In the book of first Samuel, it's always great to be in church when a new series has started.
So far you've made it to all of the series sermons, so it should be your goal to keep
that up throughout this book.
This is a very great book, it's a very interesting book, it's one of those books that's so easy
to read.
In your Bible plan, when you get to first and second Samuel, it's just action packed,
it's very easy to read, it's very interesting.
And when it comes to this book, the author is anonymous, some people have different ideas
of who this author is, but basically the time frame that the events of this book happen is
around 1100 BC to about 100 years after that.
It's about 100 years that the events are recorded in this book, and of course it gets its name
from the first prophet here, Samuel.
And basically this book is divided into two sections, the life of Samuel and the life
of Saul.
So that's really what first Samuel covers.
So we can start there in verse number one, it says in verse one of first Samuel one,
"Now there was a certain man of Ramath-Thaim-Zophim of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah,
the son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeph, and Ephrathite."
Now when I see that name, the son of Elihu, I immediately think of Job, but don't worry,
he's not a descendant of one of that Bozo in the book of Job.
It's completely different Elihu, so that name shouldn't be totally tainted, right?
Verse two, it says, "And he had two wives, the name of the one was Hannah, and the name
of the other was Panina, and Panina had children, but Hannah had no children."
So first, we see here that this man has two wives.
Now, what you have to understand is that the Bible records reality perfectly, and everything
that the Bible says actually did happen, but that does not necessarily mean that everything
that in the Bible happens is right, or that God endorses everything that happens in the
Bible.
Matthew chapter number 19, so, you know, a tip for studying the Bible is that, of course,
the stories are great, but you always want to base your doctrine on clear statements
of the Bible.
And a great person especially to base your doctrines off of is the Lord Jesus Christ
in the New Testament.
So Matthew chapter 19, look at verse number 3, it says, "The Pharisees also came unto
him, tempting him, and saying unto him, 'Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for
every cause?'
He answered and said unto them, 'Have ye not read that he which made them at the beginning
made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause shall a man leave father and mother,
and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.'"
So notice, Jesus says that they twain.
That word twain simply just means two.
So Jesus Christ is saying that God always intended marriage to be between two people,
not just a plethora of women.
Now of course, you could read stories where God did show mercy to men that did this, and
of course God was long-suffering and even blessed men that committed this sin just like
God blesses us and we're sinners and God's long-suffering to us and we're sinners, but
you don't want to get off thinking that God's okay with polygamy.
There is even a movement of Christians where they want to talk about how polygamy is cool
or a good thing that we should bring back.
A lot of Muslims definitely believe in this, but even some really weird right-wing men
think we should bring back polygamy, and that's a really, really terrible idea.
Chapter 6 says, "Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
So you know, when two people get married, God is joining them together as one flesh.
And so, even if you're married to another woman, you're still breaking, in a sense,
that union, even temporarily, with that one flesh that God created, and so it's not something
that God desires, it's not something that you ever see as a positive thing in the Bible,
you don't see any happy family situations where polygamy is happening, it's a bad idea.
Go back to 1 Samuel chapter number one, and while you're there, I'll read for you.
In 2 Timothy 3.16 it says, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
So of course, everything in the Bible is inspired by God, it is true, and it is profitable for
something, but you don't want to make the mistake that, "Oh, I read in the Bible that
this person did this thing, therefore it's right, therefore it's okay."
No, this guy did have two wives, that is true that that happened, but God does not condone
of that.
Even though this was a godly man, how do we know that?
Look at verse 3, it says, "And this man went up of his city, Yearly, to worship and to
sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts and Shiloh, and the two sons of Eli, Hophniah and Phineas,
priests of the Lord were there."
So notice, this is a godly guy, this is a guy that Yearly is going to the house of the
Lord, he's a descendant of Levi, and so it just goes to show that even godly people that
are desiring to serve the Lord still make mistakes, still have sins in their lives,
and you know, no one ought to ever come to the point of their life where they think they've
arrived or they think that they're perfect.
This is a guy right here that's in the Bible, he's eternally recorded in the word of God,
yet he still was a sinner, he still messed up, he still had two wives, but he still was
a godly man.
Also notice, he has to go up Yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts.
You know, I thank God that we're in the New Testament.
I thank God that we don't have to make some yearly journey to go to the house of God.
We could just drive 15 minutes down the road, 30 minutes down the road, however far you
live, and attend the house of God.
And you could hear preaching of God's word from the New Testament, the better covenant.
We have the whole Bible now, you know, we have a better mediator now, we have a better
covenant, we have better promises.
Go to Hebrews chapter number nine, Hebrews chapter number nine.
I'm thankful that we no longer have to do this.
Hebrews nine, look at verse number nine, speaking of the Old Testament sacrifices, which is
what he was doing here, verse nine says this, which was a figure for the time, then present.
So you got to realize even just the very first chapter of first Samuel, when it's talking
about the sacrifices, those things were a figure of Jesus Christ.
And you just have to realize that the Lord Jesus Christ is on every page of the Bible.
Doesn't matter really what book you're talking about.
I mean, we just started first Samuel and already he's talking about those sacrifices and what
were those sacrifices.
They were a figure of things to come like it says in which were offered both gifts and
sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience.
So you know this family wasn't going up to the house of the Lord to sacrifice to get
saved or to get their sins forgiven.
They were doing it in obedience to God and what it was doing was it was actually picturing
the new covenant picturing the Lord Jesus Christ to come.
But of course the dispensationalists like to say that in the Old Testament you were
saved by animal sacrifices and by works and that that'll happen again in the future.
No that's wrong.
That's not true.
It's always been by faith in Christ verse 10 it says which stood only in meats and drinks
and diverse washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of Reformation.
What is that verse 11 but Christ being come and high priest of good things to come by
a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands.
That is to say not of this building neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his
own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for
us you know yearly these guys would go to the tabernacle and they would make sacrifices
but what was that really was a picture of the time when Jesus would go to the real holy
place and really apply his real blood to the altar and that is the actual thing that saves
us is Jesus Christ sacrifice all this in the old testament was simply just a picture let's
go back to first Samuel first Samuel chapter number one says in verse four and when the
time was that Elkanah offered he gave to Panina his wife and to all her sons and her daughters
portions but unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion which really just means a bunch more
whatever double who knows how much more but he gave her a bunch more why for he loved
Hannah but the Lord had shut up her womb so you know it's kind of a sad situation here
where Hannah is barren Hannah is not able to have children but one thing I just noticed
right away in verse number five her husband gave her worthy portion what does it say for
he loved Hannah and you know even though Hannah had a lot of problems and Hannah was sad she
was barren she still had some good in her life here you know why because her husband
loved her and there's a lot of women today that would just love to have that that would
just love to have their husband love her and notice he's giving her the a worthy portion
he's given her double you know I'm sure that she gets more gifts and more attention and
more affection because it seems like he loves her more now again this is why polygamy is
a very bad idea because if you're married to two women you're probably gonna love one
more than the other and that's not gonna really make the other wife feel great it's just a
really bad idea don't ever do it please it's illegal so you definitely can't do it but
notice like we the way we apply this to ourselves is that we're always gonna have a mix of good
and bad in our lives and it's so easy sometimes for us just in our fallen state to really
want to focus on the bad focus on the negative for her she wants to focus on the fact that
she has no kid but there's also a lot of good in our lives too you know just on the way
to church I was especially thinking of my children and the childhood that they're getting I have
a great childhood I had a very idyllic childhood but it was not a spiritual childhood I didn't
grow up in church and I would have traded my nice middle-class idyllic American childhood
for growing up in church and I was just thinking like you know my kids they have no idea how
blessed they are the fact that they're going to be raised in a safe nice neighborhood in
Oklahoma City in a really conservative area with a great church to go to in the middle
of the greatest country on earth like there's a lot going for them and really when we think
about that there's a lot going for all of us I mean here we are in Oklahoma City which
most people would say is not a very esteemed place it's not a very well-known place but
you know little is much when God is in it and when there's a church like this I don't
care where it is you live in a blessed place and so all of us we have some good in our
lives and we have some bad in our lives and you know what we would just be wise to focus
on the good and as hard as that is sometimes I think that's the attitude that God wants
us to have verse 6 it says and her adversary now the Bible doesn't really say who this
person is but who I think it is is the other wife because if you're sharing your husband
with another woman that woman's probably going to be your adversary regardless says and her
adversary also provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her
womb so it sounds like the other wife Panina is provoking her is is making her upset is
maybe even taunting her or making fun of her because of the fact that she's barren and
you know that's a really wicked thing to do to someone to try to make someone feel bad
because of that situation that's just a really bad attitude to have and you should obviously
never do something like that but look again back to polygamy it's very obvious that anyone
that's in a polygamist relationship is going to have some adversaries and so obviously
the Bible here is telling us that this is not a beautiful picture of being painted of
marriage rather this woman is in suffering and is being provoked by the other wife verse
seven and as he did so year by year when she went up to the house of the Lord so she provoked
her therefore she wept and did not eat so notice you know this is an extreme source
of pain for this woman this is a very heavy burden that she's carrying and for someone
to be provoking another person about that is just a stupid wicked thing to do you know
you should never provoke someone about this and let me just say this you know just practically
speaking in church or work or wherever you are it's it's rude to ask people questions
about this area of life you know oh when are you having your next kid you know it's like
I have four kids we had five pregnancies in five years just not necessarily the recommended
model I'm just telling you what happened we had five pregnancies in five years we had
a little bit of gap between Anna and Heidi and you know there's lots of people asking
us oh you know it's it's been more than two years when's the next baby happening you know
what's going on it's like well we lost one from a miscarriage you know it's not like
we're just waiting for no reason and so look you don't know what people are going through
it's really none of your business whatsoever you don't even know if they're not having
kids because they have fertility issues or maybe they lost a child and don't want to
tell people about that it's totally up to them it's really no one's business whatsoever
and so just realize that in a church environment while of course we we preach that you should
be fruitful and multiply and we want to have lots of kids and we want you know to have
our quiver full and raise the next generation and we love kids we have a family integrated
church while we preach all those things you know that's preached but that's not for you
to go around and interrogating people about why they have the number of kids that they
have when they're having the next one how come you guys have never had a kid don't ask
people those questions it's very inappropriate do not ask people those questions now you
know there's people that go through these type of things and the verse that comes to
my mind is one of my favorite verses in the whole bible i'll just read it for you proverbs
three five trust in the lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding
you know we don't know what we don't know we don't know what the future is going to
hold we don't know why god is allowing us to go through certain things we don't know
why god it seems like is withholding us from certain blessings that we desire but guess
what you can never know so all you can do is just trust in the lord with all thine heart
i love that verse because it just applies to every area of life you know you read something
in the bible and your first couple of times reading through you might not fully understand
it but trust in the lord with all thine heart and just do what it says anyways even if you
don't fully understand it you know and you you could be doing everything right and you're
thinking man why aren't i getting blessed with a child it's like hey just trust in the lord
with all thine heart because hannah was in this situation and eventually god did bless
her with a child and we'll see that later on go to first samuel one i'll read for you
psalm 68 19 says this blessed or sorry i might have i might have skipped something here i
did yes let's look at verse 8 it says this then said l canna her husband to her hannah
why weepest thou and why eatest thou not and why is thy heart grief am not i better to
thee than 10 sons now at first i i think a lot of people really want to judge this husband
and say like these are some harsh questions why are you acting this way but when you actually
just analyze what he says i actually think there's some wisdom into what this man is
saying he's saying am not i better to thee than 10 sons and it kind of goes back to what
i said at the beginning we should be focusing on the good in our lives let me read for you
psalm 68 19 it says this blessed be the lord who daily loadeth us with benefits even the
god of our salvation sela you know the husband here elkana he may seem a little harsh on
the surface but he really does have a point though and that is that god is daily loading
us with benefits and so we should praise him and be thankful for those benefits and while
it's totally appropriate for her to feel sad and that's not that's not wicked that's not
sinful or anything like that she's sad that she doesn't have a child she wants a child
she's praying for the child that's great that's fine but you can't get to the point where
now you're so focused on this one thing that you're no longer thankful for all the good
that God has done to you already because let me just tell you your life can get way way
way worse than just not having a kid or whatever the problem is in your life whatever the big
issue is in your life it can always get worse I mean one of the things that I think people
take for granted so much is health it is such a blessing to wake up in the morning and to
just be able to get out of bed on your two legs that work and for your lungs to function
properly to not have pneumonia or COVID or whatever issues going on to be able to have
good vision to be able to hear properly to be able to taste food like these are things
that we just take for granted day in day out usually when people stop taking this for granted
is when they get old and they start noticing that these things are gone or not working
as like they used to and so now now they're like oh man it was so great but it's like
wouldn't it be great if right now you just appreciated all the great things you have
in your life anyways you know right now we have great prosperity in our nation and you
can go to nice clean grocery stores and buy good quality food and make high quality meals
that is a huge blessing that not everyone in this world has and you know we just day
in day out we get so used to the normal in our lives were used to going to our job and
we complain about it but how would you feel about your job if you lost your job tomorrow
you probably want it back pretty fast so there's so many things in our lives that are so good
that are blessings from God but because we don't have that one thing that we don't want
we complain and we murmur in our hearts and you know that's not the attitude that we should
have because here's the thing the problem you have now at least you know what it is if you
traded that in it could be traded in for something way way worse like you know my wife and I thank
God we've never experienced fertility issues obviously we've got you know lots of kids very
fast but you know like who knows what other problems people are going through or if I have
to think in my mind like there could be a lot of things worse than that issue is all I'm trying to
say so let's go to first Samuel 1 verse 9 first Samuel 1 verse 9 says so Hannah rose up after they
had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the
temple of the Lord so Eli here he's a priest he is a man of God but he's not in the temple he's
kind of just sitting around it and he notices her verse 10 it says and she was in bitterness of soul
and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore so she's in a lot of pain right now she's crying to God
she's praying and she vowed a vow and said oh Lord of hosts if thou wilt indeed look on the
affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid but will give unto thine
handmaid a man child then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall no
razor come upon his head so you know as as we're going through something difficult in our lives or
as someone's waiting to have a child the appropriate action to take is to pray to God is to ask God Lord
don't forget me don't forget your servant Lord please give me a child and notice what she does she
makes a vow that she will lend this child to the Lord that this child will be his will be used for
God's service now I'm not saying you should make a vow don't make a vow there's no need to do that
but all of us should just purpose in our heart anyways that our children are gifts of God and
that they are to be used for the kingdom of God you know I've never vowed to vow about a vow to
God that my kids will be dedicated to the work of God you know what I'm training my children to
grow up to be soul winners you know when they become of age I'm gonna train them to get saved
and they're gonna call upon the name of Lord and they're gonna go to church three times a week while
they're under my roof and they're going to read their Bible every day they're going to pray to God
and I am dedicating them to the Lord I'm not making a vow about it but look that's that's the
attitude that all of us should have realize that children were not given to us just for our own
pleasure or as our own servants or something like that but actually if you read the Bible the Bible
says that God is seeking a godly seed in Malachi and that's one of the reasons he even institutionalized
marriage in the first place one of the biggest reasons why marriage even exists is so that we
would raise the next generation of Christians you know one thing I love about leftists is that they
don't have kids and they they don't have kids purposely they're intentionally not having kids
and and I love that about them because they're not reproducing and so like we as Christians like we
want to reproduce why so they could be used as servants of God I'm thankful that fags will never
reproduce I'm thankful that these leftist feminists that hate men so much hate them so much that they
won't get pregnant and won't reproduce says here in verse 12 and it came to pass as she continued
praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth now I've heard this really silly idea that when it
says that Eli marked her mouth that he hit her that's not what this is saying okay that's completely
silly what it's saying is that he noticed her he saw her that she was crying that she was praying
and he marked in his mind okay this woman is doing that now I think there's a spiritual picture here
for spiritual leadership and fathers if your dad your spiritual leader husbands your spiritual
leader your preacher in here your spiritual leader I think it's important for spiritual leadership
to notice people I think that's one of the interesting pictures here that Eli he didn't
just see her and just like oh I don't even care no no like in his mind he marked her he noticed her
and I think it's really important for ministers and for Christians for soul winners to be looking out
into this lost and dying world and noticing people not just not caring about them but actually
noticing them go to Hebrews chapter number 13 Hebrews chapter number 13 Hebrews 13 it says in
verse 7 obey them obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for notice they
watch for your souls so notice what is the godly pastor supposed to be doing supposed to be watching
for people noticing them as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with
grief that is unprofitable for you so notice it should be a joy it should be a pleasure for ministers
to watch out for people and to care for people if you don't care about people being a pastor is the
dumbest decision ever because really what you should be doing is caring about people loving people
serving other people and you know that doesn't just apply to the pastor like i said if you're
a soul winner you should have the same attitude that you should watch out for people's souls that
you should be concerned is this person that i know lost and going to spend eternity in hell you know
that sermon on the lake of fire on sunday i hope that motivates you to to mark people to see them
and to want to preach to them you know another thing go to hebrews 4 put back to hebrews 4
another thing i think that this pictures is the lord jesus christ as our high priest is watching
out for us too look at hebrews 4 15 it says for we have not in high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin
you know the great thing about having the lord jesus christ as our high priest is that it's not
like he doesn't understand your pain because he was actually tempted in all points like as we are
so meaning jesus christ being fully god and fully man understood what the human life was like
he understood what the human experience was like and so while eli he can try his best
to sympathize with hannah for the pain that she's going through and ministers can we could try our
best to see a situation in someone's life in someone's life and to pray for them and to care
for them to love them and try to help them through it you know it can't be said of every situation
that i know exactly what it feels like to be you you know i could pray for you i could do my best to
help you but you know there's certain situations that only you have experienced that i have not
there's certain situations that just i myself have experienced and you have not but the great thing
about jesus our great high priest is that he truly understands every single thing that you feel
and so you know we shouldn't trust too much in man or look for man as our primary comfort our
primary comfort should actually come from jesus because he knows exactly how you feel and he
actually cares deeply about all of his children go back to first Samuel one now here's the thing
jesus will never make a mistake in judgment when he sees what you're going through he knows exactly
what you're going through and he knows exactly why he knows the motivations of your heart he
knows the motivations of other people but man is not necessarily like this even a priest like
eli because look right here it says in verse 13 now hannah she spake in her heart only her lips
moved but her voice was not heard therefore eli thought she had been drunken so realize that
ministers spiritual leadership they can make mistakes they can make judgment call mistakes
and you shouldn't get this you know deification of the preacher the pastor that the preacher's
infallible the pastor's infallible no that's what cults teach that's what cult leaders claim
you know real preachers never claim that about themselves they never act that way because here
eli is totally wrong his judgment is totally bad and she's actually praying to the lord she is doing
a godly thing by asking god to give her a child and what does he see her and assume of her that
she's drunk that's hard you know sometimes in life you're going to be misjudged sometimes in life
people are going to assume your intentions incorrectly sometimes you know a lot of times
at work, your boss may not see everything, and he might call you out for something that
you didn't necessarily do.
Just realize, hey, that's just part of the human experience.
That just happens.
You might as well just get used to that.
But the good news is that if you go to Jesus, he's never going to misread the situation.
And here's the thing, if you're wrong, his word will tell you that.
It's not like he's just going to instantly say, oh yeah, everything you do is right.
No, if you have bad intentions, he will tell you that.
If you are drunk, oh, he knows.
He knows that you're drunk.
And if you're not, if you're just praying to him, he's not going to assume that you're
drunken.
And notice also, it says Hannah spake in her heart.
You know, it's possible to speak without audibly having words come out of your mouth because
there's this debate about whether or not you have to call upon the name of the Lord to
be saved.
By the way, you do have to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved.
That's what this church believes.
But people will be like, well, what about someone that's mute?
What about someone that can't speak?
I always go here.
Here you go.
So Hannah, she spake in her heart.
If someone can't speak and they call out to God in their heart, Lord, I'm a sinner.
I believe you died for me.
I'm putting all my trust in you.
Please save me now.
That person saved.
And her mouth, you know, you have an internal mouth too.
It's called your heart and you could speak with it.
Verse 14, it says, and Eli said unto her, how long will thou be drunken?
Put away thy wine from thee.
How annoying, right?
Verse 15, and Hannah answered and said, no, my Lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit.
I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.
Hannah is such a great example here because even though Eli was wrong and even though
she is being accused of a serious sin, she is still respectful towards him.
Notice what she says, and Hannah answered and said, no, my Lord.
She's saying, you're the boss, you're in charge.
She's giving him a term of respect and just realize that in life, if your authority corrects
you, and maybe they don't know 100% of the facts, you know, you shouldn't just blow up
or mouth off, you know, it's okay to provide more details respectfully and to help them
maybe understand your side of the story.
But if it comes to a point where they're not hearing it, you should just still be respectful
and take the correction.
You know, your boss at work will like you way more if he thinks this person really messed
this up and he's wrong.
You didn't actually do that, but you take the correction well rather than you sitting
here trying to prove over and over that you didn't do what they're accusing you of doing
and you are start to get disrespectful to your boss.
That's a really bad idea.
You know, ladies at home, if your husband corrects you, if your husband is upset with something
that you did or something is not up to the liking that your husband asked of you, it
is going to be so much easier for you and have so much more peace in the home if you
just humbly, meekly take it and just fix it rather than sitting there and screaming and
nagging at your husband to try to prove how right you are.
You will never get anywhere with your authority by nagging them or trying to usurp them or
trying to prove to them how great you are.
It's never going to work.
So follow Hannah's advice here.
You know, she gets accused of being a drunk.
I'm pretty sure, ladies, your husband hasn't done that to you.
He comes home.
Why are you drunk?
How would you feel in your heart?
You'd be like, whoa.
What are you talking about?
Like, it's a serious accusation.
He's like, oh, why are you drunk?
And she says, no, my lord, I'm a woman of a sorrowful spirit.
I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord.
And then I love what she says here.
She says, count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my
complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.
Notice, in Hannah's mind-- this is a godly woman here.
In Hannah's mind, she equates someone that drinks alcohol with someone who is a reprobate,
someone who is a child of the devil.
Now, here's the thing.
I'm not saying that if someone drinks alcohol, they're a reprobate.
Not saying if someone drinks alcohol, they're a sodomite or something like that.
But if you drink alcohol, you are acting like a reprobate.
You are acting like a sodomite.
I'll prove that to you.
Go to Deuteronomy 32, Deuteronomy 32.
She's saying, whoa, please don't think me that I'm a daughter of Satan here, that I'm
a child of Belial.
I'm just praying to the Lord.
Look at Deuteronomy 32 verse 33, Deuteronomy 32 verse 33.
Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps.
You know, there's our wine, which we believe is fruit juice.
And then there's the world's wine, which is what?
The poison of dragons.
You know, that's why I say that alcohol is the devil's drink.
Why?
It's the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps.
So you know, just realize you may not think it's such a big deal because we grew up in
America and the culture of alcohol and drinking is pretty strong in the United States.
Lots of people drink.
If you work, if you go out in the workplace and work, you probably work around a bunch
of people that drink alcohol, but don't get desensitized by the culture into thinking
it's not a big deal because Hannah was not desensitized when she was accused of drinking
alcohol.
Whoa, it's almost like you're calling me a child of the devil, a reprobate, something
that a sodomite would do and if you decide to disregard the preaching and you decide
to disregard what the Bible says, just realize that you're not acting like a child of God,
you're acting like a child of the devil.
Verse 17, "Then Eli answered her and said, 'Go in peace and the God of Israel grant thee
thy petition that thou hast asked of him.'"
Just notice, you know, she responded respectfully, she did give him more information, respect-
respectfully.
What does he do?
He blesses her.
Go in peace.
He wasn't offended.
He blessed her.
And she said, "Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight."
So the woman went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad.
So notice that even though Eli wrongly judged her, wrongly thought something of her, she
was long-suffering towards this man.
And this is a good example of someone that is actually charitable.
Go to 1 Corinthians 13.
When it comes to charity, kind of like faithfulness, the Bible says, "A faithful man who can find."
Everyone in their mind virtually thinks, "Oh, I'm a faithful person."
But if you actually believe the Bible, then the majority of people are not faithful.
It's actually very rare to find someone that is faithful.
And I think it's the same thing with being charitable.
Probably if you asked Christians in a secret poll and they didn't know if people were going
to read it on their name, I bet you almost everyone would check that mark.
Yep, I'm charitable.
Yep, I am a charitable person.
But what I believe is that no, you're not.
Most of the time people are actually not charitable.
Look at verse number four.
And you know why?
It's because most people, when we see situations similar to this, they don't react like Hannah
does.
They don't.
And so what does that prove?
It proves that they're actually not long-suffering.
Look at verse number four.
It says, "Charity suffereth long," suffering, meaning something wrong is being done to you
and you're putting up with it.
You're allowing it.
For how long?
Long.
A very long time.
Most people do not do this.
You may think you're charitable, but let's keep reading.
"Charity suffereth long and is kind.
Charity envieth not.
Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up."
Boy, are most people prideful today, aren't they?
Verse five.
"She shall not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh
no evil."
You know, when I think about our society that we're living in, I think about how we're living
in a society that is easily provoked, triggered, right?
There's trigger warnings on everything today.
People get offended so easily.
I don't care if you're a Democrat, I don't care if you're a Republican.
Everyone is offended.
In fact, there's a funny song that's like a parody about this.
Some silly country song, I think it's called "Let's All Get Offended Together" or something
like that.
It's just talking about both sides.
Everyone today just wants to be offended.
Why?
Because people are not filled with charity today.
People are not being filled with the word of God and praying to God and walking in the
spirit and so they're not suffering long.
They are easily provoked.
So look, if your husband, ladies, corrects you and it's not 100% dead on with the facts,
are you just easily provoked, just angry at him, you're just ready to snap at him, ready
to nag at him, well, you're not charitable then.
You know, men at work, your boss say, "Hey, why did you do that thing over there?"
And it wasn't even you and you just back talk him and become disrespectful to him, you're
easily provoked.
And so you're not being charitable.
Verse 6, "Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.
Beareth all things," meaning you're just allowing all things to happen, "Believeth all things,
hoping the best in people, hopeeth all things, endureth all things."
Charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail.
Whether there be tongues, they shall cease.
Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
You know, let me just say this, wherever there's bosses, those bosses will fail.
Wherever there's husbands, those husbands will fail.
Wherever there's pastors, those pastors will fail.
You know what doesn't fail?
Charity.
And if you want people to deal charitably with you, then you should be charitable to
other people.
If you want people to be long-suffering with you, and to bear all things with you, to hope
all things with you, to believe all things with you, then you need to show that same
charity to other people.
Go back to 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 1.
So you know, I like this girl Hannah, she's a very godly woman, she's a charitable woman,
1 Samuel 1.
"And they rose up in the morning early and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and
came to their house to Ramah, and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered
her."
So right after this happens, she has an experience where someone's falsely thinking something
of her, and what does she do?
She rose up, they raise up early in the morning, and worshiped the Lord.
Notice that Hannah is not a recovering fundamentalist.
What do I mean by that?
Oh, I'm church hurt, oh, you know, the church did something mean to me, the pastor preached
against my sins, oh, the pastor preached a sermon that was mean, and so now I'm a recovering
fundamentalist, I'm church hurt.
It's like, couldn't have Hannah just thrown a fit and be like, yeah, the pastor, the
priest, Eli here, oh, yeah, the pastor sat there and said that I was getting drunk when
I was praying to God.
Can you believe that?
Can you just imagine the TikTok comments, the Instagram comments, wow, this is a cult,
what a piece of crap, what a terrible person, let's sue him, let's arrest him, you know,
you know how people would react today, but what does she do?
She just keeps serving God, she just keeps worshiping the Lord, she doesn't get so offended
that she stops serving God, and look, if you get so offended that you stop serving God,
you're just hurting yourself, it's like, hey, we can all still serve God here, if you decide
to shoot your spiritual life in the foot and quit church, that's not going to stop me from
serving him, it's not going to stop me from reading my Bible, it's not going to stop me
from going soul winning, the only person you're hurting is yourself, so don't get so triggered,
don't get so easily offended, have charity like her, and she had charity, and let's see
what happened to her, God blesses her, verse 20, wherefore it came to pass that the time
was come about after Hannah had conceived that she bear a son and called his name Samuel
saying because I've asked him of the Lord, hey, you reap what you sow, and here Hannah
was sowing godliness, was sowing charity, was sowing prayer, was sowing respect to
the man of God, and as a result, God looked down from heaven and said, here's a woman
that I want to bless right here. And so, we all want the blessing of God in our life,
but, you know, how are we living our lives? Are we taking the things of God seriously?
Are we praying to the Lord? Are we being charitable? Are we being long-suffering? Are we the type
of person where God looks down from heaven and says, you know what, I'd like to bless
this person even more? Or does he look down from heaven and say, I need to chastise this
person. This person isn't doing anything that I asked of them, and so I actually need to
give them a spiritual spanking. I actually need to take away blessings because they're
not doing what they're supposed to be doing. This woman was steadfast. She was doing what
she was supposed to be doing. And by the way, you know, I just thought of this right now,
this MGTOW movement that hates women and that acts like women can't be spiritual. You know,
these guys that believe this garbage probably wouldn't hold a candle to Hannah spiritually.
They probably would not hold a candle. I mean, this is a very charitable woman, a very godly
woman and all these idiots that think, "Oh, women could never be spiritual." You're wrong.
This is a great woman of God in the Bible. And don't ever believe this stupid idea that
women can't serve God. Women aren't supposed to be spiritual. That's ridiculous. No, God
cares about women too. God wants them to be spiritual too. And I hope that that attitude
never creeps into this church. Now, let's see. Look at verse 21. It says, "And the man
Elkanah and all his house went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his
vow." So, notice Elkanah here. Let's talk a little bit about the husband here, Elkanah.
One thing I like about this guy is that he's consistent. He says that they go up yearly
to do this. And boy, do we need in America some dads that are consistent. We need some
fathers today that are consistently going to go to work and consistently provide for
their family. I mean, that's like the bare minimum you think everyone would do that.
And even the unsaved world does that. But today, there's many men that are not working.
There's many men who are around my age or maybe a little younger that just spent their
whole youth playing video games. They live in their parents' house. They didn't go to
college. They didn't get a job. They're doing nothing. I know people like this in my life.
And look, we need to be men and be consistent, consistently go to work and consistently serve
God. Going to the Lord for the yearly sacrifice and His vow. You know, we need some fathers
today that are consistently bringing their family to church, that are going to consistently
read their family the Bible, that are going to consistently pray with their family. We
need some leadership like this today in America. We had a mass army of fathers like this in
America. Man, our country really would be great again because the only thing that made
our country great to begin with was the Word of God and saved men carrying that Word of
God to this nation. So we need to get back to that. Verse 22, "But Hannah went not up,
for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child be weaned, and then
I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever." That's
an interesting phrase. He's going to appear before the Lord and he's going to abide there
forever. What is this talking about? Well, I think this is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Why? Because Hannah here has her only begotten son. What does she do with her only
begotten son? She vows it to the Lord saying, "Lord, I'm giving this only begotten son to
you. I'm vowing it to your service." Then it says that I'm going to bring him that he
may appear before the Lord and there abide forever. That's exactly what God the Father
did for us was he gave us his only begotten son. He vowed Jesus Christ to be used for
the service of God. And where is Jesus right now? He's in heaven. And how long will he
be there? He'll be there for forever. Verse 23, "And Elkanah, her husband, said unto her,
Do what seemeth thee good, tarry until thou have weaned him. Only the Lord establish his
word." So the woman abode and gave her son suck until she weaned him. By the way, ladies,
if you want your husband to say to you, "Do what seemeth thee good," then you would want
to have the charitable, meek attitude that this lady has. And if you have that attitude,
your husband will probably just be, "Whatever you want to do. Do whatever you want to do.
Do what seemeth thee good." That's what every woman wants to hear, right, from their husband.
Verse 24, "And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with three bullocks and
one ephah of flour and a bottle of wine, brought him unto the house of the Lord in Shiloh.
The child was young." You know, that's a great example right there. When you have a child,
bring that child to the house of God. Get that child in church as young as possible and
keep them in church their whole life. That's gonna give them the best chance in this life.
You know, I thank God that I got saved when I was about 16, I think I was, but I would
have rather have gotten saved when I was 6. I would have rather have gotten saved at that
age and have gone to church my whole life rather than me just kind of as a first generation
Christian trying to figure it all out myself. You know, it's a great blessing if you're
a child in this room today to be in this church and to have parents that serve God. Go to
Proverbs 29. I want to read for you second Timothy one five. It says when I call to remembrance
the unfeigned faith that is in me, it's dwelt first and my grandmother Lois and my mother
Eunice and I am persuaded that in the also notice Timothy has some godly women in his
life and I'm sure that they brought him to church or whatever when he was young. Probably
reading the Bible to him when he was young. Proverbs 29. Look at verse 15. The rod and
reproof give wisdom but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. It doesn't say
his father, it says his mother. Why? Because women are the ones spending the most time
with the children and so Hannah here is setting a good example for wives, for mothers by taking
the child at a young age to church and you know what? She is not ashamed of who her child
was. Samuel grew up to be a great man of God. Almost done here. Go to verse 25. Verse 25.
When they slew a bullock and brought the child to Eli and she said, "O my Lord, as thy soul
liveth my Lord, I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord." You
know, even though Eli messed up, it's got to be satisfying for him to see that he blessed
this woman and God answered that prayer and ended up blessing her. You know, I know for
me the most satisfying, just the greatest things that I've ever heard is when someone
comes up to me and says like, hey, I did what you preached and this great blessing happened.
You know, probably the coolest thing someone ever said to me was they got pregnant and
the lady was fairly, you know, close to the end of childbearing years and like her next
youngest child was like 21. She got pregnant, it was like a 21 year gap between their kids.
She's like, hey, I heard your sermon about being fruitful and multiply and I had another
child and I was like, praise God for that. You know, that is what makes ministry so worth
it is when you see people being blessed in their lives. And so it's cool how she kind
of comes up to him and says like, Hey, I'm the woman that stood by the here praying under
the Lord. That's got to be cool for him. If you think about it that way, look at verse
27, then notice this for this child, I prayed and the Lord has given me my petition, which
I asked of him. Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord. As long as he liveth, he
shall be lent to the Lord. And he worshiped the Lord there. Hey, you know, praise God
that we have a God that answers prayers. And that we have a God that wants to bless us
and just give us great things in our lives, like children, like a spouse, like a good
family, like a good church. You know, praise God for those things. And if you pray, if
you pray for something, and if the Lord blesses you, you know, continue to serve God after
that. A lot of people, they want to serve God up until the point they get that blessing
and then they forsake God. You know, I've seen people pray that their new business succeeds
and God blesses them. And I've seen friends where their new business just explodes. They
do great things. They're making tons of money. And then you'll see that same person just
completely stop going to church or they'll show up once a month. And they used to go
soul winning all the time and now they just don't go soul winning at all. And in the long
run, you see what happens to that person's marriage. You see what happens to that person's
children. And eventually, who knows what's going to happen with finances, but oftentimes,
you know, forsaking God is not the best financial plan for your life. You know, you may be doing
okay in the short term because of how merciful God is, but let's see how you look in 20 years.
Whereas you know, a guy may be working a very menial job. He's a blue collar worker, but
he's putting the Lord first in his life and God will make that money stretch for him until
he goes to the grave because the blessing of God is more valuable than silver and gold.
It's more valuable than anything. So, you know, praise God that God answered her prayer.
Praise God when he answers our prayers, but let's not just get complacent and stop serving
God after that. Go to Hebrews chapter number four. Hebrews chapter number four. You know,
so an application for us can be, you know, we need to be a people that prays to the Lord.
You know, don't just get down in the dumps and feeling sorry for yourself and just whining,
complaining. Do something about it. Pray to the God of heaven. Look at Hebrews 416. Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. You know, that's a great blessing that we have access to God
in this way. You can just boldly come before Him in prayer. And, you know, we should take
advantage of that as Christians. Let's go to, lastly here, let's go to 1st John 5, 1st
John 5, 1st John chapter number 5. 1st John 514 says this, "And this is the confidence
that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us. And
if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that
we desired of Him." You know, just know that when you're praying to the Lord in His will,
He hears you. And so, if you're waiting, if you haven't heard an answer, what do you do?
You go back to Proverbs 3, 5 and you just trust in the Lord with all thine heart. But
just realize, you don't know the future, you don't necessarily know what the God, what
the perfect will of God is in every single situation. But here's what you do know, do
know that you can go to the Father and give him your petitions. Do know that you can go
to the Father, through Jesus the Son, and ask him for anything and he hears you. While
you're doing that, trust him. Trust in God. Know that God loves you and so he's not just
withholding a blessing from you despite you. You know, he does things for our benefit.
Even punishment is for our benefit. Even chastisement is for our benefit. He's always going to do
what benefits us. I'll read for you Romans 12, 1, it says, "I beseech you therefore
brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service." You know, the last thought, just to close
this sermon, is Hannah is blessed by God and she gets this child and what does she do?
She dedicates it to the Lord. She lends it to the Lord. And we should be people that
are willing to sacrifice anything for the service of God, whether that's using our children
for the things of God or whether that's, like Romans 12 says, literally our own flesh, our
own bodies for the service of God, whether that's our money, whether that's our time,
whether that's our talent. Realize that anything we have is because God gave it to us anyways.
And He gave it to us so that we could further His Kingdom, so that we could further the
Kingdom of God, getting people saved, building the New Testament church. That's why He blessed
us. And so if He's blessed you today, use what He's blessed you with to serve God. Let's
pray. Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for 1 Samuel. Pray that we would be like Anna,
that we would be long-suffering and charitable, and just pray that we would dedicate our lives
and everything you've given us to your service. And just thank you that you always work for
our benefits, that you hear our prayers. Just pray that we would take advantage of that,
that we'd be a people that prays for ourselves and also for each other. We love you and Jesus
we pray. Amen.