1 Samuel 28
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
My name is Spencer. I'm one of the pastors here. We're continuing to walk through the book of First Samuel. We are now in chapter 28. We'll be there today. So one of the things that my kids are very aware of is that I made a lot of mistakes growing up. And it's not an uncommon thing for them to ask about a specific thing. Hey, did you do this when you were a kid? And I say, I mean, I don't want to lie in that moment. If I can dodge, I'll do that. I'm very good at changing the subject. But they're getting older and they're getting a little bit smarter, and they're like, no, no, no, no, no. Just stay on point. Did you used to do this as a kid? And what I typically say is, like, yes, I did. And they know at this point that I made a lot of mistakes. You know, I tell them, like, I came to Faith later when I was 17. I didn't love Jesus wholeheartedly. I try to explain that. What I want you to understand is that when you choose this, more bad decisions can come out of that. So it becomes kind of a living cautionary tale. But I try to be discreet. I don't try to share all the things, but that's getting difficult because I have family. And I don't know if it's like a rite of passage for grandparents and aunts and uncles just to volunteer information to your children, but that's a thing. Because the other day they asked very commonly about a thing. Did you used to do this? And we had the whole little thing, yes, you know, I did, but da, da, da, da, like I used to. But, you know, this is a cautionary tale. Don't fall in the same mistakes. Because, you know, I was kind of a bad kid that did bad things at times. And they said, oh, yeah, we know that because he used to throw rocks at cars. And I said, what? How do you know that? I used to throw rocks at carts. And someone in the family had just volunteered the fact that when we were little rebellious children out at the roadside in the woods having fun throwing rocks at cars and, you know, just to see if they would look up in the sky and wonder where it came from. And I was like, yeah, that is a thing I used to do. And I had to do the whole thing. But I'm realizing as I get older that this is going to be a thing, that just some aunt or uncle is just going to volunteer some information, and I'm gonna have to really solidify this point that, yes, I did those things. And if you continue to choose sin, if you continue to choose bad things, it just grows, because that's the reality of sin. So my life gets to be a little bit of a cautionary tear and a parable to my kids to teach that principle, because I want them to understand that. I want them to understand that sin grows, that it is serious, that it has consequences. And one of those consequences is that you might continue to pursue it in a direction to where all of a sudden you're doing worse things that can wreck your life. And boy, oh boy, at this point in First Samuel, we see that so clearly in the life of Saul. We have watched him repeatedly make the wrong decision. We've watched him repeatedly live in his own self interest and to choose sin and how that's grown over time. And we kind of are at the place where he hits rock bottom, where the choices he makes in chapter 28 reveal a heart that is headlong after sin. And my hope is that as we walk through this story and see the truth that is bound up in it, it would remind us and be a cautionary tale for us to take sin seriously. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to walk through the story together. Heavenly Father, I pray that you might help us have ears to hear that we would not see this as simply a story that has all types of interesting details and then that's all it is. But we'd see it as your word that is revealing who you are and who you call us to be. May we have ears to hear and may we respond in the way that you would desire in faith and in repentance and in delighting in you above our own flesh and desires. In Jesus name, Amen.
All right, so where we pick up in 28. So we left off last week, where David, through I really think fear and not trusting the promises of God that he was going to be the future king, he goes to the land of the Philistines where he finds safety there. And that's where we pick up right where Chet left off last week in verse one.
> In those days the Philistines assembled and made war against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Know assuredly that you and your men shall go out with me to battle." And David said to Achish, "Very well; you shall know what your servant can do." And Achish said to David, "Very well; I will make you my bodyguard for life."
And it picks up with some context to set up the story in verse 3.
> Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him and buried him at Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land.
All right, so we get some context here, something that we already saw a few chapters ago in chapter 25. We already know that Samuel is dead. We know his body is buried in rhema. Okay, that's an interesting context. Also, some things we didn't know that at one point, Saul, when he was doing the right thing, he kicks out all the mediums and the necromancers. These are people who were thought to summon dead spirits. So it's like, why are we being told about that? Buckle up. This story is. Is wild.
> And the Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the camp 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.
So as the Philistines are gathering, Saul is seeing this, and he's terrified. Long gone are the days where he heard about the Ammonites and them disrespecting the people of God. And the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he rallied the people and they defeated them. He is now a scared king who can only see his enemy and is afraid. This is in verse six. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets, which is a picture of. As kings would sometimes get dreams from the Lord. And he's been rejected as king. So that's not happening. That the priests. We saw this earlier. In 1st Samuel, the high priest had the Urim stone, the Thuman stone. These were stones that were used to help answer, we think, prayers in a yes or no kind of manner. But we saw that he killed most of the priests at Nob. So the priesthood isn't with him anymore. So he doesn't have his kingly office. He doesn't have help. He doesn't have the help of the priests. Also, the prophets are no longer with him. He's the Samuel has in his prophecy shown that he has been rejected. So you get a picture of prophet, priest and king, that all of it has abandoned him in leadership and he is alone.
> 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 En-dor."
All right, so Saul, scared, frightened, says, I will find someone to help me. I will go to a medium for help. The same mediums that he rightfully kicked out of the promised land, that he rightfully saw to get rid of because he followed the law. Then the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 18, it says,
> "When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a charmer or a consultant of ghosts, or one who inquires of the dead. For whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD."
Stop there. He knew the law. That's why he kicked him out in the first place. He knew that all these people with their evil practices did not belong amongst the people of God. And now he has chosen to go and receive help from there. Which brings up a lot of questions. And I just want to pause in the story to deal with some of those questions, because when you read this story, you have questions about, wait a second, do mediums really do that in the Bible? Do they really consult the spirits of the dead? And the follow up question is, does that still happen? Is that a thing that happens today? Now what we're about to read is the only kind of account of seeking a medium, a witch, a sorcerer, anything like that does in these evil practices. The only really detailed account like this that we get in the Bible, and still it doesn't answer all of our questions. But after looking at this and kind of surveying the rest of the scriptures and thinking through this, here are my general thoughts on how to think about this in light of how we think about this today. Mediums, witches, fortune tellers, many of them are indeed con artists. They're fraudsters, they're tricksters, which I don't think takes a lot of explaining for us, because I think that's the default position of the west, is that if you drive through West Columbia, and you see a palm reader, you see tarot cards, or you see someone dealing in fortune telling, you steal that kind of stuff. Our default position mostly is, and that's probably, probably somebody trying to steal your money. It's probably a con artist of some sort. But what I want to push us on here is that in the majority of the world, so the rest of the world, the not Western world, so South America, Africa, Asia, it is accepted that there are people that deal in these evil practices. They consult evil spirits, they consult evil things to gain information. And really, honestly, the majority of history has kind of accepted this as a thing that happens. It really is only until recent history. And I'll be honest, mostly if your background is more of a white Western background, you're more likely to kind of reject this outright and not see that actually this is something that actually truly does happen. And if you can step out of your position and to see how other people in the world view this and how the rest of history thinks through this, I think it expands our scope a little bit. That's what I've been trying to do over the last few years, the last decade of trying to pastor, because I still think that many of them are con artists. I still think that many of them actually do all types of tricks. But as I've tried to think about this more over the last decade of ministry and then even in pastoring and seeing this, that truly there are unseen demonic forces that are at work all the time, and there are people that consult these things, and what comes out of those experiences sometimes is demonic forces that pastoring people and seeing how this shows up in their life, I see it over and over and over again. So, yes, I think some absolutely are con artists. They're playing tricks. But others of them, when they're consulting someone's ancestor, when they're looking for, when someone's wanting to find out something from their grandmother, that what they're actually hearing on the other side of that is not just trickery, that it's actually demonic forces that are actually speaking to and through these people who are engaged in these evil practices. And we don't know all the things. There's a lot of things we don't understand about this, but I think both of those happen quite a bit. And I think that's helpful for us to think through this. And I think I don't know this, but I think that it's quite probably uncommon to have just immediate access to the spirits of those who have died. Now. I think that's important for us as we think about this, what this is. And also I think it's important to ask the question why anyone would engage in these practices in the first place. People engage in these practices because they're trying to understand things and have control over their next steps in their future. An insight that doesn't come from the Lord. I think that's really helpful to understand. I think going back to actually 1st Samuel 15 is incredibly helpful for this. Because in 1st Samuel 15, when the judgment from Samuel is being passed to Saul, he says something that's very helpful and, and how we should think about this. He says,
> "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."
What I find helpful about that judgment is it gives us a picture that there's some root issues behind all of this, that ultimately seeking mediums and necromancers is a rejection of the Creator for created things. It's a rejecting rejection of the word of the Lord to gain insight from the evil one, to gain insight to control your situation in life. I was reading a pastor in Africa, in Zambia, who regularly has to encounter people, people that are influenced by witchcraft and witch doctors. And one of the things that he was saying is that as they're seeking to really consult these practices because they have real practical things they want taken care of, they want their crops to grow and they want their kids to get better if they are sick, that as they're trying to control their future, what happens is as they go to these evil practices, it makes them slaves to two demonic forces that captivate and control their life. So the irony of going to seek control over your life by going to these practices, you invite forces in that actually begin to control you. And I thought that was a helpful insight into this to understand why people would do this and the danger that is bound up in doing this. I've seen this. I've sat with someone who engaged in occult practices in the past, and there were demonic forces in. In their life in the present, years later. And I know that our Western minds don't like to wrap our minds. That's hard for us to see. But it is a true spiritual reality now. It's a lot of context to how to think about this, to set up what we're about to. I think we should think about that as you see things from witchcraft to mediums, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, palm readings, even zodiac, horoscopes, and astrology, all of that is in an unseen spiritual realm. But if you are choosing to find insight to control your future by those practices, you are rejecting the Lord and his word and his counsel, and you are inviting evil into your life in a way that is extremely dangerous. Now, all that's helpful, and then we get this, what we're about to read, which is an incredibly unique experience all in itself. And trying to understand it is difficult, but I think we have some insight in how to understand this situation and also how this works broadly.
So now we're going back in the story.
> So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you." And the woman said to him, "Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?" And Saul 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?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." And 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." And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the earth." And he said, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the earth and paid homage.
Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why then have you disturbed me, to bring me up?" And Saul answered, "I am in great distress, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you to tell me what I shall do." And Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy? The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me. And 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 on 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 will be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines."
Then Saul fell full length on the earth and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly terrified and said to him, "Behold, your servant has obeyed you; I have put my life in my hand and have listened to what you told me. Now therefore hear the voice of your servant; let me set a morsel of bread before you, and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way." But he refused and said, "I will not eat." But his servants and the woman urged him, and he listened to their voice. So the woman took a calf that was fat and killed it at once, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it. And she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.
All right, so he goes to seek help from this woman. And you should feel really the sad nature of this, that he's taking off his kingly garments, he's disguising himself so he cannot be seen. It's pathetic. This once powerful king is having to do this to get help. It's a sad picture. So he disguises himself in the night, and he goes to her, and he said, divine for me, a spirit by me. Divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you. The woman said to him, surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death? So he asks this, and she says, says, you realize the irony here is she can't see that it's Saul, but she clearly knows he's an Israelite. You realize that Saul kicked out all of the mediums. The necromancers, like you understand that you're putting me at risk here. She's nervous. And then Saul responds in verse 10. But Saul swore to her by the Lord, as the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you from. For this thing which y'. All that is wildly insane and wicked. Because what he just did was that he invoked the holy name of God to offer protection to a woman who is engaging in evil and demonic practices. That is gross blasphemy. And you're supposed to feel that as he invokes the holy name of God to protect this woman so that she will do this evil thing for him.
Then the woman said, whom shall I bring up for you? 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. All right. It's impossible to know for sure what's logistically happening, but I think we can tell a few things. First, this woman did not expect to see Samuel. She is surprised. And when she sees that it's Samuel, she makes the connection that he saw. And she is scared. So she's shocked. And I would argue, I think the reason she's probably shocked that she actually saw and. And a spirit from someone who is dead is because this doesn't happen for her very often. So I think this woman probably is more on the con artist side of this. This is not a thing that normally happens. And if she is consulting evil spirits of some type, it doesn't look like this. So she's caught off guard by this, and she is scared. And once she connects all of this and she says, you are Saul, it says the king said to her, do not be afraid. What do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a God coming up out of the earth. Which, again, it's just. This is just shows how all the fools that are involved in here, Saul, a fool engaging this evil. She clearly does not understand how this works. She clearly cannot grasp what's happening. The best thing that she can do, best way she can describe this is it's like a God that's coming up out of the earth. 14 he said to her, what is the appearance? And she said, an old man is coming up and he is wrapped in a robe. And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and he paid homage.
So he sees that it's Samuel. And there's this question of that people have when they engage with this. It's like, how does this actually happen? How does an evil person like this, how is she able to bring up the actual spirit of Samuel? Samuel's body's buried in rhema, but somehow she's able to actually bring the spirit of Samuel up. How does this. Why is this even happening? Why does God allow this evil woman to engage in this evil practice to bring about the prophet Samuel? And I think the answer to that question, even I would probably argue that's not the normative thing that happens with the spirits of those who are dead. I think that why God in his sovereignty, allows this to happen in is exactly what we're about to read next. It has to do with what Samuel's going to say to Saul. So God allows it for the purposes of what's about to happen.
Then Samuel said to Saul, why Have you disturbed me by bringing me up? And Saul answered, I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do. Which just shows the utter foolishness of where Saul is at this point in his life, that he thought that going to get a medium to engage in this evil and wicked and abominable practice to bring Samuel back for him, to help him. He's just. He's a fool. And something I've said multiple times in this series. Saul just. It's clear he doesn't know God. He just doesn't know God. If he thinks that this was going to work out well for him, he doesn't know the Lord. And then verse 16, Samuel said, why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? 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 and 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, 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. So Samuel is brought up for this right here. I already told you, as I declared years ago, the judgment upon you, that the kingdom that you've been grasping onto for so long is not yours. It is being given away. And very soon tomorrow you and your sons in the battlefield will die, and you'll join me in death, and Israel will lose. That is why God and his sovereignty allows Samuel will be brought to declare that message. You are going to die tomorrow. Saul responds.
> Then Saul fell full length on the earth and was very afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.
Then the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, behold, your servant has obeyed you I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to what you have said to me. Now therefore, you also obey your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way. And she's like, come on, eat, get out. At this point she's just like, get out of my home. Because she's taken her life in her hands and she wants him gone. And this medium is trying to get him up off the ground. He refused and said, I will not eat. But his servants together with the woman urged him and he listened to their words. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed. And the woman had a fattened calf in the house and she quickly killed it. She took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread of it. And she put it before Saul and his servants. And they ate. Then they rose and went away that night. And this is one of the final pictures we get of Saul. And it's sad. It's just sad. And when you think about this in light of his life, it's just like, how did he get here? How has he been so reduced to this sad scene, to having to trust in demonic forces and being told he's going to die? And when you take a step back from the story and you understand the life of Saul, it becomes very clear. He made one sinful decision after the next. He made one self interested decision after the next. And when you see that decision after decision after decision of how this played out, you understand that sin just grew in his life. You go back to 1 Samuel 13, you see that he makes the unlawful sacrifice that he was not supposed to. He disobeys the Lord. You see in 1st Samuel 14 he acts like a fool and he makes a rash vow. You see in 1st Samuel 15 that he refuses to obey the voice of the Lord and to slaughtering the king of the Amalekites. He refuses to do it. You see in 1st Samuel 18 that he tries to murder David. You see in 1st Samuel 19 he tries to murder him again. You see in 1 Samuel 22 he murders the majority of the priests at Nob and their wives and their children. And then from 23 onward, you see this endless pursuit to try to take the life of David, try to murder David and his men. And then he gets spared by David. And there's like a moment where he's sorry over his sin, but he's not truly repentant. And he continues in this. He continues to make sinful choices over and over and over again until his heart is so hardened he cannot see the utter wickedness of deciding that it was a good thing to go and seek the help of a medium. And that right there should serve as a cautionary tale for us. That we should understand the nature and the seriousness of sin and how it grows with every deliberate decision to pursue it. We should heed the wisdom of James chapter one that says,
> "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death."
That we should see the reality of when temptation comes and how that grows into this desire of sin and how we pursue it, and how when the sin comes, continues to grow in our life, develops, it seeks to destroy us and bring death to us. We should understand the seriousness of sin and how every decision can grow into further pursuing sin. Because here's what happens, y', all, is that sometimes we get so caught off guard by how someone could make such a sinful, foolish choice. People will say, I can't believe that he cheated on her. I can't believe that he would wreck his family and decide to do this. As if it's some surprise when in reality this is what sin does. That he was a man that from early on his teenage years was addicted to pornography and grew this unhealthy, sinful appetite that continued to grow over time. And then maybe he had some freedom when he got married for a moment, but he keeps running back to pornography, keeps running back to these sinful desires. And then in a season where his marriage isn't doing all that well, he gets the positive attention of a co worker. And it inflames that desire in him even further, which develops into lustful thoughts throughout the day, which develops into long lunches with her, which develops into hotel rooms. And it's not a surprise when you understand the nature of sin and how it grows. People will be shocked and ask, I can't believe those friends had this massive falling out. What happened? They were such good friends, like for so long now they seem so cold and distant towards one another. But it's the long road that gets you there of one thing after the next, that it starts with a comment, this person hurts their friend. And then instead of their friend doing the right God honoring thing to go to their friend, and after examining their own heart of why it hurt them to go and say, hey, you've actually hurt me, this was A hurtful thing to say. They just keep it to themselves, and they get angry, and then weeks later, they return fire. Typically, how it goes is, you know, you've been angry for weeks, and all of a sudden something that's completely unrelated just bubbles out in a way that just hurt. Where did that come from? And then no resolution happens there. No reconciliation happens there. Now there's relational weirdness that is set up in the friendship. And now they're both growing resentful, and they're unwilling to repent along the way until finally their eyes see towards each other. They're cold, they're distant, they're calloused. And it's like it was one bad decision after the next. People will be surprised when someone steals from their company. I can't believe that he robbed his company. He's going to prison. Like, what was he thinking? And again, you have to follow the progression here. These things happen over time with decision after decision that years ago that he was a person that started to finally make money. Instead of submitting his finances to the Lord and growing in generosity, he said, I want to spend on myself. And he's continued to fill his life with riches and all types of pleasures. And then as he began to fill his life with things and upholding things over the Creator, he started to grow some debt in his life. And then all of a sudden, there was an easy way to maneuver a little bit of money in a way that no one would ever see. And then he continues this and continues to buy more things and continues to set his heart on material things. And more debt is growing, and more debt is growing. And then all of a sudden, he's in a lot of debt and has some big decisions to make, and there's a big move that he shouldn't have made. And all of a sudden he makes it, and now he's facing prison time. Do you see how this works? Sinful choices that we make over and over and over again. I'll give you one more. People will ask, I can't believe that church split in two. I can't believe that this group all of a sudden just fell apart. What happened there? And y', all, it just. It's. It is a slow fade into this type of disunity. It usually starts with someone who just goes to someone else in their group or goes to someone else in their church and says, I need to vent. I need to. This is the way. This is the holy way to do it. I need the process. Just need to process with you. And then loose Lips rolls out into some gossip, and all of a sudden there's gossip in the air and distrust is in the air. And then eventually slander comes out. And then someone comes back and says, hey, I heard that you said this about me. What's going on with that? And then sides are taken. No one does what they're supposed to do in repenting of their sin and seeking reconciliation God commands us to do. Sides are taken, hearts grow hard and they part their separate ways. This happens over and over and over again. And that's what happened with Saul. He continued to make sinful choices, cementing the position of his heart. And some of you right now have what you might consider to be baby small sins in your life. Maybe some of us have these respectable sins in our lives that we don't think are a big deal. Maybe there's some hidden sin in our lives. And what we do is we justify ourselves, our actions, our thoughts. Thoughts. Are we minimized and say, that's not that big of a deal. Are we covered up with a veneer of righteousness that says, yeah, I know I got this going on. I haven't really confessed it to anyone, but I'm still doing these things. And then that grows, and then it grows and it influences the next decision and the next decision and the next decision, and then it destroys us. We should heed Hebrews chapter three in a way that should sober our souls to reality.
> "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'Today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."
And the warning there is, be careful in choosing sin, lest you actually, in your pursuit of sin, finally realize that your heart wasn't rooted in belief in the first place, receive the warning of the seriousness of sin, and hope that you have people in your life that will point you. That will point out the choices that you are making, that will ask the tough questions, that will notice the patterns in your life that reveal something beneath the surface that when you dip out for two or three months and you make lots of excuses about not being around, that someone will come into your life, the word of God will come into your life and will reveal what's happening before you, harden your heart in a direction that you do not come back from. We should receive the warning here that we're only a few steps away from wrecking our lives.
Now, here's the good news while Saul chooses evil and he meets this very sad end. We have the opportunity to choose Christ. We have the opportunity to delight in him, to run to him. We have the opportunity to actually turn from path of destruction towards Christ. We have the opportunity to end humility, humble ourselves before the Lord, and pray for a softened heart. We have the opportunity to have groups of Christians in our community group that we have people in our lives that at a moment's notice will give us the ear that we need to listen to begin to walk in the light. We have the opportunity and some of you have the opportunity 4 be very first time to actually choose Christ over the desires of our own flesh and following the ways of the world, influenced by the enemy himself, we have Christ and that's his desire for us. I so appreciate 2 Corinthians 5:15 that says,
> "and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."
that he died for us, that we on the path towards sin and hell might actually see that we had a Savior who bled and died for our sinful choices, for our bad trajectory, so that we might actually live not to ourselves, but but in submission to Him. And that is my hope as we leave this story today. Do not let the sins in your life grow and expand in a way that would suffocate your soul. Do not live for yourself like Saul did live for Christ, who for our sake died and was raised to free us from choosing evil. Pray for us. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would sober us to the reality of sin in our lives and you would awaken us to the joy that is found and understanding that while we sinned against you, you bled and died for our trespasses that we might trust in you of our own selves. Lord, we cannot do that without your work in our hearts. Lord, may you work in our souls in a way to awaken us to the reality of sin and the reality of your redemptive work on the cross in an empty tomb in Jesus name. Amen.
We're going to prepare to take the Lord's Supper here in a moment. I want to read from Luke chapter 22.
> And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, "Take this, and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."
That as Christians we get to come to the table remembering that yes, we make sinful choices and yes, we pursue sin, and yes, we have hidden sin in our life that we need to actually respond by walking in the light. We have all those things. But the offer of Christ is you don't come in your perfection, you don't come in your righteousness, you don't come in your good works. You come needy, humbly rejoicing that his blood was poured out, that his body was broken. And we remember the good news of the gospel that is for, for us, the sinners. So as you consider your sin, consider your Savior. When you are ready, come joyfully to the table. Some of you, you have not actually fully trusted in the work of Christ. Some of you, if you're honest with yourself that your whole life has been won towards only pursuing sin. And where there's been bits of religiousness, where there's been bits of church attendance, where there's been bits of just doing some good things, those are a cover for a life that is fully captured by sin. And my hope right now is that God would soften your heart and open your eyes to the reality that that only leads to death. But the good news of the gospel is that Jesus dies for sinners and that you would not come to the table. Do not come to the table right now. Come to Christ in faith, trusting in his work. And my hope is you wouldn't leave here today without talking to someone, talking to a pastor, talking to anyone, and asking them what does it look like to actually follow Jesus. And then we can talk about what it means to come to the table. But Christians, when you're ready to come to the table, there's gluten free in that back corner and upstairs.