Address—Bill Prost
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Not too long before this meeting.
Two little girls were chatting with me.
And I was rather flattered that they would do so.
And one of them asked me what my favorite hymn was.
I said that's a hard question. There are so many good ones.
But I told her a number of him that I really liked.
Maybe we'll sing part of it.
#64.
#64 and because the meeting isn't as long as some, and because time, because the hymn is long, let's start at verse 5 #64 beginning at verse 5.
Our God.
Nsnoise.
Let's ask the Lord's help.
Yesterday evening.
A younger brother reminded me.
Of something that I had spoken upon probably several years ago at this conference.
Well, I'd like to talk a little bit this afternoon about another Old Testament character that has been on my heart lately, a man by the name of Samuel Samuel. And so would you turn with me, please, to the book of First Samuel?
First Samuel, Chapter One.
Samuel's life.
Covers quite a significant portion of the history of Israel.
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And we will have time only to consider certain highlights in his life.
But let's read a couple of verses and then we'll talk a little about them.
First Samuel, Chapter One.
And verse 9.
Here is a godly woman by the name of Hannah who is in very sad straights because she has no child.
Verse 9. So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat by a seat, no, upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.
And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and Remember Me, and not forget thine handmaid.
But will give unto thine handmaid a manchild.
Then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.
Verse 17 Then Eli answered and said, go in peace.
And the God of Israel grant thee thy petition, that thou hast asked of him.
Verse 19 And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord.
And returned and came to their house, to Rhema and Alcan knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name, Samuel say.
Because I have asked him of the Lord.
This is a meeting for young people, but I would like, if I may, to speak.
To young couples and young families also for a moment, I think you also rate as being young people.
And I would heartily encourage you to take upon yourselves the attitude and spirit of Hannah.
She was a woman who had a great deal of sorrow in her life because her husband had two wives. And we won't go into the reasons for that. God didn't particularly.
Shall we say, institute that at the beginning? But he allowed it in the Old Testament, before the full light of these Christian times had come upon the world.
And she had no children, whereas the other wife, Panina, had children.
But the Lord eventually listens to Hannah's prayer, and Hannah's desire was that she would have a child.
Who would be devoted to the Lord?
May we have that desire as Christian parents.
Anna asked for this child, and the Lord answered her prayer.
And she calls him Samuel, which means asked of God.
Here was this little baby, born into a very difficult time in Israel's history.
There was considerable failure all around.
The people had failed.
The priesthood had failed.
And as we are to find out, as history goes on.
The first king whom God allowed Samuel to anoint over Israel proved to be a big failure. He proved to be a man of this world, not a man after God's own heart.
But God had in his purposes to put his King on the throne, David, a man after God's own heart, a man who prefigures.
None other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're going to talk about David as being a type of Christ.
But here between the tremendous failure of Israel under God on the one hand.
The tremendous failure of everything to do with Israel, including that priesthood that was supposed to lead the people in the worship of the Lord and in walking in His ways. Between that tremendous failure and the anointing of God's rightful king and the time that that rightful king would take his place over all Israel, there was.
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A gap. There was a gap, and God was going to fill that gap.
With what? And some will recognize the source of this expression.
God was going to fill that gap.
By what one of our good writers calls us, calls us God's emergency man. God's emergency man. And here we find Samuel being brought into this world under these circumstances as God's emergency man.
I believe I'm looking at a number of Samuels here this afternoon, and just because his gender happens to be male doesn't mean it doesn't apply to young sisters too. I am looking at a lot of boys and girls and young men and women here who have grown up in Christian homes, who have grown up under the sound of the word of God, who have grown up in the place where the full truth of God has been made available to you.
Samuel was not old enough to know what was going on here. He merely followed the faith of his parents.
But here was a young man whom God was going to use in a time when there was a great deal of failure, but prefiguring that wonderful time when God's rightful king was going to sit upon the throne. And you and I are living in difficult days. The church has been, if I can say it, an even bigger failure than Israel. Why do I say that? Yes, Israel failed.
Terribly under.
The blessings and the promises that God had given them.
But the church has failed under much greater blessings as we had in the reading this morning, under much greater promises, under tremendous blessing that far surpasses anything that even the godliest one in the Old Testament ever knew. And you and I are living at the end of God's dispensation of grace. We're living right on the eve of the time when God is going, first of all, to call us home.
But then bring forth his rightful king as head over all things, as we had in Ephesians one and verse 10.
Are you willing to fill the gap?
In that time, as Samuel did.
Let's look for a moment or two at Samuel's early life, and then we'll look at what he did as a mature man, because our time is limited.
Verse 24 of First Samuel 1.
And when she had weaned him, she, that is, Hannah, took him up with her with three bullocks, and one hee of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the House of the Lord in Shiloh.
And the child was young, and they slew a Bullock and brought the child to Eli.
And she said, O my Lord, as thy soul liveth.
My Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here.
Praying unto the Lord For this child I prayed, and the Lord hath given me my petition, which I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he should be lent to the Lord.
And notice the language here.
Does it say and she worshiped the Lord there?
Hmm, striking isn't it? And he worshipped the Lord there. That's not a mistake in the translation.
Hannah brings Samuel up to that temple as a very young boy.
And we won't dwell on it, but if we were to go into the next chapter, we would find out that Eli had failed seriously as God's high priest.
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He was, in one sense.
A godly man, and he had a heart for the Lord and for the things of the Lord.
But there was, if we could say it, a streak of the flesh in Eli that he had not dealt with, and as a result, he had never disciplined his sons properly or restrained them from their evil ways.
Rather, he seemed to enjoy the good food that was provided for him. Scripture records that as an old man, he was heavy.
And it also records that his sons were men of Belial or Belial, whoever you want to pronounce it, and that they were not only wickedly immoral, but that they also profaned the sacrifices of the Lord.
And you can well imagine.
How Hannah must have prayed, and what an exercise of soul it must have been to her to bring that little boy up to the temple and commit him to the care of that man Eli, who had been such a signal failure as a father.
And for that poor boy to be brought up, I say poor in the human sense of the word, to be brought up under that man's guidance and in the company and being witnessed to the bad behavior of Eli's sons. But she trusted the Lord. And again, I would say to you young parents, don't hesitate to bring your children to where you know the Lord is gathering to himself in the midst. There is much failure there.
I hope it's OK to mention it, but a brother and I were talking early this morning.
And he quoted an old brother that I knew very well.
Who said?
Wherever the Lord is gathering to himself in the midst, Satan will do the utmost to make trouble, and he does. But let's trust the Lord for our children, as Hannah did. She brought him up there, and Samuel, no doubt.
Had to witness some of those things that were very difficult for him.
But let me digress for a moment, I said. I'm looking at some Samuels here.
I know that there are those of you here who have grown up in difficult environments.
And I know that despite the fact that you may have, at least outwardly, have been brought up in a Christian whole, sometimes things don't always go very smoothly. The enemy comes in, difficulties and problems arise.
And it is very easy to become upset with our background and what we have been brought up in. And it's rather fashionable today to blame everyone but ourselves for the difficulties in our lives. And to say that it was my parents and the way they brought me up, or it was the background in which I lived, or the culture in which I grew up, or some such thing as that, To blame the shortcomings in our Christian lives.
I only say to you that God gives us an example in Samuel here of one young man whose mother had faith, and who as a very young boy had gotten hold of it, because it says here when he was taken up to Eli, he worshipped the Lord.
Well, let's go on here. Verse 18 of the next chapter, First Samuel 2 and verse 18.
But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a lean and ephod.
Moreover, his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
Oh, his mother didn't forget that little boy, and every year she went up and she provided for him what she was able to do. She brought in that coat, and that coat no doubt had to be enlarged every year as Samuel grew.
But what happened?
What happened? Let's go on now to Chapter 3.
Chapter 3.
Verse 7.
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.
Oh, you'll see. Now wait a minute, Bill. Don't tell me how that fits in. How does that work when it says he worship the Lord at the end of chapter one and here in chapter 3 it says he did not yet know the Lord. Oh, I believe Samuel there.
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Under his mother's influence knew in that sense who the Lord was. But there came a time in his life when there had to be a personal relationship with the Lord. You and I can ride, as it were, on the coattails of others. You and I can ride on the spirituality and godliness of our parents and perhaps others within the assembly in which we grow up, and perhaps even at conferences like this.
But there comes a time when the Lord comes into your life and mine and wants to speak to you and me individually.
Samuel here was no doubt quite young. You don't know exactly how old. But I say to you, if the Lord comes and speaks to you in your life, let's have Samuel's heart. Notice what happens. Verse eight. 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 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 for thy servant hearer.
Speak, Lord, for thy servant here. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and called, as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak for thy servant hearer.
You'll notice he doesn't say speak Lord because he didn't yet know the Lord. But he's willing to know. He's willing to listen.
Again, I say to you, there will come a crucial time in your life as a young person.
When the Lord will want to get your ear.
May God give you the grace to say, speak, Lord.
We don't have time to take it up, but what Samuel had to listen to?
Did not seem on the surface to be very encouraging. It was the worst possible message, you would say, for a young boy to have to hear that God was going to bring very solemn judgment down on the House of Eli and ultimately on Israel too.
For the wickedness that was going on.
Very solemn and sometimes what you will hear.
And what you will be told is not always very comfortable, because things are in a bad way in this world, and even among the people of God. But oh, all this was only preparatory to showing Samuel that which God had in his purposes.
Everything wasn't going to crumble and fall apart. God was going to see to it that His purpose was carried out.
Verse 20 of chapter 3.
Verse 19 I should say.
And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.
And all Israel knew from Dan even to Beersheba.
MMM, sorry. 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, chapter 4, And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
If you and I are willing to listen to the Lord's voice, we will find, number one, that the Lord will reveal Himself to us and give us more truth #2 That there will be an opportunity for us to do something for the Lord. I don't say that everyone is going to have the prominence and the position of a Samuel. No, but your godliness and your desire to please the Lord will get the attention of others.
Not that we look for that. I don't think Samuel did.
Some time ago, some years ago, a young person made a remark which run in my years. It was remarked, you know, those among the gathered Saints don't always.
Uh, I I.
How shall I say? I think the word was empower young people the way they should.
Ouch, I thought to myself, is that really true?
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And we have failed, some of us who are older perhaps, and tapping into the strength and energy of young people. I hope not, but it can happen.
But I say to you as young people, the first thing is to listen to the Lord's voice.
And then to walk in the good of what the Lord has given you. We have to know Him before we conserve Him. We have to give Him His rightful place to enjoy Christ as individuals. Worship comes before service, and I believe that's why it says that Samuel worshipped before the Lord.
Then he had to listen to the Lord.
But then there was no problem.
For the Lord to give him a place of being, a blessing to the people of God.
So then there's a bit of a gap in Samuel's history.
And about 20 years goes by when it seems as if Samuel was relegated to the background. He was active, no doubt. But we know the story how that Israel went out to battle against the Philistines in their own strength, somehow thinking that if they took the ark of the Lord out to the battle, that that would automatically allow them to win. And as a result, the ark of God was taken and it was away from its rightful place for 20 years.
What happened to Samuel during those years? There isn't much said about him.
And sometimes there will be a period of time in our lives when we just walk with the Lord. But with most of the servants of the Lord in both Old and New Testaments, there was that time.
Abraham had to spend time apart. Moses had to spend 40 years in the backside of the desert. Abraham. David had to learn the Lord by being in rejection for quite a number of years before he became king. The Apostle Paul had to be in the background to hear the word of the Lord before he came out once and for all and was mightily used of the Lord.
Let's turn on a few chapters.
Chapter 7.
And verse 5.
And Samuel said, gather all Israel to misbehave, and I will pray for you.
Unto.
The Lord verse eight. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hands of the Philistines. Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering holy unto the Lord. And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him.
What had Israel been doing those 20 years while the ark of God had been taken away? Now granted, it came back almost immediately, but it was there in the House of an individual for a long time.
What had they been doing?
Look at verse four of Chapter 7. Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Ashtaroth and serve the Lord only. Oh, idolatry had come in and they'd been going on with that all that time. Samuel might have thrown up his hands and said, what's the use? They're just not listening. I'm supposed to be a prophet of the Lord, and the word of the Lord came out from Samuel. But here they're just going after idols.
Young people, don't give up. Don't give up first of all on yourself.
And don't give up on the people of God. Samuel never did, and that's one thing that characterized his whole life. He never gave up on the people of God.
In fact, if we went on and we're not going to dwell on it, he had a hard time even giving up on Saul, even when the Lord said, Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul?
I've chosen another king, I've rejected Saul, but Samuel lamented for him 'cause he had a heart for the people of God.
And you know, today there's a sad attitude at large in the world of seeking self, and it creeps into Christianity where it's what I want and what pleases me and what will serve my interest and what will make me happy. No wrong attitude for a Christian. The right attitude is what will please the Lord and honor him, and what will be for the blessing and help of others. And that was Samuel's heart.
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And the Lord hears them. And I believe Samuel offered a sucking lamb here for two reasons. Number one, in principle, it took them back to the cross. It took them back to that Passover, which was the only means of their deliverance when they were powerless. And the fact that it was a sucking lamb showed entire helplessness, entire dependence on the Lord. And that is the secret of victory today. We don't have any strength of our own. We don't have any power.
But to the extent that you and I walk with the Lord and seek to honor Him, as I have often said, and pardon my repeating it.
If you were in the pathway of the Lord's will for your life, all the power of God is behind you.
Verse 15 of Chapter 7.
And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life, and he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal, and Misbah, and judged Israel in all those places. But notice this. And his return was to Rhema, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar unto the Lord.
Do you remember where Samuel's parents lived?
Ram.
Samuel goes back there.
You know Rhema, I believe means.
A hill, or in simple terms, high places.
And during his lifetime of service to the Lord, Samuel had to go down to these other places.
And he had to judge Israel, he had to be occupied with, as we say in English, the nitty gritty of life down here and the problems and difficulties of the people.
A necessary thing. And you and I and our Christian lives have to be involved in things to do with everyday life. We have to make a living. We have to mix with this world. We have to go out and do our daily duties. And that's only right and proper.
But where's home? Where's home? It ought to be an arraignment. It ought to be in what we had before us in the reading this morning on those high places. It ought to be enjoying those heavenly blessings that are ours.
We ought to be able to go back after all of those things and even service to the Lord.
Our late brother John Breton, whose?
Ancestral home was here in Montreal, said one time. He said if you want to be happy, preach the gospel, but if you want to shed a lot of tears, serve the Saints.
He was right, and Samuel shed tears in serving his brethren, but he ended up back in Rhema. Young people, you can do that too. Don't let the condition of things, either in the world or among the people of God get you down.
God is working out His purposes in this world. Don't worry about all the purposes and ideas and plans and ambitions of man. They're all going to accomplish God's purposes anyway.
Be burdened about what's going on among the people of God, but don't don't ever be discouraged by it.
Well, let's go on.
What happens in Samuel's life as time goes on? Let's turn to what I like to call.
The crowning time of Samuel's life. Now we're passing over an awful lot here, but.
We don't have time to go into everything.
Turn on to the chapter here.
Chapter 16 First Samuel 16 What is the crowning?
Shall we say joy? And ultimately the crown of Samuel's life in what the Lord used him to do.
Verse One. And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul?
Seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel, fill thine horn with oil and go.
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I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king.
Among his sons.
Now going down a little further.
Verse 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hit her. And he sat, and brought him in. Now he was ready, and with all of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him for this.
Is he?
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brother, And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Rhema.
As we mentioned earlier, the king of Oregon, the people of Israel, had insisted on a king. And because they insisted on a king for all the wrong reasons, God, we might say, said, all right, I'm going to give you a king, but I'll give you the kind of a king you're asking for.
So that you can have your fill of them.
And for 40 years they had Saul, who was not a man of God, but a man of the world, a man who in an outward way acknowledged the Lord, but there was no reality in his heart, and a man who ended his life in the saddest possible way.
By consulting none other than a witch, one who was there as an emissary of Satan because he couldn't get any answers from the Lord.
Terrible and and he perished on Mount Gilboa because there was no repentance in his heart.
But now God says to Samuel.
Stop mourning for Saul.
Can I say this to my own heart as much as to everyone of you?
Samuel mourned for Saul, and he mourned in one sense for the right reasons, because he felt sorry for that man and he hoped that he could be recovered.
But could I make a different application?
You and I have a hard time turning away from that which speaks of the energy of nature and the things of this world in order to have our hearts directed to God's rightful King.
You and I sometimes have to be told How long are you going to mourn for the things of this world? How long are you going to have a hard time giving them up?
There are a lot of good things in this world as far as the world goes.
And don't think that I haven't had the hankering for them as much as any of you.
You know what hit me in the eye one time?
One time when I was reading in our written ministry and a brother said something like this, he said the things of this world can get a hold on us and if you knew how little it takes.
To get that hold and to spoil your enjoyment of Christ, he said you would be alarmed.
I thought, Oh my. And then he said something that went into my heart, and I don't mind telling you it went right into my heart like a knife.
He said.
The better anything of the world is, the more likely it is to be a snare.
Because something good can have so many good things about it that we think, oh, that's not a snare, that's just something good.
But if my heart is occupied with it, it's a bigger snare than anything.
The moment I have my heart set on anything that God does not have His heart set on.
To that extent, I'm out of communion with Christ.
Samuel had to get over Saul. He had to say, Lord, yes, I submit. He goes out there to Bethlehem and what does he find? He finds there a David who was in the backside looking after the sheep, so that Jesse didn't even think it was worthwhile calling him.
But the Lord tells Samuel to Passover all of those brothers of David in order to anoint David.
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Love it young people, you and I have the privilege.
Of honoring God's rightful king before he sits on the throne in spirit. You and I, as a Samuel, as God's emergency men, have a privilege of anointing that rightful king. It took courage for Samuel to do that. He said to the Lord in a dialogue, Oh, how can I go there? If Saul finds out about it, he'll kill me.
And so Samuel went under the guise of offering a sacrifice.
But at the same time.
I say to you, the world is going to be against you, but God will make a way for you to anoint that rightful king. And as we know the history, David was rejected and had to flee from Saul, and all kinds of things happened before David came to the throne.
And our time is gone.
But I want you to notice a couple of other things about Samuel that to me are most wonderful. And they show us, I believe, how that Samuel was used in a mighty way. First of all, as being an encouragement to the people of God in a day when they were in much need and much distress, in a day when there was willfulness among them and wickedness and sin. But he never gave up on them because God gave him the look ahead to the time when there was going to be blessing.
Let's turn to First Chronicles chapter nine in the two minutes that are remaining.
First Chronicles, Chapter 9.
Something that Samuel did that's hidden here in this chapter if you like, but very instructive here. David is on the throne.
But it's kind of going back to what was happening and what was going on.
And notice what it says here.
And this, of course, is in the time of David as king.
First Samuel 9 and verse 22.
Referring to the Levites.
All these which were chosen to be porters in the gates were 212.
They were reckoned by their genealogy in their villages.
Whom David and Samuel the seer did ordain in their set offices.
Isn't that remarkable?
By the time David got to the throne, Samuel had died. So this did not occur while David was on the throne or Samuel and Samuel being around. David and Samuel had communed about all this long before David ever sat on the throne. When David was in rejection, Samuel and David had no doubt about God's purposes.
David would sit on the throne.
And they were looking ahead. So what would happen when he sat on the throne and they were ordering the Levites and ultimately the priesthood according to God's thoughts?
When Saul was still king.
Oh, what I say to myself. What a what a wonderful thing for that man to be involved in.
Now, transferring that to New Testament terms, I don't believe that you and I are going to sit down with the Lord and start planning the Millennium. That isn't a thought.
But the point is, God gave them the look above the circumstances, to look ahead, to be faithful in a time when the rightful king was rejected. But there's more. Turn to First Chronicles 22.
I love this verse.
First Chronicles 22 and just give me a moment to find the verse here.
Yes, but that isn't exactly what I wanted.
Uh.
Maybe it's second Chronicles 22. Just a moment here.
But I don't think so, no. I think I've got the right uh.
The right one here.
Well, that's what happens when you don't look up a verse before you, uh, stand up and speak.
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Sorry, I thought it was in First Chronicles 22.
Anyway.
We'll just speak it. Tell me what, tell I'll say what's on my heart and someone will find the verse for me afterward. But.
Let's just read it here in verse three of First Sam or First Chronicles 22.
And David prepared iron and abundance for the nails, for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings and brass in abundance without weight.
And cedar also cedar trees in abundance for the Zidonians and they of tire brought much cedar wood to David.
And David said, Solomon, my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.
Now we'll just check something here. I see a cross reference here and we'll see if it's in.
Well, that'll be good for you young people to find. That's a good challenge for you. You find the verse. There is a verse that says that Samuel was involved in the preparation for the temple.
Samuel was involved in the preparation for the temple.
Isn't that wonderful?
Not only did he help David to set up the courses of the Levites and the priests, but he actually made a contribution for the temple. Others did too, and we'll leave it at that. You young people can find that verse that I can't put my finger on right now. But the point is, he looked ahead to a day of glory and the secret of a faithful Christian life down here.
Is to have your eyes up ahead, have your eyes on what is ahead, when Christ is going to be exalted there in glory. Head over all things you and I, enjoying all those blessings in heaven.
That's the secret, and you can you and I can have it in the day of our Lord's rejection. Let's sing a couple of verses of a hymn in closing.
I know we've gone a minute or two overtime. Let's sing together the last two verses of #168.
#168 And to save time, we'll just sing verses four and five. And let's sing it together as a prayer. Let's sing it together as a prayer. 168 just versus 4:00 and 5:00.
Nsnoise.
Nsnoise.