Honor God and he will honor you.
Walk in the fear of the Lord…
In today’s passage we see a man who God honors to be the first gentile to formally receive the gospel.
Honor God and he will honor you.
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Read Act 10:1-8
Honor God and he will honor you.
- Eli was priest of Israel for many years
- he knew God’s standards.
- Eli‘s sons were living in direct opposition to God
- Eli had to decide whom he would honor. He could not Honor both his sons in moral lifestyle and the holy God
- By default, Eli chose to honor his sons, for he did not insist that their behavior conform to God’s standards.
1Sa 2:27-31 (ESV)
27 And there came 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?
28 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 an ephod before me? I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel.
29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’
30 Therefore the LORD, 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 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.
31 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.
Honor God and he will honor you.
- Eli would’ve argued that he was doing the best he could
- God thought otherwise…
1Sa 3:11-14 (ESV)
11 Then the LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.
12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.
13 And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them.
14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”
Honor God and he will honor you.
1Sa 4:17-18 (ESV)
17 He who brought the news answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
18 As soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.
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Act 10:1 (ESV) At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort,
Act 10:2 (ESV) a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.
devout - pious, dutiful, reverent
feared God - reverence, venerate, to treat with deference or reverential obedience
Honor God and he will honor you.
Act 10:3 (ESV) About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.”
Act 10:4 (ESV) And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
Honor God and he will honor you.
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Act 10:5 (ESV) And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter.
Act 10:6 (ESV) He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
Act 10:7 (ESV) When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him,
Act 10:8 (ESV) and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
