Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Would you like to be closer with God? Well, Pastor Jeff Johnson says that's a good thing, but we must meet God halfway.

Jeff Johnson: Samuel prayed, God heard, because God hears the prayers of those that are righteous, that are in Christ. He sees our sorrow, our repentance, our humiliation, and he hears our supplication. Again, if we draw near to the Lord, he will draw near to us. If we humble ourselves before the Lord, he says then you will be able to come against the enemy. You will resist the devil and he will flee from you. But we first need to say, "Lord, go before me, be with me."

Guest (Male): There's a difference between regret, remorse, and true repentance. We may feel sorry about the way things have turned out, but only on an emotional level. We often times feel regret for getting caught.

True repentance begins in the mind, moves to the heart, then gets to our hands and feet. It's admitting what God says is true, agreeing with it, and with his help, we do it. This is Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Downey. To agree with God, we must know what he thinks about things. Today we're in 1 Samuel chapter 7.

Jeff Johnson: We need to have more outward show of that inward attitude and that desire to worship him and reveal to him that we love him. And so they did that here as they poured the water out. They were showing that we're just poured out for you, Lord, to never to get it back again. We just pour our lives down, we lay our lives down to you, Lord.

So they confessed their sins, how we need to confess our sins, because once we do, revival begins. And then comes the cleansing of the Lord, and from the cleansing of the Lord comes our consecration of our lives, that we would serve him all the days of our lives. And to throw off the enemy, they're spiritually being renewed here.

That if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you and to wash you from all uncleanliness. And so a new order begins in one's life when you confess. The new order of God in an individual life. He says now, "Behold, all things are new. Old things are passed away. Everything now is brand new."

I love that scripture in 2nd Chronicles where they were having communion after a celebration victory and it says, "And there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet, neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept." I mean, once you come to the Lord, once you confess your sins, man, there is no other day like that day.

Because that is the day that you become a born-again, spirit-filled Christian, a new creature in Christ. A new work has begun. But when you seek to get right with God, you better watch out. I mean, when you all of a sudden are going to make a decision to come for the Lord or you're going to get into a ministry or you're going to come back from a backslidden position and you want to get your heart right with the Lord and you want to serve the Lord again, look out, because the enemy's going to be there.

St. Augustine in some of his writings wrote down a time where he remembered right after he was converted, where he was walking down the street and there was a lady running at him, going, "Augustine, Augustine, it's me, it's me." And some of one of the girls from his past come running at him. "It's me, it's me." And he looks at her and says, "It's not me, it's not me."

See, he's a new man. I died, nevertheless I live in Christ. It's not me. It's a trap, see, the enemy always sets a trap. Verse 7, look at verse 7. "And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah," they just heard that there was some kind of insurrection here, they're doing something over there. The lords of the Philistines went up against Israel, and when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

See, the enemy gets upset. He hears of your decision to get right, he knows you're going to make a choice. And it's right after the blessing, especially this decision to get your life right with the Lord, that you can count on a battle coming your way. Remember when Satan was tempting Jesus, or actually Jesus was baptized, a great experience, and then right after baptism he was brought away into the wilderness to do battle with Satan.

See, Satan never rests. He never has a good day. I mean, he's not going to just back off from you and say, "Well, I've been having a pretty good day, I think I'll leave him alone for a bit." But he doesn't have a good day. He just keeps it coming. Israel, notice, was afraid because they knew their enemy was coming for them.

It's scary, it's in the spiritual realm. Yes, you don't know, you can't see it, you don't know what really is going on, but you know the enemy's upset and it gets a little scary when you think about it. And they were afraid. But I think it was a fear because they began to mistrust in themselves. And that's good.

They no longer counted in their own strength. They saw that they were weak, they were as sheep amongst wolves, and they became weak. You know, there is the key to victory, isn't it? When you realize that when I am the weakest in self, then I am the strongest in the Lord. Because I'm totally depending on him to fight the battle and not me.

Notice their request, verse 8. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, "Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us. Intercede for us, Samuel, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines." And so their fear turned to what? Prayer. Hey, that's a great way to direct fear, isn't it? When you get afraid and the enemy's coming on like a flood, get down and just start praying.

Depend on the Lord. Go to the Lord. And then they're saying to Samuel, "Pray without ceasing, continue to pray." And so the Bible says you need to cast all your care upon the Lord for why? He cares for you. Let him know about it. Seek the Lord in prayer. Now, Samuel did more than just pray.

There is a lot of people that pray. There's a lot of people that don't know the Lord and pray. Did you know that? They pray to God and they say nothing ever happens. And they struggle through life and they pray every once in a while. But here Samuel did more than just pray. He had the sacrifice involved.

Look at verse 9. And Samuel took a suckling lamb, which is a type of Jesus Christ. He offered it for a burnt offering holy unto the Lord, and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. Samuel prayed, God heard, because God hears the prayers of those that are righteous, that are in Christ.

He sees our sorrow, our repentance, our humiliation, and he hears our supplication. Again, if we draw near to the Lord, he will draw near to us. If we humble ourselves before the Lord, he says then you will be able to come against the enemy. You will resist the devil and he will flee from you.

But we first need to say, "Lord, go before me, be with me." And then he'll give you boldness to resist the devil, and the devil, your enemy, is going to flee. Now, as this was going on, here's Samuel sacrificing, worshiping the Lord. All of a sudden, the enemy is sneaking up behind the hills behind them.

The enemy's coming in wanting to devour those that are weak now, wanting to break up this meeting, wanting to wipe their enemy out. Notice verse 10. And as Samuel was offering the burnt offering, we need to be in worship. We need to be just busy about the things of the Lord. God will take care of the enemy.

He already knows how the enemy's trying to come up and plant a trap. He's trying to get you from backside. He's behind me, he's with me, he's in front of me. He's protecting me. I cannot protect myself. You can't keep yourself. He's keeping you. And as he was offering, worshiping the Lord, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel.

But the Lord—I like that—thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel. So what happened here? God joins in, responds to their prayers, and wipes out the enemy. How did it happen? I don't know, there's a thunder it says. Some say that a hail came down and confused them and they ran scared.

As they ran scared, I want you to see how Israel now, instead of being slaves, they became very militant. They got encouraged because when the presence of the Lord is with you, you get encouraged. And notice what happens. It says in verse 11, and the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them until they came to Beth Car.

And so all of a sudden, these that were afraid said, "Let's get them." And they just went after them. It's like David, who was a little boy, he was offered a sword and all the protection he could go up against and finally he just said, "Give me a stone." He ran at Goliath, screaming at him. I mean, are you nuts?

But hey, God's on my side. He's going to bring this guy down. I mean, you and the Lord are a majority. And to trust the Lord, to know that he's going before you, you come against your enemy with true militant type of behavior. Like he's not going to mess with me. He's going down in the name of the Lord.

And so that's what they did. They went running after them and they smote them until they came to Beth Car. So Israel overcame their enemy. Why? Because they first repented. There was a national repentance. And then they confessed their sins. God forgave them. I found a scripture in 1st John where it says, "For whatsoever is born of God will overcome the world."

"And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" How important is it for you to believe in Jesus and to serve the Lord and him only? Oh man, you want to become victorious over this world and the things in this world, we need to serve the Lord and have faith in God.

What happened as they were getting closer to the Lord? Evil has a less and less hold on them. Notice what happened. As you drew near to the Lord, how evil just began to leave your life. You began to leave it back. It let go. Addiction, addictions that you tried everything to get out of. Jesus entered in and set you free. Delivered you totally from your enemy.

You see, victory started really in verse 9 when Samuel sacrificed the lamb. And then notice it ends up in that place called Beth Car. Beth Car in the Hebrew is the house of the lamb. So it starts out with the sacrifice of the lamb and ends up in the house of the lamb. Hey, listen, from the cross to the crown. One of these days, Jesus died for me, changed my life, but I'm going home to glory. I've got a place prepared for me that outshines the sun. He's taking me there soon.

Now we need to notice the place that it happened in. Look at this, verse 12. Now this is the place. It not just so happens to happen here, this is God's direction. Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." Ebenezer means a stone of help.

This was to remind them, this was a memorial to remind them of what God did this day. You see, 20 years earlier, their enemy, the Philistines, on this very spot wiped Israel out of 30,000. Wiped them out. There was a great defeat here. A place of misery. And it was during a time where they were in the flesh.

Now God gives them a great victory where there was once defeat. Why did he do it? Because he wanted them to remember that on this very spot at one time when they were in the flesh, they could never destroy the enemy. But now there's a whole different atmosphere, a whole different change.

There's a difference between victory and defeat, and he wanted to teach them what that meant. As they looked back, they could see that when they were there before, they had no prayer and remember they didn't go and listen to Samuel or even ask Samuel for help from their God. They just went on against their enemy.

This time there was prayer. There was dependence upon God. They looked to the Lord to deliver them, and he did it. Big difference. You see, God knows how to turn our yesterday miseries into tomorrow's ministries. And as you look back in your life, he brought you out of your trials and tribulations.

Why? So you can with the same comfort you were comforted, comfort others. What was a misery for you at one time now becomes your ministry to others. And he uses it to share with them and encourage them. And now we see through prayer and reliance upon God, God takes care of the enemies.

They're a little afraid, but they knew that they were weak. But they trusted in their God and as they went forth repenting unto the Lord, seeking the Lord, God delivered them and gave them great victory. We cannot go with our own power and do anything. God wants us to know that it's through him that anything is going to get done.

Anybody that you love is going to get saved. But God wants to use us. See, that's the thing. And he wants to encourage us in the fight that we're in, that we would totally depend upon him and get into prayer as never before and watch him work. He's good at it. So after God did this incredible work, then comes this worship of God and this stone of Ebenezer.

They're giving him the glory for what he had done in their midst. They're acknowledging the Lord. "Hitherto," they said, "has the Lord helped us." In other words, he has brought us this far. And be of good cheer. In the world, you're going to have tribulation, but be of good cheer, Jesus said, "I've overcome the world." He's not going to let us go.

Sure there's going to be more trials, but there's going to be more triumphs. Sure there's going to be valleys, but there's going to be a lot of mountains. There's going to be difficulties, but then the dynamic of God comes in and just sets us free from these difficulties. You see, he started the work.

He that has started a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Hitherto he has brought us this far. And so the Lord wants to encourage us this morning that he is our rock. To look to him. Don't look within. Don't look within you like you have some kind of a resource to pull you out of this situation, because you're going to end up in misery.

Look to the Lord. Don't look around or you're going to stumble. You're going to fall. Keep your eyes upon the Lord. He is able. We sing it all the time, don't we? He is able. He is able to present us faultless unto his presence of his glory and he's going to do that. So this stone becomes kind of an Romans 8:28.

All things are working for the good for those that love the Lord. It's kind of like a pillow for those that are weary of heart to kind of rest in. The stone of remembrance. And as we yield to the Lord, he will deliver us. But yet, he has delivered us, and he is delivering us. I think in banking terms, it goes this way: Yesterday's a canceled check, tomorrow's a promissory note, but today's cash.

It's awesome. He has saved me, he will save me, but man, he is saving me. Today he is keeping me with his power, with his hand. I can't keep myself. He's doing an awesome work in and through my life. To forget is a lack of faith. To forget what God has done. Also, I think this "hitherto has he brought us this far" is looking into the future.

Because he's saying today's setbacks are setting the stage for tomorrow's successes. That the setbacks that we go through in the past are all a part of what he's trying to do for the future in our lives. If you fail, God can turn it around into victory as he did with the children of Israel. And God hasn't given up on you.

Don't give up on yourself. Hold onto the Lord, don't let go, because as you draw near to the Lord, he says "I will draw near to you." And I think also today's successes, whatever victory God gives us now today as we pray, somehow we need to write them down. We need to remember them.

We need some kind of a way to just hold onto what God has done in the past. Why? Because they're needed for tomorrow's trials. Because storms are coming. How are you going to make it through the storm if you're not depending on your Ebenezers? If you're not looking to them, just going, "Man, do you remember what the Lord did here? Remember what the Lord did there?"

And do something to put up a memory of that. A plant in the backyard or something. Whatever, in your diary, write it down. Something to look at. Look what God has done. Then finally look at verse 13. So the Philistines were subdued and they came no more into the coast of Israel. Do you see what happened?

Because of their giving their lives totally to the Lord, the Lord delivered them totally from their enemy. That's good news. For good. They came no more into the coast of Israel, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel.

There was restoration from Ekron to Gath, and the coast thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites, their other enemies. You see, to those that live for the Lord and seek to please the Lord, even their enemies he makes at peace with them. It's neat to have peace. The peace of God. Peace with God is awesome.

You see, this is why the enemy tries to keep people from coming to the Lord because everything is going to change. This is why the enemy tries to keep backsliders from rededicating their lives to the Lord. Why? Because of the victory, the restoration, the peace, and the things that God is going to do with that individual.

So the enemy tries to hold people back. Not just a one-time victory, and I don't see that here. I see a whole new spirit in Israel that's going to go on. A national revival has taken place and unbelievable results. God will do what you can never could do.

I love that scripture that Mission America uses on their t-shirts. Righteousness is—this is Proverbs 14:34—righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. What a scripture for today. And then finally verse 15. And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, from Gilgal, from Mizpah, judged Israel in those places. He was the first circuit preacher, kind of went around and ministered the word of the Lord. And his return was to Ramah, this is his home, for there was his house, there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord. What was this altar for? Again, it was an altar of remembrance of what God had done, that we would not forget.

Guest (Male): We may not have the means to build some elaborate monument to express our love and devotion to God, but we can in our own hearts remember every day to praise and worship him. Pastor Jeff will be back in a moment with a reminder about the importance of repentance here on Sound Doctrine.

If you enjoyed today's message from Pastor Jeff Johnson from the book of 1 Samuel, I'd like to remind you that you can hear it again on several different venues. First, you can go online to SoundDoctrineRadio.org where you can hear today's study as well as make a donation to this radio outreach. That's at SoundDoctrineRadio.org.

You can also listen at OnePlace.com and through the Sound Doctrine Radio app. I should also mention Sound Doctrine can be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Now here's Pastor Jeff once again with a warning about what happens to a person or nation with an unrepentant heart.

Jeff Johnson: We are going to continue to suffer as a nation. In fact, you as an individual will continue to suffer until you repent. Until you say, "Lord, I need you in my life. I see that without you I can do nothing. I'm not going to go anywhere, do anything, I need you." And to serve him only. To serve no one else but just to love him supremely in your life. What a decision.

But Jesus says, "Hey, if you love me, do my commandments. But if you hear my voice, follow me." And he called everybody publicly. This is a decision between many that are here that need to make a decision to draw near to the Lord. You take the first step and he'll take many towards you. Jesus called them publicly.

He said, "Come and follow me." As you make this step, you need to do this. It's an outward show of the inward work that God is doing to you. If you're away from the Lord, you're backslidden, then you need to repent. You cannot serve two masters. You're being divided in your life.

You need to be focused. You need to say, "Lord, I want to serve you and you only. And I'm sorry for the way I've been living. I've been away from you and I want to get close to you." So as you come, you're coming to Jesus, saying, "I want to love you, Lord. I want to follow you all the days of my life."

Guest (Male): Be sure to join us again next time we meet for another encouraging and challenging study with Pastor Jeff in the book of 1 Samuel. That's here on Sound Doctrine, presented by Calvary Chapel Downey.