Good evening. I am humbled. I'm very humbled
to be here. I have not been here in a year
and a half, and that's too long. I thought whenever I was called
to pastor that I would be able to come and go as I please. You
know, you can get somebody to fill in for you and go where
you need to go. And that has not been the case so far. But. Anyway, I'm very thankful to
be here. Open with me, if you would, to First Samuel, chapter
three. That told me this would be a
scripture reading devotional. So I'm going to try to get right
to the point. I titled this the message of
scripture. The message of Scripture. There's a message in this book,
people hold this book, they read this book. And there are stories
in this book and they have Noah's Ark and they decorate their nurseries
with it and all that kind of stuff. But there is a message
in this book. And there's only one message
in this book. It is the exact same message Cover to cover. One message. I want us to see
what this one message is through the story of Samuel. There was
a man named Elkanah, and he had two wives, and one of them couldn't
have children. Her name was Hannah. And she
was grieved. We know the story, don't we?
She was grieved. She cried out to the Lord and
said, Lord, if you would give me a son, I would lend him to
you. All the days of his life. And
he heard her prayer and he gave her son. And she called his name
Samuel and lent him to the Lord and verse one in chapter three
says. And the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord Before Eli, he was the priest. The child Samuel
ministered unto the Lord before Eli. What did he do? He didn't
preach. He was a child. What did he do? My guess is he swept the floor
and he took out the trash. And what a help to Eli that was.
And I know firsthand what a help God's people can be in this ministry. And I'm I'm so thankful. I thank
God for the heart that he gives his people to help in his ministry. Every single work for the cause
of Christ is a vital work in the cause of Christ. Every single
one. He said, if you bring a cup of
cold water in the name of a disciple, I thank you for this. Some men
don't drink the water, but I do. And I thank you for this. I really
do. But we're about to see that none of those works play any
role in salvation. They're good. They're very good.
But they don't have anything to do with salvation. There is
one thing that saves. One thing. Verse one says, And
the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the
word of the Lord was precious in those days. It was rare, that's
what it means, it was rare, just like it is today. It's so rare. When the Lord brings people to
Kingsport, one of the things that they say is, I can't get
over how much of the actual Bible we read. It's just rare. Totally rare. It's so hard to
go into a place and hear the word of God, nothing added to
it, nothing taken from it, it's just rare. Verse one says, 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, just like today, no open vision. All we have is his word. That's all we have. All we need
is his word. That's all we need. That's all
we need. We don't have to add anything
to it. We don't have to entertain on top of it. All we need is
his word. This is the word of Christ himself. It's not the word of Samuel and
it's not the word of Moses and it's not the word of David. This
is the word of Christ himself. Verse two says, And 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 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 he ran unto Eli,
and said, Here am I, for thou call'st me. And he said, I called
not, lie down again. And he went and lay down." Now
Eli didn't hear this voice. This was an individual thing.
And I don't know if the Lord spoke out loud or if he just
spoke to his heart, but I will tell you this, it was so real
to Samuel, he got up out of his bed and he went to Eli. That's
how real it was. When God starts working on the
heart of the center. When God moves through his word
and he starts speaking through his word, that sinner does not
fully understand what he's hearing. But his heart gets up and starts
seeking that voice. He becomes a seeker every time. A sinner becomes a seeker every
single time. Verse six says, And the Lord
called yet Again. We have a very merciful God,
you know that. He is so kind. That he would
call again. That he would call again. Today
and tomorrow and tonight that he would call again. Great is
his faithfulness. We have a faithful God. Thank God for that. Verse six
says, 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. When the voice of God calls the
child of God. He sends that child to the servant
of God. That's what happened. When that
voice calls, that sinner runs to the servant of God. And that
child hears that true servant say, I didn't call you. Wait on the Lord. That's what
he says. He doesn't stand up there and
say, now I'm going to put out a call for everybody to come down here.
He says, I didn't call you. Behold the Lamb. Don't do. sit and wait, just
wait. Verse seven says, Now Samuel
did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet
revealed unto him. The fact that his mother lent
him to the Lord, it didn't do anything for him spiritually,
it didn't save his soul. And we're about to see the importance
of having our children under the hearing of the gospel, where
God's messenger is and where he said he would put his name.
It is vital that we bring our children to that place, that
we lend them to that place. But just the fact that she lent
him, that didn't do anything for her soul. They didn't save
him. And just because he spent his
life from the time he was weaned, she brought him to Eli and he
grew up there. And just because he spent his
life working on a building for his Lord, that didn't do anything
for his soul. Nothing. Verse 7 says, Now Samuel did
not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet
revealed unto him. Now, he clearly was religious.
He had to be religious. He worked in the church, he ministered
before the Lord, he had to know something about God, he had to
have heard the name God. People brought sacrifices to
that place and he helped Eli with whatever he needed done.
So clearly he was religious. But here's the fact of the matter,
verse seven says, the end of verse seven says, the word of
the Lord was not yet revealed unto him. It wasn't revealed
unto him. And a man can work all he wants
to, but until God moves, there is no salvation. There's just
no salvation. Verse 8 says, 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, and that is a wonderful
thing to perceive. Something starts changing, vocabulary
starts changing, something changes. And. You hear him speak and say, do
you hear that? I think the Lord might be working on him. And
I hope one day I get to perceive that in my own two children.
That's my prayer. I want to perceive that. Others can always perceive it,
they can. Verse 9 says, Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel. Now, God has brought his child
to his servant. And God is about to cross the
path of his child with the message of Scripture. That's what's about
to happen. This is the way that our God
has purposed to save sinners every single time. Every single
time. It's through the message of Scripture,
the one and only message of Scripture, and his name is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and him crucified
for by grace, are you saved through faith? And faith cometh by hearing
and hearing this word right here. The message of Scripture, verse
nine says, therefore, Eli said unto Samuel, now he's about to
give him a five point message. Samuel's about to hear a five
point message, point number one, Verse 9, Therefore Eli said unto
Samuel, Go lie down. Go lie down. Isn't that what we always hear
first? Go lie down. Take your place as a sinner. Take your place as a sinner. The message of Scripture says,
God is no respecter of persons. All flesh is grass. Go lie down. That sounds like
you're starting to treat me like a dog. Truth, Lord. Truth. Go lie down. Get in your place. You're a sinner. And I'm a sinner. And do you
know what we must do? We must bend this knee. That's what we must do. We must humble ourselves under
the mighty hand of God. We must kiss the sun lest he
be angry. That's what we must do. He must
increase. We must decrease. Go lie down. Go lie down. Aren't you so thankful
that that's not where the message of Scripture stops? Point number two in Eli's message,
verse nine says, Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down
and it shall be. Now, it's true, we're all sinners.
We are all sinners, but Christ came to save sinners, and it
shall be. It shall be. He shall not fail. Christ died on that cross to
save his own, didn't he? Did he do it? Did he do it? Did he accomplish
the work he was sent to do? He said, I will, you shall. And it shall be. It shall be. You believe that? What proof
do you have? The Word of God. Standing on
the promises. The foundation of the message
of Scripture is He shall. He shall. Go lie down. God is sovereign. That's what
it means. God is sovereign. It is finished. That's what it
means. Your warfare is accomplished.
Salvation is secure. Go lie down. Point number three. Verse nine,
Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down and it shall be if
he call thee. If he call thee. That's the truth
of salvation. If he called the. People think they're making decisions
for Jesus, don't they? And they think that they're giving
their heart and they think they're dedicating and they think they're
rededicating. And they think they're taking
the second step so he doesn't have to, they're saving him a
step. But here's the truth of salvation,
if he called the. You mean to tell me it's all
in his hands and I have no say in the matter? Yeah. If he called
it. There was a couple of months back, I was
listening to sermon audio to a message by Brother Henry. We
all do, don't we? And it was 30 years ago and he was. He was a Sunday night message. And he had just heard a story
that morning and he was repeating it that night. One of the little
girls there in Ashland, their family would sit on Sunday morning
and listen to the television broadcast. He was on TV Sunday
morning and their whole family would sit there and listen to
that broadcast. And Brother Henry said, like
he did many times, and we all say he asked the question, Now,
did I choose God or did God choose me? And that little girl looked
up at her mom and said, anybody knows that. What a blessing. Anybody doesn't
know that. And her mother asked her right
then and there, well, what's the right answer? And she said,
God chose me. And her mom said, well, why did
God have to choose us? She said, because we're dirty,
rotten scoundrels. Go lie down, dirty, rotten scoundrel. Go lie down. It shall be, if
he call thee. If he call thee. Point number
four, verse nine. Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel,
Go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou Shout, say. I'll tell you this. If he called thee, thou shalt
say. You shout. No ifs, ands, or buts
about it. There is no choice in this matter. Aren't you so glad for that? If we all had a choice, none
of us would be here. No choice in the matter. I hear his call, am I going to
accept it or am I going to reject it? Thankfully, I have no choice
in the matter. No choice. David said, when you said, seek
you my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I
seek. No choice in the matter. A sinner is going to respond,
a sinner is going to respond. to the call of grace. He said,
My sheep hear My voice, and I call them by name. He said, Samuel. I remember there was some time
over who knows how many years, at some point, He said, Gabe. I want to hear that tonight,
right after this. Through this Word, I want Him to say, Gabe.
I am. Point number five. Verse 9, 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. You have opened my ears. You've done something to me.
I hear you. I hear your voice through your word. I hear your
voice through your word. Speak to me, Lord. All that a child of God wants
to hear is His Lord speak. I mean, that's all we want. That's the only reason we're
all here. That's the only reason we are
all here in hopes that at least two of us or three of us are
truly gathered in His name and that He will meet inside these
paneled walls and speak to us. That's all we want. Lord, speak, Lord, Jehovah, God
Almighty, Thy servant here. Does he need a servant for anything? No, but that's all we want to
be. That's all we want to be is his servant. Well, that was
Eli's message. Here is Samuel's response. The
end of verse nine says, So Samuel went and laid down in his place. He rested. He obeyed. He rested. Samuel,
there's no work to be done. Rest. God is sovereign. Rest. If he called you, Samuel,
then it means he justified you with his own blood. And if he
justified you, then it means he's going to glorify you. Rest. Just rest. So Samuel went and
lay down in his place, verse 10 says, And the Lord came. His promise shall not fail. It
won't fail. Just like He came the first time,
He's coming again, isn't He? Just rest. Go lie down. It shall
be. Just rest. Alright, I pray the
Lord will bless that.