Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church

Today in our Mountains of Bether sermon series, we are looking at Bitterness. In particular, bitterness toward other people who have wronged us (or those we perceive to have wronged us).

First Samuel 8 introduces us to a new section in the book of Samuel. Israel has been governed by judges—now she will be governed by kings. But this is God's living word. It has much more than a historical account of Israel. It has material that is designed to speak to us as God's people in every age (1 Cor 10:11). Here we have the exposure of our true motives for change in the ways that God appointed. Nobody knows your motives. You don't even know your own. Only God knows them. It is very gracious of Him to expose them, even when they are ugly. It is done to help us. We need to listen and take what He says to heart.

In our afternoon sermon series, I have been preaching on things that separate us (Mountains of Bether) from the Lord and how He overcomes them. The main focus here is not on what we must do when we are separated from Him, but on what He does to overcome the things that separate us. Today the barrier we are considering is prayerlessness.

Today for our morning sermon, we are taking up a new Psalm of Focus to sing in connection with our series in the book of First Samuel. In Samuel, we have come to the section about Saul where he is anointed as Israel's first king at the peoples' not-so-worthy request because they wanted a king like the other nations as if, they supposed, this, in itself, would make them secure. But despite the unworthy nature of the request, it was God's gracious plan all along to provide them with a king who would marvellously deliver them from all their enemies—not only enemy nations, but even sin, Satan, and death. Therefore, I have chosen for our Psalm a song that talks about God's king and the delight He has in saving us from our enemies! The Psalm I have chosen is Psalm 21.

As we get into this series, I have noted that there are mountains of significantly different kinds that separate us from Him as believers. Unconfessed sin is quite different than affliction, but both are barriers that He overcomes. Today we look at a mountain that is more of a condition: worldliness. He overcomes it too.

In our morning sermon series, we are working our way through the book of Samuel. This book opens at a time when God's people had drifted far away from Him. Yet, the Lord was beginning to do a great work of mercy and restoration for His people by raising up Samuel as His prophet. Samuel prophecies of the overthrow of the wicked house of Eli the high priest. God shows that He has withdrawn in judgment against Israel. He allows their enemies (the Philistines) to take His ark, the symbol of His presence. He humbles the Philistines and they return the ark, but God makes it clear that He is not restored. Israel sends the ark to be looked after by Gentile servants among them. This is where we pick up our reading of Samuel today—at chapter 7.

The topic in our Mountains of Bether sermon series today is Affliction. In case you have not been with us, the Mountains of Bether are Mountains of Separation. Today's topic falls into a very different category. Affliction is something that is done to us while sin (and failure to confess it) is something that we do. In Christ's hands, both sin and affliction separate us from God initially, but in the end bring us closer to Him.

The prevailing sentiment in the church in North America is that God is casual and easygoing. He has no standards to which He would hold anyone—no holy character that we should fear. We are, almost without exception, not worshipping God, but a graven image. We will look at three things pertaining to this passage. First, how the Philistines were forced to treat God as holy. Second, how the men of Beth Shemesh were taught that they must treat God as holy. Third, at what it looks like for us to regard God as holy.

Last week we started a new afternoon Sermon Series called The Mountains of Bether. The Mountains of Bether are used in the Song of Solomon to refer to the barriers that stand between us and Jesus Christ our bridegroom. In Song 2:17, we ask Him to come to us as He has done in the past—like a gazelle (agility) or a young stag (passion) to get through whatever has come between us and Him. When He does, those mountains that separated us are transformed into mountains of spice—sweet monuments of His all-conquering love that unites us to Himself. This week, we are looking at the "mountain" of unconfessed sin.

When Eli the high priest and one of his son's wives heard the news, they both died. The wife went into labour and bore a son whom she named Icabod with her dying breath, explaining that the glory of God had departed from Israel. She was right. God had removed His glory from Israel. By letting them take the ark, the Philistines supposed that they had defeated and captured God. We can see this today in churches that have a form without godliness and the gospel. Our enemies think they have defeated God Himself and expect God to help them. Today, in chapter 5, we will see what happened to the ark.

With chapter 4 which we take up today, we have the first of three chapters where Samuel is not mentioned except in the very first part of the first verse. What we have instead is an account of the demise of Eli's household and the removal of the ark of the covenant that symbolised God's presence among His people. Brought into focus for our edification is the problem of Ritual without Repentance.

Today I am starting a new afternoon sermon series. In this series, we will look at the things that separate us from God and how Christ closes the gap between us and Him as our faithful bridegroom (if we are indeed His bride). There are so many things that have created a distance between us and God, but He deals with every one of them.

Today we come to the end of the book of Revelation. This is the end of the entire Bible. It ends the way a lot of other books in the Bible end: with promises and yearnings for the Lord to come and do the next thing that He has promised.

Church Discipline. The very topic sounds unfriendly—even scary. A lot of Christians have no idea what church discipline is or how it is supposed to work—many have never once seen it done or heard it spoken of in their churches. But it is something the church is commanded to do when one of our members rebels against God and refuses repent.