20260826 1 Samuel 12 Wednesday Bible Study Dave Dickmann

We are in 1 Samuel chapter 12. Does anybody want

1 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

to summarize the chapter for us before we read

it? then let's read it first Samuel chapter 12

1 Samuel 12 · chapter mention

and verse 1 and Samuel said well actually let's

start in chapter 11 verse 14 then said Samuel

to the people come let us go to Gilgal and renew

the kingdom there and all the people went to

Gilgal and there they made Saul king before the

Lord in Gilgal And they sacrificed sacrifices

of peace offerings before the Lord. And there

Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have

hearkened unto your voice, and all that ye 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 will restore it to you. And they

said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed

us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's

hand. And he said unto them, The Lord is witness

against you, and his anointed is witness this

day, that ye have not found ought or anything

in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.

Then 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 forgot the Lord their

God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain

of the host of Hazor, 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 Astaroth. But now deliver us out of

the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

And the Lord sent Jeroboam, and Badan, and Jephthah,

and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand

of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled

safe. And when ye saw that Nahash, the king of

the children of Ammon, came against you, ye 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 ye have chosen, and whom

ye have desired, and behold, the Lord hath set

a king over you. I will fear the Lord and serve

him and obey, or I'm sorry, if ye will fear the

Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not

rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then

shall both ye and also the king that reigneth

over you continue following the Lord your God.

But if ye 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, and ye may perceive and

see that your wickedness is great, which ye have

done in the sight of the Lord in asking 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 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 they are

vain. 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 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.

Excuse me. So that's quite a speech that Samuel

delivers to the people. It's another, I guess

it's really the last of the Direct commentary

that the author gives us on this new institution

of king in Israel. How would you categorize that

chapter? Positive towards kingship or negative

towards kingship? Negative towards kingship.

Particularly what kind of kingship? It takes

them away from the Lord because why? It takes

them away from the Lord. Anytime we take away

from something, we're going to something else,

right? Which is? Well, that's what the vain things

are, idols for sure. But it takes away from the

Lord's kingship because it delivers them to what?

The kingship of a man. Remember, that's the distinction

between the kings and all the other kingdoms

around them. Answer to no one. They were God

in their country. And so to take a king for the

Israelites then is saying that God is not my

king. Saul is my king. He has ultimate authority.

That's what they asked for. That's what they

got. And that kind of gives us a reason then.

What do you think this is renewing the kingdom?

Anybody got any ideas on that? That's from chapter

11. Is this a farewell? Some people think this

is a farewell speech from Samuel. It's obviously

not that. Unless he says farewell and then comes

right back. So it's not a farewell speech. Well,

in what way is it? How did they renew the kingdom?

From chapter 11, verse 14. Then said Samuel to

the people, Come and let us go to Gilgal and

renew the kingdom there. Is this a covenant renewal

ceremony? Is that what this is? Remember, they

did that in Moab. They had the Sinai covenant.

They renewed it in Moab. But, is that what this

is? Did they renew it again here? They renewed

it in Joshua. Does anybody see any mention of

the covenant here? No. Okay. But we do see some

kind of covenant language, right? I'm the Lord

your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

That's the way he started back in Exodus chapter

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

20. So if it's not a covenant renewal, in what

way is the... Is the kingdom going to be renewed?

Or what exactly is being renewed? Okay. So kingship

is only going to be effective if what? Okay.

So Samuel in his speech, and whoever the editor

is that compiled this book for us, is giving

an opportunity to the people of Israel. Look,

you've done this wicked thing, but the Lord has

given you a king, and it's not the end of the

world. If you and the king will follow the Lord,

submit to his authority in your life, then everything

will be at peace with you. That's basically what

Samuel is saying, right? That's the only way.

Otherwise, it's just going to be a disaster.

And if you run ahead at all in Samuel, then you'll

see that indeed that's what we get is a disaster.

The people asked for a king. And then even in

chapter 12, verse 1, Samuel says, I've hearkened

unto your voice and all that you said to me,

and I've made a king over you. Now, who told

him to do that? Okay, it's exactly what the Lord

told him to do. Remember back in what, chapter

7 or 8? Hearken unto their voice in all things

and appoint them a king. And then the Lord selected

Saul. He anointed him to be king over Israel.

And it's a disaster. So what does that mean?

Have you thought about that? If you talk to the

skeptics or you talk to the Bible critics or

you talk to the God haters, we can put those,

we can call them whatever you want to, what would

they say? God made a mistake. They would say

either God is not sovereign and all -powerful

or what he did was totally wrong, right? Why

would he give them, why would he grant their

request that was wicked and then make them pay

the consequences for that sin? Is that right?

So what's the answer to that question? When we

make bad decisions, when we go the wrong way,

God oftentimes answers that. a request with misery

in our lives. We go after something. We don't

secure anything outside of God's power and authority.

I can't pick up a baseball without the power

of Jesus in my body holding me together, right?

He could at any time say, oh no, David, you're

not going to pick up that baseball, right? Do

we agree with that? Okay, so that all the time

in our lives, we bear the consequences for our

bad decisions. And God is not the author of our

bad decisions. He doesn't tempt us to go in the

wrong way. He doesn't coax us or push us or force

us to go in the wrong way. But he gave them everything

that they wanted. Remember, it was God's intention

to bring a king to Israel. But in his time, and

a man of his choosing. And who was the man of

God's choosing? David. In spite of the fact that

Saul wears the crown, God anoints, he makes his

selection then. The people have made their selection,

and then God makes his selection. All right,

what would we make of these first, what, six

verses where Samuel says, Look, I'm old. I've

walked before you since I was a kid. Remember,

his mom dropped him off right after he was weaned.

Have I stolen anything from you? Have I taken

any bribes? Have I done anything against any

of you? If I have, I'll pay it back. Right? That's

a fair summary. Why does he do that? Well, you

could say it's a contrast between judges and

kings. If you were saying that to somebody, what

would be the purpose of you saying that to them?

Okay. Now you've hit on it. Look, I haven't walked

honestly before you all the time. I haven't taken

a bribe. Now what happens when you take a bribe?

You wind up lying to somebody, right? That's

the whole point of the bribe. Or somebody, or

you haven't stolen anything. So he hasn't been

telling them things that are going to make them

act in a certain way that's going to enrich him.

He's confessing to them and offering to anyone

to stand up and testify against him that he's

done nothing but tell them the truth and walk

honestly. Why would I not then now at this point

be telling you the truth and walking honestly

before you? What I'm telling you here doesn't

have any motive other than I'm trying to give

you the truth. And this is the way, this is just

the way that it is. This is the cold, hard truth.

These are the facts of the matter. And I don't

know, when we were reading, it's a pretty, it's

a dark day in Israel. They left their God. Alright,

so that's why he lays that out. Now, what's the

application there for us? Okay, so we ought to

live an honest life before our families, before

our neighbors, before the people that work, everywhere

that we go. Anybody that knows us ought to know

that we aren't sugarcoating the truth. We aren't

trying to enrich ourselves at someone else's

expense. I'm just living honestly. And when the

Lord gives opportunity then for you to speak

into that person's life, it will be from a position

of strength. It will be from a position of honesty.

There's no reason for them to distrust you. What's

one more thing then that we can learn here? Who

else walked honestly and told us the truth? And

did he come from that position? What did he take

from you? Nothing. What bribe did he take? Nothing.

So we can believe what he said. What did it cost

him to be able to tell us the truth? Everything.

So that's the biblical pattern. And in that way

we can. We can see Jesus. We can see Jesus here

again in a little while. Now we have this. Samuel

recounts the past for him. Now he doesn't recount

the entirety of Israel's history. But he does

summarize it. He starts where they all start.

So when you're reading your Old Testaments, when

you're reading your New Testaments, when you

see some reference to the Lord, it's the Lord

that advanced Moses and Aaron and brought your

fathers up out of the land of Egypt. That's a

little clue that what we're dealing with here

in these next few verses, it might be three or

four. It might be in the New Testament, I think

the longest one there in Acts, it might be eight

or ten. Or you can kind of see it in the same

kind of genre as the genealogies. They're telling

a story. He's summarizing Israel's history in

this. And it's nothing if it's not consistent.

That's the best thing that we can say. There's

never been a more consistent people than the

Israelites. Where was their consistency? They

were consistent in their turning away from the

Lord after his deliverance and then turning towards

him for a little while before turning away from

him again. And every time that they turned away,

what happened? They were definitely oppressed.

The Lord redeemed them out of Egypt. He paid

the price. Whatever the price was to get them

out of Egypt, that's what he did. The same thing

that Jesus did for you and for me. He redeemed

us with his own blood. Redeemed, how I love to

proclaim it. redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.

We sing it. When someone buys you, they own you.

Do we realize that? It's no accident that the

New Testament speaks of Christians as what? The

terrible S word that we've tried to erase from

history. Slaves. Over and over again. Slaves

or servants. In either case, the idea is you've

been bought with a price. You no longer belong

to yourselves. So serve the one that bought you.

But we don't serve an evil taskmaster. We serve

a gracious, loving Father and a Lord and a Savior

that leads us in the right direction for our

good because He loves us. It was the Lord that

sent Moses and Aaron. Now, I do think about that.

I don't have an answer, but I thought maybe somebody

did. Why don't we have a full listing of all

the judges, or why do we have these specific

judges listed? Anybody come up with anything

there? Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor,

they sold into the hands of the Philistines,

the king of Moab. That's some of them, that's

not all of them. And then for the judges, we

have who? We have Jeroboam, who is, which is

who? Gideon. And then we have Badan. Does everybody

have Badan in their Bible? What version are you

reading from? Badan, Jephthah, and Samuel. Do

you have Samuel in that? Okay. So who is Badan?

Anybody got any idea? Anybody do any head scratching

on that one and have to go figure it out? Is

it a mistake? What's the answer? Well, here's

the best answer that I've got for you. I don't

know how many years it has been between Barak

and whenever this was put together when Samuel

was talking. But language changes over the years.

And so the best scholar, because he agrees with

me, But Dan is the phonetic spelling. So over

the years, and it doesn't appear that way, obviously,

in our English, but in the Hebrew, it's the way

to spell it, the way that it sounds, rather than

the way that they spelled it back in the day

in Barak. So that's why the ESV went with Barak.

So that's who that is. Of course, he's the one

that went with Deborah and in reference to Sisera.

But I can't come up with anything else other

than the fact that in each one of these cases,

Israel is in the same place where they are right

now. The Lord has delivered them, and they've

turned away again. And the deliverance has always

come at the hand of a judge. Now, we're going

to go from judge to king. But it's a reminder

of what? You belong to the Lord, and what has

the Lord done? He's delivered you time and time

and time and time again. He's been faithful to

his word. Even though you have turned away. In

each one of these very specific cases. You're

dwelling safe. He delivered you. And you're dwelling

safe. And then. Now this. I don't know if anybody

thought about this. But in verse 12. 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 that doesn't fit in the

timeline that we have here in Samuel. But. So

that just lets us know that everything is not

necessarily chronological in our Bibles, which

is perfectly fine when the author of the book

is trying to stress a point and he's trying to

teach us a lesson. He's not writing a strict

history or a history lesson chronologically.

But here then, in this last case, what? Samuel...

Well, first the Lord defeats the Philistines.

Remember, the ark goes around by the Philistines'

own hands. They just say, oh, well, the ark defeated

this city. Let's take it to the next city. And

they take it to the next city, and that city

is defeated. That's just the Lord. No army, no

judge, no nothing. Just the Lord God Almighty

delivering his people and defeating the Philistines.

And then what? You have Samuel. And he delivers

them again. And then this King Nahash comes while

they're gathered together. And they panic and

they say, okay, we've had enough deliverance

by judges. I mean, basically that's what they

said. Yeah, the judge has been really effective

in our history. Secured us salvation, defeated

our enemies, but I think it's time for a change.

Let's go with a king now. In that context, you

can see why it is that Samuel says this is a

wicked thing that you've done. It's a great wicked

thing. And then he praises the Lord and the Lord

sends thunder and lightning. Rainstorm. Now look

at verse 14 though. If ye will fear the Lord

and serve him and obey his voice. That's three

things. Are they different? What are we to understand

about those three things? What does it mean to

fear the Lord? And foundational or fundamental

to that, before any of that happens, what? Okay,

you've got to know something about them and believe

it. Look, if I don't believe that God is almighty

and God tells me that he's almighty, is that

going to be scary to me? No. Now, I'm an idiot,

I'm a fool, because God is almighty. He is sovereign.

But I don't believe it. So if I believe the revelation

of God, if I believe what God has told me about

him, that's going to necessarily cause me to

stand in wonder and awe and holy terror should

I decide to slap him in the face and disrespect

him. That's what it means then, to stand in awe

of God. Behold the glory of the Lord, the power

and the sovereignty of the Lord. You've got to

believe. There's faith. Okay, then what's the

next thing? Serve. What does that mean? Okay,

then what would obedience be? That's different

than serving then? Yes. Okay, show us the difference.

Literally. To serve somebody, I guess I'm not

thinking about like a servant who does what they're

told, but if I serve you, I'm doing things that

are in alignment with your will, and if I obey

you, then you're literally telling me to do something,

and then I'm doing what I've been told. Okay.

I guess we're kind of muddying. Yeah, you're

mixing them up a little bit. That's why, to me,

the serving has an eye towards listening, hearing.

If I truly am standing in fear of God, then what?

I want to hear from Him in some kind of way.

My ears are tuned to Him and to Him alone. Because

there's all kinds of other voices all around

me saying all kinds of different things to me.

But my ears and my attention is turned towards

God. It's only then if I fear him, if I believe

who he is, and I listen to what he has to say,

that I can obey. So to serve the Lord means that

the entire, like Jake was saying, the entirety

of my being is geared towards serving the one

who has redeemed me. And that service... includes,

or maybe it starts with, listening and hearing

what the Lord has to say. The three always go

together. You can't claim that you fear the Lord,

but you don't listen to Him. You can't claim

that you fear the Lord, that you listen to Him,

but you don't obey Him. You can't say, I obey

the Lord, but I've never heard from Him. The

three go together. They went together for Israel

if they were going to serve the Lord, if they

were going to honor the Lord and bring glory

to His name. And they go for you and for me.

Now how does that work itself out in our lives?

Do we feel like we have a holy reverence, an

awe and a fear of the Lord that is sufficient?

Who here thinks that when... Jesus returns and

we're going to say, oh, it's just exactly what

I was expecting. When he whisks us away into

glory and we stand before God, who thinks that

one thought that's going to cross your mind is,

wow, I had this figured out. Okay, so the first

thing is that we haven't arrived at the reverence

and the awe of God until we get to glory. So

if I haven't arrived there yet today, then what

am I doing? Trying to get a little bit closer.

Trying to expand my vision. Hoping that somebody

will magnify the name of the Lord before me.

Hoping that somebody will cause my knowledge

of Him to increase so that my vision of Him and

my spiritual eyes will be more clear. Where are

we going to find that? But my heart is there.

That's where the hope is, right? That's my desire.

That's what I want. And so then I'm going to

find it in the Word. Where are we going to hear

the voice of God? If we're going to obey Him,

we said, we have to hear Him. So how are we going

to hear God? From His people? Where else? From

His people when they speak. God's truth. I was

waiting for you to finish. I know you were trying.

Where else are we going to get it? Well, if the

people of God are going to speak God's truth,

then we're going to also hear it when we read

God's truth. He can use the means of other believers.

He can use the means of Anybody in the local

church? I don't want to diminish the role of

the elder. I don't want to diminish the role

of the people of everybody else here. The Lord

can speak his voice to you and to me through

the means of anyone in the group. That's why

he brought us all together. Undoubtedly. He has

chosen the means of teaching and preaching to

minister his truth to his people. So we ought

to be here when the word is taught. We ought

to listen when our brothers and sisters are talking

to us. And we ought to be in the word on a regular

basis. Then what? Is it enough to just go through

the motions that show up on Sunday and Wednesday?

Maybe be really faithful in your devotional time

at home. Maybe you're one of those people that

has set aside a time and every day you're with

the Lord. Or every day you're in your quiet place

and you're reading your Bibles. Is that enough?

Is that what honors and pleases the Lord? No.

What honors and pleases the Lord? Obedience.

What? Obedience. Okay. Following Him. Believing

Him. So the point of your time with the Lord

in your quiet places is not to check off a list.

God is not a list keeper or a list giver and

saying, check it off your list. What I'm looking

for is a bunch of people that are really good

at check marks. Can you imagine that God sent

his son into the world, shed his blood so that

you could check off a list every day or every

week? I mean, it's the most hideous thing that

there is. To put any kind of stock in that or

to think that you have somehow honored the Lord.

But, if your time with the Lord is spent listening,

how am I going to understand this and then apply

it in my life? How am I going to test the Lord

here in this thing that I'm reading about today?

And how am I going to commit that to Him in prayer?

And then how am I going to look for him as I

try to allow it to play out in my life as I change

directions here or there? That's what honors

the Lord. And the three of them go together.

Anybody that tells you that they fear the Lord,

that they read their Bible all the time, but

the obedience part is not something that they're

interested in, you can guarantee that person

doesn't know anything about the Lord, they don't

fear the Lord, and they haven't listened to the

Lord. Verse 14 is a restating of it. And then

again, in verse 15, I don't know what everybody

has. What do you have in the ESV? Then shall

the hand of the Lord be against you as it was

against your fathers, is what I have in the King

James. What do you have, Jake? I said that the

hand of the Lord will be against you and your

king. Okay. So this is one of those. verses that's

notoriously hard to translate, but the idea seems

to be one or the other. Either the Lord's hand,

if you don't follow the Lord, his hand is going

to be against you and your king or against you

and your entire family. The King James has you

and the way he was against your fathers. In other

words, everybody in the community is going to

bear this. The consequences of not following

the Lord. Nobody in the community is going to

escape it. Do we dare think for a minute that

when the oppressors came that there wasn't faithful

Israelites? But they were oppressed the same

way their neighbors were who were worshiping

the Baal or the Asherah. The entire community

is going to come under the The discipline, the

chastening of the Lord if you turn away from

him. Now what do you think about this? What happens

here? It's wheat harvest time. Jake, you're not

really a farmer. You've got a grandpa who was

a farmer. If Bryson was here, I'd ask him. But

what happens if the hay is laying down? Matt

can probably tell us. And then it rains. The

same thing with the wheat harvest. Imagine your

wheat, I think Little House on the Prairie had

that one time, remember? The wheat's ready and

it's just looking beautiful out there. And then

along comes the hail and the thunderstorm and

it knocks it all down and it's impossible to

harvest. The only way you can harvest it at that

point then is to get in there with your fingers

and try to gather up some kernels of wheat. And

that's what happened. They're in the middle of

harvest. And Samuel calls the thunderstorm. Which

isn't supposed to happen that time of year. And

the Lord answers them. And. I will call unto

the Lord. He'll send thunder and rain. And see

that your wickedness is great. Which you have

done in the sight of the Lord. And ask him for

a king. And Samuel called unto the Lord. Verse

18. And the Lord sent thunder and rain that day.

And all the people greatly feared. The Lord and

Samuel. So the Lord was speaking. He was speaking

when he sent that thunderstorm. He wasn't speaking

Hebrew, but he was delivering a message. And

what was the message? Clouds and thunder and

rain. Well, I mean, it definitely was here, right?

You've done this wicked thing and now the thunderstorm

is coming. Well, it was confirmation both of

their wickedness and the power of God and the

assurance that God would be faithful to his word.

Right? It's all those things. God's almighty.

He's delivered you up to this point. Now he's

going to be God over the thunder and the rain.

Who was the thunder and rain God? That was the

veil. So that's God overruling the great veil.

The heavens declare the glory of the Lord, what

the Bible says. If you're not listening to the

Lord when a natural disaster happens or when

you are just Caught up with the beauty of nature.

Then you have missed the voice of the Lord. When

the Lord sends a hurricane. And thousands of

people die. Hundreds of people die. A hurricane

whips through somewhere. Or a tornado whips through

a small town. And people die. People's homes

are destroyed. What's the message? Oh it's just

a natural disaster. Who can control the tornado?

It just goes where it happens to go. That's what

everybody says, right? We can't even predict

the tornadoes. But what's the real, what's the

Lord saying when he does that? Is it cold -hearted?

Is it mean? Is it ruthless? What's it supposed

to communicate? I guess it communicates that

there's really no reason that this tornado didn't

kill you. Okay. But overall, generally speaking,

what's the message? Two words. Sin kills. The

consequence of sin is death. Now, if you ever

have an opportunity to talk to somebody, that

sounds like the cold -heartedest thing that anybody's

ever heard of. You mean to tell me this little

baby died, and the only thing that you've got

to tell me is that God is declaring in the tornado

that sin kills? You don't have something nice

to say? My heart goes out to those parents that

lost that kid. But the message from the Lord

is truth, which is that sin kills. And the only

reason that anybody dies in this world is because

of sin. And the Lord is declaring to you that

your day is coming. Turn to Him now while it's

yet today. That's the message. Now if you want

to be ostracized, if you want people to think

you are a no good, dirty, rotten scoundrel, then

you go ahead and proclaim that. But when you

do, just know that that's the same truth that

God was declaring back here and he has been declaring

since then and before then. That's the message.

And it's a message of peace. It's a message of

hope. It's a message of grace. There is no hope

in this world. Everything in this world is a

disaster because of sin. So when they run you

out, just know that you're in a long line of

people that have been run out for declaring the

word of God. But do it. So then the people are

scared. And this isn't the same kind of fear.

It didn't bring the fear of the Lord into them.

They're scared to death. Why? For two things.

Number one, apparently this God is really interested

in exactly what this guy Samuel is saying here

in Gilgal. And number two is, we got to eat.

And now the thunderstorm just came and wiped

out our wheat harvest. You'd be scared too. And

they said to Samuel, pray for thy servants that

we die not. For we've added this unto our sins.

We're agreeing with you. We've been doing this

for years. We agree with all the things he told

us have gone on before. Now we've added this

to it. Pray for us. And what does Samuel say?

In verse 20, fear not. Ye have done all this

wickedness. Yet turn not aside from following

the Lord. but serve the Lord with all your heart.

Has there ever been a more hopeful verse in all

the Bible? Who here is going to say, I have never

failed in my life? But everybody here is going

to say, I have failed, and not only failed, but

failed repeatedly. What's the Lord tell me to

do? Well dwell on that for a while. Go sit in

the corner and think about it. Do some good regretting.

Maybe get yourself a whip and beat yourself over

the back with it for a little while. Is that

the message from the Lord? I mean these people

have turned to idols. Vain things that profit

nothing. When the Lord God has delivered them

and kept them safely every time they've walked

with him. And what does Samuel tell them to do?

Does he say yeah you're right. It's too late

now though. You've got a king. Not even going

to just bear with it. No. He says what's in the

past. Is in the past. We can acknowledge it.

But look forward. Fear the Lord and serve him.

With all of your heart. And everything will be

fine. That's how big of a God you have. And that's

how much grace there is. In his presence. Now

for you and for me. That's hope. That's hope

for tomorrow. God tells us to move forward with

him. Forget the past. It's over. It's done. You've

confessed it. Now move forward. Verses 22 and

23. For the Lord will not forsake his people

for his great namesake. because it hath pleased

the Lord to make you his people. God's name is

at stake. If he turns his back on his people,

then he isn't the God that he said that he was,

faithful and true to the end. 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. Has there ever

been a person who didn't need an intercessor?

Are we that person? Now, we go directly to God,

right? We pray to him. We don't pray to a priest,

a human priest. But we have an intercessor who's

consistently pleading for us before the Lord

in his throne room. Samuel was doing the same

thing for them, and it pleases the Lord. We want

to apply it a little bit further? It pleases

the Lord when you pray for your fellow Christian.

And thirdly, we just say this. The beginning

of king, the ending of judges, does not mean

the end of a prophet. And so Samuel's role has

changed. He's no longer judge in Israel. There's

a king now. But that's not going to stop them

from doing the work of a prophet, to declare

the truth and to pray and to intercede for the

people and to teach them the way that they should

walk. Now that ought to be, we all should aspire

to be Samuels in our home and in our places of

work. The person that's going to pray for the

people that mean something to us, that's going

to teach the people. It's going to show them

the way that's going to consistently be there

and walk with them. Whether you're a man or a

woman, a mother or a father, a husband or a wife,

whether you're a boss, an owner, or just a run

-of -the -mill employee, we want to be Samuels

wherever we are. We want to walk honorably before

people. We want to have the truth ready at the

Spirit's disposal so that we can spill it out

wherever we are. And then we want to take those

people that we care about to the Lord in prayer.

The Lord uses those prayers to bring grace into

those people's lives. It's no small task. It's

not unimportant. All right, we've got a couple

minutes now. You can take over and ask questions.

So generally then, we'll sum it up with this.

This book is negative towards kingship. The way

that it came about, the asking for it, very negative.

It's positive and optimistic only in the grace

of God and in God's way. And if they'll follow

God's way, then everything will be well. And

it's perfectly consistent throughout the entire

book, throughout the entire Bible. When you turn

away from God, trouble. When you walk with God,

blessing.