1st Samuel chapter 2 tonight, 1st Samuel chapter 2, page 289, and we're continuing our reflection tonight in this section with Eli and his sons and the Lord dealing with this terrible problem in Israel. It's the darkest section in the book, you'll understand, and when we see these dark sections we remember that the light is ready to shine at a moment like this where the Lord is overturning this to bring his priest so let's hear the word of the Lord we'll begin 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 on my altar to burn incense to wear an ephod before me i gave to the house of your father all of my offerings by fire from the people of israel why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that i commanded for my dwelling and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choices parts of every offering of my people Israel therefore the Lord the God of Israel declares I promise that your house and the house of your father should go in and 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 behold the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on israel and there shall not be an old man in your house forever the only one of you whom i shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men and this shall come upon your two sons hophni and phinehas shall be assigned to you both of them shall die on the same day 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 he should go in and out before my anointed forever and everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say please put me in one of the priest places that i may eat a morsel of bread and there is the reading of god's word well i think this is uh is such an important section of scripture because uh it really is giving us a perspective of god's view of the ministry and when things go astray when you have apostasy in the ministry when the abuses come to this kind of degree you get a real sense of what the lord thinks about this and how the lord handles this it is um it's a scary thing to mess with the ministry and we'll see why tonight again because what is at stake is the announcement of of forgiveness of sins and the gospel and grace to you the lord desires that you know his love and that you grow in that love and that the ministry be that, one of reconciliation. This is what Paul said the ministry is. It's a ministry of reconciliation, reconciling sinners to God. But tonight, what I like about this particular section, what is so helpful about this section is it gives us perspective about the kinds of abuses in the ministry, what brings them about, and how the Lord is going to deal with this. we read something shocking at the end of verse 25, don't we? I read it over somewhat fast last time, but it's important to capture it. The second part, but they would not listen to the voice of their father for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death. Don't miss that. One of the most chilling verses in all of Scripture, isn't it? That things had escalated and become this far out of control. They were past the point of repentance. They were past the point of turning back. They had been so far given over in their sins that at this point, God had determined it was over. We live in a day, of course, where everything is mercy and no judgment. and this is why it correlates so nicely with what we we considered tonight in the heidelberg catechism god is a just judge and god does punish and the scriptures teach it there is most certainly a judgment and eli's sons had reached this point of being given over and now this is where we are in israel with regard to the priestly service this is this is where it's come to it's a big point and now what we have beginning at verse 27 is the lord now speaking through a servant you'll notice here that he sends a servant a prophet to speak the word of the lord in the midst of this chaos and in the midst of this mess 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 and to wear an ephod for me you have what many have recognized is a classic covenant lawsuit where the prophet will come and he will speak and he will exercise and give a lawsuit from the Lord. You remember when Sinai was given and the priesthood was established with Aaron and his sons, they had promised to abide by that covenant and to keep the laws and the statutes or the curses would then fall upon them. Well, here God is executing those curses not on the whole line of Aaron, but on the the line of eli which is interesting isn't it that that the line with the curses would fall on the line of eli and the house of shiloh which is is interesting that this was always intended to be something in israel's history that they could look back to as the prototype of where judgment would land if they rejected the lord and his ministry and this is exactly what we have here then uh this man of god we're not told who it is this prophet is sent by by the lord and he begins to speak what the lord told him to speak and in any lawsuit the lord would bring uh his charges his accusations through his prophet but it usually came um preceding with a clear call of how faithful god had been to what he said he would do so you notice that here did i not clearly reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in egypt in pharaoh's house did i not choose him out of all the tribes of israel to be my priest to offer upon my altar to burn incense and to wear the ephod i and did i not give to your to the house of your father all the offerings so that the children the children of israel made by fire it's an amazing sort of preamble here an introduction to this suit because the lord begins to capture for us the real blessing of the ministry the intention of it you'll notice here that certain things are said that the lord himself is emphasizing about what the ministry should be what the ministry is, how it should function. And remember all those sections that we studied in Exodus when this was all established and the meaning of these things. Remember how wonderful that was that the Lord was establishing this priestly service. What is the first thing God says here? He says, I chose you to serve, Eli. Ministry is God choosing people. we saw this with paul didn't we and and barnabas god sovereignly chooses people to serve it's always been one of the most humbling things for leaders that god for for um for his purposes chooses us and gives us the great blessing to serve the gospel and the ministry to you that is a privilege sometimes people will feel sorry for pastors for how hard it is i appreciate that thank you but i want you to know this is a great blessing this is the greatest thing that that the lord could have done to give this and we feel totally insufficient for it but we should look at all service that way shouldn't we that god out of the good pleasure of His will gave us an opportunity and a place to serve Him and as to be servants, especially if we're pastors, if we're training to be pastors. What a wonderful thing that God uses sinners and that God accomplishes this and accomplishes His will through this. Notice secondly what He says here. Leaders are really called to consider what God has chosen them to be a part of, what they are to do in the ministry. says three things i chose you to offer on my altar to burn incense and to wear an ephod before me you remember all that from exodus this is test time right when you walked in the courtyard you would walk up and you would see the massive remember piece of furniture and it was an altar of burnt offering there and the priests were were there and and and the amazing thing is this altar never stopped burning leviticus 6 12 and the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it it shall not be put out and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning and lay the burnt offering in order on it and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings a fire shall always be burning on the altar it shall never go out the priest's job was to make atonement for sins israel would be taught the gospel this way Israel Israel would be taught the great truth that we learned right from the beginning without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins so think of the design remember that the smoke would go up and and the imagery of the tabernacle was the smoke would enter the holy place and then the most holy place and that would be an aroma pleasing to the lord well he wanted the priests to tell the people what all this meant they were to preach the gospel They were to talk about Jesus. They were to minister salvation. The third thing he says, did I not choose you to wear the ephod before me? Remember that? It was that large sleeveless vest that went on the shoulders and hung with two big straps. And two beautiful onyx stones were there and on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones. And remember, on those stones, 6 and 6 were the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. And the imagery was that the priests were picking up the people and bearing them and carrying them into the presence of God. The names of God's people, His tribes. And they would wear the breastplate, remember? Around the names of the tribes of Israel would be on the breastplate, signifying these people are close to God. and intercessors praying, caring, ministering the Gospel, caring for the people in this way. And then the Lord says to him, and you know what? I provided for you guys in every way. You were very well taken care of, dear priests. God always wanted His priests to be well taken care of. And they were. They were full. Remember what happened? Remember what they were doing? They were stealing the sacrifices of the people. They were totally disregarding the law of God by not following anything that the Lord had told them to do. So all these worshipers would come up and they would present their offerings to the Lord to say, thank you for the gospel, and they would steal it. So that the people ended up hating the ministry, despising the ministry. And then, you saw exactly what happened after that. They made a little brothel out there. Lying with the women out in front of the tabernacle. It's just, it's a sad, terrible scene. The biggest being, when the Lord charged them, that they had completely pushed away the mediator, Jesus. You remember that in verse 25, the big indictment. If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him? In other words, we sin against one another, God will mediate. But what you're doing to the sacrificial system, what you're doing is shoving away the mediator himself. What then? What then? And that's the seriousness of Christian ministry. For if the leadership has become corrupt and they are shoving away Jesus, what are you doing? What is it? It's not benefiting your souls at all. You see, the worst part of this was Eli's sons did not know the Lord. That's the saddest thing, isn't it? They didn't know Him. They didn't know Him. so that was the introduction to all of this and and the shocking indictment from the lord here's my question tonight that i want us to think about for a few minutes what in the world would bring this about how did it get to this how could something like this get this far out of control. Look at verse 29 tonight. As the man of God is speaking, he then goes on and says something powerful. Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people israel there it is it's an interesting word uh there when it says why do you literally kick at my sacrifices it's like he they took a ball and just kicked them as far as they could away they kicked the provisions of the lord right on out into the field now if you're reading it the way that you should you're starting to think listen listen to what he's saying why are you kicking at the provision of my son why are you kicking at the provision of my son by honoring your sons more this is really the heart of it you honor your sons more than me by making yourselves fat. Eli had given a ridiculous rebuke. If you looked back to verse 23, you see it. And he's talking to his sons and Eli says, why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil doings from all of these people. Notice what he says. No, my sons, it's no good report, I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. Are you worried about reputation here? Couldn't you discern for yourself, Eli? Did you have to listen to the voice of the people? Could you not come as the priest and deal with this? Eli here is specifically charged with honoring his sons more than the lord what was really the the issue well i um i was giving thought to this he had terribly neglected his responsibility as a father and in his priestly role to admonish his own sons eli is um an old man at this point in fact the text says very old what seems to come across it here is that Eli had been neglecting this for years obviously Eli knew what his sons were doing we can be sure that all the signs of rebellion were there and that the actions were there I'm I'm stuck thinking about how does how does a father and how does a priest not look at his sons and see these kind of things when everyone else does he's willing to say they were wrong he was willing to point out the sin when it was exposed but he was unwilling to do anything about it listen to what he says why do you do these things for I hear can't you assess it Eli can't you stop it Eli well God says that you did nothing to stop this we're all waiting for the next step Eli we're waiting to hear what Eli is going to do nothing's recorded he didn't stop it he did nothing when it was in his power to stop it he did nothing further there's a lot of play in samuel on words and you'll notice the word fat is being played on a lot that they were coming in and they weren't burning off the fat so the lord says you're getting fat off all of the offerings of the people so that when Eli finally dies his chair breaks because he was so fat off the offerings that his sons were stealing you see this is a tragedy you're honoring them says the Lord more than me fifth commandment says honor your father and your mother to the children children honor your father and your mother doesn't it say then to parents don't honor your children more than the lord eli i stand back from eli and he's somewhat of an enigma to me but i believe i believe and only the lord knows the heart i don't doubt that the man was a believer but he was a totally passive aggressive father completely out of touch with his sons refusing to lead in the house of god i hear from the people says eli can't you see it yourself the main point here is eli spoke against it but wasn't willing to act against it and now it was too late and here i think we have a great point of application that this is a great problem in our day not only with the cult of the child amazing to me it is that when it comes with our children we're willing to make great compromises amazing we can become so blind to reality when it comes to our own children the greatest of us most reactions against what we do in the church today has everything to do, in my experience as a pastor, has a lot to do with a fear of our children's reactions to it. I get this all the time in the ministry. Parents are so afraid of how their children are going to respond to the ministry. And if we do things that are seemingly off-putting, and this is the way they base their parenting and leadership. So we're willing today to disregard the holiness of God and honor our children more than we are the Lord. We see this so common in worship. It all has to do with the children, a lot of it. Well, if we do this with the children, what do you think we do to the church? I think Ralph Davis says it right. How easy it is to practice a gutless compassion that never wants to offend anyone, that equates niceness with love, and thereby ignores God's law and essentially despises His holiness. It's not surprising that the Bible says to us that if you can't manage your house, how in the world are you going to be able to manage the church of the Lord? But here it comes together tonight. No discipline in the home. And therefore, the relationship then has transferred that there's no discipline in the church. It goes hand in hand. In fact, I've often thought to myself, those who despise church discipline the most, where you're going to see the lack of it and the greatest offense of it is something that they had never practiced in their own home. So they transfer that right on into the church. We are like Eli, when in the church we say, well, we shouldn't be critical, we shouldn't say anything is wrong, there should be no discipline, all equating niceness with love, while what's happening? God's ministry is being kicked over. Meet Eli. When we honor men and live in the fear of people more than the Lord, we commit the sin of Eli. It's the same thing. So this is where we are. And the Lord now gives the great declaration of what He's going to do to Eli's house. He says, Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off the arm, in the arm, verse 32, of your father's house. You'll notice that there. The strength of your father's house. So there will not be an old man in your house. Then in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out, to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men and this will come upon your two sons Hophni and Phinehas in one day both of them shall die that's a sign to you the immediate fulfillment of this prophecy would happen when all the line would be wiped out except Abathar and then Solomon himself would remove abathar from being priest uh in the house of the lord and it says this later on in first kings 2 so solomon removed abathar from being priest to the lord so that he might fulfill the word of the lord which was spoke concerning the house of eli at shiloh abathar wept the arm was done. Then he says something in verse 34. This will be a sign to you that your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, in one day shall die both of them. You'll remember this. This is coming in the next chapters that in chapter four, the Philistines are going to come. They're going to take away the ark. You remember that Israel sets the ark out in the middle of the battlefield thinking that if they just use the ark like a magic wand, they can beat the Philistines. The whole thing gets taken and what happens to Hophni and Phinehas in that battle they die and a servant comes back to Eli and runs to tell him and then he falls over in his chair because he was heavy it says and he died the glory had departed from Israel it's one of the saddest moments I think in the scriptures it's one of the hardest moments to read in the Scriptures of judgment beginning where? At the house of God. At the house of God. Peter said that. Peter has said very clearly that it is time for judgment to begin where? At the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will happen with those who do not believe the Gospel? You see, this phenomenon has always been working its way out in the church. And the Lord has always promised that He will not let this stuff go on indefinitely. The Lord has promised He's going to defend His church. The Lord has promised He's going to keep His church from this corruption of the ministry. And He's constantly doing it now. and He will do it on that day when He finally puts an end to all the corruption and we enter into glory. But you say, well, what is the hope in the midst of all this? Where is there an answer in the midst of all this? I trust you saw it. It's a really powerful answer. It's a beautiful answer. In the midst of this, God said something that should make us tremble. If we read the Bible the way that we should, A greater story is being told here. Failure after failure after failure after failure. What does the Lord say here in 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. Who's doing the building? And he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. and everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, please put me in one of the priest's places that I may eat a morsel of bread. In the darkest moment of Israel's history comes a promise. A priest is coming. It would be fulfilled in a type, a shadowy kind of way in the Old Testament, and we'll talk about that later. But this is looking at a grander story. A greater priest to come. That all the Bible had been anticipating and promised to us all the way back from Genesis. Who is this? He's a priest king. Hebrews tells us, For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest. Holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Who is that? Boys and girls, who is that? It's Jesus. He's your prophet. He's your priest. And He's your King. He was faithful. And think of this great truth. What is the point we're saying, says Hebrews? We have such a high priest. One who is seated at the right hand of God at the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord has set up and not man. The most amazing thing about this is this priest has built the house. This priest will keep his people. This priest has been faithful. This priest has loved you. This priest has never done anything wrong by you. This priest has only demonstrated care and compassion and cares to minister continually on your behalf. Never messing it up. Always caring for you. Always loving you. I'm amazed by this passage in the sense that in the darkest moment of history, When everything had seemed to be lost, God had already been anticipating this and in showing us this through the coming of Samuel, a word that would be spoken, but the coming of a greater priest who would deliver you and set you free. And He is zealous for His house. It kind of makes you appreciate now, doesn't it? When Jesus walks into the house of the Lord and He looks around and they had made the whole thing a swap meet stealing from the people and he grabs a whip of cords makes one and he flips over the table and he starts whipping you shall not do this to the house of prayer zeal for the lord's house had eaten him up and zeal for the ministry that he had come to restore for you this is your high priest this is your savior and this is the ministry he has committed to keep to the end you will never have to fear losing this because jesus is the priest who loves you and cares for you let's thank him tonight heavenly father thank you for this truth and thank you for revealing him all over the pages of scripture to show us what we need and to show us why the house of God often needs to be cleansed. For this is what ministries become when people don't know You. And when it's selfishly motivated. And when Jesus and the ministry of reconciliation is kicked to the side. In this day, we realize that we need this to happen again as painful as it is to say. Judgment needs to begin in the house of God. We need a thorough cleansing of the house. We need the Lord Jesus to purge, to cleanse. And we have total confidence that as our great high priest, He will. So, make your praise perfected again in the hearts and lives of your people in this day. May it be that your people want to come up to the house of the Lord to receive reconciliation, forgiveness, and present their offerings with great joy. Return the ministry, O Lord, from these false shepherds. And may the good shepherd and his ministry prevail and be seen and known in the hearts and lives of Your people as it is among those who believe Your Gospel today. Thank You for being faithful to Your promises. And thank You for delivering us from those who would destroy us. For the grace that we've received, we praise you today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.