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Chapter 3, and this is going to be kind of a continuation on the first sermon, pretty similarly related, the lust of the ears we talked about. Now we're going to talk about the lust of the eyes, and then halfway through this sermon there's going to be application for both of the sermons. So they kind of tie together here today. And so the first thing I want to do though is look at examples of the lust of the eyes. What does that mean? Some people might wrongly think that the only thing this means is if you look on somebody of the opposite gender to lust after them. That's not the only thing the lust of the eyes is. We will talk about that, and that applies. It's not the only thing though. In Genesis chapter 3, we're going to see an example of something that's a little bit different. It says in verse 1, Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? It says the devil is subtle because of the fact he's not very obvious with what his intentions are. He says, hath God said. He doesn't say God didn't say this. He kind of goes in between. He's like, did God really say that? And this is the way that people that are bad people are. They're very subtle. He says, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? He's basically casting doubt on what God said. Then it says, And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And notice this, and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, you say, what is that? That is the lust of the eyes. That's called coveting something that does not belong to you. Okay? That does not belong to her. He said, you can eat of any of the fruit of the trees, but not this one. Okay? And what does she do? She looks upon it. What is that? The lust of the eyes, coveting something that does not belong to you, coveting something that does not belong to you, and that it was pleasant to the eyes. So she saw that the tree is good for food. The tree is pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. She took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. One of the big examples of the lust of the eyes is simply looking on something that does not belong to you. Now that could be somebody like a wife or a husband that you're interested in. It could be a house. It could be a car. It could be called, you go shopping for like four hours and you buy nothing. You're just like, oh, I wish I had this. Oh, I wish I had this. If I only had the money to buy this. That's the lust of the eyes. You're coveting something that doesn't belong to you. Why are you even looking upon it? That's exactly what Eve did in Genesis chapter three. It's the lust of the eyes. Turn to Genesis 13, Genesis 13. See, when it comes to the lust of the eyes, when it comes to, you know, basically lusting after somebody, that's something guys probably struggle with more, and we'll talk about that later on in the sermon. But I don't think that necessarily means guys struggle with the lust of the eyes more than women do, because women struggle more with looking at things they want to have. The first example we have is Eve doing this. She looks at something that she's told no, and she just covets it. She's lusting after it with her eyes. I mean, people will look at a magazine and just spend hours saying, oh, that looks really nice. I would love to go on this cruise. I would love to go on this cruise. I would love to buy this car. Oh, that vacation looks nice. That vacation looks nice. Yeah. Do you have 150,000 pesos to spend? I mean, if you don't, what are you doing? If you can't afford it, why are you looking upon something that does not belong to you? That's called thou shalt not covet. Okay. Genesis 13 verse eight, Genesis 13 verse eight, and Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. So Abram tells Lot, make your choice. Do you want this side or this side? And Lot lifted up his eyes, Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest on to Zoar. Once again, this is the lust of the eyes. Lot looks at something, he's like, man, this looks really great. This reminds me of Egypt. This reminds me of the place where Abram lied about his wife and said, it's just my sister. And basically his wife almost got forced by another man. This reminds me of the place where basically they got that slave woman Hagar, who ends up destroying their life later on. Why does it remind him? Oh, it looks so nice. It's so rich. Right? This is the lust of the eyes. Looking upon something, it's so fancy, it's so nice, it's so rich. And Lot says, you know what? I'm going to decide to live there simply because it looks like a wealthy place to live. What a foolish decision to make. And people make their decisions based on money all the time. But what this is, is the lust of the eyes. And Lot made his choice because he looked at it, he's like, that's more beautiful than that. So you know what? I'm going to go there instead of there, even though it's an ungodly place. So when it comes to looking on things or coveting things that don't belong to you, look, this is something that's very common in our world. This is part of the world for all that is in the world. This is what people do. I don't, I honestly, I'm a guy, I don't like shopping. Okay. It's like, I'm a guy, I don't like shopping. It's like, you know, I don't understand you just looking around when you're not planning to buy anything. It doesn't make sense to me. But I'm just trying to help you out, to be honest. If you're sitting around for hours just looking at stuff that you're not planning to buy because you can't afford it, it's different if you're looking around and say, I'm going to buy something, I'm thinking about buying, I'm not sure what, I'm testing it out, I'm looking. That's different than basically just going to the most expensive thing that you can't afford and say, I'm just going to dream about it. Oh, this looks so nice to my eyes. Look, what are you doing to yourself? You're going to destroy your life. We're going to see that later on. And look, that is something women struggle with more than men. They look at things that basically they can't afford. That's out of their price range and they're just like, man, that would be nice. That's the lust of the eyes. Turn your Bible to Proverbs six, Proverbs six. There's nothing wrong with having something nice. I mean, if you can afford a nice car, buy a nice car. If you can afford a nice house, buy a nice house. And look, if you're planning to buy a house and you're trying to get a house and you're looking at various ones to make a decision, by all means, look at all the pictures, make your decision, think about it. If you can't afford a house though, you say, I've got five pesos in my bank account. That's all the money in the world I have. But I'm just going to look at all these houses like, oh, they're so nice, it'd be so much better than where I live. Do you think that's going to make you in a good mood or a bad mood? It's going to make you miserable. And that is coveting things that don't belong. What does thou shalt not covet means? It means things that don't belong to you. Now if you can afford to buy it, then that's one thing. Like if you're saying, well, I'm kind of looking around at cars, I'm going to get one just sometime in the next six months, I'm just waiting for the right deal. That's different. But if you cannot afford it, then you are coveting, you're lusting with your eyes. And it will destroy your life. And this is something that's very foolish, but it's very common. People just, I mean, you decide, I'm going to go on a strict diet. It's like no sugar whatsoever, but I'm going to spend 20 minutes in the candy aisle and just say, oh, this Snickers bar, this would be so good. It's like, oh, those Oreos, oh man, that Coke, that would go down really nicely. It's like, what are you doing? It's like, you know what? Look, if something, you're not going to be able to get it for whatever reason, that is lusting with your eyes by definition. That's what it's talking about in 1 John 2. So one thing with the lust of the eyes is coveting things that don't belong to you. Another thing is looking on things like sexual images, things that are provocative, things that are wrong that you shouldn't look on to lust after someone of the opposite gender. Hopefully not after someone of the same gender. If you got that problem, just don't come back to our church. But someone of the opposite gender, it's like, that's the lust of the eyes. Proverbs 6 verse 23, Proverbs 6 verse 23, for the commandment is a lamp in the law's light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. The Bible speaks about a evil woman, okay? This is a woman who's trying to get some guy to lust after her to sleep with him, the Bible's speaking about, okay? And it says she's an evil woman and it says she's also a flatterer of the tongue. So the same evil woman is gonna be very flattering, like, oh, you're so handsome, you're so guapo. It's like, man, you know, you're the guy I've been dreaming about for years, like, you're my first love, whatever. It's like, that's the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart, neither let her take thee with her eyelids. So according to verse 25, does this woman have a beauty to her? Yes, she does. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart. This sort of woman is talking about this woman has a beauty to her, okay? What type of beauty is that? Is this a woman that's really dressed conservatively and just really looks very godly? Verse 26, for by means of a whorish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. So what kind of woman is this? The Bible says a whorish woman. A whore. Those are not my words, okay? This is what the Bible said, she's a whorish woman. Why? Because the way someone dresses does say a little bit about them. Let's not act like the outside doesn't matter at all. Now, absolutely, the inside matters more than the outside. But if people are dressed a certain way, you're gonna have certain opinions about them, right? The Bible speaks about a whorish woman, and this woman is an adulteress. She wants to commit adultery and she will hunt for the precious life. She is looking for a guy to basically convince to sleep with her. That's what her goal is. This is definitely an evil woman. You say, well, do these people like this really exist? Well, I mean, according to the Bible, it exists. There are people that are gonna, and look, they're looking specifically for people that are married, people that are godly people. They wanna destroy their lives and say, why? Because this is probably a reprobate, my friend. This is a really bad person who is hunting for the precious life and she's dressed like a whore, but she has a beauty to her. That's what it says in verse 25. If she had no beauty to her whatsoever, she wouldn't be very good at this job, okay? She has a beauty to her because of the fact she's dressed like a whore. And look, the lust of the flesh, yeah, you know what? There is a beauty to that, an ungodly beauty, okay? That's what the Bible's speaking of. And then Proverbs 7, Proverbs chapter 7. This is why we need to teach our kids, especially our sons at a young age, before they have any sort of attraction. Look, you know, when a child's three years old, four years old, five years old, you know what? You can teach them before they have any sort of attraction to someone of the opposite gender, okay? When they're young and innocent, you can teach them, hey, if you see that, look away immediately. Immediately, look away. You say, why is that important? Because when my son is 20 years old, he is going to have natural desires that are there, okay? But if I teach him at a young age, be careful, little son, what you see, right? Be careful, little eyes, what you see. If I teach him that at the age of two, like he's singing that song now, or three, or four, and then all of a sudden we're driving one day and all of a sudden someone's dressed like that, if he looks over there, I say, son, do not look at that, turn away. And you teach him and train him, then when he's older, you know what he has a pattern of doing? Looking away and not giving in to the lust of the eyes, okay? Now if you don't teach them at a young age, it's probably something they're going to struggle with. You've got to teach them at a young age. But the Bible speaks about a woman who is a whorish woman, okay? Proverbs 7, verse 7. See, that's pretty harsh. I mean, maybe that's just one chapter in the Bible. Let's go to the next chapter. Proverbs 7, verse 7. And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding. So a young man who's Bobo, who's dumb, okay? Passing through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house in the twilight in the evening in the black and dark night. This is about the same sort of woman. This is a whorish woman. This is a whore. And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and subtle of heart. The Bible says the attire of a harlot. What's attire? It's clothing. It's raiment, okay? It's what she's wearing. What she was wearing was she was dressed like a harlot. She was dressed like a whore. Look, you know, and I don't necessarily know here, but I know in the US, like in big cities where prostitutes are very common, they dress in a certain way where people know what they are. And then people drive by or whatever, and they say, I'll pay you money or whatever. They have a certain clothing, a certain attire that they wear. They're dressed like a harlot, okay? And look, it's true that in the world we're living in, just your average common person is dressing like a whore in a harlot in today's world. You walk down the street, you're like, what in the world is going on? But it used to be people just dressed like that back in the 50s. People that did that were like harlots. They were whores. Now it's very common, okay? But the Bible speaks about a woman that would dress like a harlot or dress like a whore. And look, you know what? It is true that, guys, this is something they struggle with. You see this in the Bible, and it's like you've got to train your eyes to look away. Not just that you don't do anything wrong, no, train your eyes to look away. And that is wrong, but the lust of the eyes, turn your eyes away. Don't just say, well, I can look as long as I don't do anything, right? That's what a lot of people say. It's no big deal to look as long as you don't do anything. This is what they'll say at the office or whatever. Oh, just look at her. No big deal. You know, yeah, you're married, but you're not doing anything wrong. You're just looking. No, this is the lust of the eyes. This is coveting something that doesn't belong to you. And the Bible says, if you look on a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery with her already in your heart, okay? No, it's not as bad as actually doing it, but it's still adultery of the heart, according to the Bible. Turn to Matthew five, Matthew five, Matthew chapter five. And so, look, when it comes to the attire of an harlot, you know, honestly, or it comes to this sin specifically, this is kind of a dual thing between the guy and the girl because, yeah, it's wrong for the guys to look. It's also wrong for the women to dress in a way where guys will look. Okay. I mean, the Bible says the attire of an harlot, look, if a woman is dressed like a whore, more guys are going to look at her than someone's dressed very godly, right? To say that she has no culpability would be ridiculous. In fact, the Bible shows she would be guilty. Notice what it says in Matthew five verse 28. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Does that sound like it's just the guy's fault? No, the Bible says with her, meaning she's guilty of it as well. You say why? Because 90% of the time if he's going to lust, it's because of the fact she dressed in a certain way where it caused a guy to lust. And you know what? According to the Bible, she's also a partaker in that. You say, well, I can just wear whatever I want. Guys need to learn to train their eyes. Well, first off, I mean, are you married? Because if you're married, you ought to say, I don't want any guy to lust after me because I care about my husband. Number one, if you're not married, it's like, you know, who are you trying to attract to you? I mean, is that the sort of guy you want to marry? Look, the Bible says he's committed adultery with her, meaning both the guy and the woman that's dressed like a whore are guilty. Okay? Yeah, it's wrong for the guy to look. It's also wrong for the woman to dress in that sort of way. So when it comes to being married, you know what? Whether you're a guy or girl, you ought to dress in a way where people will not lust after you. Okay? Can you give me a verse to prove it's a sin? Look, you know what? Modesty is what the Bible teaches for both men and women. Turn to Psalms 101 Psalms 101. So yeah, you know what? It's true that guys probably struggle more with lusting after someone of the opposite gender. And it's probably also true that women probably struggle more with dressing in a way to cause people to lust after them. Okay, I understand there are probably some vain guys who are just going to, you know, do whatever. But in general, this is something women probably struggle with a lot more than men in terms of how they're dressed, and then guys would struggle with actually lusting after them. Okay? Psalms 101 verse three. So we talked about looking at things that basically don't belong to you, coveting things that don't belong to you. We talked about basically sexual images or looking at someone of the opposite gender, you know, in an inappropriate way, but also with entertainment. That is another area of the lust of the eyes. Okay, notice what it says in Psalms 101 verse three. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. Now what it says in Psalms 101 is I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Now I want you to realize there's probably a lot of different applications to this, but you know, one good application is I will not set a television before mine eyes. Okay. I mean, I will not set a Hollywood movie before mine eyes. I will not set something ungodly before mine eyes. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Now look, I understand there's documentaries you could find on YouTube that are fine. There's nothing wrong with them, but look, when you're watching things that are ungodly and wicked, you know what? Don't tell me you're not committing a sin. This is the lust of the eyes, as the Bible says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Okay? There's nothing inherently sinful about a television set. It's not like the materials made out of is a sin. The problem is what's coming through that set. Okay? The problem is the movie that's on that television. The problem is the TV show that's on that television set. When I was younger and I watched Hollywood movies, TV shows, and things like that, the big TV shows that were popular, the biggest one was probably Friends. Probably a lot of people in here have seen, it's a lot older now, but you know, probably some of you have seen it before, you know, probably before your time, but look, Friends, like every single episode, you know, the characters were sleeping with a new person. It's just like, you know, one season, like 15 episodes or whatever, it's like, good night. They sleep with like 30 people every episode, and it's like, you know, what they do though in the TV show is it seems fun and entertaining. It's like it's a comedy show, so you're laughing during the show, it's funny and everything like that, and it's causing something that's wicked and sinful to seem normal to you. Is that the reality though? I mean, if you're going to be a whoremonger or a whore and just sleep around with whatever, you're going to destroy your life. But the TV show is perfectly fine. Look, the TV shows that are on now, and I want you to realize the TV is just going to get worse and worse as time goes by. Look, I don't know what the common popular TV shows are here in the Philippines. I don't know any of them. You know, whatever Vice Pong it's on, I know is a popular show, whatever it's called. It's like, you know, I don't know the common shows in the US now, but look, I promise you it's not getting better with time. It's just because, I mean, in the 80s in America, Cheers was the show. You know, Cheers, brother Jerry, Cheers was the show in the 80s. And then in the 90s, it became Seinfeld and Friends. In the 2000s, I'm not really sure, Family Guy, maybe Family Guy is maybe a show some people know just worse and worse and worse with time as time goes by. I doubt it's getting better as time goes by. So I remember when I was in college my freshman year, you know, we didn't have a television vision my freshman year, and it wasn't intentional because I wasn't saved when I went to college. We just didn't have a television in the dorm room. And I realized, you know, I don't miss this. And I realized there's better things to do with my time. And quite honestly, since then, I haven't really watched television. I'm not saying I never have, but it's just like, look, we don't watch television. We the condo we bought, it has a television in there that's never been turned on. But look, there's nothing godly that's going to be on there that I'm going to watch. Okay. Let's move our Bible to Job 31, Job 31. What's funny is Baptist preachers in like the 50s and 60s, they would preach against the television and people thought they were extreme. It's like, man, it doesn't seem like it's that bad. Now it's just like almost everybody's in agreement. Yeah, there's a lot of bad stuff on there. It's like even the worldly people, even unsaved people would say, yeah, there's a lot of stuff there that's not appropriate for kids. Oh, but it's appropriate for you. It's not appropriate for your son. But when your son falls asleep at night, then you decide to watch the show where there's all this smut and garbage. Okay. It's like, look, everybody knows that the stuff that's being produced by Hollywood, the TV shows, it's wicked. Okay. So number one, those are some areas of the lust of the eyes. What are some of the dangers of the lust of the eyes? And this kind of ties into the lust of the ears as well. The things that you are allowing to enter into your mind through your eyes or your ears, what are the dangers? Notice what it says in Job 31 verse one. Job 31 verse one. And the first danger is this. It makes you want things that you do not have. It makes you want things that you do not have. Job 31 verse one, I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? So a covenant is basically like a binding agreement, like a contract. And Job said that he made a contract with his eyes. Now, look, I don't believe literally that Job wrote up a contract and like he signed it and he had two witnesses and things such as that. But he basically just kind of made an agreement, made a decision. I will not think upon a maid. What does he mean by that? He's saying, I'm a married man. I will not allow my eyes to wander after someone I'm not married to and lust after that person. Okay. He says, I made a covenant with mine eyes. Why then should I think upon a maid? Verse seven. Verse seven. Notice this. If my step hath turned out of the way and mine heart walked after mine eyes, you say it's no big deal if I just look about it. That's no big deal until your heart decides to walk after the direction your eyes are already going. Say, it's no big deal. I just looked at her. Yeah, but your heart is going to go down the same road because what I always say here is basically your heart is going to follow your actions. You choose to look at it with your eyes and your heart walks after your eyes. See, you know, at first it's just your eyes were lusting after that woman. But now on the inside, you actually want to do something with that person. It wouldn't have happened if you stopped it at the eyes. See, the danger with the eyes and the ears is that is the entrance into all sin. See, if you cut it off at the starting point, you would never have this big of an issue. I mean, didn't David look upon Bathsheba first before he lusted after her? He looked first. I mean, if he didn't look, the thought wouldn't have even entered into his heart. I want to commit adultery with a woman tonight. No, because he looked, it ends up entering into his heart, and his heart walks after his eyes. You say, Brother Stuckey, you know, I would never go out and fornicate, but wait a minute. What if you watch it on TV? You just allowed it to enter into your eyes. No big deal. But wait a minute. What if it enters into your heart? Right now in your heart, that might be the truth. You would never do that. But what if you allow it to enter into your eyes? It's no big deal. I'm just looking. But what ends up happening is your heart will walk after your eyes. That's how it works. Ecclesiastes chapter two, Ecclesiastes chapter two. I mean, the truth is, when it comes to the topic of worldliness, I think Christians in today's world need to be a lot stricter with what's right and wrong. I mean, it's true. I mean, didn't we talk about the common versus normal series? And see, the world is so far in this direction, you say, well, I'm 90% of the way to this side. Yeah. But do you realize how far you're away from godliness right now? Look, the world is so far to that side. And if you even meet them partially, you're so far from what's godly and right. Okay. Yeah. You might be different than the average person in the world. I hope so. But look, in today's world, people feel like I can watch whatever on TV. I can listen to whatever. It's no big deal. Yeah. Until it enters into your heart and your heart walks after your eyes, even the average unsafe person does not plan to commit adultery when they get married. Do you really believe that when a person gets married on their wedding day, then in the back of their mind, it's like, yeah, I'm going to cheat on my wife or I'm going to cheat on my husband. I don't think so. I don't think the majority of them plan to cheat on their spouses, but doesn't it happen quite a bit? Like in America, the statistics I've heard are 75% of marriages, adultery takes place in America. Now, I don't know how they come up with those statistics. I don't know how true it is, but 75% is quite a bit. Three out of four that the majority of marriages, because half of marriages in America end in divorce. 50%. And so pretty much every one of those marriages, you can almost guarantee adultery probably takes place. Okay. I don't believe those people when they got married, it's like till death do us part, but in the back of their head, they're thinking, oh, I'm going to commit adultery in a couple of years. But why does it end up happening? Well, because they let these things enter into their eyes and then it enters into their heart. They let these things enter into the ears and then it enters into their heart. Look, no 12 year old kid is going to say, man, I just want to get drunk and wake up in a pool of vomit. But then when they watch it on TV, oh, it's nice and fun and entertaining. They listen to the song. It's nice and fun and entertaining, man. Maybe I'll go out and drink. It's like they would have never had that thought unless it entered into their eyes, into their ears. Turn your Bible. Ecclesiastes chapter two. Notice what it says in verse 10. Let us, let us listen to him and you say, I don't know if I agree with what you're saying. Well, wouldn't Solomon be the expert in destroying his life? Someone who went from godly to ungodly. I mean, Solomon's probably the expert, right? Notice what Solomon said. And whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. Whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. So what Solomon says is, you know what? Whatever I looked on, whatever I wanted to look on, I looked on it. Whatever my eyes wanted to look on, I didn't withhold it. If my eyes said, man, I like that fancy car, I'll look at that fancy car. If my eyes say, man, that woman over there is attractive, I'll look at that woman. I'll look at that woman and that woman and that woman, that was Solomon, right? Any woman he found attractive, he'd look upon. Anything he wanted. It's not just women, any possessions he wanted. He said, man, I'll look on that, I'll look on that. He said, whatsoever mine eyes desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy. What takes place first? The eyes or the heart? The eyes. See, first he says, I'll look at whatever my eyes want to. And here's the thing, if you don't have the willpower to stop it at the eyes, a good chance you won't have the willpower to stop it when it enters into the heart. First he says, I'll look at whatever my eyes want, and then after that, I'll just let whatever my heart wants happen too. How did it take place? Well, because it entered into his eyes. See, if he was never looking to lust after those women, it would have never happened. Turn to Lamentations 3, verse 51. Lamentations chapter 3, verse 51. So what's the danger of the lust of the eyes? The danger of the lust of the eyes is it will affect your heart. Your eye affects your heart. In fact, in Lamentations 3, verse 51, say, I don't know if I agree with that. Well, why don't you just read Lamentations 3, verse 51? Mine eye affecteth mine heart. Mine eye affecteth mine heart. People say, well, I can just look at it. It's not going to affect me whatsoever. Mine eye affecteth my heart. I mean, didn't it say in Daniel 7 about how the Antichrist will speak words against the most high and shall wear out the saints the most high? You say, why? Because of the fact that your ear affects your heart as well. Your eyes affect your heart. Your ears affect your heart. The things you allow to enter into your mind, your eyes, your ears, it will affect your heart. And quite honestly, I think it probably affects us a whole lot more than we realize. We don't think that watching a TV show is a big deal. Well, you're allowing these things to enter into your heart and you could start desiring things you would have never desired before. Okay, now turn to Philippians chapter 4, Philippians chapter 4. By the way, this is true on the other side as well, because the verse I just read to you in Lamentations 3, mine eye affecteth my heart, it's not actually in a bad context in Lamentations 3. He looks at the problems going on in his location and he says, you know what, it affected his heart. He wanted to do something about it. Look, your eye affects your heart when you read the Bible. See when you memorize Romans, Romans 1, Romans 2, Romans 3, that affects your heart as well. Say Brother Stuckey, you know, this memorization challenge, you know, I don't know if I can do all 16 chapters. Okay, I don't know if I can do all 16 chapters, but here's the thing about this. Even if you only finish like 35%, that will affect your heart in a good way. You say, what if I don't get the prize, there's no purpose. Look, it's going to affect your heart in a good way. It's going to teach you new things and it's going to make you more godly. Okay, your eye affects your heart for good or for bad. So if you allow ungodly things to enter into your eye, it affects your heart in a bad way, but you allow godly things to enter into your eyes, your ears, it affects in a godly way. Mine eye affects my heart. So when it comes to the danger of the lust of the eyes, number one, it makes you want something that you don't have. It makes you covet something that doesn't belong to you, but it also makes you discontent or unhappy with what you do have. Philippians 4, verse 11, not that I speak in respect of want, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. Paul says, you know what? I learned no matter where I was, I was going to be content. No matter what state of life, okay, no matter what state or stage of life, I will be happy. I will be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ with strength and with me. So the context here is in referring to financially. And Paul says, I know how to abound, and I know how to be abased. I know how to have a lot of money. I know how to eat a lot of nice meals, and I know how to live during quarantine and just kind of go on the basics, right? I know how to abound. I know how to suffer need. You say, Brother Stuckey, I don't know how to do that. Well, Paul said, I've learned, Paul learned, okay, this is a learning process probably for all of us. I've never been in a quarantine before that I remember maybe when I was a baby. I don't remember. Okay, but I've never been in quarantine before. Yeah, you know what? You learn to basically be content to be happy. That's what he stated. But, you know, the problem with the lust of the eyes when you're lusting after things that don't belong to you, it doesn't just make you desire things that don't belong to you. It also makes you upset with what you already do have a great example. This is Facebook, right? People go on Facebook all the time. And it's funny on Facebook, everybody has an awesome marriage. Isn't that true? It's like, man, my husband is the greatest husband in the world. And I'll just be honest with you. Here's what I found out by experience, okay? The people that are always bragging about how they have the greatest marriage in the world. My husband's the greatest. My wife is the greatest. Usually in real life, they have a terrible marriage. That is what I found. And this is just circumstantial evidence. I'm just being honest, okay? It's like what I found is basically they're trying to overcompensate. It's like they're trying to cover up for the fact and they're just like, my husband's the sweetest husband. It's like, man, they probably just had a big marriage fight last night. It's like, that's what I found. And you know what? The problem with this is people go on Facebook and they spend hours. I wonder what's going on, you know, with this person that I haven't seen in 15 years. And they just go on Facebook and look for hours. Oh, they've got such a great marriage. They've got such a great marriage. Look at how sweet and romantic her husband is. Why isn't my husband like that? What's funny about this is you're literally watching a Hollywood movie that's fake. It's not even real. It's like you're looking at it's like, man, everybody's got a perfect marriage. It's like, why isn't my wife like that? Why isn't my husband like that? It's not even real what you're seeing. It's like reality TV, which isn't really real, okay? It's fake. And you look at Facebook for hours and hours and you're like, oh, they have such a nice house. They have such a nice car. They have such a nice marriage. And you know what ends up taking place with the lust of the eyes? And look, spending hours on Facebook in a day, that is the lust of the eyes. That is a waste of time to spend hours and hours. I'm not preaching it's a sin to have Facebook. I have a Facebook account and I'm not going to preach something that's not in the Bible. But when you're spending hours and hours just looking into other people's lives, I wonder what they're doing. Yeah, you know what? That's the lust of the eyes. That's called being lazy and wasting your time. And it's not just going to cause you to desire things you don't have. It's going to cause you to be upset with what you already do have. It's like it's interesting before you got on Facebook, you liked your husband. Now you hate your husband. It's like he didn't even do anything. I mean, he's out working, providing for the family. He comes home and then all of a sudden the wife's mad. It's like, what in the world did I do? It's like I didn't even do anything. And it's just like, yeah, I mean, it's like when you spend forever looking on Facebook, Facebook shopping, so to speak, you know what? It's going to make you not just want something you do not have. It's going to make you upset with what you do have. People are happy with the job they have, but then all of a sudden they just kind of look at other people's lives. Man, this actor in Hollywood has so much money. This famous actor has so much money. I wish I could go to Paris. I wish I could go to the Eiffel Tower. Look, the Eiffel Tower is not even nice. I've been there. Okay. It's like the biggest letdown, no offense, but Paris, France, it's like two thumbs down for me, my friend. But I'm just saying it's like, you know what? That was when I was a long time ago. I was like 14 years old, but here's what I'm saying. When people lust with their eyes, the danger of that is not only is it caused you to say, man, I wish I had that. It also caused you to be upset with what you already do have. I mean, you have a nice life, you have a nice job, you have a nice husband or wife, you have a nice church, you have food provided, you have clothing, you have things that you're content with that. But then all of a sudden, when you allow your eyes to just drift off and just pay attention to what other people have, it's going to cause you to not be so happy with what God did provide you. Okay. Now turn your Bible to Genesis 39, Genesis 39. You know, honestly, if you want me to give you a good advice, if you struggle with this, you know, there might be people in this room, there might be ladies that need to just get rid of your Instagram account or get rid of your Facebook. Did you know you can live without Facebook? I mean, you could have no Facebook account and your life might be pretty good. It's like, you know, after I got married, I got rid of my Facebook for almost like a year and a half. I didn't know anything that was going on in the new IFB. I didn't know anything that was going on whatsoever. You know, I was pretty happy though. I was fine without it. And look, if you find yourself every day, you just have to find out what's going on in other people's lives for 30 minutes or 45 minutes. You know, you might want to just delete your Facebook. You might want to just delete your Instagram and just focus on the things in life that you already have rather than being obsessed with things that you don't have. Okay. Notice what it says in Genesis 39. And so how do we prevent the lust of the eyes? How do we prevent the lust of the eyes or the lust of the ears? Well, quite simply, you just avoid putting yourself in a position where your eyes, your ears could lust after something. Genesis 39 verse 10. Genesis 39 verse 10. And it came to pass as she spake to Joseph day by day that he hearken not unto her to lie by her or to be with her. Now Joseph is not married. He's a single guy, but if he were to sleep with this woman, this is adultery. Now obviously it's a sin to commit fornication by itself, but she's married. Okay. So she's trying to get him to commit adultery. This is the horse woman the Bible speaking about. I can imagine that the way she's dressed is probably the attire of an harlot. Why? Because she's a horse woman and they have a certain clothing to her to them. Okay. Genesis 39 verse 10. And she speaks to Joseph day by day. Why is that significant? Well, the significance is it's very easy on the first day to say no, he has no interest whatsoever. But when you get worn out over and over and over again, because the first time you look at something, it might not affect you too badly. If you allow your eyes to lust after a woman that you're not married to, the first time you do it, you're not going to probably walk away and say, all right, I want to commit adultery. Okay. But what if you do that day by day? Every day you look, every day you allow that to enter into your mind, then eventually, day by day, it might start to change your heart. Now, I don't believe this is Joseph's fault because this is his job. He can't avoid it. Okay. But I do believe he's getting worn out by this woman over and over again, and it starts to kind of affect him. And you can tell based on his reaction where he runs out of the house. Okay. So she speaks to him day by day that he hearken not unto her to lie by her or to be with her. And it came to pass about this time that Joseph went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the men of the house there within. And she caught him by his garment saying, lie with me. And he left his garment in her hand and fled and got him out. So basically, Joseph just runs out of the house, and she basically rips the clothing because she's got a hold of it. And the reason why he runs away is because he's afraid he's going to commit adultery. It's obviously a terrible position to be in when you're alone with a woman that's trying to sleep with you and you're trying to be a godly person. Okay. So what's the answer for us? Because Joseph can't really avoid this situation, but what's the answer for us? Well, don't put yourself in that situation. It's really that simple. It's like, you know, honestly, I've heard Pastor Mendez preach this, and I think this is a great principle. I mean, he doesn't ride alone with a woman he's not married to, like if just him and this other woman. It's different if his wife's there, but he's not going to ride alone with a woman he's not married to. You're not going to be alone with someone of the opposite gender you're not married to. You say, why? Because it puts you in a bad position to make mistakes, okay, to do something wrong. No, look, I understand maybe from time to time, for whatever reason, there's a situation that it's impossible to avoid. To the best of your ability, just get out of there. Okay. There have been a few times at our church building when I was here by myself and we're getting ready for church and there'd be some lady that would come and I made sure the door and not that I suspect anything bad of any ladies at our church, but I would keep the door open because you don't want to put yourself in any sort of situation where anyone's going to make an accusation or think whatever, because you don't want to be in that sort of situation. Okay. You don't go alone with someone that you're not married to. Okay. And it's not just that, you know, young men that are not married, in today's world, one of the big problems with smartphones and the internet is pornography. And look, there are kids at a young age that are getting addicted to this stuff. And part of the problem is their parents at the age of 10 say, well, here's your cell phone, son. Here's your cell phone, daughter. Do you really trust a 10 year old to make all the right decisions in life? I mean, if they're not old enough to be thrown out on the street and survive, are they really old enough to just have free access to whatever they want? I mean, in America, what's really common in the land of all the rich people is just there's like 50 TVs in the house and you've got kids that live in one room. You know, you got a son who's eight years old and you buy him a nice TV and it's like, he watches whatever he wants at like midnight or 11. You don't even know what he's watching. It's like, good night. When I grew up, we had a TV, but you know what? My parents had a lot of stations where you're not allowed to watch MTV, not allowed to watch VH1. You're not allowed to watch this or this or this or this. It's like TV time stops at 8 p.m. You're not allowed to watch if we're not there. It's just like, there are a lot of strict rules. In today's world, you know, parents just hand their kids the keys to the kingdom. Here's the keys to the cell phone at the age of 10 years old. I trust you, son. That's foolish. Turn to Proverbs 4, Proverbs 4. You say, what do you do then if you're a young guy and you struggle with that? You know, you put yourself out of that situation. You get rid of the smartphone and you buy a Bobo phone. Buy a phone that has no internet whatsoever. I mean, doesn't that fix the problem? I mean, if you're always on your phone, just, oh, I got to look at this, man. Why don't you just get an old flip phone, right? If you guys, people that are old enough to know what I'm talking about, a flip phone, right? Why don't you get a phone with no internet? And look, you know, people have lived for over 6,000 years without a smartphone. Because when I started college, and this was less than 20 years ago, less than half the people had cell phones. Less than half, okay? It started to shift during that time period where you never called people on just, you know, an old dial phone or whatever or touch phone. You started to have cell phones, but that started really when I was going into college. I didn't have a cell phone my first year of college. And you know what? I was still able to make it to class. I was still able to eat food and to do whatever and be perfectly fine. If you've got a problem with looking on things that you should not on the internet, just get rid of the internet on your phone. It's that simple. Just buy a cheap phone. And look, you avoid putting yourself in that situation. Proverbs 4 verse 14. Proverbs 4 verse 14. And you know, what's funny is when you preach sermons like this, people think you're extreme. I gave the example a few weeks ago, I think, in a sermon when I talked about when I got rid of my secular music and rock music, I had my friend remove the stereo from my car so I couldn't even listen to music if I wanted to. And the reason why is because I didn't want to listen to ungodly music. You say, well, that's extreme. I don't think that's really extreme, to be honest. Because as Christians, you do what you have to do to live a godly life. And according to Proverbs 4, this is not extreme at all. Proverbs 4 verse 14. Enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. I mean, how many times does he have to say, do whatever you have to to avoid putting yourself in a bad position? My advice to you if you struggle with anything I've talked about in this sermon, avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, sell it, throw it in the garbage, do whatever you have to do. That is not extreme. That is Proverbs 4 verses 14 and 15. This is the answer as a Christian, avoid the situation. Turn to Deuteronomy 6, Deuteronomy 6. I would think that most people would say I want to be happy in life. And it's like, you know, if you want to be happy in life, it might seem strict, but you know, it starts with the eyes and the ears. And look, you know, you should just avoid looking at things that you don't have or things that you can't have or things that are wrong to have. You know what you're going to find out? You're going to find yourself a much happier person. People have nice lives, people have nice jobs, they're blessed with a couple kids, they have a nice family, they have a house, they have food, and they're miserable because they look at people that have more. And you say, well, what if I had that, I would be happy if I had that, right? Do you really think that the Donald Trump's and these rich people of the world are happy? The Warren Buffett's? They're miserable. You know what they're mad about? Man, that guy over there has $5 billion. I just have $4 billion. Right? Like Mark Zuckerberg, you know, he's got like $10 billion because of Facebook. I only got like $7 billion. It's just like, man, I don't have as much money as Bill Gates. They always just want more and more and more. You're not going to be content if you have what you're lusting after. All it's going to cause you to do is lust after something even bigger or better. I mean, take Solomon, for example. I mean, did he just lust after one woman? No. Gets married one time, two times, three times, four times, five times, just keeps going. That's the way it works. This is true also with people in America that get divorced. Most people that get divorced in America have been divorced several times. Because if it didn't work the first time, doesn't work the second time, less likely to work the third time, less likely to work the fourth time, less likely to work the fifth time. Actors and actresses in Hollywood that you love, they've been divorced like four, five, six times. They have kids with like seven different women. It's like, man, what a miserable life that would be. So number one, if you want to avoid or prevent the lust of the eyes, first, just avoid putting yourself in that position. But number two, also actively use your eyes for good things, and it's going to prevent your eyes from wanting to look on bad things. Deuteronomy 6 verse 8. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. This is referring to the Word of God, and the Bible says they should be as frontlets between thine eyes. And what that basically means is wherever you go, like the Word of God is in front of you. Now, I'm not saying that you have to just walk around, you're at the grocery store, and you're just like this. But what I'm saying is, you know what, honestly, you should be meditating on God's Word. And look, you know, you should be memorizing God's Word, you should be reading God's Word every day, you should be thinking about God's Word. And look, in your house, you should probably, I mean, if you have three Bibles, put one Bible in each room or whatever. It's like you should have the Bible in front of you and be thinking about it all the time. And look, if the Bible is frontlets between your eyes, this avoids you. This is the picture he's giving. It's kind of hard to lust after something when it's being blocked by the Word of God. So basically, teach your eyes to just meditate on the Word of God, and it's going to help you avoid the lust of the eyes. Turn to Matthew 6. We'll look at one last place. As you're turning to Matthew 6, let me just read to you. In Psalms 119, verse 18, the Bible reads, Open now mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. And you know what, that's the sort of prayer we should have every single morning. It's like, God, open things, open wondrous things out of your word, out of the law that I can learn today. Matthew 6, verse 22, the light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? And see, what the Bible says is that if your eye is single, if it's focused on the things of God, you know what, your whole body is going to be full of light. The Bible says if your eye is evil, your whole body is full of darkness. Do you know what that's telling you? What that's telling you is the things that enter in are going to affect your entire body. It's going to affect your heart. It's going to affect your mind. And if the only things your eyes ever look on are things that are godly, and you never look on someone who's dressed like a whore, you never look on things that basically you're coveting that don't belong to you, your whole body is going to be full of light. But if your eye is evil and you have a wandering eye, isn't that what they say about someone who's married? Yeah, he's a good man. He provides for his family. He's just got a bit of a wandering eye. Look, I promise you that that husband that has a bit of a wandering eye does not just have a wandering eye. For sure he has a wandering heart because what enters into your eye affects your heart. And most likely he has more than just a wandering heart. And look, the Bible says that it starts with the eye. And I believe this verse, you could apply this to the ear as well, because it's anything that's entering into your mind. And I'll be honest with you, when it comes to worldliness as we're preaching through this series, because it's up to you to make the decisions you want in life, I'm not going to sit down and look at every scenario and say, here's my opinion on whether you should do this or not. Okay. I'll say this. You know, obviously I have opinions on things of where I draw the line on worldliness. And if you have a question, you're welcome to come to me and I'll give you my opinion of whether or not I think it's a smart situation or a bad situation. But I'll be honest, like 90% of soul winners, I believe are very worldly people. The vast majority of soul winners in today's world, not just the vast majority of Christians, the vast majority of soul winners. And I'm not saying people in this room, you know, I don't know what you do in your free time. Okay. But I'm just saying, you know, people feel like I can just watch whatever and listen to whatever, and it's no big deal because everybody else is doing it. That makes you a worldly person by definition. That's what the Bible is speaking about. And look, every one of us to some degree, to some level, we have some worldliness. Okay. I'm not sitting here saying I'm perfect. I'm not perfect. I think all of us could apply this to our lives, but I'll be honest with you. I think we're setting the bar very low on what Godliness and holiness is in today's world because everybody else is doing it, all the world's doing it. So it's no big deal if I do it too. Well, according to the Bible, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the ears, these things are wrong. And here's the thing. If you allow us to enter into your heart, enter into your eyes, it will enter into your heart. Let's close in the word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. Help us to apply this sermon to our lives, God, help us to control our eyes, to control our ears, to control these lusts that we have, God, and help us to realize how dangerous it is that this is really the entrance into either living godly or living a very sinful life, God. We pray this to our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.