I advise you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 12. 1 Samuel chapter 12. As you're getting there, I'm going to give you some back story here in 1 Samuel. In the first verse of 1 Samuel 1, Samuel's mother, Hannah, her womb is sewn up. His father has two wives, the one wife is bearing seed. So many children, but Hannah has none. And so, yearly they go up to Shiloh to worship. Shiloh is about 15 to 20 miles from where they live at. And they go there to worship, and they meet with the prophet at that time, Eli. And he sees her praying. And he actually thinks she's drunk with the wine or a strong drink and says, woman, you need to stop this. And he says, I'm not, Lord. I'm praying. And so she says, I'm praying that my seed may be fertile and that I may have a son or a child. And so he says, I pray for thee also that this may come to pass. And so, and it does. And so Samuel is born, her firstborn, and Samuel comes and she promises that if she does have child that she will then, when he is weaned, she will lent him to the temple there. And so when she weans him away, they go back to worship up in Shiloh and she gives Samuel to the prophet Eli.

And Samuel, for the rest of his life, stays there as a prophet. He's like an understudy of Eli. But he is working his way to become a prophet. And so he is working his way there. And then Eli has some sons. And his sons are just very pitiful.

And they have a big, war between the Philistines and Israel, and his sons are, let me back up, sorry. Samuel hears a voice that says, Samuel, and he says, here am I. And he goes to Eli, who's also sleeping, and says, here am I. And Eli says, I didn't say anything. And this goes on about four different times. And then Eli says, the Lord is speaking to you. answer him and so he does and he gives him a vision of what is to come for Eli and so then in that war Eli's two sons die and when he finds out that his two sons had died and the ark had also been taken away the Philistines he fell over broke his neck and he died and then Samuel becomes the new prophet and Samuel receives many visions from the Lord and one of the visions is is that the children of Israel will receive a king.

And for the longest time, Eli and Samuel are judging. Samuel is like the governor of Israel. And they are judging over. Samuel's sons, he also makes them judges. But Samuel's sons do not have the same morals that he does. And so rather than governing and also him as a prophet preaching, they are just taking advantage of their power. And therefore, the people of Israel say, we no longer want this. We want a king. And so he turns against this and he tells them all the things that a king will do. And the Lord says, no, the people want a king. You need to give him a king. And so, he gives him a vision of Saul. And Saul's dad lost his donkeys, and his dad sent him out and said, go find those donkeys. And so, he goes to look for those donkeys, and he comes across Samuel. And Samuel says, this is the vision the Lord told me. And he said, Saul, I want you to go home, and I want you to go to all these different places, because that's what the Lord said. And when he went to all those different places, everything the Lord told him came to pass. And so through time, Saul became the king.

But just like us, just like man, they weren't happy. They weren't happy with their king. And so we come to here in 1 Samuel 12, verse 20. I'll start in 19. And it says, and all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not, for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king. 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 ye not aside, for then you go. Then should you go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are in vain.

Samuel's many things, as I talked, he's a judge, he's a teacher, a prophet, a priest, but most importantly, he's a messenger of God. He knows these people around him, he sees their wickedness, they have done, and just like every gospel preacher, he proclaims the gospel to them. Yes, you've done all these wicked things, but fear not. Fear not.

Here in verse 20, Samuel says, fear not. The primary reason for a man to fear is because of sin. We inherited that sin from our first father, Adam. When Adam ate of the fruit, he and Eve's eyes were open, and they knew they were naked. They could feel the sin. When the Lord God called upon Adam, saying, where art thou? Adam said, I heard thy voice at the garden, and I was afraid. because I was naked and hid myself. Adam was afraid. He feared what the Lord God would say or do, because he knew he had disobeyed the Lord. God's only command of the garden.

I say all that to say that the cause of fear is sin, and this is not a new thing. It's not a bad people thing. No sin is all frames of people, every kindred tribe and tongue. In Romans 3.23, very common verse that says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Psalm 14.3 says, they are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy, filthy, to be morally corrupted, to sour like sour milk, tainted as in something being contaminated or polluted. There is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Come on, Bryant. Come on. I'm not perfect, but I am not as they are. True. If you want to turn your Bibles to Luke 18, Luke 18, and we'll start in verse 9. Luke 18, verse 9, it says, and he, Christ, spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.

In the original text in Greek, publican meant sinner. They were naturally hated intensely by the people, and therefore they were classed with sinners. Verse 14, and I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified rather than the other, for everyone that exalted himself shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted.

Let us not look to one another, compare one another's sins, and then look back to ours. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. But there is one Christ Jesus who satisfied the law perfectly for the remission of our sins. Turn over to Matthew 9, Matthew 9, verse 10. Matthew 9 verse 10 says, and it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and sacrifice for I am not come to call the righteous, but centers to repentance.

Are there any centers here? Guess what? Fear not. Fear not. Christ Jesus came to save centers. And then turn over to Isaiah 41. We're going to be here for a bit. Isaiah 41 and verse 10. It says, fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Samuel tells the people, fear not. You know why? Because he's a believer. He is one of the Lord's messengers. The Lord has breathed life into Samuel to make him believe in his Heavenly Father. He's been made to see that he is nothing without thy God. It's wonderful, and Isaiah says, fear not, for I am with thee. We think at times you walk this world and we're all alone, but guess what? Keep your eyes on the Lord, and he, he, thy God, says, I am with thee. He says, I am thy God.

And Blue Letter Bible says, thy God means the true God, the supreme God, supreme meaning superior to all others who call themselves gods. Sad and aggravating to think of so-called gods, Any man who worships any other so-called little g-god, one, blasphemes the true God of this Bible, two, he lies on the true God of this Bible, three, does not show the respect and reverence the true God of this Bible deserves, and four, any other so-called God that is not the God of this Bible is antichrist. And any that proclaim any other but the God of this Bible, the true God, is antichrist. You're either for Christ or antichrist.

Psalm 48, 14 says, for this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide unto death. He says, be not dismayed, dismayed. Don't turn your eyes from me. I will strengthen thee. I will help thee. I will be your strength in a time of need. I will help thee. I think of a lifeguard saving a drowning swimmer. This swimmer's giving it all they have, and the lifeguard looks into their eyes and says, keep your eyes on me. I'm going to help you. We are going to get back to safety. Don't look away from me. Don't be dismayed. I am your help. I will uphold thee.

Thinking of that lifeguard once again, grasping, holding, supporting, laying hold of, keeping that drowning swimmer safe. We will find ourselves drowning in sin, our own despair. We will sense Satan's ways around us. Look somewhere else. Look nowhere else. Look to the lifeguard of our souls. Look to the savior of our souls, to our surety, our guarantee. Look to Christ.

As I was drafting this, I thought of that song, number 216, Look to the Lamb of God. If you from sin are longing to free, to be free, look to the Lamb of God. He to redeem you died on Calvary, look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts and doubts and fears a cell, look to the Lamb of God. For he alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God. When Satan tempts and doubts and fears assail, look to the Lamb of God. You in his strength shall over all prevail. Look to the Lamb of God. Are you a weary? Does the way seem long? Look to the Lamb of God. His love will cheer and fill your heart with song. Look to the Lamb of God. Fear not when shadows on your pathway fall. Look to the Lamb of God. In joy or sorrow, Christ is all in all. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. Look to the Lamb of God. For He alone is able to save you. Look to the Lamb of God.

Christ our surety. He bore the sin debt for His people on Calvary's cross. His people are a particular people that God the father predestinated Christ before the world began. I'd be wrong if I stopped right there and said nothing else about what he accomplished. But Christ said to the cross, he said, it is finished. He was placed in the tomb and covered with a boulder that no man, no man could undo but God. But God raised him from the dead.

If you want to turn to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 verse 3. 1 Peter 1 verse 3 says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

We could read through this and just read over words and Say amen, but I love what our pastor does often. He picks these words out and tells us, begotten, that word association, something is unique, one of a kind, and of the same essential nature as its parent. How can I be the same as my Heavenly Father, as my Savior Christ Jesus? When the Spirit of God breathes new life into a sinner, shows them who and what they are, they come running to the shepherd. They are given a true desire, a true need to be found in the fold. When they are made to be shown they are nothing without their Savior, they want nothing more than to be where the gospel is truly being preached.

Tell me again who Christ is. Tell me again all the work is finished. Tell me again there is nothing I need to do and there is nothing that I can do. Because it's all finished. He finished the work.

What is this lively hope that's talked about in verse 3? Verse 4 says, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. It's an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance. As I was drafting this, once again, I thought of an article that I'd come across. I put in the bulletin last year and Gary was actually talking about it to Marvin the other day and these are the last public comments by Brother Scott in this pulpit before the Lord called him to glory.

And it says, quote, I've come across something that helped me and I want to pass it on to you. We understand more about what heaven is and will be to us by what it is not and will not be. There'll be no more sin, no more darkness, No more pain. No more sorrow. No more jails. No more crying. No more war. No more sickness. No more heartache. No more dying in a ditch. No more fear. No more confusion. No more lacking anything. No more vanity. No more waiting. No more going astray. No more crooked roads. no more reproach, no more affliction, no more darkness, no more trouble, no more curse, no more disiring God. Our name will no more be called Jacob. We'll be the children of God.

And then if you want to turn to Revelations 22 verse three, or you can just look on the screen, whichever you prefer, Brother Scott read from here. In Revelation 22, verse three, it says, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. And his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

And he ended and said, and no more birthdays. I feel like he just, with everything he said, he spoke about that verse right there, verse four, and saying, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fate is not away.

Continuing on there, First Peter. One, verse five, he says, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. I'm going to beat this horse hard, but there is a inheritance reserved in heaven for his people. His people are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Remember, grace is an unmerited favor bestowed upon Christ particular people, ordained to him before the beginning of time. A.W. Pink stated, quote, grace planned salvation, grace provided salvation, and grace so works on and in his elect as to overcome the hardness of their hearts, the stubbornness of their wills, and the enmity of their minds, and thus makes them willing to receive salvation. Grace begins Grace continues, and grace completes our salvation." End quote.

Continuing in Isaiah 41.10, he says, there, the end, with the right hand of my righteousness. He says, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Psalm 48 says, we have thought of thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Thy right hand is full of righteousness.

Thy right hand is full of righteousness because sitting at the right hand is the Son of God, Christ Jesus. How is it full? Full, to be full means accomplished, be ended, to be filled, to be armed, to be satisfied, to be accomplished, to be complete because the Son Christ Jesus accomplished his father's work fully. He fulfilled, he satisfied the demands of the law perfectly.

Deuteronomy 32.4 says, he is the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he. It says, yet turn not aside, turn not aside from falling the Lord. Deuteronomy 11, 16 says, take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived and yet turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.

The Lord provided the people a prophet, a messenger of him and Samuel. Samuel has great experience here, and he is conveying his message to the people. Yes, you have been wicked, but turn not your eyes away from the Lord. Continue in your following of the Lord. Heed these words to yourself. Be not deceived by wolves in sheep's clothing. Satan's soldiers will attempt to deceive you, and before you know it, you'll be worshiping a liturgy God. Keep following the Lord.

And then verse 17 says, and then the Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, unless ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. If you turn away from the Lord and worship false prophets' idols, the Lord's wrath will be kindled, it will be angry, it will too burn, unless you perish. beforehand, before you vanish, go astray, be destroyed quickly from this profitable land the Lord gives you.

The area you're in, the land no longer grants, gives, extends the wealth sent by thy God. The Lord gave you a gospel preacher, a messenger of the Lord, sent forth his word, but you turned your attention away from Christ and placed it in other areas. The Lord said, so be it, I will shut the heavens from you, the heavenly blessings that fell on you like rain. No more. The fruit of the word of God, no more. You will be like the prodigal son eating the husk of the swine.

But he says, but serve the Lord with all your heart. He's continuing his message to the people. He says, fear not. Yes, you've been wicked. Turn not away from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. The heart is a seat of senses and affections and emotions of the mind. The heart is part of the inner man. Mind, will, soul, understanding, determination serve the Lord with all mind, body, and soul.

I think of 2 Samuel 2.1. I think of 2 Samuel 2, 1. Sorry. I think I've got my Samuels mixed up. Yeah, I did. It's 1 Samuel 2. So after she had lent Samuel to Eli, she said, and Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Her heart rejoices in the Lord. She'd just given her son to Eli. He's staying there. He's not coming back home. She said, my heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn, my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none, none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Her heart rejoiceth in the Lord, serving the Lord with all her heart.

Matthew 620 says, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Lay not your attention to things of this world. Up there, that's where your treasures are. Your treasures are there and your heart will be filled.

Matthew 6.33 says, but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. When we are made to seek ye first the kingdom of God, we are made to seek, to seek, to seek in order to find, to strive after, to require, to crave. Anybody knows my little buddy, his name's Scout. He's a dog. But anybody knows him, they know he loves his ball. He loves it. You could be dying, need CPR, he's gonna want that ball. But when he misses a throw, you think he can't find it. All I've got to do is say seek. And when I say seek, he searches everywhere around for that ball until he finds it. He doesn't stop. That's what we need to do. Seek. Serve the Lord with all our heart.

The first, first means in time or place. Doesn't matter where, in time or place. Before anything else in your life, seek ye first the kingdom of God. Seek first the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is this kingdom? It is the reign of the Messiah, the reign of the Son of God, sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Isaiah 55, 6 says, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. And we heard on Wednesday night in James 4, says, life is but a vapor, here for a bit, then gone. Seek him, seek his face. Seek him while he may be found. If I can seek him and find him, I want to make sure that I am found in him. Call upon the name of the Lord while he is near.

Jeremiah 29, 13 says, and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. But Brian, I don't know the scriptures like Marvin or like my parents. Seek. Seek in order to find the word in the scriptures. Search the word. Remember the Bereans in Acts 17? It says they searched the scriptures daily, whether the things they were being told were so. Therefore, many of them believed.

James 4 too. You lust and have not. You kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not. If you truly want to seek the Lord, if you truly want to be found in the Lord, ask, ask.

1 John 5, 14, it says, and this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of Him.

Psalm 91 says, I will praise the old Lord with my whole heart, I will show, I will tell of all thy marvelous works. This next verse, if you could read this whole chapter, it's wonderful, but we don't have the time right now.

Psalm 111, verse one says, praise, and in Hebrew, praise means hallelujah, hallelujah ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.

Psalm 119, 119.2 says, blessed are they that keep his testimonies and that seek him with their whole heart. Seek, seek him with the whole heart.

Jeremiah 24.7 says, and I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. When the power of the Spirit of God breathes new life into the sinner, he gives them a new heart. When he breathes this life, he makes the sinner to believe when he saves his people. The Lord gives them faith in Christ to believe. When they are made to believe, they shall be his people, the Lord's people. He is their God. When his people return unto him, they will have a whole heart, a whole heart of God.

Right now we have this old man on one side and this new man, and they're like vying against each other. But I truly believe this means, when a believer's called home, they shall return unto their father with their whole heart. A whole heart because they'll be heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ.

And then we go on to our next verse, and it says, And turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. All the scriptures important to heed, but here Samuel makes that statement two times in a row. Two separate verses and then the same verse. He says, turn not ye aside, turn not ye aside, don't turn away. And he says, you're gonna go after vain things, for they are vain.

I like how he conveys this because he knows that these people, they're kind of like me. They're the thick skull type. They need to be told multiple different times. Turn ye not aside. Turn not away. Don't turn your back on the Lord. Do not take for granted what the Lord has provided you. I know if you turn away from the Lord, then you're going to go after vain things, worthless things. They provide you no gain, no profit.

we have in the Lord. These things, these idols cannot deliver. They cannot rescue. They can't recover. They can't deliver from sin and guilt. They cannot be plucked out like the Lord can. All these doings are vain. They're empty space. They are the equivalent of the desert. They are confusion, emptiness. They are a place of chaos.

Jeremiah 16, 19 says, oh Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge. In the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, surely our fathers have inherited lies and vanity, and things wherein there is no profit. Vanity, meaning worthlessness. If a man believes there's any benefit in turning away from the Lord and worshiping idols, then they have truly inherited some very dangerous lies, vanity, and unprofitable things. This is not an inheritance that I want. I want and require a sure thing. I have a need for the surety, Christ Jesus.

Shall a man make gods unto himself? They are no gods. If he does, they are no gods, and he has no hope. Once again, they're a very dangerous road these people are treading down. Turn your back on the Lord, and then you turn to making gods of your own? You better hold on.

Verse 21 says, therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know. I will cause them to know mine hand and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord, the Jehovah. I'm not gonna give them several chances. No, I'm gonna make them know this one time. They will know my hand or they will know my might. My name is the Lord.

Habakkuk 2.18 says, what profited what profiteth the graven, as in the carved image that the maker thereof hath graven it. The molten image and teacher of lies that the maker of his work trusted therein to make dumb idols. I really kind of chuckled at that when it said dumb idols, because I was like, yeah, they are dumb. But that dumb actually means mute. They're mute. They can't say anything. They can't proclaim the word of God. They're dumb.

And then on the contrary, it made me think of Isaiah 64, 8, where it says, but thou, O Lord, thou art our father. We are the clay, and thou art potter, and thou art potter, and we all are the work of thy hand. These idols, these little G gods, they're fake, they're not real, because right there it says, we are all the work of thy hand. The sinner is able to fully acknowledge the work of our Lord God. I can't truly explain it, but I believe it. The Lord does it, and it's so. He doesn't think about it. He doesn't, should I do this or not? He just does it. It's wonderful.

But what can the eye of worship acknowledge? They can acknowledge they place their works into forming their idol by their own doing and buying or buying their idol. This is a self-righteous works by works compared to the sinner who knows all his righteousness is based on Christ Jesus. What he accomplished on the cross. The sinner's made to believe he has no other hope, none, but Christ Jesus.

can paint on into Habakkuk 2, verse 19. It says, woe unto him that saith to the wood, awake, till the dumb stone arise. When you're working on wood in your woodshop, has that wood ever spoken back to you? Probably not. Definitely not. Awake, till the dumb stone arise, it shall teach, behold, It is laid over with gold and silver, and there's no breath at all in the midst of it. But the Lord, but the Lord in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him.

And then Psalm 106 48. Says blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting and let all the people say Amen. Praise you the Lord. Fear not. Fear not. Turn not aside from the Lord. Put your heart into serving Him. Put your heart in Him. Thank you.