1 Samuel 12, What Do You Witness?, Dr. John Carpenter

1 Samuel chapter 12, we read the entire chapter, hear the word of the Lord. And Samuel said to all

Israel, Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you.

And now behold, the king walks before you, and I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you.

I have walked before you from my youth until this day. Here I am, testify 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 from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it?

Testify against me, and I will restore it to you. And they said, you have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand.

And 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 said, he is witness. And Samuel said to the people, the Lord is witness who appointed

Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore, stand still that I may plead with you before the

Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers.

When Jacob went into Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them, then 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 this place.

But they forgot the Lord their God and he sold them into the hand of Cicero, 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 they cried 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 out of the hand of our enemies that we may serve you.

And the Lord sent Jeroboam and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side.

And you have lived in safety. And when you saw that Nahash, the 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. And now behold, the king whom you have chosen for whom you have asked, behold, the

Lord has set a king over you. If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the

Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well with you.

But if you will 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 and your king. Now, therefore, stand still and see this great thing that the

Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the

Lord that he may send thunder and rain and you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the

Lord in asking for yourselves a king. 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. And 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 this evil, we ask for ourselves a king.

And Samuel said to the people, do not be afraid. You have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the

Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart and do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.

For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the

Lord 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. And I will instruct you in the good and the right way.

Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you.

But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.

May the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his holy word. Well, what have you been a witness to in your life?

I witnessed George Wallace coming out of the hospital in a wheelchair. I witnessed

Coach Bear Bryant leaning on the goalpost. I witnessed the space shuttle being launched from Cape Canaveral while I was in Tampa.

I witnessed a crime, a man being bashed on the back of the head with a rock in California.

I witnessed the farewell address of a founder of a country. It was a three -hour

National Day speech in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister, gave what was, in effect, his farewell address.

In it, in 1990, among many other things he said, I was there in Singapore pursuing a

Singaporean young lady, so keep that in mind. Among the many things Lee Kuan Yew said in his farewell address was, quote, the

Singapore woman is not so stupid. She knows that white men marry you freely.

They also divorce you freely, to the uproarious laughter of the audience and myself watching on TV.

More seriously, his concluding remarks in this sort of farewell address, he actually had a few more months left as prime minister and he lingered in the background in Singapore as the senior minister for about two decades, was, quote, you vote in jokers, cranks, weak men, charlatans, with some gift of the gab.

You run a very serious risk of losing everything you have. So the final message I give to Singaporeans is, your future really depends on what you make of it.

The government can give you the framework, can give expression to the will of the people, but the people must have their will.

Farewell addresses, if a leader gets to make one, hit on the most important beliefs of that leader, his core convictions, the last thing he wants people to remember about him.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.

Oscar Wilde more comically puts it, some cause happiness wherever they go, others whenever they go.

Some people are most remembered by their farewell addresses. Douglas MacArthur is remembered for his farewell address to Congress in which he said, old soldiers never die, they just fade away.

But he did in fact die on April 6th, 1964. Dwight Eisenhower is remembered for warning

America about the military -industrial complex. The most important and remembered farewell address in American history is by George Washington, who issued it by letter.

With the few months left in his presidency and a few years left in his life, he concluded, quote,

I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promised myself to realize without alloy the sweet enjoyment of partaking in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart and the happy reward as I trust of our mutual cares, labors and dangers.

Here in 1 Samuel chapter 12, we hear Samuel's farewell address.

Israel has just coronated Saul. And so Saul's coronation begins Samuel's fading away.

Like an old soldier, he will fade away. But like Lee Kuan Yew and George Washington, he actually has some time, some influence, some impact left.

He'll fade slowly and he'll still be with us for the rest of 1 Samuel, even making a posthumous appearance near the end of 1

Samuel. We see what's most important to Samuel here. One of the most important leaders in all the

Old Testament. Here we see it in three parts. First, the witness. Second, the law.

Finally, the gospel. First, Samuel calls on Israel to witness.

Says, behold, see, look, witness Israel. In verse one,

I have obeyed your voice and all that you said to me. God told him to do what the people said in chapter eight, verse seven, make a king over them.

And see in verse two, the king walks before you. Now Saul is right there in this audience as Samuel's giving this speech.

He's witnessing all this. Witness, I am old and gray. He's fading away.

He notes, my sons are with you. Their corruption played a role in Israel seeking a king. I have walked before you from my youth until this day in contrast to a son who took bribes, who used their position to enrich themselves, he caused them to bear witness to his integrity.

Samuel challenges them in verse three. Here I am. You see me, you know me. My life has been an open book.

Testify against me before the Lord. Testify, anybody? And before his anointed, meaning

Saul, the king. Testify. The king is here. The Lord is here. You have anything against me?

Any evidence you can bring out? Bear witness. Whose ox have I taken? Anybody?

Or whose donkey have I taken? Anybody? Anybody can raise their hand? Or whom have I defrauded?

Anybody? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it?

This is the handoff from Samuel to Saul. Now, he's saying, can you testify against me that I've used my position to enrich myself?

I've taken livestock. Have I cheated people for my own gain? Have I taken advantage of the weak and the poor to oppress them and so do favors for the rich and the powerful?

Can anyone say, I've taken a bribe to decide a case in his favor? Been blinded to what is right because all

I can see was the money, the cash. Anybody? Anybody say that?

Testify against me and I will restore it to you if you can. That's his challenge.

He's challenging his fellow citizens to witness that he's given them, in Washington's words, the benign influence of good laws,

God's laws, and the happy reward of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

And they respond in verse four, you have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand.

He has a legacy of integrity, of not using his position for self -enrichment.

Israel bears witness to that. It's important to the church, to the

Israel of God, that leaders, pastors, not use their position for getting rich.

They should be able to take care of themselves. They shouldn't be poor either. They should be able to take care of themselves and their family, but the leaders shouldn't be bilking the church and the members out of money and so live far above the lifestyle of the members.

At the end, at his farewell address, a pastor should be able to say, I didn't get rich off of you.

I didn't defraud anyone. I didn't take advantage of my position. No one should be able to bear witness against him that he took our money and he got a mansion, he got a luxury car, he got a vacation home, a private jet, extravagance.

No one should be able to bear witness against a pastor like that at his end. This is why, for example, the church needs to be, one practical application, needs to be incorporated so that the property, like this building, the bank account, the van, isn't held by an individual.

Someone has to own it, and so either an individual does or a corporation does. It shouldn't be held by an individual like me, but corporately by the members.

So no one person should be able to, like, sell the building or take the money from the bank account and go off and use it for himself.

So when challenged, even the world, the skeptics, shouldn't be able to produce any evidence of leaders using the church to line their pockets.

And Samuel bears down on the point in verse five. The Lord is witness against you. Samuel talking to Israel.

The Lord's witness against you. If any of you accuse me of bilking you, and you've already said I have it, but in case some of you start murmuring of cheating you or oppressing you,

His anointed is witness, the king, Saul right here, he's witness this day that you have not found anything in my hand.

And they respond, he is witness. The Lord will hold us to account.

That's what they're saying. They're agreeing to it. The Lord will hold us to account if we smear your name by accusing you of corruption.

That's his legacy. That's Samuel's legacy after his whole life. And they are all witnesses to his integrity. You are called, you are called to be a witness to the integrity of the church.

And the only way you can do that, to be someone who can be called upon to be a witness to the integrity of the church, the only way you can do that is by being a member, by having a voice.

Like when Jesus taught, you know, when you see a brother in sin, so you know who your brother is. See a brother in sin, well, you go to him.

If he doesn't listen, then you take two or three others. So you know two or three others that will go with you. And then you, if necessary, you tell it to the church.

The only way you can obey that is by being a member, by having a church to tell, be a witness to the church's integrity.

Then second, Samuel used the law to bear witness to the people's sin.

The law. The people say he is witness. And literally

Samuel replies in verse six, the Lord is. And now

Samuel draws from their history, says he, the Lord, appointed Moses and Aaron. Moses gave the law.

Aaron was the first priest. He, the Lord, brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.

So now in verse seven, therefore, because of what the Lord has done, stand still.

I got a feeling here, you know, some are getting restless in the audience as Samuel's speaking.

Stand still. Settle down. Some of them may not be paying attention. You know, they came for this big assembly to coronate

Saul. He's the big guy now. Everyone, all attention is on him.

Everyone's interested in him. Samuel's been around for so long. He's kind of boring. Maybe they're getting restless and so they're not paying attention to what the old man is saying.

And so he says, stand still, settle down, focus, that I may plead with you before the

Lord that he might use their law and their history to show them their sin. And he says, concerning all the righteous deeds of the

Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers, what God did for you. Settle down, distracted, pay attention.

I'm gonna tell you what God has done for you. And that's why we come to church, that I might plead with you concerning all the righteous deeds that the

Lord performed for you and for the whole church. He begins in verse eight with their history, all the way in from Genesis.

Jacob went into Egypt. Ever wonder why so much of the law, the

Torah, is history? Ever thought that's kind of strange? It's the law and yet so much of it is history?

You know, all of Genesis, about half of Exodus and Numbers is history. And Deuteronomy is

Moses' farewell address in which he recounts much of the history of Israel. Why?

Wouldn't you find it strange if you opened a law book? The laws of the state of North Carolina or Virginia.

And most of it, you started to read, was history. It begins,

Virginia was founded in 1607 when settlers came to Jamestown colony. And Bobby's going, wait,

I thought it was about a law book. That's because the law isn't just about law. The law, we're talking about the

Torah and the Bible, isn't just about laws, it's about statutes, about rules. And the history serves the purpose of the law.

Understand what I'm saying? The Torah, the law, not just about laws. And history serves the purpose of the law.

So what's the purpose of the law? And that purpose isn't just to tell you how to live, but to tell you where to get life.

And first, to show you that you need life. That you're dead, dead in trespasses and sins.

After all, mere law rules often imply, or interpreted by us to imply, that we can keep the law.

That's what a lot of people think when they read commands in the Bible. I can keep that and I can earn my way. We have the ability.

You know, there's fire codes. We must have fire extinguishers accessible. We see that law and we think, well,

I can keep that. I can comply and I can be a law keeper. I can earn the status of being compliant.

But God's law is not, that's true for human laws, but God's law is not first about us keeping the law.

That's not His first purpose. Oh, God does want us to keep His law. Don't get me wrong.

He does want us to keep it, but He didn't give it first for that reason. And then once we fail, well,

He has grace as a plan B. If we can't keep the law, then He offers the gospel to make up for our failure, to earn our way to being compliant.

No, no. The primary, meaning the first, the primary purpose of the law, that is

God's requirements, God's commands, not just the Torah, but anytime God says, do this, be perfect, what in Reformed theology is called the first or the evangelical use of the law is to make us aware of our sin.

Like a mirror makes you aware that you have a smudge on your face or your hair is not right.

The law is a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. Now, I'm using law in two different ways.

Sometimes they kind of overlap, but there's really two different ways of using law. One is the Torah, the Pentateuch, the first five books, what

Samuel here begins drawing from for his history and the law as in just God's commands.

Anytime there's a command from God, do something. There's a lot of law in the

Torah, but there's also a lot of gospel. That is the promise of what God will do in Christ.

That's the gospel. There's a lot of that in the Torah. God's command to Adam, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil lest you die.

That is law, in the law, in the Torah. The promise, the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head, is the gospel in the

Torah. In fact, in the same chapter, Genesis three, where that other law was.

And then there's laws all through the rest of the Bible, even in the New Testament. That's what the Lord Jesus is doing in the

Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, pouring on law. You thought you were scot -free because you didn't murder anyone, but if you hated, if you blurted out, you fool.

You did the same thing. You did it. You're guilty. You thought you were compliant if you didn't literally commit adultery, but if you lost it, if you viewed porn, well, you're an adulterer.

And then at the end, just in case you still don't get the point, if you're still clinging to your self -righteousness,

Jesus says, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. And if you have any sense of your own sin, any self -awareness, you know that you failed.

God's laws are not primarily given to us to obey, but to show us that we haven't obeyed, that not the labors of my hands can fulfill your law's demands.

As Martin Luther wrote, we have this law to see therein that we have not been free from sin.

So we'll cry out, have mercy, Lord. Well, then why so much history?

Because it does the same thing as the law. It's like a rap sheet for a criminal. In case you forgot what you've done, here's your history, the crimes you've committed in the past.

You have a history. You're guilty of this and that. Even if it's not your personal history, do you really think you'd do better?

Your spiritual ancestors saw God strike Egypt with 10 blows, pass over the firstborn, those who had the lamb's blood on their doorpost, and then kill the others, divide the

Red Sea, provide manna in the desert, divide the Jordan River, collapse the walls of Jericho.

And yet very soon, their children were playing with the native idols.

Do you really think you'd be different? If you were a farmer in a semi -arid land, surrounded by people who promised you that if you'll just play a little of their sacrifice to their traditions, you know, you'll be prosperous.

Would you? Do you serve mammon now? History, like the law, humbles our pride and gets us to cry out, have mercy,

Lord. Samuel uses their history to witness to their sin. Your fathers were brought out of Egypt, but they forgot the

Lord, their God. In verse nine, this begins the sin cycle.

You see over and over again, particularly in the book of Judges, this cycle of rebellion, retribution from God, repentance, restoration through the judge, and then rest.

And repeat. They would compromise with idols, like we compromise with covetousness, which is idolatry, or tradition, or ego, or whatever our favorite sin is, and the

Lord handed them over to oppressors like Caesara, or the Philistines, or Moab. Maybe what's oppressing us?

Like he might hand us over to bad government, or to churches that decline and apostatize, that live in outright rebellion against God's word, refusing to follow what it says, like about church discipline, and the church membership that makes it possible, or about who is qualified to be a leader.

Or he might hand us over to bad families, or bankruptcy. He hands us over. Rebellion, retribution, and then repentance.

And then Israel would cry out to the Lord for deliverance, in verse 10, we have sinned because we have forsaken the

Lord and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.

They say to God, that's their repentance. And so the next step of the cycle, restoration. The Lord raises up, delivers, small s saviors.

Verse 11, the Lord sent Jeroboam, otherwise known as Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, and all the others.

And then last but not least, Samuel, I want you to remember, he raised up, me. Samuel, they delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.

The Lord provided for you, so you would live in safety. That said, he takes the

Lord's deliverance all the way up to himself. Otherwise, to their present day is to show them that they didn't need to ask for a king.

That the Lord could be trusted to raise up deliverers or judges as they needed them, when they needed them.

Indeed, if they'd stopped falling into sin, the Lord would stop handing them over to oppressors, and they wouldn't need to be, have to be delivered out of repression so much.

But rather than trust the Lord to keep them safe, when Nahash, remember, the serpent,

Mr. Serpent, started attacking them, then they demanded a king. In verse 12, you said to me, no, this is

Israel talking to the Lord, no, or maybe to Samuel, I guess, no, but a king shall reign over us. That's what they said.

When the Lord your God was your king, in verse 12, the Lord your God was your king, but then you said, we demand a king.

Wait, you have a king already, but they can't see him. In other words, they asked for a king when

God was their king, but they couldn't see that because they didn't believe it. Their demand for a king was a fruit of unbelief, of their lack of faith, and everything that does not come from faith is sin, in Romans chapter 14, verse 23, that even though God used the kingship, he even selects the king, here, he selected

Saul. He even selects later a dynasty from David through which he will bring in his kingdom.

He even comes in the flesh from that dynasty. Now, God himself is born into that dynasty, to that kingship as the king of Israel, yet their original demand for a king was sinful because it came from unbelief, from not believing that the

Lord would protect them, that he was their king. God uses unbelief to bring in the one everyone must believe in.

He uses rebellion to bring the king everyone must bow to.

Still, their demand for a king shows their lack of faith. Behold, look at this, in verse 13, the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked, behold, second time, two beholds, let's really pay attention to this.

Settle down out there, you're gonna wrestle this crowd. Despite the fact that you demanded a king out of rebellion and unbelief, still the

Lord has set a king over you. That's amazing mercy. And now here comes the law, in verse 14.

If you will fear the Lord, that's an attitude of the heart. The law is not just about outward actions, but it commands inward reverence, inward attitudes.

If you will fear the Lord, have reverence, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the

Lord, in other words, you keep his law, it will be well with you. Now, the if there signals it's conditional.

This is a conditional promise. And we think, well, that means that we can earn it.

But any time God's law comes with a condition, a promise comes with a condition, if you do this,

I'll bless you, it's bad news for us. Because we end up saying that we can't keep it.

Conditional promises that end up showing us that we can't keep the conditions. The law comes with blessings and curses, and we always end up getting the curses, in verse 15.

But if you will 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 and your king. Then to witness that he's giving

God's word to them, that he's telling the truth, the sign, in verse 16.

Now, therefore, stand still, maybe they're getting restless again, kids are talking too much, running around, not paying attention, thinking, why is this old man ranting about our asking for a king again?

Let's go eat. Pay attention, see this great thing that the

Lord will do before your eyes. It's May or June, here it's wheat harvest time, when it rarely rains in Israel.

It's not like here, where it rains a lot in May and June. The average rainfall in May for central

Israel is 0 .1 inches. The average rainfall for June is 0 .0

inches. It doesn't rain in June. And so Samuel says, here's the sign, in verse 17.

I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. Some of them are thinking, it's never gonna happen.

Then when that happens, then you shall know that your wickedness is great, which you have done on the side of the

Lord in asking for a king. The purpose of the sign, like the first use of the law, remember the first use of the law, is to make them aware of their sin.

Then we will know that our wickedness is great. And so Samuel prayed in verse 18, and the

Lord sent this thunderstorm in the wheat harvest time when it never rains. And the result was, as the rain is pouring down, all the people greatly feared the

Lord and Samuel. It's vital that people are aware of their sin and fear of God.

Over the last century or so, much of the church has failed to preach the law. Now some fail because they just wanted to tell people what they wanna hear, they wanna be popular, they always wanna be about your best life now, wanna be uplifting.

Others fail because dispensationalism taught that the law was for a prior dispensation, and so it's not relevant for us, this is all

Old Testament, so they probably never even deal with a passage like this. And they would say there were an age of grace in the gospel, and so you could just ignore the law.

The result of that has been people in churches, probably many people in the country as a whole, but particularly in churches, or maybe church members who are not in churches, that is who have their name on a register but they don't attend, but they claim to be believers, who have never been humbled by the law, who aren't aware of their sin or their total need of grace.

And so they're kind of proud of their religion, they're proud of that fact they went down at an invitation when they were five years old or whatever, prayed a prayer and got baptized.

They're not aware of their total need of grace, so they end up living in disobedience, and they frequently are liars and scoffers and hateful, they're arrogant, with no reverence for God, so they just violate

His word all the time and they think they're safe, because someone told them once safe, always safe. And they have no fear of God's judgment because of the false assurance that they've been given.

Second, we need the law to humble ourselves and inspire a healthy fear of God, reverence.

And third, we need the law to bring us to the gospel.

The law brings you to the gospel. People are terrified, there's a freak thunderstorm, you know, the time of year when it never rains, and here it is pouring down, and there's lightning everywhere.

And of course it came right after Samuel's prayer, they're terrified at this. So they cry out to Samuel, pray for your servants.

Oh, they're humble now, aren't they? They've been humbled by the law, and they beg, pray for your servants to the

Lord, notice your God, not our God, but your God, Samuel. They know

Samuel is with the Lord, they're not so sure about themselves. They've been humbled. Pray that we may not die for we have added to all our sins this evil to ask for ourselves a king.

Now they're convinced. Now even they admit that the demand for a king was sinful.

But once the law is humbled, once it's brought repentance and reverence, then you can pour on the gospel.

And that's what Samuel does in verse 20. Do not be afraid. Think of that, he spent so much time pouring on the law to make them see their sin, to humble them, to make them cry out, to fear

God, and then once he has them there, he says, don't fear.

He's afflicted the comfortable, and now he's comforting the afflicted. Don't fear, not because God isn't holy and fearsome, he is.

Don't fear, not because you aren't sinful and deserve wrath, you are and do, but don't fear because of the gospel.

Yes, you have done all this evil. It's important that people see their sins, but once they see them and once they fear

God, then they can be assured there is mercy with God. Now that doesn't mean once there's mercy with God, well then now you believe in God's mercy, now there's free grace and you can then go out and you can live in disobedience to God.

The first use of the law is evangelical, that is to lead to the gospel. But then the law reveals what we should do.

Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commandments in John chapter 14. So Samuel says in verse 20, do not be afraid, even though you have sinned.

You've done all this evil, yes. But don't use the gospel as an excuse to sin.

Don't be afraid, now that you believe, you can go out and live any way you want. That's not what he says. He says, don't be afraid, but do not turn aside for following the

Lord. Don't get me wrong when I say don't be afraid, don't turn aside from the Lord. The law leads you to the gospel, and then the gospel leads you to keep the law.

Now, not as a way to be saved, but as a way to live pleasing to the Lord. Serve the

Lord with all your heart. Again, it's a law about your heart. Like Jesus' greatest commandment, love the

Lord with all your heart, your soul, your strength. You don't think the gospel is a reason why you don't have to do that.

That would never occur to you if you really believe the gospel. I believe Jesus is Lord, and now, you know, I'm going to use that to not love

God. That doesn't make any sense. If you've really experienced the amazing grace of the gospel, it doesn't occur to you to think, well, now

I'm free to not care about the Lord, to spend my life trying to get rich and chasing dollars or maybe chasing skirts or trophies.

Who cares about church and studying the Bible and hearing God and praying? I don't want to do any of that.

No, that doesn't make any sense. That's not the conclusion you come to when you really believe the gospel.

The gospel creates in you a heart that wants to serve him, that obeys that command to serve the

Lord with all your heart, to love him with everything you have. So in verse 21, Samuel says, do not turn aside now that you've confessed your sin and believe.

Don't turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. They're hollow, there's nothing.

Living for money -making, living for the next thrill, for being seen as somebody, that's empty.

Instead, serve the Lord with your whole heart because, in verse 22, here's the gospel. Here it is, the

Lord will not forsake his people. To be

God's people is to be saved. The people whom he will not forsake, he's not gonna hand them over to condemnation, to rejection.

So being God's people, being saved is the same thing. To be set aside by him, to be spared from his judgment.

If you are one of those, then he won't get tired of your sin and hand you over to condemnation.

That will not happen to you. Jesus promised his people,

I will never leave you or forsake you. So the gospel is, one way of putting it, the

Lord does not forsake his people. Of course, the question is, are you one of his people?

How do you know if you're one of his people? It's not just by belonging to the right ethnic group or the right family.

Can't be born into it, like being a natural Israelite. Now, many of these people here, that Samuel is talking to, or their descendants, many of them prove that they were not

God's people, even though they were Israelites. They were born into the right family, the right ethnic group. We know that, we know that they're not

God's people because God does not forsake his people, but he forsook them, and he swept them away.

Think what Samuel is saying here, because he's saying two things that could sound like they're contradicting, but they're not.

God does not forsake his people, but if you rebel, he will forsake you.

That means if you rebel, you're not one of his people.

So how do you know if you're one of his people? Well, you know by the

Lord not forsaking you. Does that make sense? Has the Lord forsaken you?

Well, if he has, then you're not his people. Has he not forsaken you? Then you're his people. If you're one of his people, he doesn't let you get snatched out of his hand.

He doesn't let you quit. He doesn't leave you in your sin. He'll go out after you, you're that one lost sheep, and find you.

His preservation of you produces perseverance in you.

So, according to our statement of faith, the grand mark, in other words, the main feature.

Want to know who's God's people and who's not? Here's the main thing that you look at. Not where your family you're born into, not anything else, but the grand mark which distinguishes real believers from superficial professors, 19th century language, that is people who make a profession of faith that does not change them.

It's superficial, didn't make any change. The grand mark that distinguishes true believers from people just superficial believers is a persevering attachment to Christ.

And they are kept, true believers are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

And God does this, Samuel says in verse 22, for his great name's sake.

He does it to glorify himself by showing that he has kept his people.

In other words, these are my trophies. Look whom I have kept. I have kept these through many dangers, toils, and snares.

I kept them. And he did it because, be still, and look at this at the end of verse 21, because it pleased the

Lord. Why did he do it? Why does he keep a people? Because it pleases him.

It's for his good pleasure, from Ephesians 1. It's his good pleasure,

Samuel says, to make a people for himself. He's enjoying this.

He's pleased to make you one of his people. That's the gospel. That's the good news, that God is happy to make you one of his children so that you will glorify him and enjoy him and be enjoyed by him forever.

So after humbling them and instilling reverence in them with the law,

Samuel gives them the gospel. God's promised that he saves his people for the sake of his great name.

And then Samuel promises in this farewell address, verse 23, do not fear because, not only because of the promise that the

Lord doesn't forsake his people, but also because as long as I live,

I will intercede for you and teach you. Far be it from me, he says, that I should sin against the

Lord by ceasing to pray for you. And I will instruct you in the good and the right way.

Why? They have the promise of God's preservation and of now

Samuel's prayers and teaching. We have better promises.

Jesus said, no one can snatch us out of his hand. And Hebrews chapter seven, verse 25 says that, unlike Samuel, Jesus always lives to make intercession for us.

And he sends his Holy Spirit and his word, the Bible, to teach us. Here in Samuel's farewell address, he reminds us in verse 24, what great things he has done for you.

That's what we come to church for, to remember, consider what great things he has done for us, to remember the gospel.

But if we don't, if we still act wickedly in that last verse, if we continue in sin, as 1

John says, we give evidence that we don't have the seed of God in us. And so we will be swept away like the chaff that is swept up and burned, ourselves and our king.

King dollar, king sensuality, king ego, the grand mark that distinguishes us from those who are swept away with their kings is not our perfection, but our perseverance, that we keep clinging to Christ because he keeps preserving us.

He takes good pleasure in having us as his children. And so he never forsakes us.

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake.