Amos, Randal: Highlights From 1 Samuel-02 ~ Rejection Of God's Rule

Evening, and that is the First Samuel, and where we left off, chapter seven, please. First Samuel, chapter seven. First Samuel, chapter seven, we'll begin at verse thirteen. Verse thirteen. So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath, and the coast thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year and circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah, for there he was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord. God does bless the reading of his word. We did remind ourselves Sunday night, didn't we, that when we get to a book like First Samuel, the major theme is not so much the redemption of God, God's salvation, God's deliverance of his people from death and judgment, such as was the book of Exodus, and the blood of the spotless lamb applied to the door of each house. When we get to a book of like First Samuel, the subject becomes the government of God, God's governmental dealings among his people. That God's people not only need redeemed, God's people need governed. And when we come to this book like this, it'll not so much, as we said, have to do with redemption or salvation as much as with God's governmental dealings with his people. We did remember in those early chapters, Lord's Day night, that Hannah saw something that big men would never see or would have to learn the hard way, and that is in First Samuel two nine, in her prayer, she prayed, by strength shall no man prevail, that by natural means and ability, men do not overcome. And she knew a sovereign God, and dependence on him that you remember her prayer, that he puts down, he lifts up, he makes poor, he makes rich. That the whole thing God is the source of. If it had taken big men who were in, quote, leadership position, uh, they wouldn't learn that like she did. And so we found out that Israel made a big mistake with problems in the house of God and sin undisciplined. When the Philistines came against them, they said, remember, we learned in First Samuel four— we'll fetch the ark that when it cometh among us, it may save us. And it saves nobody, even though that it was a very good it. God wasn't in that it, and they dependent on an it, and they made something that God designed as the very source of their confidence. And we learned the disciplinary hand of God in that, and eventually Samuel arose, the people confessed their sin, and they said, cry to the Lord that he will save us. It took many long years to get the people's heart from looking to an it to looking to God himself. And then, as we learned here at the end of chapter seven, uh, all the cities the Philistines had taken under Samuel's judgeship was now restored to Israel. But now we get to chapter eight. and though one problem has been solved, another problem arises among God's people. And I don't believe we'll be able to cover the whole story tonight, but at least maybe part of it. First Samuel chapter eight and verse one. Verse one: And it came to pass when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joal, and the name of his second, Abia, and they were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre and took bribes and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah. Now we do see a problem that Samuel's sons, acting as judges in the land, probably more as judicial judges to solve disputes between people, they take bribes. And how will you ever give justice, and how will you ever ca- carry out righteousness when the person who pays you the most gets the positive verdict? So the justice among the people of God, God's judgment, if you will, was being corrupted by greedy sons. You remember in that first section of Samuel, the problem was a priest and his sons, Eli and his sons, and now the problem is Samuel's sons. Sons keep being the problem here, uh, in First Samuel, it seems to be. Uh, so we have a problem here in the perversion of, uh, judging among Samuel's sons. Now you notice here a root. Notice again verse one: When Samuel was old, chapter eight, that he made his sons judges over Israel. That is the first time that we'll read of man making somebody judges. Up to that point, God would raise them up. They were more like military saviors, but God would still raise them up. But now Samuel, for whatever reason, installs his sons by his own authority and makes them judges. However, they're not very faithful. They pervert judgment and so on. And so that Israel now has a problem. And what is going to be the elders' solution to this? Well, you'll see it here in verse five. Verse five, is the elders of Israel meet with Samuel, First Samuel eight and verse five: And said unto him, Behold, thy sons are old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all thy nations. Once again, the elders recognized the problem. The elders had good intentions. They did not want to see justice perverted. They wanted to see righteous judgment. They wanted to see the problem corrected. But once again, as we said earlier in Sunday night, that it's one thing to see a problem, brothers and sisters, it's quite another thing to come up with the right solution. And in their care, they saw the problem, but look at their solution as they submitted to Samuel at the end of verse five: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. They looked around at the other nations, they go, look at their law and order, and look how they get things accomplished. They have this great ruler called a king, and when he dies, his son takes over, and then his son takes over. That's called a dynasty, and, uh, that seems to work, and we want to be like the other nations, so make us a king. They did not get this change of government from God. They did not get it from a deeper study of the Word of God. They got it from discouragement, tired of looking like losers, looking around at the other nations and say it seems to work for them, and they based their decision on the pattern of what worked in the world, and they said, make us a king to judge us like all the nations. Now, to understand what's going to happen here, it might be helpful to have an understanding of Israel's unique form of government that God had given them. You see, they were a nation not reckoned among the nations. They were different. And I'd like to take you to see their unique form of government to explain the, the sin of what is going to happen here. So if you would do a little history research together, and go with me, if you would, to Judges chapter one. The book of Judges, chapter one. Judges one. this is when they first came into the Promised Land. There they'd been in for a little while, but uh, Joshua then had died, the one who led them in by God's choice into the Promised Land. Now that Joshua is dead, and they're in the Promised Land, you look at the book of Judges and chapter one and verse one. Now, after the death of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first to fight against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. Now, at this point in history, once Joshua's dead, if you would go to this young nation that's in now the land of Israel, the former land of Canaan, and say to them, well, it looks like a lovely nation, look at all these Israelites in it, uh, would you take us to your king? We'd like to meet with him to see how this nation is so successful. You know how they would have to answer you? We have no king. You see, well, on Earth anyway. We do have God. He's our king, and we can't show him to you because he's in heaven. Well, then would you at least take me to your treasury department so I can see how you, you, you sustain financially as a nation? They would have to answer, we don't have a treasury department. You see, our God has said, they might quote Deuteronomy twenty eight to you, that when we obey, he'll bless our crops, he'll bless our farms, and so on. And so God will meet our needs. So we don't really have an organized treasury repart- department, you see. Well, could you at least take me to your military head, uh, who fights your battles and who trains your soldiers? Well, you see, God said that when we obey him, uh, one will come against us, and then he'll flee seven ways. And God will raise up in his own choosing when these crises come, and we really don't have a permanent military commander, you see. And that is the kind of answers they would have to give. So that when we get here to Judges chapter one and Joshua dies, there is no replacement for Joshua. He had been chosen by God to lead the people in, but now that they're in, the people are directly connected to their living God. So when a problem arises, as it did here, uh, who shall go up and fight against the Canaanites, they ask God, they get together, and they ask God, he's a living God, and God answers them. God makes an executive decision and says Judah shall go up first. So the people had a direct link between them and God, and because God was living, God would respond to them. A unique nation, if you will. Now follow a bit on this, if you would, in Judges, if you'll go to chapter two. Judges chapter two, And if you look at verse seven. Judges two and verse seven: And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. Then down to verse thirteen. uh Judges two and verse thirteen. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth, and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. He delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about of their enemies round about, so they could not any longer stand before their enemy. As God's people began to disobey him and sin, the very source of their power was grieved, God himself. He allowed the enemy to capture them, and they went into slavery again and dominance by the enemy. Well, verse fifteen, Judges two verse fifteen: Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, and as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them, and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. When God saw their plight and would hear their cry, God himself would raise up a judge. It was God's selection, and that judge would be based on God's choice, and it wasn't so much a judicial judge in a black robe, giving judicial rights and wrong, as much as it was a military savior that would have the power of God to judge the enemy so that the enemy would be defeated and could no longer oppress Israel. A judge in the sense of judging the foreign enemy, and God would raise up those judges. And when that judge would die, his son would replace him. The, the, it wouldn't keep going on until the people would fall into sin again and cry to the Lord again, and then God would just select, maybe from a completely different family, another judge. It became cyclical, as they say, and when that judge would die, that was the end of it. No judge to take his place. It was the people linked to God. See, as it goes on to say here in, uh, verse seventeen, verse seventeen, Judges two: and yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods and bowed themselves unto them. They turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord, but they did not so. When the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For it repented the Lord because of their groanings, by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them, and so on. And so, for about a space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel, who judged Israel, God governed his people this way, directly linked to his people. When they fell, he in mercy and hearing their cry would raise up a gifted man called a judge who would have ability to judge the enemy. And while that judge lived, the people seemed to walk with God. When he died, the judge wasn't replaced, but eventually Israel would stray, and the process would have to be repeated. And for about the first four hundred and fifty years of Israel's history, that was their type of God when God was their king. Now, you know, as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and after the apostles began to die off, you would have been in that early church, the New Testament church of the Lord Jesus, would have gone up to some of them and said, why, this is quite, you've spread all over the Roman Empire in a few short amount of years, and Christians all over the place. Would you take me to your leader? I wonder who they would have taken you to. Their leader, they'd say, I'm sorry, he's in heaven. Ephesians five twenty three, Christ is the head of the church. He's risen. He's on the right hand of God. He is alive, you know, but I can't show him to you. He's in heaven. Well, then would you, uh, uh, all these churches all over and the poor being helped, would you at least show me your financial headquarters, how this is all marketed and orchestrated? Well, God does that, you see. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus, the assembly was told in Philippians four nineteen. Well, well, well, God, he lays it on hearts, and he opens hearts, and he blesses. You see, God does it. And and all these converts, surely you must have some strategy. How do you get all these? Would you show me your training program? You might answer in the words of Acts two forty seven, and God added to the church daily such as should be saved. You might say, well, look at all the ability these men have, some of these gifted, uh, men here, the Timothys and Tituses and so on. Certainly you have some training program. Say, well, well, God did that too. You know, you might quote First Corinthians twelve eleven or twelve seven. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. He keeps saying, well, God's the source, and it's a direct link of the early church to God. You know, when those apostles began to die off, as Paul himself told the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter twenty that they'll never see his face again. You might say, well, who's going to replace Paul? He spent over two years in that place. Who's going to replace him? He's the apostle. They're not going to see his face. And Paul puts it this way to those elders in Acts twenty thirty two. He says, now, brother, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among them which are sanctified. Brethren, I'm leaving, but I'm commending you to God and to the word of his grace. And that's who he linked those Holy Spirit chosen overseers to. You see, that was the way the early church was designed, a direct link to the living head that had ability to give gifts, ability to meet needs, ability to open and shut doors, and ability to build his church, the living Lord Jesus Christ. It's unique, just like early Israel was. As you follow on just a little bit more in the book of Judges, to see the uniqueness of Israel, progress, if you would, with me to chapter seven. Chapter seven. This is when God was still their king. And here's a battle with the Midianites, and this is a one of those times when God will raise up a judge by the name of Jerubabel or Gideon. And God chooses him. He's from a very poor family, but it's God's choice. And pre- preparation for the battle happens here in Judges chapter seven and verse one. Judges seven verse one, it says, then Jerubabel, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him rose up early and pitched beside the well of Harod, so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people that are with me are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands. Now, God is still the executive director, the prime minister, the king, if you will. He's making direct decisions for his people, and he looks at this military battle, and he says, you know, the people are too many. Now, you and I, w- we don't think that way, do we? We think in conventional terms that if you're going to have a victory, you need more of this, you need more power, and so on. We take that straight line approach, that the shortest distance between point A and point B is a straight line. But God doesn't use the straight line method always. You see, God's, he wants a victory for his people, but he and his wisdom see something beyond just the result, beyond the victory. Why would he want to reduce the army? Well, this is what he tells Gideon. Look at verse two again. Judges seven verse two: and the Lord said unto Gideon, the people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, my own hand hath saved me. He wanted more than just a victory. He still wanted the hearts of the people having confidence in him. And if a big army did it, they would say, well, that was our army, that was our strategy, uh, mine hand have saved me. So I want their hearts. I want them to see that they're connected to me, and so I want you to whittle it down, and I'm paraphrasing now, and you know the story. God reduced the army to three hundred people against scores of thousands of Midianites. And through God's power through Gideon, those three hundred people were just the means God used to initiate the defeat of that great Midianite army. But when it was all over and the victory had happened with three hundred people, there were still some that didn't understand. Look what happened in chapter eight, Judges chapter eight, if you will, after the victory through Gideon. Judges chapter eight, verse twenty two. Eight twenty two. It says, then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, rule thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy son's sons also, for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. We'd like you not to just be a judge, but to rule, to tell us what to do, to organize the thing. And you know, when you die, your son will take over, and then his son will take over. Well, that's called a dynasty. That's called a kingdom. That's what we'd like you to do. You see, the inference is it must be something in the genes of your family, Gideon. It must be your human ability, and we'd like your sons who have that same ability to continue ruling when you die. Gideon had enough sense to answer him this way, in verse twenty three, eight twenty three. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. Well, didn't he care for them? Well, here's the reason why. Look at the last clause of 23. The Lord shall rule over you. It is a matter not of redemption here, but of ruling. The Lord shall rule. You already have a ruler. You don't need man as a go-between between you and the Lord. So Israel's government would stay that way for quite a while. In fact, I'd like to show you one more, uh, example of that direct link to God in the book of Judges. You go to chapter twenty, if you would. Chapter twenty. In chapter twenty, there is civil problems, not with the enemy, but among the tribes of Israel. Tribe of Benjamin had been guilty of gross immorality, a gang rape of a woman, and that had spread throughout Israel, and the rest of the tribes now were carrying out discipline against Benjamin. It was going to fight a battle against the tribe of Benjamin themselves. Uh, with that in mind here, you get to, if you would, to verse thirteen. Verse thirteen. The tribe of Israel has come together against Benjamin, and this is what they say to Benjamin in Judges twenty and verse thirteen. Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel. The children of Israel would not hearken to the voice of their brethren, the, the children of Benjamin, rather, would not hearken to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. So they wanted to discipline sin, but Benjamin had tribal loyalty and said, no, we're not going to listen. Therefore, Israel then attacked them. Now look at this here in verse eighteen, how it happened. How the rest of the tribes attacked Benjamin. Verse eighteen: And the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God and asked counsel of God and said, which of us shall go to battle against the children of Israel, or excuse me, the children of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go first. Direct link to God. Which one shall go? And God says, you send Judah first. And so they did, but, uh, look what happened. Look what happened in verse twenty one. And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men. The people of the men of Israel encouraged themselves and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. They sought counsel of God, they did what God said, and they lost. How do you explain that? What do they do next? They go back to God. Verse twenty three: And The children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even, and asked the counsel of the Lord, saying, shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother? And the Lord said, go up against them. They changed the question. The other one, they planned to go up, they just said, who goes up? Now they begin to say, do we indeed need to go up? And they ask counsel directly of God, and God says, indeed, you should go up. And they go up against Benjamin. But now look here what happens here, uh, in verse twenty five. And Benjamin went forth against him out of Gibeah the second day and destroyed down to the ground the children of Israel again, eighteen thousand men, all these through the sword. Sometimes you will look like it's not working. When you are directly linked to God and you seek his counsel by prayer and by studying his word, you look at the results, and the results will say you're losing. Sometimes it's hard to deal with that. You know what they do again? Well, look, look what they do. Verse twenty seven. verse twenty seven. And the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, for the ark of the covenant of the Lord was there in those days. And the Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days, saying, shall I yet go again to battle against the children of Benjamin, my brother, or shall I cease? And the Lord said, go up, for tomorrow I will deliver them into thine hand. And I should have also read verse twenty six. verse twenty six. Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came into the house of God and wept and sat there before the Lord and fasted until even and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. Now they fast, now they weep. And God says, go up and I will deliver them. And God did exactly that. Then third time, he delivered Benjamin into their hand. Ways of God are hard to understand sometimes, but what I want you to see is Israel's type of government, a direct link to God. And it didn't always look like it worked, but yet in the end, in God's timing and ways, God eventually delivered Benjamin into their hands. Now, with that type of background in mind, if you'd return with me to First Samuel chapter eight. First Samuel chapter eight. When they saw the failure of Samuel's sons, they said again that famous question. I'm going to reread, going to reread verse 5 of First Samuel eight. And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us, like all the nations. Well, they wanted it for a good reason. We want a king to judge us, as they would say later, if you'll just jump down to verse twenty, please. First Samuel eight and verse twenty. They say that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. We want him to judge us to keep law and order, and you know all those battles? Well, the king will fight them for us, you see, he'll organize them and so on. And that's what they wanted, and they got the pattern not from the word of God, but now from all the nations, from looking around. What is going to do here is not change who their redeemer is. They're not going to reject God as Savior. They're not going to reject the blood sacrifice he required. All they're going to reject is the rule of God, the government of God. You know, that does happen among God's people. There are God's people who never, of course, reject the redemption in Christ Jesus. You know, Ephesians one seven, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin. And they don't renounce that redemption. They believe that Christ shed his blood for their sins. But as Israel once said of the Lord Jesus in Luke nineteen fourteen in parabolic form, we will not have this man to reign over us. It is not the redemption of Christ, it is the rule of Christ as head of the church that Christians still struggle with today, as ancient Israel did. They changed the government of God. Well, look at the reaction here, first of all, at Samuel in verse six. Verse six: But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us, and Samuel prayed unto the Lord. Samuel displeased. Well, why would he be displeased? Because as it will be called later, this is a wicked thing. You see, why- why is it wicked? They're not turning to Baal. They're not turning to Satan. They're not going away for blood sacrifice. In fact, they're doing it for a right reason, to have law and order among the people of God. So why is it a wrong thing, and why is it displeasing to Samuel to change God's government? You see, anytime you put man between the link between man and God, and you put the arm of flesh, and you put the man, uh, man's hand, you, you have defamed God, you have broken that connection, and you're now looking to flesh. If I could use an example that we could probably relate to. Let's say you're driving a friend to a destination, and your friend trusts you, and he drives with you, and you both agree, and you're letting him drive you to the destination. But as you're driving to that destination, you do notice your friend reaches over in the car and adjusts the heat or the air conditioning a little bit. Not his car, but I guess I'd like him to be. And then as the trip goes on, he turns off your style of music and puts on his style of music. Yeah, a little presumptuous fellow, isn't he? And uh, but uh, in grace, I'll just go along with it. And then a little later, he starts telling you slow down, speed up, and becomes one of those backseat drivers, as we say, and it starts to get on your nerves a bit. And then later he grabs the wheel and he turns it for you and then shoves the brake when he thinks you just stopped. And when you retire for the night, he didn't like the color of the car, he took it to an auto shop and painted it hot pink or something. I think you'd reach a breaking point. Your friend still was going to the same destination as you, still in the same car, but no long- he was coming between your authority over that car. And when man interjects his hand, he now interjects man's way to what God does for his people. But I want you to see God's reaction. Look here at verse seven. First Samuel eight and verse 7. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected me, or excuse me, thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. Not rejecting God as a person or as a savior, but rejecting God's rule, God's reign over them. So Samuel, you listen to what they say. If my people want a king, then we'll give them a king. Suddenly we learn something about God here. That God will not force his government on his people. How do you legislate yourself on people? Those of you that have had children. When they're young, you can kind of force them to do things, but as they get older, how do you legislate your authority and your desires and your will? It's a tough thing to do at times, isn't it? And how do you legislate your love on a spouse or somebody or a child, and you say, you must love me. How do you do that? How do you reach the heart? You can't. And God cannot legislate his love nor legislate his authority, at least he won't. Upon his people. So he says, Samuel, they don't want me. They're not really rejecting you. They're rejecting me. Give them a king. We have a God today who will not legislate his authority on his people. We have a God today that we're going to see God will choose the king for him. Samuel will pour the anointing oil over him, and God will actually give them a king. And we have what we call today, probably there's a better expression, for lack of a better expression that I can think of, we have God's directive will and God's permissive will in this story. What God directs, what he wants, what he reveals as his plan. Or we could call it God's perfect will and God's permissive will, in other words, what he allows, what he will let men do if they want to do it. You know, when we get to a verse like Romans chapter twelve and verse two, where it tells the believer, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. God has a perfect will. He wants you and I to find it and do it. Now, sometimes, sometimes it's younger people, sometimes it's not. They will say to me, and I'm sure you've heard it, you'll tell them something from the Word of God, and they will say nobody's perfect. And they're right. And then you'll tell them something about the Church of God, and they'll say no church is perfect. And they're right. No church is perfect. I remember a few years ago in New York, the elders asked me to check into a man from Messianic Judaism who wanted to come and give the assembly a presentation. The only problem was I happened to know their doctrine, that they believe that if you weren't a born of a Jewish parent, that you could not be in this Jewish alliance. You could come to the congregation, but you weren't part of the Jewish alliance, this Christian alliance. And so I asked this man about it. I said, you know, that wall has been broken down, but we're one in Christ, and there is no difference now. We're in Christ. He says, well, Randy, he says, I agree with you. I, I agree that's not good to keep Gentiles out like that, but they taught me in seminary that every denomination is entitled to one error. He said, that's ours, so I live with it. I said, well, the book of Revelation, we do have errors, but Christ tells us to repent of it. You see, it is true nobody's perfect. It is true no church is perfect. It's also true God has a perfect will. I want you and I to find it and do it, even though it'll be a sacrifice. Never mind, as somebody said once, I'm a bond slave. Never mind what my master allows. He can do what he wants, but I have to do what my master tells me. So yes, God does have a permissive will in the sense he will permit his people to do some things, but he also has a, a perfect will. He wants you and I to find it and do. Now, Lord's Day even, we're going to continue this story, Lord willing. We're going to stop it here, where God acquiesces to the people's demand to give them a king, but he's not going to do it without protest. God in his wisdom knows what it will involve, and he wants his people to hear for sure what this involves, putting the hand of man, putting a man between God's leadership and his people. And we'll see that, then we'll see there'll be blessings with it, and there'll also be great problems with it. For be not deceived, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap, Galatians six seven. But we've attempted to lay the foundation tonight, the foundation of God's people changing the form of government, rejecting God's direct leadership, inserting the hand of man, and how we see that more almost everywhere we go. We see the hand of man now doing things God and the Holy Spirit once did. And yet, how does God react to it? What are the consequences? And can there still be blessing? Well, we'll save those thoughts for what the Word of God teaches us, uh, Lord's Day evening, Lord willing. So may God encourage you in this little study of Samuel, the governmental dealings of God among his people. Let's just ask God to look you on his word. Our Father in heaven, we are in thy holy presence, but we are in there fitly through the blood of Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ. We stand accepted in the beloved. He's not only our savior, oh, he is our savior, but he's our head. Lord, may we have that desire in the assembly here. That is sufficient for us. And even when we can't understand thy dealings, the results aren't the way we want them. They weren't for Israel all the time. And even when men fail, for men do fail, as Samuel's sons did, may we never change the pattern to solve the problem. Father, may the assembly be encouraged in the headship, the lordship of Christ, and to see that it never pays to bring the hand of man in. But yet thou art a God who will not force thyself.