A King Like the Nations

Every single day, the world tells us that following your heart and doing whatever you want is the ultimate good, the ultimate freedom, really the ultimate morality. And how many Disney movies is this the lesson for the princess? And how many kids songs is this the theme to be who you are, to do what you want, to follow your heart? The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that is judgment. Apart from God, our heart leads us to condemnation, to damnation even.

Our heart leads us to judgment.

The following message was recorded at Kingstree Church. May the spirit use it to help you see, savor, and sing the beauty of God in the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

We're going to continue in first Samuel. We'll be in chapter eight this morning. I've been going through once a month through the book of Samuel, and again, we find ourselves in chapter eight. Now before we get started, I'd like to remind you how we started this series. We started this series on one entire sermon devoted solely to this idea of what is meant by the Christ.

You see the term all the time in the New Testament, but of course it's a term that's established, and the Old Testament, actually this term Christ first shows up in the book of Samuel, that's why it's so important for understanding the book. Samuel first establishes this office of Christ, an office Jesus will someday fully and faithfully fulfill. And so in this first introductory sermon, we started just by looking at the meaning of the word Christ. What does it mean? And it means an anointed one, one who has been anointed unto kingship.

In this way, there are many Christs or Messiahs in the Old Testament, because anyone who's anointed as a king, the word there is Messiah or Christ. There are both good and bad, right? David and Solomon and the other kings are all technically in this category. And while that's kind of the generic category for the term Christ, we also in this sermon looked at this specific Messianic category of Christ describing Jesus who would come, not a Christ, but the Christ, and we traced that meaning throughout scripture. We saw then through various prophecies that the Christ is going to be one who is anointed by God with the spirit to rule and reign over the entire universe with an everlasting righteousness and an everlasting kingdom, and yet he is going to be someone who is a humble servant who would die for the sins of his people.

We also saw that while we know Jesus is fully God, we saw that according to the flesh he's going to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and eventually a descendant of David, someone again who we see raised up in the book of Samuel. And that is what makes Samuel so important, because it gives us the background, or the origin story, if you will, for this office of Christ, and it introduces the role that only Jesus is one day going to be able to perfectly fulfill. Now, as I also mentioned in the introduction, at the beginning of the book of Samuel, historically, there was no king yet established in Israel. We're coming out of the period of the judges, where God would raise up individual judges to judge and give justice in Israel, but there is no one line of kings. So far this office of Christ hasn't even been established.

There's no throne, so to speak, yet for Jesus to step into. Now this is one of the reasons why Hannah's prayer in one Samuel chapter two is so important for laying out a pattern for the entire book. There's a lot of patterns established there, and again we went over that, but remember one of the really important things at the end of her prophetic prayer was she said this, The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed, or his Christ or Messiah, the same word there. This is the first time the word Christ is ever used in a sense referring to the King of Israel in the text of the Bible.

So it's very important, and Hannah prophetically says God is going to support this kingly figure, but again, we start the book and there's no king in Israel. So what is she meaning by that? Well, as the audience, when we read that at the beginning of the book, we kind of naturally assume, well, bet sometime during the book of Samuel, I'm gonna see a king come to power, and indeed we will. We're gonna see the beginning of that today in chapter eight. So with Hannah's prayer kind of prophetically echoing in our minds as we move through the book, we saw Samuel born from Hannah, and he was raised up as a prophet of Israel.

Remember his first prophecy was against Eli, that the fall of his house, his priestly house was coming because of the sins of his children. And then we saw that he was also a judge of Israel, leading them in righteousness and in repentance. Last time I preached, we looked at chapters four through seven, and we saw the glorious hand of the Lord shown mightily against the Philistines and also against Israel. We learned then that his glory is all his own. God honors those who honor him, and he esteems lightly those who despise him.

And we left our story on kind of a high note there. Samuel was acting as judge over Israel. Israel had recently scored a decisive victory against the Philistines, thanks to the grace of God, and they had been led in repentance to God. So it was going really well. But then we enter into chapter eight, and this is really a decisive pivoting point in the entire story of Samuel.

Because remember the theme again we established earlier in Hannah's prayer where she talked about the rising and falling motif? We've seen that a number of times. Well, chapter eight, we're going to see the fall of that period of judges, and the rise of the period of kings, which is gonna change the story of the Bible from here on out. We're gonna learn of the initial circumstances surrounding the establishment of an anointed king or a kingly throne in Israel, remember, it's the establishment of the very throne that Jesus will one day occupy. See that in Luke one thirty two.

So it's a pivotal step in salvation history, but nonetheless, it arises in the midst of some messy circumstances. I'll pray, and then we'll get right into it. Lord, thank you for this book of Samuel. Thank you for all the books of the Bible, and thank you for how they work together, and we've such an amazing and encouraging story of you redeeming us through Jesus Christ. Pray you would bless this sermon with me with the mouth to preach and others with the ears and hearts to receive, and that it would bear fruit in our lives as your word ought to do.

We pray this in Jesus name, amen. Chapter eight verse one. When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.

Yet his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. Well, I said, we ended on a high note. We start chapter eight a bit low here, and we see both surprise and irony. The surprise is that this appears to be Samuel's first failure.

Of course he's a human just like any of us, and he sinned, but as far as the text is concerned, we haven't seen Samuel mess up until right now. He's been very faithful in everything he's been called to do, but now we see that he has failed to raise his sons up in the ways of God. That's his mistake, and of course that is also the irony, isn't it? Because Samuel's first prophecy was against Eli because Eli's sons were wayward. Well, now we see that Samuel's sons are wayward as well, taking bribes.

I also want you to notice this little fact here. Samuel's appointing his own children as judges after him. Now the role of judge was not a hereditary one. It's not that I was a judge and my children were judges. That's not the way God did it.

When you read through the book of Judges, it says that God is the one who raises up a judge for the people. You see that in Judges chapter two, verse 16, and three:nine, and three fifteen, and chapter six. In all these instances, God was the one who brought the judge. In fact, in chapter eight of the book of Judges, the people approach Gideon, and they say, Hey, make your sons judges after you. And Gideon says, No, you're not supposed to do that.

God's the one who raises up judges. So it appears then that Samuel is a bit out of line in that respect as well, and definitely his sons are out of line. That's very plain in the text. Well, people of Israel see this pattern. They see what's coming.

They say, Samuel, you're getting old, and your sons are corrupt. Who's gonna judge us when you're gone? We don't want them to. And I can just imagine they're thinking, Man, this judging system's really inconvenient, not knowing who's gonna lead, not having a centralized power. Is there maybe a better way to do this?

Verse four. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 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. But the thing 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, According to all the deeds that they have done from the day I have brought them out of Egypt, even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods. So they are also doing to you. Now then obey their voice only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them. Right there is an extremely important section, these verses. We've just seen that pivot from the judges to the kings.

The pivot that changing in the plot happened just there in those verses. And again, this changes the trajectory of the entire Bible. So we're gonna take some time to soak into these verses here. So what did we just see happen? Well, couple of things, kind of good and kind of bad.

Firstly, Israel asks for an earthly king. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, because of course God has always had the intention to raise up a king for Israel. In fact, he promised that to Abraham. In Genesis seventeen:six, God promises to Abraham, Kings shall come from you. So this is God's intention.

We also saw the prophecy given over Judah in Genesis 4nine 10, which reads this way, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. So God has ordained a ruler to come out of Israel from the line of Judah. This promise was also confirmed in Numbers 24 by the villain Balaam. If you remember that story, Israel's in the wilderness. Balaam is hired to curse them, and when Balaam goes out to curse the Israelites, instead the spirit comes upon him, and he utters a blessing, a prophetic blessing for them, which envisions this coming king.

This is then what Balaam said prophetically in Numbers 24. His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. And then later, I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob.

A scepter shall rise out of Israel. You saw that King coming. And while both prophecies are ultimately about Jesus, the Christ, they nevertheless confirm that indeed God intends to establish a monarchy in Israel eventually. In fact, this is really interesting. God gave directions.

He predicted what was happening right now in our text, and he gave directions in Deuteronomy seventeen fourteen through 17 for how this coming King of Israel should conduct himself. Listen how perfectly God predicts this. This is from Deuteronomy. When you come to the land that the Lord your God has given you, and you possess it, and dwell in it, and then say, I will set a king over me like all the nations around me, You may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord will choose. That's the part you don't wanna miss.

There's the really important part. God understands that they're one day going to want a king, and while this isn't really promoted or necessarily encouraged, God does make an accommodation for that, for his people, provided that this is a king of the Lord's choosing. In that same passage in Deuteronomy, God then lays down the rules that this special king of Israel ought to follow, and guess what? These are rules that if you follow them, you'll be nothing like the surrounding nations. Listen to the rules God gives for his king.

He says his king cannot amass a bunch of horses for his army, rather the king needs to depend on the Lord. He says the king cannot acquire to himself a bunch of wives, leading his heart astray to foreign gods. He also says this king is supposed to write out by hand, of course, the entire book of the law, and then study it constantly so that he can lead the people in wisdom and in righteousness. Specifically, says, they write out this law so that his heart might not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left. In short, God would allow for a king.

Again, that's necessary to establish the throne that Jesus will be in someday, but this king could not be like the other nations. This king must be submitted to the law of God rather than being a law unto himself. But Israel doesn't want that king. They want a king of their own choosing. A king that they themselves have chosen, and they want this king to be like all the nations around them.

And that's really, if we have to put our finger on it, that's where they go wrong. It's not necessarily the having of the king, but rather it's the type of king that they want. It's their motivation for wanting him, and it's the means by which they're demanding him rather than waiting on the Lord. Now I think there's a helpful parallel in the Old Testament to help us understand this sort of thing, cause this is a lot like what happened with the promise to Abraham. Remember God promised Abraham a son to come from his wife, Sarah.

So having a son promised from God, a son, that's a good thing. Right? But in God's timing, what happened? Sarah got a bit impatient. They were getting older.

This son hadn't showed up yet, and so Sarah convinces Abraham to take her handmaiden, Hagar, to raise up offspring for him instead. Of course, this union produces Ishmael, who was not the son of promise, but was the son of judgment. It's only after Abraham continued to wait that indeed God fulfilled his promise and gave him the son Isaac from his wife Sarah. But that would not undo the damage that had already been done. Ishmael was born, and he was gonna cause, and his descendants would cause a lot of trouble in the future.

So because they tried to force God's hand, they got a fleshly version of a good promise that God was going to make to them anyway, that son. And I can't help but think there's something similar going on in our text here. God would have given, I believe, Israel a king after his own heart, a king of his choosing, and he still will do that. We'll see that king provided. And yet first, we're gonna have to deal with the people's king who they've chosen.

The king of the flesh, if you will, rather than the king of the promise. A king not after God's own heart, but a king styled after the surrounding nations. So that's one of the nuances happening in this passage, and yet there's another. Notice how the Lord interprets this demand for a king as a rejection of himself, that they are in a sense trading God as their king to make a man be their king. And of course really this is exactly what they are doing.

We'll jump over to verse 20 just for a second here. Look at the motivation they have in asking for this earthly king. Look what they want him to do. There shall be a king over us that we may be like the other nations, and that our king may judge us, and may go out before us, and fight our battles. We've literally just seen God do all those things for them perfectly.

Go back a few paragraphs to the end of chapter seven. This is what God has already done for them. Let me refresh your memory here. They want a king who will judge them, and judging just means ensuring justice is brought about in the land, ensuring the people are following God. In chapter seven, God provided Samuel to judge them.

He led them in repentance and turning back to the Lord. The text said that he judged the people at Mizpah when they forsook their idols, and they gave a sacrifice to the Lord. The text also says that Samuel judged the people all his days. God has provided this judging need that they have, so why are they looking to an earthly solution for something God has already done? As regards going out before them, and winning their battles, well there's no greater example than the ark narrative we just read, chapter four through chapter seven.

In fact, notice this interesting little detail. When the ark went into Philistia, right, all on its own, and it started to fell those different cities in which it came, the text specifically says the ark was brought to Gath, and then to Ekron. Now that's interesting because in chapter seven, this is what it says. The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. The exact cities that the Ark visited are the ones that were conquered and given into Israel's hands, as if God again was marching as king into behind enemy lines, conquering these cities all himself, and returning them to Israel.

Is that not exactly what they want a king to do for them? God is doing it. He has satisfied those desires. He's fulfilling those roles they want an earthly king to fulfill. In fact, of course, he's doing it better.

No man on earth can walk into a city conquer on all his own, and yet this is what we've just seen God do for Israel, and they're not satisfied with it. What we have here then in asking for an earthly king of this manner is a profound rejection of God as king, God as ruler, God as Lord. The only one who can actually give Israel exactly what they want, and exactly what they need. I wanna pause here just to take this in and consider. You know, there's a really helpful passage in the New Testament.

Apostle Paul writes it. First Corinthians 10 chapter six. And it shows us how we can think about and how we can apply many of these Old Testament stories. Now in one Corinthians, Paul is specifically talking about the wilderness wanderings of Israel, but he says this, Now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they. In chapter in verse 11, when Paul is talking about the grumbling in the wilderness, he says this, These things happened to them as examples, and were written for our instruction.

So while this is not the only way, of course, to interpret an Old Testament narrative, looking at them as examples for us is a legitimate and helpful way to immediately apply them to our lives. That interpretation hermeneutic is validated by the New Testament. And here I think we have some great examples of things to be avoided, things to be aware of. How often, how often is it that we as God's people pursue a fleshly solution for a problem that God has already solved? I was thinking about this while formulating the sermon this week, and I thought that that definition, pursuing a fleshly solution to a problem God has already solved, is a pretty good definition for sin.

From a certain point of view, that's what sin is. We sense a lack of something in our lives, and while God has provided for all things, we seek to solve that lack with a fleshly solution rather than God's solution. So let's say I want something I don't have. Right? Maybe it's a certain income.

Maybe it's security. Maybe I want to feel a certain way about myself, that I'm good enough or worthwhile, or maybe I want affirmation. You can go on and on. Desires are all me perceiving a lack of something in my life, right, a problem, and I can go to God or to the flesh for the solutions to my problems. So an example here, maybe I just think that this specific dollar amount income is what I absolutely need, have to have, for the safety and security of my family and my children.

Maybe I feel like I just need certain things, certain items to provide safety and security for my family. My problem in both cases is a need for security. Now, I can be like the rich young fool in Luke twelve thirteen, and pursue that through fleshly means, dedicating my entire life to amounting up more and more and more like he does in the parable there. I can anxiously toil, which often means angrily toiling. And I can load myself with stress and worry, like the security of my whole family and whole life depends completely on me.

I can go with that avenue and dedicate to that, or I can realize that God has taken care of my security. Go back to Matthew six. Look at the lilies of the field. They neither toil nor spin, and yet not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of them. And if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more so will he clothe us?

I can look at the ravens who don't collect together or gather into storehouses, and yet God feeds them. I can look to Hebrews thirteen:five that says, Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. You see, God has already solved the problem of our security. He's our father. I'm then freed to labor and work responsibly, but free from anxiety.

There's more to life than simply providing the means for life. It's God's solution. He's our Father. Maybe I want to feel better about myself. Maybe I'm insecure about my feelings.

There's there's my problem there. Here again, we find an opportunity for God to solve this problem, or for me to go to the flesh in sinful manner. Perhaps I respond to this this need or this issue in my life with gossip about someone else. Because it makes me feel better, I put someone else down in the eyes of others, which makes me go up a little bit, and I feel a bit of degree of power and authority by doing that, that also makes me feel better. Of course, this would be a sinful way of dealing with that problem of insecurity, and again, it's one that God has already provided the solution for, because God calls me his son or his daughter.

God calls me a new creation. He says, I'm dead to sin. He says, I'm seated in the heavenly places with him in Ephesians two:six. He says, He'll never leave me or forsake me. He calls me his workmanship.

He's given me the solution for my insecurity, so I don't need to go to the flesh to solve that solution. And I think it's just worth doing sometimes. Just look at the specific and regular sins in your life, be it anxiety, sinful anger, words that sow discord, and then ask yourself, what problems am I trying to fix with these sins, and where can I find God's solution to those problems? Maybe you're trying to solve the problem of fear with anxiety. Right?

You're trying to scratch the itch of fear with the anxiety back scratcher, and you think, Man, if I can just worry about this enough, I'll make the fear go away. It doesn't solve the problem. It makes it much worse. God has solved the problem of our fear. Right?

Fear not, for I am with you. His presence is that lack of fear that we're looking for. Maybe sometimes you're trying to correct a wrong like I do, correct a wrong, but you think anger is gonna bring the solution to that problem. Like getting angry is somehow going to impose your will on the situation. Doesn't work.

James one twenty specifically says, the anger of man does not bring about the righteousness of God. What's God's solution? Well, perhaps I could be gracious. Perhaps I could trust instead. Depends on what's making me angry.

Any issue, any problem, any perceived lack we have is one God has already provided a solution for, a means of grace for, and it is there that we should go, rather than to the flesh to be solving these problems. I think that's an example we can take from Israel here. So we see Israel then going to this earthly king to solve their problem, again, one that God has already provided a solution for, he himself. What's gonna be the result of all this? Where is this gonna lead?

Well, let's listen here what Samuel tells the people. Verse 10. So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, These will be the ways of the king whom 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.

And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male and female servants and the best of your young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.

He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. 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. Samuel spells out in no uncertain terms what the effect of this king is going to be, and you get the impression he's gonna take a lot of stuff from them. He will take your daughters, take your fields, take your grain, take your servants, take your flocks. They're making a really bad deal here.

But worst of all, it's gonna be like they're going back into slavery. It's like the last thing you wanna do. Remember, God has just brought them out of slavery in Egypt. They've come out. They've wandered through the desert, and now they're settling themselves in this promised land, and God's saying, it's just like you're going back into slavery.

In fact, the wording is pretty similar to the lament of the Israelites back in Exodus chapter two verse 23, when they were in slavery under Egypt. This is what that verse says. And the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. Well, they're headed there again.

It just said they're going to cry out because of this king who's made them a slave. But what happens this time? This time God is not going to answer. Notice the specific wording. Not answering because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves.

It's threefold repetition of you. What's God saying here? He's saying, this is on you. This is the king whom you have chosen. Deuteronomy 17 laid out the king that God would choose.

That's not what's going on here. They are asking for their own king. And I wanna let you in on a fun little word play that's happening in Hebrew here. Do you wanna know what the word for ask or request is? The king they're asking for?

It's the word Sa'al. They are asking, they are Sa'al ing for this king. Gives us a bit of a hint of who this king is going to be. So the asking here, they're Sa'al ing for a king, and once he's granted to them, they are stuck with him. Are they gonna take the warning and wake up?

Let's see what they do here in the last section. But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, obey their voice and make them a king. Samuel said to the men of Israel, go every man to his city.

So they persist. They double down on their request even after hearing the consequences and God grants them their request. Now here is yet another lesson, another example for us, and we see this all throughout scripture. Very often, very often, God's judgment is not something spectacular like fire from heaven. Very often, his judgment comes in the form of simply allowing us to do what we want to do.

Let's think about the very first judgment, Adam and Eve. They wanted to know good and evil. They got it, and we are all still feeling the effects of that. Numbers eleven twenty is an interesting one. The people are complaining, complaining to God saying, We want meat.

We want meat. Well God gives them that meat, and it ends up being their judgment. I wanna read it briefly here for you. And say to the people, consecrate yourselves for tomorrow and you shall eat meat. For you have wept in the hearing of the Lord saying, who will give us meat to eat?

For it was better for us in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day or two days or five days or ten days or twenty days, but a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him saying, why did we come out of Egypt? God says, you want meat? I'm gonna give you meat, and you're gonna hate it, and it's gonna be your judgment, and it's gonna become loathsome to you.

This is also the way God deals with judging his people when it comes to idols. Gonna read to you from Judges ten thirteen through 14. Listen to this. Yet you have forsaken me and have served other gods. Therefore, I will save you no more.

Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of distress. People say, God, we don't want you. We want our idols instead. What's God's judgment?

Okay. See how that works out. See where that takes you. One of the clearest examples of this is one in Romans one eighteen. This is really important for us.

It says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Okay, what is the wrath of God that's gonna come down from heaven? I'm thinking fire. What is it? The author goes on and says in verse 24, God gave them up to the lusts of their heart to impurity.

Verse 26. God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Verse 28. God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. God's wrath and judgment revealed from heaven here is simply allowing us to do what it is we want.

We need to understand that. It's important lesson, especially for us today because every single day the world tells us that following your heart and doing whatever you want is the ultimate good, the ultimate freedom, really the ultimate morality. And how many Disney movies is this the lesson for the princess? In how many kids songs is this the theme, to be who you are, to do what you want, to follow your heart? The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that is judgment.

Apart from God, our heart leads us to condemnation, to damnation even. Our heart leads us to judgment. God, if he is going to judge you, it is likely not going to be some terrible disease or a car crash. It'll simply be allowing you to do what it is you want to do. God wants good for us, and he knows what's good for us.

Apart from him though, we want bad for ourselves. We don't know what's good. And oftentimes, in that case, the best judgment, the best way to get someone to turn is to grant them their request, their all. Now you ever wonder, just as an aside, why some prayers aren't answered? This is by no means 100% of the time, but at least a percentage of the time, I bet God isn't answering our prayers because we're unknowingly requesting something that would be judgment for ourselves.

Stop and think of some of your prayers that God hasn't answered. I'm sure some of them you think back and say, Yeah, I'm glad you didn't do that. That would not have worked out well. Let me marry this person. Let me get this job.

Let me get this house. Live in this place. Oftentimes, God answering our prayer is there's nothing mean about it whatsoever. Rather, he's keeping us from having our sahal, from having our request, which would have become judgment if granted to us. God's a good God to lead us in that way.

So as we close chapter eight, we've just seen Israel move from having God as their king, working through judges, and they say, No, we're demanding our own king now, and we've pivoted from a time of judges to the time of kings. They've forsaken God, who is really the only one who can fulfill the roles that they need fulfilled, and they're going to an earthly solution for that, they're king of their asking. And remember the examples we've learned here, because I think they're important for us. Many times, many times our sins are just our fleshly solutions to problems God has already solved, just like Israel's doing here, wanting this earthly and fleshly king. And it does well to just stop and reflect, how would God deal with this problem?

What option has he given me? What solution has He already provided in Himself for this? Also, just remember that the freedom to follow our own hearts, that the world so lusts after, that's separated from God, then that's a path that leads to judgment. We won't do what's good for ourselves. Sometimes no is the most merciful thing God can do for us.

No, I'm not gonna let you keep on sinning that way. No, I won't let you pursue that harmful goal. No, I'm not gonna let you have that harmful habit. No, I'm not gonna allow you to continue with that unhealthy desire. And lastly, just keep in the back of your mind, it might be comforting for you that many times I'm sure the reason our prayers are unanswered is because they would not have been good for us.

God is a good father, and like all good parents, if his children ask for something that's gonna hurt them, he's not going to grant that. He's not going to give in to that. An unanswered prayer is often not a judgment from God, but it's a mercy from God. So next time then, we're going to pick up in chapter nine. We're gonna discover who this asked for king, this Sa'al king is going to end up being, and we're gonna see the beginning of his story next time.

Let me end us in prayer. Lord, we thank you for the examples we've had from chapter eight of Samuel. We thank you that you are wise, and we just pray for the humility to submit to that, knowing that you are the solution to all that lack in our lives that we so often try to fill up with sin. Give us wisdom to recognize those areas where our sinning is simply because we're not seeking this satisfaction in you. Help us not to repeat time and time again the mistakes that we see in scripture here.

And yeah, God, we thank you for your sovereignty in establishing, even out of disorder, this throne from which you will, are, and will one day rule for eternity in peace and in righteousness. Thank you that you are the Christ, and that we see that in Jesus Christ and your sacrifice for us. Thank you, Lord, for redeeming us from sin. Let us please walk in ways that are honorable to you, that make you pleased, that make you proud, that make you glad, and ways that build one another up in love. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for listening to this message from Kingstree Church in Sabina, Ohio. To see more of the beauty of God and the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, come worship with us on Sundays at 10AM or visit our website at kingstreechurch.org.