Transformed by Beauty

Psalm 27:1–4 “1 The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— whom should I dread? 2 When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army deploys against me, my heart will not be afraid; though a war breaks out against me, I will still be confident. 4 I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple.”

Courage in God

Psalm 27:1–3 CSB

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom should I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— whom should I dread? 2 When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army deploys against me, my heart will not be afraid; though a war breaks out against me, I will still be confident.

Lord is my light

Psalm 119:105 “105 Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path.”

The word of God tells me what I am supposed to be doing

That God helps me see and that he saves me.

When we are more afraid of men then we are of God, what we’re saying is that we don’t believe that God can save us from men.

Matthew 10:28 “28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Some of us pray that we will never experience hardship… That a silly prayer to pray.

John 16:33 “33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.””

Christ says this to prepare his children, you and I, for when challenges come. But the devil deceives many Christians today into thinking that when you come to Christ you won’t have challenges, so that when the challenges come you won’t be prepared. He wants your faith to fail

Pray that by God’s grace you will overcome the challenges of this life. Pray against unnecessary challenges! Challenges that keep repeating themselves in our lives because we haven’t learned our lesson yet.

Chuck Swindal - You don’t fail God’s test, you take them until you pass them

Pray against attacks of the enemy whenever they occur…

These tough experiences of the bad could lead to trusting God more

[Imprecatory Psalms] Many of us are not in the same situation as David… Real king, battles, people trying to kill him… BUT if God can guide David through his trials, He can guide you through yours

David is familiar with the ugliest parts of life

The desire for beauty

Psalm 27:4–6

Psalm 27:4–6 CSB

4 I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple. 5 For he will conceal me in his shelter in the day of adversity; he will hide me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. 6 Then my head will be high above my enemies around me; I will offer sacrifices in his tent with shouts of joy. I will sing and make music to the Lord.

One thing

Another great deception of the enemy for the church especially in the west, is that we’re poor

One thing desire

What does it mean to call God beautiful?

What does beautiful mean?

- a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight

- a combination of qualities that pleases the intellect or moral sense

- the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind

To find something beautiful is to be delighted by the arrangement or order of something

Whenever you talk about something being beautiful, it is always, always, always a matter of the heart.

The Hebrew word used in verse 4 means “delighted” - to gaze upon the “delightfulness”

That means that it is subjective… It’s based on your opinion of what you find beautiful! As the old adage goes “Beauty is in the eyes of the....”

That’s important - because what that means is that what you find to be beautiful reveals what delights you

Song, code

Math, Wire

Recipe, Martial arts

What you delight in is determined by what you choose to set your gaze upon. What you WANT TO LOOK AT!

There are lesser beauties, and there are greater ones

1 Peter 3:3–4 “3 Don’t let your beauty consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and wearing gold jewelry or fine clothes, 4 but rather what is inside the heart—the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

You may choose to focus on just the outward beauty, but that fades, and what’s more important is the inward beauty. And that’s what God focuses on.

You may choose to focus on the temporary things but, it’s the eternal things that are more important...

When you choose to focus on the aspects of life that are more important… more than things they are: Kindness, love, integrity, respect, forgiveness - if you honestly focus on those things and do not allow outside voices to sway you, you will come to see that the fullness of all these beautiful aspects of life is found in Christ.

Matthew 5:6 “6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Isaiah 66:2 “2 My hand made all these things, and so they all came into being. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will look favorably on this kind of person: one who is humble, submissive in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

Romans 10:13–15 “13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 14 How, then, can they call on him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.”

God is beautiful and therefore the works of his hands are as well

Psalm 139:14 “14 I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well.”

James 1:17 “17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

You see beautiful things in all aspects of life

Music

Fighting

Family

Friendships

Romans 1:20 “20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.”

Every beautiful thing we see in life and nature all point to a beautiful

But Sam, there are horrible parts to life as well. So, if God is beautiful, and everything He made is beautiful, then where did sin come from? Where did pain come from?

If we’re going to answer that we have to first look at what makes

There is a beauty in the order of God!

What is the nature of this order? - God first then everything else

Genesis 1:1 “1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Sin is ugly. Sin has brought about the ugliest parts of human beings. David had to deal with the ugliness of sin/human nature…

If beauty found in the proper order of things, then sin is due to a disordering. The Bible tells us when this disorder occurred…

Genesis 3:5 “5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

The temptation was to be like God!

God’s original order was and still is beautiful, and that is God first, then men (you and I), but since the early days of men, we brought about the ugliness of sin into this world by introducing disorder. Instead of God first, we try to make it us first (you first then God).

This is his desire, is this your desire???

It’s likely that David was not saying that he wanted to abdicate the other responsibilities he had, especially as king. He could have stayed in the temple, but he also knew that God had other things for him to do. But what he’s longing for is an abiding presence of God.

Leonard Ravenhill spoke of a Chinese scholar who looked into

So now this presence that David was longing for is now in each one of us. That’s beautiful…

Timothy Keller

“Religious people find God useful. Christians find God beautiful”

Verse 6

Sing

You can say words, but God asks us to sing

There’s a way that a melody moves our hearts that is a bit beyond words

So many songs have been sung about the beauty of God. Because song is what happens when our hearts are delighted

Psalm 33:1 “1 Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous ones; praise from the upright is beautiful.”

“What a beautiful Name it is!”

Prayer for salvation

Psalm 27:7–12 CSB

7 Lord, hear my voice when I call; be gracious to me and answer me. 8 My heart says this about you: “Seek his face.” Lord, I will seek your face. 9 Do not hide your face from me; do not turn your servant away in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or abandon me, God of my salvation. 10 Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord cares for me. 11 Because of my adversaries, show me your way, Lord, and lead me on a level path. 12 Do not give me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing violence.

“My beloved is most beautiful… upon thousands and thousands...”

Thousands and thousands of what? - of other options

Christ is more beautiful than any other thing that you can put your faith in for ultimate salvation...

Jobs, relationships, finances, clothing, achievements

John 14:27 “27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”

But Sam, you just said that there’s beauty in all aspects of life. Isn’t there beauty in other religions?

Going to the Sphere

Other religions like a woman making a song for another man not her husband

Jeremiah 31:32 “32 This one will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—my covenant that they broke even though I am their master”—the Lord’s declaration.”

The original order was God. Contrary to what we hear in mainstream messaging, God’s word lets us know that there was a time when only God was worshiped by men.

He took the sins of

Buddha

Confucius

Joseph Smith

Mohammad

Zoroaster

Mary Baker Eddy

Charles Russel … on the cross

These all started religions that say that you have to do things and rituals to earn your righteousness, but the beauty of Christ and his salvation is that he gives you His righteousness

God can and will make your life beautiful…

Certainty and Courage

Psalm 27:13–14 CSB

13 I am certain that I will see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart be courageous. Wait for the Lord.

BE Certain that God can make your life beautiful

But you have to want it. You have to want righteousness, you have to want forgiveness, and salvation, in other words, you have to want to gaze at his beauty!!!!

We may not be blessed with a pure vision of God but we can still see enough of the glory of God throughout all of life and our own experiences to know that He is real and to put our faith in Him!

John 20:29 “29 Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.””

1 Peter 1:7–8 “7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,”

Moses

The shepherds and the magi: When they saw the baby Jesus they left telling people

When Simon the Prophet:

Luke 2:29–32 CSB

29 Now, Master, you can dismiss your servant in peace, as you promised. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation. 31 You have prepared it in the presence of all peoples— 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel.

The disciples: When Jesus died, they all went to their old jobs

Paul was killing Christians but when he saw the living savior on the road to Damascus

Constantine was said to have converted to Christianity when he had a vision of the cross during a battle

Christic Visions

Seeing visions or just the beauty of God reflected in creation

John Newton

A slave trader

And a was a slave himself in Sierra Leone to a black woman

I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see

Samuel Ajayi Crowther

…about the third year of my liberation from the slavery of man, I was convinced of another worse state of slavery, namely, that of sin and Satan. It pleased the Lord to open my heart…”

CS Lewis

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

MLKJ

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.