1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:03,000 First Samuel 28 this is where we're going to be taking our 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:08,800 study from this morning. Last week in the second 3 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,640 services, afternoon services, we were reading the some chapters 4 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:14,520 in first Samuel back through I think it was 10 through 15 or 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:16,920 something like that. We continued continued reading 6 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:20,840 and I came upon this chapter and it really intrigued me and it 7 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,960 kind of prompted me to, to think about it and get A and get a, a 8 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,640 study together about it. So that's why I decided to teach 9 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:34,720 on it First Samuel chapter 28, it says there now it happened in 10 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,800 those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:42,680 for war to fight with Israel. And Akash said to David, you 12 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,360 surely know that you will go out with me to battle you and your 13 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,600 men. So David said to Akash, surely 14 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:51,840 you will know what your servant can do. 15 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,280 And Akash said to David, therefore I will make you one of 16 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:59,800 my chief guardians forever. Now Samuel had died, and all of 17 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,400 Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Rama in his own 18 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:07,080 city, and Saul had put the mediums and the Spiritists out 19 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,080 of the land. Then the Philistine Philistines 20 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,560 gathered together and came and encamped at Shunam. 21 00:01:13,960 --> 00:01:17,520 So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they all, and they 22 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:21,320 encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the 23 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:24,720 Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 24 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,200 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer 25 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:33,080 him, either by prophets, or by Urim, or by or either by dreams, 26 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:37,080 or by Urim, or by the prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, 27 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:41,560 Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire 28 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:43,920 of her. And his servant said to him, In 29 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:46,560 fact, there is a woman who is a medium and indoor. 30 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:50,640 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he 31 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,800 went, And two men went with him, and they came to the woman by 32 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,320 night. And he said, Please conduct a 33 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:59,800 seance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you. 34 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,280 Then the woman said to him, Look, you know what Saul has 35 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,040 done, how he has cut off the mediums and the Spirit just from 36 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,720 the land. Why then do you lay a snare for 37 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:10,440 me in my life to cause me to die? 38 00:02:11,039 --> 00:02:15,200 And Saul swore to her by the very by the Lord, saying, As the 39 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:18,200 Lord lives, no punishment shall come to you upon you for this 40 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,320 thing. Then the woman said, Whom shall 41 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,320 I bring up for you? And he said, Bring up Samuel for 42 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:26,360 me and woman. When the woman saw Samuel, she 43 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:28,280 cried out with a light loud voice. 44 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:31,280 And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived 45 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:34,680 me, For you are Saul. And the king said to her, Do not 46 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:38,400 be afraid, what did you see? And the woman said to Saul, I 47 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:40,680 saw a spirit ascending out of the earth. 48 00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:43,400 So he said to her, What is this form? 49 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:47,120 And she said, An old man is coming up, and he is covered 50 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,000 with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was 51 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,560 Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed 52 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,520 down. Now Samuel said to Saul, Why 53 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:58,920 have you disturbed me by bringing me up? 54 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,160 And Saul answered, I am deeply distressed, for the Philistines 55 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:05,840 make war against me. And God has departed from me and 56 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,080 does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by 57 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,680 dreams. Therefore I have called you that 58 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:13,400 you may reveal to me what I should do. 59 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,960 Then Samuel said, So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has 60 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:22,040 departed from you and has become your enemy, and the Lord has 61 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,080 done for himself as he spoke by me. 62 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,680 For the Lord has torn the Kingdom out of your hand and 63 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,680 given it to your neighbor David, because you did not obey the 64 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,400 voice of the Lord, nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek. 65 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,440 Therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. 66 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:42,880 Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel into your, with 67 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,880 you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you 68 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:47,520 and your sons be will be with me. 69 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,640 The Lord will also deliver the army of the Israel into the hand 70 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:55,560 of the Philistines. Immediately saw Phil fell full 71 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,960 length onto the ground and was dreadfully afraid because of the 72 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,720 words of Samuel. And there was no strength in 73 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:07,280 him, for he had not eaten, no, no food all day or all night. 74 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,800 And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was severely 75 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,800 troubled, and said to him, Look, your maidservant has obeyed your 76 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,480 voice. And I put my life in, in my 77 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,200 hands and heeded the words which you spoke to me. 78 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,360 Now, therefore, please heed all the voice of your maidservant, 79 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,120 and let me set a piece of bread before you and eat, that you may 80 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:29,920 have strength when you go on your way. 81 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:32,520 But he refused and said, I will not eat. 82 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:36,520 So his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he 83 00:04:36,520 --> 00:04:38,920 heeded their voice. Then he arose from the ground 84 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,880 and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fatted calf 85 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:44,120 in the house, and she hastened to kill it. 86 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,520 And she took flour and needed it, and baked unleavened bread 87 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,120 from it. So she brought it before Saul 88 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:54,480 and his servants, and they ate, and they rose and went away that 89 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:59,840 night, correctly reading. And that's the 28th chapter of 90 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:03,320 First Samuel. Very intriguing, interesting 91 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,680 chapter to say the least. At this time, we'll go to our 92 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:13,640 God in the word of prayer. In the 28th chapter of First 93 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:19,440 Samuel, the book switches from telling some of David's story 94 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,680 and switching to to the focus on King Saul. 95 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:25,840 And it's switching from the focus from David to Saul. 96 00:05:25,840 --> 00:05:29,400 We're about to discover that Saul is, if you want to say, 97 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:34,040 living on a road to nowhere. This is what you could call 98 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,120 maybe the beginning of the end for Saul. 99 00:05:36,800 --> 00:05:39,360 There is, if you know, if you were to borrow the words of 100 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,280 David earlier in the story, he recognizes that there's but a 101 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:46,640 step between himself and death. And the way in which the writer 102 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,000 provides the context for us makes a number of things clear. 103 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:55,040 Number one, first of all, that his position was absolutely 104 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:57,840 desperate. Saul's position was desperate. 105 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,480 There is a verse in the 4th chapter of Ecclesiastes which in 106 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:07,320 an NIV says simply there was a man all alone. 107 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,560 And as I study chapter 28, that particular verse and that phrase 108 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,760 really kind of stood out to me. There was a man all alone. 109 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:19,160 And that was Saul's certain situation. 110 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:24,160 He was absolutely overwhelmed by the sight that he sees of the 111 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:26,640 Philistine forces being assembled against him. 112 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:32,120 And he is at this point a mere shadow of the young man whom we 113 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,880 were introduced to when he was anointed king. 114 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:38,720 If we remember, back in Chapter 9, we were told that there was 115 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:42,640 not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. 116 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:46,480 From his shoulders up, he was taller than any of the people. 117 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:50,680 But we look at him now and we discover him here in this 118 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:52,800 chapter. He's barely recognizable. 119 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,960 He may have shrunk some physically, you know, I guess 120 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:59,560 what they say, you know, you shrink a little bit when you get 121 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:04,040 older, older in age, but he would still be a tall man. 122 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:06,840 His physical stature may have been maintained, but the 123 00:07:06,840 --> 00:07:09,800 structure of his bones and so on, they were the same. 124 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,280 But spiritually, what we're showing here, what we're 125 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:15,240 introduced here, who is a man who is actually fading away, 126 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,680 were introduced to a man who is dying from the inside out. 127 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,440 The circumstances here is they're described there in verse 128 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,920 3 and following are very dangerous, they're grave, and 129 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,320 they give an explanation of the sense of hopelessness. 130 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,760 And we look at verse 5, when Saul saw the army of the 131 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,480 Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. 132 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:43,320 Sir, actually, when we think about his desperate 133 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,000 circumstances, there are three factors that considered 134 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,560 contributed to that factor. The first, of course, what I 135 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:54,240 just mentioned, namely, and then second was the presence of the 136 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,800 Philistines. And this of course was nothing 137 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,200 new. Back in chapter 14 and verse 52, 138 00:08:00,200 --> 00:08:03,320 we're reminded that there was a hard fighting against the 139 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:05,160 Philistines, all the Deus assault. 140 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:09,160 But there are two aspects of this circumstance that add to 141 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:13,680 his sense of desperation. One, the position of in which 142 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:15,440 the Philistines now find themselves. 143 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,920 In previous engagements with with the armies, they had been 144 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:23,600 kind of in a hilly mountainous area, but now they've come down 145 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,840 into what some kind of a kind of like a plane more of a flat 146 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:29,160 area. So what it would do, it would 147 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:32,080 actually strengthen the army that they would have. 148 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:34,679 Now all their Chariots would be at full power that they could 149 00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:38,480 run these Chariots as hard as they could being on flat and and 150 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:42,919 level ground. So the position is 1 aspect and 151 00:08:42,919 --> 00:08:48,240 then the personnel is the other, and particularly the addition of 152 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:51,560 David and the 600 men that Saul is now going to go against. 153 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:55,280 David, we were told has already, and we see in chapter 27, verse 154 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:59,040 4, arisen and gone over. And as a result of that, when it 155 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,800 was told to Saul that he no longer sought him. 156 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,880 So first of all, the presence of the Philistines, the presence 157 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:09,600 and the personnel, and secondly, the absence of Samuel. 158 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:15,160 The third verse is simply a repetition of the obituary of 159 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:17,320 Samuel. This is quite quick, brief 160 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:20,920 obituary, of course, back in verse 25. 161 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:25,640 In the first verse, there Samuel had died and all Israel had 162 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:27,680 mourned, and they buried him in his own city. 163 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:33,040 Now, if you think about it, if you read the previous chapters, 164 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:37,400 Saul and Samuel had not been speaking to each other for quite 165 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,320 some time. But now that he is dead, Saul 166 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:41,640 wishes that he could talk to him. 167 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,240 Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got 168 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:46,840 until it's gone? Of course. 169 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:49,080 And that's where Saul was with Samuel. 170 00:09:49,560 --> 00:09:52,880 That was true in this case. And this little sentence here 171 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,000 that you find following on that end of verse 3. 172 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:00,560 And Saul has put the mediums in the necromancer's out of the 173 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:05,800 land or the spiritist. I think one couple of the 174 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:11,160 translations say which you find yourself saying, well, I wonder 175 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:13,480 why we have mention of his clearing policy. 176 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:17,560 Paul Saul had cleared out the mediums and the spiritist and 177 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:22,200 the necromancer's of the city. We'll find that out later in the 178 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:25,240 in the study. He's desperate because the 179 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,040 presence of the Philistines, because the absence of Samuel 180 00:10:28,040 --> 00:10:31,880 and because we'll notice. Thirdly, the silence of God, the 181 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:34,520 silence of God. Saul inquired of the Lord, but 182 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,160 the Lord in verse 6 we see did not answer him. 183 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,640 Now Saul would be able to recall the beginning of his journey 184 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,760 when when in the presence of Samuel, at the very outset of it 185 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:51,520 all, Samuel had said to him back in Chapter 9, verse 27. 186 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,080 He said, stop here for a while, Saul, that I may make known to 187 00:10:55,080 --> 00:10:59,640 you the word of the Lord. Well, those days were gone for 188 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:02,560 Saul. Those days had passed when his 189 00:11:02,560 --> 00:11:05,200 heart was tender, when the word of the Lord was coming, when his 190 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:07,080 engagement with Samuel was meaningful. 191 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:12,920 But now he's just a a shrunken character, mediocre man. 192 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,440 If you want to say he's now living on a road to nowhere. 193 00:11:16,560 --> 00:11:18,680 Of course, no, the Lord was not speaking. 194 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:23,080 It says the Lord did not answer him either by dreams, which was 195 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:27,080 one of the ways of Commission communication, or by Urim, which 196 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:30,480 was used in a process by the priest determining the will of 197 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,400 God. The Urim was actually, if you 198 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,720 remember the the ephod on the front of the priests had some 199 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:37,520 stones in it. One of those Thrones stones was 200 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:39,720 an Urim. And from what I understand is 201 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,320 that they would sometimes take these stones and cast lots and 202 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:46,440 casting lots kind of help help them to make certain decisions. 203 00:11:46,440 --> 00:11:50,080 Of course, that is all he how he was. 204 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,520 There was no way for him to have access to that anymore because 205 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:56,520 he had butchered all the priests at Knob in previous chapters. 206 00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:59,360 And at the same time he's trembling in fear on the account 207 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:02,840 that the fact that the prophet Samuel himself is now dead. 208 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:06,960 So the writer gives this to us in order that we might see this 209 00:12:06,960 --> 00:12:11,040 picture that we might realize that Samuel is dead and the 210 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,720 voice of God is silent. The Philistines are on the 211 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,200 horizon. And the end is insight. 212 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,840 And the question is, what is he going to do about it? 213 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:21,400 What is he going to do with this point? 214 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:25,040 He's come to another crossroads in his in his life. 215 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:30,320 If you want to say interestingly in First Chronicles 10 verses 13 216 00:12:30,320 --> 00:12:34,560 through 14, it says, so Saul died for his breach of faith. 217 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:38,320 He broke faith with the Lord and that he did not keep the command 218 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:42,400 of the Lord and also consulted a medium seeking guidance. 219 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:45,960 And then it says he did not seek guidance from the Lord. 220 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,560 And here it is says he sought guidance from the Lord. 221 00:12:49,560 --> 00:12:51,440 Well, I don't think there's any contradiction here. 222 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,920 He sought guidance from the Lord, but it didn't look like he 223 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,040 was really at all. He sought it faintly. 224 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:00,400 He sought, if you would, if you want to say it was kind of 225 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:05,120 Saul's backup plan. He saw it too little and too 226 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:06,680 late. He didn't realize that what we 227 00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:09,480 all need to realize and the Scripture says seek the Lord 228 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:13,200 while he may be found and he didn't. 229 00:13:13,280 --> 00:13:19,000 He was desperate. In verses 7 through 14, Saul, he 230 00:13:19,320 --> 00:13:23,440 we find in disguise, Saul said to his servants, here's the 231 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,160 crossroads, here's the answer to our questions and he's struck by 232 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:28,840 the silence of God. And So what he essentially says 233 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,520 to his servant, servant says, listen, if I can't get an answer 234 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:34,960 from heaven, I'm going to get my answer from hell. 235 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:37,240 That's what Saul is basically saying. 236 00:13:37,880 --> 00:13:42,200 He says, find me a woman who is a medium that might, I might go 237 00:13:42,240 --> 00:13:46,720 and inquire of her. If I can't hear from God, I'll 238 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,640 hear from somebody else. I'll go to the dark side if you 239 00:13:49,640 --> 00:13:52,920 want to say. And what he's doing here is he's 240 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:54,800 actually going against his own edict. 241 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,960 Now we understand why the writer has given us that sense that we 242 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,320 saw in verse 3 is said in Saul put the mediums and the net and 243 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:03,880 the necromancer is out of the land. 244 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:06,720 And that was one of the high points actually of his rule. 245 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:10,120 He said, we're not going to tolerate all that heathen stuff 246 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:11,360 here. We're not going to we're not 247 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,640 going to have all that stuff going on while I'm ruling. 248 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:14,840 We're going to get rid of all that. 249 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,480 And so he, for he had forbidden it and he had forbidden it 250 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:19,080 because the law of God forbade it. 251 00:14:20,800 --> 00:14:23,280 And we can read about that if you want to read. 252 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,080 And Deuteronomy got it for big forbidden the practice of 253 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:29,320 divination by means of medium or spiritus or necromancer, if you 254 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:32,480 want to say. And straightforwardly, the Lord 255 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:36,800 did not allow them to do this. And now Saul says we're going to 256 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,480 go ahead and do it. We're going to seek me out a 257 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:42,440 woman who is a medium that I may go and inquire of her. 258 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:49,320 Now notice how quickly his servants respond, says and the 259 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,360 servant said to him, Behold, there is a medium and indoor. 260 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:56,920 Well that was quick. These guys knew about it. 261 00:14:57,600 --> 00:14:59,120 The servants knew what was going on. 262 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:01,400 They knew where to find what Saul was asking. 263 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:05,160 You would have thought they would have said, you know Saul, 264 00:15:05,160 --> 00:15:07,200 we have no idea. Don't you remember that you 265 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,680 forbade all this? Now we don't know where this 266 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:11,560 these are at. But no, they knew. 267 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:14,040 They knew where the mediums were at. 268 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,120 So given the fact that they that there is a possibility of 269 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:24,560 information from that source, we're told that Scott Saul 270 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:31,200 disguised himself. Saul disguised himself and he 271 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,160 went. Now again, of course we don't 272 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,280 the geography of this. We don't want to get deep into 273 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,800 the geography of where this was all happening at the time in 274 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:44,440 order to get to end or he would have had to skirt the camp of 275 00:15:44,440 --> 00:15:47,080 the Philistines. And it wouldn't be a smart move, 276 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:51,160 of course, to go walking around in his kingly robes through the 277 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:54,480 middle of the enemy. But at the same time, this 278 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:57,600 greater concern would surely be to make that nobody would ever 279 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:02,840 know that he the very one who outlawed the practices he was 280 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:04,400 now going to go ahead and participate in. 281 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:10,920 So Saul disguised himself. Hypocrisy, yes, in its finest. 282 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:13,120 Lizzie, when Lizzie and I were talking the other night, she I 283 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,280 was telling her what was going to teach on and and she she said 284 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:18,760 to me, she goes, what a hypocrite. 285 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:21,920 I said yeah. And she said why do we follow 286 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:23,880 people like that? Why do we read the Bible and 287 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:25,680 follow people like that? And I wish I had a better answer 288 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,360 at the time for her. I kind of fumble my way through 289 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:30,360 it. But my answer to her now is we 290 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:33,920 do not follow the humans and the people of the Bible. 291 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:39,160 We follow Jesus and Jesus alone. We use these people, these 292 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:43,160 people, these characters in the Bible as an examples of how to 293 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:46,360 live a Christian life, how to have a heart towards God. 294 00:16:47,200 --> 00:16:51,160 They're people just like you and I, mumbling and fumbling and 295 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:54,040 messing things up as they go, just trying to get through life. 296 00:16:54,040 --> 00:16:58,040 And we're exactly like them. So we don't follow these people. 297 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:03,560 We follow Jesus and Jesus alone. So allow when allow this text to 298 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,480 kind of soak into our mind and see him here, the king, the 299 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,520 rejected king sneaking off to a medium. 300 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:13,480 He's walking contradiction. He's partly truth and mainly 301 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:17,160 fiction. We look at him, we see no spear, 302 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:21,680 no cloak, no hope. And actually this is the final 303 00:17:21,680 --> 00:17:23,480 divesting of his kingly identity. 304 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:27,040 The robe has been torn. He's torn Samuels robe, his own 305 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:31,800 robe is essentially in tatters. It's been cut in The Cave of Egg 306 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:34,120 Indy. His spear was captured in the 307 00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:35,680 encounter of an earlier incident. 308 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:41,080 Now we look at him and then we'll see that this is what 309 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,720 happens. There is a way that seems right 310 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,360 to a man, but it's end is the way to death. 311 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,880 Saul relied on his own sight, his own insight. 312 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:55,080 And the Bible is clear that we are, we are to rely, to use our 313 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:56,720 insight, but we're not to rely on it. 314 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:58,640 We're not to lean on our own insight. 315 00:17:59,120 --> 00:18:01,280 And he leaned on it. He said, if I can't hear from 316 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,520 God, I'll go somewhere else. It's a bit like somebody, you 317 00:18:04,520 --> 00:18:07,760 know, who has a terminal illness, and I don't want to 318 00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,560 make light of it or anything, but you know, somebody has an 319 00:18:10,560 --> 00:18:12,960 illness, terminal illness, and they're willing to try anything 320 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:16,280 and everything that they can maybe to make the process a 321 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:22,600 little bit easier. That wouldn't be surprising of 322 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,960 Saul if he was at his wits end and his ropes in that he was 323 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:28,120 willing to try anything he could. 324 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:29,920 And that's what happened to him here. 325 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,400 There's no dreams, there's no erum, there's no word from God. 326 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:37,040 Therefore he's going only to a place he knows to go, and that 327 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:41,520 is of course to his bad place, default places to our bad place. 328 00:18:42,120 --> 00:18:45,160 And so he and two of his buddies, two men says in verse 329 00:18:45,160 --> 00:18:48,040 eight, came to the woman by night. 330 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:50,800 Of course they did. Of course they went by night. 331 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:55,280 His request was extremely clear. Divine for me by spirit, he 332 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:57,880 said, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you. 333 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:03,240 Now the woman had quite the response. 334 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,400 How ironic is this? It says the woman said to him, 335 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,200 surely you know that Saul has done that. 336 00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:14,840 He has cut off all the mediums and the necromancer's from the 337 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,640 land. She says, you know, we're not 338 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:21,760 supposed to be doing this. She tells that to Saul after 339 00:19:21,760 --> 00:19:26,520 Saul's request, the king, you know, she says, you know, the 340 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,760 king made this into law. He had these edicts and now 341 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:31,120 you're coming to me asking about this. 342 00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:32,920 I don't think we should be doing this. 343 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,120 And then she says, Are you sure this isn't a setup? 344 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:38,400 Are you laying a trap for me? Maybe she's thinking he's an 345 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:40,880 agent of the king and he's doing sort of a follow up to clean up 346 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,520 all the the the remaining mediums of the land. 347 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,200 If you want to say, Saul says, don't even worry about that. 348 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:55,600 He says as the Lord lives, he swore to, he swore to it by the 349 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:57,320 Lord. And as the Lord lives, no 350 00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:59,640 punishment shall come to you for this thing. 351 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:04,760 He had no basis to make this statement at all, none at all. 352 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:09,080 He has no basis in which he can make that kind of pronouncement. 353 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:10,920 It's incongruent at its slightest. 354 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:14,560 And the shameful conflict of that reply as the Lord lives, no 355 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:16,320 punishment shall come to you for this. 356 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:18,960 In other words, including the Lord in his lies. 357 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:23,960 What's all the same? The Midrash for my understanding 358 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:27,040 of the Jewish writings, they capture this incongruity when 359 00:20:27,040 --> 00:20:29,720 they write. Who did Saul resemble at this 360 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,400 moment? A woman who was with her lover 361 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,360 and swears by the life of her husband. 362 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,160 And that is the level of incongruity that Saul is dealing 363 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:43,240 with here, that he's doing that he requests for himself what he 364 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:48,000 has prohibited for others. Now the woman may have thought 365 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:51,680 to challenge his assurance in verse 10, but instead proceeds 366 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:55,040 with the divination. Whom shall I bring up to you? 367 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,360 He said. Bring up Samuel for me. 368 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,200 I want to put a word of caution out, kind of be careful if you 369 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:08,160 want to say we can come back to it a little bit. 370 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:11,800 But we want to make sure that our curiosity, when we read 371 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:15,920 passages like this, we want to make sure that they do not 372 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:20,320 destroy the clarity and the main meaning of the passage. 373 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,120 We'll come back to that. But we're told what happened and 374 00:21:24,120 --> 00:21:26,760 what happened was that Samuel actually appeared. 375 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,560 Samuel appeared and when Samuel appeared, she cried out with a 376 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:38,560 loud voice. There's the more I got into some 377 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:42,920 more, I realized that there is a huge amount of information in 378 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:49,480 these, in these verses that we see and we're not going to touch 379 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:51,200 all that. But I think, I actually think 380 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,560 that this had never happened actually in this woman's life 381 00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:55,200 before. Believe it or not, even though 382 00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:57,240 she was a medium, I kind of believe that this really never 383 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:01,720 happened to her. Whether she was a charlatan or 384 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,640 not, we don't know. But this is it, that she, she 385 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:05,920 couldn't believe what she was seeing to say the least. 386 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,640 She was not sure what was going on and she had reason not to 387 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:11,960 believe. But simultaneously, 388 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,720 simultaneously, the woman realizes that she is actually 389 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,720 dealing with the king. She shouted in a loud voice, and 390 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:19,880 she said to Saul, you deceive me. 391 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:24,840 You are salt. And we're not told that we're 392 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:26,880 not. We're not told how she puts 2 393 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:28,640 into the two together. But she gets it. 394 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,560 She accuses him of deception. And she's absolutely right. 395 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:35,160 He had deceived her because he was salt. 396 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,320 And the king brushes that aside. He really kind of dismissed that 397 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:40,920 and didn't even acknowledge what she had said to him. 398 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,520 He wants to know. He says, what do you see? 399 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:49,880 You see, you know, really when we look at the story, who's the 400 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:54,880 righteous 1 here? The medium is at this point. 401 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:56,800 We shouldn't be doing these things. 402 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,720 She said we shouldn't be doing this all along. 403 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:04,440 It's you know, when we when when your world really gets upside 404 00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,760 down, it really gets upside down when you're not listening to 405 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,320 God, when we're not following God. 406 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,320 And the woman said this all you to see me and that's true. 407 00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:15,480 You did deceive her. And then she says, be afraid, 408 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,640 what do you see? She said, well, I see a God 409 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:21,560 coming out of the earth. This is the English standard 410 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,000 version. I see God coming out of the 411 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,160 earth. Now that word that is used here 412 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,720 is actually the word Elohim, which is has various forms, 413 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,200 plural and singular and all all that stuff that I don't fully 414 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,440 understand. I was reading about it's trait 415 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:38,200 translated variously through the Old Testament. 416 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,200 And basically, what it means here is that she's speaking as a 417 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,480 heathen. In other words, she realizes 418 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:46,160 that what she's encountering here is something that she 419 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:50,520 cannot use her sort of routine language to explain. 420 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:54,680 And so. Not satisfied with that one. 421 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,640 Notice that Saul says there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 422 00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,120 OK, OK, fine. Whatever. 423 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:01,080 You know, what does he look like? 424 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,800 What is his appearance? In other words, could you please 425 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,120 be more specific on what you're seeing here? 426 00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:12,600 And she said an old man coming up and wrapped in a row. 427 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,040 The English standard version says an old man wrapped in a 428 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,760 row. And Saul immediately knew who it 429 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:24,800 was, coming up right at the very beginning of Samuel's life. 430 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,320 Samuel's mother. Made him a little robe used to 431 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:30,840 take it and used to take it to him and how this robe had been 432 00:24:31,120 --> 00:24:33,720 actually featured in the story of Samuel the prophet. 433 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,240 And so it appeared that that appearance of Samuel scares the 434 00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:38,720 woman. But to the extent that which was 435 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,840 fearful, I think is minimal in comparison to the mention of the 436 00:24:42,840 --> 00:24:46,640 road which brings Saul absolutely to his knees. 437 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:50,920 An old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a row. 438 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:56,200 Yeah, Saul knew the road. Saul knew exactly who it was. 439 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,800 He understand the significance of it. 440 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:01,840 He knew the road because actually Saul tore the robe in 441 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,880 chapter 15. So the very mention of that road 442 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:07,160 would take him right back to that incident. 443 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,800 You know this stuff. That we do early in our lives, 444 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,640 that we make mistakes on. And these, these, these 445 00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:18,880 significant moments in our life, you know, we can't run from 446 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:20,320 those things. We can't hide from them. 447 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,560 Saul couldn't hide from him. No matter how old we live, we 448 00:25:23,560 --> 00:25:26,160 can't run. We can't hide, we can't disguise 449 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:28,760 ourselves from the things that we've done in the past. 450 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:32,280 He disguised. Himself in his clothes, but he 451 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:36,240 can't disguise his lying heart. The Lord has. 452 00:25:36,240 --> 00:25:41,880 Torn the Kingdom of Israel from you this day we see back in 453 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:45,360 chapter 15, Samuel said to him, and he's given it to a neighbor 454 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,000 who is greater than you. And down here for the first time 455 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:51,960 it finally comes out and that neighbor is David himself. 456 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:55,080 What a picture it is. And Saul knew that it was 457 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,640 Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid 458 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,520 homage. I want to take a. 459 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,400 Couple minutes to look at the two final sections here there is 460 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:11,880 plain as passage to spark our fascination and curiosity. 461 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,840 And so we, we want to make sure what do we do with we? 462 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:20,280 Want to make sure that. We don't do. 463 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:23,720 We have to resist. The temptation to fill in the 464 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:25,480 blanks when it comes to the Word of God. 465 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:28,400 We have to resist the. Temptation to fill in the 466 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,960 blanks. There's a saying that says the 467 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,080 main things are the plain things, and the plain things are 468 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,240 the main things. And it's an honest. 469 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,600 Acknowledgement of the fact that we're not given an explanation 470 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:40,240 of how it was Samuel that appeared. 471 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,080 And the reason that we have no explanation is because we're not 472 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:44,440 supposed to have the explanation. 473 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,000 What we know about spiritists and Medium and the occult is 474 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,760 absolutely is that it is absolutely forbidden. 475 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:54,760 That's what we know. The Bible is. 476 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:56,760 Clear about that? The Bible actually tells us 477 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,680 nothing about how these things happen, and it is an absolute 478 00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:02,200 mistake to try and draw conclusions on those matters 479 00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:05,080 from this chapter. You see, here's the question. 480 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:09,160 Did this woman have dark powers by which to bring Samuel back 481 00:27:09,160 --> 00:27:12,400 from the dead? Did she have those powers? 482 00:27:13,320 --> 00:27:16,840 The Bible doesn't say. One, Commerce said. 483 00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:21,440 One commentator said this. It seems far, far more likely to 484 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,880 me that the Lord sent Samuel to Saul on this evening, just as on 485 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:29,880 very different occasion he sent Moses until Elijah to Jesus. 486 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,040 I think that's a great. Way to put this into 487 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,880 perspective. In other words, a sovereign God, 488 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:39,560 even in the midst of stupidity, darkness, and chaos, will still 489 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:43,560 accomplish his purpose. So he was desperate. 490 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:47,600 He's disguised and he is in verse 15 and following deserted. 491 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:52,320 He's deserted Samuel. Samuel now is now in the focused 492 00:27:52,320 --> 00:27:55,000 and Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me on 493 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:59,600 bringing me up basically and I was having a good rest. 494 00:27:59,800 --> 00:28:06,160 What are you bringing me up for? See, this is true to Samuel or 495 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:09,840 true to Samuel's character. Samuel was a very outspoken 496 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:13,400 prophet. I mean, he'll, he gave it to 497 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:17,720 everybody very straightly when we don't think, when he didn't 498 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:19,640 like something, he actually just said it. 499 00:28:20,440 --> 00:28:23,080 He what he didn't curtail around or anything like that. 500 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,720 Samuel was very direct and Saul's explanation in response 501 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:28,600 is almost word for word with verse 6. 502 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,880 Remember back in verse 6, we're told that when Saul inquired of 503 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,880 the Lord, the Lord didn't answer either by dreams or by Urim or 504 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,880 by the prophets. Now here, this is what he says. 505 00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,600 He says I am great distress for the Philistines are warring 506 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:44,840 against me. That was the presence of the 507 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,520 Philistines. God has turned away from me. 508 00:28:47,640 --> 00:28:50,880 That is the silence of God. And he answers me no more, 509 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:54,560 either by prophets or by dreams. Well, there's a missing one 510 00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:55,920 there. The one missing is Urim. 511 00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,280 And why is there no Urim? Because there are no priests. 512 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:05,200 Why are there no? Priests because Saul had them 513 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:07,800 all slaughtered, we remember in previous chapters. 514 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:09,920 Now what? He's actually. 515 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,440 Saying to Samuel in common languages, I couldn't get a hold 516 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:15,440 of anyone else. So you're my last resort, is 517 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:20,600 what he was saying to Samuel. I'm sorry I had to wake you up. 518 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,400 That's what he's saying. And I'm expecting you to tell me 519 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,840 what to do. I'm expecting you to tell me 520 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:28,680 what to do. That's why I have summoned you. 521 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:34,040 You see, Saul still has his his big guy personality. 522 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,120 If you want to say, you know, he's still trying to summon 523 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:40,160 people, he's still trying to give out directions. 524 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:44,400 He thinks that he's in control actually when his life is dying 525 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:48,280 from the inside out. I have summoned you to tell me 526 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:53,640 what shall I do? And Samuel said, well, why did 527 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:56,280 you come? Ask me what are you coming to me 528 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:57,760 for? Is what Samuel said. 529 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:03,320 The Lord has turned away from me and I and I'm the prophet of the 530 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:05,080 Lord. So if the Lord has turned from 531 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:09,280 you, I'm with God. Therefore I've got. 532 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,160 Nothing to say to you because the prophet of the Lord cannot 533 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,400 be separated from the message of the Lord, and the message of the 534 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:18,120 Lord I gave to you back in chapter 15 when I told you the 535 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:19,560 Lord has toward the Kingdom from you. 536 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:24,000 I got nothing more to. Say basically what Samuel was 537 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:25,960 saying. Now once again, it's not, you 538 00:30:26,280 --> 00:30:29,440 know, we need to make sure it's we're not diverted into how this 539 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,480 conversation could actually happen or take place. 540 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,600 Howie, a living human could have a conversation with a dead 541 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,760 spirit. If you want to say we can't, we 542 00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:41,680 can't focus on that curiosity. That should not be our focus. 543 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,960 The one who did not complete the destruction of the Amalekites 544 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:50,160 says Samuel is about to be destroyed completely. 545 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,840 Verse 18 because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, you 546 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:56,640 didn't carry out this fierce war with that against Amalek. 547 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:59,760 Therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. 548 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,760 In other words, Samuel, like we said before it had nothing else 549 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:10,680 to say to Saul. Put a cross reference up here 550 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,720 for us. Luke 23 verses 6 through 9. 551 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:16,760 You can follow it up on your own if you want, but Luke records 552 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,720 for us kind of a really chilling piece of engagement we have in 553 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:22,880 the relationship of Jesus and others. 554 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:27,800 It says in Luke 23 verses 6 through 9, it says when Pilate 555 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:31,200 heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean, that is 556 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,560 Jesus, which he discovered that he was, that he belonged to 557 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:38,440 Herod's jurisdiction, and he sent him over to Herod, who was 558 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:40,800 it was himself in Jerusalem at the time. 559 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,600 Now listen to what it says here. When Herod saw Jesus, he was 560 00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:49,000 very glad, for he had a long desire to see him because he he 561 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,160 had heard about him and he was hoping to see him sign done by 562 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:55,640 him. So he questioned him at length, 563 00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:00,960 but he made no answer. Jesus had nothing to say to 564 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,000 Harry. It had all been said. 565 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,080 There was no reason for Jesus to have a response to Harry because 566 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:14,400 Jesus said all he needed to say. Listen to the Spirit of God will 567 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:20,280 not always strive with us. Our hearts may not be tender or 568 00:32:20,280 --> 00:32:24,680 touched by the Word of God. We may shut our ears for one 569 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,080 last time to the Word of God and discover that never in our life 570 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:29,600 will we ever have a sensitive moment. 571 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:32,800 For the word of God. To touch our hearts. 572 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,240 That's what happened to Herod. That's what happened to Saul. 573 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:38,840 Be not deceived. God is not mocked. 574 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:44,720 Galatians 6 through 7, Saul was done. 575 00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:49,000 This tragic picture of this man, the utter hopelessness of this 576 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:52,440 man, painfully exposed. He's desperate, he's disguised, 577 00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:54,960 he's deserted. In the verse 20 through 25, in a 578 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:58,920 sentence or two, he's done. He stood. 579 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:02,040 Head and shoulders above most of the community and is now flat on 580 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:07,120 his face, says. At once. 581 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:09,040 He fell full length to the ground. 582 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:12,120 In other words, he didn't ease himself to the ground. 583 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:18,800 He fell flat on his face to the ground, didn't catch himself 584 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,360 with his hands or his knees flattened, filled with fear. 585 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:27,080 Because of Samuel's words. Because of Samuel's words. 586 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,080 That is a very, very important phrase. 587 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,480 The words of Samuel, the words of the prophet, the word of God, 588 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,880 sharper than two edged sword, cutting into the very heart of 589 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:38,720 things. Yes. 590 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:40,560 He heard his voice and it was clear. 591 00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:44,640 You and your sons are finished. You're finished and your sons 592 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,360 are going to be with me, IE dead. 593 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:54,520 Now somehow. Or another this lady shows up 594 00:33:54,520 --> 00:34:01,000 again in verse 21 through 24 it says and she recognizing the the 595 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,160 predicaments of Saul that basically he had not eating, he 596 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,480 was dehydrated, he was in shambles, he had no strength in 597 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:10,040 him realizing he is terrified. He's got the shakes, she said. 598 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,000 You know your servants have obeyed you. 599 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:14,639 I've taken my. Life into my hand. 600 00:34:14,639 --> 00:34:16,199 I've listened to what you had to said to me. 601 00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:18,040 Now, therefore, you should obey your servant. 602 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:22,199 And she encourages him to eat. He says he doesn't want to eat. 603 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:24,800 And then she encourages the servants that he brought with 604 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,239 him to join in the encouragement of him to eat. 605 00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:31,679 And he listens to the words. So he rose from the earth and 606 00:34:31,679 --> 00:34:36,920 sat on the bed. It's really gone. 607 00:34:36,920 --> 00:34:41,560 Comprehension if you can picture this story in your mind. 608 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:46,159 And not be. Unmoved, Saul began with such 609 00:34:46,159 --> 00:34:48,520 promise. Everybody thought he was the 610 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,880 best. And now we look at him sitting 611 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,760 on the bed like a shriveled mess, waiting on this lady to 612 00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:57,280 prepare him a meal to prepare to preparing a meal fit for a king, 613 00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:58,960 for a man who wasn't fit to be king. 614 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,720 And sometimes we say, well, yes, it's just the drama of the 615 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:04,920 Bible. Yeah, it is drama. 616 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:06,600 There is major drama in the Bible. 617 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:09,320 And we can't. Skirt. 618 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:15,720 We can't minimize that. It's striking, but you know, one 619 00:35:15,720 --> 00:35:18,120 feature of our day is actually hopelessness. 620 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,320 The description that Paul gives the Ephesians, which we find is 621 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:27,400 in Ephesians 2 and 12. We remember the two fellows that 622 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,360 were on the road to Emmaus and their whole life had collapsed. 623 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:32,920 Hopelessness because of the death of Jesus. 624 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,200 We says we hope that he had was going to be the 1:00. 625 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,440 And then, of course, Jesus spoke and their eyes were open and 626 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:41,520 they realized that in this historical reality of the 627 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:46,000 resurrection there was not only one, not only for them hope and 628 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,480 hope and their hopelessness, but there is hope for all time, for 629 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:53,760 all people in the one source, namely Jesus the Christ. 630 00:35:55,080 --> 00:35:58,800 Do we know that? Hope if the Word of God has 631 00:35:58,800 --> 00:36:02,720 touched you today, if you hear his voice, do not like Saul. 632 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,480 Harden our heart, act on the Word of God. 633 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:11,040 Are you here because your heart is tender for the Word of God, 634 00:36:11,160 --> 00:36:15,080 tender for the love of Jesus? Or are you here just out of 635 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:17,640 routine? That's a dangerous. 636 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:19,280 Place to be if you're here out of routine. 637 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:24,120 Very, very dangerous. Let the word of. 638 00:36:24,120 --> 00:36:28,160 God prick your heart every time that you read it, every time we 639 00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:32,280 open it up, every time that we see an opportunity to help a 640 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:35,440 brother or sister, that's what we should be doing. 641 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:40,200 Act on where God's word are you here and you've heard the word 642 00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:43,160 of God and you want to be baptized for the remission of 643 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,280 our sins. Of course we want you have to 644 00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,800 believe. Believe that Jesus is who he 645 00:36:47,800 --> 00:36:49,480 says he is. And that word believe is a 646 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:52,200 loaded word. It's an action word. 647 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,040 It causes us to do something because we believe we have to do 648 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:59,960 something about it. We repent of the. 649 00:36:59,960 --> 00:37:03,920 Way we are living, we change our way of life we are now following 650 00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:08,000 Jesus and and him alone we confess his name to our God the 651 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,040 Father and we are baptized for the remission of our sins if. 652 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:14,800 There's someone here. Who just needs the prayers of 653 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,280 the Church or needs to make a public confession in any way? 654 00:37:17,280 --> 00:37:19,440 We ask you, please come while we stand and while we sing.