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

Man, all right, it's a blessing to be here. Thank you so much for having me. It's awesome to be here at Sure Foundations Baptist Church. I admire Pastor Aaron Thompson. He's a good friend. And I heard you say, said something about, like, people don't pay attention to the announcements. At my church, they pay attention to every single announcement. Psych. I can try to change the bulletin, minimize it, put as least, the least amount of announcements, make it as colorful as you, but not going to happen. They're always going to text you. They'll come after the service and say, hey, when is this event? You just spent, like, 10 minutes, like, talking about that event. Someone's going to come after the service and say, so when's the soul when you make a marathon? Is that tomorrow? That's tomorrow, you know. Now, regarding the soul when you make a marathon, I want to encourage every single person here, I'm sure you're going to have 100% participation, to be there for that. It's going to be exciting, but I will say this, is that expect battles, okay? Simple for the fact that any time God's people, you know, they rise up to do a great exploit, that doesn't necessarily make Satan happy, okay? You're going to either receive battles prior to it taking place or after it takes place, but just guaranteed Satan is going to attack. I remember last year, for the soul when you make a marathon over in L.A., we had it and it was a great turnout. We had a lot of people come out, a lot of people saved, and then, you know, we had all of our materials and we put them in my van and we went home and the next day was Easter, obviously. So, I'm coming outside of the house because we have a potluck, a breakfast potluck on that day and my wife's cooking, she's making bacon and sausage and eggs and all the goods and I have to carry all that to the car, obviously. So, I'm going and I'm thinking, where's my van? I'm like, Sarah, where'd you park the van? She's like, it's on the left. I look to the left, I'm like, she's losing her mind. It's not there. So, I'm like walking up and down the sidewalk and I'm like, we're going to be late to church and then it clicks. Oh, I think our van got stolen. And I told my wife, I said, I think the van is stolen. And sure enough, someone stole our van that very day. And I remember we went to church and we had someone come pick us up and I told my wife, I was like, do we think we're going to just get let off easily? Now, fortunately, the person who borrowed the van, they just used it to run some errands and we ended up finding it about five minutes away at a restaurant with just enough gas to get it to the gas station. But what they basically did is they stole the car, they took it to a restaurant and then they stole the car right next to that one and then took off with that one. So, we found it probably I think the next day or something like that. You know, obviously that's not a big deal because it's a possession that eventually is going to burn one day. But it does add a little bit of stress, doesn't it? And it's one of those things that Satan just tries to do just to try to discourage you or get you off track. But you know what? We're going to do a great work next Saturday, man. It's going to be great. We're looking forward to it. Look down at your Bibles at 1 Samuel 2, verse number 12. It says here, 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 servants came while the flesh was in seething, with the fleshhook of three teeth in his hand. And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot, all that the fleshhooks brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. Also before they burned the fat, the priest's servants came and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast before the priest, for he will not have its 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, Nay, but thou shalt give it me now, and if not, I will take it by force. Wherefore the sin of the young man was very great before the Lord, for the men abhorred the offering of the Lord. And the title of this sermon this evening is The Elephant in the Room. The Elephant in the Room. Now, what is an elephant in the room? Well, elephant in the room is a metaphorical idiom that people use to basically describe an obvious problem. A problem that everyone knows about, but no one wants to address. It's an obvious problem, everyone knows about it, and whatever organization, it's big, everyone knows, it's not done in secret. Everyone knows about it, but no one's willing to do anything to fix it. No one's willing to address the issue. That's what the elephant in the room is. And you know what? I think this is a perfect story to illustrate that. Why is that? Well, because you have a leader by the name of Eli, you have his reprobate sons, and they are defiling the offerings of the Lord. They're doing wickedly. We'll see later on some of the other sins that they're partaking of. They're leading this nation down the toilet. But is anybody saying anything? No. In fact, everything just goes according to plan, the nation keeps going forward supposedly, but no one is addressing the elephant in the room, which is who? Eli and his sons. Eli's weak leadership and his son's wicked agenda. And let me say this, is that today we have that same exact problem. Now, I don't think it's a problem here. I think Pastor Aaron Thompson is a great leader, a strong leader, but you know there's a lot of independent fundamental Baptist churches where they got a zoo. They got an entire zoo in their church. And you know what? No one is saying anything about it. Now, who is Eli and his sons? Look at 1 Samuel chapter number 1. 1 Samuel chapter number 1. Who is Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas? Look what it says in verse number 2. It says, And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other was Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of the 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. So what do we see? We see that these three men were what? Priests. So what does that mean? They were spiritual leaders. We're not talking about like Catholic priests, okay? But we're talking about people who were spiritual leaders who were supposed to be executing the office of a priest to provide the spiritual leadership there, but is that what they're doing? No, in fact they're defiling the temple, they're fornicating with the ladies outside the assembly of the house of God, and they're giving a bad example to the rest of the nation. Go with me if you want to chapter number 2. So what was the problem that we see here? Look at verse number 12 of chapter 2. It says, Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial. Well, that's a big problem. Problem number 1, they're reprobates. So you know what that tells me? It tells me that Eli is a terrible father because of the fact that he never won his sons to the Lord. Now what does it mean to be a son of Belial? Well, the Bible uses titles such as reprobate, sons of the devil. In other words, they have been given over to a reprobate mind. They're haters of God. They're infiltrators. These are wicked people that still exist today, and here's an example of how they behave. So first and foremost, it says that they're sons of Belial. Belial is just another word for Satan, another name for Satan. They knew not the Lord. So here's the second problem. We have these sons of the devil who are placed in leadership positions. Now it's one thing to be a son of the devil, but it's another thing to be a son of the devil in the house of God. Because at that point, you have what's called an infiltrator who is coming into the house of God to teach damnable heresy to lead the flock astray. And in fact, the Bible tells us that they come to feed on the flock of God. They have an agenda to destroy people's lives. Now look at verse number 13. It says, So what do we see here? Well, part of the office of the priest was simply this. When they would do the sacrifice, they were able to partake of that sacrifice. That was part of their inheritance. That was their pays to eat there. But look what it says in verse 15. In other words, what is he saying? Don't even cook it. I'll eat it raw. What does it show? It shows that Eli's sons are gluttons. To the point where they're eating meat raw. They don't even want it cooked. Now I know there's people who want like their steak medium rare. This is worse than medium rare. Okay. This is Bear Grylls style. Just eating it without being cooked. Look at verse 16. And if any man said unto him, let them not fail to burn the fat presently. And then take as much as thy soul desires. And look, just let us burn the fat because that's what the Levitical law told us to do. And then you can have as much meat as you want. Then he would answer, nay, but thou shalt give it me now. And if not, I will take it by force. He said this. If you don't give it to me right now, I'm going to come over there and take it from you. These are implacable, wicked sons of Eli. No, sons of the devil. Okay. Verse 17, wherefore the sin of the young man was very great before the Lord. Now look at the repercussion. Look at the ramifications of their actions. For men abhorred the offering of the Lord. So because of their bad example. Because of this wicked sin that they were doing. What happened? The people abhorred the offering of the Lord. They gave a bad example and because of that, people hated the ministry. Now skip down to verse 22. It says, Now Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did unto Israel. And how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Reprobates, sons of Belial, gluttons, implacable, and fornicators. Assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. No shame whatsoever. Right? Go to chapter 2. Look at verse 23. It says, And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? This is now Eli talking to his sons. So you know, maybe he, obviously he hears about these things. And we're thinking, alright Eli, hey, he's stepping in. About to chastise those kids. Amen. Put them in their place. Do something about it Eli. Well he's doing something. He said unto them, Why do ye such things? For I hear of your evil dealings by all these people. Nay, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear ye 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? Notwithstanding, they hearken not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them. So what does he do? He just gives him a little slap on the wrist. No, no, no, no. Put you on time out. Don't do that. No? Oh, you're doing it? Don't do that. That's the reason we're seeing here. Go to chapter 3. Now we see that the reason why they would not adhere to their father, and we understand this because they have a reprobate mind according to the Bible, their sons of Belial, is because the Lord wanted to slay them. It says it right there. Because the Lord would slay them. Okay. Look at verse 12. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house, when I begin and 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 look what it says, and he restrained them not. So as they're making themselves vile, as they're desecrating the house of God, what is Eli doing? He's not restraining them. You see, God doesn't necessarily expect us to have perfect children, because our children are sinners. Amen? They're going to make mistakes. They're going to do things that they shouldn't do. But here's the thing. When they do the things that they shouldn't do, what should the parent do? Restrain them. Correct them. God doesn't expect our children to walk on water, but he does expect us to do something when they sin against us or they sin against God. They do a sin that is displeasing in the eyes of the Lord. Okay. To restrain them. But here we see that they made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore, I have sworn into the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever. Now, this is a bad testimony. By the way, in the Bible, you have two people who are named Phinehas. You have this Phinehas, who's a reprobate, but then you also have Phinehas, the son of Eliezer. And this man was a righteous man. In fact, go to Numbers chapter 25. We're just going to look at that story briefly. Phinehas, the son of Eliezer, which was a righteous man, was a righteous son. In fact, he executed righteousness in such a way, because he was so zealous for God, he actually rescued the nation. Whereas you have Phinehas, the son of Eli, who's actually destroying the nation. Okay. Look at verse number one of Numbers 25. It says here, And Israel bode and shit him, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their God, and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Belpeor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. So we see idolatry taking place, and God says, I'm going to destroy these people for this. Okay. And the Lord said, in verse four, unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun. How's that for your God is just all love and all gracious. I mean, he's like, I got the solution. Take their heads, hang them up before the sun, against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And 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 Midianitish 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. So what is taking place here? You have this major transgression being taking place where they're serving a false God. God's already mad. He's already upset. They're committing idolatry. And then what do they do? They add unto their sin. They add unto their transgression. They treasure up more wrath by this guy taking a Midianitish woman. And what is he doing? He's going to fornicate with her in the sight of all the people in his own tent. Just cherry on top. Okay. Look what it says in verse 7. 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. He's not part of the Olympics here. This is not because he's going to go extra second. Verse 8. He went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through. The man of Israel and the woman through her belly. I'm just reading the Bible. This is pretty graphic but it's what God put here. So the plague was staged from the children of Israel. So what did he do? He went in and he made human shish kebab. He basically saw, and look, the elephant in the room was what? The fact that this guy was committing a wicked act in front of God, Moses and everyone. This elephant was in the room and what did Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, do? He came and he took care of it. Immediately. You know, that wouldn't be politically correct today to do something like that. I can hear Baptists all across the street, hey, you should have done that a different way. You could have been a little nicer. You could have just said, hey guys, maybe we could do some marriage counseling. You guys should get married and let's do some discipleship for a while. No, he's like, we're going to thrust both of you through so we can stay the plague of God. I don't think he should have done that. Well, let's keep reading here. Verse 8 says, And he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through the man of Israel, the woman through her belly. So the plague was staged 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, had done wrongly? Hath offended me? No, hath turned 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. You know what he said? I'm not going to destroy all of you because that guy right there was zealous for my sake. You see, you would look at a guy like Phinehas today and say, oh, you're just a little extreme. You're too radical. Well, you know, that's exactly what God wants. He wants radicalized, excited, zealous Christians to execute the wrath of God. Well, not necessarily the wrath of God. The righteousness of God by preaching the word of God. Now, by the way, we shouldn't take a javelin and do this, okay, today. Now, in the millennial reign, that's going to be taking place, okay? And you can see me after the service if you want to know all about the millennial reign. Today, of course, we're under different laws. Well, we don't do that. But you know what? In this day, under Moses' law, this was justified, okay? So when he saw the elephant in the room of this blatant wickedness that was taking place, he went elephant hunting. He got himself an elephant. My friend, this is the type of leadership that we need today. The type of leadership that says we need to go with what God says and if it's sinful and wicked in the eyes of God, we need to make sure that we side with God, not with man. And if there's an elephant in the room, an obvious transgression, something that is anti-Bible, guess what? We can't just ignore it and then just try to go around the elephant, act like it's not there. We need to address the issues, the problems and deal with it just like Phinehas, the son of Eliezer. Don't be like Elie with his sons, the elephant in the room of reprobates and bad leadership and bad priesthood and just not doing anything about it, not restrain them. Don't ignore the elephants in the room. Now, what are some common elephants? Well, I mentioned one already, but bad leadership today is a common elephant in the room. What chapter are you in? I'm going to go to chapter 3 of 1 Samuel. Bad leadership. Elie, I'm sure, started off good. He was a godly man, but guess what? He was a weak leader. And churches today need strong leadership. They need men who say yes, but more often than not, they say no. They need to, yes, preach on the grace and the love of God, but hit on everything else as well. Look at verse number 1 of chapter 3, it says, And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Elie, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. And it came to pass at that time when Elie was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim that he could not see. Let me tell you something. This is not a coincidence here that he's saying that physically, that his eyes began to wax dim. And that physically he could not see. This is telling us where spiritually Elie was as well. The fact that, you know what, not only was he physically not able to see, but spiritually he was going blind as well. Why? Because he couldn't see his wicked sons doing the things that they were doing. He didn't restrain them. Hold your place there, go to 2 Peter chapter number 1. 2 Peter chapter number 1. You know, we need leadership who has good vision. Who can see beyond tomorrow, see beyond, you know, lunch, see beyond the next year, see into the next generation. Right? Because the fact of the matter is, the decisions that we make today, guess what, it's going to affect the next generation. Our children who come after us, the teenagers in our church, the young adults in our church who are here after we're long and gone, they're going to be affected by the decisions that we make today. And in order to foresee these problems, in order to get rid of these elephants, we need to make sure that we have vision. That our eyes are not waxing dim. Now physically your eyes may be getting worse, okay, as you grow older. You know, but spiritually it doesn't have to be that way. You can grow in discernment. You say, how? Well, number 1, reading the Bible. Number 2, adhering to God's word through the preaching of the word of God. Asking God for wisdom and learning from experiences. Learning from the bad experiences of others continually growing in your Christian life. Look what it says in 2 Peter 1, verse 8. This is all in context of adding to your faith virtue and it gives 7 attributes of the things that we need to grow in. Look at verse number 8. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you, they should neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off and hath forgotten he was purged from his old sins. You know what this is teaching here? It's telling us that if we're not growing, we're going backwards. You know, because in order to add virtue to your life, you need to repent of your sins. You don't need to repent of your sins to be saved, but after salvation, you've got to repent of your sins. You've got to clean up your life, add virtue to your life, right? And it says there so that you're not blind. So you can see into the future. Okay, not like this charismatic seeing into the future, prophesying type thing. I'm talking about foresee the evils, okay? So you can be ready for the evil day. And also so that you don't forget that you were purged from your old sins. You've got to keep growing. If you're not going forward, you're going backwards. And today we have leadership that's just going backwards, further and further and further. I've known men of God in my personal life. These men helped me spiritually. They were an example unto me. They were the men of God in my life. But today they're a bunch of compromisers, a bunch of compromising pastors and preachers who are not standing for the things they stood for 20 years ago, 10 years ago. Why is that? Because their eyes have gotten dim. They can't see a far off. You know why? Because they stopped adding virtue. What are they adding? Secular books, reading books about the Bible instead of the Bible itself. You know, studying things that are not helpful instead of getting into the Word of God. They felt they've gone to a place where they have apprehended all the doctrines of the Bible. Let me tell you something. This Bible is inexhaustible. You will learn something new every single time you read it. And if you don't learn something new, you know what? You're going to be reinforced with something you already know. But the fact remains that throughout the years as you read the Bible, you study the Bible, you will learn the Bible and your eyes will not grow dim. You don't want to be a blind Christian, not being able to see the problems. Hey, not being able to see the elephant in the room. Okay. Go back to 1 Samuel chapter number 3. So we see here that leaders, bad leadership. Eli was a bad leader. Today we have bad leaders, unfortunately. No, look, not every leader. I know some good old IFB pastors, some great men of God who are doing great. They may not agree with us on everything, on the Jews or the reprobate doctrine or even on end times. But you know what? For the most part, they're great men who believe in the right gospel. They love soul winning and we'll just leave it at that. We don't have to have everything just exactly in order. But if we can at least get along in those areas, I think that's great. And if they stand strongly on the King James Bible, that's great. But you know when you start softening up on the Bible. I remember there was a guy, a pastor, and we were doing basically an introductory video for his church. And I wrote the script and I talked about the King James Bible and he said, you know what, let's not put that. You know, because I don't want to offend anybody. What in the world? You're offending God. What are you, ashamed of his word? And then we talked about soul winning and he said, yeah, let's not put that. You know, we don't want to scare people off. Well, what kind of people are you trying to attract to church? Right? Because the last time I checked, church is for believers. Amen? Not to say that an unsaved person is not going to walk into a church service. But God instituted the local New Testament church for believers. For the edifying of the body of Christ. That we be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Church is to teach us the Bible. So we see that elephant in the room is bad leadership. And you know what, often, unfortunately, because the church members are not trained, they don't do anything about it. They remain in the same dead church, listening to the same lame preaching, with the same sermon, every single Sunday about the gospel on Sunday morning, right? The same everything, the same program, never growing, and you know what, and what is it? It's the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room. I had a person tell me, they came to our church, and they said this. It was a person I've known for a while, and this person came, and they basically stated to us why they left their old church and came to ours. And it wasn't because my preaching is special. I don't think I have special preaching. I don't think my preaching is great. No amens, please. But she basically said, I knew that I was not growing in my church because they handed a little lesson on a Thursday night. I'm not against that. But they handed out a little lesson, and the person said this. Before the preaching started, I just filled it all out. And she said, I'm not growing. I already know everything he's going to say. And it clicked to them, I've got to go somewhere else or else I'm going to die spiritually. And fortunately for us, we're the best game in town, for now. And it was like, where can we get some KGB Bible preaching? And they came to our church. But you know what? She saw the elephant in the room. Now, what's another elephant in the room? Well, how about this? Tolerance of clear violations in the Bible. That's an elephant in the room. We see that taking place with the sons of Eli. Look at verse 13. 13 says, For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth. So it's not something that Eli didn't know about. No, he's like, I'm going to judge you for the iniquity that you already know about. Because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not. You know, that right there is such a sinful thing in the eyes of God. When sin takes place in the church, a clear violation is given. A clear violation is done. And the leadership knows about it. And they don't do anything about it. You know, I'm thankful for what we would call the new IFP churches. They practice something called church discipline. You know what? All you guys came up with that. Actually, the Bible came up with that. It's in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. It's in Matthew chapter 18. It's all over the Bible. You know, reference the first point first, you know, before you get into that point. You know, the Bible teaches us about church discipline. And a common violation, you say, what are some of the violations that we see today? Well, there's a lot of them. But a common one that I'm seeing a lot, that I've observed, is this tolerance for divorce and remarriage. Now we're doing a wedding tomorrow. Amen? Candace and Anthony are getting married. Congratulations, you two. And I'm honored that I get to officiate that wedding. Let's give a round of applause. I was trying to wake Anthony up. So, I'm just kidding. You know, hey, God willing, and I have no doubt in my mind, they're going to stay married for the rest of their lives. Until death does them part. Amen? But you know what we see today in churches? Divorce and remarriage being propagated. Being tolerated. Not just amongst the members, but guess what? Also amongst the church leaders. To the point where they advocate it. They assist the people in getting a divorce and being remarried. This is wicked. This is a clear violation. And you know what? There's people in the church that know that it's wrong. And they're not doing anything about it. They see the elephant. And what do they do? They basically move around the elephant is what they do. Just ignore this wicked act. Ignore this toleration of divorce and remarriage. Hey, God wants one man and one woman to stay together for the rest of their lives. What God has put together to let no man put asunder. Go with me if you would to Malachi chapter 2. And look, even though there's a mountain of evidence speaking against divorce, there's pastors like, well, you know, 1 Corinthians 7. If they depart, let them, their life verse. If they depart, let them depart. And then they just put in parentheses and remarry someone else. Is that what it says? They somehow insert that, and by the way, where does this come from? Well, it comes from the wicked doctrine of dispensationalism. You know, there's a movie out there about that somewhere out there, I think, right? Dispensationalism, because dispensationalists, or what I refer to them as dipsticks, want to teach that Christians are Pauline. We're Pauline believers. We adhere to the epistles of Paul. You know, and they literally adhere to Paul's epistles over Jesus Christ. Now let me just make something very clear. Paul and Jesus both agree. They don't have different gospels. They don't have different teachings. But let's just imagine for a moment that they did disagree. Go with Jesus. Not with Paul. Hello? But you know what these dipsticks do? They want to go with the cryptic verses, the verses that are not as clear, whereas Jesus said, it's adultery. Clearly stated in Matthew chapter 5, 31 and 32, it's adultery. Oh, let's look at the Greek, though, in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Do you know Greek? Do you even know English? These so-called IFB pastors have a big problem on their hands, though, okay? So this is, and you say, well, what's the problem? Is it marriage and divorce? No, marriage and divorce, or excuse me, divorce and remarriage is not the elephant in the room, actually. You know what the elephant in the room is for these pastors? The King James Bible. You know why? Because they want to advocate, support, propagate marriage and divorce, but there's this huge elephant in the room called the King James Bible that goes against what they're teaching. So even though they want to get their members to divorce and remarriage, you know what the problem is? They have the Bible that they have to go around, because the Bible's so clear about this subject. Look at Malachi chapter 2, verse 11. Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange God. The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offerth an offering unto the Lord of hosts. And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet ye say, Wherefore? because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the Spirit, and wherefore won, that he might seek a godly seed? Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith what? He hateth putting away. Now, what does putting away mean? It means divorce. So, O ye IFB dispensational Pauline believer, what does God think about divorce? Well here it says that he hates it. No, you know, I have peace with God, you know, and I prayed about it, and I'm going to disobey, I mean, I'm going to do what I think God wants me to do. Well you know what God says here is that he hates divorce. He hates it. Now look, I don't know anybody here, I know a small amount of you, I don't know if people have been divorced or married in this church, but you know what? I'm not preaching against you. I'm not preaching against you, I'm not against you if you've corrected it. You know why I'm preaching this? It's to salvage the next generation. It's to salvage the marriages in the future so that they don't adhere to this stupid doctrine, that you can just, yeah, if it doesn't work out, except it be for the cause of fornication, because that means, you know, if they do that, then you know, yeah, it's okay, you can get divorced. That's garbage. Okay? We preach this to make sure that we salvage the next generation, not to lightly esteem marriage. It says here, For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away. For one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit that ye deal not treacherously. Go to Romans chapter number 7. Oh no, this is a cryptic. This is, you know, you really gotta, it's really subjective. Okay? This subject is subjective. Well, you know, it's covered in Matthew 5, Matthew 19, Mark 10, Luke 19, Romans 7, 1 Corinthians 7. How much more do you need? I think God is trying to make it very clear what it is. And this foolish argument, Save for the cause of fornication. Save, I mean, that's their mantra. Save for the cause of fornication. Well, you have no idea what words mean in the Bible then. Because adultery and fornication are two separate things. Fornication is that sin which people do who are not married. Adultery is what people do when they are married. That's sin. Okay? Well, how can someone who is married, brother Mejia, commit fornication? Well, here's the thing. It's funny that it says save for the cause of fornication in the book of Matthew chapter 5 and chapter 19. And what do you have in chapter 1? You have Joseph being minded to put away his wife, Mary, privily. Right? Being a just man, the Bible says. What does this mean? During the fact, before they actually consummate the marriage, before they actually come together, according to Deuteronomy 22 and 24, he has the right to put away his wife before they consummate the marriage. That's called, in the United States, I don't know if they still have it, an annulment. When a person claims to be something that they're not. And then they find out, oh, this person claimed to be a virgin, claimed to be a maid, and they're not. They were given the right to do an annulment, write them a bill of divorcement. Now look, the Bible says it was for the hardness of their heart. Why? Because the Bible tells us to have a soft heart, to have a tender heart, to forgive that person. But for the hardness of their heart, if that's what they wanted to do, they can do that before they consummated the marriage. But is that what we have today? No, you have marriages where people have been together for 10, 20 years, and because he doesn't clean up after himself, he doesn't help you with the dishes, or because you fell in love with someone else. Get divorced, you know. That's nonsense, it's foolishness, it's not adhering to biblical principles. Now look, look at Romans chapter 7. Verse number 1 says, Know ye not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So when can a person remarry once the spouse dies? And no, that's not an excuse to murder them. I get what you're saying, brother, I'm here. No, okay. But if the husband or the wife dies, okay, at that point, they're loosed from that law, they can now be remarried. Look at verse 3. So then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. Hold on a second, but if they're divorced, how can they be? The Bible says that if the husband's still alive and you've divorced, you're called an adulteress. Or for a man, just an adulterer. Why is that? Because the Bible tells us that once you stay married, once you're married, you're supposed to be married forever. And it's unfortunate because in the United States, the statistics from what I've heard is like 40 to 50% of people get divorced. And it's unfortunate at the same rate amongst Christians. And why is that? Well, because it's something called the elephant in the room that no one is addressing. The pastor is too scared to get up and actually talk about what the Bible says in regards to divorce because he has divorced people in his church. But you know what I've noticed? I've noticed that when you just preach the truth, you just say it, what the Bible says, people will respect you even more. Because if not, guess what? They're going to think you're a hypocrite. Because you're not giving them the full word of God. It says there, so then if while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another. This is a large elephant. How do you deal with that? How do you excuse yourself around that if that's what God says? Unless you just want to ignore it. Unless you want to have the zoo in your house. Unless you want to have the huge African elephant in your living room and just do your best to just ignore and make believe that it's not there. Now, the Bible tells us that, what is the option? So if a person leaves someone, if they get divorced, the Bible says, Let them depart, but God hath called us unto peace. So you know what God's will for your life is, if that were to take place? Is that you reconcile that relationship. Now, if you go and you remarry someone and you get divorced, the Bible says you cannot return to that person. In fact, the Bible calls that an abomination. Don't ask me why. That's what God, that's what he says. That's his standard. Well, it's just not fair. Well, you know what? You need to think about that before you get married. Well, I don't understand, you know, it's not my fault. Yeah, but you chose him. She chose you. You made a covenant. You had time to think this through. That's why we should never take marriage lightly. It requires prayer, discernment, and the authority of the parents to guide that child into that marriage. Okay? It's not something you just jump into. Right? Now, this is an elephant in the room. Divorce and remarriage? No, the King James Bible. Because everyone's doing this divorce and remarriage. I just heard this week of a man who's a pastor who is advocating his daughter who lives in his house to date a divorced man in the church with children. That's none of your business, Brother Mejia. Why are you going around spreading that gossip? Well, it's funny because the children in that church came to that man's child and said, your dad's in adultery. You know what that means? It means it's commonly reported. This is not gossip. This is something that they're open about. Okay? And the pastor is a-okay with it. That's wicked as hell. That does not esteem marriage. That does not esteem the union that God has set forth between a man and a woman. You know, we need to be a people who esteem highly esteemed marriage through thick and thin. You know, through the good times and the bad, through sickness and in health and poverty and in wealth and all the other things that come along with that. You know, hey, honeymoon is going to be great. But you know what? The honeymoon is over after a couple years. Oh, you're so negative. It's true. It's not a bad thing. It's just fact. Why? Because life happens. And at that point, before you loved her because she was pretty and she loved you because you were handsome. But you know, your love has to grow beyond that after a couple years. And now your love has to deepen for your spouse. Supposed to love each other, not this immature puppy love anymore. You know, hey, the honeymoon is great. But you know what? What's even better is as the years go by. It's when you go through some trials together. It's when you weep together. It's when you go through discouragements together. Why? Because the love deepens. But you know, we have a society that as soon as that honeymoon stage is over, they want someone else. That's not the way to go. That's wicked. And luckily we have this elephant called the King James Bible that has this insurmountable amount of evidence that goes against it. You know, and yet people want to say, well, no, no, it's fine. In fact, I even heard from that same church, a person approached him because they were listening to us online. And they know where we stand as far as divorce is concerned and what the Bible says. And she went up to a person and said, does the Bible condone divorce? He said, yeah, of course. He said, can you show me? Well, you know, 1 Corinthians 7, you know, says something like about it's OK. And she said, well, I thought I read in Matthew Chapter five that it's called adultery. And the person responded and said this. Yeah, that's true. But I still love them. I think they deserve to get married anyways. You kidding me? And I'm not making this stuff up. I'm not lying. This is true. This is how bad it's gotten out there. OK, we need to make sure that whatever we do, we're not respecter of people. That we're adhering to biblical doctrines. We're adhering to what the scriptures say, that this is condemned. Here's another elephant in the room. OK, and I'll just hit on this briefly. How about the reign of Valera 1960 Spanish Bible? Now, many people don't know about this issue, but it is an issue. The reign of Valera 1960 Spanish Bible is the equivalent to a new King James Bible. OK, it's the equivalent to a new King James Bible. But you know what you have? You have churches today with Spanish ministries where the church stands for the King James Bible. But they allow their Spanish ministry to use a 1960 reign of Valera. What's wrong with that Bible? Well, how about this? They remove hell completely out of the Bible. Completely remove hell from the Bible. Put adhes instead. Or Hades, you know, adhes instead. Instead of hell. You say, well, that's not necessarily a big deal. Well, that's what the NIV does. That's what all these modern perversions do. In fact, I went soul winning a couple months back and I talked to a lady who was a Spanish speaker. I speak Spanish fluently and I was giving her the gospel and she said, come on in, come in. And we sat down. She pulled out her Bible. I started giving her the gospel in Spanish. And then at the point of when I was talking about hell, she said, well, hold on a second. Are you trying to tell me that hell is real? I said, yeah, it's real. Let me show you the verses. She said, that's weird. In Spanish, all in Spanish. She said, that's weird because I've read the Bible many times and I've never seen hell in the Bible. And I was shocked. I said, what Bible do you have? Looked at it. Reina Valera, 1960. Why is that? Because they completely take hell out of that Bible. You know, that's a wicked Bible. And you have King James only-est. Independent fundamental Baptist churches who are King James only, amen. But you know what? They're allowing the NKJV version in Spanish into their church. That's the elephant in the room that's not being taken care of. Someone needs to go do some poaching for that elephant. And take that Bible out. Throw it in the trash. It's garbage. You say, well, what Bible do you recommend? Well, anything prior to 1960 is great. And even though I would say the Gomez 2010 is still great, even though it's not prior to 1960 because it's based upon those older versions, but not the 1960. Yeah, but that's the only thing. Well, how about this? In Daniel it says that Jesus Christ is the son of the gods instead of the son of God. How about this? 1 Peter 2, 2, you know, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow into salvation in Spanish. You know, you read the Bible to grow, not into salvation. And a lot of people, Spanish ministries, are using that Bible. You know, don't use that when you go out sowing. That wicked Bible is an elephant in the room that needs to be taken down. It needs to be shot down. Now, let me give you a couple of things here. What time do you guys usually finish here? Whenever you want. Whenever I want? All right. Ten o'clock it is. I'm just kidding. All right. Let me give you a couple of points here about dealing with the elephant in the room. Just some brief points here. Number one, go with me if you would to Proverbs chapter 14. Proverbs chapter 14. Dealing with the elephant in the room. Number one, don't be the elephant. Don't be the elephant. Don't be the one person in church that everyone knows about. And not because it's for a good reason. You say, what do you mean? Don't be the one in church that's constantly opening your mouth and gossiping, tattling, being a busybody. You know how you want to become an elephant? Do just that. Where when people bring up your name, they know there's a whole slew of attributes that are associated with that name. Like, oh yeah, I know that elephant. The Bible says in Proverbs 12 verse 16, A fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent man covereth shame. Proverbs 14, 33 says, Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding, but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. So you know what the Bible says? When you're a fool, everyone knows it. It's made known. You said, by the way, no matter what subject you talk about, it's just known. Like, you're a fool. We just got finished excommunicating someone from our church last night. We cleaned house last night. We excommunicated a person from our church for being a tattler and a busybody. Because they were railing, they were doing accusations, and we're not tolerating it. And you know what? Isn't it funny that once you excommunicate someone, then everyone starts coming up and saying, yeah, I had a problem with that person many times already. I'm like, well, thanks for telling me just now, you know. Like, yeah, I had to run in with this person and that person. In fact, we had a visitor come for the first time to our church, and immediately he told his friend who brought him to church, that person talks way too much. And he's brand new. He even knows. He says this person talks way too much. And sure enough, this person did something worthy of excommunication, and they got thrown out because of it. You know why? Because we're not a zoo. So when we find the elephants in the room, we take them out. Don't be the elephant in the room. Look, if you have problems with someone in the church, you don't go to another person to talk about your problems. Who do you go to? The person. You, Matthew 18, go to the person. You go tell him his fault between him and you and thee alone. And you make it right. But you don't go gossiping around, you know, talking about your problems to everyone, okay. Go to Ecclesiastes, chapter number 5. Ecclesiastes, chapter number 5. There's people who are tattlers and busybodies, and the Bible says that they turn aside into Satan. You know, what destroys a church? Well, it's not the attacks from the outside. That actually unifies us. That actually strengthens us. It makes us stronger. It makes us stronger in the Lord and the power of His might. It causes us to be in unity. You know what really destroys a church? It's when the members of the church become elephants. And they start causing division. They start gossiping. They start tattling and being busybodies. They start becoming an elephant. A pink elephant with spots. That's what happens. Look at Ecclesiastes 5.36, For a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by the multitude of words. You ever meet someone who talks a whole lot but doesn't say anything? You ever talk to someone that they're so negative, you're just itching to just leave. You're just like, man, I got to somehow get out of this conversation. You know, they say that your body language says a lot about how interested you are in talking to someone. If your feet are straightforward talking to a person, that means that you're giving that person your full attention. But if you're like this, even if you're looking at them, they're not going to think you're posing for them. They're going to get this feeling that you want to leave the conversation. And guess what? Everyone's going to observe that from now on. Where are you going? You don't want to talk to me? It's like, I got a crooked foot, man. Don't be the elephant in the room. Hey, don't be the person that no soul winner wants to go with. You know, you should be the most likable soul winner to the point that when they pair you up with that person, it's like, great, I love going with Brother so-and-so. I love going with Sister so-and-so. Don't be the one to say, all right, all right. Yeah, it's fine. It's fine. No, no, no, no, it's fine. It's fine. I said it's fine. You know why you laugh? Because it's true. Don't be that elephant. You know, you want to be the kind of person, look, be friendly. Be kind. Exercise the right type of attributes and characteristics to get along and dwell in unity with your brethren. Don't be that elephant. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 5. Point number 1, don't be the elephant. Point number 2, don't ignore the elephant. Now, this is applicable in church, but it's also applicable in your home. You know, there's an elephant in a lot of homes called television. And it's the cause for a lot of problems in families. And they wonder, why is it that my children are so worldly? Why is it that we can't seem to get along? Why is it that we can't retain, pay attention in the preaching? It's the elephant in your living room called the television. It's causing you to have a short attention span. Got kind of quiet. Don't ignore that elephant. Look at 1 Corinthians 5, verse number 1. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles that one should have his father's wife and ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you for verily as absent in the body but present in spirit have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. What was the problem at the church of Corinth? This big elephant that everyone knew about. It was commonly reported. And what were they doing? They were glorying in the fact that they weren't excommunicating this person out of the church. Being so loving. Well, we need to disciple this person. We need help to know what the scripture says. Just take him to 1 Corinthians 5 and it's all good. Get rid of the elephant. Don't ignore the elephant. And look, one of the best things for your family is to deal with issues immediately. Immediately. Don't let the sun go down upon your wrath. Hey, you get in an argument with your wife. I mean, you get in a loud discussion with your wife. Deal with it. Man, you say, well, how do I deal with it? Apologize? Say I'm sorry? And look, when that happens in my life with my wife, something that helps me to apologize to my wife and to get right with my wife is just to picture what if she's not here tomorrow? What if I lose my wife tomorrow? You know what that caused me to do? To just say, this is so stupid. I need to go apologize and get right because nothing's worth, you know, sacrificing my relationship with my wife. And I go to my wife and say, you know, you have something to tell me? I'm just kidding. I was waiting to see who caught that. No, you go apologize and get it right. Deal with it immediately. Don't ignore the elephant in the room. Whether it's chastising your children, your relationship with your wife, issues in church, whatever it may be, deal with it immediately. Don't ignore it. Go with me if you would to, let's see here. Go to Deuteronomy chapter 13, please. You know, a lot of times, even in church, the reason people ignore the elephant in the room is because they have this thing called the bystander effect. You ever heard of that, the bystander apathy? What it is, is this. There's a huge elephant in the room. There's a huge problem taking place. And you know what everyone thinks? Well, someone else will do it. Someone else will take care of it. How about this? When it comes to soul winning, I'm not going to go because I know someone else will. Oh, does someone make a marathon? I can't do that. I'm not going to be a part of that. But I know someone else will. It's called bystander apathy. And you know what happens when people have bystander apathy? No one does it. So the people that you think are going to do it are actually waiting for you to do it. The people who you think are you waiting for to go soul winning, they're actually waiting for you to go soul winning. So here's what you do. Just go soul winning. And then that person is going to go soul winning and everyone else. You know, bystander apathy is commonly known in churches because of the fact that there's problems in the church. There's fornication. There's bad leadership. And what do the church members do? They're waiting for someone to do something. Well, if you're the person waiting for someone to do something, that means you're the one who should be doing something. That means you should be the one getting up and doing something about it. And the unfortunate thing is that the old IFB, as we would refer to it, they put way too much power in the hands of the pastor. What do you mean by that? They've given them these superhuman powers where they could even sin and violate scripture and it's still A-OK. That's wrong. This isn't the Catholic church. We don't hide pedophilia. If someone disqualifies themselves from being a pastor, if they're in violation of the scriptures, guess what? The Bible talks about the higher powers. You know, the Bible is the ultimate authority. God is the ultimate authority. And if someone violates the Bible, you go with what the Bible says. You go and entreat your pastor as a father to help them to go get it right. You don't just wait for someone else to do it. Look what the Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse 6. If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, I mean, he's covering all, every single person, which is as thine own soul. Man, I mean, he's just like letting you know, look, whoever's close to you, you know? Entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, namely of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from one end of the earth, even unto the other end of the earth, thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him. Neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him. You know, within every human being, especially when it comes to these relationships, there's just natural pity. But you know what God says? Your eye should not pity. Neither should you conceal him. What does that mean? Protect them from being found out. You know, at the end of the day, our loyalty should be to God, to His Word. And we love, hey, we love our brother. We love our mother. We love our children. We love our wife. We love our friends and those who are close to us. But guess what? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the first and greatest commandment. We need to make sure that our love is in the right place. And we don't love people more than God. Now look, when you love God, you will love people. But when these same people violate the Scriptures, your love for God and your obedience to Him comes first. Don't ignore the elephant in the room. Go to Jeremiah chapter 5, if you would. Two more Scriptures and we're done. Here's a good one. Don't embrace the elephant. Don't embrace the elephant. What does that mean? An elephant stays in your house for so long. That television is just there for so long. You've been listening to that wrong music for so long. You've had that bad friend for so long. You've just embraced it. That's just part of your life. I'm just always going to listen to, I don't know what kind of music they listen to here. Rap? That's L.A. so that's all we know over there. Rock? Country? You guys listen to country out here? Yeah, don't embrace that. Country? I don't know what else is there, but don't embrace it. Just because it's been a part of your life for decades doesn't mean it has to continue to be. Hey, don't embrace CCM. That garbage wannabe Christian music. Wannabe Christian music is what that is. Oh, but it makes me feel so good. Get a good night's rest. That'll make you feel good. Hey, eat a good meal. That'll make you feel good. Don't embrace these elephants just because they've been in your life for so long. If it's wrong, get rid of it. Get rid of Dumbo. Look at Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 26. For among my people are found wicked men. They lay weight. As he that setteth snares, they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore, they are become great and waxen rich. They are waxen fat. They shine. Yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked. They judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless. Yet they are prosper, and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely. So what do we have here? Preachers who are just preaching lies, these Joel Osteen type sermons, make you feel all good inside, all nice warm and fuzzy. And the priests bear rule by their means. And look what it says. And my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end thereof? That's a sad statement. The prophets prophesy falsely, they are preaching lies, they are giving flattery, and you would think, man, you got to get out of that church. But you know what the Bible says here? They love it that way though. Because they have had it for so long. Like where am I going to go? This is all I have known my entire life. Go to somewhere. Look, places exist all around the world with churches like ours. Places exist where they are actually teaching the word of God and you are going to learn something. You don't need to embrace that elephant. Just get rid of it. Go to Judges 8 and we are done. Judges chapter 8. Talk about the elephant in the room this evening. Number one we said, don't be the elephant. Don't ignore the elephant. Don't embrace the elephant. And lastly, just recognize this, if the elephant is not removed, if you don't get rid of the elephant, it's going to affect your children in the long run. Because you are not going to live forever. You are not going to be here forever. But you know who is going to be here after you? Your children. And if you truly esteem the future of your children, in spite of how long you have embraced that elephant, in spite of how long you have embraced that wrong type of entertainment, in spite of how long you have been at that place, you know what, if you don't deal with it, it's going to affect the next generation. Look what it says in Judges 8 verse 24, And beside the chains that were about their camels' necks, and Gideon made an e-father of, and put it in a city, even in Orphah, and all Israel went thither, ahoring after it, which thing became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. He committed idolatry. And what were the repercussions? What were the ramifications? Well it said here that it became a snare unto Gideon and to his house. Read the rest of the story of Gideon and see what happened to his sons. They all died. All murdered. All killed. Why? Because of the sin of his father. Often the decisions that we make, when we don't think about it, we think, well you know, what's the big deal with this? Well what's the big deal with this type of entertainment? What's the big deal with this type of music? What's the big deal with just staying at this watered down church, where here's the big deal, is it's not a big deal to you, but it will be to your children. It may not be a big deal to you, but it's going to affect your children. Don't be this Hezekiah type of leader, or, oh, peace in my days, but forget the next generation. No, we ought to make decisions knowing full well how it's going to affect our children in the long run. Deal with the elephants today so that your children are not destroyed by them tomorrow. What's the sermon today? The sermon is simply this. There's elephants in the room. Don't ignore them. Let's just deal with them. As they come, you're going to have a stampede of elephants coming through your life day in and day out, year in, year out. Don't just ignore it. Do something about it. Amen? Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the examples of the men in the Bible who acted quickly when things needed to be taken care of. And, of course, we thank you even for the bad examples that we see in the Bible so we know what not to do. And I pray, God, that you'd help us as God's people to have discernment, that we would not allow our household, our church, or wherever we're at to become a jungle, to become a zoo that's housing these elephants that no one's doing anything about. Help us to be assertive, to take the initiative, to remove that which needs to be removed according to your word. Bless the fellowship to follow in all there is. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.