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Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is The Beauty of the Lord. The beauty of the Lord. It says in Psalm 27, for one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. This idea of the beauty of the Lord comes up over and over again in scriptures. There are a lot of different places that we could go and I'm going to hit you with four points this morning on the beauty of the Lord. The first point that I want to talk about is the beauty of holiness. Now if you would flip over to 1 Peter chapter 3, the beauty of holiness. The Bible says in 1 Chronicles 16, 29, give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, bring an offering and come before him, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. 2 Chronicles 20, 21, and when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord that should praise the beauty of holiness as they went out before the army and to say praise the Lord for his mercy endureth forever. We just read in Psalm 27, but also in Psalm 29 verse 2 it says give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 96, 9, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, fear before him all the earth. So over and over again the Bible used this phrase, the beauty of holiness. What does that mean? Holiness is a beautiful thing. Have you ever known someone that was outwardly very beautiful, but the longer that you knew them and got to know their rotten personality, they just got uglier and uglier to you? Even though they physically would be beautiful by the world's standards and maybe when you first saw them you thought they were very beautiful, but as you got to know them, they just got uglier and uglier because of the rottenness from the inside. But what about the opposite? Have you ever known people that maybe are a little bit homely or they're not exactly what the world would lift up as the standard of beauty, but because they had such a great personality because they were a godly, kind, loving person, over time you began to see them even physically as beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the most beautiful attribute that you could have is holiness. Being a godly person makes you more beautiful to those that are godly. You know, God is beautiful, the Lord is beautiful, holiness is beautiful, and those who walk with the Lord and are partakers of his holiness, they end up being beautiful people as well. So the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter number 3, it says, excuse me, verse 1, Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation and coupled with fear. Watch this in verse 3. Who's adorning? Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. So here it's talking about a woman being adorned not with a bunch of fancy jewelry or fancy clothing or fancy hairdo, but with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price. Stay there, but in Proverbs the opposite is true. Proverbs 11 22, As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. So the Bible says that a beautiful woman, a fair woman who has no discretion, who is not righteous, who is not prudent, who is not godly, beauty in a woman like that is like putting a jewel in a pig's snout. I mean, imagine a pig with a jewel in its snout. You're not going to say, well you know what, that jewel just kind of brings everything together. It just kind of makes it all work. Okay, basically that jewel is not going to do much in comparison with the filthy appearance that you see in front of you of a filthy sow. And the Bible is saying, look, if you're outwardly beautiful but you're a rotten person, people are not going to see that. They're going to see the rottenness. And especially in the sight of God, what is of great price in the sight of God of fancy hairdo, fancy clothes, fancy jewelry? No, in the sight of God, the Bible says the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. That's of great price in the sight of God. And other people who think the way God thinks because they're godly people, they're going to think the same way. So if you're a young lady and you want to attract the right kind of man to get married to someday, you know, you want a godly man who's going to be looking for the right attributes, godliness and character, not just an outward Barbie doll type appearance. The Bible says in verse 5, for after this manner in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves. What does it mean to adorn themselves? To decorate themselves. He's saying this is how they got all dolled up. They got all dolled up with godliness and righteousness, meekness, quietness, and obedience to their own husbands. And being in subjection of their own husbands. Verse 6, even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, as long as you do well, and they're not afraid with any amazement. Look, you say, well I can't believe the Bible says that. You know, Sarah obeyed Abraham, I'm supposed to obey him. But hold on a second. This is a beautiful thing. Holiness is a beautiful thing. A woman who's in subjection to her own husband is a beautiful thing. A woman who dresses modestly is a beautiful thing. A woman who actually values herself enough to cover herself in clothing and not to wear things that are provocative or be scantily clad, you know, that is a beautiful thing in the eyes of God. And it's a beautiful thing in the eyes of many people in this world as well who aren't impressed by the sleazy whores and whoremongers of Hollywood. And they would rather look at someone and they find it more beautiful to see someone actually dressed as a feminine lady who's modest and has godliness and character. That's more beautiful, okay? You know the Bible says in Matthew 23 where Jesus is talking about the Pharisees, he says, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you're like unto whited sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. And let me tell you something, that could describe a lot of people in this world who look great on the outside but inside they're rotten. And when you get to know them, that beauty's going to fade. You know the Bible talks about in 1 Peter chapter 3 where you are that the beauty that comes from having a meek and quiet spirit as a woman and having godliness, that that's an incorruptible beauty. What does corruption mean? Well if you think about the word corruption, it's literally decay. You know if you think of metal rusting, that is corruption. If you think about food, getting old and going bad, that's corruption. And so what the Bible is saying here is that beauty is going to fade, natural physical beauty. You might be drop dead gorgeous in your 20s or 30s but you know when you get into your 70s, 80s and 90s, no offense to the older ladies, but you're not necessarily going to be turning heads when you're 90, okay? I'll go real high to be safe, you know. Because of the fact that the Bible says that the beauty is going to fade, right? Obviously you're going to peak at some point, you know you're going to get more and more beautiful and then you're going to peak and then it's all downhill from there, alright? But here's the thing, if you live your life where it's just all about your physical appearance, that's a depressing thought, isn't it? Wouldn't it be a depressing thought to think, all my greatest days are behind me. Women who just live off their appearance or even dudes who just live off their appearance, what must it be like for these aging Hollywood actors who just, they just get uglier and uglier and uglier because that's life. But you know what, those of us who are living for something other than that which is just carnal and physical and outward, you know, we're not afraid of old age. Old age, where is thy victory, right? Oh geriatric times, where is thy sting? Because of the fact, we don't care about getting old because we don't care if we get wrinkles, we don't care if our hair becomes gray because you know what, we still are going to have the beauty of holiness, the beauty of holiness. You know, a godly Christian's life can just keep on getting better and better and we don't have to just lament that we don't look like we did in our 20s or whatever. And so holiness is a beautiful thing. So the first thing I want to point out about the beauty of the Lord is the beauty of holiness. The most beautiful people are godly people. The most beautiful literature is the Bible. The most beautiful artwork is artwork that glorifies God. The most beautiful music is music that glorifies God because of the beauty of holiness. In fact, even many secular people would say that the Hallelujah Chorus is the greatest song written in the history of mankind. Some people have even said that in secular art appreciation type books or music appreciation books. You know, the greatest music is godly music. Now there are some worldly songs that are beautiful but you know what, it's not the same level of beauty because they don't have the same level of meaning. The things that the world sings about are vain and they don't mean the same thing that a godly song. You know, if you get a beautiful song that's about something godly, that's powerful and it's a power that lasts, that endures because it means something. It has more depth. So number one, the beauty of holiness but number two, the beauty of creation. If you would turn to Psalm 19, the beauty of God's creation. Remember we're talking this morning about the beauty of the Lord. Something that comes up over and over again in scripture, God's beauty. What is his beauty? Well number one, we saw the beauty of his holiness. God is the most holy and so he's the most beautiful in that sense. But number two, there's the beauty of God's creation. In Genesis chapter one, the Bible says, and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good and the evening and the morning were the sixth day. God looked at his creation when he was done and it was all very good. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3.11, he had made everything beautiful in his time. Also he had set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. And you know scientists, man, they want to find out God's work from beginning to end. They want to know everything about it. They're seeking after that holy grail of physics, the unified theory of everything. You know if you read a physics book, the last chapter is always about seeking the theory for everything. But here's what actually happens when you study science is that the more you know, the more you find out that's still out there to learn about. And as scientists learn more about our solar system and our galaxy and they keep pushing the boundaries, you might think well you know they're starting to get a handle on it. They've got about 99% of it figured out. And then it's like boom, dark matter, dark energy, whoa, we don't understand two-thirds of the universe. And all these mind-blowing things come out. You think you've got it figured out, but God has created this universe in such a way that it's like an onion. Just when you think you got it peeled, there's another layer to peel off and then there's another layer and it just keeps going deeper and deeper and deeper. And let me tell you something, scientists will never understand everything about the way this world works. They'll never understand everything about the biology of the way our body works because God is so intelligent and complex that he has made things so deep. They can keep learning more. They can learn more and the Bible talks about how in the last days knowledge will increase. But they will never get to a point where they say, okay, we fully understand nature. We fully understand the human brain. We fully understand the universe. They're not going to get there because God has set the world in their heart so that no man can find out the work that God made it from the beginning to the end. I'm not saying it's not a worthy pursuit to try to understand as much of it as we can, but I'm telling you they're never going to quite cross that finish line. And thank God because wouldn't it be terrible if we got to the end of knowledge and there's nothing more to learn. It would be like Alexander the Great weeping because there are no more worlds to conquer. But you'll never get to that point because God's creation is infinite. And let me tell you something, God has made all things beautiful. Everything that he made is very good and would to God that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works the children of man because I wonder how many people study science and they learn all of these math equations and you know mathematicians they describe equations as being eloquent, elegant. Here's a very elegant mathematical proof and you're sitting there like good stinking night get me out of this class right. This is a very elegant proof you know but here's the thing there is a beauty to mathematics isn't there. It's a beautiful no there isn't. But you know when you think about all the science and how things relate and you look at how all these things are connected boy there's a lot of beauty there. You know why? Because God's creation is beautiful outwardly it's beautiful even from a mathematical perspective it's beautiful. God has made all things beautiful in his time and man can't even figure it out. Verse one of chapter 19 there in Psalms, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. The beauty of God's creation shows the beauty of God himself. I mean think about it if I created a beautiful piece of artwork wouldn't that tell you something about who I am or if I produced a piece of music or a painting or whatever you know that actually shows something coming from within the heart of the artist am I right. Well if you look at this world and all the beauty that's there and it's a reflection of God's beauty because it declares his glory it's all his handiwork. Think about all the beautiful things in this world think about how beautiful the ocean is. Think about beautiful rivers and streams and forests, caverns, waterfalls. Think about the stars, the moon. Think about the sunsets. Think about the aurora borealis. Think about all of the things you can imagine. Picture a forest in the wintertime or picture Arizona in the desert in the height of summer. It's beautiful. But of course Arizona is more than just a desert. Everything I just mentioned except the aurora borealis can be found in Arizona. You're not going to find the aurora borealis but everything else is there in spades. But let me tell you something we've all at times if you're any kind of normal person whatsoever you've all at times enjoyed natural beauty. You've seen some breathtaking sight or stood on the edge of some precipice and looked out over some beautiful vista and that right there should cause you to worship the Lord right there because that's his creation. That's his artwork. That's his masterpiece. That's the handiwork of his fingers. That is the beauty of God's creation. So number one we have the beauty of holiness. Number two we have the beauty of God's creation. And number three we have the beauty of God's word. God's word is beautiful. Look if you would at verse number seven in chapter 19 and in verse number one it talked about his creation. But in verse seven of Psalm 19 the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold. Yea then much fine gold sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. God's word is sweeter than honey. God's word is the most beautiful literature that has ever been written or ever will be written in the history of mankind. It's amazing to hear people scoff at the Bible or to talk down about the Bible. You know what they're all they're showing is their own ignorance. Even worldly people acknowledge that this is the greatest literature in the history of mankind or that it would at least be very high on the list. Only clowns and people who just have a need to persuade because they're just trying to compensate and act like oh the Bible has just junk down the Bible. Folks come on. Yeah the Bible's junk that's why a hundred million people are reading it today. That's why 70 million people are sitting in church in America right now listening to a preacher right because it's just junk. Folks this is the greatest most influential most powerful book in the history of mankind. Here we are two thousand years later in the case of the New Testament. Three thousand five hundred years later in case of parts of the Old Testament still reading it. Still loving it. There's still nothing that can hold a candle. Think about all the posers that have tried to produce a book like this book and failed. Joseph Smith, Mohammed. They can't even come close. They can't even hold a candle to this. They're a joke compared to this. This is the greatest book on this planet and nothing else can even be compared to it. Think about the marvelous passages in the Word of God. Think about First Corinthians 13. Think about Psalm 23. Think about Isaiah 53, Genesis chapter 1, Luke chapter 2, John chapter 3, Hebrews chapter 1, Hebrews chapter 11, Ecclesiastes 12, hey you could name hundreds of chapters. We could just pull out any one of them and pull it out and put it next to whatever the poet put it next to whatever the lyricist and I guarantee you the Bible is going to blow it out of the water. You say what about Shakespeare? You know what more people quote the Bible than quote Shakespeare. The Bible has better quotes any day. I mean look Shakespeare's got some great quotes but you know what not even close to what the Bible has. The Bible has way more quotes even used by worldly secular people who've never even been to church they will quote the Bible more than Shakespeare just by accident because so many of our expressions and figures of speech come directly from the Bible. I've never really been a huge Shakespeare fan anyway but the Bible's awesome and you know well the language is similar. Yeah but you know what it's the spirit right here. It's the fact that this is divine that makes it just jump off the page and just grab a hold of you and you could name your favorite chapters and your favorite passages but there is so much beauty in the Word of God. There's so many times that you read the Word of God and it brings tears to your eyes just at the sheer beauty of what you're reading. So number one we have the beauty of holiness. Number two we have the beauty of God's creation. Number three we have the beauty of God's Word and we can talk the whole sermon about that but enough said. But number four we have the beauty of God's work. The beauty of God's work. Go if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. The beauty of God's work. The Bible says in Psalm 90 while you're turning to 2 Corinthians 5, Psalm 90 verse 16 let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea the work of our hands establish thou it. So notice what he says there. He's saying let the beauty of the Lord be upon us and then he follows that up by saying establish the work of our hands, yea the work of our hands establish thou it. So isn't it interesting how our works being established by God is connected to God's beauty dwelling upon us. Why is that? Because God's work is a beautiful thing. God's work is a beautiful thing. The Bible says in Isaiah 52 7 how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings and publisheth peace and bringeth good tidings of good that publisheth salvation that saith unto Zion thy God reigneth. This is quoted in Romans chapter 10 verse 15 and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. You know when you go out soul winning that's a beautiful thing. How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel. You go out and knock doors and preach the gospel. You go out telling people about Jesus Christ. That is a beautiful thing when you do the work of the Lord. Look if you would at 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 18 and all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. I want you to pay attention to that word reconciliation. To wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation. So notice four times in a row that word is used reconciliation, reconciliation, reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ verse 20 as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Can you imagine if you had a job and this was your actual job is what you got paid for your job was where you reconciled marriages that had fallen apart or your job was to reconcile children to their parents or to reconcile old friends who had a falling out. Can you imagine if you went to work and that was your job your job was to to bring a husband and a wife back together again your job was to bring old friends back together again to bring parents and children back together to a loving relationship. Can you imagine a job like that you know what you know what people would say about your job what you do is really beautiful man what you do is beautiful you have a beautiful job man isn't that what they would say people would be like that's beautiful it sounds like a reality show or something right you know Pastor Anderson reconciles another couple he's gonna reconcile another family he's gonna reconcile old friends you know and we travel around and we get the back story on all the heartache and then they come together and then there's the poignant tearful reunion and you say wow what a beautiful job I am a trash collector but this guy he is reconciling people to their loved ones and you say that's a beautiful job that's a beautiful thing but guess what as Christians that is our job you know what we're doing we're reconciling people to God there's a broken relationship today between God and people right there are people that are at enmity with God today they're people they're not saved there's a gulf fixed between them and God today and it's our job the Bible says that God reconciled us to himself by Jesus and he's committed unto us that means he's trusting us with the ministry of reconciliation and we go out and we beseech people as ambassadors of Christ and we say to them be reconciled to God and you know what it's so beautiful it's so much more beautiful to win a soul to Christ now look I'm not saying it isn't a beautiful thing if a married couple would reconcile that's beautiful that is beautiful seeing friends reconciles beautiful seeing parents and children being reconciled boy that is going to bring a tear to your eye that is a beautiful thing I'm not downplaying that it is beautiful but what I'm saying is that's what's going on spiritually when we win someone to Christ there's a reconciliation taking place that is a beautiful job to preach the word of God it's a beautiful job to win souls to Christ now look that may not be what you do as your job nine to five and you know what maybe you have a beautiful job and in many ways your job can be beautiful even if you are a trash collector because of the fact that if you do it as unto Christ if you do it as unto the Lord and not unto men anytime somebody does a good job at what they do it's beautiful no matter what the job doing your best is a beautiful thing no matter what it is the Bible says whatsoever thy hand find it to do do it with thy might give it everything you got do your best and a job well done is beautiful even electricians you know they stand back and they look at that conduit and they admire the beauty of the pipe that they've bent right the plumbers stand back and admire the beauty I remember working at an alarm company and we also did central vacuum and I just remember the central vacuum guys just really taking pride in those vacuum pipes just kind of just stand back and just just look at those beautiful white PVC pipes cutting through the studs and they just it's just beautiful any job well done is beautiful but let me tell you something you know in addition to just the physical things we do on this earth we all have another job say I'm an electrician you have another job well I'm a computer programmer you have another job I'm a plumber you have another job because it's all of our job to reconcile this world to Christ it's all of our job to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ so yes you have your day job but you know what your real gig is your real gig is being an ambassador for Christ that's the real career right the real job is being a soul winner it's being someone who preaches the gospel and that my friend is a beautiful job it's a beautiful occupation is a beautiful car I don't care what you do during the daytime you know what that's beautiful when you can get out some evening and win a soul to Christ you can get out some Saturday or Sunday and win a soul to Jesus Christ that's a beautiful thing so God's work is beautiful and when we get involved in the work of the Lord the beauty of the Lord rests upon us according to Psalm 90 verses 16 and 17 and so we want to walk in beauty not the world's beauty you know we don't want to get the world's idea of beauty you know some scantily clad woman or some rebellious teenager making a face at the camera or something you know what they think is beautiful what they think is art a lot of it's just junk you know we look at a lot of the art that's being produced today and we just we just have to shake our heads at it and say why do these people have no sense of art you know they duct tape a banana to the wall and they call that art you know I saw some joke on Facebook but the sad thing is it probably wasn't even a joke somebody like forgot their glasses and everybody was like taking a picture of it because they thought it was art because it was just like glasses on the floor you know I remember my brother he used to be an art major he switched to business but he was an art major and he he had a book about art that he brought home and I was looking through his college textbook and and I've since seen this important piece of art referred to many other times in high level art conversations I've been involved in when there's just a snow shovel who knows what I'm talking about the one that's just a snow shovel standing up and that was like this groundbreaking piece of artwork what yes one person all right let's talk art after the service man this guy knows this guy's a connoisseur no I'm serious like this will be in art books other art textbooks have featured this piece I I brought it up to you know the woman who painted the mural and was like of course you know she scoffed at it as well but she knew about it it's literally just a snow shovel and it was like this priceless art a snow shovel just standing there it's just like oh wow it's so deep that's so cool folks the wisdom of this world's foolishness with God all right the world out there they've got their ideas about beauty they're on the floor taking a picture of somebody's glasses that they dropped they're looking at a banana duct taped to the wall think about all the goofball modern art that you find in downtown areas like downtown Phoenix bunch of weird rusted twisted metal and it's just like oh man there's so many interpretations but let me tell you something the real beauty in this world you really want to see beauty and understand beauty let me give you a little art appreciation class this morning it's the beauty of the Lord it's the beauty of holiness you know what's beautiful people staying married for fifty years that's a beautiful thing you know what's beautiful people raising their children to love the Lord children growing up and blessing their parents children obeying their parents wives submitted to their husbands husbands who love their wives and are willing to lay down their lives for their family lay down their lives for their friends men who go to work and provide and work hard and take pride in what they do on the job hey you know what's beautiful families going to church on Sunday and families going out and winning souls to Christ that's a beautiful thing you know what's beautiful the waterfalls the forests the mountains the deserts the grassy plains that's all God's creation God created that you know somebody can take a picture of it and copyright their picture but you know their credit really needs to go to God because he's really the artist there you just took a picture of it but God paints a beautiful sunset in Arizona every single night and the stars and the moon and everything it's all out there for us to enjoy and all of it should make us stop and praise God because it's the beauty of the Lord that you're looking at when you look at his creation you're looking at his beauty his works are beautiful his word is beautiful holiness is beautiful let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer Father we thank you so much for all the wonderful blessings that you've given us Lord and thank you for allowing us to live such a beautiful life and putting so much beauty in this world Lord help us not to get sucked in by the devil's brand of beauty and the things that he wants to enamor us and entice us with Lord help us to seek the beauty of holiness in our lives and live a truly beautiful life as beautiful people and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.