WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.820 5. When the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 00:00:09.500 --> 00:00:15.919 And then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:23.980 before Dagon, beside Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon 00:00:23.980 --> 00:00:32.240 had fallen face downward on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:39.560 in his place. But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:48.439 the ground before the Ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off 00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:58.219 on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. This is why the priests of Dagon and all 00:00:58.219 --> 00:01:06.420 who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. 00:01:12.500 --> 00:01:17.859 This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:24.340 Isaiah 40 tells us that the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands 00:01:24.340 --> 00:01:31.379 forever. And in Luke 1, we have this glorious pronouncement that no word from God shall be 00:01:31.379 --> 00:01:35.379 void of power. Would you pray with me? 00:01:35.379 --> 00:01:52.979 Lord, we praise you that you have revealed your power. You've entered human history in time and space, 00:01:53.280 --> 00:02:02.179 and you've acted in power to reveal who you are. We thank you for how your actions in history have been 00:02:02.180 --> 00:02:10.219 preserved in your word, inspired by the Holy Spirit, breathed out. We pray that your same Holy Spirit, 00:02:10.420 --> 00:02:16.860 Lord, who recorded and preserved your written word will now breathe it out with power. The word of God, 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:25.760 the gospel, a shadow of Jesus Christ, our Savior. And we pray, Lord, by your Holy Spirit, that you will 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:35.000 work mightily in our lives. Free those from bondage, Lord. Demolish the idols. Set the captives free. 00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:37.439 For your glory we pray. Amen. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:37.539 Amen. 00:02:43.699 --> 00:02:50.800 Well, we all have things in our life that are broken or messed up. And as human beings, we often try to make 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:58.919 things right through disposal. It was a man named Guy Finley who said nothing in the universe can stop you 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:07.859 from letting go and starting over. Try to make pancakes. You taste the first bite and it tastes more like dog 00:03:07.859 --> 00:03:18.639 biscuits, trash it. We're eating cereal. But the Lord does not let go of his people. He doesn't make things right 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:26.000 through disposal. He never throws in the trash his plans to just start all over. 00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:35.419 Because he is holy, because he is gracious, the Lord redeems through reversal. 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:40.939 Would you turn back a page or two to 1 Samuel chapter 2? 00:03:41.879 --> 00:03:47.959 As we work through this wonderful book, I see more and more how this poem prayer by Hannah 00:03:47.959 --> 00:03:52.439 really sets out the program for the entire story of redemption. 00:03:52.439 --> 00:04:01.060 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 6. Listen to this wonderful couplet of reversal. 00:04:02.300 --> 00:04:08.120 The Lord brings down to Sheol to hell, then raises up. 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:13.340 The Lord brings down to Sheol to hell, then raises up. 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:17.699 That's what the Lord does. He redeems through reversal. 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:25.220 And these first five verses of 1 Samuel chapter 5 are a wonderful demonstration of this. 00:04:26.660 --> 00:04:31.560 So I want to show you at least three ways in which God redeems through reversal. 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:38.040 The first is that the covenant keeper suffers the curse for covenant breakers. 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:43.500 The covenant keeper suffers the curse that covenant breakers deserve. 00:04:43.879 --> 00:04:46.740 What a glorious, gracious reversal. 00:04:47.960 --> 00:04:52.300 The Lord of hosts, he was and he is the king of his people. 00:04:52.920 --> 00:04:57.460 But as we've seen as the theme so far, everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes. 00:04:57.520 --> 00:05:00.360 They don't heed or obey the voice of the Lord. 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:05.040 They lived as if there were no king in the land. 00:05:06.040 --> 00:05:09.639 And what's the curse upon those who do not obey the voice of the Lord? 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:12.280 Deuteronomy 18.15 says, 00:05:12.279 --> 00:05:24.879 It shall come to pass if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, to observe carefully all his commandments and his statutes, which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you. 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:36.599 They will overtake you and you shall become an astonishment, a proverb and a byword among all the nations where the Lord will drive you out. 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:47.020 You see, the covenant between God and his people, it has sanctions, blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience. 00:05:47.460 --> 00:05:50.900 You disobey God, you will be banished from the land. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:51.920 You will be exiled. 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:58.620 The Lord himself will drive you out among all the other nations. 00:05:59.560 --> 00:06:03.520 That's the curse for not listening and obeying the voice of the Lord. 00:06:03.519 --> 00:06:11.899 Israel is the covenant people of God who don't keep his law. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:13.939 They are the covenant breakers. 00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:21.659 But remember, once a year on the Day of Atonement, they would gather around the tent of meeting. 00:06:22.620 --> 00:06:29.279 And at the heart of their worship service was the Ark of the Covenant, sprinkled in the blood of a substitute lamb. 00:06:29.740 --> 00:06:30.979 What's inside that Ark? 00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:32.959 Two copies. 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:34.599 Of the Ten Commandments. 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:41.879 The Ark of the Covenant of the Presence of God keeps God's own law. 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:52.859 And the blood sprinkled shows that God will still graciously forgive their sins, cover over their sins by the blood of a perfect lamb. 00:06:54.459 --> 00:06:56.680 In the Ark, God's law was kept. 00:06:57.620 --> 00:07:01.240 The Ark of the Covenant-keeping Lord. 00:07:01.240 --> 00:07:04.819 So reversal number one is this. 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:16.759 Rather than sending Israel into exile for breaking the covenant, God, represented by his Ark, the Ark of his presence, God himself goes into exile. 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:26.199 We read at the very end of the previous chapter, the glory of God left Israel when the Ark was carried away. 00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:30.399 The presence of God, the presence of God with his people, has departed. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:33.240 The Ark has been captured. 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:38.040 Now look at how 1 Samuel chapter 5 starts off. 00:07:38.040 --> 00:07:38.620 Verse 1. 00:07:38.960 --> 00:07:41.699 Then the Philistines, all these other nations. 00:07:41.699 --> 00:07:42.699 They took the Ark of the Covenant-keeping. 00:07:42.699 --> 00:07:45.000 They took the Ark of God. 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:55.300 Carried it from Israel, from Ebenezer in Israel, all the way to Ashdod, one of their five powerful Philistine pagan cities. 00:07:55.300 --> 00:08:00.079 You see how it's God himself being exiled. 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:03.660 The Lord allowed his name to be shamed. 00:08:04.819 --> 00:08:11.280 The Ark of his presence was hauled off like a slave into exile. 00:08:12.019 --> 00:08:14.400 He did not lower the stakes of his covenant. 00:08:15.340 --> 00:08:20.460 Instead, God justly served those own terms himself. 00:08:20.459 --> 00:08:26.500 He took the curse and the negative sanctions of covenant-breaking upon himself. 00:08:27.459 --> 00:08:31.379 He was carried away captive, quietly. 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:34.799 No mighty display of power in this story. 00:08:34.939 --> 00:08:39.039 One simple sentence, the Ark of the Lord carried away. 00:08:40.419 --> 00:08:42.139 Like a lamb to the slaughter. 00:08:43.539 --> 00:08:45.019 Because God is holy. 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:46.659 God is pure. 00:08:46.659 --> 00:08:57.139 The covenant-keeper, by his own eternal decree to reveal his grace, takes the curse for covenant-breakers. 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:08.539 The second reversal is that the Holy Creator is humiliated in the house of a statue made by human hands. 00:09:08.539 --> 00:09:10.539 The Holy Creator is the Holy Creator. 00:09:10.539 --> 00:09:12.879 The Holy Creator of all. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:18.360 Who is eternal, infinite, outside of time and space. 00:09:18.919 --> 00:09:22.419 From whose word all things came into being. 00:09:23.559 --> 00:09:29.459 This God humiliated in the house of a statue on earth. 00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:37.280 In verse 2 we read that when the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon. 00:09:38.379 --> 00:09:40.879 And set it by Dagon. 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:50.600 Dagon was a false god whose upper half was a man, whose lower half was a fish. 00:09:51.259 --> 00:09:52.900 Can you picture a statue like that? 00:09:52.899 --> 00:10:03.500 Dagon reflected the belief that blessings on earth would come from a false pagan demon god. 00:10:04.079 --> 00:10:05.720 That's what these pagan nations believed. 00:10:05.819 --> 00:10:09.079 They knew no other story of the gospel. 00:10:10.079 --> 00:10:16.039 And so they associated this statue of Dagon with a good year of harvest in agriculture. 00:10:16.039 --> 00:10:22.599 Or fertility where your mothers are having babies and the army is growing because the population is growing. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:28.519 Dagon represented to them good weather that would be favorable for their conditions for survival. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:32.480 And plenty of rain to make the figs get full of juice. 00:10:35.059 --> 00:10:41.939 In the tree of their own mythology, Dagon was the father of all other lowercase gods. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:42.819 Lowercase g. 00:10:42.820 --> 00:10:47.280 So we're going to read about Baal, one of the other false gods of this land. 00:10:47.400 --> 00:10:49.460 Well, Dagon was considered the father of Baal. 00:10:51.260 --> 00:10:53.520 He was considered the lord of the land. 00:10:54.400 --> 00:10:55.180 Now think about this. 00:10:55.260 --> 00:10:59.420 The Philistines came from the island of Crete, which is in the southern part of Greece. 00:10:59.920 --> 00:11:00.900 Picture that on the Mediterranean. 00:11:01.660 --> 00:11:07.620 And they came over in the northern part then of the Middle East would be the Mesopotamia, Tigris and Euphrates River. 00:11:07.920 --> 00:11:09.080 And they're bouncing along. 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:10.860 They had tried to take Egypt. 00:11:10.860 --> 00:11:17.039 So what the Philistines do as the sea people is just go everywhere the Mediterranean Sea touches and see where they can invade and take over. 00:11:17.879 --> 00:11:24.200 Now, because they were successful in this part of the world, which is the land God promised to Israel, that entire coast land. 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:26.379 The Philistines come and they conquer. 00:11:26.800 --> 00:11:32.940 And they're going to give credit to this false god for allowing them to enter his land and be successful. 00:11:32.940 --> 00:11:39.600 So every time a new Philistine king would be enthroned, there would be a great ceremony. 00:11:39.760 --> 00:11:51.280 And the statue of Dagon would bless the king of the Philistines by by showing you are like my you have divine right to be the king and rule over this because I'm the demon god of this land. 00:11:51.279 --> 00:12:21.279 You have my favor. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:22.679 And the prince of the prince of the prince of the air. 00:12:23.819 --> 00:12:30.699 They're living in darkness as children of disobedience under Adam's curse so far banished from God. 00:12:31.299 --> 00:12:36.720 What chance would they ever have of encountering the true God unless God came to them? 00:12:36.720 --> 00:12:45.820 As John Owen put it, they had been carried away by violent impressions from the devil into the service of idols. 00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:50.540 Satan had worked his dark magic and it had worked on this people. 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:57.779 Satan had the minds and the hearts of this people bound under demonic darkness. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:04.779 And now they've got this big statue that they created with their own hands that they worship as a god. 00:13:04.779 --> 00:13:13.759 And there is the devil just watching, laughing and mocking the true God, the creator. 00:13:16.860 --> 00:13:24.259 We also know from history that the spoils of military conquests were also brought into these ancient pagan temples. 00:13:25.459 --> 00:13:28.639 The spoils would be put on display in front of the statue. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:39.899 And then as the worshipers would come into this temple of a false god, they would be caused to awe and to see the majesty and the might of this Dagon, which gave them another victory in war. 00:13:39.899 --> 00:13:46.059 To be very specific, a little bit graphic from the Bible itself. 00:13:46.179 --> 00:13:51.179 This is where the heads of the conquered kings would be brought in and put on display. 00:13:51.759 --> 00:14:03.639 First Chronicles chapter 10 verses 8 and 10 tells us that when King Saul of Israel died, the Philistines took the armor and the head of Saul. 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:08.840 They brought it into the temple of Dagon and they fastened it before Dagon. 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:16.580 So the temple of Dagon, it really represented the power center for their entire civilization. 00:14:17.439 --> 00:14:21.600 The Lord of hosts was now brought in there as a conquered deity. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:28.840 The king of Israel put on display before the conquering demon of the Philistines. 00:14:28.840 --> 00:14:33.500 He's being mocked as a weak loser. 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:41.960 Do you see the descent of the Lord of hosts going lower and lower and lower? 00:14:43.040 --> 00:14:52.800 He became the slave to the Philistines in order to then become the great deliverer of his people. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:59.120 The third reversal is that the Lord of hosts reverses it. 00:14:59.439 --> 00:15:06.039 He does something incredible and majestic and awesome and gracious. 00:15:07.179 --> 00:15:12.479 The Lord of hosts turns his own captivity into great victory. 00:15:13.379 --> 00:15:17.500 The Lord of hosts turns captivity into victory. 00:15:17.500 --> 00:15:19.419 Look at verse three. 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:30.019 When the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon fallen on his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:34.600 So then the Philistine priests come into the temple. 00:15:35.080 --> 00:15:35.940 They're embarrassed. 00:15:36.059 --> 00:15:37.139 Oh, this is a coincidence. 00:15:37.399 --> 00:15:39.220 You know, it's it's probably just an accident. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:43.000 Let's set him back up in its place and give it another 24 hours. 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:46.980 They couldn't cover up what God was really doing. 00:15:47.500 --> 00:15:59.000 God was putting this demon false God statue prostrate face down before the ark of the presence of the holy God. 00:15:59.940 --> 00:16:03.620 Dagon had bowed down to the creator of all. 00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:15.240 We read in verse four when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon again fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:19.039 Now, the second time we get even more interesting details. 00:16:19.899 --> 00:16:27.039 The head of Dagon and both of the hands were broken off on the threshold. 00:16:27.680 --> 00:16:30.639 Only Dagon's torso was left of it. 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:37.940 Literally, the word for torso is dag, which is like the word for fish. 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:41.960 So only the fish part like the fishtail was left. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:48.340 The statue, the man made part, making a God in their own image, broken, fallen. 00:16:48.340 --> 00:17:02.220 The Lord is showing that he's above all other gods of the nations and he can prove his supremacy in the very place of their greatest power. 00:17:02.220 --> 00:17:07.700 Now, children, let me make sure you're catching this scene. 00:17:08.759 --> 00:17:12.700 You're in this temple to a fake demon God. 00:17:12.700 --> 00:17:18.740 And you've got this statue now, upper part man, bottom part fish. 00:17:19.640 --> 00:17:28.799 The tail stayed back on the stadium there where it was elevated, the platform and everything else fallen down, face down in the ark of the Lord there. 00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:29.660 Can you picture that? 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:33.340 Now, we read in verse four what broke off when it fell. 00:17:34.559 --> 00:17:36.019 The hands broke off. 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:41.339 And we're told that the head broke as well. 00:17:43.980 --> 00:17:45.799 What does that remind you of? 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:50.039 Laying before the ark of the presence of God. 00:17:51.779 --> 00:17:54.099 Scales going up the body. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.440 No arms slithering on its belly, so to speak. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:00.259 And the head crushed. 00:18:00.259 --> 00:18:07.619 The ark of the Lord invaded enemy territory. 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:10.920 And crushed the serpent's head. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:23.579 We read in verse five that neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:26.700 This temple was once crowded. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:29.180 Now there's only cobwebs. 00:18:29.180 --> 00:18:32.900 Once full of people dancing and worshiping a demon. 00:18:34.060 --> 00:18:35.180 Now it's just dust. 00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:39.740 Once full of men claiming victory in war. 00:18:40.320 --> 00:18:41.680 Now just squeaking mice. 00:18:43.100 --> 00:18:47.299 The Lord shut the doors to another synagogue of Satan. 00:18:48.380 --> 00:18:52.660 The Lord decapitated Dagon in his own temple. 00:18:54.180 --> 00:18:58.039 The Lord of hosts had victory over the serpent. 00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:03.640 You see how the Lord of hosts turned his own captivity into greatest victory? 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:18.060 I think that for those of you who have seen the glory of God on display in the person and work of Jesus Christ, 00:19:18.320 --> 00:19:24.160 you're praising him already for this shadow of the finished work of his son. 00:19:24.160 --> 00:19:29.880 I need to make sure no one leaves here today without making this really clear connection. 00:19:29.880 --> 00:19:35.540 It's the covenant keeper suffering the curse for covenant breakers. 00:19:35.539 --> 00:19:42.399 See, because Adam did not keep God's word, just like Israel didn't keep God's word. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:47.600 We were all driven out from God's garden kingdom, just like the Philistines. 00:19:47.720 --> 00:19:49.340 That's our default state. 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:55.080 We were born into this spiritual captivity away from God. 00:19:55.079 --> 00:20:05.619 In 1 Corinthians 12, we read that you, church, you know that when you were pagans, you were also led astray to mute idols. 00:20:06.639 --> 00:20:08.859 You were also under the spell of Satan. 00:20:10.139 --> 00:20:12.639 Outside of Christ, you and I would be just as pagan. 00:20:13.539 --> 00:20:18.319 We'd be carried away by violent impressions from the devil into the service of idols. 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:27.159 Our hearts would be drawn to this dark magic of demons and the devil would own our minds and our hearts. 00:20:27.279 --> 00:20:29.220 We would be bound in demonic darkness. 00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:36.779 The devil could watch us chasing these idols of our hearts, laughing and mocking God by doing so. 00:20:38.559 --> 00:20:42.779 Now, notice how the Lord does never know lowers the stakes of his own covenant. 00:20:43.259 --> 00:20:47.359 The Lord ensures that his justice is fully served. 00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:49.480 And how did God do that? 00:20:50.980 --> 00:20:59.500 Once again, the Lord allowed his name to be shamed, just like the ark of his presence was hauled off into exile as a slave. 00:21:00.460 --> 00:21:04.460 It points up to us how God is the ultimate covenant keeper. 00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:08.019 We sing that he left his father's throne above. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:08.679 Why? 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:11.740 So free, so infinite, his grace. 00:21:11.740 --> 00:21:21.220 And we see the descent and humiliation of the Lord, both in 1 Samuel 5 and also in the Gospels, going lower and lower and lower. 00:21:23.859 --> 00:21:29.160 Both the ark and Jesus Christ were carried away, captive, without a show of power. 00:21:30.620 --> 00:21:33.640 Greatest practice of divine restraint. 00:21:35.000 --> 00:21:36.859 Silent as a lamb to the slaughter. 00:21:36.859 --> 00:21:41.119 Why did Jesus do this? 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:48.579 He needs to take on the curses of covenant breaking because God is just. 00:21:48.579 --> 00:21:57.099 Just as the Lord of hosts was mocked by the Philistines as a weak loser in the same way, Jesus Christ. 00:21:58.199 --> 00:21:59.539 He became sin. 00:22:00.539 --> 00:22:13.960 In 2 Corinthians 521, he who knew no sin became humiliated, became a picture of scorn and shame and cursedness that we might become his righteousness. 00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:18.519 See how the ark was just a shadow. 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:26.059 And what God did in 1 Samuel 5, it's pointing to the substance, the work of Jesus Christ. 00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:29.400 The ark that kept the Ten Commandments. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:37.720 It was pointing to Jesus Christ, the only one who could keep God's moral law and fulfill all righteousness. 00:22:37.720 --> 00:22:47.400 God represented his covenant with his people in the ark of the covenant, being humiliated before a man-made statue. 00:22:48.079 --> 00:22:50.940 And then the person of Jesus Christ, the holy creator. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:23:00.900 He became humiliated on a cursed cross made by human hands to fulfill his covenant of redemption. 00:23:00.900 --> 00:23:10.700 We sing that he emptied himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race. 00:23:12.620 --> 00:23:20.620 Philippians 2.6, being equal with God, he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a slave and coming as a man. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:27.540 He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death on the cross. 00:23:27.539 --> 00:23:34.039 In the Apostles' Creed, we confess he descended to hell. 00:23:35.299 --> 00:23:36.480 Remember Hannah's prayer? 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:41.819 The Lord brings down to Sheol all the way to hell and he raises up again. 00:23:43.180 --> 00:23:45.379 Ephesians 4.9, he ascended. 00:23:45.500 --> 00:23:46.299 And what does it mean? 00:23:46.659 --> 00:23:50.180 But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth. 00:23:51.099 --> 00:23:51.819 And why? 00:23:52.859 --> 00:23:54.440 Why did Jesus do this? 00:23:54.440 --> 00:24:01.900 Why did our Lord Jesus Christ allow himself to be exiled, cut off, and enslaved? 00:24:03.420 --> 00:24:12.240 It's because he was turning his humiliation and his captivity into the greatest victory in history. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:17.240 He descended to hell and made the serpent bow before him. 00:24:17.700 --> 00:24:19.920 He crushed the devil's head. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:24.180 And he buried the sting of death in its own grave. 00:24:25.580 --> 00:24:31.380 1 Peter 5.8, the deceiver, Satan still prowls around, seeking whom he may destroy. 00:24:31.539 --> 00:24:33.900 But Revelation 23 is fulfilled. 00:24:34.120 --> 00:24:36.600 Satan can no longer deceive the nations. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:38.420 The gospel goes out. 00:24:38.539 --> 00:24:40.420 The people, like the Philistines, believe. 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:45.060 All those who Christ redeemed and purchased, when they hear, they believe the gospel. 00:24:45.059 --> 00:24:51.759 The spirit applies the work of Christ's redemption to every soul that he purchased. 00:24:52.599 --> 00:24:57.700 And each one that he purchased, when they hear the gospel, they receive him joyfully. 00:25:04.039 --> 00:25:05.940 John Flavel put it this way. 00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:08.559 Christ is no half savior. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:13.559 How do you know he will save and sanctify you and present you to God? 00:25:16.139 --> 00:25:20.559 It's because he will not lose the end of all his sufferings. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:28.039 To what purpose would his meritorious work be without complete and full application? 00:25:28.039 --> 00:25:37.940 Upon the ark, covered by the blood of a substitutionary lamb, rested God's mercy seat. 00:25:39.019 --> 00:25:43.059 And upon Christ rests God's throne of grace. 00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:50.960 Jesus Christ, covered in his own precious blood, the lamb of God, our perfect substitute. 00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:56.139 You see how the Lord redeems through reversal. 00:25:56.140 --> 00:26:02.860 The Lord allowed himself to be exiled, cut off, and enslaved. 00:26:03.060 --> 00:26:10.340 In order that he would invade hell, disarm the deceiver, and set all of his captives free. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:15.840 So when we sing these wonderful hymns and psalms and spiritual songs, 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:20.360 these are victory anthems celebrating the work of Jesus Christ. 00:26:20.359 --> 00:26:25.799 He who makes the many righteous brings us back to life again. 00:26:26.379 --> 00:26:28.359 Dying, he reversed the curse. 00:26:28.639 --> 00:26:31.179 Then rising, crushed the serpent's head. 00:26:32.339 --> 00:26:37.519 From beginning to end, Christ the story, his the glory. 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:39.619 Hallelujah. Amen. 00:26:39.619 --> 00:26:43.299 Philippians 2, 9 and 10. 00:26:43.299 --> 00:26:51.259 Having finished his work, therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name, 00:26:51.739 --> 00:26:56.259 which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, 00:26:56.519 --> 00:27:01.179 of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, 00:27:01.180 --> 00:27:10.880 that at the name of Jesus, every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God, the Father. 00:27:12.460 --> 00:27:16.460 God be glorified because he redeems through reversal. 00:27:18.200 --> 00:27:20.980 Tis mercy all, immense and free. 00:27:20.980 --> 00:27:25.339 O praise my God, it reaches me. 00:27:26.460 --> 00:27:34.200 If you see his glorious redemption in Jesus, then receive him with joy and rest in him. 00:27:34.900 --> 00:27:36.819 Praise him that it has reached you. 00:27:38.120 --> 00:27:39.720 May he be glorified in our lives. 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:40.720 Amen. 00:27:41.860 --> 00:27:43.440 Let's pray in response.