Consider God (A Lesson In Fear Applied)

Holy, Holy, Holy - Reginal Heber

How Great Thou Art - The Wiebes

I Am Thine, O Lord - Discovery Singers

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God - Discovery Singers

Amazing Grace - Chris Tomlin

Farther Along - W.B. Stevens

1 Timothy 6:3–5 ESV

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

1 Timothy 6:3–7 ESV

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

2 Timothy 6:3-5

1 Samuel 12:24–25 ESV

Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

English Standard Version Chapter 12

24 Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

English Standard Version Chapter 12

24 Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

English Standard Version Chapter 12

24 Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

English Standard Version Chapter 7

28 And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

It is far better to rest in Christ than it is to dwell upon the cares of this world.

It is far more pertinent to give ear to the word of God, than the whispers of man.

To consider your God in time of trouble is renewing.

To remember Him in seasons of blessing is preserving.

To desire godliness is more satisfying than obtaining any appetite of the flesh.

God is worthy to be considered by us, as God and no less.

God is worthy to be faithfully served by us.

Not to be served begrudgingly, but to be served in light of all of the good that He has done for us. God is worthy to be served our whole heart.

These truths and more had been forgotten by Israel when we get to .

Truths that not only Israel needed to recall and live by, but truths that are just as life essential for us today and just as often forgotten.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

24 Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

In light of this, perhaps the greatest encouragement of is that it is stated after Israel had forgotten God and dealt wickedly with God.

It is a testimony to us of the great forgiveness of God and His long suffering nature by which He shows great mercy in dealing with His people.

There is mercy, there is grace.

Perhaps you find yourself as one of God’s children and yet often forgetting Him and acting wickedly towards Him. Perhaps you didn’t even realize it.

Have you great care for this world?

The priest are corrupt & even Eli (the high priest) is not serving faithfully

Does the wisdom of man echo through your mind and direct your paths?

Do you often forget God, and fail to consider Him as your living and active God?

Do you often find yourself dis-content with godliness and in pursuit of another?

So was the sad state of Israel.

Let us observe:

1 Samuel finds us in the times of Judges, and while God had been silent for a number of years, Israel had grown increasingly corrupt.

Even their high priest Eli is not serving God faithfully.

Nearby nations threaten the land/peoples safety

Israel is surrounded by enemy nations. It is here that we enter a transition time where more than a judge is needed amongst Gods people.

So God, sends the prophet, Samuel.

Samuel is to serve as a prophet and a judge. But Samuel eventually grows old, his sons who are appointed as judges over Israel, don’t follow in his ways. Amongst this same time, the enemies of Israel attack & Israel seeking her own protection demands a earthly King in order to be judged like all of the other nations.

1 Samuel 8:5 ESV

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.”

More than a judge is needed, Israel needs to hear from God. Therefore God gives them a prophet named Samuel.

Samuel is displeased by this. God is their King, why should they seek an earthly King. Nonetheless Samuel take the matter to God.

1 Samuel 8:7 ESV

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.

Samuel serves Israel as a prophet and a judge.

Samuel eventually grows old, his sons who are appointed as judges over Israel, don’t follow in his ways, the enemies of Israel attack & Israel seeking her own protection demands a earthly King in order to be judged like all of the other nations.

1 Samuel 8:5 ESV

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.”

1 Samuel 8:6 ESV

But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.

1 Samuel 8:7 ESV

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.

Thought: When we loose sight of who our King is, of who our God, protector and provider is then we only see our surroundings. When we loose sight of the covenant promises of God, of the declaration of His Word and where He is taking his people then we become immediate in our seeking and lost to the eternal. When we are saturated in cares of the world and distant from fears and consideration of God in our lives then we not only become like the world but we seek to become the world for our own preservation.

Israel was a called out nation. They were called to be set apart, to be holy. They were called out by God, set apart by God, and made holy by God. God is The Glory of Israel (). That is to say that God is the everlasting, victorious, splendor. God is the perpetual enduring, the duration of Israel. Israel then in fear for their preservation forgets God, forgets He who preserves them and seeks another way of preservation.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

“How has our enemies become a threat to us?” they ask.

“How is it that our surrounding enemies are a threat to us?” they question.

“What do they have that we don’t that gives such appearance of strength?” they wonder.

And in the end they answer with a visual earthly King and reject the everlasting God who is their King.

How twisted we become operating life through our own eyes.

Saul is appointed King.

The people realize their wickedness, and sin that they have done in seeking a King (1 Saumel 12:16-18)

1 Samuel 12:16–18 ESV

Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.” So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

Thought: In all of this God continues to call His people to the same thing. Fear God, remember God, obey God and His commands and it will go well. God’s mercy is great. Even after their wickedness of seeking a King, the Lord God stands ready to guide, lead and bless his people should they and their King follow Him.

The message: forgetting God got you into this mess, God has heard your cries and is merciful only do not forget Him as you go forward.

The response: Israel and their King forget God.

While going into battle Isreal is given instruction:

1 Samuel 15:1–3 ESV

And Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”

Now listen to what took place:

1 Samuel 15:7–9 ESV

And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

1 Samuel 15:7-

Now, listen to Saul’s reasoning for disobedience:

1 Samuel 15:17–21 ESV

And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?” And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

Thought: Israel and now their new King Saul has repeatedly rebelled against and acted wickedly before God. They forgot God, lived perversely and sought for themselves a way forward. They rejected God as their King and sought another. They repented and God showed mercy calling them back to obedience and again having been given the word of God, a command of God, they did not obey but again sought a way that seemed better to them.

Time and time again Israel is looking to the goods of the world rather than to the promises of God. Time and time again Israel is seeking the spoils of the world rather than the pleasure of God.

God has called Israel to be set apart to be a people chosen by Him, protected by Him, preserved by Him. God sets Israel apart and yet Israel seeks not to rest in such a privileged called out position but to seek what is had by those around them. This gross rejection of God is rebellious and disobedient and if left unchecked can change not only our lives but the lives of generations.

Even when we think that a little disobedience doesn’t matter as long as we get to the same end result and dedicate whatever extras we have to God, I tell you brethren it does matter. Saul thought that he would one up God. Rather than destroying everything, He would get ahead and bless God. He would keep the goods and offer a sacrifice to God. “Why not use the victory that God is giving for personal temporal gain as well?” - thought Saul. Again, God is not seen as enough for His people, they prefer a material security.

Oh what a dangerous, corrupt and common place of wickedness this is amongst the people of God. To walk as God’s chosen and yet never be content in god or in godliness. So we devise ways, plans, schemes by which we can have our God and those other goods/gods we so desire. Rather than simple obedience to God, we quote the serpent and say, “did God really say…, Is their really anything so wrong...” Our mission and our purpose is not found in the rest that is in Christ but in what earthly gain we can have while still having Christ. It can be far easier to gain a want, offer praise and say it’s all for Jesus than it is to simply obey the words of Jesus. If I can get one thing across to you today it is that such a thought is evil. How evil it was for Saul as Israels earthly king to overrule the command of God who is both Israels & Saul’s true and the eternal King. Such is the evil when we let the cravings of this earthly flesh overule the purpose for wich God has saved this earthly vessel of ours and use what is ours in Christ to devise our own gain.

:3-16

1 Timothy 6:3–16 ESV

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

3-16

Listen to God’s (through Samuel) response to Saul:

1 Samuel 15:22–23 ESV

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

1 Samuel 15:22

Rebellion is as the sin of divination. That is, rebellion is as of the sin of seeking a soothsayer or fortune teller. Rebellion against the Word of God is as saying God I know the future better than you and this will work out more in my favor. It is saying, in the end God, I will like this better than what you have for me. Or, God, I don’t trust you for the future, I have to see it for myself.

Do you know the future better than God?

Such presumption is iniquity. That is, it is gross injustice, extremely unreasonable and wicked.

It is idolatry.

For Saul it was the idolatry of the people of Israel. He feared the people and therefore did what their voice told him rather than what God commanded them. For some such as Israel it was self idolatry. They believed that they new better than God what was good for them. This was not the case:

1 Samuel 15:24–29 ESV

Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”

1 Samuel 15:

While today is today, and repentance is still before us, let me ask: What is it for you? How have you forgotten God? How have you believed yourself to know better than God?

Let us turn to God today and remember Him that it may go well for us in the sight of God.

This is what means,

1 Samuel 12:24–25 ESV

Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

Note: To fear God is to do what He commands, it is to care to Him and His Word and not that of another. It is to be faithful to Him and what He has set before you, no matter what the masses say and no matter what your own flesh pulls you towards. This is not a call to works but to rest. So often we seek how things will work for us. However the cry of God to Israel and to us is STOP! Stop seeking how it will work out for you and rest in me…you have God!

Therefore, to fear God is to rest from all other fear. The old teastament is a fearful time to live. Just as today has fears it does us well to note: to fear God is the end of all fear. If God does not call us to the fear of Him alone, then we are left stranded in all of the overwhelming fears that this world has to offer. In the end, to fear God, is to rest in God.

Like Israel, it is our having God and Him alone as our security, preservation and protection that sets us apart. The world will see us as the lowly who hunger for righteousness, but our Lord has told us that this is a state of blessing. The murmurs of the world will sound as mockery but again this is our blessing. For just as with Israel, when all the world is encamped around us, God is our glory. May God have mercy should this cease to be the case in our lives.

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

The flavor and light of Israel is that they did not look like the other nations. They were not dependent upon their own stregnth to sustain themselves or overcome others. They need only to consider their God.

I call you today, to consider your God

In your day to day, in your walk, in your worries, in your blessing, in your confussion and what you don’t understand

Consider God and count it all joy.

Remember that you don’t know better than God, and therefore rest in His goodness.

And praise God that Farther Along by the wonderful grace of our Lord we will understand.

28 And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

28 And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

English Standard Version Chapter 7

28 And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

English Standard Version Chapter 12

24 Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. 25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

English Standard Version Chapter 7

28 And now, O Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.

It is far better to rest in Christ than it is to dwell upon the cares of this world.

It is far more pertinent to give ear to the word of God, than the whispers of man.

To consider your God in time of trouble is renewing.

To remember Him in seasons of blessing is preserving.

To desire godliness is more satisfying than obtaining any appetite of the flesh.

God is worthy to be considered by us, as God and no less.

God is worthy to be faithfully served by us.

Not to be served begrudgingly, but to be served in light of all of the good that He has done for us. God is worthy to be served our whole heart.

These truths and more had been forgotten by Israel when we get to .

Truths that not only Israel needed to recall and live by, but truths that are just as life essential for us today and just as often forgotten.

In light of this, perhaps the greatest encouragement of is that it is stated after Israel had forgotten God and dealt wickedly with God.

It is a testimony to us of the great forgiveness of God and His long suffering nature by which He shows great mercy in dealing with His people.

There is mercy, there is grace.

Perhaps you find yourself as one of God’s children and yet often forgetting Him and acting wickedly towards Him. Perhaps you didn’t even realize it.

Have you great care for this world?

Does the wisdom of man echo through your mind and direct your paths?

Do you often forget God, and fail to consider Him as your living and active God?

Do you often find yourself dis-content with godliness and in pursuit of another?

So was the sad state of Israel.

Let us observe:

1 Samuel finds us in the times of Judges, and while God had been silent for a number of years, Israel had grown increasingly corrupt.

Even their high priest Eli is not serving God faithfully.

Israel is surrounded by enemy nations. It is here that we enter a transition time where more than a judge is needed amongst Gods people.

this introduces a transistion time where more than a judge is needed amoungst Gods people.

So God, sends the prophet, Samuel.

Samuel is to serve as a prophet and a judge. But Samuel eventually grows old, his sons who are appointed as judges over Israel, don’t follow in his ways. Amongst this same time, the enemies of Israel attack & Israel seeking her own protection demands a earthly King in order to be judged like all of the other nations.

1 Samuel 8:5 ESV

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.”

Samuel is displeased by this. God is their King, why should they seek an earthly King. Nonetheless Samuel take the matter to God.

1 Samuel 8:7 ESV

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.

note: to fear God is to rest from all other fear. The old teastament is a fearful time to live. Just as today has fears it does us well to note: to fear God is the end of all fear. If God does not call us to the fear of Him alone, then we are left stranded in all of the overwhelming fears that this world has to offer. In the end, to fear God, is to rest in God.

Consider God (A Lesson In Fear Applied)

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Call To Worship Scripture

Sermon Scripture

1 Samuel Introduction:

1 Samuel Introduction:

A Good God Who Establishes His Servant