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“Let Us Not Forget” • 2.22.15 •
Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- In our previous study, the Holy Spirit left us with a disturbing
profile of priestly life in Shiloh.
- The High Priest Eli's sons were wretched
thieves, stealing God's offering and sexually preying on His servant girls.
These weren't isolated incidents, but well known facts.
- In the chapter before us, Eli is called to
account. What would God say to Him? What were the sources of his failure? How
can we avoid falling into God's disfavor?
- This section provides us with the clarity
that we'll need to avoid that state!
Intro.
• I Samuel 2:27-29 : "Then a
man of God came to Eli and said to him, 'Thus says the Lord: ‘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 an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the house of your father all
the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? Why do you kick at My sacrifice and
My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons
more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of
Israel My people?’" : This
man of God is not identified reminding us that God can and will use anyone.
Unlike the many others who had spoken, this one had Eli's attention.
- This will be the first of two
messages and neither one will be good! God begins with His faithful history
with the people of Israel.
- God clearly revealed Himself to Israel
during the days of their sojourn in Egypt. This is a great understatement! God
decimated the gods of Egypt and delivered a slave nation to freedom!
- God points back to a time of
great deliverance as an example of His power to change conditions and the
faithful extremes that He goes to on account of His people.
- Beyond the general choice of
Israel to be the elect of God, the Levites were specially chosen by God for
intimate and exclusive service! The Levites were double chosen!
- The Levites alone could offer
upon God's altar. They alone were allowed to have access into the Holy Place to
burn incense. They alone wore the vestments.
- They were a people of tremendous
privilege, chosen for the highest office and the most intimate relation to the
Lord.
- The offerings of God's people,
the food of God Himself was to be eaten by them alone. In essence, they dined
daily at God's table! No other tribe could boast of such access to God.
- "Don't you remember?"
Reflection often stirs our hearts to return with love! God asks Eli pointedly: "Why
do you despise my offerings?" "Why do you tread My offerings under your
feet."
- They kicked them aside like a worthless
item that was simply in their way. It was means to an end. Eli had set aside
the honor of God and chose instead to honor his sons.
- Eli should have rebuked the
priests under his supervision. Instead he showed them respect by allowing them
to remain in their positions because they were his sons.
- They had gorged themselves and
taken the best that had been offered to God for themselves. Eli had ignored his
Lord's command for the sake of someone else's honor.
- How many people have made the
same mistake! You cannot expect to have a fruitful relationship with the Lord
if you honor some thing or person above Him!
• I Samuel 2:30-33 : "Therefore
the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed
that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But
now the Lord says: ‘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 that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s
house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. And you will see an enemy in My
dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. And there shall
not be an old man in your house forever. But any of your men whom I do not
cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all
the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age." : Listen again to those first words:
The Lord God of Israel says! There is no higher authority in your life and mine
than He. Recognize and recall that to mind!
- In this particular case, God had
made a promise conditioned upon their behavior, which is a very key element to
remember in the Old Testament.
- God's entire covenant with Israel
was conditioned upon their obedience. For the Levites to serve as Priests was
guaranteed, if they carried the office with the appropriate respect.
- But Eli had not, which now brings
about this profound rebuke. "Far be it from Me!" This is the language
of cursing! Eli had not honored the Lord! Consequently, he will be lightly
esteemed.
- The HCSB puts it best when they
employ the word "disgraced!" God then spells out Eli's doom. He would
cut off Eli's arm, as well as the arm of his Father's house.
- The arm speaks of their strength,
which God would cut off. He would be the final old man in his line. The people
of God equated age, a good long life, with God's favor and blessing.
- Eli's final day would end with
the enemy in sight. His life work will have been a waste!
- Shiloh will be lost. The place of
rest for Israel will lie in ruins. God returns to the theme of his own house
for it will be the same fate. Not one old man!
- Even the ones that are not cut
off from His altar will be a source of constant grief to him. They will not
bring him any amount of joy.
- Every descendant of his house
would be cut down in their prime years, just as they are about to bloom! You
might take issue with this, as though God were punishing others for Eli's sins.
- God looks down the line at the
choices that Eli had made and saw that his children would indeed make the same
godless choices. God never punishes a person for their parent's sin.
- But understand that your children
will follow your choices to a greater degree than you, generally speaking. God
is telling Eli that he was forfeiting a godly heritage!
- It may not matter to you now as
you casually approach Christianity, but it will matter when your kids raise
your grandkids in a potentially godless way! That will be a grief to you in
that day!
• I Samuel 2:34-36 : "Now this
shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and
Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. Then I will raise up for Myself a
faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I
will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever. And it shall come to pass that
everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of
silver and a morsel of bread, and say, 'Please, put me in one of the priestly
positions, that I may eat a piece of bread.'" : God offers Eli a token that will
prove the whole: It will begin with his two sons that he honored more than God.
- When we honor anything above God,
we can expect to see that thing, person or position brought down to it's proper
position!
- God will not share His glory, His
position in your life with anything else! That isn't meant to be punitive. God
knows that whatever you honor above Him will ruin your life! He seeks to bless
it!
- When He has the proper place in
your life, you will find His greatest blessings abounding!
- His two sons would die on the
same day. Eli will not see it, but he will hear about it. They had tempted God,
they had presumed upon His goodness and now they will die for that.
- God will settle every account.
There isn't one person who will get away with robbing Him.
- Hophni and Phinehas have run
outside of the boundaries of His grace, which is amazing!
- At this point, you might think
that God would finally set aside the Priesthood and the idea of communing with
His people. "Let's just raze it to the ground!"
- But, in another testament to God's
faithfulness, He already has a replacement in mind! Instead of giving up, God
has been raising up a faithful priest for Himself!
- God's resolve to continue to meet
His people is astounding! Israel has strayed as far as possible, but God
continues to faithfully reach out! What kind of priest is he preparing?
- Did you notice that? God puts a
premium on faithfulness. Not talent or dynamic skill. Faithful, reliable,
people who will do what He says, a person who acts according to God's decree!
- Eli and his sons knew the right
things and could quote them from memory. They refused however, to do what God
commanded!
- There should be an understanding
in your heart that what I am presenting is nothing less than God's commands,
especially as we take pains to work through scripture expositorily.
- If you would find yourself on the
list of God's faithful priests, believers, you must make doing God's will your
priority!
- This faithful priest would have a
secure house and would be assured of His place before God forever! What a
promise!
- Immediately, this refers to
Samuel, who will act as the first of God's priests, tasked with annointing
God's Kings for service.
- Around 130 years from now, this
will be fulfilled in a man named Zadok, who will replace Eli's family line
during King Solomon's reign.
- Ultimately, this prophecy will be
fulfilled in Jesus, whose priesthood will continue for eternity according to
that which had been ascribed to Melchizedek!
- As for Eli's line, they will be
impoverished, begging for just the slightest hints of bread.
- They will go from having it all
by theft, to being bereft of it all! It will be riches to rags for them!
• I Samuel 3:1-9 : "Now the boy Samuel ministered to
the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was
no widespread revelation. And it came to pass at that time, while Eli was lying down in
his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, and before the lamp of God went out
in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, that the Lord called Samuel. And he answered,
'Here I am!' So
he ran to Eli and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' And he said, 'I did not
call; lie down again.' And he went and lay down. Then the Lord called yet again, 'Samuel!' So
Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' He
answered, 'I did not call, my son; lie down again.' (Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.) And the Lord called Samuel again the third
time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said, 'Here I am, for you did call me.' Then Eli perceived that the Lord had called the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, 'Go, lie down; and it shall
be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ So Samuel went and lay down in
his place." : The time
of the Judges was a time of great apostasy, so every word from the Lord was
precious!
- The last phrase of verse one speaks to the
breaking through to a vision. People could not see where they were headed!
- Where would they find light? Not in the
Tabernacle! Did you notice that the light was going out!? Very poetic! The lamp
was indeed emitting it's final flickers.
- During that time, when Eli's health was in
decline and before God's enemy's invaded Shiloh, Samuel laid down to rest and
heard a voice that he mistakenly assumed was Eli's.
- It is very early in the morning and Samuel at
the sound of what he assumed to be Eli's voice, rose quickly to serve! What a
great picture of the kind of servant God had!
- Samuel went three times to Eli because he had
not yet known the Lord. Samuel had been too young! He had never received a
message from the Lord to that point.
- When Eli understood that God was talking to
him, he instructed him with what to say.
- Can you imagine this moment? Remember that
Eli was communicated to by proxy, a third party which delivered a message of
doom to him. Here, God is speaking directly to Samuel!
- Eli was the High Priest and God has decided
that it's time to speak to one of the errand boys! God will honor those who
honor Him! Samuel went with the words to respond in tow.
• I Samuel 3:10-14 : "Now the Lord came and stood and called as at
other times, 'Samuel! Samuel!' And Samuel answered, 'Speak, for Your servant hears.'
Then the Lord said to Samuel: 'Behold, I will do something in Israel at
which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have
spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for
the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did
not restrain them. And therefore I have sworn
to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by
sacrifice or offering forever.'" : Samuel was visited by the Lord physically in his very room!
- He came and stood! This is a pre-incarnate
Messiah standing alongside of him.
- Listen to his response: "Speak, for your
servant hears!" The word carries the significance of listening for
instruction with the intent to obey immediately! That's the only worthy
response for God!
- Samuel breathlessly responds with his
memorized words and the Lord speaks to Samuel for the first time in his life!
God was about to bring something to pass that would inspire quivering ears!
- The word speaks of a large bell that rings so
loudly, it leaves the ear drums in constant reflex!
- Great fear will come upon the nation when
they hear of what is about to happen. What will happen coincides with God's
judgment falling upon Eli.
- He tells Samuel that He will bring these
things to pass on account of the iniquity that Eli knew about. He had known
that his sons had defiled themselves and he did nothing to restrain them!
- Eli's rebuke is further revealed to be a
hollow, empty, obligatory threat! Eli did not discipline them as he should of
and now there is no hope! There is no way for his line to be atoned!
- The sacrifice that they had trampled
underfoot was of no help to them.
• I Samuel 3:15-18 : "So Samuel lay down until morning,
and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel and said,
'Samuel, my son!' He
answered, 'Here I am.' And he said, 'What is
the word that the Lord spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. God do so to
you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that He said
to you.' Then Samuel told him everything, and
hid nothing from him. And he said, 'It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.'" : Notice it doesn't say that Samuel
went back to sleep! There's no doubt that he was up the rest of the night!
- When the morning came, he went about his duty,
which consisted of opening the doors to the house of the Lord! "What!? I
received a word from God Himself and I'm opening doors!?"
- There's not even a hint of entitlement! He
carries out his service just as he had before, albeit being overwhelmed at having
been told of Eli's fate!
- By the way, don't think for a second that
this isn't significant! You know that Samuel was beginning to notice how bad
things had become.
- Here, he has engaged in a new relationship to
God and he doesn't seek to supplant Eli. In fact, out of love and respect for
the man, he fears to bring things up!
- Do you ever wonder where David would later
get his resolve not to touch the Lord's annointed? I'm sure Samuel brought this
to his mind!
- "Yeah, I had to deal with Eli and his
sons. But God took care of them, David!
- Eli wasted little time in inquring about what
God had spoken to him, asking him to tell everything that he had heard. Here is
a first test that Samuel will have to pass.
- Will he fear men or God? Will he hide these
things from Eli or lay out what had been told him, especially given the fact
that it was negative.
- Eli had been like a Father to him, which is
seen in how he greets him. Now,
Samuel has to tell this beloved man the truth. To his credit, Samuel told him
everything! He didn't hold back one whit!
- Eli knew that this had been God speaking. He
confirmed that this was indeed God's word and resigns himself to his fate.
"Let Him do what seems good to Him."
• I Samuel 3:19-21 : "So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his
words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been
established as a prophet of the Lord. Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in
Shiloh by the word of the Lord." : God
honored Samuel's ministry as he grew. None of his prophecies failed. Not one
one was wasted! This was how God confirmed Samuel's position.
- It was known everywhere he went in Israel
that God was the one that had made him a prophet! God allowed all of Israel to
see His presence manifest at Shiloh once again.
Conclusion
- As we close, I find in this section 3 keys to
falling into God's displeasure. I find that the key revolves around what we
forget.
- First, forget where you came from.
Like Israel, you were a slave without hope set free to serve Him in close
relation. He saved you and made you His!
- Second, forget who you work for.
Eli honored his sons above his Lord. Who will you honor the most with your
time, talent and treasure?
- Whose opinion will count in a thousand years?
Measure your priorities against this truth!
- Finally, forget your job description.
God expects faithful, reliable, humble servants who listen with the intent to
carry out His orders.
- Samuel discovered that the scripture is true
when it says, "Humble yourself and He shall lift you up!"