In asking the people of Israel to acknowledge their sin, Samuel articulates a reality that has been true for all God’s people ever since the fall. We have a desperate need for God’s mercy, or to put it differently: we are not righteous people who come to God looking for a reward, but sinners who come to a Saviour.

For the people of Israel, salvation came through the prayers of Samuel. A righteous judge and prophet, he interceded on their behalf. As he testifies in 1 Samuel 12:23, he prays for them, calling attention to the Lord’s great promises and the glory of his name—specifically the promise articulated in the covenant made with Abraham. The Lord told Abraham that he will be his God and the God of his descendants. He was pleased to choose Abraham—to make him his own—and he will not go back on that promise. This is the covenant of grace in which forgiveness of sins comes through faith in God and his Word—faith in the coming Messiah. These are the promises to which Samuel appealed when he prayed for Israel.

For you and me today, we have an even greater prophet who prays on our behalf, our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s true King. John’s Gospel tells us that Abraham rejoiced to see his day (John 8:56), which is to say that he knew that a righteousness which comes by faith (Genesis 15:6) is the imputation of a righteousness that belongs to another. A perfect righteousness that is granted to us even though we do not deserve it. Not the righteousness of Samuel, but that of the Messiah, the divine king who testifies before the Father that his blood has paid the penalty for our sin, and his life has met all the demands of the law.

Pastor and elder, deacon and lay member, new Christian and old Christian, what was true for Israel is true for us. We all come to God as sinners in desperate need of his mercy. We never reach a point where mercy is no longer required. From the cradle to the grave our relationship with God is all grace—sinners coming to a Saviour, not righteous people claiming a reward.