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 want to invite you to turn
with me to 1 Samuel this morning. 1 Samuel chapter 3. There is
a message that our Lord has given throughout His book. this holy
Bible that we hold. There is one message that he
has given. It's the same message cover to
cover. It does not matter what page
you're on. It does not matter if you're
in the Old Testament, New Testament. There's only one message. I want
us to see what that message is through the story of Samuel.
Now, here's a little history leading up to chapter 3. A man
named Elkanah had two wives, and one of those wives could
not have children. Her name was Hannah. And she
was so grieved by it, so she cried out to God She said, if
you will give me a son, I will lend him to you all the days
of his life. And God heard her cry. He heard
her prayer. And he answered her. And he gave
her a son. And she called his name Samuel. And when the child was old enough,
she lent him to the Lord just like she promised she would.
She lent him to Eli, the priest in the temple. Now, 1 Samuel
3, verse 1 says, And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord
before Eli, the priest Eli. He ministered unto the Lord before
Eli. What did he do? He ministered. Well, what did he do? He didn't
preach. He was a child. So what did he
do? My guess is he took out the trash
and he swept the floors. And what a help that would be
to Eli. Anything he could do to help Eli in the service and
the work there. I am so thankful for the heart
that God gives to his people to assist in his ministry. I
truly am. Every work in the cause of Christ
is a vital work in the cause of Christ, every single one of
them. Our Lord said, whoever brings
a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, But we're about to see that none
of those works have anything to do with salvation. None of those works have anything
to do with salvation. There is one thing that saves.
One thing. 1 Samuel 3 verse 1 says, And the
child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the
word of the Lord was precious in those days. Precious in those
days. It was rare, just like it is
today. It is so hard to find a place
that just preaches the Word of God. Nothing added to it. Nothing taken from it. No traditions
hindering it. No doctrines hindering it. Just the reading and the preaching
of God's Word. What did God say? It is so hard
to find that. A man who will only stand up
and declare God's Word. It's rare. It's very rare. Verse 1 in 1 Samuel 3 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, just like today. No open vision. All we have is
His Word. That's all we have. All we need
is His Word. This is the Word of Christ Himself. 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 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. Now Eli didn't hear this voice
and I don't know if it was out loud or if this voice was only
to Samuel's heart, I don't know. But I will tell you this, it
was so real to Samuel, he got out of his bed and ran to Eli. It was so real to him, he got
up out of his bed And he ran to Eli. And when God starts working
on the heart of a sinner, when God begins 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. He becomes a true seeker. Verse 6 says, "...and the Lord
called yet again." Samuel. The Lord called him again. Oh, that he would call again. Great
is his faithfulness. What mercy! It is, what grace
it is that the God of heaven would call again. We sinners are just so dead, we're
so blind, we're so deaf. But He is faithful and in goodness
and in mercy. Verse six says, 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 leads that child to the servant of God. You know
that? Every time. He leads that child to the servant
of God. And the child hears that true
servant say, I didn't call you. Wait on the Lord. I did not call you. Behold the
Lamb. Don't do Don't do anything. Sit. Wait. Lie down. Verse 7 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, Hannah prayed to God for him and Hannah said,
if you will send me a son, I will lend him to you. And she did.
But the fact that his mother lent him to the Lord didn't do
anything for his soul. Not one thing. Now we're about to see the importance
of bringing our children to the hearing of the gospel. Oh, how
vitally important that is. But just the fact that she lent
him, that did not save his soul. And just because he spent his
life working on a building for his Lord, that didn't save his
soul. Samuel was in the ministry with
Eli. He was working and working and working. He was doing and
doing and doing and that did not save his soul. Verse 7 says, Now Samuel did
not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet
revealed unto him. He clearly was religious. clearly. He had to know something
about God. He ministered before the Lord.
But here's the fact of the matter. Verse 7 says, The word of the
Lord was not yet revealed unto him. Man can work all he wants to,
but until God moves, there is no salvation. Man can work all he wants to,
but until God moves, there is 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. That's a wonderful thing to perceive,
isn't it? When God goes to work on the
heart of a sinner, others can perceive it. Others can perceive it, and it's
a precious thing. Verse 9 says, Therefore Eli said
unto Samuel. Now God has brought His child
to His servant. God is about to cross the path
of His child with the message of Scripture. This is the way
that God has purposed to save sinners. It's through the message
of Scripture, the one message, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and faith cometh by hearing." Hearing this Word of God right
here. Hearing the message of Scripture. Verse 9 says, Therefore,
Eli said unto Samuel, he's about to give him a five-point message. Samuel has come to Eli, he's
listening, and Eli's about to give him a five-point message.
Here's point number one. Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel,
go lie down. Lie down. Lie down. Take your place as a sinner. The message of Scripture says,
God is no respecter of persons. None whatsoever. The message
of Scripture says, all flesh is grass. Go lie down. Go lie down. Well, you're making
it sound like I'm a dog or something. Truth, Lord. Truth. That woman came to the Lord and was begging, begging, and the
Lord said, it's not meat to give the children's bread to dogs.
He said, you're a dog. She said, truth, Lord. Yes, I
am, 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. We must humble ourselves under
the mighty hand of God. We must kiss the sun lest he
be angry. He must increase. We must decrease. Go lie down. Go lie down. Aren't you so glad
the message of scripture does not stop right there? Aren't
you so glad for that? That's where it starts. I'm a
sinner, you're a sinner. Man is lifted up with pride. Man is lifted up with self. A
little leaven, leaven is what makes bread rise, puffs it up. A little leaven will leaven the
whole lump. And that's the problem for men
and women, is they're lifted up with self and pride and the
first thing they will hear from God in His word is this, go lie
down. Take your place as a sinner.
But that message doesn't stop there. Here's the second point
in Eli's message. 1 Samuel 3 verse nine, therefore
Eli said unto Samuel, go lie down. And it shall be. It shall be. It's true, we're
all sinners. We are all sinners. But Christ came to save sinners. And it shall be. He shall not
fail. It shall be. Christ died on that
cross to save His own. 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. The foundation, the foundation
of the message of Scripture is this, He shall. He shall. That's glorious, isn't
it? There's no maybe. There's no
might. There's no hopefully in this.
It is ordered. It is sure. He shall. He said,
I will, He shall. He has. Go lie down. God is sovereign. It is finished. Your warfare is accomplished. Salvation is secure. Go lie down. It shall be. It absolutely shall be. Here's point number three in
Eli's message. Verse nine, 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
right there. That is the truth of salvation. If He call thee. People think they're making decisions
for Jesus. They think they're giving their
heart to Jesus. They think that they're dedicating.
They think that they're rededicating. They think they're taking the
second step so He doesn't have to. But here's the truth about
salvation. If He called thee, that's the
truth. If He called thee. Go lie down. It shall be if He called thee. Here's the fourth point in Eli's
message. Verse 9, Therefore Eli said unto
Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou
shalt say. Thou shalt say. I'll tell you
this. If He call thee, thou shalt say." There's no ifs, ands, or buts
about that. There is no choice in the matter. There's no choice in the matter.
Thou shalt say. Well, I hear him call, am I going
to accept it or reject it? That's the question people are
asked all the time by preachers who have no idea what the Word
of God says. They'll ask sinners the question,
are you going to accept it or reject it? That tells me they
have no idea what the Word of God says. No idea what the message
of Scripture is. Here's the message of Scripture.
Thou shalt say, is God God or is He not? Does
God order and control all things or does He not? Did He make us? Does He own us? Or is He begging us? Thou shalt say. You and I have no say in the
matter. No say in the matter. I'm so
glad for that. If I had a say in whether I accept
or reject, you know what I would do? I would reject. I'm a sinner. So are you. And that's exactly
what we would do by nature. But thanks be to God, we don't
have a say in the matter. David said, when you said, seek
ye my face, he said to the Lord God, he said, Lord, when you
said, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord,
will I seek. You gave the command. If he called
thee, thou shalt say. A sinner is going to respond
to the call of grace. There is no question about it.
You do not have to convince a sinner to come. When God says, come,
he gets up and he becomes a seeker. He said, my sheep hear my voice. I call them by name. Samuel, by name. Here's point number
five. Here's the last point in Eli's
message. 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. Thy servant heareth. You've opened my ears. You've
done something to me. I hear You. I hear You. I hear Your voice. I hear it
in Your Word. I hear it through the reading
and the preaching of this Word. Life has been given. Speak to
me, Lord. Speak to me, Lord. All that a child of God needs,
this is all that a child of God needs right here. All that thrills
his soul is to hear his Lord speak. That's it. Just to hear His Lord speak. That's why we're all gathered
right now in His name, isn't it? Speak, Lord. Speak, Jehovah. That's who the
Lord is. Jehovah. God Almighty. Thy servant. Thy servant. Well, that was Eli's message.
Here is Samuel's response. The message went forth. God called. God crossed the path of his child
with his servant. God brought the message of Scripture
to his own. And here's the response. The
end of verse 9 says, So Samuel went and lay down in his place. He rested. He rested. Samuel, there's no work to be
done. No work to be done. When God
calls a sinner, the first thing every sinner wants to know is
what must I do? I see I'm a sinner. I see that I need salvation.
I need redemption. What must I do? Lie down. Samuel, there's no work to be
done. Rest. Christ has finished it all. It
shall be. God is absolutely sovereign. Rest. If he called you, then
it means he justified you. And He did that with His own
blood. And if He's justified you, then
He has wiped out your sin. And He's going to glorify you.
Rest. Rest. Trust. Wait. Sit. Look. Listen. But don't do anything. Just rest. So Samuel went and lay down in
his place. Verse 10 says, and the Lord came. The Lord came. His promise shall not fail. He shall not fail. Just like He came the first time,
our Lord came the first time and all the prophets declared
for thousands of years, the Messiah is coming, the Savior, the Redeemer,
He's coming. And He came. And He finished
that work of salvation. And now the gospel of the New
Testament is, rest and wait and watch, He's coming again. Just rest in Christ. He's coming
again to gather His own, all He redeemed on that cross. So
don't do anything. You just trust Christ and you
rest and you wait on Him. Go lie down. It shall be. It shall be. That is the message
of Scripture. Everywhere we turn in this book,
that's the message we will find. And what a glorious message it
is. It's a message of peace. It's a message of rest. You trust
Christ. It shall be. Until next Sunday
morning, may the Lord God 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, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. 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 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.