Now let me just briefly explain what this chapter is about.
It deals with a few different subjects.
A lot of times when you're reading Bible prophecy,
and when you're reading these really heavy passages,
whether you're in Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel
or maybe in Revelation,
when you're reading these really heavy passages,
sometimes they're so deep
and there's so much that's going on,
it's hard to always explain all of it
just in a few minutes or a few moments.
Some of the deepest parts of the Bible,
especially when you're dealing
with Old Testament Bible prophecy,
a lot of times the Bible is prophesying
on a few different levels.
For example, you'll read a lot of scriptures
where there's a prophecy of a coming doom
and destruction and judgment
that's going to be poured out upon the people
that he's speaking to,
whether it's Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel.
He's preaching to these certain nations that are ungodly,
telling them, hey, judgment is coming,
God's going to pour out his wrath,
God's going to punish.
But then a lot of times,
he'll kind of change gears
and start to talk about coming judgment
as in the tribulation,
as in the wrath of God being poured out,
end times prophecies.
Other times, there'll be parts
where the prophet is talking about himself being persecuted
for preaching the word of God.
And then he'll kind of change gears
into a future persecution of Jesus, for example,
Jesus being persecuted and punished and crucified.
So a lot of times, there's an immediate term application
and then there's a more far-reaching application.
Well, this passage is kind of like that
because if you look at verse one of chapter 28,
it says, the word of the Lord came again unto me,
saying, son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus,
thus saith the Lord God,
because thy heart is lifted up and thou hast said,
I am a God, I sit in the seat of God,
in the midst of the seas,
yet thou art a man and not God,
though thou set thy heart as the heart of God.
So here is a leader, a king of a nation
that has so much power and wisdom and riches
that he literally believes that he is God.
And of course, there have been leaders like this
throughout history.
You might think this is crazy,
but there are leaders like this throughout history
that are God-like leaders
where people bow down and worship them,
whether it was Caesar in the Roman Empire
that they worshiped or Emperor Hirohito in Japan.
There are people who worship Adolf Hitler.
There are people who worship Stalin,
and Stalin's rule was called a cult of personality.
They will worship these leaders,
and this guy is just pumped up in his own mind,
and he thinks he's so wonderful that he's so blasphemous
to even make the statement, I'm God.
Instead of acknowledging the true God,
instead of worshiping the Lord God,
he's calling himself God.
So basically, Ezekiel is rebuking the king of Tyrus,
the prince of Tyrus.
Prince means leader, or the first in the kingdom,
the one who's the boss.
He's rebuking this prince of Tyrus
for lifting himself on the level of thinking
that he's equal with God.
But then he changes gears and starts to talk about Satan
and preach against Satan because he's Satan,
just like the king of Tyrus also said
that he wanted to be like God.
I'm not gonna turn there for the sake of time,
but in Isaiah chapter 14, the Bible's really clear
that Lucifer or Satan was rejected from God's presence
and was basically punished, and he became a fallen angel
because of the fact that he said in his heart,
I'm gonna be like the most high.
I'm gonna be like God.
Satan wanted to take the place of God
and to be equal to God.
Ezekiel is basically comparing the two.
So part of the time, he's talking about the king of Tyrus.
Part of the time, he's actually talking about Satan
because the king of Tyrus has a lot in common with Satan.
Both are trying to be God, okay?
Same thing you see in Jonah chapter two,
where part of the time, it's talking about Jonah.
Part of the time, it's prophesying about Jesus Christ,
and it's really easy to tell which is which
as you read through the chapter.
Well, it's the same thing here.
A lot of this is clearly referring to the man on earth,
the king of Tyrus.
But then he shifts gears
and begins to talk about the devil.
Look at verse 12.
The Bible says, son of man,
take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and sand him.
Thus saith the Lord God, thou sealest up the sun
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
Verse 13, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God.
Now, who is he talking about there?
He's not talking about the king of Tyrus.
That guy wasn't even around.
Who was in the garden of Eden, though,
that wanted to be like God?
Satan.
So he says, thou hast been in the garden of God.
Eden, the garden of God.
Every precious stone was thy covering,
the sardius, topaz, and the diamond,
the barrel, the onyx, and the jasper,
the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.
Notice the X-rays.
The workmanship of thy tappereths and of thy pipes
was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Now, tappereths and pipes are two things that are mentioned
often throughout the Bible.
They are both musical instruments.
A tapperet is a percussive musical instrument,
and a pipe is what we would think of,
it could be referring to either a pipe that you blow into,
like, for example, a flute or a recorder
or a clarinet-type instrument,
or a lot of times when the Bible talks about pipes,
it's referring to organs,
because old ancient organs used to work on a principle
of blowing air through pipes.
And the Bible used the word organ,
and it used the word pipe,
and a lot of these words describe musical instruments.
So right there, as the Bible's talking about Satan
being in the Garden of Eden,
covered with all these gold and precious stones
in his beauty, it also talks about the workmanship
of pipes and tappereths, and notice it says,
it was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
So basically what the Bible's explaining here
is that Satan is a musical creature.
Because, you know, does he have a literal musical instrument
inside his body?
No, it's saying basically his body is a musical instrument,
like a pipe or a tapperet.
He has the ability to produce music,
just as all of us do.
I mean, we all have a voice box and a larynx,
and we have lungs that pump air through our voice box,
and we have muscles that pump that air through,
and our diaphragm, and so forth.
So we have the ability to produce music
just out of our bodies, right?
We can sing, and we have a great range of our voice.
Well, Satan is described as also producing music
from within himself, and he has pipes and tappereths
within him, obviously metaphors for his ability
to produce music from within himself.
It says in verse 14, thou art the anointed cherub.
Of course, a cherub is one of those angelic beings
that's surrounding the throne of heaven.
Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth,
and I set thee so.
Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God.
Thou walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day
that thou was created till iniquity was found in thee.
Then he begins to talk about all the bad things
that the devil has done, and how eventually
he's gonna be burned and destroyed,
because eventually he's gonna be sent to hell,
of course, at the end of the book of Revelation.
And it says, by thy multitude of thy merchandise,
they have filled them instantly with violence,
and now as sin.
Therefore, I will cast thee as profane
out of the mountain of God.
Talking about the fact that the devil
will be cast out of heaven.
He says, I will cast thee as profane
out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee,
O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
Thy heart was lifted up, talking about his pride,
because of thy beauty.
Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.
I will cast thee to the ground.
I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee.
Look at the next phrase.
Thou hast defiled thy what?
Sanctuaries.
Now the word sanctuary is used in the Bible a lot.
Notice when you're in the Old Testament,
he calls the sanctuary, and then in the New Testament,
when he quotes those verses, he calls it the holy place
in the book of Hebrews.
The holy place is another name for the sanctuary.
Sanctuary means holy place.
That's what the word means if you just compare
scripture with scripture.
Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries, or holy places,
he's saying, by the multitude of thine iniquities,
by the iniquity of thy traffic.
Therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee.
It shall devour thee, and I will bring thee
to ashes upon the earth, in the sight of all them
that behold thee.
And they that know thee among the people
shall be astonished at thee.
And what he's describing there in verse 19
is very similar to what we see in Isaiah 14.
I'm not gonna go into all that for sake of time.
I just wanted to explain the passage to you
so that you understand it.
But let me get into what I wanna preach about tonight.
Of course, this morning I preached all about music.
And if you weren't here this morning,
definitely go back and get that off the internet
and listen to that.
But that sermon that I preached about music this morning,
there was one aspect of the sermon that I didn't get to
because I decided that I wanted to spend more time on it
and really drive it in.
And that is the fact that the devil is a musician,
that the devil produces music,
and that the devil uses music as a tool
to deceive the people that dwell upon the earth.
And I'm gonna prove that to you tonight from the bottom
and I'm gonna show you what that means.
Now first of all, we see from this passage two things.
Number one, the devil is a musical creature.
It mentions his tabrets and his harp,
his pipes that are within him.
And secondly, he's a religious creature.
He has his sanctuaries, he has his holy places.
As God has his house, the devil has his houses.
Let me show you what I mean.
Go to 2 Corinthians 11.
2 Corinthians 11.
Now this morning's sermon,
I mainly dealt with worldly music.
I mainly preached against sinful, worldly music
that's being put out by just ungodly musicians
who are not glorifying God.
They're not putting out music
that has anything to do with Jesus or the Bible.
But tonight, I wanna focus more on the Christianized,
so-called version of the worldly music,
the CCM or Christian contemporary music
that's so popular today.
Basically, you say, what are you talking about?
Basically, all the music we don't have here.
I mean, when we come to church, we sing hymns.
Do you ever wonder why we don't have a rock band?
Do you ever wonder why we don't sing
all the popular contemporary Christian music and choruses?
The type that you'll hear on the radio.
You know, you can turn on the radio
and you can turn to a Christian station, right?
Aren't there Christian stations in Phoenix
and pretty much in every major city in America?
You can listen to the popular Christian music today
and I'm gonna warn you tonight
about what's wrong with that music
and I'm gonna warn you
why you shouldn't listen to that music.
Not only should you not be listening to Jimi Hendrix
and all the rock and all the rap and the hip-hop,
and I covered that this morning if you weren't here,
but you also need to be warned
about the devil using a lot of music
that's called Christian on the outside
and it's not Christian music, it's not of God.
And wait until you pass judgment,
because you've heard the whole sermon.
But look at second Corinthians chapter number 11.
I wanna show you what I mean about the devil.
It says in verse three,
"'For I fear, lest by any means,
"'as the serpent beguiled Eve.'"
Who's the serpent?
Save, right?
"'As the serpent beguiled Eve, through his subtlety,
"'so your mind should be corrupted
"'from the simplicity that is in Christ.
"'For if he that cometh preach another Jesus,
"'whom we've not preached,
"'or if you receive another spirit,
"'which we have not received,
"'or another gospel, which ye have not accepted,
"'you might well bear with him.'"
He's warning them,
I'm afraid that somebody might come along
preaching another gospel and another Jesus
and that you might bear with him and be deceived by that.
Now, notice in the same breath you warned,
the devil tricked Eve.
He said, there's another Jesus.
Notice those two words in chapter 11, verse four.
Another Jesus.
You say, well, they're worshiping Jesus.
Yeah, but it's another Jesus.
When the Mormons come to your door,
oh, they're worshiping Jesus.
Another Jesus.
The Jehovah's Witnesses believe in Jesus.
They believe in another Jesus.
The Roman Catholics, they worship Jesus.
No, it's another Jesus.
And the Bible warned that there'd be false teachers
and false prophets bringing another gospel,
another Jesus,
and they will do it in the name of Jesus.
Many will come in my name, Jesus said,
saying, I am Christ, believe it or not.
He said, there are people who come
and try to say they're Jesus.
There are people who will come and peddle a false gospel
and a false Jesus,
and who's behind it, according to verse three?
Satan.
Just as Satan tricked Eve, there's another Jesus.
I'll prove it to you further that Satan's behind it.
Jump down to verse 13.
It says, for such are false apostles,
or false messengers, he's saying,
deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no, Marvel, shouldn't be shocked by this.
Don't be surprised.
For Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore, it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works.
Very clear there that there are people out there
who are preaching another gospel,
and Satan is behind it,
and we shouldn't be shocked by the fact
that since Satan can be himself transformed
into an angel of light,
his ministers are transformed into the ministers of light.
His ministers are transformed into the ministers of righteousness.
That means that you can see somebody that on the outside
looks like a minister of righteousness.
That's what they've transformed into.
That's what they appear to be.
And you can look at that and say,
that is a minister of Christ,
and many people will look at it and say,
that's a minister of Christ.
That's a minister of righteousness.
But doesn't the Bible say that there are some people
who outwardly look like a minister of righteousness,
but on the inside, they're false apostles,
they're deceitful workers,
they're preaching another Jesus,
they're preaching another gospel.
Remember Revelation chapter two?
He said, thou has tried them which say
they are apostles and are not as found of liars.
He said, that's what you've done right.
That's what you've done right.
There are people out there who are wolves in sheep's clothing.
The Bible says, beware of false prophets
which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
So this is a real concern,
that there are people out there who in the name of Jesus
and in the name of Christ will preach false doctrine
and lies and deceit.
Look at Galatians one, just a few pages to the right of the Bible.
Just a few pages.
And he says in Galatians chapter one verse six,
I marvel that you are so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another,
but there be some that trouble you
and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
What he's saying is that this other gospel,
it's not completely different.
It's not just this completely different gospel
that has nothing to do with the Bible,
nothing to do with Jesus.
He said, no, this other gospel, it's not another,
it's just a perverted version of the real gospel,
a twisted version.
That's what perverse means, crooked.
And what he's saying is that when somebody comes to you
with a false gospel, there's gonna be similarities
with the true gospel.
They'll talk about Jesus, they'll talk about him dying
on the cross and rising again,
but they'll just change it up and tweak it up
to where it's no longer the good news.
You know, they'll come to you and they'll say,
yeah, sure, Jesus died on the cross and rose again.
He paid for all your sins, and all you have to do
to be saved is just follow the Ten Commandments.
You know, so there's a lot of truth there
until you get to the part where they say,
well, to be saved, you have to keep your commandments.
And then the whole thing is a lie.
That's another gospel.
Or they might come to the whole thing and say,
you know, yeah, it's just all by grace through faith,
but you know what, if you fall away from serving God, though,
you're gonna lose that salvation.
It's just a little bit of a twist on it there
that takes away from the fact
that it's all by grace through faith.
And that's what the whole book of Galatians is about.
He keeps hammering, he hammers it in chapter two.
He hammers it in chapter three.
He hammers it in four or five.
It's by faith, it's by grace, it's not by works,
it's not the works of the law.
You can't be saved like that.
He goes on and on.
I mean, if you want a book on salvation by faith alone,
just read Galatians.
I mean, he goes on and on and on about it,
warning them that there's another gospel out there.
Deceitful workers, false apostles, false doctrine,
the devil's behind it.
Satan himself has transformed into an angel of light.
Look at the next verse, verse eight.
But though we, or an angel from heaven,
remember how the devil is transformed?
Preach any other gospel unto you
than that which we have preached unto you.
Let him be accursed as we've said before.
So say I now again,
if any man preaches any other gospel unto you,
then that you have received, let him be accursed.
So everybody got that?
Everybody understand that?
Very simple.
Okay, let's change gears.
Jump back to 1 Chronicles 9.33.
1 Chronicles 9.33.
And I'm gonna come back to that thought.
I wanted to just drive that in.
That not everything that calls itself Christian,
not everything that looks like it's a minister of light,
not everything that claims even the name of Jesus,
and people often tell you what?
Hey, we're all worshiping the same Jesus, right?
Well, there's another Jesus.
That even these people who are claiming Jesus,
claiming Christian, they might be a deceitful worker.
They might be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
If they're preaching another gospel,
if they're mixing works,
if they're mixing in the works of the flesh
or saying that you can lose your salvation
or that you have to go to church
and be baptized to be saved,
look what he says in 1 Chronicles.
Remember, the sermon's about music.
Go to 1 Chronicles 9.33.
The Bible says this.
And these are the singers,
chief of the fathers of the Levites,
who remaining in the chambers were freed,
for they were employed in that work day and night.
These chief fathers of the Levites
were chief throughout their generations,
which dwelled in Jerusalem.
So what I wanna point out there
is that you have some singers there,
and their job is to basically praise God
and write songs and to sing the praises of God
in the house of God, okay?
And to lead the people in singing.
Notice, they were the Levites, okay?
Now, the Levites is one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Now, I'm gonna get to that in a moment.
Let's look at a few more verses,
then I'll explain to you the significance
of these musicians being the Levites.
Go to 1 Chronicles 15 and look at verse 16.
And David spayed to the chief of the Levites
to appoint their brethren.
So look, the brethren of the Levites are Levites too, okay?
He says he should appoint their brethren
to be the singers with instruments of music,
psalteries and harps,
a psaltery is a stringed instrument,
harps, symbols,
sounding by lifting up the voice with joy.
So he's talking about people that are singing out loud,
lifting up their voice.
That means they're singing loud,
they've got symbols, they've got stringed instruments,
and they're praising the Lord with it, okay?
Look if you would at verse 27.
It says, and David was clothed with a robe of fine linen,
and all the Levites that bear the ark and the singers
and Kenaniah, the master of the song with the singers,
David also had upon him and he fought with linen,
thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord
with shouting and with the sound of the cornet,
a cornet is a type of horn, like a type of trumpet, okay?
And with trumpets and with symbols,
making a noise with psalteries and harps.
And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of the Lord
came the city of David, then Michael, the daughter of Saul,
and on and on, that's not relevant to the sermon.
Go to 2 Chronicles 5, 12, 2 Chronicles 5, 12.
And look what the Bible reads in 2 Chronicles 5, 12.
Also, actually look at verse 11.
It says, and it came to pass when the priests
were come out of the holy place,
for all the priests that were present were sanctified.
Notice the connection between holy place and sanctified,
remember sanctuary means holy place?
They were come out of the holy place,
for all the priests that were present were sanctified
and did not then wait by course.
Also the Levites, which were the singers.
So who were the singers?
Levites.
And he says, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthan,
with their sons and their brethren being arrayed
in white linen, having symbols and psalteries and harps,
stood at the end of the altar, and with them,
120 priests sounding with trumpets.
That's a brass section right there.
120 priests sounding with trumpets.
And it came, talk about the big band era.
That was nothing compared to this.
And it came to pass as the trumpets, trumpeters
and singers were as one.
That means they were all playing in unison.
They were like one body, they weren't all playing
something different.
They were all playing the same song basically.
They were all as one.
To make one sound, to be heard in praising
and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up
their voice with the trumpets and symbols
and instruments and music, and praised the Lord,
saying, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever,
that then the house was filled with a cloud,
even the house of the Lord, so that the priest
could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud,
for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God.
Interesting passage, isn't it?
This great ensemble of music, and then the glory
of the Lord fills his house.
The musicians were the Levites.
Look at chapter 35, verse 15.
2 Chronicles 35, 15.
And the Bible reads in verse 15,
the singers, the sons of Asaph, again, these are Levites,
were in their place according to the commandment of David,
and Asaph, and Geman, and Judu, and the king's seer,
and the porters waited at every gate,
and that they might not depart from their service
for their brethren, the Levites prepared for them.
Now here's what's interesting about the Levites.
Go to Exodus chapter 13.
In Exodus 13, the Bible explains how whatever
is the first flame, or the firstborn, or the first fruit
always belongs to the Lord.
Whenever they would plant a field,
and they would grow crops, the first fruits,
the first tent of whatever they produced with that field,
they were supposed to give it to the Lord.
If they raised cattle for every 10 cows that were born,
calves that were born, they would give the first one
to the Lord, because the first fruit belonged to him.
Well, God explained in the book of Exodus
to the children of Israel, he said,
the firstborn of every man also belongs to me.
So for example, I have six children,
and the seventh is on the way.
Okay, basically he said, your firstborn son belongs to me.
That's the first fruits under the Lord.
Now, but instead of giving your firstborn son
to the Lord and bringing him to the house of God
to serve God with, he said instead
there's gonna be an exchange.
He said, instead of taking the firstborn
of every family of the children of Israel,
he said, instead I'm gonna take the tribe of the Levites.
And he said, I want you to count up
of the children of Israel, and there are millions of them.
He said, I want you to count up all the firstborn children
in the land, all the firstborn sons.
He said, count up the firstborn sons
and get the number of what that is.
The men.
Then he said, I want you to count up the Levites
and see how many of those men are.
And he looked at the number,
and they weren't exactly the same.
Everybody follow me?
They weren't exactly the same number.
So he said, okay.
He said, there's a little bit less Levites
than there are firstborn sons.
So basically, you're gonna pay out the difference.
And he put a dollar amount on that.
And they paid the difference into the treasury
of the house of God.
And he said, okay, instead of the firstborn son serving me,
and maybe you haven't heard this doctrine,
maybe you've never read this in the Bible,
but he said, instead of the firstborn son serving me,
he said, instead, the Levites are gonna serve me.
And they are going to take,
that way you don't have to break up families, right?
I mean, you don't have to break up the family
and send off the firstborn son and everything.
He said, keep the family together.
But because the firstborn belongs to me,
I'm gonna take the Levites instead.
Now look at Exodus chapter 13.
And I can read for you that whole chapter,
but it's just, it was easier just to explain it to you.
He says in verse one of Exodus 13,
and the Lord spake unto Moses, sanctify unto me.
Now notice that word sanctify, I'm gonna get back to that.
Sanctify unto me all the firstborn.
And this is what I was just explaining.
Whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel,
both the man and a beast, it is mine.
Jump down to verse 12.
And thou shalt set apart unto the Lord
all that openeth the matrix,
and every first thing that cometh of a beast
which thou hast, the males shall be the Lord.
So he's pretty much saying the same thing in verse 12
as he said in verse two.
But do you notice how he switches out the words?
In verse two, he said, sanctify unto me.
And in verse 12, he says, thou shalt set apart unto the Lord.
And in verse two, he used the word womb.
And in verse 12, he used the word matrix.
Now don't you think matrix is a word
that probably most people don't know what it means?
They think it's a movie or something.
Matrix means, in the Bible, it means womb.
And so he uses those two verses
to show us a definition right there.
We don't even have to grab a dictionary.
We just see, okay, opening the womb
is the same as opening the matrix.
And he said, set apart and sanctify are the same word.
Okay, so when you're sanctifying or set apart
or made holy, these are all synonymous.
So he said, I want you to set apart for me, the Levites.
And to set apart is what?
What's the other word for set apart?
And what does sanctify mean?
Think about the sanctuary.
The sanctuary is the what?
The holy place.
What's sanctify?
To make it holy.
To make something holy.
So to make something holy means to set it apart.
And if we looked up a lot of scriptures
about set apart and sanctify holy,
you'll see this over and over again.
But this is a clear place to illustrate
that sanctify means holy means set apart.
Now, did he take the firstborn male?
No, who did he take instead?
The Levites.
And what were the Levites gonna be?
Set apart.
Sanctified unto the Lord.
What does it mean that they belong to him?
It means they're gonna be set apart.
It means they're gonna be sanctified.
It means they're gonna be holy.
He says, the Levites are holy.
Sanctify the Levites.
He says that over and over and over again in the Bible.
Set apart.
I think of a verse in Psalm 4, verse 3, not too far there.
He said, but know this,
that the Lord had set apart him that is godly for himself.
Being set apart means you're being holy, being godly,
being different than the world that's around you.
Now, who did we see over and over again
were the leaders of music, the leaders of the singing,
the ones who taught songs unto the people?
Asaph, and look, over and over again, the chief singer.
He used the word the chief singer,
like the song leader, basically.
In the book of Habakkuk,
the first two chapters of Habakkuk
are Habakkuk's prophecies, okay?
And the things that he hears from God
and the things that he prays to God.
But in chapter three, the book of Habakkuk,
chapter three is a song.
And he says that it was a song
that he delivered unto the chief singer
upon his stringed instruments.
So Habakkuk actually played a song of Habakkuk chapter three.
That was a song that he delivered
unto the chief singer on his stringed instrument.
He played a stringed instrument.
You don't even know that Habakkuk
even played the stringed instrument, but he did.
And so what we see here is that music in the Old Testament
was led and taught to the people by the Levites.
And the Levites were what?
Set apart, sanctified, holy.
What is God, you say, what in the world do I care?
Why do I come to church on Sunday night
to hear about what people did thousands of years ago?
Levites, there's no such thing as a Levi anymore.
Nobody even knows where the tribe of Levi is today.
You know, avoid genealogies, who cares?
You know why I'm preaching this tonight?
Because the principle is there.
The Bible says that everything in the Old Testament
was written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come.
God is showing us a principle
that those who sing praises to the Lord
and those who praise the Lord on a stringed instrument
and those who lead the people in singing
should be people that are sanctified and set apart.
They should be godly people.
That's what he's teaching.
He's teaching us that those who lead the music,
those who sing the music,
those who play the musical instruments to praise God,
you say, well, that's just music that's praising God.
Well, if you were here this morning,
you would have figured out
that's the only music that matters anyway.
If you were here this morning,
I think I sufficiently proved that.
That's what matters.
And the people who are singing it
need to be sanctified, not worldly,
not just like the world, but set apart from the world.
Not just like everybody else, but holy, but godly,
but righteous people ought to be singing
and making praise unto the Lord on a musical instrument.
That tells me that it matters who's doing the singing.
And it matters who, and look,
in your CDs and your radio, you know what?
It matters who's doing the singing.
And personally, I don't even, I'm not into music CDs.
I love music, but honestly, I don't see any command
in the Bible that tells me to listen to music.
I see commands that I'm supposed to sing praises.
So I would strongly recommend
that you replace listening to music
with singing music yourself.
You know, and that right there
will revolutionize your life, my friend.
Turn up, turn up.
You say, well, Pastor Anderson,
you know, this is what's on the Christian radio.
I mean, I'm trying to listen to Christian stuff.
Why don't you just shut that off
and just sing praises to God?
You see, I don't know the songs.
Take home the hymnal and learn them.
The hymnal's free, my friend.
You got a hymnal on the seat?
Who doesn't have a hymnal?
Put up your hand if you don't have a hymnal.
Take it home.
I'm not, it's not stealing.
I'm giving you permission to do it.
Take it home with you.
Learn these songs.
And you say, well, I can't read music.
That's why you come to church.
And at church here, come to church Sunday morning,
Sunday night, and Wednesday night,
you'll sing 12 songs every week.
And then you can sing them.
You can take the book home and go over them
and learn the words and learn.
Look, sing praises to God.
He wants to hear you sing praises.
Not just a CD, but let me say this.
It matters who's doing the singing.
You know, you sit there and you say,
oh, this is Christian music.
This is godly music.
This is the right music.
Okay, who's singing it?
Is it somebody you sanctify?
Is it somebody you set apart?
Or is it a deceitful worker?
Now, honestly, I think one of the most important things
about music is where it came from, the source of it.
And I went into that a little bit this morning.
But think about this for a moment.
If you were to go and research
who is putting out this Christian contemporary music
that's played on the radio,
who is putting out the section of the Bible bookstore
where they have, you know the Bible bookstore,
the Beethoven bookstore, and you go there
and they have all this Christian rock and Christian pop
and Christian contemporary and worship and praise section
of music and CDs.
I wonder if you looked up what those people believe,
whether you walk away saying, you know what,
these are the spiritual inheritors
of the tradition of the Levites.
Because you know what, I've done it.
Because when I was a teenager, I listened to a lot of this.
And I looked up and I remember one time
there was a Christian band that I listened to
and I'd been to their concerts and so forth.
And I remember one time I got their brand new CD.
Their CD came out and I opened the sleeve
and I started to read the sleeve notes.
You know how you do it when you get a CD,
you're reading the sleeve notes,
you're looking at the pictures, you're reading everything.
So I'm reading the sleeve notes
and I get to this big long paragraph
and I start reading it and I thought,
this seems really familiar.
What is this?
You know, I was reading it
and I got about three quarters of the way through it
and I figured out it was a chapter from the Bible
grossly distorted.
And I was like, what in the world?
And then I got to the end and it said,
First Corinthians chapter two, the message.
Now there's a Bible version quote unquote out there
called the message.
It doesn't even claim to be a translation.
It calls itself a paraphrase.
And in this version, the message, I mean,
it took me and I knew the Bible pretty well
and I knew First Corinthians two very well
because my dad would often quote from that passage.
And so it was one that had really been ingrained.
It's something that I've heard preached a lot
and it took me a while to figure out
that this was even supposed to be First Corinthians two
because it had been changed so much.
And then I started thinking to myself,
wait a minute, I'm listening to this Christian music
but these people are reading the message?
Are they even on the same Bible with our mom?
Is it even the same Jesus?
And then you start to look at their denominations
and you start to read their testimony.
I went on the internet.
Yeah, this is the early days of the internet.
It was really slow.
14K modem was like the fastest thing you could play.
It was like, wow, it's a 14.4K modem, that's fast.
And you're like sitting there.
You'd basically load up a page
and then go make dinner or something
and then come back and it's pulled up.
And I mean, I remember I went on the internet
and I started reading the salvation testimonies
and it was not salvation.
It was not the gospel at all.
I started realizing some of these Christian contemporary
artists were Catholic.
I think to myself, wait a minute,
I'm listening to Catholic music?
And then I started looking it up.
It's Presbyterian, it's Methodist, it's Lutheran,
it's Anglican, it's Pentecostal, it's charismatic.
I'm reading about these artists
talking about speaking in tongues,
talking about losing your salvation,
just all this false doctrine.
I started realizing, wait a minute.
When I go out, and this is around the time
I started going soul-witting.
When I was 17 is when I started soul-witting.
So I've been soul-witting for about 13 years.
But I started soul-witting when I was 17
and I thought about it, I said, wait a minute.
When I knock on the door and somebody says,
and oftentimes, even to this day,
oftentimes before I ask people,
do you know for sure if you're going to heaven?
Sometimes I ask the question, are you a Christian?
Sometimes that's the question I lead in with.
And then if they say yes, I say,
do you know for sure if you're going to heaven?
And I remember thinking to myself,
I went around and asked everybody door to door,
are you a Christian?
Do you think the number of people who would say yes to that
would be the same as the number of people that are saved?
I mean, look, anybody who thinks so
has just never been soul-witting.
Because you know as well as I do that
more than 50% of doors, if you say,
are you a Christian, they'll say yes.
Isn't that true?
But then if you ask, do you know for sure
if you died today, you go to heaven,
and what do you think it takes to get there?
Well, that's when, oh, you've got to live a good life.
You've got to go, you know, oh, what church do you go?
I go to the Roman Catholic Church,
and you know, I'm praying to Mother Mary, and whatever.
We knocked on the door today of some unsaved people.
They had a picture on their front lawn.
I don't think you saw this, Trent.
But I was out with Trent, and they
had a picture of Mary with the pope cuddled up to her chest,
and she was petting him on the head.
See, literally, she's like, he's all cuddled up to her
like she's his mother.
And Mary is like patting Pope John Paul, like cuddling.
It's OK, Mama.
Listen to me.
If you were to ask those people if they're a Christian,
they might have said yes, but they weren't saved.
Now, thankfully, Trent was able to win one of them to the Lord.
One of them did not get saved.
One of them just said, no, I can't believe that.
You've got to live a good life.
You've got to follow the Bible to be saved.
You've got to follow all the commandments.
And he just wouldn't receive it.
And then he's wearing a rosary around his hands.
But it's not just Catholics that aren't saved.
You've been out soul winning, and you
run into all these other denominations.
Usually, when somebody's saved, let's face it, folks.
Let's face it, they're usually Baptists, OK?
Oh, I can't believe you're saved.
It's the truth.
Or when you run into them, and they go to so-and-so community
fund center, community church, this is what they'll tell you.
I got saved in a Baptist church back in 1906 or whatever.
But that's where they got saved.
Oh, I got saved in a Baptist church.
I'm not saying that only Baptists are saved.
Because you do run into some people
that got saved in one of these non-denom churches.
But guess what?
Most of them got saved in a Baptist church.
But I'll tell you what, when you're running into Lutherans,
when you're running into Episcopalians,
when you're running into people who go to the United Methodist
Church, where 10% of the clergy is open sodomite,
I got news for you.
Here's a shocker.
Most of them aren't saved.
And can I tell you something?
There's more people down at the United Methodist Church
this morning than there were here.
And there's more people down at the fund center
this morning than there were here.
And there are more people down at the Lutheran church.
And there were more people down at the Presbyterian church.
Because look, broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.
And many of their people would go in there,
because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way,
which saves on the life, and few there be to find it.
And when I was a teenager, I was so naive.
You know, I was just in dating girls, right?
Every teenage boy, when you start approaching adulthood,
that's what you're thinking about, right?
So I'm in high school, and I started
thinking about dating girls.
And you know, I want to date girls.
And you know, I was actually so naive
that if a girl was Christian, I, oh, Christian.
I just figured, yeah, this girl's saved.
But I knew that certain, like I knew if it was Catholic,
they're not saved.
You know, that had been taught to me.
And I knew that if they were Pentecostals,
they probably believed you could lose your salvation
and they're not saved.
But I was so naive.
I remember, you know, I meet a girl,
and she's Episcopalian, or Methodist, or Presbyterian.
And you know, I heard about all these great heroes
of the faith, like Billy Sunday, and Charles Wesley,
and you know, John Wesley.
So I just thought, OK, you know, they're all saved.
And I was so naive.
And I thank God I didn't end up, like,
marrying some girl from one of these denominations
that turned out naive and saved.
But you know, I was that naive.
And then I started to realize, you know what?
Most people that aren't Baptists aren't saved.
This is like an epiphany that I had.
I'm not serious.
I mean, as a teenager, I had this epiphany,
like, you know what, because I started talking more about,
you know, I started being more interested in the Bible,
more interested in getting people saved.
So I started talking to people about salvation.
And I started noticing.
And it was kind of a, it gave me, like,
a sick feeling in my stomach.
Wow, lots of people are going to hell, you know?
Because I, you kind of just wistful thinking, like.
You just think, man, this Bible Club at school,
this Christian, because we had a thing called Bible Club
Wednesdays, we'd all have lunch,
everybody was calling us up for Christmas.
You know, everybody ever do See You at the Pole?
You know what I mean?
You do the See You at the Pole,
and then, you know, everybody's holding hands and praying.
And you just kind of assume, like, okay, this is Christian.
This is great.
Then you start realizing, like, man, these people
aren't saved, like, they don't believe in the Bible.
And they don't believe in hell.
They don't believe in salvation by faith alone.
And then you start realizing, man,
most people aren't baptized aren't saved.
And then that's like a disturbing thought to you.
Wow, we need to get these people saved.
How many people are going to?
Then it's really disturbing when you start realizing
that a lot of the Baptists aren't saved.
You're like, whoa, right?
Because you're like, at first, you're just,
if they're Baptists, they're saved, you know?
And at the time, I went to some liberal NIB-preaching
Baptist church, and I assumed they're all saved.
And then I started talking to my friends about salvation,
and they're talking about losing their salvation
and getting it back.
I'm like, what?
Are you serious?
And it was disturbing to me.
But this is the same point that you need to realize.
And you know, a soul winning is what we're really driving in.
Don't figure it out.
Don't take my word for it.
Go out there and perform a survey.
It's called soul winning.
Go out and talk to people.
Come out of your shell, come out of your ivory tower,
and go out there and get amongst the people
and talk to them and see what they believe.
See what the Nazarene believes.
See what the Methodist believe.
See what the Presbyterian believe.
See what the Episcopalian believes.
See what the Lutheran believes.
Then go home and get out your Christian CD
and get out the radio list of the playlist of CCM
and Christian contemporary music
and get out your southern gospel favorites
and then start matching up the denominations.
With all the heresy that you heard out soul winning,
match it up with the musicians
and then read their testimonies and read what they believe
and you'll understand that very few
of these popular musicians are even saved,
let alone separated, let alone God.
Why do you want their music?
God didn't want it.
God said, I want those that are sanctified
performing the music.
This is a biblical principle
that he's trying to drive in with us.
Now, I'll tell you who's putting out the most music today.
You're gonna have to work pretty hard
to find a denomination behind it
because it's the non-denom that's putting out for me.
Non-denominational.
Now there's a simple reason for that.
If I put out music and said,
hey, this is a Baptist music group.
We're Baptist.
We're all Baptist.
We all believe the King James Bible is the word of God.
We're soul winning Baptist.
We're old fashioned.
We believe in salvation by grace through faith
and we believe you can't lose your salvation.
You know who's gonna listen to that music?
You think the Presbyterians are gonna line up
to get a copy?
You think Catholics are gonna be lined up to get a copy?
Yeah, I really dig that sound.
No, they don't care.
They are not gonna want that music
because they don't want their youth
to be indoctrinated with Baptist doctrine.
And let me tell you something.
The Bible says in Colossians 3.16,
teaching and admonishing one another
with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Music teaches.
They don't wanna be taught that.
Now look, wouldn't that be a very narrow audience?
Now if I wanna make a lot of money,
am I gonna market my music
to just King James only independent fundamental Baptist?
Or am I just gonna market it as just Christian?
Non-denominant.
Everybody's music.
Now, what if I, my mythological band,
what if I decided, you know what?
Okay, I'm not gonna broadcast
that I'm an independent fundamental Baptist
because that's gonna turn people off.
So instead, I'm just gonna say, you know what?
We're just non-denominational Christian.
Well now all of a sudden it's like, oh great, perfect.
Now we can market it to everybody, every false.
And look, every false doctrine, every heretic,
every person who believes every weirdo doctrine
under the sun, basically.
So we'll market it to everybody.
But here's the thing, I better be careful
because as I start writing songs, right?
Because I'm a Christian band here,
so I'm writing music about the Bible, right?
I'm writing about salvation, I'm writing about Jesus.
Now look, what if I just start coming out with songs
that explicitly talk about the fact
that Jesus is God in the flesh?
I mean, am I gonna be able to sell that to the Mormons?
Or the Jehovah's Falls Witnesses?
No.
What if I start coming out with music
that's just really clear on the fact that salvation
is something that you can never lose?
It's eternal life, it's everlasting life,
it's impossible to lose your salvation.
Is that gonna fly with a lot of the Pentecostals
and Charismatics?
What if I start coming out with songs
that expose idolatry and false doctrine?
And you say, why would you write a song about that?
Well, because if I open the book of Psalms,
which is God's songbook, 150 songs,
they preach against idols,
they preach about eternal security and the believer
in Psalm 89, for example, they preach about hell.
Look, you don't think the Psalms are about hell?
You don't think they're about false doctrine?
You don't think they're about Judas Iscariot?
You don't think they're about,
you don't have read the Psalms.
They're about all that stuff.
Well, if I start writing songs
that very clearly preach doctrine, right?
And they spell out, hey, salvation by faith alone.
Hey, you can't lose your salvation.
The word of God is the final authority.
Hey, no statues, no graven images.
It's idols.
You're gonna alienate certain audiences.
So let me tell you something.
The Christian music industry promotes music
that is purposely vague.
It's purposely vague.
Our God's an awesome God.
Nobody's gonna disagree with that.
But that's not how the book of Psalms is.
The book of Psalms goes a little further than that.
And it's just basically music that is just generic.
God's good, we love Jesus, and so forth.
And it doesn't really preach doctrine
because the music's goal is to unite, not to separate.
Now you say, Pastor Anderson, why wouldn't we want to unite?
Because the Bible goes to 2 Corinthians chapter six.
This is why we shouldn't want to unite.
Because of the fact that unbelievers and believers
shouldn't be able to unite and have anything in common.
There should be a separation.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter six.
And this is, of course, the famous passage.
2 Corinthians chapter six, verse 14.
The Bible reads this.
Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
And what communion hath light with darkness?
And what concord hath Christ with Belial?
Or what part hath ye that believeth with an infidel?
Or what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
For you are the temple of the living God.
As God had said, I will dwell in them and walk in them,
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate.
Not be united, not join up with every denomination
and every unbeliever and everyone who's the darkest.
Look at me, the Presbyterians are the darkest tonight.
Why don't you go talk to Brother Dave,
who was raised Presbyterian.
He didn't hear the gospel until he was an adult.
Talk to Brother Garrett, who'd been a Lutheran
and a Pentecostal, if he ever heard the gospel
in those villages.
Better yet, go out and knock the doors
of the Lutherans and Presbyterians
and find them that'll say to you,
oh yeah, you just have to believe on Christ
and you can't lose your salvation.
It's the eternal gift of God.
Show me all the ones that believe that.
Guess what, you're gonna find person after person
after person, so do you know for sure you're gonna have him?
I hope so, I'm trying.
That's what you're gonna find.
And yet, I'm to unite with the Presbyterians tonight.
I'm to unite with the United Methodists
when they have a sodomite behind the pulpit.
I'm to unite with Pentecostals who believe
you can lose your salvation and then speak in tongues
and roll in the aisles, and I'll get to that later
if I even have time, good night.
But the thing is, they're in darkness.
They're not saved.
They're unbelievers.
They might talk, oh, but they believe in Jesus.
Another Jesus, another gospel.
See, that's why.
You're like, why don't you go up on that gate
to make sure I nailed that down
before I even got to this part of the sermon
so that you'd understand it.
Because of the fact that these people,
yes, they claim the name of Christ, but they're not saved.
Okay, many will say to Jesus in that day,
Lord, Lord, have you not prophesied?
In thy name.
And in thy name have cast out devils,
and in thy name done many wonderful works.
Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.
Depart from me that work iniquity.
There are a lot of people out there
who are doing a lot of stuff in Jesus' name,
but God, we jammed for you.
We played your music, we sang praise and worship.
Depart from me, I never knew you.
You don't believe the gospel, you're not saved.
You're trusting your own works.
And notice he said these false teachers,
their ants shall be according to their works.
Oh, you want works to save you?
Okay, well, you'll be judged by your works,
and you're gonna come up short and found wanting.
Now,
there's so much music out there
that's being put out by people who are not really saved,
they're of these false denominations,
and that music is used to unite the saved with the unsaved.
Let me give you an example.
I was driving through my hometown, Sacramento, this week,
and I saw a billboard for Luis Palau.
Okay, now this is some kind of a famous evangelist.
Now, he looks real clean cut now,
but when I typed his name into the internet,
I pulled out this long-haired image of him,
preaching a few years ago, just a few years back.
Long hair, and he's preaching in Latin America,
and he's jiving and jamming,
and some woman is rocking out like Janis Joplin on the stage.
And it's like, Luis Palau, and here's the thing.
You know why people go to hear Luis Palau?
They don't know Palau from Palau.
They don't care who this guy is.
It's all about the music,
because guess who comes and plays before Luis Palau?
Toby Mac.
Skillet.
The band Perry.
All these Christian, effeminate rock bands,
and Toby Mac, he looks like he's out of the Village People,
and all these other groups.
Okay, the Christian rock is what brings him in,
because I remember when Billy Balaam came to town,
or Billy Baxter, or Billy Graham, or whatever his name is,
Billy Balaam came to town in Sacramento when I was a kid,
and everybody's like,
you're going to the Billy Graham Crusade?
Let's go to the Billy Graham Crusade,
because so-and-so's playing,
and it was all about the rock.
It was all about the rock music
leading up to Billy Graham's short sermon.
It was a rock concert,
and then Billy Graham comes out and gives the gospel,
which is not the gospel.
It's another gospel.
False gospel.
And then people come down the aisle to be saved,
and there's a Catholic, and a Presbyterian,
and a United Methodist to give them the gospel,
to give them the plan of salvation,
from whichever brand of Satan that they end up with
when they get down there.
Okay, so here's the thing.
Luis Palau, you say, what's wrong with Luis Palau?
He's bringing all religions together?
That's what's wrong with him.
He sent us a flyer, wanted us to be involved
when he came through Phoenix,
and he said, you know,
here's a list of all the churches involved,
and it was churches of every denomination.
And he said, we have people from these churches
trained to give the gospel.
So he's got the United Methodist,
he's got the Presbyterian,
he had some church called Intimacy with Jesus Church.
And I'm supposed to join up.
Hey, I'm Pastor Anderson from Faithful Word.
Oh, you're the pastor of Intimacy with Jesus Church?
Well, we have so much in common.
Oh, you're the pastor of the United Methodist Church?
Now, are you one of the 90% that are straight?
Or are you one of the 10% that's a homo?
Or are you, or maybe you're one of the ones
that's supposedly the 90%, but you're just in the closet.
Because you're even a United Methodist, okay?
So look, when somebody's uniting United Methodist
and Baptist in the same crusade,
that's going contrary to this scripture right here,
which says to be separate.
Come out from among them, divide, be separate.
So here's the thing.
Good music divides.
Jeremy, Jesus said,
think not that I'm trying to send peace on earth.
I came to bring division.
That's what Jesus said in Luke chapter 12.
I came to bring division.
And the Psalms divide.
Whenever I preach on Psalms,
that's the most controversial sermon
that divides people the most.
I did a series, I didn't preach
through the whole book of Psalms yet,
but on Wednesday nights, I did Psalm 1 through 41
because the book of Psalms broke into five books.
I did book one of Psalms,
which is chapter one through chapter 41.
Some of the most controversial sermons,
some of the most divisive stuff right there,
because the book of Psalms will divide.
I mean, and people are always rejecting Psalms.
It seems like the books that are the most under attack
are these three books, Genesis, Psalms, and Revelation.
They attack Genesis and say it's a fable,
and that it's the big bang in evolution.
They attack Revelation and say it's all figurative,
God's not really gonna judge.
And then they attack Psalms and say,
that's just David wrote that.
They don't realize it's the word of God.
They attack it that it's not even,
they say Psalms is not even the word of God.
I've heard it, who's heard it?
Many times, that's not the word of God.
David wrote that and he was an adulterer.
David was a murderer and he wrote that.
No, God wrote that.
And so, the book of Psalms is divisive.
Hymns, even the hymns that we say in the hymnal,
the good hymns, the ones I like the most
are the ones that make the doctrine the clearest.
That's why I love the song Verily, Verily, song 263.
That's a great song because it makes very clear
the doctrine of eternal security,
and it makes it very clear the doctrine of salvation
by faith alone.
That's why that's not a popular song.
When have you ever heard it anywhere else?
You've heard it in independent fundamental Baptist churches.
You don't hear that song in other places
because it's too good, it's too clear, it's too biblical.
The biggest songs in the hymnal are the most popular.
Because they cross over.
Look, when Elvis is gonna get up and sing a song,
and I'm not saying that the songs that Elvis chose
were bad songs, but he was choosing vague songs,
and that's why they were topping the charts with,
you know, I come to the garden alone.
He's gonna pick these songs that are just, you know,
like In the Garden, not a bad song, good song.
In the Garden's a good song, but In the Garden
is just not a real hard-hitting doctrinal song.
Not saying it's a bad, I like the song.
I'm not into Elvis' revision of it.
But I'll tell you right now, they pick songs
that are more vague than the songs that are really clear
on doctrine, I mean, there are songs in the hymnal
that talk about hell, those aren't the ones
you're gonna hear on the radio, you know, popular songs.
And they're the ones that are falling out of fashion,
that's why I'm trying to bring them back,
that's why Brother Matt and I work hard to learn
every song in the hymnal, that's why we're singing
through the hymnal on Wednesday night.
Because yeah, we sing a lot of songs that are kind of like,
well I can kind of see why this one wasn't popular.
But other songs, we're like, wow, this is a great song,
let's resurrect this.
Let's bring this song back, because it's a great song.
So there's a lot of music out there that's purposely vague
and the goal is to unite, that's the devil's plan.
Because the devil one day is gonna come with the Antichrist
and unite all religions.
He'll unite the Catholics, the Jews, the Muslims,
the Hindus, the Protestants, and they will all unite
around one man, the Antichrist.
And that's why you're seeing today,
it used to be that Christians by and large
rejected Catholics and said, you're not saved.
And in the Christian bookstore, you didn't find
Catholic paraphernalia, but in the last 10 to 20 years,
now all of a sudden you can buy rosary beads
at the Christian bookstore.
Why?
Because of this breakdown of the barriers
through people like Billy Graham, through Luis Palau,
but even more so through the music.
Because we can all go and listen to the concerts,
we're all into the Christian rock station,
we all love the same bands,
we all call ourself Christian, and it's wrong.
This music is put out by unsaved, ungodly people,
and they're patterning it out to the world.
That's why it sounds just like rock,
it sounds just like hip hop, they even put,
the bands I used to listen to in the Christian music realm,
they would even say, compare us to these groups.
And they would list the worldly groups, Metallica,
compared to Metallica.
It's like when you buy the Chiho store brand.
You know the generic store brand?
And it says like, compare to Tide, compare this to Clorox,
compare this unto Listerine.
It's like Acme, mouthwash, compare to Listerine.
And that's all this Christian music is,
it's like a lame version, trying to be a rip-off.
It's like an Elvis impersonator or something,
that's what they're doing.
They're trying to impersonate these worldly groups.
Now I wanna touch on one last thing,
before I close this sermon,
because I gotta get to this,
I already didn't get to it this morning.
The charismatic movement, speaking in tongues.
Now, this is a big thing today.
The falling on the floor, the barking like a dog,
the chattering in unknown languages and so forth.
And you know, the faith healers,
the slapping you on the forehead, the slain in the spirit,
everybody knows what I'm talking about.
When those guys come to town,
they come with the Christian rock bands too.
And they are popular, I mean if Benny Hinn
came to the town today, he would have,
I mean, tens of thousands of people here,
he would pack out a stadium, okay.
The charismatic movement today is so popular,
and honestly, that's where a lot of this Christian music's
coming from, this so-called CCM of Christian music.
It comes from this, now what does the word charismatic mean?
It comes from the Greek word,
and I'm not going back to the Greek or the Bible,
but the word charismatic comes from the Greek word charisma,
which means gift.
And basically, the charismatic movement is one
that emphasizes the gifts of the spirit,
except it twists them into this bizarre,
instead of being a miracle in the Bible,
in Acts chapter two, where people spoke a foreign language
and people got saved, they come up with this thing
called speaking in tongues,
which is a term never used in the Bible.
The Bible talks about speaking with other tongues
or speaking in an unknown tongue.
It never uses the word in the King James Bible,
speaking in tongues, one time, never says that.
It talks about speaking with other tongues,
talking about speaking a foreign language,
but they have this jibber-jabber black ring
that they call speaking in tongues,
where basically in the middle of the service,
they fall on the ground and just,
buh, buh, buh.
Who's ever seen it in person, who's seen it live?
Scary, it's weird.
People fall on the ground and they just,
buh, buh, buh, buh, and they're just like talking jibberish
and it's weird, and they're not in the driver's seat,
my friend, you know, something else is taking over.
Now, what does this have to do with music?
Well, any time I saw speaking in tongues take place,
and again, I haven't seen all, I don't know everything,
I'm just telling you, every time I've seen
speaking in tongues take place,
it was always while music was playing.
Who would agree with that?
You've seen the tongue speaking with music playing?
It's involved with music, the music is playing,
and it's building up the emotions,
and then people just start all over,
you know, it's like when you make popcorn.
You know when you make popcorn, you're kind of waiting,
and it's all kind of heating up,
and then all of a sudden there's this one like,
and then it's like, and then all of a sudden it's like,
you're like turning it off before it all burns.
That's how it is, it's like, you're going along,
going along, going along, somebody pops.
You know, and then it's like, oh praise the Lord!
Hallelujah!
And then it's like, okay, the next journal pops.
It's pretty silly, it's like horrible Redenbacher guys,
I'm pretty serious, it's just all over the room,
people are falling in the ground, rolling in the out,
and it's scary, it's weird.
And so you see this happen and music's involved.
Now where does, is this a new thing?
There's no new thing under the sun.
Now here's the thing, the Speaking of Tongues movement,
what 1800s probably is where it goes, what was that?
1906 is what Brother Garrett's pointing to.
He's kind of my resident charismatic movement expert,
because he spent a little time in the charismatic movement
before he was saved, so he's familiar with it.
And 1906 apparently is a milestone, okay?
But I guarantee you it was going on before that.
But that's when it gained popularity,
that's a milestone with it.
But it's been around, and let me tell you something.
So-called Speaking in Tongues is a facet of religion
all over the world.
The Native Americans do something similar.
Southeast Asia, Africa, Speaking in Tongues takes place.
Let me read something for you.
This is something that I read in the encyclopedia.
It says, during slavery in the United States,
there were systematic efforts to de-Africanize
the captive black workforce.
Slaves were forbidden from speaking their native languages
and were generally converted to Christianity.
So let's talk about they're bringing over slaves
from Africa, and they're telling them like,
hey, you know what, you need to speak English
and be a Christian.
Now obviously it was wrong to bring the slaves over
and so forth, that's not what the sermon's about.
What I'm saying is though, that when they brought them over,
they taught them the Bible and taught them about Christianity
It wasn't right to bring them over, to enslave people,
but a lot of times, just like Joseph was brought
into captivity in Egypt, sometimes man means it for evil,
and God means it for good, because there are probably
some people who, you know, some wicked person
brought them over as a slave, and then maybe they heard
the gospel and got saved as a result,
and then they go to heaven, I mean, that's a good thing.
So, and then people will take the sermon and say,
that's right, I think slavery's good.
You know, people are, I'm at the point
where I don't even care anymore,
because people are always gonna twist your words, right?
I mean, everybody understands what I'm saying.
It's a bad thing, but good could come from it,
because at least they're teaching of Christianity,
but here's the thing, is everybody that you force
to be a Christian gonna be saved and a Christian?
No, you can't force people to be saved, can you?
So they bring over a lot of the slaves from Africa,
and they're like, you're gonna be a Christian now,
you believe in Jesus now, no more of this African
voodoo religion, you need to get saved.
Do you think they all really got saved, though?
No, because it's a personal choice, salvation's personal.
No, a lot of them did get saved, praise God,
they'll be in heaven.
Listen to this, slaves were forbidden
from speaking their native languages
and were generally converted to Christianity
because they were unable to express themselves freely
in ways that were spiritual meaningful to them.
You know, basically, they weren't allowed
to practice their religion, voodoo,
or I'm just calling it voodoo, okay,
I'm sure it had other names.
Just whatever it is, whatever it is, it's bad, okay?
It wasn't Jesus, okay?
And slave Africans often held secret religious services.
See, you can't force them to be Christian, right?
Deep down, they still wanna worship the spirits of Africa
that they were worshiping,
so they would just do it in secret.
During these bush meetings, is what they called it,
when they would secretly hold these services,
worshipers were free to engage
in African religious rituals, such as spiritual possession.
Doesn't that sound good, being possessed?
Spiritual possession, speaking in tongues.
Now look, when did, now you said what year,
name of the year?
1906, when were the slaves brought over?
Well, they weren't allowed to bring them over
after what, 1802 or 1808, I'm sorry.
In the Constitution, it said they can't bring any more over
after 1808, so we're talking in the early 1800s,
late 1700s, they're being brought over
and they're speaking in tongues.
Now, why are voodoo people from Africa speaking in tongues?
I thought that was a biblical doctrine.
Because it's not a biblical doctrine.
Because it's about people being possessed.
That's why even in the encyclopedia,
when you're looking up slavery,
it talks about spiritual possession and speaking in tongues.
Because guess what, when someone else is talking
through you and you're not doing the talking,
what does that remind you of?
Hey, what's your name?
Legion.
Legion, we are many.
Was that guy doing the talking?
No.
No, the spirits inside, the evil spirits
were speaking through him, okay?
Now look, did people in the Bible speak
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost?
Yeah, they preached salvation and the word of God
in biblical true doctrine.
Not gibberish, not slobbering,
and not lying false doctrine like every charismatic
and Pentecostal freaks is that you can lose your salvation.
Okay?
So notice, African religious rituals,
and I'm not just pointing out Africa.
You could study Southeast Asia,
study the Native Americans,
study whatever part of the world you want, okay?
But he says here, spiritual possession,
speaking in tongues and shuffling in counterclockwise
from ring shouts to communal shouts and chants.
This is going counterclockwise around the fire,
dancing, and basically then they would break out
into tongue speaking, okay?
Now look, do you want to listen to music
put out by people who speak in tongues?
No.
And again, if you don't understand what I'm talking about,
get my sermon on speaking in tongues.
Download and listen to it,
because I go into it in great detail,
biblically and explaining.
But look, do you want to listen to people
singing music to you that speak in tongues?
Because who are they under the influence of?
Satan, the devil.
The devil's a musical creature.
The devil puts these false workers,
these false teachers,
and they teach through music, Colossians 3.16.
They admonish through music,
and they unite false religion
with real Christians through music.
And anybody who's speaking,
and by the way, even rock and roll,
who's ever heard of the group The Talking Heads?
Now I was never into The Talking Heads,
but I'm roughly familiar with their music.
I was never a fan,
but I know that a lot of the bands I listen to,
they said, are one of our greatest influences
with The Talking Heads.
It's a really groundbreaking group, okay?
The Talking Heads have an album,
and I've never listened to the album,
but I saw that they have an album
called Speaking in Tongues.
Now what is a rock band like The Talking Heads
that's putting out an album called Speaking in Tongues?
See what I mean?
And then did you know that The Talking Heads'
most popular song, Take Me to the River,
Dunk Me in the Water, is about being baptized?
Does that song give the glory to Jesus?
Does that song have anything to do with the Gospel?
Everybody in this room has probably heard that song,
or have to be in this room and heard that song.
Did it tell you about Jesus?
Did it tell you about the Bible?
Tell you about God?
What are they talking about, Speaking in Tongues?
What are they talking about?
This Take Me to the River and Dunk Me in the Water.
Did you know that voodoo shamans in Africa
baptized people into their false religion?
I mean, this stuff is weird stuff.
I'm not gonna go into it.
I didn't wanna go in.
I didn't wanna learn about it.
I'm not gonna listen to The Talking Heads,
Speaking in Tongues.
The title is too scary.
I'm telling you, this music can have a spiritual element
to it that's of safety.
When they're dancing around the campfire,
they're not worshiping Jesus, my friend.
They're worshiping the devil, whether it's in Asia,
whether it's in America, whether it's in Africa.
It's not about the continent.
There's a music out there that is used
and it makes people basically flip out
and fall on the ground and slobber and speak in tongues.
And even The Talking Heads are talking about it.
You know what I mean?
I'm just warning you.
And between this morning sermon and tonight sermon,
I hope you've got the message.
Beware of this, of wicked music.
It's an ungodly influence in your life,
and the sooner you get rid of it, the better.
Whether it's the so-called charismatic Christian music,
CCM, that's on the radio of the Christian dial,
or whether it's the world's music on all the other dials,
you need to replace it with the hymns in your life.
Actually, replace it with three things.
Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.
Isn't that what the Bible said?
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you for your word, dear God,
and we thank you for the warnings.
And God, I haven't preached on music in a while
as far as a whole sermon, dedicated music,
but I preach these sermons because I want people
to understand the truth about this subject,
because I know that music is such a powerful influence
on our lives, and it shapes the way that we think,
and it shapes what we believe, and it shapes our doctrine.
God, help us to be wary and beware of this bad music,
whether it's the devil's music through Metallica,
or the devil's music through the charismatic movement,
and Christian rock artists that don't believe the Bible.
Help us to beware of it, and help us to sing
real praises to you, real hymns to you,
songs that are based upon God's word,
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.