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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/stephen-harper/as-for-you-as-for-me-faithful-samuel-1-samuel-12/
I want to turn you back this afternoon to 1 Samuel, and we left little Samuel in the temple at the end of chapter 1, and we listened to his mother say, for this child I prayed. And we remember how that when the Lord answered her prayer, that she lent Samuel to the Lord all the days of his life.
And at the end of the chapter, verse 28 of chapter 1 we read, and he worshipped the Lord there. Interesting that we've just been thinking from Psalm 100 about our worship, and we've been reminded that worship is certainly not only something that we do on the Lord's Day, but worship is really the attitude of a heart that is completely yielded to God.
So it certainly involves the fruit of our lips, but it involves the fruit of a sacrifice, a living sacrifice that's presented to God. So if we were to continue into chapter 2, we would hear that lovely prayer of thanksgiving of Samuel's mother, Hannah.
When we come into chapter 3, we hear that although the word of the Lord was rare, it was precious, and that there was no frequent revelation, there was no open vision from God in those days. We read the wonderful story of this young lad who responds to the call of God.
I was just enjoying the fact that his mother had called upon God, and the Lord had answered her prayer, and as we were thinking this morning, the one that she received in response to her prayer, she lends to the Lord.
So she calls upon the Lord, then she gives Samuel back to the Lord, but when we come to read a little bit further, we hear that God is now calling upon Samuel. She's calling upon God, now God is calling upon Samuel, and we read the wonderful story that we don't have time to go into today of how Samuel responded to the call of God.
Now, we know that if we were going to take Samuel's experience in these early chapters of 1 Samuel, if we were going to take that and kind of transpose it into New Testament parlance, we'd be thinking about the day when the young lad got saved, the day when he came to know the Lord Jesus, if we were thinking in New Testament parlance.
And it's wonderful to think about this woman who prayed for a child, and to see how that God works in the child's life, and hears her prayers, and the young lad gets saved, for want of a better way of putting it.
My wife had a dear old uncle, a great uncle. He was a great uncle in many ways. Some of you might have heard of him. Leonard Mullen was his name. He was a missionary to Japan in the post-war years. And I remember Leonard and Agnes telling us that they had prayed to the Lord that the Lord would not give them children who would never be saved, but they prayed to the Lord that if the Lord was going to give them children, that those children would be saved and live their lives for the Lord.
And I'm glad to tell you that the Lord mightily answered Leonard and Agnes' prayers, because all of their children and a great number of their grandchildren, for that matter, are living their lives in service for the Lord.
You see, I think the Lord honors the prayers of a woman like Hannah. That's what we're thinking about this morning. And I think it's very, very clear as we read these early chapters of Samuel that his mother took a very active interest in his life, even though he was now at the house of God at Shiloh, yet we read that his mother came up annually, and she brought with her a new coat every year.
So, I think there's evidence, you know, the Scripture's telling us the little lad was growing. He was growing. Not just growing physically, that was the reason for the new coat, but I think he was growing spiritually, because I'm sure that when his mother came, she was pouring truth into his heart, and while they were separated, I have no doubt that she continued to pray for him.
And it's no surprise to me, this is the point that I want to make today, brothers and sisters, it's no surprise to me that in Samuel we see a mighty servant of the Lord. No surprise to me at all. And the reason that in Samuel we see a mighty servant of the Lord is that in his mother, as we were thinking this morning, we see a mighty woman of God.
It's not a coincidence. And so Samuel is growing. And you know the story. I'm going to have to skip over so much of this. We see how that Eli and his sons die in the same day. You remember how that Eli's daughter-in-law is in the process of giving, or she gives birth as she hears the news that the ark has been taken, because the people of God are under the judgment of God, and they lose the ark of the covenant.
They lose the symbol of God's presence among them. Because of their departure from God, the ark departs from them. And in the process, when the woman hears the news of the capture of the ark, she gives birth to a son, and with her dying breath she calls him Ichabod.
The glory has departed. That's the background to the rise of Samuel. So, we see that this failing priest, Eli, and his wicked sons, they're taken out of the way, and the ark goes into the possession of the Philistines.
And you remember how that it causes so much misery to the Philistines, so much so that after a while they say, take it back. We don't want the ark of God with us, because it caused them so much misery, and they send it back.
And you remember the story how that in the meantime, the Lord is working in the heart of Samuel, and Samuel is raised up to be a judge of the people of God. And we read about that in chapters 6 and 7 and 8, particularly of 1 Samuel.
So when we come to chapter 8, Samuel has now become a judge over Israel. We could have read just a chapter or two back that Samuel makes his sons to be judges over Israel, but they don't walk in his ways.
I think there are so many lessons just on the surface here, and I know we haven't read the Scriptures yet. I haven't forgotten. We're getting there, but there are too many important lessons to skip over.
I don't want to skip over them all. There's one important lesson on the surface here, and that is that godliness doesn't run in the blood. Godliness does not run in the blood. Spirituality is not inherited from a previous generation, and so it does not follow that because my father was an overseer in the assembly that I will be qualified to be an overseer in the assembly or a leader of God's people.
And we see the problem of Eli and his weak leadership, and then we see how that if this was a fault perhaps of Samuel, he appointed his sons, and maybe because they were far away from him, I don't know what the reasons were, but they did not walk in his ways, and because of the failure in oversight, for want of a better word, or the failure in leadership of Samuel's sons in particular, the people depart from God again, and they say, give us a king so that we can be like the other nations.
The problem was that those who had responsibility to lead God's people had failed. They did not walk in the ways of God, and that lesson is so simple just sitting there on the surface. When the leaders, when those with responsibility for leading God's people, if they do not walk in the ways of God, then the people's hearts will grow cold.
To have responsibility and leadership in the assembly or over God's people is a very serious responsibility, one that we should not take lightly. But what I want to come to really today is the sequel to all of this.
After Samuel has taken this issue to the Lord, the people want to have a king like all the other nations, and Samuel takes this to the Lord, and he feels it very personally, but the Lord says, Samuel, don't take it personally because they haven't forsaken you.
They have forsaken for me. This is evidence of them having departed from me. But you go and give them a king. Make sure and tell them, first of all, what kind of a king he will be, and you know how that Samuel tells the nation how that the king that they desire, he's going to be a greedy man.
He's going to take their sons and their daughters. Their sons are going to fight in his armies. They're going to work in his fields. Their daughters, they're going to work in his kitchens and in his perfumeries and all this kind of stuff, and Samuel warns the people, and he really gives them a description of Saul who's going to come, and the people say, no, we still want a king to be like the other nations.
Now, we're going to come to chapter 12 because Samuel has anointed Saul, and he is about to become king in reality. Secondly, if we thought from chapter 1 about the words of Hannah, for this child I prayed, I want us to focus on the words of Samuel in chapter 12 towards the end of the chapter when he says in verse number 23, moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin.
In ceasing to pray for you, and so on. Hannah said, for this child I prayed, and such was her influence in the little boy Samuel that he was a faithful man all his life, and even after he has been rejected as the Lord's representative, he says, God forbid that I should cease to pray for you.
He was a faithful man. Where did he get that from? I think he got it from his mother. I don't want to over-egg that pudding, but I do want to encourage the sisters here today, do not underestimate the importance of your role in your family, in the assembly, in the wider work of God, because I think Samuel learned his faithfulness and all of these other tremendous characteristics.
I think he learned them from his mother. Now let's go back just to verse 1 of chapter 12, we'll just read a few scattered verses through the chapter, but I want you to keep in mind the verse that I've just highlighted towards the end.
So chapter 12, verse 1, Samuel said unto all Israel, behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye have said unto me, and have made a king over you. And now behold, your king walketh before you, and I am old and gray-headed, and behold, my sons are with you, and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
Behold, here I am. Witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded, whom have I oppressed, or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith?
Tell me and I will restore it. And they said, thou hast not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken anything of any man's hand. So Samuel then rebukes them, reminds them of the Lord's righteous dealings, and it tells us in verse number 10, they cried unto the Lord and said, we have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served Balaam and Ashtoreth, but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies and we will serve thee.
We have sinned. Do you remember where we started the conference last night, those of us who were here, Brother Stephen reminded us from the book of Nehemiah how that repentance and sorrow, godly sorrow that leads to repentance was intended to lead on to rejoicing, to joy.
Well Samuel is a good case study in that. He rebukes the people, he charges them with their sin, but I want you to see how that he doesn't leave them in despondency. Even though they are repenting and confessing how that they have turned away from God, how that they have forsaken the Lord, listen to what Samuel says.
Verse number 13, now therefore behold the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired and behold the Lord hath set a king over you. If ye will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following your God.
But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against you as it was against your fathers. Then he calls on a sign from heaven, it's the harvest time and he calls for a sign from heaven and there's this great storm, an unusual storm for this time of the year and it kind of seals the message, it gives the divine stamp on the message and the people are greatly fearing before God.
So let's read in verse number 20, and Samuel said unto the people, I love this, fear not, ye have done all this wickedness yet turn not aside from following the Lord but serve the Lord with all your heart and turn ye not aside for then should ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver for they are vain.
I want to pause here because it's possible that I may either not get to this or I might get to it and skip over because that's the way preacher's brains work whenever they're in the pool but the way you've planned a message is not always the way it goes.
I want to pause here. I want to go back to where we were last evening with Brother Stephen. In a company like this, I am certain that there are Christians with great burdens of guilt because they can trace sin in their lives which until this point may be unconfessed and may in that sense be unforgiven.
In a company like this, I would say it's almost certain that there are Christians who are there. Now, that's not intended to be a judgmental statement because who of us has not been there? Who of us has not been there?
Who of us has not sat in a meeting such as this or some other meeting and the Word of God has been spoken to us and it has come with conviction? We were reminded this morning that repentance is not only for the unsafe.
There are times in our lives as Christians when the Word of God, it ought to come to us with power, with freshness. It ought to convict us every time we read it. If we're reading the Word of God submissively, if we're reading the Word of God, putting ourselves under it as disciples rather than over it as critics, if we put ourselves under the Word of God, it ought to speak to us and it ought to rebuke us.
And who of us, if we read the Word of God prayerfully and carefully, who of us has not been there? Now, if you are there, my brother, my sister, I want to reemphasize what Stephen said last night. The purpose of the Word of God and conviction is not to leave you miserable and in despondency.
That is not the purpose of God, nor is it the purpose of discipline in the assembly. If someone is disciplined in the assembly for wrongdoing, that's not intended to be the end of them as a Christian.
Now, I know that there are some things that are very, very difficult to recover completely from. I mean that there are some very public sins that will perhaps mean that a person, even though forgiven and received back into fellowship, for example, it may not be possible to completely rehabilitate them back into exactly the same position that they were before.
I understand that. I'm not, for a moment, suggesting that I don't understand that. But I want to speak to every heart this afternoon, and I want to assure you, we used to sing as youngsters in Sunday school, and it was intended to be a gospel song, but I think it's a good song for everyone.
There is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There is a door that is open, and you may go in. Now, to the unsaved we sing, at Calvary's cross is where you begin when you come as a sinner to Jesus.
But I am so glad, brothers and sisters, that there is a way back to God from by path metal. I am so glad of that, because I've followed that path many a time myself. And listen to what Samuel says. He says, fear not.
You have done all this wickedness. It is true. I'm not going to fudge it, says Samuel. I'm not going to pretend that what you have done and the attitude of your heart is inconsequential. It is a wicked thing that you have done.
But fear not. I wonder would that come as an encouragement to some heart here this afternoon. And you're looking within your heart, and there are things perhaps no one else knows a thing about it, maybe a secret sin.
And it has debilitated you spiritually. It has wounded you and left you powerless and hopeless and useless in the service of God. I say to you, my brother, my sister, fear not. Fear not. You have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord.
Do not let the enemy of your soul have the victory in this situation. If you have got out of the way, either publicly or secretly, do not let the enemy have the victory over you. There is no reason for it, because God is not only the God of salvation, but God is the God of restoration, and He's the God of forgiveness.
He's the God of recovery. He's the God of grace. Oh, that we understood more and spoke more and preached more of the grace of God. And Samuel says, turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
Turn not aside, for then you should go after vain things. Because you've made a mistake in your past, my brother and my sister, are you going to spend the rest of your life going after empty things? Samuel says, don't do that.
Just because you've fallen, just because you've made a mistake, just because you've gone out of the way, that doesn't mean that you're condemned to a life of worthlessness, a vain and empty life for the rest, until the Lord takes you home.
Don't turn aside from following the Lord, because then you'll go after vain things. They can't profit or deliver for they are vain, for the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's sake. Don't we believe, brothers and sisters, in the wonderful truth of eternal security?
Don't we believe that? The Lord Jesus Christ said concerning His sheep, I give unto my sheep eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck them out of my hand. No one will ever pluck them out of my Father's hand.
But there's no one who's in the hand of the Savior or who's in the hand of the Father that has no purpose and no worth. The very suggestion is anathema, that there could be one saved and in the Savior's hand but doomed to a life of empty failure.
The idea is anathema. There was a whole lot of things that you didn't intend to say, is that right? Isn't that what you said, Marcus? A whole lot of things that I didn't intend to say. I didn't intend to spend as long on this, but it seems that the Lord would have me to spend a bit of time on this.
But I want you to listen to what Samuel continues to say. Now, that's been a word to those who perhaps are in sin, a call to repent. Let's be clear about it. If you're in sin, you need to repent. It's not just a matter of glossing over whatever the sin has been.
There's a point in life where if you're going to walk with the Lord, then you've got to turn from the sin. You can't have both. But then Samuel says, and this is what really the burden of my message was for today.
Samuel says, moreover, as for me, as for me, as for you, don't turn aside from following the Lord. As for you, yes, you've done all this wickedness, but fear not. As for you, don't follow vain things.
As for me, as for me. Now, it would be good, it would be really good if every single one of us in this auditorium today were less concerned about as for you and more concerned about as for me. Do you ever find yourself in a ministry meeting listening for someone else?
What is the Lord saying to that person? It's usually someone that's annoyed you about something, isn't that right? Someone annoys you about something and then you're so thrilled because the preacher gets up and bashes them.
As for you, did you not hear what that preacher was saying? Did you not hear what the Word of God said as for you? No, no, what about as for me? What has the Lord, what has the Lord said to you from His Word in the course of this conference today?
Or are you just listening as for someone else? But Samuel says, as for me, as for me, God forbid, oh yes, you've rejected me. That hurt, that really hurt. When the Lord had put me in a position of responsibility to be your judge and to be speaking to you as a prophet and I suspect, I don't know what my brethren think, but it's not entirely clear, but I suspect that Samuel maybe was of the priestly line.
So he's a judge and he's a priest and clearly he's a prophet and it really hurt. It really hurt him when he was rejected. I think many of us know a lot about rejection, don't we? And I think I can tell you the most painful rejection is when you're trying to honor the Lord and the Lord's people reject you.
That's the most painful rejection of all. You're trying to do something for the Lord and you're misunderstood or you're perhaps even maligned and it hurts. What are you going to do? Samuel says, as for me, I should probably shut up and sit down at this point because what I'm about to say will condemn me.
As for me, God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way. I'll not cease to pray for you and I'll not cease to teach you. How am I going to do that?
Well certainly it will be in word, but I think there was a great deal of Samuel's teaching he did in deed, not just in word. God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and proper way.
Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things He has done for you. What a word of encouragement, eh? What a word of encouragement. Now I'll try and get to my message.
The first thing I wanted to speak about, and I suppose we've already covered a fair bit of it, was the credibility of the Lord's servant. He's able to stand up before these people who are rejecting him and say, tell me.
You tell me. Witness against me before the Lord this day. Whose ox have I taken? Whose ass have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Who have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith, and I will restore it you.
Think about these characteristics of Samuel. He was dedicated from his youth. If we were using a New Testament word, we would say that he led a sanctified life. He led a life that was set apart from his youth for the Lord and for the Lord's people.
He was a man of prayer, a man who spent his life in the sanctuary and in God's presence, and he was a man who had an ear for the voice of God. I want to say something, and it's a great burden of mine.
I'm quite sure that Marcus and Stephen feel exactly the same when they come to a platform like this, but I feel that it is a very solemn responsibility to stand upon the platform and to bring a word ostensibly from the Lord for the people of God.
I don't think that's something that should be taken lightly. And if I say, thus saith the Lord, either explicitly or if I imply, thus saith the Lord, then I'd better make sure that thus saith the Lord.
If I stand and I hold this book, and I use this book to push my own prejudices and my own agenda, if I stand and I use this book and I use it to coerce the people of God, to do things that are not actually in the Word of God, I will give account for that one day.
And Samuel was a man, and his ear was open to the voice of God. You know, I thought about speaking about Saul this weekend, and I said to my wife, no, I'd like the ministry to be positive, because it's difficult to find very much positive to say about Saul.
You know what I noticed about Saul? The only military victory that we read about Saul was a victory that he got by threatening the people of God that if they didn't come out to fight for him, he was going to cut their livestock in pieces.
He was a man who from the word go, used bully boy tactics, coercive tactics to force the people of God to do his own will, and actually to make him look good. Have you noticed that Saul always attached himself to people who were brave and capable?
That was Saul's modus operandi. Find a good man, stick with him, he'll make you look good. In fact, whenever Jonathan and his armor bearer, when they attacked the Philistines, you remember the incident, and they said, if the Philistines say we will come to you, then we'll stay here, but if the Philistines say come to us, we know that God has given them into our hand, we'll go.
Do you remember that incident? I'm hopeless with chapter and verse, so I can't remember what the chapter and verse is, but I think you know the incident. You know what it says? Well, Jonathan and his armor bearer went and they had a great victory, and the scripture actually says that Jonathan and his armor bearer, they had this great victory, and it was heard across the land that Saul had defeated the Philistines.
Really? What did Saul do? Nothing. All he did was have good people around him, because they made him look good, and I was saying to someone the other night, the only time we ever read about Saul using his weapons of war was when he was throwing them at either Jonathan or David.
That was the only people he ever fought with, and he never hit any of them. He never hit any of them. Whenever there was a giant to be fought, who should have been the champion of the Lord's people? Saul should have been the champion of the Lord's people.
What was he doing? He was cowering back at base, waiting for a little shepherd boy to come and show him what courage was, but that'll maybe be for tomorrow. I'm getting off-piste again. Samuel wasn't like that.
Samuel wasn't like that. Samuel was a faithful man. Samuel was a good man, and when Samuel said, thus saith the Lord, it was because he had been in communion with the Lord. It was because he had a word from the Lord.
So brothers and sisters, whether it's in the Sunday school or some kid's group, or whether it's on the gospel platform, or I'm really thinking especially when we teach God's people, if we say, thus saith the Lord, we jolly well be sure that thus saith the Lord.
Samuel was a faithful man. I've alluded to that before. Faithful as a judge. Faithful in the present. He says, I will continue in this way. Faithful as far as his future responsibilities are concerned.
He says, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray. I will continue to do this, and I want to not just suggest but very strongly suggest that our lives and our ministry must reflect the Lord Jesus Christ in as much as we see the Lord Jesus Christ in the faithful service of Samuel for the people of God.
In verses 6 through 15 of our chapter, we'll see, and I don't have time to develop this, we'll see that Samuel calls upon the history, the known history of the Israelites to show them how that God has always moved towards them righteously.
He speaks about his beneficial acts of righteousness, how that God has righteously been good to his people, his covenant people. But he also speaks to them about his judicial acts of righteousness, how that when they departed from the Lord, he judged them.
Brothers and sisters, it is good for us to remember that God, our God, is righteous. We've been reminded about that today, the need to not appear casually in the presence of God. When I say casually, I mean with a casual attitude, not recognizing that God is God, not recognizing that God is holy, not recognizing that God is righteous.
But it is good for us, brothers and sisters, to recognize that our God is a righteous God. And because he is a righteous God, we can depend upon him to be good to us, because he's promised it. And we can depend upon our God to recover us.
We can depend upon our God to bless us, because our God is righteous. I'm going to say something else that's perhaps a little bit controversial. I was saying to Dustin earlier on that my wife sometimes tells me, keep your mouth shut.
Keep your big mouth shut is usually what she says, but anyway, I'm too stupid to do that sometimes. I want to say something. In Revelation chapter 2 and 3, we read about lampstands being removed. The Lord never removes lampstands because a church has been faithful.
That's maybe stating the obvious, but I hope that we do not ascribe unrighteousness to God because the Lord Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I hope that whenever, if we are struggling to see blessing and fruitfulness like we were thinking this morning, I hope we don't lay the charge at God's door and say, we're not being blessed because we're being faithful.
Now, I think I should probably just leave that there, because I will get myself in hot water if I continue. But I want to throw that out for you to think about. God never removes lampstands because testimonies are being faithful.
It's quite the opposite. I want to come, as I just wind up my message, to these closing verses of our chapter, and I want to think about this great consolation in God's grace. There was the proof of God's righteousness.
There was the confirmation of God's message. We didn't think about that, but this great storm, the thunder that comes and the people quake because they realize that God really is in this. But then in verses 20 through 25, we read about the consolation in God's grace.
The purpose of God speaking to his people in this way, and this is re-echoing what we've heard last evening and what I have said already, but I do feel that the Lord would have me to do that just now.
The purpose of God's Word coming to us with rebuke and with challenge is not to lead God's people into despair, but rather it is to stimulate renewed service for Him. And if we were to go away from this conference this weekend with renewed determination that, yes, we have not been, either personally or perhaps collectively, we have not been what we should have been.
Maybe we've had to confess sin, and I think the context of what Stephen was saying to us earlier on was that perhaps even collectively at times we need to confess sin. But if we recognize that there are shortcomings, if we recognize that there are failures among us, if we recognize that, yes, we have in a sense departed from the Lord and from His Word, then that should not lead us to hopeless despair.
It should lead us to a renewed dependence upon the wonderful grace of God. Brothers and sisters, grace is a charming sound, melodious to the ear. The grace of God. You know, I sometimes say that amazing grace is not just a song that we sing, but amazing grace should be a truth that we live.
When I think of what I was before God saved me, by grace are you saved through faith. Wow, the grace of God. If I understood what it took for God to save me, if I understood what it took for God to forgive my sin when I was unsaved, if I understood that, if I knew what the grace of God meant and how that God moved heaven and earth in grace to save my soul, I think it would move me, and it would energize me, and it would cause me to be thankful and grateful, and it would cause me, I think, to be much more worshipful and much more serving in His presence.
So I want to finish just by saying this, Samuel says, God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you. Then he says, only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things He has done for you.
It's a good thing to do, count your blessings, name them one by one, it will surprise you what the Lord has done, how great things He has done for you. So I'm finished, I would just encourage each of us to examine our hearts, and if there are matters that we need to put right before God, either personally or collectively, let us do as Samuel encouraged the people to do that day, a faithful man, a servant of the Lord who was absolutely consistent in every aspect of his life, more or less, and let us serve the Lord.
Let us fear Him and serve the Lord with all our hearts. May the Lord bless His Word to us today.