1 Samuel 1, 24.
And since the Lord gave me what I asked him for, I now give the boy to the Lord.
For as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.
Then he worshiped the Lord there.
Hannah prayed,
My heart rejoices in the Lord.
My horn is lifted up by the Lord.
My mouth boasts over my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.
There is no one holy like the Lord.
There is no one beside you.
And there is no rock like our God.
Do not boast so proudly or let arrogant words come out of your mouth.
For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and actions are weighed by him.
The bows of the warrior are broken, but the feeble are close with strength.
Those who are full hire themselves out for food, but those who are starving hunger no more.
The woman who is childless gives birth to seven, but the woman with many sons pines away.
The Lord brings death and gives life.
He sends some down to Sheol, and he raises others up.
The Lord brings poverty and gives wealth.
He humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the trash heap.
He seats them with noblemen and gives them a throne of honor.
For the foundation of the earth are the Lord's, and he has set the world on them.
He guards the steps of the faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness.
For a person does not prevail by his own strength.
Those who oppose the Lord will be slaughtered, shattered, and he will thunder the heavens against them.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
He will give power to his king, and he will lift up the horn of his anointed.
Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy served the Lord in the presence of the priest Eli.
Eli's sons were wicked men.
They did not respect the Lord or the priest's share of the sacrifices from the people.
When anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged meat fork
while the meat was boiling and plunge it into the container, kettle, cauldron, or cooking pot.
The priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up.
This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.
Even before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the one who was sacrificing,
Give the priest some meat to roast, because he won't accept boiled meat from you, only raw.
If that person said to him, The fat must be burned first, and then you can take whatever you want for yourself,
the servant would reply, No, I insist that you hand it over right now.
If you don't, I'll take it by force.
So the servant's sin was very severe in the presence of the Lord,
because the men treated the Lord's offering with contempt.
Samuel served in the Lord's presence.
This mere boy was dressed in a linen ephod.
Each year, his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went with her husband
to offer the annual sacrifice.
Eli would bless Elkanah's wife.
May the Lord give you children by this woman in place of the one she has given to the Lord.
Then they would go home.
The Lord paid attention to Hannah's need, and she conceived,
and gave birth to three sons and two daughters.
Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
Now, Eli was very old.
He heard about everything his sons were doing to Israel, all of Israel,
and how they were sleeping with the woman who served at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
He said to them, Why are you doing these things?
I have heard all about your evil actions from the people.
No, my sons, the news I hear, the Lord's people spreading is not good.
If one person sins against another, God can intercede for him.
But if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?
But they would not listen to their father, since the Lord intended to kill them.
By contrast, the boy Samuel grew in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.
A man of God came to Eli and said to him,
This is what the Lord says.
Didn't I reveal myself to your forefather's family when they were in Egypt and belonged to Pharaoh's pals?
Because out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose your house to be my priests,
to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence.
I also gave your forefather's family all the Israel food-like offerings.
Why then do you all despise my sacrifices and offerings that are required at the place of worship?
You have honored your sons more than me by making yourselves fat with the best part of all the offerings of my people Israel.
Therefore, this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel.
I did say that your family and your forefather's family would walk before me forever.
But now, this is the Lord's declaration no longer.
For those who honor me, I will honor.
But those who despise me will be disgraced.
Look, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your forefather's family
so that none of your family will reach old age.
You will see distress in the place of worship in spite of all the good in Israel
and no one in your family will ever again reach old age.
Any man from your family I do not cut off from the altar will bring grief and sadness to you
and all your descendants will die violently.
This will be a sign that will come to you concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.
Both of them will die on the same day.
Then I will raise up a faithful priest for myself.
He will do whatever is in my heart and mind.
I will establish a lasting dynasty for him.
And he will walk before me, my anointed one, for all time.
Anyone who is left in your family will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread.
He will say,
Please appoint me to some priestly office so I can have a piece of bread to eat.
The boy Samuel served the Lord in Eli's presence.
In those days, the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.
This is the word of God for the people of God.
The grass withers, the flower fades, and the word of the Lord stands forever.
No word from God shall be void of power.
Let's pray.
Oh God, if you had left us for ourselves, we would still be in darkness.
We would have no way of understanding or seeing your glory, your true revelation of yourself in your word.
But we thank you for how the Holy Spirit is near your people right here ministering.
We thank you for how in the hand of the Spirit, the word of God is living and active.
And it accomplishes your purpose.
We ask that you will open our eyes, that you will minister your own word to us.
Thank you for giving us history.
Thank you for giving us poetry and for giving us stories.
Thank you for how your Holy Spirit was with Hannah, with the scribes, with the authors of every portion of Scripture.
Thank you, Lord, for how you've preserved it.
Thank you for how you've arranged every word, every composition in your word.
We ask, Lord, that you will open our eyes to see your sovereign presiding mercy,
to reveal yourself to people like us through your word once again today.
We ask this for your glory and for Christ's sake.
Amen.
Some of the most important work happens invisibly.
Think about how that's true in your own body, your anatomy, how you're put together.
It's invisible.
And until I say it, you're likely not even aware that your heart right now pumps, pumps, pumps.
Your lungs expand, contract.
They're doing that important, vital work, even though it's invisible.
We're not even aware of it.
Our bodies are this way because that's how God designed them.
And I think it's to teach us a lesson, a constant reminder that God is at work,
though it's often invisible and it's quiet.
God is at work preserving, redeeming, sustaining you and me.
Every moment of every day, he's doing this quietly but vitally.
And he loves it when his true worshipers see him working and appreciate his power.
God doesn't need a big show.
God doesn't need a large gathering.
He doesn't need emotional hype or worldly gimmicks.
He doesn't need any of that.
He is working powerfully, though quietly.
We read in John 4 this wonderful revelation, quiet, out of the way,
to someone who probably least expected it.
This wonderful news that the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
Jesus says this day is now here.
So beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
just as an ultrasound would reveal to us the heart and the lungs and their function,
our worship reveals to us that God is working vitally, though it's quietly.
I think that our worship also reveals a lot about ourselves, about you and me,
just as it revealed a lot about Hannah, contrasted with the sons of Eli the priest.
As we walk through these verses, I want to point out, first of all, this contrast in the two forms.
There's a poem, and then there's prose.
Then I want to highlight four truths.
I'm sure there's more in here, four for today.
And then finally, an offer for you and for me.
So first, why these two different forms side by side right here in 1 Samuel chapter 2?
The critics would say this is just patchwork, thoughtlessly put together.
The more I've studied that these weeks, the more I see purpose in God's very arrangement of his scripture.
Do you notice how Hannah's prayer, it's given to us in poetry?
In some of your copies, it's even typeset as poetry.
Whereas the history, this wicked, dark history of Israel, is given in prose.
See, the invisible work that God is doing, the spiritual reality, is revealed to us in this exalted language of poetry.
But then that ugly, earthly reality is given to us in bare facts.
The first 10 verses of chapter 2 are prayer, followed by 24 verses of prose.
God ordered his word this way.
Our confession of faith says that the inward work of the Holy Spirit inside true believers,
it will bear witness by and with the word of God in our hearts.
God has ordered his word in this way.
So here's the contrast I believe this sets up to teach us.
In the poem, the Holy One is revealed, God himself.
In the narrative, wrath-deserving sinners are described.
The prayer of Hannah, in this poetry, it swells up into greater and greater confident hope in God.
Whereas the narrative goes the opposite direction.
It spirals downward into deeper and darker despair.
The poetic prayer answers the problems raised by the complicated narrative.
I think they're meant to be read together.
And as we're going through this chapter, I'm going to have you look at one, then look at the other with each truth.
See, isn't it true in our lives that it's playing out that way?
Our faith in this world, but not of the world.
The wickedness of the world, we know that very well.
We see it by our own sight.
Can't deny it.
And God's revelation stirs us and calls us to trust him by faith.
And it elevates us above that.
So I do see in the very arrangement of this chapter, God's purposeful, masterful, beautiful, and striking providence.
How he's arranged his own word.
Our confession also says what I'll ask the Holy Spirit to help us with.
That we could see the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts.
And the end of the whole, which is to give glory to God.
Amen.
Well, what is it that's in focus in this chapter is worship.
The pure worship of Hannah in prayer versus the corrupt worship of the sons of the priest.
The way they worship reveals much about each one of them.
It reveals their contrasting appetites in worship.
These are worshipers that don't know God on one hand in the history of Israel versus true worshipers who do know the Lord.
The Lord reveals himself to, like Hannah.
Notice how they all claim the same God.
But as we get to the end of chapter 2, we see how the destiny of each is very different as it unfolds.
They have contrasting appetites.
Would you look at 1 Samuel 2, verse 5?
And this is how the chapter ends.
A curse upon these wicked sons of Eli that fulfills what Hannah prayed for in verse 5.
Those who were full, these wicked sons who were taking the offerings that the people brought,
they have now hired themselves out for bread.
They're depicted at the end of the chapter as begging to have something to eat.
And the hungry, like Hannah, who wasn't even feasting with Elkanah, was just in Shiloh praying in the presence of the Lord instead,
have now ceased to hunger.
God has fed them.
Contrasting appetites revealed in worship and contrasting destinies.
Well, friends and brothers and sisters, how you and I worship, it reveals much about us as well.
It reveals the condition of our soul and ultimately our eternal destiny.
You and I either worship like Hannah or we worship like these sons of Eli.
Here are the four truths I want to highlight for us today.
Number one, how you worship reveals how you view yourself.
How you worship reveals how you view yourself.
Would you look at verse 12 with me?
We are told, now the sons of Eli were corrupt because they did not know the Lord.
We're good without God.
That was their attitude.
They're described as being corrupt.
In the original, there's a play on words here.
It could also be translated, these are sons of Belial.
These are sons of corruption.
To be a son of something means that's what you're defined by.
What defined these two sons of Eli was being wicked, worthless, evil.
In Paradise Lost, John Milton depicted the demon Belial as the last one to fall.
In the vilest of them all, he was the demon of impurity and lies.
And that's how these two sons of the priest are depicted.
I'm good without God.
Beyond that, they viewed themselves as at liberty to play around with spiritual things without knowing the true God, with no reverence for him.
I don't think it's a stretch to associate them with demonic worship.
We're told later in this same book, 1 Samuel 28, 3, that mediums and spiritists were in the land of Israel at this time.
Their names were Hophni and Phinehas.
The name Eli is a very Jewish name.
El means God.
And Eli means ascend, like one who would ascend to God.
That's a great name for a priest.
But for reasons we are not told, he named his own sons, Hophni and Phinehas.
One means tadpole.
And the other means copper mouth.
Both, copper mouth snake.
So both snakes and frogs were used as part of Egyptian pagan worship.
We're only a few generations out of this people of Israel being slaves in Egypt.
And now this priest is named his two sons with these Egyptian names, alluding to these pagan, false, demonic gods of Egypt.
And these two sons, they saw themselves as entitled and above God's law.
In verses 13 through 17, it's describing for us how in their pride, they took the fact of the offering for themselves.
What does this represent?
What are we to learn here?
Well, going back to the reference in Egypt, it was the Pharaoh under God's sovereignty who told Joseph and his brothers in Genesis 45, 18,
Come to me and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you shall eat all the fat of the land.
The fat, the marbled meat, it's considered the choicest portion.
But in their pride, these men despised the law of God, which was very clear in Leviticus 3, 10.
The priests were to remove the fat.
Verse 11,
Verse 17 of Leviticus 3 tells the priests,
You shall not eat the fat.
Well, in their pride, they despised the law of God.
They despised the law of God because they despised God.
Leviticus 7, 20 also shows they despised belonging to God and being his people.
Leviticus 7, 20 says that the person who eats the flesh of the sacrifices of the peace offering that belongs to the Lord,
while he is unclean, that person shall be cut off from his people.
Well, who was it that would have authority to cut off these wicked men, Hophni and Phinehas?
It would be the high priest.
It would be Eli himself.
Eli neglected to practice discipline and cut off these two sons,
saying you are not in the covenant people of God.
You despise the offering of God himself.
You see how these men were revealed, their view of selves, by how they worship God.
The way they lived and worshipped is said, we're good without God.
We don't need him.
You keep your God.
By contrast, let's go to the poem.
Hannah says, I'm dead without God.
These wicked men say, we're good without God.
And Hannah says, look at verse 6.
The Lord kills and the Lord makes alive.
He brings down to the grave and he brings up.
She has a high view of God.
He's the giver of life.
And without him, I'm dead.
You can keep a finger, a marker right here in 1 Samuel 2.
But if you would, please flip back to Leviticus chapter 3.
I just want you to see this for yourself.
Leviticus chapter 3 is what I was mentioning as the peace offering.
That's the offering relating to the fat.
That was the best portion reserved for God.
But there are two offerings that are given before that.
So Leviticus 3 is about the peace offering.
Leviticus 2, right before that, is the grain offering.
It's an offering of gratitude.
Well, what are you grateful for?
You got to go back one more.
So Leviticus 1, in your copy of God's word, what does it say?
What needs to happen in Leviticus 1?
What's the first offering?
It's the burnt offering.
The burnt offering comes before the peace offering.
The burnt offering, it represents a substitute taking your place to receive God's wrath,
to be fully consumed, destroyed.
That's what Hannah recognizes.
That's what we recognize when we sing some of our greatest songs and hymns.
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die,
I scarce can take it in that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
The Son of God, God the Son, became the burnt offering,
so that you and I can enjoy the peace offering.
The Lord kills and the Lord makes alive.
He brings down to the grave and He brings up.
This is the right view of myself before God.
And Hannah's right worship reveals the right view of ourselves before this holy God.
I need the burnt offering before I can enjoy this peace offering the way God's given it.
Well, number two, how you and I worship, it reveals not only how we view ourselves,
it also reveals how we view God.
How we worship reveals how we view God.
Isn't this true?
Hophni and Phinehas, they worshiped like the pagans.
Would you look at verse 22, please?
We're told that Eli was very old and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel.
There's the passive, permissive priest.
And how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
Not only did these men view themselves as above God's law and despised His offering,
they had no reverence for God.
And their lack of reverence was doing injury to the lives and the faith of God's people.
And their dad, Eli, sitting there.
Now, we read in Exodus 38, 8, that there were women serving that would assemble at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
That was nothing wrong there.
That's just part of people gathering around the place where God will dwell and serving and being organized to serve.
But what Hophni and Phinehas were doing is bringing pagan practices into the presence of the holy God.
Nothing new under the sun once again, right?
We know those early churches, that's exactly what would happen in these temples to demons among the Greeks in the Roman Empire.
Is that there would be cult prostitution, all kinds of immorality as part of their worship to the goddess Aphrodite.
And these fake demon gods and Hophni and Phinehas are treating the tent of meeting in Shiloh,
the place where the holy God dwells and meets with His worshipers,
they're treating as if it's a pagan temple.
They're behaving and worshiping as if God were made in man's image.
As if God could be manipulated for their own pleasure.
And God's people were led by these priests who are now no different than the worldly worshipers of Satan.
Do you see how dark the spiritual condition of God's people in this point in redemptive history?
Eli scolded them.
Look at verse 25.
It says,
You are sinning against the Lord.
Who will intercede for you?
He's saying,
I'm a worthless priest.
I can't do it.
You've directly defiled God Himself.
Well, you can't defile God, but you've defiled yourselves in His presence.
And who's to stand between you and the wrath of the holy God?
But Eli's words were powerless.
We're told they did not heed the voice of their father.
They also didn't heed the voice of Scripture.
And maybe there are some who need this stern warning.
In Job 13, 9-11, the Word of God says,
Will it be well with you when the holy God searches you out?
Or can you deceive the holy God as one deceives a man?
The holy God will surely rebuke you.
Will not His majesty terrify you?
And the dread of Him fall upon you?
Who's going to be interceding for you?
Who?
The narrative tells us the reason why the sons of Eli had such a low view of God.
Would you look at verse 12?
The sons of Eli did not know Yahweh.
By contrast, Hannah says in verse 1, you can please look there back at the poem,
My heart rejoices in Yahweh.
Hannah knew God in spirit and in truth, just like the woman at the well in John 4.
My heart rejoices in Yahweh.
Notice what Hannah says in verse 2.
These sons of Eli are acting as if this God, Yahweh, the true God creator of all,
is just like the pagan demons.
Hannah says, no, no, no.
Verse 2, no one is like holy Yahweh,
for there is none beside you.
In Psalm of Canterbury, he wrote that the holy God is that of which nothing greater can be conceived.
God is that of which nothing greater can be conceived.
What a great expression of God's holiness.
God is unlike any other.
And Hannah says in verse 2,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
There's nowhere else stable, solid, a shelter, a fortress.
Our God alone is that.
Hannah has a high view of God as holy.
And look at verse 8.
Hannah says,
For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh's.
And he has set the world upon them.
This is the holy creator.
He's a rock.
You think this world, this cosmos is massive?
God is the one who put the pillars to even hold it in place.
Do you have this high view of God?
Does your worship reveal this reverence?
God, you are holy.
There's nothing greater than God that I can even conceive of.
We sing,
O Lord my God,
when I in awesome wonder
consider all the worlds thy hands have made,
then sings my soul,
how great thou art.
My heart rejoices in Yahweh.
He's absolutely above.
He is much more magnificent.
He is supremely other than anything else in all the world.
How great thou art.
How we worship reveals,
it reveals our view of God.
Third truth I want to highlight is that
how we worship reveals
to what end your life will come.
How you and I worship
reveals right now,
this moment in time,
before it's too late,
to what end your life and mine will come.
Either way,
your life will glorify God.
God will either be glorified in destroying the wicked,
or God will be glorified in redeeming the wicked
and calling them his beloved people.
Well, first the contrast with Hophni and Phinehas.
Look at verse 17.
We're told that the sin of the young men was very great
before Yahweh.
For these men of Horde,
they despised the offering of the Lord.
To what end will their worship lead?
Who despise the peace offering of God?
Would you see how in verse 17,
the default bent of their will,
and yours and mine under Adam's curse as well,
is to reject God's peace offering?
The call so far in 1 Samuel
has been to bow before the sovereign God.
The word sovereign,
you hear the last part of that word is reign,
that God reigns as king, supreme.
And the first part of that word, sovereign,
it alludes to freedom.
To acknowledge God's sovereignty
is to acknowledge his free reign.
That's what God shows us in this story.
And some of us,
this might be the one area
of your thinking about God
that needs to change.
It needs to expand even today.
Look at verse 25.
Why is it that these wicked men
did not heed their father's warning?
Verse 25 says,
they did not heed the voice of their father
because the Lord desired to kill them.
You should read that one more time for yourself.
They did not heed the voice of the Lord
because the Lord desired to kill them.
What can we infer from this?
Who is it that heeds the warning
that if you continue in your pride,
you will get the wrath of God?
It's only those whom the Lord turns.
See, all are dead in our trespasses and sins.
That's what the Bible says.
None of us would heed the warning
to repent and believe in Jesus,
turn and receive this free offer.
All of us would despise the offering of God
to have peace with him in Christ,
in our pride.
If you're here today
and you don't despise God's peace offering,
you joyfully, gratefully receive
the peace of God in Jesus,
it's not because of anything you did.
You can't take any glory or credit
for your decision.
But it's because God turned your heart.
He regenerated you.
See, I think that's what Hannah
recognizes in her prayer.
Would you go back to the poem?
Look at verse 8.
When she's pronouncing the condemnation
of the wicked,
in many ways it's simply a reversal.
You know, you were hungry, now you're fed.
You were rich, now you're poor.
But verse 8 is very interesting.
It says,
The wicked shall be silent in darkness.
What that conveys is
you're going to be left on your own.
You're not going to be receiving light from God.
You're not going to respond rejoicing like Hannah.
You reject God's peace offering.
You're left in silence and darkness.
There is only one end for those
who despise God's peace offering.
Look at verse 27 now,
back to the story.
What end was in store for the sons of Eli?
We read in verse 27,
A man of God came to Eli and said to him,
Thus says the Lord.
We can sum it up in verse 34.
Your two sons,
Hophni and Phinehas,
in one day,
shall die both of them.
This is the free reign of God.
You continue in your pride,
rejecting his peace offering.
You will die.
You will be left in silence and darkness,
away from the presence of the Holy God.
By contrast,
let's look at Hannah
as one example of a believer.
What is the end for this worshiper?
In verse 11,
it's the last mention of her family.
Look at verse 11.
We shift from her poetry into the prose.
We're told then Elkanah,
up to this point it's been Hannah
as the main point of reference.
But now it's her husband again.
Elkanah went to his house.
See how after this glorious prayer,
this poem,
Hannah is no longer named.
She softly disappears from the book.
But her end is hopeful.
Look one verse prior, verse 10.
She says,
Yahweh will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.
What's the last word spoken by Hannah?
The word anointed.
You know what anointed is in Hebrew?
Messiah.
A king is coming.
Hannah's last word is looking to the Messiah.
The king will be anointed.
Yahweh will exalt him.
He will be Yahweh's strength.
Yahweh is quietly working.
What about her son?
What's Samuel's role here?
He's part of the fulfillment,
but he's not the king.
He's the last judge and he's a prophet,
but his special role is that
he is the anointer of the king.
Samuel prepares the way
and anoints David.
Can you see how this is foreshadowing
another barren mom,
another true worshiper
in the midst of corruption,
Elizabeth,
and her son,
who would be set apart,
take the Nazarite vow,
John the Baptist,
would prepare the way for the king.
Your life will serve
either to display God's wrath
against proud sinners
or to display his glory
in the anointed,
the Messiah.
The fourth truth for today is this.
It's that the Lord
secures true worship
for himself.
The Lord secures true worship
for himself.
Let's see how he does that.
I see three levels
in this story.
First,
look at verse 27.
The Lord quietly
raises up a true minister
that will serve
to deliver God's word
instead of to please
the men in power.
In verse 27,
we have this unnamed preacher.
He's just called
a man of God.
Just like John the Baptist.
He must increase,
I must decrease.
Don't even name him.
That man of God
came to Eli
and said,
thus says the Lord.
It's not the authority
of this man of God,
it's the word of the Lord
doing the heavy lifting.
And through this judgment,
by pronouncing the word
of the Lord,
the Lord is securing
true worship
and true worshipers
for himself.
Well,
the second way
God does this
is quietly
growing another minister,
another leader.
Did you notice
that that prose,
that narrative,
it was pretty long.
It was maybe
the longest reading
we've ever done.
Praise God,
we have his word
in a language
we can understand.
And most of that
is about the wicked,
evil sin of Israel
and the horrible worship
that's going around
in the tent of meeting
of the Lord.
It's almost painful
to sit there
and have to listen
to all of this
for seven minutes.
But notice these little verses
one at a time,
little notes.
Start with verse 11.
Would you look at verse 11?
Samuel ministered to the Lord.
Just drop it in there.
Now look at verse 18.
Samuel ministered before Yahweh.
Now look at verse 26.
The child Samuel grew
in stature
and in favor
with the Lord
and with men.
By the way,
when Luke describes
God's quiet,
raising up the leader,
the one who will come
to judge,
he's described
that exact same way.
And now look at
1 Samuel chapter 3 verse 1,
the last verse
that John read for us.
The boy Samuel
was ministering
to the Lord.
Dale Ralph Davis commented,
these quiet,
subtle notes
remind us
that God
is already
at work
to provide
new,
godly leadership
for his people.
No slogans,
no campaigns,
no speeches.
It is all very quiet.
Yahweh is growing
his new leader.
And true,
vital,
divine growth
seldom makes noise.
End of the quote.
See how the Lord
works quietly,
but he works
powerfully
to secure
true worship
for himself.
And the third way,
the most glorious way
of them all,
how the Lord
does this.
It's in the prophecy
that this man of God
gives.
Let's look at verse 35.
The man of God says,
thus says the Lord,
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.
Well,
prophecies like this
oftentimes receive
a near fulfillment
in national Israel
than an ultimate
fulfillment.
Let's talk about
the near fulfillment
first.
In 1 Samuel chapter 22,
there's a civil war.
It's Saul
versus David.
All the priests
side with David
because he fears
the Lord.
So to get revenge,
Saul orders
an Edomite
to come and kill
off all the priests
that sided with David
against Saul.
All but one priest
is killed.
That could be
one level of fulfillment.
The one that survived
his name was
Abiathar
and he did continue
then ministering
unto David
as the new king
when all the other
priests had been
wiped out.
Later on,
after David,
when Solomon is king,
there's a man
named Zadok
who comes from
a different line
and he remains
as the priest
until the Babylonian
captivity.
But I think even
Abiathar
and even Zadok
are only shadows
of the true substance.
The name Zadok
means righteousness.
You see,
man's problem
is even greater.
We have sinned
against a holy God.
We've despised
his offering
even with
these shadows,
these sacrifices
that were merely
meant to point
to a spiritual reality.
And even though
Eli was corrupt
and passive
in verse 25,
he understands
the problem
correctly.
We have a wrong
view of God
and we have a wrong
view of ourselves.
We'll always have
the wrong view
of the problem.
But Eli says
in verse 25,
you are sinning
against the Lord.
He's got a right
view of God
and a right view
of them
and himself.
And he has a right
view of the problem.
Who will intercede
for sinful men
like you and me?
That's the right view
of the problem
is that no man
can stand
as a priest.
In Hebrews 7,
24,
we have the glorious
fulfillment
that God
made his son
a priest
forever.
And he gave
to Jesus Christ
an unchangeable
priesthood.
Hebrews 7,
25 says,
therefore he
is able
to save
to the uttermost
those who come
to God
through him
since he always
lives
to make intercession
for you.
Jesus is praying,
interceding,
and all those
for whom Jesus
prays,
his prayer is effectual.
The prayer
of a righteous man,
Jesus Christ,
is effectual,
as he's praying,
and all those
for whom he prays
come to God.
Through Jesus Christ,
the only one
who can stand
between God
and man
as a mediator
and make peace.
Notice this prophecy
is of a priest
who will do
perfectly
what's in God's
heart
and in God's
mind.
And Jesus Christ
is the only one
who can fulfill
that requirement
for this glorious
priest.
He's the only one
whose priesthood
will endure forever.
And God will
build for him
a house
in which to minister.
Verse 35
brings priest
and king together.
He says,
he shall walk
before my anointed,
before my Messiah
forever.
And the one man,
Jesus Christ,
the king
and the priest
combined
to minister,
to mediate,
and to rule
over his people.
This is how God
secures true worship
for himself.
Isn't it glorious?
He says,
well,
those are the four
truths.
I still need to
give you an offer.
The offer is this.
All are invited.
You're invited
to receive
the Lord's
peace offering
and to worship
him.
But first,
you must see
yourself rightly.
You and I must
see ourselves
like a beggar.
If you're driving
around the Denver
metro,
you often will
pull up to a light
and there's a beggar.
And I hope that
next time we see that
and you,
you know,
you see this person
standing in the cold
asking for anything
you would want to give.
I hope that that
reminds us.
That's a picture of me
before this holy God.
That's how Hannah
saw herself
as a true worshiper.
And the glorious
promise of peace
with God through Christ
is only fulfilled
because we first
see ourselves
correctly in light
of God.
Look at verse 8.
Back to the poem
one last time.
Hannah declares,
God raises the poor
from the dust
and he lifts the beggar
from the ash heap.
This is imagery
of festering
compost piles
outside the city walls
where people would
dump their refuse
in the ashes
from their ovens.
And it was there
on the outside
of the city
where the beggars
and lepers
would sit
and they would
plead for alms.
It's an image
of deepest degradation.
And even these
wicked men,
Hophni and Phinehas,
if they would
humble themselves
and see themselves
as beggars
needing a savior,
the Lord's grace
and his righteousness
is sufficient
to cover that.
But first,
you must see yourself
in need
of such a great savior.
we're told of
our great savior,
Jesus Christ,
in Colossians 1.20.
In Christ,
God has made
peace with us.
How?
Through the blood
of his cross.
See,
it's only because
Jesus Christ
became our burnt sacrifice
that we can now enjoy
his peace offering.
we get to have
fellowship,
communion
with the holy God.
God shares
what is his
with his true
worshipers.
He says,
this is my table,
but you come
and sit with me.
You know,
the peace offering
was the only offering
that the Old Testament
people of God
were allowed to eat
and to share with him.
That's the purpose
to teach us.
You commune with God
now in Jesus Christ.
He is your peace offering.
What was God's?
What belonged to him?
The choicest portions.
He gave him son,
Jesus Christ,
to be the burnt offering
so that you could now
come and enjoy
the communion
and the fellowship
and the covenant
of grace
in Christ.
What a celebration.
God keeps his covenant.
He made peace
with us
through Jesus Christ.
What great reason
to feast.
He's our gracious God
and we're his people.
We used to be beggars
and look at verse 8.
Then in Jesus Christ,
the Lord,
he lifts you up
from being a beggar
like a leper
in the compost pile
outside the wall
and he brings you inside
and he sits you
on a throne
around him.
Verse 8 says,
the Lord sets you
as a prince
or as a princess
and makes you
inherit a seat
at his table
of glory.
And that's what
we're going to celebrate
here in a moment
with the Lord's Supper.
He has done this.
You are here
in his presence.
Don't have to go
to Shiloh
or Jerusalem.
Just like he promised
the woman at the well.
Anywhere in spirit
and in truth,
you're in the presence
of God spiritually.
In Hannah's prayer,
it began with her
personal experience
but it ends
with God's saving rule
over the largest
scope imaginable.
Commentators have
picked up on how
verses 9 and 10
of this wonderful
little poem,
they have a different verb.
The tense of the verb
changes
in verses 9 and 10.
They use the imperfect
tense,
which means
it's continuous
and it's looking forward.
It's to be read
and sung
as our prayer now,
our hope for the future.
We could read
verses 9 and 10
this way
in light of the finished
work of Jesus Christ.
Oh Lord,
we trust
that you will guard
your saints
in Christ.
For by strength
no man shall prevail.
The adversaries
of the Lord
shall be broken
in pieces.
And from heaven
you will thunder
against your enemies.
You, Lord,
will judge the ends
of the earth.
And you will give strength
to your King Jesus Christ
and exalt the name
of your anointed,
our Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
When Christ
shall come
with shouts
of acclamation,
what joy
shall fill our hearts.
Beloved congregation
of our Lord Jesus,
soon
He will come
as judge.
Right now
He offers
His grace.
He will come
to Him.
Don't despise
His peace offering.
Come to Him.
His righteousness
is sufficient.
His grace
abounds.
It overflows.
He won't run out
of grace
for you and for me.
And trust
that between now
His offer of grace
and until He comes
again,
God is at work
quietly preserving,
redeeming,
sustaining you
and me.
When we get a glimpse,
let's see together,
celebrate,
point it out
when God is quietly
at work.
He loves to work
in an invisible
but vital way.
And He loves it
when we respond
in grateful worship.
If God has revealed
Himself to you
as sovereign Lord,
then respond today.
Bow
in humble
adoration
and right here
proclaim,
my God,
how great
thou art.
Take a moment
to do that now.
And전
through the