Verse one says, finally my brethren
rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware
of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision, those
who create division. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence
in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof
he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcise the eighth
day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew
of the Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee. concerning zeal,
persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in
the law, blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ? Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which
is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness of God, the righteousness which is of God
by faith, that I may know him. and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. Not as though I had already attained,
either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I
may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ
Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as
be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything you be otherwise
minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless,
whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule,
let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together
of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example. For many walk of whom I have
told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the
enemies of the cross of Christ. whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who
mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we come
to you tonight, Lord. We come in desperate need, as
we always do, as we always are. Lord, we need you. We need to
hear from you. We need to. Spend some time with
you in your word. We are gathered here, Lord, because
this is the place where you said that you would meet with us in
the place where you've chosen to put your name. In the place
where two and two or three are gathered in your name. And Lord,
we pray that tonight you would help us to enter into a spirit
and a heart of worship. Lord, would you please quicken
our minds? We all know, Lord, that we're
so fickle and we're so weak and we're so frail. And we all know
that our minds are all over the place. But Lord, we would love
to focus on you. We would love to just take a
minute and let everything else go and just dwell on you. We pray, Lord, that you will
give us that focus of mind, the focus of heart, the focus of
spirit. We pray, Lord, that you will
bless us and we pray that you will meet with us. We pray, Lord,
that you'll be with all of your dear people. We have so many
who. Can't be with us tonight for different reasons and we
pray for each one. Lord, be with them and. Help
them comfort them this week. Lord, encourage them. We pray
for our loved ones that are going through trials. Lord, would you
heal them? Strengthen them according to
your will. We pray Lord for those that are in deep trial that you
would. Send the comfort of your spirit, Lord, and truly bless
their hearts. Lord, we pray for our children.
We pray for our families. We pray for this city. Lord,
we deeply pray for Kingsport. Would you save us? Would you
have mercy on us, Lord? Would you stay with us and keep
the gospel message of Christ crucified with us as long as
you would have us to be here? We ask all of these things and
forgiveness of our sin in Christ's name. Amen. Turn with me now to 162, and
let's stand together again. 162. ? Hover o'er me, Holy Spirit ?
? Bathe my trembling heart and brow ? ? Fill me with Thy hallowed
presence ? ? Come, oh come and fill me now ? ? Fill me now,
fill me now ? ? Jesus, come and fill me now ? Fill me with Thy
hallowed presence Come, O come and fill me now Thou canst fill
me, gracious Spirit Though I cannot tell Thee how But I need Thee,
greatly need Thee Come, O come and fill me now Fill me now,
fill me now Jesus, come and fill me now Fill me with Thy hallowed
presence Come, O come and fill me now I am weakness, full of
weakness, at Thy sacred feet I bow. Blessed Divine, Eternal
Spirit, fill with power and fill me now. Fill me now, fill me
now. Jesus come and fill me now fill
me with thy hallowed presence come oh come and fill me now
Cleanse and comfort, bless and save me, babe. Obey my heart
and brow. Thou art comforting and saving,
Thou art sweetly filling now. Fill me now, fill me now. come and fill me now fill me
with our presence come come and fill me maybe see Turn with me, if you would, now
to 1 Samuel chapter 3. 1 Samuel chapter 3. You all know the story of Samuel. His mother, Hannah, lent him
unto the Lord. She was barren and prayed to
the Lord that if he would give her a child, she would lend him
to the Lord. And the Lord did, and she did. She lent him to the Lord, literally
sent him to serve in the temple of the Lord with the prophet
Eli. And first Samuel three verse one says the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. And let's really enter into what
this is saying. The child Samuel ministered unto
the Lord before Eli. Let's remember that. And the
word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open
vision, just like it is right now. This word is precious right
now. There's no open vision. Verse
two, 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 or before 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, it came to pass that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, here am I. And
he ran unto Eli and said, here am I, for thou callest me. And
Eli said, I called not, lie down again. And he went and lay down
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. Verse seven says, now Samuel
did not yet know the Lord. He had been ministering unto
the Lord. But Samuel did not yet know the
Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed unto him. 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, Lord, for thy servant heareth. 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 heareth. I got to thinking about us, our
congregation, on Monday morning, as I've told you many times before
that I do. I want to show back up on a Wednesday
night with a message for you. When I get to my study on Monday
morning, it's the same every Monday. You know, now what? And I want to show back up on
Wednesday with a message for you. I want to deliver something from
God's Word to you that will benefit you and will speak to you and
will comfort you and will help you. Right now in this world, but
especially in the world to come. For the world to come. I want
to deliver a message that will benefit us unto the world to
come. unto the saving of our souls.
I want to deliver a message to you that will save our souls. I don't want to go through the
motions. I don't want to have a nice fine club here. My desire
is to deliver a message that will save our souls. God has a people. God has an
elect people and He is going to save His elect people. He is going to save His elect
people. None of them are going to be
lost. None. But He said that He has
chosen to use the means of preaching His Word to quicken his people
to himself. And because he called me to be
a preacher, I feel a great responsibility in this. I feel a great responsibility
in this. The whole disposing of this.
Is of the Lord, let me just give me a minute to bear my heart
to you here, OK? I know that the whole disposing
of this is of the Lord. Everything, every day, every
hour, every second, every one. I know that the whole disposing
is of the Lord, but I cannot help it. I feel like the lot
is cast into my lap. I can't help it. I know that. I tell myself that. But I honestly
cannot help it. I feel like the lot is cast into
my lap and into the lap of these other men. Who are called on
to preach. The lap of every true preacher
all over this world. If you want to have just a little
insight to what it feels like to be in this position, this
is it. It's very burdening. It's very burdening. I'm constantly thinking past
this life. You know, people get sick and
they want to go to a doctor and get better. And that's great.
I love doctors. But the end is still coming.
It's still coming. And it's very, very burden, burdening. It makes me burdened for us.
It makes me burdened for a word that will reach us. I want a
word that will reach us. I want a word that will break
through the hard dead shells of this body and reach us. I know that in every true congregation
all over this world, every true congregation, not false congregation,
But in every true congregation all over this world, I know that
there will be some adults. I mean, every one of them, there
will be some adults who know the Lord, but have themselves
convinced that they don't know the Lord and they'll worry about it and
they'll stress over it and they'll ponder it and they'll cry about
it and they'll question it. That's so. There are people who
just cry to me and cry to me. I just don't think I know the
Lord. And I think I think, you know, the Lord better than I
know the Lord. And then I also know that there
will be some adults who don't know the Lord. But they have
themselves convinced that they do. And they won't question their
standing before God one bit and they won't cry over it and they
won't stress over it. And that troubles me. That troubles
me. That burdens me. I am sincere
as eternity. That burdens me. It burdens me
to reassure those who truly do know the Lord. I want to bring
reassurance. to men and women who truly do
know the Lord. And it burdens me to tear down
the false assurance of those who don't know the Lord. It burdens
me. Along with the adults, I believe,
and I truly do believe this. I mean, I really do believe this. I believe that there are some
young people Young adults, teenagers. Even in some cases younger than
teenagers. I believe this. Even in some
cases younger than teenagers, I believe there are some young
people who know the Lord. I really do. But they don't know
that they know the Lord. And they think about it. And
they ponder it and they question it. wondering, I wonder if I'm
saved. Has anybody ever asked themselves
that question? I wonder if I'm saved. And then sadly, I also believe
that there will be in every true congregation young people who
do not know the Lord and just flat do not care. Just do not
care. They just assume they're fine
with God and their families are fine with God, and they think,
well, if my parents are saved, I'm sure I'm saved too. But they just really have no
heart for these things, and they'll grow up having no heart for these
things, and that troubles me. That troubles me. That burdens
me. I do not want to watch these
children grow up and fly this coop. Unless they fly to where
the gospel is. I know that I can't save anybody. I know that I know that I cannot
save anybody. I cannot save myself. I cannot
save my children. I cannot save you and I cannot
save your children. But I tell you what I can do.
By God's grace, I'll tell you what I can do. I can preach to
us that God who can. I cannot save anybody. I know
that I cannot save anybody, but by God's grace, if he has given
us the ability to, to do this, we can preach this word. We can preach God's word, the
word of Christ, the word concerning Jesus Christ and him crucified. By God's grace, we can preach
this word that is able to make all of us wise unto salvation. I don't understand how salvation
works. I don't understand how the Spirit
of God moves. And I don't understand how and
when he convinces men, women, boys, and girls of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment and of all these things, but
he does. And he uses his own word to do
it. And he uses words out of here
that I don't know he's using. One statement can be made and
God just break a heart with it, pierce a soul with it. There may be something I preach
thinking, well, this will reach everybody and it reaches nobody.
And there may be some thing that I'd never remember in a million
years and it just, you know, This word, God said, is able
to make us wise unto salvation. Turn over to Second Timothy chapter
one with me. 2nd Timothy 1 verse 1. It says,
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according
to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy,
my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy, and peace from God the
Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve from
my forefathers with pure conscience that without ceasing I have remembrance
of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see
thee, being mindful of thy tears that I may be filled with joy,
when I call to remembrance the unfamed faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice,
and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore, I put thee in
remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God. This is what
Paul is telling Timothy. Stir up the gift of God, which
is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not
given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and
of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou partaker. Be a partaker. Be a partaker. of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God, who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Through the gospel, through the
preaching of the gospel. All of that comes through the
preaching of the gospel. The preaching of the Word of
God. Look at chapter 3, 2 Timothy 3. Verse 14, Paul said. But continue
thou. Continue thou. I have a word of exhortation
for us tonight. I don't have a story and I don't have a heartwarming
illustration. I wish I did, but I don't. I
just have an exhortation. Continue thou. Verse 14 says,
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast
been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. They're
all taught of God. All of God's people are taught
of God. and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, that means
proof proving, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all
good works. Chapter 4, verse 1 says, I charge
thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall
judge the living and the dead at his appearing in his kingdom.
Verse 2, he said, preach the word. Preach the word. Preach the word. Be instant,
in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. But watch thou in all things,
endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof
of thy ministry." Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Preach the Word. And to all who
hear the Word, this is our exhortation tonight. Hear the Word, hear
the Word, hear the Word. I already heard the Word. Hear
it again. I already preached the Word. Preach it again. Just keep preaching
the Word. This is the power of God. We're saved by the power of God.
This is the means of the power of God. Look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 22, it says,
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful that promised
and let us consider one another to provoke. Provoke unto love
and to good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so
much the more as you see the day approaching. Preach the word,
hear the word, gather around the word, know the word. You say, I already know it. Yeah,
but our children may not. Our spouses may not. If I say, yeah, but I already
know it, I may not. Where are you going with all
this, Gabe? Here's where I'm going with it.
Samuel did not yet know the Lord. I don't want that to be me, and
I don't want that to be you. Samuel did not yet know the Lord.
Did he worship the Lord? Yeah. Did he serve the Lord? Yeah. I'm sure he witnessed to the
Lord, I'm sure he. Many things, but here's the one
thing he didn't have, he did not know the Lord. He did not
know the Lord. He knew the temple, he knew the
service, he knew the prophet. He didn't know the Lord. Every soul in this room would
be wise to put himself or herself in Samuel's shoes. Every soul
in this room would be wise to say to God the same thing Samuel
said. Would you please speak to me,
Lord? Would you please speak to me? I'm listening. Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth."
I'm listening. If you will speak to me, I'll
listen. Speak the word only and I'll
be healed. You speak the word only and I'll
be healed. This is life eternal that I may
know you. Everybody, everybody, listen,
this is life eternal that we may know Jesus Christ, not just
know who he is, but know him. Oh, that I might know you. Oh,
that I might know you. That's what we read for our scripture
reading. Paul in Philippians three, he said that I might know
you and the power of your resurrection. Not just know about it, but have
an intimately joined union with it. And the fellowship of your
sufferings being made conformable unto your death. I want to know
you and I want to know that I was joined to your death. I don't
care how old any person is in this room. I don't care how young
any person is in this room. Eli told Samuel, say this to
the Lord. I'm telling us all, say this
to the Lord. The Apostle Paul there said,
if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
dead, I want to strongly exhort every soul here, young and old,
myself included, on your own behalf, on your parents' behalf,
On your sibling's behalf, on your spouse's behalf, on your
children's behalf, on your neighbor's behalf, on your community's behalf,
forget those things which are behind. Reach forth unto those
things which are before and press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. How do we do that?
Lord, speak to us. Speak to us. Have mercy on us. Save us. Lord, if I don't know
you, reveal yourself today. Today. Lord, if I've never seen
you open my eyes today. If I've never heard your voice
open my ears today, I'm crying that too. What do you mean you're
crying that you're the preacher? I'm telling you, we would all
be so wise to put ourselves in Samuel's shoes. Like dear brother
John Newton said, he said, "'Tis a point I long to know. Often
it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I his or am I not?" The last verse of that poem says, "'Let
me love thee more and more. If I love at all, I pray. If I have not loved before, help
me to begin today.'" Help me to start right now. He said, Lord, I do not assume
on my love for you and I don't assume on your love for me. Let's
not assume, let's not assume. I'm crying out for mercy, just
like those two blind men last Sunday night. Jesus, thou son
of David, have mercy. Please have mercy. John Newton
said, Lord, if I've never loved you before, help me to begin
right now by your ability and your permission, by your authority
and your power. I would love to right now. I'd
love to right now. I want to strongly encourage
every adult here, every man, every woman. I want to strongly
encourage every teenager here. Every teenager here. OK. And I want to encourage every
one of you children. Who are old enough to understand
what I'm saying, do you understand what I'm saying? You understand what I'm saying?
What about you, you understand what I'm saying? I want all of us to say to God
in the sincerity of our heart, Lord, if you will speak to me,
I will listen. Lord, if you would speak to my
heart, if you would open my heart, it'll be open. Lord, if you will
open my ears, they will be open and I'll hear you. If you would
open my understanding, I'll know you. Lord, speak to me, talk
to me. Talk to me. How does He talk
to us? Does He speak out loud? No. He speaks to us through His
Word, by giving us faith in His Word. We start to see Him in
His Word. We start to hear His voice in
His Word. We believe Him. Lord, if you will speak to me,
I'll listen. If you'll call me, I'll come.
The commandment to all of us is come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
How do we do that? at his command, by faith in the
heart, when he says, come, we come. Eli said, Samuel, that's
what I want you to do. I want you to say, Lord, if you
will speak, I will listen. And he said, I want you to say
that because if you do, and this is important, let me close the
message with this. He said, I want you to say that,
because if you do, that will be the evidence of something,
not the cause. All of us adults and teenagers
and children, too, if you understand what I'm saying. Us saying this
to the Lord is not the cause of our salvation. Not at all. He said, if you truly, sincerely
say that in your soul, it will be the evidence of something. Let me show it to you and then
I'll be done. Go back to 1 Samuel 3, verse 9. 1 Samuel 3, verse 9, it says, therefore
Eli said unto Samuel, go, lie down, And it shall be, there's
no question in the matter. It shall be, now watch these
next few words. If he call thee, he is the cause. This is going
to start with him. He said, if he called thee, then thou shalt say. If he does not call us, we will
hear this. You know, a man will stand up
and pour his heart out, just pour his heart out, and then
we'll all listen to the man and it'll go in one ear and out the
other. And we won't care and we won't
give it a second thought in this world. We'll just go on about
our business. But Eli said, Samuel, if he does
call you. If He calls you, if He does something
in you, if He reveals the truth and He reveals Christ to you,
then you will say, this will be the evidence of
His work in you, you will say down deep in your soul, speak,
Lord, I want to hear from you too. While you're calling others,
call me. While you're blessing others,
bless me. Speak, Lord. Master, God, King, Sovereign,
speak to me. I see you for who you are. I
know you as the God and Savior that you are. You are high, I
am low. You're the master, I'm the servant.
Speak, Lord, thy servant, heareth. If he does speak, He will speak
the truth. We're not going to read it, but
if you know how, if you know what comes next in this story,
he will speak the truth. He'll speak the absolute truth,
but he will speak the gospel. He'll speak the gospel. He will
speak peace through the blood of his cross. This is my prayer. Honestly, may God reveal Christ
to us. May God reveal Christ to us.
May we know the Lord. May God give us all true faith
in him. All of us. All of us. And I pray
God will give every soul here a heart to say, speak to me,
Lord. Cause me to know you. Cause me
to know you. For Christ's sake.