Well, if you have a copy of the scriptures today, let me invite you to turn to the book of 1 Samuel in the Old Testament and the 28th chapter. And this is an account, a peculiar account, of a time in the life of Saul when there appears to have been an apparition of some sort that appeared before Saul. And it's a proof text that some would raise to give evidence of the occurrences of ghosts or spirits. And we're going to be examining this alongside some of the other counsel of God's word. And so we're going to look at 1 Samuel 28. I'm going to eventually in the exposition go a little bit further. But for now, I'm just going to read a portion of it And I'm going to read verses 11 through 14. And so let me invite you as you're able. Let's stand together. Again, I'm reading from 1 Samuel 28, verses 11 through 14. Then said the woman, whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up Samuel. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice. And the woman spake to Saul, saying, why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, be not afraid, for what seest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, what form is he of? And she said, an old man cometh 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 himself. May God bless today the reading and the hearing of his word. And let's join together in prayer. Let us pray. Gracious God, we do give thee thanks today for thy word as we look at a passage that is somewhat controversial. And we ask that you would give us light, that we would not stray beyond what is written, but we would be careful in handling thy word. And we pray above all that you would give us just insights into understanding the living of our own life and what it means to know thee and what awaits those who know thee and are thy own even in death. We ask this in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. And you may be seated. So if you've been with us on these Sunday afternoons, we have been in a series on eschatology. Eschatology is the doctrine of last things. And we've looked at this from two angles, although we've been giving most attention to the first angle. And as the series goes on, we're going to turn and talk more about the second angle. But the first angle is personal eschatology. And that's the question of what happens to us when we die. And then the second angle is going to be cosmic eschatology. What happens to the world at the end of history? But we've been spending most of our time thus far in the series looking at the question of What happens to a human being when a human being dies? What happens to a Christian when a Christian dies? What happens to an unbeliever when an unbeliever dies? And this sort of takes up today a kind of peculiar question that sometimes arises, and that is, does the Bible teach that there are ghosts or spirits that appear on the earth? So after someone dies, are there ghosts or spirits that appear on the earth. An online dictionary defines a ghost as an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as a nebulous image. So are there, in truth, apparitions of dead persons that manifest themselves to the living? Across many cultures all around the world, there exists the idea that the spirits of the dead either remain or frequently visit the places where they used to live, often to do mischief among the living. The idea of ghostly spirits is especially prevalent in religions that focus on the worship of ancestors, either in African religions or in Asian religions, especially if you're familiar with or ever heard about an Asian religion that's known as Daoism or Taoism. They have a strong belief in ghosts, and they have a fear of ghosts or spirits that might I do mischief to people. I think I've called attention before to a conversation I had a few years ago with a student that I had in a class at Piedmont, and it was a Chinese student. And I was telling her that I used to live in a church parsonage that was by the church that I served as a pastor. And in between the church and our parsonage, there was a cemetery. And so, you know, I told her our house was right next to the cemetery and she was shocked. She said, I can't believe you lived next to a cemetery. Weren't you afraid? And she explained to me that in her culture that they thought it was bad luck to live or even walk by a cemetery because there were so many ghosts that were there. There were so many spirits that would be hovering around And this was a pretty well-educated young person, but she still had this real strong belief that there are ghosts or departed spirits. Even in the Western world, we at least see it Halloween, don't we? Those who put a sheet over their heads and dress up as a supposed ghost, even if it's usually not something to be taken seriously. On the other hand, however, even in the Western world, there are occultists. who do take such things quite seriously. And there will be those who will go to seances to attempt to bring back departed loved ones to be able to speak to them. So it's not just something that happens in Africa or in Asian cultures. It happens in Western cultures here in our own country. There are people who have a strong belief in ghosts or spirits. So what is the Christian and biblical response to this? As we have seen in this series thus far, the biblical teaching is that human beings are made up of a body and a spirit, a body and a soul, and that at death our spirits or our souls depart from our bodies while our bodies return to dust. That may be the body that's placed in the ground in a burial. It may be the body that is cremated and the ashes are spread somewhere. But the body returns to dust, whereas the spirit lives on after the death of a person. And we believe, the Bible teaches, that One's spirit either immediately goes to be with the Lord, if one is a Christian and has professed authentic faith in Christ, or if one is an unbeliever, that one's spirit immediately enters into the torments of hell. As sober a reality as that is, we believe that's what the Bible teaches. That is the reality for those who reject Christ, who deny Christ. And though that's not the end, the spirits go either to be with the Lord or into torment. But at the end of the ages, there is the return of Christ. There is the final resurrection where those spirits are joined to their resurrection bodies. And they either, as believers, spend the rest of their days in their resurrection bodies in the presence of the Lord, enjoying the glories of the eternal rest, or In resurrection bodies, they suffer torment. And I would point again, I've read this a couple times from what is called our Baptist catechism, which basically follows the shorter catechism of the Westminster divines. And if you look at question 40 in our Baptist catechism, it asks, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death? And it says, the souls of believers are at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory. And their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection. And one of the proof texts that are offered is 2 Corinthians 5.8. Probably one of the most cited passages on this, where Paul essentially says that for a Christian to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Whereas, if you look at question 42 of the catechism, it asks you about the unbeliever. But what shall be done to the wicked at their death? And the answer is, the souls of the wicked shall, at their death, be cast into the torments of hell, and their bodies lie in their graves till the resurrection and judgment of the great day. And the first proof text that is offered comes from Luke chapter 16, the account of the rich man and Lazarus, which we've covered before in this series, where on the day of their death, the rich man went into the torments of hell. His spirit did, whereas Lazarus was carried by the angels into the bosom of Father Abraham, which is also called paradise, or the eternal rest. And so that's what we believe the scriptures teach. And what has been summarized, the scriptural teaching has been summarized in our subordinate standard, our confessions and catechism, which teach this. We note especially the fact that, as it says in Luke 16, There is a great gulf fixed between those experiencing the heavenly rest and those in hell so that there is no passing from one place to the other. And we also can recall that in Luke 16, when the rich man was in torment, he requested that Lazarus would be sent to warn his five brothers of the torments of hell. But Father Abraham refused that suggestion that the rich man made. And what did he say to that man? He said, they have Moses and the prophets. They have the scriptures. And so there was a refusal to send the spirit of Lazarus to warn his brethren. One of the reasons we reject the idea of ghosts is because of passages like 2 Corinthians 5.8, Luke 16, the rich man of Lazarus. but also because ghosts simply do not appear, pun intended, I guess, with any frequency, if at all, in the Bible. The Bible just does not teach about this idea of the spirits of men roaming the earth, hovering over cemeteries or places they used to live, doing good or ill to those who are among the living. That's simply just something that's not taught in the scriptures. But some will say, well, pastor, what about statements like those made by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6, verse 12, where Paul said, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers. against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Doesn't that imply that our battle is not against flesh and blood and there may be spirits that we have to battle against? Our response would be that these spiritual powers and principalities are not ghosts, but according to the whole counsel of God's word, They are rebellious angelic spirits or demons that war against Christ in a futile and last gasp effort to overcome before Christ comes in glory and crushes Satan and all his minions under his feet. In Romans 16 verse 20, Paul said to the church at Rome, and the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. But someone will say, OK, what about the ghost of Samuel in 1 Samuel 28 verses 7 through 20? And so I read a bit of that passage, and I want to turn back to it. And let's walk through it and see if we can come to some understanding of what is being described here. Certainly, this passage does deserve our attention because this would probably be the one passage in the whole Bible where someone might have the semblance of making some kind of argument for the existence of ghosts. So the first thing we want to notice is the context for this teaching. This comes from the life of King Saul. And it describes an event that happens near the end of Saul's life. And he has been the king, and he has not been a faithful king. And he was put into the position of king by the prophet Samuel. And Samuel was sort of, in some ways, the last judge and the first prophet of the Old Testament. But Samuel had died. Look at verse 3 of 1 Samuel 28. Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And then it says, and Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. And so on one hand, we need to observe here that Samuel had died. But also Saul, perhaps in an effort to regain a righteous standing before the Lord, had put away those who had familiar spirits, those who trafficked with evil spirits, demonic spirits, and also the wizards, those who were involved in occult practices. And so perhaps he was trying to redeem himself in the Lord's eyes. And then setting our context further, if you look at verses four through six, the Philistines had gathered themselves together and they had pitched their tents in a place called Gilboa. And it says in verse five, when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart greatly trembled. And then, whereas Saul had put away those who trafficked with familiar spirits and the wizards, in a moment of weakness, no longer having the consultation of the prophet Samuel, it says, he inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. The Lord was shutting Saul's access to divine revelation out. And Saul then, given that he was not being spoken to by the Lord, he seeks out those who traffic with spirits, the very ones that he had basically banned or forbade. And so in verse seven, we begin to pick up on this. Then said Saul unto his servants, seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit that I may go to her and inquire of her. By the way, notice about this woman who is sometimes called the witch of Endor, the woman of Endor. It doesn't say that that she had a ghost. It says she had a familiar spirit. She trafficked with an evil spirit. And it says, his servants said to him, verse 7, behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And so this is the woman of Endor. And so Saul, being the king and having issued this banishment of such persons, disguises himself. And he goes to this woman or sends a message to this woman. Look at verse 8. And Saul disguised himself and put on other raiment. And he went and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night and said, I pray thee divine unto me by the familiar spirit and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee. And so basically he's asking like a person going to a modern seance. I want you to bring up someone to me from the dead. Verse nine. And the woman said unto him, behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done. how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. Wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die?" So she knew that Saul had forbade this and apparently on the penalty of death. And so she says, you're just trying to entrap me into doing something that hasn't been allowed. And then Saul swears to her, verse 10, And so I'll swear to her by the Lord, saying, as the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing." There's great irony in this, in that he's swearing by Jehovah that she won't get in trouble if she traffics with this familiar spirit to supposedly bring someone to life from the grave, bring someone up as an apparition to him. And so he swears to her, then verse 11, he makes this request to see Samuel, the prophet Samuel. Then said the woman, whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up Samuel. And so apparently this woman then did as she was commanded. And we begin to read of this in verse 12. It says, and when the woman saw Samuel. Now, here's the question that we've got to ask ourselves from this point forward. In the ancient Hebrew, and even in this English translation, the authorized version, they don't use quotation marks. And the question is, did this woman actually see Samuel? Or did she see a figure of Samuel, a false figure of Samuel that had been brought up by this familiar spirit. It says, and when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice, and then apparently she was given insight, perhaps by the familiar spirit, as to who was before her. And the woman spake to Saul, saying, why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul. And the king said unto her, verse 13, be not afraid, for what sawest thou? And the woman said to Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And apparently, this is the vision that supposedly attended to her seeing Samuel. And again, this is a hard passage. It's not an easy one. I think there are probably a lot more sermons preached on John 3.16 than on 1 Samuel 28. And that is rightly done because we need to spend less time on speculative things and more time on things that are clear. But that's not to say it's an unimportant passage. And so there is the unfolding of what takes place when she says here, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. What is to be meant of that? If you were to look at the Hebrew of this passage, the word there that is rendered as gods is the word Elohim. Well, that is a word that sometimes is used in the Old Testament to refer to God, to Jehovah. But that term Elohim is also a term that can be used to men who think they are gods. to men who feel like they can act in godlike ways. We see this, for example, in Psalm 82. It's another controversial psalm. It's one that Mormons have twisted over the years and misused in apologetics. In Psalm 82, verse 6, it says, well, in Psalm 82, verse 1, it says, he judgeth among the gods. He judgeth among the Elohim. And then in Psalm 82, verse 6, it says, ye are gods, You are Elohim, but you shall die like men. And if you read through Psalm 82, you realize it's a judgment on men, unrighteous men, judges who thought they could act like gods, and they're being condemned in Psalm 82. And so when she says, I saw gods, she means she saw what she perceived to be godlike men or judges coming out of the earth. And then in verse 14, Saul says to her, what form is he of? And she said, an old man cometh up and he is covered with a mantle. So she said, I saw this old man, he was covered with some sort of covering over his head, some kind of mantle. And apparently the prophets in those days would wear a particular kind of covering. over their heads, a mantle. And when Saul is heard this, we're told in verse 14, and Saul perceived that it was Samuel. Notice that the inspired author does not say, and it was Samuel. He says, Saul perceived that it was Samuel. And we still have the ongoing question, is this really Samuel? Or is this a deception? that is being put forward by the familiar spirit that traffics with the woman of Endor. But Saul thinks it's Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself. Now, the rest of the passage that interests us, verses 15 through 20, is the conversation that Saul has with this figure, who is referred to in the rest of the passage as Samuel. Whether we are to take that seriously, that this is Samuel, or whether we are to take it sort of as Samuel with quotation marks around it, someone who appears to be Samuel, but could be a delusion brought forward by this familiar spirit, and they have a conversation. Let's just read it so we can see the whole context of it. Verse 15, and Samuel said to Saul, why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known to me what I shall do. Then said Samuel, wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord has departed from thee, and has become thine enemy? And the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me, for the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, And he hath given it and given it rather to thy neighbor, even to David, because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor executest his fierce wrath upon Amalek. Therefore, hath the Lord done this very thing unto thee this day. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines. Tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. The Lord also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. Then Saul fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night." And so we have the record of this conversation. But again, the question in our mind is, is this really Samuel? Now, there are some things that argue in favor of it being Samuel. He prophesied something that will come about, that will take place, that Saul will be defeated in battle. the next day, and he will die and his sons will die. And so that would argue in favor of it, but you'll notice the main thing that really comes out of this, whether this is a fake Samuel or the real Samuel, is that God offers no instructions to Saul as to what he should do. He has been cut off from divine favor, and even if this is Samuel, he's given no instructions as to what he is to do. The main point of the account is to show the spiritual failure and bankruptcy of Saul. So this is either a false apparition of Samuel, a demonic delusion, which the Lord nonetheless uses for his purposes, or I'm going to posit the possibility it is the very rare actual allowance of a departed spirit the spirit of Samuel to appear unto Saul. But this comes not by the manipulations of this woman who is shocked to see what she sees. Imagine her being like a modern faker who's taking advantage of old widows. I can let you talk to your husband, and she goes into a seance, and the spirit of the husband actually shows up. She's shocked that there's actually someone who has appeared. So it's either, again, a delusion, a false apparition, or it is the very rare, in fact, only one time we got here in the Old Testament, appearance of a departed spirit, but one that would come only by divine permission. Even so, if it is that, it is not presented as something that is normal. or ordinary in human experience. There is in the New Testament perhaps one other example of this happening. And it happens at what is called the transfiguration of our Lord. One of the places this is recorded is in Matthew 17. And after Peter had confessed, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, And Christ had taught the disciples that the Son of Man must suffer and that He would go to Jerusalem and that He would die on the cross and He would be raised the third day. Christ then takes Peter, James, and John, and they go up on a mountain, and Christ reveals His glory to them. But who else is there? Moses and Elijah are there. This is Matthew 17, verses 2 and 3. And Jesus was transfigured before them And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with him." This is the real Moses and Elijah. These are the spirits of Moses and Elijah that God is allowing Peter, James, and John to see. Okay, friends, we've looked at the evidence. Does the Bible teach that there are ghosts, as this might be popularly understood in Taoism or even popular American folk religion? And I think the answer to that is no. There are not random departed spirits wandering the earth though there are rebellious and deceitful unseen spirits that attempt to deceive man. At death, our spirits, if we are believers, go to be with the Lord. At death, our spirits, if they are unbelievers, or the spirits of those who are unbelievers, go into eternal torment and both await the resurrection. This teaching should bring us liberty from fear. As Christians, we are not afraid of ghosts. Children who are here in the room, we are not afraid of ghosts. There are not ghosts randomly wandering about the earth. There may be evil men, there may be evil forces and spirits out there, but there are not ghosts that are randomly wandering over the earth. And so we can have freedom from fear. And we should understand that the most important thing for us is not to be thinking about ghosts, but to be considering Christ. Have we confessed faith in Christ so that at our death, we might be absent from the body and present with the Lord awaiting the resurrection? That's what we should be thinking about. Recently, I mentioned it this morning, I've been reading through a bridge version of the missionary John Patton's experiences in the 19th century, late 19th century, in what were called at the time, the colonial name was the New Hebrides in the South Pacific. They're now called the Vanuatu Islands. And anyways, John Patton was a Scottish Presbyterian missionary, and he went to take the gospel to these disparate islands And the people who lived on these islands were just coming into contact with Westerners. And they were, and to a certain degree is still true today, they were a fierce and warlike people. They lived with constant war and killing with each other. And in those days, they were also ardent cannibals. They very frequently Whoever they killed in battle, they would eat them. They had a lot of other things that we would consider to be ghastly practices. When a man died, often his wife or wives were strangled to death, and they could be eaten as well by the community. They practiced infanticide, killed infants at birth. They did a lot of horrible things. And Patton's experiences there are absolutely fascinating. He went in, and by the way, the first missionaries who went into these places were all killed. The first missionaries who went in, some of them within hours of entering into these islands were clubbed to death and eaten. And so the first missionaries were martyrs. Some of the first converts also died as martyrs. And so it's just, it's harrowing, really, and truly to read it. But John Patton, he went initially to an island known as, I'm not sure the pronunciation, but Tana. And it is hard to believe, just reading it, all the things that happened to this man. He was nearly constantly being attacked. while he was there. He was nearly constantly being threatened, his life being threatened. And he was often, the best he could do was just say to the people attacking him, Jehovah will protect me and he will punish you if you hurt me. And he was often able to talk him out of near-death experiences because he would tell them If you hurt me, my God will hurt you. And they were sort of afraid. The Westerners had these boats and guns and such. But anyways, he went through many horrible experiences on Tanna. And he eventually narrowly escaped with his life from that island. And he went to Australia for a while. But then he said, I'm going to go back. But he went back to another island, and this one was called, again, my excuses for the bad pronunciation, Aniwa. He went to Aniwa. And the people there on that island had heard of the missionaries before, and they actually welcomed him to the island. And so he went on the island, and he carried the supplies he had in a boat that he had brought. And he chose a place that he thought on some highland. They found that that was better for dealing with the climate there for Westerners. And he started to build his house. But they came to him, and they said, no, no, no, no, no. Don't build here. We have a better place for you. And they took him to another place, and they said, we want you to build your house here. And so he started digging out the foundations to build the house. And he found, as he dug, scores of human bones. He was building on a place where people had been killed and eaten. He was building on a place that was sort of like a public cemetery. And that's where they told him, though, that's where we want you to build your mission house. And so he did. He built it. He established it. His first wife had died in Tanna. He had remarried a missionary woman in Australia, and she was with him. And there were some other believers from other islands. And they established with much labor. They came under threat, as they had in the other places. But they established the ministry there. And they began to see the fruit of people coming to know Christ. Years later, one of the chiefs who had welcomed him to the island, who had become a Christian, explained what had happened when he first came. He said, when Missy, that's what they called the missionaries, When Missy came and we saw his boxes, we knew he had blankets, calico, axes, knives, and fish hooks and all such things. We said, don't drive him off or we will lose those things. We will let him land, but we will force him to live on the sacred plot. Our gods, the ancestors, the ghosts will kill him and we will divide all that he has among ourselves. That's why they welcomed him and gave him this nice place to build his first house. Missy, the missionary, John Patton, built his house on our most sacred spot, touching all those deadly bones that only our sacred men, our witch doctors, can touch. He and his people lived there and, The gods did not strike. He planted bananas there. And we said, now, when they eat of these, they will drop down dead, as our fathers assured us about anyone who eats fruit from that ground. Anyone except our own sacred men, our witch doctors. These bananas ripened. The missionaries ate them. We kept watching for days and days, and no one died. Therefore, what we have said and what our fathers said is not true. Our gods, the ghosts, cannot kill them. Their Jehovah God is stronger than the gods, the spirits, or the ghosts of Aniwa. The one true God casts out fear of spirits and ghosts and the demonic, and helps us live confidently in Christ. Amen? Let me invite you to stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we give Thee thanks for the confidence that we have in Christ, that if we are in Him, that at our deaths our spirits will go to be with thee, and that one day when Christ comes in power and glory, we will experience the resurrection of which Christ is the first fruits, and there will be no more tears, there will be no more pain, no more death, and we will enjoy the heavenly rest. And so help us to Even in a world like this, where there are still people who believe in such things and who don't know the power of God, help us to be faithful and help us to be charitable, but help us to be firm in standing for the truth of the scriptures and the truth of thy word. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.