole heart. That's not pursuing God's heart. Put away foreign gods. Put away all the passions that are not of God. Put away all the priorities that are not of God. Prepare your heart for the Lord and serve Him only.

That you're not living to serve yourself and meet your own needs and satisfy yourself and bring yourself happiness. You're not living to serve someone else or to accomplish something that God has not set before you, but that you will be devoted to serving God only. If you will put yourself in that place, God promises there's times of refreshing. There's deliverance. If you're holding on to those things because you think I need deliverance and I need refreshing and that's why I hold on to this thing. Jesus says you have to lose your life in order to save it.

That's the reality. You have to put God first for real, all the way and completely. And perhaps there's some repentance that's needed from the God of success, the God of money, from pornography, from anger, from bitterness, from drunkenness. You know what's going on in your heart. You know what's being dealt with by the Lord and what the Lord is highlighting. That's there because God wants you to repent. He's calling you. It's not too late and it's not too early. It's time.

Repent completely. Let's just let it all go and turn away. Let go of those things and grasp hold completely of the Lord and trust God in the battle. Recognize as you make this commitment in your heart, as you decide, I want to follow the Lord. I'm going to let go of those things. I'm going to turn back to the Lord. And in those areas, in these things, understand there's going to be a battle. Not just the internal battle that's happening right now, but

There's going to be a battle. There's going to be opposition. It's going to strike fear in your heart, and you're going to have to actually trust God and get on the battlefield. You're going to actually have to engage in the battle. And that probably isn't with swords and spears and, you know, a physical battle, but there's emotions you're going to have to deal with. There's conversations you're going to have to have.

There's relationships that you're going to have to adjust. There's things that God is going to call you to do, and trusting him is, well, doing what he says, even when it means, well, I'm afraid of what's going to happen if I do what God says. Trust God in the battle and do what God calls you to do, and then maintain your progress. Have you found yourself back involved in things that God has delivered you from? Oh, man, put the sirens on, red alert. Don't let the enemy take that ground back.

You come back to God and call out to him and let go of those things once again. This is a process that we repeat consistently. It's not a once and for all type thing, but we are going to be in this mode constantly.

In an ongoing way, Dave Guzik says, as God convicts us of sin that is hindering our fellowship with him, we must confess it and receive forgiveness and cleansing for our relationship with God to continue without hindrance. And this happens for every one of us. And so we go back to the beginning and we repent completely. And then we trust God in the battle that follows. And then we work to maintain that progress and continue to trust God and not go back to those things that God has delivered us from.

And then if we go back, then we come back to the beginning and we repent completely again. And we trust God in the battle that follows. And we maintain that progress and don't go back. And then if God shows us something different, I didn't even know I struggled in that. I didn't even know that was a sin issue. And now I repent completely and I trust God in the battle. And I maintain, this is our life as believers in Jesus Christ. We are called to pursue the heart of God. And there's going to be sin brought to light. And we need to deal with it. And we need to turn from it.

And that can be difficult. It's just as difficult many times as when we first came to the point where we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Because sin is deeply rooted. It's ingrained. And we have to become good experts at dealing with that sin, confessing it to God, letting it go, turning from it, and calling out to Him. And the great promise is when you do that, times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.

I want to finish off the service having Kim lead us in worship. And I want to encourage you in this time that if you haven't already, just, you know, as we've been working through these things, that now is the time. It's not too early. It's not too late. Now is the time. You can begin right now. Turn these things over to God. Surrender them. Let them go. And let's just worship the Lord. And as we call out to Him, let's do that. Let's allow Him to do the work in us that He wants us to do.

Let's ask him to help us to trust him in the battle that's going to follow. Let's ask him to help us to maintain the progress and to continue to do this repeatedly, that we would continue to trust God and see him work in our lives as we pursue God's heart. But also I would encourage you as we have this time of worship to look to God to receive times of refreshing, that you would be released from the burden, from the guilt, from the bondage that has been there.

And that you would allow God to just do a new, fresh work in your heart. That you would be refreshed by the Lord, by the Holy Spirit as we worship Him. And so let's worship the Lord together in this song. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.