Lessons And Warnings For Christians concluded

Israel’s ancient King Saul leaves a powerful lesson for Christians today. It is so easy to grow lukewarm and take God’s compassion, care and call for granted. Don’t do it! Saul started out as a humble man who had a heart for the things of God. Then he grew carless and, finally, rebellious. Pride lead to destruction.

This is Part 5 as we conclude our lessons with the final six of eighteen steps that took Saul from the peak of doing God’s will to the pit of doing his own will. We left off at point twelve.    

13. He feared man more than God (I Samuel 15:24). Rather than fearing the Lord and obeying His voice more than peoples’, Saul states he has done the very opposite. (What a lesson today for facing any temptation to follow the crowd rather than the cross.)

14. Saul could no longer see the God who alone can forgive (I Samuel 15:25). Saul in now offering a form of repentance but it is that of Esau (Hebrews 12:16, 17); only a human repentance for losing out on all of the advantages that were his. He now asks Samuel, “I pray you, pardon my sin” because he is still trying to save face with the people by not having Samuel walk off in the opposite direction. Would there still have been hope if Saul would have fallen on his face to God alone and dared to repent? We will never know. (Learn what pleases or grieves the Holy Spirt. And when He convicts you of sin, be quick to repent.)

15. In final desperation, Saul grasped for human support, not that of God (I Samuel 15:27). Tormented Saul now seizes the skirt of Samuel’s mantle and it is ripped. It becomes prophetic as Samuel tells Saul that that is what has happened to the kingdom of Israel--it has been torn from Saul and given to another. Poor Saul’s panic-stricken hands had reached out horizontally for help—rather than the vertical direction which was his only hope. (Look to the Lord daily as your first love above all others.)

16. Saul remained concerned with the wrong kind of honor (I Samuel 15:30). Here is a man who has been judged guilty before God. Here is a king on the way out, with his kingdom about to be taken away. Yet his pride is so evident that he is begging Samuel to honor him before the elders and the people of Israel. (There are no big shots in the Kingdom of God. Stay a servant of all.)

17. He was satisified to the end with a shallow, costless worship (I Samuel 15:31). This verse is incredible in recording Saul’s almost pitiful arrogance. His worship is totally external--merely to impress the people whom Saul has called his subjects. It is a “worship” that God will not accept because Saul has already missed the key ingredient to a true worship of the Lord--a heart repentant over sin. (Guard daily time alone with the Lord as your most important priority in life.)

18. Saul broke the heart of God (I Samuel 15:35). To grieve the Lord is tragic and can be calamitous. Before destroying the earth and mankind with the flood, Scripture says that God was grieved that He had made man on the earth (Genesis 6:6). Ephesians 4:30 warns us not to grieve the Spirit of God. Saul had so ignored God’s repeated warnings that God was left with no recourse but judgment. Here Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord “repented”— or regretted—that He had ever made Saul king over Israel. (Always remember that to love the Lord is to obey Him. Simple obedience from a humble heart brings pleasure to the heart of our Father.)

This concludes our brief study of the life of King Saul. Here are lessons and warnings for the entire Church today—and especially for those of us in positions of Christian leadership. The difference between this first Saul and one who came after him some one thousand years later (Saul of Tarsus) is found in priorities. The first lost sight of his own insignificance and centered on Satan’s appeal to self. The other never forgot that he was the “chief” of sinners (I Timothy 1:15) with only one obsession “That I may know Him…” (Philippians 3:10).

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras