“The Growth of Samuel” – 1 Samuel 2:11-21

Kootenai Church

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all his marvelous attributes to now turning her thoughts to God's judgment, she says this in verse 10, those who contend with the

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Lord will be shattered, against them he will thunder in the heavens and he will give strength to his king and will exalt the form of his anointed.

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We understand and know that God is sovereign in all things and he will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness.

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So as we think of this text we realize that God is omnipotent, he's omnipresent, he is also a just God and a merciful

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God and yet his justice will be carried out for all those who do not turn to him for salvation.

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As we look at this text we understand the Lord's will judge the ends of the earth and this warning in the first portion of verse 10 is a warning for all.

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This admonition also comes with an encouragement of God's provision over his people because through this we see a prophecy of God bringing forth a king over Israel, but even greater is the promise of the anointing and the word anointed translated from the

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Greek is the word Messiah. So this is a picture of God not just providing a king over Israel, this is also a picture of the future provision for all mankind of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. This conclusion mentions a king provided by God although God's Messiah which is the

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Hebrew word for anointed highlights the importance of Hannah's song as an introduction to both books of Samuel, both first and second

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Samuel. Hannah foresaw that God intended to meet

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Israel's need by providing them with a king. God would provide a king to rule over Israel and in the chapters following we'll be seeing that fulfilled in King David.

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Hannah's prayer rises up to a prophetic glance at the consummation of the kingdom of God.

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Just as the Lord keeps the righteous and casts down the wicked, he will also certainly judge the whole world and cast down his foes and perfect his kingdom.

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The king which will be over all of Israel will be a king that God uses greatly.

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The expansion of the power of Israel is through David and as repeated victories against God's enemies.

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The success of kings of the house of David goes on in advancing the spread of the kingdom of Christ and will eventually attain to its eternal consummation.

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In judgment of the last day through which all the enemies of Christ will be made to be put on his footstool.

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John Calvin makes a quite an incredible statement in his commentary on first Samuel 10.

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Before a king had been established over Israel, the people, Hannah the mother of Samuel, describing the happiness of the godly, already says in her song

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God will give strength to his king and exalt the form of his

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Messiah. By these words she means that God will bless the church.

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To his corresponding prophecy there is an added little letter a little bit later.

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The priest whom I shall raise up will walk in the presence of my

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Christ and there is no doubt that our heavenly father willed what we perceive in David and his descendants the living image of Christ.

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Accordingly David wishing to urge a pious to fear

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God commands them to kiss the sun. To this corresponds the saying of the gospel he who does not honor the son does not honor the father.

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Therefore although the kingdom collapsed because of the revolt of the ten tribes yet the covenant of God made with David and his successors had to stand just as he spoke to the prophets.

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I will not tear away all the kingdom for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem which

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I have chosen but to yourself one tribe will remain.

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The same promise is repeated a second and third time. It's expressly stated

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I will afflict David's descendants but not eternally.

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Sometimes later he said for the sake of David his servant God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem to raise himself up a son to protect

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Jerusalem. To sum up while all others were passed over David alone was chosen as the one in whom

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God's pleasure should rest. After Hannah's song of thanksgiving

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Elkanah went back to his family in verse 11. Then Elkanah went to his home in Ramah but the boy ministered to the lord before Eli the priest.

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Eli went back to his home but the boy Samuel now is serving at the tabernacle under the tutelage of Eli the high priest.

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There he ministered to the lord in the presence of Eli the priest to serve the lord which is interchangeably to serve in the presence of the lord in that translation.

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It was a duties performed by the priests and Levites in connection with worshiping

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God. Samuel took part in it as he grew up under the supervision of Eli according to his instruction.

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Israel's hope for grace is represented by this young Samuel whom his parents left behind in the tabernacle.

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Remember when Hannah prayed for a son she also said that her son would be dedicated to serve the lord for all his days.

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So she dedicated Samuel before he was yet born. First and second

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Samuel is the use of contrasts as I mentioned in my opening statement.

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Faith and trust Hannah had in God contrasted by the arrogance and hostility and jealousy of Hannah.

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Remember this was the second wife of Elkanah and she was always jealous of Hannah.

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Hannah prayed for a son, God blessed her with a son. Then Hannah was even more hostile towards him.

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We see the contrast of the wickedness of the sons of Eli contrasted with the holiness and goodness of Samuel the young man that's being mentored serving.

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The reason for these contrasts is the grace of God at work in a dark world.

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You know we think today it couldn't get much worse but as we go on in this text we'll see just how bad it can get.

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In the early 1740s an American pastor by the name of Samuel Blair complained.

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He said this, religion lay as it were dying and ready to expire its last breath of life.

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This is part of the visible church end quote. However God at that time was on the brink of launching one of the greatest revivals in church history.

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It was called the great awakening which dates to that very year in 1740.

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God had been quietly working behind the scenes preparing what would soon be broadcast on the front pages over throughout the world.

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A similar situation is seen in the early chapters of 1 Samuel. The contrast between Samuel and Eli's sons does more than warn us the way of the wicked.

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It is a sound reminder that God is always at work to carry out his providential plan.

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So when we look and see all the evil around us we don't lose hope because our trust is in our almighty

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God. Yes we pray for individuals, we pray for their salvation, we sometimes pray for God's judgment to be carried out but we know that whatever is happening is part of God's providence.

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Even amid the wickedness and unbelief there's always hope in the grace of God. We live in a perilous time.

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In fact Paul writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy ends this, but realize this that in the last days difficult times will come for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious, gossips, without self -control, brutal haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they've denied its power.

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And then he gives this admonition, avoid such men as these. Now when

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Paul was speaking of the last days that actually began at the incarnation of Christ.

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So we are in the last days. We can take comfort in Christ alone that he will return in glory.

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Paul in this epistle to the Philippians brings this great encouragement chapter 3 verses 20 and 21 he says, for our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly wait for a savior the

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Lord Jesus Christ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of his glory by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself.

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So we above all have hope. We can sometimes lose heart when we see the corruption and the wickedness and yet understanding that our citizenship is in heaven should transcend what we see here on earth.

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Israel's hope for grace represented by Samuel whose parents left him behind in the tabernacle to serve the

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Lord. The introduction of Eli's sons tells us clearly what kind of men they were.

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Verse 12, now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the

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Lord and the custom of the priests with the people. That's a very condemning introduction to who

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Eli's sons were. These men, Hophni and Phinehas, these unbelieving men were considered and entitled worthless men which refers to their spiritual condition.

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The words worthless men translate to agents of destruction.

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They were the children of Satan. To say that they did not know the

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Lord was to say that even though they had access to the Pentateuch and the divine religion as well as the knowledge and theology of the rituals of worship, the demands of God's holiness, and all that is given.

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And there was a crisis for Israel that such men of spiritual depravity were considered priests in Israel.

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That also is pictured by the deadness of Hannah's womb prior to God blessing her with the child

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Samuel. As we go on verses 13 and 14 it says, and the custom of the priests with the people when any man was offering a sacrifice the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling with a three -pronged fork in his hand.

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Then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All of that pork brought up the priest would take for himself.

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Thus they did Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Now we have to remember

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Shiloh is where the temple was, not the temple, excuse me, the tabernacle was located.

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And faithful Israelites would come from all over to Shiloh to offer sacrifices to the

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Lord. They would bring choice offerings. And yet here these men, these two men, these two sons of Eli were taking the actual sacrifices that were supposed to be offered.

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Can we just stop and think about what that meant? They were desecrating the tabernacle.

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The wickedness of Eli's sons also reflects in how they treated the offerings that were brought to the

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Lord in the tabernacle. Those priests who served at the tabernacle were given instruction provided by the law of Moses in Leviticus 7 .34

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and Deuteronomy 18 .3. The law of Moses did not matter to Hopi, Ophiel, and Phinehas.

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They didn't care. They sought only to satisfy their fleshly desires.

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These priests would take the meat which was being brought for the sacrifices to be offered to the

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Lord and they confiscated it from the faithful Israelites. In verse 15 and 16, also before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, give the priest meat for roasting as he will not take the boiled meat from you, only the raw.

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If the man said to them, they must surely burn the fat first and then take as much as you desire, then they would say, no, but you shall give it to me now and if not,

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I will take it by force. What a horrible thing to think about.

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This is this sacrificial place to worship God and they were stealing and taking these sacrifices.

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Verse 17, thus the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord for the men despised the offering of those

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Israelites that would come to Shiloh to worship God and offer sacrifices were devout.

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They came there only for one purpose, to bring glory to God, to sacrifice to God.

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This was a travesty, truth in the sight of the Lord and in the sight of all the

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Israelites, those faithful Israelites, as they saw these men come in and desecrate the

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Tabernacle, they spread the word. We find the seriousness of which the

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Lord takes. Priestly misconduct in Leviticus. I'm going to read the whole passage that refers to making an offering and what happened there.

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In chapter 10 of Leviticus, beginning with verse 1 through 11. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans and after putting fire in them, placed incense on them and offered strange fire before the

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Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came from the presence of the

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Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord.

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And then Moses said to Aaron, it is what the Lord spoke, saying, by those who come near me,

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I will treat as holy and before all the people, I will be honored.

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So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. Moses called after Meshiel and Elzabod, the sons of Aaron's uncle,

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Uziel, and said to them, come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.

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So they came forward and carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses said.

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Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, do not uncover your heads nor tear your cloths, that you will not die, but he will not become wrathful against all the congregation.

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But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall beware the burning which the

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Lord has brought about. You should not even go out from the door or the way of the tent, or you will die, for the

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Lord's anointing oil is upon you. So they did according to the word of Moses.

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The Lord then spoke to Aaron, saying, do not drink wine or strong drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the tent of meeting, so that you will not die.

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It is a perpetual statute throughout all your generations, and so as to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the

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Lord has spoken to them through Moses. John MacArthur did a conference, it was entitled

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Strange Fire. It was a conference that many took part in. He spoke, also

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Bill Johnson, Justin Peters, and several others spoke at this conference, and the title was

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Strange Fire. The importance of understanding how vital it is to worship

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God with a pure heart, and I'm going to read an excerpt from that book. I didn't go to the conference, but I do have the book.

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How vital it is to worship God with a pure heart, understanding that God we serve is the one in three persons,

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God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In his introduction of the book, he speaks of Nadab and Abihu.

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They violated the instruction revealed to the Levitical ceremony regarding the burnt offerings given before the

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Lord. Nadab and Abihu were, by all appearances, righteous and respectful men and godly spiritual leaders.

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They were priests of the true God, and they were

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Levites. Nadab was heir apparent to the office of the high priest, and Abihu was next in line after him.

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They were the eldest sons of Aaron. Moses was their uncle.

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Their names had been placed on the list of nobles of the children of Israel in Exodus 24.

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These two brothers, together with 70 elders, were privileged at Sinai, where the people of Israel had been instructed to stand at the foot of the mountain and not to go up to the mountain or even touch its base.

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That was given. While God was up there talking to Moses, even if an animal strayed in to the skirt of Sinai, they were to be killed.

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From the base of the mountain, all the Israelites could see was that of the smoke surrounding

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God and Moses. And they saw smoke and lightning.

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But Nadab and Abihu were allowed by the Lord himself to come up and bring 70 elders, and they saw

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God, and they ate and drank. Nadab and Abihu were closer to God than most anyone.

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No other Israelite, except Moses himself, had ever been given a higher privilege.

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These men seemed to be godly, trustworthy, spiritual leaders as well as faithful servants of God.

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No doubt Israel esteemed them highly. This caused all of Israel to be shocked when

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God suddenly struck Nadab and Abihu dead with a blast of fire.

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This apparently occurred on the first day of their service in the tabernacle. Aaron and his sons were anointed in a seven -day -long ceremony when the building of the tabernacle was completed.

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So this is a big celebration before the Lord when the tabernacle was completed.

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Aaron offered the first sin offering ever made in the tabernacle, and the ceremony was punctuated with a miracle.

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In this, fire came down out of heaven before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar.

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When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. In other words,

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God himself sent a consuming fire on this sacrificial meat.

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Moses records the events that happened next. Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective fire pans and after putting fire in them, placed incense on them and offered strange fire before the

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Lord, which had not been commanded of them. And they died before the

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Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, it is what the Lord spoke, saying, by those who come near me,

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I will be treated as holy, and before all the people, I will be honored.

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So when we think of that, that was from Leviticus 10, 1 -3, most likely, this is what

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MacArthur says in his book, Nadab and Abihu had taken fire from some other source, not what

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God had provided through the blazing fire, but they, in their offering, raising on the altar, they used something else to light it.

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Whether it was coals from a fire from the camp, or something of their own making.

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The actual source for which they obtained their fire isn't the point.

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The point is, they used something other than the fire

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God himself had provided. They violated the very ordinances of God.

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This offense may seem trifling to someone who's accustomed to the type of casual, self -indulgent worship of our generation.

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They did not treat him as holy or exalt his name before the people. The Lord's response was swift and deadly.

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The strange fire of Nadab and Abihu ignited the unquenchable flames of the divine judgment and they were incinerated on the spot.

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This is a very sobering account, as we think how casual some are to this day, in some places called the place of the church and worship.

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What is called worship is actually a desecration, before MacArthur and his whole conference goes on to say of the heinous things that are practiced by some of the tele -evangelists and some of the charismatic movements that just mock a holy

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God. The account is sobering and it has implications for the church today.

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If it is a serious sin to dishonor God and to treat him with contempt or to approach him in a way that he detests, those who worship

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God should never approach him in ways that as one approaches

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God, we need to understand that we should always reverence our

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Lord in humility as he is holy and omniscient and God is also just.

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We have another example amongst the numerous examples in the Old Testament, which is shown in Acts.

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We're familiar with Ananias and Sapphira when they're instantly struck dead after lying to the

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Holy Spirit about what they had withheld. The author of Hebrews gives this stern warning in chapter 10, verse 31.

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He says this, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

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God. We have lost the understanding today in the universe of how reverent.

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Verse 17, thus the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men despised the offering of the

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Lord. This contempt that these two priests showed towards God's holiness was such a wicked desecration at the tabernacle.

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Even more contemptuous was their sexual sins committed by Eli's two sons.

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They would seduce the women who would come to take care of the tabernacle, who should have been treated with utmost chastity, but rather they were treated like a pagan temple prostitute.

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This contempt by the high priests was despicable before God.

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Their wickedness had impacted the devoted Israelites who came there to Shiloh, and it spread throughout

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Israel. It was a vivid desecration, the utter mockery of the

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Most Holy High God. This should be really a powerful illustration of how spiritual leaders today should understand that their moral conduct can have upon when we hear of Christians professing to be

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Christians have some immoral scandal, and it devastates.

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They're not even sensitive to who God is, or his holiness, or the purity that God desires of us.

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The scriptures are replete with admonitions of such.

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Therefore, having these promises, Shiloh, but let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting the fear of God and holiness.

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That's in 2 Corinthians 7 -1, where Paul was addressing them to repent and to become the people that God had called them to be.

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Paul also exhorted the Ephesians to put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, has been created in the righteousness and holiness of the true

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Ephesians 4. And in 1 Thessalonians, Paul says this, for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.

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The word sanctification, of course, is from the word agiosmos, which is also translated holiness.

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So God has called us to pursue holiness. The author of Hebrews gives the instructions this way in chapter 12, verse 9.

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Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more rather respect the father of spirits and live?

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For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them. But he disciplines us for our own good, so that we may share in his holiness.

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So when a Christian is disciplined, it's actually a blessing from God to bring us back to a place where we repent and turn to God and follow him and then pursue peace with all men and sanctification without which no one will see

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God. Verses 18 and 19 of chapter 2 of Samuel.

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Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord as a boy wearing a linen epoch, and his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.

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Behind the scenes is the contrast to Eli's corrupt family, the family of Samuel.

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If God works powerfully in faithful individuals, how much more powerful is the presence of God for those godly families?

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Now Cana and Hannah, we see the value of a loving godly involvement with one's children.

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They loved God, they would travel every year to the tabernacle to offer sacrifices unto the

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Lord. And they wanted their son, at that time their only son, be set apart for God.

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One reformer made this comment regarding Samuel's mother and father.

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His mother would make a little robe each year and give it to her son Samuel. Even though Hannah and her husband were imperfect sinners such as we are, they loved and cared for their son.

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Hannah would make a new robe every year for her son as he grew in stature as well as in godliness.

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So as Samuel grew, his mother would make another ephod, which is like a short robe that the priests would wear.

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The ephod of the high priest was a sacred garment of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine point linen worn by the priest.

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The ordinary priest, and I was by the high priest, the ordinary priest wore simple linen ephods as did

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Samuel. In verse 20 and 21, then

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Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, may the

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Lord give you children from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the

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Lord. And they went into their home and the Lord visited Hannah and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters and the boy

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Samuel grew. So their faithfulness and their love for God giving their only son as a servant for God, God blessed them with five more children.

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Hannah's spiritual faithfulness was also seen in the increase of her families. Every year

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Samuel would be able to see his parents and they realized how he was growing faithfully.

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The word of the Lord in both verses, verses 20 and 21, Eli's blessing as the high priest was not truthless.

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It wasn't just a statement by him. He was praying and pardoning God's blessing upon Hannah and Elkanah.

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Here again, we find Eli invoking the Lord God Jehovah in giving this blessing to Hannah and Elkanah.

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Eli's words were fulfilled. The Lord Jehovah God visited Hannah, that is

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God sovereignly blessed them and they had more children. In the final portion of verse 21, it says, and the boy

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Samuel grew. As Samuel grew in age as well as stature and favoring with other men, he was maturing into a godly young man who was also growing in favor with the

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Israelites as they observed his spiritual. For us, those who have children were given instructions and commands to follow in order that we may honor and glorify

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God. Children are a gift from the Lord and the blessing of having children is also given to us through God's word.

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In Proverbs chapter 6, it says this, my son, observe the commandments of your father and do not forsake the teachings of your mother.

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Find them continually on your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you walk about, they will guide you.

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When you sleep, they will watch over you. And when you awake, they will talk to you.

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For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light. Disciplines are the way of life.

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We prove some disciplines on the way of life. That's from Proverbs 6, 22, 23. Scriptures replete with instructions for parents to govern over their children.

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Those that don't have children, we have the privilege of being able to be an example before the youth and the children in our fellowship.

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So everyone has the privilege of being able to be a godly example before the families.

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I'm going to stop here because we're in class, but I just want to focus on the one major theme of this text, and that is the glory of God.

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How great a God we serve and how holy God. May we impart that as we live day to day.

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May we honor the Lord in our hearts, in our praise, in our behavior.

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Do you love me? Obey my commandments. By his grace, we thank you for your work.

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We thank you how you are such a holy God and you reveal yourself to us from your work.

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You give us your Holy Spirit to enable us to understand your word, to be able to practice your word, and we want to praise you today.

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We pray that you continue to be honored and glorified as we continue our worship service.

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May you be glorified in the songs and praise that we offer before you, and may all that we do through responding to the message we get from your word, that we respond and ponder the things that are said and bring glory to you by applying the truths to our lives.