Laptop: Hey Waterway Church, this is Pastor Javon, and today we have special guest, Pastor Matt with us good morning. Yeah. So Jesse is out on vacation and we unfortunately missed last week. Things just honestly things got really busy and just didn't get to it. So we felt that we needed to put something together this week and Jesse taking a rest. We felt the show must go on. So here we are. So today we're gonna be taking a look at the king, Jesus the king, and how that is connected to some things that occurred in the old testament. But to start us off, and in our sermon series, we've been kind of working our way, we went through Joshua, and we know that with Joshua they're led, they conquer the land, they settle in, and then we get this period of the judges. And is the judges just like a pretty book to read? Not exactly. Not exactly, right? There's a lot of just stuff going on, right? Yeah, I would say it's a cycle, a repeating cycle. Right. Yeah. Just sin after sin, people going through. And what's is like this common phrase that we often hear like in the judges, like Yeah, in those days where it was no king in the land and the people did what they wanted. Yeah. People just it was just, I mean, almost like anarchy, like in a way. Like people just did what they wanted, what they saw fit. And this theme in the judges is like, hey, there's no king. People are doing what they see fit. There's sin in the land. And after that Judges, we get the book of Ruth, which we will talk about on Sunday, so tune in. But then we also get the book of Samuel. And Samuel stands in as a prophet for God, and that is who we are interacting with here in First Samuel chapter eight, which is where we're gonna spend most of our time now. So in first Samuel chapter eight, the Israelites come to Sam, the prophet, and they say, Hey, we want a king. we want a king over us, and the reason they state is because they want to be like the rest of the nations. Right. Now This you were sharing something with me earlier about this king concept. It's it's kind of ironic, them asking for a king. Go ahead and share what you're sure. So you notice in the judges, there's a cycle over and over where it works for a little while. You know, the the judge has been appointed, it kind of works out. But in short order, the Israelites almost always just turn back into sin. There's a problem, a new judge needs to be appointed. And so one of the things that's different about judges from the the kings and the nations that are around them is when there's a king, his sons automatically become the next king after he's gone. whereas a judge needs to be appointed each time. And what's interesting in Samuel chapter eight is Samuel's sons are it says, turned aside from dishonest gain, they accept rise, they pervert justice. It's kind of the last straw that has the Israelites asking for a king. Yeah. And exactly what they would get with a bad king would be kind of more the same in his sons. So Samuel's sons are wicked. Right. And that's what's leading them to prompt them in this king. Right. But now they're asking for a king who's just gonna perpetuate generations of sons that we know eventually just what is the phrase in the kings? He continued in the way of his you know for forefathers. Now there was a few bright spots, right? But for the most part. Yeah. That yeah that's so interesting. So here they are asking for a king and they want to be like the nations. but I want to turn us back To Deuteronomy 17, where Moses foretells that there will be a king. They will ask for this, this king when they enter the land. So I'm gonna read here from chapter 17, and I'm gonna read starting at verse 16, where Moses kind of says, Okay, when you get this king, this is what he must do. Right. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself, or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them. For the Lord has told you, you are not to go back that way again. He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law taken from that of the Levitical priest, is to be with him and he's to read it all the days of his life, so that may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully in all the words of this law and these decrees, and not consider himself better than fellow Israelites. So how do how in your mind, how does that sound in comparison to the kingdoms around them? Does this sound like the typical king? No, it does it definitely doesn't. It sounds like what that king wants is gonna be different from the normal kind of selfish right and egotistical. Right. A lot of the kings had wives, a lot of the kings had massive chariots, big armies. I mean that was their boast was that my army my army can defeat your army, you know. Right kind of thing. And and two, like making it about himself. But the king that the Israelites are supposed to have is to be counter-cultural to the kings around them. there's this term that people would call a upside down kingdom. It's a kingdom that is upside down from from the ways the world would go. Now, I would argue that we probably shouldn't use the word upside down. The world is in an upside down kingdom and God is establishing a right side up. But that's good. But I understand I understand why we get to that term. Yep. But so so this king is supposed to be different, but but we know that Samuel warns them like, Look, this the exact opposite's gonna happen. These kings and we know when we read the kings that that they continually fall in sin. Solomon even and David, they get many wives. Those wives get them into trouble. Indeed. and so all this to say the Israelites are looking for the kings to s to solve their problem, but does it solve their problem? It does not. It does not, right? The kings, when we read the book of the kings, there's just continual problem after problem after problem. And a few bright spots. A few, right. There's a few. There's a few. There's a few kings that that are good, but for the most part in general, you know, leading the wrong direction. First Samuel eight seven, we see going back to this narrative where the people were asking for a king, Samuel says, Hey, look, goes to the Lord and he's like, What am I supposed to do with this? Like these people are asking for a king, and I I don't want to point them over them, a king over them. What am supposed to do? God says, Look, do what they are telling you to do, because it's not you they have rejected Samuel. It's me as their king. Right. So we get this understanding. God was to be the ruler over these people. God was the one that led them through the wilderness by a a cloud and a pillar of fire. God was the one that sent judges and prophets to rescue them. God was to be their king. Right. But when they say no, we need an earthly king, they are rejecting God as their king and looking for someone in this world. To be that king. And again, as we said, we know that those kings could not be the king that the people needed. Right. It was ultimately God. And we we get this promise to David, then, one of the kings, that there will be a king that will come. And he will be the Messiah and he will rescue people from this cycle of sin, from this problem that they have where they can't save themselves, whether it be through kings, whether it be through even these judges. They can't save themselves. They need a perfect king. And that perfect king is coming and he will establish God's kingdom forever. And this is the promised Messiah. And as we look forward to the New Testament, New Testament, what are we, what what is Jesus' last name? Jesus Christ Christ, right? Yeah. It's it's easy to think of it as a last name, but it really is not. It's it's a title. And it's Anointed one, right? Exactly. And this the anointed ones, if we know, like with the kings, the ones who were anointed, became king. So what are we proclaiming? Jesus is the king, he's that promised king, that promised Messiah, the perfect king. And we know as Christians, often when Paul in Acts co talks, preaches to people, he says, If you bel repent and believe and declare Jesus as Lord of your life, as the King of your life. We are to live as though Christ is king. Correct. And how do you think that shapes the way we live? Kind of goes back to the countercultural model where I think of Romans twelve, where we're not going to be transformed to this world, but we're gonna live in a way that puts him first, not the things of the culture around us. The renewing of our minds. There's there's this constant theme in these these letters that Paul writes where it's like, Don't live in the ways of your flesh and the ways of the world. Live in a different way in a way of the spirit that leads to life. It's and in Peter, we have this verse, first Peter 2 9, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. He's referring to the church, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into this wonderful light. We are now a set apart people through being the children of God, and we live in a way that is upside down from the world or right side up. Yeah. Really from from the way the world lives. so yeah, we are called to live a part of a kingdom that is different than the kingdom of this world and and when they conflict, we need to remember that there will be conflicts. There will be conflicts with the way this world wants to live, but we need to set ourselves apart by living in a way that Christ calls us to live. Any any further thoughts or I would just say going back to Samuel one, yeah when we look at what Moses said the king was gonna be like and we look at immediately when they ask for the king and Samuel tells them what the king that they're gonna get is gonna be like, he warns them right away what's coming. And they still right. They still, you know, want to be like the w the the culture around them and so And how often do we do that same that same thing, right? I think the cycle just repeats like we're in a broken world that doesn't it's not gonna be right until the king returns. Well and the thing too is like we can we we find ourselves thinking like We know maybe what the results of our choices will be. Right. But we choose them anyway. Exactly. That's pretty much Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, turn to Jesus. And there's always forgiveness and through His power and strength we can be victorious over the cycle of sin and death. But it's through living under His Lordship and His Kingship that we find that freedom, not in our own. Amen. Go be blessed and be a blessing.