Israel's Demand for a King — Chuck Smith

Welcome to the Word for Today, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel, Costa Mesa, California. Pastor Chuck is currently leading us on a verse-by-verse venture through the entire Bible, and on today's edition of the Word for Today, we'll be focusing on Israel's demand for a king, as we pick up in 1 Samuel, chapter 8, verse 1.

Now with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck Smith.

Samuel's Sons and the Corruption of Judgment

Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. This was a mistake, because his sons did not follow in the footsteps of their father. The name of his firstborn was Joel, the name of his second was Abiah, and they were judges in Beersheba, which is the extreme southern part of the country.

And his sons did not walk in his ways, but they turned aside after money. They took bribes, and they perverted judgment. So there was corruption in the courts, as the sons of Samuel were judging, they would take bribes, and thus perverted judgment.

Israel Demands a King Like the Nations

Then all of the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel there at Ramah. And they said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make 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 unto the Lord. Hard thing here. The people are now coming to Samuel there in Ramah, and they're demanding that Samuel give them a king.

And unfortunately, the desire was to be like the nations around us. We want a king like the nations around us. It would seem that Samuel, seeing what happened to Eli, because he didn't discipline his sons, would have learned the lesson.

But unfortunately, it seemed not to do so. His sons being set up by Samuel as judges, corrupting their position, and thus causing the people to demand a king. They didn't want Samuel's sons to succeed him as judges in Israel.

Samuel was upset, troubled, and he did what you should do when you're troubled. Take it to the Lord. He prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto you.

Israel Rejects God's Theocracy

For they have not rejected you, but they've rejected me that I should not reign over them. Here is a very tragic verse of Scripture. Samuel was hurt personally. He took it as a personal affront that they're saying set us up a king.

He saw it as their rejection of him. And God had used him. Brought spiritual revival, brought them victory over the Philistines, secured their cities and all. And yet here are the people saying, Hey, we want you to set up a king for us.

And it hurt him. It crushed him. And so he went to the Lord. And the Lord said, Now hearken to the things that they're asking you to do. Don't feel personally offended. They haven't rejected you, Samuel.

They have rejected me from being the king over them. You see, what God was wanting for his people was a theocracy, a people that were ruled by God. What the people were wanting was a monarchy. They wanted a man to rule over them.

What God still desires for his people is a theocracy. God wants you to be ruled by God. He wants to be the king, the Lord of your life. And how glorious it is to enter into the kingdom of God. What does that mean?

That means that God is king. God is reigning. And that is why you who have submitted to Jesus Christ have entered into the kingdom of God because you have acknowledged him as king and Lord of your lives.

And thus, you have entered into the kingdom of God and you have begun to reap the glories and the blessings of God's kingdom. Now, there is coming a day when the kingdom of God will rule over the entire earth.

God made a promise to his son in Psalms 2, Ask of me. And I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. The promise of God to his son that he could reign over the uttermost parts of the earth.

Christ's Coming Kingdom and the Model Prayer

That promise will be fulfilled when Jesus comes again and there are all kinds of glorious prophecies of the Bible of the conditions that will exist upon the earth during what is known as the kingdom age when we have a theocracy when God rules over the earth.

Right now, Satan rules. Jesus called him the prince of this world, the world system, the present world system in rebellion against God is being led by Satan. But Jesus is coming to establish the kingdom of God and that's why when he gave the disciples the model prayer, he said, you should pray, thy kingdom come and thy will be done in this earth even as it is in heaven.

Oh, how we should be praying for that glorious kingdom of God to be established. Now, here was the point where they were rejecting God from being king. We want a man. Their model was the other nations around them.

They have a man that they can look up to as their king. We want a king just like the other nations. And God said, Samuel, they haven't rejected. Now hearken to them. Do what they say. Do what they say.

They haven't rejected you. Don't feel bad about it. They haven't rejected you. They've rejected me from being king. I see something here that's extremely important, extremely important. God is giving in to the demands of the people because God will not force you against your will to serve him.

Human Choice and God's Accommodation

If you don't want to serve God, he's not going to force you to serve him. That's not what the kingdom of God is about. It will be when Jesus comes. He's going to rule with a rod of iron and that will be enforced righteousness for a thousand years.

People will be forced to serve him at that time. But at the present time, God doesn't force a man to serve him. And God will accommodate your lower standard. If you want to live on a low level, if you insist living on a low level, God will accommodate himself to your lower level.

But he loves you so much, he'll do the best that he possibly can for you on that lower level. But that's sort of tragic when we bring God down to our level rather than being elevated and lifted to God's level.

God wants to lift you to the highest, the highest level. And he will lift you to the highest level that you will allow him to lift you. But on the other hand, he will also accommodate you on the level that you insist upon and there in grace and love will do the very best he can for you on that level.

But oh, God help us that we might all ascend under the level where God would have us to be living. And what is that level? Seated together with Christ in heavenly places. Ephesians, if you want to know where God wants you to be living, read the book of Ephesians.

It's called the Alps of the New Testament. And it's where God would really have you to be living. The highest level. Don't make God bend to you, but rather submit to him and allow him to lift you to his heights.

But they're bringing him down. They've not rejected you, Samuel, they've rejected me, that I should reign over them. And so according to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they're doing to you.

Hey, what's happening to you, man, is what's happening to me, Samuel. You know, since they came out of Egypt, they've turned to other gods. They haven't followed me, and now they're doing the same thing to you.

They just don't want to follow you. You know, I've experienced this for many, many years. Been going on for some, you know, 400 years around here, you know, since they came out of Egypt, they've been doing this, Samuel.

So you're just getting a little bit of what I've had for a long time. Now therefore, second time he tells them, hearken unto their voice. Yet protest solemnly to them. Go ahead and do what they want, but give them a message.

Samuel Warns of the King's Oppression

Protest to them solemnly, and show them the manner of king that shall reign over them. Show them what's going to happen when they have a man reigning over them. Show them what man will do, because you see, man is incapable of handling authority and power without corruption.

There is a greed within man that keeps him from exercising authority and power and government over other men without becoming corrupted. It's impossible. Man just doesn't have that kind of self-control.

So if you have a king over you, there's going to be corruption. He's going to begin to abuse his position, and you will suffer the results of that abuse. Government always ultimately becomes abusive. He's going to start taxing you.

Excessive taxes. The fact that we can't afford to pay the bills year by year tells me one thing. We can't afford government. You know, it's just too expensive. There's too many hands dipping into the till, you know.

Too much corruption. It's just what's new. God says that's what's going to happen. You set up a man to rule over you, and there's going to be corruption. Oh, that God would rule over us. We would be satisfied to have God rule over us.

And only then can you have a government without corruption. A truly righteous government. Show me a nation in the world. Ours is probably the best. And I don't care what political persuasion you are. I have a friend that says, well, you know, you don't want to get the Democrats in power because you know that they're a bunch of thieves.

And they'll rob you blind. But he said, the Republicans are thieves too, but they do it with more finesse. So take your choice. How do you want to get robbed? And so Samuel said to the people, if you have a king, this is what's going to happen.

He's going to take your sons, and he's going to appoint them for himself. For his chariots. To be his horsemen. And some of them will be running before his chariots. He will appoint captains over thousands and captains over fifties.

He will raise an army. He'll have a standing army. He will set them to take care of his fields. To ear his ground, is actually to till his ground. And to reap his harvest. And he will make instruments of war.

You're going to have a war department. And instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be your confectionaries. And to be cooks and to be bakers. You're going to have a draft. And he will take your fields and your vineyards and your oliveyards.

Even the best of them, and he will give them to his servants. In other words, the government will start to take over. By eminent domain. He'll take away your property. Use it for his own purposes. You won't have the rights to your own property.

Yee. You've ever tried to build something and find out all the hoops you have to jump through. Just to put something on your own property. You know, you don't have the right. You think, well that's my land.

Not the way the government looks at it. And then he's going to start taxing you. He's going to take ten percent. Not bad. I'd be satisfied with that. And your vineyards he'll give to his officers and to his servants.

He's going to take your men servants and your maid servants. And your handsomest young men. And your donkeys. And he's going to use them for his own work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants.

And you will cry out in that day because the king which you have chosen. And the Lord will not hear you in that day. You know, it's going to get tough and you're going to start crying unto God because of the abuses of government.

But hey, that's what you want? God's not going to listen. Now, having been warned, what do they respond? Oh, let God rule over us. No, no. Forget that. Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel.

Israel Chooses Bondage Over God's Rule

They said, no, no. We will have a king to rule over us. Here's what's going to happen. It's all right. We'll take it. I'm amazed at the bondage that people are willing to live under just because they don't want God to rule over them.

Have you noticed that? People will live in bondage to drugs. They'll live in bondage to alcohol. They'll live in all kinds of horrible bondage. And you come to them and say, hey, just turn your life over to Jesus Christ and he can set you free.

Oh, no, no. I don't want that, man. And then they'll go on and tell you how miserable things are. Oh, this is horrible. I wish I were dead. I would like to die. This is horrible. I can't stand it. Well, just turn your life over to Jesus.

No, no, no. I can't have that. I had an uncle, very wealthy man, and he, chain smoker, had emphysema. And I went up to visit him while I was in seminary because I'd heard he'd had a bad emphysema attack.

And so he was talking to me, you know, and he told me he still did chawls, you know, and bit. How wonderful that you're dedicating your life to the ministry of chawls. I mean, well, that's your family.

You've got to take what you have. And he started, you know, wheezing and coughing and all and went into this fit and said, oh, you know. And he says, I have to, you know, call my chauffeur and get in the car and rush out to Palm Springs when this happens to me.

You know, he's telling me how, you know, he felt one day I'm going to die between Santa Barbara and Palm Springs because, you know, I'm not going to be able to make it in time with these horrible attacks.

And I said, well, uncle, and I called him by his name. I said, you know, the Lord could heal you of emphysema. I've seen God heal so many people of asthma, emphysema. The Lord can heal you. You know, I can just pray for you and God can touch and heal you.

Oh, no, no, no, no. He just about had a heart attack then. He was afraid I was going to lay hands on him and pray for him. What he was afraid of, if God did heal him, the obligation that he'd have to God.

You know, I'd rather die of emphysema than submit my life to God. I'd rather live in horrible bondage than let God rule over me. And this was the choice these people were making. But don't fault them too much.

Because you may be making the same choice. It may be that you're running from God's reigning over your life. It may be that you're continuing in a life of bondage just because you don't want to submit your life to be ruled over by Jesus Christ.

You see, all of these people aren't dead. We're surrounded by them today. People who are living in abject misery and in horrible bondage. But they still don't want God to rule over them. So we want a king that we also may be like all the nations.

And that's always a bad desire to be like the world around you. We're to be different from the world around us. And that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. We want someone to lead us into battle.

And Samuel heard all of the words of the people and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, hearken unto their voice, make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, go home and I'll take care of it.

So three times the Lord said to Samuel, hearken unto their voice, appoint them the king. So now we get the king that was chosen to rule over Israel. And what God said was true. But we begin now a new section of the Bible as we move into the area of the kings over Israel.

And we will find that this whole period ended in tragedy. It ended in oppression. It ended in heavy taxation. It ended in failure.

We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse study of 1 Samuel in our next lesson. As God reveals the king to Samuel. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us. But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you missed any part of today's message, or perhaps you'd like to order a copy for that special friend or loved one, you can do so by simply contacting one of our customer service representatives.

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And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck Smith continues his verse-by-verse study through the book of 1 Samuel. That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck Smith.

Freedom From Sin Under Christ's Lordship

Like the children of Israel, you're not going to have to decide if God is going to reign over you or if you're going to have some other power reigning over you. It's very possible that you are suffering the ravages and the miseries of having another king in your life.

You're not really a free-mortar agent. You're bound by the power of sin. It's destroying you. You realize that. God wants to lift you to a higher level. He wants to take you out of the bondage of corruption and bring you into the glorious freedom of the children of God, living under the reign of God.

If you'd like to enter into that relationship, submitting unto His lordship and to His reign in your life, I encourage you to just ask God to take over and to begin His reign in your heart. God bless you.

And may you live a life in surrender unto Jesus. This week, may He be Lord over your life, ruling in every area. As you walk in fellowship with Him, may your life be enriched in the fullness of that mercy and grace that He has extended towards us through Jesus our Lord.

God bless you and give you a beautiful week. And keep you in His love.

Hey, have you ever seen a person who was once a drug addict or an alcoholic and then all of a sudden they became a Christian and they're like a different person? They're responsible, they're happy, they're excited about life.

They've been changed from the inside out. If you know someone who is struggling with sin, whether it be with drugs or alcohol, prescribed painkillers, an eating disorder or a problem with gambling or pornography, I'd like to recommend ordering this year's One Step to Freedom conference and DVD entitled Inside Out.

Hear guest speakers Pancho Juarez, Jerry Brown and myself, Tommy Cota, and see for yourself some extreme and amazing life-changing stories of people who have been changed from the inside out. To order this year's conference for a friend or a loved one, call the Word for Today at 1 -800 -272-WORD or visit us online at thewordfortoday .org.

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This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.