Let's pray together, please. Father, thank you for giving us the words of eternal life in your Holy Word. May we receive them with faith and love, lay them up on our hearts and practice them in our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please turn to 1 Samuel chapter 12. You're in the next chapter here in 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel chapter 12. And I've titled this morning's message to you, Samuel's Thunderous Farewell. First Samuel 12, beginning at verse one, this is God's word. Then Samuel said to all Israel, behold, I have listened to your voice and all that you said to me, and I have appointed a king over you. Now here's the king walking before you, but I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my youth even to this day. Here I am. Bear witness against me before the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you. They said, you have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand. He said to them, the Lord is witness against you. And his anointed is witness this day that you have found nothing in my hand. And they said, he is witness. And Samuel said to the people, it is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. So now take your stand that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did for you and your fathers. When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot the Lord, their God. And so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. They cried out to the Lord and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtoreth, but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies and we will serve you. Then the Lord sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around so that you lived in security. When you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us. Although the Lord your God was your king. Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has set a king over you. If you will fear the Lord and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. If you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers. Even now, take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord that he may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for yourselves a king. So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared the Lord, and Samuel. Then all the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king. Samuel said to the people, Do not fear, you have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things, which can neither profit nor deliver, because they are futile. For the Lord will not abandon his people on account of his great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. But I will instruct you in the good and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away. May God bless the reading of this holy word. Not every leader has the opportunity to address the people that they led during their life. when that comes to a conclusion, but Samuel here, he was indeed the final judge in the long list of judges that started way back with Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar and some of those other strange sounding names that God raised up. Samuel's the last one in Israel before Israel turns into a full-fledged monarchy. And so he has one final chance to speak to the people of Israel and he really is kind of passing the baton off to Saul. And while Samuel still has a big role to play in the book of 1 Samuel before his death in chapter 25, this scene here really is the final act for Samuel as the leader of Israel. Now they have their first king, they have Saul now. Remember, Israel is one nation united for 120 years under their first three kings. It goes from Saul to David and then to Solomon. And then after that, civil war breaks it into the Northern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom is usually called either Ephraim or Israel throughout the rest of the historical books. And the Southern Kingdom is usually just referred to as Judah. But here in this moment, Samuel has a great opportunity to speak to the people that he had led and judged nearly all his life, since he was really a boy. And I titled my message to you this morning, Samuel's thunderous farewell. Israel, as we've all learned, and we're all very similar to Israel in this way, Israel, just like us, unfortunately, very often didn't do overly well simply taking God at His word. They needed visual aids and concrete illustrations to kind of drive home the point. And they're gonna be getting one here. Farewell speeches are actually somewhat common in the Bible. The entire book of Deuteronomy, is three farewell speeches from Moses before his death to Israel. The upper room discourse in John 14, 15, and 16 is Jesus's farewell address to his disciples before his crucifixion. And some of the clearest teaching in all of scripture about the ministry and person of the Holy Spirit. Joshua also has farewell speeches in which he addressed the people of Israel. You may remember some of his grand glorious final words to Israel. He says, choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh. We will serve the true God. So I want you to be thinking about that. What would you say if you had the opportunity to address the people that you had been called to lead at some point in your life? What would you say to your spouse? What would you say to your children? What would you say to your church? What would you say to your siblings, to your Sunday school class? What would you say to them? You got one final chance to speak. Samuel is first going to invite them to point out how I wronged you. Have I wronged any of you in any way? And then he's going to rehearse for them the great things that God had done for them throughout their lives. Then he gives them an exhortation to be obedient. And then he gives them a rather terrifying reminder of God's power. And then the people are frightened. And Samuel encourages them with some very good biblical advice in the midst of their terror at God's thunderous display. And it's counsel we all need to listen to. So I've given you an outline there in your bulletin, a five-point outline. It's amazing to me. Every time I read another chapter of 1 Samuel, my initial thought is, what am I going to do with this? And then there's so much in it, I wonder how I'm going to fit it into one sermon. Look at verses one through three here. Then Samuel said to all Israel, behold, I have listened to your voice and all that you said to me, and I have appointed a king over you. Verse two, now here is the king walking before you, but I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you, and I have walked before you from my youth even to this day. Here I am, bear witness against me before the Lord and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you." Now, why was Samuel feel the need to vindicate his life in ministry at this time? Well, most commentators think, and I think they're right, because the administration that he came after was a very, very bad one, was a very corrupt one. Hophni and Phinehas and Eli and his house, they led the people in a corrupt and evil way. They had defrauded Israel constantly. If a minister succeeds someone who was evil and corrupt or both, they will probably unfairly be under people's suspicious eye. What is this one up to? Samuel has nothing to hide. He lays it on the line. He said, here's your chance. Have I done anything from the time I was a youth until now that I'm old and gray-headed? Have I taken anything from you? Have I ever taken a bribe to distort justice? Bring it on. I lay myself on the chopping block. Do you have anything against me? And look at verse four and five. They said, you have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand. Verse five. Then he said to them, the Lord is witness against you and his anointed that saw his witness this day that you have found nothing in my hand. And they said, he is witness. So Samuel's letting them know, okay, you all said it. I didn't do anything wrong against you. The King, Saul, God's anointed. He's witnessed that you've said this. I didn't do anything wrong against you. And Samuel, he obviously was not a power hungry individual. This is a man who did not have an ego. And in that way, he's very rare. He is characterized by incredible humility. Power very often corrupts. You know, Lord Acton, the famous saying, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Power had corrupted Eli and his administration, but not Samuel and his. Samuel did exactly as he was instructed by the people and by the Lord in giving them Saul as a king. Samuel, Samuel promoted, encouraged, and would pray for and advise Saul. He did not have any jealousy of this king whatsoever. There's no jealousy in Samuel's heart in this matter. Samuel is a model leader. His passion was just to be obedient to God and his life was not about him. And that's what made him so special. His life was about loving and obeying God and promoting loving and obeying God in the hearts of everyone around him. Promoting righteousness. Now Saul is young, he's tall, he's handsome, he's strong. And Samuel said there in verse two, you see it verse two, but I am old and gray. He said, my time is now at an end. Here's the king you all wanted. Samuel is remarkably gracious. Remember the people's request for a king? It was a personal insult to Samuel. It was a personal insult to his leadership. And God even told Samuel in 1 Samuel 8, 7, when the people said, we want a king to judge us like all the nations, God encouraged Samuel by saying in verse seven of chapter eight, they've not rejected you, they've rejected me. But I should not reign over them. God knew Samuel was hurt by this. Samuel had devoted his entire existence to this nation. And they're saying, we don't want you. We want a king. Despite that slight, despite that insult, Samuel still does everything he can think of to help Israel make this transition. In fact, I want to say this. I really think without Samuel, without a man of his extraordinary humility and character, this transition from judges to a monarchy would not have worked. Had Israel's final judge been a man of lesser godliness, someone with even a little bit of ambition, someone with even a little bit of an ego, the desire for a king could easily have fractured the whole country, and there would have been a faction favoring Samuel and a faction favoring Saul. But Samuel's not like that. Samuel knows this is what the people wanted. God told me, give them what they want, and it's time for me to pass the baton off. No ego, no ambition. This man is made of an extraordinary metal. He really was. Despite the slight, despite the insult, he's going to do everything he can. He's going to pray. He's going to work. He's going to encourage Saul, pray for Saul. Humility is what marks Samuel. It really does. The desire for a king, it could have blown the whole country up. And Samuel's old and gray, and the people want the big, tall Mr. Israel, handsome in choice Saul. I mean, there's a lot of reasons Samuel could have been jealous of him, but he's not. He's humble. Humility is what makes him such a great man of God. Moses and Samuel were both characterized by humility and their character. They're spoken up together by God as two of the greatest men who ever lived. And remember that passage in Jeremiah 15 one, God says to the prophet Jeremiah, I'm so angry with Israel that even if Moses and Samuel were to stand in front of me, I'm still going to destroy them. Why Moses and Samuel? Because they're two of the most extraordinary, humble individuals who ever lived. Samuel's life really speaks for itself. And the people of Israel knew this. They knew what a great leader he was. They knew that he had integrity. They knew that he cared nothing for himself or his power, his influence. Samuel was easy to follow because Samuel followed God first. And that's all he ever wanted everyone else to do. Follow, love, and obey God. What a legacy. What a legacy for him to have with God and with the people that followed him. And I want to tell you all and tell myself, people will remember us. People will remember us, our family, our church, our friends, fellow Christians, they will all remember you. What will they think of when they think of you? The people of Israel say of Samuel in verse four there, you have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand. And then Samuel begins his farewell address. Samuel's rehearsal of God's faithfulness to them, it stretches all the way back to what even for them was the ancient past. So let's look at it, look at verse six. So here's Samuel's speech. And Samuel said to the people, it is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. Okay, stop there. These people were a nation who lived in that land for one and only one reason. At this time, God liberated them from Egyptian slavery. Moses and Aaron were appointed by God to lead them out of that terrible place, out of their bondage, out of their terrible trials and persecutions, and away from idolatry to worship and serve the one true and living God. And Samuel wants the people to remember this. This is one reason why ministers of the gospel need on a regular basis to take their own hearts and the hearts of their congregations back to the cross. Back to where it was all done. Back to where we were saved. Back to the righteousness of Christ. The Exodus event is the ultimate Old Testament picture of our own personal liberation from the guilt and power of sin. So it makes sense that Samuel would say, you guys live in this land because the Lord appointed Moses and Aaron to bring you out of Egypt. Hark back to the day it all started. Hark back to when you were helpless and in slavery and God brought you out of that place. In Samuel's parting address, that's where he starts. He takes them back to the days of Egypt, back to the place of bondage, to the place of deprivation and humiliation and murder and death. And he says, it is the Lord who brought you up. And I say to every Christian, it was God Almighty who in eternity past planned your salvation. Whatever you've got going on, remember that. You're here as a worshiper of God because of that. And He's telling them, you're here in this land because it was the Lord who came after you. He begins with grace. Look at verse seven. So now take your stand that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did for you and your fathers. And then verse eight. When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. Stop there. The Lord sent Moses and Aaron and brought them out of Egypt into a glorious, wonderful land flowing with milk and honey where they would be free. They'd be free to serve the Lord without fear, free from fear of their enemies if they obeyed God. And what did they do when they got there? They all fell into idolatry. Remember something, dear congregation, God has given us every reason to be obedient and to thrive under him as our Lord, Savior and God. But like Israel, we too are so easily ensnared by the lies and the tricks of the world and the charms of sin. But Israel was brought out and they were settled in that place, the promised land. God brought him there. Look at verse nine. But they forgot the Lord their God. So he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. What an amazing thing. They forgot the Lord. So he sold them to be oppressed by their enemies. And this happened over and over again in Israel's history. Remember Sisera? Remember how Sisera died? Jael, tent peg, right in the head. Look at verse 10, 11. Then they cried out to the Lord and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and we have served the Baals and the Ashtoreth, but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies and we will serve you. Verse 11. Then the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around so that you lived in security. Okay, stop there. That was the cycle. Read through the book of Judges. It happens over and over again. Over and over, the people would forget God, and they'd start being idolatrous and evil, and then God would raise up oppressors against them, and they'd cry out for help, and then God would send them another judge. What a testimony to our own stubborn foolishness. I mean, think about it. Really? I get to go to heaven for eternity and not hell? We can have such joy if we believe that, but even now, our hearts are deceptive to us, and we forget God, and we act like He's not there. We act like He can't see us. We get heartbroken and discouraged by life. Our eyes go dry, and our faith gets old, and our hearts become hardened and crusted over, and our prayers get cold and lifeless. And we wonder, what are we missing out there in that sinful world? What am I missing out on? And then we forget. 2 Peter 1 speaks even of true believers acting like they have forgotten that they were cleansed from their old sins. How do we forget the greatest of things? What a testimony to our sinfulness that is. And Samuel lists some of the judges there. Jerubbaal is just another name for Gideon. Beden, it might be a judge that is just not mentioned in the book of Judges. Some think that might be Barak, it really doesn't matter. And it doesn't record every event that happened in that time period. But Israel here would have remembered those names. Oh yeah, I remember Jerubbaal, I remember Gideon in the 300, remember that? Remember Beden, remember Jephthah. But notice who else he mentions last. Me, Samuel. God gave you me and I helped you. Don't forget me. All of these men, these judges, they were great examples of God's grace and patience. And the people did not deserve to be delivered from their oppressors after all God had done for them, but he helps them anyway. He reaches out to them anyway. How quick are we? I wanna ask, how quick are we to just be done with people? Thankfully, God's not like that with us. Then Samuel reminds them of the last great crisis. Look at verse 12 and 13. You see it? Verse 12 and 13. When you saw that Nahash, the king of the sons of Ammon, came against you, you said to me, no, but a king shall reign over us, although the Lord your God was your king. Verse 13. Now therefore, here's the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has set a king over you. The threat of Nahash, this Ammonite, that's the reason Israel wanted a king. They were afraid of Nahash. And so they go to Samuel and say, we want a king to judge us like all the other nations. Isn't that amazing? And that was not long after God had just delivered them from the Philistines. And they say, no, no, no, we've decided we just don't want to believe in this God we can't see. We want a king that's like the nations. Nahash, that brutal Ammonite, remember the people were anxious to make a covenant with him. He was very intimidating. And Nahash said, sure, I'll make a covenant with you, but I'm going to poke out all of your right eyes. And the Spirit of God comes mightily upon Saul, and Saul gets very angry, and he cuts up an oxen and sets out the pieces of it and says, if you don't come to battle, this is what's going to happen to your oxen. And then they fight against the Ammonites, and they beat them so badly that the only Ammonites that were left had to flee all by themselves, not even in pairs. And Saul then forbids anyone who previously questioned his abilities to be put to death. Remember the people said, hey, who are those people that said Saul could not deliver us? Let's put them all to death. And Saul says, no one's dying today. He did a lot of wise and good things. God is using him. So the people want a king to fight for them. They got one. He fights for them. They win. And Samuel's reminding them of what just happened. We forget God's righteous acts of grace and faithfulness in the distant past. You know what else we sometimes forget? His gracious acts that just happened. We forget everything. Sin makes us so forgetful. The same was preaching to the people hoping that they will not do what they've shown they're really good at doing. And that is forgetting. Forgetting God's faithfulness. Forgetting how good He's been. How many times He's come through for them. Even as believers in Christ who are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, who have a sincere desire to love and obey God, we really do love the Lord. We want to obey Him. When we sin, it's really like we forgot who we are. We forgot what we've been bought with and what our purpose is. We forget that. When Paul rebuked the church at Corinth for its sexual sins, he is reminding them of what they already knew. He says, don't you know, 1 Corinthians 6.19, do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit? Did they know that? Yeah, they knew that. He's reminding them, you're acting like you forgot about this. Glorify God in your body, he says. Of course they knew that, but sin makes us forgetful. Sin makes us throw caution to the wind. But then we come to the timeless principle, which is the ticket to things going well for us in life. But this also shows us our need for a savior. Look at verses 14 and 15. If you will fear the Lord and serve him and listen to his voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. If you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers. Now, there's nobody who always does what is righteous and does so perfectly even when they do. But generally speaking, if we just obey the Lord and listen to his voice and not rebel, generally speaking, things will go well for us in life. Although Israel had sinned in their request for a worldly king like all the nations, even now, if they will obey the Lord, obey scripture and not rebel, things will go well for you. You will follow the Lord. Now, no one has ever or will ever be saved by obedience or by works, but there's still that general principle. If you want things to go well for you in life, just obey God. When all else fails, avoid the things he tells you to avoid and do the things he commands. Just obey God. That's the general principle here. Obedience will bring blessedness. Disobedience brings the disciplinary hand of God. When we rebel, and Christians can at times do that, the hand of the Lord's discipline will come against us. There will be times that we make unwise choices and make bad decisions that have repercussions for us sometimes for years to come. We might make a move and move our family somewhere that we end up regretting. We might take a job that we find out later was not a good idea, was not a good move. We may end up enrolling in and going to a school and then wish we'd gone to school somewhere else. We can even be in a marriage that's very hard for whatever reason. There will be times that we think that we have somehow stepped out of God's will and therefore we conclude that, well, I can't really turn to him in this situation because I'm the one that messed all this up. I wanna encourage you, never let yourself think that way. The solution's always the same. Psalm 28, verse seven. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusted in him and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices and with my song I will praise him. No matter what your situation or scenario is, just obey God's word. When all else fails, just walk in obedience. We all have problems. But our biggest problem is that the wrath of God is provoked by our sin. That is what the gospel answers, that problem. And when a person comes to Christ, they may still have all their other problems, but their biggest problem is solved. The biggest problem is answered for the rest of eternity. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That is our great inheritance. God is our father. Christ is our savior. The Holy Spirit is our indwelling helper and comforter. but it was true in Samuel's day, it's true today, just obey God. Whatever your situation, whether you got yourself into it or it was something outside of your control, just obey God and do as he says. No matter how tough a marriage might be or how deep the bitterness is, husband, if you will just obey scripture, love your wife as Christ loves the church, God will bless you no matter what the outcome. If your job situation is bad and you're underpaid, or you work for a boss who's a tyrant, or people nitpick at you and are constantly criticizing you, and your hours are too varied or too many, just obey God. Listen to the Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 2, 18. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. There were people that Peter wrote to that had terrible working situations. My boss is impossible to please. No matter what I do, I can't make him or her happy. And the command from Scripture is, be submissive to your masters with all fear. Show respect, not just to the good and gentle, but to the harsh. That's really what Samuel is telling the people here. Just obey God, just like Moses told the people of Israel in Deuteronomy. Just obey him and things will go well for you. That's the command of the Holy Spirit. Be submissive, do your work hard to the best of your ability, love your spouse, be patient with your children, repent where you need to to the people that you need to repent to if you have sinned, and then you press on. Far too often we wallow in the past and we sit and stare at our former sins and think about those things and the burden is just overwhelming. I want to encourage you, just obey God from here on out. Israel, like all of God's people throughout history, they didn't find mere words from God to be overly threatening or impressive. We should, but they didn't. And so a grand sign to help Israel fear from the Lord is about to happen here. Look at verses 16 and 17. Even now take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord that he may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for yourselves a king." Wow. Wheat harvest was the driest season in Israel. And what happens here in this speech would be like Miami, Florida, getting three feet of snow in the dead of summer. Thunder and rain are coming to show Israel one thing, God is a threat to you. The God you serve and have sinned against by asking for a king is a threat to you. And while we emphasize the biblical truth that gratitude is the primary motive for personal holiness in our struggle against sin, the disciplinary hand and power of God is certainly a close second. Don't sin because God is a faithful father who will come at you with the rod of correction. You see, Israel, like us, tended always to see, just like we do, I do it, my temporal circumstances are my greatest problem. I always think the problems of today are my biggest issues. We always think people are our biggest problems, our enemies. We fear circumstances that are outside of our control. We fear the people that we know despise us. And we certainly should be concerned about things like that. But what did Jesus teach us about the ultimate fear? He said to people who had that same problem, Matthew 10, 28, do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So Samuel specifically tells Israel that this display of thunder and rain in the middle of the driest season of the year was intended to show them their wickedness and asking for a king specifically. And we need not doubt this must have been a terrifying display of God's power. When God himself intervenes directly to show his people thunder and rain in the dead of heat and dryness of the wheat harvest season, it will be remembered. Look at verse 18. So Samuel called to the Lord and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. It worked. The people were terrified of the Lord. Isn't that odd? When people are greatly afraid, they cannot help but turn their thoughts to the things of God. They turn their thoughts to eternal matters. All of a sudden, they have, who's that? Never heard of him. When I was 14 years old. The church I went to, we did a bike trip. About 30 kids went up to the upstate region of New York by the Finger Lakes region. And it was in the middle of summer. It was really hot. And we were doing very long, grueling bike routes. And at one point we were heading down a mountain, down a windy, narrow road that was double yellow lined. We were headed down towards one of the lakes. And I was going really, really fast. And someone was on my right side in the correct lane where intelligent people ride their bikes. And I was in the lane with oncoming traffic. Because we were going so fast, I was trying to hug the turn, and the person next to me said, you probably shouldn't be in that lane. You can't see what's coming up over there. And it hit me. Oh, yeah. If a car came up here, I'd probably get killed. So I started inching my way back out. Here comes the semi. Missed me probably by three or four inches. Horn blasting and everything scared me half to death. When we got to the bottom of the hill, got up to the lake, everyone threw their bikes aside and all ran out into the lake to cool off in the water. And I remember sitting there on the ground with my forearms up on my knees, sitting down and just shaking. And all of a sudden I got real spiritual. And I sat there saying, and just said, thank you, God, for saving my life. And was trying not to get, it's almost emotional remembering that, but I said that, thank you, God, for my life, for saving me. All of a sudden, the zits I popped on my face that morning were not a concern to me. A brush with serious injury or death like that suddenly makes your other problems kind of fade away. Thankful to be alive. The people feared the Lord and Samuel that day. They saw rain and thunder at a time of year they'd never seen it. And you can have no doubt that thunder was really loud and it was scary. Don't be afraid of Nahash Israel. Don't desire to be like the nations around you. Fear God and keep his commandments. Look how powerful he is. God's hand will be on us for blessing or his hand will be against us for difficulty and painful discipline based on whether are we following him? Are we willing to walk in obedience or not? And you know, your obedience doesn't save you, but it sure has a lot to do with whether you walk in the countenance of God or under his fatherly displeasure. Whatever your circumstances, fear the Lord greatly. Trust in the finished work of Christ. Walk blamelessly before God. Take sin seriously. The fear that people have of God here is great. And look at their prayer requests. Look at verse 19. Then all the people said to Samuel, pray for your servants to the Lord, your God, so that we may not die. For we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king. Now, it's not every moment of our lives that we realize in such living color that God holds us in the palm of our hand and our days are written in his book and he determines them all. But we do have those moments. We see an incredible display of God's power in nature. You have a near-death experience by an accident, by almost getting hit by a semi, or you have a serious illness that you make it through. But notice Israel's prayer requests here. They don't ask Samuel, hey, Samuel, pray that the Ammonites and the Philistines will leave us alone and never come near us to oppress us again. They, amazingly enough, ask Samuel a really simple thing. They say, please pray and ask God not to kill us. I was reflecting on that. What an amazing prayer request. You know, as a pastor, I've been asking people for years, how can I pray for you? And I'm very thankful people give me specific things I can pray for. But I want to tell you, no one has ever said to me, Patrick, would you pray that God wouldn't kill me for the sin I committed today or yesterday? Never. You know what? I haven't ever asked that either. Pray that God wouldn't kill me for all my former sins. Pray that God won't strike me dead. Had a tough week this week, wrestling with my sins. I don't feel very good about it. Pray that God won't kill me. But even on my own, I don't typically pray for that. I don't pray, Lord, don't kill me this week for the sins I commit. Don't kill so-and-so for the wicked things we do. When I was really young, I used to go with my dad. My dad was a life insurance agent. Once in a while, my mother was working, I'd have to go with him to go see clients and deliver death benefit checks. And one of those trips I remember so clearly because it terrified me. My dad told me what had happened to this family. A man, a middle-aged man in his 40s had died sledding. He hit his head on a shed at the bottom of a hill and broke his neck and died. And my dad was really torn up about it. He was a friend of my dad's. And I remember that one because it was real hard on him. And just recently, the last time my mother was here, visiting just a few weeks ago, I mentioned at a family worship that, you know, We have God's promise of forgiveness. We have God's promise of justification and adoption. It's by grace alone, has no reference to our works. But if a Christian is determined to be a fool, if a Christian pushes the boundaries and is willing to just defy God and to sin boldly, God could certainly strike them down. It's not saying that it's impossible to lose your salvation, but if we dishonor his name to such an extent, he may strike us down. Paul told the church in Corinth that God had killed some of them for that. So for this reason, many are weak and sick among you and many sleep. And my mother brought up that event with that guy that I went to his house with my dad when I was a kid. My mom said, remember that guy that broke his neck on the sled when you were real little? I said, yes. And she told me something I'd never heard before. She said, did you know they were a Christian family? And after he died, his wife told me that he'd been having an affair. that had been discovered by the wife. But even after confronting him about it, he still would not give up that other woman. And it went on and on and on. And that widowed woman told my mother, I think God killed him because of that. So much time, so many opportunities to stop, and he would not give her up. Now, do we know that's what happened? Of course not, of course not. But I wanna tell y'all something. Sin is not a game. Sin is not something you manage. It's something you fight and are at war with. And it's not our place to make a spot for our pet sins. We are to crucify them all. Paul said in Galatians 5.24, and those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. The people of Israel are realizing, wow, look at that display of thunder in the dry season. In the dry season, all of a sudden it's pouring rain and there's lightning and thunder and it's scary. Pray that God won't kill us. You realize the God that could do that at any moment is still the same God with the same power, 24 hours a day. Why do we act like he can't do that? Sin is not a game. Don't think you can manage it, be at war with it. those evil desires, they want to master you. But you have to, by the means of God's grace, the preaching of the word, the reading of the word, the sacraments and prayer, you can master them by the grace of God, put them to death, keep up your guard, be vigilant, and never think that you're entirely victorious against any of them. Always keep your guard up. It should not take a violent, deafening thunderstorm and a dry desert to suddenly turn our hearts to eternal matters. Our lives at every moment hang by a thread. What an incredible response to a natural display of power. They said, Samuel, pray for your servants to the Lord your God so that we may not die. For we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king. Notice that all their other sins have come to mind too. We have all these other sins and now we've done this. Pray that the Lord won't kill us. brushes with death, powerful displays in nature, loud and deafening noises can terrify us into being suddenly spiritual. It did here. And Samuel's response shows Samuel has the true heart of a pastor. Look at verse 20 and 21. And Samuel said to the people, Do not fear, you have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. You must not turn aside, for then you would go after futile things which cannot profit or deliver, because they are futile. At any given moment in our lives, there are sinful things where you're gonna be tempted to turn aside after. Think about your Christian life. You're on a path, a straight path towards a celestial city. And all along the way, there's these little detours. There's lust, and there's pride, and there's wealth, and there's the sin, and that's him. And he's saying, don't turn aside. Keep your eyes fixed forward. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Don't be distracted by the things in your peripheral vision. Keep your eyes straight. He says, what good are those idols anyway? They can't profit or deliver you. You're gonna call on sex, drugs and friends and whatever idols stealing to deliver you in your time of need. Those things can't satisfy, they can't deliver, they are futile. They can't save you from your sins, but they can drag you either into hell or under God's disciplinary hand. Remember the psalmist preaching to himself. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there's nothing on earth I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. But there are so many things we do desire, sinful things. But this is what we aim at in everything, to desire God, to desire communion with Him, to desire to love Him more, to obey Him more, to love our fellow man, to love the people in our household better. Why are we so inclined towards idols and futility and that which destroys and ruins us? Samuel encourages them. He says, yes, you did all this evil, but forget about it. Forget about the past and press on. Realize that what is done is done. It cannot be undone, but you can decide to walk in God's ways from here on out. You can make good decisions today and tomorrow, but you can't make good decisions yesterday. Don't turn aside after idols now and in the future. Forget the past. Ask forgiveness and move on. Know that you have it. And here's the reason that we need not wallow in our past sins and our past failures. Look at verse 22, great promise. For the Lord will not abandon his people on account of his great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for himself. Is that not good news? Why does God never abandon his people? For his own namesake. Listen to some of these passages, Ephesians 1, 11 and 12. These are all in your thoughts for Sabbath meditation. In him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. Hebrews 13, five, for he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Psalm 23, familiar Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness. Why? For his namesake. As long as salvation and the theater of creation is about the glory of God, he will never forsake and abandon his people. The people of God who are elected by name individually from all eternity, whose salvation has been entrusted to God the Son, they need not doubt that God not only will never abandon or forsake them, but that he will most certainly employ all the powers of his Godhead to bring every one of them safely home. And then Samuel further assures them, not only will God never forsake them for all their sins, but Samuel says, I won't either. I won't either. Even though you guys, you know, kind of spit in my face by wanting a king, I won't abandon you either. Look at verse 23 through 25. Moreover, as for me, far be it for me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. But I will instruct you in the good and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away. It was a thunderous farewell speech. Samuel made the most of this last opportunity. It was probably not what the people were expecting. They were not expecting to be struck to the heart with fear that God was about to kill them, but all of this was needed. This great man Samuel was raised up by God to prevent Israel from doing a national face plant in his transition from judges to kings. God puts the right people in the right place at the right time for such occasions as this, for the good of his people and the glory of his name. As odd and as strange as the days are that we live in in America and the church in America, we ought to take courage from this narrative. As much as the professing church in America these days has really sold its soul for a mess of stew like Esau did long ago, and has discarded its glorious biblical and Reformation heritage, God will never let it die altogether. God will not abandon his people on account of his great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for himself. That's God's promise. I wanna encourage you all. Please look at and discuss the thoughts for Sabbath meditation and discussion today with your families. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your faithfulness to your people, that it pleased you to have a people in this world. What a privilege we have to be part of it. Help us know our salvations by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And yet we can come under your fatherly displeasure. Help us to forget what's behind and press forward to seek to love and obey you, always clinging solely and only to the finished work of Christ our Savior for our entrance into heaven. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.