Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20020623.htm

1 AND 2 SAMUEL: GOD'S SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS IN OVERSIGHT
Part XXXIII: Learning To CONFESS Our Sins To God For Our OWN Welfare
(1 Samuel 28:3-25)
  1. Introduction
    1. We often refer to 1 John 1:9 in our sermon notes, a verse directing believers to confess their sins to God.
    2. Though it may seem uncomfortable for us to face our sins this way as doing so makes us face our guilt, our failing to do so in time will yield catastrophic results. Saul's failure to confess his sins led to a tragic, pitiful state for him as seen in 1 Samuel 28:3-25 as follows:
  2. Learning To CONFESS Our Sins To God For Our OWN Welfare, 1 Samuel 28:3-25.
    1. Back in 1 Samuel 13:1-13, Saul disobeyed the Lord, so God removed His blessing from him (13:14).
    2. Now, according to Psalm 66:18, if one harbors sin in his life, God will not answer his prayers where if one lives righteously, God will answer his prayers, cf. 1 John 3:21-22; Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, ftn, to Ps. 66:18.
    3. Well, Saul failed to repent, so on a later occasion, the Lord refused to answer his prayer, 1 Samuel 14:37.
    4. Later, while living with unconfessed sin, Saul sinned again, so God rent the kingdom from him, 15:1-28.
    5. His lack of insight from God due to his unrepentant heart came to cost Saul dearly, 1 Samuel 28:3-25:
      1. After Samuel's death when Saul could no longer ask him for advice, and with the gathering of the Philistine armies to battle him, Saul became afraid, not knowing what to do, 1 Samuel 28:3a, 4-5.
      2. He tried inquiring of the Lord, but God would not answer him by any means, 1 Samuel 28:6.
      3. Thus, though he had once heeded the Law in seeking to rid the land of those who practiced witchcraft and the occult (1 Samuel 28:3 with Deuteronomy 18:9-14), Saul in desperation sought a woman who allegedly contacted the dead so he could gain some supernatural insight in his crisis, 1 Sam. 28:3b, 7.
      4. Saul disguised himself and came to her by night, pretending to be someone else in order to get the lone witch at Endor who feared Saul's purge of witches to help him, 1 Samuel 28:8.
      5. At first, the witch hesitated to conjur up the spirits because of her fear of Saul, but Saul strangely promised this witch in the name of the Lord she would not be harmed in helping him, 1 Sam. 28:9-10.
      6. When the woman tried to call up Samuel whom Saul had requested, she cried out in terror when Samuel actually arrived, 1 Sam. 28:11-12a. This reveals those who practice necromancy do not truly call up the dead, but commune with demons who "impersonate" the dead, cf. Ibid., ftn. to 28:12.
      7. In Samuel's actual arrival, God had graciously intervened to bring Samuel's spirit back from the dead to give Saul the insight he desperately sought from the Lord, Ibid.
      8. The woman then accurately identified Saul as himself as only Saul would most likely account for God's actual recall of the deceased Samuel, and so she feared for her life! (1 Samuel 28:12)
      9. Saul assured the woman not to be afraid of him, and asked for the description of whom she saw. When she described the figure she saw as an old man covered with a robe, Saul recognized it as Samuel, and bowed himself reverently to the ground, 1 Samuel 28:13-14 NIV.
      10. Samuel then gave a postmortem message from God that only further upset Saul, 1 Samuel 28:15-19:
        1. When Saul described to Samuel his predicament with the Philistines, and that God no longer answered his inquiries of Him, Samuel replied God had become Saul's enemy for his disobedience in accord with Samuel's prediction back in 1 Samuel 15:1-28, cf. 1 Samuel 28:15b-18.
        2. Samuel also prophesied Saul and his sons would die and join him the next day, and deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines, 1 Samuel 28:19.
        3. At this news, Saul fell flat on the ground and lay there not only emotionally distraught, but physically weakened from not having eaten for a whole day, 1 Samuel 28:20.
      11. Finally, he ate the witch's food in fellowship with her versus the Law, 28:21-25; Deut. 18:9-14. In fact, one reason Saul died was punishment for seeking guidance from the witch, 1 Chr. 10:13a,b.
Lesson: Since he sinned and failed to REPENT, God refused to answer Saul's requests for guidance to where, in desperation for insight, Saul's spiritual life wound up in a pitiful, paranoid form of apostasy.

Application: Though it is UNCOMFORTABLE to have to FACE our SIN and CONFESS it, it is FAR BETTER to DO so than NOT to do so, and thus gain NO answers to prayer to where we are tempted in desperation into even GREATER sin! We NEED GOD'S HELP, so we NEED to REPENT ASAP!