Well, I go to church 'cause my parents take me to church.
Well, I go to church 'cause my wife goes to church. Or, you know, you know, I'm a Christian now because Everybody else around me is one. I've met those types and them Person has got to ask themselves where they stand personally. And if so many other Christians have done it and are doing it and will do it, then what's the excuse of any of us? We don't have any, we get stronger.
by watching other Christians be Christians, good times and bad times. You're listening to Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
Now, here is Pastor Rick with the conclusion of his study called Misguided Demands in 1 Samuel 8. God's still speaking to him. Heed their voice, however. You shall solemnly forewarn them. and show them the behaviour of the king who will reign over them.
God says, I want this on record. I told you so. That's what is happening here.
Now, if God wanted His spiritual authority, to rule As a civil authority, he would have just made Samuel king. But he doesn't want to do it that way. He wants to keep the spiritual authority. Uh not con isolated or completely separate. but he doesn't want them to mix too much.
And the church It needs to stay focused on spiritual things and not get entangled I mean, we have to be concerned about civil things, but not entangled in them.
Well, as prophets of God, as those who minister, we're not to lord over the flock. The kings were not to lord over the people. Verse 10, so Samuel told all the words of Yahweh to the people, who asked him for a king. I wonder if he told them. He says, You know, my heart was broken when you came to me with this.
And I went to God, and God says, My heart's broken with you, Samuel, but it's not you they're rejecting, it's me. It's personal. I wonder if he told them that.
Well, the way they responded in this eighth chapter, it wouldn't have mattered. Their minds were made up and they would not turn away. It was nothing, they were so stiff-necked at this point. But now he's going to give them the demands and the burdens of a monarchy. Yeah, because the people.
did not stop to think, well, how did we get out of Egypt? Through a prophet, a man of God.
Well, how did we survive in the wilderness? Without a king, it was through. Men of God.
Well, how do we cross over Jordan? I was Joshua that Man of God. How do we defeat Jericho and then the giants and all the other things? They pass right by these things. And that spiritual insensitivity is what creates a shallow believer.
The deeper believers are sensitive to these things. We think about them, that we praise the Lord. You know, thinking and thanking are directly related.
So Verse eleven And he said, This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots. And to be as Horsemen? and some will run before his chariots.
Now, here in this section, I'm not going to take it all together, and I'll try to get it as we come across it, but the word take is mentioned six times. In verse 11 and then 13 through 17. Take, take, take, take, take. That's what the king is going to do to you. He's warning them.
Absalom The way he launched his rebellion against his father is he took a chariot and had men run before him. 2. Samuel 15. After this it happened that Absalom provided himself with chariots and horses and fifty men to run before him.
Well, this is what Samuel is saying. He's going to appoint men for his own chariots to run before him. Spiritually, it has a lot of meaning. Outside of that, it really doesn't mean much. But when you look at it spiritually, you see that God is totally on top of these things.
And as always, when we read it, we say to ourselves: who am I in this picture? Just in this quote from 2 Samuel, Am I an Absalom? That snake. And that's what he was, and I can't wait to read about him. and how Joab skews him.
Yeah. That might be a bit much. This is not very Christian, but you are glad to see justice administered. You rejoice when justice is administered and relief is brought to the righteous. And you look at the life of Absalom, you say, What happened to that kid?
Couldn't he just look around and just Did the Bible mean anything to him? Or was he so familiar with it, did he hear about it all the time to the point where it just bounced off of him and no longer registered? How do you fight that? Prayer, talking to God. And the Bible to you becomes just, you know, boring or You can't trust it because, as I read from Psalm.
119 verses 82 and 92. When you search the scriptures and you don't find relief, You have to remember that it is the search of the scripture that will hold you strong in the face of those things that fly against you. In verse 12, He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties. He will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons for war and equip for his chariots. How does Samuel know all this?
He looked at the other kings, the pagan kings, what they were doing. He knew what they were doing. He is saying here he's going to want a standing army. If you get a king, he's going to have a standing army and no longer rallying the farmers to war. And that's going to take Food and supplies.
To support that army. Verse 13: He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers, palace servants. Verse 14. And he will take. The best of your fields, your vineyards.
your olive groves, and give them to his servants. Eminent domain. Is what that amounts to. He's going to say, I need this field. And they will Probably pay them for it and But still he's going to take it.
They would as a people Make habit. Out of giving better things to their king than to God.
Now, I think there's a lot to think about in that for us. Malachi comes along after they have no more kings, they're a conquered people. And he writes this in Malachi 2. Chapter one. And of course, we all know if you're from Brooklyn.
It's malachi. Not Malachi. But And when you offer so Malachi calls him out. He says, You guys are messing with God and this fake religion that you're bringing to him. And so he says, And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil?
And when you offer the lame and the sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably, says Yahweh of hosts?
So God says, Malachi, go tell the people, I see what you're doing, you're giving me your hand-me-downs. You're giving me things that are defective, that you don't want. and you're looking for the reward of giving them. Because you really don't have faith. You're just playing this whole ritual game.
Go try that with your governor, because they don't have a king. Go try that with him and see what he does to you. People. might kill you. For daring to insult him that way.
Yes, you come to God this way with a straight face, nonetheless. You go home and you boast that you went down and you sacrifice at God's house.
So do we as a people make habit. Habit. of giving better things to men than we give to God. And see, these are the kind of thoughts that make us stronger, even if we fail to prevail over these temptations and defects. The motive of trying to fix it goes so much farther.
Then if we just shrug our shoulders and say, yeah, who cares? And so may we take God more seriously. than anyone else. Verse 15. He will take a tenth of your grain.
And your vintage? and give it to his officers and servants.
So this tenth of a tax demand placed on the people Is in addition to the temple taxes of a tenth.
So, when you get a king, your taxes are going to instantly double. That's what he is telling them. It will cost them to maintain appearances. You want to act like the other nations, the Gentile kings, it's going to cost you. In verse 16, he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, your donkeys, and put them to his work.
And we're going to see this with David when Saul pretty much takes David. Verse 17, he will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants that will never again. be as free as they are at the time that Samuel was leading the nation. And tribal rule.
was demanding, but not as much as a monarchy. Not nearly as much. Verse 18: And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and Yahweh will not hear you in that day.
So there is such thing as unanswered prayer, or should I say, refused, rejected prayer. I mean, as Christians, we pray and God does not grant A lot of our prayers. But it is not with the attitude that is being warned about here by Samuel. Um in this case, God is saying. You're not going to get free from what you're bringing on yourselves because your motives are wrong.
They are misguided. Irreparable and final, but all of this fell on deaf ears. First Kings chapter twelve Shows this coming true. This is when Solomon dies, Rehoboam becomes king, his son. And Raya Bohem.
When the tribal elders came to him and said, Solomon taxed us to no end. Why is that? Because Solomon built everything. How do you finance that? with taxes, and Solomon had to have the best of everything.
And when we get there, and we talk about the Queen of Sheba being blown away and saying half of the story has not been told, we have to remember. There's a lot of slave labor. A lot of taxes financing all these things that were so splendid.
Well, when he dies, the leaders come and they say to Rehoboam, his son, who is now the king, can you lighten the taxes a little bit? And he asked the elders, What do you think I should do? And they said, Lighten the taxes a little bit, and you're going to win these guys. And then he asked his high school buddies who were about as smart as a wet sack of mice. And he asked them, what should I do?
And they said, you need to shut these guys down and shut them up, tell them who the king is. And so, of course, Rehoboam says, You think my father was tough? You know, I'm going to scourge you. And so, he's just all this stuff. And what happened?
They said, To your ten, so Israel, the nation was split. And Jeroboam becomes king of the Northern Kingdom. And so here from 1 Kings 12, your father made our yoke heavy.
Now, therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke, which he put on us, and we will serve you. But God said, I'm not going to hear you. No. The burden will not be lightened. You ask for a king, this is what you've gotten.
We come along and we read it, and we're supposed to learn something from it, not to be stiff-necked and presumptuous. Be very careful. Keep our motives sound. They had no one to blame. but themselves.
And it seems to be as a people habit forming. Because in the days of Christ when he was cheering on his crucifixion to Pilate, And all the people answered and said, His blood be upon us and our children. The consequence of being stiff-necked. or stubborn is a consequence. You want to be stubborn playing checkers have at it.
But you want to be stubborn in the things of the Spirit and the things of life. as believers very much. You can still be a fool and a Christian at the same time if you're not careful. Proverbs twenty seven, verse twenty two. Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle Along with crushed grain Yet his foolishness will not depart from him.
You see, when you read the Proverbs, you're supposed to say, I don't want to be that guy, I am not that guy. And will any of you I don't know what the girls did growing up. I spent all my time avoiding you. But as a boy, I mean, you would just you'd see a sailor or an airman or a policeman say, That's me, that's me, before the other kid could say it. You just that's who you wanted to be.
Well, when you read the Proverbs and you read about the fool, do you say, that's me? That's me. I hope not. Because God does not ask us when He says, Don't be the fool, He's not making a demand that is overwhelming. And so, when we read the Proverbs, we come to the fool, we must say, I'm not going to be that guy, Lord.
Help me not be that person. Verse 19: Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, Nope. But we will have a king over us. I don't think they were smugged. I just think they were firm.
Their minds were made up, and had been for a long time. The result of greener grasses on the other side for Israel. Verse 20. that we may also be like All the nations and that our king May judge us. and go out.
before us and fight our battles. How awful that we can be like the other nations. It's repeated. Why? Why would you want to be like them?
Doesn't your faith mean anything? Or are you just playing this religious game?
Well, I go to church because my parents take me to church.
Well, I go to church because my wife goes to church. Or, you know, I'm a Christian now because. Everybody else around me is one. I've met those types and them A person has got to ask themselves where they stand personally. And if so many other Christians have done it and are doing it and will do it, then what's the excuse of any of us?
We don't have any. We get stronger. by watching other Christians be Christians, good times and bad times. That our king may judge us and go out. before us and fight our battles.
Wasn't God their warrior king already? Deuteronomy 1, verse 30? Yahweh, your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you according to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes. How's that working out for you? Peter?
And John And Andrew Those apostles that Died violent deaths or suffered for their faith. They knew that God would go out and fight for them. But that also at some point They were going to die.
Well, the apostles gave their blood in testimony that they saw the crucified risen Christ. and that men don't die. for such things willingly. Men don't die for known fantasies. They had to have seen him.
because they did not deny seeing him even at the point of death. There's no other religion like that. Nobody else, men die, can die for something they believe that they've not seen, but they believe it. But the apostles saw it. and still died.
And all they had to do is say, You know what, I didn't see him rise again. But they couldn't. They could not turn away from that. Deuteronomy 20, verses 1 through 4, talk all about God, saying, When you go to the battlefield and you see the chariot, well, I should read it. When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them.
For Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. And he goes on to talk about he will fight for you and don't faint in their presence.
Well, we have an election coming up. We're faced with the possibility of Satan Winning the White House. You're either going to have faith and say, Whatever happens, blessed be the name of the Lord. Or you fret. And it's still going to happen, whatever's going to happen.
I like to Trust God. No matter what happens. And adjust as things Turn this way or that way. We saw that when wicked Obama got elected twice. And thank God there's no third term.
But I mean a lot of Christians were devastated. I mean I didn't lose any more hair because of it.
So things kind of stayed normal there.
So you just trust God. And so now we have an opportunity. We have this opportunity to stand up and say, look, I don't know what's going to happen. Except I know this. I'm going to still trust God.
And look at that as an opportunity to preach the gospel that is not dependent upon outcome. It's dependent upon revelation. And God has revealed Himself to me. I can't unknow Him. I've met Jesus Christ in my heart.
Nothing can take that away, hopefully. That's why the Christians went to the lions praising God, singing hymns. The lions couldn't take it away, even when they ate them. Verse 21. And Samuel heard all the words of the people.
And he repeated them in the hearing of Yahweh. Samuel said, Okay, I'm telling God. He wasn't informing God, but he was telling him. Did you hear what they said? Of course he did.
But I just got to tell you. I mean, there's something, there's relief in having a friend in God where you could tell him anything. This is what's bugging me. You can say to God in reverence, God, this is what's bugging me about you. that you won't answer my prayer right now.
It's okay to say that. and then go off and do what he's told you to do. Otherwise God becomes you know, disinterested in the burdens of our heart. I think when we get to heaven, We're going to find out. How much our prayers mattered to God how he heard every tear And I think that's going to be one of the glorious things about heaven.
is how much we will realize God does care. and that his love means care, even though here in this life so much of it is veiled. Verse 22. I don't know if the younger Christians, I don't know if you're saying, what are you talking about? I'm trying to get you ready.
for days that are coming. when your faith is going to be tested. over and over again. and if not through you, through those whom you love. And that no matter what happens, You will be serving the Lord, and there's nothing hell can do about it.
And that is the goal. Verse 22: So Yahweh said to Samuel, Heed their voice and make them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, Every man go to his city. Bean heads. No, he didn't say that, but he should have said it.
I would have said it. Get the last singer in. Yeah. So The monarchy was the people's choice. And Now they were worthy to compare themselves with other nations, with the Philistines and the Amorites.
Now they were accredited amongst others.
Now the world will receive us. Our king will con meet with their king. Instead of having this tribal leader dressed in overalls, fresh out in the field, we can have a guy with robes. Flowing. And so the church seeks to impress the world instead of.
beckoning the world to leave itself. And join them. Paul wrote to Timothy, he said, Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner.
So he's saying Timothy, don't be ashamed. That I'm in jail for Christ. There's no shame in this. There's glory in this. The world would see shame.
You're a convict now, Paul. Yeah. But for what? For whom? He continues, he says, But share with me in the sufferings.
What? Does that work? It absolutely does. I had a friend. When I was seventeen.
And he was a Navy recruiter, Mike. I wish I'd never lost touch with so many people. You meet so many people in life, just nice people. Anyway, Mike was a Navy recruiter. and Mike wanted me to join the Navy.
But I was already hooked on the Marines. If you're going back To go on her pile. Who I hated. I hated Gomer Pie. I loved Sergeant Carter so much.
I wanted Sergeant Carter to kill Gomer. Even when I was a little kid, I said, could he just kill him? Anyway. Because he was a disgrace to the court. This is before we found out other things about Gomer.
But anyway.
So Mike would, you know, try to get me, and Mike said. Rick, listen, you don't want to be one of those guys. They do everything different. They go to the bathroom at attention. And he just all these things he was saying.
And he was just actually selling the Marine Corps to me. I was like, I want to be that. I was that crazy. To laugh at the boot camp, I came out of that. It was too late.
I was a slave. To the slave to the man. My point. Is that And so the poster, the poster the Marine Corps had up that really got me. was we don't promise you a rose garden.
The only thing they told me that was true And So here, when I read this about Timothy, but share with me in the sufferings. If you're in the spirit, it draws you in.
So that's what I want to be able. to be believer enough To suffer for Christ, if that's what's called for. And so Paul does not fluff it. God's got a purpose for your life, and it's to, you know, be a missionary to those who live in Maui. To eat as much, you know, oh no fish as you can, and just all these.
No, he's just telling him, don't be ashamed of me. I'm in prison, and I'm trying to get you to be one of me. Share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God. And the power of God goes beyond this life. That's where the power is.
Sometimes it seems like there's no power to serve God in this life. It's the next life. That's the one we look to. That's the big one. Share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God.
And that's not what they wanted. They wanted to be like everybody else. And the Christian in the church must say we're not like everybody else. We don't mean to sound rude. We're not supermen or anything like that.
But we're supposed to be different in our beliefs, and we're not afraid to tell you. We don't share that view, regardless of what it costs me.
So when Timothy would say to someone, I'm not going to show deference to Caesar, Because he's not a God to me. I think that is anathema. And the people would say to Timothy, You know, that kind of attitude's going to stop the gods from bringing rain. And our crops are going to suffer, and we're going to suffer. And it's going to be because of you Christians.
You Christians are going to mess everything up. We're all going to suffer. And you say, and he said, well, you believe in a myth. That's not going to happen. You know, the icebergs aren't going to freeze or thaw and we're all going to drown in ice water.
That's not going to happen. But yet, you're making laws to make me, so we live in the same kind of world. Nothing new under the sun.
So, Samuel, this man of grace and grit, says fine, you get yourself a king, but he doesn't have a bad attitude. In fact, When Saul becomes king, He really steps up to be the prophet to the king. But he doesn't take any nonsense from Saul either. At one point, he says, You know, Saul is going to kill me if he finds this out.
Next we meet Saul in chapter 9. The party is just starting and Too bad we don't go from Samuel to David. God wants us to look at a man like Saul and say, listen, there are people like this. Yes. They might not have as much power.
They are just as obnoxious. And may we not be like them. Uh Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel.
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