Alright, 1 Samuel 28 verse 1, In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to war to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army. David said to Achish, Very well, you shall know what your servant can do. And Achish said to David, Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, as we come before You, we ask that You bless our time in 1 Samuel 28, that You would take it and teach us and help us to apply it to our lives. It's in Your name we pray. Amen. Alright, so this is kind of a prelude to the chapter. Most of the chapter doesn't really include this, but we have Achish and David right here. In 1 Samuel 27, which we looked at two weeks ago, right there at the end of the chapter, we see that Achish trusts David, and he's like, oh man, for sure David has just made himself of ill repute to the Israelites because of what he's been doing. David probably hasn't, though. Okay, we kind of know that because of what happens. And therefore, in chapter 28, Achish is like, oh yeah, you're going to be my friend forever. That's why I put up the you got a friend in me thing. Because they're clearly kind of enemies, but enemy of my enemy is my friend, and they're just going to kind of hang out for a little bit. So that's the first couple verses. of chapter 28, and Akish, he just kind of seems like, oh cool, yeah, we'll take this. He assumes his loyalty over the fact that David has made these vague statements in the past, because David, when he would go out and he would fight these enemies, David would be very selective on who he's fighting, but when he went back and told Akish, he was like, oh yeah, well I was fighting these people, and I was fighting in this kind of area, and I was fighting in this kind of area, and so it was like, oh, okay. Well, that's good, David. You probably ruined your reputation in Israel, so you'll be my friend. Alright, that's the first few verses. Let's get to verse 3. Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him, and buried him in Ramah, Samuel's hometown, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem, and Saul gathered all Israel, 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 prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a medium at Endor. is facing some dark times. We're reminded in the chapter, Samuel's dead. Now Samuel's been dead for a while, three chapters in fact. He died in chapter 25. The mourning period is over, and if you know anything about these ancient cultures, mourning wasn't just the day of the funeral and then it was done. It was a very lengthy process, so quite a bit of time has passed since Samuel is gone. And now Saul's on his own, and Saul has already kicked out all of the mediums and the necromancers or magicians or spiritists, whatever word you want to use for them, people that would work with the undead or the spirit world. He's already kind of cast them out. Now, when it happened, we don't necessarily know. Scripture doesn't tell us. Only that it's past tense when we get to chapter 28. So it's probably very early on in Saul's reign while he's doing some good things. And the support for that comes from Leviticus chapter 20 verse 6, which says that if a person turns to a medium or to a necromancer, whoring after them, that God will set his face against that person and cut him off from among his people. Well, if you're an Israelite, I don't want to be cut off. This is my heritage. And so it was kind of their incentive of, well, you probably shouldn't be dealing with these mediums or necromancers or witches, you know, Wiccans, whatever you want to, whatever word you want to use. So God is already in the law, way back with Moses, thrown out the judgment. If you mess with this, I'm going to cut you off from the people and you're going to be done. So it's a good thing that Saul has done this, okay? But it's going to kind of come, well I won't say it comes back to bite him, because it's really unfortunate for Saul with what he does. But just giving us some setting of, well that's why no one's around. Samuel's dead, the prophet is gone, and Saul's dealing with this. Then we're introduced in verse 4 to some military movement. It says that the Philistines assembled and they came to Shunam. Saul gathered and they went to Gilboa. Okay, and then there's another city mentioned here later on in verse 7 called Endor. Alright, got a picture up here for you to get your bearings on where all this is taking place. Alright, Gath is way down about the center of the picture. That's where Goliath is from. All those areas, the Negev, that David has been conquering is even further south. You see in the bottom right-hand corner to the right of the word Judah, that's the Dead Sea. Alright? The little body of water up in the top right-hand is the Sea of Galilee. That's where Jesus spends all of His ministry. And then obviously you have the Jordan. So this is in northwest Israel. This is rather north. It's up in the Jezreel Valley. The reason they go up there, even the Philistines go that far north, is because if you look at the lay of the land from Israel, this is a valuable trade route from all of the northern countries, north of Israel, to come down through this valley. You can see that there are two rivers that kind of flow there. The idea is it's a valuable trade route. So if the Philistines can overtake this area and it becomes their hometown and their territory, well then they get to collect all the taxes from all the tradesmen that come through. And that's why they want it. But it's Israel's territory, so Israel's supposed to be on the defensive here. So you kind of get an idea on where those three cities are. So Saul's first move, when he hears about the Philistines moving, it's a good move. He inquires from God. The only problem is Saul gets no answer in a dream or a vision. He gets no answer from Urim. He gets no answer from a prophet. Well, that kind of stinks, doesn't it? So why doesn't he get answers from those? Is it not a good idea that Saul goes and asks God, God, what's going on? What do you want? What should I do? And God doesn't answer. Cody? I'll explain it in a minute. It is a priestly thing, though. So, it seems like he's taking these biblical methods of asking God for advice, and God is not answering. Why? Michael? Because Saul, in the beginning of his reign, God said to kill everyone, and he didn't, so God separated Saul from him, so God won't answer because he's already been separated. Okay? Yeah, absolutely. The three different things that he uses here are the dreams and visions. Well, Saul doesn't get an answer there because God's spirit has already departed from him in chapter 16. The urim, which is used by priests, maybe you guys will remember this. One of the priests that runs out of Nob and goes to flee with David, he runs off with an ephod. The urim, it's that white side, black side stone or a white and a black stone that was kept in a pouch. And basically it was a yes or a no kind of thing. And when the priest would reach in with God's guidance, he would pull out the stone of what God wanted them to say, whether it was yes or no. So the Urim doesn't work. Do you understand what a Urim is now? It's basically a method of drawing straws of sorts, but it was directed by God and only the priests use it. Well the reason you don't get an answer from the Urim if you're Saul right now is at the city of Nob, he already wiped out a ton of the priests. If you're a priest, do you really think you want to go help Saul? No, he's kind of, you know, estranged himself from all priests. None of them want to be around him because you never know when Saul's going to get angry and want to kill you. And he's estranged himself from the prophets. Samuel's dead. And then in chapter 19, when Samuel kind of splits off from Saul, there's kind of a, I'll say a school of prophets that Saul kind of gets, it's the prophets where he goes in and we're looking at this freshman Bible today. This is where Saul is actually sending people after to try to go chase after David. And every group of people that runs across these prophets ends up prophesying instead. And then Saul even ends up getting there and he ends up prophesying instead. So it's kind of like he was sent in there for bad reasons, but God's like, no, you're not going to do this. And he changes the scenario for him. So none of these ways in which Saul is supposed to be getting wisdom from God are working. So then what should Saul have done since he doesn't get an answer from God? Samuel? Keep praying or keep asking? Okay, definitely a good answer. What else? What should Saul have done? I'm not being told in a vision or a dream. I'm not being told from the spiritual authority from the Urim. I'm not being told from a priest. I'm not being told from a prophet. Samuel? Repent? Okay, read scripture. Alright, what scripture would he have had? Yeah, he would have had the Torah or the law. Okay, what else? Jacob? Trusting God. Natalie? Well, he's kind of separated himself that they're not really friends with him at this time. Cody? Allow David back in? Yeah, I would kind of agree with you guys when Angel and Tyler said the law. The idea of, okay, go back to the last thing you knew was from God. It's always a good idea when you're not getting guidance from God, well, go back to the last time God actually spoke to you. and then see where you're supposed to go from there. Because whatever you've done has probably estranged yourself or separated you from God, and so now you need to backtrack and repent, as was said. I don't have an answer for you. I just want to see what you guys thought. Because Saul doesn't get an answer, and he doesn't do anything to fix it. But the fact of the matter is, as far as application goes for you and I, Saul tried to live his life as a king the way he wanted. He did things his way, and now, when he's at the end of the line, he's like, oh snap, we're not going to be able to beat the Philistines this time. God, please help me. And God's like, yep, sorry, not answering. But here's what you need to realize, young people. You cannot spend your entire life doing the things you want to do, wait till you have no other options, and then turn to God and expect Him to be there. He does not promise you that. There's this idea of quenching the Spirit. The idea of when you harden your heart like Pharaoh did, eventually there's no going back from that. Paul in the New Testament talks about vessels fitted for destruction. You don't know to what degree you're hardening yourself to be someone that God cannot and will not use. We're told in Matthew 6 that no one can serve two masters. He will either love the one and hate the other, or he will love the other and despise the other. but you can't serve too. But we have this mentality as young people that, well, we can do both. We can have our church life and our normal life. We can do both things. No, you can't. You might think you can, but what will end up happening is you're going to get yourself to a point and say, oh wait, I really need God, and He's not going to be around to answer you. Not because He's not present, but because you have distanced yourself so much that He doesn't know you. and you don't know Him, but you've been so consumed with what you want that you didn't realize that the Spirit of the Lord departed from you like it did from Saul. So you should be taking steps back now to make sure you're in the right place. So Saul moves on to the next best thing, right? No. So after Saul hears nothing from God, he's like, alright, can someone find me a witch? I need to talk to Samuel. Like, that escalated quickly, didn't it, Saul? You know you're the one that called those people and said to get them out of the nation, right? And now Saul is at the bottom of the barrel. He's trying to find a way to get a hold of Samuel. He's like, well, I know Samuel will say something. Maybe I can find someone who will let me talk to Samuel. And how long does it take Saul's men to find someone? Let's go back and look at the passage. Verse 7, And Saul says to his servants, Seek out for me a woman who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a medium at Endor. Scripture doesn't say, And his servants went out and sought through all the land and found a medium at Endor. They already knew one. So the question you kind of want to ask yourself is then, What were these servants doing? that they knew exactly where a witch was at one point in time. Were they partially obedient servants to begin with, and when they were sent to go and remove all the mediums from the land, that she's like, oh, well, I'm not really a medium anymore. Or maybe she paid them off. Like, shh, you didn't see me. Here's some money. Or maybe it was like, hey, you know, free tarot card reading with every purchase. We don't necessarily know. Scripture doesn't tell us. But for sure, these men, they didn't even have to think twice about where it was. Which I find kind of interesting. Somehow, within the heart of humans, we're always real quick to be able to find ways to sin. These men knew exactly where a witch was, even though it was illegal. If they had been found out that they knew where a witch was and did not push her out of the country or kill her as is commanded in the Torah, their jobs or their heads would have been on the line. But they're okay with that. And I think sometimes we as humans, especially when you guys are as teenagers, It doesn't take much for someone to say something and say, oh, I know what we can do. And then you throw out something that is either completely ungodly or completely against the rules or, you know, half the time it's in the name of fun. It's okay. I was there. I understand. You're not doing things that no one has done before. But it's important for us to understand the humanity and the sinful nature that's within us. These men, they didn't even bat an eye about it. So I was like, go find me a witch. And they just went indoor. So the question you kind of have to ask yourself is, what is it in your life that if we came to you and said, hey, could you show us this, that you could get us a shortcut to it? Could you, would it be that if someone asked for a pornographic website that you would have one that you could get to them, that would be extremely quick for them to access? Could it be that if someone came to you and said, hey, you know what, my parents are monitoring my social media accounts, is there a way for you to get by on this? Oh yeah, here's a real quick way, just do this. Or it's, hey, I have files on my phone that I don't want my parents to see. Okay, well there's this app you can download that portrays itself as a calculator but really just hides all of your apps. Andy, how do I know this? No. No, he just knows my automatic answer. Because I'm Mr. Howe. No. No, Andy's about to have a heart attack. No, he's got the benefit of the doubt I can't read anything on his phone. It's like I can't even, how do I answer the phone? It's all in Korean. There's a blonde in every room. But see, hang with me. So, I want you guys to connect the dots here. I don't know what it is in your life that you struggle with, but either in yours or in someone that you have contact with, you know the shortcuts to sin. But we're not willing to acknowledge it as sin, or we're not willing to let God have control of that and purge it from our lives, and so we keep it there. I'm trying to show you from Scripture, you're not the first person, and it ends up being devastating for the people that are involved. So let's move on. Verse 8. So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went. He and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night, and he said, Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up the one, bring for me whoever I shall name to you. And the woman said to him, Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for me? for my life to bring about my death. But Saul swore to her by the Lord, as the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." So to give you an idea of what's going on, and the first map I showed you doesn't do it justice. So this is a modern day map of where these locations are. Kind of difficult to see, but the bottom left side is a green arrow that says Gilboa. Just below that arrow, you can see a little bit of the detail that this is a mountain range. It is Mount Gilboa. Then it drops into a valley as you move over towards the next arrow, which is Shunem. That is the Jezreel Valley. Shunem is also up on a mountain range, or on mountains. So you have Saul on Gilboa. He sees Philistine movement over on Shunem. And so he's watching, and this scares him. Endor is northeast of Shunem. When these men come back and say, there's a witch at Endor, what is it that Saul's so scared of to begin with? The Philistines. The Philistines who were on Shunamm. Okay, don't miss this. Saul is over here in this mountain range willing to try to sneak past this mountain range where the Philistines are to get over to Endor to find this witch. Well, he has to go either to the left or to the right. He's going to have to pass the Philistine camp at some level to get to Endor. He's scared to death of the Philistines, but he's so desperate, he's willing to try to sneak. They're trying to take over the region. Do you think they're only in one location? They probably have scouts all throughout the area. So Saul doesn't really understand what Isaiah is talking about, because there are multiple locations in Scripture that talk about this medium necromancer idea. Because Isaiah says, when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God, should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? Well, Saul inquired of his God, right? So he's kind of off the hook, isn't he? No. See, because Saul is so hard-hearted, he is willing to get this woman to break the law, his law that he made, that he's the first king of Israel. He's the first person that has had political power to shove all of the witches out of the countryside. So he can get what he wants. Because he's insecure, because he's lost the Spirit of God, and he just doesn't care. Which means we have to ask ourselves, what is it that you're encouraging the unbelievers in your life to do? Maybe it's at a workplace, maybe it's unbelievers you go to school with. But Saul goes to this woman and says, I want you to bring a spirit up for me. And her first response isn't, okay, well let's, you know, here's how much it costs. It's, no, this is illegal. See, here's the idea, and if you've ever come across one of these situations, you know it's true. When we who claim to be, claim to be believers, tried to sin publicly in front of unbelievers, unbelievers are willing to call us on it. Like, this is sin. Aren't you supposed to be a Christian? You're not supposed to act like this. And the hypocrisy of the believer, of Saul the Israelite, is being called out by this witch. It would be wonderful if Saul was like, oh yeah, you're right. You know what? I shouldn't be here. Please excuse me. We'll be on our way. But he doesn't say that. Instead, he continues on. So in order for Saul to get all the way to Endor, to gain an audience with this witch, what's the very first thing he does? Look at verses 8-10. He disguises himself. He takes off his kingly garments and puts on common clothes. You know, I find it interesting that that's what Saul does because every time when I was growing up, when I was around people, you all probably know I worked at Bob Evans, okay? Bob Evans was not a Christian company and I did not work with many Christians. And so it was very convenient for me to want to set aside my Christianity, my going to church three times a week and going to a Christian school and just be human while I was inside the doors of Bob Evans. And I tried to set aside the fact that I was a Christian at times. or that I didn't work on Sundays, which was one of the busiest days of the week. And trying to do those things, to go unnoticed and blend in, doesn't do anything for you spiritually. We think others are going to be concerned about it, but who was it that had called Saul to be king? God did. The people wanted one, but God's the one that ordained him. So think about this for a moment. Saul is saying, God, I know what you called me to do, but I want to do what I want to do, and I want to do it this way. He could care less about what God wants right now. which obviously we've seen in all these different steps of disobedience and worldliness that Saul is performing. He's saying, you know what? I know I'm supposed to be the king. I know I'm supposed to be a Christian or an Israelite, but I don't want to look like one right now. I don't want to act like one right now because I need something more important. And we're guilty of the same thing. So Saul gets there and this witch is like, yeah, this is a trap. Why are you, you're coming in here trying to get me to call someone up from the dead, and I'm going to die because of what you're asking. Because the law didn't necessarily say, and Saul, when he made the law to get rid of the witches, he didn't say, and anyone who goes and asking for a witch will be put to death, it's just the witches themselves. Alright, we had a problem with this in early America. You could accuse anyone of being a witch, and it was just like, oh yeah, well burn them at the stake. Alright? Just for being accused. And you could remain completely anonymous, so it's like, hey, I don't like Jack. He's a witch. Well, how do you know he's a witch? He looks like one. That's a movie quote for anyone. Mike, you get that one, right? OK, great. Thank you. All right. Monty Python. All right. So what is the promise that Mr. Incognito Saul makes to the witch in order to convince her to call Samuel? That's not the promise, because she doesn't know he's Saul yet. What is it, Shelby? Yeah, for as long as the Lord lives, don't worry, nothing's going to happen to you. Isn't it ironic that the very God that refuses to speak to Saul is now being sworn by to protect the witch, which God said is against His law. And you're not supposed to have anything to do with it. Huh. You're a little twisted, aren't you, Saul? God doesn't even talk to you, and now you're telling this lady, well, I swear by the Lord that nothing will happen. Really? Because last time I checked, God really wants nothing to do with you. He's rejected you. So not only in this situation is Saul breaking his own law, because he threw out witches, not only is he breaking God's law, but he is performing blasphemy by saying God will do this when it's not rightly attributed to God. Which is what blaspheme is. It is assigning God's attributes or God's authority to something that His name is not on. So Saul is really digging himself a hole. But God doesn't allow Saul's sin to go unpunished. Because we'll see this in 1 Chronicles 10. So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord that he did not keep the command of the Lord and also consulted a medium seeking guidance. And he did not seek guidance from the Lord, therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to his son Jesse." So we know that Saul loses the kingdom for Jonathan because of performing a sacrifice. He loses the kingdom from himself by disobeying and not killing Agag, but now he shortens his life by going to this medium. So at three different levels, Saul is just taking time off of his life because he is being selfish. Verses 11-14, Then the woman said, Who shall I bring up? And he said, Bring Samuel for me. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, Why have you deceived me? You are Saul. The king said to her, Do not be afraid. What do you see? And the woman said, I see a God coming up out of the earth. And he said to her, What is his appearance? And she said, an old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage." So this woman calls for Samuel. Most scholars say she probably would have had a pit or something like that in her tent or in her home where she would have called these spirits up out. It's like her crystal ball of sorts. If y'all know who Miss Cleo is, it's been a while. But I had to throw her in here when we're talking about calling spirits up. And so this witch calls Samuel up, and then she screams out. So the question is, why the sudden outburst by the witch? She figures out he's the king. She figures out he's the king? Why do you think? Why is she all of a sudden like, ah! Elise? She didn't expect a real person. What do you think she was expecting? Jonathan? Shocked that it was Samuel. Okay. Cole? Shocked that it was anything at all. Yeah. Um, actually you guys got all three of the things that I have. Um, that she doesn't realize it would even work because she's a con artist. Maybe she realizes that it's Samuel, and Samuel was the mouth of God on earth at the time. Or that she realizes the man in front of her is Saul. All three would be valid reasons for her to cry out. I really think it's number one. She cries out because it worked. especially to this degree. So, she says, it's Samuel, and Saul's like, well, what do you see? Is it really, who is it? And the witch is like, well, I see a God, or the word Elohim, coming out of the earth, a spirit. And Saul immediately bows himself when he's like, oh, it's an old man wearing a robe. How does that make you know it's Samuel? Yeah, so he's wearing a robe, okay. Well, in the English word robe, that's a great question. But in the Hebrew word, which is mehil, that word is typically used and used up to this point only referring to the garments that priests wore. And this exact word is the word that Samuel's mother made him when he was a little boy living in Eli's house. And it's the exact same word for the garment that Saul rips as Samuel walks away from him when he loses the kingdom. So in the context of the passage, the only people who wear robes are priests or prophets. So there probably is something, and other uses for this word that we see as robe, it's only for people of high rank. So it's someone special, whoever it is that's wearing this robe, based upon the Hebrew word that is used there. So, a few other things that we kind of see here. The dialogue that comes after it what we see here, it kind of proves us that it really is Samuel. It's not just a hoax, okay? It's not just generic vague descriptions of things. And then the role of the spirit, which is Samuel, okay, in his relationship to Saul is identical to what the real prophet would have said. But realistically, here's what you have to understand. It's not the skill of the witch that calls Samuel up. It's an act of God that says, alright, here's what's going to happen, and we're going to teach Saul a lesson with this. Verses 15-19. Then Samuel said to Saul... That was great timing for a transition. It was really good. I'll let you know when I have another one coming up. Then Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul answered and said, I'm in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do. And Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as He spoke by Me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David." Verse 18, "'Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out His fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me, and the Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines." So what's Saul's excuse for bothering Samuel? Hell. Yeah, hell. I'm in distress. I didn't know what to do. And what's Samuel's response to that? Cody? You're going to die. Yeah. Some of the best news I'm sure he's ever heard. Do you have something to add, Angel? So here's what Samuel says. Saul comes and says, I didn't know what to do. God wasn't answering my phone calls, and so I had to come and wake you up. And Samuel's like, yeah, because God left you. And David gets the kingdom, and you failed as a king, and you and your sons are going to die, and the army's defeated. Have a nice day. and Samuel drops the mic and goes back to the spirit world. We'll talk about it in a little bit, as in like two weeks. But the idea of heaven and paradise changes with the death and resurrection of Christ. So where Samuel was, the Hebrew word is Sheol, which is the place of the grave. In Luke 16, which we'll end up looking at, it's called Abraham's bosom. And it's actually more of a place of the dead where there is a paradise side and a torment side, and that transitions and changes with the resurrection of Christ. So every time David, yeah, the King James renders throughout Scripture the word hell, the word shale, which is just the grave or the pit. So it kind of transitions with where the dead people are. Lots of discussion on that though. No, it is just the place of the dead. Yeah, it's the grave. It's where dead people go. In the Old Testament. It's S-H-E-O-L. As far as the Hebrew word. Shale is how I pronounce it, but... Shale... No, that's S-H-A-L-E. Yeah, sure, why not? Alright, so he gets bad news. But here's the bottom line, and I know we'll wrap up real quick. Sometimes, like Saul, the only advice you need is the advice you've already been given. Saul didn't need some new revelation. He was like, no, here's what's happening because you violated God's commands. And Saul, additionally, needs to understand that because he's in a leadership position, His rebellion or disobedience affects others, whether he likes it or not. See, Saul's the one who lost everything, right? But then Samuel comes and says, the army's going to lose because of you. The basketball team's attitude is affected by you, captain. The class's perspective on authority is led by you, student who talks the most, or is the most popular. The attitude of the employees in the workplace is dictated by you, shift leader. When you're in a position of authority, other people get affected by you. And you can't decide whether they do or not. Alright, so we're going to stop here. Here's what I want you guys to do for me. We're going to come back and revisit the last few verses of chapter 28, and then we're going to get into a discussion about this whole witch, undead, afterlife kind of thing. So, yeah, we'll talk about Sheol. So, if that's something that interests you, do a little research, bring your questions, and we'll be more than happy to talk about it. Let's pray.