Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter
10. Our second study in this chapter. Look at the verse 13 with me. And when he, Saul, had made an
end of prophesying, he came to the high place. And we discussed
the last study that Saul was given the gift of prophecy at
least once, right here. As far as I have seen in the
Scriptures, he never prophesied again. And it was given to Saul
like it was given to the 70 elders in the time of Moses. And it
was designed to make Saul respectable among the people. It was taken
notice of making Saul to be respected and honored, causing them to
honor Saul as having a gift from God. They're fixing to anointing
King. This did nothing but strengthen their opinion and respect for
him before God. Now we must always remember that
not everyone that says, Lord, Lord, is necessarily a child
of God. The Lord was very clear about
that when he said that, They said, Lord, Lord, haven't we,
haven't we? And he said, I never knew you.
So this didn't make Saul a true child of God, but it did make
the people respect him to anoint him as king. You know, Judas
trusted among the apostles, so much was trusted among the apostles,
so much so that he carried the purse. He was the treasure for
the group. And yet in the end, he was revealed
to be a devil. God gave Saul this gift of prophecy,
this one, so that the people would more readily be able to
receive him as king. And it revealed that Saul's uncle
was also there. Look at verse 14. And Saul's
uncle said unto him and to his servant, whither wilt ye? You
know, they were gone a while looking for the asses. And he said to seek the asses. And when we saw that they were
Nowhere, nowhere to be found. We came to Samuel. We went to Samuel to seek his
guidance, his seer as the prophet. And in verse 15, and Saul's uncle
said, tell me, I pray thee what Samuel said unto you. And Saul
said unto his uncle, he told us plainly that the asses were
found, but of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake,
he told him not. He didn't tell him about Samuel
coming to him and telling him that he was going to be king
and anointing him with oil. Samuel had already anointed him
as king, but he didn't tell his uncle about that. He told him
that Samuel told him and his servant about the asses being
found, but that was all he told his uncle. But the matter of
the kingdom, no, he didn't mention it. Now John Gill suggested here
that Saul may have thought it would make his uncle envious.
I don't know. It's a possibility. Maybe Saul
thought Samuel wanted it to remain secret until the election by
casting the lot was over, as we'll see. Maybe Saul kept quiet
because he didn't want anyone to think that being king was
of his own seeking. It could be a number of reasons.
Maybe Saul stayed silent, making it seem to his family and friends
that he really had no interest in being king. We're not told. It's just pure speculation as
to guess why. But there is something we know
for sure here. We know for sure that Saul never
mentioned it to his uncle and only God knew what was going
on in Saul's mind and heart. We don't know one another's hearts.
Sometimes we think we do, but we don't. And then we see in
verse 17 that the ceremony of casting a lot for king begins. It says, and Samuel called the
people together unto the Lord at Mizpah. I think it's worthy
of mentioning here as to why Samuel cast lots for a king when
he'd already anointed Saul. I thought about that. Why is
he casting lots? Well, it was a way publicly to
validate God's will for the kingship. And even though Saul had already
privately anointed Saul, Samuel initially anointed Saul in secret,
as you know, which meant only Samuel knew he was God's chosen
king. God had told Samuel, Samuel told
Saul, but nobody else know. Casting lots in front of the
people provided a visible way to confirm that God had chosen
Saul addressing any potential doubts about Samuel's selection. And this act helped the Israelites
accept Saul as their king, as they could see that his selection
was not by random chance, but divinely sanctioned. Nothing
is by random chance. There's a lot of people that
believe it is. Oh, you're lucky, you. No, no, it's not random
chance. It's always by divine sanction. Casting lots in the Bible was
a way to make decisions. It was a way to divide land. It was a way to appoint people
for particular offices. It was seen as a way to reveal
God's will. That's why they did it. But we
must always remember what the wise man Solomon said. He said
that the lot is cast into the lap. but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. You can cast lots, you can draw
straws, you can do whatever you want to, but the end result is
not that act. It's the act of God's will and
purpose in all things. Nothing in this world is according
to blind chance, luck, or what men call accidents. No accidents. I tell the insurance company,
no accidents. God did it. and everything, the
whole disposing of providence is of the Lord. Verse 18, Samuel said unto the
children of Israel, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought
Israel up out of Egypt and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians
and out of the hand of all kingdoms and of them that oppressed you.
And you have this day, rejected your God, who himself saved you
out of all your adversaries and your tribulations. And ye have
said unto him, nay, but said a king over us." God did all
this. God promised to take care of
you. God promised to be your deliverer. And yet you want a
king. And I even told you what kind
of king God would give you if that's what you wanted, and you
still wanted a king. You said, nay, but set a king
over us. Now, therefore, present yourselves
before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands. And when
Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe
of Benjamin was taken." The tribe of Benjamin, the lot fell on
the tribe of Benjamin. And when he had caused the tribe
of Benjamin to come nearby their families, the family of Metri. That's Saul's family was taken,
and Saul, the son of Kish, was taken. And when they sought him,
he could not be found. Here they are at this big ceremony,
and the man that the lot has fell on, the man that God has
appointed and anointed and chosen as king is not there. Where is
Saul? Can you imagine? Everybody's
going, where is Saul? Couldn't be found. Therefore,
verse 22, they inquired of the Lord further, if the man should
yet come thither. And the Lord answered, the Lord
knew where he was. And the Lord answered, behold,
he had hid himself among the stuff. Now that's what my message is
about. Hiding among the stuff. And they ran and fetched him
thence. And when he stood among the people,
he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and
upward." Well, we'd already been told that, that he stood head
and shoulders above all the people. He was a tall man. Now, the first
question that comes to my mind in reading this is why did Saul
do this? Was it done with an ill motive?
Was he mocking modesty? Or was he acting, was he actually
being honest and modest? Was it an honor forced upon him
that he didn't want? Was he afraid of letting God
and his people down? Is he saying to himself, this
is too much for me? Was he avoiding the responsibility
of being king? Did Saul believe that since he
was elected and chosen of God, that he'd be king anyway? Well,
if God chose me and elected me, I don't have to go through this
ceremony. He'll just make me king anyway.
And I am convinced that No one knows why Saul did this but God. We're not told. But Saul hiding
himself among the stuff when he was already destined and chosen
and anointed to be king is much like sinners endeavoring what
they endeavored to do when God in eternal mercy and grace has
called, ordained, and provided a crown and a throne for them.
And those who remain, and never come out from among the stuff,
never were truly called." Now I'll make my case for that. They're
hiding themselves away among the stuff. And God's covenant
of grace has provided a crown for whosoever desires it. And
I'm not being a quote Calvinist or a man that believes that God
does what he wills, I don't have any reservation in saying that,
that whosoever wants this crown, whosoever wants this covenant
of grace can have it. Revelation 22, 17, and the spirit
and the bride say, come, and let him that hear it say, come,
and let him that is a thirst come, and whosoever will. What's that mean? Whosoever will.
Whosoever wants it. Whosoever desires to have it.
Let him take the water of life freely. I still, find myself
flying a little hot sometimes when people think that those
who believe in God's sovereign grace somehow believe that God
finds pleasure in sending people to hell. No such thing as that. No, it's not so. God says it
very plainly in the scriptures. Why will you die? Why will you
die? God finds no pleasure in the
death of the wicked. but for such a one to hide from
the high honors that their Lord has in store for them is doing
nothing more than hiding among the stuff. So I ask you tonight,
are you hiding among the stuff? Why did Saul hide among the stuff?
That's my first question. If it was because he was to have
his head removed because of some evil that he did, I can understand
him hiding. I'd hide too. But to have a crown
put on his head doesn't seem like much of a reason to hide.
However, this is the exact behavior of many today. Saul hid away
from an earthly crown and many today hide away from a heavenly
crown. Saul hid away from an earthly
crown. Many shun a crown that is undefiled
and fades not away. Someone once said, uneasy lies
the head that wears an earthly crown. I would say that's true. I know men who refuse to take
menial jobs because they don't want the pressure and responsibility.
I don't want that pressure. I don't want that responsibility.
But the spiritual crown, which so many are avoiding today, brings
no care with it. It brings nothing but ease and
joy and contentment. You see, the yoke of Christ's
crown is easy and its burden is light. And those of you that
bow to that. No, it's so. It's Christ's crown
of loving kindness and tender mercy already wrought out for
them. There's nothing for us to do
but to believe and to trust and to rest. And even then we labor
to rest. They're hiding among the stuff
of worldliness. And there was a time when we
all did. Only God can awake the slumbering multitudes. I try
so to remember that. There's people that all of us
love and care for, family and friends, and we want them to
be saved more than anything else. But only God can awaken their
slumber. I don't understand why folks
dare play with eternal matters. Maybe I do. because they're buried
among the stuff and ignorance. Scarcely do any know the meaning
of the word sin. They don't. We've all got, before
the Lord saved us, we all had our idea of what sin is, something
bad that we do. Something bad that we do or something
that we don't do, that's sin, but not, the true definition
of sin being what we are. We can't do anything but sin
because we're sinners is what we are. And the reason is most
folks are convinced that they do know. You tell somebody they don't
know what sin is, and they say, well, I most certainly do. And
this makes it impossible for you to convince them otherwise.
And this, once again, shows us that only God can. You can talk
to your blue in the face. You can talk to your lips fall
off. But you're not going to change anybody's mind. Only God
can. Secondly, these same few have
no understanding of the word salvation, don't know what salvation
is. Because they say things like,
you know, well, me and God, we got a good thing going on. No,
that's not salvation. You and God being buddies. Heard
someone say not long ago, I can't wait to get to heaven and play
a round of golf with God. Well, you don't have any idea
about God, no idea about heaven, and no idea what salvation is. They never really grasped redemption's
meeting, or they would eagerly come out from among the stuff
and press forward. to receive and to bow to salvation,
but they don't know what they're being saved from. They don't. Matthew 121 says that the Lord's,
well, let me, I don't want to misquote it. Let me read it to
you. And she, Mary, shall bring forth
a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Now here, here it
is. For he shall save his people
from their sins. That's what men are saved from.
Sin. Some speak the word saying, I'm
only a sinner saved by grace, not knowing what sin is. Not
knowing what salvation is, not knowing what grace truly means. You know people, so do I. Men
and women talk about salvation, but if they really grasped redemption's
meaning, they'd come out from the stuff. But they don't know. They use the word sin, they use
the word salvation, they use the word grace a lot. but the
true meanings are not brought home to their minds. Multitudes still believe that
they saved themselves. Now you can say it however you
want to and you flower it up and make it sound good, but they
believe that they saved themselves by doing good deeds. But by the
works of the law shall no flesh be saved. No flesh living be
justified. God's the only one who can bring
them from the blackness and the darkness and shine his marvelous,
glorious light into their souls. That's what he did for you. That's
what he did for me. We didn't pick ourselves up by
our bootstraps. We didn't let go and let God
save us. No, he divinely intervened. interposed His sovereign will
and made us willing in the day of our power? No, no, no, in
the day of His power. Only God can show a sinner their
need from the ruin of their fall. much less the salvation that
they must have in order to be made kings and priests unto God. Revelation 5, 10, Christ has
made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on
the earth. Men and women alike hide away among the stuff. Such did I and some of you. Now it must, be an outstanding
sight to the angels to see those hiding, those that God would,
if they so desired, and that goes without saying that he's
got to give them that desire, are hiding who would one day
wear the crown of righteousness brought and given to them by
Christ, if they but would. Every true believer often says
both outwardly and inwardly, how is it that I, one such as
I, who God's child should ever have been an enemy to him who
loved me with an everlasting love and drew me with the cords
of love, the bands of loving kindness? Well, we can't get
over it. And we'll be the first to say
we didn't deserve it. Those who are now washed with
Christ's blood, now sanctified, set apart and made holy by God,
now made an heir of Christ. Now you think about that. What
does that mean? That means that all that belongs
to Christ belongs to me and him. And we stand amazed that we ourselves
at one time could have been hiding among the stuff. No wonder it
was he that, Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. John Newton
wrote Amazing Grace. Everybody knows John Newton for
that and some other hymns that he wrote. But did you know that
John Newton was a slave trader? And he entered into the pulpit
to preach the gospel of God's grace. He was astounded to find
himself a former slave trader doing so after he had been such
a blasphemer. dead and trespasses in sin. Listen,
not to the degree, I'm sure, but I can somewhat relate to
him. I told you the story about a
brother, Todd, running into the fellow who was a doctor. Todd
went to see him and he, you know, he asked, so what's, they found
out, they both knew me. And he said, what's David doing
now? And he said, he's a preacher.
And, you know, I tease and say he dropped his stethoscope. of
all the people I went to school with. And I'm sure there were
many that thought the same thing about John Newton. No wonder
he wrote Amazing Grace. Only one who's experienced grace
could write how amazing it is. The salvation of us all was undeserved,
as I said. Well, what did I deserve? Hell?
Hell's what you deserved. Hell's what I deserve. Eternal
condemnation, that's what we all deserve. Everlasting torment,
how about that one? That's what we deserve. But grace
is what we received. And grace and mercy is God not
giving us what we deserve and God giving us what we didn't
deserve. I love that. Yes, my friends,
we at all one time was hiding among the stuff. And contrary
to the opinion of many, they're still hiding. They'll tell you
they're not, but they still are. We didn't seek or find our Lord,
and people will tell you that they did. Why? Because by nature,
there are none that seeketh after God. Our Lord knew where we were. just as God knew where Saul was. They said, where's Saul at? Have
you seen him? No, I haven't seen him today. Have you seen him?
No, I haven't seen him. God said, I know where he is. That's what
God said. He said, he's hiding among the
stuff. And again, verse 23 of our text
says, and they ran and fetched him. That's an appropriate word. just as David had Mephibosheth
fetched to sit at the king's table. Many today still abstain
from what they need most. Isn't that so true? They don't
see their need of what they need most. Some are convinced that their
way is the right way, so they fight within themselves as to
not believe on Christ, Who is the way? He said so himself,
I am the way. Well, three words of grace still ring
loud and clear in my heart and my mind since God called me by
His grace from among the stuff. You wanna know what they are?
But by. but by Him." As we saw Sunday,
that being by the Lord alone. No man comes to the Father. No man receives eternal life,
but by Him. The shepherd came seeking his
lost sheep to find. He put them on his shoulders,
said, this lamb is mine. Many lie by Bethesda's pool,
and when the water is stirred, they're thoughtless. No big deal. Thoughtless of who it is that
stirs sinners' hearts, and they miss the opportunity of stepping
in. They desire to be healed, just
not the way God spiritually heals. One thing needed. Could there
be one here tonight that's hiding among the stuff by neglecting
the means of God's grace? Could there be one who insists
on doing things their way? Oh, I did it my way, but ignorantly
trying to supply work of their own way and doing to be saved. Oh, I wonder. But there's hope
none can hide from the Lord. You can't hide from the Lord.
You can try, but you can't. You can't hide from the Lord. There's hope until the jaws of
death are shut. There's still hope. Christ didn't
use the hope of glory. That's who we sung about tonight.
No dark place of hiding that Christ's light cannot reach.
There's no hiding place that is beyond the kindness of Christ's
love. There's no door that he cannot
beat down. When I heard, by God's grace,
the message of the gospel that said, look unto me and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth, I said, why am I hiding among the stuff? Why would I
hide myself from a crown and be made afraid to be a child
of God? Well, that's utter nonsense.
It's stupidity. It's ignorance. Why would I be afraid to be a
child of God? Why would one hide away from
being a child of the king of kings? Not just the king, but
the king of all kings. who blots out their sin and cleanses
them from all iniquity and all unrighteousness. There must be other sinners hiding
there among the stuff, or that's where we once hid. We read that Saul was head and
shoulders taller than all the people in Israel. What's the...
spiritual significance of that. It's a reference to how great
sinners are. Not great as we think great,
but how great a sinner they are. Every believer sees himself to
be the chief, the biggest, the highest, the tallest, the greatest
of sinners. Paul saw himself to be so great
of a sinner that he knew that he was less than the least. I'm
so great a sinner that I'm less than the least. Unfit, he said, to be called
an apostle. And how true it is that men and
women have so much forgiven, wind up loving the Lord the most.
Isn't that true? To whom much is forgiven, there
is much love. That's what the Lord Jesus told
the Pharisee, Simon, I believe was his name. He said, this woman
who, Washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her
hair. Loved me so much that she's doing this. She said, you didn't
offer to wash my feet. You didn't offer to do anything
for me. With whom there's much forgiveness,
there's much love. Oh, it's not a bad thing to be
the chief of sinners if you see who's the savior of sinners. So what are we gonna do who were
once hiding among this stuff? We're gonna search and speak
to those who are hiding there also. We look there because that's
where we were found. Those who are hiding can make
many excuses for themselves, but we who believe and we who
know cannot make any excuses for ourselves. We want our loved
ones, we want our family, we want our friends and even acquaintances
to enjoy the enrichment and the honor of being a chosen child
of the king. I think about Jacob at the brook
of Jabbok. It was there that he wrestled
with a man to the break of dawn. That's what the scripture says,
said he wrestled with a man. And when that man saw that he
prevailed not, Jacob would not let him go until the man blessed
him. We know who that man was. That man was Christ. The God-man. And that man saw that Jacob would
not give up, so he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and
Jacob's thigh came out of joint as they wrestled, and the man
asked Jacob, he said, what's your name? He knew his name. He gonna change his name. What's
your name? And he said, Jacob, I'm Jacob. And this man, no doubt the God-man,
said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power
with God and with men, and hast prevailed. It was Jacob who kneeled down,
and he arose as Israel, a prevailing prince. You remember anything
else that was different about Jacob? He's limping to never
walk the same again. And he now has a spiritual crown
on his head, one that angels would be proud to wear. The name
Jabbok means pouring out. emptying, beating down into the
dust. And that's what the Lord did to Jacob, so much so that
he never walked the same again, and then made him a prevailing
prince. And that is exactly what God
does for us, his people. I find it interesting that one
of the Hebrew words for stuff could be as, easily translated
and rightfully translated as jewels. Like the rich young ruler,
it's very difficult to leave the stuff of this world. To do
so made that young ruler abundantly sad to leave the stuff because
the scripture has he had many possessions. He had a lot. He
was rich. But some are made to know that
they cannot serve God and mammon. Some are given sight to see that
they cannot mind the things and the riches of this world. It's
to hide among the stuff. John wrote, for all that's in
the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the
pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever." I'm interested in that. I've often said, you know, if
we had a magic potion that would cause people to live forever,
and we were going to announce tonight and tell You know, give
it to folks. We're going to impart this to
you. We found it. We got it. Take a little sip
of it and you're good forever. They'd be lined up for miles
to get in the door. But we have that. And there's
a handful here. the lust of the flesh, the lust
of indwelling sin, the lust of the eyes, looking and seeking
after unlawful objects, the pride of life, ambition for honor,
chief places, high titles, grand, luxurious living. It is not of
God. It is in and of the world. We've
all seen these TV evangelists that live in these multi, multi,
multi-million dollar homes. It's shameful. All these lusts and pride mentioned
have to do with worldly things. And that doesn't mean that we
go and sell all that we have. It means that earthly possessions
just don't mean what they once did. Heavenly possessions are
more desired. We lose interest in the worldly
things to receive heavenly ones, like the unsearchable riches
of Christ. How about that? James said, ye
adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the
scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth
to envy? You see, to hide among the things
of the earth the riches of this world is certain an eternal death. To be a friend of the world is
to be God's enemy. For example, money is not evil,
nothing wrong with money. We all gotta have it. That's
just the way our government, our world works. It's the love
of money that's the root of all evil. The envy, the lust for
it. To put the riches of the world
before the riches of God's grace is to hide among the stuff. Men and women today crowd in
mega meeting places called churches Mega churches, they call them.
To hear the message of wealth. Health and wealth. But it's the
wrong kind of wealth they preach about. We preach the wealth,
we preach wealth here. The unsearchable riches of Christ. That's true wealth. We preach the riches of God's
grace. So do you desire the riches of
the world or Christ's riches? I'll take the second, Christ's
riches. They'll last me forever. You ever see people win the lottery
and they go through their millions in no time at all? People come
out of the woodwork, help them spend it. I've got riches that won't corrupt. that won't rust, that thieves
can't break in and steal. They're the riches of Christ. You know, there's a fine line
that's drawn in men and women's heart between need and greed. The heart that is filled with
need will leave the stuff and come to Christ. Have you left
the stuff? I believe many of you have. And
if you don't, then you never were truly chosen of God. And we'll see things didn't turn
out well for Saul, but he was still called according to the
will and purpose of God. And I think about Paul's words
that said, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith,
prove your own selves, know ye not your own selves, how that
Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates. If Christ
isn't in you, and if you're not in Christ, you're nothing more
than a professing, self-professing reprobate. We don't work hard
to be saved, but we work hard as a result of being saved. There's
a crown that awaits the successful laborer. Not a crown that they
earn by their labor, it's a crown that caused them to labor. A doctor once told John Calvin
that he must cease from working so much and so hard or he'd soon
die. And Mr. Calvin's reply was, would
you have my master come and find me lawyering? What have we done for Christ?
There's a crown within reach for good and faithful servants,
yet many, what are they doing? Hiding among the stuff. No doubt
that Christ is King of Kings, and when he comes for his people,
will they be hiding? If Christ came now, how many
of us would be found in places and positions far different from
those in which we would wish to be found? I remember many,
many years ago, my mother was cleaning house. And when she
cleaned house, you better get out of the way, because she cleaned
you in the process. And she was dressed appropriately
for her work. And her pastor stopped by unannounced. And she began immediately to
apologize. She said, if I'd known you were
coming, I would have made myself a little more presentable. And
that's the problem that we have now. We try to make ourselves
presentable and we can't do it. And the issue is not if we make
ourselves presentable, because we can't, only Christ can do
that. And we are always presentable to our Lord as long as we're
trusting in Christ and we are doing His bidding. So my encouragement
to you and me this evening is that God may help us to get away
from that baggage and that stuff that we hide among. Don't let it be said that there
is a crown, a high calling, waiting and ready for us, and we're hiding
away in the things that are one day gonna, as I said, rust, corrupt,
and burn. And we can have the confidence
that God will not allow it to be so. So may our Lord be pleased
to give us that bazaar to come to Christ. Get out from among
the stuff. Lord, help us do so. We can't
do it without you. Come to Christ, serve him, enable
us to accomplish all that he's given us to do according to his
will and purpose. And to hide among the stuff is
sure death. And it's rebellion. It's rebellion
to the one who loved us and gave himself for us. I believe this is the lesson
that Saul's hiding teaches us. so that we might see, that we
might come out from among this world, it's religion, it's God,
the devil, the God of this world, the God of this world is blind
in the mind. And come to Christ who is made and ordained and
anointed and calls us to be kings and priests, just like he did
Saul.