Here I Raise My Ebenezer

Introduction

It is Scott’s fault that I mentioned him for a reason that this lesson is being preached tonight because last Sunday he led us in that familiar song, O thou fount of every blessing. And there are some wonderful phrases, some wonderful phrasing in that song. And I want to call your attention to a few of the things. We’ll be singing this by way of an invitation song in just a few moments. I love some of these phrases. Streams of mercy, never ceasing. Call for songs of loudest praise. Certainly it is the character of our God and his wonderful mercy that should cause us to burst forth in praise of him. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor. Daily I’m constrained to be.

O take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Isn’t that some wonderful phrasing in that psalm? But ah, here is the one that people start scratching their heads. What in the world are we singing? Here I raise my Ebenezer. Hither by thy help I’ve come. And I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. Okay, extra credit. This is the part Daniel written. Extra credit. Where is the reference to Ebenezer in the Bible? Okay, we might think Old Testament, you’re correct about that. Can you identify the chapter in the Old Testament where we have a reference to Ebenezer, the answer to that question. Well, he didn’t tell us if you just said 1 Samuel 7, you would have been in trouble. Here I raise my Ebenezer.

1. Samuel Took a Stone and Named It Ebenezer

1 Samuel chapter 7. Now, before we get to Samuel’s actions in 1 Samuel 7 that lead us to this word and how the song and the songwriter is using the term Ebenezer, I think it’s important to understand the period that we’re dealing with. This comes on the heels of the judge’s period. Remember, everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. Just because we’ve started a new book, 1 Samuel, does not mean that the attitudes of the people are any better. Because they’re about to say, give us a king. Which was really a rejection of God Himself rather than a rejection of the judge Samuel. And that happens in the chapter after this one. 1 Samuel chapter 8. So though we’ve had a change in books, we’re still dealing with a people, the covenant people of God, who are basically generally doing what is right in their own eyes.

And their judge presently is Samuel’s tutor or his mentor, the judge Eli, whose sons were not faithful to the Lord, and he was rebuked for not keeping his sons in check. But Eli plays a part in this story as well. But you need to go back to 1 Samuel chapter 4 to get the whole story. In 1 Samuel chapter 4, as Daniel referenced, Israel goes into battle against the Philistines, and they lose. 4,000 Israelite soldiers die. And then I want to call your attention to verse 3. When the people came into the camp, 1 Samuel 4 and verse 3, the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Now that, my friends, was a good question. That was a good question to raise.

That was a good question to ponder. The answer.

To ourselves from Shiloh, which was the center of Israel’s worship to this point. Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies. Good question. Wrong answer. Their conclusion was, oh, we need some special power. We may need to make sure that God is working among us and we’ll have victory. So we’ll bring the ark of God from the place of worship, and we’ll bring it into the camp. And so they enlist the sons, the priests. Hapni and Phineas, the sons of Eli. They were with the Ark of the Covenant of God, and they bring the ark into the camp and a great shout. I mean, you can imagine.

Everybody got so pumped. This is going to bring success. Even the Philistines heard it. But what happened? Well, the same result as the last skirmish. Israel loses. Philistines are victorious, but that’s not all. Hapni and Phineas are killed. And the ark is taken by the Philistines. And of course, they would assume, wrongly so, that meant that their God Dagon was stronger than the God of the Israelites. After all, they won in battle and captured their sacred object. And when the news came back to Eli that not only his sons were dead, but the ark of God had been taken, he falls over backward and dies. Not only that, the wife of Phineas gives birth to a child. And she calls the boy Ichabod in verse 21, saying the glory has departed from Israel.

Well, the ark is now in the possession of the Philistines, and that was a seven-month disaster for the Philistines. First, they put the Ark of the Covenant in the house of their God Dagon, and Dagon experiences all kinds of trouble. He falls over, they set him back up, and that should tell you something right there when you have to when your God falls over and you have to set him back up. And then his hands are cut off, his head is cut off. I mean, he’s dismembered before the Ark of the Covenant. And not only that, God is smiting the Philistines wherever the ark goes with tumors, and finally they say, Israel, you can have it back. And that’s what happens in 1 Samuel chapter 7.

As the ark is returned, and Samuel addresses the people, and he challenges them in regard to their idolatry that caused them to lose the battle in the first place, and the ark being taken. And so Samuel is consecrating the people back to the Lord as they gathered together at Mitzpah. And then at the end of his encouragement to them, it says in verse 12, here’s the verse, circle it. 1 Samuel 7 and verse 12. Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mitzvah and Shem and named it Ebenezer. Saying, Thus far, the Lord has helped us. Now, Ebenezer simply means stone of help. And so he places a stone, calls it Ebenezer. And this would serve as a reminder for families in Israel. When people were walking by the way, they could see that stone and tell their children, this is Ebenezer.

2. How David Raises His Ebenezer

This is a remembrance of how the Lord delivered us from the hand of the Philistines. And so it would serve as a teaching tool for the Israelites in regard to their children. This stone marked their deliverance from their enemies. And so Ebenezer, the stone of help, represented God coming to the aid of his people. And so I want to look briefly at how David raises his Ebenezer. So many of David’s psalms serve as his Ebenezer because David, like the nation of Israel, experienced trouble and turbulence in his life. And yet he always maintained his confidence in God. He wrote songs about his confidence in God. In fact, many of his psalms would serve as his Ebenezer. The marker of his reliance upon God in the midst of difficulty and how God had delivered him.

And one of those psalms that we’re going to look at very briefly tonight is Psalm 40. Again, some wonderful things David says here. In Psalm 40 and verse 1, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay. And he set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm. Psalm 40, a testimony to how God has helped David, his Ebenezer, if you will. He set my feet upon a rock, making my footsteps firm, and he put a song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord. How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust and has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

You know, that sort of goes with our lesson in the adult auditorium class. They lapse into falsehood. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which thou hast done and thy thoughts toward us. There is none to compare with thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they would be too numerous to count. Sacrifice and meal offering thou hast not desired. My ears thou hast opened, burnt offering and sin offering thou hast not required. Then I said, Behold, I come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God, thy law is within my heart. Now, does that sound familiar? That is quoted in the New Testament in reference to Jesus in Hebrews chapter 10, as he exemplified this attitude of heart that David had perfectly, and he came from God, and he came to do the will of his Father, and that’s quoted in Hebrews chapter 10.

I have proclaimed the glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation. Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. And we can read the entire psalm as he talks about how the Lord has delivered him and as he asked the Lord for more help in verse 13. And he says, Let those be ashamed and humiliated together who seek my life to destroy it. In verse 17, since I am afflicted and needy, let the Lord be mindful of me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Do not delay. O my God. And so as I suggest that many of the Psalms would represent David’s Ebenezer, I want to take you to a specific incident in David’s life where he mentions the help that God has been to him.

This is easy to remember. 1 Samuel 7, Samuel sets the stone. Ebenezer, thus far the Lord has helped us. The other passage in reference to the life of David, next book over, same chapter. 2 Samuel chapter 7. And I’m going to give you a brief summary of that. In 2 Samuel chapter 7, David has spiritual thoughts. A lot of his spiritual thoughts lead to the writing of these hymns of worship and praise to God. But in 2 Samuel 7, he gets in his mind that he wants to build a house for the Lord. Here he is dwelling in a nice palace in Jerusalem. He’s been given rest from his enemies. He’s come through all sorts of trouble. And his thoughts are on the worship of God.

And he wants to build a house for God. A place for the Ark of the Covenant, a permanent place. Not a tent like it was in Shiloh, but a permanent place for the Ark of the Covenant to reside. And at first, Nathan the prophet says, That sounds good to me. Let’s do it. And then God comes to Nathan that very night. And I want to make this observation to you about that. God is completely aware of David’s thoughts. Noble thoughts. God is completely aware of the discussion that he has with Nathan, and he’s going to put a stop to it that night. And comes to Nathan, the prophet, and says, not going to happen. Not going to happen. Not that he’s displeased with David, but we find out in other references that, and I had these written down, but I didn’t put it down in my notes.

Where later, when it talks about the building of the temple by Solomon, it says, because David shed blood. He was a man of warfare. It doesn’t say it in 2 Samuel 7. But it says in the Chronicles account, that because he was a man of warfare, that he would not be allowed to build the temple. And so what David does, well, if I can’t build the temple for God, this permanent place of worship, I’ll collect all the materials so that my son can build it. And that’s one of the reasons why it became such a glorious result to begin with, because of the work David did in his life to prepare for his son to build it. But that’s not really what I want to call your attention to.

As David wants to build this house for God. And he’s not allowed to do so. What he gets in return, though prohibited from building the house, is that God promises him a house. And I love that about 2 Samuel chapter 7. When God tells him that you’re going to have an enduring house, predicting that ultimately Jesus would sit upon David’s throne and reign forever, one of the descendants of David would have a perpetual reign. That’s actually the focal point of Acts chapter 2. That Jesus is sitting on David’s throne even though he was murdered just seven weeks earlier. He rose from the dead, he sits on David’s throne in fulfillment of this promise in 2 Samuel chapter 7. And so when he hears this from Nathan the prophet, David’s overwhelmed, and well he should be.

3. Our Baptism Into Christ Serves as an Ebenezer

Oh Lord God. And what is my house that thou hast brought me thus far? David knew that all that his kingdom was and all that his reign was the result of God’s help. 2 Samuel 7, like Psalm 40, is a testimony to Ebenezer. Alright. Now that’s the history lesson that I wanted to give you in relation to David and the Ebenezer of his life. That God was a stone of help to this great figure of the Old Testament, and that he was a stone of help in the days of Samuel when the ark was returned and the people returned to him. What about your Ebenezer? What kind of marker might we have erected in our lives that says, God has been a stone of help to me.

And I thought about that. And I think about our baptism into Christ, though it involves water and not a rock. Really, the moment that we were baptized, some of you were baptized right here. But wherever you were baptized into Christ, that event, that moment, serves as an Ebenezer. It is a thing that we remember. That’s the moment at which our sins were cleansed by the blood of Christ. It is the line, it is the mark, it is the line of demarcation in our lives. We were sanctified. We were set apart to God. And it should still be speaking to us. And that’s really what Romans 6 is all about. And again, we use this passage a lot of times to speak to people that baptism is essential to salvation, and it does teach that.

And it explains what baptism is. That it’s in representation of Jesus’ death, his burial, and his resurrection, and just as he arose from the dead to a new life. We rise to walk in newness of life. And so there’s a lot of things taught in Romans chapter 6 that have to do with baptism being an immersion, what it represents and why it’s essential to the process. I mean, that’s where our sins are cleansed. That’s where we die to sin and live to God. But that’s really the key point. That he goes on to explain in Romans chapter 6. He’s telling Christians, not unbelievers, he’s telling Christians, you need to remember what your baptism meant. And then he makes his appeal in verse 11. He says, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God.

Do not go on presenting the members of your body to unrighteousness or sinful conduct. He said, You were slaves of sin, but now you are slaves of Christ. And so he says in verse 13 present the members of your body to what is right or to righteousness. And so he’s telling them to remember what your immersion into Christ meant. It is a marker, it is a stone of help. It is where God helped us in our broken condition caused by sin. And that’s only one of our Ebenezer’s.

4. Every Assembly and the Lord's Supper Is an Ebenezer

I would say another of our Ebenezers is what we do every first day of the week, what we’re doing today. Because every time we’re here, we’re reminded of who we are and where we’ve been and how we got here. And what we’re called to be. How many times has an assembly sort of brought you back spiritually to the right frame of mind, the right kind of thinking? As our minds start to stray from all of the worldly activities that we’re engaged in, and we start thinking about material things, perhaps too much and neglecting spiritual things, and we come to this place and we hear something said, the nature of our assembly together, the singing as it teaches and instructs us, and we walk out of here with a renewed commitment.

May I suggest that every one of these assemblies serves as an Ebenezer? It is a reminder of how much we need God and how much He has helped us in the past. And specifically in our assemblies, the Lord’s Supper is a built-in Ebenezer, a stone of remembrance. That the Lord has helped us, that He gave His body. When we take of these emblems, we’re reminded to discern the Lord’s body. And what does that say? I’ve been helped by Jesus’ sacrifice. I’m completely dependent upon what he did. I have been redeemed, as we saw this morning from a futile way of life. So, in essence, taking the Lord’s Supper is an Ebenezer for us. I should have had Daniel lead faithful love tonight. I love the line in that song that says, and I’ll never be the same.

For I’ve seen faithful love face to face, and Jesus is his name. I love that phrase because of my coming to the knowledge of the Lord and His truth, I’ll never be the same. When I was baptized into Christ, I’m not going to be the same. There might be moments where I struggle with sin, but it’s not going to be a pattern. It’s not going to control or grip me anymore. And I need to be reminded continually. That’s what my baptism meant. That’s what assembling means. That’s what partaking of the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week means. And so what are we doing here today? We are raising our Ebenezer, and we’re teaching our children. We’re showing our grandchildren. We’re showing this community by our continued devotion.

5. Effective Remembrance: Frequent Enough and Fervent Enough

This is my Ebenezer. Everybody look at this. I’m going to be devoted to the Lord. He has saved me. And who are we? But the Lord has brought us this far. May it be such a stone, such a marker for us. I want to talk for a moment in conclusion about effective remembrance. Because it’s not that we forget these things and they are completely out of our minds. And months and years go by, and oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I mean, we’re reminded of these things on a continual basis. But the question is, are they an effective remembrance? And that’s going to depend upon two things. Whether my remembering is frequent enough, and that’s one of the reasons I’m sure that the Lord’s Supper is to be done every first day of the week.

We know at least out of every seven days, we are going to be remembering the Lord’s death. That’s why I’ve never really understood the debate that takes place in denominational circles about how often the Lord’s Supper should be taken. It should be pretty obvious to the one who wants to serve the Lord that it’s every first day of the week. And we need that kind of remembrance. But how effective is it being if we walk out of this place on Sunday and on Monday are committing the same besetting sin over and over again. And not dealing with that. That’s not an effective remembrance. And so must it must be frequent enough and it must be fervent enough. It must come from our hearts, from our emotions.

It must affect what we value to be an effective remembrance. And I want to conclude tonight in 2 Peter. Peter’s last will and testament. I think 2 Peter serves as an Ebenezer of sort for us. As he talks about the need to grow spiritually, he will conclude by saying, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he begins by talking about the fact that we have been released from the corruption that is in the world through lust. We’ve escaped that. And we’ve become partakers of magnificent and precious promises. And because of that, we have faith. And with that faith, we should apply all diligence in the direction of these qualities mentioned in verses 5 through 7. And we’ve talked about it many times.

Moral excellence, godliness, being God focused in our lives, brotherly kindness, love, to name a few. And if these qualities are yours and increasing, they’ll render you neither barren nor fruitless in the true knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But what I want you to notice down in verses 12 and 13, Peter says, you know, I’m not telling you something you don’t already know. He says, I’m saying these things to you to stir you up by way of reminder. And I’m going to do that as long as I’m in my earthly dwelling. It’s not that the instruction we receive always needs to be new and different. Sometimes we need to be stirred in relation to what we already know. And he says, you know, if you’ll be about these things, you’ll be fruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

But then he says something in verse 9. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. If these are not your pursuit, then you’re suffering from a problem of remembrance. You are forgetting some important things. You are forgetting the purification of your former sins and what that line of demarcation, this stone is supposed to represent in your life.

And that you are committed in his cause. Be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you, for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble. For in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. Now, it’s not just chapter 1 where Peter is calling them to remembrance. In chapter 2 and verse 19, he talks about the influence of false teachers who promise freedom but actually bring corruption, and he warns them that by what a man is overcome by this he is enslaved. And then he says in verse 20, for if they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than having known it to turn away from the holy commandment delivered to them. And then the illustrations it has happened to them according to the true proverb. A dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow after washing returns to wallowing in the mire. I don’t know about you, but the first illustration in particular really is disgusting. I don’t want to see that. But from the standpoint, I mean, the hog, I mean, he gets dirty again. I’ve seen dirty hogs before. But the dog returning to its vomit. I mean, that’s a disgusting image. And Peter wants us to know that’s how bad it is when we turn back and forget our deliverance.

And go back to that which enslaves us, that’s corrupting by nature. And remember what he said in chapter one. We have escaped the corruption. I mean, what is there to like about corruption?

Have I ever told you the story about the time we smelled something awful in our van? We had a Honda minivan. And coming home from the South, there was a smell, and it kept getting worse and worse. I thought, okay, there’s something coming through the air conditioning bands. I don’t know what it was. It was it was foul. And it got more and more and more foul. Now remember, this was the South Side Lectures, and Dry Creek Camp was two weeks earlier. Sherry had taken the kids to Dry Creek Camp, and they picked up Taco Bell, I believe, on the way.

And for some reason, Shelley decided not to eat all of her taco. And she opened one of the back compartments in the minivan and just shoved that taco in there. Unbeknownst to Sherry. Until the smell of the maggot-ridden tacos started to increase. And it was a couple of weeks later, as they were returning home, that the discovery was made of the several weeks old now taco in the back compartment. And there was screeching. I was not in the van, thankfully. There was screeching, I hear, and all sorts of commotion, and the taco was thrown out of the ditch. And the smell got better. The only reason why I’m telling you that’s the best illustration of corruption I can come up with right now. Okay? And while that’s humorous, the corruption of sin is equally nauseating and horrific.

And I think sometimes we forget that. We think we can play around with it, and it’s not that big a deal. I’m righteous most of the time. And Peter is saying, you shouldn’t want to go back to that. As we saw this morning, there’s futility there. We’ve been redeemed from that. As Paul would say in Romans chapter 6 in that passage, what is the outcome then of those things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death. There’s nothing good back there, so don’t go longing for that. The stone of help was designed to help Israel to remember to move on away from their idolatry that had caused the problems and the defeat in the first place and to turn back to the Lord in holiness and sincerity.

And then finally, in 2 Peter chapter 3, as he warns of the judgment to come, he says, I want you to remember something else. Don’t let this fact escape your notice. That one day with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day, and his coming is sure. And he will come like a thief in the night. And you need to account the long-suffering of our God as an opportunity to repent. You count the long suffering of our God as salvation, 2 Peter 3 and verse 15. What manner of people ought you to be in all holy conduct and godliness. And so, while I rejected Daniel’s offer to bring a rock, I don’t know how big that rock would have been. But we could have had a significant rock up here this morning and this evening and serve as our Ebenezer.

Conclusion

But we have our Ebenezers, as I’ve mentioned. Things that ought to serve as our reminders of where we were and how far we’ve come by the grace and help of God. That’s what David was overwhelmed by. That’s what we need to be overwhelmed by. And before we sing this song by way of invitation, you know, it’s a horrific thing if you can’t say with all certainty that the Lord is my help. That he is my rock. That I can trust in him, that I can pray to him and know that he will hear me because I’m striving to live the life that he’s called me to live.

Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’ve come. And I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. There are three things here. You need to remember your awful past compared to where you now are. Who really accomplished it? And who will bring you to future glory. We are absolutely dependent upon God. Here I raise my Ebenezer. And if you need to raise your Ebenezer in being baptized into Christ tonight, we want to assist you. Let’s stand and sing.