Samuel No.3 Samuel's Ear

A reading this morning is from 1 Samuel and chapter 3. It's the story of how the Lord called to young Samuel. 1 Samuel and chapter 3 beginning at verse 1. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days the word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions.

One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel.

Samuel answered, Here I am. And he ran to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me. But Eli said, I did not call, go back and lie down.

So he went and lay down. Again the Lord called Samuel, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me. My son Eli said, I did not call, go back and lie down.

Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord. The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. The Lord called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, Here I am, you called me.

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, Speak Lord, for your servant is listening. So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak, for your servant is listening. And the Lord said to Samuel, See, I'm about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.

At that time, I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family, from beginning to end. For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about. His sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.

Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, the guilt of Eli's house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering. Samuel lay down till the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision.

Eli called him and said, Samuel, my son. Samuel answered, Here I am. What was it he said to you? Eli asked.

Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you. So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him.

Eli said, He is the Lord. Let him do what is good in his eyes. The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground.

And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Samuel through his word. And the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his word this morning.

And I want you to have your Bibles open at once, Samuel, in chapter 3. I'm going to address you this morning on Samuel's ear, or if you like, as a subtitle, Responding to the Voice of God. Responding to the Voice of God. Now you have your Bibles open, as I said, once, Samuel, 3, but let me for a moment or two, without you necessarily turning to it, direct your thoughts to a verse that you get almost with monotonous repetition in the second and third chapters of the book of Revelation, the final volume in the Bible, where you come across this injunction.

Verse 7 of chapter 2, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And verse 11 of the second chapter, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And then the 17th verse, exactly the same.

And the 29th verse, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And then on into the third chapter, the sixth verse, the 13th verse, the 22nd verse. Now those of you who are aware of the contents of Revelation know that in the opening chapters you get specific letters that are addressed to individual Christian communities in Asia Minor and at the end of each very short message is this injunction, let the Spirit, let the person hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

We've just been singing Francis Havegill's hymn I am listening Lord to thee what hast thou to say to me and I just hope that that encapsules your attitude as you've come here today to the tabernacle. Lord I want you to speak to me. You see those of you who are perhaps casual attenders here we're very glad to have you with us but it's most necessary for you to understand that the reason for this church and for its ministry is that people may hear the Word of God.

Now some will say well God doesn't speak in a voice audibly like he used to speak in the Old Testament or in New Testament times and in one sense you're right but in another sense you are wrong. In this respect you're wrong that God has preserved his word for us in this book the Bible which they never had in Old Testament times not in completion nor indeed in New Testament times it was the third century before the whole Bible was available for the total Christian Church and it is through this book that God speaks to us today and what I am concerned about and what burdens my heart as I've been before the Lord asking for this message is that you and I might respond to the Word of God as it speaks into your situation right now. So let's set the scene of this third chapter of this rather glorious book of 1 Samuel.

You've got two characters in particular who demand our attention. We've been introduced to them during the last couple of studies that I've brought from from this book. I'm referring to Eli.

Now Eli is an old man. One sense he's a very pitiful man. In another I find him to be a very lovable character and there he is this aged servant of God and he has restrictions physically like some of us have increasing limitations.

His eyes are no longer as good as they used to be and he needs someone to help him particularly at night in ensuring that the lights have been put out of the candlesticks in the sanctuary because Levi you remember or rather Eli you remember was in charge of the sanctuary the tabernacle at Shiloh and he's got a little lad and here is the second person who demands our attention. It's not his own boy though I reckon that Samuel is more precious to Eli now than his own sons were. He's just a young fellow and he's been brought well you recall why being brought to the temple to the to the tabernacle by his mother to help Eli to be his eyes to close the doors of the sanctuary to ensure that the lights are ministered to and flicker rightly when they should and are put out when they should be extinguished.

And so you've got two men or two characters one who represents a failure as far as Israel is concerned Eli the other who represents the potential a potential success. One to whom God no longer speaks directly another to whom God will address his word in a most remarkable fashion. And so we think of the latter the young Samuel and he is going to be the one who when God has not spoken for many a long time will have the silence broken as the Lord will come to this lad and let him know what the Word of God is for Israel in those days.

And so in the tenth verse you remember after Samuel has three times had his night disturbed and gone next door in obedience thinking it's the aged Eli who's calling him in the tenth verse we find that Samuel puts into practice what Eli has diagnosed and said Lord speak to me. The Lord came and stood there calling as at the other time Samuel Samuel then Samuel said speak for your servant is listening. Not to the aged Eli though he be a very great theologian possibly not to this man of stature as far as years are concerned but to someone who you might presume to be an insignificant character Samuel.

God addresses his word. And so first of all let me talk to you about receiving the voice of God receiving the voice of God for that is what Samuel did did he not? And that's what you and I want to do we want to receive the voice of God to recognize it for what it is and to respond as we ought to such a mighty being directing his his wishes toward us. Now it seems to me that there are three things that mark young Samuel out that qualify him if you like for being one to whom God can direct his word.

And the first thing that I bring to your attention is this that that Samuel's ear was attentive. James Drummond Burns tells us in a hymn that's going to be sung to us in a in a little while oh give me Samuel's ear the open ear oh Lord. You tell me you never hear the voice of God.

I wonder how open your ear is or whether it's blocked. You see that was the problem with Eli wasn't it this old man who really one would have if one had been hazarding a guess as to whom God would direct his word you'd have said Eli he's in charge of the whole religious thing in Israel and yet his ears are blocked. The decades have gone by and Eli's compromised not so much personally himself but certainly as far as his family is concerned and God no longer speaks directly to Eli.

He has to send someone else to bring him the word of the Lord. You see Eli's family are looked upon with displeasure by God the scandal of the clergy that's what had hit Israel. Do you know what Eli's sons Hophni and Phineas are doing and because he was their father and should as should have as I indicated last week have disciplined them and have reacted to their to their incompatible lifestyle earlier because of this he'd forfeited having the voice of God spoken directly to him but not Samuel.

Oh give me Samuel's ear. Why? Because it's attentive. There's nothing that's blocking it.

You see he's a young man. Thank God for youngsters. Sometimes I think it's easier you know older folks for God to draw near to young people and to boys and girls especially because they do not have the compromise already notched up in their lives that some of us do and it was Jesus who once brought a young boy in front of the disciples to teach them a lesson that theologically they had to understand this that to enter into the kingdom of God they must become as a little child.

Our gracious God who inhabits the heavens will speak to a child and through a child. His ear I say was attentive and what is more he's blessed with what some of us were once blessed with when we were younger. A retentive mind.

Not only does God speak to him but he remembers what the Lord has said. Now this is a principle in Scripture that you'll find in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It is good to have God's Word within your memory.

Your word says the psalmist have I hidden in my heart. Why is that so necessary and why is it important to do it early? Well for reasons that I just suggested. I find it much more difficult to remember things these days than I did when I was a Sunday school lad.

Isaiah 53 I got that in my mind within half an hour and it's never lost me. But now when I try to remember off by heart Ephesians 3 I find it very difficult though I preached on virtually every word that there is in that third chapter. The younger you are the easier it is for you to memorize.

And you see it's so necessary to have the Word of God in your memory if alas as the years go by you lose your sight as Eli did. The young Samuel he retains what the Lord speaks to him on that rather important night. It said later on in the 19th verse projecting Samuel's ministry as a grown up man.

The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up and everything that Samuel spoke when he addressed Israel God vindicated what Samuel had to say on the basis that when God spoke Samuel didn't let any of his words fall to the ground. You see now my dear friends some of you you've known the voice of God speak to you. Some of you yesteryear and you've allowed those words to fall to the ground.

In other words you didn't respond in the way that you should or you did then but you're not doing so now. And in this sense perhaps you're more like an Eli than a Samuel. Samuel received the voice of God I say because his ear was attentive and his mind was retentive.

God has said those that honor me that I will honor but those who despise me will be lightly esteemed. Thus Eli rusts out whereas Samuel will always burn out for the Lord because Eli disdained the Word of God in his own family circle. Whereas Samuel will greedily all his life taking his example from Hannah, preserve, conserve and work through the Word of God in his lifestyle.

His ear was attentive, his mind was retentive, his brain was reflective. When the Word of the Lord was spoken to Samuel what do you discover he does? Well verse 15 supplies the answer. Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the Lord.

I suggest to you that that little boy never slept the remainder of that night. You see what God had to tell him was a very serious business. It concerned the household of Eli.

And I remind you again that Samuel was only a very little boy. He went to bed as a lad. He woke up as a man.

Some youngsters mature very quickly. I've seen them out in Africa. I've seen them in Asia.

Children who've matured through the harrowing circumstances of life. More mature at 13 than some of us are at 35 and some of us are at 60. Maturity has very little to do with age.

It has a great deal to do with experience. When Samuel went to bed, I say he went as a boy and he woke as a man. His sleep disturbed.

He hears from the Lord and as a result of what he gathers from the Lord, I suggest to you he never slept the remainder of that night. He reflected upon what the Word of the Lord was. He cogitated, as we would say, and I break for a moment.

I remember once listening to the chairman of a Keswick convention and really what he had to say was even more significant than the address that I heard on tape that had been preached. Now that address was a brilliant address. It came from the throne room and it must have affected the thousands of people who gather at Keswick.

But the chairman said, you know when I hear a word like that, I don't want to stay in this tent. I want to go off on my own and I want to reflect and I want to worship the Lord. And sometimes though I'd be the last in worthing to argue against corporate fellowship, it would be good if we went away having heard the Word of God and allow it just to sift through into our total personalities and to reflect upon what has been said.

Unless in careless conversation that follows, the word that was spoken is perhaps lost and you never reflect upon it again. Receiving the voice of God, I suggest you, requires an attentive ear, a retentive mind, and a reflective brain. But you see, when you have received the voice of God, if you are as Samuel is, and to some extent we all are, called to be spokesmen of the Lord, then that you are to re-echo what the Lord has told you to others.

You see, I believe in the priesthood of all believers. In fact, I would go so far as to say this, I believe in the prophethood of all believers. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, if as I understand the ministry of the prophet and the ministry of the priest in the New Testament dispensation is correct, everyone who confesses Jesus Christ as Savior is entrusted with a ministry.

Now that ministry has various permutations, but it has this in common that we are called to re-echo to others what we have received from the Lord. Receiving the word, re-echoing the word, it's part of the prophetic ministry. It applies not just to the Christian elite, so to speak, if there is such a force, I'm not sure.

It applies to everyone who names the name of Christ, re-echoing the voice of God. You take in to give out. In fact, you can only really say that someone has taken in if you find them giving out.

Now, how does Samuel cope as an example of one who's received the word of the Lord? How does he re-echo it? Well, let's say this for starters, he acts very somberly. You see, this hasn't been a good night, really, has it? Not in terms of a delightful experience that a young lad may come downstairs and talk to his mom and to his father and say, you know, I had a dream and it was also wonderful. You know, and with excitement he might relay what he's dreamt through.

You see, Samuel hadn't dreamed. He'd had a vision from God. He'd received the word of the Lord, and he is very, very somber, even though he's a young lad.

As a result, look at verse 15, will you? He was afraid to tell Eli the vision. Afraid to tell him the vision. He got a large burden on very young shoulders.

Might well he be afraid to tell Eli what he had received from the Lord. Why? Well, you see, it's so personal. It's so damaging.

Did you stumble, and I never had time to get to any explanation last week, at the 25th verse of the previous chapter, which speaks of the Lord wanting to do away with the sons of Eli? Actually, it's not the 25th verse. If you find it, just shout it out, will you? The Lord wants to do away with the sons of Eli. 25.

If a man sins against another man's, God may mediate for him, but if a man sins against the Lord's, who will intercede for him? No, that's not the verse that I want. 34. 34.

And what happened to your two sons? Hophni and Phinehas will be assigned to you. They will both die on the same day. Now, if you go further back in that chapter, you will discover that the Lord actually talks about his wish to put these men to death.

The end of verse 25, there we are. I find these numbers so very small, I can't see them too well from the pulpit. His sons, however, did not listen to their father's rebuke, for it was the Lord's will to put them to death.

Now, why? What a harrowing comment. Well, you see, my friend, in the New Testament, you read about this. You read about sinning against the Holy Spirit, blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

Now, every sin can be forgiven, but not the sin of blaspheming the Spirit, and that is precisely what Hophni and Phinehas have done. They know what the Word of God is to the Israelite nation, and yet they're taking the women servants at the temple, and using them as prostitutes. They're taking the very sacrifices that the people bring to the Lord, and they are exploiting them for their own advantage.

And this was not just something that they did in passing. It wasn't just a short period that they were spending as prodigals. This they were doing deliberately, time after time, day after day, month after month, until it was a scandal in Israel.

And God is going to judge these men. It's a somber word, is this, and it weighs heavily on young Samuel, that a man can take the Word of God, and listen to it for so long, and reject it, that ultimately God rejects him. You can get yourself in that category, and this is what had happened.

The ears of everyone in Israel who hears what God is saying to Samuel, and then to Eli, will tingle as a result of God declaring himself to be the judge. And young Samuel has to tell Eli this, and so he he's afraid, as you might be. He acts somberly, and yet he'll speak truthfully.

The Apostle Paul talks about him never having used the Word of God deceitfully. Now it's easy for a preacher to do that. You've no idea the problems that there is in the pulpit ministry.

You see, handling the Word of God deceitfully means bending it so that it fits the ears of the people. Now no preacher naturally, at least very few preachers naturally, want to be disliked by their audience. And the problem is not tailoring your message to the ears of the people.

Just adjusting it a little bit, you know. We long to be told that God is a God of love. We long to be told that God is merciful.

We long to be told that God is the God of the British. And somebody comes along and says, well yes, God is a God of love, but He's also a God of justice. God is also merciful, but He'll bring everyone to account, and if they've not confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior, then on the day of judgment they will be in a hopeless situation.

And God is not the God of the Europeans. He's the God of the third world. He's the international God, and He calls every man and every woman to repentance on the basis of being a sinner, and trusting the Lord Jesus for salvation.

Now wouldn't it be so easy? He's only a little lad. I keep repeating this, but you must hear it. You must hear it time and time again until it's sunk really into your understanding that this little boy, when he is entrusted with the Word of God, when he matures overnight and he's asked by Eli to let him know what the divine voice contains, he answers somberly and he answers truthfully.

And it won't just be part of the truth, it'll be the whole truth. Verse 18, so Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Would you really want somebody to tell you everything that God is saying about your life? You see, it's a very daring thing to ask someone to reveal, assuming they've had a revelation from the Lord, to convey that revelation to you about them and their family.

And this is what Samuel is prepared to do. Now remember I've said that the prophethood, the prophet's ministry is something that's shared by the total body of Christ. So you'll not just take this as me trying to elevate the pulpit above what the Bible will allow it to have in terms of height.

You see, I believe that we're all called to fetch God's Word to one another. We're all called to fetch God's Word to one another, the preacher particularly. Now Pastor Samuel, young though he be, is admirable because of this threefold characteristic that having received the Word of God, he's prepared to re-echo it and he'll do it with somber, with a somber spirit.

You can't always be happy in the pulpit in terms of a joke a minute. In fact anyone who belittles the pulpit to that extent doesn't deserve to enter it. There is joy in serving Jesus and there is humor sometimes in the proclamation of what is upon one's heart, but the essential message of salvation is a very somber message, isn't it? The fact that you and I are sinners and we need to be saved and you need someone to speak truthfully and comprehensively and to tell you everything.

Re-echoing the voice of God, which brings me on to the last thing that I want to share this this morning, reacting to the voice of God. We thought of receiving the voice of God, re-echoing the voice of God, now reacting to the voice of God and here we must turn our spotlight on Eli and for Eli I feel so sorry, a tragic figure, lovable but pathetic, a failure in many, many ways. Yeah, listen to what Dr. Alexander White, a great Scottish preacher, had to say of Eli and his relationship with Samuel.

I jotted this down the other week because it's so precious. Samuel became to Eli as the sunbeams come into a prism on the smell of flowers to a sick man on his bed. Eli was a joyless old man, wearied and disappointed, who trailed behind him the broken threads from all his life's hopes.

His own sons had become ashamed so that he wished he had buried them when they were little ones. His country was in danger for his people had forsaken God and all good things and were on the downgrade towards ruin. He was a gentle and kindly old man but did not have the stamina for the position which he filled.

His hands were weak and his eyes were dim. On that child Samuel the old man poured out all his affection, a child whose feet ran in the way of his commandments, a child whom it was good to love and a joy to teach, a child who would take the place of the lost sons and provide new interests and create new hopes. Eli was no prophet but he helped to make a profit.

He had no greatness of his own but he helped to develop the greatness of another. If Israel owed him nothing else, it owed Eli Samuel. Alexander White says, call no man or woman a failure who has sent out such to enrich the world.

Reacting to the voice of God, here is Eli. I wish I had a congregation full of Elis for in one sense he's much better as a member of the congregation than he is as a preacher. He comes before Samuel and asks the young lad what the Lord has said to him and here we learn for immediately that he's prepared to hear the Word of God from a juvenile.

Now not every older person will do that. Eli's life is in ruins, his family is in ruins, the nation is in ruins. But you can say this for Eli, when you've spent, when you've spelt out all his thoughts, he desperately wanted to learn.

He desperately wanted to hear the voice of God even if that voice was mediated, came through the person of someone else. I ask you, do you have that desire? Let me tell you this my friend, it doesn't matter how inarticulate the preacher is, how young he may be, how lacking in qualifications he is, how sometimes he ruptures the Queen's English, that doesn't really matter. If he's been to the throne room and gathered some crumbs from the Word of God and scatters it amongst you, then devour what he has to say.

No matter what his background might be, learn this from Eli, who does not stumble at the fact that Samuel had been spoken to as a juvenile by God and God had bypassed Eli for that great privilege. Learn this also from this dear man, that he wanted to know things as they really were, even though they be unpalatable. Says he to the young Levite, verse 17, do not hide it from me.

May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you. Here's a greedy pensioner and he wants it all. Samuel, tell it as it is.

Tell it as it is. There are few Elis I dare to suggest who ever come within the compass of a Christian congregation. Shall I tell you the hardest thing of my pastoral ministry? It's not preaching from this pulpit, and don't misunderstand that remark.

It's not fellowshipping with people and enjoying their company. It's sometimes having the courage and gritting your teeth and going to someone saying, I love you my brother, I love you my sister, but in the name of God let me tell you, you're wrong. You're wrong.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend. And there are not many people who come into a church fellowship who are prepared to accept on a personal level from someone who may have been before the throne of God on their behalf that they've got something wrong. It takes a humble man, it takes a humble woman to have it spelt out as it really is.

And Eli, lamentable, pitiful Eli has this to his credit. Tell me what he said and tell it all and tell it now. And when Samuel's told it, it's to the credit of Eli that he submits to the will of God.

Hophni and Phinehas are doomed and there is nothing that even a father now can do. The opportunities have been missed. Eli, Hophni and Phinehas are within the judgment of the Lord and Eli responds, he is the Lord.

Let him do what is good in his eyes. I accept what he says. Now my friends, I'm nearly through.

Jesus in Matthew 13 and verse 16 says to his disciples, blessed are the eyes that see what you see and blessed are your ears which hear what you hear. You see these were unusual men, these disciples. They responded to the voice of God when the voice of God was as rare in the days that preceded the ministry of Jesus as it was in Samuel's time.

But they were prepared to listen and they saw and they responded. Now I hardly need to summarize and apply this. God speaks to you.

Don't say you don't hear his voice. He speaks through this book. He speaks through the Spirit who makes this book relevant to your personal need.

He speaks through someone like myself who occupies the pulpit. Now what are you going to do with that voice? You see, some of you need to confess that Jesus Christ is your Savior and make a commitment to him. I say that quite unequivocally in the name of God.

You need to do that. Some of you here need to make corrections in your life. Your attendance at the Lord's table is haphazard.

Your handling of your finance is not biblical in the way that you can serve for yourself more than you ought to. Some of you here need to be more in attendance in prayer sessions. Some of you here need to be more diligent in reading the Word of God.

Some of you here need to be more open in your attitudes towards others. I'm telling it as it is. I'm telling it strongly.

But every time I put a finger at you, I put three back at myself. Because that's the thing about Samuel, you see. He can't preach to others unless he preaches to himself.

Because once he does that, then he's disqualified from being a prophet. He's disqualified from being a preacher. So here is the Word of the Lord for you this morning.

Now the challenge is not just have you received it, re-echoed from Samuel, but are you prepared to retain it as did Eli and say, thank you brother. You told me as it really is. This is what I ought to do.

And now I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it. I'll leave it with you.

May God give us all Samuel's ear and Eli's humility. Let's just prayerfully listen to a hymn being sung. Suddenly a voice divine rang through the silence of the shroud.

The old man meek and mouth. The priest of Israel slept. He swatched the temple child, the little lamb I'd kept.

And word from Eli's sense was sealed. The Lord to Hannah's son revealed. O give me Samuel's ear, the open ear, all alive and quick to hear each whisper of thy wake.

Him to answer at thy call. And to obey thee fervently. O give me Samuel's heart, the heart that waits where in thy house thou art.

O watch it that I gaze by day and night, a heart that still moves at the breathing. O give me Samuel's mind, a sweet unmurmuring, fair, obedient and resigned to thee in life and death. That I may read with childlike eyes truths that lie.

Our Father God, we come within the light of your word once more. And we pray that what Ruth's been singing, we might know ourselves. The ear of Samuel, unstopped, unfettered.

An ear that's attentive. A mind that's receptive. And a will that's totally obedient.

Lord, I need that. My brothers and sisters here need it. Help us to appreciate it more, we pray.

Help us to have something of the character of an Eli. Being prepared to receive what you have to say. And to take it and to accept it and to live by it and to work it through.

But prevent us, Lord, here, we ask, that our family circumstances might ever get so serious as did his. For we have hopes for our children, our adult children, and we would have them within the kingdom of God. And so we pray to that end.

Lord, as many an Eli, in terms of mum and dad this day here in the tab who wants to pray for their sons. That they may yet wear the ephod like Samuel and become mighty men. That their daughters may become mighty women like Hannah.

Oh, God bless our families here at the tab to this end. And we ask, Lord, as Israel was decadent and falling from you in those days. That you will hear our prayers as we cry for our own country.

Because we have so many fears when we consider just what is happening and what is allowed. We thank you for recent encouragements. But, oh God, we're a long way from the dictates of your book.

And we would ask that you might return us to it. We think, Lord, of the events of these past few days. We think of the cauldron that boils in the Middle East.

And we ask that you will keep your hand upon that situation. We pray for national and international leaders who have so much power and so much authority. And we would ask that they may mature as Samuel matured.

And be able to cope with the responsibilities that are theirs. And I, Lord, would you be gracious enough to allow the cauldron to come off the boil. So that there may yet be time to tell the Arab community that Jesus Christ loved them and bled and died for them.

Father, hear us because our hearts are heavy as we think of the international situation. And we pray once more that we might be like Samuel's here. That we might not let one of your words fall to the ground.

But might re-echo them to others who in turn might respond as Eli responded. Oh Lord, work out this message and make it relevant to all. So that all who came here shall realize that even from the Old Testament Scriptures, the voice of God has been projected into the 20th century.

Hear us then, Lord, as we pray. And do you bless us. And again we commit our Queen and her consort and her family to you.

And ask that they may give an example to our nation that shall be helpful for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. Let's turn to our final hymn, another old one.

Let us pray. As an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to this church. Grant it, Lord.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.