WEBVTT 00:00:07.150 --> 00:00:10.390 Deuteronomy 17, verse 14. Let's pray and then 00:00:10.390 --> 00:00:14.189 we'll get started. God, we thank you for a beautiful 00:00:14.189 --> 00:00:16.170 day. We thank you for this beautiful weather 00:00:16.170 --> 00:00:19.010 and for being good to us, for blessing us and 00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:21.750 taking care of us and giving us the freedom in 00:00:21.750 --> 00:00:24.929 this country to be able to come and to read your 00:00:24.929 --> 00:00:27.530 word tonight and sing these songs to you. I pray 00:00:27.530 --> 00:00:29.589 that your Holy Spirit would free us from the 00:00:29.589 --> 00:00:32.969 distractions and the worries of this world. I 00:00:32.969 --> 00:00:35.450 pray that you would help us to see your words 00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:38.359 tonight. You would speak to us in a way that 00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:40.240 we need to hear, that you'd meet us where we 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:42.280 are, and let us get something from your word 00:00:42.280 --> 00:00:45.439 tonight. And I just ask these things in Jesus' 00:00:45.579 --> 00:00:50.100 name. Amen. Now, in Deuteronomy, there's a lot 00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:53.020 of repeat about commands that God had given to 00:00:53.020 --> 00:00:56.219 his people. And in this particular passage that 00:00:56.219 --> 00:00:58.960 we're going to look at tonight, in the context, 00:00:59.020 --> 00:01:01.759 it's really talking about God's instructions 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:05.230 for... the kings that are ultimately going to 00:01:05.230 --> 00:01:09.069 be put over the people of Israel. It'd be years 00:01:09.069 --> 00:01:11.409 and years down the road before this would take 00:01:11.409 --> 00:01:15.530 place. But nonetheless, God was giving some instruction. 00:01:15.650 --> 00:01:18.069 Now, even though in the context this passage 00:01:18.069 --> 00:01:21.310 is talking about kings, I think that there is 00:01:21.310 --> 00:01:25.129 some application as to the reasons why God was 00:01:25.129 --> 00:01:28.310 giving these instructions for kings. And I think 00:01:28.310 --> 00:01:31.090 that the same ideas that were in mind for the 00:01:31.090 --> 00:01:35.890 kings are applicable for us today as well, even 00:01:35.890 --> 00:01:40.069 still. Verse 14, Deuteronomy 17, verse 14. When 00:01:40.069 --> 00:01:42.430 you enter the land the Lord your God is giving 00:01:42.430 --> 00:01:46.650 you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, 00:01:46.890 --> 00:01:50.409 I will set a king over me like all the nations 00:01:50.409 --> 00:01:54.950 around me. You are to appoint over you the king, 00:01:55.090 --> 00:02:08.469 the Lord your God. Now, God knew even this far 00:02:08.469 --> 00:02:11.889 in advance, hundreds of years before they would 00:02:11.889 --> 00:02:14.750 set these kings over them, God knew that this 00:02:14.750 --> 00:02:18.870 would take place. Now, when this does take place, 00:02:18.909 --> 00:02:21.169 we see it in 1 Samuel, I believe, chapter 9. 00:02:21.770 --> 00:02:23.689 Maybe chapter 8 is when it started. I'm not sure. 00:02:24.210 --> 00:02:28.229 When God's people begin to request a king, they 00:02:28.229 --> 00:02:31.490 want a king. And they want a king for just the 00:02:31.490 --> 00:02:34.469 reason that God says here all this time before. 00:02:34.789 --> 00:02:37.349 That they want to be like the other nations. 00:02:37.750 --> 00:02:40.610 And now when Samuel heard this request, he was 00:02:40.610 --> 00:02:43.490 not happy about this. And God said to Samuel, 00:02:43.610 --> 00:02:47.750 he said, look, they have rejected me. That's 00:02:47.750 --> 00:02:50.330 the problem here is that the people have rejected 00:02:50.330 --> 00:02:53.689 me. Now the problem with this request, that they 00:02:53.689 --> 00:02:56.849 wanted to be like the other nations, is that 00:02:56.849 --> 00:02:59.710 God's people were set apart to be unlike the 00:02:59.710 --> 00:03:02.250 other nations. They were to be a nation that 00:03:02.250 --> 00:03:06.620 were to be led by God. It is God who brought 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:09.879 them out of slavery. It is God who had brought 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:11.960 them through the wilderness. It is God who had 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:14.639 provided them food to eat and water to drink. 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:17.080 It is God who had fought their battles against 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.500 their enemies, even when they were far outnumbered 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:23.080 by stronger enemies. It was God who was their 00:03:23.080 --> 00:03:27.699 leader. But instead of following God, Eventually 00:03:27.699 --> 00:03:29.719 they were going to do just what God was saying 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:31.759 here in Deuteronomy. They were going to say, 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:33.539 we want to be like all the other nations. We 00:03:33.539 --> 00:03:35.759 want a man to lead us, and that's a problem. 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:40.439 When God is our leader and we seek men to lead 00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:43.000 us, we are in trouble because God will never 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.689 lead us astray, but human leaders will. Nonetheless, 00:03:47.909 --> 00:03:50.490 they were ultimately going to make this request 00:03:50.490 --> 00:03:53.750 just as God had said in these verses, and they 00:03:53.750 --> 00:03:56.789 were going to request a king, and that was going 00:03:56.789 --> 00:04:01.349 to be the beginning of a bad stretch for God's 00:04:01.349 --> 00:04:04.770 people because there were very few good kings 00:04:04.770 --> 00:04:07.669 that they had. Now, ultimately, the kingdom split 00:04:07.669 --> 00:04:10.210 into two different groups. There were the ten 00:04:10.210 --> 00:04:12.810 northern tribes that retained the name of Israel, 00:04:12.849 --> 00:04:17.899 and those ten tribes, never had one single good 00:04:17.899 --> 00:04:20.420 king in all of Scripture. All the kings they 00:04:20.420 --> 00:04:24.360 had, not one single king was a good king. And 00:04:24.360 --> 00:04:27.279 Judah, the southern two tribes, they had a handful 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:30.779 of good kings, but not many. And so God knew 00:04:30.779 --> 00:04:34.040 that this wasn't going to be good for them, but 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:35.939 nonetheless, he knew the hearts of the people, 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:39.079 and he knew that they had rejected him. Now, 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:42.019 praise the Lord, he ultimately sent a better 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:46.870 king in Jesus Christ. But here he's telling what 00:04:46.870 --> 00:04:50.129 is going to take place. And to try to keep them 00:04:50.129 --> 00:04:52.649 in check, and to try to keep them in line, he 00:04:52.649 --> 00:04:56.470 says, when you do appoint a king, it's going 00:04:56.470 --> 00:05:00.290 to have to be the one that I choose, and the 00:05:00.290 --> 00:05:02.550 king that's appointed are going to have to, there's 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:05.089 a few things that they need to do, that they 00:05:05.089 --> 00:05:07.529 need to be aware of so that they can be a good 00:05:07.529 --> 00:05:10.170 king. And he tells us that in these next few 00:05:10.170 --> 00:05:15.439 verses. He says in verse 16, However, he must 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:18.759 not acquire many horses for himself or send the 00:05:18.759 --> 00:05:21.339 people back to Egypt to acquire many horses. 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:25.579 For the Lord has told you, you are never to go 00:05:25.579 --> 00:05:30.120 back that way again. Now, of course, in Egypt 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:32.779 it was slavery. And perhaps this language here, 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:35.699 there's some symbolism here. That God doesn't 00:05:35.699 --> 00:05:37.939 want them to go back into a way of slavery. That 00:05:37.939 --> 00:05:40.699 God wants them to be dependent on him. And then 00:05:40.699 --> 00:05:43.560 he makes a very specific command here for whoever 00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:46.180 the king is going to be. That they are not to 00:05:46.180 --> 00:05:49.459 acquire for themselves many horses. Now, why 00:05:49.459 --> 00:05:53.300 is that? Well, one reason that that may be true 00:05:53.300 --> 00:05:56.740 is that horses would have been... probably the 00:05:56.740 --> 00:05:58.579 greatest strength you could have had in battle. 00:05:58.819 --> 00:06:01.620 Now, these days, we have tanks and we have helicopters, 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:04.879 and if you go to war, you want the best weaponry 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.540 you can have. And in those days, it would have 00:06:07.540 --> 00:06:09.339 been a horse and it would have been a chariot. 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:13.879 And so perhaps what God is meaning here when 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:16.779 he says don't have a lot of horses is don't have 00:06:16.779 --> 00:06:18.899 anything to do with whether or not the king likes 00:06:18.899 --> 00:06:21.639 horses. It's got more to do with the fact that 00:06:21.639 --> 00:06:25.459 if you get a king that builds up a strong military, 00:06:25.699 --> 00:06:28.920 then they will be less likely to be dependent 00:06:28.920 --> 00:06:32.829 on the Lord. Now up until this point, as God 00:06:32.829 --> 00:06:35.410 has brought them out of slavery, it wasn't by 00:06:35.410 --> 00:06:37.509 the strength of God's people that they were brought 00:06:37.509 --> 00:06:40.569 out of slavery. It was by the power of God. When 00:06:40.569 --> 00:06:44.930 they came to the wall of Jericho and it come 00:06:44.930 --> 00:06:48.100 tumbling down, It wasn't because of their strength. 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:51.240 It was because of the strength of the Lord. And 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:54.319 so throughout their whole journey, it had been 00:06:54.319 --> 00:06:57.019 God who had fought their battles. It had been 00:06:57.019 --> 00:06:59.480 God who had handed the enemies over to them. 00:06:59.500 --> 00:07:03.420 And they had to depend on God because they didn't 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:05.980 have anything of themselves that was of much 00:07:05.980 --> 00:07:09.100 strength. And I believe what God is saying here 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:12.560 is, don't get a lot of horses because you'll 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.680 begin to depend on your own strength. And trust 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:18.600 in yourselves and your own abilities to defeat 00:07:18.600 --> 00:07:21.100 the enemies. And when that is the case, you're 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:23.600 going to be in trouble. Because apart from God, 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:26.699 we cannot defeat our enemies. Now, we're not 00:07:26.699 --> 00:07:29.800 kings today in the same way that God is talking 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:32.360 about these kings here. But this is good advice 00:07:32.360 --> 00:07:35.600 to us. Are there things in our life that we become 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:38.420 dependent on, that we try to make our strengths, 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.779 that we begin to trust in those things more than 00:07:41.779 --> 00:07:45.189 we trust in God? And if we do, we need to realize 00:07:45.189 --> 00:07:47.829 that our help comes from the Lord, the maker 00:07:47.829 --> 00:07:51.189 of heaven and earth. And so we never are going 00:07:51.189 --> 00:07:53.529 to be strong enough on our own. We're never going 00:07:53.529 --> 00:07:55.230 to have enough physical strength. We're never 00:07:55.230 --> 00:07:57.069 going to have enough mental strength. We're never 00:07:57.069 --> 00:07:59.069 going to have enough money to take care of everything. 00:07:59.430 --> 00:08:02.290 We are going to have to be dependent on God. 00:08:02.410 --> 00:08:05.160 So don't trust. and the things that you can get 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:07.699 yourself. Don't let your strength be what you 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:10.300 can obtain. And I think that maybe that that's 00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:12.220 what God is saying here with these commands to 00:08:12.220 --> 00:08:15.180 the kings. Hey, when you become king, don't forget, 00:08:15.379 --> 00:08:17.699 I, God, am still the one who's going to be ruling. 00:08:17.879 --> 00:08:19.819 I think that's what he's telling them. So don't 00:08:19.819 --> 00:08:21.800 trust in your armies. Get an army, get horses, 00:08:22.060 --> 00:08:24.339 but you don't need to get a bunch of them. Now, 00:08:24.339 --> 00:08:27.180 when we read through this list of things, I couldn't 00:08:27.180 --> 00:08:30.120 help but think about King Solomon. Now, he wasn't 00:08:30.120 --> 00:08:35.049 the first king of... But when you read through 00:08:35.049 --> 00:08:38.649 his story, it seems as though he did all of these 00:08:38.649 --> 00:08:41.450 things that God said do not do. Now, he had a 00:08:41.450 --> 00:08:43.590 pile of horses. I don't know how many horses 00:08:43.590 --> 00:08:47.049 because... The translations differ. The manuscripts 00:08:47.049 --> 00:08:50.509 differ. The books of the Bible differ. One book 00:08:50.509 --> 00:08:52.289 says one number, one the other. So there's a 00:08:52.289 --> 00:08:54.149 little discrepancy there. It's probably some 00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:56.750 copyist error through the years when it was translated. 00:08:57.049 --> 00:08:59.809 But the numbers don't agree. But he had a lot 00:08:59.809 --> 00:09:03.269 of horses. Some say as many as 40 ,000. Some 00:09:03.269 --> 00:09:07.950 say 12 ,000. Some say 4 ,000. Whatever the number 00:09:07.950 --> 00:09:11.840 is, he had a lot of horses. which goes against 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:15.360 this command that God gives here. And we'll see 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:17.639 with the rest of these examples that Solomon 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:21.720 also fails to follow them as well. Let's continue 00:09:21.720 --> 00:09:29.320 on. Verse 17. He must not acquire many wives 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.259 for himself so that his heart won't go astray. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:40.450 He must not... Okay, first part of verse 17. 00:09:41.610 --> 00:09:45.809 Who did that? Probably the greatest example that 00:09:45.809 --> 00:09:48.669 comes to our mind is Solomon. He had a lot of 00:09:48.669 --> 00:09:52.649 wives. And why did God say in this verse, don't 00:09:52.649 --> 00:09:56.649 let my king that's going to leave my people should 00:09:56.649 --> 00:09:59.169 not have a lot of wives. Now why? Because they 00:09:59.169 --> 00:10:02.070 will turn you astray. And if you go and you read 00:10:02.070 --> 00:10:05.100 about King Solomon, What happened? His wives 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:08.399 worshiped false gods, and Solomon began to give 00:10:08.399 --> 00:10:10.259 in to some of their practices and some of their 00:10:10.259 --> 00:10:14.080 ways, the very thing that God said do not do. 00:10:14.539 --> 00:10:17.139 Then he goes on in the next part of the verse. 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:22.059 He says he must not acquire very large amounts 00:10:22.059 --> 00:10:24.919 of silver and gold for himself. Why is that? 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:29.779 Similarly with the horses, when we become wealthy, 00:10:29.879 --> 00:10:32.460 all of a sudden our need for God begins to kind 00:10:32.460 --> 00:10:34.860 of diminish a little bit. Boy, when things are 00:10:34.860 --> 00:10:37.519 tough and things are hard and we know we are 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:39.539 hopeless and helpless, we really seek God and 00:10:39.539 --> 00:10:41.720 we trust Him and we grow in Him and we call out 00:10:41.720 --> 00:10:44.600 to Him. But all of a sudden, whenever we get 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:46.659 pretty strong and are able to start doing a few 00:10:46.659 --> 00:10:49.039 things and we get a little bit of money, all 00:10:49.039 --> 00:10:50.860 of a sudden when things aren't hard anymore, 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.440 we tend to forget about God. And God did not 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:57.980 want his king, the leader of his people, to forget 00:10:57.980 --> 00:11:01.500 that it was God who was the source of their strength 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:04.639 and the source of their deliverance. And he said, 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:07.940 look, you as a leader have to be careful that 00:11:07.940 --> 00:11:10.139 you are dependent on me to fight your battles, 00:11:10.259 --> 00:11:13.200 that you are not led astray to other gods, and 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.899 that you are not depending on your own wealth 00:11:15.899 --> 00:11:19.059 to sustain you. And these are all good instructions 00:11:19.059 --> 00:11:22.419 for us, even if we are not kings. We don't trust 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:24.980 in our own abilities. We want to be careful of 00:11:24.980 --> 00:11:27.279 the people that we are around, that we are not 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:30.100 led astray, that we don't turn from the ways 00:11:30.100 --> 00:11:32.759 of God and turn to other ways. We don't want 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:35.659 to trust in our wealth because our health and 00:11:35.659 --> 00:11:38.139 our wealth and our strength, all of these things 00:11:38.139 --> 00:11:41.700 can be gone in an instant. God knows that. All 00:11:41.700 --> 00:11:43.759 of these things can be gone for the king. They 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.120 can all be gone for us, but God will not be gone. 00:11:46.779 --> 00:11:49.360 So if we are dependent on God, then these things 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:53.580 won't matter. And if we are not obsessed with 00:11:53.580 --> 00:11:56.500 these things, then we will continue to be dependent 00:11:56.500 --> 00:12:00.080 on God. Let's continue on a little further in 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:04.159 verse 18. When he is seated on his royal throne, 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:07.019 he is to write a copy of this instruction for 00:12:07.019 --> 00:12:10.700 himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical 00:12:10.700 --> 00:12:13.980 priest. It is to remain with him, and he is to 00:12:13.980 --> 00:12:17.779 read from it all the days of his life. so that 00:12:17.779 --> 00:12:21.139 he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe 00:12:21.139 --> 00:12:25.639 all the words of this instruction, and do these 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:30.299 statutes. Then his heart will not be exalted 00:12:30.299 --> 00:12:33.460 above his countrymen, he will not turn from this 00:12:33.460 --> 00:12:36.419 command to the right or to the left, and he and 00:12:36.419 --> 00:12:40.500 his sons will continue ruling many years over 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:43.279 Israel. Okay, so what's the first thing we see 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:45.460 here? When he's seated on the throne, he is to 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:48.039 write a copy of this instruction and it is to 00:12:48.039 --> 00:12:50.279 remain with him. He is to read from it all the 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:53.080 days of his life. So God said, here's the deal. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:55.620 I'm giving you these instructions for the king 00:12:55.620 --> 00:12:58.559 of things that you are not supposed to do. It's 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.120 a short, simple list. You need to know them, 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.299 you need to write them down, and you need to 00:13:03.299 --> 00:13:06.399 read them repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.250 Now that too is good instruction for us. Because 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:12.750 God gives us his word. It's a lot of words. It's 00:13:12.750 --> 00:13:15.049 a lot of scripture in there. And we can read 00:13:15.049 --> 00:13:16.850 through God's scripture once. You know, y 'all 00:13:16.850 --> 00:13:20.570 may not do this, but sometimes I forget what 00:13:20.570 --> 00:13:22.970 the scripture says because it might be a passage 00:13:22.970 --> 00:13:25.389 I haven't read in a long time and I just forget 00:13:25.389 --> 00:13:27.070 about that verse. And I'll be reading and I'll 00:13:27.070 --> 00:13:28.470 be like, oh, that was such a good verse. How 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:31.360 could I forget that verse? But I think for most 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:33.360 of us it's probably human nature. We don't have 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:36.120 a perfect memory. We'll read a verse and we'll 00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:38.059 like it and we'll know it. And then a few years 00:13:38.059 --> 00:13:39.919 may go by and we don't read that book or that 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:42.240 verse. And then all of a sudden we read it again 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:44.679 and it's like, man, that is a good verse. I needed 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:47.100 to be reminded of that for encouragement or correction 00:13:47.100 --> 00:13:50.200 or whatever. And so it's important for us that 00:13:50.200 --> 00:13:52.279 we don't just say, well, I've read through the 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:54.399 Bible. I can shut it. I'm done. I've read it. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.179 Well, we have read it. But praise the Lord, it's 00:13:57.179 --> 00:13:59.779 the living word of God. So we continue to come 00:13:59.779 --> 00:14:02.379 back to it and to continue to read it. And we 00:14:02.379 --> 00:14:04.840 need to because sometimes we forget. Because 00:14:04.840 --> 00:14:07.120 sometimes we do these very things that it tells 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.639 us not to. And when we go back and we read the 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:12.940 word again, it reminds us. We constantly have 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:15.940 to be reminded, I believe, of the word of God. 00:14:16.100 --> 00:14:18.620 So what does he tell the kings? You need to take 00:14:18.620 --> 00:14:20.360 these words. You need to write them down. You 00:14:20.360 --> 00:14:21.960 need to keep them with you. You need to read 00:14:21.960 --> 00:14:24.690 them all the time. Your whole life you need to 00:14:24.690 --> 00:14:27.250 read the word of God. And that too, even though 00:14:27.250 --> 00:14:30.809 we are not kings, is good instruction for you 00:14:30.809 --> 00:14:34.409 and I. And what does God say is to be the result? 00:14:34.590 --> 00:14:37.690 If the king follows these instructions, if he 00:14:37.690 --> 00:14:41.190 remembers them, then his heart will not be exalted 00:14:41.190 --> 00:14:44.110 above his countrymen. He will not turn from this 00:14:44.110 --> 00:14:47.230 command to the right or to the left. Okay, so 00:14:47.230 --> 00:14:50.090 the king won't think too highly of himself. That's 00:14:50.090 --> 00:14:52.970 the worst thing you want in a leader is somebody 00:14:52.970 --> 00:14:55.549 that thinks it's all about them and thinks too 00:14:55.549 --> 00:14:58.110 highly of themselves and thinks they are better 00:14:58.110 --> 00:15:00.929 than the people who they are ruling over. A good 00:15:00.929 --> 00:15:03.149 leader will serve the people that they are ruling 00:15:03.149 --> 00:15:06.710 over. Perfect example of that, Jesus Christ. 00:15:07.149 --> 00:15:09.509 What did he do? He washed the disciples' feet. 00:15:09.750 --> 00:15:12.549 He was the son of God, but he became a servant 00:15:12.549 --> 00:15:16.200 of all to give his life on the cross. For all. 00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:19.679 And Jesus is the example of good leadership. 00:15:19.779 --> 00:15:23.200 A bad leader is one who says, I am the leader. 00:15:23.299 --> 00:15:26.019 I have all the power. I have all the wealth. 00:15:26.179 --> 00:15:28.899 I am better than these little peons that I rule 00:15:28.899 --> 00:15:31.559 over. That's a bad leader. And God says, don't 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:33.740 be that kind of leader. Don't have that attitude. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:36.259 Don't have that heart. Don't exalt yourself and 00:15:36.259 --> 00:15:39.720 think too highly of yourself over your countrymen. 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:43.080 And if you follow these commands, you won't do 00:15:43.080 --> 00:15:46.000 that. If you follow these commands, you won't 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.200 turn to the right or to the left. You'll be on 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:50.320 your guard. You'll trust me for your defense. 00:15:50.620 --> 00:15:53.080 You'll trust me to provide for your will. You 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:55.399 won't be led astray to other things. If you'll 00:15:55.399 --> 00:15:58.840 follow these commands, you'll do well. And you 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:01.259 know what's crazy about Solomon? When we read 00:16:01.259 --> 00:16:03.139 through the scripture, apart from Jesus Christ, 00:16:03.440 --> 00:16:06.940 Solomon probably is the wisest person to have 00:16:06.940 --> 00:16:10.100 ever walked the face of this earth. And he failed 00:16:10.100 --> 00:16:12.919 at every one of these. He had a pile of horses. 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.759 He had a pile of wives. He had a pile of money. 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:19.740 He failed at all of these things. He turned astray 00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:23.259 to other gods. He was disobedient to what God 00:16:23.259 --> 00:16:26.480 says. He failed at these things. And he was the 00:16:26.480 --> 00:16:28.879 wisest man, apart from Jesus, to ever walk the 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:31.980 earth. And if he is that wise, you and I ain't 00:16:31.980 --> 00:16:34.320 got no hope. Because we ain't nearly about as 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.600 wise as Solomon. Now some of you may be saying, 00:16:36.659 --> 00:16:40.129 speak for yourself. I'm going to speak for all 00:16:40.129 --> 00:16:42.669 of us. We're not as wise as Solomon, and even 00:16:42.669 --> 00:16:46.070 Solomon failed, and we failed too. But that is 00:16:46.070 --> 00:16:49.570 why we have to come back to passages like these 00:16:49.570 --> 00:16:52.450 and all of Scripture all the time to be reminded 00:16:52.450 --> 00:16:56.009 repeatedly because we forget and we fail and 00:16:56.009 --> 00:16:59.409 we sin. And even though there was a king in Solomon 00:16:59.409 --> 00:17:02.450 who sinned, there's a king in Jesus who did not. 00:17:03.230 --> 00:17:05.430 And so even though all the other kings failed, 00:17:05.529 --> 00:17:07.509 God said, I'm going to send a king who is not 00:17:07.509 --> 00:17:10.250 going to fail. And that is the king that we must 00:17:10.250 --> 00:17:13.390 seek. And that is King Jesus. So God says, follow 00:17:13.390 --> 00:17:15.690 these commands. You'll be all right. This instruction 00:17:15.690 --> 00:17:18.210 is good for us too. We're not kings, but we want 00:17:18.210 --> 00:17:20.410 to serve the king. If we follow these instructions, 00:17:20.710 --> 00:17:22.930 we'll be all right. When we don't follow them, 00:17:22.970 --> 00:17:25.450 because there are times that we don't, we get 00:17:25.450 --> 00:17:27.380 ourselves into trouble. That's what happened 00:17:27.380 --> 00:17:29.799 to Solomon. That's what happened to us as well. 00:17:29.960 --> 00:17:32.079 But if we stick to them, we'll be a lot better 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:34.200 off. We won't turn to the right or to the left. 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:37.059 The last part of the verse, and he and his sons 00:17:37.059 --> 00:17:40.220 will continue ruling many years over Israel. 00:17:40.900 --> 00:17:42.819 This is good instruction. You need to learn to 00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:45.180 live this way. You need to teach it to your sons. 00:17:45.339 --> 00:17:47.700 And if you do good, God is going to continue 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:51.099 to bless you. Sadly for his people in these scriptures, 00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:53.920 they didn't do good. The kings that ruled, they 00:17:53.920 --> 00:17:55.900 wasn't worth nothing, most of them. And their 00:17:55.900 --> 00:17:58.500 kids wasn't worth nothing. And they did not bring 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:01.000 them upright because they did not bring them 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:03.819 up on the word of God and teach them the word 00:18:03.819 --> 00:18:06.299 of God because they themselves weren't living 00:18:06.299 --> 00:18:10.539 by the word of God. So what about us today? Are 00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:12.779 we those who are living by the word of God? Are 00:18:12.779 --> 00:18:16.019 we raising our children and grandchildren in 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:19.180 the word of God? If we do that, there's blessing. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:20.799 If we don't do that, we're going to get ourselves 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:24.009 in trouble. But praise the Lord that God has 00:18:24.009 --> 00:18:26.549 provided a way for us to receive forgiveness. 00:18:27.049 --> 00:18:29.390 If we would simply repent and put our faith and 00:18:29.390 --> 00:18:33.039 trust in Jesus Christ. If we would seek to live 00:18:33.039 --> 00:18:35.480 by His Word, and maybe tonight's a good night 00:18:35.480 --> 00:18:38.140 for us to kind of refocus ourselves. We have 00:18:38.140 --> 00:18:41.279 to do that sometimes. It's like a pair of binoculars. 00:18:41.400 --> 00:18:42.880 You pick them up, you haven't worn them in a 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:45.180 while. You've got to get a little focused. They 00:18:45.180 --> 00:18:47.119 get a little blurry. And sometimes it's that 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:48.900 way for us in Scripture. Things get a little 00:18:48.900 --> 00:18:51.019 out of focus, and we've got to continually go 00:18:51.019 --> 00:18:53.119 back and continually seek God and continually 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:56.559 remember the Word of God so we can reshift our 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.319 focus, get back on the right track, and make 00:18:59.319 --> 00:19:01.799 sure that we are dependent on God. God and Jesus 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:05.119 Christ and not on ourselves. Let's pray. God, 00:19:05.220 --> 00:19:07.500 we thank you for these words. These are good 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:09.700 words for us, and I pray that we would live by 00:19:09.700 --> 00:19:12.720 them, dear Lord. Your word sometimes is difficult. 00:19:12.740 --> 00:19:14.880 It's hard for us to follow, but it is pretty 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.200 clear. So I pray, dear Lord, that we would strive 00:19:18.200 --> 00:19:21.079 to do as good as we can, but even that we know, 00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:23.839 God, that there will be times more than we want 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:27.180 to admit we fail, just like Solomon and so many 00:19:27.180 --> 00:19:29.390 others. But dear Lord, I pray that you would 00:19:29.390 --> 00:19:31.690 help us to do the best we can and to seek you 00:19:31.690 --> 00:19:34.269 and to grow in you. And God, I pray that you 00:19:34.269 --> 00:19:36.170 just forgive us when we fail, that you give us 00:19:36.170 --> 00:19:38.630 mercy and grace. We don't deserve it, dear Lord, 00:19:38.730 --> 00:19:40.849 but we thank you for Jesus Christ. And I pray 00:19:40.849 --> 00:19:44.049 that you would help us to seek to live for him 00:19:44.049 --> 00:19:47.109 and to live by these commands and to trust you 00:19:47.109 --> 00:19:49.490 above all else, dear Lord. It is so tempting 00:19:49.490 --> 00:19:52.650 in this world to trust in our own strength and 00:19:52.650 --> 00:19:55.849 our own wealth and our own abilities. And I pray, 00:19:55.890 --> 00:19:58.430 dear Lord, that you forgive me for that and help 00:19:58.430 --> 00:20:02.970 each one of us to trust you for everything because 00:20:02.970 --> 00:20:05.430 we are nothing without you. And I ask these things 00:20:05.430 --> 00:20:07.289 in Jesus' name. Amen.