All right, if you would, let's
begin our service, opening our Bibles to first Samuel. First
Samuel chapter three. I understand that Jackie Simpson
is recovering as well as can be expected at home, getting
a lot of pampering from her nursing staff at home. Continue to remember
her and brother Eric Floyd is preaching in Harrisburg, Kentucky
this morning. So I remember him as he travels
and preaches. All right. First Samuel chapter
three and the child Samuel ministered under the Lord before Eli and
the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open
vision and it came to pass at that time when Eli was laid down
in his place and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not
see and air. The lamp of God went out in the
temple of the Lord for the ark of God was and Samuel was laid
down to sleep that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, here
am I. And he ran unto Eli and said,
here am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I called not, lie
down again. And he went and laid down. And
the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel rose and went to Eli
and said, here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered,
I called not, my son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet
know the Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed unto him. And the Lord called Samuel again
a third time. And he rose and went to Eli and
said, here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that
the Lord had called the child. Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel,
go, lie down, and it shall be if he call, if he call thee,
that thou shalt say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel
went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and
called us at other times, Samuel, Samuel, Then Samuel answered,
Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. And the Lord said to
Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears
of every one that heareth it shall tingle. And that day I
will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning
his house. When I begin, I will also make
an end. For I have told him that I will
judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because
his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. And
therefore I've sworn under the house of Eli that the iniquity
of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice or offering forever. And Samuel lay until the morning
and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared
to show Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel and said,
Samuel, my son. And he answered, here am I. And
he said, what is the thing that the Lord has said unto thee?
I pray thee hide it not from me. God do so to thee, and more
also, if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he
said unto thee. And Samuel told him every wit,
and hid nothing from him. Now there's a true prophet, isn't
there? We talked in our lesson about
false prophets and true prophets. There's a true one. Samuel told
him every wit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, it is
the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none
of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan even
to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet
of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord
revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. Let's stand together as Mike
leads us in singing our call to worship. you Brethren, we have men to worship,
God our Father we embrace. He who chose us for his purpose,
cleansed and saved us by his grace. Worship, honor, power,
and glory unto Christ the Lord belong. He is worthy of our worship. He's the subject of our soul. Brethren, we have meant to worship
Christ our prophet, priest, and king. Let us bow in adoration,
let His praises loudly ring. Worship, honor, power, and glory
unto Christ the Lord belong. He is worthy of our worship. He's the subject of our song. Brethren, we have meant to worship,
God the Spirit on us flow. Even though we are but worthless,
let our praises freely flow. Worship, honor, power, and glory
unto Christ the Lord belong. He is worthy of our worship. He's the subject of our song. Thank you. Be seated. Turn now
to page 16. Number 16. The Lord is King, lift up, lift
up thy voice, sing His praise, sing His praise. All heaven and
earth before Him now rejoice, sing His praise, sing His praise. From world to world the joy shall
ring, For he alone is God and King. From sky to sky his banners
fling, Sing his praise, sing his praise. The Lord is King, let all His
worth declare, Great is He, great is He! Bow to His will, and trust
His tender care, Great is He, great is He! Great is He! Nor murmur at His wise decrees,
Nor doubt His steadfast promises, In humble faith, all on Thy knees,
Great is He! Great is He! The Lord is King, and bow to
Him ye must. God is great, God is good. The judge of all, to all is ever
just. God is great, God is good. Holy and true, all his ways. Let every creature shout his
praise. The Lord upholds, angels obey. God is great, God is good. The Lord is King throughout His
vast domain. He is all, all in all. The Lord Jehovah evermore shall
reign. He is all, all in all. To earth and heaven one song
shall ring, From grateful hearts this anthem spring. Arise, ye saints, salute thy
King, All thy days sing His praise. Sounds hard to beat, isn't it?
437. Number 437. O Master, let me walk with Thee
in lonely peace. Tell me thy secret, help me bear
The strain of toil, the fret of care Help me, the soul of
heart to move By some clear wind Teach me the wayward feet to
stay and guide them in the homeward way. Teach me thy patience still with
thee. In closer, dearer company, In
work that keeps faith sweet and strong, In trust that triumphs
over wrong. In hope that since the shining
ray, Far down the future's broadening way, If you would now open your Bibles
to 1 Samuel chapter 12. 1 Samuel chapter 12. After I read this, Jonathan,
would you come and lead us in prayer, please? You know, the
story that's gone before this, how Israel asked Samuel for a
king. He told them what a human king
would be like, tax them, take their sons to be in his army,
take their daughters to be his maids, and they still wanted
a king. So here in 1 Samuel 12, we'll
pick up our reading in verse 16. Samuel says, now therefore
stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before
your eyes. It's not wheat harvest today. I will call unto the Lord
and he shall send thunder and rain that you may perceive and
see that your wickedness is great, which you have done on the side
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. And all the people said unto
Samuel, pray for thy servants under 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. Ye 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 ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver
for their vain. For the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great namesake, because it has pleased the Lord
to make you his people. Moreover, as for me, God forbid
that I should sin against the Lord and ceasing to pray for
you. But I will teach you the good and the right way. Only
fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for
consider how great things He hath done for you. But if ye
shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your
king. All right, Jonathan, you come
lead us in prayer. Let's pray together. Our most high, holy father, our
father, God, hallowed and holy reverend, be your name in this
place. May your name be, may your name be lifted up and glorified. And, and maybe, maybe truly take
this time and worship you in spirit and in truth. May this
time be a time of worship, pleasing for you and edifying to your
saints. Our father, forgive us. Forgive us for our sinful hearts
that they would stray, but rather call us into remembrance, your
goodness and your mercy to us in Christ. And let us see Christ. Father, give us a spirit that
doesn't, rather than left to ourselves
where we would argue with your word and reason with it, rather
give us faith. Give us faith to believe. and
to say it's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth right
in his sight. Give us faith to believe and faith to trust, faith
to follow. Father, don't take your hand
off of us. Keep us. We'd surely leave you,
but we're comforted by the promise that you won't leave us and you
won't let us stray. Father, hold us. Keep us cleaving. to Christ and keep us cleaving
only to Christ. Don't let our evil minds wander,
for we will, or to find comfort anywhere else but in Christ and
in your word. Father, forgive us our sinfulness. Continue to draw us to Christ,
the throne of mercy, where mercy can be found, the only place
where mercy can be found. Well, we pray for ourselves here.
We do pray for other congregations wherever they meet. And we pray
for your sheep that are in this community. We pray that you call
them out, draw them to yourself through Christ. Forgive our sinfulness. We pray for those of our congregation
and outside of our congregation and in other congregations, those
that we know that are struggling with sickness of the body or
of the mind, brokenheartedness, whatever the trial may be. I
pray that you comfort us as only you can, and in a special way. I pray that you be with our pastor
during this service. Bless your message, and I pray
that you be with us as we listen, that you open our hearts that
we may receive your word. I pray this thankfully in Christ's
name and for his sake. All things work out for good,
we know. Such is God's great design. He orders all our steps below. for purposes divine, for purposes
divine. This is the faith that keeps
me still, no matter what the test, and lets me glory For well I know tis best For
well I know tis best So now the future holds no fear God guards
the work begun And mortals are immortal here Until their work
is done. Until their work is done. Someday the path he chose for
me will all be understood. In heaven's clearer light I'll
see All things worked out for good. All things worked out for good. Alright, if you would, open your
Bibles now to 1 Samuel chapter 12. Let me read to you the text
The verse has been serving as our text for some weeks now.
Hebrews 11 verse 32. And what shall I more say for
the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, the barrack of Samson
and of Jephthah, of David also and Samuel and of the prophets. This morning we've come to Samuel. And just like King David, there
are many stories I could have chosen to illustrate the faith
of Samuel. But one, stood out to me. That's
what I want to preach on this morning. Samuel was perhaps the
greatest of the prophets, one of the greatest judges of Israel.
But it was during Samuel's lifetime that Israel said, give us a king. And understandably, Samuel took
that personally. You just can't help it. You just
can't help it. When somebody rejects the gospel
that we preach, you take it personally. And I'll tell you why we take
that personally. You know, when a man preaches,
we don't just preach to air. We preach to people. I preach
to you. You that I love, you that I care
for, you that I pray that God would give you faith. You matter
to me. That's one of the reasons I preach
to you. So you take it personally if somebody rejects the gospel
that you preach. Look back a few pages at 1 Samuel
8. That's not really the issue,
however. Rejecting God's servant, I suppose,
is bad enough, but that's not the real issue. 1 Samuel 8. Verse 6, this is when Israel
first asked for a king. Verse 6 says, but the thing displeased
Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel
prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel,
hearken unto the voice of the people, and all that they say
unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they rejected
me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works
which they have done since the day that I brought them up out
of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken
me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee." So the
real issue here in Israel asking for a king is they rejected God. And when they did that, they
just showed the nature all of us have. By nature, we all do
the very same thing Israel did here. We reject God. We reject God's way of salvation
for our own way. We reject God's way for the way
that seems right unto us. Even though that way is a way
of destruction, we reject God and His way. So, if God's gonna
save any son of Adam, who we, when we reject him, God's going
to save any of us. It ought to be obvious. It's
got to be by grace through faith, isn't it? Because it can't be
by our works. It cannot be by our decision. And I want us to look at four
points concerning this saving faith this morning, the faith
of Samuel. And number one is this saving
faith does not deny our sin here. First Samuel 12 verse 16. Now therefore, stand and see
this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is
it not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the Lord and
he shall send thunder and rain that you may perceive and see
that your wickedness is great, which you've done on the side
of the Lord in asking you a king. His great wickedness is in 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. 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 day. We've added unto all our sins
this evil to ask us a king. And the great wickedness, the
great sin of Israel was that they asked for a human king.
They wanted to be like all the other nations around them. They
wanted a human king. Instead of God being their king,
instead of God ruling over them, instead of God protecting them
and reigning over them, they wanted a mere man to rule over
them instead of God. And I'll tell you why. They trusted
the arm of the flesh that they could see more than God who is
invisible. That's exactly why they wanted
a king. They trusted the heart, the arm of the flesh. And that
is the heart of all sin. This is at the heart of every
sin. It's not wanting God to rule
over us. That's the heart of every sin. The heart of all sin is rejection
of God's crown rights to make the rules. It's rejection of
God's crown rights to make the law, to make the way of salvation.
It's rejection of God's crown rights to rule over me and do
with me as He will. Rejecting that. That is the heart
of all sin. Wasn't that Adam's sin in the
garden? That was the first sin on this earth. Adam wanted to
be his God. He wanted to be the one knowing
or deciding good and evil. Adam didn't want God to be the
one judging over him. Adam wanted to be able to determine whether
he was good or evil. He wanted to decide, am I doing good or
am I doing evil? He didn't want God to reign over
him. He didn't want God to make the rules. He wanted to make the
rules. He didn't want God to judge over him. He wanted to judge
his own self. Now that's our nature. It's the heart of all
sin. And people who have saving faith,
they don't say, oh, I'm not that bad. They don't say that. People
who have God-given faith say, I'm not bad. I am the chief of
sinners. My sin is wicked. Everything
I've done is sin just added to my evil. People who have God-given
faith, they say with David, they amen him. They say, behold, I
was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
I came forth from the womb, speaking lies, because that's my nature.
That's the nature in which I was conceived, a sin nature. And
someone who has saving faith knows everything I do is sin. So I can't do something to make
God happy with me. I can't do something that will
take away God's wrath against my sin. I need Christ. I need Him to obey the law for
me. That's what I need because I
can't obey it. I need Christ to take my sin away from me because
I can't do it. I need the Lord Jesus Christ
to do for me what I cannot do for myself. I need Him to make
me righteous. I need Him to suffer and die
in my place as my sacrifice to take away my sin and then I don't
need that to just be a historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth died
on the cross. I need God to give me faith to
believe him, to look to him and believe him. That's what I need.
See, faith does not deny our sin. Faith acknowledges our sin.
And the gospel says to those who believe Christ, you fear
not. Fear not. Look at verse 20. And
Samuel said unto the people, fear not. You have done all this
wickedness. It's not fear not because you're
not that wicked. No, you have done all this wickedness. Yet
turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord
with all your heart. Yes, we have sinned against God. Yes, we have. Yet, this is the
good news of the gospel. Yet, fear not. You trust the
Lord Jesus Christ. and you won't be destroyed by
this great tempest. This tempest that came up the
time of the wheat harvest scared the people to death. They thought,
that's going to kill me. Not only is he going to hurt
the wheat, he's going to kill me. And Samuel says, yet fear
not. You've sinned. You deserve this
tempest. But fear not. Trust the Lord. You trust him.
Yes, you're guilty. There's no denying that. But
don't despair of hope. Don't let your guilt make you
despair of hope. Trust in Christ with all your
heart. you shall be saved, despite how
guilty you are. Yes, you've sinned, but don't
let that make you despair of hope because Christ came to save
sinners. Now you trust him. You trust
him. You're guilty. Yeah, absolutely you're guilty.
There's no denying that. But in Christ, you're perfect.
You trust him and depend on him. Saving faith does not deny our
sin. Here's the second thing about
saving faith. Saving faith doesn't quit. Saving faith does not turn
away from trusting Christ. Verse 21, Samuel says, And turn
ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things, which
cannot profit nor deliver for their vain. Now this is a very
serious warning. Don't turn away from trusting
Christ. You trust Him, and then you keep trusting Him. Because
if you turn away from Christ, you're going to trust in something
that can't profit your soul. If you're going to turn away
from Christ, You're going to trust an idol. And that idol
is vain. It's empty. It's barren. It cannot
deliver. That idol is empty of righteousness. It can't make you righteous.
That idol is empty of power. It can't take away your sin.
It can't do anything for your soul. And we're warned. Look at 2 Peter 2. We're warned
about this in many places in scripture. But this one in 2
Peter makes a good point. about the seriousness of this.
We're warned in Scripture about not turning away from faith in
Christ alone, to trust Christ plus something else, or just
to trust something else completely different, you know, the arm
of the flesh, like what Israel's doing here. 2 Peter 2, verse
20. For if, after they've escaped
the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome,
The latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For
it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness,
than after they've known it, to turn from the holy commandment
delivered unto them. But it's happened unto them,
according to the true proverb, the dog has turned to his own
vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in
the mire." Now that's a sobering warning, isn't it? We need to
pray that the Lord give us heart faith. and not just a head knowledge
of the truth, not just a head knowledge of the doctrine. Because
you heard what Peter says here. If anybody claims to trust Christ,
they say, yes, I believe that they claim to trust Christ. They
have some knowledge of what the scripture says about how God
saves sinners. And then they turn away from it. They turn
away from trusting Christ alone. What they show is they never
had saving faith in the first place. It was just a head knowledge. It wasn't in the heart. and their
end had been better for them if they'd never known the way
of truth in the first place. That's why we need to pray for
this, that the Lord would give us heart faith that would not
turn from Him. Look back in our text, 1 Samuel
12, verse 25. Now trust the Lord, trust Him.
Trust Him with all your heart and don't turn back. But if you
shall still do wickedly, Samuel said, you should be consumed. There's no hope. For both you
or your king, you're both going to be destroyed. Now, what is
this doing wickedly if you still do wickedly? Well, you know,
doing wickedly primarily is not living in what the world calls
sin and wickedness. I have no doubt that's included,
but that's not the main thing that Sam was talking about here.
The most wicked thing any person can do is trust their salvation
to their own works. It's the most wicked thing. It's
the most wicked thing we can do to trust our salvation to
our morality. What good people we are. Because
brethren, that's an idol. That's an idol. An idol is something
that's a figment of man's imagination that we've made up. Is that right?
Well, saying our works are good enough to satisfy God, that our
morality is good enough to satisfy God, that's an idol that doesn't
exist. It's vain. It's empty. It's just
a figment of our imagination. The most wicked thing anybody
can do is to turn from Christ and trust something else. But God's people are those to
whom God the Holy Spirit has given saving faith. And those
people will not, they cannot turn from trusting Christ. The
writer of the Hebrews says in Hebrews 10 verse 39, But we're
not of them that draw back under perdition, but we're of them
that believe to the saving of the soul. See, we turn from trusting
Christ. Our end is to be consumed by
God's wrath. But we who believe, believe to
the saving of the soul. We keep believing and keep believing
to the end. Those who have been given saving
faith, they will not draw back from Christ because of the nature
of saving faith. That's not their strength. It's
not their ability. It's not their nature. Certainly
it's not their nature. It's the nature of saving faith.
The nature of saving faith can't believe anything other than Christ.
We must persevere in the faith. I was talking to a pastor friend
of mine recently and talking about people who are just here
every week and it's been years and years and years and years
and years and they're still here. What a blessing that is. I'm
so thankful. But let's be careful. Don't make
a work out of persevering in the faith. God's saints persevere
in the faith. They do. They absolutely do.
But you know why? It's because God keeps them and
He preserves them by the same grace by which He saved them
and called them in the first place. It's by His sovereign
grace. Saving faith is not going to
turn away from Christ because that's the nature of faith that
God gives. And anyone that God gives this
gift of saving faith to, they will keep trusting Christ. Saving
faith won't turn from trusting Christ. And here's the third
thing. Saving faith is in the God of
election. I trust God who chose me first. I trust God who loved me first. That's saving faith. Look at
verse 22. Oh, what a sweet verse this is. For
the Lord will not forsake his people for his great namesake,
because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. Now this
is a promise from God. The Lord will not forsake his
people. His people, this is not a promise
to every son of Adam saying God's going to be with you and God's
not going to give you more you can bear and God's not going
to forsake you. The promise of scripture is the Lord will not
forsake his people, the people that he chose to say before time
began. Now, any honest reading of scripture
knows God elected a people to salvation and God did not choose
those people because they were any better than anybody else.
No, that would be God taking credit for what you're already
going to do, wouldn't it? God didn't do that. Apostle Paul
tells us in Romans 9 that the Lord elected a people. He chose
a people before they were born, before they ever did any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand. To show us that God's election is not based upon our
works. God chose to save sinful men and women. so that the purpose
of God, according to election, might stand. So we know this
thing of salvation began with God's electing love, or God elected
a people into salvation. And God chose a sinful people
to save, not because of our nature, but because of the nature of
God, the character of God. Almighty God is holy, yet he
has the capacity to love sinners. God hates sin. He hates the workers of iniquity. Yet God has the capacity to love
sinners. I love to think about and to
talk about and to read and to hear about God's election of
a people. This doctrine of election is
not a mean, cold, hard doctrine. If you hear the doctrine of election
preached that way, you're hearing it preached wrong. This doctrine
of election is not a mean doctrine, not a hard doctrine that keeps
people from being saved, even though they want to. The sinner
wants to be saved. God said, no, can't do it because
I didn't choose you. Some poor sinner is never going
to come to God begging for mercy. And God said, boy, I'd like to
show mercy to you. It delights me to show mercy
to sinners, but I'm not going to show it to you because I didn't
like you in the first place. That's not an election. God's an election of a people.
is the most loving thing that I know of. God chose Jacob. Jacob was a scoundrel. Jacob's
a cheat. Jacob's a, oh my. But God chose
Jacob because he loved him anyway. And the same thing is true of
all of God's Jacobs. All of us, everybody who believes
puts their name in Jacob's place. is a cheat and a scoundrel. Tried to cheat God of his glory,
tried to rob God of his glory. He's a no count, no good, nobody
from nowhere. But God chose him anyway, because
God loves sinners. God's choice of a people and
God's love for his people is sovereign love. It's sovereign
love just because God chose to do just because he would, because
of his character. And this is a loving, glorious
doctrine. When God told Moses about his
electing love, he told Moses, now this is sovereign mercy.
This is God's electing love. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I will have mercy. And I'll have what? Compassion,
love. I'll have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. See, this is sovereign, isn't
it? Paul said in Romans 9, 16, so then it's not of him that
willeth, it's not of him that runneth, but it's of God that
showeth mercy. See, when you read about God's
choice of a people, God's election of a people in scripture, it's
always tied to mercy, to love, to compassion, to pity for sinners. God's electing of the election
of a people is a loving doctrine that shows us God's love for
sinners. And Samuel says, it pleased the
Lord. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people. Choosing to save a sinful people
through the obedience of his son and through the sacrifice
of God's son, that pleased God. That pleased all of his attributes.
It pleased his mercy. Now God can be merciful to sinners
in Christ. And that pleases God. It pleases
him to show mercy to sinners. God will not cast away His people when the hour is so dark and
you think, I cannot take another step. I don't have the strength
to draw another breath. Moreover, I don't even want to.
And you think, look at me, this is, I'm the most horrible excuse
for somebody that claims to be God there is. And I'm in this
dark pit. I'm in this violent storm because
God's cast me off. You hang on to this promise.
God will not forsake his people. He will not because it pleases
him to be merciful to you in Christ. It pleases him. One of the things about God being
God is He does as He will. He's going to do what pleases
Him, I promise you that. Salvation through the obedience
and through the sacrifice of Christ pleases God's mercy. It
also pleases justice. Justice is satisfied in the death
of Christ. God's still holy. God still hates
sin, but God's not going to forsake His people because there's no
reason for Him to. Christ took away sin and made
God angry. It's gone. And the Father is pleased. He's
pleased with His Son and He's pleased with everybody in His
Son. So He's never going to forsake Him. In that dark hour, you can
hang on to that promise of God. He's not going to forsake His
people. See, both mercy and justice demand God to let people be saved. That's what Brother Clay told
us Wednesday night. all Israel shall be saved. God's mercy,
God's justice demanded. So here's the comfort for God's
people. Yes, you've seen it. Yes, no denying it. Yes, you
could never do anything to please God. But God has pleased himself. He pleased himself by choosing
you. He pleased himself by saving
you. He's pleased himself by showing mercy to you. And he's
pleased himself to keep you from perishing. And you will often
in this journey, from here to glory, find yourself cast down
often, but you'll never find yourself forsaken, ever. Yes, you've sinned, but God's
not going to forsake you. You know why? He forsook your
substitute at Calvary. When Christ cried, my God, my
God, why has thou forsaken me? He didn't ask that for his information.
He'd ask that so we'd know. The Father forsook him there.
He's my substitute. He'll never forsake me. That's
the good news. God cannot forsake you if Christ
died for you. Yes, you've sinned, but you trust
Christ and you fear not. Trust God's covenant of grace.
Don't trust your works. Trust God's covenant of grace
and you will find peace for your soul. Yes, Yes, you've turned
from God. There's no question about it,
you've turned from God. But God will never turn from the people
that he chose to save. Yes, you've rejected Christ,
but he'll never reject you. No, he'll never reject you. God
chose you and Christ died for you. He'll never reject you.
Now I know, here's how I know, all of God's elect people shall
be saved. Here's how I know that. because
the glory of God depends upon it. The glory of His name depends
upon it. You know why God saves sinners?
God saves sinners so He will be glorified. Not so we'll be
glorified. So that He will be glorified.
God has put the glory of His name at stake in this matter
of saving His people. God would lose all of His glory
if even one person he chose to save perishes. He chose to save
a number no man can number. Christ died for a number. You
can't count him. No man can number him. And if
just one was missing out of that, we'd think, who would ever notice?
But God would lose all of his glory if just one of them was
lost. Just one of them. He's put the glory of his name
at stake on this thing. Now that's good doctrine. That
is true doctrine. No question about it. But that's
also assurance and comfort for God's people. My salvation does
not depend upon me being good enough to earn or to keep salvation. It doesn't depend on that. My
salvation does not depend upon my good name and my reputation. And I don't mind telling you
my reputation is mighty important to me. I do whatever I can to
take care of it. But my salvation doesn't depend
upon that, and it's a good thing. Because there's no hope there.
There's no hope there. My salvation depends on God's
name. On His name that tells us who
God is. My salvation depends on God doing
what He promised to do. So He's going to protect His
reputation. He will do what He promised to do. He's going to
protect His reputation. My salvation depends upon the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If He is enough to save me, I've
got comfort and assurance for my soul. Don't you? Christ is
enough. What more can I ask? I've got
comfort for my soul. Here's a good way to sum up this
point, I think. When you hear, men have made
up countless number of ways you can be saved. Well, if you hear
any of these other different ways, here's how you can test
it. If I get any credit, in this
thing of salvation. It can't be the gospel. If I
get any credit for this thing of salvation, I can't find any
comfort, any hope for my soul. Because if I get any credit in
it, you know what that means? Before I can get credit for it,
I first got to do something to earn the credit. And I can't. I can't. But if God, it's all
the glory in my salvation, then I've got hope for my soul. And
my soul is comforted because he can do what I can't do. He
has done what I cannot do. That is where my faith is. It's
in the God, the covenant God who chose a people and sent his
son to save those people from their sins. All right, here's
the fourth thing. Saving faith works. Now, does it sound like I'm getting
ready to mix grace and works and faith and works here? I'm
not. But saving faith does work. It does. It works in love. Love
for God and love for people. 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 the right way. James tells us that faith without
works is dead. Paul tells us in Galatians 5
that faith worketh by love. Love for God and love for people.
Samuel tells us here in this verse, saving faith works. It
works in three ways. In prayer, in preaching, and
considering. First, faith works in prayer.
Now if God's given you life, if He's given you faith in Christ,
you pray. Believers pray just as naturally
as the flesh breathes. And you pray because you're not
fatalistic. No, you pray in love for God
and love for God's people. Samuel says, if I didn't pray
for you, I'd be sinning against the Lord. So a good prayer would
be that the Lord would get glory to his name by saving his people,
just like he promised. That prayer shows love for God,
doesn't it? Love for God, praying that God would get the glory
he deserves. And it shows love for people, that God would save
them by his grace. Praying that the Lord would bless
me spiritually, that's one thing. Praying that the Lord bless you
spiritually and He bless you physically, that shows love for
you, doesn't it? Praying the Lord would comfort me is one
thing. Praying the Lord comforts you, that's something else, isn't
it? That's love for you. Praying that the Lord's will
would be done in those matters. I pray that the Lord bless you,
physically and spiritually. I pray those of you who are suffering
a time of trial, I pray the Lord comforts you and the Lord would
deliver you. and then praying that the Lord's will be done
in these matters. That shows love for God, doesn't it? And
love for His people. And prayer is very important. You see, I know, I know God's
going to do His eternal will. I know He is. I know there's
absolutely nothing can stop God from doing what He purposed to
do in eternity. I know that. Tomorrow's headline
is already written. God's already purposed what's
going to happen tomorrow. It's going to happen just like He
purposed. But, I mean, I believe that just as strong as I believe
anything I believe that. But that does not mean that I
don't pray. Because I say, it doesn't matter
whether I pray or not. I mean, God's going to do what
He's going to do no matter what I do. The believer doesn't think that way.
If you ever think that way, and you find it difficult to pray,
My advice to you is this, whatever it is the Lord's laid on your
heart, pray earnestly about it. Cause then I'll show you why.
Look at Ezekiel chapter 36, Ezekiel chapter 36. I'll show you why
I say that. Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse
21. Here God's going to talk about
His holy name again. Why is it that He had pity on His people?
Why is it He did this? Verse 21 says, But I had pity
for mine holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among
the heathen, whether they win. Therefore say unto the house
of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake,
O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you profaned
among the heathen, whether you win. And this is what I'm going
to do. I will sanctify my great name. which was profaned among
the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them. And the
heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God,
when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I
will take you from among the heathen and gather you out of
all countries. And I will bring you back into your own land.
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and you should be clean
from all your filthiness and from all your idols while I cleanse
you. A new heart also, will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit
within you and cause you to walk on my statues, and you shall
keep my judgments and do them, and you shall dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and
I will be your God. I will also save you from all
your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn and will increase
and will lay no famine upon you, and I will multiply the fruit
of the tree and the increase of the field, and you shall receive
no more reproach of famine among the heathen. Then shall you remember
your own evil ways and your doings that were not good, and shall
loathe yourselves and your own sight for your iniquities and
for your abominations." The Lord says, that's what I'm going to
do. Is anything going to stop God from doing it? Is He going
to change His mind and go back on it? Or is God going to do
everything He promised for His people right there? No, He's
going to get glory to His name, isn't He? He's going to gather
His people out of the heathen. He's going to bring them into
their own land, the land that He promised them. And He's not
just talking to the nation Israel now. He's talking to His people
spiritually. Spiritual Israel. I'm going to bring you to the
land that I promised. I'm going to bring you to Christ. I'm going
to sprinkle clean water upon you, and you're going to be clean.
I'm going to give you a new nature. There's the water, there's the
Holy Spirit. I'm going to give you a new nature and cleanse you.
I'm going to give you a new heart and a new spirit. I'm going to
put my spirit within you and cause you to walk on my statues.
I will save you from all of your unrighteousness. I will do that.
Is there any question in your mind God's not going to do that?
That's going to happen. But look at verse 37. Thus saith
the Lord God. This is what I'm going to do.
I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel and
do it for them. I will increase them with men
like a flock. God says, this is my will, and
I'm going to do it. But I'm going to put it in the
heart of my people to pray for it, and then and only then am
I going to do it. That's why I told you, whatever
it is that's on your heart, pray for it earnestly. Because when
God puts it in the heart of His people, and He causes them to
start praying, God's fixing to do something. He puts it in the
heart of His people, makes them pray for it, and then He does
what He determined to do from all of eternity. Faith works
in prayer, doesn't it? So you just don't worry that
you don't know how to pray or what to pray for as you ought
to. Spirit leads you. You just pray for what God's put on you.
All right, second, faith works in preaching and teaching. Samuel
says, I'm going to pray for you and then I'm going to teach you
the good way. I'm going to teach you the right way. Now we read
when it opened the service when Samuel was just a boy and the
Lord came to him and said, Samuel, Samuel began his spiritual life
preaching the Word of God, telling Eli exactly what God told him.
Eli didn't want to hear it, but Samuel told him just exactly
what God told him. Samuel began his life that way,
and he's going to keep doing it, is what he says. Saving faith
not only believes Christ, but it preaches Christ. Christ is
the good way. He's the right way. The only
right way God can save sinners is in Christ. The only way of
righteousness is in Christ. It's by trusting Christ. We can't
earn it by our works. We have it by faith in Christ.
Christ is the only right way to God. He's the only right way
of salvation. And a man who loves God and who
loves people will faithfully and continually preach that message
of salvation by grace. Because that message is the only
message that honors God. It's the only message that will
do anything for poor lost sinners. And then thirdly, faith works
by considering. Verse 24, back in our text, 1
Samuel 12. Samuel says, only fear the Lord
and serve Him in truth with all your heart. For consider how
great things He has done for you. Yes, you've sinned, but
saving faith Doesn't deny that truth, does it? And we remember
our sin. We say with David, my sins ever
before me. Remember your sin. Don't forget
that. But don't consider it. Don't dwell on it. Don't stare
at it. That's what the word means. Look to Christ. Consider Christ.
Look to him. Stare at him. The writer to the
Hebrews said, if you want to consider something, consider
him. That endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. You
consider Him lest you become weary and faint in your minds. Consider, just consider, what
great things God has done for you. We don't have the time to
talk about all those things, the great things. Let me give
you a few. And this afternoon, you consider
these things. Consider how God chose you when
you never would have chosen Him. Consider God's electing grace
that he would choose those who sin against him. Consider the
depth of God's electing love that he would choose to save
those who could not love him. Consider God's great love in
giving his only son to be the propitiation for your sin. I
consider that. Consider that. Consider the sufficiency
of Christ. I don't deny my sin, but despite
all my sin, despite the sin that is ever before me, the blood
of Christ is sufficient to cleanse me from all sin. I consider that. Consider this. How God's had compassion on you.
Consider that. And then try to tell others what
great things God's done for you. That He had compassion on somebody
like you. Consider this. God the Holy Spirit
has given you life and faith. He caused you to be born again. Consider that. How the Spirit
has revealed Christ both to you and in you. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. Consider you have a good home.
Because this great thing God's done for you. Consider this. How God's sovereign grace chose
you. how God's sovereign grace calls
you to Christ. And despite your weak faith,
the Spirit's given you faith, but despite how weak it is, despite
how ashamed of it you often are, God's sovereign grace will keep
you to the end, that He'll never cast you out. You'd leave Him
in heartbeat if He let you, but He'll never forsake you. Consider
that God's grace is sovereign grace. If God's grace is sovereign,
rules overall, then nothing can overpower it and cause me to
fall away from Christ. Now you consider that. Consider
all God's promises to his people. Oh, what great promises, precious
promises that he will never, no never, no never leave nor
forsake his people. If we consider that, that'll
comfort our heart one. If we consider what great things
God has done for us, that'll give us peace and joy and rest,
and it'll enable us to get to work. Get to work serving the
Lord in truth. I hope the Lord bless that to
you. Let's bow together. Our Father,
we thank you for your word. We thank you for God-given faith,
and we beg of thee that you send your Spirit and give us this
faith. Give each heart here this morning faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ so we can leave here and go home believing in and resting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, in what time that
you've given us to have here on this earth, let us spend the
rest of it in faith and in love serving Thee, serving Your people. Don't let us sin against Thee.
ceasing to pray for one another, but Father, give us the faith
to look to thee, rest in thee, and to work, serving in your
kingdom with all of our heart, out of love and thanksgiving
for all the great things that you've done for us. It's in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's stand and sing 438, 438,
and we'll sing the chorus after the second and the fourth verse. Sweetly, Lord, have we heard
Thee calling, Come, follow me. And we see where the footprints
falling Lead us to Thee. Though they lead o'er the cold,
dark mountains Seeking His sheep, Or along by Siloam's fountain
Helping the weak. that makes the pathway go. We will follow the steps of Jesus,
where'er they go. If they lead through the temple
holy, preaching the word, For in homes of the poor and lowly
serving the Lord. Then at last, when on high he
sees us, our journey done, We will rest where the steps of
Jesus Indite His throne. The footprints of Jesus that
make the pathway glow. We will follow the steps of Jesus
where'er they go.