Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 28. My apologies to those who attend the Wednesday night Bible study. Some of this will be repetitious. It was an abbreviated week in terms of attending conferences.

And nevertheless, I think what the message of 1 Samuel 28, specifically verses 3 to 25, contain for the people of God and for those who are not the people of God, is most essential in the church today. I do want to read our section again, chapter 28, beginning in verse 3. Now Samuel had died and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land.

Then the Philistines gathered together and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.

Then Saul said to his servants, find me a woman who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, in fact, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor. So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went. And two men went, two men with him, and they came to the woman by night.

And he said, please conduct a seance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you. Then the woman said to him, look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life to cause me to die? And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.

Then the woman said, Whom shall I bring up for you? And he said, Bring up Samuel for me. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me?

For you are Saul. And the king said to her, Do not be afraid. What did you see? And the woman said to Saul, I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.

So he said to her, what is his form? And she said, an old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down. Now Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?

And Saul answered, I am deeply distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me. and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you that you may reveal to me what I should do.' Then Samuel said, So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? And the Lord has done for himself as he spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David.

Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek, Therefore, the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground and was dreadfully afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no food all day or all night. And the woman came to Saul, and saw that he was severely troubled, and said to him, Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice, and I have put my life in my hands, and heeded the words which you spoke to me. Now therefore, please, heed also the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of bread before you, and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way.

But he refused and said, I will not eat. So his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he heeded their voice. Then he arose from the ground and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she hastened to kill it.

And she took flour and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread from it. So she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night." Amen. Well, let us pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the Word of God. We thank you that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. and that it's all profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. And we pray now that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would thoroughly furnish your people unto every good work. And Lord God, by that self-same spirit, we pray that those who are outside of Christ would meet the Savior today.

We pray that the conviction of sin would be produced by the Holy Spirit and the promotion of Jesus Christ as the one alone who is able to save to the uttermost all who draw near to God through him. Lord, bless your word as it goes forth here and elsewhere. May it run swiftly and be glorified. And even now as we come to scripture, we confess our sins and transgressions.

We pray that you would wash us afresh in the blood of the Lord Jesus. When we look at that perfect, that holy law, we see how far short we come. and we plead the mercy and the merit of the one who alone is able to forgive. So wash us and purify us now, and fill us with the Holy Spirit, that he may illumine our minds and our hearts, and we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.

Introduction

Now as we look at this particular passage, in many respects it is a scary passage of Scripture. I mean, after all, there is a witch in the passage. But I submit that this passage of this chapter is far scarier when we consider what has become of Saul, the king of Israel. I hope that you will see that as we move through our exposition this morning.

It is important for us to understand that in many respects what we find here in verses 3 to 25 is the last statement concerning Saul. Remember, Israel cried out for a king. They wanted to be like the nations around them. And through the providence of lost donkey, Saul is identified as the man that would, in fact, be the leader over God's people Israel.

But Saul, getting to about chapter 13, makes a series of bad decisions. And it culminates here, in chapter 28, where he actually seeks the counsel and seeks wisdom from a witch, or a medium, or what we might call a necromancer, which is just a big word that means somebody who speaks to the dead. So what we see in this passage is the decline of Saul, and that is far scarier than the particular witch story that we meet with in this particular chapter. Also, we need to understand that verses 3 to 25 go with chapter 31.

In many respects, the author has given us chapter 28, verses 3 to 25, to underscore a contrast between David and Saul. Just by way of reminder, in chapter 27 in 1 Samuel, David goes to the land of the Philistines. He approaches the king, Achish, and he asks for safe haven. So Achish gives David and his men the city of Zichle.

And from that vantage point, David goes out and slaughters the enemies of Israel. He has safe haven, he has rest for his men, but he does such a good job that Achish actually solicits David to go into battle against Israel. Look at chapter 28, verses 1 and 2. It says, now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war to fight with Israel.

And Achish said to David, you assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle you and your men. Now that's a dilemma for David, isn't it? I mean, you don't have to have attended our Wednesday night studies to realize this. David is on his way to being the king over Israel.

So David cannot march with the Philistines in combat against Israel. This is a real dilemma for David. He has a real conundrum, or an enigma, or a problem. And we're left at the end of verse 2 wondering, scratching our heads, how is David going to get out of this?

David has this great problem, this great dilemma. Now it will be resolved in chapter 29 in verses 1 to 11. But the insertion of Saul's dilemma in 28, 3 to 25 indicates that there is a dilemma or a problem bigger than facing Philistines in battle, or bigger than having to face Israel in battle with the Philistines. And that bigger dilemma is the absence of God.

It is the silence of God. You may wonder how we know that 3 to 25 goes with chapter 31. Chapter 31 is the battle between Israel and the Philistines. They are in Shunem.

When we read verses 3 and 4 here in chapter 28, they are in Shunem. Chapter 29 is Aphek. That's about halfway between Gath and Shunem. So Aphek in chapter 29 is when David finds resolution for his particular dilemma.

Now that you're all sufficiently confused with that, let's look at the text and see what it has to say to us.

Sermon Overview and Structure

Very specifically in terms of three observations. In the first place, We see the occasion of Saul's decision or the enemy confronted in verses 3 to 6. Secondly, the execution of Saul's decision or the medium contacted in verses 7 to 14. And then thirdly, the result of Saul's decision or the prophet consulted in verses 15 to 25.

The Occasion: Enemy Confronted

Note in the first place, in verse 3, we are reminded that Samuel the prophet of Israel is dead. He died back in chapter 25. That's where it's reported to us or declared to us, but here we are reminded that Samuel had died and all Israel lamented over or for him and buried him in Ramah in his own city. And then this statement in verse 3, and Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land." So basically, verse 3 sets the setting or provides the setting of the context for everything that follows in this consultation with this particular medium.

Now, interestingly enough, Saul was obedient in this regard. The Old Testament law demanded that spiritists and mediums and persons who tried to contact the dead be put out of the land of Israel. Well, they were to be put to death, but putting them out of the land of Israel was a good thing as well. In Leviticus 19, chapter 20, Deuteronomy 18, several prohibitions against this attempt to contact the dead.

David Samora says, the very need for such prohibitions is an indication that the problem of necromancy, again, big word that means trying to talk to dead people, necromancy and of religious practices related to the dead was widespread in ancient Canaan. In other words, God warns his people concerning abuses that were rampant. When they go into the land of Canaan, they are not to fetch spiritists. They are not to seek mediums.

That is certainly an observation that we must make from the passage. Do not go get a Ouija board. Do not play with the occult. Do not open yourself up to those dark and evil forces.

Do not do those things that God's Word condemns. Davis says concerning this, remember, we must remember that scripture describes such practices not as futile, but as pagan. He says Yahweh forbids Israel to use these means, not because they do not work, but because they are wicked. It is an evil practice.

As we move through the narrative, it does work, but it's still abominable before the living and true God. Young people and children, do not open yourselves up to those dark things. Do not go down that path. Do not play with witchcraft.

Do not play with sorcery. Do not seek to try and communicate with the dead. Again, as this passage testifies, it's not that it doesn't work, it's that Yahweh forbids it, Yahweh condemns it, Yahweh calls it an abomination, and Yahweh calls for death to those who practice such things. Now notice, Saul has a problem, as I've already mentioned.

Verse 4, then the Philistines gathered together and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together and they encamped at Gilboa. That's the issue. That's what chapter 31 will indicate.

Saul's got a dilemma. Saul's got issues. David does, for sure, according to 28.1 and 2. But Saul's is bigger.

Saul's is more desperate, as we'll find in chapter 29. David's dilemma nevertheless finds Yahweh's resolution. Not so for Saul. Throughout the story of Saul and David, beginning in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel and ending in chapter 31, we see the rise of David and the decline of Saul.

And we don't see the rise and decline because one's a better political leader or one's got more military savvy.

Rise of David, Decline of Saul

David's rise and Saul's decline is dependent upon their relationship to the living God. Saul rejected God. Saul refused God. Saul distorted the Word of God, where David was, in fact, a man after God's own heart.

And I want to submit to all of us that we dare not to be a Saul as we find him in this particular passage. So the threat posed by the Philistines is a real one, and now notice Saul's desire in verse 5. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.

You see, that's what's scary.

The Silence of God

Certainly the witch story is scary, and I don't mean to intend otherwise, but the Lord didn't answer him. This is the sitting king in Israel. This is God's vice-regent over his earthly, typical kingdom. And Saul tries to hear the word of the Lord through prophet and priest, and God is silent toward him.

You see, I submit that there is a problem worse than facing Philistines. It's like that story, Matthew and Mark, where the persons are all gathered together to hear Jesus preach. And the roof is opened by four industrious men, and they lower their friend on a mat. And when Jesus sees that man on a mat, He says to him, Son, your sins are forgiven you.

And they're all perplexed and scratching their heads and wondering collectively, who does this guy think he is? Only God alone can forgive sins. And then Jesus says, I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. So he tells the man to pick up his mat and walk.

Now we as modern readers come to that passage and we say, wow, this paralyzed man was healed. No, this sinful man was forgiven. This sinful man was cleansed in the blood of the Lord Jesus. You remember when we looked at that passage in Matthew 9, I said there is a problem worse than paralysis.

And that problem is sin. You see, there's a problem worse than facing Philistines. There is a problem worse than facing a job loss. There is a problem worse than facing a broken relationship.

There is a problem worse than hearing a bad diagnosis at the doctor's office. And that problem is the absence of God! That's what our author is saying. David's got problems, to be sure.

But I want to put him on the back burner for a moment and let you see Saul's problems. And I want you to come to grips with the reality that whatever issues or trials or difficulties you may have in this lower world, if you've got God, then praise God. Saul has issues and he has no voice or no word from the living God. And we know why the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets.

Well, in the first place, Saul had rejected the Word of God. Saul had rebelled against the living and true God. The prophet of God wouldn't speak to him. And as well, there was no Urim.

That is a reference to the priesthood. If you've been with us over the Wednesday night studies, you'll remember that something happened to the priesthood in chapter 22. They were exterminated. They were massacred because David went to the city of Nob, where the priests dwell.

When Saul got wind of that, he ordered a mass execution of all the priests in Israel. Of course, there's no Urim for Saul. He's bloodied the ground with those priests. Thankfully, one priest was spared.

His name was Abiathar, and he was with David. So that when David faces problems, he can call for the ephod, that device that the priest wore, that part of his attire that he wore, wherein he could seek the Lord God Most High. Saul seeks a word from the Lord, and the Lord God is silent. May I say, brethren, you may have trials, and you may have difficulties, and you may have hardships, But is it a blessing to go to the Lord and lay your burdens before Him and know that He hears you because of Jesus?

Isn't that everything? You see, in a Saul and in a David, there's going to be trials. We're going to see, in contrast, at the end of the sermon this morning, Saul and David. You see, difficulties befall Saul's and they befall David's.

Difficulties befall the Christian believer, but they befall the next-door neighbor as well, perhaps as a pagan. The issue is not whether or not we'll have trials or difficulties or tribulations on this earth. I mean, non-Christians get cancer, non-Christians lose jobs, non-Christians have their relationships break up too. Non-Christians go through the same sorts of things that Christians go through.

The fundamental difference is, we can say at the end of the day, I love the Lord because He has heard the voice of my supplication. I love the Lord because He is there for me in times of trial. I can say with the psalmist, or I can echo with the psalmist, I cast my burden on the Lord because I know that He cares for me. Saul's got issues and he's got no God, so he tells his men to find me a woman, verse 7, who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her.

Interestingly enough, his servants know specifically where to go to find such a woman. And

The Execution: Medium Contacted

that brings us, secondly, to the execution of Saul's decision where he contacts this medium in verses 7 to 14. They say, in fact, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor. Now, if you had a map before you, you would know that Shunem, where the Philistines are, and Gilboa, where Israel is, and Aphek, that sort of halfway point is, and Gath is, Endor is just a little northeast of where Philistines are. So in verse 8, when Saul disguises himself, he has to skirt the Philistines to get to Endor in order to contact this particular media.

What's a lesson there? We will go, we will seek, we will pursue what we think will help us. We will go, we will seek, and we will pursue that which we think will help us, even if it means having to evade the Philistines in the process. Brethren, are we willing to do those sorts of things for the truth of God's Holy Word?

Would we skirt Philistines to get to Endor, not to contact a witch, but to hear the faithful preaching of the Word of God? Would we risk our necks just a wee little bit to be under the sound and faithful exposition of God's holy truth? It's amazing what pagans, what unbelievers will go through in order to achieve their particular ends. And then conversely, we meet the people of God who have access to the Lord God Most High through a great high priest And we're oftentimes lazy, unwilling to skirt any sort of enemy, unwilling to put ourselves out at all.

Brethren, we ought to at least admire the industriousness of Saul in this passage. Now, please don't go from here and say, I want to be like Saul. That's not my point. There was personal risk.

When he puts off his clothes and he disguises himself, you know what that means. He took off his royal robes. The king who gave the order to exclude mediums from the land of Israel couldn't walk through the front door of the fortune teller's house and say, I want you to do your whammy on me. Read my palms and, you know, look at my tea leaves and get out your tarot card.

He couldn't do that. He had to disguise himself. And note what's conspicuous in this particular section. In verse 8.

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes and he went. And two men went with him and they came to the woman by night. This makes sense, if you've got to skirt Philistines and you've got to sneak into the medium's house at Endor, you would go by the cover of night. But it is conspicuous here.

Notice at the end of verse 25, then they rose and went away that night. Typically in the scripture, nighttime is associated with not only darkness, that's the obvious, but falsehood. Jesus Christ in John's Gospel says, I am the light of the world. The scripture testifies that our God dwells in unapproachable light.

Isn't that beautiful? But here Saul is seeking around under the cover of night. I think the author is underscoring for us that this pursuit is one riddled with falsehood. Later, the prophet Isaiah will write, and when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards and whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God?

Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry, and it shall happen when they are hungry that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God and look upward. Then they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness." Robert Vannoy comments, this is the same sort of gloom and darkness found in 1 Samuel 28.

It is the darkness of the absence of God. That's Saul's dilemma. That's Saul's problem. That may be your problem today.

That may be where you find yourself today. Is there an absence of God in your life? Is there no presence of God in your life? You see, that's far more terrifying, isn't it?

Later on, Samuel is going to tell Saul that his enemy is Yahweh. What's worse, facing a bunch of Philistines at Shunem or facing the living God who the Bible describes as a consuming fire? What's worse, facing joblessness or a bad diagnosis or a broken relationship or facing the God of heaven and earth who will hold you guilty for all of your sins and violations against His holy law? It's an amazing thing what we get so perplexed about, isn't it?

You meet somebody and they're down or they're sorrowful or they're sad and they say, oh, my life is a mess, my life is in ruins, my life is shattered. And you say, are you a believer? Well, no, that's the least of my concerns. No, that's the most of your concerns.

Because the Bible testifies that our Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. Our Lord Jesus Christ is going to stare into your eyes as you give an account for deeds done in the body, whether good or ill. And the Lord Jesus will ultimately make a final pronouncement concerning your never-dying soul. It'll either be, well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of thy rest. or it will be depart from me, for I never knew you, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." What's a bigger problem, Philistines at Shunem or the living and true God in eternity?

Saul hasn't even begun to open his eyes to the reality that he is faced with. Now, notice requests specifically to the medium. She's right to fear consequences in verse 9. The woman said to him, look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land.

Why then do you lay a snare for my life to cause me to die? In other words, Saul, she doesn't know it's Saul, but she fears it might be entrapment. There's a hidden camera somewhere. She's going to be found out.

She's going to be caught. There'll be some reality show, the outed medium or the outed witch. She doesn't want that to happen. So Saul tries to calm her down.

Now

Saul's Blasphemous Oath

notice how Saul does that in verse 10. And Saul swore to her by Yahweh. Here I think the author wants us to go, oh, come on, Saul. Are you kidding me, Saul?

You're going to swear to her by Yahweh? And then notice what he goes on to say. As Yahweh lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. Back in chapter 23, Saul has the gall to pronounce a blessing in the name of the Lord upon the Ziphites.

Saul ought not to take the name of Yahweh on his lips except in contrition and in repentance and in humility. He is in no posture whatsoever to swear by Yahweh's life that this witch will be in a good state. Again, Vanhoy says, Saul blasphemously used the name of the Lord to guarantee the woman that she could violate the law of the Lord with impunity. Davis says, the reader must not miss the irony.

Saul swears the oath by Yahweh, by Yahweh's life, as he seeks help from a source that Yahweh has condemned. You see what this indicates as well, that when a man defects, or when a man undergoes apostasy, oftentimes he still thinks he's okay. It's an amazing thing, isn't it? I mean, we, the reader, hopefully can see that Saul is really messed up.

I mean, you don't have to have been there every Wednesday night as we developed the particular chapters and went through every jot and tittle, but I hope you're sufficiently able to say, Saul's not in a good place. Saul's messed up. Saul doesn't see that, does he? What's one of the reasons why we are to encourage one another daily? lest we be hardened through what?

The deceitfulness of sin.

The Deceitfulness of Sin

Sin so wrecks a man that while he's flailing about in defection from the living and true God, he still thinks he's doing well. For Saul, the only problem is, is that in this instance, I'm not getting a word from the Lord. So I better do something to try and get some help on how to face these Philistines. I know I'll go to this medium and I'll swear to her by the Lord that everything's going to be a-okay for her.

We're looking at this saying, Saul, you're nuts. You're out of your mind. You need to repent. You need to forsake.

You need to flee. But how come we don't always see it in our own lives? We entertain a particular sin. We make peace with those Canaanites in the land.

Instead of dispossessing them from our hearts, we are like making a peace treaty with them. And we'll let them sit there and reside there just so long as they don't make us do anything really too bad. How come we don't see that deceptiveness? How come we don't see the fact that we have shaved off the rough edges?

How come we don't see the fact that we aren't using the Word of God as we ought? How come we don't see that we don't pray like we used to? How is it that we could ever write off apostasy or defection saying, well, you know, I used to be on fire 30 years ago. Now it's just the way it is.

You know, we just kind of fall into this groove and we just sort of, you know, make it to heaven. Why is that ever been accepted that we can lose our first love or lose that heat or that fire that we have when we're first converted? I love the Apostle Paul. He says, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Wow, he's a brand new believer and this is his sentiment? No, he'd been a believer for about 30 years. Brethren, we make allowances for laziness, for defection, and for what appears at times to be the beginning of apostasy, and yet we delude ourselves that everything is A-OK. I'm doing well.

I'm not doing those great, big, wicked, horrible things. I have my Canaanites, but I'm managing them properly. You realize you're never called to manage Canaanites. You're called to dispossess them from the land.

Now, you know my analogy here when I talk about Canaanites. Remaining sin in your heart. I don't know, where's the heart? I'm always confused.

It's somewhere in here. It's in the chest. We let Canaanites live. I know I'm a gossip, but everybody is.

I know I like to look at pretty women or pretty guys, but you know, everybody does. I know I've got a streak of pride that's obnoxious to everyone around me, but so does everybody else. We're not called to manage Canaanites. We're called to dispossess the land of Canaanites.

You might say as a young person, I know I'm not that honorable to my parents. I know that I don't always obey them in the Lord as I ought, but you know, none of my friends do. profess saving faith in the living God, the primary orbit, the primary manifestation of that as a child is going to be in your relationship towards your parent. You dishonor, you're insubordinate, you're rebellious, you reject. Do not delude yourselves that, well, I'm not as bad as my friends.

Again, where in the Bible are we ever called to pursue a life of holiness that looks like this? I'm not as bad as my friends. That's not what we're told. We're told to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're told to make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. We're told to pursue holiness without which no one will see the Lord. How is it that Christians can come to 1 Samuel 28 and rightly conclude that Saul's messed up and those selfsame Christians can leave from a church gathering and continue to live in defection from God and not see that? How is that?

The deceitfulness of sin. You know what will help you to see past the deceitfulness of sin? The lens of Scripture. Do you know why the Apostle Paul tells us not to be conformed to this world, but rather to be transformed by the renewing of our minds?

What's the emphasis there? Say you were converted at 25. You spent 25 years not thinking God's thoughts after him. In fact, you spent 25 years thinking the exact opposite. in contrast to God, with your fists raised to God.

At age 25, by His grace, you become a Christian. You, by grace, believe the gospel. You, by grace, come to the Savior. You say, well, I'm justified freely by His grace.

Yes, but sanctification demands this conforming or transforming by the renewing of your mind. 25 years of wretched habits don't just automatically disappear. You have to use the scripture. You have to come to church. You have to be with Christians.

You have to learn what the deceitfulness of sin looks like so you can try to dethrone it. Have no chalk with such things. It's easy to see Saul and not so easy to see our own defection when it's in our own lives. Now notice.

Saul assures her that everything is going to be OK. Verses 11 and 12, the woman says, whom shall I bring up for you? Saul says, bring up Samuel for me. Verse 12, when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, why have you deceived me?

For you are Saul. The fact that the woman is startled that she sees something indicates that her job up to this point had been a fraud. You've probably seen those houses that say, you know, fortunes read, or crystal balls looked into, or, you know, tarot cards, or tea leaves, whatever they do. I know there's one, or there was at least one in a path that I walked the dog on.

Now, do you actually think that all of them really do what they say? You can go in there and get the skinny on your future. No, they're probably fakes, right? I mean, there's always going to be somebody to patronize these people because people want a word from without.

It's another thing this text indicates for us. To be in a place where you have no word from without is a horrific place to be. We have a word from without. It's the scripture.

We need to avail ourselves of it. But the fact that this woman saw something indicates, or the fact that she was surprised indicates that she in fact saw something. Now the obvious question in this passage is, was that really Samuel? There's three approaches to answer that question.

One, it was just a fake. But the fact that she's startled and surprised, and the fact that Saul has a conversation with this apparition, appearance, personage, indicates that it was not fake. The second interpretation is that it was actually Samuel. It's a tough way to go with, I mean, each of these interpretations have some difficulties associated with them.

I mean, the fact that, you know, this pagan woman is able to call up Samuel after God the Lord has said that I'm not going to answer Saul, and here he does answer. It's a difficult interpretation. Most of the modern commentators take this that it really was Samuel. You'll hear me refer to Samuel, and I'm not going to keep doing air quotes.

The text tells us it was Samuel. But the third interpretation is that it was a false spirit, an evil spirit. But it is intriguing and a difficulty for this particular view that what this spirit or what Samuel says is a prophecy concerning the truth that does come true. In other words, Samuel says that tomorrow you and your sons will die.

Would a false spirit know that? That's another indicator that 28 goes with 31, because tomorrow you and your sons will die. But again, brethren, the obvious question of the text is not the obvious emphasis of the text. The obvious emphasis of the text is that there is a problem worse than Philistines.

There is an enemy greater than Philistines. There are issues that you haven't even begun to dream about in their enormity and in their entirety if you have failed to reckon with the living and true God.

The Result: Prophet Consulted

So basically, this now brings us to the result of Saul's decision or the prophet consulted. Notice in verses 15 to 25. Verse 15, Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? Saul answers, I am deeply distressed.

For the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you that you may reveal to me what I should do." You feel the weight of this? You see the gravity of the problem? You see what Saul is facing?

Can you enter into his hardship? He has no word from the Lord. He's gotta face the Philistines in battle. He's gotta go up against an enemy.

But we can at least survey or surmise that Saul's not legit in this aspect. Notice at the end of verse 15 he says, "...therefore I have called you that you may reveal to me what I should do." What does this betray?

Utilitarian Religion Exposed

Saul doesn't want God for God. Saul wants God for deliverance from Philistines. Saul wants God to get him out of a difficult situation. Saul wants God to give him the divine whammy so that he can go into battle against the Philistines and not die.

You see, I think Saul is like us in many respects this way. Are we seeking God for God? Are we seeking God for what God gives us? Now there is a sense where we seek God for the salvation that he gives in our Lord Jesus Christ.

But there's this utilitarianism that settles in the hearts of people. We want God when we have problems. We want God when we need somebody to bail us out. We want God when we face a difficult crisis in our lives, but once the crisis is solved, I don't want God anymore, thank you very much.

Do you see that in the text? Do you see that maybe in your own hearts? I'm not trying to pick on anyone here, I just think it's good for us to come face to face with an apostate and say, Saul, teach me how not to go and do thou likewise. Are we utilitarian?

Do we serve God for what He gives us? Do we serve God because He gets us out of our trials? Do we say to God before we go in the doctor's office, Lord, if the diagnosis is not cancer, then I'll make sure I'm in church every Sunday, I'll make sure I go to that Bible study and that confession study, and we start to sort of bargain and barter with God because we want what He has. There's a difference between serving God for God and serving God for us.

Davis puts it this way, if anything, Saul's quest should have been to face Yahweh, not to seek Samuel. His need was not for information but communion, not so much to prepare for battle but to recover God's presence. Saul, it seems, wanted the results of God's favor more than he wanted God's favor. He wanted the results of God's favor more than he wanted God's favor.

J. Gresham Machen puts it like this in his excellent book, What is Faith? He says, we value God solely for the things he can do. We make of him a mere means to an ulterior end. and God refuses to be treated so.

Such a religion always fails in the hour of need. If we have regarded religion merely as a means of getting things, even lofty and unselfish things, then when the things that have been gotten are destroyed, our faith will fail. When loved ones are taken away, when disappointment comes and failure, when noble ambitions are set at naught, then we turn away from God. We have tried religion, we say.

We have tried prayer. And it has failed. Of course it has failed. We make this observation often on Wednesday night as you look through the Old Testament.

How was Baal served? Baal was served as a big machine. If we do the right things, then the big machine will spit out the things that we want. God is not treated that way.

The Lord did not create this universe to be your servant. The Lord God Most High is not your servant. Now, there is a sense, of course, where the Son of God came to serve. He is the bondservant, the slave that laid his life down for us.

He is a minister in that regard. But this idea that we serve God for what God gives is wrong. He says, of course it has failed. God is not content to be an instrument in our hand or a servant in our beck and call.

He is not content to minister to the worldly needs of those who care not a bit for Him. Has it ever dawned on us that God is valuable for His own sake? That just as personal communion is the highest thing that we can know on earth, so personal communion with God is the sublimest height of all? If we value God for His own sake, then the loss of other things will draw us closer to Him.

We shall then have recourse to Him in time of trouble, as to the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Saul is not that way. I wonder if we're that way at times. We want God for what God gives.

Again, if you're a sinner here this morning and you haven't come to Christ, go to God for what He gives. Grace, mercy, forgiveness, and a righteousness that avails with Him in the gospel of our Lord Jesus. By all means, go! That is an emphasis in scripture.

Those who believe that God is, or those who believe, must believe that God is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So by all means, but I think you know the difference. Those who use God for better jobs, those who use God for more personal satisfaction, those who use God for a better relationship, God's not at our disposal to use that way. So this is Saul's problem.

Now notice, Samuel's response in verses 16 to 19. We're coming to a conclusion soon. The first place,

Yahweh's Departure and Judgment

Samuel underscores the fact of Yahweh's departure. Verse 16, then Samuel said, so why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? You see, that's the scariest part of this chapter. That is a terrifying reality.

God has become Saul's enemy. The least of your problem is the Philistines. God is your enemy. What does the Apostle Paul ask in Romans chapter 8 at verse 31?

He says, if God is for us, who is against us? If God is for us, who can be against us? In Saul's situation, and unfortunately probably in the situation of a multitude of people out there, I don't mean just here, but out there, if God is against us, who can be for us? It doesn't matter if you don't have cancer.

It doesn't matter if you have the best job. It doesn't matter if your wife is, you know, pretty and well-adjusted and your children render obedience and all those things. If God is against you, what good are those things? You see, Saul faces this dilemma, which far exceeds anything David has going on in this section.

Notice, Samuel says, this is the fulfillment of God's word. Verse 17, the Lord has done for himself as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David. This was prophesied in chapter 15. Samuel said, God's going to take the kingdom from you and give it to your neighbor.

Now, Samuel underscores that his neighbor is David. I'm sure that Saul really had a problem with this. If you've been in the book for any time, you'll know that Saul has been engaged in a murderous rage against David. He has tried on multiple occasions to commit homicide against that future king.

And so for Samuel to say, David has the kingdom, I'm sure Saul probably didn't go, wow, that's great news. This just added fuel to the fire. Notice as well the reason for Yahweh's action in verse 18. Remember back in Amalek chapter 15, Saul was given instructions.

Go in, destroy the Amalekites and kill Agag. Pretty basic instructions, isn't it? Before you start saying, wow, that just doesn't sound Christian. This was time of war.

Amalekites were the enemies of God. Saul was supposed to go in and take care of business. He doesn't go in and he doesn't take care of business. Remember, he reports back to Samuel.

He says, Samuel, I've done everything God said. Samuel says, if that's the case, why am I hearing the lowing of the cattle and I'm hearing the bleeding of the sheep? Those preachers, those beasts preach to your infidelity. And why is Agag in all of his wickedness still with us?

Interestingly enough, it's in that section in chapter 15 where the Lord God Almighty says that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Saul rebels against the word of Yahweh in chapter 15. God says he's going to cut him off from kingship, and by the time we get to chapter 28, full-blown witchcraft. And then notice the judgment of Yahweh upon Saul.

Verse 19, Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. Not only does Saul not get the help he wants, but he gets the prophecy concerning his death on the morrow, and that with his sons. And not only is Saul and his sons going to die, but Israel's going to lose in battle.

Essentially, the medium says, I want you to eat, Saul. And Saul says, no, I don't want to eat. She keeps on it. Gil makes the proper observation, I think, that she didn't want him dropping dead in her living room.

It's a wise woman. If there's anything else we can say about her, she doesn't want the dead king who has forbidden her to exist in Israel. She didn't want him dropping dead in her living room. So she says, eat, eat.

The servants say, eat, eat. Reluctantly, Saul eats. Off he goes. He goes into battle, according to chapter 31, and he dies.

And his sons die. What do we learn? Well, as I said, the question, was this really Samuel? I don't know.

I have my hunch in one direction or the other, but I don't think that's the point. And notice as well how brief it is in terms of what she does. There's not 15 verses concerning the incantations that she did or the process by which she went through. The author doesn't want to legitimize or validate or say to you, the reader, try this.

It is briefly explained to bring us to the point where God the Lord condemns Saul. It is not to create a curiosity among readers so that they'll go thou and do likewise. Again, stay away from the occult. Stay away from the Ouija boards.

Stay away from the black arts. Stay away from those things. Especially you in the church, you have access to the living and true God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the light of the world, who's given us his scripture, who has given us this light in a dark world. There ought to be no hankering in the heart of a believer to pursue such wickedness.

The emphasis in the chapter is on the apostasy of Saul. And I think as Christians we can learn four lessons from this.

Four Lessons from Saul's Apostasy

In the first place, the professing Christian who refuses God's word will be refused by God. See, that's what ought to scare us when we neglect our Bibles. When we neglect church, when we neglect the means that God has ordained, if we continue to reject God's word, God may reject us. may evidence the reality that we never came to Christ in the first place. Because persons who come to Christ now are those described in the Beatitudes as those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Now, some hunger and thirst in a way that we don't, maybe necessarily. I mean, you read biographies, you go, wow, that guy really hunger and thirsted. I must not be a Christian. Don't make that necessary or make that implication necessarily.

But nonetheless, there should be some desire in the heart of a believer to want the Scripture. I mean, I like to think when my wife met me, she wanted to talk to me once in a while or hear what I had to say. If I sent her those ushy-gushy love letters and she, you know, just threw them in the trash, I'd be curious if she was really in this, wouldn't I? Did you read my letter, sweetie?

No, I threw it in the trash. You gonna write me back? No, why would I write you back? I would probably have bowed out at that time.

I'm insecure as it is, man. If she'd have laid that on me, I'd have been running. But isn't that our relationship with God sometime? I'm not going to read His letters to me, and I'm certainly not going to send letters to Him.

I don't mean, you know, typing out an email to God, but praying. You see, brethren, at some point, a lack of a spiritual appetite must evidence or at least suggest the lack of the reality of saving faith. In the second place, the professing believer faces an enemy worse than the Philistines when they reject the living God. I call Saul a professing believer here.

Now to take our New Covenant Ordo Salutis and try to read it back into the life of Saul, you can't do that, or it's difficult to do that. But Saul was. a member of the Covenant community. Saul was the king of said community. Certainly Saul had recited the Shema he had said in his lifetime.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. So Saul, at least outwardly and externally, would have professed to be a believer. In fact, that's his consternation.

Yahweh won't answer me. What's the implication? He thinks Yahweh should answer him because Yahweh answers Covenant members. that the professing believer faces an enemy worse than the Philistines when they reject the living God. The third place, the believer, we learn this for ourselves, must pursue faithfulness and not defection as was the case with Saul.

Brethren, you're going to have difficulties and trials and hardships in the Christian life. They're there, man, they're going to be there. What's the point, or what's the emphasis here? Get up, dust yourselves off, and press on.

Do you know what the Christian life in many respects is made up of? I know grace, and mercy, and the spirit, and the glory of God, and the efficacy of Christ as mediator. But you know, on the human level, do you know what two things need to be there, and very often aren't? Faithfulness and discipline.

What's Paul tell Timothy? Exercise yourself toward godliness. Not go sit on the beach in Hawaii and it's just going to overtake you. I mean, wouldn't that be great?

That was the pathway to sanctification. We'd be a godly bunch, wouldn't we? Wow, I'm so holy. I spent, you know, a week on the beach and I'm holier for it.

Discipline and faithfulness. I mean, I don't know how many times in my life as a Christian those things have been or had to have been underscored for me or how many times, you know, in my encouragements to children, encouragements to brethren. I don't know what to do. I'm really struggling.

Are you faithful and disciplined? I'm not saying these are magic pills to make all your worries go away, but I'm certainly suggesting that unfaithfulness and a lack of discipline is not the pathway to communion with God. Again, I'm not saying this in separation from grace and mercy and the presence of the Spirit and the power of God and all those sorts of things. All that's true and all that's necessary.

We need that divine aid and emphasis. But as Christians, we are not supposed to just lie down and be holy. That's not it, brethren. Saul is a perfect example of defection in times of crisis.

And then in the fourth place, the believer who senses silence from God continues to seek God. And I want to illustrate that. This is our last point. Actually, our second to last point, but I'm sure we'll be done in six minutes.

David's Contrasting Response

There's a contrast, as I've suggested, with David and Saul. So how does David's dilemma resolve? 28, 1 and 2, Akish says, I want you to march with us against Israel. David can't do that. He's going to be the king of Israel.

He can't join with Philistines to go fight Israel. So in chapter 29, as I said, Gath, Aphek, Shunem. On the way to Shunem, the military battle site, they stop in Aphek. And they have a military parade.

The lords of the Philistines want to survey the troops. They want to make sure they've got their kit, their gear, their equipment. They want to make sure they're ready to go and fight the Israelites. And so as the troops of the Philistines are marching past these lords of the Philistines, the lords of the Philistines see David and his men.

The Lords of the Philistines say, we don't want David and his men. This could be a strategy by David and his men. When we face Israel, they're at our rear flank or our rear guard. They turn on us.

They set up basically an ambush. Akish says, no, David is trustworthy. David's a great guy. David is a wonderful human being.

His time in Ziklag has been nothing but pleasant for all of us. The Lords of the Philistines say, no, we can't have David march with us. So Akish tells David, you can't march with us. What is that?

God's blessed providence to deliver David via Philistine lords. There goes his dilemma. David can now go home, and to home he goes. So David and his men make the now 60-mile track from Aphek back down to Ziklag.

And I'm sure that these men, on their way back home, are thinking food, they're thinking wives, they're thinking children, they're thinking comfort. They're like us. We do a hard day's work, or we go through a particular trial or a difficulty, and we believe God owes us some R&R, don't we? I mean, I put in eight hours of solid work today.

Nobody mess with me. We deserve it, because we're us. At any rate, David and his men go back to Ziklag for some healthy R&R, for some time with wives, time with children, time at their homes, and what do they find when they get to Ziklag? They find the city burned down.

They find their houses burned down. They find their wives and their children taken captive. Now, you think you've got problems. I don't want to minimize what you're going through.

I don't want to say they're not problems, but you need to sometimes put things into perspective. David was hunted like a dog. David was pursued unto death by Saul, the king of Israel. It is bad enough if somebody's upset with you, but when it's the king, I mean, if Prime Minister Trudeau shows up at your house to kill you, that's a problem, don't you think?

David has been hunted like a dog, delivered by his God, on hot pursuit, living with the Philistines. He comes back to Ziklag, and everything is an utter mess. As Davis says, just when you think you've hit your last straw, there's another last straw. Just when you raise your hands and say, I can't handle any more, 1 Samuel 30 says, yes, you can, and yes, you must.

So what happens when they find that their cities are burned, and the houses are burned, and their families are gone? What do they do? They cry. It's a good response to calamity, isn't it?

Chapter 30, verse 4 says, they weep till they could weep no more. I get that. I understand that. If my wife and my children were taken, my house was burned, and everything was a mess, I think I'd weep.

I think we'd all weep. Verse 5 underscores that it's not only the men, but Ahinoam and Abigail are gone as well. David's wives, the king, select or elect for Israel's throne. His wives have been abducted.

And then in verse 6a, it tells us that the men wanted to stone David. Think about the rationale here. They've lost everything. David's lost everything.

And now David's men start picking up stones and say, we're going to get rid of you. It's not going to bring your wives back. It's not going to make your house magically reappear. No, but it's going to make us feel better, because David, you got us into this mess.

You see how bleak and how terrible and how distressing David's dilemma really is? But then in verse 6b, we have one of those statements that ought to throw the heart of everybody who believes on the Lord Jesus. It says, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Beautiful, isn't it?

We always have recourse to the Lord our God. We come back to Ziklag and it's burned down. We come back to our families and they're gone. We still have recourse to the Lord our God.

You say, what does it mean to strengthen oneself in the Lord his God? Well, it means at least three things. In the first place, it means that we find strength in the experiential knowledge of God. He strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

Galatians 2.20 Paul says, who loved me and gave himself for me. You know one of the chief boons of the Christian religion is that it's a religion of personal pronouns. He loved me and he gave himself for me. David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

McLaren said he could no longer say my city, my possessions, my wife, my children, but he could say my God. That's how one strengthens himself in the Lord as God. The second place, it's through the rehearsal of God's promises. Back in chapter 23 at verse 16, it says that Jonathan strengthened David's hand in the Lord God.

How did Jonathan strengthen David's hand? By rehearsing to David the promise that David would be the king of Israel. Isn't that beautiful? Rehearse the promises of God.

How do I find strength in God? By rehearsing the promises of God. And notice as well, Jonathan's effect on David. Jonathan strengthens David in the Lord his God in chapter 23.

Jonathan's gone, David's alone, but David reckons, hey, I can still strengthen myself in the Lord my God. The benefit, the encouragement, the exhortation, and the love that you pass on to a brother or a sister may serve them long beyond the time that you speak to them the truth. You recall something, you remember something. That brother said this, that sister reminded me of this, and wow, can I feed afresh on it.

And in the third place, David strengthened himself in the Lord his God by using the means of grace. I preached this sermon last week at Pastor Barcelos' church, and I said to them, as I'll say to you, you Reformed Baptists are always talking about using the means of grace. Yes. Absolutely.

How do I know that that's what David did? He calls for a biathar. He calls for the ephod. He calls for the means by which he can seek the Lord his God.

You see the contrast between Saul and David. They both have dilemmas. They both have trials. They both have issues.

They both have challenges. But when Saul calls upon Yahweh, there's no answer. When David calls upon Yahweh, God answers. And the final observation is this.

I've already pointed it out. Saul, in verse 8, goes by night. Saul, according to verse 25, leaves, and it's still night.

Darkness, Abandonment, and the Cross

What two themes permeate this chapter? Darkness and the absence of God. Right? Would everybody agree?

Darkness and the absence of God. Now, when we go through our studies in 1 Samuel, we look at the typical significance of David, how David is a type of Jesus. When David cuts off Goliath's giant head, that's typical of his son, when he will crush the serpent under his foot. Now, I'm not prepared to say that Saul is a type of Jesus in this passage, but I am prepared to say that the episode is typical of what we find in the latter passages of the Passion of our Lord Jesus.

What pervades the Messiah in his last hours? Darkness and the absence of God. Darkness and the absence of God. The same sorts of things that Saul faces here.

In fact, Vanoy says Saul's abandonment was justified and merited, while Christ's abandonment was substitutionary and redemptive. Jesus is on the cross and the whole land is engulfed in darkness. Jesus cries from the cross, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So this episode, in some sense, is typical of what befalls the Savior.

He does that, as was said by Van Eyck, in a redemptive and substitutionary manner. And the beautiful reality is, is that those, by God's grace, who look unto Jesus, will not undergo that darkness and abandonment. The fact that Christ cried that on the cross ensures that none of the elect, none of the people of God will ever, ever, ever have to say, why have you forsaken me? Because Christ undertook on our behalf, Christ poured out his life.

Christ took the wrath and fury of God that we deserve. Brethren, we ought to learn from this darkness and abandonment that there is one. who bore the darkness and who bore the abandonment such that all who believe in him will have everlasting life. And that means light and communion. The direct opposite of darkness and abandonment is light and communion with God Most High.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the Word of God and we thank you for these passages in the Old Testament many respects, what we find in our Old Testaments is the Christian life lived. Help us to receive these things, help us to think through them and pray through them, and may we, Lord God, seek to glorify and honor you, and to find our strength in you. We ask that you would go with us now, we pray for Dr.

Lawson, that he'd have a safe trip here, and that you'd bless the preaching of the word tonight, that you would edify and encourage your church, and that you would build us up in our most holy faith. And we pray through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

Scripture References

• Leviticus 19-20
• Deuteronomy 6:4-5; 18
• 1 Samuel 15; 15:23; 22; 23; 23:16; 25:1; 27; 28:1-2; 28:3-25; 29:1-11; 30:4; 30:5; 30:6; 31
• Matthew 5:6; 9:2-7; 25:21; 25:41; 27:46
• Mark 2:1-12
• John 8:12
• Romans 8:31; 12:2; 13:14
• Galatians 2:20
• Philippians 1:21
• 1 Timothy 4:7
• Hebrews 3:13; 11:6; 12:14
• Isaiah 8:19-22