Exodus chapter 38, the Bible reads in verse number one,
and he made the altar of burnt offering of Shittim wood.
Five cubits was the length thereof,
and five cubits the breadth thereof.
It was four square and three cubits the height thereof.
So we're continuing this inventory of items
that are made in and for the tabernacle.
And if you remember earlier in Exodus,
it described what they're going to make,
and God's telling them, you're going to make this,
you're going to make that.
And then at the end of Exodus, it's like,
so they made this and that.
So we've already kind of talked about
all of these different items.
This ends up being a bit of a review as you go through
and learn about making the burnt offering altar,
and the laver, and the courtyard, and so forth.
But as you're reading these latter chapters in Exodus
that you feel like are a little bit redundant
because it's already been covered,
there are these interesting little nuggets
that God puts in here that are different
from the first time around
when he explained everything the first time.
One of these is found in verse number eight.
So verses one through seven,
he describes making the altar for the burnt offering.
But then in verse number eight, it says,
and he made the laver of brass and the foot of it of brass,
of the looking glasses of the women assembling,
which assembled at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation.
So it's kind of interesting that the Bible tells us that.
It's telling us all the things that they made,
but then it stops to tell us where they got the brass
for the laver of all things.
They're gonna build the laver out of brass,
which is from the looking glasses of the women,
which assembled at the door of the congregation.
So basically what it's saying is
that they took the women's looking glass
and they melted them down.
They destroyed them, they melted them,
and turned them into a laver.
Now obviously something like this
must have spiritual significance
because nothing in the Bible is incidental,
coincidental, or accidental.
And especially when something is unnecessary,
when a certain piece of information is unnecessary,
that typically makes it doubly important
because then you ask the question,
well, why are you telling us that?
You didn't tell us where you got exactly every bit
of silver and gold and brass for other things,
so why is this here?
And I believe what God is showing us symbolically here
with the looking glass and the laver
is the importance of the laver over the looking glass.
Now what is a looking glass?
A looking glass in our modern vernacular is a mirror.
Now we don't call it a looking glass,
so this could have maybe stumped you a little bit at first
when you see, what's a looking glass?
What does that mean?
I know the first time I read it,
I didn't know what that meant.
And I read the book of Exodus when I was a child.
I don't remember exactly how old I was
the first time I read Exodus,
but I was probably somewhere around 10 years old
or something that I read the whole book.
I thought a looking glass was like some kind of a telescope
or binoculars or something like that.
That's what I pictured as a kid when I read this.
But a looking glass is actually a reflective piece of metal
that you would look into like you'd look in a mirror.
Have you ever been into a rest stop on the freeway
and they don't have an actual mirror,
they just have like a really shiny metal
that you look into instead of a mirror?
Who knows what I'm talking about?
So instead of having an actual mirror,
they just have like really shiny metal.
And that's basically what this is.
That's the technology that they're using here.
They're looking into their reflection
in a really shiny polished brass.
So basically you have women, you have church women, right?
The women that assembled,
the tabernacle of the congregation.
Instead of staring at themselves in a mirror,
this is gonna go into making a labor
which is that which is washes you and makes you clean.
Now go if you were to Ephesians chapter number five,
Ephesians chapter number five.
And I think what God's getting at here symbolically
with melting down the looking glasses
and turning them into a labor
is that we should spend more time
on actually getting ourselves right with God,
getting our heart right with God
and being a better person than focusing on our appearance.
And think about how many women today
spend a lot of time on their appearance.
They might spend every single day.
How many minutes or how many hours,
you know, doing all kinds of grooming,
applying makeup and putting on their wardrobe
and going through all these different processes
that they do in order to look good.
And I wonder how many of those same women
that would put an hour into their appearance each day,
two hours into their appearance each day
would spend no time in the Bible
or even five minutes in the Bible,
very little time in prayer,
very little time actually communing with God,
but a lot of time on the outward appearance.
Look what the Bible says in Ephesians chapter five.
I wanna tie in the labor a little bit
because what's a labor?
I mean, if you speak Spanish,
you know what la va means, it means to wash, right?
So the labor is basically a place to wash.
It says Ephesians 5, 25, husbands,
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it,
that he might sanctify and cleanse it
with the washing of water by the word,
that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So here we have the church
being referred to in the feminine, right?
It's using the illustration of a husband and wife,
Christ as the husband, the church as the wife.
And he's talking about the wife,
the church being washed by the water of the word.
And what does that mean?
It means that it's being sanctified and cleansed.
It's being made holy.
It's being made more righteous.
So the melting down of the looking glass
and turning it into a laver is picturing the fact
that we should spend more time on sanctification,
cleansing, doing right, getting right with God.
And that's done through the word,
spending more time in the word
than staring at ourself in the mirror,
trying to make ourself look good because beauty is vain.
Go to Isaiah chapter three.
Now, obviously women want to look nice.
And even to some degree, men want to look presentable, right?
We don't want to look nice.
We just want to look presentable, okay?
You know, men are not as into their appearances
and obviously we shouldn't be.
I think it's pretty normal for women to want to look nice,
to want to look good.
There's nothing wrong with that,
but this can be taken overboard, okay?
And especially if it's more important to you
than what's on the inside,
that's where you need to do some real soul searching.
In Isaiah chapter three, we have this scripture
that talks about women that are basically really puffed up
about their appearance.
They're really into their appearance
and their beauty has made them prideful.
Look what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter three, verse 16.
Moreover, the Lord saith,
because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
haughty means that they're arrogant
or prideful and walk with stretched forth necks.
So, you know, they've got their neck stretched out.
They got their chin up in the air, right?
They're looking down their nose at you.
They're haughty, they're arrogant.
They're looking down their nose at you.
They've got their stretched forth necks and wanton eyes
walking and mincing as they go
and making a tinkling with their feet.
You know, this is some really vivid poetry here.
You can just, you get the picture, don't you?
These women just prancing and strutting around
and they've got their neck stretched out
and they just think that they are so cool, right?
Therefore, the Lord will smite with a scab
the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion
and the Lord will discover their secret parts.
Basically, he's just talking about them being humiliated
in the worst way, right?
Having their secret parts discovered or uncovered,
having a scab on their head.
You know, they're worried about their appearance
and then they've got this horrible scab on the scalp here.
Verse number 18, in that day, the Lord will take away
the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet
and their calls and their round tires like the moon,
the chains and the bracelets and the mufflers,
the bonnets and the ornaments of the legs
and the headbands and the tablets and the earrings,
the rings and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparels
and the mantels and the wimples and the crisping pins,
the glasses and the fine linen and the hoods and the veils.
You say, well Pastor Angel,
I don't know what some of these things are.
You know, I think the King James is too archaic
because I don't know what wimples and crisping pins are.
But here's the thing, if you were to roll out
all the beauty terminology of today,
half of us probably wouldn't know what that means either
because we're not that into it.
These are things that are always changing
and there are all kinds of specialized terms
in the fashion world and the beauty world that,
I mean, I'm not gonna ask to do this,
but I guarantee you if we ask the ladies
to start trying to stump me with fashion and beauty
and clothing terminology, it probably wouldn't be that hard
to stump me with something, I don't know.
So I don't necessarily know what all of the things are today
so don't be surprised if you,
now when I see the crisping pin,
I think this is like a curling iron.
Okay, that's my theory, you know, basically.
Because you know, it can really make your hair crisp, right?
Am I right?
I don't know.
So, you know, because a pin is like something long and round
and you wrap your hair around it, the crisping pin.
That's my theory.
And the tires around their head, that's like a tire.
So this, we would say a head dress
or a dressing of the head.
And then, you know, all these different bonnets,
ornaments, rings and nose jewels.
We all know what that is.
And all these different mantels
and changeable suits of apparel.
It's not really important exactly what these things are.
I think the point that's being made
by just having this long list,
I mean, this is a pretty long list
of just all the different things.
It's just showing how much effort
and how much work and money and energy and time
is being put into these women's appearance.
But yet they're not right with God.
They don't love the Lord.
They're not humble.
They're just arrogant, prideful, haughty.
And so God's gonna take them down a notch.
It says in verse number 24,
it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell,
you know, all the different fragrances and things,
instead of sweet smell, there shall be stink.
And instead of a girdle, a rent, right?
Because a girdle is something
that kind of cinches things down.
A rent is a tear, something that's ripped.
Instead of a girdle, a rent.
Instead of well-set hair, baldness.
And instead of a stomacher,
which I'm assuming would be like one of those things
that you would put on, I guess you'd call it now a girdle.
When the Bible says girdle, it's more like a belt,
but this is like one of those things
that make you look slimmer.
What do they call it, a corset?
Is that what it's called?
I knew more about this than I thought.
So it's like a corset, I think,
is what's meant by the stomacher.
Instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth
and burning instead of beauty.
Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war,
and her gates shall lament and mourn,
and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
Go to James chapter one.
So the idea here is you don't wanna get
all into your appearance.
You don't wanna be one of these ladies
that's just so into having all the brands
and all the fancy purses and accessories and ornaments,
and you're putting on all the makeup
and you're getting all dolled up in front of the mirror,
and you're just so prideful and arrogant
that you just think you're so cool
because of how cool you look, right?
This is not what life's about.
This is not what being a Christian is about.
And so what we wanna focus on is what's on the inside,
not what's on the outside.
And you young men, don't just look on the outward appearance
when you're choosing who you're gonna date
or who you're gonna marry,
because that outward appearance is vain.
If you were gonna buy a car,
you're not just gonna buy a car
just based on which car looks cool.
Now, some people would, but they're not very smart
if that's what they base it on.
The kind of things that I would look at
if I were buying a car is I would wanna know,
is this car reliable?
What kind of gas mileage does this car get?
Is this car comfortable and ergonomic
when I'm sitting inside?
Some cars, I've rented a lot of cars
because of the traveling that I do,
and sometimes you get in a car,
and I remember there was this one car,
it was just flawed to where when you pulled down the visor,
it wouldn't fit, it would hit something,
and it would hit the mirror,
and things just weren't laid out well,
and I'm thinking, I would never wanna own this car
because it's not ergonomically correct.
You wanna know about, also,
if a replacement part is needed,
is it gonna cost a fortune?
Some cars are just really hard to get parts for,
or the mechanic has to be a special mechanic
and it costs a fortune.
It's funny, my sons were looking into buying cars
not that long ago, they'd gotten to that age
and they're driving and they wanna get their own car,
and here's what I found.
I found that there were just a ton of really good deals
on these BMW and Mercedes convertibles
that were kinda high miles,
but they were still in really good condition,
and so this is really tempting to be like,
oh man, look at this, I can drive this
German import convertible, it's only like $4,000,
it's only like $5,000, but here's the thing,
those cars are high maintenance
because they need special parts,
and here's why they're so cheap,
because people don't want them, okay?
These really sporty, fancy, or luxury cars with high miles,
they're expensive to work on, and here's the thing,
the people who have the money to maintain them,
they want the new one.
I mean, if you got tons of money,
you're getting the newest, hottest model,
and the people who don't really care
about having an older version,
they may not have the money to maintain the thing,
so these things were like a dime a dozen on Craigslist,
and I might be getting the details wrong,
but you're getting the spirit of what I'm saying, okay?
So don't pick me apart
if I have the wrong models or something.
Is that what it was, son?
What were the brands that we were looking at,
where they were just like all these incredible deals
on like, what were they, BMW?
Mercedes, what else?
Audi, Jaguar, it was just like,
so these things, like if you just looked at it
on the surface, you're like, whoa, this is a good deal,
it's a fancy, sporty car,
I mean, I'm gonna be the coolest dude with this car.
I'm, you know, 16, pulling up in my Jaguar or whatever,
you know, you're like, whoa, 4,000 bucks, let's do it.
High miles, so what, it looks good.
But the first time something goes wrong,
you gotta take it to some special shop
that works on these kind of cars,
and all the parts are imported,
and it's a fortune and whatever.
You know, my best car that I've ever had
was a Hyundai Sonata.
I loved that car.
I put 355,000 miles on it.
It did not break, the first time it broke down,
it had 327,000 miles on it.
And until then, it just ran perfectly.
Just no problems.
I mean, that car was incredible.
And then when I broke something on the car,
the part was like six bucks from the Hyundai dealer.
I mean, that's what you want in a car, okay.
But here's the thing,
let me just give you some advice, guys.
You know, you see some just really beautiful girl
that's just too good to be true,
and she's just totally available,
and she seems out of your league, there's a catch, all right?
So, you know, don't just base everything on the appearance.
Okay, you need to actually base it on what's under the hood.
All right, and you need to base on
whether it's gonna be high maintenance or low maintenance,
okay, or expensive maintenance.
So, you know, a fool,
a fool is just gonna go out,
and just, oh, beautiful, gorgeous woman.
He's just, she hasn't met hello,
and he doesn't care about what her character's like.
He doesn't even care if she's really saved.
Does she even love the Lord?
Does she have character?
Is she a virtuous woman?
Or it's just, no, she just looks great.
That's a stupid thing to base your whole life on,
because you're gonna be driving that car for a long time,
and the newness is gonna wear off,
and I don't care how cool a car is,
after a while, the thing that's gonna be important to you
is whether that car gets you from point A to point B.
And so, a lot of young men,
a lot of teenagers and young men,
they might just look at a woman,
and they're kinda looking at that Hyundai Sonata woman,
and it's just not the coolest, sportiest thing
that they've ever seen,
but you know what, the fundamentals are sound,
you know, if it's a godly woman.
And, you know, beauty's in the eye of the beholder,
so don't base all of your decisions
about who you're gonna date and marry on looks, okay?
Now, obviously, you can't marry someone
that you're not attracted to, okay?
That's a recipe for disaster in and of itself.
But don't just be sucked in by the world's
kinda Hollywood view of what beauty is.
You know, God has made all things beautiful in his time,
and all of us are fearfully and wonderfully made,
and you know what I've noticed?
I've noticed that people that are beautiful or handsome,
but they have a rotten personality,
the longer you're around them,
they start looking ugly to you.
And I've also noticed that people
that are a little more homely,
but have a great personality,
they look better and better the longer that you know them.
It's true.
Why?
Because, you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder,
that's why, and so don't get sucked in
to just a pretty face with no character.
Because I'm sure that the women
that are being described here looked great.
I'm sure they looked fantastic.
But, you know, with their stuck out neck
and their haughtiness, you know,
that's a rotten person that you wouldn't want
to be married to one of these women that's described here.
And plus, not only that, you know, beauty fades.
You know, if you get married when you're 25 years old,
you know, chances are,
if you're actually faithful to your spouse,
you know, you're gonna be married for like another 50 years.
And you know what?
Yeah, that beauty is there now,
but she's not just gonna be this smoking hottie
when she's, you know, 75 years old.
It's just not gonna happen, all right?
So you have to understand that beauty fades,
beauty's vain, and we need to look past that
and base our decisions on what really counts.
Go through it in James chapter one.
James chapter number one.
James chapter number one, verse 22,
because we said that the looking glasses
were melted down to make the labor.
And what God's trying to show us
is the prioritizing of sanctification, righteousness,
the washing of the water by the word
versus the outward physical appearance.
So what are we saying?
Ladies, don't spend so much time on your appearance
that you're neglecting Bible reading, prayer,
and character building, okay?
You say, well, you know, I wanna get married.
I wanna attract the right kind of a guy.
But here's the thing.
You know, the right kind of a guy is gonna love you
for having the right character.
And he's looking for a godly woman.
He's looking for a virtuous woman.
So that's what you wanna cultivate.
But in James chapter one, we have another scripture
that uses this illustration of a mirror.
It says in James 1.22, but be doers of the word
and not hearers only, deceiving your own self.
So hitting the labor for the washing of the water
of the word, that's great to be reading your Bible,
you know, and say, okay, I'm not just gonna spend an hour
on my makeup and two minutes on reading the Bible
or zero on reading the Bible.
I'm gonna spend some time on reading the Bible.
Well, it's not enough to just read the Bible.
You also wanna be a doer of the word.
So the Bible says, be doers of the word
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer,
he's like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass.
So the women that assembled at the door of the congregation,
they're assembling at the tabernacle of the congregation,
they're hearing the word, they're at church,
they hear the word, and they're beholding themselves
in a glass, but are they a doer of the word?
The laver represents being a doer of the word, okay?
The Bible says, he's like unto a man beholding
his natural face in a glass for he beholded himself
and goeth his way and straightway forgetth
what manner of man he was, but who so looketh
into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein,
he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed in his deed.
If any man among you seem to be religious and bridled,
not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart,
this man's religion is vain.
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father
is this, to visit the fatherless and widows
in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted
from the world.
And the keeping himself unspotted from the world,
doesn't that also draw to mind the laver?
Washing, right?
Because what does it mean to be spotted?
To be dirty, to be contaminated, right?
And so the washing of the water of the word,
if you remember in Ephesians 5, it
was so that he could present the church to himself,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, right?
So the washing of the water of the word was to remove what?
To remove the spot, to remove the contamination, the filth.
And so the laver represents sanctification
and the washing of the water of the word,
but not just hearing the word, but actually doing the word,
cleaning up your life, doing the right things,
obeying the commandments, being a good Christian,
doing the works, right?
Not just being a hearer of the word,
but being a doer of the work, the Bible said.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 2.
1 Timothy chapter number 2.
So what am I preaching about tonight?
I'm preaching about the vanity of physical appearance
versus actually having a godly character, right?
Reading your Bible and doing what it says.
Look, I am glad that I have a wife who reads the Bible
and does what it says.
Now, my wife is beautiful.
And I'm thankful to have a beautiful wife.
But I'm also thankful to have a wife who reads the Bible
and does what it says.
And you know what?
If I had to choose between my wife being beautiful
and my wife reading the Bible and doing what it says,
I would much rather have the godly wife
than a beautiful wife any day of the week.
Now, you young people that are skeptical of that statement
are very foolish because just live life for a while
and you'll understand what's really important in life.
And I can tell you about the ones who married
a beautiful woman where that beauty was
like a jewel in a pig's snout.
That's what the Bible says is the woman who's beautiful
but she's without discretion,
it's like a jewel in a swine's snout.
And you know what?
I could tell you about the ones who married
that gorgeous bride.
And boy, she just looked beautiful coming down that aisle.
But you know what?
I guarantee you that that's a rotten image in his mind
now that she's ruined his life, made his life miserable.
Beauty's vain.
You'd much rather have a woman that lacked in beauty
and had a godly character any day of the week.
And anybody who's older would tell you that.
Nobody says, man, I just wish I would have married
a more beautiful woman with just,
I mean, less character would have been fine.
No one would ever say that, no one.
Everybody's glad that they married a woman with character
that's godly, that's virtuous.
These are the things that matter.
So as women, that's what you work on, right?
You work on what's inside.
That's the most important thing.
Now, I'm not, hey, go ahead.
You know, anoint your head, wash your face, right?
Make yourself look nice.
But you don't have to go overboard on your appearance.
Look what the Bible says in the Bible.
Look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter two, verse nine.
In like manner also that women adorn themselves
in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety,
not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array,
but which becometh women professing godliness with what?
With good works.
So get dressed, not in a fancy outfit,
but in good works, right?
Let your ornament, let your rings and nose jewels
and wimples and crisping pins,
hey, let that stuff be the good works that you have.
Let that be the outward adornment.
Let that be what makes you beautiful.
Who you are, right?
Your Christian character makes you beautiful.
Go if you would to Proverbs chapter 31.
Proverbs chapter number 31.
So notice, being a doer of God,
being a doer of the word, doing the work,
adorning yourself with good works,
not worrying about the physical appearance
as much as what's on the inside.
And the same thing goes for men as well.
You could flip this over as well and say,
hey, don't just marry that guy who just is a handsome guy
who looks like a stud or whatever.
Marry the guy who's actually gonna provide for you.
Marry the guy who is actually gonna pay the bills,
who's actually gonna be faithful to you,
who's actually gonna keep his vows to you
and stay married to you and not cheat on you
and provide for you and put you even before his own needs
and love you as himself.
These are the important things in life.
And young people sometimes are just blind
to the things that really matter.
And all they're looking at is just that cool guy
that walks through the door
and it's just, oh man, he's just such a stud.
Or that woman that walks through the door
and just, oh, she's so gorgeous.
And it's just love at first sight.
You need to actually explore and make sure
that that person is a godly Christian.
That's the most important thing.
If they love the Lord, they're gonna love you.
Why?
Because anyone who loves God
also loves their brother in Christ.
Because he who loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
This commandment have we from him
that he that loveth God love his brother also.
The one who truly loves God
loves their brother and sister in Christ.
So any man who truly loves God loves his wife.
Any woman who truly loves God loves her husband.
Look, if you wanna have a husband who loves you,
marry a godly man.
If you wanna have a wife that loves you,
marry a godly woman.
And don't just base your choice on looks.
It's crazy.
It's madness.
It's like just buying a house based on the looks.
Buying a car based on the looks.
Buying food based on the way it looks.
Instead of actually buying that which is durable
or quality or that which has integrity,
that which is real.
So get your priorities right.
And when it comes to yourself,
spend more time working on what's inside
than what's outside.
And don't do dare spend an hour
working on your outward appearance
when you haven't even read your Bible for five minutes
and you're not doing anything for the Lord.
It's all just carnal.
Look at Proverbs chapter 31 verse 29.
It says, many daughters have done virtuously,
but thou excelest them all.
Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain.
But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands
and let her own works praise her in the gates.
You know how God judges people is by their works.
That's what the Bible says over and over again.
God will judge every man according to his works.
That's what the Bible says.
If God judges you, it's based on your works.
That's how he judges you.
How did he judge the seven churches?
When he judged the seven churches
in Revelation two and three,
the first thing he said to all of them was,
I know thy works.
That's the first thing.
He said, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me
to give every man according as his work shall be.
The Bible says he will render to every man
according to his deeds.
God judges us based on our works.
Even a child is known by his doings,
whether his work be pure and whether it be right.
Now, when it comes to salvation, if we were judged by God,
we would be condemned by God.
If we were judged by our works,
if he were to weigh us in the balances,
we would all be found wanting, okay?
So thank God salvation's by grace.
Thank God we're not judged whether we're worthy
to go into heaven because we would all come short
of the glory of God.
So when it comes to salvation,
it's not based on the judgment of God.
It's based on God's mercy and grace
and forgiveness and redemption.
But when it comes to God actually judging people
and judging us as his children,
he judges us based on our works.
We get rewarded based on works.
That's clear in the Bible over and over again.
And so when God is describing a virtuous woman
and when he's talking about the best kind of wife,
and remember, chapter 31 of Proverbs is advice
to a young man.
It's a mother giving advice to her son,
warning him about the dangers of alcohol,
warning him about the dangers of the strange woman
and giving him advice on what to look for
in the virtuous woman.
And when the virtuous woman is described,
what's emphasized in Proverbs 31?
Her deeds.
All throughout this, her deeds are being emphasized.
Her works are being emphasized.
Give her of the fruit of her hands.
Let her own works praise her in the gates.
Favor is deceitful.
Beauty is vain.
A woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
That's what the Bible is saying.
It's all about her character, her fear of God
and what she does, her deeds, her works,
not her appearance, not what she looks like.
Why?
Because favor is deceitful.
That could trick you.
The parents can be deceptive.
Beauty is vain.
What does vain mean?
Vain means empty and meaningless.
Beauty is vain, the Bible says.
Now you say, well, what about Song of Solomon?
Song of Solomon just waxes eloquent and goes on and on,
praising the beauty of the wife
and praising her husband and so forth.
But you know what?
That's not a manual on how to find someone
to get married to, is it?
Is the context of Song of Solomon saying,
hey, let me tell you how to find a good husband.
Let me tell you how to find a good wife.
But that is the context.
The context here is finding a virtuous woman.
It's a mother talking to her son, giving him wisdom
so he knows what's important and what's not important.
And in that discussion, from a parent to their child,
telling them, this is important, this is not important,
looks are not important, character is important,
godliness is important, right?
That's what's being taught in context.
Song of Solomon is just enjoying marriage.
It's basically just kind of a walk through the park
and just an enjoyment of marriage.
And you know what?
Every husband should believe that their wife is beautiful
and every wife should believe that their husband is handsome
because as I said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
So Song of Solomon is a celebration of marriage
and a celebration of marital love.
And obviously, it has lots of other spiritual meanings
and I preached a whole series through Song of Solomon.
But we wanna get things in their proper context, okay?
When it comes to choosing a wife, choosing a husband,
you know, don't let looks be the determining factor.
Let it be a factor, obviously, because like I said,
you wanna find the person
that you're married to attractive.
But again, that's in the eye of the beholder.
A woman that one person maybe doesn't find attractive,
someone else does and vice versa.
One man might be considered ugly,
but over here, he's considered handsome by another.
It's in the eye of the beholder.
And by the way, don't let society tell you what that is.
Our society has these changing images of beauty
that are based on the style or the fad or the fashion.
Don't get sucked into that.
I remember one time, I was talking to a young man
and he was kind of talking about struggling
to find a wife or whatever.
And I brought up a girl that was in his circle of friends
and I said, you know, well, why don't you,
have you thought about dating her?
She seems like a really nice girl,
a godly Christian and everything.
And he's just, oh, really?
And I said, you know, she's a nice, pretty girl.
And he said, really?
You think she's pretty?
I said, yeah.
He's like, oh, okay, you know.
And then he ended up dating her and marrying her
and living happily ever after.
But it was like he needed someone else's approval
to tell him she's good looking.
And he's like, oh, okay.
You know, don't worry about the world standards.
You know, Hollywood and Madison Avenue,
they've got this standard
and they're teaching you what's beautiful.
And in many cases, it's not even a godly look
that they're promoting.
They're promoting like a promiscuous look,
a lot of heavy makeup and sleazy outfit.
I mean, the way a lot of just mainstream
American women dress right now
is like the way a prostitute would have dressed
like in the 1920s or the 1930s or something.
And that's like what Christians are dressing like today.
So we don't want to let the world dictate to us
this is beautiful, this is not.
Or just whatever they are pushing
that changes with the times.
Whatever the body type that they're saying is,
oh, this is the standard.
Tall, short, you know, really skinny
or full figured or whatever.
Whatever the fad is or whatever the style is.
Don't get sucked into all that.
Understand that God has made people all different.
Not everybody looks the same.
And God has made everyone beautiful in their own way.
Now some people have made themselves look ugly
by altering their appearance.
But the way that God made us, you know what?
God made us the way that we are.
So we don't want to think,
I mean, I've talked to some people
and they said they think 90% of people are ugly.
I mean, if you think 90% of people are ugly,
what are you saying about the God that created them?
Isn't that kind of a weird way to look at the world?
I think 90% of people look nice.
You know what I mean?
In fact, I say 99%.
Okay, that's pushing it.
My point is, you know, don't get this attitude
that everybody has to look like Hollywood.
Right?
Because you watch a Hollywood movie
and every janitor, every garbage man,
every just clerk behind every counter,
every bank is just like this drop dead gorgeous model
or just super hands.
Every man's got a six pack abs.
It's just like, that's not the way the world really is folks.
So don't get this attitude that like,
hey, if you don't look like you're in a Hollywood movie,
you're not beautiful.
That's stupid.
Okay.
Broaden your mind a little bit
and don't just look at everybody as being ugly
because you know what?
You're just getting sucked into the world's program
and not on God's program where God looked at everything
that he made and said it was very good.
Okay.
So don't fixate on your own appearance
and don't fixate on the appearances of other people
is the lesson tonight.
You know, what's important is washing
of the water of the word.
What's important is reading your Bible.
What's important is doing what the Bible says,
not getting in front of a mirror
and making yourself look so perfect and everything.
You know what?
Have the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.
Have the ornament of good works.
Adorn yourself with faith and charity and these things.
And as men, especially, you know,
and obviously I'm mainly preaching to the women tonight
because the Bible said it was the women
who had the looking glasses
and Moses took those looking glasses and melted them.
And turned them into a labor to get you washed up,
which is obviously symbolic of a spiritual cleansing,
not just a physical cleansing.
But here's the thing, you know,
obviously we're talking to the women, you know,
hey, don't fixate on your parents.
Spend time working on your character
and personal development, reading your Bible,
praying, being a godly Christian, serving the Lord,
doing works for the Lord, right?
But you know, as men, if you're a man,
the reason we're not preaching to the men
is because men typically don't struggle with this.
I don't see any man in here tonight
that put any effort into his appearance tonight.
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm just saying like, this isn't really something
that men typically struggle with.
It's typically women, right, that this would deal with.
And let me say this, if you are a man
who really worries about his appearance
and spends a lot of time on your hair
and your clothes and everything, you know,
I believe that that's an effeminate attribute to have.
Because, you know, the reason the Bible
is talking about women in this regard
is because that's who spends time on their appearance.
As a man, when you're really into the way that you look,
that is effeminate, okay.
Now, I'm for a basic level of hygiene,
especially with the coronavirus around me, man.
So like, I'm for you, you know, getting cleaned up,
taking a shower, floss, brush.
I'm for you getting a haircut and shaving
or trimming your beard or whatever.
And you know what, I'm for you wearing nice clothing
and, you know, clean clothes, durable clothes,
matching, you know, at least getting
in the ballpark of matching.
I'm partially colorblind, so I have a very loose definition
of what it means to match clothes.
I think almost everything matches, you know.
But the point is, you know, as a man though,
don't get all into your appearance
because that comes off as effeminate, okay.
And whatever you think you're gaining
by making yourself so dapper or debonair
or whatever you're doing, you know,
people are gonna get a vibe from you
that you're too into your appearance
and you're gonna come off as effeminate, you know.
And you know, the girls aren't gonna like that anyway, guys.
All right, you teenagers.
So just keep it real and don't obsess over your appearance
because that's a feminine thing to do.
And you women don't go overboard on your appearance
because there's only 24 hours in the day.
And the virtuous woman isn't rising also
while it is yet night to rend her face with makeup.
She doesn't rise also while it's yet night
in order to start, you know, doing her nails or something.
You know, she's rising also while it's night
to give meat to her household and a portion to her maidens.
So life is too short to fixate on your appearance
you know, spend time reading the word of God,
serving God, loving God, serving your family, right?
Doing good work with your hands
whether you're a man or a woman
and don't spend a bunch of time staring in the mirror
because the mirror is not a necessity.
You can in fact melt it down
and turn it into something else in the book of Exodus.
So that's what I got out of that passage
is prioritizing the spiritual sanctification
pictured by the labor.
That's the symbolism of the labor
over looking at yourself in a mirror.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this verse, Lord,
in Exodus chapter 38.
Lord, help us to let this sink into our ears
and to realize that our appearance
needs to go on the back burner
when it comes to other things like sanctification,
hearing the word, doing the word,
good works, good deeds, Lord.
Help us not to obsess about our appearance
and help us not to obsess about the appearances of others.
And Lord, those that are single, especially the teenagers,
I pray that they would just use wisdom
and not get so obsessed with appearance
that they're gonna pick their spouse based on looks
instead of basing it on character and godliness, Lord.
Help us to get our priorities right in this area
and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.