[MUSIC PLAYING] Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. [APPLAUSE] I sure enjoyed last
week being outside. It was really perfect. The weather was good. It wasn't too hot,
I felt. We had a little bit of cloud cover. It was just nice and
bright and light outside. It was great to actually
see everyone during worship, and I enjoyed that. And I'm really
glad that it's not this week that is VBS
equally, because I would not want to be outside at 103. My goodness. It's even over 100 in
Denver, Colorado, today. So it's just the whole
West has been heating up. And like I said Sunday, I'm
so grateful for the one who invented air-conditioning,
which is a guy by the name, I discovered, of Willis Carrier. And he started. The Carrier
Air-Conditioning Company. But the first unit
was invented by him and placed in a
building in 1902. So when you think about
the history of the world, that's pretty recent. So the fact is
we're used to this. We're spoiled. We're not great at extreme
temperatures of cold or hot. But I'm really grateful for
the air blowing on us now, when it's hot outside. Well, turn in your
Bibles, please, to the book of 1
Samuel, chapter 9. Chapter 9 and 10 form a unit. It introduces us to the
first king of Israel in the united monarchy, before
it was divided after Solomon. And that is King Saul he
is the first king that is appointed to the people. Now, a little bit of
background, though you probably already know this. But if you're new to
our study in Samuel, Samuel, the boy that was
born to Hannah and Elkanah back in chapters 1 and
2, is now an old man. And the people of Israel
are fearful that Samuel's sons, who are essentially
judges down in Beersheba-- Samuel was the
last of the judges before a king was
introduced to the land-- Samuel's sons were corrupt. They were receiving bribes. They were down south in the
desert area of Be'er Sheva. And the fear of the
people was that once Samuel kicks the bucket, once
he's dead, once he's gone, that his sons were
going to take over. And they were very
fearful of this. So they came to Samuel and
said, look, we're kind of done with this whole thing. We would rather
just have a king, like all the other
nations have a King. And when Samuel heard this,
he took it personally. He saw that as a
personal affront to his own ministry,
his own leadership, of pouring into the nation. And he took it to the
Lord, like he should have. And the Lord said, look,
dude, don't be upset. I don't know if the Lord
actually said dude to him, but this is just paraphrased. But it's like, look,
don't worry about this. They're really
not rejecting you. They're rejecting me that
I should rule over them. So give them their request. And so enter Saul. And that's where we
come to this chapter, where the people
demanded a king, and a King is
provided in chapter 9. Now, you're going to notice
something about Saul. And it doesn't last very long. He starts out really well. Enjoy it while you can,
because almost immediately, Saul goes bad really quickly. But he starts out well. And that, in and of
itself, is a lesson. Having a great start doesn't
guarantee a great finish. You can take off
in the airplane, but it doesn't mean you're
going to have a smooth landing. A couple of weeks ago, in an air
show off the coast of Florida, in Cocoa Beach, the
Cocoa Beach Air Show, there was one airplane, a
vintage World War II aircraft. The pilot knew
what he was doing. It was restored. He took off-- great
take-off, great flight. But in the flight, he was
having engine problems. He didn't have the wherewithal
to get back on the airstrip, so he had to make an emergency
landing in the ocean. And he survived it. Is very rare, but lost
his plane in the process. So having a great beginning does
not guarantee a great ending. It's important
that as believers, that we set our sights on
finishing well, not just starting well, not just living
the Christian life well, but all the way through
to the finish line. Jesus said, I have come
to do and to finish the work that the Father
has given me to do. And he finished well. He did what the
Father told him to do. Paul the apostle,
that was his desire. He stood before the
elders in Ephesus, in the 20th chapter of Acts,
one of my favorite stories in the scripture. As he gathers them
together in that chapter, he says, everywhere
I go, the Holy Spirit is testifying that bonds and
persecution, tribulation, await me. I'm going to Jerusalem
bound in the Spirit, but everywhere I go, the
Holy Spirit is telling me that trouble is ahead,
that I'm going to be bound, that I'm going to be in prison,
that I'm going to be beat up. But listen to what he
says right after that. "But none of these
things move me, nor do I count my
life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course
with joy and the ministry which has been given to me to testify
of the grace of the gospel." I want to finish well. And at the end of
his life, of course, he wrote 2 Timothy, which
is his closing remarks. And he said, I have
fought the good fight. I have finished the race. Paul finished well. Saul, King Saul, started well,
finished miserably, poorly. So make that your aim
by God's grace, not just to be like the
seed that was sown that Jesus told about in
Matthew, chapter 13, that has a good showing at first,
and springs up immediately, but that you endure all
the way to the end-- again, by God's grace. Well, it didn't
happen with Saul. By the time we get
to chapter 26 of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel,
chapter 26, King Saul will give us his own
autobiography in nine words, sums up his whole life. He said, indeed, I have played
the fool and erred exceedingly. Indeed, I have played the
fool and erred exceedingly. And indeed he did. He made one foolish mistake
after another, after another, after another, and
he erred exceedingly, as unfortunately, we will see
as we get through our story. Well, we are introduced to
him in chapter 9, verse 1. "There was a man of Benjamin." Right off the bat,
we have a problem. We have a problem, because
according to Genesis chapter 49, the kingship
that God ordained was not from the
tribe of Benjamin, but from the tribe of Judah. We made mention of
this briefly last week. In Genesis 49, the Lord
said through Jacob, prophesying over his
boys around his deathbed, he said, the scepter-- the right to rule as king-- the
scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet until Shiloh-- or the Messiah-- comes. So the God-ordained,
appointed king, the one after God's
own heart, King David, will come from the
tribe of Judah. But this first King comes
from the tribe of Benjamin. "There was a man of Benjamin,
whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of
Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite,
a mighty man of power, and he had a son whose
name was Saul, a choice and handsome young man. There was not a
more handsome person than he among the
children of Israel." Wow, he's Mr. Good-looking. He's, you're going to discover,
tall, dark, and handsome. He looked like a king. Now, it says the Kish, in verse
1, was a mighty man of power, that is, a mighty
man of substance, that is, he was very wealthy. And we discover that, as we
go through, Saul, his son, will be out looking
for his dad's donkeys. So he evidently was a rancher. He had several herds
of animals, flocks. He was a rancher, probably,
with a lot of sheep. Because in those days,
donkeys were guardian animals for sheepfolds. There were guard donkeys. And there still are in
that part of the world. And so the fact
that he had donkeys. And he had servants, he
was probably a rancher. He's a man of great substance,
a man of great wealth. And thus, you might
say that Samuel had both natural
advantages, as well as supernatural advantages,
that God gave him. Natural advantage number
one, a good heritage-- he had a dad that had substance,
a dad who was well-known, a father who was influential. He came from a good family, good
stock, and he had good looks. That's the second advantage. He had a son whose name
was Saul, a choice-- which means substantive, large. So think of large,
good-looking, none more handsome in the children
of Israel than he. "From his shoulders
upward, he was taller than any of the people." Now, this was important in the
sight of the people of Israel. They want a king who
looks mean, looks like he can take people on. Keep in mind, the chief
enemy of the children of Israel at this time were a
group called the Philistines. And we know that the Philistines
had some pretty big boys on their team, right-- a big starting lineup,
like Goliath of Gath, a huge, imposing giant. So to have this king who
was tall, dark, and handsome was seen as a benefit. "We want a king like
all the other nations." And so far, Saul fits the bill. I wonder, though, if
these advantages started to become disadvantages. Because usually, when you're a
good looking, you know you are. And I've known people who
know they're good-looking. And they're not great
folks to hang out with. They can be conceited. Think back to high school. And they let people know
that they're good-looking and that they're a cut above. They want to hang out with
just the certain kind. And perhaps Saul just
sort of stared at himself in the mirror. This is what I'm picturing--
put his crown on and go, yeah. [LAUGHTER] I'm king of the world. I'm in charge. It could be that his
advantage became his deficit. Now here's the setup. "The donkeys of Kish"-- that's his dad-- "Saul's
father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul. Please take one of
the servants with you, arise, go and look
for the donkeys. So he passed through the
mountains of Ephraim, through the land of Shalisha,
but he did not find them. Then they passed through
the land of Shaalim. They were not there. Then he passed through the
land of the Benjamites, but did not find them." So he's on a search for
this herd of donkeys that got lost and searches
up and down the land and can't find them. "And when they had come
to the land of Zuph"-- the Zuphites dwelt
in the land of Zuph, and that's the area,
roughly the territory, where the prophet Samuel was from. "Saul said to his servant
who was with him, come"-- let's go back home--
"let us return, lest my father cease
caring about the donkeys and become worried about us." Now, this gives
to us, this shows for us, another natural
advantage that he had. Not only did he
have a good family, not only did he have good looks,
but he had a good relationship with his family. He had a good relationship
with his father. His father gives him in order
to go look for the donkeys. Saul could have said,
no, I don't feel like it. Go get one of your
other servants to go with this servant. I'm staying home. But he immediately responds. His father says, please,
which is noteworthy. And his son
immediately responds. So he knows how to
respond to authority. And there's a
sentimental part of Saul. I like the fact that
he says, you know, we've been out so long, my
dad is going to be worried. He won't care about the donkeys. He's just really going to care
about us, that we're not back yet. He's going to start
having greater worries, and that is for our own life. So he cared about the
feelings of his father. All of these are
wonderful advantages. Now, let me just say,
if, likewise, you have a good heritage, and
you have good parents, if you have godly parents-- maybe some of you
were like that. Maybe some of you were
raised in a church. You had a mom and dad who
love God and who love you. Count that as one of the
biggest blessings in your life. Chalk that up in the top
three big blessings of God. It's an advantage to you. People that grow up with
parents who love them, who love each other-- I remember, at my parents'
50th wedding anniversary-- and I just celebrated our 40th. But I remember my parents'
50th wedding anniversary. And when it was time for me
to stand up and say something, all I could think
of was, Mom and Dad, thank you for not
giving up on each other. Thank you for staying together
for 50 years to show me how to do it, to show
me what stability is. And it gave me a tremendous
sense of stability. I count that as a big blessing. So Saul has everything so
far in the natural realm of natural advantage,
at least, going for him. "He said to him, look now, there
is in this city a man of God"-- now he's referring to
Samuel the prophet-- "and he is an honorable man. All that he says
surely comes to pass. So let us go there. Perhaps he can show us
the way that we should go. Then Saul said to his servant. But look, If we go, what
shall we bring to the man? For the bread in our
vessels is all gone, and there is no present to
bring to the man or God. What do we have? And the servant answered
Saul again and said, look, I have here at hand one-fourth
of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man
of God to tell us the way." Now, I may be making
too much of this, but I noticed something
in reading this. The servant of Kish, the
servant of Saul, Saul's family, knew who Samuel was. He had a reputation-- a man of God, reliable,
what he says comes to pass. It seems, though, that Saul
didn't know who Samuel was. He didn't have personal
knowledge of him. Now, why is that important? Because Samuel was famous. He did judge Israel. He was a spiritual
influence in the land, and you would think everybody
would have heard of him. The fact that Saul didn't know
who he was, at least to me-- and I may be making
too much of it. But to me, it indicates that
he wasn't all that interested in spiritual things. And I think that's
accurate, because you will discover that as time goes on. He didn't really give a hoot
about God and God's will. He really cares about his
position and how he looks. Now, look at verse 9. "Formerly in Israel, when a
man went to inquire of God, he spoke this way-- come, let us go to the seer. For he who is now
called a prophet was formerly called a seer." At this point in
Israeli history, there weren't prophets, per se. Now, we call Samuel a prophet. He indeed fulfilled that role. But really his role
was more of a judge. We had Moses. We had Joshua. We had a period of Judges. The last judge before
the kingdom was Samuel. Samuel was a judge. Later on, there will be the
designated office of nevi'im, in Hebrew, which
is the prophets. There will be major
prophets and minor prophets. They'll give to us prophecy. And there will be
that official role. They'll even be, with Elijah
and Elijah, a company, or the school of the prophets. But at this point
in their history, they didn't call them prophets. They called them seers. And I like that name seer. In Hebrew, ro'a means to see. And they were called
seers, because they could see into the future. They could see into a situation. They could see with perception. They could see the
will of the Lord. So that was their title. So they would say, come,
let us go to the seer. "Then Saul said to his
servant, well said. Come, let us go. So they went to the city
where the man of God was. And they went up the
hill to the city. They met some young
women going out to draw water and said to
them, is the seer here?" Now, I love this scene,
because you can still go to Israel today, go
to the Middle East today, and go to some of these areas
where there are the wells dug from ancient times. And you'll see the
women still walking out to get water out of a well
in some of the Bedouin communities. There's a well
that we would often visit outside of Bethlehem. And we take groups there. And I would notice
some of the young girls from the village
coming up there. Now, it could be that they know
when the tour buses are coming, and they tell their
daughter in the tent, go on, go out there and be
the prop for this tour group. That's highly possible. But still, we dig it. We appreciate it. We love it, to see
this girl go down there and bring her sheep with
her and let down the bucket and bring it up. And you get that
whole picture right before your eyes of what
you're reading about. So that is happening. They see these girls, and
they say, is the seer around? "They answered and said, yes,
there he is, just ahead of you. Hurry now, for today,
he came to this city, because there is a
sacrifice of the people today on the high place. As soon as you
come into the city, you will surely find him before
he goes to the high place to eat. For the people will
not eat until he comes. Because he must
bless the sacrifice. Afterward, those who
were invited will eat. Now therefore, go up, for about
this time you will find him. And they went up to the city. And as they were
coming into the city, there was Samuel coming
out toward them on his way up to the high place." Now permit me. Indulge me something
that I noticed here. Saul is looking for Samuel,
talks to some women, and takes their advice to
go after Samuel, right? At the end of
Samuel's life, Samuel will look for the
advice of one woman in seeking the advice of
Samuel, who is now dead. You know what I'm talking
about, in chapter 28? She's called the witch of Endor. God wasn't speaking to Saul at
that latter part of his life. He tried to inquire of the Lord. The Lord had nothing
to say to him. So he goes to a witch
and using divination, tries to get the witch
to give him advice, a woman to give him advice. She manages to conjure up the
spirit of Samuel from the dead. And Samuel lambasted him
and gave him a prophecy from the dead about how,
look, dude, you're toast. Battle is not going
to go well tomorrow. You're dead meat. That's the long and short of it. So it's just an interesting
point of contrast. Beginning of his life, he
takes the advice of these women in seeking Samuel. End of his life, he seeks
for the advice of one woman in particular, also to find
out what Samuel has to say-- interesting point of contrast. I love verse 15. "Now the Lord had told
Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying,
tomorrow about this time, I will send you a man
from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint
him commander"-- or prince, or ruler-- "over my people
Israel, that he may save my people from the
hand of the Philistines. For I have looked
upon my people, because their cry
has come to me. And when Samuel saw Saul,
the Lord said to him, there he is, the man of
whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign
over my people." Now, go back to chapter 8. Just go back one
chapter and look at verse 21 of that chapter. It says, "Samuel heard all
the words of the people, their request for a king." Samuel heard all the words
that they spoke to him. "And he repeated them in
the hearing of the Lord." He's praying to God. He's repeating what
the people said in the hearing of the Lord. So he repeated them in
the hearing of the Lord. Compare that to what we just
read, verse 15 of chapter 9. "Now the Lord had told
Samuel in his ear the day before that there's
a man coming." So I'm going to call this
the principle of fellowship. If you whisper in
God's ear, God is going to whisper in your ear. If you make it your habit
to pour into God's ear everything that concerns you,
you'll find God speaking to you and leading you by the
way that you should go. Commit every decision,
every day, every situation, to the Lord. Learn to do that. Learn to pour it
into his ear, and you will find the Lord will
whisper into your ear, this is the way, walk in it. Go here. Go there. You'll just find the
Lord leading you. Whether it's a whisper or a
voice or not isn't the issue. But you'll find that
he will direct you. I love that principle. So verse 18-- "Saul drew near
to Samuel in the gate and said, please tell me, where
is the seer's house? And Samuel answered Saul
and said, I am the seer." See? That was a joke. [LAUGHTER] "Go up before me"--
it's the heat. I understand-- "go up
before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today. And tomorrow I will let
you go and will teach you all that is in your heart. But as for your donkeys that
were lost three days ago, do not be anxious about them,
for they have been found. And on whom is all
the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on
all your father's house?" That's his way of saying, look,
the people have been asking for a king like other nations. You're the guy. You're the desire of the nation. The nation has been
hankering after you. You're the one. "And Saul answered and said,
am I not a Benjamite"-- that's what I say. [LAUGHTER] But he said-- "am
I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of
Israel, and my family the least of all the families of
the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak
like this to me?" Now, ' gave you several good
natural advantages that Saul had-- good heritage, good looks,
good relationship with his dad. Here's another one-- a
good estimation of himself. That's how he started. He will not stay in
this position very long. He'll be very puffed
up very quickly-- again, looking in that
mirror with the crown. I'm king of the world. But he begins having a
good estimation of himself. He's humble. He said, look, I'm
the smallest tribe, and I'm like the least guy. In the very next
chapter, in chapter 10, around verse 22, when it's
time for inauguration day, coronation day, they
looked for Saul. They can't find him. And he is hidden
behind the equipment. He's scared. He's scared to even come out
and stand up as the king. I'll get to that
hopefully in a minute. If not, we'll get
to it eventually. But we will get to it. Unless the Lord comes
back, we'll get to it. [LAUGHTER] But I love this. He starts out humble. He doesn't stay humble,
but he starts out humble. When the Lord called
Gideon to be a judge, to deliver the Midianites-- to
deliver the children of Israel from the Midianites and to
fight the Midianite army, and the angel of the Lord came
to Gideon threshing wheat. And he gave him greetings,
you mighty man of valor. And he said, look, I'm
the least of my clan. And my clan is the weakest
in the tribe of Manasseh. When God called
Moses, Moses said, I can't stand before Pharaoh. I can't even talk. When God called
Paul the apostle, Paul said, I am less than
the least of all the saints. There's something to people
that God chooses to use them. They can't believe that
God has chosen to use them. And I find a legitimate,
authentic humility among mighty men
and women of God. I remember when I first had the
privilege of meeting Dr. Billy Graham, and going
over to his house, and having meals with him, and
talking to him about his past. The way he talked about
himself and about his past was so humble, that he just
couldn't believe that God used him the way he did. And when I was with
him at a crusade event down in Puerto Rico-- it was
the first worldwide broadcast where it was simulcast
around the world. It was the first time
technology allowed for that. This was way before
YouTube and the internet. And they were beaming
up satellite television all over the globe. And he was having
his local crusade in San Juan, Puerto Rico. When we were together in the
afternoon, he turned to me, and he goes, I just hope
people come tonight. [LAUGHTER] And I thought to myself
immediately, you're kidding me, right? Let's see, you are Billy Graham. I see posters everywhere. And of course, it
was jam-packed, and it was very successful. But he just had these legitimate
fears that nobody's coming. And just it's like, man,
this guy is so humble. Well, Saul starts out that way. So he had a good
estimation of himself. "Then Samuel took
Saul and his servant, brought them into
the hall, and had them sit in the place of honor
among those who were invited. There were about 30 people. Samuel said to the
cook, bring the portion which I gave you, of which
I said to you, set it apart. So the cook took up the thigh"-- which is the upper part, the
chuck roast, I'm guessing-- "and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, here it
is, what was kept back. It is set apart for you. Eat. For until this time, it has
been kept for you, since I said I invited the people. So Saul ate with
Samuel that day. And when they had come down from
the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul
on the top of the house." Now, get the picture. The houses in the Middle East--
and we can relate to this here-- were mostly flat-roofed houses. And people notice that when
they come to Albuquerque. They go, what's up with all
these houses and buildings? Everything is flat, right? And it's very much like the
Middle East, where it's just-- it's not about style. It's about substance
and structure. So they would build
a flat roof, and they would use the flat roof. They put a stairway
on the outside to get up on top of the roof. And they would put a
little shelter or a lean-to or a temporary
structure, and the family would go up there
in the afternoons and enjoy the evening
together on the roof. It was quite a common practice. So they walked up that stairway,
that exterior stairway, got up on top of the roof. "They arose early. It was about the
dawning of the day. Samuel called to Saul on the top
of the house, saying, get up, that I may send you on your way. And Saul arose. Both of them went
outside, he and Samuel. Now, as they were going down
to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, tell the
servant to go on ahead of us. And he went on. But you stand here awhile,
that I may announce to you the word of God." There's a sermon in that verse. It's such a beautiful principle. You stand here,
or you stay here. You remain here a while. Don't be too quick to
get out and work and find those donkeys. Just stay a while,
that I may announce to you the word of God. Before you go out to
work, hear the word. That should be our daily mantra. Maybe that's not the
right word, mantra. That should be our daily saying. Before I go to work, I stay
back a while to get the word. You say, well, I start
my work day early. OK, get up just a
little earlier then. Now, I'm not going to
lay that trip on you. You can have it any time you
want during the day or evening. There's no law or
legalism here when you spend your time with the Lord. But I am advocating for
the earlier, the better, that your first part of
the day is you, like this, stay back and let the word of
God get fed into your soul, get announced to you. And I love this. So he's saying, look, Saul,
you're looking for donkeys. But God's looking for a king. So you're royalty. You're sons and
daughters of the king, and God has an announcement for
you every day from his word, from his heart, to give
to you to direct your day, to direct your steps. So stand here, or
stay here, awhile, that I may announce to
you the word of God. "Then Samuel took a flask of
oil and poured it on his head." I heard a chuckle, maybe
a couple of chuckles. Because it just sounds
weird to us in the West. Hey, I got a message
from God for you-- gul-gul-gul-gul-gul-gul-gul-gul. [LAUGHTER] Pours oil all over
his head, 30-weight. [LAUGHTER] And it gets even
a little stranger. So he poured oil on his
head and kissed him. "And he said, is it not
because the Lord has anointed you commander
over his inheritance?" Now, he's being
anointed with oil, and he's being
anointed to be king. But this is a
brand new practice. If you know your Bible, this
has never happened before. So far in the Bible, the
only things or people that were anointed
was the Tabernacle. That's the thing. That's a place. Oil was sprinkled on it, and
it was anointed as set apart for a specific use-- worship-- and priests. So places and priests,
the place, the Tabernacle, and priests were
anointed with oil. Kings were not. But they will be
from here on out. Because the kingdom
is starting in Israel. And Israel is going to
follow this practice with all of its kings. And later on, when the kingship
is established in Jerusalem under King David, there's
even a special place where all this took place. It is the water
source in Jerusalem called the Gihon Spring. So if you take a tour
with us to Israel in 2022, we'll take you to
the City of David. We'll take you down
to the Gihon Spring. You can see it, and
you can see where the kings, Solomon
and the rest, would be anointed as king of Israel. The practice begins here, when
Samuel takes oil and pours it on Saul's head. Now, can I give you
a little background? Because this stuff to me is fun. Other nations did this, but
a little bit differently. And they had a little
superstition tied to it. So kings of other
nations were anointed, but not with olive oil. This is olive oil. But they took the
fat of animals, and boiled the fat down
to an oily substance, and poured the fat onto the
King that they were ordaining. Fat chance, right? But they did it. [LAUGHTER] And why did they do it? They believed that the
spirit of that animal would imbue the king. So they would take
the fat of a bull, and they'd pour it
on the new king. And the idea is that
the nature of the bull, that strong leadership quality,
would be part of that king by that superstition of
the anointing of fat. I love that the children
of Israel used olive oil. And this idea of
anointing comes to us in Psalm 133, where it
says, Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity. It's like the oil that runs
down the beard of Aaron, goes onto his garments. So they didn't just anoint-- make a little sign of the
cross, anointing with oil. They poured a bunch of oil
all over the hair and beard of the person, whether it
was the priest or Aaron or whether it was the king. Something else, if you don't
mind me explaining this-- in Hebrew, the idea of Messiah
means "the anointed one." And the word
[HEBREW],, or [HEBREW],, the root word in Hebrew,
means "to smear." And so Messiah, or
[HEBREW],, Messiah, literally means in Hebrew
"the smeared one." The idea is he is being set
apart and smeared with oil, or anointed. That's what Messiah means, the
anointed one, the smeared one, the marked one. And he would be God's anointed
as the Savior of the world. So the idea of the
Messiah starts in Judaism and develops throughout
the prophets, but it comes from this
anointing, the smeared one, the anointed one. So verse 2-- "When you have
departed from me today, you will find two men by
Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin, at Zelzah,
and they will say to you, the donkeys that you went
to look for have been found. And now your father has ceased
caring about the donkeys, and he's worrying
about you, saying, what shall I do about my son? Then you shall go on
forward from there and come to the
terebinth tree of Tabor. There three men going up to
God at Bethel will meet you, 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, which you
shall receive from their hands. After that, you shall
come to the hill of God where the Philistine
garrison is. And it will happen, when you
have come there to the city, that you will meet a group
of prophets coming down from the high place with
a stringed instrument, tambourine, flute,
harp, before them, and they will be prophesying. Then the Spirit of the
Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them
and be turned into another man. And let it be, when
these signs come upon you, that you do as the
occasion demands, for God is with you." So do you get the picture? Samuel is anointing
Saul as the first king. And he says, Saul, three things
are going to happen to you. Three events I'm predicting
are going to happen to you, and those events are going
to confirm that you're the guy, that you're the king. Number one, there's going
to be a couple of guys at the tomb of
Rachel, who are going to tell you about the donkeys,
that they've been found. And number two, there are
going to be men of God that are at the oak of Mount
Tabor, and they're going to provide food
for you, basically. You can take bread
and wine from them. And then you're going
to hear prophets and see prophets who are singing,
worshiping, and prophesying. And you will do as
the occasion demands. And we're going to
find out what that is. He prophesies with them. So the three signs that
Samuel tells to Saul should have served as lessons,
confirmation lessons, for him. Lesson number one-- God can solve your problems. His problem was, my
dad lost his donkeys. I've been searching
for days for them. God's got that covered. They've been found. God can solve your problems. Lesson number two-- in
the second incident, God can provide or
supply all your needs. They're going to
have food for you. You're going to be provided for. And then third, God will empower
you to do what you cannot do on your own. Those three lessons he was to
learn by these three events. I love verse 6. "The Spirit of the Lord
will come upon you. You will prophesy with them,
be turned into another man. And let it be, when these signs
come to you, that you will do as the occasion demands. For God is with you." Now, I want you to
notice a couple of things as we go through and
finish out this chapter. I told you about
natural advantages. God also predicts
that this king will have supernatural
advantages as well. Advantage number
one-- God's presence. The Lord will be with you. If the Lord is with
you, it doesn't matter who's not with you. It doesn't matter who's
forsaken you, who leaves you. It doesn't matter who's
with you or not with you, if the Lord is with you. Jesus said to his disciples, I
will be with you always, even to the end of the age. What a beautiful promise! So that's the supernatural
advantage number one, God's presence. Later on, when Paul is in the-- the story of the Book of
Acts, Paul goes to Corinth. Things don't go well. He does evangelism. Some of the Jewish people in
the synagogue believe in Jesus. They get persecuted for it. Paul becomes hesitant if
he should preach anymore, because it would put his Jewish
brethren newly born again in Christ in greater jeopardy. And the Lord comes to
him that night and says, Paul, go back to
the city and preach. Do not keep silent. Do not hold your peace. For I am with you. And I have many
people in this city. In other words, I
still have more people that I've marked out to save,
so don't keep your mouth shut and don't keep quiet. I am with you, man. I know you feel alone
right now, Paul. I know you feel isolated. I know you feel like the
world is against you. But I am with you. Let me tell you a great story,
a true story-- sad story, but a powerful story. If you know missiology, you
know the name John Patton. John Patton was a
missionary from, I think, Edinburgh, Scotland,
in the 1800s. He was dispatched by the
Missionary Society of Scotland. He went to the New Hebrides, the
islands in the South Pacific, to evangelize. The islands were
filled with cannibals. He took his wife. He went to evangelize cannibals. His son was born to
him there, named Peter. His wife was named Mary. His son was named Peter. While he was there
ministering, preaching the gospel to the cannibals,
his wife died, and his son died. He dug their graves
with his own hands, and then he slept at night
on the graves for a few days until the decomposition
took place in the bodies. Because he knew the cannibals
would dig up the graves to eat his wife and son. Now he is utterly alone
in the New Hebrides. And he writes in
his journal, Were it not that I experienced the
presence of Jesus Christ in this place, I
would have gone mad. I would have gone crazy. But what is he inferring? Powerfully so-- he's like,
I experienced the power and the presence of
the Lord Jesus Christ in my darkest moment. So it's a powerful thing when
the Lord says, I'm with you. So advantage number one on
the supernatural scale-- God's presence. Supernatural
advantage number two-- God's power. That's what he promises. You're going to be
turned into another man, and you're going to
be able to prophesy. And he does. "You shall go down before
me"-- verse 8-- "to Gilgal. And surely I will come down to
you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices
of peace offerings. Seven days you shall
wait until I come to you and show you what you should do. So it was, when he turned
his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart. And all those signs
came to pass that day." Now, I think what this means-- I wouldn't read into this, from
a New Testament perspective, that he was born
again, and that he was a spiritual man, full of
faith, wanting to please God. Because we don't see that in
the narrative from this time forward. But I think it means God gave
him a heart for leadership. God gave him a new
heart, a new orientation, a new mind that would
say, I can do this. I can do this. Take it however you want to take
it, but that's how I read it. "When they came there"-- verse 10-- "to the
hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him. Then the Spirit of
God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it happened, when
all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied
among the prophets, that the people said to
one another, what is that-- or, what is this that has
come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among
the prophets?" Now, you might read
this and say, Skip, I beg to differ with you. The fact that he
prophesied shows that he had a relationship with God. Well, it's Interesting. Jesus said, many will come to me
in that day and say, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? And I will say to
them, I never knew you. Depart from me you
workers of iniquity. Paul said, Though I speak with
the tongue of men and of angels and have not love, I am nothing. Though I give my body to
be burned and I prophesy-- and listed all of
these powerful gifts, that a lifestyle has to
match the lip service. Verse 12-- "Then a man from
there answered and said, but who is their father? Therefore, it became a proverb-- Is Saul also among
the prophets?" Now, this idea of who is their
father is who's their mentor? Who's the guy in charge? Later on, there's going
to be a group of prophets, a school of the prophets. Elijah and Elisha
will head those up. And so at this
point, they're just trying to figure out the
spiritual landscape of this. But here's the point. Holy Spirit is
all over this guy. Every advantage
to succeed is his. It's hard to believe that
this is the same Saul who died a coward on Mount Gilboa. But he did. "And when he had
finished prophesying, he went to the high place." Verse 14-- "Then Saul's uncle
said to him and his servant, where did you go? And he said, to look
for the donkeys. When we saw that they
were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel. And Saul's uncle
said, tell me, please, what Samuel said to you. So Saul said to his
uncle, he told us plainly that the donkeys
had been found." That's true. "But about the matter
of the kingdom, he did not tell him
what Samuel had said." So he just didn't tell
him the whole story. He didn't want envy. He didn't want a
coup to develop. So he told him in part. Now let's finish
up this chapter. "Then Samuel called the people
together to the Lord at Mizpah, and said to the
children of Israel, thus says the Lord
God of Israel, I brought up Israel
out of Egypt, and delivered you from
the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand
of all the kingdoms and from those
who oppressed you. But you have today rejected your
God, who himself saved you out of your adversities,
your tribulations, and have said to him, no,
but set a king over us. Now therefore,
present yourselves before the Lord by your
tribes and by your clans. And when Samuel had caused
all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe
of Benjamin was chosen. When he caused the
tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families,
the tribe of Matri was chosen. And Saul the son
of Kish was chosen. But when they sought him,
he could not be found. Therefore they
inquired of the Lord further, has the
man of God come yet? And the Lord answered,
there he is-- or has the man come here
yet"-- that is, the king-- "and the Lord answered, there he
is, hidden among the equipment. So they ran and
brought him from there. And when he stood
among the people, he was taller than any of
the people from his shoulders upward." Question-- why was he hiding? Could have been humble, right? That's how I take it. He was humble at first. Could have been shy. Matthew Henry, the
Bible commentator, suggested, well, with an
introduction like Samuel-- here he is. You people wanted a king. You rejected God, and
so here's your king. With an introduction like that,
you don't want to be that guy. And maybe he just knew Israel
sinned in asking for a king. And so he's like,
I don't want this. So he's hiding from it. Or perhaps he knew that
Israel had a very meager army, that the Philistines
were a mighty foe. The Ammonites were
also a mighty foe. They're going to be in battle
against them pretty shortly. And so he stayed back. There's a number of reasons
he could have stayed back. So they ran, and they
brought him from there. And when he stood
among the people, he was taller than any of
the people from his shoulders upward. "And Samuel said to the
people, do you see him whom the Lord has chosen,
that there is no one like him among all the people? So all the people shouted,
long live the king! Then Samuel explained to the
people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and
laid it before the Lord. And Samuel sent all the people
away, every man to his house." Now, before we close, I want
you to look at something in the book of Deuteronomy. Go back to Deuteronomy
chapter 17, because I think it explains what
Samuel wrote that day for King Saul and why he wrote it. In Deuteronomy 17, Moses saying
to the children of Israel long before this-- go down to verse 14
of Deuteronomy 17. "When you come into the
land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess
it, and dwell in it, and say, I will set a king over
me like all the nations that are around me,
you shall surely set a king over you
whom the Lord your God chooses, one from
among your brethren you shall set as king over you. You may not set a foreigner over
you who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply
horses for himself or cause the people to return
to Egypt to multiply horses. For the Lord has said, you shall
not return that way again." Interesting, isn't it? Because King Solomon had
stables in Jerusalem, in Megiddo, with
thousands upon thousands upon thousands of horses. Then he went to Egypt, bought
more thoroughbred horses and more chariots, very
expensive horses and chariots, from Egypt. So he violated just the first
two things right off the bat. Verse 17-- "Neither shall he
multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away,
nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself." Again, later on, we'll
see with Solomon, he didn't just have a
wife or 2 or 3 or 10, he had 700 wives
and 300 porcupines-- I mean concubines. [LAUGHTER] But it was a sticky situation. [LAUGHTER] So he had 1,000 women. And it says he made gold
and silver as plentiful as the stones in Jerusalem. So he multiplied what
God told them not to do. Also-- here it is. "Also it shall be, when he sits
on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write
for himself a copy of this law in a book from
the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with
him that he shall read it all the
days of his life, that he may learn to
fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe
all the words of this law and these statutes, that
his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that
he may not turn aside from the commandment to the
right hand or to the left, that he may prolong his
days in his kingdom, he and his children in
the midst of Israel." I think Samuel was writing,
on behalf of Saul, the law, gave him a copy of the
law and said, now read it. Now live it. Now stick by it. Now stay close to
the Lord and follow him all the days of your life. Sadly, that doesn't happen. Because as you'll see,
King Saul has "I" disease. It's all about what
I want and what I get and what people will do for me. Now let's finish out
the chapter in verse-- of chapter 10. Verse 26-- "Saul also
went home to Gibeah." And I love, love, love this. "Valiant men went with him,
whose hearts God had touched." That's another
supernatural advantage. He has God's presence. He has God's power. And he has God's
people, valiant men touched by God to follow him, to
support him, to be in his army, to be his emissaries. He should have succeeded. He shouldn't have
been the one who said, indeed I have played the fool,
and I have erred exceedingly. But he did, even with
natural advantages, even with supernatural
advantages. So he had valiant men, whose
hearts got had touched. "But some rebels said,
how can this man save us? So they despised him, and
they brought him no presents. But he held his peace." It's always that
way in leadership. Some love you. Some hate you. With King David, a man
after God's own heart, some loved him. Some cursed him. Shimei cursed him from
the Mount of Olives. Others rebelled against him--
his own son, half his army. It's that way with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Some love Him. Some hate Him. Jesus is the most loved and
the most hated individual who has ever lived. But we who love Him are
valiant men and women whose hearts God has touched. We are God's people. [APPLAUSE] And Father, we thank you
that you have given us, like you gave to
Saul, everything we need to succeed in the
life you've called us to. As Peter said, everything that
pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who
called us by glory and virtue. Everything we need to be your
people, to walk in the Spirit, to be successful in a
world marred by sin, tainted with corruption,
you have given to us. I pray, Lord, that
we who have started this Christian walk would finish
well, would end triumphantly, would be able to say, like Paul, [MUSIC PLAYING] I've run the race. I finished my course. And now there's laid up for me a
crown, which the Lord will give to those who love his appearing. Strengthen us,
Father, for whatever comes the rest of this week as
we go back into our community, back into our family, back
into our place of work, place of business, school,
our sphere of influence. Lord, I pray, by
your Spirit, you would give us everything
we need to be your witness, for the glory of God. In Jesus' name, amen. For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us from
this teaching in our series Expound.
