We're going to be in Philippians 4 verse 8, but turn to Mark 7 verse 20 to begin this morning. Mark 7 verse 20. Jesus makes a powerful statement here about the source of sin and where it really comes from. Verse 20 of Mark 7, He was saying that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of man, proceeds the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man." Again, he's highlighting the importance of the heart, of the mind, who we are, what we think, really is what then affects how we live. The two are directly connected. And in this case, the Pharisees were emphasizing the external and even I think washing the hands and yet Jesus saying, no, that's not the issue. It's the internal, it's the heart. And we began to look at last week that again, our minds as believers, what we think What we put into our minds is so important. And you can turn to Philippians 4 verse 8 now. We began to look at these characteristics, really a grid that Paul gives us to use in determining what we will think about, what we're going to allow into our minds. Thankfully, as believers, we have a new heart. Thankfully, the Spirit, as we saw in Sunday school, comes to live within us. who enables us to live in obedience to God's word. And now we can have godly thoughts and have a desire to obey his word, to learn and live out what is the word of God says. But as we do that, in order for us to grow in that, we need to control what we're putting into our minds. And that old saying that we mentioned last week, garbage in, garbage out. If you put bad things in, then bad things are going to come out, but there's also good stuff in, good stuff out. Not as well known or thought of, but if we put the right things in, it will help the right things come out. Of course, being saved is at the foundation of this. First, you have to be a believer in Christ, admitting your sin, asking Him to forgive you, believing in His death, burial, and resurrection, and surrendering your life to Him. complete forgiveness and makes you a new creature in Christ. Without that, you will continue, as Jesus was referring to, having this heart of sin and corruption. But as a believer then, now we have the freedom from sin, the ability to obey and a desire to, and now as we put good things into our mind, that will enable us then to live in a way that pleases God. And we looked at a number of these characteristics last week. Verse eight, finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right. We looked at those three things to begin with. That which is true or real or valid, it's the opposite of falsehood. And of course, our best source for that which is true, the only source of absolute truth is God's word. We talked about if we're going to be putting into our minds what is true, the word of God has to be central in that process. Certainly being in church, as much as possible so you can learn and hear good teaching, biblical truth that you'll learn. But even on your own, reading, studying, memorizing, all these things are important to learn God's Word, to put truth in your mind. And the more you put that truth in, if you're a believer, then the more you'll be able to live that out. To think, and to say, and to be motivated by, and to act in a way that is in line with the truth of God's word. We also saw honorable, the second one there. Whatever's honorable, it's what evokes respect, dignity, or reverence. Lofty and majestic things. And one writer said of persons, that which in human being calls forth veneration and respect from others. And really the idea of people who live honorably. people who are worthy of honor. And we talked about spiritual leaders in the church, spiritually mature people in the church that have been in the faith for hopefully decades and evidence that in living in a consistent godly way, not perfect, we're not perfect inside of heaven, but living in a way that pleases God and really have a pattern of obedience of knowing God's word and obeying it. So really as we get to know people who are more godly in the body, church leaders, elders and pastors, deacons, godly women, older women, as Titus 2 talks about. Then we'll be able to learn more about what is honorable and fill our minds with that, that we would think about what it means to live godly, to live in an honorable way, and then be willing to live that out or be committed to live that out. Finally, we saw number three, what is right, things that are upright or just, and like one definition, conforming to the standard will or character of God. Again, He's the standard of right. There's no standard outside of God. God didn't have to learn what was right or wrong. He is the standard. Who He is in His character is absolutely right and is the source of all that is right and true and good. So the more we learn, again, in His Word about Him, the more that we will know what is right and be able to live that way. One of the ways that we mentioned last week to think about what is right is to talk about what is right. And so if we're learning God's word and as we fellowship as believers to share what we're learning with each other, to talk about the thing that has really helped us to grow this past week or month with another believer in Christ. is such a blessing to share that with unbelievers. As a way of hopefully getting into the gospel is also good. We also mentioned music. Music is so powerful. It's beautiful. We'll talk about things that are lovely here in the rest of the list today. But music is so powerful. And what a gift from God. I'm not a great musician. I love to sing. But as far as creating beautiful music, those who play, as Susan did this morning, beautifully, the piano and other instruments. And for some reason I ended up on a seeing on YouTube, I was listening to the hymns, that one we were supposed to learn, and I was trying to learn, but didn't quite get it, as you can tell. Listening to it on YouTube, but I saw this Japanese choir, an orchestra that was singing, You Raise Me Up. And I'm just thinking, this is incredible. You know, it's beautiful. The music of the orchestra and the words of that song, and what a gift from God. But really, to be careful what music we listen to. You know, if you're listening to secular music and that's all you listen, then those are the thoughts, those are the values that are gonna be flowing into your heart. Versus if you choose to listen to biblical or godly music, then those are the thoughts. And I like bluegrass music, and I happen to notice as well, a group I'd never seen before that was singing Amazing Grace in bluegrass and playing the banjo, I think, and the guitar and things. Again, really beautiful music, but with beautiful words and exalting Christ and bringing that truth home again. So I think music is something we want to think about and really apply this verse to, to say, is my music true and honorable and right, pure, lovely, good repute, excellent, anything worthy of praise that's really going to help me fill my mind with good thoughts, with godly thoughts that will help me be godly. Of course, then we must reject what the world says is right or good. We must reject the falsehoods. of the world. And of course, Satan is behind all of that and unbelievers actively promoting lies and distortions and falsehoods. And we'll talk some more about that in some of these other characteristics. Hopefully, as we continue and finish this verse today, you really understand how important this is. What we think is at the core of the spiritual battle, I'd say it's the foundation You know, if I'm struggling with temptation or even giving in to sin, go back to your thoughts. Go back to what have you been thinking about in recent days or weeks? What have you been watching or listening to? Or who have you been allowing? What book have you been reading? Because again, if you're putting garbage in, You're gonna get garbage out. It's going to make you more susceptible to temptation. It's going to lead you down a path of sin. If you're listening to the world and allowing the world to fill your mind versus God's word and believers and good things, we really have to deal with this if we're going to move forward and mature, if we're going to live a godly life. Well, the fourth characteristic here in verse eight is so important and has always been a battlefield. This is not new to our time and age. Purity. Purity is such an important characteristic of what we think about. And one only need to remember the Corinthians and the sexual perversity that was going on in Corinth. to remember that this is not a new battle. Yes, there are new avenues and new ways that we have to fight this battle, but it's been ongoing since the beginning of time, and certainly in the church age, and we fight it today as well. It's the idea of something being untainted with evil or guilt, free from sin without moral defect, unadulterated, physically chaste. O'Brien said, this adjective deriving from a verb that meant to stand in awe of someone was used in religious language from early times as an attribute of deity and everything belonging to it. Later it was employed in a transferred moral sense of holy or pure. So really something that is pure without sin, without wrong or evil being a part of it. It's the idea of innocent in matter or free from guilt, 2 Corinthians 7, 11. free from sin in 1 Timothy 5.22, or Paul uses it in the sense of his helping the Corinthians be saved and grow as pure virgins, not being hurt by false teachers and by wrong teaching, purity. Certainly, we rightly apply this to the sexual purity, that area, it's not limited to that. But in that area, we must know what the Bible teaches is right, don't we? Those are the thoughts that must and need to be at the foundation of our thinking, even as the world, the fallen world attacks this area more and more, or in more ways and more avenues. Do we know what the Bible teaches is right when it comes to sexual purity? And what we know is that God gave this wonderful relationship and wonderful part of marriage. And we saw this in Genesis 2 on Wednesday nights recently, that this was how God made man and woman and to enjoy this in the confines of marriage. And even at the end of chapter two, it says they were both naked and not ashamed. This was a wonderful, beautiful thing. But of course, the fall that we'll see this Wednesday night, came along and perverted that as well as so many other things that God created that was good. And so the scripture picks this up and addresses both the sinful side of it and the pure or good side of it. Look at Proverbs chapter five. really Proverbs five through seven, three of the strongest chapters on sexual purity and both the danger of sin in this area and the blessing of the purity that God has given in it in marriage. These sections are very strong and meant to be so, to get our attention, to help us understand and really by way, it talks about adultery, which was the main avenue back in those times. for this sin, and the danger and destructive nature of this sin really is in many ways far greater than other sins, not that they aren't bad or destructive. But notice what it says here in Proverbs 5, again, as he does in every chapter, my son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding that you may observe discretion. Your lips may reserve knowledge. Solomon's trying to teach his son that he might really follow the Lord and avoid the pitfalls of sin and foolishness and instead become wise and godly. Verse three, the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoothen oil as her speech. But in the end, she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold of Sheol. She does not ponder the path of life. Her ways are unstable. She does not know it. If you read news articles today, if you watch the news today, they completely deny this, ignore it, and act like it's just another activity in life. As long as you have consenting adults, it's no big deal. That is not the case, is it, if you read and believe what God says here? This is incredibly destructive. Death, even, physical death, can be involved. Verse seven, now that my sons listen to me and do not depart from the words of my mouth, you see this pleading sense of solemn and this intensity of care and concern. Please, my son, listen and heed my words. Your life, your spiritual life, even your physical life can be in the balance here. Verse eight, keep your way far from her. Do not go near the door of her house, or you'll give your vigor to others and your ears to the cruel one. Strangers will be filled with your strength and your hard-earned goods will go to the house of an alien. And you're grown at your final end and your flesh and your body are consumed. You say, how I've hated instruction. My heart's spurned reproof. I have not listened to the voice of my teachers nor inclined my ear to my instructors. I was almost in ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation." Do you get a sense that has terrible consequences? Tremendous damage, damage that at times cannot be undone. Praise God, we can be forgiven of this sin as all sin, but the damage is great. And he's saying, watch out for this. We need to read and believe these verses along with others, fill our minds with these warnings because the temptation is strong as we'll talk further about and difficult. But only as we believe God's word and therefore are determined and set in our minds to obey him and to resist temptation Will we be spared this sin and the terrible effects that this sin will bring? Then verse 15, in the positive sense, in marriage, in this wonderful relationship, drink water from your own cistern and fresh water from your own well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of waters in the streets, let them be yours alone and not for strangers with you. Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving hind and graceful doe, let her breast satisfy you at all times. Be exhilarated always with her love. And so you have the positive, the purity of the gift of God, of the blessing of God in marriage that we see so strongly here being exhorted to Solomon's son and by definition or application to all of us. One other passage in the New Testament, and again, we could multiply them, but Hebrews 13, Hebrews 13 verse 4 is really a summary verse about this as well. And it really makes it clear again, we can look at other New Testament passages, but makes it clear that God hasn't changed, that he doesn't look to opinion polls and decide that he's going to modify his moral code, what's right or wrong based on what the majority of people think. That's foolishness. God knows what is right. He is right. He is the standard of right. And here he says again in verse four of Hebrews 13, marriage is to be held in honor among all. And the marriage bed is to be undefiled. For fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. Great verse to remember. Very compact, but very direct and very strong. Marriage is God's plan. That's the only place this is right, to have this relationship. And if you disobey this, guess what? You're going to be judged. Fornicators and adulterers, God will judge. Again, we have to come to God's word to learn what is right and wrong, and that's what we need to fill our minds with. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, then you need to believe or trust that that's true. And I find, you know, really, as a younger person, when I was younger, and if you're younger, or older as well, but when you're younger and haven't experienced much in life, you can't look at these and say, well, I know this by experience, but that's the whole point. God loves us and God's giving us these truths so that we can learn them, Lord willing, be saved and obey them so we can avoid learning the hard way. The hard way is to ignore or not believe this and go on in sin and suffer terrible consequences, broken marriages, broken families, all kinds of pain and suffering, financial ruin. Praise God, we can be forgiven. And yet God's intent is that we would learn the easy way. That's what Solomon was trying to do in Proverbs with his son. Please listen. Let me tell you what the truth is so you can avoid the error. That's what God's desire is for us. And even with this list in Philippians chapter four, we'll look at Job then, the book of Job. And Job is a difficult book, but a really important book. It really teaches us a lot about suffering, of course, because Job next to Christ probably suffered more than any man ever did and learned a lot from it. But also we know that Job was a very godly man. In fact, we know this because back in chapter one, Satan is telling God that he's not. Satan's telling God he's just going through the motions because you've made him really rich, and that's why he obeys you. But if you take everything away, he won't obey you. So God allowed Satan to take everything pretty much away from Job, and Job did not turn away from God. He continued to love God and serve God. It was painful and difficult, yes. but he didn't turn away. And chapter 31 is Job going through aspects of his life and talking about his commitment to godliness, his commitment to holiness. And I take it that these things are true, that based on what God said to Satan, yes, he is a godly man, upright and fearing me. He's not what you say. And now the fact that he hadn't turned away, he's declaring here, his how godly was, and he mentions specifically this area of purity. He mentions a lot of areas, but he mentions this area of purity, and I think gives us a great standard and really challenges us to think this way about this area and have this kind of commitment in our lives to being pure in our thoughts, in what we look at, in what we expose ourselves to. Verse one of chapter 31, I've made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at a virgin? What is the portion of God from above or the heritage of the Almighty from on high? Is it not calamity to the unjust and disaster to those who work iniquity? Does he not see my ways and number all my steps? Here he's committing himself to purity, not lusting or looking after a virgin in a sinful, wicked way. And why does he do that? Because God sees everything he does. And the same is true for us today. He comes back to this issue again in verse 9, this area again, and here even pronounces a curse on himself. He were to sin in this way, in a sexual way, in a lustful way. If my heart has been enticed by a woman, I've lurked at my neighbor's doorway, made my wife grind for another, and let others kneel down over her. For that would be a lustful crime, or it would be an iniquity punishable by judges. For it would be fire that consumes to a bad end, would uproot all my increase." Does that sound like Proverbs 5? I think it does. I think he's echoing the same reality and danger of this sin. committing himself again to holiness and purity. The question for us is could we say that about our hearts and minds this last week or last month or last year or last how many every years have we been committed to purity as Job was? Have we heeded the warnings of Proverbs 5 Sadly, in our country, this area of pornography, the wickedness of this sin and promotion of it is huge. And our courts have rendered it okay, or freedom of speech, which is a travesty and destructive in so many ways. We have to be ready for this battle, don't we? We live in an age where you have phones, smartphones, tablets, computers, and those devices can work anywhere at any time. So the level of temptation is just off the charts here. And you look at the percentages of young people and even adults who have indulged in this wickedness and sin, and it's really, really high. The world even tries to claim that it's no big deal and it's not a problem to look at lustful images and evil things and yet it's incredibly destructive and obviously biblically very sinful. And it causes tremendous damage to people as they pursue their sinful lusts and even then become enslaved to this and then they carry it into their marriages and those sinful expectations and things get worse and worse. We have to be ready for this. We have to determine before the Lord that purity is our commitment and we are going to, by His grace, not allow this sin to damage us or not to give in to these temptations. I think as parents with your children, it becomes very important that you guard them. that you realize this danger is so pervasive that you're very careful about the internet access you give them, at what age and how much, and that even into the teen years, you're trying to be careful to guard them and to help them not allow this to tempt and really draw them in and destroy them. Some of you would be aware there's filtering software that you can get to put on devices and computers. And I think in those younger years, that could be really helpful as another firewall to really keep them even in the teen years to help prevent some of the, much of the temptation, nothing's absolutely foolproof. And yet that can be really helpful and good. Of course, there's other areas where these temptations come, whether it's movies, and scenes that would be sexually explicit that will tempt and we can sadly or wrongly think, oh, that's no problem. Again, if we're committed to only thinking or letting things that are pure come into our minds, you know, we need to be wary of that. Skip over them or even stop the movie when we realize we've made a mistake and made a wrong choice. And that can be really hard to do, even if you're in a theater, to stop, go out, leave, if you realize you made a bad choice. I think even better, it's really good to look at their services that will kind of break down movies and tell you what the content, what is in them. Some of you may be familiar with pluggedin.com. It's a Christian service that reviews movies and really gives you, goes into different aspects of them to tell you what's in them. It has sections on spiritual elements, sexual and romantic content, violent content, crude or profane language, drug and alcoholic content. That's called pluggedin.com and it's free and it really gives you an ability to really look at what's the content of a movie you might be thinking to watch and have a real good idea of what is in there and whether you think it's good or not to watch that. You know, we think about what are some good things that we can watch that often would be wholesome. Of course, Christian movies and there are certainly many of them out there. Documentaries can be very helpful or encouraging. I love history. Biography, true-to-life stories, depending on what that story is. You know, there are good or wholesome things that will give us good things to think about versus sinful things. There's even a service out there called PureFlix, if you've not heard of that, which is a service that offers what hopefully is better movies. It's not perfect, of course, and it has a fee, monthly or annual fee, and yet can be helpful as well. Again, this is something we have to be thinking about. It's out there, it's everywhere. And we have to be thinking and committing ourselves to obeying God's word and being pure and really guarding our hearts and minds. Guarding what we're thinking about, what we're watching to make sure that we're not letting sinful and evil things come in. Now there's a challenge here that some have made concerning the Bible. And the fact that the Bible contains descriptions or details that are evil or wrong. So there are stories that are talked about that involve sin, even great sin. But of course, the reality is that it's not put there for entertainment. It's there by God's design to teach us moral lessons. And God chose what we needed to be warned about the danger. That's why it's there, so that we would read about it and see the destructiveness of sin, to see what God says is true. And especially in the Old Testament, but certainly in the New as well, there are descriptions of sin and its consequences. to really help us see, yes, this is destructive, this is bad, avoid this, don't go down that road. Yes, God in wisdom and mercy put those things in there. I think it's also helpful to remember that God did not put the Bible in full color, full motion, full detail video. It's a written document, and I think that's intentional, isn't it? Was it because God was limited by technology, because man hadn't discovered technology by then, by the time of the Bible? No. God chose to put it in written form so that it wouldn't be graphic, so it wouldn't be, in the wrong sense, tempting, and something you can read and then get the sense and understanding without having the problems of a video that would be very different. Again, an important characteristic here, to be committed to purity in our thoughts and therefore be committed to what we're taking in that it would be pure. The next characteristic is lovely. That which is lovely, whatever is lovely. Again, these expansive, the expansive word whatever is repeated for each of these six characteristics, whatever is lovely, that which calls forth love, which is beautiful or very pleasing or delightful, that those are the things we should be filling our minds with. And as I thought about this word, and it's the only time it's used in the New Testament, but I think of God's creation, and the beauty and the glory of God's creation. whether it's the majestic mountains or the fragile flowers, the beautiful creatures, all that God has made in this incredible world, even though it's under a curse, there's tremendous beauty there and glory, isn't there? In what God has made and really spending time watching documentaries, movies or films or seeing pictures on the internet. of God's creation can be such a wonderful encouragement and it's filling our minds with how great our God is. I love the beauty of the night sky and the stars as you look up on a dark night. Maybe the moon isn't out and you can see it so powerfully and clearly. Even the men's retreat, we usually go out and camp that I'm a great camper, but boy, to see the Milky Way when it's totally dark, no light from the city, it's just always such a joy and a blessing to see the beauty of what God has made and put out there for us to see. Look at Psalm 8. Even the Bible itself points to this glory. It really is what we would call general revelation God put it out there to demonstrate His power and His greatness. And He says here that it's sending forth a message about Him continuously. It's silent, and yet it's continually going forth. Psalm 8, verse one, O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth, who has displayed Your splendor above the heavens. Verse three, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained. What is man that you take thought of him and the son of man that you care for him. God put that out there. He's the one who designed it, thought it up. He's the one who created it by the spoken word and sustains it. And it's there as an evidence of Him, of His existence, just like a painting would point to a painter, or a book to the greatness of the author who thought it up and wrote it. Here, God has put out their creation, the universe, to demonstrate His glory. Look at Psalm 19. Psalm 19, we find, again, the same idea, verse one, The heavens are telling of the glory of God, and their expanse is declaring the work of his hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words. Their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out throughout all the earth, and their utterance is to the end of the world. In them he has placed a tent for the sun. which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, it rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heavens, and it's circuit to the other end of them, and there's nothing hidden from its heat. And here we have general revelation again, and then verse seven on is special revelation, God's word of the law in the Old Testament. But what a glorious display of God and his power and his wisdom. We saw this in Proverbs a number of years ago. that creation is demonstrating His wisdom. He put it all together and He made it function. This is why it doesn't spin out of control and it doesn't all crash. Because God's the one who made it and sustained it. What a beautiful, beautiful universe. Some of you have looked at pictures from the Hubble telescope, and I think there's a new one, I don't remember the name of it. But the beautiful pictures looking deep into even other galaxies and the beauty of the stars and the things that God has made that hopefully someday in the kingdom, we can maybe just go there, just fly there or something and see it even up close. But seeing the pictures and the beauty of that is incredible. Certainly another aspect of God's creation are his creatures and looking at the animals that he has made. whether it's creatures on land or creatures in the air or creatures in the sea, just beautiful, beautiful animals that God has made for us to enjoy and to see. And we get to see that even to this day. Another way you can expose yourself to some of these things is even when you take vacations, go to beautiful parts of the world. And I think even here in North Carolina, moved here 18 years ago. And one of the things I love about it is how beautiful it is here. You can go to the ocean a couple hours away or you can go to the mountains four hours away, two and a half hours away and enjoy and see parts of God's creation that are amazing and rejoice in them. What a blessing we have to do that and we fill our minds. with these thoughts of this great and awesome God. Sadly, the world rejects that and tells the lie of evolution and promotes these lies and rejects God and His glory, but we get to glory in it and someday in the kingdom, everyone will glory in God and all that He has made and rejoice in that. Go back in Philippians 4, verse eight, what is lovely I think there is an opposite side to this, which would be gore and grotesque. And I think we see this at times in movies, where things can be so gory and so grotesque, the opposite of beautiful and pleasing. And really trying to make good decisions and not allow those thoughts into our minds. This is a while back, decades ago, but The Lord of the Rings, I remember coming out and Christians, some being excited, thinking it was a Christian movie, even though the author is a Catholic. But the movie contains a lot of gore and really isn't Christian in its message. I enjoy history and especially war history and learning about the sacrifices men made and the things in battles that God controls to bring the certain outcome that he determines. But I have to be careful. With movies about war, they can be very grotesque and very graphic and not healthy ultimately. Then there's horror movies, category of movies called horror movies that I think and hope we could pretty much universally say are not going to be healthy, that are given to bad and evil things and are really not going to be good things to put in our minds. There can be even video games that are full of gore and violence and not good for us. Again, we have to think through, is this really going to fit Philippians 4.8? Is this really what we should watch? And when we recognize something we've been watching or are watching and realize it's wrong or not healthy to turn it off, even to tell God, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have watched that. That was not good for me to partake of. And so I'll make better decisions going forward. We have to think through them and really subject them to Philippians 4, 8, and really all of God's word to keep our minds clean and pure and things that are lovely. I think a good question to ask is, when I'm watching something, would I be comfortable if Jesus was sitting right here? If he's with me watching this, and he is, isn't he? He's there. God's always there. Would I be comfortable if he was sitting there or my brother, sister, and Christ was sitting there with me? Would I be comfortable? Well, the sixth item here is that of good repute, he says. Whatever is of good repute, praiseworthy, commendable, held in good estimation, associated with good and not evil. Another writer said that which is kind and likely to win people and avoiding what is likely to give offense. really things that you watch or listen to and are encouraged or strengthened by. In fact, things that are so beneficial that you would encourage others. You'd say, hey, have you seen this movie? Have you been to this website? Have you seen these pictures of the universe and the stars? A good reputation. Something that you think is so good you have no trouble telling someone else to go to that website or watch that movie or read that book. Another way to put this is that you would not be ashamed or you'd not feel bad if others knew that you had watched that movie or read that book or looked at that website. Again, this idea of what am I putting in my mind? Is it really good? And we can really compromise or justify things and really allow things that we shouldn't. And I think we continue need to pray about the things we are thinking or looking at and to think about whether it is of good reputation, whether it would be something that truly is going to help me or hurt me spiritually. Paul really finishes this verse with, I think, many would say would be summary characteristics or overarching characteristics that really encompass all the six that have been given, but continue to drive home the point that these are things that are the best. not just mediocre or okay or average, but the best things that we could be thinking about, the best things we could be watching or dwelling on, that we could be reading. Even changes his wording here at the end of verse eight, I think to highlight and emphasize this. He says, if there is anything excellent, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. If anything that is excellent, stands above the rest is far better. It has the best quality, the best characteristics or aspects. Look at 1 Peter 2 for this word. It's used a couple other places. But particularly here, it's used of God. And really talks about that we're saved And one of the great reasons we're saved is to proclaim the excellencies of God. Verse nine, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. The excellencies of God, His perfections, the best, God's mercy. God's love, God's justice, God's holiness, those things that we love and learn about God and know are perfect, we love to tell others, hopefully. That's one of the reasons He saves us. We experience the blessing of it, and then we're to tell others how great He is. It's that same word that Paul is using here, if there's any excellence. Look at 2 Peter, just a few pages later, 2 Peter 1. It is something that we're to pursue in godliness that we are to strive after. Verse three actually speaks of God calling us to his own glory and excellence. So he's calling us to the same, the traits that do transfer to us, we're to pursue to be holy and loving, merciful, just, all the things that God is. But then he talks about what we're to pursue as believers, what we're to want to become more like or have more of. In verse five, now for this reason, applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence, in your moral excellence, knowledge, in your knowledge, self-control. Same word that we have back in Philippians chapter four, to supply moral excellence, the best, Holiness, godliness, we're striving for complete godliness. We're not gonna get there fully, this side of heaven, but we're to be striving for that. That's the goal here, excellence. Again, we can fall into this idea of just saying, is it okay? Is it bad or is it not bad? Is it okay? Am I okay to watch it versus is this the best? Will it actually help me? Will it fill my mind with things that are good? Will it help move me to the next level of godliness or maturity in my life? Will it help me think good, pure, lovely, right thoughts? And then finally, he says, if anything is worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The idea of that which gains approval, that which has a public mark of esteem. And look at 1 Corinthians 4, 5. 1 Corinthians 4, 5. Here Paul speaking about the inability to even know fully our motives and to not judge other people's motives. But one day our motives will be examined and will be judged. Verse five, therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in darkness and disclose the motives of men's heart. And then each man's praise will come to him from God. Each man's praise, that same word that we find here in Philippians 4.6. If anything is worthy of praise, again, that you would exalt, that you would say is good and excellent and really wholesome, pleasing and beneficial spiritually. One writer said this, nothing that is really worthwhile for believers to ponder and take into consideration is omitted from this summarizing phrase. anything at all that is a matter of moral and spiritual excellence, so that the proper object of praise is the right pasture for the Christian mind to graze in. Nothing that is of contrary nature is the right food for his thought." Again, you get the sense that, in summary, that we're to aim high and not low. We're to strive after the best things. We're to fill our minds with what is good and wholesome, and really make that our goal and aim. Look at Psalm 101. Psalm 101, we find David really echoing this list, I think, in his determination of what he would think about and what he would pursue. Psalm 101, I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To you, O Lord, I will sing praises. I will give heed to the blameless way. When will you come to me? I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away. It shall not fasten its grip on me. A perverse heart shall depart from me. I will know no evil. He's committing in his heart to think and to do only that which is good and pleasing to God. Here, the man after God's own heart is committed to guarding his heart and letting in only that which is good that he would continue to think about, dwell on, and act on. Again, we have to understand that the world discounts this completely, don't they? They don't think this way, nor do they think it matters. In all the different areas we've mentioned, they really reject as being of any great concern You think about the movies and the ratings they put on movies, PG or PG-13 or R or G or whatever. They're saying that people older than this classification, then this is safe for them. But is it really? Is it really safe if you're older? Is the PG or PG-13 or R, you know, what is really safe? They don't, they think if you're old enough, it doesn't matter then. You can put whatever in and it's not going to hurt you or affect you. But the reality is that it will if it's ungodly, if it's evil, if it's not measuring up to Philippians 4, verse 8. One other passage, look at 2 Corinthians 10, 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3. Really, again, raises the standard high for us. What our goal is to be in controlling our thoughts And here in verse 3, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. Speculations, he says, and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. We are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. That's a high standard, isn't it? And none of us are there yet, but that should be our goal. By God's grace, to be wanting our thoughts to be good and pure and every thought conforming to the standard of God. Take some time this afternoon. Think about what you've watched this past week on TV or what websites you've surfed or what books you've been reading, what songs you've been listening to. Think about it. Think about this verse. Ask God to help you. We need to ask God to help us be honest with ourselves, have a desire to really apply this accurately and practically on a daily basis so that we would fill our minds with what is good. what is true, what is honorable, what is right, what is pure, what is lovely, what is of good repute, if anything, excellence, if anything, worthy appraised well on these things. By God's grace, may we live this out better and better as the days go by. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the time that we could share this morning in this verse, finishing it up. Lord, we're thankful that You give us the truth and that You are working in our hearts if we know You to convict us where we've erred and strayed. Lord, help us to take these matters more seriously than we have in days gone by. Help us to be more faithful in guarding our minds and our thoughts We need the truth more and more. We need to grow in our knowledge and our thoughts should be consumed more and more with the truth of your word. Lord, we need to reject that which is not right or good, not pure or holy. Lord, we need to continue to become more like Christ in this area that our minds would be filled with good and wholesome things. and our thoughts therefore taken up with them that would lead to more and more obedience. As we'll see in 1 Corinthians 13, more loving, more Christ-like, more holy and less and less impure or sinful or ungodly. Not to save ourselves, but because we are saved and you've done this great work in us and your spirit lives in us. Lord, we pray that you would help us to live this out faithfully, day in and day out, by your grace and strength, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.