For Samuel chapter 2, please meet me there.
For Samuel chapter two. And let's pray.
One more time together, okay? Just lean your heart into the
Lord as we open up the scriptures and ask him to help
us Lord, we thank you that you are making this church Beyond
just the Gathering. But Lord, you are raising up an
army of people that want to advance the kingdom of God.
Lord, we pray that you would guide us Lord through this text
and that we would receive Revelation that would penetrate
our hearts and change us that Lord your word tonight would
heal us. It would instruct us it would
Empower us. It would open our eyes Lord to a
greater degree to see the Eternal beyond the temple.
Help us Lord. We pray that you would destroy
the works of Satan and the lives of every person in this place.
Those who are in a season of struggle, those who have
experienced a dampness of the soul.
Lord rescue us from a life that is wasted and show us the
treasure that Christ is through this.
Study in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
In order to make sense of first. Samuel chapter 2, we have to see
how chapter one concluded because the last place that we
closed off at was when Hannah received a son by the name.
I'm of Samuel as an answer to her desperate cry.
But something happens, something happens after that moment.
And it's found in 1:21. Let's just read a few verses
together. Before we jump into chapter 2,
the man elkanah and all his house, went up to offer to the
Lord, the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow.
But Hannah did not go up for. She said to her husband, as soon
as the child is weaned. And at this time it would be
around three years old perhaps I will bring him so that he may
appear in the presence of the Lord and dwell there forever.
L, Connor husband said to her do, what seems best to you.
Wait until you have weaned him only may the Lord establish his
word. So the woman remained a nursed,
her son, until she weaned him and we she had weaned him, she
took him up with her along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah
of flour, and a skin of wine. And she brought him to the house
of the Lord, at Shiloh. And the child was young, then
they slaughtered the bowl and they brought the child to Eli.
And she said, oh my Lord, as you live my Lord, I am the woman who
was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord
for this child, I prayed and the Lord has granted me my petition
that I made to him. Therefore, I have lent him to
the Lord, as long as he lives, he has lent to the Lord and He
worshipped the Lord there. Samuel was born to this woman.
And now, Hannah is fulfilling her end of the vowel by giving
him back, giving him back to the Lord.
And so we see this woman coming and performing a very great Act
of Faith and I'm sure. No one in here.
Can can know what this must have felt like until you have a child
and those in, you have children. Imagine how difficult this must
have been. At the age of three, maybe four
years old, bringing your child up to the house of God, only to
make sure that they would never return with you to your home
ever again. And that is an act of faith more
than the reality that you're giving up your child and they're
not going to be raised by you directly but the fact that she
is leaving Samuel and a specific type of environment.
Now, tell me what kind of environment is going to be left
in Is it is it a place of great? Moral example, know you have a
high priest who is deficient in his spiritual condition, and you
have his sons who are ministers, who are outright rebellious, and
this is who Hannah is leaving her child with.
And you might be thinking, well, that's, this is not very wise of
Hannah. But here's the reality about
this woman, she knows that God directly answered her prayer and
provided this boy, knowing that she would dedicate him in this
way. And here's what Hannah's
believing. If God provided Samuel, God will
protect Samuel. God will protect this boy.
I'm trusting in Him by giving him up to these people knowing
that the Lord himself will raise up.
This man to be the man of God that I pray that he would be.
And here's what's so amazing about that.
We should be encouraged to know that the spiritual formation.
Of a child of our children is mainly shaped by the character
of the home. Never forget that.
I've talked to many parents over the years, and they think that
the youth pastor supposed to raise their children, that's not
true. I've said this before, I had,
somebody come up me once and say make my child believe in God has
said, Maybe I need to wear a name tag because my name isn't
Holy Spirit. And if you're coming to me, if
you're coming to me as the main evangelists for your child, you
got it all wrong. Come to find out that this
person didn't even believe in Christ and they want me to make
this person. What she really wants is for a
child to be morally. Good, that's what she wanted.
Now here's the encouraging thing.
As much as Eli was the high priest in the nation of Israel.
Samuel would know a greater impact from to other people, and
that was his parents. That was his parents because no
matter how amazing Eli would have been as a spiritual leader.
If the home was in Rex, Samuel would have a less likely chance
of becoming the man of God that he was supposed to be.
But But over those short little years, I'm sure Hannah prayed
over that child, not just prayed for him, but prayed over him
spoke truth into his ears. Trust that that lot young little
soft mind would absorb these things.
Reminding him that he is a miracle from God.
And now she comes to this place and says, I am going to trust
that God will go from here and every parent at one point in
your life you have to make that choice, maybe not this young but
at one point you're going to have to make that decision to
let your child go and you have to trust if the trust the seeds
that you planted and that God will walk with them and deal
with them because ultimately they belong to the Lord, they
belong to the Lord. Here's another truth.
That is so important from these verses we learn here.
Listen, very carefully. That much of the future of any
nation is dependent upon the impact of the home.
If you want to, if you want to boil it down, what will preserve
America today? What will be the Hope For
America? It's not going to be our laws.
It's not going to be a school system.
It's going to be your living room.
It's going to be the disciplines that you and I established for
our families. And Hannah here is going to make
a choice and that choice is very simple.
I'm going to dedicate this child to the Lord, not knowing the
full impact. It's okay.
Don't worry about it. Not knowing the full impact of
this act of devotion, for the nation of Israel.
And so we see that this is a great Act of Faith.
And it's a great contribution to the faith of many others,
because of a woman, who is serious about raising her child,
in the fear of the Lord. And so she does this.
And as she comes she gives up this child.
We have no idea what's going on in our heart pertaining to that
act. But one thing we do know is how
she responded to all of it chapter 2.
What does Hannah do? After she gives this child up to
the Lord in a very dramatic and serious way.
Verse 1 and Hannah prayed. And Hannah prayed and said, my
heart exults in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derives my enemies because I rejoice in your
salvation. Can you imagine that?
That is her reflex. That is her response.
Now, if we're honest with ourselves, can you imagine doing
what Hannah did? And acting this way.
We'll get to that in a moment. But what is Hannah ultimately
doing? What is she doing?
She's praying again, again, she's praying.
This woman is a woman of prayer. And in chapter 1, we learned a
great deal. We gained great Insight of what
prayer really means, and the insights only continue in
Chapter 2. And here's what we learned,
prayer is beyond petition. Now, we have to understand this
because many people have limited the sacred act to coming before.
God only when they are in desperate, need and Hannah
teaches. Otherwise prayer is not just a
reality when you. And I need, it's a reality when
you and I receive. And if we're honest with
ourselves, much of our praying is done, before a matter is
solved and it's not really existent when everything is
going well. But we're learning here through
this. That prayer goes beyond asking
and pleading there is something called rejoicing Thanksgiving
adoring. So let's ask all of us tonight.
Let's ask our hearts. Is there any existence of Praise
in my prayer life? Is there any existence of
adoration in my prayer life? Because what you're going to see
in this prayer of Hannah, is that there is not one mention of
a request. Not one.
Not one, it's solely exaltation, it's solely declaring to God his
manifold goodness and declaring over her own soul.
How awesome and Majestic he is that kind of praying is very
rare, maybe it's more real in our corporate prayer meetings.
But I'm talking about our private prayer meetings.
What's amazing here. What's so captivating is that
Hannah is able to Lavish god with her adoration.
After performing, one of the greatest acts of sacrifice that
you can make as a parent, I mean, the pain I wonder.
Is there any tears? There's any Brokenness?
Is there any sadness? We don't know.
Maybe there is that would be natural for a mother but she's
overcome by the spirit in this moment and it's just worshiping
the Lord. And here's the thing, when we
come to a place of sacrifice to the Lord, do we equate it with
blessing? She's doing something
magnificent, something so deep and profound that, requires an
amazing amount of faith, yet in Hanna's mind sacrifice the Lord.
Whatever it looks like is not disconnected from an experience
of genuine Joy. She gave the Lord.
She knows she's contributing to the kingdom of God, and she
walks away knowing that she made that contribution so she can
Rejoice. She never saw it as a loss.
She never saw like she missed out on something.
She only saw it as a gain. So she continues here and now
when she prays, we won't go over every verse.
But let's look at some key verses and verse 2 There is
none. Holy like the Lord she says for
there is none besides you. There is no Rock like our God.
The first thing that this woman does after she comes before the
Lord as she declares and defines his attributes and his nature.
Your holy There's none like you you're separated from every
other category of anything in life and you are a rock.
Now, what's amazing about this is that when you make it a
practice of adorning, God with who he is from your own heart,
from your own lips, it does much for your soul.
In fact, I challenge you to make it a practice.
I challenge the next time you come before the Lord with a need
even And you just begin to tell him who he is.
You Are Holy, you are powerful. You're the savior of my soul
either save your Humanity or the coming King, begin to do that.
You know what's going to happen. A lot of the things that you're
worried about an anxious about will fall into place.
Try it, you don't believe me, try it.
Because What's Happening Here is that you are not only telling
God as though. God needed to know who he was.
Well, thank you. I didn't know that.
That was me and people often criticize, this kind of worship.
And this kind of praying, because they say, why are you
telling God what he already knows?
Well, here's the point. God tells us to do this, not for
his sake, but for hours, We rehearse it over ourselves.
That's the byproduct. Yes, we glorify him.
Yes, we tell him who he is because we worship Him in spirit
and truth but for your own soul you reminded of who he is.
And watch you continue to do this by faith and you know that,
if you do this, this has happened to you that you'll
begin to come before the Lord, and just worship Him worship Him
really worship him with your words and understanding of who
he is, from his word and you will get so lost in that, that
you'll forget why you came with your need in the first place.
Not that you can't come with your need and that you shouldn't
mix petition and praise. But oftentimes, you can get so
lost and praise that. Just understanding who he is,
will solve the fear and the worry that you came with in the
first place. Try it.
And that's why according to this fee ology is important.
You have some people say I'm not a theologian but I'm a prayer
Warrior really. I'm a worshipper but I don't
know much of the bible really You can't really pray unless you
really know who God is. You can't really worship unless
you know who God is and I'll tell you this, the more you
understand who God is and the place of study and discipline,
the more it will dramatically impact your experience of God in
the place of Prayer. That's what she begins with.
And then she goes on to verse 3, talk no more.
So very proudly, let not arrogance, come from your mouth
for the Lord, as a god of knowledge, and by him, actions
are weighed, you know, what's happening in Hannah's.
Mine theology is not just important for her prayer.
Life theology is important for her practical life.
And remember, she's in the spirit here.
So, she is, she is operating under the spirit of Prophecy.
And now, in a sense, she's almost teaching.
She's almost telling people something, and I believe, Hannah
in this moment has indirectly in her mind.
The actions of somebody. Who do you think she has in
mind? We heard about her in chapter
one. What's her name?
But Ina Pnina who shot words at her and tried to bring her down
and demolish, her faith and our trust, and our love for God. and
here, we see that this woman is saying, God not only heard my
prayers, God heard the threats of Pnina and she knew that.
You know what's amazing? We learn something about Pnina
here, pay very close attention. It says here, let not arrogance
come from your mouth. For the Lord is a god of
knowledge. Now just imagine that this was
read by Hanna banana, and Hannah.
Here is declaring something those who speak with pride, and
arrogance, and scoff and gossip, and slander and all these other
ugly things they do. So, based on the lack of
revelation of who God is, do you see she's saying don't speak
like this because God is a god of knowledge and he knows all
things and he will weigh your actions.
I learned that Pnina was either operating under one or two
things. One she didn't know God or two.
She knew God but she didn't believe God.
She knew about him, she understood who he was in his
nature and character, but she didn't think it applied to her
life. She the sad thing about pnina's
that she went to the feast year after year.
After year, the attendance meant, nothing meant, absolutely
nothing. That was proof of nothing.
Your baptism proves something to a certain degree, but only if
it's backed up with a true life for Christ, you're singing your
attendance, you're giving nothing because banana was doing
that. Ultimately Pnina.
Proved herself by your actions and she proved that.
She really didn't know No God and it's ultimately proven in
our Behavior brothers and sisters.
Please hear me out tonight. It's ultimately proven by our
attitude, its ultimately proven by how we treat others?
It's ultimately proven in the nitty-gritty of life in
conversation and dealings in actions and decisions.
Please believe that quote, it all you want, memorize, as much
as you want, man. I'm telling you, I can't get
over this over the years. People really don't grasp what
true spirituality is. They really don't and they're
fooling themselves and they think they're fooling others.
And your Hannah is saying, God is a certain type of God that
will affect you in the most profound ways.
And if it doesn't affect you, then you either don't know who
he is or you understand who he is and you don't think it
applies to your life. Does that make sense tonight?
I hope so. And so we come down here to
verse 4 and what happens between verse 4 and verse 9 is that she
rehearses a series of something called reversals.
Reversals and I won't read them, but here's some of them.
The bows of the mighty are broken verse for verse 5, those
who are full have hired themselves out for bread, but
those who are hungry have ceased to hunger.
Verse 6, the Lord kills and brings to life.
He brings down to sheol and raises up verse 7.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich.
He brings loan exalts. He raised up the poor from the
dust. He lifts the needy from the
ashy. But what are we seeing here
God's acts? And very various aspects of life
where he reverses the scene, he turns the tables.
And for her experiencing that for herself, she was Barren.
Now, she has children, she's declared how God is in control,
and God is a master chess player in the universe that he can move
pieces around, where he gets his way, and no one can stop him.
And, actually declares one thing after the other, she comes to a
climax here in verse 10, the atmosphere is of the Lord shall
be broken to Pieces against them.
He will Thunder in heaven. The Lord.
Lord will judge the ends of the Earth.
He will give strength to his King and exalt the Horn of his
anointed. Tell me why that is significant.
Did you pay attention to that? Tell me why.
That's significant. Tell me Martha.
Thank you. Israel had no king at the time.
Why? She mentioning a king?
Why is she talking as though? There's somebody sitting on the
throne yesterday? It is talking about the Lord,
but here's the point. She is seeing something she's
going from just prayer to prophecy and she seeing
something in this moment that is not yet.
Existing, see a few chapters from here.
We will see even the suggestion of a king.
But there is nobody occupying. There's no monarchy how she
talking about a king. Is she seeing someone Beyond
David Beyond, Solomon Beyond Saul, she sing the anointed one,
the Messiah, the Christ, and listen, we know that because
what she is uttering here by the holy spirit is later confirmed
by the same. Holy Spirit through another man.
Would you like to see it? Go to Luke chapter 1 and see
this with me. Luke 1 verse 67.
And what's amazing is that Hannah's Prayer much of it, much
of it resembles Merry Song and Luke chapter 1 is wrong.
I encourage you to study the similarities of that but this is
the words of Zechariah verse 67 and his father Zechariah was
filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, blessed.
Be the Lord God of Israel for. He has visited and redeemed, his
people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house
of his servant, David as so she says earlier, He will give
strength to his King and exalt the horn.
The horn is a picture of strength in the Old Testament
and the new. So what we see here is that the
Horn of his anointed, the strength of the anointed one is
now introduced in Luke chapter one, concerning the birth of
Jesus Christ, The Horn of the anointed one has arrived and
Jesus brought the ultimate reversal that this world has
ever known. What was that?
He conquered death by Death? That's what it was.
And guess what he does. On top of that.
He invites you to live a life of reversal as well.
So you know what he says. Hey, do you want to live?
Yes, then die. Die.
Ya die to yourself, actually die every day and you'll know life.
Do you want to Crown Crown sounds good?
Then carry this cross. I'm trying to understand what
this means. Do you want to gain the whole
world? Oh, that would be nice.
Well, let me tell you, it's foolish because you'll forfeit
your soul. Why don't you gain eternal life
and my kingdom by forfeiting the world?
You want to be great? Yes.
Be a servant of all. We live a paradoxical life.
We live in this great reversal, and at the first coming, he
brought the greatest reversal concerning death in our
salvation, but at his second coming, he will literally flip
the Universe on its head. He will flip every Kingdom.
Every government, Every Nation everything will turn by his
power and the world will be hold for a thousand years.
What he is able to do And so we see here Christ mentioned in the
prayer of Hannah. And it's a beautiful prayer to
say, the least. What happens here verse 11.
Then elcano went home to Rama and the boy was ministering to
the Lord and the presence of Eli.
The priest. Now, up to this point, you and I
have been observing the life of a beautiful family who had rough
patches but ends on a note where they are clearly devoted to the
Lord to Extreme Measures to measures that are unmatched
today, great sacrifice great devotion persistence and
consistency concerning worship to the Lord.
But now the scene shifts and we come to a different family and
we're not dealing with elkanah. Now, we're dealing with a man
named Eli and his sons and here is the summary of Eli's.
Sons in verse 12. Now, the sons of Eli were
worthless men. They did not know the Lord.
Some description, huh. They were worthless men.
They did not know the Lord. Now, you heard this last week, I
let me remind you, they were pastors.
They were teachers. They were God's Representatives
on the Earth. And they were the means by which
men could be represented before God.
And what's scary about this is that hophni and phinehas the
sons of Eli were next in line. One of them would be the next
high priest and this is how we understand them, they're
worthless, and they did not know the Lord.
And so here they are. They're sacrificing for people,
they're apparently helping people.
They're standing as representative of God, and they
did not know God. now, if that doesn't make us tremble, I don't
know what will If that doesn't make us think to ourselves that
we need a great discernment in Christendom today.
I don't know what will. Nonetheless.
We're about to find out. Why?
Or how they did not know. The Lord, you know how we're
going to find out. It's not by their confession.
They're not like, we don't really believe in this whole
sacrificial system. We don't think it actually does
anything, but we're just here for the paycheck.
They're not saying any of that. We're about to find out how they
did not know the Lord, by one thing that Jesus said you would
find them out by their fruit. You will know them by their
fruits. And here's how we know that they
did not know the Lord hears. Some characteristics.
Here are some things that stand out about their behavior, verse
13, the custom of the priesthood.
The people was that when any man offered sacrifice the priests
servant would come while the meat was boiling with a
three-pronged fork in his hand and he would thrust it into the
pan or Kettle or caldron of pod, all that the fork brought up the
priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh
to all the Israelites who came there.
Now, is that wrong? Let me, let me ask a question
differently. Is it wrong for the priest to
take a portion of the sacrifice for themself?
Who knows the answer. If you've been with us
throughout the pentateuch, you should know.
Who says it was right, let's do this again.
One person, two three who says it was wrong.
Nobody says it was wrong. So you're you're in the middle.
As always I should stop asking these questions.
They never work. They never work.
Well, the Bible tells us, in Deuteronomy 18, three, that's
where you get your answer. I'm not going to read it to, you
got to turn there so you can see it for yourself.
So you'll never forget and Deuteronomy 18, verse 3.
What do we learn about the priests and the sacrificial
system? And this shall be the priests do
from the people. From those offering a sacrifice,
whether an ox or his sheep, they shall give to the priest, the
shoulder, and the two cheeks and the stomach.
So the answer is, yes they did receive as a part of a tide that
they would be blessed and they would be sustained and nourished
from their service, they would be contributed.
And so what we see here though, I believe Is something further
than what is being prescribed. I believe what's being described
here and we're about to find out further from this verse is that
they went beyond what God had allowed them to have.
They were asking for more, it was precise, what was theirs?
And it seems like they longed for something deeper and greater
for themselves. And there's a word that
summarizes that and it's an ugly word called greed, greed.
It gets so intense. By the way that they ask for the
fat. Now why is that important The
fat belonged to the Lord. And in fact we are told in
Leviticus that it was a pleasing Aroma to the Lord.
And we're about to find out that they even went to that extent
where they took, what belongs solely to God, what was supposed
to sizzle in his presence. Untouched by man was actually
robbed by these men for their sake of their own desire.
Listen, their greed was so intense.
That they were willing to come before, innocent worshippers,
who had a genuine desire to give, what is God's do, and
manipulated them and interrogated them and
intimidated them. So that they would have will
belong to God. and listen, it was so intense that they were
willing to step into the arena of Faith so that they can
satisfy their selfish desires and Paul calls this those who
have their God, as their belly butter belly, is their God And
so these men were operating an intense greed.
There was no concern of how their actions affected the
worship of others, they didn't care, they didn't care that.
These people would walk away, not knowing it, that sacrifice
would have covered their sins, they didn't care that.
Also, part of, that animal sacrifice would go to them, so
that they can eat, they didn't care if they participated in
that. They were means by which they
could benefit and be prosperous and be full.
And this is a mark of a person who does not know the Lord, a
person who can come up in a place of ministry.
And take advantage of others, under the pretense of faith and
Under the Umbrella of the house of God.
You think that's bad. Look at verse 22 now.
Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were
doing to all Israel and how they lay with the woman who were
serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
In Exodus, 38 verse 8 we are told that there were some in the
courtyard who were woman that would serve at the Tabernacle it
was voluntary and we don't know what they did exactly, they
could have help with the children while the parents went
into sacrifice. They could have done some
cleaning work. We're not sure what they did.
But one thing is for certain there was young.
Ladies at the church who volunteered you know what these
men did instead of encouraging their sisters to grow in the
faith instead of setting, an example of what a Godly Man
looks like They seduce them. You ready for a shocking
statement? They slept with them in the
sanctuary. They lured them in.
They use their position of authority and power to convince
them to perform acts that were so.
Grotesque never mind, just in the house of God outside of the
house of God as well and led these women into sexual
immorality. I'm going to bring you a
shocking statement tonight, but it's okay because it's Bible.
One of the greatest signs that someone does not know.
The Lord is a persistent illegitimate pursuit of sexual
activity. Let me say that one more time,
one of the strongest signs, that someone does not know the Lord,
these men did not know. The Lord, that's the description
is the continual pursuit of illegitimate sexual activity.
And that will sting in this pornified age, but I could care
less what this world thinks of the truth of God's word.
You don't believe me right? Well let's go to first
Thessalonians chapter 4 and see the language that Paul brings
1st Thessalonians 4 verse 3. This is to Christians to
Believers to those who've been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
First Thessalonians 4:3 for this is the will of God your
sanctification. If you're ever confused about
what God's will for your life, is know that in part.
It is you being holy That you abstain from sexual immorality.
Now, look at this verse for that.
Each of you know how to control his own body and Holiness and
honor. So that's God's will God's will
brothers and sisters and this place God's will, for each of us
is to no self-control in the area of sexuality.
Now, look what he says next in verse 5.
Not in the passion of lust. Like the Gentiles who, what do
not know God? Now he could have stopped that
saying not like the Gentiles, right?
No, he goes beyond that. Not like the Gentiles.
They don't know. God, what is he implying here?
I believe he's saying indirectly.
That proof that these pagans don't know, God is that they
lack self-control in their sexual impulses.
Proof that these people do not have a sense of personal
relationship with God, is that they have no restrain, they have
no concern, they have no conviction.
They have no desire to fight. This area of sexual purity.
They're loose, they're careless the predatorial they are cereal.
Sexual active people. And so, we can flip that by
saying one of the evidences that a person does know God is that
they put a premium on self-control.
Is that they partner with God to be pure and holy.
And I can guarantee you this, the more, you know, God the more
you will have a stance against sexual sin.
Now you might be discouraged because you might be battling
this and you feel like you're defeated.
I want to encourage you to know that the fight that you feel is
a pulse that the spirit dwells in you It does.
And here's the Hope from first Thessalonians chapter 4.
Look at verse 7 and verse 8. For God has not called us for
impurity but in Holiness, therefore whoever disregards its
you know I saying, whoever doesn't care about this kind of
teaching whoever hears what is being said and thinks that this
is foolish is unrealistic. It's old-school.
It has no relevance to my life. It doesn't seem to be true.
He says disregards not man. This is not my idea.
This is not what I came up with. I didn't think to myself, you
know. I think I think I want to make a
rule about sexual Purity says. Now this is God.
This is God's design. I look at this.
Who gives you his Holy Spirit? What is he saying?
Don't disregard this. Don't push this away.
Don't reject this. Don't try to argue it off.
No, no. Because God supplies a power to
make it a reality. He supplies his holy spirit, he
gives you strength, he gives you a Grace, he elevates you, and he
brings it to a place of victory that you would not know apart
from him. So don't disregard this because
listen, what is he saying here in order for you to know,
consistent Purity in your sexual life demands?
The first step of faith. Faith faith.
Because if you disregard it, you cut the channel of the power
that Faith connects you to. If I don't believe that I can be
pure, but I don't believe that in my private life I can remain
wholly. Then I cut off the possibility
of the Holy Spirit pouring into my heart to make it real.
Because everything stems from faith, everything, your
salvation, and your sanctification.
And so we have to understand here, brothers and sisters.
The more we know God. We will not be like this culture
has a different definition and the different attitude towards
this gift of sex. So may the Lord draws closer to
him. You know what's amazing here?
We come back to First Samuel chapter two.
Eli Sons, what were their names? What were their names?
What was the name of the one? Half knee and the other one was
who Phineas now? Here's what's amazing.
There was another Phineas before this one.
Who knows about that Phineas? What was he known for?
So we heard it Phineas was a man known in Numbers chapter 25 for
arising during a plague as an act of judgment when the people
were messing around sexually with a different group of people
and in the midst of the Weeping and repentance an Israelite man,
goes into a tent with a midianite woman and Phineas gets
up, takes a spirit, goes into the tent, and perhaps, even in
the ACT, penetrates the spear through the stomachs and kills
them both. And I wondered to myself have
Eli. Named his son Phineas.
With the hopes that he would live up to that name.
Make him like Phineas of old Lord, who knows?
We don't know. But he named it Phineas.
And unfortunately, you have to phineas's with two different
approaches to the same sin. yet one, Phineas that killed the
compromise, not only in his own life, but made us stand in front
of others in front of his culture, in front of his own
people, in front of his own compromising church, and the yet
another Phineas That not only refused to kill the compromise
but invited it and lesson, it ended up killing him.
It ended up killing him. And so we come back to here and
we look in verse 15, And we see moreover first Samuel to before
the fat was burned, the pre the, the priests servant would come
and say to the man who sacrifices give meat for the
priest to roast for. He will not accept, boiled meat
from you but only Raw And if the man said to him, let them burn
the fat first. We just learned Leviticus says
that the fat belong to the Lord, you know what he's saying?
Look you can take whatever you want.
But please let us just offer this to the Lord.
And take as much as you wish he would say, no, you must give it
now. And if not, I will take it by
force. I will take it by force.
This is spiritual abuse. This is violence.
This is threatening. This is this is an abuse of
power. And that is a that is a sign of
a sick. Soul that is a sign of someone
who is very much out of touch with God to come to a place
where you are now causing others to stumble.
That in your pursuit of what you want to fulfill for yourself and
your flesh. You were willing to actually
bring others to a place of contempt.
And so we see, it's so obvious that these men did not know the
Lord, and if you think this is shocking, you're about to be
very shocked to know what they did with the fat of the Lord.
You're going to be very shocked and that's why I'm verse 17.
We were told thus, the sin of the young men was very great in
the sight of the Lord, for the men, treated, the offering of
the Lord with contempt with tent.
This is, this is so discouraging.
This is so sickening. Even it, almost it's repulsive.
But look what happens here in this contrast of Verse 18.
Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy clothes with a
linen ephod. It's like after just being told
about all this mess and all this corruption in this vileness and
this Darkness, you get this little flicker of light.
And here's this little boy Samuel and we were told he was
ministering to the Lord. How?
Good question, right? I mean at this point he could be
who knows 5 6, 7 8. We don't know because years have
passed by before judgment comes. I believe.
So at this point you're thinking how how did Samuel minister to
the Lord? He wasn't a priest because there
are priests here, he was an offering sacrifices.
That's for sure. So, how I wonder if he had
little tasks that Eli gave him to do.
I wonder if he put like an instrument in his hand.
He says go bring it to the other side.
I wonder if he made him just pick up a few things from the
floor, I don't know, but I think there's a hint.
It's in 3:15. And I like to think that this
was something that he did. Consistently first, Samuel 315,
Samuel lay until morning. Then he opened the doors of the
house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell
the vision to Eli. What an adorable picture?
I wonder if Samuel, not just this time, but frequently had
the task of waking up early and opening the doors to the church.
He just opened it and made sure that people knew that it was
open and they can come in sacrifice.
And we think that's so insignificant so silly may be
cute and adorable at bass. But you know what, God Says, by
the spirit he was ministering to the Lord.
He was ministering to God by what by coming early and opening
the doors to make sure that people don't come to a locked
front. Because that's all he could do
at this point in his life. That's that was his limit.
That was his ceiling and yet, God still honored it and deemed
it as Ministry. Be encouraged.
Now that when you give to the Lord, what you can give him, he
will recognize it just as much as when Samuel became a prophet
and served as a mighty voice in his generation.
Him opening the door to the Tabernacle was under the same
category of service as him being a prophetic voice to his people.
That can't be well, you have to take it up with God because God
says this little boy, was ministering to me.
So, why are you discouraged? Why are you discouraged because
you've been given a menial task or that you feel like you're not
contributing much. Over and over the Lord said he
ministered he ministered, he grew, he grew.
You have to take that by faith as well.
And we see here in verse 19, And his mother used to make for him
a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with
her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice, that is the extent of
the connection that he had with his mother.
Every time there was a feast where they had to go up to the
house of God, Hannah would make sure that she created a little
role for her son. Knowing that from the year
prior, he must have grown, and she would come up with her
husband and with her family, and she would come before the Lord
to worship. And she saw a little Samuel,
walking into the courtyard, stumbling into the place, and
would Embrace his mother, and his mother would do what Samuel
I have something for you. And she would put a robe around
his shoulders. What Was she doing what do you
think she was doing? I believe she was encouraging
him. Why would the Holy Spirit?
Put this right after an ugly scene that we just read
concerning Eli's Sons. Like it just seems like such a
random detail. And the most people would take
out of this was well there must have been an eyewitness for
somebody to recognize such a small thing.
No, it's more than that, here's the principle that in an age of
so much compromised. It is absolutely necessary to
encourage people in consecration.
That you and I must be people to know how to stir up one another
in the path of pursuing total separation from the world.
And in Hannah's mind, the best way that she can do that for her
son, was create a little outfit that resembled the Priestly
outfit, right? Because he wore a linen, ephod
that was that was what the priest wore but it was in
miniature form, must have been adorable.
But the mother would come and she would what she would
encourage him in that role. She would she would, she would
get him excited about being a servant of the Lord. and listen,
I know this is a mother-son relationship but between us It
will go a long way to see somebody who is serving the lord
not just in full-time Ministry, but just with their life, to
send them a message and encourage them.
To collaborate with them and to fuel each other's faith.
We've often limited our fuel of encouragement, to those who are
struggling to those, who are always vacillating and are
compromising and they're in and out and we focus all our
attention on them. And we fail to realize that
there are others who need encouragement those who are
standing faithful. And they don't want to be like
Eli sons and they don't even want to come near Eli's Sons.
What about them? The ones that are disciplining
themselves, the ones that want to glorify God.
And and you know who they are those that as long as you've
known them had been on this steady path.
Like Samuel. Even Samuels need encouragement.
And don't think that for a moment, a little word would not
go a long way. Verse 20.
Then Eli would bless elkanah and his wife and say, may the Lord
give you children by this one for the petition.
She asked of the Lord. So then they would return to
their home. Indeed.
I love that indeed. It's like you better believe it.
Indeed, the Lord visited Hannah and she conceived and bore three
sons and two daughters. And the boy, Samuel grew in the
presence of the Lord. She gave up one God gave her
five more You never lose when you sacrifice.
You never lose, you might think you lose in this age, but in the
age to come, I'm telling you, I think, and I'm scared for this
for my own life that I would stand before the Lord only to
realize all that he is reserved and me thinking to myself, I
wish I gave more. I wish I sacrificed more Lord.
I wish I was more sold out for you.
I wish I was more radical for you.
Now that I'm in your presence and I see all that you have
kept. I don't want to bite my hand on
that day. I don't I don't.
The boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord, he was in
just growing in stature only. He wasn't just growing in his
physical world, requiring, a robe every single year now he
was growing in the spirit and so you see Eli's Sons degrading
themselves and plunging deeper into darkness and here's the
contrast this little boy growing and he's getting muscle aches,
and pains and growing pains and he's getting a little facial
hair and all these things. And what's happening in the
spirit he's growing It's becoming more and more of a man
of God. Many people complain about their
environment and how it doesn't encourage them to grow in the
faith and that is partly true. But I see a boy here.
That was so laser-focused. And all he had was one person in
his life to bless him year after year.
And that was enough for him to say, Lord, I'm Yours Lord, I'm
Yours Lord, I'm yours. You know, Eli's Sons, they
forfeited that they could have been his mentor.
They could have encouraged them. Imagine that what a dynamic
relationship that would have been and said there.
Fooling around with the world and they can't even control
their own flesh, but this boy, he's growing.
He's growing, he's growing and now something happens.
We go from Eli's Sons. And their alarming Behavior to
Eli himself. And you're going to be just a
shot with him verse 22 now. Eli was very old, and he kept
hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel and how they
lay with the woman who were serving at the entrance of the
tent of meeting. You know what that's saying,
continually there is, there was a long period of time where
people came up to this man, they said, do you know what your sons
are doing? My family came up here last
week, we came to sacrifice and they took and they begin to
explain and people are talking. The whole nation is now
realizing what is taking place and they are informing the high
priest and we're waiting. What is Eli going to do?
What is this spiritual man? Of God, this representative this
face that is supposed to reflect the Holiness of God.
What will he choose to do? He said to them verse 23, why do
you do such things for? I hear of your evil dealings
from all these people know, my son's.
It is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading
abroad. If someone sins against a man,
God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord,
who can intercede for him, You know what?
He should have done, you're fired.
You're my boys. But I serve God first.
And you do not fear the lord. Clearly you have no right to
remain in this position. Leave.
You should have done that. What does he do instead?
No my boys, my boys, my son's know people are coming up to me.
This isn't the good and he includes one thing to try to
strike the fear of the Lord. Then he goes, listen if you sin
against another God will intercede for you, he will come
and step in on your behalf, but if you send directly against the
Lord, who's going to step in for you, Now for us our hearts go,
that is powerful. But what does that do to a
couple of people who don't have the fear of the Lord very little
Very little, you could threaten them with hell.
You can threaten them with judgement.
You can threaten them with disease.
If they don't fear God, they will continue in their ways.
And sometimes the Lord can mercifully.
Use those fearful, holy fearful things to bring people to an
Awakening. But in this case, there were far
gone, they could not care any less than this.
And so this man here is not doing what he's supposed to do.
And then it says here, but they would not listen to the voice of
their father. For it was the will of the Lord
to put them to death. Does that make you feel
uncomfortable? What is his equal tell us about
God and his heart towards the wicked?
Does he find pleasure in the death of the wicked?
No. Is he delight?
And showing Mercy? Yes.
So God is Not predestined. These guys to be slain by his
judgment. They have crossed the line, they
have crossed the line, a line that is invisible to us, but is
very visible to him. We're after so many warnings and
after, so many things to get your attention.
God says enough is Enough. I now have to step in and do
something about it. But I want you to think for a
moment that this is God's perspective, this is the the
Eternal perspective. This is the Heavenly
perspective, but there's a Earthly vantage point.
There is a reason why they did not listen to their father.
You only find out what an unnamed man of God comes on the
scene to rebuke thee lie and he says, here in verse 29, why?
Then do you scorn My Sacrifice? He's speaking to Eli and my
offerings that I commanded for my dwelling and honor, your
son's above me, and I'll let you stop there.
That is the real reason that he did not get rid of them.
He honored his sons. More than God, he cared about
their future. He cared about their present
feelings. He cared about their reputation
more than God and hear me very carefully.
If you honor anybody or anything more than God at one point, you
will tolerate sin. You will, you will tolerate sin
in your own life, you will tolerate sin and somebody else's
life. When you do not Elevate, God to
be Supreme above all other things, when he is not the core
motive for what you do, what you say, what you think and what you
plan, please brothers and sisters.
I'm not trying to last you tonight.
I really am not but this is a heavy text and I just want to
speak straight to you. If you honor men, if you honor
persons, if you honor anything more than God, at one point, you
will tolerate sin. And that may look like you
refusing to correct a brother who is clearly an unrepentant
sin, because you don't want to ruin that friendship and that
relationship, or that may look like on an extreme level
leadership allowing people to be in Ministry and not removing
them when they should like an eel ice case.
So he went straight to the heart of the matter.
You honor your son's more than God, you can't serve God like
that, you cannot serve God. God cannot take you further in
your ministry as long as this is a limit in your heart.
It will cut you off short, but there is no limit to a person
who says, I honor God above men, I stand before God like Elijah
and when you can stand before, God, you can stand before
anybody But there's a second reason here.
You honor, your son's above me. Now, look at this.
We have to read our Bibles Slowly by fattening what
somebody read it out loud by fattening.
What you ourselves is that plural or singular?
Does that include Eli or is that exclude, Eli, it includes Eli.
By fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering
of My People Israel. Do you understand what's
happening? I remember, when I first read
this, not to, this is long ago, actually, I read this and I
thought to myself, I can't believe it.
And I circled the world yourselves because, you know
what happened? We learned that they would take
the fat that belong to the Lord. And we aren't told what they
didn't necessarily with it. But now we know in part and they
would bring the fat of the Lord, and come before their dad, and
they would Feast on it together. They would eat it together, not
just the sons, but they invited the father also, and he could
not help himself because he could smell the fat on that
barbecue grill. And he thought I want some for
myself and when they brought it, he said well, we This is the
Lord's but God's not going to do anything dad.
Come on. I mean it just gonna Sizzle
there anywhere in disappear. It's not like he's coming down
to eat it. Let's just eat it.
Come on, it's amazing. It tastes good.
We had some of the other day eat with us and Eli was salivating
himself. He's saying, let's do it.
And he began to make it a practice.
And the prophet comes in, he says, you fattened yourself with
your son's? No wonder there was no weight to
his rebuke when he rebuked them. So he comes to Sensei Sons.
No, it's we're not supposed to be doing this and and their
minds are thinking, you just finish eating what belong to the
Lord for lunch today with us. You're going to tell us how to
live. Whatever.
Authority comes from authenticity.
Authority, whether in preaching or in your life comes from a
life that lives what they preach.
The moment that is not true, there is a loss of authority, in
our words, and our example, and our message.
And that certainly happened with this man.
And this person. He did not just put his sons at
risk because of his hypocrisy. Because his hypocrisy only
embolden them to continue the way they were, but Eli himself
would pay for his own compromise.
Go to 1st Samuel, for to see it for yourself.
Verse 18. As soon as he mentioned the Ark
of God, somebody came and told Eli that the Philistines took
the Ark of God. Eli fell over backward from his
seat by the side of the gate and his neck was broken and he died.
Now, look at this for the man was old and what heavy Like, why
I mentioned that? He was obese.
The man was old and heavy he judged Israel forty years.
You know why? Because he fattened himself with
the Lord's portions. And God ordained that when he
would die, his weight would break his own neck.
You know what contributed to his weight is compromised.
Profound whatever you saw that you will reap and sow this man
coming back this profit. This unnamed unidentified
spokesperson for the Lord. I love this, man.
I don't know who he is. We don't know who he is, but one
day, he comes up to the Tabernacle and he calls over
Eli. And he says, What are you doing?
There's a time for a message like that, especially in a day
like this. And we read this and we think to
herself. This is so this is so
discouraging. This is so disheartening, but I
want to tell you guys listen, corrupt.
Spiritual leadership is nothing new.
We're seeing it here, thousands of years.
Before our day, it's always been around.
And when we read a chapter like this, it's not, it's not very
refreshing. And we know that gut-wrenching
feeling when we see modern Ministry scandals, but it's
nothing new. And the common question often is
when we experience it or when we see it on, when we read about
it, is, how does this happen? How does this happen?
And I'll tell you one way, we heard it.
They don't know the Lord to begin with.
It's just as simple as that, you're saying, but I don't know.
No, you don't get it. Like, I actually was blessed by
their sermons and that could be true.
They could be truly saved, but they messed up, but there's
another possibility, they don't know the Lord.
They don't I'm not the one to judge and I would never dare to
declare whether somebody is saved or damned, that's not my
responsibility. So there are some like, hophni
and Phineas who just, they just don't know that.
Well, they've been in Ministry for x amount of years and
doesn't matter, it doesn't matter.
Or like Eli presumably who knew the Lord.
There was a failure somewhere else before this ultimate
failure and this man highlights it, look at verse 27 and there
came a man of God to Eli and said to them.
Thus says the Lord did I indeed reveal myself to the house of
your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of
pharaoh, then I choose him out of all, the tribes of Israel, to
be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense to wear
an ephod. Before me I gave to the Of your
father, all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.
And then he says, why He says, why did you do this?
So This Prophet he's pointing back.
He's pointing back at history of Eli's history his lineage and
he's reminding him. Do you not remember that God
delivered your father from pharaoh?
Do you not remember that God elected that your tribe would be
the priest? That would represent him before
the nation? Do you not remember that he made
you and your descendants ministers?
That would have the awesome opportunity of doing what you're
doing now and here's the point. When you lose grip on the mercy,
Grace. And compassion of God in your
life. It's a slippery, slope the
compromise. The reason why he's bringing up
the past is because they did not have that ever before them.
And they failed to see the privilege of serving God by his
mercy and Grace. They didn't know where they came
from anymore. They didn't recognize God's
salvation through Egypt and then it realize God's call in their
service and they lost the sense of awe, that came from that
like, Samson sin became a sport, they took it for granted and the
moment you begin to fail to feel how awesome Is to serve God at
any capacity, is the moment you open yourself up for other
Thrills in life. And that's what happened here.
They lost the grip of that, that was, that was not before their
face and so they begin to entertain other things.
And the very thing that was supposed to Surge life in them
and anchor them, and keep them on the path is the truth of
where they came from. Eli forgot it.
His sons didn't even have a clue but who God was, never mind what
he's done and he says because of this look where you are today,
look where you are today. And Eli here is about to get the
shock of his life. But we're going to get two more
insights and closing. This man is about to present to
us. What does happen when God
finally steps on the scene with leadership that is in spiritual
compromise. The first thing is in verse 30,
therefore meaning, as a result of this, the Lord, the god of
Israel. Declares, I promise that your
house and the house of your father should go in out before
me forever. But now the Lord declares far be
it for me, for those who honor me.
I will honor and those who despise me shall be lightly
esteemed. Number one, if you want to know
something, But what God will do with those especially in places
of authority and power, who are continually, remember this?
Now let's just stop here. I believe this was an extensive
period of time before. God came to this point, I
believe much time has passed because God is extremely
gracious. Extremely gracious for him to
see this Behavior continually contempt towards the offering
sleeping with women in the house of God.
I mean, look, all that takes in my books as one time, who knows
how many times. And now he comes to this.
Here's what you and I have to learn from this insight.
God is in charge of his house. And God is the one ultimately
who raises up and brings down even when a man, like, the high
priests will not take responsibility and not hold them
accountable. Ultimately God will do it
himself and when God does it, it's terrifying.
Really is. It's amazing how he's able to
unveil and reveal things. But what's more amazing is how
he's willing to warn and get the attention of that individual
before it comes to that point. But when you fail to hear and
fail to receive warnings and people are coming up and you
ignore it, the Lord himself that encourages me, you know why?
Because you and I feel the frustration when we see things
happening in the Name of Christ, we go Lord.
How much longer can this person? Say these things?
How much longer can this person treat the people of God and
manipulate naive people like this.
There's nothing to fear. You know why?
Because in God's perfect timing, he will step in.
And he'll deal with it. I praise God.
That he does that. I praise God that we can trust
him with his church. But secondly not only will he
remove people himself but look at verse 35.
And I will raise up for myself, a faithful priest, who shall do.
According to what is in my heart, and in my mind, and I
will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my
anointed forever. You want to know the second
thing? When there is much spiritual
compromise, especially in spiritual leadership.
One God knows how to bring up and bring that.
And to God, always has someone else in mind.
Thank God. His kingdom does not lay on the
shoulders of men because we wouldn't be this far if that was
true. Then we wouldn't be here today,
studying what happened? Thousands of years ago, but the
lesson that you and I learn as this while there is so much.
Chaos lack of prophetic voices. Holy men of God, holy woman of
God, the Lord has someone else that he's going to raise up,
eventually. In fact actually it's more
profound than that in this case. God was raising up somebody
during all of it. Look at verse 26.
Now the boys Samuel continue to grow both in stature and in
favor with the Lord and also with man So while all of this is
happening, you know, what's in the human point of view were
thinking this is disastrous. We're not going to recover all
the while there's a little boy, getting taller and taller, and
God is preparing him to be a mighty prophet.
So I go on social media, I don't have anymore, but people send me
links, I go on this, I go in that they send me links blogs.
I find this out of go on the news.
Next person falls, this person falls this Ministries.
Embezzling this Ministries scandals.
What do I do with this? Well God you're cleaning house
and to you have someone in mind. You're going to raise up other
voices, you have a different generation that will do things
differently. And that's exactly the hope that
we have here is that Samuel is prepared to take the place of
the spiritual voice for his people, and God is doing that.
God is doing that, and it all comes back to this brothers and
sisters. One woman that dedicated him to
the Lord And we see here in verse 35, that this was
ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, right?
He's not only King, he has priest, king priest and Prophet,
but this will be fulfilled in the book of First Kings.
Under the reign of Solomon. And here's the point for us
today. Leaving this place, many
lessons, I'm sure but I pray that your heart would be stirred
to say, Lord if I'm going to be any Phineas, make me the one
that made us dance. Make me the one that will
advance the kingdom and not hinder.
It make me the one that will be a voice and not an example in
the wrong way. Let's pray and ask God for that.
Tonight, you might pray because you have a need, or you might
pray because you want to Simply praise.
Let's do both together as a church.
Lord Jesus. Your word is so sharp.
It's so powerful. Lord, thank you that it provides
answers. It provides wisdom for so many
facets of life. And Lord.
In this point of this book, we deal with a very grave subject,
but we also see the Hope in it. Lord, you are in charge of your
church. This is your ministry.
This is your house. This is your gospel.
This is your word and Lord. We long.
We along with everything within us to be like Phineas of old who
is willing to stand up. Against the corruption around
him. And Lord though, we are not
called to take Spears in our hands at the slaughter people.
We are called to kill sin in our own lives first.
And with this gospel, preach truth that saves men from sin.
And from corruption, Lord, make us of people.
Make us of people who have authority in our message because
we live it. Lord, we pray for those in this
place who might not know you. They've heard of you.
They might even be involved in spiritual religious activity,
but they don't know the Lord, we pray, God, that you would reveal
yourself to them and that you would show them the truth of who
you are. That you change us when you
enter into our hearts Lord. We pray for those Who want a
deeper relationship with you Lord, may we look to Hannah as
your example in the word that she knew how to pray in need.
And also when she received as she was in constant communion
with her, God, lord, we want to be a people who know how to walk
with you and I'll seasons of Life who want to be a people who
know to come to you when we're broken but also come to you when
we're whole soul or we pray tonight, that you would Minister
unto us the way we need to be ministered to.
We pray, Lord, that you would pull out the things that need to
go and That you would replace it with the things that need to
remain. And so God in this place
tonight, we sit under your word and we hear what you said.
And Lord, we trust that you will change us.
Lord protect us from being like the sons of Eli, who heard, even
a strong word, and it didn't move them an inch and then I
move them a bit. Lord, keep us tender, keep a
soft. Keep a sensitive to the holy
spirit so that we can walk in the light.
But we honor you tonight in Jesus name.
Receive Lord our heart being poured out to you.
Amen and amen. Amen.