Go back with me to 1 Samuel chapter
3. Last Wednesday night, we looked at the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus, and that's over in Acts chapter
9. And I thought this morning we
were going to look at this man named Cornelius, the conversion
of Cornelius. It's in the next chapter, Acts
chapter 10. I kept reading and that is just such a precious
story. And I cannot wait, maybe Wednesday. But in the course of study, I
was led to 1 Samuel chapter 3. And this morning we are going
to look at the conversion of Samuel. We're going to see how God opened
his eyes and opened his ears and opened his heart. But this
entire story is so sweet from page 1. There's so many lessons
to be learned in this story of Samuel. And one of them is this. You cannot outgive the Lord. That's one of the lessons we
learn here. Turn over to chapter 1. First Samuel 1, look at verse
1. Now there was a certain man of
Ramatham Zophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the
son of Jeroam, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zoph,
and Ephrathite. And he had two wives, the name
of the one was Hannah and the name of the other, Penina. And
Penina 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 Host and Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. Now they
went to the temple and Eli was the priest there and he had two
sons and they were priests also. Verse 4, 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, for he loved Hannah. But the Lord had shut up her
womb. And her adversary, that's Peninnah, 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. Now verse 10 says, And Hannah
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. 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
bear a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have
asked him of the Lord, And the man Elkanah and all his house
went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his
vow. But Hannah went not up, for she said unto her husband,
I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then I will bring
him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever."
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. As long as he liveth,
he shall be lent to the Lord." And he worshipped the Lord there.
She could have no children. She was barren. And she was tormented
by this. And she was grieved by this.
And she cried out to God over this. And God gave her one son. One son. And she gave him right
back to her Lord. She said the rest of his days
he's going to be lent to the Lord. All right, we'll look at
chapter 2, verse 18. But Samuel ministered before
the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. Moreover,
his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from
year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the
yearly sacrifice. And Eli blessed Elkanah and his
wife and said, ìThe Lord give thee seed of this woman for the
loan which is lent to the Lord.î 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. She couldnít have any kids. God
gave her one. She said, he belongs to the Lord.
God gave her five more. You cannot out give the Lord. That's sweet. That is sweet. Now another lesson in this story,
and we're not going to go through the verses, but another lesson
in this story is this. Just because God saved my parents,
it doesn't mean God will save me. Eli, the priest, had two sons.
They were priests also. But they profaned their service
to the Lord. They made a mockery of it. They
sinned against God. And in our text, God told Samuel,
I'm going to kill Eli's two sons. Because of their sin, I'm going
to kill them both. Bloodline has nothing to do with salvation.
Absolutely nothing at all. It is the Lord, let Him do what
seemeth Him good. He is going to save whom He will
and only whom He will. But Hannah's son Samuel was lent
to the Lord and the Lord saved him. And chapter 3 tells us how.
Look at chapter 3 verse 1. And the child Samuel ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. What did he do? He ministered
unto the Lord before Eli. He was sent there to minister,
but he didn't preach. He was just a child. What did he do? My guess is he started out by
sweeping the floor and taking out the trash. Whatever was a
help to Eli in the ministry. My prayer is that whatever God
would call me to do, let me tell you something, that sweet little
darling child in the nursery, I hope God opens her ears and
heart, let her cry, she's not bothering me. I pray God does save him or her,
I don't even know who it is, but we got a whole bunch of hers. This child, this little child,
was lent to the Lord. Okay? Put in the hands and service
of the Lord. And he did whatever was a help
to Eli, whatever was a help to the ministry. My prayer is that
whatever God would have me to do, whether it's preach a message
or sweep this floor, I pray that God would give me a heart to
do it as unto the Lord. That's what I pray. It doesn't
matter what I'm doing. I pray that for all of us. Whatever
our hand finds to do, I pray God would give us a heart to
do it with all of our might, to the best of our ability as
unto the Lord, out of thankfulness for giving us this ministry.
I thought about how thankful I am. Aren't we so thankful that
God has given us this? Put this ministry in our hands,
the ministry of the gospel. We're so thankful for that. Verse
1, 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. There is no open vision today.
None. God's Word is precious today. Precious means rare. That's what
it means. The preaching of God's Word is rare. Precious also means
valuable. How valuable is the Word of God
to us? How valuable is it? What would it take for you to
be willing to give up His Word? What could a man give you for
you to give up the Word of God? What would a man give in exchange
for his soul? Our Lord said, buy the truth
and sell it not. This is the most valuable thing
that we own. The most valuable. It's able
to make us wise unto salvation. But there's one more definition
to the word precious. It means rare, it means valuable,
and it means costly. Costly. In order to have the
true Word, and our Lord said, in the beginning was the Word.
The Word was made flesh. In order to believe the true
Word, it is going to cost you. It's going to cost you some things
in this world. But it is so worth it. He is
so precious. The Word of the Lord was precious.
That song says, precious name, oh how sweet, hope of earth and
joy of heaven. Precious. 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. And he ran unto Eli
and said, Here am I, for thou calledst me. And he said, I called
not, lie down again. And he went and lay down. Now,
Eli didn't hear this voice. Eli didn't hear it. I don't know
if it was out loud or I don't know if it was just to Samuel's
heart, but it was so real to him, he jumped up and ran to
Eli. It was that real to him. And when God starts working on
the heart of a sinner, when God starts speaking through this
Word, when something in this Word starts to trigger an ear,
wait a minute, that sinner doesn't quite understand
what he's hearing. But he gets up and he starts
seeking the voice. He becomes a seeker. He doesn't
just sit in the same old place of darkness. What was that? Where does the voice of God lead
the child of God? To the servant of God. The servant is going to tell
him about Christ. That servant, the servant of God, is going
to say, I didn't call you. I didn't do anything. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord. Verse 4, ìThe Lord called Samuel,
and he answered, ìHere am I.î And he ran unto Eli, and said,
ìHere am I, for thou calledst me.î And he said, ìI called not,
lie down again.î And he went and lay down. And the Lord called
yet again Samuel, and Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said,
ìHere am I, for thou didst call me.î And he answered, ìI called
not, my son, lie down again.î What mercy it is that the Lord
would call again. Isn't that such mercy? That He
would call again. Call me again, Lord. I pray that
today He would call me again. Lord, if you don't call, I won't
come. There's a song that says, Great
is thy faithfulness. O God my Father, there is no
shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not, Thy compassions
they fail not. As Thou hast been, Thou forever
wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness. Morning
by morning, new mercies I see. The Lord called yet again. I
pray that tomorrow God would call me again. And when I wake
up the next day, I pray God would call me again. Lord, I'm out
in left field again, prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Call
me back. Call me again. Verse 7 says,
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord. Neither was the word of
the Lord yet revealed unto him." Isn't that amazing? Samuel didn't know the Lord.
He was lent to the Lord by his mother and he ministered unto the Lord
before Eli. And I'm sure that he had some
mental understanding of the Lord and he had heard the name, the
Lord, And I'm sure he had some idea of God and some idea of
sin because all the people brought sin offerings to the temple. That's what Eli did. That's the
service he helped him in. But if the Lord does not reveal
Himself to the heart of a sinner through His Word, none of that
stuff matters. None of that matters. In spite
of all that, verse 7 says, Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord,
neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. Verse
8 says, And the Lord called Samuel again. Oh, how merciful. How merciful. He called him again. Verse 8 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. And that is a wonderful thing
to perceive. That's such a wonderful thing
to perceive. Sinners come to the house of God. Most of them
were lent there by their mother. You're going to go. I'm going
to tell you that right now. Some of them do their service
unto the Lord, but they're sitting in darkness,
and they don't yet know the Lord. And they hear the Word, and they
hear the Word, and the Lord calls, and we're so blind, and we're
so dead, and we're so deaf, we can't hear. But God in mercy
calls again, And he shouldn't. One call. Come to the marriage supper of
the Lamb. The supper is made ready. They
won't come. Well then get them out. But the Lord calls again. And
all of a sudden you can start to perceive that I think the
Lord is calling that person. Eli perceived the Lord was calling
Samuel. And it's a wonderful, precious
thing to perceive. When God goes to work on the
heart of a sinner, others can perceive it. Verse 8, 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. God's servant is about to tell
this sinner five things. He's about to give him a five-point
message. And this proves to me it does
not matter how long the message is. God can take one word and
slay a soul with it. Don't you wish God would slay
a soul? I wish he would slay my soul
today. Here's his five-point outline,
verse 9. Therefore Eli said unto Samuel,
number one, go lie down. Go lie down. Take your place as a sinner. If we look at this story of Cornelius,
we're going to see that Peter preached a message to him. And
the first thing Peter said was, God is no respecter of persons. First thing out of his mouth. All flesh is grass. Go lie down. Well, that's not what I was expecting
to hear. I thought God loved me and had a wonderful plan for
my life. Nope. Go lie down. You're nothing but
a sinner. Well, that's not doing me any
good. I walked in this morning feeling really good about myself
because I decided to come to church. Go lie down. Go lie down. Get in your place. You're treating
me like a dog. Truth, Lord. Lie down. You are a sinner. And I am a sinner. And do you know what we must
do? We must bend this knee. If it does not bend now, God
will break it later. Peter said, humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God. I'm telling you, it is
mighty. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hand of the Lord. David wrote, kiss the son lest
he be angry. Angry? I'm fine with kissing
Jesus, but what do you mean angry? You kiss the Son of God, lest
He be angry. Bend the knee and kiss His feet,
lest He be angry. John said, He must increase. You know what I must do? Decrease. Go lie down. Go lie down. You know how vital
that message is? We have so many false prophets
trying to build up people's self-esteem. You know what the Word of God
says? Go lie down. Go lie down. Aren't you glad
the message doesn't stop right there though? Eli got to the second point in
his message. Verse 9 says, Therefore Eli said
unto Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be. It shall be. It's true, we're all sinners.
But Christ came to save sinners, and it shall be." I'm telling
you, it shall be. Isaiah said, He shall not fail. Christ came to save sinners.
He came to shed His blood for sinners. Did He fail? He Himself said, I will, and
they shall. You know, the foundation of this
gospel, people go to church and you wonder what church is all
about, and you hear the gospel, you hear that phrase, the gospel,
people sing gospel music and all these things. What is the
gospel? What is the foundation of the gospel? What is it built
on? Shall. That's what it is. Shall. David said this good news is
ordered and sure. It's ordered and sure. Go lie
down. God is sovereign. God is sovereign. If God ever makes a sinner, a
sinner. God ever shows a sinner that
he's a sinner. If God ever converts a man from
thinking, I'm not that bad, I mean, you know, I'm not perfect, but
if God ever shows him, I am an out and out sinner, then the
good news is, go lie down, it shall be. Christ came to save
sinners, and it shall be. Verse 9, Therefore Eli said unto
Samuel, Go lie down, and it shall be, if He call thee." If He call thee, you better go
lie down, because God is sovereign and He doesn't have to call. If He call thee. That's the truth
of salvation if I've ever told it. If He called thee. People think they're making decisions. Well, have you made your decision
for Jesus? What difference does it make?
The only thing that matters is if He called thee. Make all the
decisions you want. People think that they're giving
their heart to Jesus. Why would He want it? It's stony.
and dead. He said, I'm going to take that
one out and throw it away and give you a heart of flesh. People are dedicating and then
rededicating. People are taking the second
step so He doesn't have to. Let's not make Him work too hard.
He's going to take the first one, but you need to help Him
out a little bit. Here's the truth of salvation.
If He called thee, if He called thee, There's a, this is just
adorable and convicting. About 25 or 30 years ago, there
was a little girl who was five years old, almost six years old, and she,
her family attended the church in Ashland, Kentucky, 13th Street. And Brother Henry had a TV broadcast
back then, a 30-minute broadcast. He came on and preached the gospel,
and her parents so wisely. When I heard this story, I got
two little girls sitting right here. This little girl is in
the middle of their ages. And her parents wisely knew the
gospel is entering our household by way of TV. The gospel is streaming
in. And they told their family, we're
going to sit down and watch it. And what a blessing and what
a convicting thing to realize. Every single time the gospel
goes forth, our souls need it. And the only thing I regret is
that it's my voice. Our souls need it. But anyway,
this little girl was sitting there watching the TV and Brother
Henry came on and asked a question which he asked many times and
we all ask this question, did I choose God or did God choose
me? And she looked at her mom and
said, anybody knows that. No, honey. Anybody doesn't know
that. And her mom asked her, she said,
well, what's the right answer? She said, God chose me. And her
mom said, well, why did God have to choose us? She said, because
we're dirty, rotten scoundrels. Go lie down, dirty, rotten scoundrels. Eli brought five points. These
are worthy of five messages. The first one ought to be called,
go lie down. The second one ought to be called,
it shall be. The third one ought to be called,
if he called thee. The fourth one right here in
verse nine, go lie down, it shall be, if he called thee, thou shalt
say. I'll tell you this, if He called
thee, thou shalt say. There are no ifs, no ands, and
no buts about it. There is no choice in the matter. Well, I hear Him call, am I going
to accept it or reject it? Thankfully, I don't have any
say in the matter. I know what I'd do. But I don't have any say in the
matter. David said, when you said, seek my face, my heart
said, thy face, Lord, will I seek. A sinner is going to respond
to the call of grace. Going to. He said, my sheep,
hear my voice, I call them all by name. Samuel, go lie down. It shall be. If he call thee,
thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, thy servant heareth." I hear you. You've opened my ears. I never
heard anything like this in my life. I have been in church my
whole life. I've owned a copy of this for
40 years now. Never heard anything like this
in my life. I hear. You have done something
to me. I know you have. I hear your voice in your word. Speak to me, Lord. Speak to me,
please. Flood my soul with glory divine. All that a child of God needs,
all that thrills his soul is to hear his Lord speak. That's
why we're all here. We have all gathered here today
in the hope that God would speak to us. Speak, Lord. He didn't say speak,
Jesus. Speak, Jesus. Oh, man. Speak, Jehovah, God Almighty. Speak, Lord, thy servant, thy
servant. Does he need anything from a
servant? No. But it's what a child of God
wants to be, isn't it? Just let me be your servant. David said,
I just wish I could be a doorkeeper. The greatest glory of my life
would be if he would just let me be a doorkeeper. Close to thee. That's all I want
to be, is close to thee. That's it. Well, that was Eli's
message. Here's Samuel's response. The
end of verse 9 says, So Samuel went and lay down in his place. You know what he did? He went
back and rested. He just rested. You go back and
lay down. Samuel, there's no work. What
would you have me to do? There's no work to be done. Rest. Samuel, God is sovereign. Rest. If He has called you, Eli perceived
that He called him. If He has called you, then it
means He justified you with His own blood. And if He justified
you, then it means He's going to glorify you. So rest. It is the Lord. Rest. Verse 9
says, So Samuel went down and lay in his place, and the Lord
came. The Lord came. His promise is
not going to fail. Great is that faithfulness. Just
like our Lord came the first time. We just talked about it.
By God's grace, we're going to hear about it tonight. By God's
grace, we're going to hear about it Wednesday. The Lord is coming
back. Just like He came the first time,
He is coming again, so rest. Just rest. All right, let's stand
together.