IntElecS
Infinite Never-ending Trinity Everlasting Lord Excellent Christ Savior

Once a small company that served control systems, now a couple that serves the All Powerful God.

To navigate the pages for this site, Scroll to the bottom of the screen and select the page you want to view.  Some pages have sub-pages as the seven sayings series so you must be on that page to scroll down and pick its sub-pages.

All of life's answers are found in His book.

But Who Is Listening

1 Samuel 3: 20 “And all Israel qfrom Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was ||established to be a prophet of the Lord.” [1]

I.   Understood

     A. Everyone

     B. Everywhere

II. Understated

     A. Established

     B. Elevated

III. Undermined

     A. Exploited

     B. Expended


 

Introduction:  After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the descendants of Israel were finally in their Promised Land.  They had lived under bondage so long in Egypt that they didn’t know how to worship God when they finally got the chance.  They fought wars and were successful in displacing people whom God allowed them to defeat.  Though they had been warned to keep themselves pure from the influences of people around them who were against God they still weren’t obedient to God.  So God allowed judges who decided cases over them to keep the laws as Moses had instructed them but even some judges were disobedient to God.

We can read about many of the judges in the book named Judges.  Some had colorful claims to fame and many met hard endings.  After all the judges in that book, when we get to the end we read this, “Judges 21:25 "sIn those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” [2]  The next book is about a Moabite girl who would marry a man named Boaz.  It starts out this way, “Ruth 1:1 "*Now it came to pass in the days when athe judges †ruled, that there was ba famine in the land. And a certain man of cBeth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.” [3]

Why did Elimelech go to Moab?  The Jews hated the Moabites and were warned to have nothing to do with them yet that is where Elimelech went anyway.  He went there because God allowed another famine in the Promised Land.  He went even though he was warned not to.

The people had not learned their lesson to have faith in God alone and to finally figure out that they could only trust Him.  Elimelech did the wrong thing that God turned out to be a blessing.  God used Ruth to bring David into the world and would eventually bring Jesus into the world through that mixed marriage.

Why did God tell the Israelites not to intermingle with the other races?  Because He knew they were too weak to lead the other races into complete devotion to God.  That is what He expects from us.  Instead we choose to believe we can trust everybody except God.

Last week we heard about the man named Eli whom God chose to lead the children of Israel during a time when people had lost direction from God.  Eli was supposed to be the supreme spiritual leader of God’s chosen people.

There are two books in the Bible about a man named Samuel, who followed behind Eli; and there is a book named for Joshua, the man who led Israel into the Promised Land.  There is even a book named for Ruth who was a Moabite.  There is no book named after Eli.  Think about that.  He was the man supposed to be closest to God who would judge in the name of God but today he is only an afterthought that we think of as a bad example.

Scripture:  The scripture today is 1 Samuel 3:20.  Please stand if you can for God’s written word.

Prayer:  Please be seated.

Message:  We left off last week with Eli giving Samuel excellent advice that we must understand today.  “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.”  Eli was not hearing from God because Eli had not listened to God.  He loved his sons and that is a good thing but it is not a good thing to love anyone or anything more than God.  Eli had been warned and he chose to ignore the warning so now he was not hearing from God.  Though Eli was not hearing from God he knew that Samuel was.

So this is what happened next.  Read 1 Samuel 3:11-14...  Everyone who heard this would have tingling ears but who would tell it?  Who would tell that Eli would have an end of his dynasty?  God told Samuel that Eli had already heard from God about Eli’s decision to ignore the terrible behavior of his two sons.  Now sacrifice and offerings would not cover the sins for Eli’s sons and for Eli himself.  Enough was enough.

Have you ever felt that there was something that you just absolutely must do but you dreaded it so much that it kept you awake?  Well so did Samuel. “15 And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.” [4]

The Bible has many examples of irony and here is another one.  Samuel heard from God three times and mistakenly thought it was Eli calling him.  Now Samuel had heard from God but this time Eli did call him.  This time Samuel didn’t want to go to Eli.

"16 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I. 17 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 any ||thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee. 18 And Samuel told him †every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, mIt is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good. [5]

Eli said that he understood and knew that it was the Lord.  Is there a hint of apprehension from Eli when he said, “let Him do what seemeth Him good?”  If God allows a thing and it only seems to be good it is because we have not learned faith.  That’s what’s going so wrong today!  We seem to think that God only seems to be.  Esse Quam Videri is our state motto.  It is Latin for “To be rather than to seem.”

I hear Christians complain about a thing that has been going on for a while.  They say things like, “When is this going to be over?  I suppose God knows what He is doing.”  God is!  God doesn’t seem to know what He is doing!  God doesn’t seem!  God is!  Eli in essence was questioning God’s definition of what is good.  Maybe that’s why he ignored Samuel even though he knew that Samuel had spoken God’s truth.  The truth is God is Good!

The text continues with, “19 And Samuel ngrew, and othe Lord was with him, and pdid let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel qfrom Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was ||established to be a prophet of the Lord.” [6]

Samuel did not waste words.  He grew in stature and in the Spirit of God.  Everybody understood that.  From one end of the Promised Land to the other end, everywhere they understood that Samuel said what God told him to say and he did not mince words.

Though his position was understated as a humble student of the judge Eli; now everyone everywhere knew that Samuel had been elevated by God to be the established prophet in the land.  We live in a time when God’s written word is being trampled on by those who do not believe that God not only seems to be but is and always has been God.  We look at the world the way we think it should be.  Not through faith in God but through faith in ourselves.  We have not changed.

Is it the fault of the ones who are supposed to be speaking for God that we are not taking Him seriously anymore?  Eli was the man who was supposed to lead the world in obedience to God yet he was more concerned about his relationship with his obstinate sons that with God.  What are we preachers doing today?

Shiloh is where the people came to hear from Joshua about the land division that God had planned for them.  It was where they heard from God.  It was where God reveled Himself to Samuel.  It was a holy place.  This Church Sanctuary is a Holy place!

Now read 1 Samuel 4:1 - 4...  The Ark of God was at Shiloh.  The elders were so comfortable in abusing God’s power that they didn’t believe that God would ever take his power away even though they had taken themselves away from God.  They had undermined God’s authority over them and had confidence in a thing that once represented God instead of having faith in God alone.  They could see the Ark so they believed in the Ark.  And who of all people were there with the Ark but Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas!

The Ark of the Covenant of God was not there anymore because they themselves had broken the covenant with God.  They exploited God’s protection so that God’s power had been expended and they only had themselves to blame.

We know the end of this particular story.  We talked about it last week.  Eli witnessed the fact that his two sons died in battle and it pained him greatly.  When Eli heard that the Ark of the Covenant with God had been taken, he fell over backwards in his chair and died.  His daughter in law named his grandson Ichobod which meant, “The tglory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.” [7]

God supplied the plans for that box so that believers would have something that they could take with them.  It was never about the box we know as the Ark of the Covenant!  It has always been God and it always will be God.

Prayer: 

Invitation:  The Ark of the Covenant is a symbol of Jesus.  God made His covenant with those who would choose to have faith in Him alone when He sent His Only Begotten Son.  People instead choose each other; their children, their beliefs, even their box. 

The Old Testament is the predecessor for the One who will never get old.  Behold God makes all things new.  Jesus is our New Testament.

It is time to come back to Him.  Jesus came as that misunderstood, understated Savior and Satan thought that he had undermined Him.  Unlike the Ark of the Covenant though, Jesus will never be expended.  His love for you will always be and all we need to do is believe.  When others say this or that, believe Jesus.  When you believe that you have the right answer, believe Jesus.  When you think Satan is winning the battle, believe Jesus.  Believe Jesus.  Believe Jesus!

If you have been hanging on to things that don’t work and you are ready for Him to truly save you from yourself, come to Jesus.  If you are waiting for others to speak because you have stopped listening, come to Jesus.  He will never stop speaking.  Will you come?

q See 2 Sam. 3:10.
|| Or, faithful. So ch. 2:35.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 1 Sa 3:20). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
s See ch. 17:6.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Jdg 21:25). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
* About B.C. 1322, or later. Comp. ch. 1:1, 2.
a Judg. 2:16.
† Heb. judged.
b Judg. 6:4–6?
c Judg. 17:8, &c.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Ru 1:1). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[4] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 1 Sa 3:15). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
† Heb. so add. See Ruth 1:17.
|| Or, word.
† Heb. all the things, or, words.
m Comp. Job 1:21. & 2:10. Ps. 39:9. Isai. 39:8.
[5] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 1 Sa 3:16–18). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
n See Judg. 13:24.
o See Gen. 39:2. So Josh. 6:27.
p So ch. 9:6. Comp. Esth. 6:10.
q See 2 Sam. 3:10.
|| Or, faithful. So ch. 2:35.
[6] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 1 Sa 3:19–20). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
t Ps. 26:8 (Heb.).
[7] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 1 Sa 4:21). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.