The Unbreakable Bond: Finding Assurance in God’s Faithfulness

• God's Sovereignty and Redemption of Evil 00:26:54 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that while the human king was not part of God's original plan, God uses human sin (like Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery or the crucifixion) for good, demonstrating His power and giving assurance to believers.
• Israel's Request for a King 00:29:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor details the historical context of 1 Samuel 8, where Israel's elders ask Samuel for a king, which God interprets as a rejection of His own kingship.
• The Nature of Kingship and Rebellion 00:30:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines the request for a human king as 'treason' against God, noting that God warns the people of the costs of kingship (taxes, drafting children) before granting the request.
• The Request for a King 00:32:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that asking for a human king was a rejection of God's kingship, described as a 'great evil' and 'treason,' yet God still provided it.
• The Gospel of Assurance 00:34:31 ▶️ 📄
  > Samuel's response to the people's fear is identified as the gospel: 'Do not be afraid,' because God has tied Himself to them and will not forsake them for His name's sake.
• Source of Security 00:35:16 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that primary security comes from God putting His name on believers, not from their own goodness, obedience, or giving.
• Pastoral Ministry and Discipleship 00:35:52 ▶️ 📄
  > Samuel's commitment to continue praying, coaching, and teaching the people despite their sin is presented as a model of what real Christians should look like.
• Covenantal Faithfulness 00:43:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects the Old Testament narrative to the New Testament, explaining that God's assurance is based on His choice to make believers His people and demonstrate His character through them.
• Assurance of Salvation 00:44:08 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that assurance comes not from personal performance but from God's binding commitment to His people for His name's sake.
• The Role of the Church 00:44:49 ▶️ 📄
  > The church is called to be 'salt and light' to demonstrate God's character to the world, causing people to give glory to the Father.
• Levels of Assurance 00:46:44 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the 'American way' of self-secured assurance through performance with the deeper assurance found in God's covenantal tie to His people.
• Christ as the True King 00:51:33 ▶️ 📄
  > Jesus is presented as the true King who ties Himself to believers, unlike the flawed human kings of Israel, ensuring their completion and forgiveness.

• Sermon Illustration 00:27:04 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers to illustrate how God takes evil intentions and works them for good, saving thousands of people including his family during the famine.
• Sermon Illustration 00:28:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the crucifixion of the Son of God as a 'gigantic example' of God taking great evil and using it for the good of the salvation of humankind.
• Sermon Illustration 00:37:32 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about crashing his father's 1968 Chevy Nomad station wagon at age 17 due to driving too fast while listening to music and thinking about a girl. He describes the fear of the crash, the aftermath, and his father's arrival to help, using it to illustrate the assurance of a father's presence and faithfulness.
• Sermon Illustration 00:48:00 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor shares a story about a talented friend who squandered his college years and was on the verge of failing graduation. His advisor, who had tied herself to him, refused to let him fail, offering to teach him independent study courses to earn his diploma, demonstrating God's commitment to complete His work in believers.

• Pastoral Charge 00:34:03 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the people's request for Samuel to pray for them, applying it as a model for believers to seek intercession when in trouble due to sin.
• Pastoral Charge 00:34:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor urges the congregation to 'stay with God' and not turn aside to empty things, despite their sins, trusting in God's faithfulness.
• Pastoral Charge 00:36:39 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor commands the congregation to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully, reminding them to reflect on God's past deeds.
• Pastoral Charge 00:45:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor calls the congregation to actively live out specific virtues (generosity, forgiveness, courage, toughness) and engage in spiritual battles to demonstrate God's character to the world.
• Pastoral Charge 00:53:43 ▶️ 📄
  > Walk out of the service holding onto the dual assurance of forgiveness/completion and the demand for active participation in God's work.
• Pastoral Charge 00:55:32 ▶️ 📄
  > Stand together to recite the Apostles' Creed as a public declaration of belonging to Jesus Christ.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:00:00] Kids and the families who came. The kids of all ages. You're seeing the work of our kind of kindergarten through seventh grade work here doing the Days of Creation. You'll be hearing more about that. Had a fantastic adult class which worked out so very well. Appreciate the leadership there. So a lot of great things happened this week at your church and you'll see some beautiful children up here singing beautiful songs. And so we're just so appreciative of the
[00:00:29] the support of the whole church on this project and look forward to to more of that all the other things are there for your consideration let us now prepare our hearts and minds for the worship

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:00:44] of our lord let's pray together friends almighty god thanks for bringing us to your house this

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:05:49] morning holy spirit we pray you'd be with us to lead us in worship and to enable us to worship you all week with the way we live. It's a great privilege to be here. It's a great privilege to
[00:06:02] be your people today and all week, all our lives. So we come asking for you to receive us. We are sinners. Please have mercy on us. Please change us. Make us hate our sin. Make us see its destructive
[00:06:21] power in our own lives and in the lives around us and enable us to not only embrace the forgiveness of our savior but the the discipline and the changing and the new life our lord brings
[00:06:34] help us to trust his way we've come to praise you yes we've come to hear your word that we might know how to honor you better we might have a better understanding of all you've done for us
[00:06:50] and that we might be energized and focused and directed on how to live lives worthy of this great gospel, the salvation of Jesus Christ. So receive now our praise and thanks and lead us in
[00:07:05] your way. We pray humbly through Jesus Christ our Lord and hear us now please as we pray together the prayer he taught his disciples. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
[00:07:20] come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
[00:07:39] for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen our opening hymn for the

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:07:47] morning is number 25 let's stand together as we sing 25 and we come now to a time of prayer for

[00:10:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:10:43] those in need uh we will pray for any number of folks but we will um certainly be praying for the family of evan brannan who passed away unexpectedly last week uh that is the son of kathy and michael
[00:10:54] steed um the arrangements have been determined recently and they are there will be a service here in this room at two o'clock tomorrow so visitation uh at one o'clock tomorrow here at the church and then service celebration of the resurrection and in honor of the life of evan
[00:11:15] brannan tomorrow two o'clock here so for that among other things let us pray together almighty and everlasting god we are appreciative and humbled by the privilege of a prayer that the lord of heaven and earth listens to us through jesus name it's a great privilege so we humbly
[00:11:39] ask you to hear our prayers and because we are coming through Jesus Christ we pray as he did nevertheless not our will but your will be done we get to pray for what we want what we long for
[00:11:53] what we hope for we thank you for that we do that nevertheless cause us to trust that when your answer is yes we so appreciate it help us to appreciate no or wait your other answers that
[00:12:08] we trust as your will is done that is good so we do pray for evan's family and their loss and pray you would comfort and encourage them as we pray for all who grieve all who are doubting and afraid
[00:12:25] all who are hungry and thirsty sick imprisoned as christ taught us to consider in matthew 25 help us to to see the burdens that other people are bearing and understand our blessing and understand our plenty and understand our freedom in Christ and take on the burdens of those around us and
[00:12:47] thus fulfill the law of Christ. Help us to see that and do that and know that that pleases you and shows your goodness and love. We pray always for your church to get the gospel out in a way
[00:12:59] that pleases you. We pray for our friends at St. Mark's Lutheran Church. Bless and empower them.
[00:13:07] We pray for our missionaries, Dan and Justin and Kristen and Rob and Sandy, among others, on the mission field, bless and empower them.
[00:13:20] Your word says to whom much is given, much is expected.
[00:13:24] There are times when we need to receive.
[00:13:26] There are times when we are in difficulty and we need the help of other people.
[00:13:30] We thank you.
[00:13:31] And there are times and many times where we have the opportunity to take what we have been given, the love we've been given, the resources we've been given, the experiences we've been given, the strength we've been given,
[00:13:42] and to share it and to be a blessing.
[00:13:47] Enable us to embrace that and do that.
[00:13:49] to your glory and to our own joy and to the blessing of people around us that they may see our good works as being salt and light in the world and give you praise and honor.
[00:14:03] We ask humbly through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
[00:14:06] Amen.

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:14:07] Yes, and then in day two, what did we have?
[00:15:35] The sky and the sea.
[00:15:38] The sea's my favorite.
[00:15:40] And then in day three, what did we have?
[00:15:43] Did we have some land and some plants?
[00:15:47] okay and then after that what do we have the sun moon and stars and then after that we had the animals and next was super creepy people and then there's something else that we'll talk about scripture readings uh for the morning will be taken uh from first from the

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:25:19] first book of Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 8, and then we will read from 1 Samuel chapter 12. So two readings from the book of 1 Samuel. You may remember last week, for those who were here,
[00:25:34] we began it, we're getting back into the Old Testament, working our way through the kings of Israel. And we started in 2 Samuel 7 last week, talking about really one of the great foundational promises that organizes the entire Bible, which is in 2 Samuel 7, God says to David,
[00:25:51] one from your line will rule as king forever. And we know that to be Jesus Christ as the king who will rule forever so that the people of God are created. And from that people of God comes the
[00:26:03] king who will rule forever. And we are familiar at some level with the kings of Israel, King David, King Solomon and the like and then we know is that this points to Jesus Christ the king forever
[00:26:15] and there's an interesting little thing that goes on in how Israel gets a king and so we're going to talk about these passages that we're reading today both today and next week because it's a
[00:26:28] it's a it's an interesting and kind of complicated thing that I think is useful for us to get a hold of and then we'll get into the life of David and all and many of the stories we know and what they
[00:26:37] mean for us but what I think is valuable for us to see is the king gets used by God for good but the king the human king is not part of God's original plan and the human beings do things and
[00:26:54] God says because I'm in charge and because I make it work I will take the things that you do wrong and I will work them into the plan that is something I think that gives us an assurance
[00:27:04] it's something that gives us and quite frankly an impressiveness with god right let's use a couple of examples that are fairly big so when joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers at the end of genesis and they meant it evil and they meant him to be destroyed and god takes
[00:27:22] protects joseph and keeps him keeps him okay right raises him up to number two in the land of egypt and joseph is powerful he has the ability to save thousands of thousands of people including his
[00:27:33] family that when his family comes in the famine they don't know who Joseph is he delivers them he saves them and then the brothers at the end of the story come when Joseph has all the power and
[00:27:44] they say they they try to make a deal where it's like hey we knew we did this awful thing don't kill us and Joseph said you meant it for evil there is no there's no getting around that you
[00:27:56] meant this thing when you sold me to slavery you meant it for evil but God meant it for good God used it for good. God took your sin and put it in the plan and caused good things to come out of it.
[00:28:09] That's the power of God. Likewise, we could use the gigantic example of the crucifixion of the son of God. It's frowned upon. God took this great evil and used it for good, worked it into the plan
[00:28:24] for the salvation of humankind. This is part of God's great power. So what we're about to read fits into that. So if you remember your Old Testament history that the people come into the promised land, they go through a couple hundred years of these people called the judges who are
[00:28:39] okay leadership wise, but Israel goes back and forth between sin and not sin. The first seven chapters of first and second Samuel are kind of a continuation of that. Samuel's the last judge.
[00:28:51] Samuel is about to die. Samuel's sons could take over, but they're not any good. They're going to be terrible leaders. And so the people ask for a king. So we pick up in 1 Samuel 8, verse 4.
[00:29:06] 1 Samuel 8, verse 4, as another, as a foreign king has come to threaten and menace Israel.
[00:29:13] We have these words, 1 Samuel 8, verse 4. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, behold, you are old. Thanks a lot. Behold, you're old
[00:29:24] and not any good to us anymore people and your sons do not walk in your ways you're old and your children aren't any good you have a nice day too all right now appoint for us a king to judge
[00:29:43] us like all the nations but this thing displeased Samuel when he said give us a king to judge or rule over us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to Samuel, obey the voice of the
[00:30:00] people and all that they say to you. Now notice what God does not say. God does not say obey the people because this king is a great idea. He says obey the voice of the people and all that they
[00:30:14] say to you for they have not rejected you but they have rejected me as king, me God. They have rejected me from being king over them. The request for a king is a rejection at some level of God's
[00:30:31] kingship. That is not good. We call that treason. When you say, I don't want the current king, I want the current king to be removed, that is treason, which usually ends up getting your head
[00:30:46] chopped off. Verse 8, according to all the deeds that they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt. You're going to see that throughout this little story. He says, I brought
[00:31:02] him up out of Egypt when I was defeating Pharaoh, the most powerful king in the known world at that time. When I was defeating Pharaoh, they thought I was doing a pretty good job as king. They thought
[00:31:14] it was a good idea to have me as king. And from the day I brought them out of Egypt and to this day, they've forsaken me serving other gods. So they are also doing now to you, Samuel. Now then
[00:31:25] you shall obey their voice only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of a king and how he shall reign over them and Samuel goes on which we'll talk about next week that he will
[00:31:37] the kings will tax them the kings will draft their children and they will set up this large bureaucracy which will be costly in all kinds of ways so chapters 9 10 and 11 as you're turning to
[00:31:49] first Samuel 12 same chapters 9 10 11 they anoint Saul to be the first king Samuel anoints Saul to be the first king they win a big battle against the Philistines we've made this great decision
[00:32:05] so now they're going to kind of have in chapter 12 it's kind of this inauguration service of the new king Saul so we will pick up a reading in verse 16 verse 16 of second Samuel 12 actually
[00:32:20] i'm so sorry we'll pick up in verse 14 of second samuel 12 verse 14 so now samuel is addressing all of israel and they're inaugurating the king for real if you will fear the lord and serve him
[00:32:34] 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 this is the same deal they had
[00:32:44] coming out of egypt this is the same deal they had coming out of uh in the judges period if you will stick with God he will take care of you verse 15 but if you will not obey the voice of the Lord
[00:32:56] but rebel against his commandment then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king now therefore stand still and see this great thing that the Lord is doing before your eyes is not the wheat harvest today it's time for the wheat harvest as I understand it the last thing
[00:33:15] you want to unharvest day is rain it's the wheat harvest today I will call upon the Lord that he may send thunder and rain as a symbol that this request of a king is not good. And you shall know
[00:33:34] and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the Lord and asking for yourselves a king. So Samuel called upon the Lord and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day and
[00:33:45] all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people said to Samuel, pray for your servants we are in trouble pray for your servants to the lord your god that we may not die for we
[00:34:03] have added to all of our sins this evil to ask for ourselves a king we're sinners we mess up and here's what we've done we've asked god not to be king anymore we want a human to be king they
[00:34:15] recognize it as a great evil verse 20 and samuel said to the people do not be afraid here's the gospel here is the gospel of jesus christ in second set in first samuel 12 the people say
[00:34:31] pray for us we are in big trouble and samuel says don't be afraid for you have done all this evil do not turn aside from following the lord but serve the lord with all your heart he will stick
[00:34:41] with you do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver for they are empty stay with God you have sinned but stay with God don't be afraid verse 22 and here is the focus
[00:34:56] for today for the Lord will not forsake his people for his great namesake verse 22 says he will not forsake you and here's why because he's put his name on you you and he are connected
[00:35:16] he has chosen to tie himself to you that is the source of your security not your goodness not your obedience not your fancy worship not your giving money your primary source of security is he has put his name on you verse 22 the lord will not forsake his people because he has put his name
[00:35:37] upon you and it has made and it has pleased the lord to make you a people for himself he will stick with you now look at verse 23 moreover as for me Samuel far be it for me that I should sin
[00:35:52] against the Lord and ceasing to pray for you and I will instruct you in the good and right way Samuel's disappointed in what they do but he says I'll stick with you too I will continue to pray
[00:36:03] for you I will continue to coach you I will continue to teach you this is what the gospel looks like we're a bunch of sinners we're afraid God says I'll stick stay with me I'll stay with
[00:36:15] you and I will and and this is what real Christians if I could put it that way look like I will stick with you you've made a mistake you may have to pay for your mistakes the Bible's full you got
[00:36:26] to pay for your mistakes I will stick with you I will keep praying for you I'll keep teaching you Samuel says I'm disappointed but I will stick with you verse 23 verse 24 only fear the Lord
[00:36:39] and serve him faithfully with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you.
[00:36:46] But if you will still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.
[00:36:54] That ends the reading of God's word for the morning.
[00:36:56] Let us pray together.
[00:36:59] Almighty and loving God, we appreciate the word.
[00:37:02] We pray now that your Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that inspired the recording of these words, we pray that your Holy Spirit would now be in our hearts and minds and souls to teach us what the word has to say
[00:37:15] and that your Holy Spirit would enable us to live as the Word teaches.
[00:37:23] Focus us then not on our flesh, but upon your body and our place in it.
[00:37:26] We pray humbly in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:37:32] Here's a story that many of you have heard.
[00:37:35] Here's a story that there's a person in this congregation who's trying to help me fix.
[00:37:41] When I was 17 years old, I started dating a young lady named Stacy Butler, and I was playing on her First Baptist Church's softball team.
[00:37:54] And summer softball team, summer high school softball team.
[00:37:57] And we had a game in the middle of the day on some summer day.
[00:38:00] And it was a lovely day.
[00:38:02] And frankly, you know, I had a good game.
[00:38:04] I had a good game and she was there watching.
[00:38:08] I used to think that that impressed girls.
[00:38:10] Apparently, I don't think it really does that much.
[00:38:12] At the moment, I thought that impressed girls.
[00:38:16] I was very interested in impressing her.
[00:38:20] She may or may not remember that game.
[00:38:22] all right so i you know i left at like two or three o'clock in the afternoon just you know just so happy and quite frankly full of myself and i got into our fit the car that we were assigned
[00:38:35] to drive a 68 chevy nomad station wagon and had my little radio you know the car was valued about 200 had a 500 stereo in it all right so i'm listening to my 500 my fancy stereo and i'm
[00:38:50] driving home and a little summer rain starts to come down and something my father who's an excellent driver told me he says you know when you're driving on asphalt roads on a hot summer day when that rain starts to come up you know what it does it draws some of the oil out of the asphalt
[00:39:03] makes the road exceptionally slick so one day when I was excuse me that day when I was I'm sure changing a tape in the cassette player thinking about this girl I looked up and the road had
[00:39:17] curved and I was not curving and I tried to straighten it up and I like drove into this ditch and I was sure I was going to die you know and all that and just like rattled around and wrecked
[00:39:28] the car the car had to be totaled my brother who loved that car still has not forgiven me all right he's a good Christian man he's still unforgiving me Mike Stacy's trying to find me one that I can
[00:39:40] replace and give to him all right all right can't find one in my budget all right and I remember kind of staggering out of that car and going to a business across the street this is about to find
[00:39:54] a phone didn't have one in my pocket like I do now all right I would have been looking at it not the cassette player all right found you know it was kind of banged up frankly kind of banged up
[00:40:06] and went and and went to this business called my dad at work and he came and got me and we bandaged me up and we got the car towed off and all that and I got home it's kind of a bad day
[00:40:24] in our family that started off with such promise it was sort of a bad day in our family and my mom at the end of the day said what would you have done if your dad was not there and I said he's
[00:40:38] always there and I think as I as I knew then and as I learned watching later as you get older and you realize certain things that my dad had made part of his reputation part of who he was being
[00:41:00] a good dad he had he not only just kind of did that as a duty or you know something that's good to do he did that as part of being who he was he did it for me and my brother and my wife and my
[00:41:16] mom he was a good dad in that regard but he was also he did it because that's who he was going to be and showing up and doing this and doing that was not only good for us it was being true to who
[00:41:29] he was if that makes sense and I think that gives you an additional layer of assurance when I was walking out of that car across the street to the phone to get bandaged up and all those kinds of
[00:41:43] things I had an assurance I don't know if I knew it a hundred percent at the time but I do know now it was not only he's good to us but he was being true to himself by being the kind of person who
[00:41:58] would be there and when we read all this stuff in first and second Samuel and the people have sinned and they have rejected God as king and they said yeah you got us out of Egypt and yeah you delivered
[00:42:12] us from all those things and judges but but these other people they have kings and we don't have a king and we're not as well organized as the other people and we don't have a standing army like the
[00:42:20] other people and all those kinds of things so we need this and we don't need your leadership anymore we want this and this is a great and grievous sin to reject God as king it is treason
[00:42:33] it's what I do when I sin it's what you do when you sin God has said here's I've said I've created you and I've saved you and I've created and I want you to be this kind of people and I've given you
[00:42:46] the only life you're ever going to have and I've saved you from the pit of hell and I've blessed you and now what I want you to do is what I want you to do I want you you want I want you to do
[00:42:53] what the king wants you to do and if you'll live that way it'll be great for you but we don't want to do that that's what our sin is so these people have done this great we have mercy on us we've
[00:43:05] done this this grievous thing and Samuel gives them the gospel don't be afraid liar cheater stealer gossiper person of vengeance person of unrepentance person who won't forgive sinner he says it to them he says it to us don't be afraid god delivered you god taught israel
[00:43:35] back there in egypt really back there with abraham especially back there in egypt god tied himself to you it is who he is to love and forgive you in verse 22 samuel says here's the basis of your
[00:43:53] assurance not that you're good not that you're cute not that you're likable that god has chosen to make you his people and to use you to demonstrate to the world what he wants there is an assurance
[00:44:08] child of God that we all have that when we give ourselves to him he has bound himself to us he said Samuel says don't be afraid stick with God for he will stay with you for his namesake
[00:44:25] and if you look through the old testament and the new testament like I did some this week when I was reading that you will find for his name's sake all over the place and it is i delivered you know i
[00:44:39] god says i got connected with this slave people back when they were in egypt and i've tied myself to them and they're going to be my people they're going to demonstrate to the world what i want
[00:44:49] just like the church is part of that go out there to be salt and be you know that very famous passage which says go out there in the world to be salt and light why so that people may see your
[00:44:58] good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven when jesus says that in matthew 5 go be salt and light go be the kind of people god wants you to be go be generous and forgiving and courageous
[00:45:10] and tough and fight the fights that need to be fought and fight them right and do all the things that god wants you to do be salt and light so that people will see you and be say what a great god
[00:45:22] he has tied himself to us and he has put his name on us and he has called us to make him look good That's all tied up in the name.
[00:45:33] I've gotten this slave people.
[00:45:34] I delivered them from Egypt so that people would know there's a great and powerful God that loves and forgives and empowers sinners.
[00:45:47] That is the primary basis of your and my assurance that it's going to be okay.
[00:45:53] When you tie yourself to him, he ties himself to you, and he won't let you go.
[00:45:59] He will discipline you.
[00:46:01] he will challenge you you will live in a sinful world not everything will go perfectly but this when the people of God cower before Samuel and that storm and the anger of God and they go we're in big trouble and Samuel says stay calm here's the gospel God loves and forgives you
[00:46:23] and he's tied himself to you his integrity and his love will keep him from letting you go It is, you know, when we seek assurance, when we seek am I okay, there's kind of three levels.
[00:46:44] One is, you know, if I be good enough, if I will be good enough, if I will obey enough, if I will do well enough, then I can secure myself, right?
[00:46:52] It's the American way.
[00:46:54] It's a great way.
[00:46:56] If I do well enough, they can't fire me, they'll promote me, I'll get good grades, I'll get a spot on the team, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:47:05] But what if I don't?
[00:47:09] Then the second kind of level of assurance is he likes me.
[00:47:11] she likes me they like me yes yes I you know I failed but they they're good to me they like me they love me they'll forgive me they'll they'll look the other way those kinds of things and that
[00:47:26] gives us that people love you and will put up with you when you fail that's that gives us a level of assurance but Samuel's tapping into something deeper here Samuel is tapping into what God does
[00:47:40] is that god says not only do i love y'all i'm tied to y'all and your fate if i could put it this way is intertwined with how i look and my fate and how i am viewed in the world so i am
[00:48:00] going to keep loving you and keep working on you and i am going to bring you to completion i had a friend i had a friend who was very talented he's still very talented and he went to college and he did well his first couple of years in college
[00:48:19] and he became very good friends with his advisor you know they give you an advisor in your major and and he was he was very close to his advisor who was also the head of the department the
[00:48:33] english department i had a friend that did this and and so after a couple of years or so he kind of lost his way a little bit and squandered his talent and disrespected some people around him including his advisor teacher but the advisor teacher had had had kind of bound
[00:48:57] herself to my friend and so it got so far and so bad that my friend wouldn't tell his family what went wrong so his graduation came and he didn't have enough credits to graduate and he invited
[00:49:13] all his friends and he he didn't have the guts to tell his family so he went through graduation and school's kind of doing what they do sometimes they'd like hey we don't look bad they let they let him put on the gown and they let him walk across the stage and they handed
[00:49:30] him an empty envelope that looked like it had a diploma in it the school was kind of like you sort this out with your people uh and so he walked across he got that and there's all
[00:49:45] these pictures I've seen pictures of him and his family at graduation they're all smiling and finally it came down to I've got to tell my family about all this and he went to his advisor who he
[00:50:02] had maybe not always done right by and she said you lack two classes and this summer I will teach you an independent study kind of like the capstone class I will teach it to you and I will get
[00:50:21] somebody else to teach you a summer class and you will get your diploma in August if you will get your act together and get in here and do it and here's what was true of that advisor according
[00:50:37] to my friend she had tied herself to me she felt an obligation to me for whatever reason she did and it wasn't just to help me but it was this is who I'm going to be this is what I'm going to do
[00:50:57] forgiveness empowerment etc and here's kind of the good news of taking that person who was about to fail fantastically excuse me who had failed and her failure was about to be known his failure was
[00:51:12] about to be known and somebody who had tied herself to him said i will not let you fail and here is the good news of the gospel israel asked for a king they booted god out of being
[00:51:33] king quote unquote and they had a series of human kings some of them who did okay and some of them who did poorly but none of them were very good even David even Solomon and all those kings were
[00:51:48] were placeholders until the real king was born in Bethlehem and raised by a carpenter and walked and taught and went to a cross and died because he had tied himself to anybody who wanted to come
[00:52:10] that all these kings were in a study we're going to learn about them because they're in the bible and it's very useful but they are just placeholders until the real king who sees your sin and sees
[00:52:23] your shame and sees what you have done and what i have done and how we have lied or how we have misled or how we have used or how we haven't paid attention to him and he says i have taught you
[00:52:36] want me i have tied myself now to you and my name and my reputation are tied to you god says and i will continue to pick you up and i will continue to heal you and i will continue to discipline you
[00:52:50] and i will continue to fix you until i bring you to completion you want another king your choices are me as king or the pit and as long as you will stay with me I will put my name on you and I will
[00:53:09] not let you fail because we are tied together and all the people of integrity we might call that integrity all the people that you know of that you can count on like I could count on my dad
[00:53:25] because he was a man of integrity all the people of integrity that you count on are just they're just an echo of the integrity of Almighty God who will not let you and I go. So walk out of this
[00:53:43] place today with two things. When you give your life to Jesus Christ, you have assurance that you are forgiven and you will be completed. And the second thing is you have assurance that he will
[00:53:54] demand a lot of you. He will give more than he takes, but he will demand a lot of you and he will work with you and he will bring you to completion and he will cause great things to
[00:54:05] be done through you my buddy who blew up his graduation largely because that professor stuck with him he is now free and doing great things and God is going to do the same with you when you tie
[00:54:21] yourself to him he will tie yourself to you and you can walk around this world with confidence and assurance and power because there's nothing you can do to make him stop loving you and nothing you can do to make him stop working through you to do great things let's pray together
[00:54:44] almighty and everlasting god follow then please the preaching of your word with the blessing of your holy spirit and where if because of human error in the preacher there may be something false or misleading in the preaching cause that error to be quickly forgotten and do no harm
[00:55:02] but if because of your grace working alone there may be something true in the preaching cause that truth to be burned into our hearts and minds and souls, that your truth might lead us in the
[00:55:12] everlasting way. We pray humbly in Jesus' name. Amen. Jesus said, he who acknowledges me before the world, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. We acknowledge Jesus Christ to be our Lord by the way we live, that we might be reminded of our great privilege to stand up in front of the
[00:55:32] world and to live in such a way that everyone knows we belong to Jesus Christ. We stand up in church and say the words of the Apostles' Creed. So let's do that now. Let's stand together, please.
[00:55:45] And before God in the world, let us confess in whom we believe. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived
[00:56:01] by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence
[00:56:23] he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and our final hymn is 435 the people of israel are standing there and the storm convicts them they
[00:59:48] realize they have done to quote the text this great wickedness who will deliver us from this great weakness and the and the prophet says don't be afraid god is with you god will stick with you
[00:59:59] you stick with him he will stick with you the real king has come and went to the cross to cover our great wickedness we feel it we know it if we're paying attention if we're honest
[01:00:13] and we say who will deliver us the great king has come and he loves you there will be repentance necessary there'll be change necessary he will he will change you but you are covered and forgiven
[01:00:27] and loved and he will not quit on you till he's done and made you into who he wants you to be The love you are looking for is the love that knows you fully and still loves you.
[01:00:40] Jesus Christ knows you and me fully and our sin.
[01:00:43] And he says, I will go to hell and back to get you and save you and secure you.
[01:00:48] That is the love you've been looking for.
[01:00:49] And Jesus Christ says, come and get it.
[01:00:53] Come and get it, my friends.
[01:00:54] And walk from this place in confidence and joy and assurance all the days of your life.
[01:01:03] As you go, my friends, may the grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit may it rest and remain with each of you this day and always.
[01:01:10] Amen.