Sound Doctrine

Guest (Male): The prophet Samuel is a great example for us of someone willing to listen to what God was telling him. Here's Pastor Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: Samuel not only learned to hear God, but to be God's channel so God could work through him. How do you do this? Well, if you look back at Samuel's life, notice he was ministering to the Lord. He worshiped the Lord. He walked with the Lord. He waited upon the Lord. And then God finally came and spoke to him.

We need to do all of the above. And God will not only speak to us, but he'll speak to us so he can speak through us. He saves us because he loves us and he wants us to be with him. But more than that, he saves us so we can touch others for him. That's why you're saved.

Guest (Male): Thanks for being with us today for Sound Doctrine. We'll join Pastor Jeff Johnson in 1 Samuel chapter 3 in just a moment. These are difficult days, no doubt about it. Evil is on the rise, and those who stand for the truth are routinely ridiculed. But in the midst of the mess, God has an important mission and calling for us. Today, you'll be encouraged to embrace God's call with open arms. Here's Pastor Jeff with a message based in 1 Samuel chapter 3. And I think you'll see some resemblances between the world back then and the world we live in now.

Jeff Johnson: God always speaks for a purpose. And this purpose in this case was to get Samuel's response. He wanted to see Samuel respond to him. Now, during the early hours of the morning, you know those times where all of a sudden the Spirit begins to stir you and the Lord begins to wake you up, and you think, why am I awake? It's 2:00 in the morning. And the Lord's trying to say, "Hey, I want to speak to you." And you're going, "Oh, not now, Lord. I gotta get up tomorrow. I mean, I got a big day ahead of me. You woke me up in the middle of the night."

Well, I've learned not to do it that way. I've learned that when you wake up in the middle of the night and you can't sleep, there's a reason for that, for God's stirring you to speak to you about something. And you need to meditate on the Lord during that time as God wakes you up to speak to you.

And so Samuel is right there and he says, "Yes, Lord. What do you want, Lord?" You know, in John 10 it says, "And those that hear my voice." The shepherd's calling. Are you hearing his voice? It's one thing to hear his voice, but then he says, "And they that follow me." You see, that's important, that we not only hear the voice of the Lord, but that we follow, that we respond.

I mean, come on, if you don't respond, you're in a very dangerous area, a very dangerous place. Let me read to you Proverbs 29. Look at this, Proverbs 29:1: "He that being often reproved, hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." You see, there's a real danger for you to hear the voice of the Lord this morning and to hear the gospel and to be pulled on to receive Christ and to reject it. Because every time you reject, you get stronger and harder in your heart. You get stiffer in your stance. And you go, they didn't get me again.

What are you winning, man? You're the loser. Eventually, you'll be destroyed. That's what you're going for. Why not come now? Let the Lord really take your heart and take that heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Only he can do that.

You know, there were two people that were crucified on either side of our Lord. Two thieves. And so there's hope. The second reason why only one man was saved was so that man would not presume that you do need to get right with the Lord, that you do need to not only hear the Lord, but you need to acknowledge the Lord as the thief did, and everyone needs to. Because one thief went to be with the Lord, the other one went to the other place.

Look at verse 9: "Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel, 'Now listen, here's the plan.'" You know, because you're thinking, well, what do I do? How do I hear God's voice? And when I hear it, what do I do? He says, "Listen, here's how you hear God's voice. Go, lie down, be quiet, be still. And if it be, if he calls on you, that you will say, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.'"

So Samuel went, laid down in his place. And the Lord did come and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel, Samuel." Then Samuel answered, "Speak, for thy servant heareth." So really, according to the scripture, we need to, if you're going to hear God's voice, lie down, be still, meditate upon the Lord, and then begin to listen.

Now, what do you listen to? Because there's a lot of voices, isn't there? There's a lot of things going through your mind. Which is the Lord? Which is not the Lord? I'll tell you, God's given us his word. Isn't that beautiful, that we can judge all things by the word of God. If what God has given you is not in this book, throw it out.

Listen, there's a lot of people that are getting weird visions and weird things and they say it's from God. But if it's not in here, it's probably the pizza they ate the night before. Or it could be the enemy leading them astray and deceiving them. You will never be deceived as long as you've got God's word confirming everything that comes into your mind and into your life. Isn't that neat? The Lord made sure that we wouldn't go wrong or go astray.

Now, notice that Samuel said, he didn't say exactly what Eli told him to say. When you hear the Lord, say, "Speak, Lord." But Samuel comes up with, "Speak." I think he was still not sure it was the Lord. And so he just said, instead of "Speak, Lord," he said, "Speak. Whoever you are. If you're the Lord, great. If you're not, then, you know, I'm not making this mistake and saying, Lord."

Now, if he speaks, we need to acknowledge him. And this is exactly what God was waiting for Samuel to do. May God give us ears to hear, but more than that, may he also give us feet to do what we hear. This is the man that God will use. This is the woman that God will use. One that is ready, one that is yielded, one who is hearing, but not just hearing, but doing, obeying.

Remember what Jesus said? Some of you are saying, I want to get into the meatier things of God. I want to get into the deeper things of God. Do you? Do you really want to get down and get spiritual and get into the deeper things of God? Then Jesus said, "My meat is to do the will of the Father." That's the meat of the Lord. You hear it, it's beautiful. Faith comes by hearing and that of the word of God. But then when you begin to do it, it becomes the meat of the whole thing. Begin to step out in faith on God's word.

Look at verse 11: "And the Lord said unto Samuel, 'Behold, I will do a new thing.'" And here's the Lord's voice speaking to him. "I'm going to do a new thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle." In other words, he says, "I'm going to ring everybody's bell." You know how somebody comes up to you and goes like, thwack, like that on both ears? Boom. And you hear bells. God says, "I'm going to do it to everybody that hears what you're about to say. I'm going to blow people's minds and what I'm going to give you to say."

Actually, God was preparing Samuel to speak God's judgment upon Eli and his sons because of their evil ways, because of how they had misrepresented God and leading the children of Israel astray. The question is, why didn't God speak to Eli about what was going on with his sons and all? Listen, God tried to speak to Eli. Remember in chapter 2, from verse 27 on, remember how God raised up a man, we don't even know his name, a prophet? He came and he told Eli exactly what was going on. But Eli was dull of hearing. And he just kind of let it go in one ear and out the other and said, "Well, what was that?" He didn't hear. And so God is using Samuel now to bring the point home.

You know what this really showed me? And as I was going over it, I thought, oh my gosh. Do you know that if God comes to you to use you in a certain way and he speaks to you about doing something, that if you don't do it, he'll say, "Okay," and he'll go use somebody else to do it? Did you know that? He says, "Hey, I want to use you and I want to do this and this is what I want you to do." And you're going, "Oh no. Oh no." And we back off and then he just goes, "Okay." And he goes over to this guy, "You want to do it?" "Yeah." And then he pours out his blessing on them for doing it. Lord, help us not miss out on blessings.

Verse 12. Look at this: "In that day I will perform against Eli all the things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I will also make an end." God spoke of things as they had already been done. In other words, when God speaks about something, he sees it already done. So when he spoke it as far as concerning Eli's house, it was over as far as he was concerned. Prophecy's like that.

And God says there's a reason for that. Because when I speak about something before it's even happened, that when it finally does happen, you would know that I am the Lord and that you would believe. And so God is allowing many prophecies to be fulfilled today. Why? To get people's attention, that he is the Lord and what he says is going to happen. In fact, he's already written the whole book. We know the end. It's already planned. It's going to be fulfilled to the dotting of every i, the crossing of every t. God's word will be fulfilled. You can count on it. He is the Lord.

Look at verse 13: "For I have told him that I will judge his house forever and for the iniquity which he knoweth because, notice, his sons made themselves vile and, he says to Eli, you restrained them not." That's interesting. It seems to me that in a Jewish home, the mother will raise the children, but the father will discipline and train them. And if he doesn't do that, it's on his shoulders. It's on his head.

You say, Jeff, wait a minute, I'm a Christian woman. I've given my heart to the Lord. I don't have a husband. That's all right. Well, I don't have somebody to do that part. Well, then you gotta do that part. Look at, Timothy was raised in an unequally yoked home. His father was a Gentile. His mother was a believer. The grandmother was a believer. It just takes one to dedicate their lives to the Lord and to pour their lives into the child and that child will be all right. Just lean towards God's word and he'll give you the strength and the wisdom and the power to do it. If your husband's not saved, don't be discouraged. Again, it just takes one.

But through Eli's parental neglect, he failed to restrain his children. What does that mean? Well, you know the proverb: spare the rod, you what? Spoil the child. I mean, is that hard to understand? Spare the rod, spoil the child. Who said that? God said that.

Let me impress it upon you a little bit more. Proverbs chapter 29, again, verse 15. Proverbs 29:15, look at this: "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child that is left to himself brings his mother to shame." Kids are asking for it all the time. "Do you love me?" they're saying. "Then will you lay it on me?" We're going, "Oh no. Oh no. I don't believe in this type of punishment."

Well, what does the Bible say? The Bible says spare the rod, spoil the child. "Oh, but what my neighbor-- but there's neighbors. And if I'm spanking my child and the neighbor hears, they'll turn me in and my kid's gone." Listen, as we do it as unto the Lord, and I'm not talking about beating a child, I'm not talking about child abuse, I'm talking about everything done decent and in order when you've given a child a direction, the child doesn't do it, you give them the consequences if they don't do it, and then you steady on. And in your training, you know, it's like training of animal. You always gotta go over it and over it and over it and over it, then finally they get it and you go, "Come here, come here, come here." And the dog goes, "Okay."

And you don't even have to have the cookie anymore. It'll just come. After a while, it's a training. "Don't touch that." "Oh yeah?" Right? It's a training. We just have to be consistent. And when we-- and listen, don't use your hand, use something else. But use it firmly, consistently, steadfastly. And then afterwards, love them. Tell them why and hold them and just be with them during their time of wrestling and saying, "Oh no, I hate your guts," or whatever. You know, just love them.

We need to do this. If we fail in doing this, we're growing up a generation that is going to run wild. This is part of nurturing and admonishing our children. Eli failed to do it. He lost his kids. That's our responsibility as parents.

Verse 14: "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." In other words, there's not a sacrifice that's going to save his family. I mean, that's it. It's history. It's almost like they committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which if you don't understand that, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is when you turn away God's Spirit tugging on your heart to receive Christ and you keep on saying, "No, I don't want to receive Christ. I want to do my own thing." And you go to your grave doing your own thing, that sin will never be forgiven. You will never be with God. You will be forever forsaken.

This is why in our world that we're living in today when bullets are flying everywhere, you better get right. You're not sure what's going to happen out there. It's time to prepare to meet your God. And in this society, we all need to be ready. But if you keep turning away, it's called the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And we know that the death penalty was enforced with his two sons. Over in 1 John, there is a scripture that John talks about, that there is a sin unto death. And it's over in 1 John 5:16 and 17. A sin unto death that will never be forgiven. And that's that sin.

Verse 15: "And Samuel lay until the morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord." And look at how Samuel's handling what he's been given. "And Samuel feared to show Eli the vision." Here Samuel is passing his first big test. God has given him some information, very importantly, he's given him the word of the Lord concerning Eli and his family. And Samuel did not let that go to his head and say, "Hey, God spoke to me. And wait until I tell Eli, I'm going to blow him away. That guy's going to get his. Guess what God told me he's going to do to you." You know, I don't see this in Samuel, do you? He didn't have an attitude. He didn't have a big head.

Listen, I believe this, that God will not give us a revelation if we're not mature enough to handle it properly. Samuel was mature enough to handle this and he just waited on the Lord to open a door to how he was going to give it. But he was fearful, he was humbled by the whole thing. He couldn't believe what God had told him and he didn't know how he was going to communicate it. So he waited on the Lord just to open the door to do it.

Look at verse 16. Eli called Samuel, you don't have to wait long, and said, "Samuel, my son." And he answered, "Here am I." He said, "What is the thing that the Lord has said unto you? I pray that you'll not hide it from me. God do so to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all the things that he said unto you."

And notice, there's this little boy, he's 12 years old. He comes before the high priest and this guy starts coming down on him, man. Says, "Oh, you get the curse if you don't tell me everything. Come on now. I know God spoke to you. I want you to lay it on me." So Samuel, kind of an open door, isn't that, huh? Guys, let me have it, man. Samuel's going, "Okay. You better sit down."

Notice verse 18: "Samuel told him every whit and did nothing from him." And he said, in his response, "It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good." Notice Samuel was very loyal and he told him everything. Loyalty is something that is missing so much in the church today. Being loyal to one another. Open rebuke is better than silent love, believe me. We need to be loyal to one another and to the Lord and God's going to bless if we'll just be loyal.

He was loyal. And notice his reaction, though. "It is the Lord." In other words, he heard this before already. "Oh yeah, I've heard that before. Mm, that's the Lord." You see, sin has dulled his spiritual perception. He's lost that ear to hear and he had become an indulgent father. He wasn't able to do anything about it. And yet he had to be told it again. He was really deaf to his situation. And every time God would begin to try to speak to him about it, he'd get a busy signal. "I think I'll talk to Eli." Oh, I can't get him now.

Is that what is going on with you? Are you too busy? Are you too wrapped up in your world, too wrapped up in this world to listen to the Lord when he's trying to speak to you about so many things? So I want you to see his response. Eli was stubborn, he was probably prideful and he didn't even repent or seek God after he heard this awesome message. See, God just had to raise up a Nathan like he did with David. So Samuel spoke it out. And Samuel became that oral prophet of the time. And he served as a priest and he also did the work of a judge. Samuel was God's man of the hour. And it is a beautiful type of Jesus Christ who would come to do all of those things and more.

Look at verse 19: "And Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and he did let none of his words fall to the ground." You know what that means? It means that everything that Samuel said came to pass. When Samuel would go, "Thus saith the Lord," everyone would listen. I mean, it'd be quiet in the place. Why? Because they knew when he said it, it would come to pass. And that is the real proof of a true prophet, isn't it? That if a guy's going to come and say "Thus saith the Lord," then it better come to pass. If it don't come to pass, the Bible says take them out and stone them. They're a false prophet.

There's so many people going around today, weird prophecies. What is this, a guy called Nostradamus or whatever his name is? He's dead. And he's got prophecies out talking about how the big earthquake's coming. The other day we had a three-pointer on the Richter scale and he, that was the day he prophesied that the whole California and the big one would hit and it would go off into the ocean. But he's dead, so we can't stone him. But there's a lot of guys, there's a lot of guys around that are going off and saying what and then they're not, they're wrong. You know when a prophet's wrong when he's off in one degree. Because the Lord is never off.

And Samuel was a prophet of the Lord and not one of his words hit the ground, man. Verse 20: "And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba." Now this is a statement here from Dan to Beersheba speaking of all of Israel. From the greatest northern part, Dan, to the southern part of Israel, Beersheba. We used to have trips we called From Dan to Beersheba. You're going to see it all, man. We still do it. You still go from one end to the other. It's beautiful to see the whole land.

But throughout the whole land, they 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. What a blessing to his mom to see her son not only grow up in the Lord, but be used of God to reach so many people. What a blessing for a parent to know, and even John says it, "It pleases me, there's no greater joy than this, than to see that my children walk in the truth." But not just walk in the truth, he's not just walking in it, he's doing the truth. He's sharing the truth and people's lives are being changed. There's no greater Mother's Day present for a mom to know that her children serve God and are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

No matter what job you've got. Notice Samuel not only learned to hear God, but to be God's channel so God could work through him. How do you do this? Well, if you look back at Samuel's life, notice he was ministering to the Lord. He worshiped the Lord. He walked with the Lord. He waited upon the Lord. And then God finally came and spoke to him. We need to do all of the above. And God will not only speak to us, but he'll speak to us so he can speak through us. You see, he saves us because he loves us and he wants us to be with him. But more than that, he saves us so we can touch others for him. That's why you're saved.

All this was done by the word of the Lord. Not a vision, not a dream, not a Holy Ghost feeling. Simply, this is the way, walk in it. This is my will, the Lord says. Do it. Let's seek to hear his voice. But not just to hear it, let's see the importance of doing it.

Guest (Male): Hearing his voice. Very important. Doing what that voice tells us, even more important. Pastor Jeff Johnson will be back in a moment with the closing thought on motherhood here on Sound Doctrine.

Well, if you enjoyed today's message from Pastor Jeff Johnson from the book of 1 Samuel, I'd like to remind you that you can hear it again on several different venues. First, you can go online to sounddoctrineradio.org where you can hear today's study as well as make a donation to this radio outreach. That's at sounddoctrineradio.org. You can also listen at 1place.com and through the Sound Doctrine Radio app. I should also mention Sound Doctrine can be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Pastor Jeff shared this message on Mother's Day, and now let's join him for a final thought on the gift of motherhood.

Jeff Johnson: And I want to leave you with this. The greatest Mother's Day gift wasn't given to a mother, but it was given through a mother. And that greatest gift was given by God from a Father's love through a mother to a hurting and dying world when God sent his Son and Mary called her firstborn son Jesus, Yeshua. God is salvation. No more bondage, no more captivity. You can be free in my Son.

Guest (Male): Moving right along in our new series in 1st and 2nd Samuel. And Pastor Jeff will take us to chapter 4 next time on Sound Doctrine. A presentation of Calvary Chapel Downey.