The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Intro

John Wesley was born in 1703 into a devout Anglican family. He was the son of a minister, attended church faithfully, and was deeply religious from a young age. At Oxford, he formed the "Holy Club" with his brother Charles and others, focusing on rigorous spiritual disciplines—prayer, fasting, Bible reading, and good works. They were so methodical about it that they were mockingly called "Methodists."

In 1735, he sailed to the American colonies as a missionary to Georgia. He thought he was going to convert others, but during a storm on the voyage, he was terrified of dying—while a group of Moravian Christians remained calm and peaceful. He realized they had something he didn’t: assurance of salvation and real faith.

After returning to England discouraged and spiritually defeated, Wesley wrote in his journal, “I went to America to convert the Indians, but oh! who shall convert me?”

Then, on May 24, 1738, at a small gathering on Aldersgate Street in London, he reluctantly attended a Moravian meeting. While someone read from Martin Luther’s preface to the Book of Romans, Wesley felt something change. He later wrote:

“About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine.”

That was the moment of his true conversion. After that, Wesley’s preaching and ministry were transformed—not just outwardly religious, but alive with the gospel.

Wesley's story is often used as a warning and an encouragement: you can be deeply involved in church and ministry, and still not truly know Christ—until grace opens your heart.

We are going to continue today with Hannah and her son Samuel. Hannah praises God for what he has done All that Hannah thinks, does and says is centered on the great act of God on her behalf. We are going to learn It is not physical strength the brings victory but reliance on the Lord who is sovereign over all. Ultimate fulfillment comes only in the Lord God almighty.

Like Wesley learned, it is not going through the motions that counts, or even pretending to be righteouss and doing the right things, but in Humility serving God.

HBI - God is sovereign over all creation. We see this in exalting the humble servant and bringing down the proud. God rewards faithfulness and holds accountable the hard hearted sinner.

When we continue in sin, our hearts become hard towards the word of God and what it has to say, so we are called to humble repentance before the Lord God.

Hannah’s Prayer - 2:1-10

We start out with Hannah’s prayer to the Lord God for all he had done. This prayer is echoed atthe end of 1 Samuel by David as well. It shows us that these two books where originally one book. But that is minor in the grand scheme of things. In this prayer, which is also called the “song of Hannah” . This Prayer is important in the book as it contains some of the main theme running through the book. But it was a way for her to show her gratitude towards God for what He had done.

Yahweh’s Holy Sovereignty

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The prayer, though it was said by Hannah, was given to her By God to be included in His holy Scripture. The idea behind it is that God is sovereign, we can rejoice in God because he is everlasting, all powerful and all knowing.

The song of Hannah begins with everything that she is giving praise to God for what He has done.

1 Samuel 2:1 ESV

1 And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.

Horn is a metaphor for strength. But the idea is that with everything that she is she gives praise to God.

When we worship God are we doing it with all that we are? I am not talking about just on Sunday mornings when we sing and listen to the sermon, but in all of our lives. But There is something to doing this at church as well. We where just at a conference where all the people present, which represented all 12 churches in our district, were singing and worshipping with their whole hearts. I couldn't hear myself sing. It was amazing.

From the beginning of Hannah’s prayer she presents the Lord God as Holy, Unique and Mighty. God is often presented as a rock, a foundation strong to build our lives upon.

1 Samuel 2:2–3 ESV

2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. 3 Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

So we have presented to us that the Lord is strong and mighty, there is none like Him, Her is a holy God, set apart from His creation. He is also all knowing.

How is it that we can be proud of anything we have done, as if we can come to God and wave in his face all of our mighty accomplishments. He knows all and by Him all that we do is going to be measured.

Reversal of Human Fortunes

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And yet Our holy God cares for us. God is the reverser of fortunes. He gives grace to the humble and humbles the proud. Blessed are those who humble themselves before the Lord God not puff themselves up mightily before Him. If God used the proud and mighty, they might think that they may have had something to do with what they have been given.

This prayer goes back and forth with God keeping the proud humble and blessing the humble and God being sovereign. Our response to this is to be obedient to the word of God so we may be used by Him for His glory to accomplish His will.

1 Samuel 2:4 ESV

4 The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.

The Bible tells us this again and again, do not get so full of yourself we are told, for the Lord is the one that Gives, the Lord takes away, what matters is the K of G and access to it. So be among the humble who seek the Glory of God.

Yahweh’s Holy Sovereignty

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The Lord brings life and death, he sends down and raise up. The Lord seems to be sovereign over life and death, nothing happens in the world that is a surprise to God.

Reversal of Human Fortune

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Verse 8 goes back again to us and how the Lord raises the week and humble who trust in the Lord. Those who put their obedience into God and His word. Not obedience based on what we can get out of it but rather obedience because God is all knowing and sovereign and in control of life and death.

Yahweh’s Holy Sovereignty & The Theme of Kingship

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In the end we go back to the Sovereignty of God and the fact that he is king over all.

1 Samuel 2:9–10 ESV

9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. 10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

It is the faithful one that he guards the step of, it is not by our own strength that we prevail. The Lord is the great judge, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords.

God will hold accountable the hard hearted sinner and raise up the obedient humble servant. Look at Paul, who was told he had a thorn in the flesh so he wouldn't rely on His own strength. David who was not one that would stand out in a crowd, Moses who refused to talk because he thought people would listen to Him, Rahab the former prostitute. It goes on and on. The Lord humbles the proud hard hearted and raises up the obedient servant.

Now let us see this play out in the lives of some people.

Samuel and Eli

We have been learning that the Lord holds accountable the sinner, but if the Lord is in control then why are we held accountable for our actions. The importance of individual responsibility for life choice. We make choices, we are held responsible for those life choices.

I rolled through a stop sign a little while ago in town. It was the middle of the night and on our way back from something I had to go to the camp to turn something off. On the way back I farmer stopped at a stop sign for which I was pulled over. Thankfully I was given a warning, but I was within my rights to have been given a ticket for what I did. The Lord is still in control, His plan will still come to pass and I am still responsible for the actions that I make. And so were Samuel and Eli

The next contrast we have is between Eli and Samuel.

1 Samuel 2:12 ESV

12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.

The CSB says they did not respect the Lord, but the idea is they somewhat went through the motions, but they cheated people. They where priests in the temple, they more or less did what they where supposed to do, with a little extra for themselves. You can be involved in ministry, maybe even do some of the right things but still not know the Lord. They did not have a relationship, they did not truly know the Lord.

In verses 12-20 we learn that they essentially where stealing from the Lord, they took their share of the sacrifice before they sacrificed for the Lord. It was rebellion against the Lord

1 Samuel 2:17 ESV

17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.

The Lord comes first and foremost, and we are promised that the Lord will provide for us, we need not worry but we are reminded that all we have belongs to Him, and we need to give back to Him out of what He has given to us. It becomes a matter of obedience and trust.

Then on the other side of that we have Samuel, the young boy who was dedicated to the Lord. He served in the presence of the Lord.

I like the description of him, this little boy serving the Lord, wearing his little linen ephod that His mommy made for him every year. The downside I would see is she only really got to see him once a year.

every year His mom and dad would come to offer a sacrifice for the Lord and Eli, who was following God, would bless them and pray for them to have more kids. Hannah ended up having 5 more kids.

Eli, who was getting old, started to hear all that his kids where doing, all the sins they were committing as they served in the temple. He warned them about what they where doing and that it would not end well for them.

1 Samuel 2:25 ESV

25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.

The contrast to that was Samuel, who grew in favor with the Lord every year. He was obedient to the word of God. Two things they where warned of from a man of God.

1 Samuel 2:30 CSB

30 “Therefore, this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘I did say that your family and your forefather’s family would walk before me forever. But now,’ this is the Lord’s declaration, ‘no longer! For those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disgraced.

1 Samuel 2:35 ESV

35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.

This refers to Samuel in the present tense of when this was written. It was later fulfilled in Solomon and his children but ultimately points to Jesus. Jesus brings this all together in one person. He is called the great and final high priest forever. It looks to Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins and intercedes for us. We only have access to God because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

So What?

This historical account contrasts two different ways of life. The path followed by Samuel, and the path followed by the sons of Eli. It goes to show that we all have choices to make, to chose obedience to God and faith in Him, Or to choose to live in our sin and not follow God.

John Wesley was someone that went through the motions, but never really knew the Lord, was still living in sin. It was obedience to God that caused him to realize that he really did not know the Lord.

HBI - God is sovereign over all creation. We see this in exalting the humble servant and bringing down the proud. God rewards faithfulness and holds accountable the hard hearted sinner.

When we choose sin over following God there are consequences. Here we learn of

Praising God in Obedience

We praise God like Hannah with our whole beings because of what the Lord has done for us. Jesus died on the cross for sin so that we might have freedom in Him.

Thomas a Kempis wrote – for what would it profit us to know the whole bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without the grace and love of God. All is vanity except to love God and to serve Him alone.

Will we praise God in obedience for what He has done with our whole lives? This is not based on what He can do for us but rather because of what He has already done and Because He is a holy sovereign God and He chose to love us.

when we choose to live in SIn we will be held accountable for our sin.

Do not just go through the motions, but rather give your life to God.