So if you're looking at your notes, you're going to think I'm going to read 1 Samuel 8 like I did last week. But actually, if you're looking at the bulletin, I'm just going to read 1 Samuel 12, 13 through 25. We're in the second installation here of this subject of Hebrews 12 and Samuel's example. We begin in 1 Samuel chapter 12. You know that Israel had wanted a king. The request didn't please the Lord, didn't please Samuel, but God did give them the request. And we're going to continue on here. from the point where, after some dramatic things have happened, there's some more dramatic things going to happen, but a very Christ-like moment when Saul never looked more like a type of Christ than he does in this particular portion. I begin with 1 Samuel, chapter 12, verse 13. Now therefore, he says, Behold the king whom you have chosen, and ye have desired. And behold, the Lord hath set a king over you. If ye will fear the Lord, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the Lord your God. But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and then shall the hand of the Lord be against you as it was against your fathers. Now therefore stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call unto the Lord and he shall send thunder and rain that you may receive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the Lord in asking you a king. So Samuel called unto 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 unto Samuel, pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not, for we have added unto all our sins this evil to ask us a king. And Samuel said unto the people, fear not. Ye have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And turn ye not aside, for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good in the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider how great things he hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king. God let that story sink deeply into our ears. We have the background in chapter 8. Again, we didn't take time to read all those verses again, but the background story here is that Samuel had served Israel well, but his sons grew up and began to serve as judges, and it became a concern. that to the elders of Israel that Samuel's sons were not fit to take his place. They were not of the same spirit as their father. They were taking bribes and just not doing justly and so forth. And so this brought up an understandable concern. But you know how it was when Israel was coming through the wilderness, they'd been brought out of Egypt, and then needs would come up, like food and water, things like that. And instead of saying, oh Lord, thank you for the way you've delivered us so far and for the things you've called us to, but we've got a problem here. Would you please help us with food or water or something else that maybe, if they'd only asked like that. And I think I mentioned it last week, the book of Numbers has been nicknamed the book of murmurs. Yeah, and there we see that it's the way we ask reveals something in our heart that is not right. And sometimes we can justify a thing, but the Spirit of it, the Spirit of the Lord is the, well, now let me quote this right in the Proverbs. The Spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, and he's searching us. And you know the old practice of examining an egg? Candling an egg meant you put an egg in front of a candle and you look to see on the inside if it was starting to turn into a chicken already where you're not going to put that in the frying pan and fry it with your hash browns. So they candle eggs and examine them from the inside that way. And God uses our spirits to candle us. I can't remember the Proverbs reference. That was a long while back we were speaking in Proverbs. But here is the Lord telling us, you can try to justify something you did or said, but I can see the heart. I can see the heart of it. And that's why we have prayers in the Bible that teach us to ask the Lord to search our hearts and know our thoughts and try us and see if there'd be any wicked way in me. It's not because the Lord doesn't know it. It's because we need to know He knows it. We need to know what He knows. We need Him to reveal Himself. First of all, we wouldn't know Him except He revealed Himself to us. We don't know ourselves unless God reveals us to ourselves. You know, the Greeks were forever bringing up these things like, know thyself. It sounds very noble, but until you realize it, we don't have the equipment to truly know ourself because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and who can know it? And Jeremiah answers the question, the Lord answers the question, I, the Lord, try the hearts. I test the reins. So anyways, all Israel had to do, all the elders had to do, is come to Samuel saying, Samuel, we have a problem. You've been following the Lord. The Lord's done a great job. You've done a great job, but we see what's ahead here. Your sons are not in line with you, and we need help. So ask the Lord, what shall we do? What would be the next thing? And that kind of a request would have got, well, some amazing results, some results we won't know in this life, I guess. Because they asked instead, we want to be like other nations. We want to have a king like other nations. And God heard that, and Samuel heard that, and what's this being like other nations business? And we specified last week more clearly, but they have been called out to be special, unique, different than other nations, because they will be intently blessed of the Lord, intimate with the Lord. They're going to be a nation that should shine as a light to the rest of this pagan world. What do you mean you want to be like other nations? Well, it was that spirit that Samuel caught it, the Lord caught it, and Samuel did the right thing. He didn't have a press conference and chew him out. he went to the Lord instead. And he poured out his heart to the Lord. And the Lord comforted him and instructed him. And that way, what he did was under the control and the direction of the Lord. Because he's only a representative of the Lord. This isn't his job. This isn't his ministry. It's the Lord's. And the Lord gave him a sweet thing there in 1 Samuel 8. I believe it's verse 7. And he said, they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. See, in that request there was a bypass. is since Samuel, you, and the Lord don't have anything lined up right, we've got a plan. Here's what we want to present. We've been in committee. We got it all figured out. And that's the problem. They didn't ask the right question the right way, even though there was a decent need, an important need. So God responded with the people, or excuse me, he reasoned with the people. He warned them. He would give them their wish, but there would be consequences. And you can see in the notes, you can go back and read portions we never read, because this goes from chapter 8 through chapter 11. But there's going to be consequences. You want a king and be like other nations? Here's some of the results you're going to have for that. Gave them a chance to change their mind, but they didn't. They still wanted to have it their own way instead of God's way. And in chapters 9 and 10 of 1 Samuel, there was a threat. There was this Ammonite. threat coming to them. And Saul, who had been picked for their king, the Spirit of God gave him gumption, and he organized the people, and they pushed out the Ammonite threat. And so afterwards, they coronated him as king, and they're feeling pretty good about it. Yeah, see? Our plan's working. We got a king like we asked for, enemies came, our king got us together, organized us, got it out, yippee, let's go for it. And they're just feeling like, you know, break open the champagne bottles, I guess. But business wasn't over. And some of the short-term victories don't guarantee the long-term victories that are the more important things. You can win a battle but lose a war. And Samuel was going to make sure they did not lose the actual war. Because if they stray from God, they're in the middle of a horrible surrounding of nations that can do great evil. And what they'll do themselves, even without the other nations, could be a great evil. Danger is ahead. So Samuel, we get to chapter 12, he's reasoning with the people that they might see the big picture. If you want a fancy word, it's called the meta-narrative. He wants them to see the big picture of what's going on, not just, oh, you ousted this guy, this Ammonite guy and his gang, but there's something much more important at stake here. So he had to rehearse to them. how unfaithful they've been to God, how ungrateful they've been to God, not remembering God's good things, and therefore they are in danger of becoming unthankful, unholy people. So we get to the middle. of chapter 12, and that's where we stepped in here. And what we're doing is, and most of you know this by now, I've been on the book of Hebrews preaching warnings. I've been in Hebrews chapter 12, particularly three weeks I talked on this. I couldn't help it, folks. I just couldn't help it. I had a picture of me that came into my mind this morning of when they're drilling for oil, you know, and tunk, tunk, tunk, and nothing's happening, all of a sudden, And this goes up in the air, oils all over the place, what a mess, they gotta hurry up and cap it. And that's what happens to me when I get tapping into scripture and I hit a geyser, I hit a gusher, I mean. I hit this gusher, and then you guys get all splattered. So anyways, we're going to look at 1 Samuel 12 from about 16 on, and then we're going to compare it to Hebrews 12. Things we've already learned, but I'm trying to make the connections here. And so we did some of it last week. That first part there, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, So he brings this big thunderstorm, lightning storm, at a time when you're not supposed to have them, and was ordered up of the Lord, and they were afraid of God, they were afraid of Samuel. But remember, nobody got hurt. God didn't just kill a bunch of people that day, he just demonstrated his displeasure. And it's the job of a minister, and it's the job of any Christian who can counsel even if he has to counsel himself, is make sure we got the right first thing in place, and that's the fear of the Lord. That's the beginning of knowledge. That's the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord. Not to destroy them, but to humble them, to teach them, to get them in place where they can learn again and follow the Lord. So, "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." And we get there to 1 Samuel 12, verse 20. I will read this verse again, verse 20. And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not. You have done all this wickedness, yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart." And our emphasis here is, do not dwell in fear and dread. There is the fear of the Lord, and then there's that awful fear that's of the flesh and of the world, the sorrow of the world, and it causes people to run from God, hide from God, become more rebellious, do the wrong thing. There's a good fear and there's a bad fear, folks. And Samuel's saying, do not dwell in the ungodly fear and dread, but go forward with God. The fear of the Lord makes you run to him and not from him. Okay, and we just for sample had compared with Hebrews 12.5, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of him. Okay, when God demonstrates fearful things to his people, ultimately it's to bless them. To bless them, not destroy them, not to simply torment them. It's to get their attention and get them positioned in the proper grace of humility so that they can now receive better things of the Lord. And Hebrews 12, 12 through 14, which I'll end up pointing out in a little bit here, but Hebrews 12, 12 through 14 encourages us to participate in God's correction so that we can follow and serve the Lord. That's the part that says, lift up the hands that hang down and strengthen those feeble knees. And that which is lame, let it be healed. See, it's very positive. And in Hebrews 12, you get a terrible picture of how hard the chasing of the Lord can be, that it can make people despise or make them faint, give up. But the whole point is, don't give up. And Samuel's doing the very same thing. He's saying, you have really sinned against the Lord, and he's really displeased with this, and it's got to stop. But don't run off in fear. Run to him in humility and submission. and let's fix the problem and go forward. Now, one thing Wisconsin government does right, it's got a great motto. If you don't know it, I'm just gonna tell it to you. It's not very hard. You don't even have to write it down, but forward, forward. Now, the world messes up forward sometimes, and I don't like what their idea of forward is, but the proper view of forward, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now we look in 1 Samuel 12, 21. And turn ye not aside, for then ye should go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver for they are vain. See, if you don't follow the Lord, what are you going to do? And we mentioned Peter last week, when Jesus said, will you also go away? Because all these other people that had been listening to him, they got discouraged and disgruntled, and they walked away and followed him again no more. Jesus says to the disciples, will you also go away? And Peter says, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we are sure that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, more or less saying is, we have no plan B. It's got to always be plan A, the Lord's plan A. Don't turn aside. If we do not go forward with the Lord, we will go backwards into bad and unprofitable things. And so we have in Hebrews chapter 12, and this time I will turn and read it because I'm afraid I can't quote it well enough and I'll mess it up if I try to paraphrase, but Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 15, it tells us to look diligently, kind of a reference back to earlier in the chapter when it says looking unto Jesus. And here it says, make sure you look diligently. And it says, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. And so there is a possibility here with failing the grace of God, or we referenced 2 Corinthians 6, 1, to receive the grace of God in vain. In other words, to miss its purpose. to have grace given to us and not to respond to it, not to properly appropriate it and apply it. Don't let that happen. And don't let anybody else do it either. It goes on to cite verse 16, the first part there, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau. We're not going to go through that whole story again, but Esau had worldly agenda. His God was his belly. And he was mad at Jacob because he thought maybe he was gonna lose stuff because Jacob had gotten the birthright blessing. And he didn't understand, comprehend, or care about what the significance of that birthright blessing was. He would be the spiritual leader of the future of Israel. And that really wasn't the thing. He would sell his birthright for a bowl of beans. And we're being warned not to sell out for short-term earthly pleasures and accomplishments and whatever else you want to think of there. But don't be like that. Don't let bitterness spring up and defile you. So Samuel's saying a similar thing here. Turn not aside, for then you should go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver you, for they are vain. I'm back in 1 Samuel 12, verse 22. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. So we need to consider God's gracious motives and intentions. We need to see his love. You know, that's what happened in Hebrews 12. Don't despise the chastening of the Lord. Don't faint or quit when you're rebuked by him. Because whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son that he receives. And this is standard equipment for a father to care for his child. And if the heavenly Father loves you so much to correct you and challenge you, be encouraged. Run to him. Think about the gracious motives of the love of God. And we like to use the phrase these days called tough love. because when he has to, he'll show himself strong. That rod and that staff, they comfort me. You know, sometimes they comfort me because he's using them to ward off the wolves and the lions, but other times, not quite so comfortable because, ooch, I just got that rod poking me, saying, get out of there, get over here. That hook comes around the neck, you know, and pulls over. That might be a little uncomfortable for a moment. And the admonition, that was in Hebrews 12 says, no chasing seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them who are exercised thereby. So again, Samuel's right in line with the Hebrews 12 kind of thinking. And we need to focus on the gracious motives of the Lord. And how will you know them unless you study them, then believe them? You know, John, all the way over in 1 John, he has this statement, we have believed the love that God has to us. We have believed it. I was listening to a guy talk one time. He was witnessing to a person, and it was kind of an offbeat, not your typical Romans Road kind of explanation leading someone to the Lord. But this guy walks up, and if you remember the Ragamuffin band, that guy's name is slipping my brain right now. But when he needed to be led to the Lord, a guy come up to him and says, when you stand before God, he's going to have only one question for you. I thought, wow, that's different. And the question he posed was, did you really believe that I loved you? And that's not what I expected. I thought, that's kind of hokey. I mean, I thought it'd be, did you really believe that I didn't mean I'd punish you if you didn't surrender to me? No, but did you really believe that I loved you? And since I've heard that, and since I've lived, and since I've studied, and First John has had a big impact on me continually, but it's not believing that love of God. You know what it's like when people think they know what you're gonna say and they already have a refutation and you haven't said it? It wasn't what you were even thinking, but they think that's what you were thinking. And you know, we do this to God. We think we know what he's gonna say. Stop having fun, I'll kill you if you don't. The cosmic party pooper. God's out there with some kind of an umbrella and saying, I want you to get under this umbrella Because acid rain's falling, it's going to destroy you. Sin's going to destroy you. I have brought you something to protect you, to save you from yourselves, to save you from the world, to save you from sin, and to save you from Satan's influences. And so I'm getting more convicted that we have to believe in this love of God. Because many Christians start out with saying, okay, by the skin of my teeth, Jesus paid for my sins, I believed, I'm saved, but oh, he's out to get me. Every day they think he's out there with a thunderbolt, wanting to get them some more. And yet everything I've been reading in Scripture is pointing me to the fact that it is comprehending the love of God that causes us to be filled with the fullness of God. You know, I'm alluding to Ephesians 3, 14 through 19. I do it a lot. To measure the height, and the depth, and the length, and the breadth, and to know the love of Christ that passes, transcends all understanding. Then you'll be filled with the fullness of God. Our job is to comprehend this with all saints. We're here to read the loving instructions of our Father. Now, some of His love is mighty tough. And don't ever think God doesn't get angry with our behavior. but he never forgets his love, and it undergirds, underneath are the everlasting arms, and he will support us, but he's got to keep us in line. And so there's this environment that is very positive. Now, I go over to Hebrews 12, and we've talked before about verses 18 through 21. the taste of Sinai, not Sinai, but Sinai where the law was given. And we go back to that story and we see God had thunder and stuff going on on that mountain and people were in abstract fear. Even Moses said, I exceeding fear and quake. And I finally looked it up and I found it because that quote wasn't familiar to me, but I did find it. But we are not come to that. We're not drugged by the back of our necks and thrown at the foot of Mount Sinai to hear thunder and lightning the rest of our life. Verse 22 of Hebrews 12 says, but ye are come unto the Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God, the judge of all men, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." I can't re-preach all that, but you get one big picture. This is all positive, loving, forward, blessed hope. That's our environment. We have to dwell in it. We have to draw other people into it. Because we all need mercy, because we all mess up. But His mercy endures forever. And everything about those verses is telling us that everything God has in mind for us is going to surpass everything we've ever seen or imagined in this world. I can't dwell on it a whole lot, but there's this thing that's been speaking to me in Hebrews 12, down there in verse 27. and I'm only giving you just a touch of it here, but it says, and this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made. Now there's one thought. The things that are made, the things that can be shaken, are going to be all removed. All the stuff that is so important to this world, so desperately focusing the world's attention, it's all going to be taken away. It's all going to the dump. And then we hear in other places where Jesus is going to have the reconciliation of all things. So let's read the other half of verse 27. That those things which cannot be shaken may remain. And you and I with our eyes have not seen any of that. And Paul says there in 1 Corinthians 4, we look not on the things which are seen for the things which are seen are temporal, temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. That's where we're going to look. That's where we're going to focus. We're going to be like Abraham. And as he's wandering through the promised land, not getting anything more than a cemetery plot to actually call his, yet it says he searched for a city. He sought a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. That's the new Jerusalem. And we need to dwell in that environment. And we need to do as Samuel is telling Israel back there in chapter 12. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. Now he made up his mind. He wasn't on a talent search to see who might be the best citizens for his family and kingdom. He just did this because he's God. And we need to understand the pleasure of the Lord and believe the love that God has to us because it's demonstrated when he gave his son, Jesus Christ. The love of God is manifested through the gift of his son. While we were yet without strength, while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us. Romans 5, 9 and 10. Okay. Now, we think of a mediator, and we think of Jesus Christ as the only mediator. Will you bear with me? 1 Timothy, chapter 2. 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 5 and 6. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time." Now, we got to focus on Jesus, the mediator of a better covenant, and his blood of sprinkling, which sealed that covenant and pays for the sins of his people. And here's where Samuel comes in and shows himself very Christ-like. Because we have these pictures of Jesus, and I can't turn to all those references, but Jesus as a shepherd, Jesus as a high priest, he's interceding, he's helping, he's counseling, he's protecting, he's guiding, he's doing all that. And there's a lovely little list. The first Samuel 12, 23 paragraph has a lovely list of those things. But what I want to show here, and I'm now in 1 Samuel 12, 23, and he says, moreover, as for me. He could have said, well, God wants you, but I'm fed up. I'm done. I'm out of here. I didn't sign up for this. I'll just leave you with your king and God help you. No. Moreover, as for me. God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will teach you the good and the right way. He's staying in, his hat is still in the ring. Samuel's love for God kept him from transferring negative feelings to the people over which God had made him a leader and guide. It might have seemed easy to stop caring for them, but the truth is, God had not stopped caring for them. And God's man had to represent God, not his personal interests. And Samuel kept his personal interests with God's interests, and that's an amazing thing. God's man needed to stay in step with him, and Samuel does that. Prayer in the ministry of the Word, the priority. God values shepherds and pastors because God loves his sheep, his people, so much. You know, Psalm 100, it says, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. And we have many other places in Scripture where we get this alignment that we have a relationship with the Lord as sheep do with a faithful shepherd. And so, looking unto Jesus in Hebrews 12, consider him lest you faint, and do not despise his chastisement, because he's shown his love in a faithful way. And he's done everything to the point of shedding his own blood to give us a better covenant than the one that Moses had with Israel. So now we have to consider the gracious work of God in 1 Samuel 12, verse 24. Only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart. for consider how great things he hath done for you." I remember the day that it dawned on me as I was studying the history of the word thankful, and way back in some English history, the expression was thinkful. Thinkful, or we'd say thoughtful. If you think about something the right way, you're going to appreciate something that you hadn't noticed, you would have overlooked or forgotten. If I've been thankful of you and my heart's in the right place, then I'm going to get thankful for you because I realize what you've meant to me, what you've done for me. Where would I be without your influence in my life? Now, we can do that with humans, to some degree, but with God, to a complete degree. Let's stay mindful. God deserves our love and loyalty. He alone is worthy of our trust and devotion. And that's why we consider Christ. Joy was set before him. In other words, he had pleasure doing the will of God and he had pleasure securing our salvation, but at the same time, he hated, he despised the shame that he was brought through and the contradiction of sinners against himself. He hated that. And they're both happening at the same time. And it's just like that diaper story I told a while back. I got hired to help developmentally disabled people I was asked if I liked to change diapers, and that was a crazy question. I told him, if I said yes, you wouldn't hire me, would you? I wouldn't. That's weird. But I could tell him that when I became a father, my love for my children caused me to change their diapers, and a whole lot of other things, which I won't describe to you, but they're yucky. Okay? Love finds the way. Love understands the reason something should be done and gets the strength to do it. And because I committed myself to love those residents or those clients of ours, I said, yeah, I'll change their diapers. I'll do a whole bunch of other stuff too, because it's for them. And that's the way that we need to look at things, but we can't do that unless we consider Jesus. That's what he did. He left glory. He hung his glory up on a hall tree and came down here to earth to be treated in humiliating ways and even die the death of the cross. And then it says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And here's Samuel ahead of time giving us a picture of a man whose entire thing he worked for in his life looked like it was being dismantled by a group of elders in Israel who wanted a king and they wanted to be like other nations. He had been leading them along, sacrificing and serving and laboring to teach them to trust God, to love God, to be loyal to God. And then they turn around and do this at the end of his life. He could have gotten disillusioned, mad, depressed, Instead, he says, no, God knows what he's doing. I'm sticking with him. And since he's sticking with them, I'll stick with them too. And he didn't do it in some begrudging way, some nasty way. He just said, it would be a sin against God if I stopped praying for you and teaching you the right way. I'm not going to do that. And hopefully many a parent has found that grace that when their child seems ungrateful, unappreciative, unsubmissive, and even mean and sassy and who knows what, they still love them. When you really, really love people, you have the opportunity to get really hurt by them. You've exposed your heart. But we have to remember those words that I mentioned in Ephesians 5. Jesus made himself a sacrifice to God for us. He didn't make himself a sacrifice to us, but no, to God. For our sakes, he did it. And what you do, you have to do as unto the Lord. What you do is what you do because you have kept your eyes on Jesus. And you're still looking to him, and you're considering him. And because he wouldn't quit, you won't quit. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Amen. That was a good moment to have an amen, I just thought I'd tell you. Okay, so we have A luscious collection of scriptures here that I can't read them all. I'm just going to mention something to you. Once in a while I like to pick out the ones you may not be as familiar with. Maybe you are, but they aren't the ones that you hear preached a lot. Psalm 107, I'm not going to turn there. But there's a big string of verses. I don't know if you see them. There's 8, 15, 21, 31 in particular. And they all say the same thing. It's one of those Psalms where we got this repeat phrase, this refrain. It keeps coming in. And whatever else they said, it comes back to this statement. And here's the statement. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. What if we just decide to wake up a few mornings and make that one of the first things that comes out of our mouth? What if we went to bed and we said that in our heart, if not out loud? What if we address that to people who are discouraged, or scared, or feeling weak, or wanting to quit? Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men, and then illustrate it. You can illustrate it with Scripture, like Psalm 107 does. You can illustrate it with your own story, your God story. Now, I don't know how I did it, but in this section, I meant to add Romans 8, 28 through 39. I'm not going to read it, but it's one of the most powerful, central thoughts in the Bible. And I guess if I can get mixed up and not get my notes right, I can understand if you don't. Get them all either. But Romans 8, 28 through 39, you know it starts out, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. And it goes on to say things like, if God be for us, who can be against us? And who shall separate us from the love of God? And it has a whole list of things that could separate us from the love of God, but they won't. Because we're more than conquerors to him that loved us. And we must be persuaded that neither height nor depth nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. There you go. I'll get those in the notes eventually. But verse 25 of 1 Samuel 12. But if you shall still do wickedly, you shall be consumed, both ye and your king. Now here the word consumed means swept away, like a flood, like a gigantic broom just blows you off, just takes you out of here. If we choose to not change our attitude and behavior, then unchanged, ungodly attitudes and behaviors will result in disaster. You shall be consumed. You shall be swept away. You shall perish. These are different ways it's stated in different translations. But now we go to Hebrews 12. And we start with verse 25. I tapped in a little bit there on verse 27. And let's back up now to Hebrews chapter 12 verse 25 to 29. See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped who refused him that spake on earth, talking about Moses, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven. That's Jesus. Whose voice then shook the earth, but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word yet once more signifies the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, cannot be shaken, folks, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. Now, this is a Greek word used in Hebrews 12, consuming. It's not the same word as the Hebrew word back there in 1 Samuel 12. It's very simple. This word means a consuming fire. Yeah, that's what it means. It's about fire that either destroys and causes to disappear, or it refines and takes away the dross and leaves the gold. Which way do you want to experience the consuming fire of God? Consuming or refining? Okay, so we are being encouraged here not to refuse or reject the Lord's counsel. They shall not escape, we're being told. They shall face Him who is a consuming fire. And if you're interested, that's an actual quote taken from Deuteronomy 4, 23 and 24. You might like looking that up and realize how much scripture motivates more scripture. We are to maintain a receptiveness to the things that belong to the kingdom of God. Matthew 6.33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. We are to live our lives before the Lord with grace filled gratitude. Now I said that because in newer translations, they're very much all wanting to use the word thankfulness instead of let us have grace. They say, let us be thankful. There's some reason for that because the Greek word It implies it takes this kind of grace to be a grateful person. And I feel like by just saying, be thankful, that leaves me on my own to be thankful. Be thankful, be thankful, be thankful. But when it says, let us have grace to be thankful, that means I got to go get this somewhere. You remember, we love him because he what? Yes. Well, we're going to be thankful because we've first been given grace to see things differently, to feel, think, act differently, because the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is in us. But we have to find the resources and apply them and appropriate them. Be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, 2 Timothy 2.1 says. And so we have to make sure we appropriate the right things. Often we say we want grace. What that means is we want money. We want health. We want friends. We want things to turn out right. But how about, I want grace so I can be like Jesus. Romans 8.28, all things work together for good. You know what the good is? It's in the next verse. We've been predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. So let's have grace to be grateful. Let's be like Jesus. And if you would just study his prayer life and the times he talks about being thankful, we wanna be like Jesus in our thank life, which means our think life has to be kept in order. Okay, so we are to live our lives before the Lord with grace-filled gratitude and a submissive servant's heart that embraces God's will with reverence and godly fear, or some translations say awe. Now I've got a note I put at the bottom of the page. There's two Greek words in Hebrews 12, 28, and they look redundant in the English. I mean, after all, reverence, godly fear, we just said the same thing twice, right? Well, in the Greek language, there's distinctive things. There are two different words, so let's see it. The first one is translated reverence. It means humble, modest respect to feel shame in the presence of God. Now, we're not using this word like we used to, if we use it at all, but you've heard the word of shamefacedness. Shamefacedness today is used to describe people who are timid, have low self-esteem, poor little lambs. And that's not what this word meant as it was given when the translators 400 years ago used it. Shamefacedness had to do with about a holy blush before God. I'm not here to compare myself with other people, but when I compare myself to God and his son, Jesus Christ, it humbles me, it makes me blush, and I'm ashamed. And you know, think about somebody who was so close to Jesus. John, the one whom Jesus loved. And he would be at him at the Last Supper and just lean, he was sitting right next to him, he'd just lean over and whisper to him, and Jesus would lean back and tell him things. How close they were. But when John saw him on the Isle of Patmos blazing like a furnace, glowing in his holy, glorified state, John fell down like a dead man. Daniel and others had this experience where they'd get an exposure to God and make him fall down and be like a dead person. They had to be picked up, and sometimes they didn't get over it for weeks. So let's not underestimate what a little shamefacedness could mean to us. If we can behold the glory of the Lord and be changed into the same image from glory to glory, somewhere along the line we're gonna blush. Because we really know who we are, and we really know who he is, and it's a humble but thankful thing to be able to know him, and be in his presence and address him. And then we think of those things we do as if he weren't there, and we do things that are foolish. So, reverence means humble, modest respect to feel shame in the presence of God. Now, the second word that's translated godly fear or awe, it means caution, holy fear, We distinguish that from worldly carnal fear. It's holy fear, and it could also be described as mingled fear and love. It's a fear, again, that makes you run to God. You're attracted to Him, and it humbles you. It's scary, but you run to Him. So fear and love mingled together. And another word we don't use so well anymore is piety. You know, when I went to school, the students would look at somebody who was a little too serious and call him a pious pukehead. So piety, pious, was sanctimonious and like, pfft, too much. But actually, let's think about piety as the fear of the Lord. Can you really fear him too much? Do we understand his fear? Do we grasp that? Like I said a long time ago, and I was quoting John MacArthur, in order to go to heaven, nothing has to be added to you, only taken away. We've got to have these bodies removed. In this body, it would kill me to see God direct. But when He removes the body and my spirit of just men made perfect is operating, I can stand before Him. I'll still be humbled. I'll still be casting my crowns down. I'll still be worshiping Him. In this flesh, it's a downright dangerous thing if we were put in the presence of God. So thinking of the presence of God should humble us, give us a sense of proper shame. And this word piety, let's go back and find out what that word should mean again. Now, to wrap this up, I can't believe I've gotten through it. because it's been on my heart and mind for so long. I just don't think, I feel like I can't stop preaching on this, but you'll turn out the lights and lock the doors if I don't, and I'll get the hint. But Hebrews chapter 10. It's one of the great ones that I wish I heard more people explain it because it brings it to the proper conclusion. These difficult texts, we looked at Hebrews 6 and Hebrews 10, very difficult. to handle, and many have divided over them so much. But Hebrews 10, this portion here, verses 30 through 39, to me, isn't so hard to interpret. Let's just do it. And I start with verse 30. For you know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, I will repay, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But call to remembrance the former days, in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions, partly while you were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while you became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance, Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But, emphasis mine, we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, destruction, but we are of them that believe to the saving of the soul. And this is more marvelous than just saying the preservation of the saints. It is the perseverance of the saints. What the Lord is preserving is our wills and our minds and the use of our bodies and tongues. And he is molding us more and more into the image of his son so that we will follow Jesus. And you will not have to worry about your soul. It's not just about arguing eternal security, folks. It's about arguing for eternal life. It must begin in us today. And that's why this text that, I won't get to expound on, but you saw it in the bulletin, and in the notes there, you see Hosea 5.14 through Hosea 6.7. There's a place where the Lord says, I have to become a lion that will wound Israel, or Ephraim. I'm going to wound them, and I'm going to step back and see what they do. And when they look to me, I'll heal them. But, you know, we're always used to Satan being the roaring lion, right? Seeking whom we may destroy, but God is a lion, too. And He is not seeking to destroy us. He's seeking to capture us and to gain our hearts and our affections. And then comes this lovely statement, again, from Hosea 6-3. Then shall we know if we follow on to know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning, and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Yes, God has a whole spectrum of things He's doing. With the one conclusion, the one result, is that we all be presented before Him one day faultless in Jesus Christ. Many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come. Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. We need to follow on to know the Lord. We need to be, as our Hebrews 10 text said, not of them who draw back and go away under perdition and destruction. We must be of them that believe to the saving of the soul. And you know, if you do that, it's because Jesus is in you. He's with you. He's a part of you. His seed remains in you, 1 John 3 says. And whatever temptations or failures or whatever else you've had, you come back to him so that the hands that hang down may be lifted up, that the feeble knees may be strengthened, and that which is lame may be healed. Because that is what the love of God does. And whatever it takes to get that job done, he will do it for us. He loves us that much. May we love him back. Now, my goal? is to present Hebrews 13 and talk about more of this gracious gratitude. What should be coming forth from this is not like, oh no, you mean I got to be holy? How am I going to do that? It's to say the Lord wants this. He's willing me to do and to will and to do of His pleasure. And now I must be filled with his love and gratitude. And let's find out how we do maintenance work. The kind of warnings we're going to look at in Hebrews 13 are going to be a little different. They're not going to be quite so threatening. They're not so life and death. They're about the maintenance work. that we mustn't neglect. So that's a little commercial. I'll stop. God help me and give you Hebrews 13 to wrap up the warnings series. We'll see if I'm telling the truth or not. But let's take a moment to pray. Father, I thank you for what you've given us and are giving. You've given us Jesus. His Spirit, His Word, His very life's blood, redemption, and the power of His resurrection. And you've given us Scripture, Lord, to help us know what we have, and that we also might appropriate it. Believe it to the point of receiving it and taking it in, and it become an engrafted part of our lives. We thank you for the example that Samuel had with the people of Israel. It's a token of how Jesus is right now pleading for us, interceding for us, teaching and guiding us. Help me to be a faithful pastor, Lord. To be not just like Samuel, but to be like Christ. But then there's a chance for all of us to ask you today that we would all be like Jesus. All take on a ministry of intercession for others. and of handling the Word of God and speaking gracefully and edify others, and working together as a team, our various spiritual gifts, that we here at Northland Bible Church would be praying for our loved ones, our neighbors, our acquaintances, our neighborhood, our community, our state, our government, our nation, that we would be interceders and that we would promote the truth with our words and with our life. Please work in each one here, Father. Grant us the faith that we need today. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.