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On our last Sunday of the year, Reverend Daniel exhorts us to fear the Lord and to serve him faithfully. Drawing from 1 Samuel chapter 12.

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Once again, a very good morning to all of us. As we approach the last day of 2013, I would like to ask to look at 1 Samuel chapter 12, verses 1 to 25. I believe there are important lessons for us this morning. And we want to explore together what it is, what it means for us to fear the Lord and to serve him faithfully. In 2 0 2, 4. The story of Samuel begins not in 1 Samuel chapter, but 1 Samuel 7, where Samuel was the judge of Israel. He was a judge and a prophet. So his first word as a judge and a prophet of Israel was a word of challenge to the people of Israel to put aside the foreign gods that they were mingling with and to render their hearts to the Lord and to serve him. And as they do that, they would have victory over the Philistines. So 1 Samuel chapter 7, verse 3 reads, and Samuel said to the house of Israel, if you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the escrow from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. So following that, the people of Israel then put aside their idols and made a decision to serve the Lord truly and fully. And the Lord gave them victory over the Philistines, and Samuel judged Israel today's slime. So 1 Samuel Juff is a pivotal in the biblical town because it's a time of transition from a time of the judges or a time where God ruled to judges to a time where Israel wanted a king to rule and to lead them in battles. So we we see that because when Samuel became old, the elders of Israel became worried. They gathered together and came to Samuel and they wanted a king to judge them like all the nations. So 1 Samuel chapter 8, verses 4 to 5. 1 Samuel chapter 8, 4 to 5 reads this. It says, then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Brahma 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. This was followed by a severe warning by Samuel of what a king would do in order to keep a standing army. So the next slide from 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse 11 to 17. You look at the verbs that are highlighted in B. It shows us that the king in ruling, uh having a charge over Ishmael, would then begin to take from the people. So it says Samuel says, This will be the ways of the king. You want a king, we will give you a king. But this is what will happen. He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, some to plough his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and books and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchids and give them to his servants. He will take the ten of your rain and of your vineyards and give it to his officials and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys and put them in his work. He will take the ten of your lots. And sadly, Israel will be subjected to slavery, says, and you shall be his slaves. So the ultimate consequence of having a king, like all the nations, for Israel will be reduced to the status of slaves in their homeland. Nevertheless, Israel chose to have a king, having seen the other nations having kings leading them in battles. They decide the same. Just as how today, as we live as Christians before God, sometimes God will allow us in his sovereign will to go our own way, to choose what we desire and to reap the consequence from them. So the God that we know and worship, even though he has full sovereign freedom, he does not override the will and the desires of our hearts. And he will give us what we want, but it may not be what we want. So we see that in at least this account of Israel asking for a king, even though they will become slaves. Yeah, this king will take and take from them. Yeah, they want a king because they see all the nations around them. We have a king that fought for us, and you are old, and your sons are not walking the ways of the Lord. What would happen to us? So out of their own fear, they wanted to find a solution. So they asked Samuel, give us a king. So at the heart of the issue was the issue of trust. Would Ishmael trust the Lord as their king to lead them and fight their battles? Which was the story of Israel. If you read the Old Testament again and again and again, uh especially the first five books of the Bible, it is the Lord who is Yahweh, their warrior king, a God that will fight for them. So would Israel, though Samuel was born, you know, would Israel trust that God is still able to lead them as their king? Or would they succumb to the temptation to be like the other nations? So would Israel trust the Lord as their king to lead them and fight their battles, or would they want a king to lead in battles apart from the law? So we know that in history, in the Bible, uh Israel chose the letter and God assented to their request for a king. But the result was disastrous. Because we see the first king of Israel, which was Saul, the account of his reign and rejection uh proves the point that Saul wasn't able to fully obey about. So in the passage before us, taken from 1 Samuel verses 1 to 25, uh Samuel's address to Ishmael takes the form of a farewell discourse. It's almost like my last words to you, Ishmael, and includes warnings and judgments and also hope. So it is a pivotal and important passage for us as we stand at the threshold, uh crossing over to next year. I think the Lord is calling us to make a response uh this year, now, as we look forward to next year. So Samuel, it begins, first Samuel chapter 12 begins by Samuel speaking forthrightly and honestly, uh, that he has walked before Ishrael in the past, and now the king who they will choose will walk before them. So walking speaks of a manner of life, a manner of being with the people. So it is noteworthy that again, as earlier in 1 Samuel chapter 7, verse 3, when uh Samuel first came as a prophet, he posed a challenge to them. If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, put aside your idols. And now, at the end of his ministry as a judge on Israel, again the reminder comes. He says, If both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord, it will be well. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord and rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you or your king. So 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 12 reads, and when you saw that Nahash, the king of the Ammonites, came against you, said to me, No, but the king shall reign over us when the Lord, your Lord was your king. So in this instance, we read about how Ishrael saw the king of the Ammonites coming against them. And physically it looks cool to them that they wanted a king. But the narrator is clear that they wanted a king when the Lord, their God, was actually their king. So at the heart of this is uh it's an issue of trust, as I mentioned earlier. Uh, but it's also a flawed request that Israel had made in wanting a king to reign over them. Because it sets a human initiative, a human desire over against what God was providing. And Samuel begins to then make a case for the people of Israel to really understand, to know what they were into. And like in the Old Testament, often God presents his case to his people by recounting the story of portions of historical journey. And so in 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 8 to 11, uh Samuel recounts the history of Israel, how God himself delivered the people of Israel through the Exodus and under the judges. It was God himself that acted and delivered and judged the people. So uh 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 8 to 11 says, When Jacob went into Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the Lord.

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And the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought God. And what happens?

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God sold them, he sold them into the hand of the of the book of Judges where God gave Israel over to these nations because they forgot about him and mingled with idolatry. So these nations they fought against them, and once again Israel cried out to the Lord and said, We have sinned because we have forsaken the law and have served the Ba'als and the Ashtaroth. And now, but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies that we may serve you. And once again, the Lord delivered the people. He sent uh judges, he sent uh Jaru Baal and Barak, Zephyr, and Samuel, who delivered them out of the hand of your enemies on every side and leave safety. So the account, Samuel wants the people to know that God was faithful to the people all the way, right up to the point where they rejected God by demanding a king to rule over them. 1 Samuel 12, verse 12. The verse following the recounting of the historical story was that it says, You said to me, No, a king shall reign over us, even though the Lord you're brought. What's your king? Delivering you from the excellence, uh, from the oppression of your foreign enemies. So in the excellence and deliverance under the judges, God brought deliverance in the face of overwhelming ox. So there's no need for king, because God was their king. So 1 Samuel chapter 12, verses 1 to 25 actually calls Israel. It calls Israel to covenantal faithfulness, to be faithful to God. As Samuel gave his farewell speech, the call is for both king and the people in the here and now to be faithful to God. So in the statements in 1 Samuel 12, verse 14, it's all interlinked. It says, if you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and do not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, um, then there's a hope that there's a whisper of hope that Israel can maintain a loyalty to God if they acted in covenantal faithfulness to God. So for the people of Israel, their future success is conditioned upon their way of walking before the Lord. As 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 14 reminds us: if you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and do not rebel against the commandment of God. Samuel himself sets an example because he describes his own manner of conduct in walking before Israel, which serves as a crucial reminder that the people of God needs uh to walk with God in all honesty. So interestingly, in contrast to the kings, Samuel did not take from the people. 1 Samuel chapter 12, verses 3 to 4 tells us as Samuel stands before the people in the opening verses, he says, Here I am, testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? 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 restore it to you. They said, You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand. So this was the example of Samuel, unlike a king who would take from the people. Samuel, in all honesty, have not taken. He has walked in integrity and honesty before God. So the negative example of this was the King Saul in chapters following 1 Samuel 12. Uh, it is his example of how we should not walk before God. He certainly did not fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and rebelled against the commandment of the Lord. While fighting the remaining Philistines in 1 Samuel 13, Saul waited seven days for the time appointed by Samuel. But when Samuel did not appear, Saul offered the burnt offering and peace offering, which he was not authorized to do so. Filled with fear as his men were scattering, he decided to take things in his own hands to seek God's favor. Samuel rebuked him, saying that Saul had not kept the command of the Lord. That is 1 Samuel 13. Then a few chapters later, in 1 Samuel 15, Saul was told clearly by Samuel to go and strike the Amalek and to devote to destruction all they have. However, once again Saul did not obey God fully. He spared Agat, the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the sheep, and the oxen, and the fattened calves, and the lambs, and all that was good, he did not utterly destroy them. So the the result on both occasions was that Saul was rejected by God to be king. And of course, we know following that the Lord raised a man after his own heart, which is King David. So importantly for us, uh as we look at uh this 1 Samuel chapter 12 and as we consider implications uh as we cross over to 2024, is that for Israel the request for a king is still viewed as essentially an indication of unbelief, distrust, and a rejection of God as king. And why so? Because in 1 Samuel chapter 12, verse 16 to 18, it was demonstrated. Uh Samuel did a miracle to demonstrate once again that God is able, God is their king, he's able to deliver his people. It says now, therefore, stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. It's not the wheat harvest today. I will call upon the Lord that he may send thunder and rain, and you 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. So this instance was a miracle that happened because uh during the whe season it was the driest period of the year. So it was impossible for thunder and rain to come. Yet there's a visible miracle that was being done once again before the people's eyes to show and to prove to them that God is able to deliver them. God is the one that should trust and to look for. And of course, at that moment the people feared the Lord and Samuel because they saw the miracle, they saw rain and thunder, even though it's supposed to be a dry season, a wheat harvest season. So the main point that uh 1 Samuel 12 uh wants to make in the in Samuel's farewell speech is a word of judgment upon the people of Israel in asking for a king. It's a wicked thing to distrust God and it's unbelief, despite all that the Lord has done for them. All they could do, Israel, was to succumb to be like the nations. All they could think of in their pragmatic mindset is we also want a king to fight for us, just like the other nations. In their pragmatic mindset, they say, Samuel, you are old, your your sons are like that. We need to think about ourselves and our generations. Ask the Lord, give us a king, fight our battles. But Samuel is painting a different narrative, he's telling Israel, you don't need a king. The Lord your God is your king. He saved you, delivered you out of the exodus. He sent judges to deliver you. And right now, he did a miracle right before your eyes, causing thunder and rain to happen when it's the driest part of the year. All this authenticates evidence is these are evidence. To tell Israel that God is your king. Up to this point, it is wicked to ask for a king because God is the one that rules over you. So God was for Israel and still is their king, who alone works awesome wonders by his power, both in the account, the narrative story of his deliverance through the Exodus, through the judges. How God delivered his people in the past is also a present reality because God did a miracle once again before their eyes. All this is to prove that Israel is called to make a response to God, a response to serve him with all their hearts. So in this uh so-called pregnant moment uh with uh thunder and rain, very dramatic scene, I believe, uh, all around is dry and past, wheat uh harvest, and suddenly thunder and rain visually is captivating, dramatic. So in this pregnant moment, Samuel frames his response to the people of Israel in a God-centered way. Israel is to serve the Lord with all their heart, in full trust and reliance on the Lord. So, like Israel of old, I believe God is calling us in YCCA at the threshold uh of the year as we come into the end of 2023 today. I believe God is calling us once again as a church to covenantal faithfulness. Covenantal meaning our relationship with Jesus through his death on the cross, he has made a covenant uh of love and forgiveness to us. That covenant in which we remember every time we celebrate a communion, the covenant of blood, uh his blood shed for us, his body broken for us, given unto us. So God demands or God calls for a response. Just as how Samuel called for the people's response at a very pivotal moment in their history as they transit from a time of the judges to a time of kingship, whoever king that is appointed, they are all measured by one yardstick. Do they trust God or do they trust in their own uh way to figure out their kingship? And subsequent kings, we know the history of Israel was that uh there were good kings, there were bad kings, but generally the trend is downward. Uh that's why they eventually Israel went into exile. So as we approach the last day of the year 2023, what is our response to God? I like to suggest three things that we can all do. Firstly, recount God's awesome wonders. Recount God's awesome wonders. As Pastor Richard reminded us, think of the year, what the Lord has done for us. He has done marvelous things, he has saved us, he has redeemed us, he has uh, even though sometimes he brings us through uh fire and the furnace of crisis, tough circumstances, but he has saved us, he has carried us through. So as a church, we can recount God's awesome wonders, just as how Israel was called to reckoning uh based on how God has delivered them right up to the present moment, even showing, doing a miracle right before their eyes. All this is to show that God is a miracle-working God, He's an awesome God who works wonders. There's no God like Yahweh, there's no God like Israel's God, the warrior God, a God that fights for his people. So, similarly, for us, we have God with us, we have Jesus. Uh, we we know that God has been good to us. And so we need to take time to recount his awesome wonders, lest we forget his goodness, least we rush off to uh, in a pragmatic sense, to uh manage our own life. Because if we are not able to recount God's awesome wonders, if we don't do not tarry enough to linger on all the precious miracles he has done for us, the human tendency is we will be left to our vices, is that we will take things into our own hands, we will figure our own life on our own, just as how Israel had the tendency to want to be like all the nations because they took their eyes off the miracles, they took their eyes off what God has done for them. And today we need to recount God's awesome ones because if we do not recount, we will forget. If we do not recount, we will be left to our vices. So the second point, resist leaning on our own desires and initiative. Some may argue that Israel's decision to ask for a king is not a bad thing because it's a very logical, pragmatic uh Singaporean thing to do, right? You plan for a succession, you know, you see it's a dire situation, Samuel is getting old, uh, and the sons are not walking the ways of the Lord. What to do, right? So instead of crying to the Lord and trusting in him, they found a solution. Give us a king. Never mind that he will take from us, never mind that we will become slaves under the king, but it's okay. At least we have a king that fight for us. At least the king is our security. So it's a wicked thing, according to Samuel, because Ishrael distrusts God as their king. So as we recount God's awesome wonders, we need to resist leaning on our own desires and initiative, which is very natural to act according to the flesh. And scripture tells us that God may not always stop us if we choose to go our own way, uh, the human way. God will not always stop us. Yet there's a higher way, and that is the way, which is the third way, to resolve to trust God fully. To resolve to trust God fully, because at the heart of our discipleship as we follow God today is to trust him, to trust him even when we do not understand his plan, we cannot see his hand before us, to trust him when he seems to be oblique and uh nothing inside before us. Can you imagine with me uh how Israel themselves, they were driven between the land and the sea. So the Egyptians in Exodus tells us that uh they were in hot pursuit uh against them, and they were coming right to the point where they were in front of the sea, right? So they were in a moment where the they are they almost were being uh crushed, crushed between the Egyptian army and the sea before them. Either they'll jump in and perhaps humanly saying they may be drowned because uh who can cross the sea? The best swimmer will drown, right? Because uh, well, maybe he can survive longer, but in the open sea, uh subjected to all kinds of things, right? So so they were literally sandwiched. Yet uh the word of the Lord to them was to stand still and see the salvation that the Lord will bring. As and do not be afraid, do not be anxious. So I sense today that perhaps some of us as we enter into the new year, we we do have prayers unanswered, we do have concerns, we do have problems left unresolved. But would you resolve to trust God fully today? Because that's the best place to be to be. The best place to be is to be the place where we position ourselves to trust God instead of leading out our own desires.

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We pray that you've been on the word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Israel Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.