We're going to be in 1 Samuel
chapter 3. 1 Samuel chapter 3. Now, in the
previous chapter, chapter 2, the Lord had sent a man of God
and he told Eli that his house was going to be brought down.
He was going to judge his house forever. And now we come to chapter
3 and here we're told of the calling of Samuel and the raising
up of Samuel to be a prophet in Israel. And something that encourages
my heart about that is he was bringing an end to the house
of Eli and it was going to return back to This is where it would
actually return back to Aaron's first sons, the eldest. Well, there was four, but the
other two died. But the first born one before this current
son of Aaron, it had somehow switched over to Eli. I don't know how. Nobody seems
to know how. But now it's going to go back
to the other one. And what encourages me about
this is that, the Lord will not be without a witness for his
people. So he was bringing down Eli,
but he was raising up, before he did that, he was raising up
Samuel first, because Eli had been a judge. Eli was a high
priest, but he had been a judge, and now Samuel's not a high priest,
but he is now the judge of Israel, and he's gonna make sure that the sacrifices will be done right,
because they're pictures of Christ. They show us pictures of Christ
when done right. What Eli's sons were doing was nothing like the
gospel. It didn't show us the gospel.
It was a false gospel, and it was a burden and a trouble to
the people. So that was going away, and the
Lord was going to raise up Samuel. And so historically, that's what
this chapter describes here. But just like our Lord does in
all His Word, He's giving us a picture, a gospel picture. He's showing us the Lord Jesus
Christ and what he does for us. And so, just as an outline, the
first four verses, this chapter is 21 verses, but the first four
verses speak of what our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has accomplished
for us by his redeeming work. It's an outline. We'll see. You'll
see it. I'll show it to you. We'll see
Christ there. And then the rest of the chapter
speaks of his work of grace in the hearts of his people. That's
the result of his redeeming grace, of what he does. So let's begin
in 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. So at this time in Israel, there's
no king. This is before there was ever
a king. There was no Saul, no David,
no Solomon, no other kings after that. This is the time of the
judges. This is the time of the judges,
and at this time, the people would go to Shiloh. That's where
the tabernacle of the Lord was. The temple hadn't been built
until Solomon was king, and it was established in Jerusalem.
But here it is in Shiloh. And so the people would come
there to offer sacrifices to the Lord, and were told that
the word of the Lord was precious, meaning it was rare. It was rare
in those days. There was no open vision. And that meant that the people
were not being given an understanding of the mystery of God. It wasn't
being made known to them. They didn't see the gospel. They
didn't see Christ in what they were doing. There may have been
some, but not a lot. And Eli certainly wasn't teaching
them this. And his sons certainly, by what
they were doing, wasn't showing Christ in the sacrifices. It
was very fleshly and carnal what they were doing. Now, like this
time, when Christ came into the world, when the Son of God was
made flesh and He came into the world, we could say that the
Word of God was precious in those days. It was rare in those days. There wasn't an open vision at
that time until just before Christ came. There were some people
that knew the truth. It was Simeon and Anna, and there
were some people to whom it was revealed, like Mary and Joseph
and Elizabeth and Zacharias. There were some people that it
was revealed to, but not many. Not many. It wasn't open. It
wasn't being made known. In fact, when you look at the
Gospels, when you look at Luke, we're told that there were people
that were troubled. Herod and all of Jerusalem was
troubled when the kings came, when the wise men came from the
east, they were troubled at this news that the Christ was born.
They were troubled by that. And so they weren't looking for
Christ. And we're told that in John,
right? We're told that he came into his own and his own received
him not. They weren't looking for him.
And at the time, who was teaching the people? Who was leading the
people? Well, you had the Pharisees and
the Sadducees. And while they were very strict
in their adherence to the law, yet they weren't opening the
vision. They weren't opening to the Lord,
the gospel. And that's why they weren't looking
for Christ or expecting him in the way that he came. They didn't
know him. They rejected Him. They didn't
receive Him when He came. And so through Christ, through
His work, through His grace, that's how we know the mystery
of God. So when Christ came, that word
wasn't known. But after Christ has come, after
He came, and redeemed his people. He gave his spirit, the Holy
Spirit. The Father and the Son sent the
Holy Spirit into the world upon the people, and the Holy Spirit
gives us life. And now, by the Spirit, through
the preaching of the gospel, he makes that call, that word
effectual in our hearts. He gives us his spirit. Otherwise,
before a spirit comes, we don't know or understand the things
of God. They're foreign to us. They don't make any sense. They're
foolishness. They're nonsense. But now by
His grace it's made living and it's made effectual to us because
of His grace, because of His work. And so now we have an understanding
of the mystery of God. Now we know we come to the Father
through Jesus Christ. He reveals the Father to us.
When we look to Christ, we see and know the love of God. We
know the power of God, the grace of God, the calling of God. We
know these things through Christ. And without Him, we don't know
the true and living God. And we know that God receives
us and accepts us for Christ's sake. That's how we come, and
that's how we worship God. And that gives us great peace
and comfort because he's shown us what we are in ourselves that
otherwise we can't do it. We're not perfect. We've transgressed
the law of our God. And so the mystery of God is
revealed through the gospel. And that gospel regards the salvation
of God's people. It speaks of his redeeming grace. It speaks of what God did by
His Son to save His people from their sins and give us life and
an expected end in Christ. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. Let's see this and then we'll
come back to our text. But 1 Corinthians 15. Here Paul
describes to us the gospel and he doesn't He doesn't elaborate
on every single point, but this is the gospel, and this touches
on what our Lord did for us. 1 Corinthians 15, picking up
in verse 1, Paul said, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received,
and wherein ye stand. By which also ye are saved if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain. And what he's saying there is
enduring faith is what new creatures do. You that live don't live
by your strength and your ability or your flesh. It's because God
has given you faith. And that faith endures, endures
to the end. Born of his grace. Verse 3 For
I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures. understanding that that he died
was buried and rose again that's what we're going to see in the
next three verses the next few verses especially verse three
and four where we're going back there now so There's something
going on here that's a little deeper than Samuel's calling
here. There's a picture of the gospel
touched on in these verses so that Samuel is seen as a type
of Christ here. In these couple verses, he's
seen as a type of Christ who was raised up by God, prepared
by God, sent for us to save us. And we'll see that. Just as Jonah,
the prophet Jonah, when you read that, You don't necessarily,
without the spirit, you don't see, this is speaking of Christ.
Our Lord said, the sign that you're given is a sign of Jonah,
who was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. He was given as a sign for us.
Well, we're given a sign here. We're given a sign here of the
gospel of Christ's death and resurrection. So let's see that. Verse two, when it came to pass,
this is 1 Samuel 3, 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 Ere, or before, 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, Here am I. And so these verses,
they give reference to the gospel. They speak of the gospel and
what our Lord and Savior did. When it says in verse 2, 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, that lamp of
God was never to go out. It was never to go out and it
has a spiritual meaning for us. Historically, In this passage,
speaking of Eli, it shows that before that light entirely left
him and God called Samuel to be a judge, before that happened,
Eli would help. He would be a helper there in
speaking and telling Samuel what he was hearing here. But it does,
this speaks of Christ. So the gospel in this testifies
that Christ came into the world before the people of God were
lost, before the light of God was taken away from Israel. That's when Christ came. He came
when all seemed to be lost and they were worshiping according
to the flesh. That's when Christ came. And
the law had served its purpose. The law did what it was supposed
to do. You know, we'll see as we go
through Genesis in our other study there that Moses, when
it came time for the people of God to go into the promised land,
was it Moses that led them into the promised land? That led them
over Jordan? Not at all. Not at all. Because
Moses pictures the law. He's the one who gave us the
law. And so the Lord laid Moses down to rest. And the people
were brought into the promised land, and went in and conquered
Jericho on the other side of Jordan by Joshua, or Yeshua,
or Jesus, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it wasn't
Moses. Well, Eli's eyes were growing
dim that he could not see. And that's a picture to tell
us, you that are coming to God by the law, by the works of the
law, you're coming in darkness. You're coming blind. You're coming
not in the truth. You don't see. You don't hear
what the law is saying. You're trying to come to God
in the law with your own righteousness, making righteousness for yourselves
by the works of the law. And so we don't come that way.
And those who come that way, they only hear Christ speak in
parables. They only hear Christ speak in
parables. They don't understand what the gospel is saying to
us, that it's finished. The work is finished in and by
Christ. You can't make yourselves more
righteous than Christ has made you. And coming with other works
to try and make a righteousness for yourselves, God the Father
will not receive it. He will not receive you in your
works. Our Lord said of them that come
that cannot hear, it's because they seeing, see not, and hearing,
they hear not, they do not understand. And so Paul tells us the purpose
of the law. In Galatians 3.24 he says, wherefore
the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ. Now those words to bring us aren't
even in the original. Not in the original. And so it's,
wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto or until Christ. That's what the law was given
to, to bring us. unto, to keep Israel until Christ came that
we might be justified by faith, by faith. So the first truth
that the Lord saves us, one of the things that the Lord does
in his coming and bringing us the gospel is he shows us we
cannot make a righteousness for ourselves by the law. That's
not why the law was given. It was given to show us our sin,
to show us our iniquity so that we would come in Christ. Paul
also said in Romans 3, 19 and 20, that what thing soever the
law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped. It says it to shut our mouths,
to cease our boasting before God, and that all the world may
become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by
the law is the knowledge of sin. And so the law doesn't tell us
what to do. Do A, B, and C, and put away
D, and do this or don't do that. That's not what the law was given
to do. It wasn't given to tell us and instruct us how to be
righteous. Because you either are righteous
before God or you're a sinner. And we are all corrupt sinners
ruined in the fall in Adam. And so the law wasn't given to
be a guide to tell you how to make yourselves righteous. You're
either righteous or you're not. Christ in Christ alone gives
life. He makes righteous his people. Only he has that power to do
that. And so when we look to the law, When we look rightly
at the law, we see I'm a sinner. I've offended God. And the more
I look at the law, the more I see myself a sinner, a vile, wretched
sinner, undone before holy God, who sees all things and sees
my heart. So the second truth now, is that
the gospel reveals to us the purpose of God to send his son
when the word was made flesh to redeem his people from their
sins. It says in verse three, an heir
or before 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. So Christ is the light of the
world and the father sent the son, he spared him not and Christ
went willingly to the cross And he died. He died. And he was laid in a grave. He
was buried in a tomb. When he died, he died in the
place of his people. And so that's what's being pictured
here. And Samuel was laid down to sleep. Before the light went
out, Samuel was laid down to sleep. So that this is a picture
of Christ, our Shorty, who went to the cross and obtained eternal
redemption for us. obtained life for his people
as the sin-bearing sacrifice. There he gave his life to make
an atonement for our sins. And he died and we died with
him. to deliver us from the law, so
that the law is nothing to say to the people who are redeemed
by Christ. We died to the law that we might
be married to another, even Christ. Our old man is crucified with
him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. Now there's a third thing here
in this fourth verse. There's a third thing here that
teaches us the gospel. And this is what our Lord did
when he rose again. He justified his people. It says
here in verse four that the Lord called Samuel and he answered,
here am I. Aye. And that's a picture of
what Christ has done. Having satisfied the Father,
having satisfied the Father in His sacrifice for His people,
the Father was well pleased. And so He raised Him from the
dead. He raised Him from the dead to
declare to us. He makes known what He's done
to show us that the dead is settled. Justice is satisfied. God is
well pleased with all you that believe on Christ. You're justified. You're justified because that's
exactly how the Father tells his people to come to him in
the blood of Christ. He's justified you because Christ
is raised from the dead. He's raised from the dead and
so that's why we hear this good news of salvation preached and
declared through the gospel and the giving of his Holy Spirit
to make that call effectual in your hearts for whom Christ shed
his blood. That's why it's made effectual
to you. That's why you believe, why you come because our God
is the God who saves. Christ obtained eternal redemption
for his people. And I can't help but think of
that verse in Hebrews 2.13, when it says Samuel came and said,
here am I, here am I, what do we see there? Behold, I and the
children which God hath given me. When our Savior came and
appeared before the Father, here they are, Lord. All the children
you gave me, I've redeemed them. I've brought them forth. I've
obtained redemption for my people. So that's the gospel. That's
the mystery revealed there in those verses. in those verses,
that's the gospel there. And so we see what Christ did
in redemption, and all the verses that follow are speaking to the
calling of our God, who calls his people. So now Samuel here
ceases to be a picture of Christ, and now the rest of the chapter
we see him as a type of the believer. one who is called of God. And he went and lay down. And
so Samuel here, his first impression from the Lord's call is that
Eli had called him. Eli is the priest, and he thought
Eli had called him. Why? He never heard the voice
of the Lord. He never heard the voice of the
Lord, and so he didn't recognize this call. Well, similarly, there's
many who hear the word preached. And it affects them in different
ways. It affects them in a way that they've never heard it before,
right? Oftentimes we grow up in church
services. We come and we hear, we go to
the services, and maybe we were there because it appealed to
some reasoning that we had, or our parents brought us there,
and so that's why we went to services. But when the Lord makes
his word effectual to your hearts, when you are called, it comes
with power. It's the day of grace for you.
You're not there now because your mom and dad brought you
there. You're there now because you've heard the word. You know
I'm the sinner. I need his grace. I need his
mercy. And so that word comes powerfully
dividing asunder the soul and spirit. and it discerns the thoughts
and intents of the heart. You know, I remember back in
New Jersey, some people, I remember, you know, we had a lot of young
people there. And one day, one of the young men who was still
in high school, he heard, he heard the preaching, just like
he always hears that preaching. And when he got home, He was
mad with his mother and his father. And he said, why did you tell
him? And they said, what are you talking about? They said,
you told the preacher. You called him and said what
we were talking about yesterday. Why did you tell him that? You
shouldn't have told him that. And she said, I didn't say that.
I didn't talk to them at all. I didn't say anything about what
it was. And that's what happens sometimes. We misplace thinking
the preacher is pointing me out. He's singling me out. He's saying
this and it's against me. And I know why he's saying that
because of such and such or whatever. No, most of the time the preacher
doesn't know anything about what's going on in your heart. And you don't recognize it. You
think it's the preacher, and you don't recognize it's the
Lord stirring you up. It's the Lord speaking to you.
It's the Lord bringing to light that which is darkness in the
heart. And He's making it known. And that's what the Lord had
begun to call that young man, and to stir him up. Now again
in verse 6 and 7, 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 again. Now Samuel did not yet know the
Lord, neither was the word of the Lord revealed unto him. And so this young man didn't
have the experience to know that the Lord speaks to his people
through his word. Through his word, he calls his
people and he reveals himself to them. And that's, we know
this, this is our experience. We come and we hear the word
preached as the sheep of his pasture, and he comes and feeds
us with his word, nourishes us with his word, grows us up with
that word of the gospel being preached to us. As Paul said,
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. And there's many scriptures that
say we are fed and nourished by this same gospel word. Our Lord continues to grow us
and teach us. And so if Christ has redeemed
you with his blood, he's going to bring you under the gospel.
He's going to call you by his gospel word, and he's going to
teach you. And he's going to lead you by Christ. And you're
going to see Christ and know him and follow him by his grace. Alright, continuing back now
in 1 Samuel 3, 8. And the Lord called Samuel again
the third time. And he arose and went to Eli
and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived. He 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 so he's instructing Samuel. He's giving him some instruction
there. And the Lord came, it says, and stood, and called as
at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, speak,
for thy servant heareth. You know, I love that it says
here that the Lord came and stood. He stood here. Previously, he
was just passing them by. He was just coming and going,
coming and going. And you see Samuel, this young
man, he doesn't know what's going on. He's coming and going and
running to and fro and all around trying to figure out what's going
on. But now the Lord came and stood. Because today was the day of
grace for Samuel. Today was the day when the Lord
would reveal himself more fully to Samuel's understanding. Paul
said to the Thessalonians, this is what it is, God is speaking
to the heart of his people. And when he speaks to your heart,
it comes with power. It comes with power, and you
hear it, and that word settles in good, prepared ground by the
Holy Spirit. For this cause also, Paul said
to the Thessalonians 2.13, he said, for this cause also, we
thank we God without ceasing. Because when you receive the
word of God, which he heard of us, you received it not as the
word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe." And so our God
brought salvation. When he purposes to do a thing,
he does it. You're not going to get away.
If you're the Lord's, if Christ redeemed you, if his blood was
shed for you and washed away your sins, you shall hear and
that word shall be made effectual to your heart. The calling of
God and what he gives, he doesn't repent of it, he doesn't turn
from it, he doesn't take it back. It's given, given because Christ
has paid that price and obtained that redemption for you. 1 Samuel
3 verse 12 In that day I will perform against Eli all things
which I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I will
also make an end. For I have told him that I will
judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because
his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. One thing that the Lord shows
us is that this flesh is vile. This old man, like Eli, we are
an old man of flesh without the ability to restrain the lusts
and the passions of this flesh. We're not going to do it. We're
not going to cleanse ourselves of all our sins and transgressions
and trespasses and iniquities by the works of the flesh. It's
not going to happen. We're like Eli. unable to restrain
and constrain his sons. We can't constrain and restrain
our sin. We cannot do it to the saving
of our souls. But the Lord here, what he's
showing us here is he takes us from vain confidences in the
flesh. He makes it so that we have no
confidence in the flesh. And we see that all the religious
things we did like Paul in Philippians 3, all those things that we did
are dung. because they don't save us. They're
not our righteousness. They're not adding anything to
what Christ and Christ alone has done and does do for his
people. It's all to the praise and glory
of Christ. And so removing the flesh, he
settles us in Christ and gives you peace and joy in himself. Being confident of this very
thing, Paul said, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians
1.6. So Samuel, the next day, he told
Eli faithfully what God revealed to him by his word. And that's
what we do. We do, when we have heard the
gospel, We tell others of what we've heard because there's wrath
coming. There's wrath coming. The wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness. Romans 1 18, it's revealed, it's
coming. And so we tell others of what
he's done. The Lord said in verse 14, the
latter half, he said, the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged
with sacrifice nor offering forever. In other words, It's not going
to be by the law. It's not going to be because
people have a religion or that they have faith in something.
That's not what saves. It's Christ who saves. And if
you're His, if Christ has redeemed you, your faith is given and
fixed in Christ. And you believe the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you have no confidence in this flesh. Return to Christ. And so that's who we declare.
In verse 18, the latter half, when Eli heard this, he said,
it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. And that's just a picture that
with the child of God, we receive what the Lord has said. We trust
the Lord, that this flesh cannot save itself. We need His grace
and mercy, because we're a saver of death unto death to some,
and to the other a saver of life unto life. And Eli was at peace
with what the Lord had said. Now dropping down to verse 19,
And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none
of his words fall to the ground. That is, God is faithful to keep
his word. What he teaches you, what he
shows you, he's faithful to that word. And nothing will fall or
come short of what he's purposed to do in you by his son Jesus
Christ. He's not going to let Christ's
words fall to the ground. It's not going to come short.
He's going to bring to pass what he's promised to do. You will
not be ashamed. You will not be ashamed. And
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 revealed himself
to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. That's how our God
does it. He reveals himself to you by
the word, which speaks of Christ. And so this is more than just
a historical calling of Samuel. It's a picture. It's given to
show you the gospel of what Christ did for you by His death, when
He redeemed His people with His own blood. And you that believe,
Christ did that for you. That's why you believe, by His
grace and power, and you're washed by that word, by the water of
the word, you're washed and cleansed, renewed, made whole, by Christ
and Christ alone. I pray He bless that word to
your hearts, brethren. Amen.