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welcome to everyone for our call to worship you can turn in your Bibles to psalm 115 psalm 115 i'll begin reading in verse 1 not unto us O Lord not unto us but to your name give glory because of your mercy because of your truth why should the Gentile say so where is their God but our God is in heaven he does whatever he pleases their idols are silver and gold the work of men's hands they have mouths but they do not speak eyes they have but they do not see they have ears but they do not hear noses they have but they do not smell they have hands but they do not handle feet they have but they do not walk nor do they mutter through their throat those who make them are like them so is everyone who trusts in them o Israel trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield o house of Aaron trust in the Lord he is their health and their shield you who fear the Lord trust in the Lord he is their help and their shield the Lord has been mindful of us he will bless us he will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron he will bless those who fear the Lord both small and great may the Lord give you increase more and more you and your children may you be blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth the heaven even the heavens are the Lord's but the earth he has given to the children of men the dead do not praise the Lord nor any who go down into silence but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore praise the Lord amen well please turn in your Trinity hymnal to him number 13 hymn number 13 will stand as we sing together [Music] well let us pray our gracious God and our holy father it is a joy to gather in the house of God on this Sabbath day we thank you for your mercy to us we thank you for the gospel of our salvation and as we read this song we know that by nature we were given over to idols but you and your grace and in your kindness and in your love called us out of darkness into marvelous light certainly it is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone that we are saved so we give glory to Father Son and Holy Spirit tonight we pray that you would be enthroned upon the praises of your people here she would be glorified and honored we acknowledge that you are infinite most high most glorious and most worthy to be praised and we would ask that you would rend the heavens tonight and come down and be found among your people in this local church we ask that you would forgive us for our sins and our transgressions certainly as we move into the presence of a holy God we are mindful of our own unholiness of our own remaining corruption our transgression of your law and our lack of conformity unto it so we confess our sins now and we plead the merit and the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ thanking you for his cross work thanking you for redemption through his blood thanking you Lord God Almighty that you are full of mercy and grace toward it your people so do forgive us now and for those who have come here tonight still dead in their trespasses and sins we pray that today would be the day of salvation we pray that through the preaching of the word and the power of the Holy Spirit they would be brought forth they would see their sins rightly and they would see the glory of Jesus Christ does that one in whom there is forgiveness we ask our Father that you would bless this local church we know there are several with physical trials and challenges we know there are many of us Lord God with spiritual difficulties and various temptations we pray that you would speak peace to our hearts she would build us up and our most holy faith she would be with us on a daily Jase's she would help us Lord God to pursue those things that are right and pleasing in your sight may it be the case that we acknowledge our dependence upon the Lord Christ and may it be the case that we live in light of that dependence that we would be often with the Scriptures and often in in prayer and that the public place of the worship of God would be a chief delight and our hearts God give us the disposition of David who said he was glad when they said let us go to the house of the Lord we ask Lord God that you would be gracious to other churches here in Chilliwack we thank you for the fact that that there are other pulpits that are preaching the gospel we pray that you would prosper and bless them we pray for those churches that peace and unity would be defining characteristics and that the grace of God would be upon your people in these other places we ask this for the entirety of this nation we know Lord God the church stands in desperate need of revival the power of your Holy Spirit calls us to be a people that are that are committed to the truth of holy scripture and a people that are committed to earnest entreaty at the throne of grace we pray for awakening for those who are dead in their trespasses and sins we live in this nation as we see the various things not only in this nation but throughout the earth we know that man's greatest need is the gospel of free and sovereign grace there are so many difficulties in so many places throughout the earth that are that are in conflict and and and and trials and hardships we pray that the preaching of the gospel would go forth that it would run swiftly and be glorified that your word would accomplish the purpose for which you sent it and that you would say if meant from every tribe and tongue and people and nation we do pray for the persecuted Church we know there are brothers and sisters in prison and facing death because of their commitment to the Lord of glory may you sustain and encourage their hearts and may you enable them father to testify in the midst of their trials of the goodness and of the kindness of God Almighty we pray for the governing authorities Lord our first desires that they be saved these men and women in high places we pray they'd kiss the son lest he be angry and they perish in his way when his wrath is kindled but a little but God if they do not bow the knee if they do not kiss the son if they do not come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior we pray that nevertheless you would restrain them from engaging and in godlessness and lawlessness and wickedness we long to see the criminalization of things like abortion euthanasia and sodomy rather than these things being openly promoted and and subsidized by federal government we ask God in heaven that you would have mercy in your wrath remember mercy and send forth your glorious gospel and as well your glorious law that men might know that they are offending a thrice holy God that men might stand in fear and in awe of the one who will indeed hold them in judgment we pray that these things would be thundered forth throughout pulpits in this nation that you would indeed have your way in the hearts of men and women and boys and girls we pray that your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven and may you advance the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ in this world continue with us now we pray for our brother Mike she would bless him tonight as he handles the word we pray that you would give him grace and the power of the Holy Spirit to do so accurately and independence upon God and give us ears to hear and hearts to receive the Word of God that you would have for us tonight and may you affect us and may you change us for the better may you continually conform us unto the image of your son the Lord Jesus Christ and it's in his most blessed name that we pray amen well please turn with me to the back of the hymn book to How Great Thou art How Great Thou art we'll stand as we sing together you could turn in your Bibles to Daniel chapter 9 for our scripture reading this evening Daniel chapter 9 essentially the chapter contains a prayer and a prophecy and I'll begin reading in verse 1 in the first year of Darius the son of a hazardous of the lineage lineage of the Medes who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the Prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem then I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting sackcloth and ashes and I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said O Lord great and awesome God who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his Commandments we have sinned and committed iniquity we have done wickedly and rebelled even by departing from your precepts in your judgments neither have we heeded your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings and our Prince's to our fathers and all the people of the land oh Lord righteousness belongs to you but to us shame a face as it is this day to the men of Judah to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel those near and those far off and all the countries to which you have driven them because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you O Lord to us belong shame a face to our Kings our Prince's and our fathers because we have sinned against you to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness though we have rebelled against him we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in his laws which he set before us by his servants the prophets yes all Israel has transgressed your law and has departed so as not to obey your voice therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us because we have sinned against him and he asked confer his words which he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us and by bringing upon us a great disaster for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem as it is written in the law of Moses all this disaster has come upon us yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God that we might turn from our iniquities and understand your truth therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous and all the works which he does though we have not obeyed his voice and now O Lord our God who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made yourself a name as it is this day we have sinned we have done wickedly the Lord according to all your righteousness is righteousness I pray let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city Jerusalem your holy mountain because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers for a Jerusalem and your people are a reproach to all those around us now there for our God hear the prayer of your servant and his supplications and for the lord's sake cause your face to shine on your sanctuary which is desolate oh my god incline your ear and hear open your eyes and see our desolations in the city which is called by your name for we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds but because of your great mercies O Lord hear Oh Lord forgive Oh Lord listen and act do not delay for your own sake my god for your city and your people are called by your name now while I was speaking praying and confessing my sin and the sin of the beat of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my god for the holy mountain of my god yes while I was speaking in prayer the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly reached me about the time of the evening offering and he informed me and talked with me and said o Daniel I have now come forth to give you skill to understand at the beginning of your supplications command went out and I have come to tell you for your greatly beloved therefore consider the matter and understand the vision seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city to finish the transgression to make an end of sins to make reconciliation for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and build jerusalem until messiah the prince there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks the street shall be built again and the wall even in trouble sometimes and after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary the end of it shall be with a flood until the end of the war desolations are determined then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering and on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate even until the consummation which is determined is poured out on the desolate Amen well as we look at this particular chapter as I said it breaks down in two parts first prayer by Daniel to God and then this prophecy of the 70 weeks and Daniels prayer is very instructive you perhaps have heard that acronym acts that stands for adoration contrition thankfulness and supplication we we see something of that here it's not the case that Daniel is subscribing to acts he's reading that on his hand but he starts off with God he prays with reference to the honor and the glory of God notice in verse 4 and I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said O Lord great and awesome God who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him and with those who keep his Commandments you see we ought to start with God we ought to praise God we ought to speak well of God bless God and then notice he moves to confession he confesses not only the sins of Judas but generally but he includes himself it's not the case that Daniel says I live among the wretched people please you know just get me out of that get me out of the midst of them no he owns his own cent with reference to this particular situation and then he presents his petition and it's intriguing as well Daniels no hyper-calvinist he knows that the desolations have been determined for seventy weeks seen seventy years rather he knows that by the word of the prophet jeremiah but that doesn't keep him from prayer you see understanding the sovereignty of God understanding predestination and election does not inhibit prayer it's not supposed to inhibit or remove the place of Prayer we pray in light of God's sovereignty and Daniel expresses and exhibits that so he petitions very specifically for God's mercy and then notice the reason upon which he grounds this petition verse eighteen oh my god incline your ear end here open your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by your name for we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds he's already set we don't have any righteous deeds but he goes on to say but because of your great mercies O Lord here Oh Lord forgive Oh Lord listen and act do not delay for your own sake my god for your city and your people are called by your name's a beautiful model a means by which or an instructive portion for us to hopefully determine our type of prayer prayer and the private place as well as families and corporately and then the prophecy the seventy weeks simply takes up the first advent of the Lord Jesus and without going into all the details if you look specifically at verse 24 these are the things that Christ would accomplish when he came in the first Advent his first coming in his incarnation seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city and here's what Jesus accomplished to finish the transgression to make an end of sins to make reconciliation for iniquity to bring in everlasting righteousness to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy Christ does this in his first Advent Christ guys all what is prophesied here for the benefit for the good for the redemption of his people well let us pray our Father we thank you for this your word we thank you for the prayers and Scripture and for the way that the men of God honor the God of heaven and earth and they don't ask for blessing based on righteousness they ask for blessing based on the mercies and the kindnesses of God Most High I mean we learn that lesson well may we adopt it in our own prayer lives and may you help us Lord God to be humble before you to be contrite to be of a lowly spirit to be those who indeed tremble at your word and thank you for the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus prophesied here and the Prophet recorded for us in the gospel records and expounded in the New Testament epistles we thank you that you made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him we thank you through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well for our final him before the preaching you can turn in your hymn books to him number two hymn number two will stand as we sing together [Music] oh good evening if you'll turn with me in your Bibles to First Samuel Chapter five that's First Samuel Chapter five this evening we're gonna look at all all the verses in chapter 5 so we'll begin reading in verse 1 and we'll read all the way to chapter 6 verse 1 first time you'll chapter 5 beginning at verse 1 then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from ebony xur 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 said 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 in 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 tumours 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 dag 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 GAF 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 Ektron that the accra Knights cried out saying they have brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us kill out 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 man 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 earth and you are the Great and awesome God not on to 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 your great 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 are 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 are 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 of the word that those who know Christ might be edified 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 mercy as we thank you for your grace O God we pray that you would be glorified in all things in the name of Christ amen 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 first Kings chapter 18 the Battle of the prophets of Bale and Elisha says where is your God perhaps he's relieving himself that's an appropriate place to laugh up 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 a HUD and a Glahn the big giant man who was killed in the lavatory and as the story's being read they probably would have been giggling 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 in which God should you worship and so you see we're dealing with the issue of idolatry and that's what this comedic sex section here teaches us and what First Samuel shows us is that because yahweh is the true and living god then he is the one who must be worshipped he because he is the only God he is the only one who must be given honor that is due unto Him because there's foolishness in worshiping 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 1st Samuel we're gonna do 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 but we need some context we must look back at 1st champ 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 Philistines and so they get they get routed in the first battle and then they say in verse three 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 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 as if the 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 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 art comes out what are the Philistines say in verse seven so the Philistines were afraid for they said God 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 god of 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 first 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 for a beginning at verse 56 this is a psalm about god's kindness to a rebellious people and he recounts this very very this very episode verse 56 yet they did 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 tabernac 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 repo reproach and this is probably what's talking there's this probably refers to First Samuel Chapter five and you see in 1st Samuel chapter five we see some great lessons in theology 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 verse chapter 5 verse 1 then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from ebony xur to Ashdod and when the Philistines took the Ark of God they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon they took it to Ashdod this was their capital city in Philistia this is the city that was on the coast their premier city and they brought it to the house of Dagon and they put it in his house as tribute to him you see us think about what the Ark symbolizes what does it mean what is it the significance of the Ark well for Israel it was the place as davis puts where Yahweh ruled or Yahweh revealed and where Yahweh reconciled his people it is the presence of Yahweh where there was meeting and atonement we know this from Exodus chapter funked 25 verse 22 it was the place where God would meet with Moses and his people we also see that's the meeting aspect we also see the Tolman aspect with respect to V Leviticus chapter 16 and that Day of Atonement so it was 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 was 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 they're got that 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 and the the 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'd bring their idols into their temples just 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 people swing that the the the prisoner are the criminals Wendy when the the Centurions when the the Jews mock him and say save yourself the irony is he's saving the world it's not always in the way we 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 and he is strong and the same true is is true for that the Philistines they perceived Yahweh as weak and then are they gonna 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 we 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 look 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 gonna happen we see this battle between these two deities Yahweh versus Dagon we see round one notice verse 3 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 in the Living God Dagon fell in his worshipping this Yahweh of Israel and it's not something we haven't seen already in the Bible in Exodus chapter 12 when when Yahweh is bringing forth the the plagues he is 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 worship but you know what we'll get the Philistines the benefit of the doubt perhaps there was an earthquake perhaps there was a bit of wind and perhaps that that just knocked it over notice round 2 verse 4 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 dag on boughs 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 is bringing in a hat or will bring the hand of the Lord heavy on the people he has no torso and as Gill 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 and 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 not 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 and saw seventy-eight but first First Samuel Chapter 7 verse three 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 ashtar s 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 but the bales and the Aster s 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 priests of Dagon there 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 you can even see these priests do 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 worshiping idols doesn't it the foolishness of worshiping 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 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 because what may 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 that 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 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 I'm going to talk about more in just a moment but nonetheless that says our brother said many times that's a symptom of a greater disease and that is idolatry you wanna 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 a fter the self isn't it you looked in the mirror of someone who looks exactly like you and you burned for them that is what epitomizes our love of self isn't it but we must be wary brothers and sisters for perhaps maybe we don't have those in inclinations nonetheless we have idols that warrant we at stir in our hearts in our souls all the time this is a problem for the people of Israel as it's been seen it's been 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 and but cannot 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 first 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 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 but the hand of Lord the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod and he ravaged them and struck them with tumors both Ashdod and its territory so after he's defeated Dagon there were that logic if you defeat dag on it's a symbol that the people have been defeated now he's going after the people and he does it with tumors and terror these tumors perhaps as the margins of the 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 UPS 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 them they gathered together in verse seven when the men of Ashdod saw he 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 idols say we need to protect this little one what God is this 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 did not recognize God as the true in the Living God they were they did 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 eight therefore they sent and gathered themselves all the Lords of the Philistines 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 would perhaps could because Ashdod was on the coast perhaps they're 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 six and in the midst of their land rats sprang up and there was a great death in the city you see the Septuagint the Greek translation of the Old Testament and the Vulgate the Latin translation attributed to rats but the Hebrew leaves that out you know you know why it's because it's God who's crushing it's God who's bringing judgment upon its God he's routing the enemies of Israel that's the focus that's the point God does not need his people he does not eat 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 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 put is how the accra Knights respond don't bring it here they probably see it walking in there 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 we always 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 but it does not kill us and our people for there was a deadly destruction to all the city the hand of God was very heavy there you see they still lacked understanding didn't they they still lacked understanding of that Yahweh is the only God Yahweh is the god who's omnipresent who is everywhere present they lacked understanding that this is the one rather than clinging to dag on they must destroy dag on 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 profit 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 we began smashing all the elephants in the Hindu temples they wouldn't uh tur a word because they have no power yet people think they have a 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 first Samuel in 1st Samuel chapter 8 that's what 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 woke and routed his enemies he is this war here and 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 110 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 defined 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 sent 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 himself defeating sin defeating death just 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 is 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 his 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 when you 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 man 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's not like the Isles 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 then won't we we see the power of God routing his enemies the power of God bringing judgment upon his enemies and 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 we 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 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 there is tias 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 in 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 and 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 in 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 the beginning two questions which gods do you worship which God should you worship let us pray Oh Lord God Almighty you are the true in the Living God and you are the only God God how often do we know this but yet forget it - 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 cur the curse of the law fulfilled the law imperfection we thank you for His mercy we thank you for your mercy upon us we thank you for your power and calling dead sinners out of darkness into marvelous light we prepare 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 on to the image of Christ our King we thank you for your holy spirit and as our brother remind 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 but 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 worshiped 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 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 you