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Judgement Begins at the Household of God · Passing On The Faith

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: And while Eli's house is about to be completely destroyed, God is pouring out his blessings on the house of Elkanah.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: We see Hannah bearing more children.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: God is giving her even above what she asked.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: She asked for one son, but now she's got five other children that the Lord has given her.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: God is pouring out his grace upon humble Hannah, while the house of Eli is coming down.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to Passing on the Faith, a podcast from generations.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Every week, we bring you a powerful moment from one of our sermons, audiobooks, webinars, or conference talks, handpicked to help you build a strong biblical foundation for your family.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: This week's episode is a sermon from Reformation Church of Elizabeth entitled Judgment Begins at the Household of God by Joshua Suisa.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: Please stand with me as we read the Word of God from 1 Samuel chapter 2.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: And in chapter 2, we'll be reading verses 12 through 36.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I invite you to turn there if you'd like to follow along.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Here now the word of God.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: They knew not the Lord.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: And he struck it into the pan or kettle, or cauldron, or pot, all that the flesh hook brought up the priest took for himself.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priests, for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth, then he would answer him, Nay, but thou shalt give it to me now, and if not I will take it by force.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with the linen ephod.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: Moreover, his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the Lord.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: And they went unto their own home.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters, and the child Samuel grew before the Lord.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: And he said unto them, Why do ye do such things?
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: For I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear, ye make the Lord's people to transgress.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: But if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Notwithstanding, they hearken not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me?
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: And did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_01: Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy fathers should walk before me forever, but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me, for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Behold, the days come that I will cut off thine arm in the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house, and thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel, and there shall not be an old man in thine house forever.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart, and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age, and this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons on Hoffni and Phineas, in one day they shall die, both of them.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind, and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: And it shall come to pass that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priest's offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: This is the word of God.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: All of God's people said, Amen.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: Let us pray.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, and we see your judgment against sin very clearly in this text.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: And we desire, Lord, that we, against the background of this, would see the beauty of Jesus, our Savior, who saves us from our sins.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: May He be present in our minds as we reflect upon the evils of sin.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name, Amen.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_01: You may be seated.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we continue this morning in 1 Samuel looking at this account of Eli and his sons.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: And at the beginning of chapter 2 last week, we looked at the prayer of Hannah as she prayed unto the Lord this prayer of praise and thanksgiving, because God had answered her prayer.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: And in this account, we see the living picture of what Hannah had described in her prayer.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: She described how God was going to raise up the humble and bring down the wicked, proud, those who rebelled against the Lord.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly what we see.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right after her prayer, Exhibit A, Eli and his sons, the proud and the wicked who will be brought down by the Lord.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: And there are important warnings in this passage that each one of us must come face to face with.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope that as you see just how dark all of this is, that your mind will be drawn to the very opposite in each of these situations.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: As you think about the unbelief of Eli and his sons, I hope that you will be thinking about faith in Jesus Christ.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: As you look at the rebellion of sin, I hope that you will think about obedience and the blessings of obedience.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: As you see the hardness of heart of Eli and his sons, I hope you will think about repentance that leads to life.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: All of these things we must keep in our mind as we look at this text, which is very difficult, very dark in many ways, because we see just how evil sin really is.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: We see the consequences of sin played out in the lives of these men.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Paul in Romans 11 tells us, behold the kindness and severity of God.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: We have seen the kindness of God to Hannah, but now we behold the severity of God to those who will not repent of their sins and turn.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now, in this account, we have a picture of these men who were priests who did not know the Lord, and so we have an example of those that hated and rebelled against God, who were the ministers of God, who were in the very offices of Israel that were meant to represent God before the people, and to represent our Lord Jesus Christ and his faithfulness as he was to come in the days to come.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: And we have observed that these were dark days for the people of God, very dark.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: They faced a leadership crisis because Eli's sons were so corrupt, and Eli would not do anything about it.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: He did something, we see that here, but not enough.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Far, far from enough.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: But also, most importantly, the worship of God was corrupted.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: At the very most important point in the life of the people of Israel was the worship of God, the presence of God amongst his people, and it was there that the corruption was being practiced flagrantly.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: In this case, it was the leaders of God's people that were the most immoral.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we see in this account the people bringing sacrifices, and they're wondering why the priests are breaking the commandments of God right before their eyes and taking of these sacrifices.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: We do face a similar situation today in the wider American church and in some cases in the wider international church.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: There is, in many cases, a widespread ignorance of the truth.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: There is sometimes a widespread irreverence for the worship of God and a rebellion against his commandments.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: And that corruption, when it happens in the context of leadership, the leadership of God's people has very serious ramifications upon the church itself.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: And as we learn in this story, God will not allow his worship to be corrupted forever.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: There will come a time when he will purify his house, he will destroy those who destroy his worship.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: First Peter 4 tells us, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: And if it first begins at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: If there is judgment for the household of God and its sins, how much more the world out there that doesn't have access to the Word of God?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: And in light of the condition of the church in America in general, it should be our prayer that our church, the churches that we are associated with here in Elbert County and the CPC, that all those churches would be preserved from this kind of corruption that is so dangerous to the people of God.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: May we pray for a humility and a repentance that this hard-heartedness could never happen amongst us?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: That our house would not be destroyed as Eli's house was, but that it would be established in faithfulness and in humility.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what was the root problem with Eli's sons?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Why did they do what they did?
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think verse 12 describes this for us.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: They did not know the Lord.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's how the account begins.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: It begins with recognizing, saying to us that they did not have a relationship with God.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: They did not know him.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_01: They knew about him, they ministered before him, they probably proclaimed his word in some way, but they did not know him.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: They were priests ministering before the Lord on behalf of the Lord who did not know the Lord.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: It is possible to be in the closest proximity to the ministry of God and not know the Lord.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: It is possible to be a professing Christian disciple and spend your entire life without a saving knowledge of God.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Such is the warning that our Lord Jesus gives us in Matthew 7.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_01: He tells us, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_01: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: These were the people that were doing ministry on behalf of the Lord, in his name.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, I don't know you.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: You are workers of iniquity, I have nothing to do with you, depart from me.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: And so it was with Eli's sons, in the ministry of the Lord, serving before the Lord, carrying the sacrifices on behalf of the people, and they did not know the Lord.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: And why was that?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: We will find out as we look at their behavior.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: Their actions revealed the state of their heart.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 12 says, Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: They knew not the Lord.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: That word belial, it means worthless, useless.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: All of those concepts are wrapped up in that word, that they were absolutely disqualified and unfit for the ministry that they were doing.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it was because of their iniquity.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: It was their wickedness that made them sons of Belial.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And they did not know the Lord.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: And this text tells us what some of their offenses were, what they were doing to corrupt the worship of God and to sin against God.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: The first offense is this custom of taking from the sacrifices for themselves.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: Basically, what they would do is they would harvest more of the sacrifices for themselves than they actually had given in the law of God.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: The law of God allowed the priests to take of the sacrifices because that's how they made their living.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's how they ate.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: They got a portion of the sacrifices to be able to live on.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: But they blasphemed the worship of God because they took more for themselves than belonged to them.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: And to get a picture of this, it would be like the elders and deacons of our church, after the tithe is taken, going to the back and each taking all of it and dividing it amongst themselves and putting it in their own pockets.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's the kind of thing that they were doing.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: It was utter corruption.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: And you might be wondering, had they not remembered Nadab and Abihu, their ancestors?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Those men in Leviticus 10 who offered strange fire before the Lord and were killed instantly when they offered that strange fire.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't seem that Nadab and Abihu had had any other offenses before that time, except that they offered something that the Lord had not commanded.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Here, the track record of Hoffani and Phineas is far worse.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: They've been sinning for some time.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: They've been blaspheming the sacrifices of God.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Did they not remember all the Israelites that were slain when the golden calf was put up there in the wilderness?
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: Didn't they remember how sacred an office they had?
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Did they not know what they were doing?
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Did they not know how close they were playing with strange fire when they did those wicked acts?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: Apparently none of those things mattered to them.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: They had descended so deeply into their sin that they were calloused.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't matter anymore.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: The rebukes of Eli had no effect upon them.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: They were entrenched in their sin.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: They were impervious to the warnings.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: And this is a very scary condition to be in, brothers and sisters.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: When the warnings of God's judgment make zero effect upon you, that is a very unsafe condition to be in.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now what did they do specifically?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: I want to read the account for you.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'll read the New King James account.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit clearer because it's somewhat confusing in terms of how they did this.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: This is 1 Samuel 2, verses 13 through 16.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: And the priest's custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged flesh hook in his hand while the meat was boiling.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Then he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot, and the priest would take for himself all that the flesh hook brought up.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you but raw.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: And if the man said to him, They should really burn the fat first, then you may take as much as your heart desires, he would then answer him, No, but you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so the law of God forbid them to take certain parts of the sacrifices, but they were taking the fat which was reserved unto the Lord, and taking it for themselves rather than giving it unto God.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: And what they would do is they would actually send their assistant, the priest's assistant, would go and threaten the worshipper with perhaps physical violence if they did not give the sacrifices to the priests.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: This would be like the elders and deacons at knife point threatening you to give them your tithe, and if you didn't, they would do something to you.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: That was the kind of corruption that they had going on.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: They had this thug that would come and threaten you and say, You need to give me the sacrifice.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, we'll take it.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: And the text tells us that in doing this, they abhorred the sacrifice of the Lord.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_01: They treated it with utter contempt.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: It meant nothing to them except that it was food.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: There was no connection to the worship of God, to the holiness of God, to the sacrifices given to him as an act of thanksgiving and praise.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't care about God.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: They wanted food for themselves.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's all they cared about.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: And so one of the ways in which we apply this text is to see that the worship of God is a very serious matter.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: That our reverence for God expressed in his worship is so important to him.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: He takes it very seriously what we do here.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: And if we treat the worship of God with contempt, if we care nothing for it, we will be lightly esteemed.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now this was not their only offense.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hoffney and Phinehas did other things that are recorded in this text.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 22 tells us one of the other offenses, one of the other sins that they committed.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: It says, Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Adding to this sin of corrupting the sacrifices was sexual immorality practiced in the tabernacle itself.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: This tells us there are some sins more heinous in the sight of God than others.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: You take the sacrifices, you treat them with contempt, you commit sexual immorality in the very tabernacle of God, and you are adding sin upon sin upon sin.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is a serious matter.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: And these immoral practices that they were committing may have even been attached to idolatrous worship, because it was often the case in Canaanite religion that sexual immorality and these idols went hand in hand.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: They were practiced together.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's very possible that they were bringing these things in themselves.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: But here we see the tent of meeting, the tabernacle was the most holy place.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: The holy of holies was there, and these men were taking the most holy place in the world and turning it into one of the most unholy places in the world by their sin.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_01: And this was something that the Lord would not allow to continue.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: So we come back to that question that I asked.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: Why did they do what they did?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the answer was, they did not know the Lord.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: How do we know that they did not know the Lord?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: It was by their actions.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: They were, as just as Jesus said in Matthew 7, workers of iniquity.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: They did not know the Lord.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: A saving relationship with God would have brought about a transformation in their lives.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: There would have been grace in the heart, there would have been a respect for the worship of God.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: Because where there is grace in the heart, there will be of necessity a respect and love for God.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: But there was none of that here.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Where the Holy Spirit is, there is holiness.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: He creates holiness, he changes and transforms people.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: But where there is no transformation, and instead of transformation, we see a descent into further rebellion.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: That shows us.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: That Hopni and Phineas did not have the Spirit of God.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: They were fleshly men.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: They cared nothing about God.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Their God was their belly.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Their God was their pleasure.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's what they wanted above all.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so any knowledge of God that they did have did them no good because it was not united by faith.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: All of our knowledge of God must be united by true faith in Jesus Christ.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And there must be this transformation of life wrought by the Holy Spirit, grace in the heart that changes us, that we will not do what these men did.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: But amidst all this wickedness, was there any hope?
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: What is the Lord doing in this account?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: What is to come?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we get a glimpse of hope in verses 17 and 18.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: It says in verse 17, Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now contrast verse 17 with verse 18.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: What is the shift that we see?
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: It says, But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: And you'll see there's actually three times in this text where it mentions Hofni and Phineas and Samuel.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Hophni and Phineas, Samuel.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Hophni and Phineas, Samuel.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: The text is telling us that God is raising up another leader who will replace these wicked men.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: That whatever is going on here, however corrupt the worship of God has become, it will not last.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: He is going to do something about it.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: And he is raised up a servant who will bring about a very different situation.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: So when when we when we see wickedness around us, when we see the similar situation, and we're wondering, Lord, when are you going to act?
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: How long are you going to let this happen?
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: The prophets of the Old Testament would often ask that question What are you doing, Lord?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Why do the wicked still prosper?
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: And the answer of Habakkuk and the answer of this text is that the Lord will act soon.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: He will take care of this.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_01: In his proper timing, he will bring these corrupt leaders down and raise up others to take their place.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: And while Eli's house is about to be completely destroyed, God is pouring out his blessings on the house of Elkanah.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_01: We see Hannah bearing more children.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_01: God is giving her even above what she asked.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: She asked for one son, but now she's got five other children that the Lord has given her.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: God is pouring out his grace upon humble Hannah while the house of Eli is coming down.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now we see Eli here in this text, he does rebuke his sons.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: He does do something.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Verses 22 and 23.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_01: And he said unto them, Why do ye do such things?
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: For I hear of your evil dealings by all this people.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now Eli did do something here.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: He acted, but he did not act sufficiently.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't do what he needed to do.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: This rebuke of Eli was like a hands-wrist slap, right?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: He barely did what he needed to do.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_01: What he needed to do was follow through with action.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: He needed to have these sons of his removed, judged with civil penalties that would attend it, and removed from this service.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_01: But he didn't do that.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_01: All he did was a mere warning, a mere rebuke, and failed to go beyond it.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: It was not enough for him to say to his sons, you need to stop.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because they wouldn't stop.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: They would not listen.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_01: A verbal correction wasn't sufficient here because they continued in their rebellion.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: But why didn't they listen?
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: We wonder why wouldn't they receive the rebukes of their father?
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_01: Well, verse 25 gives us the answer.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_01: And it is a frightening answer indeed.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 25.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll read it in the ESV as it's a little bit clearer here.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: The text is telling us that the will of the Lord was determined, that their sin and in penitence had reached a point of no return.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_01: No rebukes would do anything for them now.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord had determined, sovereignly determined, that their death was soon to come.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_01: They would no longer listen.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: And brothers and sisters, in this we see a grave warning about how sin works.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: The Word of God teaches that if we turn against God, if we indulge our flesh, if we continually rebel against Him, if we get all the sin that we want, that God gives us up to those sins.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: He releases the restraints and lets us go as much as we want and as deep as we want into those sins.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: And in giving us up to what we want, we are given up over to the final consequences of sin, which is death itself.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: Romans 1 speaks about this repeatedly, three times, in fact, it speaks about how the sin of man and its rebellion, the Lord just gives them up to further sin.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: You want your sin, he gives it to them.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: Romans 1, 25 and 26.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_01: Who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator who is blessed forever.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Romans 1 28.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: This is what God does when we turn against Him, when we ignore the warnings and just go full bore into our sin.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: He says, I'll give you up.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: Indulge in the sin that you want.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: And if you harden your heart against him, then he will give you over to these deadly things.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so you must realize what sin does in your life.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: You must know the dangers of it.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: First, we know that the final danger is judgment itself, eternal suffering.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: But second, sin is also deadly because as you indulge in it continually, your conscience is seared.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: You're unable to feel, you're unable to receive the warnings anymore.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Paul in 1 Timothy 4 describes those who had a seared conscience.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: This means that their conscience wasn't working anymore like it should.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_01: To sear your own conscience means to burn it repeatedly over and over until it cannot work anymore.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: It would be like taking a part of your arm and just burning it so many times that there's no nerve endings left.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: You can't feel anything in that arm anymore because it's been burned so many times.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: And so it is with sin.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: As you sin over and over again, as you ignore the warnings, that conscience is seared.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_01: It no longer operates, it no longer senses the sin.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: It no longer senses the danger.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: And eventually you get so close to that cliff where all the warning signs have been, miles back, and you fall off that cliff.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: The warnings don't even matter to you anymore.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: As we read earlier, Hebrews 10 warns us about this very thing regarding the blood of Jesus Christ.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hebrews 10, 26.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_01: For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Of how much worse punishment do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: This was what Hopni and Phineas had done.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: They had received the knowledge of the truth, but they kept sinning willfully, and there no longer remained a sacrifice for sins.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: It was the very sacrifices that they administered that should have reminded them, that should have shown them that there was forgiveness, that there was mercy.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: Those very sacrifices pointed them to the grace of God and saving Israel and forgiving them of all their sins, and they ignored it.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: Each week in this pulpit, the mercy of God is held forth in Jesus, that there is forgiveness.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we do the scriptural promise of pardon.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: He will forgive your sins.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_01: But if we will not receive that forgiveness, if we will turn away from the offer of His grace, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: There will come a point of no return.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: Now you say, I don't know when that point of return is, and I don't know either.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_01: This text in verse 25 gives us an insight into the decree of God, which is secret.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know when you can no longer receive the warnings and turn.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: All I know is that the word of God calls you to turn and to repent.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: And as long as those warnings are out there, the mercy of God is available to you.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_01: Cry out to Him, call out for His mercy, and He will forgive you.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: So do not reject the warnings, do not despise the blood of God, do not treat it as a common thing, trampling it underfoot as Hopni and Phineas had done.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: It was too late for Hofni and Phineas.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_01: We learn this as we look at the prophecy of verses 27 through 36.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Out of the blue in this account, there appears this man of God.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's not even named, but he's a prophet.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: He's a prophet coming to the chief prophet and priest of Israel, Eli himself, to deliver a very serious message.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now the prophet begins by reminding Eli of God's mercy.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: He reminds him that God brought the children of Israel out.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: He established your line as the ones who would minister before God, this great privilege of serving the Lord, which they, Eli and his sons, had blasphemed.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 27.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_01: And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer up upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me?
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_01: And did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: So they were priests of the most high God.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: They had this privilege given to them by God, and they despised it, they treated it as a common thing.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, they cared nothing about the real mercy of God that had already been shown to them.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: It didn't matter.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was of no importance to them.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: And we learn here in this rebuke that follows that Eli was also partaking of the sacrifices that Hopni and Phineas were taking for themselves.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Eli had rebuked them, but he also liked a bit of the spoils for himself as well.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's a half-heartedness in his response to the sins of his sons.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 29 and 30.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel, my people.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy fathers should walk before me forever.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: But now the Lord saith, Be it far from me, for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: What Eli had done was to honor his sons above God.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_01: Eli's sons were more important to him than God was.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: He either had to do something about his sons and honor God above them, or he could let his sons keep doing what they were doing and dishonor God.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: But he wouldn't do it.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_01: While his sons rejected his rebukes, he just stepped back and he let things proceed as they had been doing.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_01: And we see in Eli the great evil of fearing men, honoring men above God.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: When we fear man, we are caught in the snare because we are not honoring God, who is so much more important than any consideration of any man.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: This is the temptation that we face.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Will we honor God even if it means great discomfort to us?
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: It would have been difficult for Eli to act.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: It would have been very difficult for him to remove his sons and probably see them brought to a serious civil penalty for what they were doing.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_01: Will we honor God above the opinions of men?
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_01: Will we honor God even if it means the loss of a relationship, the loss of a job, the loss of our good name before men that we so value?
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: But those who choose to honor man above God will be absolutely assured by the Word of God that they will be dishonored by God.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 9, Jesus warns us: Whoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory and in his fathers and of the holy angels.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: A powerful example of this truth is found in an opposite way in the life of Richard Wormbrand.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: Perhaps you remember his testimony of how he was first brought to prison for honoring God above men.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_01: Richard Wormbrand was a Romanian Lutheran pastor living in Romania during the communist era.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: And Wormbrand was presented with the opportunity to honor God or honor man.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_01: He had to make a choice.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_01: In Romania, there was a congress of 4,000 church leaders that had gotten together, and they were all coming together at the Capitol shortly after the Soviets gained control in 1944, following, or during World War II.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: And Wormbrand witnessed the priests, the pastors, and ministers in attendance elect Joseph Stalin as the honorary president of this meeting of all these church leaders.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: The religious leaders filed up to the front, they rendered their prostrations to Joseph Stalin and honored him for his contributions.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: Would Wormbrand do the same?
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: Would he prostrate himself before these men, fearing men above God?
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know what he did.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: Wormbrand wrote of this in his book.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: He said, My wife and I were present at this Congress.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: My wife sat near me and told me, Richard, stand up and wash away the shame from the face of Christ.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_01: They are spitting in his face.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: I said to my wife, If I do so, you lose your husband.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_01: She said, I don't wish to have a coward as a husband.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: Then I arose and spoke to this Congress, praising not the murderers of Christians, but Christ and God, and said, Our loyalty is due first to him.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: The speeches at this Congress were broadcast, and the whole country could hear proclaim from the rostrum of the Communist Parliament the message of Christ.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: Afterwards I had to pay for this, but it had been worthwhile.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_01: Notice Wormbrand's perspective, he said, It was worth it.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_01: All the things that he went through.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: His life was not easy after that time, but it was worth it.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_01: It is always worth it to honor God above men.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: Rather than fearing man, however powerful, or in this case, fearing your own children.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: May we instead fear and honor God above any else that would oppose him, even if it be those that are closest to us.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now the Lord's judgment upon Eli's house would be severe.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: In verse verses 33 through 34 we see what this judgment was.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_01: But any of your men whom I do not cut off from my altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons on Hophni and Phineas in one day.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_01: Hophni and Phineas go into battle with the Ark of God, thinking that the Ark of God will give them protection.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: And the Lord had determined that that was the day upon which they would die and face judgment.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so as they go into battle to win a battle with this ark, God has other plans.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was going to bring them down at that point.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_01: But this text, even though it speaks so strongly to judgment against Eli's house, such that all his future descendants would be begging for bread because their priesthood would be cast out from the Lord.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: It says in verse 35, I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind, and I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before mine anointed forever.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now we keep hearing about the anointed to come, which first of all is David, as we learn in the chapters that follow, but the anointed is also our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the true anointed one and the everlasting King, that David was not.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_01: But who was this faithful priest that is described here?
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: Who are we looking at in this prophecy?
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, some think this is a reference to Samuel, as this appears to be the immediate context.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, we have Samuel mentioned in the text as one who is being raised up by the Lord.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_01: But 1 Kings, as we'll look at shortly, actually tells us that this is the line of Zadok.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: It was a different priestly line than the line of Eli.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so this isn't Samuel, and the first reason is that this faithful priest would walk before the anointed, and this is what the sons of Zadok and Zadok himself did during the reign of Solomon.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: Secondly, while Samuel did offer sacrifices, he's never mentioned as a priest.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: The word is never used for Samuel.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_01: He is always called a prophet.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thirdly, Samuel's house was not permanently established.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_01: It did not last after his own sons perverted justice and did not continue.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_01: But it was the line of Zadok, and Zadok is a lesser-known figure in the Old Testament.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_01: We often don't think about him.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: But the Old Testament gives him much significance.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_01: Take a look at 1 Kings chapter 1, verses, 1 Kings 2, I should say, 26 through 27.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_01: In this chapter, David is about to die.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: Adonijah, his son, is leading a rebellion, trying to take over the kingdom when it has been given to Solomon.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: And Adonijah and others, including Abiathar, one of the descendants of Eli, join in this rebellion.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they're conspiring to make Adonijah king instead of Solomon.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: But Solomon takes action here.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: He gets, casts out Adonijah, and he casts out Abiathar the high priest, who was the descendant of Eli.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_01: So verse 26 of 1 Kings 2.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: And unto Abiathar the priest, said the king, get thee to Anathoth unto thine own fields, for thou art worthy of death.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I will not at this time put thee to death because thou bearest the ark of the Lord before Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: So Solomon thrust out Abiathar for being priest unto the Lord, that he might fulfil the word of the Lord which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: There it is, the fulfillment of the prophecy, in the casting out of Abiathar, and Zadok being replaced.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 35 of 1 Kings 2.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_01: I might have the reference written down wrong.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: And the king put Beniah the son of Jehoida in his room over the host, and Zadok the priest did the king's.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_01: Put in the room for Abiathar.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_01: So Zadok replaces the line of Eli.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so the line of Eli did continue for a time, struggling along the way, but eventually it came to an end and was replaced, just as the prophecy of the Lord had been made.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now there's even more significance to the line of Zadok that we have hinted at in Ezekiel.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_01: So also turn to Ezekiel 44.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: Ezekiel 44 verses 15 through 16.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: And this passage is the temple prophecy of Ezekiel 40 through 48.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's one of these difficult to understand, obscure prophecies in the Old Testament of this temple that was to come.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: And we have Zadok and his sons mentioned again years after the during the exile here in Ezekiel.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 14 of chapter 44.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: It says, The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_01: They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_01: So Zadok and his sons had been faithful through all this apostasy of the kings, and the Lord is saying that he is going to establish their line to continue this priestly work in the temple that was to come.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: Now it all depends on how you take the temple vision.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_01: What is this new temple that was to be built?
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I believe that the vision finds its fulfillment in the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church of the Living God.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_01: We are the temple that is described.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_01: We are part of that temple.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_01: And so in the Old Testament, we have these two priestly lines.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_01: On one hand, there is the line of the kings through David, the anointed one, and then there is the line of the priests here through Zadok and his descendants.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_01: But then in the New Testament, those two lines come together and culminate into one office, or two or two offices in one person.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the anointed one and is the priest, the faithful priest who was to come.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you can find Jesus on page after page of the Old Testament.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: There are breadcrumbs and all these different chapters that lead us to remember Jesus as the anointed one and as the priest.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: Consider what Hebrews says about our Lord Jesus and his priestly office.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: It says he was a great high priest who passed through the heavens, a high priest holy, innocent, and unstained, separated from sinners, a high priest of the good things to come, a great priest over the house of God.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: And the simple way to look at it is this whatever priesthood you find in the Old Testament, however faithful, however unfaithful, it all leads to the priesthood of Christ.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because whatever priesthood existed was just mortal men ministering before God, sinful men ministering before God.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: And none of them could bear the sins of God's people.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: None of them could intercede forever as our Lord Jesus does for us.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: And so these two offices are united forever in the reign of our King and our priest, Jesus Christ.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_01: And because of that we draw nearby faith with boldness, as Hebrews 10 says, because he makes intercession for us.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_01: So bringing it all back together, we see the key teachings of this passage.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: Judgment begins at the household of God.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: He will purify the dross, he will get rid of the impurities, and purify his people to make them holy.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: God took the house of Eli down.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's that fearful judgment that we see in this chapter.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_01: Sin is no trifling matter.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: It is a serious matter.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: Sin has serious consequences.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_01: But with all these warnings, we're pointed back to what God is doing in this account.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: He is establishing a faithful priesthood for himself.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_01: The union of those two offices brought together in the fulfillment of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, brothers and sisters, the word of God speaks to you this morning.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_01: It calls you to a life of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: It tells you to turn from your sinful deeds and desires, which will only plunge you into destruction.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: Whatever pleasures sin may afford for a short time will not be worth it when it comes to the day of judgment.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_01: But instead look upon the faithful high priest, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: Every single one of them can be removed.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: Every sin forgiven in Him who bears all our sins if we will confess them to Him.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: Let us pray.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_01: We see in this account that it is a fearful thing to fall into your hands if we are not in Jesus Christ.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, we desire to be your humble servants, not those who sin against your grace and use our freedom as an opportunity to fulfill our own lusts.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_01: Lord, we pray that you would turn us from any rebellion that is in our hearts, or we would be tempted to turn away, to follow our own desires.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_01: I pray that by your grace you would turn us from all these temptations.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray that we would look unto the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and that we would see that Lamb as our Lamb by faith, the one who will save us from our own sins.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_01: Grant us each soft hearts, not the hard hearts of Hafni and Phineas, who would not listen, but instead give us the ears to hear.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_01: We pray this in the name of our great King and High Priest Jesus.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_01: This has been a production of the Generations Media Network.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: For more information, go to generations.org/slash media.