INTRODUCTION
A. My daughter Grace and I have a love for movies - watching movies is one of our favorite things to share
1. Thankfully- Grace has good taste - watch a lot of good ones
2. She even loves to watch my old favorites - Indiana Jones, Goonies, Princess Bride
3. It's great to get to share those adventures with her - really gets into them
4. This past summer -heard about a new series on Netflix had to watch it - Stranger Things
B. Set in 1983 in a small town in Indiana - where things start happening . . . Stranger Things
1. So much of it has look/feel of the movies I grew up with - at same time appealed to Grace
2. Devoured the series -binge watched it -and long after finished -still talk about it, discuss
3. Bridged our generations -I think it did that in part because we all have this connection
4. We love strange stories - drawn to things that seem twisted, scary or even upside down
5. And it turns out that the Bible is full of those kind of stories
C. There are few stories in the Bible as strange as Saul and the Witch of En-Dor
1. ANNOUNCE TEXT: 1 SAMUEL 28:1-20 (page 250)
2. Honestly I always just read this as a weird story - Halloween story of the Bible
3. Has it all witch/ghost/mad king
4. As I've had to dig through it -see it as much more -story of desperation and failure
5. Story of how far we will sink when we abandon our faith - I'm afraid -could be our story
6. READ: 1 SAMUEL 28:1-7
D. What's happening here? King of Israel needs direction -not go to God -consults a medium
1. Four times in Law - expressly forbidden -Exodus 22:18 KJV -"Thou shalt not suffer..."
2. Knows -wrong -In fact – he’s just tossed all the spiritists out of the land
3. But beyond that -at one time -Saul had prophesied himself -God spoke through him
4. So here's a guy -used to communicate with God -clearly heard voice - doing forbidden
5. What has gone wrong for this man-fall so far? Could we find ourselves on a similar path?
Trans: The first mistake we see here in Saul's life is one that can be way too easy for us to make. That is that:
I. FEAR BECOMES A MOTIVATOR
A. If you watch scary movies you know that fear makes you do stupid things
1. The kids are doing just fine, huddled together in the old abandoned house - "let's split up"
2. Don't do that! Fear makes us do stupid things - keeps us from steps of independence
3. Keeps us in bad relationships for far too long - fear prolongs abuse, neglect
4. And it keeps us from seeing ourselves the way God sees us.
B. You have to pay attention to the setup of this story - understanding why Saul is this desperate
1. Verse 3 - Samuel was dead- prophet/priest/judge - Israel's great unifying leader
2. He had also appointed Saul as king and advised him - now for first time, Saul is alone
3. Facing a powerful enemy - and you notice -verses 1-2 -doesn't begin with Saul - David
4. David is poised to take over the kingdom - but first Saul has to meet his demise.
C. Saul is afraid - his advisor is dead -afraid. Huge army-afraid – God silent – afraid
1. There’s a reason the Bible -expressly prohibits consulting mediums/spiritists
2. They take us away from our reliance on God. We want answers – Go to God….
3. We accept his answers whether we like them or not -sometimes accept his silence
4. And we realize -if we can’t hear God’s leading -problem is usually us – never him
D. We have to admit – far too often we’re motivated by fear – that is so wrong
1. 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
2. Some of you are afraid about the future -election – afraid he will get in/she will get in
3. Perfect love casts out fear – if you’re afraid – have you really understood God’s love yet?
4. Whatever happens Nov 8 -Jesus Christ still Lord on November 9 – Donkey/Elephant/Lamb
5. Saul missed that -and it made him do something . . . so stupid
Trans: You know, in the scary movies when someone’s afraid you’ll see them hiding in the closet or under the bed –that’s usually where the monster is. Fear causes us to hide and we saw that in Saul. His fear led to hypocrisy and:
II. HYPOCRISY CAUSES US TO HIDE FROM OURSELVES AND OTHERS
A. READ: 2 SAMUEL 28:8-14
1. Hypocrite is a word we toss around a lot – one that gets tossed at US a lot, honestly
2. Originally it wasn’t an insult – it was a job – a hypocrite was an actor -Greek plays -masks
3. Word, “hypocrite” means “under a mask” – that’s how we see Saul here
B. As you read the progression here – you see Saul descend further/further into hypocrisy
1. V3 – Saul put the mediums/necromancers out of Israel-decisive action – expelled
2. V7 – when God doesn’t answer him -what do? Find me a medium so I can inquire of her
3. V8 – what does he do? Disguises himself – and he goes to her, when? By night
4. Verse 12 – He’s exposed for who he really was.
C. Why did Saul have to hide his identity? Well, one – knew what he was doing was wrong
1. More than that -he knew it went against everything that he stood for.
2. His fear – of what was against him - of facing enemies alone – fear of rejection…
3. Led him to hide who he really was.
4. You and I probably haven’t consulted a witch – call up spirit of dead friends….
5. But I bet one way or another we’ve been down a path of fear – where had to hide
D. And while we may have hidden our actions – or even our attitudes from others -not God
1. He’s seen past the mask – through the disguise
2. And even here with Saul – God was silent – but he wasn’t absent – he was aware
3. And that also points to the mistakes Saul made – mistakes we can make
4. You see, Saul didn’t consult the medium because God was absent…
5. He consulted her because he was disobedient.
Trans: And that’s what we can’t miss in our lives:
III. OUR DISOBEDIENCE DEAFENS US TO GOD’S LEADING
A. The amazing thing about this story – it really worked. The ghost of Samuel shows up
1. Back in verse 12 – the woman herself surprised it worked – Then Samuel speaks
2. READ: 1 SAMUEL 28:15-19
3. Quick review again – why had Saul come to the medium-forbidden? -verse 6
4. But why wouldn’t God answer him? – verse 18
B. Let me repeat something I said a few months ago in our series on prayer
1. Prayer is not about saying the right words – know what I mean?
2. Some people think – get the words right, intensity, right voice –“in Jesus name”…
3. Then God has to hear me – answer my prayer – that’s not how it works
4. Prayer is not about the right words. It’s about the right relationship
C. 1 Peter 3:7, “husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”
1. If our relationships aren’t right with each other- then they can’t be right with God
2. If we’re not treating each other honestly, lovingly, openly – prayers will be hindered
3. God will be silent. And in those times – you don’t ask, “God, where have you gone?”
4. He doesn’t change – rather – look at self – what am I doing -hinder this relationship?
D. Saul got an answer – not the answer he wanted -verse 19 – reaction verse 20
1. But what if he had obeyed God in the beginning? How much different?
2. Listened to God, obeyed God, followed and did what he knew was right
3. He would have heard God clearly – but he didn’t – something for us here
4. Thesis: Obedience now provides confidence later
E. Not always the easy thing to do – seldom is it the convenient thing to do – but right thing do
1. And if we’re obedient to God in the good times – when difficulty comes…
2. When we- trouble hearing his voice – we can know he’s still with us/still loves-perfectly
3. And know that even in the silence there’s no need to fear.
CONCLUSION
A. The next day – 2 chapters later -Saul and his sons are dead – Kingdom goes to David
1. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore, the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.
2. David, like Saul – had his moments of disobedience – made mistakes – suffered for them
3. But when he was confronted with his sin – repented – mourned – trusted God
B. There are times when we’re all afraid – and we have moments when our hypocrisy is very real
1. We’ve been disobedient and as a result we haven’t always heard God’s leading clearly
2. What we do with that is what makes the difference – between David and Saul
3. Between crushing loss and amazing grace
4. Obedience now provides confidence later – Let’s give him our obedience
