Because it is. It is. And I didn't make it well with
my soul. Christ did. Christ did. First
Samuel, chapter 2. First Samuel, chapter 2. Oh,
we had a wonderful meeting, and I tell you, I really appreciate
everybody's efforts. Oh, they've done so well and
done so much and helped so much. Surely organized things and done
exceptionally well at it, I think, and all the... And I know some
of you ladies are getting a little older, you know, but you do very
well. You do exceptionally well, exceptionally
well. Let's start here in verse 12,
down to 1 Samuel 2 in verse 12. Read down to verse 18. Now the sons of Eli were sons
of Belial. They knew not the Lord. 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. And
he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot,
and all that the flesh had brought up the priest took for himself.
So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came there.
And also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servants came
and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest,
for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any
man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently,
sacrifices, and then take as much as thy soul desires. Then
he would answer him, Nay, but thou shalt give it me by now,
and if not, I will take it by force. Wherefore the sin of the
young men was very great before the Lord, for men abhorred the
offering of the Lord. But Samuel ministered before
the Lord, being a child girded with a linen ephod." My subject
this evening is corrupt ministers, corrupt preachers, those that
are corrupt. You know, when we started out,
I think this is my fourth message, fifth maybe. You know, I had
talked about Elkanah and his two wives and how that Hannah,
the Lord blessed her to have a child, Samuel. Now, he was
a godly man. He took his family to worship
and offer sacrifices yearly. And his whole family, he took
his whole family with him. And so they went up yearly. I
mean, they was faithful. They was faithful. And I tell
you what, look what his mother did after she dedicated him to
the Lord. And every, look what it says
here in verse 19. And you know, it says here in
the second chapter. Moreover, his mother made him
a little coat And that little coat means a little robe, and
brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her
husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. So every year she'd make a new
set of clothes, take them up to Samuel, take them up to her
son. She got to enjoy him, got to
delight in him, got to see him worshiping before the Lord, got
to see him as he ministered before Eli. And they continued honoring
him, went from year to year. From year to year, they continued
honoring and worshiping God. And you remember that this is
the time of the judges. Samuel was, I mean, Eli was one
of the judges. And this was the time of the
judges whenever man did that which was right in his own eyes.
So you see, it took some effort. It took some godliness. It took
God working in these people to go up year after year after year
and offer sacrifices. over here in chapter 1 in verse
3 I want to show you the names of the two priests who received
Elkanah's annual sacrifices when he went up. says there in verse
3, And this man went up, Elkanah, with his two wives and their
children. This man went up out of his city yearly to worship
and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two
sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were
there. These were the men take, be there to take his annual sacrifices
as he came year after year. And you remember that Eli was
setting up on his, setting outside the tabernacle when she was there
praying, thought she was drunk. And so, you know, he blessed
her and sent her on her way. And Eli was a high priest. His two sons served under him
and was one of Israel's judges, one of Israel's judges. and Phinehas
were priests to the Lord there. Now these young men, they were
young men, were raised around the tabernacle. They were raised
right around him. They saw their father get up
every day. He was the high priest. And those
priests, they'd watch him get up every day and offer that morning
lamb. And then they'd watch people
come up and bring their sacrifices, bring their faith, peace offerings,
sin offerings, peace offerings. Watch them bring all their offerings. And they would take those off.
He saw all this happen, seen all the bloodshed. And the priesthood
were part of their lives from time they were very, very young
boys. And yet, though they watched
that, and beheld that, and seen that, and how serious it was,
and how holy God was, and the sacrifices they required, yet
these two men had no regard whatsoever for God or His holy things of
the tabernacle. It says here in verse 12 of chapter
2. Now the sons of Eli were sons
of Belial, sons of Belial. They were worthless. This is
the lowest of the low is what they were. And how awful and
how tragic it is when the Lord's people are in the hands of corrupt
leaders, awful leaders, men who don't regard God, that don't
think anything about God. And we see it all around us today. We see it here in this county
today. And since there's been leaders, there's been corrupt
leaders. There's been men and women in every generation. Even in our Lord's day, our Lord
Jesus himself said, how are you going to escape the damnation
of hell, you vipers and serfs? You teach and instruct men, and
you bring the law to them, and you bring burdens and put on
them, and you pay the tithe of your men and your Anis and your
Cumans, and yet you leave off judgment and mercy and love and
compassion. You lay these burdens, and I
tell you that's the way they've been in every generation, but
here it's talking about religious corruption, corruption of the
highest sort. It's awful to be corrupt in politics. It's awful to be corrupt as a
banker, but when it comes to religion, I personally believe
that there's a special place in hell where preachers and corrupt
leaders are going to go in religion, that they'll have a special place
for them and they'll always, they will know what they've done,
how they disregarded God. And here it is, religious corruption.
Hophni and Phinehas, these sons of Belial, if they were living
in our day, they would be pastors of churches. Well, how can you
tell a corrupt preacher? How can you tell a corrupt minister? How can you tell when one's corrupt? How can you tell? What are they
like? What's the marks of them? Well, here's the first mark.
Here's the first mark, verse 12. Now the sons of Eli were
sons of Belial. Now listen to this. They knew
not the Lord. That's the first thing. And regenerate. They knew not the Lord. Look
down in verse 17 what it says about them. Wherefore the sin
of the young men was very great. They didn't know God. Sons of
Belial, sons of Satan, the lowest. I want you to hold this and look
with me over in 2 Corinthians 6. This is what the apostle said
about it. And this is exactly what's called
the Satan in 2 Corinthians 6 in verse 15. But they knew not the
Lord. And that's the reason why they
were called sons of Belial. And how many sons of Belial?
How many people are on the radio? How many people advertise and
they don't mention the Lord's name? Christ is not mentioned. How many times do ministers get
up and they tell wonderful, beautiful illustrations and stories that'll
tug on people's heartstrings? but they don't mention Christ.
I've been to funerals and things and people tell me, said they
never mentioned the Lord Jesus one time in the service. Now
you can't get more corrupt than never preach a message and never
mention the Lord's name. But these men knew not, you know
why men don't, why they don't mention Christ? They don't know
nothing about him. And what they do know about him,
they know the wrong things about him. But oh, look what he said
here in 2 Corinthians 6, in verse 15. What concord, or what union,
hath Christ with Belial? What union, what concord, hath
Christ with Satan? And listen to this, or what part
hath he that believeth with an infidel? A man that's an infidel,
what part do we have with an infidel? We're absolutely worlds
apart. Worlds apart. I told that person
just a couple of weeks ago. And a church went in the building
there and they had drums and guitars and everything all over
the place. And they rip and roar and carry
on. And I told them, I said, listen,
we are diametrically opposite of what we believe and how we
worship. Diametrically opposite. Completely different in every
way. And there's no other way to say
it than that. No other way to say it than that.
And I tell you what, the Scriptures tells us, go back over to 1 Samuel. It said over in Titus 1.16, and
you don't have to look here, but they profess to know God. Oh, I know God, I profess to
know God. But in works, in works they deny
Him, being abominable and disobedient unto every good work. And then
He says they were reprobate. You know what a reprobate is?
That's somebody that God just leaves them alone to no judgment
to know what's right or wrong. and all these men's problems
here they knew didn't know God, they didn't know the Lord. Brother
Henry used to say all the time, a man can't tell what he don't
know no more than he can come back from some place he's never
been. He used to say that all the time, and why men ain't saying
anything about him and the way they say it is because they don't
know nothing about And these men were full of unbelief. And
these men's problem was they had no relationship with God,
and yet they were offering sacrifices, other men's sacrifices. No, because
they knew not God. You know what happens when a
man doesn't know God? He gets greedy, he gets lustful,
and it fills their hearts. And here they were, priests in
the tabernacle. And it's obvious, and Brother
Bruce made it so plain last Sunday morning. Unregenerate men, unregenerate
men can rise to high positions in the church. They can be deacons,
they can be pastors, and they can rise to high, high positions. But the higher you rise, the
harder the fall. And oh, they can be deacons,
they can be pastors. And our Lord, you know our Lord,
you know what he said? While you turned to Acts chapter
20, you know what our Lord said? He told the church in Revelations
2-2. Now you know, you look with me
in Acts. He says, I know, I know you, that you've tried them who
says that they are apostles. But you found them to be liars.
How did you know they were liars? Because they didn't say the right
thing. And Paul says, you know, these are false apostles. There's men that come among them.
He said, they've come among you Corinthians. They're false apostles,
deceitful workers, professing themselves to be the apostles
of Christ. And that ain't no marvel. That's
nothing to marvel about because they transformed themselves into
the apostles of Christ. That ain't nothing marvelous
because I'll tell you what, even Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. Oh, man can claim anything, but
having it, that's another story, right? But look what he said
here in Acts 20 in verse 29. This is, look what, we're gonna
start at verse 28. Oh my, look what he says here. Paul's fixing to leave the Ephesians
church. He called the men in, he called
the brethren around, he called them around, he said, take heed
therefore unto yourselves. and to all the flock, all the
sheep, which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. And here's
what you do, you feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
with his own blood. For this is what I know, that
after I leave here, grievous wolves will enter in among you,
not sparing the flock." Don't care anything about the sheep.
And listen to this. Oh, I tell you what, if I'd have
been amongst that bunch when Paul said this, he said, he said,
also of your own selves, right among your own group, among this
church at Ephesus, also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things. Why? To draw away disciples after
themselves. Not to Christ, but after themselves. When a man trying to draw disciples
to himself, that's a dead giveaway. And the church, the local church,
must always, and you know John said it this way, try the spirits,
whether they be of God or not. Try them, for every spirit is
not of God. And I tell you what, we as a
body of believers, and we must always, always exalt the Lord
Jesus Christ. We must always hold the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ high above every name. When we talk
about any name, let's especially talk about that name and hold
that name high, high and high and holy. And I'll tell you how
we know, is Christ our all in all? Is he the center of our
hope of our lives? Is he the center of our preaching?
Is he the center of our worship? And that's why we got to, oh
my, and I've told you all before, I've told you this many times
over the years, it's been a while, but a man don't go haywire, just
jump off the rails all of a sudden. He starts, just a little bit
of leaven starts easing in. And a little leaven will leaven
the whole lump, and after a while, he brings in a little more leaven.
And that's why you need men, faithful men, who is willing
when the preacher starts going haywire and starts preaching
a little leaven here, whenever that happens, Me and Otis, you
know, say, go to the preacher, say, preacher, what did you mean
by that? When you said that there, what
did you mean by that? Explain that to me. Why did you
say that? And if I won't receive that,
the nurse, you know, find you somebody else. It's time to cut
off the money. You know, I tell you, I wouldn't
have any problem doing that if I was around somebody, or else
I'd leave one or the other. Here's the second mark of a corrupt
preacher, a corrupt minister. They reject God's commands and
they devise their own practices. Look what happened here now.
In verse 13, they were sons of Belial. They didn't know the
Lord. They were unregenerate. And look what it says here. 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,
and he wretched down into the pan, or the kettle, or the cauldron,
or the pot, And all that that flesh hook, that three-pronged
hook that he had, brought it up to the priest, took for himself. So did they in Shiloh unto all
the Israelites that came there. And also before they burnt the
fat, the priest's servant came and said to the man that sacrificed,
give flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have sodden flesh
of thee. Now let me tell you something.
In the law, under the Leviticus law, God provided for how the
priests were to be taken care of. And you know, they had priests
in every area, and they had these sacrifices, and these priests
would come up and go by course, and they would do things. And
so these priests would come up, and you know, and how the priests
lived, is that's why the tithes were formed. They brought in
tithes of food, they brought in their tithes of their money,
they brought in the tithes of their corn and their wine and
their oil and their olive oil. They brought all that in because
that's why they'd bring it in and then they would distribute
it among the priests and that's how the priests lived. what the
tithes were for. And they, you know, and you had
all kinds of priests. You know, you had people that
carried them, and you had people that offered sacrifices, and
they would go up and they had people to burn the candles and
lamps and all that. So they had lots of priests,
and they would come up and do their course year by year. But
now let me show you what God, how God provided for the priests
as far as food, meat was concerned. Look over in Leviticus chapter
7. This is what God provided for
them, and this will show you what these men did, how they
devised their own way. They were provided for. And here
in chapter 7, in Leviticus 7, 31 and 32, look what it says
here now. Now here's what happens. This
is how God told them to have the meat off the sacrifices. This is their portion. And the
priest shall burn the fat upon the altar. The fats must be burned
off of it. But the breast, the breast part
of the lamb, or oxen, or bullock, or whatever was offered, the
breast shall be Aaron's and his son's, his descendants. And the
right shoulder shall you give unto the priest for a heave offering
of the sacrifice of your peace offering. And so these were the
things, and he says here, among the sons of Aaron that offer
the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right
shoulder for his parents. For the rave breast and the heave
shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel off the sacrifice
of the peace offerings and have given them unto Aaron the priest
and unto his sons by statute from among the children of Israel
forever. So they got the breast and they got the right shoulder,
but the fat had to be burned off of it. Now, that's what God
said, this is what you're going to get. And all the priests are
going to get this. This is how they give it all. And oh, you know how much meat
they're having today with all the sacrifices? Well, here's
what happens. These two men here, it says here
that they had a three-pronged hook. They made them a three-pronged
hook. And you know, they would go in
and they'd say, well, I want that. They'd stick in that three-pronged
hook, whether they had it in a pot or whatever they had it
in, a cauldron or whatever, and they'd stick that in there and
just jerk it out without it ever being burned, without it being
offered for sacrifice or anything. They'd just go in there and get
it. Oh, my. And they took whatever I wanted.
It was a human invention. They said, I don't know how,
I'll get whatever I want. And that's why they said the
service would come and just stick that pork in there and grab up
a whole bunch of meat and just pick it out and say, this is
gonna be for the priest. He didn't say anything, didn't say nothing
about the breast, didn't say nothing about the right shoulder.
He said, whatever you got, whatever you got, when I want it, I'm
gonna come and get it. And that's the way they did it.
They made him a three-pronged hook to get it with. It was like
Aaron's sons made out in a bayou. Men have always devised a way
to get around the way God does things. Always have and they
always will. Nadab and Abihu, now they had
fire, God had fire on the brazen altar all the time. And the only
fire that God would accept was the fire that come off his altar.
Well, Nadab and Abihu went off one day and they built them a
fire. And they took their fire and
they didn't go to God's altar and get some fire off of it.
They went and built them a fire, and they took that fire and put
it in their censers, and both of them put it in their censers,
and they went to offer that fire of their own making a sacrifice
of the Lord. You know what God did to them?
He said, that's a strange fire. That's not my fire. You didn't
get off my altar. You didn't give me the fire that
I kindled. And he killed them both. And you know what the scripture
said? Aaron, hell is, you do it, we're
gonna do it God's way or we'll perish. We'll do it God's way
or we, I heard a preacher, a man told me this week that a preacher
told him, he said, it's my way or the highway. Well, let's say,
let's put it this way. It's God's way or highway to hell. There's just
no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I hope I never get that. arrogant
and audacious to say it's my way or the highway. Good grief,
what kind of a preacher say that to somebody? But I say if it's
God's way, my way is the same way everybody is. If I don't
go God's way, there ain't no hope for me. I've got to do what
God says. We don't have no options. We
don't have any alternatives. We're gonna take God's fire. We're gonna take God's sacrifice
of his providing. We're going to, by God's grace,
do what He says and worship the way He says. He said, if this
is our part, then that's the part we want. We don't want nothing
else. If somebody trains another way and devises another way,
no, no, no, no, we don't want that. Leave it alone. Oh my,
and I tell you, in this day and age, and that's what men are
doing, they've invented many, many things in this day. Preaching
is no longer prominent in most churches. They've taken and put
on drama plays. and put on plays, and they put
on dances, and they make music to be the most integral part
of the service, the drums and the guitar players and everybody
jumping up and hollering and shouting and all that. And then
they've got the sinner's prayer. They've invented the sinner's
prayer to make converts out of people. Then they have special
days, old-fashioned day, Grandma's Day, Old Folks Day, Young Married
Couples Day, the Children's Day, the Youngest Mother and Oldest
Mother Day, and oh my. Then they have Pack-a-Pew Day.
And I tell you what, do whatever it takes to get them in. I'm
going to tell you a true story. I've seen this with my own eyes.
This really happened. I don't remember if it was in
Indiana or Illinois, but anyway, these two men, they went into
a pretty affluent neighborhood and went around and devised a
survey. If there was a church in this
community, what would you want it to be like? What would help
make you want to come to a church if a church was in your area?
And they gave these people the surveys, and they filled it all
out, and they went back around and got the survey. They said,
well, the first thing is we don't like being preached to. Second
thing is we want the most comfortable seats that can be provided. We
want to be able to dress. We don't want to have to dress
up. And we want music that'll be good music. And we want to
be able to have a place to relax before and after service. And
so those preachers got there. They built a church, and they
put couches in it, easy chairs in it, built a big stage up here
and had this beautiful music. They had a coffee shop in it.
And I mean, they fixed it just on just exactly what them people
said. And sure enough, they filled that place up. And that's what
preachers are doing now. They're going off and learn how
to market to people to get them in. And I'll tell you something
else. I'm going to tell you something. Take my word for it. This Presbyterian
Church of America, you know what they do? They go into a particular
area because they know that a particular socioeconomic group will come
to their churches. They don't go into poor people's.
They go into fluid neighborhoods and they set up their works there.
Because they know that people that's well educated and have
good jobs and make lots of money will come. And that's who they
go after. They go after a certain class
of people. And then you know what else they
want? They want an educated ministry.
And you know what they do? Educate their self right out
of the ministry. Right? But oh my, but God save us, God
save us. But you know what God does? He's
still got pastors after his own heart. No matter what happens,
he's going to leave himself. He's not going to leave himself
without a witness. And I tell you, he has pastors
after his own heart to teach and to preach. And the Word,
the Word is our only rule of what we're to believe and why
we're to live. I'm not the rule. You're not
the rule. Lent and grace ain't the rule.
God's Word's the rule of what we're to believe and how we're
to live in this world. That's the only thing. That's
why Paul told Timothy, I charge thee in the sight of God and
the Lord Jesus Christ who quickens the dead. Preach the word. Be
instant in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke with all patience
and longsuffering. And he said, I tell you, you
know, he said, you give yourself to the ministry of the word so
that when I come, Folks will understand. He said, and take
heed to yourself and to your doctrine, and doing this you'll
save yourself and them that hear you. Oh my, feed the flock. We read it a minute ago where
Paul Peter said, I mean, Paul says, you know, feed the flock
of God over which the Holy Ghost has made you. Our Lord Jesus
said, Simon Peter, do you love me? He said, yes. Feed my sheep
then. If you love me, feed my sheep. They're my sheep. So you
feed them. Here's the third thing. Not only
did they devise a way of their own making to have food, but
they abused God's people. Look what he said here in verse
15, 16. Look how they abused God's people.
Also, says in verse, also before they burned the fat, remember
over there they said burn all the fat off of the breast and
off of the offering? Also before they burnt the fat,
the priest servant came and said to the man that sacrificed, give
flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have sodden flesh
of thee but raw. Oh my, God said burn it on the
sacrifice. Burn it on the altar. And if
any, listen to what I have said now. Now, if any man said unto
him, let them not fail to burn the fat. Don't burn the fat.
We don't want the fat burnt. We want the fat. Let them not
fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy
soul desire. Then he would answer him and
say, nay, but thou shalt give it me now, and if not, I'll take
it by force. I'll take it by force. I'll take
it away from you. You give me what I want or I'll
take it by force. Oh my. They had no regard for
God and they certainly didn't have regard for the people who
came to worship. Didn't have no regard for the
sacrifices. Didn't have no regard for the
people and said, I'm gonna take what I want. And if you don't
like it, I'll take it away from you. I'll take it away from you.
And oh my, I tell you what, you know, Look what God said about
men like this over in Isaiah 56. Look what God said about
men like this. Look what the Lord said in Isaiah
56. This is what God said about them. 56, 10, and 11. Oh, my. They abused God's people. You
know, there was a fellow that stayed with us this weekend,
and he said he left the church we was at was because, he says,
the preacher. Of course, the preacher's gone
now, but he said the preacher. Quit preaching to me and started
preaching, I mean, preaching Christ to me. He started preaching
to me, started preaching down to me, started preaching to me
instead of preaching, instead of preaching to me, he's preached
at me, preached at me. That's how I said it, he preached
at me. But look what he said here. And Isaiah 56, this is
what God said about men like this that abuse God's people.
His watchmen are blind. They're all ignorant. They're
all dumb dogs. They can't bark. Sleeping, lying
down, loving to slumber. Yea, they're greedy dogs which
can never have enough. And they are shepherds that cannot
understand. They all look to their own way.
Every man, every one for his gain from his quarter. what these
men did. They abused the Lord's people.
Now, I want to show you something else they did. This is, you're
talking about wicked men. Look back over here at 1 Samuel
2. Look what, look what, look what happened here. Not only
was they, they didn't know God, they devised their own ways and
they abused God's people. But look what it said here in
verse 22. Now, Eli was very old and heard that all that his,
all that his sons did unto Israel. Now listen to this, and how they
lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle
of congregation. They lay with the women around
the tabernacle door. They come around and they take
them home. Oh my, this is oh my, just all too common in our
day. Any day I remember one preacher,
oh I remember a few, just four or five years ago, there was
a preacher. Oh, every time you turn around, you heard about
his name. And he had an airplane. He had a bunch of people, churches
under him, and he would fly to this one, that one. And he was
a strong, strong legalist. Oh, he was a strict lawman. And
I tell you, he would, oh, he And he would go around and he'd
tell all these people how they had to live and all they had
to do about the law and how they had to live holy lives and quit
this thing and that thing and another thing. And you know what?
Come to find out that he had an affair with his secretary
and had been having an affair with her for a long time. When
they found out about that, he parked that airplane. Nobody
else would listen to him. And all them folks that he deceived,
they stood around like, what in the world? It's like Jimmy
Swagger getting up and telling everybody how holy living is,
and how it is to live right, and how you gotta speak in tongues
and have all this power with God. And he's outrunning women. And that's what these fellas
did, and thought it was a common thing. And how many men compromise
to get bigger churches, to get more money? You know the average
time, I seen this today, the average time at a church is four
years. Why? Bigger and better, bigger
and better, bigger and better. And let me give you the last
thing that these fellows did to show you how corrupt they
were. They wouldn't receive correction. Look what it says down here in
verse 23 through 25. And now this is Eli speaking
to his sons. And he said unto them, Why do
ye such things? For I hear of your evil dealings
by all this people. O my sons, nay my sons, for it
is no good report that I hear. Listen to this, you make the
Lord's people to transgress. If one man sin against another,
the judge shall judge him. But if a man sin against the
Lord, who shall entreat for him? Now listen to this, Notwithstanding,
they hearkened not unto the voice of their father." They wouldn't
listen to their father. They didn't receive correction.
Why are you doing such a thing? You know this is evil. This is
an awful thing. But they didn't care about what
their father said. What wicked heart to not take
correction. What a deceitful heart. When
John wrote to the church, he said, I wrote unto you and sent
men down there, but the Atreves, who loves to have the preeminence,
he wouldn't let them come. He wouldn't let them come. He
said, I'm coming, and then we'll see what's going to happen. There's
only two reasons a person, one reason why a person, how a person
will receive a correction, and one reason why he won't. If you're
humble and you believe God and trust God, you'll receive correction. And let me tell you something
where correction comes from. It comes from the pulpit. It comes from
the Bible. And pride won't. Humility will receive correction
and pride won't. And you know, the man that hollered
out in here, I guarantee you, I guarantee you, he's a pastor.
him aside and talk to him. I guarantee you he's going to
do that. I know that's going to happen. And he won't be mean
about it. I know he won't be mean about it. But look what
they're saying. Look how sinful they were. Look up here in verse
17, I'll quit. Wherefore the sin of the young
men was very great, and listen to this, before the Lord. And
because of the way they were, men abhorred the offering of
the Lord. They just quit going offering
sacrifices. They abhorred it. We don't need
it. We don't need it. Oh, they abhorred the offering
of the Lord. They despised it. But even in
that day, God had a faithful man. Let me show you this. Look
in verse 11. Here's a faithful, even in this
time, God had a faithful man. And Elkanah went to Ramah, to
his house, and listen to this. and the child did minister unto
the Lord before Eli the priest." That's Samuel he's talking about.
Look down verse 18, what he says about Samuel. But Samuel ministered
before the Lord being a child. He had on a linen ephod, had
on his ephod around his breast, had a little ephod. Look down
verse 26. And the child Samuel grew on
and was in favor both with the Lord and also with me. God's
always had somebody. No matter how wicked it got,
God's gonna have somebody right in the middle of it. Amen?