1 Samuel 8

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Hebrews 4:14-16
• Hymn — Glorify Thy Name
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Faith — Apostles' Creed
• Scripture Reading — Acts 2:1-47
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Fairest Lord Jesus
• Sermon
• Hymn — I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

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Sermon Title: Be Careful What You Wish For

Scripture: 1 Samuel 8

I. A Desire to Be Like the Other Nations Brings Foolishness

A. Israel's demand for a king reflects a desire for the gods of the nations

1. Pagan kings were considered divine manifestations of false gods
2. Israel's request is thus tantamount to forsaking Yahweh for other gods (v. 8)

B. God anticipated this moment in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, prescribing a very different kind of king

1. The king of Israel was not to acquire many horses, wives, or excessive wealth (Deuteronomy 17:16-17)
2. He was to keep the law of the Lord close and govern as a vice regent under Yahweh (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)
3. The king's rule was to be ministerial and declarative — administering God's law — not legislative

C. Obedience to God's law was meant to make Israel a witness to the nations, not an imitator of them (Deuteronomy 4:5-6)

1. Israel's cry in chapter 8 inverts the order: instead of the nations wanting to be like Israel, Israel wants to be like the nations

D. Wanting to be like the world makes us deaf to God's Word and impatient for results

1. Israel's pattern — "Go get the ark" (ch. 4), "Go get us a king" (ch. 8) — contrasts with the genuine repentance of chapter 7
2. The world's slogan is "just do it" — embrace pragmatism, seek quick fixes, discard God's Word

II. A Desire to Be Like the Other Nations Brings Forgetfulness

A. The Ebenezer stone of 1 Samuel 7:12 was set as a memorial: "Till now the Lord has helped us"

1. It pointed back through all of Israel's history to Yahweh's faithfulness as their conquering king

B. God's indictment in verses 7–8 mirrors the entire pattern since the Exodus

1. "They have not rejected you but they have rejected me from being king over them"
2. From Egypt to Samuel's day, Israel has repeatedly forsaken and forgotten Yahweh

C. Embracing the world leads not only to forgetting God but to viewing him with contempt

1. Israel in the wilderness said they preferred bondage under Pharaoh to freedom under God
2. The modern new atheism (e.g., Hitchens, Dawkins) recapitulates this ancient pattern — God becomes the villain
3. This is not new; it is as old as the fall

III. A Desire to Be Like the Other Nations Brings Misery

A. Samuel's warning in verses 10–18 describes a king like those of the surrounding nations

1. He will conscript their sons for military service and forced labor
2. He will take their daughters as servants
3. He will seize their fields, vineyards, flocks, and servants
4. The people will become his slaves, and they will cry out — but the Lord will not answer (v. 18)

B. This is the antithesis of the Deuteronomy 17 king who does not exalt himself above his brothers

C. The most terrifying aspect of this chapter: God gives Israel exactly what they want

1. "Be careful what you wish for" is the message of 1 Samuel 8
2. God's wrath is sometimes most fully displayed in giving sinners what they demand
3. God's grace is displayed in giving us what we would never think to ask for

D. The true king stands in complete contrast to Israel's requested king

1. Not born in a palace but in a manger; not a warrior in royal attire but a crucified carpenter's son
2. God's goodness and grace are fully displayed in the crucified king — something no one would naturally seek
3. Turn from the world's cry to conform, cling to Christ and his Word, and receive a glory this world cannot fathom