1st Samuel chapter 28. You can
follow me in your pastor's commentary as well. We are in the middle
of our excursion, our journey through the life of King David
as we are seeking to understand God's story of redemption in
the life of his monarch. We are returning again to his
fugitive state where he is running from King Saul who has sworn
to kill David, who is God's anointed. And David is finding himself
engaged in certain strategic warfare tactics that can be very
challenging to us who read the narrative. We raise the question,
why would David do such a thing? But I do want you to remember
that the Bible is not ultimately about David, it's about who?
It's about Jesus Christ. And as he said, Lo, I come in
the volume of the book is written of me. You got to listen very
carefully to how God speaks through the narrative about the life
of Jesus that is typified in the life of these characters
in the Bible, such as David. Today's message is going to be
a bit challenging if your understanding of the sovereignty of God and
the rule of God over everything is wanting or deficient. So let me say it like this. You
can handle the hard teachings of scripture if you believe that
God is in control of everything. You can handle the difficult
things of the word of God if you actually believe that God
controls every molecule in the universe. that good, bad, and
ugly, demons, devils, and angels, saints, and apes are under the
rule of God. Now, when you are able to know
that, then you can understand that God will allow some very
difficult, very toxic, very challenging portions of history to be recorded
in the Word of God to challenge you and I around the fact that
God is in control. Let me say it like this as we
work through our text. If you ever get to a point in
your life where you are thinking that God is not in control, you
will be in danger of not believing the promises of God. If you get
to a point in your life, and it can happen to any of us, we
are only sinners saved by grace. and you can get to a point where
your thought processes have actually exceeded the boundaries of the
Word of God and you will find yourself desperately listening
to voices that actually do not agree with the Bible. There are
plenty of them in our world. Saul is going to be an example
for us of a person who had all the privileges of the kingdom,
but he spurned and rejected every one of them to the point where
he actually now openly rebels against God in seeking answers
from witches for his predicament. On the other hand, we have King
David, whom God said, he's a man after my own heart, who though
he is very human, as we learned last week, the one thing that
David never failed to do was call upon God in time of trouble. Now this is very critical because
the lessons that are going to come up out of our text will
require you to be a student of narrative history. In other words,
the narrative takes you through the events in such ways that
if you are not sensitive to the narrative's hints, you will be
sidetracked. The narrator assumes that you
are a covenant believer because the Bible was written first and
foremost to the covenant people of God. the writer of the book
of samuel first samuel and second samuel just like the books of
moses were written to the covenant people of israel and they were
assumed to know the law of god and the rules of god so that
the writer doesn't have to explain everything to you and me as we
make our way through the text you and i know that the wages
of sin is what That's right, and that the soul that sinned,
it shall what? Right, we already know that. We know that to obey
is better than sacrifices. We know that. We know what the
Word of God says. So when we see behavior patterns in the
Word of God, and we see how God responds to them, we don't have
to ask the question, why did God do that? We know why God
did it, because man disobeys God's Word. Or when God blesses,
we know why God blesses. Because he's a faithful covenant-keeping
God and he has plainly said if you seek me you will find me
When you seek me with what all of your heart now, I just shared
this introduction in order to help massaging your thinking
what is going to be the juxtaposition between David and Saul again
in the narrative remember David and Saul are a larger paradigm
of a faithful King versus an unfaithful King a faithful servant
versus the unfaithful servant The faithful church versus the
unfaithful church. The faithful believer who trusts
God, even in difficult times. And the unfaithful believer,
or professing believer, who actually goes to other sources in order
to get their answer. Now what's so germane about what
we're going to deal with today once we start we're going to
be running is that today you got all kinds of people that
are engaged in looking for answers from the underworld through necromancers
and mediums and fortune tellers and witches In fact, it's so
popular, people are making tons of money talking about how to
call your mama up from the grave, and your cousin up from the grave.
Am I telling the truth? They're making tons of money.
Now, here's where the Christian challenge comes in. Will the
Christian actually believe that what those people are doing is
true, or will the Christian believe the word of God? Will the Christian
adhere to what they don't realize on the television screen? It's
a full-fledged system of tricanery designed to dupe the masses of
the people into believing something that is contrary to God's Word
because they have no ability to go behind the screen, behind
the cameras, and see all of the props that are set up designed
to deceive the masses. Like people are massively entertained
by magicians. And they swear magicians can
levitate to the extent of 20 and 30 feet off the ground. Well,
it looks that way on television. And it appears that way when
by hyper-suggestive methods used by these hooksters as Saul is
going to be drawn in by the absolutely craftiness of a witch. He will
not know what's happening to him, but what's happening to
him is his own undoing because he did not believe the word of
God. And here's what we say. There really only is one kind
of Christian, a Bible-believing Christian. Everybody else is
very questionable because Jesus said it himself in John chapter
8 31 if you are my disciple You will continue in my word and
you will know the truth and the truth will what and it'll set
you free from the lies that you and I are susceptible to when
we don't know the Word of God and Isaiah 8 20 puts it like
this to the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to
God's Word It's because there's no light in them at all The challenge
then for the Christian is to make sure that you don't give
your emotions or your mind over to lies because if you do you
might just very well be deceived. So now let's work through our
account because remember we are stating that David is a fugitive
running from Saul who is seeking to do what? Right, because God
has plainly told Saul that David is going to be king. And so this
is a very, very challenging portion of history for David. And I want
you to pull up the first point, and let's quickly work through
our text to get to chapter 28. Our first point is, Saul in pursuit
of David what? Remember what we learned last
week? God gave us a little parenthetical, a little side story, the cute
story of David acting a fool, and Sister Abigail delivering
him from his whooping that he was going to get from God. Now
God does that because God actually is inserting into that account
things that will come up again in the future. You and I know
that, right? God is so good. Isn't he good enough to stop
you in your track and put hurdles in your way and stumbling blocks
so that you fall back into the will of God? Right? So that's
what God did for David. But like I told you, if you took
chapter 25 out and started at chapter 24 and went to chapter
26, you wouldn't miss a beat because it opens right up again
with David having to run from Saul. Now, I want to share with
you that in chapter 26, where we're going to look at a few
verses, we have what is called a déjà vu. You know what a déjà
vu moment is? It's when something that you
are going through seems like something you have already gone
through. That's a French term, deja vu. It's the idea of, did
this happen before? I see so many similarities between
this and that, I'm wondering, am I going in circles? Well,
God does that in the Word of God too, in order that we might
learn lessons the second time around where events are very
similar. King Saul, once again, is pursuing David in the wilderness.
But King Saul now is going to take a nap. Remember last time
he went in the cave to do some business. Remember? And during
that time he was out of pocket and David caught him and clipped
his garment. Remember that? But David showed
the king that he had no ill intentions towards him. David never wanted
to kill the king. He called him God's anointed.
This time Saul is after David again. And you remember how Saul
put on that award-winning performance? David my son my son. I love you. Is that your voice?
You're gonna hear it again now Scene number two with Saul doing
it again. He wants another Academy Award But getting more to the
serious aspect of what's happening with Saul is that Saul is a king
without God's approval and without God's spirit and he's a man that's
vexed by evil demons and On a human level, I would say that you should
feel sorry for him, but I actually have no authority for you to
do that because God wants you to be warned by him. He really
doesn't want you to feel sorry for him as much as he wants you
to be warned that you and I, apart from Christ, can do nothing.
And that when you and I operate in a calling or a service, apart
from the grace of God, you and I will find ourselves fighting
against God and it will be to our own undoing. Point number
one, Saul in pursuit of David again, we see that David exposes
Saul's weakness again. In 1 Samuel 26, verse 11, I want
you to mark how that David has an opportunity as his men had
shown him that he could now take King Saul again. Look at verse
eight, I'm gonna start at verse eight and make our way through
verse 11 of 26. Then said Abishai to David, God
hath delivered thine enemies into your hand this day. Didn't
David's men get excited about killing somebody? God had delivered
your enemy into your hand. They were soldiers, right? Now,
therefore, let me smite him. He wanted to kill the king, didn't
he? He says, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at
once, and I will not smite him a second time. David said to
Abishai, destroy him not. Now, I want you to mark that,
saints, Because that's the character of Christ in the age of the gospel. Christ did not come to condemn
the world, but that the world through him might be what? For
who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and
be what? So this was the key that kept
David from falling and brought him to the throne. He knew that
he didn't have the right in himself to arbitrarily kill or make alive,
unlike Saul. See when despots take the throne
and they forget that God is truly the sovereign one They will act
like God and determine who should live and who should die David
knew better than that and we read in verse 10 and David said
furthermore as the Lord lives What did he say the Lord shall
what? Or his day shall come to die or he shall descend in the
battle battle and what is he prophesying or not? Verse 11
the Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against
the Lord's anointed But I pray thee now watch this because it's
getting ready to happen Take down now the spear that is at
his bolster and the crews of water and let us go So he was
gonna sneak up to Saul take the sword his spear and take his
water take his protection and take his provision and Take his
protection and take his provision so that when Saul wakes up, he'll
realize once again that God is not on his side. Take his provision
and take his protection to let him know that he is fighting
a futile battle against the Lord's anointed. And this is why I say
in point one, sub point A, David exposes Saul's weakness again. You guys see that? his weakness
again. Point number two, David exposes
Saul's men as what? Sleeping dogs. I want you to
see it. Look at verse 12. Are you there?
So David took the spear and the crews of water from Saul's bolster,
and they got them away. And no man saw it, nor knew it,
neither what? For they were all asleep. because
a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them. Can you imagine
what happened? Saul is sitting in a strategic
area of the wilderness and he's surrounded by men. They're supposed
to be his armor bearers. Saul is sowing wood and they're
all sowing more wood than Saul. And that's why David goes in
and takes his sword and his crews of water And now David is about
to confront Saul to show Saul once again that Saul has no defense
against the Lord. There's no counsel, nor knowledge,
nor wisdom against the Lord. And so that brings us to our
second point where we say David exposes Saul's men as what? Sleeping
dogs. Now, what we know is that when
you read an account like this, you want to ask the Lord, as
our elder said this morning, Lord, what are you saying to
us by this language? Because this was not a natural
sleep. This was a divine judgment that God placed upon Saul and
his men. He put them into a what? Deep
sleep. Now again, if you know your Bible,
here's what you know. People who are in deep sleeps are not
walking in the light. That people who are spiritually
asleep are people who have not been awakened from the dead.
by the work of grace, by which now they are people of the day,
children of the day, who walk in the day, who walk in the light.
Like Jesus said in John's Gospel, chapter 9, walk in the what? Light. While you have the light,
walk in the light. And the Word of God comes imperatively
to all of us. Awake thou sluggard from your
sleep, and Christ will give you light. But what does God frequently
do? And he did this to national Israel
over and over again. He put them in a deep sleep,
didn't he? Remember Isaiah chapter 6, where Isaiah had saw the glory
of the Lord, and having seen the glory of the Lord, he heard
the Lord saying, who shall go for us? And remember what Isaiah
said, I will go, Lord, I will go. And what did God commission
Isaiah to do? Go to this people and say to
them, eyes you have, but you do not see. ears you have but
you do not hear for the Lord shall cast upon you a sleep and
a slumber from which you will not awake. Now that same terminology
is used by Jesus concerning Israel in Matthew's gospel chapter 13
when he says God has not given them ears to hear nor eyes to
see. And it's the same language used
by Paul in the last chapter of the book of Acts, when Paul said,
well hath Isaiah the prophet said, ears they have, but they
hear not, eyes they have, but they see not, and God hath placed
them into a deep, deep slumber. That's the condition of man outside
of God. That's the state of humanity
apart from Christ. Now let's make a personal application.
Have you ever been in a deep sleep? Have you been in such
a deep sleep that someone could have come and touched you and
you would have not known it? I'm going to make an application
for you so that you can understand that the condition between the
believer and the non-believer is that the believer is awake
and the non-believer is still asleep. Years ago when I fought
as a martial artist, as a young teenager, I would go across the
state and the nation doing tournaments. And as young people want to do,
I abused my health by staying up all night and partying, right
along with my martial artist partners. Because we just thought,
you know, if we could get a couple hours sleep, we could still whoop
some butt and go on home, right? Well, one night we caught a hotel
somewhere around, LA, on the outskirts of LA, a little Motel
6. Me and my partner, Doug Jones. And me and Doug, having gone
down there, got this hotel about one o'clock in the morning, coming
in late. We went to bed. I slept on the floor. He slept in the bed. You know,
we still was, you know, even at that age, you know. So we
both went to sleep. And this was the first time I
had slept so hard. And in sleeping hard, both me
and Doug, somebody actually opened the sliding glass door and came
in. It was two of my Latino brothers. I'm going to tell you how I know
in a moment. But we were so deeply asleep that they were able to
actually climb over the top of me and go in my pockets and take
my money out because we were in such a deep sleep. Now, For
some reason, Doug heard the bed move, and he turned, Jesse, they're
in here. And I'm waking out of the stupor
of my sleep saying, who's in here? And from that point, we moved
forward to chasing those guys down the street. Can you imagine
that? Two African-American brothers.
chasing some Latino brothers down the street in the middle
of the night in our shorts and our socks. About 10 seconds into
the run, I'm saying, even if I catch up with these dudes,
I'm not ready to fight. I'm in my shorts and my socks.
From that day, I never have ever once again slept at heart. Never,
ever again. because I was caught off guard.
And that's the state of the unbeliever when God comes as a thief and
takes you out of this world and you have to face judgment, not
having the righteousness of Jesus Christ as your hope. Are you
guys hearing me? This is why the Bible says he
will come as a thief in the night. But I want to show you the larger
warning that God brings to national Israel who is represented by
Saul and his men as they oppose God Isaiah chapter 56 verses
10 through 12 gives us a stark warning about sleeping dogs You
the the believer is part of a kingdom God is King and it's in his kingdom
We are servants in God's kingdom and many of us are called to
be watchmen The preacher, the pastor, is called to be a what?
A watchman. And God calls us dogs because
our job, like a dog is in the family, when someone comes, our
job is to what? Bark. Let you know that an enemy
is coming in, a stranger is coming in. And we read in Isaiah chapter
56, verse 10, his watchmen are what? They are all ignorant. They are all what kind of dogs? They cannot bark. sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber. Now the description here is that
of the rulers of the church. Now when the rulers of the church
are not awake spiritually, they don't see the condition of the
membership of the church. Rulers are called to be watchmen.
Is that what the Bible says? Hebrews chapter 13 says they
watch for your souls as they that must give an account before
God for your welfare. And when you have shepherds who
do not watch, then there can be much damage brought to the
kingdom. David is getting ready to prove
this to King Saul. Go back to our text now and let's
work this through. Watch how David exposes them. In chapter 26, verse 13, I'm going to read verses 13 through
verse 16. And listen down, David exposes
Saul for not having legitimate and qualified watchmen. Then
David went over to the other side, verse 13, and stood on
the top of the hill afar off, a great space between him and
Saul. He was smart, wasn't he? David
cried to the people and to Abner, the son of Ner. Now who is Abner?
Abner is Saul's captain. David is getting ready to expose
Abner for being an unfit captain. Here's what he says. David cried
out to the people in Abner, and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying,
answer is thou not, Abner? Ladies and gentlemen, Abner knew
the voice of David. He was shocked when he heard
the David's voice. He didn't know what to do, because
he was the one in control of intelligence. He's shocked that
David, the enemy of his master, is so close at hand. He can hear
his voice, but he doesn't know where he is. Now watch what David
says. Answers thou not, Abner? Then
Abner answered and said, who are you? Who are you that cries
to the king? Oh, Abner, don't you know? And
David said to Abner, art not thou a valiant man that is a
man of war? And who is like thee in Israel?
Wherefore then have you not kept your Lord the king? Do you see? For therefore came one of the
people in to destroy the king, your Lord. Now you see what he's
doing? He's exposing Abner before Saul. So that Saul might know
that Saul's posse is just as ineffective as he is. Now watch what it says in verse
16. This thing is not good that you have done, Abner. As the
Lord liveth, you are worthy to die, was he? See, now the president
has a whole host of secret agents, or what we call secret service
men, who actually are designed to protect him. And over his
tenure, He has seen that he has been exposed several times. His men have been out to lunch,
missing in action and not in place several times. This is
designed to disturb Saul and show Saul that Saul is not prepared
to meet David. Now, here it is. Here's what
David goes on to say. He says, you are worthy to die
because you've not kept your master, the Lord's anointed.
And now see where the King's what is? and the cruise of water
that was in his bolster, now they're both getting a revelation.
Who? Saul and Abner. Because it's one thing for you
to be awakened by your enemy on the other side of the hill.
It's another thing for your enemy to tell you, he came in there,
took that which is yours, left, and you don't even know it yet.
Do you see it? And so what he says is, and now
see where the spear is in the cruise of water that was in his
bolster. Verse 17, here's our transition. And Saul knew David's
voice and said, is this your voice, my son, David? And David said, it is my voice,
my Lord, O king. And he said, wherefore doth my
Lord thus pursue after his servant? For what have I done or what
evil is in my hand? You see how David is still pleading
with Saul to ask Saul, what grounds do you have to want to kill me?
David's still pleading with him. Now I want you to mark how Saul
responds. Look down at verse 21 because
I want to close out with our final point under our first point. Our final point is described
by these words. Then Saul said to David, I have
sinned. Remember that? I have sinned. Return my son, David, for I will
no more do thee harm. Mark that. because my soul was
precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool
and I have earned exceedingly." Doesn't that sound good? Give
him two awards. And David answered and said,
behold, the king's spear and let one of your young men come
over and get it. You can have your spear back. And here's the
principle I've been teaching you guys about the doctrine of
rewards. Verse 23. The Lord rendered to
every man his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord
delivered thee into my hand today. But I would not stretch forth
my hand against the Lord's anointing. You see it. David says God's
gonna give every man what he deserves by his deeds, right? Now watch what he goes on to
say. Watch this now. And behold, as your life was much set by
this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes
of who? The Lord. You already said, I'm
not trusting you, Saul. But in the way in which I showed
you mercy, I'm asking God to show me mercy. And I'm going
to show you an insight that we talked about before in the Deja
Vu series. Here it is. Verse 24, the latter
part. And let him deliver me out of
all... What? Is David a worshipper of God
or what? Even in the midst of his debate with his enemies,
you know what he's doing? He's writing Psalms. He's writing
Psalms. Is he writing Psalms? Didn't
he write the psalm that many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord will deliver them out of them all? Here it is right
here. David believes that God will
keep him because he's in the will of God. He's not depending
upon Saul. Woe to a man who depends upon
another man. But now I want you to watch the
last line. Here it is, verse 25. Then Saul
said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David. You shall both
do great things and shall also still prevail. Sounds like prosperity
preaching. Yeah, you get all these blessed
promises. You're going to be great. The Lord's going to lift
you up. The Lord's going to make you large. Your name going to
be known all around the world. Maybe not. Right, maybe not. I have so many people come to
me despairing about someone prophesying over them of being great. And
I say, hey, Listen, if you're a child of the living God, you're
already great. Can I get a witness? Right. You don't need someone to declare
your greatness. All of God's people are great,
but God's not going to lift everybody up so that you shine. This is
the time for Christ to shine. Let me show you a truth here
though, because I believe Saul is seeking to flatter David and
the text says, you shall be great, do great things, and you shall
prevail still. So David went on his way, and
Saul returned to his place. Now, did David bite? Did David
receive what Saul said? Did David leave thinking, okay,
good, we didn't make peace, we didn't reconcile, we cool, I
like what Saul said. Don't you believe it for a second. Chapter 27, verse one. And David
said in his heart, Shall now perish one day by the hand of
Saul. There's nothing better for me
than that I should hurry up and get into the land of the Philistines
Watch this and Saul shall despair of me to seek me anymore in any
coast of Israel So shall I escape out of his hand? I want you to
mark this because this is the key couplet to where we're going in chapter
27 This is the key couplet. This is gonna help you understand
why Saul ultimately turned to the witch of Endor David was
right. David was right. David knew something
about Saul that Saul didn't know about himself. And that's that
Saul could never overcome the Philistines. And here's the lesson
that we're going to learn. David now goes down to Philly
for a season. Is that good or what? Yes, that's
good. Point number two. Watch this now. Watch it now.
David living in Philly That's my point. Is that my point? I
just want you to get this now. I'll show you a redemptive truth.
Show you how low I come in the volume of the book is written
of me. And I'll show you how God is able to save sinners from
every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, even in the midst
of the enemies trying to take Jesus out. Because David is a
great type of whom. So now I want you to understand
that when David goes down to Philly, The situation that existed
before where he had gone into the land of Achish, he was worried
because his fame had been so declared abroad that he knew
that the soldiers and military among the Philistines would be
jealous and weary of David. David knew this was not the time
to be here because we then killed their big dog and my name is
over all the charts on the radio stations. You guys remember that,
right? So David pulls out, didn't he? But now David goes back in
and him and Achish actually enter into a very amicable relationship
for a long period of time. David actually fights battles
from that area. Look at what it says in 1 Samuel
chapter 27 verse 7 and 8. Are you there? Here's what it
says. And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines
was a full year and four months. Now I know we went to government
school, but how many months is that? There we go. 16 months. Now, I just want to show you
a truth. That's a long time not being in your own country, especially
in a state of war. David has been pursued by Saul
so long, David feels like he has to stay in the land of the
Philistine almost two years. But do we know a greater David
who also had to leave Judah to go down to Egypt for almost two
years? What's his name? What's his name?
And was it because another king was trying to kill him? Do you
see the gospel here? So this is also a principle.
Sometimes God will tell you when you're in a situation of adversity
that you're going to have to leave your present situation
and go find some space once again to retreat or to hide or to wait. That is not always time to fight.
You remember what David's son Solomon said, there's a time
to fight and there's a time to refrain from fighting. There's
a time to love, a time to hate, a time to embrace, a time to
refrain. And remember what Jesus says? If they persecute you in
one city, do what? Flee. So ladies and gentlemen,
the task of the gospel and the service of the people of God
is not to always find yourself engaging in hostile conflicts
with people. Is that true? Sometimes retreat
is the best model. and David has retreated for a
long time and in the land of the Philistines he has appeared
to be fighting battles. Look at verse 9 and 10. the land
and left neither... I'm going to start at verse 8.
And David and his men went up and invaded the Gesherites and
the Gezerites and the Amalekites, for those nations were of old
the inhabitants of the land, as you go up to Shur, even unto
the land of Egypt. And David smote the land and
left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, oxen,
asses, camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish.
Now watch verse 10. Akish said, where have you made
a road today? That's war language for destroying
nations, leveling them to the ground and paving them over with
dirt, which has gone on in our generation many times with our
rulers and our despots, where they would kill people, burn
them up, take their bones and mix them with the soil and make
roads out of them. Akish was a bloody man. David,
where have you been to destroy cities and nations and made roads
for my kingdom to enter in? And David said, against the south
of Judah, against the south of Jeremialite, and against the
south of the Kenites. Do you see that? David saved
neither man nor woman alive to bring tithings to Gath. saying,
lest they should tell on us, saying, so David did and so will
be the manner of all the while he dwelleth in the country of
the Philistines. Now, David went out and did these
excursions and didn't leave anyone to go back to the king to let
David know what he was doing, to let the king know. David was
actually fighting battles, not for the Philistines, but for
the Lord under the Philistine banner. This point is critical. Looking at our second point then,
David living in Philly for a what? Point number one, sub-point number
one, a retreat to the Philistines is not a betrayal of what? It's
not a betrayal of Israel. Although the Philistines think
that it is. The king is gonna think that
David is so committed to the company of the Philistines that
David is ready to kill his own people. but nothing could be
further from the truth. You remember what Abigail said
of David in her prophecy? Ladies, as we will learn in a
few weeks, you have been anointed by God to fight the battles of
the Lord and destroy his enemies and no evil has been found in
you all your days. Is that true? David never once
killed someone whom the Lord did not want to kill. but I wanna
show you how the natural man does not comprehend the things
of God. Point number B, the motive of
the believer is not comprehended by the what? Now notice what
is said by Achish over in verse 12. Having heard what David said
in verse 10, verse eight through 10 and 11, verse 12 says, and
Achish believed David, do you see it? saying he hath made his
people Israel utterly to what abhor him therefore he shall
be my servant what sold on a lie that he himself conceived
out of his own wrong understanding of David's actions which God
allowed to develop a coupling between what's going to happen
here and in chapter 27 and what's going to happen in chapter 28.
See, there are two people who are going to be deceived by actions. The king of the Philistines is
deceived by the actions of David, according to the will of God.
God is allowing Achish to believe that David is fighting for him. That is not true. David's actions
disguise David's real motive. This is what we mean by the unbeliever,
the natural man can never discern the true believer because he
cannot discern spiritual things. And because of that, when a believer
acts, people frequently will misunderstand why you do what
you do, when you do what you do, because they don't know God.
Have you ever been in a context where you're working as a believer
and you're doing the right thing and people don't get you? And
many times they will end up accusing you of things that never really
could have been the motive of your heart. Because if a man
doesn't know God, or if a woman doesn't know God, they can't
know how believers think, can they? Now don't get me wrong,
believers can act a fool, and when you do, it is what it is. But when believers are doing
the will of God, what the believer has to know is that it doesn't
necessarily mean that the people that you're working with will
understand you. And this is why Jesus plainly
said, I have given you the Spirit, whom the world neither knows
nor can know, because it does not see Him and it cannot perceive
His ways. The ways of God in the life of
a believer are really confusing to the non-believer. and sometimes
it can provoke the non-believer to jealousy and create a context
for strife and contention. In any event, the unbelieving,
the natural man, the person who does not have the Word of God
in their heart cannot know your motive. And if you don't explain
to them what you are doing, just be ready for them to misunderstand
you. You guys following me? That's
what's happening here with David, only because the narrative wants
us to now go and see what happens with King Saul. You're going
to have here an interesting reverse of motifs. David is in a land
that he really shouldn't be in, but he's there by the providence
of God. God's protecting him in the midst
of the land of the very enemies that God must destroy. Saul is
getting ready to go into a territory that he really should not be
in. And Saul is gonna put on a disguise too and seek to deceive
God to get what he wants. And God's gonna show up and deceive
him in a way that will teach you and me that you cannot hoodwink
God. Either you believe his word and
trust his grace and wait on God to deliver you, or God will meet
you with strong enough delusions that you will believe a lie.
So I want you to see how the account goes, because this is
what's before us in our third point. Saul is on his way where? There it is. Sometimes I'm just
as plain a day, am I? Saul's on his way to hell. Is
he on his way to hell? And we have to mark what that
means. You and I know that Saul was not a true believer. He was
religious. We know that he was not God's
anointed. God had rejected him, abandoned him because all along
Saul's rulership, he disobeyed God. God rejected him. We know that he's not operating
by the spirit of God, but rather by what? Demons. And Saul now
is in a desperate situation. This is the coupling between
David and Saul. David is able to actually live
comfortably in the land of the Philistines. And yet the Philistines
have Saul in a tizzy fit of absolute fear. You guys got that? The link between David and Saul
is the Philistines. Watch how the language works.
I'm over in verse 1 of chapter 28. And it came to pass in those
days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for what?
To fight with who? That Saul. You got that? And
Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly that you shall
go out with me to battle you and your men. And David said
to Achish, Surely you shall know what thy servant can do. In other
words, David is making out like he's ready to fight Israel. And
Achish said to David, therefore, will I make the keeper of my
head? How long? So scene one closes
out with us under the assumption that David is getting ready to
ride posse with the kings of the Philistines over against
his own people. But don't you believe it? Scene
two, the enemy of God. His name is Saul. After the death
of Samuel, look at verse three, now Samuel was what? all Israel
had lamented him and buried him in Ramah. We got that back in
chapter 25 with Nabal and Abigail, didn't we? In his own country.
And Saul had put away those that had what? wizards out of the
land. So the narrator is giving us
a context of the period in which this is occurring. This is right
up against the time where David had just got through dealing
with Abigail and Saul is in pursuit of him and Samuel is dead. This
is all around that same time and the narrator wants you and
I to know that Saul had done some things while Samuel was
alive. What did he do? He had put away
those that had familiar spirits and wizards out of the land.
and the Philistines gathered themselves together and came
and pitched in Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel
together and they pitched in Galboa. And when Saul saw the
host of the Philistines, he was afraid in his heart, greatly
what? Deja vu. How many of you guys
have been following me through the narrative? Do you remember?
First Samuel 17. where Goliath comes up and the
host of his army and as soon as Saul sees them and all of
his men they become greatly afraid. All this time has transpired
between the time that Saul had the blessed son of David with
him to fight his battles and then he drove David off and he's
been having to fight the Philistines all this time and here we come
to the day before Saul dies and Saul is still afraid of the Philistines. Principle, without faith, it's
impossible to please God. Saul is so panicked over the
Philistines, he's getting ready to expose himself. And God wants you to see it.
God has his arrow called David in the quiver of the Philistine
camp. While Saul is fully exposed to
the Philistines agenda, And God's now getting ready to show us
how a man, apart from God, will go through the most desperate
state to get an answer, only to find that that answer is his
own doom. Saul is on his way to hell. Subpoint
number one, the paralyzing fear of what? Unbelief. The paralyzing fear of unbelief. Does fear have torment? Is that what 1 John chapter 4
verse 18 through 21 says? Beloved, he says that love casts
out all fear. When a man is operating out of
the love of God, when the love of God is in our heart and we
know what Christ has done by virtue of the manifestation of
his love for us, that love produces in us a faith and trust in God
that allows us to stand and face any trial. Is that true? And
this is what John was telling the church. Perfect love casts
out fear because fear has torment. And where fear is, there is either
a diminished faith or no faith at all. And this is where you
and I must grow in the word of God. This is where you and I
must go deep into the love of God, because when our hearts
are filled with the love of God, which is shed abroad by the Holy
Ghost, you and I can rejoice and triumph in every tribulation. Our tribulations will overcome
us and swallow us up if you and I are not relying upon the love
of God in Christ. If the Spirit of God is not constantly
showing you how the sufficiency of the atoning work of Jesus
Christ is your security and your vouchsafe for all eternity, so
that you can say with the psalmist, what can man do unto me? The
Lord is with me. The Lord is for me. What can
man do unto me? Saul does not have this comfort,
does he? The paralyzing fear of unbelief drives Saul, point
number B, what? To desperately seek demons. Now this is going to get us back
to points of application. Because notice what it says in
point number B, the desperate choice to seek demons is seen
for us where Saul says in verse six, and when Saul inquired of
the Lord, the Lord answered him not neither by dream nor by Urim
nor by prophet. Then Saul said unto his servants,
what? Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, woe, that
I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to
him, behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit right
down the road. Let me help you with something
now and show you a truth. If Saul actually got rid of all
of the witches and the demons, I mean, the necromancers and
folks with familiar spirits, why is this sister so readily
at hand? So now you, again, you have to
understand narrative theology. Narrative theology assumes you
read your Bible and you know what your Bible teaches about
the law code of God's covenant among God's covenant people.
The Bible plainly says in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy and in Exodus,
you shall not suffer a witch to live. You shall not allow
them to live. Exodus chapter 22 verse 18 pull
it up just so our folks can believe their pastor I would keep going
but I know we don't read our Bibles So, let me just make sure
you see it with your own eyes because I want to show you the
contradiction in the narrative This is Exodus chapter 22 verse
18 Hear what it says Exodus 22 18 you can probably get there
in your Bible Do you see it Stay right there,
I wanna show you something. Show you how, when you're really
not serious about God, you will do His will half-heartedly, and
it will always come back to bite you. Especially when you're in
leadership, because the king represents God. And according
to Deuteronomy 17, if anybody was to have the whole law code,
it was the king. and his job was to read out of
the law of God day and night that he might do the will of
God and to not turn to the left hand or the right but to do everything
that God's law says. Notice what the text said. It
didn't say give them a plane ticket and send them to the next
state. Is that what it says? What does it say? You shall not
suffer a witch to live. Got it ladies and gentlemen?
Look with me then in Leviticus chapter 19 verse 31. I want to
show you a couple more just to show you how that if Saul really
was even remotely obedient to God, he would have done what
God said. Is that true? Right. So now as
we're going to Leviticus chapter 19, 31, let me establish this
principle. As your leadership is, so will your people be. If
your leadership is half-hearted about obedience to God, the people
will be too. Listen, don't buy into the secular
notion that, well, you know, don't get into his personal life. Let's just, let's take what he
says politically to be true. This is the compromise that goes
on in politics, isn't it? Let's not examine their moral
life and their ethical norms and their convictions. Let's
just see if we can agree with their policies. But in the church
of the living God, we're not called to play what? Politics.
If the leadership does not have a commitment to the word of God,
I guarantee you the people won't. Now let me ask you guys a question.
Do you believe that the whole of Israel knew that when Saul
was going through this external campaign of removing these witches
down the road, that they knew that he didn't mean business?
And yet God had told the king, you shall keep all my commandments. Look at Leviticus chapter 19,
verse 31. Regard not them that have what? Now I want you to
mark the first word, regard. Are you there? You know what
that means? You shouldn't be reading astrology. You shouldn't
be getting caught up in mysticism. You shouldn't be getting caught
up in any of the secular, pagan, Middle Eastern ideologies and
worldviews that open the door for you to believe in the possibility
of insights and divine revelations from anywhere but the Word of
God. You shouldn't be believing anything
but what the Bible says. Where Christians open themselves
up for all of these other alternatives for revelations, you are in danger
of being deceived. our present church age is filled
with them. As nice as I try to be, I try
to be a nice pastor. Am I a nice pastor? I try to be a nice pastor. But
some of y'all are like King Saul. Some of you are just like King
Saul. You're on your way to hell because you got one foot in the
dark world and one foot in the church. Can I say something? You're not in the kingdom. Because
you can't be in the kingdom of God and in the kingdom of darkness
at the same time. You can't sit at the table of
the Lord and at the table of demons at the same time. What
does Satan and Christ have in communion? Nothing. And when
you are, as it were, seeking your confidence by Reader's Digest
and your horoscope and the astrology and the mediums on TV and all
these other sources, it means that you have no real commitment
to biblical truth. Are you guys hearing me? Just
want you to know. Just want you to know. Just want you to know
you're in trouble. And much of the church is caught
up in that stuff secretly. I can imagine the children of
Israel under Saul all had them a little corner store, 7-Eleven,
that they would go to when they wanted a revelation. Instead
of the Word of God. Now let's see how God actually
reacts to this. Under point number two, Saul
is on his way to hell. The paralyzing fear of unbelief
results in him seeking to seek out demons. Here's the warning
in Isaiah chapter 8, verse 19 and 20. Isaiah 8, 19 and 20. Listen to what Isaiah said 350
years after Saul and 700 years before Jesus. In Isaiah chapter
8 verse 19 and 20, here's what he says about seeking after wizards
and necromancers and mediums and
people who say that they can talk to your dead loved ones.
Here it is. Isaiah chapter 8 verse 19. Are
we there? Listen to what he says. I'm going to start at verse 18.
Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for
signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts which dwells
in Mount Zion. This is an exclusive text talking
about Christ and his people, right? Verse 19. And when they
shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have what? And unto
wizards that what? Peep and that mutter. Should
not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead. Now the construction there is
bad. Here's what it should be saying. If you trust in the living
God, you should not be going to the dead for your counsel. Now watch this now. I'm just
going to toss this out there and let you work with it while
I move to my next point. I don't trust nobody that peeps
and mutters. And I'll tell you why, because
I got a book that's clear. I got a book that's clear. Don't
peep and mutter and then give me the interpretation. Did you
hear what I just said? And that's a whole nother story
to get into where the church has slid into mystical practices
and pagan spirits, leading them into dark places of which they
can neither affirm or prove whether it's of God or not. Am I making
some sense? And wherever you guys find yourself
breaking boundaries like that, you can be sure that you are
not going to hear from God. And that's what's going on here.
Saul hasn't heard from God. And let me show you this quickly
as we work. Go back to our text now. Make this quick and make
this clear. 1 Samuel chapter 28. Let's look
at a man who has lived all of his life in the church but never
has bowed the knee to the true and the living God. God made
him a leader so that he could be a model but from the beginning
of his life to the end of his life Saul never ever demonstrated
that he loved God or that he wanted to obey God. Saul said
in verse 7 of chapter 28 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 And his servant said to him, behold, there is
a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. And Saul, what,
disguised himself and put on other raiment. And he went and
two men with him. And they came to the woman by
night. And he said, I pray thee, divine
unto me by the familiar spirit and bring me him up, whom I shall
name to thee. first step of exposure that he
is compromising. He puts on a disguise. Stay with me now. The king of
Israel who walks in the light has no reason to put on a disguise. When you serve God as a leader,
you represent God. And God is light and there is
no darkness in him. And God's not disguising himself
so that the servants of the Lord are to do God's will openly and
publicly. The reason Saul is putting on
a disguise is because he knows he's in rebellion to God's word. And he must now put on a disguise
so that he can manipulate the very people who should be under
the wrath of God and presently in hell. to actually practice
rebellion against God. Is that what he's doing? Now
watch this. Now I'm saying it the way I'm
saying it so that you won't fall prey to having a kind of empathetic
sympathy for the false prophet who causes you to err from the
words of knowledge. Saul is seeking to manipulate
God. Listen to what he says. He says,
Bring me up him whom I shall now name unto you. So, the woman
now is in a quandary. Notice what she says in verse
nine. This is so funny. I love god. The woman said to
him, behold now, you know Saul. Behold now, you know us what
Saul has done. How that he had cut off those
that have familiar spirits and wizards out of the land. Wherefore,
then, layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die. Now,
do you even remotely believe that this wizard woman doesn't
know that this is King Saul. She no more is ignorant of him
being King Saul than Nabal was ignorant of David being the one
who had come to him. See, these are how narratives
work. They assume that you understand the irony of the text. But see,
because she's a wizard, she's smart enough to work him. She
must secure her pay knowing that King Saul is exercising lies
and hypocrisy. Are you guys following me? She
must secure her pay. Now some of you are resonating
with me and it's probably because you know how maniacal and manipulative
wizards and necromancers and people with familiar spirits
are. Your magicians know how to get all the information they
need out of you in order to deceive you. Are you guys hearing me? Your magicians know how to get
all the necessary information out of you in order to deceive
you because they actually know that you want to be deceived.
And this is the same thing that goes on in false churches where
they hoodwink you into thinking that they actually have a word
of knowledge about you. They make sure they get enough
information from you by other sources so that it gets to them
so that by the time they exercise their witchcraft, their prophecy,
you swear God has told them about you. But no, it was just a bunch
of people that met you at the door, at the parking lot, in
the bathroom, in your seat. And we've already proven this
by many people actually going into churches and catching these
cons. Is that right? They've already been caught by
these magic tricks. So I'm actually giving you an
insight to the tricanery of this woman. Though there are three
interpretations that are often rendered, and we're gonna exclude
two, and we're gonna find ourselves landing on the only logical one. Now, once this woman secures
her pay, Saul bites. When you look at verse 10, And
Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, as the Lord liveth, there
shall no punishment happen to you for this thing. Exposed. Are you guys with me? Who can
protect her from judgment but the king? You got it? No one
can protect her from the judgment but the king. It's the king that
has authority to kill and make alive. Saul has just exposed
himself. She goes, cool, now I can get
paid. I'm helping you guys get the
story. Listen to what it says in our third point. The paralyzing
fear of unbelief, the desperate choice to seek demons. And then
according to our third point, the truth affirmed by donkeys
and demons. Is that what you're saying? The
truth affirmed by donkeys and demons. What do you mean by that,
pastor? God will allow a donkey to talk
once. God will allow demons to tell
the truth once. God will allow serpents to speak
once. But none of them are God's servants. And everyone that actually operates
in that mode is there to only deceive you. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? And so here is the challenge
that Saul has. Saul is begging to get an answer,
and this woman is going to come up with the answer. So, Proverbs
16, 1, underscore 16, 4, rather. Proverbs 16, 4, underscore what
I said when I opened the message. If you believe that God is sovereign
over all things, good and bad, that God controls the devils
in hell as well as the angels in heaven, then you know that
God will allow devils and demons to deceive the masses of the
people. You know that. You know that and this is what's
getting ready to happen to Saul God is going to cause Saul to
believe a lie Even though that lie is going to tell the truth
about his doom Listen to what the text says in verse Verse
11 then said the woman whom I'm sorry. Did you guys go to first
first Proverbs chapter 16 for did you guys go there? Did y'all
see it? The Lord had made all things for himself even the wicked
for the day of evil Look at verse 12, verse 11 then. Then said the woman, whom shall
I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up who?
The second piece of information she got, right? First she knows
who it is. Now she knows who he wants. That
don't take a lot to do now, especially when you're a good actor. I already
know who it is I'm dealing with. He don't know that I know him,
but I know that I know him. He had already told me who he
wants to bring up. Now, if she was legitimately
capable of bringing somebody up, would she need his name? Are you hearing me? But she drew
it out of Saul, didn't she? Who do you want me to bring up?
Because Saul wants to be deceived. I want you to bring up Samuel.
So as we continue to work through the process of elimination, let
me ask you the next question. Do you remotely believe that
this woman don't know who Samuel is? It's not possible that she
don't know who Samuel is. Samuel is more popular than King
Saul and King David. Everybody knows the old man that
was running around with a big hatchet in his hand, ready to
chop up the Lord's enemies. Are you hearing me? Does she
have enough information to conjure up a lie? Watch how this will
work then. I just want you to see it. Now
we read over in verse 11, verse 12. And when the woman saw who?
She what? Cried with a loud voice, give
her an Academy Award too. And the woman spake to who? Saying,
why have you deceived me? For you are Saul. The tension
of the narrative grows. She has to do this. to more securely
establish what she's going to get out of Saul because she needs
to know that Saul has to actually be honest about who he is before
she can go on. And the king said unto her, don't
be afraid. Don't be afraid. What did you see? I love it. Saul doesn't see a thing. Saul
doesn't hear a thing. Saul will never see anything
nor will he ever hear anything but what she mediates to him. Are you guys hearing me? He's
sitting in one room. She's sitting across the table
telling him what she sees and hears. Is he a fool or what? And there are millions of them
in our world like that who believe that they can hear from God apart
from the word of God. Let me go on, let me go on, because
I'm way overdue. Watch this. And he said unto
her, and the king said unto her, be not afraid, verse 13, of what
thou seest. And the woman said unto Saul,
I saw gods ascending out of the earth. Now her own worldview
comes into the foreplay. And the only way you can answer
this question is whether or not you know the word of God. I saw
angels, our gods, our people coming out of the earth. And
he said to her, what form is he in? What does he look like?
She said, he's an old man coming up and he's covered with a mantle.
She said, that's him. That's him. Wouldn't this make a good movie?
Watch this. Watch this. That's him, girl. That's him. The text says, and
Saul perceived that it was Samuel. Isn't that crazy? I mean, she
done painted the picture perfectly and he is hooked. And here's
what this demon worshiper, demon possessed man does. He stoops
with his face to the ground and bowed himself. Do you see it? This is how desperate he is to
get an answer. Listen to what the text says.
And Samuel said to Saul, now the narrator wants you to get
it. Don't you believe for a moment that God raises his people up
from the dead to talk to you on this side of eternity? Got to teach here, right? Don't
I have to teach right here? Because you know, we got folks that see
their cousins, see their uncles and their aunts. Am I telling
the truth? But I ain't never seen any of
them. Have you? Anybody in the house seen your
cousin, your aunt, your uncle? Except in your dreams. Right,
so I'm telling you we are always on this precipice of self-deception
when we don't actually know what the Word of God teaches. You
and I can always be deceived by what somebody else says they
saw. Do you hear me? Or you can be
deceived by your own mind. Saul is persuaded that the woman
is talking to Samuel is talking to the woman. Now watch this. Here's what is taking place.
Samuel said to Saul, why have you disquieted me? Meanwhile,
you woke me up to bring me up. And Saul answered, I'm sore distressed
for the Philistines make war against me and God has departed
from me and he does not answer me anymore. Key. If this is God's servant, for
real, then God's talking to him now. Are you following me? You've got to be able to think
it through. And if God's talking to him now, God's disobeying
his own word, which says don't use necromancers and familiar
spirits to get answers from the dead. Are you with me? So we either have a great Academy
Award winning witch conjuring up with voices as a ventriloquist. All of these images and ideas
are we are dealing with the second most logical phenomena, and that
is demons. Are you guys hearing me? Can
demons transform themselves into angels of light? Can they actually
operate through the emissary of false prophets and false teachers?
Can they bring words and revelations and prophecies? Yes, they can. Watch what goes on here. Give
me a few more minutes of your time and we'll close. Then it
says in verse 16, then said Samuel, wherefore then dost thou ask
of me, seeing the Lord is departed from you and has become your
enemy? and the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me for
the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of your hand and given it
to your neighbor even to David. Is it possible for this demon
to know that information? Everybody else in the kingdom
knew. Verse 18. because you obeyed not the voice
of the Lord nor executed his fierce wrath upon the Amalek. Therefore hath the Lord done
this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver
Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines and tomorrow
you and your sons shall be with who? The Lord also shall deliver
the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines. What did
this so-called Samuel just do. He prophesied, but he lied in
the midst of his prophecy. If a man die, will he be brought
back from the dead to talk to other human beings? It is appointed
unto men once to die, and after this, the what? Remember when
Jesus gave us the parable of the rich man and Lazarus? And
the rich man was in hell and said, send Lazarus back. to go
tell my brothers to not come to this place. Remember what
Abraham said? Listen, if they don't listen
to the Word of God, they're not going to believe it if a man
rises again from the dead. You know we're seeing the Bible
where the dead departed come back and talk to the living.
Are you hearing me? You have a choice whether or
not you're going to believe the Bible or believe all of these witches
and necromancers today. Pastor, but what about Elijah
and Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration? They was talking to their god,
not Peter, James, and John. Peter, James, and John were allowed
to see a vision of glory, not a returning from the dead of
two men to talk to them. So don't use that text. We got
to close here with some very ominous points of application
that we need to grasp. Verse 21 through verse 25, underscore
the sorry state of the woman. who had actually been utilized
by a demon to condemn Saul. Because Saul now is so diswrought
by what he has heard that he doesn't want to eat. The sister
and his own men force him to have a what? A meal. Force him
to have a meal the day before he what? Is this not a picture
of Judas Iscariot, who ate the last supper with the Lord even
though the devil had entered into him and he would go out
and lead our master to his death. This is what we call the parable
of the old and the new. God is showing us what happens
when he gives men over to reprobation. They can be brought close to
the kingdom and yet because they are not the Lord's, he gives
them up to a strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
Is that true? Second Thessalonians chapter two. Verse 11 and 12. I want you to read it and then
we're going to close here and then we'll take up our parable
next week after I make these four brief applications to where
we are today. Just to warn us, Saul rejected
God and God rejected Saul. I'll read the text in a second.
If you read in verse 6 of chapter 28, you will hear essentially
what God has plainly said. And when Saul inquired of the
Lord, the Lord answered him what? neither by dreams, nor by Urim,
nor by what? Why? Because Saul had cut off
Samuel, that's the prophet, and Saul had cut off the priesthood,
that's the Urim and the Thummim, and Saul had cut off David. Saul
had cut off every one of God's legitimate revelations by which
we hear from God. For you and me, the legitimate
revelation by which we hear from God is the Word of God. And we
hear from the Word of God as we hear about King David, our
Lord. And we hear from King David as
we look to Jesus, who is our mediator and our high priest.
He possesses the Urim and the Thummim, does he not? For us,
Christ is both the Lord, he's our high priest, and he's our
prophet. and where we abandon the word
of God, we abandon all three like Saul did, and we are left
to darkness. Are you guys hearing me? Listen
to the judgment. And for this cause, God shall
send them strong what? That they should believe a what?
Verse 12. Verse 12. That they all might
be what? Who believe not the truth, but
have pleasure in what? I'm going to close with this
statement. Don't believe for a moment that Saul ever sought
God. Even though the text said, Saul
sought God, and you saw it here in the verse, right? Verse six,
no, this wasn't, and when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord
answered him not. Don't believe for a moment that
Saul really, truly sought God. What's going on here? He is so
desperate for an answer. He wants to hear from anyone,
but God knows that he has not come to God in truth. First Chronicles
chapter 10, read it in your own time. This is where, it's in
your outline, don't worry about it, it's in your outline. This
is where when you read your Bible, you gotta keep reading. Because
in First Chronicles chapter 10, the last two verses, you know
what God says? Saul never ever sought me. You know what that
means? Like Jesus said in Matthew 15,
these people, speak well of me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from me. So be very careful to understand
that when God views us as seeking him, it's only because we seek
him earnestly with a heart that sincerely wants to hear from
God. But God knows when we are not earnest with him. And this
is often why you won't hear from God. For those of us who are
contemplating this very sober message, please listen to me
carefully and you can read on your own time the application.
It's so clear. We have a vast chasm in our churches
today between people who actually believe the word of God and are
open to all sorts of other stuff. This is a massive chasm. Let
me just share with you a point of application as we do close.
If you're a child of God and you're living in rebellion against
God, you won't hear from God until you repent. Do you hear
me? God will hide his face from you.
And he'll hide his face from you to show you that you cannot
make it without him. And he will let you live in the
mire of your own doing for long periods of time until your heart
breaks. And when your heart break, then
you will truly call on God. And the moment you truly, the
moment you truly call on him, God will be there for you. That's
what God will do for his people. But you won't be able to pop
your finger and make God a bellhop for you. God is more important
in a relationship with you than he is and you getting something
from him. Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? And God will
not have us playing church. We're going to have to be real
with God so that God can be real with us. Am I making some sense?
You don't play games with God and don't ever countenance God
talking to you through devils, or demons, or tarot cards, or
Ouija boards, or mystics, or secular Middle Eastern pagans. God only speaks to us through
His Word. Am I making some sense? Amen.
We're going to have the offering at this time and close in a word
of prayer.