Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): Who is more qualified to solve the world's problems? Man or God? He's Pastor Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: We look to great men instead of to a great God. We start saying, well, it's because of this man in our history that was mightily used and this man, and we begin to put men up on pedestals. And that is a great, great mistake. God should be the center of our lives as a nation. We should be worshipping the Lord and not anything that we're doing.

Guest (Male): There are a lot of great men and women in the Bible: Abraham, Moses, David, Queen Esther, Ruth. They're some of the greats in the Old Testament, but one name that sometimes gets missed is Samuel. Today on Sound Doctrine, Pastor Jeff Johnson begins a study in 1 Samuel chapter 12, where Samuel gives a stirring final speech to the people.

It's a challenging message for the people back then and for us today as well. It shows us once again that humanity's problem with sin hasn't changed over these thousands of years. Here's Pastor Jeff in 1 Samuel 12.

Jeff Johnson: This morning we're in 1 Samuel chapter 12. So if you'll turn in your Old Testament Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 12, we'll continue to glean from this incredible book. This morning we're going to title the message "Don't Faint, But Pray." And hopefully you'll see why I did that as we go through 1 Samuel chapter 12.

We know that Jesus said in the New Testament, "Men ought always to pray and not to faint." And so again, that importance of prayer in our lives, hopefully we will learn it again anew and afresh and apply it to our lives and continue on to pray as never before in these very critical times that we're living.

The children of Israel up to this point have rejected Samuel as their leader, and they wanted to have a king. But in doing this, they of course were rejecting God's reign over and in their lives. So God now warns them of their decision and what they would reap if they would call themselves to have a king. I remember in 1 Samuel 8, in verse 19, the people responded and said, "Nevertheless, I don't care what it means. We refuse to obey the voice of Samuel," and they said, "We want a king. We want to be like the other nations, that our king might judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles."

And again, after hearing the warning, they reject and they say, "We want our king." So God gave them the desires of their heart. He gives them this king, and at first this new king, his name is called Saul, wasn't really accepted by the people. We saw that last week until their enemy began to surround the children of Israel. And then all of a sudden Saul kicks in and becomes the king, and the anointing comes upon him, and he destroys the children of Israel's enemy. Not only did he totally wipe them out, he successfully destroyed them and obliterated them in front of all the nation's eyes as he organized the whole warfare.

So of course the people unanimously embraced now Saul as their king and said, "Yes, this is what we were looking for. This is what we wanted, a man such as this to lead us in battle, such as we've just experienced. This is what we wanted." And so they raise him up as king. You know, there's a problem and a danger when we begin to look to man. And we read about it in the Psalms this morning, in Psalm 20 and verse 7. It says, "Some trust in chariots"—that's what we would say our modern-day tanks are today in strength and power and might—"and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have been brought down, they are fallen, but we are risen and stand upright."

It's amazing how people get their eyes off the Lord, and even as a nation today, this nation is not looking to God for her salvation and for her deliverance in these evil times. This nation looks to everything but God, looking to a new president, a president that's come in and says change, change is what you need. And everybody's saying yes, and so they trusted in change. Well, you're going to get change. I don't know if this is a change you wanted, but you're going to get change. You wanted it, you got it, America.

So change is coming, but to trust in the arm of flesh is a terrible mistake, as the children of Israel are going to learn. We have to look to the Lord only. He alone is the one that can deliver us from this present darkness that is around us. He alone is our hope and our salvation. In fact, there is a scripture in 2 Chronicles that God says this is the key to the whole thing: "If my people," this is 2 Chronicles 7:14, "that are called by my name shall humble themselves and begin to pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land."

That's the prescription for healing. That's the prescription for victory. Either we're going to take it or we're going to continue to look to the arm of flesh. But we are going to be most miserable if we do that, for what God's saying here is the truth. It's the fact. We need to repent. We need to humble ourselves. We need to pray. And then we're going to see victory as never before. Now in 1 Samuel in chapter 12, this is right after Saul's great victory. There's a great celebration, of course, after the victory. This is now Saul's coronation day, actually to ratify God's choice. The people now gather at a place called Gilgal.

Look at chapter 11, verse 15: "And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal, and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly." Gilgal was a place of memories. Gilgal was a place of great victories. It was a time of rejoicing. And yet we're going to see that there was one person that really wasn't rejoicing as everybody else. Of course his name is Samuel. It's time for him now to bow out of the scene as Israel's last judge, and he begins to now bow out gracefully.

But he would become one of their first many prophets. A prophet of the Lord is one that comes to the people and says, "Thus saith the Lord. If you do this, then this will happen. If you don't do this, then this will happen." God is always faithful to send prophets to the nation. So verse 1 of chapter 12, Samuel now is giving his last public speech, his farewell address if you will, as he humbly is now stepping down as they're now crowning Saul as their king. To me, it sounds a little bit like Samuel is still hurt over his rejection, over the people saying we don't want you anymore.

He's struggling with that, even though I know that God in chapter 8 of 1 Samuel, in verse 7, the Lord said unto Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me," says the Lord, "that I should not reign over them." So Samuel, don't feel so bad. Because he was feeling bad back then, but he's still got this in his craw and he still feels bad that he was rejected, but mostly that his God was rejected at the same time.

He probably was also very much in shock that they would look to the arm of flesh and to this man that they have chosen to be their king instead of looking to God. And you're going to see it again. It's ridiculous that you would trust in the arm of a man and not trust in the living God. Look at verse 1 now of chapter 12: "And Samuel said unto all of Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that you said to me, and I have made a king over you. And now behold, the king walks before you, and I am old," he says, "and gray-headed. And behold, my sons are with you, and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day."

This is the end of Samuel's career. He is gray-headed now, balding, and he's looking back. And he wants everybody around him to look back with him at what has happened in his career. And I want you to be encouraged, parents, because right here we have a very encouraging note. You see, Samuel from a child was raised in the ways of the Lord. And what I like about this is that as Samuel was a child, running around in the temple with that little white ephod on and serving the Lord, trying to do the work of the Lord and instructed by Eli the priest, he walked with the Lord all the days of his life. In other words, he was consistent with the things of God.

And what does that tell me? That as a Christian parent, my kids don't have to backslide. My kids don't have to go out into the world and taste of sin so they can understand grace. That's ridiculous. It doesn't have to happen that way. I know a lot of times as parents we might do our best with our kids and then they go off and we go, well, they have to understand. I even went through it myself with my own kids. But you know, I was encouraged here. No, it doesn't have to be that way. They can always know grace. They can always serve the Lord. They can always go on and continue on consistently in their walk, because we see that Samuel did. So there's hope, praise the Lord, for us as parents that are raising our children in the ways of the Lord.

But also I want you to notice that he mentions his sons here, which is kind of an irritation to him because why? Well, he tried his best with his kids, and they didn't turn out too well. They weren't acceptable to serve the Lord. It's a sad thing, but that's the way it went. And so he mentions them. He says, my kids are here amongst you. You know that I okay, I failed in that area. They didn't turn out the way I wanted them to turn out. And maybe there was some things that I did. But yet when they get to an age, that accountable age, then they're accountable and they are responsible for their own sins, and they have to make decisions. Alls we can do as parents is do our best and commit the rest.

And then they have to make decisions, and then whatever they sow they will reap. And we have to just trust the Lord to train them in his ways. He can better father them than we can. So I believe that that's probably what Samuel did. But publicly I want you to see that this guy, Samuel, is above reproach. Privately, okay, he blew it. And like many great men of God who sought to serve the Lord and give their lives to the Lord, yes, their children were forsaken a little bit. And yes, some of them have even lost their children to the world, but it happens. But then again, I want to say that when a child grows up and is at that age, they have to make choices and then they have to be responsible for their choices.

Then notice verse 3. He says, "Behold, here I am. Witness against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken, and whose ass have I taken, and whom have I defrauded, and whom have I oppressed, or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind my eyes therewith, and I will restore it to you." And they said, "Thou hast not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand." In other words, he was a good representative of the Lord all the time he was in the priestly position. He did everything right.

And he said unto them, "Now listen, the Lord is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day that ye have not found ought in my hand." And they answered and they said, "He is witness." He is actually affirming his faithfulness to them, and he wants the elders to agree that he has been a good representative, that he was as faithful as he could be. He never took any cash. He never took any kind of a payroll or a wage. He never took any kind of a bribe from anybody. He was honest. He wasn't like his sons who took bribes. And he said, "Do you agree?" And they go, "We agree. You were honest."

He trusted in the Lord. He had in his public life a flawless reputation in his service towards the Lord. Now I think what Samuel is doing here is he's trying to make a case before he nails them. Because you know, sometimes you're trying to get the sliver out of your brother's eye when there's a whole log in your own, you know? You got a log, a beam just taking out furniture, you know, when you go through the house. You got problems, man. And here you are, well let me get the sliver out of your eye. Oh, I'm sorry I hit you right in the head. It's just this log, you know. What did the Bible say? Get the log out of your own eye, then go out and help your brother get the sliver out.

So I think what Samuel's saying is saying, listen, I don't have a log in my eye. You know, you've even said yourself that I've done the best I can do. Now let me help you with your sliver. And now he's going to begin to deliver the indictment of the Lord against Israel. Verse 6: "And Samuel said unto the people, It is the Lord that advanced Moses and Aaron and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt." Samuel is now reminding them of God's history or actually the nation of God's part in their history, that God was so involved. And this is his proper place, his place of deliverance.

And we all need to be reminded of God and his place in our history. I mean, let's face it, that's very important for us to know as a people in order to see God's hand in not only our future but also in our present situation. Was he back in our history at all? Did he do anything with this nation? Was God involved in bringing us forth as a nation? You bet. Francis Schaeffer has a series out. It's called "How Should We Then Live?" The pastors have been going a number of weeks and it'll go into the months. We've been studying Francis Schaeffer's series, and it's been blowing our minds.

This man has already gone to be with the Lord, but he was a man that was raised up and saw things way early in his ministry where people weren't seeing it. And now it's coming forth as, wow, behold, you know, the word of the Lord. And it just goes, and he actually takes the history of the church, the history of mankind, but then he gets into the history of our nation. There is another book called "The Light and the Glory" that is very well put that shares with us the history of this nation, how we at one time were a nation, one nation under God, indivisible.

And how God's hand was in our history. It's so important. But yet people today, and there's many in our nation today, that are very ignorant of our past. And this is why many feel that the reason for our country being so messed up today. If you've lost your roots, if you no longer even know where you came from or how you were founded and brought forth as a nation, then you're going to be scrabbling for anything. And that's what this nation is doing today. So many have a very twisted and have a very misinterpretation of our past.

And because of that, many attribute our greatness to other things other than God. They don't give God the glory, neither do we serve the Lord in this country as we should. No, we have to say well, our greatness is because of our free democracy and that's why we're great. We look to great men instead of to a great God. And we start saying, well, it's because of this man in our history that was mightily used and this man, and we begin to put men up on pedestals. And that is a great, great mistake.

God should be the center of our lives as a nation. We should be worshipping the Lord and not anything that we're doing. We're in grave danger when we do that. At one time, again, we were a nation, one nation under God, blessed of God. His rule and reign is fast fading today though, and we see it all over the place. Now what we're hearing today is God is dead. There is no God. What are you talking about, God? And they deleted God out of the schools and prayer. Come on.

Verse 7 now, notice Samuel says, "Now therefore stand still that I may reason with you before the Lord of all the righteous acts of the Lord which he did to you and to your father." So Samuel says, "Listen to this history lesson. This is God's place in our lives. You need to see this." And then in verse 8 he goes on, "When Jacob was come into Egypt and your fathers cried unto the Lord"—why do they cry unto the Lord? Because of bitter bondage, right? They were under bondage. Why were they under bondage? Because they had forgotten the Lord.

Notice he says, "Then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt. He delivered you and made them dwell in this place. And when they forgot the Lord their God," see there's the reason for bondage, "he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host 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 unto the Lord and said, We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord. We have served Baalim and Ashtaroth, but now deliver us," they cried out, "out of the hand of our enemies and we will serve you."

"And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and also Barak and Jephthah and Samuel to deliver out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe. And when ye saw that Nahash," remember Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, "came against you, you said unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your king." Again, what had they done? They forgot God again. At one time the children of Israel were a theocracy. God reigned. They believed in him and they prayed to God. Now they wanted a monarchy. They wanted a king, which brought unbelief.

So from an infinite, awesome, eternal king who is God and Creator who is ruling over them, these guys now descend to a finite, temporal king who is a man to fight their battles for them. You talk about backsliding. I mean, this is really getting away. That you would get your eyes off the living God who is the creator and get them on man. This was a big leap backward from having God ruling and reigning over their lives. Samuel was really here seeking to show them that every time that they drifted from God, every time that they had forgotten God, they stopped praying, they stopped seeking the Lord, bondage was brought back into the people.

And this is what we have to look forward to for this nation as this nation has now forgotten God, has forsaken prayer and seeking of the Lord. Now this nation is going into bondage. But the people will cry out. Praise God, especially us, right, the children of the Lord? And we'll say, "Oh God, we don't like this. We don't like the way that this nation's going." God, and as we cry out, guaranteed, God will hear you and God will intervene and God will heal this land. There will be revival greater than ever before. I believe it's coming.

It's upon us actually as we see the harvest. It's so ripe. Come on. But we need to as Christians cry out. We need to humble ourselves. We need to turn from our wicked ways, and God will heal our land. Verse 13: "Now therefore behold the king whom you have chosen," Samuel says, "and whom you have desired. And behold, the Lord has set a king over you. Now look at your present situation, your state and your condition. Because you asked amiss." Remember what James says? When we ask amiss, we're consuming it upon our own lust.

Because you wanted someone you could see that would fight your battles for you, that you could put on a pedestal. Look at your state that you're in. He's answered your prayer. Here's your king now. You see what they really have done is settled for second best. God forbid that we would settle any time for second best. What we want is not always God's best. Did you know that? Our nation, "for the people, by the people"—that can be scary, you know? We should want what God wants.

Guest (Male): Sounds so simple yet so elusive. We should want what God wants. And this is Sound Doctrine. Today we've heard a message from Pastor Jeff Johnson, taken from his study in 1 Samuel chapter 12. We pray you've been blessed by what you've heard today.

1 Samuel is filled with practical insights for Christian living. And if you'd like to hear this study again, go to sounddoctrineradio.org or listen through the Sound Doctrine podcast app. You can also hear Sound Doctrine on oneplace.com and wherever you enjoy podcasts. That includes Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

If you'd like to get behind what we're doing and donate to this radio outreach, you can do so at sounddoctrineradio.org by clicking the give tab. And thank you very much for your support. It's greatly appreciated and will be put to good use helping others build their lives on the sound doctrine found in God's word. We hope you'll join us for our next study in 1 Samuel. It's going to be a good one. That's right here on Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff, presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey. Have a blessed day in the Lord.