First Samuel chapter 8. Some of you may be aware or you may not be aware that we have
a presidential election coming up Tuesday. If you didn't know that, then you probably
had your head in the sand for the last two or three years. But we've got a presidential
election coming up and we're going to talk about the importance of that and we're going
to talk about the Word of God and what we really need to focus on more than we need
to focus on who our president is. So let's pray and we'll get started. Father God, we
come to you and we thank you for your Word. I pray that your Holy Spirit would hide me
behind the cross, dear Lord, that I'd be able to preach and teach your Word in a way that
brings glory to you. Dear Lord, we need you more than we need anything. We need you far
more than we need a man or a woman that's going to lead us, dear Lord. We need you to
lead us. We need to be a people that would seek you. And so I pray, dear Lord, that you
would help us, even your people, to see the error of our ways sometimes. God, that we
would seek you and that we would trust you for our deliverance and no one else. I pray,
God, that you would just bless the reading of your Word this morning and I ask these
things in Jesus' name. Amen. First Samuel chapter 8 verse 1. Now before we get to this
point in Israel's history, we see right before this that God had used quite a few judges
to lead his people. They didn't have a king. They weren't like the other nations. They
didn't have a king in that way. But they have judges that God would appoint. And they certainly
needed them. They needed some form of leadership. They should have been seeking God and living
by the commands of God and things would have gone well for them. But they did not do that.
They knew the Word of God. They knew the commands of God. But they did not live by the Word
of God. And so what happens in the book of Judges is God's people are disobedient. And
God sends a judge to get them out of the mess they're in. They go through hard times. The
judge comes, delivers them, and they're going to do good. They're going to live for the
Lord. And then they go back and they're disobedient. And then God sends another judge and delivers
them and then all is good. They're going to live for the Lord. And then they go back to
being disobedient. Sounds kind of familiar. Sometimes we're probably not so unlike God's
people. And so this went on for quite a while. God sent these judges time and again. And
God's people were just disobedient. Now there wasn't a problem with judges. There wasn't
a problem with God. It was a problem with God's people being disobedient and choosing
sin. So fast forward to the book of Samuel. And the Bible tells us that Samuel was a prophet
and a judge of God. And by the time Samuel comes along, he was a good guy. He was a good
godly man who served God well. But what we see here in 1 Samuel is that Samuel's sons
did not follow the ways of Samuel. And that's what we see in 1 Samuel chapter 8 verse 1.
When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. His firstborn son's
name was Joel and his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. However, his
sons did not walk in his ways. They turned toward dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted
justice. Now, things are not going well here. Samuel has these sons and they are horrible.
They take bribes. They take dishonest gains. They pervert justice. They're not doing what
is right by God. They are not doing what is right by the commands of God. They are evil,
evil, and guileless. And so naturally, God's people want something better. Now, I don't
think that that's a bad thing. That when we look for leadership, that we desire good leadership,
that we desire godly leadership, that we desire those who are going to uphold justice, who
are going to do what is right, who are going to care about the people that they are leading.
I don't think that that in and of itself is a sinful thing to want someone who's going
to be a good leader. And God's people were not happy with Samuel's sons because they
were crooked and evil. Now, that may sound kind of familiar to us today because we look
at those who lead our country and if we are honest, a vast majority of them, it would
appear, seem to be like maybe they're crooked, maybe they're evil, maybe they don't have
the people's best interest in heart. And so in some way, it's natural for us to want better.
We want our country to be better. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we want a country that
seeks God, that lives by his commands, that values life, that values the safety of its
people, that wants our children to be taught good and godly things, not a bunch of trash
that the world wants to put out. These are good desires for us, brothers and sisters
in Christ, to want these things, to want godly things. And the people of Israel here weren't
happy with those who were leading them because they were corrupt. And so let's see what the
scripture says in verse four. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and went to Samuel
at Ramah. They said to him, look, you are old and your sons do not follow your example.
Therefore, appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have. Uh oh,
we have a problem that just started right here. Now, they wanted something good and
that they wanted better leaders, but their heart was not right. They were going about
it the wrong way. We see that Israel's heart wasn't right because of their request and
because what the text tells us as we continue to read on. Now, we see here that they say,
we want a king like the other nations have. And as you continue to read in first Samuel
eight, they say it again. We want a king so that we can be like all the other nations.
You see the problem there. God's people were called to be God's people. God's people were
set apart. God was their king. God was their leader. God was their protector. God was their
provider. And they were to be different than all the other nations because what were all
the other nations that we see in the rest of scripture? They were pure evil. They were
sexually immoral. They were child sacrificing. They were idolaters. They were evil in every
way and God's people were called to be above that. They were called to follow the ways
of God. And what do God's people here say? They say, God, these men who are over us are
crooked and evil and we don't want them. Okay, well, that's, that's, that's pretty good.
I think that you don't want that. But there was a problem and that is instead of seeking
God and saying, God, these men that are over us are evil and God, I pray that you'd send
us better leaders. God, I pray that you would deliver us. I pray that you would be our king.
I pray that we would trust you and that you'd get us out of this mess that we're in. Instead
of saying that, they said, God, we want to be like all the other nations. Now that's
a problem when God's people want to be like all the other nations. They were not in a
good place right here. They go to Samuel and they say, look, you're old, things aren't
good. We want a king so that we can be like all the other nations. That was their first
mistake. But why were they even asking for a king? Why did they even want to be like
all of the other nations? Well, we see the answer to that as we continue reading verse
six, when they said, give us a king to judge us, Samuel considered their demand sinful.
So he prayed to the Lord, but the Lord told him, listen to the people and everything they
say to you. They have not rejected you. They have rejected me as their king. There is the
real problem. The real problem is not that they wanted some better leadership that they
wanted to get out from under the corruption that they were under. The real problem was
is that they were seeking deliverance from a man instead of seeking deliverance from
God. And what did God tell Samuel? It says, these people have rejected me as their king.
They had stopped seeking the power of God and they had started seeking their deliverance
from a man. And this was nothing new. Sadly, this was a pattern that had repeated itself
for years. Listen to the next verse in verse eight. They are doing the same thing to you
that they have done to me since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day,
abandoning me and worshiping other gods. So these people were already in a bad shape.
They should have been seeking God and living for him from the get go. And that would have
never been in this mess. If they would have been obedient to God and their leaders would
have been obedient to God, God's people would have been blessed so greatly and things would
have been so good for them. But continually, they turned their back on God. They continually
went after these false gods. They continually went after the ways of the other people in
the land. They continually sinned against God and sinned against God and sinned against
God until this point where they finally just say, we want a king. And God knew their heart
and God said, Samuel, they have rejected me as their king. Now that's a bad place to be.
That's a bad place to be for the nation of Israel. That's a bad place to be for any nation
when they reject God. Now, God certainly blessed Israel and I believe that God is gracious
to any nation who would seek him, any nation who would seek to live by his words and to
live by his commands. God would bless that nation. And any nation that refuses God and
rejects God, I believe that God will bring judgment on that nation. We see in Jeremiah,
in Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 7 through 10, God is talking to his people Israel here and
he says basically what I just said to you along those lines about him blessing our cursing
people, about him bringing destruction on the nation or about him bringing deliverance
on a nation. And Jeremiah 18 verse 7, it says, at one moment I might announce concerning
a nation of a kingdom that I will uproot, tear down and destroy it. However, if that
nation I have made an announcement about turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the
disaster I had planned to do to it. At another time, I announced that I will build and plant
a nation or a kingdom. However, if it does what is evil in my sight by not listening
to my voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it. Well, that
doesn't sound very good. What God is telling his people Israel, and I believe is still
true today, that it is God who builds nations and it is God who tears nations down. There
is no nation that has been built without God allowing it to be built. There is no nation
that has been built because of some great king or because of some great president if
God did not allow it to take place. And there is no nation that has not fallen that God
has not allowed to fall. It is God who builds up nations and it is God who tears down nations.
And those nations who reject God, whether it is Israel or whether it is the United States
or whether it is any other nation in the world, I believe that God will bring judgment on
those nations. But isn't it a beautiful thing that God says here? But if there's a nation
that I've pronounced judgment on and that nation comes to me and seeks me, then I will
relent from the disaster that I was going to bring on them. That may sound familiar
to you. We just talked about that last week in the book of Jonah. What did God say? He
said, look, Jonah, you go to Nineveh and you tell them I'm busy to destroy them. It's over.
And after a series of unfortunate events and sin, Jonah finally made his way to Nineveh
and he preached what God told him. And what did the people of Nineveh do? They received
the word of God that God was not happy with their sinfulness, that God was going to bring
judgment on their land and they repented of their sin. Praise God. And what does it say
that God did? It said that God relented from the disaster that he was going to bring on
them. What a beautiful thing that we see that God is faithful to us if we would only seek
him. But we have a problem in our country and in our world today and that is more and
more and more people are rejecting God. You take God out of everything and what hope is
there left? Any good that there is in this world, it comes from God. It don't come from
any man. It don't come from any woman. It don't come from anybody else other than God.
If there is good in the world, it is because of God. And when you remove God, you remove
the good. Isn't that a crazy thing that our world, so many people think that God is the
problem, that Christianity is the problem. And so for a long time, boy, they start working.
We're going to take God out of this. We're going to take God out of that. We're not going
to let people pray to Jesus. We're not going to let the scripture be read. We're not going
to let people pray. And they take all the God out that they can and things get horrible
and they double down. Instead of saying, we should wake up and realize that the reason
why things are getting worse is because God is not in anything. Instead of saying that,
they say, no, Christianity is still the problem. God is still the problem. We need to take
more of God out. And they continue down this path over and over and over again. And now
we are in a bad shape. We are in a bad shape as a world and we are in a bad shape as a
country because nobody, well, not nobody, many people are not seeking God and doing
everything they can to shut God up and to keep God out of everything. And our world
is suffering the consequences for that. If you continue reading in first Samuel chapter
10, listen to what he says. In first Samuel chapter 10 verse 19, this is God speaking
to the people here. But today you have rejected your God who saves you from all your troubles
and afflictions. You have rejected God who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions.
Now who was it that built Israel up into a nation? It was God. Who was it that delivered
his people out of Egypt and brought them into the promised land? It was God. Who was it
that tore down the walls of Jericho? It was God. Who was it that provides all that God's
people had needed up to this point? It was God. Who was it that defeated all of Israel's
enemies up to this point? It was God. Everything that they had was because of God. And now
they have rejected God. And what does it say? He says in the verse, you have rejected the
one who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions. So if we reject the one who saves
us from all of our troubles and afflictions, then what is left for us? Troubles and afflictions.
So God's people here were in a bad shape. And God had been good to them and God had
blessed them and God had delivered them. And they say, we don't want you God. We want to
be like the other nations. What in the world is going on around here? What in the world
is going on that these people are so crazy that they would reject God and they would
seek to be like all of the rest of the evil around them? Well, I could ask that question
of our generation. What in the world is it that we are so foolish and crazy that as a
nation that has been blessed by God, that we would throw God out of everything we have
and seek to live like the rest of the world? What is our problem? Our problem is this,
that we, like the people of Israel, have rejected God. And what was their solution? What was
their solution to their problem? They have rejected God. What are we going to do to fix
our problem? We are going to establish government because government is going to fix our problem.
Well, we do that today, don't we? Oh, we got lots of troubles. Let's let the government
take care of us. Oh, we got health problems. Let's let the government take care of us.
Oh, we got money problems. Let's let the government take care of our money. Let's let the government
decide what's good for our kids. Oh, let's do that because the government has such a
great track record of making good decisions. Not. Tell me something good the government
has done. You probably can tell me something, but I guarantee you they're a lot more bad.
But what do we do? Oh, we seek the government. We need a better mayor. We need a better governor.
We need a better president. This is going to be the one that's going to deliver us.
This is going to be one that's going to turn our country around. It is not. I don't know
who you're voting for Tuesday. I don't care who you're voting for, but I can guarantee
you this, that there ain't no man or woman who's going to change our country. What's
going to change our country is when people call out to God, is when God's people start
living like God's people should live, is when God's people who are called by God's name
will humble themselves and cry out to him. Then we will have healing in our land. When
God's people stand up for the truth of God's word, then we will see healing in our land.
When God is brought back into our society and God's word is preached to a lost and dying
generation, then God is going to bring blessings to our land. But there's no man or woman that's
going to be president that's going to be our savior. Now look, we want good leadership.
I don't think there's anything with wanting good leadership. We don't want bad leadership.
We don't want evil leadership. But what we have to know is that government is not the
solution to our problem. God is the solution to our problem. We have left God out of everything
and that is what has caused our problem. So we don't want to fall into that trap of thinking,
oh, if the right person gets in there Tuesday, everything is going to be better. Well, maybe
some things will, maybe some things won't. But we get so caught up, we get so caught
up in our side, red versus blue, my team against your team, R versus D. We're going to get
you, and L if you're a libertarian, maybe some of you in here. We get so caught up in
all this. Do we get so caught up in things that don't matter and we are so focused on
this man or this woman or these other men or women or whoever else is running that we
forget about God. But what we need to be praying for is that God would put into office who
needs to be into office. Now here's the scary thing. Here's the scary thing is I believe
that God will give people what they ask for. And the problem is, is that too many times
in our country, what people are asking for is pure evil. And if people keep asking for
evil and they vote in a politician who's going to continue to promote evil, then guess what's
going to happen? We're going to see more and more evil flourishing in our country. If we
continue to seek sin and won't sin and reject God, then eventually God will hand us over
to our sin individually and as a nation, I believe. And that's a scary thing. So in some
way, I suppose our vote does matter. I won't say that it's insignificant, but we can't
trust our vote or we can't trust our leaders above all else. We must trust God above all
else. Because what we see too much in our world today is we see leadership that is just
as evil as it can be. What we see in our world today are leaders that call evil good and
good evil. We see leaders in our world today that will speak lies and silence the truth.
We see leaders today that will start wars in the name of peace. We see later leaders
today that will call sexual immorality, love. These are the things that we see in our world
today. We see leaders today that will let criminals run free and punish the innocent.
This is what we see in our world and this is not what God calls a leader to be. Now
we as Christians should desire and we should seek and we should pray for that leader in
our country. We should pray for the leader who's going to do good for God's people, who's
going to bring God back into our country, a leader who's going to seek God and follow
God's word and follow God's instruction and follow God's will. And maybe there's some
leader like that out there, maybe not. Maybe there aren't any running. Maybe there aren't
any good people running for president. Maybe we need to be like Charles Spurgeon sometimes.
He says, when I'm faced with the choice of two evils, I choose neither. Maybe some of
you feel like that this election season. Maybe some of you have got your guy or you've got
your girl and you know who you're going to vote for and you know they're going to make
everything better. Well, hold tight. Maybe they will. Maybe they won't. But I can guarantee
you what would make things better is that if we would seek God as individuals, if we
would seek God as a country, what we need in this country is we need good leadership
in all areas of our country. We need men and women of God who are going to promote what
is good, who are going to punish that that is evil, who are going to pursue peace, who
are going to provide for the poor and the needy, who are going to protect the people
of the land. These are things that are important to God. And Lord willing, maybe we get a man
or maybe we get a woman who's going to live by those qualities that are beautiful qualities.
But that's not what we see in our world today. So we are in a mess, brothers and sisters
in Christ. We are in a mess as a country and we are in a mess as a world. And it's because
we have not been living for God. Now we can look at all the evil people in the world in
our country, but maybe some days we just need to look in the mirror. Maybe there are some
things about ourselves that need to change. Maybe we're part of the problem. Maybe if
we as brothers and sisters in Christ would start living as children of God should live,
maybe we could make a change. We can start by asking God to help make a change in our
life. We can allow God to make a change in our life so we can start maybe making a change
in the life of our spouse or the life of our children and maybe making a change in the
life of those that we work with and maybe even making a change in the life of those
that we worship with. That if God would begin to work in our life, that maybe God could
use that to begin to work in the life of others, maybe we need to start with ourselves. That's
a good place to start. Maybe instead of thinking, boy, he's going to fix the problem or she's
going to fix the problem, maybe we need to say, God, I pray that you'd reveal to me the
things in my heart that shouldn't be there. God, that if there's going to be a change
in this world, that you'd let it start with me, dear Lord. And we pray for good leaders.
We do. We want to. We want to pray for those who are in authority. But maybe we need to
start asking God to look at our own hearts. Maybe we need to start asking for God's will.
Maybe our prayer doesn't need to be, God, let this man or let this woman be president.
Maybe our prayer needs to be, God, let your will be done. Let the person that you want
to be in there be in there. Maybe God puts a good leader in there for our good. Maybe
God puts a bad leader in there because that's what we deserve. But nonetheless, we pray
that God's will be done. We pray for God's grace. We pray that God will restore this
land. But what we cannot do is trust in a man more than we trust in God. Trust in a
woman more than we trust in God. Israel committed that very sin. And God said, the problem is
that they have rejected me. Spoiler alert, if you hadn't read the rest of the Bible,
the rest of their history after this was miserable. You know why? Because they didn't have but
a handful of decent kings, a handful. They had lots of kings and queens, but they was
all as rotten as they could be. They were as evil as they could possibly be. And God
told them, if you continue reading this passage, and Samuel, you can do that this week, God
said, okay, Samuel, you tell the people this. You tell the people that they can demand a
king, and I'll give them their king, but they better know what they're asking for. And I'm
summing it up, but here's what God said. He said, if you get a king, he's going to rule
over you and be able to do anything he wants to you. That's basically what he says. He'll
be able to take your children and send them to war. Well, we see that with our leaders
today, don't we? He'll be able to take your land if he wants to. He'll be able to take
almost everything you got should he choose to take it. So if you ask for a king, you
better realize that the one you're giving this power to is going to hold a lot of power,
and you better make sure that you know what you're asking for. Now, for a leader to hold
a lot of power is not a bad thing as long as they're a good leader, but how many times
have you seen somebody that's got a lot of power end up being a good person? Power corrupts,
and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And that's what happens in our world. Even some
good men and women that start off going to do the right thing, it's amazing how fast
things change. You get a little bit of power, you get a little bit of money, and all of
a sudden things go downhill real fast. And God told his people, look, you better be aware
because this person you're asking for, they're fixing to have a lot of power over you. And
there are very, very few people in this world that are wise enough to wield that kind of
power. Very few. And that's a problem because power in the hand of a fool is like a stick
of dynamite. A dynamite can be used to blow away mountains and make roadways and do great
things, but dynamite in the wrong hands can be used to destroy everybody around it. And
that's kind of like what power is. Boy, you could use power to do a lot of good, but how
many times do we see that in our world today? Not often enough. So what we need is not to
seek some man or some woman to be our savior, because I'll tell you this today. Our savior
is not seated at the Resolute Desk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Our savior is seated
at the right hand of God, and his name is Jesus Christ. And until we seek him, and until
we call on him, and until we begin to live for him, our world is in a mess and it's going
to get in a lot worse mess. And we need to remember that. This Tuesday as we go vote,
whenever we hear who the winner is, Tuesday night or three months down the road when everybody's
arguing about it, we need to remember that we need to seek God, and we need to seek the
goodness of God, and we need to seek the will of God, and we need to seek to follow the
commands of God, and we need to trust that God is our God, and we need to trust him more
than we trust a man or more than we trust a woman. So let us be prayerful this week
as we prepare for this election. Let us pray for those who are running. Let us pray for
those who are in power. Let us pray for our country. Let us pray for peace after the election.
But most of all, let us pray for our nation that we would be a nation that would seek
God, that we would be a people that would stop rejecting God, that we would be a people
that would call on God and bring God back into our schools and into our workplaces and
into every part of our society. And then we'll see a nation that will be healed if only people
would call out and seek the Lord. That is our hope today. Our hope is in our Savior,
Jesus Christ, not in the President of the United States. Let's pray. Father God, we
come to you this morning. We thank you for being good to us. But God, I pray that you'd
forgive us as a nation, that you'd forgive us as a society, because we are rotten sometimes,
dear Lord, most of the time. And not just those evil people that we can point our fingers
at, dear Lord. The fact of the matter is sometimes it's us, it's ourselves. We're the ones that
are...we're not helping society any. We're falling into the trap. Dear Lord, sometimes
if we're honest, we want to be like the other nations. We want to live in the way of sin,
dear Lord. We see your goodness, we see your love, we see the truth of your word. And even
still sometimes we are just as rotten as these Israelites. We just reject you, God. We seek
our help and our hope in something else. Dear Lord, maybe there are some in this room today
and they're yours. And maybe they hadn't been trusting you the way they should. Maybe they
have got caught up in all this political stuff. It's easy to do, dear Lord. We see it all
the time. It's easy for us to get caught up in all this and debating and arguing with
people that we love and breaking relationships and trusting in men or women to lead us. But
God, I pray today that we put all that to the side and that today that we would start
by looking at ourself, God. That we would repent of our sins, that if we have not been
trusting you, that we kind of re-center our focus today. Not on presidents, but on Jesus.
God, I pray that you would help us to do the good things that you want. That we would pursue
good in our life and pursue righteousness, God. That we would flee from evil and repent
of it. So God, maybe there are some today and they're yours and they've just been rejecting
you, God. They just hadn't been trusting you like they should. I pray today, dear Lord,
that they would humble themselves before you and repent of their sins. God, maybe there
are some in this room and they don't know Jesus Christ. Maybe they know coming to church.
Maybe they know a little bit of your word, but maybe they've never really trusted you.
Maybe they're still trusting the things in the world. They're trusting their wealth or
they're trusting their president or they're trusting a variety of things, God, but they've
already found out and discovered that they're still just as pitiful and as hopeless as they
were when they started. So God, today I pray that you would help them to look to something
better, to someone better. That today they would look to Jesus Christ, God. That they
would repent of their sinfulness. That they wouldn't try to find hope or deliverance in
the world. That they would know that God, you are the same God who brought about good
and deliverance to your people Israel and you are the same God that brings about good
and deliverance to us today through Jesus Christ and Christ alone. So God, I pray that
if there is one that does not know Jesus today, that even now if you're working on them, that
they would call out to you, God, that they would pray. That they would repent. That they
would seek you, dear Lord. God, I pray that as we have this moment of invitation in just
a second that if anybody's made that decision to follow you today, that they would walk
up front, dear Lord, and let us rejoice with them so that they can be followed through
in baptism just as Jesus has commanded. Dear Lord, maybe there are some here this morning
that need prayer. Maybe there are some that just are going to pray where they are, dear
Lord, but I pray that if you've spoken to anybody today that they would respond. And
I pray for our nation, dear Lord. You have been so good to us. You have blessed us and
we thank you for those blessings. But dear Lord, we have sinned and sinned greatly as
a nation. Our world is just in chaos, dear Lord, but our solution comes from you, God.
And I pray, God, that we would be a people that would seek you, that you be with our
leaders both locally and nationally, that you would just convict the hearts of those
who lead, that you would help the ones that are doing good to do good and the ones that
are doing evil to repent, dear Lord, that you would pour your spirit out on this land.
God, that we would be a people that love one another and that seek to love you and to serve
you. God, I pray that you forgive us for taking you out. And dear Lord, I pray that you'd
be gracious and have mercy and through your spirit, God, you can work miracles, that your
word would be promoted in our land, in our schools, in our churches, dear Lord, that
we would not forget who you are and that we would trust you above all else. And I ask
these things in Jesus' name, Amen.