The Message of 1 Samuel | Overview Sermon by Mark Dever

Well I got it again just this week dear mr. Dever your career isn't just about money is it I didn't think so it's about something deeper something so central to your core to what makes you tick that you can't imagine living without it it's about leadership having your say making things happen putting your stamp on the future I first got this letter on June the 30th mm and Now this week's slightly more than two years later I've gotten exactly the same letter although with a new date all I can say is when the Harvard Business

Review reuses a piece of direct marketing they must think it's pretty good of course they've got a pretty ly popular topic to market leadership first of all leadership is a topic that cuts across many professional fields from business to politics to academics to religion and second I mean they have The flattery factor involved let's be honest you know they send it out and you know the fact that they think that you should get this letter somehow says that they think you're someone who is concerned with leadership issues the response card that's enclosed with the letter

has a box marked yes I want new ideas to increase my effectiveness as a leader and they're asking me to reply by August at 12 2002 and they helpfully advised me earlier reply recommended Well leadership is a terribly important issue we are social beings as Aristotle said and when there is more than one person there will be leaders even on committees for instance Joseph Chamberlain Neville Chamberlain's father said on every committee of 13 persons there are 12 who go to meetings have been given no thought to the subject and ready to receive instructions one goes

with his mind made up to give those instructions I make it my business to be That one what do you think is the essence of good leadership do you think that this is an important topic for us to consider in a Christian Church well it's certainly addressed in the Bible and few places is it addressed more clearly than in the Old Testament book which is our study this morning the book of 1st Samuel now you'll be helped by opening your Bibles to first Samuel if you're using the Pew Bible here in the main hall you'll

find it beginning On page 280 and if you're using the Bibles in the West hall you'll find it beginning on page 262 just for those of you who are visiting this is one of a series of unusual sermons these are not normally the way our sermons are which I've been preaching which I hope to conclude this fall it's what we call an overview sermon where I try to give the burden of a book in one sermon not favorite passages not best verses not a lecture but in a sermon give what is the Point of that

book so that we will know God's Word and be able to turn to it and use it all 66 books of it and I think that the burden of this book of 1st Samuel is about the kind of leadership that God's people need it's about what God did and it's about what God's people should do and to look at that will look in turn at a few of the different characters in this book and try to summarize the book as we go along consequently we will be flipping or A lot all right so you're just

gonna have to leave your Bibles open to be willing to turn back and forth for Samuel is a kind of long book there are 31 chapters on the other hand chapters in the Bible aren't that long so it really only covers what 10 or 20 pages in the copy of the Bible you probably have so it won't be that much it took me two and a half hours and a patient son to read this book out loud last week if you're new to a church you'll find those Large numbers or the chapter numbers and the

smaller numbers are the verse numbers so if I say 712 I mean chapter 7 the large number 7 and underneath that the smaller number 12 it contains some of the most famous stories in the Bible so let's look at this book and see what we can learn from the history of God's people about leadership and about our own lives and the first remarkable leader that we will note in 1st Samuel is the one whose birth begins The book and after whom the book is named Samuel Samuel is the last of the judges of Israel is

one of the greatest prophets and 1st Samuel is the book which contains his life story it begins with God miraculously bringing about his birth then Samuel has reared in the precincts of the temple which was then at Shiloh where Eli served as a priest if you're looking at your Bibles you'll find that chapter 1 tells the story of his birth and of Hanna his Mother giving her son over to the Lord service chapter 2 is a beautiful prayer of Hannah that we'll look at a little bit later and in the end of chapter 2 we

see that sad fact that Eli's son the priest son were wicked and so in the end of chapter 2 a man of God prophesied against the house of Eli telling of his son's imminent death and it's in this context that we come to the famous story in chapter 3 of the Lord speaking to Samuel when he was still a boy you probably know the story from Sunday school if you went to Sunday school as a child chapter 3 let me read beginning at verse 4 then the Lord called Samuel Samuel answered Here I am and

he ran to Eli and said Here I am you called me but Eli said I did not call you go back and lie down so he went to lay down again the Lord called Samuel and Samuel got up and went To Eli and said Here I am you called me my son Eli said I did not call go back and lie down now Samuel did not yet know the Lord the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him the Lord called Samuel a third time and Samuel got up and went to Eli

and said Here I am you called me then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy so Eli told Samuel go and lie down and if he calls you say speak Lord For your servant is listening so Samuel went and lay down in his place the Lord came and stood there calling as at the other time Samuel Samuel then Samuel said speak for your servant is listening well this is typical of Samuel life as you go on and read about it samuel was all about hearing God's voice and telling it to others his very

name means God ears because God had heard his mother's prayer well his own dedication to know God's will himself and to tell It to others became his ministry it became his life he was a man of God's word his life was characterized by obedience to that word and by exhorting others to obedience and this was in the context of very dark days for Israel this book is kind of the continuation of the book of Judges as you keep going it's that place in the history if you remember back in May when we were looking at

the book of Judges well this is that story continuing on Israel at This point was facing disaster and none would be worse than the destruction of the worship of the Lord but that's exactly what seems to happen in chapter 4 the next chapter the Philistines capture the ark and Eli and both his sons their chief priests die all on the same day it's almost like God was walking out of this corrupt taking his people with him anyway in Chapter six the Ark of the Covenant returns to Israel chapter seven shows Samuel leading Israel in a

national repentance turning away from idolatry and at the same time winning a great victory against the Philistines and this is where by the way just a little note here this is where Samuel sets up the ebenezer that we sang of and come thou fount of every blessing you ever wonder what that is let's write here from 712 chapter 7 verse 12 Hebrew Evan easer stone of helping he sets it up to Remember that the Lord had helped them at that point and as it was at this point that Samuel received what must have been one

of his most trying assignments in Chapter eight Israel asked for a king and the Lord told Samuel to give them one well Samuel prayed he warned them about the the dangers and difficulties of having a king like the nations around them and then when they continued to want one the Lord told Samuel there in chapter eight Verse 22 listen to them and give them a king think about that for a minute did you ever consider that sometimes the very granting of our requests may be part of God's punishment so Samuel obeyed and in the next

chapter he finds Saul and in chapter 10 anoint Saul as the first King and that takes us on to the next leader that we want to note in 1st Samuel but before we go on to him though I do just want us to notice that our polity that is how we structure Making decisions whose authority we recognize reflects our theology if you have a higher view a deeper view of the fallenness of man you will tend to what more diffusion of authority you will not trust Authority being so concentrated in the hands of a sinner

regardless of whose parents that sinner may be or how rich were educated that sinner may be on the other hand if you didn't have a lower view of depravity don't think the fall affected mankind that badly think People are basically kind of good they'll probably feel more comfortable power being more concentrated in people's hands believing that they can do better you see this in politics you also see it in the church I'll leave you to work that out more over lunch Samuel Doe was a leader who was marked by obeying God even when God called

him to do unusual things like anointing another young man as King a young man who was not impressive like Saul was Samuels Life really epitomized words that he spoke to Saul in chapter 15 verse 22 to obey is better than sacrifice samuel was a man who had given his whole life to hearing God's Word and then speaking it to others and he was a man of Prayer his very name his own birth remember as an answer to Hannah's prayer shaped him to be a man who would know what it means to rely entirely upon the

Lord some of his last recorded words are in chapter 12 where he exhorts the people in a way That's very typical of Samuel chapter 12 verse 20 do not be afraid samuel replied you have done all this evil that do not turn away from the Lord but serve the Lord with all your hearts do not turn away after useless idols they can do you no good nor can they rescue you because they are useless for the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people because the Lord was pleased to make you

his own as for me far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you and I will teach you the way that is good and right but be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart consider what great things he has done for you yet if you persist in doing evil both you and your king will be swept away samuel was the last judge of Israel and while he's not the main character of person second samuel they're named after him because his birth

is what begins the books he's not the main character he Characterizes some of the about godly leadership and the culmination of the series of judges that began really back with Moses that the Lord raised up in Joshua and on through Gideon and Samson finally ending up and Samuel Samuels ministry all centered around hearing and speaking and obeying God's Word now I wonder if that seems important to you some of you here this morning or not Christians may thinks that it sounds entirely uninteresting Really having no bearing what service has not either with me you may

think but that's not true Christianity doesn't teach that everyone is obligated to obey the commands of whatever religion they call themselves or simply to be true to themselves no that's not what the Bible teaches now we understand that God has revealed in his word that every single person on this planet has been made by God and is obligated to know God's will and to obey it There are no exceptions and no exemptions from this obligation you my friend regardless of how you define yourself religiously on some pole you are obliged to know God's will and

to obey it and he will call you to account for yourself and for your life and for your actions for your thoughts now you need to ask yourself this morning are you prepared to make that account Christian's follow the example of Samuel here he is a tremendous example for us Give yourself to studying and praying and obeying God's Word what more fruitful life can there be let me give you some practical suggestions okay number one cancel your cable subscription I don't to put this to a church vote but let me encourage you cancel your cable

subscription set your alarm a little earlier take that church card that Scott held up but I don't have a copy of right now oh well take that church card that has a List of all the sermons coming up and the passages being preached on and every morning when you get up read that passage of Scripture that's going to be preached on that coming Sunday and meditate on it pray that God would help you to understand what he's saying in that passage and what he's saying for you in particular but your life be shaped by that

get a copy of dawn Carson's book called the spiritual Reformation the copies in the library We've got copies on the books so you can get one afterwards a great study of Paul's prayers in the New Testament study those prayers let your life be shaped by that word that you Christians say you think is God's Word yeah you say you think that but in what way do you live that one study last year found that Mormons are more likely to read the Bible during a typical week typical week than are Protestants my own grandmother was a

Christian Scientist who got up Every morning at 5 or 5:30 to read through the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy science and health with key to the scriptures never missed a day friends are these people who don't even know Christ more devoted to God's Word than we fathers and mothers do you ever read the Bible aloud in the home Christians do you spend time reading the Bible aloud in your EV angelical churches or are you shocked when you're a whole passage of scripture read a whole Chapter do we need to go to greek orthodox and roman

catholic churches these days to hear god's inerrant word read to us this is why we as a church center on God's Word the pulpit is in the center of this room deliberately the sermon is in the center and it's the bulk of the service of our gathering on the morning of the Lord's Day deliberately the whole services planned so that like Samuel we could hear God's Word consider it and give him the worship not just it being moved when we're singing at him as good as that is but being then moved through our whole week

to live a life that brings glory and praise to God and the way we care for him and the way we care for the people made in His image as he gets glory as his name is on us that's why our evening service is planned with a portion of Scripture from the opposite testament with the same theme scriptures At the center that's why Wednesday nights we have our Bible study will take three years to go through first Thessalonians or three months to go through matthew's genealogy because we believe in the centrality of hearing God's Word

we have learned in our own lives that we were going to hell and that not as quickly as we deserved but that God has arrested us on the way by speaking to us his saving word at first surprising us and contradicting us and Convicting us and in converting us and so we build our lives together here like Samuel to hear God's Word to obey it and to tell it to others but Samuel isn't the only leader at the center of 1st Samuel the book is really even more about Saul now Saul is the first King

to rule over Israel that's a question whether or not they should even have a king at all but people wanted it and God commanded Samuel to accede to their requests and so the Lord instructed Samuel to anoint Saul as their king as it does with Samuel himself so this book of 1st Samuel contains the entire life of Saul from the first time we meet him until his death at the end of the book but I have to tell you when you read through this Saul is a going concern a happy thing only for a couple

of chapters chapters 10 and 11 in chapter 10 if you turn there you'll see he's chosen and he's made King run in the very Beginning of that chapter he's anointed chapter 11 tells him his great victory over the ammonites and then shows how this victory led to a national affirmation of saul and his kingship saul is really an example of the leader as the impressive man in a saul impressed others let me explain for a moment you go to chapter 9 you'll find there in verse 2 we read I I'm getting this from the Bible

that's what he says here Saul Was it says an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites a head taller than any of the others the height can be important you know George Washington was tall after first meeting George Washington editor Septon a reception in Cambridge Mass Abigail Adams who was normally a shrewd judge of character and a withering critic thought that her husband John had not said half enough in praise of Washington well like Washington Saul seemed to look The part he was an impressive man to look at he was tall he was a

head taller than any others it says again in chapter 10 verse 23 and there we also read Samuels words do you see the man the Lord has chosen there is no one like him among all the people he was an impressive person well after the high points at the end of chapter 11 things just go downhill for Saul for the next 20 chapters and the next 40 years and as I've read on it and reflected on it it Seems that Saul wasn't just impressive to others that in and of itself is not a problem he

was impressive to himself now that's a problem he seemed to have a tendency to shape God's Word to be what he wanted it to be he would hear God's commands through Samuel take them in acknowledge them in some sense but make them more sensible to him and he did this repeatedly so in chapter 13 he disobeyed Samuels commands to wait for him to come before offering a Sacrifice now there were enemies right right there and waiting would have shown great trust on Saul's part trust in the Lord to protect them but that's not what he

did and is going on and doing it himself showed more trust in his own judgment and so Samuel rebuked him and told him that God would now choose someone else to establish on the throne in chapter 14 we read about salsa and Jonathan attacking the Philistines and God Sending a panic through their army so that Israel routes them but Saul's fates already sealed in Chapter 15 Saul again disobeys God's clear command and then when Samuel confronts him in chapter 15 verse 30 Saul says basically okay but please honor me before the elders of my people

and before Israel chapter 15 verse 30 it's a bit of a chilling verse to meditate on me it's pretty clear where Saul's eyes were fixed what would they think how can i fulfill my role and This is what sets us up for all the difficulties that Saul faced in the second half of the book the second half of the book really from this point on says solving eclipsed by and tormented by jealousy of the real main character of 1st and 2nd Samuel David Saul will resent David success and try to kill him he does this

to the point that in chapter 22 he even orders an Edomite to kill 85 priests of the Lord just because one of them had helped David so Saw the leader of God's people becomes the opponent of God's will the leader of the nation's to kill God's own priests in chapter 28 even consulting a medium finally in chapter 31 as the nation is defeated by the Philistines even killing himself well as you look at it in all of this I think Saul epitomized the kings of Israel on the whole they led their nation not to greater

obedience to God but the greater disobedience they led them not to Freedom from surrounding nations as God had done through the judges faithfully but to being oppressed by them this taking on of the Kings like the other nations have around his concentrated power in the hands of a few and it led to idolatry and atrocities and self-destruction even as we see in Saul's own life as we continue our study in the fall Lord willing we'll see that the Kings will he would lead Israel into marrying foreign wives worshiping Foreign gods ultimately being ruled by foreign

kings how ironic that the people that Joshua led into Canaan to be a witness to the nation's had become a mere imitation of them in the middle of the 19th century a popular philosophy called transcendentalism flourished in New England and through the writings of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson a Unitarian minister spread out from there these writers trumpeted self-reliance as the supreme virtue to March to the beat of your own drummer regardless of what the crowd does was thought to be heroic self-command is the main elegance Emerson rubbed I call on you to

live for yourselves he wrote elsewhere I don't know if it sounds brave to you but those are really very old thoughts there's nothing new there what do we say if you want something a job done well do it yourself you know Esau was the one who taught us that God helps those who help themselves It's not in the Bible I wonder if you've realized how all of these oh so American sentiments are not entirely true my friend you are not able to do everything yourself and on your own and it is in your eternal best

interests to realize this the Bible teaches that you are by nature lost in your sins and at enmity with God and what's worse that God is at enmity with you because of your sins that you have sinned against him and that regardless of how Much you may try to change from this point on then even alone those sins already committed ever stand as grim remaining witnesses just waiting to give their damning testimony against you at the last day our virtues cannot blot out our vices our good deeds do not hide our sins from the all-seeing

ever just eye of God Eli asked us a good question in chapter 2 verse 25 if a man sins against the Lord who will intercede for him it's kind of like the question the men of Beth-shemesh had in Chapter 7 verse 20 after some of them had died once the Ark of the Covenant came into their town they asked who can stand in the presence of the Lord this holy God o friend we must confess that we are all sinners that's why in our services not always but often we'll have a time of confession of

our sins just to make that clear but we understand that we are people who have sinned against God we must know this of ourselves and of Others of our spouses and of our elected officials of our bosses and of our children have you considered this do you see something of why this is so important to understand it's important that we as a nation know this so that we do not wrongly rely on human power whether it's economic or military or political now of all people Christians we should be the ones who are aware that the

times are in God's hands we will be faithful at our jobs we will support our Government we will pray for their role in executing justice but we of all people must know that human power alone is never a sure safeguard in this world and we should not act as if it is you want to know how you can witnessed your friends at work give evidence of the fact that you understand that particularly in times when they're worried when they are troubled personally if your here is a Christian pray that God will help you to See

how you wrongly rely on yourself pray that he'll he'll help you to see how you wrongly rely on others perceptions of you don't be like Saul riding off a relationship with God but craving Samuel to act so that it will appear that he has one friends don't be hypocrites like that hypocrisy never hurts anybody so much as it hurts the hypocrites and that's true of hypocrites in the boardrooms of America and in her jails in her pulpits and interviews in Earthly prosperity and in an eternal hell how can you work to protect yourself against such

hypocrisy as it seems Saul cultivated well I'll tell you I'll give you some very practical advice you can go read my book on polity go read nine marks of a healthy Church you can join a local church you can let the congregation of Christians become central to your Christian life you can let yourself become known to other Christians you can initiate sharing your Weaknesses with others particularly pick out some that are embarrassing to you and don't tell them to all of them to everybody but I mean pick out some really choice ones that will embarrass

you find some people that you really want to think well of you who are Christians and tell them that's a good way to start putting the flesh to death start putting to death reputation and a love for what others think all friends be very wary of those you want to Impress seek service that is humble and hidden that's why I think it is wonderful and I thank God for those of you who are going overseas this summer next month to do childcare for imb workers that is great it is a quiet and humble service that's

why I'm thankful for those of you serve the annuity board not just as employees but even particularly as trustees we because of our unusual situation in DC we have several Southern Baptist Convention trustees in this congregation we have one brother who serves on the North American Mission Board I serve for the Southern Baptist Seminary if others who serve with ethics and religious liberties Commission you know that kind of service I can tell you often just seems like it's not that important I go to this meetings everything's all ready for me you know what am i

you know i'm wined and dined a little bit we pray we go over things and Then that's it yeah but friends there's a reason those trustees are there there's a reason that service is there see that kind of humble willingness to give your time not being the chief leader in the room for a weekend as a way that God can use you and your work quiet service but not therefore unimportant this is also why the community of the congregation is so important a worldly impressiveness is only passing and partial and should be Exposed by the

intimacy of membership in a Christian congregation Greg as you prepare to go to Southern Seminary I pray that you will remember the power of honest Christian fellowship that you have experienced here and that you will never be given over to the false and hypocritical impressiveness of Saul well there's a third leader who comes to the fore throughout all of first and second Samuel and that's David if we call Saul an impressive man we might best see David as an impressed man he is a man who has taken up not with himself or by others thoughts

of him but he is a man who's marked by dominated by his regard for the Lord he is a man who has been impressed and impressed by somebody and that somebody is the Lord he stands he lives his life in awe of the Lord and with great confidence in him you know some people impress you with themselves and they want to particularly in this city others leave you impressed With their God David couldn't get over the Lord he seemed to see God's name God's honor at stake in every issue of life in everything God's honor

God's prerogatives I noticed that as I was reading through the book again and again this week God's activities God's purposes God's name God's glory and Friends I got to tell you this perception is accurate this is at the very center of what the Bible calls faith to see that God is What this creation is all about not you and me David's faith is a picture an example of what was to characterize the nation of Israel they were to be a hold people who recognized the Lord is God and who served him alone they were to

be confident in his power trusting of his goodness and obedient to his will and enjoy the results of that and for Samuel David is a shining example of this in this he is what God's people were and Are supposed to be like this comes out nowhere more markedly than in that famous story of David and Goliath in Chapter 17 let's turn there for just a moment I want to take time to read the whole thing most of you will know that story you don't have to have grown up in a church in this culture to

know the story of David and Goliath it's used in all kinds of situations let me just read some of these verses chapter 17 I'll skip around a bit Beginning verse 23 as he that's David as he was talking with him Goliath the Philistine champion from Gath stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance and David heard it and the Israelites saw the man they all ran from him in great fear now the Israelites had been saying do you see how this man keeps coming out he comes out to defy Israel the king will

give great wealth to the man who kills him he will also give him his daughter in Marriage and will exempt father's family from taxes in Israel David asked the men standing near him what will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the Living God they repeated to him what they had been saying and told him this is what we done for the man who kills him going down into verse 33 Saul said you were not Able

to go out against this Philistine vitam you're only a boy and he has been a fighting man from his youth down in verse 36 David starts recounting salt why he knows he can do this says in verse 36 your servant has killed both the lion and the bear this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them because he has defied the armies of the Living God the Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion in the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand Of this Philistine Saul said to David go

and the Lord be with you then on to verse 43 so it happens he goes out there and Goliath said to David in verse 43 am i a dog that you come at me with sticks and the Philistine cursed David by his gods c'mere he said and I'll give you a flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field David said to the Philistine you come against me with sword and spear and javelin but I come Against you in the name of the lord almighty the god of the armies of Israel

whom you have defied this day the Lord will hand you over to me and I'll strike you down and cut off your head today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel all those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves for the battle Is the Lord's and He will give all of you into our hands as the félicité moved closer to attack

him David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him reaching into his bag and taking out a stone he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead the stone sank into his forehead and he fell face down on the ground so David triumphed over the Felicity with a sling and a stone without a sword in his hand he stuck Down the Philistine and killed him if there's more we could read of that but did you notice there that David was enraged because of the dishonor being shown to God that's what enraged himself and

that he was confident he would be able to slay Goliath not because of his own abilities but because of the Lord we look there in verse 37 the Lord who delivered me will deliver me now this encapsulate what's good and right about David it's not simply that He was true to himself or that David was courageous in fact if you think this story is merely about David's courage you are getting precisely the wrong message from it you need to go back and tell your Sunday school kids actually kids it wasn't that you know it was

kind of his courage but not really it wasn't his courage what was good and right about David here was that he had faith in the Lord it was his own virtue and strength that Led him God and face this giant it was it was his confidence in the God whom he served he knew that God was the issue and that God would supply well we see this later as we keep going through the book Saul becomes jealous of David's success tries to kill him in chapters 18 and 19 David establishes friendships with Saul's son Jonathan

in chapter 20 and with priests in chapters 21 and 22 these are the priests that Saul had the Edomite killed Chapter 23 Saul again pursues David but then in chapters 24 and 26 David twice has the opportunity to kill Saul the one who's pursuing who wants to take his life and he does not and why doesn't he I mean couldn't he justify it in terms of self-defense Just War Theory his own men were telling him to do they were pressing him I mean Samuel had already anointed him as king back in chapter 16 there was

nothing standing in the way was there well you can find his Answer in chapter 24 verse 6 David said the Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master the Lord's anointed or lift my hand against him for he is the of the Lord and then down in verse 10 I will not lift my hand against my master because he is the Lord's anointed you see it's not that he thinks all has done no wrong but he leaves it to the Lord to judge between them look at 24 11 now understand and

recognize that I am not Guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion David knows that he knows he's not done anything wrong I have not wronged you but you are hunting me down to take my life and he knows that's wrong but he says may the Lord judge between you and me and may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me but my hand will not touch you the same thing happens again in chapter 26 both time Saul says he repents at both times he continues to pursue David and so David lives the life Of a

marauder in the last five books chapters rather of the book David is living among the Philistines chronically it's the only place he's safe out among the Philistines the book ends with Jonathan and saw both dying on the same day during a battle at Gilboa where the Philistines won a great victory and occupied even more Israelite land we'll see more from David Lord willing when we come to 2nd Samuel a few weeks but let's appreciate the portrait of David that's Given to us here he is presented as being what a king should be as indeed the

greatest king of Israel David was a picture of a man who was not consumed with himself but who was consumed with the Lord David got his wisdom and his strength by understanding and relying on God now perhaps you've come to discern this morning and you're not really used to hearing so much God talk in a sermon you know I mean I visit around to another Other churches I know maybe you're more accustomed to hearing about six steps to being a great dad you know or three keys to a prayer life or three keys to forgiveness

or nine marks of a healthy church but you're not so much accustomed to hearing a sermon about God and that he is who he should rely on but friend God is your only hope I don't have to know anything about your circumstances except that you're human to tell you that God is your We hope God has done for you what you could never do for yourself there came one from David's line one born of Mary Jesus of Nazareth he is the one who's been called Great David's greater son because in this one Jesus Christ God

became a man he lived a perfect life with no wrongs to account for because he did nothing wrong and yet he died on the cross to take on himself the punishment that I deserve for all of my sins and not just for me but for everyone who Will ever repent of their sins and trust in him now the question you need to ask yourself this morning is is that you are you someone who has repented of your sins and learn what it means not to trust in yourself but to trust in God and what he's

done in Christ if you want to know more about this please speak to the friend you came with or speak to me I'll be at the door back there or one of the pastor's of the other doors as you go out we would love to help you Understand more of what it means to be a Christian David is a powerful model isn't he when you come to understand it's not just a bunch of Sunday School stories but there's something going on here that he actually is someone who was personifying what it means to trust in

the Lord he's a model of a leader who knew that he wasn't there for himself but was there for others unlike Saul perhaps David knew that he was not the point I mean Saul was impressive to look at we know one of David's brothers was two when Samuel goes to anoint him in chapter 16 before he sees David he sees Eliab and older brother of David's and it says in chapter 16 surely Samuel thought to himself the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord the Lord said to Samuel do not consider his appearance or his

height for I have rejected him the Lord does not look at the things man looks at man looks at the Outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart well my friend what is your heart focus on this morning no one else can answer that unerringly for you that's a question for you what is your heart focused on this morning focus on Christ pray that God would so impress you that your desires would be shape around him pray to him to desire him pray to him to be satisfied by him Lord willing John Piper will

be here on October 20th to preach on his basic message of being satisfied in God and I've just been emailing this week and he'll come the night before on the Saturday night we're willing to do an evangelistic address and I want to do something I want to do something on this idea of how the Christian life is the joyful life it is the satisfying life because this is what God has made us for we're creatures in His image made to know him so we shouldn't be surprised That the experience of that is a joyful experienced

when you have a heart of love for God then you can give yourself happily in his service happily as David was willing to do when he went out against Goliath as we hope and we pray you friends of the annuity board are doing even in the small ways as you go to meetings and serve there as we pray that you've done during your time on staff Greg and as we trust that you have done among your in your decades among us Sadie ray and bill we pray that it's been because of your trust in God

and your joy in him that you've been able to serve us so faithfully over the years well if you're satisfied if your heart is already full with God then you're able to give freely because if you're satisfied in God there's nothing in this world that will your heart will finally demand and I tell you a heart so satisfied it's a heart that is free and as a heart that is dangerous for the Evil one and his hellish lies Oh may you have such a heart this is why we labor so hard to point away from

ourselves and to Christ and all that we do together on these Lord's Day mornings have you noticed that in our services the very song that we sang when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me the guilt within and we know it's all true you know Satan in a perverted way is telling the truth then upward I look and see him there who made an end of all my sin because the Sinless Savior died my sinful soul is counted free for God the justice satisfied to look on him and pardon me friends David's perspective here

is the truth may we be such people faith of course it has to be said even David's line would not be the earthly blessing that God's people needed we'll go on and read the story Lord willing in it in a month or so but within one generation they were mired in idolatry And a few exceptions they would be until they were submerged into the exile in Babylon it would take a special birth one born by God Himself who was and who is God Himself to bring to full fruition the line of David all this here

in for Samuel starts with the faithful woman Anna but a beautiful way to open this book you go back to chapter 2 for just a moment listen to this prayer see the understanding of faith that this woman had chapter 2 my heart rejoices in the Lord and the Lord my horn is lifted high my mouth boasts over my enemies for I delight in your deliverance there is no one holy like the Lord there's no one besides you there is no Rock like our God do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such

arrogance for the Lord is a God who knows and by him deeds are weighed but the bows of the Warriors are broken those who stumbled are armed with strength those who were full hire themselves out for food but Those who were hungry hunger no more she who was barren has borne seven children but she who has had many sons Pines away the Lord brings death and makes alive he brings down to the grave and raises up the Lord sends poverty and wealth he humbles and he exalts he raises the poor from the dust and lifts

the needy from the a sheep he seats them with the princes and has them inherit a throne of Honor for the foundations of the earth are the lords upon them he has set the World he will guard the feet of his Saints but the wicked will be silenced in darkness it is not by strength that one prevails those who oppose the Lord will be shattered he will thunder against them from heaven the Lord will judge the ends of the earth he will give strength to his king and exalt the Horn of his anointed Friends this

is what the Bible is all about more particularly this is what these books of History Joshua judges the books of Samuel and kings are about God alone is the Lord he is to be trusted and he alone is to be trusted now we don't know when these books were written perhaps from the books that 1st and 2nd Kings were written during the exile in Babylon it seems that they were written to explain why God's people had been driven out of their land and the answer was because God's people had deserted the one who was alone

to be their Lord God's People and deserted God Hannah knew this she'd seen the mighty hand of God close up the book begins after all with Hannah a barren woman having a womb open by God and giving birth to Samuel and that's just like the Lord isn't it taking something that looks hopeless to a worldly situation and getting glory to himself clearing out other all the other players to make it clear that he is the one who has done this thing so no one will be able to mistake it you can see The same point

that God alone as we relied upon almost humorously in chapter 5 when the Ark of the Covenant is captured by the Philistines and placed on display of the temple of their false God did that mean that Yahweh had been defeated by these idols well not hardly I think that God allowed this to happen and made sure it was recorded for his people to read about to make a point you know what happened chapter 5 verse 2 then they carried the ark into Dagon's Temple and set it beside Dagon this Idol when the people of Ashdod

the town arose early the next day there was Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord they took Dagon and put him back in his place isn't it pathetic they even have to pick him up and put him back in his place I mean this God can't even get back on his own pedestal but the following morning when they rose there was Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord his head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold only

his body remained Prince God was making it clear that not only had he not been defeated by this stump of wood Dagon but then he didn't even need one Israelite soldier there with a sword or a sling to win a victory he is God he alone the Lord he is supreme his people's defeat didn't show any defect in his power and he was behind his own people's defeat moving mysteriously for his own Purposes these books tell the story of the people's urgent requests for a king like the nations have around them and what comes of

it and this seems inevitable whom the Lord had promised Abraham back in Genesis 17 that Kings would come from him and in Deuteronomy 17 the Lord had made provision for a king through Moses but isn't it strange if you think about it that for centuries they'd had no king God set up a nation with no king that must have been the Strangest nation on the earth but then that was kind of the point wasn't it leaving Egypt surviving the wilderness conquering Canaan maintaining their independence from other nations around them in the absence of a king

for centuries all with the unified religion with no king how could that happen well friends the very absence of the King pointed to the presence of God that's the point of these books I don't know why 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Kings are in the Bible that's why they're in the Bible to show us that God is his people's King no other King finally ever can promise the kind of complete and entire safety and deliverance that God's people need that's why in chapter 8 the Lord tells Samuel listen to all that the

people are saying to you it's not you they rejected as their king but me as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day forsaking me and Serving other gods the whole exercise of kingship in Israel was to be one long lesson by example of how no one but God himself can ultimately be the leader of God's people this is why Samuel argues before the people retelling their history showing them that they don't need that the Lord has been faithful to them lest they miss it that's in Chapter

12 and his final speech to them says in verse 6 Samuel said to the people it is The Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of Egypt now then stand here because I'm going to confront you with evidence before the Lord as to all the righteous acts performed by the Lord for you and your fathers after Jacob entered Egypt they cried to the Lord for help and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought your forefathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place but they forgot the Lord their

God so he sold them at the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of haze or and into the hands of the Philistines of the king of Moab who fought against them they cried out to the Lord and said we have sinned we have forsaken the Lord and served the bales in the Astral's but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies and we will serve you then the Lord sent cherub ale Barack Jephthah and Samuel and he delivered you from the hands of your Enemies on every side so that you live securely

but when you saw that nay asking of the ammonites was moving against you you said to me no we want to came to rule over us even though the Lord your God was your king now here is the king you've chosen the one you asked for see the Lord has set a king over you if you fear the Lord and serve and obey Him and do not rebelled against his commands and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God good but if you do not obey the Lord and

if you rebel against his commands his hand will be against you as it was against your fathers basically saying it even your kings are not going to protect you and save you from that that's why I think the writer even records the end of chapter 13 that Israel had no weapons he was making it clear that the Lord would win the victory if you read that several of you asked me about that this week reading through for Samuel there's that Interesting note at the end of chapter 13 the Israelites basically did not have the technology

of blacksmithing iron and perhaps bronze even though they were basically the hillbillies of their day they lived up in the hills the Philistines along by the coast with a cosmopolitan Mediterranean traveling people with all the education and technology but you know what all of those disadvantages that Israel had made them the exact ones that God Wanted to display his own power and strength so my friend reject your rejection of God see that it leads to no good and only to the bitterest of fruit you were made to be led by God to take him as

your Lord focus your life on him set all of your affections on him that's why you were made give up your lonely rebellion repent of your sins believe in him and find life as he meant it to be lived someday we Christians generally will see Clearly that we have quite nothing to fear literally our leader the one behind all the leaders in for Samuel will not fail us nor forget us he has proved his faithfulness to us again and again and he will one day call us all to that place of full reliance on him

we will if we are God's people someday experience the same thing that Bunyan wrote about of mr. stand fast as he stood in the river of death the posts brought a summons him open in his hands the Contents were of were that he must prepare for a change of life for his master was not willing that he should be so far from him any longer and then mr. stand fast this character and pilgrims progress stands and muses for a moment showing the same faith in the face of trials that we've sung about this morning and

that David exemplified been facing Goliath and been facing Saul this river he says has been a terror to many yea the thoughts of it have also often Frightened me the waters indeed are to the palate bitter into the stomach cold yet the thoughts of what I am going to death lie as a glowing coal at my heart I see myself now at the end of my journey my toilsome days are ended I am going now to see that head that was crowned with thorns and that face which was spit upon for me I have formerly

lived by hearsay in faith but now I go where I shall live by sight and shall be with him in whose company I delight Myself I have loved to hear my Lord spoken on his name has been to be sweeter than all perfumes his voice has been to me most sweet and his countenance I have more desire than they that have most desired the light of the Sun now while he was thus in discourse his countenance changed he ceased to be seen of them but glorious it was to see how the upper region was filled

with horses and chariots with trumpeters and pipers with singers and Players on stringed instruments to welcome the pilgrims as they went up and followed one another in at the beautiful gate of the city this is the message of first Samuel we are to have lives that are marked not so much by trust in our own wisdom as by trust in God's mark not so much by being impressive as by being impressed with God absolutely taken with him trusting in him alone may we have such leaders may we have such lives