Samuel working from the beginning. In God's house, did not detect God. And God is doing something about that now. Oh, he would probably acknowledge God, I'd do this for Yahweh, but still it just wasn't real to him. God was not real.
And when you're born again, God becomes real to you. all of a sudden you know you stand before him. You sense His mercy and His love. You sense His displeasure and His patience in the midst of these things. 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. Today on Cross-Reference Radio, Pastor Rick will continue teaching through the third chapter of 1 Samuel. And if that God doesn't allow me to do the things I want to do, he can't be my God.
So you're the God then. You're dictating to him. All right, I can reason all night long.
Well, let me prove it. Yeah. And he answered, Here I am. That's Samuel responding. The Lord called Samuel.
He says, here I am. God is speaking audibly to Samuel. Even if it's in his head, he hears the voice. If no one else can hear it, Samuel hears it. Acts chapter 26.
Paul is telling about his conversion. He never forgot it. He knew what time of day it was still. Like John, when John met Christ, he said, it was about noonday, him and Andrew. I mean, they could not ever forget that.
Paul says to Agrippa and Company. At midday, O King, Along the road, I saw the light. From heaven. He makes that clear, does he not? You know, light in a tunnel.
People having these visions on their, you know, the hallucinations when calling us God. Brighter than the sun, he says. Shining around me, and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard the voice speaking to me.
Now he goes on, Paul does. in a different part e Could we get information about his conversion and Sections He says in Acts 9: And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. Where I'm going with this is Samuel hears the voice, no one else hears it. Maybe they're too far away. Evidently they're not that far away.
Because Samuel can deduce that, well, I've heard Eli call me, so he's within range. Daniel chapter 10, Daniel says, I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision. God has a way of isolating us, not in a negative way. but cutting us off from others so that he can get to us. And if you don't have it, You should want it.
I got it. I am not letting it go. I've been on that side of the tracks and I'm not going back. And if you're foolish enough to say, well, I got to try that life on those side of the tracks, and understand you are playing with arsenic. You are playing with poison.
Satan hates your guts, and if you can't figure that out, what is wrong? You haven't been to the right hospital wards. You just go to the wards where people get better. Every cemetery tells us that death is not fooling around the wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life.
You either believe it or you don't. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. It's not even possible. There's no logic like this anywhere else. I find people that they get angry that the prophecies of Christianity are getting fulfilled and have been fulfilled, and they don't want to hear it.
They don't want the Bible to be right, even though they can't prove it wrong. Verse 5.
So he ran to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. And Eli probably sleeping himself sleeping himself, as we're told. He said, I did not call you. Lie down again. And he went and lay down.
Now, how do you, dads, how do you react when somebody interrupts your sleep? Because Eli does not, in fact, he's going to be a little soft with him. We'll get to this as we move forward. But what stands out about verse 5? He ran.
to Eli. There was no hesitation. He made haste. Was he trained to respond this way? I believe he was, but I also believe it came with him, with Samuel's personality.
He knew what he was supposed to do. He did it the best he could. Because we had the rest of his life to look at.
So we should pay attention to these lessons that are beneath the surface of the Scripture, and that's one of them. We just read this, you know, we say, and he ran to Eli, and we get to the part where Eli said, I didn't call you, but we forget he ran there. I have a whole file I'm waiting to preach on. a series of runners of the Bible, 'cause there are a lot of them.
Well, uh It continues in verse 5 and said, Here I am. For you called me. Not always easy to recognize God's voice. He thinks it's Eli. Again, do not Look to Christ in the beginning and then somewhere else after the beginning.
This is going to be his beginning. He's finally going to meet up with God, and he will never look anywhere else. Galatians 3, again, are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect in the flesh? You began by trusting God, by submitting to God.
By just realizing that you are a sinner, and He is a pure and holy and merciful God. And the lid of the covenant rests upon you in Christ. Stay there. Don't go anywhere else. Don't try to perve perfect your Christianity in the flesh.
He continues in verse 5, and he said, I did not call you. Lie down again. When we don't know God, we risk running to the wrong person. Samuel does not know God here. This is one of the applications of the story.
The natural part is that he hears this voice, it's his name, he goes running to the wrong guy. That's understandable, but spiritually speaking. We're going to read in a moment that Samuel does not know God at this point in his life. He does not have the word of God. And so he runs to the wrong person.
What another lesson that is beneath the surface in this text. And he said And he went and he did lie down, as it tells us in verse 5. No objection. Verse 6. Then Yahweh called again Samuel.
So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. He answered, I did not call you, my son. Lie down. You see, just a little insertion, my son. It's just it's just being gentle with him.
I think Eli was just a gentle guy, except w when women were praying. You drunk woman, what are you doing here? Of course, there might have been a precedent for that. You don't want to be too hard on him because he's got that big shadow over him with his sons. That's a tough one.
Anyway, coming back to this, it's interesting what God is doing. He will call him three times. He could have done it in one call. But it's kinda cute. But he keeps calling.
So In my life, when God is saying something to me, I don't always get it right away. He doesn't get disgusted with me. That's it. I called you once, I called you twice. He's more patient.
than anyone you'll ever meet.
So Samuel rose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me.
So he's old enough to hear his name, old enough to dialogue with this. He's not a toddler. And Uh is Kind of another f a funny part to the story. Is Samuel Does Eli have the same voice as God? I you what I I you wish you could Ask him.
Did he sound like Eli? Was he just groggy? What was going on with that? I have so many questions. I have angels.
If I ever saw an angel, I go, well, who does your laundry? Because people got to do these things. Who makes this? Is there a, you know, where does it go? What are you wearing on your feet?
Are they sandals made of leather? I have so many questions. Anyway. First seven.
Now, Samuel did not yet know Yahweh, nor was the word of Yahweh yet revealed to him. That's very clear. He didn't know the word, he's too busy working. I mean, he's the one going into the temple, you know, pulling the curtains back and early, waking up. Everybody else is, you know, having their coffee and he's working.
So he knew of the Lord, he knew of his mother's God, he knew of his pastor's God, Eli. But he didn't know God. This is repeated all the time. This is a natural progression of. Conversion.
If you're a if you're born in a safe place. Do you insist on going to a dangerous place? Because you've never been? I mean, why not make what's working work even better? Why not develop it and perfect it?
But the flesh Here's the call of the wild. and always wants something else to tickle its ears.
Well, there's some good there. You can be ambitioned of the Lord. but a lot of times is junk. It's Satan calling.
So he knew the Lord, but he never experienced the Lord. He never felt the Lord in his heart. Going back in my own life, I know when I was a little kid, my mom would read me Bible stories. I loved God. It wasn't until I got older that I found I loved other things too.
And the war was on. Samuel working from the beginning, In God's house. did not detect God. And God is doing something about that now. Oh, he would probably acknowledge God.
I do this for Yahweh. But still, it just wasn't real to him. God was not real. And when you're born again, God becomes real to you. All of a sudden you know you stand before him.
You sense His mercy and His love. You sense his displeasure and his patience in the midst of these things. I don't think at this point in his life, Samuel could say, Yahweh, I love you. It just wasn't there. I don't even think he would have thought to say that.
But that's all changing. Nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.
Well, Jesus said this, You must be born again. John three, Jesus answered Nicodemus he's speaking to, and said to him, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of of God.
Something spiritual has got to happen to you, Nicodemus, according to God. You must be touched by God. That word born again in the Greek anoathen means touched by God from above. And that's what's happening here, verse 8. And Yahweh called Samuel again a third time.
So he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here I am, for you did call me. Then Eli perceived that that Yahweh had called the boy. I love that. You know, he's insistent this time. No, no, no, no.
You called me. I heard a voice. I was waiting. He went back to his bed. He said, I'm waiting.
And he hears the call. And he goes in.
Well, we go back to verse 8 again. And Yahweh called him a third time. And you could just do a lot on the third. There's a lot of.
Okay. Information about the third time, divine perfection, and the calling of Ezekiel and eating the. I mean, there's just a lot. You can't go through it on a verse by verse too much. But I will say that, of course, we are an inferior Trinity.
A body, soul, and a spirit. That's what we are as people. Thessalonians, verse 1, chapter 5.
Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So Paul says Right out. That uh Completely. He would like the people to be sanctified completely, body, soul, and spirit. The body is, of course, the flesh, not the spiritual flesh, the physical flesh. And then the soul, that part of us that interacts with other people, that's who we are.
That's where the flesh gets the upper hand. And then there is the spirit.
Now, not everyone has. The person that does not know God, the Spirit is dead. When you are born again, the Spirit comes to life. And then you are, then this struggle goes on between the body, the soul. And the spirit.
So he arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you did call me. Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy, And uh y he So Eli in his sleep, okay, I get this now. This is God calling him. And I find that here's Levi He doesn't say let's go see what he wants. He says, go back and answer him.
It is sound advice. And of course, Samuel, we always find Samuel compliant to those who he is subordinate to. And he goes and listens. Verse 9: Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be, if he calls you, that you must say, Speak, Yahweh, for your servant hears.
So Samuel went and lay down in his place. I'm sorry, we're up to two callings of God. It might have implied we're at three. We're not yet, but that's what's coming. Of course, the patriarchs were called.
Genesis 46, and God spoke. To Israel, that is Jacob. in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob, And he said, Here I am Now notice The call twice, Jacob, Jacob. We'll come back to that. Verse 10 now.
Now Yahweh came and stood and called. As at other times, Samuel Samuel, and Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears.
Okay. Uh These uh words Now Yahweh came and stood and called, As at other times, written by Samuel when he retells the story, nobody else was there to tell the story. And they reflect his very real sense of God at this point. God came and stood.
Now everything's changed. It's not like the first two callings. This is different. 1 Samuel again, well, chapter 3, where we are, verse 21, getting ahead of it. Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh.
by the word of Yahweh.
Now that's at the end. of this chapter And l when Samuel is older, after he's a prophet. We'll see God again appear to him But it's the Word of God that is a big part of that. This evidently is a Christophany at the most, or Theophany at the least. Uh theophan uh theophany is uh You know, I don't want to limit it to a visual manifestation of God.
Because God can manifest Himself just through presence, sheer presence. I knew the Lord was surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not, said Jacob. after he had his vision. And so that, you know, not trying to split hairs too much, but trying to break it down. A Christophany is when God appears in the Old Testament in human form.
That's Christ. 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. Uh 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. Uh imagine if he Moses Road Rage. Uh 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, you 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. But 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.
and every other Christian like you. Martha, Martha. Uh I mean so gentle with her. Just you know Martha. Come on.
Leave Mary alone. And it it is, you know, Saul Saul. Why are you persecuting me? That appeal, just appealing to him. Saul, Saul, you know, twice.
For 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.
Well, 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 through 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 edges. It's really hard work what they have to do. 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. 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's 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 twenty four 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 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, it's the whole fear of God thing. But But the flesh The flash is always looking to intrude and get Things done its way, departing from the spirit, and having begun in the spirit, we are not made perfect in the flesh, and that's a good example. Yeah. 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. If you'd like to listen again to this or other messages or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreference radio.com. Here, you can also listen to interviews with Pastor Rick to learn more about his life and ministry. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never miss another edition. All you have to do is find us on your favorite podcast app.
You can also access full-length video messages on YouTube.
So many options are available to you. Again, if you're not sure where to go, just go to crossreferenceradio.com for resources. Tune in again next time for more Cross-Reference Radio. Um
