The Calling of Samuel

First Samuel chapter three, if you got your Bible, First Samuel chapter three. I'm having a great time studying this man's life. I don't know if you're having a great time or not, but that's okay, it's not about you anyway, right? I'm having a great time, and it's not about me either, but I'm having lots of fun. And tonight we're gonna look at the very famous story that all of us pretty much know, and we grew up studying in Sunday school and learning about the call of Samuel.

And it's one of those stories that we think that we know the intricate details to, but we really don't. So hopefully tonight we'll open your hearts and minds to some of the things that will help you see what it is God wants us to learn as we understand how things are changing in Israel. Things are gonna change drastically for Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas. They're gonna die. They're gonna change for Samuel, because he's somewhere between 12 and 15 years of age, and things are gonna change for him as prophet, priest, and judge of Israel.

And for the nation, things are gonna change for them as well. Change is coming in Israel. Little did Hannah know what her prayer would accomplish. When she began to pray for a boy, and God granted her the desires of her heart, the precision of God's will being accomplished is amazing. And how God puts everything together. But little did she know that when she began to pray and God granted her her desire, and she dedicated that child to the Lord, little did she know all that was going to take place.

And as she watches her child grow from year to year, she's begun to see great changes. And she will see tremendous changes in a nation, because she sharpened that little arrow, and God used that arrow in a mighty way. This is one of those stories that as we read it, we say, oh yeah, I remember that story. But there's so much here. So let's look at 1 Samuel chapter three together.

We'll read it, and then we'll cover just a few things with you this evening. Verse one, now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord before Eli, and word from the Lord was rare in those days. Visions were infrequent. It happened at that time as Eli was lying down in his place. Now his eyesight had begun to grow dim, and he could not see well. And the lamp of God had not yet gone out. And Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. The Lord called Samuel, and he said, here I am.

Then he ran to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. But he said, I did not call, lie down again. So he went and lay down. The Lord called yet again, Samuel. So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. But he answered, I did not call my son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him. So the Lord called Samuel again for the third time.

He arose and went to Eli and said, here I am, for you called me. Then Eli discerned that the Lord was calling the boy. And Eli said to Samuel, go lie down. It should be, if he calls you, that you shall say, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said, speak, for your servant is listening. And the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I'm about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears, it will tingle.

And that day, I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. For I've told him that I'm about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. Therefore, I've sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house should not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. So Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he said, here I am. And he said, what is the word that he spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all the words that he spoke to you. So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him. The Samuel grew and the Lord was with him. And let none of his words fail. All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.

And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh because the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. Four things I want you to see. First is the occasion of this call, the fashion of the call, the revelation in the call, then the manifestation from the call.

Four very simple points that take us through the chapter to help us understand exactly what God is doing in the life of Samuel. First comes the occasion for the call.

The Bible tells us that Samuel was a child, a boy. Josephus says he was probably 12. Some say he's probably the age of maybe David. We don't know how old he was, but he was a young child because the word used for boy is anyone up to age 15. So let's say he's around 12 to 15 years of age somewhere in that area. And he has been serving Eli all these years since he was three when his mother brought him to the temple and dedicated him. He's been faithful in the service, diligent in the service by virtue of the fact that when he was called by Eli, he said, here I am, he came immediately.

And I read that and I thought to myself, you know, isn't that neat that this young boy was being raised to serve the Lord in the house of the Lord? I thought to myself, you know, we should probably be using more of our 12 and 13 and 14 year olds in the service of the Lord in the church of God. Maybe we should have them ushering in serving communion and being greeters and handing out bulletins every once in a while. I mean, that's what Samuel did. He served Eli, he served him faithfully. He served the Lord, but he served the Lord by serving Eli in the house of the Lord.

And as he was serving the Lord, it was a very dark time in Israel's history because it says that the word of the Lord was rare. Visions were infrequent. How sad is that? It was infrequent and rare during the period of the judges, but because of all the sin in Israel, God was not speaking. God was waiting. God was waiting for the right person, which would be Samuel, in his sovereignty, knowing exactly what he was going to do, but the word of the Lord was not evident. How sad is that? And the symbolism here is great because it was when the lamp of God was growing dim, and that would be that seven pronged golden lamp stand in the house of the Lord, the only light in the tabernacle.

And it would be lit at twilight, take you through the night. So it'd be going up toward the next day, but very symbolic as that light was representative of the truth of God that was to be manifested to the nation of Israel itself, to the Gentile nations. But that wasn't happening because symbolically the light was going dim. And it says that Eli's eyes were going dim because he was old. If you read over in chapter four, he's over 90 and his eyesight's getting dim and it's hard for him to see. And that's all symbolic of where Israel was.

They didn't hear the word of the Lord. They didn't see the word of the Lord because God was not speaking to Israel. Why? It was a dark day in Israel's history. And that darkness came not by anything else other than the fact that Israel had sinned against the Lord. It began with the priesthood, right? Eli was polluted. Hosea 4, verse number nine, like priests, like people, right? As the priests go, so go the people. And that's exactly what was happening. The priesthood was corrupt. The people were corrupt.

The priesthood was polluted. The people themselves were polluted. The priesthood didn't care about the things of the Lord. So the people don't care about the things of the Lord. It's the same way in your family. If the parents don't care about the things of the Lord, then the children don't care too much about the things of the Lord because the children follow the parents. The people follow the priests. They follow the leadership. And that's exactly what was happening in Israel at this time. It was a cold, dark time.

God was gonna do something unique. He was gonna turn all that around. Through a young boy, age 12. How do you think about that? I have a daughter who's 12. And we went to breakfast on Tuesday and we talked about this story. She knew the story. And I talked to her about being 12 years of age and knowing what the word of the Lord says and then following through on the word of the Lord. The importance of that. And how would she respond if she was in Samuel's shoes, hearing God's voice, and then giving the message that he was told to give, a message of judgment upon the leadership in Israel.

Can you imagine being 12, being given such an enormous task as that? I mean, think about that. That's an enormous task. It's not like you're going next door to your friend and saying, hey, you know what? You're living in sin, you gotta get it right. He's going to the priesthood in Israel. He's going to the guy he's been serving over the last decade. Amazing, amazing story in what God is doing. But there was a young boy who was faithful, steadfast, diligent in his service. And God was going to use him in a very powerful, powerful way.

And God's going to call him. So you move from the occasion of the call to the fashion of the call. What were the mannerisms by which he was called? Moses was called by a burning bush. As you recall, Elisha was called when Elijah threw his mantle on him. Gideon was called by the angel of the Lord. As you go back and you read about the Apostle Paul, he was called on the Damascus Road by the Lord with that bright light. And here's Samuel, who's going to hear the voice of the Lord. And God calls him.

Samuel. Here I am. The immediacy of his response. Knowing that he was serious about his service. You ever called your kids in the middle of the night? They usually don't hear you, do they? I call my kids. Wait, time to get up. Time to get up. Hey, time to get up. And they roll over a couple of times and I gotta pour water on them, drag them out of bed every once in a while. Not really. But anyway, you think about those things. Here is Samuel. And the Lord calls him. Here I am. And he runs to Eli.

Now we think about the story. Now think about this. Why is it God calls three times? And it takes so long for Eli to discern it's the Lord. Well, number one, he's not walking with the Lord.

He is his whole priesthood is polluted anyway, so he's not really in tune with the Lord, so he's not gonna figure that out anyway. But there's a reason behind that. And why is it Samuel doesn't know it's the voice of the Lord? Well, simply because he's never heard the voice of the Lord before, right? But God doesn't call three times because people are making a mistake necessarily. He calls three times because he's doing something in the life of Eli and the life of Samuel. In the life of Eli, he's getting Eli to realize that this truly is the voice of the Lord.

Because what would Eli think if Samuel came in, having heard the voice of the Lord, he says, oh yes, Lord. And the Lord tells him and he goes right to Eli and says, hey Eli, the Lord spoke to me. Eli would be saying, you know what? You had a dream, go back to sleep. You're deluded. He wouldn't believe him. And so the Lord takes them through this process. So Eli comes to realize that there is a voice. It's not his. They're in the house of the Lord. There's nobody else there. This must be the voice of the Lord.

Now think about that. You're the priest in Israel. And you're the spiritual leader in Israel. Not a very good one, but he is a spiritual leader in Israel, right? And you think, hey, you know what? I'm the spiritual leader. If anybody's gonna have God talk to them, it's gotta be me, right? It's gotta be me. No, it's a 12-year-old boy. How do you handle that? How does Eli handle that? You see, God's bringing Eli to a point where he's able to accept and believe and understand exactly what God is gonna say to Samuel as Samuel explained it to him.

And God is gonna solidify in Eli's mind, in Israel's mind, that this young boy is truly a prophet of the Lord. So God takes them through this scenario. Because he wants Eli to believe it is the Lord. So when Samuel tells him, he knows. And for Samuel, he has to understand what's going on because he doesn't know. The text tells us, and I think it's verse number seven, Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor the word of the Lord had not been revealed to him. It's not that he didn't know God. It's just that he didn't understand all what was happening.

And so, sure enough, when Eli tells him, go back. When you hear the voice again, say, speak Lord, for your servant listens. So this time the Lord says what? Samuel, Samuel. Not just Samuel, but Samuel, Samuel. Think about that. Describing the urgency, the importance of what is going to be said and who is saying it. Remember Jesus? When he talked to Martha, he said, Martha, Martha. When Jesus talked to Simon, he said, Simon, Simon. Expressing the urgency of the message he was going to give. It's not that God's messages are not urgent.

It's just that there's an express importance as to what's going to happen. Listen carefully. The Lord spoke to Saul. Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? When God spoke to Moses, Moses, Moses. You understand this, right? You know, when your mom used to be upset with you, when my mom was upset with me, she used my middle name and my first name.

She never just said Lance. It was always Lance Duraine. Yeah, that's my middle name, Duraine. Not deranged, although some think I am deranged. It's Duraine, D-U-R-A-I-N-E. When my mom and dad were upset, it was always Lance Duraine. It was that double impact. I knew they were serious. God's always serious. Samuel needed to know how serious he was. Samuel, Samuel. And how did he respond? Speak, Lord, for your servant listens. That's the way all of us should be, right? We should always be that way when we open the word of the Lord, when we go to the house of the Lord.

We should always be, Lord, I'm here, speak. Your servant is listening. You see, he saw himself as a servant of the living God. He saw himself as one ready to receive that which God had for him. He saw himself as one who needed to hear what God said and was willing to hear what God says and was willing to act upon what God was going to say to him.

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. The Bible tells us in verse 10, the Lord would come and stand next to him. Now think about that. Now it wasn't a bright light of the Lord because it doesn't say anything about the brightness of his light. We know the Lord is a spirit. Was this a pre-incarnate Christ? Did he see someone standing there? It doesn't tell us he did hear the voice, but the Lord would come very close to him, reveal and manifest himself to Samuel because Samuel was going to be the man.

And Samuel was going to lead Israel out of their darkness by proclaiming the word of the Lord. You know, the Lord always wants to manifest himself to us. Sometimes we don't think he does, but he really does. In fact, over in John chapter 14, listen to these words in verse 21. He who has my commandments and keeps him is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father. And I will love him and I will disclose myself to him. I will manifest myself to him. God says, if you love me and you keep my commandments, I am going to manifest myself to you.

In other words, you're going to see me very clearly. You're going to understand me. You're going to come to know me because I'm going to reveal myself to you. That's why the writer Paul in 2 Corinthians 3, 18 says that we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, the word of God being that mirror. We open it up. We behold the glory, the beauty, the brightness of the Lord. And as we behold his beauty, we're being changed from one level of glory to the next level of glory.

God wants us to see him in the word of the Lord. He wants us to see him. If when you open God's word and you don't see Jesus, it's not God's fault. That's your fault. Because he wants to manifest himself to you. And so we need to realize that when we open the word of the Lord, if we don't see Jesus, we didn't read it right. Something's wrong with us, not with the Lord. Are we keeping his commandments? Do we love his commandments? Do we want to follow through on what he says? And here he was 12, 13, 14, not knowing exactly how old necessarily, but something around there.

Speak Lord for your servant is listening. Then you have the revelation that's caused point number three.

Look what it says. This is quite fascinating. Now remember, the call, the call to Samuel is not necessarily about Samuel. It's about Eli. But the call is for him to communicate the truth to Eli. Can I say something about God's call in your life? It's the same call. The call of God upon your life is the call to communicate the truth of God to an unbelieving world. That's God's call upon your life. God wants you to be his representative. God wants you to be his spokesperson. God wants you to be able to speak the truth and that truth involves the judgment of God.

And we have to be able to speak about that judgment so people understand the severity of the word of the Lord. And so God comes and says, Samuel, Samuel. And he records these words. Behold, I'm about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. What does that mean? Well, very simply, if you go over to Jeremiah chapter 19, verse number three, same word is used.

It says this, hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Behold, I'm about to bring a calamity upon this place at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle. Choose one other time in the Old Testament, both in conjunction with the destruction of Jerusalem. He says, I'm about to say something to you that is going to shake people's lives. What I'm going to say to you is going to turn people upside down What I'm about to say to you, Samuel, is not something that people necessarily want to hear.

Because it's about judgment. And that judgment is falling upon the leadership in Israel. And that judgment falls upon those who refuse to obey the word of the Lord. And this will strike fear into all Israel. And so he says, what I'm about to tell you, Samuel, is going to shake people to the core. He says, in that day, I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken. What did he speak? Remember the prophet in chapter two came and spoke to Eli and told him you did not honor the Lord. You honored your sons above the Lord.

You valued relationship over the truth. And because you valued relationship over the truth, that truth that speaks about judgment will fall hard upon you. And he told him his sons are going to die. So he says, the Lord did. I have told him that I'm about to judge his house forever, verse 13, for the iniquity which he knew. Wow. He knew the iniquity of his boys. Because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not restrain them. He did not restrain them, meaning he had, he had the right, the privilege, and the responsibility to restrain his boys and he did not.

He did not restrain them. I know that as I get older and my boys get bigger, my boys think they're stronger and better than I am. Okay, I understand that. But I'm still their father. I'm still their father. And I have responsibility as their father, no matter how big they might be, bigger than me, stronger than me. Okay, I still have responsibility to restrain them. That's my responsibility as their father. As it was Eli's responsibility, even though he was in his 90s. He was the priest of Israel.

He had every right, he had all the power as the priest in Israel to enact judgment upon his boys according to Levitical law, should have been stoned because of their immorality. But he didn't want to do that because he valued the relationship with his boys over the truth of the law of God. And whenever you do that, it's going to cost you. And it cost Eli. Now, remember, if back in chapter two, if he would have heard the warning and acted upon the warning and repented and dealt with his boys, God would have relented.

But he didn't. In chapter two, when the prophet comes, we don't know who the prophet is, doesn't tell us who it is. The man of God comes and speaks to Eli. This is the warning of impending judgment. The Lord's whole ministry was about the impending judgment that was going to come. When he wrote it to Jerusalem in Luke chapter 19, he warned them of the impending judgment that would come upon them and would come some 40 years later in 70 AD. But he warned them. They just did not repent. When he was carrying the cross to Calvary, and there were these women who were mourning what was going on with the Lord as he was beaten beyond recognition.

What did he say? Don't weep for me. If they do this to the green tree, just think what will happen to the dry. In other words, if they're doing this to the innocent, just think what's going to happen to you who are guilty. If you think this is bad, you haven't seen anything yet. So even in his way to the cross, he was pronouncing judgment upon all those around him who had yet to repent. And they didn't repent. Oh, a few did. A few gave their life to Christ, but most did not. And so the Lord was giving an opportunity in chapter two for Eli to repent.

You go to church, you hear a message about impending judgment. It should cause us to repent and get right with the Lord. If we don't, what happens? God brings us to a point where it's impossible now to repent. That's what happens. Look what it says. Therefore, I've sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. Book of Numbers talks about that. Why? Their sin was deliberate. Their sin was defiant. Their sin was against the law of God, even though they knew the law of God.

And their sin was continuous and habitual. And even though God warned of impending judgment, they scoffed at that judgment. They scoffed at their father who told them, even though he wasn't very serious about it or very hard-nosed about it, that they shouldn't be doing these things that are circling around Israel, or circulating around Israel. They shouldn't be doing this. But they scoffed that their father would not even listen to his voice. And yet, if we don't repent, when God warns us of impending judgment, we get to a place where it's impossible to repent.

We're in a book on Sunday morning, the book of Hebrews, which gives us five warning passages about repentance and being careful. Here's the voice, do not harden your heart. Because the repercussions of hardening your heart against God's voice is severe. But that's exactly what Eli did. And that was when the boy Samuel was three. Well, now he's 12. So some nine, 10 years later, he hasn't repented. And so God comes to Samuel and said, this is what I'm going to do. He assigns the task to a 12-year-old boy to tell the priest of Israel, time's up.

The hammer's coming down. It's time for judgment. You're going to die and your boys are going to die. Can you imagine that? It's no wonder he was afraid to say anything. I mean, he's 12. It's always difficult to confront someone in their sin, but to tell them they're going to die because of their sin. I mean, he's 12. And so this revelation comes to him and God speaks to him to inform him of his responsibility that he might understand the importance of the judgment upon Eli, his family. But Eli was so lenient with his children.

The Bible tells us that God's spirit would not always strive with man. And sure enough, it didn't. And so when you go to first Samuel chapter three, it says, so Samuel laid down until morning, isn't that good?

It wasn't like, hey, you know what? God spoke to me. Let me go tell my friends. Let me go tell them that God's speaking to me.

I must be important. No, he laid down. He had to really let this soak in. Such maturity for a young boy. Then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, continuing his service, doing what he always does. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. Of course he was. So would you. So would you. But the Lord knew he'd be afraid. He knew it'd be difficult. So the Lord would work in Eli's heart. To overcome those fears in Samuel's life. So Samuel could speak the truth to Eli. So Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son.

He said, here I am. He said, what is the word that he spoke to you? Don't hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me. Why could he speak like that to his boys? Why could he speak like that to his boys? Why could it be so hard on Samuel, who's 12, but so soft on his boys who are adult men, sleeping with women in the house of the Lord and blaspheming the name of God? Isn't it true that so many times we are unwilling to see the sin in our own families? I don't know how many times over the years people have told me, you know, he's such a good boy.

They're such a good daughter. I've got such good kids. And I'm thinking, dude, your kids are a mess. But they see their kids as good. And they voice that out loud. And I'm like, did you really say that out loud? Because everybody knows how your kids are. And yet you're saying they're such good kids. But no one sees them as good but you. But see, as parents, we get blinded to the reality of our children's behavior. That's why it's always so important to value the truth of God over the relationship you have with your children.

So you can look objectively at what's going on around you. But so many times we get sucked in because we're in it so much. We see it all the time that we just pass it off as normal behavior. It's going to be okay. But boy, oh, look at that kid over there.

What's wrong with that boy? What's wrong with those parents over there? We can see the sin in someone else's kid. But we're unwilling to deal with the beam in our own eye because we just don't want to see the sin in our own house. That was Eli. So lenient with his boys. He was so harsh with young Samuel. May God do to you what he told you. If you don't tell me, tell me now.

I want to know. Which was good for Samuel because you see, this erases all fear. Okay. You asked, I'm going to give it to you. And he gave him the whole kit and caboodle. Just like the Lord said. I love what the Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 26. I think it's Jeremiah 26 verse, let me check my notes here.

Just make sure I got my act together. 26 verse number two. Jeremiah 26 verse number two says, Thus says the Lord, Stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord's house.

All the words that I've commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word. Is that good? What I'm going to tell you to say, you say, do not leave anything out. And then over in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 33, God tells Ezekiel. Now, as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. So you will hear a message from my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, Oh, wicked man, you will surely die. And you do not speak to warn the wicked man from his way.

That wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. But if you, on your part, warn a wicked man to turn from his way, he does not turn from his way. He will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life. You tell him, I tell you to do. If you don't tell him what I say, if you don't tell him he's going to die, if you don't tell him about the impending judgment coming upon him, I'm going to hold you accountable. But if you tell him he doesn't repent, it's on him.

You see, Samuel would communicate everything so that Eli would know. And what's Eli's response? So Samuel told him everything, hid nothing from him. And he said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him. Eli realizes there is nothing he can do. It's over. He's been warned a decade earlier. He knows it's the Lord who's speaking by virtue of the fact that three times Samuel came to him and he realized that God was speaking to him. And he told him next time you hear the voice say, speak Lord, your servant listens.

Evidently he heard the voice. He said, speak Lord, your servant listens. And now he's relayed the message and spoken to Eli. And remember Samuel was three when the prophet of God came in 1 Samuel 2. So he knew nothing of what the man of God had said. To Eli, knew nothing until God told him. And he would go and relay that message to the priest of Israel. Look what it says in verse number 19. This is the manifestation of the revelation. Point number four, thus Samuel grew and the Lord was with him.

Isn't that great? Same phrase used of David as the Lord was with him as he grew. Of Joseph when he was in prison. Yet the Lord was with him and let none of his words fail. In other words, the words that he spoke were true words of a prophet. They came true. God was with him. There was that realization of the presence of God in his life. And all Israel from Dan even to Bathsheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again as Shiloh because the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

God always reveals himself through his word. Now listen, Eli, the priest of Israel was an unfaithful priest and an unfaithful parent. He was an unfaithful priest and an unfaithful parent. He was unfaithful in the priesthood because he did not follow the law of God. He did not obey the law of the Lord. He would not follow through even though he knew what the law said about his son's disobedience. He did not obey. That makes him an unfaithful priest. It makes him an unfaithful parent because he knew what the word of the Lord said and didn't obey.

How many parents, even in our church, know what God's word says but do not obey? That's sad, is it not? It's extremely sad. And here was the one who was to be the mediator between God and man. Here was a man who was to represent God to the people, but he misrepresented God to the people. How sad is that? But you know what? We are in the same boat as Eli because everyone in the room who knows Christ is a priest in God's kingdom. 1 Peter 2.5, 1 Peter 2.9 calls us a priesthood. Revelation 1.6 says God has made us a kingdom of priests because he shed his blood on our behalf.

Do you know that everyone in the room is a priest in the kingdom of God? We are Elis in the kingdom of God. We have the same position. Israel had a priesthood. We are a priesthood. Everyone who's born again in the church of God is a priest in God's kingdom. And we have been called with a high calling, a holy calling, a heavenly calling, as the Bible says.

And we are to represent God to the people we come in contact with. The question is, do you know what the word of the Lord says to accurately represent him to others? And so we find ourselves in the same boat as Eli because as he was a priest, so we are a priesthood in God's kingdom. And we are required to not only know the word of the Lord, but to dispense that word to others so they might come to know the truth of God's holy word. At the same time, not only are we in the same boat as Eli as a priest, we're in the same boat as Eli as a parent.

If you have children, if you're married, if you've got kids. And we are to be involved in looking at Psalm 127 and realizing that children are an inheritance, a gift, excuse me, from the Lord. And blessed is the man who has his quiver full of all these little arrows. But we must realize that we only possess them for a very brief time. We don't have them forever. And so we are to diligently sharpen them. What would have happened if Eli would have sharpened his boys under the knife of the law of God?

How much different things could have been? He didn't do that. And so when it came time to call them into account, they didn't take him seriously. And so we have to go back and ask ourselves as parents, as priests in God's kingdom, are we doing what God's called us to do? At the same time, the call of God to Samuel is no different than the call of God to you and me. Because God calls us to be his ambassadors, his spokespeople, his representative. We've been entrusted with a message that we are to proclaim to others.

And yes, that message includes judgment, the judgment of God, the impending judgment of God upon a lost world. But we are to speak forth that truth and tell people about it. Excuse me. And so we have a huge responsibility. And I read this and I realize just the enormous responsibility that each and every one of us in this room has this evening. And my challenge to you and to me is that as we see ourselves as priests in God's kingdom, that we would not be unfaithful priests like Eli but faithful priests, faithful to the word of the Lord, faithful in our walk with the Lord, faithful to dispense the truth of God so others will know.

And not only as Eli was a priest, so he was a parent. And those of us as parents cannot be like Eli and be unfaithful as a parent. We must be faithful to the word of the Lord, valuing truth over every relationship in our family, valuing the truth of what God said concerning the destiny of our family and being those who lead them in the way of righteousness. That's our responsibility. So much to learn from the life of Samuel. As this man begins now to grow, everybody knows that this man is God's man.

He's just a young boy, just a young boy. But God's hand was upon him simply because he was faithful to do what the priest of Israel did not do. Think about that. Simply because as a 12-year-old boy, he was faithful to proclaim the message of impending judgment. Nobody else would do that except the man of God that we don't know who he was who came 10 years earlier. But God had chosen Samuel just like he's chosen you and me, giving us the exact same call. There's someone in sin. They need to know that they are destined to a Christless eternity.

You must tell them judgment is coming. You must tell them about the way of salvation. You must tell them about the way of eternal life. You must show them the way. The call of Samuel, no different than yours and mine. We've been called by God, by his spirit into his kingdom, a kingdom of priests to declare a message of truth to a world that so desperately needs to hear it. May we be faithful and not unfaithful in doing so. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you Lord for tonight. Lord, you are good, so good to us. We think of the word of the Lord and how you came to Samuel and used him in such a powerful way. Our prayer, Lord, is that as we understand what your word says, that we would be faithful at proclaiming it, speaking the truth, helping others to see that you are God who has provided a way for us to spend eternity with you. And that we would be faithful as parents, as priests in God's kingdom. Never wavering from the truth, never compromising the truth, always willing to speak the truth and stand on the truth, all for the glory of your kingdom.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.