Please take the Bible and go to 1st Samuel, 1st Samuel, chapter two. And we'll start at verse 11. Hear the word of God as follows Hannah's song. Then Elkanah went home to Rahab. And the boy was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli the priest. The sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. The custom of the priest with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest served it with cum while the meat was boiling with a three-pronged fork in his hand. And he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. All that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh. All the Israelites came there. Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, give me for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw. And if the man said to him, let them burn the fat first, then they take as much as you wish. He would say, no, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force. 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. Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy clothed with a linen ephod. And his mother used to make for him a robe and take it to him each year when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. that Eli would bless Haukanah and his wife and say, may the Lord give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the Lord, so that they would return to their home. Indeed, the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters, and the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord. 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. And he said to them, why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. Know, 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 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. A boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and also with man, and became a man of God to Eli and said to him, Thus says the Lord. Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt, subject to the house of Pharaoh? Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar to burn incense, to wear a linen ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I command for my brother and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves with the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel? Therefore, the Lord God of Israel declares, I promise that your house, the house of your father should go in and out before you forever. But now the Lord declares, Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 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. Then in distress you will look with envious eye upon all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel. There shall not be an old man in your house forever, The only one, 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 hearts. All the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men. And this that shall come upon your two sons, Toffee and Phineas, shall be assigned to you. Both of them shall die on the same day. 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 will build him a sure house. He shall go in and out before me, 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. Would you pray with me? Father in heaven, having read this passage, we pray for the Spirit's work in our lives to apply it, to understand it, and then connect it to our hearts. Do that work, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. You might remember that the early portions of 1 Samuel came on the heels of the latter days of the Judges. And recall that the time of the judges was when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Gross sins, prevalence, even among the best people of God. At the beginning of this book, we were given some hope because Hannah cried out to the Lord, her child, and God answered her prayer. And then she gave her child back to the Lord and praised God for his abundance shown to her. But with what we just read, we seem to have been brought back down to the depths of sin once more. To the point that leaders in the church are committing some of the worst transgressions. What does this text do? One thing is, it gives us a window into the heart. Where too often, sin abounds, revealing a filthy and despicable heart. And the worst part is, sometimes we don't see it. Sometimes we don't feel the filth of our hearts when we should. This text oppresses regarding that. They will not leave us to our bloody hearts. The passage will show us how to have clean hearts. It will take us to a priest who will atone for sin and change our hearts. Four points will bear this out. Starting with a heartless religion. God hates all sin, no matter what it is. But sometimes the scripture is specific. Proverbs chapter six, there are six things, even seven, that the Lord hates. Proud looking eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. The text goes on. Our text paints a picture of the sin God paints. Fast forward a few years from when Hannah dropped Samuel off at the tavern. In verse 11, we find him ministering there, but no details are given regarding what he was doing. Instead, our attention is quickly taken away to Eli's sons. Because they were very different. Same thing. Verse 12. They did not know the Lord. Sure, they knew things about Him. Maybe they could recite catechisms. But they did not love God. Which tells us it is not enough to simply know God. We must love God and seek God. That is not what Eli's boys were doing. Verse 12, they are called worthless sons. More literally, they are sons of Bilal. That is, sons of corruption. And did you notice how they are not named until the very end of the chapter? It's almost as if the writer can't bring himself to name them until the end of the text. For now, they are identified as sons of Satan. That's it. Their wickedness is evident, given the text description of their actions. Verses 13 and 14, while people were offering sacrifices, thrust it into the meat as it was being burned, being cooked. And whenever the fork brought out, they would take it for themselves. Verse 14, this is what they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Leviticus 7, the priests were already supposed to receive the breast and the right thigh of the sacrifice, but these two took more and more. Verse 15, Sometimes, before sacrificing, they would demand raw meat be given to themselves, so that they could cook it. They wanted their own filet mignon. They wanted their own lamb chops. The Leviticus 3, no meat was to be taken prior to the offering and the sacrifice. Eli's sons had no regard for God, His Word, or His right worship. And if anyone called them out on us, they resorted to verbal attacks, seizing what they wanted by force. These men were more like thugs than priests. They only cared about themselves and filling their stomachs. The Lord had already provided abundant provision for them, but they did not care. They were mad for more. Look at verse 17. Thus the sin of the young men was very great for the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt. That was the sin God made. There's no question, they were discontent, gluttonous, and lustful. What does it mean that they treated the offering of the Lord with contempt? One way to explain it is, their actions were a violation of the third commandment. In doing what they were doing, they were taking the Lord's name in vain. Because Westminster Logic Anarchism number 112, they treated his ordinances irreverently. They profaned the sacrificial system. They abused it for their own selfish purposes. What was meant to teach how one was forgiven of sin, they used to engage in sin. Eli's worthless sons treated the sacrifices as worthless. They had a heartless religion. And on what level, that is what it means to treat the offering of the Lord with contempt. It's religious practice for selfish gain. It's going through the motions of devotion without true devotion to God, it's lukewarmness. And what did Jesus say in Revelation chapter 2 to the church in Galilee to see about newborns? For one with heartless religion, Jesus spits out of his mouth, clearly it is a sin God hates. And it is a sin that we all are prone to. There may be no greater danger for you and me than a callous faith. What is devotion upon without sincerity? It is not devotion, but blasphemy. The reason why people profess Christianity but believe and live contrary to Christianity. It's because they have a heartless Christianity. As J.C. Rowell put it, they care for nothing but what they shall eat, what they shall drink, what they shall put on, what money they can get, what pleasure they can have, They have not the least appetite for the things of God. They are destitute of any taste or inclination for spiritual things. They are like Eli's worthless sons. Prey against a heartless religion in your own life. You come to worship. Try up to God to meet you at the level of your heart. plead with the Lord, young and old alike, to seize your heart and shape your hearts. In fact, imitate Hannah. How so? Verse 19, once a year she brought her son a robe to wear for ministering before the Lord. And the fact that she did this shows that she had a heart for God. Hannah was not disgruntled about giving up her son. No doubt it must have broken her heart, year after year, leaving behind, especially knowing what Eli's boys were up to. It was public. She knew. But still, she was not angry with God about leaving Samuel. She loved the Lord, she trusted the Lord, she was content in the Lord, which was a window into her heart. We have a heart for God. Love, trust, and contentment in the Lord are ways to measure it. So is a want for God and a pursuit of His ways. Ask God right now, no matter who you are, a Christian for a month or a Christian for 60 years, ask God right now to give you a greater want for Him and a greater pursuit of His ways. Give the key of your heart to Christ. Let Him always have access to your hearts. To come in and warm your hearts. To watch over your hearts. Listen to everything you can to guard your hearts. Proverbs chapter 4 verse 23, your heart is the wellspring of life. Stay away from sin and ignorance. Stay away from a heartless religion. Lest you face a heartless religion handed over. Parents, imagine a situation. You've caught your kids doing something wrong. You sit them down, and you talk with them about it, go through things. You think to yourself, surely it can't get any worse. You might be tempted to conclude that regarding Eli's voice. They were committing an awful sin, and treating the offering of the Lord as frivolous. No way things could get worse. Famous last words. Not only did they have a heartless religion, but look at verse 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 in the entrance to the tent of Eden. Eli's voice turned the tabernacle into a brothel. As one writer said, it had become a place where sin was committed rather than confessed. Again, this knowledge wasn't secret. Many kept telling Eli about his worthless sons. To an extent, maybe you feel bad for Eli. Think about how embarrassing those conversations must have been. What did he do? He confronted his voice. Verse 23, why do you do such things? For I hear evil dealings from all these people. Oh, my sons, it is no good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. He'd sense his utter frustration. Eli was demoralized. He could hardly believe it. Parents, it is true, sometimes our children do let us down. He basically told them, verse 25, you don't realize what you've done here. Guys, I can't get you out of this one. You've offended God. You've rebuffed the only method by which your transgressions are appeased. What hope is there for you except to repent of verse 25. They would not listen to the voice of their father. They turned a deaf ear to him. Why? Verse 25. For it was the will of the Lord to put them to death. Did you catch that? It was the will of the Lord to put them to death. To bring about their destruction. The author is not telling us the reason why this was going to happen was because they rejected their father's instruction. No. They dismissed their dad because they had been given over to their sin. Quoting one commentator, their resistance was not the rationale for God's judgment, but the result of it. It's an act of God's judgment. God granted them what they sought. They were rebellious. Rebellion was their sentence. They got what they wanted, deprived them, and they would get what was due to them, death and hell, which tells us it is possible for someone to so harden themselves against God that He makes it impossible for them to repent. That is part of their judgment. In Hebrews chapter six, this can happen to people in the church who have tasted biblical religion. done Christian things, said Christian words, heard Christian preaching, and affirmed Christian messages, but were not true Christians because they walked away from it. In those cases, it is God's prerogative, if he chooses, By hardening the hearts, they have already hardened against him. Their doom is sure. And I know, I get it. Some will say, isn't this unfair? For God to harden hearts and make repentance impossible? Be careful. Be very careful. Do not put God in the dark. Do not try to stand in judgment over God, or you, who am I, to answer back to God. As an act of judgment, It is God's right to hand over sinners to what they want and what they deserve, if He so chooses. Beware of manufacturing a God of your own making that is all compassion and no condemnation, who does not judge people by giving them over to their sin in this life, if He so chooses. Such a God does not exist. The one true and living God is right to hand over a heartless religion to what it seeks. So that it does not listen to the call to repentance that it has already previously plugged its ears to. Our place is not to question God's actions. Our place is to tremble before him, turn from our sins, and cry out for mercy. To cry out, Lord, give me a heart for you. Increase my heart for you. Lord Jesus, I need you. And yet the text does lead us to ask the question, What is the final result of a heartless religion? Our text tells us. Eli had confronted his sons regarding their sin. And that is all a father can do, right? Wrong. Since the days of Aaron, God had allowed Eli's family to serve in the tabernacle, and now he was the high priest. But there was much he had left undone regarding his boys. It wasn't enough to scold them. They needed to be removed from the service of God and the worship of God. But it hadn't happened. When people who lead in worship make worship about themselves, they should be removed. So a prophet was sent to Eli. And through him the Lord said, look at verse 29, why then do you squander my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves with the choiceless parts of every offering of my people Israel? You see what Eli had done? He had not directly participated in the sins of his sons, but he had tolerated them. Because as one preacher noted, blood was thicker than fidelity to God. Eli had broken the first commandment, you shall have no other gods before you. If Eli's son's idols were their stomachs, Eli's idols were his boys. He, too, had a heartless religion because the Lord was not first in his hearts. Eli was not willing to do what Jesus said later. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Eli did not love God above all things. And so a heartless religion's end was declared. Verses 31 to 33. The service of the priesthood would be taken from his household. The men of his line would die young. Weeping, grief would follow his family. And in verse 34, it would begin with his sons dying soon. And on the same day, it was a hard word for him to hear. Eli had turned a blind eye to the sins of his sons. He had tolerated their sins because he honored the Lord. He honored his sons above the world. That's what a heartless religion will do. It will find other things to make preeminence, you know, like money, jobs, and it will tolerate sin. It will make excuses for sin. It will explain away a heartless religion. It is easy to make excuses about sin. It is easy to make other things more important than God. We must remember a heartless religion's end. man who has a heartless religion has put something else on the throne of his heart, and whatever that thing is, it will ruin him and whatever is primary to him. The seat of your heart is reserved only for God and no other. If you put something else there, you will destroy yourself and what is seated in God's spot. first. His is a love that will not let you go. His is a grace that is stronger than sin. His is a mercy that will take you through death. His is a heart that was enfleshed to save you. Christ's heart is higher than your mountain of sins. There is no better person to sit on the throne of your hearts than Christ. And it is Christ that we find in our last point, particularly describes. As a heartless religion's hope, Let's be honest, there is not a single one of us here this evening that does not struggle with having a heart for God. Our propensity is towards spiritual coldness. We need the fires of our hearts stoked frequently. We need our hearts to grow. Really, can our hearts grow? Verse 26, Samuels did. He continued to grow both in stature and favor with the Lord and also with man. God caused him to mature physically and spiritually. Can our hearts grow? You better believe they can. See Sam? to grow. You're never beyond your heart being stirred for Christ. How are our hearts stirred for Christ? How do we have larger hearts for God? One thing is, consider Christ's humanity. Think about it. Twelve of us. Verse 26, we are told of Samuel's growth and stature, faith, and then in Luke chapter 2, verse 52, we have almost an exact same description of Christ. It says, Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Just like Samuel, Jesus grew. What does that tell us? One thing is, He is like us. Jesus grew, we grow. Which means that Christ can sympathize with us in our weakness. His compassions overflow towards us. Because Jesus knows exactly what it is like to live in a fallen world, face hardship and temptation. He knows what it is like also to grow. Don't you see that Jesus clearly has a heart for us? He came into this world for us. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Unto us God incarnate stoops. Doesn't that encourage hearts? Doesn't it make you want to grow in having an increased heart for God? Furthermore, doesn't the work of Christ courage verse 25 Eli told his boys about the need for a mediator who would intercede for centers. Ultimately, Jesus is this promised priest. First John chapter two, verse one, he is our advocate with the father, our propitiation, our wrath bearer. He appeased divine justice by absorbing divine curse. All for us. Took our blows. Doored our stripes. By his wounds we are healed. We like sheep have gone astray. whereon Jesus was laid in the iniquity of his home. His advent was for the purpose of crucifixion. And it is at his crucifixion that Christ's heart is most clearly seen. As in his heart shone in Bethlehem the baby, and on Golgotha's hill, as a substitute, move your heart. As you consider Christ's humanity and Christ's work, doesn't it stoke the flames of your hearts, seeing how much Jesus would do for you, seeing that he would stoop for you, seeing that he would suffer for you? Aren't your affections stirred for Christ? Pray that they would be more. All this for us, I love has done by this to the, our love is one for this. We tune our cheerful ladies and showers our thanks with ceaseless praise all because of Christ. May the window of our hearts show forth an increasing heart for Christ. How? The more we gaze upon the person and work of Christ, the more we will want Him to have our hearts. The more we meditate on Christ, grow with love for Christ. Let that be the case for us all. Jesus is how a heart for God is fostered. Don't let this Christmas pass without praying and seeking an increased heart Oh, blessed Lord, we do pray that you would give us an increased heart for Christ. Guard us against a heartless religion. Protect every person in this worship service and in this church from falling into the snare We pray, Father, that we would have a submissive spirit, and that our gaze would be firmly fixed upon Jesus Christ, and that we would meditate long and hard on Christ. We pray that as we come to Christ, our hearts would be warmed. with increasing affection for Christ. And it would show itself, the way in which we live, day by day. This we ask in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said, amen. Let's take our hymnals, go to number 200.