Seeking once again the Lord's
help to grant me the words to speak to you this morning, I'd
like to direct your attention to the chapter that we read together,
1 Samuel chapter 8, and the text you'll find in verse 5. And said unto him, Behold, thou
art old, thy sons walk not in thy ways now make us a king to
judge us like all the nations. It goes on as Samuel is disappointed
by the a request of the elders of Israel. He says, but the thing displeased
Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel
prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel,
hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto
thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected
me, that I should not reign over them. As we looked at on Wednesday,
the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. and how that even those little
details of life, the rolling of the dice, is governed by God. The outcome is known and determined
by him. And we looked at that on Thursday,
there was the general election and that people were going to
cast their lots. They were going to vote as the
way in which they felt best. And the outcome ultimately was
the will of the people but also the will of Almighty God, the
God who is able to change hearts and control all events to bring
about his own purposes. and we saw that on Thursday night
or Friday morning that the outcome that the Labour government had
got into power and I expect many Christians were disappointed
because we know their Their agenda is not a godly agenda, it's not
an agenda that promotes Christ-like living or promotes the word of
God, but it is an agenda that seeks to promote ungodliness,
what they call woke ideology, and that it would make it easier
for sin to be accepted. But ultimately that outcome is
the will of God has been revealed
that that is how this country is going to go forward. And in
Samuel, in the time of Samuel when Samuel was judge and prophet
over Israel, the people also made a choice. they decided to
reject God as their king. He had led them, he had dealt
with them, he had provided for them and they rejected him and
they said let us be like all the other nations that were around
about them. And so Samuel took it personally
that that he goes to the Lord and
he says that he is displeased and God says they have not rejected
you they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. So I wanted to look at today
that great privilege that Israel had as being a particular nation
and that they had been chosen by God, they had been called
apart and separated by God, that he was their king. And he had
given them prophets. He had given them priests. He
had given them his holy law. And they were able to communicate
with him. He communicated with them directly. He led them and went out before
them. And he was there, as it were,
an invisible king, but they wanted a physical king. They wanted
someone that they could see, maybe the grand palace and an
army and all of those things to match the nations around about
them. so Jehovah the Lord was king
of Israel, he was the founder of the nation. We know that he
called out to Abraham when he was in the land of idolatry and
he brought him and caused him to walk through the promised
land. He gave him a son, Isaac, then
Jacob, and then with Joseph they were led into the land of Egypt
and there they prospered and became a great nation. And the
Lord then raised up Moses and Joshua to lead them into the
promised land. And so God became their king. He gave them a kingdom. In Exodus chapter 19 from verse 4 he gives them the
law. The king is the king of his kingdom. He's a sovereign ruler. over his kingdom and he is the
law the lawgiver. He says I am the lord thy God
which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house
of bondage I shall have no other gods before me. Sorry that was in chapter 20
chapter 19 it says You have seen what I did unto
the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle's wings and brought
you unto myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey
my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all the people, for all the earth is
mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom
of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou
shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And so you see that
the children of Israel were a peculiar, a particular people that were
separated from all of the other people on the earth. They were
distinct people that God had shown them a particular favour. that he was their king and they
were part of his kingdom and that they were a treasure unto
him. And so they were in a favoured
position to have God as their king. In Isaiah it tells us, Isaiah 44. and verse 6. Thus saith the Lord,
the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first
and I am the last, and beside me there is no God. So he refers to himself as the
king of Israel and that the people of Israel, the Jewish nation,
were part of his kingdom. They were governed by his laws,
those ceremonial laws, those day-to-day laws. and the sacrificial
laws and everything was arranged so their whole life was governed
by living in the kingdom and worshipping their god the king
and appeasing him with the sacrifices and hearing from him through
the prophets as he spoke directly to them they were able to hear
the word of the Lord and then as they worshipped God had his
priests which offered up those sacrifices and there was that
system in place different from all of the other nations on the
face of the earth and God provided for them and help them. As they
were brought out of Egypt, the Lord made the way. The water
was opened as they came into the wilderness, he provided for
them. They didn't have to labour, they
just had to gather. They gathered up the manna, he
provided water that came out of the rock and followed them
through the wilderness. As I said, he gave them the law
and then he gave them the promised land. He said, I'm bringing you
into a country, a country that you don't have to plant vineyards. You don't have to build houses.
You're just going to gather in the labours of others. And I'm going to give you all
of these things. He was their king. And he provided
everything that they needed. And even he helped them in their
battles. There were times when they didn't
even have to fight, that God so moved that the enemy almost
fought against themselves and killed each other. And they had
to just run in and collect the spoil. And in chapter seven,
from verse 10, It tells us just before they
came to Samuel that God had worked in a mighty way. In verse 9 it says, And Samuel took
a suckling lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto
the Lord. And Samuel cried unto the Lord
for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel was offering
up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel.
But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the
Philistines and discomforted them, and they were smitten before
Israel. And the men of Israel went out
of Mishpeth and pursued the Philistines and smoked them until they came
unto Beth-kar. Samuel took a stone and set it
between Mispeth and Shenn and called the name of it Ebenezer
saying hitherto hath the Lord helped us and so all that the
Lord had done in just this one battle a few moments before they
came to Samuel he had thundered and discomforted the Philistines
and they had It says they were smitten before
Israel so how that took place we don't know. But the Lord did
it. Their invisible king worked in
a mighty way to help them and yet they turned their back on
him and say we don't want him anymore. We don't want an invisible
king. who reigns in the heavens. We
want a physical king who can go out with us into battle, who
can fight our battles, so we can be like the other nations
that he may judge us physically. And so they rejected God because
they wanted to be like everybody else. They failed to realise
their distinct position, their privileged position, that great
opportunity that God had given to them to sit under his law
and to worship them and for him to fight with them and for them
to hear direct revelation, the direct word of God. As Samuel,
as he speaks, thus saith the Lord, And they were willing to
reject all of that just so that they would fit in, just so that
they would be like everybody else. And it seems to me that
they used the excuse that Samuel's sons were not behaving themselves
properly. Sometimes people do that, don't
they? They use something as an excuse there's an ulterior motive. Something has been playing on
their mind for a long time and then they use something else
as an excuse to go or to ask a question. Often about with
Covid, the amount of people that left places of worship or moved
places of worship and they used Covid as an excuse because of
Covid we've done this or we've done that and it seems that they
use the bad behaviour of Samuel's sons to ask him a question to
say we need a king. Your sons are not walking the
way that you walk so we want a king to reign over us but their
excuse is this they want to be like or their reason is that
they wanted to be like all the nations. Even in verse 20, that
we also may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us
and go out before us and fight our battles. And so their request
was answered by God in anger. Their request to a king, God
answered it. In Hosea chapter 13 And verse 11 it says,
I gave thee a king in my anger and took him away in my wrath. It seems in my Bible that it
links back in reference to this chapter in Samuel, that God gave
them a king out of their own request. And it was the Lord answered
their prayer in anger, almost in a judgment. They got what
they wanted. They hadn't asked God, they hadn't
sought the Lord's approval. They just said, we want a king
to judge us like the other nations. And God said, OK, have what you
want. This is going to be the type
of man that you're going to get. This is going to be the type
of king that is going to rule you. This is the effect of your
request. You want a king? This is what
is going to happen. And then from verse 10 we read
of all the different things that the king would do. He would take their sons and appoint them
for himself. He would make them work and ride
his chariots. He would make them captains and
rulers over the land and over his army. He would take their
daughters to make them cooks and bakers in his palace. He would take their fields and
their vineyards and the best of them he would give them away.
They would have to pay taxes. They would have to pay taxes
of their seed and of their vineyards. And the best people would be
given to the king and the best animals would be given to the
king. And he would take taxes even from the flocks. And the king would be a burden
to them. Their life, which they thought
would be better, would become burdensome. And then when they
cried out to God, because of the burden, because of the hardness,
because of the oppression of their own king, God says, I'm
not going to listen to you because you have chosen your own will. You have done and I have answered,
but I won't hear. But they still say, we want a
king. They still refused to bow the
knee to the king of Israel, their own king. And so their answer
to their request was almost a judgment to them. They thought that if
God just answers our prayer, if God just gives us a king,
then our lives are going to be better. Our lives are going to
be easier because we'll have a king to reign over us and he
will ride with us into battle. They thought that their life
would be better, but it was going to be more costly. It was going
to be more burdensome. They were going to suffer. and
they were going to suffer loss. If you think in chapter 9 when Saul was chosen and he becomes king and they
go to battle they now have their king that they wanted and now
we see the trouble that he brings. to them. Now he spends his time
chasing David and the different wars that he has to go through
and then his disobedience and his rebellion against God. And then with David, David a man of war, though he
was a man after God's own heart yet he took the nation to war. The mothers lost their sons in
battle was different. But then because
of the sin of David, the whole nation suffered when David numbered
the people and the plague came and 70,000 of them were slain. Because of the sins of the king,
the people suffered. If we can move on to Solomon
and although the kingdom had peace at that time, Yet the people
were put to work. They had to labour, they had
to build Solomon's house, they had to build the temple. But then at the end of Solomon's
reign, when he dies, the kingdom is divided because of the sin
of the king. And so what they thought would
be a great thing to have, a king to reign over them, turned out
to be difficult. It wasn't the grass is greener
on the other side, it became more difficult for them. God
answered their prayer and yet it became harder. It was how
God said it would be. He would take your sons and your
daughters and he would take your fields and your vineyards and
he will tax you and life will be harder and you will cry out
to me and I won't hear you. And so they reaped the reward
of their own will. It's what they wanted. They hadn't
consulted God. They said, make us a king. We want to be like all of the
other nations. God says, OK, this is what your
king is going to be like. Doesn't matter. We still want
a king because we want to be like all the other nations round
about. And so they reaped what they
sowed. They reaped the consequences
of their own will and their lack of inquiry into God. You know they could have waited
if they had been patient God would have worked
out his own will in his own time. How often it is isn't it that
we are not patient to wait for God's time and we end up sticking
our oar in and throwing a spanner as it were in the works because
we're so impatient We don't want to wait. We think that God's
timing or God's will needs me to act and intervene and to pressurize
and to alter the course of events instead of sitting back and waiting. You see, God had already promised
that a king would come to Abraham in Genesis 17. Abraham was told by God that
out of him would come kings. From verse one, when Abraham
was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abraham and
said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou
perfect. I will make a covenant between
me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly.' And Abraham
fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, As for me,
behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations. Neither shall thy name any more
be called Abraham, but thy name shall be called Abraham, for
a father of many nations have I made thee and I will make thee
exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of thee and kings
shall come out of thee. In verse 16 also it says and
I will bless her and give thee a son also of her yea I will
bless her and she shall be a mother of nations kings of people shall
be of her. And so it was very well known
that out of Abraham there would come kings. And yet the elders
of Israel couldn't wait for that time until they felt that they
needed to pressurize Samuel, that they wanted a king. Instead
of waiting for God, for God's own purposes to unfold, they
thought that they had to intervene and help God make the arrangements
themselves. So it was already in God's plan
to give them a king. But it would be a king after
his own heart. Not to make them like the nations
round about them as they wanted because God would have them to
be different, a particular people, a distinct people that were governed
under his own law and to walk in his ways but they said give
us a king. They could have asked Samuel
as Samuel had direct access to God. How long will it be Samuel
until we are given a king? God promised Abraham our father
to give us a king to rule over us. How long would it be until
these things happened? Instead of dictating to God as
to what God should be doing they could have altered the prayer
and put it forward as a question or a request. How long? Help us to be content to be different. Help us to be content to wait
for that time, for your time. And how often it is isn't it
that We don't like waiting. We think God's delaying. He needs to work now. But the Lord doesn't work when
we want him to work. He has his own time and his own
purpose and there are many things that have to fall into place
before his perfect will comes about and yet we see even in
their sin that he is able to bring about his own purpose. That does not excuse their sin. It does not excuse their dictation
to God for what he should be doing and their request. It magnifies the gracious character
of God that he is even able to overrule the doubts and unbeliefs
of his people to bring about his own perfect will and to overrule
all events, to magnify his glory and really it's his grace and
his mercy. Abraham was told, kings will
come out of you, kings will be in your line. and God heard the prayer of the
people and although he responded in anger it ultimately it brought
about that promise that was given to Abraham Saul was chosen and
made a king. Israel had a physical king then
David and then Solomon ultimately that kingly line which stretches
forward all the way to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some accounts in the scripture that
show us God overruling the sinful behavior of people to bring about
his own will. Think of Joseph when Joseph was
thrown into the pit when his brothers wanted to kill him. He ended up going to Egypt and
he became the governor of the whole land. His brothers bowed down before
him and a whole family was brought into Egypt to live at Goshen. and there right at the end he
says ye meant it for evil but God meant it for good. Genesis 50 and Joseph 19 and
Joseph said unto them fear not for I am it for am I in the place
of God in other words I am not God to judge you but as for you
ye thought evil against me but God meant it unto good to bring
to pass as it is this day to save much people alive. Now therefore
fear ye not, I will nourish you and your little ones.' And he
comforted them and spake kindly unto them." And so their sinful
behaviour in trying to get rid of their brother because of jealousy
and to bring an end to his dreams and his prophetic dreams actually
was the outworking of the hidden will of Almighty God and only
at the end of it it was able to be seen. Ye thought evil against
me but God meant it for good to bring a pass that it is this
day to save much people alive. to the sin that they committed
God overrules that sinful behavior. You think of David, King David
when he sinned with Bathsheba the consequences ultimately of
that was the birth of Solomon. God overruled it. But then when David numbered
the people, and he's even warned by Joel, his officer, why are
you doing this? But he's still pressed on with
numbering the people. And the plague came, he says,
I'd rather fall into the hands of God than into the hands of
man. And as that plague pressed through
Jerusalem, the angel stopped there at the
threshing floor. And David goes and he buys that
threshing floor. And that then becomes the place
of the temple. So God overrules all of these
sinful behaviours to bring about his own purpose. But that never
excuses the sinful behaviour but it just magnifies the hidden
will of God and the gracious character that God has towards
his people. In the life of Joseph You think
that God was at work in getting him to Egypt through this sinful,
jealous behaviour of his brothers. God was at work or God abandoned
or left off David to act in a sinful way which brought about the birth
of Solomon and then into the line of the Lord Jesus Christ. So really we have to be careful what we say and careful what
we pray for. They asked for a king. They thought their life would
be made better. They thought their problems would
be over. But their problems got worse.
They had the best a kingdom could have. God as their king, God
going before them into battle, God providing for them. They turned their back upon God
and they turned their back upon the prophet. And they said, we
want our own will. And God said, OK, have your own
will. And sometimes situations can
motivate us to prayer and we pray in the wrong way. We think
that we know what is best for God to do. We come to God in
prayer and we dictate to him, this is what we think is best.
This is what we think you should do. And the scripture tells us
we don't know how we should pray. Because we pray with emotion
or with anger or we need the Spirit of God to lead us and
direct us in prayer so that we may pray aright. Maybe sometimes God doesn't want
us to come out of a certain situation. And we're praying that we want
to get out of it and we want to go somewhere or do something
else and life would be a lot easier. But God says no. Or sometimes he says yes have
what you want and then you realise what you want was not actually
easier but actually harder. The thing displeased Samuel.
and the thing displeased God. Did the people know better than
God? No they didn't. Do we know better
than God? Sometimes we think we do. Sometimes
when we're in very difficult pathways Those pathways cause us to say
things and do things that are wrong and displeasing and we
act because of the pressure from the outside. Instead of praying,
Lord enable me to deal with this situation, Lord grant me contentment
and help, we say Lord get me out of this situation. But sometimes we find the getting
out of the situation is harder than the actual situation that
we have been in. Sometimes we think that we're
hard done by, that everybody else's life is easier than our
life and we look around about us and we say well Lord can't
we just be made like everybody else? And we think that we're
hard done by and we murmur because of the pathway that the Lord
has caused us to be in. We grumble and complain. Sometimes we say like, Paul, remove this thorn from
me. Life would be better if it was
different. Life would be better if this
thing was removed or this person was removed or this was given. And we're discontent with all
that the Lord has given to us. Maybe it can be our health. Maybe
it could be our mental ability. Maybe it can be our strength
or even where we live. or what we have or what we don't
have. Maybe it could be family members
that cause us problems and we think if only it was different
things would be so much better. But the Bible doesn't promise
us an easy path. And if one is removed then something
else will just pop up in its way. A little bit like weeding
in the garden. You spend the day weeding and
you come back tomorrow and there they are again. And so our troubles
are like that. We should never say like these give me my will. Give us a king. Make us like
the people next door. Make us like those who look like
they've got an easy pathway. See when we look at people's
lives we only see the veneer of the outside. They may look
like they have a nicer life. They may look like everything
is going smoothly. But you don't know what's going
on inside. You don't know what's going on inside of their family
or behind closed doors. Nobody has a perfect life. And it's very dangerous to look
at the lives of others and say that we will be like them. We
want to be like them. The Lord has made you and me
as unique individuals and he has put us in a unique pathway
and we're to be walking the pathway that he has given us to walk
and not to fight against him but to pray for that contentment
to walk in his will and not to say get me out of this but to
ask please help me in it And then the hope to look at
this afternoon, think of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not have this man to
reign over us. Behold, your king is not our
king. Crucify him. Crucify him. Get rid of him. We will not have
this man to reign over us. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Let's sing our final hymn this
morning from Hymns for Worship, number 120. Come, ye sinners poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you.
Full of pity, joined with power, he is able, he is willing, doubt
no more. Hymns for worship number 120,
tune 691. ? We sinners, poor and wretched
? ? We the world despair and soar ? ? Jesus ready stands to
save him ? ? All of pity joined with power ? ? He is able, he
is able ? ? Come ye, ye come and welcome ? ? Us,
we bowed in glorifying ? ? True belief and true repentance ?
? Every grace that brings us near ? ? Without warning, without warning
? ? Come to Jesus Christ and rise ? ? Let not conscience make you linger
? ? Nor hope in this lonely dream ? We'll sing it to you. We'll sing it to you. Tis the spirit's rising day. ? He will be heavily laden ? ?
Crucified by the fall ? ? If you tell it to your brethren
? ? You will never come at all ? ? Of the righteous, of the
righteous ? as Jesus came to call. You will grow straight in the
garden, on the ground you'll make a rise. Then on Calvary's tree behold
him, It is finished, it is finished,
still a world of bliss and joys. Holy covenant of ascending, praise
the merit of his birth. Adventure on, adventure going,
ever on the trusted truth. None but Jesus, none but Jesus. And may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us
each now and forevermore. Amen.