1 Samuel 8 "Who or what is your king?"

Who or what is your king?

1 Samuel 8:1–9 NLT

As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel. Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba. But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice. Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.” Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”

Introduction:

I want to ask you this morning who or what is your king? I want to draw a contrast this morning between two rulers in our lives.…. God at one side and the world at the other. Now when I say the world you can pick whatever you want to be your king but make no mistake it is the world that is your king if Jesus ain’t. At the opening of this chapter we find the sons of Samuel being described and they are the opposite of their father. They are greedy for money they take bribes and pervert justice. Rather than serving God they are serving self. They are worldly men in every sense of the word.

I want to pause right here for a second and paint you a picture. These men are human they are not God. They are fallible just like all of us and that should be a clue….I have to ask myself if they are blind or just that hard headed that they are willing to sacrifice having God for their King even though they see what people are like. They can see how the people of the world act and yet they still are willing to trust one of them to be in charge instead of the God that has been there throughout all the trials and suffering…the one that has always come through and never forsaken them……

Illustration:

If we look at the world today there is more than enough proof around us that there is not one man I would have as my King. I don’t care how good he is…I don’t care how nice he is…I don’t care about how much money he has…I don’t care how much stuff he has got…how strong he is…how smart he is….how kind hearted he seems to be….know why?

At the end of the day when he wakes up he puts his pants on just like me….one leg at the time. He is the same as me he is a man and he is not God and I don’t care what he says or what he does he is a fallen creature and whether or not he admits it….he is a sinner just like me. He will eventually choose himself over me for whatever reason. He is gonna not like something that I say or something that I do and he will try to exert control over me by force. God is not ever going to exert control over me like that…He will correct me and He will guide me but it is because I choose to follow Him not because He makes me. He will always give more than me in the relationship…He gave His Son as proof that He loves me…what man will do that for us. Jesus is the only King that will rule with love, grace, kindness, and mercy…because He is the only one that is perfect in all of these.

Point #1:

We are guilty of being like the nation of Israel in our lives….we see what the world holds we see the pain people in this world have brought about…….and yet we will turn from God and turn to the world in whatever fashion we choose and we remove Jesus as our King and we replace Him with something of the world. We let folks and stuff lead us away from God because we start listening to them or we start paying attention to whatever it is instead of talking to God….and we do it because we have ceased to have Jesus as our King and instead have removed Him from the throne of our hearts and replaced Him with someone or something from here that we know will fail us in the end.

If God ain’t first He just as well be last because He will absolutely not take second place to no one or nothing in our lives…..He is King or He is not….there ain’t no middle ground here brothers and sisters. A relationship with God is all or nothing we either give him complete dominion in our lives or we set Him outside the door while we go party with our friends….we either talk with God or we ignore Him and do what we want…….

This world holds nothing but pain and anguish for us and if we choose anything or anyone in this world over God in our hearts we choose that pain. Israel should have been fearful of having an earthy king over them based on how the sons of Samuel were acting but they just ignored what was right there in front of them and decided they needed a king. Is Jesus your King today?

The folks in charge get to looking around and they figure out that Samuel is getting old they know that it wont be long before he is gone and they are gonna be stuck with his sons…or so they think…..some could argue they are worried for the future….I think it was worse than that… they were worried about what they had right then. Look at verses 4-5 what they said to Samuel…“We want a king.” 1 Samuel 8:4-5

1 Samuel 8:4–5 NLT

4 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

Point #2:

An earthly desire which is a very dangerous thing …Israel instead of wanting to be closer to God ……they desired to have what the rest of the world had. They were full of desire for what their neighbors had. God’s path for them was not good enough…His blessings were not enough for them…they wanted more.

How many times in my life have I looked at what someone else had and said “Lord why can’t I have that…why can’t I be like them….why can’t I have that kind of money….why can’t I have that kind of boat…why can’t I have a better truck…why can’t I have a bigger house…” That person that has all that doesn’t go to church ever…they don’t read the Bible…they don’t pray and yet they have all that stuff that I don’t have.

When I do that I am putting all of that stuff that I see in place of God. I want all of that instead of God. If I have a boat and a big house and a better truck and more money I won’t be going to church either. I will either be on my boat or entertaining my worldly friends at my big house and I won’t be reading the Bible or praying because I am too busy. Let me just be honest this morning and say that if Jesus is not first in your heart then He can’t be your King.

The devil will give you all of that while you are here on earth but what he takes away is so much more beautiful and fulfilling. He will give you the things of this earth if that is what you want but you are going to lose eternity by serving and earthly king.

Samuel gets unhappy he is with the people of Israel…he does something that we don’t often do when we get aggravated…he goes to God 1 Samuel 8:6-9

1 Samuel 8:6–9 NLT

Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”

God is Samuel’s King…even when he is aggravated he submits to God first. He is asking God what He wants him to do….”They want a king and to be honest I ain’t real happy about it…I been right here with them telling them what you said and now they just throwing me to the side like I’m not good enough…..” When God is my King and I am facing a hard decision or a I am in a tight spot I don’t have to worry or fret about it I just call the King as say “What should I do Lord?” “Hey boss this is happening and I need to know how you want me to handle it.” Samuel gives them a warning in the remaining verses about what an earthly king is going to do to them. Will we heed that warning today?

Point #3:

This world will take everything from you and break you into pieces on the altar that you have built for it. It will throw you from the very walls you built around your heart to keep God out. I want you to see this morning is the warning that Samuel gave to the people of Israel. An earthly king only takes and destroys never gives. This earthly king will take your sons and your daughters it will take all the possessions that you have leave you poor and destitute and never look back or feel any remorse whatsoever over your heartbreak. This is true of the king of this world brothers and sisters. If you make something or someone king in your heart over Jesus this is the end result that I can promise you. I have seen it happen time and time again.

Jesus gave everything He had for you and for me. How much more can someone give than to take our place on that cross and give His life for ours. He bought me with a price so high that I could never have paid it….Jesus not only paid my price and took my place he offers me things that this world never could….

There is true joy…lasting peace that nothing can touch or take away….He gives me eternal life and I can live in His presence forever. He is not a King that takes away but a King that gives generously to all who would ask.

I ask you again this morning who or what is your king? Do you serve King Jesus and bow your knee to Him and say Lord you have dominion over ever aspect of this life you have blessed me with or is there something in your life this morning that is more important than your relationship with Christ? If there is something that comes before the Lord in your heart that is your king.

Brothers and Sisters I want you to be set free this morning. I want you to have a new king in your life that is more loving and gracious than anything this world has to offer…..but you have to choose to serve my King.

We are about to partake in the Lord’s Supper….this is a moment when we come before God and say Lord I desire to be in a right relationship with you…we do this in remembrance of what Jesus did for each and every one of us….when He went to the cross and His body was broken to pay for our sins….His blood was shed so that we could be set free…..please examine your hearts and remove anything there that comes before our Lord and Savior….if Jesus is not your King there is no better time to make that decision than today.

Invitation……..