All right, 1 Samuel 8, the title
of the lesson is The Lord is King. And that's one of the lessons
that the Lord God emphasized throughout the nation Israel's
history, that He ultimately, God ultimately is the one and
only King of the universe, and especially of His people. The
Lordship, we know we talk about the Lordship of Christ, that
we know that whatever instrument, whatever human instrument that
God uses to accomplish his will here on earth, the instruments
are only human, sinners saved by grace, and sometimes even
unbelievers. God is in control of all things. And he even used unbelievers
to accomplish his will. One of the most glaring examples
of that is the liberation of the children of Israel from the
Babylonian captivity. He used a heathen idolatrous
king named Cyrus to deliver them. And that's well documented in
the word of God. So, but even in what we're gonna
begin here with a new era in Israel's history, the time of
the judges is going to be over with Samuel. And then the time
of the kings of Israel are going to begin. And of course, you
know, it begins with a man named Saul, King Saul. And he was a
fatally flawed man. He's a sinner, but we all are.
I'm gonna make this point in the message later. How many times
have I said, and you all have said too, that there's only two
types of people on this earth, and that's sinners yet in their
sins and sinners saved by grace. But God is in control of it all.
And he is king. And he teaches this lesson to
the children of Israel over and over again, and on the whole,
they didn't learn it. Now, if it was God's will for
them to learn it, they would have. But God's teaching them
a lesson. Now, look at 1 Samuel 8 and verse
one. It said, it came to pass when
Samuel was old. Now, you know Samuel, he was
the child of Hannah. Last week, we looked at Hannah's
prayer, where Hannah prayed, God, give me a son. God gave
her this son, Samuel. She asked God for a son, and
that's what Samuel's name means, asked of God. And of course,
Samuel was her son and he lived as a prophet. He was a prophet
and a priest and a judge in Israel. And when he was old here in verse
one, that he made his sons judges over Israel. He appointed his
sons. I've got in your lesson there about the man who was before
Samuel named Eli, who was a priest. And you remember his two sons
were awful. I can't remember their names
now, but anyway, They died, the Lord actually killed them because
of their idolatry, their disregard of his commandments as being
priests, and Eli eventually died. But here's Samuel, he made his
sons judges over Israel. He says in verse two, now the
name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah.
They were judges in Beersheba. And look at verse three, and
his sons walked not in his ways. They didn't follow the advice
and the teachings of their father Samuel, who by the grace of God
was a faithful prophet. Samuel was a faithful prophet
and a faithful priest, but they didn't listen to him. And it
says, they turned aside after lucre, money, and took bribes
and perverted judgment. And it says in verse four, now
listen, then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together
and came to Samuel unto Ramah. And verse five says, they said
unto him, behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy
ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. Now
that's their request. Now the Bible says in verse six,
this thing displeased. It was evil. in the eyes of Samuel,
for them to ask for a king. Now listen, there's something
we've got to make a real distinction here. They asked for a king,
notice he said, like all the nations. Now this displeased
Samuel, verse six says, 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. The Lord said, now listen to
him, Samuel. He says, for they have not rejected thee. They've
not rejected you, Samuel, but they have rejected me. They've
rejected the Lord. And that was Israel's problem. That's our problem by nature,
isn't it? And even as a believer in Christ, sinner saved by grace,
as we go out through our lives, there are times that we fail
to recognize the sovereign lordship of God. We look to ourselves,
and of course he won't let us go, and he keeps us coming back.
But he says, they rejected me that I should not reign over
them. And he says in verse eight, according to all the works which
they have done since the day I brought them up out of Egypt,
even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken me, served
other gods, so do they unto thee. And so, they asked for a king. The issue of all this is they
failed to recognize, number one, that the Lord God is their one
and only King. Ultimately, it's all unto Him,
all glory, all praise. Everything that happened to this
nation from the time that they went down into Egypt and left
Egypt through the wilderness, Jericho, all of it, It was the
work of God. Now he used human instruments.
Weak, pitiful human instruments. It's like in the spiritual kingdom
of God. He uses the, I'm gonna deal with
this in 1 Corinthians 1 today. By the foolishness of preaching.
You know, Paul said we have a treasure, but we have it in earthen vessels.
So in all things, when we look at the accomplishments of God,
the power of God and ascribed unto him all glory, literally
we have to look past the human instruments. We can't depend
on the human instruments. We don't have faith in the human
instruments. That was one of the problems
in the church at Corinth. They were dividing over preachers
and what did Paul say? He said, did I save you? Were you baptized in the name
of Paul? So these human instruments, well, God used human instruments
to rule over Israel from this time on. And he says in verse
nine, now therefore hearken unto their voice, listen to them,
what they say, how be it yet protest solemnly unto them and
show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. Now,
one of the things that we need to understand is what they were
asking for was evil only because of one thing. And that is verse
five, when they say, now make us a king to judge us like all
the nations. We want a king just like the
Philistines or like the Amorites or like the Amalekites. Well,
my friend, that's not good. But it wasn't necessarily evil
for them just to ask for a king. Because let me, I've got this
in your lesson in the second paragraph. First of all, consider
this. Consider the state described
at the end of the book of Judges, what shape they were in. And
Judges 21, 25 says this. It says, in those days there
was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. So that kind of smacks of the
need of having a leader who can guide the people right. And of
course, ultimately, it all goes to the Lord God. You remember
he told Samuel, they're not rejecting you, Samuel, they're rejecting
me. That's the way it is in this thing of salvation, friends.
When a sinner rejects God's way of salvation, we have to understand,
he's not rejecting the preacher, he's rejecting God. And that's
the state of all of us by nature if God didn't intervene in power
through Christ and give us life, give us eyes to see and ears
to hear. We want a king, we want leadership, but what do we want? We want the kind of leadership
that we want and that's evil. The kind of leadership and kingship
that God has is his sovereign control, even in salvation. He said, I'll have mercy on whom
I have mercy, and I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. It's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God
that showeth mercy. And his mercy is in Christ, who
is the King of kings. And that's the real lesson here.
But there was no king in Israel. And they did what was right.
Everybody did what was right in their own eyes. And so, as
I've said here, of course, God had always been their king, but
they rejected him. And he'd show them, without him,
they'd be destroyed. Now, the second reason is this.
The Lord had already promised and prophesied that there would
be kings to rule over them. You remember the prophecy of
Jacob back in Genesis 49, verse 10. Here's what he said about
Judah. He said, the scepter shall not
depart from Judah. Now, a scepter is the rod of
a king. That's the rule and the reign of a king. The king holds
out the scepter. That's a symbol of his authority. And that's why Christ, who is
our King of Kings, he holds out the scepter of righteousness
that he established for us on the cross. dying for our sins
and it's a scepter of righteousness because we stand before God whole
and complete and living eternally because of his righteousness
imputed to us. So Jacob said, the scepter shall
not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. And so that's
the king. Now he says plainly there that
the scepter, the king gonna come out of the tribe of Judah. So
it wasn't just evil because they wanted a king, it was evil because
they didn't want the kind of king that God would provide,
God promised to give. And we'll see that in just a
moment. The third reason is this, provision
had been made in the law already, the law of Moses, for the choice
of a king and directions given concerning the manner in which
this king should govern. Now turn back to Deuteronomy
17. This is in the law of Moses.
And look down at verse 14 of Deuteronomy 17. And what is said
here about the kind of king that God had set within the law shows
so many ways that he's to typify Christ, the king of kings. Look
at verse 14, it says, when thou art come into the land which
the Lord thy God giveth thee and shalt possess it, now here
they are in Samuel, they're already there, and shalt dwell therein
and shalt say, I will set a king over me like as all the nations
that are about me. When you come into the land and
you make that statement, we need a king like all other nations,
He says in verse 15, thou shalt in any wise set him king over
thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose. Now listen, we're gonna
see in this whole episode, God is working his sovereign will.
God's not gonna be taken by surprise here. But the king that they
do choose, which as you know is Saul, is not the king of God's
choice. Now, that doesn't mean God was
taken by surprise or God's looking down and saying, oh, shoot, they
didn't choose the one I wanted. No, he gave them this king to
teach them a hard lesson. But look, he says, one from among
thy brethren shalt thou sit over thee, the king over thee. Well,
that's Christ. He came among, in his humanity,
he was chosen among his brethren. Thou mayest not set a stranger
over thee, which is not thy brother, Christ, what does he call his
God's elect, his people, his sheep, he calls them my brethren.
And verse 16, but he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor
cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should
multiply horses, for as the Lord hath said unto you, you shall
henceforth return no more that way. You don't look to the world,
you don't look to the unbelievers, you don't look to the idolaters
for your help. Later on in an episode of Israel
when they were afraid of being attacked by the Assyrians, the
wise men of Israel, they were telling the king and the people
to go back to Egypt and make an alliance with Egypt. Well,
the king was not to do that. See here, you're not to do that.
You're not to see your strength in how many horses and how many
weapons you have. You're to see that your strength
is in the Lord. You're to depend upon him. When
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, he didn't do it with great armies
and horses and weapons and chariots. No, he did it just with some
ram's horns, marching around. It's the power of God. And of
course, Christ, He did all that he did in keeping the law and
going to the cross in the power of God. He is God. He's God man. But he had the spirit without
measure. He didn't look to men to help him. He walked the winepress
alone. Everybody fled and left him. It was totally, Christ is the
power and the wisdom of God. And look at verse 17. Look here. Neither shall he multiply wives
to himself that his heart turn not away. Somebody told me one
time about David who had I don't know how many wives and concubines
and then Solomon said, well, that was okay in the Old Testament,
was it? Read that again. The king, whoever
it is, he shall not do that. And we know David did it, we
know Solomon did it, other kings did it. They just went against
the Lord in that sense. Well, you know how this typifies
Christ? Christ has one bride and that's
his church. That's the love of his life,
his bride, his wife. And so, and his heart was never
turned away from the task that he was given, and that was to
accomplish righteousness for his people. When he was baptized,
he said to John the Baptist, suffer it to be so for us to
fulfill all righteousness. He set his eyes on the cross
to do that. And his heart was not turned
away because of the love of his people. And it says here in verse
17, neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and
gold. Now this is the kind of king
that God has arranged for in the law. Verse 18, it shall be
when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write
him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the
priest and Levites, and it shall be with him and he shall read
therein all the days of his life. You see, he's to lead the people
to keep the law. and that he may learn to fear
the Lord his God to keep all the words of this law and these
statutes to do them. Verse 20, that his heart be not
lifted up above his brethren and that he turn not aside from
the commandment to the right hand nor to the left to the end
that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children
in the midst of Israel. Now you and I both know that
the only one who kept the law perfectly is our king of kings. None of the human kings did this.
Now there were times in Israel's history, a few times, most of
the time these human kings failed. And that's the fourth thing that
we need to understand. Even though most of them failed
miserably, God appointed these kings, which would come from
the tribe of Judah, And they were to lead the people in the
ways of the Lord. They were to be established on
their throne and recognized as types of Christ. Their rule and their reign was
to reflect the rule of God, the rule of the Messiah, the king
of all kings. And through these human kings,
the people were to learn the great lesson. And what was that? That the Lord himself is king.
God's in control. That's what it's all about. Don't
depend on me. Look to God. Look to Christ. Now, on the whole, when you read
the history of the kings and all that, most of, well, in some
ways, every human king was a failure. Even David. And even Solomon. David considered the greatest
king of Israel. Solomon probably next to him.
But they all failed in some ways. because they're human. There
were a few kings, though, that it could have been said of them
that they did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord.
Doesn't mean they kept the law perfectly and that they were
perfect in themselves. But most of them, you know what
it was said most all the time? Is that they rejected, they failed
to keep the law of God. And so they were failures. Well,
here back in 1 Samuel 8 now, what the Lord does here, he tells
Samuel to tell them what kind of king they're gonna get, all
right? You want a king like all other nations. And God says basically,
well, I'm gonna give you one. I'm gonna show you what's gonna
happen here. But all of this, all of this, see, is God's teaching
his people that again, he's in control, that he's sending the
Messiah to be the king. And the Messiah, Christ, who
always did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, because
he is the Lord. He is the Lord our righteousness. And the people
of God, Christ is the sovereign king of the universe, but he's
especially the king of spiritual Israel. the people of God, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of this is based upon
what he would come and accomplish on Calvary's cross. Peter said
this in Acts chapter two, that because of what Christ accomplished,
God the Father has made him both Lord and Savior. He's given him
a name which is above every name. That's his mediatorial kingship.
As God, Christ has always been king. But as God-man, he was
made to be king because of what he accomplished in his death,
burial, and resurrection to save us from our sins. That's his
mediatorial lordship. That's the lordship of Christ.
It's based upon the scepter of righteousness that he accomplished
by his obedience unto death, as I always say, as the surety,
as the substitute, and as the redeemer of his people, and now
he rules and reigns as king to preserve us. We are preserved,
we're safe, there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ. God
will not and cannot impute our sins to us. We have his righteousness
imputed to us, and we cannot be condemned. That's what the
scripture says. Well, beginning at verse nine
here, he tells them, We won't read all these verses, but just
listen to the first few, or verse 10. Or verse nine, he says, now
therefore hearken, listen to their voice, how be it yet protest
solemnly unto them, tell them that you're not thinking right,
and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
Tell them what kind of king they're going to get. And if you look
at verse 10, it says, Samuel told all the words of the Lord
unto the people that ask of him a king. And verse 11 says, and
he said, this will be the manner of the king that shall reign
over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for himself,
for his chariots to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his
chariots. Verse 12, and he will appoint
him captains over thousands, captains over 50, He will set
them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest and to make
his instruments of war. In other words, he's gonna use
them. And here's the common phrase that runs through that God tells
Samuel to tell them what kind of king they're gonna get. Look
at verse 13. And he will take your daughters. And if you read
on through all the way to verse 18, that's the common thread.
He will take, he will take, he will take, he will take. Sounds
like Washington, doesn't it? All they do is take. Now that's
the kind of king you're gonna get. You want one like all other
nations? The kings of other nations are
idolaters, they're greedy, they're proud, and they live off the
people. They'll drain you dry. They'll
take and take and take. But now what's the difference
between those kings and our king of kings? He didn't take, he
gives. In Christ, God gave us in Christ
all things. It's grace. The only thing he
took from us was our sins, which were imputed to him, and for
which he died. And in return, what did he give
us? He gave us a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice, an everlasting righteousness that cannot be
taken away, cannot be contaminated. The perfect righteousness of
Christ imputed to us. And as a result of that, he's
given us all the spiritual blessings of eternal life, spiritual life,
the treasure, the inheritance. He gave, he gave, he gave. And
he asked for nothing in return except thank you, Lord. That's
right. And that thank you is a big word. That means obedience. That doesn't
mean that our salvation and getting these gifts was conditioned on
our obedience. It's the response. Bow to King
Jesus. So you understand that. So you're
gonna get a king, God says, but he's gonna take and take and
take and take. And look at verse 19. He says, nevertheless, the
people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, nay,
but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like
all the nations. There you go again, see? We wanna
be like the other nations. And see, when they thought that
way and acted that way, the scripture says they profaned the name of
God among the heathen. You're to be separate. You're
to be different. Your king is God. And it says,
verse 20, that we may be like all the nations and that our
king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.
Now, of course, that's what Christ did for us. Verse 21, Samuel
heard all the words of the people and he rehearsed them in the
ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel,
hearken unto their voice and make them a king. And Samuel
said unto the men of Israel, go ye every man into his city.
Now, you know what king he gave them. It was King Saul from the
tribe of Benjamin, wasn't from the tribe of Judah, They picked
Saul because of various things. He was a good-looking man. He was tall. He was healthy and
strong. He came from a prominent family.
You can read about that, I think it's in chapter 9 there. Look
at verse 1. We're not going to go through
all this, but just to give you an idea. It says, now there was a man
of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of
Zeror, the son of Bekorath, the son of Ephias, a Benjamite, a
mighty man of power. And he had a son. So Saul's father
was a man of power. And he says he had a son whose
name was Saul, a choice young man and a goodly, that's talking
about his appearance, And there was not among the children of
Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders and upward,
he was higher than any of the people." So you think about,
if you're gonna vote on a king, he's the guy, you know. They
said, I've heard stories about the presidential race in America,
that the whole complexion changed when the debates began to be
held on television back in the 60s. because then a lot of the
people voted for who they thought looked the best. Well, that's
Israel here. And of course, this does mark
a big change in Israel's history. What happens there, you know,
we're gonna talk about this, but Saul was such a failure He
had some successes, but mainly he was a failure because he became
proud and he didn't listen to the law. He didn't go by the
law. But what happened here is this
paid the way for King David. And we'll see that in the next
lesson. God overrules their evil to bring good. And King David
came, and that's probably, the reign of King David was probably
the most prosperous in the history of Israel. Now David, we know
David wasn't a perfect man, but he was one of the greatest types
of Christ you'll find in the scripture, and we'll look at
that next week.