========================================================================
  LET US FETCH THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD
  by F.B. Meyer
========================================================================

Summary: The sermon emphasizes the importance of vital union with Christ
for protection and succour, rather than relying on outward rites or
material symbols.

Topics: "True Worship", "Spiritual Relationship"
Scripture References: 1 Samuel 4:3, John 15:4

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

F.B. Meyer emphasizes the futility of relying on the Ark of the Covenant
as a mere symbol of God's presence without a genuine spiritual
relationship with Him. The Israelites believed that bringing the Ark
into battle would ensure their victory against the Philistines,
forgetting that true protection comes from a vital union with God. Meyer
warns against the dangers of ritualism and outward religious practices
that lack heartfelt devotion, urging believers to seek a deep, personal
connection with Christ. He stresses that only through this relationship
can one find true safety and fellowship with God. The sermon calls for
introspection on how we approach our faith and the importance of
aligning our hearts with God.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. 1 Sam. iv. 3.

ISRAEL had been defeated with great loss. Their only hope of being able
to hold their own against the Philistines and the people of the land was
in the protection and help vouchsafed to them by God. They knew this,
and thought that they would be secured, if only the Ark of the covenant
were on the field. They forgot that it was only the material symbol of a
spiritual relationship; that it was useless unless that relationship was
in living force; and that the bending forms of the cherubim, emblematic
of the Divine protection, would not avail if their fellowship with the
God of the cherubim had been ruptured by backsliding.

There is a sense in which we are always sending for the Ark. The
reliance on outward rites, such as Baptism and the Lord's Supper, on the
part of those who are alienated from the life of God ; the maintenance
of the forms of prayer and Scripture‑reading, which no longer
express the passionate love of the soul; the habit of churchgoing, which
so many practise, not because they love God, but because they think that
it will in some way secure his alliance in life's battle ‑‑
all these are forms in which we still fetch the Ark of the covenant,
whilst our hearts are wrong with the God of the covenant.

It should never be forgotten that nothing can afford to us protection
and succour but vital union with Christ. We must hide in his secret
place if we would abide under his shadow. We must dwell in the most holy
place if we would be shadowed by the wings of the Shekinah. There must
be nothing between us and God, if we are to walk together, and enjoy
fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

========================================================================
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/fb-meyer/let-us-fetch-the-ark-of-the-covenant-of-the-lord/
========================================================================