Turn with me, if you would, back
to 1 Samuel chapter 12. 1 Samuel 12. In the message this morning,
I told you that Sunday evening is generally a time of reflection. That's kind of the theme that
I have in my mind whenever I'm preparing the message for Sunday
evening. And with that theme in mind, this is what I want
us to look at tonight. It's one statement, it's three
words, and we're going to use verse 24 for a text. 1 Samuel
12, verse 24, it says, only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all
your heart, for consider how great things," and here are the
three words, he hath done for you. Great things he hath done. He hath done. That's something
to reflect on, that is truly something to just take a minute
and sit and ponder for a while. He hath done. I'll tell us this, if the Lord
ever reveals to us what Christ hath done, we will find the gospel,
we will find relief, we will find life. He hath done. While so many people are talking
about what he wants to do or what he plans on doing or what
we have to do or. Here's the truth and here's the
gospel he hath done. That's all we're here to declare.
And so that's what we're going to do tonight. We're just going
to enjoy some things and ponder some things. And we're going
to read a little bit and say a little bit. And relax a little
bit. and reflect a little bit on things that our God has said
to us in His Word. Samuel said, just consider all
of the great things that He hath done for you. They are done. They are ordered
and sure done. Forever settled in heaven, done. They're done. Just consider it. Just consider
it. Now, it's really something to
consider in light of who he did it for. Everything that we're
about to see that he has done, what's something worth pondering
is who he did it for. Who did he do great things for?
Well, Samuel said right here, he did it for you. And Samuel said, this is what
you have done in return. If you look with me at verse
20, Samuel said unto the people, fear not. You have done all this
wickedness. You say, well, Samuel was talking
to a particular people about a particular moment. Just turn
somewhere else. It'll say the same thing. Doesn't
matter who the people are. It doesn't matter what the moment
is. Just turn to another place. It'll say the same thing over
and over. You have done all of this wickedness. He said, that's what you have
done. Wickedness, evil, corruption, rebellion. That's all we've done.
That's literally all that we have done. But I love this. Samuel said, before he said that,
he said, fear not. Fear not. In spite of everything
you have done, fear not. Verse 20, 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
should you go after vain things. And I'll tell you this, if we
turn aside from Christ, that's all we will go after is a vain
thing. That means an empty thing, something
of no value, something of no worth, something that will not
stand in the end. If we hold to anything but Christ,
we're going to find out in the end we were holding to nothing.
It is vanity. It will vanish away. Verse 21,
turn ye not aside for then should you go after vain things which
cannot profit nor deliver for they are vain. Verse 22 says
for the Lord will not forsake his people. Don't you love that?
What a thing to reflect on. What a thing to just ponder and
consider the glory of it. Verse 22 says, the Lord will
not forsake his people for his great names sake. Why will he not forsake his people?
Because they will then turn over a new leaf and do good and do
right. No, he won't forsake his people for his own self's sake. He won't forsake his people because
of his own faithfulness, not their faithfulness, not our faithfulness.
His own faithfulness. He won't forsake his people because
of his own covenant to them. He made a promise. He made a
promise. That's who he is. The covenant
keeper, the Savior, he made a promise to save his people. That's what
his name's sake is. Savior. He is the Savior. That's who he is. That's what
he came to do. And that's what he did. You know,
when he cried, it is finished, did you know it was done? Did
you know that? It was done. The scripture says,
because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. And for that reason, verse 22
says, the Lord will not forsake his people, his chosen people,
his elect people. For His great name's sake, because
it hath pleased the Lord to make you His people." Who makes people
the Lord's? Do we make ourselves to be His
people? It says, it pleased the Lord to make you His people. Salvations of the Lord, elections
of the Lord, the people of God are of the Lord. God gets the
glory for it. He gets the credit for it. So
the Lord. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. But what a thing to ponder and
what a thing to reflect on. Just see if you can dial into
this, OK? It pleased the Lord to choose
you. It pleased the Lord to choose
you. It pleased the Lord to make you His people. It pleased the
Lord to choose for His own people to be the sheep of His own pasture
and the family of His own household. It pleased the Lord to choose
wicked, wretched sinners like me and you. I will tell you a
little something about myself. I'm a wicked, wretched sinner
in this flesh. I always have been. And I'm starting
to believe I always will be. But thank God that's who he chose
to save. This is a faithful saying, and
it's worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. And I'm the chief. Everybody
thinks Christ came to save the good people. Everybody thinks
Christ came to save the righteous people. He said, I did not come
to call the righteous. I came for the sinners. And that's such good news because
that's what I am and that's what we are. Just think about that all through
the Psalms and through different portions of scripture, we see
the word Selah and that's what it means. It means a couple of
things. It means this is a song and that's the next verse or
the next key change. But it also means just think
about where we just were and what we just said. Just pause
and think about that for a minute. Selah. What a thing to pause
and think on. Why would he choose us? Why would
he choose us? Because we were the worst. We
were the worst. That's the reason why. Verse
23 says, Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. You know, I beg
God for myself. All the time. Let me not forget
to beg God for others. I'll never forget before I was
called to come here, I was traveling around quite a bit and I went
to Madisonville, Kentucky and a dear brother named Paul Hibbs
was conducting the service that morning and he read scripture
and led in prayer and in his prayer he said, Lord, give us
a greater concern for men's souls. And that impacted me. I've never
forgotten it. I want to pray the same thing.
I pray that the Lord would answer that prayer. Lord, give us a
greater concern for men's souls. While men and women are so blind
in religion, they're so blind to what this book actually says,
my heart breaks for people because they don't know what this book
says. They know what has been passed
down to them, and they believe it because they trust the people
who told them. But every soul is going to find
out one day what this book really says. Salvation and mercy is
finding out right now. And that's why we tell everybody
we can tell. This is what the almighty God
has said, Lord, please give us a heart for men and women's souls.
Give us a prayer for men and women's souls. I pray he has,
he told Paul to stay in Corinth. He said, you stay right there.
I have much people in this city and I pray the same thing for
this place. I pray God has much people here and I pray he'll
call them out. Verse 23, 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. And
here it is. Verse 24, only fear the Lord. That's something that, you know,
we have this TV broadcast and I think about it all the time.
That's our opportunity to really tell this town, tell this city
the truth. And that's something that I want
and desire and do say all the time. This God is to be feared. This God is to be feared. He
truly is to be feared. This is a holy God, which means
He must do what's right. And that means He has to punish
sin. And I promise, we're all sinners.
You say, I don't believe you. Well, that's calling God a liar.
Based on 1 John 1, if a man says he doesn't have sin, he's deceiving
himself and calling God a liar. That's a sin. is God is to be feared. Here's
the good and right way. Only fear the Lord. And serve
him in truth, not in lies, in truth with all your heart. For consider how great things. He hath done for you. Consider
how great things he hath done. I want us to take just a minute
here Really consider those three words. He hath done. That is
such a happy thing to ponder and know once you understand. Once we all understand our inability,
once we really enter into fact to the fact that we are unable
to do anything to save ourselves or justify ourselves before God,
and then to hear that he has already done it for his people.
That is such a relieving thing to ponder. That is such a. That's
a happy thing to know. That's a peaceful and a restful
thing. And I want us to just read a
few places. We're going to turn to a couple
of scriptures here and just really consider and reflect on some
of those things. And the text right here tells
us it's all great things. Everything He has done is all
great things. So turn with me here to a few
of them. All right, let's go to 1 Chronicles chapter 16. First Chronicles 16, verse 8, it says, give thanks
unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds among
the people. Make them known. Sing unto Him,
sing psalms unto Him, talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory
ye in His holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength. Seek His face continually. Remember His marvelous works
that He hath done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth. David said, Remember all of His
marvelous works that He hath done, everything it pleased Him
to do. Now in Psalm 115, David said,
Our God is in the heavens, and He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased in His sovereignty, in His majesty, in His authority. What does God do? Whatever he
wants to do. He does whatever he wants to
do. God is sovereign and he does whatever he wants to do. Well,
if it pleases him to do it, he does it. He said, no one can
stop me. He said, no one can even question
me. What did it please him to do?
Samuel told us it pleased the Lord to make wicked sinners to
be His people. That's what it pleased Him to
do. It pleased God to elect a people. It pleased God to call those
people to Himself. It pleased God to predestinate
those people to Himself to be conformed to the image of Himself. Think about that. Just think about that. Ponder
that. The image of Himself. To me, it feels blasphemous to
even say that. If He didn't say it, I wouldn't
say it. What did it please Him to do?
This is what Isaiah 53 says. It says, It pleased the Lord
to bruise Christ for the sake of His people. Those wicked people. Just ponder that. Every one of
those wicked people, you talk about a thing to ponder. It pleased
the father to bruise Christ instead of those people. Oh, the love,
the amazing love. How can it be that thou my God
would die for me? How, how can that be? Why would
that be? That's what it pleased him to
do. What did it please him to do?
It pleased God to make his people complete in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased the father to put
all fullness in Christ, the fullness of the Godhead in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to see the Godhead,
look at Christ. And it pleased the father to
put the fullness of his people in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
of that fullness meets right there in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything is in him. Everything
is in him. That's amazing, isn't it? That's
what it pleased the Lord to do. Verse 12 says, Remember His marvelous
works that He hath done, His wonders in the judgments of His
mouth. Remember them, let's not forget
them. Turn with me over to Psalm 66. Psalm 66, verse 1, it says, Make
a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honor
of his name. Make his praise glorious. Say unto God, how terrible art
thou in thy works. Through the greatness of Thy
power shall Thine enemies submit themselves unto Thee. All the
earth shall worship Thee and shall sing unto Thee. They shall
sing to Thy name. Come and see the works of God. He is terrible in His doing toward
the children of men. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the flood on
foot. There did we rejoice in Him. He ruleth by His power forever. His eyes behold the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt
themselves. O bless our God, ye people, and
make the voice of His praise heard. Now watch verse 9. Which
holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be
moved. What an amazing statement. He
holds our soul in life. He holds it in life. Look down
at verse 16. It says, come and hear all ye
that fear God. And I will declare what he hath
done for my soul. David said, if you're willing
to sit and listen, I'm willing to tell you everything. Everything
he hath done for my soul, he chose it, he predestinated it,
he redeemed it, he regenerated it, he has kept it. Oh, the marvelous
things, the marvelous works he's done for my soul. We're going
to have an eternity to ponder this, but it's so good to do
it now, do it here. Look at Psalm 98 with me. Psalm 98 verse 1 says, O sing
unto the LORD a new song, for He hath done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm
hath gotten Him the victory. That's Christ. And the battle's
over. The victory's won. Verse 2 says,
The LORD hath made known His salvation. His righteousness
hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. That's
amazing. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the
house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have
seen the salvation of our God. That's what he hath done for
us. He got the victory for us. He made his salvation known and
he remembered his mercy. Look at Psalm 103, one page over. Verse 1 says, Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Soul, don't
forget everything He's done for you. Don't forget everything
He's done for you. Verse 3 says, Who forgiveth all
thine iniquities, all of them, who healeth all thy diseases. If we have something and He heals
us in His life, in this life, that's the Lord that did that.
And if He calls us home through it and takes us through it, that's
the Lord that did that. Either way, He heals all our
diseases. Verse 4 says, Who redeemeth thy
life from destruction. Every man born into this world
is born dead and trespasses and sins and lives a life headed
to destruction. But God, who is rich in mercy,
stops that child of hell, as the scripture calls them, and
delivers him, deliver him from going down to the pit. I found
a ransom. Verse four, who redeemeth thy
life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and
tender mercies. How can a holy God love a wicked
sinner? Only in Christ. Verse five says,
who satisfies thy mouth with good so that thy youth is renewed
like the eagles. The Lord executed the righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. Oh, bless the Lord. We could
just keep reading and reading. Bless the Lord for everything
He's done. Can we not say that? If we can
say that, then I believe we can say this, all right? Turn with
me to Mark chapter 7. Based on everything we've read,
let's ponder this for just a second here. Mark 7 verse 31, it says, And
again, departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto
the sea of Galilee through the midst of the coast of Decapolis.
And they bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment
in his speech, and they besieged him to put his hands upon him.
And he took him aside from the multitude and put his fingers
into his ears, and he spit and touched his tongue. And looking
up to heaven, he sighed and saith unto him, Ephetha, that is, be
opened. And straightway his ears were
opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake
plain. And he charged them that they
should tell no man But the more he charged them, so much the
more, a great deal, they published it. And I love that. Every time
he did a miracle, he would tell them, don't go tell anybody.
He didn't lift up his voice in the streets and cry on his own
behalf. And every time they couldn't stand, they just couldn't help
themselves. They went and told everybody. Verse 36, He charged them that
they should tell no man, but the more He charged them so much,
the more a great deal they published it. And were beyond measure astonished,
saying, He hath done all things well. He maketh both the deaf
to hear and the dumb to speak. He hath done all things well. While we take the time to ponder
everything that He has done for us, Let's reflect on the fact
that in all of it, he has done well. In all of it, in everything
he has done, he has done all things well. We wouldn't change
one of his judgments or his providences concerning any of us, would we?
We would not change one of them. And it's because we know he has
done right in all of them. That's all he does. He has brought
good through everything. We may not understand everything
that he brings us through. We may wonder how we're going
to get through everything he brings us through. We may think
we're not going to make it through everything he brings us through. We may go through things that
are not easy and not pleasant, but If we get down to the heart
of the matter, if we get to the root and the truth of the matter,
this is what God's people will say every time. He hath done
all things well. All things well. And everything
that he does concerning us from this point forward, no matter
how difficult it may seem, we're going to look back on it and
we're going to say it was well. It was well. He did all things
well. As Job said, even if He slays
us, we'll still trust Him. Because it'll be well. It'll
be well. If we could really reflect on
this and ponder this and get a hold of this, it would bring
great peace. Great peace. If we could just
be still and know that He is God, it will bring great peace
and comfort to us. Just considering His faithfulness
and His trustworthiness in everything that He has done to this point. His faithfulness and His trustworthiness
in everything He's done to this point. We can rest in His faithfulness
and His trustworthiness in everything He will do from this point on.
I don't know what's around the corner. I expect heartache. for myself. I don't want it, and I don't
ask for it. But based on what this Word says,
I expect trials and tribulations to come. I expect a waning away from this
world to come. But in all of it, it's going
to be well. I believe that. I know that I
believe that in everything he does, it's going to be well.
I've told you this illustration before many times, but it's just
such a good reminder. Uh, George Whitfield, a man from,
you know, many, many years ago, a preacher for many years ago,
he was traveling one night to another town to preach. He was
on a horseback and it was pouring rain. It was cold and it was
raining and he was miserable. And he was, I guess, complaining about it.
But he was asking the Lord, why all of this rain? Why? I'm so
miserable. I'm going to preach your word,
Lord. Why? Why so much rain? Why does it
have to be so cold and so rainy in this travel? And he just he
was just whining and complaining and whining and complaining.
until he rounded a corner and a robber jumped out with a flint
pistol and fired it. And the pistol wouldn't go off
because the flint was too wet. And he hightailed it out saying,
thank you for the rain. Oh, that rain is so well. Thank
God for the rain. Brother Whitfield could say,
just ponder the rain. Just take a minute and reflect
on the rain. He did that. He did that and
he did it for me. He did that for me. I didn't know it at the time,
but man, that was a great thing. And spiritually speaking, everything
he's done for us is a great thing. And physically speaking. Everything
he has done for us and everything that he will do for us is a great
thing. One of these days, we're going to see everything he does
for us is a great thing. That's something to reflect on,
isn't it? All right. Amen. Brother Eddie, you come.