I'm going to ask you to open your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 11. Our focus is going to be in chapter 12, but we're going to look at chapter 11 first. You remember that the Israelites demanded a king. They were not satisfied to have God as their king. They wanted somebody they could see with their own eyes. And so God heard their request, told Samuel, it's not you they're rejecting, it's me they're rejecting. And he gave them what they asked for. He gave them a king. His name is Saul. And Saul was a very impressive looking fellow. You want something to look at? God gave him a good looking guy. Taller than anybody else, a head taller than anybody. Very impressive looking, but as we said before, very much a mixed bag. Now, I want you to see in chapter 11 that there was a need that developed and Saul was used by God to rescue the people. Look at verse 6 of chapter 11. When Saul heard about what was happening, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger. And he took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel. Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they turned out as one man. When Saul mustered them at Bezik, the men of Israel numbered 300,000 and the men of Judah 30,000." Now what's happening? A couple of things real quickly. We'll get to the main point in just a moment. But this is by way of prologue. When God's Spirit came upon Saul, he was able to lead effectively. And interestingly, it says the Spirit of God came upon him and he burned with anger. I didn't think we were ever supposed to be angry. I mean, anger is bad. Well, most of our anger is bad because we're angry about the wrong stuff. But there are times when God burns with anger. God's wrath is going to be poured out on the earth. And when we agree with God about what is worth being angry about, then our anger is not a bad thing if we express it in a godly way in submission to the Holy Spirit. The problem is most of us get angry not about things that make God angry, but just about stuff that makes us angry, like us not getting our way. That is unrighteous anger. That is ungodly. And we need to not confuse the two. But here, Saul's anger was motivated by God. Because there was an enemy that was doing evil and people who needed to be rescued. And so Saul was empowered by the Holy Spirit to lead the people. And that included getting angry. Got it? Just had to say that before we go into chapter 12. All right? They did have victory in chapter 11. Here we are in chapter 12. This is God's Word. Samuel said to all Israel, I've listened to everything you said to me and have set a king over you. Now you have a king as your leader. As for me, I'm old and gray and my sons are here with you. I've been your leader from my youth until this day. Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and His anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I've done any of these, I will make it right. You have not cheated or oppressed us, they replied. You have not taken anything from anyone's hand. Samuel said to them, the Lord is witness against you, and also his anointed is witness this day that you have not found anything in my hand. He is witness, they said. Then Samuel said to the people, �It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of Egypt. Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers.� After Jacob entered Egypt, they cried to the Lord for help. And the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your forefathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot the Lord their God. So he sold them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Azor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. They cried out to the Lord and said, We have sinned. We have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you. The Lord sent Jerob Baal. Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, so that you lived securely. But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, No, we want a king to rule over us, even though the Lord your God was your king. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for. See, the Lord has set a king over you. If you fear the Lord, and serve and obey Him, and do not rebel against His commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God, good. But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you as it was against your father's. Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call upon the Lord to send thunder and rain, and you will realize what an evil thing you did in the eyes of the Lord when you asked for a king.' Then Samuel called upon the Lord, and that same day the Lord sent thunder and rain. So all the people stood in awe of the Lord and of Samuel." People all said to Samuel, pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king. Do not be afraid, Samuel replied. You have done all this evil, yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of His great name, the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. Be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart. Consider what great things He has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away. May God add His blessing to this reading from His holy and inspired word. Well, what's the main point this morning? The main point is verse 24. Be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart. Consider what great things He has done for you. Father grant that we would indeed do that. The Israelites had really messed up. They had been brought into the promised land by the power of God. They were delivered out of Egypt, the previous generation. They'd been brought into the promised land and over and over and over, we see in the book of Judges, where they would sin against God every time life got easy. The only time that they got serious about following God was when things were really bad. And really, it was when things were bad for a long time. When things first got bad, they didn't say, uh-oh, we better turn to God. They just kept on going. And things got worse, and things got terrible, and things stayed terrible a long time, and they just kept on in sin. And after a while, they would get miserable being miserable. They'd get sick and tired of being sick and tired. And then they'd say, we need to repent. Oh, God, please deliver us. And God would save them. Amazing. I don't understand it. I read the book of Judges and I think, God, why do you do that? Why do you deliver people whom you've already delivered and they go right back to doing the wrong thing? And then I thank God that he's like that. Because otherwise, we'd be in trouble, wouldn't we? But when we see it in other people, we say, how stupid. We see it in ourselves, we think, well, I have this problem. It's just that my family's like that. We're worriers. God, in his word, shows us that the human heart is deceitfully wicked above all else. And we not only have the capacity to do the wrong thing time and again, but to con ourselves into not realizing how messed up we are. So we not only do badly, but we're in denial. In recovery programs, they say denial ain't just a river. This is a pun, you see, the Nile River, see, denial. Okay, well. But the fact is you can be really messed up and think you're doing okay because you've rationalized what's going on, you've decided that it's okay to do this even though you know really it's not okay to do this. Have you ever thought you were doing okay until somebody else came in the room? Kids? And someone says, what are you doing? And your answer is not to tell them what you were doing. The answer is to say, oh, nothing. Oh, I didn't do anything. Well, what were you doing? Oh, nothing, nothing. Anybody ever been there? Anybody got children? Okay. I mean, the fact of the matter is we didn't feel badly until somebody else came along. I remember my kids, who sometimes had permission to watch television. We went three years without a TV, and those were sweet years. But there were times when we had a television and the kids would be watching something and I would come in the room and as I walked in the door, something bad would happen or be said on screen. Somebody would use a bad word or something else inappropriate would happen. And they'd say, that's the first time that's happened. Okay. Anybody ever been there? It does always happen, right, as the parents walk through the door, doesn't it? You know, it was all good up till now. But you see, it's because of the way we see things. And so when things would get bad, God would answer the cries of his people and rescue them, because they finally woke up and said, what am I doing? Remember the story of the prodigal son? Key phrase, he came to his senses. I mean, he's out there wanting to eat pig food. I don't know what you feed your pigs, but generally, not very good stuff. And this guy was so hungry, he longed to eat what the pigs eat. That's really being empty inside. That's really being messed up. And yet in the midst of it, he was in that condition for a while before he came to his senses. And he thought, what am I doing? What am I doing? Why am I living like this? Folks, let me tell you something. The Israelites were about to have another one of those wake up moments. Because now that Saul has become king, Samuel is about to retire. And he calls everybody together and he says, I want you to confront me and I'm going to confront you. This is the time. Don't talk about me after I'm gone and say, well, you know, I wonder what he was really up to. If I have wronged anybody, if I've taken a bribe from anybody, if I have extorted funds from anybody, I want you to confront me right now. Is there anything, anybody here got anything that you can accuse me of? And they all said no. Samuel had lived a godly life. He had not abused his power. He had not perverted justice. Unfortunately, his sons did not follow in his footsteps, but he had lived a righteous life and been devoted to the Lord all his days. He was not a perfect man. Only Jesus is sinless. But as people go, Samuel was a giant. He was a godly man who sought to do what God said. He walked in obedience to the Spirit. And so he says, now's the time. Confront me. And they said, no. He said, OK, remember that. He says, no, let me tell you something. God was your king, and you weren't satisfied. You wanted an earthly king. Well, he gave you one. But he says, I want you to understand. You have messed up asking for this king. God gave you what you asked for. But the fact that he gave it to you doesn't mean it was a good move on your part. And he said, just so you'll know that I'm telling you the truth, you watch and see what God's going to do. And then he prays for bad weather at the time of the wheat harvest. I mean, that's going to damage the economy. That's going to cause some people to be hungry. They're not going to starve to death, but they're not going to have as much. It's also not the way the weather usually works. It was the wrong time for this kind of weather, not just in terms of what we hope for, but in terms of what the people in that area expected year after year. Furthermore, it happened on command. It happened the very day he prayed it. And the people didn't say, yeah, yeah, I heard from the National Weather Service that there was a storm expected. No, it looked like the weather was going to be fine as always. But he prays and he says, God's going to send a storm today. And God sent the storm. And the people were terrified. Look at the text together. Verse 19. The people all said to Samuel, pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die. Did you hear that? So that we will not die. For we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king. The Lord sent thunder and rain. When was the last time that you remember in the text the Lord sending thunder? Remember? Remember the Philistines? Remember how they were coming out and the people were afraid and Samuel prayed to the Lord on their behalf? And the Lord thundered against the Philistines and terrified them and they got slaughtered by the Israelites. God totally turned the situation around. So this idea of the Lord thundering, this was not just an electrical storm. This was a supernatural storm sent by God, utilizing the forces of nature which are under his command. But please understand this, these people recognized when this storm came that their lives were in danger. And they said, please pray that we will not die. And Samuel said, You deserve to die. You better go hide under a rock somewhere. Is that what he said? No. Look at verse 20. Do not be afraid, Samuel replied. Do not be afraid, Samuel replied. You have done all this evil, yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you because they are useless. For the sake of His great name, the Lord will not reject His people because the Lord was pleased to make you His own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. Please understand this. These people deserve to die. Pastor Wood, that sounds awfully judgmental. I don't think you ought to say things like that about people saying they deserve to die. Okay, well let me clarify. I deserve to die. And so do you. Okay? The wages of sin is death. And we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If God gave us what we deserve, we would all be destroyed. Until you understand that, you're not going to understand much of anything else. I don't understand why bad things happen. I'm sorry, what? I just don't understand why bad things happen. I mean, to good people. Well, find me a good person, and we'll have a good discussion. Well, you said Samuel was a good man. Oh, okay. I was comparing Samuel to other people. Okay? If you and I are compared to one another, we can feel pretty good about ourselves. Well, some of us can't. I feel pretty good about myself. But if we compare ourselves to God, All of a sudden, woe is me, I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips. If I compare my righteousness to God's righteousness, my righteousness is like filthy rags. And that's the way God sees my righteousness. I can't for a moment say, God, what did I do to deserve this? Unless I'm thanking him for the fact that I'm not in hell. If I got what I deserve, I would be destroyed. Is that clear? Now, when we understand that, One of the things that it does in us is to create a sense of awe and wonder that God is so merciful to us. We begin to appreciate with true gratitude, sincere thanksgiving, the fact that rather than destroy us, God is refining us because he wants us to enjoy him forever. That's absolutely amazing. And so God does allow suffering, sometimes horrible suffering, in order that we would learn our utter dependence upon him. In order that we would give him thanks in all circumstances. In order that we would understand how brief this life is. and how eternal eternity is. You see, the troubles that we have here are temporary. Many of you know that this has been a tough time at our house. My wife spent the night on the sofa in the den again last night, the night before she was able to come up to our room. But last night she was again down there because Paul was having such a horrible, horrible time. I mean, it's a tough time. Paul's pain is just through the roof. Normally, on a scale of 1 to 10, he talks about his pain being maybe a 6. If it's really bad, maybe an 8. Last night, he was talking about 15, which he knows there is no 15. But he was saying, I don't remember it being this bad. I don't remember it ever being this bad when I was recovering from brain surgery. I want you to understand, I'm not glibly talking about people I don't love suffering. I'm saying that in order to keep your sanity, you gotta have some perspective. And one of the things that we are clinging to is that the sufferings of this life are temporary. They don't last forever. Hell will last forever. And there will be people who will spend eternity in torment. But for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, our sufferings will not only end, they will be replaced with a glory that is greater than anything we can imagine. So I'm looking forward to heaven. How about you? Now, when the people were afraid because they had messed up, and they knew they'd messed up, and God had just reminded them that they'd messed up by sending a really shocking storm, they were afraid they were gonna die, and Samuel says, don't be afraid. If I could paraphrase what he said, he said, don't be afraid, but don't be stupid, okay? Don't be afraid, but don't follow after idols. Don't be afraid, but serve the Lord. Don't be afraid that you're gonna die, but watch out that you don't miss the blessing of God by doing what God calls you to do. What is amazing is that God is willing to bless and be glorified through people who have clearly messed up. But in order for them to receive His blessing, they've got to acknowledge that they've messed up. And that's what this is about. If you and I try and live in denial, believing that, you know, well, I don't see what was wrong with it, You know, I mean, I was just following my heart. I was just doing what comes naturally. It's the way I am. I just do what comes naturally and follow the inner light. Well, I'm sorry, you are headed for destruction. That's the way most people live. But if you say, oh God, what have I done? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God stands ready to pardon. And he provided forgiveness by sending Jesus to pay the penalty that we deserve. So this is not about God wanting people to cower and just be terrified all the time. This is about God giving people a wake-up call. I've seen EMTs seeking to revive a person whose heart has stopped. They typically kneel down next to them and gently unbutton the shirt, and being careful not to wrinkle it, they say, could you help me get him out of this? Oh, that's a nice one. Oh, very good. OK, now he looks pretty good there. Let's see. Do we have those paddles? Is that what they do? No, that's not what they do. I mean, they will rip it or cut it with a pair of scissors. I mean, forget the shirt, we've got a person here. They peel that thing back, they take those paddles, they slap them on there and they jolt that guy with electricity. Now, if I were to do that to you this morning, you would not appreciate it, okay? I mean, really, if I came over to you and went, gotcha, you wouldn't say, oh, you sure did. That was shocking. You wouldn't say that. As a matter of fact, if I hit you with the electric paddles right now when your heart's doing well, I could give you a heart attack. We can mess up that rhythm because that's like pressing the restart button. Now, let me tell you something. When God thunders from on high or sends some other jolt into our lives, it's not because he's out to destroy us. If he wanted to destroy us, we'd be destroyed. Do you understand that? It's not like God says, well, all I can do today is thunder. I mean, that's all the power I've got. No, I mean, if God wanted to destroy the planet, he can send a flood, he can send fire, he can do whatever he wants to do. When God does stuff to wake us up, it's because He's still offering us hope. When God says repent, He's calling us to life. He's inviting us to turn from the road that leads to destruction and experience His grace. He's still willing to be glorified through people who have messed up. Look at what it says here. This is just amazing. Verse 22, for the sake of His great name, the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own. Did you hear that? For the sake of His great name, not because we're so good, not because we're so cute, but for the sake of His great name, the Lord will not reject His people, because the Lord was pleased to make you His own. It was His choice, it wasn't ours. Jesus said to his disciples, you didn't choose me, I chose you. Before the creation of the world, in Christ Jesus, we were chosen to be conformed to his likeness. Please understand this. The reason we're going to be saved is not because we're the good ones, doggone it. Here, let's just all line up at the front and get a group photo. That's not it. The reason we're going to be saved is because God looked down at the earth and he said, I'm going to manifest my glory. Go back and read Ephesians 1. It is for the glory of his name that God chose to save us, not because we deserved it. Read 1 Corinthians and find out that the basis, the only clue given in scripture as to the basis on which God chose certain people was he wanted to pick the least likely subjects. so that it would be clear that it's all about him, not about us. He chose the nobodies in order to shame the somebodies. Because it's not about our ability, it's about his ability. It's about his grace, his power, his mercy. God chose the people that we would not have picked to be on the team, people like us. And God said, I will display my glory through them. He was pleased to make us his own. Amazing, amazing. If you think that you're part of God's family because you're better than other people, you know, God looked down at the earth and he saw me and said, wow, that one's cute. I'm sorry, you're living in fantasy land. But if you say, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, then you've got a song. Then you've got a reason to rejoice. It pleased the Lord to make you His own. Wow. Wow. Is that tremendous? Now, in light of that then, in light of that, don't go after idols. Don't give yourself to pursuing other things that cannot satisfy you. They're useless. They're useless. I know people, I personally know people who worship idols. I mean that's really you can talk to them and that's their religion. Well, I think all religions are basically the same. Well, then you're a moron. Okay? You think all religions are the same? You haven't got a clue. Well, I took a course in comparative religions at the university. Well, so you were taught by a moron. Okay? If you think that all religions are the same, you know this much about world religions. They're not the same. They're not. Even the non-Christian religions are not the same. They're not. There's more I'd like to say, but. Suffice it to say, feel free to investigate and see if I'm telling you the truth. You will discover that the religions are not all the same. Let me just give you an example. Islam and Judaism both agree with Christianity that there is only one God. Hinduism, a little different approach. Buddhism grows out of Hinduism and is basically a nihilistic philosophy. even though Nietzsche came along way, way, way after Gautama Buddha. But I want you to understand, they are not saying the same thing about ultimate realities, something as simple as how many gods there are. Only one. Many, many, many, many. I thought all religions were the same. They all teach us just to love our neighbor. No, some say you're to subjugate your neighbor and either make him a convert or a slave or kill him. That's Islam. Okay? They didn't conquer Europe by passing out tracts. Okay? They came in and they said bow or die. Bow or die. Bow or die. And Charles Martel was raised up by God to stand against the invading Muslim horde that had already wiped out Christians in the Middle East and all across North Africa. And I think there have been some people who did bad things in the name of Jesus, too. Oh, you're exactly right. I could write a book on that. But let me tell you something. Those things are not found here, unlike the Koran. If you think the religions are the same, you don't know what you're talking about. The other gods are useless because they're not God. There is only one God and the only way to Him is through the cross of Jesus Christ. If you do not come in faith trusting in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will spend forever in the extra crispy section. Is that clear? Nobody is going to be able to say, well, I didn't do anything wrong because we all have. Nobody is going to be able to say, well, I don't deserve to go to hell because we all do. The only hope is God's mercy and grace. But in this passage, I want you to see this, please. When you've messed up and you come to realize that you have messed up, that is not a hopeless position. That is the place where you can finally find hope. This passage does not say, and if you have messed up, you need to hang it up. This says, you have messed up. Now, hang up the sinning, hang up the idols, and start obeying God. You can, by God's grace, surrender your life to Him. And He will empower you to do what is right. But you can't do it on your own. You need His power. And folks, now that Jesus Christ has died on the cross and been raised to life, He has sent His Spirit, and we have a level of power to walk in obedience that the Old Testament saints didn't know. The New Kingdom, the New Covenant is better. And you and I, of all people, should rejoice. Now I sure wish I'd lived back in Bible times. Well, God bless you. Keep reading the Bible. I do not wish that I'd lived back in Bible times. I am so thankful that I get to live right now. I am so thankful that God destined me to be alive right now at a time when His Spirit indwells those who trust in Jesus Christ. And His Spirit empowers and anoints those who are obedient to Him. I am so grateful that I don't have to pray with David, do not take your Holy Spirit from me, because God has promised that He never will. Thank God. Thank God I get to be a part of the new covenant. Jesus said of John the Baptist, there is never a man born of woman who is greater than John the Baptist, but he's less than the least in the kingdom. Jesus has done what we couldn't do and ushered in a new covenant of grace. And because of that, we look back at these stories and we see our frailty and the greatness of God. But if you want this story in context, you've got to see it in light of the New Testament. And that is that God has now provided full salvation for us in Christ Jesus. Therefore, be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart and consider what great things he has done for you. There is a word of warning that follows that. If you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away. Behold, I set before you life and death. Choose life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you have chosen to save us. You could have chosen to destroy us and it would have been fair. It would have been completely fair, but you chose to save us. We thank you, we praise you, we offer our lives to you this day and ask that you would fill us with your spirit and use us for your glory. We want to do Your will, Lord. So cleanse us and change us from the inside out. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen.