Sound Doctrine

Guest Male: Coming up today on Sound Doctrine, the consequences of a heart that rejects God. Remember Saul said to the spirit, "You've got to tell me what to do. I don't know what to do." He never answers that question. Why? Because there was nothing to do. It's a done deal. God already said what was going to happen. Once God says that, that's it. Now, I'm not saying that Saul couldn't have repented and gotten out of what was coming, but it was already done. You see, God knew Saul's heart. It's finished. It's over. You've lost it.

One of the agonies of hell must be the regret of not having taken advantage of the many opportunities God provided. God displays great patience with everyone until it's too late. What is God saying to you? May you not harden yourself by rejecting His word. That's what happened to Saul, as we'll learn today on Sound Doctrine. Jeff Johnson is our teacher here on the program. God's message may not seem gentle to us, but it's always clear and ultimately very loving. From 1 Samuel chapter 28, here's Pastor Jeff.

Jeff Johnson: Today, there is an incredible influx of the mystics, of the psychics. I think every city has a few of them. Every city throughout the metropolitan area, all around the world, there are these psychics that are growing, deceiving people by the masses. Why? Because they're sheep. They need direction. These people say, "I'll give you direction. Just come. You pay me a little something, I'll give you direction. I'll tell you about your future. I'll tell you about your past. I'll get you hooked. I'll tell you some things that nobody knows." And so you'll really be hooked. Even Nancy Reagan, I heard, was messing around with it.

Can you imagine the president's wife was dabbling in the psychic realm, going about with astrology and doing that whole thing? It's amazing how many people are caught up into it and being ripped off. So Saul said, "Raise me up Samuel. I want to talk with Samuel." And Samuel came forth. I think the problem is because we are living in a very materialistic society, a false value system that says if you just get this, if you buy this, if you have this, you'll be happy. But then they get it, they have it, and they're not happy. People are being ripped off all the time.

And now in this area that we're living in in Los Angeles, we're living with a very fatalistic type of attitude with the earthquakes and the killings and the different strange things going on in this area. I believe there's demonic attack like crazy on this area. It's one of the strongholds of the enemy. But people are getting ripped off. They're seeking after spiritual things. Why? Because they're not going through Christ. They're not hearing from God, and so they reach out into other things. My whole generation did it. A whole generation of those that dropped out of society said, "We don't want anything to do with materialism. We're going after God."

And we went after Him our many different ways. And we were deceived into books of yoga that said, "Whatever way you want to come... You can have your drugs." God is like Los Angeles. There are many freeways. Some of them don't work, but there are many freeways that are getting there. And whatever way you go in is okay, as long as you get there. Where Jesus said there's only one way. So I went after it. I went after it with everything I had in me. I went after yoga. I went after the drug thing. I went after out-of-body experiences.

I remember one time up in Hawaii when I was lost in the jungle by myself. I had an out-of-body experience. I began to take a fly, a little simple fly, big horsefly that flew into my tent, came, and I totally hypnotized it and made it do all kinds of things. I had total control over that fly. Come to find out that Satan is the lord of the flies. And so here I am doing this acrobatic stuff with this fly and I'm thinking, "Man, I'm powerful." And it doesn't take much to deceive me. Give me a fly and I'm deceived.

But then I went out on the North Shore, stood looking over the waves, and began to om and chant in this chanting type of way, and I began to bring the waves in and began to see the waves build up and began to wipe out the North Shore. I saw this. And I went down there and asked them and they said, "Yeah, there were huge waves that were wiping out little houses that were next to the beach and they were wiped out and a lot of damage was done." I figured I did that. So I've tasted of what the enemy can give as far as power and his deceptive ways. He comes as an angel of light, something beautiful, something that looks good, something that is very deceptive to wipe us out.

Remember Saul earlier rebelled against God, and God yet said, "Listen Saul, I want you to destroy the Amalekites." And remember how he didn't destroy the Amalekites? And the Amalekites were a type of the flesh. We need to destroy our flesh. Our flesh needs to die. If it's not taken care of, it'll destroy us, and we're going to see that with Saul. Very interesting how because the Amalekites weren't taken care of, it comes back to eventually kill him. So it needs to be dealt with. In fact, Samuel a lot earlier in chapter 15 of 1 Samuel, he rebuked Saul for what he had done not taking care of the Amalekites.

Let me just share with you what he said in verse 22 and 23 of 1 Samuel 15. He said, "Listen Saul, it's better to obey than sacrifice, better to hearken to the Lord than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." Saul walked right into witchcraft. Look at verse 12 now of 1 Samuel 28. He said, "Bring me up Samuel." And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice and the woman spoke to Saul saying, "Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul." She went into her trance and all of a sudden she just let out a scream.

She couldn't believe what she saw herself. She said, "I can't believe this. I see Samuel." And she was blown away, shocked to see him. You see, these people deal with the demonic world. They deal with impersonations, not with reality. Never with reality. They're always dealing with demons that conjure up things that aren't real. So we are warned don't dabble in them because these are demonic influences, and through these impersonations, they can deceive you. And so Saul is sitting there and she's screaming. She says she sees Samuel. Now remember I said this: that only God can raise the dead or bring the dead back.

I found a scripture in Revelation, I'll read it to you in chapter 1 where it says, actually Jesus is speaking here. John saw Jesus and he fell as a dead man. And the Lord said, "Fear not John. I am the first, the last. I am He that lives and was dead. Behold, I live forevermore. Amen." And notice He says, "I have the keys of hell and death." Jesus is the only one that has the keys of hell and death. Spiritism is information from hell. Period. Why would you go to spiritism when you could go to Jesus, who went to hell and came back again? And He's got a lot more to tell you than just the junk from hell.

He's got a lot of stuff to tell you about heaven. So why would you go? Why would anybody go when Jesus was already there and came back? The witch finally recognized Saul. I don't know how. All of a sudden she just, something fell down off of his disguise or all of a sudden because Samuel came up and she's dealing with a little bit of knowledge. She says, "You're Saul. You've deceived me. You're Saul." Verse 13: "And the king said to her, Don't be afraid. For what did you see? I want to know what you saw." And the woman said unto Saul, "I saw gods ascending out of the earth." And he said to her, "What form is he of?"

Because Saul didn't see Samuel. He wanted to know all the information. And she said, "Well, he came up like an old man and he is covered with a mantle." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped to his face to the ground and bowed himself. She gives the description. Of course, Saul says that's got to be Samuel. And he just starts bowing down and she's in shock and she sees Samuel. She sees this king right in her front room bowing down. She's out of control too. And all of a sudden the question came to my mind: Is this Samuel? Is this truly Samuel?

Number one, she says, "I saw an old man." Right there I have to question: An old man? Where's his new body? If Samuel's coming back, where's the new body? If you're going to see Samuel and he's risen from the dead, then you're going to see him in his glorified state. You're not going to see him with an old body because the Bible says that these bodies are like dust. They're going to go back to the earth. And we're going to get, 2 Corinthians chapter 5, a new body eternal in the heavens. I don't think that we're going to be perceived in an old body if we were ever to come back.

So that caused me to question. It sounds to me like there's some demonic deception going on here because I want you to note this also: that this Samuel, as he begins to speak to Saul, doesn't add anything different than what has already been said to Saul. In other words, he talks about death, he talks about destruction, and he talks about rejection. It's almost like Job. And I found an excerpt out of Job in Job chapter 4 where Job spouts off and he was one for really spouting off. Job said, "Now a thing was secretly brought to me and mine ear received a little thereof."

"In thoughts from the visions of mine night, the deep sleep falls on men. Fear came upon me, trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof, and an image was before my eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker?" When you think about what Job is talking about here, it's bunk. He's talking about something that means nothing. No new information, nothing.

He's just acting like a spirit came to me and I couldn't really recognize it and then I said... And then this thing spoke to me and it said this. Big deal. These people that say that they're prophets, the stuff that they prophesy about are not really big deals. There's so much false prophets. No new revelation, nothing significant. I was thinking about Jesus. When He was at the grave of Lazarus, He wept. Smallest little scripture, smallest verse in the Bible: Jesus wept. Why did He weep? Well, I believe He wept because of unbelief that He was amongst.

But I also believe that He wept because it broke His heart that He had to bring Lazarus back again to this world. Bummer. I got to bring him back here? And it broke His heart because this is not the greatest place to be living in. We've got a home that outshines the sun, eternal in the heavens. This is, we're just passing through this place. Look at verse 15. And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou disquieted me? Why have you bothered me to bring me up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore distressed. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answers me no more, neither by the prophets nor dreams."

"Therefore I have called thee that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do." So as she's making her incantations, how these people, they throw a little powder in the fire. She's sitting there doing her thing. Samuel supposedly speaks through her and says, "Why have you disturbed me and brought me up?" Do you remember in Luke 16? It also talks about that Sheol in the Hebrew is Hades in the Greek. It's in the center of the earth. It's a place called hell. And there are two compartments there. There is the one compartment for those that had died in faith, that's the place called Paradise, Abraham's bosom.

There is another compartment called the place of torment. That's where those unbelievers go to begin their torment. But that place we know is no longer existent because Jesus said, "Today you'll be with me in Paradise" to the thief. He went down into the center of the earth and set the captives free. So now there's just one compartment in Hades. But it's interesting that this spirit is saying, "I came up." So Sheol in the center of the earth. Saul says, "I am so distressed. I'm sore distressed." Hey Saul, it's going to get worse. You think you're bummed now? Wait till you see what's coming.

He hasn't seen nothing yet and here he is all sore distressed. He's got a lot more coming upon him. I think when I was looking at this, I thought, "Man, I'd be distressed too if God departed from me." David said, "God, don't take your Spirit from me." A terrible thing to have God's hand taken off of your life. To one time have His presence to be able to hear Him and to have known, but now to be without. And Saul had tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord. Now he doesn't have Him. He doesn't hear His voice. It's silence. There's not a word.

And so Saul is very desperate. And he says, "You're my last chance," talking to this spirit. "Tell me what to do. I want to know what to do." I want you to note this: that Samuel when he was speaking said, "Why are you bothering me?" Because it's the mess that you've made and put yourself into. And it was total discouragement what Samuel had to say to Saul in this discussion. Look at verse 16. Then said Samuel, "Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing that the Lord is departed from thee and is become thine enemy?"

"And the Lord hath done to him as he spoke by me. For the Lord hath rent the kingdom out of thy hand and given it to thy neighbor, even unto David, because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek." And there was his mistake. "Therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day." In Daniel, Daniel talks about with King Belshazzar. Remember they're having a party and all of a sudden the writing is all on the wall? "You've been weighed in the balances and you've been found wanting. You've come short. You've sowed, now you're going to reap."

"Belshazzar, your kingdom's going to be taken from you this night." And so this is kind of like his writing on the wall, that this is what he is going to get because of his rebellion and his disobedience to God. God's left you, you're His enemy, your kingdom is going to be given to David. Saul is finally getting the message that his sin has separated him and his sin has now found him out. Before he didn't get the message. Constantly God was telling him, "I'm taking your kingdom from you." "I don't believe you." He brought it through the prophet. "I don't believe him." Now I think he's getting the message.

Look at verse 19. "Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow shall thou and thy sons be with me. The Lord also shall deliver the host of the Israel into the hand of the Philistines." Then Saul fell straightway all along the earth and was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all the day nor all the night. Notice he says, "Saul, you and your sons are going to be with me." If this is God, then all of a sudden you have to ask the question: Is Saul saved?

If God is speaking here, if God raised up Samuel and Samuel's truly speaking, then you have to say, "Well, wow, you will be with me." Saul then was like a carnal christian of today. A carnal christian is somebody who has got enough of Jesus to be miserable, not enough to be joyful, who's just doing their own thing. But I don't see it this way. I think if this is a demonic spirit, then Saul, I doubt if he's going to be in heaven. I'll be shocked if I see Saul there. "You made it?" I'll be shocked. But I don't know, I'm just throwing both sides out to you.

This message was so heavy for Saul that he had a nervous breakdown. He lost his appetite completely. He loses it completely here in verse 20. And then in verse 21, the woman came, the witch came unto Saul, saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, "Behold, thine handmaid has obeyed thy voice. I have put my life in your hand and have hearkened unto your words which thou hast spoken to me. Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thy handmaid and let me set a morsel of bread before thee and eat, that thou mayest have strength when thou goest on thy way."

But he refused. He said, "I will not eat." His servants together with the woman compelled him, and he hearkened unto their voice, and he rose from the earth and he sat upon the bed. And the woman had a fat calf in the house, and she hastened and killed it, and took flour and kneaded it, and did break unleavened bread thereof. And she brought it before Saul and before his servants, and they did eat. Then they arose up and went away that night. Let's look at this now. Saul receiving nothing from God seeks a witch, and here's way too much that he is totally, totally bummed out.

What a night that Saul had that night. What an encounter. Even the witch, it looks like to me, feels sorry for him. And she has those woman natural tendencies of saying, "You need something to eat, guy." And she starts begging him to eat. He is totally breaking down here. This will be Saul's last meal. Looking back as we realize that this is his last meal, you see this tremendous tall, strong, good-looking man fall into the pit. Once a king, now just a broken sinner. Once on a high pinnacle of mountain top, now in the valley of death. He's lost it.

Note this: that Samuel never answers Saul's question, "What should I do?" Remember Saul said to the spirit, "You've got to tell me what to do. I don't know what to do." He never answers that question. Why? Because there was nothing to do. It's a done deal. It's already taken place. God already said what was going to happen. Once God says that, that's it. Now, I'm not saying that Saul couldn't have repented and gotten out of what was coming, but it was already done. You see, God knew Saul's heart. It's finished. It's over. You've lost it.

Spiritism is not the answer. Only Jesus can turn your life around. Only Jesus can tell you what to do. And yet today we see people, it talks about it in 1 Timothy 4:1: "Now the spirit speaks expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, doctrines of devils." And there are many that are going into spiritism, but it's a dead-end street. These are going to be paid for dearly. In fact, it says in Revelations 21:8: "But the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers, the sorcerers, those that dabble in drugs, the idolaters, the liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." They're going to have their day, and they're going to pay for what they have done.

Guest Male: There is a price to pay for unrepentant sin, clear and simple. That's Pastor Jeff Johnson and this is Sound Doctrine. Pastor Jeff will be back in a moment to bring today's program to a close. It's our sincere hope that you've been blessed by the word spoken today by Pastor Jeff, as we continue verse by verse through the book of 1 Samuel. This great Old Testament account contains some of the most practical lessons we can learn about being a believer in Jesus Christ in the 21st century.

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Giving to the ministry is really easy to do at sounddoctrineradio.org by clicking the give tab in the top right-hand corner. Your gifts will be put to good use helping others around the world build their lives on the sound doctrine contained in God's word. Now to conclude today's program with an encouraging word, here's Pastor Jeff once again.

Jeff Johnson: God's direction for us is simply this: Do you remember in Acts chapter 2 where the Holy Spirit was poured out on the early church and they all saw what God had done? And they saw the crowd. Thousands were added to the church and they were amazed at what was happening. They heard the praises to God. They heard the testimony. They heard the stories. And they said, "What must we do?" They asked the same question as Saul did. He never got an answer through spiritism, but Peter was so clear in what he said.

You want to know what you should do? Peter said this: "Repent, turn from your wicked ways, turn from your sin and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Turn from the way that you're living." He alone, He alone has the words of eternal life. He alone can save you from eternal death. He has the keys to hell and death. He is the only one that can bring you peace and even give you dying grace when it's that time to leave this tabernacle.

He's the only one. Where else are you going to go? There's nowhere else to go. Everywhere else is a dead-end street. Jesus said, "I am the only way, the only truth, and the only life. No man comes unto the Father, comes into heaven, but through me." Made it very clear for us.

Guest Male: Rejection is protection. Learn all about it next time on Sound Doctrine when we enter 1 Samuel chapter 29. This program is listener-supported and brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.