Chapter 3. The title of the message is Calling
a Prophet. Calling a Prophet. And I have
four truths, four lessons for us to take tonight from this
chapter. The first lesson, the importance
of faithfulness in small things. the importance of faithfulness
in small things. Notice this chapter begins, and
the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. How could a child minister unto
the Lord? How could a child minister unto
the Lord? Well, there are three ways suggested
In this chapter, we only read of one of them. If you look down
to verse 15, we read, and Samuel lay, verse 15, and Samuel lay
until the morning and opened the doors of the house of the
Lord. That's one way that Samuel ministered. That's one way that a child of
Samuel's age could minister, and that was by opening the doors. opening the doors, it says, of
the house of the Lord. When you read that, I'm sure
that most all of us think the same thing. When David said in
that Psalm, I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than
to dwell in the tents of wickedness. To open doors, to open doors,
that would be considered very menial work. That's true, but
doors do need to be opened, right? Doors do need to be opened every
morning before the priest could come and minister there in the
tabernacle. The doors had to be opened, and
that was so important. Seeing that it was the doors
of the house of the Lord that he opened, that was an honor. an honor, what a privilege, what
a blessing to have the work. Small, menial type service, but
to be faithful, that's the point, to be faithful in what our hand
finds to do. That's what the scriptures tell
us in Ecclesiastes 9 in verse 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth
to do, do it with all thy might. And then the prophet Zechariah
asks this question, for who hath despised the day of small things? The day of small things. Maybe
the work that God has given you to do or me to do might be considered
a very small thing, but don't despise the day of small things. Be faithful in whatever place
the Lord opens up for us to serve Him. The other two ways which
are suggested that a child might minister to the Lord, besides
opening the doors of the house of the Lord, lighting the lamps. Lighting the lamps. They had
to be taken care of every morning and every evening. The lamps
had to be lighted. And we're going to see in this
chapter, it says before the lamps went out, because they would
burn out during the evening, during the course of the night,
evidently. That's when God, we're going
to see, calls Samuel. So opening the doors of the house
of the Lord, number two, lighting the lamps, and a third way that
is suggested is by singing. Singing. Whatever age he was
at this time, he could sing. You know, singing is a very important
part of worship. David later, in the scriptures
we know, David later, he designed a course for the Levites where
there would be a different group every month, I believe it was,
and all they were to do in the temple, when the temple would
be built by his son Solomon, was to sing. To sing and praise
the Lord. It's a privilege to be able to
sing. People sometimes say, well, I just can't sing. My voice,
make a joyful noise unto the Lord. That's what the scripture
says, isn't it? Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord. And the apostle in the New Testament
said singing and making melody, singing hymns and spiritual songs,
making melody in your heart to the Lord. But I thought of another
way, and we see it here, that a child his age could served
the Lord and did minister unto the Lord, and that was he ministered
unto the Lord's priest. He ministered unto Eli. Eli was
old, his eyesight obviously was very bad, and Samuel was Johnny
on the spot. When he thought Eli called him,
he jumped out of bed and ran to see what Eli needed. So that
was another way that a child. But the point I'm making or trying
to make here tonight is he was faithful in a small thing. And the Lord Jesus Christ said
this, he that is faithful in that which is least. No one would
ever think of just opening the doors was a very important job. He that is faithful in that which
is least is faithful also in much. And we're going to see,
God willing, if we continue to go through this book of 1 Samuel,
that Samuel was not only faithful in something small, but he becomes
very faithful throughout his life. Faithful in being a prophet
to the people of God. Notice the first line of the
chapter, and the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before
Eli, did a small menial type service, but notice down at the
end of the chapter, verse 20, and all Israel, from Dan even
to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet
of the Lord. He was faithful in that which
is least, and God uses him and brings him to the place where
he will be faithful in that which is greater. When we think of a menial work,
we think, don't we, of our Lord, our Savior, that night before
he was crucified, when he took a towel in a basin of water,
and went to every one of his disciples, even the one who would
betray him with a kiss, and washed their feet. We know that was
the lowest man on the totem pole's job. A servant in the house,
whoever was the lowest in position in a house, that was his job,
to wash the traveler's feet. And here the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the greatest of all, he stooped and went to each of his
disciples doing that work. Doing a good work for the Lord
Jesus gives it value, no matter what it is, how small it may
seem. And we shouldn't think of anything
as too little. if the Lord opens the door for
us to do it. I read a story just recently
of a man who was sent out, a young preacher, I believe it was, to
a district to preach at a particular place and he got there and there's
only one person there. Only one person there. What'd
he do? Say, well, my time's too important
for this. I'm too big a preacher for this.
No, he preached his message to that one person, that one person. And years later, this same man
went back into that same district and found there were several
different churches that had been raised up over that time. And when he asked about it, he
found out that it was that man that he had preached to years
before, that single person who God had worked a work of grace
in his heart, and he began to evangelize in that district,
and churches were raised up. And I encourage you Sunday school
teachers, I know sometimes you only have one in your class or
two, and that's discouraging, I understand that. People ask
me sometimes, aren't you discouraged on Wednesday night? In some sense
I am, when I know there's people who could be here who just choose
not to come. Yes, that's discouraging, but
I must always remind myself My place is to be faithful, to prepare
a message and bring the message. If it's one person, two people
or 20 people or 25 or 50 people. It is required of a steward.
The apostle Paul said, this is what's required of me and every
other preacher. It's required of a steward that
we be faithful. Faithful. And you know, you Sunday
school teachers, I thought about this. You might be teaching,
maybe just one young boy in your class, and you teach him week
after week. Who knows? Who knows? You may be teaching someone who'll
grow up that God would use, like George Whitefield. an evangelist
who would travel our country and England, be used mightily
in preaching the gospel. Someone like Charles Spurgeon,
who at 18 would be called to a church to pastor in London. And that church was greatly blessed. So that's the first thing. Do
I get my point over? The importance of faithfulness
in small things. Samuel. He was faithful. He opened the doors of the house
of the Lord. Faithful in that which was least.
And the day is going to come in his life, he's going to be
faithful in that which is great. The second truth or point I want
to make is the word of the Lord was precious. Notice that in
verse one. And a child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious
in those days. There was no open vision. The
word of the Lord is always precious to God's people. It's always
precious to God's people. But it was especially precious
at this time, we are told, because there was no open vision. It
is always precious, the word of God is always precious because
it contains God's written revelation of himself. Yes, we can look
up into the skies and see the sun, we can see the moon, we
can see the stars, and we can know that there's a God, there's
a creator. We can see the seasons change
from time to time. All of these things reveal to
man that he has a maker, a creator. But it's only in the written
word of God that we learn about this man. We learn about this
one, rather, I shouldn't say man, this one. It's like Arthur
Pink, I believe, illustrated this by a man on the beach and
a savage on the beach in some faraway country and he finds
a pocket watch. Now most of you don't know what
a pocket watch is anymore, but he finds one and he opens it
up and he sees those little wheels turning and he knows there's
a maker. That didn't just evolve. That didn't just happen. He knows someone made that. And whoever did is intelligent,
is wise, is great, but he doesn't know by looking at that pocket
watch anything about the maker, anything about his personality. Is he a mean man? Is he a kind
man? He doesn't know any of that.
Without this written word, the word of God is always precious,
isn't it? It's always precious because
we learn about God in this word. And this word contains what Peter
calls great or exceeding great and precious promises. Think
of the many promises that the Lord gives us. We wouldn't have
them without the written word. Yes, it's precious. And we know
that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
The Word of God, the written Word of God. We hear it, we read
it, and somehow God the Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts. And we believe it. We believe
the message of Christ. But notice the addition of the
words in those days. And the word of the Lord was
precious in those days. It gives us a slightly different
meaning or interpretation. Think of just how little of the
word of God they had at this time. They had the Pentateuch,
Joshua, Judges, Ruth. That was it. If they had that
written, if the Ordinary people could get a copy of that, which
is very doubtful. But they had a very little portion
of the word of God at that time. And you know, scarcity makes
something more expensive, doesn't it? Something more precious.
You know, if diamonds were like rocks that you find in a rock
pit, They wouldn't be very expensive,
would they? Diamonds wouldn't cost you very much. The reason
they're expensive is because of the scarcity. And the word
of God was precious in those days because there was such a
little portion of what we have, the complete word of God. And also remember this, the letter
of Hebrews opens up with these words, God who at sundry times
and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets." During the time, in time past, the writer
of Hebrews says, God spoke unto the fathers by the prophets.
But do you know that after Moses, we read in the book of Judges,
The Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, we read of one prophet in the
book of Judges, one prophetess in the book of Judges, Deborah. And that man we saw last week,
if you look back in chapter two, in verse 27, and there came a man of God unto
Eli and said unto him, thus saith the Lord. Not many prophets. Not many prophets. There was no open vision, the
scripture says. I want you to turn, keep your
places here, but turn with me to Acts chapter three. These are part of the message
of Peter. But in Acts chapter 3, we see that Samuel is actually,
he's set up as the head of the prophets. This is what we read,
look in that verse 24. Yea, and all the prophets from
Samuel, he's at the top, all the prophets from Samuel And
those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise
foretold of these days. And notice there in verse 18,
look back. But those things which God before
had showed by the mouth, now notice this word all, of A-L-L,
of all his prophets. What did all of his prophets
preach? Christ. You see that? All his prophets that Christ
should suffer, he has so fulfilled. Samuel is going, he set up as
the head, think of all the prophets that are named, and there's many
prophets we read about that are not even named. But Samuel heads
the list. The third point I want to make
is the Lord called Samuel to be a prophet. We see this in
the next few verses beginning with verse two. It came to pass
at that time when Eli was laid down in his place and his eyes
began to wax dim that he could not see. And there the lamp of
God went out in the temple of the Lord where the ark of God
was Samuel was laid down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel,
and he answered, here am I. And he ran unto Eli and said,
here am I, for thou callest me. And he said, I called not, lie
down again. And he went and lay down. And
the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to
Eli and said, here am I, for thou didst call me. And he answered,
I called not, my son, lie down. Now Samuel did not yet know the
Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose
and went to Eli and said, here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord
had called the child. 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, Samuel, Samuel. And 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 every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day, I
will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning
his house. Now, we read that last time that
man of God came to Eli, remember, and told him that he was going
to judge his house, take him out of the priesthood. 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 Samuel lay unto the morning
and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared
to show Eli the vision. Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel,
my son. And he answered, here am 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. And Samuel told him every wit
and hid nothing from him. And he said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Now, a few things I want to mention
that we better end those verses we just read. First of all, I
want to remind us this was not the temple, the house of the
Lord. This was a tabernacle. It's called
the house of the Lord because God manifested his presence here
between the cherubims on the mercy seat above the Ark of the
Covenant. So there must have been rooms,
there must have been tents somehow connected on to that tent where
Eli lay and slept No doubt he would have been closer, nearer,
I should say, to the Holy of Holies, wherever his tent was,
where he slept, than where Samuel slept. But Samuel was still close
enough he could hear. Sometime in the night, the Lord
called Samuel. Now it appears the first three
times that the Lord called Samuel, he called him out of the Holy
of Holies. As I said, that was where God
manifested himself, between the cherubim. That was his throne. He called Samuel, no doubt, from within the Holy of Holies. The fact that Eli didn't recognize,
now think about this, the fact that Eli did not recognize until
the Third time that it was the Lord calling Samuel explains
what those words mean in verse 1. There was no open vision. If the Lord, now listen, if the
Lord had ever made Himself known to Eli in a vision, it had not
been recently. It had been a long time. He didn't
recognize until the third time that that had to be the Lord
who was calling Samuel. And I want you to notice the
difference in the first three times and the last time when
the Lord called Samuel. Notice in verse four, we read,
the Lord called Samuel, verse four. Then in verse six, we read,
and the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And then in verse eight,
And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. But notice now
the difference in verse 10. And the Lord came and stood and
called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. The Lord came and stood. In other words, the Lord this
time in some visible appearance came to where Samuel at least
could see him. No doubt this was the Lord Jesus
Christ as he appeared many times in the Old Testament as the angel
of the Lord. This time there was a visible
form. And the prophecy is now called
a vision. This is one of the divers manners. We read that in Hebrews. God
who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets. This is one of those diverse
or different manners in which God spoke unto the fathers by
the prophets. And also we see that Samuel did
not answer word for word as Eli had told him. Notice Eli told
him if he called again, Then you should say, Speak, Lord,
for thy servant heareth. But notice in verse 10, Samuel
did not pronounce the name of the Lord. He said, Speak, thy
servant heareth. Now we know the Jews were very
cautious about speaking the name Jehovah, and that is Jehovah.
We've all read, I'm sure, that even when they were transcribing
the text, the scriptures, the scribes who transcribed the Old
Testament, the Jews, when they would come to a place and see
Jehovah, Yahweh, they'd go and bathe. They'd take a bath before
they would even write his name. They were very careful about
pronouncing this name, articulating his name, I should say. That
may well be the reason why Samuel left it out. He just said, speak,
thy servant heareth. And the point now is this. Samuel was faithful. He was afraid,
there's no doubt about it. Eli said, tell me every word.
He adjured him to tell him every word that he had heard. And we're
told, Samuel didn't like this job. Can you imagine the message he
had to deliver? I'm thankful as a pastor that
I have a message to deliver, a message of grace to sinners.
There's no grace in this message. In fact, God tells him that the
sin that he was guilty of, there would be no atonement for this
sin. That's a grave message, but the
point is Samuel was faithful. He told him every word that God
had told him. He repeated, actually, the message
the prophet had told the time before. We saw that last week.
Here's the last thing. I want you to notice Eli's submission
to the Lord. And Samuel told him every wit
and hid nothing from him. And he said, that is Eli said,
it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. He recognized that it was the
Lord's word that Samuel had given him. Remember in the mouth of
two or three witnesses, that prophet last time we saw. Now Samuel says the same thing.
He said it, Eli says, it's the Lord. It's the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.
He's a sovereign ruler, and he has the right to rule his creatures,
and none can ask him, what doest thou? Let him do what seemeth him good.
He knows what is best. God knows what is best for His
people and will only do what is good. And all that He does
is good, for He is goodness itself. You know, there are two other
men in the Old Testament that expressed a similar submission
to a very difficult thing, a very difficult circumstance. Aaron, the day
they set up the tabernacle, you remember two of his sons, his
two oldest sons, offered strange fire before the Lord and God
killed them. Now, that's hard, isn't it? That's hard for a father to see
that, his two sons destroyed. But the scripture says, when
Moses spoke to him, Aaron held his peace. It'd be easy, wouldn't
it, to fly off the handle, get mad at God? No, the scripture
says, Aaron held his peace. A second man, Hezekiah, King
Hezekiah, When he was told later on, remember he recovered from
that sickness and the Lord added 15 years to his life. And some
people from Babylon came and he showed them all his treasures
and everything. And the prophet came and said,
who were those people visiting you? All their people from a
way off over there. Prophet said, they're gonna come
back. They're gonna take everything you've showed them. What did
Hezekiah say? Good is the word of the Lord.
But you know, in this, as in all things, who has the preeminence? Who has the preeminence? The Lord has determined, right,
that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, have the preeminence
in all things. Turn with me in closing to Luke
chapter 22. Verse 42, the Lord Jesus Christ
in the Garden of Gethsemane. Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Preachers
have preached on that cup, what was in that cup. Was it our sins? We know he was
made to be sin for us. Was that what was in that cup?
Was it the knowledge that he would be separated from his father
when he was on the cross? If it'd be possible, if there's
any other way, if there's any other way that
a man or a woman could be saved apart from my sacrifice, and
there isn't, is there? And we know that. If there were,
then the Lord no doubt would have removed this cup from his
son. Father, if thou be willing, remove
this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine be done. It is the Lord. It is the Lord,
just like Just like Eli said, it is the Lord. And like Hezekiah
said, good is the word of the Lord. I pray the Lord would bless
these thoughts to all of us here this evening.