The Loss of God

Order of Service

• Announcements
• Hymn — Arise, My Soul, Arise
• Call to Worship — Psalm 66:1-4
• Hymn — Arise, My Soul, Arise
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin
• Assurance of Pardon — Romans 10:9-10
• Hymn — My Faith Has Found a Resting Place
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Abide with Me
• Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 28:1-25
• Sermon
• Lord's Supper
• Hymn — God Be Merciful to Me (stanzas 1–2)
• Lord's Supper (distribution and partaking)
• Hymn — God Be Merciful to Me (stanzas 3–4)
• Benediction — Hebrews 13:20-21

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Sermon Title: The Loss of God

Scripture: 1 Samuel 28:1-25

I. The Loss of God Manifested in Skirting Directions

A. Saul begins by seeking God through approved means — dreams, Urim, and prophets (1 Samuel 28:6) — but receives no answer

1. When God goes silent, Saul turns to a medium and necromancer
2. This is deeply hypocritical: Saul himself had banned such practices (1 Samuel 28:3)

B. Saul is not seeking a pagan god through the medium — he is seeking the one true God through forbidden means

1. Compare the golden calf incident in Exodus 32 — Israel attributed the name Yahweh to the golden calf; God's response was wrath
2. This is the same presumptuous pattern as Saul's earlier rejection in 1 Samuel 15 — saving Agag and the livestock for sacrifice
3. Samuel's rebuke in 1 Samuel 15:22-23: "To obey is better than sacrifice… rebellion is as the sin of divination"
4. In chapter 15, Saul commits a sin equivalent to divination; in chapter 28, he actually commits it

C. Application: We do not truly worship God if we worship him outside the means he has appointed

1. "Authentic worship" as self-directed worship is not acceptable to God
2. God desires obedience over grand displays of personal expression (1 Samuel 15:22)
3. Illustration: A son waking his father by pouring cold water on him — it may work, but it is not the right approach; we must come to God through the means he has provided

II. The Loss of God Manifested in a Successful Darkness

A. The medium appears genuinely surprised when Samuel actually appears (1 Samuel 28:12) — suggesting she was not accustomed to real success

B. Scripture condemns mediums and necromancers not because they are ineffective, but because they are an abomination to God

1. See Deuteronomy 18 and Isaiah 8
2. We do not reject witchcraft as merely irrational or unscientific — we reject it because our battle is spiritual (Ephesians 6)

C. God in his mysterious providence appears to give success to the medium — Samuel comes up and delivers God's ordained judgment to Saul

1. This success is not God's commendation of the means
2. When God gives success to darkness, it often confirms people in their hardened estate as objects of his wrath

D. Parallel: Pharaoh's magicians in Exodus 7

1. God hardened Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 7:3)
2. He allowed the magicians to replicate the first three miracles so that Pharaoh's heart remained hardened (Exodus 7:22)
3. The success of the magicians paved the way for the greater display of judgment and salvation: the Passover and the parting of the Red Sea

E. The pattern continues in redemptive history

1. God gave success to the wicked schemes of Israel's leaders in Jesus's day — paving the way for the cross
2. God allows darkness to have its day today — paving the way for Christ's return and final judgment
3. See Romans 1-2 and Hebrews 12 — God's discipline is a mark of legitimate sonship; confirmed success in darkness is a mark of judgment

F. Satan and his minions have no independent power — all they have is what God permits (Exodus 3:14)

III. The Loss of God Manifested in a Sorrowful Dinner

A. Samuel's words to Saul confirm God's total rejection

1. The Lord has torn the kingdom from Saul and given it to David (1 Samuel 28:17) — because of Saul's disobedience regarding Amalek
2. Israel will be given into the Philistines' hands; Saul and his sons will die the next day (1 Samuel 28:19)

B. The language Saul uses reveals the severed covenant relationship

1. Saul uses the generic name Elohim (God) when speaking of the Lord
2. Samuel uses the covenant name Yahweh (LORD) — approximately four times
3. The way one speaks of God can reveal the state of one's relationship with him (cf. the instinct of the adopted child to cry Abba, Father)

C. The meal with the medium of Endor bookends Saul's tragic life

1. Saul's life began with a covenant meal with Samuel in 1 Samuel 9 — Samuel coming in solidarity with God's chosen king
2. Saul's last supper is a meal shared in fellowship with a medium — fellowship with darkness

D. The Lord's Supper as the counterpoint to Saul's sorrowful dinner

1. This table declares our allegiance to Christ alone
2. The table poses a question: Are you merely sorrowful for sin, or do you repent of it and endeavor after new obedience?
3. Saul gave lip service to the ways of Yahweh but when the sun went down his heart was revealed
4. The Lord's table is not for perfect people — it is for sinners who, like the prodigal son, have seen the filth of feeding on sin and have run back to the Father through the Son (Luke 15)