What's in a name? Why were you named the way you were? I was named the way I was because my father didn't want his son to have a name that would lend itself to a nickname (his own long name bothered him). He was also enamored with the social policies of Josip Tito, the Yugoslavian dictator. I bet each one of you has a story to tell regarding your name. Names are important because they represent who their bearers are.
God often appeals to his name as the basis for his faithfulness to us. As we will see in a moment, our whole relationship with God is based upon the glory of his name.
I. Two Commands in the Passage: Don't Fear and Follow.
A. Do not fear, 20.
1. The Israelites were afraid that, as the result of their sin of asking for a king, God would destroy them, 19.
a. Their reaction was a very human reaction.
b. They were expecting God to act like we naturally act.
1) They were under the impression that the only reason God kept them around was because of the way they performed.
2) Now that they messed up God was going to discard them.
c. It is actually a very arrogant thought to think that our performance is what secures God's relationship with us.
2. Samuel replies to them, "Yes, what you did was wicked, evil, really bad, but don't despair. Continue following the Lord."
a. Notice that Samuel doesn't excuse their sin.
b. He acknowledges that sin is sin and God should indeed pulverize the sinner, but… he doesn't, which bring us to the second command.
B. Follow the Lord, 20b-21.
1. Samuel refocuses their thinking – instead of focusing on the punishment you think you are going to receive from the Lord, concentrate on following him, 20b.
2. Following the Lord is a single-minded activity, 21a – do not turn aside.
3. The reason for that is that any other pursuit is meaningless, 21b.
a. Notice that Samuel says that pursuing something other the Lord is to pursue nothing.
1) The word "nothing" at the end of v. 21 is the same word used in Gen. 1:1 where it is translated "without form."
2) This word means "out of order" or "wasteland" and is translated earlier in v. 21 as "empty things."
b. Notice that Samuel says that pursuing other things will not profit or deliver you because they CANNOT do so.
Ecc. 1:12-14 – I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
Ecc. 12:13 – Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all.
C. The reason the people of God don't have to fear and can focus on following the Lord is that he will not leave them nor forsake them.
II. The Reason for the Commands: The Lord Will not Forsake His People, 22.
A. This is not a promise that is limited to those people who were listening to Samuel 3,000 years ago, 22a.
B. This is a promise for his people throughout the ages.
Heb. 13:5-6 – Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
2 Tim. 2:10-13 – Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying: for if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
C. Why is this promise true? Two reasons:
1. The relationship between God and his people is determined by God and not the people.
a. In the immediate context, the people of God is the covenant people of Israel.
1) God didn't call them to be his people because of their performance, or might, or benefit that he could draw from them.
2) As a matter of fact, God explicitly says otherwise.
Dt. 7:6-8 – For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
3) Since God didn't enter this relationship with them based on their performance or even on whom they are, then their performance or who they are will not sever the relationship either.
b. In the context of the whole Bible, the people of God to whom he is always faithful is his elect.
1) God, only because he wanted to do so, chose a people to himself.
2) He did that in eternity past when all things only existed in his mind.
3) He did not choose them because he saw something worthy in them, but because he saw something worthy in himself.
4) This chosen people consists of more people than can be counted.
5) Scriptural proof, 22c.
Eph. 1:11-12 – In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
1 Cor. 1:26-31 – For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."
Rev. 7:9-10 – After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
2. God is always faithful to himself, 22b.
a. Notice how Samuel says that one of the reasons that God will not forsake them is "for his great name's sake."
b. When the Bible speaks of the name of God, it is not just referring to a personal name.
c. It is referring to whom he is, to his character, his attributes, what he is made known by.
Ex. 33:18-23 – And he said, "Please, show me Your glory." Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." And the Lord said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen."
Ex. 34:5-7 – Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."
WLC 112 – Q. 112. What is required in the third commandment? The third commandment requires, that the name of God, his titles, attributes, ordinances, the word, sacraments, prayer, oaths, vows, lots, his works, and whatsoever else there is whereby he makes himself known, be holily and reverently used in thought, meditation, word, and writing; by an holy profession, and answerable conversation, to the glory of God, and the good of ourselves, and others.
d. God promised to be our God and that we would be his people.
e. To forsake us would be to go against who he is.
f. In the contrary to merit way that God saves his people, we see his name magnified
Is. 49:9-11 – For My name's sake I will defer My anger, and for My praise I will restrain it from you, so that I do not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.
Ez. 36:22-28 (clearly seen in New Covenant) – Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God: "I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord," says the Lord God, "when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.
D. Therefore, God doesn't forsake us.
1. Word translated "forsake" means to leave fallow, uncultivated, to throw down, to hand over, to give up, to leave off, to leave unheeded, to overrun.
2. This is word is used to describe what Israel did to God.
Dt. 32:15 – But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; you grew fat, you grew thick, you are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
3. And that is exactly what God doesn't do.
III. Back to the Commands.
A. With this idea of the unconditional, electing love of God in mind, let's think again about the two commands in this passage.
B. We don't have to be paralyzed by fear of being forsaking by God.
C. The notion that God's love for us is not performance based actually frees us to following him more faithfully – true in sports or other performances.
2 Tim. 1:7 – For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
D. The notion that God's love for us is not performance based allows to serve him in humility – to the praise of his name.
Conclusion
So, what's in a name? In the great name of God is the hope of our salvation.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2015/05/for-his-names-sake-1-sam-1220-22.html
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