God Cannot Be Mocked Series

We noted last week that no matter what happens in this world, God will always be God but He is always calling people back to Himself. God loves people and He disciplines those He loves! In 1 Samuel 4 we noted how God allowed the Philistines to defeat Israel, because He was trying to teach them a lesson of commitment. The Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the stone tablets touched by God as instructions to people, the 10 Commandments! What’s the First commandment of God???

You shall have no other gods before me! I think if we’re all honest about ourselves, we fail to meet this command everyday; I know I have to focus on this constantly; for many times I let myself be god or something else, other people, riches, recreation, etc., etc, etc…..

Let us focus and pray together our commitment to God and His Word…..

Open your Bibles to 1 Samuel 5….. Read along with me…………

The Philistines had a god named Dagon; which looked like this… picture…

And so what happened in v1-4? Let us note back from 1 Samuel 4:5-7, the Philistines feared God and the Ark of the Covenant. Why do you think the Philistines placed the Ark beside Dagon??

v2: Philistines thought their god was stronger than the One and Only God!

But what do we note in v3? The Philistine’s god Dagon fell to the ground before God!

And what did the Philistines do??

They did not hear God the first time; they must have thought it was just an accident that Dagon fell. The Philistines reasoned that God could not have brought Dagon down; so they put Dagon back up against God! So what did God do?

v4: God made sure the Philistines got the message the second time by breaking off Dagon’s head and hands!

And look again at v5…. Nd tried to fix

The Philistines had fears about what happened and thus, they invented the phrase, “Dagon it!” and I bet they tried to put Dagon back together again; I bet they tried superglue and tried to fix Dagon quickly before anyone notices; but God said, not so fast, I can stop superglue from working!

v6-7: God really got the Philistine’s attention by sending hardships and disease!

And so, how did the Philistine’s tried to solve the problem?

v6-12: The Philistines tried to send God away from their lives!

The Philistines really though their god Dagon was it; so first they reasoned why things happened the why they happened, secondly they tried to fix things themselves, and then finbally they tried to get rid of God!

But we will note in the next Chapter that sending away God or running away from God does not solve the problem of going against God; be back next week for the follow up!!

What can we learn from this passage?

1. Take the 1st Commandment of God (from the 10 Commandments) seriously everyday!

Let us not be like the Philistines who thought their manmade god can defeat the One and Only True God! God cannot be defeated but we sin when we allow other gods to win in our lives!

And there are consequences to sin; and so,

2. Listen to God very carefully! Do not find other reasons not to believe in what God is doing or saying! God cannot be mocked!

But some may say, that all happened in the Old Testament, we now have the Cross of Christ to forgive us of everything!! Like using Jesus as superglue to try and fix things, not so fast!!! Turn with me to the New Testament, Acts 5…… v1-11….

God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! Even on this side of the final sacrifice for sins, we cannot mock God!

And in closing, 3. God is always God, yesterday, today, and forever. Therefore no one can send away God! How often do we send away God? Fix your eyes on Jesus always!