1 and 2 Samuel: God as Our True King

We are studying 1 and 2 Samuel for one more week, and then we will break for Lent, the season leading us up to Good Friday and to Easter.

Now, 1 and 2 Samuel, one long book.

Incredible Netflix series with great stories about Eli and Samuel, the rise and fall of Saul, David and Goliath.

Great stories.

Now, this morning the story we get is about how Israel requests a king.

Israel's request sounds reasonable.

All the other nations have kings.

Let's have a king.

They have them, we want one too.

But beneath their request lies a heart weary of trusting God, the unseen king.

And yet God is gracious, God does not walk away.

Here's the principle that we see playing out in this story, chapters eight through ten.

God graciously gives Israel the king they demand, even as he is patiently preparing the King Jesus they truly need.

In 1 Samuel 8, Samuel is growing old, he's older, the people demand the king.

He feels a little rejected by this, he's grieved by this, but God affirms Samuel, hey, this is not about them rejecting you, they're rejecting me, God, and it's about the people's hearts.

So Samuel goes to the people, he warns the people, hey, if you're gonna have a king, you need to know what having a king means.

And it means that a king will force labor, he's gonna force military, he's gonna take taxes.

You want a king, you're gonna pay a lot of taxes.

But the people insist.

And so we get our scripture reading, which was 1 Samuel 8, 1 through 7.

But let's jump in at verse 6.

But the king displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us.

And Samuel prayed to the Lord.

And the Lord said to Samuel, obey the voice of the people and all that they say to you.

For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

Point number one is this God is our true king, yet we constantly look for false kings.

Verse 8 makes clear the people's desire.

According to all the deeds that have been 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.

So the people failed to understand what God wanted to be in their life.

He wanted to be their everything, not just their religious system.

But they wanted an earthly king and keep God as a religious system.

Remember, last week we talked about other gods.

We talked about idolatry.

We talked about the Philistine God, we talked about our false gods of money, acceptance, sex, power, influence, anything we use to think that we're going to be fulfilled by this.

And we said, idols work like this.

If I get blank, if I get the humble Wyoming cabin that I long for every day of my entire life, if I get it, if I finally get it, then I can be whole, victorious enough.

But the idol doesn't have the power to deliver you.

So last week Adam Sandler taught us about idolatry.

If you were here, after church, one of you sent me a video of Jim Carrey teaching about idolatry, about how idols work.

Carrie was presenting a ward at the Golden Globes.

It was just after he lost his girlfriend.

His girlfriend passed away.

And he has a little something to say about what really matters.

Let's watch about two minutes of this presentation.

Thank you.

I am two-time Golden Globe winner, Jim Carrey.

You know, when I go to sleep at night, I'm not just a guy going to sleep.

I'm two-time Golden Globe winner Jim Carrey going to get some well needed shut up.

And when I dream, I don't just dream any old dream.

I dream about being three time golden globe winning.

Jim Carrey.

But these are important.

I don't want you to think that just because if you blew up our solar system alone, you wouldn't be able to find us or any of human history with the naked eye.

But from our perspective, this is huge.

So he says toothed a little dry there, uh, but driving home the point for sure, you know, if I could just win the third one, then I will be enough.

Right?

And I I want to be clear, I hope you win your two or three golden globes, or whatever it is that you want, or you wouldn't.

I I hope you get it.

Just understand the currency that it is.

It just doesn't have the power to deliver when it comes to the inner life.

So Carrie says, I've got two.

Oh, but a third one.

Then our and he says, I love this.

And I could stop this terrible search for that which ultimately I know won't fulfill me.

Have you ever felt like you're on a terrible search?

Right?

Like I just need a new king.

If I can just get a different king.

We supplement things for trust in God.

A sizable investment account, the politician we like.

If it's the one we like, we'll be okay.

If I can just control everything, if I can have everyone respect me or accept me.

This time of year, moms, if everybody in your house could be well, right?

And that might be true.

And it might be true that you would be okay if everybody in your house was well at the same time.

But the question comes: who is our true king?

When can I stop this terrible search?

And at 1 Samuel 9, we meet Saul.

Tall, impressive young man.

He's from the tribe of Benjamin.

He's a nobody really.

But Saul goes out looking for some of his dad's lost donkeys.

He's just on a regular errand, ordinary life.

And he's led to Samuel.

1 Samuel 9, 15 through 17.

Now, the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel, Tomorrow, about this time, and I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin.

You shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel.

He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.

When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, Here is the man of whom I spoke to you.

He it is who shall restrain my people.

Point number two is this God often works out our future through ordinary means.

Saul's just on an errand.

And yet God is working.

God loves to choose the weak, he loves to use the ordinary.

Saul's from the tribe of Benjamin, the least of the tribes, and God chooses him while he's on an errand.

We could say it this way: God's choice precedes human readiness.

Grace always moves first.

1 Samuel 10:1.

1 Samuel 10:1

Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it over on his head, and kissed him.

Saul, that is, and said, Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel?

And you shall reign over the people of the Lord, and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies, and this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage.

So Saul returns home along the way, God moves.

God begins to do something in Saul.

1 Samuel 10, 6 and 7.

Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

Now, when these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

So point number three is this the Holy Spirit empowers us for that which he calls us.

I love verse 9.

When he, Saul, turned his back to leave Samuel, so he's headed home, God gave him another heart.

And all these signs came to pass that day.

That word heart means inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.

God is equipping Saul for that which he called him.

Have you seen the movie F1?

Have we seen F1?

I've seen it like 20 times.

I just watched it over and over again.

It's amazing.

All right, let me tell you about it.

Brad Pitt is Sonny Hayes.

He's like this 50-year-old race car driver.

He raced F1 for a little bit, got in a bad rack, and he's just like racing any circuit he'll take.

He just wants to be in a car, he just wants to drive.

And then another chance comes up for him to race an F1 car.

So that's the fastest, most elite racing in the world.

And so he shows up for this opportunity and he has his fireproof driving boots.

He has his helmet.

They put him in the F1 car.

He has on his fireproof underwear, his fireproof Nomax race suit.

He gets under the Hans neck brace thing.

He is there and then he drives.

And these guys drive up to 240 miles an hour.

They go zero to sixty in two seconds.

One, two, zero to six.

That's how fast it is.

They can pull four to six G's on every turn the entire race.

That's more than a fighter pilot.

Now let's just imagine you put me in an F1 car.

I'd look just like Brad Pitt.

You dress me up, put the boots on, the suit, give me the same outfit, give me the same helmet.

You could put me in the F1 car.

You could dress me up, you could give me the role, and I still would not be equipped to drive a 240 mile an hour car around that track.

But God deals with us differently.

He doesn't just give us the role, he gives us the role and he equips us.

He equips us for that which he calls us to.

Meaning, you're not just dropped in an F1 car.

You're not just dropped in being a mom or a dad or a leader or a student.

The baby just doesn't show up, and all of a sudden you have the uniform on.

God also wants to equip you.

We need the heart, we need the mind, the understanding to live out the call.

And as God calls, God does equip.

Doesn't mean it'll be easy, but he does equip.

Hebrews 13, 20 and 21.

Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will.

Working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

So we turn to him.

The one who gives us our roles also is the one who can equip us for the roles he calls us.

We seek wisdom from the Bible.

We want to learn from other Christians.

We want to learn from wise elders.

There's not a month that goes by where I'm not calling an older pastor and saying, Hey, have you seen this?

What do you do about this?

This scenario, this situation, this conflict, what'd you do?

What do you do?

What do you think?

Last week, Christy and I went out to dinner with a mentor couple, a couple friends of ours that we love.

We eat dinner with them maybe twice a year.

And we're always pursuing dinner with them because they're one stage ahead of us.

They just became emptinessers, just sent away the last kid to college.

Tell us about that.

What are you learning?

What can we learn?

Tell us more.

We want to be equipped for that which we're called.

Whatever you're called to be, God wants to equip you.

How do we live out these callings?

1 Samuel 10, 20 through 24.

Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by Lot.

He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clan, and the clan of the Matrites was taken by Lot, and Saul, the son of Kish, was taken by Lot.

But when they sought him, they he could not be found.

All right, so pause.

Verse 22.

So they inquired again to the Lord, is there a man still to come?

And the Lord said, Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage.

Then they ran and took him from there.

And when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.

Well, at least he had that going, because I mean, it's like, this is your moment.

You're anointed, been called, time to strut your stuff, be confident in front of people.

I'm the new leader.

He's hiding in the baggage.

But he's tall.

Verse 24.

And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see him who the Lord has chosen?

There is none like him among all the people.

And all the people shouted, Long live the King.

Point number four is this receiving a great role will not heal your inner issues.

King Saul is still a man, still afraid, still hiding.

He's called, he's equipped, he's gonna be equipped, he's still human.

Roles are great.

I hope you get some great roles in your life.

But we still need a savior.

We still need the inner work that can only be done by Jesus.

And that's point number five.

Our greater king was still to come.

Saul points us to Jesus.

Saul actually shows us the limits of human kingship because only Jesus is the king we did not ask for, the king we desperately need, and the king who never takes.

He's the king, a king who actually gives.

Well, time for puppy update.

Weekly puppy update, masterson puppy update.

We've had a puppy for one week.

There's little Brock Bowers Masterson.

He's a rascal.

Don't let him fool you with his cuteness.

He needs to be cute to be alive.

Everything's fun.

Everything is the possibility for fun all the time.

And then he goes to sleep.

This week he gnawed on our hands, drew blood, ran full speed into his food bowl, sat in his own poop.

We think he may have eaten his own poop at one point.

We're still in a debate family-wise whether he did eat it or not.

Every morning he wakes up like it is Christmas, so much energy, and we play with him, we do a little training, play some more tuga war, a little training.

We can get about an hour.

And what I've realized is he doesn't calm down.

Like it's not like, oh, you can play with him really hard for an hour, he'll calm down.

He actually works himself into greater and greater states of being frantic.

And he'll just start biting.

He just hit a certain point, bite anything.

He was gnawing on the metal of my recliner.

Like on like where the feet kick out, that little metal, just having a great time.

Just gnawing on the metal, just having a great time.

So eventually we just have to hold him and calm him down and put him in his crate.

And so he'll take himself a little nap.

It's sort of how we operate, isn't it?

We just can get ourselves in such a frantic about circumstances or situations, a busy heart, and then or maybe a busy life and frantic and more frantic.

And the Lord just needs to slow us down.

Like the Lord needs to hold us and put us in our little crate.

Isn't that kind of what we're doing right now in church?

It's like just put you in a little crate.

Let you just slow down, take a nap.

And this is why church and spiritual practices are so good for us.

Because they actually do that.

They actually slow us down.

Slow down our busy hearts to remember something.

And that's point number six, is what we remember.

Christ is king, and Christ as king means I don't have to be the king of my heart and world.

Christ is king means I don't have to be the one who answers from my own sinful heart.

It means that he provides the grace for me.

He provides the forgiveness I need on the cross where all my sins are forgiven.

And he provides the righteousness I need by the imputation of righteousness to me, so my standing before God is secure as a son, as a daughter.

And then we actually begin to learn that it's in our weakness, our lack of kingship, our lack of ability to be the king of our own hearts and lives, where we find, we're finally rescued.

We find a freedom when we bow to King Jesus and we let him be Lord of our life.

That's pretty good.

Lord Jesus, we confess how often we want a manageable king.

Somebody to see, somebody who can fit into our plan.

Thank you that you are not that kind of king.

Thank you that you rule us by grace and you care for us more than our immediate circumstances.

Thank you that you know about all of our false kings and you still love us.

That you do not walk away.

Thank you that you hold us, you never give up on us.

Thank you that King Jesus is enough for our hearts, for the forgiveness we need, for our forever standing as your children.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.