Thank you for the message. Bless
my heart. Man of sorrows, what a name.
Think about him. What a name. Man of sorrows.
For the son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Bearing
shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood. Sealed
my pardon with his blood. Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
spotless lamb of God was he, full atonement, can it be? Lifted
up was he to die, it is finished was his cry, now in heaven exalted
high. He's coming back, when he comes,
our glorious king. Can you picture the king coming
in all his glory? The king is coming in his majesty. He's coming in his glory. He's
coming with his kingdom. He's coming with his saints.
And we're going to know it's the king. It's the king. I want a king. I appreciate the
president, but I'm ready for a king. All his ransom home to bring
then a new this song we'll sing. Hallelujah. What a savior. Thank
you for that. Go with me to 1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel 2. We've been looking at the story of Hannah and her son Samuel. and Eli and his two sons and
the Lord's dealings with all of them. How the Lord dealt with
each one. We saw the Lord's goodness to
Hannah in answering her prayer, putting life in her, giving her
a child. What goodness it is when God
puts life in a sinner. When God, in all of His sovereignty,
at His good time, the Apostle Paul said, But when it pleased
God, He revealed His Son in me. He put life in me. Salvation
came to me. The Spirit came to me. And God
put life in Hannah. We saw the Lord's goodness to
Samuel, her son Samuel, in calling Samuel to himself. When God puts
life in a sinner, he notifies that sinner, you have life in
you. And the light comes on, the call goes out. God revealed
himself to Samuel and that's the goodness of the Lord. Tonight
I want us to look at God's goodness to Eli. God's absolute goodness
to Eli. Eli had two sons, Hophni and
Phinehas, and they were both wicked men. We saw it this morning
in the Bible study. Wicked, wicked men. They both were priests, just
like their father, But they were not God's priests. They were
not God's men. They were in it for themselves.
False prophets. They left the statutes and the
glory of the Lord for their own glory. And in the process, they
caused all the people of Israel to sin against their God. All
of them. They led all of them into sin
against God. And God rebuked Eli for it. God rebuked Eli for it. Now, Hophni and Phinehas did
not belong to the Lord. They were not the Lord's, but
Eli did. And his rebuke was not to damnation. It was not to the damnation of
his soul. It was not a sever from the love
and the favor of God. It was chastening because he
did not put a stop to his son's behavior. God said, you should
have restrained them. That's what he said. You should
have taken them out of the ministry, taken them away from this office
if they were causing all the people to err. And he said, because
they have done this, I'm going to take their lives from them.
And I'm going to take the priesthood away from your family line. Now,
in chapter 2, verse 27, it says, There came a man of God unto
Eli and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear
unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's
house? And did I choose him out of all
the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar,
to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? And did I give unto
the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the
children of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice
and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation? and honorest thy sons above me
to make yourselves fat with the cheapest of all the offerings
of Israel my people." He said, why do you prefer your
sons over my glory and my honor and the holiness of my worship? In verse 34, he said, this shall
be a sign unto thee that shall come upon thy two sons on Hophni
and Phinehas. In one day, they shall both,
they shall die, both of them. And I will raise me up a faithful
priest that shall do according to that which is in my heart
and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house
and he shall walk before mine anointed forever. And it shall
come to pass that every one that is left in thine house shall
come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread
and shall say, put me, I pray thee, into one of the priest's
offices that I may eat a piece of bread. He said they're going
to die and the priesthood is going to be taken from your family
line. In chapter three, God called
Samuel. And he told him to go say the
same thing to Eli, same thing he sent this other messenger.
And in chapter three, verse eight, it says, the Lord called Samuel
again the third time and he arose and went to Eli and said, here
am I for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the Lord
had called the child. Therefore, Eli said unto Samuel,
go lie down, and it shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt
say, speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay
down in his place, and the Lord came and stood and called, as
at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, speak,
for thy servant heareth. And the Lord said to Samuel,
behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears
of everyone that heareth it shall tingle. In that day, I will perform
against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his
house. When I begin, I will also make
an end. And we saw that in the Bible
study this morning, the Lord's judgment on Israel. They fought
against the Philistines and lost. They lost thousands and thousands
of men. The Lord was not with them. And
he said in verse 13, for I have told them that I will judge his
house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his
sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. And therefore
I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's
house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever. I'm putting this away. I'm putting
a stop to it. I'm putting an end to it. Verse
15, and Samuel lay until the morning. Can you imagine that
this young man didn't go to sleep? Here he loves Eli. The Lord appeared
to him. God appeared to him. And God
told him the truth of his holiness. And Samuel knew he was going
to have to repeat this. Bearing the truth is a holy thing. It is a... And here Samuel lays
with the burden of the Lord. The burden of the Word of the
Lord. He laid there all night long. Verse 15, Samuel lay until
the morning. and opened the doors of the house
of the Lord. He got up and he started going
about the business that he was given. And Samuel feared to show
Eli the vision. Then Eli called Samuel and said,
Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here am I. And he said, What is the thing
that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee, hide it not
from me. God do so to thee, and more also,
if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he said
unto thee. And Samuel told him every wit,
and hid nothing from him. He told him God is going to take
the life of Hopninfenias. And God is going to remove the
priesthood from your family line. The Lord is going to judge the
iniquity. He's a holy God. I thought we just said a moment
ago that we were going to look at God's goodness to Eli. Isn't that what we said? I thought
we were going to see God's goodness to Eli. In all of this announcement
that is coming to Eli, where's the goodness? Where's the goodness? And all of this holiness for
sin and all of this Where is the goodness? It's in how God
allowed Eli to respond. It's in how God allowed Eli to
respond. The truth of the Word came. The truth of the Holy God came. And it's in how God allowed this
man to respond. Had God left him to his flesh,
Had God left him alone, he would have gotten angry at God. That's what he would have done.
I will not have this man reign over me. Had God left him to himself,
he would have denied his God. He would have. He would have
cursed his God. He would have said, after all
this time of service, this is how you repay me? But God in his goodness did not
leave Eli to himself. Man, such goodness. In kind,
tender mercy, God touched his heart. God brought the truth
to him. God slayed him with the truth.
And in the same process, he touched his heart. God pierced the heart
with the needle and then sewed it up with the thread of the
gospel. And he allowed him to say in verse 18, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. Man, what an answer. It is the
Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. You know, we deserve every judgment
that could come upon us. We deserve We are owed in the
flesh every possible judgment that could come upon us. Look
with me at Psalm 51. Psalm 51. Verse four, it says, against
thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear
when thou judgest. That's exactly what Eli was saying.
That's exactly what he was saying. I can't deny my sin. Verse three,
David said, I acknowledge my transgression, my sin is ever
before me. I cannot deny my sin. I cannot
deny that I have sinned against you. My sin is directly against
you. So he said, whatever you speak
concerning me, whatever you judge is right. It's right, you're
clear in it. You are right and clear in it. He begged, but if you'll purge
me with hyssop. Oh, if you'll purge me with hyssop,
I'll be clean. Purge me with hyssop and I'll
be clean. That was Eli's only hope. Lord. Do what seems good. I'm clinging to a covenant. We saw this morning, he trembled
for the arc of the covenant. I'm clinging to your blood. I'm
clinging. Do we realize honestly what goodness
it is from God? Absolute goodness from God that
he would give a sinner a heart to say that. Lord, you're good
and right in whatever you do. Whatever you do with me is good
and right. What goodness that He would,
in mercy, allow the heart of a sinner to not reject His sovereign
Word. What goodness! But bow to it. And love it. Love it. Amen. Amen. That's mercy. That's goodness.
That's grace. Look with me at Psalm 39. Psalm 39 verse 9, David said,
I was dumb. That means silent. I opened not my mouth. Because you did it. You did it. What wisdom from
God? What wisdom? What an operation on the heart
from God? Lord, you did it. That's what
God convinces his child of. That's what God convinces a believer
of. Whatever it is, you did it. Lord, whatever comes my way,
you did it. When it comes to my salvation, you did it. Where do I glory? I don't. I'll
keep silent. He did it. He paid it all. Look with me
at Job chapter 1. Job 1. We know the story of Job. Everything God allowed to happen
to him. God took it all. He took it all. Job 1 verse 20. Then Job arose
and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the
ground and worshipped. Oh, that's goodness. That's goodness
that a sinner would be able to do that in the midst of all of
God's dealings with him in that way. He fell down and worshipped.
In verse 21, he said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and
naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
God was so good to these brethren. God was so good to Eli. I pray
he will show that same goodness to us. I pray he'll show that
exact same goodness to us. In the midst of horrible, horrible
news, God gave Eli the true peace and contentment, the true peace
and comfort of knowing in his heart It is the Lord. It is the Lord. And He allowed
him the peace and the comfort of saying, let him do what seemeth
him good. Oh, what? That's peace. That's peace. In everything that
comes our way, every single thing that comes our way, If the Lord
would allow us to say the same thing, this flesh naturally does
not go there. This mind naturally does not
go there. This heart naturally does not
go there. That's the last place a man naturally
goes. It's the goodness of God that
leads a sinner to that. But if God would lead us to that
same place, if He would allow us to say the same thing, we
would find the same true peace and contentment. Peace and comfort. Now, I just want to think about
Eli's response for a second. Just think about the words that
he said, and I hope through it the Lord will send some comfort
to us. Go back to 1 Samuel 3. 1 Samuel 3 verse 18. And Samuel
told him every wit and hid nothing from him. And he said, it is the Lord. It is the Lord. Our Lord was walking on the sea
one night. And just stop and think about
that statement for a minute. the wonder, the awe of who this
man is, that he is able to do that. Our Lord was walking on the sea
one night, and the disciples were in the midst of the sea
in a ship. And when he came up on them,
They were scared to death. They saw his coming. Something
was coming upon them. Something that they were not
expecting. All of a sudden they see something that they did not
expect to see and they're scared to death. Scared to death. They didn't know what was happening.
They didn't know who it was. But he spoke peace to their heart
when he said, It is I. Be not afraid. It is I. Be not afraid. As soon as they knew that, it
was fine. Everything was fine. And when
God speaks that to our heart, as soon as we know that, it's
fine. Everything is fine. All of the
apostles were fishing one night about 300 feet off of the shore. John and Peter were in the same
boat. They were paired up in boats.
After being out there all night long, they caught nothing, not
one bite. Early in the morning, they hear
a voice from the shore holler to them, children, have you any
meat? In their depression, in their
frustration, in their shame, they cried, no. The voice said,
cast your net on the right side of the ship. As soon as they did, violence
in the ocean broke out. Fish started jumping in the net. They thought they were going
to be drowned. It was either lose our livelihood or go down
with it. They thought they were going
to be pulled under, pulled to the bottom. I'm sure it was an
immediate moment of absolute chaos and insanity. It went from
nothing's going on to what just happened. In the midst of what they thought
was them fighting for their life, John looked at Peter and said,
It's the Lord. Peter is the Lord, this is the
Lord. Peter got so excited he dropped
the nets, dove in the water, and swam ashore. It's the Lord. When they all
got there, there was a meal laid out. They all sat down together
to eat, not one disciple asked him who he was, all of them knowing
it was the Lord. I know it's the Lord. I know
it is. When the Lord causes his people
to know that it is him, It immediately brings true peace and true contentment,
true comfort, absolute comfort as soon as we realize it's the
Lord. It's the Lord. Eli said, it is
the Lord. It's the Lord. It's my shepherd. It's my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. It's the Lord my shield. It's
the Lord my defender. It's the Lord my provider. It's
the Lord my owner. It's the Lord my maker. It's
the Lord my wisdom. Wisdom is taking place right
now. Eli, didn't you hear what I just
told you? Wisdom is happening. It's my righteousness. It's the
Lord my sanctification. That's the Lord my redemption
speaking. That's my redeemer. That's the one who redeemed me.
It's the Lord my friend. My friend just told me that.
My friend just said that to me. It's the one who laid down his
life for me. Greater love hath no man than
this. Then he laid down his life for his friend. The same One who controls all
things is the One who laid down His life for me. That's who's
doing this. That's who has spoken this. Purposed
all of this. The One who bought me with His
own blood. The One who redeemed me for His
own. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. Let Him do what
seemeth him good. Thank God, not what seemeth him
evil. Not what seemeth him harmful. Let him do what will bring about
good. Just let him do good. Let him
do his good. Let him continue with good. It's
all for good. It's all for good. Now I'm going to speak to myself
for a second. You're welcome to hold on to
this if you want to speak it to yourself at a later date.
Right now is for me. This is for me. I am very sincere
when I say this. The next time that I am told
shocking information. Or the next time I encounter
a difficult situation. I can either respond with, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, or I can say, it is my Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good. One of those responses leads
to absolute anger, rejection, rebellion, sin, And the other
one of those two responses leads to true peace and contentment. Absolute comfort and contentment. God's people rest in the Lord. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. There's a poem that a man wrote
many years ago. And I believe it describes the
desire and the experience of a believer after a believer comes
to know the Lord. I believe this is a believer's
desire and experience. It says, with eager heart and
will on fire, I fought to win my great desire. Peace shall
be mine, I said. But life grew bitter in the weary
strife. My soul was tired and my pride
was wounded deep. To heaven I cried. God grant
me peace or I must die. The dumb stars glittered no reply. Broken at last, I bowed my head,
forgetting all myself and said, whatever comes, his will be done. And at that moment, peace was
won. It is such goodness. Oh, it's
such goodness. When the Lord allows the heart
of his child to have the ability, to have the ability to say, Thy
will be done. Thy will be done. It was His
will that saved us. It was His sovereign will and
purpose that overruled our will in spite of us. Had He left us to our will, we
would have run as hard as we could into damnation. Isn't that
right? So it's such goodness when the
Lord allows the heart of His child to have that ability to
say, Thy will be done. Thy will be done. It is God giving
peace and contentment to His child when He does that. That is the Lord granting that
to us. Here is peace. Here is contentment. Thy will be done. May he teach
us to not only say it, but mean it. Mean it. We know we ought to say it. Lord,
help us to mean it. Help us to teach us to truly,
truly mean it. It is the Lord. It's our maker. It's our defender. It's our redeemer. It's our friend. Let him do what
seemeth him good. All right. Let's all stand together.