 The title of our sermon this morning is Raising Sons to Eli. Raising Sons to Eli. And our text is first Samuel chapter 2. We're going to be looking, beginning at verse 12, and the story, if you will, of a tragic and negligent father. You know, we've been preaching each Sunday morning, verse by verse, through the Gospel of John. As we've been preaching verse by verse through that Gospel, we've come to John chapter 6 and to John chapter 7, where we've really been looking at a treatise or a study of unbelief. We see examples there in the Gospel of John of those who do not believe, and the purpose of the Lord in giving us that example is so that we wouldn't follow in their footsteps. We see their unbelief inscripturated on the pages of the Bible as examples to us that we might not follow in their unbelief, follow in their footsteps. And so today, we're going to see another example of unbelief. Unbelief exhibited in the negligence of a tragic father figure from Scripture, the most rotten father figure probably in all of the Bible. We're going to see an example of Eli. We're going to see the tragic results of that neglect in his two sons. So I want to tell you a story today from first Samuel chapter 2, the story of a neglectful father, a tragic figure of a father who cultivates unbelief in the hearts of his sons through his neglect. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 11 that these stories, these examples in the Old Testament were written for our admonition. He says now all these things happen to them as examples, examples to who? Examples to us, that's right. And they were written for our admonition upon whom the end of the ages have come. Now we see here an admonition from the Lord in 1 Samuel chapter 2. It's an admonition against neglectful parenting from the ungodly example of Eli here, the high priest. The Bible describes to us, mothers and fathers, those of you with kids, listen, the Bible describes to those of you who don't have kids. Your responsibility to steward those under your care. And it describes that to us, that responsibility to us as a full-time endeavor. It's not a part-time endeavor. It takes energy. It takes devotion. It takes diligence. And we're to be diligent in that work. I want to give you an example of that from Deuteronomy. Keep a finger in 1 Samuel chapter 2 and turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6. Deuteronomy chapter 6. I want you to look with me beginning in verse 4. Deuteronomy chapter 6 in verse 4. The Bible says here, oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Verse 5, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And that speaks to whole-hearted, whole-sold devotion to God. With all your strength, it spends great energy, great effort, great diligence. Christ in the New Testament calls this the first and great commandment. Whole-hearted, whole-sold devotion to the Lord our God. Verse 6. And these words, the Bible says, which I command you today, shall be in your heart. In other words, we're to meditate on them constantly. They're to be a part of who we are. They're to be woven into the fabric of our DNA. They're to be in our heart, our desires toward him, our affections toward him. We're to take our delight in him. God is to be in our heart, God's words in our heart. But not only in word, but in word and deed. You notice in verse 6, it's those words which I command, right? These are not suggestions, they're words of command. Listen, John, same John that penned the Gospel that we're studying. John would say, later in the New Testament, little children do not be deceived. There are many, many throughout the centuries, and there are certainly many today, that profess to know Christ, but in works they deny him. We're not Christians, we're not called by the name of Christ in word only, in profession only. That profession, that faith is backed up with fruit, backed up with action, backed up with diligence, backed up with effort. We're to obey the Lord our God. These are commands, these commands are to be in our heart, and we demonstrate our love toward God and that we keep his commandments. They, those today, those then, they honor him with their lips, with their words, right? But their what? Heart, their heart is far from him. How do you know that your heart is close to God? It's close to the commandments of God, close to the obedience of God, close to the worship of God, close to the honor of God. These honor him with their lips in word only, but their heart is far from him. The Bible says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. And let that sink in for a minute. Not everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. But who? Those who do the will of my Father in heaven. We're not to be hearers only, we're to be doers of the will of God. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. There are many here, myself. My own testimony proves this out. I professed the name of Christ but did not do His will. I lived like a heathen until God saved me and changed my life. Until God granted me repentance and faith and then produced fruit in me by the power of His gospel, by the power of Jesus Christ at work in me. It's he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Verse 7 goes on to say, You shall teach them diligently, diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. As much as the word of God is to be in our hearts, as much as we are to be devoted to the word of God, as much as Christ, God, His word is to abide in us, we are to impress the word of God on our children. We're to impress that word on the hearts of our children also. Laid to the heart, the words of God become the constant subject of our conversation. The constant subject of our thoughts, our desires, our affections, our wants, our needs. The word of God is laid to our hearts. It's interesting there, the word for teach, in verse 7, you shall teach them diligently, is the Hebrew verb shanin, it means to sharpen. It's like the picture there of that word, is of an arrow being whittled or cut, the repeated cuts of a knife to form the arrow that will pierce the heart of the child. It's like wetting a sword. You take a double edged sword and you scrape that edge and you sharpen, and you sharpen, and you sharpen. You turn it over, you sharpen, and you sharpen, and you sharpen. That picture of teaching them diligently is a constant sharpening, a constant repetition. It's just a constant effort on the part of the parent to teach those kids to repeated admonitions. And it's instruction, just like the word for instruction in the New Testament in Greek, it's a word that implies there's discipline that goes along with it. Not merely teaching, but teaching with the intent to change the heart and to generate obedience. It's discipline with the purpose of bringing about change. It's admonish, correcting in love with a view towards change. And it's not only to our children. If you look at verse 7, the rabbis throughout history would often say that it also includes to all those under your care. So verse 7, you're certainly to teach them diligently to your children, but also to anyone under your care. We are so blessed by God to have so many godly men, godly women here, may not have kids of their own, but who take this responsibility seriously to shepherd the kids in our church, to shepherd the young people. It should shepherd me. I'm so grateful for the example of brothers and sisters who take that work seriously. We're to teach. We're to disciple. We're to talk about these things when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. In other words, all the time. I was amazed often coming up in churches that didn't teach the Bible, didn't take these truths seriously. You would go to a quote-unquote Bible study, and you felt weird bringing your Bible. I showed up to a Bible study one time. The guy says, what did you guys your Bible for? Are you preaching? I'm like, I thought this was a Bible study. You go to church. No one carries their Bible with them into church anymore. Here you ask folks to turn to the scriptures and you hear the pages flipping. And I love that. We're to be all about, we're to be people of the book, all about the word of God. And yet that's just so out of context today in our culture. The word of God is largely being abandoned. Far from being abandoned, verse 8 says, you shall bind them. What's the them? It's the words of God. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand. They shall be to you as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. The word of God is to be constantly before your eyes. You go throughout your day. Someone cut you off in traffic. One of those passages should immediately come to mind, right? You get caught up, tempted to sin. There are passages that should immediately come to mind. Little Johnny, little Susie, jumps up and down right on that last nerve. There should be passages that come to mind, right? The word of God is to be constantly before our eyes. Everywhere you turn, right on the doorposts of your house, on the bathroom mirror, little sticky notes, you know, in the car, three by five cars that you're, you know, shouldn't do that while you're driving. But should be everywhere before your eyes. It's to be constantly a part of our thought, our conversation. It has to be that way. We are dependent as God's people. We are dependent upon the words of God for our very life, for our soul. It's to be applied in every situation. How many folks, they come back from church, they take their Bible, they put it on the shelf, and it collects dust the other six days of the week. We need to be people of the book. So graven upon your heart, verse eight, so graven upon your mind, on your hands, that the words of God fill your conversation. You go to a fellowship around here. That's what we talk about. Because I'm grateful to God that the people of God here love the word of God. Love the teaching of the word of God. Love the preaching of the word of God. This is the high calling of the godly parent. You are called to love the Lord yourself. To love him yourself with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. That excludes any notion of half-heartedness. It excludes any idea of a split devotion. He that's lukewarm, God will vomit them out of his mouth. It's not half-hearted devotion. It's not a split devotion. It is the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength all the time. And we're called to teach it diligently everywhere. To everyone, especially our kids. Certainly we've been given stewardship over our children to teach them the word of God. Repeatedly admonishing, repeatedly cutting, repeatedly sharpening, right? Repeatedly disciplining our kids, instructing them, correcting them, reproving them. Now listen, it's not enough. It's not simply enough to go to church and take them with you. It's not enough to go to church. And it's not enough to simply bring them with you. It's not enough to listen to a sermon now and then. It's not enough. It's not enough to simply consider the truths of God for yourself and allow them to see your example. It's not enough. It's not enough to play church on Sunday and then live for yourself the rest of the week. It's more than just words. More than just example. More than simply discipline. You must restrain your kids. You must reprove your kids. You must correct your kids. You must instruct your kids. You must love your kids. Adore your kids. Cherish your kids. Nurse your kids. The word of God must find fertile root in your own heart and then you must ensure, see to it, that the word of God is planted deep within the hearts of your children. You are responsible, ultimately responsible, for the souls that God has sovereignly placed into your care. The reason that we're talking about this and the reason we're looking at this from the example of Elyne is because neglect of that responsibility comes with significant and eternal consequences. There are those that have this fatalistic, sort of hyper-Calvinistic view of the doctrines of grace where they would say, you know, if God wants to save little Johnny little Susie, he's going to do it. I'm just going to live for the Lord. That's living for the Lord, you know. They're going to follow my example. No, the Lord God uses means to save little Johnny little Susie and what better means would the Lord use their own parents? The teaching of the word of God. Neglecting that responsibility comes with significant and eternal consequences. We see the effects of that, the tragic results of that from the example of Elyne in 1 Samuel 2, one of the most rotten excuses for a parent in all of the Bible. From this passage in 1 Samuel 2, the Lord would have you consider the example of Elyne. Don't raise wicked sons and daughters to Elyne. Raise sons and daughters to Christ. It's interesting if you read 1 Samuel 2 into chapter 3, you see a constant contrast between Hannah and Samuel and Elyne as wicked sons, Houghney and Phineas. A constant contrast. Raise sons to the Lord. Raise sons to Christ. Don't raise wicked sons to Elyne. We're not to follow in this example. Consider the Lord's admonition here. Think of a New Testament example in Timothy and how his mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice, raised Timothy from childhood knowing the Holy Scriptures which were able to make him wise to salvation. Many of us to our shame have failed miserably in this area. It's a difficult work. It's a challenging work. But we cannot fail in this area. The lives, the souls of our kids depend upon it. God has called us to it. There are many, many in the professing church today who profess to know the Lord, but because that profession hasn't taken root in their own heart, it certainly is not being passed on to their children. In 1 Samuel 2, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of Elyne. We have to be convicted by the rotten example of Elyne and to make a fresh commitment, you and I, before the Lord to be what we ought to be, to be what the Lord has called us to be, to be the parents that would honor the Lord. As we come to 1 Samuel 2, we're going to see basically three segments from this narrative. First, we're going to see the sins of his sons. The sins of his sons. They are blatant, laid on the pages of Scripture for all eternity, glaring. We're to see point two on your notes. The nature of his neglect. The nature of Elyne's neglect. And in that neglect, we'll see lessons for us. And thirdly, we're going to see the judgment of his God. First, the sins of his sons. Secondly, the nature of his neglect. Thirdly, the judgment of his God. As we come to 1 Samuel 2, verse 12, Israel is at a moment in its history where it's coming to the end of the the age of the judges and about to enter a period of the kings. And so Elyne here is the last, next to last judge over the nation of Israel. The last judge is Samuel. And Samuel is about to be introduced here. And then we get into the period of the kings. So Elyne is a judge over Israel. But Elyne is not only a judge, Elyne is also the high priest. He's high priest overseeing the worship of the people. The worship of the people right now where the tabernacle of meeting is at and people come to the tabernacle of meeting to worship God and Elyne being high priest oversees the worship of God's people. Israel has been in a great decline up until this point. And in many ways, the decline of Israel as a nation parallels the decline of Elyne and his sons Haphne and Phineas. They go together. We see the neglect of Elyne. We see the neglect of Israel. We see the wickedness of Elyne's sons and we see the wickedness of the people of Israel. The failure to worship God as is right. Phineas, Haphne just represent what's most wrong with the nation. All of this, all of this is leading to a judgment of Elyne and his sons. Judgment's coming. But judgment's also coming on the nation of Israel. They're about to be judged by God at the hands of the Philistines. And it's going to be a tragic judgment. However here, think about this. Now at first blush, every indication would be that Elyne looks like on the surface, looks like a godly man. Not unlike many who go to church today and profess Christ. Right? He looks on the surface like a godly man. He goes to church. He serves the Lord. Here in 1 Samuel 2, he's leading worship in Israel. He's serving in the temple as the nation's high priest. In chapter 1 verse 12, he's actually concerned with Hannah and Hannah's spiritual condition. Verse 12 says, it happened as she continued praying before the Lord. Elyne watched her mouth. Now Hannah's spoken her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Often this time it was customary to pray out loud. Elyne didn't hear her voice and so Elyne rebukes her. Elyne thought she was drunk verse 13. So Elyne said to her, how long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you. He actually restrains here. Hannah or seeks to, doesn't seek to restrain his own sons. He doesn't give any indication that we should be concerned about who he is or what he does or what he says. There's no indication on the surface or at the beginning that would give us any reason to question him. But as we work through the text, we come to see who Elyne really is. Just as the Lord said in John chapter 7, we're not to judge according to appearance, but what? According to a righteous judgment. We're to judge according to a righteous judgment. And here we're going to see that in Elyne. We'll be able to come to a righteous judgment. So let's take point one on your notes. The sins of his sons. So we come to first Samuel chapter 2, drop down to verse 12. The Bible says, now the sons of Elyne were corrupt. They did not know the Lord. You know, in the same way that Elyne could be seen as many who profess Christ today, men that go to church every Sunday, that serve in the church every Sunday, maybe take their families to church every Sunday. I've known deacons in the church for decades who are as lost as the day is long, right? They go missing for months on end. They come back. Somebody says, hey Joe, where you been? Walking to and fro on the earth. And you know, the devil incarnate if you know your Bible. Here Elyne's sons in the same way. Elyne's sons are not unlike many sons that go to church today and profess Christ today. After some kind of experience, you think about it, after some kind of experience, like me, my own testimony, some kind of Christian experience at age 12, maybe they feel guilty over their sin. Maybe they're sincerely fearful, sincerely fearful over their sin, over going to hell. We don't know what's going on in their heart, but someone leads them in a little ritualistic little prayer that they're led to pray, they're led to come down for, they're led in the prayer. Never mind that prayer. Never mind that that methodology is nowhere in the Bible and somehow by that little ritualistic prayer, that little ritualistic exercise, they quote, unquote, get saved. Here, not unlike many quote, unquote, Christian sons today, they follow the footsteps of good old dad. Haphne and Phineas know enough here and even show enough to make it into the priesthood, serving themselves in the temple and so they're in the church just like dad serving the Lord in the same way that dad does. So what does the Bible say? What does the Bible have to say about this? The Bible says you will know them by their what? By their fruit. You'll know them by their fruit. Genuine repentance, genuine saving faith, true saving faith in the Lord produces the fruit of holiness in the life. Then, just like now, it doesn't matter what prayer you prayed. It doesn't matter how sincere you were when you prayed it. Listen, the Bible says that the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it? Certainly not you or I. People can be sincere and sincerely wrong. The sincerity of your deceitful and wicked heart in saying a prayer is not the litmus test for true saving faith. What is? It's fruit, godly fruit. A changed life, a work of grace in the heart that has the power to transform you such that you see the fruit that your faith is producing and you know it's nothing that you could do in and of yourself but it's the work of God in you. It's because of what Christ purchased on the cross. Your profession of faith, just like Eli here, just like Hoffney and Phineas, your profession of faith in Christ is a sham. Is a sham unless there has truly been a work of grace in your heart that has changed your life. You may honor him with your lips. I'm a Christian. You raise your hands or in worship. How do you know? How do you know? How do you know if the gospel has changed your life? It's evidence. It's fruit. It's persevering in the faith over time. Perseverance in holiness. I want you to see that. I can't resist. Go to 1 John, 1 John chapter 5. Evidence over time. Perseverance in holiness. Conformity to Christ. Sanctification. The Lord progressively conforming you into the image of His Son. You're not being sanctified. You can take it to the bank that you're not saved. He that began a good work in you will complete it and it's going to be completed. You're going to see that sanctification over time. 1 John chapter 5. I want you to look at verse 13. How do we know that our profession is genuine? How do we know that we're not just honoring Him with our lips and yet our heart is far from Him? How do we know that we're for real? Well, John gives us a test. 1 John chapter 5. Look at verse 13. John says, these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Now, He's written this to believers for the purpose that believers might have assurance of their salvation. It's a good thing to have assurance. We want assurance of our salvation. How does it come? What are the these things that John has written so that we might have assurance? What's all the stuff that He wrote in the first five chapters of 1 John here? He's written many things, many tests in 1 John that we might know. Look at the beginning. Look at 1 John chapter 1. Look at verse 5. Numerous tests throughout 1 John to see if your faith is genuine. Verse 5 says, this is the message which we've heard from Him and declared to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Listen, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If you say, I said that prayer and I was sincere when I did it and yet you continue to walk in darkness, guess what? That prayer was a complete waste of time. Means absolutely nothing. Drop down. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. The truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, now he's talking to believers here. If you're in Christ, you can rest assured that if you confess your sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That verse doesn't apply to those who have not repented. To those who are not in Christ. That's for those in Christ. Look at chapter 2. Drop down to verse 3. Here's another test. Now by this, we know that we know Him. If I said that prayer and I was sincere when I did it, is that what the Bible says? No. If we keep His commandments, He who says I know Him and does not keep His commandments is a liar and the truth is not in Him. What commands are those? What commands of God? You're not to be a liar in Christ. There are no Christian liars. There are Christians who lie. You understand the difference? Our lives are not characterized by the sin that held us in bondage before Christ. We've been freed from sin to righteousness. If your life is characterized by lying, there's no such thing as a Christian liar. There's no such thing as a Christian who fails to obey the command of God to evangelize. Lord has commanded that you share the gospel with a lost. But those laws aren't burdensome to God's people. They're a joy to God's people. But if you've been diligently, persistently, consistently disobedient to the Lord in that, when you need to question yourself, the Bible doesn't say that there's any such thing as an adulterous Christian. If that sin marks your life, you're not a Christian. We have to obey the Lord. That's a test of genuine conversion. Look at chapter 2, verse 9. He who says He's in the light and hates His brother is in darkness until now. Well, how do you hate your brother? Well, you just, you know, don't want to be around him. You stay home. You forsake the assembling. This has no appeal to you being around God's people. No matter fact, as soon as the sermon's over, you're going to jet out just as fast as you can because you don't want to talk to anybody. You don't come and edify your brothers and disciple your brothers and talk to your brothers and encourage your brothers and pray for your brothers and fellowship with your brothers and show hospitality to your brothers. This, if you hate your brother, his brother is in darkness until now. Many tests. Look at chapter 3. Drop down to verse 7. This is one we referenced just a moment ago. Little children, the Bible says, in verse 7, let no one deceive you. Now, listen, He who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous. In other words, outside of Christ, you can't practice righteousness. But in Christ, you're practicing God within you. He who sins, verse 8, in other words, there by the structure of the verb, He who makes a practice of sin. He who makes a practice of sin is of the devil. Did Christians sin? Certainly they do. It's not the perfection of your life. It's the direction of your life. You make a practice of sin. You need to question yourself whether you're even in the faith. He who sins is of the devil. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not make a practice of sin. How much clear can that be said? And yet your deceitful justifying heart will convince your mind that you are a Christian despite what God's word says. Be warned. You have an enemy in your breast that seeks to justify your wicked behavior. Think that somehow you'll make it into heaven, have your cake and eat it too. Just not what the Bible teaches. Let me explain it this way for a second. The Bible talks about the freedom that we have in Christ. The freedom that we have in Christ. Many most people view the freedom that we have in Christ as the freedom to do what they want to do which is sin. Now let me ask you for a moment. You're a genuine Christian what is it that you desperately want to do? What do you desperately want to do? Not sin. Desperately want to please the Lord. Live for him. You want to rip all that filthy sin out of your life? It's the struggle. It's Roman 7. It's living the Christian life. It's being sanctified. So freedom in Christ is not the freedom to sin and get away with it. Freedom in Christ is the freedom that the Spirit of God gives us to be able to obey him because apart from the Spirit of God we can't. Think about it this way. The world sees freedom as a releasing of restraints. If I'm tied up with ropes, the way that I can be freed is by taking the ropes off. I'm free. It's a removal of restraints. What does Christianity do in the minds of most people? Christianity comes in and it applies restraints. Do this, don't do that. Don't do that, don't do that. Don't do that. And to the world all of those commands seem burdensome. But we don't view freedom in Christ that way. And so the commands of God aren't burdensome to us. The Spirit of God in us, the work of Christ has enabled us that we can obey that and it's a joy to the Christian to do that. It's freedom to obey the Lord. Take the test. Where's your heart? Here in first Samuel, back in first Samuel, chapter 2, verse 12 gives it away to us about Eli, about Hophne, about Phineas. It doesn't matter what Hophne and Phineas professed. The Bible says they were corrupt. The sons of Eli were corrupt. There are many, many, many. Listen, there are many, many, many. Sons and daughters today led down a primrose path when they were 6, 8, 10, 12, 18, whatever age it was. And they are corrupt. There's no interest in the things of God. Their heart has not been changed. There's no real affection for Christ. Examine yourself. And for the sake of the souls of your children, examine them. Don't just lead them to believe that they're somehow saved and they're there. Encourage them to follow the Lord, but they've got to follow the Lord. That's going to be a fruit of faith. It's very interesting here that in first Samuel chapter 2, verse 12 that word there for corrupt the NASB translated worthless. Worthless. If you have an NIV in your hands, it's translated scoundrels. The message translates it bad. They were bad. The word here corrupt is the word bleol. They were sons of bleol. It's belial. Belial is the devil. Here, the word corrupt, that word, that verb there, they are literally in verse 12, the sons of Eli the sons of Satan. And what does that say about Eli? He's sharing duty as parent with Satan. Not very commendable of Eli, certainly not commendable of Elias, and he follows that up in case there's any confusion about that. It follows up at the end of verse 12, they did not know the Lord. They're in the home of a priest and yet no salvation. They're serving in the temple as priests and yet no salvation. It's amazing, isn't it? Happens all the time. Let's give these bad sons bad. Let's give them the test. Did they love the Lord saying all that he's commanded? No, exactly the opposite, right? They disobeyed his commandments. Did they love their brothers? No, they stole from them. They hated them. Did they honor their father? No, do they love the Lord? No, do they worship in spirit and in truth? No, they preach the kingdom. No, they're corrupt. They did not know the Lord. First Samuel chapter 2 verse 13. The Bible said, and the priest custom with the people was that the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged flesh hook in his hand while the meat was boiling. And then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot and the priest would take for himself all that the flesh hook brought up and so they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. So now we're looking again. We're looking at the sins of Eli's sons, their sins. According to Leviticus chapter 7, Deuteronomy 18, the priests would receive a portion of the sacrifice that was brought in by the people of God. They came to bring a sacrifice. The priest got a portion of that. A portion was first given to the Lord, burnt before the Lord, and the priests were allowed to take from the sacrifice to support themselves. They would eat from the sacrifices of God's people. Here, they weren't satisfied with what the law of God prescribed for them. They weren't satisfied with God's provision. What he allotted for them, they took more. And so what they did, they sent a servant and a three-pronged hook. You can imagine what that probably looked like. And before the sacrifices, while the meat was still being prepared, they would go alongside the pots with that three-pronged flesh hook, put that thing into the pot, and pull up as much as they could pull up. And probably considering the size of that, that's no small amount. It caused the people to despise the offerings of the Lord, a substantial amount, far more than they were entitled to. Listen, they were fleecing the flock. It's just like many false teachers do today. Give me your money. Give me your money. I need a $65 million jet. Send in, sow $100 seed, you'll reap a $1,000 blessing. Just give me money. You get people that will just labor to work on people's consciences and simple-minded people who do not know the doctrine, do not read their Bibles, don't study the word of God. Just send them all their money. It is insanity. And they'll do it believing all along that this is the man of God, they're doing the godly thing. He's just fleecing the flock, just like false teachers do today. This was a blatant refusal on the part of Haphne and Phineas here to accept God's provision. So they're rejecting God's provision. They're stealing, think about it now, they're stealing from the worshipers that come to the temple. They're sacrificing, they're preparing that sacrifice in the long come of the servants and stealing from the worshipers. Who else were they stealing from? Stealing from God. They're stealing from God. These are the sacrifices of God. Where's Eli in all this? Take a look at these verses. Where's he? He is absentee. We don't see him there, do we? We don't see him saying anything. They're just doing this and doing this really so much so that the people are accustomed to it and they've grown to despise the sacrifices of the Lord. Now as we get to verse 15, it just continues to add to their sin. Look at verse 15. Also now, additionally to this, before they burned the fat, that's important because the burning of the fat was the sacrifice of the Lord. We're the sacrifice of the Lord, first fruits of our best. We're to begin there, to give the Lord what is due to the Lord and then we take for ourselves or do whatever. So here before they burned the fat the priest servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you but raw. They preferred their meat roasted. Rather than take it boiled, we want to get it before they boil it so we can roast it. That's the way we like it. So they took it before the Lord's offering before the sacrifice was prepared for offering it as they were supposed to at the Tabernacle of Meeting here they took it before all that just because they preferred roasted meat over boiled meat. Verse 16, if the man said to him you see the man, his conscience accusing him, right? This is not what the Bible teaches. This is not what the law says. So the man would say to him they should really burn the fat first, shouldn't they? But here's the priest from the temple. These are Eli's sons asking for this. They should really burn the fat first, shouldn't they? Then take as much as your heart desires but at least allow us to give to God what is God's. But if that were to happen, if they said that he would then answer him at the end of verse 16. No. But you must give it now and if not, I'm going to take it by force. Wow. These strong arm tactics in the worship of God. It's amazing, right? Therefore, verse 17, the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord. You know, we have a tendency to not see sin as that bad. Sin's not that bad, God's not that mad. It's easy sometimes to take a passage like this, glaze right through it. Just read right through it and think, oh yeah, they burned before the fat and I took the thing and they took the roast. Listen, this was great sin before God. Remember now, we're going to get there but this sin led to God killing them. Killing them took Eli's life. It affected the house, the Eli's house for decades after this sin. God takes sin seriously and as much as we see this sin written on the pages of scripture, examine yourself, your own sin before God. Praise God that he is merciful in Christ. Praise God for his grace in Christ but don't allow that truth to negate the seriousness of your sin one bit. Your sin cost God the life of his only begotten son. Have you considered the cross? The cross demonstrates to us how serious God is about sin. Here, verse 17 is before they burned the fat, before the Lord was given his offering and in violation of the law, because they preferred roasted meat, they took meat from the people raw before it was spoiled and if they didn't get in their way, didn't get their way they roughed them up. This is high handed sin. High handed sin. Great sin, verse 17 calls it. They obviously despise the offering, they despise the Lord and this is where they get their name, sons of the devil and in all this, where is Eli? What is going on with him? Why isn't he there? Why isn't he doing something about it? Where's the rebuke from Eli? Where are the words of Eli? Here, nowhere to be found. Now listen, this is a running contrast here if you notice with Samuel. If you look at verse 18 Bible says but Samuel but Samuel. Contrasting with Samuel here, Samuel ministered before the Lord even as a child wearing a linen ephot. It's interesting that word there for child, that word means lad. He was a good young lad, young boy. He's a boy, little boy. Look back at verse 17 same word is used therefore the sin of the word young men there is lad. It's like a condescending sarcastic contrast between I love the word of God just like the way that God just writes his word that way. This sarcasm is contrasting condescending belittling name for these wicked boys sons of Eli. They're just lads but look at the lad, the young boy Samuel ministering before the Lord wearing a linen ephot just goes to show you how the Lord views the sin of Haphne and Phineas. So now is that all? Is that all there is there sin? Certainly that's enough, right? That's just such high handed sin. That's not all. Look at verse 22 Now Eli the Bible says was very old you know several times in this passage it mentions that Eli was old maybe because in all of this it depicts Eli as being too late too late. The sons are grown they're doing this great wickedness Eli has compromised and neglected and neglected and compromised all their lives and so now we get to the point where Eli is just so old you know can't do anything else about it and it's maybe as you get old and you're raising kids, maybe you've known maybe someone a child that went to live with grandma grandpa and grandma grandpa just too tired to do anything to restrain little Johnny little Susie and so little Johnny little Susie just run a muck in grandma's house because they're just too old you know too tired maybe too lenient. That's the way Eli is pictured here in the section of scripture it mentions his age a couple of times. He says he was very old verse 22 and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting as if all this wasn't enough they were committing sexual immorality in the doorway to the tabernacle of meeting which eventually become the temple you know in Exodus 38 Exodus 38 verse 8 there's a reference to women who served the priesthood at the door to the tabernacle of meeting here, now picture where the law of God says there and those godly women serving the Lord at the door of the tabernacle fast forward now to Eli and his sons basically Hoffney and Finneas are practicing ritual prostitution like the pagans do at the door of God's tabernacle wicked deplorable abominable sin and think about all those they caused a stumble because of what they were doing can you imagine? I mean you can imagine just the decline of worship in Israel such that the high priest and his sons are allowing this participating in this is insane everyone knew about it this was common knowledge he heard everything his sons did to all Israel why? because people were talking about it it was common knowledge among the people what they were doing and yet where is Eli where's Eli? what in the world is he doing? why isn't he doing anything about this? well Eli finally shows up verse 23 Eli finally shows up in point two on your notes we see the nature of his neglect we see the nature of his neglect we're going to get a profile of just how Eli has neglected addressing the sins of his sons verse 23 so he said to them Eli says to his sons why do you do such things? for I hear of your evil dealings from all the people know my sons for it is not a good report that I hear you make the Lord's people transgress if one man sins against another God will judge him but if a man sins against the Lord who will intercede for him? nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father because the Lord desired to kill them that's very interesting here for a couple of reasons first is it's interesting here that Eli responds to a report that he hears rather than responding to something he's observed himself where is he? what is he doing? like sulking in some dark corner in the back of the tabernacle and somebody has to come and give him a report because he himself doesn't see what's going on he's the high priest this stuff is taking place at the door of the tabernacle a meeting it's happening when people come to the temple to offer sacrifices and Eli has to hear it from people he's not involved in the lives of his sons such that he knows first hand from observance what's going on here rather than observing the behavior for himself and listen being the master of understatement Eli says that it's not a good report for I hear of your dealings your evil dealings from all the people know my sons it's not a good report that I hear well thank you Eli for the rebuke did all of this just get started? no this has been going on for a long time this has been building up this has been a long time in the making and all of it under the nose of their father in plain sight of their father with knowledge of their father we're going to see possibly with complicity of their father this has been a long time in the making Eli here has compromised his sons think about this the nature of his neglect is involved in such high handed sin and yet Eli allows them into the priesthood who has charge over who the priest will be and who they won't be the high priest Eli Eli's responsibility and Eli compromises turns a blind eye turns a deaf ear maybe even made excuses for them and he gets them into the priesthood so good instruction from the father has obviously not taken place but neglect here and it's neglect that's been going on for a very long time and you may say looking at this passage and wait a minute Eli rebuked them well yes he did let's take a look at what Eli did and what he didn't do look at verse 23 he said to them why do you do such things he gives them levels them a rebuke he called them to account he calls them to account he calls them out in their sin and says these are evil dealings in verse 23 secondly what he did is he points out the dangerous position that they're in they're headed toward judgment look at verse 25 if one man sins against another God's gonna judge him so if my brother and I we sin against each other there is one who judges but if I sin against God there's no one to mediate between God and I God is a judge God will judge me for my sin I'm not able for my sin here they're in a dangerous precarious situation they're not just sinning against one another they're sinning against God stealing from God abhorring the sacrifices of God and making the worship of God a mockery among the people so he calls them to account he points out the dangerous position that they're in let me ask you dads, moms dad you get little Johnny little Johnny gets into some serious trouble and you talk to him little Johnny you realize you're in a dangerous position you sin against God God may one day judge you for that sin unless you repent you shouldn't do that little Johnny you shouldn't do that do you know parents who all they ever do is talk to their kids what does little Johnny look like the Bible says we're to discipline them with a rod it's not enough to say the right things it's not enough to simply call them to account it's not enough to simply use words you must restrain little Johnny and it's exactly here what Eli has failed to do he's not restrained not only has he not restrained his sons he's compromised putting them into the priesthood he's rewarded them so to speak for wicked behavior we have to do what God's word says for us to do so what did he fail to do he pointed out their danger of position what did he fail to do one he didn't restrain them he didn't restrain them when they were younger and he's not restraining them now because they're in the priesthood if he had restrained them back then they wouldn't be in the priesthood guess what if he restrains them right now what is within Eli's capacity to do to restrain them right now remove them from the priesthood take them out what else could he do what does Deuteronomy say take them outside the camp and stone them to death certainly Eli had within his right according to scripture the ability to restrain them and he fails to do it he doesn't restrain them he could have publicly exposed them he could have dragged them outside the camp and stone them to death according to the law of God and God holds Eli accountable for this he rebuked them but listen there's no excuse excuse for the failure to discipline there's no excuse for the failure to restrain them and it's not his position not his kids opinions it's not his age he has no excuse so now verse 25 it ends with a very interesting statement the bible says they did not heed the voice of their father why because the lord desired to kill them think about this for a moment their sin had reached such a degree that God was about to judge them for their hard heartedness he was about to judge them for the high handedness of their sin it says because for the reason of that God intended to kill them that God caused them to sin did God fill their heart to sin did God tempt them to sin he doesn't have to put that in their hearts that is already bound up in the heart of a child proverb says that foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child it takes the rod to drive it far from them it takes that foolishness wickedness bound up in their heart and listen outside of Christ so do you so do I your heart outside of Christ is wicked you have wickedness bound up in your heart it takes a work of God work of Christ it takes the cross of Christ to drive that out of you here this is the result of Eli's neglect James chapter 1 verse 13 says let no one say when he's tempted for God cannot be tempted by evil nor does he tempt himself tempt anyone this is God if you look at this passage this statement this is God in Romans 1 fashion giving them over to a debased mind this is God's judgment of abandonment God withdraws his restraining grace so to speak he turns them over to the desires of their heart to do that which they want to do which is wickedness he gives them over to their sin why? because he intends to judge them for their sin by killing them by taking them out they've already sinned sinned sinned sinned high handed sinned neglect just wickedness tremendous wickedness so God says listen I'm going to judge me and Phineas how am I going to judge them? I'm going to give them over to the hardness of their own hearts I'm going to abandon them to that which they want their debased mind, their debased actions I'm going to turn them over why? because I intend to kill them to judge them that's an initial judgment of God pointing to a final judgment of God when God takes their life in death again as the result of Eli's neglect now make the jump we can't neglect the raising of our kids we can't neglect the disciplining of our kids we can't neglect the instruction of our kids we can't neglect the restraining of our kids we can't neglect the love of our kids we can't neglect the instruction in the word of God that God intends for them to have using you as the means by which We have to be faithful in the parenting of our kids. Here's the example of a wicked father in his wicked neglect and it leads to the death of his own sons. What a, just a tragic, you know, Christians want to see their kids saved. I want my kids to be in heaven. I can't think of much more tragic a reality than that of being in heaven and my kids not there or thinking of, even now as I sit here, as you sit here thinking of our kids in eternal torment. What a tragedy, but listen, especially you guys, you men, listen, this is Eli's neglect that has led to this tragedy. His neglect, his sons despised the Lord. They despised their father. They were a shame to God's people. They sinned greatly in the eyes of God and would eventually be killed by God. This is what happens when you don't raise your children in the nurture and ammunition of the Lord. You raise wicked sons to Eli. When you leave them through their own devices, when you don't restrain them, you are in your neglect. You are icing the slippery slope to their damnation. Proverbs chapter 19 verse 18 says, chasing your son while there is hope. You know, it's every indication here from this passage that hope is just sort of run out. Their sin is already so great. God is going to judge them. He's going to take them out. Eli's very old. He's just sort of given up and he's not going to do anything. It's almost like this, this hopeless condition, right? It's just gone on too long. It's too late. Don't wait till it's too late. Chasing your son while there is hope and do not set your heart on his destruction. You set your heart on his instruction by thinking to yourself, you know what? I'm going to cultivate sin and little Johnny until the Lord takes him out. No, you just, you cultivate or you set your heart on his destruction by neglecting him. By failing to raise him as God has called us to raise him. It says in verse 26, in great contrast, right? And the child Samuel grew in stature and in favor both with the Lord and men. God is blessing Samuel and cursing Eli and his sons. Let's look quickly. Point three on your notes, the judgment of his God. We looked at the sins of his sons, the nature of his neglect, the judgment of his God. Verse 27, the man of God came to Eli, said to him, thus says the Lord. Did I not clearly reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt and Pharaoh's house? Did I not choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon my altar to burn incense and to wear an ephod before me? Did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? Why, Eli, do you kick at my sacrifice and my offering, which I have commanded in my dwelling place and honor your sons more than me? God says, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel, my people. So in verses 27 to 29, the Lord sets in motion here the wheels of his judgment and he gives reasons for why. He rebukes here through the means of a man of God and in that way it often happens. You know, when David sinned, Nathan the prophet comes along, right? How did David respond to Nathan the prophet? Really important, right? He repented. We see that, the repentance of David is written on the pages of the scripture and in the Psalms. The people of Israel sang songs about David's repentance throughout history. It's public. It's there. How did Eli respond? We'll see that in a moment. So, a rebuke comes through the man of God. But two, the reason for it is because Eli here has despised God's grace to him. It's, you know, Eli is thankless and he's faithless. God says to him in verse 28, did I not choose him? Karen is specifically spoken of here. Of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me. Did I not give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? In other words, we're the same way, listen. We need to be thankful. We need to cultivate hearts of gratefulness to God. When you find yourself in sin, a great motivation to turn from your sin and repent is all that God has done for you. A great motivation to abstain from sin, to keep yourself holy before the Lord is all that God has done for you in Christ. Think about the cross. Think about what Christ has, he gave his life to die for sinners. And so how can we live any longer in sin, as Paul would ask later? Eli here is faithless. He doesn't look at the blessings that God has given. He doesn't consider the position of privilege that he's in. Primary motivation for our faithfulness should be all that God has done for us in Christ. The Lord has done. He spared not his own son, right? And here God says in verse 29, you're honoring your sons more than me. It says why do you kick at my sacrifice? That word kick there means to scorn, means to despise. You know, with your kids you're to affirm them when they do well and honor God when they do not by calling them to repentance. Even parents attempt to encourage or even appease their children in those very things that will ultimately lead to their downfall. And I'm going to appease my child by giving him this, that, or the other pleasure in this life. That pleasure just desensitizes them to the things of God, distracts them from the things of God. It's that very appeasement that may ultimately lead to their downfall. Matthew 10.37 says, he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, Christ says. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Here Eli is honoring his sons over God. It may be that Eli enjoyed the pleasure associated with his son's sins. It says here he got heavy, he made himself fat, how? By eating of the meat that the sons collected. Eli's participating. Maybe he turned a blind eye because he just enjoyed that. That happens today too with parents. Listen, you know, I'm going to take our kids, you know, our kids play soccer. Listen, the only time games are on Sunday. And so I'm going to take them out of church every Sunday, take them to soccer tournament, but to neglect the worship of God so they can go to their tournament and your appease, what are you communicating to your kids when that's the kind of Christianity that you live? It's no Christianity at all. Don't appease your kids in that. Teach them to honor the Lord first above all. So judgment inevitably comes. Judgment inevitably comes. There have been opportunities up until now for repentance and mercy. But listen, God is holy. And although now is the time for salvation, today is the day. Now is the time of mercy. The Lord is saving, seeking and saving the lost. There will come a time when holy God will execute judgment. He will not compromise with sin. His spirit will not strain with us forever. There will be a satisfaction of divine justice. Verse 30, therefore the Lord God of Israel says, I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before me forever. Now the Lord says, far be it from me. For those who honor me, I will honor. Those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house. You'll see an enemy in my dwelling place. Now God says, I'll do good to Israel, but not to you. I'm going to judge you. He judges Eli, judges his house by stripping him of the blessings that God had intended for them. Verse 33, but any of your men whom I do not cut off from my altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. All the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age. Sometimes the consequences of your sin, the consequences of your sinful decision follow much later. Now you can expect, you know, it is Solomon in Ecclesiastes chapter 8 that says, because the judgment doesn't follow the act swiftly, it is the intent of man's heart to sin. Thereabouts you can look that up. Judgment is coming. Make no mistake about it. Don't sin with impunity. Repent. Eventually judgment is coming. Verse 34 says, now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, Haphne and Phineas, and one day they shall die, both of them. If you go to chapter 4, verse 10, his sons die in one day. Says there the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated. Every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter. And there fell of Israel 30,000 foot soldiers. And the Ark of God was captured. And the two sons of Eli, Haphne and Phineas, died. That's the word of God being fulfilled, being confirmed. Back in 1 Samuel chapter 2, he says, then, verse 35, I'll raise up for myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what's in my heart and in my mind. I'll build him a sure house. He shall walk before my anointed forever. In the immediate context, that faithful high priest is Samuel, the last judge of Israel. In the ultimate context, that great high priest is who the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus Christ. That's not all. Look at chapter 3. How does Eli respond to the rebuke of the Lord? I'd love to have more time with this. Look at chapter 3, look down at verse 18. Then it happened. After the judgment of God, or this is the judgment of God, look at chapter 3, I'm sorry, verse 18, then Samuel told him everything, hid nothing from him. In other words, the Lord gave him a prophecy that Haphne and Phineas were going to die in one day, that his judgment was going to come on the house of Eli for these generations. How did Eli respond? He said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him. How did David respond? Repentance. How did Eli respond? Resignation, just wicked, unsubmissive, resigned unbelief. And he judges Eli 40. If you look at chapter 4, verse 18, it happened when he made mention of the ark that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate, his neck was broken, and he died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for 40 years. Eli just seems to have done this all his life. Resigned himself to the behavior of his kids. Resigned himself here to the quote unquote fate that's been dealt him by God. And so Eli fails to repent. Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. It would be 113 years later, in 1 Kings chapter 2, the last of the priests of the Eli line would be killed, would be taken out. God fulfills his word. In conclusion, I want you to listen to this from Malachi chapter 4. What does all this mean for us? How are we to respond to this example? Malachi chapter 4 says this in verse 4. Listen, this is the last prophet of the Old Testament, the last prophet prior to the inter-testamental period that 400 years of silence before Matthew. So the last prophet of God, Malachi says this, remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. So he looks backward and he tells us, remember the law of the Lord. Remember his testimonies, remember his statutes, his precepts, live according to the law of Moses. Praise God. You can raise your kids with a word of God in hand according to all that God has instructed you in his law. Look back at the great works of God, all that he has done, all that he has spoken. Look back and remember the goodness and graciousness of God to his people and raise your kids remembering those great works, remembering all that God has done in Christ, remembering the cross, remembering all that Christ has sacrificed, looking back and teaching them the glorious works of Almighty God. But don't simply look back, look forward, that great and dreadful day of the Lord. After that 400 years of silence, there'd be one more prophet that would come, one who would be a voice as one crying in the wilderness. Who's that? John the Baptist. John the Baptist being one who came in the power of Elijah. So being a near fulfillment of this very prophecy, yet there's a far fulfillment still yet to be fulfilled where Revelation chapter 11, the two witnesses I believe where Elijah will come back and fulfill this completely. We're to look forward to that great and dreadful day of the Lord. We're to keep his law as a sign on our hand, as frontlets between our eyes, but we're to look forward to that final victory, that final fulfillment, the final consummation of all things with great hope, with great energy, with great fervency, with great devotion and raise our kids in light of that hope, in light of that victory, in light of that joy. And what is it? Let's talk about it now. What is it? The last thing that the last prophet has to say to us today, it says in verse six, in Elijah's preaching in that day, he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. And he says, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. Remember the law, heed the prophets, meditate on the cross and turn your heart to your children. Turn your heart to your children. Don't neglect them. Don't withhold God's word from them, love them, nourish them, cherish them, care for them. Mom and dad, when your heart is turned toward your children, you love them with understanding. You meet their needs, you know where they hurt, you lift them up. You want to fulfill their hopes, bind up their wounds, calm their fears, strengthen them in weakness. You'll be patient, you'll be gentle, you'll be concerned for their welfare, all of that with passion, but you'll instruct them. You'll correct them, you'll rebuke them, you'll restrain them, you'll discipline them because you love them. Are you compromising in ways that appease your kids and displease the Lord? Are you refusing to restrain them? Are you gonna resign yourself to the status quo in the way things are, like Eli? Or will you repent? Will you turn to the Lord for mercy and help? You know, we can't do this in our own strength. It is impossible. We have the Lord. God has given us grace in Christ to do all that he's commanded. God, command what you will. Because we have the spirit of God in us. We can't do this in our own power. We have to look to Christ. He is our hope, and he's the hope of our children. Don't raise wicked sons and daughters to Eli. But through love, through obedience, raise sons and daughters to Christ for his glory for their good. Amen, amen, let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you so much for the time that we've had. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the blessing of children. God, I pray that we would be faithful to you in this work. It is a glorious work. It's a blessed work, but God, we realize too that it isn't such an important work and we can't do it on our own. We rely upon you. We rely upon the strength that your spirit supplies. God, and we cry out to you for help. Help us, Lord, to be faithful to you in this for your glory and the good of our kids. In Jesus' name, amen.