This evening, to 1 Samuel chapter
28. 1 Samuel chapter 28. And the title
of my message will be, This is the Man. This is the man and
Psalm 52 and verse 7 we read low. This is the man that made
not God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches
and strengthened himself in wickedness. The man is of course King Saul
the first king of Israel who we have seen made not God his
strength. but strengthened himself in wickedness. This is the man, King Saul. Three things, three divisions
to the message tonight. First, a desperate man. This is the man, a desperate
man. And it came to pass in those
days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare
to fight with Israel. And Achis said unto David, Know
thou assuredly that thou shalt go with me to battle thou and
thy men. And David said to Achis, Surely
thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achis said to David,
Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head forever. Now Samuel
was dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in
Ramah. even in his own city. And Saul
had put away those that had familiar spirits and the 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 Gilboa. And
when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid and
his heart greatly trembled. And when Saul inquired of the
Lord, the Lord answered him not. Neither by dreams, nor by Urim,
nor by prophets. A desperate man. Three things I want us to see
here. First of all, the Philistines gather their armies together
for warfare. Now, as we have been studying
through this first book of Samuel, we have seen that this had occurred
many times. Several times in the chapters
that we've looked at, the Philistines had gathered themselves together,
brought their armies together to fight against Saul, against
Israel. But first of all, there is something
different about it this time. There's something different about
it this time. What was it? Samuel was dead. Notice that in verse 3, Samuel
was dead. The prophet of God was no longer
alive to pray for God's help or to offer a sacrifice as they
went forth to battle. Samuel was dead. If you turn
back to chapter 7, you see this is something that that he often
did when they went to battle. In chapter 7, in verse 7, we
read, And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel
were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines
went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel
heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the children
of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our
God for us. that he will save us out of the
hand of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb
and offered it for a burnt offering holy unto the Lord. And Samuel
cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him." Something
was different this time. Samuel was dead. The prophet
of God who had cried unto the Lord for them was no longer here
to cry, no longer here to offer a sacrifice, a burnt offering. I thought about a later king
of Israel who cried when the prophet Elisha died. You know,
these kings, for the most part, had no use for the prophets of
God until they got into trouble. But I thought about this man
when Elisha died, the king cried, oh, my father, my father. Now listen, the chariot of Israel,
the horsemen thereof. Well, Elisha never rode in a
chariot. He never straddled a horse to
go to battle. But this king realized the importance
of the man of God, how they needed him to direct them, to pray for
them, to cry unto God. as they went out to battle, because
always we are to remember that God gives a victory. God gives
a victory. The victory is not necessarily
to the strong, but the victory comes through the power of God.
David, of course, later would write in one of the Psalms, some
trust in horses, some trust in chariots, but we trust in the
Lord. Our trust is in God. God gives
the victory, but now Saul is a desperate man because the Philistines
have gathered together and Samuel was no longer with them. He was
dead. And a second thing that comes
to mind also is something was different this time. David, David,
who had slain the giant, David, who had slain his thousands when
he went out against the Philistines. Now, he's not with Saul. In fact, he's aligned with the
Philistines. So we see, first of all, a desperate
man here because something was different this time. Samuel was
dead and David was aligned with his enemies. A second thing that
comes out in these verses is He saw the number of the Philistines. He looked at them. He looked
at them rather than looking at God. In verse five we read, and
when Saul saw, when he saw the host of the Philistines, you
know, faith is not seen, is it? Faith is believing, believing
God. the invisible God, believe in
him. But Saul put his eyes upon the
Philistines, the number of the army that he was going to have
to fight. And his heart trembled. He became sore afraid. And we
read in verse three that Saul had put away those that had familiar
spirits. Now the law of God commanded
him to do that. I was reading just this week,
I believe maybe even this morning, in the book of Exodus. And what
a blessing just to read the law of God. Paul said the law is good, it's
just, it's pure. And I know we're not under that
law, that law of Moses, but just to read the law, what a blessing
it is to see the righteousness of God. how in the affairs, the
mundane things, the affairs of life, how we are to be righteous,
our actions are to be righteous before God. But one of the commands
there in Exodus is to put away the witches, those that practice
familiar spirits, and professed at least to be able to commune
with the dead. Put that away. You know, in our
country today, we see some of that, don't we? Some people,
they read the horoscope, they think that the stars somehow
control men's destiny and they forget about God's providence.
Who's in control? And they go to palm readers and
people supposedly can read your dreams and things of that nature. Well, the law had commanded that
people that practiced those things, they were to be put away. And
we see here that Saul did that. But many of the writers believe
the reason he did this, it wasn't necessarily in obedience to the
law to honor God, but remember he had that evil spirit from
the Lord. The Lord had sent that evil spirit
upon him, and somehow the writers believe that he came to the conclusion,
the reason for him having that evil spirit was because of these
wizards and witches and people like that that were in the land,
so he had them put away. And then the third thing we see
here, the Lord would not answer him. Now that's sad, isn't it? That's one of the saddest conditions
anyone may find themselves in. The Lord would not answer him. And we are told that he sought
the Lord, sought the Lord's direction in these three ways. First of
all, by dreams. His own dreams. And then he would
want someone to interpret the dreams. I think about some of the dreams
I have. I'm glad I don't have to depend
upon dreams and trying to figure out what God's trying to tell
me in a dream when I have the word of God. But he was looking
for answers and he was looking for those answers for direction,
to go to battle, what he should do, what he shouldn't do through
his dreams. And then we are told also through
the prophets, and we know there was a school of the prophets
that Samuel had begun. It wasn't far from this place
where they're camped, according to the writers. But the prophets
couldn't help him. And then the strangest of all,
look at that verse, if you will, the Urim in verse six, and when
Saul Inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither
by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets." Urim, that stands
out to me. Why? Remember the Urim and the
Thummim? Remember how God revealed through
those lights in the breastplate of the high priest? How that
God revealed sometimes, not always, but sometimes His will, directed
Israel through the Urim and the Thummim. But listen, what had
Saul done to the priest? He had had them all killed, remember? He had them all killed because
That man told him that David, that the priest rather conspired
with David against him, and so he just gave the command, we'll
kill all of them. But there was one son of the
high priest who escaped, and he escaped with the ephod. in
which was the Urim and the Thummim. Now Saul, evidently after this
priest had left, he had no doubt had other priests and another
Urim and Thummim, but it wasn't of the Lord. The Lord answered
him not. He answered him not. Second,
so first we see a desperate man. This is a man, this is a man
that made not God his strength. First of all, he's a desperate
man. Second, he is a deceived man. Let's read beginning with verse
seven. He is a deceived man. Then said
Saul unto his servant, 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 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 him up, whom I shall
name unto thee. And the woman said unto him,
behold, Thou knowest what Saul hath done. Now he hath cut off
those that have familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land.
Wherefore, then layest thou a snare for my life to cause me to die. And Saul swore 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.
And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice,
and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived
me? For thou art Saul. And the king
said unto her, Be not afraid, for what sawest thou? And the
woman said to Saul, I saw God's judges ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form
is he of? And she said, an old man cometh
up, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was
Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed
himself. And Samuel said to Saul, why
hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am
sore distressed. For the Philistines make war
against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no
more, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called
thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do. Then
said Samuel, wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord
is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy? And the Lord
hath done to him as he spake by me, for the Lord hath rent
the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbor,
even to David, because thou obeyest not the voice of the Lord, nor
executest his fierce wrath upon Amalek. Therefore hath the Lord
done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover, the Lord will
also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines,
And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. The Lord also
shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. I would say, after having given
orders to slaughter all those that have these familiar spirits,
those that practice witchcraft, he wants to speak to one. He's desperate. He's desperate. And so they tell him, well, there
is a woman here in Endor, the witch of Endor, and he disguises
himself. He couldn't go in his royal apparel
or his army uniform. He was the commander in chief
of the army, you know. He had to disguise himself, and
two others went along with him, and they go to this woman who
they were told at least she had a spirit of divination. Now,
when he asked, she was, of course, afraid. She was afraid that it
was a ploy, that he just wanted to find out, whoever this was
just wanted to find out that, yes, she did practice this witchcraft,
and then he would report her to Saul, and Saul would do to
her as he had done to others. But notice that Saul swears unto
her in the name of the Lord that you will be safe, in verse 10. And Saul swore to her by the
Lord. Isn't it strange that he swears
by the Lord who had forsaken the Lord and made not the Lord
his strength? He swears by the Lord, saying,
as the Lord liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee
for this thing. Matthew Henry made this comment
on Saul's promise here. There shall no punishment happen
to thee for this thing. Matthew Henry said he promised
more than he could perform. For he that could not secure
himself could much less secure her from divine vengeance. Now I call Saul here a deceived
man for this reason. It's easy to see he was a desperate
man, but I say he was also a deceived man because he actually believes,
at least it seems to me, he actually believed that this witch brought
Samuel up and that he was actually speaking to Samuel. He was deceived. You say, well, that's strange,
says Samuel. Well, remember this, even in
the New Testament, the apostle Paul, warned, no marvel. He said, and no marvel for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light. I want to give
us some reasons tonight, several reasons why this was not Samuel. This was not Samuel. The first
reason is if you read this passage again, read it carefully, as
I did several times, you will notice Saul never saw this man. Or at least we're not told that
Saul ever saw this man that he perceives. And that's what the
scripture says there in verse 14. Saul perceived that it was
Samuel. He didn't see him. He didn't see him. And some believe
he was actually in another room. And this woman, this witch, was
in a different room. And he asked, who is it? And
when she said, well, it's an old man and he's got a mandolin
that he just assumed he had asked her to call up Samuel, he assumed
or perceived that, yes, this was Samuel. This wasn't Samuel. This was the devil or one of
his emissaries who was transformed to represent himself as Samuel. And we read this, when he thought
that it was Samuel, when he perceived that it was Samuel, what did
he do? He fell on the ground, put his face on the ground. And
it is believed that those who thought the dead could communicate
with the living, that they did so from the ground. In other
words, they muttered and the sound would come up out of the
ground. In Isaiah chapter 28 and verse
16, we read, when they shall say unto you, seek unto them
that have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and that
mutter. The writers at least believed
that this is the way the dead would communicate was from the
ground. They would fall on the ground.
The sound would come up, the muttering sound, the peeping
sound would come up from the ground. So that's the first reason that
I say unto us tonight this wasn't Samuel. We're never told that
Saul saw Samuel. He perceived that it was Samuel. The second thing is, if this
was Samuel, if this had been Samuel, think about this. Would
he have said, why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? To bring me
up. Wouldn't he have said, why hast
thou disquieted me to bring me down? Where was Samuel? Where was, he wasn't in hell,
that's for sure. His body, yes, was in the grave,
but where was Samuel? Samuel was in Abraham's bosom. And we know, as we saw last Sunday
night, that's the way the Jews spoke of heaven. And when our
Lord went back to heaven, He didn't go down, did He? No, He
came down when He came into this world. He descended. But after
His resurrection, when He went to the Father, He Ascended, he
went to heaven, he went back to heaven. And another thing, would God
allow a witch to disquiet one of his chosen people? One of his chosen, redeemed,
blood-bought family that's resting in the arms of Christ in eternity. Would God allow a witch at her
will or his will, if it was a male, to disquiet one of his servants? That doesn't ring true. A third
reason, someone would ask, well, what about the fact that in verse
17, whatever it was, this apparition said, as he spake by me, as he
spake by me, and the Lord hath done to him as he spake by me."
Well, remember what our Lord said about Satan? He's a liar. He was a liar from the beginning.
You say, what do you mean from the beginning? I mean in the
beginning. When he approached our mother
Eve, what did he say? When she said, the command is
that we not eat of that fruit lest we die, what did he say? Thou shall not surely die. He
lied, didn't he? Our Lord said he's a liar and
a murderer from the beginning. And yes, he could have easily
say now that he is Samuel and claims these words which Samuel
spoke is his. A fourth reason, the words in
verse 19 were not true. Verse 19, this apparition, whatever
it was, said, moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with
thee into the hand of the Philistines and tomorrow. Now the battle
didn't take place the next day. It's going to be at least two
more days before the battle takes place. This man said tomorrow,
tomorrow. And then he also said, and tomorrow
shalt thou and thy sons be with me. Now it is true that when
the battle takes place that Saul will be killed and his son Jonathan
will be killed, but there's one son, Ish-bosheth, who was not
killed. This man said, thy sons, as though
all of his sons, his whole posterity would be cut off. That wasn't
true. That wasn't true. And number five, had this been
Samuel, would he not have given Saul better counsel? If this
had been Samuel, would he not have given Saul better counsel? Here he is. Remember, Samuel
prayed for Saul. Samuel loved Saul. He prayed
for him. And now, if this were truly Samuel,
wouldn't he have given him better counsel? As I thought about that,
I thought about Daniel. Keep your place here, but look
over at Daniel chapter four. When Daniel interpreted one of
the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar, And it is that dream where God
told Nebuchadnezzar he was going to live for seven years out in
the field like an animal. But if you notice here in Daniel
4 and verse 27, remember Daniel saw this. Daniel understood what
the king's dream was. No one else, none of the other
astrologers or soothsayers or magicians could give the king
the meaning of the dream. But Daniel did because Daniel's
God, Jehovah, revealed the truth to him. But notice what Daniel
says. Wherefore, O king, after he had
interpreted the dream, and after he had told what was going to
happen to the king, wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable
unto thee, Break off thy sins by righteousness. Wouldn't Samuel
have said something like that to Saul? Break off thy sins by
righteousness and thine iniquities by showing
mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility. If this had been Samuel, he would
have given him different counsel. I believe he would have said,
Samuel, seek the Lord. Seek the Lord. There's mercy
with the Lord. He's a God of mercy. Seek him. Seek him in your desperation,
in your great need. Seek the Lord. He wouldn't have
given him advice to just go out and Die in the battle, seek the
Lord. And something else I'm sure he
would have told him, be reconciled with David. Yes, David's over
there with the Philistines, but send a messenger to him and be
reconciled with David. Bring him home. But he didn't give him any kind
of counsel like that, did he? He just told him a lie. He said,
tomorrow you're going to be dead. He wasn't. It wasn't the next
day. Now, before I move on to my last
point, we must all recognize, and I believe we do, that this
was all permitted by God. God permitted all of this. Saul
disobeyed the Lord. in the matter of Amalek. God
told him to destroy Amalek and everything that pertained to
him. And remember he saved of the best of the flocks. And then he gave as an excuse
for his disobedience that he was going to offer them unto
the Lord. And that tremendous statement
hath the Lord as great delight in sacrifice as in obedience. God permitted this. The third
thing, this is a man that made not the Lord, made not God his
strength. He is a defeated man, a desperate
man, a deceived man. and a defeated man. Verse 20. Then Saul fell straightway all
along on the earth and was sore afraid because of the words of
Samuel and there was no strength in him for he had eaten no bread
all the day nor all the night. The woman came unto Saul and
saw that he was sore troubled and said unto him, behold, thine
handmaid hath obeyed thy voice and I have put my life in my
hand and have hearkened unto thy words which thou spakest
unto me. Now therefore I pray thee, hearken
thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel
of bread before thee, and eat that thou mayest have strength
when thou goest on thy way. But he refused, and said, I will
not eat. But his servants, together with
the woman, compelled him, and he hearkened unto their voice.
So he arose from the earth and sat upon the bed, and the woman
had a fat calf in the house, and she hasted and killed it,
and took flour and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread
thereof. And she brought it before Saul
and before his servants, and they did eat. Then they rose
up and went away that night. He was defeated. He was physically
weak, but more so he was suffering from a guilty conscience, a guilty
conscience, knowing He had brought all of this upon himself. He couldn't blame Samuel. Couldn't
blame David. No, he was a man. He was a man. This is a man that doesn't make
God his strength. He was defeated before the battle
ever began. He was defeated. And I thought
about, look at those last words in that chapter. and went away
that night. Went away that night. Turn to
me to chapter 13 of John. John chapter 13. He went away
that night. In John chapter 13 and verse
30, Judas He then, having received the
sop, went immediately out, and it was night. Night, darkness. Matthew Henry said that Satan
treated Saul as he did Judas. He was to him first a tempter
and then a tarmanner, persuading him first to sell his master
and then to hang himself. And I say unto us this evening,
every man who doesn't make the Lord his strength is or will
be sooner or later a desperate man, a deceived man, and certainly
a defeated man. Or you might say, well, how does
one make God his strength? Believe by faith. Look to Christ. Trust in him as your strength. believe in his son and serve
him and keep looking to him. Our Lord said this to his disciples,
without me, you can do nothing. We have no strength, no spiritual
strength in ourselves. We will always be defeated. We'll
always be deceived. We'll always be desperate. if
we're looking to ourself. But looking unto Christ and trusting
Him, He will give us the strength that we need day by day. I pray
the Lord would bless us.