Hearing in a Deaf World
The Original Game of Thrones

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All right, good morning, church! Are you ready for part two for our series entitled, “The Original Game of Thrones.” I don’t know how many of you were here last week; if you missed last week, it’s kind of like jumping into a series, and you missed the first episode. We have it posted on our website, so you can catch up. Hope you’ll do that if you’re here and you missed last week. I think you’ll get the gist of it pretty quickly as we dig in today, even if you did miss last week.

We’ve entitled this series,”The Original Game of Thrones.” We are going through the first fifteen chapters of the book of 1 Samuel. As we look at this book, we see that it’s a transition from the time of the judges; Samuel is the last of those and then it’s a transition to the first of the kings to the age of kings in Israel, and he is actually the one. Samuel is the one who anoints the first two kings, Saul and then David of Israel. It’s a season, moving from the time of judges to the kings.

1 Samuel 8:7 (ESV) And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. That’s really the theme of this book. It’s this idea that the people of Israel wanted a human king; they wanted a human on the throne rather than their God. You see, that’s really the definition of sin. If you think about sin, you might often think about the actions of sin, like stealing or lying, or something like that. And certainly those are sins. But the truth about sin, as it begins, is an attitude of the heart. It’s an attitude of rebellion against God, that says, “I want to be in charge, I want to sit on the throne of my heart myself.”

This attitude started with Adam and Eve in the garden when they said, “you know what, I wanna be like God, I want to be in charge.” That’s really the attitude of rebellion that the Bible calls sin. It goes all the way back to Adam and Eve, this original game of thrones, where we play a game with God, as if we could be God ourselves.

Here’s Samuel; he’s a young man now, as we continue in the story; he is very young, probably a teenager. During this time, he becomes, as I said before, the last judge in Israel. He anoints the first two kings. But, before that can happen, Samuel must come to a place where he knows the Lord personally. He needs to be called of the Lord before he could do that, which God has in store for him.

We see in 1 Samuel 3:21 (ESV) “ … the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.” That’s really what the Lord wants to do for us. I think He wants to reveal Himself to us through His word. He’s not a God that hides from you.

A lot of you might be here today, thinking,, I’m looking for God, I’m seeking God. The truth is, God’s already been looking for you. He’s a revealing God. He’s not a God who’s trying to keep secrets from you. After all, He wrote you this sixty-six book love letter. He wants to show who He is to you, and He wants you to know Him personally. The truth is, He’s not hiding from you, but we often hide from Him, which is how Adam and Eve first responded, right? When they sinned they went and hid in the garden, and God had to come calling and looking for them. I believe today that God is calling you; He’s looking for you. He wants to reveal Himself to you, just like He did with Samuel.

As we look at the reading today, we’re going to be doing a pretty big section of the book, the latter part of chapter two, all of chapter three and part of chapter four. The first verse, you’ll see the name Yahweh, which is the covenantal name of God. We will see that name thirty-four times. You might say, well, I don’t see it. It’s because it’s in English; in the English translations, they always put the word Lord in all caps. The word, LORD, in all capital letters, to let you know that it’s the name Yahweh. It’s the name that he gave to Moses back at the burning bush. “I am that I am” in the Hebrew, is Yahweh.

As we look at this passage about Samuel, yes, it’s about Hannah, Elkanah, Eli, Phinehas and Hophni; all these men and women are in the story and it’s about them. But it’s primarily a book about God. The Bible is primarily a book about God. There’s all kinds of human stories in there and we can make human applications. But it’s primarily a book about God, because God wants to reveal Himself to you. He wants you to know Him and follow Him. That’s what we’re looking at today.

In the book of 1 Samuel, the Lord called young Samuel to be His prophet, revealing Himself by His Word. I believe today that we can recognize the Lord’s desire to reveal Himself to us by His Word. Why does the Lord desire this? Why does He desire to reveal Himself to us by His Word?

As we look at the text, I think we’ll see three reasons why the Lord desires to reveal Himself to us by His Word. It’s a long reading, so let’s take it in three portions. I’ll start at verse 12 of chapter two; this is a great story , so put your seatbelts on. Here we go.

1 Samuel 2:12-26 (ESV) “12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt. 18 Samuel was ministering before the LORD, a boy clothed with a linen ephod. 19 And his mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the LORD give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the LORD.” So then they would return to their home. 21 Indeed the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD. 22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 And he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad. 25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death. 26 Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.” This is God’s word.

We’re looking for three reasons why God desires to reveal Himself to us by His Word. Here’s the first reason.

1. So that we might know Him.

God gives us His Word so that we might know him. Notice in verse one, the condition of Eli’s sons, who were priests as Eli was. “Now the sons of Eli were worthless. They did not know the Lord.” The preacher’s kids didn’t know the Lord. They grew up in the church. They’ve heard the Bible their whole lives. These two men, Hophni and Phinehas, sons of Eli, grew up at the Tabernacle. They probably knew the Torah, which is the first five books of Moses. They knew them, probably by heart. And yet, they didn’t know the Lord. They knew about Him. They knew everything that was to be known; probably, they were experts in theology. They knew all about the Lord but they didn’t know Him.

Would you consider your own heart this morning? Maybe you grew up in the church. Maybe your parents or your grandparents took you to church often and you’ve read the Bible, you studied theology and you’ve studied the word of God. You could know a lot about God. Yet you could be like Eli’s sons who did not know the Lord. Do you understand the difference? It’s not enough to know about the Lord . You must know \ Him personally and be in a relationship with God.

The sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know Him. The word, worthless, literally in the Hebrew, is the word “belial.” They were sons of Belial. We find later, in the Scripture, that that was a name that was given to Satan that he was Belial. In 2 Cor. 6:15, Paul uses it as a name for the devil. The word, belial, means empty, corrupt and without value. These were worthless sons. These were worthless priests. They did not know the Lord.

In verse seventeen, it says they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt. In other words, the blasphemed, they hated, they devalued the Lord’s offering. What were they doing? Well, if you’re not an expert on Leviticus, you might not know what was going on with the three point pronged fork in the meat and and let the fat burn. If you’re reading that, you may think, what in the world? If you’re with me now on the one-year Bible reading and you read Leviticus, chapter three today, you probably read that the fat belongs to the Lord. So, when they bring the offering, they are supposed to burn the fat off and then the priest gets a portion for his family. That was the way it was supposed to be. So the fat was to be a sweet aroma unto the Lord. Leviticus 7:25 (ESV) “For every person who eats of the fat of an animal of which a food offering may be made to the LORD shall be cut off from his people.”

So the fat did not belong to the priest. It belonged to the Lord. What were the sons of Eli doing? They were saying, give it to us raw. In other words, they were fattening themselves. They were taking that which belong to the Lord. They were not supposed to take that portion. There was a portion that belonged to them and their family , but they were taking the whole thing. Even when one of the Israelite men would say, hey, wait a minute, aren’t we supposed to burn the fat off first, they said, give it to me. I’ll take it by force. They were treating the Lord’s offerings with contempt.

Not only that, look down at verse 22, Eli had heard what they were doing. More than being violent and treating the people poorly and treating the offerings with contempt, they were laying with the women at the front door of the Tabernacle. They were sleeping with them.

Who were these women? You can read about it in the Book of Exodus, chapter 38, verse eight. Dr. Bergen, in his commentary, suggests that maybe these women were young virgins who were yet to be married, that they were practicing their Nazarite vow, and they decided to serve the Lord. These are young women who are set apart for the Lord at the gate of the tabernacle. These evil sons, these worthless priests, are sleeping with them at the gate of the tabernacle.

That’s what’s going on that has caught the Lord’s attention, and He is tired of it. He’s going to do something about it. He’s about to turn the page because God’s priests are not sharing His Word. They don’t even know Him. This is the problem.

Eli, in verse 23, says he’s heard complaints and he’s heard about their evil doings. He says something that is the picture of a passive father. (If I could do a sidebar sermon on what a sorry father Eli is, I would tell all of the men if you have children, don’t be a father like Eli.) Listen to how he corrected his sons. Look at verse 24; this is ridiculous. He goes to them and they’re sleeping with women at the front door, they’re taking the Lord’s offering, and this is what he says, “No, my sons; it is no good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad.” This is ridiculous. Now. he’s in his nineties. He’s old. His sons were really doing the heavy lifting.The Book of Leviticus says that a Levite priest is to serve actively from age 32 to 50. So Eli is past the age of active service. He’s probably the high priest, and he still goes before the Lord in the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is on the Day of Atonement, which the Hebrews called the Yom Kapur. He probably is still doing that. He’s over everything, but his sons are doing the active work of offering the offerings, and really, he should have corrected him when he heard about this in a way that was sterner. I really think he should have removed them from the priesthood. I really do. But instead he scolded them; now, you boys, you stop misbehaving. Oh, my goodness.

And so here’s what the Lord says in verse 25. I know this might be hard for your ears to hear, but the Lord cannot allow His priests, his preachers, his pastors to mislead the people and treat the people like this. They represented Him. He says, “ it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.” They weren’t listening. He was not going to let them listen now because they had already closed their ears to the Lord like Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. God had hardened their hearing because they had already hardened their hearts. God is going to leave them in that calloused position. He’s going to remove them now; that’s the word that we see here in the midst of this.

It’s kind of like listening to a symphony that has many movements and different motifs. There is a dark motif; that’s Eli and his sons, right, and then coming in verse 18 is an alternate motif; verse 18 to 21, we see little Samuel and his mother, Hannah. Remember, last week she was given a son. She was barren, and God miraculously opened her womb. God gave her a son. When she weaned him, she gave him to the Lord. Samuel is growing up at the tabernacle. Every year she comes to visit Samuel, she brings him a “preacher suit,” a linen ephod priestly garments. She brings him these garments that are pretty special cause he’s growing. Every year. she brings him a “little three piece suit with a tie and a matching handkerchief.” She loves him. She’s a praying mother. She knows that God’s doing something here.

By the point of this reading, Samuel is probably a teenager. We’ll find out later in the story as we read it today, that he’s starting to do some priestly duties. He’s not 30 yet, but it seems like Eli is allowing him because he knows he is a special boy and because he’s a grandfather now, he’s probably a little bit too lenient. For whatever reason, he’s already got Samuel doing some of the priestly duties. He’s not doing the offerings yet, but he’s doing some of the work. We’ll see that in just a minute.

Last week, it was a lot about Hannah and about how God opened her womb, healed her barrenness and made her fruitful. But, God is not done. In the last part, it says that he visited her and she had three more sons and two daughters. Hannah had a big family; we won’t hear from her again, but Hannah was a praying mother that produced a boy like Samuel, a man like Samuel. So we see this going back and forth.

Then, in verse 26, “Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man.” Does this sound familiar to anybody? It should, because it is almost identical to Luke 2: 52 where the gospel writer says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God.” Samuel is a foreshadowing of the coming Christ. Clearly, he’s growing and God is speaking through him.

What delights God? What does God delight in? That you know Him. He’s like a daddy who wants you to say His name? Look what it says in Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV) “ 23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

I don’t know how many parents are here today. I’d say, based on the number of kids that are next door, there’s a bunch of you. There’s a lot of kids in our church. Do you remember, if you’re a parent, when your child finally said, “Mama” or “Dadda?” If you were at my house, you know that Robin and I had a competition to see if he or she would say their name first. Looking back, Robin wasn’t really part of the competition. It was kind of one-sided. I was really the one competing. When I would get the children, and Robin wasn’t looking, I would say to them, “No, no, no, no, no, not Mama, it’s Dada.” There’s just something about hearing a child say, “Daddy.”

The Lord delights in that and so do we. We get a little taste of it, but He delights in a personal relationship with you. It thrills the Lord that you would know Him, but yet we hide from Him. We stick our fingers in their ears. We won’t hear Him call. A lot of us grew up going to church. We have Bibles in every room of the house; they’re like coasters on our coffee tables. We don’t open them and read them and know the Lord.

He wants to know us. Why? Because He wants to give us eternal life that we might live with Him forever. Jesus said in John 17:3 (ESV) “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” He wants you to know him.

In J. I. Packer’s book entitled, “Knowing God,” he says this, “What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set ourselves in life? To know God… A little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about him.” Do you understand the difference? You may know all about it, but it’s not enough. You must know Him in the way we know this through Jesus. As Paul declared in Philippians 3:8 (NLT) “ Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Do you know the Lord the way you know Him through Jesus?

Let’s keep reading. The story continues in verse 27. 1 Samuel 2:27-36 (ESV) “27 And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? 28 Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. 29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ 30 Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,’ but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men. 34 And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day. 35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. 36 And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests’ places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”

What’s the key word in this reading? Three times we see the word, honor. Eli had honored his sons above God. What’s the word of God for what’s its purpose? What’s the reason that He reveals Himself to us? We said it’s because He wants us to know Him.

And then, secondly,

2. So that we might honor Him. Eli knew about his sons; he’d already gone to them and given them a “slap” on the wrist. Eli had already heard of his son’s sinful behavior from people, now he would hear what the LORD thought of it from a “man of God. But now man of God comes an unnamed man of God. No name is given. Perhaps this is the Lord himself. He comes and he declares the result of what’s going to happen to his house. and his family, and it’s difficult to hear, isn’t it? It’s challenging to hear, but we must hear it because here’s the truth; before we can come to know and honor God, we really need to come and look in the mirror and recognize our own rebellion, our own dishonoring of God, and come to grips with it only long enough to admit it and say, “I’m a sinner; I’ve been living for myself. Come to grips with that and then come to the Lord and say, “ I want you on the throne in my life.”

But, that’s not what’s happening here. Eli is not taking this seriously and neither are his sons. The Lord comes to him through this man, this prophet, this man of God. In verse 29, he says, 29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling… The word in the Hebrew for scorn is literally, “to kick.” You’ve been kicking my offerings. I would be like me walking over here and kicking the Lord’s supper over. How would you feel if I did that? You would feel like the people of Israel felt about the offerings and the way they were scorning the way they were kicking and despising so that they treated the offerings as if they were worthless.

Then, he says, continuing in verse 29, “…and honor your sons above me…” The word, honor, is the Hebrew word for kabad. It’s usually translated glory. It means honor. It means glory. But it literally means weighty or heavy. It means of much value and weight. You have been putting most of your weight, most of your passion on your sons; they are worth more to you than me. And so, rather than restraining them and removing them from the priesthood, you just “slapped” them on the wrist. You should have removed them instead. You wanted them above me. You put them first. Perhaps, it’s because Eli was also a hypocrite; we find out later that not only does he have poor eyesight to the point of blindness, he was overweight. He was fat.

Why was he fat? Because he was eating the same fat that they were eating, they were fattening themselves, it says in verse 30.

In the Hebrew, there’s this play on words; instead of counting me heavy you were making yourselves heavy by eating that which belongs to me and was meant for me and my dwelling. He’s asking him questions; didn’t I set you apart from the time when you were still in Egypt under Pharaoh? Did I not pick your family above all the others of the twelve Tribes of Levi? Aren’t you part of that family that I picked? Didn’t I say that you could eat of my offerings, that your family, from now on, that when they would bring the offerings to the Tabernacle, that you would get a portion of that so that you’d never go hungry? Why then, did you feel you needed to take more than you were due? Why then would you take the fat and take the extra portions that were to be offered to me ? Why would you do that? I honored you above all the others, and now you dishonor me.

Are you getting this? Are you understanding the Lord’s point of view? Why would you do this? I honored you, and you, in verse 30, despised, counted worthless, that which I had given you. I’ll honor those who honor me, but you’ve dishonored me and despised me.

In verse 34 he says,”And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day.” We’re not going to get to this part in the story this week, but it’s coming. God means what He says; no one can restrain Him. I will. He looks at Eli’s parenting and says, you wouldn’t do your job as a parent, you wouldn’t do your job and you are the high priest. I guess I’ll have to do it for you because I have to protect my people and protect My Name , because I’m revealing myself to people and you’re not doing what I called you to do.

Verse 35, “And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind.” He tells him, I guess I’m gonna have to raise up a faithful priest because you’re not faithful. This priest is going to be faithful. (Back to verse,) I will raise up a faithful priest. and I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. You shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind I will build him a sure house and he shall go in and out before mine nor thine forever. So you were supposed to be the ones who go in and out of the temple in my name. But I want to raise up another line of priests.

There is going to come a time, look at verse 36, where you’re going to beg to be in that line. Hey, can I have a loaf of bread? You have made yourselves fat; I’m gonna make you hungry. Strong words; strong words.

How do we apply this to our lives? How do we think about this word, honor, that the Lord asks of us, that He reveals His work to us, so that we would give Him glory, so that we would honor Him above all others. That’s why He gives us His Word so that we would recognize that He is God and we are not so and that we would love Him above all others with all of our hearts, all of our minds and all of our strength.

Everyone knows something about God but that doesn’t mean that they honor Him as God. Look what Paul says in Romans 1:19-21 (ESV) “19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” They did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile; in other words, worthless, empty, and their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. You see, knowing God always brings us to a point of where we honor God. If you know Him, then you honor Him. But if you only know about Him, you honor yourself. We keep trying to take control, we keep trying, and we wanna honor ourselves. He says, you need to stop because if you really knew me, you’d honor me.

Jesus talks about this when he’s talking to the people. He quotes Isaiah 29. He says in Matthew 15:8 (ESV) “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” He’s looking for people that would honor Him from their heart not just say it not just sing the songs, but from your heart.

How does God receive honor today? How could we do it? How could we honor him? Look at what we read in John 5:23 (ESV) … “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” How do we honor God today? By honoring Jesus, by recognizing Jesus for who He is, worshiping King Jesus and saying, You’re my Savior, You’re my lord and I am your servant. That’s how we honor Him. The word is to reveal God so that we might know Him. Because we know Him, we see how much He’s worth and so we honor him.

Let’s keep reading. We’re in chapter three now. 1 Samuel 3:1-4:1 (ESV) 3:1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision. 2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 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. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and 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. 6 And the LORD called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 And the LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 And the LORD came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” 11 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. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.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. 14 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.” 15 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. 16 But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” And he said, “Here I am.” 17 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.” 18 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.” 19 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD. 21 And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD. 4:1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.”

What’s the third reasonGod wants to reveal Himself to Us by His word?

3. So that we might hear Him.

Do you believe God still speaks? He still speaks through His word even now. Even now, as this preacher, who’s not worthy, but yet through Christ has been made worthy, declares to you the word of God. He comes alive and afresh in those hearts that have ears to hear.

As Jesus often said, “He that has ears to hear, let him hear.” I don’t think there was an ear problem. People had ears during Jesus’ time. That wasn’t the problem. They didn’t have spiritual receptivity. Do you hear?

Do you know what Samuel’s name means? We talked about it last week. Hannah named him Samuel because God had heard her prayer for a child. Samuel’s name means: God heard. His name is a play on words with the Shema (Shema-uel). God heard Hanna, now Samuel must hear God, so that the people of God can hear His Word too. Samuel, it’s a play on words. There’s a lot of that in this reading. A lot of Hebrew play on words. Shema is in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter six, where they are to pray three times a day. (Hebrew prayer) Oh, Israel. The Lord thy God is one God. Samuel’s name is Shemauel.

God hears. And now Samuel will hear. He didn’t know God yet. He grew up in the same house with those evil sons. But this son was special. He’d been prayed for. He was a miracle child. And in spite of those evil surroundings, he’s like a rose coming up between the cracks of broken pavement. He didn’t know the Lord yet, it says in verse seven, but he’s about to. He didn’t know Him yet because he hadn’t heard Him yet. The boy is getting ready to hear he’s about to be the one that God heard. Now Samuel heard God. That’s getting ready to happen.

“In those days (in chapter three, verse one, it says), the word of the LORD was rare.” There were very few visions, and you didn’t hear from the Lord a lot. Why? He couldn’t find anybody to represent Him. It was getting ready to change; God is ready to turn the page because He wants his people to hear.

Maybe you feel like God’s Word is rare in America today. Maybe you feel like it’s rare in Wilson; maybe it is, but He wants to raise up a people that will talk about Him and introduce Him to others. He’s about to raise up Samuel.

I noticed that it says that there was no frequent vision in verse one and then the very next verse says, at that time, Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim. This is filled with what’s called a double-entendre, a double meaning, there was very little vision and the next verse said that Eli couldn’t see. So, if even if the Lord was speaking, even if he was giving visions Eli is deaf and blind, he’s lying in his own place.

Then, it says the lamp of God had not yet gone out. Samuel was lying down in front of the veil where the ark was. (Pop up a couple of images here to help you. Here is the lamp that he’s talking about, the lamp of God . This is a menorah. Notice it has seven lamps at the top.) This is built according to the instructions that God gave Moses. It was to be kept lit all night long. It looks as if Samuel, now probably 14, 15 or 16 years old, pulled night duty. He’s the guy who keeps the lamp lit in the holy place all night long. Someone was supposed to do it according to the instructions in the Torah. And so he’s the one doing it. If you see a menorah today, they have nine lamps because that’s a Hanukkah menorah. But the original one had seven, the one in the temple.

(More photos being shown) Now this is a photo taken in the Jewish Quarter and down in the Old City of Jerusalem, and it’s being built. This is one of the articles that the Orthodox Jews have made in preparation of someday, hopefully rebuilding the temple. It’s built perfectly. It’s taller than me. I stood next to it for this photo, and it’s made of gold carats. I think is what I read, of gold. It’s amazing.

(Next slide) So here’s where Samuel was sleeping. Here’s the menorah. This is called the Holy Place. This is the holy of holies. This is the outer courtyard where the offerings were made, and this is the entrance to the tent of meeting or the Tabernacle. This is where the women were at where the evil sons were laying with women at the entrance to the Tabernacle. This outer area later was called the Court of the Women. This was called the Court of the Men so the Jewish men could come in here and bring their offerings and help with them being offered. Only Levitical priests were allowed in the holy place and only the high priest was allowed in the Holy of Holies and that was only on one day of the year, on Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement.

So this is where Samuel is sleeping. He’s sleeping right here in that area of the Holy Place. It seems his job was to keep the lamp burning . This is when God said, “Samuel.” He had never heard the Lord speak before. He didn’t know the Lord. This was the point in his life of coming to know the Lord. He didn’t recognize His voice when He was speaking to Samuel.

Some of you might be here today and the Lord is knocking on your heart. You may wonder, “what is that? Why do I feel what I feel? Why do I feel this? What is this?” That’s the Lord. Maybe you don’t know Him yet. He wants you to know Him.

Three times Samuel goes to his adopted father and says, “here I am.” He’s a good boy. He’s pulling night duty; Eli has given the boy night duty. God wakes Samuel up three times. The third time Eli remembers something. Do you know what he remembers? He remembers that the Lord used to speak to him. Eli tells Samuel to go lay back down and if the Lord speaks to you again, say, “here I am, Lord, your servant is listening. “ Speak Lord; your servant hears. And so Samuel goes back and lays down; the Lord calls to him again.

Eli is fulfilling Exodus 27:21 (ESV) In the tent of meeting, outside the veil that is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord…” That is before the testimony of the Ark of the Covenant; Aaron and his son shall tend it from evening.

Samuel didn’t know the Lord yet, but the Lord called him three times. Finally, he understands; he knows Him. All of us start out not knowing the Lord. All of us start out this way; He calls, but some of us are still hiding. He calls. He knows your name. He calls Samuel just as He did Moses at the burning bush. He says it twice, and he gets his attention and Samuel’s new life begins. He knows the Lord. He recognizes His voice.

God says, I’m getting ready to do something that’s going to cause the two ears of all the people in Israel to tingle. I think pretty much everybody had two ears. I don’t think he meant all of them together had two ears. I think He meant each individual had two ears. Both ears, he says, are going to tingle.

The word, “tingle,” in the Hebrew is the idea to vibrate with such intensity because of fear. You’re going to hear this thing. What’s coming? The house of Eli is going to fall. The sons, the priests, are going to be killed. The arc of the covenant is going to be carried off so that the glory of the Lord will depart. You won’t honor me. Not yet, but it’s coming; He’s telling young Samuel this.

Young Samuel gets up the next morning. If you will look at verse Ah 15, his job in the morning is to open the doors. But he’s staying busy because he’d rather not talk to Eli now because he’s afraid to tell the bad news. This is the first word he gets from the Lord. Tell Eli because he won’t listen to me. I’m passing the torch to you. You go tell him what’s getting ready to happen. So he opens another double-entendre, because he’s getting ready to open the word of God to everybody in Israel. He’s getting ready to open the gates in a real way. Samuel’s going to be the new prophet. He doesn’t know it yet.

Eli asks Samuel to tell him every word. Don’t hold anything back, verse 17 “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.” Samuel tells him everything, leaving out nothing. Then, Eli gives this passive response; it really just aggravates me deeply. Eli responds, “It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.” I really think, even at this late date, if Eli would have fallen on his face, asked for forgiveness, removed his sons, and he had done everything that the Lord said, I know that the Lord is merciful and He would have still heard. But no, not this man. He’s in his nineties and he’s given up. I’m too old to change. Let the Lord do what he’s going to do. So disappointing.

Why would the Lord warn Eli? I think He warned him because He was still merciful. He hadn’t done it yet. That’s why. God keeps warning us to read His word and we keep saying, “well, you know I am too old to change.”

It closes now in verse 19; he’s just going to talk about what’s coming. Then, he says, “and Samuel grew.” In other words, he grew up. He became a man, and the Lord was with him and let none of His words fall to the ground . This is a beautiful picture in the Hebrew. It’s like Samuel’s words are like arrows, and none of them fall short of the target every time he fires off a word it hits a human heart. That’s what God made Samuel like as a preacher, as a prophet. Every time he opened his mouth, none of his words fell to the ground. Why? Because he was filled with God’s word. When he said God’s word, it never returned void; it never fell short. That’s what he says about Samuel here. He let none of his words fall to the ground in all of Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established. This dude is a prophet; he’s a national treasure from Dan to Beersheba.

We need a map here. It comes from Dan to Beersheba; from the farthest reaches of Israel in the north to that the little town of Dan. In the tribal area of Dan to Beersheba. if you’re a student of the Bible, you know, Dan was originally given this by Joshua, but they were not able to keep it because the Philistines kicked them out. So they moved away to try to find some land. Samuel was no regional judge and prophet. He was a national treasure. He was over the whole country. God was putting everything right. All those judges back there in the book of judges, they were more regional. This man, he’s a national treasure. He’s over the whole country, and God is used in the whole country. Everyone from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was a prophet.

Then, it says in Verse 21, “the Lord appeared again at Shiloh.” In other words, He had not been there in a while. The LORD’s Word continued to be made manifest through His prophet Samuel. Now, the Word is coming out of Shiloh through Samuel’s Ministry.

4:1 “And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.” The word is no longer rare because God called to Himself a man who’s after His own heart, a young man named Samuel.

You know, our spiritual hearing depends on our faith, and our faith depends on God’s word. Here’s what it says in Romans 10:13-17 (NKJV) 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? …17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

How are people gonna come to know the Lord, honor Him and hear Him if they don’t have a preacher, if they don’t have a witness, they don’t have a person telling them? You must really love God’s Word to come and sit and hear this guy up here waving his arms and and going through a book that was written 3000 years ago, It’s not silly to you. It’s not foolishness to you because you know Him, you honor Him and you hear Him when God’s word goes out. But, there are people outside these walls who don’t have a person telling them; how will they believe and call on the name of the Lord unless they have someone who tells them? Unless they have a preacher, a witness, someone speaking the Word.

Do you hear? If you hear, then you’re also called to tell others. In Oswald Chambers daily devotional, “My utmost for his highest,” this was part of the reading. It says, “The child attitude is always ‘Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.’ If I have not cultivated this devotion of hearing, I can only hear God’s voice at certain times; at other times I am taken up with things – things which I say I must do, and I become deaf to Him, I am not living the life of a child.” Maybe, you get up in the morning and you go “deaf” because your laundry list is what you honor; your list of being in control of your own life. So, you climb upon the throne and you rule and then you go deaf. I’m talking to believers. You go deaf.

We can wake in the morning as young Samuel. Did you speak, Lord? Your servant is here; speak. You’re in charge. If you want to hear from God, get radical. Make Him the Lord of your life.

Is He speaking to you today? Are you here, far from God and you’ve been hiding? Come into the light. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to honor Him. He wants you to hear Him. Today. I’m going to give you a chance to receive the Lord in prayer. Just in one moment. Believer, you know him. But do you honor Him and do you hear Him? I’m gonna give you a chance to repent and think about that today as we pray. Would you bow your heads?

Lord, we thank you for this Word. It may have been written 3000 years ago, but it just came to life in our hearts. That’s your Holy Spirit doing that. Lord, I know you’re stirring people right now that have heard Your word. Maybe it’s someone here today that came in far from God but they don’t want to leave that way. If that’s you, my friend, would you pray with me right now? Dear Lord Jesus, pray right in your seat with me, I’m a sinner. I’ve been trying to be in control of my own life. But I want you in charge now. I want You to take control. I know that You died on the cross for my sins and that You were raised from the grave. I believe that you live today. Come and live in me; I invite you now to be my Lord and Savior. You can pray that right where you’re at right now and He will save you. He wants to reveal Himself to you. He wants you to know him. He wants you to honor him and hear from him. Others are here today and you know the Lord as your Savior and as your Lord, but there are areas of your life today where you’re still trying to be in control. You’re still sitting on the throne. The Lord is either Lord of all or He’s not Lord at all. Would you surrender that arena to him right now? Wherever it is, that part that you’ve been hiding, would you say speak, Lord, your servant hears. In Jesus name. Amen.