But if we're going to have a
true understanding of Saul's reign, we have to see Saul as
an anti-type of Christ. If we're going to understand
Saul's reign, we have to see his reign in light of Israel's
rejection of God. Because that's the only reason
Saul is king, is because Israel rejected God. And Saul is the
people's king. He is the king after the people's
heart, the heart of flesh. Saul's name means desired. He
is desired of the people of Israel, but he's not the king after God's
heart. Saul is everything a king should not be. And what I want
us to see this morning is how thankful that we can be that
God has given spiritual Israel a king after God's heart. A king
who is everything Saul is not. Now Saul, from the very beginning,
does not have the makeup to be king. We don't read anything
about Saul having the wisdom of a leader. It was Saul's physical
attributes and his personality, the way that he could deal with
people of the flesh that made him attractive to Israel to be
their king. It wasn't his wisdom, either
in worldly matters or certainly in spiritual matters. It was
fleshly, physical characteristics. You know, they say Saul stood
about six feet ten. He had the best looking body
in Israel. I mean, a muscular, athletic
man, all dark and handsome. And he was impressive to look
at. I mean, impressive. But that
does not qualify him to be king. Gary qualifying to be John Calipari's
center. That's what we want. We want
this six foot ten man built of muscle to be the center for University
of Kentucky, but we don't want him to be king. It's just physical
characteristics that qualify Tim to be a sports personality,
not the leader of God's nation. You know, maybe because Saul
was so physically impressive, the people thought Saul could
stand up to the giants of the Philistines. But God doesn't
need that. He's going to send a boy to take
care of the best the Philistines have to offer. God doesn't need
some impressive man of the flesh. Men were impressed with Saul
because all they could see was the flesh. But God looks on the
heart. And you can bank on this. Whatever
it is the world thinks, whatever it is the flesh thinks, it's
wrong. Because the flesh always has it wrong. Because all the
flesh can see is flesh. Flesh can't see anything spiritual.
It can't see spiritual truth or spiritual light because flesh
is flesh. It's dead. But when God sent
His Son into the world, what does Scripture say? This is the
proof that all flesh can see is flesh. Can't see spiritual
truth. When Christ Jesus, God's own Son, came into the world,
Scripture says he has no form nor comeliness. And when we shall
see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. With fleshly
eyes. These fleshly eyes rejected God's
own son. He came into his own and his
own received him not. People who had the scriptures,
people who had the prophets and the fathers, he came into his
own and his own received him not. He's despised and rejected
of men. of the flesh, because all the
flesh can see is flesh, no spiritual truth, no spiritual light. But
when God gives life to a dead sinner, then and only then will
they see Christ the King in all of His royal glory and lovingly,
willingly bow and submit to His kingship. You see, only the new
man, only a spiritual man can love Christ the King. will always
love and desire something else. And that's what the flesh desired
was Saul. And he's a mighty poor king.
I mean, you know by his reign already, he is a mighty poor
king. But you know what? He was the best Israel had to
offer. This poor king was the best that
flesh could produce. Look in chapter 9 of 1 Samuel,
verse 2. Remember, we read this. And he
had a son whose name was Saul. a choice young man, and goodly.
And there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than
he. From his shoulders and upward,
he was higher than any of the people." And look over at chapter
10, verse 24. This is after Samuel, he's announcing
Saul as king. And Samuel said, to all the people,
see ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, that there is none like
him among all the people. And all the people, boy, and
they saw him, what did they shout? God saved the king. Oh, he was
impressive. He's the best flesh had to offer. Yet Saul is a complete failure.
The very first thing we read in scripture about Saul is when
he's going to look for his father's lost asses. Back in chapter nine,
remember we read this in verse three. And the asses of Kish,
Saul's father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul, his son,
take now one of the servants with thee and rise and go seek
the asses. And he passed through Mount Ephraim
and passed through the land of Silesia and found them not. Then
they passed through the land of Salem, and they were not.
And he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found
them not. And when they had come to the
land of Zoth, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come
and let us return, lest my father leave caring for the asses and
take thought for us." Saul is a complete failure. He could
not find those lost donkeys. He just had to give up. And Saul's
entire reign is the exact same way. It's a failure. It never
produced anything. But Christ our King, now Saul's
the anti-type of Christ. Christ our King is successful
because he's the best that God has. Saul was the best that flesh
had to offer. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
best and he shall not fail nor be discouraged. Christ is our
successful Savior. Saul, his father sent him to
hunt those asses and he never found them. Even though he took
help with him, he never found them. Somebody else had to do
the job because Saul couldn't get it done. When the father
sent his son into the world, he sent his son by himself because
he needs no help. He didn't bring somebody with
him. He didn't bring some angels or somebody with him to help
him find God's sheep. God sent his son into this world
by himself to save his sheep. And the Lord Jesus Christ, he
found and he saved every last one of those sheep. Not one is
lost. He said, other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And he's going
to find them because he said there's going to be one fold
and one shepherd. And if you look over in John
17, every one of those sheep is going to be there. Every last
one of them. Not one of them is lost. And you know, you'll note, our
Lord wasn't looking for donkeys, was he? Not looking for goats.
He's not looking for somebody that might come with him. He's
looking for God's sheep. In John 17, verse 12. Guess I
better get in the right chapter. While I was with them in the
world, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I
have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition
that the scripture might be fulfilled. Not one is missing. Now to you
and me, 99% would be good enough, wouldn't it? That would be an
A. Boy, you'd be successful if you get 99%. Not our Lord. Not one can be lost. Even though
he's got the ninety and nine, he leaves them and goes out to
find the one that's lost in the wilderness. And what does he
do? He finds it, puts it on his shoulder and brings it home.
Not one of those sheep is lost. Our King, our Savior is a successful
Savior. Now Saul, we saw examples in
these past couple of chapters. If you look in chapter nine,
verse six, Saul's not a good leader. I mean, he just does
not know how to lead. In verse 6, and he said unto
him, his servant said unto Saul, he said, Behold, now there is
in this city a man of God, and he's an honorable man. All that
he say hath come is surely to pass. Now, let us go thither
for adventure. He can show us our way that we
should go. Well, this is Saul to his servant. Now, Saul's ready
to give up at first. And then his servant says, well,
let's go find the man of God. And Saul says, well, what are
we going to do? He said, Behold, if we go, what shall we bring
the man? For the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is
not a present to bring the man of God. What have we? And the
servant answered Saul again and said, Behold, I have here at
hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. That will I give to
the man of God to tell us our way." Now, Saul is not leading
there, is he? The servant is leading. Now,
Saul, without question, has qualifications that impress men. He's from the
tribe of Benjamin, one of the favorite sons of Jacob, one of
the favorites. He has the kind of personality
that draws men to him. He knows just the right thing
to say to everybody. He has charisma, but no wisdom. He can talk a good game. I mean,
Saul can make people feel so good when there's no pressure
on him. But as we look through Saul's
reign, every time the pressure is on him and it's time for the
leader to step up and make a decision, Saul crumbles. And we see it
here at the very beginning. He has to have a servant tell
him what to do. Wasn't that the anti-type of Christ? When questions
arose from the disciples about what they should do, the Lord
always gave them the answers. The Lord is the one that always
provided. Look over John 6. Our pastor
touched on this Wednesday night in John 6. Our Lord never one
time had to have his disciples give him counsel, did he, about
what to do. His very name is Counselor. He
doesn't need them to give him advice. In John 6, verse 5, when
Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company coming
to him, he saith unto Philip, when shall we buy bread that
these may eat? And he wasn't asking Because he didn't know
the answer, didn't know what to do, because look what verse
6 says. And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what
he would do. He already knew what he would
do, and you know the story. The Lord provided, didn't he?
Now, in Saul's case, the servant had to provide. In this case,
the Lord provided. And if you look back at Matthew
17, you'll see another example. This is what our Lord always
does. He's the one that's the leader, because he's the king.
In Matthew 17, verse 24, and when they were come to Capernaum,
they that received tribute money came to Peter and says, does
not your master pay tribute? And he said, yes. And he had
no clue. He said, well, yeah, but he had
no clue. And when he was coming to the house, Jesus prevented
him saying, what thinkest thou Simon? Of whom do the kings of
the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or strangers?
Peter saith unto him, of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are
the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should
offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, you don't even
have to put a worm on it, just cast a hook, and take up the
fish that first cometh up. And when thou hast opened his
mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money. That take, and give
unto them, for me and thee." The Lord provided. He didn't
have to have Peter tell him what to do, how to pay taxes. He told
Peter what to do and he provided. That's our king. That's our king
with the same characteristics. He hadn't changed. This is still
our king. Saul, bless his heart, is not
a natural born leader. This boy is natural born to be
out in the country, keeping his father's farm. He is not a natural
born leader. Well, he's the anti-type of Christ.
I mean, you know he's God's son. Of course he's king. But when
he is born into this world, what do those wise men say? And they
came looking for him. Where is he who is born king
of the Jews? Our Lord, our king was born king. And even though Saul was not
a natural born leader, Samuel hoped beyond hope. He just kept
trying to do everything he could do to make him a good king. Samuel took him aside several
times, gave him advice, just talked to him, blew him in the
face, giving him advice and counsel, trying to give him wisdom to
make Saul a good king. When he took Saul into his house,
he gave Saul the best seat at the meal, didn't he? Remember,
he gave him the royal portion to eat. That was the part of
the sacrifice that was the shoulder and the breast that was connected
together. That was the royal portion. He gave that to Saul
because he hoped Saul would have the power to rule. That's the
shoulder. He hoped he would have the power
to bear up under the pressures of government. And he gave him
the breast, the part over the heart, hoping, beyond hope, that
Saul would have the heart of a leader to rule God's people
well. And he failed, didn't he? Samuel
failed to try to give him the ability to lead and Saul failed
as the leader. Saul does not have the heart
of a leader. Not at all. We saw back in chapter
eight what's in his heart. What's in Saul's heart is to
take from the people. That's the way he's going to
make himself great is by taking from the people and make himself
great at the expense of the people that he rules over. And that's
the way all flesh is. That's what all flesh would do.
We make ourselves great by taking from somebody else. Well, that's
the anti-type of our king. Christ loves his church so much
that his name or our names are etched upon his heart. He loves
his people so much he willingly suffered and died as a substitute
for his people. Christ loves his people so much
he lifts his people up. Doesn't he lift the beggar up
out of the dunghill and set him among princes? And our king lifts
us up at his expense. Saul had to make himself great
the people's expense. Christ lifts his people up at
his expense. It cost him his life. It cost
him his blood. It cost him being separated from
his father. And Samuel hoped, oh how he hoped
Saul would rule well. Look back in Isaiah chapter 9.
God sent his son into the world. not hoping his son would rule
well, knowing full well that he would rule well. Isaiah chapter
9, this was written 700 or 800 years before Christ was born,
and this is how sure the father was his son would rule well.
He said in verse 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a
son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. That
king's portion, the shoulder, the government's going to be
upon his shoulder. He has the strength to bear it. And his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of
his government, now this is how successful a king he's going
to be. Of the increase of his government
and peace, there shall be no end. There's no end to the prosperity
of his kingdom. Upon the throne of David and
upon His kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and justice from henceforth, even forever. This is going to
be eternal. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this. Our Lord had the heart and the
strength to rule well. He had the strength to rule well,
and he had the heart to rule well. A bruised reed, so he'd
not break, and the smoking flax, so he'd not quench. Now look
back in our text again, verse 27 of chapter 9. And as they were going down to
the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, did the servant pass
on before us? And he passed on. He says, but
stand thou still a while that I may show thee the word of God. Saul had to be shown the Word
of God. Samuel had to teach him the Word
of God. And apparently the teaching did
not take. Christ our Lord is the Word of
God. Nobody had to show him the Word
of God. He is the Word of God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And we beheld his glory as of
the only begotten of the Father. full of grace and truth. He is
the Word of God. And you know, despite all the
warning that God gave Israel, Saul was anointed king of Israel. In verse 1, chapter 10, And Samuel
took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed
him, and said, Is it not because of the Lord hath anointed thee
to be captain over his inheritance? Saul is king. He's been anointed king. He's
not a figurehead. This is not a pretend thing.
He is sovereign king of Israel. Well, make no mistake about it,
if you look over in Psalm chapter 2. This is how Saul is a type
of Christ. Make no mistake about it. The
Lord Jesus Christ is God's anointed. He is God's anointed king. In
Psalm 2 verse 2. The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
who? His anointed. His anointed king
saying, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords
from us. When did that happen? At the
cross. When they crucified our Lord
because he was king. They rejected his kingship. Well
Saul, he was God's anointed too, wasn't he? He was anointed, though,
to an earthly reign for just a short time. Christ is anointed
to a spiritual reign and an eternal reign. Now, you listen to me. We never have to worry about
Christ, our King, being removed from the throne. He's the eternal
King. This thing's all right. It's
all right. He's king. Nothing's happening
anywhere that's outside of his realm of authority. He's king
and he always will be. So it's all right. It's all right. Whatever we see going on, it's
all it's OK. He's king. But, you know, when
Saul was anointed, it says he was anointed with a vial of oil. That was just a small amount
of oil that Samuel was carrying around in his pocket. It was
a small amount of oil and Saul just reigned for a short time.
David and Solomon, on the other hand, when they were anointed
kings, they were anointed with horns of oil. Jehu, when he was
anointed king, he was anointed with a box of oil, large amounts
of oil. And all those kings had long
reigns. And if there was ever a king you read about in the
scripture that was anointed with a small amount of oil, he always
had a short reign. And see, Saul, he was anointed,
but it was to an earthly political office. But it was a short reign,
just accomplishing God's purpose in that short reign. Christ,
our king, is anointed to a spiritual office. But you know, he's not
only anointed king. He is anointed prophet, priest
and king with large amounts of oil. Let me read you these scriptures. Psalm 45, verse 7. Thou lovest
righteousness, and hatest wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
He was anointed with the oil, with the Spirit of God, more
than anyone else was ever anointed. John 3 verse 34, For he whom
God has sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the
Spirit by measure unto him. Christ our King had the Spirit
without measure because He's God. He's anointed with large
amounts of oil because Christ reigns eternally. His reign never
ends. Now you remember last week, back
in chapter 10, we read about Saul being turned into another
man. In verse 6, we read that the
Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and thou shalt prophesy
with them and shalt be turned into another man. And verse 9
says that when it was so, and it was so, that when he turned
his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart. And
all those signs came to pass that day. And you remember I
told you, that's not talking about regeneration. Because it
says that Saul was given another heart. That he was made another
man. It doesn't say he was made a new man. It doesn't say God
gave him a new heart. It was another one. And if you
look over in chapter 16, I'll show you, this was just temporary.
He was made another man, but it was just temporary. In 1 Samuel
16, verse 14. But the spirit of the Lord departed
from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. See,
Saul was made another man for a while. Then the Lord made him
still another man, and an evil spirit troubled him. But now
you remember this, that will never happen to a person in Christ
Jesus who's been made a new man and given a new heart. Also in
Romans 11 verse 29, for the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance. And what does Paul call Christ
our Lord? The unspeakable gift. God's unspeakable
gift. is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
if you've been given that gift, the gift of Christ and made a
child of God, you will never lose Christ and you will never
be lost by Christ. He's King. This is something
that happened to a man that did not know the Lord. And, you know,
it's unfortunate that Saul began well. We'll see this next week. He began well, but Saul did not
end well. He eventually lost the kingdom,
he lost the spirit of God, because he displeased God by usurping
the authority of the priest and offering a sacrifice instead
of the priest. Christ our King, on the opposite
end of the spectrum, he began well, he ran well, and he ended
well. He always pleased the Father. Throughout his life, his earthly
life, he was perfectly obedient. Every step he took, every breath
that he drew was drawn in perfect obedience to the law and will
of his Father. And when it came time for him
to offer his sacrifice in death, he pleased the Father's justice
and holiness completely. His sacrifice, as opposed to
Saul's sacrifice, was a sweet-smelling savor to God, not a smoke in
God's nose. The sacrifice of Christ secured
his kingdom eternally, enabled Christ to take the chief seat
at the father's right hand, waiting till his enemies be made his
footstool, whereas Saul's sacrifice cost him the kingdom. And we
read this last week, too, that Saul was born from the wrong
tribe. He should never have been king because he did not come
from the royal tribe. He is from the tribe of Benjamin,
one of the favorite sons But Judah is the royal tribe. That's
what Jacob said when he was dying. And the people ought to know
this thing's going to end in disaster when you ignore God's
Word. They ought to have known. Our King, on the other hand,
has fulfilled every requirement of Scripture. Not one jot or
tittle of Scripture was ignored by our Lord. He fulfilled every
requirement as our King. And as our substitute, he is
the lion of the tribe of Judah and his reign is going to end
in victory. Well, I'm not going to end, it's
going to be victorious because his reign will never end. And
you know, you notice as you read through chapter 10, that Saul,
you remember this from last week, was very reluctant to take the
throne. He came to his uncle's house
after he was anointed king, but he didn't tell his uncle he was
anointed king. And we saw how that was some
humility and wisdom on Saul's part. You know, it's better for
people to hear this from Samuel than him. They'll accept it better.
But now, if you're king, do you really have to worry about that?
The people ought to accept the message from the king. I mean,
if you're the king, Christ our king frequently spoke about his
kingdom and about his throne, didn't he? He never shied away
from speaking about his kingdom because he's king. He told the
people shortly. You're going to see me sitting
at the right hand of God on the throne." And oh, they were offended.
Didn't stop him, did it? He said, my kingdom's not of
this world. He spoke frequently of his kingdom.
Even when he was dying in what appears to be as weak as physical
condition, he granted citizenship in his kingdom to a guilty, dying
thief. Who just asking, Lord, when you
come into your kingdom, Now, he knew this man's a king. He's
coming to his kingdom. Would you remember me? Just remember
me? Would you think upon me? And
our king said, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. You're not going on a temporary
visa. You're not going with the green card. You're a son. Citizenship
in my kingdom. That's the king. And you know,
I think Saul, well, he was reluctant to take the throne. So reluctant
that when it came time to announce his reign, remember chapter 10,
verse 22, he wasn't up there at the podium. He's hiding behind
all the luggage. He's hiding behind the stuff.
They had to go send somebody to go find him. And you know,
I think this is very possible. Saul was afraid to take the throne
because he knew as soon as he was king, he's going to have
to lead his people into battle. He's got to lead his army into
battle. against the Ammonites and the
Philistines. In those days, the king, he was the general. He
didn't stay back here on the hillside, you know, watching
the battle through the binoculars. He led the army into battle. He's going to have to go into
harm's way if he's the king of this people. I'm not so sure
I want that job. Christ our king came to this
earth knowing he's going to battle. He is going to war with sin,
and was Satan. And he never one time hid from
it. He never one time shied away
from the point of the battle. That mob came seeking our Lord,
and he stepped out in front of them. Said, who seek you? After
they said, Jesus of Nazareth, and he said, I am. After they
kicked themselves off the ground, he said, who seek you? They said,
it's me you seek. Let these go their way. And they
went their way. The sheep were scattered when
the shepherd was smitten. And our Lord went into battle
completely alone. He didn't lead the army into
battle. He didn't have any help because he didn't need any help.
He went alone to save his people from their enemies. And you know,
Saul eventually led the people into battle and his reign ended
when he was killed in battle. You know, that's the whole reason
the people said they wanted a king in the first place. We wanted
a king to go fight our battle. And it came time to have a battle
and Saul got killed. Big help he was, wasn't he? Christ
our king has never one time lost a battle. Never once. He died
to purchase his kingdom. He didn't die and his reign ended.
He died to purchase his kingdom. In Romans 14, verse 9, I'll read
it to you, he died to purchase a kingdom. For to this end, Christ
both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord, King of
both the dead and the living. He died to purchase his kingdom
and to ensure that his reign was forever. In Hebrews 1, verse
8, but unto the God saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. It's an eternal kingdom for ever
and ever. And this is the point that I
want us to take home. We have such reason to rejoice
and worship in thanksgiving Christ our King. Saul was the best that
man had to offer. And he was a failure. Now, if
the best of men, and Saul was, he was the best of men. If the
best of men are failures, where does that leave the rest of us?
Well, we're failures. We need a king. We need a Savior. And God sent His Son. When God
sent His Son, when He sent His people, a king, a Savior, He
sent His people Not the best the man has to offer. He sent
the best that God is. He sent his son. He said, Thy
throne, O God, is forever. He sent God himself, the son
of God, to be our king. And I've said that last week.
I've said it several times this week because I can't get over
how wonderful the fact is that God sent the best, his best,
to be our Savior and to be our king. We can't express How wonderful
Christ our Lord is, and what a difference between the rule
of Saul and the rule of Christ our King. Eventually, the people
are going to cry to God for help because of Saul's rule. Christ
our King is just the opposite. David said in Psalm 97, the Lord
reigneth, let the earth rejoice. The earth doesn't cry out, I'm
in trouble because of Christ our King. Christ reigns. Let
the earth rejoice. And whatever the earth does,
let us rejoice and give thanks. Now I want you to look at 1 Timothy
chapter 6, and I'll quit. Here's a reason that we can leave
here rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Christ our King. Listen
to this description Paul gives here in 1 Timothy 6 verse 15. Which in his times he shall show
who is the blessing and only potentate. You notice that's
not just a description, that's his name. The potentate. The King of kings and Lord of
lords. And here's his description. Who
only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can
approach unto. which no man hath seen, nor can
see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen." Brethren,
that's our King. And Bob, that's our King. It's
right on schedule. Dan mentioned in his prayer what's
happening over there in Egypt, right on schedule. Our King,
the only potentate, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords who's
immortal. It's on the throne. It's okay. It's all right. I fall down before
him in worship, in thanksgiving, that like that old guilty thief,
in mercy and grace, he gave a wretch like me citizenship in his kingdom. The Lord bless you.