A Tragic Dead End
Download MP3If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to first Samuel chapter 28 as we continue our study on the life of David. We're actually gonna be looking at, kind of the tragic end of King Saul and how he does the exact opposite of everything that you just heard Jonathan say. When, I was a sophomore at that great Bible institution, the University of Georgia, I was I remember it was Halloween. I so vividly remember this class. It was Halloween.
Joel Brooks:Doctor Ted Lewis was teaching. He turned off all the lights. He closed all the blinds. He got a flashlight and he held it up to his face. And he read to us the text I'm about to read you, which is about how King Saul goes to the witch of Endor to raise up the spirit of Samuel.
Joel Brooks:And he reads that in Hebrew. And it was the most creepy class, that you could imagine. And then afterwards, he said, and not just that, you're probably wondering how do you do? How do you raise up a spear from the dead? And he goes, here is a 3000 year old, incantation that we have.
Joel Brooks:And he begins reading that. And, he leaves off the very last line. He goes, you know, just in case. We don't actually wanna bring anybody here. But it was a wonderfully creepy class.
Joel Brooks:I thought about doing something like that here this morning, but it's kinda hard to pull off with all the stained glass. Plus, I didn't wanna make light of what's really a tragic story that has been preserved for us for 3000 years to serve as a warning to us. Yes. This story has kind of a Shakespearean feel to it, but it was not written for our entertainment, but to serve as a warning that we can start off strong in the faith. We could start off with God's blessing.
Joel Brooks:We can be surrounded by religion our entire lives. And yet when it comes to the end, we can still find ourselves completely and totally lost. And so let's listen to first Samuel 28. I'll begin reading in verse 3 and I'll read to verse 20. Now Samuel had died and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city.
Joel Brooks:And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land. The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel and encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.
Joel Brooks: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 servants said to him, behold there is a medium at Indore. So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and 2 men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And He said, divine for me a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.
Joel Brooks:The woman said to Him, surely you know what Saul has done, how he's 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? So but Paul swore to her by the Lord. As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. Then the woman said, whom shall I bring up for you?
Joel Brooks:He said, bring up Samuel for me. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, why have you deceived me? You are Saul. The king said to her, do not be afraid.
Joel Brooks:What do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. He said to her, what is his appearance? And she said, an old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel.
Joel Brooks:And he bowed with his face to the ground, and he paid homage. Then Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? Saul answered, I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me, and he answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore, I have summoned you to tell me what to do. And Samuel said, why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned away from you and become your enemy?
Joel Brooks:The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek. Therefore, the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow, you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him, for he had not eaten nothing all day and all night.
Joel Brooks:This is the word of the Lord. If you would pray with me. Father, we thank you for the word that we've just read. I pray that now through your spirit, you would speak to us. We need to hear from you, for your words are life, and we need life.
Joel Brooks:So, Father, would you, through your Spirit, write these words on our hearts? I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. So I'm sure that all of you have experienced at some point in your life times of anxiety, times you were afraid, And all you wanted in that moment was just a little bit of guidance.
Joel Brooks:Somebody to just tell you what to do. How to respond to the situation, how to get out of this situation. And so where do you turn during those times? And what happens during the times when you turn to God, but it seems like God's not even listening because you don't get an answer? That's where we find Saul in this story, filled with fear, fear that's consumed almost his entire life, filled with anxiety.
Joel Brooks:We actually read here that, he was afraid and that his heart trembled greatly. In other words, he was falling apart. He'd become a wreck. And a couple of things had led Saul to this point. For starters, there was the Philistine army was now encamped up against him.
Joel Brooks:But he's dealt with the Philistines before, so that can't fully explain why he's falling apart. But on top of knowing the Philistines were there, he's heard a rumor now. A rumor that David himself has gone over to join the Philistines, and David had. And so now as he looks over at the Philistines, he is thinking for the first time he's gonna have to fight the combined force of 2 of his greatest enemies, David and the Philistines. And he knows he doesn't have a chance.
Joel Brooks:There is no way he could get out of this situation. And so, he's going to wherever he can for guidance, but he can't find any. He tried to asking God what to do, but God wasn't speaking to him. He can no longer go to Samuel because Samuel was dead. He has this priestly device that's called the urim.
Joel Brooks:We're not exactly sure what that is, but it was a device that the priests could use to somehow discern God's will, but Saul couldn't get it to work. You needed a priest to get it to work. The only problem was this, Saul had killed all of the priests. And so there was no one there to even use that for him. He becomes so desperate for guidance, he actually goes off to consult a witch.
Joel Brooks:I mean, just when you think Saul cannot sink any lower, he now resorts to witchcraft for guidance. He thinks that perhaps he could find a witch, that maybe he could communicate with the dead, and then the dead can can direct him and tell him what he should be doing in this situation. The only problem is this. He had actually gotten rid of all of the witches in the land. You you never know when you're gonna need a witch until you get rid of them all.
Joel Brooks:And he got rid of them, and now he really wants one. And so he goes to his servants, and he's like, hey, do you know of any witches? Which had to feel like a trap to his servants. And I'm sure one of them came forward and says, you know, I've got a friend. I've heard, that there's this witch over at Indore.
Joel Brooks:And Indore was on the other side of the Philistine encampment. It would have been a very dangerous place to try to get to at that moment. But Saul is so desperate, he wears a disguise, and he he and a couple of his servants, they go at night, and they go somehow around or through the enemy encampment, and they go to the witch's house at Endor, and they arrive at night just to make it extra creepy. And they go there at night, and the witch is immediately suspicious. It's like, why do You want me to bring back somebody from the dead?
Joel Brooks:Why do you want to speak to a spirit? You know Saul has made that illegal. Are you a spy from Saul laying a trap for me? And Saul swears by the Lord, no, that's not the case. Nothing bad is gonna harm you.
Joel Brooks:I mean, Saul is now going, like can you get any lower than where Saul is in this moment? And it convinces her and she says, okay. Tell me who do you want me to bring up? He said, I want you to bring up the spirit of Samuel. Now why in the world a witch would want to bring up a prophet of God?
Joel Brooks:I'm not sure. If I'm if I was a witch, I wouldn't want to do that, but for some reason she says okay. Perhaps she didn't think it was actually gonna work. Perhaps she just usually faked her way through these things and she said fine. And then it works.
Joel Brooks:We're not given actually any description as to what she does. The Bible is just really silent on that. I don't know if you noticed that, it's just like it just jumps over and all of a sudden she sees something. Apparently, though she does whatever things witches do to bring back, you know, the spirits of the dead, you know, she goes through some kind of chant, probably waves her arms around, whatever it is. But all of a sudden Samuel himself appears and she screams.
Joel Brooks:It's like she was surprised it worked. Like, oh my gosh. It's Samuel. She she screams. Uh-uh.
Joel Brooks:I mean, apparently, she she really wasn't used to this kind of thing working. And so she is shocked. And because Samuel does appear, she then puts 2 and 2 together, and is like, who would call up Samuel? You've got to be Saul. And then she could not imagine herself in a worse situation.
Joel Brooks:I mean, think of yourself. If you're a witch, now in your living room, you have got the king who is the enforcer of putting all witches to death, and then you have the prophet Saul, now both in your living room before you. It's it's a bad day for her, which is probably why she just kinda gets Samuel and she gets Saul talking to one another, and then she just leaves the room. Pretty odd story. I probably should take a moment just to address the, the whole can you bring back a spirit from the dead and actually talk to them thing that's going on here?
Joel Brooks:Because you probably have questions. You're not alone. Did this witch really bring back the spirit of Samuel the prophet to talk to him? My definitive answer is maybe. That's that's as good as you're gonna get from it.
Joel Brooks:Maybe. We do know that, you know, the Bible, you know, takes up some precious space in it to address necromancy and and, people trying to bring back the spirits of the dead. So we at least know that people were trying to do it, and God says you should not do it. So people at least thought it would work. But my suspicion is this, and it's just a suspicion, that it was actually the Lord Himself who brought back Samuel.
Joel Brooks:That just as God had brought Elijah and brought Moses to the mount of transfiguration to talk to Jesus, Here, the Lord brings up Samuel to talk to Saul, and that would explain why she is so shocked that this actually worked. But I can't give you anything more definitive than that because, you know, this isn't exactly John 316. Alright? I'm a little out of my depth when it comes to this. But regardless, I can tell you this.
Joel Brooks:Don't try it. Don't try to bring back a spirit from the dead. That's why the Bible's even really, silent as to what she actually did. So no Ouija boards, no things like that. Alright?
Joel Brooks:So, it works somehow, and Samuel appears and he's really grumpy. He's like, why did you disturb me? Why did you disturb my rest? And then Saul just launches in to all of his problems. Look at verse 15 with me.
Joel Brooks:Says, then Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? Saul answered, I'm in great distress, the Philistines are warring against me, God has turned away from me, he's not answering me, there's no prophets, there's no dreams, I need you to tell me what to do. You can almost hear this just like bubbling out rapid fire to Samuel. Now let me just stop right here and ask you a question. As Saul is telling all these things, all these reasons why he's bringing Samuel, why he needs guidance, why he's in this crisis, is he's bringing up all these things.
Joel Brooks:Do you actually think he even mentioned the core issue at stake? Do you think he actually brought up his real problem? There's a glaring omission here. He never mentions his sin. He never mentions, oh, I killed all the priests.
Joel Brooks:Oh, I've been hunting the Lord's anointed David. Oh, I've tried to kill my own son. Oh yeah, I've repeatedly disobeyed the Lord. None of those things were even mentioned at all. Instead, he's just pointing outward at everyone saying, they're the reason for all my problems.
Joel Brooks:There's all these circumstances, but he ever never actually looks at his own heart. He never mentions his own disobedience. Yet the biggest obstacles that Saul had in his life were not out there, they were in here. Saul's own sin was his biggest obstacle, and that's true of us as well. Our sin, our rebellion against God is the biggest obstacle that we have in our lives.
Joel Brooks:Can I tell you some painful but honest truth? Most most of the hurt that you experience in life, most, not all, but most of the hurt you experience is self inflicted. I know when when we are going through suffering and we're hurt, we instinctively, we just point at everyone else. It's because of my boss, it's because of my neighbor, it's because of school, it's because we point of all these things as a those things or those people are the source of all my hurt. But the truth is this, that most, not all, but most of the hurt we experience in life is self inflicted.
Joel Brooks:It's due to our own sin, not due to the sins of others. And so if we're looking for someone to blame, we probably should look in the mirror at these things. Quit looking outward, begin looking inward. Samuel reminds Saul of this. In verse 18, Samuel tells Saul that the reason he's falling to pieces, he's in this crisis, is because he didn't obey the Lord when the Lord told him to go and destroy all the Amalekites.
Joel Brooks:Do you remember that story? We looked at it. 1 Samuel 15. We looked at it several weeks ago. God said He wanted to bring His judgment upon the Amalekites.
Joel Brooks:They were a evil, evil race. And God told Saul, you're my instrument for destruction, for judgment. I need you to wipe them all out. Kill all the people, destroy all the possessions, even kill, destroy the people, the possessions. Don't profit at all from this war at all.
Joel Brooks:Take no livestock with you. He was crystal clear. This is a war of judgment, not a war of profit. And Saul heard it and he's like, okay. But then he didn't obey.
Joel Brooks:He preserved the sheep. He kept them because he he wanted he wanted the wealth. He wanted the booty, the spoils of war. And so he disobeyed. And if you remember how when Samuel came to confront him, he says, why didn't you listen to the Lord?
Joel Brooks:And Saul's like, I did listen to the Lord. And Samuel goes, if you listen to the Lord, why am I listening to sheep? You're literally surrounded by sheep. And then Samuel makes all of these excuses, but he never repents. And if you remember at the time, Samuel makes this unusual comment.
Joel Brooks:I actually didn't get to to really unpack this when we were going through it, weeks ago. But as he's confronting Saul in his sin, it's just a really unusual line that now makes sense. Samuel looked Saul in the eye and he said these words, first words we're familiar with, Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. But then He says this, for rebellion is as the sin of divination. It's an odd comment, for rebellion is the sin of divination.
Joel Brooks:It just I mean, when you read through it at that time, it kinda seemed out of place and it just kinda came out of the blue. But now look where Saul finds himself. Do you think Saul ever pictured that he would actually do the sin of divination? He would go and find a witch and he'd be trying to bring back the spirit of the dead? Think that's where Saul envisioned his life could possibly go in that moment after he just had a great victory over the Amalekites?
Joel Brooks:People are literally singing his praises, writing songs in his honors. He just set up a monument to himself. He's gotten wealthy from all the spoils of war. Do you think in that crowning moment, he ever thought that he would end up in a place like that? Yet here he is.
Joel Brooks:And what's what's Samuel when He said for rebellion is as a sin of divination, what He's what He's saying is, I see in you, Saul. I'm looking into your heart and I see the seed. I see the seed of divination. The seed of an evil that you cannot imagine, but you're putting yourself on the path to it. Because you think this is just a little sin.
Joel Brooks:It's not a little sin. If you won't listen to the Lord, you put yourself on a path to listen to the demonic. There is no such thing as a small sin, because you're placing yourself on a path, and Samuel rightly looked in Saul's heart, and he saw where it was going. We have those seeds in us. Which path do we put ourselves on?
Joel Brooks:Now up to this point in the conversation, Samuel has not brought up anything new. He's just brought up old sins that, you know, Saul refused to repent of. But now as Samuel's bringing ends to this conversation, he gives Samuel a final prophecy, a final prophecy from the dead. This is a prophecy you don't ever want to hear from a dead person. Samuel just says, hey, I'll see you and your kids tomorrow.
Joel Brooks:That's it. I'll see you and your kids tomorrow. And then Samuel disappears. And when Saul hears that, he literally just collapses in total fear. No strength at all left in His body.
Joel Brooks:And I cannot think of a more hopeless picture than the one we have right here. This is what Paul describes in Ephesians 2:2. When he says, You were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world. That is Saul, having no hope and without God in this world. And if you have no hope and are without God in this life, you will have no hope and you will be without God in your death.
Joel Brooks:And it is a tragedy that we see in front of us. I typically actually enjoy preaching at funerals. I like preaching at weddings. I think I like funerals even more. For when people are, they're in the right mood to like really listen to what matters.
Joel Brooks:But boy, if there's a faithful believer and they've died, it's, yes, there's sorrow, but such rejoicing and such hope as we look to the resurrection of Christ. But I've also had to do a number of funerals to people who have outright rejected Jesus, and there is nothing worse. I mean, I'd I'd honestly, I'd rather do anything, anything at all than me have to be behind the pulpit doing the funeral of someone who didn't know Christ. I mean, because what can you do? What can you say?
Joel Brooks:I mean, I I get up there, and, like, every time I just struggle with words. There is no hope I can offer. There is no comfort I can give. I can't appeal to that person anymore to believe the gospel because that person's time has gone. All I could do is point to their life as a tragic warning to don't go out the way this person went out without hope and without God.
Joel Brooks:What can we learn from the tragedy of Saul, who died without hope and without God? Well, we can learn how to pick 3 things here. We can learn that we can be surrounded by religion, and yet it will not save us. If you follow Saul's life, as you as you go through it, you'll notice that Saul is often he's going to religious ceremony, to religious ceremony, to make another sacrifice here. He's, like, always going to these different religious ceremonies.
Joel Brooks:He was surrounded by religion, yet it didn't save him. He also did a whole lot of good in his life, and he wasn't purely evil. I mean he got rid of the mediums and the necromancers, that's a good thing. And it didn't save him. There were times he obeyed God when it was convenient and suited him.
Joel Brooks:There were times that he prayed to God when he really needed something. If he lived today, we would likely see him as just a successful churchgoing man, and yet he never trusted the Lord. He never knew him. You actually find this over and over as you read through his life, and this isn't every time he mentions the Lord, but it happens enough that it just kinda pops to you, especially when he was talking to Samuel at times. He would never say, The Lord my God, The Lord, my God.
Joel Brooks:He would always say, Samuel, the Lord, your God. The Lord, your God. He knew about God, but it was always your God. It wasn't his God. As Saul, the times that he seemed to be seeking the Lord, he wasn't really seeking the Lord, he was just seeking for a solution.
Joel Brooks:The Lord was nothing more than a means to an end in his life. You ever do that? Is is your prayer time mostly just, Lord, would he to network? Is it to find some friends? Saul here is a tragic reminder that church life can literally be the air we breathe, and yet we can miss out on God entirely.
Joel Brooks:I read through His life and I think of Jesus' words in Matthew chapter 7, when He I never knew you. Saul never knew the Lord. And this he comes to a tragic end. So we can learn first that you could be surrounded by religion, but it does not save. 2nd, we learn this.
Joel Brooks:That only God will satisfy. Saul was never satisfied with God. Never. Therefore, he can never be satisfied with anything. Think of everything that God had given to him.
Joel Brooks:God had chosen him, made them the first king of Israel. God gave him success in all of his battles. Gave him the respect of his people. Gave him some wealth. And above all, God gave him his spirit saying, I am giving you my very presence to you.
Joel Brooks:And He showered him with promises and love. And Saul responded to all of that and said, not enough. I want more. I want more wealth, more praise, more songs, more monuments erected in my, in my honor. Because the Lord was never enough in his life, nothing was ever enough in his life.
Joel Brooks:Final thing we learned from him is our desperate need to repent. Saul never repents. Even here at the end of his life, he refuses to repent. That's all he needed to do, humble himself and repent. I mean, there were times it looked like he was repenting.
Joel Brooks:I mean, there were times he'd break down crying, weeping. But it was never because he had broken God's heart. It was because he had been busted. He had been caught in his sin. My wife has told me, on several occasions, I'm a terrible counselor, for for this reason.
Joel Brooks:I have said at numerous times in counseling, as people have broken down crying before me, your tears mean nothing to me. Yeah. I just I just don't want any of y'all to come to me to counseling because none of right now you're like, no. I'm not going to Joel. But your your your tears, you know, mean nothing to and there's probably a little bit of callousness that's come over the years.
Joel Brooks:You know, like, can we speed up the process? But mostly it's this. I'm no longer fooled by tears. Because people come to my office and they cry for the most ungodly reasons. They cry because the sin they loved is being taken away.
Joel Brooks:They cry because they got busted and now they're having to deal with the consequences of it. But very few people cry because they know their sin broke God's heart. You never see that repentance in Saul. He cried for other reasons, but not because he ever broke God's heart. And instead he would do things, and we looked at this when we, we were back in 1st Samuel 15, but he would do things like he would blame shift.
Joel Brooks:He'd point to everyone else, every other circumstance, and say, they're the reason I sinned. It wasn't me. It was due to them. You ever do that? You ever come home, you know, and you yell at your spouse for something?
Joel Brooks:You say, I'm sorry. It was just a rough day at work. No. It wasn't You didn't sin because it was a rough day at work, you sinned because you're evil. That was on you, you can't point to some circumstance.
Joel Brooks:You can't say I'm sorry. You know, I I didn't get much sleep or I didn't have lunch. No. You sinned. And that sin is what you need to repent of and not blame, shift, and point to someone else.
Joel Brooks:Saul also, he would rationalize his sin all the time instead of repenting of it. I mean he'd be knee deep in some sin, and then yet he would think of, you know, really when you think about it. In this one case, this sin is okay. We do that all the time. Do do you know how many married couples I've had in my office who are pursuing a completely unbiblical divorce and yet they say, Well, we know it's normally wrong.
Joel Brooks:Yeah, yes, We know God's word says this is wrong, but in this case, I think God just wants us to be happy. Or times when people might steal from their office. They're like, I know that's normally wrong, but they owe me back pay. Like, we try to rationalize our sin instead of bone it and say, It's wrong. It's sin.
Joel Brooks:We finally, we know that Saul never repented because he never changed his behavior. I mean, yes, He'd weep, He'd go through all the motions, but then He'd be right back to the same sin. And I'm not saying that if you have true repentance, you will never go back to that same sin again, because if so, man, we're we're, you know, we're all messed up. But I'll say this, that it should break your heart as you do so. And there should be progress.
Joel Brooks:If the Holy Spirit is in you and you're repenting of sin, there is sanctification happening. But there was never a change in Saul's behavior. He never repented. So what is the hope for the Sauls out there? And I put myself in the account.
Joel Brooks:What's what's the hope for the Sauls like me and for the Sauls like you? Well, earlier I quoted Ephesians 2:12. Remember, our condition was described as having no hope and without God in this world and I stop there. But let me read you Ephesians 2:13. The very next thing Paul says is this.
Joel Brooks:He says, but now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. You can have hope. You can be reconciled, and it's not through, you know, just trying to turn over a new leaf. It's not saying I'm gonna go out those doors and I'm gonna be a better person. No, that is not at all what's going to reconcile you with God.
Joel Brooks:It's the blood of Jesus. This is what Paul says, but now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. His blood can make even the most vile center clean. And I know some of you, you've heard, like all your life, you've been a part of church, and you're always singing about the blood, always talking about the blood, being drowned in the blood, washing the fountain of the blood, all of this. And it just kinda goes It's one of those like, you know, Christianese languages.
Joel Brooks:You you hear it all the time and it just, you haven't really absorbed its meaning. Why are Christians always talking about the blood? It's because it's our only hope. And let me tell you what is meant when we when we say that we are saved or we are reconciled to God by the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ means that Jesus' death on the cross is what saves us.
Joel Brooks:You see that unlike you and unlike me and unlike Saul, Jesus did not deserve to die. It's the wages of sin is death. Death was never going to come to Jesus, so Jesus decided He would go to death for us and conquer it. And what you have in that moment is Jesus, when He goes to death, He's treated like Saul. Saul says that he cried out to the Lord and the Lord would not answer him.
Joel Brooks:That happened to Jesus. In which He's on the cross and He says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He felt the forsakenness just as Saul felt the forsakenness. But Jesus never sinned. What He's doing is He's taking our sin and He's placing it on Him.
Joel Brooks:Therefore, He's abandoned. And then He takes His righteousness and He places it on us. It's what we call the beautiful exchange. He takes our old life and our old sin, and He gives us new life and forgiveness and His righteousness. That's what we mean when we say we were reconciled to God by the blood of Christ.
Joel Brooks:Do you know that reconciliation? Have you experienced that beautiful exchange? Do you know Jesus? That's what it all boils down to. That new life is available for you today.
Joel Brooks:And let me pray for you. Jesus, through your death and resurrection, our sins have been dealt with forever, but only if we trust you. And now through your spirit, may you, for those who have never called out to you, never repented, never trusted in you their entire life, would you allow them, embolden them, empower them to do that in this moment? May they forsake all of their own righteousness and cling only to yours, Jesus. Would you do that?
Joel Brooks:Would you breathe new life in people in this moment through your spirit? We pray this in the name of our present and our future King, Jesus. Amen.
