Well, friends, I wonder if you've ever been in a situation or in a relationship.
Look at that.
They don't teach you these things in seminary, how to work music stands.
There we go.
Friends, I wonder if you've ever been in a relationship or in a situation where you feel like you've totally blown it.
Well, if so, then this text is for you and it's for me tonight.
We're looking at 1 Samuel chapter 12.
1 Samuel chapter 12.
You can follow along in the Pew Bible.
Well, Samuel's, the books of 1 and 2 Samuel are a little ways into the Old Testament.
You can find them there.
The page number's in the bulletin.
We're going to have it on the screens too.
1 Samuel chapter 12.
Let me read this chapter for us.
It's not a long one.
And Samuel said to all Israel,
Behold, I have obeyed your voice and 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've 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?
And he said, Testify against me and I will restore it to you.
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 against,
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 might 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 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 they cried out to the Lord and said, We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
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 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.
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 to ask for ourselves a king.
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 to 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 for 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.
Well, in this chapter, the people of Israel had really blown it.
We've been following their story in 1 Samuel for the last number of weeks,
and at this point in the story, an enemy had arisen against Israel named Nahash the Ammonite.
Greg talked about him last week.
And in the face of that threat, instead of the people turning to the Lord as their king,
to be their rescuer, as they had done for generations and generations,
instead, they turned to Samuel and they asked him for a human king.
And as we saw a few chapters ago in chapter 8, they did so for all the wrong reasons.
At the core, what was their heart motivation for wanting a king?
Well, it says that they wanted to be like all the other nations around them.
In other words, Israel, instead of following God's call,
and following him and being in a relationship with him and being distinct from all their neighbors,
and so being salt and light to them as this distinct people,
the people turn to Samuel and say,
No, we don't want to be distinct from our neighbors.
We want to actually be just like our neighbors.
We want to conform to them.
And we want a king just like them.
So they asked for a king so that they could be just like the other nations.
And here, Samuel, the prophet and judge, gives his last major speech to the nation as their leader.
You see, the era of the judges in this chapter is coming to an end.
The judges were those leaders that God rose up periodically throughout history to deliver Israel from her enemies.
This era is ending, and this new era, the era of the kingship, is beginning.
Saul now is on the throne.
At the end of chapter 11, he's coronated, and they're ready to go.
And here is Samuel addressing the nation one last time as their leader.
And we see in the first half of this chapter, he does two things.
First thing that Samuel does, very interestingly, is that he reaffirms,
he sort of renews the people's covenant with God.
That's verses 1 through 15.
He sort of renews their covenant.
And then in verses 16 through 18,
he brings before them the reality and the gravity of their sin.
Now, all this might seem a little strange to us,
but do you remember how, if you've read through some of the Old Testament,
do you remember what happens at the end of the book of Deuteronomy?
And some of you are thinking, I tried reading through the Bible once,
I got through to Leviticus, and then I quit.
So no, I don't know what happens at the end of Deuteronomy.
Well, this is what happens at the end of Deuteronomy.
Moses is standing before this wilderness generation,
this second generation of people who have come out of Egypt,
and they're on the verge of entering into the promised land.
And what Moses does with that new generation,
he basically takes them and he says,
we're going to renew the covenant between the people and your God.
Now, a covenant, what's a covenant?
A covenant is a binding, deep, committed relationship between two parties.
It's a deep, binding commitment or relationship.
And at the heart of this deep, bound-together relationship
that Israel had with the Lord,
basically could be summed up in this phrase
that happens over and over and over again in the Old Testament.
I will be your God, and you will be my people.
So Moses takes this new generation and reaffirms all that.
And interestingly, as you follow the biblical storyline,
those kind of covenant reaffirmations happen again and again.
It happens at the end of Joshua,
after this generation comes in and they occupy the land,
now they're sort of at a new phase of its history.
And what does Joshua do?
He reaffirms the covenant with them.
So that's what's happening here in 1 Samuel 12.
Samuel's doing the same thing.
The people of Israel standing on the verge of a new era of their history.
And Samuel says,
it's time to come back to your charter of existence,
this covenant that you have between you and God.
In fact, what's very interesting is if you scan over
the first, like, 15 verses of this chapter,
it's actually kind of structured like old covenant treaties.
Verses 1 through 5, Samuel's bringing out all the witnesses.
He's sort of proving that he's, you know,
a worthwhile spokesman for God.
And he brings out all these witnesses.
That's how covenants usually started.
They sort of called on the witnesses.
Then he tells the history of the people.
That's how covenants usually took off.
You tell the history of the relationship between the two people,
how they came together.
And then you give the stipulations.
This is what it means for you to be in this relationship.
That's verses 14 and 15.
So this is what Samuel's doing.
But then something really interesting happens.
After that, in verses 16 through 18,
Samuel brings before the people's eyes the reality
and the gravity of their sin.
And as thunder booms across the sky,
it's as if the people's hearts are finally shaken awake
to see how foolish and how sinful they had been.
God was and had been so faithful to them.
He was even now renewing his covenant with them.
And yet, in their recent history,
they had just been throwing it back in his face,
asking and crying out for a different king,
for a replacement king.
Instead of saying, God, we trust you,
and you're a good king to us,
they said, we actually want a different king.
No thanks.
And isn't that the nature of all of our sin,
that we ask for a substitute king?
And Israel finally wakes up to this sort of giant act
of cosmic treason that they had been committing.
So at this point in the story,
the people finally see they blow it.
Look again at verse 19.
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
to ask for ourselves a king.
So pause for a moment.
I wonder if you've ever been there,
standing in Israel's shoes,
suddenly realizing that you have royally messed it up,
spiritually speaking.
That though God has been faithful to you,
you have turned away from him.
Maybe you got into a relationship
that you know wasn't good for you,
wasn't honoring to the Lord,
and yet you got into it anyway.
Maybe it went too far.
Maybe it caused all sorts of heartbreak.
Maybe it was something that you did in secret.
Maybe it was a sin no one else saw,
and yet it still weighs heavy on your heart,
and it doesn't seem to go away.
Maybe you just stopped caring much about God
and started just pursuing success on the world's terms.
You didn't really sort of out and out reject God,
but you didn't exactly keep your relationship with him front and center in your life.
You sort of let your heart grow cold to him
and chased after achievement and wealth and reputation and success.
And then you woke up one day to realize that you were far away.
Whatever it is, maybe you, like me, have stood there in their shoes knowing that you've blown it.
And you don't need thunder and rain pounding overhead
because inside your conscience is pounding just as loud as any storm.
And you wonder, like Israel, like Israel must have been wondering here,
is God going to take me back?
Or is God just going to cast me off?
Isn't it very interesting that they say,
pray to the Lord, you are God, Samuel.
Samuel just renewed the covenant with them,
and suddenly they're thinking,
is he even our God anymore?
And we can think that.
Am I a lost cause?
Is there no way back for me?
Well, I think this issue
is right where this passage speaks to us
right now and right today.
In the rest of this chapter,
Samuel speaks right to this need
to people who've totally blown it.
Here's what the Lord says.
So I'm going to spend just the rest of our time together
just looking at verses 20 through 25
and hearing what God is saying to us
through Samuel.
Let's start with verse 20.
Samuel said to the people,
don't 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.
Isn't it amazing that Samuel's first word is,
don't be afraid.
You're scared maybe God will never take you back.
Maybe your spiritual life is over,
but no,
Samuel says,
it's not the end of the story.
And notice that we need not fear,
not because our sin isn't really so bad after all.
Isn't that often how we try to sort of make sense of things
and deal with our spiritual failures?
Eh, it wasn't that bad.
You know,
other people have done a lot worse.
We sort of try to make excuses and justify it.
I was tired.
I was caught off guard.
But no,
Samuel doesn't minimize it at all.
He says,
don't be afraid.
You have done all this evil.
Yes,
your sin is great,
but you can admit it
and not turn away from it.
You don't have to run away from reality
by pretending it's not so bad after all,
which,
as you know,
that strategy never really works
in the long run,
just sort of denying it
and turning away from reality.
Instead,
what does Samuel say?
You have done all this evil,
yet serve the Lord with all your heart.
So you see,
right at the start,
Samuel is saying something
is possible
that in our mindset,
when we mess up,
we think it's impossible.
He's sort of opening up a horizon for us.
He's saying,
you think you've blown it,
you think there's no going back,
but you're wrong.
There's still a place for you
with the Lord.
So come,
come serve the Lord
with all your heart.
You see,
what Samuel's doing here
is he's actually fighting against
one of the most pernicious things
that can happen to us
when we stumble
and when we sin.
And that most pernicious thing
isn't actually spiritual pride.
It's actually self-pity
and shame.
When we screw up,
it's that voice that says,
I'm a loser.
I'm a goner.
No one loves me.
Not even the Lord.
But Samuel comes
and stops that voice
right in its tracks
and says,
no,
there is a place for you here.
The Lord still wants your heart.
And he's calling you now
to give it to him.
You see,
I think self-pity
is kind of like a dark room
with all the curtains closed.
And we don't think
there's a way out
or any way to change
and we just sort of sit there
in the darkness.
But here comes Samuel
marching in,
throwing open the curtains,
letting the sun come shining in,
saying,
look out the window.
Don't you see
the fields
and the mountains
and the streams
and the fresh air.
Come on.
Let's go.
Don't wallow here.
The Lord is calling you
to come join him
on the heights.
So right off the bat,
Samuel says,
don't minimize your sin,
but don't fall prey
to self-pity.
Yes,
your sin is bad,
but it's a new day.
Today is a new day.
The curtains are open
and you're being called forth.
And next he says this.
And do not turn aside
after empty things
that cannot profit
or deliver
for they're empty.
You see,
the Bible helps us
understand our hearts,
I think,
better than anything else.
And this verse
is showing us
that our hearts
will actually
never really be neutral.
The human heart
was created to worship
and worship it will.
And it will either
worship God the creator
or it will worship
something else,
some created thing.
There's no sort of Switzerland
in the geography
of the human heart.
There's no neutral territory
in your spiritual makeup.
And here in verse 21,
Samuel says,
look,
if you don't turn
to the Lord,
you're going to turn aside
to empty things.
Things,
he says,
that cannot profit
or deliver.
In other words,
things that can't
make your life good
and things that can't
stop making your life bad.
They can't profit
and they can't deliver.
I think that's such an
insightful and helpful phrase.
I think I've been meditating
on that all week
as I thought about this passage.
You know,
do you want to know
what's actually competing
for God's place
in your heart?
Do you want to shine
some light on that?
Do you want to know
what you're worshiping
instead of God?
Ask yourself this question.
What do I think I need
in order to make
my life truly good?
How would you fill
in that blank?
If I had this,
then my life
would be really good.
Or you can ask
this question.
What do I think
would stop my life
being bad?
If only this,
then my life
wouldn't be so miserable,
then I'd be free.
friends.
The reality is
if we answer
either of those questions
with anything other than
the Lord God himself,
then you can already
start to see
what competing gods
and kings
are vying
for your heart's affection.
Some of those things
might not be wrong
or bad
in and of themselves,
but your heart
is still trying
to get out of them
what Samuel calls
profit,
that is lasting happiness,
or deliverance,
lasting freedom.
You've made this good thing
ironically
into an empty thing.
Now,
why is this so important?
Why does Samuel
want us to hear this
when we've spiritually
blown it,
when we're down
in the dumps?
Because at those moments,
those moments
are when we are
so susceptible
to keep turning
away from the Lord
to those other things.
In our self-pity,
in our fear,
in our guilt,
and in our shame,
we end up
latching our hearts
onto something
that only brings us
more heartache.
And then we go
in this downward spiral.
One sin leads
to guilt and shame,
and then thinking
that God will never
take us back,
we latch onto something else
to dull the pain
and comfort us,
and that just sends us
spiraling further down.
Isn't that how
so many of us
get caught up
in the sinful
and destructive patterns
and habits
and addictions?
So in some sense,
Samuel is doing something
that's very insightful here.
He's really helping us
get our spiritual bearings
to sort of look
under the hood
of our hearts
and see what's really
going on
when we're down
in the dumps.
He's saying,
you're going to be tempted
to turn aside
to empty things.
Don't travel down
that road.
Instead,
come serve the Lord.
Come home.
And then Samuel
comes really
to the heart
of the whole paragraph.
I thought about
maybe preaching
the whole sermon
on this one verse,
but I thought
that wouldn't
really do it justice.
You know,
he's been kind of
clearing the ground
so far.
Don't be afraid.
Don't go after
empty things.
Now he kind of
comes to the central
driving knife's edge
of the whole paragraph.
Here comes the central message
for those who've blown it.
Verse 22,
for the Lord
will not forsake
his people
for his great namesake,
because it has pleased
the Lord
to make you
a people
for himself.
You see,
at the end,
Samuel points us
right back
to God himself.
The Lord,
he says,
will not
forsake you.
He won't abandon you
or renounce you
or cast you off.
And then,
he gives the reason.
And shockingly,
this reason
has nothing
to do with us.
It's for
his great namesake,
he says.
How did you think
Samuel would answer
that question?
Or answer that,
sort of finish that line?
The Lord will not
forsake his people
because
you're really good
after all.
You're so lovely.
No,
for his great namesake.
You know,
when we botch things up
spiritually,
we often end up
looking at ourselves
and then saying,
God will never
bring me back.
And then,
what we do is
we look up at God
and we think that God
is also looking at us
and sizing us up
and considering
all of our good
and bad deeds
and measuring
and scrutinying us
to see whether
he's actually
going to take us back.
So we're looking
at ourselves
and then we think
God's looking at us.
But actually,
who's God
really looking at?
He's not looking at us.
He's looking at himself.
He's not asking,
what I need to do.
He's not sitting up there
saying,
hmm,
what should I do
based on who
they are?
He's saying,
what am I going to do
based on who I am?
In other words,
God's not going to act
for our great namesake.
God's going to act
for his great namesake.
the Lord won't forsake you.
Why?
Because God is God.
And what Samuel
just told Israel
as he renewed
the covenant with them
is that the Lord
is faithful
and he's never
forsaken his people
no matter what
they've fallen into
and God continues
to be faithful to them.
And you know,
the next verse
is actually sort of
an extension
of God's faithfulness.
As Samuel says,
moreover,
as for me,
far be it from me
that I should sin
against the Lord
by ceasing to pray for you
and I'll instruct you
in the good and right way.
You see,
as an expression
of the Lord's
enduring faithfulness
to his people,
Samuel's going to keep
doing what God
tells him to do,
to pray for them
and to teach them.
He's not going to
give up on them.
And God keeps
doing that today.
He raises up
leaders in the church
and he raises up
faithful friends
in our lives
who will pray for us
and who will keep
pointing us back
to God's
gracious living word.
You know,
it's interesting,
we often tend to
shut people out
when we feel like
we've kind of
spiritually blown it.
But don't you see
what Samuel's saying here?
He's saying,
actually,
God's using those people
to extend
his own message
of faithfulness
and mercy to you.
Samuel was going
to keep on
praying for them
and teach them
and that would be
a gift
of God's
continuing love
to them.
the love
that comes
for his great
namesake.
You see,
I think there's
sort of a
Copernican
revolution
that needs
to happen
in our
spiritual life.
And when it
happens,
it does sort of
two things
that seem
very strange
and not related
to one another
at first.
On the one hand,
when this revolution
happens,
it brings the most
complete humility
and at the same
time,
it brings the most
complete security.
And that shift,
what that revolution
is,
is to realize
that God
does what
he does,
not ultimately,
not ultimately
for our sake,
but for his sake.
And what I mean
is this,
God does
what he does,
not ultimately
because he thinks
I'm so great
and he wants
to make much
of me.
God does
what he does
because God
himself is great
and he wants
to display
that greatness
for everyone
to see and enjoy.
And of course,
that brings humility,
doesn't it?
Because finally,
I realize,
lo and behold,
that I'm not the
center of the universe.
that it's not
about me.
But don't you see
that it also
brings security
at the same time?
Because if it all
depends on God
and not actually
on me,
as humbling
as that is,
if it all
depends on him,
then there's no way
that it could fail.
if the Lord says
he's not going
to forsake you
for his great
name's sake,
there's no way
you're going
to be forsaken.
I was trying
to come up
with a good
illustration of this
and instead
I came up
with a measly
illustration of it,
but I'm going
to give it to you
anyway.
So imagine
there's this
great magnet.
When I was
in middle school,
my teacher
had this sweet
magnet that we
always loved
playing with.
Imagine there's
this massive,
powerful,
strong magnet
and a little
nail and you
sort of let go
of the nail
and what does
it do?
It just wham
right into the
magnet.
It doesn't go
anywhere.
Now imagine
that that nail
could sort of
bend itself
into all sorts
of different
shapes.
Would that
have any effect
of the magnet's
hold on that
little nail?
No.
Imagine the nail
could sort of
change all colors.
Imagine it paints
itself red and
blue and purple
and green.
Does that
change the
fact that
it's gripped
tightly by
that giant
magnet?
Of course
not.
Why?
Because the
thing that is
keeping that
little speck
attached to
that great
thing surging
with energy
isn't the
shape or the
color or the
history or the
deeds of that
nail, but the
energy of that
magnet.
Friends, that's
how it is with
us in the
Lord.
It's because of
who he is
and the great
energy of his
glory and
majesty and
holiness and
love that he's
not going to
forsake us.
no matter how
bent or
twisted you
might think
you are.
Look at
verse 24.
Only fear the
Lord and serve
him faithfully with
all your heart,
for consider what
great things he's
done for you.
Again, Samuel
reissues this
call.
Come back to
God.
Fear the Lord.
That is, live in all
of him and not
all these lesser
things.
Serve him
faithfully with
all your heart.
Sink your life
into this one
who alone can
profit and
deliver.
Sink your life
into this one
who can bring
true happiness
and lasting
freedom.
And then he
adds this,
verse 25,
but if you
still do
wickedly,
you shall be
swept away,
both you and
your king.
Now what are we
to make of that?
Is Samuel
suddenly sort of
pulling the rug
out of everything
he just said?
I thought the
Lord wasn't going
to forsake us
because of his
great name.
Now it looks
like we're going
to get swept
away because of
our great wickedness
if we don't
obey.
What is going
on?
Is Samuel
contradicting
himself?
Well friends,
in order to
understand this
verse,
we have to
understand the
story.
We said earlier
that Samuel was
reaffirming the
covenant between
Israel and God
in this chapter.
And this last
verse,
verse 25,
is actually an
echo of a
more ancient
warning that was
part of the
covenant in
Deuteronomy 28.
Deuteronomy 28
lists all these
sort of ways in
which the people
of God will
disintegrate and
fall apart if
they're not
faithful to him.
And the
climax of all
those covenant
curses is
exile.
That if people
continue to
reject God and
choose other
lords and kings,
that people will
be swept out of
their land and
taken captive by
foreign nations.
God will
basically deconstruct
the nation to the
core and send it
away.
And what Samuel
is saying here at
this moment in
their history is
that the appointment
of the king
doesn't change
that warning.
Of course the
king is now
going to have a
big influence on
the direction of
the nation, but
if the people
continue to turn
away from God,
exile will still
come and it
will come both
on you and
your king.
One writer put it
this way,
Israel wanted a
king to fight
their battles,
but no king
will be able to
defend them from
God's judgment.
That is, until
one day, hundreds
of years later,
after all that
Samuel had already
said actually came
true, the people
had continued in
their idolatry and
wickedness, God had
sent them away to
exile, God had
even brought back a
group of survivors
to begin living in
the land again and
they started
rebuilding their
sort of nationhood.
After all that,
hundreds of years
later, the
king comes.
And this king was
unlike any that
Israel had seen
before.
He didn't spend
most of his time
with the people who
looked like they
had it all together
spiritually speaking.
He wasn't hanging
out with the
powerful and the
very pristine and
pure.
Shockingly, he
spent most of his
time with spiritual
failures and
misfits, the tax
collectors and the
prostitutes and the
people who had
seemingly blown it.
that's where this
king spent most of
his time and that
was the sort of
people who gathered
around him.
And that wasn't
like any king they
had seen before.
And yet, this king
was also different in
another way.
You see, all of
Israel's kings, if you
start reading the rest
of the story, you
know are deeply
flawed.
Next chapter, Saul is
going to come crashing
to the ground with a
thud.
And then David's going
to appear and we're
going to find that he's
a man after God's
own heart and yet
he too is still
deeply flawed.
But this king who
comes so many years
later is nothing
like that.
No matter how often
his enemies try to
trap him in his
words, he always
responds with the
wisdom of God and
the love of God.
He's always without
flaw, heeding God's
law, keeping the
covenant, loving those
around him.
Finally, here is
actually a king and a
true Israelite who
does what God says and
keeps the covenant.
Here he is.
But then in the end,
the greatest difference
of all, though this
king had lived under
God's law perfectly,
he's sentenced to
death and rejected by
the people, forsaken by
the very people that he
came to lead and to
love.
And yet that's not
actually the most
shocking part of his
death.
God's law perfectly
and he calls out to
the people that he
calls out to the God
on an implement of
Roman execution, a
cross.
He calls out, my God,
my God, why have you
forsaken me?
He calls out to the God
who says he'll never
forsake his people.
And in this moment, God
is silent and does not
reply.
And though he was the
perfect son, the father
forsakes him on the
cross.
And you see, friends,
when that happened,
Jesus Christ was bringing
to a climax and a
resolution the greatest
problem in all of
history.
You see, the justice of
God required that this
covenant-breaking people
be judged.
And yet the steadfast
love of God required
that these same people
never be forsaken.
How could he do both?
How could this God of
perfect justice and
holiness and perfect
love and faithfulness
ever be in relationship
with his people?
How is it that God will
not forsake those who
deserve to be forsaken?
Isn't that the tension
that you feel when you
actually blow it?
That deep down you kind
of know that you ought to
be forsaken.
And yet God comes and
says, I won't forsake
you.
How?
Well, now you see how.
Because Jesus Christ stood
in our place and was
forsaken so that we would
never have to be.
You see, verse 25 forces
us.
It just pushes us to read
the rest of the story.
And when we keep reading,
we follow it all the way
to Jesus, the true king
who was swept away for
our wickedness.
But this was the one king
who could actually save us
from God's judgment.
He was swept away for our
wickedness so that we could
be welcomed home by his
righteousness.
And that means, friends,
we need not fear.
though we have sinned,
we can turn again and serve
the Lord with all our hearts.
The Lord Jesus rose again on
the third day as a
demonstration that the entire
debt of sin had been paid.
That sin couldn't actually hold
him because sin had been
completely swallowed.
every sin that you think has
utterly blown it between you
and God.
And friends, every sin that
you're actually going to
commend that you think will
blow it between you and God,
if you've placed your trust in
him, has been dealt with
through his death and
resurrection.
So tonight,
if you've blown it,
look to the cross and the
resurrection of Jesus.
Turn and give him your heart
and know that he'll not
forsake you.
Begin again tonight.
You know, if Samuel could tell
Israel not to fear and to
serve the Lord with all their
heart, knowing what he knew of
God's love and faithfulness
then, how much more should that
be true of us today?
Knowing what we know now
through Jesus.
The full flowering of God's
faithful love has come to be
displayed through Christ.
How much more can we say
he'll not forsake us?
How much more can we consider
the great things that he's done?
How much more ought we to serve
the Lord with all our hearts?
Let's pray.
Lord Jesus, it is right for our
sin to feel weighty and
grievous.
Lord, not just because of the
consequences that it brings,
but because of what it means
about you, the way in which it
dishonors you.
And yet, Lord, we hear such good
gospel news in this passage that
you won't forsake us.
Lord, I pray for my friends here
tonight who might be weighed down
with a heavy load of sin and shame
and regret.
Jesus, I pray that they would be
looking to you and see in you the
one who lifts their burdens and
welcomes them home.
Father, help us to live in the world
as people who have found the one who
will never forsake us and who is our
true prophet and our true
deliverance.
Lord, in you that there is happiness
and there is freedom forevermore.
Help us to live that way by your
spirit, Father, we pray.
Amen.
Well, friends, we're going to close
by singing one more song.
And let's sing this song together as a
way of praying and meditating.