Would you turn to 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel. The reason this thing
is here is they're finally going ahead and putting the, against
my better judgment, we're putting, not against my better judgment,
we're putting the things on CD. Verse 19 of chapter 3. And Samuel grew. And the Lord was with him. And did let none of his words
fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan even
to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet
of the Lord, one who the Lord spake through, one who brought
God's words. Verse 21, and the Lord appeared
again in Shiloh. Now the significance of that
word again is found in the first verse of chapter three. And the
child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli and the word
of the Lord was precious. It was very rare in those days.
There was no open vision. The Lord was not speaking, but
he begins to speak again. Verse 21, and the Lord appeared
again in Shiloh for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in
Shiloh by the word of the Lord. And the word of Samuel came to
all Israel. God was once again speaking. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
with thanksgiving. We're so thankful that you speak
to us through your word. And Lord, we wouldn't want to
presume. We ask that you would once again,
speak to us from your word. Oh Lord, let us hear your word. Give us ears to hear, give us
hearts to receive. Lord, we pray that your gospel
might be preached in the power of your spirit for the glory
of your name. Lord, we confess our sins. Our
sin is ever before us. Oh, that we might be. Forgiven
and cleansed. Lord be with all your people,
wherever they meet together in Christ's name, we pray. Amen. Samuel's name means heard of
God. I love that name. He's someone
who got heard. and he's someone who heard God. Heard of God. And in verse 19
of chapter 3, it says, and Samuel grew. He grew physically, obviously. He
was a young child when he first started with Eli in the temple,
and he grew physically. And I don't have any doubt that
this refers to spiritual growth as well. He grew. 2 Peter 3.18 says, but grow in
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Grow in grace. I want to grow,
don't you? Whatever it is to grow in grace, I would like to
grow in grace. I know that growing in grace
has something to do with growing in the fruit of God the Holy
Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, and peace. That is our attitude toward God.
Love to God, the joy in His gospel, the peace that comes from resting
in Him. I want to grow in that, don't
you? Long-suffering. gentleness and goodness. The
second aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is our attitude toward
each other. Growing in long-suffering toward
each other in gentleness and goodness. That's the fruit of
God the Holy Spirit. And then the third cluster of
fruit has to do with us. Faith, meekness, and temperance. I want to grow in faith, in meekness
with regard to myself, in temperance. He grew in grace, and I love
to think of this about Christian growth. Christian growth is the
one kind of growth where you shrink. The growing is shrinking. You shrink in your view of yourself.
Now, you have a higher view of the Lord. You're more awed by
Him. You see His glory. You see His greatness. Your views
of Him grow, and your views of yourself shrink. you actually
grow in seeing your need of him and your need of his grace. Samuel grew, look what verse
19 says, the Lord was with him. Now, isn't this what you desire? To have the Lord with you. That's
talking about the Lord's gracious presence. The Lord was with him. This was said of Abraham. These
exact words, the Lord was with him. These words were said of
Isaac. The Lord was with him. These
words were said of Jacob. The Lord was with him. I love
it when it's talking about Joseph. When he went down, when he was
sold as a slave, the scripture says the Lord was with him. And
when he went into Potiphar's house, the Lord was with him. When he went into the prison,
the Lord was with him. When he was the king, the Lord
was with him. The Lord was always with him.
That means he had his presence. David said, yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for
thou art with me. The Lord was with him. Now, if the Lord's with you,
you know what that means? That means he's for you. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, if God's with you, that
means he's for you. And I think of that passage of
scripture. He said, if God be for us, who can be against us?
If he's for you, if he's with you, what do you have to be afraid
of? Who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not? With Him freely
give us all things. What can prevent Him from being
with you? You see, He's already spared not His own Son. And there's
absolutely nothing you can do to mess this up. You can't prevent
His blessing on you. You can't prevent Him to be with
you. Well, what if I sin? Oh, it's
a horrible thing when we do. But there's nothing we can do
to prevent His blessing because He's already given us His only
begotten Son. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Nothing you can be charged with.
If He's with you, if He's for you, if He died for you, Nothing
can be brought against you by way of accusation, and nothing
can separate you from His presence. Who shall separate us from the
love of God? Isn't it wonderful to have Him
with you? To have Him with you. That means
He's in you, and that means you're in Him. You want to talk about
miraculous when I think of being in Him. Chosen in Him, according as He
hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
Made in Him. Scripture says He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. He's made those things unto us.
I'm complete in Him. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body and you are complete. You absolutely
lack nothing right now. That's what it is to be in Him.
And to be in Him is to have Him in you. Now, you want to talk
about mysterious. It's mysterious enough to think
about me being in Him, but to think of Him dwelling in me by
faith, that the Lord Jesus Christ by His Spirit actually lives
within me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal
His Son, in me. And I love the way Paul says
He revealed His Son in me because it's not enough for me for Him
to reveal Himself to me. Because if all He does is reveal
Himself to me, I'll lose that. I know I will. I need more than
that. I need Him to be revealed in me. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Now, we read so many descriptions
of being in Him, but and being with Him, but the first that
I thought of was Revelation 17, 14, where He is called the King
of kings and Lord of lords and they that are with Him. I love
that. They that are with Him are called
and chosen and faithful. You know what my claim to fame
is? Being with Him. That's it. That's it. Being with Him. That's my only
plea. That I'm with Him. That He is with me. Oh, the Lord was with him. We
read of being crucified with him. We read of being buried
with him. These are actual scriptural terms.
We read of being risen with him. We read of reigning with him.
We read of appearing with him in glory. We read of living together
with Him. We read of walking with Him in
white. We read of supping with Him.
I love to think about that. Supping with the Lord Jesus Christ
in fellowship and in communion where I speak to Him and He hears
and He speaks to me by His Spirit in His Word and I hear. The Lord was with Samuel. In Him and with him, and there's
nothing like being with him or him being with us. Turn to John
chapter 17 for a moment. Hold your finger there. John
chapter 17. This is the heritage of every
child of God. Verse 24. Father, I will. Now, there's something exceedingly
glorious about hearing him speak that way. Can you imagine saying,
God, I will that you do this. Father, I will that you... Why?
Such language gives us the creeps to think about speaking to the
Lord like that. But here, he who is equal with the Father
can say, Father, I will. I don't think there's anything
more powerful in the Bible than that. Father, I will, this is
my will. Father, I will that they also
whom thou has given me, what? Be with me. Not where I will
be, but where I am. That means with Him all the time.
It doesn't just mean be with Him in glory, although we will.
But wherever He is, that's where we're at. This is His will. Father,
I will that they whom You've given Me be with Me where I am,
that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me. Would
that be glory to you, to behold His glory forever. Oh, the Lord was with Samuel. Now, that's what I want for myself.
That's what I want for you. I want the Lord to be with me
all the time. Always have His presence with
me when I go out and when I come in. There's nothing like having
His presence, His smile. I think of what the Lord said,
where two or three are gathered together in my name. There I
am in their midst. The Lord was with And look what
it says next in verse 19, and he let none of his words fall
to the ground. Hold your finger there and turn
to Deuteronomy chapter 18. Everything Samuel said came to
pass. When he told Eli, your two boys
are going to be killed. You know what happened? His two
boys were killed. The reason none of his words
fell to the ground is the Lord didn't permit any of his words
to fall to the ground. Now, anything me or you say,
those words can so easily fall to the ground and not come to
pass unless the Lord causes them to come to pass. Now, the Lord
let none of Samuel's words fall to the ground because he was
established to be a prophet. Look in verse 15 of Deuteronomy
chapter 18. The Lord thy God will raise up
unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me. Unto him you shall hearken."
You'll listen to what he says, and this is talking about the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's also talking about anybody
that God raises up to speak. According to all that thou desirest
of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying,
let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let
me see this great fire any more that I die not. This is when
the Lord spoke. in Mount Sinai. They said, we don't want to hear
this. This is scaring us to death. And I can see why it did, if
you read that account. And the Lord said unto me, they have
well spoken which they have spoken, but I will raise them up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words
in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken
unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I'll require
of him. But the prophet which shall presume
to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak,
or that shall speak in the name of other gods. Even that prophet
shall die. And if thou say in thine heart,
how shall we know that the word hath not which the, how shall
we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? Well, when a
prophet speak is in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow
not nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath
not spoken, but the prophet that has spoken it presumptuously.
thou shalt not be afraid of him." Now we see the Lord had raised
up Samuel to be a prophet and the Lord didn't let any of his
words fall to the ground. Everything he said took place. Now back to 1 Samuel chapter
3 verse 20, And all Israel, from
Dan even to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established to be
a prophet. of the Lord. He was established
to be a prophet and that word established means he was built
up, he was fostered, he was rendered firm and faithful by the Lord
to be a true prophet. And the Lord was the one who
did all this and you know as well as I do only the Lord can
make a true prophet. Not something you learn in seminary. It's not
something you're trained for. Only the Lord can make a true
prophet. And the Lord Jesus Christ is that prophet. He's the true
prophet. But I think it's interesting
how all of Israel recognize this. They recognize this. They could
see this. And you know, God's people can
recognize when God has called a man to preach. They recognize
it. They see it. They hear the Lord's
voice through that man preaching. They recognize it. Now, not everybody
recognizes it. You know, the Lord Jesus, the
prophet, not everybody recognized him to be the prophet, did they?
You know, he's the one who said, a prophet is not without honor,
save among his own kin. Is not this the carpenter's son?
Those people that grew up with him and saw him, they didn't
recognize him to be a prophet, although he was mighty in word
and deed. Not everybody does, but Israel does. Israel does. God's people. They recognized
Him to be a prophet established of the Lord. Verse 21, And the
Lord appeared, I love these next words, again. Aren't you thankful
that the Lord appears again? He appeared again. His Word had
been precious. There was no open vision. He
was not communicating himself. But now he does once again. Lord spoke to Peter. Peter denied
he even knew the Lord. And the Lord appeared to him
again. I'm so thankful for these words
again. I think of when all the disciples
decided to go fishing. I don't think they were talking
about going fishing the way you and I would say, well, I'm going
fishing, you know, kinds of thing of recreation. They were saying, we're going
to forget this disciple stuff and go back to the way we used to live
as fishermen. I go fishing. I've given up on
this thing. And the Lord appeared to them
again. I think of John Mark. You remember
in Acts chapter 15 where Paul and Barnabas had an issue about
John Mark? Paul didn't want him to go with
him. He said he copped out, we're not taking him with him, Barnabas
wanted to take him, so they had a fight and they parted asunder. That's a sad passage of Scripture
where Paul and Barnabas parted asunder over this issue. But
you know Paul Later on, in one of his epistles, he said, take
John Mark and bring him with you. He's profitable to me for
the ministry. Again, God is a God of him speaking
again. And have you ever thought, Lord's
not going to speak to me anymore? And I can see why I wouldn't.
And he speaks again. Oh, thank the Lord for these
words again. And the Lord appeared again in
Shiloh. Now, what's Shiloh? Well, first
of all, that's the name of the Messiah. You remember in Genesis
49 where Judah is going to be the lion's whelp until Shiloh
comes? The word means prosperous and
successful, is what the word means. But Shiloh is the place
where the ark was kept. The ark. The Lord Jesus Christ. So truly typified the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. Gold and wood, His deity, His
humanity. What was inside the ark? The
law. Christ our righteousness. Aaron's
rod that budded. Life came out of that stick that
was separated from anything else. Christ our life. And they put
showbread in the ark. Christ our food. We feed on Him. He's our necessary food. The
place the Lord speaks is in Shiloh. He speaks in Christ Jesus. He
will not speak to nor be spoken to apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ, but He speaks in Christ Jesus. The word of the Lord came
to Israel again in Shiloh, the place of the ark. Verse 21, For
the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh, by the Word
of the Lord. Now, how in the world are me
and you going to know the Lord? There's only one way. For Him
to reveal Himself. For Him to uncover Himself to
us so that we know who He is. Salvation comes not by education.
Now, I'm supposed to preach the Word. And how much good would
that do you unless he doesn't reveal himself to you? I can memorize the whole Bible.
Won't do me any good unless he reveals himself to me. Now, he revealed himself to Samuel,
and that's what revelation is. It's finding out who he is. It's
him causing himself to be made known to me to where I know him.
And he knows me. That's what salvation is. It's
knowing the living God in Christ Jesus. He revealed himself so
that Samuel knew who he was because he revealed himself. He uncovered
himself. I'm so thankful for revelation. And the Lord appeared again in
Shiloh, for the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by
the Word of the Lord. And the only way He reveals Himself
is by His own Word, the Word of the Lord. The Word of God is three things
which are one, just like God is three persons in one God. The Word of God is the written
Word, The word of God is the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The word of God is the gospel
message. It's the word, the message from
the word, the scriptures that reveal the word, the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what revelation is. And
God revealed himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord. the
way that Scripture says, the word of the Lord came to Abraham.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. The word of the Lord came to
Abraham. Now look what chapter 4 verse 1 says, And the word
of Samuel came to all Israel. And notice carefully the wording.
The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now that was the word
of God. But it came through Samuel. The word of Samuel came to all
Israel. Now, why did the Lord say it
that way? Because if I was saying, I would say the word of the Lord
came to all Israel through Samuel. But it says the word of Samuel
came to all Israel. Why does it speak that way? Well,
to let us know what's going on in the preaching of the gospel.
Now, is the preacher to be exalted? No. No. Is there such thing as a clergy
and laity? There's God's special preachers and then there's a
regular believers. Bible makes no distinction like
that. Paul said, I'm nothing. That's
what I am. I am nothing. And any preacher
that God has called knows that about himself. He knows he is
nothing. Write that down. This is not
about exalting the preacher, but turn to Luke chapter 10. This is the sending out of the
70. This is not the 12 apostles,
he's talking about the 70, regular guys. And he says, after sending
them out, he says in verse 16, he that heareth you, what? Heareth me. Now that's what's
going on in preaching. And that's not to exalt the preacher,
but there's something glorious about preaching in this sense. You're a hearer. I'll tell you
what, I'm more concerned about being a hearer than I am a preacher.
I want to be somebody who hears the Lord's words. That's what
I want. I want to be a hearer. And there's
something so passive about hearing. You're not doing anything. You're
just sitting there listening. You're not dictating the message.
You're not saying what you think or how you think it ought to
be. You're hearing. And the scripture says, Please
God by the foolishness of what? Preaching to save them that believe. And so when Samuel comes and
brings the Lord's words. That's what he's bringing. He
wasn't bringing his opinions or his thoughts. He comes bringing
exactly what God told him to say. And when a preacher preaches,
he's bringing the word of the Lord. But he said, the word of
Samuel came to all Israel. Now, there wasn't anybody there
that thought, well, these are Samuel's words. They knew it
was the word of the Lord. But that is the way the Lord frames
this in his speech. And that's to remind us of the
importance of preaching. Not the importance of the preacher.
The preacher is no more important than you are. The preacher is
no more important than the one who sweeps the streets. There's
not clergy and lady and positions of authority. Nothing like that. The preacher is nothing. But
it still pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. God has manifested His Word through
preaching. How shall they hear without a
What? Preacher. And how shall they
preach except they be sinned? Somebody's thinking, are you
saying God only speaks through preaching? What about reading?
What about, what if somebody can't hear? All the different
objections people make. Just, that's flesh. That's all
it is. God speaks through preaching. So I'm going to say with Samuel,
speak Lord, thy servant heareth. Now, next week we're going to
pick up in chapter 4 where the Philistines take the ark. And
it's a very solemn passage of scripture, but as you can this
week, read 1 Samuel chapter 4.