WEBVTT 01:00.000 --> 01:27.200 Good evening. 01:27.200 --> 01:28.200 It's good to see you this evening. 01:28.600 --> 01:32.920 If you turn with me in your Bibles, please, to 1 Samuel chapter 4. 01:33.960 --> 01:35.800 1 Samuel chapter 4. 01:37.240 --> 01:43.160 As is our custom, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse 1 of 1 Samuel chapter 4. 01:47.480 --> 01:49.480 In 1 Samuel chapter 4, the Bible reads, 01:50.120 --> 01:52.840 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. 01:53.560 --> 01:59.080 Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer. 01:59.720 --> 02:01.800 And the Philistines pitched in Aphek. 02:02.360 --> 02:05.960 And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel. 02:05.960 --> 02:11.080 And when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines, 02:11.080 --> 02:14.920 and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. 02:16.040 --> 02:19.880 And when the people were coming to the camp, the elders of Israel said, 02:20.520 --> 02:23.720 Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? 02:24.360 --> 02:28.360 Let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, 02:28.360 --> 02:32.680 that when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. 02:33.560 --> 02:38.280 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the Ark of the Covenant 02:38.280 --> 02:41.560 of the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth between the Cherubims. 02:42.360 --> 02:48.200 And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 02:48.920 --> 02:52.200 And when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, 02:52.200 --> 02:56.600 all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. 02:57.720 --> 03:00.600 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, 03:01.160 --> 03:04.440 What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? 03:05.160 --> 03:08.520 And they understood that the Ark of the Lord was come into the camp. 03:09.480 --> 03:15.080 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. 03:15.080 --> 03:20.440 And they said, Woe unto us, for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. 03:20.440 --> 03:25.720 Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? 03:26.360 --> 03:30.840 These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 03:31.640 --> 03:37.560 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto 03:37.560 --> 03:42.200 the Hebrews as they have been to you. Quit yourselves like men and fight. 03:43.080 --> 03:49.240 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten. And they fled every man into his tent. 03:49.240 --> 03:55.000 And there was a very great slaughter for their fellow of Israel, thirty thousand footmen. 03:55.720 --> 04:01.800 And the Ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phineas were slain. 04:02.920 --> 04:07.560 And they ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, 04:07.640 --> 04:13.960 with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. And when he came low, Eli sat upon a seat 04:14.520 --> 04:19.160 by the wayside, watching, for his heart trembled for the Ark of God. 04:20.200 --> 04:24.280 And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. 04:25.160 --> 04:30.440 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? 04:31.160 --> 04:37.480 And the man came in hastily and told Eli. Now Eli was ninety and eight years old, 04:38.680 --> 04:45.320 and his eyes were dim that he could not see. And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of 04:45.320 --> 04:50.200 the army, and I fled today out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? 04:51.080 --> 04:56.760 And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been 04:56.760 --> 05:03.640 also a great slaughter among the people. And thy two sons also, Hophni and Phineas, are dead. 05:04.360 --> 05:10.600 And the Ark of God is taken. And it came to pass when he made mention of the Ark of God, 05:10.600 --> 05:17.640 that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck break. And he died, 05:18.360 --> 05:25.960 for he was an old man and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years, 05:26.600 --> 05:32.600 and his daughter-in-law, Phineas's wife, was with child, near to be delivered. And when she heard 05:32.600 --> 05:37.800 the tidings that the Ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, 05:37.800 --> 05:44.680 she bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death, 05:44.680 --> 05:51.400 the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not, for thou hast borne a son. But she answered 05:51.400 --> 05:59.080 not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from 05:59.080 --> 06:04.760 Israel, because the Ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 06:05.320 --> 06:10.360 And she said, The glory is departed from Israel, for the Ark of God is taken. 06:22.040 --> 06:27.640 And then we're in 1 Samuel chapter 4. And I guess if I had to pick a sermon title, it would be, 06:27.640 --> 06:42.840 The glory departs from Israel. And let's see, last week we had where Samuel is called by the Lord, 06:42.840 --> 06:49.640 and the Lord actually called him three times. And those times he thought it was Eli calling him. 06:50.360 --> 06:54.840 And Eli had enough discernment to understand that it was actually God that was calling him 06:55.400 --> 07:01.480 to be a prophet, and he gave him some good advice. And then Samuel had basically preached his first 07:01.480 --> 07:09.720 sermon against his adoptive father that's raised him and has seemingly done a good job with him, 07:09.720 --> 07:17.000 whereas he didn't do a good job with his own sons and refused to take them out of the positions of 07:17.000 --> 07:24.360 authority that they were in. And now we're seeing God's fulfillment of the prophecy fulfilled here 07:24.360 --> 07:30.920 in part as Hophni and Phineas are killed in this chapter, and Eli also dies, and they all die in 07:30.920 --> 07:40.280 one day just like the prophecy says. So the first point we have here is the Philistines capture the 07:40.280 --> 07:46.840 ark. So look at verse number one here, the Bible says, And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. 07:47.400 --> 07:52.040 Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside Ebenezer, 07:52.840 --> 08:00.120 and the Philistines pitched in Ephek. So basically right after, you know, the Bible says in the last 08:00.120 --> 08:07.240 chapter that all of Israel acknowledged the fact that Samuel was a prophet. And so people 08:07.240 --> 08:14.520 have acknowledged this. He grew in the knowledge of the Lord, and it kind of is likened to Jesus 08:14.520 --> 08:20.440 Christ how he from 12, you know, at 12 years old, he goes and talks and asks the doctors and the 08:20.440 --> 08:25.640 Pharisees questions, and they're marveling at his knowledge of the word of God. And Samuel kind of 08:25.640 --> 08:33.320 grows up ministering in the tabernacle and at an early age gets a lot of wisdom, and he's basically, 08:33.400 --> 08:40.200 he's there's a, I mean, he basically comes forth from a barren woman, which is, you know, Mary was 08:40.200 --> 08:46.920 a virgin, so it's kind of comparable because virgins don't give birth to children, and barren 08:46.920 --> 08:51.480 women don't either. So there's a lot of parallels that are different, but they're the same. And Jesus 08:51.480 --> 08:56.440 Christ is a prophet, priest, and king, as the song said that we were singing before the service. 08:57.320 --> 09:02.040 And Samuel becomes a prophet, priest, and not king, but a judge, which is basically 09:02.600 --> 09:10.280 still a ruler. So Samuel, people have acknowledged that Samuel is a prophet, 09:10.280 --> 09:15.320 but Eli is still the judge of all Israel. It explains that here in the passage also, 09:16.040 --> 09:21.080 but it says in the word of Samuel came to all Israel, and so they're about to fight. 09:21.880 --> 09:25.960 Samuel is telling them it's time to fight, and the Philistines put themselves in a ray 09:25.960 --> 09:30.840 against Israel. So what that means is they basically they're posturing and showing themselves that, 09:30.840 --> 09:37.720 hey, it's time for battle. I'm sure you've seen, you know, maybe in films where both armies are 09:37.720 --> 09:43.160 facing off against each other, and they have all their swords and their shields and everything 09:43.160 --> 09:49.640 ready to go, and the horses and chariots behind the infantry, and then the archers behind them, 09:49.640 --> 09:53.880 and there's a certain way that they all set themselves forth into battle to show that they're 09:53.880 --> 10:01.160 ready to fight. Okay, and we don't do that so much in modern warfare as they did for 10:01.160 --> 10:05.400 thousands of years before that, but that's what a ray is, where they're just kind of showing 10:05.400 --> 10:11.720 themselves that they're ready for the battle. And it says, and the Philistines put themselves in a 10:11.720 --> 10:17.880 ray against Israel, and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines, and they 10:17.960 --> 10:27.000 slew of the army in the field about 4,000 men. So they get made quick work of, they get beat pretty 10:27.000 --> 10:32.680 easily, and this might seem like a small amount of people, and comparatively speaking for the 10:32.680 --> 10:38.840 30,000 they lose later, it is a smaller amount, but it's still, I mean, that's 4,000 men. That's a lot 10:38.840 --> 10:45.400 of people, and when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, wherefore 10:45.400 --> 10:50.680 hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? That's a good question. Why is 10:50.680 --> 10:57.160 God allowing these Philistines, these uncircumcised heathen, these people that are worshiping false 10:57.160 --> 11:03.640 gods, why is he allowing, why is this happening? Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before 11:03.640 --> 11:08.200 the Philistines? I mean, so they acknowledge that God's allowing this to happen because if they're 11:08.200 --> 11:11.640 following God's law, they're doing what they're supposed to be doing, then God's supposed to 11:11.640 --> 11:16.120 bless the children of Israel. They're not supposed to lose battles like this. They're not supposed 11:16.120 --> 11:20.040 to be defeated and run away from their enemies. They're not supposed to have people die and be 11:20.040 --> 11:27.000 killed in battles like this. They're supposed to be the head, not the tail, but when they're living 11:27.000 --> 11:35.480 in 450 years of a time where people are doing that which is right in their own eyes, like the time 11:35.480 --> 11:44.520 of the judges was, then you're going to have this kind of a problem. So basically, God is showing 11:44.520 --> 11:49.320 that he still does not favor them. Even though Samuel is kind of coming up as his prophet, 11:49.880 --> 11:55.160 it's obvious that God has favor with Samuel. And so this time period is kind of a changing of the 11:55.160 --> 12:00.520 guard, so to speak. And Samuel is going to be the last real judge of Israel and he's going to be a 12:00.520 --> 12:07.160 good one. But even so, the people have already corrupted themselves to the point where even under 12:07.160 --> 12:12.440 the leadership of Samuel, they're still not going to get their act together. And so Samuel's heart 12:12.440 --> 12:19.240 is right. Samuel is leading well. And this is going to fall into when Israel desires to have a 12:19.240 --> 12:23.880 king like all the other nations. And God's people are in trouble when we try to be just like the 12:23.880 --> 12:29.960 world in all the things that we do and try to pattern ourselves after the world. And churches 12:29.960 --> 12:35.080 today do that. They pattern themselves after the world. We want to have musical instruments 12:35.080 --> 12:44.120 like the world has. We want to have the music like the world has. And again, there's no Bible 12:44.120 --> 12:49.480 verses that say necessarily like the musical genres are wrong and things like that. But 12:50.120 --> 12:55.000 you can tell the difference between godly music and ungodly music. I'm pretty sure you can hear 12:55.000 --> 13:00.200 the difference in that. I mean, I don't hear rock of ages. I hear rock, but I don't hear rock 13:00.200 --> 13:04.680 of ages being played in the world's vehicles as they drive by, unless it's a Christian. 13:05.880 --> 13:11.960 You know, usually you hear, you might hear like different genres of Christian music playing, 13:12.520 --> 13:17.000 but I'm just saying that you don't hear, you know, rock of ages and 13:17.000 --> 13:26.040 and at Calvary being bumped in people's cars, because that's not what the world wants to hear. 13:26.040 --> 13:32.040 The world doesn't like the songs, necessarily. I mean, they might like certain songs that are 13:32.040 --> 13:38.440 songs or certain songs out of the hymn book that they might get down with or whatever at a funeral 13:39.160 --> 13:44.280 or at a wedding or something. But generally speaking, the world doesn't like our music. 13:44.920 --> 13:53.160 And so it's tested and our types of music are tested and tried in that the old-fashioned hymns 13:53.160 --> 14:00.120 and the psalms and a lot of spiritual songs, you know, they stand the test of time because they are 14:00.120 --> 14:06.600 spiritual songs. And if you're just like, you know, repeating, you know, if it's 7-11 music, 14:06.600 --> 14:13.320 which is like repeating the same seven words 11 times, or the same, you know, it's all about him. 14:14.040 --> 14:21.080 It's all about him. It's all about him. I mean, how is that spiritual? I mean, there's literally 14:21.080 --> 14:29.240 songs that are like just like that. It's all about you. I mean, that is very generic. But you notice 14:29.240 --> 14:35.640 that the hymns are specifically talking about doctrine. And not all hymns are doctrine-released. 14:35.640 --> 14:42.360 Correct. I'm not saying that. But those are the ones we don't sing. I mean, that bright and cloud 14:42.360 --> 14:48.840 this morning, that I mean, that was pointed out as error right after it got sung. Eli realized the 14:48.840 --> 14:55.160 error of his ways because it's, you know, the day of the Lord is a cloudy and gloomy day. It's a day 14:55.160 --> 14:59.720 of darkness. I mean, the law of that is because of the cloud cover. But I mean, obviously we can, 15:00.600 --> 15:07.640 at least we correct it, you know. Eli's like, this is wrong, you know. So, but the reason I'm 15:07.640 --> 15:12.600 saying that is because, you know, and it's like when Moses or when Joshua and Moses hear the song, 15:12.600 --> 15:17.480 the what's going on in the camp and they come down, he's like the sound of war is in the camp. 15:17.480 --> 15:21.960 And he's like, that's not the sound of war you're hearing. It's the song. It's the, it's the, 15:22.600 --> 15:28.120 it's dancing and singing that he hears. And it's like, what kind of music were they listening to 15:28.120 --> 15:34.280 where Joshua thought that it was the sounds of war? I mean, it sounds like maybe it was death 15:34.280 --> 15:40.760 metal or something. I mean, I don't know. I won't do it in the microphone this time like I did last 15:40.760 --> 15:46.440 time. I woke all the babies up and everything. But, but like, isn't that weird though that like 15:46.440 --> 15:53.080 Joshua hears music, but he thinks war is happening. And look, the heathen have always used drums for 15:53.080 --> 15:57.880 war. Drums are one of the things that the Bible does not mention to use to praise God. And I'm 15:57.880 --> 16:05.400 not saying, you know, it's an omission. I get that. But drums like heavy drum beats are what heathen 16:05.400 --> 16:12.040 have used around the world for their types of music. And even in like religious practices where 16:12.040 --> 16:18.120 they do the trances and the, you know, the drum, you know, and then of course, you know, dirty hippies 16:18.120 --> 16:23.240 have used it for drum circles at like college, you know, where they're, you know, summoning their 16:23.240 --> 16:29.480 demons and their acid parties that they're having or whatever. And then rave parties where they're 16:29.480 --> 16:35.400 listening to these heavy drum beats while they're, you know, tweaking out on MDA and all this other 16:35.400 --> 16:41.400 stuff, right? But that kind of music, the rhythm of it is, it's not, that's not a melody. That's, 16:41.960 --> 16:48.040 that's something else, you know. So, I mean, I'm not saying that the Bible implicitly says 16:48.280 --> 16:53.640 that certain genres are wrong, but I mean, I mean, you can listen to certain things and know that 16:53.640 --> 17:00.200 it's wrong by the lyrics. I mean, Two Live Crew was banned in the United States for a reason. 17:01.160 --> 17:06.600 And obviously I'm not pro, let's say, let's censor everything, but, you know, I definitely don't want 17:06.600 --> 17:14.280 my children listening to that music. And that, and that like obviously made children desire or 17:14.280 --> 17:22.680 teenagers desire to go get those albums. And there was a big change in what could be considered 17:22.680 --> 17:27.880 decent. And there's big fights about that. Even, look, Democrats are leading the charge about stuff 17:27.880 --> 17:35.400 like that in the 1990s. Tipper Gore, which is Al Gore's wife, was leading the charge on explicit 17:35.400 --> 17:41.880 lyrics in music. All that stuff was being taken off the shelves at Walmart. And it was a big deal. 17:42.520 --> 17:49.960 Cuss words were a big deal to Tipper Gore. So, I mean, it's funny how things have changed. I mean, 17:51.160 --> 17:56.120 I mean, Donald, like presidents using what would be considered quote unquote cuss words, 17:56.120 --> 18:02.040 it was like never, that never happened before Donald Trump and Joe Biden. I'm pretty sure. 18:02.840 --> 18:09.160 I mean, maybe they'd say like damn or whatever, but they did not use like four letter words, 18:09.720 --> 18:16.440 you know, back in my day, you know. I'm not that old either, by the way. Not as old as Eli. 18:17.800 --> 18:22.840 I'm just kidding. I met Eli in this chapter. What did you guys think I was talking about? 18:23.480 --> 18:30.920 All right. So anyway, I got lost in the weeds there for a second. But so here's what the people 18:30.920 --> 18:37.720 are doing though. They're having, they have a big problem and their problem is a spiritual problem. 18:37.720 --> 18:41.800 Their problems in their heart. Look at verse three, it says, and when the people were come 18:42.440 --> 18:47.080 into the camp, the elders of Israel said, wherefore hath the Lord smitten us this day before the 18:47.080 --> 18:54.040 Philistines let us fetch the Ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that when it 18:54.040 --> 19:01.080 cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. So like he asked them, yes, they asked 19:01.080 --> 19:06.280 a good question like, wherefore has the Lord smitten us this day? That's the good question. 19:06.360 --> 19:13.320 Why is God allowing this to happen? But then the dumb thing to say next is let us fetch the Ark of 19:13.320 --> 19:19.320 the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us. Instead of saying, hey, we need to figure out 19:19.880 --> 19:25.320 what God's upset about and seek his face and ask his counsel at the mouth of a prophet, 19:25.880 --> 19:33.080 at the mouth of our spiritual leadership. But their spiritual leadership is Haphni and Phineas 19:33.080 --> 19:38.680 that are sitting around the Ark, eating the portions of meat that they're not supposed to 19:38.680 --> 19:44.040 be eating. The people don't have any confidence in them anymore. So from the leadership down, 19:44.600 --> 19:53.720 they got major problems. And it says that when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand 19:53.720 --> 20:03.080 of the enemies. So who's going to say this? It, the Ark. Look, the Ark is an object. It's something 20:03.080 --> 20:10.040 that obviously is holy and consecrated unto the Lord. And inside the tabernacle, God's presence 20:10.040 --> 20:15.960 would come down through that hole in the top of the tabernacle or whatever and come down. And the 20:15.960 --> 20:20.920 mercy seat was where the Ark of the covenant was. And that's where God would come down and meet with 20:20.920 --> 20:26.200 the children of Israel. And it would usually be represented by a pillar of smoke or whatever. 20:27.160 --> 20:33.560 But God's presence would meet on that location because that's where the blood was placed. And 20:33.560 --> 20:40.360 obviously, it's a picture of in heaven. All those things were a pattern of things that were already 20:40.360 --> 20:46.200 in heaven, but God would come down and meet with them. And so the Ark was a holy thing. It wasn't 20:46.200 --> 20:53.160 even seen by the children of Israel most of the time. It was behind these curtains that you couldn't 20:53.160 --> 20:59.320 even, nobody could even see it. And all you could see was the staves sticking out, the things that 20:59.320 --> 21:05.320 they were supposed to carry it with, which they, we'll see later on, the problems with not carrying 21:05.320 --> 21:11.960 it right. But it is a holy thing. But it's not going to save them. It's not like Indiana Jones 21:11.960 --> 21:16.760 and the Raiders of the Lost Ark or whatever, where they're like, you know, the Ark has this 21:16.760 --> 21:22.040 power where it can just like nuke armies or whatever. Because, I mean, look, Hollywood movies 21:22.040 --> 21:28.600 are just that. They're movies and a lot of times they're just stupid. And so the Ark didn't have 21:28.600 --> 21:34.120 like laser beams that shot out of it and destroyed armies. Like, this is why, you know, they're in 21:34.120 --> 21:37.160 trouble because they think that the Ark is the thing that has the power when it's actually the 21:37.160 --> 21:43.240 God of Israel that has the power to help them. And so they think that the Ark itself is going to 21:43.240 --> 21:49.480 save them. So they really have a serious issue. They're like treating this, they're placing their 21:49.480 --> 21:55.240 hope and trust in superstitious belief of something that God made instead of the God that actually 21:55.240 --> 22:01.880 made it or had them made it. So they really have serious issues. Let's turn to Joshua. Keep your 22:01.880 --> 22:09.560 finger here. Let's go to Joshua chapter 6. Joshua chapter 6. Now, this is at a time, at the beginning 22:09.560 --> 22:14.200 of the time of the judges basically, when they actually went into the promised land. This is 450 22:14.200 --> 22:20.840 years earlier when they're led into the promised land by Joshua. And remember, they carried the Ark 22:20.840 --> 22:27.160 of the Covenant in. The Levites carried it in. The priests themselves carried it across the river, 22:28.120 --> 22:34.600 the Jordan River, at the highest point of the year when all the waters were flooded and everything. 22:34.600 --> 22:40.600 So it was a miracle that they went across on dry ground at that time. And they were commanded to 22:40.600 --> 22:46.120 carry the Ark across in that time. And then the first place that they attacked was Jericho. 22:46.920 --> 22:52.040 And they were supposed to walk around Jericho, what, seven times? They were supposed to do it, 22:52.040 --> 22:54.360 you know, it's going to explain it here. Look at verse 2. It says, 22:54.360 --> 23:00.120 And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, 23:00.120 --> 23:04.120 and the king thereof, and the mighty men of Valor. And ye shall compass the city, 23:04.120 --> 23:09.560 all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days, 23:09.560 --> 23:15.640 and the seven priests shall bear before the Ark seven trumpets of ram's horns. And the seventh day 23:15.640 --> 23:22.040 ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And it shall 23:22.040 --> 23:27.880 come to pass that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye shall hear the 23:27.880 --> 23:32.920 sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall 23:32.920 --> 23:40.200 fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him. So God is laying 23:40.200 --> 23:45.320 out the plan. He's telling Joshua, this is what you're going to do. But here's the thing about 23:45.320 --> 23:52.040 this is that Joshua, the people followed. They obeyed Joshua. They didn't obey Moses like they 23:52.040 --> 23:57.960 should have. A whole generation died in the wilderness except for Joshua and Caleb. Those 23:57.960 --> 24:02.440 are the only remnants of that generation. Moses didn't even get to go into the promised land. 24:03.080 --> 24:08.840 But Joshua did, and all the people followed him, and they obeyed Joshua. They were all right with 24:09.400 --> 24:14.760 God. So God is telling them to do all these things, but the difference between Joshua's 24:14.760 --> 24:18.920 generation and the generation that we're dealing with tonight is that one is right with God and 24:18.920 --> 24:23.880 one is not. One has great leadership, the other does not. One has great people that are obeying 24:23.880 --> 24:30.280 God, the other does not. And so let's read on. It says in verse six, And Joshua, the son of none, 24:30.280 --> 24:35.240 called the priests and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests 24:35.320 --> 24:41.720 bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark of the Lord. And he said unto the people, Pass on, 24:41.720 --> 24:47.080 encompass the city, and let him that his arm pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass 24:47.080 --> 24:52.520 when Joshua had spoken unto the people that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's 24:52.520 --> 24:58.600 horns passed on before the Lord, and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord 24:58.600 --> 25:04.120 followed them. And the armed men went before the priest that blew with the trumpets, and the rear 25:04.120 --> 25:09.720 ward came after the ark, and the priest, excuse me, the priest going on and blowing with the 25:09.720 --> 25:15.080 trumpets. And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise 25:15.080 --> 25:20.920 with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout. 25:21.480 --> 25:28.200 Then shall you shout. I mean these are very implicit, very explicit details that he's telling 25:28.200 --> 25:34.840 them what to do, and they're obeying. So the ark of the Lord compass the city going about it once, 25:34.840 --> 25:39.080 and they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. So and Joshua rose early in the morning, 25:39.080 --> 25:43.400 and the priest took up the ark of the Lord, and seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of ram's 25:43.400 --> 25:48.440 horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew with the trumpets, and the armed men went 25:48.440 --> 25:54.520 before them. But the rear ward came after the ark of the Lord, the priest going on and blowing the 25:54.520 --> 26:00.280 trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once and returned into the camp, and they did 26:00.280 --> 26:07.160 six days. So they did six days. And it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early about 26:07.160 --> 26:12.600 the dawning of the day and compassed the city after the same manner seven times. Only on that day they 26:12.600 --> 26:17.000 compassed the city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time when the priest blew with 26:17.000 --> 26:23.320 the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city, and the city 26:23.320 --> 26:29.320 shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein to the Lord. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, 26:29.320 --> 26:34.680 she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. 26:36.040 --> 26:41.400 And ye, and in you wise, keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed 26:41.400 --> 26:44.920 when you take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel accursed and trouble it. 26:45.480 --> 26:51.240 So again, the difference is here though, is that they are obeying everything. They are right with 26:51.240 --> 26:58.200 God. And the leaders again, are right with God. And they are obeying even to the most simple detail. 26:58.840 --> 27:06.520 They are keeping quiet. They shout when Joshua tells them to. And you know, here you just, 27:06.520 --> 27:10.920 the only person you really have that is really right with God in the leadership is Samuel himself. 27:11.480 --> 27:17.560 And so what we have happening in this chapter is that the children of Israel are getting beat down 27:18.200 --> 27:23.880 in battle after battle. And they are trying to figure out why. So what do they do? Well, 27:23.880 --> 27:29.720 let's just use this lucky rabbit's foot. You know, that's the equivalent to what they are doing. 27:29.720 --> 27:35.720 Pull out the lucky rabbit's foot and we will see if that helps defeat our enemies. Because, I mean, 27:35.720 --> 27:39.720 obviously the Ark of the Covenant is way more holy than that. I get that. I am just saying that 27:39.720 --> 27:45.080 they are putting their trust into an item as opposed to putting their trust in God. And that 27:45.080 --> 27:49.560 just kind of shows their spiritual condition. Look at verse 4 back in our text. It says, 27:49.560 --> 27:54.040 So the people sent to Shiloh that they might bring from thence the Ark of the Covenant of 27:54.040 --> 28:00.120 the Lord of Hosts which dwelleth between the cherubims and the two sons of Eli, 28:00.120 --> 28:03.560 Hophni and Phineas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 28:05.880 --> 28:10.280 Oh, excuse me. That's not in our text. I am sorry. I meant to have you go to 1 Samuel 4, 28:10.920 --> 28:14.920 but anyway, I just read it for you. So just go to 1 Samuel 2.22. I am sorry about that. 28:15.640 --> 28:21.960 I am just getting a tunnel vision there. But anyway, so 1 Samuel 2.22 says, 28:22.680 --> 28:26.360 Now Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did unto Israel. 28:26.360 --> 28:30.680 Oh, okay. I was in the right text. Good night. I am sorry. So yeah, I read that where we are at. 28:30.680 --> 28:38.600 So the people went to go to the reprobates. I mean, these are actually reprobates. And so 28:39.400 --> 28:43.320 they are not going to give up any fight. They are not going to say, Hey, maybe we should seek God's 28:43.320 --> 28:49.000 face instead of just grabbing, taking this Ark of the Covenant out. They are probably just like, 28:49.000 --> 28:54.360 Yeah, it's a good idea. Let's go. Let's take it out. But I once thought it was kind of strange 28:54.360 --> 28:59.480 that Hophni and Phineas aren't afraid to go out to battle. You know, they went. You know, 28:59.480 --> 29:02.200 they just rolled down the hill and went, you know, to the battle or whatever. 29:02.200 --> 29:10.120 But they get killed in the battle too. But they are just, you know, they are reprobates. Of course 29:10.120 --> 29:13.960 they want to lead these people to a slaughter. So there has already been 4,000 people killed. 29:14.520 --> 29:17.880 Now they are just like, you know, I mean, they are just, they are cannon fodder basically for 29:17.880 --> 29:22.120 the devil is what they are. Who knows what Satan was telling them to do. He was probably saying, 29:22.120 --> 29:26.280 Yeah, I will protect you or whatever. But make no mistake about it. These are servants of the 29:26.280 --> 29:32.840 devil. And so it makes sense that they are just deceiving the children of Israel through these two 29:33.480 --> 29:39.640 wicked people even more. So I am sorry. So you are in 1 Samuel 4, turn to 1 Samuel 22. 29:40.200 --> 29:44.760 And I just want to have you look at the covenant again, or not the covenant, but what God said he 29:44.760 --> 29:54.840 was going to do to Eli's house in 1 Samuel 2, verse 22. It says, Now Eli was very old, and he 29:54.840 --> 29:59.960 heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how they lay with the women that assembled 29:59.960 --> 30:05.880 at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So I mean, that is just wicked as, I mean, they 30:05.880 --> 30:10.600 have done all kinds of wicked stuff already. But it says, And he said unto them, Why do you such 30:10.600 --> 30:17.080 things? For I hear of the evil, of your evil doings by all this people. Name my sons, for it is no 30:17.080 --> 30:23.880 good report that I hear. You make the Lord's people to transgress. If one man sin against another, 30:23.880 --> 30:29.000 the judge shall judge him. But if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? 30:29.000 --> 30:34.200 Notwithstanding, they hearken not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them. 30:35.000 --> 30:39.560 And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men. So 30:41.160 --> 30:45.880 and then God tells him that he is going to destroy his house in one day. Now let's go 30:45.880 --> 30:53.160 back to 1 Samuel chapter 4, look at verse 5. So and the thing about God is when he says something 30:53.160 --> 30:58.280 is going to happen, it's going to come to pass unless he changes his mind. And these guys are 30:58.280 --> 31:03.000 reprobates, they're not going to change. They're already, God's already done with them. So is, 31:03.000 --> 31:07.480 and it says that he would slay them. They didn't hearken to the voice of their father, because 31:07.480 --> 31:13.960 the Lord would slay them. I mean, I take that to mean that God, at that point, they're past the 31:13.960 --> 31:19.880 point of feeling, they're past the point of no return. And God at this point just wants them dead. 31:19.880 --> 31:24.840 And he doesn't want them to have another chance. Therefore, they could not believe, right? 31:24.840 --> 31:28.760 First Samuel 4, 5, it says, And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, 31:28.760 --> 31:35.880 all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. I've always liked this verse, 31:35.880 --> 31:39.400 and I always thought it was really cool and interesting. But when I put it into context 31:39.400 --> 31:44.440 of what's actually happening here, you see the difference between what happened in Joshua's 31:44.440 --> 31:50.760 day and what's happening here. Who told them to shout? Nobody told them to shout. They just 31:50.760 --> 31:58.040 shouted because the ark of the covenant came into the camp, which might seem cool. And yeah, 31:58.040 --> 32:05.000 it's cool that the earth rang out again. Yeah. A lot of things that seem cool happen in churches 32:05.000 --> 32:11.960 in our day and time. They have these cool things that are happening at their churches. But really, 32:12.920 --> 32:15.880 they're doing a lot of things at those churches that God didn't tell them to do. 32:16.520 --> 32:20.760 And it's kind of like what's happening here. When did God tell them to take the ark of the 32:20.760 --> 32:28.520 covenant and go out? When did God tell them to shout? When did God tell them to go back out and 32:28.520 --> 32:33.160 fight the Philistines again? It's like they're not listening to what God said. And that's kind of a 32:33.160 --> 32:37.400 lot of what's happening in today's churches is that a lot of things are happening that God never 32:37.480 --> 32:43.400 said to do. And it might seem cool. It might seem hip. It might seem like, oh, that's a pretty cool 32:43.400 --> 32:48.040 church because they have these kids' programs going on. And they got a Starbucks in their church. And 32:48.040 --> 32:52.120 they got ATMs where you could just pull the money out and buy the Starbucks right then and there. 32:53.080 --> 32:59.880 Like Daniel Fusco's church. They got the ATMs in the front area right there. And then the 32:59.880 --> 33:06.840 Starbucks, the actual Starbucks. No, not just a coffee barista, but Starbucks itself. Right there, 33:06.840 --> 33:14.200 where you can buy coffee right in God's house. And then you can listen to a positive message 33:14.200 --> 33:20.680 where he talks with his hands and winks with his eyes and all that stuff. And they have a false gospel. 33:24.760 --> 33:28.760 And look, people are like, they'll say to something like our church, like, 33:29.400 --> 33:35.880 y'all's church is dead. You got a dead church. Well, but there's churches out there that 33:36.200 --> 33:41.560 rolling around on the floors and acting like Charismaniacs and speaking in tongues. And 33:42.200 --> 33:46.680 they're doing it out of order. I mean, the Bible says, let everything be done decently and in 33:46.680 --> 33:53.000 order. But you got people talking in tongues at the same time. You got women speaking in tongues 33:53.000 --> 33:58.280 in church during the church service, which God says that that's not supposed to happen. 33:58.280 --> 34:06.280 Right. So how's your church, you know, they're the good church, right? They're the church that's 34:06.280 --> 34:11.160 not dead, but yet they're doing nothing that God said to do. They're having altar calls. 34:11.720 --> 34:16.840 They're having all kinds of ministries that God never said to do. But our church is the one that's 34:16.840 --> 34:23.800 dead. No, maybe, and our church isn't getting up and shouting and running around in circles in here. 34:24.920 --> 34:27.720 We're not doing that kind of stuff. You know why? Because God didn't say to do that. 34:29.240 --> 34:33.880 But the churches that are doing it, they're the ones that, oh, that's, that church isn't dead. 34:33.880 --> 34:38.760 That church is full of life. I think somebody was just telling me like last week that somebody said 34:38.760 --> 34:42.920 something about the fact that we don't put our hands up and all this other stuff. It's like, 34:42.920 --> 34:46.920 and look, I don't think it's wrong to put your hands up. But I think that we don't do stuff like 34:46.920 --> 34:52.520 that just because we don't want to be looked at like we're Charismatic. And it kind of just shames 34:52.520 --> 34:57.880 us into not doing it at all. And maybe if we didn't have the Charismaniacs, you know, acting 34:58.120 --> 35:02.440 a fool all the time, maybe we would just kind of incorporate it back into our worship or whatever. 35:02.440 --> 35:08.520 But I don't want to look weird. I don't want to look like a weirdo. And I'm not saying that 35:08.520 --> 35:13.960 people that put their hands up are weird. But I'm just saying that when you see just, you know, 35:13.960 --> 35:19.800 they're just doing all this and I don't, it's just bizarre, man, what they do with it. And if that's 35:19.800 --> 35:25.480 what I have to do to appear spiritual to people, then I don't want to be called spiritual. It's 35:25.480 --> 35:32.040 like we can sing godly songs without having to just swing and sway and, you know, roll around on 35:32.040 --> 35:36.840 the floor and bark like dogs and and cook like chickens. And I know, look, I realize I say that 35:36.840 --> 35:40.920 all the time about like churches where the people speak in tongues and stuff like that. Not all 35:40.920 --> 35:47.000 churches that do that kind of stuff are the same. But that's probably because they know that if they 35:47.000 --> 35:51.400 act like that, that people aren't going to want to come back. But a lot of those churches are just 35:51.400 --> 35:57.400 phony anyway. They're phony anyway. Look, all Pentecostal churches believe that you can lose 35:57.400 --> 36:01.800 your salvation. That should be enough to make you get up and just walk out of there and never go 36:01.800 --> 36:07.480 back. And here's what they also teach is that you have to speak with tongues with other tongues or 36:07.480 --> 36:15.960 they don't believe you're saved. So they make, oh, you can do it. Just practice. It's like Allen 36:15.960 --> 36:22.280 Iverson practice. Talking about practice, man. Like if their gift was real, why would they have 36:22.280 --> 36:29.720 to practice? I mean, show me in the book of Acts where they got up to practice. Because I'm pretty 36:29.720 --> 36:35.160 sure that the Holy Ghost just came upon them and they went out and spake with other tongues as God, 36:35.800 --> 36:43.800 you know, led them to do. They didn't practice. They didn't go to a closet and practice on how to 36:43.800 --> 36:49.800 speak with other tongues. And the gift that's talking about in Acts, that was something that 36:49.800 --> 36:55.160 where they spoke in their own language and the people that spoke a different or understood a 36:55.160 --> 37:01.720 different language heard what they were saying in their own language. Which now we got tools that 37:01.720 --> 37:08.440 can kind of do that now and help us in that way. But back then they didn't have that kind of stuff. 37:09.080 --> 37:15.000 And I believe that like nowadays if you have the gift of tongues, it's, well, look, it's tongues 37:15.000 --> 37:22.120 means language. That's what it means. And so, you know, people are like, oh, it's this heavenly 37:22.120 --> 37:28.600 prayer language. Okay, well, does anybody have a heavenly prayer language in here that you know of? 37:29.880 --> 37:34.840 Does any of you have that gift in here? Well, if it existed, then why don't you have it? 37:34.840 --> 37:40.600 Because you're not practicing? Is that why? Or you're not saved? But I'm just saying that like, 37:40.600 --> 37:46.360 the difference between this group right here and the group that Joshua walked into the promised land 37:46.360 --> 37:53.320 with are far different. And which one are spiritual? I mean, these ones are getting, are running 37:53.320 --> 37:58.120 and getting decimated by their foes. I mean, do you remember when Joshua conquered the promised 37:58.120 --> 38:04.200 land? How many people were they losing? I mean, because of what Achan did, they lost 36. And so 38:04.840 --> 38:11.160 which is, you know, I mean, they lost people. But look how in tune with God they were. I mean, 38:12.200 --> 38:17.480 Joshua, what's he do? He gets down and prays and tries to find out what's going on. Why did we lose 38:17.480 --> 38:23.560 that battle? Why is Israel running away from the enemy? Why did we lose to AI, which is just a small 38:23.560 --> 38:30.040 little place? And then God even just like, get up off the ground and what are you doing? He's like, 38:30.040 --> 38:35.320 get up. Israel sinned. You know, God just communicates with them very clearly right away. 38:36.200 --> 38:41.400 And then they just figure out who the guy is. And then, you know, they're like, you want to trouble, 38:41.400 --> 38:45.240 you've troubled us this day, well, God's going to trouble you. And then they stone, 38:45.240 --> 38:50.760 aching with stones and kill him, right? But I mean, that's how in tune they were with God, 38:50.760 --> 38:56.040 though, is that God immediately spoke with Joshua to tell him what's going on. And then they go on 38:56.040 --> 39:01.880 and conquer the promised land. But you don't hear about them losing 30,000 people in a stretch. You 39:01.880 --> 39:07.640 don't hear them about them losing 4,000 men. I'm sure they probably did lose people, but like, 39:07.640 --> 39:12.280 I'm trying to think whether I can even remember anybody else that they lost throughout all those 39:12.280 --> 39:19.240 battles going forward from there. I don't think that it really records it. I'm not saying that 39:19.240 --> 39:24.760 they didn't, but the Bible doesn't say they did either, because God was with them. God was fighting 39:24.760 --> 39:33.160 with them. And here they're like, bring forth the ark. It's like, I mean, they're going to get their 39:33.160 --> 39:39.800 butts kicked here again, even worse, because they're not getting right with God. They're trying to use 39:39.800 --> 39:45.160 toys and trinkets and, hey, let's just bring a bazooka now and see if we can win. But they don't 39:45.160 --> 39:50.680 even have a bazooka because, look, they have no energy to be able to fight and win because 39:51.480 --> 39:57.320 they're just weak, because they don't have God's power. So it says, 39:57.320 --> 40:03.240 all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth rang again. Verse 6, 40:03.240 --> 40:07.640 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this 40:07.640 --> 40:12.440 great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was coming to 40:12.440 --> 40:19.800 the camp. So it did work against the Philistines somewhat, but how much did it really work? Let's 40:19.800 --> 40:25.400 see the verses. Verse 7, And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. 40:25.960 --> 40:32.360 And they said, Woe unto us, for there hath not been such a thing here before. Woe unto us! 40:33.000 --> 40:39.160 Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that smote the 40:39.160 --> 40:47.640 Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and quit yourselves like men. So act 40:47.640 --> 40:54.760 like men. O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews as they have been to you. 40:55.320 --> 41:00.520 Quit yourselves like men and fight. So here they are, they're talking about how they're afraid of 41:00.520 --> 41:06.200 the gods that they serve, which they only serve one God. But see, they're ignorant of the things 41:06.200 --> 41:13.640 of God. But they do know the story. They know what happened. But is that enough to stop them 41:13.640 --> 41:19.560 from fighting back? No. And a lot of these people, I mean, they're worshiping and serving other gods. 41:20.200 --> 41:27.400 So when somebody comes up, you know, when God's people have lost their power, they've lost their 41:27.400 --> 41:34.760 power to fight, then God's enemies will defeat us. And then they'll act like God isn't powerful. 41:36.360 --> 41:42.840 Because God is going to allow us to get defeated sometimes when we have lost his favor. We've lost 41:42.840 --> 41:49.240 his blessings. He's going to allow us to get beat up. And it's not a good thing. Because then 41:49.800 --> 41:56.280 God has diminished in their eyes. Because if they were really terrified, they wouldn't even come up 41:56.280 --> 42:00.760 against the children of Israel. God would put such a fear into them that they would just run away. 42:01.960 --> 42:07.400 But they don't do that. They're just like, okay, well, who can deliver us from this? And he's like, 42:07.400 --> 42:13.400 okay, well, just be strong and quit you like men. And let's go fight. Let's go fight them anyway. 42:13.960 --> 42:19.800 And reprobates and haters of the Lord, they know who God is. And they are afraid of him to an 42:19.800 --> 42:24.760 extent, but they still will attack God's people whether they know or not. I think that they do 42:24.760 --> 42:29.400 know God's real. I think that they know he's real. And yet they still don't like him anyway. And 42:29.400 --> 42:34.680 they'll still just take their chances to fight against God's people anyway. And like I said, God 42:34.760 --> 42:42.200 will sometimes use his enemies to teach his people lessons. I mean, he's done it throughout history. 42:42.760 --> 42:47.560 He allowed the Babylonians to come in and wipe them out. And God gave him chance after chance 42:47.560 --> 42:54.040 after chance after chance, even until the very end where Jeremiah is pleading with Zedekiah. 42:55.000 --> 43:01.320 He's like, I beseech you, Lord, to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar and save these people. 43:02.280 --> 43:07.240 And he's just like, nope. He was worried more about being made fun of by his prince friends 43:08.040 --> 43:12.120 than he was about having, I mean, then his children are slayed before his eyes. 43:12.760 --> 43:19.000 And the last thing he sees before he, you know, before his, before he gets dragged off in chains 43:19.000 --> 43:25.400 or whatever, before he's killed is his children getting killed. You know, it's pretty sad. But, 43:26.040 --> 43:30.440 you know, when people don't want to obey God, then there's harsh consequences coming. 43:31.000 --> 43:34.680 But God does give people chance after chance after chance until he doesn't anymore. 43:35.240 --> 43:39.480 And then he drops the hammer. So, look at verse 10. It says, 43:39.480 --> 43:44.680 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent. 43:44.680 --> 43:50.920 And there was a very great slaughter for their fell of Israel's 30,000 foot men. 43:51.560 --> 43:56.040 So here you got way more people dying this time. They had the ark with them. 43:56.680 --> 44:01.960 They got Phineas and Ferb. They got all the, they got all the jokers with them that they didn't have 44:01.960 --> 44:08.600 before. And they could get beaten even worse this time. These reprobates get killed. You know, I 44:08.600 --> 44:14.040 wonder if they wondered what, how, if, how much better it was to serve Satan than to serve God 44:14.040 --> 44:19.240 at this point when they get killed. Because Satan really doesn't love the people that follow him. 44:19.240 --> 44:26.520 And he just fools them into serving him. He gives them some power. You know, these guys just 44:26.520 --> 44:34.280 sold their souls for the best meat, the best cuts of meat. So, but these things are definitely 44:34.280 --> 44:41.480 connecting for sure. So, God is showing huge disfavor with the children of Israel. And he's 44:41.480 --> 44:49.320 not done being mad about this yet. So, he does kill, he allows them to be killed. Eli, Eli's 44:49.320 --> 44:55.240 sons, Haphne and Phineas, they're killed in the battle. I'm sure nobody had to chase them that 44:55.240 --> 44:59.960 hard because they're fat, right? So, anyway, they probably were the first ones to get killed in the 44:59.960 --> 45:03.960 battle. It was like, ah, they're running away. It's like, get the fat ones first. You know, 45:03.960 --> 45:11.960 they're easier to get. So, anyway, number two. Now we're going to see the death of Eli. Verse 45:11.960 --> 45:18.600 number 12, it says, And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army and came to Shiloh the same day 45:18.600 --> 45:24.280 with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head. So, this is a sign that, you know, it's a bad day. 45:25.400 --> 45:29.560 It's never something I wanted to do when I was sad. But, I mean, this is kind of just something, 45:29.560 --> 45:35.720 a cultural thing, I feel like that has been done for a long time in that area. But it says, 45:35.720 --> 45:44.520 And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled 45:44.520 --> 45:51.000 for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out. 45:51.880 --> 45:56.680 So, I mean, it says that he's watching, but he's blind. So, I mean, he probably can see just like, 45:56.680 --> 46:02.920 maybe shapes or, you know, people going to and fro or whatever, and he can hear things obviously. 46:03.480 --> 46:08.280 But he is blind. The Bible says, it said it in the last chapter, and it says it in this chapter also. 46:08.920 --> 46:13.160 But then you have this, like, this guy comes and he's starting to tell everybody what happened. 46:14.040 --> 46:20.040 And all the city cried out. So, they're probably like gasping and, you know, wailing and freaking 46:20.040 --> 46:27.240 out because 30,000 men die in that city. And that's a huge loss. That's husbands, that's sons, 46:28.040 --> 46:32.840 that's, you know, that's their families. And it says, And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, 46:32.840 --> 46:38.600 he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily and told Eli. 46:39.480 --> 46:43.800 So, that word hastily can mean a couple different things, but I think it probably means both 46:43.880 --> 46:52.040 in this instance. Excessive speed. So, he came in hastily, and it can mean insufficient consideration. 46:52.680 --> 46:57.560 So, when you do something hastily, you can do it without considering the ramifications of 46:58.600 --> 47:05.720 doing it, like, without thinking things through. Or you can do it really quickly. And I think it 47:05.720 --> 47:10.280 probably is both here. He's doing it quickly and he's doing it without thinking about the 47:10.840 --> 47:15.000 ramifications of him just boarding this out in front of a bunch of people because he's already 47:15.000 --> 47:24.040 making the whole city scream and freak out by the way he's doing it. And so, it says, Now Eli was 47:24.040 --> 47:30.120 90 and eight years old and his eyes were dim that he could not see. So, him and brother Eli were at 47:30.120 --> 47:39.880 similar ages at our church here. Sorry, I'm sorry, I was low hanging there. But anyway, no, he's about 47:40.280 --> 47:46.920 twice the age of brother Eli here. So, anyway, so he's old, his eyes are dim, so he can't see. 47:47.880 --> 47:54.840 And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army and fled today out of the army. 47:54.840 --> 48:01.400 And he said, What is there done, my son? And the messenger answered and said, Israel has fled before 48:01.400 --> 48:07.480 the Philistines and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people. And thy two sons also, 48:07.480 --> 48:11.880 Hapni and Phineas are dead and the Ark of God is taken. So, I mean, he's like, what happened? 48:11.880 --> 48:17.000 He just blurt all this stuff out. And I feel like this is probably the judgment of God. 48:18.040 --> 48:24.600 And I just think that maybe a little more tact and bedside manner would probably be in order for this. 48:24.600 --> 48:30.360 But like, he's just like, oh yeah, your sons are dead. The Ark of God is taken. He just says it 48:30.360 --> 48:39.560 really quickly and really bluntly. I mean, but he did ask. So, but anyway, so I just think that 48:39.560 --> 48:45.240 just something to think about here is if you are a person that's bearing bad news, you should 48:45.240 --> 48:53.240 probably consider how people receive it and take it. So, and in this case, of course, this is God's 48:53.240 --> 48:58.600 judgment. So it's right. And God said he was going to do this. So it's fulfilling, you know, his 48:58.600 --> 49:04.760 prophecy. But with us, like, I just think that sometimes people, when they find something out, 49:04.760 --> 49:08.200 they feel like they need to be the first one to tell everybody about it or something. But 49:08.200 --> 49:13.880 I think that you should consider how people will receive it and take it. And then also, should you 49:13.880 --> 49:21.480 be the one to share it? Is it your place to be the runner, so to speak, and be that person? So, 49:21.480 --> 49:26.280 and obviously, you know, it just depends on the situation, obviously. But if you just want to be 49:26.280 --> 49:29.960 the first one to say, I'm the one that broke the story or whatever, because that's how reporters are, 49:29.960 --> 49:34.120 right? You know, it's like they're all racing to get the story. And it's like, Fox, you heard it 49:34.120 --> 49:39.160 first at Fox News or whatever. And it's like, that's kind of how the media works. They want to be the 49:39.160 --> 49:43.720 first ones to tell the story, so they can get all the accolades or whatever for breaking the story. 49:44.360 --> 49:47.800 But, you know, we're not the news channel, so we don't necessarily need to be that way. 49:48.680 --> 49:54.440 Obviously, different, different situations. But, you know, in this case, obviously, it is 49:55.400 --> 50:00.200 God's judgment. So, look at verse 18. It says, And it came to pass when he had made mention of the 50:00.200 --> 50:08.360 ark of God, that he fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck break, and he 50:08.360 --> 50:16.360 died. So, he hears the news, your sons are dead, the ark is gone, and he just falls backwards. I don't 50:16.360 --> 50:21.240 know if he's leaning in his chair or what. That's kind of how I picture it. It doesn't say he's 50:21.240 --> 50:25.080 leaning in his chair, but I kind of picture he's like, kind of just like, you know, tilting back, 50:25.080 --> 50:29.160 you know, people will do that in chairs, and then he just falls back and breaks his neck. So, 50:30.360 --> 50:38.840 which is a bad way to go. But it says, For he was an old man and heavy. So, he's definitely a plumpy, 50:38.840 --> 50:45.720 plump guy, and it says that he had judged Israel 40 years. So, I mean, he had done the job for a 50:45.720 --> 50:53.320 long time. I mean, presidents get what, four years? He's leading for 40 years. And I don't think that 50:53.320 --> 50:57.800 he was probably the worst leader in the world for 40, that whole 40 years, but obviously he 50:58.520 --> 51:04.280 was not fit to lead anymore. I mean, he's blind, he's fat, he can't even go out to battle to fight 51:04.280 --> 51:12.280 with the people anymore, and he's proving that he, you know, he proved himself that he can't even 51:12.280 --> 51:17.960 get his sons out of there when they need to go. So, and again, this is kind of a good case, 51:17.960 --> 51:22.520 though, for separation of powers. Obviously, the Lord Jesus Christ can fulfill all these roles. 51:23.080 --> 51:30.280 Samuel did a pretty good job of it, but in the end, Samuel, he picked his sons to be the judges 51:30.280 --> 51:37.240 after he got old, and then his sons were not like him. So, if your son's not like you, I mean, 51:37.240 --> 51:44.840 you can't just blindly pick people when they don't have the same stuff, you know. So, and his sons 51:44.840 --> 51:53.160 took bribes and were not very good in judgment. So, that's why the people ultimately just say, 51:53.160 --> 51:57.320 you know what? We want a king like all the other nations. So, I mean, part of it is kind of Samuel's 51:57.320 --> 52:02.760 fault in a way, but I mean, I think that maybe Samuel just didn't realize that his sons were 52:02.760 --> 52:08.680 like that, but I don't know. It just, it doesn't really give us that much detail 52:09.320 --> 52:13.560 about it, and that's something that we'll get to here in a few chapters from now. But, 52:14.680 --> 52:20.360 so here's the ramifications of everything that happens in this day is that, you know, it says, 52:21.640 --> 52:27.720 in his daughter-in-law, Phineas's wife was with child, near to be delivered. And when she heard 52:27.720 --> 52:32.600 the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were 52:32.600 --> 52:39.080 dead, she bowed herself and travailed, for her pains came upon her. So, basically what it's 52:39.080 --> 52:44.920 saying here is that she instantly went into labor. So, she was pregnant, but not necessarily in labor, 52:44.920 --> 52:51.240 but the news devastated her and stressed her out so hard that she bowed herself and travailed. So, 52:51.240 --> 52:59.320 she instantly went into labor, and for her pains came upon her, it says. And so, I mean, I think 52:59.320 --> 53:06.680 that this is a good case to just simply say that, you know, they say that what happens in a pregnant 53:06.680 --> 53:13.240 woman's life can be a stress upon her and the baby, and I think that's true. I mean, so as men, 53:13.880 --> 53:18.840 you know, if your wife's pregnant, you should probably try to mitigate the stress that you put 53:18.840 --> 53:23.560 upon them in life. Obviously, life happens, and things happen, and stressful things can happen, 53:23.560 --> 53:29.320 but I'm just saying that you, as a man, should probably, you know, try to help mitigate those 53:29.320 --> 53:36.280 things. So, you know, and obviously women go through a lot of hormonal changes during those 53:36.280 --> 53:43.480 times, and they can be hard to deal with in certain situations, but I'm putting that nicely. 53:44.440 --> 53:50.440 But also, you should be understanding about that. I mean, it's like, you know, men don't understand 53:50.440 --> 53:55.560 what women go through. I think that it's hard for us to understand, and, you know, those types of 53:55.560 --> 54:01.560 changes and hormonal changes that they go through, but it is a real thing, and I think that, you know, 54:01.560 --> 54:09.960 the Bible says we're supposed to love our wives. So, take that for what it's worth. But the last 54:09.960 --> 54:14.920 thing we need to be doing is stressing our wives out and causing them to go into labor early, but 54:14.920 --> 54:19.400 it's not just, I mean, obviously just hearing bad news, I mean, obviously her husband dies, 54:20.520 --> 54:25.880 which causes a big problem in her life because she goes into labor, but not only does she go 54:25.880 --> 54:33.160 into labor, but look what it says in verse 20. It says, and about the time of her, let's see, 54:35.240 --> 54:39.720 verse 19, and his daughter in law, Phineas, his wife, okay, wait a second, 54:39.720 --> 54:44.600 she put herself in travail, about the middle part of verse 19, it says, for her pains came upon her. 54:45.320 --> 54:52.520 Okay, sorry, verse 20, and about the time of her death, the women that stood by her said, 54:52.520 --> 54:57.880 fear not, for thou hast borne a son, but she answered not, neither did she regard it. 54:58.600 --> 55:05.160 And she named the child Ichabod, saying the glory is departed from Israel because the ark of God was 55:05.160 --> 55:11.480 taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. So, she comes up with a name for the 55:11.480 --> 55:19.800 child, and it's a sad name because it means the glory is departed from Israel. I mean, 55:20.440 --> 55:27.400 sometimes women in the Bible come up with some bad names, you know, Rachel comes up with a bad name, 55:28.520 --> 55:31.640 and then Jacob changes his name when she dies. So, I think it was like, 55:32.760 --> 55:38.200 it's like, what is it, Benoni, which I'm not sure what Benoni means, do you know? 55:39.160 --> 55:42.440 I was trying to remember what it means. It doesn't mean anything good though, 55:42.440 --> 55:48.600 and that's why Jacob changes the name to, yeah, Samasaro, or something like that. 55:48.600 --> 55:57.720 You know, women are just like, you know, sometimes men just need to pick the name, okay? 55:58.760 --> 56:03.560 Especially if they're trying to name some, you know, kind of a dark and gloomy name or whatever. 56:04.360 --> 56:09.480 It's like, okay, let's name it a little more cheerful. I mean, Ichabod Crane, the headless 56:09.480 --> 56:15.080 horseman, you know, let's go. But anyway, I mean, that's how I knew the name. I never even knew 56:15.080 --> 56:19.320 anything with the Bible connection because, I mean, I didn't grow up going to church. So, 56:20.120 --> 56:25.640 I saw the, I listened to the record, I think, at school. That's when they had records at school. 56:26.200 --> 56:30.760 Brother Eli knows that, you know. I'm sorry, I was just taking on you. 56:31.480 --> 56:35.800 But we used to, during library time when I was a kid, they had record players in school, 56:35.800 --> 56:39.000 and you could listen to like the old records, and some of them were like pretty old. 56:39.000 --> 56:43.480 And you could listen to like spooky stories sometimes, like the man with the golden arm, 56:43.480 --> 56:48.680 and who's ever heard of the man with the golden arm? Yeah, so just a couple old people. But, 56:49.480 --> 56:54.280 yeah, that one freaked me out. But yeah, anyway, the headless horseman was one of them. So, 56:54.920 --> 56:56.920 anyway, I don't want to talk about that and scare the kids, but 56:56.920 --> 57:02.440 he just didn't have a head because, you know, he wasn't born with a one. So, no. 57:03.880 --> 57:12.840 Anyway, but Ichabod is the famous name from that story. But the name, she named the child Ichabod, 57:12.840 --> 57:18.440 saying the glory is departed from Israel. So, because the Ark of God was taken, and because 57:18.440 --> 57:24.280 her father-in-law and her husband. So, basically, in one fell swoop, you know, God's, you know, 57:24.280 --> 57:32.600 the thing that God's presence came to in the tabernacle is gone. So, you know, the mercy seat 57:32.600 --> 57:41.800 is gone. It's taken by the Philistines. And then the high priest and judge, gone. And then the 57:41.800 --> 57:47.000 other two priests that helped, that served in the tabernacle, dead. They're all dead in one day. 57:47.720 --> 57:53.480 And then the mother, dead, of the one that would be the next in line, dead. 57:54.600 --> 57:59.960 So, God fulfilled his promise that he was going to do it all in one day. And then, so it's a sad 57:59.960 --> 58:05.640 day in Israel. Then 30,000 footmen are killed in one day. And the Philistines get the brag about 58:05.640 --> 58:11.080 how they beat the God of the Bible, which they would say God's because they're ignorant. But 58:11.640 --> 58:19.080 it leaves Israel without God's presence. And it leaves Israel without leadership. Except for, 58:19.080 --> 58:23.480 you know, the thing is that Samuel's an up and comer. So, he's a blue chip prospect. 58:23.480 --> 58:28.920 And he's going to do real well. So, he's the number one draft pick that's going to get put into the 58:30.520 --> 58:37.240 leadership here real soon. So, verse 22 says, And she said, The glory is departed from Israel, 58:37.240 --> 58:43.720 for the ark of God is taken. So, you know, I kind of already went on that whole little rant about, 58:44.520 --> 58:49.800 you know, people saying that a church is dead based upon things that aren't really necessarily 58:49.800 --> 58:56.040 true. But my definition of a church not being dead is, you know, is the church actually, 58:56.040 --> 59:01.560 the Bible being preached in that church? Is our souls getting saved in that church? And I mean, 59:01.560 --> 59:09.080 actually saved. Not with some false gospel and false fake numbers or whatever. Our lives being 59:09.080 --> 59:16.360 changed. Our families, you know, being taught the Bible and learning the Bible. Is the music godly 59:16.360 --> 59:21.480 and powerful? It doesn't matter whether you have a bunch of musical instruments and lights and laser 59:21.480 --> 59:31.240 shows and, you know, fog machines and glitter coming out of the heating ducts and stuff like that. 59:31.240 --> 59:37.000 Is sin being dealt with properly? These are things that would tell me that the church is not dead. 59:39.080 --> 59:43.000 You know, but even so, God can still have a problem with churches. I mean, look at the 59:43.000 --> 59:48.600 churches in Revelation. They were still considered churches and they had big problems. So, you can 59:48.600 --> 59:55.400 still be a church and have big problems. But God's patience does wear out. And, you know, churches 59:55.400 --> 01:00:02.920 don't really seem to last past one generation and then major problems start happening in those 01:00:02.920 --> 01:00:11.320 churches. So, it's just people. People are the problem. And people's heart gets wrong and people 01:00:11.320 --> 01:00:19.080 fall away. And, you know, this is, we see, you know, this is multiple generations where things 01:00:19.080 --> 01:00:23.320 are going bad. And obviously things can go right, will go right for a while in the time of judges. 01:00:23.320 --> 01:00:27.640 But then they just start going wrong again. As soon as the leader dies, then things start going 01:00:27.640 --> 01:00:32.680 wrong. But now we're kind of at the tail end of it where the leader isn't even good anymore. 01:00:33.640 --> 01:00:39.720 And then God has to find another good leader to replace the one that was bad. So, and even during 01:00:39.720 --> 01:00:45.560 Samuel's time, I mean, yeah, things were good for a while. And he was blessing through Samuel's 01:00:45.560 --> 01:00:52.040 leadership. But even so, they still had issues. And David has to come and straighten things out. 01:00:52.360 --> 01:00:59.000 And really when David leads and during Solomon's initial time as the leadership, that is the time 01:00:59.000 --> 01:01:05.880 when Israel is the best. That is the time when, you know, it's like what I would consider the zenith 01:01:06.520 --> 01:01:12.040 of the nation of Israel being a great nation. So, anyway, that's all I have for tonight. Let's go 01:01:12.040 --> 01:01:18.440 ahead and pray and we'll dismiss. Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for the Bible and all 01:01:18.440 --> 01:01:21.800 the things that you teach us, Lord. I pray that you'd help us to never become a dead church. 01:01:24.120 --> 01:01:28.840 People like to say that a church like ours would be dead, but Lord, we're not looking for all the 01:01:29.960 --> 01:01:35.240 frills and different things that people would consider a church to be alive. But Lord, help us 01:01:35.240 --> 01:01:42.120 to be judged by the true metrics that you consider a real church to be. And I pray if we're failing 01:01:42.120 --> 01:01:48.200 in areas that you'd help us to shore those things up, help us to walk in your ways, Lord, and Lord, 01:01:48.360 --> 01:01:52.920 when you tell us to shout, we shout. When you tell us to fight, we fight. When you tell us to sing, 01:01:52.920 --> 01:02:00.200 we sing. And help us, Lord, to be faithful to you, to be faithful to your works. And I pray 01:02:00.200 --> 01:02:05.000 that you just bless us and keep us healthy and safe. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.