Five Things that God Cannot Be

(1 Samuel 2:30)

1 Samuel 2:30 (NLT)

“Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.

Introduction:

A- Before I get into the main part of this morning’s message, there is a verse that God wanted me to put before you. - (1 Samuel 2:30)

1 Samuel 2:30 (NLT)

30 “Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.

1. While the main part of our message is found in a story that spans 1 Samuel 4-7, this verse, all the way back in chapter 2 captures the theme of that story.

2. If you miss everything else I say this morning, don’t miss this verse.

3. In order for God to give His bless in anything be a business endeavor, church growth, family life, or prayer, we must give God His honor.

B. As you open you Bibles to 1 Samuel 4, remember this verse as we discuss “Five Things that God Will Not Be.”

I. God cannot be used. (1 Samuel 4:1-3)

1 Samuel 4:1–3 (NLT)

1 And Samuel’s words went out to all the people of Israel. At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek.

2 The Philistines attacked and defeated the army of Israel, killing 4,000 men.

3 After the battle was over, the troops retreated to their camp, and the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord allow us to be defeated by the Philistines?” Then they said, “Let’s bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. If we carry it into battle with us, it will save us from our enemies.”

A. Israel fails to honor God…

1. They have not honored God’s lordship.

a. They went into battle because it seemed

like the thing to do.

b. They never ask God if this was his battle.

c. They lose royally.

2. They have not honored God’s moral law. (1 Samuel 2)

a. They have not dealt with the sons of Eli.

i. They have not stopped them from defiling God’s sacrifice. (1 Samuel 2:12-17)

1 Samuel 2:12–17 (NLT)

12 Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord

13 or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling,

14 the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way.

15 Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.

16 The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.” Then the servant would demand, “No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.”

17 So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt.

ii. They have not stopped them from committing sexual immorality. (1 Samuel 2:22-25)

1 Samuel 2:22–25 (NLT)

22 Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.

23 Eli said to them, “I have been hearing reports from all the people about the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning?

24 You must stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the Lord’s people are not good.

25 If someone sins against another person, God can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede?” But Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to put them to death.

b. They could have had them stoned by they have not done it.

3. They have not honored God’s worship.

a. Eli’s sons have been sleeping with women in the place of worship.

b. Eli’s sons have been performing their services while they are unclean.

c. Eli’s sons have not kept the lamp lit over the ark of the covenant. (1 Samuel 3:3)

1 Samuel 3:3 (NLT)

3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was sleeping in the Tabernacle near the Ark of God.

4. They are not going to honor God’s position.

a. Older translations say, “Let’s go fetch the ark of the covenant.”

i. Let the phraseology sink in.

ii. It shows a complete lack of respect for God.

iii. It says that Israel thinks God is nothing more than a tool to be pulled out when they need him.

iv. He is not almighty God who rules over all. He is just a good luck charm to be involved in saving them.

B. It would be easy to stand and shake our finger at them, but are we any different?

1. I would be rich if I had a penny for every time I’ve watched Christians treat God like this.

2. We don’t wany His moral laws affecting how we live, His majesty affecting how we treat His worship, or His voice telling us what we ought to be involved in, but the moment we end up in trouble we start crying out to Him as if He is obligated to act.

3. He does to us exactly what He is about to do to Israel.

C. He allows Israel to lose in order to preserve His glory. (1 Samuel 4:4-11)

1 Samuel 4:4–11 (NLT)

4 So they sent men to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.

5 When all the Israelites saw the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord coming into the camp, their shout of joy was so loud it made the ground shake!

6 “What’s going on?” the Philistines asked. “What’s all the shouting about in the Hebrew camp?” When they were told it was because the Ark of the Lord had arrived,

7 they panicked. “The gods have come into their camp!” they cried. “This is a disaster! We have never had to face anything like this before!

8 Help! Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness.

9 Fight as never before, Philistines! If you don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours! Stand up like men and fight!”

10 So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents.

11 The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.

1. Some people look at this and go, “Wait a minute, preacher. Shouldn’t God have given them the win in order to preserve His glory?”

a. No! Winning would not have preserved His glory.

b. The Philistines knew who the Israelites were and how they were supposed to be living.

c. How would it have looked if God had allowed himself to be used in this way?

i. He would have looked like any other man-made god they had ever encountered.

ii. Only the God of scripture refuses to be used as man sees fit. (1 Samuel 2:30)

1 Samuel 2:30 (NLT)

30 “Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests. But I will honor those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.

iii. One of the key differences between Christianity and other religions is simple yet profound.

- In paganism, man wins battles by getting the gods on his side.

- As Christians, we will only experience victory when we are on God’s side.

- The difference is in who’s in charge.

iv. If Israel had won, God would have looked like any other god on the market to be bought and used.

D. Also, if Israel had won, God would not have been in the position to teach the lesson He is about to teach the Philistines.

1. The Philistines thought that God and the ark were one and the same.

2. So God’s message is better conveyed if the ark is in their midst.

II. God cannot be captured. –(1 Samuel 5:1-7)

1 Samuel 5:1–7 (NLT)

1 After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod.

2 They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside an idol of Dagon.

3 But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again.

4 But the next morning the same thing happened—Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact.

5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon in Ashdod will step on its threshold.

6 Then the Lord’s heavy hand struck the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors.

7 When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, “We can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed along with Dagon, our god.”

A. Philistines decide to take God captive to make themselves look good.

1. God may be in their midst, but He is not God to them. He is simply a trophy.

a. They do not intend to let him make a difference in how they live.

b. They are not giving up the gods of their ancestors to embrace Yahweh and His ways.

i. They would have to forgo their traditional way of life.

- admit their gods are not gods

- give up their sinful way of living.

ii. They would have to sell out completely

c. So they decide to use God as to make themselves look good instead of changing.

i. They place him along side their idols

ii. They only want him to affect certain areas of their life.

iii. They simply want him their to make them look shiny.

2. Let we become prideful, are we any different?

a. All too often we act as they did.

i. Instead of repenting and selling-out, we place God in our temple among the other idols we have.

ii. We make God a part of our lives so we can fake being something we're not.

iii. We say to God, "God keep me from sins that will make me look like a bad person."

- We want God to keep us from the "big sins" without touching our pet sins.

- We pray, "Please don't let me fall pray to sexual immorality, debauchery, or homosexuality, but you can’t have my gluttony, grumbling and greed."

iv. And for a time For will do this because it is His will to keep us from this things.

- But the same God who said, "if you pray according to my will I will hear you" also said, " I will not share my glory", and eventually God has to do to us what He did to the Philistines.

B. God begins calling us to rid ourselves of the idols we have held on to.

1. He starts out gentle by rattle our cage.

2. If this doesn't work, He starts destroying our idols.

3. We've seen him do this in recent times.

a. In American society

i. The housing market collapse of 2008.

ii. The economic disaster that was 2020.

iii. We better be careful because he's not quite started shattering our idols yet.

b. In His church (We pride ourselves on our numbers)

i. People became harder to reach in the 90s

ii. They became indifferent to the church in the early 2000s

iii. Now this new generation shows our right hostility towards the church and her mission.

iv. It's distressing but still the crushing blow to our personal Dagon has not come.

4. We need to repent or God will have to go where he went with the Philistines

a. His gentle prodding did not turn them.

b. So He moved from attacking their idols to attacking them.

III. God cannot be managed. – (1 Samuel 5:8-12)

1 Samuel 5:8–12 (NLT)

8 So they called together the rulers of the Philistine towns and asked, “What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?” The rulers discussed it and replied, “Move it to the town of Gath.” So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath.

9 But when the Ark arrived at Gath, the Lord’s heavy hand fell on its men, young and old; he struck them with a plague of tumors, and there was a great panic.

10 So they sent the Ark of God to the town of Ekron, but when the people of Ekron saw it coming they cried out, “They are bringing the Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us, too!”

11 The people summoned the Philistine rulers again and begged them, “Please send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its own country, or it will kill us all.” For the deadly plague from God had already begun, and great fear was sweeping across the town.

12 Those who didn’t die were afflicted with tumors; and the cry from the town rose to heaven.

A. When God turns on the Philistines, you'd think they'd be ready to surrender but you'd be wrong.

1. They decide that holding God captive is an exercise in futility, so they'll try managing Him instead.

a. They still want God around to bolster their image but they know He won't abide their idolatry.

b. So they ship him to another location and out of the temple.

c. Basically, they’re saying, "God, we’ll get you out of the presence of Dagon if you’ll stop tormenting us.”

i. The problem with this that the Philistines may not have been jews, but they knew enough about Yahweh to know that they had two options.

- Surrender to God and cease their pagan ways.

- Return the ark to it’s rightful place.

ii. God is teaching them that the only deal He’ll honor is one that He brokers.

- They don’t get to set the terms. He does.

- Because to do anything less would be Him sharing Lordship and glory with them.

iii. For seven months, they refuse to see this.

2. Again, it would be easy to criticize the Philistines, if we were better than them.

a. All too often we, like the Philistines forget that God doesn’t allow us to set the terms of the deal.

b. We say things like…

1. God, if you’ll allow me to keep my greed, I’ll teach Sunday school.

- God says, “You’ll make them twice the sons of Hell that you are yourself.” (Matthew 23:15)

Matthew 23:15 (NLT)

15 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are!

2. God, if you’ll allow me to indulge in vain glory, I’ll be a power preacher for you.

- God says, “I don’t share my glory, and by the way, without me in charge you can’t do that anyway.” (John 15:5)

John 15:5 (NLT)

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

3. God, if you’ll let us reach our kind of people, we’ll grow you a big church.

- God says, “But it won’t be my kind of church. In my church, there are people from all tongues, tribes, and nations.” (Revelation 7:9)

Revelation 7:9 (NLT)

9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.

4. The only kind of deal God will make is one where He sets the terms and receives all the glory.

a. If we’re living in sin, the only deal He wants to make is, “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

Isaiah 1:18 (NLT)

18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

B. Indeed, like the Philistines, we must learn that God will not be managed. It’s His deal or no deal.

1. And so the Philistines, still not wanting to admit they’ve lost, come up with a desperate plan.

2. They sort of send God home. --summarize the story.

3. And you’d think people would have gotten the point by now, but God has to teach one more harsh lesson. This time to Israel.

IV. God cannot be trivialized. – (1 Samuel 6:13-21)

1 Samuel 6:13–21 (NLT)

13 The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they saw the Ark, they were overjoyed!

14 The cart came into the field of a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock. So the people broke up the wood of the cart for a fire and killed the cows and sacrificed them to the Lord as a burnt offering.

15 Several men of the tribe of Levi lifted the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors from the cart and placed them on the large rock. Many sacrifices and burnt offerings were offered to the Lord that day by the people of Beth-shemesh.

16 The five Philistine rulers watched all this and then returned to Ekron that same day.

17 The five gold tumors sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the Lord were gifts from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.

18 The five gold rats represented the five Philistine towns and their surrounding villages, which were controlled by the five rulers. The large rock at Beth-shemesh, where they set the Ark of the Lord, still stands in the field of Joshua as a witness to what happened there.

19 But the Lord killed seventy men from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord. And the people mourned greatly because of what the Lord had done.

20 “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?” they cried out. “Where can we send the Ark from here?”

21 So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them, “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come here and get it!”

A. The people of Bethshemesh trivialize God by worshipping Him in an improper fashion.

1. They offer an improper sacrifice.

a. They offer the cows that were pulling the cart.

i. These cows are heifers.

ii. Only bulls were supposed to be offered to God.

b. Why is this important?

i. The sacrifice is supposed to be a looking ahead to the messiah who will save them.

ii. Jesus is a man not a woman.

iii. This is an improper representation of who God is.

c. Are we representing Jesus properly in our worship?

2. They ignore their need for a mediator.

a. Only the priestly class were allowed to make sacrifices.

b. Only the High Priest could make offerings before the ark of God.

c. This was meant to show how man needs a mediator to come before God. – Just as the High Priest was the only way they could come before God, we have a high priest who is our only way and His name is Jesus.

d. When we talk about Jesus, do we emphasize that he is the only way to God?

1. We cannot come to God any old way we want.

2. Entrance into the presence of the father must be done on His terms through Jesus.

3. Are we emphasizing that he is the only way?

3. They refuse to worship in the proper location.

a. Worship and sacrifice was to take place in God’s tabernacle, where the ark belonged.

b. It is in the tabernacle that all corporate worship was supposed to take place.

c. If someone had talk to them, they would likely have said, “Aww preacher, we can worship God just as effectively on this farm as we can in church.”

d. And just like the people of Bethshemesh, there are many among us who want to ignore God’s commands regarding corporate worship, don’t we?

e. This leads us to make the same mistake they are about to make.

B. The end result is that a lack of respect for the worship of God leads to the trivialization of God Himself.

1. Because they disregarded respecting God in worship, God cease to retain his majesty and became nothing more than a show to be gawked at.

2. They though that since God had not judged them for their improper worship, he must not care about being respected, so they open the ark and looked in.

3. Oh, my friend, let their folly be a cautionary tale to us. – Never mistake God’s mercy and forbearance for indifference for if we do, we may end up like them.

C. We may not have an ark to look inside, but we are warn not to take the Lord lightly when observing the Lord’s supper. (1 Corinthians 11:30-34)

1 Corinthians 11:30–34 (NLT)

30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.

31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way.

32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

33 So, my dear brothers and sisters, when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other.

34 If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.

1. Paul said that partaking with sin in our hearts is why many are sick among us and some have died.

2. When we come to worship God in this way, have we examined our hearts?

3. I pray that we have because God cannot be trivialized.

V. God cannot be contained. (1 Samuel 7:3-17)

1 Samuel 7:3–17 (NLT)

3 Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”

4 So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord.

5 Then Samuel told them, “Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”

6 So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord. (It was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel’s judge.)

7 When the Philistine rulers heard that Israel had gathered at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelites were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching.

8 “Don’t stop pleading with the Lord our God to save us from the Philistines!” they begged Samuel.

9 So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with the Lord to help Israel, and the Lord answered him.

10 Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived to attack Israel. But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them.

11 The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to a place below Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way.

12 Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!”

13 So the Philistines were subdued and didn’t invade Israel again for some time. And throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the Lord’s powerful hand was raised against the Philistines.

14 The Israelite villages near Ekron and Gath that the Philistines had captured were restored to Israel, along with the rest of the territory that the Philistines had taken. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites in those days.

15 Samuel continued as Israel’s judge for the rest of his life.

16 Each year he traveled around, setting up his court first at Bethel, then at Gilgal, and then at Mizpah. He judged the people of Israel at each of these places.

17 Then he would return to his home at Ramah, and he would hear cases there, too. And Samuel built an altar to the Lord at Ramah.

A. We cannot contain God with regard to our personal lives.

1. Israel got rid of their idols.

2. Israel worshipped God alone.

3. Israel fought the battles God called them to fight.

4. Israel gave their very lives for God’s purpose.

B. Israel does not try to manage how God fights the battle. They make sure they are on His side.

C. Not only does God give them the victory, He also gives them back what they had lost.

D. Like Israel, we can know this type of victory, but only if we give God full control as Israel did. – God cannot be contained.

CONCLUSION: