"Ichabod” (The Glory Is Departed)

1. Expository preaching – this is preaching through a book of the Bible verse by verse.

2. Textual preaching - This style falls between expository and topical preaching. Textual preaching is preaching on a section of the Bible without preaching the entire book of the Bible.

3. Topical preaching – this preaching uses several Scriptures of the Bible to address an issue or discuss a topic. This is the most used style of preaching.

ALL OF THESE STYLES ARE GOOD!!!

Also, as you set under the ministry of preachers you will notice that some preach:

(1) Only positive sermons – Such as God is love

(2) Only Negative sermons – Such as God is a God of wrath

But a good preacher will preach POSITIVE and NEGATIVE SERMONS.

WHY SHOULD A PREACHER PREACH POSITIVE and NEGATIVE SERMONS?

Because the Bible teach that a preacher should preach the whole counsel of God’s Word.

The phrase the whole counsel of God is found in we are told in Acts 20:27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

The ESV say like this, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26–27, ESV).

When Paul Told young Timothy to PREACH THE WORD he meant there are times when a preacher has to preach POSITIVE SERMONS and also there are times when he has to preach NEGATIVE SERMONS.

The whole counsel includes God is a God of love and also God is a God of wrath.

Today in this sermon because of my love for the Word of God and for you in this congregation I am going NEGATIVE ion this sermon.

Illus: Years ago, a cigarette advertisement company was trying to get more women to start smoking. They had an attractive woman smoking, and some man says, “You’ve come a long way, baby!”

Yes, womanhood has come a long way, but sad to say, a lot of the progress they have made has been in the wrong way.

I say that to say this, God’s church has come a long way also, but it saddens my heart to to say they have come the wrong way in the wrong direction.

Listen, if things have changed as much as they have in the last 10 to 20 years, can you imagine what it is going to be like in the next 10 to 20 years if the Lord does not return?

In the earlier chapters of 1 Samuel, we see God calling in the night to Samuel. God told him that he was going to send judgement to the house of Eli the priest, because he did not restrain his wicked sons. 1 Sam. 3:13, “For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, AND HE RESTRAINED THEM NOT.”

Notice, it was his sons that did wrong, but God held Eli responsible. God said He told him He was going to send judgment because, “…He restrained them not.”

Eli’s sons served as priests in the house of God, and we read about some of their sin.

Look at 1 Sam. 2:12-17, “Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh, unto all the Israelites that came thither. Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force. Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.”

Eli’s sons changed the customs in the sanctuary, and this led to abomination in the sacrifice for the atonement for sin. This violation of the sin atonement, could be compared to perverting the message of salvation today.

Here is an overview of the 1 Samuel 2:12-36. The sons of Eli were priests and identified as worthless men because they did not know the Lord.