Why do you do such things? For I. Here of your evil dealings. from all the people. Eli wanted peace in his home, as did Adam.
and they both failed to keep Peace. with God and therefore they ended up losing Everything ended up in pieces. Because their peace Was not with God first, everything ended up in pieces. Love must not appease on serious matters. You're listening to Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston.
Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with his continuing teaching through the second chapter of 1 Samuel on today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. There are those that try to corrupt this.
I don't know how Christians can do this. It's like a Christian saying you shouldn't go to church. When the Bible says you're forsaking the assembly, you are. A-W-O-L. Absent without leave, you're out of formation, you have an unauthorized absence.
But Christians do this. I've heard people say pastors shouldn't get paid. Or people shouldn't tithe. Then what do you sit on when you come to church? You bring a basket with you, it's just insanity.
And, you know, don't put up with it.
Someone says that. I won't hear it. Just if you can. If you've got a gun on you, maybe you might not want to say that. Anyway.
I don't know how much to stay on this. Of course, I racked my brains going over. Going over the Levitical laws is just really hard. Because so much of it is not clear, and some of it is very clear. Anyway.
The first act of every peace offering was the animal was, of course. Slaughtered and butchered, and the blood was taken and sprinkled on the altar by the priest. He would go through this: the burning of the fat, that was the bread for God, that was his part of the meal because it was a piecemeal, a communion meal with God. That would be his share. The meat would be the share.
Of the worshipper, they would consume the meat after the priest got the breast of the animal and the right thigh. What's happening here is they're taking more. including the fat. And we'll see the protest in a minute. I don't think there's anything else I should add, verse 14.
Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot. And the priest would take for himself all that the flesh hook brought up, So they did in Shiloh. to all the Israelites who came there. Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come, And say to the man who sacrificed, give meat for roasting to the priest. For he will not take Boiled meat from you, but raw.
In verse 16, And if the man said to him, they should really burn the fat first. then you may take as much as your heart desires. He would then answer him, no. But you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force. It's a thug priest.
Imagine a pastor at the door with a gun. Where's your tithe money? I'll take it now.
Sorry, no checks, credit card cash. Uh it's just this craziest thing. Dissatisfied with their specified portions of the law, they sent their apprentice to start, you know. Strong-arming the people, extorting them. Whatever the three-pong, this trident, whatever it grabbed from the pot, the priest would take.
And never mind its preparation. And that's why the man protested: saying, No, let's do the fat first. That goes to the Lord. That's why I'm bringing my offering here. You're corrupting my offering.
Can't argue much with a guy who's got a trident in his hand, and And all you've got is a cow. Uh anyway uh This is um Robbery. They were stealing from the plate of God. Verse 17: Therefore, the sin of the young men. was very great before Yahweh.
For men abhorred the offering of Yahweh. That was a bombshell crime. This ruined worship. Elkinah had to deal with this. He had just looked, we're coming up here for the Lord.
What they're going to do with this, we just got to focus on the Lord. I'm sure that's how a godly man would have dealt with this. He says, I'm not going to be deterred from coming to God's house because of them. At least that's what I would have done with it. And If you Verse 17, Therefore, the sin of the young man was very great before Yahweh, for the men abhorred the offering of Yahweh.
But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, even as a child wearing a linen ephod.
So there's your stark contrast again. Treat God like these two guys treated God and see what happens to you, right? In verse 18, back to Samuel.
Now he's wearing this linen ephod. And again, carrying out the chores he's serving. The temple was a perpetual work site. Always dealing with sin. That was the whole thing of the temple.
God dealing with sinners, not forsaking sinners, not walking away, not saying, you know what, you get no house of worship. You're a sinner, stay away from me. That's not what the temple is. The temple was: I know you're sinners. Come, come to the house, bring the sacrifices, stay mindful of what has caused this separation between man and God.
So, this perpetual work site, the recurrent cleansing that was available, that is available to us in Christ, the blood of Christ. Blood has to flow to cleanse. You hold your arm up in the air long enough, the blood stops flowing, is not cleaning out what it's supposed to clean out, all of a sudden it starts hurting. Dr. Paul Brand goes in detail in these things in his two books, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, and in His Image.
Um Samuel here is a picture of childhood innocence. Innocence in this sense. is ignorance of evil. He doesn't know what's going on. He's a little child.
He's cute. He's walking around with his little e-fodd on. And mom makes him, she makes robes for him. He's just his cute little booties on. And he's just doing his thing.
It's a beautiful picture. But the goodness of innocence is also untested. That's why we discourage too early our baptism. We won't deny it, but we don't encourage it because we want the people to come to a place where we say, Jesus Christ is my Lord. I love him.
I want to be with him. I side with his people because I side with him. And I encourage you, you who have not been baptized, when you will say, you know, I am ready, Jesus is my Lord, and I have been tested. I know what it's like to be tempted, but He is still my God. You come and you be baptized.
It is a sermon. It is a you are driving a stake in the ground, and you are saying, This is God's property, Satan, not yours. Verse 19, Ergo, bought by the blood of the Lamb. Moreover, verse 19, his mother used Used to make him a little robe and bring it to him year by year. And she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
Well, this is an emphasis in the first two chapters that they were diligent in their worship. And you know, she's estimating his size, you know, exactly. You know, she can't wait. She's making this thing, however, she's doing it. And Elkanah, the husband, comes and sees her working on it.
What did Panina say? You know, hopefully, she repented. But it's a cute little scene. Year by year, she came up. With her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
Faithful to.
So here they are faithful. Not forsaking, Hebrews 10:25, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some. Instead, now catch this part. Instead exhorting one another so much the more As you see the day approaching. Encouraging each other.
Let's go. David said, I was glad when we went in the throng to the house of God. This is the, you know, let's go to church Sunday. I remember going with my brother, you know, when we both got saved as adults, my brothers, and we would just encourage each other. You're going to church Sunday?
Yeah, I'm going to church Sunday. That's how it should be. And that's a picture of Elkanah. Could you imagine? Could you imagine Hannah's saying to Elkanah, Are you going to your your appointed feast this year?
And I'll kind of say Why are you asking that question? Of course, we're going. And maybe her truckling or something, just because he knew it would get him. This would these were faithful people, and we could learn a lot from them. You should love the house of God, not because it is so lovable all the time, but because Christ loves it.
Bought the church with his blood, the Bible tells us. That's what he thinks about. The body of Christ on its assembly level. There's the world, there's the universal church. Yes, there is, and it is a glorious thing.
You can meet a Christian you've never met before. You can be in Sri Lanka and meet somebody who's a Christian, and just you're right away, you've got the same Lord, and you know it. That's the universal church. But then there's the local church. And if you kill the local church after a while, you won't have a universal church.
Verse 20, and Eli would bless Elkanah his wife and say, Yahweh, give you descendants from this woman for the loan that was given to Yahweh. Then they would go to their home. Again, it's not me trying to Push a A doctrine out of place? This is what we're talking about. It's not enough to read the scripture.
And it's not enough to go to church. There's no single thing. that fulfills our calling. There are many things that fulfill our calling as Christian. In fact, as Christians, There are so many that the Bible has to illustrate The points to get them across to us, and we have to repeatedly be refreshed on them.
I love the one where the prophet pretends to have been Beat up. He goes to the man, he says, Strike me. And the man says, I'm not hitting you. And he says, Because you didn't listen to the prophet, you're going to die. And then he goes to the next guy and he says, Strike me.
And the guy clocks him pretty good and puts a bandage on him. And the king comes by. And the prophet says, You know, when inquired what happened, he says, Well, while your servant was busy with this or that, My prisoner escaped.
Now he's making a point. He's using a life parallel, a parable. But the point we get, one of the points we get out of that little story is. While we are busy with this and that. It got away.
See, these are the lessons. The Bible gives us lessons like this on so many levels. It never stops. It's inexhaustible. Verse 21: And Yahweh visited Hannah so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters.
Meanwhile, the child Samuel grew before Yahweh.
Now, that's the six children. That she had this is not in chronological order He is going back to when the child was young. I believe the Hannah's Bye. Prayer was a Penned and published much later. If you don't agree, that's okay.
It's not a doctrinal thing, it's just my understanding is. Verse 22.
Now Eli was very old and heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they were with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. See, this is where all over now. These are facts he's given us. He's not trying to say these things in sequence. And so there's these thug priests.
Just shameless. Verse 23.
So he said to them, Why do you do such things? Here of your evil dealings, From all the people. Eli wanted peace in his home, as did Adam. And they both failed to keep Peace. with God and therefore they ended up losing everything ended up in pieces.
Because their peace Was not with God first, everything ended up in pieces. Love must not appease. on serious matters. The prophets. were not men who would give in a little bit.
To get their message out. They would give it no matter what the consequences were. They were not negotiators, they were not deal brokers, and Eli was just that. He did not stand hard against this, and he was supposed to stand hard against this. He had the power to stop his sons from ministering at the temple, and he did not.
And God is going to get very serious about this. If you stand for anything, Something or someone will eventually stand against you. And if you don't stand for anything, you'll end up standing against yourself. Verse 24: No, my sons, for it is not good, it's not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord's people transgress.
This is all big talk and no action. It is a great lesson for parents. You want a book on how to raise, well, here's a good lesson on how to raise children. It's not enough to pull little Johnny aside and tell him he can't key his neighbor's car. and then let him go back to keying his neighbor's car.
And we've all witnessed this. We've watched mothers like, could you just pop that kid one time? I'll do it for you. I won't hurt the kid that much. It won't be brutal, but he's got to learn this lesson.
Or else he's gonna be stealing hubcaps in no time.
So anyway, verse 25. Uh I know it's hard sometimes, it's so cute. Uh do they How many times have you had to discipline a little child And you go into the next room and you giggle. Because they just do something cute or say something. Verse 25.
Okay. Like uh one of my children, you you'd smack her on the bottom and she'd turn and go grar She'd growl at you, ras and she'd said, Stop doing that. And he smacked her again, I told you to stop doing that. And you'd have to explain the whole situation, the whole process. No, you're getting disciplined.
You don't have to write. It's just the craziest things. Anyway. Verse 25, I know you all have stories too. We're going to let everybody come up after I'm done and share one.
Uh yeah. If one man, verse 25, if one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him? Nevertheless, they did not heed the voice of their father because Yahweh desired to kill them.
Well, we got to get through this. We can't pass this. They were sinning in God's face. And because of that, Eli is saying, there's nobody that can help you with this one. It's not like you sinned against another guy, and God comes in, He's just going to be merciful.
There's an intercessor. If you're going directly against the throne, there's no middleman here. And again, he had the authority to remove them.
So now we come to what I wanted to say: Luke 26. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his mother or father, And children. His wife, brothers, and sisters, yes, his own life also. He cannot be my disciple. Latter times, men will be lovers of themselves.
In contrast to lovers of God, So here we see Eli has put his children ahead of God. 1 Samuel 3, verse 13. This is God talking about this very thing with About Eli, 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.
So there's no guessing at what was taking place here. God was going to judge them. He controls the outcome of free will. People have free will, but they do not have the right. to have that free will.
control God's Uh perfect will. Satan, Pharaoh, Herod, Judas, the Antichrist, known as the Beast. They have free will. But they do not have rights to just accomplish all that they want. God is still in control.
And um That's a horrific thought. That God deems a life not worth living anymore as it was with Ur and Onan. in Genesis. Verse twenty six. And the boy Samuel grew in stature and in favour both With Yahweh and men.
And so there he is, as I mentioned, he did not know the Lord yet. We'll get to that later. But he is a good kid. And he's evidently a good worker. That's why he's growing in stature with men as well as with the Lord.
He was a d a good boy, we would say. Luke chapter 2, verse 52 about Jesus, it says, And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. and in favor with God and men. Verse twenty-seven Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, did I not clearly reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? Pause here.
What we have now is God has now dispatched a prophet, an unnamed prophet, to rebuke the priest, the high priest. And to tell him that, you know, you come from this line of Aaron, this is not a little thing. There's this spiritual legacy. And you are abusing it. And if Now you're going to be judged.
Verse 29. Why do you kick it kick at my sacrifice? And my offerings, 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.
So the prophet is just, he's gone there and he's now confronting. The high priest, he's saying, you kick at the offerings like this, like it's a joke or something, like it's as though you have a right to. Insult God. He says you make yourselves Fat with the best of all the offerings of my people. This is a play on words.
You're stealing the fat that's my portion of the offering so you can fatten your own selves up. And again, this was that family-first mentality. I mean, family is very important. Don't ever want to reduce that. It's very critical.
But when that family is anti-God and we are promoting it is You know the rest. Verse 30. Therefore Yahweh 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 Yahweh says, Far be it from me. For those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
So this is a disqualification clause. In the scripture, it shows up in other places too. It belongs to God and His interactions with His people. Judas was disqualified. Another filled his office.
We find that in the prophecies of Psalms, and we find it fulfilled in the book of Acts. And so Eli lost his entire clan's claim to the priesthood. Though Eli did not lose his salvation, he's losing his children, another story. Balaam. Balaam was a prophet.
Look what happened to him. don't think you'll be seeing him on the streets of gold. Because the scripture says that he was a mad prophet. And that um In the context of judgment, final judgment. Verse 31, 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.
You will reap what you sow is basically the arm being the strength of the priesthood. It's now gone. It was something that it was a gift, and he abused it, and it's taken. Verse 32, 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 for ever.
Well, it will be under his watch that they lose the Ark of God to the Philistines. And of course, it will be under His lineage, his. progeny that they will uh lose the The temple.
So It's coming. Anyway, verse 33. But any of your m 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.
This is heavy duty stuff. Posterity, that's the word I wanted. I didn't want progeny, I wanted posterity. And that's what I got now.
So, uh When we get to chapter 22, we will read about the massacre of the priests at Nob by Jesus. Dough egg, and then under Saul's direction. In chapter four, we read of His sons, Hofni and Phineas, being killed, and then ultimately. Uh Abiathar, the high priest, will be Taken out of leadership by Solomon for siding with the wrong king. Verse 34 now.
Now this shall be a sign to you That will come upon your two sons on Hophnai and Phineas in one day, they shall die, both of them. And when that did happen, But the great benefit would be to those who witnessed the fulfillment of this prophecy that God sends. Messengers, not myths. And this is not a myth. This is not something he's making up.
He's saying they're going to die in one day, and that is what's going to happen. Verse 35: Then I will raise 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 for ever.
So we have here A historical fulfillment. And of course one that is uh spiritual. The new priest will be Zadok. According to history, his line will take the lead as priest in Israel even into the millennial reign. We'll read about that in the book of Ezekiel in chapter 44 and 48.
But the latter king, the greater king in typology, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before my anointed forever. And that couples in Zadok's ministry into the millennial reign. Verse 36: 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.
So the judgment continues against the house of Eli, where they become. beggars And these judgments are very severe, and God is justified in them. Don't suppose that, boy, that's a little harsh. It's harsh, but it's not. undeserved They gorged themselves on the sacrifice, and they were reduced to beggars.
Let's pray. Our Father Stark contrasts. Choices are made available to us. When they are bigger than us, your mercy and your grace, of course. covers us.
But when we decide, we humans decide that we're just going to be against you, it does not bode well at all. May that never be the case with those who love you, Lord. We ask you in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio.
This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel. If you'd like to listen again to this or other messages or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreference radio.com. Here, you can also listen to interviews with Pastor Rick to learn more about his life and ministry. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast so you'll never miss another edition.
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