Not So Last Words
Pastor Jason
1 Samuel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsSamuel's address after Saul's coronation
Notes
Transcript
Background to passage: This is after Saul rose up in his first act as king to take 330,000 to rescue the city of Jabesh. Samuel gives an address to the people. Some bible editors use the descriptor, Samuel’s Farewell Speech, but it could be seen as more of a transitional, even inaugural speech. Samuel’s death is not recorded until chapter 25. Regardless, Samuel speaks to the people important truth as the kingdom begins to develop from the times of judges and former prophets.
13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you.
14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well.
15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.
16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.
17 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.”
18 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.
19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”
20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.
22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.
23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
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.”
Opening illustration: Story of D. L. Moody - “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him.” He thought, “Why not me?” He later said:
“I am only one man, but I am one man. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And what I can do, I ought to do—and what I ought to do, by the grace of God, I will do.”
Main thought: This morning we will see two huge biblical principles found in one chapter. If we could grasp, believe, and live with these as our foundation, the purposes and glory of God would be manifested exceedingly through us as individuals and as a church.
Two keys: A Key to Blessing and A Key to Peace
1) A Key to Blessing (v. 13-16)
1) A Key to Blessing (v. 13-16)
13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you.
14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well.
15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.
16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.
1) A Key to Blessing (v. 13-16)
1) A Key to Blessing (v. 13-16)
Explanation: How many of you want the blessing of God upon your life? I know we all have lots of blessing, but I mean the favor of God in a special way. This is so simple that we write it off, or assume it, or treat it casually because of familiarity. It’s simply obedience. See it in the text, speaking to the people, Samuel says, “fear (honor) the Lord, serve (worship), obey, do not rebel,” the hand of the Lord will be for you. God will do a great thing before your eyes. *Might not be in verse 14. So the opposite would be explicit, he says it clearly.
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Illustration: my dogs, their level of obedience, their motivations, their helpers
Application: We know that this is an easy concept to understand. Definitely a hard concept to live. If you love God, honor God, worship God, obey God, do not rebel against God, he will be for you and not against you.
You ready for the key? The key is Christ. If you are a believer, if you have been born again you don’t have to do it on your own. First, you have a new identity that comes with a new life, a new heart, and new desires. Secondly, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you. He impowers you, convicts you, helps you, leads you, ministers to you, and the process of sanctification, obedience, and holiness. You say I can’t love, honor, and obey, but He can.
2) A Key to Peace (v. 20-22)
2) A Key to Peace (v. 20-22)
20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.
22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.
2) A Key to Peace (v. 20-22)
2) A Key to Peace (v. 20-22)
Explanation: Could have preached the entire message on these three verses. Two things that are crucial to their peace with God and an underlying truth or foundation. First, it has pleased the Lord to call out a people for his own possession. Jesus died to call together a bride for himself. Notice it “pleased the Lord.” Secondly, God is promised to never leave or forsake his people. Finally, Samuel reminds the people the reason for which God does everything: to manifest the glory of his great name. The name in Hebrew represented the core of who a person was.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
5 ...he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
9 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
14 But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
22 But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
Illustration:
Application: As the other key was empowered by the newness of the NT covenant, these are all the same in the NT. Let’s just bask in that for a minute. If you are a believer, you are God’s possession. You are part of God’s special people, chosen, elect, beloved, accepted, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the bride of Christ, co-heirs to the world, judges with him.
Bask in that, again this is part of who you are now. As the purchased possession of Almighty God, he will never ever leave you. You cannot do anything that will cause God to say “I am done with you.” You may have heard those words in the past from someone, even someone telling you that about God, but read it here: the God of the universe says if you truly believe, you will always be His. His care will always be there. His compassion will always flow toward you.
We must always remember the reason that God does everything is to glorify his name, to make much of his person, to put on display every facet of his being. In your suffering...God displaying his sufficiency and sustaining grace as you suffer well. In your triumph...God displaying his power and providence as you give credit. In your forgiveness...God showing his own character through your actions. In your sacrifice...demonstrating his willingness to give his only son. In your leaping for joy under the persecution of his name...showing his ultimate worth.
The most important thing to note is: the best thing for all of humanity is for God to put himself on display and glorify his name as the One with the greatest value and worth in all the cosmos, for the purpose that people will put their trust in the most satisfying treasure ever and find their deepest, most lasting, need-meeting, satisfying joy now and forever!
Closing illustration:
“On January 8, 1956, five young missionaries—Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian—stood on a remote sandbar deep in the jungles of Ecuador. They weren’t there by accident. They were there because they had already settled something in their hearts: ‘We will obey God—no matter the cost.’ Within days, all five would be dead. And yet, what looked like the end of their story became a testimony to the glory of Christ that is still being told today.”
These five young missionaries felt called to take the gospel to a remote and violent tribe in Ecuador—the Huaorani people. Among them was Jim Elliot.
Elliot was a gifted, educated man. He had opportunities for a comfortable ministry in the United States—teaching, pastoring, writing. But he became convinced that obedience to God meant going where Christ was not known, no matter the cost.
Before leaving, he wrote words that would later be found in his journal:
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
The team made careful plans. They learned what they could of the tribe. They began making contact from a distance—dropping gifts, building trust. Eventually, they believed the time had come for a face-to-face meeting.
In January 1956, they landed their small plane on a sandbar and waited.
Within days, all five men were speared to death.
From a human standpoint, it looked like a complete failure—obedience that led to tragedy, not triumph.
But that wasn’t the end of the story.
Jim Elliot’s wife, Elisabeth, along with another missionary, returned to live among the very people who had killed her husband. Not with bitterness—but with the gospel.
Over time, many from that tribe—including some of the very men involved in the killings—came to faith in Christ.
Recap
