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

I want to focus upon just the first few verses there at the beginning of chapter 33, where the Bible reads, Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright. Praise the Lord with heart. Sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song. Play skillfully with a loud noise. And what I want to preach about this morning is the subject of music. And music is a really important subject in the Bible. In fact, the longest book in the Bible is the book of Psalms with 150 chapters. And basically what it is, is a song book. If you read through the book of Psalms, it becomes clear that these are songs that were actually sung to music back in the days of the children of Israel when these songs were written. And basically that should tell us something right away about the importance of music. The longest book in the Bible is a song book. And it's all about singing praises to God. And these songs also tell great stories about things that happened in the past. And also they prophesy about the coming of Jesus Christ. I mean, it's a great book in the Bible. But let's go through and see some of the things that God has to say about music in the book of Psalms. Look at Psalm 40. We're in Psalm 33, where God commanded us to rejoice, to sing praises. He talked about using various musical instruments. But look at Psalm 40, verse 1. The Bible reads, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he had put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Look at Psalm 96. This is all by way of introduction. I just want to show you some things from the book of Psalms. Look at Psalm 96, verse number 1. The Bible reads, O sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord. Bless his name. Show forth his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods, for all the gods of the nations are idols. But the Lord made the heavens. Look at Psalm 144 for the end of the book of Psalms. Psalm 144, in verse number 9. 144 reads, I will sing a new song unto thee, O God, upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings, while I sing praises unto thee. And then just go over just a few pages to the right, Psalm 150. The last psalm says this, Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet. Praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance. Praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals. Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Now, look, we could go on and on. I mean, we're only reading just a few psalms here. We could go on and on throughout the book of Psalms where God is commanding us to sing praises unto him, right? And he also talks a lot about musical instruments being used to bring praise to him. He mentions a lot of stringed instruments. He mentions cymbals, organs, timbrels, harps, all these different musical instruments that we are to use to sing praises unto God and to praise his name. Now, one thing I want to point out is that you noticed over and over again he said sing a new song. Well, he defined what that meant in Psalm 40 when he said that after he got saved, David is talking about how he was delivered from the pit, you know, basically a reference to hell there is what he's referring to. And he's saying he's standing upon the rock, which of course we know that that rock is Jesus Christ from the New Testament. And he said he has put a new song in my mouth and he explains that is even praise to our God. You see, we as Christians, we as Bible believing people of God need to be singing the new song, not the old song of this world. You see, God is telling us here that the songs that need to be coming out of our mouth are praises to God. We should be singing praises unto God, not the same old stuff that we used to sing or that we hear the world singing and so forth. You see, music is a huge subject today because music is a big part of people's lives. And I think music has always been a big part of people's lives. But today it seems like every teenager you see, every young person you see, you know, they've got their iPod and they've got their headphones in. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the iPod or listening to something on headphones, but the problem is that the music that's being listened to today by the young people is garbage. And by the way, lest you just get all over the young people, the music that's listened to by the older crowd today is the same garbage. It's just the garbage that they listened to when they were teenagers, you know, back in the 1960s. And it's just as bad. And I want to expose to you why it's so important that we have the right music in our life. Now if you would, turn to Ephesians chapter number 5 verse 18. Ephesians in the New Testament, Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5, 18. Some of the things we saw in those verses we went through in Psalms was that we should be praising God from day to day. Every single day He commands us to sing praises unto Him, right? I mean Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Not just when we come to church. He said day unto day. He said let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. And just to avoid repetition I only read for you several examples. There are way, way more scriptures in the book of Psalms on that subject. But look at Ephesians 5, 18. It says this, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. And then he elaborates upon being filled with the Spirit. He says, 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. So according to these scriptures here, our music should be psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, right? So let me ask you something. Where does the world's trash fit into that? Where does all the hip hop and R&B and rock and roll and country western that everybody tunes into on the radio today, that's everything that's of the world, that has nothing to do with God, nothing to do with Jesus Christ, nothing to do with the Bible, nothing to do with salvation unless perhaps it's blaspheming it. Where do you find that in this verse? When He says we should be filled with the Spirit. If something's filled, there's not room for anything else. That's the definition of being full. I mean if this cup were full, you can't add anything to it, can you? If it's not filled, there's room for everything else. But if we are filled with the Spirit, if day by day the new song is in our mouth, if we are constantly speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, let me ask you something. Where does the world's music, where does U2 fit into that category? Where does REM fit into that category? Where does Bon Jovi, okay I'm sorry, I'm a child of the 80s, somebody help me out with some newer groups here. Come on, worldly ones, call out some of the new music. I'm tired of preaching about the same music for years. Lady Gaga. What? Lady Gaga. Where does that, what is that? The horrible music of today, I dread to think because 10 years ago when I was listening to this stuff, it was bad then. And I doubt it's gotten better in the last 10 years. And whenever I catch bits and pieces of it, because I'm like you, right? I go into restaurants, I go into the airport, I go to the gas station, I go to the store, and I hear this stuff playing all the time. And some of the stuff that I hear coming over the speakers is literally obscene. And I wonder like how is this even allowed to be played on a normal radio station? The obscenity and the filth that's coming across. And music is a powerful thing. Because if music caused me to be filled with the spirit, okay, if I'm filled with the spirit as I sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, I wonder what spirit I'm filled with when I'm singing along with Lady Gaga, you know, or whatever else. Garbage is being played across the radio today. So we need to take this admonition seriously to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Look at Psalm 22. Go back to Psalm 22. Back in the book of Psalms. And this is a great psalm about prophesying the coming of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. But it says in Psalm 22 verse 3, it says, But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Isn't that an interesting verse? According to that verse, God lives inside of the praises of his people. Do you see that? Thou that inhabitest the praises of thy people. So music is a spiritual thing, isn't it? If we're filled with the spirit, speaking to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and we see here that God inhabits the praises of Israel, go down in Psalm 22, just a few verses to verse number 22, it says this, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. That's quoted in the New Testament as, In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee, in Hebrews 2.12. So we see here that we should be singing God's praises first of all in church. Look at verse 25. He says almost the same thing. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. Congregation means church, according to the Bible. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. Go to Psalm 35 18. Psalm 35 18. So far we've seen that music is a spiritual thing. It's something that God commands us to be singing daily, praises to him the new song, God's music, psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. But look at Psalm 35 18, it says I will give thee thanks in the great congregation. I will praise thee among much people. So when we come to church it's a time to sing, right? When we're in the congregation, when we're among much people. Look at Psalm 89 verse 5. This is why we have congregational singing at Faith Ward Baptist Church. This is why instead of just coming and sitting in the chair and listening to some performer get up here and sing, which is what a lot of churches are slowly switching to and totally have replaced congregational singing with you sitting and listening to someone else sing. Now, where in any of these verses did it say listen to someone sing? Listen to music? No, it's just over and over it's telling us to sing praises. In the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto thee? In the midst of the church will I praise it? I will praise the Lord in the midst of the congregation. Look at Psalm 89 verse 5. And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints. Look at Psalm 107 verse 32. Psalm 107 verse 32 says this, let them exalt him, talking about exalting the Lord Jesus Christ, in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders. So it's very scriptural to sing in church, isn't it? Look at Psalm 111 verse 1. Psalm 111 verse 1 says this, praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. So does it sound like church is a place that we go to just listen to music and sit back and be expected? No, we're supposed to go to church and sing praises to God in the congregation. That's why when we have singing, we have songbooks on every chair. You can open the book, sing along, and we can all sing out with a loud voice, the Bible says, and praise God with these psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Look at Psalm 149 verse 1. Psalm 149 verse 1, right at the end of the book of Psalms, it says, praise ye the Lord, sing unto the Lord a new song and his praise in the congregation of the saints. So we see over and over again that we're supposed to come to church, we're supposed to sing, we're supposed to praise God, but not only at church, day to day, every day we should be singing the praise of God. That's why I encourage you, if you don't have one of these hymnals, take it home. Take one home. I mean, honestly, we give them out for free. We don't sell anything here. This isn't a house of merchandise. And so these hymns should be with you, these songs and other songs and hymns and spiritual songs should be with you throughout the week. I take this book with me all the time and sing these praises to God. Because music should be a part of our life, but it shouldn't be the world's music, it shouldn't be the godless music of this world that teaches you and says to you nothing that's right. I mean, if you listen to the world's music, it is empty, it's vain, it's meaningless. How many songs have you listened to of the world's music and you just wonder, what is this song even about? What do these words even mean? The world doesn't have anything to sing about. They're unsaved, they're going to hell, they don't even believe in God, they don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so all they can do is glorify money. Or they can glorify the relationship with the opposite gender. I mean, that's all they know is just the flesh, just whatever the flesh can understand, which is just, you know, boy-girl relationships or money. And they don't exalt marriage. You know, you don't listen to songs about, you know, we've been married for 30 years. No. It's all about dating. It's all about just meeting someone. So here's the problem. You got people being married for 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, but that whole time they're just listening to songs all day about dating. And then here's what they do. They divorce their spouse and go date because it's been glorified in their mind. Seriously. I mean, stop and think about it. I'm 29 years old, okay? Now, I've been married for over 10 years. You know, God willing, if my wife and I are both still alive, we're going to be married probably for 40 or 50 years, right? I mean, we're going to spend most of our life... So if I got married at age 19 and I'm married until I'm 69 or 79, you know, I'm going to be married for a really long time, right? How long was I really dating for? Just a couple of years. I mean, that's a really small part of your life. Do you understand that? I mean, when you're young, you're dating, you're in that phase. But all the world's music, that's all it's about all day long. And it glorifies into people's mind that people that are married today, they have this midlife crisis because they want to go relive something that's been pumped into their mind five million times through the world's music. You know, we ought to sing about something that matters a little bit more than just singing about teenagers dating all day long. You know, is that what your whole life is about? Is that what you listen to for two hours a day every day? I mean, why don't you meditate upon God's word? You know, why don't you sing some songs that praise God and lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Look at Colossians chapter 3 verse 16. But the world has nothing to sing about except just the flesh. You know, they can sing about it, and most of it's illicit anyway. And most of it is godless anyway. You know, the hip-hop music of today, if you want to get on that, what does it glorify? Drugs. You know, you get the Dr. Dre again, you know, I don't know the new stuff, okay? Help me out. Is it still around? Still D-R-E, right? No. So, you know, he's still around but I don't know the new rap artist. But, you know, when I think of rap music, I'm thinking of when I was younger, you know, I was a teenager. It was Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, you know, that was the rap music. And, you know, if you open up the Dr. Dre CD, it's just everything is marijuana, everything is pot, everything, that's all it's glorifying through and through. And it's all glorifying just using and abusing women, calling women derogatory names, right? Being disrespectful to women, calling them derogatory names, being abusive to them, and it's glorifying the music. And if you pump that music into your mind all day, it will affect the way that you think. It will affect the way that you act. Don't say it doesn't affect you. If the right kind of music, according to the Bible, can cause me to be filled with the Spirit, then the wrong kind of music can fill you with the Spirit of this world. The Bible says we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. That means there is a Spirit of this world, isn't there? According to 1 Corinthians 2. And he said that's not the Spirit that we should be filling our mind with. We should be filled with the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. And there's nothing holy about today's hip-hop music culture that glorifies violence, that glorifies fornication, that glorifies being a whoremonger, that glorifies the love of money and doing anything to get money. That is not of God. And then if we get on to the rock and roll music, and you can get on to the gothic, the dark themes of rock music. I mean today, if you look at the typical rock music cover, what's very dark, gloomy, you know, skulls, you see all these images of death. And the Bible says this, all they that hate me love death. And that's why you see a glorification of death and dying and evil among the rock music of the day, the hard rock and the dark themes. I mean that's not what God wants to say. The Bible says what so ever things are true, what so ever things are honest, what so ever things are just, what so ever things are pure, what so ever things are lovely, what so ever things are a good report. He said if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. He doesn't want us to just glorify death. And you look at the artists that sing this music, and you know, what do they have? Men with dark eye makeup. Isn't it true? Men with dark eye makeup, trying to look dark and evil. First of all, what are you doing putting on makeup as a man? Are you some kind of a queer or something? And you know, back in the 80's they put on all kinds of makeup and everything, these rock stars, they would put on full blown makeup, lipstick, eyeliner. It's filthy. It's garbage. And we as Christians have just become immune to it because we live in this world, we just begin to just accept anything as normal. Just oh yeah, it's just normal, it's just rap music, it's just rock music, whatever. But really, it's wicked. You know, we could go through each style of individual music. And to me, one of the most blasphemous music, types of music that I hear is country music. Because country music often times drags in the name of Jesus Christ, even though the subject matter is wicked. Like for example, you'll hear a lot of country music songs sing about adultery and drinking and fornication and yet they'll tie in Jesus Christ. I heard a song on the radio just in a public place that the chorus of the song was about some hillbilly stupid town or something, you know, they glorify some river that you've never heard of or some town or whatever, you know, in the middle of nowhere. And they said, that's where I drank my first beer, that's where I found Jesus. That's the chorus. It's where I drank my first beer, it's where I found Jesus. And then I heard another country song recently that was basically teaching work salvation. Saying that basically you had to be good to go to heaven. I heard it, I think this is like a 50s or 60s pop song that came back into fashion. You know, I'm not going to get up here and sing it for you. But I heard this other little doo-wop type song, one of the golden oldies. It said, where oh where can my baby be? The Lord took her away from me. She's gone to heaven so I've got to be good. So then I'll go there or whatever. Who's heard that? Who knows the song I'm talking about? Huh? Worldly crowd. So basically what's the song saying? You've got to be good to go to heaven. No, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says there's none that doeth good, no, not one. The Bible says what must I do to be saved? And they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But is that what the song teaches? She went to heaven so I need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior? No. Oh I've got to be good so that I'll go to heaven. You know, and how can we as God's people listen to that and approve of that type of music? And that's the type of message that's in a lot of these songs. I heard another country western song that was all about an idol. It was all about a statue of Jesus that this man made and put in his front yard. Which is idolatry, it's a graven image. And that was the whole song was about. Who's heard that song? Thank God we don't have listeners of that kind of song. I heard it all the way. It was all about like just building this graven image to Jesus and how great it was to put that in the front yard. And I'm sorry, but music that's produced by the world is not going to lift up righteousness and the things of God. Okay. Now where did I have you turn or did I have you turn in Yeah, look at Colossians 3. Colossians chapter 3. And we're going to get into some other things about music here. But forgive me for not knowing enough about worldly music. I'm doing the best I can up here. But anyway, Colossians chapter 3 verse 16. I thank God I don't know about it. Why would I want to know about it? You think I'm going to research it and study it for this sermon? You know what I researched for this sermon? The Bible. I'm sorry if I only know three hip hop groups. I don't want to know a fourth group. But anyway, in Colossians 3 verse 16 it says, Let the word of Christ, listen carefully to these words. 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. Now, the Bible says here that when we come together as a church, this book of Colossians is written to the church at Colossae. When we come to church, the Bible says when we sing together in the congregation as we saw, what, 15 times in the book of Psalms, we're teaching and admonishing one another, aren't we? That's because whenever you sing music or listen to music, something is being taught, right? Because he said teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. So if we hear songs that are teaching the wrong message, we're learning false doctrine. That's why it's so important that we make sure that the songs that we sing are preaching the truth. Now, when young people are listening to that song, I've got to go to heaven or I want to go to heaven so I've got to be good, that's teaching them something. And when we knock on that person's door to try to give them the gospel of Jesus Christ, that's already been programmed into their head hundreds of times. Because you know people listen to the same songs hundreds of times. And they've heard over and over, she's gone to heaven so I've got to be good, I've got to be good, I've got to be good, I've got to be good. And then we come to the door and try to give them the gospel and they still think, I've got to be good, I've got to be good, I've got to be good. That's how I'm going to be saved. Not to mention all the other things it teaches about their lifestyle, about their dating, about the way that they interact with the opposite gender that's been brainwashed and programmed in their mind. But music is a teaching tool. That's why the songs that we sing, we strive to make sure that they're always doctrinally correct. Like some of the hymns that we sing, you can see great doctrine being taught. Like for example, one of my favorite songs in the hymnal, 263, Verily Verily. Who knows the song? But okay, 263. It says, oh what a savior that he died for me. From condemnation he hath made me free. He that believeth on the sun, saith he, hath everlasting life. Now isn't that, that's a great message. And every verse of the song is teaching more doctrine about how salvation is through believing on Jesus Christ. Other verses of the song talk about how you can't lose your salvation, how it's free, and all these different things that are taught in that song. And the songs that we sing here, they teach all kinds of great truths. They're very deep songs. They're not shallow. They're teaching and admonishing us Bible truths, Bible doctrines. Now, we've pretty much talked about what's wrong with the world's music. You know, obviously you could probably in your mind say, well I have this certain CD or this group and I don't really think that there's anything wrong with it. Okay, we'll turn to 1 John chapter 2. You know, we're talking about worldly music, we're talking about just, you know, stuff that's popular, stuff that's played on the radio, whether it be, you know, and I don't know what your little genre is, you know, rock, country, pop, hip hop, R&B, whatever the style of being, they probably come out with new styles that I don't even know. Emo, is that a style of music? Or is that just the way that feminine guys dress? Are there any new genres that I'm leaving out? Grunge? You know, whatever type of musical genres are out there. You know, I don't have time to sit here and go through each song. Because if I had time, I could be up here for 10 hours and just go through each group, each song, each album and just tell you what's wrong with it. Number 1, I don't want to do that research. Number 2, it's not necessary because if you get these Bible principles down, you'll be able to select the right music. Because first of all, anything that is coming from the world is wrong. Let me show you why. Look at 1 John chapter 2. In 1 John chapter 2 verse 15, it says this, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. Now, here we're talking about two different sources of things. The word of there is like a source. There are things that come from God, things that come from the Father, and then there are things that come from the world, right? And the Bible is telling us here in 1 John 2.15 that all that is in the world pretty much exalts these three things and falls under these three categories. Because he says in verse number 16, for all that is in the world, comma, he's going to tell us what's in the world. This is what's out there in the world of music. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Now, think about the world's music today. Doesn't it characterize those three things? Like, for example, the lust of the eyes. Go to a record store, go to a CD store, go to a store where you find all the, don't laugh at me for not having a record store, they are called record stores, okay? Anyway, go to a record store, go to the CD aisle, and you look at the album covers and what do you see? Scantily clad women, don't you? And many of the most popular musicians today are women who are basically dressed immodestly, they're showing off their body, and basically it's the lust of the eyes that people will gravitate toward that singing artist because of the way they look, right? Because this beautiful woman, of course she's exposing herself wickedly to the world, and you can't even walk into a record store today and look down the aisles of the music without having your eyes defiled with pornographic images on the covers of these albums. And that's part of the problem right there, the lust of the eyes. But what about the pride of life? Pride. Think about the way that these musicians pose for their album covers. You know, and I'll demonstrate some pose for you, you know. And they're not just smiling or whatever, you know, it's just like. You know, or maybe they have like a gun or something, you know. It's like a hip-hop, you know, whatever. Or you know, it's like. You know, whatever the pose, right? Isn't it a prideful image that's put forth? It's pride. It's glorifying self. You know, doing some kind of a photoshoot, just glorifying me, look at me, you know, whether male or female, you know. Look at me and just basically idolize, turning yourself into an idol for people to worship is what it is. And that's where the posters. And literally today, teenagers lay on their bed at night with a poster attached to the ceiling above their bed so that they can lay in bed and look up at their idol. And look up at their, you know, little teeny bopper heartthrob. You know, teenage girls today have that. Who's the, come on, help me out. Who's the teeny heartthrob singer? Who is it? Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber? What? Bieber. Justin Bieber, you know, laying on their back looking up at, oh, Justin Bieber, you know, he's so cute. Have you ever noticed what happens to these teenage stars, these teenage singers? You know, the kid's probably going to be on crack in like three years on the cover of, he's going to be on the cover of some magazine in the grocery store all, you know, just coming out of rehab for being on crack. That's where they all end up. I mean, maybe you could show me some rare exception, but these teeny bopper stars and everybody, look, who's the other one? The Hannah Montana, right? What's her real name? What is it? Miley Cyrus. Thank you. Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana. Every time I hear it, every time I hear that name, it's in the news. Oh, she was sending pornographic pictures of herself to some other teeny bopper. That's what I heard. Who heard that in the news? She's sending pornographic pictures of herself to some other teeny bopper boy band, and she's posing in indecent positions and doing all these horrible things, and this today is considered the Disney Channel, you know, for children, kids. It's safe. I heard this about this little dance, a little Disney radio station in Southern California. This is safe music for your kids. Yeah, I really want my daughter to idolize Hannah Montana so she can grow up and send wicked, filthy pictures of herself out on the internet. We need to wake up as Christians here and understand that the rulers of the darkness of this world, that Satan and his minions have an agenda of destroying the morality of our youth and thereby of an entire generation through music. Through music, they get them to idolize all the wrong people, idolize people who end up being in the news every week for drunk driving and shoplifting and anorexia nervosa. You know, they get us to idolize these heroes to pump our mind full of false doctrine, blasphemy, fornication, adultery, lasciviousness. Those are the works of the flesh, my friend. The Bible says now the works of the flesh are manacles which are these. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like of the which I tell you before as I've also told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. Now let me ask you something. Does this world have the Holy Spirit? Do they have the fruit of the Spirit? No. They have the works of the flesh. And I'm not going to list them again. Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, that's not what I want to fill my mind with. That's all that's in the world. Look at verse 16. Did he say, well some of the stuff that's in the world, some of the stuff that the world puts out, some of the stuff that Hollywood puts out, some of the stuff that the music industry puts out, watch out because some of it involves the lust of the flesh. Is that what it says? It says all that's in the world. That's all they are. That's all they've got. See, we as Christians have the flesh and the Spirit. If we walk in the Spirit, we'll do the right thing. If we walk in the flesh, we'll commit sin. We'll do these things. And we all have the flesh with us on a daily basis. But you see, the world, that's all they've got is the flesh. You know what I mean? And that's all they've got. Now you say, well Pastor Anderson, you skipped one. You talked about the lust of the eyes, you talked about the pride of life. What about the lust of the flesh? You know, the lust of the flesh plays a prominent role in today's music. And you can notice it in the singing voice used by the performers. And I don't even want to go into any graphic detail here. You know, I don't even want to, you know, go unclean here in what I'm saying. But I think you probably know what I'm talking about. When you listen to the singing today, mainly by female entertainers, but even by male entertainers, they sing in a way that's a sensual way. They use a sensual singing voice that basically reminds you of the bedroom. We'll just call it the bedroom voice. And we hear the bedroom voice coming through the speakers and it's an indecency in the way that they sing. You see, this is the way a normal person sings. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Now does it sound like I'm in the bedroom with my wife right now? No. But you know what I'm talking about. I'm not going to demonstrate the filth that comes across those radio speakers, but if you'll be having an honest heart, you know what I'm talking about. This getting real close to the microphone and getting all intimate and singing in a way that is obscene. This is something that appeals to the lust of the flesh. These female voices that men listen to and it appeals to the lust of their flesh. But you say, Pastor Anderson, I get it. You know, the world puts out a lot of garbage. Amen and amen. And you know, the rock and roll and the, you know, go back to the roots of rock and roll. Where did it come from? If you look at the pioneers of rock and roll, they were wicked people. Go back to Ray Charles, heroin addict. Go back to Little Richard, sodomite, homosexual. I mean, these are some of the pioneers of rock and roll. I mean, going way back. Okay. Go back to the people like the Beatles, who basically, one of the albums was just John Lennon nude on the cover. They had to put a sticker over it in the store so that people wouldn't be defiled just glancing at the album on the shelf in the store. Go back, I mean, you listen to the Beatles and you think they're wonderful. The Beatles said this, right now we're more popular than Jesus Christ. They said in 50 years from now, Christianity will be dying, but the Beatles will still be popular. But you know what? He's probably right, but you know what? In a hundred years from now or a thousand years from now, the Beatles will be burning in hell and the meat shall inherit the earth. And Jesus Christ will be really great. But how would you like to listen to the music of somebody who basically said we're better than Jesus Christ? Who literally has songs comparing himself to Jesus Christ and talk about himself being crucified. You know, that's blasphemy, my friend. And these are the type of songs that the Beatles had. And you say, oh, the Beach Boys. I used to love the Beach Boys. I grew up listening to the Beach Boys. And you want to talk about a clean cut group in the early days, right? They have the clean cut button up shirts, smiling, you know, let's go surfing now. This is all really wholesome and fun, right? Okay, here's the thing. My parents grew up in L.A., right? So the Beach Boys are huge. I mean, that's where they're from, L.A. And my parents grew up in L.A. and my dad one time literally dated a girl one time. He just went on like one date with her or something, just a casual thing. This girl ended up hanging around the Manson family. You know Charles Manson? Who knows who Charles Manson is? Okay. Did you know that the drummer of the Beach Boys, who was one of the founding members, Dennis Wilson, because basically the Beach Boys is like three brothers and their cousin or like the core of the group. The drummer Dennis Wilson was buddies with Charles Manson and even the Beach Boys actually brought Charles Manson into their studio. This is before they found out about all the murders and stuff. They brought Charles Manson into the studio and recorded some of Charles Manson's music. Did you know that? I mean, the Beach Boys were recording music in the studio with Charles Manson because they were going over there and doing drugs with Charles Manson, being a whoremonger and a fornicator with Charles Manson. And you know, you look at the Beach Boys later on, they got all drugged out. All of a sudden they got all this real long hair and they're into drugs and they're worshipping Satan and whatever. And that's probably the most wholesome group you can think of. And it doesn't sound very wholesome. You see what I'm saying? And so you look at all the way back to the beginning, rock and roll has always had an agenda to defile and to basically get you into things that you don't want to get into. But you say, okay Pastor Anderson, I get it. I get it because, you know, the world is putting out garbage. That's why I'm going to listen to all Christian music, right? And that's why I'm going to go to the Christian bookstore and get the Christian rock, the Christian rap, the Christian hip hop and the Christian country western sound. Now you say, what's wrong with that Pastor Anderson? Well, I'll tell you what's wrong with it. A couple of things. But first of all, let me say this. The first thing that's wrong with your music, the first acid test of your music is where it came from. Because if it came from the world, if it came from the unsaved, it's going to come from the flesh. And God wants us to sing spiritual songs, the new song, right? Praises to God. So that right there cuts out the world's music. You know, we shouldn't be filling our mind with that stuff. It's the wrong spirit. But not only should we not get our music from the world, look at Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter number 12. Romans chapter number 12. And by the way, I work in the fire alarm business and I was basically going around inspecting a ton of fire alarms at day cares. And it's amazing how even in day cares, where the children are like six months old, a year old, two years old, they're pumping them with rock music. They're pumping them with, what's this Hispanic sodomite queer guy? What is it? Ricky what? Ricky Martin. Is that right? Thank you. Ricky Martin. What are you into? No, I'm just kidding. Ricky Martin. They're playing Ricky Martin. They're playing Elton John. Both openly homo sodomites. They're playing all this stuff. They're playing Michael Jackson for him. Say, Oh, don't get on Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson was a known pedophile. Oh, he was found not guilty. Right. Except you know what he was found guilty of though? You know what he was found guilty of? Possessing pornography of children. Okay. That's what he was. That's what he did have in possession, my friend. That's a fact. Yeah. He was found not guilty because he had multimillion dollar attorneys, but you know, and that's the way justice works in this country. It's a coin operated justice, but he was found guilty of being a pervert and a pedophile. I mean, look at the guy. Give me, is anybody going to actually defend the guy? It's disgusting. And people will say, Oh, but we love the music. That music is teaching you and you're being taught by them. And what if I had Michael Jackson, I know he's in hell right now, but what if I had Michael Jackson come behind this pulpit right now and I said, we have a special guest speaker today, a guest preacher, and we're going to have Michael Jackson teach us the Bible today. We're going to have him teach on, uh, you know, what's right. You would flip out. You'd say, we don't want to be taught by Michael Jackson. You'd look at him and go, you know, just for looking at him because he's so mutilated himself and you would be disgusted. Anybody in here would walk out of a church. If you were in a church and Michael Jackson got that, but what you don't understand is that when you put in his CD, he's teaching and admonishing you. You say, well, but not in the house of God. Hey, your body's the temple of the Holy Spirit. You know what I mean? Don't bring Michael Jackson's music into your temple. Would you bring a Michael Jackson CD into God's holy temple? You know, and yet you're pumping it into the temple when you put it in their headphones. Okay. Where did I return? I'm sorry. Romans 12. The first acid test of our music is the first John chapter two test. Is it of the father or is it of the world? Right? Did it come from God's people or did it come from this world? But here's the second test of our music. It says in Romans 12 one, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service and watch this next verse, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The second test for our music is, the first test was, is it of the world? The second test should be, is it conformed to the world? Is it conformed to the world? Our music should not be the music of people who are saved Christians, but trying to copy the style of the world. I mean, today, Christian artists, all they are is like a lame version of the world's music plus Jesus, like a low budget, you know, it's a low budget Metallica that mentions Jesus. And today we have Christian artists where if you walked in to the Christian bookstore, you can look right at them and tell exactly who they are trying to copy. Oh, they are trying to look like this Metallica album. Oh, that's supposed to look like Snoop Dogg. Oh, that looks exactly like Garth Brooks. And you can tell who they are copying. Because what they are trying to do, they are trying to take young people, and here's a young person right here, let's say I say to this young person, Chris, you need to stop listening to Dr. Dre, Chris. You need to get off of Snoop Dogg and Public Enemy. You need to get off of Eazy-E. He died of AIDS. So here, Chris, let me make this easy for you. I'm going to take Eazy-E, Snoop Dogg, Public Enemy, and Body Count from you, and I'm going to give you Christian rap. But I'm not going to give it to you, I'm going to sell it to you. So let's take all your bad music and let's throw it in the trash, right? And then here is $17.99 a CD. Where are you going to be paying by cash, check, or credit card today? So basically what it is, is it's a money maker. The love of money is the root of all evil, my friend. And there is a huge money making industry today of making Christian music that's exactly like the world's garbage, just Christianized and sanitized for your protection. And basically getting the young people preaching to them that the world's music is bad. Oh, but get this Christian music and buy this and listen to that. First of all, I don't listen to any music. I'd rather sing praises to God than to listen to music. But here's the thing. The music today that's patterned after the world is violating this scripture. It's conformed to this world. Why would I want to listen to some Christian that's so backslidden that they're listening to hundreds of hours of Metallica in order to copy their sound? Because if you look at these Christian artists, and again, I'm going back to when I was a teenager. DC Talk, you know, was the big one when I was a kid. You look at DC Talk, you look at, somebody help me out here. Man, it's been a long time. What? Striper. That's before my time. Man. I'm not that old. You go back and look at them. You can literally go to these Christian groups' websites and they'll list influences. And it'll be like Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne. I mean, they'll list the wicked satanic groups that are openly satanic and list them as that's who influenced our music. That's where we get our sound. And they'll even put it on a sticker in the Christian music store. Hey, if you love AC DC and Metallica and Black Sabbath, you're going to love this group. And that's how they advertise it. I mean, DC Talk, which was the number one group when I was a teenager, at least in California, I mean, it was huge. When DC Talk was out and they had their album Jesus Freak. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Their big album Jesus Freak by DC Talk. They made a music video for DC Talk Jesus Freak and they used the producer of Nine Inch Nails video closer. And here's what they said. We just loved the Nine Inch Nails video closer, which is the most blasphemous, filthy, imaginable music that's just openly blaspheming God, filthy, disgusting sodomite song that I won't even begin to even tell you about that I've had the misfortune of hearing as a teenager at school of all places. They watched this disgusting satanic, wicked video and said, we liked it so much, we got the producer of that video to produce our Christian Jesus Freak video. Do you see how this music industry of the Christian contemporary music and Christian rock, Christian rap is just trying to pattern itself after the world? They're trying to sound as much like the world as possible because they know that's what the world likes. That's what the flesh wants. And so they try to emulate it. Our music should not be conformed to this world. Now you say, Pastor Anderson, I don't think all of it's conformed to this world. Well, here's the problem. If music today is not conformed to the world, it won't be popular. Period. I'm going to show you that in the Bible. Look at John chapter 15. If today's contemporary music were not conformed to the world, if it were actually songs and hymns and spiritual songs, if it was actually music that honored the Lord Jesus Christ, it would not be popular. And I'll show you why it wouldn't be popular. Look at John chapter 15. Because John chapter 15 says this in verse 17. These things I command you that you love one another. Everybody in John 15, look at verse 18. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own. Do you see how to make music that people are going to like? Do you see how to be a great Christian rock star that everybody's going to love? All you've got to do is be like the world. Because if you're of the world, the world's going to love his own. But because you're not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world loves you anyway. Is that what it says? No, it says therefore the world hates you. He said I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Verse 20. Remember the word that I said unto you. The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, did they persecute Jesus? Absolutely. He says if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. And that says if I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin, but now they will have seen and hated both me and my Father. Isn't it, look at how many times it says over and over, hate. He says in verse 25, but this cometh the fast that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, they hated me without a cause. So how many times did Jesus say, hey look, the world hates me. The world has hated me. The world has persecuted me. Because I'm not of the world. Jesus said this a little bit earlier in the book. He said, he was talking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the Jews. He said, I am of this world. He said, you are of this world, I am not of this world. He said, I'm from above, you're from beneath. He said, therefore you shall die in your sins. He said, because if you believe not, did you get that? If you believe not, that's how you be saved by believing, right? He said, if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. So over and over he says, look, the world has hated me. He said, the world will hate you if you're following me. He said, I am the master, you are the servant. And he said, hey, the servant is not better than the master, right? Is any of us better than Jesus Christ? No way. And he said, you're not better than me, and if they hated me, they will definitely hate you. He said, if they called the master of the house Beelzebub, Jesus was talking about himself, because they called Jesus Beelzebub. He said, if they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? He's basically saying, they're going to hate you more than they hated me. And yet today these Christian rock stars are popular among the world. Why? Because they pattern themselves, the way they look is to try to look like the world. They try to talk like the world, they dress like the world, they act like the world, and the words that come out of their mouth are tailored and trimmed to not offend this world. You see, the problem with Christian contemporary music today is that it doesn't teach you anything. It doesn't admonish you anything. If you read the book of Psalms, we have 150 Psalms, and did you know that the Psalms are one of the most controversial parts of the Bible? Did you know that? I mean, you want to end up on CNN as a hate preacher? You know, start preaching out of the book of Psalms, and you'll be there. Because let me tell you something, the book of Psalms is some of the most doctrinally dense, I mean, when you're reading the New Testament, you know what Jesus is quoting the most? And what the apostles are quoting the most? The book of Psalms. Have you noticed that? Constantly, the apostles, Jesus, they're quoting Psalms, they're quoting Psalms, they're quoting Psalms. Because Psalms is filled with doctrine, and it has some of the most controversial passages in it. Some of the passages that would make this world the most uncomfortable are found in the book of Psalms. That was the music that they sang. Because music has a purpose to teach doctrine. Doctrine means teaching. But today's Christian contemporary music, Christian rock, Christian praise and worship type of a style, genre, is devoid of biblical doctrine. The musical sound is copying the sound of rock and rap and reggae of this world. And the words have been removed of all biblical doctrine. Because here's the problem. If they started getting down to brass tacks doctrinally in their songs, the world would not accept it. I mean, what if they had a song that just said, salvation you only have to believe on Jesus Christ and you can never lose your salvation. How many denominations are going to be into that music? Now that's the gospel, isn't it? That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. How many denominations? They're going to the Pentecostals because they believe you can lose it. They believe you can lose your salvation. They don't think it's depart from me I never knew you, like the Bible says, they think it's depart from me I used to know you. They don't think it's you must be born again, they think it's you must be born again and again and again and again. They don't believe I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. They believe I give unto them temporary life and they might perish and somebody might pluck them out of my hand. So as soon as you start having a song that makes the gospel clear that it's all faith, not of works, you just lost the Roman Catholics. What if you have a song that exalts Jesus Christ as God in the flesh? Well now you just lost the JFWs and the Mormons and these other cults that believe that Jesus is not God. You see what I'm saying? Pick any doctrine you want, the Bible always divides. The Bible is a dividing book because it divides from those who believe the truth to those who don't believe the truth. Jesus said, think not that I'm come to send peace on earth, I came not to bring peace but division. The Bible says there was a division among the people because of his name, because of his sake. And so the bottom line is that if music put out by these Christian contemporary artists actually preached clear doctrine or took a stand on anything, well guess what, they just lost a lot of their market and what is their goal? To make money. To make money. That's why you have to pay 30 bucks at the door to get in here. I mean don't they just want to praise God at these churches? I mean they come to a church and sing praises to God but you have to pay to get in at these concerts that are held at these mega churches. You have to pay to get in. Who's ever been to a Christian rock concert? I have when I was a teenager. Who's been to a Christian rock concert? Was it free? How much did you pay? Do you remember approximately? 10 bucks, 20 bucks. And that was back then. Now it's probably even more. But yeah you paid 10 bucks, 20 bucks, 30 bucks. I mean it was just like going to a typical rock concert. You paid a pretty substantial amount. Probably 10 bucks or 20 bucks was the usual, maybe 15. But it's about the money. So if your desire is to make money, if you're running a business, your goal is to have as many customers as possible. And when you start hitting on specific doctrines, right, you're going to start losing people. So what do you got to do? Keep it all really vague. Our God is an awesome God. He reigns from heaven above. Does anyone disagree with the fact that God's awesome? Oh that goes in the face of my denomination. God is not an awesome God. See they purposely make the music just so vague, God's awesome. But they won't tell you doctrine. I mean look at the book of Psalms. It's so clear doctrine. It's talking about salvation, it's talking about heaven, it's talking about hell, it's talking about all these different things. When was the last time you heard a Christian song about hell? That's not the big theme in Christian contemporary music. I'm sure you can dig one out somewhere about hell. And if so, it's probably making a mockery of hell or downplaying hell if you can find a Christian song about hell. But you go to the Christian contemporary, but yeah you find songs that deal with hell. You know what I mean? And so the bottom line is that the Christian contemporary music of this world is a copycat of the world's music and then they've just stripped it from all doctrines so that it's not teaching you, it's not admonishing you. Now I'm running out of time, but compare that to our hymnal of the songs that we sing. There's about what, 500 songs in here? 450 songs in here? These songs are filled with doctrine, they're doctrinally accurate, they teach the Bible. Did anybody walk in this morning and confuse this with Dr. Grey or Eminem or the Backstreet Boys or Lady Gaga? No. You knew right away that it was people singing in church. And all these songs are not the same. There are different styles within this hymnal. There are different ways that the music is sung. There's a lot of musical variety in the hymnal. But what you're not going to find is music in here that sounds like the world. And what you're not going to find is these praise and worship choruses where you repeat the same sentence 500 times. One more time, our God is an awesome God. And it's just trying to make it feel like a rock concert. Our God is an awesome God. And another thing you're not going to find in this church is people getting up here and singing special solos, period. But nobody sings a solo, we sing in the congregation, right? We all sing. Nothing more boring than listening to special music in church. But we come to church and sing. But most of the time, when you do have the soloists and the duets and the quartets, they get up and they copy that sensual singing voice, that bedroom voice. And many fundamental Baptist churches today, they'll think, well, we don't have worldly music, you know, because we don't have drums. That's what they'll say. We don't have drums. I was at a church and I said, I said, I can't go to this church anymore. I said, this music is just ridiculous. Because you had all these guys getting up and they were effeminate as hell, these effeminate little guys getting up there. And they would get up and close their eyes and just sing in this sensual voice. And it was disgusting. They're closing their eyes and getting all intimate with the microphone. And I felt defiled even being in the auditorium. And then you'd have women get up there and they're wiggling and wailing up there. And I said, I can't go to this church. I said, this music is worldly. And then you know what the pastor said? We don't have drums. I'm thinking like, that's not the problem, my friend. You know, okay, thank you for not having drums. You know, but I feel like my eardrums have been defiled up here, you know, from this beat. I feel like it's unclean to even be here. I feel indecent even listening to this stuff because of the way the singing was. And because of the style of the music. And because it was coming straight out of the world. And so our church strives to have music that is not like the world. Because our goal is to be different from the world. Not to try to copy the world so we can kind of ease people in, you know. Just kind of like, maybe he won't notice. You know, he's got like his Metallica CD or whatever, just kind of like, you got to do a little switcheroo, you know. And it's like, yeah, you know, Jesus. You know, he's like, what? He probably wouldn't even notice because I'm sure Metallica sings about Jesus too. They're probably screaming and blaspheming him. And then you can get one that screams Jesus saves. But you know what, either way, that's not helping you grow spiritually. You're just falling into the trap of being conformed to this world. God says be transformed, not conformed to this world. Be different. He said, I want you to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works, singing and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that teach you something. That help you grow in the Lord. And so again, I encourage you, if you don't have one of these hymnals, you know, or maybe you have a different hymnal at home that's a hymnal of good Bible hymns, take one of these home, it's free, because this music should be a part of your life. Not the garbage that the world's putting out, or that the Christian bookstore so-called is selling. That's why I always have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, dear God, and please just help it to sink down into our ears. Help us to sing the new song to praise you, and help us not be conformed to the world or pattern ourselves after truly wicked people that are running the music industry, dear God. Help us to be filled with the Spirit, reading our Bibles daily and singing hymns and praises to you, dear God, that are not a money-making industry of copying the world, but rather that actually came from the heart of people who loved you. And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.