saul, what happened to you?. how great is the lord that he can change a murderer like saul into the...

Saul, What Happened To You?


How great is the Lord that He can change a murderer like Saul

into the Apostle Paul!


1 Samuel 8:1-5(NKJV) 1Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. 4Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”


1 Samuel 8:7(NKJV) 7And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.


1 Samuel 9:1-2(NKJV) 1There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. 2And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.


1 Samuel 10:6-12(NKJV) 6Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. 7And let it be, when these signs come to you, that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you. 8You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and surely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do.”


Potential for God’s use was great in Saul



Great physical traits




Obedient (apparently)





Leader who inspired others – 1 Sam. 11

1 Samuel 11:14-15(NKJV)14Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.” 15So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.





Leader who inspired others – 1 Sam. 11

A God who would use him (if Saul allowed)


1 Samuel 10:9-12(NKJV) 9So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. 10When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” 12Then a man from there answered and said, “But who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”


Provision of God’s blessings upon Saul



Symbol of the oil – 1a




Sureness of His blessing – 1d





Sustenance of His blessing – 2-4






Sound of His blessing is pure and real – 5






Sound of His blessing is pure and real – 5

Shift that happened due to God’s blessing – 6, 9, 11


Presentation of a leader – 10:17-27



Commonality for all the tribes – 20




Constrained or coy – 22




Constrained or coy – 22

Celebration – 24

1 Samuel 10:24(NKJV) 24And Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?” So all the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!”


Presumption of the King



Unstable in his distress




Unsure in his mentor’s absence – 8





Unacceptable in his rashness – 9






Unaware of his sacrilege – 12-14






Unaware of his sacrilege – 12-14

Undoing of his kingdom - 14


1 Samuel 13:8-14(NKJV) 8Then he waited seven days, according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. 9So Saul said, “Bring a burnt offering and peace offerings here to me.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. 11And Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, 12then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.”


13And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”


Partial obedience of King Saul – 15:1-9

Partial disobedience = Disobedience



God was not happy with Saul because he turned back from following the Lord – 10-11

10Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11“I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.”…



Samuel was sad for Saul - 11

11… And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night.



Saul was clueless – 12-13

13Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”



Samuel was fearless – 14

14But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”



Saul was “blameless” (NOT) - 15

15And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”



Samuel was relentless – 16-23

16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.” 17So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’


19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” 22So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”


Penalty for disobedience to God is great

1 Samuel 15:24-35(NKJV) 24Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.” 26But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.


28So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.” 30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord. 32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.


34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul. 35And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.


Pettiness and evil plotting of Saul against David

Saul what happened to you?


Pitiful departure of a once great man

1 Samuel 31:1-13(NKJV) 1Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. 2Then the Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. 3The battle became fierce against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers. 4Then Saul said to his armorbearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and thrust me through and abuse me.” But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it.



5And when his armorbearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. 6So Saul, his three sons, his armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day. 7And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. 8So it happened the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.



9And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people. 10Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. 11Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. 13Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.



Rejected God’s commands




Refused to trust God completely





Relentless in his attempts to hurt a servant of God (David)





Relentless in his attempts to hurt a servant of God (David)

Ruination of his own life, his sons’ lives, was complete


What great truth can we learn from

the life of King Saul?

When we reject God we open our lives

to the darkness of evil!

saul, what happened to you?. how great is the lord that he can change a murderer like saul into the...

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