Let's pray. There is we come into your
presence. We do come as a broken people,
we come as weak people. We come as needy people.
We come as people who are full of stunts. and because of that,
we fall. And we shattered to pieces.
And we need you to put us back together.
So this morning I pray that through the gospel and by your
spirit you might convince us again of your great love, may it
be more real to us this morning and may we leave here?
after hearing good news knowing That you love us.
You forgive us, you? Pardon us and you will always
welcome us back when we return to you, But we need your spirit
to do a great work and I pray that through the preaching of
your word. You would unleash Heaven upon us
this morning so that we may be filled that we may be convicted
where we need to be convicted. That we may be comforted where
we need to be comforted, that we may be assured where we need to
be assured. So God, do this great work by
the power of your spirit in and through us and among us even
now. And we ask that you would be
pleased to do this in Jesus's name.
Amen. All right, I'm changing things
up a little bit. I'm going to introduce the text
before we actually read it and what I want to look at this
morning is what one pastor called, the sin, underneath the
sin. The sin of idolatry and my taxes
first am ye 8, but before we read it, we need to get a little
context and we need to get some background information.
Samuel is the last judge and he's serving also as priest.
So he's this transitional figure between the judges and the Kings
and to understand what it was like back in those times, the
writer of Judges sums it up in the last verse of the book, in
chapter 21 verse 25. He says, in those days there,
There was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in
their own eyes. So, what was it?
Like, during these days? Well, imagine you doing, what's
right in your eyes and I doing what's right in my eyes, imagine
they compete with one another. What will we have chaos?
Absolute chaos. And this is the time period that
first Samuel is written. So first, Samuel begins with a
wicked priesthood and it begins with the need for God to raise
up a faithful priests and Samuel is that priest in chapters 1
through 3. But in chapter 4 because of
Israel's idolatry, God allows the Philistines to defeat Israel
and they capture the ark, and they take the ark back into
their Temple, to their God Dagon.
And they place the Before dag on.
But then the next day when the priest come, they see dag on is
actually face down, prostrate before the ark.
So, you know, maybe they thought of the wind blew it over solo,
just put it back up, they put him back up and then next day
they come in and there he is. Again, prostrate before the ark.
But this time his hands are cut off and so's.
His head signifying. How foolish it is to worship?
An idol? That is powerless to save you.
And then God in flicks, tumors. On the Philistines, which is fun
to read about but not very fun if you have to go through that,
right? And so they begin to realize
that they are powerless against Israel's God.
So like we got to get rid of this thing because if we don't
get rid of it, more bad stuff is going to happen.
So in chapter 6 they send the ark back to Israel with a
tribute. And then in chapter 7, when the
ark is returned Samuel, he leads the people and the national
repentance worship service, which leads us to chapter 8 Were
the people demand, that Samuel? Give them a king so they can be
like the other nations. So what we're seeing unfold in
first Samuel chapters 1 through 7.
It's not just a need of a faithful priest who's going to
intercede to God on behalf of sinful Israel.
Know what we're seeing is a need for a king, a king, who would
lead the people and faithfulness to God, but the question is,
what kind of King can do this? This what kind of keying can
lead people to be faithful to God.
Now, before we read our text, I want to read an excerpt from a
book, by Steve Brown, who is a former pastor, and Seminary
professor, and the book is called three free sins.
What Steve says about being a pastor, I think sums up our text
now. It's long.
But I think it's, I think it's pretty good.
I've had a lousy job for most of my life.
I'm a preacher. I'm a pastor and my job
description is to keep people from doing what they obviously
want to do with a job description like mine.
I hardly ever get invited to parties.
At least not the good ones. Sometimes I feel like a wet
Shaggy Dog, shaking himself at a wedding.
I tell the guests that I'm trying to help and that God
anointed me to reach out to you, but they simply don't care.
Preachers are supposed to keep people from sinning.
I haven't been very successful so far and I've been trying for
40 years. There are times when I feel like
I'm standing by the sheer edge of a high cliff that people
frequently approached be careful.
I tell them it's a long way down and coming to an abrupt stop at
the bottom will be quite unpleasant.
They look at me. They sometimes even thank me.
And then they jump, but I keep at it.
I say, hey to the next group who approaches a cliff not too long
ago, I saw people go off that cliff and if you bend over and
look you could see the bloody mess, it made like everyone
else. They seemed grateful for my
concern, they may even say something about my compassion
and wisdom and then they jump. It happens again and again and
again, frankly I'm tired of it. In fact, I've given up standing
by this stupid Cliff. I'm tired of trying to prevent
the unpreventable. I'm tired of talking to people
who don't want to listen and I'm tired of pointing out the
obvious. And just, when I determined to
leave my position by the cliff to my horror and to my surprise
I jump. Why do we get close to the
cliff? And then jump off.
Why are we drawn to the cliff? Even though we know the method
it'll make in the pain that it will cause and then if we
survive the impact after we jump, why don't we climb right
back up? Only to jump off again.
Well, first Samuel 8 is the answer.
I'm gonna have you all come up and read and then I'm going to
have you stand for the reading of God's word.
When Samuel became old, he made saw his sons judges over Israel,
the name of the first born, 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.
Then all the Elders of Israel gathered together.
And came to Samuel A trauma and said to him behold you are old
and your son's do not walk in your ways.
Now, appoint for us a king to judge us, like all the nations.
But the thing displease Sammy 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 brought them up out of Egypt,
even to this day forsaking me and serving other gods.
So are also doing to you Now then obey their voice, only you
shall solemnly warned them and show them the ways of the king
who shall reign over them. So Samuel so Samuel told all the
words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from
him and he said these will be the ways of the king who ran
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 50s in some to
plow his ground and to reap his Harvest and to make his
Implements of war and they equipment of his chariots, he
will take your daughters to be perfect 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 servants,
and your 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've chosen for yourselves. But the Lord will not answer you
in that day. But the people refused to obey
the voice of Samuel and they said, no, but there shall be a
king over us. That we may also be like all the
nations and then 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 then said to the men of
Israel, go, every man to his City.
This is the word of the Lord. Thank you, and you may take your
seats. If y'all haven't figured it out
yet even though it's a day of rest Presbyterians love to get
their exercise in right with all the standing and sitting we do
during the service. And did you see the cliff that
we all get real close to and then jump off?
You see chapter 8, it shows us the root of Israel's problem and
it isn't just Israel's problem. It's our problem as well.
Two things struck me as I was studying this first, it's found
in verse 8. Look at where it says ever since
God redeemed his people out of Slavery to Egypt.
What do they still do? They still jump off the cliff.
I mean they saw the ten plagues, they saw the death pass over
their house because of the blood of the Lamb.
On the door, they saw the death of all of the firstborn in
Egypt. I mean, they saw the waters part
and they saw a Pharaoh's chariots in their horses.
Get engulfed in the water so that they would never be a
threat to Israel ever again. They saw how God provided for
them for 40 years, in the wilderness every day, they had
food in a place where there was no food everyday, they had water
from a rock for 40 years. Their clothes not did not fade.
Nor do they ever get holes? Their sandals never wore out.
They saw the walls of Jericho fall.
They saw God scatter all of their enemies before them.
And they saw God deliver them over and over and over again by
raising up judges. So time and time again, they saw
God's faithfulness and yet, time and time again, they keep
approaching the cliff and jump off.
And the second thing that struck me as in verses 9 to 18, saying
you are standing besides a cliff telling the people not to jump,
they still jump. Samuels telling him how painful
it will be when they abruptly hit bottom, he's warning them
what it'll be like if they jump and they still jump.
I mean this Israel has Alzheimer's.
Are they masochist who enjoy paying?
Hey, that was fun. Let's run up and jump off again.
Sadly, this is where many Christians go wrong.
We look at Israel continually jumping off the cliff and we
conclude, we would never do that.
What's wrong with these people? We're better than that.
I mean, you would think after so many broken bones and gashes
after so much pain and blood loss, you would think they would
finally learn don't jump Have you?
Have you learned not to jump off the cliff?
I mean, sure, you may set up barriers which is going to keep
you from getting close to the cliff.
It may prolong you from jumping over.
You make all these promises to God to yourself and to other
people that you won't ever jump again, but have the barriers and
the promises really stop you from jumping.
She haven't you figured it out yet?
You and I want to jump, and because we do, there is no
amount of accountability. There is no amount of pleading,
there is no amount of warnings. There's no amount of laws.
There's no amount of commands. There is no amount of the
threats of the consequences of what will happen that is going
to stop. You us from jumping off the
cliff. It doesn't matter how much
wisdom you've gained over the years.
Just read the book of Ecclesiastes to figure that one
out. It doesn't matter how many
lessons you've learned. It doesn't matter how well, you
know, your Bible. It doesn't matter how many Bible
verses you've memorized you, and I will still jump and I got to
be honest. The sooner, we admit that the
better. I wish Christians would stop
acting like they would never jump.
I wish myself. Another Christians would stop
pretending that they didn't jump when they did.
I mean after all, everyone can see it.
I see that broken bone dangling from your arm.
I see that open wound that you try to cover with a Band-Aid.
I see you walking with a limp and I know you see me scooting
around my wheelchair because of how many times I've jumped and
will continue to jump. Are you tired of pretending
though? To be something you're not.
Are you tired of wearing the mask to give the impression
you're doing better than you really are?
I know I'm tired of it but here's the thing.
I still pretending wear a mask and so do you But isn't there
something freeing about admitting it?
Admitting that you're broken emitting that you're needy
admitting that you're full of sin that you are selfish and
you're far worse than anybody else really knows.
But for some of us admitting that you're broken, it isn't
freeing instead it fills you with fear.
The fear that others are going to know that the emperor really
does not have any clothes on. This is why you aren't free to
be yourself around other people. This is why you keep people at a
distance, this is why you don't allow them to get close to you.
You aren't free to let others see and know your Brokenness
because you're so afraid of what they will think of you if they
do. See the point of our text is to
serve as a mirror for us to look into to see that we're all
broken and that we cannot fix ourselves.
So, you would think that after God delivered Israel from their
slavery to Egypt and after he continued to deliver them over
and over and over again, you would think that Israel would
have learned only God, can save them, only God can deliver them.
You would think that they would more easily trust in him but
they don't and neither do we? You would think that after
repenting and putting their Idols away and returning to God.
You would think that they wouldn't run back to their Idols
again, but they do. And so, do we?
You would think that, after all these years of seeing how
patient God is with them, how gracious and merciful, he's been
with them. You would think that they would
return to him more quickly, but they don't and neither do we?
There's something terribly wrong with us that we can be drawn to
the cliff Time After Time After Time.
So what is the cliff that we all get real close to and then jump
off? Breaking us bruising us,
bloodying us every time we do answer.
We think there's a better King than God to rule over us.
So what do we do? We jump out of God's arms, run
to the cliff to jump into the arms of a god replacement, a
false, god, an idol that can't catch you.
That can't fill you. That can't satisfy you that
can't give you what you ultimately long for and because
it can't every time we jump into its arms, we fall Look at
verses, four through nine, the elders, they come the Samuel, A
trauma, and they request for Samuel to a point for them, a
king to judge them like the other nations.
This displeases Samuel because he's been acting as judge.
He's been acting as priest. He's been acting as the prophet
and he feels like they're rejecting to him.
So he goes to the Lord and he prays, and he says, what shall I
do? And God says, to Samuel obey
their voice. Give them what they want.
Now, we got understand it's their request for a king is not
wrong. God told Abraham that Kings were
going to come from him and Deuteronomy 17.
Moses said that this day was going to come and now it's
happening. So the request is not wrong.
What's wrong is they don't want to be different.
They don't want to be distinct, they don't want to be unique as
God's people. Now, they want to look like
everybody else. They want to be like the Nations
around them. So the request is not wrong.
And then it gets even worse. Because according to verse 7
it's not just that they want to be like other nations.
It's they don't want God to be their King anymore.
And in verse 8, we see that this has always been the case ever
since God brought Israel out of Egypt.
See, Israel has quite the history of leaving God's arms in
order to jump into the arms of a god replacement that can't catch
them. Israel has a long history of
throwing God's rule off so that they can be ruled by something
else either. They want to rule their own
lives or they subject themselves to the rule of something else.
So what is Israel? There are a bunch of idolaters
they want something other than God to rule them and control
them. They aren't satisfied with God
as their King. They don't think God is good
enough. They don't believe that God can
give them what other things can. Israel has a history of Treasury
and created things rather than their creator.
They have a long history of putting worthless things in
God's Place. Israel is bent on turning away
from God in order to worship and serve an idol.
And so, are we? See, if you miss seeing yourself
in the mirror of chapter 8, and you not only miss the point of
our text but you missed the point of the whole Bible.
Look at verse 9, God, tell Samuel to give the people what
they want, obey their voice but solemnly warned them.
What it'll be like to have a god replacement ruling over them and
you can't miss the main verb because it's repeated six times
in verses 10 through 18. He will take your sons and
daughters. Take the best of your Fields,
Vineyards, and Orchards. He will take the tenth of your
grain. Take your servants, take your
flocks and you shall be as slaves.
And then that day when you cry out, because of your king whom
you have chosen for yourself, the Lord will not answer you in
that day. Samuels.
Warning them about the dangers of jumping off the cliff.
And sadly. According to verse 19, they
refused to obey the voice of Samuel.
See what is Samuel telling, the people this false King, this God
replacement that you're looking to.
It can only take from you. It can never give.
Now, what's interesting is that the reason why they want a god
replacement is to protect them and for their own security.
But because this God replacement takes the very things that they
want protected and secured. This is exactly what Idols do
when we put them in God's Place. See, I don't can't.
Give it can only take and because they can only take we
become enslaved to them. We become like them.
In Psalm 115 verses four through eight, their Idols are silver
and gold. The Works of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak eyes, but do not see.
They have ears, but do not hear noses, but do not smell.
They have hands, but do not feel feet, but do not walk those who
make them will become like them. And so will all who trust in
them. You see worshipping an idol is
so destructive because we become like them, Idols, they twist and
they distort us into their image Idols, deform and dehumanize us.
And is it the greatest illustration of this and the
Lord of the Rings were a Hobbit named, Smeagol finds the one
ring to rule them all? All and it becomes his precious.
And what is this ring? Do to Smeagol it twists, it
distorts him into Golem. Looking to something other than
God to fill us. It deforms us.
It dehumanizes us because when we are not filled, we act more
like animals, and we do human beings.
Why? Because we're living our lives
trying to get from others. Not able to give to others.
You see, God made us for himself, which means only he can
fill us. But God also made us in His
image, which means, we are to reflect him.
And the way we reflect him. As, when we revolve our lives
around him, and receive from him, when we are receiving from
him. Now, we have something to give
and we reflect and display him by living for the good.
Of others. So as a human being made for God
and Made In His Image to reflect him to others.
When I revolve my life around something other than God, what
happens, I'm revolving my life around, something that can only
take. Can never give.
And because it can't give it leaves me.
Empty, It leaves me unsatisfied. It leaves me, unfulfilled, and
the longer I remain unfulfilled than the more desperate.
I become to be filled so I'm always seeking to get Not able
to give. Dale children.
How do you treat your friends when they don't give you what
you want? Husband and wife, how do you
view your spouse? When they don't love you, the
way you long to be loved. When we are ruled by something
other than God God's image, it gets twisted, it gets distorted
and we no longer reflect him by living for the good of others.
Instead, we reflect our idle by trying to get from others.
What's interesting about verses 9 to 18, wisdom is not enough to
stop us from jumping off the cliff.
Commandments laws, warnings, threats of the consequences,
won't stop us from doing what we want to do. so, no matter how
many warnings we receive, No matter how messy and painful, we
know that abrupt stop will be, we will still jump.
Now, we're beginning to see the real purpose of our text.
We don't just need a faithful priest who intercede to God on
our behalf when we sin against them.
No, we need a king. We need a king who is glorious
enough to conquer and capture our hearts.
We need a king who is so radiant that we don't want to leave
God's arms to jump into the arms of a god replacement.
We need a king who was strong enough to set us free from our
desire to want to jump. The whole point of first and
second, Samuel was to show us how God provides the king we
need. So if chapter 8 is meant to be a
mirror than what do we see? That you and I are broken.
You and I are full of sin and cannot fix ourselves.
No amount of laws. No amount of warnings.
No amount of threats can stop us from jumping off the cliff.
We need something else. We need a king.
Whose radiant Beauty Is So Glorious.
That he melts our hearts to the point where we don't want to
jump anymore. A king, whose love for us is so
great that we want to submit to his will not throw it all off.
In 1st Samuel David's that King David doesn't arrive on the
scene yet till chapter 16, which means chapter 8 is preparing us
for what happens in chapters 9 through 15 where the king we
want. It's not always the king, we
need. And saw we see that getting the
king, we want is not a good thing.
And I went to end and I need to end.
I want to end with some implications of our text.
What do we learn from Israel's long history of jumping off the
cliff into the arms of God? Replacements, the first thing we
learn is this repentance is not a one-time thing.
It's an all the time thing. See the Christian life is more
than setting up barriers, to keep you to prevent you and to
prolong you from jumping off the cliff know, the power of the
Christian Life is repenting after you jump.
See brown, he calls it, the Bingo retort, so it goes like
this. Someone says you're wrong.
Bingo, I've been wrong. Almost 50% of the time.
You're selfish. Bingo.
My mom said the same thing and my wife knows it too.
You're not living up to your potential.
Bingo, and if it's all right with you, I'm not going to live
up to my potential for a while. You're not fit to be a Christian
bingo. That's why Jesus died for me.
There are something freeing. About admitting that you are
broken and you can't fix yourself.
It's freeing because you can stop pretending.
Can stop pretending that you aren't week, that you aren't
broken, that you aren't needy that you aren't full of sin.
See, here's the irony to not admit that you're broken needy
and full of sin that slavery. Why?
Because you're enslaved to fear. Fear of what God thinks of you,
fear of what, others think of you fear, that you have to
perform for God, fear that you have to be perfect.
Fear that God is angry with you when you mess up.
So instead of being afraid, why don't you just admit it?
Steve Brown goes on to say we have not been called to tell the
world how good we are and how God made us that way.
See you in that what we think it means about to be a good
witness. Look at how good we are.
Look at how moral we are. Look at how we got it all
together. But that's not what we call to
witness two. See Brown says we have been
called to stand before God and the world naked.
Honest. And loved.
See. To admit your broken to admit,
you're weak and needy and full of sin is freeing.
Because what's the message of the Gospel?
That God has provided the king we need. the king, we need to
free us, not just from sins, power and sins penalty, but to
free us from our slavery to fear It's five hours, Apostle, Paul,
I'd say it this way as he does in Galatians 5:1, it is for
Freedom that Christ has set you free.
Therefore, do not allow yourself to be subjected again to the
Yoke of slavery. This may shock some of you and
hopefully I won't get any emails but I won't be able to read them
till Wednesday so don't worry about it.
Jesus did not come to keep you from jumping off the cliff.
Came to put you back together when you do.
We've already jumped. So, the goal of the Christian
life is not to prevent you from jumping, although that may be
part of it. The goal of the Christian Life
is for you to know that you are forgiven. when you do, Jesus is
a radiant King we need because as king, what did he do?
Jesus gave up his greatness. in order to stoop down to serve,
you But becoming like us, he understands us.
He suffers with us, he suffers for us.
Jesus sacrificed and gave up everything, so that we could
have everything in him. On the cross.
Jesus Takes everything that is bad about you.
He takes all of your desires for God, Replacements and he becomes
it. And by becoming it, he then
became the object of God's Wrath to punish all of your sin.
Jesus takes everything that is bad about you and then he gives
to you everything that is good about him.
Jesus sacrificed himself for you so that you could find life in
him. Jesus gave up his greatness for
our good so that we would live free.
Free from condemnation free from believing that we have to
perform for God. Free from the enslaving fear to
be perfect, to be enough to meet some standard but you can't.
So it's the free you from trying.
Jesus sets, you free from your fear to know that God is not
angry with you? That God deeply loves you in
spite of the fact that you're a failure.
See when Jesus set you free. It frees you to admit, you're
broken. It frees you to admit that,
you're needy it, frees you to admit your sin, and your sinful,
and you can't fix yourself. See here, it is.
When you jump Jesus, set, you free to know that you can always
come back to him. He set you free to know that he
will always put you back together.
He will mend your broken bones. He will cleanse your wounds.
He will cover your holes, he will embrace you and take you
in. So Christian come home.
And experience his forgiveness. Stop living in fear come to your
king who has saved you and who will continue to forgive you
every time you jump. Amen.
Let's pray. our gracious, Heavenly Father Yeah. we sang
Amazing Grace, but a lot of times, We have to confess.
It's not really amazing. It's not really amazing because
a lot of times we live as if we don't need it.
But the reality of first Samuel 8, it shows us.
We need it all the time. Because we are prone to wander
Lord. I feel it.
We are prone to leave the God. We say we love So now would you
bind our hearts to your great love for us so that we don't
want to jump anymore? Open our eyes to see the radiant
Beauty, And Glory of Jesus, who gave up everything, so that we
could have everything in him. Do this for your glory and do
this for the good of your people.
We ask of this in Jesus's name. Amen.
Do this for your glory and do this for the good of your
people. We ask of this in Jesus's name.
Amen.