1 Sam 8:19+20, Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."
We are looking, with great dismay, at the results of the hardness of heart of people to the plan and the purpose of God. Despite all the manifest warnings of God as to the result that would plague the people if they turned away from the Kingship of God as the governmental means of social order and decision, the Children of Israel demanded to have a human king so that they could be just like the nations surrounding them. This stubbornness lead to the reality that they, in fact, became just like the other nations whom they were supposed to dispossess from the Land of God’s Promise. 
God had known that the people would be so desirous after a human king, so through Moses, in Deut 17:14-20, The Lord had declared what manner of obedience would be required of the people and their king. God would choose who should sit on the throne and He would determine the course of the king’s ability and duties of governing. The king was to observe all the Words of the Lord in the course of his rule earthly over the nation that was God’s possession in the Land.
Deut 17:14-20, "When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, 'I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,' you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.' "Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. "Now it shall come about when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself a copy of this law on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left; in order that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel. 
As is evident, the chosen king would be subservient, first to the Lord and the Law of the Lord, then to the people. He was not to set himself up as superior and elevated in any measure above the people whom he was to serve with all his heart as he was in service to the Lord. There was to be that recognition that he was chosen by God to care for and to protect and to never lead the people back to the ways of Egypt. As well, he was always to hold before himself the Words of the Law of The Lord. 
There was to be no gathering of power and wealth on the backs of his fellow Israelites. There was always to be the care and the compassion and the realization that these were all God’s people, whether rich or poor, whether powerful or servants, whether strong or weak, whether enlarged in family or widows and orphans. All were to be considered as worthy of the gracious treatment of the one who sat on the throne for the benefit of all. Such were the terms of service as presented by the Lord to His people, if they so chose to turn their backs on His place of Sovereignty over the nation. 
The people did exactly what the Lord knew they would, in the hardening of their hearts and not listening to the warnings that the Lord set before them. Therefore, through the Prophet Samuel, God began the process of choosing the first earthly king that would be over His people. We find the beginning of this winnowing process in 1 Sam 10:17-19.
1 Sam 10:17-19, Thereafter Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah; and he said to the sons of Israel, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.' "But you today rejected your God, who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses; yet you have said, 'No, but set a king over us!' Now therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans." 
	Notice again, in this condescension to the demands of the people, the Lord once more emphasized the fact that He, The Lord God Jehovah, was the One Who had brought about the present situation of the people’s freedom from their slavery to Egypt. God was the One Who made sure that the power of the world’s hand of enslavement over them was released for their own safety and well being. There is that constant reminder to the people that they were freed from Egypt! They were no longer bound to it! And, they should never willingly return to Egypt for any of their false sense of security and protection from the onslaught of the oppression of the other nations that would seek to rule them. They were to guard themselves from all that Egypt represented unto them. 
	After the winnowing process of the Lord was complete, Saul was selected as the new king over Israel. Samuel then commanded that the people would gather together in order to renew their commitment to the Lord. Even though they had turned their back on God as their king, there was still that necessity to be reminded of the history of how the nation of Israel had come into being. There was that reinforcement that the people belonged to the Lord and were His heritage in the land. 
They needed to understand that, although they had chosen a man as king over them in the course of their walk on this earth, they still belonged to Jehovah. He was the One unto Whom their fealty was owed. It was in their submission and obedience unto Him that they would continue to prosper in the land. God was their protection and their strength and their means of prosperity. They needed to understand that, just because they had turned their hearts away from Him, God had not given up His place of honor and His Sovereignty over the course of their continued walk in His Land of Promise.  
1 Sam 11:14-12:18, Then Samuel said to the people, "Come and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there." So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they also offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. Then Samuel said to all Israel, "Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and I have appointed a king over you. And now, here is the king walking before you, but I am old and gray, and behold my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my youth even to this day. Here I am; bear witness against me before the Lord and His anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you." And they said, "You have not defrauded us, or oppressed us, or taken anything from any man's hand." And he said to them, "The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day that you have found nothing in my hand." And they said, "He is witness." Then Samuel said to the people, "It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt. So now, take your stand, that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which He did for you and your fathers. When Jacob went into Egypt and your fathers cried out to the Lord, then the Lord sent Moses and Aaron who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot the Lord their God, so He sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. And they cried out to the Lord and said, 'We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth; but now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, and we will serve Thee.' "Then the Lord sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and delivered you from the hands of your enemies all around, so that you lived in security. When you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, 'No, but a king shall reign over us,' although the Lord your God was your king. Now therefore, here is the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for, and behold, the Lord has set a king over you. If you will fear the Lord and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the Lord, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. And if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers. Even now, take your stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call to the Lord, that He may send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see that your wickedness is great which you have done in the sight of the Lord by asking for yourselves a king." So Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. 
	Once again, it was set before the people in certainty what would be the result if they would not listen to the Lord and honor Him and follow Him with all their hearts. They might have an earthly king over them, but that king would be subject to The Lord’s power and might. God’s Sovereignty is not only over the course of human history, but over the whole of His universe. He sounded forth before them with thunder and with rain in order to show them the might of God upon them all the days of their lives. 
	The Lord reiterates, throughout His Word, the reality that God, Jehovah, Yahweh, is the Sovereign over the whole of His creation. It matters not what or who, all must recognize His honor and give glory to the Lord God Almighty. Consider, for example, what we are told in Prov 8:13-17. There is no way to argue with the One who is all wisdom and understanding and power. He provides what is necessary for kings to rule. As well, He removes those whom He determines must be thrown down from their lofty towers of pride and arrogance.
Prov 8:13-17, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way, And the perverted mouth, I hate. "Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine. "By me kings reign, And rulers decree justice. "By me princes rule, and nobles, All who judge rightly. "I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me. 
	We will conclude this morning with the Prophet Jeremiah and his proclamation from the Lord as recorded in Jer 27:5-8. Here The Lord leaves no doubt, once again, as to the fact that all of creation is under the control and does the pleasure of God. He created it and He controls it and He determines the outcome of all the course of man on this earth. It all works to accomplish what He has established through His divine and perfect will in place. 
Jer 27:5-8, "I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. "And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him. "And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant. "And it will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence," declares the Lord, "until I have destroyed it by his hand. 
	God uses whomever He wills to rule in order to bring about His plan and His purpose. It might be someone who seems to be utterly consumed with self-glorification and grandeur, but who will always have to bow down to the Supremacy of God. No matter how powerful a person may seem, no matter how seemingly holy, no matter how wicked, no matter how popular, how wealthy, how awe-inspiring a human may present him or herself, they are as nothing in the grand and glorious scope of God and His perfect plan for this, His creation! 
	Mankind was created to be in fellowship with God. We are here for His will to be accomplished through all that it cost Him. The Heavenly Father gave His Only Begotten Son to show the great love that He is unto us. The Son chose to willing suffer the shame and the anguish of crucifixion, becoming our sin in order to save such as we are unto Himself. The Holy Spirit raised Christ from that grave, and He raised us up with Him into His glory. 
It is all the work of God. It is the manifested Love with which He so loved us. We are His glory in this His creation to serve Him with all awe and with all humble gratitude for His Sovereignty which rules and overrules in the whole of His creation. It was, is, and always will be only His supreme and perfect will in operation. So be it!
Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, "No, but there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Rom 13:1. Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Amen.