1 Samuel 8 is where we're going to be at.
God tells us in 1 Timothy 3 that all scripture is spirit-breathed.
In Hebrew 4, God tells us that his word is living, powerful, and piercing.
I'll read aloud as you follow along.
When I'm finished reading, I'll say the word of God for the people of God.
If you receive God's word by faith this way,
then please respond by saying thanks be to God.
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.
His firstborn son was named Joel.
The second was Abijah.
They were judges in Beersheba.
However, his sons did not walk in his ways.
They turned towards dishonest prophet, took bribes, and perverted justice.
So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel at Ramah and said to him,
Look, you are old. Your sons do not walk in your ways.
Therefore, appoint a king to judge us, the same as all the other nations have.
When they said, Give us a king to judge us, Samuel considered a demand to be wrong.
So he prayed to the Lord.
But the Lord told him, Listen to the people and everything they say to you.
They have not rejected you.
They have rejected me as their king.
They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to me since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day,
abandoning me and worshiping other gods.
Listen to them, but solemnly warn them and tell them about the customary rights of the king who will reign over them.
Samuel told all the Lord's words to the people who were asking him for a king.
He said, These are the rights of the king who will reign over you.
He will take your sons and put them to his use in his chariots, on his horses, or running in front of his chariots.
He can appoint them for his use as commanders of thousands or commanders of fifties,
to plow his ground and reap his harvest,
or to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
He can take your daughters to become perfumers, cooks, and bakers.
He can take your best fields, vineyards, and olive orchards, and give them to his servants.
He can take a tenth of your grain of your vineyards and give them to his officials and servants.
He can take your male servants, your female servants, your best cattle, your donkeys, and use them for his work.
He can take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves can become his servants.
When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you've chosen for yourselves.
But the Lord won't answer you on that day.
The people refused to listen to Samuel.
No, they said, We must have a king over us.
Then we'll be like all the other nations.
Our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.
Samuel listened to all the people's words and then repeated them to the Lord.
Listen to them, the Lord told Samuel.
Appoint a king for them.
Then Samuel told the men of Israel, Each of you, go back to your city.
The word of God for the people of God.
Isaiah 40 says that the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord stands forever.
In Luke 1, no word from God shall be void of power.
Let's pray.
Amen.
Lord, we pray that your word will go forth.
We pray that your Holy Spirit will give us hearts and ears to receive you.
The living word of God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords.
That we will not refuse your rule over our lives.
Amen.
Well, there's said a group of Christians in a circle, their Bibles open.
And as God's word does in the book of James, you know, it becomes a mirror.
We see in the word of God another story, another example, or a passage, and it reflects back on us.
We start reading, thinking that this is about Israel, or even about, you know, the villains or the enemies pushing in.
And before we know it, we realize the Bible is speaking about me, my own heart.
And one of those moments in a Bible study, the person who most likely had been a Christian the longest, a godly lady,
made the statement that my heart is still so full of sin every single day.
And that's what the scripture reveals.
So then every other Christian sitting around this circle has that feeling,
if this godly woman who's walked with the Lord so long still is so aware of all the sin in her heart,
where does that leave the rest of us?
And I'm so glad she had the humility to say that.
That's the same insight that Pastor Robert Murray Machine in the 1800s in Scotland,
he had that same insight.
He said, the seed of every sin known to man is in my heart.
Do you feel that way as a Christian often as well?
So beloved brothers and sisters, beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that's what I need to talk with you about today.
It's those remaining corruptions in your heart and in mine.
Those remaining corruptions in the hearts of God's children.
I see in this passage three cautions for us in one gospel hope.
Here's the first caution.
Hearts with remaining corruptions are prone,
they're bent to take gifts and turn them into idols.
Hearts with remaining corruptions are prone to turn gifts into idols.
Would you look at verse one with me?
Children are a good gift.
Amen?
Psalm 127.3 says,
Children are a heritage from the Lord.
What a blessing.
And judges are a good gift.
Proverbs 21.15 says,
When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous.
But Israel was not Samuel's nation.
Israel was God's nation.
And who is it that can put an authority over his own people?
Only God, whose people they are.
Samuel was forcing a dynasty.
Children, a dynasty is when one king or person in a power
wants to make their own children be their successors.
Nepotism.
God will rule his own people the way that he alone chooses.
We have this insight next in verse two,
which I think is very significant.
I know it is.
It's in God's word.
Would you look at verse two?
The name of the firstborn was Joel.
The name of his second was Abijah.
And they were judges in Beersheba.
Okay, so now we got to do a little research to find out in the Hebrew,
what do these two names mean?
And where is Beersheba?
Well, let's start with the names first.
When these two sons are born, Samuel, a man of God,
blessed them with wonderful names.
Joel, you hear the last two letters is L.
We know L means God.
So Joel means Yahweh is God.
Abijah means my father is Yahweh.
Most likely these give us an autobiographical insight into Samuel.
Remember, he grew up away from his biological father.
He had to call Eli the priest his father.
Eli called him his son.
And he's growing up in the house of the Lord around the tabernacle at Shiloh.
And this is what he wants for his own children more than anything else,
that Yahweh would be their God
and that their father would be Yahweh himself.
This is his prayer for his sons.
But the problem with Samuel's sons was not their names,
but that their lives did not match up to these wonderful names.
Most likely with the best of intentions,
we could say Samuel was dressing up his sons with a name.
It's something put on them,
not something that they had to earn.
We read in verse 3,
Samuel's sons did not walk in his ways.
What do you mean by that?
Well, they turned aside after dishonest gain.
They took bribes and they perverted justice.
You see, their lives did not match their names.
Yahweh was obviously not their God.
Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, was obviously not their father.
Maybe this is why Samuel makes them judges way down in Beersheba.
This is a southernmost isolated part of the country.
When we can't dress up those things that we've made into an idol enough,
the remaining sin in our hearts tries next to cover them up.
Maybe Samuel sent them to judge way down in Beersheba,
south out of the way,
to try to hide them with obscurity
and minimize the damage of their corruption.
So do you see even from these first three verses
how even Samuel,
this great prophet of the Lord,
this judge that the Lord appointed,
the Lord didn't let a word of Samuel fall to the ground.
He established him.
Even Samuel had remaining corruptions in his heart.
Do you agree?
You see these?
We need to beware of the hurtful result of idols.
in our own hearts.
When we turn a gift into something
that we are elevated beyond its proper place in creation.
Look at the results in this case.
Lost the trust of God's people.
He undermined his own authority as their judge.
And he stirred up the remaining corruptions in the hearts of others.
He became the occasion for the nation of Israel
to rebel ultimately against God.
Beware the hurtful results of our own idols.
In 1 John 1, 8, we read that if we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves.
You and I still have sin remaining in our hearts also,
just like Samuel, don't we?
Romans 7, 19,
even the Apostle Paul cries this out.
Oh, wretched man that I am,
the good that I will to do,
I do not do,
but the evil I will not to do,
that I practice.
In 1 Timothy 6, 9,
God's people are warned that the lusts
that remain in our flesh
make us fall into many temptations
and ensnare even Christians.
We know that sanctification,
to be made more like Christ,
we know that that's God's power, right?
In other words,
you ask Samuel or Paul or Timothy,
who is it?
Whose power and energy
made you more like Christ now
than you were 20 years ago?
Every Christian will always say,
it was God's power working in me.
God gets all the glory for my sanctification, right?
But then the question remains,
well, why does God allow men like Samuel and Paul
and you and me to fall back into our sin?
It's all His power to sanctify me.
Why is He doing this now to let me,
let go just enough for me to drop down
and reveal these corruptions in my heart?
What are God's purposes in doing this?
This is a great question.
It's one that every Christian needs to wrestle with
and which is,
we're not the first Christians to ask this question.
I love this answer
from the Confession of Faith,
chapter 5, paragraph 5.
And this chapter is on the providence of God,
His sovereignty over every little detail
of your life and mine.
Listen to this.
The most wise, righteous, and gracious God
does oftentimes leave for a season
His own children to manifold temptations
and the corruptions of their own hearts.
And here are seven purposes identified.
Number one, why?
To chastise them for their former sins.
Number two, to discover unto them
the hidden strength of corruption
and deceitfulness in their hearts.
Number three, that they may be humbled.
Number four, to make them more watchful
against all future occasions for sin.
Number five, for other just and holy ends,
so that whatsoever befalls any of God's elect
is by His appointment.
Reason six, for His glory.
And reason seven, for our good.
So hearts with remaining corruptions
like yours and ours,
we need to beware.
They will be prone always
until that final breath
to turn gifts into idols.
Here's the second caution from this passage.
Hearts with remaining corruptions
are prone to disguise idolatry with reason.
Hearts with remaining corruptions
are prone to disguise idolatry with reason.
Well, in the first three verses,
the hidden corruptions in the heart of godly Samuel
have been discovered.
Next, Israel's idols will surface.
Look at verse four.
Then, in other words,
when the sin of Samuel's sons
had become so obvious to enough people,
we read in verse four
that all the elders of Israel
gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.
Here are the 12 tribes represented by elders.
It's basically a tribal confederacy.
And that's how bad things got.
They're looking at the succession plan.
Samuel is getting old
and his sons are not ones
we as a confederation of tribes
want to have to submit to anymore.
These guys are awful.
In verse five,
they said to Samuel,
look, you are old
and your sons do not walk in your ways.
Notice how street smart people
always wait for the best time
to get what they want.
The time is right now.
Strike while the metal is hot.
What we find out is that their hearts
had already rejected God
as their king.
So now they're just waiting
for this man of God to show weakness
and they can pounce.
In verse five,
they say,
now make us a king
to judge us
like all the nations.
Every time they request
for Samuel to make a king for them,
it's attached to that desire
to be like all the other nations.
But notice how this,
this is their heart,
rejected God,
want to be like all the other nations.
There's the idol.
Notice how they try to disguise it
in a reasonable way.
It is reasonable
because number one,
Samuel was old.
No one could deny that.
And a leadership vacuum
would jeopardize the stability
of the whole nation.
So using our own reason,
a king would offer them
a strong and stable
and predictable
center of political authority.
That would make sense
for these tribes.
And this seems more rational
than having to show
all the other neighbors
we don't even have a king.
Our king is in heaven
and he's unseen.
No one's going to believe that.
And what's going to keep them
from invading
and taking our land
and making us slaves?
Israel appeared
to their neighbors
as politically chaotic,
primitive,
and frankly,
it would have been embarrassing
to have to tell people
this is our nation.
This is what we do.
It's not the first time
that this desire came up
for God's people.
In the book right before this one,
chronologically,
it's Judges.
In Judges chapter 8,
verse 23,
see Gideon,
that great man,
the judge that the Lord
used to deliver them
from the Philistines.
They wanted to make
his son a king
and make him a king.
And he says,
I will not rule over you
and my son will not
rule over you.
The Lord will rule over you.
Gideon pushed off
this desire to be like
all the other nations
before.
What's happened again now?
Another generation rises up.
How quickly they forget.
And they stopped singing,
so to speak,
as we did,
under the shadow
of your throne, God,
your saints have dwelt secure.
We run this same risk.
If we forget that
the Lord of hosts,
our God,
He was our help
in ages past,
and then we will lose
the hope that He will be
our help
in years to come.
And so Samuel,
in verse 6,
gets offended.
He thinks this is wrong.
And for all of his shortcomings,
now this should encourage you
and me,
for all of Samuel's
shortcomings,
as a father
and as a leader,
he did the right thing next.
Look what Samuel does next
in verse 6.
Samuel prayed
to the Lord.
In verse 7,
the Lord said,
they have not rejected you,
but they have rejected
me,
that I should not reign
over them.
Here's why this can
encourage you and me.
Parents,
grandparents,
brothers and sisters,
you who have
had the opportunity
to witness
and share the gospel
with someone,
or even to
disciple someone
and lead them,
only to find out
years later
they reject
this path,
this narrow way
that you're trying
to walk on.
The Lord stands by you
like He stood by Samuel.
And the Lord says,
look,
if they were to believe
and follow,
that would not have been
your doing, Samuel,
you're my instrument.
Because they've turned away,
they've not rejected you,
they've rejected me.
And so what we do
is we feel the burden
like Samuel,
we take it to the Lord
in prayer,
and we know that
this is the Lord's work.
The only thing we can do
is pray,
and we trust it to Him.
The Lord stands beside you.
The Lord reminds you
in verse 7,
they have not rejected you,
they have rejected me,
that I should not
reign over them.
That's what idolatry means.
It's to reject
God's rule
over your life
and mine.
And we're just like
the Israelites.
We try to rationalize it.
We can't outsmart God.
He calls it out.
He says,
you have rejected me.
He says to them
in verse 8,
this is just as idolatrous
as the first generation
coming out of slavery
in Egypt
and worshiping the golden calf.
In verse 8,
He says,
just like all the evil deeds
you did
after I brought them
out of Egypt,
see,
we can't explain it away.
He says to you and me
and to them,
this is your Baal,
this is your Astaroth,
this is your Dagon,
it's your golden calf.
You have forsaken me
in order to serve
a false God.
I'm the one
who brought you
out of slavery.
I'm not like
any other gods.
I'm holy.
But because our hearts
have remaining corruptions
in them,
we're prone to turn
good gifts
into idols
and then try to disguise
those idols
with reason.
We're reminded
in 1 Corinthians 7,
23,
church,
Christian.
Just like this
people of old,
you too
were bought
with a price.
The blood of Jesus Christ
Himself.
And so never become
a bondservant
to any creature.
You belong to Him.
He purchased you.
He ransomed you.
You're His.
I bought you,
the Lord says.
And for us
as a congregation,
as a church,
it's the same caution.
We can turn so many
things into an idol
and then dress them up
with our own reason.
What He's asking
the people of Israel
is this.
Why do you want
to be like
all the other nations?
Why do you want
to be a worldly kingdom
when you alone
have been set apart
to be my heavenly kingdom
on earth?
I set you apart
to be holy
as I am holy.
Why would you want
anything less than that?
Well, the third caution
is this.
That hearts with
remaining corruptions
are prone
even to refuse
God's fatherly warnings.
This is how stubborn
we are.
This is how deceitful
and powerful
those corruptions
that remain
in our hearts
are.
Hearts with
remaining corruptions
are prone
to refuse
God's fatherly warnings.
Look at verse 9.
After Samuel prays
and the Lord
hears,
now therefore
heed their voice.
God says,
I'm going to
do what they want.
However,
before that comes,
you shall solemnly
forewarn them
and show them
the behavior
of the king
who will rule
over them.
The Lord God
in his fatherly
love and wisdom,
I know they will
sin,
but I will
solemnly
forewarn them
first.
There are four
cautions
that Samuel
gives them
that describe
bondage to a king,
even one from
their own nation.
And they're all
marked out by
these words,
he will take.
First,
he will take
your sons,
verse 11.
Verse 13,
he will take
your daughters.
Verse 14,
he will take
the best
of your fields
and vineyards
and olive groves.
And fourth,
verse 17,
he will take
a tenth
of your sheep.
But notice
the bent of their hearts,
they're prone
to refuse
this fatherly
warning.
We read in 19,
nevertheless,
the people refused
to obey
the voice of
Samuel who spoke
for God.
And they said,
no,
we will have
a king over us,
verse 20,
that we may be
like all the other
nations,
and that our king
may judge us
and go out
before us
and fight
our battles.
Notice the
possessive there.
The possessive
determinative,
who is all this
for?
They say,
go before us,
fight our battles.
In verse 11,
Samuel had used
the possessive
to point to the king.
The king's going
to make it all
about his agenda.
Look at verse 11.
He'll make your sons
be his infantry.
Verse 12,
he'll make them
plow his ground
and reap his harvest
and make his weapons
of war
and equipment
for his chariots.
Verse 16,
he will put them
to his work.
See,
if you get a king
and you want to be
like all the other nations,
you're going to have
a repeat
of slavery
in Egypt.
The king of Israel
is described
using
the language
of bondage
in Egypt.
He's a pharaoh figure.
In verse 17,
it says it,
you will be his slaves.
Verse 18,
you will cry out
in the day.
Now Samuel changes it
to show them
you'll be enslaved again.
He says in verse 18,
because of your king,
whom you have chosen
for yourselves
and the Lord
will not hear you
on that day.
When we choose
the idol,
we choose that thing
we will serve above God
or love more than God
and his kingdom.
We have no one else
to blame,
do we?
And when God warns us,
fatherly,
loving warnings,
we still rebel
against him
and refuse him.
There's no one else
to blame.
We become enslaved
to the thing
we chose
instead of God.
In verse 19,
nevertheless,
the people refused
to obey
the voice
of Samuel.
And there it is again,
we will have
a king over us
linked with
that we may be
like all
the other nations.
See,
they own it.
Verse 20,
that our king
may judge us
and go out
before us
to fight
our battles.
This is what
we are choosing.
Think about how
the Lord Jesus
turns us upside down
in the pattern
of his true kingdom
that men in the flesh
refuse to see.
And his disciples
expected this type
of king
just like Israel
has expected
all along.
And Jesus says,
disciples,
when you pray,
pray like this.
our Father
who art in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
on earth
as it is in heaven.
It teaches them
utter dependence.
Well,
that Lord's prayer
is corrupted.
We could paraphrase
what we just read
and the attitude
of his people here
with their remaining sin.
It's like they're praying,
oh, Samuel,
our old father
who art on earth,
disgraced is your name.
May our kingdom come.
May our will be done
on earth
as if there were
no heaven.
Your sons have sinned
against us,
so don't have us
ask God
to forgive us
our sins against him.
Give us this day
what all the other nations
had
and lead us not
anymore at all.
We'll deliver
ourselves from evil.
We want a king.
We can see.
Footnote.
If possible,
please make him
noble, tall, and handsome.
And he'll lead us
to fight our own battles
for ours is the kingdom.
Ours is the power.
Ours is the glory forever.
Amen.
The loving Father in heaven
needed his people
to discover
for themselves
the hidden strength
of corruption
and deceitfulness
that's still in their hearts.
what they're saying is,
Lord,
we don't want you
going before us
into battle anymore.
They're asking for this
in a time of peace
when all the Philistines
have already been pushed back
by the mighty hand of God.
They're rejecting
God's way of fighting.
Remember how God fought
right before this?
Samuel started to pray.
He put a whole lamb there
and burnt it
as a sin offering.
And they said,
please don't stop praying.
And as the smoke
is going up
as a pleasing aroma
to the Lord,
the Philistines are
coming in battle array
against them.
And the Lord sends
thunder
like lightning
as if it were
an artillery
of arrows
upon the Philistines
and pushes back
all the land
that they had ever taken.
That's what they're rejecting.
They don't want to
go to war
God's way anymore.
They want to be
like the world,
like the defeated Philistines
instead.
They want to map out
their own plans.
They want to do
the work themselves.
They want to try to expand
this kingdom on earth
by fighting
their own battles
with a champion
out in front of them.
A charismatic,
strong king
from among them
just like all
the other nations.
Church,
we need to reflect
on this as well.
what type of kingdom
are we here for?
Sadly,
some of you
have experienced
this same temptation
gripping an entire church.
What we need to do,
they'll say,
is hire consultants.
We need to get people
in with charismatic
personalities.
We need a five-year
business plan.
We need to use
sales tactics.
We need to think
of some more gimmicks.
We need to seem
more respectable
to the world.
We don't want
the lightning
and the thunder
that only God
can bring.
With God's help,
may that always be
our prayer as a church.
Lord, we don't want
anything of this world.
We want you,
your presence
with your people
fighting on our behalf.
What we do
is we pray.
We want the lightning
of the Spirit of God
in the souls
of men.
We want the thunder
of God's voice
through broken vessels,
earthen vessels.
In our weakness,
He has made great.
But our hearts
with remaining corruptions
are prone to refuse
God's fatherly warnings.
Well, there are
the three cautions.
I know this is heavy.
It's soul-searching
for me as well.
Here's our one
gospel hope.
God uses
the remaining corruptions
in His children's hearts
for His purposes.
God uses
those remaining corruptions
in your hearts
and mine
for His own purposes.
What a great hope
we have.
Would you look
at verse 21?
Samuel heard
all the words
of the people.
Picture how painful
that would have been
for him to sit there.
accused by Satan
the whole time,
I'm sure.
This is all your fault.
You loser.
You sinner.
Look what you've done.
You've ruined
all the good work
God did.
Sitting there,
hearing all the words
of these representatives
of the whole nation.
And then Samuel
does what he does.
He goes back
to the Lord
in prayer.
And he repeats it all
in the hearing
of the Lord.
In verse 22,
the Lord said to Samuel,
heed their voice
and make them
a king.
C.S. Lewis said,
there are only two kinds
of people
in the end.
Those who say to God,
thy will be done
and those to whom
God says in the end,
thy will be done.
all that are in hell,
choose it.
Someone pointed out
the most severe
fatherly discipline
at times
may be God
giving us
exactly
what we ask for.
Israel's elders
had a God-created
desire.
We want a king
who is a man
like us.
But what God
would reveal to them
through the rest
of redemptive history
is that you need
a king
who is way more
holy,
more righteous,
more generous,
more good
than any man
born of Adam
can be.
You and I,
we need a king
more powerful
than the corruptions
of our own hearts.
the Israelites
thought what they
needed was Goliath.
This is what
it's teeing it up for.
Remember,
like the normal
pattern of a
military confrontation
would be this.
First,
from a distance,
artillery,
arrows flying
back and forth.
The next round,
you send out
all the poor people,
the peasants
that are the infantry,
foot soldiers,
to thin each other out.
Last comes
the cavalry,
the class that has
horses and land,
and the cavalry
comes in and
cleans up.
And then finally
would come the king.
The king has to be
protected just like
on a chess board.
Once you get the king,
it's over.
But most likely,
this setup is
preparing for
1 Samuel chapter 17,
which is a great
confrontation of
two federal heads.
Rather than this
great slaughter
of all these nations,
infantry and cavalry
and artillery,
all of that,
doing so much damage
to both nations,
how about we just
send out a federal head?
You send your
best champion,
we'll send out
our best champion.
Let the two of them
fight.
The loser
becomes the slave
to the entire nation.
So Israel's wanting
to play the game
on the terms
of the enemy.
And they're asking
for a king
that could go do that
on their behalf
so that they don't
have the threat
of becoming a slave
and maybe get ambitious.
Maybe our champion
could win
and we get to
take them as our slaves
and expand the land
a bit more.
You see how God
handles the remaining
corruptions in our hearts?
It's to show
there is one champion
who can go out
in front of the army.
He's the one
who will crush
the head
of the greatest foe
and he will take
captivity captive.
And he will purchase
on behalf of his
whole nation
the peace and stability
and kingdom
and abundance
that only he can accomplish.
He alone can be
that representative
federal head,
the champion
of his nation.
Our Lord Jesus Christ,
he took on flesh.
He became our representative,
our federal head.
He lived the life
of righteousness
that would not give
anyone anything
to point to
to say there's no reason
I should submit to you.
He's perfectly holy
and righteous
and sinless.
You can submit
to his rule.
He's proved it
with his life.
And he crushed
the serpent's head
on the cross.
He defeated the enemy.
Romans 6.14 says,
sin shall have
no more dominion
over you
because Jesus Christ
rules over
his people.
Those remaining
corruptions
in your heart
and mine,
they are powerless.
Christ has disarmed them.
We need
Jesus.
We need the Lord
of lords,
the King of kings
to be the ruler
of our hearts.
Only he can be
the one to fulfill
these desires
and to protect us
even from ourselves.
Because the sin
that remains
in our hearts
is so deceiving
and so self-justifying.
We need to be ruled
by Jesus
because he alone
understands
our temptations.
And he alone
is wise enough
to disarm them.
He is more persuasive
than the sin
that remains
in your heart
and mine.
Our confession
states that
one of the reasons
God exposes our sin
even after we're
a Christian
following him.
It's to raise
us
to a more close
and constant
dependence
and support
on Jesus Christ.
Do you need that?
I know I do.
Jesus said
in John 15
for abide
in me
and I in you.
The branch
cannot bear fruit
by itself.
He says apart
from me
you can do
not even a little.
You can do
nothing apart
from me
unless
you
abide in Jesus
the vine
neither
can you do
anything.
You can have
confidence
that Christ
will rule
and will continue
to conquer
over those
remaining corruptions
in your heart
and mine.
I won't get tired
of using this
because I need
to get this
into my soul.
John Flavel
Christ is no
half savior.
This is why
you can have
this confidence.
Did Christ
finish his work
for us?
Did he church?
Yes and amen.
Then there can be
no doubt
that he will
also finish
his work
in us.
If he began
it
then no doubt
he will finish
it.
Philippians 1.6
Jesus Christ
is not only
called the author
but also
the finisher
of our faith.
Hebrews 12.2
Still Flavel
so dear believers
be not discouraged
at defects
and imperfections
in yourselves.
Be humbled
for them
but not
dejected.
Be convicted
but not
depressed.
Always desire
more holiness
but never
become hopeless.
This is
Christ's work
as well as that.
That work
was finished
and so
will this
be.
Preach this
gospel
to yourself.
God uses
those remaining
corruptions
in his
children's
hearts
for his
purpose
to make
us more
dependent
on him.
And so
we sing
and we preach
to ourselves
and to one
another
my hope
is built
on nothing
less
than Jesus'
blood
and righteousness.
I dare
not trust
the sweetest
frame
but wholly
lean
on Jesus'
name.
His oath,
his covenant,
his blood
supports me
in the
whelming flood
when all
around my
soul gives
way,
even inside
my soul.
He then
is all
my hope
and stay.
Amen?
Amen.
Let's pray
in response
and thank
our Lord
for his
great salvation.
Thank