 Today we're in chapter four here in First Samuel and we're gonna be looking at the entire chapter. It's a chapter that really concludes with the reality of the glory of the Lord, the glory of the Lord departing. And so we'll be seeing that as we go through First Samuel chapter four. Let's begin reading here at verse one, First Samuel chapter four at verse one. I'll read to verse 11 and we'll get into our study. First Samuel chapter four, beginning at verse one. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and encamped beside Ebenezer. And the Philistines encamped in Ephek. Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines who killed about 4,000 men of the army in the field. And 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 among us, it may save us from the hand of our enemies. 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, Haphne and Phineas, were there 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. Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, what does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean? Then they understood that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp. So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, what do us for such a thing has never happened before? What do us? Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues and the wilderness. Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men and fight. So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter and there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. Also the Ark of God was captured and the two sons of Eli, Haphne and Phineas, died. When we get into chapter four, chapter four actually records God's fulfillment of the promise that he had made to Eli in chapter three. Remember with me in chapter three verse 13 that God had made a statement concerning what he was going to do. He said, I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows because his sons made themselves vile and he did not restrain them. And so chapter four records how the Lord is about to fulfill that promise. When you read the Bible, you discover that God makes promises and God keeps his promises. In the Old Testament book of Numbers, for example, chapter 23 verse 19, we read, God is not a man that he should lie nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and they're not act? Does he promise and not make it good? God isn't somebody who waffles, God is not indecisive. If God has made the statement, God will hold fast to it. And so God has made the statement that he's gonna be bringing judgment on Eli and that he's gonna be dealing with Eli's two sons. And chapter four gives to us insight into how that takes place. Now when you begin here in chapter four, it would seem that the first portion of verse one actually connects with the last verses in chapter three. Because you can see that if you just add that beginning at verse 21 in chapter three and reading into the first portion of chapter four, you can see how it flows when it's read. It says, then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord and the word of Samuel came to all Israel. And so it would seem to flow better in that fashion. Remember with me that chapters were actually included but not in the original manuscripts. They were later added to make it easier to read and to identify passages as well as memorization. And so what you have here is the Lord continuing his work and Samuel is being used by the Lord during that day. It's simply saying that Samuel's word has been recognized as authoritative in Israel and it also gives to us insight into the fact that Samuel is God's prophet and is also becoming a judge in the nation of Israel. So we go on into verse one and then he goes to say, now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and encamped beside Ebenezer and the Philistines encamped in Aphet. And so we see a people here that you see in the scriptures quite often, people that we know of as Philistines. Now the Philistines are mentioned something like 286 times in the Old Testament and you see the Philistines in a variety of ways but they're always a thorn in the flesh of the nation of Israel. The first time they're mentioned is in Genesis in chapter 10 verse 14 and it's estimated that they were in Israel from around 1200 BC all the way to the year 730 BC. When you look in the book of Judges and you remember a judge by the name of Samson, you associate Samson with the Philistines and you see that in Judges 13 through 16 how Samson dealt with them. And so the Philistines were there and were in the nation of Israel. They were in the southern section by the western border there by the Mediterranean Ocean and that's where they encamped. They had five major cities there and those cities we'll see as we go through our studies. They had Ashdod and Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath as well as Gaza. And so that gives to us an insight into the location of where they lived and where they would come from in order to do battle with the nation of Israel. Now it's been suggested that the Philistines formed part of a great naval confederacy called the Sea Peoples who had wandered at the beginning of the 12th century before Christ from their homeland in Crete and the Aegean islands to the shores of the Mediterranean and repeatedly attacked Egypt during the later 19th century. Though Ramesses III eventually repulsed them, he finally resettled them according to the theory to rebuild the coastal towns in Canaan. And so that's where they were located and they'd been there for some time. Now the name Philistine is used today if used at all is usually used by intellectuals and they will say well that guy's a Philistine and what he's saying is he's a pagan. The word Philistine means a wanderer. It speaks of somebody that is a migrant and it can also speak concerning a people who are dividers but the word can also be translated Sea Peoples because it's possible that they indeed were migrators who came from various place perhaps from the Greek islands and all and came and were settled there in that particular area. But the bottom line is is they were constantly at war with the nation of Israel for centuries and you see that all through the Old Testament in certain books over a certain amount of times. That's what's taking place and so in verse two it says that Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. It also gives us a location of this battle. It says they encamped beside Ebenezer and the Philistines encamped in Afik. This is just a geographic location for those who might be familiar with the geography of the Old Testament. It's up a little bit to the north of Jerusalem, a little bit off of the sea coast by Tel Aviv and that's what it's talking about. That's where this is all taking place. So they set themselves in battle ray against Israel. Verse two tells us that they went to battle and there were 4,000, they killed about 4,000 men of the army in the field. The nation of Israel was not expecting to lose. When they went to battle they expected to win and so they were absolutely shocked that this took place. Notice the response in verse three. It says 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 among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies. 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 Elah and the Covenant of the Covenant of God. They were absolutely surprised. They expected victory. This defeat took them by surprise. Problem is as they were battling in the flesh and in the flesh there's a sense of self confidence and self sufficiency. It's a selfishness that they were battling from. They hadn't sought God's direction. Notice with me that there's no indication that they went before the Lord and said we wanna do battle with these enemies. Will you be with us? There's no prayer, there's no seeking of God at all. They have made a decision to go and engage in battle and as a result they lose. And so when they lose they're absolutely shocked over this because they expected to win. Now they've been unfaithful to God and God had warned them that if they were unfaithful to him that he would allow them to be defeated by their enemies. He had made it clear when he gave to his nation his laws. When you study the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 28 in the Old Testament and Deuteronomy chapter 28 at verse 15 God has been speaking in chapter 28. He's been speaking concerning blessings that the nation of Israel would enjoy through the covenant relationship with God. But when he gets into verse 15 he starts speaking about curses. And in verse 15 he says of Deuteronomy 28 if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes which I command you today that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you. And he begins to list things that will take place because they're not obedient to God. So by the time he gets to verse 25 of Deuteronomy 28, 25 he says the Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. And so because they have rejected the Lord they are not following God God has allowed them to be defeated but they don't understand that. Now because they don't understand that they make a decision. They say let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us. So that when it comes we're gonna have victory it's gonna save us. It may save us from the hand of our enemies. Now they still have overconfidence. They think that because we're God's people we can have victory and that victory is inevitable. Hasn't God promised us that we would have victory? And we know that we can have victory if we have God with us. So in their mind they know that their enemies didn't defeat them. They know that God has been the one who's defeated them. And so that's why they say God was not with us. And they were truly surprised over that because they thought for sure that God was with them. But the fact is is they're reaping the consequences of poor behavior and choices. They're reaping from the flesh because they have sown to the flesh. And when you sow to the flesh from the flesh you reap corruption. There are people today who think that if they just ask even though they're habitually in sin and have no relationship with God that God's gonna move on their behalf in a very special way simply because you'll do that because they asked. I've had so many people over the years I can't tell you who've approached me and have said to me can you pray for me? And I remember one in particular who came to me and said can you pray for me? And I said what do you want me to pray about? A young woman, this is many years ago now. And she said to me can you pray for me because I think I'm pregnant. She was unmarried at the time, I think I'm pregnant. Can you pray for me? And I remember looking at her and asking her what do you want me to pray about? What is it that you're asking for? What are you asking me to pray about? See in her mind she was asking me to pray that God would miraculously make her not pregnant. And there are people like that. People who think that way. They go out and sew to the flesh and when it's time to pay the consequences the first thing they do is they head to church. And maybe God will have mercy on me if I do the right religious kind of thing. There've been people who will sleep with some stranger or a girlfriend or boyfriend whatever and get an STD and the first thing they're asking for is a miraculous healing that God will cleanse them when they've been involved in sexual sin and they don't see the consequences of it. They don't see that as being part of the package of being disobedient. God had stated that they ought not to do that. They did it and now all of a sudden they want God to remove this STD from them. There are people who sew to the flesh and their marriages. For many years they've neglected it. They've neglected their kids for years and now the woman or the man is fed up and says I'm tired of this or the kids are rebellious and before you know it they're saying oh God help me mercy mercy grace grace and they don't realize that if you sew for so many years into somebody's life this kind of neglect or this kind of pain that ultimately it comes back to you. We used to say that if you're gonna dance you're ultimately gonna pay the piper and that's the truth. If you continue to do certain things you're gonna reap the consequences. The children of Israel don't understand that. They know in their history that God was for them. Why didn't God give us victory this time here? God was not for us and that's what they're saying. Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? What happened, what happened in our life that God wasn't there, God wasn't present, God didn't deliver us, people died. How did that happen? And so as they begin to think about that they begin to think well what's the answer and so they say well I know the answer let's go get the Ark of the Covenant. They say let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies. 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. So they said I know the answer let's go out and get the Ark of the Covenant. You see the Ark of the Covenant represents God's power and God's presence in the nation of Israel. This Ark of the Covenant is where God said that he would be pleased to meet with the nation of Israel that he would dwell there between the cherubim and so they're associating the Ark of the Covenant with God's power and presence. In Exodus chapter 25 verse 22 God said 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 they were aware of the fact that God had said that he would meet with them there in that particular place. When their fathers had entered into the Promised Land their fathers had carried with them the Ark of the Covenant. And they remembered that the Ark of the Covenant was brought to the Jordan River and when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to the Jordan River that the priests who were carrying the Ark put their foot in the water and when they touched the water it parted before them and their ancestors walked across dry ground into the Promised Land. And so they saw that as a symbol of God's power and presence and so they wanna take that Ark of the Covenant and bring it with them into battle so that they might win. But what has happened is this Ark of the Covenant is only, they don't understand that the Ark symbolizes his presence but it's not his actual presence. It's a symbol of the presence. You see in Acts in chapter seven in the New Testament, verses 48 through 50. We read, The most high does not dwell in temples made with hands as the prophet says. Heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you build for me says the Lord or what is the place of my rest? Has my hand not made all these things? God doesn't live in a temple made by human hands. God doesn't live in a small box that is carried around by man. He doesn't do that, he's beyond that. He even says what kind of temple can you build me seeing that I've created all things and the heaven of heavens cannot contain me and they didn't understand that. They thought if we go and get this lucky charm if we go and get this box it can act as a good luck omen to us and it'll save us. What it was was a pagan belief. It was a superstitious belief. They used it like a good luck charm. They didn't understand what a relationship with God is and there are still people like that to this day. Centuries later we still have people who are superstitious. Centuries later we still have people who think that God is contained in some kind of little box of some sort of their superstition. They will go to the Jordan River and when we go to the Jordan every time we go to Israel we have baptisms there and they sell little vials of water. It's called Jordan River Water, holy water from the Jordan and people, tourists will stand in line and they buy little vials of holy water. I was doing a baptism one time on the shores of the Jordan and some Italian people were off the side people from Italy, Italian people not Americans who were Italian, Italians and as they were there about maybe 40 feet from us. They were right, I mean I could hear them and they were speaking and as they were speaking they were talking about getting the water. They were gonna take water back and they had bottles with them that they were putting the water in but they were beer bottles so they finished drinking their beer, washed the bottle out and put this holy water in it and put a cap back on it and I thought how ironic, how ironic this is they have to down their brew and then they get some holy water, wash it out so that the beer doesn't affect the holy water and then they took it home and they felt that they were gonna take something special home with them from the Jordan River. It's a superstition and yet people think that way. You can turn on a television set or you can turn on the radio sometimes and there'll be an evangelist on and he'll say to you send me some money and I'll send you a blessed handkerchief and if you have any pain or any disease any kind of need just put the handkerchief on whatever portion of your body is hurting and then God will provide that as a point of contact between me and you and you'll be healed, all you need to do is send me some money in my ministry. I remember a guy who had, this is the truth, you won't believe this, he was sending out blessed wallets, blessed wallets. He said if you send an offering to my ministry I will send you a blessed wallet and I guarantee it'll never be empty of money and I thought get one yourself and stop asking me to send you money, just use your own wallet. But there are people like that, there are people like that. I remember an evangelist, this is the truth, I'm not making this up, who said send me some money and I will send you an autographed picture of Jesus. An autographed picture of Jesus, not just a picture, an autographed picture and I started laughing and I thought yeah, he's probably got a Mexican guy named Jesus and he'll write him a letter and say love, Chewy. I mean, but that's what happens. I mean, you've got these things, you have the scapulars, some of you understand and know what a scapular is. Marie used to have a brown scapular, my wife. You know, if the bearer is wearing this at the time of death, they enter into heaven. You know, they had brown scapulars, green scapulars, blue scapulars, purple scapulars, you know, they're just supposedly blessed in giving you special graces. Marie used to have a little statue of Joseph on her dashboard in her car. She had this statue of Joseph facing traffic, his hands recovering his eyes because of the way she drove, you know. He actually was melted. I mean, she left him and they saw melted, you know, poor Joseph. I mean, a lot of us understand what I'm trying to say. You can have these glow-in-the-dark crosses that are supposed to keep you blessed. Some people are afraid at night so they sleep with their crucifix. I mean, that's all superstition. It's all superstition, none of it is true. And unfortunately, that's what these Hebrews were doing. They were saying, if we bring this Ark of the Covenant, God will be with us because they didn't understand that God had stated to them, listen, you keep my word, I stay with you, you break my word and I'm gonna abandon you to your own flesh. Didn't understand it. Didn't have a relationship with the Lord, didn't understand it through faith and so what do they say? We were defeated by our enemies. Let's go get the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh, bring it on down and take God into battle with us and for sure we'll be victorious. That's how we get God on our side. Now they go there to Eli's sons, Haphne and Phineas and they release this Ark to them. These are priests. It gives me insight into Haphne and Phineas once again because they allowed the Ark to be taken which gives us insight in the fact that one, there are paid professionals, they are just ministers on the payroll, it doesn't matter to them at all about this at all. They're hirelings, they released it. You see, they should have said, where are you going with the Ark of the Covenant? You haven't got the authority to carry that. This is not something you can do. Where are you going with the Ark of the Covenant? You cannot take it because it's under our obligation as priests to maintain and to care for the things of God. They didn't do that at all. They just allowed this Ark to go which gives us insight into the fact that these are paid professionals, these are hirelings, these people don't care and secondly, we see Haphne and Phineas mentioned because we know that God said on the same day, they will die and so you see that they're there together at this time. Well, what happens? It says in verse five, when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Now sometimes people say, boy, that an exaggeration. See how the Bible exaggerates? How can the earth shake with people shouting? Some of us have gone to games, football games. I mean, you can go to the Coliseum, they got a hundred thousand people there and when their teams scores a touchdown, there's a lot of noise a hundred thousand people can make. I was at Chavez Ravine when Kurt Gibson hit his home run when the Dodgers were playing Oakland. I was there in the right field stands. They're not in the bleachers, but actually on the box seats on the right field line. And I saw the whole drama unfold and when he hit that ball, and I saw it traveling past me and going up into the seats there and he circles and pumps his fist with the elation. I was there, I saw that. And I have to tell you that entire stadium was rocking. It was so loud. Forty-some thousand people shouting in that stadium made the stadium rock. They were shouting for minutes and minutes afterwards. We left, we went and got in the car and you could still hear the shouting of the fans who remained behind. It was an amazing moment. Is it possible that you have this many people shouting that could cause vibrations? Yes, 30,000 of them die in a battle. They had a lot of people out there and it's not an exaggeration at all. It was so loud that the people, the Philistines could hear it traveling and there was vibration and it caused them to be greatly concerned. In verse six it says, when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, what does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean? Then they understood that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp. 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 and the wilderness and they were absolutely afraid because they knew, at least they knew the history, a bit of the history of Israel that God had delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage and it brought plagues on the nation of Israel and they were familiar with that. That was something that had been circulated and so when the Philistines heard that, they said, this God of the Hebrews is a great God. And it's interesting how they later on call him gods because they're pagans. And so they had a multitude of gods or many gods amongst them and so they didn't really understand the theology of the Hebrews but they knew that there was a God that the Hebrews were bound to. That was an amazingly powerful God who delivers and they were absolutely afraid and shocked about this. You see, during the time of the writing, you might have been part of a particular tribe. You might have been a tribe because there's so many tribes that you see and as you read them, you read of the high vites and you read of the Jebusites and you read of the Canaanites and you read of the various peoples that were there and you see that these are people who had tribal gods, all of them. And what would happen is a Canaanite might come into opposition against a high vite and if the Canaanite were to defeat them, the Canaanites, God was given the glory for the victory. And so they had heard that the nation of Israel had a God who had delivered them from Egypt, the most powerful nation in the world. And that sent fear up their back and they said, who can deliver us from a God who is powerful enough to destroy mighty Egypt and so they're afraid. But notice their response, I want you to see this. It says in verse nine, be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men and fight so the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter and there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. Also the Ark of God was captured and the two sons of Eli, Haphne and Phineas died. So what do they do? Instead of running, they say be strong and conduct yourselves like men. Why? To keep you from becoming servants. Their fear of becoming slaves to Israel gave them the nerve to fight and to win. Now remember with me that Israel had been commanded to uproot the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. And it wasn't because Israel was so special, it wasn't because Israel was so righteous that God had commanded them to do so. Deuteronomy chapter nine, verse four, tells us do not think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you saying because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me into possess this land. But it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you. It's not because you're so good, it's because they're so bad. And so when you go in and you fight against these nations it's because the evil is to be eradicated because these people that inhabited the land were very evil in the sight of God. And so when God was commanding the nation of Israel to go in and take the land he also commanded them not to have anything to do with these people. In Leviticus 20 verse 23 he says you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you. They commit all these things and therefore I abhor them. In Judges chapter two verses two and three God said you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall tear down their altar. You have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this? Therefore I also said I will not drive them out before you. They shall be thorns in your side. Their gods shall be a snare to you. I told you to drive them out but you haven't driven them out and now they're gonna be a plague in your life. Psalm 106, 34 through 36 they did not destroy the peoples concerning whom the Lord commanded them. They mingled with the Gentiles, learned their works, they served their idols which became a snare to them. So instead of defeating them they allowed them to continue on and the Philistines are now representative of that, that lack of passion for God. What's interesting though and I want you to see what they said in verse nine, look what the Philistines said. I want you to see this. What did they say to rally themselves? Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men and fight. In the Old Testament oftentimes the pagan nations are used as a type of your old nature. We Christians have a language, I call it Christianese, it's a language that we use amongst ourselves, the language of Zion. And we use phrases with one another, how you doing? Oh man, I'm doing great praise Lord, amen, praise God. You know, we use language like that when we talk to one another, it's Christianese. And one of the words that we use is the word flesh. When we talk about the flesh, when we speak of the flesh, we're not speaking of just our human flesh, we're speaking of a sinful human nature. And when you walk in the flesh you do not please God. Walking in the flesh is antagonistic to walking in the spirit, either you walk in the spirit or you walk in the flesh but you can't do two things simultaneously. You choose to follow God or you yield yourself to the mannerisms of the flesh. You have the old man which is the flesh and the new man which is created after Christ. So there's a newness of life and what you end up with is a battle within yourself, a battle of two things. The old man and the new. The old man is that old nature that desires to have control and says, like the Philistines, we will not be your servant. Your old man, that flesh within you is that resistance to the things of God. It's a failure to yield to the spirit of God. It's the quenching of the movement of God in you. It's the old man that wants to do things its way. And even though you're born again, you still have a residue. You have an old man, a law that's within you. The thing that you want to do, you cannot do. The thing that you do not want to do, Paul said, this is what I find myself doing. And that's the battle that you have, the battle within. The battle that goes on constantly. The will to do is with me. The ability to perform that which I desire is not. Oh, wretched man, who would deliver me from this body of death, Paul said. There's that desire to do right. And then there's that flesh that stands up in opposition and says, you're not going to do it. I will not be your servant. You're not going to do it. I will conquer you. And it's a daily struggle. It's a daily battle to bring into subjection your flesh. I was on the job site before I was released to full-time ministry. And I had been witnessing when given opportunity at the proper moment to a young man I was working with. And finally, one day, he said to me, he said, well, you took the easy way out. And I looked at him and I said, I took the easy way out. What do you mean I took the easy way out? He said, you took the easy way out. I said, how did I do that? He said, when you became a Christian, you took the easy way out. I said, are you kidding me? That isn't the easy way out, is it? To become a Christian? Is it the easy way out? It isn't the easy way out. It's a dying, it's a dying daily way out. And it isn't easy because you don't want to die because there's something inside you that wants to live. And you got saved. You might have had bad habits. These habits became your character. It became you. That's who you are. That's what you do. People knew you as being foul-mouthed. They knew you as being a drunk. Now, in your own mind, you know that you were foul-mouthed and a drunk because you just chose to be so. But it was also a way of releasing some of the things that were in you. So drinking, for you, could have been as it was for me. An excuse, an excuse to be what's foul as I wanted to be and blame it on the alcohol. And so if I drank and drank to excess, I'd have an excuse to cry if I felt depressed. I had an excuse to be angry if I wanted to be because I could blame it on the alcohol. And that was kind of the way it was with me. Then I get saved. And then I start going through these things that are the same things I went through before becoming a Christian and the way I would deal with them before would be in just speaking my mind or drinking or whatever. And that old man, that desire to just go and just grab the bottle and just drink a little bit and just soothe myself was there. I mean, it was there. I want to do that. That's how I handle depression. That's how I handle anger. That's how I handle these things. It's just go get a bottle, get a few bottles and drink, and after a while I'm numb. I can go to sleep. I'll sleep it off. I'll wake up in the morning. It's done. And that's how I used to do things. And now I'm saved. And there's something inside of me that says it's only a bottle. It's only one. What's the big deal? It's your flesh. It's your flesh. It's saying, I will not serve. I will not. I'm going to rule. It's your flesh. So you're having a discussion. Married couples have discussions. And your husband says something to you that raises it a notch. And you want to say to him what's on your mind. It'll take about an hour and a half to do that, but you're ready to do it. You're angry. And he says, so you got anything to say? Do I have something to say? Listen, mister, and you want to talk for a while. But you're a believer now. And in the old days, you had just said right now, this is what's on my mind. And who cares if you get angry? I don't care if you slam the door. And I don't care if you climb in your car and drive away, you little baby. Go. And that's where you're at, right? But you're a believer now. And the Lord has been working in you. That old flesh is there. Is it easy to shut up? Is it easy to turn and say, I'm going to leave this in the hands of the Lord, because God has an inside track with this man. I can't force him to do what I want him to do, but God is working in him. I'm going to leave him in God's. Is that easy? Is that easy? It's not easy, is it? It's never been for me. It's never been easy for me to sit there and just say, Lord's in control, because I like the Hebrews. I want to cart that box out and say, OK, God, deal with this. And the Lord says, I've got to deal first with you. No, you don't seem to hear my prayer. It isn't for me. See, I'm not the problem. It's your daughter. And it doesn't die by itself. It has to be put to death. It doesn't die by itself. It's there, and it awakens almost on a daily basis. Not almost, on a daily basis. I heard an older man of an older man. He was in his 90s crying because he said, when will this last end in my life? You're 90. You still lost at 90? Are you kidding me? Oh, God, help us all. I've seen old, old weak men, weak men wanting to fight. You can't even break a piece of paper with your punch and you're one of the first to go, well, I got tattoos. Yeah, they're dragging on the ground. In your day, your day was a century ago, and you're wanting to be tough. Now, are you kidding me? I've seen it, so have you. The old man, does he die? Does it matter if you're 70, 80, or 90? No, he has to be put to death because he will not serve. He has to be put to death. In Colossians in chapter three in the New Testament, Paul said this, he said, you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. The Lord Jesus knocked on the door of your heart and you opened it up and he entered into the house that is your life. And he walked into your front room and he took a seat and he looks at the TV and he says, now that I live here, you're going to be watching different things now on that screen. And you say, that's cool, that's fine. He goes into one of your rooms, your bedroom. Now that I live here, things are going to change in here. And you say, that's fine, I'm open to that. He goes into the den, he goes to the house. Then he walks up to a closet and he says, what's in that closet? And you say, nothing. He said, then let me in. And you say, no, you got the whole house. You got the living room, you got the bedrooms, you got the dining room, kitchen, you got it all. I want to keep, it's just a small room. I want to keep this room, to myself, it's just a small room, it's small pleasures, things that I like to do, they're not that big. And Jesus says, you got to give me access to that room because what's in that room is going to kill you. And you say, no. And that becomes a point of conflict with the Lord because you will say, but God, I've given you everything and God will say, but you haven't given me that. You can't compromise. And a lot of times people will say, it's just a small thing. It's a small thing that will put you to death. It's a small thing that you want to keep as a pet that will ruin your walk with God. Heard about a lady who had found a possum. She thought it was cute, I don't know why. And she brought it home, it was a baby. She thought it was cute, she wanted to keep it. She was told at a certain point, it gets wild, it's wild already, but it's just a baby, you think it's cute. But at a certain point, you've got to release it because if you don't release it, it will turn on you. Oh, you've got to be kidding me, it's cute, it's a cute little thing, are you kidding me? She kept it, she used to carry it around like a baby, wrapped it up, mommet it. And then one day, this claws came out and lacerated her face and he escaped. She knew that it was wild, but she thought she could domesticate it. If you think that you can have a sin and you can make it into a pet and it won't hurt you, it will. It has to be put to death. Whatever it is that the Lord has been speaking to your heart today about not being part of, whether it's a relationship, whether it's something that you're doing on the job, whatever it may be, if you don't rule it, it will rule you. That's how it works. There's no compromise and it doesn't stop. The Philistines said, take courage, be strong, because if you don't win this battle, you'll become their servants. And they fought with this kind of mentality, I will not be subdued. As a result of that, here comes Israel with their ark, thinking that they're gonna win and they end up losing because they're not trusting in God, they're trusting in superstition. As a result of that, the ark is taken as well as the deaths of Haphne and Phineas. Well, in verse 12, a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. Now, when he came, there was Eli sitting on a seat by the wayside watching for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, what does the sound of this tumult mean? And the man came quickly and told Eli. Eli was 98 years old. His eyes were so dim that he could not see. Then the man said to Eli, I am he who came from the battle and I fled today from the battle line. And he said, what happened, my son? So the messenger answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also, your two sons, Haphne and Phineas, are dead and the ark of God has been captured. Then it happened when he had mentioned, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck was broken and he died for the man was old and heavy and he had judged Israel 40 years. Now, his daughter-in-law Phineas' wife was with child due to be delivered. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth for her labor pains came upon her. And about the time of her death, the women who stood by her said to her, do not fear for you have born a son, but she did not answer, nor did she regard it. Then she named the child Ichabod, saying the glory has departed from Israel because the ark of God has been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. And she said, the glory has departed from Israel for the ark of God has been captured. So God allowed the ark to be taken. The messenger tells Eli. Interestingly, though Eli failed to discipline his sons, he had a concern for that ark. And when he heard that it had been captured, he fell backwards and he broke his neck. It's interesting that the news of the death of his sons did not affect him like the news of the capture the ark did. So that gives us insight. And though he failed to discipline his sons, he did have a genuine love and concern for the things of God. He cared for God and the ark's capture was a greater heartache to him. This is all taking place when his daughter-in-law, Phineas's wife, is being delivered. And so she loses her father-in-law, she loses her husband, but her greatest sorrow is the capture of the ark. The child that is born is given a name that symbolizes that Ichabod, the glory has departed. And so this reveals how deeply she had taken to heart the carrying off of the ark of God. She didn't show a mourning over the loss of Eli, she didn't show mourning over the loss of her husband. She didn't even show mourning over the fact that she was about to die. The thing that gripped her the most was that God's presence was being removed from the nation of Israel, the ark has been captured. And with that, she died after giving birth to this child, whom she symbolically named, the glory has departed. The nation of Israel gotten to the point where the Lord has to deal with them in a very severe way. And even so, I think that we as believers need to take lessons from this and we need to say to the Lord, Lord, I wanna be used by you and I don't want my flesh to ravage me. It must become a servant, it must die. I must have through you the ability to live in a way that pleases you and may my flesh, though it every morning awakens to try and control me, may I have the ability in you every day to do all things through Christ because he does strengthen me and I will grow and I will be victorious in Jesus Christ and I will not allow my flesh to dominate me. Our father, we ask that you would work in us today. I ask that you would continue to work in all of us as we yield ourselves to you. And even as we look at this Old Testament story of the Ark being taken, Lord, may we find application in our own lives and may we, though we know that you are with us and you would tell us you don't leave us nor forsake us, yet at the same time there's still a battle that rages within that only you can give us victory in. And it's a daily battle, Lord, because our flesh wants to dominate us. But I pray that you would work through your spirit in us that we might have victory through Jesus Christ. Our eyes are closed, our heads are bowed. Perhaps I have some in this room right now who need to get right with the Lord. And I wanna pray for you as our eyes are closed and our heads are bowed. If you know that the Lord is speaking to you and then it's time for you to get right with him and you need prayer, would you raise your hand right now right where you're at? And let me pray for you. Just raise so I can see you, please. Lord, you see these hands and you know the reason why they're being raised. I'm asking you to reach down now and as their hands are raised to you to touch them. May they not have a superstitious faith in God. May they have a real faith in you through a relationship with you from this day on. May they have a trust in you as a person, their savior, the one who inhabits them. And Lord, I ask in Jesus' name that you would wash them and cleanse them, that you work in them and work through them, that you might glorify yourself. Whatever thing it is that they're dealing with, whatever sorrow of heart or sin that has taken them, Lord, I pray you give them victory now and release. May they be released to serve you and we give you praise for this and receive from you now, Lord, and thank you. Bless your heart, thank you. You can put your hands down. And Father, I ask that you keep moving in all of us that we might live lives that are pleasing to you in Jesus' name, amen. Let's all stand. We'll pray and close with the song and hopefully I'll see you sometime this week or maybe on Friday. Our Father, would you work in us and would you continue to use us to live lives that bring glory to you? We lift up this nation. I lift up the churches in the nation. There needs to be a revival, may it begin in our hearts, Lord, that we might be able to take what you have given to us, Lord, live it out and give it to others. As we leave this place and we go into the mission field, may we be found faithful as we serve you and we ask these things now in Jesus' name, amen. God bless you.