A King and a Witch

Well tomorrow is a halloween. While that doesn’t have much to do with us today we did use the reality of its existence to capitalize on a great time of fellowship last night at fall fest. If you had a great time last night why don’t we give all our volunteers a hand. During the halloween season, the culture around us loves to produces masks, movies, and focus on demonic ideas to stir up fear inside of us, and I’ll just go ahead and tell you that if you enjoy intentionally viewing or participating in activities that incite fear, there’s something you need to sort out with God. But there are real fears. Here’s a recent list I found of top fears that were polled post pandemic in America.

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

#10 Widespread Civil Unrest

#9 High Medical Bills

#8 Hate Crimes

#7 Becoming Terminally Ill

#6 Government Corruption

#5 Terrorism

#4 Not Having Enough Money For Retirement

#3 Mass Shootings

#2 Loved Ones Becoming Seriously Ill

And #1… Loved Ones Dying

Wonder if any of those resonate with us this morning? I wonder what you might be afraid of? Are there fears that are justified? Perhaps some things are not even fears but just discomfort? I’m not afraid of roller coasters, but I don’t typically prefer them. I don’t think I’m afraid of snakes or alligators, but there’s been a couple times I’ve been uncomfortably and unknowingly closer to them than I would have liked. Fear can be a healthy thing, but what we are afraid of and how we manage those fears may also lead us to behaviors and responses that are unhealthy. When we feel threatened, we may lash out at others. When we feel betrayed, we might shame others. It’s a huge discussion, but for this morning we are just going to home in on one particular story from the book of Samuel about a King who was filled with fear and responded in a way that was not to his benefit.

Let’s check out our text today… (TEXT) 1 SAMUEL 28:1-20 as we look at a story i’ve entitled as a King and a Witch.

1 Samuel 28:1–20 (NASB 2020)

Now it came about in those days that the Philistines gathered their armed camps for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, “Know for certain that you will go out with me in the camp, you and your men.” David said to Achish, “Very well, you will learn what your servant can do.” So Achish said to David, “Then I will assuredly make you my bodyguard for life!”

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land. So the Philistines assembled and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they camped in Gilboa. When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him, either in dreams, or by the Urim, or by the prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, “Find for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor.”

Then Saul disguised himself by putting on different clothes, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, “Consult the spirit for me, please, and bring up for me the one whom I shall name for you.” But the woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Saul has done, that he has eliminated the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you then setting a trap for my life, to bring about my death?” So Saul swore an oath to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” But the king said to her, “Do not be afraid; but what do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up from the earth.” He said to her, “How does he appear?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.

And Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul replied, “I am very distressed, for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has abandoned me and no longer answers me, either through prophets or in dreams; therefore I have called you, so that you may let me know what I should do.” Samuel said, “But why ask me, since the Lord has abandoned you and has become your enemy? And the Lord has done just as He spoke through me; for the Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David. Just as you did not obey the Lord and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Furthermore, the Lord will also hand Israel along with you over to the Philistines; so tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed, the Lord will hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines!”

Then Saul immediately fell full length to the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words; there was no strength in him either, because he had eaten no food all day and all night.

PRAY

King Saul’s story begins back in 1st Samuel chapter 9. He was from the tribe of Benjamin, he was very tall and equally impressive in size and strength. God announces to Samuel that Saul will be the King and he was to anoint him. Samuel anoints Saul as King. it might be interesting to note that from the beginning of his reign Saul seemed to demonstrate fear and actual hesitation to the position.

When Samuel first told him he was God’s choice to be king, Saul replied, “Am I not of the smallest of all the tribes? The tribe of Benjamin? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe, so why are you speaking to me?” Then when it came time to be crowned, on his big day, Saul disappeared and hid himself.

Saul was the first king of Israel. He was far from being a good leader because he was far from God. He had known the truth of God, the Word of the Lord was spoken clearly to him by the Prophet Samuel. But he never seemed to fully believe it. And While he reigned he committed 5 major sins which I believe all stemmed from FEAR. The Apostle Paul talks about this in Romans 14:23 when he says, “whatever is not of faith is sin.”

Saul disobeyed God in 1 Samuel 13 then he was led by his sinful self-Will and ordered his own son Jonathan to be killed in 1 Samuel 14. He was guilty of hatred. Saul turned against David hating him with a murderous passion in 1 Samuel 18. He was guilty of murder in 1 Samuel 22. Saul ordered the slaughter of a town because they had friended David. And then finally here in our text today we see Saul was guilty of apostasy. He visits a witch. Saul began his life as a friend of God, but his fear and sin turned him into God’s enemy at the end of his life.

We hear lots of words of fear being spoken in our world today, but if we silence the words of this world we will hear Jesus say, “Fear not!” Many fear losing all their money, but Jesus says, fear not! Many fear their health may be failing, but Jesus, says, “Fear not!” In John 8:44, Jesus tells us that “Satan is the father of all lies…” Many seek truth but they only seek it in places of lies. This world has plenty of lies to offer but I believe if we silence the sounds of this world, if we shut them out for just for a moment…. If we listen closely, I believe we will hear Jesus speaking. I believe we will clearly hear the truth. You know what He is saying? He is saying…“DO NOT BE AFRAID.” We don’t have to live in fear, we don’t have to fear life after death. We don’t have to fear eternity.

With that in mind let’s look back at our text today to see what we can learn from Saul’s story that will hopefully allow us to reconsider how we manage fear in our own lives.

QUICKLY

Saul Is Terrified Of The Philistine Army. (NOT A SLIDE)

He was always terrified of the Philistine army.

He was not a man of faith.

He was controlled by fear. AND BECAUSE OF THIS:

Saul Was Desperate (v.1-6) (FEAR CAUSES DESPERATION…)

The Philistines are threatening to attack the Israelites.

Samuel is dead, Saul has nobody to counsel him.

When he asks the Lord for answers, he is not given any response.

OUR APPLICATION: In our times of desperation, our response and direction are crucial. Seeking God during times of desperation often generates within us humility, healthy senses of helplessness(repeat), and reliance in God that was previously unmatched. Unfortunately, many times we make bad decisions when we are desperate and compound matters. In loneliness, our desperation causes us to participate in unhealthy relationships and commit sins inside those relationships that we never intended to commit. In finances, desperation can result in borrowing or spending that literally compound through interest and insatiable desires taking the lead. Desperation turns us to substances, habits, and addictions that will only further demand desperation from our flesh. Saul became desperate and made a bad decision.

Saul Makes A Decision (v.7) (FEAR CAUSES US TO MAKE BAD DECSIONS…)

Saul allows fear to control him and seeks help from a spirit medium.

We have a tendency to do crazy things when we are scared.

OUR APPLICATION: What was I thinking? Ever look back and think that about a decision you made that you thought was the right decision at the time? I’m afraid to go so I stay. I’m afraid to stay so I go. I’m afraid to fail so I quit. I’m afraid of what others might think of me, so I hurt others in hopes to take the attention off me. I’m afraid I’m not enough, so I try to keep control. Then when we make bad decisions and for the most part we know are doing it…,right?… At least in hindsight so we know what we have done is wrong, so then we hide. We hide from God but we hide from others as well.

Saul Disguises Himself (v.8) (FEAR CAUSES US TO HIDE FROM GOD)

Before he goes to visit the medium, Saul dresses in ordinary clothes so he will not be recognized, because he had banned all mediums from Israel. I bet Saul would have never dreamt he’d ever be talking to a witch but here he was, his continued rebellion brought him to this place. Rebellion is as the same as witchcraft. We read this in 1 Samuel 15:23. Rebellion says no one is going to tell me what to do so I will create my own truth. Any truth outside of God’s truth found in His word, is false. it’s from Satan himself the father of lies, and it will always open us up to demonic influences. Truth isn’t just about whether or not I’m an honest person, but instead when truth is absent, do I manipulate my own reality to be my truth? (catch that one? repeat) When the medium asks Saul who he wants to speak with, he tells her to summon the spirit of the recently deceased prophet of God, Samuel. The medium is terrified when she recognizes it’s Saul and sees Samuel coming up out of the earth.

Samuel tells Saul that he has lost his Kingdom to David because he failed to completely destroy the Amalekites. He then foretells Saul’s tragic future; he tells Saul that his army will be defeated by the Philistines and that he and his sons will be killed. Saul is terrified by Samuel’s words, he falls to the ground, paralyzed with fright.

OUR APPLICATION: Where or what are you hiding? First off, you aren’t hiding from God, you are all smart enough to recognize that aren’t you? Skipping or avoiding religious gatherings or activities don’t limit’s God view of us. But just like Saul we deceive ourselves into believing that if we hide certain sins or actions from others that somehow we will be ok. Man that’s a lie from satan isn’t it? Guess what? God will use other people to expose and reveal who you really are. You can fool people for so long but sooner or later you will be exposed, and you will most likely be upset at the other person because the words that they speak just might truly be the words of the Lord to you. I’ll tell you I’ve struggled back and forth over the years on why after Saul went to a witch, clearly demonic… that God allowed Samuel to be summoned and speak to Saul through this medium. Then int occurred to me that in my life God has used Christians and heathens alike to speak into my life. Bottomline: God likes to speak through psychics, right? No. Everyone say no pastor… no pastor. The real bottom-line is that God will use whatever means necessary He needs to speak truth into your life. And you might note that the only time that God’s word came through a medium in scriptures, the message wasn’t too pleasant. So you just keep going to the word of God, listen to biblical preachers, and seek truth from Christian community. I don’t often say this but if you get what I’m saying there, say amen.

So the question for all of us this morning is…

What are you using to establish “YOUR TRUTH”?

THE B-I-B-L-E yes that’s the book for me… yeah yeah yeah. If we all really got that we would be a lot better off. I’m saying what other influences do you let shade their way in? Very simply, what are you putting in front of you? AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION… VERSIONS OF THE TRUTH… Not admitting guilt you could just use this time to tattle on other people, will assume that’s what you are doing instead of going to different sources J. Repeat what they say on the mic… CNN? Fox? Twitter? Facebook? Tiktok? ECHOCHAMBERS. As a pastor people have disagreed with me about something from the word of God so they let me know about an “online article” or their favorite author who agrees with their opinion” to validate them. One of my favorite verses on gossip... oops I mean truth is Proverbs 18:17. Do you know what it says? Jonathan Barker paraphrase, the first version of a story you hear is the one you believe the most at first. That’s why what our kids hear and see is so important. Listening to what anyone else says on a subject is such a sensitive process because all of us speak in order to convince others that “Our Truth” is “The Truth”. Right? I mean hope you do, I hope you aren’t intentionally saying things that aren’t true. But do you sometimes?

What Does The Witch Of Endor Look Like To Us Today? That’s the witch from our story. 2nd Timothy does a pretty good job with that. It says you won’t like good teaching, or in other words when people speak words of correction or discipline towards you, you will just change the voice until it appeases you. We have attached a remote-control mindset to our sources of truth. I assure you as a pastor if I correct you enough (biblically), one of two things will happen. You will mature spiritually in ways you never have before or you will find a new pastor to listen to, because someone somewhere will affirm your behavior or relieve you of your responsibility. You’ll… turn the channel.

Let me bring this all together today with a story from the great British author G.K. Chesterton called, “THE MAGICIAN”,

There was a magician who came into town. Everywhere he went he would perform some magic tricks. And there was a doctoral student in chemistry who would always sit there and watch. At the end of each trick, the scientist would always say “I know exactly how you did it.” And the scientist would always try to explain it away by science and the magician would say “no that’s not the way I did it.” The Magician was helpless - he WAS telling the truth. But the scientist would keep on arguing and say “No, no that’s the way you did it” Finally, the magician did not know how to so overwhelm that man so that he would not be able to find an explanation for it. So, one day he finally came to him and before his magic show he said to him “Excuse me but do you know the light outside your home?” “Yes” “Remember, know what color it is?” “Yes, It is a red light” “Has it always been a red light?” “Yes” “When you left tonight was it a red light?” “Yes” “What would you say if I said to you right at this very moment I’m changing that red light into a green light?” He said “you can’t do it” The magician says “oh yes I can, go and check it out.” So, the scientist runs over to the home, looks outside the home and sure enough it’s a green light. He comes back and says “how did you do it?” The magician says “very simple, I just sent a couple of angels to change the bulb.” “No, no, no, no, how did you do it?” “I’m telling you, I sent a couple of angels to change the bulb” “That’s not the way you did it! Tell me how you made that red light into a green light!” The magician says “I told you! I sent a couple of angels to change the bulb!” The man goes back home to his science lab and he’s trying to mix all kinds of concoctions that, at a distance, can change a red light into a green light. And he’s having these big arguments with his sister – he’s on the verge of insanity. Finally, his sister comes to the magician and says to him, “Would you please tell my brother how you changed that red light into a green light?”The scientist was losing his sanity to find sanity in what the magician did. The magician says to her, “Madam, I have told him” She says “Look, the man’s going insane. As a matter of fact, I believe he is already insane. And the only thing he’s preoccupied with is how to change a red light into a green light. She pleaded, “He’s lost all his sanity.” The magician says “Look, I can’t help him, I’ve told him the truth.” She said “Why don’t you tell him a lie.” She continued, “Tell him something that’s not true, so that he will be fine again.” So the magician created some kind of a story that has nothing to do with the truth and she goes and tells him and immediately he regains his sanity WORK THIS STORY… End of story: Tell him something that’s not true so that he will be fine again. (REPEAT). Chesterton wraps us this story by saying just when this man thinks he has become sane, he has actually become insane. This is ultimately because real truth, God’s truth, always brings peace. (INVITE TEAM)

CONFESSING OUR FEARS ALLOW GOD’S TRUTH TO COME FORTH

For the scientist in the story, his fear was that his intellect was insufficient. What is it for you? Is it exposure of who you really are? Do you fear change? lack of control? Humility? sense of failure? social shame or embarrassment? Do you fear that you’re not good enough? That you won’t measure up? Do you fear that God won’t do what you hope he will do? If unhealthy fears are a sin, and 1st John says that if we confess our sin he will cleanse us… What fear do you want to be cleansed of today?

Where will you let God speak into the reality of your fears and let His truth heal you this morning? Our fears can only truly be brought to their knees as we acknowledge them and surrender them to Christ.

Stand today

Our fears manifest themselves in so many ways. Don’t leave here fearful today. Be vulnerable before God. Confess your need from him, and allow Him to transform areas of your life where you have stored up fears and anxieties. Receive His Peace today. Leave today receiving the words of Romans 15:13 13 NOW may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:18 tells us that18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. Truly receiving The perfect love of Christ is the answer to all of our fears. Seek and find His peace and find freedom today.