To download this sermon for future reference: Choose "Save As" from the file menu on your browser and save it as a text document. or You may also copy or highlight the sermon text and choose "Copy" on your edit menu. Open any text application and choose "Paste" on your edit menu. Select "Save" on your file menu to save the sermon to your hard drive. HERE I RAISE MY EBENEZER I Samuel 7:12 Ken Trivette 1. My favorite hymn is one written by Robert Robinson. It is the hymn "Come Thou Fount." I love the melody of the hymn but even more the words: Come, Thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above; Praise the mount - I'm fixed upon it - Mount of Thy redeeming love. 2. I do want the Lord to tune my heart to sing His grace. There has been in my life, as well in all our lives, streams of mercy that have never ceased. All the blessings and mercies of God in our life call for songs of loudest praise. It is my prayer, that due to these mercies, I be fixed upon the mount of God's redeeming love. 3. It is the second stanza of the song that has particular interest to me this day. Some of the more modern versions read, "Here I raise to Thee an altar - Hither by Thy help I'm come." The original version reads: Here I raise mine Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I'm come; And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God; He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood. 4. I am particularly interested in the two lines, "Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I'm come." The thought behind Robinson's words is taken from our text. We read in verse 12, "Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben- ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." 5. Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen. The location of both these places is debated and uncertain. Mizpeh means, "watchtower/lookout" and is the name of a couple of places in the Bible; one in Gilead and other in Moab. The name was usually used to refer to places that provided security. Shen means, "a tooth," and no doubt speaks of a crag or hill that was tooth shaped. Again, the location of these two places is uncertain, but between the two Samuel set up a stone and called it Ebenezer. 6. The meaning of the name Ebenezer is given in our text in the words, "hitherto hath the Lord helped us." The name means, "the stone of help." Because of certain events that had occurred Samuel erected this memorial stone. 7. I read about a fellow in Rome, New York that erected an unusual marker. Growing tired of the bicentennial celebration in the United States, Eskill Rmgdahl of Rome, New York, displayed a plaque given to him as a joke by a friend eleven years earlier. The plaque reads: "N.O.N. Historical Marker. On this spot February 29, 1776, absolutely nothing happened."1 8. Samuel's memorial marker was placed between Mizpeh and Shen because of what happened on that spot. Let's look at the context of the verse and see what it was that happened. 1. IT WAS A PLACE OF REPENTANCE! 1. We read in verse 1-2, "And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and brought up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. [2] And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." 2. Verses 1-2 take us back about twenty-one years to a time when the Philistines had taken the ark of God and the children of Israel had suffered a major defeat by the Philistines. The events are described in I Samuel chapter four. In chapter seven we find the men of Kirjath-jearim bringing the ark back after twenty years. Understanding just briefly the background let me point out two things about the people in chapter seven. A. THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 1. The condition of the people is revealed in the charge that Samuel gave them in verse 3, "And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines." 2. There is one word that sums up their condition in verse 3 and that is the word "return." The word simply means, "to turn back" or to "return to a starting point." To put it simply, the people had turned from God. They were and had been a backslidden people. 3. In chapter four we see that the Philistines had taken the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of the presence of God among them. When the ark was taken from them it was a sign that the blessing and presence of God had departed. This fact is illustrated when the daughter-in-law of Eli the high priest gave birth to a son she named Ichabod which means, "the glory hath departed" (Cp. 1 Samuel 4:21-22). 4. The reason the Philistines had been able to take the Ark of the Covenant and the glory of Lord had departed from Israel was because of their sin and backslidden condition. If they had been right with God the ark would have never been taken and the blessings of God would have remained on the people. Their condition was one of being away from God and out of fellowship with God. 5. The story is ever the same when a person gets away from God. A backslider is one who used to live for God and enjoy the blessings of God in their life but somewhere they got out of fellowship with God and no longer enjoy a closeness to God or enjoy the blessings of living for Him. 6. It is possible that there are some in this place that at one time you were living for God. You attended church on a regular basis, lived for God, served God, sung in the choir, worked in the Church, but somewhere and for some reason you got away from God. 7. We read in Hosea 11:7, "And my people are bent to backsliding from me..." Hosea was speaking of a people that had a tendency to get away from God. It seemed that every time you turned around they were away from God. It is possible that there is someone like that in this place today. 8. An issue of the Virginia Medical Monthly told the story of a lady that grew backwards. Her doctor told the story of how she had grown normally, married, and had three children. Life was normal until the husband and father died when the children were in high school. The mother doubled her devotion to the children. She changed her clothes to those of a girl of twenty, joined in her children's parties and fun. In a few years the children noticed that as they grew older their mother was growing younger. Psychiatrists call it "personality regression," which means "a person walking backward." Usually such people stop going backward at a certain age. But not this woman. She slipped backward at the rate of one year for every three or four months of time that went forward. Finally, although she was 61 years old she acted and talked like a 6-year-old. She was sent to a sanitarium, where she insisted on wearing short dresses, playing with toys, and babbling like a child. Then she became like a three-year-old; she spilled her food, crawled on the floor, and cried "Mama." Backward still farther to the age of one, she drank milk curled up like a tiny baby. Finally, she went back over the line and died.2 9. There are some that have a case of "spiritual regression." They have turned from God and are away from God. Again, it is possible someone here has spiritually regressed, backslid, got away from God and out of fellowship with God. 10. We read in the latter part of verse 2 that, "all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." The word "lamented" means, "to groan." They were such an unhappy and miserable people. That is always the case of a person away from God. Some of the unhappiest people in the world are people that are saved but away from God. 11. We read in Proverbs 14:14, "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways." Solomon is saying that backsliding has a way of catching up with a person. The prophet Jeremiah had the same thing in mind when he said in Jeremiah 14:7, "O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name's sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee." The backslider declared that their sins testified against them. The unhappiness and misery in their heart rose up to remind them they were away from God. 12. I think of Robert Robinson the author of the hymn that I mentioned at the beginning. He was save under the ministry of George Whitefield after hearing him preach from Matthew 3:7 and the subject, "The Wrath to Come." That day, Sunday, May 24, 1752 was the day Robert Robinson was saved. It was six years later that he wrote his great hymn Come Thou Fount. There are a couple of lines in his hymn was tragically prophetic: Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love. 13. Robinson would preach the gospel and serve as a pastor but there came a time in his life when he would wander and leave the God he had loved. Robinson would find himself away from God for many years. The story is told that toward the end of his life he was traveling by stagecoach and a lady that was a perfect stranger began to talk to him about what a blessing a certain hymn had been to her. She said, "Let me read it to you." It turned out to be his hymn Come Thou Fount. He tried to change the conversation but the lady kept talking about the hymn. Finally in tears he said, "Madam, I am the poor, unhappy man who composed that hymn many years ago; and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then!"3 12. A backslider is a miserable and unhappy person. What was their condition? They were a miserable and unhappy people because they were away from God. B. THE CONTRITION OF THE PEOPLE. 1. In verse 3 Samuel tells them to return unto the Lord with all their hearts and to put away the false gods and idols in their life and serve the Lord. He was telling them to get right and rededicate their lives to the Lord. Notice their response in verse 4, "Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only." They were a broken-hearted people that fell before God in repentance. The Ebenezer stone that Samuel erected marked the place where the people came back to God. It was a place of repentance. 2. Jeremiah 3:22 say's, "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God." If you are away from God then God's Word to you today is return and I will heal your backslidings. Today, you ought to make this service and this altar the place where you erect an Ebenezer stone; the place where you come back to God and the place where you get right with God. 3. I want you to understand something today and that is if you will come to God and confess your sins God will forgive you and heal your backslidings. There is a wonderful promise in Hosea 14:4: "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." 4. God was saying, "I don't care what you done and how far you have gone. I will love you and forgive you of your sin." God wants you to return. This place can be and should be the place where you raise an Ebenezer stone marking the spot where you came back to God. Today let this place be your place of repentance. 5. You ought to say with the songwriter: I've wandered far away from God- Now I'm coming home; The paths of sin too long I've trod- Lord, I'm coming home. 1. A Place of Repentance! 2. A PLACE OF REVIVAL! 1. I not only see in this story a scene of repentance but I also see a scene of revival. I see both the effects and the evidence of revival. As I look at the story I see a couple of things happening that are characteristic of revival. A. THE PEOPLE OF GOD WERE MOVED. 1. G. J. Morgan defined revival as a "reviving of humanity, strictly speaking, to the sense of God-through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit-to reanimate the life of the believer..." Revival is a stirring of the people of God. When revival comes the people of God are moved. When you look at the story before us you find that the repentance of the people was followed by the revival of the people. We see them deeply moved about spiritual things. 2. We read in verse 6, "And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh." The things of God were once again important to the people of God. There was a great interest and intensity in spiritual matters. 3. Verse 6 describes how seriously they took spiritual matters. We read that they "drew water and poured it out before the Lord." One writer describes this action as one in which they were saying, "We would desire on account of our sins to shed so many tears as there are drops in the bucket; but because we are unable to do this, nor have we tears to our hands, hence we pour out water in their stead."4 4. They were taking seriously their communion with God. They were so serious about being in fellowship with God that they poured water out a vessel to illustrate the depths of their sorrow for their backsliding and the depth of their desire to be in fellowship with God. 5. They also took seriously their commitment to God. We read in verse 6 they that they "fasted on that day." They were putting the spiritual before the physical. 6. Finally we see how seriously they took their condition before God. They said in verse 6, "We have sinned against the Lord." They were serious about being right with God. They did not want one thing between them and God. 7. The people were moved about spiritual things and spiritual matters. They are now taking the things of God extremely serious. We also see in verse 8 that there was a renewal to prayer and seeking God. We read, "And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines." 8. Prayer became an important part of their life. There was a spiritual renewal of attitude, action, and affection. God had become front and center in their lives. The things of God became a priority to them. That is what revival does. Revival is, as Morgan said, a reanimating of the people of God. When revival comes the people of God are stirred and moved. 9. I have been reading about the revival that came to Northern Ireland in 1859. It is commonly called the Ulster Revival. The spirit of revival moved person after person, church after church, and town after town. William Gibson in his book The Year of Grace wrote of one town, Balleymeade, and the effects of the revival in the town: "Christians found themselves borne upward in the current, with scarce time for any feeling but the outpouring condition that a great revival had come at last. Careless men were bowed in unaffected earnestness and sobbed like children...languid believers were stirred up to unusual exertion. There was great earnestness with all..." 10. I think of the Great Awakening that came to America during the mid-1700's. In the town of Northampton, Massachusetts where Jonathan Edwards was pastoring, the effects of the revival were astounding. Jonathan Edwards in his Narrative of Surprising Conversions wrote: "a great and earnest concern about the great things of religion and the eternal world became universal in all parts of town, and among all persons of all degrees and all ages; the noise among the dry bones waxed louder and louder; all other talk but about spiritual and eternal things was soon thrown by." 11. Revival always brings a moving and stirring of the people of God. When revival comes there will be a faithful attendance to the house of God, a faithful reading of the Word of God, a faithful seeking of the throne of God, and a faithful involvement in the work of God. Revival is a spiritual awakening, a renewal, restoration, and reviving of the people of God. The place that Samuel set up the Ebenezer stone was the place where the people of God were moved. B. THE POWER OF GOD WAS MANIFESTED. 1. Arthur Wallis in his book In the Day of Thy Power defined revival as, "God revealing Himself to man in awful holiness and irresistible power. It is such a manifest working of God that human personalities are overshadowed, and human programs abandoned. It is man retiring into the background because God has taken the field. It is the Lord making bare His holy arm, and working in extraordinary power on saint and sinner." 2. Revival is a time when God manifests His power in an extraordinary way. We see such a manifestation in our story. We read in verses 10-11, "And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. [11] And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car." 3. In the very place where they had been defeated years earlier now they are victorious. Why? They experienced a divine visitation and intervention. There was a manifesting of God's power and presence. God's presence was so real that it sounded like thunder crashing. His power was so manifested that Philistines became so confused they fled in fear. 4. God's presence and power is always manifested in an amazing way when revival comes. We often talk about what God can do but when revival comes we will see what God can do. 5. I once again refer to the Great Awakening of the 1700's. On one occasion Jonathan Edwards was preaching at Enfield, Connecticut. He preached a message entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Edwards compared the sinner with some spider or loathsome insect suspended over flames. He said: "You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe and burn it asunder." 6. The power of God was so manifested in that service that unconsciously people grasped the pillars and pews to keep from sliding into the pit. People all over the building began to cry out for God to have mercy on their souls for they thought they were going to hell on the spot. 7. During revival God's power becomes more than a theoretical matter. It becomes an experiential matter. The power of God is seen. It becomes real in our life. There are demonstrations and manifestations of mighty power of God. 8.Samuel set up stone at the place where God manifested His power. My soul hungers to set up an Ebenezer stone in this place and be able to say, "This is where God paid us a visit. This is where God showed His might power. This is where revival came." 1. A Place of Repentance! 2. A Place of Revival! 3. A PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE! 1. Notice again verse 12, "Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." He took a stone and set it up and called it Ebenezer, the stone of help. Tradition tells us that it was just an ordinary large stone, nothing fancy, and had the word "Ebenezer" carved in it. It was set up as a memorial stone. It was a stone that would serve two purposes: A. IT WOULD SOFTEN THEIR HEARTS. 1. The stone would serve as a token of how good God had been to them. It was a way of expressing thanks to God for how he had helped them. It would produce in them a spirit of humility. They were a people God had helped in time of need. The Ebenezer stone would say to them, "God helped you when you needed Him." It would soften their hearts and make them grateful for what He had done. 2. It has been said that our blessings can go to either our head or heart. If they go to our head they make us haughty. But if they go to our heart they make us humble. 3. We should all raise an Ebenezer stone for the many times God has helped us. We should be filled with gratitude and thanksgiving that for all God has done for us. There ought to be daily expressions of praise and gratitude for the Lord's help in our life. 4. There have been times in all our lives when needed God's help. There have been many times when we all could say, "Hitherto the Lord helped me." All of can point back to times where we raised an Ebenezer stone. How grateful and thankful we should be. To remember the times God has helped us keeps our heart soft. It keeps us humble and not haughty. B. IT WOULD STRENGTHEN THEIR HEART. 1. As the years passed, each time they saw the Ebenezer stone it would remind them that God had helped them. It would remind them that if God had helped them in the past, He could and would help them in the present. No doubt, many times through the years a distressed and discouraged soul would see that Ebenezer stone and find encouragement that God would and could help them in the present. 2. All of us can look back to times when God helped us. When we are facing difficult and distressing times, those times remind us that God is a very present help in the time of trouble. In my own personal life I can look back to times when God helped me. 3. How encouraging and strengthening to remember times in the past when God helped us. Can you remember a time when God helped you? If so, then be reminded that God can help you today. 4. This was a place of repentance, revival, and remembrance. This service and this place may be where some of you need to raise this very day an Ebenezer stone: a place where you come to Christ. It may be the time and place for some of you to come back to the Lord. 5. It is my prayer that this will be a place where we raise and Ebenezer stone of revival. While I am grateful for every mercy drop we have experienced, I hunger for showers of blessings. May the Lord enable us in the days to come to raise an Ebenezer stone of revival. 6. This may be a service when some you ought to raise an Ebenezer stone in praise to God help in the past. Maybe some need to make this place where you find the help you need from God. Many have raised Ebenezer stones in this old altar. They have this place to be a place where they could say, "Hitherto the Lord helped me." 1. "15,000 Illustrations" by Paul Lee Tan 2. "Ibid." 3. "Great Hymns and their Stories," by W.J. Limmer Sheppard. 4. W.H. Rigg, "The First Book of Samuel." COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this database is protected by copyright and International Law, and is solely owned by it's authors. The reproduction, or distribution of this product, or any portion of it, without the expressed written authorization from the contributing authors is forbidden. 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