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

Amen. So the title of the sermon tonight is Vexed with the Wicked, Vexed with the Wicked. And I'm going to pick it up there in 2 Peter 2, beginning in verse 6, and it says, And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensemble unto those that after should live ungodly. And this isn't part of the sermon, but you know, that's an important verse to understand, especially the day and age that we're living in, especially in the month that we're going through right now, you know, the Pride Month, where all the fags are just out and about and just creating their filth up and down the streets of America, and shoving in everybody's faces everywhere you turn, you know, is that you say, well, what does God think about them? Well, it says that he turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes and condemned them with an overthrow, making them, talking about the people that he did that to, an ensemble unto those that after should live ungodly. So what do you what does God think about all this filth? That's what he thinks about. He could just destroy it all and burn it. Okay, now I'm just getting that off my chest. That's not really what I want to focus in on this passage. It says there in verse seven, and delivered just Lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, for that righteous man dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. I'm going to focus on the fact that, you know, Lot was a man that was living in Sodom and Gomorrah, and it says there that he was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. Now, notice that word there, with. It doesn't say he was vexed by them. He was vexed with them because he was dwelling among them. And I want to look at this character of Lot today, and I want us to see in what ways Lot vexed himself. How is it that Lot, a righteous man, ended up vexing himself with the conversation of the wicked, the filthy conversation of the wicked? Because if we can look at that, you know, maybe we can understand how we're being vexed in the same way, because I don't know about you, but it is a vexing thing to be surrounded by the filthy conversation of the wicked. It vexes me to even have to even know that there's a Pride Month. Now, it doesn't ruin my day. You know, I don't it doesn't I don't toss and turn all night. What, you know, worried about what the homos are going to do, you know, but the fact is it does vex a lot of people. I'll be perfectly honest. I totally forgot it was even Pride Month until I went on Facebook on June 1st. And it wasn't Facebook that reminded me it was somebody else, you know, a friend that was posting how vexed they were, you know, and people say, oh, the all the all the homos stuff is in the newsfeed. It's like, yeah, but my newsfeed, it's people ripping on them. So it's not exactly, you know, but still, even that, it's kind of like, I don't want I don't want to think about this. This isn't a topic I enjoy thinking about or preaching, but you know what? It needs to be preached. It's something that we have to bring up, you know, just because it's being shoved in our face everywhere we go. And we're going to look at it tonight and hopefully we can understand ways that we can at least, you know, minimize the vexation of the filthy conversation of the wicked, because we do dwell amongst the wicked people. You know, we're living in a city or excuse me, a nation that's becoming a modern Sodom and Gomorrah. Right. And we need to look at Lot and see what he did. What what did he do that caused him to be vexed day by day, it says. And there wasn't I mean, June is pretty tough, but for some people, if you're paying too much attention to all this filth that's out there. But, you know, you can go, you know, I don't think we got the point where it's just day by day, if we're if we're finding ourselves just being vexed day by day, day by day by the filthy conversation of the wicked, maybe maybe we're a little bit of the problem. Obviously, they're wicked, they're bad. They shouldn't be doing what they're doing. They should go back in the closet and just quietly go to hell because that's where they're going anyway. But that's not the world we're living in. So if we find ourselves just being vexed day by day, we might be the problem. You know, we might be the ones that kind of need to look at our priorities, look at how we're spending our time and look at Lot tonight and see how is it that he vexed himself with the filthy conversation of the wicked. So that word vexed, you know, that's not something that we find in our you know, we don't we don't use that very often. You know, it's not a real common word in our modern vernacular, but it's a Bible word. And, you know, if we were going to go to the you know, the dictionary definition, the first one is just to vex somebody is or to be vexed is to be irritated. It's to be annoyed. It's to be provoked. You know, so you can think about that. Kids, next time your sibling is doing one of those things to you, you can say you're vexing me. Mom, someone says vexing me. You know what I mean? So but that's not that's not the way by the Bible is really using it, is it? Because the other definition is to be tormented, troubled and distressed. Now, maybe you could use that in your home with your siblings. I don't know. But but that is a more severe thing, isn't it? To be I mean, there's being annoyed, there's being irritated and then there's being tormented and then there's being troubled. There's being distressed, you know, worried about what's going on or what's happening. Right. That's being vexed by it. So when it says that he was vexed with the filthy conversation, the wicked, you know, it wasn't he was just, you know, annoyed. You know, Lot was just really irritated. You know, Lot was almost, you know, raped by these sodomites. You know, Lot, you know, was was in serious danger. He was, you know, surrounded by very wicked people who were, you know, troubling him and distressing him. That's really the more relatable of the two, even for us. We'll see that in a minute. But if you would bookmark Second Peter and go over to Exodus chapter one, Exodus chapter one, just to kind of give us an idea of how this word vexed is used in the Bible. You're going to Exodus one. I'll read from Numbers 20. It says, And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom. Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us. How our fathers went down into Egypt and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time and the Egyptians vexed our fathers. So this is, you know, where the Bible is using that word vexed. You know, and it says that the Egyptians vexed us. You know, speaking of the children of Israel when they're coming out of Egypt. You know, this is his message to Kadesh unto the king of Edom. He's saying, hey, you know that when we were in Egypt, they vexed us. Right. So what was it that they did there in Egypt? Well, Exodus chapter one, it says in verse eight, Now there rose up a new king over Egypt, which do not Joseph. And he said unto this people, Behold, the people, the children of Israel, are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply it, it come to pass, that when they fall without any war, they join also into our enemies and fight against us. And so get them up out of the land. Therefore, they did set over them taskmasters to do what? To afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh's treasure cities, Pithom and Ramses. And go to verse 13. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to do what? Serve with rigor. So notice, you know, they're afflicting them. This is what that vexation is, to be afflicted, being made to serve with rigor. You know, they're taskmasters, they're slave drivers. They're making their life what? Verse 14, made their lives bitter with hard bondage and mortar and brick and all manner of service in the field. So when they were being afflicted or they were being vexed, as Moses said it, Moses said, hey, they were vexing us when we were in Egypt. This is what they did. And this was the result. What they did is that they afflicted them. What they did is that they made them to serve with rigor, right? This is a very physical thing that they were doing. This is a physical vexation. But what was the result? That's really what I wanna focus in on because this is the part that we can relate to. You know, we don't have, you know, taskmasters, you know, driving, you know, beating a drum and making us carry bricks around and make mortar and build cities for them like slaves. But you know what? We can be made bitter. We can be vexed to the point, you know, like Lot was, that we, what? Our lives become bitter with hard bondage. It can be almost a type of bondage. We can be made bitter. We can become to despise life. We can come to say, you know what? I just wish it all end. I just wish Jesus would come and just put an end to all this and become bitter and be angry and be vexed day to day if we're not careful. You see, the Egyptians, they vexed them physically and it made life bitter. The Sodomites, they vexed Lot spiritually. You know, they vexed his heart, they vexed his mind, and it made his life bitter too. I mean, how couldn't it? If you're being vexed by something day by day, don't you think that would make you bitter? If just every day you're just having to see this filth, every day you're just being reminded of the ungodliness that is around you, of the wickedness that's around you, it would make you bitter. Let's go over to Genesis chapter number 13. Genesis chapter number 13. You see, today, many Christians, they're a lot like Lot. Many Christians today are like Lot. They, you know, what was Lot like? Well, he was at ease physically. Life, from a financial perspective, was probably going pretty good for Lot. He'd probably done pretty well for himself in Sodom. He went there and enjoyed the economy, was doing well. And physically, he was at ease, but in his mind, he was vexed. In his heart, he was vexed. And a lot of Christians are like that today, especially in this country. Life's going pretty good, they're taking it easy, they got a decent job. Physically, they're at ease, but in their heart, in their mind, they're being vexed. Why is that? Well, we'll get into that in a minute. Let's look at how Lot did it. How did Lot vex himself? Well, you're there in Genesis chapter 13. Let's just start reading there. We know the story here. Verse eight, this is where, you know, Abraham's coming out of Egypt with a great deal of cattle and men, and it becomes, it gets to the point where, well, go look at verse six. He's with Lot. And the land was not able to bear them. You know, him and Lot. They might dwell together, for their substance was great so that they could not dwell together. So there's just no room. They're both doing so well financially, they've got such great herds, they're prospering so well that there's just no room in the land. Verse seven, and there was a strife between the herdmen of Abraham's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle, and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between mine herdmen and thine 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. If thou wilt depart to the right, then I will go to the left. So he gives, you know, Abram graciously gives Lot the choice. He says, you pick which way you want to go. You know, and I feel like, you know, Abram, it's kind of a side topic, the reason he was able to do that is because Abram was probably coming to the realization that wherever he went, God was gonna bless him. You know, he fleed, he'd already gone to Egypt, and God, you know, he had one idea going in that things weren't gonna go so well, and he walks out with all this wealth. It's probably dawning on him, hey, wherever I go, God's gonna bless me, so you know what, Lot, you pick whatever you want. You know, Lot, I think, didn't have that same degree of faith, because it says in verse 10, and Lot lift up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere. It was very fruitful, it was abundant, right? There was gonna be lots of fresh grass and things for his herds to eat. There's, you know, he was gonna be able to have it make a good living on the plains of Jordan. It was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even at the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zohar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves, the one from the other. And Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent towards Sodom. But the men of Sodom were sinners, were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly. Okay, they were Sodomites. You know, and let me just go ahead and remind us, too, that not all sins equal. It says there that these men of Sodom were sinners before the Lord exceedingly. This wasn't just your average run-of-the-mill sinner. These were very wicked men. That's what Sodomites are. Even today, they are the worst kind of people imaginable. They say, well, that's not, you know, I know of you, or I've seen them, or, you know, I know some actor or some musician that's that, they're not that way. You don't follow them around. You think, they're pulling the wool over your eyes. You know, they're projecting some kind of image. They've got some curated life that they show to the public. But behind closed doors, it's a shame to even speak of the things which are done of them in secret. They're the worst type of filth there are in this world. I mean, the Bible says they were wicked sinners before the Lord exceedingly, to the point where he said, you know what, I'm just gonna destroy them off the face of the earth. So that's what God thought about them. And it says in verse 14, Lord sent Abraham after that lot was separated from him. Lift up now thine eyes and look toward the place where thou northward and southward and eastward and westward. Well, you know, that's all I really wanted to read there. But notice there, he said in Genesis chapter 13 that he saw the well-watered plains of Jordan. You know, a lot of Christians are like Lot today. They look at the world. They look at America. They look at our economy. They look living in some first world world. They've got all the, you know, nice things. They've got all the amenities that, you know, living in this economy has. And look, I'm grateful for those things. They're nice. You know, that's not what life's all about, but they look at it and they see the well-watered plains of the world. And you know what? You could end up like Lot. You know, Lot started to look at, he looked at the well-watered plains. You know what he started to do? He started to love that plain of Jordan. He started to love these things. It says in verse 12 that Abraham dwelt, excuse me, Abraham dwelt in the land of Canaan and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain. And what did he do? He pitched his tent toward Sodom. He's saying, look, I just want to look at Sodom. You know, it's a beautiful skyline, Sodom. They had nice big buildings. At night it was just so beautiful. Maybe there was a nice stream that went by and the lights reflected off of it. You know, maybe he just liked looking at Sodom, that filthy, wicked, disgusting city. But yeah, it's got a great economy. I mean, look at the skyline. Look how big the buildings are. Look at, there's a bank there and a bank there and a bank there. They've got all this, you know, hustle and bustle going about. It's a very profitable place to live. Well, you know what? The devil's got a lot of money, doesn't he? And he knows how to spread it around. You know, a lot of Christians today, they're at ease physically, like Lot was, and they're falling in love with the world. And the Bible says to love not the world, not the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. It says, if any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Does that mean if you love the world, God doesn't love you? That's not what that's saying. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Meaning, if you love the world, you don't love the Father. You don't love the Father, because no man can serve two masters. He will hate the one and love the other, he will despise the one and love the other. You gotta pick, you can't serve God and mammon. You know, I talked about that on Thursday. Look, you know, Christians get to the point today where they're so in love with the world, there's no love for God left, there's no room for God in their heart. There's no room left in their heart for the love of God, because it's just so filled with the world. They're like Lot. They're just staring at Sodom, they got their tent pitched towards Sodom, and they're just loving the world. That's what Lot did, he pitched his tent towards Sodom, toward the world. And you know what, here's the thing. You stare at the world long enough, you'll end up acting just like him. That's what we learn from Lot. You pitch, I mean, where do we find Lot? Eventually, in Sodom, right? He's living in Sodom. Is that where he started out? No, he just pitched his tent, he was just in the cities of the plain. He was just looking at Sodom, admiring it. Saying, oh, you know, I know I'm one of God's people, but you know, Sodom's got a few things, you know, it looks like Sodom, maybe that's not so bad. And you stare at it long enough, and then it becomes normal. Then you become desensitized to it. And eventually you'll just be sitting right down with him. You know, I point this out a few sermons back, but Psalms chapter one, it says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. That was Lot's problem, he just walked by, you know, the ungodly. He was just walking by, oh, there's Sodom, just kind of walking by. And they say, you know, I'm walking by so often, I'm getting so tired, let me just take a seat, and just kind of take a break and look at it. And then he ended up sitting in the way of sinners. It's a progression. You know, you go from walking, to standing, to sitting. You hang around long enough, you stare at it long enough, eventually they'll suck you right in. You know, and a lot of it, I think the reason, you know, part of Lot's problem was that, is that he didn't have any foresight. He couldn't look at the wicked and see what they had coming. You know, and that's what we need to learn to do. You know, if you ever find yourself envying the wicked, envying the world, you just need to remind yourself what they have coming. You just remind yourself that, you know, if they don't get saved, they're going to hell. You know, if they're gonna live some wicked life, they're gonna deal with all of the consequences that come with living that wicked life. You know, and everything, you know, it's just a show. You know, Sodom is just a show. The world is just a show that's just this nice, you know, veneer that they put up there, but behind it, if you peel that back, there's just shame and regret, and there's just pain and sorrow. That's what's beneath it. They don't show you that, okay? They couldn't see what's coming. You know, the Bible says, "'There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, "'but the end thereof are the ways of death.'" Oh, what's wrong with Sodom? They're prospering. I mean, it looks so well. I mean, it's well-watered here. Everything looks like it's going so well. Yeah, but the end thereof is the ways of death, the Bible says. I mean, look at verse 10. "'It was well-watered everywhere.'" It looks so good. Yeah, before the Lord destroyed it, before the Lord destroyed Sodom, it looks pretty good, but Lot needed to remind himself, oh, these are ungodly. These are wicked sinners before the Lord, and God is going to destroy them. I wonder how it looks now. We can go over there now, and it's just a barren wasteland. It's no good for anything. His problem was that he vexed himself through loving the world. He loved it so much, just looking at it, but eventually he grew more and more in love with Sodom, more and more in love with the sin, more in love with the pleasures of this life, the pleasures of sin for a season. He fell more and more in love with it until he find himself dwelling among them. Go over to Genesis chapter 19. It said in 2 Peter 2, you're going to Genesis 19, he delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked for that righteous man dwelling among them. You know, why was he vexed? How did Lot vex himself? He fell in love with them. He fell in love with Sodom. He fell in love with the world, and then he decided, well, I'm just going to dwell among them. I'm just going to be just like them. I'm going to just go get myself a nice little house down in Sodom and just get cozy and just cozy up next door to some bunch of Sodomites and just start to think that this is normal. And you know what that led to? Him being vexed and a lot of other things too. Lot lived an unseparated life. You know, we are called as Christians to live an unseparated life. I'm not saying we're called to go, you know, start some compound somewhere and cut ourselves off from the world and just, you know, all wear the same thing and just, you know, try to, that's not what I'm saying. But we are called to live, to be different, to be a peculiar people, to be, you know, a separated, a sanctified people, to certainly not be dwelling among people like the Sodomites and making them our friends, making, you know, them the people that we want to hang around with. Because there's this concept that we need to understand. And people, you know, they don't get this sometimes. I'm just going to say it. The bad always make the good bad. The bad always make the good bad. People think, oh, I know they're bad, but I'm going to make them better. No, you're not. Maybe Lot looked at Sodom and said, you know, I'm going to go clean up that town. I'm going to move into Sodom and I'm going to, you know, I'm going to teach them about the Lord and I'm going to, you know, convert these people. I mean, that's what a lot of churches are like today. Have a bunch of, they say, well, we're going to, we're going to reach these reprobates. Do you even know what that word means, sir? It means rejected by God, right? Well, we're going to reach them. We're going to reach people that God gave up on. Well, good luck with that. But in the meantime, what actually happened when, I don't know that that was probably, that probably was not Lot's philosophy, but you know what? Lot didn't start out as a bad guy and he went in there and it made him worse. It affected his whole family, as we'll see. You know, the good always are always made worse by the bad. It's never the other way around. You know, there's the illustration that we could do where I could stand on the chair, right? And then I could have one of you come up here and I could try to pull you up to where I am, you know, make you better, lift you, you know, get you on a higher plane. That'd be very hard to do, wouldn't it? Some of you would be much harder than others. I could probably pull up a few of the kids, right? But you know what would be real easy? It's for you to come up and pull me off that chair or just knock me off balance. And that's why I'm not going to give you the opportunity to do so, right? But it's always easy to drag somebody down. That's the picture there, right? It's easy to bring people down that is to lift people up. Lott vexed himself by dwelling among them and not living a separated life. He vexed himself in what? In seeing and hearing their filthy conversation and their unlawful deeds. He was looking at it, he saw it. And it says that he saw it day to day. He saw it day to day. Now look, it's one thing to have something wicked catch your eye. You know, you didn't go looking for it. Something just crosses your path. You're like, whoa. But it's another thing when you're just looking at it day to day. When you're just seeing it day to day, surrounding yourself by it. You know, you really at that point have no one to blame but yourself. You know, we're going to be out in the world. We're going to, you know, things are going to cross our eyes. We're going to hear things that we'd rather not hear just because that's the world that we live in. But Lott vexed himself because it wasn't just enough for him to just see Sodom off in the distance. He had to go in there and just get right in there with him and mix it up and see him every day and listen to him every day. You know what? Lott vexed his righteous soul day to day in seeing and hearing the filthy conversation of the wicked. It's one thing to see that had the wicked catch your eye. It's another thing to just, you know, purposely and consistently just stare at them. You know what it ended up doing is it ended up destroying his family. And for sake of time, we won't go through the whole story but if you went and read Genesis 19, his wife gets destroyed. You know, his daughters that had married his, got married off to his son-in-law, they all got destroyed. He seemed as one that mocked. You know, his wife looked back and turned a pillar of salt, you know. She was bitter about having to live, leave Sodom. God says, oh, you're so salty about it. Why don't you just be a pillar of salt then? You want to be there so bad. You just want to be with the Sodomites so bad. You know what? We'll just show people how salty you are. And then of course we know how that story ends. You know, he ends up committing incest with his daughters. You know, they get him drunk. Where do you think they learned that? In Sodom. You know, and here's the thing, here's the danger. We think, oh, well I can handle it. You know, I kind of grew up in the world and I, you know, I've seen things growing up that maybe I should have, but you know, what you're saying is you're already desensitized. You know, I'm already so callous and desensitized to sin that it won't affect me as bad. Yeah, but what about your kids? What about your spouse? Is it gonna, are they gonna be able to handle it? Because lots couldn't. You know, a lot, you know, those things were done unto him in that cave. But you know what, it was his daughters that did it and they might not have learned it from dad, but they learned it from the world that they were living and they learned it from that wicked world, those wicked Sodomites that he was dwelling among. Go over to 1 John chapter two, 1 John chapter number two. 1 John chapter number two. You know, that's how Lot vexed himself. You know, Lot vexed himself by dwelling among them, by loving the world, by seeing and hearing, by staring at the filth, by staring at the sin, by hearing the wickedness day in and day out, listening to their music, watching their films, watching their entertainment, taking it all in. That vexed him day by day and ended up destroying his family. You know, Lot serves an example to those who will live as he did. We should look at Lot and say that's a warning to us. You know, Sodom and Gomorrah serve, we like to talk about that, don't we? You know, that's some good preaching right there. We like to talk about, and amen, yeah, I like it too. We like to talk about how Sodom and Gomorrah, they're an example to all these filthy Sodomites, you know what, and amen. But you know what, Lot is an example to us. Lot is an example to us that if you want, you wanna be like Lot, you wanna love the world, you wanna live an unseparated life, you wanna just take in everything the world has to offer, don't be surprised if you, like Lot, end up vexing your righteous soul day by day. Lot's our example. You know, the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, that's for the world, that's for the Sodomites, the wicked. You know, Lot is our example. So how do we vex ourselves today? Well, we vex ourselves the same way Lot vexed himself. Look, and I get it, people are getting vexed today by the things that are going on. But sometimes I wonder, it's like, is it entirely the world's fault that you're so vexed by all this? You see people just raging online about, you know, can you believe this, and can you believe that? It's like, actually, yeah, I can. And it's been going on for a while now. And maybe it's new to you, but it's like, it's, you know, yeah. And that's why I just, you know, I liked it, well, time to delete the Facebook app off the phone. Time to take, you know, let's let 30 days go by without it. You know, if it's so vexing, maybe you just need to take a break. Quit staring at it. How do we vex ourselves the same way Lot vexed himself? Dwelling and seeing and hearing the wicked day by day. And how do we do that today? Through media. I mean, that's probably the number, I mean, that encompasses a lot of things, doesn't it? Media, television, Facebook, movies, literature, if you wanna call it that. You know, books is probably a more appropriate name. Magazines, music. Good night, breakfast cereal. Breakfast cereal! And you get a, you get a, someone was just telling me the other day, you get, they had some, I don't know if it's a children's cereal or what, but Kellogg's has got like, you know how when you were a kid, you'd be sitting there filling yourself up with all those dyes and sugars, and then you'd be looking at the back of the box and be some stupid maze or, you know, a find the word game. There'd be some kind of like to engage you, to keep you just even more entertained. You know, all the sugary preservatives and everything that you're choking down aren't enough to just enthrall you. Now you also have to have a game while you're eating. You remember that? Well now they have, today I was told, or the other day I was told, that they have a, you know, choose your, fill in your preferred pronoun. On a children's cereal. It's everywhere. It's everywhere. Here's one, you know, let me step on some toes. How about the National Fag League, Football League? No wait, I had it right the first time, the National Fag League. I can't believe, it's like, come on, they're everywhere else. I can't believe they're putting the rainbows on these guys. And you know what, they put them everywhere else. Does it really surprise us? But these are the places, you know, these are the things, this is how they're gonna vex you. Get you to look at it. You know, we were talking about it the other night, and someone pointed out the fact that, you know, when the NBA a few years ago, decided to put, you know, did their little pride push in June, and they, you know, and they decorated all their, you know, prima donnas out on the basketball court, with, you know, their paraphernalia, their propaganda, their little rainbow flag, that the viewership just dropped dramatically. Do you think the NBA said, oh man, our ratings dropped, we better take that back off, and you think that's what they did? Nope, they kept it right on, they said, they'll be back. We'll just keep putting it out there, and putting out there, and eventually they'll come on back, and they'll just say, you know what, I don't like it, but I can ignore it now. And then it just becomes normal. And then somebody else comes along, you know, the next generation rises up, and they just always seen the rainbow flag. I mean, I remember when I was a little kid eating cereal, I had to pick my pronoun. And what do you mean there was a time when they didn't have, you know, fag flags all over these players? Where was it, you know, being pushed everywhere? That's how they're gonna vex us. We vex ourselves, really, when we just sit there and look at it, by taking it in, by opening up that door for them to just show us whatever they want, and just push it in our face. How about in education? You know, I don't, there was an article I read, it was kind of outdated by a few years, but that's probably even worse now, but at the time of the writing of that article in 2019, I don't know what states they are, I don't care. It wasn't this one, amen? I guarantee one was California, because California, you know, is a beautiful place to live. That's why all the fags go there. You ever notice that, that the real attract, the fags aren't flocking to Arkansas. They're not going to Missouri. You know, they're going to places on the coast, they're going to Portland, they're going to Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, pretty much all of California. Why? Because that's the best this world has, that's the best that they're ever gonna get. They don't have heaven to look forward to. You could plop me off anywhere, you could put me in the corn fields of Iowa, you could put me on the golden coast of California, you could put me in some tropical island, you could put me in Alaska, you know, and if I have the Lord and I have the Bible and I have my family, I'm happy, and life will be good. These fags, they have to go to some exotic place or some place where they can look around at a beautiful scenery every day to remind themselves that they aren't as disgusting as they really are, to distract themselves, right? So I said all that to say that, you know, one of those states was California, that had decided that, you know what, it's required in public education that LGBTQ, you know, let God burn them quickly, history month, be, you know, be taught in our schools. You know, in four states in this country it's required education in public school to have your kids, you know, well, you know, if you could, you know, take them over to Judges 19. Let's go read these stories where God burned, you know, let's go over to Genesis 19. Let's go to Judges 19. Let's go, there's your fag history month from the Bible. They're not gonna teach that in school, are they? That's the real history these kids need to learn. And you say, well, you know, it doesn't really bother me. You know, I go on Facebook, I turn on my TV, you know, I watch the game, I, you know, I read my book, I look at my magazine, and, you know, I sit down and eat my breakfast cereal and I just think, well, I just fill in, you know, I'm a he, him, she, you know, I don't put any weird things, it doesn't really bother me that much. You know what, it should vex you. You know, if it's not vexing you, there's something wrong with you. It ought to vex you. You know, love not this world and the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him, is what it says in 1 John chapter two. Are you there in 1 John? I don't know if I had you go there or not, but look at verse 16, it says, why? Why should we not, why should we rather love God than the world? 1 John two verse 16. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. You know, all the way we just like to spend our time, the lust of the flesh, all the things we entertain ourselves with, all the lust of the eyes, all the things that we want to see and look at. And the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof. You know what, why it really doesn't vex me as much as it used to anymore. You know, it's one, because I don't take it all in, I don't just open up this door. And I'm not saying that I'm, that I'm, you know, grown cold to it, or I'm just, I'm used to it or whatever. I'm just saying I've learned like, well, it's pride month, so let me just put some space between me and all these media outlets so that they don't vex me. Let me not just sit down and just, you know, fill my mind with whatever they want to shove in it. But a big part of it, you know, it doesn't vex me because I know it's all gonna pass away. I'm not sitting, I'm not sitting around worried about, you know, what I'm gonna have to miss out on because of pride month. Because it's all gonna pass away anyway. It's all gonna burn. It's all vanity and meaningless anyway. And I have more meaningful things, more rewarding things, things that bring more satisfaction in my life than what the world has to offer. Things that give me real value in my life and real value in eternity. Those are the things I like to focus on. That's why, you know, pride month is a water off a duck's back to this guy, this quacker right here. It's really, you know, but if it, you know, if it's vexing you so much, we need to stop back and say, is it really them that's the problem or is it me? Is it because I've just, you know, been so open to everything that they can shove in my face? And look, I get it again. I know it's gonna bother us. I mean, it bothers me. I'm disturbed by what we see going on, but it doesn't vex me day by day. I'm not tossing and turning going, you know, when's the NFL gonna get over it? What are they gonna do? Is they ever gonna go back? I'm not tossing back and forth. It doesn't bother me. What we need to do is to learn not to linger in Sodom, like Lot did. We are delivered. How are we gonna be delivered? I mean, Lot ultimately was delivered, wasn't he? But how was he delivered? Well, we don't wanna go through it exactly like he did. But we wanna be delivered. We don't wanna go down with the wicked. So if you wanna un-vex yourself, why don't you just do the opposite of what Lot did? Look, if we vex ourselves the same way Lot did in seeing and hearing, all we had to do is just not do that. It's really that simple. This isn't a profound sermon. This isn't some great deep truth out of the word of God. You're tired of being vexed, then quit doing the things that vex you. Quit giving them opportunity to vex you. How were we delivered? Do the opposite of what Lot did, like Abraham. Oh, is that the way you wanna go? Well, go ahead, I'm going this way. Well, it's not as well watered over there, Abraham. Yeah, but God can bless me over there. God can bless me anywhere I go. Don't dwell with the wicked. Be separate. Go over to Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians chapter number five. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter six, you're going to Ephesians five, we are not to dwell with the wicked, we are to be separate. That was Lot's problem. How did he vex himself? By not living a separated life. Bible says in 2 Corinthians six verse 14, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Don't yoke up with the world. Oh, I'm so vexed. Yeah, it's because you're yoked up with the world. You're rubbing shoulders with them. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? He said in verse 17, come out from among them and be ye separate, sayeth the Lord. Be separate and touch not the unclean thing. Look, all they want to do is just push filth in your face. So all you have to do is just say no thanks. You can keep your filth to yourself. Just leave it over there. I'm going to go over here and be separate and come out from among that and just be separate in the Lord and not touch the unclean thing. Bible says in Amos three, can two walk together except they be agreed. You're in Ephesians chapter five. Look at verse one. Be therefore followers of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also had loved us and hath given himself for an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savior. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness not let once be named among you as become a saints. Neither filthiness nor foolish talking nor jesting which are not convenient but rather giving of thanks for this ye know that no whoremonger nor unclean person nor covetous man who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of all these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. Don't be partakers with people that are gonna suffer the wrath of God because of the things that they do. Like Lot did. But now ye are light in the world it says there. For verse eight, for ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the world walk as children of light. You know the great thing about being a Christian is that we have an alternative. We have an alternative to everything that the world has to offer. We have an alternative to all their entertainment and their media and their philosophies and their way of living. We have an alternative. It's called walking as a child of light. But you know what that involves is not touching the unclean thing, separating from the darkness of this world. That's what we're called to. That was Lot's problem. You know Lot, if he had just stayed out of Sodom, if he just hadn't gotten so obsessed with Sodom and just stayed out of there, life probably would have gotten a lot better for him. Not that that's saying much compared to the way it ended up for him. He says in verse 11, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them. You know and that's what I'm doing tonight is I'm reproving these works of darkness and all the different avenues that they're using to try and vex our righteous souls. And just you know they're vexing us but really you know that's just kind of a bonus to them. What they're really trying to do is just brainwash and pollute the minds of everybody else, of the unsaved and just convince them that it's normal. I mean there's a generation, there's generations that are coming up now that this is just normal to them. They can't imagine it being any other way. It's like the dark ages to them. You tell them about those days, they're imagining you like going out in your driveway and like cranking your car to get it going. Or did you shovel coal into your furnace too or? That's what they think it's some old-timey thing when the world wasn't as ungodly as it is. You know that's why we need to get up and rebuke these things and remind God's people don't be partakers with this stuff. You know and here's a great thing, not only is that a commandment, you shouldn't do that, but here's a great byproduct that you won't be vexed day to day. You'll wake up with joy, you'll wake up with peace, you'll wake up with contentment, not just all the facts. And look I'm preaching this because I've seen Christians they're obsessed with it. Which can get a little concerning when you meet somebody that's just that's all they ever want to talk about. I've learned to be kind of suspect of those people. I used to know this one guy it's like I literally I told my wife I'm not even kidding you can ask her. I said honey every time I talk to that guy I internally in my mind just start counting down from like 20. You know maybe it was counting up I don't remember. But within a minute or two of conversation I mean just I was onto the fags. It doesn't matter what we were talking about. We could be talking about work, we could talk about the sermon, we could be talking about any other thing. And just every single conversation just drifted over to the fags. Look I like to get up and rip on the fags. I like to see other people get up and preach the Bible and tell it like it is. But that's not my main topic of discussion. The fags is not what I dwell about. And you know what as a result I'm not vexed. I'm not vexed by it. Oh did you see the halftime show? Nope. Oh you should have seen it. No I shouldn't have. And neither should have you. Oh did you see what this company did? Did you see what Target did? Nope. Don't shop there. And look I don't care. Maybe my wife doesn't shop there I don't know. Maybe I'm a hypocrite now. But I don't go in the pride section. It doesn't, I don't say which Target gonna get all the pride stuff out of their store? I'm so vexed. It's not, you know, and I get it, it's disturbing. It bothers us. But I'm not vexing myself day to day with this stuff. If we're not gonna partake in any of these sins, you know if we're not gonna be, you know, hanging out with fornicators and the unclean with the covetousness, with the covetous. If we're not gonna be, you know, hanging out with whoremongers and unclean people and idolaters, you know, if we're not gonna partake in any of these scenes with them, why do we wanna sit there and have fellowship with them? Why do we wanna sit there and let them entertain us? Go over to Psalms chapter 101. Let me just go ahead and just get myself uninvited from everybody's, you know, gathering outside of church. Let me just go ahead and make everybody in the room mad tonight. If you're not gonna partake in these sins, why would you sit back and have fellowship with those that do and let them entertain you? Don't look and listen to the world. If you don't wanna be vexed, look, you look at the world and you listen long, and today it doesn't take long at all. You know, we go to these restaurants and like I constantly have to tell my children, don't watch that television. And you know, it's just, well, it's a dog show. You know, it's BMX racing. It's something harmless. Yeah, but you don't know what else they're gonna flash on the screen during the commercial break. You don't know what some, you know, flamboyant open flamer they're gonna have come on, you know, and talk to you. Next, what they're gonna say, you don't know. It's not what you're seeing a lot of times, it's what you don't know you're gonna end up seeing. They don't, you know, you don't just turn on the TV and all of a sudden it's just, you know, constant filth. That, people would be just, you know, ah. They have to slow, they have to boil that frog. They have to slowly get you used to it, and then it's just like, oh, just a little flash of that, whoa, what was that? Did you see that one? Yeah. And the next thing you know, you're just sitting there just watching Victoria's Secret commercials. Like, oh, oh, they're naked. Oh, this is wicked. Oh, but you're so used to it because that's just all you've been watching. And there's just a little bit here and a little bit there, just sitting there watching them, letting them just fill your mind, little by little. You don't want to vex yourself. You don't want to end up like Lott, being vexed to everybody. Then don't listen to and don't look at the world. Look at Psalms 101. Verse one, I will sing of mercy and judgment unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. I'm not gonna sit there and sing, you know, top 40 hits. I couldn't even name one of them right now. If I started singing the songs that were popular in my day, very few people in the room would know what they are. There's a few hands, I see that hand. You know what I like to sing now is I like to sing things that are gonna please God. I'll sing of his mercy. I'll sing of his judgment. I'll sing to him. I will behave myself wisely in a perfect day only to come unto me. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. You know, perfect meaning whole, complete. Completely what? Given to God, given to the things of God, praising him. Look at 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. A forward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person who privily slandered his neighbor. Him will I cut off. Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will I not suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon the faith of the land. He said, I'm not gonna set wicked things before my eyes but my eyes are gonna be upon the faith of the land that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way shall serve me. He that worketh the seat shall not dwell within my house and he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. Say, what is he talking about? How can you apply this state? Well, let me just come out and say it. David just described your television perfectly. He just described TV. He just described cable television, satellite television, whatever it is, perfectly. He said, I'll set no wicked thing before mine eyes. That television set is a major avenue for all these things to come in. And look, I get it. There's an off button. You can be selective. But you know what? A lot of people, they don't use that off button and they end up watching things that they probably shouldn't. You don't think that's the vast majority of people today? Maybe the people in this room that have a television can go home and can watch things and keep their minds pure and all that. But that's not the case for the vast majority of people. That's why I've just, you know, and I don't make it my hobby horse and I'm not against people that have it, but I'd just rather not have it there. You know, and it's not something, you know, the old IFP used to harp on this a lot more. They used to just, I mean, I know pastors, like television was their hobby horse. They just got up there. But then I knew other pastors that, you know, they had one. So, you know, to me, it's not like a hard thing, but I'll tell you what, not having one makes it a lot easier to not do any of these things. It's a lot harder to set these wicked things before your eyes when you don't have one. Now I get it, we have computers and YouTube and everything else, but you know what? There's a greater degree of control there, isn't there? You know, a lot of time, you know, you get the YouTube premium, you just cut all those commercials right out. I mean, I get that. But this is, you know, entertainment, whether it's television, internet, whatever. This is a great description of that, isn't it? The media. The wicked things that people set before their eyes, them that turn aside, it will not clean me. A forward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. You can sit there and tell me that there aren't wicked people being paraded all over the internet, being paraded all over sports, being paraded all over entertainment, movies, films, television. Whosoever privately say unto his neighbor, him will I cut off, he that hath an high look and a proud heart. You know, there goes, there goes, that's like pretty much all of sports. You know, they get to the end zone, just bam, oh, you know. I can't do any of those moves, you know, with the lawnmower or whatever. Some of you could probably do them. It's like sprinkler. I'm a white guy, okay? I got no moves, I got no soul, right? But that's what they're like, right? There's even, isn't there even a rule in football where like, you know, if you, if you, if you, what do they call, I know, come on. You know, someone out here knows what I'm talking about. Unsportsmanlike conduct, right? That's like, you can get a foul for that. You lose yardage, is that what happens? You celebrate too much, right? What is that? It's just these proud, boastful people. Mine eyes shall be, him that hath an high look and a proud heart, will I not suffer? Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful land that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. Well, there goes, there goes Fox News. There goes CNN. There goes all your news outlets, them that are working deceit. Oh no, no, no, I wouldn't do that. They're lying to you. You can just pretty much take to the bank. If the mainstream media is reporting on it, it's a lie. Just believe the opposite, and it's probably what's going on. Now I know that's painting with a broad brush, but you know what? Don't believe everything you hear. I mean, is that even Joe Biden anymore, or is it computer animation? Like, we don't know. People say the crazy things like that. That's not even Joe Biden. It's a computer animation, and now today it's like, they might be right. It's like, I can't prove it, I don't know. I'm not saying it is or it isn't, but it's just like, they're working deceit. I'm not gonna have them in my house. I'd rather just sit down and have some truth. Spend my time that way. He that telleth lie shall not tarry in my sight. Sorry, Anderson Cooper, you fag, can't watch you. Sorry, Shepard Smith. Oh, he's on Fox, though. Yeah, he's a fag, too. See ya. David just described entertainment, television, internet, whatever you want to call it. And here's the thing. People, you know, I think the reason why people go to those things is because they haven't learned to fill the vacuum in their life. You say, hey, I'm gonna start cutting that stuff out. You know, I'm gonna stop vexing myself with all this stuff. You can't just sit there and do nothing. You can't just sit there and do nothing. You have to fill the vacuum. I mean, I remember when I'd work, like people, you know, and I didn't go around like, I don't have a television, nah. You know, I wasn't one of these types. I'm so holy, you know, because I don't have a TV. But, you know, eventually guys at work would figure that out about me. They'd be like, hey, did you see? I'd be like, nah, nah, I didn't see that. Well, what do you watch? Yeah, yeah, reruns of Andy Griffith on DVD. Until they got that fag-gomer pile on there. That's where I cut them off. I mean, I think the first six seasons, I've seen like dozens of times, right? Because that was my entertainment. I didn't want to watch that anymore. But they go, well, what do you watch? And then he comes out, well, you know, I don't have a TV. They're just like, what? And this is the question they all ask. What do you do? I'm not even kidding. I don't know how many times I've heard that. It's just like, you can just count on it. As soon as they find out, well, you don't have a television? Well, what do you do? Anything I want. I do whatever I want. I read a book. I watch paint dry. I go for a walk. I, I, I, anything. Like, it's like, for some, this is the way it is for the world. Look, I'm sure that's not the way it is for people in here, but this is the way it is for the world. If they don't have the television, they're just at a loss. They don't know what to do with themselves. If they don't have some kind of a screen in front of them, you know, telling them, entertaining them, it's like, they don't know what to do with themselves. You can do whatever you want, but you gotta fill that vacuum. You know, you know, dwell with God's people. Well, you wanna, I gotta quit hanging out with certain people because, you know, they're rubbing off on me. And the Bible says I should live a separated life. I shouldn't have fellowship with certain people. Yeah, great, but you know what? That doesn't mean you just become a recluse. You don't just turn into some kind of a hermit. You have to fill that vacuum. So why don't you dwell with God's people? Make friends with God's people. Go to church, get involved in church. Go soul winning. You know, you wanna spend time with the heathen, go preach him the gospel. We went and sat down in a guy's living room today and gave him the whole gospel. He didn't get saved. You know, we got to hang out with the heathen. I guess that's what you want, you know? I can't think of a better way to do it. Beats, you know, hanging out with him over a pitcher of beer or whatever. Dwell with God's people. He said in verse six, mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land. Well, I just don't know what else I'd do with my time. Well, why don't you just spend your time getting your eyes on the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. That's who you should dwell with. Renew your mind. Renew your mind. Go back to 2 Peter. You gotta fill that vacuum because a lot of times people, I think they feel it. They start to push the stuff away from themselves. You know, the television, the entertainment, the sin, they just try to start getting that out of their life. But if you don't fill it with something, it just gets sucked right back in. Because it's real easy to go back to sins that you've already been guilty of. Sins that you've already committed. You know, there's some sins that if people, there's some people who've never committed those sins. If they try to go commit some of the sins that other people commit, they would have like a nervous breakdown trying to do it. I mean, you hear about people like, you know, they're gonna go down to some casino and get some prostitute and snort some cocaine. You know, if I tried to do that, I would, by the time I got, I'd get in the vehicle to go there, I'd just be like putting the keys in like this. I'd be afraid every mile of the road driving that in that direction of what God was gonna do to me. Because I've never done any of those things. But other people who've done those things, they're just like, it's like going to get a jug of milk. Because they've done it 100 times before. So what I'm saying is if you have these other sins, if you have these other things, if you have these habits, you've got to replace them with new ones. And that's not easy to do because we're wired to just keep, you know, the path of least resistance. But we need to renew our mind. You know, we need to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God as it is in Romans 12. Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How are you gonna renew your mind? Read your Bible, memorize scripture. You know, there's a lot of things we could be doing. I know I've been harping on this, learn Spanish. There's a good use of your time. I get you can only do so much of that in a day of all those things, but we could start filling our time and our entertainment with godly things, with edifying things. You know, and a lot of them, they might seem a little stale or stiff at the beginning or not as entertaining as other things, but over time, you know, we'll begin to appreciate them. We're just going for walks, just simple things like that. And here you say, well, is it really that important? Well, let me just break it to you. You know, everyone's vexed about June, but let me just go ahead and just, you know, give you some bad news tonight. The fags are not going back in the closet at the end of this month. It's not like June's gonna come to an end. They're just like, okay, we had our fun. Everyone back to normal. They're not going back in the closet this month. So you know what? The opportunity for you to continue to vex yourself day by day is just gonna get increasingly more and more and more. You know, this is just fag emphasis month. You know, they still have the other 11 months of the year in this country, in our culture. They're still, you know, they're still promoted the other 11 months out of the year, unless I'm mistaken. This is just fag emphasis month. It's just like, well, we just take it up a notch. They're not going back in the closet. You know, and the world isn't gonna clean up itself and start living free. You're not gonna turn the television on and it's just gonna be this wholesome programming. I mean, you could turn on YouTube and find some good preaching, but the world's not gonna clean itself up anytime soon. You know, the professional sports isn't gonna come to their senses and be like, whoa, we're promoting filth. You know, the education system's gonna go, oh, we're corrupting children, whoops. That's the whole point. That is the agenda. That's what they want. You know what, that's the case, but you know what, that doesn't mean you have to live a vexed life, just being vexed by the wicked every day, or rather, vexed with the wicked. Are you still in 2 Peter? Chapter one, verse three, we read it this morning. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him that called us to glory and virtue. Look, you don't have to live a vexed life. God has given us his word to help us to live a life of godliness. And he has called us to it. He's called us to glory and virtue. Whereby are given unto great exceeding precious promises that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature. Notice how this is phrased, having escaped, past tense. Look, you've already, if you're saved, you've already escaped the corruption that's in this world. You've already escaped the lust of this world. If we find ourselves, we're vexing ourselves with the filthy conversation, the wicked, it's by choice. It's by choice. And again, I understand there's gonna be things that are just mentioned to us or brought across, just come across our path. But if we find ourselves willingly going there and just reminding ourselves of how wicked and how bad it is, and we're vexing ourself. And look, we don't need any help in that department. The world's gonna do just a fine, they're gonna do just as much of that on their own without our help. But we have already escaped the corruption of this world. Go to 2 Peter chapter two, verse nine. The Lord, it says in verse nine, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the ungodly out of temptations. So I just can't help it. God knows how to deliver you out of those temptations and to reserve the unjust in the day of judgment. Look at verse seven. He delivered just lot vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. Why was he vexed with it? Because he was right there with them. He wasn't, they didn't come to his door, they didn't bring it to him, he went to them. And that's how he got vexed with the wicked. So if we're feeling vexed, I just wonder, is it because we're being vexed by the wicked? We're just trying to live a godly life over here, we're just trying to mine our, and they just, they keep bringing it to us. Obviously, there's always a degree of that, but we ought to ask ourselves, if we're feeling vexed beyond measure, just day by day, is it because we're being vexed by the wicked, or is it because we're like Lot, and we're just kind of hanging out with Sodom a little too much, and letting Sodom creep in a little too much? And what's actually going on is we were being vexed with the wicked. Let's go ahead and pray.