1 Samuel 28 vs 1–25

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verses 1 – 2

 Notice that David doesn’t necessarily commit here. This is a bad

situation for David. He has fled to the Philistines and as many people

point out mostly the negative in that, it did bring about peace with

Saul. Saul has ceased pursuing him. However, the inevitable has

happened…

 The enemy of his people happens to be gearing up to go to war with

his people. Bad spot for sure. Has David really defected? Achish is

about to find out… David doesn’t commit. We aren’t given any other

details about what’s going on with David and what he is thinking but

we do find out later that God miraculously delivers him from doing

the unthinkable…, which would be actually killing his own people in

battle.

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verses 3 – 6

 We have seen Saul exhibit great courage in the past, he has killed his

thousands, as the song goes… But now we see him towards the end of

his life and he is a reduction of the man he once was. Life isn’t

supposed to be like that. As you age, you should be learning,

becoming wiser, stronger, more sturdy, more reliable, enduring and

poised…

 As you continue to learn, this is just natural. Now, what you choose to

learn is up to you. Saul was given clear direction from the Lord

through Samuel and even acknowledges the will of the Lord in saying

things to David, on two occasions, that he is the Lord’s chosen and

that David was blessed of the Lord, yet he still spent his life pursuing

him, wanting to kill him…

 Saul has learned the lessons that life has to offer outside the will of

God. How to be unsure, continually unstable, fumbling through life,

always seeking for himself, never satisfied, never restful in heart and

mind…

 Totally different path living and learning within the will of God.

Taking in God’s word and heeding God’s word. God shepherd’s folks

to lie down in green pastures…, He sets a table for you in the presence

of your enemies…, He teaches you to understand all things and all

wisdom…, so as you age, you increase. Proverbs 16:31 says, “The

silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of

righteousness…”

 Saul has degraded throughout his life to the point here that he is lost

his courage, his strength of heart is gone and while it’s not too late to

turn to God, he has done so in a self-focused manner, unrepentant and

unbroken over how he has lived and a hard fact is set in front of us…,

God does not answer Him.

 Isaiah 1:15-16 says, “When you spread out your hands, I will hide My

eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.

Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;

Put away the evil of your doings before My eyes. Cease to do evil,

learn to do good…” God calls for an acknowledgement, a turning

from sin, and then you can move on… That’s where the learning is!

Without personal accountability there is never personal growth!

 If you don’t go that route, this pattern of accountability, responsibility,

acknowledgement and then repentance then you don’t learn within the

will of God. The result is degradation. Degradation is miniature

destruction. That is the work of the enemy, not God. So, this just

makes sense… You cannot ask God to lead you in your own

degradation… He won’t answer.

 We see this in the New Testament as well. Romans 1:24, “Therefore,

God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts…”

Romans 1:26, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions…”

Romans 1:28, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their

knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind…”

 Saul’s desperation is a result of his own decisions. And to

acknowledge that is extremely hard for anyone… So, he does what he

knows best to do… He steps outside of the will of God…

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verse 7

 Totally sounds like a scene out of Lord of the Rings! HA! Now, Saul

had outlawed witches and the occult and necromancing… It was

actually one of the good things he had done. So, it’s surprising that his

servants know where one is! That speaks volumes about what the

people around him really thought of him…

 Let me just say this…, if you are a person of low character, it is not

rational, its insane, to think that the people around you are going to

think highly of you. If you want to be respected, be respectful. If you

want folks to be kind to you, be kind. If you want folks to think

highly of you, be a person that does what is right… Sounds obvious

but it impresses me how many people are surprised, genuinely

surprised, when folks around them don’t absolutely love them when

they aren’t great to the people around them!

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verse 8

 Strictly forbidden by the law. Deuteronomy 18:10-14, “There shall not

be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass

through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or

one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells,

or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who

do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these

abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You

shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which

you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for

you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.”

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verses 9 – 10

 Saul has gone from bad to very worse. What he just said is

demonically inspired, it is satanic, it is pure evil. Essentially, “What

God has said will not come to pass.” He swears to God that God’s

Word will be proven wrong. That is the original thought given to Eve

by Satan himself…, it cost her life and it will cost Saul his life.

 1 Chronicles 10:13 says, “So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he

had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of

the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance.” It is

the tip top of the mountain called STUPID to stand against the word

of a faithful God!

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verses 11 – 14

 Ok, why are we to stay away from consulting spiritists? Why is the

occult and witchcraft off limits? Because there is power there…

Conjuring the dead and demonic, ghostly seances, Ouija Boards and

Whoppers…, what? They are so good they must be witchcraft! HA!

Dabble with fire and you will get burned. You open your home, your

mind, your eyes to things you should not and if you are unsaved, you

open yourself as a very host for the demonic through these things…

 Did she actually conjure Samuel? This is a controversial conversation

and there is great debate. However, the Bible is clear. Samuel steps

forward. He tells her this is Saul in front of her! I take the Bible

literally… Now, can this still be done today…? Debatable…, why?

 Things have changed. This is before the cross. This witch sees a spirit

ascending out of the earth… That’s not where Samuel would go today.

We know from Luke 16 that prior to Jesus accomplishing the cross,

when a saint died, they went to a compartment of hell called,

“Paradise.” A compartment that is empty today… Jesus said to the

thief on the cross, “Today, you will be with Me in paradise,” and then

later He said to Mary, “I have not yet ascended to My Father…”

 This verse in 1 Samuel again verifies where hell is…, in the center of

the earth, and so Samuel today is in heaven, led there by Jesus the

Firstfruit of all men… And so, the spirit of Samuel is no longer here

on earth, in the earth, but now in heaven, and no man leaves heaven…

 Well, can one that is in hell today be conjured? No. Just like we see in

Luke 16, the man that was in torment asked that someone be sent to

his brothers by Abraham…, he couldn’t go but apparently there was a

way for Abraham to send someone from Paradise… So, interesting

conversation. I have no problem with this being just as the Bible says,

this is Samuel…

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verses 15 – 18

 Another reason why I do believe this is indeed Samuel. Notice, he

confirms what God had already said. Anyone anywhere anytime that

says they have heard from the Lord or that an angel appeared to them,

if the message they received is not strictly aligned with the Word of

God, then it must be rejected…

 Galatians 1:6-9, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from

Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which

is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert

the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach

any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be

accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone

preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him

be accursed.”

 And entirely interesting that Samuel brings up something 15 years old!

It’s so thought provoking! Perhaps one would think of Saul pursing

David or Saul not taking care of his country or any of the other things

we have seen Saul wrongly do…, but he goes back to 15 years ago!

Saul, you disobeyed God…, and you have yet to repent! That’s where

you stopped growing and started degrading! All the way back there,

that’s where all of this current distress comes from…

 Here’s the point. It’s not that God holds grudges, its that folks, YOU,

me, we don’t really move on from things we don’t deal with. We just

bury them and then try to plant crops over their graves… And we eat

off the rot and call it fruit… Roots in that which is buried… Saul never

repented and from that grew bad fruit… Incredible principle and call

to go back in your own heart of hearts and actually deal with things

you ought to deal with, with others and with the Lord!

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verse 19

 There’s the kicker. Maybe you are just fine because you think you

deserve to suffer, so you’re just fine not dealing with your junk…, but

your children are innocent… And whatever fruit that comes from

you, you feed them… If that’s not enough for you to face yourself

then you don’t know love… And your suffering, no matter how much

you deserve it, causes others to suffer around you…

 Samuel is outside of time in the realm of the spirit. He can see the end

from the beginning now, and he sees that tomorrow Saul’s sons will be

killed in battle and Israel will fall… I think Saul probably wants his

money back from this witch!

 Up until this moment, Saul had time to repent… But no longer. There

comes a time where the damage is done and it becomes locked in…

There should be an urgency in each of us to clear the red in our ledger

with the Lord before consequence becomes permanent.

1 Samuel Chapter 28 Verses 20 – 25

 Saul should have fell on his face years ago, but since he didn’t then of

his own choice, he does so now of not his own choice. James 4:10

says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you

up…” OR. Obadiah 1:3-4 says, “The pride of your heart has deceived

you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high;

You who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’

Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest

among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.”

 I wonder and hope we can all hear that tonight. Because it is the tip

top of the mountain called STUPID to stand against the word of a

faithful God!