Good morning everyone. It's so good to be on Zoom. I know it's not ideal for a lot of people but hey,
thank God for Zoom and we're able to still connect with people through this technology.
It's a great morning. It's a little bit of drizzling at night and which is something I just
love. So when I woke up, it was a great morning. The Murphys are back in Hong Kong. Welcome back.
It's so good to have you guys. And oh, let me introduce myself. For those of you who do not
know me, my name is Alan. I oversee the Utes here at Watermark. So before we get into God's Word today,
let me just pray for us and then we can begin. Father God, we come before you this beautiful day
and Father, we thank you for your Word. We thank you for your amazing grace and even God, thank you
for the songs that we just sang this morning. Father, you are the true King. You are the King who
who opens the eyes of the blind, who heals the sick, who has a power, who has put to death our
sin and who have overcome death. And Father, as we come to find you in your scripture, we pray that
you'd reveal your Word to us, to your people, Lord, and that you would take your glory, edify us, convict us,
comfort us, and most of all, God, that you would show yourself, that you would show your gospel,
truth, and your beauty to us this morning. So come and be glorified, we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen. So we've been going through 1 Samuel for a few weeks now. And if you remember, the series,
the title of our series is All That Glitters Is Not Gold. It may look all beautiful from the outside,
but it could be a whole different story on the inside. Or we could be attracted by the exterior,
but it could be all decaying in the interior. So today's scripture is from chapter 8 all the way
till 10. Though we do not read everything today, we'll be going, we'll be summarizing here and there.
But I would love to encourage you all, us all, to read the whole passage in these coming days,
because such a profound story is unfolding in these few chapters. It's just amazing.
So let me start with this. I'm sure you have heard the phrase, you don't know what you're asking for.
And it's usually with kids, right? The kids come up to you and they ask you something ridiculous
and thinking that it might be fun or tasty. And then we would go like, kid, you don't know what
you're asking for. Seriously. So here's a video that shows exactly that. So enjoy the video.
This child will not stop insisting on tasting this. I keep telling him it's going to be gross,
but he does not want to listen. So I'm going to let him find out for himself.
Go spit it out. Come on, get to the sink.
Great. I hope you enjoyed that. So many times we think that kind of incidents usually happen with
kids, but the reality is it happens a lot with adults too. And in fact, today's scripture is all
about that. It's all about people asking God for something they don't know what they're asking for.
So let me give a short summary of the whole chapter eight to 10, a very short and brief summary.
And then we can begin today's work. So what we find in chapter eight and chapter all the way to
10 is so Samuel is getting old and his two sons are not doing well. So the elders of Israel come
together to him and saying, Hey, you're getting old. We need, and you guys are not doing well. So give us a
king and Samuel gets upset. God gets upset and feeling like that the people have rejected them
as, as leaders, but eventually God gives them a king. But first God warns them, telling them,
you don't know what you're really getting at. This king is not going to be as you think it is.
And eventually in chapter nine, we come and we saw, we are introduced to Saul who meets Samuel. And
finally Samuel anoints Saul as a king in private. And then in chapter 10, we find,
Samuel calling all Israel together in a place called Mizpah. And he warns them again, Hey,
this is what you're really doing. It's not great, but people make no comment. So Samuel casts lots,
falls on Saul. And finally Saul is hiding when he's being called to be a king, but still Saul is brought
out and he's proclaimed king. And that's where the story ends. So it's a fairly simple story, but
never judge a book by the cover, right? So there's a lot going on this in the story. So let's start
right at the beginning. So let's start from the demand of the king for a king. So let's start from
the beginning. So the elders come to Samuel asking for a king. They say, Hey, appoint us a king that
will judge us just like all the nations. Now, one of the first questions you want to ask is,
why are they asking for a king? Why do they want a king? So let's go to verse five. So verse five,
we see all the elders coming together and saying, behold, you are old, which is a great way to start
conversations, by the way. I mean, just go up to people and say, Hey, behold, you are old and your
two sons are not walking in the right path. So basically what he's saying is, Hey, you're,
you are getting old. Your two sons are not doing great. Your sons are accepting bribes. They're
perverting justice. And if you stop and think that sounds very familiar to Eli and his sons.
Now, if you remember a few chapters back, a few weeks back, we were looking at Eli and his two sons.
Now, Eli was a priest for the nation of Israel. Basically, he was a leader and he was not a great
priest. And he was someone who would choose comfort rather than honoring God, who would choose comfort
rather than confronting his two sons who were dishonoring God badly. And his two sons were not
great. They were the ones taking sacrifice away. They were the ones sleeping with women that came to
serve in the tent. So they did not really have a good leaders. Now, what that led to was that led
to a devastating defeat of Israel in the hands of Philistines. And in that battle, what happened?
And if you remember, it was the two sons were in the middle of the whole battle. What happened in the
battle is the Philistines come in and attack them. And the two sons thinking, we're going to use God.
They bring out the Ark of God and they lose the Ark of God. And if you know, the Ark of God is the
most precious thing for the Israelite. It was meant to be the very presence of God in their nation. It
was their identity, their most precious, their holiest thing. And in that battle, they lose it.
And that whole event ends with this devastating sentence where it says,
the glory has departed from Israel for the Ark of God has been captured. So that whole incident
was very devastating. It was a huge loss. They lost God's presence. They lost God's glory.
And it was pretty traumatic. So now the elders in chapter 8, they come and they're seeing a similar
pattern unfolding before their eyes. Now they're seeing the same thing. The leader is getting old.
The two sons are not walking the same path. Now they don't want to be defeated in battle like
that in the past again. You see, they have seen what happened in the past. They remember what
happened in the past. So they're coming to Samuel and saying, no, no, we don't want to go through that.
Better give us a king. And if you stop here and think, what we actually find here is behind this
demand for a king, behind this curtain of demand is a whole lot of insecurity and fears.
What if we go down the same route in the past? What if these other nations around us and come and
attack us again? We don't want to lose in a battle. So what they do is they look for a solution.
We don't want to go through the same way. So they look for a solution. They look at all the nations
around them and what do they see? They see kings. And they realize that the kind of ruling that they
had, the kind of governing they had, the leaders they had, the two sons they had is not going to
work. They want a king. They need a king, someone who will lead them, someone who would represent
them, someone who's strong and powerful. That's why when you come to verse 20, you see them saying,
hey, give us a king who will go out before us and fight our battles. Now they're looking for a king
who's going to bring them victory, who's going to lead them, who's going to represent them,
who's going to give them security and take away their fears. They're saying, give us that king.
So now they are saying, appoint us a king who will judge us like all the nations.
Now, before we quickly judge them for asking for a king when they already had a leader,
for asking for a king and trying to be like all the nations, let's look at that demand a little
closely. Because what we see here is we see the same sentence repeated way in the past before.
If you go to in the book of Deuteronomy, way back, we actually find God in the past,
God through Moses, speaking to his people, giving his people a tons of laws,
ways to worship, ways to sacrifice, ways to live their life. And in the book of Deuteronomy,
when we come to chapter 17 and verse 14 to 20, what you will find there is you will find laws
regarding a king. And interestingly enough, verse 14 goes, when you come to the land that the Lord,
your God is giving you and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, I will sit over a king like all
the nations that are around that are around me. Now, it's pretty interesting, the very same sentence
is being used way in the past. Now, what we're seeing here is God actually knew that his people
were going to ask for a king one day. And God had and at that time, God did not tell them, hey,
no, you cannot have a king. But what we see here is in Deuteronomy is that God had actually given
them guidelines regarding a king. Hey, this is how you're going to have a king. This is the type of
king you'd want to have. So now the elders come in chapter 8, Samuel, we come back there and we see
that the elders come and say the same sentence to Samuel, asking for a king like all the nation,
which is a pretty good thing. So the question arises, so why was God displeased with that demand?
Why did God say that the people were rejecting him in verse 7? You see, if you think about it,
the fact that they were asking for a king was not bad in itself. But what was wrong with the demand
for a king? And for that, to answer that question, we need to go back and see the whole story that has
been unfolding in 1 Samuel. Here's a little graph to help us see it. So in 1 Samuel, in 1 Samuel chapter
1 and 2, what we see here is we see Hannah, right? Hannah has a problem. The problem is she has no child.
And her solution was that she would run off to God and she would give herself in prayer and
surrendering herself to God and God being the center of her solution. But then we come to chapter 4.
Now there's a problem again. And the problem is the battle between Philistines and Israelites.
So there's a huge problem. They're being defeated. It's not going great. So there's a problem. And
what's their solution? Their solution is not to go to God. But as we're seeing last week,
they try to use God. So they bring out the Ark of God as if it's a big secret weapon. And they try to
use God. They don't go to God in repentance. They come up with their own solution. And that does not go well.
And again, we come in chapter 7, the chapter previous to this scripture, and we see there's
a problem again. The Philistines are attacking them again. But this time, their solution is what?
Their solution is to actually go back to God. So in chapter 7, we see Samuel bringing people back
to God. And he's telling, leave all these idols, leave all these things that you're worshiping and
come back to God. Seek Him. And then in chapter 7, we see that God delivering them away from
Philistines and giving them victory. So now we come to chapter 8, today's scripture,
and we are back to square 1. We have a problem here. The problem is that they don't have good
future leaders. Their two sons are not doing well. Their leaders are getting old. There's
a fear that all this other nation would attack them. They're insecure. They're in fear.
Now, and their solution for this time is not to go back to God looking for a solution, not
to go back to God in prayer and repentance and back to the relationship. But this time,
what they do is, just like chapter 4, they come up with their own solution to the problem.
So which they did. So they come up to Samuel and said, hey, this is our solution. Give
us a king. Do you see what's happening there? And if you stop and think about it, hey, that
solution is not a bad solution, right? The solution is not that bad. I mean, you would want
a king so that the other nation would not bully you, right? You don't want other nations to
look at you and like, oh, look at this country. They don't even have a king or a governing system.
They're taking progress. You don't want other nations to put you down because that would be
reason for attack and conquer. You would want a strong and charismatic leader. You'd want someone
who would represent the country, someone who would fight and bring victory to your nation. You'd want a
king who would bring justice through the authority that he's given. I mean, think about it. When we all
have problems, we want to think about it systematically, right? We want to analyze it, discuss it, and we
want to come up with the best solution that we can find. And that's the thing. But one of the things
that the elders did, and which we do many times, is that when looking for a solution, we tend to leave
God behind it. We tend to forget God and leave and come up with our own solution. Now, how many times
have we made decisions based on our own wisdom? How many times have we made plans and then asked God
to bless them? You know, decisions regarding investment, school for your children, career, even where to live,
are our finances, or how we spend our time? Think about the decisions that you have made.
Because you see, we make decisions every day, every minute.
So, now we see that the demand for a king is not just a demand, but it is something that came out of
insecurity. It came into a place where they're finding a solution that leaves God behind without
God. But you see, let's stop there, because there's still more to this demand. There's still more
behind this demand for a king. Because let's look at how God responds to this demand. Let's go to verse
7. And verse 7, Lot tells Samuel, he says, hey, obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you,
for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, God saying me, from being a king
over them. You see, God is saying here, hey, these people have not just rejected me, but they have
rejected me from being a king over them. That he's saying that he's the king that is being rejected here.
And what is interesting here is to look at what the king, what the people wanted the king to do.
It is interesting to see what the people wanted the king to do. So, there are three things you'll
find in these three chapters that the people wanted the king to look like. One is, they wanted the king
to judge them. You'll see that right in verse 6 and 13. The second thing you want, the people wanted
was the king to go out before them. You'll find that in verse 20. And finally, the people wanted
the king to go out and fight their battles. Now, look at these three things. It's very interesting.
Now, the first one is to judge. Now, to judge does not mean as we think it is, like courtroom and the
hair thingy and order, order. It's not that kind of judge. Judge in those times meant someone who would
govern. In simple words, it's someone who is the leader of that nation. Someone who would judge.
Someone who would say what is right and wrong and do justice and stuff like that. Someone who is
governing them. Now, which is why Samuel was first displeased, right? When they asked for a king to
judge them and Samuel was like angry. How could you do that? I'm the judge right now. I'm the leader.
But eventually, God tells Samuel, no, no, no. God, they have not rejected you. They have rejected
God. Now, look at these three things. Because what you see here is that these three things
where what was, these three things is what God was already doing indirectly or directly.
For number one, God would appoint judges and the judges would listen to God and God would actually
govern his people indirectly through the judges. In fact, it was directly in most of the times.
And look at number two, that God would go out before them. If you go throughout the,
in the past, in Exodus, the eternal numbers, there are so many promises where God would tell his
people, hey, I will go out before you. I'll promise to go out before you. I promise to be with you
that you don't have to go alone, that I will go out before you. So there's so many promises where God
said that I'm going out before you. And finally, and if you see in Joshua 10 and 2 Chronicles,
you'll find it was always being proclaimed that whenever there was victory, it was always said
that God is the one who fought the battles. There's a promise in 2 Chronicles where God says,
do not worry, do not be afraid, go out into the battle because the battle is not yours, but it
God's. And what we see throughout history is that God has always been the one to govern his people and
lead his people. God has always been the one who had gone before them. And God has always been the
one who had fought their battles. So now, now we see when God said what God meant by, they have rejected
me as a king over them. You see, because what they have done is that they have taken all the things that
God was already doing and decided on their own to give it to someone else, to find someone else to do it.
Basically, they were replacing God with another king.
You see, they are in a problem and they are seeking a solution in another place. They are looking for someone
to come and save them in their insecurities. They are looking for someone to come and satisfy their insecurities
and fears. They are basically looking and trying to look for a king that would give them salvation while they
already have a king, which was God. And what we see here is that in this demand for a king, they have
actually made God the rejected king. So you see, the demand for a king is not as simple as it sounds.
It came from a place of insecurity and fears and it went towards a place where they made a solution,
made a decision on their own, leaving God behind. And at the same time, they rejected God as a king by taking
whatever, everything that God was doing for them, saving them, fighting their battles, protecting them,
governing them and looking for another king. So it's a demand that is, that has a lot of baggages,
a lot of stories, a lot of things behind it. It's not just a demand. But eventually, God does give them a king.
But first, he warns them before giving them a king. He tells them what they're getting into. He basically
tells them, hey, you don't know what you're getting into. And eventually, which takes us to our second point,
which is, he tells them the cost for a king. He's telling them it's going to be costly to have a king.
When we read from chapter 8, verse 10 to 18, you will see all the warnings that God give the people
against kings. And now, we will not go into detail of every line and what are the warnings, but I want
you to notice something in this whole paragraph. Because one thing you'll notice is that you will see the
phrase, he will take, being repeated a lot. You might not be able to see here, but you'll see it
almost six to seven times in this whole paragraph. He will take, he will take this, he will take that,
he will take a lot. Now, basically, God is telling them that this is a king that will take a lot away
from you. The people were thinking that this king was going to bring them salvation. But verse 17 in this
paragraph tells us that, no, no, no, it's not going to bring you salvation or freedom. What is this king
is going to bring you? It's slavery. And just like the video we watched in the beginning,
the people thought that this king is going to be like chocolate. It's going to be tasty. It's going to
be awesome and fun. But it's just going to be nasty. It's something that's going to take away
rather than give. It's not going to be what they expected him to be. And that is why even in chapter
10, when we go to chapter 10, verses 18 to 20, you'll see God telling them about their slavery in
Egypt and about the times they were being oppressed by other nations. You know, right before Saul was
going to be proclaimed as a king, God warns them again, reminds them, hey, I have taken you out of
Egypt. I have freed you from the oppression and slavery. And it's interesting that God uses these
words of slavery to warn his people once more before giving them a king. Because actually their
demand for a king is going to be costly. And if we take a step back from this story and look at the
whole Bible, biblical story, that is something you'll find throughout the Bible. From the beginning,
Adam and Eve, they did not want God to be God. And they wanted themselves to be a God.
So they rejected God, thinking that that's going to give them freedom. That's going to make them
more wise. But eventually that led them to suffering and toiling and in another form of slavery.
You come to New Testament and Jesus talks about the prodigal son, the son who wants all the money
from his father. And he goes out with his idea of freedom to have party, orgies, and every kind of
pleasures, which eventually leads him to not freedom, but slavery, slave to his debt, and just suffering
and losing everything in that whole process. And we see that kind of theme throughout the Bible,
including this story.
You see, we might think that coming to God is like being enslaved with all the do's and don'ts and the
religion. But what God is saying here is that no, it's not about the do's and don'ts, but in him,
there's actually life. You see that he is the source of life. And if you think about it, God is not saying
that, hey, by asking for a king, this is what's going to, you're going to just get freedom and joy.
No, no, no. He's saying that, hey, by asking for a king, you're running away from the source of life.
You're running away from the source of joy and hope and truth because he's saying, I am the source
of life. And if you think about David, David is someone who has been so close to God, who has tasted God.
And when you come to Psalm 63, there's this beautiful Psalm where he says like, even in the dry and
harsh land, when there's no water in the desert place, I mean, when we are thirsty, we really want
water, right? But what David says in Psalm 63 is that even in the dry and harsh land, God, I long for you.
It's not that he longs for water, like I'm longing for water right now.
But David says, I long for you, God. So much so that he goes on to say, God, that your love is better
than life itself. Think about it. Because we as humans, life is all that we have. But David proclaims,
God, your love is better than life. You see, God is saying here, what God is saying here is that
God is saying like, hey, you guys are thinking that another king is going to be able to save you.
But no, no, no. It's me, it's God who's able to save you. It's I who is able to fight your battles.
That I'm able to lead you to green pastures where you will be satisfied, where you will find your
desires filled. And even when you're most difficult and suffering, that I have promised to go before you
and to be with you. And that's the demand for a king is taking away from the people.
But here's the thing. You see, we all have these other kings in our lives. You see, that we would
rather lean on than God. And especially the city of Hong Kong, there are so many other kings that we
can find. There's so many other kings that are here in Hong Kong. It could be finance, could be status,
could be value, it could be career, school for your children, it could be relationships.
And we don't wake up one day suddenly thinking that, hey, today I'm going to reject God and look
for another king. No, no, no. This other kings happens in a very subtle way. It happens in ways
that we are not really aware of. And the way it usually happens is when we see all the other nations
around us and we ask for a king just like all the nations. And that means we look at all the
people around us. We look at the culture that is around us. You see, in the passage, today's passage,
what we find is that Saul is described as someone who's very tall and very handsome. Someone like Nathaniel.
And even though in chapter 10, verse 22, you see that Saul is actually hiding away when he's being
called to be a king. He was a coward. But people did not really care about that. They just saw a potential
king being a coward, but they did not care because what they see is a tall and handsome guy who looks
really good, who looks all like he's all that glitter, but not realizing it's not all that gold inside.
Because you see, before this chapter, before this whole story, the other people in other nations and
the enemies of Israel used to be described as tall people. These tall people would be a huge threat to
Israel. And in a very subtle way, in a very small way, God actually did give them a king that looked like
all the nations, someone who was tall and someone who was handsome. You see, basically what happened here is
that the people of Israel were swept away by looking at all the nations, by the people and the culture of
other nations. So you see, it happens in a very subtle way when we are swept away in the currents of the culture
around us in Hong Kong. You know, for parents, it could be that you tell yourself, I'm not going to fall for this
pressure of where my child is going to study and all and being compared with the school that they get into.
But then as you meet other parents and you find the pressure and that this COVID is not helping at all,
you start to worry over your kids and start looking, start being frantic and anxious. And then,
and then that pressure falls on you and suddenly you're looking for other kings in your life. For others,
it could be money and work for where you see everyone chasing after everyone working so much, chasing after
value and status, working hours and hours. And then you end up spending your whole time and energy
in that, in the pursuit of finance and career. And for some, it can be jobs. And for some,
it can be relationships and marriages. You see, all of these things are not bad in itself.
You do want to think about your child's education. You do want to be responsible with your finance and career
and relationships. But when we are swept away, unconsciously or even knowingly, we come up with our own solution,
leaving God behind and rejecting him as a king by looking for other kings or in most of the time by
being king ourselves in our lives. You see, as the Israelites were looking for a king,
for a king to save them, to turn away from there, to take away their insecurities and fight the battles.
We too look for other kings who will come, who will save our lives, who will bring security in our lives.
And in those small moments, we go and look for another king, which most of the time is ourselves.
So what is that small king in our lives?
But church,
here's the good news.
You don't have to look for these other kings
because the true king was sent on this earth.
The promised king that would bring salvation to all people and creation did come.
And unlike the king in chapter 8,
this king did not come to take away,
but he came to give.
This king came to give eternal life.
He came to give the living water that would satisfy you.
He came to give life,
to show the truth,
to show the way,
because this king was the truth,
was the way,
and was the life.
And above all,
he was the true king
that came to pay the price,
which takes us to our last point,
the price paid by this true king.
You see,
because God knew
that his people and his creation
would reject him
generation after generation,
and our rejection
would mean
separation from him.
It would mean
our separation
from the source of life.
It would mean
that
it would be
our separation
from him
who made us,
who knows us,
who knows our inmost being.
He knows how we function.
He knows everything about us
from the way we think
and the way we
we are made
and the way we are brought up.
You see,
it would mean
separation from the truth.
But God sent his son,
Jesus Christ,
the true king,
who
takes all of our shame,
all of our sin,
which is the cost,
which is the price
of our rejection,
on the cross
and puts it to death
so that whoever
believes in him
does not have to search
for other kings anymore.
So that whoever
believes in this true king
does not have to search
and look for other kings
to bring salvation
and to take away
the insecurity
and fear.
So you see,
for he is the king
that will satisfy.
He is the one
who is able to save us
and he is the one
who is able to bring life.
He is the king
that promises to be
in your suffering
and hardships
not because he is just
a promise
but because he himself
has gone through
the suffering
and he himself
has gone through
the worst of the worst
that we can ever
go through.
You see,
he comes not to take away
but he comes to give.
He comes to give you life
and he comes to give you
all that was promised.
But one thing
that he does ask
is that he calls you
to himself.
You see,
he calls you
to himself
in faith
and repentance.
Faith and repentance
meaning that
he wants you
to come
in total faith,
total trusting on him
that you would reject
these other kings
in our lives,
that you would put away
all these other kings
and are seeking
for other kings
and come to him
and in repentance
that we would turn away
from these other kings
and to turn to him
who is the true king
who is able to provide,
who is able to bring salvation
and fight our battles.
Because,
you see,
he is a king
that is trustworthy
and faithful
because he is the true king.
Now,
if you are new
to Christianity today,
if this is your first time
coming to church,
even though it's online
on Zoom,
hey,
I want to invite you
to him,
Jesus,
who loves you
and who wants
to give you life,
that life that you
have never dreamt of
or imagined
because he is the true king
in our life
who is able to give.
And if you are a follower
of Christ
this morning,
is there a place
in our life
where we are,
where we need to confess
and turn back
from these other
small kings?
You see,
it could be
even in this time
of COVID
where things are
unpredictable
and scary
that we don't know
what's going to happen
that we suddenly panic
and we forget
that God is still king,
that he is still sovereign.
It could be
in our workplace
and even in the smallest
of smallest things
like job or relationship,
even parenting.
Is there a place
where we need to confess
and come back to him?
Places where we have
made ourself
and other things
king
because Jesus promises
to be that king
who is able to
take away our insecurities,
who is able to
go out before us,
to govern us,
lead us
and to fight our battles.
Hey, can I ask us
to pray right now?
Father God,
we come before you
and we confess
that there are so many times
where we seek other kings
and Father,
as we come this morning,
we pray
that you would come
and that you would be our king.
Father,
we ask your Holy Spirit
right now to come
and just speak in our hearts,
reveal our hearts to us,
Lord,
the places that we have missed,
the places that we have
seeked other kings.
So Father,
come
and lead us,
we pray.