Good evening. If you'll turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Samuel, chapter 5. That's 1 Samuel, chapter 5. This evening we're going to look at all the verses in chapter 5.
We'll begin reading in verse 1, and we'll read all the way to chapter 6, verse 1. 1 Samuel chapter 5 beginning at verse 1. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. And when the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord.
So they took Dagon and set it in its place again. And when they rose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon's torso was left of it.
Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. But the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is harsh toward us and dang on our God. Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?
And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath. So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away. And so it was, after they carried it away, that the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction. And he struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them.
Therefore, they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. And so it was, as the Ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people. So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, Send away the Ark of the God of Israel. Let it go back to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people.
For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. And the men who did not die were stricken with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. Now the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months." Well, let us pray.
O great God and God Almighty, You are the Lord of heaven and earth, and You are the great and awesome God, not unto us, O Lord, but unto You. You deserve worship. You deserve glory. You deserve honor, O God, for You are the all-powerful One.
And we thank You that we see great acts of Your power even in this passage here. We must confess, O God, that we do struggle with the great issue of idolatry. We do still have remnants of that disease, O God. We still have that remaining corruption for those that have faith in Jesus Christ.
But we do thank you and praise you, O God, for Christ, who was not idolatrous, who lived the law in perfection, and was that perfect sacrifice for us, O God. We pray that you'd help us kill the idols that are within, the idols that we conjure up in our hearts, the ones that we make with our hands and with our hearts, O God. forgive us for our sins, wash us and cleanse us in the blood of Christ. And for those that do not know Christ, who maybe aren't aware of the disease of idolatry, O God, may you expose them, may you give them this diagnosis that they have this disease and they are in need of the only antidote in Christ our King. May they look to Him.
May they call upon Him. May they believe on Him and find everlasting life. May they find everlasting hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the all-powerful One. He is that rider in white who's ready to make war and judgment.
We thank you for Him, O God. We thank you that He is our King, that He protects us and strengthens us, for we are weak. We need Him, O God. And we pray, O God, that you would help us and show us a sense of your power through the preaching.
May your Holy Spirit be with us today. May you bless the preaching. May the Holy Spirit accompany the word, that those who know Christ might be edified, and those who do not know Christ might come to saving knowledge. But may we all confess what a great God you are through the preaching.
We thank you for your mercies. We thank you for your grace, O God. We pray that you would be glorified in all things in the name of Christ. Amen.
Introduction
Well, there are certain places in Scripture where it's appropriate to laugh out loud. It's appropriate to give a little smirk. We've just read in 1 Kings 18, the battle of the prophets of Baal, and Elijah says, where is your God? Perhaps He's relieving Himself.
That's an appropriate place to laugh, an appropriate place to giggle. Or perhaps some of the kids of the Israelites would have said to their dad at night, Dad, can you tell us the story of Ehud and Eglon, the big giant man who was killed in the lavatory? And as the story's being read, they probably would have been giggling their faces off of how funny it is. And there are many other places like that in scripture.
But, as Dale Ralph Davis says, there are certain places that these comedic sections teach us something that is deadly serious. So let me ask you this question. Which gods do you worship, and which god should you worship? And so you see, we're dealing with the issue of idolatry, and that's what this comedic section here teaches us.
And what 1 Samuel shows us is that because Yahweh is the true and living God, then He is the one who must be worshipped. Because He is the only God, He is the only one who must be given honour that is due unto Him. Because there is foolishness in worshipping idols made by hands. There's foolishness in setting up idols alongside of God. like the Israelites do.
So we must confess that Yahweh is the only God, the only one deserving of our worship. So as we think through 1 Samuel,
Two Considerations Introduced
we're going to do so under two considerations. First of all, the handless Dagon in chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. And secondly, the hand of Yahweh in verses 6 through 12. So the handless Dagon and the hand of Yahweh.
Let's first look with me at the Handless Dagon.
The Handless Dagon
But we need some context. We must look back at 1 Samuel chapter 4. This is the Battle of Ebenezer. If you remember that story, the Israelites go out to battle against their arch-nemesis, the Philistines.
And so they get routed in the first battle, and then they say, in verse 3, And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that it comes among us, that it may save us from the hand of our enemies. It. may save us. As Davis says, here was a pressure tactic, a way of twisting God's arm.
That is not faith, but superstition. They're treating it as if cause and effect relationship with God. If the ark is there, surely we will win, because God will not forsake us. They're treating him like other gods, and that's one of the problems that will become evident in Israel.
But nonetheless, they treat him like he's some other god who can just be manipulated, who can be held in their hands. And so, even when the ark comes out, what do the Philistines say in verse 7? So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp, and they said, woe to us, for such a thing has never happened before. Woe to us!
Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. So the Israelites are acting just like the Philistines. They're acting just like the pagans, and they're treating Yahweh like He's one God among many.
And so what happens? The people are routed, and the glory of God, the ark is captured, and as 1 Samuel 4.22 says, the glory of God has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured. And see, the psalmist comments on this for us in Psalm 78. Psalm 78, beginning at verse 56.
This is a psalm about God's kindness to a rebellious people, and he recounts this very episode. Verse 56, Yet they tested God and provoked the Most High God. They did not keep His testimonies, but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. When God heard this, He was furious and greatly abhorred Israel. so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had placed among men and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hands. He also gave his people over to the sword and was furious with his inheritance. The fire consumed their young men and their maidens were not given in marriage.
Their priests fell by the sword and their widows made no lamentation. But then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty man who shouts because of wine, and he beat back his enemies and put them to perpetual reproach." And this probably refers to 1 Samuel chapter 5. And you see, in 1 Samuel chapter 5, we see some great lessons in theology.
Dagon vs. Yahweh: The Question
Who is Dagon and who is Yahweh? Who is the God of heaven and earth? Which one is the supreme God? So, notice what happens in chapter 5, verse 1. You see,
The Significance of the Ark
you have to think about what the Ark symbolizes. What does it mean? What is the significance of the Ark? Well, for Israel, it was the place, as Davis puts, where Yahweh ruled, where Yahweh revealed, and where Yahweh reconciled his people.
It is the presence of Yahweh where there is meeting and atonement. We know this from Exodus chapter 25 verse 22. It was the place where God would meet with Moses and his people. That's the meeting aspect.
We also see the atonement aspect with respect to Leviticus chapter 16 and that day of atonement. So there's great significance. So it says when the glory of God departs, there's great significance tied to what the ark symbolizes, what it refers to. But what does it mean for the people, for the Philistines?
Well, as one writer puts, it shows that Israel has been completely conquered. That is, it was a symbol, the Philistines think that their victory indicates that their god Dagon is superior to the God of Israel. And they bring the Ark into Dagon's temple to honor their god. So if they've conquered the people of Israel and they've taken their god, surely Dagon is stronger than the God of Israel.
And if Dagon is stronger than the God of Israel, then surely he has taken the people, Dagon has conquered the people for the Philistines. It highlights for them that Yahweh is weak. In a lot of ways, in ancient Near Eastern warfare, this was a Philistine trophy case. When they defeated their enemies, they would bring their idols into their temples as a trophy room for their God.
And the perception is that Yahweh is weak. The perception is Yahweh can't handle himself. And you know, This kind of reminds us of Christ, doesn't it? Christ, when he's on the cross, is perceived as weak.
Christ, when he's nailed to the cross and suffering, is perceived as someone who cannot save himself, as many mocked. You know, some people thought that Christ would come and bring physical, a physical kingdom, bring national kingdom, bring back the national kingdom of Israel over against the Romans. They pictured Christ coming with giant swords and guns and breaking things. But what is Christ doing on the cross?
You know, the irony when the criminals, when the centurions, when the Jews mock him and say, save yourself, the irony is he's saving the world. It's not always in the way we see it, but Christ Almighty is the one who conquered sin and death, the one who lived the law in perfection, the one who is that perfect King. Even though he's seen as weak, man, he is strong. And the same is true for the Philistines.
They perceive Yahweh as weak. And man, are they going to get a rude awakening very, very soon. So they think Dagon is bigger than Yahweh, is stronger than Yahweh. You see, Dagon, for them, was the one who was the giver of life.
He was the one they worshiped, hoping that he would provide rain for healthy crops. That's kind of like paganism, isn't it? We have a God that we can get things from. We create a God that hopefully he can give us things that we need.
That's certainly the case with Dagon as well. One thing that I think adds insult to injury in this whole text is perhaps Dagon looked like a merman. There was the possibility that's what he resembled or that's what it refers to. It's not very formidable, is it?
I feel like a merman is kind of a little feminine to me, and perhaps that offends you, but that's what I think of when I think of a merman. So hopefully that adds to the suspense of the story. So then as we go along, what's going to happen? We see this battle between these two deities, Yahweh versus Dagon.
We see round one.
Round One: Dagon Falls
Notice verse three. And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And so they took Dagon and set it in its place again. They picked up Dagon and put him in his place again.
You see, Dagon fell and is bowing before the true and the living God. Dagon fell and is worshiping this Yahweh of Israel. And it's not something we haven't seen already in the Bible, in Exodus chapter 12, when Yahweh is bringing forth the plagues, he's bringing judgment on the gods of Egypt, showing that he is the mighty God. He is the true God.
He is the only God. And even here, he's showing that he is the one that all gods worship. But you know what? We'll give the Philistines the benefit of the doubt.
Perhaps there was an earthquake. Perhaps there was a bit of wind. And perhaps that just knocked it over.
Round Two: Dagon Destroyed
Notice round two, verse four. And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. But the head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon's torso was left of it.
This time Dagon bows, but his hands are smashed, and his head is smashed, and all that's remaining is a torso. As the fathers were telling their children, they would have been giggling lots through this text, especially at this point. You see, the hand aspect, I think, contrasts with the hand of Yahweh in verse 6. You see, this God has no hands.
But Yahweh will bring the hand of the Lord heavy on the people. He has no torso, and as Gil highlights, it signified that Dagon had neither the wisdom to contrive for his own safety, nor strength and power to defend himself. What kind of God is this? It's showing the powerlessness of Dagon and the powerfulness of Yahweh.
And I think what's interesting is as much as the writer is teaching the Philistines something in the text, he's teaching the Israelites something. You see, as I've said already, the Israelites treat Yahweh like he's one God among many. They treat Yahweh and put him in their pantheon of gods. They're teaching him that Yahweh is the one, rather than Yahweh holding them in their hands, they hold Yahweh in their hands.
Isn't that the essence of idolatry? Rather than God holding us in his hands, we hold God in ours, as if he's this small. That's exactly what they're doing. That's what the Israelites were doing.
We know that, and we've already read in Psalm 78, but 1 Samuel 7, verse 3. 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 the 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. And so the children of Israel put away the bales and the asterisks and served the Lord only. You see, what's interesting in this text is Dagon needs his people to pick him up.
But God is showing the Israelites that he does not need them. Notice the impact in verse 5. Therefore, neither the priest of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day." You see that impact. You see the threshold, as one commentator highlights, is what separated the sacred from the common.
And you can even see these priests did not tread on the threshold in Dagon's house, because they knew something had happened that day. That's the impact. But the impact, perhaps, was not great enough, as we'll see in the next section. But nonetheless, this section really teaches us the foolishness of worshipping idols, doesn't it?
The foolishness of worshipping things made by hands or those things conjured up in our hearts. It is truly the greatest problem in the world. What's the problem with the world? It is idolatry.
Idolatry: The World's Greatest Problem
Doesn't Paul talk about that in Romans chapter 1? Romans chapter 1, he talks about the wrath of God being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. He talks about idolatry. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.
So they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile. in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image, made like corruptible man and birds, and four-footed animals, and creeping things." This is the problem of the world, isn't it? Worshipping things other than God. And even as he goes on to highlight, homosexuality is the epitome of what highlights that.
You know, we always like to drill homosexuality in this text, and I'm going to talk about more in just a moment, but nonetheless, that's, as our brother said many times, that's a symptom of a greater disease, and that is idolatry. You want to know something very profound that one of my professors said? He says, when you think about homosexuality, when you think about what it actually is, it's lusting against after the self, isn't it? You look in the mirror of someone who looks exactly like you, and you burn for them.
That is what epitomizes our love of self, isn't it? But we must be weary, brothers and sisters, for perhaps maybe we don't have those inclinations. Nonetheless, we have idols that stir in our hearts and in our souls all the time. And this is a problem for the people of Israel, as it's been seen.
It's for the people of God. As Calvin says, our hearts are like idol factories. We create idols in our hearts. Maybe it's not made with hands.
Maybe it's not something that's visibly seen like in other formal religions, but nonetheless we still make those things. As one professor, another professor also said, good goods make bad gods. Things that are good can become idols for us. Things like phones these days.
Phones are a good thing. It's a gift from God to be able to call our friends, to know something easily. But how often are we clinging to them? Perhaps work.
Our brother touched on it a little bit this morning. It's good to work, but nonetheless, are we working so much that we're neglecting other things? Are we neglecting God? Has that become our idol?
Perhaps education. Education is a good thing as well, but can that become an idol? I must confess, as a seminarian, when I was in seminary, it was easy to make seminary an idol. It was difficult to commune with God sometimes.
It was easy to have that desire of learning rather than communing with the God of heaven and earth. See, we conjure up idols very, very quickly. We do make good things into bad gods. We must be wary and check those things at the door and put away those false idols that come forth We must turn from our idols to the true and the living God always.
And it's clearly an issue for believers, because as the end of 1 John says, little children, keep yourselves from idols. We still have remaining corruption. We still have that battle we must go through every day, and that is that one remnant of the disease that still rears its ugly head more often than not. We have this in us.
It is foolishness to worship idols. It is foolishness to worship those things. We must turn from those things and worship the true and the living God. So we've seen the handless Dagon.
The Hand of Yahweh
Let us look secondly at the hand of Yahweh, verses 6 through 12. Now when I say hand of Yahweh, I'm obviously speaking, as her brother says many times, in the manner of men. God is without parts, but it's a way to highlight His power, and in this instant, highlight His punishment on the people. Notice verse 6.
So after He's defeated Dagon, remember that logic? If you defeat Dagon, it's a symbol that the people have been defeated. Now He's going after the people. And
Judgment on Ashdod
he does it with tumors and terror. These tumors, perhaps as the margins of the New King James highly, perhaps it resembled the bubonic plague. They were great thickening of tissues of swelling. They were full of blood and pus and gross things and it hurt a lot.
Painful, painful things. I know that's perhaps offensive to some. You know what's more offensive? It really is the idols in our heart.
That's more offensive than blood and pus. But nonetheless, he deals with them with these tumors and terror. Both he ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And then they gathered together in verse seven.
When the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, the ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us. For his hand is harsh toward us, and Dagon, our God. Think about that for a moment. Dagon, our God, needs to be protected.
What a wimp. What a wimpy God that needs to be protected by these people. You can almost see them as they're gathering around, hugging their idols, coddling that little idol, saying, we need to protect this little one. What God is this?
But you know what's interesting? They still recognize that Dagon is crushed, but nonetheless, they still want to cling to him. Isn't this the foolishness of sin? The foolishness of paganism?
The foolishness of idolatry, where it leads to if we do not know Christ? We create God as if He's one among many. They do not recognize God as the true and the living God. They do not recognize Him as the only God.
They thought he was one among many, and they wanted him out of there. And that's what happens. They send him away. Notice in verse 8, Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?
And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath. So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away. So rather than dealing with it in Ashdod, they take it to Gath. And perhaps the reasons for that, perhaps could be because Ashdod was on the coast, perhaps they were going away from the sea.
You see, if you also have the New King James in your margin, it highlights what the Greek translation and the Latin translation of the Old Testament adds at verse 6. And in the midst of their land, rats sprang up, and there was a great death panic in the city. You see, the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and the Vulgate, the Latin translation, Attribute it to rats. But the Hebrew leaves that out.
Do you know why? It's because it's God who's crushing them. It's God who's bringing judgment upon them. It's God who's routing the enemies of Israel.
That's the focus. That's the point. God does not need his people. He does not need rats.
But he crushes his enemies. And they recognized that he was crushing them. So notice what happens in verse 9. So it was after they carried it away that the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction.
And he struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them. So Gath gets the same treatment. So what do they do?
Judgment Follows to Gath and Ekron
Therefore, in verse 10, they sent the ark of God to Ekron. Get it out of Ashdod. Get it out of Gath. Send it to Ekron.
And notice how the Ekronites respond. Don't bring it here. They probably see it walking in and they're like, no, no, no. Notice, they have brought the ark of God of Israel to us to kill us and our people.
The recognition is that Yahweh is the one who's bringing judgment upon them. Yahweh is bringing punishment upon them. So notice what they say in verse 11. So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it go back to its own place so that it does not kill us and our people.
For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. You see, they still lacked understanding, didn't they? They still lacked understanding that Yahweh is the only God.
Yahweh is the God who is omnipresent, who is everywhere present. They lacked understanding that this is the one, rather than clinging to Dagon, they must destroy Dagon and look to God, the only God. Isn't this the delusion of man? The delusion of idolatry?
Isn't this perhaps what we hear sometimes in our modern day with perhaps Jesus, with God? He's one prophet among many. He's one way among many. He's one God among many.
All roads lead to the same place. You see, there's only one God. If we walked into a Buddhist temple with a bat and started smashing all those statues, those idols wouldn't say anything. If we began smashing all the elephants in the Hindu temples, they wouldn't utter a word, because they have no power.
Yet people think they have power. There's only one God. That is the true and the living God. And what this highlights for us is the fact that Yahweh is a divine warrior, doesn't it?
He goes around routing His enemies, routing the enemies of His people, kind of like a king should, right? And if you think about 1 Samuel, in 1 Samuel chapter 8, that's when Israel demands a king. Yahweh is going around destroying His people's enemies like a king should. And even we already read in Psalm 78 verse 65, he awoke and routed his enemies.
He's this warrior. And
Yahweh as Divine Warrior
we perhaps need to recognize that Christ himself is a divine warrior as well. Genesis 3.15, he shall crush the head of the serpent. Psalm 1.10, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool. Mark 1 verse 7, John confessing who Christ is, one who is mightier than I, that carries with it the idea of one who is a divine warrior.
Revelation chapter 19, the rider on white who judges and makes war. This is Christ. This is the King. This is the one who helps us in our weakness, who helps us in our futility, helps us in our feebleness, who conquers sin, conquers death.
It is okay to speak of Christ's work in some sense as a conquest. fulfilling the law in perfection, going to that cross, taking sin upon himself, defeating sin, defeating death, defeating the enemy that you and I might have everlasting life. We need this King. We need this warrior. We need this Christ.
He is the divine warrior. And even here, we see God's great grace to His people, routing their enemies. How many times does Israel commit adultery against their husband? Exodus 32, on their wedding night, commit adultery.
And how many times do we see them, night after night after night after night, committing adultery against their God? Yet God forgives them and is long-suffering and is patient with them. I don't think we would be as patient with our spouses. We see his mercy here, and we see his mercy in the fact that he is this warrior helping us in our weakness.
Notice the response in verse 12 from the Philistines. And the men who did not die were stricken with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. They see the severity of it. They understand the severity of this judgment.
They understand the severity at which they were being stricken with these things. Who is this one? This one is Yahweh of Israel, the true and the living God. You may be able to send him away, but you cannot hide from him.
He is everywhere present. He is not like the idols that are contained by the things made by man. He's everywhere present. So then in this section, we've seen the foolishness of idols in the first section, but in this section we see the power of God, don't we?
We see the power of God routing His enemies. The power of God bringing judgment upon His enemies. And
Application
if you are an unbeliever here today, this will happen. If you are not with God, you are against God. You must believe on this one so he can reconcile an enemy which you are as a friend. Look to this Christ, look to this King, and you shall have everlasting life.
For he will bring judgment upon his enemies, those ones who rebel against him, those ones who sin against him. Perhaps you don't realize you have that disease of idolatry permeating throughout your veins. And you need the word of God to show you that. You need the Holy Spirit to show you that.
And we pray that that would happen, which is why we proclaim the word to you. For if you do not know this God, you will die in your trespasses and sins. You will die in your disease. There is no cure except in Christ.
There is no cure except looking to Jesus. There is no cure except being washed in the blood of Christ. Look to this one. He has power to defeat his enemies, but God has power to save dead sinners.
Believer. When we struggle with idolatry, when we conjure up those things in our hearts, God Almighty helps us and He's powerful to help us defeat those things. Go to Him in prayer. Watch and pray and fight like we should each and every day.
Although it's even hard to watch and pray and fight because we have idols. Nonetheless, we go to our God. He can help us and strengthen us in the daily battle, in the daily struggle, in the things that perhaps are really difficult for us to break. We need him every hour, the most gracious Lord.
So then in conclusion, we do see that because Yahweh is the true and the living God, we must not serve lifeless idols. We must not worship those things. We must not worship things that we make with our hearts. We've seen the foolishness of idolatry, yet we've seen the power of Yahweh.
So let me close by asking this question that I started at the beginning, two questions. Which gods do you worship? Which god should you worship? Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
O Lord God Almighty, you are the true and the living God, and you are the only God. God, how often do we know this, but yet forget it? How often are we prone to leave you, the God that we do love? We thank you for Christ, our King.
We thank you for that divine warrior who defeated sin, who defeated death, who defeated the curse of the law, fulfilled the law in perfection. We thank you for his mercy. We thank you for your mercy upon us. We thank you for your power in calling dead sinners out of darkness into marvelous light.
We pray that you'd help us in our daily battles, O God, by your power, by your Holy Spirit, that we might die more and more unto sin and grow more and more unto the image of Christ our King. We thank you for your Holy Spirit. And as our brother reminded us this morning, may we have a robust view of the Holy Spirit. For we have that indwelling Holy Spirit for those that know Christ, conforming us, shaping us, pointing us to Christ our King.
May we ever resemble him, O God. Will we confess that we have been idolatrous. We confess this sin. We confess the many sins that are tied to it, O God.
We confess that we have not worshipped you as we ought. We pray that you would forgive us, wash us, and cleanse us in the blood of Christ. For those today who do not know Christ, we pray that you would cause them to look upon Christ. Show them their sin, show them this disease, and point them to the only cure in Christ.
Point them to the blood of Christ. Help them to look and live that they might have everlasting life. And we pray that this would be the day of salvation for some. We thank you for your power.
We thank you for your patience. We thank you for your long-suffering with us, O God. We pray that you would help and strengthen us now by your power. We pray that you would be glorified in all things in the name of Christ.
Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.