Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: Where We Are & How We Got Here

Deja Vu

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Civil Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2003-09-28

Synopsis: John Weaver draws a parallel between Israel's demand for a human king in 1 Samuel 8 and modern America's rejection of God's sovereignty, as exemplified by a federal judge's ruling that the state cannot acknowledge God. He argues that denying God and His law inevitably leads to either anarchy or tyranny, and outlines the consequences of such rejection: military conscription, compulsory labor, property seizure, oppressive taxation, and ultimate enslavement to the state. The sermon calls for repentance and obedience to God as the only alternative to descending into tyranny.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn in your Bible today to First Samuel, chapter eight, and I'm going to preach a message today, which I have entitled Deja Vu, and I think you'll understand in just a moment. Notice, if you would please, First Samuel, chapter eight, and let's read the first ten verses. We're going to end up looking at all of the verses just about in this chapter, but I want to deal Just with the reading with the first 10 verses, notice first Samuel, chapter eight, verse one. And it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his son's judges over Israel.

[John Weaver] Now, the name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second, Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after Lucre and took bribes and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.

[John Weaver] Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee. For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

[John Weaver] According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day wherewith they have forsaken me and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that ask of him a king.

[John Weaver] When I first read an article, which I'm going to share with you in just a little while, I immediately said to myself, déjà vu. Now, most of you probably know that the term déjà vu is French and it literally means already seen. Déjà vu is when you describe an experience such as when you are exceedingly familiar with something which you really should not be. For instance, suppose you and I were in England touring a castle or something, and all of a sudden, everything around us seems exceedingly familiar like we've been here before, or we've seen this before, but in reality, we know that we have not been there before. There have been times when I have been discussing certain topics with friends, and all of a sudden it dawns on me, well, did I not discuss this same topic with these same Friends a little earlier, you know, it just seems so real and so familiar, although it's not necessarily true. You not necessarily have not been there. You not necessarily have discussed the same topic.

[John Weaver] So déjà vu literally means like, well, we've been here before and here we are going through this same thing again. So that is basically what the phrase déjà vu refers to. I was sent and some of you probably have read it. an article that was written by the American Family Association, and this article was basically dealing with the Ten Commandments issue in Alabama, and I do not know the author.

[John Weaver] I assume it's Mr. Wildman, but I'm not sure of that. But let me take just a moment and read you this brief article, and you will understand why I said deja vu. Here's the article. The issue isn't a granite stone with the Ten Commandments inscribed on it. Never has been. The issue is much more diverse and important than a piece of stone. The issue was best stated by none other than Federal Judge Myron Thompson, who said that the display of the stone containing the Ten Commandments, which also contains a host of other historical documents, is illegal. Thompson said, the central most important issue was this.

[John Weaver] Can the state acknowledge God? After asking the question, he went on to answer it, no. That is the issue. Lest we fail to understand what has occurred here, let me explain. A single lower court federal judge has bluntly told every American that America is now officially an atheist nation. In one swift stroke of the pen, Judge Thompson tossed out over 225 years of American history and law. In one swift stroke of the pen, he has instituted a new form of law based upon what he wants it to be. Rex has become Lex.

[John Weaver] Let me just stop there. Rex is the Latin word for king. Lex is the Latin word for law. So when he says Rex has become Lex, he is saying the king has become law. In other words, the king is no longer subject to the law. The king is above the law and the king is the one who makes the law. He wears a black robe and he says he is the law.

[John Weaver] Go back and read the First Amendment. The one judge Thompson destroyed in the name of preserving it. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The First Amendment says. Congress has passed no law establishing religion, but what Congress refused to do, indeed because Congress refused to do it, Judge Thompson did. He instituted as the law of the land the religion of atheism, which says there is no God. Not only did Judge Thompson usurp the power of Congress, he also took away the rights of every individual and state. The second half of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment reads, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. This is precisely what one lower federal judge has done. He told Americans who disagree with his official state religion of atheism that he can and will prohibit the free exercise of their religion unless, of course, that religion is atheism. He stripped both Congress and the people of their rights. He set himself above the law because he considers himself to be the law. From this day forward, Our entire judicial system must be based on the religion of atheism.

[John Weaver] Following that to its logical conclusion, in the future there will be no frame of reference from which to decide law. Law will become what any person wearing a black robe and sitting in court desires it to be. The First Amendment has been ripped apart in the name of upholding it. Orwell's 1984 has arrived. No, You will not notice any drastic changes immediately. There is still a remnant left in the hearts and minds of the current citizenry. But when that remnant dies out, those who come after us will see a big difference. The state will become intolerant of any religion other than atheism. That, of course, will come into conflict with people of conscience whose religion differs from that of the state.

[John Weaver] That is when the persecution, quite legal, I might add, will start. It was the atheist Santiana who said, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote, the Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape in any form they please. Indeed, Santiana and Jefferson were right.

[John Weaver] Now that's the end of the article. Now, what the author is just simply saying is this, based upon Judge Thompson's ruling, if that ruling is allowed to stand, if it is not challenged, if it is not overthrown, then that one ruling would basically make us an atheistic nation.

[John Weaver] Now, one federal judge, in commenting upon, and I might add deriding, Judge Roy Moore's actions, stated rather bluntly these words he said that had he been a judge Roy Moore's position quote he would resign before he did what more did because the rule of law must be upheld in quote. And I concur 100% with what he said that the rule of law must be upheld but as Robert just asked whose law? God's law or man's law? Now, according to the federal judiciary, it is man's law that must take precedent over God's law. It is man's law that must be upheld at all costs.

[John Weaver] Alice and I just left Salt Lake City, Utah, and as we watched the news the night before we left, here now in the middle of Mormon country, there's a beautiful, beautiful stone there with a Ten Commandments inscribed on it. And the news was now they're going after that Ten Commandments display in the state of Utah.

[John Weaver] Now, what is really painful about what I'm sharing with you is this. It is not just simply judges who are so absolutely ignorant, I might add, as well as rebellious. But one of the most painful truths to discover is that there are a myriad of pastors who agree with the federal judges. One such pastor in Texas was vehemently upset, and he preached against Judge Roy Moore because Judge Roy Moore was not obeying Romans 13 and submitting to the government.

[John Weaver] Now, help me to understand this. Judge Moore, with all of his faults and all of his sins notwithstanding, At the least, you could say, was endeavoring to honor God, uphold His law, and obey God. Here's my question. Why was the pastor not upset with the government that was defying, disobeying, and rebelling against the sovereign God of the universe? I mean, you know, I can't put that together. How in the world can you be against someone who at least, he's not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination, But who is at least saying we need to honor God and uphold God's law. And yet you're saying that man does not obey the government, and yet the same government that he's not obeying is the same government that is defiling the law of God and dishonoring God. You see, the problem is that someone really doesn't know who God is. Someone does not understand that there can only be one sovereign. There can only be one supreme being. There can only be one absolute. And I can assure you today that that one sovereign, that one supreme, that one absolute is not the federal government.

[John Weaver] It is the one true and living God. Do you understand that since government is the institution of God? And I've told you repeatedly, I'll tell you again, God only created three institutions. He created the family, which is a ministry of education, the church, which is a ministry of grace. And the state or government, which is a ministry of justice and the state or the government, which is a ministry of justice, is just as duty bound and just as accountable and responsible to obey God, as is the family and as is the church, because each or his creation, each or his institution. Now, deja vu? Yeah. Because what I have just put out to you, what is happening not only in Alabama, but in all the rest of this country, is exactly what has happened in 1 Samuel chapter 8. Now, before we go into 1 Samuel chapter 8, and before I begin explaining this a little bit further, let me repeat something to you that I have told you many times over in the past years.

[John Weaver] A king rules by his law. It doesn't matter if you're talking about a man or if you're talking about God. It doesn't matter whether it's human or divine. A king rules by his law. Why? Because the law is the expression of the king's will. Please listen carefully. Thus, a denial of the king's law is a denial of the king. If a king rules by his law, and if law is an expression of the king's will, when you deny the king's law, in essence you have denied the king.

[John Weaver] Now, Judge Thompson's ruling was not only unethical, immoral, unconstitutional, unhistorical, and unbiblical, It was a flat-out denial of God's sovereignty, of God's kingship, and God's supremacy. Now we've got a question. I want you to help me work through this. If God is not supreme, if God is not sovereign, if God is not absolute, who is? Well, you actually have two choices. Man or government. which is instituted by man.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you, and I don't want to get into too much of this because I'm not interested in clogging up your minds with philosophy. But if you've ever done any reading on philosophy, inevitably you're going to come to the terms nominalism and realism. And let me tell you, these philosophies are very important, not from the fact that they are necessarily biblical, but from the fact that they emphasize certain truths.

[John Weaver] Whenever you deny God, you have to ask who is supreme, who is sovereign, and it's either man or government. Once you say man or government, then you've gotten into the realm of philosophical nominalism or philosophical realism, which is the age old one and the many. or the particulars or the universals. Let me try to spell it out like this. Which would you say is more important, the one or the many?

[John Weaver] Now, let me explain that a little further. Which would you say is more important, generals or particulars? And when I say generals, I'm not talking about army officers. I'm talking about generals, a multitude of individuals or particulars. And you say, now, wait a minute, Pastor, you're losing me here trying to talk about philosophy. Oh, no, hang on. Hang on. Let me explain it like this. When you deny God's sovereignty.

[John Weaver] You come either in phenomenalism or realism, the one and the many. Or the particular and the generals. Or you come to anarchy or tyranny. What is anarchy? Anarchy is the many. It's everyone doing his own thing. What is the one? It's the collectivism. It's society as a whole. It is government.

[John Weaver] Now, which is more important? Do we sacrifice government? so that everyone may have their individual quote-unquote rights and do their own things? Or do we sacrifice the rights and the liberties and the freedoms so that we may have a stable society and a stable government? You see, the point is this. When you deny God, when you deny God's law, the only two things that are left are anarchy or tyranny. There's no in-between. If you and I come up with philosophical realism, if we say that, well, it's the individuals who are the more important, it's our rights, it's what we want, it's our thing, well, then you descend into what you had in the book of Judges. You remember the theme of the book of Judges? It's found in Judges 17, I think, in verse 6, and Judges 21 in verse 25.

[John Weaver] There was no king in Israel in those days. Everyone did that butcher's right in his own eyes. Let me ask you a question. How would you like to live in this country when everyone did that, which is right in his own eyes? I mean, I might think it's right to kill everyone of you. You might think it's right to steal from me. You might think it's right to do whatever you want to do.

[John Weaver] You understand what I'm saying? You have nothing but pure anarchy. So on the one hand, when you deny God's sovereignty, you can descend into pure anarchy.

[John Weaver] On the other hand, If you say, well, we cannot have anarchy, we cannot have people exercising what they think, and therefore we must have the whole, we must have the collective, we must have the government. Therefore, you will end up with tyranny because now you're sacrificing individual rights. for the whole, for the one. You're sacrificing the many for the one.

[John Weaver] Now, in a nutshell, I want you to see where we are in this country. In a nutshell, this is exactly what you have been hearing our United States Attorney General John Ashcroft say. We must be safe. We must protect our people. So what do we do? In light of wanting to be safe and wanting to be protected, we throw away all the individual rights, all the individual liberties. You follow me? That's exactly what he's saying.

[John Weaver] So the federal government's position is the many has to be sacrificed for the one. When you deny God, You can either have anarchy, or you can have tyranny, one or the other.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to understand that God is the answer to this problem. Why? Because He is one. God is one. The burden of the Old Testament is Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. God is one. Yet that one God has revealed Himself in three distinct persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Only in God do we have order. Only in God do we have the whole. Only in God do we have the collective. And only in God do we have the individual, where the rights and the liberties and the freedoms are expressed. So God Himself is the answer to the one and the many. Now, listen carefully.

[John Weaver] I've said it before, I'm going to say it again. Without God and without God's law, men must descend either into anarchy or tyranny. There are no other options. You can have one or the other, but there are no other options. You will either descend into anarchy and tyranny.

[John Weaver] Now, I read 1 Samuel chapter 8, the first 10 verses. Let me tell you something about 1 Samuel 8 before we get to it. The only way that you can understand 1 Samuel chapter 8 is to see it and to view it and to understand it as a transition from one law structure to another law structure. What happened in 1 Samuel chapter 8? The people come to Samuel and they are demanding a king. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. I want you to note what is specifically stated. 1 Samuel 12 and verse 12. Samuel is rebuking the people still for their desire and their choice for a king, for a man. He says, And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, came against you, you said unto me, Nay, But a king shall reign over us, look, when the Lord your God was your king. So up until 1 Samuel chapter 8, who is the king over Israel? God Himself.

[John Weaver] Now, what in the world are the people doing? They are saying, we no longer want God to rule over us. We no longer want God to reign over us. We no longer want God as our king. What we want is a man to rule over us. Now, listen carefully. When you change kings. You change law. Because the king rules by his law. And so when you reject God and you institute man, You've just swapped God's law for man's law. Now, I want you to understand that when Israel came demanding a man-king, God not only viewed it as, but understood it as a rejection of His kingship and His sovereignty and His law.

[John Weaver] Look in verse 7 of 1 Samuel chapter 8. In fact, let's read verse 6. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people and all that they say to thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me. But I should not reign over them. So here's what Israel is doing in 1 Samuel chapter 8.

[John Weaver] She's trading God for a man. And she's trading God's law for man's law.

[John Weaver] Now, let's ask a question. Why did Israel want a man to be their king when God was their king? Why did Israel want a man to rule over them when God ruled over them? Well, let's begin there with verse one. And let's look, first of all, what I'm going to call a lame excuse, OK? And it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel.

[John Weaver] Now, the name of his first born was Joel and the name of his second Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after Lucre and took bribes and perverted judgment. So here's the first reason they come, they say in verse four, Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.

[John Weaver] Now let's stop and think about this. Why would I say that this is a lame excuse? That is certainly not excusing Samuel's two sons for their sins, for their perversions, for their wickedness, and for their failures. But the people were recognizing two things. They were saying, number one, Samuel, you're too old. You can't function and you can't do anything about maybe your sons. And your sons are wicked and wrong.

[John Weaver] Now, those may have been facts. But may I remind you of something? When God raised up Samuel, was there a corrupt priest or a corrupt prophet? Yes, by the name of Eli. Did he not have two corrupt sons who were priests? Yes, Hockney and Finney has. And God killed both those boys in one day. They were so wicked and so ungodly.

[John Weaver] Now, the point I'm trying to make is this. If God sovereignly raised up a godly Samuel to be a prophet, to teach His people and to give them His law and His Word in the midst of a corrupt priesthood, could He not likewise have raised up another prophet when Samuel's sons were perverse and corrupt? And the answer is yes. But see, no one asked God what to do. No one asked God what His will was. They just came to Samuel and said, look, Samuel, we've got to have a king over us. You're too old and your sons are corrupt. Now, if you'll look in verse 5, there's another reason given. However, it's not the main reason, OK? In verse five, And he said unto them, Behold, I am old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. Now, why did they want a king, according to verse five? They wanted to be just like every other nation. Hmm.

[John Weaver] Let me ask you a question. Was not Israel supposed to be different from all the other nations? That's what I read in my Bible. In fact, look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 momentarily. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Go there. Let me show you what God says. Deuteronomy chapter 4. And look what Moses tells the people. Deuteronomy 4 verse 5. He says, Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me that you should do so in the land whether you go to possess it.

[John Weaver] Keep therefore and do them. Look now, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of all the nations which shall hear all these statutes that is God's law and say, surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great with God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all the things that we call upon him for. And what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I have set before you this day?" Israel was supposed to be different, because they had God as their king, and they had God's law, and God's law was to be their wisdom and their understanding, and all the other nations would envy Israel as Israel obeyed God. So when they say make us a king, we shall be like other nations.

[John Weaver] Immediately, they're trying to conform to the world instead of remain separate as God had given them a command to do so. But if you really want the answer as to why Israel really wanted a human or a man king, Look in verse 20. Here it is. In fact, let's read verse 19. You see, Samuel, of course, now has I'm going to cover this. Samuel has told them everything that's going to come down the pike. Verse 19, nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel as they wouldn't listen to God's man. And they said, nay, but we will have a king over us. Here's why they wanted a king, that we may also be like all the nations that are And that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. Now, here's the real reason they wanted a king.

[John Weaver] They were unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. They wanted someone else to study for them. They wanted someone else to judge for them. They wanted someone else to defend them. They wanted someone else to fight for them. They were unwilling to assume and fulfill their personal responsibilities. Let me tell you something, folks. Whenever any individual refuses to assume personal responsibility for himself, there will always be someone else who will be willing to assume that responsibility for a price. And many times that price will be at our own personal freedom.

[John Weaver] In fact, before I get through with First Samuel, chapter eight, you're going to see the real cost that is involved. And rejecting God and refusing to fulfill personal responsibilities.

[John Weaver] Now, I told you as I gave you the introduction. Of this message. that when people rejected God and His law, you only had two choices, anarchy and tyranny. Now, the book of Judges reveals and explains how the denial of God leads to anarchy. The book of 1 Samuel reveals and explains how the denial of God leads to tyranny. Once God is denied, Once his law is denied, you must descend into one of the two, anarchy or tyranny.

[John Weaver] There are no other alternatives. There is no in-between.

[John Weaver] Now, before I go down this chapter, I want you to look at verse 11. I want you to notice what God says. And He said, this will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you." 1 Samuel 8, verse 11. This shall be the manner. Now, the interesting thing is in verse 9, God says, Now therefore hearken unto their voice, howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. Now the word manner is found in verse 9 and verse 11. And you know, when we use the word manner, Everyone knows what that means.

[John Weaver] And I thought to myself as I read this passage, now. Now. I wonder if that means what I think it means. And I look up the Hebrew word and let me tell you, I was very surprised. Because. If I say concerning God, well, that's just his manner, in other words, that's his way of doing things. Everybody understands that. But when I look up the word manner, it did not just simply have reference to the way the king was going to do things. The Hebrew word is the word mishpat, which is one of the words for justice in the Bible, which literally means a verdict or a judicial pronouncement. And what God is saying, look, if you want a king, I'm going to give you a king. But in doing so, this will be his manner. In other words, this will be my judicial pronouncement against that king and against you. So when God talks about the manner of the king, He is issuing a verdict. He's issuing a judicial pronouncement. And in giving them what they wanted, God pronounced sentence upon them.

[John Weaver] Now, there are in this chapter five consequences for rejecting God and His law. Five consequences. And I want you to see them. First, I want to just read through verses 11 through 17, and I want you to maybe underline one little word that I will emphasize several times, OK? Let's read verse 11. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you.

[John Weaver] He will take your sons and appoint them for himself for his chariots to be his horsemen. And some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to His servants. And He will take the tenth of your seed in your vineyards, and give to His officers, to His servants. And He will take your men's servants, and your mate's servants, and your goodly shunned men, and your asses, and put them to work. And He will take the tenth of your sheep, and you shall be His servants."

[John Weaver] You know what word occurs over and over in these passages? What? The word take. You know what God as King has always done? Give. Give. Give. That's all God's ever done. Now God says, you want a man? Okay. But I want you to understand, He will take everything that you have. God is a giver. Man is a taker. Now, what are the consequences for rejecting God? and God's law.

[John Weaver] First of all, in verse 11, you will have an unbiblical military conscription. Verse 11. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you. He will take your sons and appoint them for himself and his chariots to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots.

[John Weaver] Now, without me getting into this and without me re-preaching A message that I've already preached in the past. I brought a series of messages on the biblical doctrine of war. And I showed from the Bible how that in the Bible. That which was scriptural and biblical was the local militia. There was not a standing army per se. until David sinned against God, and after that, there got to be a standing army. Before that, everything was just the local militia. In other words, here it is, if the people did not see that there was a just cause to fight, the king could have no war, for he had no standing army. But God says, once you get a king, at least you'll have a standing army.

[John Weaver] Because he's going to defend his power, his position, and therefore he will take your science. Let me tell you something. It really doesn't matter, in one sense of the word, whether you agree with George Bush in Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever. If your son is in the armed forces, and he tells you to go over there and defend his oil wells, that's where you go. If you're in the service, or if you refuse, you get court-martialed. And then you get imprisoned.

[John Weaver] You see the point I'm trying to make? Now let me tell you something. My position is this. If Rockefeller and those men want their oil wells protected, or if they want more oil, let them hire mercenaries to go do their fighting. You don't have to take our sons and our daughters. We ought to have a say-so. That's what the Bible says, all through the Bible, because the militia was there. But once you deny God, there's no longer a local militia. It's no longer the people who's doing the fighting. No, it's the king.

[John Weaver] He has his standing army. And he says, like, I will draft your boys. I will draft your daughters. I will take them. And you can't stop me. So the very first thing you have is an unbiblical military conscription.

[John Weaver] Now, by the way, lest anybody in here not understand what I'm saying, I am certainly for defending our country. I would fight to the death to defend my country and my nation, especially if my country and my nation happened to be invaded. But, dear friend, there's a big difference between fighting to defend my country and going over there and trying to defend somebody's oil wells, or because some military elite decides we want to expand our empire. I know I told you what Jay Leno said, and I'm going to repeat it because I thought it was so appropriate. And I don't endorse Jay Leno at all. I don't even listen to him. I just saw this quote, and I thought it was very apropos.

[John Weaver] He says, did you hear that our government is trying to spend millions of dollars writing a constitution Now for Iraq, he says, we don't need to spend that money. Let's just give them ours. Number one, ours was written by the smartest men in the world. And number two, we're not using it. And so even Jay Leno recognized that fact. So but here's an unbiblical military conscription. They'll take notice, if you would please, verses 12 and 13. Here's the second consequence.

[John Weaver] And he will appoint him captains over thousands and captains over fifties and will set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvest and make his instruments of war and his instruments of his chariots and he will take your daughters to be confectionaries and to be cooks and to be bakers, compulsory labor battalions for the state. And by the way, do you realize how many people now work for the federal government? If you were to add up the number of people who work for the feds and the state governments, it's an astounding figure.

[John Weaver] I forget what it was. It's something like 39 or 40 percent of the population. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. You see, when the Bible and the Constitution says that our government is to be a limited government, It has now become an unlimited government. What is it that George Washington said? Government is like fire. In its proper place, it's a good servant, but when it gets out of the fireplace, it's a fearful master.

[John Weaver] And that certainly is true. So the very first thing you'd have is an unbiblical military conscription.

[John Weaver] Secondly, compulsory labor battalions for state service. Notice what he's saying now. Listen to me. that ultimately everything will be for the benefit of the state, not for the family, not for the individual, not for God's honor and glory, not for the church. Everything will be for the benefit of the state. Here's the third consequence for rejecting God, verse 14, and He will take Your fields. And your vineyards and your all yards, even the best of them and give them to his servants, the state will expropriate. That is, they will take they will steal the property of the people.

[John Weaver] Is anybody in this room ever heard of imminent domain? Sure, you have. Imminent domain. If the state wants it, all they've got to do is come by and condemn it. I don't care if it's been in your family 400 years or not. I don't care if it's been in your family 100 years. If they want it, they can condemn it and take it. Yes, they'll pay you something. And by the way, the word of God condemns eminent domain in the book of Ezekiel. You know another way the state can take your property? through taxation. Property taxes are one of the most unbiblical taxes that exist. And all they have to do is, by the way, do you know that, I'm not going to say 100%, probably it is true, but 99% of all the castles in England are owned by the government. They're not owned by the people who live in them. The people who live in them have an agreement with the government, they stay there and they make those castles available for tours.

[John Weaver] And when they say, well, our family's been in this castle 400 years, that doesn't matter. They don't own the castle. England owns the castle. Why? How did they get it? They taxed it where the people could not pay the taxes. And the taxes went to the state. And now, actually, the people who did own those castles live in them, but they are actually servants of the state. All government has to do to expropriate, to take your property, is either go through eminent domain or tax it to the point that you cannot pay for it and they will get it.

[John Weaver] God said that's exactly what is going to happen. You want a king? I'll give him to you. He's going to take your property. He's going to take your goods. You can have him, but he will take, take, take.

[John Weaver] Now, watch forth, number four. Not only do you have an unbiblical military conscription, not only compulsory labor battalions for state service, not only will the state expropriate property, but the state or the government that plays God will demand to tithe in taxes as God. Look in verses 15 and 16, and he will Take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and to give to his officers and to his servants. And he will take your men servants and your maid servants and your goodly young men, your asses, and put them to his work. And he will take the tenth of your sheep.

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you something. God says when government plays God, it will demand a tithe by God. However, in our country, most of us would be so happy so elated if only our government demanded 10%. You add up all the taxes you pay in this country, and it's nearly 60% of what you make. Usually they have a tax-free day, you know, Last time I checked, it was sometime in July, which was well over 50%. It's probably the latter part of July now, the first of August. You work that long just to have enough money to pay taxes. The rest of the year, the money would be yours. But God says, when you reject me, you're going to have someone that's going to demand a tithe. And a tithe, and a tithe, and a tithe, and continuous.

[John Weaver] Okay, here's the fifth consequence of rejecting God and His law. All will ultimately be enslaved and serve only government. Thus, you have complete tyranny. Verse 17, He will take the tenth of your sheep and you shall be his servants. Look up the word servants when you get home in your concordance. You'll find the Hebrew word is ebed, which is translated in our Bibles most oftentimes bond, servant or slave.

[John Weaver] And you shall be his slaves. You see, the people that reject God and His law will always suffer the consequences for that rejection.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to look at verse 18. You talk about a powerful verse. Look what God says. Now, remember, they're rejecting God. They're rejecting God's law. Now, verse 18, God said, And you shall cry out in that day because of your king, which you shall have chosen you. And the Lord will not hear you in that day. God says, you want a man? I'm going to let you have him. In fact, you're going to have him so much that you will wish to God a million times you never had him. And when you cry out, I'm just not going to listen to you. I'm going to let you stew in your own predicament for a while. I'll let you settle down in your own oppression, in your own tyranny. and see what it's like to have a man reign over you instead of God.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make a couple of applications to try to tie this together for you. I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 119 at verse 53. Hold Psalm 119 because we're going to be looking at another verse there in just a moment. Psalm 119. Verse 53, look what David says. Psalm 119, verse 53, David says, Hara have taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law. Hara have taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law. Why could David say Hara have taken hold upon me?

[John Weaver] Well, we need to learn the simple truth that I've repeated numerous times in this message. When you reject God and His law, you will ascend either into anarchy or tyranny. There's no in between. David knew the consequences for rejecting God and His law. And David said, I'm absolutely horrified at those who reject the law of God because they'll end up in anarchy or tyranny.

[John Weaver] Now, look in Psalm 119 and verse 126. Something else David said. Psalm 119, verse 126. David said, It is time for the Lord to work, for they have made void thy law. Isn't that interesting? It is time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law.

[John Weaver] Now, let me deal with the second aspect of this verse first. For they have made void thy law. Have you ever asked yourself this question? How do men make void the law of God? I could preach an entire sermon just on that question. Let me very quickly give you five ways, and I'll give you the corresponding scriptures. Here's how men make void the law of God. Number one, by legislation. Look at Psalm 94, verse 20.

[John Weaver] You don't have to turn there. But he said,"...shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee which frameth mischief by a law that makes sin legal." Look in your Bibles when you get home to 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8, how the kings of Israel adopted the laws and the statutes of the heathen king. You can make void the law of God by legislation. That's what we've done in this country. As I told you before, it's legal in this country to murder as long as the baby's not yet born.

[John Weaver] And by the way, I saw, and some of you probably saw as well, I think it was either on the Drudge Report or World Net Daily, how they have come out with a new scope I forget what it was called, some type of scan. They can only see the baby in the mother's womb, but they can now see the baby laughing, crying, experiencing emotions. And they had the picture of one baby in the womb smiling from ear to ear. Unbelievable. And yet by legislation, that is no longer a baby.

[John Weaver] It's just a glob of fetal tissue. And if you want to kill it, go ahead. See, you can make void God's law by legislation. How about this one? Everybody knows this one. What's the Word of God say? If any will not work, what? Neither should ye eat. And yet we've got a whole multitude of this country who refuse to work. And yet they're supported by welfare over and over and over and over and over and over.

[John Weaver] Food stamps this and food stamps that. You can make void the law of God by legislation. You can make void the law of God by judicial precedent. That's what Judge Myron Thompson was doing. Read Psalm 82, which is a psalm against the judges, and God said they've literally turned the world upside down by their wicked judicial precedence. So you can make void the law of God by legislation. by judicial precedent. You can also make void the law of God by tradition.

[John Weaver] You remember what our Lord said in Matthew 15 to those Pharisees? Why with your tradition have you made void the law of God? And people rather have tradition than truth. Fourthly, you can make void the law of God by ignorance. John 8, 32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. Now, if you don't know the truth, folks, you're not free. And what does he say in Hosea 4? My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. And we ignorantly violate God's law, and we suffer for it. We make it void through our own ignorance. And then we make it void by rebellion. You remember Psalm 2?

[John Weaver] The kings of the earth have gathered together and said, Let us cast His cords from us, and let us break His bands asunder. In other words, we don't care what God says. We don't care who he is or what he wants. We're going to do our thing. So there's five ways that you can make void the law of God. Now, that does not mean that the law of God has been done away with. It just means, practically speaking, you've acted as if the word of God is of none effect in your life. You see, there's a difference between a theoretical atheist and a practical atheist. A theoretical atheist, and there are very few of them, who would come up and say, well, I don't believe there is a God.

[John Weaver] And they do so from an intellectual point of view, and they explain it that way from their intellectual position. There are very few of those. But let me tell you, there are many practical atheists. And a practical atheist sometimes is someone who claims to believe in God. He just acts as if God has not spoken and goes ahead and does his own thing. Practically, he just disobeys God. while at the same time claiming to believe God.

[John Weaver] Now he says, It is time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law. Let me go to that first section, It is time for thee, Lord, to work. What does God do when men make void His law? God made work And one of two ways or both ways that he so chooses. First of all, he may work by way of demonstration. If you look in your Bibles to Psalm 9 and I could be. I got news for you folks, I'd hate to be the one who's trying to ban God. I'd hate to be the one who's trying to ban his law, because God, when he arises, He will demonstrate who he is. And he will demonstrate what man really is. But the second way God usually moves is in condemnation. Not in demonstration, but condemnation. Now listen to me.

[John Weaver] I'm not going to ask that you turn there, but if you will read through the book of Ezekiel. There is a phrase that occurs in that book 73 times. I'll tell you what it is. And they shall know that I am the Lord. And every time it occurs, it is in the context of judgment. And they shall know that I am the Lord. In judgment And in condemnation, God reveals himself against his enemies in such a way that they know that they are but men and God is God. Now, listen, folks. God will most often work in judgment. However, that judgment sometimes reveals itself in greater oppression, servitude and tyranny. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles, Deuteronomy 28. Please turn there.

[John Weaver] Let me show you a verse. Let me show you a truth. And before I show it to you, let me make a statement. If we as a people, Deuteronomy 28, if we as a people do not repent. You ain't seen nothing yet. OK. Because when you reject God and his law. You only descending to either anarchy or tyranny. And look what God says. And by the way, Deuteronomy 28, he has the blessings and the curses and the portion that we're reading is the curse for disobeying God's law. Don't you look what God says. Let's begin reading with verse 45. Moreover, all these curses shall come upon thee and shall pursue thee and overtake thee till thou be destroyed. Why? Because thou hearkest not into the voice of the Lord thy God to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee." God said, so if you don't obey me, you're going to be cursed. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder upon thy seed forever. Now watch this.

[John Weaver] Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of things, therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies. Now watch this. God says you have two choices. You may either serve Me, or you may serve your enemies, but you will serve. Isn't that amazing? We can thank God and worship Him and serve Him for the abundance of all things that He's given us.

[John Weaver] We can obey Him by His grace and by His power. and be His people and be blessed by Him. But God says, when you disobey Me and My curses come upon you, you shall serve your enemies. When a nation forgets God... Of course, you know the Scripture in Psalm 9, the nation that forgets God shall be turned into hell. But when a nation forgets God, when a nation denies God and God's law.

[John Weaver] Let me tell you something, folks. Unless God sovereignly, miraculously, and powerfully intervenes, our nation will plunge into a deeper, steeper, and faster ride into total tyranny. It's the price we'll pay for rejecting God and his law. Deja vu? Oh yeah. Israel went through it. 1 Samuel chapter 8. And here we are in this country going through the exact same thing. Anarchy or When you reject God and His law, you have no other alternatives.

[John Weaver] Neither of those are appealing to me. I prefer to worship and honor and obey the one true and living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ the Messiah. Let's pray. Father, we ask that You would speak to our hearts today, that You would help us, enable us, dear Lord, to see the principles of Your Word. Enable us to understand that there are dire consequences for rejecting Thee and Thy law.

[John Weaver] Give us grace to be obedient. Give us grace to serve. Help us to worship Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray Amen.

Deja Vu

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	10303134248
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: Where We Are & How We Got Here
Genre	Sermon
Date	2003-09-28
Dictation Name
Book	Book 009: Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	91

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: Déjà Vu and the Ten Commandments Ruling

Weaver introduces the concept of déjà vu and reads an article about a federal judge ruling that the state cannot acknowledge God, effectively establishing atheism as the national religion.

I want you to turn in your Bible today to 1 Samuel, chapter 8, and I'm going to preach a message today, which I have entitled "Deja Vu," and I think you'll understand in just a moment. Notice, if you would please, 1 Samuel, chapter 8, and let's read the first ten verses. We're going to end up looking at all of the verses just about in this chapter, but I want to deal just with the reading of the first 10 verses. Notice 1 Samuel, chapter 8, verse 1:

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 8:1-10

"And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel."

Now, the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah, and said unto him, "Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways." "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."

"According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. When I first read an article, which I'm going to share with you in just a little while, I immediately said to myself, "déjà vu." Now, most of you probably know that the term "déjà vu" is French and it literally means "already seen." Déjà vu is when you describe an experience such as when you are exceedingly familiar with something which you really should not be. For instance, suppose you and I were in England touring a castle or something, and all of a sudden, everything around us seems exceedingly familiar, like we've been here before, or we've seen this before, but in reality, we know that we have not been there before. There have been times when I have been discussing certain topics with friends, and all of a sudden it dawns on me, "Well, did I not discuss this same topic with these same friends a little earlier?" You know, it just seems so real and so familiar, although it's not necessarily true. You not necessarily have not been there. You not necessarily have discussed the same topic.

So déjà vu literally means like, "Well, we've been here before, and here we are going through this same thing again." So that is basically what the phrase "déjà vu" refers to. I was sent—and some of you probably have read it—an article that was written by the American Family Association, and this article was basically dealing with the Ten Commandments issue in Alabama, and I do not know the author. I assume it's Mr. Wildman, but I'm not sure of that. But let me take just a moment and read you this brief article, and you will understand why I said "déjà vu." Here's the article: "The issue isn't a granite stone with the Ten Commandments inscribed on it. Never has been. The issue is much more diverse and important than a piece of stone. The issue was best stated by none other than Federal Judge Myron Thompson, who said that the display of the stone containing the Ten Commandments, which also contains a host of other historical documents, is illegal. Thompson said, 'The central, most important issue was this.'"

"Can the state acknowledge God?" After asking the question, he went on to answer it: "No." That is the issue. Lest we fail to understand what has occurred here, let me explain. A single lower court federal judge has bluntly told every American that America is now officially an atheist nation. In one swift stroke of the pen, Judge Thompson tossed out over 225 years of American history and law. In one swift stroke of the pen, he has instituted a new form of law based upon what he wants it to be. Rex has become Lex. Let me just stop there. Rex is the Latin word for king. Lex is the Latin word for law. So when he says "Rex has become Lex," he is saying the king has become law. In other words, the king is no longer subject to the law. The king is above the law, and the king is the one who makes the law. He wears a black robe, and he says he is the law.

Go back and read the First Amendment—the one Judge Thompson destroyed in the name of preserving it. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," the First Amendment says. Congress has passed no law establishing religion, but what Congress refused to do—indeed, because Congress refused to do it—Judge Thompson did. He instituted as the law of the land the religion of atheism, which says there is no God. Not only did Judge Thompson usurp the power of Congress, he also took away the rights of every individual and state. The second half of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment reads, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This is precisely what one lower federal judge has done. He told Americans who disagree with his official state religion of atheism that he can and will prohibit the free exercise of their religion—unless, of course, that religion is atheism. He stripped both Congress and the people of their rights. He set himself above the law because he considers himself to be the law. From this day forward, our entire judicial system must be based on the religion of atheism.

Following that to its logical conclusion, in the future there will be no frame of reference from which to decide law. Law will become what any person wearing a black robe and sitting in court desires it to be. The First Amendment has been ripped apart in the name of upholding it. Orwell's 1984 has arrived. No, you will not notice any drastic changes immediately. There is still a remnant left in the hearts and minds of the current citizenry. But when that remnant dies out, those who come after us will see a big difference. The state will become intolerant of any religion other than atheism. That, of course, will come into conflict with people of conscience whose religion differs from that of the state.

That is when the persecution—quite legal, I might add—will start. It was the atheist Santayana who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote, "The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape in any form they please." Indeed, Santayana and Jefferson were right. Now, that's the end of the article. Now, what the author is just simply saying is this: based upon Judge Thompson's ruling, if that ruling is allowed to stand, if it is not challenged, if it is not overthrown, then that one ruling would basically make us an atheistic nation.

The Issue: Rejection of God's Sovereignty

The core issue is not a granite monument but whether the state can acknowledge God. The judge's ruling denies God's kingship and law, making the king (judge) above the law.

A King Rules by His Law

A king rules by his law, which expresses his will. Denying God's law is a denial of God Himself. When God is rejected, only anarchy or tyranny remains.

A king rules by his law. It doesn't matter if you're talking about a man or if you're talking about God. It doesn't matter whether it's human or divine. A king rules by his law. Why? Because the law is the expression of the king's will. Please listen carefully. Thus, a denial of the king's law is a denial of the king. If a king rules by his law, and if law is an expression of the king's will, when you deny the king's law, in essence you have denied the king.

Now, Judge Thompson's ruling was not only unethical, immoral, unconstitutional, unhistorical, and unbiblical, it was a flat-out denial of God's sovereignty, of God's kingship, and God's supremacy. Now we've got a question. I want you to help me work through this. If God is not supreme, if God is not sovereign, if God is not absolute, who is? Well, you actually have two choices: man or government, which is instituted by man.

Now, let me tell you—and I don't want to get into too much of this because I'm not interested in clogging up your minds with philosophy—but if you've ever done any reading on philosophy, inevitably you're going to come to the terms nominalism and realism. And let me tell you, these philosophies are very important, not from the fact that they are necessarily biblical, but from the fact that they emphasize certain truths. Whenever you deny God, you have to ask who is supreme, who is sovereign, and it's either man or government. Once you say man or government, then you've gotten into the realm of philosophical nominalism or philosophical realism, which is the age-old "the one and the many," or the particulars or the universals. Let me try to spell it out like this. Which would you say is more important, the one or the many?

Now, let me explain that a little further. Which would you say is more important, generals or particulars? And when I say generals, I'm not talking about army officers. I'm talking about generals—a multitude of individuals—or particulars. And you say, "Now, wait a minute, Pastor, you're losing me here trying to talk about philosophy." Oh, no, hang on. Hang on. Let me explain it like this. When you deny God's sovereignty,

you come either to nominalism or realism, the one and the many, or the particular and the generals. Or you come to anarchy or tyranny. What is anarchy? Anarchy is the many. It's everyone doing his own thing. What is the one? It's the collectivism. It's society as a whole. It is government.

Now, which is more important? Do we sacrifice government so that everyone may have their individual, quote-unquote, rights and do their own things? Or do we sacrifice the rights and the liberties and the freedoms so that we may have a stable society and a stable government? You see, the point is this. When you deny God, when you deny God's law, the only two things that are left are anarchy or tyranny. There's no in-between. If you and I come up with philosophical realism, if we say that, well, it's the individuals who are the more important, it's our rights, it's what we want, it's our thing, well, then you descend into what you had in the book of Judges. You remember the theme of the book of Judges? It's found in Judges 17, I think, in verse 6, and Judges 21 in verse 25.

"There was no king in Israel in those days. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes." Let me ask you a question. How would you like to live in this country when everyone did that which is right in his own eyes? I mean, I might think it's right to kill every one of you. You might think it's right to steal from me. You might think it's right to do whatever you want to do. You understand what I'm saying? You have nothing but pure anarchy. So on the one hand, when you deny God's sovereignty, you can descend into pure anarchy.

On the other hand, if you say, "Well, we cannot have anarchy, we cannot have people exercising what they think, and therefore we must have the whole, we must have the collective, we must have the government," therefore, you will end up with tyranny because now you're sacrificing individual rights for the whole, for the one. You're sacrificing the many for the one. Now, in a nutshell, I want you to see where we are in this country. In a nutshell, this is exactly what you have been hearing our United States Attorney General John Ashcroft say. "We must be safe. We must protect our people." So what do we do? In light of wanting to be safe and wanting to be protected, we throw away all the individual rights, all the individual liberties. You follow me? That's exactly what he's saying.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:5

So the federal government's position is the many has to be sacrificed for the one. When you deny God, you can either have anarchy, or you can have tyranny, one or the other. Now, I want you to understand that God is the answer to this problem. Why? Because He is one. God is one. The burden of the Old Testament is Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." God is one. Yet that one God has revealed Himself in three distinct persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Only in God do we have order. Only in God do we have the whole. Only in God do we have the collective. And only in God do we have the individual, where the rights and the liberties and the freedoms are expressed. So God Himself is the answer to the one and the many. Now, listen carefully.

I've said it before, I'm going to say it again. Without God and without God's law, men must descend either into anarchy or tyranny. There are no other options. You can have one or the other, but there are no other options. You will either descend into anarchy or tyranny.

1 Samuel 8: Israel's Rejection of God as King

Israel demanded a human king, rejecting God's direct rule. This was a transition from God's law to man's law, motivated by a desire to be like other nations and to avoid personal responsibility.

Now, I read 1 Samuel chapter 8, the first 10 verses. Let me tell you something about 1 Samuel 8 before we get to it. The only way that you can understand 1 Samuel chapter 8 is to see it and to view it and to understand it as a transition from one law structure to another law structure. What happened in 1 Samuel chapter 8? The people come to Samuel and they are demanding a king. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. I want you to note what is specifically stated. 1 Samuel 12 and verse 12. Samuel is rebuking the people still for their desire and their choice for a king, for a man. He says, "And when you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said unto me, 'Nay; but a king shall reign over us,'" look, "when the Lord your God was your king." So up until 1 Samuel chapter 8, who is the king over Israel? God Himself.

Now, what in the world are the people doing? They are saying, "We no longer want God to rule over us. We no longer want God to reign over us. We no longer want God as our king. What we want is a man to rule over us." Now, listen carefully. When you change kings, you change law. Because the king rules by his law. And so when you reject God and you institute man, you've just swapped God's law for man's law. Now, I want you to understand that when Israel came demanding a man-king, God not only viewed it as, but understood it as a rejection of His kingship and His sovereignty and His law.

Look in verse 7 of 1 Samuel chapter 8. In fact, let's read verse 6:

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 8:7

"But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, 'Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.'"

So here's what Israel is doing in 1 Samuel chapter 8. She's trading God for a man. And she's trading God's law for man's law.

Now, let's ask a question. Why did Israel want a man to be their king when God was their king? Why did Israel want a man to rule over them when God ruled over them? Well, let's begin there with verse 1. And let's look, first of all, what I'm going to call a lame excuse, OK? "And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel."

Now, the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. So here's the first reason they come. They say in verse 4, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, 'Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.'"

Now let's stop and think about this. Why would I say that this is a lame excuse? That is certainly not excusing Samuel's two sons for their sins, for their perversions, for their wickedness, and for their failures. But the people were recognizing two things. They were saying, number one, "Samuel, you're too old. You can't function and you can't do anything about maybe your sons. And your sons are wicked and wrong."

Now, those may have been facts. But may I remind you of something? When God raised up Samuel, was there a corrupt priest or a corrupt prophet? Yes, by the name of Eli. Did he not have two corrupt sons who were priests? Yes, Hophni and Phinehas. And God killed both those boys in one day. They were so wicked and so ungodly.

Now, the point I'm trying to make is this. If God sovereignly raised up a godly Samuel to be a prophet, to teach His people and to give them His law and His Word in the midst of a corrupt priesthood, could He not likewise have raised up another prophet when Samuel's sons were perverse and corrupt? And the answer is yes. But see, no one asked God what to do. No one asked God what His will was. They just came to Samuel and said, "Look, Samuel, we've got to have a king over us. You're too old and your sons are corrupt." Now, if you'll look in verse 5, there's another reason given. However, it's not the main reason, OK? In verse 5, "And he said unto them, 'Behold, I am old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.'" Now, why did they want a king, according to verse 5? They wanted to be just like every other nation. Hmm.

Let me ask you a question. Was not Israel supposed to be different from all the other nations? That's what I read in my Bible. In fact, look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 momentarily. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Go there. Let me show you what God says. Deuteronomy chapter 4. And look what Moses tells the people. Deuteronomy 4 verse 5. He says, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the land whither you go to possess it."

"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of all the nations, which shall hear all these statutes"—that is God's law—"and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all the things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I have set before you this day?" Israel was supposed to be different, because they had God as their king, and they had God's law, and God's law was to be their wisdom and their understanding, and all the other nations would envy Israel as Israel obeyed God. So when they say, "Make us a king, we shall be like other nations,"

immediately, they're trying to conform to the world instead of remain separate as God had given them a command to do so. But if you really want the answer as to why Israel really wanted a human or a man king, look in verse 20. Here it is. In fact, let's read verse 19. You see, Samuel, of course, now has—I'm going to cover this—Samuel has told them everything that's going to come down the pike. Verse 19: "Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel," as they wouldn't listen to God's man. "And they said, 'Nay; but we will have a king over us.'" Here's why they wanted a king: "that we may also be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." Now, here's the real reason they wanted a king.

They were unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. They wanted someone else to study for them. They wanted someone else to judge for them. They wanted someone else to defend them. They wanted someone else to fight for them. They were unwilling to assume and fulfill their personal responsibilities. Let me tell you something, folks. Whenever any individual refuses to assume personal responsibility for himself, there will always be someone else who will be willing to assume that responsibility for a price. And many times that price will be at our own personal freedom.

The Consequences of Rejecting God and His Law

God pronounces a judicial verdict: the human king will take their sons for military conscription, their daughters for labor, their property, and tithes, ultimately enslaving them.

And I thought to myself as I read this passage, now, I wonder if that means what I think it means. And I looked up the Hebrew word and let me tell you, I was very surprised. Because if I say concerning God, "Well, that's just his manner," in other words, that's his way of doing things, everybody understands that. But when I looked up the word "manner," it did not just simply have reference to the way the king was going to do things. The Hebrew word is the word "mishpat," which is one of the words for justice in the Bible, which literally means a verdict or a judicial pronouncement. And what God is saying is, "Look, if you want a king, I'm going to give you a king. But in doing so, this will be his manner." In other words, this will be my judicial pronouncement against that king and against you. So when God talks about the manner of the king, He is issuing a verdict. He's issuing a judicial pronouncement. And in giving them what they wanted, God pronounced sentence upon them.

Now, there are in this chapter five consequences for rejecting God and His law. Five consequences. And I want you to see them. First, I want to just read through verses 11 through 17, and I want you to maybe underline one little word that I will emphasize several times, OK? Let's read verse 11: "And he said, 'This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you.'" "He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodly young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. And he will take the tenth of your sheep: and you shall be his servants."

You know what word occurs over and over in these passages? What? The word "take." You know what God as King has always done? Give. Give. Give. That's all God's ever done. Now God says, "You want a man? Okay. But I want you to understand, he will take everything that you have." God is a giver. Man is a taker. Now, what are the consequences for rejecting God and God's law?

First of all, in verse 11, you will have an unbiblical military conscription. Verse 11: "And he said, 'This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.'" Now, without me getting into this and without me re-preaching a message that I've already preached in the past, I brought a series of messages on the biblical doctrine of war. And I showed from the Bible how that in the Bible, that which was scriptural and biblical was the local militia. There was not a standing army per se until David sinned against God, and after that, there got to be a standing army. Before that, everything was just the local militia. In other words, here it is: if the people did not see that there was a just cause to fight, the king could have no war, for he had no standing army. But God says, once you get a king, at least you'll have a standing army.

Because he's going to defend his power, his position, and therefore he will take your sons. Let me tell you something. It really doesn't matter, in one sense of the word, whether you agree with George Bush in Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever. If your son is in the armed forces, and he tells you to go over there and defend his oil wells, that's where you go. If you're in the service, or if you refuse, you get court-martialed. And then you get imprisoned. You see the point I'm trying to make? Now let me tell you something. My position is this. If Rockefeller and those men want their oil wells protected, or if they want more oil, let them hire mercenaries to go do their fighting. You don't have to take our sons and our daughters. We ought to have a say-so. That's what the Bible says, all through the Bible, because the militia was there. But once you deny God, there's no longer a local militia. It's no longer the people who's doing the fighting. No, it's the king.

He has his standing army. And he says, "I will draft your boys. I will draft your daughters. I will take them. And you can't stop me." So the very first thing you have is an unbiblical military conscription.

Now, by the way, lest anybody in here not understand what I'm saying, I am certainly for defending our country. I would fight to the death to defend my country and my nation, especially if my country and my nation happened to be invaded. But, dear friend, there's a big difference between fighting to defend my country and going over there and trying to defend somebody's oil wells, or because some military elite decides we want to expand our empire. I know I told you what Jay Leno said, and I'm going to repeat it because I thought it was so appropriate. And I don't endorse Jay Leno at all. I don't even listen to him. I just saw this quote, and I thought it was very apropos.

He says, "Did you hear that our government is trying to spend millions of dollars writing a constitution now for Iraq?" He says, "We don't need to spend that money. Let's just give them ours. Number one, ours was written by the smartest men in the world. And number two, we're not using it." And so even Jay Leno recognized that fact. So but here's an unbiblical military conscription. They'll take—notice, if you would please, verses 12 and 13. Here's the second consequence.

"And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers." Compulsory labor battalions for the state. And by the way, do you realize how many people now work for the federal government? If you were to add up the number of people who work for the feds and the state governments, it's an astounding figure. I forget what it was. It's something like 39 or 40 percent of the population. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. You see, when the Bible and the Constitution says that our government is to be a limited government, it has now become an unlimited government. What is it that George Washington said? "Government is like fire. In its proper place, it's a good servant, but when it gets out of the fireplace, it's a fearful master."

And that certainly is true. So the very first thing you'd have is an unbiblical military conscription. Secondly, compulsory labor battalions for state service. Notice what he's saying now. Listen to me: that ultimately everything will be for the benefit of the state, not for the family, not for the individual, not for God's honor and glory, not for the church. Everything will be for the benefit of the state. Here's the third consequence for rejecting God, verse 14: "And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants." The state will expropriate—that is, they will take, they will steal—the property of the people.

Is anybody in this room ever heard of eminent domain? Sure, you have. Eminent domain. If the state wants it, all they've got to do is come by and condemn it. I don't care if it's been in your family 400 years or not. I don't care if it's been in your family 100 years. If they want it, they can condemn it and take it. Yes, they'll pay you something. And by the way, the Word of God condemns eminent domain in the book of Ezekiel. You know another way the state can take your property? Through taxation. Property taxes are one of the most unbiblical taxes that exist. And all they have to do is—by the way, do you know that, I'm not going to say 100%, probably it is true, but 99% of all the castles in England are owned by the government. They're not owned by the people who live in them. The people who live in them have an agreement with the government; they stay there and they make those castles available for tours.

And when they say, "Well, our family's been in this castle 400 years," that doesn't matter. They don't own the castle. England owns the castle. Why? How did they get it? They taxed it where the people could not pay the taxes. And the taxes went to the state. And now, actually, the people who did own those castles live in them, but they are actually servants of the state. All government has to do to expropriate, to take your property, is either go through eminent domain or tax it to the point that you cannot pay for it and they will get it.

God said that's exactly what is going to happen. "You want a king? I'll give him to you. He's going to take your property. He's going to take your goods. You can have him, but he will take, take, take."

Now, watch forth, number four. Not only do you have an unbiblical military conscription, not only compulsory labor battalions for state service, not only will the state expropriate property, but the state or the government that plays God will demand to tithe in taxes as God. Look in verses 15 and 16: "And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodly young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. And he will take the tenth of your sheep."

Now, let me tell you something. God says when government plays God, it will demand a tithe by God. However, in our country, most of us would be so happy, so elated if only our government demanded 10%. You add up all the taxes you pay in this country, and it's nearly 60% of what you make. Usually they have a tax-free day, you know. Last time I checked, it was sometime in July, which was well over 50%. It's probably the latter part of July now, the first of August. You work that long just to have enough money to pay taxes. The rest of the year, the money would be yours. But God says, when you reject me, you're going to have someone that's going to demand a tithe. And a tithe, and a tithe, and a tithe, and continuous.

Okay, here's the fifth consequence of rejecting God and His law. All will ultimately be enslaved and serve only government. Thus, you have complete tyranny. Verse 17: "He will take the tenth of your sheep: and you shall be his servants." Look up the word "servants" when you get home in your concordance. You'll find the Hebrew word is "ebed," which is translated in our Bibles most oftentimes "bondservant" or "slave." "And you shall be his slaves." You see, the people that reject God and His law will always suffer the consequences for that rejection.

Making Void the Law of God

Men make void God's law through legislation, judicial precedent, tradition, ignorance, and rebellion. God responds with demonstration or condemnation.

Now, let me deal with the second aspect of this verse first. "For they have made void thy law." Have you ever asked yourself this question: How do men make void the law of God? I could preach an entire sermon just on that question. Let me very quickly give you five ways, and I'll give you the corresponding scriptures. Here's how men make void the law of God. Number one, by legislation. Look at Psalm 94, verse 20.

You don't have to turn there. But he said, "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" That makes sin legal. Look in your Bibles when you get home to 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8, how the kings of Israel adopted the laws and the statutes of the heathen king. You can make void the law of God by legislation. That's what we've done in this country. As I told you before, it's legal in this country to murder as long as the baby's not yet born. And by the way, I saw—and some of you probably saw as well—I think it was either on the Drudge Report or World Net Daily, how they have come out with a new scope. I forget what it was called, some type of scan. They can not only see the baby in the mother's womb, but they can now see the baby laughing, crying, experiencing emotions. And they had the picture of one baby in the womb smiling from ear to ear. Unbelievable. And yet by legislation, that is no longer a baby.

It's just a glob of fetal tissue. And if you want to kill it, go ahead. See, you can make void God's law by legislation. How about this one? Everybody knows this one. What's the Word of God say? "If any will not work, what? Neither should he eat." And yet we've got a whole multitude of this country who refuse to work. And yet they're supported by welfare over and over and over and over and over and over.

Food stamps this and food stamps that. You can make void the law of God by legislation. You can make void the law of God by judicial precedent. That's what Judge Myron Thompson was doing. Read Psalm 82, which is a psalm against the judges, and God said they've literally turned the world upside down by their wicked judicial precedents. So you can make void the law of God by legislation, by judicial precedent. You can also make void the law of God by tradition.

You remember what our Lord said in Matthew 15 to those Pharisees? "Why with your tradition have you made void the law of God?" And people rather have tradition than truth. Fourthly, you can make void the law of God by ignorance. John 8:32: "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Now, if you don't know the truth, folks, you're not free. And what does he say in Hosea 4? "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." And we ignorantly violate God's law, and we suffer for it. We make it void through our own ignorance. And then we make it void by rebellion. You remember Psalm 2?

"The kings of the earth have gathered together and said, 'Let us cast His cords from us, and let us break His bands asunder.'" In other words, "We don't care what God says. We don't care who He is or what He wants. We're going to do our thing." So there's five ways that you can make void the law of God. Now, that does not mean that the law of God has been done away with. It just means, practically speaking, you've acted as if the Word of God is of none effect in your life. You see, there's a difference between a theoretical atheist and a practical atheist. A theoretical atheist—and there are very few of them—who would come up and say, "Well, I don't believe there is a God."

And they do so from an intellectual point of view, and they explain it that way from their intellectual position. There are very few of those. But let me tell you, there are many practical atheists. And a practical atheist sometimes is someone who claims to believe in God. He just acts as if God has not spoken and goes ahead and does his own thing. Practically, he just disobeys God while at the same time claiming to believe God.

Now he says, "It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law." Let me go to that first section: "It is time for thee, Lord, to work." What does God do when men make void His law? God may work in one of two ways or both ways that He so chooses. First of all, He may work by way of demonstration. If you look in your Bibles to Psalm 9—and I could be—I got news for you folks, I'd hate to be the one who's trying to ban God. I'd hate to be the one who's trying to ban His law, because God, when He arises, He will demonstrate who He is. And He will demonstrate what man really is. But the second way God usually moves is in condemnation. Not in demonstration, but condemnation. Now listen to me.

The Choice: Serve God or Serve Enemies

Deuteronomy 28 shows that disobedience leads to serving enemies. America faces a plunge into tyranny unless God intervenes, mirroring Israel's experience.

Let me show you a verse. Let me show you a truth. And before I show it to you, let me make a statement. If we as a people—Deuteronomy 28—if we as a people do not repent, you ain't seen nothing yet. OK. Because when you reject God and His law, you only descend into either anarchy or tyranny. And look what God says. And by the way, Deuteronomy 28, He has the blessings and the curses, and the portion that we're reading is the curse for disobeying God's law. Don't you look what God says. Let's begin reading with verse 45:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 28:45-48

"Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee."

God said,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 28:45-48

"So if you don't obey me, you're going to be cursed. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever."

Now watch this.

"Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies." Now watch this. God says you have two choices. You may either serve Me, or you may serve your enemies, but you will serve. Isn't that amazing? We can thank God and worship Him and serve Him for the abundance of all things that He's given us. We can obey Him by His grace and by His power, and be His people and be blessed by Him. But God says, "When you disobey Me and My curses come upon you, you shall serve your enemies." When a nation forgets God—of course, you know the Scripture in Psalm 9, "The nation that forgets God shall be turned into hell." But when a nation forgets God, when a nation denies God and God's law,

let me tell you something, folks. Unless God sovereignly, miraculously, and powerfully intervenes, our nation will plunge into a deeper, steeper, and faster ride into total tyranny. It's the price we'll pay for rejecting God and His law. Déjà vu? Oh yeah. Israel went through it. 1 Samuel chapter 8. And here we are in this country going through the exact same thing. Anarchy or tyranny? When you reject God and His law, you have no other alternatives.

Conclusion: Call to Obedience

Weaver concludes with a prayer for grace to obey and serve God, rejecting the alternatives of anarchy and tyranny.

Neither of those are appealing to me. I prefer to worship and honor and obey the one true and living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ the Messiah. Let's pray. Father, we ask that You would speak to our hearts today, that You would help us, enable us, dear Lord, to see the principles of Your Word. Enable us to understand that there are dire consequences for rejecting Thee and Thy law. Give us grace to be obedient. Give us grace to serve. Help us to worship Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Rejection of God's Sovereignty

Summary: When a nation denies God as king and rejects His law, it effectively enthrones man or government as sovereign, leading to dire consequences.

Evidence: The Lord said unto Samuel, 'Hearken unto the voice of the people... for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.' (1 Samuel 8:7)

Anarchy vs. Tyranny

Summary: Without God and His law, societies inevitably descend into either anarchy (everyone doing what is right in their own eyes) or tyranny (oppressive government control).

Evidence: When you deny God, when you deny God's law, the only two things that are left are anarchy or tyranny. There's no in-between.

The Law as Expression of the King's Will

Summary: A king rules by his law; therefore, to deny the king's law is to deny the king himself. Changing kings means changing the governing law.

Evidence: A king rules by his law. Why? Because the law is the expression of the king's will. Thus, a denial of the king's law is a denial of the king.

Consequences of Rejecting God's Rule

Summary: God's judicial pronouncement on Israel for demanding a human king includes military conscription, compulsory labor, property seizure, oppressive taxation, and slavery.

Evidence: He will take your sons... He will take your daughters... He will take your fields... He will take the tenth of your seed... and ye shall be his servants.

Making Void God's Law

Summary: Men nullify God's law through legislation, judicial precedent, tradition, ignorance, and rebellion, acting as practical atheists even while professing belief.

Evidence: How do men make void the law of God? Number one, by legislation... by judicial precedent... by tradition... by ignorance... by rebellion.

The Inevitability of Serving

Summary: God declares that people will either serve Him joyfully or serve their enemies in oppression; there is no neutral ground.

Evidence: Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness... therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies.

Key Arguments

The Alabama Ten Commandments ruling is a modern parallel to Israel's rejection of God as king.

Summary: Judge Thompson's ruling that the state cannot acknowledge God is a direct denial of God's sovereignty, mirroring Israel's demand for a human king in 1 Samuel 8.

Evidence: A single lower court federal judge has bluntly told every American that America is now officially an atheist nation... The issue was best stated by... Judge Myron Thompson, who said that the display of the stone containing the Ten Commandments... is illegal.

Denying God's law leads exclusively to anarchy or tyranny.

Summary: When God's law is rejected, the only possible outcomes are anarchy (individualism run amok) or tyranny (collectivism suppressing individual rights), with no middle ground.

Evidence: Without God and without God's law, men must descend either into anarchy or tyranny. There are no other options.

Israel's request for a king was a rejection of God's rule and a refusal of personal responsibility.

Summary: The real reason Israel wanted a king was to have someone else fight their battles and assume their responsibilities, rather than trusting God and obeying His law.

Evidence: They were unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. They wanted someone else to study for them. They wanted someone else to judge for them. They wanted someone else to defend them.

God's 'manner' of the king is a judicial sentence of tyranny.

Summary: The Hebrew word 'mishpat' indicates that God's description of the king's behavior is not merely a prediction but a judicial verdict of judgment upon the people for their rejection.

Evidence: The Hebrew word is the word 'mishpat,' which is one of the words for justice in the Bible, which literally means a verdict or a judicial pronouncement.

Government that plays God will demand tithes and seize property.

Summary: A humanistic government will expropriate property through eminent domain and taxation, and demand a tithe-like portion of the people's wealth, ultimately enslaving them.

Evidence: He will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards... He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them... and ye shall be his servants.

America is on the same path as Israel, heading toward tyranny.

Summary: Unless God intervenes, America's rejection of His law will result in increasing oppression and tyranny, just as it did for Israel.

Evidence: Unless God sovereignly, miraculously, and powerfully intervenes, our nation will plunge into a deeper, steeper, and faster ride into total tyranny.

Scripture References

1 Samuel 8:1-10

Context: The initial reading of the passage where Israel demands a king, setting the stage for the sermon.

1 Samuel 8:7

Context: God tells Samuel that the people have not rejected Samuel but have rejected God as their king.

1 Samuel 12:12

Context: Samuel reminds Israel that they demanded a king even though the Lord was their king.

1 Samuel 8:11-17

Context: God's description of the manner of the king, detailing the oppressive actions he will take.

1 Samuel 8:18

Context: God warns that when the people cry out because of their king, He will not hear them.

Deuteronomy 6:5

Context: Cited to show that God is one, providing the solution to the one-and-many philosophical problem.

Deuteronomy 4:5-8

Context: Moses tells Israel that their obedience to God's law would make them a wise and understanding nation, distinct from others.

Deuteronomy 28:45-48

Context: The curse for disobedience: because they did not serve God joyfully, they will serve their enemies.

Judges 17:6; 21:25

Context: The theme of Judges: 'There was no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes,' illustrating anarchy.

Psalm 119:53

Context: David expresses horror at those who forsake God's law, knowing the consequences.

Psalm 119:126

Context: David declares it is time for God to work because men have made void His law.

Psalm 94:20

Context: Mentioned as an example of making void God's law through legislation that frames mischief by law.

Psalm 82

Context: A psalm against judges who turn the world upside down by wicked judicial precedents.

Matthew 15

Context: Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for making void God's law through their traditions.

John 8:32

Context: Knowing the truth sets one free; ignorance of God's law leads to destruction.

Hosea 4:6

Context: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, illustrating making void God's law through ignorance.

Psalm 2

Context: The kings of the earth rebel against God, casting off His cords, as an example of making void His law by rebellion.

Psalm 9

Context: The nation that forgets God shall be turned into hell; God demonstrates Himself in judgment.

Ezekiel (various)

Context: The phrase 'and they shall know that I am the Lord' occurs 73 times in the context of judgment.

2 Kings 17:7-8

Context: The kings of Israel adopted the laws of the heathen, making void God's law by legislation.

Historical References

Judge Myron Thompson's ruling on Ten Commandments monument in Alabama

Context: A federal judge ruled that displaying the Ten Commandments is illegal because the state cannot acknowledge God, effectively establishing atheism.

Judge Roy Moore controversy

Context: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was criticized for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument; some pastors opposed him, citing Romans 13.

American Family Association article

Context: Weaver reads from an article by the AFA criticizing Judge Thompson's ruling and warning of the establishment of atheism.

Ten Commandments display in Utah

Context: Weaver mentions a news report about a Ten Commandments monument in Salt Lake City being targeted for removal.

John Ashcroft's security policies

Context: Attorney General Ashcroft's emphasis on safety over individual rights is cited as an example of sacrificing the many for the one (tyranny).

George Washington quote on government

Context: Washington said, 'Government is like fire. In its proper place, it's a good servant, but when it gets out of the fireplace, it's a fearful master.'

Jay Leno quote on U.S. Constitution

Context: Leno joked that the U.S. should give Iraq its Constitution since 'we're not using it,' highlighting disregard for constitutional limits.

Santayana quote

Context: The atheist Santayana said, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,' applied to the current judicial crisis.

Thomas Jefferson quote on judiciary

Context: Jefferson wrote, 'The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape in any form they please.'

Orwell's 1984

Context: The article compares the judge's ruling to the arrival of Orwell's dystopian vision.

Important Quotes

When you deny God, when you deny God's law, the only two things that are left are anarchy or tyranny. There's no in-between.

Significance: This is the core logical conclusion of the sermon: without divine law, human society oscillates between chaos and oppression.

They were unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. They wanted someone else to study for them. They wanted someone else to judge for them. They wanted someone else to defend them.

Significance: Weaver identifies the root motive behind Israel's demand for a king—and by extension, modern statism—as a refusal of personal responsibility.

Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies.

Significance: This Deuteronomy passage underscores the inevitability of servitude: either joyful service to God or oppressive service to enemies.

Unless God sovereignly, miraculously, and powerfully intervenes, our nation will plunge into a deeper, steeper, and faster ride into total tyranny.

Significance: The sermon's urgent warning that America is on the same trajectory as ancient Israel, heading toward tyranny without divine intervention.

Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.

Significance: David's response to lawlessness reflects the appropriate reaction of the godly to the rejection of God's law.

It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.

Significance: This verse is used to call for divine intervention when human authorities nullify God's law through various means.

Discussion Questions

In what ways does the demand for a king in 1 Samuel 8 parallel modern tendencies to look to government for security and provision rather than to God?

Context: Weaver argues that Israel wanted a king to fight their battles and take responsibility, similar to how people today rely on the state.

How should Christians respond when human laws directly contradict God's law, as in the case of Judge Thompson's ruling?

Context: The sermon criticizes pastors who opposed Judge Roy Moore for disobeying the government, raising the issue of civil disobedience.

What are the practical ways we might be 'making void the law of God' through tradition, ignorance, or rebellion in our own lives?

Context: Weaver lists five ways men nullify God's law, including tradition and ignorance, prompting self-examination.

How does the concept of 'eminent domain' and property taxation relate to the biblical warning that a king will 'take your fields'?

Context: The sermon connects modern property seizure by the state to the consequences described in 1 Samuel 8:14.

What does it mean to serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart, and how does that contrast with serving enemies?

Context: Deuteronomy 28:47-48 presents a stark choice between joyful service to God and oppressive service to enemies.

How can we cultivate a healthy fear of the consequences of national apostasy without falling into despair or fatalism?

Context: Weaver expresses horror at those who forsake God's law but also calls for prayer and obedience.

In what ways might the church today be conforming to the world ('like all the nations') rather than remaining distinct under God's rule?

Context: Israel wanted a king to be like other nations, contrary to God's call for them to be different.

How does the doctrine of God's sovereignty provide the only solution to the tension between individual rights and collective authority?

Context: Weaver argues that only in the triune God are the one and the many perfectly harmonized.

Applications

Recognize the consequences of rejecting God's law

Summary: Understand that when a nation or individual rejects God's law, the inevitable result is either anarchy or tyranny, and take warning from Israel's example.

Evidence: When you reject God and His law, you will descend either into anarchy or tyranny. There's no in-between.

Assume personal responsibility under God

Summary: Instead of looking to human government to solve all problems, fulfill your God-given responsibilities and trust Him to defend and provide.

Evidence: They were unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. They wanted someone else to study for them... to defend them.

Obey God rather than men when laws conflict

Summary: When human laws directly contradict God's commands, believers must obey God, even if it means facing opposition from the state or religious leaders.

Evidence: Why was the pastor not upset with the government that was defying, disobeying, and rebelling against the sovereign God of the universe?

Guard against making void God's law

Summary: Examine your life for ways you may be nullifying God's Word through tradition, ignorance, or rebellion, and commit to knowing and obeying the truth.

Evidence: You can make void the law of God by tradition... by ignorance... by rebellion.

Serve God joyfully to avoid serving enemies

Summary: Choose to serve the Lord with gladness for His abundant blessings, recognizing that the alternative is oppressive servitude to enemies.

Evidence: Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness... therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies.

Pray for national repentance and divine intervention

Summary: In light of America's trajectory toward tyranny, earnestly pray that God would sovereignly intervene and grant repentance to the nation.

Evidence: Unless God sovereignly, miraculously, and powerfully intervenes, our nation will plunge into... total tyranny.

Maintain a distinct biblical identity

Summary: Resist the pressure to conform to the world's standards and instead live as a people governed by God's law, displaying His wisdom to the nations.

Evidence: Israel was supposed to be different, because they had God as their king, and they had God's law.

Be horrified at the forsaking of God's law

Summary: Cultivate a righteous horror at the widespread rejection of God's law in society, and let that motivate holy living and bold witness.

Evidence: Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:48:22Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T14:10:42Z

Clean Transcript

Deja Vu

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

I want you to turn in your Bible today to 1 Samuel, chapter 8, and I'm going to preach a message today, which I have entitled "Deja Vu," and I think you'll understand in just a moment. Notice, if you would please, 1 Samuel, chapter 8, and let's read the first ten verses. We're going to end up looking at all of the verses just about in this chapter, but I want to deal just with the reading of the first 10 verses. Notice 1 Samuel, chapter 8, verse 1: "And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel."
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Now, the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah, and said unto him, "Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways."
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"Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."
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"According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
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When I first read an article, which I'm going to share with you in just a little while, I immediately said to myself, "déjà vu." Now, most of you probably know that the term "déjà vu" is French and it literally means "already seen." Déjà vu is when you describe an experience such as when you are exceedingly familiar with something which you really should not be. For instance, suppose you and I were in England touring a castle or something, and all of a sudden, everything around us seems exceedingly familiar, like we've been here before, or we've seen this before, but in reality, we know that we have not been there before. There have been times when I have been discussing certain topics with friends, and all of a sudden it dawns on me, "Well, did I not discuss this same topic with these same friends a little earlier?" You know, it just seems so real and so familiar, although it's not necessarily true. You not necessarily have not been there. You not necessarily have discussed the same topic.
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So déjà vu literally means like, "Well, we've been here before, and here we are going through this same thing again." So that is basically what the phrase "déjà vu" refers to. I was sent—and some of you probably have read it—an article that was written by the American Family Association, and this article was basically dealing with the Ten Commandments issue in Alabama, and I do not know the author.
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I assume it's Mr. Wildman, but I'm not sure of that. But let me take just a moment and read you this brief article, and you will understand why I said "déjà vu." Here's the article: "The issue isn't a granite stone with the Ten Commandments inscribed on it. Never has been. The issue is much more diverse and important than a piece of stone. The issue was best stated by none other than Federal Judge Myron Thompson, who said that the display of the stone containing the Ten Commandments, which also contains a host of other historical documents, is illegal. Thompson said, 'The central, most important issue was this.'"
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"Can the state acknowledge God?" After asking the question, he went on to answer it: "No." That is the issue. Lest we fail to understand what has occurred here, let me explain. A single lower court federal judge has bluntly told every American that America is now officially an atheist nation. In one swift stroke of the pen, Judge Thompson tossed out over 225 years of American history and law. In one swift stroke of the pen, he has instituted a new form of law based upon what he wants it to be. Rex has become Lex.
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Let me just stop there. Rex is the Latin word for king. Lex is the Latin word for law. So when he says "Rex has become Lex," he is saying the king has become law. In other words, the king is no longer subject to the law. The king is above the law, and the king is the one who makes the law. He wears a black robe, and he says he is the law.
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Go back and read the First Amendment—the one Judge Thompson destroyed in the name of preserving it. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion," the First Amendment says. Congress has passed no law establishing religion, but what Congress refused to do—indeed, because Congress refused to do it—Judge Thompson did. He instituted as the law of the land the religion of atheism, which says there is no God. Not only did Judge Thompson usurp the power of Congress, he also took away the rights of every individual and state. The second half of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment reads, "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This is precisely what one lower federal judge has done. He told Americans who disagree with his official state religion of atheism that he can and will prohibit the free exercise of their religion—unless, of course, that religion is atheism. He stripped both Congress and the people of their rights. He set himself above the law because he considers himself to be the law. From this day forward, our entire judicial system must be based on the religion of atheism.
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Following that to its logical conclusion, in the future there will be no frame of reference from which to decide law. Law will become what any person wearing a black robe and sitting in court desires it to be. The First Amendment has been ripped apart in the name of upholding it. Orwell's 1984 has arrived. No, you will not notice any drastic changes immediately. There is still a remnant left in the hearts and minds of the current citizenry. But when that remnant dies out, those who come after us will see a big difference. The state will become intolerant of any religion other than atheism. That, of course, will come into conflict with people of conscience whose religion differs from that of the state.
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That is when the persecution—quite legal, I might add—will start. It was the atheist Santayana who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote, "The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape in any form they please." Indeed, Santayana and Jefferson were right.
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Now, that's the end of the article. Now, what the author is just simply saying is this: based upon Judge Thompson's ruling, if that ruling is allowed to stand, if it is not challenged, if it is not overthrown, then that one ruling would basically make us an atheistic nation.
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Now, one federal judge, in commenting upon—and I might add, deriding—Judge Roy Moore's actions, stated rather bluntly these words. He said that had he been in Judge Roy Moore's position, quote, "he would resign before he did what Moore did, because the rule of law must be upheld," unquote. And I concur 100% with what he said, that the rule of law must be upheld. But as Robert just asked, "Whose law? God's law or man's law?" Now, according to the federal judiciary, it is man's law that must take precedent over God's law. It is man's law that must be upheld at all costs.
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Alice and I just left Salt Lake City, Utah, and as we watched the news the night before we left, here now in the middle of Mormon country, there's a beautiful, beautiful stone there with the Ten Commandments inscribed on it. And the news was, now they're going after that Ten Commandments display in the state of Utah.
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Now, what is really painful about what I'm sharing with you is this. It is not just simply judges who are so absolutely ignorant, I might add, as well as rebellious. But one of the most painful truths to discover is that there are a myriad of pastors who agree with the federal judges. One such pastor in Texas was vehemently upset, and he preached against Judge Roy Moore because Judge Roy Moore was not obeying Romans 13 and submitting to the government.
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Now, help me to understand this. Judge Moore, with all of his faults and all of his sins notwithstanding, at the least, you could say, was endeavoring to honor God, uphold His law, and obey God. Here's my question. Why was the pastor not upset with the government that was defying, disobeying, and rebelling against the sovereign God of the universe? I mean, you know, I can't put that together. How in the world can you be against someone who at least—he's not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination—but who is at least saying we need to honor God and uphold God's law? And yet you're saying that man does not obey the government, and yet the same government that he's not obeying is the same government that is defiling the law of God and dishonoring God. You see, the problem is that someone really doesn't know who God is. Someone does not understand that there can only be one sovereign. There can only be one supreme being. There can only be one absolute. And I can assure you today that that one sovereign, that one supreme, that one absolute is not the federal government.
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It is the one true and living God. Do you understand that since government is the institution of God—and I've told you repeatedly, I'll tell you again—God only created three institutions. He created the family, which is a ministry of education; the church, which is a ministry of grace; and the state or government, which is a ministry of justice. And the state or the government, which is a ministry of justice, is just as duty-bound and just as accountable and responsible to obey God as is the family and as is the church, because each are His creation, each are His institution. Now, déjà vu? Yeah. Because what I have just put out to you, what is happening not only in Alabama but in all the rest of this country, is exactly what has happened in 1 Samuel chapter 8. Now, before we go into 1 Samuel chapter 8, and before I begin explaining this a little bit further, let me repeat something to you that I have told you many times over in the past years.
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A king rules by his law. It doesn't matter if you're talking about a man or if you're talking about God. It doesn't matter whether it's human or divine. A king rules by his law. Why? Because the law is the expression of the king's will. Please listen carefully. Thus, a denial of the king's law is a denial of the king. If a king rules by his law, and if law is an expression of the king's will, when you deny the king's law, in essence you have denied the king.
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Now, Judge Thompson's ruling was not only unethical, immoral, unconstitutional, unhistorical, and unbiblical, it was a flat-out denial of God's sovereignty, of God's kingship, and God's supremacy. Now we've got a question. I want you to help me work through this. If God is not supreme, if God is not sovereign, if God is not absolute, who is? Well, you actually have two choices: man or government, which is instituted by man.
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Now, let me tell you—and I don't want to get into too much of this because I'm not interested in clogging up your minds with philosophy—but if you've ever done any reading on philosophy, inevitably you're going to come to the terms nominalism and realism. And let me tell you, these philosophies are very important, not from the fact that they are necessarily biblical, but from the fact that they emphasize certain truths.
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Whenever you deny God, you have to ask who is supreme, who is sovereign, and it's either man or government. Once you say man or government, then you've gotten into the realm of philosophical nominalism or philosophical realism, which is the age-old "the one and the many," or the particulars or the universals. Let me try to spell it out like this. Which would you say is more important, the one or the many?
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Now, let me explain that a little further. Which would you say is more important, generals or particulars? And when I say generals, I'm not talking about army officers. I'm talking about generals—a multitude of individuals—or particulars. And you say, "Now, wait a minute, Pastor, you're losing me here trying to talk about philosophy." Oh, no, hang on. Hang on. Let me explain it like this. When you deny God's sovereignty,
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you come either to nominalism or realism, the one and the many, or the particular and the generals. Or you come to anarchy or tyranny. What is anarchy? Anarchy is the many. It's everyone doing his own thing. What is the one? It's the collectivism. It's society as a whole. It is government.
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Now, which is more important? Do we sacrifice government so that everyone may have their individual, quote-unquote, rights and do their own things? Or do we sacrifice the rights and the liberties and the freedoms so that we may have a stable society and a stable government? You see, the point is this. When you deny God, when you deny God's law, the only two things that are left are anarchy or tyranny. There's no in-between. If you and I come up with philosophical realism, if we say that, well, it's the individuals who are the more important, it's our rights, it's what we want, it's our thing, well, then you descend into what you had in the book of Judges. You remember the theme of the book of Judges? It's found in Judges 17, I think, in verse 6, and Judges 21 in verse 25.
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"There was no king in Israel in those days. Everyone did that which was right in his own eyes." Let me ask you a question. How would you like to live in this country when everyone did that which is right in his own eyes? I mean, I might think it's right to kill every one of you. You might think it's right to steal from me. You might think it's right to do whatever you want to do.
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You understand what I'm saying? You have nothing but pure anarchy. So on the one hand, when you deny God's sovereignty, you can descend into pure anarchy.
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On the other hand, if you say, "Well, we cannot have anarchy, we cannot have people exercising what they think, and therefore we must have the whole, we must have the collective, we must have the government," therefore, you will end up with tyranny because now you're sacrificing individual rights for the whole, for the one. You're sacrificing the many for the one.
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Now, in a nutshell, I want you to see where we are in this country. In a nutshell, this is exactly what you have been hearing our United States Attorney General John Ashcroft say. "We must be safe. We must protect our people." So what do we do? In light of wanting to be safe and wanting to be protected, we throw away all the individual rights, all the individual liberties. You follow me? That's exactly what he's saying.
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So the federal government's position is the many has to be sacrificed for the one. When you deny God, you can either have anarchy, or you can have tyranny, one or the other.
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Now, I want you to understand that God is the answer to this problem. Why? Because He is one. God is one. The burden of the Old Testament is Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." God is one. Yet that one God has revealed Himself in three distinct persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Only in God do we have order. Only in God do we have the whole. Only in God do we have the collective. And only in God do we have the individual, where the rights and the liberties and the freedoms are expressed. So God Himself is the answer to the one and the many. Now, listen carefully.
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I've said it before, I'm going to say it again. Without God and without God's law, men must descend either into anarchy or tyranny. There are no other options. You can have one or the other, but there are no other options. You will either descend into anarchy or tyranny.
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Now, I read 1 Samuel chapter 8, the first 10 verses. Let me tell you something about 1 Samuel 8 before we get to it. The only way that you can understand 1 Samuel chapter 8 is to see it and to view it and to understand it as a transition from one law structure to another law structure. What happened in 1 Samuel chapter 8? The people come to Samuel and they are demanding a king. I want you to look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. I want you to note what is specifically stated. 1 Samuel 12 and verse 12. Samuel is rebuking the people still for their desire and their choice for a king, for a man. He says, "And when you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said unto me, 'Nay; but a king shall reign over us,'" look, "when the Lord your God was your king." So up until 1 Samuel chapter 8, who is the king over Israel? God Himself.
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Now, what in the world are the people doing? They are saying, "We no longer want God to rule over us. We no longer want God to reign over us. We no longer want God as our king. What we want is a man to rule over us." Now, listen carefully. When you change kings, you change law. Because the king rules by his law. And so when you reject God and you institute man, you've just swapped God's law for man's law. Now, I want you to understand that when Israel came demanding a man-king, God not only viewed it as, but understood it as a rejection of His kingship and His sovereignty and His law.
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Look in verse 7 of 1 Samuel chapter 8. In fact, let's read verse 6: "But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, 'Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.'" So here's what Israel is doing in 1 Samuel chapter 8.
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She's trading God for a man. And she's trading God's law for man's law.
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Now, let's ask a question. Why did Israel want a man to be their king when God was their king? Why did Israel want a man to rule over them when God ruled over them? Well, let's begin there with verse 1. And let's look, first of all, what I'm going to call a lame excuse, OK? "And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel."
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Now, the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. So here's the first reason they come. They say in verse 4, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, 'Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.'"
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Now let's stop and think about this. Why would I say that this is a lame excuse? That is certainly not excusing Samuel's two sons for their sins, for their perversions, for their wickedness, and for their failures. But the people were recognizing two things. They were saying, number one, "Samuel, you're too old. You can't function and you can't do anything about maybe your sons. And your sons are wicked and wrong."
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Now, those may have been facts. But may I remind you of something? When God raised up Samuel, was there a corrupt priest or a corrupt prophet? Yes, by the name of Eli. Did he not have two corrupt sons who were priests? Yes, Hophni and Phinehas. And God killed both those boys in one day. They were so wicked and so ungodly.
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Now, the point I'm trying to make is this. If God sovereignly raised up a godly Samuel to be a prophet, to teach His people and to give them His law and His Word in the midst of a corrupt priesthood, could He not likewise have raised up another prophet when Samuel's sons were perverse and corrupt? And the answer is yes. But see, no one asked God what to do. No one asked God what His will was. They just came to Samuel and said, "Look, Samuel, we've got to have a king over us. You're too old and your sons are corrupt." Now, if you'll look in verse 5, there's another reason given. However, it's not the main reason, OK? In verse 5, "And he said unto them, 'Behold, I am old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.'" Now, why did they want a king, according to verse 5? They wanted to be just like every other nation. Hmm.
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Let me ask you a question. Was not Israel supposed to be different from all the other nations? That's what I read in my Bible. In fact, look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 momentarily. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Go there. Let me show you what God says. Deuteronomy chapter 4. And look what Moses tells the people. Deuteronomy 4 verse 5. He says, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the land whither you go to possess it."
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"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of all the nations, which shall hear all these statutes"—that is God's law—"and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all the things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I have set before you this day?" Israel was supposed to be different, because they had God as their king, and they had God's law, and God's law was to be their wisdom and their understanding, and all the other nations would envy Israel as Israel obeyed God. So when they say, "Make us a king, we shall be like other nations,"
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immediately, they're trying to conform to the world instead of remain separate as God had given them a command to do so. But if you really want the answer as to why Israel really wanted a human or a man king, look in verse 20. Here it is. In fact, let's read verse 19. You see, Samuel, of course, now has—I'm going to cover this—Samuel has told them everything that's going to come down the pike. Verse 19: "Nevertheless, the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel," as they wouldn't listen to God's man. "And they said, 'Nay; but we will have a king over us.'" Here's why they wanted a king: "that we may also be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." Now, here's the real reason they wanted a king.
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They were unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. They wanted someone else to study for them. They wanted someone else to judge for them. They wanted someone else to defend them. They wanted someone else to fight for them. They were unwilling to assume and fulfill their personal responsibilities. Let me tell you something, folks. Whenever any individual refuses to assume personal responsibility for himself, there will always be someone else who will be willing to assume that responsibility for a price. And many times that price will be at our own personal freedom.
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In fact, before I get through with 1 Samuel, chapter 8, you're going to see the real cost that is involved in rejecting God and refusing to fulfill personal responsibilities.
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Now, I told you as I gave you the introduction of this message that when people rejected God and His law, you only had two choices: anarchy and tyranny. Now, the book of Judges reveals and explains how the denial of God leads to anarchy. The book of 1 Samuel reveals and explains how the denial of God leads to tyranny. Once God is denied, once His law is denied, you must descend into one of the two: anarchy or tyranny.
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There are no other alternatives. There is no in-between.
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Now, before I go down this chapter, I want you to look at verse 11. I want you to notice what God says. "And He said, 'This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you.'" 1 Samuel 8, verse 11: "This shall be the manner." Now, the interesting thing is in verse 9, God says, "Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." Now the word "manner" is found in verse 9 and verse 11. And you know, when we use the word "manner," everyone knows what that means.
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And I thought to myself as I read this passage, now, I wonder if that means what I think it means. And I looked up the Hebrew word and let me tell you, I was very surprised. Because if I say concerning God, "Well, that's just his manner," in other words, that's his way of doing things, everybody understands that. But when I looked up the word "manner," it did not just simply have reference to the way the king was going to do things. The Hebrew word is the word "mishpat," which is one of the words for justice in the Bible, which literally means a verdict or a judicial pronouncement. And what God is saying is, "Look, if you want a king, I'm going to give you a king. But in doing so, this will be his manner." In other words, this will be my judicial pronouncement against that king and against you. So when God talks about the manner of the king, He is issuing a verdict. He's issuing a judicial pronouncement. And in giving them what they wanted, God pronounced sentence upon them.
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Now, there are in this chapter five consequences for rejecting God and His law. Five consequences. And I want you to see them. First, I want to just read through verses 11 through 17, and I want you to maybe underline one little word that I will emphasize several times, OK? Let's read verse 11: "And he said, 'This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you.'"
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"He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodly young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. And he will take the tenth of your sheep: and you shall be his servants."
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You know what word occurs over and over in these passages? What? The word "take." You know what God as King has always done? Give. Give. Give. That's all God's ever done. Now God says, "You want a man? Okay. But I want you to understand, he will take everything that you have." God is a giver. Man is a taker. Now, what are the consequences for rejecting God and God's law?
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First of all, in verse 11, you will have an unbiblical military conscription. Verse 11: "And he said, 'This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.'"
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Now, without me getting into this and without me re-preaching a message that I've already preached in the past, I brought a series of messages on the biblical doctrine of war. And I showed from the Bible how that in the Bible, that which was scriptural and biblical was the local militia. There was not a standing army per se until David sinned against God, and after that, there got to be a standing army. Before that, everything was just the local militia. In other words, here it is: if the people did not see that there was a just cause to fight, the king could have no war, for he had no standing army. But God says, once you get a king, at least you'll have a standing army.
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Because he's going to defend his power, his position, and therefore he will take your sons. Let me tell you something. It really doesn't matter, in one sense of the word, whether you agree with George Bush in Afghanistan or Iraq or wherever. If your son is in the armed forces, and he tells you to go over there and defend his oil wells, that's where you go. If you're in the service, or if you refuse, you get court-martialed. And then you get imprisoned.
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You see the point I'm trying to make? Now let me tell you something. My position is this. If Rockefeller and those men want their oil wells protected, or if they want more oil, let them hire mercenaries to go do their fighting. You don't have to take our sons and our daughters. We ought to have a say-so. That's what the Bible says, all through the Bible, because the militia was there. But once you deny God, there's no longer a local militia. It's no longer the people who's doing the fighting. No, it's the king.
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He has his standing army. And he says, "I will draft your boys. I will draft your daughters. I will take them. And you can't stop me." So the very first thing you have is an unbiblical military conscription.
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Now, by the way, lest anybody in here not understand what I'm saying, I am certainly for defending our country. I would fight to the death to defend my country and my nation, especially if my country and my nation happened to be invaded. But, dear friend, there's a big difference between fighting to defend my country and going over there and trying to defend somebody's oil wells, or because some military elite decides we want to expand our empire. I know I told you what Jay Leno said, and I'm going to repeat it because I thought it was so appropriate. And I don't endorse Jay Leno at all. I don't even listen to him. I just saw this quote, and I thought it was very apropos.
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He says, "Did you hear that our government is trying to spend millions of dollars writing a constitution now for Iraq?" He says, "We don't need to spend that money. Let's just give them ours. Number one, ours was written by the smartest men in the world. And number two, we're not using it." And so even Jay Leno recognized that fact. So but here's an unbiblical military conscription. They'll take—notice, if you would please, verses 12 and 13. Here's the second consequence.
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"And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers." Compulsory labor battalions for the state. And by the way, do you realize how many people now work for the federal government? If you were to add up the number of people who work for the feds and the state governments, it's an astounding figure.
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I forget what it was. It's something like 39 or 40 percent of the population. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. You see, when the Bible and the Constitution says that our government is to be a limited government, it has now become an unlimited government. What is it that George Washington said? "Government is like fire. In its proper place, it's a good servant, but when it gets out of the fireplace, it's a fearful master."
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And that certainly is true. So the very first thing you'd have is an unbiblical military conscription.
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Secondly, compulsory labor battalions for state service. Notice what he's saying now. Listen to me: that ultimately everything will be for the benefit of the state, not for the family, not for the individual, not for God's honor and glory, not for the church. Everything will be for the benefit of the state. Here's the third consequence for rejecting God, verse 14: "And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants." The state will expropriate—that is, they will take, they will steal—the property of the people.
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Is anybody in this room ever heard of eminent domain? Sure, you have. Eminent domain. If the state wants it, all they've got to do is come by and condemn it. I don't care if it's been in your family 400 years or not. I don't care if it's been in your family 100 years. If they want it, they can condemn it and take it. Yes, they'll pay you something. And by the way, the Word of God condemns eminent domain in the book of Ezekiel. You know another way the state can take your property? Through taxation. Property taxes are one of the most unbiblical taxes that exist. And all they have to do is—by the way, do you know that, I'm not going to say 100%, probably it is true, but 99% of all the castles in England are owned by the government. They're not owned by the people who live in them. The people who live in them have an agreement with the government; they stay there and they make those castles available for tours.
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And when they say, "Well, our family's been in this castle 400 years," that doesn't matter. They don't own the castle. England owns the castle. Why? How did they get it? They taxed it where the people could not pay the taxes. And the taxes went to the state. And now, actually, the people who did own those castles live in them, but they are actually servants of the state. All government has to do to expropriate, to take your property, is either go through eminent domain or tax it to the point that you cannot pay for it and they will get it.
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God said that's exactly what is going to happen. "You want a king? I'll give him to you. He's going to take your property. He's going to take your goods. You can have him, but he will take, take, take."
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Now, watch forth, number four. Not only do you have an unbiblical military conscription, not only compulsory labor battalions for state service, not only will the state expropriate property, but the state or the government that plays God will demand to tithe in taxes as God. Look in verses 15 and 16: "And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodly young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. And he will take the tenth of your sheep."
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Now, let me tell you something. God says when government plays God, it will demand a tithe by God. However, in our country, most of us would be so happy, so elated if only our government demanded 10%. You add up all the taxes you pay in this country, and it's nearly 60% of what you make. Usually they have a tax-free day, you know. Last time I checked, it was sometime in July, which was well over 50%. It's probably the latter part of July now, the first of August. You work that long just to have enough money to pay taxes. The rest of the year, the money would be yours. But God says, when you reject me, you're going to have someone that's going to demand a tithe. And a tithe, and a tithe, and a tithe, and continuous.
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Okay, here's the fifth consequence of rejecting God and His law. All will ultimately be enslaved and serve only government. Thus, you have complete tyranny. Verse 17: "He will take the tenth of your sheep: and you shall be his servants." Look up the word "servants" when you get home in your concordance. You'll find the Hebrew word is "ebed," which is translated in our Bibles most oftentimes "bondservant" or "slave."
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"And you shall be his slaves." You see, the people that reject God and His law will always suffer the consequences for that rejection.
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Now, I want you to look at verse 18. You talk about a powerful verse. Look what God says. Now, remember, they're rejecting God. They're rejecting God's law. Now, verse 18, God said, "And you shall cry out in that day because of your king which you shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day." God says, "You want a man? I'm going to let you have him. In fact, you're going to have him so much that you will wish to God a million times you never had him. And when you cry out, I'm just not going to listen to you. I'm going to let you stew in your own predicament for a while. I'll let you settle down in your own oppression, in your own tyranny, and see what it's like to have a man reign over you instead of God."
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Now, let me make a couple of applications to try to tie this together for you. I want you to look in your Bibles to Psalm 119 at verse 53. Hold Psalm 119 because we're going to be looking at another verse there in just a moment. Psalm 119, verse 53, look what David says. Psalm 119, verse 53, David says, "Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law." "Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law." Why could David say "Horror hath taken hold upon me"?
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Well, we need to learn the simple truth that I've repeated numerous times in this message. When you reject God and His law, you will descend either into anarchy or tyranny. There's no in-between. David knew the consequences for rejecting God and His law. And David said, "I'm absolutely horrified at those who reject the law of God because they'll end up in anarchy or tyranny."
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Now, look in Psalm 119 and verse 126. Something else David said. Psalm 119, verse 126. David said, "It is time for the Lord to work: for they have made void thy law." Isn't that interesting? "It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law."
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Now, let me deal with the second aspect of this verse first. "For they have made void thy law." Have you ever asked yourself this question: How do men make void the law of God? I could preach an entire sermon just on that question. Let me very quickly give you five ways, and I'll give you the corresponding scriptures. Here's how men make void the law of God. Number one, by legislation. Look at Psalm 94, verse 20.
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You don't have to turn there. But he said, "Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?" That makes sin legal. Look in your Bibles when you get home to 2 Kings 17, verses 7 and 8, how the kings of Israel adopted the laws and the statutes of the heathen king. You can make void the law of God by legislation. That's what we've done in this country. As I told you before, it's legal in this country to murder as long as the baby's not yet born.
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And by the way, I saw—and some of you probably saw as well—I think it was either on the Drudge Report or World Net Daily, how they have come out with a new scope. I forget what it was called, some type of scan. They can not only see the baby in the mother's womb, but they can now see the baby laughing, crying, experiencing emotions. And they had the picture of one baby in the womb smiling from ear to ear. Unbelievable. And yet by legislation, that is no longer a baby.
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It's just a glob of fetal tissue. And if you want to kill it, go ahead. See, you can make void God's law by legislation. How about this one? Everybody knows this one. What's the Word of God say? "If any will not work, what? Neither should he eat." And yet we've got a whole multitude of this country who refuse to work. And yet they're supported by welfare over and over and over and over and over and over.
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Food stamps this and food stamps that. You can make void the law of God by legislation. You can make void the law of God by judicial precedent. That's what Judge Myron Thompson was doing. Read Psalm 82, which is a psalm against the judges, and God said they've literally turned the world upside down by their wicked judicial precedents. So you can make void the law of God by legislation, by judicial precedent. You can also make void the law of God by tradition.
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You remember what our Lord said in Matthew 15 to those Pharisees? "Why with your tradition have you made void the law of God?" And people rather have tradition than truth. Fourthly, you can make void the law of God by ignorance. John 8:32: "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Now, if you don't know the truth, folks, you're not free. And what does he say in Hosea 4? "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." And we ignorantly violate God's law, and we suffer for it. We make it void through our own ignorance. And then we make it void by rebellion. You remember Psalm 2?
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"The kings of the earth have gathered together and said, 'Let us cast His cords from us, and let us break His bands asunder.'" In other words, "We don't care what God says. We don't care who He is or what He wants. We're going to do our thing." So there's five ways that you can make void the law of God. Now, that does not mean that the law of God has been done away with. It just means, practically speaking, you've acted as if the Word of God is of none effect in your life. You see, there's a difference between a theoretical atheist and a practical atheist. A theoretical atheist—and there are very few of them—who would come up and say, "Well, I don't believe there is a God."
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And they do so from an intellectual point of view, and they explain it that way from their intellectual position. There are very few of those. But let me tell you, there are many practical atheists. And a practical atheist sometimes is someone who claims to believe in God. He just acts as if God has not spoken and goes ahead and does his own thing. Practically, he just disobeys God while at the same time claiming to believe God.
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Now he says, "It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law." Let me go to that first section: "It is time for thee, Lord, to work." What does God do when men make void His law? God may work in one of two ways or both ways that He so chooses. First of all, He may work by way of demonstration. If you look in your Bibles to Psalm 9—and I could be—I got news for you folks, I'd hate to be the one who's trying to ban God. I'd hate to be the one who's trying to ban His law, because God, when He arises, He will demonstrate who He is. And He will demonstrate what man really is. But the second way God usually moves is in condemnation. Not in demonstration, but condemnation. Now listen to me.
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I'm not going to ask that you turn there, but if you will read through the book of Ezekiel, there is a phrase that occurs in that book 73 times. I'll tell you what it is: "And they shall know that I am the Lord." And every time it occurs, it is in the context of judgment. "And they shall know that I am the Lord." In judgment and in condemnation, God reveals Himself against His enemies in such a way that they know that they are but men and God is God. Now, listen, folks. God will most often work in judgment. However, that judgment sometimes reveals itself in greater oppression, servitude, and tyranny. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy 28. Please turn there.
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Let me show you a verse. Let me show you a truth. And before I show it to you, let me make a statement. If we as a people—Deuteronomy 28—if we as a people do not repent, you ain't seen nothing yet. OK. Because when you reject God and His law, you only descend into either anarchy or tyranny. And look what God says. And by the way, Deuteronomy 28, He has the blessings and the curses, and the portion that we're reading is the curse for disobeying God's law. Don't you look what God says. Let's begin reading with verse 45: "Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee." God said, "So if you don't obey me, you're going to be cursed. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever." Now watch this.
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"Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies." Now watch this. God says you have two choices. You may either serve Me, or you may serve your enemies, but you will serve. Isn't that amazing? We can thank God and worship Him and serve Him for the abundance of all things that He's given us.
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We can obey Him by His grace and by His power, and be His people and be blessed by Him. But God says, "When you disobey Me and My curses come upon you, you shall serve your enemies." When a nation forgets God—of course, you know the Scripture in Psalm 9, "The nation that forgets God shall be turned into hell." But when a nation forgets God, when a nation denies God and God's law,
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let me tell you something, folks. Unless God sovereignly, miraculously, and powerfully intervenes, our nation will plunge into a deeper, steeper, and faster ride into total tyranny. It's the price we'll pay for rejecting God and His law. Déjà vu? Oh yeah. Israel went through it. 1 Samuel chapter 8. And here we are in this country going through the exact same thing. Anarchy or tyranny? When you reject God and His law, you have no other alternatives.
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Neither of those are appealing to me. I prefer to worship and honor and obey the one true and living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ the Messiah. Let's pray. Father, we ask that You would speak to our hearts today, that You would help us, enable us, dear Lord, to see the principles of Your Word. Enable us to understand that there are dire consequences for rejecting Thee and Thy law.
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Give us grace to be obedient. Give us grace to serve. Help us to worship Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:48:22Z

Deja Vu

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver draws a parallel between Israel's demand for a human king in 1 Samuel 8 and modern America's rejection of God's sovereignty, as exemplified by a federal judge's ruling that the state cannot acknowledge God. He argues that denying God and His law inevitably leads to either anarchy or tyranny, and outlines the consequences of such rejection: military conscription, compulsory labor, property seizure, oppressive taxation, and ultimate enslavement to the state. The sermon calls for repentance and obedience to God as the only alternative to descending into tyranny.

Introduction: Déjà Vu and the Ten Commandments Ruling

Weaver introduces the concept of déjà vu and reads an article about a federal judge ruling that the state cannot acknowledge God, effectively establishing atheism as the national religion.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 8:1-10

"And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel."

The Issue: Rejection of God's Sovereignty

The core issue is not a granite monument but whether the state can acknowledge God. The judge's ruling denies God's kingship and law, making the king (judge) above the law.

A King Rules by His Law

A king rules by his law, which expresses his will. Denying God's law is a denial of God Himself. When God is rejected, only anarchy or tyranny remains.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:5

So the federal government's position is the many has to be sacrificed for the one. When you deny God, you can either have anarchy, or you can have tyranny, one or the other. Now, I want you to understand that God is the answer to this problem. Why? Because He is one. God is one. The burden of the Old Testament is Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5: "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." God is one. Yet that one God has revealed Himself in three distinct persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Only in God do we have order. Only in God do we have the whole. Only in God do we have the collective. And only in God do we have the individual, where the rights and the liberties and the freedoms are expressed. So God Himself is the answer to the one and the many. Now, listen carefully.

1 Samuel 8: Israel's Rejection of God as King

Israel demanded a human king, rejecting God's direct rule. This was a transition from God's law to man's law, motivated by a desire to be like other nations and to avoid personal responsibility.

Look in verse 7 of 1 Samuel chapter 8. In fact, let's read verse 6:

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 8:7

"But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, 'Give us a king to judge us.' And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, 'Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.'"

So here's what Israel is doing in 1 Samuel chapter 8. She's trading God for a man. And she's trading God's law for man's law.

Now, the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abiah. They were judges in Beersheba, and his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. So here's the first reason they come. They say in verse 4, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, 'Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.'"

The Consequences of Rejecting God and His Law

God pronounces a judicial verdict: the human king will take their sons for military conscription, their daughters for labor, their property, and tithes, ultimately enslaving them.

Making Void the Law of God

Men make void God's law through legislation, judicial precedent, tradition, ignorance, and rebellion. God responds with demonstration or condemnation.

The Choice: Serve God or Serve Enemies

Deuteronomy 28 shows that disobedience leads to serving enemies. America faces a plunge into tyranny unless God intervenes, mirroring Israel's experience.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 28:45-48

"Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee."

God said,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 28:45-48

"So if you don't obey me, you're going to be cursed. And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever."

Now watch this.

Conclusion: Call to Obedience

Weaver concludes with a prayer for grace to obey and serve God, rejecting the alternatives of anarchy and tyranny.

Deja Vu

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	10303134248
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: Where We Are & How We Got Here
Genre	Sermon
Date	2003-09-28
Dictation Name
Book	Book 009: Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	91

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: Déjà Vu and the Ten Commandments Ruling: Weaver introduces the concept of déjà vu and reads an article about a federal judge ruling that the state cannot acknowledge God, effectively establishing atheism as the national religion.
The Issue: Rejection of God's Sovereignty: The core issue is not a granite monument but whether the state can acknowledge God. The judge's ruling denies God's kingship and law, making the king (judge) above the law.
A King Rules by His Law: A king rules by his law, which expresses his will. Denying God's law is a denial of God Himself. When God is rejected, only anarchy or tyranny remains.
1 Samuel 8: Israel's Rejection of God as King: Israel demanded a human king, rejecting God's direct rule. This was a transition from God's law to man's law, motivated by a desire to be like other nations and to avoid personal responsibility.
The Consequences of Rejecting God and His Law: God pronounces a judicial verdict: the human king will take their sons for military conscription, their daughters for labor, their property, and tithes, ultimately enslaving them.
Making Void the Law of God: Men make void God's law through legislation, judicial precedent, tradition, ignorance, and rebellion. God responds with demonstration or condemnation.
The Choice: Serve God or Serve Enemies: Deuteronomy 28 shows that disobedience leads to serving enemies. America faces a plunge into tyranny unless God intervenes, mirroring Israel's experience.
Conclusion: Call to Obedience: Weaver concludes with a prayer for grace to obey and serve God, rejecting the alternatives of anarchy and tyranny.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The Alabama Ten Commandments ruling is a modern parallel to Israel's rejection of God as king.

Judge Thompson's ruling that the state cannot acknowledge God is a direct denial of God's sovereignty, mirroring Israel's demand for a human king in 1 Samuel 8.

A single lower court federal judge has bluntly told every American that America is now officially an atheist nation... The issue was best stated by... Judge Myron Thompson, who said that the display of the stone containing the Ten Commandments... is illegal.

Denying God's law leads exclusively to anarchy or tyranny.

When God's law is rejected, the only possible outcomes are anarchy (individualism run amok) or tyranny (collectivism suppressing individual rights), with no middle ground.

Without God and without God's law, men must descend either into anarchy or tyranny. There are no other options.

Israel's request for a king was a rejection of God's rule and a refusal of personal responsibility.

The real reason Israel wanted a king was to have someone else fight their battles and assume their responsibilities, rather than trusting God and obeying His law.

They were unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. They wanted someone else to study for them. They wanted someone else to judge for them. They wanted someone else to defend them.

God's 'manner' of the king is a judicial sentence of tyranny.

The Hebrew word 'mishpat' indicates that God's description of the king's behavior is not merely a prediction but a judicial verdict of judgment upon the people for their rejection.

The Hebrew word is the word 'mishpat,' which is one of the words for justice in the Bible, which literally means a verdict or a judicial pronouncement.

Government that plays God will demand tithes and seize property.

A humanistic government will expropriate property through eminent domain and taxation, and demand a tithe-like portion of the people's wealth, ultimately enslaving them.

He will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards... He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them... and ye shall be his servants.

America is on the same path as Israel, heading toward tyranny.

Unless God intervenes, America's rejection of His law will result in increasing oppression and tyranny, just as it did for Israel.

Unless God sovereignly, miraculously, and powerfully intervenes, our nation will plunge into a deeper, steeper, and faster ride into total tyranny.

Scripture References

1 Samuel 8:1-10: The initial reading of the passage where Israel demands a king, setting the stage for the sermon.
1 Samuel 8:7: God tells Samuel that the people have not rejected Samuel but have rejected God as their king.
1 Samuel 12:12: Samuel reminds Israel that they demanded a king even though the Lord was their king.
1 Samuel 8:11-17: God's description of the manner of the king, detailing the oppressive actions he will take.
1 Samuel 8:18: God warns that when the people cry out because of their king, He will not hear them.
Deuteronomy 6:5: Cited to show that God is one, providing the solution to the one-and-many philosophical problem.
Deuteronomy 4:5-8: Moses tells Israel that their obedience to God's law would make them a wise and understanding nation, distinct from others.
Deuteronomy 28:45-48: The curse for disobedience: because they did not serve God joyfully, they will serve their enemies.
Judges 17:6; 21:25: The theme of Judges: 'There was no king in Israel; everyone did that which was right in his own eyes,' illustrating anarchy.
Psalm 119:53: David expresses horror at those who forsake God's law, knowing the consequences.
Psalm 119:126: David declares it is time for God to work because men have made void His law.
Psalm 94:20: Mentioned as an example of making void God's law through legislation that frames mischief by law.
Psalm 82: A psalm against judges who turn the world upside down by wicked judicial precedents.
Matthew 15: Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for making void God's law through their traditions.
John 8:32: Knowing the truth sets one free; ignorance of God's law leads to destruction.
Hosea 4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, illustrating making void God's law through ignorance.
Psalm 2: The kings of the earth rebel against God, casting off His cords, as an example of making void His law by rebellion.
Psalm 9: The nation that forgets God shall be turned into hell; God demonstrates Himself in judgment.
Ezekiel (various): The phrase 'and they shall know that I am the Lord' occurs 73 times in the context of judgment.
2 Kings 17:7-8: The kings of Israel adopted the laws of the heathen, making void God's law by legislation.

Historical References

Judge Myron Thompson's ruling on Ten Commandments monument in Alabama: A federal judge ruled that displaying the Ten Commandments is illegal because the state cannot acknowledge God, effectively establishing atheism.
Judge Roy Moore controversy: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore was criticized for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument; some pastors opposed him, citing Romans 13.
American Family Association article: Weaver reads from an article by the AFA criticizing Judge Thompson's ruling and warning of the establishment of atheism.
Ten Commandments display in Utah: Weaver mentions a news report about a Ten Commandments monument in Salt Lake City being targeted for removal.
John Ashcroft's security policies: Attorney General Ashcroft's emphasis on safety over individual rights is cited as an example of sacrificing the many for the one (tyranny).
George Washington quote on government: Washington said, 'Government is like fire. In its proper place, it's a good servant, but when it gets out of the fireplace, it's a fearful master.'
Jay Leno quote on U.S. Constitution: Leno joked that the U.S. should give Iraq its Constitution since 'we're not using it,' highlighting disregard for constitutional limits.
Santayana quote: The atheist Santayana said, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,' applied to the current judicial crisis.
Thomas Jefferson quote on judiciary: Jefferson wrote, 'The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape in any form they please.'
Orwell's 1984: The article compares the judge's ruling to the arrival of Orwell's dystopian vision.

Important Quotes

When you deny God, when you deny God's law, the only two things that are left are anarchy or tyranny. There's no in-between.

This is the core logical conclusion of the sermon: without divine law, human society oscillates between chaos and oppression.

They were unwilling to fulfill their responsibilities. They wanted someone else to study for them. They wanted someone else to judge for them. They wanted someone else to defend them.

Weaver identifies the root motive behind Israel's demand for a king—and by extension, modern statism—as a refusal of personal responsibility.

Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies.

This Deuteronomy passage underscores the inevitability of servitude: either joyful service to God or oppressive service to enemies.

Unless God sovereignly, miraculously, and powerfully intervenes, our nation will plunge into a deeper, steeper, and faster ride into total tyranny.

The sermon's urgent warning that America is on the same trajectory as ancient Israel, heading toward tyranny without divine intervention.

Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.

David's response to lawlessness reflects the appropriate reaction of the godly to the rejection of God's law.

It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law.

This verse is used to call for divine intervention when human authorities nullify God's law through various means.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways does the demand for a king in 1 Samuel 8 parallel modern tendencies to look to government for security and provision rather than to God?

[Context]

Weaver argues that Israel wanted a king to fight their battles and take responsibility, similar to how people today rely on the state.

[Question]

How should Christians respond when human laws directly contradict God's law, as in the case of Judge Thompson's ruling?

[Context]

The sermon criticizes pastors who opposed Judge Roy Moore for disobeying the government, raising the issue of civil disobedience.

[Question]

What are the practical ways we might be 'making void the law of God' through tradition, ignorance, or rebellion in our own lives?

[Context]

Weaver lists five ways men nullify God's law, including tradition and ignorance, prompting self-examination.

[Question]

How does the concept of 'eminent domain' and property taxation relate to the biblical warning that a king will 'take your fields'?

[Context]

The sermon connects modern property seizure by the state to the consequences described in 1 Samuel 8:14.

[Question]

What does it mean to serve the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart, and how does that contrast with serving enemies?

[Context]

Deuteronomy 28:47-48 presents a stark choice between joyful service to God and oppressive service to enemies.

[Question]

How can we cultivate a healthy fear of the consequences of national apostasy without falling into despair or fatalism?

[Context]

Weaver expresses horror at those who forsake God's law but also calls for prayer and obedience.

[Question]

In what ways might the church today be conforming to the world ('like all the nations') rather than remaining distinct under God's rule?

[Context]

Israel wanted a king to be like other nations, contrary to God's call for them to be different.

[Question]

How does the doctrine of God's sovereignty provide the only solution to the tension between individual rights and collective authority?

[Context]

Weaver argues that only in the triune God are the one and the many perfectly harmonized.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T14:10:42Z