They want to almost tell you there's no sin except maybe killing beetles or little froggies that are by the beach. Those things are evil. But all the other sins, you can just go do them. And you think I'm exaggerating, it's gotten so bad. This is what Jeremiah had to deal with.
This is what we have to deal with. And may we just learn how to say, no, he's wrong. It's not biblical. And if you want to lie to yourself and do it, have a chew. But you'll suffer the consequence just like Eli.
You say, well, you're scaring me.
Well. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Uh You're listening to Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick as he continues teaching through 1 Samuel chapter 3 on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Jesus Christ is Yahweh of the Old Testament. And when he appears as a human being in the Old Testament, we call it a Christophany. When it is a pillar of fire at night, but that's representing God's presence, we call it a theophany.
The making. Visible and present, the manifestation of God. Exodus chapter thirty-four, verse five.
Now Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood with him there, that's Moses, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh. And so there you have The Lord descended in a cloud. That is a theophany. and stood with him there, That means he remained. His presence was there in Moses.
He got it.
Well, we've got some of that going on here with Samuel. There's an interesting thing about that vision that Moses had That is taking place after Moses broke the law in pieces. When he went down the mountain, he saw the people partying, and he gets so angry because he had anger problems. Imagine if he moles road rage. Anyway.
Yeah. You don't want to cut Moses off. Anyway, Here he is on the mountain with the Lord after he breaks the word. And God shows himself to him. in a very powerful way.
I I think it's incredible. that where he reissues the word. He he doesn't say Moses, you know what? I'm going to redo the word because of the people, but I really don't want to spend any time with you. It's quite the opposite.
Having broken God's word, God Himself stands with Moses. What does that say to me? He says, I can mess up. Not willfully, in the sense that I don't care about God, but I am weak as Moses was weak. couldn't control himself.
And that does not excuse sin, but it certainly does magnify the Lord. And so here, after twice missing the word of God, God stands by young Samuel. He missed it once, missed it twice, yet God comes and makes it clear, and he called as at other times Samuel Samuel. Maybe he called the other times twice and it's just not recorded, but he's still doing it this time. Previously, we have it as a call of one, one time.
This is very distinct. Being inexperienced and unfamiliar with God, how would he recognize them?
So let's just go over some of those who've been called out by God twice. It's interesting. Abraham, Abraham, do the child no harm. That was an urgent call. You would think that one, you know, don't say it twice, he might stab him.
But God uses it. Says calls him twice. Jacob, of course, reassuring him, Jacob, Jacob. Moses In Exodus chapter 4, as where I just was a moment ago, we were.
Well, that was Exodus 34. This is Exodus 4. I'm not going to read these because it's just too much time. Samuel here, Jerusalem, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one that kills the prophets, the lamentation. Simon, Simon, Satan wants you.
than every other Christian like you. Martha, Martha. Uh I mean he's so gentle with her. Just you know Martha. Come on.
Leave Mary alone. And it is, you know, Saul Saul. Why are you persecuting me? That appeal, just appealing to him. Saul, Saul, twice.
Some of you, when your mom calls you by your first and middle name, you know. It can be trouble. Or she can just be very happy to see you. I don't have a middle name. My mom was never happy to see me.
And she was never angry with me because I was that slick. Uh anyway. Uh anyway, there's something different. Eli tells him When he calls again, Say, here I am, Lord. Samuel omits the covenant name as it's recorded for us.
Not a Nothing I don't think there's anything deep there except he's inexperienced. Verse 11. Then Yahweh said to Samuel, Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.
Now he's getting his first prophetic word. God is giving him the outline for his sermon, and it's not going to be a good one. You would love to have God say, Samuel, I want you to go tell everybody how much I love them, that I have a plan for their life. And you know that there's a sale going on, you would like something that you can just like, yes. That's not the message he's being given.
He is giving a message, Samuel. I want you to go tell your super no, I'm going to tell you something about your superior.
Now As an adult, I'm reading this and I'm saying, I would be saying, I don't want to hear this. If you have a problem with Eli, go tell him. But you're putting me in a bad spot. That's what we do with people. This is God.
But this part about tingle. That's not with joy. This this Hebrew word means to quiver. Like when you're so scared, your lip is shaking. We have a couple of them here, and I'll just.
I'll take the one from Habakkuk the prophet. When I heard, my body trembled, my lips quivered. And he goes on to describe, you know, all of the terrible things that were going to happen as the judgment of God. But that's the same Hebrew word. Translated tingle here in verse 11, quivered in Habakkuk.
I'll take one more. Jeremiah 19: Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring such a catastrophe. on this place that whoever hears Of it, his ears will tingle. And again, the translators. They mess up a lot.
They don't get it wrong. They just, to me, shave off the edge. It's really hard work what they have to do. They get a lot. They get more right than they get wrong.
Uh that does not mean the word is not trustworthy. It just means it You want to get More out of it, you're going to have to dig deeper. There's a lot of work. And it is understandable as you begin to study words and how they change with the generations, you begin to say, okay, I get why it's so. not like I would like to see it.
Verse twelve: In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. Eli lived beneath his possibilities with a dreadful outcome. What he allowed his sons to do is just inexcusable, and God is not excusing him.
Now, verse 13: For I have told him that I will judge his house forever. For the iniquity. Which he knows. because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. See, Samuel is probably like, huh?
I didn't know this. And he's got to be uncomfortable. What is happening here? This is uh quite an interesting realistic very real experience going on. Uh Going back to First Samuel chapter two.
Verse 24. This is Eli making an effort to deal with his sons. He says, No, my sons, for it is not a good report that I hear. You make Yahweh's people transgress.
Well, that's not enough, Eli. You should have fired them, you should have stoned them, you should have brought charges against them if it had come to that. And so, this is why he honored his family more than he honored God. And God is judging him for this.
So, God is going to raise up one who could do better in His office. Again, chapter 2, 1 Samuel 35. Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in my heart. And in my mind, That's a heavy rebuke. I would hate for God to say, imagine God saying that to you.
I called you as a Christian, you're saved. But you've so messed this up. Then I'm going to have to get somebody else that's better than you. Uh I don't want to hear that.
So we're going to take a couple of these. Saul, King Saul. Eli honored his family more than God. Saul honored himself more than God, and These are true stories. This these things really happened.
It's amazing. I'll stand here and I can say this. Just like I said it. and someone will go off to the university And hear the professor say, God is not real. And instead of listening to what I said that's in their favor, they go believe the doofus who I'd like to beat up with my fist.
I mean five or six times.
So you can't do that, and it's the whole fear of God thing. But it But the flesh This flesh is always looking to intrude and get Things done its way, and departing from the spirit, having begun in the spirit, we are not made perfect in the flesh, and that's a good example. There's King Saul.
So Samuel said to him, Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. Oh man, Saul didn't believe. He's so arrogant. There's nobody better than me. But we get it.
And that is man, who who wrote that down? That is scathing. 1 Samuel chapter 16. We'll be coming to these stories, and they're really action-packed.
Now Yahweh said to Samuel, How long will you mourn over Doofus Saul? He doesn't say Dufus. But how long will you mourn over Saul? Seeing, I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and go.
I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlemite. For I have provided myself a king. Among his sons among Jesse's sons. And so there, you know, you the the law of disqualification. Not God.
God didn't do it. They did it. Saul did it. Eli did it. Forfeited They're calling.
Samuel writing this is saying, I'm not forward reading my calling. Verse 14, and therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli That the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or Offering forever.
So their sins were impenitent. They were prolonged. It was so long they had gone so out of control, so flagrant in the face of God. God says, There's no sacrifice you can bring to take this curse away from you that I'm now going to lay on you. He is not saying, Eli, you're going to hell.
Hop Nai Phineas, another story. But he is saying Your family were the high priest in Israel. That's all going to change. And we mentioned by the time Solomon comes along, Zadok's family takes it over, and the shame is on Eli.
So, verse 15: So Samuel lay down until morning and opened the doors. of the house of Yahweh And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. Please don't ask, don't ask. Oh, maybe he doesn't notice me. Just, you know, poor kid, man, he's got to go through this.
He didn't ask for it, God gave it to him. What about God has a plan for your life? What about all the good things that God is supposed to? God loves you. He does.
That's true. He has a plan, yeah, but here's the rest of that story: you can mess it up.
So That's uh that's a fact. Samuel laid down until morning. Do you think he slept? I I don't know.
Now this is this is interesting.
So here he is, and Samuel lay down until morning and opened the doors of the house of Yahweh, and Samuel was afraid to tell the vision.
So Samuel is going about his duties. Evidently, he was delegated this. Before we get up, you get up, and you get the temple going. And This is an interesting beneath the surface point here. He's separated, he opens the temple, he goes in with a candle, lampstand is.
Maybe he doesn't work on it, but he brings in the oil, what they're going to need for that day's work. And so there he is in the holy place. He's separated by a veil. Samuel is in the holy place, not in the holiest of all, the most holy place, but at this moment, Samuel's proximity to God. is closer than anybody on earth.
Because that's the point of contact and that sense of the word. Sure, God is ubiquitous, He's everywhere at the same time. But. strategically speaking, spiritually. He is the closest Israelite, the closest human to God on this morning at this time with this message in his head.
You gotta love this story. Because it'd be wasted. If it were somebody like Hophni and Phineas. That close to God and damned. But this one.
Is that close to God, and he's going to be put to work. And when we start digging into Samuel, he's one of the most extraordinary men in the Old Testament. Verse 16, then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son, he answered, Here I am. And he said, What is the word that Yahweh spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me.
God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things. That he said to you, I thought you were loving. That whole thing about my son, go back and ask him. Who does laying curses on me if I don't tell you? It was an A and B conversation.
Why do you stick your nose in it and make me scared?
Now, another thing about this. To Samuel the message was real.
So he didn't hear A profound message from God while in church. And then Erase it all when you left. And so it didn't count. How many times has that happen? You sit in church, you hear the word of the God, a word of God, and then you get up and you go like you never heard when He just talked right to you.
He said, Don't do this anymore. Or said, I want you to do this. and it's all just swept away. But if the college professor tells you it's okay, then you're going to change your whole life to follow what he said on the way to hell. And as I like to say, and pay the student loan while you're here on earth.
What a bum deal. You know what you get at death if you listen to Satan? Hell. You get nothing good. Hell is so bad, God doesn't even try to describe it.
He just doesn't be there. You know, it's going to weeping and gnashing your teeth. You're going to be angry and crying and all that stuff, it'll be too late.
Well The first message entrusted to him is a rebuke of his mentor. The judge of Israel, the high priest of Israel, and His guardian. Three. superior Positions, and he has to tell him God is about fed up with you. That's his message.
Isaiah gets a similar message. Who shall I send? Send me, Lord. Send me to the mission field. And then you find out there are no bathrooms, no bathroom tissue, no anti, no deodorant.
That's the worst. But it's not. And then all of a sudden, that's John Mark's experience.
So Isaiah says, Send me, Lord, and God says, Okay, tell these people. And he says, you know, keep on listening and not hearing. And he just lets loose on them.
Now begins his prophetic ministry.
Now he is a spokesman for God. Appointed by God. He's Yahweh's spokesman. He's going to now relay the message, a priest. works from earth towards heaven.
He takes the sacrifices and the prayers in the form of the incense, for example, and he offers them from the people to God. The prophet goes the other way. He brings the message comes to the prophet from heaven to people, to man. To this day, when you speak scripture, accurately, appropriately. you're in a prophetic office.
You're s this is when you sing the word of God to a congregation. It is prophetic because it is God ministering to his people through you, through the truth based on his word. Robert Murray McShane. Who did not live long? But very powerful sermons.
They're still available if you can get your hands on them, but they're not hard to get hold of. But he says this: if you would avoid Eli's curse, avoid Eli's sin.
So simple. Um Anyway. This certainly Eli, he really wanted to know. He probably couldn't sleep either. He probably said, Go, my son, it is the Lord.
And that's he trotted out. He said, The Lord? Why doesn't he speak to me? I'm the high priest. I'm the judge.
Why is he speaking to the kid? I gotta find this out. First thing in the morning. Here he comes. Could you just imagine it?
Anyway, he submits to it, verse 19.
So Samuel grew. And Yahweh was with him. and that none of his words fall to the ground. What would have happened if he lied to Eli. God said you're going to have a nice day, Eli.
You're doing just a smashing job. Then we wouldn't be reading verse 19 or any other in the book of Samuel who would not have been.
So, physically, he's growing as a young man, and spiritually, he's developing, and Yahweh was with him. The key to blessings is to have God with you, of course. This is what happens, what it means to seek God's blessings in life. and let none of his words fall to the ground.
So when Samuel said something was going to happen, it happened. When Samuel gave out wisdom from God's word, it was right on. And God was with this man, These Deuteronomy 18, the criteria for a prophet, he meets them. We'll get to that as we go through verse 20. And all Israel from then.
To Beersheba, knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of Yahweh. The word was out. You don't mess with Samuel. Huh. I've got a couple of them here.
Madam Distake two. Samuel twelve.
So Samuel called to Yahweh. And Yahweh sent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared Yahweh And Samuel. That's the kind of guy I like to be. I'd like to go to a grocery store. And just call on something like that, so I get to the head of the line.
And all right, no, no. 1 Samuel 16, verse 4. Yeah. Sorry. Not being rebuked, God has humor.
You just have to watch it.
So Samuel did what Yahweh said. This is 1 Samuel 16, verse 4.
So Samuel did what Yahweh said and went to Bethlehem. and the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Do you come peaceably?
So Samuel had that much power with the Lord. That if he pronounced something, you're going to get it, and the people were afraid of him.
So he's one of us, but he's got teeth. He's one of the sheep, but his teeth are a little bit sharper because of God, not because of Samuel.
So he is Now The last, well, by the time we move on, now he's a prophet in Israel. And it's going to be consistent. and not as random as before. more uh widespread in one man. And he is also going to be the judge in Israel.
Because of His time in the Word and God God initiating this relationship. We get to the book of Acts in chapter three. We read Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken have also foretold these days. And it's interesting how Samuel is put at the front of the list.
Now that does not rule out Moses as a prophet, for example. Abraham But it does say that there's a change. There was a uh A transition from the days of the judges to this profound office in Israel that will run up to the days of Malachi. Uh Obadiah. a short little postcard of prophecies.
But evidently, Obadiah was viewed as a prophet. And the people listened. And preserved his word, and all of it came true. His rebukes on Edom have come to pass.
So small office but powerful ministry nonetheless. There will come a time in Israel when the office of the prophet Will be infested with false prophets, and Jeremiah deals the most with them. Jeremiah 23, 15, one of the great chapters of Jeremiah is the 20. Third chapter. Jeremiah 23, 15.
For from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land. from the pulpits of a community, profaneness goes out to all the lands. You have people in pulpits Telling you that the sins condemned in the Bible aren't condemned in the Bible, and you have people dumb enough to risk their eternal state on that statement. Oh, it's not a sin to do that. Oh, yeah, it is And they want to almost tell you there's no sin except maybe killing beetles or little froggies that are by the beach.
Those things are evil. But all the other sins, you can just go do them. And you think I'm exaggerating, it's gotten so bad. This is what Jeremiah had to deal with. This is what we have to deal with.
And may we just learn how to say, no, he's wrong. It's not biblical. And if you want to lie to yourself and do it, have a chew. But you'll suffer the consequence just like Eli. You say, yeah, well you're scaring me.
Well The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Why serve a God you can't fear? Try to get him to serve me. That's what the world does. That's why they fashion God in their image.
Verse twenty one, then Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh. For Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh, by the word of Yahweh. You see, God appears to him, doesn't specify, no details, that is. He is reinforcing his initial encounter with him. This is much later.
And Because Samuel has become a student of the word, God has expanded his relationship with him. 1 Samuel 3, verse 7 again.
Now Samuel did not yet know Yahweh. Nor was the word of Yahweh yet revealed to him.
Well, that's changed now. What's changed? The knowledge of the word. to this day. To this day, God reveals Himself through His Scripture.
Well, how should He do it? I mean, you know. play videos for us from heaven or This is the standard that he has established. Uh Samuel filled himself with God's word. God filled Samuel with his spirit.
Still works that way, no matter what you're struggling with. What else Um or w from where else should it come? God's Word. When the prophets said this is God's word, they backed it up. That's why people feared Samuel.
There's no alternative today. By the word of the Lord, God spoke to Samuel, then appeared to him because of God's word. His life is this unbroken witness, this man Samuel, as we go through his blamelessness, his integrity, his righteousness, the calling of Samuel. Everything changed. As we read from the first verse, now the boy Samuel ministered to Yahweh before Eli, and the word of Yahweh was rare in those days.
There was no widespread revelation.
Well, that changed. Yeah. Um Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel.
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