This is a sermon I wrote up a while back. This should be one of the last multiple day posts. For the rest of the year, expect to see the continuation of the Genesis studies and then new content starting Jan 1. I doubt it will be daily, but I will be aiming for at least publishing twice a week. Enjoy!
Allen
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Now this won’t be a message preaching against having a TV (that might be later on) but rather on what the tv shows us. I was sitting in class one morning and we ended up watching a quick 15 minute video on television finally becoming legal in Buthan. Its a buddhist country who’s religion is against desiring things and violence.
Now in 1999 the TV was made legal and people started having them in their homes. They noticed soon after that people were becoming materialistic and the children were becoming violent (watching wrestling). Even the monks were being distracted from their prayers and religious duties by the television.
People mistakenly believe that the TV impresses on other people the western culture. You go to school or listen to the news or read some kind of opinion article and someone (most likely from the “west”) will talk about how people from other countries hate how materialistic we are, and hate capitalism. The interesting thing is that the conservative, mostly Muslim leaders hate us, and yet their people are going out and buying american stuff. How does Television do that to people?
I’ll show you, go to Genesis 8:21 “And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart [is] evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”
Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
God said to Noah after the flood that He would no longer curse the ground for man’s sake. Even though man’s heart is evil, from his youth!
Psalm 51:5 says “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
Our heart, is naturally sinful and evil. We are born into sin and we commit sin.
Psalm 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:”
To the christians TV shows the flesh, the old nature. To the unsaved it shows the deepest desire of their heart.
John says in 1 John 2:16 “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.”
If you’ve even just flipped channels chances are you’ll see some kind of fornication. Almost every movie or television show you see or hear about has some kind of illict activities, or hints at it very strongly. Thats what the world and the flesh likes. They can’t get enough of it. No matter how perverse or wicked it may become.
Read Genesis 19 about Sodom and Gomorrah
Read Genesis 39 about what happened to Joseph for not giving into his master’s wife’s desire.
Read Judges 19 about Gibeah and the next few chapters seeing what happened to them and those who defended them.
Read in 2nd Samuel 11 about David and Bathsheba
2nd Samuel 11: 27 “But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD”
There’s a commandment against this lust of the flesh
Exodus 20:14 “Thou shalt not commit adultery”
Matthew 5:27 “Ye have heard it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
If we are honest, we know we have broken this 7th commandment, from scripture we know that the lust of the flesh is sin.
Ephesians 2:3 “Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
Think about all the advertisements on television, its a multi-billion dollar industry. A lot of times you may think that only little kids get affected by advertisements but you know you do too. Its a very powerful marketing tool. If it didn’t work, no one would be doing it. In fact, if advertising didn’t work, TV wouldn’t be around. See a little kid watch TV around christmas time, sooner or later they’ll be begging their parents for something. Adults, you look through the advertisements on sunday morning perhaps? “Well thats to see if there’s anything I need thats on sale.” you say. If there was something you really need, you’re not going to wait for it to be on sale. If the fridge is empty you won’t wait until the sunday coupons come in to buy something. Let’s be honest, we all want something that we don’t need, there’s a big difference in the two, but we have a hard time it seems to figuring it out. TV loves to try and sell us something, there’s even whole channels with the point of it being to sell you something.
There’s are many examples in the Bible about the lust of the eyes
Genesis 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] 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.”
Genesis 13:10 “And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it [was] well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, [even] as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.”
But one of the greatest examples of this is King Solomon. He had everything! As many wives and concubines as he desired, he was the richest of all kings and yet he wrote the book Ecclesiastes.
Look at Ecclesiastes 2
v. 4. “I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards; I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:” see, Solomon didn’t even renovate his houses, he just built new ones.
v 8. “I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments, and that of all sorts.”
He had money and peculiar treasures. Meaning lots of antiques and one of a kind items. Pretty much he could listen to any music he wanted to, the best of it.
v. 10. “And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.”
Even after all that, he was still not satisfied with it. It would not fulfill. People buy more and more stuff and desire more and more never realizing that it will never satisfy.
There is a commandment against the lust of the eyes
Exodus 20:17 “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s.”
Luke 12:15 “And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
Be honest, haven’t you broken the 10th commandment?
The pride of life, thats a whole big category, just like the previous two. And just like the previous two, television reflects this pride of life in various ways. We have the athlete who tries the best to be the strongest and beat all of the opponents. We have so many violent movies out there, and in reality, all it really does is glorify killing. You talk to police officers and those in the military, they really don’t like shooting people. You say “the good guys usually win and shoot the bad guys” yea, but how realistic is it? It is not for historical purposes because there is hardly any historical value in knowing what one looks like when shot, nor is it the most effective way to teach military strategy. The violence on TV desensitizes people to violence going on in the world. But the message it really conveys is that you are the most important thing. That nothing else matters except you and what you want and that nothing should stand in your way. It’s all about you. Time magazine’s person of the year in 2006 was you!
Well the Bible of course has something to say about that, one of the first things I thought about was Satan
Isaiah 14:12-14 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”
Satan said “I” 5 times in those two verses. Satan wants to ascend and be God, but look what is going to happen to him.
Isaiah 14:15-17 “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; [that] opened not the house of his prisoners?”
The next thing that I think of is the people of Babel
Genesis 11:4 “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
They said “us” or “we” 5 times in that one verse. They didn’t want to be scattered abroad but look what happened in verse 8
Genesis 11:8 “So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.”
See
Now look one more time about Satan
Ezekiel 28:12-19 “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone [was] thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never [shalt] thou [be] any more.”
See what pride does? See what it brings about?
And likewise, there is a commandment against this pride of life in the 10 commandments.
Exodus 20:13 “Thou shalt not kill”
Matthew 5:21-22 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
1 John 2:9 “He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.”
1 John 3:15 “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
We have all broken the 6th commandment. What reason is there for hating your brother except pride? Something he did to you? there’s pride showing up. Pride is all about you.
The reason television is the way it is is because that is what people like. That is what is truly in people’s hearts. Lust, covetousness, greed, violence, pride, its all there. They think we are exposing them to western culture, but its not true. What they’re being exposed to is the inner desires of their sinful heart.
Our heart, our unregenerate flesh is sinful and evil. For the saved person, we have the holy Spirit inside us to guide us into all truth. But the flesh is still there. Paul acknowledges that in Romans.
Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not.”
And he goes on to talk about how he wants to do good but doesn’t do it and what he doesn’t want to do, that he does. Look at verse 23
Romans 7:23-24 “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”
The old nature is still inside us Christians.
But the unsaved person doesn’t have the Spirit and without the Spirit they are not a child of God.
John 3:3-6 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
You have to be born-again into the family of God. If you are not born again you don’t have God as your Father, you have another one
John 8:37-38 “I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.”
John 8:42-44 “Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”
Judges 21:25 “In those days [there was] no king in Israel, [but] every man did [that which was] right in his own eyes.”
Thats a general summary of it all, everyone did that which was right in his own eyes. Even though it was said in Deuteronomy 12:8 “Ye shall not do after all [the things] that we do here this day, every man whatsoever [is] right in his own eyes.”
Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all”
We’ve all gone astray and did that which was right in our own eyes. We’ve all broken the commandments of the Holy and Perfect God. If even after all this you still don’t think you’re a sinner. Look at Deuteronomy 18:13 “Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God” and again in Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Are you perfect? if you’re not then you’ve admitted that you’ve broken the commandment of God and you are a sinner deserving of hell. Do you watch and enjoy the adultery and fornication that is portrayed on the TV screen? Are you lusting after things that you do not own? Are you puffed up with pride and covetousness? Are you violent? The Bible says you are.
We are all sinners deserving hell. God’s heaven is holy and will allow no sin therein.
Mark 7:21 says “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
1 Corinthians 6:9 says “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
You cannot enter into heaven by anything you do! all our righteousness is like filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6) God’s standard is perfect and we come short. It’s like driving to New York and stopping somewhere on I30. We don’t even come close.
Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”
But there is good news.
Romans 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly
Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Do you see that? God bled and died for us. We deserve hell but we don’t have to go there for eternity. So what do we have to do to get saved?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
2 Corinthians 6:2 “(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now [is] the accepted time; behold, now [is] the day of salvation.)”
John 4:14 “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Revelation 22:17 “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
Will you come?