1 SAMUEL 28 WHERE YOU END UP IF YOU DONT PURSUE GODS HEART2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 28 Where You End Up If You Dont Pursue Gods Heart

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. All right, well, this evening, we're going to catch our breath, and we're going to be here in 1 Samuel 28.

And looking at this chapter, it's kind of a dark chapter, but an important one for us to consider. We're going to begin by looking at verses 1 through 6. And so let's read these verses here in 1 Samuel chapter 28, verse 1. It says, 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.

So David said to Achish, surely you know what your servant can do. And Achish said to David, therefore, I will make you one of my chief guardians forever. 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 spiritists out of the land.

Then the Philistines gathered together and came and encamped in Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together and they encamped at Gelboa. 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 the prophets. Here as we look at 1 Samuel chapter 28 this evening, I've titled the message, Where You End Up...

If you don't pursue God's heart.

And here in chapter 28, we see we're first of all introduced to David, and then we are dealing with Saul and the Philistines attacking Saul. And as we look at both of these men, they're both in a state at this time where they have not been pursuing God's heart and are in a difficult situation as a result. And so we're looking at a chapter where we're learning what not to do and learning some of the consequences and results of

what happens when we are not in pursuit of God's heart. And that's really been the theme that we've been looking at here in 1 Samuel, pursuing God's heart. And what does that mean? It means to really be obedient to God and to be seeking to accomplish His will. It

It comes from back in 1 Samuel chapter 13, where the Lord announced to Saul that he was going to replace Saul with a king who was after the heart of God. He was a man after God's own heart, referring to David. And it's described a little bit more in detail in the book of Acts chapter 13, verse 22, where

There it says, when he had removed him, he raised up for them David as king, to whom he also gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. And then notice, who will do all my will. And so being a person who pursues the heart of God is not about being

religious or being, you know, reverential. It's really about the action, the doing of the will of God. It's putting what God desires first in our lives and actually making decisions, taking steps, and doing those things that God desires and living our lives in a way that is pleasing to Him. And so we've been seeing David as a great example. Usually he has his ups and downs just like any human being does that

And overall, he is the man after God's own heart, but he also has his frailties and failures. And we spent a good portion of time last week in chapter 27, seeing David decide, conferring with himself, seeking his own counsel and not seeking the Lord, decide, I need to go live with the Philistines. And it wasn't a good move.

And so he's still there at the beginning of chapter 28. And we'll see that develop a little bit. And so he's still there in that spot. He hasn't been pursuing God's heart. And it's going to put him in a difficult spot. But it's not so much that David has decided, I'm going to rebel against God. I'm going to throw away, you know, my faith. I'm going to throw away my trust in God. It's a misstep.

It's a lapse of faith. It's a lapse of judgment where he makes the mistake of listening to his own counsel instead of inquiring of the Lord and allowing God to direct him. And so that's why I've titled the message this evening, Where You End Up.

if you don't pursue God's heart. Because that idea of ending up there, it's not so much a running from the heart of God that can bring about these things, but sometimes it's not really intentional. Merriam-Webster defines this phrase end up this way. It means to reach or to come to a place, condition, or situation that was not planned or expected.

David didn't plan to put himself in this bad situation. Saul didn't plan to put himself in the situation that we see unfold here in chapter 28. But this is the result. This is not intended, not planned, not a deliberate revolt necessarily, but just the results, the consequences of what happens

When we don't deliberately put God first and choose to pursue him and make sure that we're living our lives to please him and to honor him. And so these are good...

warnings for us and examples for us to learn from their example to take heed to our own hearts and lives. And so there's five things that we'll look at where you might end up if you're not pursuing God's heart, if you're not making those ongoing, as we talked about on Sunday, that moment by moment, day by day, deliberate decision to walk with God, to seek his heart, and to walk in the ways that he desires of you.

And so the first point we find is found in verses one and two. Here's point number one. You end up working with the enemy. If you're not deliberately choosing to pursue the heart of God, guess what? That means that, well, you're gonna end up

being in the enemy's camp. You're going to end up being part of what the enemy wants to do. And that is a significant thing for us to factor in and consider when we're deciding whether or not we're going to be aggressive about pursuing the heart of God. Looking again at verse one and two, we're looking at David here in these verses. It says, now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together and

So David said to Achish,

Now here we find David living amongst the Philistines. Achish is one of the lords of the Philistines. He's one of the rulers of the Philistines. And so as the Philistines prepare to fight Israel, Achish says to David, hey David, you know you're with me, right? You're going to fight the Israelites with me. You're going to be on my side and you're going to be in the midst of this battle.

I think it's interesting in verse 1, he says, you assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle. Then verse 2, David says, surely you know what your servant can do. It's kind of like, I kind of get the picture of like this macho talk. Like, surely you know. And he's like, surely you know what I can do. You know, yes, I'm going to be there with you. And you know how fierce I am, how ferocious I am in battle, and how much I can accomplish for you. Yes, I will be there with you. And so here we have David saying,

in league with, in agreement with Achish. Now, there's lots of speculation by Bible scholars about where David was at, you know, in the midst of this and whether or not he was intending to fight with Israel. From what we'll read next week, as we head into chapter 29, it definitely appears that David was prepared to go to battle against Israel.

He's not in a good place. He is not where he really needs to be. And even though he's been kind of, you know, lying about attacking Israel in chapter 27, at this point, he's kind of trapped. You know, he's there and he can't just like lie about it now. Now he is there and he's saying, yes, I'm going with you to battle. And Achish goes on to say, I'm going to make you one of my chief guardians forever.

Like, you know, we're BFS now, David. Like, you're with me. And we're going to be fighting together against the people of Israel. And so now you find David locked arms with, it's not what he intended to do. He didn't run to the Philistines to lock arms with Achish and fight against Israel. It was an unintended consequence. But it is the result. This is where he has ended up. He's ended up working with the enemy.

Now, last week, as we looked at chapter 27, the message was titled, It is better for you to pursue God's heart. And so we can see clearly here, it is better for you to pursue God's heart than to end up working with the enemy. I mean, this, you know, continues as we look at David's example. It further clarifies and illustrates this point that the best thing for us,

is to seek out God's desires, God's will, and to do our best, to our utmost, to live that out before the Lord. Pastor Dave Guzik says, we might wish that David was really operating as a double agent and that he planned to turn on the Philistines in the midst of battle, but the text gives us no reason for such an optimistic perspective. David has come to a very low place.

Now, again, it wasn't David's intention. He wasn't set out to, you know, I'm going to rebel against God and give up on God and give up on all that God has promised to me. I'm going to give up on everything. That wasn't David's intention. What was his intention? He was just trying to seek a little bit of relief from

from the situation, and he decided, he thought of a good plan. He didn't check in with the Lord on that plan, and so he executed that plan without seeking the Lord on it. And the end result was, now he's in the enemy's camp, arm in arm with the enemy, and working with the enemy against the people of Israel. Clearly, David has ended up

in a bad place. He's come to this place. It was not planned. It was not expected. But now he's in this situation where he is working with the enemy. This is why it's so important for us to pursue God's heart.

to not kind of be lax in the decisions that we're making and the courses that we're taking, that we would be putting God's will and his desires first. I like what Thomas Constable says about this. He says, if we initiate a plan without seeking God's guidance, we may remove one source of aggravation and danger only to find ourselves in another.

It was this pressure that David was feeling that caused him to take this course. And it did alleviate the pursuit of Saul. He did escape from that, but now he's experiencing pressure of a different kind. Now he's experiencing pressure to fight against his own people and to be in league with the enemy. And that's not a good pressure either. And it's going to take David to a darker place as we go on into the further chapters. And

And so we find out here that if you do not pursue God's heart, you end up working with the enemy. You end up contributing to the plans and the purposes of the enemy. You end up participating in what the enemy wants to do because you're not deliberately participating in what God wants to do. Well, moving on to verses three through six, we find the second place you end up. You end up

Working with the enemy, point number one. Point number two, you end up not hearing from God. And now we're shifting our focus from David to Saul, and we'll be looking at Saul for the remainder of the chapter. In verse three, it says, 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 spiritists out of the land. Here, verse three kind of sets the stage for us to help us understand what's about to happen.

Because from this chapter, we see Saul actually, because he's not hearing from the Lord, he reaches out to a medium and he tries to conjure up the spirit of Samuel who had died and get God's counsel that way.

And so kind of preparing the stage for that, verse 3 tells us Samuel had died. Now we saw this a few chapters back. This wasn't new information. It was just reminding us, okay, here is the condition where Saul found himself. Samuel, their spiritual leader, was dead. They're experiencing an attack. The Philistines are coming against them. And Samuel had put out the mediums and the spiritists out of the land. Now again, this wasn't like he did this yesterday. It was

Earlier in his reign, he had done a cleansing back when he was doing better, back when he was walking with the Lord, and he had removed those who were participating in these demonic activities. And so this sets the stage because Saul now is going to be looking for some answers. And when he's not hearing from God, he's going to turn to

to these alternative methods for trying to understand what it is that he should do. Quick side note here. This is an interesting verse and a good reminder for how important it is for you to learn how to hear from God and to walk with God. You know, it's interesting as you go through the scriptures, when you go through the book of Judges, you see that when the judges were raised up and the children of Israel were brought back to God,

They held strong. They did well as long as that judge was alive. But as soon as that judge was dead, then they reverted and went back to their idolatry and their wicked ways. And then the cycle would continue. Another judge would be raised up and people would come back to the Lord. But then when that judge died, then they would fall away. And there is that need because there is that tendency sometimes for us to kind of try to ride the coattails of somebody else's spiritual life.

But that really doesn't work for you. And when they're gone, then there is this lapse of the voice of God and the direction from God. And it's so important. And so now as Samuel has died, Saul's like, I don't know how to hear from God. I don't know. Not that he followed God before when Samuel was alive, but now he's even more lost. He's desperate for a way to hear from God.

In verse four, it tells us, then the Philistines gathered together and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. So you have this place of, you know, spiritual void. There's a spiritual authority that's lacking here.

a voice of God and leadership that's lacking. And then now comes this storm, this pressure of the Philistines coming in and Saul is afraid and his heart is trembling greatly. He is very distressed, very freaked out by this situation.

And in that place, he does seemingly what you would want him to do and expect him to do. In verse 6, it says, And so he calls out to God in the midst of this situation. But notice what it says. The Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. And so here, Saul calls out to the Lord, but he gets no answer. God did not speak to him by a dream.

And sometimes God would speak by dreams. Sometimes God still speaks by dreams. But God didn't give Saul a dream. He didn't give him a vision. He didn't give him some insight for how to handle this situation through a vision or a dream. The Urim is a reference to the way that they would inquire of the Lord through the priests. Now, if you remember, Saul, in his pursuit and hatred of David, has slaughtered the priests.

There was one of the family that he slaughtered that escaped and he's with David. It's not clear if there's any legitimate priests left at this time or if Saul is referring to or calling out to others who are, you know, performing the role of priests but are not really of the legitimate line of the priests. But either way, he's trying through them and not hearing from the Lord that way. He's asking prophets, right?

Hey, Prophet Richard, do you have any insight for me? Nope. Hey, Prophet Dave, do you have any insight for me? Nope. God doesn't give me any words for you. And so here is Saul inquiring of the Lord, asking, Lord, what do you want me to do? How do I handle this situation? And God does not answer him. Now we know the verse, Jeremiah 33, 3, right? Call to me and I will answer you, God says.

And we hold on to that. That's a promise, right? So how can it be that someone, Saul, is calling out to the Lord and not getting an answer? Well, you need to understand as we talk about calling out to the Lord, inquiring of the Lord, that's not an unconditional promise that anytime you call out and for whatever reason you call out, that God will answer you in the way that you want, in the time that you want, with the answer that you want.

As Saul is calling out to the Lord, he's not interested in the glory of God. He's not interested in obeying God. He's not interested in walking with God. He's just interested in dealing with this pressure that he is facing. And God decides to refrain. He has that right. God is not bound. He does not have to answer us whenever we want, however we want, whatever we decide. No, there are conditions. The psalmist says,

reminds us of this in Psalm chapter 95 in verse 7. It says, Now this is a passage that you might be familiar with, but maybe more from the book of Hebrews because the author of Hebrews quotes this passage a few times.

But the concept here in this is that he's God. We are the sheep. He's invited us to seek him out. He's invited us to inquire of him. But there is a condition to not have a hardened heart like the rebellion. And that's pointing back to the children of Israel in the wilderness where they would see God's works, but then they would turn and rebel against God. And this was exactly the condition of Saul.

He had heard from the Lord through Samuel. He had heard from the Lord and experienced great things and mighty signs from God, but still deliberately chose to harden his heart and rebel against God. And so in doing so, Saul would have never said, stop, I never want to hear from you again, God. That would not have been something that Saul would have requested. But that's where Saul has ended up. You see, God continues to speak to us

But if we continue to ignore, to rebel, to harden our hearts, to not put into practice and live out the things that God is saying, God reserves the right to say, okay, I'll just be quiet then. And you'll call out to me and I won't answer because your heart is hardened because you've deliberately chosen not to listen. And none of us would ever say, God, stop speaking to me. I never want to hear from you again. None of us would ever say that.

But the point that we need to consider this evening is that we can end up with that result by not taking what God is speaking to us today and living it out. That was Saul's mistake. God spoke to him and he refused. He spoke to him and he refused. He spoke to him and he refused. He continued that pattern. If we want God to guide us, Pastor Dave Guzik says, we must follow the guidance that we have from him right now.

You want God to guide you? Good. Then start right now with what you already have. And we can't just wait for those crisis moments, you know, those moments where the Philistines have moved in and, okay, I need an answer right now while I've been ignoring God and just, you know,

doing what I want to do, keeping my scriptures, you know, on the shelf and not paying attention, not seeking God out. And then all of a sudden the crisis hits and I run to the scriptures. I run to church and I run to the Lord and I call out and I'm inquiring and I want to know. And God is so gracious that many times in that case, he does answer. But you know where we might end up if we keep on doing that? We might end up in the place where God says, you know, I'm not going to speak. I'm not going to speak.

I'm not going to give you any direction. I'm not going to give you any insight. I'm not going to deal with this situation. You're on your own because you've chosen to put me aside. And so I'm going to sit aside. It's not what we intended. It's not something we planned or expected. It's not what we would have asked for, but it can be where we end up if we're not pursuing the heart of God. I thought Pastor Damian Kyle had an interesting point on this. He said, there is something harder than anything that God would say to us.

And that harder something is silence. You know, sometimes what God speaks to us is incredibly hard. And that's why we harden our hearts. And that's why we don't listen to it. We don't put into practice because it's like, oh, that's too hard. But he says, you need to remember, there's something harder than whatever it is that God is asking for you. And that is for God to just be silent. And that will be the hardest thing ever.

that you would experience in your relationship with God. God not speaking to you, God not revealing himself, God not giving direction and leading you. That is way harder than anything that God is asking of you. And so it's a reminder for us to be pursuing the heart of God. Because if we don't, we may end up not hearing from God at all. Moving on to verses 7 through 14, we get point number three, and that is you end up doing things that you know are wrong.

Now, again, this idea of ending up, it's not what you intended. It's not what you set out to do, but it's where you end up. It's what develops. And when we are not pursuing the heart of God, when we are not aggressive in our desire to know God and to walk in his ways, we will find ourselves in situations where we are doing things perhaps that we said we would never do. Perhaps we were convinced in our mind, I will never do that.

I will never go that way. I will never, you know, fall into that again. And we've made promises and oaths and are convinced that we would never do that. And yet, if we don't keep ourselves on the pursuit, on the path of knowing God and walking with Him, we will find ourselves in that place of doing those things that we know are wrong. Check out verse 7. Then Saul said to his servants, "'Find me a woman who is a medium.'"

This is interesting because we saw just a few verses earlier, verse 3, Saul had made a deliberate decision. He put all the mediums and the spiritists out of the land. But now, what does he do? He's searching out. Earlier in his life, he'd come to a place where he said, you know what? We need to get rid of all of these mediums.

We need to get rid of all of these spiritists. We need to get rid of all of these who are actively involved in these demonic activities. And so he puts them out of the land. And that's where I get the idea that Saul, first of all, he knows this is wrong and probably was convinced in his own mind, I will never seek out counsel or insight from a medium or a spiritist. We're putting them all out of the land. I will never do that.

But then we read verse 7. Saul says to his servants, find me a woman who is a medium that I may go to her and inquire of her. Now in his desperation, he is seeking answers from an avenue that should not be walked upon. From an avenue that he should not be receiving from. This idea of a medium, it's describing someone who would

be communicating with the dead. Now, there's a lot of discussion that could be had about this whole concept as a whole, whether or not this particular woman was real or fake, and whether or not, you know, particular instances we might see in the world around us of those who claim to be able to communicate with the dead. There are, we would probably say, the majority are fake.

But then there's also the reality that there are actually those who are involved in some type of communication. It's not with the dead person, let's make that clear, but they're involved in some demonic communication. And in the demonic realm, they're able to access, they're able to be given information that makes people convinced. I talked to my dead Aunt Ruth or whatever, you know, that...

That communication convinces someone, I did talk to that person through this medium. And so it's either fake or it's demonic. Those are the only two options when it comes to this kind of thing, mediums and spiritists and those who are claiming to communicate with the dead. It could be fake or it could be demonic. We don't know what this woman's exact experience was.

But Saul is going to seek her out and try to find out what he needs to do through this route. Pastor Dave Guzik says in regards to these things, he says, Christians should have nothing to do with occultic arts or practices.

And I don't know if anybody, you know, is tempted or, you know, curious about these things, but just to issue a clear exhortation and warning, these are not things that you should be participating in. These are not things that you should be involved in. You shouldn't be playing around with them because, well, either they're fake and they're just, you know, nonsense and just confusing and distracting and not helpful in your walk with the Lord, or they're demonic and

and very dangerous. And so it is a very dangerous thing to be toying around with and playing around with these types of things. The Lord says it this way in Leviticus chapter 20, the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits to prostitute himself with them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from his people. God said, this is prostitution. If you're seeking answers and you seek answers through these avenues,

Again, whether they're fake or demonic, God says, you're supposed to be seeking those answers from me. I'm the only legitimate source of the information and the only legitimate source of direction for you. Anything else is prostitution. You're having an affair. You're seeking out that information and those things from the wrong source. You need to come to me and allow me to be that source.

And so just, again, to give that clear exhortation, if there is any, you know, curiosity or participation that you have with these things, you need to shut it down and to turn to the Lord and pursue God's heart. Otherwise, you may end up doing things, finding yourself in a situation where you are involved in things that you know are wrong. And Saul knew that this was wrong, but in his desperation,

He does what he probably thought he would never do. I don't know if there's things in your minds that you think, well, I would never do that. It's amazing how easy it is for us to do the things that we're convinced we would never do. And we've all seen it time and time again in our own lives and the lives of people around us. We can, you know, promise and be convinced and swear up and down all day, I will never do that.

There are things that you could never imagine yourself doing. Maybe some things that you were brought out of. And looking back, you think, I would never go back. But there is a danger. When we do not pursue God's heart, it leads us down a path where we will end up involved in things that we know are wrong and very likely those very things that we were convinced and promised and swore that we would never do again.

again. And so we find Saul in verse 8. So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, please conduct a seance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you. Then the woman said to him, look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life to cause me to die? And

And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, as the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing. Saul is trying to be clever. He disguises himself. He's not going in his kingly attire. He's going, you know, in his common attire. He's going at night, all right? So if you have to, you know, disguise yourselves and hide, you know, automatically, you know, there's an issue here. Saul knows what he's doing, and he knows it's not right, but he goes, right?

And it's interesting, even the woman kind of gives him an opportunity to back out of this. She says, look, you know, Saul has forbidden. This is not supposed to take place. And so you're setting a trap for me. And so I'm not going to do what you want me to do and perform this seance for you. But Saul swears by the Lord. He says, I promise to Jesus. He didn't know the name Jesus yet, but I promise to Jesus, nothing bad will happen to you. You won't be punished for this.

He's invoking the name of the Lord, promising in the name of the Lord, and yet he is so far from the Lord, so far from God, so lost and desperate to hear from God that he's seeking out this medium. Verse 11, then the woman said, whom shall I bring up for you? And he said, bring up Samuel for me.

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul saying, why have you deceived me? For you are Saul. A couple of interesting things happen here in this passage. First of all, she realizes, Saul, this is you. You came in disguise, but I know who you are now. You've deceived me. And what alerts her to this is that Samuel actually appears.

Now, again, it's hard to tell from this passage whether or not she was a fake and people would come and she would just pretend and like, you know, be good at observation and good at guessing and be vague enough that people would be convinced that they were speaking with their dead person that they were trying to communicate with. Or if she was in touch with the demonic realm and being fed insight and information from

demonic beings? We don't know. But either way, it's clear from verse 12, when she saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. She's surprised. She's not used to actually having some type of encounter like this. She's not used to, she didn't expect Samuel to appear. Now, if she was a real medium, she would have expected some interaction with the demonic realm.

If she was fake, she wouldn't have expected to experience anything at all. Either way, she's actually seeing Samuel. It's a real surprise for her. And so she cries out and she realizes you're actually Saul. In verse 13, it continues. And the king said to her, do not be afraid. What did you see? And the woman said to Saul, I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth.

So he said to her, what is his form? And she said, an old man is coming up and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel and he stooped down with his face to the ground and bowed down. And so now Samuel comes on the scene. Saul bows down in honor, but at the same time, his very presence here with this medium is dishonor and disrespect to Samuel and

to the Lord and to everything that Samuel stood for in his life. But here he is pretending reverence, pretending submission, pretending obedience, doing the very thing that he knew was wrong that he thought he would never do. This is the end result. This is where we end up. This is the place that we will come to if we are not pursuing God's heart. We will find ourselves in situations where

involved in activities, involved in things that we know are wrong, and we know they're destructive, and we know they're devastating, and we know, you know, the consequences even many times. But it's the path that we're on when we're not pursuing God's heart. You can't just be in this spot. Okay, now if I pursue God's heart, I go that way. If I run from God, I go that way. But I'm just going to stand here kind of like in between. That doesn't work.

It's either you're pursuing God's heart or you are going the other direction and you're on a path that will bring you to this place of disobedience and involvement of things that you know are wrong.

And it is really important that you seek out God, that you seek out his will and his desire, and not through all of these other sources. Remember what Paul said in 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. You want to hear from God? You want to know what God wants for your life? You want to know what God's heart is? There's only one mediator. His name is Harvey. No, I'm just kidding. There's only one mediator. His name is Jesus.

And there are those, you know, within the body of Christ who will help point you to Jesus, but none of us are the mediators. And no spiritist, and no medium, and no palm reader, and you know, none of those are able to mediate between you and God. Only Jesus can do that. And you have direct access to the ultimate source. Again, that's why it's so important to pursue God's heart. And if you try to pursue God's heart through a different avenue, you're going to end up with

The wrong heart, the wrong information, it's the wrong source. And you'll find yourself doing things that you thought you would never do, things that you thought you would never be involved in, things you could never imagine yourself doing, things you swore you would never do. If you're not in touch with God, if you're not seeking him and knowing him and walking with him, just like Saul, this is where you will end up. Well, moving on to verses 15 through 19.

we get point number four, and that is you will end up with the Lord as your enemy. It gets worse and worse, right? Who wants the Lord as their enemy? Verse 15, now Samuel said to Saul, why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul answered, I am deeply distressed for the Philistines make war against me and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore, I have called you that you may reveal to me what I should do.

Then Samuel said, so why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? The Lord has become Saul's enemy. Now, not in the sense that God wanted for Saul to be destroyed and in this place, but the Lord is Saul's enemy because Saul is fighting against the Lord, right?

and trying to prevent what God wants. And so in God pursuing his will, in God accomplishing his will, and Saul is there trying to stand opposition, like, no, it's not going to happen. He has put himself in a position where the Lord is his enemy, not because the Lord wants his harm, but because he tries to stand in between God and God's will. He has put himself in this place where

of animosity between him and God. And so here Samuel actually appears. Now we don't know exactly how this worked and whether or not now, you know, kind of it transferred and it was a vision and Saul and Samuel were directly interacting or if it was happening through this medium by, you know, some strange thing that God desired to do. We don't know exactly how it worked out, but they begin to have this exchange and Samuel says, why have you disturbed me?

Why have you bugged me? Man, I'm in paradise, you know, hanging out with the Lord. And here I am. I got to come back and talk with you and all your muck and mire. Why are you bothering me? And Saul says, I'm deeply distressed. I've got this really tough situation. The Philistines are here. They're attacking me. They're out to get me. I don't know what to do.

And Samuel, I think it's kind of funny how he says it. He says, look, you're not making any sense. He says, look, why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? Like, let me get this straight. You've been asking God and God hasn't been answering you. So your plan then is to go to a medium that God has forbidden, to summon a dead prophet to then tell you what it is that God wants from you.

Like, how does that make any sense? Obviously, Saul is completely lost. You're not making any sense. Why do you ask me, Samuel says? If the Lord has departed you and become your enemy, I can't help you. What am I going to say to you? What am I going to give you if God is not answering you? But here's Saul, because asking God isn't working, trying in his desperation this method of asking through a medium.

But Samuel really doesn't have any insights for him. Verse 17, Samuel says, And the Lord has done for himself 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, nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek. Therefore, the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.

The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. Samuel didn't give him an escape route. He didn't say, okay, here's the technique, you know, set up yourself for battle this way and you'll be victorious. No, he says, look, this is the fulfillment of everything I told you. I told you that God was going to give the kingdom to David. Now Saul could have went with God's plan and experienced something completely different.

David would have still been given the kingdom, but it didn't have to be this way. But Saul, trying to prevent God's plan, trying to insist on his own ways, has put himself now where he is fighting against God, trying to keep David from being king. And he says, look, God has done this thing because you have refused to obey. When God sent you against Amalek, you refused to obey. When God did this, you refused to obey. That was the pattern of Saul's life.

And so Samuel gives him kind of a doom and gloom message in verse 19. Tomorrow, you're going to be delivered into the hand of the Philistines. You're going to die, Saul. Your sons are going to die. And the army of Israel is going to be defeated by the Philistines. Huge consequences because Saul has placed himself in a position where he is an enemy of the Lord. It's not where he started out. It's not what he thought of when he, you know, was heading down this path.

When he decided, I'm not going to kill all the Amalekites. I'm going to keep these ones and allow the people to keep some of the animals and stuff. It wasn't like, I'm going to fight against God. I'm going to show God I'm the boss and I'm going to keep this guy alive because I want to. It wasn't that kind of defiance. But that's the path that he's on because, well, he had God's will. He had what God said and he wouldn't follow it. He wouldn't obey. And so now he's ended up, it's not what he planned. It's not what he intended, but

He didn't start out trying to be the Lord's enemy, but now he has found himself in a place where he is against the Lord and the Lord is against him because of how he's positioned himself. Jesus said something very interesting in Luke chapter 11, verse 23. He who is not with me is against me and he who does not gather with me scatters.

In a similar way, the Lord says, look, you're either with me, you're a disciple of Jesus, you are, you know, seeking the Lord, you're walking with the Lord, you're making disciples, you're participating in the work of the kingdom of God, or you're participating in the scattering, you're participating in the work of the enemy, you're one or the other. There's not, again, you know, that middle place where I can just kind of like

I'm cool here. You know, I'm not really aggressive in walking with the Lord, and I'm not going to be running from the Lord, but I'm just kind of cool right here in this neutral zone. And we see this in the life of salt. That's not a possible solution. That's not a possible place to be. And Jesus says it very clearly here. If you're not with me, then you're against me. That is the reality. And that's something for us to consider, not just the general overarching things of our lives, but

But again, that moment by moment and that day by day to be with the Lord, to be walking with the Lord, to be seeking the Lord, to be putting God first, to be seeking to be part of his work and his kingdom. It's where we need to be. It's where our hearts need to be. There is an urgency that needs to be there that we would know the Lord because for every moment that we are not pursuing God's heart.

We're at odds with the heart of God. We're at odds with the plan of God and the will of God. And we need to keep ourselves in that place of willing submission to what it is that God desires and to be pleasing to God in that way.

Now, there's a little highlight that I'd like to point out from these verses here in point number four, and that's found back in verse 17, where Samuel says, Now, I think this is a highlight. This is kind of a bright spot because where is David?

David's fighting with the Philistines. He's locked arms. He's BFFs with the, you know, Lord of the Philistines and in a bad place because of a lapse of faith, a lapse of trust and trusting his own judgment. And now he finds himself encamped with the Philistines, about to go to battle with the Philistines against Israel. And he's going to go to, you know, a pretty dark place in these next chapter. But God's not done with David. He hasn't revoked David.

the plan that he has for David. He's still on course as far as God's concerned. I'm still going to give David the kingdom because David's going to come to his senses in chapter 30 and he's going to call out to the Lord again. And that is a highlight because it's a reminder. We all

We all put ourselves in a position where we're at odds with the Lord sometimes. That we all have those times where we run to the Philistines or run to Egypt or, you know, run to try to resolve things on our own without seeking the Lord for guidance, without doing, you know, is this what God wants and putting our plans into practice. But sometimes

But that doesn't mean that then automatically now we're Saul and now the Lord's our enemy and now there's no hope and we're going to die tomorrow. That's, it's not, you know, from there to there. But at any point along the way, as we recognize where we're at and where God is at and where God wants us to be, we can turn and call on the Lord. As we'll see David does in chapter 30 as he calls out to the Lord and the Lord answers.

And David begins to inquire of the Lord again and the Lord answers. And there is that opportunity for us. Saul had many opportunities for that. But now he's gone beyond that because he's ignored God's voice for so long. Now he ends up in this place where the Lord is his enemy. That's not where you want to end up. And that's why we need to be pursuing God's heart. Well, finishing it up with point number five in verses 20 through 25 says,

you end up with no strength. If you don't pursue God's heart, what we see happen with Saul is a good picture of what will happen to us physically, spiritually, emotionally. It'll wipe us out. Verse 20, it says, immediately Saul fell full length on the ground. It was dreadfully afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him for he had eaten no food all day or all night.

And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was severely troubled and said to him, "'Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice, and I have put my life in my hands and heeded the words which you spoke to me. Now therefore, please heed also the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of bread before you and eat, that you may have strength when you go your way.' But he refused and said, "'I will not eat.' So his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he heeded their voice.'"

Then he arose from the ground and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house and she hastened to kill it. She took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread from it. She brought it before Saul and his servants and they ate. Then they arose and went away that night. Here we see Saul. He's just completely wiped out.

from this experience, from the dread, from the things that are happening internally. And that is the real issue of not pursuing the heart of God. And that is the internal burden that you carry and the weight. When God does speak and he hears this announcement from Samuel of God's not coming and this is the consequences and you're about to reap what you've sown.

There is this weight. There is this dread. There is this heaviness upon him, and he has no strength. Physically, he's wiped out. Emotionally, wiped out. Spiritually, wiped out. He has nothing. He is empty. This is the end result of not pursuing the heart of God. You know, Jesus said, I've come to give you life and life more abundantly. That's not what Saul is experiencing.

That can only come from pursuing the heart of God. Again, this is not where Saul intended to come to. He didn't intend for these results. He didn't intend to, he didn't set out for this. He didn't expect this. But these are the consequences nonetheless. And I think that's such an important point because we can easily kind of pacify ourselves a little bit and become complacent in our seeking of the Lord, in our pursuit of the Lord, in our walk with God,

And we think, well, at least I am not that bad. At least I'm not going that way. And I don't have to be so aggressive. And we need to be careful. Because when we're not pursuing the heart of God, it sets us down a path. And we're not going to like where we end up working with the enemy, not hearing from God, doing things that we know are wrong, having the Lord as our enemy, and in the end, being wiped out with no strength.

Finishing up with one last thought here from Thomas Constable. He says, this passage helps the reader appreciate the serious consequences of not listening to God's word and not obeying his will. As I said at the beginning, it's kind of a dark chapter. It's a strong and clear warning for us. It's a serious reminder. There are consequences.

As we've been talking about pursuing the heart of God, as I share that every week, and I hope it's not just getting old and you're just kind of tired of it, but it is easy for us to kind of allow that message to become dull in our minds and in our hearts. But I pray that the Lord would stir up these things here from chapter 28 to remind us there are serious consequences. If you just go about your life, if you're making decisions and executing plans and doing things

based on what you think or based on what so-and-so said or based on, you know, this or that, but you're not seeking the Lord, if your desire first and foremost in your life is not to honor God today, then you're headed down a path that ends up with some really serious consequences. Nobody should experience those. Nobody wants to experience those.

And nobody would intend to experience these. None of us would look at Saul's life and go, that's what I want to be when I grow up. That's what I want. But listen, it's not hard for us to end up there. It's not hard. All we have to do is fail to seek God and ignore when God speaks. That's all we have to do. If we want something different, we could be more like David and be a man or a woman after God's heart.

Sure, we're going to have failties. We're going to have seasons for a year and four months. David was with the Philistines. He had that lapse in that season of not letting the Lord lead him and guide him. But he came back. He called out again. He sought the Lord again. And that's what we need to do. We need to be calling out, to be seeking the Lord, and to be putting God first in our lives and making sure that we're doing what he wants and that we're submitted to his will and his plan for us.

And so we want to finish up this evening by just giving you an opportunity to spend some time with the Lord and allowing God to speak to you about where you're at and what he wants. And Ronnie's going to come up and lead us in a couple closing songs. And so as he does, I would encourage you to be calling out to the Lord. I would suggest none of us are in Saul's position just yet. You still have opportunity to hear from the Lord. God still wants to speak to you. No matter where

what the history is, right? That you still have that opportunity. God wants to reveal himself. And because of what Christ has done for us, man, we have that opportunity to enter right into the presence of God by faith in Jesus Christ because he has finished the work and paid for our sins. There is no need for us to be on the outside. We can be right in the presence of the Lord. We can be seeking him. And again, it doesn't mean that he answers us everything that we want and the way that we want in the exact time that we want, but

When we put ourselves at his feet and we submit ourselves to him, he will give us what we need when we need it. And our job is to wait for that. Wait. And so this evening, I would encourage you to present yourself before God. Present your life. Present your decisions. Present those plans. Present those things. And call upon the Lord and let God lead you as you seek to pursue his heart. And don't move just on your own, just on whatever you think. No. Move as God leads.

During this time of worship, as always, we want to encourage you and give you the opportunity if you want to pray with somebody or ask someone to pray with you or encourage somebody with the scripture that's on your heart, something like that. Feel free to minister to one another as we seek the Lord together and put ourselves in a position of pursuing God's heart. Let's worship the Lord together. Put him first in our lives this evening.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.