Turn back with me to 1 Samuel
chapter three, please. Again, verse one, 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. Now
last study, we talked about the silence from God. Silence from
God, that's a terrifying thought. The word of the Lord was precious,
and as we saw, that meant it was very rare. In those days
when Samuel ministered unto the Lord, there was no open vision,
no prophecy, no true prophet. No one who could give godly counsel. No one who could give godly direction. No one who could give godly instruction. And that's what made the word
of the Lord precious. Precious in the sense that it
was hard to find. Precious in the sense that it
was very rare. And as we said last time, there
was a famine in the land. The famine that Amos tells us
about in chapter eight, verse 11, not a famine of bread, not
a famine for thirst or water. What kind of famine was it? A
famine of hearing the word of the Lord. And what a precious
thing it is to hear the word of the Lord. And I'm convinced
that even the most enlightened sinner yet has no idea how precious
this word is. It's the most precious thing
that we possess. That being Christ, who is the
word. Without the word of God, there is no life. Without the
word of God, there's nothing but lies. Within the word of
the Lord are the secrets, the mysteries of God and his redemption. Speaking of the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ, listen closely to what Paul wrote in Romans
chapter 16, verse 25. I won't turn to you there, but
listen closely as I read this to you. He wrote, but now is
made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets. That's how God's
will and salvation is made known by the scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God. Man didn't
write this book. I had people tell me it was just
written by men, men who were under the inspiration of God. And it takes faith to believe
that. You can excuse this off as being the word of a man if
you don't, if the Lord doesn't reveal it to you. According to
the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. The grace and mercy of God is
made manifest. How? By the scriptures of the
prophets. You remember when the Lord, it
says He began at Moses and all the prophets and all the Psalms?
telling them the things concerning Himself. This is a book about
Jesus Christ. And it's the revelation that
God gives His people that enables them to have faith in Christ. The Old Testament prophets it's
speaking of. Their words were according to
the commandment of the everlasting God. The Word of God was made
known to all nations for, it says, this is why, the obedience
of faith. We're not invited to believe,
we're commanded to believe. And we must be obedient to the
commandment of the everlasting God, and believe, if not, you'll
perish. What does Paul mean by that?
No one can believe apart from a word of God revealed to them. Jesus Christ is the word, the
beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was
God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him. That's talking about
Christ. The Word of God is a Him. And without Him, Jesus Christ
was not anything made that was made in Him. He says it over
and over. Christ, who was made flesh, was
life. And the life was the light of
men. Jesus Christ is the life and
the light. And no man comes to the Father
but by Him. This is how Christ is made manifest
by the scriptures of the prophets. By the commandment of the everlasting
God. But God was silenced in our text. How does faith come? By hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Word of God.
Paul wrote in Ephesians 1 verse 13 and 14, In whom you also trusted
after you heard the Word of truth. There's no salvation apart from
the Word of God. The Gospel of your salvation,
he said. In whom, it's a person. in whom also after that you believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of His glory." There's no salvation
apart from knowing Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God. If we
know Christ, it's because God revealed Him to us. Every good
and Every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down
from where? The Father of lights, with whom
is no variableness nor shadow of turning. He's the same yesterday
and today and forever. He doesn't change. No variableness. And it says then, of His own
will, beget He us with the word of truth that we should be kind
of the first fruits of His creatures. James 1.17. Oh, the Word of the
Lord was precious in the days of Samuel. And it's becoming
more precious each and every day in our time. Hannah dedicated
Samuel to the Lord before he was born. In chapter 2, verse
21, we're told that Samuel grew before the Lord. Samuel had favor
with the Lord and with man. Verse 26 of chapter 2. Now look
down at verse 7. Now Samuel did not yet know the
Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed unto him. Now how can that be? It happens
all the time. It still happens today, all the
time. Now I know folks who have been
in church all their lives. I mean that. I know a young man
whose father's a pastor. He's in a false religion and
very strict in practice. This young man, when going to
school, played basketball, wasn't allowed to wear short-sleeved
shirts. That's how strict their religion
was. And religion's all that he knows.
No doubt in my mind that he believes that he's saved. He was involved
in the youth ministry. He was involved in the adult
ministry now that he's older. He's being groomed to take over
as pastor for his father. But if my understanding, the
God of the Bible and the gospel of the Bible is true, he doesn't know the Lord. Neither has the word of the Lord
been revealed to him. And he'd tell you the same about
me. One of us is wrong. Both can't be right. But his
believing doesn't line up with the scriptures. This Bible is
the final authority. Paul wrote in Galatians chapter
1 verse 8, But though we or an angel from heaven preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we preached unto you, let
him be accursed. For I testify unto every man
that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, the preaching
of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall
add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. This
is serious business. And if any man shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city
and from the things which are written in this book. Revelation
22, 18 and 19. Now, I bet you'll agree with
me on this, but I have never been to a funeral where the preacher
who officiated did not portray the deceased as a believer on
his way or her way to heaven. It just don't happen. And I understand
you're not going to stand up and say, well, oh, Joe, we're
here today to, you know, pay respect to Joe who's on his way
to hell. No, I know that. But, you know,
they portray men as being, you know, oh, he loved the Lord.
And you know that he didn't. His wife didn't show it. He had
no interest in the things of God. And my, my. I spoke to an acquaintance this
morning that I went to school with. We had two of our high
school teachers die this past week within five days of one
another. One was 79, one was 75. And the
first thing out of my friend's mouth was, well, they're in a
better place. And I caught myself, because
I just didn't have time to get into it, but I thought to myself,
are they? Are they? You hear that all the time. They're
in a better place. They're no more suffering now.
Oh, if they're what I think they are, they're suffering just begun. Did they know the Lord Jesus?
Had the Word of the Lord been revealed unto them? Well, these
two men were lifelong educators. They were both moral men. They
took personal interest in their students. They were involved
in charitable, civic activities. They both did things to help
the poor. One of them was on the board at the Salvation Army. He was always doing something
to help folks. But neither gave evidence of
knowing Christ. And there are many today that
are busy in religion. Religion likes to keep folks
busy. But they don't know Christ or
His Word. They have a zeal of God, but
what did Paul say? It's not according to knowledge.
Knowledge of what? This book. Knowledge of God. Knowledge of His Lord. Knowledge
of His Gospel. I can't help to think of Saul
of Tarsus, the man who was later called Paul. Matter of fact,
hold your place here. Turn with me to Acts. It's the
only place I'll turn you. Acts chapter 26 and look at verse
9. I want you to see this. Here Paul is standing before
King Agrippa, answering for himself, defending himself against the
accusations made against him. He was arrested. He's standing
before the king. And he starts out here by speaking
of former days. Acts 26 verse 9. Verse 9, he says, I barely thought
with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name
of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem,
and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received
authority from the chief priests. And when they were put to death,
I gave my voice against them. And I punished them often in
every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme. And being
exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them into strange
cities. Whereupon, as I went to Damascus
with authority and commission from the chief priest, And at
midday, O King, I saw in the way a light from heaven above
the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which
journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to
the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew
tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It's hard for thee to
kick against the proof. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom
thou persecutest, but rise and stand upon my feet, for I have
appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a
witness both of these things which thou hast seen. and of
those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering
thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I
send thee." Why? Why am I doing this? To open
their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the
power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
by faith that is in me." Now this was Paul's call of conversion. This was his record of his conversion. This was the calling of God to
the Apostle Paul who wrote the majority of the New Testament.
Every believer's got their own story. I could tell you mine,
you could tell me yours on how the Lord called them. That young
man I told you about a moment ago that's in false religion
is convinced that he knows the Lord and is saved. Yet in every
group of true believers, and I'm not talking about religion
and denominations of religion that are just obviously wrong.
I'm talking about true believers, real, true gospel assemblies
and congregations. There's always going to be two
groups or two kinds of people, even in our assembly, those who
are saved and don't think that they are, and those who are not
saved who think they are. Now, I want you to know that
I'm not trying in the least to discourage you or to cause you
to question or doubt your salvation, but I am endeavoring to encourage
you to give diligence to make your calling and election sure.
that you never fall and have entrance into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Peter chapter
two. I'm endeavoring to encourage
you, as Paul did the church at Corinth, to examine yourselves,
whether you be in the faith and prove your own selves. Has the
Lord called you? I want you to examine yourself.
I want you to, I want to examine myself. I want to give diligence
to make my calling in election sure. I don't want you to fall
and I don't want to fall either. Like Paul, I don't want to preach
to others and myself be a castaway. I want us to have entrance into
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior. So for the time
remaining, I want us to consider three questions. Now, I want
you to try to stay awake if you can, because this will be a blessing
to you. The first question, is this calling of God, this calling
of salvation real? Or is it just a call of man,
a call of religion? In verse one, we saw that there
was no open vision. In these days, the word of the
Lord was scarce. There was a time before and there
was a time after where the Lord was open and audible. He spoke
to men, but this was not one of those times. Just like it
is in our day, no open vision. The Lord doesn't appear to us
as He did in olden times. And the Lord doesn't speak audibly
to us. I have people, I've heard people
say that. They'll stand and say some words
and say, thus saith the Lord. They're lying. How do I know? Because Hebrews 1, verse 1 and
2 tells us, God who at sundry times and divers manners, various
ways, different times, spake in time passing to the fathers
by the prophets, but hath in these last days spoken unto us
by His Son." Does that mean He speaks audibly to us? No, He
is the Word and that's how He speaks to us, through this book.
That's why it's the most prized possession that you have. God
speaks to His people today through the Word of God and Jesus Christ
is the Word of God. John said in John chapter one,
as I read a moment ago, in the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God. That's Jesus Christ. And the
Word was God. Jesus Christ is God. However,
in our text, chapter three, verse four, we read, look at it, the
Lord called Samuel and he answered out loud, here am I. Something
has to seem pretty real for you to answer back. The Lord called
Samuel's name, and Samuel said, I'm in here, here I am. And look at verse five, and he
ran unto Eli. And he said, here am I, for thou
callest me. And he said, Eli said, I didn't
call you. Lie down again, and he went and
lay down. Eli didn't hear anything, but Samuel did. Was it real? Well, the apostle Paul said,
I was called to be an apostle, impossible, apostle, excuse me,
not impossible. Nothing's impossible with God.
And the Lord's call that day on the road to Damascus was so
loud and the light was so bright that Paul and them picked themselves
up off the ground. The men with him, they heard
a loud noise and they thought it was thunder. But they didn't
hear Christ. Paul did. Paul did. You see, friends, this call is
particular. This call is distinguishing. This call is effectual. And every person that hears it
will tell you that it's real. Every believer here will tell
you, when God called me, it was real. I didn't hear an audible
voice. I heard a small, still voice
within my heart. And it was the Lord Jesus calling
me to Himself. It's real. Paul said, I know
whom I have believed, and I am affectionately persuaded that
He's able. He's able to do exceedingly,
abundantly above all that I can think and ask. Peter said, I've
not followed a cunning, devised fable. This is real. This is
the real deal. Second question, how will I know
if this call is really the Lord that's calling me? Well, one
good way of knowing is that it takes place over a period of
time. Look at verse six, and the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel rose and went to Eli
and said, here am I, for thou didst call me. And Eli answered,
I called not, I didn't call you my son. Lie down again. I couldn't help, when I read
that, to think, Lord, great is thy faithfulness. He called again. He didn't just let me go. He
called again. Verse seven, now Samuel did not
know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed
unto him, but he had grew in the Lord. He was given to the
Lord as a young boy. His life was dedicated to the
Lord. He served in the ministry. He served unto the Lord before
Eli, but he didn't yet know the Lord. Neither was the word of
the Lord yet revealed to him. In 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. And Eli perceived
that the Lord had called the child. Now, in most instances,
this calls happens over a period of time and Samuel didn't know
that it was the Lord dealing with him. Samuel heard a voice
and he thought it was Eli. He heard something again and
went to Eli. The third time he heard the Lord
thinking it was Eli. And it was then that Samuel must
have questioned himself saying, what am I hearing? Who am I hearing? Why am I hearing this? If it's
not Eli, who is it? All this happened before the
lamp of God went out in the temple. You remember reading that? I
don't have any doubt in my mind that as the lamp still burned
in the temple, that Samuel was reading the Word of God. It wouldn't surprise me one bit. This calling happened while Samuel
was reading the Word, because that's how the Lord speaks to
us. And what a picture this is of the believers calling of God. We've searched the scriptures
to see if the things we are hearing are so. That's what the noble
Bereans did. You remember them? Acts 17, 11. These were more noble than those
in Thessalonica in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind and searched the scriptures daily. whether those things were
so. They heard these men preach,
and they gave mine to them, but they just didn't take their word
for it. They got into the Old Testament Scriptures themselves
to prove that these things that they were hearing preached were
so. I encourage you to do the same thing. Samuel's running here. Samuel's
running there. He's looking for an answer, but
he can't find it that way. He runs to Eli. Eli can't help
him. Eli didn't call him. We don't
look to a man. God will use a man. It's by the
means of preaching that God saves those that believe. But how can
a man preach if he's not sent? He gotta be sent of God. We hear
the preaching through a sent man, and it is the precious word
of the Lord that we hear. It's precious. It's scarce. It's a rare thing, even in our
day. Through all this running, through
all this searching, not finding any answers, not finding any
relief, not finding any rest, And when the burden can get no
heavier, God brings Samuel to a place where he doesn't know
where else to go. Sound familiar? Samuel doesn't
know what to do. Sound familiar? You know what
that's called? It's called being lost. God's gonna get you lost before
He ever saves you. God's gonna kill you before He
ever makes you alive. God's gonna bring you down before
He ever raises you up. It's called need. Men and women don't come to Christ
not out of a lack of interest, it's a lack of need. That's why
people don't come to church. Not a lack of interest, it's
a lack of need. At the end of verse 8 we read,
And Eli perceived that the Lord had called the child. And verse
9, Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down. Go lie down. Isn't that what
the gospel tells us to do? Go lie down. Stop running here and there.
Stop searching every wind of doctrine. You're being tossed
to and fro. Stop fretting, stop worrying,
start resting. Go lie down. Go lie down. Verse 9, And it shall be, if
he call thee... Listen, salvation is of the Lord.
You know that. I try to say that in every message
because it's so. It's His call, and His call is
always effectual. If He called thee, that's how
you know that you've been called, when He calls you. And when He
calls you, you know it's Him that calls you. It's Samuel who's
going to find out. Thou shalt say. This shall be
your response. This will be your evidence. Thou
shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. And that brings
me to the third question. What is this call unto? Well,
the first thing is silence. The first thing this call is
unto is silence. You speak Lord, I'll listen. I'm not telling the Lord what
I've done for him. He shuts my mouth. I become guilty
before God. May all the world shut their
mouths and become guilty before God. You speak, Lord. I'll listen. Thou knowest all
things. You speak. I'll be quiet. I'll be subject to what you say.
Secondly, this call is unto service. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant
Thy servant here. That word servant there means
slave. A bondservant, one who willingly
serves. One who has been set free but
says, no, I don't want to leave my master. I love my master. I don't want to be anywhere but
in service to him. Speak, Lord, for thy servant
here. What is this calling to? Obedience. This is not a call to action.
This is not a call to arms. Peter, put your sword up. Put
your sword up. This is a call to rest. It says, so Samuel went and lay
down. I noticed, I found it very interesting
that the words there said, in his place. The Lord has a way
of putting us in our place, doesn't He? Where is the believer's place? It's at the feet of Christ and
subjection to Him in obedience. Our Lord said, it is finished. It's over. What are we to do? Rest. Rest. It's a call to spiritual
rest. It's a call to everlasting peace. This is where mercy and truth
are met together. This is where righteousness and
peace have kissed each other. This is a call to spiritual life.
This is the command of the gospel. Live! Speaking of those dead,
dry bones in Ezekiel, God tells the preacher, The preacher said,
he said unto me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man,
and say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may
live. Live. That's the command of the
gospel. That's the command of Christ
to His people. Live. And look at verse 10. And the Lord came. And the Lord
came. Well, if that's not the gospel,
I don't know what is. How amazing that the Lord would
come to a wretched sinner like me. God comes to give you audience. God comes to make your acquaintance,
even though He knows you and has from the foundation of the
world. God comes to begin a relationship which was there all along, and
you didn't even know it. Verse 10 again, And the Lord
came, and stood, and called, as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak for
thy servant. Here. Oh, how I pray that the Lord
would call someone. I pray that He'd call me again,
and again, and again, and keep me coming to Him. To whom come
ye, the Scripture says. To whom come ye. You don't come
once, you keep coming. As unto a living stone, chosen
of God, and what? Precious. Precious. Unto you therefore which believe
He, Jesus Christ, is precious. Have you come to Christ? Then
keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming. Keep coming without moving a
muscle. Keep coming as you rest in His
finished work. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant
hearing. Now, if you've never heard the
voice of the Lord Jesus cry out, call on Him while He is near.
And keep calling. If He doesn't answer, keep calling. and ask, Lord, speak to me, thou
servant hearest." I'm listening. Someone once asked an old wise
preacher, he said, when the Lord speaks, does he speak out loud? And the old fella said, no, it's
louder than that. You know, we said last week His
silence is deafening. You know what I mean by that.
But when the Lord speaks, it's louder than that. It's louder
than that. And this, dear friends, is the
calling of God. It's distinguishing. It's particular. He doesn't call a group of sheep. He goes out and gets the one
lost one and puts it on His shoulder and brings it back to the fold.
He doesn't take a magic wand and zap a goat and make it a
sheep. It's always been a sheep. It's
lost, it wandered away, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone
to leave the God that I love. But the Lord Jesus left the 99
and went out and He found the one and He put it on His shoulder
and carried it all the way back home. It's effectual, it's effectual. His calling in, come on now,
let's go, come on. No, He grabs it and carries it
all the way home. And I wouldn't have it any other
way, because I'd get sidetracked again, and get lost again, and
so would you. When God calls you, you'll come. And you'll come like Samuel,
lying down. lying down, resting in what He
has done for you. Sounds like good news to me.