1 SAMUEL 8 TO PURSUE OR NOT TO PURSUE2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 8 To Pursue Or Not To Pursue

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

Well, this evening we're going to be in 1 Samuel chapter 8 and continuing our journey through the book of Samuel and talking about the subject of pursuing the heart of God. And we'll see what the Lord has for us on that in just a moment. But let's begin by reading the first few verses of 1 Samuel chapter 8. It's 1 Samuel 8 verses 1 through 5. And we'll read that and then get going on what the Lord has for us. Verse 1 says...

Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his son's judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba, but his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.

Here as we continue on in the book of Samuel in chapter 8 now, we are kind of transitioning into the time where Israel is now going to have a king.

We spent a lot of time, or actually they spent a lot of time in that time of the judges where different judges were raised up as there was a need, as there was oppression, as they rebelled against God. But there was no central king. After Moses and Joshua, there was not one leader over all of Israel.

And then lastly, God has raised up Samuel, and he has been a central figure for the whole nation and ministering to the nation and drawing the whole nation and all the people back to right relationship with God.

But now Samuel's ministry is going to be fading out. He's going to be around for quite some time as we work our way through Samuel. But his ministry is going to be kind of fading out. And now they're going to be transitioning into a monarchy. And there's going to be a king over Israel. And this is the chapter where we see that begin to unfold and take place as they...

Well, they realize Samuel's sons are not going to be like Samuel, and so we have to put something in place and establish something to have leadership for our nation. Now, as we've been working our way through Samuel, we've been focusing on the theme and the subject of pursuing God's heart.

And that is, it comes down to obedience to God and the desire and the willingness and the actual pursuit of and making choices and living our lives in a way that would bring glory to God, that would honor God's name and would fulfill his will and his commands for us.

And so we want to continue to look at pursuing God's heart, and I want to continue to encourage you to pursue the heart of God this evening. And as we look at chapter 8, I've titled the message, To Pursue or Not to Pursue. And you may think it's to be or not to be, but really this is the question. To pursue or not to pursue. That it's a decision that we have to face. It's a decision that we have to make, and

As I have shared before, it's not a once and for all decision, but it's a decision that we have to continue to make. And we see that demonstrated here in this passage. We'll talk about that a little bit this evening. That you and I have to continually, ongoing, make the decision whether or not we are going to pursue God's heart or whether we are not going to pursue God's heart. Whether or not God's heart is going to be the highest priority for us,

or whether it's not going to be that much of a priority for us. That we have to make that decision on an ongoing basis, on a daily basis, and throughout the day, whether or not we are going to pursue God's heart. And so, of course, I want to...

encourage you as you have the opportunity to make that decision, to make the decision to pursue God's heart. But what happens if you make the decision to not pursue God's heart? And that's really what we see unfold here in this chapter. And so we'll work our way through it. There's four points I'd like to share with you. Point number one is found in the verses we just read, and that is that each person must choose.

As we talk about this idea of pursuing God's heart and whether or not to pursue or not to pursue, I'd like to remind you that it comes down to a personal choice. That it's not something that someone else can do for you. It's not something that's inherited. You know, we talked about a couple of us, you know, being raised in the church, but there had to be that point that

Well, there was a personal decision to pursue the heart of God. Each of us needs to have a point in our life where we have chosen to pursue God's heart. It doesn't just happen that one time, but it begins somewhere, and then it needs to be ongoing. And again, it can't just be your legacy like one time a long time ago. I chose to pursue God's heart, but what is the choice that you have made today to pursue or not to pursue?

Well, looking again at verse 1, it says,

We've seen Samuel when he was young and raised up in the tabernacle and how he stepped up in chapter 7 and led Israel back to the Lord and into victory against the Philistines. And he just kind of like jumps over, you know, the bulk of his life, the bulk of his ministry as it goes from chapter 7 to chapter 8. And now he's old.

and he's about to be, you know, moving off the scene. And so what he does in preparation for that is he sets up his sons. He has two sons. He sets them up as judges.

and places them in Beersheba. And they begin to have authority and exercise that authority that they have within the nation and are judges in that area of Beersheba. Now Beersheba was the southern part of Israel. We looked at Samuel's circuit last week. He was in Ramah and he went to a few places, but it was right kind of in the central Israel area. And so he places his sons in the southern region and

and gives them authority there and an opportunity to exercise that authority as judges. But it points out here in verse 3 that the sons of Samuel did not walk in Samuel's ways. They did not follow in their father's footsteps. They weren't faithful to the Lord, and they weren't just in their judging. Instead, it says they turned aside after dishonest gain.

They took the authority that they were given and they began to exercise that authority to benefit themselves.

And so they took bribes. They perverted justice. They were making decisions that were not good, but benefited them. And so they were out for their own gain. And we could very easily summarize this saying they did not pursue God's heart. They were not faithful to pursue God like Samuel was. And it's interesting to reflect on this because here you have

the sons, the children of one of the greatest men of God who has ever lived. I think Samuel can easily be classified in that way. I mean, we have the record here in the book of Samuel about his origin and how God brought him into existence and the revival that the Lord accomplished through him and bringing the nation of Israel back to him. And the impact that he had on the nation was huge. He's one of the greatest men of God who ever lived, we could say,

And yet his sons did not follow in his footsteps and did not pursue the heart of God. And again, I point that out to say, every person must choose. The sons of Samuel did not automatically have the pursuit of the heart of God as their highest priority necessarily.

Because, well, their dad was the greatest man of God, you know, in existence at that time. That he was the prophet to the nation. That he was the priest to the nation. So it was automatically transferred to them. It didn't work that way and it doesn't work that way. There is that saying, I've shared it before, God has no grandchildren. God has no grandchildren. That is, everybody has to have grandchildren.

that first generation connection to God. There's nobody who's connected to God through, well, my parents were saved, and so I'm saved. My parents seek after God, so it's kind of like I inherit that, and I'm God's grandchild. No, if you believe in Jesus Christ, you're a child of God. There's no grandchildren. And each one of us has to make that choice for ourselves to

to pursue the heart of God and to seek after God. We each have to have our own encounter with God. We all have it at different times and, and it happens in different ways for us, but, but we have to personally know God and seek after him. And here the children of Samuel, for whatever reason, do not pursue the heart of God. Now, a lot of times people will look at this and fault Samuel, uh,

and, you know, begin to talk about his bad parenting skills and things like that. And, you know, it's possible that Samuel was a bad dad. You know, it doesn't really give us any insight into that. But I always like to point out, it's not necessarily true that Samuel was a bad dad. I would point out that God does not rebuke Samuel for his son's

We go through this chapter, and God and Samuel are communicating back and forth throughout the whole chapter. There's a lot of back and forth, and God certainly had opportunity to rebuke and correct Samuel for his parenting skills if that was needed, but God did not correct Samuel for his parenting skills. Now, in contrast, we saw Eli back in the earlier chapters of Samuel, and similar situation. Eli was the priest. Eli had sons who were corrupt, and

But God rebukes Eli seriously and severely and several times. We read about it several times in these chapters. And there was a prophet that God sent and then God spoke to Samuel. The first time God spoke to Samuel, it was rebuking Eli for his lack of parenting and he needed to address the situation with his sons and

And so we can look at Eli and know for sure he was a bad dad and he didn't follow through with what God wanted him to do. But here in the case of Samuel, I would suggest it seems that

This wasn't a situation of Samuel not doing what was necessary on his part, but it was, well, the freedom of choice that his sons had, whether or not they were going to follow the Lord. And in verse 3, it tells us, his sons did not walk in his ways. And notice what it says, they turned aside after dishonest gain. And so the idea here is that, well, they started out, they got, you know, put into the right direction, right?

and then they turned aside. They went their own way, and they made that choice, and that is a choice that they had to make. It was a choice that they were free to make. It's a choice that they made, and they turn away from pursuing God's heart, and they start pursuing their own gain, what they want, what they desire, even if it costs a perversion of justice.

even if it costs righteousness or other people things. It didn't matter. What mattered was I want to pursue what I want. Now, I would ask you to consider something along these lines with me that it tells us specifically in verse 2 that they were judges in Beersheba, which was the southern part of Israel. And I had a thought as I was working through this in preparation for this evening that

Again, this is just a little bit of speculation, so please bear with me a little bit. But I would suggest perhaps this was a wise move that Samuel did.

Rather than waiting for his death, for his sons to, you know, then kind of step up and take office, while he's still around, while he still is able to be an influence, he sets up his sons. And he sets up his sons not to replace him, but he gives them the southern region. He sets them up in Beersheba. And so he gives them an opportunity. I would suggest maybe this was a testing ground.

Hey guys, you know, boys, my sons, you know, I'm going to set you up an authority here and let's see how you do as a judge here in this region. Samuel still was in the central area of Israel and so still had influence and was able to, you know, guide and provide counsel and be able to help them. But, you know, yeah, let's just send the boys down south and see how they do with some responsibility. Right?

I think that's a wise thing to do. In fact, Timothy is instructed by Paul in 1 Timothy 3, verse 10. Paul tells him in regard to deacons, he says, "'Let these first be tested, "'and then let them serve as deacons, "'being found blameless.'"

That it's appropriate when authority is being given, when roles and responsibilities are being given, that there be that time of testing. That there be that opportunity to, well, let's see how you do. Let's see how things play out. Because, well, you and I, we know very well, sometimes when people are given authority, it goes to their head. They take it sideways and they turn aside and

from, well, what looked great before, and then sometimes the true colors are shown only after the authority is given. And so I think maybe this is a wise thing that Samuel does. He gives them this opportunity. He sets them up in Beersheba. They're tested to see, are you going to be faithful to pursue God's heart? And it's something good for us to consider as we are

given authority or as we are giving authority and raising up others to, you know, take responsibility that there needs to be that testing. There needs to be that watchful eye and that carefulness that as people are, you know, put into new roles and responsibilities that sometimes they make the decision then to turn aside like Samuel's sons did.

And so we see the example each person must choose in the example of Samuel's sons, but also going on to verse 4 and 5, we see it in the elders of Israel. Verse 4 says, They were pretty nice to this guy, right?

look, Samuel, you're old, dude. I mean, you've really gone downhill. And so we need to make some decisions. We need to start planning. What are we going to do after Samuel is gone? Because your sons don't walk in your ways. So maybe we were hoping that your sons would be able to like take your place and have the responsibility, you know, to lead the nation and to influence the nation. But that's not looking good. Your sons do not walk in your ways.

So Samuel, we gathered you here not to ask for prayer. We gathered you here not to ask for counsel. We gathered you here to tell you what we want to do. We want a king. That's what we want. We've chosen. We've decided. We want a king to judge us. And notice it says, like all the nations. The elders of Israel gathered together here and they're making a choice. They're making a decision at this point.

talking about pursuing the heart of God, they're making a decision to not pursue the heart of God. In that, well, first of all, they're not here meeting with Samuel to seek the Lord. Sometimes this can happen in our lives. And again, this is why the decision to pursue God's heart is not just one that we do one time a long time ago, but that we do on an ongoing basis. That as we look ahead, the elders of Israel looked ahead and thought, man, Samuel's old, his sons aren't doing good.

They're being wise in looking ahead and thinking about what's going to happen when Samuel's gone. That's wisdom, to look ahead, to think about what is going to be necessary, how are needs going to be met, where's the leadership going to come from. It's good stuff that they're thinking about. But the issue is, then they came up with their own decision instead of letting God provide a solution for them.

If they would have came and sought the Lord and said, you know, Samuel, can we gather together and pray? Because, well, you're old and your sons aren't walking with the Lord. We need to ask God what he wants for us as a nation. That would have been a great opportunity for the elders to pursue God's heart and to find out what do you want for the nation. But instead, as they looked ahead and foresaw possible issues, they came up with their own plan. They came up with their own solution and

To a problem that wasn't even there yet, but they came up with their own solution and decided we want a king. And again, sometimes we are faced with similar situations where we know that

Things are coming up. You know, bills are going to have to be paid. Okay, how am I going to get the money? And then we have a decision to make. Are we going to pursue God's heart and ask God how he wants to meet that need? Or are we going to come up with our own plan and just do our own thing and not consider what God wants, but just do what we want? Here's what I've decided.

We foresee a situation in this relationship. We foresee a situation in this workplace or whatever. And we're looking ahead and that's wise. There's good things, you know, or it's a good thing to do. But we need to take that, then the worries and the cares and the concerns about those future things and come back to the Lord and choose to pursue God's heart for those issues, for those situations that are coming up.

into our lives. Now, as they make this decision and they make this choice, they base their decision on the experience of the nations around them. They begin to look around and think, wow, they have a king and they have a king and they have a king and they have a king. And look at Israel. We don't have a king. You know what we need? We need a king. And so the basis for their decision was the nations around them.

And being like them, they looked at that and thought, you know, that would be so much better. Now, it's easy for us to, you know, look at this and go, you know, are you guys crazy? You have God leading you. You have God as your king, and now you want a man as your king? Like, what kind of exchange is that? You have this amazing king, this God who led you to victory over the Philistines when you couldn't, and fought battles for you, and

And you want to exchange that for a human king because you want to be like the nations around you. That's their priority. That's their focus. And they'll mention that again later on in the chapter. We want to be like the nations around us. And again, this is why the decision to pursue God's heart is something that we face on a regular basis because, well, we have the world around us, don't we? And we have the desire to be like the world around us.

And there's a constant friction that's going on. There's a constant decision. Are we going to fall in line with the world around us or are we going to pursue God's heart? I forgot to have the ushers hand this out to you as you come in. So Russell, right there, there's a stack of papers. If you could hand them out to people. There's this little paragraph. Well, I guess it's more than a paragraph, but it's this little quote from a guy named G.W. Watson.

and I'm not going to read through the whole thing because it's a little bit too long for us to get into right now, but I would encourage you to read it. This has impacted my life. This

is one of those things that I often refer back to in my own mind and in my own heart. It was in the back of a book called Second by Romaine, Pastor Romaine, who is Pastor Chuck's assistant pastor. And so in the back of this book, he had this quote, this little article from G.D. Watson entitled, Others May, You Cannot.

And I remember even as a teenager reading this and it spoke to me deeply. It was really impactful for me. Reflecting on the idea of others around you may be able to do all kinds of things, right?

And may have the freedom to enjoy all kinds of things or do all kinds of things or go to different places. They may have a lot of freedoms looking at the Christians around you. They may do things differently. They may operate differently. They may have a lot of freedom that's different than your freedom. Others may. But then he looks at, well, ourselves and says, you cannot do

And he considers and compares different situations. And again, I would encourage you to read through that and consider some of those things. But one of the early paragraphs, he says this, if God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, he will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians.

And this is an important lesson for us to learn, to grasp hold of, to accept that the reality is the people around us are not the standard for how we are to live. They're not the standard of what's acceptable in our lives. They're not the standard of what we can do and what we cannot do. They're not the standard of what God wants for us in our lives. We have to go to God directly and

to find out the heart of God, to pursue the heart of God. And if God's called you to be like Jesus, he's going, well, to bring you into this situation where you're going to find that others may, but you cannot. That you don't have the same freedoms. You don't have the same calling. You don't have the same instruction that perhaps even the Christian next to you has.

And we can't use that as the standard, as the basis for the decisions we make. And we can get, well, sidetracked like the elders of Israel by the others around us and think, well, this is what I'm going to do and make our decisions without asking God what he desires for us. Now, the point of this article and what I'm sharing here is not that

Others may, and you cannot because you're holier and you're more special. And, you know, other people don't really measure up to your standard. That's not the point. The point is God has different instruction, different freedoms, different convictions, different callings for each of us. And so we have to look to God and find out what does he want in our lives.

Now, I began earlier this evening with a little bit of a survey asking you, how old were you when you first gave your life to the Lord? I'd ask you to think about that phrase. We use that to describe our conversion or responding to the offer of salvation that I gave my life to the Lord. And this is what I would ask you to consider this evening. Again, looking at each person must choose

You made that choice, and we call it even, I give my life to the Lord. I gave my life to the Lord. But then so often in our lives, we kind of revert back, and we take back our lives, and we start to do what we want to do. And we choose to not pursue God's heart. Sometimes we choose to do what we want because that's what the people around us are doing, or for a variety of reasons. But

But even when we start out well, think about Samuel's sons. They were raised well. They had a godly heritage. Their dad was a great man of God. But then boom, they made some bad choices and they started going sideways. They started going off in a different direction. Here you have Israel's elders. Started out well.

In the sense that when Samuel stood up and called the nation to repentance, they came to repentance and they laid aside their idols and they began to serve the Lord. In 1 Samuel 7, verse 4, it tells us the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Asherahs and served the Lord only. These elders responded to that initial call of repentance.

They saw the difference of the defeat by the Philistines in their disobedience and then in their repentance and revival, the victory that God gave them and the victory for Samuel's life as the Philistines did not come and attack them again during Samuel's time in ministry. They saw the difference. They had the good influence. They responded to the call of repentance. But then now, boom, bad choice. They have the choice now.

And now they're choosing not to pursue. All of that to say, we need to keep ourselves in a position where we continue to choose to pursue God's heart. And it's a very dangerous thing to play around with, choosing things that you know are not what God wants. And sometimes we think it's a little area. It's not that big of a deal. But these things have big impact in our lives.

And we need to keep ourselves because even if we start out great and start out awesome, have great influence, great leaders, great parents, whatever the case may be, that doesn't mean that we choose to pursue God's heart for the rest of our life automatically. It's a choice that we must make on an ongoing, a regular, a daily basis. Will you choose to pursue God's heart or will you turn aside? Other people are not the standard for what God has for you.

You need to hear from God. What does He want you to do? How does He want you to handle those situations? How does He want you to entertain yourself and enjoy yourself and have times of relaxing as well as times of work? I mean, you might look at Josh and say, well, he gets to have ESPN. Doesn't that mean I get to have ESPN? Not necessarily. What does God want? You might look at Russell and think, he has that cool truck. Doesn't that mean I can have a cool truck? Not necessarily. You

You might look at this person or that person and think, well, like, I like this. I like that. I want to be like that. I want to have that. I want to do that. I want to speak that way. I want to have that kind of opportunities, that kind of freedoms. But the reality is others may, but you have to check with the Lord to pursue God's heart. It's a very personal thing. I mean, there's obviously some things that are across the board, the scriptures that we have and the commands and the, the,

The commands to do, the commands not to do. We have some very clear parameters that are generally applied to all of us. But much more beyond that, there's the personal decisions that we have to make. And the things that God has for us and the way that he wants us to operate and to move and to do things. We have to pursue God's heart. We have to continue to make that choice. It's not going to happen automatically just because it began.

Just because we had good influence or good heritage, we have to keep ourselves in a position where we run back to God and run back to God and run back to God for the direction that we need, for the help that we need. Well, moving on to verses six through nine, as we continue to talk about to pursue or not to pursue, whether or not we're going to make the choice to pursue, we have to make that choice. Point number two now, as we look at verses six through nine, is God will let you choose.

This choice is not just kind of a fake opportunity to choose. You give someone the opportunity, you give a kid the opportunity to make a choice, and if they make the wrong choice, well, that's not what we're going to do. I gave you the choice hoping you'd make the right decision, but since you made the wrong decision, we're going to do the right thing anyways. You don't have a choice actually then. But God actually, when he gives us a choice, here's what you need to understand. It's a powerful thing he gives you. I would say,

It's the most powerful thing that God has given you. He gives you choice. And when he gives you choice, he really means it. It's your choice. You get to choose and your choice will be your choice. In verse 6 says,

It says, the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And then notice in verse seven, and the Lord said to Samuel, heed the voice of the people. Heed the voice of the people. Now we'll see from the text as we go on, they're wrong. Their hearts are wrong. Their focus is wrong. Their priorities are wrong. They're wrong in asking for a king at this time. It's sinful what they're doing right now.

That'll be clear in this chapter and in a few chapters to come. God will make it clear. This is the wrong decision. But God says, heed the voice of the people. They have the choice. God's given them the choice and he's going to let them choose. And if they choose, if they insist on, no, we want to go our way, to do our thing, to do what we think is best, God will let them make that decision.

But clearly it's a bad decision. And so it says in verse six that the thing displeased Samuel.

He's very unhappy about this because, well, he sees it as a tragedy that it is. Now, he's also taking it personally because he's also the leader, right? And so it's affecting him personally, but also he's recognizing that it's not the right decision. And he hates to see them go the wrong direction, but God's going to let them go the wrong way, right?

He's going to let them pursue what they choose to pursue, whether that's his heart or their own thoughts and desires. And that's what they're pursuing. And God's going to allow them to do that. This is a really important lesson for us because Samuel's upset about this. But God tells Samuel, heed the voice of the people. Sometimes you have to let people choose.

This is really hard for us when there's people around us that we love that are making the wrong choice. But look at this example of Samuel and take note. Now, there is a part that we get to play in those types of situations. We'll see that in just a moment. But the bottom line, God says is, Samuel, I'm going to let them choose, which means you have to let them choose. You have to give them the freedom to make that choice.

You have to let them go the direction that they want to go. Not without warning. He'll give him instruction to warn them. But you can't force anybody to pursue God's heart. Again, going back to point number one, it's a choice every person has to make. And when someone chooses to go the other way,

Well, understand, God will let you choose. And when we have influence, when we have people around us that we love and care for, and we see them going the wrong way, it's really hard for us to not want to just like take over, you know, and force the right way. But we can't.

We can't. God's going to let them choose. We have to let them choose. In verse 7 again, the Lord said to Samuel, heed the voice of the people and all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but notice what he says, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. Again, notice this is clearly a bad decision that they're making right now. God says they haven't rejected you, but they have rejected me.

The elders of Israel are looking at the nations around them and they're thinking, we want a king. And they're probably not thinking of the decision in these terms in their minds. Again, which is an important reason to understand the power of choice. They're probably deceived in their own minds. But the reality of the decision they're making is we do not want God to reign over us. We're choosing a king instead of God. Now, if you would have asked them, you know, using that terminology, perhaps they would have

not been clicked to say, oh yeah, we want to disregard. They would have had an explanation. No, no, we still want to follow God, but we just need a king. Other nations have a king. But God removes all the excuses, all the clutter of explanations, excuses,

It shows the reality. They are rejecting God from reigning over them. They're making the decision to not pursue God's heart. Verse eight, according to all the works which they have done since the day I brought them out of Egypt, even to this day with which they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they are doing to you also. Here's what God tells Samuel. Samuel,

Come here, bud. Let me put my arm around you. I know you're new to this. I know it's tough. I've been doing this for a long time, God says. You know, they've been rejecting me for a long time. This isn't the first time. This is like the thousandth time that they've rejected me and turned away from me. It's the same thing over. So it's okay. It's okay, bud Samuel. I know this is the first time you're experiencing it. I know it's rough. It was rough for me the first time around too. You know, it's kind of like God's like comforting him like, no, this is what they've been doing for a long time.

They've been running from God, choosing to forsake God, to serve other gods. And now you're on the scene and you get to experience it. And it's hard. It's painful. But Samuel, they're choosing not to pursue my heart. I'm going to let them go, Samuel. You have to let them go. If God lets people choose, we have to let them choose also. At the same time, it is appropriate to warn people. Check out verse 9.

So it's a bad decision. They're rejecting God. They're turning away from God. They're pursuing something besides God. You have to let them make that choice, Samuel, but you need to warn them about the cost of that choice. And so Samuel does have a role here. It's not to force them

to make the right choice. It's not to force the right thing. It's not to force, you know, them to not have a king, but it's to provide a warning. It's to let them know. It's to bring their attention to the consequences of the choice that they are making. You know, it's interesting how God works these things out. Dave and I were having similar conversation to what we're talking about here in this passage just yesterday.

And it's a tough thing to do when there's people that we know, when there's people that we love, and they're not making good choices. In fact, I was even talking to my sister-in-law about this just this last week too, that

When you see that happen, you just want to step in and make choices for them and make it happen the way it's supposed to happen. But, you know, then the kind of humorous thing is you look at your own life, like, yeah, I'm going to make all the decisions for your life because I've done such a great job with my life. You're like, oh, wait, never mind. You know, I, for some reason, it's so clear. I can see clearly what you're supposed to do. The point is we don't see that clearly. Again, that's why we each have to make the choice to pursue God's heart. But he,

Here's the point again. God will let you choose. And that means that we have to let people choose. Our responsibility then is to not force the choice, not to force the way, the right way, but to warn. And we'll see that as we move on into the next point. Choice is a powerful thing. God means it when he gives you a choice. You really are free to choose to pursue whatever you want. You are free to choose whatever you want. If you want to pursue a life of sin, God will.

Gives you that freedom. You can choose that if you want. It's not a good life. It's a hard life. It's a painful life. But he lets you choose. If you want to reject Jesus Christ, he will let you. You are free to choose whatever you want to pursue. So what do you choose to pursue? Is it the heart of God that you've chosen to pursue? Moving on to verses 10 through 18, we have point number three now. God warns about the wrong choice.

So he gives you the freedom to choose, but he does offer the warnings about the wrong choice. There's huge costs involved in choosing to not pursue the heart of God. Now, as we look through these things, I would encourage you, don't immediately jump in your mind and liken it to the idea of like salvation.

This isn't necessarily a salvation, unsaved, not saved, you know, whatever kind of situation. Because the children of Israel are still God's people, even though they make the wrong choice and reject God, you know, that they're still God's people. He's still going to be working in their life. They're not fully pursuing God, and it's going to cost them greatly. That's not necessarily an equivalent to saved or not saved.

We have to be careful about that. But the point is, so we as believers can make choices to not pursue God's heart and experience great costs and great suffering

Maybe it's not an issue of salvation. Now, maybe it is. I'm not saying, let's not eliminate it completely. But at the same time, it's not, you know, one-to-one like that. But jumping into the passage, verse 10. So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him for a king. 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 his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.

So now God's going to outline for them the behavior of the king, what it's going to look like. He says, okay, you want to make this choice. I want to help you think about the implications, the ramifications. And he gives them some very specific examples because God wants them to stop and think about and understand the choice that you're making is

Play it through, you know, think about what's actually going to happen. And sometimes we make choices without thinking through, you know, all of the realities that it will impact. And so he helps them to kind of visualize some of that. Okay, picture yourself. Okay, you've got a king now. How is this king going to behave? Well, let me tell you how he's going to behave, God says. He's going to take your sons. Now they're looking at the nations around them.

And they're saying, wow, having a king, man, that seems so great to have that guy right there. And he just tells you what to do. And then you do it. It's like, oh, great. Yes, we want a king. Now God says, now think about it. Of course, this king's going to need horsemen. He's going to need runners to go before him and announce that the king is coming. So think about that. Where's he going to get the people to be his horsemen, to be his runners? God says, he's going to take your kids to fill that role.

God wants them to picture very clearly, like picture your son. Your son is going to be the one who runs before the chariot saying, hey, the king is coming. Is that what you want for your child when they grow up? You want them to be a chariot runner, you know, just run in front? That's the dream life that you've been dreaming for them? That's the heritage that you want to pass on to them? That's what you want to give them, to be the runner before the king?

God says, think about the implications here. Whether or not you pursue God's heart will have a huge impact, not just on you, but on your children. It's going to impact your children's opportunities. The future of your children, it's hugely impacted by whether or not you choose to pursue God's heart. Verse 12, he will appoint captains over his thousands and captain over his fifties. He will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

So now you have a king, and of course your king's going to need an army. Where's he going to get the soldiers? He's going to take your kids. God says, think about it. Is that what you want? Is that what you've been dreaming for your kids, to be soldiers enlisted in the army? You were counting on your sons to help you manage the crops. You were building your barns thinking about, all right, I've got 12 sons, you know, and I can really harvest a lot of crops with 12 sons. I can do pretty well. We can survive really well as a family with 12 sons, right?

But God says, he's going to take your sons. It's going to change your plans. It's going to change your thoughts, your desires, your dreams. This decision to pursue God's heart, it's going to come with some costs. Your sons will be plowing your king's ground instead of your ground. Have you thought about that? Have you pictured that? Have you thought through the implications of this? Verse 13, he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. Not just your sons will be impacted, but your daughters are going to be taken from you.

Now in their culture and their customs, the family stayed close. Your son gets married, you build a house on your property for them. Maybe it's just the next level up. Maybe it's, but it's like, right, like you stay together. But here God's saying, look, when you have a king, he's going to take your sons. He's going to take your daughter. You're not going to have life with them like you thought.

It's going to change everything. Verse 14, he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and your vintage and give it to his officers and servants. So it's not only going to impact your children, but it's going to impact your property. It's going to impact your income. And so you can look and say, wow, king sounds great, but someone has to pay for the king and for his armies and for his, you know, all the stuff that he has.

And he could look at your field and say, that's a nice field. I want to give that to Dave and Jackie. I think it'd be good for them. So give me that field and I'm giving it to them. Yeah. Because he's king. He can do that. That's the authority that a king has. Now, God says you need to think through these things. You need to understand the costs that are involved. It's not just, oh, it's going to be wonderful. You're going to have a great leader. And what if he's a mean leader and he has the authority to take your field and give it to whoever he wants?

That's a reality of having a king. So God is saying, look, this is what you need to think about. Verse 16, he will take your male servants, your female servants, your finest young men, and your donkeys and put them to his work. He will take a 10th of your sheep and you will be his servant. So it's gonna impact everything you own, everything you have, and even you will be his servants. God's gonna let you choose. And if you wanna choose to pursue that,

You have that choice, but that choice has real implications. It's going to really impact your life. There's great costs, and it's going to cost your children. It's going to cost your property. It's going to cost your income. It's going to cost your resources. And as you go through, you know, all of these different things, you could ask, well, what area of their lives was not going to be impacted by this decision? I would suggest there was no area that's not impacted by

Another way to say that is every aspect of their life was going to be impacted by this decision to pursue a king instead of the heart of God. Verse 18, and you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves and the Lord will not hear you in that day. God says you're going to regret this decision. You're going to cry out to God because

After your children are taken, and your property is taken, and your income is taken, and your resources are taken, and you find yourself servants of this king, and it's not a good situation, it's not all what you dreamed it to be, you're going to cry out to God, and God says, I'm not going to hear you. Now, not that he won't hear them in the sense of loving them, or providing for them, or meeting their needs, but he's not going to reverse that decision.

He's not going to reverse all the consequences for that decision. He's not going to just, poof, make it all go away. Rewind, you know, okay, let's, it was nice to pretend, you know. No, the reality is God said, I'm going to let that decision stand. You're going to experience those consequences for the rest of your life because of this choice that you make. God warns about the wrong choice. He uses Samuel to warn about the wrong choice. So again, going back to God will let them choose. And that means also we have to let people choose.

But as God leads us, now this doesn't mean that we, you know, every conversation, you know, every time we see something, we have to like issue a strong warning. God gave them one strong warning. He told Samuel when to give it, he gave it. We need to follow that example. But to provide the warning and say, listen, you pursue that life. There's a world of hurt. There's consequences to that decision. I would encourage you to consider that.

Are you on the verge of this kind of choice? You know, I don't know where you're at in your heart. Sometimes we gradually slip away from pursuing God's heart and kind of through neglect, you know, we kind of fall away, we slip away, we backslide. But sometimes we make a decision because of something that we really, really, really, really want. And we've seen this happen many times in lives of people that we know and we love that

Great opportunity, great potential, great, you know, awesome heritage and walk with God. And, you know, but I really want this. It's not a good pursuit. It's not a good thing to choose. I don't think that's what God wants for you. I don't think that's what God has for you. There's going to be some costs. And sometimes it is a choice that we make, a decision that we make to run after. I've done that. I spent a whole season of my life, you know. Hey, raised in the church, awesome. But there was a few years of...

just pursuing something else, anything else. And God says, you're going to regret the decision to not pursue God's heart. You're thinking about that thing that you really, really want. You're, I don't know, maybe you're asking the question, can I still do this and be saved? You know, possibly, but it's going to cost you. If God's not giving you the direction, it's going to cost you to go that direction. It's going to impact your children and

It's going to impact your property, your income, your resources. What area of your life is not going to be impacted? It's going to impact everything. The choice to pursue God's heart is such a huge choice. And it's a choice we have to make every day. And again, that's why we need to keep ourselves in a position where we continue to run back to God to pursue his heart, to call out to him, to seek him for leading, for counsel, for guidance, for wisdom. We need to keep ourselves in that place.

Because to not be in that place has great, great cost. Well, finally, verses 19 through 22 gives us point number four, and that is that God will honor your choice. Again, choice is a powerful thing. Probably the most powerful thing that God has given to you, the freedom to choose. And you, you can greatly impact your life. You can change the whole rest of your life in one day with one choice.

I mean, it's powerful, this opportunity to choose that God has given to us. And what you need to understand about your choices is that God will honor your choices. He lets you choose, and then when you choose, He honors that choice. That choice is for real. Now, that doesn't mean there's no opportunity for repentance, but again, He honors that choice. And so even as we saw in

Verse 18, that when you cry out in that day because you're king, for you have chosen, God says, I'm not going to just take away that choice. I'm not going to just take away all the hurt, the pain, the consequences. You will live with the results of that choice. God honors choice that much.

Verse 19, nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel and they said, no, but we will have a king over us that we may be like all the nations and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. They said, no, we hear your warning. We hear what you're saying. No, we want what we want. We will have a king. That's what we want. We want to be like the nations. Notice their priorities.

We really want to be like everybody else. We really want to fit in. Jesus told us in John chapter 15, verse 18, he says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Some of our decisions to just kind of fit in and not be hated by the world are actually decisions to not pursue the heart of God that have great costs and great consequences. I was reading an article earlier this week. I didn't

I don't have it available to share with you, but I'll probably post it to Facebook later because I didn't realize the connection until afterwards. But I was reading it earlier this week. It was talking about, are you preparing your kids to be hated? Are you teaching your kids how to live in a world that hates them for their pursuit of Christ? It's an interesting thing to consider. I think a lot of times we're preparing people we want to fit in

and not stand out, but Jesus made it very clear. We're different. And what God has called us to is different. We want to be like the other nations, but listen, sometimes being like the other nations is a direct rebellion and revolt against God. And there's a huge cost to that. And God's going to honor your choice. And notice what they say in verse 20. We want to be like other nations that our king may judge us.

and go out before us and fight our battles. Now, it was just a little bit earlier in Samuel's ministry. As God called them to repentance through Samuel, God went before them. Remember, he thundered and the Philistines were scattered before Israel. God fought their battles for them, but they said, we want a king to fight our battles. It's a direct exchange. They want a king instead of God. We don't want God to fight our battles. We want our king to fight our battles.

We don't want God to go out before us. We don't want God to lead us. We want our king to lead us. We don't want God to judge us. Don't think of judgment like striking with lightning. Judge is like to make decisions and to tell us what's right and wrong. We want a king to tell us what's right and wrong, not God. They're exchanging a king for God. This is why it's an issue. This is why it's wrong.

And that's what they insist. We want to choose this. Verse 21, Samuel heard all the words of the people and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. So the Lord 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 and we'll...

Pick it up later in chapter nine and begin to see Saul, the first king, come on the scene. But Samuel's torn up over this. He repeats the words back to the Lord because the Lord wasn't there for that meeting. So he didn't get to hear what Israel said. No, no, he heard. Why is Samuel sharing it with the Lord? Because he's agonizing over this.

And notice what God says in verse 22. Heed their voice. He's agonizing over this, and he needs to be reminded from the Lord. Samuel, you have to let them choose, man. I know you want to make them choose the right thing, but we can't force this. God says, I'm going to give them the opportunity to choose. I'm going to honor their choice. We're going to give them a king. They're going to regret it. It's going to come with huge costs, but we're going to let them do this.

God gives us choice. It's a powerful thing. And he really means it when he says you're free to choose. And if you want to choose to pursue God's heart, you're going to be blessed. And if you want to choose not to pursue God's heart, there's going to be costs. There's going to be hurt. There's going to be pain. There's going to be consequences to that. And so God provides this example for us as a warning. Each of us must choose to pursue or not to pursue.

And as always, I encourage you to keep yourself in a position where you continue to choose to pursue God's heart. Keep yourself in a position of reliance and dependence upon God. Not independence, but dependence. Because God will let you choose. And if you choose to go a different direction, he will let you do that. He'll warn you about the choice, but he will let you go. He will honor that choice. He will enforce that choice even. It's a powerful thing.

that God gives you a choice. He means it when he gives you that choice. You are really free to pursue whatever you want, to pursue or not to pursue God's heart. That's the question for you. Which choice are you making? You have the freedom to choose whatever you want, but will you choose to be fully surrendered and submitted to God? I want to close with what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 20. He says, "'You were bought at a price.'"

Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. That is your body and your spirit belong to God. So live your life to glorify God because you were bought at a price. That doesn't happen automatically. It doesn't happen naturally. It's a choice you must make. And again, I asked the question, when did you or how old were you when you gave your life to the Lord? You gave it to the Lord. You gave it to the Lord.

don't take it back. And if you've taken it back, give it back. You don't have the freedom to just watch whatever you want to watch, talk about whatever you want to talk about, go wherever you want to go, do whatever you want to do, earn money however you want to earn. You don't have that freedom. You gave your life to the Lord. You gave up the freedom. You gave up your rights. You gave your life to the Lord. And he bought your life with a price. He paid his own blood. He died for you. You were bought at a price.

and you gave your life to him, therefore glorify God in your body. You live your life. Don't make that choice to pursue something else. You seek God. What does God have for you? What does God say about the situation? What does he want for you? What will please him? What's his will? What's his command? That was the difference between Saul and David. Saul disobeyed God, knew what God wanted and refused to do it. But David would be the man

who would seek after and desire to do what God wants. That is where we need to be. That's the choice that we need to make. Let's pray. God, as we consider this example of the nation of Israel this evening, I pray for each one of us that you would help us to realize the seriousness of the choice that we have and the choice that we have to make.

And Lord, there's no not making a choice. That we're either making one choice to pursue your heart or we're making another choice to pursue something else instead. And I pray for each one of us, Lord, as we recognize the power of that choice, the long-standing consequences and costs of that choice, Lord, help us to

to see clearly the choice that we have and to choose to follow you and to seek after you with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. And Lord, as we minister to those around us that you've placed in our lives and given us opportunity to influence and to encourage and to counsel like Samuel with the elders of Israel, I pray that you would help us to reflect your presence

desires and your will to those people, Lord, help us to represent you well and to allow them the freedom of choice that you allow them with the warnings that you provide, Lord, that we would follow your example and allow you to do the work that you want to do. And so, Lord, help us to follow that, help us to seek you ourselves and to keep ourselves in a position

where we are dependent upon you and relying upon you and looking to you for all direction and everything that we need for this life. So Lord, help us to learn what Jesus said, that apart from you, we can do nothing. Help us to really live that out as we pursue your heart. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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