Good morning. Looks like everybody
survived the time change well. So let's open this morning service
with hymn number 223, arise my soul arise, and let's all stand
together. Arise, my soul, arise, shake
off thy guilty fears. The bleeding sacrifice in my
behalf appears. ? Before the throne my surety
stands ? My name is written on his hands ? My name is written
on his hands ? He ever lives above ? For me to intercede ?
His all-redeeming love ? His precious blood to plead ? His
blood atoned for all my sins ? And sprinkles now the throne
of grace ? And sprinkles now the throne of grace Five bleeding
wounds he bears, Received on Calvary. They poor effectual prayers,
They strongly plead for me. Forgive him, O forgive, they
cry, Nor let that ransomed sinner die, Nor let that ransomed sinner
die. The Father hears Him pray, His
dear anointed One. He cannot turn away the presence
of His Son. His spirit answers to the blood
And tells me I am born of God And tells me I am born of God
? My God is reconciled ? His pardoning voice I hear ? He owns
me for His child ? I can no longer fear ? With confidence I now
draw nigh And Father, Abba, Father, cry. And Father, Abba, Father,
cry. Please be seated. Good morning. I was just thinking
as we were singing that hymn, how a little leaven leavens the
whole lump. And if you'll open your hymnal
back to number 223, in the third line down in the second
stanza, where it says, his blood atoned for all our race, What
did you change that to, Tom? All my sins. All my sins. All my sins. You're welcome to
write that, scratch out all our race and write all my sins in your hymnal. That is a great difference. The Lord Jesus
did not lay down his life all men. He laid down his life
for his sheep and he was successful in redeeming them and atoning
for their sins and their sins only. What hope we have to know that
he was successful in doing that. If you'd like to open your Bibles
with me, we're going to be in 1 Samuel chapter 28 this morning. 1 Samuel chapter 28. I'll ask you to bow with me for
a word of prayer. Our glorious and merciful heavenly
father, we find all the hope of our salvation in the accomplished
work of thy dear son. Thank you that none of his blood
was wasted. Thank you that all for whom he
died are secure and that their salvation is sure and steadfast. Lord, that just as our Lord was
successful in redeeming his people so the Holy Spirit will be successful
in making all those that he redeemed willing in the day of his power.
Lord, we pray for your Holy Spirit this morning to come in power
and to make us willing. Lord, forgive us for our sin,
for our rebellion, for our unbelief, and give us a willing heart.
Lord, that anyone here that might be a lost sheep. We pray, Lord,
that you'd be pleased this morning to bring them into the fold,
to open the eyes of their understanding and give them faith in Christ.
Lord, bless your word. Grow us in your grace and the
knowledge of Christ, for we ask it in his name. Amen. I've titled this message, What
to Do When the Lord is Silent. what to do when the Lord is silent
and I want to begin by admitting to you that this chapter holds
a lot of mystery for me. I've labored over this passage
of scripture for some time now and I've gone from one place
to another trying to understand what's happening and come to believe that there is
a message of encouragement and hope in this text. There's also a message of warning
to not depart from Christ when we experience those times of
the Lord being silent, the Lord leaving us to ourselves for a
period of time. We find that there are some unchangeable
truths in that we know that all scripture, including 1 Samuel
chapter 28, is given by inspiration of God, and all scripture is
profitable. And so we know that this passage
of scripture is profitable to us. We know that holy men of
God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. So this is
the Spirit-inspired Word of God. We know that God's Word is for
God's people. And so this passage of Scripture
is as is all Scripture for the believer to be helped in their
faith. We also know that God's word
is complete in itself. Nothing can be added to it. And
we dare not speculate, even when going through a difficult passage
like this, as to what might be happening that's not clearly
revealed in this scripture. I'm reminded of what the Lord
said to the apostles when he said to them, I have many other
things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them. And I feel
that's true in this chapter, that there are things to be known,
but we're not able to bear them. And so in eternity, the Lord
will will make clear those things that are somewhat cloudy for
us today. There was a... Well, let's look at two verses
in this chapter, 1 Samuel chapter 28. This is a tragic end to King
Saul's life. He, in desperation, is attempting
to get a word of hope from God, and God is silent to him. And rather than waiting on the
Lord, He goes to a witch, he goes to a diviner, he goes to
a soothsayer, a sorcerer, in order to try to discern God's
will. And this sorcerer brings Samuel
up from the dead. Samuel was the prophet of God.
And therein, for me, lies the great mystery. How could this
be? How could a sorcerer bring up
Samuel? And Samuel now speaks to Saul
a word of judgment. And some have concluded that
this was nothing but an apparition, an appearance of Saul, but it
wasn't actually Saul. I don't find anything in the
text to support that. The Lord doesn't indicate that
in any way. Samuel, and if I get Saul and
Samuel mixed up, I did it already once this morning. I think I
just did it again. I don't have any reason to believe
that this is not actually Samuel speaking and we know that Satan is capable
of lying wonders and signs and things
that, but there's no indication in this scripture that that's
actually what's happening. The point of this passage is
that Saul, King Saul, as an unbeliever, at the very end of his life,
in distress and in desperation, needing a word of hope and a
word of truth, a word of light from God, goes outside of the gospel, outside
of the word of God. He clearly violates what the
Lord has made plain that we are not to do. And he finds himself in the presence of a witch. And we're gonna conclude this
message with Hebrews chapter 10, which I think is the real
meaning of this passage. And therein lies the warning
for each one of us. When God is silent, when the
Lord withholds his peace, we've all experienced that. When God
sends trials and troubles and we find ourselves in the midst
of tribulation, when our sin is overwhelming and the world
seems to have a grip on our soul, when our affections are cold
and our mind is troubled with fear and doubt. Where do we go? What do we do? How do we find hope? Well, like
I said, I titled this message, What to Do When the Lord is Silent,
but it could very easily be titled what not to do when the Lord
is silent because that's what Saul does. Saul does exactly
what we are instructed and warned in God's word not to do. And
I believe that's the message here. Look with me at verse six
or verse five. And when Saul saw the host of
the Philistines, He was afraid and his heart was greatly troubled. The Philistines were the enemy
of Israel and they had amassed a large army and Saul did not
see any way that he could defend himself against the strength
of this army. How many times we have found
ourselves in such a place. We found ourselves amongst the
enemy and we seem overwhelmed and the circumstances are beyond
our control and we find ourselves greatly troubled. And when Saul,
verse 6, and when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered
him not, neither by dreams, nor by human, nor by prophets. So Saul finds himself in trouble
crying out to God for help, but the Lord doesn't answer his prayer. The prophets have no word for
him. He doesn't experience a vision. The Urim was a means by which
the priests would cast lots, much like the apostles did in
choosing a replacement for Judas. They cast lots. That was the
Old Testament means of trying to discern God's will. And it's
not the New Testament means. We don't cast lots to determine
God's will anymore. The choice that The disciples
made there in the early chapters of Acts to replace Judas was
a man by the name of Matthias and we never hear of him again.
Why? Because Matthias was not God's
choice for the replacement of Judas. Saul of Tarsus was. Saul of Tarsus was. And had the
disciples sought the Lord in prayer and waited on the Lord,
the Lord would have revealed that. And so there we have another
example of how of how men in an attempt to try to get a word
from God will go outside of the prescribed means that the Lord
has given us. What are those means? We'll get
to that. Look at verse 7. 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 servants said
to him, behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at
Endor. And Saul disguised himself. Saul
himself had already passed a decree as the king of Israel to get
rid of all the soothsayers, all the sorcerers, all the witches.
He had instructed them to be put out of Israel or be put to
death. So in order to go to this witch
of Endor, he now has to disguise himself. And he put on another 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 him up, whom I shall
name unto thee. And the woman said unto him,
behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath 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. And Saul swear to her by the
Lord saying, as the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment happen
to thee for this thing. Then said the woman, whom shall
I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up Samuel. The prophet of God who had previously
died, the one who had instructed Saul in times past, the one that
Saul ignored and disobeyed in times past, now in his desperation
with God not speaking, he wants Samuel to come back. Verse 12, and when the woman
saw Samuel she cried with a loud voice and the woman spoke to
Saul saying, why hast thou deceived me for thou art Saul? So now
she sees this appearance of Samuel and she cries out in fear. She would have been like the
like the palm readers and the and the soothsayers of our day. She would have done most things
with smoke and mirrors. She would have taken advantage
of desperate people, as Saul was, and deceived them with lying
wonders. But now the Lord It wasn't the
witch that raised up Samuel, it was the Lord that brought
him to this place. And the king said unto her, be
not afraid, verse 13, for what sawest thou? And the woman said
unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth. One of the, and I'm certainly
not gonna break fellowship with anybody might think that this
is not actually Samuel, that it was an apparition brought up by none other than
the devil himself. But one of the arguments used
would be that just men made perfect in Christ, which Saul was, would
not be brought up from the earth. They would be with the Lord.
And And yet we have in the New Testament
after the resurrection of Christ, the graves in Jerusalem being
opened and just men made perfect, Old Testament believers coming
up out of those graves and walking among the people. So is this
just a reference to his body coming up from the grave? I don't
know, that's why I said this passage has so much veiled in
it and it would be wrong for us to try to fill in the gaps. The secret things belong to the
Lord our God and there's a lot of secret things in this passage.
But those things which have been revealed belong to us and to
our children. I believe there is a message
revealed in this text. and we'll lead the secret things
up to the Lord and not try to add to what God has given us
in his word. It's called faith. We'll just
trust God and admit our ignorance and wait on the Lord to clear
things up in his time. There are things that we cannot
bear. And that's the only way I know to deal with this passage
of scripture. Verse 14, and he said unto her,
what form is he of? And she said, an old man cometh
up and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was
Samuel. And he stooped with his face
to the ground and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, why
hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am
sore, distressed. I am sore distressed. And here's
the message, brethren. When we are sore distressed,
where do we go? What do we do when God is silent?
When the Lord withholds the awareness of his presence for a period
of time, when the Lord allows us to wrestle in prayer and struggle
in times of uncertainty, what do we do? Where do we go? Well, where do we not go? We
don't go to the witch of Endor. We don't go, and I'm not talking
about, and I don't think there was any danger of any of us here
going down the street to the palm reader, but does she not
represent all that's outside of Christ? All that's outside
of the truth? All that's outside of the prescribed
means that the Lord has given to you and me to wait upon the
Lord, she does. I am sore distressed, for the
Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from
me and answereth me no more, neither by profit nor by dreams.
Therefore, I have called thee that thou mayest make known unto
me what I shall do. So there's the setting. A faith untried is a faith unproven. If God's given you saving faith,
he's gonna try it. He's gonna try my faith, he's
gonna try your faith. He's gonna try it with trials and troubles,
distresses, hardships. He's gonna try it by being silent. He's gonna withhold not his presence. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you, but he will withhold the awareness of his
presence and cause us to seek his face and not to go outside
to try to get relief for our problems. He will allow us to
struggle in prayer to see if we'll give up or if we'll go
somewhere else. If we do like Saul and give up
in prayer or go somewhere else outside of what the Lord has
given us, then we prove our faith to be what it is, spurious, nothing
of God. If we find ourselves shut up
to Christ, if we find ourselves like the apostles, I love that
passage where after the Lord fed the 5,000 people and they
all left. And I can just see these wide-eyed
apostles thinking, you know, we believe that you're the Messiah,
and we just had a large following, and you just ran them all off.
You just said to them, you're only following me so that you
can have your bellies full. If you want to be my disciples,
you have to be willing to take up your cross, die to yourself,
identify your life in me. And they all went away. And the Lord turned to the disciples,
and he said, would you lead me also? And what did the disciples
say? To whom shall we go? Thou alone, alone, hast the words
of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That was,
they had been shut up to Christ. They didn't have any place else
to go. They couldn't go to the Witch of Endor or some other
place in order to try to get a word from God. By the way,
the message that Samuel gives to Saul is not a message that
you want to hear from God. It is a message of pure judgment
with no hope. And there's not even a warning
in it. There's not even a place for
Saul to consider repentance in it. It is just a single word
of judgment from God. Right after Peter said, we believe
that thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, we've
got no place else to go. Here's what our Lord said in
that passage in John chapter 6. He said, did I not choose
thee? Now brethren, you want to, you
know, every child of God has thought, I wonder if I'm one
of God's chosen. The Lord just answered how we
can determine whether or not we're one of God's chosen. You
can't look back into the into the Lamb's Book of Life and find
your name, you can't look back into the covenant of grace and
see that the Lord put you in Christ. But what's the Lord saying
here? The confession that you just
made, that you've got no place else to go. and that you believe
that I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that I
alone have the words of eternal life is the evidence that I chose
you. There's the evidence. So, who
do we believe? Where do we go? When God is silent,
when we're in distress, do we go somewhere outside of Christ
or do we just stay right there? Just keep knocking, keep asking,
keep seeking, waiting on the Lord. What did Isaiah say? They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. And that word renew, by the way,
means change. So in Isaiah chapter 40, when
it says, they that wait upon the Lord shall change their strength
to his strength. When I am weak, then I'm strong,
for His strength is made perfect in my weakness. They that wait
upon the Lord shall change their strength. They shall mount up
with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint."
So here's the message. In due season, in due season,
you will reap. if you faint not. Don't become
weary in well-doing. Don't go somewhere else. Don't
go outside of Christ. The farmer waits patiently between
planting and harvesting. And sometimes there is a waiting
on God between the time that we plant those seeds of faith
and the times that the fruits of peace and hope and light and
deliverance comes. Matter of fact, that's where
we are right now because the fullness of peace is not going
to be known until we're in his presence. The radiance of light
is not going to be seen until we're in his presence. The absence
of sin and unbelief is not going to be experienced until we are
in his presence. And so we walk by faith. We walk
by faith, not by sight. Luke chapter 18, the Lord said,
shall not God avenge his own elect which cry unto him day
and night Though he bear long with them, though he bear long
with them, shall not God avenge his elect? Yes, he shall. It's
a rhetorical question. Yes, he shall avenge his elect
who cry unto him day and night, though he bear long with them.
This is a marathon. It's not a lot of people take
up Take up the Bible and think it's gonna be a sprint. It's
not a sprint, is it? It's a marathon race. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter four. 2 Corinthians chapter four. Verse 14, knowing. Here's what we know, that he
which raised up the Lord Jesus, who was that? That was the Father.
God the Father could not allow his Holy One to see corruption.
God the Father was satisfied. The Lord Jesus is the firstborn
among many brethren, and God the Father raised him. from the
dead and he that raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead shall
raise up us also by Jesus and present us with you for all things
are for your sake that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving
of many abound to the glory of God for which cause you see Paul's
Paul's talking about the abundance of grace that's going to abound
to God's glory when he appears and we're made like him. And
now we're with, we find ourselves in a place with Saul, distressed,
enemies, conflicted. What do we do? What do we do? Don't go to the witch of Endor.
She's got no, she's got no hope for you. There's no message of
salvation there. For which cause we faint not,
for though our outer man, our outward man perish, yet the inward
man is renewed day by day. Brethren, some of our afflictions
are hard. And I would never be so callous
or presumptuous to say to you that your afflictions are light.
And I hope you would not say that to me. But when God says
your afflictions are light, then compared to the glory that shall
be revealed in us, they're light. Look at the next verse. For our
light afflictions, which is but for a moment, worketh for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look
not on the things which are seen, but on the things which are not
seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. We walk by faith, not by sight.
in our struggles with sin and with the flesh and with this
world. Don't do what Saul did. Don't go outside of Christ to
try to get a word from God. There's no hope there. The only
thing that that message of man-made religion or whatever it might
be, can give is a message of judgment. Don't go anywhere else. Oh, I've
seen it, you've seen it. Men finding themselves distressed and confused and what
are the first thing they do? forsake the assembling of themselves
together as the manner of some is. This is where the Lord has
promised to meet with us. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Why don't
we come to this place? Because we need a word from God,
a word of hope, a word of encouragement. Stay diligent unto the gospel.
Stay diligent in God's word. Reminded of what the Lord said
to Mary at the tomb. Why seek ye the living among
the dead? He's not here. If you go outside
of the gospel, outside of Christ, outside of God's word and outside
of the church in order to try to get relief in your distress,
You go into the dead for the living. Christ is not there. Why seek he the living among
the dead? He's not here. Men seek God in dead works religion. They seek a word from God from
men who themselves are spiritually dead and don't know God. Reminded of blind Bartimaeus,
oh that poor beggar. And he cried, son of David, Jesus,
son of David, have mercy upon me. And he was embarrassing the
people around him and they tried to shut him up. And the scripture
says he cried all the louder, all the louder. Bartimaeus, be of good cheer,
the master called to thee. Oh, here's what the Lord's telling
us. A Syrophoenician woman, she was
a Gentile and she came to the Lord and said, Lord, thou son
of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. And here's what the scripture
says, he answered her not a word. Clearly he heard her and he responded
to her cry with silence. And then to add insult to injury,
the disciples said, Lord sent her away, she trouble with us.
She's just a Gentile. And then to make things even
worse, the Lord said, I've not come, but for the lost sheep
of Israel, it's not right that I should give the children's
bread to dogs. God's, God, the Lord is, what's
he doing? He's doing that with what I said
at the beginning of this message. A faith untried is unproven. Most folks given that situation
would have said, forget it. He won't talk to me. The disciples
are trying to send me away. He just called me a dog. I'll
just go to the witch of Endor. I'll go somewhere else to get
a word from God, to get my help. You know what the next verse
says? Truth Lord, and she worshiped him. She passed the test. She passed
the test by God's grace. She proved herself to be one
of the Lords. She proved herself to be one
of the lost sheep of Israel. How? By not leaving him. She had no place else to go.
She was desperate like Saul, but she knew that her only hope
was right there before her in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
he alone was the son of David and he alone was the one able
to meet her need. Turn to me to the book of Daniel
chapter 10. The children of Israel are in
Babylon. Daniel's there with them. And the prophecy that God had
given about when they would return Daniel is seeking the fulfillment
of that prophecy. They are in slavery, they are
in bondage, and Daniel is longing for the Lord to fulfill his promise
and send his people. 70 years they were in Babylon. And Daniel's longing for the
Lord to fulfill his promise to send them back to Israel where
they can rebuild the temple and worship God as they ought. Look at chapter 10, verse 2. In those days I, Daniel, was
mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread. Neither
came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at
all till three whole weeks were fulfilled." God's silent to Daniel
for three weeks. Daniel keeps seeking. He got no place else to go. He
can't find any hope for his salvation outside of Jehovah. Now look down with me, if you
will, to verse 12. Then, now the Lord's going to
appear to Daniel after three weeks. And then the Lord speaks
in verse 12. And then said he unto me, fear
not Daniel. From the first day that thou
didst set thy heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before
thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. Daniel, you needed those three
weeks of chastening yourself. You needed, you know, here again
we find that brethren seeking God in prayer, it's not for the
sake of changing God, we're not. We're not trying to persuade
God to do something that's outside. God's gonna do what he purposed
to do. It's for our benefit, it's to
get our hearts in a place where when he answers, we're able to
receive that answer in fullness of faith and joy and hope. Saul did what you and I cannot
do. He left Christ, he went outside
the Word of God, tried to find a word of hope, tried to find
some help in his distress, and he found nothing but judgment. Turn to me in closing to Hebrews
chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Verse 19, having therefore brethren
boldness to enter into the holiness by the blood of Jesus, that's
how we come. We come to God by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. God's eyes are too pure to behold
iniquity. Unless the blood of Christ covers
our sins, we can't come into his presence. Coming in the blood
of Christ, we can come with confidence. That's what that word boldness
means, we come with confidence. I'm confident. God was silent
to me yesterday, so far he's been silent to me today, but
I'm confident. For Christ's sake, the Lord's gonna fulfill his
promise and he's gonna provide all that I need. By a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh, When his flesh was torn on Calvary's cross, the veil
was rent into the holies of holies, and the blood was sprinkled on
the mercy seat. And no longer did the priest
have to stand outside the tabernacle and warn the people to stay away.
Now the spirit and the bride say, come, come. Let us draw near, let us draw
near. Verse 22, having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us
hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he
is faithful that promise. That's a profession of our faith.
He's faithful. He's faithful. It's finished. That's the profession of our
faith. Christ is all and he's all I've got and if all I've
got the only place I've got to go. He's all my hope and all
my salvation. That's the profession. Hold fast
that profession of faith and let us consider one another to
provoke one another to do good works. You see what the Lord
is saying here is brethren, I'm not talking to one person here. I'm talking to myself, first
of all. But the Lord's making it clear that we all struggle
with this. And so the reason for us coming together and to
encourage one another is to assure one another, is to remind each
other. Let us be mindful to remind each
other of what I'm trying to remind us of right now. Not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting
one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching.
How many have forsaken the assembling of themselves together? Well,
they don't get any encouragement from the other people who say
they're believers and I'm struggling and I'll just go to the witch
of Endor. Now I'm going to read these verses
quickly without very little comment, with very little comment. Verse
26, and if we sin willfully after we've received the knowledge
of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. Every
sin that you and I have ever committed was a willful act of
disobedience. The Lord's not talking about
that. He's not talking about willfully disobeying God in unbelief,
saying something and doing something and thinking something you ought
not to have done. If that's the case, then we're all in trouble. He's talking about doing what
Saul did. Saul willfully, in the silence of God, went outside
of the gospel, went outside of Christ to try to find a word
from God through a means that God did not provide. And if you do that, there is
a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation
which shall devour the adversaries. Read the rest of chapter 28.
You'll find that the words of Samuel to Saul were nothing but
judgment. There was no hope. There was
no open door for Saul if you'll repent. No, there was none of
that. It was nothing but judgment.
And then the witch of Endor at the end of the chapter didn't
have anything to give Saul except food. She didn't have any way
to comfort him except to comfort his flesh. And that's all, that's all those
means outside of Christ can do. They might give the body. a little,
a little comfort. They might give a little false
peace and false hope, but those that are mind in the things of
the spirit, those that need God to speak a word of truth to the
heart, they've got, they've got no, they've got no word. He that
despiseth Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses
of how much sore punishment suppose you shall be thought worthy who
have trodden underfoot the Son of God and have counted the blood
of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing
and have done despite to the Spirit of grace. This is what
Saul did. This is what Saul did. God's not gonna speak to me.
I'll go somewhere else. For we know him that has said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the
Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of a living God, but call to
remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated,
you endured a great fight of affliction. Now, the letter of
Hebrews is being written to Jews, Hebrews. And these were people
who had to flee Israel. This is the dispersion of the
Jews that are scattered about out into the Gentile world because
the Jews were going to do the same thing to them that they
did to Christ. And they lost their property, they lost their
jobs, they lost everything. They had to flee for their lives.
And so the Lord's saying, you remember, when you first heard
how you had a great flight of affliction, but you endured it. Partly while you were made a
gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst
you became companions of them that were so used, the way they
treated you because of your confession of faith in Christ, you lost
everything. For you had compassion on me
and my bonds and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing
in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and enduring
substance. When the affliction first started,
you took it joyfully because you knew that what God had promised
was greater than anything that you might lose as a result of
the gospel. But now the affliction has continued. Now it has bore on. Now it's
not just a temporary thing. Now it's a long-term problem
and you're becoming weary. This is a word of encouragement.
You're becoming weary in your trials and in your troubles. Cast not away therefore your
confidence which hath a great recompense
of reward For you have needed patience that after you have
done the will of God, you might receive the promise. Don't do
what Saul did. Don't go somewhere else. Stay
with Christ. He's your confession. For yet a little while and he
that shall come will come. He will come. Not gonna be long. And he will not tarry. Now the
just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul
hath no pleasure in him. That's what Saul did, he drew
back. In the next chapter, he's gonna fall on his own sword,
commit suicide, he's gonna die in battle without any word of
hope, without any word of salvation from God. Why? Because he forsook. He forsook what he knew was true. And here's the best verse in
this chapter, I think, for me, verse 39. But we are not of them
who draw back unto perdition. That's what Saul did. He drew
back to perdition. Perdition is eternal judgment.
And we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. but of them
that believe to the saving of the soul. In other words, you're
not gonna stop believing. By God's grace, he's gonna keep
you from falling and he's gonna keep you coming, keep you looking
to Christ, keep you dependent upon him. With all the mystery that is
there for me at least, In 1 Samuel 28, I believe that's the message
for us. Let's take a break. Thank you.