As Tashi said, we're in the middle of a series at the moment, preaching through the book of 1 Samuel.
So, so far, just to fill you in if you haven't been around, Israel has made it to the promised land that God was giving to them.
But basically, once it got into this land, things started going badly.
It struggled.
They'd have little flashes of goodness where they'd be powerful or prosperous, but it keeps going wrong.
And they are asking the question when we get to the book of 1 Samuel,
does God still care for us?
And is he still with us?
Are we still his people?
So chapter 1, we had a bit of encouragement when God affirms his presence and care by blessing Hannah,
a barren woman, with a child that she desperately wants.
And we do begin to get a sense from Hannah's prayer in the beginning of chapter 2
that God's working in a new way through Hannah and through Israel.
But tonight it feels like we hit a brick wall.
The problems that were obviously there before, for them to be asking if God was even still around,
are even deeper than we might have thought.
And so that's what we're going to walk into tonight.
And I want to pray for us that God will give us ears to hear,
because some of the stuff we're going to talk about tonight is not the funnest stuff to talk about.
But I'm going to ask that God lets us hear it anyway, because it's important.
Father God, we want to thank you for your word.
And we want to thank you for the chance to gather tonight.
And Lord, we ask that as we reflect on what it is you have to say here,
that you give us soft hearts, that we would be teachable,
that we would be willing to recognize things that are in our lives that are wrong,
and that we would be thankful for the opportunity to confess those
and have you deal with that part of our life.
Amen.
We have a natural cynicism towards leaders in our culture.
We are just a week past an election,
and I'm sure you can reflect on conversations that you've had in the past fortnight,
or maybe even a bit further,
on the hopelessness of the various candidates that they were to vote for.
Clive Palmer is probably an indictment on what we think a leader is.
We basically get frustrated because these people get thrown up as taking responsibility for our state,
our nation, whatever it is, our local government area.
And almost always we run into stories in the media of how they've fallen,
whether it's morally fallen, whether it's they've just failed to keep their promises.
There is this kind of constant cycle of dodginess in the leadership that we have in our society today.
And sadly, church is not immune to that.
There is also a cycle of dodgy church leaders that we hear about.
And so there is this cycle of leadership.
Good leadership would tend to hang around, but there is this constant change.
Even in our fantastic political structure,
you tend to go one party for a little bit with all this hope, and then they fail.
So we go back to the other side for a little while, then they fail, and then we go back.
And there is almost a constant pattern,
if you look back through Australian government history,
of one major party, then the next.
Because we're not happy, they're not delivering.
Now the problem with that for us is,
when we open a passage like this,
we think, yep, fair enough,
the leaders of Israel are dodgy.
No big deal.
But, we need to stop for a second
and understand who it is we're looking at
in this passage of Scripture.
You've got to remember that this is Israel.
God picked this one nation
out of all of the peoples on earth.
At this point,
they are in the promised land that He led them to.
Spectacularly,
when He rescued them out of Egypt.
This story is at Shiloh,
which is like the capital city when it comes to worshipping God
for the people of God in the country,
the land that God had given them.
And these people that we're talking about are the priests.
From within this chosen people,
God chose a specific tribe
and separated them out and said,
you will be the priests,
you will be my representatives,
you will be the leaders
to serve the people
and we find them completely and utterly corrupt.
And that's even more significant
if you look back just a couple of verses
to verse 10 of chapter 2,
which we looked at last week,
where Hannah tells us in her prayer
that those who oppose the Lord
will be broken.
This situation should shock us.
Last week,
we celebrated that God is sovereign
and that God will bring low those who are full of pride
and He will raise up the humble
and then we come here
and His leadership in His people
is corrupt
and seems to be flourishing as they're doing it.
This should shock us.
God doesn't tolerate it.
God will not tolerate it.
If we stopped even just at verse 12,
if we didn't read anywhere beyond that,
we would have a major problem.
Have a look at it.
Verse 12,
Eli's sons were scoundrels.
They had no regard for the Lord.
They don't know God.
They're priests.
That means they're God's representatives.
They kind of stand in between God and His people
to make sure that this relationship can work
because you've got a holy God
and unholy people
and so God appoints priests as the go-between
and the people in the middle don't even know God.
They have no regard for Him.
He's not important to them.
Now, it's not that they don't know about Him.
Obviously, they're priests.
They spend all day, every day,
doing things that God told the people to do.
They've heard the stories about the parting of the sea,
the wandering around the desert.
They've heard about it,
but they don't know Him.
They don't have the relationship with Him,
at least not in the way that Hannah did last week
or two weeks ago.
However, their knowing about Him
has no impact on their life.
It doesn't make any difference
to the way they make decisions,
to the things that are important to them,
to the things that are precious.
And so their ignorance,
or maybe more accurately,
their rejection of God,
starts to flow out in their actions.
Have a look with me at verse 13.
It says,
Now, let's be really clear.
It says it's the practice,
but it doesn't say it's a good practice.
This isn't the instruction that God gave them
when He set this up.
These guys were just feeling hungry.
And the hopelessness of this is
God had actually designed this sacrificial system
so that people sacrificing
would actually keep a portion
to go to the priests
as like payment for their job.
So God had already designed it
to make sure these guys would get looked after.
They would have food.
They would be well fed.
They would have strength.
But they just decide,
you know what,
I'm a little bit hungrier.
And so they would strut up to you
while you're making your sacrifice,
meats they're cooking,
you're getting ready,
following the specific instructions
that God has given.
And they bring in this novelty fork
that's going to collect everything
that's in your pot
and wander off and go,
look, I've got it.
And in fact,
these priests are so lazy
that they send their servants to do it.
Not only are they being greedy,
they're being lazy
and sitting on their butts
and sending someone else
to do the dirty work.
But it gets even worse.
It says,
verse 15,
And even before the fat was burned,
the priest's servant would come
and say to the person
who was sacrificing,
give the priest some meat to roast.
He won't accept boiled meat from you,
but only raw.
And if the person said to him,
let the fat be burned first,
which is what God instructed them to do,
this is how they would respond.
The servant would answer,
no, hand it over now.
If you don't,
I'll take it by force.
So not only would they steal the meat
from the boiling pot,
they would come and remove
and steal the portion
that was reserved for God himself.
They would presume to take the place
of the God who had rescued them out of Egypt.
And then there is a significant verse there
in verse 17,
The sin of the young men
was very great in the Lord's sight,
for they were treating the Lord's offering
with contempt.
Now, the funny thing is
that these priests
are technically going through the motions.
They're living at the tent
where God has told them to live.
There is sacrifices happening
like there was supposed to be.
And so they're kind of presenting like priests.
I'm sure that Israel
didn't particularly like them,
but there was probably some sense
of they're the priests,
what can we do?
That's where we have to do our sacrifices.
But even though they're kind of
going through the motions,
the motions actually don't hold any weight.
Because the whole system,
the sacrifices, the tent,
this place was all about relating to God.
That was the whole point.
And these guys don't know him.
So it doesn't matter
if they were even doing
the correct sacrifices at this point,
because verse 12 tells us
they had no regard for the Lord.
There's a little warning for you there
that you can actually look
a lot like somebody
who is following Jesus,
but just be spinning the wheels.
Following Jesus is about
having a relationship with him.
And it's possible to look
exactly like a Christian,
but not know the God
who Christians follow.
I remember when I was younger,
a fair bit younger,
I'm a child of the 80s.
And in the 80s,
it was okay for white guys to dance.
Thank you, Vanilla Rice,
and I guess MC Hammer's
kind of somewhere in the middle
of white and black.
And I remember that
when I say it was okay,
not everyone could do it,
but it was just,
there was a permission.
And I remember my older brother
and my cousin,
who was also older,
took street funk dancing classes,
and I was so jealous.
There's some really embarrassing photos of them
with no shirts on
and happy pants,
and it's fantastic.
But in my absence
at the actual classes,
I still had aspirations
to be a dancer.
And so I convinced my parents
to get me
the fluoro puffy happy pants,
and I think I got
some imitation Nike high tops
as well and everything.
And I had the muscle tee,
which was fairly unnecessary
for the eight-year-old version of me.
But the problem was,
I couldn't,
and I still cannot,
dance at all.
If music comes on,
I can do the awkward shuffle thing,
but that's about it.
It's not exactly street funk.
I was all show and no go.
And look,
entertaining story,
but there is the scary possibility
that we could be that as Christians.
I've got a Bible.
I don't get drunk.
I don't swear.
I make sure that I get to church
at least two out of four Sundays.
But if there's not actually
a relationship with God,
if there's not a joy in God,
if there's not a knowledge
of the God who made you
and loves you,
could it be that you're just
going through the motions?
The sin that is great for God here
is the issue that they don't know Him.
That's what makes them so stupid
when it comes to the sacrifices.
That's what makes them so willing
to put themselves in the place of God.
It's that their heart doesn't know God.
Even though they're in the right place,
they're wearing the right clothes,
they're at the right ceremony,
but the issue in verse 12
is they have no regard for the Lord.
He's just some guy
they've heard stories about.
He's not their God.
He's not their Lord.
He doesn't matter to them.
But it gets worse again.
Come down with me to verse 22.
Now Eli, who was very old,
heard about everything
his sons were doing to all Israel
and how they slept with the women
who served at the entrance
to the tent of meeting.
So he said to them,
why do you do such things?
I hear from all the people
about these wicked deeds of yours.
Know my sons.
The report I hear spreading
among the Lord's people
is not good.
If one person sins against another,
God may mediate for the offender.
But if anyone sins against the Lord,
who will intercede for them?
See, Eli gets a little glimpse
of just how serious
what they're doing is.
This isn't just them
stealing food from other people.
This isn't just them
sleeping with women.
As bad as both of those things are,
this is a sin against God.
But the scary part comes there
at the end of verse 25.
His sons, however,
did not listen to their father's rebuke,
for it was the Lord's will
to put them to death.
Their sin
goes beyond the point of no return.
They cross a line.
And so,
it is God's will
to put them to death.
That's a scary phrase.
We don't like phrases like that.
But let's just be careful
how we read it.
It's not saying
that these guys didn't deserve
to be put to death.
Remember what we've just read.
They were sleeping with women
at the tent of meeting.
They didn't know God.
They were abusing
their position as priests
and threatening the people
who were coming
to try and sacrifice to God.
They're still responsible
for their actions.
They're still responsible
for the way
that they're treating God.
They're making a mockery
of the means
by which God has given
his people
to relate to him.
God has given them sacrifices
so that they might know
the need for forgiveness
and they are using
those sacrifices
as an opportunity
to reject him again.
They are responsible
for their sin.
Death is what they deserve.
But what God does
is confirm them
in their rejection.
I mean,
we've got to understand
that these guys
had front row seats
for God revealing himself.
the sacrifices
were God's way
of showing
just how holy he was.
The tent being
in one place
at one time
and the need for priests
in the middle
was all part of communicating
who God was
and his desire
to know his people.
And these guys
are front row center.
They're in the middle
of every sacrifice.
They don't go once a year
like Hannah and Elkanah
and their family.
These guys were there
every day
seeing what God was doing
to reveal himself
and they just refuse
to acknowledge him
as God.
They refuse to recognize
him as holy
and so God
confirms that
in their heart.
It's their choice
but God confirms it.
It's not dissimilar
to Pharaoh
in Egypt.
If you remember
the story
of the ten plagues
in the book
of Exodus
we hear over and over
how Pharaoh
hardens his own heart.
He makes a decision.
He says,
I don't know your God.
Your God's nothing to me.
But then we also hear
that God hardens
Pharaoh's heart.
It's not one
or the other.
It's that Pharaoh
has rejected God
and so God
confirms him
in his hard
rejecting heart
and the possibility
of turning back
is gone.
Not because God
can't save him
but because
he is committed
to his choice.
He is unrepentant.
He sees the choice
and he chooses
again and again
not to honour God
as God.
The same is going on
for these two guys.
They are absolutely
committed to rejecting God
that even when Eli
turns up and says
this isn't good
you shouldn't be doing this
they will not hear it.
You've got to imagine
if I was
secretly
having an affair
if I was secretly
committing adultery
the longer
that I do that
the more regularly
I have to tell myself
that God doesn't matter.
If I know it's wrong
each time
that I go and meet
with this woman
I tell myself
God doesn't matter
and I become
more and more
calloused
more and more
hardened to hearing
what God has to say
about that situation.
The first time
there might be a bit of
you know
to and fro
in my heart
there might be a moral
should I or shouldn't I
but the tenth time
or the hundredth time
progressively
I will get harder
and harder
in my heart
to the point
where I could see
a flashing
vision of angels
telling me to repent
and go the other way
and I would nod,
smile
and continue on
in my sin.
These guys
are so established
in their pattern
of ignoring God
they are so committed
to their rebellion
that God
confirms them
in it
they have crossed
the line.
Now we don't know
where this line is
but the passage
warns us
God will
confirm
people
who harden
their hearts
like this.
Now this isn't
a license for us
to look around
at people in our lives
and go they're
too far gone.
That's not what
it's saying.
You don't know
where the line is.
I don't know
where the line is.
God does.
But at very least
this is a call to us
and a warning for us
that we need to take
sin in our lives
seriously.
It's really dangerous
for us to just
kind of settle
in to sin.
Accept sin.
We need to confess
quickly
and trust
that our God
can forgive us
and transform us
because there is
a warning there
that if we continue
we are hardening
our hearts
to the majesty
of Jesus.
We are switching
ourselves off
to the offer
of forgiveness
and we are flirting
with the righteous
judgment
that God will
and should bring
on his enemies.
But it's not just
Hophni and Phinehas
who God judges
in this passage.
Eli cops it as well.
Now for Hophni and Phinehas
their sin is obvious.
It's catalogued
for us there.
It's really easy.
No issues.
They were jerks.
They probably deserve
what they got.
But what about Eli?
I find Eli
a strange character
in these first few
chapters of 1 Samuel.
You kind of like him
at points
and then at other points
you're not sure
and you're kind of thinking
should I be on his team
or shouldn't I?
I mean the first episode
was him calling Hannah
a drunk
and telling her to go home
and you're thinking
dodgy.
But then
he kind of backpedals
a little bit
prays for her
gets the answer.
There's even this little glimpse
in here
in verse 18
through to 21
which we'll look at
in a little while
where he prays again
for Hannah
when she comes back
and he gets answers
to his prayer.
Hannah gets more kids
and so you're kind of thinking
is he good
or is he bad?
But God is
equally angry
with him.
Potentially even
angrier
with him
and he sends a messenger
to let him know
in verse 27.
It says
a man of God
came to Eli
and said to him
this is what the Lord says
did I not clearly
reveal myself
to your ancestors
family
when they were in Egypt
under Pharaoh?
I chose your ancestor
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
in my presence.
I also gave your ancestors
family
all the food offerings
presented by the Israelites.
Why do you scorn
my sacrifice
and offering
that I prescribed
for my dwelling?
Why do you honour
your sons
more than me
by fattening yourselves
on the choice parts
of every offering
made by my people
Israel?
Therefore
the Lord
the God of Israel
declares
I promised
that members
of your family
would minister
before me forever
but now
the Lord declares
far be it from me.
Those who honour me
I will honour
but those who despise me
will be disdained.
The time is coming
when I will cut short
your strength
and the strength
of your priestly house
so that no one in it
will reach old age
and you will see distress
in my dwelling.
Although good
will be done to Israel
no one in your family line
will ever reach old age.
Every one of you
that I do not cut off
from serving at my altar
I will spare
only to destroy your sight
and sap your strength
and all your descendants
will die
in the prime of life.
Those are some
fairly serious punishments
that God is about
to pour out on Eli.
Hophni and Phinehas
they are going to die.
Eli's entire family line
will be cut off.
Those who aren't
will be just kept around
so that they can be
made a mockery of
so that they can be
distressed
at the situation
that has come
upon them.
God chose
Eli's family
by grace
but Eli
has taken it
for granted.
Now you might
look at this story
and think
what more
is Eli
supposed to do?
I mean he rebukes
his sons
he sits them down
and he has a chat
with them
but it's half-hearted
at best
and you can tell.
Have a look
at verse 29
why do you
scorn my sacrifice
and offering?
I don't know
about your Bible
but some of your Bibles
might have on that
you
the third word
of verse 29
a little letter
or a little mark
and down the bottom
of your page
it will tell you
that you is plural.
Why do yous
scorn
my sacrifice
and offering?
Eli
has been
sharing
in the stealing
that Hophni
and Phinehas
has been doing.
Not that he's been
sending his servant
along
not that he's been
doing it himself
but halfway
through the verse
why do you
honour your sons
more than me
by fattening
yourselves
on the choice
parts of every
offering
made by my
people
Israel?
Yeah
he said to his
sons
you guys need
to stop this
it's giving us
a bad reputation
but at the same time
he had a mouthful
of the meat
that had been
stolen from a sacrifice.
It's almost as if
Chris Jones
had discovered
that Tim
was stealing
from the offertory
as the bags
were going around
and he said
Tim I really
want you to stop
it it's not okay
as he took
the 50 from Tim
that was his
take for the week.
It's that blatant.
He seems like
he's doing the right
thing when he says
sons you have to
stop this.
He seems somewhat
aware that they
will be accountable
to God
but at the same
time
he doesn't
really do
anything about
it.
He eats the
meat that he
shouldn't be
eating
and on one
level he just
endorses what
they're doing.
He keeps them
as priests
he continues
to supervise
them
and ultimately
he is responsible
for their sin
not because
he doesn't
stop them
but because
he shares in
it as well.
But maybe
the more scary
one there in
verse 29
why do you
honour your
sons more
than me?
Eli is the
priest of
God's nation
and it says
he cares for
his sons
more than
he cares for
his God.
He was chosen
his primary
role was to
be representative
of the people
towards God
and God
towards the
people and
he is
distracted
by his
relationship
with his
sons.
His dodgy
sons.
It's not like
even they were
amazing kids
and yet
he loves
them more
than he
loves his
God.
This is even
more dramatic
when you think
about Hannah
just a couple
of chapters
earlier.
Hannah is
given her
first and
only son
after years
of being
distressed
at her
barrenness
and what
does she
do?
She
hands him
back to
God
because she
loves her
God
more.
It's not
that she
doesn't love
her son
and we'll
see in a
second that
she's still
visiting him
and dropping
off clothes
for him.
She still
cares for
him but
she loves
her God
the most
and she
recognises
that her
son is a
gift for
God.
Whereas
Eli the
priest
cares more
about whether
or not he's
getting on
with his
sons.
He
doesn't
want to
have a
fight at
home every
day about
the things
they're doing
so he
kind of
shrugs his
shoulders and
goes along.
God is
worthy of
undivided
devotion.
God
cannot and
must not
share his
honour with
something or
someone else.
Hannah said
it blatantly
in chapter 2
look at it
again verse 2
there is no
one holy
like the
Lord.
There is no
one besides
you.
There is no
rock like
our God.
God is
far greater
and more
significant
and more
worthy than
anything or
person or
experience or
anything else
that we have
in our lives.
For Eli his
sin is more
subtle.
You might not
have looked at
him and thought
that he was
somebody who
scorned his
God.
But just
because his
sin is subtle
doesn't mean
it's not
serious.
sin is
idolatry.
He's
worshipping
the relationship
he has with
his sons
instead of
worshipping
his God.
This is
almost a
summary of
what Israel
is like at
this point
in history.
This priest
is supposed
to lead the
people in
their devotion
to God.
He's supposed
to be at
the front
of the pack
the example
to be
followed
but instead
he loves
his sons
more.
Or at
least he
likes the
idea of
keeping the
peace at
home more
than he
likes the
idea of
loving God
and obeying
him.
Now again
Eli couldn't
necessarily have
stopped them
from being
dodgy sons.
That might have
just been who
they were but
he did have
the power to
take them out
of the
priesthood.
He did have
the power to
remove them
from their
place of
privilege in
God's
temple but
instead he
tolerates it.
Instead he
honours them.
Now this is a
hard thing for
us to wrestle
with because
in our
culture being
tolerant is
the ultimate
compliment.
Intolerance
is the worst
thing you could
say about
anyone.
Tolerance is
the highest
virtue and
Christians are
renowned because
we're supposed to
be intolerant and
that makes us
ignorant and
foolish and
bigoted.
But is it
possible that
tolerance is not
always a
virtue?
Is it
good to
tolerate
starvation of
innocent people?
Is it
good to
tolerate abuse?
Tolerance is
not always a
good thing and
tolerance of sin
in other people
is often just
evidence of
idolatry in our
own lives.
It often just
points to the
fact that what
we care about
most is that
that person
likes me rather
than they honour
God and I
honour God.
God.
What we care
about most is
that everybody
gets along rather
than the God of
heaven and earth
is treated as
the God of
heaven and
earth.
The one who
is to be
obeyed above
all else.
Think about
the last time
that someone
you know was
in an obvious
sin.
It won't take
much thinking.
But think about
the conversation
you had with
yourself.
Do I
challenge them
on this?
Do I bring
it up?
The number of
times that I
know that I
have talked
myself out
of confronting
a brother or
sister who
is in sin
because I'm
more concerned
about what
they'll do
to me
afterwards.
How they'll
relate to me.
How they'll
respond to me.
What about
sin in your
own life?
Do you
confess it to
other people
because you
care most
that God is
honoured?
or do you
keep it a
secret and
hope that no
one finds
out because
you care
more that
people respect
you?
That people
think you're
a good
respectable
person?
We pretend
that these
conversations are
avoided out of
love.
I don't want to
hurt their
feelings.
I don't want
to be
judgmental.
I'm not the
right person to
talk to them.
But really,
often, it's out
of love for us
that we don't
have those
conversations.
It's because I
want to protect
myself.
When you love
something more
than God,
that's
idolatry.
When you love
something the
same amount as
God, that's
idolatry.
Our God stands
alone above
all else and is
to be worshipped
and honoured
above all else.
It is a gift
of grace that he
even invites us to
know him in the
first place.
And we need to
be careful not to
reject that gift
like Eli did.
We need to be
careful not to
take it for
granted.
The demand for
us as God's
people is
undivided
commitment to
and passion for
God's name
above all else.
There is a
heaviness in
this passage.
There is the
right judgment
on both
Hophni and
Phinehas and
Eli as well.
But there is a
glimmer of hope.
Look back with
me to verse 11.
Then Elkanah
went home to
Ramah, but the
boy, that's
Samuel, ministered
before the Lord
under Eli the
priest.
It's the first
time in this
book that the
word ministered
has been used
of anyone who
is at the
temple.
Jump down to
verse 18.
Samuel was
ministering before
the Lord, a
boy wearing a
linen ephod,
that's a
priest's clothes.
Each year his
mother made him
a little robe
and took it to
him when she
went up with
her husband to
offer the
annual sacrifice.
Eli would
bless Elkanah and
his wife saying,
May the Lord
give you children
by this woman to
take the place of
the one she
prayed for and
gave to the
Lord.
Then they would
go home and
the Lord was
gracious to
Hannah.
She gave birth
to three sons
and two daughters.
Meanwhile, the
boy Samuel grew
up in the
presence of the
Lord.
And then down to
verse 26.
There is this
incredible contrast.
You could almost
miss it just for
the weight of
judgment in this
passage.
But as we hear
about the
hopelessness of
the current
priesthood, there's
this young boy that
we met in chapter
one who is
beginning his
life of service
to God.
With this
constant tide of
faithlessness and
disobedience, there
is just the
verses that
remind us that
there was one
ministering before
the Lord.
One that we
know God
provided in
spectacular
circumstances.
God's faithfulness
to his people is
not dependent on
what his people do
or don't do.
God is not
dependent on a
faithless priesthood.
He can make a
barren woman give
birth to a
replacement priest.
God can provide a
better priest to
replace Eli, to
lead his people.
God can
do it.
There's an
incredible promise
down in the end
of this chapter.
If you go down to
verse 35.
I will raise up for
myself a faithful
priest who will do
according to what is
in my heart and
mind.
I will firmly
establish his
priestly house and
they will minister
before my anointed
one always.
One of the great
things about promises
in the Old
Testament is that
often you get more
than one
fulfillment.
You get little
glimmers of
fulfillment in the
short term but
often we're
looking forward.
This is partially
talking about
Samuel.
That's what all
those little
verses littered
through this
chapter are
trying to tell
us that Samuel
is going to be
better.
But if we sneak
a bit further
down through this
book we're going
to find out that
Samuel's sons are
scarily similar to
Eli's sons.
They fall short
and they fail in
spite of what a
great priest and
leader Samuel is.
But this promise
points forward.
Samuel 2.26 is
echoed in the
Gospel of Luke
describing someone
else.
It says,
Jesus grew in
wisdom and
stature and in
favor with God
and men.
It's not an
accident.
This promise was
looking forward to
the priest that
would actually
fulfill God's
desire.
There's this
amazing clue in
this passage that
for me just kept
distracting me as I
read through it each
time.
When Eli's rebuking
his sons, listen to
what he says.
If one person sins
against another, God
may mediate for the
offender.
But if anyone sins
against the Lord, who
will intercede for
them?
I mean if it's two
people fighting, God
can step in.
God has the power.
But what about when
you offend God?
Who has the right to
stand there and
represent you before
God?
Eli knows that he
doesn't.
He knows that his
sons don't.
He probably even
knows that Samuel
don't.
But I don't think he
understands just how
significant his
words were.
He desired somebody
who could go between
imperfect people and
God forever.
And in Hebrews 7,
we read this amazing
thing.
Hebrews 7 verse
23.
Now there have been
many of those
priests since death
prevented them from
continuing in office.
But because Jesus
lives forever, he has a
permanent priesthood.
Therefore he is able to
save completely those who
come to God through him
because he always lives to
intercede for them.
Such a high priest truly
meets our need.
One who is holy,
blameless, pure, set apart
from sinners, exalted
above the heavens.
Unlike the other high
priests, he does not
need to offer sacrifices
day after day.
First for his own sins
and then for the sins
of the people.
He sacrificed for their
sins once for all
when he offered himself.
Who will intercede for
sinful people like us?
For sinful people like Eli
and all Israel when we
sin against God?
Jesus will.
Who will represent us
before God when we
don't deserve it?
Jesus will.
Who has the right to
stand before a holy God?
Only God's Son, Jesus.
If we acknowledge our
sin and repent, Jesus
is our great high priest.
He has offered the
sufficient once for all
time sacrifice.
He has offered his own
body and his own blood
in our place and he
lives forever to
intercede for us.
He sits in the presence
of the heavenly father
right now speaking on my
behalf as I fail time and
time again.
Jesus is God's grace to
us.
Not to be used as a
license to do whatever
we want because we've
got this free pass but to
be trusted and rejoiced in
and depended on.
I want to finish tonight by
inviting you to confess
sin.
But I want to invite you to
do it joyfully.
Sin is serious and there is
a weight of sin that we
have seen in the judgment
that God pours out on his
people in this passage.
But because of Jesus we
get to confess joyfully and
confidently.
We've been warned not to
hold on to sin, not to live
in a pattern of sin.
And so tonight I want to
invite you to confess the
times that you have loved
things more than you have
loved God.
The times that you have
treated him like he doesn't
matter.
I don't know what your sin
looks like and I don't need
to know.
God does and he wants you to
confess it knowing that his
great high priest, his son
Jesus has paid for it and is
sufficient and mighty to save.
I want you to just take a
moment right now.
We're just going to sit in
quiet for a second.
I want you to reflect on
your own life and the
things you need to give to
God and I want you to give
them joyfully to a God who
loves you and can forgive you
through his son.
Amen.
Let me pray for us.
Father God, we do acknowledge that we are far too comfortable with sin in our own lives.
We want to apologize for the things that we elevate and exalt to be level with you or even above you in our affections.
And God, we want to ask that you would reveal yourself in such a way that you make those things fade.
That love for you would be an inevitable result of seeing you in your majesty and glory.
We want to thank you tonight for reminding us that in spite of our failure, in spite of all of humanity's inability to fulfill what it is to know you,
you have provided for us the perfect substitute in Jesus.
You have provided for us the forever high priest who forever intercedes for us, whoever represents us in your presence.
Father, please give us hearts that are joyful to confess our failures.
Please give us confidence that as we confess even now tonight that you forgive and that you restore
and that you work in us to change our hearts and our minds to be more and more like your son Jesus.
Father, please consume our consciousness in such a way that our whole lives are driven out of devotion for you, out of love for you.
Please daily remind us of the sacrifice of your son, that we might rejoice in the opportunity to know you
and might live lives that honor you.
Father, we thank you so much for Jesus.
Amen.