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Hey man, the part of the chapter we're going to focus on is found in Proverbs chapter 22 in verse number 6 where the Bible reads, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And the title of my message this evening is Phineas and Phineas, Phineas and Phineas. Now turn with me if you would to Proverbs chapter number 10, Proverbs chapter number 10. I'm going to read to you from Proverbs 17 verse 25 where the Bible reads, A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her that bare him. If you read through all of Proverbs, we're not going to go through all of the scriptures, we'll constantly see an instruction manual for how to raise our children, right? For how children ought to behave, how parents ought to train them up in the ways of the Lord so that when they are old they won't depart from the ways of the Lord. And it constantly gives us practical tips on how we can raise our children, how we're supposed to instruct them, how we're supposed to help them, and the Bible tells us what will happen if we instruct them in the right ways and if we don't instruct them in the right ways. And in Proverbs 17 it says, A foolish son is a grief to his father. I mean you see the prison systems today, and we're not in agreement with the prison systems, but many of these prisons are filled with a bunch of gangsters and people who are in grief to their father, okay? Whose parents would be ashamed to know that their son committed or their daughter committed such a wicked crime. Look at Proverbs chapter 10 verse number 1, the Bible says, The Proverbs of Solomon, a wise son, maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. You know, one thing that I've seen even over the years as I've been a Christian is, you know, whether it's teenagers or young adults who get saved, and maybe they don't have parents who are saved, you know, maybe the parents don't even agree with a lot of the stuff that they say. But later on, if that person stays faithful, if they stay faithful to the ways of the Lord, they go to church, they become an honest person of integrity, you know what that does? That causes the heart of their parents to be glad, okay? They see that and they say, you know, I may not agree with the fact that he left Catholicism or she left Buddhism or he left whatever it may be, but, you know, they're an honest and good person, and that makes me glad. But you know what, when you see a child involved in sin and wickedness and all things that are displeasing to the Lord, that's heaviness to the mother. That's heaviness to the father. Why? Because within every parent, we want our children to succeed. And obviously, there's a worldly success out there that we shouldn't strive to have for our children. There's a success that is void of God. We're not talking about that. We're talking about the success in the eyes of the Lord when we find God's will and we do it. Amen? When we obey the word of the Lord, when we do that which is pleasing in his sight, we live a clean life that's pleasing to God. And this evening, we're gonna look at that. We're gonna look to characters in the Bible. And that's why the sermons call Phineas and Phineas. Because in the Bible, it's interesting, there's actually two guys that have the same exact name. And I mentioned it this morning, Phineas and Phineas. And the interesting thing about these two guys is, is that they basically almost come from the same background. They both have spiritual leaders, spiritual fathers, one is a prophet, one was a priest. They both have the same names. They both have basically the same inheritance in a sense, yet different outcomes. And in fact, their outcomes are completely opposite one of another. And we're gonna learn the character qualities of each. Now, as we go through the sermon, first and foremost, if you're like, well, Brother Bruce, I don't have kids, you know, how is this applied to me? I don't have children. Well, first and foremost, Lord willing, you will have children one day, amen? And that's the goal right there. But secondly, you can apply this to your life to make sure that you're the right type of Phineas. Because regardless if you don't have children, you're still someone's child. You still have a mom and dad. We're still commanded to honor our father and our mother and to obey them and to honor them in that way. But if we do have children, this is something that we can apply to ourselves, whether they're grown or not, and say, okay, this is what I want to produce right here. I wanna produce Phineas, the son of Eleazar. I don't wanna produce Phineas, the son of Eli, okay? So Phineas, the son of Eleazar, obviously his dad was a priest. His great grandfather was Aaron. And if you read the story of that lineage right there, Aaron, you know, one day we gotta preach the sermon on Aaron because though he did great works for God, he was kind of a pushover. And he made a lot of mistakes. And in fact, there's a verse in the Bible, I can't think of the Old Testament scripture, I think it's in Numbers, I believe it's in Numbers, where it says that Aaron was stripped of his garments. And it was given unto Eleazar, and it wasn't because he's just, you know, he's retired from being a priest. It was because he was a bad leader. And that responsibility, that office was stripped from Eleazar, or excuse me, stripped from Aaron and given unto Eleazar. Obviously Eleazar was a godly man, he did all he could, and that just goes to show that even if you have a bad example as a parent, you can still turn out good. You can still be godly, you have no excuse, you say, well, you know, my mom fed me with a slingshot. Well, you know what, that just gives you good precision to eat. You gotta look at the silver lining and everything, you can't blame your past. You know, you can't blame your parents, you can't blame mom and dad because of the way that, you say, well, my dad wasn't in my life. Well, you know what, you're saved now, and you have a Heavenly Father. Okay, so no excuse there. Yeah, but we didn't have the right instructions. Yeah, but now you have the word of God. The word of righteousness that can instruct us in the right way. And so we see there that Eleazar, man, he turned out great. And one way that we can see that he turned out great and that he was a success is because he turned out a great son by the name of Phinehas, okay. Now you contrast that with Phinehas, the son of Eli, we'll get to that in just a bit. I mean, these guys were wicked. And it wasn't just Phinehas, it was Hophni and Phinehas, but we're gonna focus primarily on Phinehas. These were wicked sons. They were wicked. And we're gonna see why this evening. Now go with me, if you would, to Numbers chapter 25. I'm gonna look at just some of the, we're gonna overview some of the character qualities. Obviously, these aren't all of them. But some of the character qualities of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar. As we go through these, apply them to your personal life, but also have goals to apply them to your children, okay. May this be something that you look and say, man, I wanna train my son or my daughter in this way so they turn out to be a godly young child. The first character quality we see is that he loved the Lord. And I believe that was, that's obvious. It doesn't say a phrase like, you know, Phinehas loved the Lord. But let me read you a verse from Psalms 97, verse 10, ye that love the Lord hate evil. He preserveth the souls of his saints. He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. So what's one way you can measure if you love the Lord? Hate evil. Amen. Right? How's your hate life? Amen. And it's evident, instead, you say, well, no, no, no, no, no, no, love is the absence of hatred. No, no, no, no, no. Love means there's hatred there. It's hatred for the wicked things. And ye that love the Lord hate evil. Amen. You say, how do you know that Phinehas hated evil? Look at Numbers chapter 25 and verse number 7. We read some of this story this morning, but we're going to read it again. The Bible says, excuse me, verse number 1, we'll start in verse number 1. And Israel bode and shiv'n, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat and bow down to their gods. And Israel joined themself unto Belpeor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. By the way, side note here, he'd decapitate these, or hang these guys, right? That the fierce anger may turn away. You would think that that is the fierce anger of the Lord, right? It is just like, well, if you really don't want to see the real fierce anger of the Lord, you'll hang these guys, okay? Verse 5, the Bible says here, Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Belpeor. And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a media nightish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand. And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through. What is that? It's called human shishkabab. And just by the very terminology that you see there, you see the wicked act that they were committing. Because it says this, it says, and the woman threw her belly, okay? So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, he's went too far. You don't have to say that. No, he was out of hand. No, it says, hath turned away my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Verse number 13, and he shall have it and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. So first and foremost, we see that Eleazar loved the Lord. Why? Because evil, he hated evil. And you can see that it angered him to the point where he took matters into his own hands. He executed righteousness and judgment and justice within Israel, when no one else would. I mean, you think of Israel, it's a, I mean, Israel is a nation. There's millions of people here, and one guy, out of all these people, gets up and says, I'll take care of this. Let me go home and grab my favorite javelin, go over there, and make human shish kebab. And if anyone ever stopped him, he's like, don't worry, I'm going to turn away the wrath of God right now with this. You know, he didn't ask counsel, he didn't do it, he was, because he loved the Lord, he hated evil. And look, side note, if you want to measure your own love for the Lord, how's your hatred for evil? We cannot say that we love God, but yet we're dabbling in evil, or we're supporting those who are evil. No, he that loved the Lord, hate evil, and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, showed that. Now turn with me to Judges chapter 8. Judges chapter number 8. I'm sorry, go to Isaiah 59, I'm going to read to you from Judges 8, go to Isaiah 59. So let's contrast that with Jethro's firstborn. Judges 8, 20 says, and he said unto Jethro his firstborn, up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword, for he feared, because he was yet a youth. That's what the Bible says. So in contrast, from Eleazar's son Phinehas, you contrast that with Jethro's firstborn, you know there's two differences there. This guy was like, oh no, I'm just a kid, I'm too scared, Phinehas wasn't scared. He feared more God. He feared God more than anybody else. And because of that, he executed righteousness, and God's blessing was on that, was on Israel because of that. But not only that, so we see the character quality, he loved the Lord. And look, one thing that we want to instill, obviously, in our children, is to love the Lord. Amen. Right? Because that will be the primary motive as to why they serve God. And if you read in Deuteronomy chapter number 6, it commands the parents to teach the statutes and the instructions of the Lord to the children. But first it needs to be in our heart, then we teach it to our children. And that's why the Bible says that they may love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. You know, we as parents, we need to make sure that we're diligently teaching our children the word of God. Okay? And making sure that it's not just genuine in their lives, it needs to be genuine in ours as well. We need to make sure that we're walking with God. We need to make sure that we're reading the Bible. We need to make sure that we have a sincere love for the Lord by obeying his commandments. Amen? But not only that, we see the second character quality is that he was zealous. Isaiah 59, 17 says, for he put on righteousness as a breastplate and an helmet of salvation upon his head, and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with a zeal, with zeal as a cloak. You know, zeal is a armor that God commands us to put on. It's like a cloak. Zealous for the things of God. And one of the reasons, look, throughout the years that I've been a Christian, I've seen zealous parents that produce unzealous children. Okay? And one of the reasons for that is because the parents aren't really zealous. Because you bring forth of your own kind. You know, if you're zealous, it's going to affect your children, it's going to affect their zeal. Okay? So we need to make sure that we have a genuine zealous. Now it's like, amen! And then we're in here, we're just zealous like crazy, but when we go home, we live a completely different life. You know? It needs to be evident. We need to be the same person here as we are when we go home. Okay? And that goes for love of the Lord as well. Okay? If we're going to have, look, with children, it's like, you just need to be real with them. Because kids get to a point, and I'm speaking not as a father who has experience with his son, I'm speaking as a son. With my parent. Children can see the hypocrisies of their parents when they try to hide their weaknesses. Okay? You know, I'm thankful for parents who are just real. You know, I respect my mom. Because you know, I grew up without a dad, but my mom, she put in work. And I don't agree with women working outside of the home, but you know what? Dad wasn't around, and she was, and she put in work. You know, and she showed her weaknesses, and she was very genuine, sincere, she was honest with me, and it created respect. Okay? The fact that I knew that my mom was trying her best, and I knew she was genuine, she wasn't a perfect woman. Okay? And you know what? Kids want to see, they just want to see their parents be real with them. Okay? Not cool, not to their level, not BFFs with their children. No, you need to be a mom, you need to be a dad, and you need to be real with them. Okay? But he was zealous. You know, we need a generation to rise up that is zealous for the Lord. Okay? What did I mean by zealous? Excited over the things of God. You know, not this lukewarm, you know, just lazy, elaxidazical, lethargic Christianity that the next generation is building up because they weren't zealous for the things of God. It was a superficial zealousness that they had. Okay? They talked about soul winning, but they didn't go soul winning. They talked about preaching hard, but they didn't preach hard. Okay? And what happens is the children see that. And look, kids aren't stupid. They're not dumb. You know, they see through all that. And we need to make sure that we're genuine, that we're zealous so we can produce that in the lives of our children. The Bible says there, he was zealous for his God and made an atonement for the children of Israel. You know, zeal can be applied to your children because the fact of the matter remains is that children, they copy their parents. You know, their character, the good and the bad. Right? I mean, I'm sure you could look at your personal life and see some of the bad qualities that you have that you probably got from your father and your mother. You know? But I'm sure you could look at the good qualities that you have and say, man, I got these good qualities from my mom and my dad. You know, they raised me to have character or they raised me to work hard or to be honest or whatever it may be, to be, you know, punctual, whatever it is, and you can accredit that to your parents. Well, that goes for everything in life, including zeal. Okay? If we want to be excited about the things of God, we want our children to be excited, you know, you need to make sure that you're excited too. I remember years ago, I talked to a parent and he was, this is years ago, and he said, I just want to make sure, he wasn't even in church. He was saved, but he wasn't in church, he was backslidden as the day is long, and he told me, he goes, I just want to make sure my daughter loves God and is zealous for the things of God and just all in for God. And I was just kind of like, and I was like a new Christian, I was just like, just ignorantly not thinking, I was like, well, doesn't that mean that you have to do that? And he kind of like looked at me like, I can't believe you just said that, you little punk. I wasn't trying to be rude, I was just being honest, like, doesn't that, isn't that how, the way it works? Now, don't go out here and say, well, I'm going to go ahead and be lukewarm because my mom and dad are lukewarm, or I'm going to go ahead and just be the worst type of person because of my mom and dad, no, no, no, I'm speaking to the parents. And I told him, I was like, doesn't that mean that you're supposed, because I thought, if you want your kids to read the Bible, you're supposed to read the Bible too, or if you want them to go so many, you're supposed to be so many too, or if you want them to be in church, I said, doesn't that mean you got to be in church too? I mean, who's taking them? And so it goes without saying that the children are the reflection of their parents in all areas of life. So go with me if you would to, let's see, go to 2 Corinthians, or excuse me, Numbers chapter 31, go back to Numbers chapter 31. So Phinehas, man, great guy because why? He loved the Lord, he was zealous, but not only that, he had leadership qualities as well. Okay? And look, you may not want to raise, or maybe your son may not want to grow up to be a pastor, but that doesn't mean they can't be a leader, because a leader is simply influence, right? It's the ability to provoke others to a cause, to do something, to lead someone in spiritual matters, okay? And we want to make sure that our children, our children's lives, right, count for something. They are able to influence the masses for the Lord, okay? But look what the Bible says in, let's see, Numbers 31 verse 1 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites, afterwards shall thou be gathered unto thy people. And Moses spake unto the people saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian. Of every tribe a thousand throughout all the tribes of Israel shall ye send to the war. So they were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war, and Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eliezer the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments and the trumpets, to blow in his hand, and they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all the males. So first and foremost, obviously we see leadership here, but we see someone who's not just a priest. Guess what? He can go to war too. He can involve himself in warfare. So in other words, he was a well-rounded child. He wasn't just strong in this area, guess what? He can do some war too. And on a practical level, how can we apply that? Well, obviously we want our children to be leaders, but at the same time, we want them to be equipped for spiritual warfare. For the spiritual battles. Son, sit up. Bruce, sit up. We want them to be equipped for the spiritual battles. Why? Because the fact of the matter remains is that we're not going to be here. And if we're not going to be here, our children are going to be left here, not to fend for themselves, but they need to basically, they're going to face the wars by themselves. And we don't want to raise a pansy generation that can't fight off the devil and his demons. Or even the false doctrines that are coming into the church, or whatever it may be. We want to make sure that the next generation that comes up after us is able to fight a good fight. That they know how to do warfare, spiritual battles. Our warfare is not carnal, but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds, the Bible says. And we want to make sure that our sons and our daughters know how to fight that. And it comes not as they just do as I do, I have to teach them what the Bible says. So that these convictions and doctrines will be ingrained in my children, and they believe it for themselves. For example, my wife, obviously she wasn't poster when we got married. I was. I was posting already, right? And I knew she wasn't post-trip, and I didn't want to necessarily shock her. I needed to teach her little by little. And at first she was like, what? You know? You believe in a post-trip doctrine? I'm like, yeah. You're stuck. No, I'm just kidding. But little by little, and I told her, I said, I'm teaching you this little by little because, you know, if something ever happens to me, I said, you know, I don't want some, some flattery person come to you and try to teach you otherwise. And then you just follow them blindly. Someone who doesn't agree with me. You know, I want to make sure that this is something that you believe in your heart. And it's gotten to the point now that my wife, I mean, she doesn't even need me to believe the post-trip doctrine. She believes it for herself. She knows what the Bible says about it. She has a personal conviction about it. And even in this thing, this matter of the reprobates. You know, my wife wasn't, you know, anti-reprobate, so to speak, before we got married. You know, I had to teach her those things. And it was, oh, you brainwashed her. You better believe I did. Wash that brain. Clean that thing out. Okay. And I, and I taught her, and by the way, I wasn't like, I'm your husband, so you better listen to me. You believe this. Okay. You know, it wasn't like that. It was more like, let me open up the Bible and let me show you what the Bible says about it. What do you think about this verse? Right? Doesn't, doesn't that seem, doesn't that show that the, the, the Solomonites can't be saved and let me show you other scriptures. They're teaching, and to the point where it's like, you're right. Because the Bible's right. You know? And so it's ingrained in her to believe these doctrines, so if something ever happens to me, no one's going to try to come and, and try to, and if they try to come and try to teach my wife otherwise, she already knows what the Bible says about it. Okay. And let me say this. I mean, it sounds bad. It was easy to convert her to post-trip because no one ever taught her pre-trip. I mean, they taught her that she was pre-trip. You get what I'm saying? She taught her that she was pre-trip. But she was never taught the pre-tribulation doctrine. They never went into detail with it. So it was very easy to overcome. Praise the Lord for that. You know? But how do we apply that to our children? Well, it's the same thing. You know, I don't want my kids to say, just believe because I, no, with my son, he does as I say, I don't have to explain anything to him. Okay? That's how it works. And that's how it will work, you know, for a very long time. But it's going to get to a point when he's an adult, he's going to make his own decisions and he has to have wisdom. And I need to, for these next years, ingrain in him what the Bible says about certain things so when he grows up, it's not like it's because my dad said, it's because the Bible says. Amen. Okay? For spiritual warfare. Now, let's see here. Okay, next quality here. Let me have you turn to, go to, let's see, Joshua chapter 20. Eliezer, man, he, you know, he didn't necessarily need dad around. You know, I don't think Eliezer was like, hey, Phineas, go pick up that javelin. Do it for daddy. You know? No, Phineas had a personal conviction, this is wicked. I'm going to go ahead, God's mad, I'm going to go ahead and kill these people and execute righteousness because this is what I believe is right. And you know what, Eliezer, I'm sure he's like, right on. You know? That's my boy. You know? Executing righteousness. And if you know what probably happened, his heart was glad when he saw that Phineas did that. He said, oh, you're reading into the scriptures. Yes, I am because the Bible says that. You know, a father's heart will be glad when the son is wise and what's wisdom? To obey the commandments of the Lord is wise. You know? Eliezer's probably looking and saying, man, that's my boy. I didn't even have to tell him. He just did it on his own. You know? But not only that, he was sacrificial, okay? He was sacrificial. Joshua chapter 20, verse number 32, the Bible reads here, and the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they and Shechem in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver, and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. And Eliezer, the son of Aaron, died, and they buried him in a hill that pertained to who? To Phinehas, his son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim. Now, obviously, we don't know exactly what took place, but obviously, the Bible says that that grave pertained unto Phinehas. So Phinehas allowed his father to be buried in a place where it actually pertained unto him. You know, and that goes to show that Phinehas had the maturity to even to the point where he can take care of his father and his mother and was willing to sacrifice something of himself for the benefit of others, right? And one thing we want for our children is for them to be self-sacrificing, okay? Not to be selfish, not to be just greedy, we want them to be, to have a life that's for others, right? And it starts off, obviously, with soul winning. We want them to understand the importance of soul winning, to give of your time, talents, and treasures, to go out and lead strangers to the Lord, right? That's what we want, and we want a Phinehas who's self-sacrificial, and even in his latter years to sacrifice himself, whether it's for his wife, for his children, for his family, for his church, for anything. Why? Because that's what our lives are for, okay? But what do we have today? We have a society of just selfish children, okay? Bratty, selfish children. And look, yes, it's the child's fault. Why? Because it's their choice. But you know what? The responsibility falls on the parents as well. Why? Because Phinehas, well, we'll get into the next Phinehas in just a little bit. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 8, says, I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. I mean, everyone needs to have that sacrificial mentality to say, look, I need to sacrifice myself for others, okay? And that's very important. Now, go to 1 Samuel chapter number 2, 1 Samuel chapter number 2, 1 Samuel chapter number 2. So Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, is a great example, amen? And that's a great example just for us personally that we should strive for to be as Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, but not only that, but to produce Phinehas is in our lives. We should have the desire, man, I want to produce someone who loves the Lord, someone who's self-sacrificing, someone who is willing to be zealous for God and do great exploits for him, maybe not even as a pastor, if they become a pastor, praise the Lord, but as long as they're a soul winner, as long as they're serving God with their lives, that ought to be the desire. We should not have this Hezekiah mentality, right? We want to be the godly people, we want to have the blessings, we want to win the wars, but we just completely forget the next generation. That ought not to be the case, okay? And that's a wicked mentality of anyone who wants to have all the spiritual success to themselves but they don't want it for the next generation. And they make decisions that affect the next generation but it doesn't affect them. That's wicked. You don't love the next generation if you only live for yourself, you need to make sure you're making decisions based on God's word and decisions that you know will affect the next generation in a godly manner, okay? And look, that helps us to see the big picture. Obviously we want to have successful marriages, obviously we want to be successful Christians and soul winners, but you know what? There comes a point where we've got to look a little further than that. Why? Because we're not going to be here forever, okay? We may live up to 80 years if you're strong, right, the Bible says, but that's not even promised to us. We should have the mentality that we want to reach this next generation for God and that will dictate the decisions we make today, okay? Now let's contrast that with Phinehas, the son of Eli, alright? We'll talk about Hophni another day, but basically Hophni is paired up with this guy, okay? Look what the Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 11, excuse me, verse 12, and 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 servants 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, all that the flesh hook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servants came and said to the man that sacrificed, give flesh to the 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 and then take as much as thy soul desireth, then he would answer him, nay, but thou shalt give it to me now. I want it now. Have you heard that like at a grocery store? You know? Now my son has this thing where he goes, no, he says that, but don't think he's being disobedient to me. Often his no means yes, okay? Because if I give him a candy, I say, do you want this candy? He'll go, no, but that means yes and he'll eat it as soon as you give it to him. And I go, say yes and he'll go like this. Because he knows how to do this. I say, say yes. So he's training and right now he goes like this. He can't get the neck gesture down right, so I'm being patient with him right now. But it says there, and if not, nay, but thou shalt give it me now and if not, I will take it by force. Good night. Therefore the sin of the young man was very great before the Lord, for men abhor the offering of the Lord. All right, so there's a lot of stuff to say about Phinehas, the son of Eli, okay? First and foremost, the biggest problem was that he was unsaved. And take it a step further, he was a reprobate. Why is that? Because the Bible says that he was the son of Belial. Belial is another name for the devil, okay? And anybody who's a son of the devil is, we're not talking about sons of disobedience, we're not talking about sons of wrath, we're talking about sons of the devil. And sons of the devil, as the Bible tells us, we don't have the time tonight to go into the New Testament, but sons of the devil are those who are reprobates, they are rejected of God. They're men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith, the Bible says, okay? And so here we see that this guy, him and Hophni, were reprobates. These people were unsaved. Now go with me, if you would, to John chapter 12. This is sad, okay? Because Eli, you know, he's a prophet, he's a seer, he's a prophet of the Lord. And you would think that someone who has the word of God, he's a prophet of God, would have at least, at least have saved his children. And look, let's just say that Phinehas got saved, which obviously we know he didn't, and still lived a wicked life, okay, it's bad that he would have lived a wicked life, but if he would have just gotten saved, that would have been great, right? But that's not even the case. He wasn't even saved. And worse than that, he was a reprobate, okay? And let me say this, that is a failure on the part of a parent, if they raise a stinking reprobate, okay? And I don't care, you can say whatever you want in the comments, because I've already heard it before, no, you don't know what you're talking about. And by the way, most of the people who want to defend this reprobate or want to attack the reprobate doctrine is because they have a reprobate for a child, they have a reprobate for an aunt, they have a reprobate for a cousin, and they don't want to come to grips that this person can no longer be saved. That's the reason. Because I've had people, you know, I've had people talk to people that I know and they'll tell them this, oh, you know, you just want to go to Brother Bruce's church because it's on fire right now, they're seeing a lot of people saved, and that same person will come back and say, that guy's a heretic. Well, it just turns out that that guy's daughter's a reprobate. You know? And of course he's going to say that if he listens to my sermon on men of corrupt minds, doesn't want to come to the conclusion that, you know what, that person can't be saved. And look, he's like, yeah, but it was her choice. Look, I'd be damned if my son ever becomes a reprobate. It will never happen. And if it happens, it's because I'm backslidden. I'm out of church. I'm not using the Bible. That is a clear sign that the parent failed, failed. There is no theoretical, you know, situation or circumstance. What if your son becomes a homo? It's not going to happen. It doesn't just happen like that. I made up a child and the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And the salvation of a child is the most important. I mean, I long for the day when my son will be saved, you know? And I wait that day. Obviously, he can't understand right now and everything, but that's my goal in life. On my bucket list, right? To see my children saved, because it shatters my heart to even think that one of my children would burn in hell for all of eternity, you know? And I try to picture that every once in a while to just put before my mind, hey, this is important. You know? I need to give my son the gospel. I need to give my daughter the gospel. I need to make sure that I give them the gospel so that they can be saved. That's the most important thing. And look, I love people who I don't know and I want to give the gospel to, but the most important people are my family. My sons and my daughters, those whom I've begotten, okay? But man, Phineas, this stinking guy was not just unsafe. He was a reprobate. Look what the Bible says in John 12, 4. I don't know if you've ever noticed this. Look what it says. Then say it's one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, look what it says next, Simon's son. That's in the word of God forever. Now I don't know if Simon was saved, but let's just say he was and he's in heaven. You know? He was the father of Judas, not just the son of Simon. He's the son of Perdition. Okay? And look, obviously in the Bible, it doesn't use last names necessarily. They use, you know, the son of, but that's in there for a reason. Simon's son. That would be a good sermon one day, Simon's son. You know? To go to show that this man produced Judas. The Bible says in John 17, 12, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Elkanah gaveth me, I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of Perdition that the scriptures might be fulfilled. First Samuel 2 11 says, And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house, and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. They knew not the Lord, the Bible says. Man, that's a sad statement. You know, problem number one with Phinehas, the son of Eli, was that he was unsaved. He was a reprobate. And yes, he made the choice to reject the Lord, but guess what? Mom and dad, specifically dad, did not create a home where obviously the word of God was the most important thing. Look, he didn't instill fear in his son. And let me just show you how you instill fear in your son. Okay? You spanked them. Amen. You beat them. And we're not talking about a beating, like the beatings that we used to get when we were kids. With the chancla and the hanger and anything that was in sight. Okay? You know, my mom had accuracy. I tell people I learned how to box because of my mom. You know? I'm not talking about that. When the Bible talks about beating, it talks about spanking and it talks about spanking in the right area. Okay? You don't just smack them across the face. That's not the right way to do it. Okay? I don't know how you would want to every once in a while, but that's not the right way to do it. I'm not talking about grabbing their hair and just, you know, and name calling and all that stuff. That's abuse. When we talk about spanking, we talk about the place that God has given, where you sit, the padded area, okay, that stings and gets the job done. Okay? And the Bible teaches spanking. That instills the fear of God in children. And look, you need to spank your kids. Amen. Let me say it again. You need to spank your kids. Amen. Simply for the fact that you love them. Look, I hate spanking my kid, my son. Okay? I don't enjoy it. Okay? Because I love my son. I always have a good time with my son. When we go home tonight, we're playing tag. Okay? And we're going to have a blast. We're going to have gummies. Amen? We're going to go play, and he already knows we're doing the piggyback ride. I'm throwing them on the back. We're going to have a great time. But look, that doesn't mean ... I have a good time with him, so therefore when I spank him, it hurts me, to be honest with you. And look, to be honest with you, I think my son loves me enough so much that even when I spank him and I don't spank him that hard, his spirit is broken because of it, because he knows Dad's displeased with him. But I want him to realize that actions have consequences. Amen. Okay? Phineas, actions have consequences. And we, as parents, need to realize, look, how's the spanking life? You know, I've heard ... I don't know if it's true. I'm sure it's true, because my father-in-law used to tell me, he'd say, sometimes parents get lazy. You know? And it's just like, man, I'm tired. I don't feel like spanking. And you need to revive that again or something. You know? That needs to be done. Okay? Where we at? Where we at? I'm going to read to you from Acts 16, verse 30. We read this last week, but it's so true. It says, and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. That applies to the home, too. You know, salvation is not just for us. It's for those in our household, our children. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized, he in all his straight way. You know, I can often look at a crowd and know who spanked and who wasn't. Often those who are spanked are very meek, humble, you know, mature people. Those who were not spanked are the opposite of that sometimes. Okay? And, you know, hey, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? But it's the truth. Okay? And look, if you weren't spanked as a kid, you know, and you're an adult now, okay, what's done is done. Now you get to get spanked by the Lord. Amen? And often that's even worse. Okay? That's even worse. And we need it. Amen? If we didn't get spanked a lot as children, we need some sort of chastisement. We need hardships, we need tribulations, we need things that will hurt. Why? Because it helps us to be mature and molds us to what we need to be for the Lord. Okay? So don't use the world's philosophy of do the time out. What did that ever do to anybody? Well, I'll take away the Game Boy. Do they have Game Boys anymore? I don't know. What did they don't? Xbox, right? Xbox? Yeah. Okay, I was going to say Nintendo 64, but that's probably like super old. The cartridges. Does anybody remember those? And then when it didn't work, what did you do? You pulled your shirt out and you put it under and you blew it? You know? You did all these superstitious things that never really worked. I'll take that away from you. You know? No. Or you know what? Take it away from them and spank them. You know? You need to make sure that spanking is an integral part of your family life. Okay? I mean, I was talking to Pastor Anderson. It was hilarious. We were talking about spanking or something. And he was telling me that, you know, obviously he has like 10 kids now, right? So that's a lot of spanking going on. And he says, like, you know, he says that his wife will come and she'll say, you know, he's like, my wife wants to tell me everything that my kids did when, and I don't want to hear it. Just bring them in. I'll spank them real quick. Okay, go. You know? But obviously there's a mentality that says this is important. In spite of what's taking place at that moment, this needs to be done. Okay? Spare not for his crying, the Bible says. You know? And you say, well, I can't spank my kids. I love them too much. No, you must hate your child if you don't spank them. And look, let me say this. If they live in your home, they should be subject to you and you need to spank them. Don't let them run you. Look, the inmates can't run the asylum. You need to make sure that your leadership there, and look, dad, I'm talking to you. Amen? You need to make sure, well, you know, the situation, if they're living in your house under your roof, you're the one who's responsible to spank them. If you love them. You don't know my situation. If they're living under your roof, it's your responsibility, and if you're gonna deliver them from hell, it's very important to do. Don't bypass that. Don't think that you're the exception to the rule. Spanking is necessary. I'm thankful for Hispanic culture, man. I mean, they went a little overboard. You know? I'm in. They went a little overboard sometimes. I get that. But I'm thankful that my mom whooped me. Even though she went a little overboard sometimes, hey, praise the Lord, amen? And look, it instilled fear to the point, I remember as a kid, you know, if we're in public or something, she wouldn't spank me in public. She'd give me the eye. And the eye had a paragraph that said, you're gonna get it when we get home, just watch. I do something, she'd go, I'm like, oh, and then you get in the car, you're driving back home and you're trying to have like a good conversation with your mom to make sure that she forgets. She didn't forget. And then boom, it comes, you know? You know, as a kid growing up, I'm like, man, I hate this, you know? Getting spanked and getting hit and getting whooped. But you know what? Now that I'm a parent, I very much appreciate the fact that my mom, and I tell my mom, thank you for spanking me. You know, I probably needed more. But I'm very thankful that you hit me, mom. You know, thank you for doing that. Thank you for hitting me when I needed it. You know? And when I had a bad attitude, whap, you know, I'd get it. And look, it's not just for things of disobedience. Sometimes it's just for like attitudes that you need to spank your children. When they start having seizures, it ain't happening, man. Because look, that's their spirit speaking to you right there, you know? And we got to make sure we go back to the foundation of realizing, look, if I love him, or I love her, I got to make sure I chastise them. Okay? Because if not, they're going to grow up to be horrible people, terrible, wicked, horrible people. And God forbid, a Phineas, who was a son of Belial, a reprobate. You know? I'm sure there's a lot of reprobates out there that never got spanked. I'm sure most of them, right? You know, life was without consequence and all these things, and they became a reprobate. God forbid that that should ever happen to God's people. You know? Where we at here? Next. Let's see here. The next quality of Phineas, the son of Eli, is that he was spoiled and greedy. The Bible says in Numbers, verse 15 says, Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came and said to the man that sacrificed, gave flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. So this guy, I mean, look, because they're obviously entitled to get the meat from the sacrifices, God had given that privilege to them, that they could eat of that. Okay? But it was to the point, obviously these guys were gluttons. That's another thing. Okay? But it got to the point that they didn't even want it cooked. They were just like, just give it to me raw. You know, I want it raw. You know? Why? Because they wanted it now. They were greedy people. And look, some of the worst children that you ever meet are the children who just get everything they want. Greedy children. When I was a kid, I was ticked that I couldn't get everything I wanted, you know? I was mad about that. I mean, for Christmas, my mom bought me the bootleg Power Rangers. From downtown LA. You know, the ones that come in a pack, there's like 10 of them, and it's like, these colors are a little off. They look a little weird, but I guess it's Power Rangers, you know? And then they break like in like a couple weeks or whatever. We'd always get the off-brand bootleg toys, and you know, my mom would not give me everything I wanted, you know? And I'm thankful. Back then, I hated it, you know? And she did give me nice things. I'm not saying she was always like that. There's times, you know, for Christmas, she buys nice things, you know? And by the way, I stopped believing in Santa Claus long, long ago. Because my mom used to do this. She used to say, she used to take me to Toys R Us, and she'd say, you can have one toy, whatever you want. And I'd buy it because I was a big Power Rangers fan, all right? That was my sin right there. I liked the Power Rangers. And I bought the Power Rangers. I wrap it myself, and I act surprised on Christmas Day, you know? Wow, you know? Mom, I didn't know you, you know, do all those things. But my mom never gave us everything we wanted. And if we kept asking, we'd get it. We didn't get what we wanted. We get what we needed, if you guys know what that means, okay? And then I would stop asking. Okay, I guess I really don't need that thing, you know? As much as I thought I did, you know? But you know what? Parents, misguided parents, think, well, the way you turn out good children is you make them happy with you. And the way you make them happy with you is you give them everything that they want. But they become wicked, horrible people when they grow up. And look, the Bible teaches us that whatsoever state I am in, they're with to be content. We need to teach our children contentment, to be happy with what they have. And look, it's a wonderful thing when you teach them contentment and you give them the smallest of things, and their eyes just brighten up, they're just like happy with it. I've told this story before, but I think it's worth telling again. My wife used to tell me that, you know, her mom used to take, because they got like, you know, thousands of kids. No, I'm just kidding, they got eight kids. But they would take them to the 99 cent store. And to buy like, you know, the 99 cent toys, squirt guns or stickers. My wife says I got stickers and I was the happiest little girl ever. She said it was the best. You get the scrunchies. Nowadays you take a little kid to the, what? I don't want this. I want, I don't even know what's popular anymore. You know, they give you attitude, ungrateful. That's wicked. And that's, by the way, it irritates the fire in me when I see these kids in the grocery store. They're just throwing cat trumps in. You know what, I'm just like, man, if I was that kid's parent, you know. You know, I look at my wife like, mmm, mmm, mmm. But you know what, parent's fault. Because they give them everything that they want, okay. Teach your children contentment to be happy with what they have. You want to raise happy children, don't give them everything. I'm not saying don't give them anything, okay. But if you give them everything at all times, then they're never going to be happy with anything. They won't even be excited when they receive something nice, you know. They'll be like, oh, thanks, I guess, you know. It's just like, but if they don't have everything and you give them something nice, they very much will appreciate that. Finney is the son of Eli, man, he was a stinking, greedy, filthy, greedy, selfish, covetous person, you know. And it's not right. 1 Timothy 6 says, but godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and it's certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food in raiment, let us be there with content. Now, my son, at this moment, he's getting a lot of different foods, okay. Because right now, mom's not home, so I can't cook, amen. I'm like, take the gummies, boy, you know. But you know what, he's appreciative of it right now, you know. He's like, thanks. Actually, he even told my wife, he, okay, so he has this, I got to tell you this. My son, in the morning he wakes up, he knows what the cereal is. So he walks over, he opens the drawer, pulls out the cereal, yanks out the bag, and just starts feeding himself the cereal. And he did that this afternoon, and my wife's like, where did you get that from? And he went, dad, oh no, she said, who let you do that? He's like, dad. I'm like, son, you're making me look bad, all right. This is the season, all right, this is the hard part. The hard part is when we try to get him out of that, right. It's going to take some work. That's all right. Here's the thing, their life shouldn't consist of that, where they just get everything they want all the time. Okay. And look, it's very easy not to give them everything they want all the time if you're broke, amen. If you're broke, it's like, you ain't getting it, you know what I mean. But it teaches them contentment. They need to be content. By the way, the Bible says in Romans 1 29, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, okay, maliciousness full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers. Well, I didn't put this in here, but there are also fornicators. How many infinity is for fornicators, you know. And the reason they were fornicators is because they had no fear of God, right. Goes to show they didn't get spanked. Now go again to, we'll look at verse 16, it says, 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. And that's where they were violent as well. I want it now. I want it now, now, now, now, now, throwing a little tantrum. You know that little boy who does that later on in life, he's going to be like, give that to me now. He's the one robbing people to get the stuff that he's always wanted, okay. It's funny, but it's true. It's an honest truth. These people become violent, why, because they have an insatiable lust and desire for things that they shouldn't have, okay, and that causes them to want to take it by force. The Bible says in Proverbs 14, 17, he that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated. Man, look, that's why spanking just does a whole lot of good, because it removes that. It removes the anger, amen. Children can be angry sometimes, and they can have an attitude, but when you spank them, you humble them, guess what, they have a sweet spirit. My son's spirit is the sweetest after a spanking. He's just very sweet, and he puts his head on my shoulder, and then he loves me even more than before. But children who don't get spanked have the worst spirit. They're pompous, little covetous, greedy, violent people. You look at the high schools. I went to a public high school. How many of you went to a public high school? Okay, then you guys know, okay? There are some terrible people there, wicked, evil people. I mean, in high school, I remember you weren't in unless you had the newest of the clothes. You had to have the most, they call it being bougie. How many of you ever heard of that term? You had to be bougie. I mean, you're just like bling, bling, dowel. I mean, from the socks to the shoes to everything. I remember it stunk, man, because we were broke, and now looking back, I'm like, that's a good thing, obviously, right? Because my mom couldn't buy me the Air Force 1s, you know, and eventually I had to get a job to get those things. But I remember, like, we had to get, like, Filas or something, you know, or the cheap brand from Payless. I forgot what it was, Air Walks. Or you could get the Nikes, but there are the bootleg ones that would say Nike backwards. That's poor right there. You know, that's broke. You know, they spelled Nike on the side, but it actually had it the other way around. You know, and if no one was the wiser, you could get away with it for a little bit. But I remember, you know, they had to have the best of everything. And you're just kind of like standing to the side, making sure they don't see your shoes, you know? And it's like, but they create, high school creates this culture that you have to have the newest of everything, okay? And you can't have anything old. I mean, I remember, we're going back, all right? This is Throwback Sunday. I remember the pro clubs. Does anybody remember pro clubs? Okay, pro clubs are the white shirts. They like choke your neck. You know, when you buy them, they're so white. They're almost blue. And you had to, when you bought them, you could only wear them like two or three times because then it starts losing its whiteness. Well, that gets expensive after a while, you know? But there's some people at high school, man, they had, they always had a brand new one every single week, you know? And you know, looking back, it's just like, man, they thought they had it all, but you know what? I bet you those are the most terrible, horrible people today. I mean, they were back then, but even more so today. And by the way, they're the ones who are getting into debt to get the things that they want. Okay? They're the ones that are either getting into debt or they're robbing someone to get it. They're doing something wicked to obtain the things that they want by wicked means. You know, it's better to just be broke sometimes. You know? It's good being poor sometimes. It just causes you to depend on the Lord and not give your children everything, but help them to, look, when you're broke, my father-in-law taught me this, man, it teaches your children also to pray for the things that they need. You know, I remember my father-in-law said one time, excuse me, my mother-in-law, you know, the kids, they're like, we want coconuts. I love coconuts. They're like, we want coconuts. They're like, we ain't getting coconuts. We ain't got money for coconuts. But we want coconuts. He's like, well, then you're going to have to pray for coconuts. So they prayed for coconuts and guess what they got? Coconuts. Someone came to their house, knocked on their door, you guys want coconuts? You know? So guess what? They weren't rich with money, but they were rich in faith because you know what that did to the kids? Wow, we need to pray more for these things. But what if mom would have just said, all right, let's just go buy coconuts? They would have missed out on a blessing of being able to pray to see the Lord do something great in their lives. So there were violence. Next, there are bad examples. The Bible says, wherefore the sin of the young man was very great before the Lord, for men abhor the offering of the Lord. Man, I mean, men hated doing the offerings to the Lord because these guys were bad examples. They didn't want to do it. The Bible says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation and charity and spirit and faith in purity. And lastly, because I'm out of time, the last character quality is this. They simply were not restrained. They were not restrained. Go to First Samuel chapter number three. First Samuel chapter number three. I'll turn to myself. First Samuel chapter number three and verse number 11, the Bible says, when the Lord said to Samuel, behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone that heareth it shall tingle. In that day, I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with the sacrifice nor offering forever. Wow. God says, you know what? I'm going to bring this because he didn't control his children. He didn't restrain them. You know what God expects of us? Our children are our children and they're not the children of others, obviously. So it's my responsibility to take care of my son to make sure that he's restrained, to restrain him when he's out of hand. It's the parent's responsibility. And that simply means he didn't take responsibility for his kids. You know? You say, well, I didn't begat my kids. Okay, but if they're living in your home, you need to restrain them. Okay? Or the other option is they got to go, go somewhere else, you know, if that can't happen. But children are not children. If they're under your authority, it's your responsibility to restrain them. Okay? Look, even Jesus was subject unto Joseph and Mary, right? Even though Joseph was not his father, he was subject unto them. That was their authority is why he was on this earth. And so it's our responsibility to make sure that we are restraining, and that comes through the avenue of chastising them when they need to be chastised, correcting them when they need to be corrected, and working at it. Okay? He said, man, I don't know. It just doesn't seem to work, and they fight me with it, or just, you know what? It just takes consistency. You just got to be consistent. My father-in-law used to teach us that all the time. You just got to keep doing it, and doing it, and doing it, and it will yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. But it takes consistency. You see, consistency is often breached when we feel we get discouraged and we feel it's not working. At that point, we just need to take God at his word and realize that it's true, and it's going to work. We just need to keep doing it. You know, walk by faith and not by sight. Lean not into thine own understanding. Just acknowledge what God says, obey it, and just do it. Be consistent. The Bible says, withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell, a good incentive right there. Hebrews 12, 6 says, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you're in door chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? My mother says, who has kids and doesn't spank them? That's weird. But if he be without chastisement, whereof all ye are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Are we not much rather be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? You know, obviously, he's making the correlation between how God chastises us, but he uses the human example of a father and his son. Very important. We need to take care of that. So we see the contrast here. We want to make sure that we, as God's people, as Christian individuals, we're like Phineas, the son of Eleazar. We need to make sure we have those qualities. But at the same time, we want to produce that quality in our children, too. And secondly, we want to make sure that we're not producing Phineas as the son of Eli. And how do we do that? We look at his qualities and make sure that if our children are bearing any one of those qualities, we need to make sure we correct it and restrain them. For the sake of your son, for the sake of your daughter, so that they won't go to hell first and foremost, get them saved, but secondly, so that they can live a life that's honoring unto the Lord. They won't be wicked, horrible people when they grow up. Amen? Phineas and Phineas. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you so much for all the instruction and wisdom that we receive from it. And Lord, none of us are perfect. And I don't expect, and I don't believe you expect anybody to get this down packed right away. But this is something that we ought to attain to, we ought to strive for. We ought to strive to match up to this. And Lord, you've given us instructions and we know that no commandment is there that we can't follow. If we feel enabled to be able to take heed to these things, we're leaning into our own understanding. Whatever instructions that you give, you've given us the ability, you've given us the aptitude to be able to fulfill the promises and the commandments that you've placed within your word. Help us to have faith in you and to be consistent and to produce Phineas' son of Eleazures and not Phineas' sons of Eli. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.