1 Samuel 7:1-6, 9-12 Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only. And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” So they gathered at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the LORD. And they fasted that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Then Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him. Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as afar as below Beth Car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
Theme: “FROM ICHABOD TO EBENEZER”
Sermon VIII - “The Glorious Road from Ichabod to Ebenezer”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus,
This morning we conclude a sermon series which we began way back on August 29. Over these past two months we’ve watched the sad, spiritual decline of Israel, who were supposed to be God’s people. The road thus far for Israel, has been anything but glorious. It began as we looked at the home of a believing couple in Israel and we realized the true glory of Israel was seen in the intimate relationship of the home with its God. But we watched as Israel’s spiritual condition declined. We saw the terrible spiritual conditions in the home of Israel’s high priest, Eli. We watched as a father did nothing to curb the shameful act of his sons within the walls of the church itself. Then we saw how little respect the people had for the things of God as they took the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them, believing the ark itself would be able to save them from their enemies. At that, the ark was captured and Eli’s two sons died in battle. ICHABOD! The glory departed from Israel.
This road from Ichabod to Ebenezer then took a rather surprising turn as the Ark of the LORD ended up in the temple of a false god. It was there we saw the one true God reaching out to the heathen to show them that He alone is God. But these heathen wanted nothing to do with the ark or the LORD. They wanted to rid themselves of it and all the trouble it brought, and return to blindly following their false god Dagon. So they sent put the ark on a cart and sent it back to Israel. The ark first stopped in Beth Shemesh where the people acted like selfish children on Christmas and looked into the ark. God demonstrated His holiness by slaughtering a great number of people for despising His sacred ark. The people of Beth Shemesh sent off the ark to the neighboring town of Kirjath Jearim saying, “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD GOD?”
That brings us to our last text in this sermon series. The Ark of the LORD has returned to its home, but has the glory returned? Or does Ichabod remain? We read that the ark spent twenty years at the house of Abinadab in Kirjath Jearim, with his son Eleazar consecrated to keep the ark. And it would appear that for twenty years the Ichabod remained in Israel, even though the ark had returned. During this time the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. That is, they knew life wasn’t what it should be. They knew something was wrong. They continued to be servants of the Philistines.
So it was that they had contrition, but not repentance. They were sorrowful and lamented after the LORD, but they did not bear fruits of repentance and believe on the LORD for forgiveness. During these twenty years of sorrow and oppression they continued to worship false gods - the Baals and Ashtoreths - gods of lust. There was sorrow, but no repentance.
It was not until Samuel, the prophet of the LORD, spoke the law to Israel that repentance was worked in their hearts. “If you return to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only.” The LORD is not interested in splitting time with Baal or any other false god. He alone is God and there is no other. He is a jealous God who will not share His glory with another. Therefore they needed to prepare themselves inwardly and outwardly. Outwardly by removing all the false gods from among them. Inwardly by repentance.
And return they did. They put away all their false gods and served the LORD only. At Samuel’s word they gathered at the city of Mizpah. There we read that they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. This was a symbol of them pouring out their hearts to the LORD in sorrow over their sins. Furthermore they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Then Samuel prayed for Israel and the LORD answered. The LORD answered by fighting their battle for them and driving off the Philistines.
The glory of Israel has returned! No longer was Ichabod present in Israel but Ebenezer. The name Ebenezer should sound as glorious to the Christian’s ear as Ichabod is hideous. Ichabod means that the glory has departed. Ebenezer means stone of help. The LORD was Israel’s Ebenezer - their stone of help. His help did not just come in defeating the Philistines. His help came in defeating their greatest enemies. He helped them by defeating their sin problem by sending His Son to be their Savior. He defeated death when He raised Jesus to life on the third day. And He defeated the old evil foe, Satan, when Jesus crushed Him underfoot. Ebenezer! Thus far the LORD has helped us.
What a glorious road to Ebenezer that is! Though it was a dark road for many years, Ebenezer was not far. It was but a quick U-turn that God worked in their hearts by causing them to repent and believe on Him. And so it always has been with the LORD God. It is just like the Prodigal Son who went from the pig troughs to his father’s open arms. “The LORD is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression.” (Num 14:18) “With Him is abundant redemption.” (Ps 130:7b) What a glorious road this is from Ichabod to Ebenezer, as the LORD reforms His people!
On this Reformation Sunday we are reminded once again how glorious a road it is from Ichabod to Ebenezer. At one time the church of Rome was a faithful Christian church. But like Israel, over time the glory departed. Rather than preaching the pure Word of God and proclaiming the glories of the Gospel, Rome wandered further and further from the Truth. Over time the Antichrist arose telling the people that he was God’s representative on earth and alone had the authority on earth to forgive sins. He condoned the worship of false gods by telling the people to pray to saints and the Virgin Mary.
But Ichabod can be most clearly seen in the Roman Catholic Church when we consider that chief doctrine in all of Scripture - the doctrine of justification. The doctrine of justification declares on what account are we declared “not guilty” in God’s sight. We call this the chief teaching in all of Scripture because our eternal salvation is dependent on it. The Apostle Paul clearly teaches that man is justified by grace through faith in Jesus alone, apart from any works of man. We heard this in our New Testament lesson from Romans 3, that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:24) And in verse 28, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
But as Martin Luther came on the scene in the early 1500's, this chief doctrine was no longer being championed by the church of Rome. When this young monk was troubled by his sins, his priest told him to do more good works and pray to Mary. There we see Ichabod. The glory has departed when a troubled sinner is no longer pointed to Christ to comfort His troubled conscience. In fact the church of Rome would go on to proclaim in the Council of Trent, “If anyone says, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ's sake; or, that this confidence alone is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema (or eternally condemned to hell).” (Canon XII) The council of Trent was in fact condemning to hell not just the Lutherans, but also the Apostle Paul for teaching justification by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
While Luther only found Ichabod in the church of Rome, he did find Ebenezer in the Scriptures. There Luther found his Stone of Help in His Savior Jesus Christ whose death on the cross paid for every one of his sins. He found Ebenezer in the Gospel as he read how God declared him “not guilty” not because of anything he did or did not do, but solely because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. And so the Reformation began. Another U-turn to God’s Word. God worked through Luther to bring to light this glorious doctrine of justification once again. Sinners were called to repentance and comforted with the good news about Jesus Christ. People were not directed to saints or to their works, but to Jesus as Ebenezer - their Stone of Help. In the Reformation we see once again the glorious road from Ichabod to Ebenezer.
Over these past 6 months or so, we have been taking note of the 50th Anniversary of this Church of the Lutheran Confession. In the 1950's there were many troubled Christians who wondered if Ichabod had returned to Lutheranism in America. The once confessional Synodical Conference was on the verge of falling apart because of false teaching. The once stalwart Lutheran church body in America, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, had begun to practice unionism, that is, they were fellowshiping with those with whom they were not agreed in doctrine. And this caused the smaller, once orthodox synods of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and the little Norwegian Synod (today’s Evangelical Lutheran Synod) to fail in putting Scripture into practice by breaking fellowship with the Missouri Synod.
The Word of God was being ignored. Some were adding to Scripture others were taking away from Scripture by not teaching and practicing what God’s Word says. Many conscientious Lutherans had to leave the church bodies they had grown up in. Many had to break fellowship even with their family members. Where would they go? Would they have a church to worship at? Would they have a Christian school to send their children to? The future seemed so uncertain. Ichabod seemed to be enclosing in on them.
Yet Ebenezer was not far from any of them. They had the Lord Jesus Christ as their Stone of Help. He was not going anywhere. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His promises were not going to change. He would be with His children even unto the end of the age. And so He continued to be Ebenezer to His faithful children. He brought together like-minded Christians and formed this Church of the Lutheran Confession. He also opened up doors and guided the way for us to establish Immanuel Lutheran High School, College, and Seminary. God worked another reformation through His Word. While those early days were uncertain, today we look on our history as Christians, as Lutherans, and as members of the CLC and by the grace of God are able to say with Samuel, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
What a glorious road it is from Ichabod to Ebenezer. May the LORD continue to be our Ebenezer - our Stone of Help - now and into eternity. All praise be to the Triune God! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment