Skip to content The Return of God to His People Aug 27 · 36 min ...more
August 27, 2020 · 36 min · Messages of Hope
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Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies.
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0:00 First Samuel 7 is the story of Israel turning back to God. It's a story about revival. Fundamentally,0:12 revival is God's return in his manifest presence to his people. This is a story coming out of a a time of great pain.0:24 The book of the judges where every man did what was right in his own eyes. Everybody had their own idea, and it was an up and down existence.0:36 The Ark of the Covenant had been removed. The Ark was a box and it represented the presence of God among his people And it was the law of God. It had the mercy0:48 seat, which was the basis of forgiveness. And it would be situated in the temple or the tabernacle to indicate God was present with his people.1:00 But the ark had been removed. The Philistines, the enemies of God had stolen the ark, had captured the ark, and it was no longer resident in the life1:12 of Israel. We're told in first Samuel chapter 3 verse 1 that the word of the Lord was rare in those days1:25 and there were no visions. The word of the Lord is more than Bible teaching, Bible doctrine and information. The word of the Lord had to1:37 do with hearing a word from God. You see, you can come to church and hear the word of God without hearing a word from God.1:49 Hearing the word of God means getting an understanding of what the Bible teaches us about who God is and how God works. But hearing a word2:01 from God has to do with God directing that truth to your personal situation. It's God speaking to you from his word.2:13 So that it's not just information in general, it's direction for you in particular. It says, the word of the Lord was rare in those days. God wasn't2:25 doing much talking. God wasn't saying much to people. And that's because there was a great breach, a great distance between God and his people2:37 because of their constant rebellion against him. As I was talking on the phone, things began to go beep, beep, beep,2:49 beep. The receiver was indicating a lack of power. It was letting me know it had been away from the base way too long. It was letting me know that it was3:01 hanging out independent of its source. It had been sitting out all night long and when I needed to communicate,3:13 my ability to communicate was interrupted because the receiver was no longer hooked to the source of its power. And when you stay away from3:24 your source too long, it's hard to carry on a conversation because there's no power to carry you on. Israel had been3:36 away from God too long and the word of God was rare in those days. Through a series of events, the ark was returned to3:48 Israel. And what that meant symbolically was that the presence of God had now returned. God was now in the neighborhood again.4:02 Look at verse 2. From that day on the ark remained at Kariath Jirem. The time was long for it was 20 years and all the4:14 house of Israel lamented after the Lord. For 20 years, they've been needing to hear a word from God. They went day after4:26 day, week after week, month after month for 20 years, desperate for God to do something. There are some folks in here who've been waiting on God a long4:38 time. You've been needing him, wanting him, you've been lamenting for him. That is mourning, crying, desiring to hear a4:49 word from God. It is our prayer that you position yourself for that word. For that word that has your name written on5:01 it, designed to address you where you live in the circumstances that you face where you need to hear a definitive,5:14 word from God. God was now in the neighborhood, the Ark of the Covenant. His symbolic presence had arrived among his people,5:26 and they cried because they were desperate. Then Samuel verse 3 spoke, and I speak to tell you how to make the connection.5:40 To all the house of Israel, it applied to everybody listening to the sermon. If you return to the Lord with your all your heart,5:52 Remove the foreign gods and the Asherah from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve him alone.6:05 He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. There are bunch of folk here today who are having trouble with the Philistines. A Philistine is an enemy.6:17 It's anything out there that keeps you captured, trapped, tricked, travailed. It's that thing that won't leave you alone. You see, because when you read6:29 the story, the Philistines keep coming back and keep coming back and keep coming back oppressing them. There are people here today living under oppression cause the Philistines won't leave you alone.6:40 Life has grabbed you by the throat and is jerking you around. And you are lamenting, you are crying out that God6:52 does something, but you're not getting a word back. In our solar system, have 9 planets, 9 planets in our solar7:04 system. Furthest away is Pluto. It's in our solar system, but it's a long way off. You can go to Pluto anytime in the7:16 year, any day of the year, you're gonna freeze the death. It's cold 24 7. And the reason Pluto is cold 24 7 is it lives far away7:28 24 7. Its distance from the sun keeps it cold, although it's located in the solar system. Mercury is piping hot7:40 24 7. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, so it's hot all the time. And the reason that it's hot all the time is it stays close. Mercury7:52 never leaves close proximity to the sun. So if you tried to get the mercury, you'd burn up before you got in the vicinity because it's just too hot. Now,8:04 mercury's in the solar system. Pluto is in the solar system, but they're not the same in the system. Because while all of them are in the system, they do not share the same8:15 proximity to the center of the system, which is the sun. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ today, you in the system. If you've come to faith in8:27 Christ, you're in the system. You're in the scenario, but the question is your location in the system. Because some here are Pluto Christians.8:39 You're cold all the time. All the time you mean. All the time you're angry. All the time you're defeated. All the time you're losing. All the time you're discouraged8:51 because your placement in the system is too far off. Now there are other Christians who are here who are hot all the time. They are consistent with the joy of the Lord being9:02 their strength. They are they are rarely under the circumstances. They find themselves walking on the circumstances. They are overcomers and more than conquerors and know what it feels9:14 like that greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. That's because you're a Mercury Christian. That is you keep your proximity close to the sun so that hotness9:26 and being on fire is your normative way of operating. I I would probably say most are neither Pluto Christians or Mercury Christians. Most are9:38 earthly saints. Because there's something about earth. Earth is seasonal. So you got a winter time, and you got a summertime, and you got a fall time, and you got a spring time,9:50 and you kinda go with the season. So 1 Sunday, you're on fire from God. The another Sunday, you don't wanna hear God's name. 1 Sunday, you're in the word. Another Sunday, you don't wanna spend10:01 time with him. Why? Because situations have rotated you in a seasonal circumstance. What Samuel says here10:13 will turn every Christian into a mercury saint. Because notice, the ark is there. The presence of God has arrived. The10:25 problem is not that God is not near. The problem is the people are far. He says, Samuel spoke to the house of Israel. If you10:37 return to the Lord, God has already returned to you. The Ark is here. If you return to the Lord, you say, but10:48 I have returned. I'm in church. That's like saying I'm near the ark. Let's define what he means by return. He says, you must return to the Lord and11:00 how must you do it? Here it is. Remove the foreign gods and the Asherah from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord11:12 and serve him alone, then he will deliver you. Now, wait a minute. In verse 2, we just saw they were lamenting after the Lord. They were crying,11:24 weeping, wailing. So evidently, tears are not enough. They were crying, but it's not enough. They were sad, but it's not11:35 enough. Getting emotional about your need for God is nice, but it's not enough. Crying, shedding tears, somebody needed11:47 to give you a handkerchief is nice, but it's not enough. He says, you must return to God and the way you return to God, he says, is by11:59 removing the idols. That raises the question because I know somebody here thinking, well, well, that doesn't apply to us. Well, let's define an idol. An12:11 idol is an unauthorized source to meet your needs. That's an idol. An idol is any person, place,12:23 or thing, any now that has been unauthorized by God, that has not been authorized by God to address the need you want met. The12:34 moment you go to a watch this now, an unauthorized source, something God has not approved, to address a need in your life, the Philistines,12:46 but you go to an unauthorized source to do it, you have brought another God into the equation. Many of us will cancel God's12:57 deliverance of the Philistines because we're gonna keep another God in the equation. Once you bring another God into the equation, you13:09 have canceled the true God's involvement in the equation. He says, you must return to God and notice what he says alone. He says,13:21 alone. God has an exclusivity clause. God has a non compete clause. Any unauthorized source that's designed13:33 to meet a need, even if the need is legitimate, is another God. You don't have to bow before a tree to have another God. You don't have to bow before a rock to have another God. All you've gotta13:45 do is go to something God has not approved for you to go to to meet the need, and that just became another God. So the reason why we are not seeing the13:56 presence, the power, and the voice of God in our situation is we come on Sunday to worship the true God, and then we go back Monday and we invite other14:08 gods into the equation. And the moment you do that, you have canceled the true God. You are to worship the Lord your God and him only.14:21 Anything that's treated like God in your life becomes a decoy, a false representative of God, and therefore a cancellation, watch this,14:33 of the benefits of the covenant. You and I are in a covenant. Bible calls it the new covenant, the New Testament. There was an old covenant, the Old Testament.14:45 This covenant is an arrangement, and many Christians don't understand the arrangement. Therefore, they don't understand how this arrangement works. There is an agreement. When you come to Jesus Christ and14:57 trust him as savior, and they begin to follow him as Lord, you're in an arrangement. And this arrangement is a covenant of blessing. The Bible calls the communion table the table of blessing.15:09 It is a place where God's goodness flows to and through you. You become accessible to the goodness of God in accomplishing his plans for your life. It is a place of blessing.15:21 That's the covenant. God says, based on this agreement, this covenant, I'm gonna do certain things for you. But if you leave me, walk away from15:33 me, then those things I cannot do and will not do. What many people miss are the implications of the resurrection for our life today. Yeah. We need to know Christ rose from the dead. That's all good. That was a great15:45 historical truth. But he says that the reason Jesus rose wasn't just to get you to heaven. It was to also, he says in Romans 5, remove you from15:56 the problems of the curse. So that the death dealing negative effects of evil in the world no longer dominate you and me.16:09 Says that's why he arose. So so he's alive to do something today, not just to get you to heaven because you believed in him. But what he will not allow are other gods. That16:21 is you going to an illegitimate source, something he has not approved in order to address a legitimate need. That cancels him. He16:32 says, you are to serve the Lord your God alone, and then you get the blessing. He will deliver you. Your main goal16:45 should not be the blessing you're looking for. Now, the blessing is important. The deliverance from the Philistines, whatever that is, that's important and you want that. But that that's not what you're after. That's the16:56 fruit of what you're after. He says, if you return to the Lord, then the Lord will deliver you. Now here's what most people want. They want the17:08 deliverance without the return. You follow me? Everybody wants their blessing. They want the deliverance, but they don't17:19 necessarily want the return. The purpose for him calling them all together was the return. And he says, out of the return comes the deliverance from the Philistines. When17:31 Israel was was delivered from Egypt, you know, that's deliverance. He said, I'm gonna take you to a land flowing with milk and honey. You know, we call that their destiny. But there's a great statement made, and you17:42 don't have to turn there, but in Exodus chapter 5 verse 1, here's the statement that's made. Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and they make the statement. They said, God told us to tell you to let his17:54 people go. And then he says this, that they may worship me in the wilderness. Wait a minute now. I thought we were gonna let God's people go18:06 so they could get to the promised land. Not yet. Before they get to Canaan and after they leave Egypt, we're gonna18:18 develop them in the wilderness. And the way we're gonna develop them in the wilderness is I'm gonna put them in a situation to learn to put me first, to learn to trust18:29 me, to learn to walk with me so that when they get to the promised land, they won't forget me. See, the problem today is folk18:41 want God to give them their blessing, but they don't necessarily want the God who blessed them. And you know that's true because when they get their blessing, you don't see them no more.18:53 Because now they really got what they were looking for, and they weren't looking for God. They were looking for his deliverance. Many of us have experienced that. We think, Lord, if you get me out this time, I'll19:05 serve you for the rest of my life. Right? God let you get out and you forgot what you said, that's because you really went after the wrong thing. You went after the result. You19:17 did not go after the person. The purpose of solemn assembly is that you might return to me, and then I got your back covered. So he19:29 says, so the sons of Israel, verse 4, removed the Baals and the Asherah and served the Lord alone. Baal and Asherah. That's like a19:40 husband and wife God team. They were the fertility gods. Because they didn't just have idols to have idols. They had idols because because they were hoping those idols would do something. In other words, they didn't19:51 fully trust God, so they brought in some just in case gods. Reminds me of lilies of the field. You remember lilies of the field with Sidney Portia? There was a businessman in town who was an atheist.20:03 He didn't believe in God. But 1 day, when they were building the new chapel for the nuns, he was up there building the chapel. Sidney Portier asked the guy, he says, I thought you were an atheist. He said, yeah. He said,20:15 but you're up here building a house for God. He said, yeah. Said, why are you up to build a house for God if you're an atheist? He said, just in case. Just in case.20:28 See, what we do is we bring other gods just in case. Just in case God doesn't work out, I need my little Asherah or Baal over here. I need that person, place, or thing to cover20:40 my back in case the true God doesn't work, even though it's unauthorized. But the people made a decision that day to return to the Lord, which meant removing the idols. Any unauthorized20:52 person, place, or thing that you use to meet needs in your life, even if the needs are legitimate. Okay? So they did what God asked. They had a solemn assembly because he called them all together.21:04 Samuel says in verse 5, gather all of Israel to Mizpah, that was the place of gathering for revival and renewal, and I will pray to the Lord for you. They gathered to Mizpah and21:16 drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and here it is, fasted on that day and said, we have sinned against the Lord. How did they sin against the Lord? By including other gods.21:28 That's how they sinned. They reflected itself in a lot of actions of sin, but the essence of sin was they were looking outside of the true God to meet their needs by bringing in other gods. And Samuel21:40 judged. He he made a judgment on the sons of Israel at Mizpah. So now they're right before the Lord. They have returned to the Lord with fasting. They've given up a craving of the body. Why? Because21:52 they were so desperate for God. They were willing to give up food or television or whatever it happens to be that will keep you from, listen, an unharried time in God's presence.22:04 Yes. Have you ever noticed how rushed it is when you try to spend time with God? You ever noticed that? You ever noticed how it gets interrupted?22:16 How you get distracted? You met well when you got started, but it didn't last long. You bet. There's a reason for that. The reason for the interruptions and the distractions is because of how powerful it is.22:29 And I'll show you how. Look. He says, when they gathered together to get all this stuff straight, verse 7, now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the Lord of the22:41 Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. When Israel got serious, trouble came. Alright. There was a disruption taking place.22:53 Here they are, serious about getting right with God, and now the enemy is trying to disrupt it. Why? Because the enemy knows how powerful it is. When the23:05 people of God get serious about God to return to God, he's up against something now. He's up against the fight of his life. The Bible says the devil23:16 comes to steal, kill, and destroy. We are needing deliverance in various ways, all of us, by God. And the23:28 enemy wants to distract, to disrupt, to mess up an unharried time in God's presence. Why? Because he knows what that will produce.23:41 It will produce the deliverance you've been looking for for 20 years. The victory you've been wanting for 20 years. The desires you've been having that are within the context of his will for23:53 20 years. He knows that your thing can turn around if he doesn't disrupt what you're trying to do in coming before the Lord. So expect it.24:05 The enemy gathered. The sons of Israel said to Samuel, do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us,24:17 deliver us from the hand of the Philistine. Oh, I like this. So Samuel takes a suckling lamb. He offers a burnt offering, a sacrifice to God. And Samuel24:29 cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. Because the people had returned to the Lord, watch this, now God was24:40 answering prayer. Here it is. 1 of the ways you'll know that your solemn assembly connected is prayers get answered.24:51 You're not just praying some vague prayer with some vague meaning. No. Prayers got answered. It says, and the Lord heard him. After 20 years,25:03 the Lord heard him. Why? Because the people have returned to the Lord by getting rid of illegitimate acts that were designed to meet needs apart from God.25:15 So the Lord answered him. How did the Lord answer? Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, verse 10, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but somebody say, but. But25:27 the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them so that they were routed25:38 before Israel. Okay. Now let me let me tell you something. Tell God what you want him to do because they cried out to the Lord, save us from the25:50 Philistines. So they told God what they wanted God to do, but let me tell you what you don't wanna tell God, how to do it. Tell God what you26:02 want him to do. Leave him alone about how he does it. Because God and and and the words of that old song, you're gonna look up and say, didn't he blow26:14 my mind this time? The way God does what he does is unpredictable. Who would have thunk it that God would cause thunder26:25 up in the heavens to be so loud, to be so boisterous that it would cause havoc in the Philistine army and confuse them. God's got some26:37 confusion that he wants to cause to the problem that's been messing with you. But how he's gonna do it, you don't know. God has 1000000 ways to hit26:49 the same bull's eye. Tell him what you want, but leave him alone about how he does it. Because his ways are not your ways. His thoughts are not your thoughts. As high as27:01 the heavens are above the earth, that's how different he is than you. You simply return to the Lord, tell him about the deliverance you desire, and then let him in his own27:12 inimicable way come down and invade the situation and cause havoc to hell. Havoc to the scenario. The bible says27:24 watch this now. Watch this now because this this is sweet. It says, and when Israel went out, verse 11, to Mizpah, they pursued the Philistines. Wouldn't it be nice if your problem stopped chasing you27:36 and you start chasing it? He said, they ran after the enemy. All the other time the enemy was coming and battling them. They were playing defense. Would it be nice for you to have the27:48 ball on your side of the line and you play offense? Say, come on. Come on. Okay? Come on. Come on. Let's get it on. Let's run. Like David, it says he ran to go light. Why? Because he understood the battle is28:00 the Lord's. It's not mine. He understood that he positioned himself so that he could take the offense against the problem and go get it rather than it get them. And they28:12 pursued them. They set up a stone, they called it Ebenezer. That means the Lord has helped us. The cities, verse 14, which the28:23 Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel. From Ekron even to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the land of the28:35 Philistines, so there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. Now watch this now. You in for a double blessing. Blessing number 1 is the blessing you asked28:47 for. He said, deliver me or deliver us from the Philistines. God created this thunder, confused the enemy, and delivered them from the Philistines. Now that's the blessing you asked for.28:59 But when you read verse 14, they got bonus blessing. Because it says they got what they didn't ask for. It says, God not29:11 only delivered them from the Philistines, but went historical on them. Verse 14 says, God went back and got back the territory that had been29:22 lost years earlier and taken over by the enemy. Here's the good news. When you return to God, he'll not only answer your prayer, but29:34 he'll go historical on you. He'll go back and give you Joel chapter 2, which says he can give you back the years that the locusts have taken away. Some of us have lost29:46 months and days and weeks and years. We've we've gone from this situation to that situation. We've missed opportunity and benefits, and we wish we could turn back the hands of29:58 time, but you can't turn back the hands of time. But what you can do is let God go back, grab time, and bring it back up here and restore what was stolen30:10 from you. It says he will give you back the territory that the enemy has stolen. That's good news. That I can get what I asked for and I can30:22 get what I lost. That's good news. He says, return to me and I will return to you. You know, you everybody y'all remember Jack and the Beanstalk? Let me30:34 remind you, we grew up learning about Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack was a little poor boy who lived with his poor mama who was a widow in a little cottage.30:46 Jack had a cow. A paddler came along and offered to exchange the cow for some beans.30:59 Jack makes the exchange and trades off his cow, which they use for milk for beans. Jack plants the beans.31:11 The bean becomes this incredible bean stalk that rises from the ground, goes through the clouds into the heavens. Jack sees31:23 his stalk go up that high and he doesn't understand how that bean could get that big and grow that tall. He had to climb the beanstalk.31:36 Jack begins to climb the beanstalk, goes through the clouds because it's so high. It gets to the top of the beanstalk and there's a castle.31:48 How can there be a castle at the top of a beanstalk? The fairy comes along and says to him, this castle used to belong to a knight and his wife and32:00 they had a little baby boy. But a giant came along, killed the knight, making the mother a widow, and she had to be relocated with her baby boy.32:12 And that baby boy is you, Jack. That mother is the widow of the knight. He said that the giant took everything that32:24 belonged to the knight and his widow and the baby boy and kept it for himself in this castle. Jack say, you mean everything in this castle is32:36 mine? Everything in this castle belongs to me? He say, yes, but it's in the hands of the enemy. It's in the hands of the giant. Jack snuck inside the castle and32:48 he saw a hen that laid golden eggs. Jack said, that's my hen laying them golden eggs. Now the giant sense something was wrong.33:00 He said, FIFA, faux faux. I hear the blood of an Englishman. He said, whether living or whether dead, I'll33:12 grind his bones into bread. But he couldn't find Jack because Jack had hidden. When the giant went to sleep, Jack stole a hen, walked down the beanstalk,33:24 and took the hen to the mother. The next day, Jack went up there again, saw the giant counting bags of money. Jack said, that's my money. Jack waited till a giant33:36 went to sleep, took all his money back, came down the tree, gave it to his mother. Jack went back up the next day, and Jack just kept grabbing stuff that the33:48 enemy had stolen and brought it back down and gave it to his mother. The last time Jack went up, Jack walked into the castle and the giant34:00 saw him. The giant came after him. Jack ran, got on the beanstalk, hurried down the beanstalk. The giant was coming after him. Jack took an34:11 axe, chopped the bottom of the beanstalk. The beanstalk fell over. The giant broke his neck. The giant was dead and everything that the enemy34:23 had stolen was now recovered back to Jack. All because there was a beanstalk that had been planted that grew up.34:35 The Bible says in John 15 5, Jesus says, I am the true vine. If you learn to come up on Jesus who came down to earth and went up to34:47 heaven so you could have back what the enemy has stolen away from you. If you stop staying on earth and make your way up to the heavens, you'll discover that the34:58 enemy has your stuff up there. But you now live in heavenly places so you can go up there and get it. And then you can say to the enemy, I35:11 got the power of the only begotten son. You can make your claim to what the enemy has stolen from you. God is calling you to return to him35:23 so he can give you back what the enemy has taken. That's what God is calling you to. That's what35:35 he's calling you to.
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