Go with me, if you would, now
to 1 Samuel 1. 1 Samuel 1. Sunday night, during the course
of the message, I mentioned Hannah praying to the Lord and the Lord
hearing her and answering her prayer. And Monday morning, I
started looking at the story of Samuel, the answer to her
prayer. I remembered it and I started
looking at it and I was so blessed by the Lord's dealings with Samuel. So I want us to look at his story
tonight and I want us to read through some of these verses. We're going to take a minute
at the beginning of this message to just read through some of
the verses in chapter one and chapter two so we can see the
beginning of the story. So chapter one, verse one says,
now there was a certain man of Ramatham Zopham of the Mount
of Ephraim. And his name was Elkanah, the
son of Jeroam, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoth,
and Ephrathite. 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 no 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 priest 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, a double portion, for he loved Hannah. But the Lord had shut up her
womb, and her adversary also provoked her sore, this other
woman, Penina, 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. 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 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 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." So we see the
story. She's sad and sorrowing because
she has no children. She goes into the temple, and
there's Eli the priest sitting in a chair by a post in the temple,
and he watches her as she comes in in her bitterness. Pray in
this prayer. Verse 19. And 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. 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, saying, Because
I have asked him of the Lord." That's what his name means, asked
of God. 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. 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. And if you have the center margin
in your Bible, you'll see that that says, and it means returned
him whom I have obtained by petition. She's not saying I'm going to
loan him to the Lord. She's saying the Lord loaned
him to me and I'm going to return him back. As long as he liveth,
he shall be lent to the Lord. And the center margin says he
whom I have obtained by petition shall be returned. and he worshipped
the Lord there. So Hannah now, after this, the
Lord answered her prayer, gave her a child, she fulfilled her
promise, and she brought him back to the temple, brought him
back to the house of the Lord. Now she's going to pray again,
A prayer of thanksgiving. A prayer of joy and thanks and
praise. Chapter 2 verse 1 says, And Hannah
prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Now here she is
dropping her son off. And her prayer is, 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. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is
there any rock like our God. Talk no more, so 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
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 that was the end of her prayer.
While I was reading that, I thought, you know, our Lord has purposed
for men to stand up and preach the gospel. But he has given
some women the gospel, hadn't he? What a prayer that is. What
a prayer that is. Well, after that, it says in
verse 11, Elkanah went to Ramah to his house, and the child did
minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Samuel stayed
there. Now, here is a side note. In
what we're going to see concerning God's dealings with Samuel, Here's
a side note to interject into this message. Our Lord's promise
in his word. Our Lord's promise through his
word is this. My people will never suffer for
giving anything up for the sake of the gospel and for the sake
of Christ. Never. My people will never suffer
for giving anything up for the sake of the gospel and the sake
of Christ. Some people have made huge sacrifices,
huge sacrifices. They've given up their jobs,
they've given up their homes for the sake of the gospel. Some
people have had to move, pack up and move for the sake of the
gospel, for the sake of hearing the gospel. Hannah gave up her
son. She gave up her son. But God
has said to His people, you will never be able to outgive Me.
Never. He gave her one son. She returned
that son to the Lord. And look at verse 20. Eli blessed
Elkanah and his wife. and said, the Lord give thee
seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And
they went unto their own home, and the Lord visited Hannah,
so that she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters.
And the child Samuel grew before the Lord. He gave her five children. She returned the one he gave
her, and he gave her five more. Cast all your chips in on the
gospel. Cast it all in on the gospel.
Cast your all on the gospel. I thought about going into a
whole thing of how religion has ruined this and they make it
a thing of money. I'm not going to do that. Cast your all on
the gospel. Everything. Cast your all on
Christ. Cast your all on Christ. Why
should I do that? Because that's the best return
on my investment? No. Because the Lord said you give
to me and you'll never out give me? I'll give you more than you
give to me? No. Do it because the Lord is good. Do it because
his mercy endures forever. Do it because there's no greater
joy, there's no greater peace in this life than Christ and
his gospel. There is no greater joy or peace
or contentment. Just go without it and we'll
see firsthand. No greater joy. Do it for love's
sake. Do it for following Christ's
sake. We all want to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do
it for the joy of being His servant. The joy of being His servant.
We just read her prayer. We clearly see that she had joy
in her heart. The Lord gave her joy and peace.
Well, this brings us to chapter 3. That tells us why in verse
1 it says, And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before
Eli. How does a person minister unto
the Lord? Well, Samuel ministered unto
the Lord before Eli. The child Samuel ministered unto
the Lord before Eli. Our Lord said, inasmuch as you've
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you've
done it to me. You do it to them, you've done
it to me. I'm sure Samuel was there for
anything Eli needed him to do. I'm sure Samuel took out the
trash. I'm sure he cleaned and washed
all the utensils, all the bowls, everything that pertained to
the sacrifices, whatever Eli needed him to do. I believe we
parents would be very wise if we would teach our kids at a
young age to be given to the service of the ministry of the
gospel. I really do. I believe we would
be wise to involve them, include them, and teach them to give
themselves to the service of the ministry of the gospel. If
they're old enough to walk a bag of trash out, let them do it.
and teach him to do it with joy in their heart, a smile on their
face as unto the Lord. If we could ever get a hold of
as unto the Lord, whatever it is we're doing, think about doing
it for the Lord himself as unto the Lord. Oh, the joy of ministering
to the Lord. Well, it 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. It
was not precious to the world. It was precious to God's people.
And that's how it is today. The world doesn't think twice
about mutilating this word. They don't think twice about
misquoting it, ignoring it. It's just so common. So common
to the world, any Perverted translation will do. But that's not how it
is to God's people. To God's people, the Word of
the Lord is precious. So precious. Valuable. That's what it means. Rare. Hard
to find. They know that's the case. Hard
to find. The Word of the Lord was precious
in those days. There was no open vision. Verse
2 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 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, that the Lord called Samuel."
Now, Samuel is young. I don't know exactly how old
he is. I would say he was a young man, probably under the age of
20. maybe much younger than 20, teenager
or younger than that. I really don't know. But it says
he was young. And the glory of this passage
and the glory of Samuel's life is that God called him. God called him. I pray God will
call us. I pray God will call us. This
is life eternal. This is salvation. This is where
it begins. It begins with God's call. Not our decision. God's call. Men are always trying to get
people to go ahead. Go ahead and make your decision. I pray
God would call us. Lord, call us. Verse 4 says,
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. Now Samuel did not yet
know the Lord. Neither was the word of the Lord
yet revealed unto him." Now, because Samuel is so young, I
had our kids on my mind the whole time I was preparing this. Very
young. And our children need to hear
this, they need to know this, but we adults need to hear this
too. We adults need to hear and understand
the same thing. Samuel did not yet know the Lord. Samuel did not yet know the Lord.
It is not enough to just be in church. It's not enough. It is not enough to just come
to church. It's not enough. Samuel did not
know the Lord. That's a very common place for
people to be. Very common place. Samuel was,
as people say, constantly in church. He lived there. He lived there. He was constantly
in the work and the service of the ministry. But he did not
yet know the Lord. He'd been around it all of his
life. And I can say the same thing.
My father's a pastor. My father-in-law's a pastor.
His father's a pastor. I've been around pastors. I've
been around it all my life. Samuel was around it all of his
life. It's all he ever knew. But he still did not yet know
the Lord. That's a scary place to be, dangerous
place to be. I'm sure Samuel knew that God
had a chosen people. Israel. I'm sure he knew that. They were in the temple for Israel. Constantly receiving sacrifices
for Israel. Making sacrifices for Israel. I'm sure he knew that they were
all sinners. including himself. They were
constantly making sacrifices for Israel. I'm sure that he
knew God required blood to put away sin. They were constantly
making sacrifices for Israel. I'm sure his heart was sincere.
I'm sure he was a fine young man. I'm sure his doctrine was
correct, but here's the problem. Samuel did not yet know the Lord. He did not yet know the Lord.
He couldn't. He couldn't know the Lord. The
word of the Lord was not yet revealed to him. That's what
it says. No man or woman can know the
Lord unless the Lord knows them first. Meaning reveals himself
to them first. He must reveal himself salvation
is of the Lord It's of the Lord it comes to whom he will it comes
when he will Now here's the question of the evening. Okay. This is
what I want to get across This is what I would love for all
of us all of our children All of us this is what I would love
for us to Find the answer to. Here's the question of the evening.
Will that salvation come to me? Will God reveal himself to me? I pray God calls us. I pray God
reveals himself to us. How can I know if God has called
me? How will I know it if God calls
me? If He calls me, how will I know
it? Verse 8 says, And the Lord called
Samuel again the third time. The Lord called Samuel three
times. In that we see Father, Son, and
Spirit. He was called to see the Godhead.
He saw the work of the Father in choosing His people. He saw
the work of the Son in redeeming His people, paying their debt,
setting them free, dying for them. He saw the work of the
Spirit in bringing life to them. The call of the Lord. When a
sinner is called, he's called to see that this is God's work. This is God's doing. He sees
it in the word. He hears it in the gospel. The
Lord opens a sinner's ears to hear this in the word and in
his gospel. Verse eight says, 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. He went to God's preacher. This call comes through the message
of the gospel. The Lord calls his people to
his preacher. They're out in darkness and he
brings them to his word. He calls them to his word. And
verse eight says, 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. Now this is the message that
came to Samuel. This is what he heard in his
heart. This was his call. Verse 9. Therefore, Eli said
unto Samuel, Go lie down. Go lie down. Samuel, you can't
do anything in this. I hope our children come to some
understanding of this. And I hope I come to some understanding
of this. You can't do anything. You cannot
do anything. There's no role for you to play
in this. Other than you're a sinner. You're
the sinner who needs to be saved. Dead in trespasses and sin. Samuel,
you must decrease. You must decrease. You must. Samuel, you're nothing. Samuel,
you have nothing. You can do nothing to help God
save you. I can do nothing to help God
save me. Nothing. He said, Go lie down. Go lie down. Verse 9 says, Eli said, Go lie down, and it
shall be. It shall be exactly as God purposes
for it to be. It's going to be exactly as God
purposes for everything to be. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world, and they all shall be. They're all going to be. They're
all ordered. They are unchangeable. And Samuel heard in verse 9,
if he call thee. I remember as a young child,
a young child, I heard about election. I heard about election. I was preached election. God
has a people. God has chosen to save some people
and not other people. God has a people. And it's God's
decision. I can do nothing. I cannot help
Him save me. I remember as a young child wondering
in my mind all the time, whether I was in a service or wherever,
wondering all the time, I wonder if God is going to save me. I
believed in His election. I believed He had a people. I
believed that He chose to save some and not others. And I honestly
wondered, I wonder if He has chosen me or if He's going to
leave me to die in my sins. I wonder if He chose me from
the foundation of the world like He says He did for all His people.
I wonder if I'm one of His elect. I believe God has an elect and
I believe I'm a sinner and I believe it's all in His hands. I wonder
if I'm one of the elect. I believe a lot of these people
in the congregation are. I wonder if I'm one of the elect. I wonder if he'll ever tell me
before I go stand before him. I used to wonder that. I wonder
if he'll ever tell me. I wonder how I'll know if he
tells me. I wonder if I'll ever know. Well,
verse 9, Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be
If he call thee that thou shalt say, this is how you're going
to know it. I'm going to tell all of, I'm
going to tell everybody, doesn't matter how old or young. This is how you'll know it. All
right. This is how you'll know it. Thou
shalt say, you are going to say in your heart, Your heart is
going to cry out to Him and say, Speak, Lord, God, Jehovah, Master,
Owner, Creator, Judge, Ruler. Oh, I want you to be my God.
You are going to say, I want you to be my God so badly. I want you to sovereignly rule
over me. I want you to rule, I want to
be a puppet on your string. Oh, I pray you're my owner. You
will say, I will have that man reign over me. You will say. Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth. You are the master. I'm just
the servant. But I'm your servant. If you'll
have me, I want to be your servant. You're the master. I'm the dog.
But I'm your dog. If you'll have me, I want to
be your dog so badly. Lord, I'm happy to just sit here
and wait for your answer. I'll just sit here and wait for
your answer. I know I'm not owed an answer. I know I don't deserve
an answer, but I'm going to sit here and I'm going to wait anyway,
just in case you speak to me. I'll cherish your every word
if you'll just speak to me. Lord, just speak to me. Isn't
that what we're still crying? Isn't that why we pray before
we open up this word? Lord, speak to me. Speak to me. Lord, please speak to me. Speak to my heart. I'm in your
hands. I'm at your mercy. You will say
I'm at your mercy. You're the Lord and I'm at your
mercy. Salvation is in your hands. I'm
completely at your mercy. Eli said, Samuel, that's how
you're going to know it. That's how it's going to happen.
The end of verse nine says. So Samuel went and lay down in
his place, and the Lord came. He bowed to the word of the Lord,
and the Lord came to him. The Lord revealed himself to
him. The Lord came and stood and called,
as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak,
for thy servant heareth. When I first started preaching,
I was traveling quite a bit to a lot of different congregations,
a lot of different places. And one of the places that I
went to, I went there on a Saturday night
and I spent the night with a family in the congregation. And we talked about the gospel that
night. And I noticed that his daughter was, number one, there
with us in the conversation, listening to the conversation.
And she even had input into the conversation, talked about these
things that we were talking about and how she had had conversations
with her friends at school. And she's about your age. And she, it just struck me that
she was interested So the next morning I was having coffee out
on the porch with the man of the house, the dad, the husband. And I told him, I said, she really
seems to have an interest in the gospel. We, you know, everything
she was saying last night and, and, uh, it just seems to me
that she's interested in these things. And he said, she's torn
all the pieces over it. He said, she's absolutely torn
all to pieces. And I said, really, why? He said,
she is scared to death that the Lord is going to return before
he saves her. And I said, it sounds like to
me he already has. I believe he already has. That was quite a few years ago. She confessed the Lord a few
years after that. When any sinner, no matter what age, no matter
what age, when any sinner finds himself or herself realizing
that he or she is nothing, nothing, and everything is in his hands,
And their only hope and their only concern is that He will
sovereignly call them. When a sinner finds himself hoping
and praying and waiting and begging for the Lord's call, just hoping
the Lord will call. When a sinner finds himself sitting
there earnestly waiting for the call, That's the Lord's call. That is the Lord's call. That is the Father drawing you
to him. That is you coming to Him. That's what coming to Christ
is. You come with a heart. If my heart had legs, it'd run
out of my body. That's what coming to Christ
is. That's His call. His promise
to you is, in response to His call, That fearful coming to
Him, fearful coming to Him. His promise to you is, I will
never cast you out. If He ever does that to your
heart, if He ever gives you an interest in these things, if
you ever personally desire Christ, then His promise to you is, if
you come fearfully in the heart, He'll never cast you out. He
will never cast you out. May the Lord call us. Lord, call
us. Call us. May the Lord reveal
Himself to us and our children, not only as the Master, but our
Master. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Come quickly, Lord. That's what
the heart cries. Come quickly. Come quickly. Call us to yourself.