GLEANINGS — January 5, A.D. 2014                                                                                                               "A Changed Man"

In 1 Samuel chapters 9 and 10, the Holy Spirit records the raising up of Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, to be the first king of Israel. Taking Saul aside privately, Samuel the seer proclaims to him by the word of the LORD what is about to take place, and anoints Saul with oil. 

Samuel's God given words to Saul include these, which seem full of promise: "...the Spirit of the LORD will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them" (a company of prophets) "and be turned into another man." (1 Samuel 10:6). Then we read, "...so 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." (vs. 9). 

But consider what else we know about Saul from the sacred history. In short, he proved to be rebellious, morose, and fickled. He had been given "another heart", yet he hated David – the man after God's heart. Saul met with a tragic end by his own hand on the mountains of Gilboa. The godly David, Saul's former object of target practice who succeeded him as king, thereafter lamented Saul's death with sincere grief (Cf. 2 Samuel 1). 

So...true, GOD gave Saul another heart. Was it a REGENERATE heart? True, Saul was changed by God into a different man. Was he changed into a REDEEMED man? True, by amazing signs and wonders God testified to Saul, and Saul was a man of great deeds who attained to a throne and sat on it for forty years (Acts 13:21). Did Saul ultimately BENEFIT from these victories, advancements, and gifts?

In faithfulness to the whole counsel of God, we must answer NO to all three questions. The Bible gives us no grounds to hope that Saul was among God's elect. And we do well to take warning from this consideration and tremble before God. The Lord Jesus foretold of people who would profess His name and boast of their gifts and exploits on the day of judgment, only to hear the dreadful sentence, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:23). "By their FRUITS you will know them, said our Lord" (Matthew 7).

The Bible records other instances of God changing men but not necessarily saving them. God raised up the Egyptian pharaoh to a throne, and hardened his heart for His greater purpose, namely to show forth His own glory in delivering His people from pharaoh's might. As a temporal chastisement, Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar's mind was changed to that of a beast then back again to that of a man. Like the seed that grows up quickly in the parable of the soils (a.k.a. parable of the sower), many disciples of Jesus had some form of belief at first, in many cases probably quite sincere, but eventually these departed from Him (cf. John 6:66).

What about us? If our hope is in our talents or our position, even if God given, it is a misplaced hope. If our confidence is in our personal testimony, it is a miplaced confidence. Even if God himself has changed us into different men and women than we once were, we dare not put our ultimate trust in that! Saul had great gifts and a very high position. He had a strong testimony of personal transformation. As we've seen, his change was real; it came from God. Nevertheless, it appears that Saul was a stranger to grace.

An abiding, humble trembling before God and a recognition that we are at best unprofitable servants is the mindset of those with saving knowledge. A redeemed soul will indeed experience mighty changes, but will not rely upon or boast in those changes. He or she might advance in eminence and do great kingdom works, but will not be looking forward to boasting before God on judgment day about what a great job he or she did for Him.

Expressly to the contrary, the saved soul will be supremely thankful for the work Jesus did on his or her behalf, will trust only in Christ's advancement from a lowly state of  humiliation to the position of King of kings, and Lord of lords,  and will speak meekly not of self, but of Him Who lived and died and rose again that His elect might be changed irrevocably into His holy likeness, all by GRACE alone.