Excuse me, 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter two, 1 Samuel chapter two, and we would like to start reading with verse 27. We got to this point last time, but we want to go over it some more. There's some more meat on this bone and we need to I'll carve off a little more. Here in the book of 1 Samuel 2, beginning with verse 27, it's interesting that the Lord always has somebody to go to talk to somebody that the Lord wants to talk to.

And Eli needed to be talked to. And so it tells us, there came a man of God unto Eli. We don't have his name and I believe he was a man. We don't have Eli requested to take off his shoes. We don't have Eli requested to bow down. We just have a preacher of righteousness sent to him by God. He delivers the message and we don't hear anything else about him. He went somewhere else to deliver the message of God. But it says, there came a man of God unto Eli and said unto him, Now we know he's a man of God because he brings God's message.

He's not bringing some tripe. He's not bringing some story. He's not bringing something that's not true. He is bringing the word of God. It tells us there, thus saith the Lord. So the Lord has given me this message. I'm delivering it just as he gave it. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I'm not going to make it any better or worse than it is.

Now, he goes on to say, thus saith the Lord, did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? As he speaks to him, he goes from present to history. And he goes, takes Eli back along the line of his lineage, back to Egypt. He takes him back to the selection of Aaron as the priest. And how he dealt with him, it tells us, and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel. Now that was God's sovereign choice that he chose Aaron of the tribe of Levi. That was God's sovereign choice. It says, to be my priest. Now, we already have a priest in heaven at this time. He came to this earth for a season. He's back in heaven as our priest. the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So he talked about his, chose the tribes of Israel, my priest to offer upon my 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 the fire of the children of Israel. Chose him out of all the tribes. And in verse 29, it says here, Wherefore, kick ye at my sacrifice and my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me."

Now, here's a real serious issue that Eli has had. He has honored his sons more than he's honored God. Now, in today's vernacular, if a preacher begins to And I've had a couple of sovereign grace preachers tell me this, that the gospel was different for their children. And you know, that's honoring the children more than honoring God. The gospel never changes. The gospel doesn't change for my children. The gospel doesn't change for my grandchildren. The gospel didn't change for my parents. It's always been the same.

And here we have this made, a point is made that Eli honored his sons more than he did God. God had given him a responsibility as a priest. And as it happened, his sons took over more or less after him. It tells us there, you honored and honorest thy sons above me to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel, my people. Now, if we go back, we read that the sons of Eli were demanding. more than their portion.

And if you don't give it to us, we'll take it from you." And that's very difficult. Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me forever. But now the Lord saith, be it far from me. For them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days come that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thy house."

Now, there is no message so relevant. Today, at this time, in Noah's time, or in a thousand years, there is no message so relevant nor so repulsive as the message that this man of God delivered, and that is ruined by the fall. He is telling a man of God that his family is ruined by the fall, and he is ruined by the fall.

Now, I think he knows where he stands. I believe that he is a child of God, and it just shares with us that sometimes we do things that are not very pleasing to God, but that does not change our position with him one bit. God does not send down lightning to consume us. God doesn't do all that stuff that we're threatened with in religion. God has a love for his people.

He cares for his people. He will be with his people. He will always watch over them. He will lose none of them. They will go through this life, even though we may not be able to confess all our sins because we don't know them all, He still is going to mark it off as punished in Christ Jesus the Lord. So there's nothing, no message so relevant as the message of ruined by the fall. That's what we preach here. It's ruined by the fall. Now I know it's not a very popular message.

When I was young, I wanted to be told how good a job I was doing. Oh, you know, those Wells boys, they're just really nice kids. They're just really nice. And look what they're doing. They're taking up the offering and they're leading the singing. Oh, it did puff you up a little.

I'll tell you this, a 12-year-old kid has no business taking up the offering. Thank God for a box on the back wall. All right, there's just nothing so relevant. And it is so repulsive as the message from a man of God ruined by the fall. Now turn with me, if you would, over to the book of Romans. We've read this many times in the past, but we wanna read it again because it is so true. And we're gonna find people that just say right to our face, that is not the truth. Well, let's just read the truth. A man of God will deliver the word of God. That's it. Not give or take on it, just deliver it. All right, Romans chapter 3, verse 9. In Romans chapter 3, verse 9, we read these words. What then are we better than they? Romans chapter 3, verse 9. Know and know wise, for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. What's that mean? Every heart is corrupted by sin.

Now, there's very few people that have any idea about the Bible at all that won't say that there was something that happened in the garden. The problem that we face is if we don't have it revealed to us that we are ruined by the fall, we will only admit that there was a small issue in the garden. And it can be dealt with by ourselves. If we confess enough, if we do enough, if we pay enough, we can get out of that situation. Well, we find out that God is true when he gave somebody the idea that it's ruined.

There is absolute ruination in the fall. Every faculty of our being was affected by it. As it is written, there's none righteous, no not one. There is none that understand it. There is none that seeketh after God. And you know what? Both of those verses I took exception to in religion. I am the exception. Well, they are all gone out of the way, they are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no not one. And then it lists the various parts of our body that's affected by the fall and none of the description is beneficial or good. It is all shares with us a real problem that we got as a result of the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden. In the book of Romans chapter five, just go two chapters, two more chapters, Romans chapter five, and we read this. Romans chapter five, verse 12. Romans chapter five, verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin.

So we can trace the whole problem right back to the Garden of Eden. Right back to Adam. As a representative, God gave him the responsibility to be a representative for all the humans that would ever be born on this earth. He was their representative. God put that into that position. It tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, 22, for as in Adam, all die.

So we have a problem. And that man of God brought to Eli a description of that problem, ruined by the fall. Now, it wasn't very tasty. And we find out that probably Eli was a sinner, but a sinner saved by grace. And his sons were sinners that were not saved. They wore the clothes, they did the offerings, they did all of the legal stuff that a priest would do, yet it tells us that they knew not the Lord, and therefore they couldn't offer a beneficial sacrifice.

And we're gonna find out as we follow that on, that that man of God's gonna tell them, this is gonna be assigned to you, Eli. This will be assigned to you, and we'll get there in just a moment. So as we look at this for someone who is waiting to be told by the preacher, you're doing pretty good. Ruined by the fall is not a very good message. We chafe against it. It's hard.

What part of our being was not affected by Adam's actions in the Garden of Eden? What part? None. Was unaffected. In fact, all the plants and all the animals. I like what Mike said one time, every atom of the universe was affected by the fall. Every atom. And it's irreplaceable. We can't do anything about it. We can't make it better. Now, Adam tried.

If we go over there, let's just go over there to the book of Genesis chapter two for a moment, as we think about the message that this man of God delivered to Eli. a priest, a saint, a child of God. And he told him what was going to happen. I'm taking away the priesthood from you. And I'm going to have both your sons killed. Now that's what he told him. Now we don't read one word that Eli wept over that. because he knew the truth of the matter. He knew that God.

All right, in the book of Genesis, chapter two, we read these words that God is speaking to Adam. Now, there are, every once in a while, I just have to go over here and read this account. Just keep it fresh in my mind. Because it said in Genesis chapter two, verse 15, and the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.

Now he gives him one rule. One. He says, and the Lord commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat. Except for one. Now God has the prerogative to do this. He created the trees, he created the garden, he created Adam, he's gonna create Eve. All of this is his creation. But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shall surely die.

Now it's not a statement, it's a prophecy. We know it's a prophecy because God has already had a lamb prepared to cover the sins of his people. He's already got a bunch of people written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. He's already chosen the people to save. So it's not just a statement, it is a prophecy.

It is going to happen, all right? And then in chapter three of the book of Genesis, verse six, Genesis chapter three, verse six, and we find the problem. Now, this problem is ruined by the fall. And that preacher of God took the message of God and delivered it to Eli, and it was not candy-coated, it was the truth. And you know, we look at that and say, how can a father take that kind of word? God gave him the grace to take it. But it came to pass.

All right, Genesis chapter three, verse six. When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, a tree that be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat. Now we've emphasized this many, many times.

When Eve ate, nothing happened. Take it to the bank. If Adam, if Adam had not have eaten, nothing would have happened. She's not the responsible party. God spoke to Adam. He's the responsible party for keeping this. And I have had preachers tell me that Adam ate because his wife had eaten and she's already in a fallen state and you can't prove it. The Bible just says nothing happened. Well, we go on and it tells us here, gave to her husband and when he ate, the eyes of them both were opened.

They knew they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. So instantly we find that a number of things took place in their mind. And one of them that is the most important is when they heard the voice of God who had visited with them other times in the cool of the evening, having the sweetest of fellowship, this one day after eating of that forbidden fruit, they were afraid of God. They were afraid of him. They didn't want to visit with him. They didn't want what they had had in the past. And so this is the results of ruined by the fall. They did not want what they had in the past.

They covered themselves with fig leaves, which is a representation that this is my righteousness, and God had to deal with that righteousness, the fig leaf righteousness. He had to remove it, and that's what he does. He does away with our righteousness, our self-righteousness, our pitiful righteousness. our righteousness that's like filthy rags, and he gives us his son's righteousness, and that's pictured when he covered Adam and Eve with the skins of animals. He covered them. The man of God delivers a true message.

And this message is as a result of God's instructions. Eli, thou loved saint of God, was a sinner, but a saved sinner. And Eli's sons were sinners, even though dressed like believers, they were lost sinners. Let's go back over here to the book of 1 Samuel 2, verse 27. 1 Samuel 2, verse 27. Ruined by the fall, serious problem.

It cannot be taken care of by the individuals, by the humans. We always attempt, and preachers will even tell us how to do it. A man wrote a book, How to be Born Again. A man writes a book like that doesn't know the first thing about the new birth. The new birth is an act of God. It's not something that is prompted by us. All right. Eli's sons, it tells us here in In 1 Samuel 2, verse 27, it says, and there came this man of God, and he's going to tell him that this is the history.

This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to take away your position, your family's position in Israel. It's no longer going to be in effect. I'm taking it away from you. It tells us as we drop down through there that it says, behold, the days come that I want to cut off thine arm. Now, God did not actually do it.

It's just a figure of speech that was used by these people and by many people in the Middle East. I will cut off thine arm. I will destroy the strength, the power and the influence of thy family. Often we find that the arm was spoken of as where the strength lies of a person. And so God's going to take away that strength. I'll take away the strength or all that of which you place confidence. A strong phrase for breaking down the strength and power of which the arm is an instrument. So I'm going to remove the power that you have as an influence in Israel and as you are a priest here in Israel at this time.

Now, how many people came to visit him? It doesn't say. Probably because of all those who are worshiping the idols of Baal and so forth. There wasn't a lot of people that came to visit, but they were there and that was their responsibility. You know, those sons of Eli, it says there, they knew not the Lord. They knew not the Lord.

Turn with me, if you would, over to the book of John chapter 10. John chapter 10. In John chapter 10, we have the Lord speaking to a whole group of folks John chapter 10, verse 25. Why did not Eli's sons believe? Well, the Lord tells us why a group of people during his period, during his lifetime didn't believe. And it tells us here in John chapter 10, Verse 25, I told you and you believe not.

The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. So the sons of Eli were just goats. You can't dress a goat and make them into a sheep. You can't put good priest clothes on anybody and make them into a sheep.

I asked the question, what was the difference between Cain and Moses? What's the difference between Nadab and Aaron? Now, Nadab was Aaron's oldest son who offered strange fire and was instantly killed by God. What's the difference between those two guys? What's the difference between the prophets of Baal and Elijah? What's the difference between Eli and his two sons? What's the difference between Judas and Peter? What's the difference between the Ananias that sold a piece of property and then lied about it and Saul of Tarsus?

Grace is the only difference. God's free grace, God's free and sovereign grace is the only difference. They have the same makeup, they have the same sin, they have the same heart. All the hearts of all these folks by nature are wicked and desperately wicked, who can know it? All of them have counseled against God in their own mind. They've all figured out how, to be religious, and yet they don't know the first thing.

And the difference between Cain and Moses is God came to Moses. And we just follow that down through here. Free grace. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. I love this passage of scripture because there are many days, and one of them could have been today, that I just didn't believe God like I should have.

You ever have that trouble? Eli's in a problem. Eli has been spoken to by the preacher of God, by the man of God, by the man that God sent to him to talk to him about a serious life problems that he has. What is the difference here? You and I may go through a day and have some real issues in that day. And we just say, Lord, how is it possible that I could even be saved and be doing this? How could I be possible? Well, turn with me to one of my favorite verses of scripture in the New Testament that helps me every day.

And that is 2 Timothy chapter two and verse 13. This is the only thing that kept Eli. This is the only thing that kept David and Moses. This is the only thing that kept Peter. This is the only thing that keeps any of the children of God. God does, notice here, 2 Timothy, and Eli could thank God for words just like this. Eli could be thanking God as he hears the worst message of his life about how terrible the fall was, and his sons are the very description of it.

In 2 Timothy, let me get there, 2 Timothy 2, verse 13, if we believe not, you ever been there? If we believe not, oh my, do we lose hope? It says, yet he abideth faithful. Now that's the only hope that Eli had. God remained faithful. If we believe not, Lord, I'm having trouble. If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself. He's just gonna do it because He has promised to do it. He will remain faithful.

And that's our hope. That's where we sit. That was Eli's hope. That was anybody's hope that has ever been saved by the grace of God, is that in those days, and we just cannot keep ourselves by ourselves. It must be God. So here we have God's remedy for it.

I'll take care of it. I will remain faithful. I will not lose one of you. I will always present you all spotless. I will do it even though the ruination through Adam has taken complete rule over everybody that's ever been born. Free grace, free grace alone, and God's faithfulness to save his people to the end. He that begins a good work will finish it to the end.

All right, now let's go back over there to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 2, and here is what the man of God delivers unto Samuel about what's going to happen very soon. Chapter 3, we get acquainted with Samuel. Chapter 4, this falls out and it takes place. The prophecy is fulfilled. It's wonderful to get in chapter three and see God dealing with Samuel, God dealing with Samuel being straightforward with Eli, telling him the truth, the man of God's gonna be speaking. All right, here in the book of 1 Samuel 2, verse 34, 1 Samuel 2, verse 34, it says, and this shall be a sign unto thee. This man of God, speaking the word of the Lord to Eli, says this is going to be a sign to you that God's going to remove your arm.

You're no longer going to be in the position that you're in. Your line is dying. Nobody of your line is going to get to old age, because there's just not going to be any more of you. But it says here, and this shall be a sign to thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. In one day, they shall die, both of them. Oh my gosh. Can you feel the knife that went in Eli's heart? In one day, I'm gonna lose both of my sons as God's word is fulfilled, as ruined by the fall truly takes place and judgment has fallen.

So this shall be assigned to you. I'm going to make sure this happens. It's gonna fall out just like what I told you. And then it tells us there in verse 35. Now verse 35 is a wonderful prophetic statement about the true priest. This is a message of Christ. Now, Samuel is going to be a very good prophet and a priest. He's going to be chosen for that. He's faithful. His whole life, we don't find one thing recorded in the Bible that he had fault about. Now, he would say he's ruined by the fall. He would say that, oh, wretched man that I am. He would say, I just am not very faithful at all. But here we have Samuel coming to the forefront, and it says there in verse 35, and I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. Now, I thought about that.

Who knows the mind of God? way we know anything about God is by revelation, the Word of God speaking to us. He didn't come down and put that information in our head. We get it out of the Word of God. But who knows the mind of God? Only God. Only God knows the mind of God. And the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit know each other's. So he said, there's someone coming that's going to know the mind of God.

Well, that's going to be our Savior, the Lord Jesus, according to that which is in my heart and in my mind, and I will build him a sure house. Well, what house is that? That's the church. That house has been in the building progress. People have been added to it by God's free grace down through the ages. People have been added to the church. It's a house of sure. It's a house as Moses was faithful in his house, Jesus is faithful in his house.

Goes on to say, and he shall walk before me anointed forever. Now Samuel is going to be a wonderful person to be around. but he can't walk forever. We're gonna get down, I think it's chapter 34, and he's gonna die. We're not even at the end of the book, and Samuel's gonna die. He's gonna use up his life serving the Lord.

As we look at this, we find that God's appointed man brought the message of God, and in that message, a wonderful mention of someone is coming. Now, you know, in the book of Deuteronomy 18, Deuteronomy 18. In Deuteronomy 18, we read this. It's a prophetic statement made by Moses. And this statement is quoted in the New Testament a couple of times.

You remember those people saying, is he the prophet? They knew about that prophet that Moses had mentioned. The prophet's coming. A prophet is coming. Is he the prophet? Well, here in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18, Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 15, it says, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet. Now this is Moses' words. It's recorded. God gave him the words to record. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, and the translators in my Bible capitalize the P, which is right. That is right.

Unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren. Like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. And you know, the Lord picked up on these words when he said, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Unto his voice, you shall hearken. It's an honest voice. He spoke the truth. Those who understood it, those that had understood the revelation and believed, God gave them belief, said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

For who hath known, as we looked at that verse of scripture there in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 2, this one that's coming, this prophet that's coming will know the mind of God. This one that's coming will know the mind of God. Well, we find out who hath known the mind of God. Who hath known the mind of God? Only God knows the mind of God. Now, you and I, in our mind, It's protected from anybody else unless we share what's in it. But you and I don't even understand all that's in our mind. We can't get to all of it. We don't understand it all.

But the mind of God was the mind, that purpose to save a people from before the foundation of the world. Even as Adam sinned, he was not caught off guard. It was in his blessed purpose that that take place so that the son of God could come in his glory and lay down his life, a ransom for many on the cross, be buried and raised again the third day in glorious resurrected glory. God's purpose was so well carried out by all of that, that was in the mind of God from eternity, that these things all take place.

Well, finally, let's go back to the book of 2nd, I'm gonna get to 2nd Samuel someday, but not tonight. 1st Samuel chapter two. 1st Samuel chapter two. We're gonna read the last verse. And this is the final words of the man of God, that he spoke unto Eli.

What happens to him, it doesn't say, but he was an itinerant preacher called to come and visit with Eli. Maybe they were friends. Maybe they knew each other. We don't have any of that information. We do know he was a man of God. We do know he delivered the message of God, and that's all that's required.

Last verse, this man of God said unto Eli, and it shall come to pass that everyone that is left in thy 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, in one of the priest's offices that I might eat a piece of bread. Now the man of God has said, this line of priests is over. This is not going to happen. Nobody is going to be a priest in Eli's household again. Who's going to take over?

Samuel. Samuel the chosen, Samuel that promised son, the one that is going to be the priest and the prophet, the one that is going to listen to God and declare God's word to those people. And we're excited about getting to chapter four in Samuel's call. It tells us right in there, Samuel did not know the Lord. And then Samuel did know the Lord. So he's going to call him. into the gospel and into his service. So we're gonna stop there tonight and we'll pick up, Lord willing, 1 Samuel chapter three next time, if you wanna read ahead.