1 Samuel 2 Bible Study (Hannah's Prayer) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

First Samuel chapter two. First Samuel chapter two. Please meet me there. First 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 temporal. Help us, Lord. We pray that you would destroy the works of Satan in the lives of every person in this place, especially 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 two, 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 of Samuel as an answer to her desperate cry. But something happens something happens after that moment, and it's found in chapter one verse 21.

Let's just read a few verses together before we jump into chapter two. 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. Elkanah, her 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 and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three year old bull, an ephah of flower, 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 bull, 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 is lent to the Lord, and he worshiped the Lord there. Samuel was born to this woman, and now Hannah is fulfilling her end of the vow 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 though those in here who 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 gonna be raised by you directly. But the fact that she is leaving Samuel in a specific type of environment. Now, tell me, what kind of environment is he gonna be left in? Is it is it, a place of great moral example?

No. 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 is 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 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 is supposed to raise their children. That's not true.

I've said this before. I've had somebody come up to me once and say, make my child believe in God. Is it? 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 the main evangelist 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 wanted is for her 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 two 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 wreck, Samuel would have a less likely chance of becoming the man of God that he was supposed to be. 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 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 gonna have to make that decision to let your child go. And you have to trust. You have to 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 wanna if you wanna boil it down, what will preserve America today? What will be the hope for America? It's not gonna be our laws. It's not gonna be our school system.

It's gonna be your living room. It's gonna be the disciplines that you and I establish 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 her heart pertaining to that act, but one thing we do know is how she responded to all of it chapter two. What does Hannah do after she gives this child up to the Lord in a very dramatic and serious way? Verse one, and Hannah prayed. And Hannah prayed and said, my heart exalts in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord, my mouth derides 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 one, we learned a great deal.

We gained great insight of what prayer really means, and the insights only continue in chapter two. And here's what we learn. 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 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 gonna 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 and 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? Is there 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 is 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 Hannah's mind, sacrifice the Lord, whatever it looks like, is not disconnected from an experience of genuine joy.

She gave to 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.

And so she continues here. And now when she prays, we won't go over every verse, but let's look at some key verses in verse two. 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 is she declares and defines His attributes and His nature.

You're 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. You're the savior of humanity.

You're the coming king. Begin to do that. You know what's gonna happen? A lot of the things that you're worried about and 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 ours. 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're 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'll 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 in 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, theology is important. You have some people say, I'm not a theologian, but I'm a prayer warrior.

Really. I'm a worshiper, but I 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 in 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 three, talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. You know what's happening in Hannah's mind?

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? Penaina.

Peninnah, who shot words at her and tried to bring her down and demolish her faith and her trust and her love for God. And here we see that this woman is saying, God not only heard my prayers, God heard the threats of Peninnah, and she knew that. You know what's amazing? We learned something about Peninnah 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 Hananiah Peninnah, 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 Peninnah was either operating under one of 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 and his nature and character, but she didn't think it applied to her life. See, the sad thing about Peninnah is 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. Your singing, your attendance, your giving, nothing because Peninnah was doing that.

Ultimately, Peninnah proved herself by her 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. It's ultimately proven by how we treat others.

It's ultimately proven in the nitty gritty of life, in conversation, in dealings, in actions, in 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 here, 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 four. And what happens between verse four and verse nine 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 four. Verse five, those who are full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who are hungry have ceased to hunger. Verse six, the Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. Verse seven, the Lord makes poor and makes rich.

He brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap. What what are we seeing here? God's acts in 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 she's declaring 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 as she declares one thing after the other, she comes to a climax here in verse 10.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Against them, he will thunder in heaven. The 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, Marfa. Thank you. Israel had no king at the time.

Why is she mentioning a king? Why is she talking as though there's somebody sitting on the throne? Yes, Diane. It is talking about the Lord. But here's the point.

She is seeing something. She's she's going from just prayer to prophecy, and she she's 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 is she talking about a king?

Is she seeing someone beyond David, beyond Solomon, beyond Saul? She's seeing 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 one and see this with me.

Luke one verse 67. And what's amazing is that Hannah's prayer, much of it, much of it resembles Mary's song in Luke chapter one as well. And 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. That's what 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. And so what we see here is that the 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 So you know what he says? Hey. Do you wanna live? Yes.

Then die. Die? Yeah. Die to yourself. Actually, die every day, and you'll know life.

Do you want a crown? Crown sounds good. Then carry this cross. I'm trying to understand what this means. Do you wanna 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 wanna be great? Yes?

Be a servant of all. We live a paradoxal life. We live in this great reversal. And at the first coming, he brought the greatest reversal concerning death and 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 behold 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 in verse 11? Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, and the boy was ministering to the Lord in 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's 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. They were worthless men.

They did not know the Lord. Now you heard this last week, but 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 Phineas, 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 representatives 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 gonna 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 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 fruit. And here's how we know that they did not know the Lord. Here's some characteristics. Here are some things that stand out about their behavior.

Verse 13. The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's 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 cauldron pot. 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 eighteen three, that's where you'll get your answer. And I'm not gonna read it to you.

You gotta turn there so you can see it for yourself. So you'll never forget. And Deuteronomy 18 verse three. What do we learn about the priest and the sacrificial system? And this shall be the priest due from the people from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a 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 tithe 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 they 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 belonged solely to God, what was supposed to sizzle in his presence untouched by men, was actually robbed by these men for the sake of their own desire.

Listen. Their greed was so intense that they were willing to come before innocent worshipers who had a genuine desire to give what is God's due and manipulated them and interrogated them and intimidated them so that they would have what belonged to God. And listen, it was so intense that they were willing to step in the arena of faith so that they can satisfy their selfish desires. And Paul calls this those who have their god as their belly or their belly as their god. And so these men were operating in 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 if 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 eight, we are told that there were some in the courtyard who were women that would serve at the tabernacle. It was voluntary, and we don't know what they did exactly. They could have helped 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. And 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 seduced them. You ready for a shocking statement? They slept with them in the sanctuary.

They lured them in. They used 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 gonna 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 a 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 four and see the language that Paul brings.

First Thessalonians four verse three. This is to Christians, to believers, to those who have been washing the blood of the lamb. First Thessalonians chapter four verse three. 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 four, that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor. So that's God's will. God's will, brothers and sisters in this place, God's will for each of us is to know self control in the area of sexuality. Right? Now look what he says next in verse five.

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. They're predatorial. They are serial, 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 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 wanna 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 four.

Look at verse seven and verse eight. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore, whoever disregards us you know what I'm saying? Whoever doesn't care about this kind of teaching, whoever hears what is being said and thinks that this is foolish, it's unrealistic, It's old school. It has no relevance to my life.

It it doesn't seem to be true. He says, disregard is 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 I think I wanna make a rule about sexual purity.

He says, no. This is God. This is God's desire. Now 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. 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 you 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, if I don't believe that in my private life I can remain holy, 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 who has a different definition and a different attitude towards this gift of sex. So may the Lord draw us closer to him. You know what's amazing here? When we come back to first Samuel chapter two, Eli's sons, what were their names?

What were their names? What was the name of the one? Hophni. 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 rising 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 spear, goes into the tent, and perhaps even in the act, penetrates a spear through the stomachs and kills them both. And I wonder to myself if 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 him Phineas. And unfortunately, you have two Phineases with two different approaches to the same sin. You had one Phineas that killed the compromise not only in his own life, but made us stand in front of others, in in front of his culture, in front of his own people, in front of his own compromising church. And then you had another Phineas that not only refused to kill the compromise, but invited it and lessened, it ended up killing him.

It ended up killing him. And so we come back here and we look in verse 15, and we see moreover of first Samuel two. Before the fat was burned, the pre the the priest's 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 somebody 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 wanna fulfill for yourself in your flesh, you are 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 gonna be very shocked.

And that's why in verse 17, we are 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 contempt. This is this is so discouraging. This is so sickening even. It almost is repulsive. But look what happens here in this contrast of verse 18.

Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy clothed with a linen ephod. It's like after just being told about all this mess and all this corruption and this vileness and this darkness, you get this little flicker of light. And here's this little boy, Samuel, and we are told he was ministering to the Lord. How? Good question.

Right? I mean, at this point, he could be, who knows, five, six, seven, eight. 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 were priests here. He wasn't 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 I don't know, but I think there's a hint. It's in chapter three verse 15, and I like to think that this is something that he did consistently.

First Samuel three fifteen. 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 and sacrifice. And we think that's so insignificant, so silly, maybe cute and adorable at best. 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. And 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 robe 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 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 compromise, it is absolutely necessary to encourage people in consecration. That you and I must be people to know how to 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 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 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 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's 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 have been on this steady path like Samuel. Even Samuels need encouragement. And don't think that for a moment, a a 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 wind 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 has 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 wanna bite my hand on the on that day.

I don't. I don't. The boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord. He wasn't just growing in stature only. He wasn't just growing in his physical world requiring a robe every single year.

No, he was growing in the spirit. And so you see Eli 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, and he's getting little facial hair and all these things, and what's happening? In the spirit, he's growing.

He'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 they forfeited that. They could have been the his mentor. They could have encouraged him. Imagine that. What a dynamic relationship that would have been.

Instead, they're 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 gonna be just as shocked 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 was 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 began to explain, and people are talking.

The whole nation is now realizing what is taking place, and they are informing the high priest. And and we're 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. No, my sons, 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 sons. No. People are coming up to me.

This doesn't look good. And he and he includes one thing to try to strike the fear of the Lord, and 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 sin directly against the Lord, who's gonna 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 can threaten them with hell. You can threaten them with judgment.

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, they 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 does Ezekiel tell us about God and his heart towards the wicked? Does he find pleasure in the death of the wicked? No.

Does he delight in showing mercy? Yes. So God is not predestining 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, where 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 when an unnamed man of God comes on the scene to rebuke Eli. And he says here in verse 29, why then do you scorn my sacrifices, he's speaking to Eli, and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me? Now, let's just 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 in 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 lash you tonight.

I really am not, but this is a heavy text, and I just wanna 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 wanna 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 in Eli's case. So he went straight to the heart of the matter. You honor your sons 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 sons above me. Now look at this.

We have to read our Bible slowly by fattening what? Somebody read it out loud. By fattening what? Yourselves. Is that plural or singular?

Does that include Eli or is that exclude Eli? It includes Eli by fattening yourselves on the choices parts of every offering of my people Israel. Do you understand what's happening? I remember when I first read this, not too this is long ago. Actually, I read this and I thought to myself, I can't believe it.

And I circled the world yourselves. Cause you know what happened? We learned that they would take the fat that belonged to the Lord, and we aren't told what they did 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 thought, well, we this is the Lord's. Yeah.

But God's not gonna do anything, dad. Come on. I mean, it's just gonna sizzle there anywhere and 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 the other day. Eat with us.

And Eli was salivating in himself. He's saying, let's do it. And he began to make it a practice. And the prophet comes and he says, you fattened yourself with your sons. No wonder there was no weight to his rebuke when he rebuked them.

So he comes to the son and says, sons, no, it's, we're not supposed to be doing this. And, and their minds are thinking, you just finished eating what belonged to the Lord for lunch today with us. You're gonna 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, in our example, in 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 emboldened them to continue the way they were. But Eli himself would pay for his own compromise.

Go to first Samuel four 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 mention 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. And you know what contributed to his weight?

His compromise. Profound. Whatever you sow, that you will reap. And so this man coming back, this prophet, 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 ourself, this is so, this is so discouraging. This is so disheartening, but I wanna 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 the 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 or 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 no, no, 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 the well, they've been in ministry for x amount of years. That doesn't matter. That 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 him, 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? Did 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 house 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 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, when you lose grip, when you lose grip, when you lose grip, when you lose 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 to 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 they didn't 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 it 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 began 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 about 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 gonna get two more insights in 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 fathers should go in out before me forever. But now the Lord declares, far be it from me. For those who honor me, I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Number one, if you wanna know something about 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 offerings, sleeping with women in the house of God. I mean, look, all it takes in my books is 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 priest 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 and 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 wanna know the second thing? When there is much spiritual compromise, especially in spiritual leadership, one, God knows how to bring up and bring down. And two, 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 is this, while there is so much chaos, lack of prophetic voices, holy men of God, holy women of God, the Lord has someone else that he's gonna 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 boy Samuel continued 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 in in the human point of view, we're thinking this is disastrous. We're not gonna 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 it anymore, but people send me links. I go on this, I go on that, they send me links, blogs, I find this, I go on the news, next person falls, this person falls, this ministry's embezzling, this ministry's scandals. What do I do with this? Well, God, you're cleaning house. And two, you have someone in mind.

You're gonna 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 is 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 gonna be any Phineas, make me the one that made a stance. 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 wanna 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 long 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 and to 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 a people. Make us a 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, that she was in constant communion with her God. Lord, we wanna be a people who know how to walk with you in all seasons of life.

We wanna be a people who know to come to you when we're broken, but also come to you when we're whole. So Lord, 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've 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. It didn't move them a bit. Lord, keep us tender. Keep us soft. Keep us 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.