1 Samuel 10 Bible Study (Saul Anointed & Proclaimed King) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Sure you caught on to the theme of the songs tonight, trusting in Jesus. And there is a good portion in our study tonight that will focus on that. Turn your attention with me to the book of first Samuel chapter 10, please. As we continue in this riveting book. First Samuel chapter 10.

This chapter break presented here is not in no way indicating a time lapse, or an introduction to a new scene from our previous study. Uninterrupted continuation from the very last thing that we explored together concerning Saul, this young man from the tribe of Benjamin, and his encounter with the prophet Samuel in a significant and God ordained way. As we continue here in this chapter, we are going to see what this unforeseen meeting on Saul's part, at least he didn't know it was gonna happen, What it's going to reach, and it's gonna reach its climactic point now, because Samuel the prophet is ready to now anoint the first king of Israel. And so this is a huge transition for the nation, program that God has for his people here. But, you know, when you studied the Bible, and especially when we go through this book, book, chapter by chapter, Sometimes, one of the ways in which I personally look at things to see, is there a theme here?

Is there something that's being repeated here? Is there is there a main point that can be divided into sub points? And and maybe that's the way you read. Maybe you see it differently. And sometimes there are chapters where there are just random points and it's still beneficial.

But I believe here we're gonna focus on a component that is, granted to us. And it deals with the nature of God's calling into a man's life for the ministry. Not just for full time ministry, for any service. And there are some key insights here. There are some key insights that deals with not so much how God calls somebody or how he makes his will known to somebody, But what God does with a person who does submit to his will and how he carries them along throughout the calling that he has granted them, if that makes sense.

Remember when we studied about Samuel in chapter three when he was a young boy and God called them? There were several points there. And here we're just gonna see a completion of those thoughts of how God calls a man and what he does with that man. What are his promises? What are his dealings like?

And so before we read, let's just pray one more time and ask the Lord to help us. Father, we thank you so much for this word. Thank you for what you have in store for us tonight. We pray for the assistance of your Holy Spirit. We pray that you would divert every intrusive thought, every distraction, Lord.

We ask that you would reign in our minds, that you would dominate our hearts, that you would have full control of everything within us. Lord, we ask you to have your way, bless your people, build our faith, sanctify our affections in Jesus name. Amen and amen. So remember now, Saul and Samuel, they woke up the next day after they met and now Saul is told, tell your servant to move on and we have to have a conversation privately. So here is the verse following that.

Verse one, then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelza. And they will say to you, the donkeys that you went to seek are found.

And now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you saying, what shall I do about my son?' Then you shall go on from there further and come to the Oak Of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. After that, you shall come to Gibeath Elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute and lyre before them, prophesying.

And the spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. Samuel grabs this young man by the shoulders, he looks him in the eyes, and without saying anything further, he pulls out a flask of oil and he doesn't just dab it on his forehead, he pours it on him. And that is a familiar practice in the old testament, I'm sure you're aware of it. That when there is this ceremonial act of anointing somebody, drenching somebody with oil, it is representative of a spiritual transmission. Something is happening in the spiritual realm though it is done in a physical way.

And what's happening here? When God anoints someone or something, it's a declaration that he has called them out, set them apart, and will enable them for a divine purpose. And so in the tabernacle, God anointed furniture, meaning that they were sanctified, set apart for a specific purpose. In the Old Testament, God anointed priests, God anointed prophets and for the first time, God is now anointing a king. He's anointing a king.

And we're gonna see that the Holy Spirit, which is symbolized by the oil, is the most important part about this because he's the one who does the real anointing. It's to say God chose you and now God is gonna empower you and enable you to do what he's called you to do. But notice, Samuel does something else. What does he do? He pours oil and then he goes on to do what?

He kisses him. That's not part of the anointing process by the way. That is a separate thing. That is something that he's choosing to do personally. And what Samuel is doing here is not only is he saying God has anointed you, he's saying I'm personally supporting you.

I'm showing to you on a personal level that I am behind you. I'm showing my allegiance to you as the first king. I'm here behind you. And that's significant because that is a a phrase that is used for, I'm declaring my allegiance to someone. What does Psalm two say about Jesus in verse 12?

Kiss who? The son. Kiss the son, lest you make him angry. In other words, pledge your allegiance to him. Demonstrate your affection and your partnership to his will, and take refuge in him.

That's what Samuel is doing. He kisses Sam and kissed the song. This is what's the amazing thing about all of this. Remember, when they asked for a king, what did Samuel feel in that moment? Do you believe he felt personally rejected?

You better believe he felt personally rejected. He was still the standing judge. He was the leader of the nation. And while he still has breath and energy and vigor because they said to him, what? You're old, man.

You're you're an old man. It's time to move on. Listen. We're about to find out in a few chapters that this old man hacks another man to pieces. Doesn't seem like he's too frail to me.

And so they look at him and they say, you're old. And so there was a personal there was a sting there by that request for a king. And then God reminded him, hey. Listen. It's not about you.

They're actually rejecting me. But despite the personal pain here, Samuel sets that aside, and he says, I still am behind you. I see a secure man of God here. Do you see that? I see a man who has a identity and who he is with his God and not what he does for his God.

And so he's not intimidated nor is he crushed when men desire something else. And when there's somebody else that's going to push him in the background and take something else and when there's somebody else that's going to push him in the background and take center stage. He's not shaken by that. He's not moved by that. He's not disturbed by that.

In fact, he says, if this is what God wants, then I say yes to it. And I support you, Saul, and I will be there as a guide to you, Saul. Let me ask you this question in bible study tonight. Did Saul pay that forward? Did he?

When the second king of Israel was anointed and raised up, how did Saul react to that? Did he kiss David? No. He wanted to kill David instead. And that's one of the signs of spirituality in somebody, that you are finding joy in the program of God even if you are not taking the front seat in that program.

That you can actually look at somebody's gift and look at somebody's influence and look at somebody's whatever it may be, fill in the blank, and you can still rejoice and not be eaten up by the cancer of envy and destroy your life and the lives of others. This man, Samuel, this prophet is inspirational because he's showing here, I support you. But there's another thing here. He shows his allegiance to this man, but it proves something on Saul's part. And what does it prove?

Think about this. He had the greatest prophet of his day declaring to him, I am with you. Think about the spiritual influence. Think about the support. Think about the words that would come from God.

Think about all those things, and here is the question to ask. Just because he had a spiritual influence in his life, did he himself become spiritual? Isn't that significant? Look, I wanna say this straight. It doesn't matter how sound your local church is.

It doesn't matter how many men and women of God you surround yourself with. The pursuit of holiness comes down to your decision. It's a choice you and I have to make. Do those things help? Absolutely.

But unfortunately, you have a man here who has one of the greatest men of God of all history, according to the bible, by his side, and still nothing of Samuel's influence rubbed off in him. And it's not Samuel's fault. It's Saul's decision, and he proves that. And we see here that the prophet chooses his words very carefully. Right?

What did he say here in verse one? Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over whose people? His people. And you shall reign over the people of the Lord. They're not your people.

You might be king, but there's a king over you. And what is he saying here is that you have a marvelous opportunity, and it is a great privilege, but it comes with awesome responsibility. Your example, Saul, and your piety, and your decisions to direct the nation will ultimately be held accountable before God himself. This is not you and the people. This is God and his people and you managing what he's asked you to manage.

And so he is reminding him right from the beginning, don't get it twisted. This is not about your empire. This is not about your name. This is not about your descendants. This is about God's people being led to God by you.

And that's what God really calls us all to. If you're called by God, and we are called by God in different ways, how we are called is in this way. You and I are called to influence people for God, to be turned to God, to love God more through your life and my life and our gifts and our temperaments. All those things should point people to Jesus Christ with a greater zeal and desire. And so, this man is anointed.

He's set, but he wants to provide three signs. I mean, the idea of a king was so new. It was so audacious. It was so fresh that despite all the authority that Samuel had, Saul would still need some signs for things to be confirmed. Is this really actually happening?

This is a new concept, and I'm gonna be the one I'm gonna be the the the first one into this whole thing. And Samuel in his wisdom says, yes. So I'm gonna give you three encounters that will give you the assurance that this is true. And here's what's important. These are these are miraculous things, and though they are signs, they are also messages.

What do I mean by that? I think from what we just read, you can pull out three messages that God not only gave to Saul to confirm his calling, but to comfort him as he pursues the calling of God in his life. And these three principles, these convictions, these insights are for every single one of us, and you're gonna find out how. And so we look at the first sign, and this sign, though it's unique to Saul, the principle, the conviction behind it, the truth behind it is for you and for me actually, let me let me let me backtrack. For those who say, I wanna serve Jesus with everything within me.

A lot of people want the the promises, but they don't want the surrender. You can't have these blessings unless you first surrender. So if you're surrendered, these are yours. If you're saying, Lord, you can anoint me with whatever you wanna anoint me for, I'm yours, then these are for you. And the first thing that we read here is in verse two.

When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelza. And they will say to you, the donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying what shall I do about my son? That's the first sign. Question, didn't Saul already know this? He did.

Samuel told him upon his arrival on the scene. Samuel said, by the way, so we can focus with with what I wanna tell you, the thing that you're worried about, it's dealt with. God took care of it. So he's being told again. But what makes this different from Samuel's news?

It makes sense for Samuel to know about the donkeys. The guy is a prophet. He knows everything. But these people, how do these men know about the donkeys? They're just random men, and that's the point.

He would come to this place and these random men would come and announce it, and he'd be like, how do you know about my donkey situation? And as he would come and meet these two fellows, he would realize something. It would be reconfirmed to him after Samuel confirmed it. There's something about these donkeys that God is behind. This is not just mere coincidence.

This is not just something that just happened, and out of luck, I get to meet this man. No. He's beginning to realize that there is a divine hand behind this donkey thing. And that was the point. Samuel want to reassure him, the donkeys that led you to me were for that reason.

They led you to me. And isn't the timing amazing that the moment you met me and were anointed, oh, your donkeys were found? Isn't that wonderful? And I'd like to think that when Saul heard this news from these two people, hey. By the way, your donkeys, they're they're found.

Your father's donkeys are found. He's worried about you now. Get home. That this man thought to himself, wow. That whole ordeal, that whole dilemma, that whole situation, God was really behind it.

And that's what you and I have to understand if you wanna serve God. It's a wonderful truth that we've been singing in multiple songs today. That when you serve God, you can trust that God is able to solve our dilemmas. The situation that caused him delay and frustration and irritation was actually God's invitation for the advancement of Saul's call. And Saul knew that at this moment, I believe.

At least he was being told that when you serve me, when you say yes to me, when you pursue my kingdom, I'll take care of your business. When you say yes to what I've called you to, you invite my hand to influence every area of your life. I will manage your life well. You continue to pursue what I've asked you to do, and I'll take care of everything that is obvious to you and that is not so obvious to you. And that is exactly the lesson that is being learned here.

And here's the thing that's so important. He wants this man to know it from the beginning. Before he even steps on the throne, he wants him to know right from the get go, I will take care of everything. Why is that important? Because us, with our human nature, especially those who are in leadership positions, we find great comfort and control.

We want everything, every affair of our life to have a timetable on it, to have a possible solution, to have a plan b behind it. We want everything covered, what disturbs us, and when there's even one area of our life where we feel like we can't dictate where this goes. And as a king, he would need to learn, there is not one thing that I am not in control of. Even your lost donkeys are behind my sovereign plan. Joseph learned that at the end of his life.

At the end of the book, we are told that famous verse in Genesis fifty twenty that what you meant for evil, God meant for good. Right? For the salvation of many people. He learned that at the end. After all that he experienced, he was able to look back and say, that was God.

And here in in Saul's life, he doesn't want him to wait till the end. He wants him to know from the beginning. I'm in control as you move forward. There's something about providence that is realized when we look back, but we don't have to wait till we look back to trust in providence. We're supposed to trust in it from the beginning whether we realize it or not.

That's the whole point here. Saul, right from now, you gotta believe everything that you experienced from this moment on, I'm in control. I'm in control. Dedicated to me, and you have my power behind it, my wisdom, my grace, my provision. And he was exposed to that.

And I wanna tell you this. This is so important because if you don't really grasp it, and there's some days where it's easier to believe it than others, it will cause great suffering in your life. I'm personally reading the book of Job in my private readings. And I came upon a verse today that blessed me so much. And it's amazing.

It it was already highlighted. I tend to highlight something that stick out. And I realized that I highlighted it, but it's like I've never read it before. And I was almost almost hitting myself in the head, like, how did I miss that? Even though I highlight it, I still forgot it.

And it's in Job seventeen eleven. And in Job seventeen eleven, you get a peep out of Job that describes where his pain is, at least in part. The man suffered terribly in ways that you and I cannot even imagine. And there's one expression here that reveals something that I'm sure you can relate to. Look what he says, my days are passed like so much of my life has already passed up to this point.

My plans are broken off. The desires of my heart. The man had expectations for his life. I'm sure as a father, he had prayers for his children's future. He had ideas for his business to flourish.

He had he had concepts of how he would he would show people that he was a God fearing man and point people to his God, through his acts and through his charitable deeds. And you know what he's saying in this moment? He's saying, all that I expected of my life has been shattered, smashed. You know, it's amazing how people in life have a list of expectations. They have a list.

Where they're gonna live, who they're gonna marry, what kind of type of person they're gonna marry, where they're gonna serve, how many kids they're gonna have, how long they're gonna live, like, it's like, wow, are you Samuel the prophet? You know exactly how everything's gonna come down to? And sometimes it's on a physical piece of paper, but oftentimes it's in our minds and it's in our hearts and sometimes even expressed in our prayers. Do you realize that Job prayed for his kids every single day? It's a guy that could come before God, lest they've cursed God in their hearts and he would intercede for them.

And here in Job seventeen eleven, he's like, all my plans are gone. The timing of things, the dreams that I've come up with and prayed about, all these things are now everything is obliterated. And what Job needed to know, he would realize at the end, because what does God give the answer to his dilemma? What's the solution? God doesn't explain the philosophy of suffering.

God doesn't explain how, you know, I let this happen to some people and this is why he doesn't explain how he had to deal with Satan. He didn't say that I'm gonna glorify you before before men on earth, and this is gonna be in a book, and it's gonna be able to minister people thousands of years from this time. He didn't say any of that. All he did was declare his sovereignty. Hey Job, were you there when I did this?

Are you there when I do that? Are you aware when that animal gives birth on that hill and or or do you feed the beast in the in the ocean? Did you And he just goes on to declare his sovereignty. And you need to know that or else you will have great pains in life when you feel like things that you've hoped for did not come out as you've prayed for even. My plans are broken off.

My desires, the desires of my heart, they're taken from me. Saul need to learn the first sign was I'm in control. I'm in control of the littlest things, of the biggest things. If I'm gonna take care of your donkeys, Saul, I will take care of the kingdom. You have to believe that right from the beginning.

But we come to the second point and it's in connection to that in verse three. What's the next sign? Then, the word then, you shall go on from there farther and come to the Oak Of Tabor. Three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you there. One carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, another carrying a skin of wine, and they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread.

So after the first meeting, he's gonna encounter two men, They're gonna bring an announcement, your donkeys, those donkeys, it that it's solved. It's okay. Everything has been solved. The second sign, three men. He would approach them.

They would encounter him. And now, I mean, he's declaring his precision here. He's saying there's gonna be three of them, and one's gonna have this, one's gonna have that, and one's gonna have the other. And one is gonna have three loaves of bread, and he's actually gonna give you two loaves of those three. Do you remember the condition of Saul's personal goods before this point?

If you don't remember, go to chapter nine verse seven. This is before he met Samuel. Then Saul said to his servant, but if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?

He has no bread. He has nothing for the journey. And you know what Samuel could have done after he anointed him? You have a long journey home, here's some food he could have provided. He provided him dinner the night before, but he doesn't do that.

He lets him walk out by faith. He lets him walk on the journey and trust that God will provide his exact needs for the journey. And so he says, you're gonna see two men and they're gonna give you two pieces of bread. And that's the point. Yes, number one, God is able to solve our problems as we pursue his will, but God is also able to supply our needs.

And what I love about this is that when he comes to these men, they have an abundance of things. Things. They have wine, they have goats, they have more than two loaves of bread. But how many did he get at all that? He didn't get any wine.

They're like, we're keeping the wine and the goats. Here's two pieces of bread. Why? I believe it's because God gives us what we need. Not all the time what you want.

Okay? I know you're very luxurious. Does it mean God is gonna give you everything that you have on your Pinterest board. Okay? He gives you what you need.

And it will satisfy you and it will bless you and it will cause you to rejoice in him and to sing to him for his faithfulness over your life. And he experienced that. He had crumbs in his lunch bag and Samuel said, you're gonna come upon men, random men and they're gonna give you what you need. God works this way with all of his servants. Especially those who take care of his kingdom and move it forward with their lives.

Can you think of another man in the old testament where God does this in a very specific way? Yes. Beautiful. Elijah. Do you know how God provided for Elijah?

The same way he provided for Saul. Exactly what he needed. First Kings 17. I would encourage you to turn there. It's not too far from this book.

There's second Samuel and then there's first Kings. Look at chapter 17. I want you to see what God tells this man. He tells him to go to a specific brook and to hide himself, then he gives him instructions in verse four of how he's going to take care of them because he's gonna be there for a very long time. In verse four of chapter 17, you shall drink from the brook and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.

So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook that is East of The Jordan, and the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Imagine that. Every single moment when he wakes up in the morning, he would have to wake up and guess what? He didn't go to a fridge.

He didn't have a number to call. He would wait for birds to bring his portion. I'm sure you have never been tested to the point where you waited for ravens to bring your breakfast. And not just your breakfast, once you ate breakfast you would have to wait a few hours and trust that the birds will come in the evening to bring your dinner right on time. Now think about that.

Twice a day. In God's mind for Elijah, that was what he needed. Two meals a day, enough bread, enough meat to sustain you for a long, long time. You know what's incredible about this is that Elijah did not have the freedom to hoard up the food. He didn't.

Just like the Israelites with the manna, you couldn't hoard up the manna, it would turn and rot and become worms' food. You have to trust God every single day. Elijah needed to trust God every single day. Okay, Lord, new morning, where are the birds? Evening, your stomach is grumbling.

Okay, Lord. Where are the birds? And he hears the crows and he sees the birds from a distance and there they are with food in their mouths, bringing it before him. God loves faith. He's pleased by faith.

He orchestrated this for Elijah so that every single day, Elijah would worship him by trusting God for the birds to come. He couldn't hoard it up. Israel couldn't hoard it up. And you and I, it doesn't call for us not to be to be wise in our dealings or to have savings, that's not it at all. It's the heart posture.

It's the heart posture. See, this is a specific case. There's a famine in the land. There is a famine in the land. Think about the temptation.

There's no food, hasn't rained in years. I have to collect. I have to do this. I have No. Just trust me every single day.

Now here's what else is amazing. Why ravens? Let me ask it this way. What does the Bible say about ravens? Well, more importantly, there's something about their condition.

They're unclean. They're unclean animals according to Leviticus 11. So to the Jewish mindset, the raven bird itself should have no association with the Jew. The Jew should not even There is no raven on the menu for the Jew. It's an unclean animal and God is using an unclean animal to provide his daily bread.

Why? It's a principle of how God uses unusual and unexpected ways to provide for us. Things that we wouldn't imagine. It must have been a shock for Elijah to hear, Ravens? You're gonna bring ravens to bring me food.

And if you serve God long enough and if you exercise your faith by his grace, you'll be shocked to see how he comes through in your life. You'll be amazed to know how he comes and provides and how he makes a way and how he opens a door. What's amazing about this is that God is sovereign. I command the ravens. You know what Jesus said about the ravens in Luke 12?

He said in Luke 12 verse 24, consider the ravens. He was very specific with the type of bird. In Luke, he says, consider the ravens. And what about the ravens? They neither sow nor reap.

They have neither storehouse nor barn and yet God feeds him. How much more value are they than the birds? God feeds the ravens and then God uses the ravens to feed Elijah. He takes care of the birds, he takes care of his servants, he takes care of everything. And Elijah here is experiencing that, which is amazing.

Spurgeon. Spurgeon made an observation about the story of Elijah in this scene. Have you ever heard a powerful message from someone? I'm talking about a heart shaking message, or you've read something, a book, or you you read blogs, or you saw somebody's vlogs online and they seem to have a depth of knowledge and even a power behind their delivery, and you've really been blessed by the ministry. It could be a worship leader even.

It could be a worship band, whatever the case may be. Have you ever experienced that? Have there Are there names that come to your mind now? If they if they do come to your mind, God forbid this is the case, but it's unfortunately true, is it possible that you've also been disappointed and you're even conflicted because you've been blessed by them, but when you see or realize something about their character, it's in such great contradiction to the very thing that they preach. Right?

Or there's some scandal that's revealed about them and you can't understand because for years you've been blessed by them. You understand what I'm saying? Spurgeon used this text to explain that, that Elijah received bread from an unclean animal. And it's possible for you and I to receive meat from even unclean vessels. And likewise, you can be an unclean vessel yourself and God still use you to feed others.

The effectiveness of your ministry does not determine your standing with God. These birds in the eyes of God were unclean, but they were still serving him. And Spurgeon made an awesome observation about how it's possible to be defiled and still bless people. And so this man, Saul, he saw something. Wow.

I've been anointed. I'm gonna be the king and God is taking care of my needs. He's giving me exactly what I need. Then we come to the last sign here in verse five and six. And Spurgeon's point will help us understand this one.

Saul was about to experience not from two men, not from three men, but from a band of men called prophets. And these prophets are coming down from a hill, they're worshiping God, they have instruments and they're prophesying. And now he's going to meet them and upon contact with them, something extraordinary is going to happen. He's not gonna receive news that doesn't make sense for random people to know concerning his personal life. He's not gonna receive just an act of generosity.

He's gonna explain he's gonna experience a rushing of the power of the Holy Spirit on his life. And so once he meets these prophets, that exactly happens. The Holy Spirit clothes him in such a way where he becomes a worship leader for a moment. And he joins and he begins to prophesy himself. And here's the point, when you serve God, he'll solve your problems in his sovereign way.

He's providential in his dealings with you and me. He provides all our needs but he also enables us to serve him in the power of the spirit. He not only takes care of our physical needs but he takes care of our spiritual needs, so that we can solve and give grace to the needs of others. What's amazing is the Holy Spirit comes upon him but he's not a prophet nor is he a priest, he's a king. But because he's a king in God's kingdom, because he's occupying a position for this God, every position requires the Holy Spirit's help.

Just like the deacons in the book of Acts, these guys that would serve tables, what was the requirement at least one of them? They must be filled with the Holy Spirit. To serve tables, can you imagine that requirement for volunteering in the church? If you want to volunteer with the homeless ministry, if you want to volunteer with the hospitality, you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I'm sure that would really change the qualifications for our ministries.

If you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to take care of tables, how much more do you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit to be a pastor? We just now accept degrees these days. Another message for another time. But this man here experienced something. I'm gonna do God's work, God's gonna help me do his work because God's work is a spiritual work.

No matter what it is. Prophet, priest or king. Politics, restaurant owner, stay at home mom. You need the Holy Spirit's help. And God assures him and assures you, he will give it.

He will grant that help and that's an incredible thing. But this is where people are disturbed by this incident with Saul. Verse six, and the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with him and be turned into another man. Come down to verse nine. When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart and all these signs came to pass that day.

Why is that conflicting for people? Because all you gotta do is read the next few chapters and come to the end of the book to feel the tension of this. How in the world can this man have a new heart and live the way he lived from this moment on? Right? The man dies of suicide.

The man almost burns down his whole kingdom because of his jealousy. Is that what happens when God gives you a new heart? And so people have trouble with this. How can you have a new heart? How can the Holy Spirit rush upon you and all these vile things pump out of your life?

And not just for a moment, but for years. Well, here's the thing I want to say. Number one, is it not possible that even after God changes your heart that you can commit grievous acts of sin? The answer is yes, absolutely. Now there should be some great questions if you live in perpetual sin and have no sign of conviction or no desire of repentance.

If that's you, you should ask if you're even saved. But here's where people go wrong, I believe. They take the concept of a regenerated heart and they apply it to this verse. So they see a new heart and immediately they think the Holy Spirit came in, changed their heart and they became born again. I don't think that's necessarily the case here.

Notice the sequence. All these signs that you and I just read, they didn't happen. Samuel said they will happen. The new heart didn't come when the Holy Spirit rushed upon him. The new heart came the moment he finished with Samuel and turned around and walked the other direction.

In that moment, it says here in verse nine, God gave him a new heart and then you read that the signs came to pass that day. Our doctrine is what? When you put your faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit regenerates you and makes you born again. It's a work of the Spirit. It's not explicitly clear that the new heart here is necessarily a regenerating work of the third person of the Trinity.

So then what does it mean that God gave him a new heart? I believe what's being said here is that God did a work in him to fulfill the task of a king specifically. We're talking about a guy that was managing donkeys for his father, now becoming the national leader. And what I see here precisely is that this new heart speaks of a new attitude, a new frame of mind, a new way of looking, an outlook that has been altered by God. As he's about to take this role now, he's about to stand in a position that no one has ever been able to stand or at least entertain to stand.

And he's going to do that. He went from taking care of animals and now he needs a new heart to take care of the people of God. The nation of Israel to shepherd souls and he would need a new heart for that. So I believe what's happening here is that the responsibility that he's about to embark on requires a new motivation, a new outlook that would fit the mission. And on top of that, he's enabled by the Holy Spirit, enabled by the Holy Spirit to be that king that would deliver the people out of the enemy's hands.

You may disagree, but that's what I believe comes to the conclusion regarding this or else we have many other problems concerning Saul's life as a person with a new heart. So what happens? All these signs pass that day, and then we come down here to verse 13, or verse 14 rather. The first two signs are not explicitly given to us in detail, but the third sign is the Holy Spirit does rush upon him and we're told what happens to him. He prophesies, but then now he finally makes it home.

He finally arrives back home. And who do we encounter? Not Saul's father, but his uncle. And we're told here, Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, where did you go? And he said, to seek the donkeys.

And when we saw that they were not to be found, we went to Samuel. And Saul's uncle said, please tell me what Samuel said to you. You know what that's like? It's like talking about the most famous person you encountered in this generation or you know a relative that met a famous actor or musician or whatever it may be, and you're just curious to know what that famous person said to your relative. That's what's happening here.

He met Samuel and the uncle's like, woah, tell me what Samuel said. Now, the guy was told that you're gonna be king. How many of us would glory in that? Well, since you asked, I wasn't planning to tell you. But Samuel said that I was gonna be the king of Israel, uncle.

Nothing of the sort. Does he lie? No. It just doesn't tell him the whole story. And Saul said in verse 16 to his uncle, he told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.

But about the matter of the kingdom of which Samuel had spoken, he did not tell him anything. How many of you think this is a humble thing? How many of you think this is a deceiving thing? Why is it deceiving? Let me ask you a question.

In the gospels, there are some cases where, for example, the the the scene of the tomb of the resurrection, where you're told that there are multiple women and some scenes you're told that there is just one Mary Magdalene. So, some details are left out. Right? It's not that there is two different stories, it's that some details were included and some details were not included. And I believe what Samuel is doing here is a noble thing, rather Saul.

And I'll tell you why. I believe he got the idea of how Samuel the prophet handled the situation. Look at the last verse of chapter nine, verse 27. As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, tell the servant to pass on before us. When he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while that I may make known to you the word of God.

Why did he do that? He tells the servant, just just go on, I'll catch up with you in a moment. And that was Samuel's idea. It's because it was supposed to be a private matter at this point. This was supposed to be a private ordination, a private anointing, something that was supposed to be at this time concealed and and then in due time it would be revealed.

I believe the man here, Saul, is honoring that. Is honoring that. And here's here's what I believe is going on a very practical point. This was God's dealing with his future and even the future of the nation. And I believe this man here at this moment has this very wise understanding.

If God said it would happen, then it's gonna happen. And if I'm supposed to be the king of Israel, guess what? Everybody's gonna find out that I'm the king of Israel eventually. Seems like Samuel didn't want to make it known at the time, so I'm not gonna make it known at the time. And I'm gonna trust in God's timing for it to be exposed when it needs to be exposed.

And so I see a man here that's not ready to toot his own horn. He's not ready to boast in what God has called him to do. He's honoring the the the sacredness of it up to this point. And I believe in his mind he's thinking, well, if I'm gonna be king, uncle, you're gonna know it eventually. And there is great wisdom in times not to be deceitful, but to know what to reveal especially when it's something that you believe God's calling you to do.

If God's calling you to do it, he's gonna do it. He will make it known. You need to go around and tell everybody God told me, God told me, God told me. Let God do it, and people will know. That makes sense?

The man wants to know. Saul says, yeah, well, you just told us about the Long East. That wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole story. And sure enough, the time of the public inauguration has arrived. And that's what we see in the second section.

Samuel here now calls for the nation. He's calling for all the tribes and what they have craved for has now come. They are gonna receive their king. And we read here in verse 20. Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot.

So now he performs a public thing where he already knows, God revealed to him, the man is Saul. The king is Saul. It's a done deal, but he wants to show the eyes of the tribes how God chose this man. So he does this ritual. Then the the tribe of Benjamin is selected.

All the other tribes are pushed back. And then we're told here, he brought the tribe of Benjamin nearby its clans and the clan of the Matrites was taken by Lot. And Saul the son of Kish was taken by Lot. But when they saw him, he could not be found. So they inquired again of the Lord, Is there a man still to come?

And the Lord said, Behold, he has hidden himself among the baggage. You can't play hide and seek with God. You can't. If you can find a donkey, Saul, he's gonna be able to find you. Come on.

What are you doing? You're hiding behind the baggage? Think the almighty, omniscient God doesn't know where you're at? So here he is. He's hiding, and he doesn't wanna be seen.

He doesn't want the spotlight. He doesn't wanna be on that stage. So let me ask this again. Is this a man who is fearful of his calling, or is this a man who is humble and is resisting to be acknowledged by people? Fearful?

Humble? People are really reluctant to call this man humble, I think. It's okay. It's difficult. This is this is why narratives in the Old Testament demand much more study and careful interpretation because it's hard.

It's not explicitly clear. So then what do we do with something like this? Well, if he's hiding because he doesn't want to be in the spotlight, there's a dread there, and it's not a fear because of his lack of trust in God, we could praise him for his humility. We really can. But even if this is because of his humility, listen very carefully.

Humility is not proven by a reluctance of you obeying God's call. You see what I'm saying? God has gifted this man. God has ordained this man to be the face of the nation of Israel. It's not a humble thing to resist that when God has called you to that.

There are many people who in the name of humility are actually sabotaging their calling. And really, it is a fear. It's a fear. Well, what are people gonna think about me? I mean, like, if I get up there and I speak so confidently, they're gonna think, who is this guy?

Why is he so arrogant? Why is he so bold? See, so there's reasons behind that and we mask it with, well, I'm just I just I wanna be humble. I wanna be behind the scenes. Not everybody in the body of Christ is behind the scenes.

If everybody's behind the scenes, then how are people gonna see? How are people gonna be reached? It just doesn't make sense. In in this case, you're not supposed to be you're not the the manager of your donkeys anymore. God has promoted you to this place.

And even if you are in this position, shy and quiet and humble, you don't like it, that can lead to disobedience if you're not careful. So God says, he's right there. Go get him. And they come, and they grab him, and they bring him. And when they bring him, Samuel says in verse 24, do you see him whom the Lord has chosen?

There is none like him among all the people. And all the people shouted, long live the king. Wow. It's never been said before. Long live the king.

I wonder how that sounded in the ears of God. Then Samuel, verse 25, told the people the rights and duties of the kingship, and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. I believe that he took Deuteronomy 17 and he began to explain that and bring and remind them, this is the these are the instructions for your king. Now look what happens here. This is interesting.

The way the chapter ends is really, really interesting. So, I mean, it could've ended there. Samuel wrote down he he repeated the words of Deuteronomy concerning the duties of a king and righteous standing before God and before men. Done. But that's not how it finishes.

Verse 26. Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with them went men of valor whose hearts God had touched. Beautiful. That's wonderful. So now God didn't just touch Saul's heart, God touched these men's hearts to come and support him.

And that's a wonderful thing. When there is a ministry or when there is a minister that the Holy Spirit is truly anointed and set apart and is using, God will often by his grace bring people who have the same heart for God to come alongside that minister or ministry. In other words, he's bringing like minded people together for this program, for this advancement of God's purpose in this day. And this is this is the prayer that we should have as a local church. Lord, as we long to advance your kingdom, bring people that you've touched.

Bring people who want what you want. Who have been inspired by your Holy Spirit to say, we want to get behind what God is doing. And as you serve God, by his grace, make it a prayer of yours that in your life you'd be surrounded by people as such whose hearts are only inspired by one thing, what God wants. His word, his purpose. And if Saul is the leader, they're like, okay.

Let's do it. We'll support this. It's just God's heart. God touched their hearts. It didn't say that they were inspired.

God was moving them. God was moving them. But that's not the only thing you can expect when you serve God. I wish it was just that. Because there's another verse, but and in this case, it's not a good but.

But some worthless fellow said, how can this man save us? And they despised him and brought him no present, but he held his peace. This man was ordained by Samuel the prophet. This man, as you read earlier, had the Holy Spirit rush upon him where people began to say, is Saul among the prophets? Word began to spread.

This guy is now endued with power from God. He's like these men of God. What is happening to the son of Kish? This man has been now ordained to be the king and you have some people that are called worthless that say, who is this joke? Who is this joke?

And they begin to publicly despise him and show disdain and and show displeasure, even though God was behind all of it. And what I love here is that the man, it says, held his peace. He was quiet with his uncle, which we can praise, and here again, we see that he is quiet before his slanders. How did he know peace? I'll tell you what will make you miserable as you serve God.

If you don't get this right by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will know misery as you serve God. You will know misery as you serve God if you have an ambition to be loved by everybody. You're in for some great disappointment brother and sister. See, Saul was empowered by the spirit, called by Samuel. He had people supporting him, but this right here, this final verse can knock down somebody despite all those good things in their lives.

It's possible. I'll tell you how that's true. You could be complimented all day by 99 people and one person say something bad about you and what do you think about on your way home? Not the 99 people that were praising you, the one person that criticized you. And this man here held his peace because at this point in his life, he wasn't shaken by it.

He was confident that he had God behind him. He was confident that he had a man of God with him. He was confident in those whose hearts have been touched by God. And if there's gonna be abandoned people that are gonna say things, okay, let him say things. The idea here is that he it's as though he didn't even hear them.

He just moved on. Because when God really does call you and you have that confirmation and you have his blessing and you have genuine spiritual people in your life, who cares what people say? Here's the problem, like many things that we see here that we love about the man, does this endure? No. It doesn't endure.

Because it's something that needs to be rehearsed and practiced every single day in the presence of God. It came down to a point where this man was king, he did have victories over the Philistines, and then one day this young, good looking teenager takes down a giant named Goliath, and everybody's talking about it. Not just talking about it, they're singing about it. Saul has slain his thousands, but David, tens of thousands. And guess what the reaction was?

You would hope that it would be this, but Saul held his peace. First Samuel 18 verse eight tells us his reaction, and you're gonna see a different man. Here is the reaction. Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. Where was the Saul that held his peace?

I mean, this isn't even that bad in comparison to this. The issue here is that they just elevated David a bit more than him. It's not like they said, David is king and Saul isn't anymore. No. David, he killed more.

Saul accomplished less, but he still accomplished some things. Here in this chapter, what are they saying? How can this man save us? Like, the guy hasn't even stepped into the office yet to start his job and you're already discounting him and just saying disqualifying. He's not he's not even worthy to be king.

That's offensive. And yet still, angry. The spirit of jealousy comes over him. And what does it say here? They have ascribed to David 10 thousands, to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?

And what happens? The next verse. And Saul eyed David from that moment on. That is the opposite of having your peace in the knowledge of who you really are in Christ. That is the opposite.

What what is going on is Saul eyed David from that day on. David became an obsession to him. A gross, unhealthy obsession. He was living rent free in his head every single day. David, David, David, everything, everything, everything.

You read even later on that there's a feast going on and David doesn't show up to the feast and while they're having the feast, the scripture tells us that he was thinking, where could David be? David, David, David. See, because as one person said it, if you live for the praise of men, you will die by their criticism. You will. You will die.

You will suffer. You will know agony. And that has no place in a in a service to God's kingdom. And so, we learn here some things about what God does when he calls us, and I wanna assure you as we come to those three points as a reminder, he will solve our problems providentially. That doesn't mean he does it the way we want or at the time that he that we want him to do it, but he does it nonetheless for his glory.

Secondly, he will provide your needs. And he'll do it in ways that will surprise you sometimes, like Elijah was surprised by ravens coming to my help. And lastly, because it is a spiritual work and you don't need to preach or be a king, you can be doing anything as long as it's for its glory. He will empower you by the spirit. And here's what's amazing.

I said we were done, we were not. Hang tight. Here's what's so glorious. When you come back here to verse 10, when they came at Gibeah, behold a group of prophets met him and the spirit of God rushed upon him and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him previously saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, what has come over the son of Kish?

Is Saul also among the prophets? Here's what's so amazing about that. When the Holy Spirit really does a work in you and through you, you don't have to tell people the Holy Spirit's working in and through you. People can tell. You don't have to advertise it.

You don't have to tell people about it. People will know it. Just like they did with Samuel. They realized that as Samuel was called to be a prophet, every word that he spoke was coming to pass. Like, this kid is a prophet.

He didn't go around saying, I had a vision from God. I'm a prophet. No. The Holy Spirit is doing the advertising for him. And that's the encouraging thing that when the Holy Spirit comes upon a life, it's recognizable.

To the discerning, it's tangible. It's obvious. And people are blessed by it. And they could see it. And that's what I wanna encourage you with.

The Holy Spirit can do such a work in our lives today that people like what Saul will say, is this the same guy that I knew from high school? Is this the same girl that I knew in college? Is that the same person that I knew growing up in Sunday school? Because there's something else influencing his life. There's something else controlling her life.

And if they know God, they'll say it's God. It's God. I hope you would aspire to that in your life. Lord, breathe on me in such a way that when I look at people, when I talk with people, when I serve people, they'll say, there's something that has happened to this man. There's something that has happened to this woman.

Something has overcome them and taken over their minds and their hearts. That's what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit cannot touch you without you touching other people as a result. That's how powerful he is. Rivers of living water, not a lake trickling, not a pond that sits still.

Rivers of living water flows in and from and through you where other people begin to experience it through your life. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your reminders in your word of how you deal with those who say yes to your call. And God, we ask that you would help us believe in you especially in times where there is great need. Help us trust in your providence.

Lord, perhaps there are some in here like Job who feel that my plans my plans have been destroyed. The desires of my heart have not been considered. What I have hoped for at this point in my life is not coming to pass. In fact, my days are past. I never thought I would be here at this point.

After all the prayers I've prayed, after all the things that I've done to serve him, how is it that I am here? I thought it would be different. God, would you comfort that heart in this place to trust that you are in control and that you are never late. Lord, you're never too early. God, you are perfect in your timing.

We pray for those who feel disappointed because they have labored in the place of prayer. They have sought you. They have counseled you. They have acknowledged you in all their ways, but they don't see the fruit of what they thought would come. Lord, let them trust that even in disappointments and frustrating experiences and delays and closed doors and confusing times, god, you're in control.

You really are. Help us really believe that. You will take care of your children. You will take care of your servants. And Lord, you'll take care of our needs.

Perhaps that truth doesn't mean much to us today because so much is accessible and we have much in the bank and we have much with our parents and we have much with our jobs. But, Lord, help us even believe that you give us exactly what we need. Help us recognize that and to praise you for it. And, Lord, help us long for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Clothe each of us, Lord, in such a way that people who have known us would see a change in us.

Lord, have more control over ours, our lives, our minds, our decisions, our meditations. Take complete dominion. Rule and reign over us. And, Lord, as we seek to obey you, there will be times of persecution outside and within. Help us know how to hold on to peace as we hold on to the revelation that you are for us and that you know our hearts.

And that if you've called us, we have nothing to worry about how other people praise or approve that calling. You have called us. That's the most important thing. Lord, in this place, we worship you for these truths and we glorify you. God, minister to us as we are in desperate need of reminders, Lord, embedded in our hearts so that we can walk out of here as changed people.

We ask these things tonight in Jesus' name. Amen and amen and amen.