Audio Link
A Man in the Gap
1 Samuel 12:19-25, Remsen Bible Fellowship, 12/06/2020
Introduction:
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 your whole heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. 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. 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. 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.”
Last week we discussed chapter 12 as a whole, taking as our theme the importance of remembering. Israel had forgotten her God, she had forgotten his past provision and protection, and as a result when a new threat came knocking she ran for a human savior. Nonetheless, there was hope. God does not demand that you come to him from a point of perfection; rather, he invites you and even demands you to come from where you are right now. So, though the people had sinned grievously, Samuel can say to them in vs20-21, 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 are empty. What grace! What mercy! Even in this moment of national rebellion, Samuel can hold forth the hope that God will indeed accept them if they trust in him rather than in vain and empty things. That’s a hope each of us needs when we sin, for to sin is to trust in vain and empty things, rather than in the Lord God.
This hope can be hard to believe, and that hard-to-believe-ness is upped when you add Samuel’s faithfulness to the people. He promises not only that God will listen to their prayers, but that he himself will continue to pray for them and to instruct them. It reminded me of a story from American history. In the year 1750, Jonathan Edwards, the famous Congregationalist preacher/theologian/philosopher, was fired by his church, after serving them for over 20 years. There were a number of precipitating factors including some botched pastoral decisions and long standing family rivalries in the church, but the issue that ultimately caused for him to be removed from the pastorate was his insistence that only those who actually professed faith in Jesus Christ should be admitted into church membership and welcomed at the Lord’s table. Stop and think about that. One of the most famous preachers of the 18th century was fired for saying you have to be a Christian to partake in the Lord’s supper.
What makes that story all the more remarkable is what comes next. You see, he was a pastor in rural Massachusetts-there weren’t many preachers to come by. So for over a year after being fired, the church continued to ask him to preach Sunday by Sunday. “We don’t like you and don’t want you to be the pastor, but could you come preach to us another 60 or 70 times?” Sometimes a leader can be totally rejected and mistreated by those they lead, and nonetheless continue to love and serve them because of their commitment not only to the people-but to God.
I want to zero our focus this morning on verse 23, 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. As we focus on one specific verse, I want our framing question to be, who is this man in the gap? What characterizes Samuel’s leadership in this verse? And as we walk through, shaping our thoughts around three I’s (Impulse, Intercession, and Instruction), I also want to ask this question: do these things point beyond Samuel to teach us about someone greater?
Impulse
Perhaps I should explain my use of the word impulse before we get too far. When you think of impulse you may jump straight to the idea of a sudden urge or desire, as we mean when we say someone acted on impulse, or I made an impulse purchase. It was something that came suddenly, and then I reacted to that immediate urge. But another definition for the word impulse is that which is a driving or motivating force.
And as we look at Samuel in chapter 12, we should ask, what is his motivating force? Put yourself in his shoes: faithfully serving the people decade after decade, seeing God mercifully grant deliverance from their enemies time after time, and even here seeing him gently move the people through the process of selecting a king. God has been so kind to these people, and you have been there, leading them through it all. And then they reject God. But not only do they reject God, they do it in a way that leaves you as the odd man out. You’re being replaced.
Samuel would have every human reason to simply ditch out on these people. If his driving or motivating force were selfishness, if his primary impulse were to please himself, then to leave these people behind would be no big deal. But notice the beginning of verse 23, Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. What’s his impulse here, what’s the “why?” behind his action? Samuel doesn’t want to sin against the Lord. Or, to put it in positive terms, his desire, his aim, his impulse is to please God. And if God has given Samuel the task of serving this nation, how could he give that up simply because of his hurt feelings? “Yahweh also displays that grace...in appointing servants who make the welfare of his people their preoccupation...If the rejected God refuses to forsake his people, how can his rejected servant do so?”
This is precisely the sort of leader we all want, isn’t it? Someone focused on the good of the people, someone who comes not simply to prop themselves up, or to stroke their own ego, but who instead is bent on doing what is most beneficial for those in their charge. Where do we see this sort of leadership most clearly exemplified? I would submit to you that while Samuel’s leadership is highly commendable, and we should long for leaders today who hold this same impulse of please God, not self, his leadership is still but a shadow of the One in Whom leadership finds it’s true substance.
I would direct your attention to Isaiah 53, beginning in verse three, He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.
The suffering servant of Isaiah’s prophecy is to be one despised, rejected, and crushed. For his own sins? No, but because of the sins of the people. And this is clearly Jesus’ own conception of his mission on earth. In Mark 10:42-45, after James and John have asked to be seated in the most powerful places in his kingdom, Jesus says, You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Who is the greatest leader to ever live? Jesus of Nazareth, eternal God in the flesh. What was his driving impulse? To serve the Father by serving his chosen people. Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)
Intercession
Where does this desire to please God lead? Samuel says, far be it from that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. He sees that a key part of his calling is to pray for the people. To stand between the people and God and intercede on their behalf is a key duty, and we see him doing this all the way through, beginning in chapter 8 where his first response to the nation’s demand for a king is to go talk to God about. He goes looking for Divine help and guidance.
And remember, this is specifically what the people had requested in v19, pray for your servants. I think we should be encouraged that this was the people’s response. Have you ever been in sin, either feeling like you fell into a pattern unknowingly and can’t find your way out, or you simply chose to willfully disobey God and now see the horrible consequences? There is a temptation in that moment to become hardened. To pull an Adam and Eve, sewing together some leaves and playing the blame game. Or to frankly embrace your sin as your core identity and try to forge ahead without God.
This is what so often happens in the course of people walking away from the Lord. There is a particular sin that becomes either more precious to them than God, or simply seems impossible to overcome and so walking with God and being confronted over and over by that sin becomes incredibly inconvenient. And so there is a drift. A drift away from reading the Bible. A drift away from prayer. A drift away from the church. Times of struggle and sin are when we are most tempted to isolate-and it’s when we most need others. We need someone to stand in the gap for us and pray for us, that we may not die.
Christian, do you know that in those times Jesus himself is praying for you? In the moment of your deepest weakness, your hardest trial, your most catastrophic failure and sin-then you can know that the Son of God prays for you. In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus is speaking to a very proud Simon Peter. This is what he says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. Did you hear that? Satan wanted to sift Peter, and instead of Jesus saying “no”, or even praying that Peter would come through perfectly resisting, he instead prays that Peter’s faith would not fail. Peter would fail, his action in denying the Lord three times was shameful, but unlike Judas who despaired and killed himself afterward, Peter’s faith does hold. He does turn, and he strengthens the church. Why was he able to? Because Jesus prayed for him.
Hebrews 7, the author is speaking of the superior priesthood of Jesus. How he is greater in every way than those priests who came before. And beginning in v23, we read, The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. Did you hear that? For those who draw near to God through Christ, Jesus always lives to make intercession for them. Which is to say, no matter how bad you’ve blown it, no matter how far from God you feel right now, no matter what you’ve done wrong-if you will turn from those worthless things and trust Jesus as your only hope before the Father, Jesus himself prays for you. The one who paid the price of his life on Calvary’s tree is pleading your case before the Father.
Romans 8:34, Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died--more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Instruction
But as we bring our attention back to 1 Samuel 12:23, we see that praying isn’t the only ministry Samuel has. In the second half of the verse we read, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Of course, Samuel has been doing that very thing throughout this entire chapter. He has instructed them in the right way by reminding them of God’s prior faithfulness. He’s instructed them in the right way by rebuking them for their sinful rebellion. And he further has instructed them in the right way by urging them to stay with God, and to not give themselves over to vain and empty idols.
And again, this is an area for which Samuel is to be commended and followed today by those who would serve God’s people. And it is yet another area where, as good as he was, Samuel was but a shadow of the true Teacher of God’s people who was to come. Jesus came into the world as the very Word or Speech or Thought or Self-Disclosure of God. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). In his ministry Jesus spoke with an absolute and unquestionable authority. After his most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5-7, we read these words, And when Jesus had finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes. Note what astonishes the crowds. It’s not how wonderful they think his teaching is-much of the Sermon on the Mount would have been deeply offensive to them (as it will be to you if you read it carefully). It’s not how deeply learned he was, how many times he could quote other Rabbi’s and their thoughts. It’s his authority. Jesus, the Son of God, spoke the Word of God with absolute authority.
And it is this authoritative word from God that each of us needs to come to God, it’s what we need to understand ourselves rightly before him, hearing his word is a prerequisite to believing in him and being saved, and being taught by his word is the basis on which we are to build our lives. In Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17, we read the following in verses 6-8, I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. And continuing down to verse 17, Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. Jesus saw as a key part of his ministry the giving to his people the words of the Father, and we see from places like John 14:25ff, alongside texts like 2 Timothy 3-4, that this work continues today through the ministry of the Holy Spirit speaking via the written word of God. Jesus continues to instruct his people in the Good and the right way.
Conclusion: Our Great Need
I think the most important thing for us to see as we look at a verse like 1 Samuel 12:23 is that such a leader, one whose impulse is to honor the Father, one who prays for the people, and one who instructs the people is not something relegated to the dustbin of ancient Israelite history. We need to see that as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have that kind of leader, and it is Jesus himself.
But is there something to take away in how we look for leaders in the church, and how each of you live as “lay people”, those in the chairs or they pews? I think so.
First of all, we do need leaders. Leaders, who like Samuel, are not the perfect Son of God, but who do strive to imitate his humble and servant-minded leadership. Who do not seek to bind heavy loads that they are unwilling to lift a finger toward helping with, but rather who will patiently and persistently pray for and instruct the people. That is, essentially, the role of the Christian pastor. My job description is not to literally stand between the congregation and God-there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. But it is to come to him as a shepherd, and plead with the Chief Shepherd that he would be at work in his people, and to come to you and open up his word and teach that you might clearly hear what he has to say. This is what the apostles dedicated themselves to in Acts 6:4, But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. That’s my role here, and I want you to hold me accountable to that.
But I don’t want you to feel let of the hook in this text, either. Though the direct application, I do believe, is to pastors and church leaders, congregations have a part to play as well. First of all, congregations should look for this kind of leadership, not the things this world typically looks for: charm, good looks, great speaking ability, charisma. Secondly, though, we need to get our arms around this reality: as New Testament believers we have all been given a ministry of praying for one another and of ministering the word to one another.
In Ephesians 6:18 Paul instructs believers to be praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Paul is saying, part of being a Christian is praying for other Christians! Now by all the saints, I think he is looking across the world-but surely this must begin with those whom we actually know and love in the local church. What of ministering the word? Colossians 3:16 reads, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness is your hearts to God. We looked at that verse last week in the context of singing. But I don't think the principle needs to be limited there. Do you challenge and encourage one another from God’s word? Nothing is more encouraging to me than when I hear that happening.
I hope you can see in these verses that we don’t just get benefits from being part of the church (though we certainly do!), but we also gain responsibility to one another. This is part of the great privilege of being a Christian. Following Christ can be genuinely hard at times. But with other believers in our lives lifting us up in prayer, pointing us to God’s word, and reminding us that Jesus himself is on our side, life will not drown us. We may fall, but when we turn, we can strengthen the brothers, because the Lord Jesus himself is with us.
In conclusion, Take hope: Samuel told the people in verse 22 that the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself. Peter picks up that same tone and applies it to Christians in 1 Peter 2:9-10, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
We receive mercy through the blood of Christ alone. He has been pleased to bring us into his people. So, when you’ve failed, when you fall, know this: Jesus loves, he’s praying for you, and he will gladly instruct you in the right way. Forsake all worthless gods, and follow Him alone.