The Nine - Kings

Intro

Revelation 17:12–14 ESV

12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

PRAY

How was spring break?

Anyone go anywhere fun?

Tonight we are diving back into our study of the nine talking about nine of the markers of the Bible and how they point to the greater story of redemption.

Last week we talked about Judges and we looked at the cycles of sin that the Israelites fell in, they would spend years under a judge of Israel followed by years chasing after other false gods once that judge died.

Gray shared the Jesus offers us rest from sin

He allows us a way out of the sin cycle that the whole world is caught up in. He offers us freedom from sin

After the period of the judges came the time of the kings which is where we begin our teaching tonight.

1 Samuel 8:1–3 ESV

1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.

So we know that Judges in Israel were great leaders that were appointed by God as a kind of steward on His behalf.

They were not meant to be the ruler of the nation but they were to steward the nation of Israel in times of trouble or when the nation of Israel was falling into idolatry.

Samuel was the last great judge over Israel and was also a prophet and a priest in Israel

Samuel is the prophet who will anoint both Saul and David to be king over Israel.

Samuel establishes his sons as judges over Israel because we see that he is getting old and he is trying to establish the next judges in Israel before he dies.

And we see that Samuel’s sons were wicked judges.

They did not obey their father and follow after him in his righteousness but instead took bribes and perverted justice

Perverted means corrupted or distorted justice.

It was so bad that the elders of Israel tell Samuel that they do not want his sons to be judges over them.

1 Samuel 8:4–5 ESV

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Now this is really important here because there are a couple things that happen in these two verses.

First the Israelites identify that Samuel’s sons are not good judges they are wicked judges and this is correct, they were terrible judges.

BUT then they ask for a KING to JUDGE them like all the other nations have.

This is where they go wrong

The Israelites were not supposed to be ruled over by a king, they were supposed to be ruled over by God.

It’s why God have given them the Law, He established His rule and reign among the people by giving them the Law

But instead of asking for Samuel to appoint another judge for them they ask for a King.

Because they wanted to be like the other nations (end of verse 5)

They looked around at the cultures around them and desired the same things they had.

They did not desire to be judged by the Lord any longer they wanted a physical person who would rule and reign over them.

This is why Samuel becomes displeased with them in verse 6

1 Samuel 8:6–7 ESV

6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

Within their hearts they desired to be like the rest of the world and have an earthly ruler over them.

God even tells Samuel (who is now getting upset) that it’s not Samuel they are rejecting but it is the Lord that they had rejected.

This rejection of God in their hearts leads to outward rejection of God’s appointed steward within Israel at this time which was Samuel.

1 Samuel 8:8–9 ESV

8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

So God tells Samuel in verse 7 that the Jews have rejected Him (God) as their leader and then in verse 8 he tells them that their rejection is evident by their actions

According to all the deeds that they have done from the day they were brought out of Egypt to the current day they were constantly falling into that sin pattern of chasing after and serving other Gods.

And finally God tells Samuel that they are also doing the same thing to him.

They were rejecting God and the steward that he had established over them.

God had established a Godly leader (Samuel) as a steward over Israel but because Israel rejected God they also rejected the leadership of Samuel.

Failure to obey earthly GODLY leadership is a failure to obey God’s leadership

It’s why God tells us to obey our father and our mother or to honor the elders of our church

If those that are in authority over you are asking you to do something or giving you instruction, “as long as it does not contradict the word of God you are expected to obey them”

Because your willingness to obey GODLY earthly leadership is a reflection of how you will obey the Lord.

What you do will reveal who you serve.

The Jews actions were revealed to Samuel by God in order to show Samuel what God already knew about their hearts.

God showed Samuel that the Jews had already rejected Him by chasing after the world and all that the world has

It’s not the action that comes first it’s the heart.

We all have kings in our life.

What are the “KINGS” or our life that we desire to serve more than we desire God?

Things that our culture or our world tell us are important.

Fame

Wealth

Popularity

Someone else’s love or affection

And sometimes we desire these things so much that they become a king or an idol in our life.

But these very things that we desire will not lead us to freedom or to a better place often times they lead us to death or misery.

Famous people all the time are miserable because they no longer have real genuine friendship in life

Most people that are wealthy would tell you that after the first couple 100k dollars money no longer satisfies

If you are popular you often have to continue to maintain that image in order to hold on to your popularity.

So many youtube, instagram, and tiktok stars have had to continue to push the envelope and do more outrageous, or dangerous videos in order to maintain their popularity

And if you idolize the love or the affection of someone else one day they will fail you, they will hurt your feelings and if you have placed your entire self worth and identity in their approval what will you do when one day you no longer can receive their approval.

All of these “kings” in our life will lead to death.

In fact Samuel even warns the people that their desire to be like other nations will lead to terrible consequences.

1 Samuel 8:14–17 ESV

14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. 15 He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16 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. 17 He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.

Of the 42 Kings of Israel that are talked about in Kings and Chronicles

9.5 were good

The .5 is Solomon who would be the wisest and the would lead Israel to the height of it’s power and splendor but would also lead to Israel being divided among it’s tribes and would impose many harsh labor requirements and taxes on the people and eventually they would end up being used as slaves essentially within Israel

Not even 25% of the kings of Israel were good kings, it says most of the kings did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Israel was trading the life they had with God for a king that they thought would make them like the rest of the world.

I hope by now you realize that the things in our life that we chose as our king does not lead to life but if you still think that you would rather follow your own will and your own way I want to encourage you that everything in this life, whatever is temporary that we set up in our lives as a king or as a ruler, they will one day all fade away.

Nothing in this life that is apart from Christ will last.

The only king that you will be able to worship after this life is over is Christ.