Speak, Lord! (Part 1 of 2)

There's probably been a time when you've had to deliver a tough message.

Maybe you've said something like, don't shoot the messenger. Well, the prophet Samuel must have been thinking something similar when he was called to give devastating news to Eli, the priest he had served since early childhood. Today on Truth for Life, we'll find out how we're supposed to handle being assigned a weighty task. Here's Alistair Begg with part one of a message titled, Speak, Lord. I invite you to turn with me to 1 Samuel and to chapter 3, and we will read—I will read, as you follow along, essentially the second half of this chapter, verse 10. 1 Samuel 3 and verse 10. And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said, Speak, for your servant hears. Then the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.

Samuel lay until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli. But Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he said, Here I am. And Eli said, What was it that he told you?

Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all that he told 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. And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD.

And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD. Amen. Amen. Father, thank you for the truth that we're able to sing because of the fact that you have spoken to us finally and savingly in your Son. Thank you for the glory of the gospel. Thank you for the way in which throughout all of history you have raised up your servants in order that this good news may be made widely known. And thank you for the place that you gave to Samuel. And as we think of him again tonight, we pray that we might think of him and yet beyond him, and ultimately to the wonder of who you are and of all that you are to us in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. For it's in his name we pray.

Amen. Well, I encourage you to turn again to 1 Samuel, and if you did not have the opportunity to be with us this morning, we need just to rehearse momentarily how we looked at the opening section. We said that in verses 1–3 there was silence because of the rarity of the Word of God, and then in verses 4 and on how God had broken into that silence in the calling of his servant Samuel. And as soon as the call has been responded to, as Samuel has been guided by Eli eventually to know how to respond properly in the awareness of who it is that's calling him, both Eli and he now are aware that this is something way beyond them and is divine in its origin. And so Samuel had gone back and once again laid down in his place, and then the Lord spoke to Samuel.

And so the pattern is very clear. He told Samuel what he was about to do, and then Samuel was to pass on the word that was given to him. In other words, when you look at the place of the prophet in the Old Testament, it is the part of God to provide, if you like, the words, and it is the part of the prophet, then, to speak the words. If you remember that amazing little section in Exodus, where Moses recoils from the role of being the prophet of God, and he says to the Lord, could you please send somebody else?

And the anger of the Lord is kindled against Moses, and he refers to Aaron, his brother. And he says, I know that he can speak well. He's coming out to meet you.

When he sees you, he'll be glad in his heart. And then it says in Exodus 4, You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.

So, in other words, in the same way that God puts his word into the mouth of his servant—so in this case, Moses was to tell Aaron the word, and then he was to proclaim it. Now, the striking thing about this, of course, is that as we consider now God's word to Samuel, as we noted just briefly in verse 11, it was, as referred to here, an ear-tingling word. It was a word that God says is going to make everybody sit up and listen.

It's the word that is going to come and set people, as it were, on their heels. And the word, of course, is in verse 12, I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house. And if you have your Bible open and you look over to verse 31 of the previous chapter, where the man of God comes and speaks the word of God, then the word that was spoken was, Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, and so on. And now God reinforces this word in the calling of Samuel, and he is telling Samuel, I am actually going to do what I said before I would do.

And, of course, we have learned in Hannah's prayer that the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. And so it is that the judgment that is expressed in this is on account of the iniquity of the house of Eli. It's important that we see exactly what is being said there in verse 13. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. And, of course, we've considered this before, and it is a chilling word, because the sons of Eli had placed themselves beyond forgiveness.

And all that therefore remains is the execution of the message of a judgment which is now irreversible. Now, it's important, when we come to passages like this in the Bible, that we pause and we make sure that we don't fall foul of a kind of foolish and arrogant arguing with the Bible. I remember years ago, being at church, I had a book with me in my hand—this was back in Buckingham shire in England, and it was the evening service—and I had a book—I can't remember what it was about, but it was called Arguing with God, and it had arguing with God right on the front of it. And as I was shaking hands with the pastor, he looked at me, and then he looked at the book, and he says, That's the problem with you fellows.

I said, What problem? He says, You spend far too much time arguing with God. You should get rid of that book. And so I think I did, and I can't even remember what it was. But I found myself duly challenged by it. So, when we come to something like this, there are certain things that we should just make a note of, as it were, in the flyleaf of our thinking.

We should remind ourselves that… Because when you look at this, you're tempted—at least, I am tempted—to say, Goodness me, it wasn't really that bad, was it? I mean, he didn't restrain his sons, and they were a bad group, but… Well, what we have to remember is, we're not the ones executing the judgment. It is God who is executing the judgment. And God, as the psalmist says, is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day.

One of the reasons that we're able to look so cursorily at sin in our own lives and in the lives of others and in the life of our nation is in part because, although we begin the day singing, Holy, holy, holy, we don't fully grasp the fact that God is of such holiness that it is impossible for him to look on wickedness. And yet that same judge in Genesis 18 is the judge of all the earth who will do what is right. And it's not uncommon for us, as I say, when you come to something like this in the Bible, certainly if you're in conversation with somebody else, to begin to pontificate on things in a way that actually is distinctly unhelpful. And I find myself going back to, for example, Romans 11, who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor. You say, that's Isaiah 40.

Yes, it is. But it's being quoted there in Romans 11. Or again in Romans chapter 9, where Paul is forced to ponder virtually the imponderable. And remember, he says, But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?

Will what is molded say to its molder? So that we are molded by God. Then the LORD God firmed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. You see how the doctrine of creation plays into this as well—that God has actually fashioned us according to his own purpose. He is the potter, we are the clay. Shall the clay call the potter to account? So, it's good to pause and acknowledge that the reason it is such a challenge is because of the horror and because of the terror that is attached to this message. Do you notice there how that word forever comes?

Twice? And I am about to punish his house forever? And at the end of verse 14, And the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.

Forever's a long time. Eli's sons had rejected the sacrifice of God, and in doing so, they had rejected the very basis of forgiveness. So having rejected the basis of forgiveness, there is therefore now no basis for forgiveness, save the basis for forgiveness that has been rejected. Now, in the New Testament—and we noted this before, but I think it's important for us to make sure we're clear in our own minds—this is the explanation, isn't it, of one of the apostasy passages in Hebrews chapter 10, where if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth—in other words, if after we have come to a place where we've said, Yes, I think I believe that—and we are then defiant of God, defiant of his truth, unwilling to obey, and so on—if we remove ourselves from the realm of God's grace, of the realm of God's forgiveness, then, says the writer, there is no longer remaining a sacrifice for sins but only a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. This week I was helped in this regard—and I hope you will be helped by this quote, and I'll quote it to you in full—by a quote from Tim Chester, a vicar in England.

And this is what he says on this. He says, It is not that there are sins which are beyond the scope of the cross. There are no sins which are too big for the grace of God in the blood of Christ to cover. The point is this.

If you despise the cross of Christ, then you reject the only means of salvation, reject Christ's sacrifice, and you have nowhere else to turn. And that, then, is the significance of the word that God speaks to Samuel. That takes us to verse 15, where we're told that Samuel lay until morning. It's hardly surprising—it would be hardly surprising—if he'd decided to stay in his bed for a little longer on that morning. After all, he'd been up and down all evening.

Every time the word came, he was up and running off to Eli. And now, as he lies in his bed… It's interesting, it doesn't say anything about sleeping. It does say that he lay there, and Samuel lay until morning. I wonder, did he sleep? It's not difficult to imagine him wrestling with the implications of the word that he had just heard. God had now spoken to him very clearly, and he had made a pronouncement of judgment on the house of the very man in whose company Samuel was serving—the man who was the very priest of God, who was the representative of the establishment, if you like. And so he lay until morning.

But when duty called, and he went about his business, and he opened the doors of the house of the Lord—it's a wonderful picture. I don't know what age he is. We don't.

Let's guess. Let's make him seventeen. And he's seventeen. And he gets up, and he says, Well, I'd better just do what I'm supposed to do. And his day begins, and he opens the doors of the house of the Lord, and the writer tells us, But in his mind he was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

Well, I don't think any of us would be surprised by that. I think we would have been afraid to tell the vision to Eli as well. And fortunately, in the providence of God, he doesn't have to find a way to broach the subject. Because in verse 16, Eli calls to Samuel. And notice his terms of endearment.

This has come previously, and it's reinforced here. And Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. It's almost as if he looks on Samuel now and looks on him as the boy he wished he'd had, for his own boys are a disaster.

And the judgment of God hangs over them. Samuel, my son. And he said, Here I am. And Eli said, What was it that he told you? Verse 17, Don't hide it from me. May God punish you if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.

That's why I imagine that Samuel just took a big intake of breath. And then verse 18, He told them everything and hid nothing from him. Here's the role of the prophet.

Now we know that Samuel has been set to the task. For the responsibility of the prophet is not that of invention or of creativity or of the ability to stimulate the mind of the listener with intrigue, but it is simply to take from God God's Word and to convey God's Word to those who are to hear that Word. And in that same passage, to which we referred in Exodus chapter 4, it's quite striking and also encouraging, isn't it, that God says to Moses, I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak. You remember at one point he actually says to him, Who made your mouth? There was no wonder that Moses recoiled when he realized what it was he was supposed to say, what he was supposed to do. You have the very same thing, surely, in Isaiah chapter 6. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And then this coal comes and touches his mouth and sends him out, and what is the very first thing he has to say? It's a message of judgment.

Who wants to go out and do that? Who gets up in the morning and says, I think I'll go out and just pronounce judgment on people? Well, maybe some misguided souls, but nobody should other than those who are to speak the very Word of God. He spoke the Word of God, and he held nothing back. Now, there's a challenge in this, and I want to pause on it for just a moment.

Because the pattern is clear, but it is not easy to do. Consider in more contemporary terms how many otherwise useful, potentially useful servants of God are condemned by their silences—condemned by the things that are left out. People will always say, But he's such a nice person. He says so many nice things. True and true.

Where, then, would the problem lie? Well, the role of the prophet is to make sure that they say everything and that they hide nothing. Now, I don't sit in judgment on those people, because it is an easy temptation. And I'll tell you where it comes up just like hounds on your heels more than any other, in my experience, and that is in the funeral service—the conducting of a funeral service. If you listen carefully to people reading the Bible in funeral services, unless they're prepared to read the text exactly as it's written, you will often find that Psalm 90 is a great favorite in funerals. In fact, it has become a funeral psalm. Although, really, it's not about dying. It's about living.

You remember it. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or you ever had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. And it goes on and later on, make us glad and may your work and your glorious power and so on. But right in the middle of it are two verses that are often skipped, and this is what they read. For we are brought to an end by your anger. By your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins, in the light of your presence. You see, you should never read that unless you have the gospel. Because it is such a chronicle of absolute and utter judgment and despair and finality.

Because the person whose funeral you're conducting, if they have remained outside of Christ, have, according to the Bible, been lost forever, forever. Now, who but the prophet of God with the word of God would say such a thing? You're listening to Truth for Life. That's Alistair Begg pointing out how dangerous it is to skip or soften the difficult parts of God's Word. This is one of the reasons we are so passionate about teaching the scripture every day here at Truth for Life, including the hard parts.

If you've been a regular listener to Truth for Life, you know that you can rely on one thing. Our program will invite you to open your Bible, and that's because our mission is straightforward. We want to teach God's Word without adding to it or taking away from it. It's teaching that we hope you will love and trust, teaching that, as the Bible says, will make you wise for salvation.

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Sign up online at truthforlife.org slash truth partner or give us a call at 888-588-7884. Today we're recommending a book titled Name Above All Names. It's written by Alistair together with his friend Sinclair Ferguson, both of them longtime Bible teachers and seasoned pastors. This book explores seven key names attributed to Jesus in the Bible, beginning with seed of the woman in Genesis and ending with the lamb on the throne in Revelation. As you reflect on the role and character of Jesus Christ, you'll be better prepared to respond to scripture, to fix your gaze on him, and to meditate on his majesty.

Alistair and Sinclair didn't intend for this book to be an exhaustive study. Instead, they wanted it to be an eye-opener to introduce the greatness of Jesus to those who don't yet believe and to encourage mature believers to refresh their love for the Savior. Request Name Above All Names when you become a truth partner or when you make a one-time donation through the Truth for Life app or online at truthforlife.org slash donate. I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for listening. Sometimes God's word comforts us. Other times it convicts us. Tomorrow we'll find out why both responses are vital. Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.