1 SAMUEL 2 A CONTRAST OF PURSUITS2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Samuel 2 A Contrast Of Pursuits

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

We're going to be in 1 Samuel chapter 2 this evening, continuing to look at this theme, this subject of pursuing God's heart. And we're going to see some contrasts of what happens when you pursue God's heart and what happens when you don't pursue God's heart and what that looks like. And so some good examples for us to consider this evening. I'd like to begin by reading the first 11 verses and

And here we're looking at the prayer of Hannah. And so just a little bit of context from last week. We saw last week the Lord providing for himself a new priest, a man who is going to be after his heart, Samuel.

And he did that through Hannah, who was not able to have children. And then she came to the place where she responded to what God spoke to her. And she said, if you give me a son, I will dedicate him to you. And so the Lord provided her a son and she was faithful to her word and she surrendered her life to the Lord in that way. And so after three years, when she had weaned the boy, then she brought him to the tabernacle. She leaves him there and

And that's where it kind of like left off at the end of chapter one. In chapter two, we're still in that situation. So she's leaving Samuel there. She's about to head home. But before she does, she prays this prayer. And it's a wonderful prayer for us to consider this evening. And so 1 Samuel chapter two, verse one says this. And Hannah prayed and said, my heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted in the Lord.

I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none beside you, nor is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly. Let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has born seven, and she who has many children has become feeble. Verse 6. The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap.

Verse 1.

I'm sorry, from heaven, he will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah, but the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest.

Here as we look at 1 Samuel chapter 2, as I said, we're looking at this moment where Hannah and Elkanah are in this incredibly difficult occasion, no doubt, that they're leaving Samuel behind, that he is going to be devoted to the Lord and dedicated to the Lord. And you could understand that she's going through, you know,

probably the most difficult time of her life in actually doing what she told the Lord that she would do. And yet in the midst of that, as they're, you know, saying their goodbyes and heading out the door, packing up the van, they're ready to take the trek home, Hannah prays this prayer. And

And it's an incredible prayer, and we could spend a lot of time in it, and we're not going to, but I would encourage you to take a second or third look at the elements and the content, because there's great depth and meat to the doctrine and the things that she is praying here. It reflects and it shows her heart, and as I was sharing last week,

The whole idea of pursuing the heart of God comes from later when God says through Samuel that he's going to choose a man after his own heart to be king, to replace Saul, and that's going to be David.

And so David, the man after God's own heart. But before there was the man David after God's own heart, there was the man Samuel after God's own heart. And before there was the man Samuel after God's own heart, we see Hannah, a woman after God's heart. And that's reflected here in this prayer that she prays, a beautiful prayer.

But as we go forward into the coming verses, we're also going to see the wickedness of the sons of Eli and the corruption that was in the priesthood. And so I've titled the message this evening, A Contrast of Pursuits.

As we talk about the idea and the concept of pursuing God's heart, I think that God wants to make it very clear for us that there is a clear choice that must be made. And so many times we try to live in the middle. It's like, I don't want to be the extreme. I don't want to go that far. I don't want to run away from the Lord. But I kind of just want to be in that middle area. And so I think that God wants to make it very clear for us that there is a clear choice that must be made.

Where it's not too radical in the commitment to the Lord and in walking with the Lord. And here what's reflected and what's demonstrated is that there is no middle ground. That the middle ground is just leading away from a righteous relationship with God. And we see that developed in Eli and his son.

And so last week, as we saw God preparing to bring the man who pursues his heart, Samuel, now we're going to get a glimpse of the desperation for the nation, of the need for a man who pursues God's heart and the righteous example that Samuel will bring. And

And so that's what we're talking about. That's what we're looking at, pursuing after God's own heart and the contrast of what it looks like when you do and what it looks like when you don't. And really it's going to require for us an all-out pursuit of God's heart. That means obedience. That means pleasing Him. That means honoring Him. And what I want us to consider this evening is that anything less than that,

is going to end up in tragedy and wickedness and deceitfulness and sin. And that's the lessons that we learn, the contrasts that we see here in this chapter. So three contrasts we'll see are three things, three points we'll look at as we work our way through the chapter. First, considering the verses we already read, verses 1 through 11. And here the point is, pursuing God's heart produces deep and meaningful praise.

Here's what we need to know about pursuing God's heart. When pleasing God and knowing God and walking with God is the priority, the pursuit of our lives, then we need to know

it's going to produce in us deep and meaningful praise. And we can see that here in Hannah's example. Her prayer life is substantial, and her understanding the concepts of God are really quite amazing as you consider their context. And her access to the scriptures was very limited at

As, you know, the technology wasn't there, as the resources weren't there, but also as a woman in that culture, you know, she wouldn't be taught the scriptures like the men and the boys in that culture would be taught. And so she has this understanding of God that comes from not education, not, you know, some scholarly thing, but just from a simple trust and walk and

and relationship with God by faith. And so we see this powerful prayer that comes because of her pursuit of God's heart, because of her desire to be pleasing to God and her walk with God. She has great understanding and great depth of understanding in faith.

who God is and how he works. Now, as we walk through this prayer, we can look at it and there's kind of like a dual application that you can kind of see that it's describing her feelings and her experience as far as what she's gone through with the barrenness and then on into being able to give birth to Samuel. But

But then also there's these amazing, you know, prophetic threads that point to Jesus throughout this prayer as well. And so again, you have this just incredible prayer that she prays. Looking again at verse one, it says, "'And Hannah prayed and said, "'My heart rejoices in the Lord. "'My horn is exalted in the Lord. "'I smile at my enemies "'because I rejoice in your salvation.'"

Hannah, as she is praying, she is rejoicing. This is a joyful prayer, and that's why I refer to it as praise in the point. It's a rejoicing of what God has done. And just highlighting that last sentence for a moment, she says, "'I smile at my enemies "'because I rejoice in your salvation.'"

And we see here that the choice to walk by faith and not by sight, that even though there is difficulty and affliction and enemies and opposition and all of that, she says, I can smile even though, you know, my enemies. Now, she's referring to her enemies. Last week we saw she was referred to as her rival, that is Peninnah, the other wife of Elkanah. And

And so it tells us that she would provoke Hannah to just be completely and totally miserable. And so, you know, in general, you could see, you know, I smile at my enemies, you know, being a general thing for all afflictions and difficulties and things like that. But...

Although it doesn't directly say that, it seems that she probably has Peninnah in mind as she's, you know, all of those years of provoking, all of those years of taunting and tormenting and the things, and she says, I can smile at my enemies. And what you meant for evil, God meant for good. And I rejoice in God's salvation. He has provided and he has saved.

In verse 2, she says,

Here, kind of three different ways, she says, there's nothing that compares to God, no one that compares to God, no one that can be relied upon like God, no one. The idea of holy is to be completely set apart, that he is set apart and unique and different and untouched by sin. There is no one like God who is just and righteous and can be relied upon like the rock.

Verse 3, And so she's talking about God and how he is faithful and she can rejoice. And she's also saying, look, you enemies, Peninnah and perhaps others, that you

you are boasting in your pride, but let no arrogance come from your mouth because God's the God of knowledge. He knows what's really going on. He knows what's happening in the hearts and he's going to weigh your actions. He's going to weigh and there's going to be an account that's given for the things that you've done and the things that you've said.

And so again, she understands who God is. She understands his place. She understands our place. And she has this great depth of insight into what a relationship with God is like. Verse 4.

And here she's going to go through a series of contrasts between, you know, those who were strong and provided for themselves and everything was going for them and how, you know, that was taken away. And then you have, on the other hand, those who had nothing and were weak and poor and

And yet God was able to give them everything and how God is able to work in both cases. That is, those who are the wicked but have everything going for them and those who are the righteous but have nothing, that God is able to correct that. And those injustices will be handled by God. And so again, I can smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.

And so the bows of the mighty men are broken. So they used to be strong. They used to have great weaponry, but those are broken. Those who were stumbled, those who were weak and could just barely walk, they have been girded with strength. And now they've been able to, you know, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Verse five, those who were full have hired themselves out for bread and the hungry have ceased to hunger.

even the barren has born seven and she who has many children has become feeble. So again, you see these contrasts. They're the fool, that is not foolish, but they were full. They had lots of food, but now they're desperate and they're selling themselves for bread. But then you have the hungry and they've ceased to hunger. And so again, God has corrected the injustices. And that's the thing is that

Peninnah is a wicked woman, and yet she was, you know, blessed with many kids. Here's Hannah, a righteous woman, evidenced by this prayer as well as some of the things we looked at last week. She's a righteous woman, but unable to have children. She's tormented. She's ridiculed. She's mocked. She's provoked. She's, you know, living years of sorrow. And yet what God has done in this is he has corrected this injustice. And so, you know,

And she's celebrating that. And so those who were full have hired themselves out and the hungry have ceased to hunger. And she goes on to say the barren has born seven and she who has many children has become feeble. And so again, the leveling out, the correction of all the injustices we see, she's trusting God and saying, God will work out those injustices and all those things that are wrong. Verse six, the Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to the grave and brings up

Again, as she gives these different contrasts, she comes to this point where she says, look,

He's the creator and he's able to do whatever needs to be done. He's able to make things right. He's able to set things in the proper order and to raise the poor from the dust. And those who are proud and think, well, I have what I have because of how great I am or because of what I've done or how hard I've worked.

God's able to show, no, that was all me. I gave that to you and I can take it away if I want to. And those who have nothing but trust in the Lord, God is able to provide for them. And of course, we know that in eternity, all of those things will be corrected and rewarded. But here, Hannah is recognizing the justice of God and how he is able, he is powerful and he's able to accomplish justice.

his purposes, no matter how strong people are or how weak people are, he's able to accomplish what needs to be done. And so she is thanking God. She's rejoicing in who God is and the power of God and the justice of God. In verse nine, he will guard the feet of his saints.

So again, she's seeing that the strength of man and our best abilities, but it doesn't measure up to who God is and what God does.

In verse 10, the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces. From heaven, he will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. And so in the end, she says, God is going to be victorious. He's going to have his way. No one's going to stand against it. It doesn't matter how strong they are, how clever they are. God will accomplish his purposes.

And so again, she's recognizing who God is, his position, his power, and celebrating that, rejoicing in that in a wonderful and beautiful way. But again, there's more to it than just, you know, the celebration of what the Lord has done for her personally, because you see there in the end in verse 10,

She talks about looking toward the future. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces. From heaven, he will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. And so you can see, you know, there's some end times prophecy intertwined in here. And then notice, he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. And something to think about, something to consider is at this time, Israel had no king.

Saul is going to be the first king. That's going to happen in a few chapters, but that's not going to happen for a while. They don't have a king, but she knows that God is providing a king. And then she goes on to say, and exalt the horn of his anointed. And we might miss it in English, but this is the first time that this concept of the Messiah is introduced to us

through Hannah. Now, we talked about this on Sunday or a couple Sundays back. I forget now which Sunday it was, but we talked about the Messiah, the Christ, and that promise, and that thread of promises, and, you know, the idea and the importance of it to the Jewish people. And to think about this, that Hannah, I mean, of all the people in the Old Testament,

Hannah has the privilege of introducing this concept of the Lord's anointed being that king that he has promised. That Jesus, the Messiah, she's the one who gave him that title in a sense. You know what I mean? His anointed. She used that phrase. She used that in her prayer and in her praise to describe this coming savior, this coming king who we now know to be Jesus.

And so she has this incredible privilege of being able to be part of the legacy of Jesus and the doctrine and the understanding and the hope. And it's introduced here in verse 10 where it's the first time in the whole Bible where Jesus is referred to as the Messiah. And what an incredible place, what an incredible privilege that she has. And again, all that to say that comes from

The fact that she was a woman who pursued God's heart. That it wasn't her education in their culture. She wouldn't get an education. She wouldn't get, you know, the teaching of the scriptures. She wouldn't get those kinds of things. But she had this insight from the Lord because she had a real relationship with the Lord.

Because she really did pursue the heart of God and seek to honor God and please God. And it produced in her deep and meaningful praise. So deep and meaningful that she got to introduce this concept of the Messiah to

that the Savior that God was promising was going to be the anointed one. She got to give him the title. She got to be part of that and establish that for the rest of the Jewish people up until the time of Christ. And that's an incredible place for her, a place of privilege and honor as a result of her understanding of who God is and her walk with God.

Well, it tells us in verse 11, then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah, but the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. And so that was their goodbye. You know, she prays this prayer. She prays this exclamation of praise. It's deep. It's meaningful. It shows where she was at in her relationship with God. And then, well...

Finishing up from last week, she surrendered her life. She actually left Samuel at the tabernacle and went home. And she did that in obedience to what God had called her to. She really was pursuing God's heart. It's beautiful. It's amazing. And it demonstrates for us the importance of getting to know God.

How do you get to know God? It's not necessarily about having, you know, an amazing education or, you know, that kind of thing, but it's about pursuing the heart of God. And what's so cool about God is that this makes it accessible to any of us, that you can have such a deep and meaningful relationship with God that, well, that you could introduce concepts from God that will be established for you

and thousands of years to come that you can have prophetic insight from the Lord, that you can have incredible insight and a walk with God, that it's accessible to all of us. It's not necessary to have a seminary degree to have really great insights into the word of God and to be able to

to understand what God is saying and understand who God is and be able to minister to people effectively. And all of that, it comes back not so much to the education, not so much to your IQ, not so much to this or that about your personality or study habits or anything. It comes back to your heart in line with God's heart.

and are you pursuing God's heart? Now, I should point out, though, this kind of praise, I mean, it was beautiful. It was meaningful. She had great prophetic insight. This kind of praise, this kind of prayer comes at significant cost. It comes at great cost. Here she is leaving her only child at the tabernacle. I mean, this is high cost prayer.

If you want to have that kind of relationship with God, understand it comes at a significant cost. And again, referring back to last week, that's why pursuing starts with surrender. It begins with laying down my life, and it's a significant cost to surrender my heart, my will, my wishes, everything about me to God and His will. It's worth it, and it's rewarded for

but we need to count the cost. And Jesus, as he was calling people to follow him, he said, look, you need to count the cost and think about what it's going to take. Because what you cannot follow me, if you have other priorities above me and ahead of me. And if you will love your family more than you love me, you can't be my disciple. It's not going to work. And we'll see that as we work our way down the passage as well. So it's important to understand there is a cost involved.

But the potential is there. You can have a great and incredible and deep and meaningful relationship with God that produces this kind of praise and worship and prayer. It's accessible to any of us as we believe in Jesus Christ and pursue the heart of God. Well, moving on to point number two, we're gonna be looking at verses 12 through 21. Here, the point is, pursuing God's heart does not hinder worship for others.

If you're going to be one who pursues God's heart, understand you're also going to be one who is careful to not hinder other people in their relationship with God. And these things go hand in hand. You can't be pursuing God's heart and at the same time be hindering other people in their relationship with God or in their walk with God.

And now is the time where we get to see kind of a big contrast where we're going to go into the practices and behavior of Eli's sons and see the corruption there. But let me remind you that as we talk about pursuing God's heart, we're talking about an all-out pursuit. You know, that's pedal to the metal, sirens blaring, you know, all-out pursuit, not kind of a casual, you know,

Maybe we'll get there one day, but it's an intentional seeking to be obedient and to be pleasing God and striving to honor the Lord. And it produces beautiful results. But you need to understand anything less than an all out pursuit of God's heart is going to produce tragic results and wickedness and very great sin and destruction. And so we see the beginning of this contrast in verse 12. It says, now the sons of Eli were corrupt and

They did not know the Lord. And so here's the contrast. Here you have Hannah, no position, no authority, no education, no, you know, none of those advantages, but she knew the Lord. And here you have Eli's sons. They had all the education. They had the position. They had the prestige and the power, the honor. They had everything that they needed, but they did not know the Lord. And the result was corruption. Corruption.

The result was wickedness and even them affecting other people in their walk with God and relationship with God because of their corruption. In verse 13, it begins to describe that to us. It says, "...and the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged flesh hook in his hand while the meat was boiling."

So it begins now to describe the corrupt practices of the sons of Eli. Eli, of course, was the high priest at the time.

And the way that God had set it up was that the position of high priest was passed down from father to son, father to son, father to son. And it just continued on. The firstborn of the high priest became the next high priest when that high priest died. And that just continued to pass on. Now, the sons of the priests, the sons of the high priests, were the priests. And so in that day, it's Eli. Right?

And his sons are the priests and they are the ones serving at the tabernacle and next in line when Eli dies, they're going to be, you know, the oldest one would be the high priest as they follow that order.

But there was a corruption of the practices of the priests. And so it has to do with the process of how they would receive their portion from the people as they would come to sacrifice. Now, something important to remember about the sacrifices is that the sacrifices were intended to be partially, you know, offered to God, but not

Except for a couple sacrifices, they weren't completely, like the whole animal was not placed on the altar. A portion of the animal was placed on the altar.

And then the way that God had set it up, a portion of the sacrifice was to go to the priest and it was a meal. And so, you know, here's a good chunk of meat and have a good meal. And the priest who did the work of, of sacrificing that animal got to receive that as payment that provided dinner for him because he helped perform the sacrifice. So he's providing for his family while he is doing this work of the Lord. But again,

There was a piece that went to the Lord. There was a piece that went to the priest, but the majority of the animal was then kept for the family that was offering the sacrifice. And so, you know, if they were offering a lamb or a bull or something, they would have basically a big feast and,

there nearby the tabernacle, and later on as the temple is built, there's all these rooms and tables and all of that. It was so that people could come and offer sacrifices and have a fellowship meal. That's specifically the peace offering. That's what it was all about. It was about having peace with God and having a good meal together with your family. It was a celebration. It was a feast. It was, you know, all of that in addition to an offering to the Lord. Now,

That's the way that God had set it up. In giving that, you know, instruction, you can read through it if you'd like in the book of Leviticus, he said, okay, so when the animal is sacrificed, this very specific portion goes on the altar. This very specific portion goes to the priest. In Leviticus chapter 7 verse 34, it specifies the breast and the thigh would be given to the priest. And

And then the rest would be left for the family to enjoy and have a feast together. But what is being described here in verse 13, the custom of the priests was not what God had outlined here in the book of Leviticus. So they changed the practice. And so instead of receiving this particular piece of meat that God had apportioned for them, they decided, well, you know,

we want to get some better cuts of meat sometimes. And so they're boiling the meat in this cauldron or in this pot, and the priest would send a servant and say, okay, you know, I'm going to stick this in, and whatever piece of meat I get, that's what I get to keep. And so that's how the priest would get his meat. And so they would do that, perhaps instead of taking the thigh and the breast that God had apportioned to them. Other Bible scholars suggest, well, maybe they were taking both.

that they were taking, you know, their portion piece. And then also, hey, let me have whatever my fork brings out, you know, when I stick it into the cauldron, that they were taking that in addition. And that's a likely possibility as well. Either way, it's contrary to what God has instructed. It's more than what God has called them to. And so they're disregarding the instruction of God and just basically doing what they want and then making it worse in verse 15.

It says, And so you can see it escalates a little bit. Now,

Now they're not satisfied with just, you know, whatever meat they get out of the boiling cauldron because barbecued meat tastes way better than boiled meat. And so the priest says, hey, you know, before you offer that portion to the Lord, let me take my cut.

I want to take my cut now before it's cooked, before you offer it to the Lord, I'm going to come first and I'm going to put myself in first position in front of God, take my cut first, then you can put God's portion on the offering or on the altar as an offering, and then you can keep whatever else is for yourself and cook it. And so they were insisting that they come first and that they get the best cuts of meat.

Now, it's specifically referencing the fat. And as you go through the Levitical law, the fat was always supposed to be given to the Lord. Now, if you like a good ribeye steak with that marbled fat in there, you understand, like, that's the best part, right? Like, that's, oh, incredible flavor. And so here's the priest saying, you know, I really want a good steak. So I'm going to take

what I want from this sacrifice that is going to be offered to the Lord. I don't want boiled meat. That doesn't sound good, that I'm craving a steak. I'm craving a, you know, a good piece of steak that's on the barbecue. I mean, that's what I really want. And so, so that's what I'm going to take. And, and so you see, they take it now to another level where they're inserting themselves. They're putting themselves in first position saying, I'm going to take what I want. And even threatening in verse 16, hey, if you don't want to give it to me, I'm going to take it by force.

I'm going to make sure I get what I want. And it's a total disrespect towards God, a total violation of God's instruction. It's a total disregard of what God has said. And it was an offense to the people who were offering because they knew what God said. They knew, hey, what's supposed to happen here is this part goes to God. This is holy to the Lord. This is devoted to God. And here you have this priest saying, no, give it to me. I want it.

I'm going to take it. And if you don't give it to me, I'm going to take it by force. Now, if you're the one offering that, you're going to think twice before you come back with an offering again, because you're offended, because this is a horrible thing to take place. And so in verse 17, it tells us, therefore, the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.

You see, the result was people hated. Oh man, I want to worship the Lord. I want to offer the offerings that were called to offer and just celebrate what God has done. I want to do that. Oh, but man, I'm going to have to deal with Eli's sons and they're going to take what they want. And it's so wrong. And Eli won't correct them. And you know what I mean? Like you can understand like that. Oh, like I want to, but then it's like, oh, how can I do that? There was great frustration as they abhorred

This whole process now, I hate giving to the Lord because it's such a horrible process and I have to deal with these guys and they take what they want and it's so wrong. And so it tells us that their sin was very great because it caused people to be in this place where they hated, they were frustrated, not that they hated God,

But they hated that they had to deal with this. And so now they're hesitant to offer their sacrifices to God. Now they're hesitant to worship God. Now they're hesitant to go and celebrate what God had set up for them as a beautiful feast of fellowship between him and them and their family. And they were able to enjoy a good meal together. God had set this up in a beautiful way. And now it's such a frustrating, it's a horrible situation. And

And here God says very clearly, their sin was very great. These kinds of situations continue to happen. Some of the details change, but you know, there is, well, there's a lot of issues where people are hesitant to come to worship. People are hesitant to be part of the work of God. People are hesitant. They're frustrated by it because, well, because of

these kinds of things that are going on. Hindering people from coming to God is a big issue. And we need to understand that if we're going to be pursuing the heart of God, understand the heart of God is for people. And we, it should abhor us to have any part of anyone not being able to freely come to God. It should abhor us. Would you be abhorred if...

Russell says, you know, I was going to come to church Wednesday night, but man, I really knew that Richard was going to be there. I just, I mean, I love to worship God and I love, but I just, he frustrates me so much. Is that the kind of part that we want to have in people's lives? Listen, as far as God's concerned, that's a very great sin. Now, sometimes those kinds of tension and relationships happen outside of our responsibility, outside of our control and through no sin on our part.

But to be involved in anything that is not right, to have any heart that is not just like in line with God that causes other people, it's a serious effect. It's a very grave sin before the Lord when people abhor the offering of the Lord and to worship the Lord. I think that's why Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 24, remember he said, if you're there at the altar, you're about to offer your sacrifice and you remember your brother has something against you,

So similar situation to what we're looking at here, right? You have your sacrifice. You're about to feast with your family. You're about to offer to the Lord. It's going to be a beautiful time of fellowship. And if there you remember, oh yeah, Russell hates me. He says, leave your gift at the altar. Go your way. First be reconciled with Russell. Sorry to pick on you, Russell. And then come and offer your gift that, that he, he,

If there's a situation where this guy is not going to come offer because you're there offering your sacrifice and we can't come to offer our sacrifices at the same time because there's bad blood between us. Jesus says, no, no. Leave your gift at the altar. Forget about that. Go deal with that relationship.

Because you don't want to have anything. You need to make sure that nothing is hindering that other person from coming to worship God. And if you're going to be pursuing God's heart, that's the heart that you're going to have. That you don't want to have any part of people not coming to God, not walking with God, not being part of what God wants them to be part of. That you're going to do everything, like Paul said, to ascertain

as far as it depends on you, to live at peace with all men. That we make sure that our hearts are right before God and that we're not a stumbling block and an offense. And Paul talks about that as well in 1 Corinthians 8, and really chapter 8, 9, and 10. But just a little snippet here. He says, In the question about whether or not we can eat meat from the marketplace,

Instead of, you know, dealing with all the theology, Paul deals with the heart of the person who says, hey, I can eat meat if I want to. I don't care if it offends you. Get over it.

Paul says, look, if it makes my brother stumble, if there's a chance that they're going to not be right with God, that they're going to stay away from fellowship because they know they're going to see me and they'll see the blood in my teeth from the meat I've been eating or whatever. If there's a chance that that affects them and their relationship with God, hey, I'd rather not eat meat again. And there Paul is reflecting again, he's a man who pursues God's heart because the people are most important.

And they need to have a right relationship with God. It's of the utmost importance to God, which means it must be of utmost importance to us. Pursuing God's heart does not hinder worship for others. Now, sometimes people, if you talk about worship in the idea of song, sometimes people, you know, express themselves in creative ways in times of worship that interfere with

other people worshiping and are a distraction from other people worshiping. And, you know, we have to be careful about taking that too far because sometimes God calls us to do, you know, things that are unusual. But at the same time, we also need to recognize, listen, if I'm drawing attention to myself and away from Jesus, that's a problem. That's an issue. And we need to make sure that we're not playing any part in hindering people from

from worshiping God, from walking with God. And here Eli's sons, well, they've sinned greatly and they are offending and men are abhorring this opportunity to sacrifice and to worship God. Now, just a little highlight here to point out the good things. Dave Guzik points out, God's work does not stop when God's ministers become corrupt. Oh, it may look like it, but every time there are men like Eli's sons, God raises up someone like Samuel.

So sometimes talking about the interfering and messing with people's walk, sometimes that happens in leadership. And, you know, that is a tragedy and it is a great sin.

but also understand that God's not gonna let that be the end of his work, that he is going to raise up others and to continue the work through those who will be faithful to him. But now we get to see a contrast as we move on to verse 18. It says, but Samuel ministered before the Lord, even as a child wearing a linen ephod. So here you have these wicked sons and now you have Samuel as a contrast. He ministered before the Lord. He was faithful to the Lord, even as a child,

Verse 19,

And so here you see this contrast. Again, this family of people who love God

who are walking with God, pursuing the heart of God. And it's beautiful and it's rewarded and it's great. But then, you know, there's this stark contrast with Eli's sons and the wickedness that is there. And so you can see that contrast between what happens when you pursue God and what happens when you don't. The contrast of righteousness versus wickedness.

Now, something interesting, kind of a little side note to point out here. So it tells us that every year they would come to the sacrifice in verse 19 and 20. That was also established in chapter one. And it's interesting to understand that even though men abhorred bringing a sacrifice, Elkanah was faithful year by year to come and bring the sacrifice. And he was probably frustrated with these guys. He was probably one of the ones who abhorred it.

But he was faithful. And you can kind of just imagine Elkin kind of gritting his teeth saying, look, I know I'm going to have to deal with these guys. But listen, God has commanded me to come this many times a year on these appointed times to bring my offering, to have a sacrifice, to go through this process. There's wicked people in this place.

But I need to be faithful to God. I need to be faithful to do what God has set before me. And so here we see that Elkanah didn't let other people's sin be an excuse for him to disobey God, but he continued to be faithful to God because that's what God calls us to do. That is, even when there is offensive people around us and people that cause us to abhor worship and, you know what I mean? For us,

Our responsibility is to be faithful to the Lord and be obedient even when we know we're going to have to deal with those people who are not right with God and those issues that are difficult and painful. Even when people offend you, you be faithful to do what God has called you to do. Again, this family sets a great example for us. Pursuing God's heart does not hinder worship for others.

Well, moving on to point number three, finishing up in the last section for the evening, verses 22 through 36, the point is, pursuing God's heart makes honoring him the highest priority.

Here we're going to look at Eli and how God deals with Eli now, specifically for not dealing with his sons. In verse 22, it tells us,

So he said to them, why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. No, my sons, for it is not a good report that I hear. You make the Lord's people transgress. Verse 25, if one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the Lord, who will intercede for him? Nevertheless, they did not heed the voice of their father because the Lord desired to kill them.

So here we again have the contrast. Right before this, we have the righteous family and they were faithful and they came every year and they loved on Samuel. They brought their offerings to the Lord. They were faithful. And then here you have Eli. Now Eli is not pursuing God's heart. He's the high priest. He's the one kind of most responsible for pursuing God's heart, but he is not pursuing God's heart. And that's demonstrated here in this correction that he offers to his sons. Now Eli,

It's admirable. You can maybe consider, you know, that he corrected his sons, but God doesn't really see this as like a positive thing. Good job, Eli, in correcting your sons because his correction was way, way, way, way, way less than what was actually required and way late.

compared to, you know, how long these things have been going on. So Eli was very old, okay? So now he's old, he's late. He heard what his sons did to all Israel. We've talked about how they've robbed from the offerings and pushed their way in front of God and taken the first, you know, so we've read about that, but now we're introduced to something a little bit different. He says how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

So now we're talking about, not only are they just like taking food for themselves, but they're engaged in sexual immorality with ladies who are coming to worship God, ladies who are there around the tabernacle. And so this is, you know, again, a great sin against the Lord. There's huge corruption going on here. It's absolute corruption. And so for Eli to come and say,

hey, boys, I heard about this. You know, it's really not a good idea to do that. I really recommend you don't because, you know, God's going to deal with it. And, you know, his rebuke is so soft compared to the offense that it's not effective. It's not a rebuke at all. In fact, God rebukes Eli for this rebuke. We'll see it next week in 1 Samuel 3, but I'll give you a snapshot in verse 13.

As God is speaking to Samuel and giving a message to Eli through Samuel, he says, And so as far as God is concerned, you know, hey, you said something, so I guess that's better than nothing.

But you didn't restrain. There was no actual consequences to their sin. You just talked. You said it mildly. You know, it wasn't a real rebuke. It wasn't any kind of real correction. You need to understand, first of all, Eli was their father, but also their adult sons. So the influence lessens a bit there. But also Eli's their boss. He's the high priest. They're the priests. And

He had full authority to deal with that situation, to put an end to it, to make sure it never happened again. But instead he was like, you know, guys, I don't think you should do that. It's probably not a good idea. You know, I'm sure he wasn't that soft. I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the point. Compared to the offense, that's what it was like, that it was not him actually dealing with the situation. He was not addressing the issue that was going on.

And so Eli is not pursuing God's heart because he will not deal with this and honor God in the way that he has called to. Now, again, we have a contrast in verse 26. And the child Samuel grew in stature and in favor, both with the Lord and men.

So in contrast to these sons who grew in, not in favor, but in disfavor, in abhorrence with God and men, here you have Samuel, who's growing in stature, he's growing up, and in the midst of all this corruption and wickedness and horrible things, God is raising up Samuel, a righteous man, a man who pursues the heart of God. Verse 27, then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, thus says the Lord,

Did I not clearly reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense and to wear an ephod before me? And did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? So now Eli, he's kind of softly, gently corrected his sons, not really. And now God sends a prophet, right?

We don't know anything about this prophet. It just says a man of God came. So some anonymous guy, a messenger of the Lord, comes to Eli, the high priest. I don't know anything about this guy. We don't. But just understanding, he's probably a little bit intimidated, right? It's like, you know, you being called to go, you know, talk to the governor and say, hey, governor, you know, you're in sin and God's going to deal with you. Like, it's a difficult thing. But this guy hears from God and

This says man of God. This is a man who pursues God's heart. He comes to Eli and says, you're not a man who pursues God's heart. And the message from the Lord calls Eli's attention back to what God did in establishing Aaron and his sons as the priests and establishing the priesthood through the line of Aaron.

God says, didn't I choose him? And didn't I choose him to serve me, to wear the ephod, to have the offerings and have this portion? And, you know, I set up everything for you. I gave you everything that you needed. In other words, I'm the one who gave you this position. I'm the one who set this up. I'm the one who set it up so that you'd be provided for through the service of these things. And

So then verse 29,

Verse 30. God challenges Eli through this man of God. And he says, why do you honor your sons more than me?

He tells Eli, you honor your children more than you honor me. And that's a problem. That's an issue. God says, I've given you this position. I've given you this role. I've given everything that you need. And then you have taken and put other people as a higher priority than me. Again, Eli is not pursuing God's heart. He's not a man after God's own heart. He's not willing to do whatever it takes to honor the Lord and please the Lord because

He's preferring his sons over the Lord. And this is an issue that we need to consider. This is an issue. Again, the point is pursuing God's heart makes honoring him the highest priority.

That honoring God needs to be the highest priority. That comes first before honoring ourselves or honoring anybody else. Preferring God's way, God's will, God's choice before any other preference that I might have or any other preference that other people might have. That God must be first. Jesus said in Matthew 10, verse 37...

He says, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Jesus says, if you love anybody else more than you love me, you're not worthy of me. And again, this is where I started at the beginning that we kind of like to try to like walk in this middle road where it's like, you know, I believe in Jesus. I love Jesus, but not so radical about it.

And we think we're okay because we're not, you know, running from God. You know, we're not, you know, in blatant sin. And so we're kind of like just in this middle mushy area. But as far as God is concerned, you're in danger when you're not in an all-out pursuit of God's heart. When it's not...

the thing that drives you, when his heart is not the most important priority that you have and his ways and his honor and his glory and his will and pleasing him, when that's not the master passion of your life, there is an issue. It's a problem. And it's a leading away from because, listen, if you're not giving the Lord the place of honor that he deserves, then you're giving that place of honor to something else. Something else is occupying that place.

You are either pursuing God's heart or you're pursuing something else. In Eli's case, he was pursuing, you could maybe state it in a few different ways, but the relationship with his sons. That was important to him. If he dealt with them the way that they needed to be dealt with, they would be put to death. But at the very least, he could, you know, cut off their responsibility and remove their position of priesthood. But his relationship with his boys was more important than his relationship with God.

He wasn't willing to do what was necessary, to do what would be pleasing to God and to honor God. He was pursuing something else. He wasn't pursuing God's heart. And I would ask you to consider this evening, what are you pursuing? And as evident from last week's service, right, not being a parent, I don't have a lot of insight to share there, but let me share something from someone who has some insight, Pastor Damian Kyle. I think...

He had some insight that you should consider. He says, no parent is going to raise a child in a way that God wants the child to be raised if they do not have a deep, current, living, personal relationship with God. And he looks at the example of Hannah and he says, look, Hannah had that. Elkanah had that. Eli did not have that. And sometimes parents sacrifice their kids in a way that's not good. They put their kids before the Lord sometimes.

And their relationship with the kids, they're wanting to be, you know, friends, to not have to, you know, let them down or whatever. Again, you guys can deal with that stuff in your hearts. But understand, you need to check your heart because Eli honored his sons before the Lord, preferred his sons before the Lord. And Jesus said...

If you love anyone else more than me, you're not worthy of me. That's not pursuing God's heart. God's heart must be first. And ultimately, God's heart is what's best for those that you love. You want what's best for them? Of course you do. Here's what's best for them. Pursue the heart of God. Give your heart, give your soul, give every ounce of your being to please God, to love God, to honor God, to do God's will and follow what God has called you to.

Well, the man of God continues to rebuke Eli in verse 31. He says,

But any of your men whom I do not cut off from my altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age. Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons on Hophni and Phinehas. In one day they shall die, both of them. Look at the tragedy that results from not pursuing God's heart.

Eli here is not just impacting his own life, but his whole family is going to be affected by his failure to pursue God's heart because he doesn't honor God first. And that's not the highest priority. His whole family is going to be cut off. His whole family is going to be removed from the line of priesthood. They're never going to be able to serve as priests again. He and his sons are

They destroyed the opportunity of any future children to be part of the priesthood. They reduced what they could participate in. They caused great havoc within the family as a result of their failure to pursue God's heart. And again, this is the reality. This is the importance of priority because we can sometimes get confused about our priorities and we put things first.

Because we know they're important and we think they're important, but not necessarily on purpose. But we put those things first and we put God later because, you know, well, my family's important and so I got to put my family first. But if you put your family first and God later, there's going to be an issue. It's going to result in devastation to your family. If you want what's best for your family, put God first. And again, make sure you honor him and please him. And ultimately, that's what's going to be best for your family.

And this prophecy of this man of God is fulfilled later on in 2 Kings 2. We'll see that maybe one day when we get there. But Solomon removes Abiathar from being priest. He was of the line of Eli. He was the last one. And there the line is cut off. And so many years later, it's fulfilled. But the man of God tells Eli that...

There's going to be a sign so that you'll know these things are going to be fulfilled. And that is your two sons are going to be killed in one day. And we'll see that when we get to chapter four of 1 Samuel. So all of this is going to happen. It's going to be fulfilled. It's a great tragedy as a result of bad priorities of putting the sons first.

Before the Lord. Verse 35, the man of God continues and says,

You guys, Eli, have been feasting and just taking the fat of the land and the fat of the people and robbing the people who are bringing offerings. You've been stealing from them. And so your generations that follow now will be begging because you've been feasting because your priorities were out of line because you did not pursue God's first or God's will first or God's honor first.

In verse 35, he says, I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, and notice, who shall do according to what is in my heart. You see, Eli, you're not pursuing God's heart, but I'm going to provide for myself a priest who will pursue God's heart. And you can look at that prophecy being fulfilled in a few different ways. You see that being fulfilled in Samuel.

who now becomes the priest who pursues God's heart. You can see that being fulfilled in Zadok later after Abiathar is removed from being priest. Zadok is established as the high priest and he is a faithful priest unto the Lord. But of course, ultimately, this is a prophetic message

reference to Jesus being our high priest. And he is the faithful high priest who has the heart of God and the mind of God. And so that will be established and the priesthood of Jesus was established, of course. We see that through the book of Hebrews. And so God's word is going to be established. But Eli and his family, their opportunity to be part of what God's gonna do has been reduced to basically nothing.

Because Eli and his sons did not pursue the heart of God. Pursuing God's heart makes honoring him the highest priority. Listen,

balance and priorities. I don't know about for you, but that's something like, I'm just like on a constant moment by moment throughout the day, trying to balance priorities and verify with God, is this what you want me to be doing? And is this what needs to have the priority? And we're always dealing with things that are urgent, but not necessarily important and things that are important, but how urgent is it? And, you know, trying to figure out and it's tough. But the good news is we don't have to have all that figured out necessarily because

What we really need to have is a relationship with God and be calling out to God to direct us day by day and even throughout the day that we have his priorities, that we seek to please him and live out his will for us today. Not just in general, big picture, you know, here's where I need to be in five years, but

But right now, today, Lord, what do you want me to do? And pursuing God's heart begins in day by day, moment by moment, choosing the priorities, the order, the honor that God wants us to give and to place and to have. And so this evening, I want to encourage you

to learn from this contrast of pursuits. Here's what it looks like to pursue God. And you see this beautiful prayer, this amazing family. It's a brilliant light in the midst of this darkness. Here's what happens if you don't pursue God. Wickedness, devastation. You destroy your family. You affect other people and their relationship with God. It's great sin to not pursue God's heart.

And again, as we talk about pursuing God's heart, it needs to be an all-out pursuit. Pedal to the metal, sirens blaring, everything you got to please God, to honor Him. That's what it's going to take. That's why Jesus said the greatest commandment in Matthew 22, verse 37. He says, the greatest commandment is this, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And I want to invite Kim and Amy to come up and close this in a song.

that we could take some opportunity and some time to just reflect on where our priorities are, where our heart's at. Are you pursuing God's heart? With everything that you got, is it the most important thing in your life to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind?

that everything you have and everything that you are and everything that you do comes back to, I wanna love God, I wanna please God, I want to know God. That's how it needs to be and anything less produces tragic results. Anything less will bring great destruction. We need to have an all out pursuit of God's heart.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.