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[0:00] Take your Bibles tonight and open them to 1 Samuel chapter 12.

[0:19] ! We are now ready to launch into that chapter. In fact, we'll take the whole chapter here tonight.! 1 Samuel chapter 12. Again, even though I plan to read all of it as we go along, I'm going to go ahead and read the whole thing to get us started as well.

[0:37] So, 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 1. Now Samuel said to all Israel, Indeed, I have heeded your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you.

[0:51] And now here is the king walking before you. And I'm old, gray-headed. So let's relate to that.

[1:03] And look, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my childhood to this day. Here I am. Witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed.

[1:18] Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I received any bribe with which to blind my eyes?

[1:34] I will restore it to you. That is, if you could name any time that I've done such a thing. And they said, You have not cheated us or oppressed us, nor have you taken anything from any man's hand.

[1:51] Then he said to them, The Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.

[2:04] Then Samuel said to the people, It is the Lord who raised up Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and your fathers.

[2:23] When Jacob had gone 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 made them dwell in this place.

[2:34] And when they forgot the Lord, their God, he sold them into the hand of Caesarea, commander of the army of Hazor, into the hand of the Philistine, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

[2:48] Then they cried out to the Lord, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord, and served the Baals and Ashtaraths. But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.

[3:01] The Lord sent Jerubal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt in safety.

[3:15] And when you saw that Nahash, king of the Ammonites, came against you, you said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your king.

[3:27] Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen, and whom you have desired, and take note, the Lord has set a king over you. If you fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God.

[3:48] However, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

[4:00] Now therefore, stand and see this great thing, which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is today not the wheat harvest? I will call to the Lord, and he will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see, that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking a king for yourselves.

[4:21] 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, all the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves.

[4:42] And Samuel said to the people, Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.

[4:54] And do not turn aside, for then you would go after empty things, which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great namesake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you his people.

[5:10] Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart.

[5:25] For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you will do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king. Now, what we have here in this chapter is what I want to call Samuel's not-so-gracious farewell.

[5:46] This is his farewell, in a sense. And he's not really all that gracious. Now, don't misunderstand me, because there's plenty of grace in this chapter.

[5:59] Marvelous grace. But it's not coming from Samuel. It's coming from God, as we shall see. And so this chapter, I want to just tell you, and we'll get to it, this chapter is full of grace.

[6:12] Full of the marvelous, wonderful grace of God. Not just for Israel. We're going to see that. But by extension, to all of God's people, including every one of us here.

[6:26] The gospel message is here, in this chapter. I don't know if you picked up on it, but if you didn't, we'll get to it, okay, as we go along. Now, let me kind of set up the context, or maybe bring us up to speed, remind us of the story, what has been transpiring now for some time.

[6:47] Israel, remember, demanded that Samuel give them a king. All right? I keep bringing that up, because that is a very key theme throughout this part of Samuel.

[7:00] And so Israel wants a king, and they demanded it of Samuel. And chapter 8, verse 5, if we just kind of think back a few chapters, in verse 5, behold, they said this to Samuel, their leader, their judge, they said, behold, you're an old man.

[7:21] Well, they said, you're old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now, appoint for us a king to govern us like all the nations. That's not the first time that they expressed this desire.

[7:34] That was something expressed way back, and we studied that when we studied judges. Here they are, reiterating this desire. And Samuel, you know, Samuel, you're okay.

[7:44] You were okay as long as you were young and strong and a good leader, but you're getting old, and we're a little bit worried, because, you know, your predecessors look like your sons.

[7:54] They're not going to be like you, and besides that, we want a king, and so give us a king. And then you remember that Samuel got ticked about all of that, took it very personal in verse 6 of that same chapter, in chapter 8, but the thing displeased Samuel.

[8:13] And really, I think there are two things there. You have a mixture of personal indignation. I mean, Samuel, he's ticked because he's taking this as rejection of him and his leadership, obviously, but added to that would be what we might call a righteous indignation.

[8:34] They were rejecting God. Samuel knew that, and so that's why it displeased him. But what does God do? God calms Samuel down, and he says, in verse 7 of that chapter, heed or hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you.

[8:53] So don't worry about any kind of personal rejection. But they have rejected me. They've rejected me that I should not reign over them. I'm their king, but they don't want me as king, and so they've rejected me.

[9:04] And then God says in verse 9 of that chapter, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them. About what? Well, about what a king is going to change in their lives.

[9:19] You are to forewarn them and show them the behavior of a king who will reign over them. That is to show, you're going to show them the ways of a king. All right, what they can expect.

[9:31] And Samuel does that, doesn't he? And I really kind of suspect that he's hoping that they will change their minds when he shares with them what this king, the king that they want, what that king's going to demand of them and take from them and all of those things that come along with having a king.

[9:48] And so he's hoping they'll change their minds but of course they don't and they're absolutely hardened in their desire for a king. In fact, they say to him, no, we will have a king over us.

[10:01] Now you remember that and we're, I'm kind of laying this out again because this comes into play here as you've already discovered as I read the chapter, comes into play here in this chapter.

[10:14] Now, to continue to kind of lead us up to the story here, current story, in chapter 9, God reveals Saul.

[10:25] Saul, the son of Kish, the Benjamite, he reveals him as his choice to be king over Israel and what does Samuel do?

[10:35] He anoints him, anoints him privately. And then in chapter 10, Saul is anointed publicly, even though he really doesn't take the position of king right away.

[10:46] He goes back home, take care of the cows and all that kind of stuff. Then we get to chapter 11 and this is where we were last week. Saul leads Israel and the armies of Israel.

[10:57] Really, actually you could say even before he leads them, he brings them together for really the first time in their history since the Exodus. He brings all of the tribes together under his kingship and he commands all the armies of Israel to go out against the Ammonites and he leads them in a great victory over Nahash and the Ammonites.

[11:21] And so chapter 11, really very thrilling. All right, so Israel has a king now, the king they wanted and they at least for now are pleased with him.

[11:34] They're excited about him. We saw that in chapter 11. And so, what then? Well, as far as Samuel's concerned, this officially ends the era of the judges.

[11:48] Samuel, the last of the judges, though Samuel was more than a judge, priest also, and a prophet also. But this brings the period of the judges to an end.

[12:02] And so, Israel now has a king. Saul has been appointed as king and his appointment as king has been fully ratified and recognized by the people of Israel.

[12:16] And so, Samuel then, I think, reluctantly, realizes that his role has now dramatically changed. Dramatically. Now, he's still going to be around for a while.

[12:29] He still is going to hear from God. He's still going to speak for God. But he will no longer function as Israel's judge and leader because he's been, this has been superseded by the appointment and the coronation of King Saul.

[12:47] And so, it's now time for Samuel to, you know, kind of step down graciously. Kind of bow out gracefully. Time for him to do that.

[12:57] So, he's going to issue his farewell address. That's exactly what he does, but it was not exactly what the people wanted to hear. Really quite negative.

[13:09] Certainly, it was not all that gracious, although there is grace found in his farewell address. And so, Samuel has some incredible news for God's people, but before he gives that to them, he makes sure that they know just how evil and wicked they have been in their request for a king like all the other nations.

[13:34] He makes sure to reinforce that again. This is not just Samuel's kind of sticking point in his life. It's not that he just keeps bringing this up because he's still holding some kind of hurt about that.

[13:48] This is something that God has led him to do. Samuel wants them to know, really, more than Samuel, God wants them to know the magnitude of their faithlessness.

[14:00] He wants them to know fully the full extent of their wickedness so that, what? They would repent. We haven't had that happen yet.

[14:11] We've known all along from the very beginning when Israel first started voicing their desire for a king and thereby revealing their rejection of God as their king.

[14:22] We've known all along that this was sin. even though, you know, in a kind of strange, kind of paradoxical way, though it was God's plan for them to have a king, that was part of God's plan and especially when you consider David and all of that, all that that means to God's full redemptive plan.

[14:47] Even though it was God's desire that they have a king and part of his plan that they have a king, their desire for a king was really a revelation of their rejection and their sin against God and they need to repent and that's what we're going to find here in this chapter.

[15:06] All right, so let's see Samuel's not so gracious farewell. First of all, we have here in this farewell address a call for remembrance, a call for remembrance.

[15:23] In fact, verses 1 through 12 in this chapter deal with Samuel calling upon the people to remember some things, to remember the past and some specific things about the past.

[15:35] So really, in the first 12 verses, Samuel is looking backward and when he gets near to the end of those first 12 verses, then he kind of is looking around, looking backward, looking around.

[15:49] So looking backward, Samuel calls upon Israel to remember Samuel's faithfulness. To remember Samuel's faithfulness.

[16:00] Have you ever noticed, it's always the outgoing guy at work who gets blamed for everything? Have you ever noticed that? And not just guys, but gals too. If that's all right, if I call the ladies gals.

[16:14] It's always the person who has left that gets blamed for most of the things that have happened. You know, the boss says, who put these files in the wrong place? And someone will pipe up and say, oh, that was Stan, who quit last week, he did that.

[16:29] It's just really easy to kind of make the last person, the person who has just left, to make that person the fall guy, in a sense.

[16:40] It happens in politics as well. In fact, they're even blaming George W. Bush for tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, global warming, everything that's happened. Bad. It's Bush who did that, regardless of what you think of George W. Bush.

[16:55] But it's just really easy to blame the previous administration for all of your woes and your problems. And so, I think that's part of what Samuel's doing, though it's certainly not all of it.

[17:05] Samuel wants to make sure that the record is clear, that he sets that right. And so, in verse 1 there, if I might call your attention to it once again, Samuel said to all of Israel, all right, so he's standing before all of Israel, and by the way, you know, they're all gathered together there.

[17:26] You know, this carryover from chapter 11, they've had this great victory, and now they're praising Saul as their king, and so that really marks the official kind of establishment and recognition and the ratifying of King Saul, and so Samuel then steps to the podium, in a sense, and says, I've got some things to say to you.

[17:53] So Samuel said to all of Israel, indeed, I have heeded your voice, all right, what you wanted, I've done, all that you've said to me, and have made a king over you, and now here is the king, or here he is, here's your king, walking before you, and I am old, gray-headed, and look, my sons are with you.

[18:16] They already have expressed their opinion about Samuel's sons, and indeed they were wicked. I have walked before you from my childhood to this day, and that's really true.

[18:29] They've known Samuel from when he was just a little kid. In fact, I think the idea here is that you have observed me, scrutinized me.

[18:43] My life has been an open book and public to you throughout my entire life. You know me, and so here I am.

[18:54] Witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed. That would be King Saul. All right? As I stand before you, and as the Lord is here and his anointed is here, here's what I want you to verify.

[19:13] Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Who have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I received any bribe with which, you know, to blind my eyes, and that's pretty important for a judge, someone in places of leadership, someone who make judgment, make decisions, and so forth.

[19:35] He didn't take any bribes. He said, I've witnessed before the Lord, before his king here. I've never taken a bribe, that's the implication here, so that my judgment would be skewed, or bought, or anything like that.

[19:52] I've never taken anything from any man's hand. Then they said, or he said to them, the Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand, meaning anything in my possession that I've taken from someone else.

[20:13] I've not taken anything of yours, and so, you know, maybe another implication here is that he's making a contrast between himself and the kings that are going to follow him.

[20:29] In fact, remember, he's already revealed to them what the kings are going to do. They're going to take everything from you. They're going to take your sons and daughters. They're going to take your land, your property, your livestock.

[20:40] They're going to take your houses. They're going to take all these things for themselves and for their kingdom. But I stand before you as God is my witness. You know I've not taken anything, not bribes, not any money, not anything from anybody's hand, and they answered, he is witness.

[20:57] That is, you're right. No question in our minds. So what is he doing? Well, he is calling upon them to remember his faithfulness.

[21:09] I guess really the better word would be his righteousness. His righteousness before him. Now his sons got some issues. But Samuel can stand before them.

[21:22] This is his farewell address as God is my witness. You know I've been faithful. And I've acted righteously. So he calls upon them to remember.

[21:33] Let's just set the record straight. You can't blame me. If your king doesn't work out and he starts taking things from you, hey, that's the king. It's not me.

[21:44] Remember? In fact, really I think even an undertone here is you were, you're going to find out that you were a lot better off under my leadership than you're going to be under this king that you have chosen for yourself, that you wanted so badly.

[22:00] All right, so second though, Samuel calls upon Israel to remember Yahweh's faithfulness. And there's some undertones in this as well. Look at verse 6 again.

[22:12] Then Samuel said to the people, it is the Lord who raised up Moses and Aaron. May I just remind you it was the Lord who raised up Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt.

[22:25] Do you remember that? Of course they did. Every Jew, I mean even from this point forward as well, that would be, you know, taught them and ingrained in their memory indelibly.

[22:39] They would remember what God did to Moses and Aaron who God used to deliver God's people out of Egypt. Now therefore, he said, stand still that I may reason with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which he did to you and your fathers.

[22:56] The faithfulness of God in your life. I want you to remember this. Stand still. Don't go anywhere. Listen to me.

[23:07] Remember all that Yahweh God has done for you and for your fathers. When Jacob had gone into Egypt, that just means Israel has gone into Egypt. When they were taken into Israel and then later became slaves, I mean Egypt rather, and then became slaves in Egypt and he's saying, remember that and your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in his place.

[23:38] And we're very familiar with this story. It's part of the history of Israel. They certainly remember it. And when they forgot the Lord and they did, didn't they?

[23:48] over and over and over again. In fact, even before they hardly got used to being free from Egypt, they forsake the Lord.

[24:00] You remember the whole story about Aaron and the golden calf and all of that. And so you remember this. He forgot the Lord their God and he sold them, that is, he turned them over to the judgment of other nations around and he lists many of those there.

[24:18] And then they cried out, so what period of time are we in here? During the period of the judges. And they cried out to the Lord and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and Ashtaroth.

[24:32] But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies. And that's the pattern we saw all throughout the book of Judges. Deliver us. You know, they sin and God judges through some invading enemy or some conquering army or something like that.

[24:49] And they cry out, they repent and they cry out and cry out, save us and God saves them. And that's what he did. And the Lord sent the judges. That's what verse 11 is about.

[25:00] And he mentions a few of them. Jerubabel, that's Gideon, you might remember. And Bedan, that's Barak or Barak.

[25:13] Jephthah and Samuel, so the Samuel being the last of the judges, kind of giving a span of the period of the judges. And delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side and you dwelt in safety.

[25:26] Do you remember that? Do you remember all of that? So, what is he doing? He's obviously calling them to remember the faithfulness of God throughout their history.

[25:38] It goes back to Egypt and how God faithfully led them and protected them and blessed them and delivered them and all of those things throughout their history.

[25:49] But there's another point that Samuel is making here, I think, and that is in light of all that God has done for you. I think he is saying, why do you need a king?

[26:03] Why do you think you need a king? Look what God has done. Can any king, any earthly king that you could possibly find?

[26:15] Could any earthly king do what God has done for you? He's been your king all throughout this period. Why do you need an earthly king?

[26:27] Alright, so Samuel calls upon Israel to remember Samuel's faithfulness and Yahweh God's faithfulness as he looks backward and now he kind of looks around at more recent history and he calls upon them to remember their own faithlessness.

[26:43] So, Samuel's faithfulness and God's faithfulness and Israel's faithlessness. He calls upon them to remember that. He calls upon them to remember something more recent in their history.

[26:57] In fact, you just have to go back a chapter. And so, in verse 12, and when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, no, but a king shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your king.

[27:15] The Lord your God was your king, but you said, no, a king will reign over us. And so, he just in one verse, in just one sentence, reminds them, calls them to remember their own faithlessness.

[27:29] All right, so a call for remembrance. Second, a call for reverence. Verse 13 through 18, Samuel kind of shifts gears here a little bit.

[27:46] Kind of a shift of emphasis. And so, in verse 13, Samuel essentially says, okay, you now have your king. All right, you've got your king, here he is. King you wanted.

[27:58] You've got him, but don't forget that God gave him to you. Don't ever forget that. I think there are some ominous undertones there.

[28:09] And we get on into chapter 13, I think we'll discover why. But don't forget that God gave him to you. So, it came, he being king, Saul is now their king.

[28:21] It came as a result of their rejection of God as their king. But, I think Samuel is going to say here, it's not too late for you to reverence God as your supreme king.

[28:38] God gave you this king, this king you wanted, this earthly king, king like all the other nations. That is, in the way, in this sense, the earthly king to rule over you and command your armies and so forth.

[28:50] So, God gave that to you, but that does not mean, and even though this is part of your sin, you've sinned against God and asking for the king, and getting a king is a sin, it was a part of that sin, that does not mean that you are somehow not to reverence God as your supreme king.

[29:10] It can still work that way and should work that way, that God is your true king. In fact, if you want your new king to succeed, and if you want your nation to be blessed, then reverence Yahweh as your king of kings.

[29:29] that's basically what he's saying in verse 14, look at it. If you fear the Lord, serve him, and obey his voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God.

[29:48] That is, you'll be blessed if you will do this. You've asked for a king, you have a king, we're not going to change that, not going to take the king away, but if you will follow the Lord as your king, then not only will your nation be blessed, but your king will be blessed, and this will be the blessing of God, if you will do this thing.

[30:10] And let me go on, however, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers. Now, what's the point here?

[30:25] It really is a huge lesson. Huge lesson for any nation, but let's just take our nation. This nation built upon the Bible, biblical principles.

[30:41] Our nation was, I don't care what anybody tries to tell you, our nation was built upon Christianity and the principles of the Bible. And so, this is a huge lesson for America.

[30:55] God, I think, does bless a nation based upon the righteousness of its leaders. I think God does bring blessing, but not first and foremost.

[31:08] God blesses a nation primarily based upon the righteousness of its people. I think that has all kinds of implications. It seems that God's people, the church, focused more on getting the right person elected.

[31:27] If we could just get Christians elected, then our nation will be blessed again. It doesn't work that way. What our nation needs is revival.

[31:38] What our nation needs is for the people of this nation to turn to God and reverence God and live according to his precepts.

[31:50] God and that's where the blessing will come. That's basically what God is saying to Israel. You've got a king now. He didn't say this, but he could have said he's not going to be so hot.

[32:03] You're going to have to wait for the next one to get a really good one. You've got the king now. I'm not going to take him away. You know it was wrong to ask for one.

[32:15] The reason why you asked for one was wrong. It was sin. It was rebellion, rejection of me. If you've got your king, you can keep your king, but here's what you must do. You must reverence me as supreme king, king of kings.

[32:29] And if you'll reverence me and follow my precepts, follow me and obey me, then your nation will be blessed. If not, it'll be what were the words they used?

[32:41] If you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your father. In fact, a little bit later at the end of the chapter in verse 25, he says, but if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away.

[32:59] That's pretty serious. Swept away, both you and your king. So, remember, a call to remember is a call to reverence, but I want you to notice something else here that's part of this passage.

[33:18] God then gives a reason why you should reverence him, why he's worthy of your reverence. And we could maybe substitute a word here for the word reverence and substitute it with the word fear.

[33:36] A fear, a reverence, a respect for God. Why should they? Well, verse 16, now therefore stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes.

[33:50] Is today not the wheat harvest? All right, so things full grown, ready to be harvested, important time. He says, I will call to the Lord and he will send thunder and rain that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord in asking a king for yourselves.

[34:12] All right, back to that again. So the harvest is just about to be done. I mean, things are full grown, ready to be harvested. It doesn't take a lot of imagination.

[34:25] You don't have to be a farmer to understand that thunder and rain might be a problem for your harvest. And so Samuel says, I'm going to call on the Lord and he'll send this.

[34:37] So Samuel called upon the Lord and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. What's he doing? He's putting some proof behind what he has said about God, Yahweh God.

[34:53] He's given them every reason why they had better reverence him. They better fear him. So a call for remembrance, a call for reverence.

[35:06] Third, a call for repentance. Verse 19, all the people said to Samuel, pray for your servants to the Lord your God that we may not die for we have added to all our sins.

[35:21] Added what? The evil of asking a king for ourselves. So this is true repentance. Confession and repentance. I mean, all of our sins.

[35:33] They're admitting they're sinful people. they're always sinful people. All of their sins and their rejection of God and their disobedience to his word.

[35:45] And now we've added to that this request for a king like all the other nations. This is true repentance. This is the first time. Now, they're going to lapse back into rebellion and rejection many times after this.

[36:04] So badly God is going to destroy them as a nation and have them taken into captivity eventually. But that doesn't change the fact that the people here have their eyes have been opened.

[36:18] They fear the Lord because of his greatness, his terrible greatness. They reverence him and they now know and admit openly that they have sinned and added to that sin this request for a king.

[36:33] Call for repentance. And then one more this is where this is really where it all comes to. A call for what I want to call a reassurance.

[36:47] A call for reassurance. Verse 20 to the end of the chapter. And here is where we see the amazing grace of God.

[36:59] Not just given to Israel. Promised to Israel. But this has far reaching implications.

[37:10] The grace of God for every one of us. We have the gospel here in these few verses. And so you see Israel have been brought to remembrance all that God has done for them.

[37:28] And they have then been brought to reverence before him, fear of him, respect for him, reverence toward him, which then brought them to repentance.

[37:41] So from remembrance to reverence to repentance, and now after that, the good news. The good news. There really hadn't been much good news here until now.

[37:55] And this is the grace of God. Because you see, when a person hears the word of God, they fear.

[38:06] They fear and repent. They fear and repent of sin. And when a person has been brought to fear and repentance of their sin, then comes the hope, the gospel.

[38:26] See, this is the gospel. Just look at verse 20. Then Samuel said to the people, watch this very closely, and try to think of what is written here as something that extends beyond just the people of Israel at this time in their history.

[38:48] Verse 20, then Samuel said to the people, do not fear. You have done all this wickedness. Yes, you have. Yet, do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart and do not turn aside, for then you would go after empty things, vain things, which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.

[39:15] nothing. Now, I want you to understand that this is the very substance of the gospel. Even though, this is what God is saying, even though you have sinned greatly against me, even though you have dishonored the Lord, and even though there is no undoing that, undoing what you have done, in Israel's case, the getting of a king which was a sin to get, no undoing that, even though there is no undoing your sin, or even its consequences, painful consequences in this life, and there are going to be some, no undoing that, consequences that are yet to come, even though all of this, fear not, fear not, there is hope, there is salvation for you,

[40:16] I'm going to keep you as my people, now this is, this is the gospel, and what is the foundation of this good news, the, kind of the ground of it, the surety of it, for Israel then, for us today, verse 22, for the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you his people, what is the basis of our salvation, huh, our goodness, our goodness, no, we don't have any, not before God, our obedience, no, not any of us have ever reached an acceptable level of obedience to God, nor will we ever, our faith, no, the basis of our hope, our salvation, is verse 22, for his great name's sake, that's the basis of your salvation, and mine, the very foundation of it, the ground of it, his great name's sake, and for his great name's sake, it has pleased the

[41:38] Lord to make you his people, and nothing can ever change, even though your sin has been great, and even though your rebellion against him is great, and even though there's no undoing that, there's hope because of his pleasure, his name's sake, as one theologian put it, listen to this, it was God's good pleasure to unite you to himself in such a way that his name is at stake in your destiny, we'll find assurance, and confidence, and hope that cannot be destroyed, cannot be diminished, think about that again, it's God's good pleasure, it was his good pleasure to unite you to himself in such a way that his name is at stake in your destiny, or to put it another way, as I continue to quote, it was

[42:43] God's good pleasure to possess you in such a way that what becomes of you reflects upon his name, therefore, for his great name's sake, he will not cast you away, no matter what, I love that.

[43:04] Yeah, I know this chapter is about Israel, and about Israel's rejection of God, and about Israel's sin, and about God's dealing with Israel, I know that, and yet here is through the life of God's chosen people Israel is a profound revelation about the very substance of the gospel, the very reason for our hope.

[43:32] Notice how Samuel then concludes his farewell address, verse 23, Moreover, as for me, far be it for me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.

[43:44] It would be a sin for me to not pray for you. They asked him to pray for them, but I will teach you the good and right way. So Samuel is not going away yet, it's not that, he's just stepping down from leadership and he's still going to be God's mouthpiece for time, but if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king that you love so much and want it so badly.

[44:12] So, wonderful lesson, not only obviously about how God deals with his people, people Israel, wonderful lesson about repentance, but a profound, profound revelation about the substance, foundation, substance of the gospel and our assurance and hope in Christ.

[44:43]  Amen. it.