Go ahead and turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 3, please. 1 Samuel chapter 3, we'll begin reading in verse 8. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me, And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. Now that word perceived means just what you would think it means. It means he understood, he distinguished, he discerned. And I was thinking any true discernment that we receive comes by the divine revelation of God. We know that. We don't figure the gospel out. God reveals it to us. And he can reveal it to one and not to the one sitting next to him. It's God's prerogative. Verse nine, therefore, Eli said unto Samuel, go, lie down and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and called, as at other times, excuse me, Samuel, Samuel, then Samuel answered, speak for thy servant heareth. And the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I will do a thing in Israel. at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle. And in that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I began, I will also make an end." Important lesson right there. Don't ever forget it. God always finishes what he starts. Sometimes we're not able to finish what we start, but God is able, and He always finishes what He starts. Look at verse 13. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. Another important lesson. God always does what He promises. You know, we often make threats and we don't have any way of backing them up. We often make promises that we cannot fulfill, but God can. Everything that He threatens, everything that He promises, He's able to do. He's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could think or ask. Nothing's too hard for Him. Is anything too hard for the Lord? No, no. 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. And here we have a confirmation of the two previous verses. God finishes what he starts, God's sworn that he would, and God does what he promises. He can swear by no higher than himself. The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand. Isaiah 14, 24. And through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord said, because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent. Change, God doesn't change, God doesn't repent. Neither will I turn back." Jeremiah 4 verse 28. Beloved, it's the immutability of God Almighty that gives a believer confidence and assurance and peace. knowing that God is able to do what He's promised. And the wonderful thing about that is, for the believer, God has promised to do them good. I love to think about that. God's out to do you good. Well, who can separate you from the Word of God? Nothing or no one. He's out to do you good. God can't fail. God can't change. God can't lie. And 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. Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son, and he answered, here am I. Now I want you to pay close attention to 17 and 18. This is my text, pay close attention. And he, Eli said, what is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee, hide it not from me. God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said unto thee. And Samuel told him every wit, every word, and hid nothing from him, And he, Eli said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth good. Now, as you remember back in 1 Samuel 2, the Lord sent a man of God, when I told his name, because it's really unimportant. The man that delivers the message is unimportant. The message is what's important. And he sent this man of God to warn Eli of his lack of, because of his lack of firmness with his two wicked sons, these things were gonna come up on him. And now God's gonna give Eli a second warning through a young boy under his own roof. And Eli had failed to deal with the sin of his sons harshly. He just kind of swept them under a rug. You know, God don't do that. God don't sweep sin under a rug. He doesn't turn the other way and not look upon our sin. No, he's just, he's got to deal with it. Justly he's got to deal with it. And because Eli did this, this brought the anger of the Lord upon him. And the heavens became as a brass. Have you heard that saying before? It means that, well, just what verse one says, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. God had become silent. Sometimes God becomes silent. especially here to Eli, the high priest. So the Lord sends Eli a word of threatening by young Samuel. Now, remember, and I know you do, that Samuel has been under Eli's care for some time now. Hannah had brought him to serve the Lord, dedicate him to the Lord, and he's serving in the temple under Eli. And he's probably around the age of 12. Same age as Ronnie, my granddaughter. Can you imagine a young boy going to Eli the priest and with the word of the Lord rebuking him? No wonder he hesitated. No wonder that he wasn't looking forward to going to him. And I was thinking as I read this, the times that the Lord called Samuel, Samuel's awakened by the Lord, Eli's asleep. What a picture of Samuel's spiritual awareness and Eli's spiritual slumber. You see, experience must now be admonished by adolescence. Gray hair doesn't always yield a crown of glory, especially in this case to Aaron Eli. Samuel is evidently more trusted than the elder sleeping priest. And this is a chastisement of a divine nature. Eli's honor is gonna pass away. An aged, experienced priest would be here reproved by God through a 12-year-old boy, more than likely. and through a youthful and experienced prophet. And Samuel is the means that God uses to rebuke Eli. And at the same time, God establishes Samuel as a prophet at this young, ripe age. But I want you to also notice that there's much mercy here, much mercy for Eli and the purpose of God. The Lord here gives Eli room for repentance, and friends, anything to do with us as sinners, the sinners that we are, short of hell is mercy. If God took us all tonight and threw us into hell forever, that's what we justly deserve, and anything short of that is mercy. Do you believe that? Here's a young boy that's still talking about childhood things, And just like that, he becomes a mouthpiece for God Almighty. Regardless of the state of a servant, God can speak. Remember Balaam's ass? Who's sufficient for these things? You know, I'm 68 years old and I often stand overwhelmed. In my study, when I study the scripture, sometimes I think, how can I bring this, the wretch that I am? How can I encourage people to trust the Lord when I don't trust the Lord like I should? It's overwhelming, but can you imagine how this young boy must have felt? Not even a teenager. Samuel was around the things of God, but he'd never been exposed to God till God called him. And as we already know, Eli took sides with God against himself. We've already looked at that. The Lord spared him. but he had brought dishonor to his name. Now, the consequences of his actions had been foretold. The holy office of priest would be discontinued in his family. None of Eli's descendants would live to an old age. God's gonna kill his two sons. And this is what Samuel told him. And can you imagine how hard that must have been? Oh, may we, by God's grace, learn and not be deceived with the fact that God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, he shall also reap. Galatians 6, 7. Look back at 1 Samuel 2 at the last part of verse 30. It says, Be it far from me, for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." That's reaping what you sow. And that's what Paul said there in Galatians. And let me add what you already know. God means what he says. And he says what he means. Lord, help us to beware of sin. We can't allow willful sin by those who are under our charge. You know, if we just allow our children to live like hellions, we're as guilty, maybe more guilty than they are. Oftentimes, I've seen a child just act up in a store. I mean, just horribly act up. You might say, did you want to spank them? I said, no, I want to spank the parents. And I do, because that's whose fault it is. God Almighty, as a father, chastens those that he loves. We all do the same. We all do the same. There can be great consequences for sin to us if we neglect the sin and those who are under us. And this sorrowful reaping continued in Eli's lineage forever. There are many lessons for us in this story. The title of this message this evening is The question asked by Eli to Samuel found in verse 17. The question is, what is this thing? The marginal reference there to the word thing is word. What is the word that the Lord hath said unto thee? Or we could use the short title, which I'm going to, tell me the truth. tell me the truth. You know, if someone says to you, and I've had folks say this to me, and I'm sure you have too, they said, I've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first? Well, I never, I always hate that. I wish you just had good news, but I suppose I would every time choose to hear the bad news first. Why? Because depending on how bad the bad news is gonna determine to me how good the good news is. So let's just get the bad out of the way and then tell me the good. But friends, God always gives us the bad news first. God does. We're dead in trespasses and sin. That's bad news. We're spiritually dead in trespasses and sin. But the good news, the gospel is Christ came into the world to save sinners. That's good news. The bad news is that we were conceived in sin, and sin is what we are. The good news is that Christ was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The bad news is the wages of sin is death, but the good news is the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. I love what Brother Scott Richardson said one time. I actually heard him say it in a meeting that I was in, and he said, you know, I haven't heard any bad news since I heard the good news. And that is so true for the believer. Since I heard through the preaching of the gospel that Christ came in the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." I haven't heard any bad news. It's all good news. Everything God does, whether I think it to be bad or not to be bad, he's working it together for our good. I want to make a few observations before we get into the meat of this lesson, and I'm not going to keep you long. First, God does speak to chosen sinners. Isn't that good news? I wish I had the ear of all the unsaved world. I'd ask them, when or if the Lord sends his word to you as he did Eli, what would you do with it? Would you believe it? Would you bow to it? Would you reject it? Would you rebel against it? It'd be one of those two responses. And this question should be asked to every professing believer. Do you want to know the truth? Do you want to know the truth? The whole truth and nothing but the truth. I'm not talking about the truth of man. I'm not talking about what man says and what man thinks. I'm talking about the word and the truth of God. Eli said, tell me the truth. Tell me the truth. I'm talking about what God says about us. Do you want to know? Well, the question again is what is the thing, this word that the Lord has said unto thee? God does speak to men and women. Otherwise, it would be a senseless question, wouldn't it? But he does. God has not placed his creatures at an immeasurable distance from him. You know, God, the immortal one, communicates with mortals. He does so to make them immortal. How else could corruptness put on incorruption? How else could mortality put on immortality? You know, there's not an abyss from nothingness to grandeur. God can span that great gulf between us and him. And unlike that hit song in the 1990s, God's not watching us from a distance. No, He's not. How does God speak to us? Well, through His Word, through the Word of God. In various ways, divers ways, and times past, God spoke through the prophets. But in these last days, God speaks to us through His Son, through this Book, who is, Christ is the Word of God. He speaks to us by the Holy Spirit. God takes the things of the Holy Spirit and reveals them to our spirit. the things that are preached from this world. God speaks to us through the preaching servant. I hope that's why you're here tonight, to hear from God. God speaks to us in creation. God speaks to us in providence. Every line in this book, and we may Well, we're not gonna ever see them all, but every time we look at a scripture that we're familiar with, we see something new. But every line in this inspired book was dictated by the Holy Spirit, and it's a message from God. The Bible is to be read as a message from God to men, a message from God to women. That's why I say often this book is the most valuable possession that any of us have. This book is the record of Jehovah's voice. What would you give for that? My, my. what he aforetime spake by his voice. He continues to speak to us through his written word. God speaks to us by his word when the spirit applies this word to us individually. How many times have you read something and go, I never saw that before. That's God revealing the scripture to you. It's spoken into our hearts and our conscience by the Holy Ghost. That's a divine revelation. Oh my, thank God for that. When God does that, thank Him for it. Revelation must be revealed to us individually. I'm not gonna get in on your faith in Christ, and you're not gonna get in on mine, and I'm not gonna benefit from your knowledge of the scriptures, and you're not gonna benefit from mine. God has to reveal it to us individually. Thy grace does not see until God gives us life, and God gives us sight. It's our depravity of sin that makes that soul. How are we dead in trespasses and sins? Our sins gotta be dealt with. When our sin is taken away, death is taken away. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sins, it shall die. God uses the means of his servants who speak in his name. He directs the thoughts of his called and he ordains his servants to speak to those who are dead to hear the word of God and those who are led to hear the word of God. It's not difficult to understand. Men understand it. They just, they hate it. God speaks to us through creation. Romans 1.20, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Let me tell you, if you look out at the stars and the sky, the moon, the sun, this vast creation that God has made, and you think it all happened from a big boom, then you're yet without God. You're lying to yourself. You know there's something instilled in every man and woman deep within that says, God did this. God did this. You know it's so. Because that when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Men change the truth of God into a lie, and they worship and serve the creature, the things that God made, more than the Creator Himself, who is blessed forever. God made this, and then they'll take a frog and worship it and saying, that's the Creator. Just like Israel made a golden calf and said, this is the God that delivered us out of Egypt. What nonsense. And then Aaron himself, the high priest, Moses' own brother, said, I just threw gold in the fire and out popped this calf. My, my. Natural men do not retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a reprobate mind. Look that word up, reprobate, sometime. That's what you are by nature. That's what I am by nature. They're filled with unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness. This all comes easy to us by nature. Full of maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers. That's what we are by nature. We're whispers. We're back biters. Haters of God. Despicable. Proud. Boasters. Inventors of evil things. Have you ever invented anything? You might say no. Yeah, you have. You've invented some evil things. It's what God says. Disobedient to parents. Without understanding. Covenant breakers. Without natural affection. and unmerciful. We are unmerciful by nature. We commit things that are worthy of death, and what makes it even worse, we take pleasure in doing so. That's what God says. Tell me the truth. You want to know the truth? That's what God's Word says. And this is every one of us by nature. We all inherited this from our fallen state in Adam. And we look at God's creation, and we look at God as the Creator, We will not have Him to rule over us. That's just the bottom line. A man that does not bow to Christ, he wills not to have God rule over him. I will not have this man rule over me. He's not going to be my boss. I'm my own boss. I'm going to do things my way, and he's not going to rule over me. Well, if he desires to, he will. He'll break your will. He'll cause you to bow. God also speaks to us in providence. God in the providential affairs of this world speaks to us softly and patiently. God at other times use sterner notes, but as a father that loves and chastens his children, God could speak to us however he pleases, but God saves us through the preaching of this gospel. He can talk with us in nature. God is speaking loudly right now in Florida. Trust me, He's speaking loudly in nature, in the hurricane. Have you heard the thunder? Have you heard the roaring of the sea? He's heard in the noise of Niagara Falls, and He's heard in the little ripple of the brook. The Lord is never voiceless. but to those who will not hear with their earless souls." No. Not going to listen. Not going to hear. Not going to hear. Tell me the truth. Four times the Lord said, Samuel, Samuel. And when Samuel knew who it was that called him, He said, Speak, for thy servant heareth. God gave him ears to hear. God revealed to him who he was. Samuel knew who he was, and he was his servant. Samuel knew who spoke to him. It was his master. Oh, may God open our ears to his voice. Samuel heard the Lord loud and clear, and he lay there the morning. He didn't go to sleep. There wasn't no sleep that night for Samuel. He didn't leave his bed. He lay still and he pondered what he heard. And can you just imagine what was going through his mind? I've got to tell the man who is most like a father to me, this horrific news. And he didn't rush into Eli. The news was hard to tell. He didn't seek out another to tell. But in one night, he became mature above his years. He went to bed a child and he woke up a man with a secret from God entrusted to him. There was, you know, pressing anxiety upon him. A battle enraged within, a message raised upon his heart. He had a fear of grieving the man that he loved, but a greater fear of grieving God. Well, I'm telling you, I know a little bit of how he feels. Words will not suffice or express this anxiety of delivering a message from God to a sinner. There are some who hate me this very moment for telling them the truth. That's what Paul meant when he asked the church at Galatia, he said, am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? People don't like it when you tell them the truth. But you're doing so for their good. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do you desire to do something to merit your salvation? Do you not hear the law and what it's saying? God's law has got to be kept in full. God's law has to be kept perfectly. If you offend in one point, you're guilty of the whole law. It doesn't do you any good to keep 9 of the 10 commandments. You're guilty of all 10 if you fail in one. I don't deserve to be under the law. I desire to be under grace. How about you? If I can do something to save myself, if Christ alone is the only one who can save me, if I can do nothing to be lost, for salvation is sure and certain and finished in Him, I'm not gonna try to keep the law. I'm gonna trust in the fact that He kept it for me. Abraham had two sons, one by a bondwoman and one by a free woman. You ever thought about that? The youngest son, Isaac, was a son of promise. The son of the bondwoman, Ishmael, was born after the flesh. The son of the free woman was born by God's promise. What saith the scripture? What did God say? Tell me the truth. What saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we're not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. We can't do anything to save ourselves. Okay, well, let's pick the story up in verse 15. And Samuel lay into the morning and opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and Samuel feared to show Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered him, I. And he said, what is the thing that the Lord has said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me. God do so to thee and more also if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said unto thee. Now there are three statements in that one verse made here by Eli that shows us beyond a shadow of a doubt that Eli wanted to hear the truth. The first one is what is the thing? What is the word that the Lord has said unto thee? That's pretty direct. What did God tell you? Secondly, hide it not from me. Don't hold back. Tell me, tell me what he said. Let me have it. Tell me the truth. Don't try to cover my feelings. And thirdly, God do so to you even more also if you hide anything from me. Eli wanted to know God's Word concerning him. Do you? Do I? Yes, I do. I do. Do we want to hear the truth about ourselves? Well, we're not going to hear the good news till we do. Some do, many don't. Are we hanging on the edge of our seat to hear Or we like that man that Paul preached to, sleeping, fall out a window and get healed. God has sent a message to Eli and young Samuel is the messenger and God has sent a message to you because today preaching is the chief means in which God almighty speaks to sinners. May we learn to pay more attention to the message and not to the messenger. You remember what Paul said? He said, for one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollos. And then he said, are you not carnal? Are you not fleshly minded to talk that way? Who's Paul and who's Apollos? Nobody, nobody. Can Paul save you? Can Apollos redeem you? Did Paul die for you? Did Apollos rise from the grave for you? Paul and Apollos and every servant that serves is nothing but a minister. You know what that word means? Men today have made it a whole new thing. They dress up in the robes and they, like the Pharisees of old, walk down the streets wanting somebody to respect them. That's a man of God. The Lord Jesus said they're like beautiful sepulchers. They're beautiful on the outside, but on the inside, dead men's bones. Just ministers, just servants, waiters. The word means waiters. The word means table attenders. That's what a ministry is. And he said, by whom you believe. They're just the means that God, through whom God delivered the message. Paul said, I've planted and Paul has watered. But God gave the increase. God does the saving. So the conclusion of the matter is this. He that plants is nothing. He that waters is nothing. God who gives and increases everything. We solved that mystery, didn't we? No, we didn't. No, we didn't. God revealed it to us. May God enable us to see the message and not the messenger. May God be pleased to give us an interest in the message. That is the gospel. You know, Gene Harmon preaches the same gospel I do. I preach the same gospel he does. And a younger man than both of us is coming down Sunday to preach that same gospel to you. The same gospel. We got different personalities, and we have different mannerisms, and the text of the scriptures that we choose may be different, but it's the same message. It's the same gospel. And when it comes to the word of God, God's people want to hear it no matter who proclaims it. Eli's interested in the whole counsel of God. Did you notice what he said? He says, hide not anything from me. I want to know all of it. I want to hear the whole counsel of God. Don't hide anything from Him. Tell me all things. Tell me everything. Tell me the truth about it all. Some say, well, leave out that sovereignty stuff. Some say, leave out those election and predestination doctrines. Tell me about the love of God. I like to hear about the love of God. Don't tell me anymore about that holy justice stuff. That's depressing. Tell me about God's forgiveness. Well, there is no forgiveness apart from holy justice. That's telling you the truth. You want to hear the truth? There's no forgiveness apart from God's holy justice being satisfied. And only Christ can satisfy it. God can by no means clear the guilty. Sin's got to be paid for. Don't tell me about God being holy. It makes me sad. Well, you better get sad and then you better get glad because that's exactly what's gonna keep you out of heaven is to think that God can somehow or another just excuse your sin. It's not depressing when you see that God must save you justly, that he can by no means clear you. Your sin has to be justly put away and the good news tells us how. Tell me the truth. Do you want to hear the truth? Don't leave anything out. Tell me the truth. Shame on you. Cursing on you if you don't. That's that's what those scriptures teach. Hell is going to be a little hotter for those that tell lying things to sin. Don't sugarcoat it. Tell me what I'm responsible for. OK, glad you asked. You're responsible to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Leave out that wages of sin teaching. Leave out that soul that sins stuff. Tell me what I must do to be saved. The truth is, you can't do anything to be saved. Why would I tell you that? Eli didn't want to sugarcoat it. He said, don't hide anything from me. Don't hide anything from me. Tell me the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me God. I wonder how much of that goes on in courtrooms today, the truth. Eli's saying, doesn't matter if you're a boy, doesn't matter if you're an old man with one foot in the grave. Tell me the truth. Paul told Timothy, these things command and teach, let no man despise your youth. But be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith in purity. Learn the truth and tell me the truth. Verse 18. And Samuel told him every wit and hid nothing from him. That's the kind of preacher I want to be. Everything that God told Samuel, Samuel told Eli. He told him every wit, every word. Have you heard the whole counsel of God? What do you say to it? Now let me just quickly add, as I finish up, Samuel didn't add anything to what the Lord told him. He told him every word. He didn't tell him any more than God told him. He didn't add to what the Lord had said. He didn't embellish what the Lord spoke. We got a lot of that going on today. He simply declared what God told him. I've told you this many times. Preachers are just good news reporters. We don't make the news, we just report it. We don't create the news, we simply report and declare the news, the whole of God's word. For almost 12 years now, I have desperately endeavored not to shun declaring unto you the whole counsel of God. And the apostle went on to say, take heed therefore unto yourself. When you hear this gospel, you're responsible for what you heard. Eli did. He took heed. And what did the Lord do? He forgave him. He saved him. His profession is the proof. He said, all these things, nobody in your family is going to be a priest ever again. Every man in your family is going to die an early death. I'm going to kill your two sons. And you're going to leave shortly thereafter. And Eli said, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. Whatever happens to us friends, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good. Eli submitted to the Lord. It's the Lord. The Lord always does what's good for His people. And the child of God can find great comfort in knowing that God will always do what seems Him as God to be good for His people. God works all things together. For what? For good. To who? The world? No. To them that love God. Is everything going to be good for everyone who lives on earth? No. to them who are be called according to His purpose. Not everybody's called. If they were, they'd be saved, and it would be to their good, but it's not. God does good to everyone in the world who believes in His only begotten Son, and they will not perish, but have everlasting life. And you know what? That's good. That's good. That's a good thing. That's the gospel. Well, I just thought those two verses neat and just didn't feel like we could pass over them again. Look at him one more time. Tell me the good news. Tell me the news. Give it all to me. OK, well, I hope that was a help to you.