Is God Enough?
Notes
Transcript
A. Rapport for the time
B. Reading of the text
C. Review of the text
D. Relevance of the text
I. Logic
I. Logic
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.
Samuel is some 60 years old at this point in his life and has appointed his sons judges. This is a keeping it in the family kind of thing. He has even named them Joel—Yahweh is God and Abijah—My Father is Yahweh. Names have meaning in the OT and Samuel in his worship to the Lord desired that his sons followed the Lord but they did not follow Samuel in their walk with God.
3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.
Did not walk with God— what a statement. Instead of following the Lord and his guidance in their life they took the position that was given to them and used it for themselves. Much like what we talk about in the tax collectors in the NT, using the office for personal gain. You can’t help but think that Samuel seems to be repeating the same choices that Eli made so many years ago.
12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.
16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.”
17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.
12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.
13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.
14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
Samuel’s sons are judges & Eli’s are priests which explains the full judgment that came down upon Eli’s sons. Eli’s sons defamed the name of God as Priest to a greater degree than Samuel’s.
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.”
vs. 4 & 5 should make us sad. In chapter 7 we had a nation that repented and turned away from false gods to the one true God but now they seem to be falling back on their old ways of leading themselves instead of looking to God. Understand this is a failure that comes from Samuel as he has led them in this direction by appointing his own sons as judges over them and then allowing them to use the people. Israel has taken chosen to look for outside help now before Samuel is no longer with them and the struggle for power begins. What is really interesting is God actually tells us in his word that this was all part of the plan, to have a king in Israel at some point.
Israel was to be unique
32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?
34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.
36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,
38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,
39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
Moses..—but God had always planned for Israel to have a king
14 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’
15 you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.
16 Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’
17 And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.
18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests.
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,
20 that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.
There would need to be a king in Israel at some point to lead the people to the everlasting Kingdom of the Messiah that would bring about salvation to a nation.
T.S. The problem with the request is that they have gone about it the incorrect way.
II. Lamentation
II. Lamentation
6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
the thing displeased Samuel---literal translation—The thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel
What we should notice from this verse is that the request displeased Samuel but his response was to take it to the Lord. Samuel at 60 still understands his role in the kingdom of God is not to make decisions based upon his own feelings but instead take them to the Lord that he might guide and direct. How great it would be for us to both remember and execute this in our lives. Times will come when you are displease with the action of others but will you direct yourself in those moments or be directed by the Spirit of God?
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.
Samuel as Priest, Judge, Prophet is not representing himself but the Lord. This has been the life calling of Samuel before he was even born. Samuel feels like the rejection is personal but it is God who they are running from. This is not the first time nor the Last that the people have rejected the Lord their God.
19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”
23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”
20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
30 Rejected silver they are called, for the Lord has rejected them.”
GOSPEL---this is our standard position apart from Christ. We reject the Lord and want no part of him in our sin…dead in trespasses
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.”
Being that we are studying Exodus we know the people wanted to turn to other gods almost from the very beginning when God saved them out of Egypt.
11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?
12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
3 and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ”
9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”
4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat!
1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night.
2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
The Israelites are better at complaining than they are repenting. (What about you)
They failed to understand fully that God is the only God there are no others..later in Isaiah...
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.
III. Liabilities
III. Liabilities
A. Review
A. Review
10 So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him.
11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.
12 And 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.
13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
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.
18 And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
How good is God to this hardheaded people? He does not tell them yes we will give you a King and put on these rose color glasses because all is going to go perfectly well. Instead, our God tells them exactly what will happen to them. Do you see one positive thing in these verses?
List of what the King will take
Will take your sons
Will take your daughters
will take the best of fields and vineyards
will take servants
will take tenth of your flocks
B. Refusal
B. Refusal
19 But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us,
20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
21 And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord.
22 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”
They hear the truth and they simply can’t listen to the truth.
NO! But there shall be a king over us!!! WHAT?
App:
What shall we learn from this text? What did the Israelites who read these scrolls later learn from this portion of text?
Looking at all this from the point of view of Israel is to notice this is what they do over and over again. They keep repeating the same choices to follow their own wisdom and false gods.
But look at this passage with me. Did Israel lack knowledge of who God was or is to them this day when they asked Samuel for a king? Did they not know that God is good? Did they think he would not provide for them? Did they not have enough knowledge of God to know that HE IS ENOUGH?
In our hearts we say that God is not enough but our own wisdom is enough—or we want it to be enough.
1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord?
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Understand yourself this morning. Your relationship with the Lord is not base on merely knowledge of him. If it was just knowledge you would just explain him away at times and be god yourself.
Once depraved not a sinner saved by Grace! New heart, new way of living, you are to be unique but must understand the uniqueness of your calling.