October 23, 2022 - The Life of the Heart
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Today we’ll continue making our way through the book of 1 Samuel...
and if you’ve been with us the past couple of weeks, you may have noticed that in that time - we’ve been walking through...
…a series WITHIN the bigger series of the book itself.
2 weeks ago we looked at:
The Way of the Heart
and last week we saw:
The Truth of the Heart
So - regarding the HEART, we’ve seen...
The WAY, the TRUTH...
And TODAY?
Yes, mimicking Jesus’ words in John 14:6 where He says He’s the way, the truth and the life...
TODAY - we’ll finish up this mini series with - the Life of the Heart
and our passage today will be the entirety of chapter 12....and because of the verse count this week...
…we’ll break the chapter into sections - and then dive into each section as we go...
So let’s get to it - (verses 1-8 to start)
1 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.
2 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.
3 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.”
4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.”
5 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.”
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
What we’re seeing here is Samuel’s farewell address.
And what we initially are reminded of - is how Samuel walked before the people (judged) the people from his youth until that day...
2 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.
There’s a phrase here in this verse that’s gonna speak to the reality of our 1st point...
And the phrase is this:
“before you”
Samuel says - “the king walks before you”
Referring to - Saul...
But then he says...
“[I] have “WALKED BEFORE YOU” from my youth until now”
Now we already know that - Samuel as judge - EQUATES to God as KING
So that when Samuel was judge - God was ruling the people
But where does Samuel go from here?
verses 3-8
3 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.”
4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.”
5 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.”
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
So Samuel - in his final farewell - takes the people back through his reign as judge...
And he REMINDS the people of how [HE] - (and BY EXTENSION - GOD) treated the people! (*Don’t read verse again - point to ?s)
3 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.”
He’s saying - Tell me!
JUDGE ME! he says...
And if you find that I MISTREATED YOU…tell me!
4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.”
5 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.”
The people here - acknowledge that Samuel has not mistreated them...
And because of this - we know...
SLIDE: The Life of the Heart: Lives Without Eyes to See God
The Life of the Heart
The Life of the Heart
The people of Israel experienced the blessings of God - THROUGH Samuel...
YET - couldn’t see God in any of it!
A problem with the heart of man - is that by default - it has a GOD-SIZED blind spot…(*totaled Rachel’s van)
We need to SEE God -
But the eyes of our hearts - by default - CANNOT see God
Seems strange - but there are 2 kinds of SEEING in this world...
13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
And even more specific to what we’re saying here today...
Is Paul in Ephesians...
17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
We sing of this don’t we?
Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord...
The Israelites had been LED by - Samuel - and thus - BY GOD - all of Samuel’s life...
And the people didn’t SEE IT…their HEARTS didn’t SEE IT!
And so Samuel let’s them know - NOT SEEING IT - isn’t anything new...
5 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.”
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.
Samuel says - LET ME REMIND you why you’re EVEN HERE today - in this land...
It’s NOT BECAUSE your fathers were strong enough and smart enough…!
Why are you even here? - GOD
v7 said what?
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!
They didn’t SEE IT!
And this blindness causes them to do something else...
9 But they forgot the Lord their God. And he sold them 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.
10 And they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’
11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.
What do these verses point to?
We’ve already seen that The Life of the Heart lives without eyes to SEE God...
SLIDE: The Life of the Heart: Lives Without Affections to Love God
The Life of the Heart
The Life of the Heart
v9 of our text today began by saying - the people FORGOT the Lord!
9 But they forgot the Lord their God. And he sold them 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.
ALL that God had DONE for them...
And they FORGOT Him...
So He sends tribulation to the people...
How do they respond?
10 And they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, that we may serve you.’
This here might sound good no?
But do you notice how this keeps playing out?
• The People Sin - begin worshipping false idols
• The People face the consequences - turned over to their enemies
• And then the people ask to be DELIVERED from their enemies, saying they’ll now worship and serve God
Soo - the pattern is - they only declare that they’ll worship and serve God - when their ENEMIES - have OVERWHELMED them!
God had become their - Genie in a Bottle...
There’s no RELATIONSHIP with the Genie...
The Genie is just a SERVANT of the owner.
The Genie simply does the BIDDING of the owner.
There’s no love here!
it’s just a - WORKING relationship
The Life of the Heart Lives Without Affections to Love God
EVEN so - While ISRAEL was UNFAITHFUL - God remained - faithful...
11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Barak and Jephthah and Samuel and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you lived in safety.
- God PROTECTED those who were in REBELLION against Him...
And so - Israel’s affections certainly waned over time...
*How about us?
Do we only seek God’s hand when TRIBULATION comes?
Test yourself!
Looking back - we see this is the Life of the Heart!
But that’s not all...
What we’re going to see next is...
SLIDE: The Life of the Heart: Lives Without Fear of God
The Life of the Heart
The Life of the Heart
12 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.
13 And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you.
14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well.
God had PROTECTED the people - YET - when a new enemy came...
THEY SOUGHT a NEW KING!
There was just NO FEAR of God…in the people
They had NO PROBLEM - TURNING from GOD...
That’s why Samuel says this in v14 right here!
“If you will FEAR the Lord...”
…things will go well for you - AND your king
But what - the people had no problem...
turning from the Hand that FED them...
turning from the Hand that protected them...
gave them life
There was no FEAR of God
And so at the drop of a hat - it was ON TO THE NEXT IDOL!
At the drop of a hat - it was - BACK TO - WE KNOW BEST!
*Is this US or what?
How often are we ALL ABOUT following Jesus - coming to church - doing ministry - going to Bible study...
UNTIL - we need to FOLLOW JESUS down the road of repentance?
UNTIL - we need to follow Jesus down the road of “Offering Grace”?
OR - NOT returning insult for insult...
OR - getting out of the boat
When we REFUSE to Follow Jesus - down THESE ROADS - it is a symptom of a LACK OF - Fear of God
it is ARROGANCE in the face of GOD ALMIGHTY.
And it leads - ultimately - to foolishness and destruction
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
While the King of Glory was ruling the people of Israel…the people were searching for PAPER CROWNS...
The Life of the Heart Lives Without Fear of God
But that’s not all...
We continue in our text...
15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king.
Here we see that EVEN with Saul in place as king of Israel - God Himself is still in CHARGE…!
Samuel says - if you rebel against God - then God will be against you AND your chosen king...
Even Saul fell under the authority of God
16 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.
17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, that he may send thunder and rain. And you shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, in asking for yourselves a king.”
18 So Samuel called upon the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.
Samuel here calls the people to - stand still - and SEE the great thing the LORD will do before their EYES!!
SEE IT - he says…!
and in SEEING IT - you will know that your wickedness is GREAT before the Lord - in choosing a KING for yourselves!!
And so God answers and sends the thunder and rain - and v18 says -
the people greatly FEARED the Lord and Samuel!
NOW - again - this SOUNDS good…but…to me - there’s an interesting TELL in the next verse!
19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”
Now - read this verse again to yourselves - and see if you find a particular word - that stands out to you...
The people ask Samuel to “Pray for your servants to the Lord ___ God”
“your” God - - not “OUR” God
It sounds good - but it SEEEEMS - that the people are in a state of active rebellion - even as they ask for PRAYER!
And what we see is this...
The Life of the Heart: Lives Without Faith to Trust God
The Life of the Heart
The Life of the Heart
Back to v19
19 And all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.”
When i first read this verse - this “YOUR” stood out to me...
And from my initial perspective...
I felt like - OK - these people aren’t even considering that the God of Samuel is THEIR OWN God...
I mean - Samuel has been telling them that His God is THEIR God this whole time....if we look back...
19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”
12 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.
14 If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well.
So Samuel has been proclaiming that the people are under the authority of the God of Israel...
So my INITIAL take was - these people are still in rebellion...
But then I thought - Well - could it be that they had been so CONVICTED of what Samuel was saying - that they felt SO FAR from God -
that they didn’t feel they could - in good conscience - declare God to be - THEIR GOD?
In the end - we’ll never know for certain (on this side of the grave) but - even so...
Samuel continues...
20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
21 And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty.
22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself.
23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.
25 But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”
Samuel closes this out with his final warning to the people...
And he calls for the people to serve the Lord with all their…v20
20 And Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
Today we just looked at the Life of the Heart...
What we’ve seen so far is that the...
Life of the Heart...
Lives Without Eyes to See God
Lives Without Affections to Love God
Lives Without Fear of God
Lives Without Faith to Trust God
So when Samuel calls for the people to serve the Lord with all their heart...
He’s calling them to...
Open their Eyes to SEE God...
Love God
Fear God
Trust God by Faith!
And THESE things go against the Life of the Natural heart...
- But when we DO THIS - (when we....) - we won’t turn to the false idols...
SURE we’ll fail and lose some battles - but the war has been WON!
What have we seen today...
The Life of the Heart
Lives Without Eyes to See God
Lives Without Affections to Love God
Lives Without Fear of God
Lives Without Faith to Trust God
And when we put all of these things together...
We realize that the Life of the Heart is - No life at all...
We realize it’s VOID of life.
And so BY DEFAULT - we as humans are VOID of life...
As we live - VOID of life...
And so - how MERCIFUL God is - to create in such a way that we might - SEE HIM (in all creation), KNOW HIM, LOVE HIM, and WORSHIP HIM....
May we Examine our hearts today - and draw near to God
Let’s pray!