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

We're in Psalms chapter 40, and we're continuing our series, which we took a bit of a break from on worldliness. And what the Bible said in 1 John, you don't have to turn there, is for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, okay? And so what we're talking about in this first sermon, we're talking about the lust of the ears. Now, in 1 John chapter 2, it does not say the lust of the ears, it says the lust of the eyes. But the importance of the lust of the eyes is the things that you're allowing to enter into your body through your eyes. And so another part of your body where you can allow worldliness to enter in is certainly through your ears, okay? And so I wanted to preach a sermon on that, the lust of the ears, because the lust of the ears and the lust of the eyes, these tie together quite a bit, so we're going to preach them both here today. Now, here's what you need to understand when it comes to worldliness. Look, I'm going to give you various principles on what to allow to enter into your eyes and your ears, but you know, it's not a one size fits all where I'm going to make every decision for you, okay? You've got to look at the principles and make the decisions in your life. And some people might say, you know what, this is my cutoff point, I'm not willing to do this sort of thing, but other people might say, you know what, I am willing to do something like that. Now, I'm not talking about something that's a direct sin, but I'm just talking about things that are maybe controversial. Some people might look at something and say, you know what, that's too worldly, I wouldn't be involved in that. And that's great, okay, if you have a high standard. But at the same time, you know, don't preach your standard to somebody else, okay? I'm giving principles in this sermon and everybody's going to have to make their judgment, where's the cutoff point? And look, your standard might be higher or lower than mine. And if you have a high standard, that's great. And keep that standard, okay? If you have a lower standard, you know, that's fine, you know, make up your mind based on these sermons and based on what the Bible says, but whether you have a high standard or not, or whether it's a lower standard, don't push your standard on somebody else. If somebody has a high standard, don't be upset at them because they have a higher standard than you, okay? But if you have a high standard, don't preach and look down on other people that might not have the same standard, especially when it comes to worldliness. The truth is, I have a higher standard now than I did when I got saved, okay? I have a much higher standard than I did 10 years ago, okay? And so other people, they might have the same standard as you. They might just be kind of new to all this stuff, okay? So that is up to them, okay? Psalms 40, verse 3. And when it comes to the lust of the ears, the first thing is the right type of music, okay? Psalms 40, verse 3, And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. And what David says here is he's put a new song in my mouth, a different song, something that was different than what he used to listen to. See, by and large, before people are saved, they listen to the music of the world, whether it's the rock music or pop music or K-pop or whatever's popular here. People listen to the rap and the hip hop. They listen to the music of the world. But the Bible says when you get saved, he puts a new song in your mouth. See, before I was saved, I didn't enjoy the songs that are in this hymnal right here. I didn't sing the songs in this hymnal. But after I got saved, these songs had meaning to me. And God does want you to listen to a different type of music after you're saved and after you start living for God than before. Notice at the end of this verse, it says, Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. See, David even says that the music you sing can affect people believing on Jesus Christ. Many shall trust in the Lord, the Bible says. They shall fear because of it. You say, how does that work? Do you remember Acts chapter 16? I mean, we quote the verse out soul-winning, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But you remember what happened several verses before? They were singing praises in prison. What kind of songs were they singing? Probably songs like this. And you know what the result was? People heard it, and they were actually more receptive to hear the gospel when they heard them singing those songs. So look, the music you sing, the music you listen to, that will affect whether or not your family and coworkers and acquaintances want to hear you when it comes to the gospel. If you're listening to the same music as them, they're going to be less likely to listen to you. That's what we're seeing here in Psalms 40 verse three. It says a new song. So the music you listen to afterwards, it ought to be a lot different than the music you listen to before. Turn to Ephesians five, Ephesians five. Now in a little bit, we're going to look at just the ways it ought to be different. But I want you to realize that the music you listen to before you were saved, that is not anywhere near the music you should listen to after you're saved. Before I was saved, the music I like to listen to was Aerosmith was my favorite band. You know, probably everyone here is too young to say Aerosmith. You know what? Aerosmith I listened to and Guns N' Roses and the hard rock music and things like that. And look, when a band's called Guns N' Roses, they didn't have the godliest music. And so I listened to a lot of pretty bad music before I was saved. And you know, after I got saved, there wasn't some magical change. When I got saved, it wasn't just like, oh man, I don't like the sound of Aerosmith anymore. No, I still like the sound of Aerosmith after I got saved. And see, this sort of preaching is what made me make changes in my life because I realized, you know what? God cares about what I let enter into my ears. And although my flesh loves to hear this, the lust of the ears, that's not what God wants me to listen to. Ephesians 5 verse 18. It says, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. Okay. Now he's going to use an analogy here and we're going to go on a bit of a rabbit trail because what we teach and believe here and our standard in terms of drinking alcohol is we're against drinking any amount of alcohol. We believe it's wrong. Okay. And one of the main verses that are used to say drinking alcohol is okay is Ephesians 5 verse 18. And the reason why they say that is, well, they say, well, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess. So the problem is they had an excess, too much drinking of wine. So therefore if you have less, it's okay. They go to this verse. This is one of their very common verses. Okay. So they say, well, the problem is it's in excess. Okay. Well, turn to 1 Peter 4 because how you determine what you believe is you compare spiritual things with spiritual. And their whole argument in Ephesians 5 18 is based on this word excess. And they say, we'll see a little bit of wine is not bad, but an excess of wine is bad. Okay. Well, let's go to 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 4. And notice what it says in 1 Peter 4 verse 4, wherein they think it's strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you. Now the word riot in Tagalog, I believe is either gulo or kaguluhan. All right. Gulo or kaguluhan. Okay. And so here's the thing. What it says here is an excess of riot. And you know what Peter is saying is don't have an excess of riot like them. Does that mean it's okay to have a little bit of riot? Right. Kontingulolang. Is that all right? Just a little bit of riot. Is that okay? No. Any amount would be wrong. Isn't it? See, when it's saying excess, it's saying, it's not saying here with excess of riot. Okay. An excess of riot is bad. It's not saying any amount is considered excess. And so if you go back to Ephesians chapter 5, where it says wherein is excess, look, if you're drunk, obviously that is an excess of wine. That does not mean having a little bit is okay though. I mean, yeah, obviously if you see someone that's drunk, it's like, man, he's drinking an excess. He's just going crazy. That doesn't imply that drinking a little bit is okay though. Okay. So prove that when you look at the word excess, because in a little bit of riot, just a little bit of kaguluhan is not okay. I've only been to jail one time for fighting a cop. Okay. That's okay. It's not an excess of riot. Okay. I've only gotten in one fight with the cop. So it's okay. No. I mean, any amount of times you get arrested for fighting a cop would be bad. Right. I mean, I've only shot one person, but it's not an excess of riot. It's okay. No. It's bad. Alcohol is bad. Right. And so look, it would be the same thing here with wine. So looking at that, the word excess does not mean having a little bit is okay. Okay. But what the Bible says here is be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the spirit. And see, I want you to understand when it comes to alcohol, oftentimes they will refer to it as spirits. Okay. Alcohol is referred to as spirits. That's a word that's given from the secular world. They'll call it spirits. Okay. And it's interesting because the Bible says being filled with the Holy Spirit. But you know what the Bible is showing us here is that drinking alcohol is an unclean spirit. Okay. And here's the reality. If people are drinking alcohol, they're not going to be able to be filled with the spirit. Now, that doesn't mean they're not saved. But there's a difference between being saved and being indwelled with a spirit versus being filled with a spirit where basically God's working through your life to do great mighty things. And so then it gives us a verse here afterwards that gives us a principle. How can we be filled with the spirit? Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the truth is that when you're doing really well spiritually and you're in a good mood and you really love the Lord, you're going to start singing praises to God. You don't feel like singing hymns when you're living a sinful life. But if you're living a godly life, you know, you're at home just doing whatever and you just feel like singing praises to God. And see, the Bible says singing praises can actually make you filled with the spirit, referring to music. Okay. It says speaking to yourselves in psalms, like Psalms, what was it, 126 we sang. Speaking to yourselves in psalms like we sang here at the beginning of the service and hymns just like we sang these songs and spiritual songs. Okay. Now you say, what is a spiritual song? Well, there's a lot of different opinions, but I'll give you an example of a good spiritual song which ties along with these sermons. You know, be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little eyes what you see, for the father up above is looking down in love. Be careful little eyes what you see, then be careful little ears what you hear. And it goes on and on. That's a simple song. But you know, kids love a song like that. And it teaches a very good truth. The tune is not worldly. It's not I understand that junior church and Sunday school uses that song doesn't mean the song is a bad song, though. That's not somewhere in outer space. God has reserved a place for all those that trust him and obey. That actually is teaching a great principle that at a young age, they learn to be very careful with what they see. Like I'm preaching on in these sermons and be careful what they hear. I would say that's a spiritual song. I would say it's a good song. I would say it's I mean, my son knows that song. He loves that song. And I think that's great, because I mean, at a young age, he's like, Yeah, I got to be careful. You know what my eyes look at. And you know, we're going to teach him that principle. And so look, there can be new songs that are created that are good songs. I'm not saying a good song has to be before 1800. What the Bible says is psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, not rock and roll music. Okay. Now turn to Colossians three. Colossians chapter three. And you know what it said when we were in Ephesians was singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Okay. There's really kind of two aspects to music. I want you to keep in mind as you decide what music that you listen to or what music you sing. Okay. Now, I think some music, it's pretty obvious. Someone would agree that, hey, this is a bad song, but some stuff, you know, we could have different opinions. Well, I'll give you principles from the Bible and then you make your own decisions. Okay. Colossians three verse 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Okay. And so what we see here is two aspects in Colossians three and also Ephesians five. One of them is it says teaching and admonishing one another. Those are the words to the song. The words have meaning. Okay. And so basically the words we sing, they should have real meaning behind them. For example, you listen to rock music and it's about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Isn't that what they say? What do you think that music is teaching you? What's it teaching an 18 year old kid who goes off to college when there's songs singing about getting drunk and just getting, you know, whatever. That's teaching you ungodliness and wickedness. So obviously any song that would teach things that would have words that are against what the Bible says, that's wrong. That's wicked. Okay. That's pretty obvious. Anything that would have words against what God would say, that's wicked. Okay. Teaching and admonishing one another, which means the songs that we sing, they should teach good things, not teach bad things, but teach good things and not just kind of teach nothing. The song, our God is an awesome God teaches nothing. Okay. We could have Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists and you know, whatever religion in here and they'd say, our God is an awesome God. Doesn't matter what the God is. No, no. The songs we sing are nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's like, sorry Islam, but this is a Christian service. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. There's power in the blood songs, you know, that are about Jesus Christ songs about what we believe. Okay. And so I want you to understand the songs that we sing, they ought to be teaching things that are good things. So any song that you hear that is teaching bad things, you shouldn't be listening to. And that pretty much throws away every single song of rock music and country music and all of that music. Now, some of that music is worse than others, but you know, look, I used to listen to rock. I used to listen to country. It's all of the world. It's not of God. It's not Godly music. And look, you know, God doesn't want you to hear that. Why? Because it says teaching and admonishing one another and all music will teach you something. It could teach you something good or it could teach you something bad. If you listen to music about, you know, getting drunk, you know what happens to kids at a young age? Like, man, it sounds like a lot of fun to get drunk. I'm going to do that myself one day. And look, kids are being brainwashed when they're six years old with that garbage. Okay. And when you're hearing at a young age, it's not a shock this world is the way that it is. Okay. So it says teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's the words. But then it says singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. It said singing with grace in Ephesians five, it said melody, the songs we sing, they should be melodious. They should have grace to them. Okay. And you need to understand that when you listen to music like heavy metal, which is loud, clanging music, look, that's not exactly melody, my friend. That's like the opposite. That's called discord. Okay. That's not the sort of music God is talking about. You know, rock and roll music, hard rock like I used to listen to. It's not melodious music. Okay. That's not the sort of music that God would want you to have. Even if there were no words to those songs, it would still be wrong. Okay. You say, what are you talking about? Well, there's a song called Amazing Grace, very famous song. Great song, right? Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. You know, the song Amazing Grace that we sing in our hymnal, it's a good song. You know, I remember when I was in college and I'd been saved for like a year and there was like this worship leader, okay, who basically was like really into music and he was like into Christian rock and he's like, man, I want to show you guys something. And he sung the song Amazing Grace to the tune of House of the Rising Sun by the Animals. Now, does anybody know the song House of the Rising Sun by the Animals? Brother Jerry, all right. I got someone who can agree this is a real song. He's not just making this up. And House of the Rising Sun is like a, it's a rock song from, I don't know, the 70s or something like the Animals. Is the Animals the name of the band? The Animals is the name of the band. And you know, he sung that song Amazing Grace and instead of singing it with grace and melody like we sung, he sung it to the tune of House of the Rising Sun, okay? It's like, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. And it fit to that tune, but he was singing it with a very worldly rock music song, okay? Now, is there anything wrong with the words of that song? No, Amazing Grace is a great song. But the music was wrong. Say why? Music also teaches something even without words. Don't tell me the melody of the song doesn't have meaning to it. It has meaning, okay? Because when you hear that without any words, you would know that's a hard rock song. That's a song that's not of God. You would know that just based on the tune. And there's two aspects that is speaking to in Colossians 3. One is the words. And then one is basically having grace or melody, okay? Now turn to Psalms 33, Psalms 33, Psalms 33 verse 3, Psalms 33 verse 3. And so when you're deciding what to listen to, there's two aspects to that. Make sure the words are okay, but make sure the tune of the music is okay as well. And look, you could put good words to a Christian rock song and the words are great, but we're not going to sing that here. You say why? We don't believe in rock music as part of church, okay? We don't believe that's godly music. Even if the words are okay, that doesn't mean it's okay for us to sing. Why? Because the melody is wrong. The tune of the song is wrong. It says in Psalms 33 verse 3, sing unto him a new song, play skillfully with a loud noise. And so the Bible speaks about playing instruments as being a good thing. And look, you can play instruments and play a tune which is a godly tune. We have a lot of hymns and you could listen to, "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus without any words." And that's great. Okay? That song has a great melody to it and you know the meaning behind that song. And you know the thing is this, the melody fits the words to the song, doesn't it? Right? Sweet hour of prayer is a slower paced song that's a little bit softer. You say why? Because the words match the music, okay? Which means the music itself has meaning as well, even without words. Sweet hour of prayer. Look, the tune matches the words, okay? It's not going to be like, you know, sound the battle cry when you're singing sweet hour of prayer because that tune wouldn't match the words, okay? Now turn in your Bible to Ecclesiastes 7, Ecclesiastes chapter 7. And so there's two aspects whenever you're listening at music. One is it's teaching the right thing through the words. And the other thing is the sound of the song itself without words is proper. It's correct. Okay? Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 5, Ecclesiastes chapter 7 verse 5, it is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than for a man to hear the song of fools. The Bible speaks about the song of fools. There are songs that are very foolish songs that sing about garbage, that are songs that are sinful songs. And people sing them like it's no big deal. They're drunk and they sing those songs. It's the song of fools, my friend. And that's something an unbeliever is going to do, but a Christian shouldn't be doing that. Look, the Catholics should be singing and listening to different music than you. You say, why? Because Catholics don't want to live for God. I mean, what Catholic out there really is just reading their Bible every day and I got to make sure I'm living a separated life. Very few, okay? They're not trying to live a godly life. They're not really trying to obey the rules by and large. There's exceptions, but by and large, and even if they do it unknowingly, they're going to listen to the worldly music. They're going to listen to the rock music because that's what they've listened to and they don't realize it's wrong, okay? So the Bible talks about the song of fools. Now go to Psalm 69, Psalm 69, Psalm chapter 69, Psalm chapter 69 verse 12, Psalm 69 verse 12. So in Ecclesiastes 7, what it said was the song of fools and look, I'm not trying to break your heart, but if you listen to the rock music, you're listening to the song of fools, my friend. Then it says in Psalm 69 verse 12, it says, they that sit in the gate speak against me and I was the song of the drunkards. What does that mean? It means when people are drunk, they're going to sing a certain type of song, okay? There are certain very famous songs in America that are sung when people are drunk. It's like a drinking anthem, like pour some sugar over me is like the most famous drinking anthem that I know of in the US. We're basically drunk people. They sing that song. I don't know what that song is about. You know, I'm not sure. I'm sure it's an ungodly song, but I want you to understand something. There's songs that drunk people sing. There's songs that ungodly people sing. And what do you think the words are to those songs? They're foolish words. They're teaching you ungodliness, okay? Turn to Exodus 32, Exodus 32. Now I'd say for the most part, I mean, we would agree on that. The words, obviously, if they're ungodly are wrong, but I want to spend some time focusing on the melody of the song, and I'm going to show you from the Bible why this is so important, okay? Exodus 32, this is a very famous chapter where they're worshiping a golden calf when Moses and Joshua are gone, and I want you to notice Exodus 32 verse 17. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, there is a noise of war in the camp. So they're gone, and Joshua says, it sounds like there's a war. We left and they're at battle with somebody. But then he says, and he said, it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery. You say, what is that talking about? Well think about when you win a competition, you're playing a basketball game, 82 to 81, you're behind, you hit the game winning jumper, okay? You're going to shout out and scream, yes, right? You're excited, okay? Out of mastery, it'd be like if you killed somebody in battle. You're winning the battle, you're screaming out, we won. And Joshua's saying, no, it's the noise of war, but it's not people shouting because they won a battle, okay? Then he says this, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome. If somebody's about to kill you, what are you probably going to do? Cry out, scream out, right? You're about to die, you're going to probably scream out, you know, help or whatever, you know, you're going to be scared. Look, if you win, you're going to scream, if you lose, you're going to scream, okay? But then notice what Joshua says, it's not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing do I hear. And see what Joshua says is, people are singing. I thought it was the noise of war. I mean, it sounded like people are going off to battle, but it's actually people, they're singing a song, okay? Now look, I don't think Joshua heard the words of the song. I mean, if it's from a distance and he can't quite tell what it is, he knows people are singing, he doesn't know what they're singing. Now I can pretty much guarantee you that the words weren't very godly words, but we don't really know what the words are. But the noise itself, he called the noise of war. You know what the definition of rock music is? The noise of war. That is how I would describe it. Because it's loud. And look, if you hear a rock song you've never heard before, I can almost guarantee you, you would not be able to write down all the lyrics you hear. Isn't that true? There's so much noise in the song, you don't catch all the lyrics. Look, all the songs that I used to sing and everything like that, I know the tunes and everything down to the second, and it's stuck in my head even though I don't listen to them. Look, I don't know all the words to them. I never knew all the words to them. You say, why? It's the noise of war and you can't even catch all the words. That's the reality. And look, the music of the world, a large part of that music would fit right under the category of the noise of war. There's not a more appropriate way to describe rock music or hard rock or heavy metal music than the noise of war. I mean, they're screaming out, right? Don't they scream out in hard rock songs? You got these guys that are like, you know, stick skinny, you know, really thin. They're really weak guys with this long hair and everything. They can't even do a push up and they weigh like 50 pounds, right? But they're always doing drugs and getting drunk. And then they're screaming like at the high pitched voice, like a woman in song. Is that not true? That's exactly what you hear with this hard rock music. And it's funny because when I was younger and I heard music I liked, I didn't really know what these people look like in real life. And so they sound like these really hard songs, you know, like, man, these guys are tough. And then when you actually look at a picture of them, they're like the weakest little effeminate sissies in the world. I mean, like, literally, I mean, you hear guys like, you know, the Aerosmith Singers or Guns N' Roses. They sound like they're really tough. And then you look at them and it's like, man, can that guy even do a push up? It's just, I mean, if he did bench press without any weight on the side, you'd have to spot him. He wouldn't be able to bench the bar. He's so weak. He's like, man, what is wrong with these? And that's the reality with those very few of them actually are like manly men. The vast majority of them are these weak, effeminate sissies. It's just like they sound real tough when they're singing a song, but they're actually not like that at all. It's like, let's see you go out there and actually do a real work for like a couple hours out in the sun. Let's see how long you last. They're gonna last like 15 minutes and then they're going to be begging for a cigarette or a beer or whatever. I mean, that's the reality. Okay. So look, these people though, they sing what's called the noise of war, biblically speaking, the noise of war. That's not the sort of music you should be listening to. Even if the words are right, you say, why? It's not melodious. It's not full of grace. It's full of noise. Okay. Turn to Daniel three, Daniel three, you say, well, I just think the words are what matter. I don't think it matters what the tune of it is. Well, then why did Joshua call it the noise of war when he couldn't even hear what the words were? That music fit for basically going off to battle, going to fight, going to war. Okay. Look, when guys lifted the gym, they don't lift to Celine Dion. Okay. They lift to like some hard rock music because it puts them in the mood to like whatever. And I'm not saying we should listen to music. I'm saying we shouldn't. But I'm just saying you don't lift by while listening to Celine Dion no matter how worldly you are. Okay. I'm not in the mood to do bench press, my friend. Okay. Daniel three, verse 15, Daniel three, verse 15. Now if he be ready, Daniel three, verse 15. Now if he be ready that at what time he hear the sound of the cornet flute harp sack, but sultry and dulcimer and all kinds of music, he fall down and worship the image which I have made. Well, Daniel chapter three, verse 15. Now notice in Daniel three, verse 15, notice what it says. There's music being played and when they hear that music, they bow down and worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar, right? There's a certain music that's fitting to bow down and worship an idol. Okay. There's a certain music that's fitting. And once that music plays, it puts people in that mood to be willing to do that. Okay. But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Look, there was a certain music to worshiping a false idol. Why? The music itself has meaning. It's not just the words. When I was in Guyana for a few weeks, you know, the street I was living on for those couple weeks, I was staying at a house. There was a Hare Krishna family in Guyana. Hare Krishna is an offshoot of Hinduism. It's one of the manifestations of their gods or their God, because Hinduism actually believes in only one God. They're monotheistic. They just believe in oneness where God has manifested himself in different places around the world trillions of times. Okay. But Hare Krishna is one of their most famous branches. Buddhism is kind of the biggest branch, then Hare Krishna is very big. And somebody died on that street, and they had like a week long funeral for them. And then at nighttime, they would have like a fire and they would play this music. And look, I'm telling you, and you could hear this music from a long ways away. You would have to hear it to understand, but it sounded satanic. I could just hear... I mean, there's no words to the music. Just the tune of it was just satanic. You could see it fit for that certain event. Okay. Music has meaning without words. And look, the world understands this, because I don't watch Hollywood movies now. Let me tell you something. When I used to watch movies, whenever they're trying to build up emotion in movies, what sort of music do they play? Instrumental, classical music? You say, why? Because that has more meaning than the words. The music itself sets the scene for what's going to happen. Isn't that true? I mean, if there's a murder going to take place in a movie, there's going to be a certain type of music that's leading emotions inside of you. Is that not true? A certain type of music. Why? Because music plays with your emotion. Music is spiritual, my friend. We saw that earlier. Music is spiritual. It can be a godly spirit or an ungodly spirit. There's a certain sort of melody, a certain sort of tune that is godly. There's also a certain part that's ungodly. You say, how do I know the difference? Well, number one, you look at the words. That's the easiest way to tell. If the words are wrong, you don't listen to it, okay? But if it's the music of the old man, the music, the rock music, but the words are fine, but it's rock music, look, that's the old man that liked that, okay? That's the wrong type of music. You say, what exactly are you saying? Well, let's talk about something that's kind of controversial. And I'm going to be honest, I'm not going to put a very dogmatic stance on this, but I'm going to give you various principles and you can decide. Let's talk about classical music for a couple of minutes because this is a question people ask and it's something I've asked before. What about classical music? Is classical music right or is that of the world? Well, let me give you a famous thing. It's called the tritone. Does anyone know what the tritone is? Anybody know? And I'm not an expert at music, so Brother Jared, good job, Brother Jared, he's like my favorite person at church today, everything, he's like, I know what that is. But you know, the tritone is basically a tone of discord, and it was given the nickname throughout history. It was called the devil's chord. No words to it, but it was called the devil's chord, not by the Christian world, by the secular world. It was known as the devil's chord. Why? Because when you listen to it, it sounds evil. And whenever they use that music, it's a song of not of melody, but of discord. Remember the Bible said grace and melody, but it's a song of discord. Now it sounds good to your ears because it's the lust of the ears, my friend, but it's a song of discord. One of the famous songs was by a guy named Camille Saint-Saens called Danse Macabre. I'm sure I'm mispronouncing that, okay. But this was a very famous song and this is the song that really talked about the devil's chord. You can watch YouTube videos where people debate about, is this the devil's music? And of course everybody says, no, it's not the devil's music, but this is what it was called the devil's chord. And I had my wife listen to this song for 30 seconds and she had never heard the song before. And I asked her, you know, what does this song sound like it's about? And my wife said, it sounds evil, right? I mean, there's no words to it, but you could listen to that and know it sounds evil. And what this song is about, it's the dance of the dead, where basically all these skeletons are brought up from the ground and basically, you know, they're dancing, they're really dark. I mean, all that hate me love death, the Bible says, right? I mean, it's a really dark song. See, classical music, there's actually a meaning to those songs because oftentimes they would play them in a play or an opera and they would have live action behind it, even though there was no words, okay. The songs themselves, they gave names to those songs and oftentimes they represented something, even though there was no words to them, okay. Now look, you say, well, how do I, let me give you one other example. Who knows the song Night on Bald Mountain, anybody, Night in Bald Mountain, who's watched Fantasia, who's watched Fantasia, anybody, Disney movie, nobody, okay. But the Night on Bald Mountain, basically in Fantasia, they would have music playing. This was an old Disney movie and they would have like live action behind it. Like there's a famous song, the Sorcerer's Apprentice, where Mickey Mouse is like doing all this black magic because, well, he's doing the good magic. There's the black magic, I think he's doing the good magic in it, okay. All magic is bad, my friend. But he's basically, there's live action to it and there's a song there called the Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky. This was a very famous classical song, it's considered one of the best songs. And basically that song, once the evil part starts playing, the devil basically comes up through the sky, okay. So it's basically a song that's representing evil. There's no words to that music, but you could listen to that song, which I'm not recommending, and you could tell me the meaning of it, even though there's no words to it. You would know that represented darkness and evil. You say, why? Because the tune itself has meaning. I don't think that every single classical song is wrong, but I do believe most of it is probably wrong. You say, why? Because most of it doesn't have a godly meaning behind it. Most of it has an ungodly meaning. You say, well, how do I determine how to draw the line? I'll be honest with you, you know, I used to listen to a lot of classical music. I used to love Beethoven and Mozart and all that music. And I'm not saying every one of their songs is wrong. I'm not necessarily educated enough about music, and I'm not necessarily going to break down every single one to understand the meaning behind it. But I'll be honest with you, I would much rather just listen to Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. And you know what's great about this? Even if the song doesn't have words, you could still listen to great instrumental hymns in the background. I'm trying to do something and I like to listen to music in the background. Why not just listen to instrumental hymns instead of going to this gray area? Because quite honestly, this is a gray area question. And I don't have a two plus two equals four answer. But I'm not just going to say every single classical song is okay, because I don't think this song, Don't Say Whatever You Pronounce This, Macabre is okay. Or Night on Bald Mountain, I don't think those songs are okay. I know those songs, I've heard those songs plenty of times. And I know what they represent. And I promise you, they're not the only classical songs that represent that. Music itself has meaning even without words. How do you know that? Well, Nebuchadnezzar had instrumental music playing before you worship an idol. These false religions like Hinduism and these bizarre religions, they have music like this playing as well. This music that's just not what we as Christians should be listening to. Now turn in your Bible to Proverbs 13, Proverbs 13. So look, I don't have a dogmatic, this is the exact song you should listen to. I'm giving you principles. The words must be okay, but the sound of the music must be okay as well, okay? And so look, I don't even want to get near that gray area. And look, honestly, you could look at songs in here, and there might be songs you say, we're not going to sing. Okay, are there some with bad words? Yes, there are. There are a few songs we will not sing at this church. You know, the guys that lead music, they'll send me the songs and say, hey, Brother Stuckey, is this okay? And look, there are a few songs that if they picked that, I'd be like, no, it's not okay. Now 95% of these I love. I love this hymnal. I think it's a great hymnal. But there are some songs that we're not going to sing like, Jesus may come today. It's like, no, he's not going to come today. It's like, we don't believe in a preacher of rapture. We believe after the tribulation, we're not going to sing that. You say, why? Because the tune might be okay, but the words are not okay. Okay. And, you know, another way to look at this, too. I think it's great when we sing songs, okay, and you put it to music. But I'll be honest with you. I've gone to YouTube before, and I've listened because I've looked for songs for like, you know, over a decade just listening to spiritual music, like the Bible verses put to music. And I've heard some that's like rock and roll music, and it fits the words like in terms of like the rhyming scheme. But it's like, well, I'm not going to sing that song, you know, memorize a verse in the Bible to a hard rock tune. Okay. Why? Because the melody must be right as well. Now I think it's great. The song we sung earlier today on Psalms and, you know, we sing other songs that are great. But look, you can't just say, well, the words are okay, so it doesn't matter what the tune is. No, the tune matters as well, because that also teaches you something. Proverbs 13. So we talked about music. The right type of music is important. And you know, honestly, when we want to listen to rock music and ungodly music, it's not the new man. It's the old man. And it's the lust of the ears that your ears enjoy listening to it. But not just the right type of music. What about the right type of friends? People often pick their friends because of the fact, if they're not living a godly life, because they like to hear gossip. They like to hear ungodliness. And so they pick those people as friends. And that's the lust of the ears that would make you seek after ungodly friends for that. Proverbs 13, verse 20, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. The Bible says that if you walk with wise men, you're going to be wise, okay? You want to be a soul winner, hang out with soul winners. You want to read the Bible, hang out with people that read the Bible. And when they talk about the Bible, it motivates you to read the Bible. You want to spend your life obsessed with money, hang out with people obsessed with money. And that's what you're going to end up doing. Look, the people you hang out with. That's what you're going to be like, I'm just going to hang out with a bunch of drunks, but I'm not going to drink. No, you're going to start drinking with them. That's the way it's going to work. If you walk with wise men, you're going to be wise. You walk with fools, you're going to be a fool. That's the way it works. Turn to Proverbs 16, Proverbs 16. When I started college, I went running all the time when I started college because I I played soccer growing up, but I didn't really lift. I didn't go to the gym before I was in college. I did push ups and stuff like that. But then I started to become what they call in the US a gym rat, which means you're always at the gym for like hours every day. And look, you know what? I lifted all the time. And I know all those exercises. You say, how did that happen? Because I had friends in college that lifted. It's like, hey, you want to lift with us? Like, sure. You learn how to lift and then you're competing against one another to get stronger. And look, the people you hang out with, that's what you're going to be like. So choose your friends wisely. Because if you look at your friends, that is what you're going to end up being like. If you're around ungodly people that like to gossip and are worldly people, they like to drink. Guess what? You're probably going to do the same. Proverbs 16 verse 27. An ungodly man diggeth up evil, and in his lips there is a burning fire. A froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separated chief friends. And see, the Bible speaks about ungodly men which would dig up evil. You say, what is that talking about? It's referring to someone who would find something from the past that has nothing to do with anything, and just bring it up and try to use that against someone because they got something against that person. That's what it's talking about, digging up evil, okay? I remember, you know, my old church in West Virginia, this girl told me so and so, you know, he was someone who committed adultery like a decade ago. And this was someone who used to gossip a lot and get all this information. And then she would just tell people about it. So and so did this in 1997. Can you believe in 1997, you know, he watched this movie. It's like, you know, why would I care about that? It's like, we're not even in the same millennium anymore, okay? It's like, why would I care about something from the past? And it's the wicked man who's going to dig up evil. But did you know that a lot of people like to be friends with people like this? Why? They love gossip. The lust of the ears, my friend. Oh, I love to hang out with that person because they always give me the inside information. That's the last person you should be hanging out with. And I want to just I want to teach you guys something very practical in case you don't realize it. If you are friends with someone who's always gossiping about other people, guess what they're going to do about you when you're not around. They're going to gossip about you as well. Look, if they're always gossiping about such and such person and this and this and this and this, guess what they're going to do when you're not around? Well, did you know that, you know, Brother Stuckey did this? You say why? Because if they're willing to do it to everybody else, are you so bobo that they won't do it to you too? They're willing to gossip about every single person at church, but they would never do it to you because you're just like best buds. No, they'll do it to you as well when they want to. Okay. And so be careful with the people you hang out with. Proverbs 22. Turn to Proverbs 22. People have this idea, well, it doesn't matter what I watch, it doesn't matter what I listen to, it doesn't matter who I hang out with and I'll still serve God. No, you won't. You hang out with ungodly people, you're going to be ungodly. I mean, even at our church, okay, we're a soul winning church and we're filled with people that love the Lord. But the truth is that before this church existed, a lot of people probably didn't do a lot of soul winning. You say, why? Because you didn't hang out with people that win soul winning. But now every Sunday, every Wednesday, what are you doing? You're hanging out with people that go soul winning. We talk about the results of soul winning in our bulletin. You hear soul winning stories, you hear it preached at the pulpit, and you're excited to go soul winning. But before this church, and you're not hanging around with people that go soul winning, guess what? You probably didn't go that much unless you're at a like minded church that was going soul winning because the people you're around will influence you for good or for bad. And people like to have ungodly friends because they're lusting after with their ears. Make no friendship, verse 24, Proverbs 22, verse 24. Make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man, thou shalt not go. The Bible tells us do not become friends with people that are angry people, furious people, bitter people, people that like to argue, people that like to debate, people that are in a bad mood all the time. Say why? You hang around people that are in a bad mood all the time, guess what's going to happen to you? All of a sudden, your life's terrible too. It's like, man, it was great last week, but after you hung out with so and so, now your life is miserable too. It's like you want to be a bitter person, hang out with bitter people. You want to be an angry person, hang out with angry people. And it's really sad because sin pleasures for a season, and you hear that gossip, and you hear things and temporarily you enjoy it and you like it. And then all of a sudden, you know what? You hate it later on. You find yourself miserable. You know, people that complain, they love to hang out with people that complain. They love to hang out with other people that murmur, and then you hang out with those people and you find yourself more depressed. It's like, why don't you just hang out with happy people? But it's the lust of the ears that would say, I like to hear the complaining about the church. I like to hear the complaining about such and such person. And all of a sudden you hear that, and all of a sudden you find out that, you know what, you have some complaints too. It's funny because before you were friends with that person, you didn't have complaints. Before that, things were going pretty good. Life's going pretty good. God's blessing me. Church is good. But now that you're friends with such and such person that always complains and murmurs, now all of a sudden you want to complain and murmur when you were in a good mood a month ago. It's like, be careful with who you hang out with. Turn to Proverbs 27, Proverbs 27, and look, I'm not saying people that, I'm just saying, you know, other saved people. Be careful with saved people you hang out with if they always like to gossip. I don't want to be around people that gossip. It's like if somebody wants to gossip to me, it's like, you know what, not interested. Talk to somebody else. Okay? And look, when my wife and I got married, that's what, you know, I always told her, I don't want you to hang out with people that are going to gossip and complain about other people. Because why? Because of the fact it's ungodly, it's wicked, and that's the lust of the ears that wants to hear that stuff. I mean, did you hear that so and so person did this? Like two months ago, I caught them with this shirt on on Facebook. They're wearing like this type of clothing on Facebook. And it's just like, look at this, we're going to screenshot and show everybody at church. Why? What's your purpose? It's like, why do you care how other people are dressed? Why don't you care about how you're dressed? Why don't you care what you listen to? Who cares if you caught so and so listening to a rock song? Look, I don't invade people's personal lives outside the pulpit. I don't do that. I preach principles. And look, you know, obviously, I preach on music. And of course, I would love people to follow this advice, but the reality is not everybody's going to. So if you catch somebody, oh, man, I caught them listening to this worldly song. It's like, you know, leave it alone. Don't gossip about it. Let them worry about themselves and you worry about yourself. But people like to be friends with that because they love to hear the gossip. They want to know what everybody else is doing wrong. Why? Because it makes me feel so spiritual. Once I know all the problems and everybody else, man, I'm feeling pretty good. It's like I'm pretty godly. It's like, you know, actually, you're just hanging out with ungodly people. Proverbs 27 verse five. Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faith for the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. Now what the Bible says here is faith for the wounds of a friend. And the reality is that if you're friends with someone from time to time, you might have to give them advice. You might have to wound them, the Bible says. And the Bible says the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. See the person that's not really your friend. They're going to be dishonest. They're going to be deceitful. They'll pretend to be your friend, but they're lying. But see, someone who's actually a good friend, the Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend. I've had people in my life where I told them, you know what? You are a bitter person. You better fix this or it's going to destroy you. And sadly, usually they don't fix it. But someone I was close friends with and I told them, it's like, you're bitter. You need to fix this. You say, why do you do that? Because you're trying to help them. Is it a wound? Yeah. Do they want to hear it? No. They don't want to hear it. Nobody likes getting wounded. I don't like getting wounded. Okay. But I'm thankful for friends I've had in my life that have given me tough advice that helped me fix things where I was making mistakes in my life. And sadly, when you're a good friend and you give wounds, you know what happens from time to time? Because those people no longer don't want to be friends with you. But the Bible says faithful are the wounds of a friend. And that's why it's important to hang out with Godly people because someone who's not really your friend, they're not going to try to help you in your life. They're going to try to lie about you, deceive you, bring up stuff from the past. Turn to Malachi three. Malachi three. You say, Brother Stuckey. Well, this happens in the world. It would never happen at church. It happens at church, too. Okay. It happens everywhere. You're never going to avoid it unless you're in quarantine the rest of your life and just stay inside your house, okay? I mean, look, there's lots of people in this church and people are Godly. They love sowing and everything like this. But, you know, when I went to Verity Baptist Church, there was 200 people and there's people that, you know what? I was glad they're a church. They're nice people, but it doesn't mean I'm going to spend all the time in the world hanging out with them and talking to them. You say why? Because I want to hang out with people that are Godly people that are going to basically help mutually benefit one another, not people that are always gossiping or complaining because those people, and there are people that will always criticize the church. It's like I don't want to hang out with people that are going to criticize Pastor Jimenez. It's like I want to hang out with people that are Godly. Malachi 3 verse 16, then they that feared the Lord, spake off in one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. The Bible says they that fear the Lord spake off in one to another, okay? This doesn't even necessarily just mean Sunday and Wednesday and Saturday for so many. No, it means that people that you talk to on Facebook and things like that, they ought to be Godly people, okay? They that feared the Lord spake off in one to another. You say why is this? Because sometimes I'm reading the Bible and I have a Bible question and you know what? I'm not going to go to a worldly person and say, well, what do you think this verse means? It's like you need a Godly friend to go to and say, hey, you know, brother, what did you think about this verse? I'm studying this topic out, okay? They that feared the Lord spake off in one to another, the Bible says. So the right type of music, the right type of friends turn to 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, we'll look at one more verse on this point, the right type of music and the right type of friends, 1 Peter 2, verse 9, 1 Peter 2, verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people. What does peculiar mean? It means a little bit different than the average person. A little bit different than what's common, okay? And different to who? Different to God? Well, I mean, yes, but not really in this context. Peculiar to the average person out there, okay? That ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Look, you know, your coworkers, they should think you're a nice person. You're very respectful, but they should also think you're a little bit strange. It's like, why does Brother So-and-so always read the Bible on his lunch break? It's like, what in the world? It's like, you know, we have our office party only once a year, it's like, why don't you want to come? It's like, why, you know? It's like, yeah, I just don't like being in the atmosphere. And here's the reality, you know, sometimes people try to get you to hang out or work and stuff like that, and you ought to, if you're going to turn them down, be respectful and nice and not be like, thus saith the Lord. That's foolish, okay? But the reality is, you know, my old job, I was in Maryland for, worked there for three years and everybody thought I was nice, but they thought I was a little bit odd. You say, why? Because, you know, when people went out on Friday night to go to the bar, I didn't go with them. Well, you don't have to drink. It's like, I'm all right. Not interested. And I was nice to them. I said, you know, I'm sorry. You know, I'm just going to go home. And they're just like, you know, why does he go home? What's he going to do? As I asked, what are you doing this weekend? Oh, I'm going soul winning. It's like, what's soul winning? It's like, you ought to be a little bit peculiar to the world. Not intentionally weird. You got to be a normal person, but just because of the life you live, the world ought to look at you and say, you know what, it's kind of strange to me. Because the reality is, and look, one of the great examples in the Bible is in Exodus 34 when Moses climbs a mountain to talk to God, he's there for 40 days and 40 nights. And he comes back and nobody recognizes him because he physically had changed by being close to God. And the example the Bible is giving you is that spiritually, when you get close to God, you change. And see, your old friends and family used to hang out with. The reason why you're not that close to them anymore is not because they changed. They didn't change. You changed. I changed. That's the reason why they don't want to hang out with you. It's not because they've changed suddenly. They didn't change at all. There's a reason why all of your old families are like, what in the world happened to brothers so and so? Because you changed. You're reading the Bible now. You're talking about the Bible. You're not going to the same worldly things you used to. You change and you're peculiar to them. And so, look, the people that I was friends with before I got saved, I did not intentionally separate them from them. They just kind of separated from me. You say, why? Because Brother Stuckey is different now. It's like, man, he's always talking about the Bible. Can you quit talking about the Bible? It's like, man, we're trying to play basketball. We're trying to lift. You know, why are you bringing up the book of James? It's just like, man, what in the world? Turn to Daniel 7. And so, number one, when it comes to the lust of the ears, be careful with the music you listen to. Make sure the music you're listening to is not because your flesh and your ears are lusting after it, but because it's godly music. Number two, the friends you want to be with. Don't find friends because your ears say, man, that person's got the good gossip. Who else am I going to go to? All these soul winners. It's like, no, find godly friends, all right? Number three, also with the lust of the ears, be careful with the resources you listen to, which means media, TV, news, things on Facebook, movies, any of those things. Be careful with the resources you listen to. Daniel 7, verse 25. Daniel 7, verse 25. And he shall speak great words against the most high. And who is this referring to? This is the Antichrist, okay? We talked about this. I think we talked about this verse on last Wednesday with the Antichrist in Daniel 7. And he shall speak great words against the most high, speaking against God, and notice this, and shall wear out the saints of the most high. What does that mean by wearing out? Well, it's a spiritual battle we fight. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against all principalities and powers and the rules of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. I know I'm misquoting that. But basically, we fight a spiritual battle. And see, I want you to understand that the devil is the God of this world, as we talked about in the opening sermon in this series. And so when you're watching a TV show that's from the devil, you're getting worn out by the devil. What does that mean to get worn out? Think of playing a sports game. Think about playing in a basketball game, and in the first quarter and second quarter and third quarter, you have a lot of energy. But then during the fourth corner, you don't have as much energy to run anymore, do you? You don't have as much energy to run the fast break. You're like, I'll just kind of hang out here at the three point line and just kind of chuck it. Right. I'm kind of tired right now. Okay. Why? Because you're worn out. You got worn out during the game and in the spiritual battle, when you allow the lust of the ears to listen to the devil's programming, he is wearing you out. Okay. Turn to second Corinthians four, second Corinthians four. We'll look at a few more places. Second Corinthians chapter four, second Corinthians chapter four. And this is where people go wrong because they feel like they can watch anything. They can listen to anything. And it doesn't matter. I'll still love God. No, actually, the devil wears you out every time you listen to one of his songs. The devil wears you out every time you watch one of his movies or watch one of his TV shows. He is wearing you out spiritually from fighting the proper battles in life from serving God. He's wearing you out every time you allow worldliness and the lust of the ears to enter in. Second Corinthians four, verse four, and whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine onto them. And the Bible talks about Satan being the God of this world. Now, obviously, Satan is not really God. Obviously, we know God Almighty, but Satan basically runs this earth. God allows him. Now, obviously, the God can stop him at any time. But look, God allows Satan to basically, you know, put all these ungodly TV shows. And look, God puts us through tests in life. He allows us to go through this. And we have our free will if we're going to obey God or not. Turn to second Timothy one, second Timothy one. Now we know about TV shows and music and movies, because obviously, when we talk about music and things like that, we talk about the words that are said. So obviously, you got to pay attention to the words that are being said on TV or movies or things like that. Because if it's ungodly, then you shouldn't be listening to it, okay? But also I want to talk about news for a little while, because a lot of people think the news is no big deal. I'll just watch the news for a couple hours because nothing wrong with the news. It's not ungodly. So notice what it says in second Timothy one, verse seven, for God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. See, the Bible says here in second Timothy one, verse seven, it says God has not given us the spirit of fear. You know what the problem with the news is? The news has a job of being fear mongers. What does that mean? They're trying to make you afraid. And when you watch the news, you're always going to be afraid, okay? Look, I have a lot of relatives in my family that are not these ungodly, wicked people, okay? They're very conservative people, but they watch the news all the time. Say what's the result? They're afraid of everything. It's like, man, this could happen. This could happen. This could happen. Yeah, this could happen. There could also be an earthquake here in five minutes that could happen. Anything could happen. Right? A volcano could explode, okay? I mean, anything could happen, but why am I going to be scared to death? But when you watch that stuff all the time, their job is to put you in a state of fear. Why? It causes you to keep watching. And look, anything you've seen during this lockdown, man, people are scared to death. Why? They're watching the news. And the news is making you scared to death. Now look, I believe that this virus is a deadly virus and people are dying. I believe that. But at the same time, I believe safety's of the Lord. And I'm not afraid when I go out. It's like, obviously, we wear the mask because the grocery store you have to wear, and I don't see a problem with that for safety and things such as that. But it's not like I'm scared to death in this situation. I'm not going to be scared to death. Why? God has not given us the spirit of fear, the Bible says. What it says is of a sound mind at the end of verse seven. And see, here's the thing about this. When you are in a state of fear, you do not have a sound mind. It means you start making foolish decisions. And if you're honest with yourself in the history of your life, when you made a lot of stupid decisions, it's probably because you were afraid of something. And because you were afraid, you made decisions and people on the outside are looking like, what in the world is that person doing? You say, why? Because you weren't in a sound mind. Because you were in a state of fear. And fear will cause you to make very foolish decisions. And look, there's a million things that could go wrong. I mean, look, people at a young age, they're driving, they get hit with the car or whatever. They die at a young age. They get paralyzed. Any number of things could happen. I mean, good night. You could be eating your lunch and choke to death. That is a possibility. People have died that way. But does that mean every single time you take a bite of bread, you're just going to be like scared to death? I don't know if I'm going to make it this time. It's like, no. Are you going to live your life in a state of fear? Now, I'm not saying be foolish, but I'm saying don't be fearful. There's a balance there. Don't be a fool and just walk out in the middle of the highway and say, I'm fine. I'm not going to be afraid. But look, don't be afraid of everything. Okay. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. And here's the reality. Because news has a job of being fear mongers. They get people to watch and they brainwash you. But did you know, because that's the extreme on one side, but the extreme on the other side of the obsessed conspiracy theorists, they are doing the exact same thing. They're fear mongers. And God has not given us the spirit of fear. They're fear mongers. Like the Alex Jones that are out there. And look, I'm not saying that some of what they say is not true. I'm sure some of it is true. I do believe in some conspiracy theorists, but I'm just saying people that are conspiracy salesmen, meaning their job is to basically sell you on conspiracies. They are fear mongers as well. They put you in a state of fear, like, oh, no, this is happening. This is happening. I mean, I've seen so many conspiracy theories the last couple of weeks. And it's funny because the same people are throwing out every conspiracy theory. It's like, so wait a minute. It's like, are 2 billion people on this planet going to die or only 0.01% of people to get this virus? It's like, there's kind of a big difference between these two numbers, like 25% of the population is going to die, or it's like 0.01%. It's all fake. It's like they go from each extreme, like every week. It's like, good night. But they're fear mongering, okay? Conspiracy salesmen. 1 Timothy 3, verse 15, But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And look, I preach what the Bible says, but I don't just preach something that's entertaining to tickle your ears. Okay? You say, why? Because my job is to preach the truth. Look, there are a lot of like new IFB type sermons that everybody loves, and I could just preach those same exact sermons every week, and no one would ever get offended at anything I say. But if you've been at this church from the beginning, I've said many things that have offended people, okay? Because I'm just preaching the truth of the Bible. That is what my job is, not just to tickle your ears and to make you happy. Okay? Turn to one last place. Proverbs 14, verse 7. Proverbs 14, verse 7. I mean, don't we have the expression, the truth hurts? Church is a pillar and ground of the truth, and the reality is, no matter who you are, there are going to be some things that kind of hurt a little bit when they're said. Okay? When I was at Verity Baptist Church, there are things that Pastor Mendez preached, and sometimes like, ouch. It's like, was he directly trying to just get me here? It's like, man, my goodness, he got me. It's like, yeah, because we're not perfect. We're sinners. We make mistakes, and it's just like, yeah, you know, the whole of the Bible, you read the Bible, and it steps on your toes, right? And so Proverbs 14, verse 7. Proverbs 14, verse 7. Go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. And see, the Bible says that if you don't perceive that somebody has knowledge coming out of their mouth, that you go from them. You don't listen to them. Okay? And so when it comes to the resources we're talking about, when you're watching, like, secular movies, I don't perceive the lips of knowledge in what they're saying. I mean, do you? I mean, not just that it's not godly. I don't perceive the lips of knowledge or ungodly music or the news, whether it's Fox News or the liberal CNN or whatever, you know, what, ABS-CBN? Is that the name? Or whatever it is, you know? Look, I don't perceive the lips of knowledge. I'm not saying there isn't some stuff that's true that's coming out, but I'm not gonna sit around for two hours, okay, and then just watch the news all the time. No, look, I'll listen to President Duterte talk every once in a while, especially during this thing, but I'm not gonna spend hours and hours. And look, people that spend hours and hours, they live their lives in a state of fear. And look, a lot of the things they're hearing aren't true or they're very misleading, okay? The Bible says, go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. So when it comes to the resources that we listen to, look, if it's not the lips of knowledge, if the things you're hearing, you're like, man, there's a pastor you like to listen to. Man, he's really entertaining, but I catch like three mistakes every sermon. Well, quit listening to him, but he's entertaining. It's like, well, how many of the things are you not catching? I mean, if you're catching three mistakes in every sermon, how many more mistakes are there in the sermon? It's like, you know, listen to people that are actually preaching the truth. There's nothing false in it, not just that it's entertaining, but it's actually the truth. It's what the Word of God says, okay? So what do we talk about with the lust of the ears? We talked about with the lust of the ears, number one, the music you listen to. Make sure it is teaching you the right thing through the words and teaching you the right thing through the tune or the melody of the music itself, okay? Number two, we talked about the right type of friends. At a church like this, you don't really have much of an excuse to say, well, all my friends are a bunch of drunks. It's like, well, just become friends with people at our church that love the Lord, okay? And number three, the resources that you listen to. Make sure that when you're listening to these things, it's the lips of knowledge, it's the lips of truth. If it's preaching, make sure it's the right stuff. Look, when it comes to the movie, TV and news, I personally wouldn't recommend watching that stuff. Why? I don't perceive it at the lips of knowledge. And just because your ears are tickled by what it has to say does not mean you should listen to it. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see what your Bible has to say about this topic, about the lust of the ears, and help us to allow the things that enter into our ears to be godly things, not to be ungodly things that would affect us negative spiritually or have a bad attitude or any things like that, whether it's the entertainment of the world, whether it's our friends, whether or not it's music or whatever, God, we just pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.