(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Getting to verse number one, we're seeing Samuel still just as a child. He's still a very young child here. And of course, God comes to him and begins to speak to him in this chapter. It says in verse number one, 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. Now, what God's telling us here is that it was not commonplace at all for anyone to hear the voice of God, to hear God's word directly. Obviously, they had the scriptures. Obviously, they had the books of Moses and the scriptures that were available at that time. But it was a time period where there was no open vision. And you know, that's really the time period that we're living in right now. Of course, God has already given us his written word. He's already given us the whole Bible. But it's not as if we have people speaking to us or God speaking in an audible voice. And a lot of times we lose sight of the fact that even throughout the Old Testament, that wasn't always just the norm. That wasn't always commonplace. When we're reading the Bible, we see all kinds of miracles happening and we see all kinds of people having all these visions and telling all these prophecies that come directly from God. But you see, we're reading something that is over the course of thousands of years. So, if we took all those miracles and all those miraculous things where God parted the Red Sea or parted the Jordan River or brought a dead body back, if we divided it up over the time, it's not like it was happening every day. Now look at the book of Hebrews chapter 1. Keep your finger there in 1 Samuel chapter 3. And look at Hebrews chapter 1. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1, God, who at sundry times and in divers' manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he had appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. Now, in the Old Testament and going back to even before the Bible was written, the primary way that God spoke to man was through his prophets. That was the main way that he would talk to people. Because you have to understand that the books of Moses were not written, which are the earliest books in the Bible. They weren't written until thousands of years after man had already been created on this earth. So before those books were written down of the Bible, the Bible was still being preached, but it was being preached just verbally. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. The Bible talks about in the book of Jude, it says that Enoch also, the seventh fanatic, prophesied of these saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against them. That statement right there, that preaching, that was preached by Enoch. Enoch lived before the flood, and yet he preached the word of God. What part of the Bible is that word of God found that Enoch preached? Where is it found? Well it is, because it's in the book of Jude. It's not found in the Old Testament, it's not found in Genesis, but it is found in the book of Jude. And you say, well, but Jude haven't even been written yet. No, the Bible teaches that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. The Bible says in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. Before this world began, the word already existed. Now God revealed it to man over time. In former times, God revealed it through his prophets. He spayed to the fathers by the prophets. It was not a written word, it was a spoken word. It even included part of the book of Jude. It included parts of the New Testament, it included parts of the Old Testament. Now obviously they didn't have the whole word of God. They didn't have the Bible. They didn't know the name of Jesus. But they did have a lot of God's word being preached unto them before it was necessarily written down. It was preached audibly. Because God's word existed long before it was written down, and it was preached by the prophets. Now today we have God's word written down in the Bible, and we have the whole thing. So we don't have the need today of someone to come to us and say, thus saith the Lord, and to give us some new revelation, because we already have it right here. God was using the prophets in the Old Testament and before, because he was using them because they didn't have the written word. So it's kind of like this. When the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they received the manna from heaven to feed them, which was a supernatural food source. And that manna represented the word of God, didn't it? Because God said that he fed them with manna, and you go back to 1 Samuel 3, but he fed them with manna and suffered them the hunger, that they might know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that received out of the mouth of God. And that manna represented God's word, given unto them in a supernatural way. Their daily bread, when as God said, give us this day our daily bread. The Bible is our spiritual food source. And just as when the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, the day that they got there and were able to eat of the fruit that grew naturally of the land, the manna stopped the same day. So when they could feed themselves through their own physical means, they no longer needed God to feed them in a supernatural way by providing the manna. And it's the same thing with God's word. He gave the spiritual food of the Bible spoken through the prophets in a supernatural, miraculous way. Today, we don't need some miracle. We don't need a miraculous way for God to communicate with us because we have the whole word of God right here, this whole book. I mean, we have everything. All the books of the Old Testament, all the books of the New Testament, this is all we need right here. Therefore, it's not necessary for God to give us anything different. But in the days of Samuel, in 1 Samuel 3, God did speak audibly to man. He spoke with an audible voice. Now you say, well, but does God speak with an audible voice to man today? Well, here's what's interesting about that. I've been a Christian for a long time, and I've been saved since I was six years old. So I've been saved for 23 years, and I've been in church my whole life, pretty much Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. I've been to all kinds of churches. I've been around for a long time, and I've listened to a lot of preachers. I've listened to hundreds of preachers, and I've read the Bible. And in all that time, I've come across people who got revelations from God and this extra biblical revelation where God came and spoke to them and told them things, and then I've run into people who've said that that has never happened. And without exception, in the last 23 years of me being saved and all the hundreds of preachers I've listened to and the thousands of people that I've talked to and everything that I've seen and heard, every single person, and look, it's just a fact. I'm just telling you from my personal experience, every single person who had a divine revelation like that was somebody who wasn't saved. They always believed you could lose your salvation or that salvation's by works or they believed in some other screwed-up false doctrine every time. And of all the thousands of people that I've known who were saved, who believed in salvation by grace through faith, who believed in eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, never had that God speak to them in audible voice. Now, maybe that's just a coincidence. But I think there's just a lot of frauds out there and a lot of liars who want to change what God has said here and add something to it and say this and say that and God came and appeared to them and spoke to them. And many even claim to have physically seen an apparition of Jesus Christ. And I always just ask them, did he have long hair or short hair? You know, that's what I ask them. And they say, oh, he had long hair. I say, well, that wasn't Jesus then. Because the Bible says that it's a shame for a man to have long hair. But anyway, in 1 Samuel chapter 3, of course, this is when God was speaking to man in audible voice. This is before the Bible had been given. Only a very small part of the Bible existed in written form, pretty much the five books of Moses. You know, we don't really know for sure that they had anything else in a written form. The rest of it was being preached by men of God. And we don't know exactly what they had. But the Bible says here that there was no, in those days, the word of the Lord was precious in those days. I think what he means by that is that it was a very rare thing. It was not commonplace. It was not around all time. And it says 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 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. And he ran unto Eli and said, Here am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I call 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 I am, for thou didst call me. And he answered, I call 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 I am, for thou didst call me. Quit playing games with me, Eli. You know, you've called me three times now. I come in here, and you keep saying you didn't call me. He's just insisting you called me. I heard someone call my name. Now at this point, Eli finally realizes, Wait a minute. Maybe God is speaking to Samuel. Now, to me, well, you say, Well, what can we learn from this? This proves right here that God was speaking to man with an audible voice, not just in his heart, not just in a spiritual way, because a lot of people will deny the fact that God spoke to man in an audible voice. But here it's clear, because if he weren't speaking in an audible voice, he wouldn't think that a human being was calling him from the other room. He keeps hearing his name being called, not just a feeling, not just something in his heart. He's not having a dream, unless he has narcolepsy, because he's getting up out of bed and running into the other room and going back to bed, running into the other room, going back to bed. I don't think he can fall asleep that fast and then wake back up. He's not just keeping having the same dream. He knows that he's awake here. I think that's why God is showing us this here. God was audibly speaking to Samuel, no question about it, no doubt about it, so much so that he thought that another person was talking to him from the other room, Eli. It says in verse 9, Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be, if he called thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant here. 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 here. And the Lord said, now it's interesting, what did Eli tell him to say? Speak, Lord, for thy servant here. And notice the Lord there is the Jehovah, the Lord all capital, so it's not just talking about Lord like your boss, it means like the Lord, like God. And he's calling out to him, he's telling him to say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant here, but I just don't think that Samuel was maybe totally convinced yet that that's really who he's talking to, so he just says, Speak, for thy servant here, if he wants to find out who's really talking to him. And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone that hear it shall tingle, and 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 knowed, because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. Now, his sons, we talked about it last week, they were gluttonous, they were basically stealing from the people that they might make themselves fat with the cheapest of the offerings and to eat the meat with the fat, which God commanded that they should not eat any fat, and when they made an offering, they were supposed to burn the fat under the Lord. If they found an animal or they just killed an animal out in the field for some other reason besides an offering, they could use the fat for other uses, but they could not eat the fat. They were not supposed to eat animal fat. These guys were just stuffing their faces with animal fat, making themselves fat, the Bible says, and not only that, they were lying with the women that assembled at the Tabernacle of the congregation. They were going to bed with all these women that were in their church. I mean, these guys are horrible and they're called the sons of Belial, and it says that they made themselves vile and he restrained them not. So he's blaming Eli for the fact that his sons turned down bad like this because he did not restrain them. He did not stop them. Now, think of the word restrain. You know, you think of a car seat. What do they call it? A child restraint. You know, basically you put them in the car seat and you strap them in, and it restrains them. It keeps them in the seat. And God is basically demanding that we as parents restrain our children from doing wicked things and from doing sins. We shouldn't just let our children do whatever they want. And Eli's children were living in his house. They're obviously not little kids. They're obviously not five years older. I mean, these guys are adults because they're out sleeping around. I mean, you know, they've been there for a while. We don't know how old they were. But we can clearly see that they were older children as far as they were probably adult age, 18, 20, 22, whatever. But either way, they're not married. They're living at home. And yet God is holding Eli accountable for what they've done. Now, a lot of people will believe in telling their children what to do, but then when they get to be teenagers, and these guys are clearly older than teenagers, but then they'll get to be a teenager and pretty much all of a sudden it's just, well, you know, she's 15. What can I do now? He's 14 years old. He's 16, 17 years old. What do I do? No, God commands us to restrain our children from doing wrong. And I'll tell you right now, if my children are committing wickedness in my house or living in my house, it's not going to be me saying, oh, what do you do? Pray for them. No, I'm going to restrain them. I'll strap them in that car seat. And I'm just kidding, of course, but I mean, I would physically restrain them. I'm not kidding. I mean, if my child came in with a bottle of booze, you know, and said, well, I'm going to drink this. I'm my own man. I'd take it and break it on the counter right there. Isn't that good? Isn't that dope? I'd say, no, you're not. And I'd shatter it. You know, if I found clothing that my daughter was trying to wear that was inappropriate clothing, you know, my teenage daughter is trying to dress in a sleazy way, guess what? I'm going to take it and destroy that clothing. And I'm going to say, this is my house. And in my house, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I'm not going to let this garbage go on in my house. And you know what? If they want to go out and live a wicked life, there's the door. I'm not going to sit there. I mean, you look at the story of the prodigal son. And in the story of the prodigal son, one of the sons said, hey, I want to leave and go live with Whitney. He said, okay, see you later. He didn't say, son, please stay. I'll let you live a righteous living right here, son, in my house. No, he said, okay, fine. Get out of here. Now, he still wanted him to come home. And he was looking for him. And when he came and he was a great way off, he ran out and embraced him and was glad he was going to come home. But I am responsibility. I'm responsible for what goes on in my house. And my house is going to be a righteous house. And I'm not going to let the members of my household from my wife down to the children, I'm not going to let them live a wicked life. I'm not going to let them commit fornication. I'm not going to let them steal from God and do all these wicked things that Eli was letting his children do. Because God judged him and he judged Eli because Eli was allowing it to happen in his house and not in his family. Obviously, we talked about it last week, all the ways that Eli failed as a parent. He should have fixed the problem sooner. He could have dealt with those children when they were this tall. And he could have disciplined them and trained them and got them on the right path at that time. By the time they're this age, it's going to be tough to straighten them out. And in fact, by the time we read about it in 1 Samuel 3, God already said it was completely too late. They're already reprobated. They're already children of Belial. They're already too far gone. But he still doesn't have to allow wicked behavior in his house. He should have either thrown them out of his house or else just set down some rules and said, no, you're not going to do that. But a lot of people have this fear where they think that if they put down the law, they lay down the law with their children, oh, you're going to push them away. They say, oh, I've seen this so many times where the child's around 17, 18. And you say, well, wait a minute, when you're 18, aren't you an adult? Well, you know, you might be an adult if you're 18. You might be, but you might not be. Because you see, I believe what the Bible says, that a man should leave father and mother and cling unto his wife, and 18 shall be one place. In a perfect world, that's God's plan. You grow up with your parents, and then you leave your parents, and you go out and you cling to your wife. Okay, I don't think that an 18-year-old who's living at home with mom and dad and playing video games and fooling around and he's working part-time and he's doing things in school, that doesn't make, just because the government says you're an adult, what makes you a man is when you put away childish things. That's what the Bible says. When I became a man, I put away childish things. What makes you a man, when you go out and get married, then I'll call you a man. There are different things, and I'm not saying that only married men are men. And obviously there are men in the Bible who didn't get married. The point is that just because you're 18 doesn't make you a man. That's all I'm saying. And just because you're 18 doesn't mean that especially for the ladies that you're just your own lady, you can do whatever you want, and you don't have any more rules and so forth. Because that's just an arbitrary number. I mean, look, if you're a 17-year-old young man and you're married and you're paying your own bills and you have a wife and you have your own place and you pay everything yourself, I'll call you a man at 17. But I'm not going to call you a man. And to my children, dad's preaching to you right now, when you're 18 years old in my house, I'm not going to say, oh, you're an adult now. Now you can do whatever you want. No, you can do whatever you want when you're paying your own way. Because let me explain to you, the one who's paying the bills is the one who's making the rules. And that's why my wife doesn't pay the bills. That's why I make the money in my house and I pay the bills because I want to make the rules. That's why. And when people start paying the bills, that's when they think that they can start making the rules. And my children are not paying the bills and my children are not making the rules in my house. I make the rules. And I'm not going to raise a HOP-9 affinities in the first place. But if I have a HOP-9 affinities living in my house, they're going to fly right or they're going to hit the road. And I'm not going to sit there and have children fornicating in my home. And there are Christians today who have children fornicating in their own home living a drunken life in their own home, taking drugs in their own home, you know, skipping church while they're living. You're not going to live in my house and not go to church. If you live in my house, I'm going to pick you up and carry you to church. You're going to church. And that's what Eli Otto done here. He was too big and fat and lazy to pick up his two giant fat children and carry them to church. It's not going to happen. And so we see here that Eli is now responsible for not restraining the children. So it's my job to restrain my children. Son, don't watch this DVD, son. I'm going to watch it anyway. Take the DVD. That's restraining. Is it not? Not just, son, I told you not to watch it. Whatever. I guess that's what they watch. He doesn't care. He doesn't care what I say. He doesn't care. He doesn't care. I mean, this is what... And it sounds silly as I'm explaining it, but this is the way people are. This is how a lot of households are running. And I've seen, they get to be 17 or 18 especially, and this is what the parents are afraid. Well, I'm afraid that if I start having rules, my child's going to move out and then they're going to go really bad. Well, you know what? It's too late then. If that's what you're worried about now, you've already screwed up. But if you get to that point and you say, I'm just afraid if I have rules, every person I've seen that had that mentality, their kid just did all the bad stuff anyway. That never works. Relaxing the rules is how you got to the problem that you have right now. Or being a hypocrite or all the other things that we listed about Eli that made him such a failure as a parent. But when you get to that point where they're 17 or 18 years old or you're afraid that they're going to move out if you start having the rules, look, do what's right and let the chips fall where they may. Restrain them, have rules, guide the house, lay down the law, and if they leave, then that's life. That's life. And when they're out fornicating and living with their boyfriend or living with their girlfriend and they're out living a drunken life, don't help them out financially either. Don't finance their wicked life and finance their sin. I mean, where do you see the father and the father of a son story mailing a check down? Son, I heard you ran out of money to party with. Here's a little more. No, when he comes home, he can be supportive. And I'll tell you something. I will support my children as long as they're living at home, under my rules. And if they're out there living a different way, then I'm not going to support them. Period. Because I'm not going to support someone to live a fornicating, wicked life. If you're going to live in my house, you're going to live a righteous life and you're going to be holy and you're going to follow God's rules because as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. No, I'm not perfect. No, my family's not perfect. But I'm not going to allow just horrible sin to take place in my house. And it never should. And there's no to be a man and take charge of your house and lay down the law and do what Eli failed to do. Do not allow vile sin to come into your house. And don't be afraid and don't be scared of what your children are going to think or do. I'm afraid my children aren't going to like me. My goal is not for my children to like me. My goal is to be the father that they need to have. Now, I hope that they do like me, but if I have to choose between them liking me because I'm such a cool, fun dad. I'm such a cool guy and they can really relate to me and hang out with me. You know, hanging out with dads like hanging out with one of our friends. You know, it's great. Look, that's not the kind of dad that I'm trying to be. I mean, I hope that they like me and I do spend a lot of great time with my children and we have a lot in common and we do something. But you know what? That's not my biggest goal right there. My biggest goal is to be an authority figure. And parents try to be just a buddy to their children. Hey, it's great to be their buddy, but I'm an authority figure first, buddy second. They have all kinds of buddies. They only have one father. And they need to respect that father and obey that father. And that's what Eli failed to do. And it says in verse 14, 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. Now, the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings. Go if you would to Hebrews chapter number 10. Hebrews chapter number 10. You see, no one ever had their sins forgiven as far as going to heaven or hell. No one ever got saved because they offered an offering. That's what some people think. Well, in the Old Testament, they got saved by offering these offerings. Well, the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 10, it says in verse 3... Let's start in the beginning with verse 1. For the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offer year by year continually make to come as their unto perfect. For them would they not have ceased to be offered? Now, right there, he says, obviously these sacrifices couldn't save you or make you perfect. He says, because then wouldn't you be able to stop offering them? Because guess what? You only get saved one time. So if you're saved by offering a sacrifice, you're basically saying, well, you just offer one sacrifice, then you're good to go. But look what he says. He says, because that the worshippers once purged... Get this. Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. So these are sacrifices that are being offered over and over again. It says, for it is not possible... Look at verse 4 here. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. So did the blood of bulls and of goats take away their sins? No. It's not possible. And if it would have done so, then they would have only had to offer it once, the Bible says. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings, and offering for sin, thou wouldst not, neither hast pleasure therein, which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come, to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So we're saved through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. One sacrifice. And every priest, verse 11, standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Now, Lo, we're going to go a little bit further in chapter 10 here in a minute, but in the Old Testament, did they offer sacrifices? Absolutely. Is it possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins? So did the offering save them? No, it didn't save them. It only pictured the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now that Jesus Christ has been offered once for all, should we continue with animal sacrifices? Do we need to continue those? No, the Bible says no. He said that then they did, but now that Jesus Christ has come, we're done with that, okay? So if the offering did not save you in the Old Testament, what was the purpose of the offering? You say, well, it was just to symbolize salvation. It was just a picture of salvation. That's very true. But there must be more to it than that, because if you study the Bible, there's all these rules, and, you know, we didn't go into this on Sunday night, but in Leviticus, he explains all these different offerings for all these different situations. There's more to it than that, because if you go down and look at verse number 25, it says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. Now, the word remain there, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. If it says that there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, doesn't it mean that there used to be a sacrifice for your sins? There used to be, but it no longer is here. It no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. But instead, verse 27, a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who had trodden underfoot the Son of God and accounted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and that done despite under the spirit of grace. But we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense save the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So the Bible's clear here that we're talking about saved people, okay, his people, people who've been sanctified, people who've been saved, who basically blow off God's laws and willfully sin like as far as not just by accident or not just, oh, whoops, I messed up, but just, hey, I know I'm supposed to be in church, because if you look at the context, he's talking about being in church, because he says not forsaking, we assemble ourselves together. You know, that's one example. Hey, I know I'm supposed to be in church, but you know what, I'm not going to go to church. I don't want to go to church. I'm going to forsake that assembly. Okay, or it could be other sins, you know, well, I know I'm not supposed to commit fornication, but I'm going to do it anyway. You know, I mean, you just make a decision, like, I know this is wrong, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway, because this is what I want to do. I don't care. He said there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. Why? Because in the Old Testament, if you went out and committed a wicked sin, what do you do? You take an animal, you take a lamb out of your flock, you know, and it costs you something. You take that lamb, you take that goat, you take that bull, whatever the offering is, the trespass offering, the sin offering, the burn offering, whatever. You take that lamb down, and you offer it as a burnt sacrifice, and that animal as a burnt sacrifice says, makes an atonement for you upon the altar. And it was a way for you to basically get right with God. So basically, if I go out and commit, let's say I'm in the Old Testament, living under the Mosaic law, and I go out and commit a bad sin. You know, let's say I go out, and I actually just get totally drunk. You know, I'm totally drunk, and I'm saying all kinds of stupid things, and my eyes are beholding strange women. My mouth is better at perverse things. Well, then the next day, I'm like, man, I'm really, I should not have done that. I've committed a wicked sin here. You know, I need to make this right. So then I bring a burnt offering and say, you know what, I'm offering this to God as a trespass offering, because I've sinned against God's law. And then God's going to see that, and God's going to say, okay, I forgive you for that. Now, we're not talking about being saved, okay? We're talking about a saved person who goes out and commits a sin. Like, for example, if a saved person goes out and commits fornication, God's going to punish. God's going to judge them for that. But in the Old Testament, they also had a way of basically mitigating that and basically obtaining mercy from God by bringing an offering to make up for it, to basically tell God that they're sorry, just like the Bible tells us. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves when the truth is not asked. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we've not sinned, we make him a liar and his word has not been asked. The Bible tells us that we, as New Testament believers, should confess our sins to God. But here's the thing. God is stricter with us in the New Testament than he was in the Old Testament. The Bible says that we will suffer soarer punishment for our sins in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. Why? Because unto whom much is given of him shall much be required. The Old Testament believer did not have as much of the Word of God as we have. He did not have the local church. He did not have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling him. And so God was more lenient with him. And if he did commit sin, he could bring a sacrifice and then God would see that and God would turn away his wrath from them when he saw that burnt sacrifice. Picturing salvation, yes, but not salvation. Salvation throughout the Bible, they were saved by calling upon the name of the Lord, by faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted on him for righteousness. That's a whole sermon. We can show you all the Old Testament scriptures on calling upon the name of the Lord and believing on Christ and so forth. Even though they didn't know the name of Jesus, they basically believed on the Lord and called upon the Lord and so forth. And that's a whole another sermon. But the bottom line is that they had that option to them. A sacrifice for their sins. They could make a sacrifice and that would appease God's wrath on their life for the sins that they were committing. Do we have that available to us? Is there a sacrifice that you can offer? If you go out and commit some bad sin, can you bring a sacrifice and say, you know what? I've offered a sacrifice. I'm good to go. God's going to bless me now. God's going to turn away his wrath from me. God says no. Pretty much you can just wait to be punished. That's what he says. I mean, he says there are many but no more sacrifice sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall have the power and the access. That's referring to back in the Old Testament when God would pour out his wrath on people that committed sin. And God tells us that look, we can expect to be punished very harshly as believers. And the more you know, the more you've been given, the more God's going to hold you accountable. And if you've heard all kinds of great preaching from the Bible and you've grown up in church or you've read your Bible, God's going to expect you to know better. And he's going to deal with you very strongly and there is no more sacrifice for sins. Was there a sacrifice in the Old Testament? Yes. They could get them off the hook to an extent. But go to 1 Samuel chapter 3. Was a sacrifice just always a way to just oh yeah, now God's going to just let it go? No, because see, Eli's sons had committed such wicked sins that God said no, a sacrifice isn't going to do it for this. You know, just other people commit sin and they say they're sorry, they confess it to God, they bring down a sacrifice and God turns away his wrath and God will bless them and everything will be fine. But what God is saying here in verse number 14, now that you kind of see that from Hebrews 10, look at 1 Samuel 3, it says, verse 14, 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. So offering a sacrifice isn't just an automatic okay, you're good to go now. Because see, these guys, they're committing all kinds of wicked sin and if they just offer a sacrifice, no. Because they've done so much and so wicked and just locally sinned, God's not going to accept an offering at their hand. He's not even going to accept the birth sacrifice from them. And look, we read the book of Malachi and he talks about how people are bringing an offering to God to make an atonement for their sins and he's saying, I'm not going to accept it because you're this and you're that and you're committing that sin and you're doing this, I'm not even going to accept this offering anymore. God doesn't just automatically accept all these burnt offerings, but it was a way for people to get right with God. Not a one-time salvation and God made that clear in Hebrews 10. It can never take away sins. It was never a one-time salvation. And yes, people in the Old Testament were saved one time, by the way. They had eternal life. They had eternal security. If they didn't, then how did Saul get to heaven? Look at all this stuff here. How did King Solomon make it into heaven? He could lose it. I mean, if they didn't have eternal life, then why did Jesus rebuke Nicodemus for not understanding the concept of being born again? I mean, that was long before Jesus died on the cross and he told Nicodemus about being born again and about believing and he said, are thou a master of Israel and knowest thou not these things? What, don't you know this? And you're the master of Israel? You're this teacher, so-called? You don't even know about being born again. So if people weren't born again in the Old Testament, then why would he have rebuked them for not knowing it? Obviously, they were. They were saved. They called upon the name of the Lord. They were saved. But a way that they stayed in fellowship with God was they obeyed God and God commanded them to offer sacrifices on a yearly basis. But not only did they offer that sacrifice on a yearly... Of course, the priests did the morning and evening sacrifice, but that was a priestly thing. The people brought in a yearly sacrifice, but if they did something specific wrong, they're supposed to bring a trespass offering for that thing that they did wrong. And he said, if you sin and do wrong, you need to take an animal and bring it down and sacrifice it. And then he's basically saying he'll forgive them. And we're not talking about salvation. It's kind of like this. My children, no matter what they do, are still my children. But if my children sin against me, they're going to suffer some wrath. They're going to suffer some punishment. But if they say that they're sorry or if they confess that to me that they did it, then I'm going to have mercy on them. And we can restore the fellowship. And it's the same thing with God. We're always saved, but there might be a breach in fellowship, just like my son and I could have a break in our fellowship if he's rebelling against me. But then once he comes to the truth and confesses that he's done wrong and he says, I'm going to start doing right, Dad, then now the fellowship is restored. And that's what the sacrifices did. Not only did they picture Jesus Christ, but they also restored fellowship. But God is telling Eli, that's not going to work for your family because you're just too screwed up. I'm not going to accept it from you. And then it says in verse 15, And Samuel lay until the morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. So he's afraid to tell Eli, because basically what God told Samuel was just everything about how wicked Eli is and how he's going to pour out his wrath on Eli. So does Samuel want to wake up in the morning at the breakfast table and say, Hey, guess what, Eli? God says that you're this and you're going to be punished and all this. Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son, and he answered, You're mine. And he said, What is the thing that the Lord had said unto thee? I pray that he hid 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 hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. This is a great lesson right here about what a preacher should be, because Samuel was a prophet. It says in verse number 20, all Israel from Daniel to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. A preacher should be willing to preach what offends people, even if he's afraid to do it. And oftentimes preachers are afraid to preach what they need to preach. And look, that's only natural. I mean, if I'm going to preach something that I know is just going to rip on somebody, or I know it's going to offend them, I know that it applies to them, what I'm preaching, the sin I'm preaching on. You know, you're afraid to offend. You're afraid to get up and preach that. But you know what? Samuel, he did it anyway. And that's the job, and he said, Look, don't hide from me what God has said. And that's what we ought to do. We ought to not hide from the congregation what God has said, even if it means judgment on them, even if it's God's wrath on them, even if it's pointing out their sin, it's my job as a preacher to be like a Samuel that gets up and says, Okay, I'm going to tell you every which. I'm not going to hide any of it from you. I'm going to preach it to you. And that's where Samuel is. He didn't hold back anything. He preached everything that God told him to preach, even though he knew that it was a direct insult and a lot of people even think, Well, that's not right. If you know somebody there has a man with long hair, you can't touch on that. That's just not loving. But here's Samuel preaching what needed to be preached, even though it was a direct insult to Eli. Did he want to do it? No. Did he take joy in it? Yeah, burn. Somebody walks through that door, I can see them coming a mile away. You know, I know what they're into, and I'm going to rip on it, and I'm going to strain them. No, he didn't take joy in it. He didn't desire to preach to people what they don't want to hear. He didn't desire to rip on them. But if it's God's word, I mean, look what he said. It's the word of the Lord. I mean, it's the Lord. What am I going to do about it? If it's what God said, we just need to preach it. And we can't sit there and worry about how people are going to take it. And you know what? Sometimes we might worry about it. Samuel worried about it. Samuel feared, but he didn't let that fear stop him from preaching the whole counsel of God. And we, as preachers, ought never to let fear stop us from preaching the whole word of God. Yeah, speak the truth in love. I'm sure that Samuel told it to him in as loving a way as possible. But at least he preached him the truth that didn't hold anything back. It says, And Samuel told him every whim and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord. That's what Eli said. Let him do what seemeth him good. And you know, that shows right there, was Eli able to handle this preaching? He took it pretty well. I mean, he said, Well, it's the Lord. Let him do what he will. So should Samuel really have been afraid to tell him? No. Because it turned out fine. I mean, it turned out he could handle it. And you know, another thing we can learn from this, people can handle more preaching than what they're getting sometimes. You know, we sit there and think, Oh man, I'm afraid to preach on this. I'm afraid to preach on this. Because it's going to offend people. And then you get up and preach it, and then people receive it. And they say, Well, it's God's word. It's the Bible. Let him do what seemeth him good. And they actually get right with God. And they actually make the changes necessary in their life that God has called upon them to make. And many preachers today are afraid of their own shadow. They're afraid of nothing. Because they're afraid, Oh man, people aren't going to like it. And then they preach it, and then people take it. And so preachers across America would just get up and preach what needs to be preached. You know, are people going to leave? Yeah, maybe a few people are going to leave, but those are probably the kind of people that it's probably good when they leave. But I'll bet you a lot less people would leave than they think, if there was some real preaching. Because sometimes people want to hear good preaching. They respond to it, even if it rebukes them. If the Bible says, Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. And so many people will hear the truth, even if it rebukes them, and it will actually make them love the preacher more. Because they know that the preacher loves them. Because the preacher that loves you is the one who's going to tell you the truth. Not the one who's going to hold back so that he'll be more popular with the congregation. So that everybody will love him and everyone will like him. It's just like the Bible says. He that spared this rod hated his son. And this ties in with what I was talking about earlier. The parent who wants to be their child's buddy so they won't discipline. Because they're afraid to discipline. Because if they discipline, then their child's not going to like them. Or they're going to move out when they turn 18 or whatever. But the child who is loved by their parents, the Bible says the parent will discipline them anyway. Even if it makes that child upset or not like them. They're going to do what's right for the child, not what's right for their own popularity. Same thing with a preacher. A preacher has to preach what needs to be preached. And hopefully people will understand, hey, at least the pastor is going to love you Hey, at least the pastor loves me. That's why he's telling me the truth. Even if it's what I don't want to hear. Some people aren't going to understand that. But it doesn't matter. That's what God commands us to do. So Eli took it pretty well, huh? Verse 18. And then in verse 19 it says, And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and 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 God is speaking to Samuel, just like he did in the earlier part of chapter 3, through his word. God's word was being revealed to him. And let's bow our heads in that word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God. Help us to learn these lessons from the Bible. Help us to understand that our children are our responsibility. Help us not to just wash our hands a bit, but to realize that it's our job to restrain them, and to train them, and to teach them, and to bring them up to the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Help us not to allow vile sin into our house, but to lay down the law and serve the Lord with our houses. And Father, just help us to keep ourselves pure, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.