“The Wicked Witch” - 1 Samuel 28
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When Kendall was 8 years old, her father showed up to her private elementary school and said to the teacher, “I’m here to pick up my daughter.” As Kendall naturally began gathering her belongings, she noticed that her classmate was doing the same.
“I saw his girlfriend’s daughter gather her things,” Kendall remembers. “[My father] told her to come on and they left the classroom.”
Kendall had been left behind. That unforgettable act brought a wave of emotions she can clearly recall now so many years later. “I felt so small. I felt lonely, I felt embarrassed, I felt replaced,” Kendall says, “It made me feel ‘less than.’”
As an adult, Kendall still can’t let go of those powerful feelings. “I believe I have a fear of being abandoned. I feel like even when people are nice to me, it’s not really how they really feel,” Kendall says as her voice cracks and eyes well up. “I’m always waiting for the way they really feel to come out and for them to decide they don’t want to have anything to do with me.”
Abandonment is an extremely intense fear for many. Difficult for many to handle or even imagine. Abandonment is one of the most feared things for children. It is found through psychological study that the fear of abandon is the culprit for many of the behavior anomalies. It was found from a child’s point of view, “you can abuse me, humiliate me, exploit me, and not even believe me, but by far the worst is if you don’t even want me.” It was also found that parent found the threat of abandonment potent. Threatening children with abandonment was a powerful way they found to immobilize and control their children. Even as adults we are paralyzed in fear with the idea of being abandoned.
Daniel Sulmasy (then head of the Bioethics Institute of New York Medical College) made an interesting discovery while observing dying patients in a hospital. Sulmasy said that patients who are terminally ill list isolation and abandonment as their biggest fears.
Today we face an even bigger problem when it comes to this thing called abandonment. There is nothing worse that could happen to a person then to be abandoned by God. Sure we could handle abandonment from all things in this world as long as we knew that God was still with us. Or maybe that is why, abandonment by others today is so devastating… we feel like we have been abandoned by God already. The problem is… the truth is… we all deserve to be abandoned by God. And deep down inside, Christian or non-Christian, we all know it to be true. But we do not need to wallow in the despair of hopeless abandonment, because God did indeed forsake, but he did not forsake His children… we have hope today and we will find out why in our passage today.
Last week we witnessed David’s failure in his unbelief. Saul showed his false repentance by continuing to pursue David and David decided to find refuge in the land of the Philistines. There we witnessed the deceit of David and all that he did in defiance to the king and ultimately to God. And now we come to one of the saddest chapters in all of Scripture, because there is nothing worse than being abandoned by God.
We are reminded that Samuel had died and all the people had mourned him. We are then told that Saul had done something good, by banning all witchcraft and necromancers (consult sprits of the dead). Now if you remember the Philistines were mounting an army to attack Israel and when Saul saw how vast it was he became fearful. He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord did not answer, neither by dreams, or the Urim (the stones like lots) the priests (How could he, he killed them all), neither did he hear from the prophets. This is horribly sad, to be abandoned by the Lord. Saul then asked his men to go find him a medium or witch to find out what he should do. The medium of Endor. Saul went with two of his men to ask the whoo hoo witchy woman see how high she fly ah ies. Saul in disguise asked the woman if she would call up a dead person for him. Because of the ban by Saul, she thought they were trying to get her killed, you know that Saul outlawed this stuff. Is this a trap? Saul swore by the Lord that nothing bad would happen to her. She asked who he wanted and he said Samuel. At the sight of Samuel, because she probably did not think he would come, screamed!! And she new that it had to be Saul that Samuel would actually come. He came and Saul fell to the ground. Samuel asked Saul why he disturbed him… I am in deep trouble he said. The Philistines are coming and God is not talking to me, I need to ask you what I should do. Why are you asking me Saul? The Lord said that he was going to leave you and become your enemy. He has torn the kingdom away from you and has given it to David. You did not obey the Lord when He tells you to follow Him. This is what He said was going to happen, and you want to know what else…Tomorrow the war will begin and you and your sons will join me in death and the entire army of Israel will be defeated because of what you have done here. Saul fell to his face in despair weak because he had not eaten. The medium offered Saul something to eat and ate a last supper that was fit for a king. Before dawn they left.
When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear. He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams or by sacred lots or by the prophets. Saul then said to his advisers, “Find a woman who is a medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.”
His advisers replied, “There is a medium at Endor.”
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.
Rebellion is as Witchcraft
Abandoned by God
Forsaken by the Father
The first thing we will look at is the rebellion of Saul as he practices witchcraft and how we also have the propensity to do that which the Bible forbids. The second thing we will explore is one of the worst things that could ever happen to a person… to be abandoned by God. Finally, we will marvel at how we are not forsaken by the Father, because the Father forsook the Son.
Thesis: In our times of desperation, we tend to succumb to misguided desperation where we fall into sins of the worst kind deserving to be abandoned by God, but we see that our Lord has suffered this darkness for us so that we will never face the wrath and rejection of God proven with His agonizing words… my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
I. Misguided Desperation
- People, even ancient Israel or contemporary church, regularly do what Scripture prohibits.
A. Did you notice that the author did not finish the story with David, but kept us hanging? It is like when you are watching something on tv and the news comes in to give us breaking news. This is the same thing. This is something important.
B. Saul actually did something good here… he obeyed the Word of the Lord by banning witches, mediums, and necromancers (consulting with the dead).
“Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.
C. Now the medium was also to be afraid...
“Men and women among you who act as mediums or who consult the spirits of the dead must be put to death by stoning. They are guilty of a capital offense.”
Leviticus 20:
This is the word of the Lord against psychic hotlines, palm and tarot card readers, altered state of consciousness drug dealing and use, wiccans, Satanism, even pantheism, Daoism, polytheism, channeling, god and goddess worship, rituals, some forms of chanting, some forms of visualization, trances, spell casting, sex magic, voodoo, incantations, astrology, astral projections, a combination of all of these, and, let me throw this in, flat out rebellion against God is as the sin of witchcraft.
D. Here we have a prime example of misguided desperation. Saul had followed the Word of the Lord when he banned mediums, but in his desperation, he goes against the Word of the Lord by seeking a medium to talk to the dead for him. And it worked!
E. But seriously Shane, is this stuff real. Well in accordance to this story. Yes. Now the Scriptures do not give details of the specifics of divination and necromancy. So if you are a budding necromancer, there is no direction of how to do this. The woman screamed, some will say that she was surprised that it worked… I just think she was surprised that Samuel actually came which caused her to know that it was Saul. Fear.
F. It was also expressly forbidden in the Scriptures, which tells me that to some extent this stuff is real. There is a supernatural and preternatural realm. As a pastor over the years I witnessed stuff that made the hair in the back of my neck stand up. Simon was a sorcerer in Acts, the lady here was a medium, altered states of consciousness happen, demon possessions, and talking to the dead at least happened here. God probably allowed it and there really is no reason to think that this was just some kind of illusion. The Lord allowed Samuel to talk to Saul.
G. But we need to understand something here… the reason why God forbids this stuff is not because it isn’t real… But because it is WICKED!!! Do not mess around with this stuff. You know I am not the kind of pastor to search for demons of ghosts under every rock, but the Scriptures make it very clear that there are powers and principalities in the preternatural world and they will come after you and bust you up if you invite them into your life. Stop the Ouijas boards, the amulets, the magic charms, the empowerment meditations, the altered state of consciousness drugs like LSD, PCP, Cocaine, Heroin, and stop talking to your dead relatives when a big moth is flying around you.
H. But because of sin in us, in our desperation, we become misguided just like Saul. What is it that we get ourselves into today? Maybe it is not these things, but as I said before, rebellion, disobedience is as sinful as witchcraft. But who cares right?
I. Dr. Dale Ralph Davis soberly says, “Wasn’t Israel forbidden to engage in such practices? Yes, but people, even ancient Israel or contemporary church, regularly do what Scripture prohibits.”
E. Let that sink in. While we continue with the most hopeless misery in all of life.
II. Abandoned by God
- There is nothing worse than being abandoned by God.
A. Saul is watching the gathering of all the Philistines and can hear the shouts of even a single soldier, but not even a peep from the voice that matters the most. It is acknowledged by many a commentator that we hear some of the saddest words in all of the Scriptures in this chapter namely, v.15 “Why have you disturbed me by calling me back?” Samuel asked Saul. “Because I am in deep trouble,” Saul replied. “The Philistines are at war with me, and God has left me and won’t reply by prophets or dreams. So I have called for you to tell me what to do.”
B. Davis states, “The most hopeless misery in all of life is to be abandoned by God.”
C. Samuel then explains to Saul why… First of all, why are you asking me? Should you not be on your face in repentance asking the Lord for forgiveness? Listen up here family… In a way Samuel is saying, you need not information, but reconciliation. You should not be worried about preparing for battle, but the presence of God. You should be more concerned about the Lord’s favor and not a favorable outcome.
D. You see, like Saul, sometimes we as Christians are more concerned with the results of God’s favor than we are of God’s favor. More concerned about the rights, privileges and benefits of a child of God than we do being a child of God. More concerned with what the Lord needs to do, than we do of the Lord. Desire His hand more than His voice. Desire his credit card more than his presence.
E. Saul was only getting what was coming to Him anyway. Samuel said that this is what the Lord told him was going to happen. He did not call you friend, but an enemy.
F. All we saw in the past was how you dismissed the Word of God. And every point of the way you tried to justify it. Saul saw his disobedience as being accommodating to the people but it was rebellion towards God. Saul thought that it was wise, Samuel called it stubbornness. Saul thought he was interpreting the Word of God, But Samuel said he rejected the Word of God. And that is why you are in this situation today.
G. And because you have rejected His Word once again, you, your sons and many Israelites will die tomorrow in utter defeat.
So Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord. He failed to obey the Lord’s command, and he even consulted a medium
H. Saul rejected the Word of the Lord and he received the worst kind of Judgement. If you despise the Word of the Lord, He will take it from you.
“The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread or water
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
I. Spurgeon tells of a man who had jeered at Spurgeon, had often denounced him as a hypocrite. Now in desperation and death he called for him. Spurgeon wrote: He had, when in health, wickedly refused Christ, yet in his death-agony, he had superstitiously sent for me. Too late, he sighed for the ministry of reconciliation, and sought to enter in at the closed door, but he was not able. There was no space left him then for repentance, for he had wasted the opportunities which God had long granted to him. What could be worse? To know you need to repent—and can’t.
III. Forsaken by the Father
- His children will not be forsaken because He forsook the Son.
A. It is true that we have all fallen short of the glory of God and have even fallen into some form of even witchcraft or at least such rebellion that is likened to divination. We today, might even think that Saul here was so stupid for what he did. In the end of the chapter Saul, essentially, had his last Supper. And we should remember the last Supper of our Lord and the darkness that came upon Him after.
B. There is a mistake you can make if you’re not careful—you can begin to think that we are quite detached from all this, that you are better than, not quite so stupid as, deserving of better than Saul or Judas. And in reality, we would be wrong. Sorry. Like Saul, we were enemies of God, we are by nature children of wrath, we were dead in sin. Yes, we deserved the abandonment of God as well. We all have sinned.
C. But do you know what happened? Christ suffered the abandonment of God for us.
Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Does that not sound a lot like or even worse than Saul when he said, God has left me and won’t reply. And for this we rejoice today. Really?
Does that not sound a lot like or even worse than Saul when he said, God has left me and won’t reply. And for this we rejoice today. Really?
D. This is the moment when the satisfaction of the sacrifice of Christ made all things new. We have been forgiven of our sins because, Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures and he was buried and he was raised from the dead according…
E. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God…
F. The saying is trust worthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came…
G. All who call upon the name of the Lord, If you confess with your mouth and believe...
H. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse…
I. Repentance is a wonderful gift of God. Saul did not repent and refused to repent. And even if he did, it was a false one. So much evil and was abandoned by God.
J. But did you know that there were 2 kings that were in my opinion, way worse than Saul. Ahab and Manasseh. They both truly repented and they were forgiven.
K. Rejoice today… The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love, he will not always strive or keep his anger, forever he will not deal with us according to our sins or repay us for the wrongs we have done… for as high as the heavens are above the earth… We have the power to overcome the powers of the supernatural evil in this world, resist the Devil and He will flee. You belong to Christ.
L. He has loved us with an everlasting love… with such a love. On this valentine’s day, I leave you with this quote from Martin Lloyd Jones, "Love is not just a sentiment. Love is a great controlling passion and it always expresses itself in terms of obedience."