Anointing Of Saul - Part II

Today we want to continue our discussion of the Old Testament book of I Samuel. We have discovered in our study of Old Testament books such as I Samuel that the subject matter is made up largely of individuals of whom it speaks, and we have discovered that Samuel was an important character in the books that bear his name. Of late, we have been introduced to Saul, the second character who is going to be attracting our attention for some time.

At the moment, we are studying the anointing and confirmation of Saul as King of Israel as described in I Samuel, chapters 9-12. We have suggested to you that you read these chapters several times over, and I hope you have done that because it is impossible for us to talk about every single verse in the chapter and there is really no need to because they do not need any particular explanation. They present somewhat of a description of what is going on in the area that we have made reference to already. I think it might be wise for us to take a few moments and summarize what we have found in these chapters.

In chapter 9, we have the story of Saul seeking four donkeys which have been lost from his father's flock. In relation to that search, Saul encountered several individuals who made it possible for him to come in contact with Samuel. God had already told Samuel that there would be a young man appear to him by and by, and that young man was God's choice for king. So when Saul made his appearance to Samuel to find where the lost donkeys were, Samuel told him God had chosen him and he anointed him privately, so to speak. He told Saul that on his way home, he would encounter certain people. Certain events would occur, and when those certain events occurred, he would have additional proof that he was indeed God's choice for the King of Israel.

Sure enough, in chapter 10, as Saul returned home to his father, not only did he meet these people involved, some interesting experiences related to the Holy Spirit occurred in his life. We will be thinking about those in a moment or two.

Then in chapter 11, Saul had the first opportunity of proving his authority as King of Israel, and there was a total public recognition of his kingship. It was necessary after Saul was publicly recognized as king, for Samuel to make his farewell address, and so in I Samuel, chapter 12, we have Samuel's farewell address and his promise to continually pray for the people.

That is a summary of everything that you will find in these three chapters. In our last study, we mentioned to you that this subject matter provided for us three very interesting illustrations of divine proof.

The first one which we looked at in our last study we entitled Divine Coincidences. The references we had already made to the various people whom Saul met in his search for the lost donkeys and on his return home we said were divine coincidences. They were not just happenings. Oftentimes we meet so-and-so that we haven't seen in a long time and we say, ``My, what a coincidence," and I don't really know what we mean by that, but we cannot get away from the fact that our lives are made up of coincidences.

We tried to emphasize to you in our last study that these coincidences in the life of the believer are more than human luck occurrences. We believe they are divine arrangements. We pointed out to you the reason we believe that, and the reason we should believe it is that the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. We learned, in relation to Saul, if he had not met these various people in the search for the donkeys, he would never have met Samuel; and if he had never met Samuel, he would not have been appointed king at the right time.

We learned also that if these various incidents had not occurred on his way home, even Samuel would not have been assured that Saul was God's choice. So we say once again there are no chance happenings in the believer's life. They are all divine coincidences.

We said there are three lessons in this subject matter, and today we want to look at the other two, beginning with a consideration of what we have termed the activity of the Holy Spirit, the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. When we say the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament, you should be pricking up your ears with a note of interest because that would suggest to you that the activity of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is different from the activity of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit came upon men, as we are going to see later, for a special purpose, then departed from men when those special purposes were completed. On rare occasions, the Holy Spirit stayed upon various individuals for a longer period of time. In some instances, for the most part of their lives.

But the Holy Spirit in the New Testament has an entirely different arrangement because the Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples and us who live in this age as well that when He went away, He was going to send another Comforter. That means, ``I am going to send somebody who is just like Myself." He said that to His disciples, primarily because they were very much concerned about the fact that He was going to leave them. They reacted just as you and I would react if someone very important in our lives has to go. Sometimes when death takes a loved one on whom we depend very much, we say, ``What are we going to do?" And this is what they said to the Lord Jesus. ``What are we going to do? You are going away." He said, ``I am going to send you someone who is exactly like I am as far as ministry is concerned, a Comforter just like Me."

Then He went on to tell that that Comforter was the Holy Spirit. There are three members of the Godhead, as you are well aware, and surely you believe if you believe the Word of God---God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father was manifested at the time of the baptism of the Lord Jesus, when He spoke from Heaven saying, ``This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." The Holy Spirit was manifested at the baptism of the Lord Jesus when the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove came and lighted upon the shoulder of the Lord Jesus, and then the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was there.

The Lord Jesus Christ said, ``When I go, I will send you this Comforter," but He said something else. He said, ``He cannot come until I go." As long as the Lord Jesus Christ was upon the earth, the Holy Spirit could not come in the sense that He has in the New Testament days.

And what sense is that? Well, this is where the difference lies. When He said, ``I will send the Holy Spirit. He will be in you." That is the first big difference. You see, He came upon Old Testament characters in much the same way the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove came and lighted upon the shoulders of the Lord Jesus.

Now, don't jump to conclusions and don't think that I am saying that the Holy Spirit comes in the form of a dove or came in the form of a dove in Old Testament times. I didn't say that. I said that He rested upon the individuals. ``But now," the Lord Jesus Christ said, ``When I send the Holy Spirit this time, He is going to be in you." Yes, the moment you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, the moment I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, that moment the Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence in my heart and in your heart. You say today, ``I don't understand that. I don't see how that can be." I don't understand it either, and I don't know anybody who can explain exactly how it is, but you see, we believe the Word of God, and the Word of God says that is the way it is.

Here is the other wonderful thing that the Lord Jesus Christ says about the Holy Spirit. He not only says that He will come and dwell in you, but He said, ``He will be with you forever. He will never leave you." Remember I said in the Old Testament illustration, the Holy Spirit came and went. He came upon an individual for a special purpose, and He left when that purpose was accomplished. But now, we who live in this New Testament Age have the joy of knowing that the Holy Spirit dwells with us forever.

This is groundwork that we have laid so that you might be better able to comprehend the illustrations of the activity of the Holy Spirit in I Samuel, 9-12, for listen carefully: The Holy Spirit simply came for a time in the Old Testament, but what He did was the same as what He does in the New Testament.

The first thing that we want you to notice is the Holy Spirit's ability to change lives. Look with me, please, at I Samuel, chapter 10, and notice three different verses in which a description of the Holy Spirit in the life of Saul is actually mentioned. Notice verse 6:

Then down in verse 9:

These three different verses describe the activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of Saul. Let me emphasize again that the activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of Saul accomplished the same thing that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit accomplishes in the life of the believer today, because, you see, God's proof is eternal. Sometimes He manifests it in different ways, but the idea is always the same.

Let's glance back at those verses, and notice that when the Holy Spirit first came upon Saul, he was turned into another man. He was not the same Saul that was out looking for the donkey. The Spirit of God was upon him, and he was turned into another man. Details are not given as to how he was turned into another man---that is, in what areas---but there are some suggestions concerning the change that was made in his life. In verse 9, we read that the Holy Spirit came upon him and God gave him another heart. I would not want to say that this was the new birth, but I would say that it is an illustration of the new birth because that is what happens to us when we are born again, isn't it? We have a new heart.

Before we come to know Jesus Christ as Savior, we have what the Bible calls a heart of stone. Not literally, of course, but it emphasizes the fact that our heart does not respond to the pleading of the Holy Spirit of God as it should; but when the Holy Spirit comes into our lives at the moment of new birth, we are given a new heart. We are given a heart of flesh. Not literally. We already have that organ that pumps the blood. The idea is that we are given a heart that is more tender, as flesh is more tender than stone, a heart that is more amenable to the voice of God and to the direction of God.

When the Holy Spirit came upon Saul, he was changed into another man. He was given another heart. Then the third verse there we are told that when the Holy Spirit came again upon Saul, when he saw the company of prophets coming down the hill, he prophesied. This would represent, I think, the power of the Holy Spirit to bestow gifts upon the believer. Today, in this Church Age, we are told in I Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 13-14, then again in Ephesians 4, again in Romans, chapter 8, that the Holy Spirit bestows gifts upon believers, and those gifts are manifested at the direction and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Because those passages of Scripture speak of the entire Church Age, the Holy Spirit lists all of the gifts that will operate in the beginning of the Church Age, in the midst of the Church Age and at the very end, so we need to be very careful that we do not try to make a gift work today that is not supposed to work today. The central fact is that the Holy Spirit is a bestower of gifts.

So I trust you have learned one lesson concerning the activity of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the believer---the ability to change lives.

Now there is another lesson I want you to learn, and that is the ability of the Holy Spirit to endue with power. In chapter 11, verse 6, we read:

The Moabites had sent word to a distant tribe of Israel, one that was right on the border and said, ``You fellows be our servants and pay our taxes or we are going to wipe you out. We will make one condition. We will make a treaty with you that you will be our servant, but we will put out one of your eyes just to show you who is in charge. We will give you a few hours to give us your reply." They didn't know what to do and word came to Saul what was happening. Remember now, Saul had been anointed. He had been changed into another man. He had unusual abilities to discern things because he had a new heart. When that word came to him, he took an ox and cut it into twelve pieces. He sent one to every tribe in Israel and he said, ``You fellows come and join my army or I am going to do to you what I did to this ox."

My, what brave words they were and what startling words and what unusual words. Of course, they came and they had victory and the Moabites were defeated. Saul performed his first official act as commander of the armies of Israel as well as king. What has this to do with the Holy Spirit? Read these chapters 9-12, and you will notice that Saul was a very timid man. As a matter of fact, even after Samuel anointed him privately, when Saul went to the father's house to bring him out and anoint him publicly, they said, ``We don't know where he is." Someone said, ``He is around here some place. Where is he?" Somebody said, ``He is hiding back there under the baggage." You see, these were moving tribes, and they had a lot of baggage. When they unloaded everything, it would make quite a pile, and there was Saul down under the baggage, scared to death. Can that be the same man who could do what we just read? Yes, it can be because the Holy Spirit makes a difference.

The Holy Spirit, when He comes into your life and when He comes into my life, does indeed make a difference, for the Lord Jesus Christ said to the disciples, ``Tarry at Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high." Why did He say that? Because He had given them a commandment: ``You shall be witnesses for me in Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth;" and those twelve men, quaking in their boots, could not have begun to do that if they had not had supernatural power presented to them. The Holy Spirit anointed them with power. So you see, whether it is the Old Testament or the New Testament, though the Holy Spirit may be manifested in different ways, He still works in the same manner for the same purposes.

In the few minutes that we have left together, I want you to notice the final illustration of divine truth, which I have described in the words the obligation of intercession in I Samuel, chapter 12, verses 19-24. We will not read it, but I trust that you will read the whole chapter. We we will summarize it a bit. Samuel, as I mentioned to you earlier in today's study, after Saul was anointed king, felt like it was time for him to make his farewell address to Israel, and so he did. He said, ``I want you to witness my ministry among you and why I always stood by you. Has God always stood by you?" They answered, ``Yes, God has always stood by us." Then he said, ``I want to impress upon you once again what has happened to you because you have disobeyed the Lord and asked for a king," and he asked God for a miracle.

As an indication that God was still smiling upon his ministry, and to teach these people the seriousness of what they did, the miracle was a thunderstorm in the midst of harvest, which was just simply never heard of. It occurred because Samuel asked for it, and immediately the people were stricken with fear. They said in verse 19:

``Pray for us." They were terribly frightened. Samuel's answer illustrates to us the obligation to pray. He said, ``Fear not, the Lord will not forsake His People." Isn't that wonderful? ``The Lord will not forsake His people for His great namesake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you His people." He may have to deal with you, He may have to punish you, He may have to let you have a hard time because you want your own way, but He will never give you up. That is true love, isn't it? That is the way God loves you.

Then Samuel said this. Listen carefully. ``Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you." Did you notice what he said? They said, ``Pray for us, Samuel." He didn't say, ``All right, I will pray for you." He didn't say what I say to people many times when they say, ``Will you pray for me?" I say, ``As the Holy Spirit brings you to my mind, I will." Samuel didn't say that. He said, ``God forbid that I sin in not praying for you," and this is the obligation of intercessory prayer. You see, Friends, it is not a matter of your praying for your loved ones or your friends as you feel like it. It is not a matter of your praying if you are burdened for them. It is not a matter of your praying for them if they do everything that pleases you. It is a matter that it is sin if you do not pray for those who are your responsibility.

These people were Samuel's responsibility. You have people who are your responsibility as I have people who are my responsibility. Samuel said, ``God help us if we sin in failing to pray." Isn't it interesting? You and I spend most of our time talking about sins. I won't take the time to name them, but you know what I am talking about. We say, ``Oh, he is so terrible. He did that terrible thing," but not one time do we say to ourselves, ``God, I have sinned because I have not been faithful in my prayer life." I do wish we could get a picture of sin in its right proportion and the right perception, the same as God has. What a difference it would make.