Let's take our Bibles and turn
back now to 1 Samuel chapter 3. This morning I pray that the
Lord might be pleased to take that which we've read, considered, and apply that to our hearts
in the setting forth of the gospel. That's what we're looking to,
that God might be pleased to teach the glorious gospel of
God's grace. Out of those three chapters that
we just read, a woman named Hannah asked the
Lord for a son. She was pleased, he was pleased
to give her a request. She took that young boy and placed
him in the temple with the high priest, Eli, ministering. The scripture sets forth that
Eli sinned against the Lord. His sin was striking. in that
he gave in and bowed to the natural feelings of father toward his two boys
that had disrespectfully dishonored God. He gave them verbal reprimand,
but when it says he restrained them not, It means he should
have taken them out. He was the high priest. He should
have taken them out. Now Bob, I love you boys, but
you're not going to disrespect God. You're not going to disrespect
God's people. Get them out. The problem was that Eli, rather
than obeying the precepts of grace, and reverencing the Lord,
he just decided to look the other way. And God dealt with him. Now, I've got three things I'd
like to say. Here's the first point. is going to deal with sin. We're sinners. All men are sinners. Back in chapter 3 and verse 1,
and I'll just look at a few. We'll be glad, thankful that
we can glean back from what we read in those first two chapters.
But it says, The child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before
Eli. And the word of the Lord was
precious in those days. And there was no open vision. It was rare. God's word was rare. And there was no public proclamation. Can you imagine? God was silent. God was silent. because of the unfaithfulness
and disrespect toward God. You know how that is. I do too.
Somebody, you know, might say, well, you know, they're giving
me the silent treatment. Why? They're disappointed. Disappointed. Don't have anything to say right
now. The word of the Lord was rare. Why? The problem is sin. Eli's sons have treated the service
of Almighty God with disrespect, abused the women of the temple,
and caused the people, the scripture says, to blaspheme, to abhor
the offering of the Lord. God Almighty spoke to Eli about
it, and told him what we read back in the second chapter. Didn't
I raise you up? Didn't I say? So we have here the sins of commission
by those boys, and the sin of omission by Eli. not restraining them. Eli was the high priest. He was
the one that God held responsible. Now, in everything that we've
read, we go back to the source. By one man's sin, by one man's
disobedience, many were made sinners. By one man, all the
apostles says, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, Romans
5.12, by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by
sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned. These boys, Pt 9, Phinehas, Eli, Almighty God was going to deal
with them. God was going to deal with them. The Lord told Eli, he said, there's
not going to be a sacrifice that's going to cover the sins of your
boys. Your boys are going to die. Die in their sins. We're going to see in just a
few minutes. Eli was reprimanded by the Lord, chastened by the
Lord. It's pretty apparent to me. Eli knew God. But God won't deal with it. We see what happens if Almighty
God leaves a man to himself. Leave a man to himself. The God
of this God Almighty, God, the Lord opposed,
that's what Hannah said. The Lord opposed. He that does
as he will in the army of heaven among the inhabitants of the
earth, if he leaves a man to himself, if he leaves a man to
himself, who's to blame? That man. These two boys right
here will never stand before God without saying I do. Well, they're going to stand
before God. These two boys will. So will
I. So will you. We'll all stand
before the judgment. Just as the poet said, just a
few more rising suns at best, and we're going to be there. Sin is going to be dealt with. And it's either going to be dealt
with in a man, in rebellion, everlastingly, or it's going
to be dealt with in a substitute. But the problem is sin. God Almighty was silent because
of man's rebellion. If God is not pleased to speak,
no man's going to hear it. The word of the Lord was rare.
Can you just stop for just a minute, you that know Him, think how
precious it is to be able to hear the Word of God. I just want to be able to get
up. This is the Lord's Day. This
is the Lord's Day. That's what Scripture refers
to it. It's in the spirit of the Lord's Day. And I have this blessed privilege. God has raised up a place where
I can go here and I can worship God in the way that God has established. This is the way that God has
established the worship of his blessed son, the hearing of the
gospel. And here we assemble together
and we think, what a blessing. I'm a sinner. A sinner saved
by the grace of God. By grace I am what I am, but
I know what I am. Paul referred to himself, as
Brother Neal just referred to, chief of sinners. Every believer
says that about himself. He knows that. He said, I agree
with what he says, not about him, but me. Men are born rebels
against God. And they're never free from the
presence of sin in this life. Eli was a high priest. Eli was
a sinner. Second thing, I know this. The
Lord has raised up a faithful priest. It came to pass, verse 2, verse
4, that at that time when Eli was laid down his place and his
eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. May I stop just
a moment right here and just ask you this. Aren't you glad
that we do not have one to look to that can't see? He was a high priest. The high priest of that Aaronic
order, the type, the picture. We've been going through the
book of Hebrews on Wednesday. You know how the Lord put away
the first covenant and established the second, the new covenant.
The declaration of that covenant of grace that's been eternal.
That's what Brother Neal says, it's an eternal covenant. It
came to pass, God Almighty who puts no trust in his servants, counts his angels with falling. God Almighty does not put any
trust in any but himself. It came to pass that when Eli
was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that
he could not see, and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple
of the Lord. God Almighty who would not allow,
will not allow there to not be a witness of his blessed son. God Almighty who is able to establish
the proclamation of the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
there the lamp of God went out. God Almighty, who will not allow
there to not be a witness of Christ. Samuel laid down to sleep, and
the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here am I. Oh, listen to me. Eli had been
unfaithful in respect to God, all men are. That disrespect
was evidenced by silence from God and the lack of openness
of the word of the Lord. The word of the Lord was hindered,
hindered because of disrespect. But God, who is rich in mercy,
For His great love, wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ. There's a beautiful,
glorious picture. What a time! Before the lamp
of God went out, God Almighty said a prophet, Samuel, but all
of greater than Samuel is spoken of here. Here was a young boy
that the scripture reveals, read a moment ago, as of yet he didn't
know the Lord, not Samuel. God revealed himself to him.
Samuel, God spoke to him, Samuel didn't even know who it was.
Went to Eli, he said, you call me? I'll call you. But I'll tell you this before
the foundation of the world. Our great high priest, faithful,
heard the voice of his father, who called him, established him
to be the priest. And from everlasting, he stood. He said, speak, thy servant hearing. He who ever loved his brother,
he who is the surety, he to whom the Father has ever moved, he
said, I was ever before his place. His joy was with the sons of
that Almighty God would call him, appoint him. He was appointed. That's what Hebrews said. He
was appointed, chosen, the servant of Almighty God. But what a beautiful, glorious
picture of our blessed Savior who has ever heard the Word of
the Lord. Faithful. God is able to raise
up a faithful faithful servant. That faithful servant is our
Lord, our husband, our master, our God. In verses 19 of chapter 3, verses
19 to 21, when I said that God's able, look it here again, consider
the type, consider the beautiful declaration of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Samuel grew, and the Lord was
with him. and did let none of his words
fall to the ground. God's word is sure. God's word
is going to accomplish the purposeful mission. God's word will never
return unto him void. Almighty God, that has everlastingly
loved a people, Is he going to have his own? The Lord Jesus
Christ says, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. You consider these
words considering our Savior. The Lord did let none of His
words fall to the ground. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
speak as I hear my Father. Here we see the blessedness of
the faithfulness of Him who was made like unto us, yet without
sin. Consider the faithfulness, the
faith of our blessed representative and federal head who walked on
this earth before God Almighty and established a righteousness
imputed to us And all of Israel considered that a spiritual Israel.
Listen to this. All of Israel from Dan even to
Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet
of the Lord. I'll tell you this. All God's
people know. They know. They know. The Lord
Jesus Christ said to His disciples, who do men say belong to? I was
going to say Elijah and Jeremiah and this prophet. Who do you
serve? Who do you serve? Peter said,
you're the Christ. You're the prophet. You're the prophet. And the Lord
told him, he said, Peter, flesh and blood didn't reveal that
to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Listen to this, and
the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. God blessed his word. God blessed
his word. He had been silent before. And
God blessed his word. The Lord appeared again in Shiloh
for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word
of the Lord. You want to know what the evidence
of God's blessing is? God's people feasted at the eating
of Christ who is the bread. And they hear the proclamation
of Christ. And they say in their hearts,
that's all my hope right there. That's what I believe. That's
what I feel right there. That's all of it. He's everything
to me. And then lastly, the Lord, for
Christ's sake, is going to keep and He's going to save His people. After the Lord told Samuel what
he would do to Eli, to his sons, Samuel, he was hesitant to reveal
the judgment that was to come. But the scripture says, after
Eli told him, he said, I want to know what God has to say.
Boy, there's evidence right there. There's Eli. I want to know what
God has to say. He likely knew what he was. He
knew what he had done. Don't hold anything back. You
tell me the truth. You know what, that's what a
believer wants. Tell me the truth. Now this, you may say something
goes against my flesh. I know you will. But I'm so glad
for that. Just be honest with me. Just
tell me what God has to say, would you? You love my soul? Tell me what God has to say.
A man doesn't love you, he's going to lie to you. He lied. Heard what this young
prophet, and God raised up that prophet. Now we, you say he's
just a young boy, God raised him up. Told Timothy don't let
anybody despise you. If God raises up a prophet, God
raised him up. Leave him alone. That's God's
anointing. Leave him alone. That young boy told Eli everything
Samuel was obedient. He told him everything God said.
He didn't hold him back. This is what God said. When I
said the Lord, for Christ's sake, is going to keep and save his
own, he makes his people Every knee is going to bow and
every tongue is going to confess. I'll tell you where grace is
found. It's found where on this side of the grave. Tell me what God said. He said He's going to do just
exactly what He said He's going to do. And Eli said, It is the
Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good. I'm going to bow to His providence. I'm going to bow to His power.
Because anything He does to me, in chastening mercy to me, is
less than I deserve. It's the Lord letting Him do
what seemeth Him good. I'll cast myself upon His mercy.
And I'll say, Lord, whatever you do to me, I know this. You have meted it out in compassion. And you've done it for my good
and for your honor. May Almighty God bless these
words to our understanding and to the praise and honor and glory
of God Almighty. We're here this morning by the
grace of God. In ourselves, we know this, it's only by His compassion. And we say, as Job said, though we slay Him, yet Well,
I trust him. But I will maintain my own ways
before him. It's the Lord. Let him do what seems
to be on my mind. Amen.