This morning we're going to look at one of the most tragic figures in all the Old Testament, King Saul.
Here was a man who had every imaginable advantage and received every conceivable privilege, yet squandered them all in the most hard-hearted, tragic way.
People always ask if Saul was a true believer, a redeemed man. I don't know. I'm inclined to think not. It is true that the Spirit of God once came upon him so that he prophesied, but that is also true of Balaam's donkey. Scripture also says in 1 Samuel 10:9-10 that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul and changed his heart, but in the context this seems to describe the sort of change where Saul went from being a timid, naive youth, to a state of mind where he was bold and kingly. It does not seem a reference to the sort of "new heart" that God gives people when he regenerates them...
