That though the wrong seems all
so strong, God is the ruler, yes. Sin is my Father's world,
the battle has been won. Jesus, who died, has been satisfied,
in earth and heaven be one. All right, let's go back to verse
Samuel chapter. Three. First, Samuel three, let's read
verses 17 and 18. Again. Eli said to Samuel, what is the
thing that the Lord said on the day, I pray they had it not from. God do so to be. And more also,
if thou hide anything from me of all the things that the Lord
said unto thee. And Samuel told him every wit,
and hid nothing from him. And Eli said, It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him to
do. is the response of a believer,
every believer, to the sovereign, holy, just,
and sovereign God and his word. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. Now this is a message from God's
Word to us concerning his absolute holiness, his justice, and his
sovereignty. The Lord said to Samuel, I will
do something, and what I start, I finish. And the tidings that Samuel brought
were not good. But Eli, and this is why I know,
I know, that Eli was one of God's own. He said, it's the Lord. I submit, I bow. I believe it's
the Lord. Samuel here represents the Lord
Jesus Christ. who is the faithful witness of
God, who cannot lie. Samuel could not lie to Eli. He could not. And Samuel represents the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the revealer of the Father's will. He's the
only one that can reveal unto us what God has truly said. And Samuel represents every true
and faithful preacher of God. Samuel ended up being a preacher,
did he not? Miraculously called and gifted
by God and a man who did not fail to preach all the counsel. He wouldn't hide one thing. He
couldn't do it. And every witness, any child
of God, every child of God is a witness of the truth. And they too have been called
and cannot tell a lie and must reveal the truth. Eli here, Eli
represents every child of God who hears the truth. They'll
all hear it. They'll hear it from Christ,
whom Samuel represents. The word incarnate. Every believer must have the
truth. They must have it. Every believer must have it.
They must hear it all. They don't want anything hidden. And his response is the response
of every single true believer. It's the Lord. It's bad news,
but it's the Lord. The Lord's will and what I'm
going to preach here is good, sound doctrine. This is good,
sound doctrine. Juanita, this is good preaching,
if I can say so myself. Sound doctrine that cannot be
condemned. Samuel, the Lord said to Samuel,
you see who he's speaking to? The Lord is speaking to Samuel,
nobody else. It's in the privacy of Samuel's
chamber. The Lord is speaking to Samuel,
and he said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel. The Lord is revealing to Samuel
what he is going to do, what his purpose to do, his will.
He is revealing to Samuel his will and his way. And as I said, Samuel here represents
the Lord Jesus Christ. In the beginning, Scripture says,
was the Word. That's Christ. And the Word was
with God. The Word was with God. God Almighty,
in the beginning, purposed all things. Yes, He did. God Almighty purposed all things
before they existed. Unknown unto God are all His
works from the beginning of the world. God, Ephesians 1, 11 says, who
worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. What
counsel? The one that he held long ago. He works all things after that
counsel. God in the beginning said, I will do a thing. This is what I'm going to do.
Scriptures and Ephesians also says, according to his eternal
purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and they held a council. And God
revealed to Christ what he was going to do. Just as he said to Samuel here,
this is what I want to do. And you in turn are going to
go reveal it to my chosen. You're going to reveal it. God Almighty decreed, predestined
all things. What do you think about that?
What do you say to these things? What's being said right now?
God predestined all things. What do you say to that? Yeah that's my Lord. That's the
Lord. He wouldn't be Lord if he didn't.
Would he? He wouldn't be sovereign if he
didn't. How can he be in control and not be in control? As God spoke to Samuel here,
God spoke to his beloved son, revealing all things, making
known unto him the mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure which he purposed in himself. Like Eli said, Let him
do as seemeth good to him. Why did God purpose what he did?
Why did God will what he did? Why? Why? Because it pleased
him. He does what pleases him. You know, and God spoke to Samuel
here, and Samuel represents Christ, who later said, Christ said,
No man knoweth the Father, but the Son. Didn't it? No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Eli said, You've got to tell
me what the Lord said. He spoke to you. He didn't speak
to me. He spoke to you. Don't hide anything. And a just and faithful witness
won't. Can't. Can't help but speak to things
you've seen and heard. And just as it was in our story
here, what did God tell Samuel? Look at verse 11. He said, I
will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears Both ears
of everyone that heareth it shall tingle. Now, the word tingle
here means burn with shame. Turn red literally means turn
red with shame and just, oh, ever heard anything, oh, bad
news, bad news or something awful, terrible, wicked. If you have sensitive ears, if
you really hear it, tingle, that's what that means. I will do a
thing, he said, where both ears of everyone that hears it. They
have ears to hear, and they hear it shall tingle. Now, what thing
did the Lord tell Samuel he was going to do? Well, it's the same thing, and
you know that Isaiah said these very words. Isaiah said these
very words. Jeremiah said these very words.
Habakkuk said these very words. Ears are going to tingle. That's one thing. What will cause
folks' ears to tingle, reddened with shame? The wrath and judgment of God
against sin. That's what he's dealing with,
the wrath of God, the judgment of God. a holy and righteous
God, judge of all the earth, who is angry with the wicked
every day and will by no means clear the guilty, and every sin
receive a just recompense. That's what he's dealing with. Go with me to Isaiah chapter
57. What God tells Samuel, who in
turn tells Eli, is judgment, isn't it? Judgment, wrath. Not, Eli, God loves you, and
He loves your sons, and if they'll just let Him be. No, no, no,
no, no. Because God is holy. How many
times do we hear this, but we need to hear it, don't we? The
world's not hearing it, but we need to hear it. We're blessed
to hear that God is holy, first and foremost, essentially holy. God's holiness will explain most things to us, you know,
the world cannot understand their God. They cannot reconcile things
that go on with God, their God, who loves and doesn't want things.
They cannot. It can't be done. It just can't.
But if God is holy and just, we know why. We see the wrath
of God clearly revealed. I began writing the book of Romans Which is about God, about man,
about salvation. And it begins this way, the wrath
of God, the wrath of God, the wrath of God is clearly revealed
from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of man. Clearly
so. By whom? Those that he reveals. In holiness, we know something, not everything,
but something of the holiness of God, and that explains a great
deal. Why did Tsunami? Judgment? There's no other way to look
at it, is there? You can't explain that with love.
Are you with me here? Are you following along? The
world can't explain, they can't reconcile their God that they
believe with. with the things that happen today.
Why? Why? Why this? Why that? Why do babies
die? God is holy. Sin is the issue. This is what all the true preachers
say. Those that are of God, men of God. You know, it keeps calling
Samuel, man of God, man of God, man of God, all the way through
here, man of God, the man of God, the man of God. Even Saul,
that's what Saul calls him, the man of God. Because he comes with what God
really says. True, the living and true God.
Isaiah 57. Our Lord said that the ears of
those shall tingle to hear it. In these days, these last days,
Paul prophesied of, the last days, this is them, we're in
them now, where people heap to themselves, teachers, having
what kind of ears? Itching. Not ears burning with
shame or guilt or fear. You understand the difference?
But tell me what I want to hear. Tell me what I want to hear.
If you tell me what I want to hear, I'll grease your palm. But now God's people, they hear
this with tingling ears. ears filled with shame, embarrassment,
fear. It's a big difference. Big difference. Humble. Look at Isaiah 57. It says in
verse 1, The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart.
Merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous
is taken away from the evil Now. You know, this was by the Joe
Parks at his funeral, the text we use, and this applies to men
like him. Righteous. God's people. Do you know who this principally
applies to? Just just make a guess. Christ,
the righteous one. holy and righteous One who came
into this world and was taken away. And men don't lay it to
heart. He came. Why did He come? What
did He do while He was here? What happened to Him? Why? Where
is He now? Men don't lay it to heart. Don't
think about it. Do you know when preachers began
to shout I asked myself that question. I don't want to preach in a way
that's offensive or not biblical. I remember as a child, and you
know, years ago and when I was a child is when the Lord was
really doing a great work throughout the Southeast. Revealing the gospel to Raising
up churches, you know, through me and like Barnard. I remember that preachers every
seemed like every one of my herd were just shout. Just shout the
whole time. And nearly every one of them,
after it was over, were literally a horse. Couldn't talk. Shouting. And, you know, rather than condemn
that, I sure don't. But rather than condemn that,
I thought, you know, Arminianism was so deep seated. And so embedded
in people were so such stubborn Arminian, you know, that Barnard. You know, sometimes. They were
shouted to get somebody's attention. You ever had to. Well, this is
biblical. Look at Isaiah 58, verse 1. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up
thy voice like a trumpet. Is there any way to blow a trumpet
without doing it loud? When people are asleep, Ron,
you were in the service. Was it revelry? Is that what
that was called in the morning? How did they blow that from you?
Was it a nice, soothing, soft, you know, that'll lull you back
to sleep, wasn't it? They didn't play taps in the
morning, they played taps in the evening to put you to sleep. In the morning it was, you know,
loud and get up, wake up, sleep in the morning. What was the
message? Look at the crowd with a loud
voice show my people their transgression. This is what you're going to
go out and tell my people. Not. I love you so much I have
a one. Tell them. Show my people their transgression,
and the house of Jacob their sins. You see that? Do it loud. Do it loud. Wake them up. Unless they sleep the sleep of
death. And I, quite often I get ashamed of myself for screaming,
for hollering. I do. I want to preach in the
best way I can. The most effective way I can.
I get mad at myself for hitting the poor baby. That's where the
old term Bible-thumping preachers came from, you know? Bam! Every
time I do that, I get so mad at myself afterwards. You know, if you're trying to
get something across, if you want to be heard, if it takes
shouting to do it, you better do it, aren't you? If your child
was going across the street, If Kelly was walking across that road, how would you holler? Would you not violate her free
will? Look at Isaiah 59. As a fifty nine verse two, he
says, your iniquities have separated between you and your God, your
sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. Verse
four, none call for justice or any pleaded for truth. They trusted
vanity and speak lie. Verse twelve, our transgressions
are multiplied before thee. This is Isaiah speaking and he's
including himself in it. Don't listen to a preacher who
is not himself a sinner. Don't listen to a preacher who
keeps saying you, you, you, you, who doesn't say we, we, we, we. Our transgressions. Verse fourteen,
judgments turn way backward, justice standeth afar off. Verse
fifteen, truth faileth. I see God sent Samuel don't go
back there now. God sent Samuel. With. This message of God's judgment,
one that there is a message of God's judgment. And in the same sense there in
that I wish I had you stay there, but in Isaiah 59, it says that
he saw there was no man and wondered there was no intercessor. Therefore,
his arm brought salvation. And his righteousness, he put
on righteousness like a bread plate and helmet of salvation
upon his head. And he came. Christ. Christ, who was zealous for God's
house, zealous for the truth. Come to do thy will, O God. Nobody
else is doing it. I come to do thy will. And I
come to make it known to thy people. And it begins this way. Judgment. Judgment's coming. Wasn't that the message with
every blow of Noah's hammer? Huh? Wasn't that the message?
What was coming? Impending doom and judgment.
What was coming? Judgment of God, wrath, punishment
against an evil, sinful, wicked, vile world. Judgment, wrath.
That was the message with every blow of his hammer. Every blow
of his hammer for 120 years. Noah, scripture says, was a preacher
of righteousness. Whose? God. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. God will punish sin. God will
punish sin. God is going to punish sin. By no means clear the guilt. It wasn't until they heard that
message. See, nobody heard it, did they? Nobody heard it. How
do you know? There wouldn't have been room
enough in the Ark for them all. They'd have all been running,
screaming, crying to get in that Ark. But eight people, by God's mercy
and by God's grace, heard it. There is judgment. I believe
God. How do you know you believe God?
They ran, got in the ark. And there's the good news to
all who hear this judgment. Right here's safety, right here's
salvation, right here's the love of God, right here's the mercy
of God, the revealed will of God, the revealed purpose of
God, the revealed salvation of God is right here in this ark. Come! Of course, judgment's coming. And the message hasn't changed.
It hasn't changed. The reaction of every one of
God's people is, that's the Lord. That's the God of the Bible.
God of judgment, wholly righteous, just God, and the Savior. He is a just God, isn't He? And you know, their ears tingle
when they hear this. Can you hear? Can you hear Eli
now? God's judging his house. His
house. Why? His sins. His sins. He took the
blame. He took the blame for his sons.
God didn't punish Eli. God didn't take his mercy away
from Eli personally. He said it's his house. But yet
Eli took it. Eli blamed himself, didn't he?
My boys are that way because of me. If only I had... That's what conviction is. That's what repentance is. Now,
we know. You know, later on Samuel's sons
were evil. Samuel's sons were evil. They were not saved. Samuel's
sons. Was it Samuel's fault? It's the Lord. That's right. That's right. But Eli blamed himself. You know
he did. His ears tingled. And you know
this message God gave to Samuel. A message of judgment. Christ came. Christ, who Samuel
represents, he came to this earth and his words were not all syrup
and honey like people lead us to believe today. Then they go
through and they pick out things that they like to hear and that
he said, that he said to his people in private, his intimate
conversation with his disciples, That wasn't meant for everybody
out there. And that applies to everybody
in the scripture. So Jesus said. Who did he say it to? And they dare not say everything
he said, though. They hide things that he said.
You know that? They hide things that he said.
Our Lord came. Scripture says he came. He's
a holy one of Israel, of God. He came. And the scripture says
he's like fuller's soap. You old folks. Who can I call
out? Old folks. Roberta, did your mother or dad ever wash
out your mouth with soap? Anybody in here? Charles, did
your mama ever wash your mouth out with soap? Anybody? I want to know, did anybody's
parent ever do that to them? Wash their mouth out with soap?
Please, anybody? Nobody? Who did? You did it to
Jennifer Debra? Good for you. That's why she's smiling all
the time now. She's afraid to frown. She still
tastes that soap. That's great. Wonderful. Scripture
says, Scripture says Christ will come as Hiller's soap. Holy, righteous, spotless. Nothing
came out of his mouth but grace. Nothing comes out of our mouth,
my nature, but filth. And what must he do? Take this
holy, spotless Word of God and stick it in our mouth. Clean that mouth up. And he doesn't
do that with syrup. Soap. You know, our sin's a stain,
a deep stain. It's fuller soap, and I could
go on and on with it. Like the old lye soap, kind of
really clean. Take all the color out of your
garment. It doesn't matter. The thing is, the whole point
is to get it wiped. God's word is clean in that man.
So you love that psalm 19. Clean the word of the Lord is
clean. Fuller's so Christ came to clean us out. Wish I could use a real graphic
illustration. We need to clean it out. It's
not a pleasant thing. Because it's not a good thing
we need cleansing of. Right? He'll come with fuller
soap. There's only one way to do it.
Fuller soap. Refiner's fire. Twitter calls
him a refiner's fire. Well, fire will do one thing.
It'll burn you up. And it'll burn it up. That's
what fire is designed to do, is consume. Christ said things like this. irritating thing. Christ said,
for judgment am I come into this world. Oh, the world's not hearing that,
honey. I'd venture to say very few people
have ever heard Christ say that. For judgment am I come into this
world. But they which see might see
not, and those which are blind might see. He said things like this, I came
not to bring peace, but a sword. He said things like this, he
said to some. He's speaking to some one day,
you see, if God were your father, you would love me, but you love
your father, the devil. Ooh, you mean God's not the father
of all people? That's exactly right. He said things like this, I am
the good shepherd and know my sheep. Then he turned to some
and said, you believe not because you are not my sheep. Meaning they're sheep and goats.
Everybody's not God's sheep. No, they're not. One of the sheep
never will be gathered on the right hand. The other are goats.
That's judgment. He said things like this. He
said this, you, to his disciples, you have not chosen me. I have chosen you. Are you talking about election? That's
exactly what he's saying. What do God's people say to this?
It's the Lord. It's the Lord. He said things
like this. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Holy God, will
convince. Here's what he's going to do
when he's coming. He's going to convince of sin, righteousness,
and judgment. That's what he said. You see
his message. He said things like this irritating
when he said I will have mercy not sacrifice. Go learn what
that means. Mercy you mean that must mean
we're guilty. We're guilty before God. That's
exactly right. And the most shocking thing of
all that ought to cause sinners ears to tingle with fear and
shame is that And this is final proof that God is holy. God sent
his son into this world to put him on a Roman gibbet or tree
to kill him. God put his son into this world
to kill him. God did it. It pleased the Lord
to kill his son and make him a sacrifice. make his soul an
offering for sin. God hath made him to be sin. And boy, those that hear this,
why? For us, God hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. Israel, Jacob, sons of Jacob,
a bunch of sinners, sins that have separated them. Cry aloud.
Tell them. Wake them up. Tell them their
sins are against God. God sent His Son. The only thing
that could put away their sins was God to kill His Son, not
us. Oh, did He do that? Yes, He did. For me, if you heard it right,
your ear burned with shame because of sin against God. final, full, final proof of God's
justice and wrath. You see, God, and I like that
the way this was put here in our story, God said He's judging
Eli, but it was Eli's house, wasn't it? And God's laid on Christ, not His own iniquity, Barbara. He was made sin for us, he who
knew no sin. Eli wasn't vile, he hadn't made
himself vile, he was lax and so forth, and that's where the
title came from. But his sons were willful, rebellious
sons, children of wrath, even as others. But it says God punished
Eli, his half. And God Almighty punished Christ
in our state. Well, look at this. Go back to
the text. Go back to the text in 1 Samuel. It says here, God says, When I begin, I will
also make an end. Verse 12, I have spoken, I will
perform it. What God says, I have spoken
it, I'll do it. That's the Lord. That's our God. He doesn't, God doesn't try anything.
Whatever God has spoken, he'll do it. And God said, when I begin,
I'll make an end. When God Almighty sent Christ
to do something, he finished it. He put away sin, didn't he? He made an end to transgression
by the sacrifice of himself. He did. Yes, he did. And faithless
he that hath begun a good work in you. What does he say? I'll
finish. He says in verse 3 on, I told
Eli that I'll judge his house forever for the iniquity which
he knoweth. He knoweth. Because his sons made themselves
vile and he restrained them not. 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." God Almighty cannot clear the
guilty. He will not clear the guilty.
We're guilty. He can't just clear us. He can't
forgive us. Barnard used to say, God does not forgive sin in the
strict sense. He does not. He punishes it.
Every sin must proceed. How? Christ took it all. He took it all. This is why we,
the justice of God, demands we go free. Ah, boy. God is just and justified. Well, look at this. Here's the
believer's desire. Verse 15, Samuel lay until the
morning, and Christ, you know, was in the beginning with the
Father and there until in the fullness of time God sent forth
his Son into the world to reveal the Father's will. to reveal
his worth. The wrath of God against sin,
the judgment of God, and yet the salvation of God that was
in him. Real. It says he opened the doors of
the house of the Lord. Everything here is a picture
of Christ, is it not? Christ came, and what did he
say? I am the door. By me. Amen. House of the Lord. Who do you
open the doors to? The House of the Lord. That's who's going
to come to Christ. God's Church. Samuel. Eli called Samuel. Called upon Samuel. Whosoever
calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, who's going to call? Everyone
the Lord calls. ever the one whom the Lord sent
Christ to call. They called. Like, oh, Eli. The
Lord said, you go tell Eli. He told Samuel, you go. Here's
what it is I'm going to do. You go tell Eli. Eli started
calling for Samuel. That's how you know. Give diligence
to make your calling an election show. And what did he say? Here's his
desire. Eli called Samuel, said, Samuel, my son, and he answered,
Here am I. Eli said, What is the thing that
the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee, I beseech thee,
I urge thee, hide it not from me. Tell me the truth, Samuel. Please tell me the truth. God do so hide things from you,
if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said
unto thee." Samuel, don't hide one word. Don't tell unto me
the whole counsel of God. Tell me of the judgment of God,
the holiness of God, the wrath of God. Tell me of my sinfulness. Tell me of my inability. Tell
me, tell me, tell me what I am. Tell me what God really says.
Don't hide anything. Tell it all to me. I want to
hear it all, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So
help me, God. Is that what you want? Huh? Do you want me or whoever
to stand up in front of you and tell you lies? When you go to
a doctor, why do you go? You want to know something's
wrong with you. Have you ever had symptoms of something that
you were denying? Afraid to go to the doctor? Have you? Just afraid. Afraid
he wasn't going to tell you. Haven't you? Anybody? Have a
little knot rise up or a little something, a little symptom come
up and kind of scare you and you, oh, And what are you going
to do? I got to find out what it is.
I got to find out what it is, and it's going to kill me. And
if there's a cure, you go to the doctor. What do you do? Just
give me something for the pain. Would you tell me, tell me, is
there any is there any pleasant way to say you've got cancer? Tell me, is there any, is it
ever comforting to hear? To the human ears, that's probably
the scariest, most frightening thing you can hear. Cancer. To the spiritual ear of those
whom God has called, it brings fear. You, Europe, you're under
the judgment of God. You don't have to die. There
is a way to go that doctor said that that's some bad news. You want to hear. What you've got is those symptoms.
Cancer. I was afraid that. But. There is a cure. You come back every Sunday. I'll
tell you a little more about it. And every Wednesday. Are you interested in being healed? You keep coming back. I'll reveal
a little more to you all the time. Would you show up? What if it's a physic? It's an
old word for something you take to make you feel better. Start
getting you well. Some medicine. Medicine didn't used to be, didn't
used to taste good. Anybody's mother ever used castor
oil or ever put a poultice on your chest? What'd it do to you,
Nancy? It hurt. Why is she doing this
to me? Trying to kill me. It's medicine. Hallelujah. Yeah, he promised
it wasn't. Great position. Well, that's
what the believer wants. Tell it all to me. Tell me just
how bad I am. Reveal it to me. Please. Recesses, expose it all. Expose it all. I've got sin. David said, Keep me from presumptuous
things. Tell me about sins that I don't
know about, please, so I can go to the physician for them. So that's a believer's desire,
and a faithful preacher is a witness of all things. Verse 18, Samuel
told him every whim, and he had nothing from him. who is called
the faithful witness who cannot lie. He had to. He must. He told
the truth. He told the truth. Because he
is the truth. He said, I am the truth. It's
impossible for him to lie. And so do those who come from
him. Those he sends out. They tell
the truth. Paul said to the Ephesians, When
he was leaving them, he said, I have kept back nothing profitable
on you. I've not shown to declare on
you all the counsel of God. I'm free from the blood. I've
told you the truth. And then look at the believers
response to. The judgment of God, it says
in verse 18, after Eli heard this, he said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
It is the Lord. Let him do this. Now, you know,
he's not saying, I'm going to, it's the Lord, I'm going to let
him, I'm going to let him do this. No, the Lord had already
said he's going to do it. He's not saying that at all.
That's an old term over in Romans 3, 4 says, let God be true. And every man a liar doesn't
mean we got to let him be true. That's ridiculous. Let God be
God, they say today. That's utter foolishness. He is God. You don't let him
be God. That's an old saying that let it be so. This is the
way it is. Let it be declared. Let it be
known. Let it be published. Let it be.
Let it be. Let it be that this is the way
it is. Let everyone know that It is
the Lord. He's not saying, I'm going to
let Him do this. He's bowing to and submitting to what God
has already determined to do. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Does this sound
familiar? This is the response of every
true believer to God's holiness, justice, wrath, judgment, sovereignty,
His divine right to do with His own as He will. Choose whom he will. It's the
Lord. Job said this, didn't he? After
God, oh, he didn't hear good news. Job didn't hear good news,
did he? What did Job say after hearing of all this judgment
of God against his whole family? What did he say? The Lord gave,
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
It's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
Oh, David said this, Psalm 39, 9, he said, I was dumb. He said, I didn't have anything
to speak because thou didst it. I didn't have anything to say,
I know you did it. Isaiah said to Hezekiah, and
Hezekiah upon hearing what he said, and it was bad, it was
judgment. Hezekiah heard judgment. And
Hezekiah said, in Isaiah 39, he said, Good is the word of
the Lord, which thou hast spoken to me. He didn't hear good news,
he heard bad news, but he said it's good, because it's the Lord. And God says, I will do, verse
12, I will do what I set out to do. I will do it. And what do we say? And closing with these verses,
19 and following, Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him. He
let none of the Lord's words fall to the ground. He heard
it all. He's going to judge Israel. You've
got to know the word. What a picture of Christ this
is. Who grew, scripture says, in stature and wisdom and favor. God and man. Samuel grew. The Lord was with him. And you
know, as he is, so are we. We grow. How? The sincere milk
of the Word. Only one way. We grow. In verse
20, all Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, all Israel knew
who the prophet of God was. All Israel. Everybody in Israel
knew who God's man was, who God's prophet was. They all knew. And
all of God's house No. God has raised up one prophet,
one mediator, one intercessor, one Savior, one Lord, one faith
in all of history. They know. He's established. Verse 21, And the Lord appeared
again in Shiloh. The word Shiloh means what? Peace. And the Lord revealed himself
to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. The Lord the peace
of God. Peace be with Israel peace be
with them that love Christ peace peace peace where is it. In the
Lord Jesus Christ he is our how do we find this out. We first
heard this message of judgment. Then we hear of peace. Peace
with God how to Christ and we heard that through the word of
The same word that condemns us, the same word that pronounces
us guilty as charged, pronounces us innocent, holy, unrighteous,
unrighteous, unblamable. The same word that tingles our
ears. Oh no. Comforts our ears. Tell that
again. Tell it again. I hear it again, and you've got
the bad news, you're dying. Oh, but here's the good news,
you're going to live forever. Oh, boy. What a thing that God's
Word is. It just is God's Word in every
line, every jot, every tittle. They are they which testify of
Christ, are they not? Speak of Him. are written of him, the one who
came from God with a will and purpose of God to reveal to his
people, the house of Israel, not only his judgment, but his
salvation and himself. Savior of Israel. OK, let's sing
a hymn. Hymn number 337 and let's stand. We'll sing the first and last
verse. 337. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Teach me thy ways, thy guiding
rays of hope. Teach me thy ways, help me to
walk the right, for by faith let my sight Lead me with heavenly
light, teach me Thy way. Long as my life shall last, teach
me Thy way. Where'er my thought be cast,
Teach me Thy way Until the race is won Until the journey's done
Until the crown is won Teach me Thy way