tonight to chapter 12. First Samuel chapter 12 and this
evening we're going to look at three divisions in this chapter
and then the Lord willing look at a promise that is given to
us near the end of the chapter. First Samuel calls the people
to testify to his faithful service. Let's read these first five verses.
Samuel, he calls the people to testify, to witness to his faithful
service. And Samuel said unto all Israel,
behold, I've hearkened unto your voice and all that you said unto
me and have made a king over you and now Behold, the king
walketh before you, and I am old and gray-headed. And behold,
my sons are with you, and I have walked before you from my childhood
unto this day. Behold, here I am, witness against
me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I
taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Or
whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or of
whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? And I will restore it you. And
they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither
hast thou taken out of any man's hand. And he said unto them,
The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this
day. that you have not found ought
in my hand. And they answered, he is witness. Samuel calls the nation of Israel,
the people of God to testify to his faithful service. We know
and we've seen this over the last several weeks that Samuel
was given to Hannah, his mother in answer to prayer. And then
she presented him, or as the scripture says, she lent him
to the Lord. We're not sure at what age he
was presented there to Eli in the temple before the Lord, but
we know he was young. And he had ministered all of
these years, and now he confesses to be old and gray-headed. We don't know for sure how old
he is now. but we know he was old. I want
you to look with me in Psalm and a verse of scripture. Psalm
92. Psalm 92 in verse 12, we read,
the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall
grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord. And who does the planting? God
does. Who does the planting? God does.
And the psalmist says, those that be planted in the house
of the Lord. You wouldn't think about planting
a tree in your house. Most of our houses are built
on a slab. But the way the houses were built
in those days, they had patios and things like that in the inner
part of the house. and a tree would be planted in
the house. And the psalmist is likening,
rather, a believer to be planted in a house, but not any house,
not just any house, the house of the Lord. I would rather be
a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, the psalmist said in
another psalm, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Can
you say amen to that? I'd rather be a doorkeeper in
the house of the Lord than to dwell in the tents of evil, the
tents of wickedness. What a blessing it is to be in
God's house. And I'm not just talking about
this church building. I'm talking about the family
of God, the household of faith. God plants us and puts us into
his family. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. they
shall still bring forth in old age. Samuel said, I'm old and
I'm gray headed now. But the Psalmist said, even in
old age, they shall be fat and flourishing. That is full of
fruit to show, why? To show that the Lord is upright,
who keeps his people and causes them to persevere and continue
to bring forth fruit, even in old age. God does, and he does
it for his glory, for his honor, to show, to show the world, to
show the world of unbelievers that the Lord is upright. He
is my rock, and there is no, no unrighteousness in him. There's no unrighteousness in
the Lord our God. In him, in his person, in his
essence, there's no unrighteousness, and there's no unrighteousness
in all of his acts. All of his works are holy and
right. Well, Samuel calls the nation
of Israel to witness, and as I said, we're not sure how old
he was at this time, But we do know that he had served a long
time, and he had served faithfully. He could say, as I thought about
what Samuel here tells him, he could say like the Apostle Paul
wrote to the church at Corinth, for I seek not yours, but you. I seek not yours, that is your
possessions. I seek not yours, what you can
give me. but I seek you. That is, your
benefit, the good of your souls. And Samuel could say the same
thing and did say the same thing, didn't he? He said, whose ass
have I taken? Or any other animal? Or any other
monetary things? Witness against me now, if you
will. If you will. Have I taken a bribe? You know
that he was a judge. one of the judges, maybe the
last of the judges in the nation of Israel, because now there's
a king who will rule and serve as a judge. But witness against
me, have I taken a bribe? You know, that's an abomination
unto the Lord, isn't it? To justify a person or to condemn
a person according to the word of God based upon his his financial
standing. That's unjustice to justify a
man who is wealthy because he's wealthy and he can pay or condemn
a man because he's poor and not able to pour. We see the scales
of justice and usually the one who's holding those scales is
blindfolded, isn't she? And that's the way it should
be. And we know that in Israel and other nations and maybe in
our own nation even, many times justice is perverted and God
takes that as an offense against Him. Justice is not administered
in a righteous way. That is an abomination unto God
because He's a just God. He's a just God and he's going
to give to every man according to his works. That's what the
scriptures reveal. This should be the concern of
every pastor, every preacher like Samuel. He did not seek
their gold. He did not seek their animals
or anything else of this world's goods. But his concern, his one
concern was their spiritual welfare. Not what they could give him
of things in this world, but he was concerned, and as I said,
this should be true of every pastor, every preacher of the
gospel. Not a hireling. Not a hireling
because a hireling serves merely for what he can be paid. And
because he is a hireling, when the thief comes, he flees. When the robber comes, and he
who would do harm to the sheep, the hireling pleased, because
the sheep were not his. The love of Christ, as the Apostle
Paul could say, the love of Christ, his love for us, his love for
me, as the Apostle said, the love of Christ constraineth us. Not hope of reward, a higher
place in glory, a bigger crown than someone else, no, no. That's
not the motive. That's not the motive or true
servant of God, but it is the love of Christ that should constrain
us. And Samuel was that type of person,
wasn't he? He was faithful. He was a man
of God. And he calls them to record this
truth or record this truth before God. They all testified. They all did. Notice that. in
verse 4, and they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed
us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand. They all testified to this truth,
and I know that Samuel's going to live on for a while, but from
his words here, you've asked for a king, and now here he is.
He's walking before you, and I'm old and gray-headed. but
I want you to witness against me. And I thought about Paul
writing to Timothy when he said, the time of my departure is at
hand. Now Samuel, as I said, he's gonna
live for some more time, but just think about Paul writing
to Timothy and being able to say, the time of my departure
is at hand. The ship's at the dock. The ship's
at the dock, the time of my departure The planes at the gate. All of
these are pictures, right, of a believer leaving this world.
The time of my departure. I'm right on schedule. Right
on schedule. Whose schedule? God's schedule. He has appointed the time that
we will live in this world. Read Job chapter 14 sometimes,
and a man's not going to pass over that time that God has allowed. The time of my departure is at
hand. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. We've gotta fight. We've gotta
battle, don't we? As children of God, we're in
a battle. We're in a battle with the flesh and with Satan. I've
been rereading again, Pilgrim's Progress, and it's always a blessing
every time I read it, and I see things that I didn't see before. Mr. Talkative. Mr. Talkative. I don't want to be
Mr. Talkative. All talk and no action,
right? All talk. Oh, no. The time of my departure is at
hand. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I've kept the faith. That's what
Samuel's saying here. I've kept the faith. He was put
into the office. as a judge, and he had been faithful,
and he called them to record. Henceforth there's laid up for
me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, and notice shall give me. He's not going to pay me. I haven't earned it. I certainly
don't deserve it. It's all grace from beginning
to end. It's all grace. Well, the second
part of the chapter, Samuel reminds the nation of Israel, God's people,
of God's goodness and his greatness. Let's read on beginning with
verse six. He reminds the people of God's goodness and his greatness. And Samuel said unto the people,
it is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron and that brought
your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand
still that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the
righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers. When Jacob was come into Egypt
and your fathers cried unto the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses
and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt and
made them dwell in this place. And when they forget the Lord
their God, He sold them into the hands of Sisera, captain
of the host of Azer, and into the hand of the Philistines,
and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against
them. And they cried unto the Lord
and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and
have served Balaam and Asheroth, but now deliver us out of the
hand of our enemies and we will serve thee. And the Lord sent
Jeroboam, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you
out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt
safe. And when you saw that Nahash,
the king of the children of Ammon, came against you, you said unto
me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God
was your king. Now therefore behold the king
whom you have chosen and whom you have desired and behold the
Lord has set a king over you. If you will fear the Lord and
serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment
of the Lord then shall both you and also the king that reigneth
over you continue following the Lord your God. But if you will
not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment
of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you, as
it was against your fathers. 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 have done in the sight
of the Lord, 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, pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God,
that we die not, for we have added unto our sins this evil,
to ask us a king. Samuel begins kind of a short
history lesson, isn't it, of the nation of Israel. You know,
we see this several times in the Word of God. In the Psalms,
we see it in Psalm 105, where we've got a history. The psalmist
records what took place with the nation of Israel. Stephen
went through it in Acts chapter seven, I believe it is. I mean,
over and over we see these things of God's goodness and God's mercy. Samuel begins by reminding them
of God's goodness in that they had become slaves in Egypt. Their
nation, their forefathers, they had become slaves in Egypt. They
had been received there with open arms. Joseph was the prime
minister. They were given the best of the
land, Goshen. They were welcomed there. But
then things changed. A new Pharaoh came to reign who
knew not Joseph. And if nothing else, this should
remind all of us here tonight that this world in which we live
The one constant is change, is change. As the Ham writer said,
change and decay all around I see. O thou that changest not, abide
with me. Change, things changed for the
nation of Israel. They were welcomed there. Their kinfolk, he was in charge. But after a while, he was gone,
and they were put into bondage. They became actual servants of
the Egyptians, just like slaves. They had to make brick. They
had to make brick. It reminds me of the truth of
God's immutability. One of his precious attributes
is to think about our God, that he doesn't change. And in Malachi,
I believe it is, we read, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Why? Because I changed not. That's what God said. Look with
me in Exodus chapter three, just a moment. Samuel reminds them
of their parents, their fathers, crying unto the Lord. And this
was just the beginning of a history, isn't it? Over and over and over
again. Reminds me of Psalm 107. Then, then they cried unto the
Lord. And the Lord heard them and delivered
them. Oh, that the sons of men would
praise the Lord for his wonderful goodness. We soon forget, but Samuel begins
by reminding them that their fathers had become servants in
Egypt and they were under a hard bondage and they cried unto the
Lord. Here in Exodus chapter three,
I like to read this verse, when the Lord appeared to Moses in
that bush that was burning, but not consumed, And the Lord said,
I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know
their sorrows. God, he has his eye upon his
people, doesn't he? He has his eye upon you when
you go through a trial and sorrow. God knows your sorrow. The scripture,
there's a scripture which says, in all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. and all their afflictions, he
was afflicted. We have not a high priest who
cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in
all points tempted like unto us, except in the point of sin,
we know. Samuel says, your parents, they
cried unto the Lord, And the Lord sent him a deliverer. He sent, he raised up. Notice
that he advanced. It says here, 1 Samuel 12 and
verse six. And Samuel said unto the people,
it is the Lord that advanced, made Moses and Aaron, and that
brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. God's goodness,
he heard. their groans, their cries, he
saw their affliction and he raised up these two men to do this work
of bringing his people out of Egypt. Samuel reasoned or recounted
God's goodness to them during the times of the judges. He mentions
the fact that they, in verse nine, and when they forget the
Lord their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain
of the host of Hazar, and the hand of the Philistines, and
the king of Moab. And they fought against them,
and they cried. They cried unto the Lord. Aren't
you thankful that God is a patient God? His patience with us. We see it in the nation of Israel,
how patient he was with this nation. Time after time, time
after time, they sinned and went away from God. They began to
serve, he mentions Balaam and Astaroth, a female deity. They
would be enslaved again, over and over. They would fall into
idolatry and God would sell them. deliver them into the hands of
their enemies. And then they would cry unto
the Lord. And the goodness of the Lord
is seen in raising them up judge after judge to deliver them.
He named several of those judges in verse 11. And the one that
is named Bedan. Jeroboam and Bedan. You see the word Dan there. Most of the writers believe this
was Samson. Because there's no judge named
that in the book of Judges, but the tribe of Dan. Samson was
of the tribe of Dan, son of Dan, or in Dan. God raised up Samson
as a deliverer. But anyway, judge after judge. Then they would fall back into
idolatry again. In verse 12, now, when they saw
Nahash, we looked at that, I think it was last week, Nahash, the
king of the Amorites, when they saw him preparing for battle,
for war, they wanted a king. They wanted a king who would
go out before them and deliver them. Not realizing that God
was their king and God fought their battles for them. Now you
have your king, Samuel says, but a king will not help you
if you will not obey the voice of the Lord. And then he continues
with God's goodness showing them or God's greatness rather, not
only His goodness, but His greatness showing them. Samuel called unto
the Lord and the Lord thundered and sent a great rain. And we
know that He defeated the Philistines, God did, by thunder. We've seen that a few chapters
back. But God manifested to the nation
here at this time, His greatness. as well as Samuel rehearsing
his goodness to them. And then the third part of the
chapter, Samuel exhorts the people to follow the Lord, to follow
the Lord because he is gracious. Look in verse 20. And Samuel
said unto the people, fear not, you have done all this wickedness,
yet turn not aside from following the Lord. But serve the Lord
with all your heart, and turn you not aside, for then should
you go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver you,
for they are vain. Vanity, idols is what he's speaking
of, false gods. For the Lord will not forsake
his people for his great namesake, because it hath pleased the Lord
to make you his people. 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
in 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. And if you will still do wickedly,
you shall be consumed, both you and your king. Samuel exhorts
the people to follow the Lord. Though they were wicked people,
sinful people, but God is gracious. Turn not aside from following
the Lord. And be assured, Samuel said,
I'm not gonna cease to pray for you. And I'm not gonna stop teaching
you the good and the right way. You know, I heard a man recently,
I was with another man and we were talking to two two men of
a false religion, and this other man who was standing there with
me, he said, I'm going to pray for you, talking to those two
men. I'm going to pray for you. And
I've thought about that. That happened several days ago. You know, Samuel prayed for these
people. And the Lord teaches us to pray
for one another, Destiny. to pray for the pastor, pray
for the preacher, pray for the preaching of the word of God.
We recognize our need of God's blessing and God's hand of mercy
upon us as we preach the gospel. Pray, pray. Samuel said, I'm
not going to cease. God forbid that I cease. They
didn't deserve his prayers. They really didn't. He reminded
them of their wickedness. But yet he said, I'm not going
to sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach
you the good and the right way. As I said at the beginning, he
was old and gray-headed, but he wasn't finished. His ministry
was not over yet. He would continue to pray. Sometimes people get old and
they get crippled up and sick and they think, well, my ministry,
what can I do? Pray, pray. I would imagine when we reach
heaven's shore, we're gonna find out that a lot of things that
we thought were accomplished and God used men and they were
up in front of people and the blessing came not because of
those men but because of some who were never known, but were
faithful in praying and upholding the minister and the preaching
of the word of God. When Charles Spurgeon preached
in London, we know of how the Lord blessed him, but few people
recognize that when he stood in the pulpit there and preached,
how many men were down in the basement praying every Sunday
morning, every Sunday night. While he was preaching, they
were there praying for God's help and God's blessing upon
his word. Well, let me remind us of this
verse, verse 22. This is the one that really caught
my attention. Verse 22, for the Lord will not
forsake his people for his great namesake. Because it hath pleased
the Lord to make you his people. It hath pleased the Lord to make
you his people. That's true of every child of
God, of every person here in this building tonight who knows
the Lord. You are a child of God because
it pleased him. It pleased him to make you his
people. It pleased him to make you his
people first of all by creation. It is the Lord who hath made
us and not we ourselves. It pleased the Lord to make you
by election. He chose you in Christ from before
the foundation of the world. It pleased the Lord to make you
his people by Christ dying in your stead. redeeming you, not
with silver and gold as we sang earlier, but with the precious
blood of Christ. And it hath pleased the Lord
to make you his people by calling you, calling you out of your
sin when you were dead in trespasses and sins, translating you. I like that word, don't you? Translating you. from the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son. And consider
this truth. It is not because of any good
that was in you, any good that he foresaw in you. And when I
say you, I'm talking about myself. It was not for any good that
he saw in any of us. any good that was in us or any
good that he saw we would do. No, he made you, he made us his
people because it pleased him to do so. God's sovereign grace,
his sovereign election is what the word of God teaches. It pleased
him. And because it pleased him to
make you his people, not for any good, in you, then that simply
means also that you can never do anything. You can never do
anything, no matter how awful it may be in your sight, that
will cause you not to be among his people. He didn't make you
one of his people because of anything good in you, and he's
not gonna divorce you for any bad in you. It pleased him to
make, you know, I preached a message several years ago. I know on
the things that, that it has pleased God to do. And this was
one of them. I remember that, but the scripture
says in Psalm 135 for his whatsoever hath pleased him.
That did he, both in heaven and in earth, and in the sea and
under the earth. Psalm 135. Let me look at that. I know I'm not quoting it right.
135 in verse six, whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in earth, in the seas
and all deep places. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
it pleased him to make you his people. It pleased him to bruise his son. It pleased him. That doesn't
mean that he found pleasure in afflicting his son, but it means
that the work of his son, the sacrifice of his son satisfied
God. Satisfied God. It pleased the
Lord that in him should dwell all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And he said this at our Lord's
baptism. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. The Lord will not forsake his
people, Samuel said. And why will he not forsake his
people? For his namesake. For his namesake. They're forgiven. We're forgiven
for his namesake, for Christ's sake. And he will not forsake
his people because should he forsake his people, what would
that do to his name? That would cause the devils in
hell to rejoice in blaspheming his holy name. God cannot, Paul
said, God cannot deny himself. And if God were to forsake one
of his people, then he would deny himself. He would deny his
justice. He would deny his love. He would
deny his holiness. He would deny his truthfulness.
His faithfulness. You know, this is very much like
a new covenant promise, isn't it? Jeremiah 32 in verse 40. I will make an everlasting covenant
with them. Now listen, and this is part
of the new covenant, the everlasting covenant. God said that I will
not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my
fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me. What
a tremendous promise is that. I will not turn away from them
to do them good. Well, maybe they'll turn away
from you. No, no, that's not gonna happen
either. But I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. May the Lord bless His
word to all of us here this evening.