FBCWest 726 | God Rejected as King
Recorded On: 08/23/2026
Bulletin
Hymn # 53 “I Will Sing the Wonderous Story”
SCRIPTURE READING – Psalm 92:1 - 5
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“In the House”
“Jesus Saves”
“What an Awesome God”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“God Rejected as King”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“God Really Loves Us”
Sermon Notes
1 Samuel 8:1 – 3 Samuel’s sons are dishonest judges
1 Samuel 8:4 & 5 Israel wants a king. Their reasoning is Samuel is old, his sons are dishonest and other nations have a king
1 Samuel 8:6 Samuel did not like it and prays to the Lord
1 Samule 8:7 The Lord tells Samuel that they are rejecting Him not Samuel. He also tells him to listen to the people
1 Samuel 8:8 & 9 God tells Samuel what to say and what the procedure will be for a king
1 Samuel 8:10 –18 Samuel tells them what a king will cost them
1 Samuel 8:19 & 20 Israel still wants a king like other nations and that the king will “fight for them”
1 Saamuel 8:21 & 22 Samuel repeats to God what the people said and God tells him to listen to the people
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
God has told us several times in his word in the Bible, once in the Torah, and twice in the New Testament, one in Peter, and one in Revelation, once of his people. He wants his people to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood. And yet, that doesn't seem to be what we want to do. It seems that we would rather live our own lives the way we want to live them, and we're going to see in this passage that instead of continuing God to be their king, their reject God, not because he failed them, because it wasn't life the rest of them. When we take a look at grace, we evangelicals, we love to talk about and ought to talk about grace. And usually that grace is limited to and he saved me, he redeemed me, he loved me, forgave me, and all of these things. But as I consider Christians, as I consider people of God have done in the Bible, and when I consider my own life, there is a grace that we don't talk about much that is to me even more unfathomable.
Certainly he loves me, certainly he forgave me, certainly I'm his child. But there is a promise he's given us that we will be like him, not like God, but like him in the image of God. That original image we were so, and when I consider the people of God, including me, point what about grace? Because we don't deserve it, especially by the way we have conducted ourselves, and yet with all of the other grace that we don't see, we'll grasp on to, he will make us like him.
What amazing grace. And so if you have your Bibles and you should, please turn to 1 Samuel chapter 8. We're going to see how God's people don't want to do what God's purpose and intention of his people to be, but to be like everybody else. God is told, He said in the scriptures, that we are to be a holy nation, that we are to be a royal free foot. That Jesus even said that we are not to be of this world.
And yet if you see Christians today, it seems that they are just a satisfied being like everybody else, to think like the world, to act like the world, to excuse the world, to have the same priorities as the world. Unfortunately, we're not new at this. And so in this, and it came about when Samuel was old, that he appointed his son's judge just over Israel. Now, there's a big problem with this, but I'm going to talk about the first problem that isn't mentioned, that doesn't seem like a problem. It is not and was not Samuel's judge, judges. No one other than God appointed Samson a judge. Gideon wasn't a judge because his father was a judge, and his children didn't become judges.
It was God's job to appoint judges without necessary, and to whom he felt necessary. But Samuel decided that he was going to make his children judges, not his job. But there's additional problems with that. Now, the name of the first and the name of the second was Ebeja, and they were judging in Bershiba. And his son, however, did not walk in the ways, but turned aside after dissonous gain, and took bribes and perverted justice. They were not good judges. Now, my initial reaction to us is to somehow blame Samuel.
Samuel must out of been a good father. Kind of similar to Eli. Eli had some kids, and they were terrible kids. But the problem is that Samuel may have been a great father, or may have been a terrible father. Necessarily judge your parental abilities based on the results of your kids. But he did make a second mistake. Not only did he appoint them, but he should have said, you're not worthy to act.
So even if I did appoint you, you're fired. Because they did not act according to God's purposes. They have acted according to their own selfless interests.
Like Eli's children who ate of the offerings and took the best parts of the church, bribes and dissonous gain. And that's all they were interested. Not in the people, but in their own financial benefit. And so Samuel, whether he was a good father or a bad father, at this point is a terrible judge, because he should have fired them.
But then, because he made that mistake, a second mistake, gives the people an opportunity to have excuses. Then all the others of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Rumaugh. And they said to him, behold, you have grown old. Other time is undefeated. We all grow old, and we're all going to die. Throughout biblical history, there's only two people who have not died. And they're not with us. Eli walked with God and is no more.
It was taken up in a cherry to fire. Everybody else died. And so they're saying, you're growing old. Maybe you're incapacitated. Maybe you're not all with it. Or maybe you don't have enough energy to do what you need to do. But the second thing, so they're we're thinking about the future. But the second problem is, and your sons are not walking your ways.
They're saying, you have set a course, your successors are reprobates. They don't walk in the ways of the God. You're old. And we can't have these guys. So now I'll point a king for us to judge us like all the other nations. Now notice they have some legitimate concerns. Concern number one, Samuel's old.
Concern number two, when he leaves the scene, his kids are terrible. But again, it was not judge. Samuel's job to appoint a judge. And it was not Samuel's judgment to do anything else. It was God who was to appoint the next judge when it was necessary.
But their other reason is like all the nations. All the other nations have kings. All the other nations have absolute rulers, dictators.
We want to be like, and that seems to be the way God's people. Instead of us being different, as Peter says, a peculiar, a different people, we want to be like the world. So they said, our nation has been ruled by God. But now we want to notice they didn't say God failed us.
They didn't say that God somehow didn't lead them to victories when God was on their side. They said, we need a king. But the thing was just pleasing in the sight of Samuel. That give us a king to judge us and Samuel prayed to the Lord. Now notice, Samuel does the appropriate thing. Most of us would have been fighting them and say, no, no, you're not supposed to have a king and whatever. He takes it or in prayer.
Don't worry about it. Anything. Don't be anxious for anything.
But by prayer and supplication, make your request known to God. So Samuel does. In Samuel's prayer, different answer than he suspects.
The Lord said to Samuel, listen to the voice of the people regard to all that they say to you. I'm sure Samuel was, I'm sure he was expecting God to be angry and to do something to continue Samuel and get rid of this king thing. But God says, no, listen to him. For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected from me from being king over them.
Yeah. Oftentimes we do get, when things happen, we try to witness, we try to be, quote, unquote, a good Christian and things don't turn out and we take it personal. Jesus has told us ahead of time. If they treated me this way, they're not better because I'm master and you're a servant. But we do. Well, people reject us because of whatever. Know they're rejecting God.
But we take it personal and therefore when we take it personal, we don't act appropriately. So he goes, how are you? They're rejecting me as king. They're rejecting me as their ruler. For all of each, which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt, even in that they have forsaken me and served other gods. So they are doing to you also.
Don't be surprised if they keep rejecting me and serving other gods and doing other things. And this isn't in the last six months. This has been since I've taken the decision.
So if they're treating me this way, then they're going to treat you this way, just like if they treated Jesus one way. Don't expect the world to treat us better. So this rejection is against me and anybody who wants to follow me.
So now then listen to their voice. However, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them. So he's going to say, I want them to be fully informed when they give this consent to a king what it's going to be about.
So listen, but tell them what it is going to cost them because everybody has a price. And so it's going to cost them something to be have this king to go. So this is the procedure and this is what's going to happen. So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord, ask him the king. He said this, this will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you.
He will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen run before his chariots. So he's saying the king is going to make you servants. You're supposed to be servants of God. The king is going to instead of making you servants of God, he's going to make you servants of him. And he's going to set up his army chariots and you're going to go before him and you're not even going to get the ride in the chariots.
You have to run before them. So it's not going to be easy. And he will point for himself commanders of thousands in the 50s and some to do his following and to reap his harvest and sons of war and equipment for his chariots. So they're saying this not only are going to have to serve in his military, you're going to have to work for him. In essence, you're going to have to pay taxes.
You're going to be taxes both labor and in your money before you just work for yourself and made offerings for God. Now you're going to have to work for yourself, paid for the king, and then make offerings to God. Anyone also take your daughters for performers and bakers, this is not going to be just a male problem.
Everyone is going to have to serve the king. Men and women alike, your sons and your daughters, your daughters may not have to fight in battles, but they're going to have to serve him and make him his life better. And he will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive grows and give them to his surface. So he's going to seize your property and give it to the people he wants who will then give it to him. Kind of sounds like today's news.
Anyway, he's saying, this is what it's going to cost you to have a government. And he will take a tenth of your seed and your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. Even your future product, he's going to take. So you're going to have less of a future because he's taking the future by seeds and whatever for himself.
He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best and your donkeys and use them for his work. This sounds wonderful, doesn't it? You've got to do all this stuff for this guy. He will take a tenth of your flocks and you yourself will become hit. So he's going, not only are you going to have to give him all your stuff, you're going to have to you serve him. So your sons and your daughters are going to serve him, but you yourself are going to serve this new king. Then you will cry out in that day, be, whom you have chosen for yourself, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.
He's going, you're going to regret asking for a king and you're going to write to God and complain that you have this king and God's going to say, not listen. Kind of like you live in a country that allows us to elect our officials and then as soon as we elect them we complain about them. That's just what people do. It's always somebody else who's fault, but he's warning them, this is what is going to cost you. It's not going to cost you financially and it's going to cost you because God is not going to listen to your complaints about what you asked for. He really wants this. Nevertheless, the people refuse to listen to the voice of Samuel, which was God's voice saying, this is what's going to cost you. But we shall be a king over us.
There shall be a king over us. We don't care what the cost is. We want a king that we also may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us and fight our battles. Now, I want you to notice again, they repeat, they want to be like everybody else. We're supposed to be different. But God's people want to be like everybody else. And the sad thing is, if you look at the lives of everybody else, it's not so great. Oh, it may look, I don't go on Facebook or whatever, but I'm told that people tell you great lives about how wonderful their life is and you kind of get jealous because they have such wonderful lives and their meal looks wonderful and whatever going, I don't understand why you send pictures of your food.
I don't care. But people want to say how wonderful my life is. And they're saying apparently all the other countries have a wonderful thing. Well, let me remind you about kings. Now, I'm going to do that. God warned them. But all they have to do is go back to Egypt. Pharaoh not only was king, he thought he was God.
He didn't just end with Pharaoh. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was God. Alexander the Great thought he was God. The Roman Caesar's thought they were God.
All of a sudden you elevate this person and you serve this first person decides instead of worshipping the true God, the true king, you should worship me. And as a matter of fact, in the Roman times, we Christians were thought of as being atheist because we didn't worship seeing as God. We denied him as God. Therefore we were atheist. And so God said they're taking your stuff.
They're taking your time. They're taking your future. And they are going to do these things. As I said, no, we want to be like all the other nations. King made judges. He just said it's about him. It's not about you guys, but they still didn't make judges. But then not notices that he may go out before us and fight our battles.
The warning of God just was he's going to draft you in and he's not going to make it easy for you because not only do you have to keep up with him, you have to run ahead of his chariots. But this is what I think is great. I'm not going to route. It's not like a secret. The king that there's going to be a.
It's going to look like a king. And in a few messages from now, they will be fighting the Philistines again, even though during the rest of Samuel's judging, they got success. But all of them are going to rise up. But then there's this one guy known as Goliath, a giant. People who don't even know the scriptures know about David and Goliath. The little guy versus the big guy. Notice the king to fight their battles didn't even go out in front of Goliath. He kept waiting for somebody else to do it.
And everybody else was afraid. But he's going to fight their battles. He won't fight a single guy, little lonely army. Lord, if this doesn't tell us when we pray that we ought to add, but not my will, Lord, but your will be done. Because they are seeking this from God and God say, okay, you can have it. But this is what's going to cost you going to be good. Fight our battles.
Now, after Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the Lord's hearing. So Samuel says, okay, I had a conversation with the people. And I find it interesting. It's not like God didn't hear. But he tells God what they said. I guess he doesn't want any confusion about what's going on. And so he says, this is what the people have response to my telling them what you said. It was going to be surprised.
The Lord said to Samuel, listen to their voice and appoint them a king. Now God ultimately will have his way. The Messiah will come who is king of kings and Lord of lords. But this isn't the time.
So sometimes God says, okay, not my timing, but your. And so he says, do it. A point, a king. Again, I guess I'm going to repeat this again. If there was ever a time when we ought to learn, but not my will, Lord, but yours be done. He's trying to tell us. He's trying to tell his people.
All you need to do is trust me. The battle belongs to the Lord. The battle is his. He's the king of king. He's the Lord of lords. He's the provider. He's the protector. He's the creator.
And there is no subset for God's leadership. And again, it would be one thing if they said, God failed us. God didn't do what God said. He was going to do. God didn't keep his promises. And we're disappointed because God failed us. Therefore, we need someone who won't fail us. And what God is saying is, I never failed you.
But he will. I ask that you love me with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. He wants your stuff. He wants your future. And he wants you. I get the world doesn't understand.
Because as a scripture say, they have eyes, but don't see. They have ears, but don't hear. So I understand that the world is off trying to do what the world wants. They whoever dies with the most toys wins. Well, guess what? You died. I don't think that's a win.
That you get to take whether you're the richest person or the poorest person, you get to take the same amount of stuff with you when you die. Nothing. You can't send it on ahead. But what disappoints me in my life?
What disappoints me in the lives of Christians, believers? Yes, that we want to be like the world. Even though God can do the wrong to me, and in Peter, and in Revelation says, you are to be a holy nation. People for my own possession, a royal truth.
You are not to be of this world. We are to seek His Kingdom first. And yet we choose to have the same priorities as the world. God, I pray that my heart would be changed, that my mind would be changed, that I would want to seek after Him and His presence, and the world that hot place. But as was said by a previous leader, that for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.
We should not be like the world. It should not be a surprise to our friends, our family, and to strangers that were believers. So my question is, what it be? Is it the surprise? Or are we committed to the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He leads our life? Not some King of riches or fame, but what He thinks of us. Maybe sometimes, as in this situation, for God says, if you want it, fine.
I'm not going to hear you when you complain. Maybe you wanted what you wanted. God said, okay, I'm not changing it. And there is a history of all the kings of Israel, with very few exceptions, their evil men. Sometimes they start out okay, and mess up, and sometimes they come back. But the history that these people put themselves on, their future, not have the King whose righteous, but the King, the kings who are evil. God protect us from our prayers, and all God's people said.
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