Good morning. I'd like to thank you all for
the hospitality. The food, since we crossed into the Texas border,
has been outstanding. We had to stop at a barbecue
place. Haven't tried some of that Texas
brisket, but that's somewhere down the road. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Samuel again, chapter 12. 1 Samuel chapter 12. This one chapter in 1 Samuel is far-reaching and amazing in
its view and scope. You could, these 25 verses, everything's
in here. Everything is in here. You could
say this is a summary of the Christian life, the Christian
message, and the Christian's hope. It consists of what the gospel is, or as Henry Mahan preached in
the early 80s, what it is to preach the gospel. It's all here.
Samuel as a gospel preacher, a type of gospel preacher, is
ups and downs, but every believer. The qualifications for a pastor
are the same qualifications for believers. It's in there. It's
in there. But most importantly, what I'd
like to do is look at Samuel as a type and picture of the
gospel preacher, Jesus Christ, which is what I want to preeminently
observe for our use and edification this morning. But when I'm looking
at this, think about, is this me? Is this the pastor that I
listen to? And is this Christ? Right off
the bat, and we're just gonna go verse, we're just gonna go
through it, in verse by verse and in clumps. Right off, we
notice a lovely picture of our blessed Lord as he was before
man. Look at verse one. And Samuel
said, the believer said, the preacher
said, and Christ said all to Israel, behold, I have hearkened
unto your voice and all that you said unto me." That tells
me that he faithfully served you and I. Everything that you
and I have is the gift of God. But Samuel could say, I've served
you. And what's going on is that he's
anointed Saul. They wanted a king. He said,
you're sinning. God's your king. But you want
to be like other nations, so I'll give you a king. So this
is the context. But the first verse, Samuel says,
I have faithfully served you in all that you have, in all
that you've needed. Well, in Luke chapter 22, you
don't have to turn around, I'll just have these passages, Christ
says, I am among you as one that's served. He is the sovereign of
the whole universe, yet he washed the disciples' feet. Philippians
chapter two says he made himself of no reputation, but he submitted
himself to man and to God, Such humility was shown, such abasement,
such emptying of himself. He says it took him the form
of a servant. All of these words we would do
well to emulate. Like I said last night, our biggest
problem is self. We have a little circle and we
want to make sure we're comfortable, we're taken care of. Christ had
no place to lay his head. He came, in another past, He
came to serve. Is that me? Is that you? Is that
those whom we pastor to? It certainly was Christ. Verse
two, and now behold the king walketh before you. I am old
and gray-headed, and behold my sons are with you, and I have
walked before you from my childhood. unto this day. Luke chapter two,
it says Christ, when they went to the temple to sacrifice, so
they went into Jerusalem and then his parents left, all the
caravan left and they couldn't find him, where was he at? It
says, the scripture says he was about 12 years old. And when
they found him, they kind of upbraided him and reproved him
and he said, wished you not that I was about my father's business
from my childhood. Would to God our children, oh,
would to God our children would understand a little bit
about what we're talking this morning. Our Lord was daily trotting the
path of obedience and honoring his earthly mother and father,
and most critically, his heavenly father. And I thought about this
as having a child and now a grandchild, foolishness is born in the heart
of a child. If Christ had slipped up, if
Christ was ever disobedient, even as a youth, redemption would
be impossible. But it's not. Had he one sinful
thought, it was not so with Christ. Had he one variation to holiness,
there's no redemption. But he could say like no other,
I have walked before you from my childhood faithfully, wisely,
and perfectly. Indeed, he is the lamb without
blemish and spot. And if we could turn, but we
won't, to Leviticus chapter 22 and verse 21, it says when that
sacrifice is going to be offered, it must be perfect. Perfect. Well, that word is made up of
two words in the Greek. It's entire. and truth. Christ is the entire truth. But that sacrifice, in order
to be accepted, must be perfect. Let's read on, verses 3 through
5. We see Samuel, or Christ, or
our life, verses 3 through 5. Behold, I am here, Behold, here
I am, witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed,
whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken, or whom have
I defrauded, whom have I oppressed, or of whose hand have I received
any bribe to blind mine eyes wherewith, and I will restore
it to you. And they said, you have not defrauded
us, nor oppressed us. Neither hast thou taken aught
of any man's hand. And he said unto them, the Lord
is witness against you, and his anointed is witness against this
day. That is, you have not found aught
in my hand. And they answered, he's our witness. This tells me Christ's life was
what it was. It was amazing, it was gracious,
it was full of compassion, full of grace and mercy and longsuffering. Matter of fact, Pilate said,
I find no fault in him. In John chapter, that's in John
19, in John 8, he says, Christ says, which one of you convinces
me of sin? He couldn't say a word. He could say nothing. And I remind you that this book
that we're reading up, and I'm really, I like this. is inspired by the Holy Ghost. So, we can't argue. We can't argue with this book. And here is the gospel in a postage
stamp, as it were, in one chapter. But look at verse three, as he's
speaking about his life. And I didn't see this until the
other day. Behold, here I am. The great I am. It's not here by accident, it's
not here by chance, it's not here by luck. Those words should
not even be in the believer's vocabulary, just like should've,
could've, or would've. No. God's on the throne. Henry said two preachers were
going to a meeting, he knew one of them, and they got in a bad
accident, and one pastor came out unscathed and the other one
was tore up pretty bad, but he had a saying. First thing he
said when the ambulance got there, he said, God is sovereign and
I'll be thankful. I don't know if I could say that.
But the immaculate I am, the only I am, the eternal pre-existing
I am. I would say as we look at this
text that a greater than Samuel is here typified. The record
is clear, the book is sure. He is holy, harmless, and undefiled,
Hebrews 7. Acts chapter 10 says that Christ
went about doing good. So his life, they couldn't get
anything, they couldn't find anything. It was exemplary, it
was stellar, it was above board, righteous, lowly, and majestic. He is the ultimate good, the
zenith of virtue, of attributes. He is, in fact, the way, the
truth, and the life. Which leads me to my next point,
verses six through 11. the gospel preacher, Samuel,
David. This is us, but it's every one
of us. When you go to work or you go
wherever you go and you're shopping and you see somebody and they
ask you, this is what we say. Verses six through 11, Samuel
said unto the people, he's about to speak, he's gonna rehearse
back in their ears, what the gospel is. It is the Lord. It starts with the Lord and ends
with the Lord. It starts with the Lord, and
in verse 11, it ends with deliverance out of the hand of
our enemies, which is sin and Satan and the world, every side. It starts with him and ends with
him. But he says, it is the Lord that
brought you out, the Lord that brought you out. It starts and
it culminates with God. He's the Alpha and the Omega.
It's a sweet rehearsal, as I said last night, of truth, of how
God can save and redeem the guilty. It's good news. It's the only
good news of a crucified Savior. I had a gentleman ask me one
time, the name of our church is Sovereign Grace. He says,
what's Sovereign Grace? What is that? And I remember
in math, you take things in fractions, you take them to the lowest common
denominator, that's where you start. Back there, it's the simplicity
in Christ. And if you know me, I'm not complicated. So my answer is short, and then
if they say something else, then I'll say something else. Well,
what is Sovereign Grace? Sovereign is who he is, and grace
is how he saves. Well, what do you mean sovereign?
Okay. What do you mean grace? It's not of works, lest we should
boast. This is what he says. It's the gospel. It's deliverance.
What the gospel does, verse six, it's a bringing out. that brought
your fathers out of Egypt, out of sin and destruction and death
and misery to new life. That's what the gospel does.
It's a bringing out. God, through the accomplishments
of his darling son, must save, deliver a people from their sins,
Matthew 121. It's electing the race. It's
electing love. It's what the old writers called
fetching grace, fetching of sovereign grace to the undeserved wretches
like you and I and one called Mephibosheth. That's where they
got that fetching grace, 2 Samuel chapter 4. What the gospel says. Look at
verse 7. Stand still. Stand still. I love this. And like I say,
it's just all out before, just laid out. It's so beautiful.
Stand still. That's what Moses said. Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord. What Don Fortner would
say, quit working. Quit working, quit trying to
do and please God. Christ is the only one that pleased
God on his people's behalf. Stand still and look at what
he says. And that I may reason with you before the Lord of all
the righteous acts. Stand still and behold the righteous
acts of God. We have no righteousness. We
have filthy rags. And the Hebrew of that's not
very nice, not very pleasant. Behold the righteous acts of
Jehovah in the face of Emmanuel. Stop working for righteous. Stop
working for merit or worth. Stop working for peace. Stop
working for eternal life. And rest in and rest upon the
full and complete doing and dying of Christ the breaker. In Micah chapter two, good word
study. See another name of Christ? Look
at Micah. And he's called the breaker.
He breaks the power of canceled sin. He's broken down the middle
wall partition between us. He's the breaker. Mr. Bonar, Horatious Bonar, said
it this way. Not what my hands have done can
save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh has
borne can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give
me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs
and tears can bear my awful load. Thy work alone, O Christ, can
ease this weight of sin. Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
can give me peace within. Thy love to me, O God, not mine,
O Lord, to thee, can rid me of this dark unrest and set my spirit
free. Thy grace alone, O God, to me
can pardon speak. Thy power alone, O Son of God,
can this sore bondage break. No other work, save thine, no
other blood will do. No strength, save that which
is divine, can bear me safely through. I bless the Christ of
God. I rest on his love divine. And
with unfaltering lip and heart, I call this Savior mine. His
cross dispels each doubt I bury in his tomb, each thought of
unbelief and fear, each lingering shade of gloom. I praise the
God of grace. I trust his truth and might.
He calls me his. I call him mine, my God, my joy,
my light. Tis he who saved me and freely
pardoned gives. I love because he loves me. I
live because he lives. Well, verses 8 through 10, we've seen
what the gospel does, we've seen what the gospel says, we see
in this third part what the gospel demands. Verses 8 through 10,
it demands faith and repentance. Look at verses 8 through 10.
When Jacob was come, and he's still preaching, he's still talking,
and your father's cried unto the Lord, Then the Lord sent
Moses and Aaron, which brought forth their fathers out of Egypt,
and made them dwell in this place. And when they forgot the Lord
their God, he sold them into the hand of Cicero, and captained
the host of Hazar, and into the hand of the Philistines, and
into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against
them, and they cried, there's repentance, unto the Lord, and
said, we have sinned. Because we have forsaken the
Lord, we have served Balaam, Astaroth, but now deliver us
out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee. There's
repentance, there's faith. These are gifts of God, secured
by Christ for his people. Sin must be reckoned with. Yes,
we are guilty, we are rotten, we are unworthy of all mercy
received, but bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within
me, Or as Maurice used to say, hallelujah, what a savior. He
loved that song. Next, fourthly, the gospel action.
There's a rescue. Look at verse 11. The Lord sent
Jabal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you
out of the hand of your enemies on every side and you dwelt safe.
There's a rescue in the preaching of the gospel. Now, I would encourage
you, if you have time, to do a name study of each character
in this section here. Each one of these names is an
attribute of Christ. It's amazing. It's wonderful.
Because this book is Christocentric. It's like a spoke. He's the hub
in everything. emanates from him. Every blessing
received. These witnesses, as they're called,
the Lord sent every one of these men, and of course Samuel's in
here, and these are pictures and types of Christ. Without
an astonishing deliverance or rescue, there would be no gospel
glory. If Christ came to save sinners
and died and did all that and nothing happened, there would
be no gospel glory. There would be no glory and honor.
But he's a successful Savior. As Milton obtained, it's past
tense, obtained eternal redemption. He has a people he must redeem.
Our captain is a successful leader. He has loosened the chains, opened
the prison gates, and set the prisoners free. And I say this
often in a message because I get overwhelmed. Have you ever heard
such wonderful, Glorious and God-honoring news. It's amazing. You're not gonna hear this 2
point something million, I don't know, whatever we looked it up,
Houston. You're gonna hear what you can do. You're gonna hear
what you're gonna try to do, or God's gonna try to do something
for you. You're gonna hear divine cooperation. Donny Bell called
it Chinese checkers. You move and then God moves.
No, here, you're gonna hear of a successful, conquering Redeemer. Well, we could just read this,
but he brings up, this is after considering the total, majestic,
sovereign God over all things, and He is only worthy to be worshipped,
and this is found in 16 through 18. Now, therefore, he tells
the folks, stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will
do before your eyes. Majestic sweetness does sit enthroned
on our Savior's brow, and he's about ready to prove it. And he says, verse 17, is it
not harvest, wheat harvest day? So the wheat is ready to harvest.
Now you know what thunder and hail and storm can do to that. It can wipe out, and now you're
gonna go hungry. So he says, he reminds them,
and they know very well, the wheat harvest today, I'll call
on the Lord, and he shall send thunder and rain that you may
perceive and see that your wickedness is great, what you have done
in the sight of the Lord, and asking you a king. So Samuel
called unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that
day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. He displayed and he showed them
and proved to them that God is on his throne, and the believer
knows this. Now, it doesn't look like it,
maybe, in what's going on in Washington or here. It doesn't,
you know, city councils and school board, it doesn't look, but he's
on his throne. He is absolutely on his throne.
Why not understand that? Why not believe that and trust
in his grace, in him, and sleep well at night? Somebody said,
we don't need to stay up because he neither slumbers nor sleeps.
So he's awake all the time. We don't need to stay up. So
after he tells them and shows them how sovereign God is, now
the gospel end. The gospel end. Christ, Samuel
as the intercessor. This is beautiful. Verses 20
through 24. Now, and Samuel said unto the
people, fear not, you have done all this wickedness. Yet turn
not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with
all your heart, and turn you not aside, for then you should
go after vain things. He knows us. He remembers we're
a dust. This is what we'll do. If left to ourselves, we'll go
after the world. We'll please ourselves, which
cannot profit or deliver, and they are vain. But the Lord will
not forsake his people for his great namesake, because it hath
pleased the Lord to make you his people. right up against
sovereign election, what are you going to do? You could do
like Nebuchadnezzar who walked out and said, boy, I've done
all this with my arms and my might and my power, and the Lord
smote him right then, humbled him. Part of the lesson, when
he restored his mind, he said, oh, God, there's no God like
you. There's no God like you. Well,
we know this. It's been revealed. What a privilege.
What mercy, what grace. The great and glorious intercessory
work of Christ. Look at verse 23. Moreover, as
for me, says Samuel, and your pastor, and you for your pastor. It's not a one-man show. We are,
everybody's got gifts. Everybody's got gifts. Henry
said that there was a man in their church, I don't remember
who it was, Mr. Borer maybe know who this was. He said all he did was shake
people's hand when they came and left. But when he wasn't
there, everybody noticed. Henry said, I couldn't do that.
I didn't have the compassion he showed. Everybody has gifts. We're a family. True family. But he says, moreover, as for
me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing
to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and right way. Oh
brethren, the freeness and love by which the anointed is to be
adored, he never stops ceasing, he never ceases to pray for us
and care for us. Though our sins be as scarlet,
White, white I tell you, and all that is based upon the sweet
balm in Gilead, which does not cease day or night to pray for
his tender, often wayward sheep." It's amazing. And there's one
more thing in here, two more, one more. Look at verse 23 in
the last verse, but I will teach you the good and the right way. He, by the Holy Spirit of grace
and supplications, will teach us the good and right way. It
agrees with what Peter says in 1 Peter 1. We are kept by the
power of God through faith. The Holy Spirit, he's not gonna
fail either. Not one person in the Trinity will fail.
Not gonna happen. But now there's a closing, and
it's a gospel warning. And as a pastor, I must warn
you, verse 25, but if you shall still
do wickedly, you shall be consumed. To those who will not have Christ
to reign over themselves, who refuse to bow to Christ, His
gospel, you may have heard this gospel
a long time. So I can take it or leave it.
You may think you can, but our God is a consuming fire. And
it is my responsibility as an ambassador for Christ, as though
God did beseech you by us, be reconciled to God. Reconciliation is only through
the performance, through the worth, through the work and person
of the great I Am, Christ the Lord.