WEBVTT 00:00:08.910 --> 00:00:11.750 Let's read the chapter first, and then we will 00:00:11.750 --> 00:00:15.929 get into it. And the child Samuel ministered 00:00:15.929 --> 00:00:18.489 unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the 00:00:18.489 --> 00:00:21.829 Lord was precious in those days. There was no 00:00:21.829 --> 00:00:25.190 open vision. And it came to pass at that time 00:00:25.190 --> 00:00:27.929 when Eli was laid down in his place, and his 00:00:27.929 --> 00:00:30.929 eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. 00:00:31.469 --> 00:00:34.109 And ere the lamp of God went out, or before the 00:00:34.109 --> 00:00:36.710 lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, 00:00:36.770 --> 00:00:39.670 where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid 00:00:39.670 --> 00:00:42.789 down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel, and 00:00:42.789 --> 00:00:46.009 he answered, Here am I. Are we good on volume 00:00:46.009 --> 00:00:51.329 here? Okay. And he ran unto Eli and said, Here 00:00:51.329 --> 00:00:54.310 am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I called 00:00:54.310 --> 00:00:57.310 not, lie down again. And he went and lay down. 00:00:57.829 --> 00:01:01.530 And the Lord called yet again Samuel. And Samuel 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:04.709 arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for 00:01:04.709 --> 00:01:06.829 thou didst call me. And he answered, I called 00:01:06.829 --> 00:01:10.390 not my son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not 00:01:10.390 --> 00:01:13.609 yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the 00:01:13.609 --> 00:01:17.010 Lord yet revealed unto him. And the Lord called 00:01:17.010 --> 00:01:19.489 Samuel again the third time, and he arose and 00:01:19.489 --> 00:01:22.409 went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst 00:01:22.409 --> 00:01:24.969 call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had 00:01:24.969 --> 00:01:28.790 called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, 00:01:29.010 --> 00:01:31.849 Go, lie down, and it shall be, if he shall call 00:01:31.849 --> 00:01:34.829 thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy 00:01:34.829 --> 00:01:37.930 servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down 00:01:37.930 --> 00:01:41.230 in his place. And the Lord came and stood and 00:01:41.230 --> 00:01:44.769 called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then 00:01:44.769 --> 00:01:47.730 Samuel answered, Speak, for thy servant heareth. 00:01:48.269 --> 00:01:51.290 And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do 00:01:51.290 --> 00:01:55.620 a thing in Israel, at which both at which both 00:01:55.620 --> 00:01:58.299 the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle. 00:01:58.540 --> 00:02:02.200 In that day I will perform against Eli all things 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:05.280 which I have spoken concerning his house. When 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:08.740 I begin, I will also make an end. For I have 00:02:08.740 --> 00:02:10.979 told him that I will judge his house forever 00:02:10.979 --> 00:02:13.460 for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his 00:02:13.460 --> 00:02:16.659 sons made themselves vile, and he restrained 00:02:16.659 --> 00:02:19.699 them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:22.400 house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house 00:02:22.969 --> 00:02:25.530 shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering 00:02:25.530 --> 00:02:29.289 forever. And Samuel lay until the morning and 00:02:29.289 --> 00:02:31.949 opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And 00:02:31.949 --> 00:02:35.969 Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. Then Eli 00:02:35.969 --> 00:02:39.169 called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he 00:02:39.169 --> 00:02:42.250 answered, Here am I. And he said, What is the 00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:45.509 thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray 00:02:45.509 --> 00:02:48.349 thee, hide it not from me. God do so to thee, 00:02:48.490 --> 00:02:51.289 and more also, if thou hide anything from me. 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:54.680 of all the things that he said unto thee. And 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:58.259 Samuel told him every wit, and nothing hid from 00:02:58.259 --> 00:03:01.759 him. And he said, that is Eli, it is the Lord, 00:03:01.939 --> 00:03:05.259 let him do what seemeth him good. And Samuel 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:07.780 grew, and the Lord was with him, and he did let 00:03:07.780 --> 00:03:10.840 none of his words fall to the ground. And all 00:03:10.840 --> 00:03:13.939 Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, knew that 00:03:13.939 --> 00:03:16.360 Samuel was established to be a prophet of the 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:19.560 Lord. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. 00:03:19.819 --> 00:03:22.800 For the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:29.199 by the word of the Lord. So the chapter division 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:32.680 here works out nicely for us. We have the introduction 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:35.960 in the first three verses. We have the conclusion 00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:41.000 in the last three verses. We have an introduction 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:43.860 of the three main characters in the introduction. 00:03:44.099 --> 00:03:46.740 Who are the three main characters in this chapter? 00:03:50.420 --> 00:03:54.659 Okay, and of those three, Samuel is mentioned 00:03:54.659 --> 00:03:58.199 more than the others. So Samuel is beginning 00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:01.520 to come into prominence, not only in Israel, 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:05.520 and this is the way that the Lord brought that 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:13.419 to be, but here in the book as well. So, quickly, 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:15.659 I just want to go through, I think there's a 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:18.019 few verses here in the first verse, or a few 00:04:18.019 --> 00:04:23.120 words. maybe are not obvious to us. The King 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.540 James has the word of the Lord was precious in 00:04:25.540 --> 00:04:28.920 the first verse. Precious in those days. There 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:34.120 was no open vision. So what does the word precious 00:04:34.120 --> 00:04:36.800 mean there and what does it mean by open vision? 00:04:39.079 --> 00:04:44.800 Anybody got it? Preciously. Not common. Rare. 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:54.540 Okay, rare. And open vision? Okay. And how do 00:04:54.540 --> 00:04:57.240 you come to that conclusion? My Bible says so. 00:04:57.259 --> 00:05:01.360 Okay. How did your Bible come to that conclusion? 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.759 I assume they translated it. No, I don't think 00:05:04.759 --> 00:05:08.879 they translated it. But we know that's what it 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:12.160 means because what? The verse sets it up as a 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:16.100 contrast. If you have this precious thing, which 00:05:16.100 --> 00:05:19.220 is precious because it's rare, then the opposite 00:05:19.220 --> 00:05:24.970 of that would be that it's... or plenty. It's 00:05:24.970 --> 00:05:27.410 not rare anymore. Then if we look at the conclusion, 00:05:27.769 --> 00:05:32.490 what do we see in the conclusion? The word of 00:05:32.490 --> 00:05:34.930 the Lord is with him and everybody in Israel 00:05:34.930 --> 00:05:40.589 knows it. So we see a reversal then of this truth 00:05:40.589 --> 00:05:43.490 that there was no open vision and at the end 00:05:43.490 --> 00:05:45.490 of the chapter in the conclusion we find that 00:05:45.490 --> 00:05:51.370 Samuel hears the word of the Lord and all Israel 00:05:51.370 --> 00:05:54.470 knows it. So that's how we know what that open 00:05:54.470 --> 00:05:57.930 vision means and what precious is. In the third 00:05:57.930 --> 00:06:06.709 verse, not yet dawn. So I suppose somebody may 00:06:06.709 --> 00:06:09.329 even have that. And then where was the voice 00:06:09.329 --> 00:06:14.689 coming from? When we see the word, the phrase, 00:06:14.829 --> 00:06:20.290 Ark of God, what is that? The Ark of the Covenant. 00:06:20.970 --> 00:06:23.470 So if the voice of God was coming from where 00:06:23.470 --> 00:06:25.589 the ark was, then where was the voice of God 00:06:25.589 --> 00:06:31.129 coming from? The Holy of Holies. Well, Samuel 00:06:31.129 --> 00:06:34.050 was right there where he could hear a voice from 00:06:34.050 --> 00:06:39.810 the Holy of Holies. Verse 7. Samuel did not yet 00:06:39.810 --> 00:06:44.389 know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord 00:06:44.389 --> 00:06:53.209 yet revealed unto him. What does that mean? What 00:06:53.209 --> 00:06:56.790 does it mean? The Lord was not yet revealed unto 00:06:56.790 --> 00:07:02.230 him. Or the word of the Lord was not yet revealed 00:07:02.230 --> 00:07:20.490 unto him. What's that? Okay. So what does God... 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:25.540 What does it mean to not know the Lord? Does 00:07:25.540 --> 00:07:28.519 that mean that he didn't know that the God of 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:33.600 Israel existed? So does it mean that he didn't 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:40.160 worship or minister to the Lord? No, because 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:41.879 we're told repeatedly that that's what he was 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:44.779 doing. So then we've eliminated those two things, 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:51.480 so what must it mean? Well, the answer is in 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:53.399 the second half of the verse. The word of the 00:07:53.399 --> 00:08:00.980 Lord was, neither was the word of the Lord yet 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:05.920 revealed unto him. So, he didn't have the relationship 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:09.240 with the Lord where he heard and understood when 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:11.040 the voice came to him that that was from the 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.800 Lord. And the Lord had, what does the Lord do 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:24.209 when he speaks to us? For the purpose of. In 00:08:24.209 --> 00:08:26.449 what way does he reveal himself? Chris kind of 00:08:26.449 --> 00:08:36.730 said it. What did you say Chris? Okay. So that's 00:08:36.730 --> 00:08:39.990 the voice of the Lord. The Lord speaks to us. 00:08:40.049 --> 00:08:43.549 And he tells us. What we should do. Now that 00:08:43.549 --> 00:08:47.049 may come in the context of who God is. A holy 00:08:47.049 --> 00:08:50.929 God. A righteous God. A God who is love. The 00:08:50.929 --> 00:08:53.669 instruction then implicitly is what? Be holy, 00:08:53.830 --> 00:08:59.149 be loving, be gracious. But it also lays out 00:08:59.149 --> 00:09:01.750 for us then a path of living. It comes to us 00:09:01.750 --> 00:09:06.450 in instruction. It comes to us in commands. It 00:09:06.450 --> 00:09:08.850 comes to us in all different kinds of ways. But 00:09:08.850 --> 00:09:11.490 that is the way that the Lord guides us. That 00:09:11.490 --> 00:09:13.990 is the way that the Lord reveals his will for 00:09:13.990 --> 00:09:19.549 our life. Samuel didn't know what the Lord's 00:09:19.549 --> 00:09:22.129 will was for his life because he didn't have 00:09:22.129 --> 00:09:23.970 that relationship with the Lord where he would 00:09:23.970 --> 00:09:26.769 hear his voice and then know that that was the 00:09:26.769 --> 00:09:29.309 Lord speaking. And that's what's going on in 00:09:29.309 --> 00:09:32.230 this chapter, obviously. He didn't yet know the 00:09:32.230 --> 00:09:34.889 Lord. He wasn't used to hearing the voice of 00:09:34.889 --> 00:09:36.889 the Lord. He didn't recognize it as the voice 00:09:36.889 --> 00:09:40.450 of the Lord, but the Lord is remedying that because 00:09:40.450 --> 00:09:52.909 he has a plan for Samuel. Yeah. I believe so, 00:09:52.990 --> 00:09:59.529 yeah. Anybody else? Wait, you're saying he is 00:09:59.529 --> 00:10:06.070 a believer? Yes. How is that? How is that what? 00:10:06.190 --> 00:10:08.149 How are you understanding that? How did you get 00:10:08.149 --> 00:10:10.110 to that point of understanding? Well, I guess, 00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:12.110 I mean, I don't, if you want to say he's not, 00:10:12.250 --> 00:10:15.269 I don't have a problem with that. I just, he's 00:10:15.269 --> 00:10:19.940 ministering to the Lord. He knows Sam. He has 00:10:19.940 --> 00:10:22.919 a heart for the Lord, it would seem. And then 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:25.500 when the Lord talks to him, he responds. When 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:50.139 he's not sure of the voice, he goes to Eli. it 00:10:50.139 --> 00:10:52.299 almost feels like he's brought there and he's 00:10:52.299 --> 00:10:56.080 just doing the action and like it says there's 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.100 no you know you don't know the Lord yet and the 00:11:00.100 --> 00:11:02.919 Lord hasn't revealed himself to you so I guess 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:06.480 I took it as he's not well remember the revelation 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.039 of the Lord has to do with his will for Samuel's 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:16.879 life how is he going to use Samuel what's Samuel's 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:21.500 role going to be try to figure out at what point 00:11:21.500 --> 00:11:25.480 does he Well, I don't know that they, you could, 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:27.779 if you understand that this was his conversion 00:11:27.779 --> 00:11:30.679 then you would have a conversion explanation. 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:35.940 But the Bible doesn't tell us every in Judges 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:38.899 I don't think we ever got a conversion narrative. 00:11:39.659 --> 00:11:43.120 Did we? Yeah. So I mean we don't always expect 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:56.600 to see it there. Well, he knows it's the Lord. 00:11:56.879 --> 00:12:05.779 Well, I didn't catch that, so I don't really 00:12:05.779 --> 00:12:08.379 have a comment. Did you find that significant? 00:12:08.620 --> 00:12:12.379 Anybody else find that significant? Did you, 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:39.330 did you, did you dad? No. Right. If you believe 00:12:39.330 --> 00:12:46.629 that, that's fine. Right. Well, I think in the 00:12:46.629 --> 00:12:49.570 middle of the chapter here, the point is God 00:12:49.570 --> 00:12:53.039 is speaking to Samuel. and Samuel is going to 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:55.700 finally understand that this is God speaking 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:58.879 to him, and then he's going to relay the message 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.899 that God gives to him to Eli. So that's going 00:13:01.899 --> 00:13:03.940 to be the pattern of his life. So that's why 00:13:03.940 --> 00:13:06.179 I think that's what that is telling us, that 00:13:06.179 --> 00:13:09.899 he wasn't a prophet yet. He was a kid who was 00:13:09.899 --> 00:13:13.100 ministering before Eli in the temple, but the 00:13:13.100 --> 00:13:15.480 Lord is going to do something and change his 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:19.659 role in Israel. So that's what I think that means. 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:49.080 Alright, then skip to verse 19. And Samuel grew 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:51.220 and the Lord was with him and he did let none 00:13:51.220 --> 00:13:53.279 of his words fall to the ground. What does that 00:13:53.279 --> 00:14:04.460 mean? Okay, so Samuel relayed exactly the word 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:07.440 that the Lord had given him and everything that 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:11.100 Samuel prophesied came true. None of his words 00:14:11.100 --> 00:14:14.179 fell to the ground dead. Everything that he prophesied 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:17.440 came true. And everything that he told people 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:24.919 about the Lord was the truth. Now that's the 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:27.000 only definition of a prophet. There's no such 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:29.360 thing as a prophet that's right most of the time. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:33.299 Throughout the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:36.600 If you're a prophet, then when you say, thus 00:14:36.600 --> 00:14:39.919 says the Lord, then everything that comes after 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:42.639 that had better happen. and it better be absolutely 00:14:42.639 --> 00:14:46.080 true. And if it's not, then you're not a prophet. 00:14:47.340 --> 00:14:49.860 There's no such thing. What good would a prophet 00:14:49.860 --> 00:14:56.159 do that's right 90 % of the time? Because if 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:59.019 I follow him 100 % of the time, which is what 00:14:59.019 --> 00:15:00.879 I'm going to do if I think he's a prophet, then 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:02.600 I'm going to be in trouble 10 % of the time. 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.700 The point is, he's speaking for God. God doesn't 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:11.220 lie. Everything he says is true. Okay, now we 00:15:11.220 --> 00:15:13.539 see the reversal of what we had in the introduction 00:15:13.539 --> 00:15:16.799 in verse 20. And all Israel, from Dan even to 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.340 Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to 00:15:20.340 --> 00:15:25.879 be a prophet of the Lord. So I just point that 00:15:25.879 --> 00:15:31.340 out, that the Lord worked. Now, when the word 00:15:31.340 --> 00:15:34.659 of the Lord is scarce, what do we expect the 00:15:34.659 --> 00:15:42.360 condition of the community to be? poor so but 00:15:42.360 --> 00:15:45.600 when the Lord remedies that and he begins to 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:49.799 speak again then we expect that good things are 00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:56.139 coming and the Lord appeared again in verse 21 00:15:56.139 --> 00:15:59.000 the Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.960 revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word 00:16:01.960 --> 00:16:07.019 of the Lord so again that's just the that's the 00:16:07.019 --> 00:16:11.299 word of the Lord what that is instructing Samuel, 00:16:11.580 --> 00:16:14.840 establishing him as a prophet, and then giving 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:19.840 him his marching orders or his life's purpose. 00:16:21.379 --> 00:16:25.500 So that's the story. We start off, Samuel's there 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:29.580 in the temple. He's doing his normal work. He 00:16:29.580 --> 00:16:31.519 hears the voice of the Lord. He doesn't recognize 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:34.720 it. Three times the Lord calls out to him, and 00:16:34.720 --> 00:16:39.259 three times Samuel goes to Eli. Eli finally tells 00:16:39.259 --> 00:16:42.919 him, answer and hear from the Lord. And the fourth 00:16:42.919 --> 00:16:45.919 time then when the Lord comes, Samuel responds 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:48.519 and he receives the word from the Lord. And he 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:51.860 goes and he delivers that word to Eli at Eli's 00:16:51.860 --> 00:16:58.000 insistence. And then the conclusion. So what 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:02.879 application, what lessons can we learn from this? 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:07.470 Let's take one from verse 1. And the child Samuel 00:17:07.470 --> 00:17:11.210 ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the 00:17:11.210 --> 00:17:13.390 word of the Lord was precious in those days. 00:17:13.490 --> 00:17:18.650 There was no open vision. We've kind of hinted 00:17:18.650 --> 00:17:20.730 at it. Where the word of the Lord is, it's a 00:17:20.730 --> 00:17:24.750 bad condition. But what I would like us to see, 00:17:24.809 --> 00:17:29.890 not only that, is the miracle of it. I think 00:17:29.890 --> 00:17:33.509 it has become, it can, if we're not careful. 00:17:34.359 --> 00:17:38.059 Kind of become ho -hum. We can have our Bibles 00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:41.220 with us everywhere we go. But it's a miracle 00:17:41.220 --> 00:17:45.440 that the God of creation, the God who created 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:49.420 everything and rules over everything, has decided 00:17:49.420 --> 00:17:55.119 to reveal himself to you and me in this. That's 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:58.500 a miracle. And when we read that, and we find 00:17:58.500 --> 00:18:01.400 direction for our lives, we find instruction 00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:04.259 there. We find out who God is or we find out 00:18:04.259 --> 00:18:08.039 who we are. That's a miracle. It's a miracle 00:18:08.039 --> 00:18:12.339 that we would be able to say with 100 % certainty 00:18:12.339 --> 00:18:15.839 that I know who God is because God told me who 00:18:15.839 --> 00:18:19.599 he is in his word. That's miraculous. And if 00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:21.460 you lose the wonder of that, then you're going 00:18:21.460 --> 00:18:24.480 to lose your love for the word, you're going 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:27.059 to lose your respect for the word, and ultimately 00:18:27.059 --> 00:18:30.480 you lose respect for God. It's not a ho -hum 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:35.410 thing. To pick up the word of God. It is amazing. 00:18:35.529 --> 00:18:41.609 Really. I remind myself. I remind you. It is 00:18:41.609 --> 00:18:45.569 a miracle. When God spoke to Samuel. We would 00:18:45.569 --> 00:18:47.750 think. That is a miracle. I have never heard 00:18:47.750 --> 00:18:52.970 God speak. But you have. You have heard him speak. 00:18:53.329 --> 00:18:57.069 It is a miracle. Whether it is written on a page. 00:18:57.210 --> 00:18:59.390 And you read it. Or it comes in some kind of 00:18:59.390 --> 00:19:02.720 audible voice. Only I can hear or other people 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:05.900 can hear. It's just as miraculous written here 00:19:05.900 --> 00:19:12.940 before us as it was when it came to Samuel. Alright, 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:16.259 that's the first lesson. Number two in verses 00:19:16.259 --> 00:19:24.019 two through four. The wonder of God to speak 00:19:24.019 --> 00:19:27.180 to faithful people in the ordinary course of 00:19:27.180 --> 00:19:32.269 their lives. Now, if we take Melissa's leaning 00:19:32.269 --> 00:19:35.670 and say this is a conversion experience, or if 00:19:35.670 --> 00:19:41.690 we say that he was already converted, we'll just 00:19:41.690 --> 00:19:47.430 use that language, and the Lord is speaking to 00:19:47.430 --> 00:19:52.150 him as one of his own already. It's just in the 00:19:52.150 --> 00:19:55.630 normal course of his life. Samuel just finished 00:19:55.630 --> 00:19:59.559 his day. doing what he was supposed to do, and 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:02.319 he went and laid down, and the Lord calls to 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:06.700 him. Now, there's all kinds of people that think 00:20:06.700 --> 00:20:08.779 that if we're going to hear from the Lord, we've 00:20:08.779 --> 00:20:12.660 got to gin it up. We've got to do all kinds of 00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:18.420 things. But in the Bible, God comes to people 00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:21.700 just in the normal course of their lives. Faithful 00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:24.619 people. Now, faithful people. Samuel was doing 00:20:24.619 --> 00:20:27.039 what he was supposed to do. And the Lord spoke 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:30.220 to him. So if you don't expect to encounter the 00:20:30.220 --> 00:20:33.279 Lord in the ordinary course of your day or of 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:37.220 your life, then you are wrong. You should expect 00:20:37.220 --> 00:20:40.180 that. That's when the Lord talks to us. That's 00:20:40.180 --> 00:20:43.140 when we feel his presence. Yes, we feel his presence 00:20:43.140 --> 00:20:45.920 when we pray, when we study his word, when we 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:48.599 worship with his people. But you ought to feel 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:50.500 and you should feel his presence throughout your 00:20:50.500 --> 00:20:53.440 day. And you never know when the Lord is going 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:57.799 to speak to you. In help or in correction, in 00:20:57.799 --> 00:21:01.859 reproof, encouragement, or whatever else. But 00:21:01.859 --> 00:21:04.079 it's in the normal course of his life. I want 00:21:04.079 --> 00:21:07.380 to emphasize that. And it was for faithful. Faithful 00:21:07.380 --> 00:21:13.880 people. Now, then in verse 5 through 10, we have 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:17.319 the whole story of the Lord speaking to Samuel. 00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:19.500 He doesn't know who it is. He goes to Eli. What 00:21:19.500 --> 00:21:30.109 are we going to learn from that? Okay, I didn't 00:21:30.109 --> 00:21:35.910 write that one down, but that's fine. You've 00:21:35.910 --> 00:21:38.589 hit on something that I wanted to recognize when 00:21:38.589 --> 00:21:43.849 you say older. What was Samuel? He was a youngster. 00:21:45.349 --> 00:21:53.069 So what is required? Experience. Growth. Now, 00:21:53.089 --> 00:21:56.109 it's perfectly, we read this, that Samuel had 00:21:56.109 --> 00:21:59.490 to hear the voice of the Lord three times, four 00:21:59.490 --> 00:22:01.950 times, I guess, before he answered. And he had 00:22:01.950 --> 00:22:04.730 to get the instruction from Eli that he ought 00:22:04.730 --> 00:22:08.349 to answer the Lord. How many times do you think 00:22:08.349 --> 00:22:11.809 later on in the book of Samuel, the Lord will 00:22:11.809 --> 00:22:14.849 speak to Samuel, and how many times will I have 00:22:14.849 --> 00:22:17.009 to repeat the same message before Samuel hears 00:22:17.009 --> 00:22:23.059 it? In other words, is this an ongoing pattern 00:22:23.059 --> 00:22:24.900 in his life? The Lord always has to talk to him 00:22:24.900 --> 00:22:32.279 four times? No. Now, I remember when I was first 00:22:32.279 --> 00:22:36.559 converted, I used to pray, Lord, I am a young, 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:40.420 unwise man, unlearned. Please condescend and 00:22:40.420 --> 00:22:44.319 make your will known to me. An older, wiser Christian 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:49.319 said to me, that's okay when you're a kid, but 00:22:49.319 --> 00:22:54.900 that's not the goal. God doesn't have to physically 00:22:54.900 --> 00:23:00.759 shut a door to keep you from walking in. He could, 00:23:00.900 --> 00:23:04.299 but to require that or to think that that's normal 00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:07.900 in your life is wrong. But how do we go from, 00:23:08.019 --> 00:23:10.799 I had to hear the word of the Lord four times 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:14.420 before I recognized it, to I just heard the still 00:23:14.420 --> 00:23:18.799 small voice one time and I heard it and I did. 00:23:23.619 --> 00:23:26.640 And do you want to be there? Do I want to be 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:31.420 there or do I want to be the baby? And the obvious 00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:34.619 answer is none of us want to be the baby. But 00:23:34.619 --> 00:23:40.240 what's required to get out of babyhood? Infancy. 00:23:45.619 --> 00:23:50.480 Food. You got to have some food, right? You got 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:53.250 to have some strength. You've got to exercise. 00:23:53.990 --> 00:23:57.230 So in the spiritual life, or in the Christian's 00:23:57.230 --> 00:24:00.150 life, what's he got to do? He's got to get all 00:24:00.150 --> 00:24:05.069 the nutrition he can, and he's got to be used 00:24:05.069 --> 00:24:07.730 to hearing the voice of the Lord, and he's got 00:24:07.730 --> 00:24:11.650 to be used to following the voice of the Lord. 00:24:11.750 --> 00:24:13.589 There's three things that are going on with Samuel. 00:24:13.950 --> 00:24:17.589 He hears first, doesn't he? Now you can't listen 00:24:17.589 --> 00:24:20.410 if you don't hear, and you can't act if you don't 00:24:20.410 --> 00:24:22.250 hear. So that's the first thing he has to do 00:24:22.250 --> 00:24:26.549 is he has to hear. Now, we hear where? In our 00:24:26.549 --> 00:24:29.809 Bibles, in the testimony of his people. It all 00:24:29.809 --> 00:24:32.289 goes back to the word. If you hear the voice 00:24:32.289 --> 00:24:35.589 of the Lord through one of his people, one of 00:24:35.589 --> 00:24:38.529 those people got that word from their Bible. 00:24:38.630 --> 00:24:41.710 That's God's wisdom. So that's the first thing. 00:24:41.750 --> 00:24:44.109 You hear the word of God. The second thing is 00:24:44.109 --> 00:24:47.109 you have to listen. It's not enough just to hear 00:24:47.109 --> 00:24:52.250 it. You've got to what? Believe it? You've got 00:24:52.250 --> 00:24:54.130 to examine it. You've got to study it. You've 00:24:54.130 --> 00:24:58.569 got to know what it says. And then what's required? 00:25:00.549 --> 00:25:03.190 You've got to put into action whatever it is 00:25:03.190 --> 00:25:06.349 that you've heard and listened. And that's exactly 00:25:06.349 --> 00:25:09.130 what Samuel did. He heard it first, then he listened, 00:25:09.289 --> 00:25:15.769 and then he did. And that's the experience that 00:25:15.769 --> 00:25:18.400 you need. Now, it might take... the Lord talking 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:21.440 to you four times. He might have to physically 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:24.019 shut a door to keep you from going in or open 00:25:24.019 --> 00:25:25.799 a door so that you know where you should go when 00:25:25.799 --> 00:25:29.460 you're a kid, when you're a baby. But by the 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:31.980 time you get to be middle -aged and by the time 00:25:31.980 --> 00:25:36.039 you get to be an old and mature Christian, you 00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:38.119 ought to be able to discern the voice of the 00:25:38.119 --> 00:25:41.680 Lord and be so used to hearing that voice and 00:25:41.680 --> 00:25:44.960 so eager to submit to that voice that you just 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:57.859 go natural. It's not okay to stay a baby. If 00:25:57.859 --> 00:26:00.519 you've heard that, you've been told wrong. So 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.279 that's one thing. We've got to be experienced 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:06.440 if we're going to grow in our Christian life. 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:08.519 We've got to experience God's voice and we're 00:26:08.519 --> 00:26:11.339 going to experience it here. What about this? 00:26:12.220 --> 00:26:15.220 God did condescend to him, didn't he? He was 00:26:15.220 --> 00:26:19.529 gracious. So just the gracious condescension 00:26:19.529 --> 00:26:23.349 of God to speak four times. But four times to 00:26:23.349 --> 00:26:25.470 a boy. Remember that. It was four times to a 00:26:25.470 --> 00:26:33.349 boy. Now that is wonderful. And it's just full 00:26:33.349 --> 00:26:35.930 of love. And it tells us something about God's 00:26:35.930 --> 00:26:39.930 purpose, doesn't it? He's going to accomplish 00:26:39.930 --> 00:26:43.109 his purpose. But we're not going to fall into 00:26:43.109 --> 00:26:48.089 presumption. We're going to... exercise our faith. 00:26:48.109 --> 00:26:49.529 We're going to hear it and we're going to go. 00:26:51.890 --> 00:26:58.849 Verse 11. The Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I 00:26:58.849 --> 00:27:03.529 will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears 00:27:03.529 --> 00:27:07.769 of everyone that hears it shall tingle. What 00:27:07.769 --> 00:27:10.950 I used to hear in both the ears. You hear the 00:27:10.950 --> 00:27:16.019 ears, but here we have both the ears. So what's 00:27:16.019 --> 00:27:17.700 that tell us? What's the lesson there for us? 00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:43.539 Yeah, let me read. Well. Yeah, I mean, you could 00:27:43.539 --> 00:27:45.700 definitely say it when the Lord works. It's not 00:27:45.700 --> 00:27:48.740 unnoticed. So, you know, you can apply that in 00:27:48.740 --> 00:27:54.980 all kinds of ways. How long was this going on? 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:02.920 How long were Eli's sons being vile in the temple? 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:10.660 Years, right? Decades, maybe. What does that 00:28:10.660 --> 00:28:18.440 tell us about God? He suffers a long time. The 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:20.839 sin and the unfaithfulness of people, doesn't 00:28:20.839 --> 00:28:25.680 he? But then there comes a day, what verse 12 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:29.819 tells us. In that day I will perform against 00:28:29.819 --> 00:28:32.740 Eli all things which I have spoken concerning 00:28:32.740 --> 00:28:36.319 his house. When I begin, I will also make an 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:40.240 end. So what's the lesson? We see the long suffering 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:48.329 of God, and what? Well, when he acts, it is a 00:28:48.329 --> 00:28:53.829 swift. But what else? It's in the end of the 00:28:53.829 --> 00:29:14.730 verse. 12. When he starts, that's what it says, 00:29:14.769 --> 00:29:18.470 right? He will also finish. Now for those of 00:29:18.470 --> 00:29:20.869 us who are in Christ, that's a great encouragement, 00:29:20.930 --> 00:29:25.490 isn't it? He began this work in me. That new 00:29:25.490 --> 00:29:27.809 life that I had within me. And then he's going 00:29:27.809 --> 00:29:30.289 to bring it to a completion. A completion that 00:29:30.289 --> 00:29:32.970 he knows in his time. And after he's accomplished 00:29:32.970 --> 00:29:35.890 whatever he intends to accomplish in me or through 00:29:35.890 --> 00:29:39.269 me. The same is true for you if you are in Christ. 00:29:41.930 --> 00:29:45.980 The same is true for every work of God. It's 00:29:45.980 --> 00:29:49.119 not just his work of redemption. It's not just 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:52.420 his work of gathering all of his people to himself. 00:29:53.400 --> 00:29:56.720 Every work, every purpose of God will be accomplished. 00:29:57.140 --> 00:30:01.460 We won't see it all in our lifetime unless the 00:30:01.460 --> 00:30:03.880 Lord returns. Then we'll be able to say we saw 00:30:03.880 --> 00:30:10.920 the final reckoning. But for the unconverted, 00:30:10.920 --> 00:30:14.019 it's equally as true for everything that we see. 00:30:14.619 --> 00:30:17.059 The Lord has a purpose for the United States 00:30:17.059 --> 00:30:20.319 of America. We're celebrating our 250th anniversary. 00:30:20.859 --> 00:30:23.920 And when he's finished with that, then that's 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:27.700 gone. It's done. When he begins with you and 00:30:27.700 --> 00:30:31.240 then ends. And for everything, the Lord works 00:30:31.240 --> 00:30:35.059 perfectly. He uses whatever means he needs, he 00:30:35.059 --> 00:30:38.119 makes use of to accomplish his purpose. And he 00:30:38.119 --> 00:30:44.420 will do it. And then we could just say, if we 00:30:44.420 --> 00:30:46.359 just look at the bigger picture of the chapter, 00:30:46.460 --> 00:30:52.079 we see the same thing. God began by calling to 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:56.240 Samuel. And he completed that, didn't he? By 00:30:56.240 --> 00:30:58.460 the end of the chapter, Samuel is established 00:30:58.460 --> 00:31:01.220 as a prophet of the Lord. He hears the voice 00:31:01.220 --> 00:31:04.480 of God and he delivers that voice to the people. 00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:08.220 God started it way back at the beginning of the 00:31:08.220 --> 00:31:11.349 chapter. speaking to this little boy, and before 00:31:11.349 --> 00:31:14.750 you know it, he's established as a prophet. He 00:31:14.750 --> 00:31:18.289 began that work, and he completed it. It took 00:31:18.289 --> 00:31:21.609 calling to him four times, but he completed it. 00:31:23.289 --> 00:31:27.029 How about verses 13 and 14? For I have told him 00:31:27.029 --> 00:31:30.009 that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity 00:31:30.009 --> 00:31:33.210 which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves 00:31:33.210 --> 00:31:37.039 vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:40.380 I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity 00:31:40.380 --> 00:31:43.779 of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice, 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:46.900 no offering forever. What's the lesson there? 00:31:55.460 --> 00:32:02.700 What's that? 13 and 14. What's God doing to Eli? 00:32:10.890 --> 00:32:16.390 He is doing that. What do you call it? What would 00:32:16.390 --> 00:32:23.069 you call it if your boss came to you and said 00:32:23.069 --> 00:32:31.910 these kinds of things to you? He's holding you 00:32:31.910 --> 00:32:36.589 accountable, right? Right? God's holding Eli 00:32:36.589 --> 00:32:41.779 accountable. Why? Because he gave him certain 00:32:41.779 --> 00:32:45.400 responsibilities, didn't he? He made him a priest 00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:52.819 and a judge. And then he expected Eli to act 00:32:52.819 --> 00:32:55.200 responsibly and do what the Lord had called him 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:59.500 to do as a priest and a judge. And when Eli didn't 00:32:59.500 --> 00:33:03.559 do that, there were consequences. And not only 00:33:03.559 --> 00:33:06.420 consequences for himself, but for his whole family. 00:33:12.009 --> 00:33:14.990 Now, none of us are priests in the sense that 00:33:14.990 --> 00:33:20.410 Eli was. None of us are judges. However, the 00:33:20.410 --> 00:33:22.410 Lord has given you certain responsibilities. 00:33:23.490 --> 00:33:26.789 And he's getting certain people into your care. 00:33:29.190 --> 00:33:31.769 When we will have to be accountable for the way 00:33:31.769 --> 00:33:34.730 that we act and the way that we are responsible 00:33:34.730 --> 00:33:38.390 for these other people, the Lord put Eli in charge. 00:33:38.529 --> 00:33:43.950 And Eli just let his sons... make the Lord's 00:33:43.950 --> 00:33:46.529 name a laughingstock and discourage his people 00:33:46.529 --> 00:33:50.970 from worship. He made them to hate the sacrifices. 00:33:53.349 --> 00:33:57.130 It's no small thing, no matter how large your 00:33:57.130 --> 00:34:01.430 sphere of responsibility is, to mistreat or to 00:34:01.430 --> 00:34:05.789 neglect that responsibility. Now, individually, 00:34:06.029 --> 00:34:08.750 what is my responsibility? What is your responsibility? 00:34:11.050 --> 00:34:16.650 I'm responsible for myself, right? How is it 00:34:16.650 --> 00:34:19.409 that I make use of what the Lord has given me? 00:34:19.449 --> 00:34:23.070 Maybe mentally, physically, and in any other 00:34:23.070 --> 00:34:30.010 league. How do I foster my relationship with 00:34:30.010 --> 00:34:36.869 the Lord? How do I search hard after Him? How 00:34:36.869 --> 00:34:39.900 do I make sure that my mind is right? How do 00:34:39.900 --> 00:34:44.320 I examine myself? That's where it starts. And 00:34:44.320 --> 00:34:48.280 it has to start there, right? I mean, that's 00:34:48.280 --> 00:34:50.539 pretty common. That's just common sense. You 00:34:50.539 --> 00:34:52.739 want to be a boss? Well, how disciplined are 00:34:52.739 --> 00:34:58.179 you? But it goes beyond that. So you have certain 00:34:58.179 --> 00:35:01.920 responsibilities maybe at work. Maybe you have 00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:05.039 other responsibilities at home. You have a wife 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:08.119 or a husband. You have children. You have certain 00:35:08.119 --> 00:35:13.460 responsibilities here. The Lord holds us accountable. 00:35:13.699 --> 00:35:17.380 And when we, we just, we can't just cast it off. 00:35:18.300 --> 00:35:20.480 We can't just say, I don't like what the Lord 00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:25.980 has told me to do here. I'd rather not. There 00:35:25.980 --> 00:35:28.639 will be consequences for that. Now, why is it 00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:39.110 reasonable that God holds us responsible? Was 00:35:39.110 --> 00:35:45.110 Eli lacking the equipment that he needed? God 00:35:45.110 --> 00:35:48.550 equipped him, didn't he, to do the work. Was 00:35:48.550 --> 00:35:53.789 he lacking in direction? Was he lacking in instruction? 00:35:56.190 --> 00:35:58.769 No, he wasn't, was he? It's perfectly reasonable 00:35:58.769 --> 00:36:02.190 that God would say, I equipped you, I put you 00:36:02.190 --> 00:36:04.110 where you were supposed to be, and I instructed 00:36:04.110 --> 00:36:06.210 you how you should act, and you didn't do any 00:36:06.210 --> 00:36:09.079 of those things. Now it's easy for us to point 00:36:09.079 --> 00:36:12.500 the finger at Eli, but it's not so easy when 00:36:12.500 --> 00:36:15.619 we realize that the same can be said for us time 00:36:15.619 --> 00:36:18.500 and time and time again in our lives. We don't 00:36:18.500 --> 00:36:21.019 have the excuse of God didn't equip me to do 00:36:21.019 --> 00:36:23.800 this work. I didn't ask for this responsibility. 00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:28.699 God equipped you, God put you there, and he told 00:36:28.699 --> 00:36:32.880 you how you should act. We are all without excuse. 00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:40.760 Verses 15 to 18, Eli calls to him and he says, 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:47.059 tell me what the Lord said. And Samuel, he's 00:36:47.059 --> 00:36:52.960 scared. Who wouldn't be scared? What's the lesson? 00:36:56.380 --> 00:37:02.340 What can we derive from that? It's not hard. 00:37:05.980 --> 00:37:11.219 Following the Lord isn't easy. It's just not. 00:37:12.679 --> 00:37:15.659 The Lord calls you and me to difficult things 00:37:15.659 --> 00:37:18.280 in our personal lives, in our family lives, in 00:37:18.280 --> 00:37:21.440 our work life, in our church life. It's not easy. 00:37:22.179 --> 00:37:24.619 And just because it's not easy doesn't mean it's 00:37:24.619 --> 00:37:30.599 not the Lord's way. It's not always easy, but 00:37:30.599 --> 00:37:38.980 what is always required? Faith. Samuel had received 00:37:38.980 --> 00:37:42.860 a word from the Lord, and he was delivering that 00:37:42.860 --> 00:37:45.539 word to Eli. Yeah, he was scared. He was still 00:37:45.539 --> 00:37:50.480 a baby. He wasn't a full -grown man yet. But 00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:53.360 he had to have faith to believe that he could 00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:57.179 deliver this difficult word to Eli, and the Lord 00:37:57.179 --> 00:38:00.659 was going to honor that word, and the Lord was 00:38:00.659 --> 00:38:03.880 going to protect him should Eli get angry at 00:38:03.880 --> 00:38:09.349 Samuel. It's not always easy, but it always requires 00:38:09.349 --> 00:38:18.329 faith. I don't have my clock today. Okay. Last 00:38:18.329 --> 00:38:31.329 one. The insidious and disastrous way of sin. 00:38:36.199 --> 00:38:43.800 Eli had opportunities. Maybe his boys. Had. Maybe 00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:46.360 they would have changed. When he's hypothetical. 00:38:47.539 --> 00:38:54.500 Maybe. Maybe they wouldn't have. But their sin 00:38:54.500 --> 00:39:00.760 was not. I don't want to say discovered. Made 00:39:00.760 --> 00:39:05.340 known to them. By the one person. that should 00:39:05.340 --> 00:39:09.900 have made it known to them. Now, again, we can 00:39:09.900 --> 00:39:14.019 apply this in the way that we interact with other 00:39:14.019 --> 00:39:15.920 people. If God's given you responsibilities, 00:39:16.300 --> 00:39:21.699 the responsibility of being a wife to a husband, 00:39:21.860 --> 00:39:25.039 then you are going to have to confront that husband 00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:29.260 from time to time when he sins. You have to do 00:39:29.260 --> 00:39:31.219 it the right way, but that's the responsibility 00:39:31.219 --> 00:39:33.239 the Lord has given you. It's not always going 00:39:33.239 --> 00:39:39.179 to be fun. You're going to have to examine yourself. 00:39:40.039 --> 00:39:41.940 You're going to have to hold yourself responsible. 00:39:42.059 --> 00:39:45.460 You're going to have to bite the bullet. You're 00:39:45.460 --> 00:39:47.840 going to have to bear the pain of it. You're 00:39:47.840 --> 00:39:51.619 going to have to be willing to say, I messed 00:39:51.619 --> 00:39:56.480 up here. This is wrong. This is sin. I've got 00:39:56.480 --> 00:39:58.360 to change. I've got to get rid of this habit. 00:39:58.440 --> 00:40:00.260 I've got to change this behavior, whatever it 00:40:00.260 --> 00:40:08.929 is. Because if we don't, what happens? What happened 00:40:08.929 --> 00:40:14.289 to this whole family is wrecked and ruined. There's 00:40:14.289 --> 00:40:17.829 no other way around it. The sin, when it was 00:40:17.829 --> 00:40:22.469 in its infancy, was not dealt with. And it was 00:40:22.469 --> 00:40:25.949 just allowed to grow. It was allowed, and that's 00:40:25.949 --> 00:40:33.050 how sin is. It starts small, but it wraps its 00:40:33.050 --> 00:40:37.389 tentacles around us. It's like cancer. If you 00:40:37.389 --> 00:40:39.250 don't treat the cancer, what? It just spreads 00:40:39.250 --> 00:40:49.489 and eats your whole body. And then what? There 00:40:49.489 --> 00:40:55.750 was no changing. Sin had them wrapped up where 00:40:55.750 --> 00:40:58.090 there was nothing they could do. The sacrifices 00:40:58.090 --> 00:41:00.750 weren't going to last very much longer. That's 00:41:00.750 --> 00:41:03.300 what the Lord is saying. Yeah. The sacrifice 00:41:03.300 --> 00:41:05.800 is covered over for a while, but the day of reckoning 00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:11.699 is coming. There was nothing left. There was 00:41:11.699 --> 00:41:14.840 nothing left. They don't have an advocate. They'd 00:41:14.840 --> 00:41:43.659 sinned against the Lord. You can. Yeah. So, but 00:41:43.659 --> 00:41:47.179 what do we know now that we've read chapter 3? 00:41:47.719 --> 00:41:50.340 And actually, if you just read the rest of it, 00:41:50.360 --> 00:41:58.719 you'll find that it wasn't a rebuke there. Right. 00:42:05.559 --> 00:42:17.500 But it's not a rebuke. What is a rebuke? Is there 00:42:17.500 --> 00:42:21.519 any way for somebody to miss a rebuke? No. Okay. 00:42:24.260 --> 00:42:29.360 In other words, it's just plain English. You, 00:42:29.659 --> 00:42:39.650 person A, are in sin in this way. It's not, have 00:42:39.650 --> 00:42:42.670 you thought about what you're doing there? The 00:42:42.670 --> 00:42:44.869 person's like, well, yeah, I have. And then I 00:42:44.869 --> 00:42:47.110 walk away and say, well, I repeat them. Well, 00:42:47.150 --> 00:42:53.570 no, you didn't. So, you know, to say that there's 00:42:53.570 --> 00:42:56.170 something amiss here or I'm getting bad reports 00:42:56.170 --> 00:43:09.000 is not laying it plainly before them. Well, the 00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:11.820 Lord tells us that he didn't do it. It's not 00:43:11.820 --> 00:43:26.420 me. No, but in verse 3, what? He restrained them 00:43:26.420 --> 00:43:29.920 not. He rebuked them not. That's in verse 13 00:43:29.920 --> 00:43:33.320 of chapter 3. You have the new King James there, 00:43:33.340 --> 00:43:49.800 you probably have rebuked in verse 13. Right. 00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:53.519 Do you think that means that, I guess this is 00:43:53.519 --> 00:43:55.260 kind of subjective, so it's not really a big 00:43:55.260 --> 00:43:59.260 deal, but I guess when I first came in before, 00:43:59.300 --> 00:44:01.739 I thought Eli was kind of weak, probably was 00:44:01.739 --> 00:44:06.739 a believer, if you will. But now I see that verse, 00:44:06.860 --> 00:44:09.340 and it's kind of like, well, the sacrifices of 00:44:09.340 --> 00:44:11.559 the goats and the bulls weren't good enough for 00:44:11.559 --> 00:44:14.780 him. It says sacrifice operating forever. It 00:44:14.780 --> 00:44:16.699 seems like their sin was not covered. Well, it 00:44:16.699 --> 00:44:24.980 says of Eli's house. Yeah. But the judgment that 00:44:24.980 --> 00:44:26.940 was going to come upon his house was laid out. 00:44:27.119 --> 00:44:30.460 None of his sons were going to go to old age 00:44:30.460 --> 00:44:32.280 and they were going to be removed from the priesthood. 00:44:35.079 --> 00:44:37.539 Eli is no different than any of the other judges 00:44:37.539 --> 00:44:40.539 that we've looked at, except for Othniel, right? 00:44:40.980 --> 00:44:44.179 He's the ideal. He's the one that acted the way 00:44:44.179 --> 00:44:46.880 that he should have. All the rest of the judges 00:44:48.300 --> 00:44:50.539 Didn't do what we expected them to do throughout. 00:44:50.820 --> 00:44:54.179 And Eli finds himself firmly entrenched in that 00:44:54.179 --> 00:44:58.420 same camp. But what we know about the judges 00:44:58.420 --> 00:45:02.159 is what? What we know about the Lord's people 00:45:02.159 --> 00:45:07.260 in the old covenant was what? Faith. They believed. 00:45:07.659 --> 00:45:11.500 Remember David, a man after God's own heart, 00:45:11.639 --> 00:45:15.139 an adulterer. He's not a murderer exactly, but, 00:45:15.219 --> 00:45:18.980 you know, he... dealt treacherously with the 00:45:18.980 --> 00:45:23.159 man whose wife he slept with. He numbered the 00:45:23.159 --> 00:45:26.420 people and caused all kinds of death in Israel, 00:45:26.500 --> 00:45:29.019 all kinds of bad things, right? You don't need 00:45:29.019 --> 00:45:30.900 to list them all. But what? He's a man after 00:45:30.900 --> 00:45:34.960 God's own heart. Why? Because nothing came between 00:45:34.960 --> 00:45:37.159 him and the Lord. He never went after the Baals. 00:45:37.739 --> 00:45:41.760 He never gave his heart to another god. Faith. 00:45:42.510 --> 00:45:44.690 So that's what we can say about Eli. And that's 00:45:44.690 --> 00:45:46.269 what we can say about all the rest of the judges. 00:45:46.489 --> 00:45:48.230 That's what the writer of the Hebrews tells us 00:45:48.230 --> 00:45:51.309 we should say about them. It's by faith. They 00:45:51.309 --> 00:45:57.949 lived by faith. Not perfectly. But there is hope, 00:45:58.030 --> 00:46:04.969 right? And that really, we end there, and we 00:46:04.969 --> 00:46:08.030 should always end there. There is hope. This 00:46:08.030 --> 00:46:12.329 is a terrible situation. The temple is a, you 00:46:12.329 --> 00:46:14.750 know, or the tabernacle is a place where nobody 00:46:14.750 --> 00:46:18.250 wants to go. The Holy of Holies. People don't 00:46:18.250 --> 00:46:21.849 want to go there. Just all kinds of treacherous 00:46:21.849 --> 00:46:26.610 and vile things going on. But the Lord works, 00:46:26.710 --> 00:46:30.489 and what? He moves them all out of the way, and 00:46:30.489 --> 00:46:33.769 he brings in then a faithful young boy named 00:46:33.769 --> 00:46:37.389 Samuel, and then eventually he brings in a new 00:46:37.389 --> 00:46:40.199 line of priests. still descendants of Aaron, 00:46:40.260 --> 00:46:45.500 in Zadok. So we are never left without hope when 00:46:45.500 --> 00:46:49.619 it comes to the Lord's working or the power of 00:46:49.619 --> 00:46:54.320 sin. The power of sin, as insidious as it is, 00:46:54.340 --> 00:46:58.059 as disastrous as the consequences are, the great 00:46:58.059 --> 00:47:02.380 overcomer is able to move those things out of 00:47:02.380 --> 00:47:06.820 the way or change minds, change lives, and overcome 00:47:06.820 --> 00:47:11.789 that sin. but only the Lord. That's the only 00:47:11.789 --> 00:47:19.429 place where there's any hope. So, I'm just going 00:47:19.429 --> 00:47:22.110 to say this and we'll be over. We'll be done. 00:47:23.170 --> 00:47:31.090 We see these things in Eli. But we've got to 00:47:31.090 --> 00:47:34.489 examine ourselves and see where it is that we've 00:47:34.489 --> 00:47:40.599 refused to rebuke. First, ourselves. What have 00:47:40.599 --> 00:47:45.039 I allowed to creep in quietly and secretly into 00:47:45.039 --> 00:47:49.039 my life that I should not have allowed? And if 00:47:49.039 --> 00:47:51.880 I don't deal with it now, I should expect that 00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:55.039 it's going to get worse and worse and worse. 00:47:55.900 --> 00:47:59.980 And it may not only be me that bears the consequences 00:47:59.980 --> 00:48:05.050 of my sin. It may be others that are... Tangled 00:48:05.050 --> 00:48:07.929 up in that web and experience hurt, heartache, 00:48:07.929 --> 00:48:16.190 pain. So always ourselves first. And then we 00:48:16.190 --> 00:48:20.289 can with confidence and a clear conscience be 00:48:20.289 --> 00:48:24.610 useful by God in other ways in this kingdom. 00:48:25.570 --> 00:48:29.630 And if God will use us, then those people that 00:48:29.630 --> 00:48:34.820 are entangled in sin will find relief. they will 00:48:34.820 --> 00:48:39.900 find a savior who can break that power. Anybody 00:48:39.900 --> 00:48:41.599 got a question before I sit down?