Introduction
Good morning, Main Street. Good to be with you all this morning, quick review before we jump in.
Over the last several weeks, we've been tracing the story of Scripture and watching how God moves his plan forward.
Last week, we looked at the Law. We saw that the Law is good. It tells us who God is and how he wants his people to live. God rescued Israel from Egypt, brought them through the Red Sea, gave them the Passover, and made them his people.
But there was still a problem. The Law could show them what was right, but it couldn't make them want what was right. The Law was like a tutor. It could lead us in the right direction, but it couldn't change our hearts. Moses says in Deuteronomy 30:6 that God himself would need to change the hearts of his people so they could truly love him.
Today we are going to talk about Kings and Kingship, and I want you to think back to when you were growing up. When you're really young, adults are basically superheroes. They can do no wrong. They can drive and seem to know everything. Your parents, teachers, and coaches seem to have everything figured out. As someone who is about to become a father, this is a little terrifying! There is about to be a little human that I am in charge of and is going to think these things about me!
But as you get older, you start noticing things. Driving isn't quite as impressive as it looked when you were six. Coaches call the wrong plays. Teachers aren't always fair. Last week, I asked some of the youth kids for examples of when their parents have let them down… most of them centered around not getting McDonalds or ice cream when they were promised that.
Eventually, we realize that the people we thought had everything together are just people. They have flaws. They make mistakes.
And yet, even as we recognize those flaws, there's still something in us that wants someone to follow. We want someone who knows what they're doing. Someone we can trust. Someone who can lead us in the right direction.
I wonder if some of that comes from the fact that we don't always feel like we know where we're going ourselves. We want to be able to look at someone and know that they're leading us somewhere good. And that's not always easy when the one we're supposed to follow is God, because we can't see him. His hiddenness is a real struggle for a lot of people. We want something tangible. Someone we can look at, someone we can follow, someone who makes us feel like things are under control.
That's exactly where Israel finds itself in today's story.
We're going to see how God gives his people a king. But this isn't really a story about David being a great guy or an example for us to follow. It's a story about kingship, about what God's people need, and ultimately about the kind of King God has promised to give them.
As we follow the story, we're going to see four things, in a progression:
We want a king we can see.
God gives us a king.
Even the best king fails.
And the promise points past him.
Because God's people need a King. But not just any king. They need a perfect King.
We Want a King We Can See
From the beginning, God intended to be the King of his people. When he brought Israel out of Egypt, he wasn't just rescuing them from slavery. He was bringing them into a relationship with himself. He had rescued them, he had given them his law, and he was going to lead them. They didn't need another king, because they already had one.
Going all the way back to creation, God made humanity to rule over creation. We were given authority and responsibility, but we were never meant to be the King. We were created to live under God's authority, trusting him to lead us.
But Israel struggled with that from the beginning. They complained in the wilderness, they disobeyed God, and even after he brought them into the land he promised, they continued to turn away from him. They didn't fully do what God had commanded, and eventually things got pretty bad.
Judges says:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25 ESV
That doesn't mean everyone was just doing whatever made them happy and having a great time. It means the people had largely abandoned God's authority. Everyone was deciding for themselves what was right and wrong, and the result was a nation that was falling apart.
There's something interesting about that. When you don't trust the one who's supposed to lead you, eventually you start looking for someone else. That's exactly what happens in 1 Samuel 8. The leaders of Israel come to Samuel and ask him to appoint a king over them. They want to be like the other nations. They want a king to govern them and go out before them and fight their battles.
Think about what they're asking for. They look around at the nations surrounding them, and they see kings with armies, horses, and impressive palaces. They want to see someone they can point to and say, "That's our king. That's the person who's going to lead us." They want someone visible, someone who can give them the sense of security they're looking for.
Now, having a king wasn't necessarily a problem. God had actually talked about kings long before this moment. He promised Abraham that kings would come from his family, and in Deuteronomy 17, he gave instructions for what Israel’s king should look like: no accumulating horses, wives, or wealth, and a heart under God’s Word.
So God wasn't surprised that Israel would eventually have a king. That was part of the plan.
The problem was what Israel wanted the king to do for them. They weren't simply asking for someone to govern them. They were looking for someone to take God's place. And God makes that pretty clear in 1 Samuel 8:7. He tells Samuel:
They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
1 Samuel 8:7 ESV
That's the real issue. They weren't just asking for a different kind of government. They were rejecting the King who had rescued them, provided for them, and led them all this way.
God actually warns them about what this king will be like. 1 Samuel 8:11–18, is almost like a list of everything the king is going to take. He'll take their sons and daughters. He'll take their fields, their servants, and their livestock. Eventually, the people will become servants to the very king they wanted.
After the list of everything the King will do verse 18 says:
And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.
1 Samuel 8:18 ESV
And when they hear all of this, their response is basically, "Yeah, that sounds good. We'll take it." They want what the other nations have, even after God explains what it's going to cost them.
Unfortunately, we do this, too. We can become so focused on having something we can see, something we think will make us feel secure, that we stop trusting the God who has already promised to take care of us.
And that's where Israel finds itself. They want a king they can see, and God is going to give them one.
God Gives a King, and the Story Isn't About Him
When Israel asks for a king, God gives them Saul. And honestly, if you were picking a king out of a crowd, Saul probably would have been your first pick. 1 Samuel 9 tells us he was:
…a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.
1 Samuel 9:2
No, God wasn’t describing me, Jack Morgan, he was describing Saul. He looked the part. He was exactly the kind of person you might expect to lead a nation.
But Saul's problem wasn't that he didn't look like a king. It was that his heart wasn't right. Over and over, he disobeys God and makes decisions based on what he thinks is best, rather than trusting what God has said. Eventually, God rejects Saul as king and sends Samuel to find someone else.
That person is David. And David doesn't look anything like the obvious choice. He's the youngest son in his family, out taking care of sheep while his brothers are being considered. But God tells Samuel something important in 1 Samuel 16:
Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7
We've talked a lot about the heart throughout this story, and it's going to keep coming up. God isn't looking for someone who simply looks like a king. He's looking for someone who trusts him. We see that pretty clearly when David faces Goliath. Everyone else in Israel's army is terrified. They're looking at this giant and wondering how anyone could possibly defeat him. David, though, sees the situation differently. Listen to what he says in 1 Samuel 17:
You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts.
1 Samuel 17:45 ESV
David didn’t trust in his own strength or his own ability. He trusted in God. That's the point of the story. The point isn’t that we should be brave like David and set out to conquer our giants. It's about trusting the same God David trusted. Don't try to be David. Trust the God who David trusted.
And that trust doesn't disappear when things get difficult. After David defeats Goliath, Saul becomes increasingly jealous of him and eventually tries to kill him. David spends a significant amount of time running for his life. There are even moments when David has the opportunity to kill Saul and take the throne for himself. But he refuses. In 1 Samuel 24 David says:
…I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.
I Samuel 24:10 ESV
David could have taken matters into his own hands, but instead he waits on God. Trusting God doesn't always mean things go well or happen quickly. Sometimes it means waiting when you really don't want to wait. Eventually, David becomes king. God gives him victory over his enemies, establishes his kingdom, and gives him a time of peace. And in 2 Samuel 7, we get to one of the most important moments in this entire story.
David is settled in his house, and he starts thinking about the fact that the ark of God is still sitting in a tent. He lives in a beautiful house, while God's presence is represented by the ark in a temporary dwelling. So David decides he wants to build God a house, a temple.
But God responds in a way David probably wasn't expecting. David wants to build God a house, but God tells David that he's going to build him a house. And he's not talking about a building. He's talking about a family line, a dynasty. God makes a covenant with David, promises that one of his descendants will come after him, and God will establish his kingdom.
Listen to 2 Samuel 7:12–16:
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
2 Samuel 7:12–16 ESV
God is promising David that his family line will continue, and that one of his descendants will sit on the throne.
We are faced with the question, who is this Son who will reign forever? The book of Hebrews gives us a picture of Jesus fulfilling these promises. Hebrews 4 tells us that Jesus was:
…one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15 ESV
This isn't some distant King who has no idea what it's like to be human. He understands temptation. He understands suffering. He knows what it is like to live in this world, and yet he never gives in to sin. Then Hebrews 5 tells us:
…Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
Hebrews 5:7-8 ESV
Jesus wasn't obedient only when it was convenient or when things were going well. He remained obedient even when obedience meant suffering. And Hebrews 7:28 makes an interesting contrast:
For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.
Hebrews 7:28 ESV
That's the kind of King God's people need. Someone who understands us, someone who can sympathize with us, someone who obeys the Father completely, and someone whose reign will never end. God is not abandoning everything we've been following in the story. The promises to Abraham, the promise of a people, a place, God's presence, and the blessing of the nations are all still moving forward. But now the story is narrowing in on one person. One royal Son through whom God will accomplish all of it.
This doesn't mean God is finished with the rest of his people. Quite the opposite. God is choosing one through whom blessing will come to the many. We saw this with Abraham, and we're seeing it again with David. The fate of the many rests on the faithfulness of the one.
Back in Genesis 3:15, God promised that someone would come and crush the serpent. We've been waiting for that person ever since. David's family line is now carrying that promise forward. But there's still a question we have to answer. David seems like a pretty good king. He's trusting God, he's leading God's people, and God has made this incredible promise to his family. So what happens when David himself stops trusting God?
Even the Best King Fails
David has some incredible moments in this story. He stands in front of Goliath when everyone else is afraid, and he trusts that God is bigger than the giant. Later, when Saul is trying to kill him, David has opportunities to take Saul's life and take the throne for himself. But he doesn't. He waits. He trusts God to give him the kingdom when and how God chooses.
When we get to 2 Samuel 11, David is king. He's settled. He's in a position where he has power and authority…
And he sees Bathsheba.
He sees her, he wants her, and he takes her. Then, when he finds out she's pregnant, he tries to cover it up. Eventually, he has her husband Uriah put in the front of the battle, where he knows Uriah will be killed. It's a terrible story. And so different from the David we just saw.
With Goliath, David trusted God. When Saul was after him, David trusted God. But here, David sees something he wants, and instead of trusting God, he takes matters into his own hands—the same pattern we saw back in the garden, with Adam and Eve, but now it's even in the king.
The difference between David at Goliath and David with Bathsheba wasn't his circumstances. It was whether he trusted God or took matters into his own hands.
It's possible to trust God in the big moments, the moments everyone can see. We pray, we ask for help, we tell people we're trusting God. But then there are the quieter moments. The decisions nobody else knows about. The conversations, the things we look at, the ways we treat people when we don't think anyone is paying attention. And in those moments, we can stop trusting God, too. We decide we know what we need, and we're going to get it.
And that's part of what makes this story so difficult. David isn't just some random person making a bad decision. He's the king, the one the people are supposed to follow. And when he fails, other people feel the consequences. God then sends Nathan to confront David. Nathan tells him that the sword will not depart from David's house. But there will be consequences for what he has done. The people around David will live with the damage of his choices.
That's an important part of kingship in this story. The fate of the many rides on the one. When the king is faithful, the people are blessed. When the king fails, the people suffer. David's sin doesn't stay private. It reaches into his family and his kingdom.
So what do we do with David now? We have seen what God can do through him. We have seen the promise God made to him. But we also know that David cannot be the perfect King. He needs help just like everyone else. And David seems to understand that. In Psalm 51, after Nathan confronts him, David doesn't just ask God to fix the consequences or help him get his reputation back. He asks God to change him. Listen to verse 10:
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10 ESV
David asks God to do something inside him that he cannot do for himself. He needs a clean heart.
Remember what Moses said back in Deuteronomy 30. The people needed God to circumcise their hearts so they could love him. The Law could show them what was right, but it couldn't make their hearts right. And now David, the king, asks for the same thing. He needs God to do in him what no crown can do.
God continues to work through David, even after this failure. The promise doesn't disappear. But David himself cannot be the final answer. He is a king who needs a King. He's a man who needs the very heart change he was supposed to lead God's people toward.
And maybe that's hard to hear, because we keep wanting someone to be the answer. We want a leader who will finally get it right. We want someone we can trust completely. But even the best king in Israel's story has this problem.
David's failure is hard. But there's still his son. Maybe the son is the one.
Maybe His Son, and the Promise Points Past Both
David has a son, Solomon, and at the start of his reign, it really looks like things are coming together.
Think back through the promises God has been making. The people are supposed to become a great nation. The land is supposed to be a place of blessing. God is supposed to dwell with his people. And through them, the nations are supposed to be blessed.
Under Solomon, we can see all of that happening. First, the people. 1 Kings 4 says:
Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea…
1 Kings 4:20 ESV
Similar to when God made his promise to Abraham. Then the place. Verse 25 says:
Judah and Israel lived in safety, each under his own vine and fig tree. There was peace on every side. The people were living in the land, and things were going well.
1 Kings 4:25 ESV
Then the presence. Solomon builds the temple, and in 1 Kings 8:
…for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
1 Kings 8:11 ESV
God's presence is there among his people. And then the purpose. The nations are coming to hear Solomon's wisdom. The queen of Sheba comes to see for herself, and she says that what she heard didn't even tell half the story.
The people are growing. The land is at peace. God's presence fills the temple. The nations are coming to hear about the God of Israel.
You almost want to stop and ask: Could this be him? Is Solomon the son God promised David? Is this the King who will finally lead God's people into the life God intended? Then comes 1 Kings 11, and the story starts to turn. Remember the instructions God gave for Israel's king in Deuteronomy 17? The king wasn't supposed to multiply horses, especially by going back to Egypt. He wasn't supposed to multiply wives. He wasn't supposed to accumulate great amounts of silver and gold. And he was supposed to keep God's Law with him and read it all the days of his life, so that his heart would not be lifted up above his brothers.
Now look at Solomon. 1 Kings 10 tells us about the enormous amounts of gold coming into his kingdom. He has horses brought up from Egypt. And then we get to his wives. Solomon had seven hundred wives.
Seven hundred wives… I can barely handle one set of in-laws.
And then we see 1 Kings 11:
For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God…
1 Kings 11:4 ESV
That's the problem. His heart was not wholly true to God. He had the wisdom, the resources, the temple, the kingdom, the very instructions from God. But he still didn't trust God and obey him.
And that brings us right back to the problem we've been tracing since the garden. The problem isn't that we don't have enough information. It isn't that we don't have enough resources or the right person in charge. The problem is the heart. It showed up in Eden. It showed up with Israel and the golden calf. It showed up in David. And now it has reached the king's own house.
Solomon fails, and the consequences are enormous. The kingdom splits. Eventually Jerusalem falls. The temple is burned, and the people are carried away into exile. The people are scattered. The land is lost. The place where God's presence dwelled is destroyed. The purpose of blessing the nations seems to have fallen apart.
The throne that looked so promising is now empty.
Psalm 89 remembers the promise God made to David. God swore that David's line and throne would endure. But then the psalm turns and asks why it looks as though God has rejected his anointed king. The crown has been thrown down. The walls are broken. The people are suffering.
It's almost as if the psalm is asking, “God, what happened to the promise?” But the promise hasn't disappeared. And the prophets keep talking about a King who is still coming. Isaiah says a shoot will come from the stump of Jesse. Think about that picture. The tree looks cut down. The kingdom looks finished. But out of what appears to be dead, a new branch will grow.
Isaiah also says:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 ESV
Jeremiah calls him a righteous Branch from David's line. He will reign as king and deal wisely. And Ezekiel speaks of one shepherd, God's servant David, who will care for the people and lead them.
These promises look back to David and Solomon, but they also look past them. They aren't just saying that Israel needs another king who is a little better than the last one. They are describing a King who will actually be righteous. A King who will shepherd his people faithfully. A King whose reign will not come to an end.
And that's what the story has been showing us. We don't need a better David. We don't need a wiser Solomon. We need a perfect King. And this King has to do more than die for his people. He has to live faithfully for them. He has to obey where Adam failed, where Israel failed, where David failed, and where Solomon failed. He has to be the faithful Son God promised. Jesus has to live faithfully, not just die correctly.
Now, I don't want to step on Ryan's sermon next week. But I love how Matthew begins his Gospel. Matthew 1 says:
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew 1:1 ESV
The promise to Abraham and the promise to David. All of this story has been moving toward someone, which leaves us with a question: Who could possibly be everything the Story requires?
Next week, Ryan will show us the answer.
Application
I think there’s a few things we can learn from David in particular.
First, be careful where you put your hope. We can't see God, and so we keep looking for someone we can see. Maybe it's a leader, a pastor, a podcast, or even someone in your own family. We find someone whose words make sense, whose life seems put together, and we start expecting them to give us what only God can give. People can point us in the right direction. They can encourage us and help us follow God. But they cannot carry the weight of our hope. They cannot change our hearts.
Second, don't try to be David. Trust the God David trusted. The point of the story with Goliath isn't that you need to be brave enough to conquer whatever giant is in front of you. The point is that David trusted God. So think about what you're facing in your life. What would it look like to trust God in that situation, instead of assuming you have to figure it all out and take matters into your own hands?
And finally, wait for the right King. We aren't the kings of our own lives, and we aren't the ones who have to fix the whole story. We were created to rule, but never to be King. We need someone to lead us, save us, and bring us into the life God intended.
Conclusion
I want to go back to where we started. When we're young, we tend to think the adults around us have everything figured out. Then we get older, and we start seeing their flaws. The people we thought could do no wrong turn out to be just people. They make mistakes. They disappoint us. Sometimes they let us down in ways we didn't expect.
And we still want someone to follow. We still want someone who knows what they're doing, someone we can trust, someone who can lead us somewhere good. There's nothing wrong with looking for good leaders. But we have to remember what they're able to do and what they're not able to do. They can point us toward God. They cannot take God's place. They cannot give us new hearts. They cannot be the King we need.
That's what this part of the Story has been showing us. We want a king we can see. God gives us a king. Even the best king fails. And the promise points past him.
From creation and the fall, through sacrifice, Noah, Abraham, and Israel, now we have David. God made a promise that David's Son would reign forever. Solomon looked like he might be the answer, but the same heart problem reached him, too. The kingdom fell apart, but God's promise did not.
So here's where we are: God's people need a King. But not just any king. They need a perfect King.
Before we finish, I want to give you a minute to write down the next part of the Story. Just a sentence or two. Where have we arrived? What has God promised, and what are we still waiting for?
Here's one way you could put it:
“God promised David a Son whose throne would last forever. David, Solomon, and the kings after them failed, but the promise didn't die. We need a perfect King.”
For Discussion
Sermon Summary
As the Story of God moves from Israel and Moses to David, the question of kingship comes into focus. God has always been the rightful King of his people. Humanity was created to rule under him, not to replace him. Yet Israel, struggling to trust the King they cannot see, asks Samuel for a king like those of the surrounding nations. God warns that such a ruler will take from them rather than provide the security they hope for (1 Samuel 8). Their request exposes a deeper problem: they are looking for someone to occupy the place that belongs to God.
Saul looks like an ideal king, but he disobeys the Lord. God chooses David, an unlikely shepherd, and shows Samuel that he looks on the heart rather than outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7). David's confidence before Goliath and his refusal to kill Saul reveal moments of real trust in God. The point is not simply to imitate David's courage, but to trust the God David trusted. Then, in 2 Samuel 7:12–16, God makes a covenant with David: God will establish his family line, and the throne of his promised offspring will endure forever. David wants to build a house for God; God promises to establish David's house.
David, however, cannot be the final King. His sin against Bathsheba and Uriah brings devastating consequences to others. The faithful representative fails, and the people suffer. David's prayer in Psalm 51:10—asking God for a clean heart—shows that even Israel's king needs the inner change Moses anticipated. He, too, needs God to do what he cannot do for himself.
Solomon at first seems to fulfill the promise. Under his rule, the people multiply, the land enjoys peace, the temple is filled with God's glory, and other nations seek Israel's wisdom (1 Kings 4; 8). Yet Solomon accumulates what Israel's kings were warned against, and his heart turns after other gods (1 Kings 11). The kingdom ultimately fractures, and exile raises the question of what has become of God's promise. The prophets answer with hope: a righteous ruler will still come from David's line (Isaiah 9; 11). Matthew introduces Jesus as the son of David and the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).
The Story therefore calls us to examine where we place our hope. Human leaders may help us, but they cannot bear the weight of our ultimate trust or give us new hearts. We were created to rule, but never to be King. God's people need more than a better David or a wiser Solomon. They need a perfect King.
Small Group Questions
1. Read Judges 21:25 and 1 Samuel 8:4–9. Why did Israel want a king they could see? Where are we tempted to seek visible security rather than trust God as King?
2. Compare Saul and David in 1 Samuel 9:2 and 16:7. What does God value in a leader? How does David’s encounter with Goliath (1 Samuel 17:45) redirect our attention from courage to trust?
3. Read 2 Samuel 7:12–16. What exactly does God promise David? Why is it significant that God promises to establish David’s “house” rather than simply receiving the house David wanted to build?
4. Read 2 Samuel 11 and Psalm 51:10. What does David’s sin reveal about the danger of placing our hope in a human representative? What does David’s prayer reveal about the heart?
5. How do Solomon’s successes (1 Kings 4; 8) and failures (1 Kings 11) help explain why Israel needs more than wisdom, prosperity, or an impressive king?
6. Read Isaiah 9:6–7 and Matthew 1:1. How do these passages point beyond David and Solomon? What would it look like this week to trust the perfect King instead of trying to take control yourself?
