Kiss the King

This morning, we have to talk about impeachment. Just to make sure we're clear as to what impeachment is, because it'd be a little confusing, it is when a legislative body brings charges to an official for the purpose of removing them before their term's up. Now, we're in the middle of a lot of things in our own country and the news regarding impeachment, but we're talking about one much more significant than what we as a nation are experiencing. Our text this morning is about an impeachment. The elders of Israel come to God and they say, you're not doing your job. We want a king like the nations. If we take seriously what's happening in our text this morning, We have two different postures. One is we can stand over and just look and say how ridiculous it is because it is obviously ridiculous. But the real response is to realize we're just like them. We regularly go before God with our charges and expect him to answer our wishes or complain if he doesn't. We seek to replace God when we are not personally satisfied. This morning, if you're new with us, we're walking through the book of 1 Samuel. We try to go through book by book and in order. 1 Samuel is, we're actually getting to the end of the story focusing on Samuel himself. It opened with Hannah, a wife who had no children. She asked God for a child. God blessed that request. Samuel's name is God hears. And Samuel is set up as a prophet. He's contrasted with Eli and his two sons. And that's important because now we see Samuel has two sons, and he's not done any better of a job of training his children, disciplining his children, and he's put them in the wrong position. In chapter four, one of the most difficult events in Israel's history, they lost the Ark of the Covenant. They lost the symbol of God's love and kingship and commitment to them because they treat it like a lucky charm. They then lament, and God sends Samuel to say, return to me. That's the God of Israel. Return to me. I will be your God, you will be my people, and they have years of peace. with Samuel proclaiming the Word of God and them responding to the Word of God. And now this week reveals that was short-lived. They want a king like the nations. We could have two different main points if you're looking for a kind of a theme, a one point. We could say something like, be careful what you ask for. That's a lesson to be learned from this text. But that's kind of wisdom in general. I think the real focus, trust the king who gives himself to you. Trust the king who gives himself to you. If you're taking notes, I'm just gonna walk through the story. I'll give you some headings, because folks like headings to take notes. The first point we're going to see, the first thing we see is the wrong solution. The wrong solution. Now, to say there's a wrong solution, it means there was a problem. If we look at chapter 8, verse 1 through 3, the problem is identified, and it's a, it's a real problem. Look at verse 3. Samuel has two sons, yet his sons did not walk in his ways. but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. All right, so his sons are judges, and what's the one thing a judge is supposed to do? Exercise justice. to not be grieved for gain, to not take bribes, to want to say what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. And those men who are going to lead Israel after Samuel, they're perverting justice. They're not doing their job. There's a real problem. And so we see the elders, they're responding to the problem. And let's just take a moment here before we move on from the perverted justice It's very clear throughout Scripture, God cares about justice. God condemns unlawfully weighted scales. God condemns the cheating. If you want to think about how God loves justice, just think about Jesus in the temple before his death. He's angry. He turns over tables because the part of the temple where he's at is where the Gentiles and the women could come in, and it was the poverty places, where the sacrifices for those who were in poverty could be given. He's angry that they're being cheated. God is against oppressing the lowly. And that's exactly what Israel's judges were doing. So there's a problem. Now, there's a wrong solution. Look at verse four. All the elders, they recognize the problem. They gather together. This is your legislative body. They come to Samuel, and they say to him, behold, you are old. Now, isn't that an encouraging way to start a conversation? Just stating the fact, Samuel. Behold, you're old, okay? You're not gonna be around forever. and your sons, they don't walk in your ways. We're scared of being left with your sons that you've put in place to be judges after you, all right? So again, problem rightfully identified, but listen to the solution. Now appoint for us a king to judge us, like all the nations. They want justice. That's not the problem. The problem is they don't trust God to give them justice. The problem is they're not looking to God as the ultimate judge. They're not looking to God as the ultimate king. They're one true king. Now we want to analyze this request. It is important that we recognize that asking for a king isn't the problem in their request. It's the kind of king, one like the nations. And we'll see it in a few weeks. They want a tall king, and a mighty king, a king who will go out and win battles for us, as we'll see a little while later. A king like all the nations. We can simply go to Deuteronomy 17. where God tells them before they go into the Promised Land, as you're going to the Promised Land, know this, do not ask for a king like the nations. There's already been a direct warning against this, because God knows what kind of people Israel is and what they're gonna do. He's already warned them explicitly, directly, don't ask for this. Secondly, God is their King. He is their help. He always has been, He always will be, and if they look to Him and ask for help, He's always given it. Instead, they're taking it into their own hands. The third problem with this If you look at Deuteronomy 4, the whole purpose of going into Canaan and the Promised Land, and God giving Israel His covenant ark and the laws and the sacrifices and all the witness they're supposed to be. Israel is a holy nation, a kingdom of priests who are supposed to be a light to the other nations, and the other nations are supposed to come and say, wow, what a good God you must have. Wow! What, what wisdom your God has given you. Their, their mission is to be a light to the nations. And here they're saying, no we need to be more like the nations. They're denying their calling. They're denying their God. They're denying their mission. They want to be like the nations. The idea of Goya, their nations, if you go back to Genesis 3, God and the nations are at battle. The seed of Eve will crush the head of the seed of Satan. And you see all along the Old Testament there's this theme that the nations, Psalm 2, they're raging against God. And God's King, His ultimate King, will have the victory. And the call is to submit to the King, not for God's people to submit to the nations. Church, there's a real warning and a challenge here. We need to be careful about who we are. How do we identify ourselves? Who do we think we are and what has God called us to? What do we do and why do we do it? There's always a temptation to be like the world so that we might appeal to them more. In our church, in our homes, in our lifestyles, What we do when we say, God, we don't like Your high, holy calling. We think we could do this better if we just accept these things, or if we do these things. We're lowering our expectations. We're refusing the holiness. See, the church's appeal to the world is that we're a people of love, joy, peace, self-control, kindness. People of grace. The church is supposed to be a light where you don't get anything. What you get here is what you don't get in the world, and that is forgiveness from sin, truth from God, clarity in a world of confusion, light in the midst of darkness. There is a temptation that we must acknowledge that we all personally have, and we as a church do have. How can we be more like the nations? Look at God's response. Verse 6. This displeased Samuel, who's a man of God, who's proclaiming the Word of God. It displeased him, not that he said he was old. That could have been offensive. Not that he called out his sons. It displeased him that they rejected God. This is their impeachment. Give us a king to judge us. It displeased him. And so what does Samuel do? He does what a godly man does in a situation like this. He prays. And Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, obey the voice of the people. The world just got turned upside down. This is a key theme for an entire text. Verse 7, obey the voice of the people. Verse 9, obey their voice. Verse 22, end emphasis, how the story ends. Obey their voice. Let's just pause for a second. Who's supposed to be obeying who in this relationship? Israel God's people should be listening to Him, seeking His will, and obeying Him. But here God is simply turning it over. Samuel, do what they ask. This is a terrifying declaration, because God is giving them what they're asking for. God is giving them what they want. If you look at the language of Romans, he's handing them over to their sin. Now, if you look at the commentary, God makes it very clear. They're not rejecting you, Samuel. They're rejecting me. I have been their king. It's very clear. They're rejecting me from being king over them. They're saying I'm not doing a good enough job. They're saying they don't trust me. According to all the deeds that I've done, they've done. From the day I brought them up out of Egypt. By the way, I did save them from the greatest nation and the greatest king of the day, Egypt. I brought them out of slavery and gave them a promised land. This is just like them. They've forsaken me and they serve other gods. So they're doing to you. Again, obey their voice. Now, He does say warn them, and there's a warning, and we'll get into that here in a moment, but this is, this is, this is, this is amazing. The God who has given Israel an identity. The God who has given Israel children. He, He helped them multiply. God has given them safety. He's given them provision. He's fed them. He's, He's taken them out of slavery. He's putting them into a new promised land. He's given them victories. He's given them promise. And what does Israel do? It's not good enough. We think we could do better. As we consider this, what are we asking of God? What are our prayers? Or really, what are our dreams and ambitions? What is that thing that we say, you know, God, if only I had this, I could trust you more. If only you would give me this. Maybe it's a boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, maybe a better spouse, maybe children, a job, a better job, a home. We all kind of have to just get to the point. We all think we deserve better than we have it. And this is shaking our fist to God and saying, you could be doing a better job, God. What happens when we get that discontent? What happens when we, we get overwhelmed with all the different things we, we think we should have? We don't ask for a king like the nations. What do we do? We do it ourself. And then we just mess it up all the more. I believe what Israel, what Israel has is what we have. It's, it's coveting. We want more blessings and we don't like that we see other people getting blessings. And remember, God does not withhold any good gift. Again, from Romans 8, He's given us His Son. What good thing would God ever withhold from us? The good news for you this morning, if you feel like life is out of control, you're sane. It is. There's internal, personal turmoil. There's external trouble. There's, there, it's a difficult world. and we all want some kind of peace, we all want some kind of understanding of somebody's in control? This morning, God is king. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father because he has overcome death, he's overcome sin, he's promised he's coming back to bring perfect peace, and in the meantime, he's promised his own peace. We all get to the point where we realize things are out of control. The goal isn't to figure out how to take control of my own heart or take control of my own circumstances. The goal is to look up and trust the God who is actually in control. So we see the wrong solution. We want a new king. We want a king just like the nations. Now let's look at the warning. God says obey their voice, but first he's gonna give a warning. This is, this is a caring God. He's going to give them over to their sin, and that is a punishment and a judgment, but it isn't without giving them the opportunity to repent. Here's a warning. So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. And he said, these will be the ways of the king who will reign over you. Notice the constant taking. He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and all of orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the 10th of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys and put them to his work. He will take the 10th of your flocks and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves. But the Lord will answer you in that day. If you want a king like the nations, here's what the king is gonna do. He's gonna take, he's gonna take, he's gonna take. What has Yahweh done? He has given, he has given, he has given. It should be obvious. I mean, just look at verse 17. You will be a slave. They're going to go back to their state before the Exodus. They're going to go back and be slaves like they were to Pharaoh. That's the option they're choosing. The warning is, He's going to take all of your best things, even your own sons and daughters. and you will be his slaves. The people respond, verse 19, no, there'll be a king over us. I trust we've all been in this place where we're tempted towards something. If there's any bit of rationality in our minds, we know it's just stupid. and wrong, and yet we can be so clever at that moment to justify somehow, no, this is what's right. The insanity right here. No, God's Word is saying you're going to choose somebody who's going to take and take and take and take. You're going to be a slave again rather than a free people under my kingship. And they say, yeah, that's what we want. Who would choose that? They're already so convinced in their own minds. They are so against God in their own hearts. They're self enslaving. This is very much like what Jesus says in the Gospel of John. When you choose sin, you make yourself a slave to it. We always think that when we think we're in control and we're making our decisions, you know, I have this under control. I have the power to limit. You know, we see what's right. We see what's wrong. We're going to go this way. We need this kind of king no matter what. And it's foolishness. They're self-enslaving to what's dangerous. Verse 21, when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. Again, he's a man of prayer. It's not that God needs a report, but he's seeking God. And God said, this final word of judgment, obey me. their voice and make them a king. This kind of judgment should be just outright terrifying for us this morning. They keep coming. They won't listen to reason. They won't listen to God. They're committed. Now again, we could just think this is, you know, be careful what you ask for, but that's something you learn from wisdom. One of Aesop's fables teaches this. There's an old man, he's picking up sticks, and he's hurting, he's in pain, and so he cries out, death, take me now, and so death shows up. And death says, you called, what would you like? And the man being afraid says, oh, I just wanted you to help me pick up these sticks. Anybody can look around and say, be careful what you ask for. It takes light from above. It takes wisdom from above to realize we want to be in charge, and when we put ourselves in charge, we make a mess of things. It takes truth from God to realize the bigger picture here, that He is the good King. He is the giver of every good and perfect gift. And we as sinners, we're grumblers about everything He gives, and we always think we deserve better. They're not satisfied. The biggest lie, I deserve better. The temptation in that lie, let me take control and fix it. They're rejecting the good God who's given them everything. And God has said, give them over to their sin. Obey their voice. The first thing we have to recognize is this is the same sin we participate in when we do not listen to God. We do not obey God. We do not seek to be the holy nation He's called us to be, the holy people, the temple He's called us to be, when we do not seek to love Him the way He deserves to be loved. But I want us to see something else here that God intends for His people to have a king. We need to be ruled. We are an unruly people that need to be ruled. That's a hard thing to appreciate, but it's a clear truth from Scripture, and this is what God has done to make sure we understand. We are an unruly people intended to be ruled by Him. He sent His own Son to be our King. One of the great themes of our scripture that we see a yes and amen to is that God has promised a king, he himself intends to be king, and Jesus the son, he is the true king. All right, if we go back to look at David and Solomon, the kings God chose, they were okay. They were okay as long as they were ambassadors of the true king. The role of the king in Old Testament Israel was to represent God to the people by reading his laws out loud, by implementing his justice and executing his orders. We see even David and Solomon were significant failures at different points in their lives when they did not trust God and obey Him. Even if you look at the long genealogies or the long histories, what does it say over and over again? So-and-so ruled for this many years, and it was evil inside the Lord. So-and-so ruled for so many years, and it's evil inside the Lord. If you're Israel at that time of history, which is much later than where we are here in 1 Samuel, you have to kind of be frustrated. Why so many evil kings? Why so long a waiting? We don't know why the waiting is. We just know that when the right king shows up, they reject him. If you think about the voice they're supposed to be listening to, Jesus comes as the Word of God who makes God the Father known. He obeys Him perfectly in the way that we do not. He listens to God and tells us the truth of God. He's the King. And He's not like the King of the nations. He's a King who gives. He gives His own life. He dies on the cross. As we read earlier from John 10, He's the Good Shepherd, and He's a Good Shepherd who exercises good authority for us. He lives the life we should live and refuse to live. He dies on the cross for our sin. He gives us His righteousness. He gives us His Sonship. He gives us His love. He gives us His eternal life. This morning the invitation is, trust the king. We're not a kingless people if you're a Christian. Trust the king. Let's think about it for a moment. How many promises has God failed to keep? Not personal expectations. God isn't bound to those. How many promises has God not kept? Jesus does take. He takes. He took our punishment on the cross. He took judgment for sin. He took separation and forsakenness from the Father. He took all that we deserve so that He could give us who He is. He gives us Himself. There's nothing better. Trust the King. If you're not a Christian this morning, I appeal to you. If you look at every ruler in the world, they all abuse authority. There's no authority on earth that does not abuse it. God is a different kind of authority. Jesus has all power, and He is all good, so all His power is used for us. Our problem isn't that we need to figure out how to make ourselves better. Our problem is we've rejected God. He's come down to us so that we can believe in Him, be forgiven, and be restored. Believe in Jesus. He is the good King. Church, I have three applications for us. Three applications for us as a church. First, this text challenges our arrogance. It challenges our arrogance. Notice the people of Israel, they want to emphasize their voice. And God lets them have what their voice says. They're not looking to listen to the Lord. They're not looking to speak the words of the Lord. They're coming up with their own solution. It's my way. This is an arrogance that says, I could do better if I were in charge. I would give myself way better gifts. I would give myself the gifts that guy has, because he doesn't know what they're doing. There's an arrogance. that looks and second guesses God in this text. That should challenge the meanness we all have. Second, there's a warning against temptation. They want a king like the nations. If you think about who the most powerful influencers are in our society, it's the Joneses. Who are the Joneses? That's your neighbor. Right? It used to be you would always be tempted to make sure that whatever your neighbor had, you had something just as good. The neighbor temptation, who's right next to you. The problem today is the whole world's our neighbor because of social media. And what do people put on social media? Their best life. It's like a constant first date. It's a lot. just the best me possible in a presentation that is mostly just not true because I'm not telling you who I really am. I'm presenting my best person. We're constantly tempted to think, wow, look how good they have it. Why don't I have it that good? We're constantly tempted for that comparison. Why don't I have those blessings? Why don't I have that Why don't I get that kind of treatment from God? The warning against the temptation is do not covet your neighbor's life. Do not look at the nations and think they have anything better. Look at the nations and pity them that they are without God. They're without life. They're without forgiveness. And desire that for them by being a witness. Finally, church. there's going to be pressure that we need to consider. There's folks who have regularly said throughout history, the church must change or die. In some churches, there's a lot of change that needs to be done. There's still changes that need to be done in this own church. Our own hearts need to be turned more aligned with God. But the idea there is that the church needs to change the way it talks, and the way it functions, and the beliefs it has, or else it's just going to become obsolete and obscure in society. We didn't realize the most dangerous teachings of liberalism were done from pure hearts with good intentions. What I mean by that is a bad doctrine was never introduced into the church by somebody who was trying to ruin the church. Most of the most dangerous doctrines were introduced by someone who was trying to save the church. If you go back to the 19th century, The world started believing that you couldn't hold to miracles. You couldn't teach the virgin birth. You couldn't teach the bodily resurrection. We've got to stop talking about these things in church because people just don't want to hear that. Change or die. And the goal there was to say we've got to make sure that the world hears us in a reasonable way, in a way they'll accept, so they'll embrace us. Every improvement was a disaster. Today it's not reason, it's social pressures. You must identify, you must appreciate the way I identify. You've got to agree with my sexual choices, my sexual preferences. If you do not accept the way I am, according to my own voice, if you don't accept the way I want to live my life, I don't want anything to do with you, the world says. The church has to do two things. Be very clear that that is not the way God has made them. Rather it be, whatever the sexual temptation is, that's a perversion of God's grace. But also make clear, we're constantly trying to confront sin to invite to Christ. The church must stand firm in what God says is right and good and true and constantly make it very clear. We're not right and clear and true ourselves. We've just accepted what Jesus has taught. We have received what Jesus has taught and we offer it. Come to Christ and be forgiven. The church cannot try to be more appealing by being like the nations. That's not being a witness at all. That's losing our purpose. Finally, there's an assurance for those who need help. The assurance these elders and Israel's trying to get is to be like the nations. That's not the help that you need. God, as we looked at last week, when Israel returned, when Israel cried out to them, he answered and he helped. The nations are raging. Our hearts are in turmoil and knotted up with sin. There's help, but it's not help that I figure out on my own. It's not help by looking to my neighbor. It's help by looking up. Again, where Christ is seated, having conquered sin, having conquered death, having risen from the grave, and now He's in His Holy Spirit to give us help. The problem with all the kings of the Old Testament that failed and failed and failed and did evil in their eyes, they're all part of the same system. What makes Jesus so unique is He comes from outside. He's the King, the Son of God, who comes from above and becomes like us to save us. He isn't part of this creation. He's a new Adam and a new beginning. If you're someone here that needs help and you're a believer, look to Christ. If you're not a Christian this morning, look to Christ. He is your help. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you, Lord, for your kindness. That you allow us, Father, to come before you in the name of Jesus to make our request known to you. Lord, help us to know how to come in prayer, to align ourselves with Your will, to align ourselves with Your Word, to be corrected according to Your truth. Forgive us for the constant temptation we succumb to in thinking we deserve better. Thank You, Lord, for the invitation You give us to come before You and pray at times. How long, O Lord? And you're not offended by those prayers, but Lord, do you answer those prayers? Lord, we thank you that you do discipline those you love. I pray that you would help us to embrace your power, your rule, your goodness, and to submit to you. To seek to be your people by obedience, to seek to be your people so that we would be a light to these nations. Forgive us for wanting to be like the nations. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.