[0:00] Take your Bibles, go to me to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 10. 1 Samuel chapter 10 is where we will be at this evening. We will look at the entire chapter, the 10th chapter of the book of 1 Samuel.
[0:13] 1 Samuel chapter 10, just making our way through the Old Testament. We're coming to a really historical moment in the nation of Israel.
[0:25] So, we've come this far into the Old Testament and come to the history of God's interactions with his people. And for the first time in the history of the nation, they're about to have a king.
[0:38] That's what takes place in the 10th chapter of 1 Samuel. This is, if you remember, the last time we were gathered together and we looked at the 9th chapter, Saul is looking for his donkeys.
[0:51] He's the son of Kish. He's looking for his donkeys, his father's donkeys, and can't find them. Ends up going into the city where Samuel was at. He wants to inquire of the man of God about his father's donkeys.
[1:04] But that story is just completely bypassed. Samuel says, don't worry about the donkeys. They've been found. I'm going to the feast. You come with me. Now, I'm paraphrasing, condensing it. And he gives him the choice to meet because God had revealed to Samuel that an individual will be coming who would be the king.
[1:21] And Samuel tells Saul that at the end of here. And we'll see it in the very first part. So what God had sovereignly done in leading Saul on a search for donkeys, he's actually bringing him to the place where he could be in the company of the prophet Samuel.
[1:39] This follows the request of the people in the eighth chapter for a king. God had determined many, many years prior to this that there would one day be a king who ruled over his people.
[1:54] But that time was not yet. They were getting ahead of God in the plan and purpose of God because they sinned and asking for a king. Even though the book of Deuteronomy, even the book of Genesis speaks of the day when someone would rule over the nation of Israel.
[2:07] It seems to me that they're ahead and we understand the ramifications of it because we've read the Old Testament. We'll see that later. But we're kind of right there in the fringes of it.
[2:18] In the tenth chapter we see these things going. So here we'll see in 1 Samuel chapter 10, the chosen king, the people are finally made aware of what God is doing. They've requested it. They've asked for it.
[2:29] Samuel knows about it. He's had an encounter with Saul and now it's going to be made public, if you will. It says, then Samuel, this is after Saul had come into the city, come into the town where Samuel was at.
[2:43] They'd had a feast the day before the next morning. Samuel was walking Saul and his servant out and tells Saul to send his servant on down the road. He has something privately he needs to tell him and it's just the two of them.
[2:54] Okay, so it's Samuel and Saul here on the road. Then Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him and said, has not the Lord anointed you a ruler over his inheritance.
[3:06] When you go from me today, then you will find two men close to Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. And they will say to you, the donkeys which you went to look for have been found.
[3:17] Now behold, your father has ceased to be concerned about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, what shall I do about my son? Then you will go on further from there and you will come as far as the oak of Tpor.
[3:29] And there are three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine. And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand.
[3:44] Afterward, you will go to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is. And it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them.
[4:00] And they will be prophesying. Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you mightily and you shall prophesy with them and be changed into another man. It shall be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires, for God is with you.
[4:15] And you shall go down before me to Gilgal, and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do.
[4:28] Then it happened when he turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart. And all those signs came about on that day. When they came to the hill there, behold, a group of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God came upon him mightily, so that he prophesied among them.
[4:45] It came about when all who knew him previously saw that he prophesied now with the prophets, that the people said to one another, What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?
[4:56] A man there said, Now who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb. Is Saul also among the prophets? When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. Now Saul's uncle said to him and his servant, Where did you go?
[5:10] And he said, To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they could not be found, we went to Samuel. Saul's uncle said, Please tell me what Samuel said to you. So Saul said to his uncle, He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.
[5:24] But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned. Thereafter Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah. And he said to the sons of Israel, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I brought Israel up from Egypt and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.
[5:44] But you have today rejected your God who delivers you from all your calamities and your distresses. Yet you have said, No, but set a king over us.
[5:55] Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans. Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by Lot. Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by his families, and the Metrite family was taken.
[6:10] And Saul, the son of Kish, was taken. But when they looked for him, he could not be found. Therefore they inquired further of the Lord, Has the man come here yet? So the Lord said, Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.
[6:21] So they ran and took 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 all the people, Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen?
[6:33] Surely there is no one like him among all the people. So all the people shouted and said, Long live the king. Then Samuel told the people the ordinances of the kingdom and wrote them in the book and placed it before the Lord.
[6:46] And Samuel sent all the people away, each one to his house. Saul also went to his house at Gebeah. And the valiant men whose hearts God had touched went with him.
[6:58] But certain worthless men said, How can this one deliver us? And they despised him and did not bring him any present. But he kept silent. 1 Samuel 10.
[7:09] Here we see the chosen king. The chosen king. What the people have asked for, God has given them. It is in sin that they ask because God makes it clear to Samuel in the 8th chapter.
[7:22] And even here Samuel reminds them that when they're asking for a king, they are asking with wrong motives. It is not necessarily the fact that a king would reign over them. It is their timing and their motivation.
[7:34] If you remember, when they asked, they asked in particular so that we may be like all the other nations. God had called them to be different than all the other nations. He had actually called them to be a light and a witness to all the other nations.
[7:47] And it would be the presence of God that would differentiate them from everyone among them. The fact that their crops did not fail to yield and that their animals did not fail to give birth and to multiply.
[7:58] And that the rains would come and that they would be victorious in battle. Was really a testimony to God's leading and God's provision that God was their king. They had a king and the king was God.
[8:09] And Yahweh was to be the ruler of his people. And the favor of Yahweh and the presence of Yahweh is what the people were to be committed to and dedicated to.
[8:20] It was to really set them apart not just publicly but also privately. Their lives were to be oriented such that they would live a life pleasing and acceptable to a holy God.
[8:32] So that God would continue to manifest his presence among them by displaying his favor in battle, in agriculture, in fertility, in all those areas.
[8:42] They were to look different because of their relationship. But their desire was to have a king like everybody else. If you boil it down to it's because we want to put the responsibility on him to lead us and then we can live however we want to.
[8:55] This is following the period of the judges when there was no king in all of Israel and every man did what was right in his own eyes. So rather than maintaining a relationship with the holy God who was their king, they desired to put the responsibility on a man and just follow him.
[9:12] They wanted someone like them that would be like everybody else. And they didn't want to live in that fellowship with God. Rather they wanted to live in submission to a king.
[9:24] And this is rebellion and rejection of God. And they really don't, they don't understand it. But Samuel tells them such and God says but I'll give them what they want. Now there's a number of things that we've looked at throughout this whole account that kind of shows us that even though God gives them a king, this isn't the king God had spoken of even all the way back in the book of Genesis when Jacob is blessing his children.
[9:44] It doesn't seem to be the one that's alluded to in the book of Deuteronomy. I think it's Deuteronomy 17 when God gives kind of this code of conduct when there's a man who rules over them. Because the king that would be chosen according to Jacob's blessings upon his children was to come from the tribe of Judah.
[10:02] Judah would be the ruling tribe. They're the largest tribe, have the most people, the greatest inheritance. Jesus is from Judah, David's from Judah. He is the lineage of David from the tribe of Judah.
[10:13] But yet we see that the tribe that is chosen is the tribe of Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin is the smallest tribe. It was the tribe that was kind of near the back, not at the back.
[10:23] That was the tribe of Dan. But God chooses the tribe of Benjamin here. So he gives them what man wants in preparation for the king that God had chosen.
[10:36] He gives them what they asked for to show them that even in their asking, if God always gives us what we want, it doesn't always work out the way we think.
[10:47] And we see this really in Saul. There are some aspects of the life of Saul that look pretty good. But as some Bible commentators say, the same man that at one moment is weeping on the shoulder of David in great fellowship, the next moment is throwing a spear trying to pin him to a wall.
[11:07] The man who, in our own chapter here, there were people who despised him and didn't like him at his appointment of king, yet he did nothing. In just a few years, he's going to try to kill his own son, Jonathan, for dipping an end of his staff in honey and eating it.
[11:21] Seems to be some kind of back and forth with this man, Saul. And we don't really know where he's going. But we do know that the nation is kind of hindered because of this, because the greater part of Saul's life, and I know we're getting ahead of the story, is lived pursuing David, who is the rightful king, who has the anointing of the Lord upon him and is filled with the Spirit.
[11:52] But yet the people are still sitting in subjection to Saul, whom the Bible says the Spirit had departed from. So be careful what we ask for.
[12:03] And then we actually see the appointment. Okay, we see that he's anointed, he's affirmed, and then he's appointed. Two of them are private, and one is the public.
[12:14] The first thing we see is the anointing of the king. After going into the town of the man of God, going into the city of Samuel, Saul went to a festival in the high place with Samuel, in which he ate the choice portion of food.
[12:30] Samuel set him apart among the men that were there. The next day, Samuel wakes him up as he's getting ready to send him back home. They walk out of the city together. It is there that Samuel sends the servant of Saul away from him.
[12:44] Samuel has already declared that he was chosen. And Saul said, well, who am I that the Lord would take notice of me? I'm from the smallest tribe and the least family of the smallest tribe. Who am I?
[12:55] But he is the one that God has chosen. And we see this because it says, then Samuel takes the flask of oil and pours it upon his head. Kisses him as a sign of friendship and fellowship.
[13:07] And then declares that he is the anointed of the Lord. He anoints him in a private ceremony. Samuel has the great, grand responsibility of anointing the first two kings of the nation of Israel.
[13:23] Later, he will anoint David. And he will anoint actually the true king. Here, he's anointing Saul.
[13:34] He is the man that God has used to kind of bridge the gap between the judges and the kings. In a private roadside event, Saul is anointed.
[13:47] There's no fanfare. There's no grand scheme. There's nobody present. The servant has kind of been sent in the head. And Samuel is giving a visible representation or a physical representation of something that has already taken place in heaven's courts.
[14:05] Because he declares. He says, you are. He said, you are the Lord's anointed ruler.
[14:15] He says, has the Lord anointed you a ruler over his inheritance? See, what Samuel was doing was a representation of what God had already done.
[14:31] The anointing was being performed by Samuel. But you need to understand that it was the Lord who had anointed him to rule. And the reason this is kind of, you say, well, you're kind of splitting hairs a little bit.
[14:42] And maybe we're getting to some technicalities. But we are a little bit. But you need to understand how he said it. The Lord has anointed you to rule over his inheritance.
[14:53] Now, to me, that's pretty foundational. Because though the people are turning their back on God, God has not turned his back on his people. They are still declared to be the inheritance of God.
[15:06] They are his people. Therefore, it is God's prerogative and place and responsibility to choose who will rule over them. Because they belong to God.
[15:19] They haven't embraced that. There was a time where they did. But they were rebelling and turning their back and forsaking God and leaving God. But yet, they're still referred to as God's inheritance.
[15:31] And why is that? Because he had redeemed them. They were enslaved in Egypt. And they were the redeemed people of God. He went in, paid the price of redemption, and led them out.
[15:43] And he redeemed them and then brought them into the promised land. Now, we're hundreds of years, a couple of hundreds of years, several hundreds of years, probably about 400 years past the redemption time.
[15:56] A lot of things has happened. The period of the judges has come in. The period of rebellion has come in. The time of the prophets is just now being introduced as Samuel has come onto the scene.
[16:08] They're about to have their first king here that is appointed. But yet, we understand it even in all their rebellion, even all their failures, and all their stumbling. We remember the book of Judges, right? We remember that even though there were a multitude of them, there was also some faithful, because we also remember Boaz and even Samuel's parents.
[16:26] We see there's some faithfulness there. But as far as the nation is concerned, even though they had walked in such failure, they had stumbled, they were really forsaking everything God had done. The Ark of the Covenant had been taken captive and sent back.
[16:38] The temple at Shiloh is no longer to be talked about because it was destroyed. Eli was serving as priest, fell off his stool and ended up dying. His two sons were killed in battle.
[16:49] All this rebellion and all this failure, yet they're still referred to as God's inheritance. So what we see here is even with the faithlessness of his people, God is still faithful.
[17:04] He's still in control. And I think that's important to understand, because if we don't comprehend that, then we feel like the people are just getting their way. That the people are dictating to God what's going to happen.
[17:20] Saul is not chosen by popularity vote, even though in looking at him, he probably would have been the one chosen. He is described as handsome, taller than everyone else.
[17:33] He comes from the right stock. Remember what we looked at? His grandfather was a man of valor. He had a stock. He had all the right heritage. He had the right family tree. He had the appearance. Everything about him looked the part.
[17:46] The stark contrast to that will be David. He's a teenager who's ruddy in appearance. And, you know, sure, he's referred to as handsome later, but he's everything but. He's definitely, he can't fit Saul's armor.
[17:58] Remember the story of David and Goliath, right? He can't fit his armor. He can't even walk in that stuff. He can't carry his weapons. But yet Saul may have been the public opinion or may have been the public vote, but it was never put to a vote.
[18:12] When the people ask for a king, they go and ask Samuel because Samuel's the judge and the prophet. And Samuel sends them home. Samuel doesn't even go looking for the king. God tells Samuel, I'm going to bring a man to you.
[18:25] Then you anoint him. So we have to pay attention to this because what's happening is God has anointed him to be the king.
[18:38] Samuel didn't choose him. The people didn't vote him in. Now, everything that flows as a result of this falls under the sovereignty of God's choice.
[18:56] Sometimes the greatest discipline God gives us is giving us what we want. God chose him. Did God know all of the faults and the failures?
[19:12] Did God know that he would get so mad that he would issue the murder of the house of prophets there? Did God, or the priests, did God know that he was going to, yes, God is sovereign.
[19:25] He understands this. Everything that flows. We can't say the people chose the wrong king. We can't say Samuel chose the wrong king. He is anointed of God to be the king.
[19:41] The people have asked for him. God chose him and put him over his inheritance. The nation of Israel is not Saul's people.
[19:52] It's not Samuel's people. It is the inheritance of God. The application to that is pretty easy. Once we are redeemed by the blood of Christ, we are the inheritance of God.
[20:04] Therefore, everything that comes our way is under his guidance, or at least permitted from his presence. Right?
[20:15] He still has sovereign rule. Whether or not we admit that or acknowledge that. The people weren't even thinking. They wanted Samuel to give them a king because they were rejecting the Lord as their king.
[20:29] But it is God who gives them a king. He's anointed. The second thing we see is the affirmation. Because if you put yourself in Saul's shoes, Saul is looking for donkeys.
[20:42] He's not looking for a throne. Evidently, life must have been pretty comfortable around the house of Saul because they had livestock and they also had servants. We know that though he lived about five miles away from the city where Samuel lived, he did not know that there was a man of God in the city.
[20:57] So we don't want to, you know, assume too much when we read scripture. But we can at least assume the fact that he must not have been an overly religious individual and must not have ever attended many religious festivals because he did not realize there was a man of God.
[21:11] His servant actually told him there was a man of God in that city. Yet all of Israel had heard the word of God from the man of God, Samuel, except for the man who's going to be the next king.
[21:22] Evidently, he didn't know he was there. We get a little bit of a glimpse of that too because it becomes kind of a mockery to make the statement, is Saul also among the prophets? And notice who says it.
[21:34] Those who knew him before were amazed that Saul was among the prophets. And it became kind of like you were mocking someone.
[21:46] Saying, the last person I would have ever thought would have been among the prophets was Saul. So we see a little bit of that. So he's looking for donkeys. He gets this, has this encounter with Samuel.
[21:57] Samuel anoints him and tells him he's the king. It's had to all be mind blowing and just understanding. But Samuel does a great thing here. Samuel says, now when you leave here, three things are going to happen on your way home.
[22:09] And these three things are going to be affirmation to you that what I have declared privately is in fact a reality. And he gives them three very clear, definite things.
[22:21] And he actually tells them where they will happen, right? He says, when you leave here, you're going to come next to the tomb of Rachel and they're going to tell you. You'll encounter some men. They'll say, God's not, don't worry about the donkeys.
[22:32] Your father's not worried about the donkeys. Your father's not worried about you. And saying, what should I do with my son? And he said, then when you leave there, you're going to meet three men who are going up to worship. And they're on their way to worship. And they're going there and they have the goats and the bread and the wine.
[22:46] And they're going to give you two loaves of bread. Take the two loaves of bread. And then when you leave there, you're going to come to the hill of God. And the prophets will be coming down and they'll have all these instruments with them. And it's very clear. It's very detailed.
[22:57] And everything he says. And then you'll prophesy. And he gives them, him, these signs of affirmation. Now, he's just had this private encounter that privately God has declared to him through Samuel that I have a calling on your life.
[23:13] You're going to be the king of my people. In order to understand the reality of that call, now God's going to affirm it through these testimonial signs. Now, each of these signs, by the way, some Bible scholars, and I tend to agree with these, each of these signs of affirmation are also signs of what God can do.
[23:30] The first one, meaning the men who say, don't worry about the donkeys. The donkeys have been found. Now your father is concerned about you. Shows us that God is concerned about the things we're concerned about. Right? God can take care of our problems.
[23:41] Because Samuel, when Samuel met Saul, Saul's number one problem was we've got some lost donkeys. That God can handle your problems. When he meets the man carrying the things and they give him two loaves of bread, there's the reality that God can provide for you in your moment of need.
[23:58] Remember, Saul made this declaration to his servant. We have no bread. We don't even have anything to bring to the man of God. What can we bring to the man of God? All of our bread is eaten. That's in the ninth chapter.
[24:09] He says, well, I have a coin. We'll give him the coin. Well, as one of the signs, he gets bread. God can provide your needs. So God can take care of your concerns. God can provide your needs.
[24:20] And then when he meets the prophets and he begins to prophesy, God can empower you, can spiritually empower you to do what he's calling you to do. Did you realize where he met the prophets at? Next to the garrison of the Philistines.
[24:36] Now go all the way back to the book of Judges. Samson would begin to deliver God's people from the hand of the Philistines. The great enemy of the people of God, the Philistines.
[24:51] Next to the garrison of the Philistines, Saul is overwhelmed by the spirit of God. And God is showing him, I can empower you to do what I'm calling you to do.
[25:06] Here's his affirmation. I've anointed you. You're going to be the king. I can take care of what concerns you. I can provide for you in ways that you don't understand. And I can empower you to do everything I'm calling you to do.
[25:19] And when he leaves there, the Bible tells us all three of them take place. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Just like Samuel declared. Each one of them comes about. But notice it also says that when Saul turned to leave, God changed his heart.
[25:33] So now he's been anointed. He's going to be affirmed. And God is preparing him internally to do what he is about to do externally. Right?
[25:44] He changed his heart. And he encounters the prophets. And Samuel says, do whatever the Lord leads you to do. Right? So he starts prophesying, which blows everybody away. We don't know that Saul ever prophesies again.
[25:56] But he is overwhelmed by the spirit. We don't know what he says there. This overshadowing. By the way, in the Old Testament, there's always this overcoming of the spirit of God. The spirit of God overcomes an individual.
[26:09] It overwhelms an individual. It's kind of like taking a big overcoat and putting it around you. It just wraps around you. That's not the same with us in the New Testament. We are on this side of the cross. Praise God. We are not overcome by the spirit.
[26:21] We are indwelt by the spirit. Big difference. Right? There, the Holy Spirit would overpower an individual to lead them to do, in spite of who they were internally, he would overpower them externally to do what God was leading them to do.
[26:37] God did not have to have a righteous prophet to declare a blessing upon his people, numbers 23 and 24. Right? Balaam, the false prophet, declares a blessing rather than a curse because he is overpowered by the spirit of God.
[26:55] That's not us. God does not overpower us who we are internally to do what he wants us to do externally. Through the blood of Christ, we are empowered internally to become who he wants us to be externally.
[27:09] He changes us from the inside out. Big difference. Big difference. We don't want to be overwhelmed by the spirit. We are told not to suppress the spirit, not to push it down.
[27:22] We need to be filled with it. Right? It changes us internally. That's one of the great gifts of the resurrection of Christ. That's what he said. I know I'm on a side note here, but that's the gift of the resurrection.
[27:34] That's when Jesus says, when I go to the Father, the Father will send the spirit and the spirit will indwell you, not overpower you. So he changes us. These Old Testament people we meet, they are not necessarily changed.
[27:46] They are just moved. So Saul is empowered here. This is why later on we can see he's doing things we don't understand. The spirit leaves him. There is the promise in the New Testament.
[27:57] The spirit never leaves the saint in the New Testament. Never. It's an eternal dwelling. But the spirit leaves him later. So all these things come about.
[28:07] So let's put ourselves in this position. I know it's kind of historical and it can get a little boring with you, but I want to bring the application and I'm bringing it down to you, so stay with me. Now, God has anointed him and declared that anointing through a prophet Samuel.
[28:22] He has affirmed that anointing and made it absolutely clear. What Samuel told you privately, I am about to do publicly. These things are not coincidental.
[28:33] So God's got a calling on Saul's life. God had anointed in heaven and then shown it on earth. He has affirmed through his life that this is what your calling is.
[28:47] And now we come to the day of appointments. And now you have the appointment of Saul. All these things take place. Now, I want you to just pump the brakes a little bit because I left something out.
[29:01] The last thing Samuel tells Saul. After God does everything I told you to do. Go before me to Gilgal and wait.
[29:12] So you're anointed. You're chosen. You'll be affirmed. All these things. He doesn't say the next day, but he says, after the Lord leads you to do what he's calling you to do, wait on me at Gilgal.
[29:27] I will offer the sacrifice. I will come after seven days. Very clear. The problem, we don't see it until the 13th chapter.
[29:39] Saul goes to Gilgal, gets tired of waiting on Samuel and offers to sacrifice himself. And that's where he gets in trouble. He got ahead. That's where he gets in trouble.
[29:50] But he got the instructions the same day he got the affirmation. So if he could trust that Samuel was right in pouring oil on his head, he should have trusted that he was right when he said, stay and wait.
[30:02] So the affirmation followed that word, too. Until we get, so, well, I don't blame Saul. I mean, Samuel didn't show up on time. Well, God affirmed it.
[30:13] Okay. So now it says, after all these things, Samuel calls the people of God, the nation of Israel, and he calls them to come back together at Mizpah. When they gather together at Mizpah, only two people know who the king is.
[30:27] Samuel and Saul. Saul has been anointed and been affirmed. He knows what God has told him, and it's been very clearly revealed to him throughout the rest of that day that God is true.
[30:38] What Samuel said is true. Samuel knows it, but Samuel doesn't want it to be his choice. So he brings the people together, and he says, okay, we're going to cast lots, which, by the way, man casts lots, but God determines how they fall.
[30:51] It's a very biblical way of doing it. So they bring them together, and God chose the tribe of Benjamin. The lot was cast. The tribe of Benjamin was taken. Then he chose the right family. He chose the family of Kish, and it was Saul, the son of Kish.
[31:03] So everything that's supposed to happen happens, and God is choosing publicly. Now this is no longer a private matter. Stay with me. No longer a private matter. God is going public with it, right? He's showing everybody, this is who I'm choosing, and he calls him out by name.
[31:18] Saul, the son of Kish, is chosen, and here's the king, but they can't find him. They can't find him. And so they even have to ask God, well, is he even here? And God says, yeah, he's hiding over there next to the baggage, which is really kind of a humorous thing.
[31:33] We've all seen the children's books. At least I've seen the children's book. Here's the tallest man in the nation hiding behind bags, right? And he's over here hiding behind the baggage. But this is where we need to, again, wave the red flag.
[31:44] There are a lot of stories. There are a lot of accounts in this. For one, he wasn't from the right tribe. Saul knew what God was calling him to do. He'd encountered the man of God.
[31:57] He'd heard the word of God. He had it affirmed to him. God had made it very clear, what I have said is going to happen. And when it came time to do it, he hid. That's not humility.
[32:10] That's fear. Humility is not saying, well, you know, who am I that God would choose me? True humility is if God chose me, it doesn't really matter who I am.
[32:25] I believe it was Martin Lloyd-Jones who said that true humility has nothing to do with self. If God's anointed me and called me and affirmed that calling upon my life, then I need to quit thinking about me and just think about what he's been called to do.
[32:47] Saul is hiding. He and Samuel know the truth. But he's hiding from the truth. God calls him out anyway.
[33:00] Because the plans and purposes of God will not be thwarted. If God's called you to do something, if he's anointed you, I know we don't like that word in Southern Baptist life, right? We don't like the anointing. Hey, I've got some anointing oil in my desk back there.
[33:12] I didn't buy it. It was left here. I don't know how long it's been here. I got some anointing oil. We can anoint you. I've heard stories of church women filling up super soakers and going anointing homes, you know, and, you know, shooting houses over.
[33:25] I've anointed people before, okay? I don't want to scare you or nothing. But I know we don't like that word in Southern Baptist life. But by the spirit and purposes and plans of God, if God had anointed you and appointed you to do something and he's affirmed that calling on your life, I don't care how much you hide from it, God will call you out.
[33:45] Because this is the purpose of God. And Saul is trying to run from and hide from what God, he knows God has called him to do. And it's because of fear.
[33:57] Did he feel worthy? Probably not. Who does feel worthy? Paul himself said, who is worthy for all of these things? Paul says, I'm not worthy to be a, you know, essentially a church planter, you know, missionary.
[34:09] I'm not worthy to bear the burdens. Who is worthy to do these things? No one. If it's a matter of worthiness, friend, none of us are worthy to do anything. God calls us to do. We're all unworthy.
[34:22] It's really not about us. It's about his callings and his anointings and his leadings and his affirming. He had made it crystal clear. And yet here is Saul hiding.
[34:32] And God calls him out. And Samuel makes him stand up. And then Samuel draws attention to him. He goes, look at you, king. You've got to see him. He's taller than everybody. And there's this celebration.
[34:45] Long live the king. The people rejoice. They have their man. That's who they would have wanted to begin with. God is gracious. The people have sinned because they asked for a king.
[34:57] God, his grace gave them a king. He didn't have to. He did. And his grace gave them a king. And there are men that God rises up whose hearts are softened and their hearts are emboldened.
[35:10] And they follow Saul. Saul's going to do some amazing things in the next chapter. Where his kingship is really tested. Like very quickly. He does some amazing things. And he will be empowered and be used. But then he walks in disobedience and goes to everything.
[35:22] So the people have their king. And they're celebrating. But the question we have to ask ourselves. At what price? What will it cost them to have what they wanted?
[35:36] In the end, a lot. So we see this battle, right? That if God's chosen us to do something. We can't run from that.
[35:46] We can't hide from that. We must embrace that. On the other side of that. We must be very, very careful never to get ahead of God. Because sometimes the consequences which result in God giving us what we want.
[36:01] Are not worth the price that will be paid. Later on in the story, the true king is faking insanity. Hanging out in a foreign land. With drool running down his beard.
[36:13] The whole time being empowered by the spirit. That's David. All because Saul is still sitting on the throne in true insanity. At what cost?
[36:24] At what cost? So here we see the chosen king. In 1 Samuel chapter 10. Thank you, brothers. Thank you.
[37:24] Thank you, brothers. Thank you.
[38:24] Thank you.
[38:54] Thank you.
[39:24] Thank you.
[39:54] Thank you.