Let us turn once more to God's
Word and directing you to the opening words of our reading
tonight in 1 Samuel chapter 3 and verse 1. 1 Samuel chapter 3 and
verse 1, And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before
Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days there
was no open vision. And the 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 subject matter that
I want to take up with the Lord's help is that of God's precious
word. As we have it here in the second
part, the second sentence that forms part of this opening verse,
the word of the Lord was precious in those days. First of all though
to say something with regards to the scarceness of that word
of God. We're told, at the end there
was no open vision. You might see in the margin that
actually the word precious is given alternatively as the word
rare. These statements in a sense are
parallel statements The word of the Lord was rare in those
days. There was no open vision. And there is of course a connection,
an association between a thing being rare and being precious. A thing that is rare is often
something that is greatly prized. And as it is prized, so it becomes
very precious. if there are but few of certain
things, that seems to add something to its value. And this is the
idea that we have in the word that is used here in our text. This was true at that time with
regards to the Word of God. There was no complete canon of
Holy Scripture. What books existed would have
been such as the five books of Moses, the first five books of
our Bible. And then there would have been
Joshua. Maybe there would have been something
of the book of Job. But there was no complete collection
of the books that make up what we call the canon of Holy Scripture. God was still revealing himself. There was still the office of
the prophets, those holy men of God being raised up, men that
spoke as they were moved by the Spirit of God. Those men who
could utter the words, thus and thus saith the Lord. Oh, there was no open vision
though at that time. There was very little prophetic
ministry at all. And the word that we have here
at the end, open, no open vision. It's an interesting word, it
literally means to break through, or to burst upon, to spread abroad. It's the same word that we find
in the book of the Proverbs, in Proverbs chapter 3, where
the wise man speaks of those who fear God, of those who have
a reverence for God, those who seek to walk in obedience to
God's precepts. And it says, Thy presses shall
burst out with new wine. Well, it's the same word, to
burst out. This word that we have here is open. There was
no real ministry of the Word of God, no voice of the Prophet
to be heard. God's Word was not spreading
abroad on every hand, no settled, no established Prophet. There were occasions when the
Lord God would speak. In fact, in Chapter 2 we read
of such a man whom the Lord God sends to speak to Eli because
of the great sins of his sons. There in verse 27 of chapter
2, there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus
saith the Lord, and so forth. And he speaks of judgment that
is going to come upon the house of Eli because of the gross sins
of his sons. So there were occasional prophets,
men of God, speaking the words of God. But it was a rare thing. It wasn't something that was
common. There was no stated ministry. But now the Lord is about to
appear. And it is this young child Samuel
who is going to be very much the Lord's prophet. We see how he becomes established
at the end of the chapter. All Israel from Dan, even to
Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of
the Lord. And the Lord appeared again in
Shiloh. For the Lord appeared, therefore the Lord revealed Himself
to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. And the word of
Samuel, it says, came to all Israel. But what is the situation,
what are the circumstances that are being spoken of here in our
text at the beginning of this particular chapter? Well, two
things I want to mention with regards to the rareness or the
scarceness of the word of God. Firstly, the ministry such as
it was, was corrupt. And secondly, the worship of
God was disregarded. And God himself doesn't wink
at such things. Certainly we see how the ministry
was so corrupt. The priests, the sons of Eli,
were so immoral. There in verse 22 of chapter
2, we're told Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did
unto all Israel, And how they lay with the women that assembled
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. These prostitutes
frequenting the tabernacle, the place where God was to be worshipped. How these sons of Eli were so
corrupt. in their practices, how they
were despising the very ordinances of God's house. Well, we see
that previously in the second chapter. Verse 12, the sons of
Eli, we read, were sons of Belial, they knew not the Lord. And the
priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered
sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in
seething with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand, and
he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot,
all that the flesh hook brought up the priest took for himself.
So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came. They were gluttonous men. Also
before they burnt the fat, the priest-servant came and said
to the man that sacrificed, Give me flesh to roast for the priest,
for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any
man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently,
and then take as much as thy soul desireth, then he would
answer him, Nay, but they shall give it me now. And if not, I
will take it by force. And so we are told the consequence
of all this behaviour, verse 17, wherefore the sin of the
young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the
offering of the Lord. How wicked they were! How they
had no regard for what God himself had ordained! No respect for
the sacrifices that were so central to the proper worship of God. In fact, they were men who were
robbing God. They were robbing God. And it's
not just here in the days of Samuel. When we come to the end
of the Old Testament, There in the book of Malachi, we see again
something of the awfulness of those sins that were being practiced
by the priests, the corruption of the ministry of God's house,
those men who should have known better. In chapter 3 of Malachi,
verse 8, when a man robbed God, is the question that God puts
through his servant the prophet, will a man rob God? Yet ye have
robbed me. But ye say wherein have we robbed
thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse, for
ye have robbed me. This is God speaking. Ye have
robbed me, even the whole nation. And then God says so graciously,
bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may
be meat in mine house and prove me now herewith saith the Lord
of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour
you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive
it. In spite of all the corruption
and all the wickedness again and again we see the goodness
and the grace of God. But oh, here we have to recognize
what was taking place. Oh, the ministry was so corrupt. There in Malachi we read of the
priests. We know that the priests were
those who served God in the tabernacle. They presented the offerings,
they made prayers for the nation, but they also spoke the words
of God, or they should have been speaking the words of God. Again
there in Malachi 2.7 it says the priest's lips should keep
knowledge and they should seek the Lord at his mouth for he
is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. The priests were God's
messengers. Even when there were none being
raised up to exercise the prophetic office there should have been
a ministry by means of the priests but they were so corrupt. But what is it when we think
in terms of the corruption of the ministry? You know, that
corruption can be very subtle. We have to remember this, that
the authority never lies in a man. All the authority lies in the
Word of God. It's not placed in a man. There's
no such office anymore as the priesthood. As Baptists I trust
we are those who recognize rightly the priesthood of all believers. We don't speak in terms of the
clergy and the laity. We're not saying that we don't
recognize the fact that a man might be called to minister the
Word of God. but there's no authority vested in the man it's in that
word that the man is handling and how that word is to be faithfully
opened up and expounded if it's not faithfully handled that's
a corruption of the word of God that's a corruption of the ministry
and we have a wonderful example of that during the days of Nehemiah
the content of chapter 8 in Nehemiah is a most striking portion of
Holy Scripture. We see here the centrality of
the Word of God in the worship of God's people. But look at
the language. It's Ezra who is the scribe in
these days. We're told here at the beginning
of Nehemiah 8, all the people gathered themselves together
as one man into the street that was before the water gates and
they spoke unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law
of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra
the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men
and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon
the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before
the street that was before the water gate, from the morning
until midday, before the men and the women, and those that
could understand. And the ears of all the people
were attentive unto the book of the Lord. And then we're told
how Ezra the scribe is standing upon a pulpit of wood which they
had made for that purpose. And we see subsequently there's
not only the public reading of the word and let us not lose
sight of the significance of that, the importance of that.
And remember how here in our own nation, at the time of the
glorious Protestant Reformation, it was decreed by the King that
the Great Bible should be placed in every parish church in England,
that the people might hear the reading of the Word of God. But
more than the reading, it says here at verse 8, "...so they
read in the Book, in the Law of God, distinctly, and gave
the sense and cause them to understand the reading. How the ministry
must be rooted in the word of God and that faithful ministry
is where there is a right opening up of the word and the preaching
of the word and not finding a text and using the text as a pretext
and saying anything that the preacher wants to say. It must
be the faithful expounding of what is there in God's Word,
the explanation of the Word, the opening up, the application.
That look into the gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. Oh, in those
days, you see, the Lord's Word was precious, it was scarce,
it was a rare thing. There was no open vision. the
ministry was so corrupt at that time but then I said two things
and the second thing is this the right order for the worship
of God was disregarded we read of course here at the beginning
of this book of the parents of Samuel we read of Hannah and
Alkanah her husband and we're told Alkanah went up every year
to worship gods at Shiloh when they came into the promised land that was where they first set
up the tabernacle the tabernacle of course throughout the Wilderness
Wanderings was a portable tent. They would take it with them
as they made their journeys through the wilderness. But now they've
come into the Promised Land and they set up the tabernacle in
a permanent place and they set it up at Shiloh. It was later
in the time of King David that the tabernacle was taken and
removed from Shiloh and set up at Jerusalem. But here it is
now, it's set up at Shiloh. And it's all concerning this
man, Elkanah, verse 3 in chapter 1, this man went up out of his
city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts
in Shiloh. When the two sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas, the priest of the Lord, were there. Although there
was that that was not good, that that was corrupt, the wickedness
of the sons of Belial, yet this man is clearly a gracious man
who seeks to worship God. Every year he would go. But we
have to remember this, that God really required more than a yearly
attendance at the Tabernacle. It was to
be three times in the year. That's what we're told in Deuteronomy
16, 16. All the males were to go up to
the place of worship on those three occasions, the three great
feasts of the Lord, Passover and Pentecost or the Feast of
Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. But that wasn't the case even
with a gracious and a godly man like Halkana. All friends are
we those who rightly treasure the Word of God and the ministry
of the Word of God. We're not to treat these things
lightly. God doesn't wink at these things. We're not to be
those who would forsake the assembly of ourselves together, says the
Apostle. as the manner of psalmists. There
are those who do forsake the assembling of the saints. But
we should be much more diligent even as we see the day approaching.
What a dark day it is that we're living in. How we should now
so value the opportunity of gathering with the Lord's people. Will
we always have these opportunities? There was a time, of course,
in the history of this nation. It's not so many years ago. It's
only 350 years ago, in the days of our Puritan forebears, where
they were persecuted, they were hounded, as they sought to me
to worship God in accordance with His Holy Word. We're not
to take these things lightly. Let's God remove this favor from
us. not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together it's a terrible judgment when God visits upon
any people the denial of his words it's what God speaks of
through his servant Amos the prophet where we read of a famine
in the land, a famine not of bread nor of thirst for water,
but that famine of the hearing of the Word of God." Look at
the language there in Amos, Amos 8, 11. Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not
a famine of bread, nor of thirst for water, but of hearing. the words of the Lord, and they
shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the
east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord,
and shall not find it." Oh, it is a terrible, terrible judgment. Dear Martin Luther says, this
anger of God when He takes away His word is the most awful exercise
of His wrath. My spirit, God said, shall not
always strive with man. Oh, let us recognize then the
great favor. What we have here, you see, is
a day wherein there was a scarceness of God's Word. It was a thing
so rare. The Word of the Lord was precious
in those days. there was no open vision. Well, we sought, as it were,
to look at the words, you might say, in a rather negative sense.
But let us turn in the second place to consider the words more
positively. Not now the idea of the scarceness
or the rarity of the Word of God, but the preciousness. The preciousness of the Word
of God. Presently we'll sing that lovely
hymn of John Newton's precious Bible, what a treasure does the
Word of God afford. Oh, what a blessing it is that
we have God's Word and we have it in a good translation. We
have it in a translation that is faithful to the originals.
A translation that God has so favoured. now for what some 400
plus years what blessings have come through the ministry of
God's Word even in our own tongue but as we think here of the context
and the preciousness of the Word of God I want us to consider
how precious it is as God calls this young child as God calls
Samuel to be his servant, to be his prophet. And there are
four things that I want to mention with regards to God's words and
the preciousness of it in the calling of Samuel. Firstly, observe the time. Well, the time we know was dark,
but I'm thinking here of the detail. When was it that God
gave a call to this young boy? Verse 3, ìEre the lamp of God
went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was,
and Samuel was laid down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel,
and he answered, ìHere am I.îî Notice the symbolism there. When
does the call come? It comes at night. It comes in
the dark, ere the lamp of God went out in the temple or the
tabernacle of the Lord. Now, we know that one of the
tasks of the priest was that they had to dress the lamp, the seven-branched candelabra
that we read of. In Exodus, of course, we find
Moses there in the mount, 40 days, 40 nights, receiving all
this instruction and direction from God, directly from God,
concerning all the furnishings and all the duties that were
to be performed by the priests in Exodus chapter 27. Verse 20, Thou shalt command
the children of Israel that they bring thee pure oil-olive, beaten
for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always, in the tabernacle
of the congregation without the veil which is before the testimony. Aaron and his sons shall order
it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a statute
forever unto their generations on behalf of the children of
Israel. Now, the text here does seem
to suggest that they were not always dressing it. That the
lamp went out. But yet, here is God and in the
midst of all this blackness, all this darkness, God calls. And He calls Samuel. And I say
that the situation that Samuel is in, as it's night time and
he goes to sleep, is so symbolic of the situation. Or this is
that time when there was great wickedness and darkness in Israel. We've already referred to the
behavior of the priests, the sons of Eli. how they despised
the ordinances of God's house, how they were such immoral men. And yet, at such a time as this,
it pleases God. Oh, it pleases God to send a
prophet. There had been an anticipation
of this, in a sense, when God sent that man of God, as we read
there in chapter 2 at verse 27, this man of God who comes and
speaks directly to Eli but then he disappears we hear nothing
more of him there was no open vision at that
time ah but now God is about to act and to do something more
gloriously for the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness
comprehended it not how God's word comes and he comes that
the strangest of times God sends His Word even in the midst of
blackness and darkness, sends His Word in the midst of deadness
where sin abounds on every hand and yet God is pleased to send
His Word and to do a remarkable work. This is why we're not to
despair, we read the Word of God and we are surely to encourage
ourselves in the Lord our God who does such things as this.
The time of the call But then, secondly, observe the place of
the core. What are we told? It comes there
in the temple of the Lord, where the Ark of God was. Now, at this time it was the
place of the most gross immorality. Remember those awful words that
we have in chapter 2, verse 22. These sons of Eli, Phinehas,
Hophni, how they lay with the women that assembled at the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation. Here is the place of sin and
yet this is where God's word comes in spite of all this immorality. But then there's something better
here because this place is really the place of God's promise to
Israel of His gracious presence. We've already referred to the
book of Exodus concerning the lamps in chapter
27 but there are many many chapters there concerning all the instruction
and the direction that Moses receives and of course in chapter
25 of Exodus we see how God gives him very specific instruction
with regards to the Holy of Holies the most important part of the
tabernacle that that is beyond the second veil There they were
to set the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat upon it.
And in Exodus 25 you can read of all the detail concerning
the construction of the Ark and the Mercy Seat. But then what
does God say? All His promise is that it is
there that He will meet with Israel. There will I meet with
thee, and I will commune with thee, He says. above the mercy
seat, between the cherubim. Why it's a mercy seat? In this
sense, it's the very throne of God. And it's a wonderful type,
of course, of the throne of God's grace. Here is God seated in
the midst of Israel. And this is why the men must
go three times a year to the place that God has established. This is the commandment that
God gives quite clearly. Look at the language that we
find in Deuteronomy. There in chapter 12, verse 5,
unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of
all your tribes to put his name there even unto his habitation
shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come." That's where they're
to go. This is a special place. And
this is the place where God's call comes. This young lad, Samuel, he used
to be the Lord's servant, he used to be the Lord's prophet.
God calls him at a strange time, in the night, in the dark. But
God is calling him there, in the tabernacle. And look at the
detail in that third verse. The temple rather, the tabernacle
of the Lord, where the Ark of God was. Where the mercy seat
was, where the throne of God was. oh it's a special place and then
also we see with regards to this call how it's repeated how the Lord comes once and twice
and three times verse 4 the Lord called Samuel and he answered here am I verse
6 the Lord called yet again Samuel and Samuel arose and went to
Elah and said here am I for thou didst call me verse 8 and the Lord called Samuel
again the third time oh God's call you see, it's a
repeated call what a wonderful, what a remarkable
thing this is that God should do such a thing when there was
such sin in Israel such despising of the ordinances of God's house and yet we're told quite clearly Samuel
doesn't know the Lord verse 7 Samuel did not yet know the Lord Neither
was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. But then God
comes the fourth time. There's the fourth call. And
it's so striking, in some ways it's different to those other
calls. Verse 10, the Lord came and stood and called as at other
times, Samuel, Samuel, And Samuel answered, Speak, for thy servant
heareth. Or now, see how the name is repeated. In verse 6, the Lord called yet
again, Samuel. But now in verse 10, He comes
and says, Samuel, Samuel. And that's not a vain repetition.
You know, you know there's no vain repetition. anywhere in
Scripture. Every word of God is a precious
word of God. We recognize that, we say we
believe that. We believe in the plenary, the
verbal inspiration of the word of God. We believe the very words
are God's words. That is the words that we have
in the original, in the Hebrew of the Old Testament, the Greek
of the New Testament. That's what verbal inspiration
is, not men expressing themselves in their own words as God inspires
them in their thinking. But no, the very words that they
utter, the words that are written down, are God's words. So every
one of those words is important. And here God deliberately repeats
the call and He's calling this young man, this young child to
be His servant, to be His prophet and we know He called us His
own sheep by name well that's how the Lord calls it's so personal
He calls His own sheep by name but also we are told how the
Lord came and stood There's a certain permanence here as God abides. Surely what we have here is that
that is the effectual call of God. Is it that here we have not only
His call to be the Lord's servant, the Lord's prophet, but this
is also the call of God's grace. It's an effectual call. The Lord came, the Lord stood.
It's at appointed time, the appointed time rolls on apace, not to propose
but call by grace, to change the heart, renew the will, and
guide the feet to Zion's hill. Oh, this is how God calls. And
we see the response of Samuel. What does he say? Speak, for
thy servant heareth. or where there is that call from
God there must come that answer from the soul of any man. He
will have God speak because He's all ears. Are we those who as
we come under the Word of God we're all ears, we love it. It's the Word of God, it's precious.
All the Word of the Lord was precious in those days. It's
not very precious in our time, generally speaking. but all that
it might be precious to you and precious to me, because it's
the word of God. This call that God gives him,
we see something of the preciousness of it in the manner in which
he comes to this young man, the time of the call, the place where
God calls, these repeated calls, but then finally, And this is
the great thing really in it all. Here there is a revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at what it says at the end
of the chapter. reveal Himself to Samuel. It
was by the Word of the Lord. And that Word surely is the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
Word. In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh,
we are told, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. How does the Lord come? He comes by and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible
God. The Lord revealed Himself to
Samuel in Shiloh by the Word of the Lord. For no man hath
seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. It's Christ. It's Christ who comes in the
Word. And look again what it says there. Where is it? It's Shiloh. It's Shiloh. the Lord appeared again in Shiloh
for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh. Think of
that blessing that is pronounced upon Judah in Exodus chapter 49 and verse 10, rather Genesis
chapter 49 and verse 10 where Jacob is blessing his sons remember the blessing on Judah
and the Lord Jesus is that one who comes of the tribe of Judah
until Shiloh come until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering
of the people burn always the Lord Jesus Christ And it shouldn't
surprise us, the Scriptures and the Lord, their one tremendous
name, the written and incarnate Word, in all things are the same. The Word of the Lord was precious
in those days. And where is it that we see the
preciousness of the Word of the Lord? unto you therefore Peter
says unto you therefore which believe he is precious it's the
precious Lord Jesus Christ the one who says to the Jews search
the scriptures in them you think that ye have eternal life and
these are they that testify of mine oh this is why we love the
Word of God because it's in this Word of God that we discover
this man, this precious man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
who is the great friend of sinners. Oh, how he loves sinners, how
he receives sinners, how he eats with sinners, how he has come
not to call the righteous but sinners. He is ever the sinner's
friend. And here we see a time of great
wickedness, the most gross immorality in Israel, the despising of the
ordinances of God's house. And yet, in the midst of it all,
the Lord comes. And the Lord comes in His Word. Oh, that the Lord might be pleased
to come to us, to come by His Spirit, to come in His Word,
and that we might prove the truth of this Scripture, that the Word
of the Lord is precious. The 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 Lord grant his blessing upon
his word. Amen.