[MUSIC PLAYING] Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Well, good evening. [APPLAUSE] So I was checking out when
we were last in 1 Samuel. And according to the app,
which hosts such things and has them on a
platform, it was 2002 that we taught through
the book of Samuel. Before that, it was 1986. That was also up. And I listened to one of
the studies from that. My goodness. [LAUGHTER] So it takes us a
while, as you can see, to get through all of scripture. And we find ourselves again as a
church in the book of 1 Samuel. We're going to be here
for the next hour. If an Old Testament
historical narrative is not what you
had in mind, when you happen to come in here
tonight, fair warning. And if you feel like, Oh man,
I can't take an hour Bible study in the Old Testament. Plus my favorite
shows on tonight. Well, as we bow our
heads and close our eyes, you could make
that adjustment, so that you don't
make that decision in the middle of the study
and then just offend everybody around you, because you
interrupted their train of thought as the Lord was
trying to speak to them. So fair enough? Father, thank you
for an opportunity to gather together in
the middle of the week to be refreshed by such
powerful anthems of praise, such incredible attestations
to your majesty and glory. The promises that are
contained in some of the songs that we just expressed in the
presence of one another to you are powerful. Father, we pray your
Holy Spirit would take that corporate worship, as
well as the study of your word that we're going to
undertake tonight, and use that to further
mature us, to challenge us, to encourage us, comfort
us, strengthen us. In Jesus' name, amen. 1 Samuel, chapter 1. Now, imagine what
you would think, if you were on an
airplane, and after being in the air for a few hours,
the captain came over the loudspeaker and said,
ladies and gentlemen, welcome to flight whatever. We want you to know, however,
that for the last three hours, we have not been
flying according to radar or any
navigational implementation, due to a major malfunction
in some key components. So ladies and gentlemen, we're
happy that you're on board. But basically, you need
to know we're lost, and we have no idea what our
final destination will be. But you'll be glad to know
we're making excellent time. [LAUGHTER] You wouldn't be comforted by
that kind of an announcement. You would be dismayed-- up in the air, not knowing
where you're going, leaving it up to just a pilot
looking for a landing strip later on. That is the predicament
that the nation of Israel finds itself in on
the pages of 1 Samuel. They are off course. They're in a very difficult
period of their history. We have studied it a while back. Before we were in the New
Testament book of Romans, we were in the book of Ruth, and
before that the Book of Judges. We're still in that time period. The book of Samuel is
sort of like a shoulder or transitional book that
takes us from a theocracy into a monarchy. God wanted to rule
over his people. But in what is coming
up, a King will be placed over the people of God. Samuel, the prophet
in question here, will see this as an
affront and insult. And God will have to
say, Samuel, relax. They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me
from ruling over them. God desired to rule them. They wouldn't have
God rule over them. They wanted an earthly
politician to rule over them. So they go from
theocracy to monarchy. Actually, there
was another stage. They went from
theocracy to anarchy. Because in Judges,
it says, everyone did what was right
in his own eyes. That's an anarchy. They went from a
theocracy to an anarchy, but here on the pages
of Samuel to a monarchy. The period of the judges
lasts about 100, 115-- I'm sorry, of this-- 1 Samuel. I've got to get my bearings. I'm off course a little bit. The period that
we're dealing with is about 115 years of history. Again, technically, we're
in the period of the judges. Technically, Samuel is the last
judge before there is a king. And that is King Saul. So they're going to end. They're off course. The plane is not going
where God wanted it to go. And it's going to make a crash
landing in Babylon eventually. They're going to captivity. So from 1100 BC, which
is roughly the area we begin with, to 586 BC, a
period of just over 500 years is what it will
take for that plane eventually to land in Babylon,
and the children of Israel end up in captivity. Think of the Book
of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel and some of the
subsequent books after that, Kings and Chronicles, because
it's about the leaders, consider these books of
leadership, leadership lessons. Somebody once said, there's
three types of leaders. There's a leader who
makes things happen. Then there's a leader who
watches things happen. Then there's a leader who
has no idea what's happening. We find all three
leaders in this book. Three types of
leadership will be portrayed in 1 Samuel in the
lives of four people, four key characters-- Eli, a priest; Samuel, a
prophet; Saul, a politician; David, let's keep
the P word, a poet. So we have a priest, a prophet,
a politician, and a poet. And that poet will be the man
after God's own heart, who will end up being the second
king in the nation of Israel. As you get into 1
Samuel, chapter 1, there's just another thing
I think you need to know. We have 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. Originally, it was one book,
just called the Book of Samuel. Then it was divided up later
on as 1st and 2nd Samuel in our Bibles. Now, if you are a
Greek speaker, and you were reading the
Septuagint version, it would not be called 1 Samuel,
2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings. It would be the First
Book of the Kingdoms, the Second Book of the Kingdoms,
the Third Book of the Kingdoms, and the Fourth Book
of the Kingdoms. That's how it is divided
in that translation. But in our Bibles as
we're following it, it is 1 Samuel
and then 2 Samuel. Who wrote the book of Samuel? Well, it's hard to know. It's an anonymous book. We don't know who wrote
the book of Samuel. Well, his name's on it. And so we're think, well, it
says the first book of Samuel. He must have written it. Well, if he did write
it, he could have only written up to chapter 25. Because in that chapter,
he kicks the bucket. And last time I checked, it's
very difficult to write a book when you're dead. So because the Jews
in Talmudic sources ascribe the writing
of 1 Samuel to Samuel, he could have written
the first part of Samuel. And then probably two others
wrote it, Gad and Nathan, who are called seers. And it is ascribed to
them later on as writers of the period of Samuel. So it could have
been all three-- just a little FYI,
just a little trivia. Now, we begin in
chapter 1, verse 1. "There was a certain man
of Ramathaimsophim"-- you've got to remember that-- "of the mountains of Ephraim. His name was Elkanah, the son
of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son
of Suph, an Ephramite." Now, it calls him an
Ephramite, because he is living in the area
of the tribe of Ephraim. However, he, himself, in
his genealogical record, is not from the
tribe of Ephraim. He's just living in
Ephraimite territory. We find by reading 1
Chronicles, the sixth chapter, that he was actually a Levite,
from the priestly tribe. That's why, when he
has a son, his son is going to be dropped
off at the Tabernacle and wear the ephod of a
priest that his mom-- it's a cute little story. Mom sews him this little ephod,
this little coat, once a year, kind of dresses him
up like a mini priest. But this man is a Levite. He's from the tribe of
Levi, the priestly tribe, but he is not living
in a priestly town. There were designated towns
throughout the tribes of Israel in which priests were to reside. The fact that he is a Levite not
residing in a Levitical town, not living in a priestly town,
seems to indicate that he himself is not a spiritual man. In fact, I really don't see
him much as a spiritual man. Oh, he'll take his
family up to worship at the central sanctuary, the
Tabernacle, once a year, right? He'll do Christmas and Easter. But he does not seem to be a
spiritual man, a devoted man. His wife, on the other hand,
is indeed very spiritual, at least one of his wives. That's going to be
one of the problems, is that he has more than one. "And he had"-- here it is,
verse two-- he had two wives." So right off the
bat, we have trouble. Can I get an amen? Amen. Yeah, any man who thinks he can
please two women is bananas. [LAUGHTER] He has two wives. And that is, of course,
not God's ideal. The name of one was Hannah. Her name means
favor, or favored. Or let's call her Grace. Her name is Grace, and
she's going to experience an act of grace from God. "And the name of the
other was Penninah-- also a beautiful name. Ruby is what her name means. And though she has a
beautiful name, Ruby, she's hardly a gem,
as you will see. "Penninah had children. Hannah had no children." Every Hebrew couple
wanted to have babies. It was the desire of everyone
in that era who got married. It's not like, well,
should we plan? And we haven't really
talked about children. You go into the relationship
desiring children, because it was believed that
you live on in your children. When you die, you continue
through your children. In fact, not just a child, you
want as many as you possibly could have at that time. Psalm 127-- Behold children
are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the
womb is a reward. Happy is the man who has
his quiver full of them. So they wanted lots of kids. Well, Penninah bore
him some children. We see probably several, but
Hannah had no children at all. To be childless was considered
a curse, unfortunately. There was a superstitious
idea, even among the Hebrews. And again, this is
backslidden Israel. This is the period
of the judges, so they're not thinking
theologically straight. Most any of them aren't. And in primitive times, to be
unable to conceive and bear a child was considered
a curse from God, that God has cursed
you personally. See, part of the superstition
was the errant, the wrong, idea that there is a direct cause
and effect relationship with sin and consequences, that
if you were experiencing a malady, a disease,
a problem, an issue, it's because you have sinned. It's the modern
heretical faith theology. You name it. You claim it. If you have any disease,
it's because there's sin in your life. If you have any issue, any
problem, any medical condition, there's sin in your life. You need to confess your
sin, and God will heal you. You can have perfect health. So to be childless was
considered an affliction, literally. Remember when Leah and Rachel,
when Jacob had his two wives, and they wanted
children, and Leah said, why has the Lord given
me this affliction, that I can't have children? That's what they considered it. And you'll read that same
language with Hannah. She will consider
it an affliction to not be able to bear. Like, what's wrong with me? I'm diseased. I've got an affliction. And then the other wife,
back in Jacob's wife, Rachel said to her husband, give
me a child or I'm going to die. Wow. She made it a matter
of life or death. And of course, he said,
am I in the place of God that I can give you a kid? I can't grant that. Only the Lord could. So Penninah had children. Hannah had no children. This man, that is,
Elkanah, this man went up from his city yearly
to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also, the two sons of
Eli, Hophni, and Phineas, the priests of the
Lord, were there. "And whenever the time came for
Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions
to Penninah his wife"-- now notice this-- "and to
all her sons and daughters." So she evidently was very
prolific in bearing children, because she had sons and
daughters and enough of them to be under that
descriptive word all. So you've got a barren wife who
can't have any children and one who's just popping
them out all the time and has a whole bunch of them. "But to Hannah, he would
give a double portion, a generous portion, for he loved
Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival also provoked her
severely to make her miserable, because the Lord
had closed her womb. So it was year by
year, that when she went up to the house of the
Lord, that she provoked her. Therefore, she wept
and did not eat." So life around the
house was tough. Every time Hannah wanted to
prepare a meal or Penninah, for that matter, they would
be at odds with each other. Family outings were a drag. The worst was going to church
for that once-a-year worship service, going to the
Tabernacle in Shiloh. Shiloh is in central Israel. Today it's the West Bank. We don't take tourists
to Shiloh, unfortunately. I suppose we could, if
we got special protection by the Israeli army. I've been there a
couple of times, and I've always picked
up a hitchhiking soldier to go there. But you can actually see the
hill on which the Tabernacle stood from antiquity. But that's where the
Tabernacle stood at Shiloh, before it was later on
moved to Jerusalem by David, when it becomes the capital. So they would take
this trek once a year probably for the
Feast of Tabernacles. Whatever feast it
was, one of the things that the Lord said that his
people were to do at the feast was guess what? Feast. I mean, have a wonderful
time, a feast, a festive meal. And the Lord said,
you shall rejoice. God gave them a command. When you get together,
I want you to be happy. And that's an order. So it was a yearly celebration,
a festive gathering, a time of great rejoicing
and joy, probably similar to our Thanksgiving. But for one person
who came, Hannah, it was anything but happy. Her heart was breaking. She so wanted to have children. It was the cry of her heart. And to have this other gal
in the house chiding her, because, well, I'm fertile
Myrtle, and you're not. I mean, you can't have
any babies at all. Now, we could say, well,
it serves Elkanah right. He shouldn't have had two wives. Well, I agree. God's ideal is one man, one
woman, for one lifetime. That's God's ideal. It doesn't always
work out that way, but that is God's
original design. However, there seemed to have
been an allowance, especially in those days, when one wife
could not bear children, that the husband, for the
perpetuity of the tribe's sake, to perpetuate the
name in Israel, could take a wife who
would bear him children. This was the idea with Sarah
and Abraham taking Hagar, even though God said,
you're going to have a son, you're going to have a son,
you're going to have a son. And eventually, she just said,
look, I'm an old lady, Abe, and you're not a spring chicken,
and maybe what the Lord meant, when he said you're
going to have a son, is that we're going to have
a son through another gal. So take this Egyptian
handmaiden Hagar. Go have a baby with her. We'll call it our son. Well, that didn't
work out too well. So probably Hannah
was the first wife, Penninah was the second wife,
and she was able to produce. Well, it made it worse. Now, before we go on and see the
good news of how it happened, if, by chance, I am speaking
to any gal or couple who has struggled in this
area, and I feel your pain. We had a very difficult
time after our son was born. God gave us one son, and
he's an awesome blessing to us and to this church,
and around the country. He just spoke at a pastor's
conference on the East Coast. So the Lord has just done
a great work in his life, but we desired to
have several children. But there was a
difficulty in pregnancy, and we lost the pregnancies,
and went through fertility work. That didn't work out. So a couple of things-- bearing children, fertility, is
part of the sovereignty of God. I don't know why God
has not allowed you, if that's what you
are yearning for, and you wonder, why would
God put this desire? Why would I have this desire? And yet it's unfulfilled. I can't have children. Well, it could be, number
one, that he's actually preparing you to have children. You say, well,
that's the problem. I can't. Well, no, you can't today. But trust me. I have spoken to several
couples whose doctor said, you're unable to have
children naturally. And then they've had
several children naturally. And it's really funny. Sometimes they'll go
and adopt a child, and then, all of a sudden,
she's able to produce children. And then they have several. And that's part of
the plan of God. So either he's preparing
you for something he will do in your body
later on, or number two, he's preparing you for adoption. A third idea is perhaps the
Lord is calling you to a very specific line of work, that
if you were to have children-- though they're a blessing in
certain things that God could call you to do-- it would be difficult.
But now you're free. There's places you can go. There's things you can do. There's ministries
and occupations you could undertake
because of that freedom. So consider all of
those, when it comes to the sovereign plan of God. So they go to the feast. She's provoked. And it says that
Hannah, in verse 7, she wept and did not eat. "Then Elkanah, her
husband, said to her"-- so he's going to really give
her a word of encouragement and comfort. Listen. Listen to how good this is. This guy is so sensitive. "Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to
you than 10 sons?" Not a good line, is it? He failed right there. And we husbands can be
so insensitive sometimes. Our wives are crying, and we
go, you shouldn't be crying. That doesn't help. Learn that quickly. Why are you crying? Nothing's wrong. Well, that's not right. You shouldn't feel that way. That doesn't help. What she needs, guys,
is understanding. Put your arm around her. And then he says, "Aren't I
better to you than 10 sons?" Well, you'll notice
she doesn't answer him. [LAUGHTER] It says in the next
verse, "so Hannah rose." She just gets up. "Hanna arose after they had
finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now, Eli the priest
was sitting on the seat by the doorpost
of the Tabernacle, and she was in
bitterness of soul and prayed to the Lord
and wept in anguish." There's a beautiful passage
of scripture in Psalm 34 that says, the Lord is near to
those who have a broken heart and to those who have a
contrite spirit, both of which beautifully describe this woman. Her heart is broken. Her heart is contrite,
totally devoted. Let me inject a thought. Hannah wants desperately
what some husbands or wives are willing to leave-- a family. They get married. They have kids. He walks out. She walks out. She wants what many people are
willing to give up so easily. Here you have a woman who
seeks to find identity within the family. The voices of the modern
culture are telling women, find your identity
outside the family; you don't need the family;
it's a patriarchal ideal to make you subservient. I hope you're not falling
for that line of garbage. I hope you're a man or a woman
who seeks what the Lord wants for your life,
whatever that might be, whether it's bearing
children or not. But you're seeking
him and his ideal. So she prayed. She was in bitterness of soul
and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish. "Then she made a vow and
said, Oh, Lord of hosts." Now, stop right there. Go back to verse
three, and notice where it says, "they
went to worship and sacrifice to
the Lord of hosts." I'm pointing it
out, because it's the very first time that phrase
is used in all of the Bible. And it's used a lot
in the scripture. 281 times the Bible refers
to God as the Lord of hosts, Yahweh Shavuot is the
Hebrew, the Lord of hosts. Now, the host, the idea is
probably angelic beings. 34 of the 66 books of
the Bible mention angels. A host is a big group. It's an army. In fact, one of the
modern translation translates it he is the
Lord of heaven's armies. And I love that. It's that God has resources. He commands the biggest army in
the universe, heavens armies. Lord of hosts--
he has all power. He's the commander in chief
of all principalities, powers, all of them. He is the Lord of hosts. He is mighty. So she made a vow, verse 11. "O Lord of hosts, O Yahweh
Shavuot, if you will indeed"-- now watch this-- "look
on the affliction." See what she thinks
of her infertility? It was an affliction. That's how she viewed herself. I'm sick. "Look on the affliction
of your maidservant, and remember me, and not
forget your maidservant, but will give your
maidservant a male child." Notice how specific--
not just a baby. Lord, I want a boy. "And I will give him to the
Lord all the days of his life. And no razor will
come upon his head." We'll get to that in a minute. We'll see what that means. "And it happened,
as she continued praying before the Lord, Eli"-- this is that priest-- "watched her mouth. Now, Hannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but
her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought
she was drunk." That's odd for a
priest, to look and see a woman praying at church,
thinking, what's she doing? She must be drunk. No, you would think
his first thought would be, Oh, she must be praying. It shows you how low
the nation had sunk, the kind of degeneration
and degradation that had happened, that even
the priest at the Tabernacle can't believe somebody
would actually be in church worshipping. What kind of a church
do we have here? People are praying. He says, you've got to be drunk. "Eli said to her, how
long will you be drunk?" He starts to rebuke here. "Put your wine away from you." You wino. [LAUGHTER] "And Hannah answered
and said, no, my lord. I am a woman of
sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine
nor intoxicating drink, but I have poured out my
soul before the Lord." I love this
definition of prayer. No, my lord, I didn't
pour anything into me. I'm pouring out my
soul to the Lord. That's the analogy
she's drawing. I'm not imbibing on anything. I'm pouring my anguish out,
pouring it out to the Lord. Now, I mentioned that
Eli looked at her and saw a woman praying
at the Tabernacle, thinking she's drunk. But have you ever wondered-- excuse me. [LAUGHTER] Have you ever wondered why
people kicked microphones in church? No, have you ever
wondered what people think of you when you worship? Or you're at a
restaurant, and you say to your wife, or
husband, or friends, or family, hey, let's
pray before our meal. And you bow your head. And they look at you
bowing your head. They go, what are they doing? Are they drunk? [LAUGHTER] Who knows what they're thinking. I remember when I first
went to church, and I saw-- I was 18. I had been to church
my whole life. But when I went to
the church that I came to know the Lord
in, and I saw people raising their hands
for the first time, and I remember thinking,
that's the goofiest thing I've seen in my life. What's this? It was distasteful to me. First of all, I
wasn't a believer. And so it didn't make sense. Anybody what, are they
holding your antennas up to get reception? What is that? [LAUGHTER] So she said, no, I haven't
had anything to drink. I'm pouring out my
soul to the Lord. I'll tell you what. You want to see a woman pray? Wait till you get to chapter 2. Her prayer, Hannah's
prayer, not only is she pouring out her soul to the
Lord, not only is she praying, this gal's writing. She's going to write a worship
song, one of the best ever, spontaneously. I don't think she typed it
up on her word processor and brought it to the
Tabernacle or on her iPhone or even on a scroll. I think this just came from
her heart, as you'll read. It's amazing. So she says, no, I'm praying. Now, this is Samuel's mother. It's going to be
Samuel's mother, when she bears this child. Samuel had a praying mother. Abraham Lincoln said, no one
is poor who has a godly mother. There are many people that
I'm looking at right now who are the results of
praying mothers or praying grandmothers. And when moms cry out to God for
their children, it's powerful. And I believe the Lord is
very sensitive to that. "Do not consider your
maidservant"-- verse 16-- "a wicked woman, for out of
the abundance of my complaint and grief, I have
spoken until now. Then Eli answered and said, go
in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which
you have asked of him. Let your maidservant find
favor in your sight, she said. So the woman went her way"--
now watch this-- "and ate, and her face was no longer sad." She didn't get what
she wanted yet. She just heard a promise
from a representative of God, a man of God. It said, go to peace. May the Lord grant your request. She heard the word spoken. She's at church. She hears the word, right? You see the analogy I'm drawing. And it was enough to
put a smile on her face, said, God's going
to do something, instead of, well,
yeah, but maybe not. And not only that,
look at verse 19. "Then she rose up early in
the morning and worshipped." She's worshiping before
God answers her prayer. This is true worship. Some people think
worship is when you praise God for what he does. No. It's when you praise God
for who he is, regardless of what he does, regardless
of what he gives. you. He's God. He's Creator. He's Redeemer. He's the Lord of hosts. Put a smile on her face. She had peace in her heart. And she worshipped. And I believe this kind of
faith, this kind of faith in the word of God, that
produces worship of God as a response to who he is, is
what brings peace to the heart. Be anxious for
nothing, Paul said, but in everything by
prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your
requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which
passes all understanding, will guard your hearts
and minds in Christ Jesus. Fabulous promise. If you want to get
rid of anxiety-- anybody up for that? I want to get rid of anxiety. I want to get rid of
worry, those thoughts that come crowding in. There's a very important
tool you need to learn. It's the tool of redirection. Or I'll give it another term-- replacement. The Bible calls it
casting, casting. 1 Peter, chapter 5, verse 7--
casting all your care upon him, because he cares for you. Psalm 55-- cast your
burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you. You take the thoughts that
are filled with anxiety, and you cast them on the Lord,
and you redirect your thinking. You replace that with
thoughts of worship-- God, you're good. God, you're awesome. God, you can do anything. You're the Lord of hosts. You start meditating on that,
on whatever is good and noble and of good report. And the peace of God that
surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus. So she went home. Her face was no longer sad. They got up early. They worshipped before the
Lord and returned and came to their house at Ramah. "And Elkanah knew Hannah
his wife"-- that is, knew her physically. They had physical sexual
relations, knew her intimately. And it says, "The
Lord remembered her. So it came to pass in
the process of time"-- in the process of time-- "that Hannah conceived
and bore a son and called his name God Hears"-- Shmuel is the Hebrew, Shmuel,
Sammy; Samuel we call him-- "called his name
Samuel, God Hears, saying, because I have
asked for him from the Lord. And the man Elkanah
and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the
yearly sacrifice and his vow. But Hannah did not go up,
for she said to her husband, I will not go up until
the child is weaned. Then I will take him, that
he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever." Remember the vow that
she prayed to the Lord. Give me a male child,
and he's yours. I'll give him back to you. So verse 23-- "Elkanah
her husband said to her, do what seems best to you." Now he's learning. Before it was, what are
you all bummed out for? Look at me, baby, I'm
better to you than 10 kids. Yeah, you need to wise up, pal. Finally, he does-- whatever
you think, sweetheart, whatever you want to do. "Whatever's on your heart. Do what seems best to you. Wait until you have
weaned him, only let the Lord establish his word." So he's grown in his faith. He's getting all spiritual now. "So the woman stayed
and nursed her son until she had weaned him." What does that mean, weaned him? Well, when women had
children in those days, for the first
seven days, she was to stay home if it was a
male child, 14 days if it was a girl. And then a month later,
about 33 days later, she was to go make an offering
at the place of worship. But in those days,
weaning was a process that could take three years,
three to five years we believe. In those days, women
breastfed their children a lot longer than today. And the weaning
process and the idea of weaning, literally the
idea, that word "wean" means to deal fully with in
Hebrew, deal fully with. And there's a connotation,
more than breastfeeding, more than just
physically caring. But it has the idea of
a training component. So I think she
was using the time not just to breastfeed him, not
just to turn him from a baby to a toddler, but to as best
she could, at that tender age, teach him spiritual truths. She was a spiritual woman. And I'll tell you what. Hebrews-- Hebrew training
of their children in spiritual matters,
it's the best on record. I mean, they started
really early. And I love what Charles
Spurgeon used to say. You know I quote
him all the time. I can't have a sermon without
quoting Chuck Spurgeon, right? So Charles Spurgeon said this. Before a child reaches
seven, teach him all the way to heaven. Better still, the
work will thrive if he learns before he's five. It seemed that
Hannah believed that. I'm going to fully
deal with my child. I'm going to wean my child. "So the woman stayed
and nursed her son until she had weaned him. And when she had weaned
him"-- verse 24-- "she took him with
her with three bulls, one ephah of flour,
a skin of wine, brought him to the house
of the Lord in Shiloh. The child was young. And they slaughtered a bull,
brought the child to Eli. And she said, Oh, my
lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman
who stood by you here praying to the Lord." Remember me, the gal
you thought was drunk? "For this child I
prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition
which I asked of him. Therefore, I also have
lent him to the Lord. As long as he lives, ' he
shall be lent to the Lord. So they worshipped
the Lord there." The kid's between three
and five years of age. She takes him to the
Tabernacle at Shiloh, drops him off for this
priest, this old man Eli, who turned out to
be a pretty good dad, not to his own two kids,
but to this surrogate, to this adopted child,
and will teach him in the ways of the Lord. Now, she says, I'm going
to lend him to the Lord. I have lent him to the Lord. You could translate that, I
have returned him to the Lord. The Lord gave him to me. I'm returning him to him. The word connotes an
irrevocable giving to the Lord. Now, what you see here, this
idea of lending him to the Lord or dedicating him to
the Lord, is the basis by which we do once-a-month
baby dedications on the weekend. We bring babies happily. We love when families
produce children, and we get to pray for them. And we do pray for the
parents, pray for the baby. It's a baby dedication. We're returning him
back to the Lord. Lord, he's under your care. And we're doing it publicly. So there's an accountability in
this family, with his family. We're doing it
before God's people, asking for their prayers,
asking for their help. We do not do infant baptisms
here at this church. I was baptized when I was
a baby, so they tell me. I have no recollection. And the reason we don't
do infant baptisms-- that's an idea based on an
errant false doctrine called baptismal regeneration,
that says, when a person is baptized,
that's when they're saved. So better baptize
this kid as soon as he's born almost so
that he'll get to heaven and not go to limbo. That's what I was taught. The problem with that
is it's unscriptural. That's the problem,
flat out unscriptural. The New Testament says,
repent and be baptized. I never was able to
repent as a baby. Have ever met a baby
who could repent? They can't even pent,
let alone repent. [LAUGHTER] They're too young. So a child has to know it's a
commitment before they do it. That's why even
children who we baptize, we want to make sure
they understand it. Because I've had some kids where
you take them in the water. And the mom and
dad are out there. They've got the cameras,
and they got relatives, and they're celebrating. And you ask the child, do you
know what you're doing here? I have no idea. So instead of prodding them into
it so you can get the photo op, make sure that there's
repentance and a reception, a receiving, of Christ. You say, well, what age is that? It depends on the child. But this is where we base the
idea of a baby dedication. "The Lord has given
me this child. I'm lending him. I'm returning him
back to the Lord." So she does that. I have other thoughts. But I want to get
through chapter 2. So it says this. "And Hannah prayed to
the Lord and said." Now, get a load of
this gal's prayer. Again, she doesn't have
her little iPhone with her. She has no notes. I think this is just the
outflow of her heart. Now, what's so
magnificent about this-- and we could study just the
prayer of Hannah for weeks. Because it happens to
be a prophecy, as well, of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there is a
similarity to this. In fact, it's one of
these songs, these poems, these utterances, that is
unique, that stands alone. The only thing that
comes close to it, and I would say
exceeds it, is the song of Mary in the Gospel of Luke. It is called the Magnificat. That's a Latin term. It's a Catholic
term, the Magnificat. And that's because, in Latin,
the first word in Mary's prayer is magnificat. And in English, it's my
soul doth magnify the Lord. My Spirit rejoices
in God my Savior. That's in English we say. But in Latin, it's
magnificat, so it's called the Magnificat,
because of tradition. But it's very similar
to Hannah's prayer. In fact, there are
repetitions of Hannah's prayer in Mary's prayer. So this makes this significant. "Hannah prayed and said, my
heart rejoices in the Lord, my horn"-- or
literally, my strength-- that's the idea of the horn--
"is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies, because
I rejoice in your salvation. There's none like the Lord,
for there's none besides 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 the mighty men are
broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired
themselves out for bread, and those who were hungry
have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has born seven. And she who has many
children has become feeble." Now, who do you think
she's referring to? [LAUGHTER] I don't know. I think it's Penninah. It talks about her
enemies, and even Penninah is kind of getting to be
a weakling over there. That's the gist of it. So I take note of these things. And I actually kind of like
it, because it shows here, she's the spiritual woman. But she's a woman. She's a human. And the humanity comes
out in her prayer. And I think it's
OK for you to just be who you are in your
prayers before the Lord. You don't have to come up
with any flowery language or make up songs like this. Pour your heart out before
God, and let your feelings in your words. And even if they're bad feelings
and not the nicest thoughts, God can handle that. He's seen it all. He's heard it all. So I don't really
know how to pray. Do you know how to talk? Right? The idea of pouring
one's soul out is just, bleh, you're just
letting it out, man. Tell him what you feel. Verse 6-- "The Lord
kills and makes alive. He controls life and death. He brings down to the
grave and brings up." Some see this is
as a reference to-- or a prophecy of Jesus, the
cross and the resurrection. "The Lord makes
poor and makes rich. The Lord brings
low and lifts up. The Lord raises the
poor from the dust, and lifts up the beggar
from the ash heap, to set them among
princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the
earth are the Lord's, and he has set the world upon them." What a prayer. "He will guard the
feet of his saints. But the wicked shall
be silent in darkness. For by strength no
man shall prevail. 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"-- or the strength-- "of his"-- in Hebrew-- Mashiach, "Messiah." This is the first reference
in all of scripture that uses the word Messiah. The king in this verse,
these verses, and the Messiah are one and the same. This is a prophecy of Jesus. This is a reference
to the king that is coming will be God's
anointed, his Messiah. That's what Messiah
means, God's anointed. It's because of this
verse that they're developed the yearning
in ancient Israel for a deliverer called
Messiah, Mashiach, the anointed one, who's
going to come and deliver. And that theme
will get developed through the Old Testament until
by the New Testament time, the theme, the idea, the
thought, of the Messiah will be so pregnant
with meaning, the nation will be crying
out and expecting the Messiah to come when Jesus comes. Galatians 4:4-- that in
the fullness of the time, God sent forth his
son, born of a virgin, born under the law,
that he might redeem those who are under the law. The Messiah. So what a great prayer. Before she had a child, her
prayer was like, why me, Lord? Why am I so bitter? She ends up, why me, Lord? Why am I so blessed? I'm not blasted. I'm blessed. I'm not bitter. I'm blessed. Out of all the
people, you picked me. Wow. Complete change. "Then"-- verse 11-- "Elkanah went to
his house at Ramah. But the child ministered to
the Lord before the priest." Josephus, the Jewish
historian, says that at this point in
the narrative, the boy Samuel is about 12 years of age. We don't know for certain. We don't know. But that's just
another source that places his age at
around 12, which is close to when a child in
Judaism is considered an adult. At age 13, a boy goes
through a bar mitzvah. A girl goes through
a bat mitzvah. They become a son
of the commandment or a daughter of
the commandment. They're regarded as an adult
member of the Jewish community at 13. See, in those days,
people grew up faster. There was a rite of passage. Now this is expected of you. Now you are accountable
before God for your life. That was the idea. So he's probably, let's just
say, around 12 years of age, and he's ministering
to the Lord. I love this. I've always thought God is
all about a youth movement. God is into that God. Paul said to Timothy, don't
let anybody despise you because you're young. And the younger the better. Dwight L Moody
used to say that-- he would come home,
and his wife said, how many came to Christ tonight? And one night, he
said two and 1/2. She said, really? Two and 1/2-- how
do you figure that? You mean, two adults
and one child? He said, no, two
children, one adult. She says, help me
understand that. He goes, well, the adults
wasted half their life already, then gave their life to Jesus. Half of it's gone. That child, the whole life is
committed to Christ, 2 and 1/2. This boy started young, and
he's ministering to the Lord. And I could say so many
things that pop into my head. Here's one I just want to say. You're going to find that the
family of Eli is problematic. His sons are problematic. They don't know the Lord. They're not saved. They don't have a
relationship with God. They're drunkards. They have sex with the
women at the Tabernacle. It would have been very easy
for Samuel to say, well, I'm not going to hang
around this place. There's so many hypocrites. I'm going home. I don't need
hypocritical religion. He was administering to Eli. He wasn't even
ministering to the people. He was ministering to the Lord. This was between him and God. And he stuck it out in the
midst of the hypocrisy and said, I'm going to
minister to the Lord. My ministry is before him. I love that, the
wording of that. He ministered to the Lord
before Eli the priest. "Now, the sons of
Eli were corrupt. They did not know the Lord. 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, and he would thrust into the
pan, or kettle, or a caldron, or pot, and the priest
would take for himself all that the flesh hook brought up. So they did in Shiloh
to all the Israelites who came there, also
before they burned the fat. And the priest's
servant would come and say to the man
who sacrificed, give meat for roasting
to the priest, for he will not take boiled
meat from you, but raw. And if the man said to
him, they should really burn the fat first, then you
can take as much as your heart desires, he would
then answer, no, but you must give it to me now. If not, I'll take it by force. Therefore, the sin
of the young men was very great before the
Lord, for the men abhorred the offering of the Lord." The priests were given-- do you remember from
the Pentateuch-- a very particular
part of the animal. They were given the breast. of one of the offerings and the
thigh of the heave offering. They had those portions. They wanted whatever
they wanted. They didn't want it boiled. I mean, who wants boiled meat. That's what they're thinking. I'd rather take it raw,
take it home and barbecue it the way I like it. And I want the fat. If you know anything
about meat, the fat is what gives it the flavor. Right? A lean cut of beef does not have
the flavor of a piece of meat laden with that. Now, fat's bad for your heart. It's bad for your arteries. I'm not here to be
your doctor, though. You do what you want. But they were obviously
doing what they want. And God said, yeah, but
it's not what I want. So it was a problem. Then it says, verse
18, "But Samuel ministered before the
Lord, even as a child, wearing a linen ephod." See that cute little coat
that a priest would wear. "For moreover, his mother
used to make him a little robe and bring it to
him year by year, when she came up
with her husband to offer the early sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah
and his wife and say, the Lord give you
descendents from this woman for the loan that
was lent to the Lord. And they would go
to their own home. And the Lord visited Hannah,
so she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the child Samuel
grew before the Lord. Now. Eli was very old, and
he heard everything his sons did to
all Israel and how they lay with the
women who assembled at the door of the
Tabernacle of meeting. So we 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. If one man's sins against
another, God will judge him. But if a man sins
against the Lord, who will intercede for him? Nevertheless, they didn't heed
the voice of their Father, because the Lord
desired to kill them." I'd just like to let
that hang a little bit. Because this is Scripture. And you never know what
you're going to find in the pages of scripture. You have here not only the
callousness of two sons. You have the cowardice
of the Father. This is an open
scandal, and all he can do is slap their
little wrist and go, you guys shouldn't do that. That's so bad. So bad? How about, get out of town, son. You're fired. You can't do this. This is abhorrent to the Lord. Didn't happen. Then a man of God came. Wouldn't you like to hear what
this man of God has to say? Well, we're going to see. I have to wait till next week
to hear what he has to say, because the time is up. Almost made it under the wire-- [LAUGHTER] --but not quite. God always has a
Samuel, and God always has a man or woman of God to
come at just the right time. This servant of
God is not named. We don't know who it is. It's not important. God knows who it is. And he was faithful. And I love his-- he'll have
a very direct approach. And the Bible says, faithful
are the wounds of a friend. But the kisses of an
enemy are deceitful. So because Eli would not
deal with the problem, this anonymous man of God
is going to deal with Eli and make a promise that,
sadly, will come true. And so God is setting things
up for the ministry of Samuel, a little boy at
the Tabernacle, who will grow up to be not just
a prophet, but a king maker. He'll anoint Saul,
the first king, and he will anoint the man
after God's own heart, David. So we're getting into some
good historical narrative, good, good storytelling here,
good, good turf, scripturally. Thank you, Father,
for the opportunity to gather as a church and to
make much of the word of God, just to go through it together
as a congregation, verse by verse, chapter by
chapter, line upon line, to apply it to our hearts,
to apply it to our lives-- [MUSIC PLAYING] --so we walk away with an
understanding of scripture, but even more so, walk
away with an understanding of the God of scripture, and
who you are, and what you love, and what you don't
love, what you want, and what you don't want. These are principles,
Lord, that govern these things, these stories. I pray we will learn
these principles, and we would walk in right
relationship with you. We don't want to be like
the sons of Eli, who were in church, but
didn't know God, who were serving on staff at
church, but didn't know God, didn't walk with God. Lord, we who attend
here want to know you, and we who serve here and have
the privilege to be employed here want to walk with you
with passion, and calling, and fervency, not to see this
just as a task, or a job, or a way to get
insurance, or anything. But this is a calling
from heaven for our lives. Lord, no matter who we are, no
matter what background we have, some of us are waiting
on you for children. Some of us are dealing
with perhaps a problem child or children. Some of us have lost a child. No matter who we are, no
matter what our background is, I pray, Lord, that we would heed
your word, that would bring us peace; we would worship you for
who you are, not what you give or what you do; and that we
would always minister to you. In Jesus' name. Amen. For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us from
this teaching in our series Expound.
