Chapter 28, we see in verse number 1, the Bible reads,
It came to pass in those days that the Philistines
gathered their armies together for warfare
to fight with Israel.
And Achish said unto David,
Know thou assuredly that thou shalt go with me
to battle, thou and thy men.
Now if you remember, in chapter 27,
we saw David have a lapse in faith.
He should have believed the promises of God,
that he was going to be kept safe,
that he was going to be the next king of Israel.
But he has this lapse of faith in chapter 27 verse 1
where he says,
Someday I'm going to perish by the hand of Saul.
I need to just get out of the country,
go to the land of the Philistines,
and he will despair of seeking after me.
So he runs away and goes to the Philistines.
Saul stops seeking after him.
And while he's there, because he's not in God's will,
he's not in the promised land where he's supposed to be,
he's taken upon himself to go to the Philistines,
he ends up having to live a life of deception while he's there.
And he's out fighting against certain groups of people,
and slaughtering them and taking the goods.
And he lies about it and says,
Oh, I was actually fighting against the south of Judah,
and the Kenites, and so forth.
And so he's being deceptive while he's there.
He's there for 14 months,
pretending to be a faithful servant of the Achist,
the king of the Philistines,
when really he's not any such thing.
Well, now he's put in a really weird position.
Because now the king of the Philistines
wants him to go out to battle against his own nation,
the nation of Israel.
And remember, this is the guy who wouldn't even
put forth his hand to touch the Lord's anointing.
He's probably not going to battle against Saul,
he's going to kill Saul
and fight against all his own people,
his own brethren.
But he has to continue his deception and his lying,
and so he says in verse number 21,
I'm sorry, I'm on the wrong chapter here.
He says in verse number 2,
And David said to Achish,
Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do.
He's basically saying like,
yeah, I'm going to show you what we can really do
on the battlefield.
So he basically says he's going to do it,
he's not really going to do it.
Now we leave that story,
we go back to King Saul.
And that's really, this chapter's not much about David,
it just kind of tells us what's going on with David.
And then it gets into King Saul.
King Saul is about to do battle with the Philistines,
with Achish and all the other Philistines,
and he wants to inquire of the Lord
and basically make sure that he has God on his side
in this battle
because of the fact that this is such a formidable enemy,
he wants to make sure that God's going to be blessing him.
And it says in verse 5,
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.
So this is in the days
where they didn't have the complete Bible,
like we have the written word of God,
and so they would get God's word from the mouth of the prophets.
That's why the Bible says,
God who had sundry times and in divers manners,
spake and time past,
unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things,
by whom also he made the worlds.
And so in those days,
they would get God's word from a prophet,
they didn't have the whole book like we have,
and so they would have to rely upon prophets,
and God also would speak unto them,
through dreams and through other prophecies.
And he's asking God for help,
he's praying to God,
he's not getting any answer.
So this really worries him,
because he's about to go into this major battle,
and he has no answer from God,
he doesn't know if God's blessing him or not.
Now he should have known that
because he's been living a life of sin,
because he's been disobeying God's commandments,
disobeying God's commandments that God is not with him.
He's already been rebuked twice by Samuel the prophet,
while Samuel was alive.
Well now Samuel's dead.
And Saul is in a position where he's scared,
he doesn't know what to do,
and God's not answering him.
So look what he decides to do.
It says in 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 her.
Now you say, what's a familiar spirit?
In the Bible, a familiar spirit is basically
an unclean spirit, it's a devil.
These are people that are dealing with
what we would call demons, but the Bible calls devils.
And he says, find me a woman,
and it's interesting that he's looking for a woman.
Why is it that all these psychic readers,
it doesn't seem like they're usually women.
I've never heard of one that's a man.
What's that?
I've never heard of one that's a man.
I've never heard of one that's a man either.
It seems like all these psychic readers and palm readers
are always mad at them so and so.
So he says, yeah, find me one of them.
Basically he's calling the psychic hotline,
because he can't get ahold of God through God's word,
he's reading the Bible, he's talking to the prophets,
he's not getting the answer he's looking for,
so he wants to go to basically a witch,
is what he's trying to go to.
So he says, find me a woman that has a familiar spirit,
that I may go to her and inquire her.
And his servants said to him, behold,
there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit in the door.
Now here's what's funny about this.
His servants just right away,
oh yeah, of course, there's one right over here.
A few verses later, it says in verse number nine,
it says, and the woman said to him,
behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done,
how 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.
So Saul had earlier in his reign,
gotten rid of all witches and those that have
a familiar spirit out of the land,
and put them to death.
Why did he do that?
Go to Leviticus 20 and you'll see why he did that.
Saul was following God's word.
Now it's interesting because a lot of people
will try to take these commands in Leviticus 20
and try to say, oh, that's just figurative.
Oh, that's just symbolic or something.
But Saul didn't take it figuratively.
I mean, when he was doing what was right,
when he was serving the Lord
in the early part of his reign,
this was one of the things that he did right.
He got rid of the witches out of the land
and the sorcerers.
It says in verse 27,
a man also, or a woman,
that hath a familiar spirit.
You see that?
And he begins to define what that means.
Or that is a wizard.
So you see what we're talking about.
Witches, wizards, familiar spirits.
Shall surely be put to death.
They shall stone them with stones.
Their blood shall be upon them.
So we go back to 1 Samuel 28.
This woman is afraid when Saul shows up with his servants
and he says, you know,
divine unto me by your familiar spirit.
She's afraid to do it.
And she's afraid it's some kind of a trap.
Saying, wait a minute.
Have you not heard how Saul has made a proclamation
that all those that are witches
and all those that have familiar spirits
were to be cut off out of the land?
And she said, you're basically making me risk my life
and causing me to die
because I'm going to be put to death
if I'm caught being a witch
or being a sorceress or whatever you want to call it.
And verse 10, it says,
And Saul sware to her by the Lord,
saying, as the Lord liveth,
there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
So what a hypocrite.
He's enforcing God's laws against sorcery and witchcraft.
He did right.
But now he's gotten so backslidden
that he's actually trying to,
oh wait, did we kill them all?
Or can you still find me one that I can go talk to?
Isn't that ridiculous?
And so he's trying to find this witch.
Now look, this right away should show you
how bad witchcraft is,
that if God sang Stone them with stones,
put them to death,
if King Saul got rid of all of them out of the nation,
that shows that we shouldn't be messing around with the Ouija board.
We shouldn't be messing with the crystal ball
and we shouldn't be calling these hot lines
and the horoscopes and the psychic readers
and the palm readers and the tarot cards
and also the literature for children,
the Harry Potter, the, what's the other one?
Somebody help me out.
Huh?
Lord of the Rings, Narnia, I don't know,
just all the stuff that's the goblins and the witches
and the good witch and the bad witch
and the white magic and the black magic.
You know, white magic, but it's all bad.
It's all simple.
There's no such thing as this good witch.
The only good witch is a dead witch.
That's what the Bible says.
The Bible says to be put to death.
Now obviously it's not our job to go on a witch hunt.
We're not going to go on a witch hunt.
We're not going to take the law into our own hands,
but I mean that's what God's law was back then
was to put the witches to death.
Okay, this is not a game.
And I know Milton Bradley makes the Ouija board.
I think it was Parker Brothers.
I don't know who it is.
But I've seen it in the board game section
right between Monopoly and Parcheesi.
Ouija board.
Has anybody seen it there?
What in the world is it doing in the game section?
It's not a game.
You shouldn't be playing with the occult
and playing with witchcraft and sorcery
and all this stuff.
We should get as far away from it as we can.
And this Harry Potter, people think it's innocent.
But I was on a playground one time
and I saw this kid
and he was saying all this weird like
bleh bleh bleh
all this like gibberish.
And he said he was casting spells
that he learned in Harry Potter.
He's memorizing all this weird stuff
and saying it.
And I don't know.
Probably the author's of Harry Potter.
It's probably some demonic spell
in some other language or something.
I don't know.
But he was saying all this weird stuff
and he's trying to cast spells.
This little kid on a playground.
And that's pretty bad
when they're getting them indoctrinated
in the occult and witchcraft and sorcery
at that young age.
We need to guard ourselves
and those that we love from such things.
But he goes to this woman
that has a familiar spirit.
Now why is he going to the woman
that has a familiar spirit?
Well look at verse number 11.
It says,
Then said the woman,
Whom shall I bring up unto thee?
And he said,
Bring me up Samuel.
Now,
what is this woman's trade?
What is she doing?
Do you go there?
Does she read your palm?
Well, she basically puts you in touch
with dead people.
Right?
Because notice,
what does she ask?
Okay, who should I bring up for you?
So she is supposedly going to put him in touch
with someone who's dead.
Does everybody understand?
Now this is what a lot of psychics today
claim to be able to do.
You know, you go to the psychic
or the witch
or whatever you want to call her
and she'll tell you,
hey, you know,
you want to talk to your mother
and then they'll put him in touch
and say,
oh, I talked to your mother
and she's fine,
she saw a white light
and everything's happy
and you know,
that'll be 25 dollars or whatever.
Now,
you say,
is this real?
Well,
here's the thing.
Number one,
probably most of them
are just charlatans.
They're just,
you know,
and they've been exposed a lot of times
as just being total fraud,
just completely
like a magician.
You know,
doing tricks
and sleight of hand
and so forth
to make people think
that they're putting them
in touch with a dead loved one.
They're not really putting anybody
in touch with a dead loved one.
Now,
look at Isaiah chapter 8.
This is a key verse
to use when interpreting
1 Samuel 28.
Because 1 Samuel 28,
I'm not going to lie to you,
it's a strange chapter.
It's a very strange event
that took place.
So we're going to analyze it tonight.
But go to Isaiah chapter 8
and I think this is a very applicable passage
when it comes to this subject
of people going to a woman
that has a familiar spirit
trying to talk to dead people.
This is not biblical.
That's called necromancy,
trying to communicate with the dead.
And that was one of the people
that would be put to death
also on the list
in the Mosaic law.
But it says in Isaiah chapter 8,
verse number 19,
And when they shall say unto you,
Seek unto them
that have familiar spirits
and unto wizards
and unto wizards that peep
and that mutter,
should not a people seek unto their God
for the living to the dead?
So why are people going
to the peeping wizard?
Why are they going
unto the woman
with the familiar spirit?
They're trying to seek
after the dead
or communicate with the dead, right?
And it says,
should not a people seek
unto their God
for the living to the dead?
How would they seek unto God?
He tells us in the next verse,
verse 20,
Now what is the law
and the testimony?
That's another term
for God's word.
He calls the Bible
the testimony in Psalm 119
and a lot of other places.
He refers to his word
as his testimony.
And also, of course,
the Bible is referred to
as the law.
And so he says
people should not go
to a familiar spirit woman
or a wizard
or a peeping wizard
or whatever.
He says they should go
unto their God
and he explains
go unto their God
as in to the law
and to the testimony,
go to God's word, okay?
You see, it's not for us
to try to communicate
with dead people, okay?
That is necromancy.
That is condemned
by the Bible.
If we want to go to the past,
if we want to go
to great men of God,
to the past,
this is pretty much
the only place
we can go right here
in the Bible.
You know, we can't sit there
and try to communicate
with the saints.
And this is what
Catholicism is, you know.
You're talking to dead people.
You're praying of the saints
so and so
who died a long time ago.
You know,
you need to go
to the word of God,
to the law,
to the testimony,
not try to communicate
with the saints,
to the dead.
The only one
that we should pray unto
is the Lord.
And the Bible says
there's one mediator
between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus.
We should pray
to Jesus Christ,
pray to the Father,
pray to God.
Do not pray to saints.
Do not pray unto human beings
that have died
and gone on before.
Now, it's funny
because
Saul wants to talk
to Samuel.
Out of all the people
that she can supposedly
bring up,
he chooses Samuel.
Now, Samuel's a guy
that he talked to plenty
while he was alive
and he didn't listen
to him then.
But now all of a sudden
that he's dead,
he's gonna listen
to him now.
Now,
is this woman
really able
to conjure up
dead people
to talk to?
Now, think about this.
Do you think
that this woman
who has a family
that's not dead
and has a wife
Do you think
that this woman
who has a familiar spirit
which is what
according to the Bible?
A devil.
An unclean spirit.
Okay.
There was a woman,
by the way,
in Acts chapter 16,
I think,
Brother Danny,
you touched on it
in your sermon, right?
Last night.
In Acts 16, 16,
where this woman
has this familiar spirit
and she's basically,
they're using that
for financial gain
and so forth.
This is a devil
and it says
she was possessed
with the familiar spirit
and it gets cast out.
Okay.
So basically,
this is a devil.
This woman has a devil.
Do you really think
that she has the power
to bring people
who are dead
back to life
to talk to other people?
No.
And so if you think
you're going to go down
to one of these places
and talk to some dead relatives,
this is not going to happen.
Okay.
And so I think
a lot of it
is just fraud.
A lot of it's just fake.
But a lot of it's real.
It's just you're not talking
to your dead relative.
You're talking to devils.
Perhaps impersonating
your dead relative.
You know,
because people in these
seances where they bring in
these spirits
and you know,
I think this is kind of similar
to what Native Americans do
when they're talking
to their ancestors
or whatever.
You know,
different tribes have
different deals with that.
But you know,
they're trying to go
to the ancestors
and people in Southeast Asia,
same thing,
trying to communicate.
And basically,
they'll have somebody,
you know,
smoking some kind of a pipe
or taking some kind of drugs
and I watched one
in Cambodia or something.
I saw this documentary
when I was a teenager
where they take drugs
and then basically
they're supposedly possessed
by the spirit of their ancestors.
It comes into their body.
But do you really think
that ancestor's
possessed in their body?
Or do you think
it's a familiar spirit?
An unclean spirit.
A devil.
Now,
what's going to happen here
in this encounter
is strange.
But let's read it together.
So he says,
bring up Samuel.
She says,
who should I bring up?
He says,
bring up Samuel.
And we're going to talk
about why he says
bring up Samuel
in a moment.
It says,
when the woman saw Samuel,
she cried with a loud voice.
So Samuel shows up.
Now,
that's the weird part
about the story
is that Samuel
really does show up.
You say,
well no,
Samuel didn't really show up.
But see,
the Bible says
that Samuel showed up.
And when the Bible's
telling us
she saw Samuel,
Samuel said,
that means that Samuel
was there.
Or else
the Bible's
not being accurate.
It says,
when the woman saw Samuel,
she cried with a loud voice.
So this isn't
the normal thing
she's expecting.
Because she's used
to dealing with fraud.
Or,
more likely,
she's used to dealing
with devils.
Because the Bible says
she had a familiar spirit.
So she's used to
dealing with these devils
while all of a sudden
the real guy shows up.
Samuel,
back from the dead.
So she goes,
ah!
You know,
Samuel has a loud voice
because it's really,
he's really there.
And it says,
she spake to Saul
and the woman spake to Saul.
So first she just
cries out with a loud voice.
Then she speaks to Saul
and saying,
why hast thou deceived me
for thou art Saul?
Now,
I don't know
why she knows
that it's Saul
all of a sudden.
But,
she saw Samuel,
screams and says,
wait a minute,
you're Saul.
Maybe,
I don't know if
Samuel told her that.
I mean,
the Bible doesn't
tell her.
All of a sudden
she just knows,
hey, you're Saul.
Because Saul was in disguise.
And the king said unto her,
be not afraid.
For what son?
He's like,
you know,
who cares?
You know,
you're not going to be
put to death.
Shut up.
You know,
just tell me what you saw.
So basically he said,
be not afraid.
For what sawest thou?
Now,
this is a strange thing
that she says.
And the woman said unto Saul,
I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
Now,
gods?
Well, you know,
the Bible uses the word gods
frequently.
With a little g,
just gods plural.
And let me tell you something,
you know what it's referring to?
Pretty much all the time?
Devils.
Why?
Because the Bible
talks about people
worshipping other gods.
Now there is,
the Bible says very clearly
in 1 Timothy 2.5,
I already quoted it earlier.
For there is one God
and one mediator
between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus.
So anytime you have gods plural,
you're talking about false gods.
You're not talking about the true God.
Now,
the heathen nations,
they all worship false gods like
Molech and Baal and Astaroth.
And the Bible says
that when they worship those false gods
and when they worship those idols,
it said that they were worshipping devils
is what they're worshipping.
So basically anytime you have people
worshipping a false god,
they're actually worshipping devils.
Like for example in India,
they have these,
you know,
a thousand different gods or whatever.
Well,
a lot of those are probably
just figments of people's imagination
or else if they really exist,
then they're devils.
Okay.
There is only one God.
Any other false god
is just a devil
that is pretending to be God
or calling himself a god.
So
she sees these gods
ascending out of the earth.
Okay.
Now,
what is in the earth?
What is located down
in the nether parts of the earth?
Hell.
So,
she sees these gods
ascending out of the earth.
So,
we're talking about basically
these devils
coming up out of hell.
Okay.
Now,
this is what she's
normally dealing with,
okay,
because she conjures up
these devils
and she deals with
familiar spirits.
Who are familiar spirits?
Unclaimed spirits.
Devil.
She's dealing with devils
and so these devils
are coming up out of the earth.
That's who she's usually
dealing with.
It's not normal
that the guy
actually shows up,
which she's supposed
to bring up.
He actually shows up.
Here he is.
Samuel.
That's why
she's screaming
and freaking out.
So,
he said to her,
what form is he of?
Now,
the what form is he of
is not referring to the gods
ascending out of the earth
because gods
ascending out of the earth
is what?
Plural.
And what form is he of
is what?
Singular.
You see what I'm saying?
So,
that's the guy
that she saw,
Samuel,
that she's referring to
or that he's referring to
when he says,
And 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.
Now,
the Bible doesn't really tell us
whether he actually saw Samuel.
The woman saw Samuel.
We don't know
if she saw him
or if Saul saw him or not
because it doesn't seem
like Saul saw him.
Because Saul,
basically,
is asking her,
what form is he of?
What does he look like?
She tells him
and then,
from the description,
she reads,
Hey,
this is Samuel.
He falls on his face
to the earth.
And Samuel said to Saul,
Why hast thou disquieted me
to bring me up?
And Saul answered,
I am sore to stress,
for the Philistines
make war against me
and God has departed from me
and answereth me no more,
neither by prophets
nor by dreams.
Therefore,
have I called thee
that thou mayest
make known unto me
what I shall do.
Then said Samuel,
Wherefore,
then,
why hast thou disquieted me
saying,
The Lord has departed from me
and has become thine enemy?
So right away,
Samuel begins to rebuke Saul.
The first thing out of his mouth is,
Why hast thou disquieted me
to bring me up?
So he's saying,
What are you doing
trying to bring up
a preacher
that's already gone on
to be with the Lord?
Why are you doing this?
If God's departed from you
and become your enemy,
if God's not talking to you,
if God's not,
what is talking to me
going to accomplish?
What are you doing?
Why are you here?
So he pretty much rebukes him
right away.
Now,
some people will misunderstand
this passage in several different ways.
Here are some ways
that people will misunderstand
the passage.
Number one,
some people will say
he wasn't really talking to Samuel.
Well,
the problem with that is
that if you notice
everything that Samuel says,
everything that Samuel says
is right on.
And it's all the same stuff
Samuel was saying
while he was alive.
And Samuel's rebuking him
and then Samuel predicts
that tomorrow
he and his sons
and all of Israel
will be defeated
before the Philistines
which is what happens.
So everything that Samuel
tells him is going to happen
happens.
Everything he tells him
jives with the word of God
and jives with
what he said
while he was on this earth.
So,
of course,
the Bible is accurate
when it's telling us
that he's talking to Samuel.
Another way
that people misunderstand this
is they'll try to say,
well,
this shows that
Samuel was coming up
out of hell.
And that's not what
the Bible is saying.
She saw gods
coming up out of the earth.
You say,
well,
why did Samuel use the word
why hast thou disquieted me
to bring me up?
The reason why is
because obviously
this is the terminology
that they're using
talking about
conjuring people up.
And we would even say
things like,
hey,
so and so showed up
at the party.
It doesn't mean
they ascended out of the earth.
They showed up at the party.
Or we brought up a subject.
Or we conjured up spirits.
We use the word
up with the word conjure.
And we say,
hey,
they conjured up the devil.
We're not necessarily talking
about what direction
they came from.
That's just the term.
And notice,
who is the one
who started using that term?
Go back in the passage
a little bit
and it says clearly
in verse number 11,
then said the woman
whom shall I bring up?
So this is her trade
being a witch,
being a familiar spirit sorceress.
So this is the term
that she uses.
To bring people up.
Whom shall I bring up?
Bring up Samuel.
Why did you bring me up?
That's just the term
that they're using
to describe.
Samuel was not in hell.
Samuel was not
in the lower parts
of the earth.
Samuel was in heaven.
Samuel was clearly saved.
The Bible makes it
very clear that he was saved,
that he was a righteous
godly man.
You say,
well,
saved people used to be
in hell,
in the good side of hell.
No.
There's never been
any other way.
And they were not
in the earth.
The Bible says
in Ecclesiastes,
for example,
it says who knoweth
the spirit of man.
Listen to me now.
The spirit of man
which goeth upward.
And the spirit of beast
which goeth
downward into the earth.
Elijah was caught up
by a whirlwind
into heaven.
The sons of God
in Job 1 and 2
are very clearly
in heaven.
The sons of God
from Genesis to Revelation
are never any other
than the believers
in Christ,
the saints,
the believers.
That's why the Bible says,
behold a man of love,
the Father have bestowed
upon us that we should
be called the sons of God.
Therefore the world
knoweth us not
because it knew him not.
It says in John 1-12,
but as many
as received him,
to them gave
power to become
the sons of God,
even to them
that believe on
his name.
The Bible says
in Hebrews 1-5
that the angels
are not
God's sons.
It says,
under which of the angels
said he at any time
thou art my son,
this day about to
God be.
Unto a lively hope,
1 Peter 1.
We have been begotten
again or born again.
We are the children of God
through faith in Christ Jesus.
Those are the things
that the angels
desire to look into,
but the angels
are not the sons of God.
Saints, Old Testament saints,
New Testament saints
are the sons of God.
Unbelievers are not
the sons of God
despite what
Latter-day Saints
will teach
when they say that
we're all God's children.
Many times when you're
giving the Gospel
unto Mormons,
they won't get saved
because they're not
afraid of Hell.
Here's what they say.
God would never
send any of his children
to Hell.
Now that's very true.
Of course God wouldn't
send any of his children
to Hell.
I wouldn't send my children
to Hell.
No parent would
send their children
to Hell,
but the problem is
we're not
all God's children
because the Bible says,
but as many as
received him,
to them gave you power
to become the sons of God,
even to them
that believe on his name.
You become the sons of God
when you believe on him
and receive him.
That's when you
become the sons of God.
You're not a son of God
until that point.
And so you say,
well, you know,
the angels were created
by God.
That makes them
God's sons.
No, just because
God created animals,
they're not his sons.
God created angels.
God created human beings
and not even
human beings
are God's sons
except if they
believe on Christ
and they're
born again.
That's when
they become a
child of God.
And so these
are some misunderstandings
of this passage
that are not accurate.
You've got to jive
this chapter
with the rest of the Bible.
Okay.
We know that
going unto a wizard
is not the right way
to get in touch
with a dead loved one.
He said,
no, you know,
that is,
you know,
don't go to those
that peep.
They should be
put to death.
The wizards that
mutter and so forth
and people should
go to the law
and to the testimony.
Go to God's word.
Now,
let's see here.
Where are we at here?
Let me,
let's finish up
with what Samuel told Saul
and then I'll make
another point.
Of course,
Samuel said to Saul,
why hast thou disquieted me
to bring me up?
Verse 15.
And Saul answered,
I'm sore as stress
for the Philistines
make war against me
and God has
departed from me
and answereth me no more
neither by prophets
nor by dreams.
Therefore,
if I told thee
that thou mayest
make known of me
what I shall do.
Then said Samuel,
the Lord has departed
from thee
and has 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 obeyeth
not the voice
of the Lord
nor execute it
to his fierce wrath
upon Amalek.
Therefore,
hath the Lord done
this thing unto thee
this day.
Moreover,
the Lord will also
deliver.
Now,
so far,
everything that
Samuel said
to him
at the event
with Amalek,
he told him
the same thing.
He said,
why did you
bring me up?
Why are you here?
Why are you
with the wizard?
Let me tell you
everything I already
told you while
I was on this earth.
Here's where
the new information
comes out in verse 19.
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
then Saul fell
straight away
all along 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.
So,
when you hear
Samuel the prophet
come back from the dead
telling you,
hey,
by the way,
tomorrow you
and your sons
are going to be
with me,
that's going to
scare you.
You know,
that's not
what you
wanted to hear.
Your sons will
tomorrow be
with me,
he says.
Now,
this is another proof,
as if we needed
another proof,
there's plenty of
proof that
Saul was
the same man.
The Bible is real
clear earlier on,
God gave him
another heart
and he was
turned into
another man
and he was
definitely
a man of God.
Now,
when he became
king,
he was still
a great king
for a few years.
The turning point
was when David
slew Goliath,
okay,
when Saul did
not have the
guts to fight
against Goliath,
even though he
was the tallest
man in the
kingdom,
even though he
had the same
weapons and
armor that
Goliath had,
when he
wouldn't fight
Goliath
and David
slew Goliath,
David got
all the glory
and they
sang that
song that
said,
you know,
Saul has
a lot of
power,
he started
to become
angry,
he started
to be jealous
of David
and so forth.
Of course,
before that
he had already
sinned,
but that's
when he
really got
mad.
Before that,
of course,
he went
a few years
doing right
and then the
first mistake
he made,
remember when
he offered
the sacrifice
that he
did,
or my
fierce wrath
against
Amalek,
that's where
he basically
was decided,
that's it,
you're losing
the kingdom
unto David
and then the
events followed
with David
and Goliath
and so forth.
So we see
that he wasn't
just a horrible,
rotten guy
to the core,
wicked,
reprobate,
evil guy,
no, he
started out
a great guy
and in fact,
a great guy
that had said
that about
those two men
more than any
other men in
the Bible.
So yeah,
he made
mistakes,
he didn't
wait for
Samuel,
he offered
the sacrifice,
he didn't
kill all
the Amalekites,
he was jealous
of David
and tried
to kill
David,
he tried
to kill
his own son
Jonathan
with a
javelin
and let me tell you
something,
you can't lose
your salvation,
it's eternal life.
Jesus said,
I've given an
eternal life
and they shall never
perish,
neither shall
any man
pluck them
out of my hand.
Now some people
will say,
well,
in the Old Testament
you could lose
your salvation.
Well,
here's the thing,
if people
were supposedly
saved by works
in the Old Testament,
how were they
good enough?
I thought
how'd they measure
up back then?
Nobody's
ever measured up,
it's always
been by grace,
it's not something
that we could
earn.
But not only that,
you say,
well,
but back then
they could lose it,
lose it how?
By sinning?
Well,
then I guess
they all
would have
lost it.
Well,
that's a false
doctrine.
But here's
the thing,
here's some
proof that
you can't
lose it.
Who did God
specifically choose
here?
Saul.
God specifically
chose David.
God specifically
chose Solomon.
From there
on out
it's
hereditary for
a while.
But when
God specifically
chooses somebody
to be the
king of his
nation,
he's not
choosing
unbelievers.
Yeah,
let me find
an unsaved
wicked guy
and make
him your king.
Not because
it just gives
too much power.
And it goes
to their hand,
they start
multiplying wives.
Even David,
the man after
God's own heart,
he's got
a ton of wives
and then he
commits adultery
with Bathsheba.
The power
is too much
for a human
being to handle
because we're
all sinners,
there's none
righteous,
none other.
If you were
made king
of America
and you just
had absolute
much power
over his fellow
man.
But King Solomon,
righteous man,
godly man,
prayed for
wisdom and
God answered
his prayer and
gave him more
wisdom than
anyone who
ever lived.
And he lists
off all the
great thinkers
of the time
and says Solomon
was more
intelligent,
more wisdom
than any of
them.
And the Bible
says God
loved Solomon
and chose
Solomon.
They turned
away his heart
and he actually
began to build
temples onto
other gods.
Now he didn't
believe in those
other gods.
He's just
building it
for his wife.
But that's
pretty bad
when you're
building temples
to other gods.
I don't know
whether he,
I don't know
why he's
that, but
he built it
for his wives
is what it
says.
So he's
building all
these temples
and he's
doing all
kinds of
sinful stuff.
And yet the
Bible clearly
says that
Solomon's
in heaven.
Because the
Bible talks
about in
Luke chapter
13 verse
28, he
says there
shall be weeping
and gnashing
of teeth when
ye shall see
Abraham and
Isaac and
Jacob and
all the
prophets in the
kingdom of heaven
and ye yourselves
thrust out.
Solomon is
in heaven.
He didn't use
unbelievers to
write his word.
If anybody
would have lost
their salvation it
would have been
King Solomon.
If it were
possible to lose it.
Or it would
have been King
Saul.
But no,
Samuel said
tomorrow you'll
be with me
and thy sons.
What's one of
Saul's sons'
names?
Was he a pretty
godly man?
A pretty
righteous man?
Yeah.
Saul and
Jonathan both
lived righteous
and godly
lives.
Samuel and
Jonathan lived
righteous and
godly lives.
Saul lived
a good life
for a while
but then he
started living
an ungodly life.
Now they're
all going to
heaven but
there's going
to be a
difference in
rewards that
they get.
There's going
to be a
difference in
the reward
that they
get when
they get
there.
Now,
I thought of
this today
because we
were out
soul winning
today and
we talked
to this guy
and this
guy just
wanted to
argue with
us.
We were out
giving people
the gospel
and this guy
walks up to us
and he
pretended like
he was really
interested in
what we had
to say and
he pretended
like he
wanted to
say the gospel.
And pretty
much after
about five
minutes I
told this guy
to take a
hike because
I said,
you know what?
I said I'm
not going to
sit here and
waste my time
with you.
And you know
what's funny?
The next door
I knocked I
got somebody
safe.
So that's
why I'm
not going to
sit there and
horse around
with some
kind of a
false prophet.
And the
Bible says
not to
cast your
he says
give not
that which
is holy
unto the
dogs
neither
cast ye
your pearls
before
swine
lest they
trample them
under their
feet and
turn again
and
rend you.
And so don't
sit there
and cast your
pearls
before
swine.
The Bible
says now it's
your turn to
reject them
and go to
the next door.
See you later.
Shake the
dust off your
feet and
not waste
your time.
But this
guy he just
wanted to
argue and
here's what
he said to
me.
This is what I
wanted to
tie in with
the sermon.
He's this
Calvinist guy.
You know this
reformed theology.
And I
start showing
him the
Bible.
I'm not saying
that works
save you.
I'm just saying
you have to
have works
to be saved.
And if you
don't have
the works
you're not
saved.
But works
have nothing
to do with
salvation.
Don't get
me wrong.
What?
But this
is what
they say.
We've all
heard it before.
I'm not
saying the
works save
you.
You've got to
persevere all
the way
to the end
and all
this.
So he's saying
all this
stuff.
So I start
showing him
the truth
out of
Romans 4-5.
1 Corinthians
3.
I'm taking
him to
1 John
5.
And everything
I show
him he's
just like
well that
just depends
on how
you define
that word.
And he says
well that
just isn't
consistent
with
Reformed
theology.
And
I told him
I said
and at
this point
I could
figure out
hey this
guy is
just here
to argue
with me.
And it
was clear.
Because he
acted like
he was
this friendly
oh hey
how you
doing?
But then
he was
he basically
tried to
act like
he's somebody
that just
wants to
hear what
we have to
say and
talk.
Turned out
he was
just there
purposely
stalking us.
He'd
seen us
three hours
earlier.
He'd
been
following us.
Okay?
And he
finds us
and he
just wants
to argue.
I said
without the
Reformation
Baptist wouldn't
even be here.
That's what he said.
Without the
Reformation
Baptist
wouldn't
be here.
You know what?
Without this
book we
wouldn't be here.
And
nothing else.
This is the
only reason
why I'm
here.
I'm not
here because
of Calvin or
Zwingli or
Luther or
any of these
other reformers
or white
people.
And it was
preserved by
God.
And he said,
well, but
man, you
know, what
about the men
who gave you
that Bible?
This Bible
wasn't given
to me by
man, it
was given
to me by
God.
And God, if
they didn't
do it, God
would have
used somebody
else to do it
because God
promised to
preserve his
word to every
generation.
Does that
exist?
Because we
Bible-believing
Christians that
happen to call
ourselves Baptists,
we only have
one authority,
and it's not
some Baptist
confession from
the 1600s,
it's the
Holy Bible.
And the
Holy Bible was
around before
the Reformation,
and the
Holy Bible will
always be around,
and it's
always been
around, and
we exist for
one reason,
the Holy
Bible.
He decided that
he didn't like
some of the
Catholic stuff
and he was
just going to
hang on to part
of it and
form a new
religion called
Catholic Light,
which is
Protestantism.
Look, we
don't need to
sit there and
you say,
well, can you
prove that
Baptists go
all the way
back to
Jesus Christ?
I don't
have to,
because the
bottom line
is that
God's word
is Catholic.
I mean, how
can you
believe that
garbage?
Before our
saviors came
along and
the Reformation,
everybody was
Catholic, until
Martin Luther
with the beer
in his hand
was reading the
Bible and
figured out that
justification was
by faith.
You don't think
anybody could
have picked this
book up and
seen that a
million times
before that guy
found it?
Do you really
think he's
right?
It's on the
bottom of the
In-N-Out Burger
Cup.
Back then it
was on the
bottom of some
chalice or
something, probably,
somewhere.
Look, I'm
not going to
pretend to know
what it was
like hundreds of
years ago.
I'm not going
to get up here
and expound to
you the history
of the Baptist
Babe and the
history of the
Protestant Reformation.
This book is
the only thing
I believe or
care about,
I don't think
I'm descended
from Zwingli and
Martin Luther.
My dad was
an electrician
and they were
all from Sweden.
So I don't
see how I
wouldn't be
here or
something.
You know
what I mean?
Well, you
wouldn't
believe the
Bible.
We'd all be
a Catholic.
John the
Catholic.
He hadn't
gotten the
Baptist yet
until the
Reformation.
I was
thinking about
this sermon
while I was
talking to this
guy.
I'm meditating
upon 1 Samuel 28
because I
knew I was
going to be
preaching it
tonight.
He's telling
me,
you wouldn't
even be here
if it wasn't
for the
Reformation.
I said,
I'll tell
you what,
I said,
I'm going
to go and
knock more
doors and
preach the
Reformation.
Why don't
you go get
a shovel and
you can dig
up Calvin or
maybe you can
dig up Zwingli
or whatever.
Dig up all
your carcasses
of your dead
preachers.
Listen to me,
I don't care
about dead
preachers.
I'm supposed
to go to the
law and
to the testimony,
not to a
dead preacher.
When do we
see Saul?
What's
Saul's authority
in his life?
He's got
to live this life
and figure out
what he needs
to be doing.
Instead,
he's got
to go to his
dead preacher
to go tell
him about it.
I don't care
what a dead
preacher said.
People will try
to correct
your doctrine
with dead
preachers.
They'll go
to the
graveyard and
dig out some
dead preacher
or conjure
up some dead
preacher.
Here's what
we need
today,
today is
law.
We need
the law
and the
testimony.
We need
God's word
and we need
living
preachers.
Did you
hear me?
Preachers
that are
alive.
Listen to
preachers
that have
a heartbeat.
Not some
dead
preacher.
You need
a living
preacher and
we need
some young
men in
a dead body
is not what
we need
to preach
to us.
We need
living
preachers
and we
need
God's word
and we
need
nothing
else.
So come
to church
and listen
to a pastor
that has
a pulse.
Preach
to you.
Why is
that important?
People
love to
go to the
preachers
and say
well,
it's always
relevant.
No,
the Bible
is always
relevant.
What some
dead
preachers
said may
or may
not always
be relevant.
The
stuff that
I'm saying
right now
is biblical
but
mixed in
with what
I'm
I mean
look,
am I just
only reading
the Bible
in the
11th
audience.
That's
what
preaching
is for.
Otherwise,
I would
just get
up here
and read
with no
commentary.
The
purpose of
preaching
is to
take God's
word,
the law
and the
testimony,
and to
be filled
with the
spirit and
bring it
to you
to preach
against
the
homos.
That's
because he
never
even
seen
this
stinking
homo.
Because
he's
living
in the
Victorian
age.
He
doesn't
know
what
a
homo
is.
Or
he's
read it
in
a
different
world.
And
everybody
wants to
go to
these
dead
preachers
like
they're
some kind
of
authority
or
something.
This
is the
only
authority.
And
you say,
well,
the
living
preacher,
you know,
he's
the
living
preacher.
And
if you
can't
find
any
living
preacher
that
you
like,
I
don't
know
what
to
tell
you.
But
this
guy's
authority
is
Reformed
Theology.
And
if
God
is
telling
him
no,
so
he's
going
to
a
preacher
to
try
to
get
a
different
answer.
Think
about
that.
He already
knows
that
he's
not
right
with
God.
So what can we
learn from
the chapter?
Be careful
of
witchcraft,
be careful
of
sorcery,
and
also,
idolizing
a dead
preacher,
you need
to move
on.
I mean,
Saul needed
to move
on here.
Earlier in
the chapter,
it very
clearly said
in verse 3,
now Samuel
was dead
and all
of a sudden,
he was
buried,
we cried
about it,
and now
we need
to move
on.
You know,
now we need
to live
our lives
and have
some prophets
that will
rise up
for that
generation.
And
Saul,
he could
have gone
to the
prophets
of his
generation.
Are you
listening?
The Lord answered
him not,
neither by
dreams,
nor by
urine,
nor by
what?
prophets.
So he goes
to all
the living
preachers
and they're
telling him
what he
doesn't
want to
hear.
They're not
telling him
what he
wants to
hear,
so he's
got to
go to
his dead
preachers.
He said a witch
wasn't doing
right here.
He was supposed
to be going
to the
living
prophets
and asking
them,
hey,
what should
I be
doing?
And they
could have
given him
the preaching
that he
needed,
the counsel
that he
needed.
Instead,
he's
got to
go to
the dead
preachers.
Stay away from
the
peeping
and
muttering.
Stay away from
the familiar
spirits,
the
psychic
readers.
You only
need one
place to
get your
knowledge,
the law
and the
testimony.
And if
you want
to go to
a prophet
and you
want to go
to a
preacher,
you should
go to
the
teachings
of dead
preachers
all over
the wall.
And
people have
said to
me that
they were
offended by
it.
And I've
been to
many churches
where they
have drawings
and paintings
of dead
preachers on
the wall.
You know,
whoever it
might be,
it might be
Jack Hiles,
it might be
Jack.
What is the
difference between
that and
you walk into
a Catholic
church or
a Catholic
school and
you've got
Saint Augustine
the Hippo
and Saint
Bartholomew
and you've
got Saint
this and
Saint that
and they've
got their
idolizing,
listen to
me now,
they're
idolizing dead
people.
Like they
can do no
wrong because
they've
got their
idolizing
and just
live,
live in 2011
and move on.
Let's borrow
that word of prayer.
Father, we
thank you so
much for your
word, dear
God.
We thank you
that we have
the law and
the testimony
and that
we can get
the answers
we need from
there.
We don't
have to go
to a witch or
a psychic or
dig out a dead
preacher to tell