Kenneth Austin from Newtown Baptist Church returns to Chartridge to examine the changes in government, past, present, and future. Ken finds much in the Old Testament of The Bible to show us what future leaders will do for us. Governments: should we ever put our hope in them?
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00:00In the Old Testament, the book of 1 Samuel and the book preceding that, Judges, shows
00:14a changeover from the way in which the people of Israel were governed and led and to a different
00:24way of having a king and working with this new ruler.
00:31And we're living in a world which is in turmoil.
00:34Different things are happening, different ways are being tied out in government, in
00:44connections between different countries and the way in which there are revolts to overthrow
00:53governments and so on.
00:55So it might be, we're hoping it might be, a useful area of the Old Testament to have
01:02a look at some of the pitfalls and some of the good things that happened.
01:11Previous to our reading, previous to the book of 1 Samuel, the leadership of the country,
01:22the nation, was by judges who didn't have any legal, didn't want royalty, but in their
01:32wisdom and guidance, they hoped to control and to guide the nation.
01:42But came a time when they moved on, you might say they moved back in some ways, but they
01:51moved to a king in control.
01:55And the first king was Saul and we'll learn a little about him this evening, I hope.
02:02So 1 Samuel chapter 10, and we're going to read, let's say, the first 11 verses.
02:14Then Samuel, one of the judges, the chief judge, then Samuel took a flask of oil and
02:22poured it on Saul's head and kissed him saying, has not the Lord anointed you leader over
02:29his inheritance?
02:32When you leave me today, you'll meet two men near Rachel's tomb at Zelda on the border
02:39of Benjamin.
02:41They will say to you, the donkeys you set out to look for have been found and now your
02:47father has stopped thinking about them and is worried about you.
02:54He is asking, what shall I do about my son?
02:58Then you will go on from there until you reach the great tree of Tabor.
03:04Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there.
03:09One will be carrying three young goats, another three loaves of bread, and another a skin
03:16of wine.
03:18They will greet you and offer you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from them.
03:24After that, you will go to Gilba of God, where there is a Philistine outpost.
03:31As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the
03:36high place, with lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps being played before them, and they
03:44will be prophesying.
03:47The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power and you will prophesy with them and
03:52you'll be changed into a different person.
03:56Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
04:04Go down ahead of me to Gilgal.
04:06I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings,
04:13but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.
04:21As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed Saul's heart, and all these signs were fulfilled
04:28that day.
04:30When they arrived at Gilba, a procession of prophets met him.
04:34The Spirit of God came down upon him in power and he joined their prophesying.
04:40When all those who had formerly known him saw him prophesying with the prophets, they
04:46asked each other, what is this that has happened to the son of Gish?
04:51Is Saul also among the prophets?
04:56We'll perhaps find out what happened.
05:02Was Saul really among the prophets?
05:05And here the unknown writer of Hebrews is referring back to the Old Testament and refreshing
05:16the memory of his readers to think about the way in which God worked through the people
05:27of old and brought in his kingdom in Israel.
05:41We can look back perhaps in our own nation and think one day back there, that time back
05:49there, there was more knowledge of God than there is nowadays, but it's the same God.
05:57It may be our own weak understanding that misses the great Word of Jesus Christ.
06:14In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 32, he's been speaking about some of the Old Testament heroes.
06:28And he goes on in verse 32, and what more shall I say?
06:33I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets
06:43who through faith conquered kingdoms and ministered justice and gained what was promised,
06:51who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames and escaped the edge of
06:58the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength and who became powerful in battle and routed
07:07foreign armies.
07:09Men received back their dead, raised to life again.
07:14Others were tortured and refused to be released so that they might gain a better resurrection.
07:22Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison.
07:28They were stoned.
07:30They were sworn in too.
07:32They were put to death by the sword.
07:35They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated.
07:45The world was not worthy of them.
07:48They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground.
07:55They were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised.
08:01God had planned something better for us, so that only together with us would they be
08:08made perfect.
08:10Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let's throw
08:16off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let's run with perseverance
08:24the race marked out for us.
08:27Let's fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
08:33set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand
08:41of the throne of God.
08:43Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you might not grow weary
08:53and lose heart.
08:57God blesses the reading of his word.
09:03I want this evening to look at a change of government.
09:10We've had a change of government in our own country, a possible change of government coming
09:16up in the United States and other countries where perhaps changing the government has
09:23not been so peaceful, but has been a matter of struggle and overcoming the problems.
09:39So we're looking at, for the people of Israel, they wanted a new ruler.
09:45They had these judges who looked after the use of the laws of God, but they didn't seem
09:56to have the power behind them.
09:58They were more administrators.
10:00They wanted a new leader, a new king.
10:07They wanted a new role for such people.
10:12So let us have a look at some of the things that went on.
10:17It's a difficult and a complicated situation, so hold tight for a bumpy ride.
10:28For many of the people, the life and style of living of people in the news is a topic
10:37they love to hear about and discuss.
10:43The red top papers, newspapers, are full about people and what they're up to and sometimes
10:54what they shouldn't be up to.
10:59But very few of us have met such people that there's written about, especially on the one-to-one situation.
11:14They seek the people who read to know about their secrets, know what was the latest gossip
11:23about them.
11:25They want a glimpse into their lives.
11:30My wife has a friend who worked for royalty, and when you're close to royalty like that,
11:38you are discreet.
11:40No secrets should be released.
11:45There are those who like to tell it like it is.
11:47The Bible is honest and clear about the lives of those it describes, and about us who read it.
12:00I want to look today at one of those described, the enigmatic character of Israel's first king.
12:11The transition that took place from the judges to a king, one who had much stronger power
12:23there over the country.
12:30So Israel had settled down in the land which was given them by God.
12:39Under the leadership of one of the final judges, the final judge, Joshua, and following
12:49him various other judges, people like Gideon and Samson and Samuel and Eli.
13:01Not so much about working in the courts, but as leaders, leading a military force, dealing
13:10with foreign foes.
13:11They were surrounded by enemies.
13:15Too quickly, however, the judges were involved in battles with surrounding enemies and were
13:23not relying on the Lord.
13:27The people were not satisfied without nice domestic leaders who did not follow God's
13:35ways, who went their own particular way.
13:43Joshua himself has set his eyes upon the Lord as a pattern to deal with the country, to
13:50leave the country.
13:53The new leaders did not have that care.
13:58And so God stepped in.
14:02The angel of the Lord, we read, went up from Gilgal to Bochem and said, I brought you out
14:10of Egypt and led you into a land which I swore to give to your ancestors.
14:17I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
14:21And you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down
14:27their altars.
14:30Yet you've disobeyed me.
14:33Why have you done this?
14:35I've also said I will not drive them out before you.
14:38They will become traps for you and their gods will become snares to you.
14:43When the angel of the Lord has spoken these things to all Israelites, the people wept
14:50aloud and they called this place Bochem.
14:55They offered sacrifices to the Lord.
14:59Joshua had told them what it was that was wrong with them.
15:05They thought they knew it all, but they were basing their lives on their own ideas, not
15:13on the ideas of God, which the prophets had been bringing them.
15:22So when the angel of the Lord has spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept.
15:31After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land,
15:37each to their own inheritance.
15:39The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and the elders who outlived
15:45him and had seen the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
15:52Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 and they buried
16:01him in the land of his inheritance, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Garsh.
16:11And over the years, others became leaders.
16:14A few looked to the Lord, leaders good, bad, indifferent.
16:25Some names are well known to us, others perhaps more obscure.
16:30There was Deborah, the woman leader.
16:34There was Gideon, who at home and across the state cleared, at least temporally, the land
16:44from the land of Baal worship places and fought the invading Midianites.
16:52There was Jephthah, the warrior who made a stupid promise about sacrificing the first
17:00who came to greet him, not realising it was going to be one of his own family.
17:07Samson, full of the strength of body, but so weak in his relationship with Delilah.
17:16By the end of the book of Judges, law was falling apart.
17:22We haven't time to read through, but if you read the last couple of chapters of the book
17:27of Judges, you'll see how such errors were widespread, sexually, violence, anything went.
17:37And by chapter 20, the whole state is falling apart with civil war, atrocities, kidnap,
17:51all sorts of things happening.
17:54So I want to look at how Samuel came in and tried to revive things.
18:06We read in chapter 21 about the birth of Samuel.
18:12You may remember that his mother, Hannah, wanted a child.
18:18Her tears were misunderstood by the local priest as the fact that she was drunk.
18:28It was just an indication of what the world was like in those days, that it was more likely
18:36someone was crying for drunkenness than for sorrow.
18:47So Samuel was born at the last of a number of judges who led the Israelites.
18:56Not as I said before, one who sat in a courtroom, but who sought to lead the people in the
19:06right directions, making the right decisions.
19:11God send us the right people at the right time.
19:17When we're in dark times, may he send us ones who can lead us in the right direction.
19:26More years later came another more looked for, another who would bring peace, not just
19:34to the land of Israel, but to all who recognize him as God himself, the man of peace.
19:48In Samuel's time, the Lord would work to pull the land back from total chaos.
19:56Two thousand years ago, God came into this world to indicate, to declare that he came
20:08as saviour and redeemer.
20:13How many of the people in this world are followers of Jesus Christ?
20:20What do we need to pray for in our day?
20:24We've only got to look round at the world as it is at the moment, to open a newspaper,
20:30to listen to a broadcast, and we will see horror, terror, evil in almost every corner
20:42of the world.
20:46Civil unrest, outright war.
20:50Not since really the Second World War as we see so much conflict as we have nowadays.
21:04Things which are under the cover.
21:06Things which may be hidden in our own country, for example, but we mentioned already the
21:13knife crimes that are going on, and so many other things.
21:19In USA, shootings, it seems, almost every day.
21:23Ukraine, Russia, South American countries, the problems, for example, in Nicaragua.
21:32African countries, almost every one in some sort of turmoil, brought in very often from
21:38outside.
21:41What do the Muslim leaders want to do with the Christians?
21:48And we in Britain, across the world, need someone who will give us and bring us peace.
21:58Who is listening to him?
22:03Will we listen?
22:07Will we yield to him?
22:12What is the message and how do we hear it from the Lord?
22:20Did the people of Israel listen?
22:22No, the situation was just becoming worse.
22:30They had these judges giving us a hand, giving them a hand-to-hand dealing of the disputes,
22:41but it didn't satisfy everyone.
22:44And they took the opportunity, when Samuel grew old, to ask for leaders like everybody
22:50else has got.
22:52We want kings.
22:55We want those who are strong.
22:58We want to be able to overcome.
23:02We want to be like them.
23:07Sometimes in our own lives, we look at other people and we think, if only, if only I was
23:15like that person, I'd have more money, I'd have no worries, I'd have things which I so
23:25much enjoy, time, how much I'd like to be like them.
23:34They wanted kings like other countries had.
23:40And the requests became more forceful when Samuel's sons, who naturally would be the
23:47successors when he died, well, they were no followers of God.
23:57We read then, all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord.
24:06So Samuel said to all the Israelites, if you'll return to the Lord with all your hearts, then
24:12rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Asherites, and commit yourself to the Lord
24:18and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines.
24:25So the Israelites put away their bales and asheroths and served the Lord only.
24:32Then Samuel said, assemble all the Israel at his mizpah, I'll intercede with the Lord
24:38for you.
24:40When they had assembled there, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord.
24:44On that day they fasted and there they confessed, we have sinned against the Lord.
24:51Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.
24:56Does it sound wonderful?
24:58The Philistines were subdued, they stopped invading Israel's territory.
25:05Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines.
25:10The towns from Mekron to Gath, the Philistines had captured from Israel, were restored to
25:17Israel, and Israel delivered the neighbouring territories from the hand of the Philistines,
25:25and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
25:30And Samuel continued as Israel's leader all the days of his life, year to year he
25:36went on circuit, judging Israel in all his places, and he built an altar to where his
25:44home was.
25:47Eventually the Israelites would now give thanks to the Lord their traditional enemy
25:51had been defeated.
25:53Are the people praising God, giving thanks for victory?
25:58No, they thought they knew what was best.
26:06When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders.
26:13The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served
26:20at Beersheba.
26:23But, but, his sons didn't follow his ways.
26:31They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
26:39So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel.
26:43They said to him, you're old and your sons do not follow your ways, now appoint a king
26:47to lead us, such as other nations have.
26:52When they said, give us a king to lead us, his display pleased Samuel.
26:59So he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord told him, listen to all the people are saying to
27:04you, it's not you they've rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
27:13And they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking
27:19me and serving other gods.
27:23Now listen to them, but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who reigns
27:29over them will claim as his rights.
27:33God had a leader for them, but they didn't want to hear.
27:37They had a profile in mind which was not God's choice.
27:43How like that is today.
27:47We want a strong leader.
27:50We want this sort of leader, that sort of leader.
27:54But there is a name to whom we should all bow.
27:58At the name of Jesus, every knee should bow.
28:04Their appointed leader by God was now wearied and losing status.
28:13The normal replacements, sons of Solomon we read, when Samuel grew old, he appointed his
28:21sons as Israel's leaders, but his sons did not follow his way.
28:28They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
28:38So once again, the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel and they said
28:43to him, you're old, your sons do not follow your ways, now appoint a king to lead us.
28:51But it wasn't Samuel's idea of a solution and it certainly wasn't that of the Lord.
29:01When they said, give us a king to lead us, please Samuel, so he prayed to the Lord.
29:11And the Lord told him, listen to all the people are saying to you, it's not you they've rejected,
29:19they've rejected me as their king.
29:24And as they'd done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me
29:31and serving other gods.
29:35How do our plans match up with God's?
29:39Do we define what we want and dismayed if God doesn't fit in with our plans?
29:47We want to have the ability to understand God's ways and where we don't understand it
29:53to yield to whatever he has for us.
29:58Things don't always go as we think they ought to go.
30:03That exam that the youngster has, failed it.
30:10It was the illness which came on unexpectedly, but just at the top time when we needed it
30:18to be full strength, perhaps for a job interview or a celebration of a final family occasion.
30:30We thought we knew what was best.
30:33It doesn't really match up to what takes place.
30:40I'm happily married to Anne, my wife, and we're both, let's face it, well on in years.
30:50I was married before to Margaret, but she died of cancer.
30:59Anne was conscious when it came to thinking about our wedding.
31:05The plans were rather hurried.
31:09We're getting older, we'd better do something about it.
31:13We finally agreed to go ahead, but we'd been so slow that when we came to look at somewhere
31:24to celebrate the wedding, to have the wedding breakfast, as they call it, the meal that
31:31you have at night, the breakfast we have at night, yes.
31:38Well, we wanted a particular date in August that year, and that date wasn't available
31:53in the places we went around to try and find where we could hold it.
31:58But there was one which was free, Friday the 13th.
32:03The superstitious people had kept away from it.
32:08Actually, we've just had a Friday the 13th, haven't we?
32:12We'd hoped for the 6th, not for superstitious reasons, but it fitted into what our plans
32:20were for all those things which have to get done for a wedding.
32:27But in the end, because the venue was free, we married on Friday the 13th.
32:35It wasn't us to be superstitious.
32:41We've just had, as I say, that anniversary, which is also on the Friday the 13th.
32:47But how glad I am that we didn't hold out for the 31st of August 1997, because that
32:57day there was a car crash in Paris, and Princess Diana was killed.
33:06For those that didn't marry then, there were many who did, and must have felt a shadow
33:15over that day.
33:17When we follow the history through from the Book of Joshua, we find Israelites under pressure
33:24from the original Canaanite inhabitants.
33:28The Israelites had been led there by Moses, and his leadership had passed on to Joshua.
33:35As we turn to the Book of Judges, Joshua has now died.
33:40They were leaderless, but with Joshua's tribe taking the senior role.
33:50Seeking God's plans, they looked for guidance.
33:56The first chapter of Judges, and the second verse.
34:14The Lord gave them an answer.
34:17They wanted to know who's going to fight against the Canaanites, and the Lord answered,
34:23There was a promise from God, but they had that leadership in Joshua's tribe.
34:39The death of the leader, Joshua, hadn't meant that God had withdrawn from them.
34:46Joshua might not be still there, but it seems that the arrangements,
34:52the organisation he led among the tribe, allowed them to take the lead.
34:58They looked for support.
35:00In verse 3, they call upon the tribe of Simeon to walk with them.
35:04There's wisdom here.
35:06It could have been that they, the Joshua's leaders, could have said,
35:11We can do it all ourselves and take all the glory.
35:16How good it is to work with others with the same aim as ourselves.
35:24Looking to other like-minded churches to band together in the same evangelistic campaign,
35:34or to encourage each other.
35:37Here, the tribe of Judah called upon those of Simeon's tribe to work together.
35:43Solidarity, strength in numbers, encouragement.
35:49The first few verses of Judges seem to highlight the speed in which the army was brought together
35:55and the victory won.
35:58They caught one of the key figures from the enemy.
36:01One Adonai Bezek, and he was maimed by them to remove him from the battle.
36:10They cut off his big toe, they cut off his thumb, and it meant that he couldn't fire an arrow.
36:20He wasn't steady on his feet and he couldn't grasp the arrow and the gun.
36:27Arrow and the bowstring at the same time.
36:34But he recognized that he deserved what he had.
36:38He was one who had done some terrible things to his prisoners.
36:46There was a sacking of Jerusalem.
36:49How many times has Jerusalem been overwhelmed?
36:54The importance of that city, in the Bible, over and over again, things happened there in Jerusalem.
37:09So in the old books that come in the archives of libraries,
37:16very often the frontispiece is a map of the world and right in the center is Jerusalem.
37:27Nowadays it's a country, it's a land, it's a city which is in terrible trouble.
37:39It was a tough city, even in those days, to take in war.
37:42We read in Joshua,
37:44"...Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem.
37:49To this day, the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah."
37:56Although the tribes of Israel could trace their lineages back to Jacob,
38:02this didn't stop infighting between them.
38:06Judah couldn't displace these Jebusites,
38:10but if he'd been working with other tribes, how different that might have been.
38:18How the power of Christ in the Gospel,
38:22going forth, if Christians were banded together in unity,
38:27how often do Christians just squabble among themselves?
38:32How often do Christians just squabble among themselves?
38:39We need to be taking encouragement by each other,
38:45those who preach the truth in the Gospel.
38:53Conquests of the land had been hard.
38:57God had given the land into their hands, but they had to fight for it.
39:02Judges 2 sees a change.
39:05We read of the death of Joshua.
39:08He'd been Moses' right-hand man and succeeded him.
39:12He held the tribes together.
39:15And we read,
39:16"...After that, the whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors.
39:20Another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he'd done for Israel.
39:29Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.
39:34They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt.
39:40And they followed and worshipped various gods of the people around them."
39:45How easy it is to slip,
39:51to be those who worship not the true God,
39:55but a false God.
39:58It may be money, it may be power,
40:03it may be a large force of workers under control.
40:15It may just be encouragement of our own egoism.
40:20Hear what the Lord said to them.
40:23The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim
40:27and said,
40:27"'I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give your ancestors.'
40:33I said,
40:34"'I will never break my covenant with you.
40:39You shall not make covenant with the people of this land,
40:44but you shall break down their altars.
40:46But you shall break down their altars.'"
40:50God was merciful and gave them judges to protect the nation.
40:58As followers of Christ,
41:00how far are we wandering from God's ways?
41:05We regularly need to seek the Lord's help.
41:09We need always to be on our guard.
41:13As we thought earlier, the judges weren't always the best.
41:18If the judges could not be trusted in reviving the nation,
41:23maybe having a king will.
41:26The wish was in the last verse of Judges 21.
41:32In those days, Israel had no king.
41:36Everyone did as they saw fit.
41:43And they thought a king would be better than a judge.
41:47Did they think it through?
41:49Was changing the title enough?
41:53What extra powers and what costs will a king bring?
42:00Too often, the churches think that a bit of reorganization
42:05will solve the problems.
42:08It's good to seek the Lord's guidance.
42:12But not change for change's sake.
42:15So let us hear what Samuel chapter 8 reads.
42:23When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leaders.
42:28The name of his firstborn was Joel,
42:31the name of his second was Abijah,
42:33and they served at Beersheba.
42:37But his sons did not follow his ways.
42:40They turned aside after dishonest gain
42:43and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
42:50So the elders of Israel gathered together,
42:53came to Samuel,
42:55they said,
42:56you're old, your sons don't follow your ways,
42:59now appoint a king to lead us,
43:03such as all the other nations have.
43:09I have a lot more that I had planned to speak.
43:15We haven't got to the first king yet,
43:18but I think we will close what I'm saying here,
43:26because we've got to look at ourselves.
43:30How devoted to God are we?
43:33Or do we just follow some pattern?
43:37Maybe a good pattern,
43:39or maybe a bad pattern.
43:43Is it just that we can only look on the dark side?
43:49Our judges don't match what we want.
43:54We want a king.
43:57And if we're not careful, we get a king
44:01who doesn't match what we need.
44:04Who doesn't match what we need.
44:07There is only one king,
44:11one saviour,
44:13one lord,
44:14one God,
44:16one way.
44:20Is that whom we're seeking?
44:23Is that in which we're giving our own lives over to?
44:30Our church's work over to?
44:34A pattern of life under his sway?
44:43Or do we think that we know it all?
44:49I'm going to stop there.
44:54More could be said.
44:55Perhaps some other day we might say it.
45:00But it's important that we know
45:03whom we serve.
45:05We know why we serve.
45:07We know how we serve.
45:11We may bring what is good,
45:15what is worthwhile to a saviour
45:19who leads us and guides us in this life.
45:26Great God of wonders,
45:29all thy ways are matchless
45:33God-like and divine.
45:38We might put our name in there.
45:42So and so.
45:44All our ways are faulty.
45:48All the ways are earthbound.
45:52All our ways don't shine for God.
45:59But they can do
46:00if we take on board
46:02a saviour who's done these great things for us.
46:07The fire glories of thy grace,
46:10more God-like and unrivaled shine.
46:15Who is a pardoning God like thee?
46:22Or who has grace so rich and free?
46:28That's the God we should serve.
46:30Not the
46:36putty medals that this world can offer.
46:42But let us serve a wonderful God,
46:46a wonderful saviour.
46:49Great God of wonders,
46:51all thy ways are matchless
46:55God-like and divine.