5-5-2024_The Lord Calls_1 Samuel 3_Mark_Evans

In this sermon, the speaker discusses the story of Samuel in the book of 1 Samuel. He emphasizes the importance of God's word and how it reveals Himself to us. The speaker highlights the scarcity of God's word during that time and compares it to the present day, where biblical literacy is low and the authority of God's word is challenged. The speaker also touches on the concept of spiritual blindness and the need for discernment. Overall, the main point is that our God reveals Himself in and through His word. Well, if you have your Bibles, you make your way to the book of 1 Samuel as we continue our sermon series through this book. And today we find ourselves in chapter 3 of 1 Samuel. And to get us going, I'll read the first nine verses of 1 Samuel chapter 3. And these are the words of the true and the living God. 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. At that time, Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 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. Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, Here I am, and ran out to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. But he said, I did not call you. Lie down again. So he went and lay down. 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. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 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. 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. Well, the grass withers and the flower fades. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, we praise You as we just read. You are the God who speaks, who has revealed Yourself to us in and through Your Word. And so we humble ourselves before You, knowing that apart from You opening our eyes, apart from You opening our hearts, we would remain deaf and dull and lost. And so we pray once again that by the power of the Spirit, You would open our eyes to behold the wondrous things of Your law, that we might even see the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of His beauty, until that day that He returns. And we ask it in Jesus' name, and amen. Amen. You may be seated. Well, a preacher once told the story of when he first sent his call to the ministry. And he would go and preach occasionally at Sunday gatherings at West Point to some of the cadets there. But while he was there, he noticed that nearly every Sunday, the leaders were scrambling to find someone who could play the piano, often a problem for smaller congregations. But the preacher soon discovered that there was a man in the congregation who could play piano, and he could play it quite well. And so one Sunday, the preacher asked him, why do you never step up and volunteer to play piano? Well, the man's answer was rather telling. It wasn't, well, I'm too nervous, or I'm too busy with other duties and responsibilities. No, his answer was, and I quote, if I start volunteering to serve God, I'm going to eventually end up in Africa. I don't want to go to Africa, and so I'm not volunteering for anything. And while extreme, I think that answer accurately reflects something of the human heart. That deep down, we may believe that if God calls us, He's calling us to a miserable and dreary existence. Right, that deep down, we may not really believe that God is worthy of all of our obedience, all of our sacrifice. That if God's calling for us is in Africa, then God's blessing for us lies in Africa. If we're called to martyrdom, then God's blessing for us resides in martyrdom. There's hardly a surer way to stunt your spiritual growth and to nullify God's grace in your life than by following that man's particular example. Well, enter young Samuel. Because today, God calls Samuel. Today, we get to see God reveal Himself to Samuel. Now, that alone is amazing. Because just remember where we are. We are in the days when everyone does what is right in their own eyes. We even saw last week the evil sons of Eli who treated the Lord with contempt and false worship. So it would be reasonable to expect nothing but radio silence from heaven, given just how wicked things are. And indeed, that would be the end of the story, were it not for God's steadfast love and His faithfulness to His covenant promises. And specifically, we get to see this morning that God's answer in a land of godlessness is in one word, His word. That God reveals Himself to us in and through His word. That's a question to ask yourself even now. Does my God speak? Even more so, do I listen when He speaks? And so with that, we'll walk through this chapter in three simple parts. We'll look firstly at how the Lord calls. Secondly, the Lord judges. And thirdly, the Lord speaks, all with a very simple main point. Our God reveals Himself in and through His word. Okay, so let's first see. Let's look at the Lord's call. And you get this state of the union of Israel in verse 1. It reads this. The boy Samuel is there ministering to the Lord. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no frequent vision. So you can see why. Everyone does what's right in their own eyes. There's this famine in Israel. Not of food, but a famine of God's word. This rarity of God's revelation. A scarcity of truth. That's just as Proverb 29 says. Where there is no prophetic vision, a people perish. And why is that? Well, Scripture is very clear. That you and I cannot live off of bread alone. Yes, the materialistic age would have you believe otherwise. But man must and can only live off of the word of the Lord. And then you've got this severe shortage of God's word in Israel. And, of course, many would rightly say you have a similar situation today. Individually, it's said today that biblical literacy is at an all-time low. On a larger scale, the inerrancy, the authority of God's word is doubted and challenged. Not just individually, but publicly. Just a small example of this. It was only about a century ago that President Roosevelt publicly said... ...that our nation should be governed by the Ten Commandments. I'll venture you won't find many candidates today saying the same thing and echoing Teddy. But if God's word is rare today, that is not because God is silent. It is because we are deaf and dull and dim-witted. And you see that very thing embodied in the blindness of Eli the priest in verse 2. You see there it reads... You'll remember, Hannah's barrenness reflected the barrenness of Israel. And you've got the same concept here. Eli's lack of vision reflects the greater reality... ...that Israel as a whole is blind and without spiritual vision. How far can you go without vision? Kids, simple question. Imagine, kids, that I blindfolded you and then I had you walk out of this building. How well would that go? Well, you know it would be very difficult, wouldn't it, kids? You'd start bumping into people. You'd be tripping over objects. You'd be banging into chairs. Well, kids, know that's even more true if you were spiritually blindfolded to the truth of God's word. Well, so it was for Israel. But in rides next the good news that we've seen already so many times in 1 Samuel. This steadfast love of God that intrudes in verse 3. You can read there... So you get this word picture, this symbol of this faintly burning wick, this dim light. It's nearly extinguished, but it still flickers. And as long as that light shines, there is still hope. After all, you can set ablaze an entire forest fire from one small spark. As one medieval said, all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish a single candle. And so you may look out on the world, on society, and say the light has nearly gone out. It is nearly extinguished. But look here. Our God always keeps His light going. No matter how dim, how dark, how evil, God always preserves His light. And as new covenant believers, we have the glory, the advantage of knowing the name of that light. Who is Jesus Christ? The light who has shined in the darkness of which the darkness has not, cannot, will not overcome Him. And you get a preview of that light in young Samuel. Our God is on the move because next comes the call of God in verse 4. Very simple. Then the Lord called Samuel. Calling is what our God loves to do, right? God comes to a graveyard, to a pile of bones, and He starts calling. And what happens? Well, those bones start to rattle. They start to shake. They begin to come alive. A dead Lazarus comes out of his grave when God starts calling. And if you are in Christ, He's done the very same thing to you. He has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Well, God does that here. He calls Samuel, and you see Samuel's ready response in verse 4. Samuel says, Here I am. And this is what our God is looking for. The eyes of the Lord rove the earth to show Himself strong for His worshipers. Looking for this very simple response. Here I am. I don't have all my questions answered. I don't have all the blueprints. I don't have all the schematics. I don't have all the right ideas. But just as Isaiah said, faith says, Lord, here I am. Send me. And even see just how imperfect, if not flawed, was Samuel. Because at first, he thinks that Eli is the one calling him. So verses 5 and 6, he sincerely but mistakenly goes to Eli and says, Reporting for duty, sir. And Eli says, Quit waking me up. I didn't say anything to you. Go back to sleep. And that cycle happens three times. It amounts to a reproach, not on Samuel, but upon Eli. That as God's priest, he does not have the discernment, the spiritual wisdom to perceive this is the Lord's work. And you remember why that is from last week. How Eli himself engaged in false, contemptuous worship. How he failed to discipline his sons. How he even honored his sons above the Lord. And you see, one of the great consequences of wayward disobedience, of false worship, is that of spiritual blindness. A kind of callousness to the things of God. Eyes can no longer see. You have ears, but they can no longer hear. But the good news is that obedience is the great opener of eyes. Today is always the day to repent. Today is always the day of salvation. To say, Speak Lord, for your servant is listening. Well, young Samuel is right on that precipice. Remember that Eli's sons did not know the Lord. And you find a near identical description of Samuel in verse 7. It reads, Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, for the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. So though they are similar, there's actually this world of difference between Eli's sons and Samuel. Eli's sons refused to listen. Samuel is eager to listen. Eli's sons served only themselves and their lust. Samuel desires to serve the Lord. And you see the big difference in those two key words of not yet. Samuel did not yet know the Lord, because his word had not yet been revealed. Church, our faith is that of one. Entirely dependent upon God revealing himself to us. It is not that man goes up. Our God must come down. It is not that man invents the truth. No, God reveals the truth to us of his eternal, unchanging character. And you can further parse this difference between the sons of Eli versus Samuel. And one critical action. It could sum it up simply as to hear. Samuel hears. He hearkens to the voice of the Lord. You see it in verses 8 and 9. To his credit, Eli finally realized that God is calling Samuel. And so he instructs the young lad. He says, Look, Samuel, this time say, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. Verse 10, that's exactly what Samuel does when the Lord calls him. I can say firsthand, discerning God's call on your life often requires patience. At times, agonizing patience. But the right posture to always fight for is this one. Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. That is the greatest commandment. The most important commandment for Israel was the Shema. You know it well. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. But do you recall how the Shema begins, how it starts? Well, the Shema begins with the Hebrew word Shema, which is simply the command to hear. Hear, O Israel. The Lord your God, the Lord, is one. What good are commands if they are unheard? And if you know your Old Testament, it was Israel's hardness of hearing from a hardness of heart that led them astray. And if you know your own heart, it is often your own hardness of hearing from your own hardness of heart that would lead you to a path of destruction. So you'd be right to ask yourself, How is my hearing? As Romans says, faith, your faith, comes by hearing, namely hearing the word of Christ. Because, of course, to hear does not simply mean that noise vibrations travel through the ear and make their way to our eardrums. Every parent knows this. When your child disobeys, the rebuke is, Why are you not listening to me? Why did you not hear me? You're, of course, not saying, Maybe we should get your hearing checked. No, you're saying, Maybe we should get your heart checked. Because in Scripture, we hear with our hearts. And that's Samuel. He presents himself under the authority of God and says, I am your sponge to soak up all that you command. And, of course, that is to be us. As we read the word, as we hear the word preached, as we get to see God's word in the sacraments, that by faith we know our God is speaking to us. And so, friends, if you have not heard the voice of the Lord lately, and to be clear, by that I do not mean an audible voice from heaven or some still small voice inside of your head. No, I simply mean opening up God's word and saying, Lord, give me ears to hear. And our God loves to cure deafness. So there is the Lord's call. Let us look now at the Lord's judgment as our God is on the move again in verse 11. God says, Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears, there's our word, will tingle. So you see clearly here that our God will be heard. God will not be ignored. Man ultimately has two options, to listen to God by faith or to listen to God by judgment. But either way, God will be honored, as Romans says, either by vessels of mercy or by vessels of wrath. Anytime you see this phrase of two tingling ears, you know something big is about to happen. And tingle is probably too soft of a word because the Hebrew would indicate your ears are trembling, quaking at something horrid and terrifying. And God pronounces that terrifying news in verse 12, that He will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house. I will punish his house forever. And you see the reason why in verse 13, for the iniquity that he knew because his sons were blaspheming God and he did not restrain them. You'll recall we covered last week that basic principle of headship, that just as God came to Adam for Eve's sin, God comes to Eli for his culpability in the sins of his sons and how he honored his children above the Lord and failed to discipline them. Today, from the White House to the military to corporate America, our age has an absolute dearth of accountability. The leaders act and decide and they move and they do so apart from any genuine accountability. But we've got here this great principle for the church to recover, this profound witness that the church and the world are starving for, one of headship and accountability. Just yesterday at our presbytery, we asked a candidate simply this, what are you as the father, as the one responsible for your home, what are you doing to foster spiritual growth in your family? That's a question for fathers to ask themselves. That's a question that Eli turned his back on. But the Christian can have all the courage in the world to take full responsibility. And we can have that courage because we know what's on the other side is forgiveness, restoration, and sanctification. We can humble ourselves before God, confess our shortcomings, knowing that God will be merciful and gracious to us. And you don't even stop there. You can come to God and say, Lord, teach me, lead me, how can I do this better next time? Because we know that Jesus is not just the founder, he's the perfecter, he's the finisher of our faith. What's this that Eli failed to do? He had this chance to repent of his sin, but he did not do so, and therefore in verse 14 comes this final verdict. Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of his house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. Indeed, this is the most terrifying and severe judgment. But if we balk at this, if we think this is too severe or too heavy-handed by the Lord, then we have far, far too low a view as to just how jealous our God is for his honor and his namesake. And we become morally stupid creatures when we fail to connect our conduct with the holiness of God, being too blind to see just how evil sin is and how awesome, how holy God is. And what makes it all the more terrifying is just how close Eli and his sons were to salvation. That to them belonged the promises of God. To them, it was the sacrificial system. To them, even the priesthood of God. These profound blessings that they rejected and they despised. And the very same warning applies today. And it's a sad fact of many of my generation in particular, that so many of us grew up in the church, were exposed to the gospel, heard the word of God, maybe even walked down an aisle and then, be it in college or early adulthood, strayed and eventually abandoned the faith and rejected Jesus Christ. And Hebrews warns against exactly this, that there is greater judgment for willfully, knowingly rejecting Christ. That it was said of Judas, it would have been better for him not to have been born than to have walked with Jesus only to then betray him. And so let us hear it once again. Today is the day of salvation. Christ is that full and final sacrifice. And Hebrews says, if you reject Christ, there is no other remaining sacrifice for sins. There is no name under heaven by which man may be saved. Well, so it went for Eli's house. And they turned this deaf ear to the word of the Lord. And so God turned them over to their destruction. So we've seen the Lord's call, the Lord's judgment. Let us look now at the Lord's revelation. Of course, once you hear something, you can't unhear it. And so Samuel is understandably very anxious about having to deliver this terrifying news to Eli in verse 15. His first test as a prophet. Because by all accounts, we're right to think there's genuine affection between Samuel and Eli. Eli probably had the son he always wanted in Samuel. And if you've ever had to deliver hard news to someone, especially someone you love, you know that pit feeling in your stomach. But Eli knows enough to know something is up in verse 16. And so he charges Samuel with this language that's got the weight of a curse in verse 17. It says, May God do so to you and more if you hide anything of what God has told you. So Eli effectively binds Samuel to make him tell. And so Samuel complies in verse 18. And then comes Eli's somewhat curt response, which is simply this. It is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him. I've often taken notice of those courtroom settings where there's been this long, high-stakes trial, very serious crime. And then comes that moment when the judge reads the verdict. And the guilty party receives that verdict with complete stoicism, just poker face all over. Sometimes in the background you can even hear people wailing and crying. And yet the guilty party remains just unmoved by the verdict. I just wonder, what is going through that person's mind in that moment? And when I read this, I've always wondered the same thing with Eli. What do you make of this response? Perhaps this is a response of resignation. But he's so hard-hearted by this point. You can read this as, well, I can't do anything to change this. It is what it is. I don't care. It's somewhat like when Hezekiah received that news and Hezekiah says, Oh, well, as long as there's peace and security in my day, that's all that matters. Or maybe this is a final moment of faith for Eli. That like the psalmist, he says, the Lord is in the heavens and He does whatever He pleases. Better God be true and I be found the liar. All His ways are just and good. But I think given his trajectory, we're probably right to see it as the former. This response of callous resignation before the Lord's judgment. And may that never be us. To never hide behind God's sovereignty as a cop-out for repentance. We are not fatalists. When God reveals His Word to us, we are to react and respond in faith and repentance. And in contrast, enter young Samuel. That just as the lamp of Israel was nearly extinguished, God raises up for Himself a new beginning. Right? As much as God renders judgment, and He does, our God at the same time creates a new world. Because while Eli's house is expiring, just look in verse 19. That while Eli decreases, Samuel grew. He is increasing. And we get to see two things in Samuel that teach us two things about Jesus Christ. Remember that Samuel is a type of Jesus Christ. Firstly, the Lord's presence in verse 19. It reads, the Lord was with Samuel and let none of his words fall to the ground. And you've got that same truth in living color in the life of our Lord Jesus. We sometimes forget that Jesus spent three decades or so before His public ministry. And what was He doing? Now, we don't know as much as we would like to know. But we do know He spent that time growing strong in the Lord. As Isaiah says of Jesus, Morning by morning He awakens me, He awakens my ear as those who are taught. You get this picture of Jesus that every morning His ear is opened up and He is storing up the word of the Lord in His heart. And let's just ask, what was Christ preparing for? Well, that was three decades of training Himself for godliness. Training Himself for that day when He would formally enter into His vocation and to accomplish all the work that His Father gave Him to do. One of His very first fights, His very first battle is that encounter with Satan in the wilderness. And what does the Lord Jesus do? He reaches for the sword of the Spirit, the word of God that He had treasured up in His heart. For God was with Him as He grew and increased in favor. Secondly, you see, not just the Lord's presence, we see now the Lord's prophet in verse 20. All Israel, from Dan to Bathsheba, knew that Samuel was established as a prophet. So firstly, just appreciate how far we've come. We opened with the sad state of affairs that there was no frequent vision and a rarity of God's word. Now you have Samuel who is the first named prophet since Moses. What has God done? In an atmosphere of atheism, God firmly raised up and established a prophet of His own choosing in Samuel, saying, Samuel is my megaphone to call Israel back to me. So it was for Samuel, and so it is all the more true of Jesus Christ. We've got to see so far two offices of Christ, that Christ is our King, He rules over us and He defends us. Last week we saw that Christ is our priest who intercedes for us and offers Himself for us. Now we get to see Christ is our prophet. And just like Samuel, when Christ bursts onto the scene, everybody knows right away, whoa, something is up. People start to say things like, wait a minute, isn't this the son of Mary and Joseph? Isn't this the carpenter's son? Where did he get this teaching? The crowds start to marvel. This man teaches not like the scribes and the Pharisees. This man has a different kind of authority. The woman at the well says, sir, I perceive you must be a prophet. And Peter says it best of all, Lord, where would we go? You have the very words of life. And so if God established Samuel as a prophet, God has permanently established His final prophet in the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, this is my beloved son, listen to him. Christian, who, what do you listen to? We live in noise pollution, you might say. Our days are full of noise, whether it's the work day, home life, entertainment, podcast, social media, so on and so forth. Tons of noise streams into our ears. You need to ask yourself, am I more like Martha, always busy, always distracted, always moving, or am I more like Mary? I would choose the better portion. Sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus and say, speak, Lord, for I am listening. And so as we close, let's store up in our hearts three truths about Christ as prophet and why we are to listen to Him. Firstly, Christ reveals Himself by His word. You see that previewed in verse 21. The Lord appeared again at Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh, and notice how God did that. It was by the word of the Lord. And the same is truer today, as we just read of Hebrews, that in the olden days God spoke to our fathers through prophets, through men like Samuel. But Christian, what good news for you? In these last days, God has spoken definitively to you in the person of His Son. And so our faith comes from hearing the word of Christ, the inerred, inspired, all-sufficient word. If our God can create the cosmos by His word, if our God can uphold the universe minute by minute, second by second, by His word, how dare we think that that same God cannot bring life to us through His word? In times of darkness and despair, what did Israel need most? They needed God's word. What does our nation in times of darkness and despair need most? We need God's word. Indeed, what do you need for just an ordinary Monday? You need God's word. Because God's word is life-giving, reviving to the soul, making us wise for salvation. Christ speaks. The question for you is, how good is my hearing? Secondly, Christ reveals by His spirit. It's that combination of word and spirit that is vital. Because if you say, well, good thing that the famine of God's word is over, everybody now has their own copy of a printed Bible. That famine is over. No, absolutely not. Because you can read and read and hear and hear God's word, but apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, it is in vain. You can search the Scriptures, believing they have life in themselves, and yet miss the Christ of the Scriptures. Because the Spirit's great work is to take the things of Christ, to take the word of God and flip on the light switch, as it were, to illuminate the truth, to guide us into all truth. And good news, it is the Father's good pleasure to give and give and give to those who ask. So how good is your hearing? How zealous is your asking? Lastly, thirdly, Christ commissions us. To be clear, we will certainly not be called in the unique way that Samuel was. God is not calling modern-day prophets any longer. But make no mistake, God still calls and commissions us today. And it starts, first of all, he calls us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Secondly, he calls us to good works and great things for his kingdom. As Christ himself said, whoever believes in me will do greater works than I have done. This is what we are called to, to shine his lights. That, of course, may mean, like Tommy, you're called to being a missionary. But, of course, it could also mean you are called in the ordinary. You're called to school your children, to work faithfully in your vocation, called to the high calling of motherhood and fatherhood. Every Christian called to be ready to give reason for the hope that is in them. And just as Samuel was sent, so too are we sent out into the world to shine his lights, to be truth tellers and to be truth livers, all with God's word dwelling richly in our hearts. As Francis Safer once said, our God is not silent. God calls. God speaks. The question for you is, are you listening? When was it you last said, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening? Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we do praise you that your voice goes out to all the earth, that your eyes of the Lord roam to and forth to show yourself strong to those who know you and to those who belong to you. And we praise you, Father, that it is by grace and grace alone you have dropped the scales from our eyes, that you have unstopped our ears to hear the good news of Jesus Christ, to respond in faith in him and him alone. We do know, Father, though, that that is not a one-time event, that our entire life is a life that we should say, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. And so we do humble ourselves before you and pray that we would do exactly that in the power of the Spirit, asking it in confidence, knowing that it is your very will for us. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.