Scripture: 1 Samuel 7:3-17
I. God helps us stand before Him by leading us to repentance.
A. The people were sad that their sins had separated them from their God (vs. 2). The key word in verse 3 is the word return. Israel was finally returning to the LORD. They were repenting. The word repent means to turn. Repentance is not just feeling bad for your sins. And repentance is not just words. Repentance is also actions. And what action did Samuel lead Israel to do in vs. 4? He led them to get rid of their idols. Samuel then led Israel in a worship service of repentance (vs. 5-6). This was no superficial repentance. This was a supernatural repentance.
B. Repentance is not the cause of God helping you and saving your soul. Don’t think, “If I repent, if I turn away from my sin, if I start to do a bunch of good deeds, then God will save me and allow me to stand before His holy presence.” Your repentance is not the cause of God’s grace and mercy being poured out on your life. Repentance is instead the fruit of God’s grace changing your hearts toward Him and changing your actions. God supernaturally changes your hearts toward Him first, and then you repent and return to Him.
II. God helps us stand before Him by providing for us a sacrifice.
A. The Israelites not only needed God’s help to stand before His holiness. They also needed God’s help with the Philistines. So, they asked Samuel to pray for them as they engaged in another battle with the Philistines (vs. 7). Notice in vs. 9 what Samuel also did in addition to praying. Samuel offered a sacrifice of an animal. The punishment that Israel deserved for their sins against God was exile. Deuteronomy 28:64: “And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”
B. But who actually took this curse of exile in the days of Samuel? God. After Israel lost the battle to the Philistines in 1 Samuel 4, the priest’s wife Phinehas went into labor with Ichabod. The name Ichabod means “The glory has departed” (1 Sam. 4:21). The ark of the LORD had been captured and taken from Israel into Philistine territory. Phinehas’ wife was literally saying “The glory has gone into exile.” The people of Israel deserved the judgment of exile. But instead it is God himself who is exiled. God sacrificed Himself for His people. He bore their judgment.
III. God helps us stand before Him by giving us victory over our enemies.
A. If you are going to stand safely before your holy God, your enemies need to be defeated. In Israel’s case, that means the Philistines needed to be defeated. And God gave Israel victory over the Philistines (vs. 10, 13, 14). Samuel brought victory to Israel by bringing Israel back to the Lord. It was the movement of Israel’s heart, not the Lord’s ark (1 Sam. 4), that brought Israel victory over its enemies. It was only as Israel embraced the LORD with their whole heart, that they could expect the promised blessing of victory in Deuteronomy 28:7 to be fulfilled: “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”
Application:
We have an Ebenezer stone today: the cross. God has helped us with the sacrifice of His Son. It is that sacrifice that helps you to stand before a holy God.
Sources:
The book of 1 Samuel
Commentaries on Samuel by Robert Bergen, Dale Ralph Davis and Tim Chester
SERMON DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Can we repent of our sin in our own power? Or does God have to supernaturally change our hearts before we repent? What concrete actions has your own repentance led you to do?
- How important is prayer to you? Samuel also offered a sacrifice with his prayer. Is it possible to stand before God without receiving His sacrifice on your behalf?
- The Ebenezer stone that Samuel set up is a helpful reminder of the value of recalling God’s past deeds of grace for us. Why not make a list of God’s such deeds in your life?