Sermon Tone Analysis

King Saul - Man of the Flesh

The book of 1 Samuel starts with the pronouncement of the birth of Samuel who is a godly man, and ends with the death of King Saul - a man of the flesh.

What have we learnt about our flesh as we reflect upon the times and life of King Saul?

How did things begin with King Saul?

Son of Kish, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power (a man of wealth)

What pictures do we see of King Saul that are similar to those of the flesh?

Being like the world.

Like the world

From the very start, before we are introduced to King Saul we have the request from the nation of Israel that they do not want the Lord to rule over them.

Notice within this passage the reason for the request:

To be like all the other nations

He can judge us (rather than the Lord)

He can go out to do out battles (laziness)

So what does the Lord provide?

A man who is of a wealthy stock (son of Kish, a Benjamite - ).

He is physically attractive, young and tall ().

Therefore the Lord provides them with what they want to see - the lust of the eyes.

And yet we ourselves are called out to be a peculiar people and that the world will despise us because we are not of the world.

Lust of the Flesh

Rejection of God’s Word

The flesh likes to make its own standard and does not want to submit to any authority - especially God’s commands.

Just as we saw with Israel rejecting God to be their ruler, we soon see this same display in King Saul where he disobeys the strict instructions of God’s commands.

We are warned at how the flesh and spirit war against each other and that we should need be feeding the flesh.

How often do we neglect to follow even the explicit commands of God in Scripture?

Not only do we see King Saul disobeying God’s commands, we even see him setting his own standard on how to conduct worship and sacrifice unto the Lord.

Surely if the process is the same as with what Samuel does then I can conveniently do it too?

We no doubt saw the same attitude with Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas who were priests who did the process, but whose heart was far from the Lord.

We see the same in Pilgrim’s Progress, where after reaching the Gate and coming through the right way, two men jump the wall and make their way onto the same path as Christian.

Their names being Hypocrisy and Formalist, both from the land of Vain-glory.

When questioned on how they got in they both respond:

if we get into the way, what matter is it which way we get in?

If we are in, we are in: thou art but in the way, who, as we perceive, came in at the gate; and we also are in the way, that came tumbling over the wall: wherein now is thy condition better than ours?

Christian informs them that by going in through the Gate that he had been given a sealed roll, to comfort him as he goes along the way.

But to this the two men, Hypocrisy and Formalist, just laughed.

And it wasn’t long until both of these men ended up coming to the hill of Difficulty that there were ways labelled Danger and Destruction, which both Hypocrisy and Formalist went down now knowing of the trouble these ways had.

How has the flesh been showing you how pious you are by reflecting on what you’ve done?

And how consistently you do them?

Do you rely on what you do to confirm your justification?

Superstitious

Just as we saw Israel’s intent in enabling a king to rule over them, so too do we see prior to King Saul, how Israel’s belief in God becomes more like the world in being very superstitious.

In battle they bring the ark of the covenant thinking that they are forcing God’s hand to help make them win against the Philistines, however, they dismally fail.

And being a product of this generation we see King Saul failing to properly seek God with his heart, to be truly repentant of his sins and how he even consults with a witch to receive instruction from God.

Failure to Repent

King Saul many times seeks forgiveness, especially when he is publicly shamed for the wrongdoing he has wrought.

In each of these instances he seeks forgiveness, but doesn’t put into practice true repentance by not learning from his mistakes and enabling right actions and right thoughts.

King Saul many times seeks forgiveness, especially when he is publicly shamed for the wrongdoing he has wrought.

In each of these instances he seeks forgiveness, but doesn’t put into practice true repentance by not learning from his mistakes and enabling right actions and right thoughts.

Lust of the Eyes

There was much about Saul which appealed to the flesh and therefore the men of Israel.

He came from a wealthy stock, he was physically attractive and he was a head taller than everyone in Israel.

However, as we soon see, looks were quite deceiving as his frame contradicted his inner qualities and character.

He came from a wealthy stock, was physically attractive and tall.

As we soon have revealed to us in the book of 1 Samuel looks were quite deceiving as his appearance is contradicted by his qualities.

We see through his life that while King Saul had the qualities to be a good king, his weaknesses brought him to ruin.

And we see this confirmed with Samuel’s warning about the king taking their best to serve in his house:

1 Samuel 8:10-

And notice the reaction from the people: they refused to obey the voice of Samuel.

As a result this ended up being what Saul did:

and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he took him unto him.

We see through his life that while King Saul had the qualities to be a good king, however, his weaknesses brought him to ruin.

Does God control all of your life?

The Pride of Life

Does God control all of your life?

It didn’t take long for King Saul to use his authority for his own pleasure and whereas we see the seeds of qualities that could have flourished for good, unfortunately with power they are corrupted and turned to fleshly desires.

Initially King Saul displayed these qualities:

Humble (, ) - he didn’t seek any privilege from Samuel anointing him, not did he laud it over others.

Meek () - he didn’t put to death those who opposed him.

However, while these initial qualities we observe in King Saul may appear to be honourable, without God's help in his refining he looks more towards his own strength and eventually these honourable qualities are replaced by the lusts of the flesh:

In what areas was King Saul weak:

Meekness soon turns into using his power against the priests of Nob due to his jealous rage and against his own son Jonathan.

His humility fails to acknowledge God as authority in his life and he fails to obey God and His commands.

Jealousy

But perhaps the biggest dent to his pride was the withdrawal of his kingship from him and given to another better than he.

Jonathan, King Saul’s son, could see and humbly stepped aside.

However, once:

1 Samuel 18:

His name means “asked for, demanded” and this is what Israel wanted when they demanded for a king to rule over them.

They no longer wanted God to rule and so God gave them what they sought.

Failure to remain humble and submissive to God’s Word

Lack of obedience to authority

Envious of David

Superstitious belief in God

Abused his power (murder of the priests at Nob)

His name means “asked for, demanded” and this is what Israel wanted when they demanded for a king to rule over them.

They no longer wanted God to rule and so God gave them what they sought.

What happens when we esteem ourselves higher than we ought to think?

2. Saul is described as a handsome young man and tall

Saul remained humble even upon his selection as abode by the stuff, and even when others rejected him upon his first military operation, he still did not retaliate.

1 Samuel 18:

Saul started well by being humble, and the same could apply for many of our ambitions in life which initially appear harmless.

He then begins to use his authority to kill any who stand in his way.

3.

However, there’s a difference between being humble in restraint (otherwise known as meekness) and being humble by remaining submissive.

King Saul showed restraint by using his newfound power to destroy those who opposed him being king, but he failed to fully submit to the authority of God in his life.

How has our position showed a reluctance to remain humble?

How has our position in authority showed a reluctance to remain humble?

As a father?

As a husband?

As an employer?

Foolishly

The flesh acts foolishly and pride masks our foolishness into deceiving us by thinking we are acting wisely.