Sermon Tone Analysis

! Introduction:

In this section, we see that the Ark has been returned to Israel, but Israel had not returned to the Lord.

So Samuel calls the nation of Israel to repentance to /put away their foreign gods from among them, and prepare their hearts for the Lord and serve Him only.

/The result would be that the Lord /will deliver them from the hand of the Philistines./

Acts 2,8,9,13

 

/Israel Had The Ark Back; But Things Were Not Really Set Right.

/Israel realizes that they are no more right with God just because they have the Ark again.

Instead, all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.

/They Had Good Reason To Lament.

/Their cities were in ruins, their armies were defeated, and they were under Philistine domination, all because they were not right with God.

A.

The Elements of Revival.

1.

The Elements That Are Inward (v.2-4)

 

/a)        //All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord (v.2)./

 

1)        Lamenting After The Lord/ /(v.2)

(a)      /The Idea Of Being Broken And Feeling Wretched Because Of One’s Circumstances/—in this case, that of being sinful, lost, and separated from God.

*/ /*

*/Lament and mourn and weep!

Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom./"

(James 4:9, NKJV) *

It is exactly the feeling expressed by the tax collector spoken of by Jesus who /“was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!

’ / (Luke 18:13).

*/Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted./"

(Matthew 5:4, NKJV) *

*/For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death./"

(2 Corinthians 7:10, NKJV) *

 

(b)      /Peter Had Sorrow That Produced Godly Repentance.

/

/ /

/Peter said, “I swear by God, I don’t know the man.”

And immediately the rooster crowed.

Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”

And he went away, crying bitterly."

/(Matthew 26:74-75, NLT)

1.         Finally realizing the grievousness of his sin, he turned from it in disgust.

Like Judas, he fled into the night; but unlike Judas, he returned to the Lord in faith.

2.         His faith had slipped and weakened, but it was genuine faith, and Jesus Himself had prayed that it would not fail:

*/And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon!

Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.

But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”/"

(Luke 22:31-32) *

/b)        //If you return to the Lord with all your hearts (v.3)./

 

1)        Returning To The Lord With All Your Hearts (v.3): Inward Repentance!

(a)      /The Opportunity To Repent Was Given (Joel 2:12-16).

/The Lord was ready to forgive and bless, if genuine repentance was demonstrated (Psalm 34:18; 51:17)

(b)      /This Calls For A Self Examination!/

/Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord”/ (Lam.

3:40).

Through Ezekiel, the Lord says of the genuinely repentant man: /“Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die” /(Ezek.

18:28; cf.

Ps.

119:59; 139:23-24).

Paul admonished the Galatians, /“Each one must examine his own work” /(Gal.

6:4)

And to the Corinthians, /“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!

Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” /(2 Cor.

13:5).

/Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon."/

(Isaiah 55:6-7, NKJV)

 

(c)      /This Calls For A Fear Of God!  /Although most believers know that intellectually, I’m afraid very few realize what that means practically.

Clearly, the “fear of God” is not optional: /“Live in the fear of the Lord always” /(Prov.

23:17); /“fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” /(Matt.

10:28); /“in all things obey . . .

fearing the Lord” /(Col.

3:22).

(d)      /God Has Always Called His People To Have Such A Perspective Of His Holiness//:/

/The fear of God pressed Manoah to expect instant death because he had seen God (Jud.

13:22)./

/Standing in the presence of God’s holiness, Isaiah pronounced a curse on himself, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!” (Isa.

6:5)/

*/During our Lord’s earthly ministry, the disciples often came face to face with His power and holiness.

On one occasion when they were crossing the Sea of Galilee, a storm appeared.

Although they were afraid of the storm, they feared greatly (literally “feared a great fear”) when Jesus calmed the storm (Mark 4:41).

They became much more fearful of the presence and power of God than they were of the deadly storm./*

(e)      /To Revive It, We Must Pursue Holiness In The Fear Of God/.

Peter echoed that plea: /“But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’ ” /(1 Peter 1:15–16; cf.

Lev.

19:2).

Today the challenge for Christ’s church is this: /“Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” /(2 Cor.

7:1).

(f)       /Fearing God Will Lead to the Obedience of God.

/

*/But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord… Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations.

Noah walked with God… Noah did; according to all that God commanded him… By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household… /(Genesis 6:8-9, 22; Hebrews 11:7, NKJV) *

2.       The Elements That Are Outward (v.3-6)

 

/a)        //Put away the foreign gods from among you (v.3)/

 

1)        Outward Repentance: The Putting Away Of Foreign Gods (v.3)!

(a)      /The Inward Was More Important Than The Outward, And It Had To Come First//.

/That is why Samuel first called Israel to return with all your hearts, and then told them to put away the foreign gods.

(b)      /The Inward Is Proven By the Outward.

/

/What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?

Can faith save him…?

Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead… You believe that there is one God.

You do well.

Even the demons believe—and tremble…?

But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead…?

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also /(James 2:14,17,19-20,26 NKJV)

/Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance /(Matthew 3:8, NKJV)

 

/b)        //Prepare your hearts for the Lord (v.3)/

 

1)        The Preparation Of The Heart (v.3): /John’s Was //To Prepare The Hearts Of The People For The Work That Jesus Was Going To Do.  /

*/The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”/" (Luke 3:4-6, NKJV) *

*King Rehoboam /‘//did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord./"

(2 Chronicles 12:14) *

 

/c)         //Serve Him only (v.3)/

 

1)        We Are To Serve the Lord Only/.

/

(a)      /Israel Did Not Feel They Were Rejecting The L//ord //God/; they felt they were only adding the worship of other gods to their worship of the LORD.

But this was totally unacceptable; as Jesus said in Matthew 6:24:

*/No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and mammon."

/(Matthew 6:24, NKJV)… *Samuel was calling on Israel to turn their backs on these other gods and serve Him only.

2)        /The Men God Has Chosen To Serve His People Have Always Had Hearts Devoted To Him//./