Once You Turn to the One True King

Once You Turn to the One True King

1 Samuel 8:1-22

 

Intro: What would you do?

 

The title of the message this morning is “Once You turn to the One true King.” And it is an appropriate title for us because we have been studying in the book of 1 Samuel the past several weeks and we have seen the posture of God’s people at that time in history. We noted through the first six chapters that it was a time defined as the period of Judges, a time when everyone did what was right in their own eyes (Judges 21:25). We saw the signs and symptoms of a people who were choosing their own way, and chapter 4 ended with us seeing the results of that reality, the glory of God had departed from the people.

But last week, we noted a shift. Chapter 7 begins with us seeing that after some time had passed, the people began longing for the Lord. A revival then took place, the people directed their hearts toward the Lord, turned from the things that had turned them from Him, and they returned to the Lord with all their heart. They put their trust in Him upon being attacked, they asked Samuel to pray for them in a battle and the Lord saved them, thundering on the Philistines and the Israelites pushed them back. At the end of chapter 7, Samuel takes a stone and sets it up, it was a stone of remembrance, an “Ebenezer stone,” and Samuel set it up so that the people would recognize where their help had come from, and remember to rely on Him as they went forward.

As the chapter changes, however, the scene shifts once again. And it is in chapter 8 where we see the people who had once turned and returned to the Lord, those who were just seen crying out to Him with a recognition that He is the Lord of lords, and He is the King of kings, are now seen asking for an earthly king to rule and judge them. And the Lord will tell Samuel, “the people have rejected Me from being King over them.” These are sobering words that cause us to pause and ask not only the question, “what would I do if I were in their sandals?” but, “what am I doing now that I have turned to the One true King?” and “how am I going to live in light of the examples I am seeing in the Bible?”

 

Romans 15:4, For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

 

Read: 1 Samuel 8:1-7

 

Illus. Theocracy vs. Monarchy.

 

Here, the people are shown desiring to move away from a theocracy, and to a monarchy. They are seen desiring an earthly ruler, and earthly king. Earthly kings were given great power and authority. The people were in submission to kings and their rule. In verse 7, the Lord describes their desire as a “rejection of Him from being King over them.”

That said, I want to turn our attention to three ways the people faltered and turned away in chapter 8, after turning to the Lord in chapter 7. From those three ways the people faltered, I will circle three important ways to proceed forward, once you turn to the one true King.

 

1. The Way Forward is By Faith

 

1 Samuel 8:1-5, Now it came about, when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in Beersheba. His sons, however, did not walk in his ways but turned aside after dishonest gain, and they took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

 

• From the first five verses we can make some observations about what that people were seeing and perhaps some answers as to why the people came to Samuel calling for a king.

 

• Here is what they were seeing, Samuel was now old, and his sons, who had been appointed as Judges, were not walking in his ways.

 

• Samuel had two sons, Joel and Abijah. They had been appointed by Samuel as judges in Beersheba which was quite a distance away from Ramah which is were Samuel was.

 

• The appointing of his sons seems a bit out of place. Reason being the appointment of judges was to come from the Lord. God was the one who would appoint judges, unlike the priesthood where the role of priest was passed down through the generations.

 

• We aren’t told the reason Samuel appointed them, perhaps he appointed them as an extension of him and with Beersheba quite a distance away, and due to Samuel’s age, he was unable to get down there.

 

• While we don’t know the answer to that, we do know that his sons were not doing well down there. They were taking bribes and in pursuit of dishonest gain.

 

• The people were aware of it and did not like it.

 

• Additionally, Samuel is getting up in age. So, the elders of Israel gather together and go to Samuel at Ramah and start this way, “Samuel, you’re old…” I wonder if Samuel thought to himself, “good to see you too!”

 

• Again, they were seeing some things, they were seeing Samuel’s age, they were seeing the ways of his sons, and so they come up with a solution to the situation, “appoint us a king to judge us like all the other nations.”

 

• Based on what they see, they end up desiring a king. And while their desire on the surface seems understandable, there was a lot wrong about their reasoning for wanting a king appointed.

 

• I want to look quickly at three aspects: the wrong timing, the wrong tribe, and the wrong target.

 

• Regarding timing, some suggest there should have never been a king in Israel, that monarchy was something that should have never ended up happening.

 

• From what I see, it was a part of God’s plan that at some point, Israel would have a king.

 

Genesis 49:10, The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet.

 

• A scepter is what a king held. “The scepter would not depart from Judah.” So a king would come.

 

• Additionally, the Lord gave instruction to the Israelites about how to choose the right king.

 

Deuteronomy 17:14-17

 

• Though the time would come, the desire and pursuit at that particular time seems to represent the wrong timing.

 

• They are seen pushing for it, we will see Samuel warn them, but still they desire a king.

 

• Now a king will come on the scene later, King David, known as a man after God’s own heart. He represents the Lord’s selection, and Saul, often represents the Lord giving the people what they want.

 

• The next factor is that Saul was from the wrong tribe. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin, but the king was to come from the tribe of Judah.

 

• Lastly, the wrong target. They wanted a king like the other nations, who “looked the part.” As we see the first selection as king, king Saul, we will see much emphasis put upon the way he looked.

 

• Later, we see God’s selection of David and Samuel will be told, “Do not look at his appearance or stature, God sees not as man sees, man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

 

• This leads us back to what the people were looking at, they were looking at the outward appearance of things.

 

• From 1 Samuel 12, we understand that there was an additional reason why they were pressing for a king at this point…They are once again, under attack.

 

1 Samuel 12:12, But when you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon was coming against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us!’ Yet the Lord your God was your king.

 

• They wanted a leader in place that they could see visibly, one who could set up a different governmental structure, one who could fight their battles physically.

 

• Now, the Lord had brought them through many battles and fought on their behalf at many points throughout their history.

 

• The Lord led them out of Egypt, provided for them in the desert, He led them around the walls of Jericho and they saw the impossible walls fall.

 

• In chapter 7, we saw Samuel cry out to the Lord in prayer and then the Philistine army approached them, and the Lord drive the Philistines away with a loud thunder. The Lord had surely fought for them.

 

• But each battle brought about a need for them to fight by faith. They no longer wanted to fight the good fight of faith, rather, they wanted to walk by sight, and not by faith.

 

• They had turned to the Lord, but now it seems they wanted something else, something different than him. Some other leadership to lead them, and in turn, their posture before the Lord is a rejection of Him.

 

Psalm 20:7, Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

 

• For those who have turned to the one true King, faith and trust is essential for us. Faith is the only way forward, but often we want something, or someone else we can fix our eyes on, some other leader we can lean upon.

 

Illus. He’s got it.

 

2 Corinthians 5:7, We walk by faith, not by sight.

 

1. Settle in to Being Set Apart

 

1 Samuel 8:4-8

 

• Samuel’s first reaction to the desire of the people is displeasure. He is upset. But his reaction is tempered by his counter action, which is to pray to the Lord.

 

• The people are coming at him, pointing out the problems in his family, and have taken to a rejection of God as King over them, he is upset, but he takes to prayer.

 

• And the Lord responds to his prayer, telling Samuel that it isn’t about him, the people have not rejected him, they have rejected the Lord.

 

• And the Lord says, they have abandoned me and done these deeds since the day I delivered them from Egypt.

 

• In other words, “this has been going on for some time, for a few hundred years, they are doing this to me, it isn’t about your age, or your leadership, it is about the desire of the Israelites to reject me from being over them as king.”

 

Illus. Rejected.

 

John 15:20

 

• Their desire was to be like the other nations, that is the direction they wanted to go in.

 

1 Samuel 8:19(a)-20, …There shall be a king over us, so that we also may be like all the nations, and our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.

 

• There it is, “we want to be like everyone else…”

 

• It was never God’s goal or desire for His people to be like everyone else.

 

Exodus 19:5-6, If you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ (NIV)

 

Deuteronomy 14:2, You have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure. (NLT)

 

• The Lord had set His people apart. They weren’t like the other nations, nor was the goal for them to be like the other nations.

 

• This is not just true of those who had once turned to the Lord in 1 Samuel, but for those of us today who have turned toward the one true king personally.

 

• To be “set apart,” means to be set apart from what is ordinary, it represents something that is for special use, it represents a word, sanctification, which is a separation from what is common or unholy, and devoted to God.  

 

1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

 

Romans 12:2, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

• The Israelites were conforming to the ways of the world rather than being transformed by the renewing of their minds.

 

• They understood many things about who they were, what God had given, but they were saying, “We want to be like everyone else…We don’t want to be set apart, we don’t want to be distinct, we aren’t interested in having God as our only king, we want to be like everybody else.”

 

• Rather than settling in to being set apart, they set their hearts on conforming to the ways of the other nations.

 

 

John 18:36, My kingdom is not of this world…

 

• Referring to His followers, Jesus prayed these words…

 

John 17:16-17, They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

 

• The people in Israel weren’t settled in to being set apart. But I encourage you, to settle into that truth.

 

Illus. In the room.

 

Illus. On the edge.

 

• The Lord tells Samuel to listen to their voice, “give them what they are calling for,” but warn the people, let them know the consequences of rejecting the one true king and submitting to an earthly king.

 

1 Samuel 8:9-18

 

• Take, take, take…That is what he will do. You will have had it “your way.”

 

III.    Have it His Way

 

1 Samuel 8:19-22, The people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us, so that we also may be like all the nations, and our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” Now after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the Lord’s hearing. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint a king for them.” So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go, every man to his city.”

 

• As the Lord tells Samuel to let the people have it their way, it is evident in these verses that there is no warning the Lord had spoken that gave them any pause.

 

• Their hearts and minds were set on what they wanted and that alone.

 

• When verse 19 reads, the people “refused” it is a word that means to “utterly refuse,” an absolute unwillingness, along with an implication of refusing something with a distaste for having it any other way.

 

• Perhaps a way of defining their refusal might be, “we want it this way and we have a distaste for any other way.”

 

Psalm 34:8, Taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

 

• Happy is the one who takes refuge in Him. These are words that would be spoke by a future king in a time of trouble.

 

• And many times, it takes times of trouble after we get what we were once desiring where we finally see that that true blessing, is in finding refuge in God, in having our lives and steps ordered according to His ways, under His protection and His direction.

 

Illus. Have it your way?

 

Romans 1:18-32