Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I will be speaking to you today
from 1 Samuel, chapter 3, if you would like to turn with me
there and read along with me. 1 Samuel, chapter 3, I have a
message that I am personally very interested in, and I believe
and hope that you will be too. In 1 Samuel 3, it says in verse
4 that the Lord called Samuel. The Lord called him. And it says in verse 6, the Lord
called yet again. called him again. And it says
in verse eight, the Lord called Samuel again, the third time. Called him, called him again
and called him the third time. The title of this message is,
has the Lord called me? That's what makes this personally
interesting to me. I want to know, has the Lord
called me? And I believe you want to know
the same thing. I believe that you are interested
in finding the answer to that question. I would like for us
to see if we can find the answer to that question. But if you'll
turn with me to first Samuel chapter one, Let's read through
some of the verses in chapter one and in chapter two, and let's
see some of the background of this story, the beginning of
the story. It says in 1 Samuel 1, verse
one, now there was a certain man of Rhema, Thaum, Zophim,
of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroam,
the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeph, and Ephrathit. And he had two wives, the name
of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah.
And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had not children. And
this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice
unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And when
the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife
and to all her sons and her daughters portions. But unto Hannah he
gave a worthy portion." That means a double portion. He gave
her twice what he gave everyone else. "'For he loved Hannah,
but the Lord had shut up her womb. She couldn't have children. And her adversary also provoked
her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up
her womb. And as he did so year by year,
when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked
her, therefore she wept and did not eat. This other wife, Penina,
provoked Hannah and was very cruel to her. And it brought
great sorrow to Hannah, and she cried, she couldn't eat. Verse
eight, then said Elkanah, her husband, to her, Hannah, why
weepest thou? And why eatest thou not? And
why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than
ten sons? So Hannah rose up after they
had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest
sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. And she
was in bitterness of soul. She was so sorry and just so
depressed and tearful. And she 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 man child, then I will give
him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall
no razor come upon his head. He will be set apart. for the use and service of the
Lord. She said, if you'll remember
me, she acknowledged that life was of him. Life comes from you. This is in your hands. And if
you will hear my prayer and give me a son, I will give him right
back to you. I'll lend him back to you. Now,
in chapter 1, verse 19, it says, They rose up in the morning early,
and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their
house to Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife,
and the Lord remembered her. He answered her prayer. 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. That name means asked of God. She called his name Samuel saying
because I have asked him of the Lord. I asked him and he answered
me and he heard me. Verse 24. And when she had weaned
him, she took him up with her with three bullocks, and one
ephah 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, the priest,
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 shall
be lent to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there." Now, Hannah
prayed to God that he would hear her prayer and put life in her
and give her a son, and God did. He answered her prayer. Now,
she prays again in thanks. She gives God great thanks for
all of his kindness in hearing her, having mercy and answering
her prayer. In chapter two, verse one, it
says, Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. It's your hand,
your work, your doing that has caused me to rejoice. She said,
there is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee,
neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more exceeding
proudly, let not arrogancy come out of your mouth, for the Lord
is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The
bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded
with strength. They that were full have hired
out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased,
so that the barren hath born seven, and she that hath many
children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth. What she's
acknowledging is the Lord does all these things. It is by his
will, it is by his might, it is by his purpose. And she said
in verse six, the Lord killeth and maketh alive. He bringeth
down to the grave and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and
maketh rich. He bringeth low and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them
among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for
the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he hath set the
world upon them. He will keep the feet of his
saints And the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength
shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder
upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt
the horn of his anointed. And Elkanah went to Ramah to
his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before
Eli." That is a message of sovereignty. Her prayer is a message, it's
a message of truth concerning God's sovereignty over all things
and that's how it is in salvation, that's how it is concerning you
and me in our salvation. God is sovereignly in control
of all these things and now we're going to see that in chapter
3. This leads us to chapter 3 verse 1. In the child, Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. They left him there and he ministered
to the Lord. How does a person minister to
the Lord? Well, Samuel did it by ministering
to Eli. Verse one says, the child Samuel
ministered unto the Lord before Eli. Our Lord said, in as much
as you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren,
you've done it unto me. I'm sure that Samuel was there
for anything that Eli needed him to do. He was a right-hand
man to Eli. He helped out. He probably took
out the trash. Somebody has to do that. He might
have cleaned and washed all of the utensils. All of the bowls,
all of the things that pertained to the sacrifice, everything
that they used to administer the sacrifice that God had commanded
them to give. The reason I mentioned that is
so we can understand that he took part in these things. He was there with Eli. taking
part in all of these things. 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. It
was not precious to the world. Not every person in the world
considered the word of the Lord to be precious, but it was precious
to God's people. And that's how it is today. That's
how it is right now. The world does not think twice
about mutilating the word of God. Changing it. Misquoting it. Ignoring it. The world doesn't think twice
about that. It is so common to the world. To just have any translation,
any translation will do. It doesn't matter how accurate
it is. Any translation will do. That's not how it is for God's
people, though. God's people want to hear from the Lord, they
want to hear the word of the Lord to God's people, the word
of the Lord is precious, not the word of the preacher. Not
the word of the denomination, not the word of the tradition,
the word of the Lord. It's precious, it's valuable.
They know it's rare to just hear the word of the Lord. That's
a rare thing. That's hard to find. Well, verse one says 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
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, or before the
lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of
the covenant was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep, that
the Lord called Samuel. God called Samuel. He was laying
there, he went to lay down, it's time to go to sleep, end of the
day, and God called Samuel. Samuel is young, we just saw
how his parents came to have him, how the Lord gave him to
his parents and his parents lent him to the service of the Lord
and how he ended up in the temple with Eli and he's a very young
man. I don't know exactly how old
he is, it says the child Samuel. But I would say he was a young
man, a young man, probably under the age of 20, but he was young.
He was young. The glory of this passage, though,
and the glory of Samuel's life is that God called him. That's the glory of any sinner's
life, that God would call him to himself. Oh, that God would
call us. That's my prayer. I pray God
would call me and I pray God would call you. Oh, that God
would call us. This is life eternal. This is
salvation. This is where it begins. It begins
with God's call. Not our decision. Most people
believe it begins with our decision. Well, God's not going to save
you until you make a decision. That's not so. Salvation, the
realization of our eternal salvation, begins with God's call. It starts
with Him. It ends with Him. Everything
in the middle is of Him. Verse 4 says, The Lord called
Samuel, and he answered, Here am I. It was a call that Samuel
knew he was called, and he answered, Here am I. And he ran unto Eli. And that's a good thing to do.
If a person feels like the Lord is calling him, run to the servant
of the Lord, run to the messenger of the word of the Lord. And
that's what Samuel did. He ran unto Eli and he said,
here am I for thou calledst me. The only problem is, is he thought
Eli was the one doing the calling. He was looking to the man. But
Eli said, I called not, lie down again. And he went and lay down. And the Lord called yet again,
Samuel. Called him again. 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. Now Samuel did
not yet know the Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed unto him. Here's the first thing we need
to see in this. In this thing of has God called
me? This is so important. I pray
the Lord will truly impress this upon our hearts. It is not enough
to just go to church. That's not enough. Many people
believe, well, I go to church. What do you hear in there? I
don't know. But I go. I show up. It's my moral duty. I go to church. It is not enough. If come the end of this life,
all we've done is just gone to church. It will not stand in
the end. It's not enough. Samuel, it says,
did not yet know the Lord. That's a common place for people
to be who are in church. It's a commonplace for people
to be there in church. They're in religion. They don't
yet know the Lord. They may be involved in the service
of the Lord, but they don't yet know the Lord. Samuel was, as
people would say, constantly in church. He actually lived
there. He lived there. He was in the
work and the service of the ministry, but he did not yet know the Lord. This is so critical. Samuel, however
old he was, had been around it all his life. From the moment
he was weaned, he was in that temple. Some people can say the
same thing. I've been sitting in church since
I was a started in the nursery, went to the Sunday school classes,
ended up in the pew. He was around it all his life.
It's all he'd ever known. But he still. Did not yet know
the Lord, and I have to ask myself that question and I ask you that
question. Do we know him? Or are we just in religion and
in church? Has he revealed himself to us? Has he called us to the truth
of his word? I'm sure that Samuel knew God
had a chosen people. I'm sure he knew some things.
He knew God had a chosen people, Israel. He knew that. He knew that everything they
did in that temple pertained to Israel. I'm sure he knew that they were
all sinners. I'm sure Samuel knew that everybody
there was a sinner, including himself. I'm sure he knew that
and the reason is because they were constantly offering sacrifices
for sin. The priest would offer a sacrifice
for himself and then a sacrifice for the people. They were constantly
offering sacrifices for sin. Samuel knew that. I'm sure that
he knew God is holy. I'm sure Samuel knew that. Samuel, do you believe God is
holy? Oh yes, I believe God is holy. Why do you believe that?
It's because we're constantly offering sacrifices for sin. I'm sure Samuel knew that blood
is what God required to pay the debt of sin. And the reason is
because they were constantly offering sacrifices for sin. Shedding blood, shedding blood,
shedding blood. I'm sure Samuel's heart was sincere. I'm sure he was dedicated. I'm
sure his doctrine was correct. But here's the fact of the matter.
God says Samuel did not yet know the Lord. He couldn't. Samuel could not. And the reason
is because it says in verse seven, The word of the Lord was not
yet revealed to him. He could not know the Lord, no
man or woman can know the Lord unless the Lord knows them first. And that's the truth. That's
the truth, unless God reveals himself to them first. then a sinner cannot know the
revelation of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
his doing, it's his movement, it's his action. That realization,
that revelation comes to whomever he is pleased to give it to.
Now, what I want to know, and I believe what you want to know
is, will it come to me? Will that revelation come to
me? Will God reveal himself to me? How can I know if God has
revealed himself to me or if God is going to reveal himself
to me? How can I know if he has called
me or is going to call me? Verse eight says, and the Lord
called Samuel again the third time. Lord called Samuel three
times and in that we can see the father, son, and spirit. He was called to see the Godhead,
the work of the father in choosing him, the work of the son in redeeming,
paying all the debt, dying for sinners. The work of the spirit
in bringing life to centers, quickening centers. When a center
is called, he's called to see that this is God's work, not
man's. This is God's doing. He sees
it in the word. He hears it in the gospel preached.
Verse eight says, and the Lord called Samuel again the third
time. And he arose and went to Eli. He went to God's preacher. And
this call comes through the message of the gospel. When God calls
a sinner, he calls them through the message of his word. 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. Samuel came running and
Eli said, I didn't call you, go lie down. Samuel came the
second time and Eli said, I didn't call you, go lie down. Samuel
came the third time and Eli said, the Lord is calling him. He perceived
the Lord is calling him. Verse nine, therefore, Eli said
unto Samuel, go lie down. All right. This is the message
that God's preacher. preached to God's child, this
sinner. This is Samuel's message. This is what he heard. This was
his call. All right. In verse nine, Eli said unto
Samuel, first thing, go lie down. Go lie down, Samuel. You can't
do anything in this. When it comes to your salvation,
there is no role for you to play. What must I do? Go lie down.
Just go lie down. Samuel, you are a sinner who
is dead in trespasses and sins. Go assume your place. You must
decrease. You're nothing. You have nothing.
Go lie down. Verse nine, he said, and it shall
be. That's good news. It shall be
exactly as God purposes for it to be. Known unto God are all
his works from the beginning of the world, and they all shall
be. They're ordered, sure, unchangeable. Samuel heard in verse nine. Go
lie down and it shall be if he called thee. If he calls you,
it is his decision, not ours. It is His will, not ours. It's His doing, not ours. He
does this for whomever He's pleased to do it for. If He calls thee,
verse 9 says, thou shalt say. If He calls, thou shalt say. This is how you're going to know
it. How will I know if God calls me? If He calls, thou shalt say. You're going to say you're going
to cry out to him and say, verse nine, speak, Lord, Lord, Lord. That means God. That means Jehovah. That means master, sovereign
ruler, controller. You're my owner. I bow to you. I want you to be my God. I want you to sovereignly rule
over me. If he calls, we will say, I will
have you reign over me. I bow, I'm low, and you're high
and lifted up. Speak, Lord, he said, thy servant,
hear it. You're the master, I'm the servant. You're the master, I'm the dog.
And I'm happy to just sit here as your dog, sit at your feet
and wait for your answer. I know that I'm not owed an answer.
I know I don't deserve an answer, but I sit and I wait anyway.
I'll cherish your every word. If you just speak to me, I'm
in your hands, I'm in your mercy. Eli said, Samuel, that's how
it's going to happen. That's how it will happen. The
end of verse nine says, so Samuel went and lay down in his place,
verse 10 says, and the Lord came. I love that. The Lord came and
stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel, then Samuel
answered, speak for thy servant heareth. Speak for thy servant
here. If God reveals who he is in his
sovereignty to you, Cry, Lord, I hear your voice. I hear your
word. I hear your call. Salvation is
of you. And that's all my desire. I wait,
I bow, I look. May the Lord call us. Till next
week, may he bless his word to our hearts. You have been listening
to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign
Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message, or to hear other messages of sovereign grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.