I invite you to turn tonight in your Bibles to 1st Samuel chapter 12. 1st Samuel chapter 12 as we continue our study in this book. And tonight we come to this great chapter of Samuel's farewell. It's a very important chapter in this book, a transitional chapter. And one that is a great help to us. So tonight, we'll read 1 Samuel chapter 12 on page 298. Let's give attention to the word of the Lord. And Samuel said to all Israel, Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that you have said to me and have made a king over you. And now, behold, the king walks before you. And I am old and gray, and behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. Here I am. Testify against me before the Lord and before His anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you. They said, you've not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand. And He said to them, the Lord is witness against you and his anointed is witness this day that you have not found anything in my hand. And they said, he is witness. And Samuel said to the people, the Lord is witness who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. When Jacob went into Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place but they forgot the Lord their God and he sold them in the hand into the hand of Sisera commander of the army of Hazor and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab and they fought against them and they cried out to the Lord and said we've sinned because we've forsaken the Lord and asserted the bells and the Ashtoreth, but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies that we may serve you. And the Lord sent Jerubbabel and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety. And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, came against you, you said to me, no, but a king shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your king and now behold the king whom you have chosen or whom you have asked behold the lord has set a king over you 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 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 now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not the 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, and that you have done what you have done in the sight of the Lord, and 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. 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 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 and do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver for they're empty for the lord will not forsake his people for his great namesake because it has pleased the lord to make you a people for himself moreover as for me far be it for me that i should sin against the lord by ceasing to pray for you and i will instruct you in the good in the right way 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 and there ends the reading of god's word the bible gives a lot of attention to farewells whenever a leader would move on we come to some of the most powerful moments of instruction i mean that is just a remarkable chapter that we read in 1 Samuel chapter 12, remarkable instruction and beautiful moments that we find in the Scriptures. They're interesting to study because many of these leaders took the opportunity to do something that's rather, I suppose, nerve-wracking and makes us a bit uncomfortable in the fact that they seem to vindicate their own ministries. They seem to stand back and say, I was a faithful minister to you you were treated very well you received a good ministry i think of joshua he did a sort of similar thing at the end of his career when he called all the nation of israel to serve the lord as for me and my household this is what we do this is what we will do the apostle paul in acts 20 we just studied did the same thing when he rehearsed what ministry would be he said you know you know that i never ceased i did not compromise the gospel ministry i did not cease in declaring to you the whole counsel of god i didn't just put my finger up in the wind and give you whatever everyone wanted to hear i was a faithful minister to you i didn't shrink back in doing what i was called to do and the purpose of this was to uh to give it was to be a grand moment to call god's people to trust the lord for the future if they had received such a ministry especially as they would have to deal with wolves who would come in and not spare the flock particularly in the axe account well what we have before us tonight is samuel's farewell speech it's a beautiful speech it's a powerful speech and he does the same thing here he in one of the most interesting and powerful ways in the scripture he really does vindicate his ministry and he rehearses his faithfulness why did all these leaders do this why do we have this reoccurring theme in the scriptures of course it wasn't to draw attention to themselves was it there's one great purpose that i want you to see this evening it's actually a very simple text there's nothing too complex about this text that's what i love about it everyone hopefully should get the basic point of this samuel is rehearsing his faithful ministry and then what he does is he takes israel on a history lesson a survey of all these faithful ministries that they had received to show how god had been faithful to them how the lord had been so good to them how the lord had always been with his people to lead them how the lord had always been so kind to them, how the Lord had always fed them and loved them and cared for them and delivered them. He never once wavered. He never once abandoned them. But you see, Israel, when times of struggle came, in times of trial came, when times of danger came, when hardship came, when enemies came, They forgot him and turned away from him. Over and over and over and over. But this was the pinnacle of such rebellion tonight. It really was in Israel's history. We've looked at the whole issue of asking for a king, that it was not wrong in and of itself. There were directions in the Old Testament. There were directions in Deuteronomy about asking for a king. They didn't follow any of it. They had asked for a king just like all the other nations so that they could have a conquering warrior. It was the spirit of rebellion that we had seen in Israel over and over. And Samuel is saying to them tonight, what kind of insanity? What kind of insanity turns you away from trusting the Lord so easily? When all of history and my own ministry can testify to you of his faithfulness. That's really the heart of this. That's really the basic point that's being made tonight. And what does that mean then for the future? And what does that mean for how we look at life? And how does this all apply to the work of Jesus for us? We're going to consider that briefly tonight. But here, you can't miss this basic point that if the Lord has been good and faithful, if the Lord has treated you this way, and if I ask for hands tonight and how good the Lord has been to you, which I hear from you all the time, I could hear it in suffering saints. The Lord has been so good to us. Well, I think that means then a basic thing. That we should trust Him for everything in the future. That we have no reason ever to doubt Him. We have no reason, if He's already proved that He's faithful, to ever in the future think that He's going to let us down. But what do we do when everything turns against us? we're a lot like Israel. We're a lot like Israel. You remember what happened here? In the last chapter, we find that the Ammonites had come, and the Ammonites had attacked them. At their weakest moment, they had come and attack here, the tribes of Israel, and it was this real moment that what comes out in chapter 12 was the real demand for the king that finally they recognized Saul, And finally, they declared him king, we read last time, after Saul had fought the battle and won. Which, of course, wasn't Saul. We read last time it was the Spirit who had rushed on him. And Saul even testified the Lord fought the battle and won. It was not wrong to ask for a king. What was wrong that was by doing this, they said, they didn't want the Lord to be their king. This is what comes out in chapter 12, the heart of it. They wanted to look like all the other powerful nations in the earth. They wanted to have a centralized power with a visible throne that they could see a figure, that they could touch and handle a figure, that they could say, that is our king. There he is. We are now just like everyone else. So chapter 12 is Samuel's moment of handing over the keys, handing over the leadership. It's an interesting form this chapter takes. It really is a kind of covenant lawsuit. It's a big chapter. The goal of an Old Testament covenant lawsuit was to draw out, God would send his prophet, Samuel was a prophet, they would speak and call out and they would first have this preamble and you would first have a declaration of how faithful the Lord had been and then would come the great testimony and accusation, You have been unfaithful to the Lord and its intention was to draw out repentance. Its intention was to draw out confession. We have sinned against the Lord. So here's the scene. Israel here has in front of them their last judge. Was that a bad system? Was it a bad form of leadership that had failed Israel? It was actually a method of leadership. It was a way of leadership that had served Israel very well. In our scene, Samuel is sitting as judge. The last act as judge. He's representing the Lord. And we have a trial taking place. It's immensely important because the Lord is speaking through Samuel to indict Israel in turning away from him and asking and looking for a human king. So here's what we have. Notice in verse 1 that Samuel says, Behold, I have obeyed your voice and all that you've said to me and I've made a king over you. And now behold, the king walks before you and I am old and gray and my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. Here I am. This is an amazing moment. Testify against me. Testify against me before the Lord and before His anointed, which is the king. I want you to notice here what he begins to do. He goes on to ask them, did I ever, in the course of my sitting as a judge, did I ever abuse my leadership to you? Did I? Testify. Did I cheat you? Did I abuse you? Did I rob you? Did I steal from you? Did I oppress you? Did I take bribes? How was my behavior as a leader to you? How did I perform? Did I do anything at the end now of my ministry, my leadership, my sitting as a judge that demonstrates me as an unfaithful judge of the Lord? Testify. Testify. What's surprising about it is, is for a moment, Samuel becomes the defendant and makes Israel the prosecutor. How was I? Testify. Samuel's not saying he wasn't sinful. What he's saying is, I need you to tell overall what kind of leader I was to you. Israel's answer? You were faithful. You were faithful. We all can say that. You've not cheated us. You've not oppressed us. You've not harmed us. We all say it. And Samuel says, the Lord has witnessed that you have said that. He has said that, and His anointed here, here's your king. You've said it. He's heard it. You have not found that I've taken anything. Nope. Now do you see what just happened? Do you understand what just happened? Samuel just exposed there was absolutely no reason for you ever to ask for a king. It just came out of your mouth. You had no reason to ask. Nobody knows leadership like that. Think about it. We're all struggling with this very thing. We know the struggle with leadership in our day. We know how hard this is. We've looked at leadership. We know the corruption. You know the pains of this living in the world. You know how bad it can be. Look at what leaders do. This is what the Lord rehearsed when they asked for a king. Leaders take, they take, they take, they take. Chapter 7 explained all the behavior of the kings. They're going to take from you. Study leadership. Study the history of leadership. We still go through it to this day. Look at the corruptions. Look at what happens. Look at what's possible. Look what we're reading about in the headlines this week in Southern Baptist Church. It's sad. It can happen anywhere. Breaks my heart, the abuse. Awful. Look at what happens in the world. Look at the stalled. Look at the Hitlers. was I out for my own gain? No. It's just this remarkable moment. You've been faithful. And you see, what this just exposed was, this was not about Samuel. It was about the Lord. All of it is a testimony of His abiding presence and His care and His shepherding love for His people. We don't deserve it. Good leadership we've never deserved. I said last time, we have this assumption that we just deserve leadership. We deserve good leadership. Notice this, His amazing goodness here that is highlighted that the Lord does not oppress His people. The Lord loves His people. The Lord desires to provide for His people. The Lord desires to care for His people. He will never do what any earthly leader is potentially capable of doing to you. And He's God. He filled them with every good thing. Everyone can testify here of how good He's been to you. So I want you to think of what Samuel does then at this moment with this testimony and this here statement that is made that you've been faithful he's vindicated the case now turns as samuel's ministry is vindicated it shifts to the lord's prosecution as a single great question that samuel is raising is this what has been the lord's leadership to you then from the beginning verse six what did he do for you when you were slaves in egypt what did he do for you you know what he did he raised up moses and aaron what you're not understanding about my ministry is just like my ministry he raised me up just like he raised up moses and aaron one guy couldn't even speak and he took down the greatest powerful king of the day pharaoh no one touched egypt 400 years in bondage and he brought them out with wonders and filled the sky this is what the psalms are always celebrating think of psalm 105 he sent moses his servant and aaron whom he had chosen they performed his signs among them and wonders in the land of ham he turned their waters into blood and killed their fish their land abounded with frogs even in the chambers of their kings he spoke and there came swarms of flies and lice in all their territory he gave them hail for rain and flaming fire in their land he also brought them out with silver and gold and there was nothing feeble among his tribes egypt was glad when they departed for the fear of them had fallen upon them he spread a cloud for a covering and fire to give light in the night the people asked and he brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven he opened the rock and water gushed out it ran in the dry places like a river for he remembered his holy promise and abraham his servant he brought out his people with joy his chosen ones with gladness this is what he did well carefully at verse 7 now stand still well israel should have known that moses said those same words years ago stand still and see the salvation of the lord when the egyptians were coming stand still that i may reason with you before the lord concerning all the righteous acts of the lord which he did to you and to your fathers How has the Lord been to you? It's such a thought, isn't it? How has He to this day kept you? How has He loved you? How has He helped you in all of your struggles? How has He provided for you? How has He kept you from all the attacks of the evil one? Most of the time, you don't even realize it. How has He shown His providential care in your lives over and over to keep you this day when had He let you run and had you got what you wanted, you would have been long gone out of Christianity from the start. And you know people who've done it. But here you are. do you know what that says you have someone really caring for you you have someone really watching over you you have someone in your nights who's guarding even your sleep who gives his beloved sleep who for any reason you can call upon him casting all your cares upon him he'll care for you testify. But they forgot the Lord their God. See it? That's the most heartbreaking verse here. And guess what happened? He sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, into the hand of the Philistines, in the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them. you know what's amazing to me in that statement is he lumps together all the righteous acts of the lord with the fact that he sold them what does that mean into the hands of oppressors what it's saying to you is in the sovereignty of god when they forgot him he raised up oppressors so that they'd come back. That's what He's doing. He had to do it so that they would wake up and realize they need Him. That they might return. This is something we don't think about when we think about leadership. God raises up at times oppressors. And there can be a judgment on a land, but it's always to expose for his people they need him constantly. The Philistines, Sisera, the army of Hazor it was his way of drawing them back and he loved them so much it was his way of pursuing them when they forgot him. And then they would cry out every time and they would confess their sins to the Lord. This is the whole history of the judges. And what do you read over and over? every time he delivered them. He didn't stop delivering them. Verse 11 says, Jerubbabel, Bedan, Jephthah, and me, Samuel, me, he goes in this, you were delivered and you dwelled in safety under these leaders. His goal was to overwhelm them with how righteous the Lord had been to them. What is the truth of the matter? If deliverance from Egypt is a type, here of the deliverance that we enjoy of Jesus's salvation and going to the cross then you you have the greatest moment here to apply everything testify what is the Lord done for you he's given you his son who went to the cross to pay for all your sin what love what care what leadership begin to rehearse all the righteous acts of the lord where do we start you have direct access to him tonight you've come to worship and and the announcement in the book of hebrews is you can come with boldness into the throne of grace to a father as adopted children as we looked at because of jesus who loves you it was jesus who said in the covenant of grace i will never leave you nor forsake you it was jesus who said that now you understand then how awful verse 12 is when you saw nahash the king of the ammonites coming against you you said no but a king shall reign over us when the lord your god was your king so plain he has always been your king he was always functioning as your king all the threats to their security through them and they didn't see it anymore and you see the big picture here then tonight that everything the Lord had done for you every time you had ever failed even in your rebellion He would even chasten you in love to bring you back and you have now asked for a king to replace him. He's tall. He's handsome. He's everything you could get in a human king. But he's not the Lord. He's not the Lord. This is an amazing moment because Samuel, what he does at this point is set before them two ways. He says, if you fear the Lord and don't rebel against His commands, God will bless you, but if not, and you disobey and you rebel against the hand of the Lord, the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king. It literally reads, if you rebel against the mouth of the Lord. If you stay with His word and you listen to what He's declared to you, it will go well. If not, it will go terrible. And Samuel then at this moment calls down a sign from heaven. It's the wheat harvest at this time. It would have been unheard of to have a thunderstorm at the time of the wheat harvest. And God in a storm theophany thunders down upon them and they are absolutely terrified. All the people, verse 19, said to Samuel, Pray for the servants, for your servants to the Lord your God that we may not die. for we've added to all our sins this evil to ask for ourselves a king. And Samuel now performs the one last great act of his leadership tonight, and he intercedes for them. And he comforts them. Every time his people repented, every time God's people turned away from their evil ways, as all in the past, every time the Lord would do just what He tells you that He does for you if you confess your sins. He's faithful and just to forgive you all your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Don't fear, Samuel says. You have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart and don't turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver for they're empty. and consider, he says, all the wonderful things the Lord has done for you. Now, I began this sermon tonight rehearsing all that the Lord has done, that he has promised not to leave us nor forsake us, and to think then about how faithful he has been. Think of all the ministries that we've enjoyed. If you can say that you have received faithful ministries from faithful men, what does that say? The Lord's leading you. You're here. The Lord has cared for you hearing His Word. But it's not about us. It's not ever about the man standing up here preaching. What did the Lord do? They wanted a king. He was their king. In the greatest act of love, He gave them a king in the fullness of time who would come. And that king actually did get off the throne, come down here, became one of us so that we could see him and touch him and handle him, 1 John. And he died for us, and he purchased us, and he went back up and sat down on that throne to tell you he accomplished everything you need. That's what he's done for you. You have a choice. You can listen to the word of his mouth or go another way away from him. New Covenant ministry is a ministry of the Spirit working so that you would respond from the heart to this King. That's what I love about the time in which we live. That the Lord had promised there would come a day when He would circumcise our hearts to follow the Lord, to love the Lord with all of our heart. The Comforter is with us. Christ is speaking here through Samuel. Consider all that has been done for you. Even if in the course of your lives, you've needed chastening. Hebrews has told you so very clearly. He is not chastening you in judgment. If you need chastening, he's chastening you as a son to bring you back. That's his care. Verse 22 is so beautiful. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great namesake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. What a beautiful statement. Only fear the Lord and serve Him with your heart and consider all the great things He has done for you. It's the same thing. Jesus, I hear Him saying, don't fear little flock. It's the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. There's one last thing I want to say tonight. Samuel says something here so beautiful. He says, far be it from me that as a leader I should sin in ceasing to pray for you. if he's showing forth the faithfulness of God, I study that verse and think, I wish I prayed for you more. It grieves me that I don't pray for you more. I wish I prayed for you more. And I try to pray for you. I really do. But I don't think that's what this is saying. You have an intercessor right now. who's always praying for you. He never stops praying for you. He's your Lord. He's your King. He loves you. He's got a great plan. And He will not forsake you. So in the turbulent times we live, when Ammon comes at us, when we look at a culture being ripped apart, when we're worried about the future, when we're worried about what's going to happen in the United States of America, There's something so much bigger. You have the Lord. He's with you. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. Don't put your trust in anyone else. He's your pastor. He's your shepherd. He's your king. And any goodness you receive through broken sticks like this is a testimony of His goodness to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for Your care in our lives. Thank You for showing us Your faithfulness over and over again. Forgive us, Lord, for forgetting You. Forgive us for putting confidence in everything else, worthless things that don't profit a thing. We're so weak, Lord, but You're strong. And we put tonight and we say, thank You for being our King and our Lord. We don't deserve it. But by your grace, keep us. We're so thankful to belong to the new covenant where you have assured us that nothing will indeed separate us from your love and you will never forget your people and you will shield and keep every last one of them, but help us to be responding vessels to such leadership, such care, and such love. Why would we ever want to leave the Lord our God? Thank you for being our King and for giving us a wonderful King who's come, who lived for us and died for us and was raised for us so that we have a kingdom and belong to a kingdom that can never be shaken. For that peace and that joy that we've received from Your Word today, we praise You and thank You. And now may we use these things this week for Your glory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.