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

the Bible reads the word of Samuel came to all Israel Israel went out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside Ebenezer and the Philistines pitched in Aphek and the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel and when they joined battle Israel was smitten before the Philistines and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men and when the people were coming to the camp the elders of Israel said wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines let us fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us that when it cometh among us it may save us out of the hand of our enemies so the people sent to Shiloh they might bring from the fence the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts which dwelt between the Cheyabims and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth rang again and when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout they said what meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews and they understood that the Ark of the Lord was coming to the camp and the Philistines were afraid that they said God is coming to the camp and they said woe unto us for there hath not been such a thing heretofore woe unto us who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness be strong and quit yourselves like men oh you Philistines that you be not servants under the Hebrews as they have been to you quit yourselves like men and fight and the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten and they fled every man into this tent and there was a very great slaughter for their fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen and the Ark of God was taken and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were slain and there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head and when he came low Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching for his heart trembled for the Ark of God and when the men came into the city and told it all the city cried out and when Eli heard the noise of the crying he said what meaneth the noise of this tumult and the men came in hastily and told Eli now Eli was 90 and 8 years old and his eyes were dim that he could not see the man said unto Eli I am he that came out of the army and I fled today out of the army and he said what is that they're done my son and the messenger answered and said Israel is fled before the Philistines and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people and I two sons also Hophni and Phinehas are dead and the Ark of God is taken it came to pass when he had made mention of the Ark of God that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck break and he died for he was an old man and heavy and he had judged Israel 40 years and his daughter-in-law Phinehas his wife was with child near to be delivered and when she heard the tidings that the Ark of God was taken that her father-in-law and her husband were dead she bowed herself and travailed for her pains came upon her about the time of her death the woman that stood by her said unto her fear not for thou is born a son but she answered not neither did she regard it and she named the child Ichabod saying the glories departed from Israel because the Ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband and she said the glory is departed from Israel but the Ark of God is taken let's pray do look God thank you for this time we have to congregate and meet to hear your word being preached Lord just please bless the service Lord feel pastor me here with your Holy Spirit as he preaches these truths out of your word Lord we pray this all in Jesus name amen amen okay we are actually gonna continue tonight with the part two on my sermon on Hophni and Phinehas from last week the sons of Belial you guys already got your Father's Day sermon this morning and so we're gonna switch back to just talking about what the Bible says about false prophets tonight and so last week I started off talking about Hophni and Phinehas and how the first point was the fact that they weren't saved and the reason I'm discussing Hophni and Phinehas is to kind of give us an overview of false prophets in the Bible because of the fact that Hophni and Phinehas essentially they fit the description perfectly and they exert a lot of the quote-unquote qualities of a false prophet of an infiltrator and so we want to look at their story here to see how that came about it says here in verse 17 of 1st Samuel chapter 4 and the messenger answered and said Israel's fled from before the Philistines and there have been also a great slaughter among the people and thy two sons also Hophni and Phinehas are dead and the ark of God is taken and it came to pass when he had made mention of the ark of God that he fell down excuse me that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate and his neck break and he died for he was an old man and heavy and he had judged Israel 40 years last week we addressed the fact that Eli who is a prophet of the Lord but he's also a priest of God how he failed as a father to get his son saved and that was the main point that we're trying to get across last week is the fact that you know if we don't work hard at praying for and giving the gospel to our children we can't assume that just because they're coming to church just because they're sitting under the preaching just because they're making great friends at church that somehow we're just gonna relegate that responsibility to someone else and someone else is gonna get them saved you know we should always as parents have the salvation of our children on our minds right the forefront of our minds praying for them daily praying for them weekly and not just praying but actually doing something about it planting seeds of the gospel in their hearts as children so that when they grow up they get ready to get saved they want to call upon the name of the Lord they come to us in confidence wanting to know about salvation and we can get them saved but here we have an example of two quote-unquote Christian children they grew up in a Christian home and in fact we could even say the group enough pastors home right because Eli is the priest of the Lord he's a prophet of God he's there to proclaim the word of the Lord and they didn't get safe but here's the thing is that they went into the ministry they were a part of the priesthood they're fulfilling the duties of a priesthood they're adults they're married they have children but they're wicked false prophets according to this story and it is an example of what happens when children grow up in church in a house of God but their parents fail to teach them the ways of the Lord they fail to give them the gospel they end up becoming some of the worst human beings on the face of the planet okay they become reprobate and in fact you know the the the famous statement made about Hophni and Phinehas is that they're the sons of Eli but that they're also the sons of Belial how can that be well because physically they were the sons of Eli but spiritually they're the sons of the devil because Belial is referring to Beelzebub, Baal it's another way of saying a devil and or Satan and so the Bible is kind of going out of its way to give us that description of these two so that on our end we express no sympathy for them okay because to say that for God to say that they're children of the devil's sons of Satan it's essentially saying that their offspring of iniquity they're wicked individuals they merit no sympathy or empathy and of course you won't be able to express any empathy towards them especially if you've read the story and some of the wicked things that they do but the reason it's telling us here that they're sons of Belial is because obviously if you're a safe person you've read the Bible you understand that a safe person is called what a son of God but as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God even unto them that believe on his name the Bible says it talks about in 1st John chapter 3 it says you know behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God okay and of course what the Bible teaches is that when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ God begets us through the gospel and it's through our belief in Christ that we become children of God now once you become a child of God you can't unbecome a child I know that's not a word but you can't not become a child of God you know you don't lose your salvation you don't you know just he doesn't give you up for adoption or something like that he doesn't disown you once you're a child of God you're always a child of God and here's a great way to say it one saved always saved right and just as your parents will always be your parents or your children will always be your children even if you have some sort of major disagreement with them maybe you don't see eye to eye with them maybe you're in your latter years and as an adult maybe you don't get along with your parents or vice versa it doesn't change the fact that they're still your parents and you're still their child right well like man or spiritually speaking when we're children of God there could be instances where Christians don't see eye to eye with God not because of God but because of them right they're living in disobedience to the Bible they are in rebellion to the Word of God they're not walking with God they're at odds against the Lord per se but it doesn't change the fact that they if they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ then there will always be the sons of God and the Bible tells us whom the Lord loveth he chasing and scourges listen to this every son who need receive it so a great indication that you're a child of God is if you're in rebellion you know what happens God chastises you he spanks you he punishes you now I don't think you need to go live a life of rebellion to prove that right you know a great way to prove that you're saved is the fact that you know the Bible tells us that the spear bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God you know if you are if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and you believe what the Bible says you know that the Holy Spirit of God dwells within you that's proof enough obviously there's people out there that doubt their salvation sometimes because of the fact that maybe they're involved and a lot of sin they've been at a church for a long time and they can allow doubts thoughts of doubts to arise because they're not putting the truth in they can often you know doubt their salvation to question whether they're saved or not but here's the thing is that when you approach that person and tell them what the Bible says about salvation they'll be in 100% agreement I've talked to many people and they'll say well I know that I'm saved I'm just really backslid right but no person will say well actually I've decided to convert to becoming a child of a child of the devil you know I'm now a child of Satan or something okay or a safe Christian will never hate the Lord okay and in fact you know backslidden Christians will often be extremely grieved over their backslidden state even if they're trying to promote to you that they're like oh I'm living you know a great life and I'm being successful still folks when they led their when they lay their head on their pillow at night they're grieved they are filled with sorrow and depression because if the Spirit of God dwells within you you're grieving the Holy Spirit of God you know the truth you know that you're not living a life that's pleasing unto you and here's the thing you know the Bible says taste and see that the Lord is gracious and anybody who's gotten saved has seen and has tasted of the graciousness of God and you know when you're backslidden you miss that when you're out of God's will you're out of church and you're just not living right you miss fellowship with God even if you've never had it in a in a deep manner per se you know what it's like to fellowship with the Lord in prayer in your Bible reading you know what it's like to have God you know touch your heart through the preaching of God's Word or through a verse in the Bible you know the feeling when you know the Word of God resonates with your spirit and you're like man I'm a child of God I'm saved I have God as my Heavenly Father you know backslidden Christians miss that and people can't tell me that they don't you can revel and enjoy sin all you want but just remember this is that it's only pleasurable for a season and once that season is over then you remember how much how much you actually missed the Lord and so you know that's a side note there I'm chasing a rabbit there but it's important to mention that when you're a child of God your son of God that never changes okay so obviously you know half name for nahas what I'm trying to say here is that they're not backslidden because they never went forward to begin with you understand because you know you kind of wonder like people who don't believe in the reprobate doctrine they don't believe in what the Bible teaches about the systematic doctrine of reprobation you kind of wonder like how do you interpret God calling Hophni and Phinehas children of Belial and then I mean the only thing I can think of that they would even dare to say is like oh they're just backslidden or something but nowhere in the Bible does it refer to backslidden Christians as children of Satan okay and so you know these men are not backslidden they're very much demon possessed per se okay and have lost out on their opportunity to be safe and you're like well you know people should pray for people like that but here's the problem and you have to understand the way the truth works okay because the way God you know gives truth to someone is that obviously he gives it to them over a length of time and there comes a point where a person tastes of the heavenly gift they're on the brink of salvation the truth of the gospel and salvation heaven and hell the free gift of salvation is made abundantly clear to them and everyone here who saved knows that there is a point when you're on that brink and your eyes were enlightened you taste of the heavenly gift like you understand what the gospel is and every single one of you crossed over in belief you're like whoa free whoa I'm going to hell whoa you know eternal life I'm crossing over I want that but you have to understand is that there's certain people who chose not to cross over and when we're talking about that line we're talking about just the explicit truth where you're no longer confused about the truth because I'm sure those people here myself included in times past where we didn't know the gospel 100% where it was given to us and almost like in dark sayings and parables we heard it differently from different people and we were just still dark into that truth and you know that's different if you're not confused this person these individuals they come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ they know exactly what God has to offer they know exactly what their condition is and you know what they say I don't want it and then they begin to hate God believe it or not in their hearts at which point God removes their ability to believe they become what the Bible calls reprobates or as we see in this particular story sons of Belial okay and so Hophni and Phinehas are not saved they're sons of Belial and unlike most false prophets who seek to infiltrate a church these actually spawn from the house of God itself because you know you think of false prophets you think of all people who are trying to infiltrate wolves who are trying to get into the church right and that very much exists you know you have people wicked individuals who try to make it through the doors of a church move up in leadership position or just gain the confidence of the people via relationships and flattery and all types of other tactics and methods and then what do they do that for to try to take advantage of the innocent those are infiltrators right these aren't necessarily infiltrators they actually spawn within the house of God and how do they do that well like I mentioned Eli not making sure that his children get safe and here's how you can make sure your children will never become reprobate get them safe if your kids are just saved you know I mean that's the most important thing because if your child is saved when they grow up and yeah maybe they make may make some bad decisions they may do some stupid stuff but you know at the end of the day because they're children of God God will work at getting them back on course God is gonna work in their hearts you know the parents greatest fear is that our children will make bad decisions in life that will affect them greatly as adults you know we as parents we're just you know and my kids are still small but I think about their future I think about who they're gonna marry I think about you know what are they gonna choose to do for the rest of their lives that's important to me and I worry about that but at the end of the day you know all I can do is pass on the faith of salvation pass on the faith of what the Bible says and hope they make the right decisions but if they don't they're still accountable to God and I have to recognize that at the end of the day God loves them more than I love them right God thinks upon them like my son Bruce he's my son but at the end of the day like my God is actually his God though because he's saved like Jesus Christ is his his personal Savior not just mine but his personal Savior right like when my son reads the Bible he's walking with God alone with not with me not with mom not with anybody else like he when he prays he's praying unto the Lord himself right so we have to understand that we can do all we can on our part but if they're saved we never have to worry that they become a half an infinite house okay now let me read to you from acts 20 in verse 29 in regards to this point of them not infiltrating but spawning from within the house of God it says for I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the fall but not sparing the flock who is that the infiltrators because it says grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock but then it also says also of your own selves it says shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them so there you have those who actually spawn within the house of God and potentially this could be like an example of half named Pena house where people grow up in church they never get saved and they end up becoming spots in your Feast of Charity as we're gonna see in just a bit now another thing that we mentioned that I'm gonna spend a little more time on this evening is the fact that half named Pena house were incontinent okay and explained it in continent means without restraint meaning they had no self-control now look don't apply this to yourself because I know a lot of us sometimes don't have self-control okay you know I'm off the cut and I have to work at self-control that's probably why I got sick in the first place okay it's just like French toast all the fixings and you know probably draw my mess up my immune system I don't know well you know you know what I mean there's instances where we may not have self-control over what we eat right you know or am I alone on that you know can I get an amen please good night you know you're all gluttons in here but you know you know there's instances where you may not have self-control with the energy drinks with the food that you all can now I get now see now I hit the button with the energy drinks with the coffee with the sweets with the fast food there's a lot of things that people just don't have self-control over right that's this is different than what we're talking about here this is an incontinent quality where they can't restrain themselves from doing wickedness okay you know eating McDonald's food is not wickedness okay because neither if we eat or read the better neither read a real the worse all right but but here's the thing when it talks about incontinent it's always in context of actually reprobates and false prophets because incontinence actually the word is actually found in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and 2nd Timothy chapter 3 gives this description of what it's gonna be like in the last days and it kind of gives the characteristics of the people who will essentially be in society and one of the characteristics is that they're gonna be incontinent without restraint they just give themselves over to the most perverse wicked vile actions okay so incontinent means without restraint lascivious with no moral boundary and we looked at the example with Hophni and Phinehas where they were responsible for doing the animal sacrifices as the priests were and so people would bring them the animal sacrifice but the instructions that God gave in Leviticus chapter 6 7 you'll see a number chapter 6 as well that God would tell them hey you know the breast and the shoulder are for the priests and but the priests are not allowed to eat the fat now we're in the New Testament so we can participate of the fat amen and that's delicious and God allows that every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused amen but in Old Testament Levitical law the priests were not supposed to eat the fat there was actually they're actually supposed to burn the fat on the altar and so the manner in which they would do that is they would put it in a cauldron you know and and boil it so then it would separate the fat from the meat and once it was separated they would give that portion of the meat to the priests and then they would roast it and then they can eat it that was their inheritance they can eat that and share that with their families and obviously the fat was supposed to be taken and burned on the altar well we have this instance with Hophni and Phinehas where it's being sodden it's being boiled and then they come and they're just like sticking their forks in there and just pulling it out whatever is there and then he even has the gall and it doesn't say who was specifically but he's a servant of one of the priests Hophni and Phinehas he even has the gall to say don't give it to me sodden and he's like just give it and the guy's just like whoa before you take it let it let us burn the fat presently first and he's just like I don't want it sodden I don't you know give it to me raw or I'll take it by force so he's violating he's committing sacrilege with the animal sacrifices because he's disobeying he's having disregard for the animal sacrifices he's disobeying the law that they're not supposed to participate of the fat and then on top of that they're eating it raw liver king style you know he's just taking it raw what does that show it shows that they're incontinent and it's my personal opinion and I think you could prove it with the scripture is that you know these guys were probably major gluttons so how do you know well because their father was a glutton he said how do you know his father was a glutton because he died because he was really heavy he fell off the back of his seat or he fell off his seat backwards and it snapped his neck and it said because he was very old but then it also says because he was also very heavy so all the weight that fell upon him ended up snapping his neck and he died so if this man is heavy he probably produced very heavy children as well who were incontinent and obviously Eli is saved but what he did in moderation they're doing it in excess so they're incontinent they're taking the meat by force and the Bible tells us in Philippians chapter 3 now turn with me if you would go to Jude if you would go to the New Testament hold your place there in 1st Samuel we're gonna come back to that let me read to you from Philippians chapter 3 in verse 17 it says brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensemble for many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind not earthly things I believe he's all he's referring to what he addresses at the beginning of the chapter which are the workers of iniquity and false prophets the Bible also says in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse number 3 without natural affection truce breakers false accusers incontinent fierce I'll take it by force despisers of those that are good traders heady high-minded lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God okay look at Jude 1 verse 12 again this is in context of false prophets it tells us here these referring to false prophets are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear clouds they are without water carried about of winds trees whose fruit withereth without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots well in 1st Samuel 2 we actually see that Hophni and Phinehas forcibly take raw flesh with no fear of consequence so when it says like they feed themselves without fear I mean folks these men should have fear that God's gonna strike them dead for defiling and dishonoring the position of a priest but they're just like taking it they're not afraid that something's gonna happen to them why because they're feeding themselves without fear they don't care about the consequences because you wonder like how are these false prophets in these churches just doing all these perverse acts and they're not like afraid yeah they're not the conscience is completely removed because you think to yourself well if I was in that position I'd be afraid that God would do something to me well that's because you're a safe person and we have the fear of God in our hearts you hear about pastors doing some of the craziest stuff out there coming to preach while they're intoxicated you know a day after they gambled and slept with prostitutes and did all types of wicked he's like how can you do that and not be afraid that God's not gonna strike you dead the moment you open your mouth it's because they you know they feed themselves without fear they don't think about the consequences because the conscience is no longer there to tell them hey this is wrong they're just associating their ungodly lustre incontinent here in Jude it states that these infiltrators false prophets are spots in our feasts of charity what does that referring to well when you look at the phrase or the word spots obviously a synonym for this in the Bible and second second Peter chapter 2 are blemishes spots and blemishes right and when you read for example Ephesians chapter 5 when discussing washing the church with the water of the word it tells us that he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holding without blemish so I believe what this is saying here is that it's the spot the blemish can either be referring to just you know unpunished sin or people that are just given unfettered access where they are committing sins and nothing's being done about it okay now you wonder why is it the churches don't talk about false prophets I'll tell you why because there's a bunch of them in those churches the churches are just spotted with false prophets just doing all types of wickedness and you know that's not God's will God's will is not that we tolerate the false prophet because according to Ephesians he wants us to wash the church with the water of the word that it may be without spot or wrinkle meaning that there's no blemish it doesn't mean that it's perfect without error it just means that you're keeping it clean it doesn't have leaven or those who are promoting leaven spreading leaven in the church you understand what I'm saying and so when the Bible says in Jude that these are spots in your feast of charity it's almost as if these people are there in in some instances they crept in unawares but in other instances like Christians know that they're there and look I've been to churches where you meet people who you would say this person's a false prophet and no one does anything about it the pastor is just like yeah he's just a little off you know yeah he's kind of weird we're trying to work with him you know oh yeah he has some weird views about the Trinity or something he doesn't believe in the Trinity you know oh yeah he has some weird views about this and that or the other and it's like all essential doctrines of the faith and they're just like but you know okay then that's a spot in your feast of charity and this is why they go there they feed themselves without fear they're not afraid of any consequence that's gonna come upon them how does Hoffney and Phinehas get away with this well first of all their dad is letting them get away with it he's not restraining them so the Bible says but also no one's saying anything it's not is there not a prophet in the land that can just like say something about it it looks like the only guy who had the gall to actually call something out was the one who's separating the fat from the meat where he's like hey let us just burn the fat presently and then he got threatened and then he just shut up after that but even then no one said anything else spots in your feast of charity it goes on to say that they themselves without fear meaning they're shameless they can't blush what if you know there's someone in our church let's say you know and I don't think there's a Judas here or anything but let's just let's pretend a month from now we find out there's like a Judas at our church you know and they get booted or whatever and and you kind of think yourself that's weird how did that person how's that person able to like stay here for so long and let's not know that this person's a wicked individual because of the fact that they behave themselves shamelessly they don't like react to anything you know they're not necessarily like scared that you're gonna find out who they really are now this is not you know God's not saying this so that we become like the police in church who's a false prophet look at me when I'm talking what do you think about this you need to start questioning people you know the Bible tells us that these shall proceed no further so you know I know people get paranoid about false prophets sometimes and you know they start you know when you have a hammer everything looks like a nail everyone becomes a reprobate we don't want to be a church where we think just every Tom Dick and Harry is a reprobate or something you understand you know what I'm saying he said well then well what are we gonna do then like if there's a reprobate well this is God's church and so you know obviously we need to like rely on the Lord and just know that God will expose people for who they are and you know not stress about it and go to sleep at night resting our head on our pillow knowing full well that we've done all that we can and by default just love everyone in our church yeah but what if someone takes advantage of my love and and then it becoming a reprobate well it's not in vain in the Lord it's not like God's like oh you love that person you bought them a meal you called them brother I mean if you're ignorant you're ignorant about it you know hey God's not gonna hold you accountable for the things that you don't know about about other individuals you understand so we do what we can with what we know and then just depend on the Lord for everything else and I don't think there's a Judas here anything like that so don't get any ideas it goes on to say that their clouds without water as well and Jude well why does he call him clouds without water well let me read to you from Proverbs 25 verse 14 it says who so boasted themselves of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain so often these are people who are very they come into a church and they are very you know vocal about their gifts or something that they're just you know they are some great one okay they have these very grandiose type of statements types of thing and really what they are is they're clouds without rain because they don't really deliver this is another this is actually a characteristic of a psychopath as well by the way okay psychopath has very grandiose statements they boast of themselves as being some great one or they'll lie about their past of who they are you know things that they're going to accomplish in the future but they're they're doing that in order to gain credibility with you because they want the admiration of the members so that they can take advantage of them it says also that they're carried about of wins what does that mean well you think about Ephesians chapter 4 where it says that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro listen to this carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craft in this whereby they lie in wait to deceit so often false prophets will be individuals who switch from doctrine to from doctrine to doctrine okay here's a good way to explain it they're spiritual grifters you know whatever is popular at the time it's like oh you know Islam was important and now like oh well actually I'm orthodoxy now oh actually I'm Catholic now you know oh and then you know I guarantee if Mormonism becomes popular become Mormon too because they're spiritual grifters you know they don't really have any conviction of what the Bible actually says and then they don't care what the Bible actually teaches they're just kind of carried about of winds okay every wind of doctrine and then it says that they're trees whose fruit wither it without fruit twice dead plucked up by the roots meaning that these are individuals who will be plucked up by the Lord and by the way when it says twice dead that should be an indication right there that they can never be saved why would why would God call them twice dead why would he say that they're twice dead well because every person in this world dies once once they're slain by the law right and if they don't get saved or believe on the Lord Jesus Christ they will suffer the second death which is the lake of fire so the first death essentially happens when you are slain by the law you recognize you're a sinner before God Lord willing you come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and you're born again you know you've heard the statement born once died twice born twice died once so if you get saved you know you don't suffer that second death the lake of fire you don't go to hell well here it says that they're twice dead meaning that God not only views them as being slain by the law but he also views them as what as though they're already in the lake of fire and by the way let me just say this if someone someone who's going to the lake of fire is already blotted out of the book of life only people who are blotted out of the book of life go to the lake of fire understand so what is he saying when he says twice dead it means they're no longer in the book of life and everyone's name starts off in the book of life so there's unsafe people out there their names are in the book of life not because they're saved but because they haven't died without Christ yet or they're not reprobate once they get saved their names are permanently embedded in the book of life and they're no longer removed thereafter and the reason they start off in the book of life is because God's not willing that Amy should perish but that all should come to repentance he wants all everyone to be saved so these are individuals who are twice dead plucked up by the roots let me read to you from Ezekiel 34 verse 10 it says thus saith the Lord God behold I am against the shepherds and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock listen to this neither shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore for I will deliver my flock listen to this from their mouth that they may not be meat for them so it actually says that God's gonna deliver his people from certain shepherds and he says I'm gonna deliver them from their mouth well what's a shepherd doing feeding on the sheep I'll tell you what it's not a shepherd it's a wolf in sheep's clothing he is a hireling he's a wolf who's feeding on the sheep and so a great parallel there with Hofti and Phinehas go back to first Samuel if you would keep your spot there in the New Testament we're gonna come back to that in just a bit so they're incontinent meaning they have no restraint they're going there and just taking the meat they have no conscience the Bible tells us also in 1st Timothy chapter 4 that they had their conscience is seared with the hot iron that's why they can't really distinguish between good and bad that's why they're capable of doing some of the most heinous crimes because it doesn't bother them number two regarding Hofti and Phinehas this is very important they're actually the ones who give God or give God's religion a bad reputation it's not us it's not the hard preachers it's not the hard preaching it's the false prophets people often accuse hard preaching as being the culprit responsible for a bad testimony okay but it's actually the false prophets who are giving Christianity a bad rap and you know look look what it says in chapter 2 if you wouldn't chapter 2 of 1st Samuel and look at verse 17 of chapter 2 this is after the sacrilege of the Lord's offering here it says in verse 17 wherefore the sin of the young men was very was very great before the Lord for men abhor the offering of the Lord so after a while people are just like man I don't even want to go offer an animal sacrifice anymore because we're mistreated there they're just rude they're just taking the stuff they're they're causing men to sin you know and and so and then notice it doesn't say they'll pour them they'll pour that offering of the Lord it's not right they should be a boring Hofti and Phinehas there's nothing wrong with the offering of the Lord there's nothing wrong with the way things are being done nothing wrong with the operation what God's institution of the animal sacrifices where is the fault the fault is in Hofti and Phinehas the only people bothered by hard preaching is lukewarm watered-down Christians let me just be honest with you you know sometimes Christians say you shouldn't preach like that you shouldn't say those words you're gonna cause people to get away from church cause people to get away from the Bible you're gonna offend people and people are not gonna come to church but literally that's never happened and people have this misconception that we want to force people in our church I'm not trying to force anybody to stay in our church I like when people come you know of their own will right like why would I want people to come to this church who don't want to be in this church now if your parents come here and you're forced to be here sorry man that's you know that's your that's your law in life okay but here's the thing if you're a grown man you know you have a choice to go to come or go to stay here or go find another church you're like oh man I got offended at that sermon well here's the great thing about getting offended at a sermon at a church you can go to another church you can literally go find another church and and you'll never have to listen to me ever again the only people who come to our church are people who actually enjoy the preaching who agree with the content who have been edified by the content and so when people say are you gonna scare people away like that you know people aren't gonna get saved wrong because we've seen thousands of people saved in our ministry and if God tells us to lift up our voice like a trumpet cry out loud and spare not show my people their transgressions if he says to reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine but you say I shouldn't do that I need a side with what the Lord says and not do it the way you say it okay but let's just be honest the majority of people who say that about hard preaching are lukewarm Christians or they're just like not saved you know they're just maybe they're even half name for any house they're lukewarm watered down and they think well you're not gonna reach people that way wrong we are gonna reach people that way but even even if that were true even if it were true that we're not gonna reach people that way it's still right to preach that way because that's how God wanted us to preach so if God says this is the description here your responsibilities I have no right as his employee to say well I'm gonna do it a different way because I think the company would you know benefit from a lot softer position or something like that you know he'd fire me he's like this is your job this is the description this is what you preach the entire Council of God and that's it and let God take care of the rest but the truth is listen to me the truth is there will always be people who come to our church because there will always be people who love the truth there will always be people who love hard preaching there will always be people who are attracted to biblical preaching and so there would never be a scarcity of people who want to hear this kind of preaching right and and here's another thing is that at the end of the day do we really want lukewarm Christians in our church you know that Luke having an apathetic attitude towards the things of God is very contagious so when you have a group of apathetic people towards the things of God that spreads in the church and then after a while you have the church at Laodicea now I'm all for bringing the lukewarm Christian and then they get fired up in our church but I'm not for producing lukewarm Christians or Christians that you know are watered down there's always gonna be someone who wants the truth who wants the preaching who appreciates you know the unfiltered message of the Word of God we don't give God's religion a bad reputation there's plenty of people that could attest to the fact that their lives were changed through heart preaching my life included and if it wasn't for our preaching that's just a hard preaching from the new IP just from fundamental Baptists in general who helped me clean up my life they helped me to get right with God they helped me to stay on the path love righteousness to have love in my heart and compassion and mercy and have a heart for souls and a heart for people that's all been done through the fundamental Baptist movement well I'm just saying though if you don't give Hophni and Phinehas a chance though if we don't give Hophni and Phinehas a chance then you know what's gonna happen no one's gonna get molested in our church because Hophni and Phinehas are lain with the women who assembled at the house of God you say who's really then who's giving you know Christianity a bad rep how about Robert Morris who is the pastor of Lakeview Church in Texas and it just came out that he's molesting 12 year olds in the 80s it's a pastor he's he's Trump's spiritual advisor now when I heard the news oh for like a split second I was like that makes sense this guy's preaches a false gospel you know this is that is the characteristic of what something like that would do someone he was a Zionist a major Zionist dispensationalist you know Trump's advisor preaches a false gospel all of the ingredients that makes up a wicked person and then you know the article that I read I hated the article because it's like oh his moral failure that's not a moral failure you know cheating on your spouse okay moral failure it's called adultery though but you don't call molesting a child moral failure that's called perversion it's called reprobation and it's not like pray for Robert Morris because he had this moral failure folks last week I talked about Jack Scott who's guilty of the same thing and you know what you know why people don't like Christian churches is because of those guys and it's because of churches that defend those guys I'm sure there's some Southern Baptist Church the same pray for Robert Morris to be restored and pray that he gets right with God and they repent oh he's so brave for coming out and you know facing the allegations or whatever nonsense the guy is a wicked pervert he's a hofni infinites house he is a reprobate he's an infiltrator who took advantage of the innocent and he's not saved he's twice dead plucked up by the roots because no child molester is a saved person child molesters can't get saved they're the ones who give Christianity a bad rap not us yeah you could point to our churches all you want but our churches are still reaching people and in fact listen to this we defend the victims of those Robert Morris types we're not like other churches they like get on the victims right like Bruce Goddard who's just like you know his song leader and his bus driver guilty of all types of molestations and then he gets up and he's like berating his congregation for going on the internet researching you know what's going on with the investigation and he's like going to bat for these guys it's like why are you defending these criminals these are these are literal criminals but even aside from being criminals they're wicked reprobate false prophets who used your ministry as an opportunity to take advantage of innocent people you know people like Bruce Goddard give the fundamental Baptist a bad rap no no no it's your mean preaching my mean preaching against Bruce Goddard no you know what there's victims out there that thanked me for that because it seems as though anytime someone gets victimized or molested everyone turns on the victim for whatever reason she had it coming she made she did something to make him do that or whatever it's nonsense and I understand there's victims out there they end up becoming reprobates themselves they become haters of the Lord themselves okay but I'm speaking of those who regardless if they become haters of the Lord or not still a crime and you shouldn't defend people who are involved in criminal activity especially a child molester well I just think you could be a little nicer though when you preach you know the Apostle Paul how about I be like the Apostle Paul this is what the Apostle Paul said though I be rude in speech yet not a knowledge he says yeah you can you can tell me that I'm that my speech is very rude that I'm abrasive but you can't say that I'm not telling you the truth though because the knowledge is on point he said yeah but you should speak the truth and love though how many you've ever heard that you know speak the truth and love Ephesians chapter 5 Ephesians 4 speak the truth and love but here's the thing folks is that when the Bible says speak the truth and love it doesn't mean speak the truth nicely in love doesn't mean like child monsters are evil you know or they're reprobate it's not about how you deliver the message that's not what it's referring to speaking the truth and love literally means speaking the truth from the right motive of love with the motive of loving that person like you tell people the truth because you actually love them and in fact the Bible even says in 1st Timothy 1 verse 5 now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and a faith unfeigned the Bible tells us so we should preach the Word of God not to get a reaction not because we don't believe in and we're trying to get people to think that we believe it we're preaching because we're doing it out of love unfeigned faith meaning not fake not the simulated faith it's the compromising Christians and the unpunished false prophets that give Christianity a bad reputation it's the jackscops of this world it is the Robert Morrisons of this world it's the you know whatever other false prophets has been out there and they'll lump those people with us and you know what they'll lump these false prophets with fundamental Baptists and other fundamental Baptists will be like we don't condone of those type of actions well why don't you actually condemn them and just say they're not saved they're devils because that's what the Bible says but they're not willing to do that you know no one can ever point to our church and say that we defend pedophiles and false prophets because we don't and we disassociate ourselves to the point where we're like they're devils plain and simple go to 2nd Peter chapter 2 2nd Peter chapter 2 it's a great post Father's Day sermon here I mean this is in the Bible so we need to talk about this look at 2nd Peter chapter 2 and we gotta talk about cuz there's a lot of churches that don't talk about it I'm sure Robert Morris never preached a sermon on this lest his people should find out that he was talking about himself look at verse 1 it says but there are false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who privately shall bring in damned able heresies to even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction and many shall follow their pernicious ways listen to this by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken up now there's two ways to interpret this you can say that by reason of whom the way of truth is he was spoken of is from the false prophet himself or could be referring to people speaking evil of the truth because of these false prophets the people will blame Christianity they'll point the finger at churches and say oh see that's what churches produce that's why I don't go to church that's what people say go back to first Samuel if you would first Samuel which leads me into my next point regarding Hophni and Phinehas and that is that they beguile unstable souls okay what does it mean to beguile to charm or enchant with the intent to deceive look at first Samuel chapter 2 and verse 21 now Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did into all Israel and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and he said unto them why do you such things for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people nay my sons for it is no good report that I hear ye make the Lord's people to transgress now these men were married they had families they had children but in spite of that they're committing adultery they're laying with the women that are assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation and the only explanation for this is that the Bible says that false prophets will often deceive those who are unstable and psychopaths and false prophets the reason they like to infiltrate churches is because they think in their minds that there is just very trusting people in churches and there are loving trusting people that are just want to help individuals that are willing to take off you know that the shirt off their back if they need something you know and impart money or food or whatever and so false prophets will often seek the unstable individual to take advantage of them the Bible says that they have eyes full of adultery they cannot cease from sin beguiling unstable souls the Bible tells us and this is why you hear about a lot of these false prophets often involved and a lot of adulterous affairs pedophilia just wicked perversions out there because that's their motive and this is why it's important that a sermon like this exists because the reason why they take advantage of the unstable listen to this is because there's unstable people in church permanent unstable permanently unstable people in church so what do you mean you know it should be that when Christian when people get saved to come to church they're unstable to begin with but then then later on they grow they learn and then they stabilize you see what I mean like we should never just remain babes in Christ or it's just like oh I know brothers and I'm saved you know all I know is that I believe of the Lord Jesus Christ well that's great but let us go on into perfection though not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God you know we should learn more other than just salvation and obviously we should learn the intricacies of salvation the various doctrines associated with justification but there's a ton of other stuff that you have to learn and not just doctrine folks listen to me Christian behavior and your ability don't miss this to discern you know Christians have to learn how to judge righteously God not only expects for you to grow in your knowledge of the Bible grow in your application of the Bible but he also expects for you to grow in judgment as well what the Bible also refers to as discernment we have to discern between good and evil and if you don't learn how to discern between good and evil how to make the right decisions you will remain an unstable Christian for the rest of your life even if you have a good heart even if you love the Lord even if you read the Bible even if you go so many every Christian in here should pray every day Lord give me judgment give me discernment give me wisdom for every decision in life you know I pray that every single day because I want God to give me judgment that I'm absent of from time to time you know as a pastor I have judgment but you know what I don't want to miss when I'm judging situations and I want to continue to grow in my discernment so that I don't become an unstable Christian an unstable Christian just believes anything that they hear an unstable Christian is unable to identify flattery an unstable Christian is incapable of detecting when someone's trying to take advantage of them now given there's some instances where people in our church have been taken advantage of by others myself included it's happened believe it or not financially just take advantage of different individuals in our church but here's the thing folks those same people I guarantee you I know I know I can say this for myself it's never gonna happen again so why because I grew in judgment now it's not it's not the it's not the way I wanted to grow in judgment though you know like the way I wanted is just to be infused like I pray and then God's just like I probably just like most of my hair there he just like gives it to me and then I'm just like I know but sometimes you just have to learn by experience too we've had people in our church come through our church take advantage of people financially and then you know what it's just like oh man I've had it happen to me many times unfortunately he said well what do you do now well I just consider it as me paying for judgment there was it worth it absolutely there's certain judgment judgment is priceless discernment is priceless so yeah you know I might have come out losing a couple thousand dollars and I say that loosely there's more than that but you know what in the long term I see it as okay now I grew in discernment I grew in judgment now I'm smarter now this situation made me more intelligent it gave me more wisdom it gave me more judgment but folks may you not be the person or something like that happens to you you don't grow in discernment where it's just like you know how many times does this have to happen to you before you get get the notice that you know God's trying to teach you something pray God give me judgment and discernment you know you kind of wonder what's going on with some of the parents of these people who are taking advantage of the kids that the child that Robert Moore's took advantage of where were our parents obviously they lack judgment well he's the pastor let him just go spend an night of it no no one's no one in this church will ever spend an night of my church unless like you're just like been thrown out of your house or something like that but none of your kids are spending out of my house and my kids are not gonna spend it at your house not because I think there's a referee here just it's because I got judgments and discernment that's why I don't know that's not popular but folks you know what I paid a heavy price to learn judge certain judgments and discernment and so I'm trying to get my money's worth amen and so you know don't remain an unstable Christian it should be that when you come to church you gain a little bit more judgment get 1% better you know you're not gonna make an incredible amount of gains on one gym session it's like an accumulative gym sessions right one like man or the same thing in the Christian life you know you come to church and your judgment just grows a little bit more a little bit more a little bit more and you want to be a person who just judges right wouldn't be great for God to view you as a person who just judges righteously like this person has judgment they make good decisions they have wisdom and so and by the way let me just say this if you pray for wisdom you know God will give you wisdom or he'll also put you in a situation where you come out losing so you can learn some wisdom you say why cuz pain is a great teacher pain is an incredible teacher and you know what or you can be spared from that and God will send you someone who has wisdom to give you wisdom don't be an unstable person and not listen to that counsel how does the person remain unstable by not listening to counsel and so my goal as a pastor is to continue to minister to unstable people to the point where they're no longer unstable like there should be a steady flow of unstable people come to our church right new people come keep new people get saved but we should transfer them from unstable to stability from a lack of judgment a simpleton to a person who has discernment you know where we're helping them make the right decisions but then they walk with God they gain judgment now they can make good decisions on their own you understand what I'm saying I know I chase the rabbit there but I mean that doesn't that's important because it says that if they beguile unstable souls and you know what we can't be like all right who's the pervert or is there someone coming in here or whatever like we're not doing that we're not suspecting anybody you know and just like going around the moral police here looking for the wicked person or something like that what we do is give you judgment from the pulpit you take that judgment and you judge yourself discern yourself okay look at chapter 2 of 1 Samuel here's my last point I'm done regarding Hophni and Phinehas were not saved their sons of Belial they were incontinent they beguiled unstable souls and here's the last point it's very important is that God wanted to kill them so why is that an important point well because you know God is a righteous God and he always stands and sides with the victims and vengeance is his saith the Lord like oh you you just said that phrase because it just sounds cool okay well it's you you're right the Bible says it better who did it better the Bible did look at verse 25 of first Samuel 2 if one man sin against another the judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall entreat for him notwithstanding they hearken not into the voice of their father why because the Lord would slay them now what does it mean when it says the Lord would slay them it says the Lord it means the Lord wanted to kill them that's what it literally means so God was able when Eli's talking to his sons and he's you know rebuking them he's like reproving them he's giving the right advice even though it's watered down but God basically switched them something in the in the minds of Hophni and Phinehas where he made them not listen because it says they hearken not into the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them implying that God did something to make them disagree with their father so they can continue down that path that would eventually lead to their deaths think about that and that's powerful that's very powerful that God is able to just like reach in the mind of someone who's like and they're just like not gonna listen and God will do that to people I mean we have a plenty of examples where God makes people insane you know Nebuchadnezzar being one of them there's plenty of people in the Bible that God just gives them strong delusions God has that capability in that power but he especially does it to the workers of iniquity it says in verse 31 in the man of thine whom I shall not cut off from mine altar shall be to consume thine eyes and 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 and one day they shall die both of them it says he's saying look I'm he's gonna kill his son it's basically what he's gonna do and if you know the story they go into battle Israel's going to battle with the Philistines they're losing and so they're like we need the Ark of the Covenant well who's in charge of the Ark of the Covenant Oh Hophni and Phinehas are in charge of the Covenant hey bring it over they bring it over into the battle and then they end up dying in battle so God orchestrated the deaths of Hophni and Phinehas why because the Bible says that the wicked shall not stand in his sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity he plotted their deaths he's not the only one and he definitely won't be the they're not the only ones and they definitely won't be the last ones the point that I'm making here is that Hophni and Phinehas are a segment of the population that does not represent Christianity even though they claim to be religious high priests or whatever and God has a special hatred for people like that who are defiling the temple they're beguiling unstable souls they're they're committing adultery on their wives with the women who who are congregating at the house of God they are committing sacrilege and disobeying the commandments of the animal sacrifices they're not listening to the counsel of their father their sons of Belial and God's just fed up with them and he's like I'm gonna destroy both of these guys and by the way let me just say this and I'm done and that is you know this is not an isolated incident by the way it's plenty of times in the Bible where God killed people where literally God takes credit for it like he killed them okay and so oh yeah in the Old Testament no in the New Testament as well talk about disciples who were killed by the Lord what is the conclusion well here are the last three points that I want to make number one don't be an Eli parents get your kids saved and be a real person at home as you are here at church give your children the gospel love them don't be a hypocrite raise them in the nurturing the admonition of the Lord don't be a fake and a phony be as real as you can be and when you make a mistake apologize for it own up to it be real to your kids don't be an Eli number two don't raise a hofni infinehas discipline your children and get them saved amen and number three we didn't mention him but obviously he's intricate part of this story and that is seek to raise his family cuz this story is grievous it's like oh man this is crazy but you know what like one thing we didn't mention is that this is a little boy though his name is Samuel and in the midst of all this perversion and wickedness is going on Sammy was just serving the Lord got a little coat that his mom made him opening the doors of the house of God just doing what he's told serving Eli and he's walking with God you know the Lord is speaking to Samuel and in fact the first time that God speaks to Samuel he's telling him what he's gonna do to Eli he you know he's calling he's calling Samuel and then Samuel is just like here am I and he's like let me tell you what I'm gonna do to Eli's house and it's something that when everyone hears their ears are gonna tingle and he just tells him how he's gonna destroy his household his sons he's just gonna just wipe them out so what's what's a good lesson from that don't think your kids can't take this kind of preaching this is why a family integrated church is important because you'd be surprised how much kids can actually take well how do you know well cuz God told Samuel who's just like a little kid all the destruction is gonna come upon Eli and his in his household and so don't be in Eli don't raise a Hophni and Phinehas and lastly raise a Samuel let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for the story Lord that warns us Lord of the pitfalls of number one just being a bad parent maybe not disciplining our children but mostly not giving them the gospel making sure that they're saved Lord help us to think upon the salvation of our children to be mindful of them Lord and I also pray Lord that you'd help us to have discernment and judgment that we may not be unstable Christians help us to be stable in the Word of God stable in the Christian life stable in our spiritual disciplines stable in church stable in serving you that we would grow in our judgment and discernment Lord to make the right decisions and to identify when someone's trying to deceive us or take advantage of us Lord give us wisdom Lord give us judgment and I pray that lastly you'd help us to raise the Samuel as well and may you bless us as we go on our way thank you so much for all that you do for us we love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen song number 212 as our last song Oh happy day song number 212 song number 212 seen on that first verse Oh happy day that fixed my toys on thee my Savior and my God this big flowing harpy joys