The Hypocrisy of Eli

Take your Bible this morning and turn with me to the book of 1 Samuel. The book of 1 Samuel will be in the very beginning of the first portion of the book. We're going to be around chapter 2, chapter 4. We're not going to flip around too much, but primarily in chapter 2. If you have a problem finding 1 Samuel, it should be easy. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Then you go Joshua, Judges, Ruth. First and second Samuel. So if you get around Joshua and Judges, you're close. Ruth is a little small book. It's easy to miss Ruth, but first and second Samuel are very easy books to study. I would encourage you to read them.

They're very historic. Give the history of the people of God, King David, and history is found there in the book of Samuel. It's an interesting read, but we're going to be in chapter 2 mostly, and we will touch on chapter 4 as well. Now we've been in our series on the family for nine weeks. The title of these messages has been the same. The family, our fundamental foundation. We've covered responsibilities. We've covered roles of husbands and wives. We've covered the responsibility of children. The last two weeks we've learned from Deuteronomy and Paul. Now notice how cohesive those teachings were.

All the way back to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible in the book of Deuteronomy. Then you go all the way to Ephesians, Paul's writings, and it says very much the same thing. That we in Christian life, as we serve the Lord, are to raise our children in the ways of the Lord. Now I want to emphasize again what we learned out of Ephesians chapter 4, 5, and 6. Paul was writing that that was part of the normal Christian life. This teaching is not reserved for some super class of Christians. This is reserved or taught as the normal Christian life.

So if you're not nurturing your children, if you're not teaching them, if you're not raising them actively in the ways of the Lord and the Word of God, then you are subnormal. And I challenge you to ask yourself why. I challenge you to be corrected by what we've looked at. Now this morning we're going to move from this awesome responsibility of raising our children in the ways of the Lord to learning from one's mistakes. This morning we're going to examine the mistakes of a man named Eli. Now Eli was a priest and he was a judge of Israel and he is found right here in the first book of Samuel.

Some of you are familiar with Eli and some of you have probably heard this name for the very first time. Now just a little bit of background concerning Eli. Eli was the fourth son of the fourth descendant from Aaron. Aaron was Moses' brother. He lived in Shiloh and he lived right there beside where his residence was connected to the tabernacle. Now that was the place of worship. Very little is known about him until he was older in life. He was a man truly appointed by God. He was not a false prophet, but he was a man truly appointed by God. He was appointed as priest and judge and we see that in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 30.

He judged Israel for 40 years until he died at the age of 98. He is mostly remembered for his connection with four people. The first two are Hannah and Samuel. Hannah is mentioned first in 1 Samuel chapter 1. She and her husband Elkanal were godly people and they would come up to Shiloh to make sacrifice and to worship. Hannah is famous because she was barren and through that great grief and that great prayer she asks the Lord for a son so that she could give that son to the Lord's service. We see that prayer in 1 Samuel 1.

Samuel was the child that was born to Hannah and she ultimately gave him to Eli and Eli the priest, raised him, nurtured him and Samuel became a great instrument for God. Now the last two individuals connected to Eli, they were Eli's sons. These two men were called Haphni and Phineas, rather strange names to us. These two men were wicked and they were proven unworthy for the office of priest and judge. And ultimately they brought a curse upon themselves from God. They were both killed in battle. But we must see that Eli was not like Haphni and Phineas. They did not know the Lord, but Eli did know the Lord.

But we're going to learn from the grievous mistakes of Eli. Now there are several mistakes that Eli made in his responsibility in raising his sons. And these mistakes became obvious to everyone within the nation over time and these mistakes were very, very grievous in the sight of God and these mistakes would have made Eli a very hypocritical character. So what we're going to do is we're going to learn through the hypocrisy of Eli. Again, we're keeping that message title, the family, our fundamental foundation. And we're going to learn from the hypocrisy of Eli.

And when we get through, you will see that Eli's family foundation was destroyed because of his hypocrisy. Like I said earlier, we're going to be in chapter two and we're going to be over in chapter four. I'm going to reference some other scriptures. And if I do jot them down for your own study, go back and study it together. So the picture will come together and be more clear for you. Now, I'm just going to read two verses before we get into the message. And then I will read other verses as we progress. But notice verse 12 of chapter two. Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. What a description.

They were worthless men and they did not know the Lord. And then on down in that portion of scripture, verse 17, "Thus the sin of the young men," that's Hophni and Phineas, "was very great before the Lord, for the men despised the offering of the Lord." Those two verses describe very accurately these sons, Hophni and Phineas. Now you see the truths that we're going to explore. And how Eli dealt with his sons in these circumstances. Three truths that we're going to learn. Eli honored his sons above all. Eli did participate in his son's sins. And then third, Eli did not control his son's rebellion.

And then I'm also going to make some different application. I'm going to make some more notation. Jot those things down. I always encourage you to take notes. If you have difficulty with that, we can help you with that, because it is our desire that you would learn and study and attain all that the Lord wants you to get this morning. So let's look at main truth number one. Eli honored his sons above all. Now I've already read to you verse 12 and verse 17. But let me go back and read the rest of the verses. Verse 12, "Now the sons of Eli were worthless men." They didn't know the Lord. So the scene is set. They're wicked.

They don't know God, but notice. "And the custom of the priests with the people." And when any man was offering a sacrifice, they'd come to Shiloh to offer sacrifice. The priest's servant would come while the meat was still boiling with a three-pronged fork in his hand, and then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or the cauldron or the pot. All that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. Thus they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.

Verse 15, "Also before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, 'Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you only raw.' And if the man said to him, they must, and if the man said to him, they must surely burn the fat first and then take as much as you desire, then he would say, 'No, but you shall give it to me now, and if not, I will take it by force.'" And then the verse that we read earlier, "Thus the sin of the young men was great, very great before the Lord." Now, in these verses, we have an introduction to Hophni and Phineas, and we have a description of how they were behaving.

We see the manner in which they were fulfilling their office. Now, here we must understand that according to God's original plan, Eli's sons were to inherit his position of judge and priest. This was the position that was handed down through heredity. We see that in chapter 2, verse 31. So they were fulfilling the position before God and the position of Israel. Now, in these verses, I want to point out three different activities going on here. First of all, I want you to see that they dishonored God's sacrifice. Verse 13 says, "The custom of the priest was this.

When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come, and he would take a three-pronged fork in his hand and would plunge it into the pot, plunge it into the cauldron, and bring up what he wanted. Then it goes on to say that when they were making burnt offerings, he would seize the meat before the offering was made." So here we see that they were not satisfied with the provision that was given to them according to the law. Now, if you know the Old Testament Scriptures, you know that Deuteronomy 18, verse 3, says that those who were serving as priests were given an adequate provision.

But these men, Hophni and Phineas, were not satisfied with the provision that was given to them through the Word. So in their selfishness, they would take more that was allotted to them according to the Word. Also, they broke the law by demanding not just the boil meat, but the roll meat. Now, you might think that that is strange, but what we see is, according to Leviticus, that the fat of the animal was to be sacrificed as a burnt offering before the Lord on the altar. We see that in Leviticus 7.31. So here they are taking God's sacrifice. They are dishonoring the sacrifice that is brought before the Lord.

So they dishonored the sacrifice of God. Also, second notice, they dishonored God's people. Verse 16 says, "And if the man," who is the man, this is the one or anyone who is making their sacrifice or bringing their offering. "So if the man said to him, 'They must surely burn the fat first and then take as much as you desire,' then he would say, 'No, but you shall give it to me now, and if not, I will take it by force.'" So here we see that when God's people would bring a complaint to the sons, not only was it ignored, but the sons would force their selfish, greedy will on the people.

Instead of serving the people, which was what they were supposed to do, they were taking advantage of God's people. Then third notice, they brought immorality into God's house or into the tabernacle. If we turn over into verse 22 of the same chapter, chapter 2, verse 22, here verse 22 says, "Now Eli was very old, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all of Israel." So the report gets out, but notice, "And how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting." Now, it was a normal thing for young women to be serving in the tabernacle. We see that in Exodus 38, verse 8.

Now, we don't have specifics as to what they were doing. A lot of Bible commentators believe that they perform work such as spinning or knitting or mending and washing, those domestic type duties. But now we see that the sins of the son, they had escalated, and they had escalated in a very grievous manner. The report had gotten out into all of Israel, and now they were engaging in sexual immorality with the young women, and these young women were supposed to be serving the Lord. So, what do we see? We see Eli's sons were sinning in a very great, great way. Their sin had progressively gotten worse on many levels.

They were taking God's sacrifice, they were taking advantage of God's people, and it ultimately ended up into immorality there in the tabernacle. But we must see that all of this, if I can use this language, was right under the nose of Eli. Because what does it say? Eli was very old, verse 22, and he heard all that his sons were doing to all of Israel. He was their father. He was the appointed priest and judge of Israel, and he would have had intimate knowledge of all that his sons were doing, and he seemingly did nothing about it. So, what does that tell us? Eli honored his sons above all.

Eli allowed his sons to do anything and everything that they wanted to do. Eli allowed his sons to sin, and their sin to escalate in a very grievous, grievous way. It was a horrible day for God's people, the kingdom of God in his work on earth. So, Eli honored his sons above all. Now, I've meditated on this all week, and I've thought about how passages and examples and situations like this could make application to us today, because we do not operate under the sacrificial system. And for many of you, that just seems strange.

That seems difficult for you to understand, but they were under the Old Testament sacrificial system and coming and bringing offerings. But we are not under that Old Testament sacrificial system. So, how might we learn? How might this apply to us today? I think back in my years of ministry, specifically student ministry, and I can't tell you how many times I'd be serving in the life of the church, and I begin to realize that there were leaders in the church, men in prominent positions, men who were at elected or appointed positions, and lo and behold, I realize they had children and teenagers who didn't attend church.

I'll never forget years ago, I was on church staff somewhere, and there was a fellow staff member. I'll never forget as I began to get in the saddle of ministry there, I begin to realize, wait a minute, there is a fellow staff member and he has children in the youth department. So, what does this overzealous youth minister do? He gets in his car, loads up some people, and goes and knocks on some doors. And what happened? Oh, what happened? It got bad. Why? Because I embarrassed them, I shamed them, I brought that to the forefront. And what do we see in that?

That individual honored their sons, honored their children, and honored their desires more than the work of God. That's exactly what that is. They would rather placate their children in the way they feel, they would rather placate their children in what they want to do, they gave them options in the matter, they gave them their own desires, and that is honoring your children more than the things of God. It is exactly what Eli did. I'll never forget how I progressed in ministry. And I began to see men who served as deacons.

You know, in most churches today, deacons really function as elders, they govern the affairs of the church, but I'll never forget how I would begin to see deacons who were functioning in the position of elders, governing the affairs of the church, and none of their children ever came to church. They honored their children above and beyond the work of God. That's exactly what that meant. That's exactly what that is. And what do we see? Eli honored his sons even in their horrific sin. He honored them above and beyond all. Let's continue. I think you get the point. I think you see some application.

And you understand how that applies to us today. Let's move on to truth number two. Eli participated in his son's sin. Eli participated in the son's sin. Still in chapter two, look at verse 27. It says, "Then a man of God came to Eli." That word "man" can be translated a prophet. So what do we have? A prophet of God, not just a man of God, comes to Eli, and what does he say? "Thus says the Lord." So here are the words of God. "Did I not indeed reveal myself to the house of your father, when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house?" See, he's talking about his descendency. Hi, he's a descendant of Aaron.

"And did not I choose them from all of the tribes of Israel to be my priests and to go up to my altar, to burn incense to carry a Nepom before me? And did I not give to the house of your father all of the fire offerings of the sons of Israel?" What is the prophet speaking of? The fact that he is a literal descendant of Aaron and functioning as a priest.

Verse 29, "Why do you kick at my sacrifice," remember this is the words of the Lord, "and at my offering which I have commanded in my dwelling, and honor your sons above me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of the people of Israel?" So not only do we see Eli ordering his sons above all, and not only do we see a progression in the sins of the son, but we see a certain participation from Eli. It was not that Eli simply allowed his sons to have their way, but he benefited personally from their sin. Therefore, he participated in that sin. Now three ways I want you to see he participated in the sin.

First of all, he participated in dishonoring God's sacrifice. Is it that what we see? Verse 29, "This is the voice of the Lord speaking through the prophet of God. Why do you kick at my sacrifice?" So verse 29, "The prophet of God, the man of God, speaking the words of God, he tells Eli that he dishonored and was dishonoring the Lord's sacrifice, but also he is taking it selfishly." Remember that the priests were allocated certain parts of the offering, but Hothnai and Phineas were taking more than they were allowed. So he participated in dishonoring God's sacrifice. Second, he benefited from taking God's sacrifice.

Now, if you noticed, the translations read, all of the translations read the same thing in verse 29, and that is the language is pluralistic. "Why do you, speaking to Eli, kick at my sacrifice and at my offering which I have commanded in my dwelling and honor your sons above me by making yourselves fat with the choices of every offering of my people Israel?" All of the translations read the same. The prophet is stating that he and his sons were making themselves fat with the choices, some translations translate it first, of every offering. He might not have been taking the sacrifices himself, but he was benefiting from those sacrifices.

Therefore, he was participating in that sin. Later, at Eli's death, we do see that he was truly a fat man. You can see that in verse 18 of chapter 4. So he was fat, literally, off God's sacrifice. Third, he benefited at the expense of God's people. Just as the people had complained to Eli's sons in chapter 2 verse 16, here we see that the prophet of God brought a complaint personally to Eli. He was showing him, that's the prophet, showing Eli, that his sin was not only against God, but against his people. What does the verse say?

"By making yourselves fat with the choices, or the first of every offering of my people." So he participated in dishonoring God's sacrifice, he benefited from taking God's sacrifice, and he benefited at the expense of God's people. So here we see that things were worse than one might have realized. It was not just that Eli allowed his sons to sin grievously. It was not just that Eli honored his sons more than God. We see that he was gaining from their sin, and he was participating in their sin. Now again, how might we apply this to our day? Again, we don't operate under that sacrificial system. So what can we learn?

What examples can we give to illustrate how this takes place today? Now, I think about application in two places. First of all, to those who are supposed to be ministers of the Gospel. This is open in question, but my question, or question that comes to my mind is, how many ministers have excess gain, more gain than they deserve from the Gospel ministry? How many ministers of the Gospel, or so-called ministers of the Gospel, have excess gain from the Church and God's people, and they are worldly and materialistic, and they are doing exactly what Eli did. They are growing fat off of the Church and God's people.

In our American culture, we do not have to look very far to see that. It's not just a problem in our culture and our country, and it's not foreign to foreign countries. From time to time, our friend Brother Luke will run into ministers in India who are in it for gain. I remember when I went to India with Luke, Luke had an errand to run. I did not go on the errand, but Luke met up with some fellow Indian ministers that he trusted, and he traveled a great distance to go meet an Indian minister that he had funneled some support to.

The Church here in the States funneled some support to this man's ministry to build some bathrooms for some orphans, and Luke got word that he did not use that money correctly, and what did Luke do? Luke traveled unannounced. He brought some ministers, Indian ministers, with him, and they showed up, and they called the man's hand for doing what? For taking advantage of God's people. They rebuked him, called the man to make that right, and addressed the problem. But what we see is there are many ministers, and they are participating in this type of sin. But I also thought about it like this in relation to lay people.

How many lay people, how many mothers, and how many fathers, now listen, allow their children to be involved in gross sin and even participate? How many deacons, how many ministers of the gospel even, and how many "good" church people allow their sons and their daughters to be in gross, incarnal, worldly sin, and they even allow it under their roof, they even fund it with their money, and they even put their stamp of approval on it. And they are exactly like Eli, participating in that sin.

And we must realize as fathers and as mothers, if it goes on under our roof, and it is contrary to the Scriptures, no matter our position in the church or the community, if it goes on under our roof, we are participating in that sin. And Eli did. Let's move on. Let's notice truth number three. I want us to see that Eli did not control his son's rebellion. Eli did not control his son's rebellion. Go back to verse 22. Eli was old.

He heard that all that his sons were doing to all of Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the Ten of Meaning, and he said to them, he's speaking to Hophni and Phineas, "Why do you do such things? The evil things that I hear from all of these people. Know my sons, for the report is not good, which I hear of the Lord's people circulating." Now we already have a pretty grim picture of the situation. Eli's sins are robbing God. They are robbing God's people in plain sight. Eli's sons are parading immorality, if I can use this language, right down the center aisle. Right down the center aisle in plain sight.

And Eli could not, would not, and did not control their rebellion. Two observations I want to make here about how he did not deal with their sin. First of all, I want us to see that he confronted them in their sin a little too late. Verse 23, he halves the report, brings it before them, and he says, "No sons, this report is not good." But what do we see? Here we see that he only confronted them after the people had begun to complain. Remember this was done in plain sight under his nose, as priest Eli would have seen their behavior right away.

He most definitely would have seen them abusing the Lord's sacrifice right away, and God's people when it came time to sacrifice. But instead of confronting them the first day they took for themselves in an ungodly manner, he waited until their sin was out of hand. And that's what we have here. It's a little too late here. He's confronting their sin, but it is way too late. Second, notice he confronted them with their sin, but he still did not stop them. We see in these verses that Eli did confront them with their sin, but he did not stop them in their sin.

Eli had the power to stop them as judge and priest, but for whatever reason he turned his head from the situation, even though he confronted them a little too late. So here we see Eli's total failure in restraining his sons. From day one, Eli allowed his sons to run wild and ultimately pillage and plunder God's sacrifice, God's people, and God's house. If we see the total situation, we see that when he did try to do something, it was too little too late. One would have to wonder why he confronted them in the first place.

Was it because he did hate their sin and he loved God more than his sons, or was it merely because the people had complained? I thought of how this might apply to us and you and to me in our day. I could not help but think of examples of people that I have known, the life of the church, who somehow, some way, could not control their children's behavior. I thought about men that I love, some that I have respected through the years, that failed here. You probably can think about people maybe in your family, people in past churches, maybe friends who have blown it and they could not control the rebellious behavior of their children.

And I say this to you and I say this to me, we must not be disconnected from our children. We must not be disconnected for the great responsibility that we have to raise our children in the ways of God. Now listen, it is not an automatic ticket. Our children do have a will and they can grow up and assert their will and rebel against us, rebel against our home, rebel against the things of God. We can do everything right and they still can rebel. But Eli did not control them properly in their rebellion. I have known families who dealt with rebellion and they controlled it. But I have known some who did not.

This is a reality that we might have to face. This is a difficulty that some in the life of the church do have to deal with. And we must not be like Eli and not control the rebellion. And Eli didn't do it. Now, taking a step back from what we have seen in Eli and his son's sins, we must take some time for some specific observations. I want to notice some specifics. I want us to kind of move away from this portion of the message and transition. I do not have these on the screen. You might want to jot these down. But I want to make some observations and then we're going to make application from these.

First of all, it is obvious that Eli failed to discipline his sons. Now, we do not see really the word discipline in any of these verses. But if we understand biblical discipline, we know that he was totally a failure in discipline. You know, we're not afforded the complete story. God only gives us the latter portion of Eli's life. Now, we have to be careful when we read in between the lines. But it seems obvious that Eli failed to discipline his sons when they were small children, when they were growing up, when they were reaching their teenage years.

Because listen, they became unrestrained adults because he did not discipline them when they were young. Second, I want us to see that Eli loved his sons more than he loved God. Is that what the prophet said? He said, "You honor them." But is it the heart of the matter, the root of the problem, that he loved his sons more than he loved God? Doesn't it not seem that he loved his sons more than he loved the word of God? Eli knew the portion that was allotted to them, but yet he turned his nose and his head and his eyes away. He loved his sons more than he loved God.

He loved his sons, and what his sons wanted to do, more than he loved the people of God, more than he loved the word of God. And then third, Eli loved his sons more than the work. Now, think about this. This was true kingdom work, people. This was the center of God's activity on earth. He was a judge of Israel. He was a priest. He was a direct descendant of Aaron. He had a unique position in the kingdom of God and in the work of God. And he was appointed by God for a particular task, and that was leading the people, and he loved his sons more than the work of God. Now, an application with these three observations.

I want us to see that if we do not discipline our children, it's not that we love them, it's that we hate them. Let me say that again, because that sounds contradictory to many of you. If we fail to discipline our children, it's not that we love them, it's that we actually hate them. And for you to sit there and say, "Well, I just can't bring myself to discipline little Johnny. I just love him way too much." No, that is a lie right out of hell. You hate him if you won't discipline him.

Proverbs 13, 24 says, "Whoever spares a rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." Proverbs 23, 13 says, "Do not withhold discipline from a child. If you strike him with a rod, he will not die." Proverbs 29, verse 17 says, "Discipline your son and he will give you rest. He will give delight to your heart." Do you think that Eli's sons were a delight to his heart? Heavens know. They broke his heart, but it was too little too late and it was his own fault. And look, people, we must see that we must discipline our children.

If we are in tune with the Word of God and the things of God and God because we love God, we will see that we must put the rod to them because we must drive out the discipline, or excuse me, drive out the foolishness that the Word says is bound up in their heart. He failed to discipline his sons. And then in application, we must see that we've already learned that we must love God above all.

Deuteronomy 6, verses 5 through 7, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." Verse 6, "And these words that I commanded you today shall be on your heart." Verse 7, "You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise." I said this last week. Listen, if we were to write this, we would get it in reverse. We would say discipline and teach and instruct your children first. But God says no, love me first.

And if you are going to discipline your children, you must love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then I want you to see that if you will not discipline your children, you do not love the work of God. You are running contrary to the work of God. You are leading your family contrary to the work of God. And you will ultimately have a family that is destroyed. Now, there's a portion of the message I really want you to see before we get into the conclusion. I want to be careful here because I won't want to take up too much time. But we have the beauty of hindsight. We have the beauty of the rest of the story.

See, when we're looking into each other's lives, when we're looking into our own life, when we're looking around us, we do not have the whole story. We don't have the end of the story. We don't know what's going to take place 60 years from now in your family. But we know what happened in Eli's family. Real quickly, I want you to see the ramifications of Eli's decisions. First of all, the Lord took away his inheritance. We see that in chapter 2, verse 30. Now, what do I mean by inheritance? Do I mean physical property and home and bank investments? No.

Remember, God had promised that Aaron's descendants would fulfill that role and that position. And I do not understand it, but according to what the prophet of God, the man of God said, God said, "No more. Your descendants will not occupy that promised position." So his inheritance was taken away. His religious heritage was gone. If we continue second, the ark of God was captured by the Philistines. I'm not going to read the verses, but in chapter 4, we see that the Israelites went to war and went to battle against their old enemies, the Philistines. Now, what did they do? Hophni and Phineas did what they had done in the past.

They ran and they got the ark of God because when the nation of Israel was going out of Egyptian captivity, it was God who led them, and they followed God wherever they went. But Hophni and Phineas took the ark of God, and they brought it out before them as they went and fought the Philistines, but they were defeated, and the pagan people captured the ark of God. Third, chapter 4, verse 17 says that both Hophni and Phineas were killed. Fourth, we see that when the report was brought to Eli, Eli died. But I want you to notice how and why he died.

Verse 18 reads, "And it came about when he..." Notice the messenger from the battle, he's bringing news to Eli, and what does it say? "And it came about when he mentioned the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward besides the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy." Notice what it says. He didn't die because he heard that his sons died. He died because he heard the ark of God had been captured. Now you need to see the significance there, because the ark of God represented the very presence of God, and he knew that the glory of God had departed Israel, and he died.

Fifth, if you read on past verse 18, you'll notice that the wife of Phineas died. Starting in verse 19, she went into premature labor because she heard that the ark of God had been captured, and she died, and what did she do? In her dying breath, she called the name of the son Ichabod, the glory of God had departed. And that is the sixth thing I want you to see, the glory of God departed Israel. Now what do we see? The ramifications of Eli's hypocrisy. You know, this leads me to some what-ifs. What if Eli would have just done it God's way in the home? Maybe things would have been a little different.

Now in conclusion, we must see that hypocrisy and failure on such a level as possible today might take years to see the consequences if you fail here. It might take another generation to come along to see the consequences of your failure, but you and I must see that failure at this level is possible. Yes, for me, for Brother Keith, and for you. Dads, I want to speak to you. We must not fail to discipline our children. If we love them, we'll put the rod to them. We'll have order and structure in our home.

We'll govern our home, and we'll rule our children with love and compassion, nurturing them in the things of God, not exasperating them, not pushing them aside. No, but listen, men, if we fail to discipline our children, we actually hate them. And we must love God, and we must love God's Word more than the way our children even feel, more than the words that they bring our way. We must love God and God's Word more than our children. We must come before God and say, "God, although they say they hate me, I'm going to raise them to love you.

I'm going to raise them in God's Word, your Word, and the church, because I love you more than I love them." We must love the work of God. We must love the church. Listen, people, I've seen so many people say they love God. I have sat down with families, and they say, "Oh, I love my son. I love my daughter. I love my family." But we just can't be committed to the church the way you say. We just can't be committed to the church. We have family devotions when we're camping. We have family devotions on our vacations. Oh, we love our children and love our family. But we cannot be committed to the church. That is a lie.

If you love your children, you'll have them under the preaching and the teaching of the Word of God. You'll have them in a gospel believing, gospel teaching church. You will have them under the authority of God's men who are here to serve you. Men, we must instruct, teach, train, teach, and exemplify the Word of God. As we're going in our home, when we sit down, in our jobs, in our hobbies, when it's good and when it's bad. And then we must evangelize our children. If you remember the first verse I read was verse 12 of chapter 2. What did verse 12 say?

"His sons did not know the Lord." I don't understand, and I can't fully explain the tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. But no doubt Eli had a responsibility in evangelizing his children. But obviously his hypocrisy drove them away. We must pray and witness to our children, and we must live such a Christian life before them that they would be drawn to the Christ that is in us. So what do we see this morning? The hypocrisy of Eli. So many years ago, a different day, a different time, different worship practices. Hard sometimes to understand and relate to, but it's so relevant to today.

And in light of all that we've been looking at concerning the family, roles of husbands, roles of wives, the responsibility of raising our children in the things of God, we can see that hypocrisy will destroy. Our words might be one thing, but if our actions are another, we could end up with a situation exactly like Eli. I hope and pray that you will receive what's being spoken, preached, and taught this morning, that if there be any hypocrisy in our homes, we will deal with it and not make these mistakes. Lord Jesus, thank you for allowing us to gather today.