Did King Saul lose his salvation?

[charliedale]

Pastor Mike,

I believe that all true believers perservere to the end, but what I'm reading in 1 Samuel 10 is challenging me on this. If King Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit, wouldn't that mean that we was saved? I believe that Paul taught that the OT saints were saved by faith just as the NT saints are. So if King Saul was saved, it really seems that he lost that salvation later in his life.

It seems that I'm either misunderstanding Saul's experience in 1 Samuel 10, or I'm wrong in about perserverance.

[Mike Miller]

Good question, Charlie. "The Spirit of the Lord rushing" on people is only seen in Judges and 1-2 Samuel. It seems to be something unrelated to spiritual regeneration, but instead an empowering and equipping of a person for a certain role. In fact, it would seem that Saul was never truly saved, because even though the Spirit had come upon him, he still behaved very erratically and even opposed God's plan for Israel. He exhibited no signs of spiritual life.