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 God shows that He has withdrawn in judgment against Israel.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.

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.

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.

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.