That hymn went well with the
Bible study. And this message that it bridges
bridges both open my eyes and my mouth like the blind and the
dumb and open my ears. Well chosen. 1 Samuel chapter
three title subject of this message is listening to the Lord speak. The story of God speaking to
Samuel, revealing himself to Samuel, is needful for our young
people, certainly. Everybody needs this,
old and young alike. And this story is typical, typified,
shows illustrates many things. Call to the ministry. Samuel
was being called to the ministry and didn't know it. Looking back, he saw clearly,
didn't he, how the Lord used his parents and so forth. So it's a typical of that, but
it's also the call of salvation. This is Every one of God's people
received the same call that Samuel did. Verse 1 says, The child
Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, or under his observation,
under Eli's tutelage and observation. The child Samuel. Samuel, if
you remember, was very, very young when his mother and father
brought him to Shiloh and left him there four or five years
old. Well. Some time went by in these between
chapter two and chapter three. It says in those days at that
time so some time went by he is now a little older he's still
a child. But he's a little over, maybe
ten, as we said, maybe twelve years old. That would be a fitting
age for him to begin ministering in the temple, would it not?
Like the one he represents. But anyway, he was no older than
ten or twelve. Now, Samuel, as we saw, was trained
up as a child, trained by faithful and godly parents, Elkanah and
Hannah. were his parents, and they trained
this child in the way he should go, as the Lord told them to
do. The Lord told them and us, all
parents, to train your child up in the way it should go. What
way? The way. The way it should go. The old paths wherein is the
good way. They instructed Samuel in the
fear and admonition of the Lord, did they not? They brought him
up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, as they were taught
to do. He was taught from a child the Holy Scriptures, which were
able to make him wise unto salvation. Did they? Certainly. Well, here he is now,
ministering unto the Lord. ministering unto the Lord before
Eli, doing what he did. It was unto the Lord before Eli. Eli was observing him and instructing
him. He was serving the Lord's purpose. The Lord he didn't know. Now,
listen to me carefully, everyone, young and old alike. He was serving
the Lord's purpose, though he didn't know the Lord. He was doing what God commanded
to be done through a man, under the watchful eye and careful
instruction of a man, God's chosen priest, Eli. Yet, verse 7 clearly
says, Samuel did not yet know the Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed unto him. Well, how can this be? How can one serve the Lord and
not know the Lord? Did you ask that question to
anybody? How can one serve the Lord and not know the Lord? Well,
all of us, young and old, are told by God, yea, commanded by
God to do certain things. God, all of us are to do what
God tells us to do. Scripture says, God commandeth
men everywhere, all men. That's speaking of male and female,
as you know, and young and old. God commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. That's what God said. He tells
parents, as we said, He tells parents to train your child up
in the way it should go. And He promises, when it is old,
it will not depart from He tells children, Obey your
parents in the Lord. Isn't it? Obey your parents in
the Lord. Though you may not know this
law, yet he says, Obey your parents in the Lord. It's a first commandment
with promise. There's a promise of good things
in that. He tells everything that hath
breath. Every human being, God says in
his word, let everything that hath breath praise the Lord,
whether you know him or not. Isn't that what it says? All men should praise God. All young people. Every one of
our young people in here need to have a Bible in your lap and
looking at This is God's Word. God says, read it. Does he not? Parents, it's our responsibility
for them to have one. They don't know the Lord, they're
not going to want to buy one and have one and keep one and
look at it. What I'm telling you is so.
Samuel served the Lord, didn't know the Lord. But he did what
his parents brought him to do, and what Eli, the servant of
God, the preacher of God, said to do. Samuel, do this. And he did it. And there was certainly a wonderful
outcome, wasn't there? As I said, every one of our young
people should have a Bible looking at it, should be singing these
songs. Instruct your children. Our children,
we need to instruct them to sing these psalms. Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord, whether you know him or not. Everything. We're here to worship,
and we endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of
peace by working everybody together. Let's worship. Is this hypocrisy? Is it hypocrisy to attempt to
do this and not know the Lord? No. It didn't say, act like what
you're not. It just said, do what you're
told. Hypocrisy is trying to act like
what you're not, pretending to be what you're not. No, God says,
sing. God says, read. God says, worship. Not act, but do this. Only as told. And it may be. As with Samuel, the Lord will
reveal Himself to you. He reveals Himself through the
Word. That's how Samuel heard from the Lord, didn't he? Through
the Word. The Lord spoke to Samuel. All right, verse 1 says, The
Word of the Lord was precious in those days. Verse 1 says,
The Word of the Lord was precious in those days. It's never been
more precious than now. These days. These last days. We're living in the last days
of which Hosea describes that there'll be a famine. A lot of
bread. Lots of that around. A lot of
money. A lot of things. Those more things
than ever. But at the hearing of the Word,
And they'll have to run here and there, go far to hear it,
because it's few and far between. What do you mean, preacher? Everybody's
got a Bible. Yeah. But the preachers aren't preaching
it. And the people aren't looking
at it. It's a famine. Now more than ever, the word
precious means rare. That's what the word means here,
rare. It's a rare thing. It was rare to hear God's Word
as it was. I mean, as it actually was written,
read and heard and declared. It was rare. The word precious means
valuable. So valuable. You know, there's
only one invaluable thing on this planet. One thing that's above price?
Priceless. Do you know that? Brother Scott
Richardson wrote in that article that was in our bulletin recently,
that someday all the money and things will be like waste paper
in the street. The Word of the Lord. It's rare. It's valuable. It's precious.
It's hard to find. It's invaluable. More Bibles
now than ever, but less truth. That's a fact. Less true preaching
of the word. Well, there's no open vision.
In verse 2 and 3, it says, It came to pass at that time, Eli
was laid down in his place. His eyes began to wax dim. He could not see. And ere the
lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of
God walked, And Samuel was asleep also. Eli represents here formal
religion. Eli was doing, you know, his
duty as a priest at the time. But he was failing miserably
wasn't he? His sons, as you know, were corrupt
fellows. And he was not dealing with them. He represents formal religion
that produces sons just like it. For the preacher is supposed
to do one thing. You know the preacher is supposed
to do one thing? The preacher is supposed to do one thing.
Burn the lamp. Burn the lamp. Keep the lamp
burning. Illuminate. That is, the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. That's the gospel. The gospel
is the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Preachers
of possibilities do one thing. Burn that light. Like a lighthouse,
you know. A lighthouse does one thing. The light burns. To clearly show
the way to all these vessels who would be shipwrecked. Right? Keep the lamp burning. Well, he failed to do his job.
Blind, self-seeking. Our Lord said that then, and
it's true now. Blind leaders of the blind. Self-seeking. Now, this is a clear type. The gospel. The gospel has shown
brightly throughout past generations. The gospel has run well in past
days. The gospel, God's word, which
is a light. There was a time when God spoke
often. A time when God spoke very often.
But those times began to grow rare. Like here. Began to grow rare. And the word
of God became hard to find. Like now. Truly. Preachers began to play
at religion. That's the reason for the introduction
of an invention of all these denominations and all this. This
all this corrupt stuff called religion. The word of the Lord
began to be put out. I told you about the religion
of Rome that actually literally chained the Bible in the monastery. Chained it up. The average common
man could not read it. They would not let them read
it. They would not let them read
it. And when they stood up to so-called
preach, they wouldn't preach the word, but would do a Latin
homily in a language that nobody understood. Because the word of God sets
men free. The truth sets people free. Free
from what? From oppressive bad man. And the word of God became hard
to find. Preachers began playing at religion,
fattening themselves, fattening themselves on religion. That's
what Eli was doing. And they weren't fattening the
sheep. Now, this had been going on for years, hadn't it? And
it is. In fact, Jeremiah, the Lord said,
you're getting fat, you're supposed to be fattening the sheep. Talking
to those so-called shepherds. Feeding the sheep. Well, the
light went out. The light of the gospel, the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the person of
Jesus Christ, went out. You know, I've told you about
past history and that the gospel, you know, began over there in
that little Middle Eastern place called Israel. That's where it
began. And because of persecution, according to God's infinite wisdom,
persecution, they tried to put out the light. What it did was
disperse it. And like a milkweed, you know,
Nero blew hard this blast on the church, and it just, seeds
of the gospel went all over the world. That was in God's glorious,
wonderful wisdom and power. It went all over the world. That
was how it went out. It would have remained right in there,
Deborah, had it not been purchased. Well, it went out. Where'd it
go? Well, it traveled over Europe. went, traveled over Europe, went
over to a little place called Germany, Switzerland. And some little fellows over
there called Calvin, Luther, Melanchthon, etc. That gospel spread. It spread into
Spain and France and then over to the British Islands and England,
Scotland, There were men and witnesses
declaring it. Oh, God, it left there. What I'm saying is it left. You'd
be hard-pressed to find the gospel over in Israel, wouldn't you? There were seven churches in
Asia. Seven. They're not there now. It left. It went over, and it
crossed the vast Gulf, the Atlantic Ocean. to this unknown land of
heathens. A bunch of heathens, a bunch
of gentile heathens, idol-worshipping heathens. And then, like Whitfield
and so forth, came over here and began to shine a light. Pull that light spread out. service purpose down in New Mexico. Down in New Mexico. The light
of the knowledge of the glory of God is the gospel. The ark in the temple, the ark,
says the lamp went out in the temple where the ark of God was.
The ark, what's that? What's the purpose of the lamp?
It's to show the things in the temple. The lamp, the light,
was to show the table of showbread, to show the candlestick, to show
the incense, and open up the veil and look. That's the thing. It all culminates. We've got
to see this. If you don't see that, you've
missed the worship. What's that? Christ! Christ! It all represents Christ, the
gospel of Christ. Well, it's the priest's job to
keep the lamp burning brightly, to illuminate clearly for everybody
to see the things of God, the things that point to one thing,
where the ark of God is, salvation, the sacrifice, Christ. Paul said,
I'm determined. Now, here's a bright and shining
light in his day. He said, I'm determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Him whom you ignorantly worship, I declare, I hold forth." Delight. Delight. Well, Eli was asleep,
and so was young Samuel. He's in darkness too. He's in darkness too. But God
has not forsaken his people. God has a people. in every generation. Yes, he has. He has a people
in every generation. And he's not left himself without
a witness, without a prophet, in every place. No matter how
small that place may be, he'll have his man there. Shiloh. What's in Shiloh? What's this boy? Who is this
Boy, just a boy, Samuel. Now, he's insignificant in the
whole scheme of things. Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
Who hath despised a day of small things? The whole kingdom of
God began with a baby in store. Samuel. Who's this? That's God's
name. And God finally spoke. The Lord
called Samuel, verse 4. The Lord called Samuel, a young
child. A young child was to do God's
will, this young boy. And we're going to look at it
as we study our Samuel. This young boy was going to lead
Israel. He was going to grow up into a man. But he's starting
now. And at the end of this chapter,
it says, all Israel knew. that Samuel was established to
be the prophet as a 12-year-old boy. All Israel could clearly
see, there's something about that boy. I believe he's going
to be leader. I believe God's with him. I believe
he's the prophet. Does that sound familiar? Any of that sound familiar? Malachi was the last chapter,
last book in the Old Testament. Malachi, last of the Old Testament
prophets. we thought. Malachi, after Malachi, God didn't
speak for 400 years. God, who at sundry times in diverse
manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets, spake through
men like Isaiah. Real men, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel, Hosea, Elijah, Elisha, Samuel, David, Solomon, Oh, God
has not left himself without a witness. I mean, and these
were men, God's men. And then it came down to Malachi,
and after that, the Word of God was hard to find. Four hundred
years of darkness. And then, lo, a child is born. The son is given, while a woman
went and came and gave her son to lead Israel. So did God. Samuel here represents the Lord
Jesus Christ, given, who came to do God's will. The volume
of the book is written of him. First and second Samuel bears
his name, does it not? He dies, I think, in chapter
20, somewhere around there. But it keeps burying his name.
And then 2 Samuel was written. Well, he's dead. Samuel didn't
write 2 Samuel. It's all after that. I often
wonder why that was so. Why is it called 2 Samuel? He's
been gone a long time. He represents somebody greater than that. He's in a volume of
the book and is written of the Lord Jesus Christ. He who has
died, liveth, ever liveth. He wrote the history after himself. First and second Samuel's really
should be called the Kings, the book of the Kings. And that's
fitting too, isn't it, Sam? Sam. Sam. Sam and Sam. That's fitting. King. Samuel. Samuel. After Malachi, then God
spoke, wrote the gospel. God's servant came, who from
a child, twelve-year-old boy, went into the temple. Astounding
all who heard him, till most knew something about this young
man. Could this be? Yes, Simeon said
it. This is God's Son of Man, the
Savior of Israel. Well, the Lord spoke, verse 5.
The Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here am I. And as I
quoted, the Lord said, I must be about my father's business.
As a child, he said that. The Lord called. God called him,
and Christ said, Lo, I come. I come to do thy will, O God.
Here I am. He didn't say, Here am I. He
said, Here I am. There's a difference. Here I
am. Here is the I before Abraham
was. Well, Samuel here, as I said,
also represents everyone the Lord calls. And every saint hears
this same call that Samuel did. Whether as a child, young or
older, every saint would that God would call someone this morning. Everyone whom God foreknows,
that is foreknows, he loves Samuel. Everyone whom God had predestinated,
God Almighty predetermined everything about this young man named Samuel.
Everything about him was ordered by the Lord and sure. So it is
with all of God's people. And God in time, in the fullness
of time, God sent forth his word and revealed himself to Samuel
and called him by his grace. And so it is with everyone. whom
God calls by our gospel. And like Samuel, like Samuel,
at first they may not know it is God calling. They think it's
a man. They think it's a man. Verse
5, Samuel ran to Eli, the man. He said, Here am I. Thou callest
me. Eli said, I called not. Lie down again. He went and lay
down. he went running to this man,
asking him if he'd be called. And this man, Eli, as I said,
I believe he was God's man. He just, like men, every man
in his best states, all together banded in, he fell. But God put Samuel under Eli, didn't
he? And he learned from him. And
in wisdom, and in humility Eli said I didn't
call you. I didn't call you. You know,
men love to have their protégés. Men love to have their little
understudies. Men love to be in authority and lord themselves
over people and have people who are their disciples. Scripture
says evil men, seducers, wax worse than work. They draw away
disciples after themselves. They love to have disciples. reason I believe he's still got
a man. I didn't call you. I'm not calling
you. My call won't do you any good.
You don't need to hear from me. You understand? Are you with me?
He's a faithful man at this point. He says, I didn't call you Samuel.
I'm not calling you Samuel. Go lie down. Go lie down. Now,
there's instruction in all of this. There's a young man. The
Lord's calling him, and the way he's going to hear from the Lord
is to lie down, to shut up, to be still. Scripture said, Be
still and know that I'm God. Lie down. I, for one, think that our children
have far too many activities. Every day, all day long. Activities. Keep them busy. doing something
active. And we're not doing these extracurricular
activities. We're sitting in front of a TV
set full of worldly activities. And there's no time at all for
any of them to stop and think. Just stop and be quiet and be
still and listen. Conscience to speak. Lockdown sit down go home get
along with the law. Get along with you know most
people it's hard for people to be silent never been a day more
talkative people. It's hard for people to be silent.
Silence is uncomfortable to the average person. Tell me if it's
not so. You go in a motel room or something
and it's silent. The first thing someone does
is turn the TV on. You've got to have some activity. I say
we need a whole lot less of that. God speaks not only through his
word, which few people are reading. It better to put in a tape where
a man's preaching the word of God. God speaks in a powerful way
through his word, which no one is reading, but he often speaks
in a powerful way. Not in the whirlwind, not in
this and that and the other. God speak day unto day, uttereth
speech. Day unto day uttereth speech.
Who's speech? Who's speaking? When the sun
comes up, who's speaking? You don't hear a voice. It's
just as loud as a blaring trumpet, the sun rising in its strength.
God's speaking. What's he saying? Behold, my
son. in whom we live and move and
have our being. If that sun didn't come up, this
world is a goner. And every one of us, young and
old, live under the reign, the rule of the Son of God. And God, every day the sun comes
up and says, Behold my Son. How dare you wake up and not
thank the Son? They don't know Him. He's talking
to you right there. Day unto day, uttereth speech. Night unto night, uttereth knowledge. Stars come out. Brilliant sky. Walk out unto the stars, young
David. Is there a young David in here?
Walk out unto the stars. He did. He was out there faithfully
keeping his sheep. Like his daddy told him to do,
instruction, faithfully keep it. Oh, the little stars. I wonder where... He wasn't looking
at a stupid box with stars on it. Stars. He's looking at these stars.
These stars of God. He's looking at the bright and
morning stars. And behold, God revealed himself
to them. I'd say there's something worth
hearing right here. Go lie down, Samuel. Go lie down. Verse 6, the Lord called yet
again, Samuel. Samuel arose and went to Eli. Now just call me. Eli once again
faithfully humbly said, I called not my son, lie down again. You keep lying down. You know, Samuel went running
to Eli. That's good. It's a good thing. It would be amazing and marvelous
to me if more of our young people would come to the so-called pastor
of their church. Just every now and then. And
would ask him something. Just anything. You know what? of what the call is. How does
the Lord call? I really believe preachers today
don't have any respect at all. It's mostly their fault. Boy, the folks respected Samuel
later on, didn't they? They sure did. He went running
to Eli. Did you call me? No, I didn't. And, you know, a faithful man
like Eli, in that sense, would direct the young man to the word
of the Lord. That's all he wants to do. He
wants the Lord to speak to him. He's not going to take credit
for anybody. In verse 7, Samuel did not yet
know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed
to him. God reveals himself through his word. That's how God speaks,
always has and always will. Preaching of the word. And you
know, Samuel had to hear a man tell him that. Eli had to tell
him that. Verse 8 and 9. Let's go on. The Lord called Samuel again
the third time. You know, the scripture says
God has spoken once, yea, twice, but men perceive it not. Samuel, he called Samuel again
the third time. Well, Samuel arose and went to
Eli and said, Here am I, for thou didst call me. Now, Eli,
now, verse six, the Lord's calling this boy. Eli. His eye, he wasn't completely
blind, they were dim, but he wasn't completely blind. He could
see now what the Lord's doing. The Lord's doing something here. Lord is doing something here.
And you know. This is not always so, it's not
always so. But most of the time it is that
the preacher who is looking into the faces of the hearer. And preaching the word, the word
of God is the power of God. This is how God speaks. This
is how God reveals himself to the word of God. You're the hearer,
you're not looking. at one another's faces, and the
Word of God is going out. And quite often, I can see a
young Samuel being, Lord's doing something. Or a female Samuel, Lord's doing
something. Lord's speaking to this child.
Or an older person. Lord is speaking. That's how God reveals himself
through his word. The Lord called him. I didn't
call him. And he says again, go lie down. Why does he keep saying that?
Do you understand? He doesn't make him active. He
says, let's get up and do something. He doesn't say, we've got to
work for the Lord. Don't lie down. Go get alone
with the Lord. Go lie down in the quiet privacy
of your closet, in your bed. Go lie down on your bed, Samuel.
Go lie down on your bed. And the next time you hear, you
answer. If the Lord calls you, you say,
verse 9, you say, speak, Lord, Oh brother Barnard, I loved that
old fella. He had some unorthodox ways that
the Lord used him, like a John the Baptist. And he used to say
things like, I double dog dare you to go home and get in your
closet and call on the Lord. I wonder, you know, who has really
done that? Young people. I double-dog dare
you. Go home and get in your closet. Lie down and say, Lord, would
you speak to me? Would you please speak That's what Samuel did. Samuel said, OK, preacher. Yes, sir. I'll do it. Didn't the Lord call him? Did
the Lord save him? Did the Lord reveal himself to
him? Did the Lord use him? Was it well with his soul from
then on? Speak, Lord." So Samuel went
and lay down in his place, and the Lord came. The Lord came.
I've seen this many times. I never saw that. The Lord came. Have you ever seen that before? Sounds like a person actually
came. He did. Who? Who's that? Who's the Lord? The Lord Jesus
Christ, the image of God, the fullness of the Godhead in a
body, whose delights are with the sons of men. Deborah, Jesus
Christ came and stood where Samuel was, lying, stood there, looking
at him, looking on him, beholding his child. I'm about to speak
to him. That's what it's going to take.
It's going to take the same thing, the same Lord. He's not a figment
of our imaginations, young people. He's not some ethereal spirit
out there nowhere. He's a person. And He still comes very really
in person. Yes, He does. He says, My sheep
hear My voice. My voice. You see, that's the
only voice that is powerful. We preachers try to holler. We
try everything, but unless Christ actually speaks through His Word,
nobody will hear. Nobody will hear. But where the
voice of the Lord is, there is power. The voice of the King
is power, life-giving, soul-saving, regenerating power. The Lord
came and stood. You know, when the Lord reveals
Himself to you, when the Lord reveals Himself to us, when we
hear Him, we will see Him standing. The first thing we will see Him
is standing. Oh, yeah, standing. Where? At the right hand of the Majesty
on high. Standing, like old Stephen saw
Him standing. I see the Lord standing. And
you'll see your standing in Him. Make that play on words, John.
You'll see your standing in Him. He saw Him. The Lord came and
stood. The Lord came and stood on this
earth for His people. You'll see him as your representative,
as your substitute, as your mediator, as your daisman, as your lord,
as your captain, as your protector. You'll see him standing. The
disciples were back on the back of the ship, scared to death,
and they saw him standing at the bow of the ship, facing the
waves. There's another scripture I marveled
at. It taught men a maze. They were amazed. It says when
the Lord set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem, they were
scared that anyone would go to Jerusalem. It says this, it says
the Lord headed toward Jerusalem. It says they were all amazed.
They were amazed. He's not the least bit scared.
That's our Lord. And what did they do, Kelly?
Confide in Him. Face death or face it with Him standing before
us. Oh, let's. If he stood. He stood and he
called. He called. As at other times. The Lord's
been calling young men, young women, old men, old women for
years. And he's still doing it. And
I'd love to see it again. I would just really rejoice to
see it again. Not just a young person. The
Lord still called it, people. By His grace, by His gospel,
still call it. Still call it. Been a long time,
seems like. That pool up there didn't dry
for a long time. That cobwebs in there. i don't think it about it so
much more uh... uh... uh... uh... Go lie down. You hear this message? Go lie
down. And say, Speak, Lord. Right now. Go lie down. And say, Speak, Lord. Well, the Lord came, and He stood,
and He called Samuel, and Samuel answered. He said, My sheep hear
my voice. They know me, and they Speak,
Lord, thy servant. He thought he was serving Eli. He was just serving Eli. He was
doing what mama wanted him to do. He was doing what daddy taught
him to do, wasn't he? Doing what the good boy ought
to do. Doing what the preacher told
him to do. That's all fine and good. When the Lord spake, finally,
the Lord spake, Margaret, the Lord spake to me. And he realized,
I'm serving him. It's him I serve. This is my
Lord and my God. And boy, from then on, things start happening in his
life. Things start happening. I think
it would be well to sing that song again. The very same song
that we saw, maybe we could really enter into it this time. Open
my ears that I may hear. All right, 163. Come up, Gabe,
and lead us again. And maybe one of these young
people can sing this from the heart. Be sure and sing verse
two. Let that be the last. 163. Open my eyes that I may see Glimpses
of truth thou hast for me Placed in my hands a wonderful key That
shall unclasp and set me free Silently now I wait for thee
Ready, my God, I will to see. Open my eyes, illumine me. Spirit be mine. Second at the last. Open my ears
that I may hear.