I mean, all heroes know fear, but the type of fear that paralyzes. That kind of fear. It evolves. From a disinterested heart in God. I think that's one of the great lessons of this 28th chapter.
Samuel's going to say to him, to his face, you are now God's enemy. How dumb do you have to be to do that? God is not looking to make enemies.
Well Where David would have said Trust God. You're listening to Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 28 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. 1 Samuel chapter 28. It's exciting chapter. It's not much fun right now. For me.
I'm sorry. It's just r almost a reflex. God became his enemy. That's the title. Uh 1 Samuel chapter 28.
Sort of a parentheses this chapter between the build-up of the Philistine troops and the battle that is about to happen. Following chapters. In this chapter, We have an encounter with the witch at Endor, at least Saul does. And divination, or contact with the dead to get the future, to find out what's going on, that's what he's after, is forbidden by God. It is a sin for the living to try to contact.
Those who have died. The Bible makes this very clear, and the conclusion is: prayers to Mary. along with the Hail Marys, are a sin, they're forbidden. And this is not retracted in the New Testament. It is actually continued.
And that prohibition by God does not seem to matter to some, and that's unfortunate. But that's what Bible study is for, to find out what God is telling us, what He wants from us. And so you cannot just pass over these things. They are still in effect. Mary does not get a pass.
And now we look at verse 1.
Now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war. to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, You assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle. You and your men.
Well, of course, David had by this time a battalion, 600 men. This is the largest Philistine gathering recorded for war since they faced off with Goliath. And The Philistines Wisely have been taking advantage of Saul's underdevelopment of his military. They know he hasn't been developing it. He's been too busy chasing David.
So they have been fortifying themselves, and now they feel: oh, we're ready now. We can go and take Saul out, and that is exactly what is going to happen. They did not factor in when David comes to the throne, he's going to be superior to them, far superior than what Saul was. And so they've been planning this attack. They're ready to attack.
Saul is not ready to defend, again, because of his quarrel with David, which cost him everything. In the end, his sons will perish with him. He dies. It's just a sad story. He is being ill-prepared is not for any other reason Then he turned his back on God, And not only did he turn his back to the window.
To God, but he opposed God and David.
So with Samuel dead, David, in this exile that he finds himself in with the Philistines, no less. The religious life amongst the Jews at this time was dim. I mean, you just, you know. The lights were low, the spiritual lights. And He, Saul, likely in the beginning of his reign as king, when Samuel was still such an influence in his life.
He outlaws or enforces the prohibitions against witchcraft. And he drives them out of the land.
Now, if the Jews were practicing witchcraft, they were to be killed. They were not to be driven out of the land. It was the Canaanites that were to be driven out. Just a detail, we're not told. The ethnicity of this particular witch, but anyway, he certainly shuts it down.
He outlaws the Canaanite Practices of witchcraft, but he never provides in its place positive faith. He just doesn't give you anything else.
Okay, stop doing that. And then he walks away. Instead of upholding righteousness, He defaced it. And Jesus gave the parable of the man who had the demon cast out, and the demon went out looking for a place to find for himself. And he said, I'll go back to where I came from.
And he goes back and he finds the place cleaned and swept. It was void. There was nothing there to stop him from being. Repossessed. And that is exactly what happened.
In fact, it was seven times worse, Jesus said. And so we have a picture of that in Saul's days. Samuel's dead, David's in exile, nothing spiritual coming out of Saul's reign, and the conditions are right. For the enemy to attack.
Now, here it says in verse 1: Aches said to David, You assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men.
Well, he felt he owned that Pretty much owned David now because he felt David owed him for finding, you know, a place to hide from Saul. And so he's thinking David's allegiance to me is now solid. And David Viewed as a mercenary, of course, does not agree with this, but he's not going to say it. He's not going to come out and say, you know, Akis, that's crazy. He's not going to do that.
But he's planning it. Verse 2.
So David said to Achis, Surely you know what your servant can do. And Achis said to David, Therefore I will make you one of my chief guardians forever. And David said, You know what I can do? You know I can take care of business. He's not saying who he can take care of it on.
He is deliberately being ambiguous with this. And Akish is correct. You know, we talked about this in other sessions. Akish was a little. Too quick to believe the positive things without considering the negative things.
And He correctly perceives that David is talking about his battlefield skills. David is saying, you know what I can do on the battlefield.
Well, there's certainly precedence for that.
However, he was incorrect. And identifying David's loyalties. Because he was presumptuous. He did not know that there was no way David was going to touch Saul or his people. David's been conducting raids against the Gentiles, not his own people.
And this was, of course, letting us know he's not siding with. the Philistines at all, though he's lining up with them. And so here they're getting ready, the warlords, incidentally, the other Philip, the other four. Philistine warlords, they're gonna know, there's no way we're gonna let David come with us to battle. Uh and and of course Davis going to be chased out of there and that will create a whole nother Um A lesson in itself.
Can't serve two masters. Christians try it often, too often. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one or love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. That's Matthew six, verse twenty four.
So again, verse 2, toward the bottom now, and Achish said to David, Therefore, I will make you one of my chief guardians forever. The translators, you know, they wish they just had more consistency. We've commented several times through, especially in the Old Testament, they have a very difficult job, and they do, overall, they do a very good job. But and thank you that we have the You know, we can look up the the Hebrew and the Greek. Here is a terrible job because In the New King James is translated my chief guardians forever.
Therefore, I will make you one of my chief guardians forever, but literally in the Hebrew is keeper of my head. I will make you one of the keepers of my head.
So they collected heads, and no, they didn't. That doesn't mean that. It means he's the bodyguard, going to be one of the royal guards. This was not uncommon in the ancient world. Even up into the days of the Roman Empire, they would employ foreigners in certain trusted positions, conquered enemies.
Saul had Doag the Edomite. David will have Itai the Gittite as one of his personal guards. And so it wasn't out of step. And David probably felt honored, but still his loyalties were not there.
So verse three now Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums And the Spiritus out of the land.
Well, he's repeating From chapter 25. Samuel's death. And he's coupling it with the banishment of the mediums, those who tried to have contact, were go-betweens. Between the people in this life and the people no longer in this life, the dead. And what he is doing, the historian here, is setting up the story that is following because Saul is going to seek Samuel.
Amongst the dead. And this is big. I mean, this is blasphemy to the righteous Jew Selective obedience is one of the problems Saul had. He chose what he would obey if it served his purpose, and then he wouldn't obey anything else. And yet then he used to boast about how great of him, you know, Lord Yahweh bless you, brother, and it was all a lie.
And it's going to really come out now because his apostasy is just coming. Uh just Full blown out in this chapter, so that you won't miss this guy when he's dead. In a couple of chapters, we'll find that he will bring relief to the nation. In his life, In Saul's life He even intimidated Samuel. At one point Samuel told God, Saul will kill me if he finds out.
that I'm going to to anoint David. He had rejected God's choice, King David, as his replacement, and he killed the priest at Nob, and just a few things on his wicked resume. Uh Arrogantly He is going to try to dig up Samuel.
So he can find some direction. from the underworld to save his own skin. It's a true story. This guy is really like this. There are other men and women that are messed up like this to this day.
Fortunately, they aren't everywhere. It'd be tough to find a whole village of them. Like when you get to Solomon and you get the lady who says, I say, cut the baby in half. This was a real story. A human being can become so demonically influenced That they are just Uh animalistic.
Well, For Saul, putting the mediums out of the land was more Well, it's them versus us. It's Israel versus them. Then it was, the Lord wants this to happen, so I'm going to do it. That was not his motivation. Exodus chapter 22: You shall not permit a sorceress to live.
That's it's a capital crime. to mess with the occult in Israel. Leviticus 19:31, Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits, do not seek after them to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God. Leviticus 20, verse 6: And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, I will set my face against that person.
and cut him off from his people. And then Deuteronomy, which lays it out. In case you didn't get it from Exodus and Leviticus, Deuteronomy is going to give it to you again.
Now, let me pause there to say. What I'm reading is from the law of Moses. This is the law that David loves so much. This is what the whole one Psalm 119 mainly is c centered in. in that Mosaic law.
And these are the things that David would read, he knew about, and he loved this. But Saul, on the other hand, He did not have the same. Reaction. Deuteronomy 18: When you come into the land which Yahweh your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. We wish that Christians would be more in tune to this.
But unfortunately, Christianity has been loaded with those who have leavened. The clear teachings of the Bible With the murky teachings of the world, because they just don't think the Bible's got enough, you know. a muscle to get it done. You gotta go to the world if you're gonna solve this problem. And that is a lie.
And no one bothers to check the win-loss column to validate this. They just go on assumptions. That's what my observation has been. But anyway, let's go back to verse 10 now, Deuteronomy 18. He continues: Moses does: There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer.
or one who conjures spells or a medium or a spiritus. Or one who calls up the dead? For All who do these things are an abomination to Yahweh, and because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you.
So the language is comprehensive. It's bum, bumper to bumper. It's like, in case you didn't understand what I meant by not talking to the dead, don't talk to mediums. In case you didn't get that, don't talk to soothsayers. And he's just very clear.
And so that's going to make the crime of Saul. even more Defiant toward Yahweh as we move through this chapter. At the bottom of verse 3, it says: And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land. Uh Indicating That he knew This was wrong. To have them in the land and therefore wrong to go to them.
So Uh that's uh very He's not so clever. He's spiritually, he is spiritually moronic. He really is. I mean, he might have been just a fun guy sitting around the table laughing. He got getting up with everybody.
He could have been really good at curling or, well, they didn't have much ice there, so maybe shuffleboard. He could have just been a fun guy like that. But when it came to God, he was a monster. And he didn't mind killing people to prove it. Verse 4, then the Philistines gathered together and came and encamped at Shunem.
So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. Again, this fool king, a lot of people are going to be. glad to be rid of him. They're about 10 miles away from each other, the two camps, Saul's military forces and the Philistines. Shunem is in Ishikar's allotment of territory.
I know you were wondering that coming in this evening. It's like, well, I wonder where Shunem. Who got that? Was it Agad? I didn't know it was Ishikar.
Anyway, Verse 5, when he saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.
Someone had to have observed this king visibly shaken. By this massive army of Philistines. This is a catastrophic characteristic. in a leader. To show such a degree, I mean, it's one thing to show concern.
But to be his, you know, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. This is the fifth time we've read about this man. being so terrified by human forces.
Well, just take one at the battle, with the battle that never happened.
Well, it happened after David got there with Goliath at the Valley of Elah, 1 Samuel 17, when Saul. And all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. His name should have been left out of that sentence. It should have said maybe something like this: And all Israel heard the words of the Philistines, they were dismayed, but not the king. Even if he was on the inside, which he would have been.
And so Saul Lived a life of fear five times. Again, it comes out in 1 Samuel. It is on purpose by the Holy Spirit. He feared people. You know, he told Samuel, well, you know, I feared the people, so I sacrificed.
And Samuel was livid. He said it's clearly we're told that they feared David, he feared the Philistines. Dreadfully afraid. He feared men. But he didn't fear God.
Why not? God was not real enough to him. People were real to him. He could see them. He could touch them.
God just really was not into, he was not into God. Like Esau. Esau just, you know, uh. Religion, okay. But I'd rather go out and get things done.
Well, do them both, Esau. I mean, Jacob was no lazy man, he was a hard worker. Your brother was a very hard worker. But he was still mindful of God. His ethilar couldn't be bothered.
And so God addresses that attitude. He says, Esau, Jacob, I've loved, Esau, I've hated. He's talking about the attitude in the two men. And a stark contrast, 1 Samuel 12, verse 24. This is what Samuel told Saul when he's making him king.
Only fear Yahweh. and serve him in truth with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. You know, you couldn't even find your father's donkeys. God found them for you.
and still made you the king. And when it was time to point you out to the people there, you were hiding because you were afraid of everybody. And so Samuel says, fear God. He never locked onto that. Sermons of Samuel did not register with this man.
I mean, all heroes know fear, but the type of fear that paralyzes. That kind of fear. It evolves From a disinterested heart in God. I think that's one of the great lessons of this 28th chapter. Samuel's going to say to him, to his face, you are now God's enemy.
How dumb do you have to be to do that? God is not looking to make enemies.
Well Where David would have said, Trust God, as Jesus told his disciples, have faith in God, trust him. When you see things that are just beyond, trust God. Psalm 42. Why are you cast down over my soul? He's saying, Why am I depressed?
That's what he's saying. I don't know why I feel so. Awful. Like I don't want to live. And then he so he writes about it.
In a in a prayer in prayer format. Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Then he says, There's hope in God. For I shall yet praise him.
for the help of his countenance. You know the countenance of when you see a good friend and they see you and you both light up. And the friend hails friend. Hey, it's good to see you As opposed to what I do with my kids and all this, you again. No, I don't.
But that's the contrast, of course. The fact is, David felt very personal with God. And that the Psalms had just rolled off of his heart. Saul had none of that. It was there.
He couldn't blame anybody. He had all the advantages and he used them against God. Verse 6: And when Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh did not answer him either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. He was cut off. Again, First Samuel 16, this is when Samuel is going to anoint David.
A man after God's heart. But the spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from Yahweh troubled him. Satan filled a void. God said, I'm out of here finding it, fine. And he withdraws.
And Satan takes an opportunity to become the influencing force in his life. And we better get that lesson. At whatever age you are, you better get that lesson. Satan is out to influence you against God. And he's not going to stop for the rest of your life.
So, you better start as soon as possible learning how to fight and fend them off. Heaven had It blocked Saul's calls.
So What does he do? He calls hell. That's what he does. Fine, God won't answer me, I'll call hell. Selective obedience.
In Saul made it impossible for God to bless him, to use the re everybody's got resources.
Well, every you know, overall, I mean, there's certainly folks that are born with great handicaps, but just Typically, we all have some resource. Whether we develop it or not is another thing. And most of the time, it's some mood that gets in there and sours us. And bitterness is hard to get out. You can get it out.
You get yourself a spiritual goat to eat that poison ivy out of your system because it is bad when you because you feel wrong, you feel justified, you hurt, all of these together. And that is just the perfect storm for Satan. against born again Christians in the church. And so someone that was once a bright lamp in the house of God is now opposed to that same house with no grounds. Satan is very busy with us.
To him, we are worth it. To Satan, we are worth meddling with, destroying. And so Even when Saul obeyed God, it was self-serving and therefore it was not authentic obedience. It was false. The genuineness of your faith, Peter said.
Peter was that kind of man. He could spot saying, Yeah, this guy's fake. Although, one time, you know, he gets to be fake too, and Paul calls him out on it. And he couldn't say anything against Paul. You know, yeah, I know, I act like a Gentile until these Jews from Jerusalem come up from James.
Then I act like I don't want to be a Gentile. And Paul tells him, you know, you being a Jew don't want to be a Jew, but yet you want to lay it on the Gentiles to be a Jew that you don't want to be. How does that work? And then you took Barnabas with you.
Okay, I was in my devotion time this morning. I was into it.
Well, this year was. Yeah. Verse seven. Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to him, In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at Endore.
Oh, we got a big mess here. First off, yes, I mean, you know, the women tend to gravitate toward this particular sin at a faster rate than men. Don't worry, men gravitate to other sins at a faster rate than women, such as violence. It balances out, but it is true. It's part of what Paul was talking about when he wrote to Timothy.
Mm. Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel. If you'd like to listen again to this or other messages or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreference radio.com.
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