Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations”.  The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being king over them”.  Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles”.  - 1 Samuel 8:4-5; 7; 19-20 (NASB) "They have rejected Me from being king over them".  I am writing this on Good Friday.  These words today come alive to me, in a powerful way.  God had created a people for Himself.  He had loved them, and protected them.  He had spoken to them, and had showered them with His kindness and His grace.  They in their depravity had rejected Him.  In His perfect timing, God Himself entered into the history of redemption in human flesh, as the Son of God, Jesus Christ.  He came in humility, and gentleness.  He came because, despite our rejection of Him, He loved us.  "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet he opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, He was led before "the chief priests and the rulers and the people" (Luke 23:13).  And Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" And they cried out again, "Crucify him." And Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him" (Mark 15:12-14).  "They have rejected Me from being king over them". "But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed" (Luke 21:23).  "They have rejected Me from being king over them".

I remember as a young boy, in church, as the priest read from the passion narrative, at the appointed time, the whole congregation would shout, in unison, "crucify him".  This left a strong impression on me.  It was impossible at that moment to convince myself that it was "everyone else" who had rejected God.  I knew it was me.  I knew it was my sin that had crucified Him.  "They have rejected Me from being king over them".

I remember the first time I saw The Passion of the Christ.  It was as if I was watching my best friend be rejected, brutally tortured and murdered.  "They have rejected Me from being king over them".  I left the theater that night with my heart broken wide open.

I remember the countless times I have chosen to forsake my God, to deny Him, to walk away from Him.  "They have rejected Me from being king over them".

Let us mourn and weep as we remember today that we have rejected our Most High God from being king over us.  And then let us allow God to transform that mourning into joy, as we remember how He in His infinite wisdom transformed our rejection of Him into salvation.  Let us cry as we remember that it was our sin that nailed Jesus Christ to the cross, and then let us celebrate with hearts of gladness as we look upon the empty tomb.  Let us praise Him with outstretched arms as we remember that we, "who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.  This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to shame, by triumphing over them in him" (Colossians 2:13-15).  That is my King.

My God and Savior, forgive me for all the ways that I have rejected You from being king over me.  Allow my heart to mourn over this, and then turn my tears into laughter and let me shout for joy as I celebrate Your victory over sin and satan and death.  To You be the glory forever and ever and ever.  Amen.

"Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.  And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:10-12).

Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them.  Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. - Judges 2:16-17

We who proclaim Jesus Christ as our Lord are called to live lives of submission.  We are commanded by God to submit to Him (James 4:7), to our church family (Ephesians 5:21), to our church leaders (Hebrews 13:17) and to the government over us (Mark 12:17).  We feel this desire to submit, yet we continually submit to all the wrong things.  We chase after other gods, bowing ourselves down to them in worship, all the while ignoring the amazing grace that has been shown to us by the only true God.  We are a proud and stubborn people, who think we know what we need and deserve, so much better than God, who is the height of knowledge.  So it was with Israel.  God raised up judges for them to protect them and guide them in times of war, out of His graciousness and kindness.  We are told a few verses later that, “Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge” (Judges 2:18).  God is sovereign and He can and does work through the leaders that HE has placed over us.  How often do you pray for the leaders over you?  How often do you pray for President Obama, or your congressmen, or your mayor, or your boss, or your elders and deacons?  How often do you joyfully submit to those above you, in your family, in your church and in your job?  God in His providence has placed these “judges” over you, and we hold firm to the truth that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).  We need to embrace “submission” as part of our DNA, and to see the beauty and the purpose in it.

How does one joyfully submit, when our flesh constantly tells us not to?  The foundation of biblical submission is humility.  It is only by a better understanding of how broken we are, and then by seeing how perfect God is, that we are truly humbled.  We should seek humility daily, asking God for a greater portion of this.  We live in a culture which tells us we should be proud, and that humility is for the weak.  Yet the word of God, tells us exactly the opposite.  “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).  And it is only once we accept this true and right order, that we will experience the peace of God.

We need to remember often, that it was Jesus Christ who ultimately submitted His very life to secure our salvation.  “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).  Jesus was obedient to the point of death!  This is our savior!  He did not come as a rich and noble government official, but as a servant!  He came in humility, and obedience, and in total submission to His Father.  In response to this, we should live lives of humility, and obedience and submission to Jesus Christ, our great high priest.

“Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep.  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you” (James 4:7-10).

He gave them into the hand of the nations, so that those who hated them ruled over them. Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath. Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry.  For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.  - Psalm 106:41; Psalm 78:38; Psalm 106: 44-45

There is something about the word compassion that stirs strong emotions within me.  The origin of that word comes from the Latin root “compati”, meaning “to suffer with”.  We worship a God who has not merely created us, but who looks on us with compassion.  We worship a God who suffers with us.  As a loving father looks on his children with compassion, our God looks on us with compassion.  I deeply love God’s compassion and the reflection of His compassion that I see manifested in His people.  I love that God calls His church to now proclaim His compassion through evangelism and works of mercy.

There are so many of God’s attributes revealed to us in these verses, and it is easy for me to focus on one of them, and to neglect the others.  I may remember often that God is compassionate, and He is.  But I need to remember that He is also just.  I may think often of His steadfast love.  Then I need to remember His wrath.  We should be intentional in how we think of God, reminding ourselves daily of who God is in His entirety.  God is independent, unchangeable, eternal, omnipresent, united, spirit, invisible, all-knowing, all-wise, completely truthful and faithful, good, loving, merciful, holy, a God of peace, righteous, jealous, omnipotent, beautiful, perfect and glorious.  Our God is an awesome God.

The Psalmist tell us that God, being compassionate, atoned for their (and our) iniquity.  He did this, literally, by suffering with us.  God’s ultimate act of compassion was carried out at Calvary, as He poured out all of His wrath and all of His justice upon His son Jesus Christ, in one dreadful, awesome, glorious and compassionate act for you and for me.  We are now “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26).  There will never be a greater act of compassion than this.  We deserved God’s wrath, and we received His mercy.  For our sake “he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.”  And now, we, as God’s sons and daughters, get to go forth, rejoicing in the fact that we “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).  We get to live lives as ambassadors for Christ, sharing this good news with our neighbors.  We get to “rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:2).

Abba, let me meditate daily on Your wonderful attributes, that I may worship You rightly.  Let me dwell at the foot of Your cross, being rooted and grounded in the love You have shown for me, in the atoning work of Your son Jesus Christ.  Let the compassion that You have shown for Your people so move Your church, that we cannot help but spread the glorious truth of Your gospel, as we “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

“‘For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed’, says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10).

They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. - Psalm 106:37 (NASB); Psalm 106:38 (ESV)

These words are dark and painful.  To read them, and ponder how anyone could every sacrifice their child to a demon, causes me to mourn.  It causes my heart to break, to think about innocent children dying because of the misplaced worship of their parents.  I say to myself, “thank God we do not live in an age when people sacrifice their sons and their daughters to the demons”.  And then God reminds me, that these words were written for me.  I am reminded of evenings when I have chosen to work late rather than come home to tuck my children in to bed and kiss them goodnight, and to remind them of how much Jesus loves them. Am I not doing the same thing?  Am I not sacrificing my sons and daughters to the demon that money has become in my life?  Am I not worshipping all the idols that money will buy for me, that I will then set up as altars in my home, while my children are standing by watching me, learning from me, and perishing because of me?  “Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24).  God have mercy on my soul.

We are surrounded by a culture and a people who do exactly this, everyday.  We are a people who worship money, career, cars, houses, sex, reputation, our golf scores, and many more false idols.  We sacrifice our sons and daughters to these demons, as we work tirelessly to satisfy the demands that they place upon us.  I think of all the families in which both father and mother work long hours, hoping that they may soon be rich, leaving their children at home alone, upon the sacrificial altar of self-idolatry.  Furthermore, we now live in a time when countless children are literally sacrificed every day before they are even born, under the guise of “freedom of choice”.  The following is a tweet by John Piper:

“A reader passed along this story from ScienceNews:

The remains of seven children apparently killed in a ritual, and buried beneath a 500- to 600-year-old building in Peru’s Cuzco Valley have given scientists new glimpses of the sketchily understood Inca practice of sacrificing select children in elaborate ceremonies.

The children were buried at the same time, apparently after having been killed in a sacrificial rite that honored Inca deities and promoted political unity across the far-flung empire, say anthropologist Valerie Andrushko of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and her colleagues.

Chemical analyses of the bones indicate that at least two of the children came from distant parts of the Inca realm.

The findings lend credence to the accounts of Spanish conquistadors that described how children were selected for sacrifice from all across the empire, based on their physical perfection. We shudder at such brutal backwardness.

Today, using prenatal screening, we scour the empire for children with physical imperfections and sacrifice them to ourselves.” (First Things, “While We’re at It”, January 2011, 68)

As I meditate on the “innocent blood” pouring out of these sons and daughters, I remember the only truly innocent blood that has ever been poured out, the blood of God’s Son Jesus Christ.  I remember the blood that He poured out upon the cross, as the great and final sacrifice for us who have placed our hope in Him.  I am raised up from despair to hope, as I remember that I have been set free from all of my sins, past, present and future, because God was willing to sacrifice His only Son upon the sacrificial altar of His justice.  God’s justice demanded payment for all of my sins and trespasses, and for all the times when my heart has worshipped demons by pouring out the blood of my children.  So God, in His steadfast love for us, entered into human history, and took on flesh.  He “made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant ... he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7-8).   And now, I am set free from all of my sins.  And I am not only set free, but I am made a new creation.  My identity is in Jesus Christ and in His atoning work upon the cross.  And my worship is now restored to it’s proper place, upon the only God, who created, who redeems, and who restores His people, for His glory.

My God, my heart is bursting with love for You, as I think about the sacrifice that You have made for my iniquity.  I deserve hell, and You have given me heaven.  Please forgive me for my wickedness.  “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3).  But You are a merciful and loving God, who has not abandoned us, but who has saved us, by the blood of Your innocent Son, Jesus Christ, shed for us who trust in You.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3)

When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.  They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.  But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. - Psalm 78:34-46 What strikes me as I read Psalm 78, and consider this in the context of the history of redemption, is the rhythm or cycle that this represents throughout the history of redemption.  We run from God, then we run back to God.  We remember God, then we forget.  We seek God earnestly, then we flatter Him with our mouths, and lie to Him with our tongues.  We are a sinful and wretched people.  We are depraved.  As Paul articulates for us, “None is righteous, no, not one; no understands; no one seeks after God” (Romans 3:10-11).  But we worship a just, faithful, and compassionate God, who will not abandon us, even when we fully deserve to be abandoned.

So how can we break free from this cycle?  The answer is, we cannot.  But God can, and has broken the cycle, through the good news of Jesus Christ.  The cycle has been broken by God in flesh nailed to a tree.  What is the gospel that we put our hope in?  It starts with our depravity.  “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  This includes the people of Israel, and it includes us today.  Next we confess that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  God is the righteous judge.  And what judge would we ever put our confidence in who simply pardoned every criminal who stood before him?  No, God’s justice demands payment.  Now for the good news, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  God no longer punishes us for our sins, rather Christ Jesus took upon Himself the punishment that we deserved!  Yes, we will still experience pain and suffering, because we live in a fallen world, and occasionally God may use that pain and suffering to discipline us, as a Father disciplines a son who He loves.  But we no longer receive the punishment that we deserve!  We must hold firmly to the words of Paul, that there is now “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  Not a day should pass by when we do not spend time considering these words.  This should be the foundation for our new identity in Jesus Christ.  For us as Christians, death is now entrance into an eternity spent with God.

John Piper once said that he much prefers to preach at funerals, than at weddings.  He said that at weddings, everyone is thinking about the bride’s dress, and her shoes, and the cake.  But at funerals, everyone is faced with the question of what will happen to them after they die.  At the death of someone we know and love, we have no choice but to consider who am I, and who is God?  For the billions of people who are without Christ, they are left with hopelessness.  Death represents either a final and eternal punishment, or it represents an eternity of nothingness.  I remember lying in my bed as a child and pondering what an eternity of nothingness would be like.  I would picture my body rotting in a coffin forever.  It terrified me.

But for us who have confessed with our mouths that Jesus is Lord, and believe with our hearts that God raised him from the dead, “you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).  Now we face death with hope.  In fact, now we may even look forward to death!  “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).  As explained by Wayne Grudem, in his book Systematic Theology, death is not a punishment for Christians, death is the final outcome of living in a fallen world, God uses the experience of death to complete our sanctification, and our experience of death completes our union with Christ.

Lord Jesus, teach me to live in daily remembrance that I no longer stand condemned because You stood condemned in my place.  Lord give me the help I need to repent for my sins and to seek You earnestly.  Lord increase my knowledge and understanding of who You are, that I may stand in awe of You, and that I may never again flatter You with my mouth, and lie to You with my tongue, but that I may worship You rightly and that I may give glory to You in all I do.

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.  A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

For those interested, below is a link to a video by Shai Linne, called “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, which again explains to us the history of redemption ... but by another medium.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBowWXomU78&feature=youtube_gdata_player

They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.  They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them. - Psalm 78:10-11 It seems to me that there has never been a time in history when we need this word more than we do today.  How easily we forget His works and the wonders He has shown us.  How quickly we forget what He has done for us on the cross.  How rapidly we fall away from the great promises He has made to us.

We live in an age of distractions.  Some we seek, others are thrust upon us.  We are surrounded by media and technology, sometimes used to remind us of His great works, but more often distracting us from His great works.  When I arise in the morning, often my first impulse is to run to my e-mail rather than my bible, as if my e-mail was what had secured my salvation.  At night, rather than spending time alone with God, I run to the TV to watch the news, then feel the need to watch "something light" to distract me from the pain I felt while watching the news.

All of this and so much more distracts me from my Savior, and ultimately leads me to forget His works and the wonders He has shown me.  And this is the one thing in my life that I cannot do without, that I cannot live without, lest I do not keep God's covenant, and refuse to walk according to His law.

This battle is one that is to be fought daily, and God in His mercy has not left us unarmed.  He has left us His word, he has blessed us with Christian community to remind us daily of the gospel, and He has allowed us to worship in a church body where the glorious truths of the history of redemption are preached weekly, and where we are reminded of the gospel and of our identity in Christ.

What doctrines of our faith are you prone to forget?  As for myself, I am prone to forget that God has not only redeemed me, but that He has adopted me, and that He loves me as a son.  I need to remind myself of this daily.  Some of us are prone to forget the gospel, that it is not by anything we have done, but all by what He has done, atoning for our sins, that we stand forgiven.  We need to remind ourselves of this daily.  We need to not only have the gospel preached to us, but we need to preach the gospel to ourselves daily.  Every day.

Lord Jesus, please let me be reminded daily, even hourly, of Your works, and the wonders You have shown us.  Let us, as the body of Christ, never stray from Your covenant promises, and let us never ever forget the good news, that we stand forgiven before our Holy God, because of the great sacrifice you made for us upon the cross.

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.  I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds” (Psalm 77:11-12).