You notice this subject, this
chapter is about Israel wanting a king. Give us a king. Make us a king. It's said in
verse 5, middle of that verse, make us a king to judge us like
all nations. Make us a king. Give us a king.
Samuel's an old man now. We first saw Him as a promise. Then we saw Him as a baby. Then
we saw Him when He was taken up to the temple as a child. Then God called Him to be a prophet
and a judge. And He made His two sons. He did it. God did it. He made
His two sons judges. And I tell you what, it's obvious
by the way his two sons acted, that grace doesn't run in the
blood. It's not passed from father to
son. Because they turned aside after Luker and took bribes and
perverted judgment. They didn't rule like he did.
So the elders in verse 5, they got, verse 4, all the elders
gathered themselves together and came to Samuel. And oh my! They wanted him a king. Give
us a king. Up to this point, Israel had
been ruled by God. The whole world, as far as Israel,
especially Israel, was with God himself. It was a theocracy. God ruled them. God set them
apart as a nation. God entered into covenant with
them. God gave them the circumcision as a sign of the covenant that
he made with them. He gave them the law and the
ceremonies and the rituals because they were his people. But they
come to the place that they didn't want God to rule over them anymore. They didn't want God to direct
their lives. They didn't want God to be their
king. They didn't want God to rule over them anymore. And they
wanted to be like other nations. It says there in verse 5. And
he said unto him, Samuel, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk
not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us,
and listen to this, like all the nations. Now look down here
in verse 19. Nevertheless, the people refused
to obey the voice of Samuel and said, Nay, but we will have a
king over us. That we also may be like all
the nations and that our king may judge us and go about before
us and fight our battles. God had just whipped the Philistines
for them in chapter 7. All the Philistines got together
and they gathered around Israel. God thundered a great thundering
and stirred them up and they went to running and Israel started
smiting them. And God fought their battles
for them. God was the one that brought them up out of Egypt.
God was the one who parted the Red Sea. God was the one who
put Pharaoh down. And then all of a sudden, God's
not good enough to fight our battles? God's not good enough
to go before us? God's not good enough to judge
for us? And that's what they're saying.
Oh my, He gave them great victory over the Philistines right here
in chapter 7. And now they want to be like
everybody else. Everybody else. They said, we
want to be like all the other nations. We want to be like them. We want a king to reign over
us. We want a king to judge for us. We want a king to fight our
battles for us. Let me show you what happens to that now. Turn
to Hosea. Hosea is the first book right
after Daniel. If you go to Daniel, then you'll
find Hosea. And I want you to go to Hosea
chapter 13. And this is what happens. Be
careful what you ask for. Because they ask for a king. And look what happens now. They
ask for a king. Be careful what you ask for. And He gave them their request.
He gave them their request. Look what it says here in verse
9. Oh, Hosea 13, 9. Oh, Israel, thou hast destroyed
thyself, but in me is thy help. I will be thy king. For as any
other that may save thee in all thy cities, thy judges of whom
thou sayest, give me a king and a princess, I gave thee a king
in my anger and took him away in my wrath. Be careful what
you ask for. They said, we want a king. God said, he gave him a king
in his anger. You don't want me? I'll give
you a king. And in wrath, he took that king away. He took
that king away. And all He answered their request.
So here in verse 1, let's go over this again. And it came to pass Samuel's
old and made his sons judges over Israel. Israel had been
ruled by judges for decades and decades and a couple hundred
years. This is what the book of Judges
is about. It's about men who God raised up and led Israel.
But they didn't have a king. And these judges, there were
several judges that they had. And they would have peace for,
you know, Gideon was one, Deborah was one. And they'd have peace
for 40 years or 80 years under these judges. And these judges
would fight their battles for them. And God would use these
judges. He called them up and raised them up. And then verse 2 and 3, Now the
name of his firstborn was Joel. He made his sons judges, the
name of 2 Nebaioth. They were judges in Bathsheba.
His sons walked not in his way, but turned aside after Lucre
and took bribes and perverted judgment. Now that kind of sounds
like where we're at today. We got judges in this country.
Politicians in this country. For filthy Lucre. For filthy Lucre. They'll take
bribes and they pervert judgment. And in this political world that
we live in today, it's absolutely sickening with the way people
talk about one another, the way they sling mud at one another,
the way they lie on one another, and it just absolutely makes
you sick and makes you frustrated to no end. Thank God that this
world is not our home. Thank God it's not. And then
verse 4 and 5. Then all the elders of Israel
gathered themselves together, and they came to Samuel up to
Ram, and all of them got together. All the elders of Israel. And
they come marching up, and a whole bunch of them come up to where
Samuel lived. And when they got up to him, they said, Samuel,
we want to talk to you. And you're old now. You're getting
to be an old man. And your sons don't walk in your
ways. They're not like you. That shows
us that grace does not run in the blood. It does not pass by. And oh listen, now make us a
king to judge us like all nations. They should have not asked for
a king. But they should have said, God give us good judges.
Give us another judge. Raise us up somebody like Samuel.
Raise us up somebody like Gideon. Raise us up somebody like Jacob.
Raise us up somebody. Give us a good judge that will
do for us. Now they had every reason to
not want Joel and Abiah as judging them. And you know, people like
them have no business being judges. And if we had the power and the
ability, if we had leaders like that and could, we would take
them out and remove them from offices. God was already their king. Why
do they ask Him for a king? But now look here in verse 7,
6, excuse me. But the thing displeased Samuel. Oh, it displeased him. When they
told him, they got around, they said, give us a king to judge
us. That displeased him. That hurt him. That disturbed
him. You mean to tell me that you
want a man in the place of God? You want flesh in the place of
spirit? And oh my! And oh, for us to
be like Samuel. You know what he did? When they
came to them and told them that? And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. Oh, for us to be like Samuel.
News given to us in any way said, Oh Lord, start calling on the
Lord. He began to call on the Lord. He began to pray unto the Lord.
And oh my! And he prayed unto the Lord.
Samuel knew what was going on. He knew these people. He knew
that they were always going to be like this. And look what God
says in verse 7. And the Lord said unto Samuel, The Lord said unto Samuel, Listen
to the voice of the people. Go ahead and listen to the voice
of the people. And all they say unto thee. Now
listen to this. For they have not rejected thee,
but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
The Lord says, give them what they want. And he's telling Samuel,
don't take it personally. They've not just rejected you,
though they did reject Samuel. And they've not rejected you,
but Samuel, they've also, they've rejected me. They've rejected
God. And it's like the people in the
scriptures, in Luke chapter 1914. And they said, we will not have
this man to reign over us. And that's what they said about
Christ. We will not have this man to reign over us. And, oh,
they haven't just rejected you. And this is how I felt. They've
rejected me. Of course, knowing natural man,
understanding what natural man's like. But when you know God,
and you know Christ, and you know God's blessed Word, this
just cannot, it don't compute with our brain. After we become
believers, don't want God to run this world. Don't want God
to have nothing to do. I'd rather have a king than have
God. I'd rather have a man sitting
on the throne than God on his throne. I'd rather have flesh and blood
judging me and fighting for me other than have an almighty God
who created the world and upholds it by the word of His power? Oh my! You think about rejecting
God. And people do it. People do it
every single day. People do it every day. I put
an article in the newspaper about free will, and oh my goodness,
people thank you, but thank their God. And they get upset. You talk about what God
says about them in the scriptures, and they say, my Bible don't
say that. Yes it does, you just can't see
it. Whatever it says, it says the
same thing to everybody whether you believe it or not. And that's
what happens. And look what God said here now.
Give them what they're asking for. But He said in verse 8,
now God's still speaking to Samuel. According to all the works which
they have done since the day that I brought them out of Egypt
unto this day, The day I brought him out of Egypt until this day
right now. Listen, they have forsaken me.
Now they've done it publicly. Now they've said give us a king.
Now they've made a decision. They've always forsaken me. And they've always since the
day I brought him out of Egypt served other gods. And so now
Samuel, you know what it is to be forsaken. of these people. That's what he's telling us here.
That's what he's telling us here. Since the day I brought them
out of Egypt, they pursued me. They served other gods. And he
says in Samuel, now you know how it feels to be forsaken of
all the people that you've judged and you've been faithful to over
all these years. So they do unto you also. You're
feeling it now. So they do unto you also. So
also they do unto thee. That's what he's telling them.
Now they're forsaking you too. Now look what he tells Samuel
to do in verse 9. Now therefore hearken or obey
their voice. But now listen to what he says.
But you protest, you tell them certainly, solemnly, You protest
to them and solemnly tell them and show them what manner of
king they are going to reign over. You tell them what he's
going to be like. Tell them what's going to happen. So he begins
to tell them what happens. And now let's go down through
here and see what he says. And Samuel, unto the man of the king that
shall reign over him, Samuel told all the words of the Lord
unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, this
will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He's
going to take your sons. That's the first thing he's going
to do. And he's going to appoint them for his son. And then he's
going to have chariots. And he's going to have these
sons to be his horsemen. And some are going to have to
be foot soldiers and run before the chariots. Then he's going
to take men. He's going to appoint captains
over thousands because he's going to take thousands of your sons.
Then he's going to make captains over 50's. Then he's going to
take people out of your families and out of your homes. Then he's
going to make them work on his ground, to ear his ground, to
reap his harvest. And not only that, but he's going
to take them and make instruments of war and instruments of his
change. That's what he's going to do. That's what he's going
to take. He's going to take your sons. And then look what he says now.
Not only is he going to take your sons, But he's going to
take your daughters. And he wants them to be bakers
and cooks and confectionaries. He's going to make them make
sweet things. He's going to be their cooks and their bakers.
Somebody's got to feed him and his army. And he's got to have
enough food raised in the ground so he's going to take people
out of your families and make them raise great big fields full
of food to feed me and my army. And that's what he's telling
me. And then look what else he says in verse 14. And then he's
going to take your fields. That field right there, buddy,
I want it. It's mine. Going to blow them to me. That
thing there raised the best barley. Raised the best wheat. I'm going
to take your field away from you. And I'm going to take your
vineyards and your olive yards and listen to this, even the
best of them. And then what's he going to do
with them? Listen, these guys that serve me real well and do
what I tell them to do and obey me, you take this vineyard. You
take this solid yard. You take this field. So he's
going to give them to the best of them. He's going to give their
best to people that obey him and does what he wants. Man, I don't know if I'd want
a king after they start telling me things like that. Then would
you? And then he says in verse 15, he'll take the tenth of your
seed, the tenth of your vineyards, and give to his officers and
to his servants. And he'll take your men's servants,
your maid's servants, and your goodly young men, and your asses,
and put them to his work. He'll take the tenth of your
sheep, and you shall be his servants. Gonna be his servants. And you
shall cry out in that day, Because of your king, which ye shall
have chosen. And listen to this, the Lord
ain't going to listen. He said, I'm not going to listen
to you. Huh? Oh, Samuel told them with absolute
certainty what kind of king they would have. He told them with
solemnity. And this is what happens when
people make choices. When they make choices. That's
why they're always bad choices. And these folks wanted a king
and wanted to be like everybody else. And when even we want to
be like everybody else, we'll end up making the wrong choice.
How many times have your children told you when you was raising
them, Mama, everybody's wearing this. Everybody's wearing that. And I need this. I got to have
this kind of shoe. I've got to have these kinds.
And they start saying, well, everybody's doing it. Everybody's
going to hell, but I'm not going to go with them. But that's how
people end up making bad choices. They want to be like everybody
else. And when you want to be like everybody else, this will
lead us to where Ezra was for doing and rejecting the King. God is King. And oh my, look
what happens now. In verse 19, Nevertheless, nevertheless,
the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. In spite of what Samuel told
them, all that was going to happen, we're going to take the best.
He's going to take the best you got. He's going to take your
sons. He's going to take your daughters.
He's going to take your land, he's going to take your vineyards,
he's going to take everything you've got. And then on top of
that, if you've got a hundred sheep, he wants ten. He'll come
in there and take the ten best. You've got ten head of cattle,
he's got a hundred head of cattle, he's going to come take ten of
the best. If you've got a bakery, you've got a bakery, he's going
to come in that bakery and he's going to take ten. If you've
got a hundred loaves, he's going to take ten of them. Oh my! How would you like to
be sitting around at your house and everything you own, a guy
walks up to you because he's got the power and says, I want
a tenth of everything you've got. You've got a thousand dollars,
give me a hundred. You've got a hundred heads of
cattle, I'm going to go out there and pick out ten of them. You've
got four cars, I'm going to take one of them. I mean, that's what
he said here. And then not only that, but I'm
going to take your daughter out of your house and take her and
make her serve me. I'm going to draft your sons and
I'm going to put them in war. But nevertheless, the people
refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, nope,
nope, nope, nope, nope, we don't care. It don't make any difference
to us. We will, we will, we will, not
God will, not God shall, we will, we will have a king over us. That's man's will. That's man's
will. That was man's will at the cross. That's man's will today. That's
man's will and always has been. We will have us a king. Huh? Oh my. And they want to be like everybody
else. Like all the nations. And all
God had fought their battles for them. But you know what the
issue was? Back over here in verse 6 and
7. The issue was, you know that, give us a king
to judge us. And the issue was, in verse 6,
7, They rejected not you but me.
Do you want God or do you want man? Do you want God or do you
want a judge? Do you want God? And that's the
issue. And Samuel, Samuel took this
personally. He took this personally. They
hearkened on to the voice of Samuel and said no. And he took
this personally. He said and that's why God says
don't take it personally. They've not just rejected you.
Though they had rejected him. And this was hard on him. He
said it displeased him. It hurt him. It bothered him
very much. He'd been a good and he'd been
a faithful judge. And what they're saying is, Samuel,
we don't want your leadership anymore. We don't need judges
anymore. We don't need men to reign over us anymore. No men
to fight our battle. No more do we need somebody to
go between us and God. We'll just get us a king. And
they rejected his leadership. And you know, that's a tough
thing to go through. That's what he's doing. They
rejected his leadership. And in the kingdom of God, in
the kingdom of God, there is one king. And that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's why they said, give us a king. Let us And they said here in verse 20
that we also may be like all the nations that our king may
judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. And they said, oh listen. In
verse 21 it says, Samuel heard all the words of the people.
He rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said
to Samuel, hearken to their voice, make them a king. Samuel said
unto the men, if it shall go ye ever man to his home. But
in the kingdom of God, there is one King Christ. That's our
Lord Jesus Christ. And we're brethren. We are brethren. And He's the shepherd of the
sheep. But here's what He's also done. He has set under-shepherds
over His sheep. That's why Peter said, you know,
feed the flock of God which the Lord has made you overseers.
And you know, And he said under shepherds. Calls them pastors,
elders, bishops. And they rejected Samuel too. Not only God, but
rejected Samuel. And I've seen this happen. I've
seen this happen to lots of pastors over the years. You had to. You
have to. You've seen this happen to lots
of pastors over the years. They reject the pastor's leadership.
They reject his authority. They reject his way he does things. It's happened to me over the
years. It's happened to me. And it'll probably happen again.
That's just the nature of of being in a position, in an
office. And when a person, and I've seen
this, and me and pastors have talked about it, but when a person
starts going in the wrong direction, and they start going in the wrong
direction, and I can name you several things
that's happened in other places and things, but They go in the
wrong direction. And how easily, easily it can
happen. Sheep stray so easily. So when
they go in the wrong direction, they make some attempt to justify
their actions. And when they do that, and this
happens, you've seen this happen. They become critics of the pastor
or the leader. They reject his leadership. And
that's what happened to Samuel. And that's why the Lord said,
Samuel, don't take it personally. Don't take it personally. They've
not rejected you, but they've rejected me. And you know people say, well,
I don't know that I need a pastor or not. Well, if you don't need
a pastor, that means you're not a sheep. Sheep got to have a pastor. Ain't
that right? And people, you know, and I found
out this week, this really blows, I thought I've heard everything.
But a woman called me this week, she found my name, my number
in her husband's, one of her drawers where she's cleaning
them out. They've been married 45 years, 45 years! And he took up with somebody
else, said he wasn't coming home. 45 years! And listen, I have been in lots
of services with this man. This man's been in my home as
high as a week at a time. And he attended services in lots
of places. And his wife asked him, said,
now what are you going to do about fellowshipping with a brother?
And he said, that's all over. That's in the past. That's over
and done with. I'm over that. I'm over that. I'm over that. And you know what he told me?
He said, I got tired of the preacher preaching at me. I got tired
of the preacher preaching at me. So he left because the preacher
was preaching at me. Who else was he going to preach
to but those in the matter? We can't preach to people who
are not there, can we? But oh, the issue of state is
just like right here. Is Christ the King? And is Christ
my King? Is the Lord Jesus Christ my King?
The Kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ is one of His office as
the Christ. He's Prophet, Priest, and King. And as a King, He reigns over
everyone in this world. Some He does willingly, and yet,
no matter what happens, He's still the King. But He reigns
in creation. He reigns in providence. And
He certainly, certainly reigns in salvation. And He reigns now
even over those who says, I will not have this man to reign over
me. God's given Him power over all
flesh. All flesh. But Thou our Son,
who willingly, willingly have this man to reign over them.
In the day of His power, He makes His people willing. Listen to me now. We bow to His
reign. We love His reign. We need His
reign over us to save us. We need His commandments We need
His Word, so that we may know, by His grace,
to do His will. Because He came, not to do His
own will, but His. May that be our hearts cry, not
my will, but Thine be done. We need Him. We need Him to choose
us. We need Him to choose us. We
need Him to redeem us. We need Him to call us with irresistible
grace. We need the call of a sovereign
king. And oh, a king that His will
must be done and we want it done in our hearts and lives. And
His kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. The Kingdom of God, he said Paul
did, is not in meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost. That's the Kingdom. And you know
what the Revelation says about us? The subjects in this Kingdom
in Revelation 17, 14 says this, these are the called, the chosen,
and the faithful. That's our process of battle. And I'll tell you something else.
The king fought our battles and has already defeated our enemies. And the last enemy he destroyed
was death. And he went into the tomb and
came out and made it a fit place for us to go for just a few minutes
to go to glory. Huh? Oh, He's done defeated our
enemies. Not going to do it. He fights
our battles. He was a King in eternity. And when He come into this world,
He was born King of the Jews. And while he was in this earth,
he lived as a king. He didn't come riding a great
big white horse and a great entourage in front of him and behind him. He came in the estral on a colt,
the full of the mass. Meek and lowly, thy king cometh
unto thee. And oh my, he died as a king
because they accused him. That was the crime that they
accused him of. They said put over his cross
He said he's king of the Jews, but all he pilot put on there,
king, king, king. They put it in three languages,
Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. He wanted every language to know
that that's the king, huh? And they said, don't put that
up there, just say he's king. I've done what I've done. He
put over that cross just exactly who he was. He's the king. Over
the Greeks, he's the king over the Romans, and he's the king
over everybody else. And then he was raised as a king. And he sits right now as a king.
And we say, Lord, O Lord, come quickly and reign over us where
there will be a kingdom where there's no rivals for our affections
and our hearts but You. Come, Lord Jesus, come now. He's called King of Kings. and
Lord of Lords and bless His Holy Name. I tell you what, I can't
wait. I can't wait to see Him face
to face. He's my King now. He's my King
before He saved me. He'll be my King today, tomorrow,
and He'll be my King throughout eternity. You know why? Because
we see Him sitting on a throne. And on His head are many crowns. Oh my, come thou almighty king. Let's sing that. Come thou almighty
king. Oh what a blessed savior we have.
Number six I believe is in the psalm book. Come thou almighty
king. Let's stand together and sing
this. They said, we don't want him
to reign over us. We're just the opposite. We want
him to reign over us. Oh, they don't want him. But
I want him to reign, don't you? Oh, I want him to reign. Come back. Father all-glorious, Lord all-victorious,
Come and reign over us, Ancient of days, come Thine! Spirit of holiness, on us we
sing. The morning of return, thy sacred
witness bear. To the Oh