(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Now, of course, at the end of chapter 1, we saw Hannah dropping off Samuel at the house of the Lord. She had come in the first chapter and prayed because she had been barren. And her husband, Elkhana's other wife, had many children. And so, she'd been begging God to give her a child. God answered the prayer, and she had a son. His name was Samuel. And of course, she loaned him to the Lord, and he was dropped off at the temple to basically work there, and to serve Eli, the high priest. And in chapter 2, verse 1, she begins to praise God and basically do a prayer of thanksgiving here, to thank God for answering her prayer. It says in verse 1, and Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine heart is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Flip over, if you would, to Isaiah, chapter number 43, Isaiah 43. So she's just praising God and thanking God for the answer to prayer, which, by the way, when we pray for something and God answers us, we should take time afterward to thank Him. But there are a lot of interesting things that she says in her prayer that I want to point out. Look at verse number 10 of Isaiah 43, it says, Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed. Neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. Go back to 1 Samuel, chapter 2. So we see there reiterated what Hannah is saying, that there is none holy as the Lord, and there is none beside thee. God said in the book of Isaiah, chapter 45, He said, beside me there's none else. He said, beside me there is no Savior. Of course, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. And so the Bible is clear, there's only one God. And there's only one Savior, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of Mesa, the Mormons, they think that there are many different gods. And they think one day they're going to be their own God of their own planet. But the Bible tells us very clearly that before God, there was no other God formed. And there will never be another God formed again. It says in 1 Timothy, chapter 2, the chapter we just memorized, where there is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Look at verse 3 of verse 2, it says, Talk no more so exceeding proudly, let not arrogance come out of your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumble are girded with strength. And he goes on with this other litany of people being brought low that are rich, people being destroyed that are mighty men. What's God trying to say here? Of course, it's Hannah speaking, but it's the Word of God. It's given by inspiration of the Holy Ghost. You see, God is warning us not to talk proudly, because of the fact that if God hears us talking proudly, he's very able to take us down a notch. Let's say we have a lot of money, and we begin to blow off our mouth and be arrogant, because we think we have a lot of money. The Bible's warning us that God can easily take away all of our money in a moment of time. We might boast and be prideful about our good looks, especially, no, not me. I don't have that problem. But anyway, ladies can sometimes be very vain about their appearance, and maybe look down their nose at someone who is not as beautiful as they are, but God is able to take away and cause the beauty to cease, the Bible says. God's able to take away your money. Maybe you're very strong, and you're tough. Well, God is able to reduce you to nothing in a moment of time. And so we ought to walk humbly before God, knowing that he is the one who gives us the power to get wealth. He's the one who gave us our looks, or our talents, or our ability, or musical ability, a singing voice. God can take away a singing voice. You know, if you were to have a great singing voice and to use it for the wrong reasons, I could see God easily taking away musical talent that he'd given unto someone, if they're not going to use it to praise and glorify God, but they're going to use it for the world. And so the Bible's teaching us here not to be proud and arrogant and boastful, because God could easily bring us down the notch. Any time he wants to, he can cause us to lose everything. Look at Job. He had everything. Ten children, huge amounts of wealth, the respect of his friends, and he lost all of it right away. And of course, he hadn't done anything wrong. God was testing him, but that just goes to show you how God can destroy you whenever he wants to at any time. It doesn't matter how diversified your assets are. I mean, Job's assets were diversified. He had sheep, he had camels, he had oxen, he had employees. He had all different forms of wealth, and yet God was able to just take it away from him instantly. And so we ought never be prideful or arrogant with our mouth, because if God hears that, he might just see fit to take us down a notch and to humble us. And the Bible says, Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, which means to be brought down. But he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. And so we should be humble and not prideful and arrogant. He says, The bows of the mighty men are broken for score, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath bored seven, and she that hath many children has waxed the beetle. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich. He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dung hill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth of the lords. And he hath set the world upon them, and he will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. So we ought to always keep in mind what the Bible says. Promotion cometh from the north. And to realize that God is the one who holds our faith in his hand. And if we please him and seek first the kingdom of God, then all these things will be added unto us, because pleasing God is the only thing that's going to determine the outcome of our life. That's what's going to give us good success. Have we pleased God? Not have we pleased man. And it doesn't matter how much money we make. God can take it all away. It doesn't matter how little money we make. God can give us more whenever he wants to. And so we need to work on pleasing God, and serving him, and obeying him, and putting him first, because he is the one who has the power to bring us up or bring us down any time he wants to. And if we keep that in mind, it would be very easy to seek first the kingdom of God, because it would make the most sense, realizing that he's the one who controls our destiny, and that if we make him upset, then he can easily bring us down, and if we please him, then he can easily lift us up. And so the vice of Jesus said, Fear not, then which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. God is the one who has all power in this world, and he is the only one that we should fear, and he is the one that we should worry about pleasing, because he's the one who controls our destiny. It says in verse number 10, The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall thunder upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his anointed, and exalt the horn of his anointed. That's a prophetic passage right there in verse 10 about the second coming of Jesus Christ, when he's going to pour out his wrath upon this earth. Thunder in the heavens is a thing throughout the myoprofits, and he's going to give his king, the Lord Jesus Christ, his anointed, the kingdom, as a prophetic passage in verse 10 there. It says in verse 11, An Alpena went to Rhema to his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord. Now I want to stop quickly and talk about that praise again. We talked about it last week, but I want to just mention it again. Sons of Belial. It's a term used throughout the Bible. We went through some of the different uses last week, but just a quick review. It's never used about anyone who's saved in the Bible. Every time it's used, it's about people that are unsaved, and it's used about the Sodomites, the queers that were in Judges chapter 19. If you remember when they went around the house and they wanted to attack these two men that were in the house in Judges chapter 19, those perverts there in Judges chapter 19 were called sons of Belial. The Bible talks about in the New Testament Belial as being basically a false god, and so when the Bible talks about sons of Belial, and if we look up every time it's used, it's clear that Belial is a name for Satan, and the sons of Belial are basically the children of the devil or the children of the wicked one, and whenever we see people with that label in the Bible, they are people that have gone way too far with God, and God has basically rejected them, and they're just completely too far gone and wicked. Now, you say, well, I still think there were hope for these guys, because it says in verse 12, the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord. Now, those are two different statements. They didn't know the Lord. Everybody who doesn't know the Lord isn't necessarily a son of Belial, though, are they? No. But these guys were sons of Belial, and they did not know the Lord, and you say, well, I still think that these guys had hope. I still think that they could have, you know, straightened out. Well, look at verse 25. It says if one man sinned against another, the judge shall judge him, but if a man sinned against the Lord, who shall entreat for him notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto the voice of their father. Why? Because the Lord would slay them, and the word would there means he wanted to. He was willing in saying he would slay them. He desired to kill them. So the Bible says there that the reason why they did not hearken to the voice of their father is because God had already made up his mind that he was going to kill them, and so he'd already hardened their heart. That's why they didn't hearken to the voice of their father. Now, I don't think this is that complicated to understand here. I want to break it down to you, because a lot of people get confused on this subject. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Isn't that what the Bible says in 2 Peter 3.9? For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Did Jesus Christ die for everybody? Yes, absolutely. The Bible says he's the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The Bible says he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe. He's the savior of all men. It's not going to do you any good unless you believe, but he tasted death for every man, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews. He died for everybody. Did he love everyone? Yes, he loved the world. He loved the world, and he gave his Son that whosoever believeth in him. The Bible is clear about that, that he's not willing that any should perish, but does that mean that he's forever going to have that attitude toward man? No, because there comes a time where man can push God too far, where it becomes too late for man. Of course, we know that when a person dies without being saved, it's too late for them. When they breathe that last breath without believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's too late. They can no longer be saved, because once they die, they're in hell instantly. We see also in Revelation 22 that a person can tamper with God's Word, either take away from it or add thereto. God says he'll remove their part out of the book of life. Not talking about losing their salvation. No one can lose their salvation. It's everlasting life. It's eternal life. It's impossible to lose your salvation. But he's talking about someone losing the opportunity to ever get saved. That's why he said he'll remove their part out of the book of life. And I don't know, what was it? The part where their name could have been, the place where it would have been, it's gone. It is impossible for that person to change their mind and go back and say, oh, I changed my mind. Now I want to be saved. Well, it's too late for them. Once you tamper with God's Word, he said he'll remove your part from the book of life, from the holy city. It's too late for you. Look at Pharaoh. Pharaoh rejected God. He rejected God's Word. He rejected the prophet of God, Moses. And Pharaoh hardened his heart. But then as we see time go on where Pharaoh continually rejects God and rejects the truth, then the Bible begins to tell us that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. So it's not that God wanted to harden Pharaoh's heart just because he just chose to, before the foundation of the world, he just picked this guy randomly and just hated Pharaoh and wants to just destroy him and send him to hell for no reason. No, Pharaoh had a choice to be saved. Just like I have a choice to be saved. Just like you had a choice to be saved. Pharaoh could have believed on Christ. He could have called upon the name of the Lord. He could have been saved. Judas Iscariot could have gotten saved. Esau could have gotten saved. God doesn't make our choices for us. God gave man free will. And if anyone goes to hell, it's by their own choice that they did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not God just sending them to hell. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. God wants everyone to be saved. But does that mean that God doesn't get to a point with people where he just gets sick of it and says, you know what, I'm going to harden your arm. You pushed me too far. I mean, it got to the point with Pharaoh where any sane person would have looked around and seen all the plagues and what was going on and just finally just let the people go and just said, fine, get out of here. And even his advisors are begging Pharaoh saying, knowest thou not that all Egypt is destroyed? But the reason why Pharaoh would not let them go is because Pharaoh, God wanted to harden Pharaoh's heart and to show him more plagues to destroy him further because he had already made up his mind to destroy Pharaoh. He'd already given him enough chances and decided that's it, Pharaoh's done. And these guys are the same thing. Earlier in life, yeah, these guys could have gotten saved. Earlier in life, they could have changed their ways. Earlier in life, they could have made a different decision. But at this point in their life, it was too late for them. God had already decided that he wanted to destroy them because he was so angry about the wicked abominable sins that they had committed that he finally was just fed up and said, that's it. I am going to destroy you. It's too late for you to change your mind. You pushed it too far. And the Bible calls that being reprobated. He says, reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord has rejected them. You know, God gets to a point where you reject them and you reject them. I'm talking about unsaved people, of course. Reject them and reject them and reject them. And finally, he says, okay, I'll reject you. I'm through with you. And a lot of people say, well, I don't have to leave that. But the Bible tells us that if a person takes the mark of the beast, and of course, that's off in the future, that they will never have an opportunity to get saved after that. The Bible tells us that if a person tampers with God's Word that they'll never have an opportunity to get saved after that. The Bible tells us that a person who blasphemes the Holy Ghost will never have an opportunity to get saved after that and will never be afraid of that. There's so many examples in the Bible of things where people will do something and then God will harden their heart and blind their eyes. Read John chapter 12. It says the same thing. And so I just wanted to point that out about the sons of Belial. These are not just bad guys. These are really bad guys who God has already made up his mind to destroy. Now let's see what some of their sins were. Let's break it down. It says in verse 13, And the priest customed with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething. Now seething means boiling, okay? With a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand, and he stuck it into the pan, or cattle or cauldron or pond, all that the flesh-hook brought up, the priest took for himself. So they did it, Shiloh unto all Israelites that came thither. So this is what they were supposed to be doing. This is what the custom was. They were supposed to burn the fat of the offering as a sacrifice unto the Lord. I was just reading the book of Leviticus yesterday, and it was explaining how they were not supposed to eat the fat from off the offerings. It was supposed to belong to the Lord. And it said that they could use the fat for any other use. So I'm not sure what use they would use maybe to make soap or to make whatever else they would do with the fat. He said they could use it for any other use, but not to eat the fat of the meat of the offerings. So what they would do is they would be boiling this piece of meat, and the priest would stick in basically a big fork because it's a three-pronged utensil, and they would stick in the fork and basically take a chunk of the meat, whatever stuck to the fork, that's what they would take, and that would be their portion to eat for that particular priest that stuck the fork in it. That's what they were supposed to be doing. But look what it says. It says in verse number... Oh, let me find my place here. It says in verse number 15, also before they burnt the fat... Now, get this. Before they burnt the fat, they were supposed to be burning the fat unto the Lord. 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 for thee, of thee but raw. So basically the servants are changing it. Instead of coming after they burned the fat and after they boiled the meat and just grabbing a cooked piece of meat and bringing it unto the priest, instead they said, well, no, he doesn't want boiled meat. He wants a barbecue. He wants it roasted. And he said, he wants it with the fat on it. He wants a roasted piece of meat with fat on it. He doesn't want boiled meat. And of course they knew that that was wrong, so it said in verse 16, and if any man said unto him, let them not fail to burn the fat presently. Basically somebody's disputing, saying, no, you know, let's burn off the fat like we're supposed to according to the Bible. And then take as much as thy soul desires. Then he would answer him, nay, but thou shalt giveth me now, and if not, I will take it by force. Now that's pretty bad, isn't it? So not only are they breaking God's law and taking away what belongs to God, which is the fat of the offering, which was supposed to be a sweet savour unto the Lord, not only are they taking that away, but now they're threatening people who are bringing an offering of their own free will. They've made the decision to bring this offering, and then they're threatening and saying, I'm going to take it by force if you don't give me the peace that I want right now. Who cares what the Bible says? Who cares about the book of Leviticus? Give me the peace that I want right now. Now that's pretty bad. See, the Bible says God loveth a cheerful giver. God wanted people to bring the offering of their own free will. Now, does that mean that they didn't have to? Well, no, God definitely commanded them to bring that offering. It was a command of God, wasn't it? But was it enforced to where somebody would take it from them by force? No. It's just like today. You know, God commands us to bring the tithe, to bring the offering of the Lord. But does that mean that somebody should be taking it by force? Absolutely not. It's a free will offering. It's something that someone brings of their own volition because they want to. It should never be enforced. But these guys are actually extorting from the people and forcing them to give them this piece of meat that's raw because they want a rare barbecued steak. They don't want to just take a boiled piece of meat like they were supposed to take. You say, well, I see their point. That tastes better. Yeah, but it doesn't matter. It's raw. And we shouldn't live to eat. We should eat to live, by the way. But these guys just had a lust for food. We're going to see more about that a little later. It says, wherefore, verse 17, the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord. And here's why. For men abhorred the offering of the Lord. People started to hate bringing their offering because they knew that it was corrupt. They knew that it was not being done properly. They knew that God was not being glorified by this. And they started to hate bringing it up. And I bet you a lot of people just stopped bringing it. And now they're not obeying the Bible. Now they're not obeying God. So it says in verse 18, but Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with the linen he bought. Moreover, his mother made him a little coat and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And Eli blessed Elkena and his wife and said, the Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord. And they went under their own hold. And the Lord visited Hannah so that she could see that there are three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord. So after she had Samuel, after she has five more children right there, three sons and two daughters, God blessed her and answered her prayer. And it says in verse 22, Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So not only are they stealing from the offering plate, as it were, not only are they threatening people who are just bringing a voluntary object, they're threatening them in order to satisfy their lust for food. But now they're committing fornication with the women that assemble at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. I mean, these guys are predators, literally going through the ranks of the church women and trying to commit fornication with them. And by the way, there's nothing new under the sun. There are people like this today. There are many children of Belial today in churches all across America who are stealing from the offering plate, who are committing fornication, who have crept in unawares, the Judas Iscariots of this world. You know, Judas Iscariot was stealing from the offering plate. Did you know that? The Bible says he was a thief, and he had the bag, and he bare what was put there, and Judas was stealing money from Jesus right there. And the Bible warns us in 2 Peter 2 that there will be false prophets and false teachers that will creep in and that they have eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin. That's exactly the type of guys that these were, and we ought to beware and be sober and be vigilant. That's why I don't let my children out of my sight, and I don't just turn my children over to people just because they're from church. You know, a lot of people want you to just drop their children, drop your children off with people that you don't even know just because they're from church. Of course it's safe. I mean, there's a pastor that wanted me to drop off my children at his house. His daughters were going to babysit my children, okay, so that I could have a date with my wife. That's what he's telling me, and I said no thanks because I do not drop off my children with people that I don't know. And guess what? I don't drop off my children with people that I do know. You know, I mean, we pretty much just take care of our own children because we don't want to just turn our children over into other people's hands. And so they're either with me or they're with my wife. And here's a concept. When we go on a date, we just bring our children with us. And we have fun with the children, you know? Or we wait till they're in bed for the night, and we'll just have a little takeout at home or something, you know? But we don't need to sit there and just drop off our children constantly with babies since we are living in perilous times. There have always been this type of people, but today it's way worse. And that pastor who wanted me to drop off my children at that later turned out to be a predator and later turned out to blow his own brains out. And so therefore, I was praising God and thankful that I had the wisdom to know just because someone is a Baptist pastor or just because someone is a Christian, quote, unquote, or goes to church or we know these people doesn't mean that they're safe. And, you know, it's not a popular thing for me to get up and preach that, but it could save your child from being defiled. It could save your child from being violated today in 2011 where every day these type of things are commonplace. And it's a scary thing, the amount of predators that are out there and the amount of violation that takes place. I mean, just talk to people and the horror stories go on and on and on. Hey, I don't want to be a part of that statistic. And therefore, I don't turn my children over to other people. And obviously, when they're little kids, obviously when they get much older, they slowly get more and more freedom. But you know what? When they're little kids, man, you better watch them like a hawk. And I keep watching them as long as you can and watch them like a hawk. You say, oh, you're paranoid. No, I'm being realistic here. Open the newspaper. Open the Bible. I mean, these kind of people creep in and they are there beguiling unstable souls. And so these guys are fornicators and they're actually using church. I mean, think about how wicked this is. They're using church to satisfy their lust of fornication. I mean, it's bad enough to go to a bar and go fornicating and to go to a wicked institution to find women to fornicate with, but to use church as the place where you're going to find women to gratify the flesh. This is disgusting. This is wicked. This is abomination. You can see why God wanted to kill these guys. Does this certainly make sense now? And so it says that they did that and he sent them to them. This is Eli, verse 23. Why do ye such things? For I fear of your evil dealings by all these people. Now, let me just expose over the next few verses Eli's failure as a parent. Because Eli was a complete failure as a parent. You say, well, it wasn't his fault. God blames him in chapter 2 and God's going to blame him again in chapter 3. God held Eli responsible and said it was Eli's fault that his children turned out that way. Now, Eli was not a wicked man. Eli was not a son of Belial. Eli was a good guy, but he had a few faults that caused him to fail as a parent and to raise these wicked sons of Belial as his children. First of all, look what he says in verse 24. Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear. You make the Lord's people to transgress. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him. But if a man sin against the Lord, what will they seek for? Notwithstanding, they hearted not of the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them. First of all, look at what he's doing here. No, son, no, no. He's basically just trying to reason with them and explain to them and try to get them to see why what they're doing is wrong. That's not the right mode of parenting. And by the way, this is way too late. You should have done it a long time ago. That's why the Bible says, While there is hope. Here comes a point where there's no more hope for these guys. Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. For if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell. The Bible tells us that before it's too late, we need to apply the rod. We need to discipline our sons. The Bible says a servant will not be corrected with words. For though he understand, yet will he not answer. The Bible is clear that words are not enough to correct. A wayward child or even an adult, even a wayward servant, the Bible says, is not going to be corrected with words. And here Eli is trying to reason with these children of Beed. They don't care what he says. And as many parents say, they think that they're going to reason with their child and not spank, not discipline, but just reason with them and just explain it to them. Guess what? It doesn't work. Guess what? Timeouts don't work. This Barney and Friends, Sesame Street, Dr. Spock parenting is not biblical. The Bible says, He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteth him betimes. Betimes means early. The Bible says, The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself caused his mother shame. And so Eli here is trying to argue with his sons and explain it to them. What they needed was a swift kick in the pants. They didn't need an explanation of what they were doing wrong. You see, I teach and train my children what's right and wrong. I preach from the pope what's right and wrong. But then on a daily basis, you know, my wife and I are teaching them the Bible, teaching them right from wrong, teaching them good and evil, and trying to guide them and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But let me explain something to you. When my children do wrong, I don't sit down with them and have a discussion with them and explain to them why what they did was wrong. You know why? Because 99% of the time, they already know why what they did was wrong. Think about it. And yet you see parents go through it. You know, they sit down with their children. Now, son, you know, didn't you know that you weren't supposed to punch your sister in the face? Yeah, that's right. Hmm, let me think. Now, son, are you supposed to be doing that? You know, and they basically reason with the child, and there's all kinds of fad. What's this new fad that's coming out, this attachment parenting? Is that what it's called? Attachment parenting is the new thing. No consequences. Don't use consequences. And they're not even talking about spanking. Just no bad consequences. You just reason with them. I mean, have you ever tried to sit down with a one-year-old, a two-year-old, or a three-year-old and tried to just reason with them? It's kind of an exercise of futility. You know, you sit there, and you're trying to explain it to them, and you're saying, do you understand what I'm saying? You know, and your one-and-a-half year-old's just, Boo. Son, do you understand the fact that if one man's sinned against another, you know, the judges are going to be there, but if he's sinned against the Lord, nobody's going to entreat for you, son? Boo. You know, it's just dumb to sit there and argue with somebody who's clearly wrong. I mean, do you think these guys needed to be explained why they shouldn't commit fornication with all the women in church? Now, son, let me explain that to you. Now that you're a grown man, now that you're an adult, now that you grew up in church your whole life, I'm going to explain to you why you shouldn't be fornicating with all the women in church. Don't you think they already knew that that was wrong? Don't you think they already knew that they weren't supposed to take the raw meat and eat the fat? They already knew that. They didn't care. They're doing wrong because they want to do wrong, because they're sinning, because they're choosing to do wrong. And children will do wrong if left to themselves. The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him. And so children need to be disciplined because those negative consequences are teaching them and showing them that there's someone who's going to give them even worse consequences someday, and it's God. God is going to punish them even worse. And so they need to learn that as their human father punishes them, that is a picture of the fact that God's going to punish them someday. These guys didn't think God was ever going to punish them. You know why? Because Dad never punished them. And because Dad never punished them, they just assumed that their father in heaven, who was not their father, of course, but who was obviously the father of all flesh, he is not going to punish them either because of the fact that he is just like their dad. He's just a big, fat slob who won't get off his rear end and go punish them. And that's what the Bible says about Eli. It says that he was a very heavy man. And look later. You say, well, I don't think he should call him fat. Well, look a little bit later. God calls him fat. Go a little bit later in the passage here in chapter 2. It said in verse number 29, wherefore kick ye, ye is plural, of course, wherefore kick ye in my sacrifice and in my offering, which I have commanded in my invitation, and honorest thy sons. That's singular. He's saying, just to Eli specifically, thou honorest thy sons above me to make yourselves, plural, fat. See? He said, you are making yourselves fat with the cheapest of all the offerings of Israel and my people. So basically, he's too busy getting fat to get off his backside and to go discipline his children. He just wants to verbally rebuke them. And you know, people who are lazy are not going to do a good job at child rearing because child rearing is hard work. It's hard work. One child, two children, four children. I have six children. I mean, that's a lot of work. And to discipline six children. You know, the temptation is there not to discipline your children because there are so many times when one of the six is doing something wrong. You know, obviously, the youngest is too young to really do anything wrong at this point. But the other five will do wrong and get into trouble. And the temptation is there to just yell at them from across the house. Hey, shut up back there! Hey, hey, hey! You know, throw something. No. Because, you know, it's like, stop everything and go discipline. Stop everything and go spin. You know, the temptation is just to just name my sons, name my sons. It's no good report that I hear from back in the bedroom. Oh, no. No. You know, you've got to take the work and the initiative to get up and to go discipline them. And it's hard work, but you've got to do it. It's the job of being a parent. It's hard work. Eli wouldn't do it. And it seems to me that Eli was complicit in this whole fatty meat scandal because he's eating it, too. Because it says that they were making themselves fat with the cheese and the avocado. So he's like, oh, son, you're not supposed to be doing that, but would you pass the chops again? You know, since you did... I mean, now that you've done it, I guess we'll all just barbecue this up and eat it. I guess it's too late now. The guy's already gone. Let's just eat him. So we see Eli's failure to discipline because later in chapter 3, God's going to say that he restrained them not. He did not stop them. He did not stop them from doing the wrong thing. And, yeah, okay, they're grown men. They're adult men. But they weren't always adults. They were children. And he let them go and let them go, and they got worse and worse and worse, from doing wrong. He didn't physically stop them and discipline them like he should have. But his second failure in parenting was that he failed to be the right example. He set a bad example by making himself fat by basically unrestrained, unbridled gorging of his flesh with fatty meat, okay? He set the example for his sons who grew up, and they did the same thing, right? They gratified the flesh with all the fat and just gluttony there, but then they took it to another level. They decided they're going to gratify another appetite too. And that was their appetite for fornication, the lust of the flesh. You see, what the parents do in moderation, the children will do in excess. You see, Eli committed a sin that we would look at and think, oh, that's not really that big of a sin. Now, obviously, stealing from God was a big sin, but what I mean is just overeating of fatty foods. We wouldn't really look at that and just condemn somebody and just think that they're, you know, you son of Belial. You know what I'm saying? Somebody's got, you know, their two Big Macs and their fries and their big extra-large Coke, you know, from McDonald's, and they're just eating Little Debbie's. We're not going to say, get the hints, thou son of Belial. You know, what are you doing? You reprobate. You know, you're wicked. We look at that and consider that, okay, yeah, gluttony's a sin, but it's a minor sin. No big deal. That's the way we would look at it, especially today in 2011. We'd say, eh, no big deal. Eat up, buddy. You know, when life's short, eat up. But in reality, though, the problem with letting the so-called little sins into our life, though, is that what we do in moderation, the children will take it to the next level. We have a sin that we think, well, that's not that bad if I just binge on, you know, fat and pork rinds and whatever and McDonald's and eat a bunch of junk. Who cares? No big deal. But then we see our children, they might grow up and do the same thing, but then they might just gratify other appetites, you know, and that's why I try to be aware of that. You know, I try to look for these things. If I were to see my children stealing cookies from the cookie jar, for example, you know, that takes place. Kids, are you listening? Yeah, stealing cookies from the cookie jar. Sorry, I got to deal with some stuff in my own family right now. You know, stealing candies, stealing chocolate, stealing cookies, stealing sweets. You know, you might look at that and say, oh, no big deal. But you know what, I want to punish that because if they can't control their appetite, how are they going to control their other appetites when they grow up? Think about that. If they just have no control, just if it feels good, I'm going to eat it. If it tickles my tongue, even if mom and dad have said, no, I'm going to do it anyway because it feels good, guess what, that's going to lead to other wicked appetites that are going to be fulfilled later in life. And so we need to teach our children to restrain their appetites, to restrain themselves. You know, and we all, you know, I used to sneak when I was a little kid, I used to sneak those little Farley's fruit snacks. Who knows what I'm talking about? Farley's, yeah, a couple people. This little Farley's fruit snack came in three flavors, grape, cherry, and strawberry. I like grape and cherry the best. And we were allowed to have one per day. But we would sneak more. And we, you know, we got busted. We got spanked for it. I mean, I got spanked for it. You know, my parents did not use Eli's method of parenting. I mean, they spanked me hard for stuff like that. And so we got busted for that, and, you know, I'll bust my children for that because it's important that we restrain ourselves and restrain our appetites. And I'm not trying to put you on some weird diet or something, but I'm just explaining to you that we shouldn't be, I mean, gluttony is in the Bible, right? Even if you may not hear a priest staring off in a wreck. I mean, it is a sin, right? I mean, isn't it a sin to anybody out there? You know, the Bible says that we should eat for strength and not for drunkenness. We shouldn't just eat to gratify the flesh. We should eat to give us strength. And we should not just gorge ourselves. And, I mean, some people eat themselves sick. Just, they're sick, and they're still just... Ah. They're just eating. And so we have to be careful with that because we don't want to raise Hoth and I in phineas. And so we see Eli's failure to discipline, number one, and then we see Eli's failure to be a good example. Do as I say and how as I do is not going to work as a parent. You've got to set the example, Eli. And, Eli, if what they're doing is wrong, why do you keep eating all that fatty meat that they're bringing home when you know that they stole it? Why don't you throw it in the pot and boil it first and, you know, burn off all the fat and then boil it up and eat it like that? No, because you like it the same way they like it because, guess what, they learned it from you. Except they became far more wicked. How many examples of people in the Bible... Look at David. Did David have one wife or more than one wife? More than one wife. He had more than one wife. And what did his son do? Couple wives like David? You know, David had a few wives. He says, hey, Dad can have, you know, a few wives. I'm going to have 700. Right? Why not? I mean, if you can have seven, God said one. God said one man and one woman, you know, should cleave together and become one flesh. And so if David can have seven, why can't Solomon have 700 and 300 concubines to boot? You see, what the parents do in moderation, the children will do in excess. And so we need to be careful what sins we allow into our house and allow into our lives knowing that our children will take it to the next level. And they'll do it even worse than what we have done. And that was what Eli's other failure was. Let's hurry up and finish the chapter quickly here. We already jumped forward a little bit to a few passages, but... It says in verse 27, there came a man of God unto Eli and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord. So now a prophet or a preacher is rebuking Eli to his face. Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt and Pharaoh's house? And did I choose him out of all tribes of Israel to be my priest? To offer upon my altar to burn incense to wear an ephod before me? And did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me forever. But now the Lord saith, Be it far from me. For them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. That's a two-way street with God. You honor God, he'll honor you. You basically ignore God and don't care what he says? Well, then he's going to treat you poorly. And it says in verse 31, Behold, the days come that I will cut off thine arm and the arm of thy father's house, but there shall not be an old man in thy house. And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation and all the wealth which God shall give Israel, and there shall not be an old man in thy house forever. And the man of God, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes and to grieve thine heart, and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age. And this shall be a sign unto thee that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas, in one day they shall die both of them. We're going to see that a few chapters later. And I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in mine mind, and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before mine anointed forever, and it shall come to pass that everyone that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver, and a more soul of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread. And so we see Eli being very sternly rebuked by this preacher. And the guy's not even giving him a chance. He's not even giving him... It's too late. He's already messed up. And he says, Your sons are wicked. They've gone too far. I'm going to destroy them. They're both going to die in one day. You didn't train them right. You didn't restrain them, and you have failed as a parent, and now because of that, your descendants will not carry on the priestly line that they would have carried on. And he made that clear that had Eli done things differently, his posterity would have continued in the priesthood, but because they did this, he had to take that away from them, even though for hundreds of years it would have been passed down in their family. Eventually, later in the book here, as we get into the book of 2 Samuel, I believe, we'll get to the point where... It's either in the end of 2 Samuel or the beginning of 1 Kings, we'll get to the point where his house is completely out of the picture in regard to the priesthood. When David is gone and Solomon takes over, a different priest takes the place there, and his line is over with. And so be careful of letting sin into your life and letting sin into your house because it can cause very bad consequences upon your children. And look, you know, we're using that one example just because that's the example in the Bible, but there are other little type sins that we'll let in and think, oh, this isn't that big of a deal. But yet it can lead our children to think, well, if Mom and Dad don't take God's law seriously, well, guess what? Neither do I. And in fact, if they can break that law, I'm going to break something even bigger. And so let's bow our eyes and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for these stories that you have in the Bible to warn us and to show us that there are serious consequences for our actions. Dear God, help us not to be an Eli or parent. Help us to discipline our children and not to just try to tell them no, but to actually discipline them and train them. And while it's not too late, give them the Word of God and give them training. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.