Sovereign Hand of God
Notes
Transcript
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,
15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
A. Rapport for the time
Before we jump into first Samuel I want to remind you about the purpose of Scripture. Remember, scripture is not about you and I and how we are to live a moral life. The Bible is the very word of God. It is about how God has planned to l
B. Reading of the text
Turn to 1 Samuel 1.....
C. Review of the text
1st and 2nd Samuel are actually all one book that has been separated because when you fit in all on one scroll it was difficult to handle to say the least. In our bible we have a 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Kings. The book of Samuel covers the life of Samuel, Saul, and David.
D. Relevance of the text
Make no mistake the book of Samuel will enable us to see the sovereign hand of God over his creation to fulfill all that he has promised in the bringing of a savior to this world. We have to be careful not to read the text simply looking for ways to be more moral but instead looking for the mighty hand of God to accomplish what he wills. Our God is not lacking in anyway the ability to do what he wills.
27 “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
From our study in Genesis we have seen a God that chose Abraham to make him into a great nation and to provide for him.
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
All the families of the earth shall be blessed is God’s plan and what we witness in the OT is the unfolding of that plan despite the sin of humans and what seems to be a desire to not be on the same page with God. But we Know that ultimately God will accomplish what he wills apart from what we as humans say back to him or fret over.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
Intro....
The book of Samuel will mark the end of the Judges and the establishment of a King. The time covered is from the birth of Samuel in 1105 bc to 970 bc and the death of David so some 135 years. The Judges was a time period when Israel constantly followed false gods and ran from the one true God, only to find themselves in a place in which they did not understand why they had gotten there. (Sound familiar?)
They had not earthly King..
6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
One commentary...
The Dreary cylcle of rebellion—retribution—repentance—restoration—rebellion is repeated over and over again throughout the book of Judges, which in many respects rehearses the darkest days of Israel’s long history.
Everyone did what was right in their own eyes…This will always lead a person further away from the redeeming grace of God than closer. Man made solution for our own sin will never satisfy a Holy God. Only God determines how this salvation will come and how all the world will be blessed. We know his name is Jesus. He is the redeemer who can stop the cycle in our life of running from God. (Only the Gospel…Are you among the lost this morning? Do you find yourself in a similar pattern as the Israelites? I have good news for you Christ came for you!)
I. Prophet from God’s Grace ch. 1-7
I. Prophet from God’s Grace ch. 1-7
Samuel—
The book of Samuel opens with the Eli as priest and Judge in Israel but his sons are not following in his footsteps well at all. The Lord directs us to a woman named Hannah who has not child but desperately desires one.
11 And she vowed a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”
This child would be Samuel. God saw fit to bless Hannah with a child and that child would be something the Israel and the world had never had to this time. Samuel would be Prophet, Priest, and Judge over Israel. The only one to be used by God this way in all of the OT. We get to see the early life of Samuel and then as Eli passes everything to Samuel some 20 years go by and we find him as Judge over Israel.
15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places.
17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the Lord.
God’s sovereign hand to choose for himself Samuel before he was even known to his parents shows us the power that God has over all of his creation. The first 7 chapters tell of the Prophet from God’s grace to his people.
T.S. Chapter 8 begins a transition into the life of Saul.
II. King in God’s Place ch. 8-14
II. King in God’s Place ch. 8-14
Saul
Rise of Saul ch 8-12
It is interest that in the first part of chapter 8 Samuel has repeated the same, what seems to be mistakes, as Eli.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah
5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.
9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
Israel wants a king to be like the other nations.
“The sin of Israel consisted in the fact that they were asking for King ...
19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us,
20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
to lead us and to go out before us and to fight our battles. Had not this been exactly what God had been doing for HIS people from day 1 when God called them out of Egypt? They did not get themselves into the land of Canaan free from Egypt. They did not clear out the land? They themselves actually were led every step of the way by the Lord to fulfill what God himself had promised and to not make their name great but his own name great. Yet the people desire a person over their heavenly father to lead them and destroy their enemies.
Is their any greater picture of the depth of our sin and example of how sin can blind us to the goodness of God in our life? God has established a people for his own name that he might redeem the world and humans like you and I respond back to God as if we are in charge. That is what sin will do in our lives apart from the power of Christ in our lives. This is why I won’t give you list on 5 steps how to fix yourself today or any other day. Their is but one thing that should be on that list and that is the name of Jesus Christ.
God chooses Saul to be King—not the people.
15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel:
16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”
17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He it is who shall restrain my people.”
17 Now Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah.
18 And he said to the people of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’
19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”
God puts his hand on Saul and allow him to lead his people. Provides men to go to battle with him and for him and gives him early success.
Decline of Saul 13-15
47 When Saul had taken the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the Ammonites, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned he routed them.
48 And he did valiantly and struck the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them.
49 Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn was Merab, and the name of the younger Michal.
50 And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle.
51 Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.
52 There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself.
Saul is King but for a time as he allows pride to take over in his life.
10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel:
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.
Ultimately the position of being King is taken away from Saul by the prophet Samuel who in turn introduces us to the next King.
T.S. A man after God’s heart
III. Man after God’s heart ch. 15-31
III. Man after God’s heart ch. 15-31
David
rise of David 15 to the end of the book..
6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”
9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.”
10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”
11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”
12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
But ultimately God’s plan of salvation for us is why David sits on the throne in Israel.
12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,
15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”
A throne that would last forever!! That is my Jesus!
A Sovereign God who has determined there will be a Godly line in which he will bring about the salvation of the world. Fulfilling the promises that he has made and all that the Prophets fortold in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.