Good morning everyone. This morning we are in 1 Samuel chapter 12. Then Samuel said to all of Israel, Behold, I have listened to your voice and all that you have said to me and I have appointed a king over you. So 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. And Samuel is one of the more faithful men of God in the Bible. Unfortunately, his sons weren't great, but
He was a steadfast man of God and he's nearing the end of his life here and it's kind of a somewhat of a farewell speech here. Here I am bear witness against me before Yahweh 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." So he's saying, hey, listen, if there's not anybody that's got anything against me that I did something unethical, let me know. But I think Samuel is pretty confident that he lived his life in honor of the Lord. And they responded, you have not extorted us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand. And what a great way to live, by the way, to
live in such a way that you have not done these things. Um, you know, I love it. Seeing a man of God be a man of God. Um, so he said to them, Yahweh is my witness against you and his anointed is witness this day that you have found nothing in my hand. And they said he is witness. Uh, they're saying, no, we have nothing against you. You've done nothing, uh, not necessarily nothing wrong in his whole life, but nothing wrong as far as
doing anything to harm the people or take advantage of the people during his leadership. Then Samuel said to the people, it is Yahweh who appointed Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. And you know, that's something amazing to think about. And as I was reading this this morning, not only the Passover and God, you know, helping Israel to flee Egypt and
protect them and save them from the Egyptian army in part to see. But even the fact that he brought them to Egypt, do you remember that? I mean, that's really a miracle that, you know, Joseph got sent ahead of the brothers through, you know, being sold by his brothers into slavery, telling his father, Jacob, that their brother Joseph was dead. And then, you know, he gets ends up in prison. In Egypt comes out of prison, ends up becoming second only to Pharaoh in all of Egypt.
gets a dream, saves the grain because of the fact that there's going to be a famine in the land. And then when Jacob, his father's family is starving, he's able to make it to Egypt in Israel. God's family is saved because Joseph was sent on ahead and that whole thing is a miracle, you know? And then obviously having them escape Egypt was a miracle too. God has done amazing things for his family.
So now take your stand that I may judge you before Yahweh concerning all the righteous acts of Yahweh which he did for you and your fathers and it's really good to remember all the things that God has done. When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to Yahweh then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place and you know the people of Israel because they were
becoming in bondage to the Egyptian Pharaoh and were becoming slaves to Pharaoh and they cried out to God and God heard their cry and he sent Moses and Aaron and and then ended up bringing them out of Egypt.
But even though that happened, they forgot Yahweh their God. So he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander 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. And what he's relaying now, Samuel, is the history of Israel that even though God has blessed them, as time and seasons and generations go on, they forget about God, and they begin to
just live in wickedness and maybe take other gods of the lands around them, but then they get punished for it, and then they cry out to God again. So that's what's happening here after they've been oppressed by enemies, and they cried out to Yahweh and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken Yahweh and have served the bells in the ashtroth, but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve you. Now, I want to see that again.
And they cried out to Yahweh and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken Yahweh and have served the balls in Astroth, but now deliver us from our enemies and we will serve you. So they were punished because they did not worship Yahweh and they worshiped false things, but then they cried out to God again. Then Yahweh sent Jerobo and Badan and Jephthah and Samuel. These are judges and he delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around so that you lived in security.
But you saw that in the hash, and this is a more recent one, the kings of the sons of Ammon came against you, and you said to me, no, but a king shall reign over us, although Yahweh, God was your king. So this is recent when they wanted a king because they kept being attacked by enemies, and God relented, so to speak, and gave them a king. So now behold, the king whom you have chosen, that being Saul,
whom you have asked for and behold, Yahweh has set a king over you. And listen to this. This is really interesting. If you will fear Yahweh and serve him and listen to his voice and not rebel against the command of Yahweh, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow Yahweh your God. But if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against the command of Yahweh, then the hand of Yahweh will be against you as it was against your fathers.
Listen to that. There's going to be blessing if you follow God. There's going to be cursing if you do not. And one of the things I want to talk to you this morning about is this idea of grace, which is quite amazing. You know, without the grace of God, we could not be saved. Think about this.
None of us even lived who are listening to this podcast in the time of Jesus Christ, right? Before we were even born, God said, you know what, I'm going to usher in my new covenant and I'm going to take the sins of my people and I'm going to place them upon my son on the cross.
in order to forgive my people through faith in my son. And that way, one day they're going to be able to stand before me righteously because of the great sacrifice that I've made through my son, Jesus Christ, and Him being faithful to me all the way to the end, to the cross. And now, if you believe in Him, you have been forgiven. And even though that happened 2,000 years before any of us even walked to earth, we now
are saved and we are now forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ through faith in the one who took our sin. Hallelujah. There's no way it's possible that we could be saved without the act of God of what he's done through the grace of God sending his son. So we indeed are saved by grace through faith in this not of ourselves. It is a gift of God and not a works so no man can boast. We can't work our way to heaven. We can't
do enough good to earn heaven. The only way that we can get to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ. Listen, that's the gospel. That's good news. Hallelujah. And that is all true. However, what I want to say to you is that, uh, sometimes those who are in the reformed camp take things too far.
and act as though we can't do anything or act as though we can't do any good. Now, we can't, we can't earn our salvation, but that doesn't mean that our lives are not impacted by how we live. And it was that way in the Old Testament and it was that, it's that way today. It hasn't changed, meaning
Listen, there are consequences for sin. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you've been forgiven of your sin, but if you live a sinful life, listen, if you cheat on your wife today, your wife may divorce you and God will be very disappointed in your behavior. If you get drunkenness and you get in a car accident and maybe kill someone, you might go to jail or be in jail because you drunk drive.
Listen, there is God's ways leads to blessing, sins ways lead to cursing. Now, I'm not talking about salvation right now, which is through faith in Jesus Christ. I'm talking about that God's ways lead to blessing and sinful ways lead to cursing. And that was true in the Old Testament and it's true today. And so like, listen to this, here's a New Testament passage and I love it.
Galatians six, verses seven and eight. New Testament, new covenant. Do not be deceived. Listen, don't be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man so is, this he will also reap. So so is like, you know, if you sow wheat, you're going to grow wheat. If you sow corn into your field, you're going to grow corn.
Um, if you saw so weeds and thistles, you're going to grow weeds and thistles. So whatever you put into the ground that you will also reap. Now listen, for the one who sows to his own flesh, the one who lives by the lust of his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption.
But the one who souls to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life and let us not lose heart in doing good for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary and sometimes you know what in life you've got to continue to sow good things and and sometimes the results are not immediate it's like
You know, you plant a field that takes a while for that thing to grow and mature. If you plant them in oak tree, it's going to take a long time before there are acorns. And the point is, is you got to stick with it. You got to stick with doing good. You got to stick with sowing the things of God. And if you do, you are going to reap the things of God. But if you give up and if you sow things of the flesh,
You're going to read the consequences. Listen, there's consequences for living apart from God. And there's free will in our lives today. Listen, I don't believe we're puppets. I don't believe God's controlling every single thing that we do. You have a choice in Christ of how you're going to live. You can don't be mocked. Don't be deceived about this. You know, if you, if you in your free will,
Choose to live a life of sin. You're going to reap the consequences of a life of sin. If you and your free will choose to honor God, you're going to reap the blessing of living a life that honors God. I'm not talking about salvation right now. I'm not talking about heaven. Listen, you're saved by grace through faith in this knot of yourselves. It's a gift of God and not of works. But even that passage that we keep quoting, you know,
If you were to go to Ephesians the next verse and anytime you're doing theology, you can't just focus on what you want to hear. You've got to take in everything and you've got to take in the chapter. You've got to take in the surrounding
Versus so like listen to this wonderful verse I've quoted a couple times for by grace You have been saved through faith and this not of yourself is the gift of God not of works You're not saved through your works so that no one can boast But listen to what it says next and you really should never quote eight and nine without reading ten for we are his workmanship Created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them and
And we should walk in the good works that God desires us to do. Listen, sometimes we can be so focused on grace that we act like doing something good is bad. Like because you're doing something good, you're trying to earn salvation. No.
We do good because we're the people of God and we should be trying to do as much good as we can. We should be seeking to do good works and live for God and honor God and please God and reap good are so good things so that we can reap the things of God. Listen, this has not changed.
what Samuel is saying here. If you will fear Yahweh and serve him and listen to his voice and not rebel against the command of God, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow Yahweh your God. But if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh, but rebel against the command of Yahweh, then the hand of Yahweh will be against you and listen
It is still true today that you will reap what you sow. So, praise God for God's grace, but don't think how you live doesn't matter anymore because you've been saved by faith through grace, how we live matters much and honor the Lord. Be holy as He is holy. Seek to live for the Lord because He is worthy.
Verse 16 of Samuel, 1 Samuel 12, even now take your stand and see this great thing which Yahweh will do before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to Yahweh that he may send thunder and rain. He's trying to Samuel, you know, God's going to allow a miracle to happen right in his midst and even have Samuel kind of take part in it to show Israel that God is real and honor him. I will call
to you that he may send thunder and rain, then you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the eyes of Yahweh by asking yourselves for a king. So it was a sign of a lack of faith, but yet God also knew that they were going to get a king one day.
So it's kind of a mix. It's a mix between God knew this was going to happen. And now they're in a new season dispensation where they're going to have a king before them. And ultimately, David's going to become king and Jesus is going to come in that family line as king. But nonetheless, they're supposed to honor him. So Samuel called Yahweh and Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel. And you know what? That's good. It's good to fear the Lord. It's good to
have an awe of him. It's good to revere him. It's good to know that he's real so that you do live to honor him. And I'd say what? When you really fear the Lord and it's like, you know what? The Lord sees the Lord is here. I live for the Lord. The God is real. It will change the way you live your life. It'll change your behavior because you you're having an active faith that says God is real and I want to live to please him.
Then all the people said to Samuel, pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king. And Samuel said to the people, do not fear, you have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following Yahweh, but serve Yahweh with all your heart. And yes,
There's a call on our lives. Let's serve God with all of our hearts. That's something that we do. That's something that we choose to do in our faith in response to what God has done for us to serve Him with all of our heart. And you must not turn aside for then you would go after meaningless things which cannot profit and cannot deliver because they are meaningless. And all other gods are just false. It's like a puppet. They're not real.
For Yahweh will not abandon his people on account of his great name, but because Yahweh has been pleased to make you a people for himself and praise God for that grace of God. Moreover, ask for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh by ceasing to pray for you, but I will instruct you in the good and upright way. Only, listen, don't forget this, Samuel, saying, only fear Yahweh and serve Him in truth with all your heart.
Listen, this is in this something. This is the command of God upon his people. Listen, fear the Lord and serve him in truth and with all of your heart. This is referring to man's response and man's effort to follow God. But if you still do wickedly,
Well, Juan, I got ahead of myself. Serve him in truth with all of your heart for see what great things he has done for you. And we should remember all that God has done for us. And that motivates us to know he's real and follow him. But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.
Wow. Well, I think we've seen some great truth this morning. And I think they're both true. And that is that in God's great love and in his mercy and in his grace, he sent his son to forgive us. Before we were even born, we didn't do anything to earn a deserve that. And now we're saved through faith in him, but now that we are saved through faith in him and now that he is our God and that we fear him and revere him, now we point our lives to service kingdom, to do what's right, to honor
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Our behavior matters. Our works matter. It's something that we should do. Be holy as I am holy. There isn't a significant aspect of following God that has to do with us and our free will choosing to follow God.
And you know what, I was talking to a young man who's going to be getting baptized soon. And he was saying that, you know, he was a little bit like afraid or anxious because like, well, what if I let God down? You know, what if I come to God and I make this commitment to God?
And then I let God down and I'm like, well, the only one who's lived sinless is Jesus Christ. So you will make mistakes, but that's why we have the cross and that's why we can go to God and say, God, I'm sorry. And you know what? Life is faith is not one time. Repentance is not one time. We need to continue to be in faith and we need to continually live our lives.
in lives of repentance. Listen, repentance is an ongoing thing, meaning when I do something that dishonors the Lord, I want to acknowledge it and say, Lord, thank you for your grace. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your forgiveness. Oh, his blood covers a multitude of sins. So God's grace is good and it continues to be good. Hallelujah. But the call on our lives to roll up our sleeves and serve God and honor him.
that continues as well. We hold both of them and that's really what you'll see when you look at all through Scripture. We should not take out a lens of the Bible and only see one aspect of
you know, who God is or what God desires. We should look at the whole council of God's Word and it's beautiful and the whole thing is meant for good. So try not to put God in a box and just see the scriptures in one way. We got to see the whole thing and I'll tell you what, I am grateful for the grace of God who saved a sinner like me and I'm so grateful that now I live to serve my King and my Lord because he is worthy. God bless you all.
