Samuel: The Lord Chooses!
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This is just the beginning...
This is just the beginning...
God and Israel are launching on a continuing adventure with the calling of Samuel.
Let’s review from last week...
35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.
35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.” ’ ”
36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.” ’ ”
1Sam
1sam2.
The House of Eli has been rejected…Hophni and Phineas are both rejected and then died on the same day.
The House of Eli has been rejected…Hophni and Phineas are both rejected and then died on the same day.
Samuel, son of Hannah the one that has been set aside for the Lord was made a Priest in Israel.
Some would say this is God calling a “do-over” a “mulligan” if you play golf. God could not control Eli and his sons so God got it “wrong” and then called a “do-over.” as the Apostle Paul would say… May it never be!
I think that God gave opportunities and choice for Eli, Hophni and Phineas. The sons failed and the father and sons suffered the consequences.
In my life I think of the opportunities that God has given me…the many doors that I could have knocked on, the many open doors that would have changed my life. Yet the many doors that I ignored...
Still God, wanting to have a eternal relationship with me kept finding ways to draw me to Him and His people. God wants to have an eternal relationship with EVERYONE ever created. But it’s our choice. Him or Us in charge of our lives. Who do you trust today…do you trust Him or yourself to get through to eternity. That really is the question.
At this point and at this time Israel had not and did not hear from the Lord, In word or in vision. You see they had tasted the sweetness of ongoing relationship but it went silent
12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.
Why, why would God to that…didn’t He love these people. YES!!!
They stopped listening...
As Jack Cooper and I and many, many others we are praying for revival in our world. That we would listen again to God.
They did not and we are not listening...
What is the difference??? If you are a follower of Christ here today you have the Holy Spirit who still speaks into your life. Through our self induced “Fog” we still have the Spirit.
God has a master plan here!!
Here’s our “Big Idea” today!
The Lord is willing to revive his broken relationship with his people through those honor him!
The re-opening of the lines of communication between God and Israel is highlighted.
We live in a time when our relationship with God is broken! He gives hope to us like the House of Israel, that those that honor Him will once again be in that relationship. How you ask…ultimately for us at the intersection of the Cross and Grace.
This section depicts Samuel’s transformation from “boy” to “prophet”. In Hebrew from Na-ar to Na-be. From an ignorant kid to one who functioned as the Lord’s impeccable and revered spokesman.
This call from God that was received by Samuel was to fit the situation that God had planned!
4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
1Sam
1Sam 3
5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
1sam
4 Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
Verse 4...
Verse 4...
Verse 4...
God called Samuel and God does call the qualified, he also calls those who have the character and dedication to serve. Eli nor his wicked son’s where worthy, but Samuel was proven.
Verse 5-6...
1Sam
5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down. 6 Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” “My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
1Sam
5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
At first Samuel did not hear the call correctly…he thought that Eli was calling but yet Samuel came back, he “ran” back
The Lord called, again and again
That He calls any of us…any of us shows His great Love and Mercy for us. Looking beyond our failures to our possibilities is a Miracle!!
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
Samuel misunderstood the voice of the Lord, he did not recognize it at first!
1Sam3.
Samuel misunderstood the voice of the Lord, he did not recognize it at first!
How many times has the Lord reached out to me and I did not understand or listen or even care to listen.
Finally after this give and take we get to verse 10
10 The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
The Lord came and stood…this was a bodily appearance. How is that possible to see the Lord, face to face and NOT die?
It’s called a Christophny or a Theophny . When scripture says, God appears or the Lord appears it would be the pre-incarnate Jesus who came. Since Christ was present in Creation, it is He, who steps in when God is “seen.”
Beginning in Verse 11,
1
11 And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.
This phrase...the ears of everyone who hears this will tingle. It used only one other time in scripture
12 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
God is saying…WAKE UP! I am about to do something here, pay attention.
Back to 1Samuel
These are a couple of tough verses…listen carefully
Verse 13...
1Sam
13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons blasphemed God, and he failed to restrain them.
The him here is Eli, his opportunity to be significant to God and Israel had left them “forever.” Why…because of sin, because of the Leadership crisis that had been brought on by Eli and his sons.
1Sam
14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’ ”
Because of their sin and actions, their deafness to God…God swore. The only thing left for them is judgement.
The New Testament recognizes some of the same reality...
If you are looking for a good explanation of what is going on in the Old Testament you can frequently look to the Book of Hebrews for enlightenment.
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
PLEASE DON’T BE THAT PERSON…I AM BEGGING YOU, PLEASE!
Verses 19-21 and 4.1
19 The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. 1 And Samuel’s word came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.
1sam3.19-4.1
This brings an end to this chapter. But it is the beginning… Samuel leads to David and David to Christ, and Christ to His disciples and His disciples to us.
I’d like to return to our big idea
bring an end to this chapter. But it is the beginning… Samuel leads to David and David to Christ, and Christ to His disciples and His disciples to us.
The Lord is willing to revive his broken relationship with his people through those honor him!
Don’t miss when He calls…Be present when He chooses and live out your life completely at intersection of the Cross and Grace.
I’d like you now to pause as we prepare for communion. A time with you and the Lord. Confessing and seeking repentance for our sin. make our selves clean for our communion time
Servers please come forward
The trouble with all this is that Eli is not being judged by us. It is the Lord who said that his sons were blaspheming and that he did not do what he should have done. It is not for us
Preaching the Word: 1 Samuel—Looking for a Leader God Will Be True (vv. 12, 13)
The accusation in verse 13 may therefore sound harsh to us: “he did not restrain” his sons. Well, we might say, it was not for want of trying!
The trouble with all this is that Eli is not being judged by us. It is the Lord who said that his sons were blaspheming and that he did not do what he should have done. It is not for us then to sit in judgment over the Lord. He is the God of knowledge, by whom deeds are weighed (1 Samuel 2:3). There is a certain arrogant absurdity in responding to this passage as though we know more about Eli’s innocence (from the few pages that we have!)—and have a keener sense of justice—than the Lord does