Scott Wiley here, the Executive Director of Wisdom International. We're celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. What began as a radio programme in a single city has grown into a global ministry now in sixteen languages. We're hosting a banquet to celebrate all that the Lord has done and you're invited. Please visit wisdomonline.org slash twenty five.
That's wisdomonline.org slash 25. There's a link in the show notes. And now here's Stephen with today's message from Wisdom for the Heart. The woman said, Well, whom shall I bring up for you? He said, Bring up Samuel for me.
And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. That's a long way of saying she screamed. Which is almost comical. She evidently wasn't expecting anything. And by the way, Samuel is going to emerge.
Before she starts any incantation, before she knows she throws a frog into the kettle or whatever, before she draws something on the sand and then gets in the middle of it and begins to moan and chant. None of that took place. Here comes Samuel. If I were to ask you what was one of the most important factors. That led to the downfall of a thousand-year-old Russian monarchy.
the murders of Tsar Nicholas II. and his family, and the rise of a man named Lennon, and Russian communism. You'd probably be thinking right now in your minds, what did I forget in the 10th grade? That's okay. Let me remind you: if I were to ask you.
of one significant factor. Probably more than any. You would probably not include in your answer the mention of a man named Gregory Yefimovich. I had to practice pronouncing that a few times before this morning. While Grigory was still in his teens, he gained a reputation for two things.
He claimed to be able to tell the future. And he said a few things that seemed to come true and so gained some notoriety because of that. And the second thing was he was very immoral. In fact, the local villagers gave him A nickname That means debauchery. The name Rasputin.
Some of that ringing a bell now. When he was 22, he made a spiritual pilgrimage to Mount Athos in Greece. And there he came under the influences of a heretical religious sect. They believed that sinning was necessary for salvation. It's convenient, isn't it?
The more you sinned, the more secure you were. And so they just kind of lit it up. and sinned. as much as they could. Two years later, Rasputin reappears in his Russian village.
Only this time he appears as a religious man. He's wearing black robes. and the collar or cloth of a holy man. He now has incantations. He has formulas, he has the use of hypnosis.
He claims to heal the sick, and it seems that he does with a few of them. And he continued his immoral lifestyle too. He eventually wandered into the city of St. Petersburg. where at this particular time society was just All aflutter with mysticism and the occult.
The elite sections of society were going to seances and it was all just the rage. And he, of course, gained some reputation among them as a priest. Who could connect with the spirit world and even bring healing to some. The imperial family of Tsar Nicholas II heard of him and invited him into their home to try and help treat their son who suffered from haemophilia. Through hypnosis.
It seemed that he was able to alleviate some of the suffering of their son. Because of that, he was welcomed with open arms into the family without much question. He became a close and trusted friend. Friend. Alexandra, the wife of the Czar.
It came to revere him as a holy man sent by God to help save. their son. Even after Alexandra was confronted with Rasputin's immoral. and financial scandals in and out of court. She refused to act on it.
She defended Rasputin as a holy man with power. From God. When World War I broke out, Tsar Nicholas took personal command of the army, leaving Alexandra and Rasputin behind. with even greater power Wasn't long before key leaders were exiled, institutions disrupted, the economy and public morale reached the bottom. Strikes, rioting erupted in the capital city.
Rumors began circulating of a relationship between Alexandra and Rasputin. A group of cabinet members decided enough was enough. and they conspired to kill Rasputin. One night they invited him to a state dinner. But they poisoned his wine.
When he realized what was afoot, he tried to run and escape. He was shot, caught, bound, and thrown into the river where he died. The damage to the Russian monarchy was irreparable. Wicked friends of respute and We're still in power. The Tsar had lost all credibility along with his queen Alexandra, and the time was ripe.
for revolution. Just three months after Rasputin's murder, Tsar Nicholas and his family were brutally murdered. by the Russian rebels. called Bolsheviks. and their leader Lenin.
His rise to power would throw the nation into three years of civil war, and even then the Russian people never got his promises. And they struggle to this day. One historian wrote, If there had been no rasputin, There would never have been a Lenin. Or a Stalin. And there never would have been the propagation of atheistic communism throughout the empire of the Soviet Union for now nearly 100 years.
a contributing factor behind it all. Is a demonically empowered man with evil ambition.
Now, I know I'd be preaching to the choir to tell you that Satan is a mastermind. He is determined to influence and deceive and destroy and divide.
So often it requires One individual in history. At the right place. At the right time, but with the wrong theology connected to the wrong world. and a wayward heart. And even a nation can be led astray.
Some of Israel's darkest days are about to begin. We're going to see the collapse of Tribal territories. Defeat in war. A nation ruined. and then civil war breaking out with brother against brother.
And behind it all Is a king whose final days are marked by a desperate attempt to connect to the occult world. If King Saul's record was not only already deeply tarnished, what he will do in the last 48 hours of his life will seal his doom.
So, why don't you go ahead and turn to 1 Samuel? Saul is going to add injury to insult. He's going to seek counsel from a witch, we would call her. A medium. A woman supposedly able to contact the dead.
Saul is only going to further rebel against God. In this effort, as he turns to Spiritism.
Now since Saul's Life and death are intricately woven into the rise of King David. I want us to pause on another passage I've never preached from. And it it's going to be dark. It's going to be a bit gloomy. and discouraging And you're glad you came today, aren't you?
But we're going to turn the corner. At the very end, about the time I run out of time, okay? What I want to do is learn some final lessons from his biography because it sets the scene for David's. Let me break down the last few hours of Saul's life into three points of reference. First, The tragedy of an unrepentant Life.
Now in order to pick up the study in chronological order. We need to go back to 1 Samuel chapter 28. You may remember that the opening verses, which we read in our last study, opened. the narrative to tell us the Philistines are gathering their forces for war. Against Israel.
What has happened You need to understand is that Saul's murderous Passion and preoccupation with David. Has effectively neglected the growing threat of the Philistine nation. He's been so intent on killing David that his own kingdom and the safety of his own nation has sort of fallen off his radar. The Philistines have been sharpening their swords. By the way, and Saul hasn't noticed.
But the Philistines have noticed him. They've watched him become vulnerable. The time is ripe. for revolution. For war.
Now, as chapter 28 opens, if you are with us in our last study, it's at this point that David is invited to go along with the Philistines. And King Achish, you remember, he's been deceiving that king, telling him that he's defected and he's no longer an Israelite, and carrying on his raids. And he gets away with it until the king says, You know, you ought to go with me to fight against Israel. He's stuck. And we studied what happened through the course of Chapter 29, where the other kings see David arrive with his mighty men, and they won't have any of it.
And they send them packing back to Ziklag. And then chapter 30 told us how when they arrived back home, their wives and children had been abducted. And while all of that is taking place in David's life, Here's what's happening next in Saul's life.
So go back. to chapter 28. and verse 4. The Philistines assembled and came and encamped At Schunum. And Saul gathered all Israel.
and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. He inquired of the Lord. The Lord didn't answer him.
Now if you go back And just look at verse three. Notice the last phrase. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers Out of the land. That's given to us to shape the irony of what we're about to read. According to the demand of God and Samuel, If Saul did anything right, it was this one thing.
He rid the land of The occult. Fortune tellers. Channelers of spirit beings, palm readers, astrologers. The horoscope, which by the way was as popular then as it is now. And those called necromancers, that is, those who contacted the dead.
All of that was forbidden. And by the way, It wasn't forbidden because it was all hocus pocus. It was forbidden because It it was spiritually dangerous. and destructive. And it distracted the people of Israel, like it distracts people today, away from the word of God.
And so, verse 3 is kind of given to us as a backdrop to the irony. Of this scene about to open, it tells us that Saul is trembling. In verse 5, that means literally to quake. It was used of Mount Sinai. Quaking, shaking as God descended to deliver the law to Moses.
Saul is literally shaking with fear as he sees the Philistines gathering. First six. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him. either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.
Now stop for a moment. The Urim was among Precious objects. used by the high priest.
Some believe they were stones carried in the ephid over his shoulder. We do know that these stones delivered yes and no answers from God. Saul obviously has some problems here. He needs an answer, a yes or a no. You think of the problems he's encountering.
First of all, he's lost his brilliant commanding officer who never lost a battle, David. He's also lost contact with God, we just read, through God's prescribed methods. He's unprepared for this battle. It's almost like he doesn't have a battle plan.
So before he decides to rush down That little Mount Gilboa into the jaws of the Philistine army. He wants to know if he's going to win or not. Is it yes? Or no? And the heavens are silent.
Some of the saddest verses. in his biography, or anyone's for that matter, Is this comment by Saul in verse 15? If you look down there, he remarks. that God has turned away from me And answers me No more. God has turned away from me.
He's complaining. Against God. It's tragic, but what's tragic is that he's blaming God as if God has somehow, for no reason, turned away. from me.
Well, David himself will provide the answer. Why? Not only for Saul, but for everyone who walks with God. He writes from his own experience. In that song we've labeled Psalm 66 and verse 18.
If I regard, if I cherish, Iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me.
Now David isn't saying that God doesn't literally hear you when you refuse to repent of some sin. Because we know from Scripture that God is omnipresent and omniscient, and He hears everything. In fact, he knows what you're going to say before you say it. whether you're walking with them or not. What David means here is that God will not respond to a request of him that you deliver from an unrepentant heart that is cherishing Sin you know you should confess.
So here's Saul complaining: oh, God, you know, he just won't listen to me anymore, he won't tell me anything, and you think, wow. Why would you expect him to when you refuse to repent? The tragedy here is that Saul is chosen to be wayward. Rather than worship. And honor God, and you just can't have it both ways.
You can't have it both ways. It's like a child. Wanting to commune or have fellowship with mom or dad, and at the same time, Rebelling, right? It's like you when you were a child. Your parents told me.
You rebelled. against them and still wanted communion with them, right? How many of us are guilty of that? You wouldn't raise your hand until I did. You...
Chicken.
Okay. You just, you can't have both. Chuck Smedol told a funny story in his commentary here on what happened to him years ago when he visited the hospital one evening. Woman in the church was in critical condition and He came to visit. as he pastored in Fullerton, California.
And she's walking through the parking lot he spotted the husband of the woman that he had come to visit. They both attended the church. He pastored and The man was standing off to the side of the front entrance of the hospital smoking. The man caught sight of Swindahl walking toward him at some distance away, and he evidently didn't want his pastor to see him smoking.
So he stuck his hand with the lit cigarette into his front pants pocket. Swindahl commented. I just decided to go over and carry on a conversation with him. A long conversation. He said the man turned all shades of red, fidgeted, smoke was literally coming out of his pocket.
Finally, he just laughed and he said, look, why don't you just go ahead and finish it? The man actually looked at him and said, Finish what? Yeah. And he hurried off in a cloud of smoke.
Somebody came up to me after one of the earlier services and said, maybe that's the origin of the phrase, liar, liar, pants on fire. Could be. Listen, we don't go to God for advice or communion. Or worship. While at the same time attempting to hide something from him.
That he might not be pleased with, as if he can't see it. Saul is complaining, God doesn't answer me anymore. But he's got stuffed into his royal robes a heart that is smoldering with disobedience. And he Knows it. He knows it.
But it is tragic. He can hear the war chant of the Philistines. And he cannot hear the voice of God. This is the tragedy of Saul's unrepentant life. Secondly, Let me point out the reality.
of an unseen world. Notice verse 7. Then Saul said to his servants, Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servant said to him, Behold, there is a medium at Endor. Isn't it interesting?
He asks for a woman. Most scholars believe he knew she existed. he knew that she had escaped the purge. He just doesn't know where she's living at the moment. His servants do.
In fact, one author said she's related, some believe, to the royal family. There are connections. The Bible in the Hebrew text literally refers to her as a mistress of necromancy. In other words, she consulted the dead. in order to determine the future.
Now, Saul has categorically refused God's prophets. and God's word. His disobedience has blocked God's prescribed methods of gaining insight and wisdom. And we've been told this is sufficient. For our life, right?
He is rejected Before the completion of Scripture, the prescription of God through his prophets and priests. And because of that, he says, you know what? I know there's a woman. Who's a medium? She can contact the dead.
I'm going to try to get an appointment with Samuel. And hear from him. Notice what happens next, verse 8.
So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went. He and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you. And the woman said to him, Well, surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?
But Saul swore to her by the Lord, as the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. By the way, don't miss the irony that he's swearing by the name of the Lord. He is at that moment disobeying. This is how Rock hard his heart is. Verse 11.
The woman said, Well, whom shall I bring up for you? He said, Bring up Samuel for me. And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. That's a long way of saying she screamed. Which is almost comical.
She evidently wasn't expecting anything. And by the way, Samuel is going to emerge. Before she starts any incantation, before she knows she throws a frog into the kettle or whatever, before she draws something on the sand and then gets in the middle of it and begins to moan and chant. None of that took place. Here comes Samuel.
By the way, God can do this. He has done this with Moses and Elijah. brought them to the Mount of Transfiguration. to bolster the faith of Peter, James, and John.
Now I will tell you, and we'll pause for just a few moments. Because there's a lot of ink spilled on whether or not this was really Samuel. I mean, what's really happening here? Is the devil doing something? Is this a demon?
Is this an apparition? Is this some mist? Or is this really Samuel that God allows to come back to pronounce this final judgment or reaffirmation of the judgment? I would throw my hat into the ring with those who say it's literally Samuel. And there are five reasons why.
I'm going to say him faster and write.
So I don't want you to write him. Just listen. First, because the woman saw him and described him.
Now, if you look at verse 14, she's polytheistic. She's superstitious and she describes a god coming up from out of the earth. And then she described him as an old man as he gets a little closer. wrapped in a robe.
So she's describing a man. Secondly, Saul recognizes him, not just the description, he evidently, it's implied, sees him because he bows before him. Thirdly, because the biblical text literally refers to This thing as Samuel Three times. And Samuel said, and Samuel said. Fourthly, The message that Samuel delivers is a mirror message of what he had already delivered to Saul years earlier.
He said to Saul, God has taken away the kingdom from you and He's going to give it to your neighbor. What He does here in this text is he adds a name to the neighbor. David. One more reason. And these are in ascending order of importance: that this had to be God's divinely inspired prophet, and here it is, because Samuel knew.
The future. The dead Do not know. The future. any more than the living. Beyond what God has already provided.
What about the believer?
Well, you have the believing martyrs who are martyred in the coming tribulation, and they're at the throne of God and they're saying, How long, O Lord, before you vindicate our blood? They know he's going to vindicate it because they've read Revelation. But they haven't been told when, and so they're asking.
So believers don't know. the timing of God's events. The dead don't know the future anymore. than we do.
However, keep in mind the deception of the underworld. While they do not know the future, by means of their communication systems, they know what's happening a thousand miles away right now. Could communicate it to somebody a thousand miles distant from them. They can read your email. They can read the email somebody's writing to you.
Which you won't get because it gets thrown into spam until you can figure out how to get it back in your mailbox. They can read the letter that's been mailed to you before you get it and they know what it says. They know the name of, they know the nickname of your great-grandfather. They know you're you're departed Pets. Favorite Toy.
I mean, the devil is deceitful, and his kingdom has communication methods we know nothing of, so we don't trivialize them. We don't focus on them, and we definitely don't solicit. information from them. Because they could deceive us. with legitimate information.
Because of things they have been able to communicate and what they do see. And people today are led to believe in some strange spirit world. distracted and deceived. Take it away from God's revealed word. That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart, a production of Wisdom International.
Learn more at wisdomonline.org.
