Contempt

Now, that's a bad description for anyone. It's a really bad description of priests. These are the sons of Eli, the high priest, the descendants of Aaron, those that have been set aside. Think of this: all of Israel is to be a kingdom of priests, but because of the faithfulness of Aaron, his descendants have been set aside to be the priests of the kingdom of priests.

As we're introduced to Eli last week, we saw he's got some issues. He witnessed Hannah praying in the Tabernacle and had no spiritual sensitivity to what she was going through—thought she was drunk. So Eli's got some challenges. We're going to see Eli had some significant parenting challenges. And that's not a mistake. It's not a mistake that the beginning of this book of Samuel begins with some parenting challenges, because as we walk through the story of the Kings and we get to the prominent figure, David, well, he's going to end with some parenting challenges.

Eli's sons are described this way: "They were worthless men." The Hebrew word there for "worthless" is an interesting word. It comes from a couple of words mushed together that mean "that which does not go up" or "that which does not benefit or produce," "that which doesn't do what it's designed to do."

It's a word that actually you've probably heard transliterated into English. When it gets shortened and transliterated into English, it's the word "Belial." You probably heard of that—"the sons of Belial," which is "the sons of the devil."

It doesn't just mean worthless in the sense of "it doesn't value much." No, it's worthless in the sense it doesn't do what it's created to do, and in fact, it does the opposite. Instead of bringing good, it brings evil. Instead of bringing light, it brings darkness. It's not representative of the order and goodness of God. It's not oriented upwards towards God. It doesn't move towards that which is greatest, that which is worthwhile. It moves downward into that which is chaotic and ultimately is death.

The sons of Eli, the priests serving in the Tabernacle, weren't agents of God but agents of the enemy of God. They were wicked men, worthless men. They did not know the LORD.

Now, it doesn't say they didn't know about the LORD. They knew a lot about the LORD. They were serving the LORD. And so right in this opening simple sentence, we're given this image of people and priests that belong to God, that claim to serve God, but do not even know God.

And there's, of course, a huge contrast being set up here between Eli and Hannah, and between the sons of Eli and the son of Hannah, Samuel. And this is not the first time in the story that we see this word "worthless." If you remember last week, in chapter 1, verse 16, when Eli thinks that she's drunk and accuses her of being drunk while she's pouring out her heart to God in prayer, she responds, "Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman." (1 Samuel 1:16)

So the author of Samuel is trying to get us to see this contrast being presented to us. Let's see how the worthlessness of Eli's sons manifested.

It said,

"The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling with a three-pronged fork in his hand."

I talked last week about how in the sacrificial system of ancient Israel, the priests were not only the ones that offered the sacrifices that were brought, but they participated and shared in it. The priests weren't given an inheritance of land. They were to be taken care of by the other tribes of Israel.

So when a family like Elkanah and Hannah would come and bring an offering to the LORD, that offering would be slaughtered. Now, sometimes in very rare and select offerings, the entire animal would be offered up to the LORD. But most common would be a fellowship offering, where the animal would be slaughtered, it would be butchered by the priests, who would take the fat portions, and those would be placed on the altar in the fire, and those would be burned in a pleasing aroma unto the LORD.

You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Like, you're out walking through the neighborhood, and all of a sudden you start to smell it, and you're like, "Somebody's cooking, and I need to make friends with them, and they need to invite me in." There's something about that smell of cooked meat.

So the priest then would take part of that as their share. This is how the priests fed themselves and their families. They would take out of it.

So we're given a little bit of insight into how this custom played out.

"…the priest's servant would come, and he'd take a trident, this three-pronged fork in his hand, and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot, and all that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there."

So this is the way it was going. They take all the meat, they throw it in a big pot, and begin to boil it. And then the priest or his servant would come, put in the three-pronged fork, and whatever meat came out, that went to the priest, and the rest would go to the family that had offered it. And there would be a fellowship meal shared there, and then the rest of it would be taken home. This is how things operated.

"Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man that was sacrificing, 'Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.'"

So now Eli's sons changed the custom. So they're not going to wait for the meat to be butchered and the fat to be offered to the LORD. They want to butcher the meat and take the prime cuts for themselves.

"And if the man would say to him, 'Let me burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,' he would say, 'No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.'"

So not only are they being greedy, but they're not allowing the Israelites that are coming to offer sacrifice to Yahweh—they're not allowing them to do that by cutting off the fat and offering it unto the LORD. This is messed up. It's really, really messed up.

Now, every time I'm dealing with these issues, I think about this issue of the fat being offered to the LORD, and it takes me back to when I was in college. I met my wife at a small little Bible college up in Canada, and we had to take a PE class in this little Bible college. And everybody had to write a paper in a PE class, which was ridiculous in and of itself. And of course, you could probably guess what the topic of the paper was. It was like, "What does the Bible say about physical fitness?"

And I just thought, "Man, this poor teacher is going to be reading the same thing over and over again: 'The body is the temple of the LORD,' and 'Discipline yourself for godliness.'" So I write a different paper. I go old school, Old Testament. I start with, "Yeah, the body is a temple unto the LORD," but then I say, "What does God really like? In the Old Testament, we learn that God likes fat."

So there is a path of logic there that says, "If you really want to be a good temple, you should bulk up." I got an A. I got an A on the paper and a smiley face: "Thank you. I needed that... I really hope this was satire."

So these two sons, these two priests—they don't care about what's being offered to the LORD. All they care about is themselves. And they're not there to serve, to help, to guide, to shepherd, to love, to intercede. They're there to take, to use.

And so it continues.

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

With contempt. What is contempt? Open up a dictionary, it's going to tell you contempt is willful disobedience or disrespect. They knew what they were doing. They chose to do it. They put themselves, they put their needs, they put their desires, they put their hunger before God. They did not give Him the honor or respect that He deserved. They treated Yahweh with contempt.

"Samuel, on the other hand, was ministering before Yahweh, a boy clothed with a linen ephod"

The simplest of priestly garbs. There's nothing fancy about Samuel. He's a young child. He's not of the high priestly line of Eli, but God has brought about Samuel for a purpose, and he is there serving in the Tabernacle, serving the people.

"His mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, 'May Yahweh, may the LORD, give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the LORD.' So then they would return to their home. Indeed, the LORD did visit Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD."

We have Eli, the high priest, and his sons, the priests, and they're worthless men who do not know the LORD. And here we've got Hannah, who petitioned, and God heard her prayer and answered her prayer and gave Samuel. And Samuel is ministering in the temple. He's growing up in the presence of Yahweh. He knows the LORD. So we got this contrast being presented to us.

It continues in verse 22: "Eli was very old." That's an important little detail. It tells us that what's been going on here was not an isolated incident. It wasn't something that just happened once or twice. This has been going on for a long, long time, and Eli didn't do anything about it until now, until he's very old.

It says, "He was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel."

And you thought the keeping the fat was bad? It continues:

22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

So they were using their position as God's priests not just to enrich themselves and take the more valuable pieces of meat, but they're using the power of that position to force the women that are there serving to sleep with them.

And I know you're shocked that religious leaders would use their power for illicit gain. I wish we were shocked. I wish this was something unique or something new, but it's far too often the story. This tells you—you don't have to look very hard throughout history, you don't have to look very hard in contemporary reality to find those who claim the name of God to enrich themselves off the sweat and work of others, who use the power and prestige of God and being a servant of God to manipulate and control and coerce and treat not just God with contempt, but God's people with contempt.

And Eli finally says something to them:

"Why do you do such things? I hear of your evil dealings from all these people." He says, "My sons, it is no good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading abroad. If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against Yahweh, who can intercede for him? But they would not listen to the voice of their father. It was the will of Yahweh to put them to death."

You go, "Oh, well, that escalated quickly." But it didn't escalate quickly. The whole point is that this was continual, premeditated, planned out, consistent contempt over and over and over again. And we've seen this biblical principle played out over and over and over again in the storyline of scripture: God will let you choose your course. Want to treat God with contempt? He'll let you. But you don't get to choose the consequences that come by your choice.

God's made things very, very clear to the nation of Israel in this time period: "Hey, if you want to experience God's blessings, here's how you experience God's blessings. If you want God as your enemy, and you want to experience the punishment, judgment, and cursing of God, this is how you act."

And if we look at the sons of Eli and we compare them to what God says a priest is supposed to be, they're the exact opposite. They're not seeking the blessing of God, and they have earned for themselves the judgment of God.

And our culture is so overwhelmed by mercy and compassion that the very idea of God's judgment makes so many people incredibly uncomfortable. And that might be you this morning, and you might want me to apologize for that, but you're not going to get that from me this morning. It's supposed to make you feel uncomfortable.

And so it says:

"The boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man."

So Eli's sons—nobody likes them, nobody respects them, everybody knows what's going on. But here's Samuel, and this kid, man, he loves God, he's serving God faithfully, he's growing, and people see that. They're drawn to it. Samuel is being presented to us as one who is going to bring the light and the word and Yahweh to the people, and he's going to remain faithful to the covenant.

And Eli, man, it's just too little, too late. Finally confronts his sons. And listen, there is a—the parents in the room, it's not easy to confront your children about their brokenness and sin. And there is a profound lesson here, not just from Eli, but as we continue walking through this story. It is difficult. Those are hard conversations. There are very few children in the world when you sit them down and say, "Hey, what you're doing is wrong, what you're doing is destructive, what you're doing is dangerous, you should stop it," they look at you and say, "Well, thank you, Father. I appreciate it so greatly."

We get the eye rolls, we get the sighs: "You're so old, you're so out of touch, you don't understand, you don't know what's going on." We've experienced a couple of generations of parenting books that tell you not to parent but be your kid's friend, let the kid lead, affirm and encourage their decisions and their desires. And shockingly, what you get is a bunch of messed up kids.

It's not easy to have hard conversations with your children, but the consequences of not having them are so tragic, they should be unthinkable. And it doesn't have to be done harshly. It doesn't have to be full of shame. It can be done in beautiful and healthy ways, but it has to be done, because no one else is going to do it.

The story continues:

"There came a man of God to Eli."

An unnamed, unknown prophet shows up to the high priest at the Tabernacle and said, "I've got a message from God." Normally, you think that'd be a good day, right? Like, "I'm so stoked that God's got a word for me." But I think Eli had to know what's coming.

"Thus says the LORD, thus says Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, the God that made covenant with Israel and that Israel made covenant with: 'Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh?'"

God's going to take Eli back to the story of Israel, the story of God's grace.

"Did I not show up to the father of your house way back in Egypt? Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up on my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel."

"Did I not choose you? Did I not elevate you? Did I not graciously provide for you, for your family? Have I not given you this incredible privilege and provision to serve me as a priest?

Why then do you scorn my sacrifices? Why then do you scorn my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling and honor your sons above me?"

See, that's the challenge. So, parents, I'm going to come back to this. When you're feeling hesitant about having those hard conversations with your children about sin and about righteousness and about how they're living and about their relationship with God, don't make the mistake Eli did by placing his sons before God, by making them his highest, by making them the idol, by putting them at the top.

Hannah and Samuel stand as this beautiful contrast that remind us: children are a gift from the LORD. They come from Him, and parents, they belong to Him. Eli chose to honor his sons before he honored God. He made his sons his idol.

"Why do you scorn the sacrifices, honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?"

That's not just fancy prophetic language. Eli was fat—not King Eglon of Judges fat, but fat. It's going to contribute to his death. We're going to get there in a couple of chapters. He's going to hear—spoiler alert—he's going to hear about the death of his sons, he's going to be so shocked, he's going to fall back, and because he's so heavy, his neck's going to break. Consequences to our choices.

"You've been fattening yourselves on the choicest part of every offering of my people Israel. Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, declares: 'I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever, but now Yahweh declares: Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.'"

Do not deceive yourselves. God will not be mocked. A man will reap what he sows.

God says, "Yeah, I've given you the freedom to do this, Eli. I've given you time, I've given you space, and what you've shown over time, consistently, is that you do not honor me first. You honor your sons before me. You fatten yourselves." It's not only letting his sons do it; he's benefiting off of it.

And so God says, "Listen, I'll give you what you want. You don't want to honor me, you want to honor yourself? Cool."

"Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. In distress, you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out, to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men. And this shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day."

When I say that there's consequences to our choices, I mean there's consequences to our choices. And Eli and his two sons and his lineage are going to learn that.

Now, there's other descendants of Aaron, but Eli and his family have been the high priests. They've had that exalted position. And God's basically saying, "You're out."

Now, God's not going to break covenant. God's not going to break His promise. There's still going to be a descendant of Aaron that's going to function in that high priestly role. And we're going to get there in this series. David's son Solomon is going to take Eli's last surviving lineage, a guy named Abiathar, and he's going to take him out, and he's going to replace him with another priest of Aaron, another descendant of Aaron, Zadok.

But God says, "Listen, you have earned judgment." He says, "And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind."

I love that in this incredibly dark passage of judgment, the goodness and the mercy and the grace of God still shines forth. "Listen, you guys have been terrible priests. You're doing the exact opposite of what you're supposed to do. And yeah, I'm going to bring judgment upon you, but I'm not done."

God is not going to be thwarted by our sin and our bad choices. He's still going to move forward. "You've been a terrible priest, Eli. Your sons are even worse.

But I'm going to raise up for myself a faithful priest who's going to 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. And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, 'Please put me in one of the priest's places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.'"

One of the reasons that I choose to preach through the scripture the way that I do, walking through it verse by verse, is it forces us to deal with the passages that we'd probably rather not look at. This is a hard, hard text, and yet incredibly relevant, incredibly relatable, understandable.

Here we have people that are using the name of God with contempt to enrich themselves. And God, because of how God has created us, because of the way that He set things up, giving us freedom, God allows that to happen for a time. So we look around like, "God, how can you let that happen?" And texts like this say, "Hey, the day will come where that's going to end. There is a day of judgment. There is a time when God says, 'Enough is enough.'"

You know, there's a—I don't know if he invented it, but the political pundit Ben Shapiro, he likes to say, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." I just kept thinking about that all week long as I'm living in this text. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked. A man, a woman, will reap what they sow.

If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap life and joy and peace. But if you sow to the flesh, you'll receive what the flesh brings: death.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

You see, God will let us trivialize Him for a season, but ultimately His glory will shine forth. And you know, the point of reading a text like this is not to go, "Man, Eli and his sons were really dumb. They made really bad choices, and they shouldn't have treated God with contempt." The point of this is to look and go, "How am I treating God with contempt? What are the things that I'm choosing to honor before God? What are the ways in which I'm not aiming up? I've not rightly ordered my affections or my agenda. I'm not submitting myself to God. I'm trying to use God for my own selfish ends."

And see, because the tragedy of this story is that God gives us that freedom. Who will we choose to honor? Who will we choose to serve? Who will we choose to worship? What will we value?

I don't know if it was Bonhoeffer who invented the term "cheap grace," but he wrote about it a lot in his book "The Cost of Discipleship"—this reductionism of the Gospel into a simple propositional fact: "Hey, if you believe Jesus lived, if you believe He died, if you believe He rose again, then hey, you're good to go. You're saved. You don't have to worry about anything else."

This is so difficult. It's such an oversimplification. There's incredible truth in all of those statements, but there's so much that's left out. And it is very, very possible to pray a prayer, to walk an aisle, to self-identify, "Hey, I'm a Christian, I believe, I'm on Team Jesus and Team God."

And stories like this are meant to slow us down and take some time for some reflection, because it shows us how incredibly possible it is for somebody to have the title, for somebody to have the position, for somebody to be serving and doing the things of God, and at the very same time not only not know God, but end up under the judgment of God.

So this is why we work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-13). This is why we don't treat God with contempt. It's why we're encouraged in the New Testament to remember that, "Hey, you're not your own. You were bought at a price. (I Corinthians 6:19-20)"

The grace of God is free, but it's not cheap. Let me say that again: the grace of God, it's free. You don't earn God's grace. You can't. But it's also not cheap. The price of God's grace bringing you life and freedom, hope and a future, was the death of His Son. God paid your price Himself.

So to treat God's grace like a cheap commodity, to take it for granted, to say, "Hey, God, forgive me, that's Your job," and then "I'm just going to go do whatever I want to do"—it's a real problem.

God says,

"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 will go in and out before my anointed forever."

What a beautiful promise right in Chapter 2 of 1 Samuel. God says, "I'm going to bring a high priest that's going to get it right. He's going to do the right things. He's going to be faithful. He's going to be true. And I'm going to establish his house forever. And he will go in and out, he will serve and function as that high priest forever."

And here we have just such a beautiful Messianic promise, because Eli's sons are going to get killed. They're going to be replaced by some others. Eventually, Abiathar, his descendant, is going to be replaced with Zadok. And Zadok's going to be a good high priest for a long time, and his line is going to do some okay stuff. But Israel's still going to fall. They're still going to go into exile. They're still going to come back. The glory is still not going to return when they rebuild the Temple.

It's not going to be Zadok or his descendant. There is another priest that must come to do what all the other priests failed to do. That is Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of that prophetic promise in 1 Samuel 2, that God will raise up for Himself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in His heart and in His mind.

We think about Jesus. Over and over again, He says, "I only say what my Father tells me to say. (John 12:49) I only go where my Father tells me to go. I only do what my Father tells me to do. (John 5:19)" Jesus is the one who actually does what He's supposed to do. He's the new and better Adam. He's the new and better Moses. He's the new and better Joshua. He's the one that gets it right. And He's also the new and better Aaron. He's the true priest who mediates and makes intercession.

Now, the book of Hebrews plays with this motif so much over and over again—the priesthood of Jesus, that He is the unique, true, good, and faithful high priest. He's not a descendant of Aaron. He comes from a different priesthood, a greater priesthood. But He is the faithful and true high priest.

So in Hebrews 4:14-16, it says this:

"Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens"—right, the promise, "He'll go in and out, He will mediate between the heavens and the earth"—"since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the very Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession."

We can't treat Jesus with contempt anymore than Eli and his sons should have treated Yahweh with contempt. In fact, what Jesus has done is so much greater.

"So let's hold fast to our confession, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."

There's so many things I don't understand about Jesus. I mean, I can understand the concept. It's like, I don't get it, get it. Jesus was tempted like we are. I know what temptation is. I get that. But He never gave in. That I don't get.

So we have this high priest who is the faithful one. He doesn't use God to serve Himself. He serves God to be used by God in service of others.

"The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give Himself as a ransom."

Our high priest, though, He's not this perfection in isolation, far away, high and above. No, He's one who has come into our midst. That's the glory and beauty of the Incarnation. God put on flesh. He experienced temptation. He knows what it's like to live in a world that's been broken by sin and death. And yet He still chose faithfulness to God every time.

"So then, let us with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,

because we're going to one who understands our struggle. We don't have to pretend. We don't have to clean ourselves up. We don't have to try to manipulate or barter. We go to one who gets it. He gets it, how hard it is. We come with confidence to the throne of grace, that we might receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

If you hear anything I'm going to say this morning, I hope you hear this: when it's hard, run to Jesus. He gets it. He gets you. He understands. And He stands as the great and faithful high priest, ready to dispense mercy and grace in our time of need.

Jesus didn't just come to get you out of hell and get you into heaven. Jesus came to make you who you were always supposed to be so that you could do the things that God always created you to do. Jesus offers mercy and grace—not just forgiveness, but mercy and grace to break the power of sin, to overcome the temptations.

Now, you're still going to fall. You're still going to fail. And if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But that's not the default position. The default position should be: come boldly, confidently to the throne of grace and say, "God, I don't want to give in to temptation. I don't want to have to come to You for forgiveness. I want to come to You with gratitude and thanksgiving that You're breaking the power of sin in my life." This is what our high priest offers us.

The writer of Hebrews in Chapter 2 says,

"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted."

I don't know who needs to hear this this morning. I suspect it's all of us. God can help you in your temptations—not just forgiving you when you succumb to temptations and sin. God can help you in your temptations.

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God"

Think 1 Samuel 2: "I'm going to raise up a faithful high priest, and I will make for him a sure house, and he will come in and out before my anointed forever and ever." This is the author of Hebrews picking up on that. Jesus has fulfilled that 1 Samuel 2 promise.

"Since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near."

If all of that about Jesus is true, then one of the greatest tragedies that could ever exist is that we would not take advantage and not draw near.

"Let's draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."

Even when we are faithless, He is what? Faithful.

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works."

It's not just a "you and God get it right" thing. This is a "we need each other to get it right" thing.

"let's stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

Our need for Jesus and our need for Jesus's people intensifies the harder and the more difficult and the darker life gets.

I'm tempted to stop reading there, but we're in 1 Samuel 2, so I got to keep reading, because the author of Hebrews continues by saying this: "We have a great high priest. He's faithful and true. You can come to Him in full assurance, the full assurance of faith—not in the full assurance of your own works. You come to Him in the full assurance of faith, knowing that what He has done is enough and sufficient. And you come to Him not just to receive forgiveness, but you come to Him to receive grace to live out the reality of the new life that He has given you, to walk in step with the Spirit, to live as God's workmanship, doing the things that He has created for you to do." You get to do that. All of that is true.

And the writer of Hebrews gives us a warning:

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Let me say, I don't think what that means is that Jesus's grace runs out. What that means is that if you have the appearance of someone that is trusting in the grace of Jesus, but you live a life of consistent, deliberate, willful sin, what you're revealing is that you're not really someone that takes and holds on to the grace of Jesus. And so what you can expect is not the grace of Jesus, because you're not holding on to—you've not chosen the grace of Jesus. You're choosing your sin over Jesus.

And so, okay, if you take the grace of Jesus, what do you get? The grace of Jesus. If you don't take the grace of Jesus, what do you get? The fruit and consequences of your sin.

"So a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

" Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked. A man will reap what he sows.

"Anyone who set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, 'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay.' And again, 'The Lord will judge His people.' It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

Let him who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying. We have a great and faithful high priest who has paid once and for all the atoning sacrifice for sin. And if we turn to Him, if we run to Him, if we align with Him, we can expect mercy and help in our time of need, forgiveness and cleansing of our sin, and life everlasting.

But if we reject His offer, if we turn down His invitation, if we treat it with contempt and choose instead to serve ourselves, to go our own way, to live as our own king and god, we will receive exactly what we deserve. God will give us what we choose.

I say again: let him who has ears to hear, hear what the Spirit is saying. Jesus offers grace and life. Why would you want to choose anything else? Why would we dare to treat the freely given sacrifice of Jesus—why would we dare to treat that with contempt?

May God's grace empower us to trust, to live in relationship, in covenant with our great and faithful high priest. Amen.