20260610 1 Samuel 3 Wednesday Bible Study Dave Dickmann

Let's read the chapter first, and then we will

get into it. And the child Samuel ministered

unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of the

Lord was precious in those days. There was no

open vision. And it came to pass at that time

when Eli was laid down in his place, and his

eyes began to wax dim that he could not see.

And ere the lamp of God went out, or before the

lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord,

where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid

down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel, and

he answered, Here am I. Are we good on volume

here? Okay. And he ran unto Eli and said, Here

am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I called

not, lie down again. And he went and lay down.

And the Lord called yet again Samuel. And Samuel

arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for

thou didst call me. And he answered, I called

not my son, lie down again. Now Samuel did not

yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the

Lord yet revealed unto him. And the Lord called

Samuel again the third time, and he arose and

went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst

call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord had

called the child. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel,

Go, lie down, and it shall be, if he shall call

thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy

servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down

in his place. And the Lord came and stood and

called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then

Samuel answered, Speak, for thy servant heareth.

And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do

a thing in Israel, at which both at which both

the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle.

In that day I will perform against Eli all things

which I have spoken concerning his house. When

I begin, I will also make an end. For I have

told him that I will judge his house forever

for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his

sons made themselves vile, and he restrained

them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the

house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house

shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering

forever. And Samuel lay until the morning and

opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And

Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. Then Eli

called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he

answered, Here am I. And he said, What is the

thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray

thee, hide it not from me. God do so to thee,

and more also, if thou hide anything from me.

of all the things that he said unto thee. And

Samuel told him every wit, and nothing hid from

him. And he said, that is Eli, it is the Lord,

let him do what seemeth him good. And Samuel

grew, and the Lord was with him, and he did let

none of his words fall to the ground. And all

Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, knew that

Samuel was established to be a prophet of the

Lord. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh.

For the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh

by the word of the Lord. So the chapter division

here works out nicely for us. We have the introduction

in the first three verses. We have the conclusion

in the last three verses. We have an introduction

of the three main characters in the introduction.

Who are the three main characters in this chapter?

Okay, and of those three, Samuel is mentioned

more than the others. So Samuel is beginning

to come into prominence, not only in Israel,

and this is the way that the Lord brought that

to be, but here in the book as well. So, quickly,

I just want to go through, I think there's a

few verses here in the first verse, or a few

words. maybe are not obvious to us. The King

James has the word of the Lord was precious in

the first verse. Precious in those days. There

was no open vision. So what does the word precious

mean there and what does it mean by open vision?

Anybody got it? Preciously. Not common. Rare.

Okay, rare. And open vision? Okay. And how do

you come to that conclusion? My Bible says so.

Okay. How did your Bible come to that conclusion?

I assume they translated it. No, I don't think

they translated it. But we know that's what it

means because what? The verse sets it up as a

contrast. If you have this precious thing, which

is precious because it's rare, then the opposite

of that would be that it's... or plenty. It's

not rare anymore. Then if we look at the conclusion,

what do we see in the conclusion? The word of

the Lord is with him and everybody in Israel

knows it. So we see a reversal then of this truth

that there was no open vision and at the end

of the chapter in the conclusion we find that

Samuel hears the word of the Lord and all Israel

knows it. So that's how we know what that open

vision means and what precious is. In the third

verse, not yet dawn. So I suppose somebody may

even have that. And then where was the voice

coming from? When we see the word, the phrase,

Ark of God, what is that? The Ark of the Covenant.

So if the voice of God was coming from where

the ark was, then where was the voice of God

coming from? The Holy of Holies. Well, Samuel

was right there where he could hear a voice from

the Holy of Holies. Verse 7. Samuel did not yet

know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord

yet revealed unto him. What does that mean? What

does it mean? The Lord was not yet revealed unto

him. Or the word of the Lord was not yet revealed

unto him. What's that? Okay. So what does God...

What does it mean to not know the Lord? Does

that mean that he didn't know that the God of

Israel existed? So does it mean that he didn't

worship or minister to the Lord? No, because

we're told repeatedly that that's what he was

doing. So then we've eliminated those two things,

so what must it mean? Well, the answer is in

the second half of the verse. The word of the

Lord was, neither was the word of the Lord yet

revealed unto him. So, he didn't have the relationship

with the Lord where he heard and understood when

the voice came to him that that was from the

Lord. And the Lord had, what does the Lord do

when he speaks to us? For the purpose of. In

what way does he reveal himself? Chris kind of

said it. What did you say Chris? Okay. So that's

the voice of the Lord. The Lord speaks to us.

And he tells us. What we should do. Now that

may come in the context of who God is. A holy

God. A righteous God. A God who is love. The

instruction then implicitly is what? Be holy,

be loving, be gracious. But it also lays out

for us then a path of living. It comes to us

in instruction. It comes to us in commands. It

comes to us in all different kinds of ways. But

that is the way that the Lord guides us. That

is the way that the Lord reveals his will for

our life. Samuel didn't know what the Lord's

will was for his life because he didn't have

that relationship with the Lord where he would

hear his voice and then know that that was the

Lord speaking. And that's what's going on in

this chapter, obviously. He didn't yet know the

Lord. He wasn't used to hearing the voice of

the Lord. He didn't recognize it as the voice

of the Lord, but the Lord is remedying that because

he has a plan for Samuel. Yeah. I believe so,

yeah. Anybody else? Wait, you're saying he is

a believer? Yes. How is that? How is that what?

How are you understanding that? How did you get

to that point of understanding? Well, I guess,

I mean, I don't, if you want to say he's not,

I don't have a problem with that. I just, he's

ministering to the Lord. He knows Sam. He has

a heart for the Lord, it would seem. And then

when the Lord talks to him, he responds. When

he's not sure of the voice, he goes to Eli. it

almost feels like he's brought there and he's

just doing the action and like it says there's

no you know you don't know the Lord yet and the

Lord hasn't revealed himself to you so I guess

I took it as he's not well remember the revelation

of the Lord has to do with his will for Samuel's

life how is he going to use Samuel what's Samuel's

role going to be try to figure out at what point

does he Well, I don't know that they, you could,

if you understand that this was his conversion

then you would have a conversion explanation.

But the Bible doesn't tell us every in Judges

I don't think we ever got a conversion narrative.

Did we? Yeah. So I mean we don't always expect

to see it there. Well, he knows it's the Lord.

Well, I didn't catch that, so I don't really

have a comment. Did you find that significant?

Anybody else find that significant? Did you,

did you, did you dad? No. Right. If you believe

that, that's fine. Right. Well, I think in the

middle of the chapter here, the point is God

is speaking to Samuel. and Samuel is going to

finally understand that this is God speaking

to him, and then he's going to relay the message

that God gives to him to Eli. So that's going

to be the pattern of his life. So that's why

I think that's what that is telling us, that

he wasn't a prophet yet. He was a kid who was

ministering before Eli in the temple, but the

Lord is going to do something and change his

role in Israel. So that's what I think that means.

Alright, then skip to verse 19. And Samuel grew

and the Lord was with him and he did let none

of his words fall to the ground. What does that

mean? Okay, so Samuel relayed exactly the word

that the Lord had given him and everything that

Samuel prophesied came true. None of his words

fell to the ground dead. Everything that he prophesied

came true. And everything that he told people

about the Lord was the truth. Now that's the

only definition of a prophet. There's no such

thing as a prophet that's right most of the time.

Throughout the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.

If you're a prophet, then when you say, thus

says the Lord, then everything that comes after

that had better happen. and it better be absolutely

true. And if it's not, then you're not a prophet.

There's no such thing. What good would a prophet

do that's right 90 % of the time? Because if

I follow him 100 % of the time, which is what

I'm going to do if I think he's a prophet, then

I'm going to be in trouble 10 % of the time.

The point is, he's speaking for God. God doesn't

lie. Everything he says is true. Okay, now we

see the reversal of what we had in the introduction

in verse 20. And all Israel, from Dan even to

Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to

be a prophet of the Lord. So I just point that

out, that the Lord worked. Now, when the word

of the Lord is scarce, what do we expect the

condition of the community to be? poor so but

when the Lord remedies that and he begins to

speak again then we expect that good things are

coming and the Lord appeared again in verse 21

the Lord appeared again in Shiloh for the Lord

revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word

of the Lord so again that's just the that's the

word of the Lord what that is instructing Samuel,

establishing him as a prophet, and then giving

him his marching orders or his life's purpose.

So that's the story. We start off, Samuel's there

in the temple. He's doing his normal work. He

hears the voice of the Lord. He doesn't recognize

it. Three times the Lord calls out to him, and

three times Samuel goes to Eli. Eli finally tells

him, answer and hear from the Lord. And the fourth

time then when the Lord comes, Samuel responds

and he receives the word from the Lord. And he

goes and he delivers that word to Eli at Eli's

insistence. And then the conclusion. So what

application, what lessons can we learn from this?

Let's take one from verse 1. And the child Samuel

ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the

word of the Lord was precious in those days.

There was no open vision. We've kind of hinted

at it. Where the word of the Lord is, it's a

bad condition. But what I would like us to see,

not only that, is the miracle of it. I think

it has become, it can, if we're not careful.

Kind of become ho -hum. We can have our Bibles

with us everywhere we go. But it's a miracle

that the God of creation, the God who created

everything and rules over everything, has decided

to reveal himself to you and me in this. That's

a miracle. And when we read that, and we find

direction for our lives, we find instruction

there. We find out who God is or we find out

who we are. That's a miracle. It's a miracle

that we would be able to say with 100 % certainty

that I know who God is because God told me who

he is in his word. That's miraculous. And if

you lose the wonder of that, then you're going

to lose your love for the word, you're going

to lose your respect for the word, and ultimately

you lose respect for God. It's not a ho -hum

thing. To pick up the word of God. It is amazing.

Really. I remind myself. I remind you. It is

a miracle. When God spoke to Samuel. We would

think. That is a miracle. I have never heard

God speak. But you have. You have heard him speak.

It is a miracle. Whether it is written on a page.

And you read it. Or it comes in some kind of

audible voice. Only I can hear or other people

can hear. It's just as miraculous written here

before us as it was when it came to Samuel. Alright,

that's the first lesson. Number two in verses

two through four. The wonder of God to speak

to faithful people in the ordinary course of

their lives. Now, if we take Melissa's leaning

and say this is a conversion experience, or if

we say that he was already converted, we'll just

use that language, and the Lord is speaking to

him as one of his own already. It's just in the

normal course of his life. Samuel just finished

his day. doing what he was supposed to do, and

he went and laid down, and the Lord calls to

him. Now, there's all kinds of people that think

that if we're going to hear from the Lord, we've

got to gin it up. We've got to do all kinds of

things. But in the Bible, God comes to people

just in the normal course of their lives. Faithful

people. Now, faithful people. Samuel was doing

what he was supposed to do. And the Lord spoke

to him. So if you don't expect to encounter the

Lord in the ordinary course of your day or of

your life, then you are wrong. You should expect

that. That's when the Lord talks to us. That's

when we feel his presence. Yes, we feel his presence

when we pray, when we study his word, when we

worship with his people. But you ought to feel

and you should feel his presence throughout your

day. And you never know when the Lord is going

to speak to you. In help or in correction, in

reproof, encouragement, or whatever else. But

it's in the normal course of his life. I want

to emphasize that. And it was for faithful. Faithful

people. Now, then in verse 5 through 10, we have

the whole story of the Lord speaking to Samuel.

He doesn't know who it is. He goes to Eli. What

are we going to learn from that? Okay, I didn't

write that one down, but that's fine. You've

hit on something that I wanted to recognize when

you say older. What was Samuel? He was a youngster.

So what is required? Experience. Growth. Now,

it's perfectly, we read this, that Samuel had

to hear the voice of the Lord three times, four

times, I guess, before he answered. And he had

to get the instruction from Eli that he ought

to answer the Lord. How many times do you think

later on in the book of Samuel, the Lord will

speak to Samuel, and how many times will I have

to repeat the same message before Samuel hears

it? In other words, is this an ongoing pattern

in his life? The Lord always has to talk to him

four times? No. Now, I remember when I was first

converted, I used to pray, Lord, I am a young,

unwise man, unlearned. Please condescend and

make your will known to me. An older, wiser Christian

said to me, that's okay when you're a kid, but

that's not the goal. God doesn't have to physically

shut a door to keep you from walking in. He could,

but to require that or to think that that's normal

in your life is wrong. But how do we go from,

I had to hear the word of the Lord four times

before I recognized it, to I just heard the still

small voice one time and I heard it and I did.

And do you want to be there? Do I want to be

there or do I want to be the baby? And the obvious

answer is none of us want to be the baby. But

what's required to get out of babyhood? Infancy.

Food. You got to have some food, right? You got

to have some strength. You've got to exercise.

So in the spiritual life, or in the Christian's

life, what's he got to do? He's got to get all

the nutrition he can, and he's got to be used

to hearing the voice of the Lord, and he's got

to be used to following the voice of the Lord.

There's three things that are going on with Samuel.

He hears first, doesn't he? Now you can't listen

if you don't hear, and you can't act if you don't

hear. So that's the first thing he has to do

is he has to hear. Now, we hear where? In our

Bibles, in the testimony of his people. It all

goes back to the word. If you hear the voice

of the Lord through one of his people, one of

those people got that word from their Bible.

That's God's wisdom. So that's the first thing.

You hear the word of God. The second thing is

you have to listen. It's not enough just to hear

it. You've got to what? Believe it? You've got

to examine it. You've got to study it. You've

got to know what it says. And then what's required?

You've got to put into action whatever it is

that you've heard and listened. And that's exactly

what Samuel did. He heard it first, then he listened,

and then he did. And that's the experience that

you need. Now, it might take... the Lord talking

to you four times. He might have to physically

shut a door to keep you from going in or open

a door so that you know where you should go when

you're a kid, when you're a baby. But by the

time you get to be middle -aged and by the time

you get to be an old and mature Christian, you

ought to be able to discern the voice of the

Lord and be so used to hearing that voice and

so eager to submit to that voice that you just

go natural. It's not okay to stay a baby. If

you've heard that, you've been told wrong. So

that's one thing. We've got to be experienced

if we're going to grow in our Christian life.

We've got to experience God's voice and we're

going to experience it here. What about this?

God did condescend to him, didn't he? He was

gracious. So just the gracious condescension

of God to speak four times. But four times to

a boy. Remember that. It was four times to a

boy. Now that is wonderful. And it's just full

of love. And it tells us something about God's

purpose, doesn't it? He's going to accomplish

his purpose. But we're not going to fall into

presumption. We're going to... exercise our faith.

We're going to hear it and we're going to go.

Verse 11. The Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I

will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears

of everyone that hears it shall tingle. What

I used to hear in both the ears. You hear the

ears, but here we have both the ears. So what's

that tell us? What's the lesson there for us?

Yeah, let me read. Well. Yeah, I mean, you could

definitely say it when the Lord works. It's not

unnoticed. So, you know, you can apply that in

all kinds of ways. How long was this going on?

How long were Eli's sons being vile in the temple?

Years, right? Decades, maybe. What does that

tell us about God? He suffers a long time. The

sin and the unfaithfulness of people, doesn't

he? But then there comes a day, what verse 12

tells us. In that day I will perform against

Eli all things which I have spoken concerning

his house. When I begin, I will also make an

end. So what's the lesson? We see the long suffering

of God, and what? Well, when he acts, it is a

swift. But what else? It's in the end of the

verse. 12. When he starts, that's what it says,

right? He will also finish. Now for those of

us who are in Christ, that's a great encouragement,

isn't it? He began this work in me. That new

life that I had within me. And then he's going

to bring it to a completion. A completion that

he knows in his time. And after he's accomplished

whatever he intends to accomplish in me or through

me. The same is true for you if you are in Christ.

The same is true for every work of God. It's

not just his work of redemption. It's not just

his work of gathering all of his people to himself.

Every work, every purpose of God will be accomplished.

We won't see it all in our lifetime unless the

Lord returns. Then we'll be able to say we saw

the final reckoning. But for the unconverted,

it's equally as true for everything that we see.

The Lord has a purpose for the United States

of America. We're celebrating our 250th anniversary.

And when he's finished with that, then that's

gone. It's done. When he begins with you and

then ends. And for everything, the Lord works

perfectly. He uses whatever means he needs, he

makes use of to accomplish his purpose. And he

will do it. And then we could just say, if we

just look at the bigger picture of the chapter,

we see the same thing. God began by calling to

Samuel. And he completed that, didn't he? By

the end of the chapter, Samuel is established

as a prophet of the Lord. He hears the voice

of God and he delivers that voice to the people.

God started it way back at the beginning of the

chapter. speaking to this little boy, and before

you know it, he's established as a prophet. He

began that work, and he completed it. It took

calling to him four times, but he completed it.

How about verses 13 and 14? For I have told him

that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity

which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves

vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore

I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity

of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice,

no offering forever. What's the lesson there?

What's that? 13 and 14. What's God doing to Eli?

He is doing that. What do you call it? What would

you call it if your boss came to you and said

these kinds of things to you? He's holding you

accountable, right? Right? God's holding Eli

accountable. Why? Because he gave him certain

responsibilities, didn't he? He made him a priest

and a judge. And then he expected Eli to act

responsibly and do what the Lord had called him

to do as a priest and a judge. And when Eli didn't

do that, there were consequences. And not only

consequences for himself, but for his whole family.

Now, none of us are priests in the sense that

Eli was. None of us are judges. However, the

Lord has given you certain responsibilities.

And he's getting certain people into your care.

When we will have to be accountable for the way

that we act and the way that we are responsible

for these other people, the Lord put Eli in charge.

And Eli just let his sons... make the Lord's

name a laughingstock and discourage his people

from worship. He made them to hate the sacrifices.

It's no small thing, no matter how large your

sphere of responsibility is, to mistreat or to

neglect that responsibility. Now, individually,

what is my responsibility? What is your responsibility?

I'm responsible for myself, right? How is it

that I make use of what the Lord has given me?

Maybe mentally, physically, and in any other

league. How do I foster my relationship with

the Lord? How do I search hard after Him? How

do I make sure that my mind is right? How do

I examine myself? That's where it starts. And

it has to start there, right? I mean, that's

pretty common. That's just common sense. You

want to be a boss? Well, how disciplined are

you? But it goes beyond that. So you have certain

responsibilities maybe at work. Maybe you have

other responsibilities at home. You have a wife

or a husband. You have children. You have certain

responsibilities here. The Lord holds us accountable.

And when we, we just, we can't just cast it off.

We can't just say, I don't like what the Lord

has told me to do here. I'd rather not. There

will be consequences for that. Now, why is it

reasonable that God holds us responsible? Was

Eli lacking the equipment that he needed? God

equipped him, didn't he, to do the work. Was

he lacking in direction? Was he lacking in instruction?

No, he wasn't, was he? It's perfectly reasonable

that God would say, I equipped you, I put you

where you were supposed to be, and I instructed

you how you should act, and you didn't do any

of those things. Now it's easy for us to point

the finger at Eli, but it's not so easy when

we realize that the same can be said for us time

and time and time again in our lives. We don't

have the excuse of God didn't equip me to do

this work. I didn't ask for this responsibility.

God equipped you, God put you there, and he told

you how you should act. We are all without excuse.

Verses 15 to 18, Eli calls to him and he says,

tell me what the Lord said. And Samuel, he's

scared. Who wouldn't be scared? What's the lesson?

What can we derive from that? It's not hard.

Following the Lord isn't easy. It's just not.

The Lord calls you and me to difficult things

in our personal lives, in our family lives, in

our work life, in our church life. It's not easy.

And just because it's not easy doesn't mean it's

not the Lord's way. It's not always easy, but

what is always required? Faith. Samuel had received

a word from the Lord, and he was delivering that

word to Eli. Yeah, he was scared. He was still

a baby. He wasn't a full -grown man yet. But

he had to have faith to believe that he could

deliver this difficult word to Eli, and the Lord

was going to honor that word, and the Lord was

going to protect him should Eli get angry at

Samuel. It's not always easy, but it always requires

faith. I don't have my clock today. Okay. Last

one. The insidious and disastrous way of sin.

Eli had opportunities. Maybe his boys. Had. Maybe

they would have changed. When he's hypothetical.

Maybe. Maybe they wouldn't have. But their sin

was not. I don't want to say discovered. Made

known to them. By the one person. that should

have made it known to them. Now, again, we can

apply this in the way that we interact with other

people. If God's given you responsibilities,

the responsibility of being a wife to a husband,

then you are going to have to confront that husband

from time to time when he sins. You have to do

it the right way, but that's the responsibility

the Lord has given you. It's not always going

to be fun. You're going to have to examine yourself.

You're going to have to hold yourself responsible.

You're going to have to bite the bullet. You're

going to have to bear the pain of it. You're

going to have to be willing to say, I messed

up here. This is wrong. This is sin. I've got

to change. I've got to get rid of this habit.

I've got to change this behavior, whatever it

is. Because if we don't, what happens? What happened

to this whole family is wrecked and ruined. There's

no other way around it. The sin, when it was

in its infancy, was not dealt with. And it was

just allowed to grow. It was allowed, and that's

how sin is. It starts small, but it wraps its

tentacles around us. It's like cancer. If you

don't treat the cancer, what? It just spreads

and eats your whole body. And then what? There

was no changing. Sin had them wrapped up where

there was nothing they could do. The sacrifices

weren't going to last very much longer. That's

what the Lord is saying. Yeah. The sacrifice

is covered over for a while, but the day of reckoning

is coming. There was nothing left. There was

nothing left. They don't have an advocate. They'd

sinned against the Lord. You can. Yeah. So, but

what do we know now that we've read chapter 3?

And actually, if you just read the rest of it,

you'll find that it wasn't a rebuke there. Right.

But it's not a rebuke. What is a rebuke? Is there

any way for somebody to miss a rebuke? No. Okay.

In other words, it's just plain English. You,

person A, are in sin in this way. It's not, have

you thought about what you're doing there? The

person's like, well, yeah, I have. And then I

walk away and say, well, I repeat them. Well,

no, you didn't. So, you know, to say that there's

something amiss here or I'm getting bad reports

is not laying it plainly before them. Well, the

Lord tells us that he didn't do it. It's not

me. No, but in verse 3, what? He restrained them

not. He rebuked them not. That's in verse 13

of chapter 3. You have the new King James there,

you probably have rebuked in verse 13. Right.

Do you think that means that, I guess this is

kind of subjective, so it's not really a big

deal, but I guess when I first came in before,

I thought Eli was kind of weak, probably was

a believer, if you will. But now I see that verse,

and it's kind of like, well, the sacrifices of

the goats and the bulls weren't good enough for

him. It says sacrifice operating forever. It

seems like their sin was not covered. Well, it

says of Eli's house. Yeah. But the judgment that

was going to come upon his house was laid out.

None of his sons were going to go to old age

and they were going to be removed from the priesthood.

Eli is no different than any of the other judges

that we've looked at, except for Othniel, right?

He's the ideal. He's the one that acted the way

that he should have. All the rest of the judges

Didn't do what we expected them to do throughout.

And Eli finds himself firmly entrenched in that

same camp. But what we know about the judges

is what? What we know about the Lord's people

in the old covenant was what? Faith. They believed.

Remember David, a man after God's own heart,

an adulterer. He's not a murderer exactly, but,

you know, he... dealt treacherously with the

man whose wife he slept with. He numbered the

people and caused all kinds of death in Israel,

all kinds of bad things, right? You don't need

to list them all. But what? He's a man after

God's own heart. Why? Because nothing came between

him and the Lord. He never went after the Baals.

He never gave his heart to another god. Faith.

So that's what we can say about Eli. And that's

what we can say about all the rest of the judges.

That's what the writer of the Hebrews tells us

we should say about them. It's by faith. They

lived by faith. Not perfectly. But there is hope,

right? And that really, we end there, and we

should always end there. There is hope. This

is a terrible situation. The temple is a, you

know, or the tabernacle is a place where nobody

wants to go. The Holy of Holies. People don't

want to go there. Just all kinds of treacherous

and vile things going on. But the Lord works,

and what? He moves them all out of the way, and

he brings in then a faithful young boy named

Samuel, and then eventually he brings in a new

line of priests. still descendants of Aaron,

in Zadok. So we are never left without hope when

it comes to the Lord's working or the power of

sin. The power of sin, as insidious as it is,

as disastrous as the consequences are, the great

overcomer is able to move those things out of

the way or change minds, change lives, and overcome

that sin. but only the Lord. That's the only

place where there's any hope. So, I'm just going

to say this and we'll be over. We'll be done.

We see these things in Eli. But we've got to

examine ourselves and see where it is that we've

refused to rebuke. First, ourselves. What have

I allowed to creep in quietly and secretly into

my life that I should not have allowed? And if

I don't deal with it now, I should expect that

it's going to get worse and worse and worse.

And it may not only be me that bears the consequences

of my sin. It may be others that are... Tangled

up in that web and experience hurt, heartache,

pain. So always ourselves first. And then we

can with confidence and a clear conscience be

useful by God in other ways in this kingdom.

And if God will use us, then those people that

are entangled in sin will find relief. they will

find a savior who can break that power. Anybody

got a question before I sit down?