You
Next once you find your place. We'll start on that first verse together number 36
And number 36 they get out together now
Oh
We want to ask Lord's blessing on the service so I've asked whether for the guns lost in
We thank you for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for he alone conquered death father
We ask you to bless pastor Anderson and today's sermon. We thank you Lord, and please bless our voices as we come up to you in
praise
We ask you Lord
Be with us all and thank you for all our guests coming today Lord to be with them as they depart from us today
It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen
Amen back to him number 21 number 21
What a wonderful Savior him number 21
Lift it up on that first now Christ asked for sin atonement made what a wonderful Savior him number 21 sing it out on that first
Christ
We are in the crisis
What a
For the cleansing
What a wonderful
What a
Oh
My heart
What a wonderful
He gives me
What a wonderful
They trying out what a wonderful
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord.
To Him I've given all my heart.
What a wonderful Savior.
The world shall never share a part.
What a wonderful Savior.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus.
What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord.
All right, at this time we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6.
Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we will be in 2 Chronicles, chapter number 19.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below, as well as salvations and baptisms.
Across the page we have the note about the baby shower.
And this is in honor of Gabriella Jeffrey.
It is today, in case you're having trouble reading that wild font there, that, believe it or not, that actually says today.
Sunday, September 8th, 2 o'clock to 4 o'clock.
So it's right here at 2 o'clock.
Nurselings and children who are able to stay seated are welcome.
Please bring a dish to pass.
Please RSVP with Mrs. Chandler Avgulas.
Gabriella is registered on Amazon.
You don't have to RSVP.
It's nice of you.
You don't have to bring a gift.
But obviously those are nice things, but you absolutely do not need to.
Don't be shy if you don't know Gabriella because, you know, all ladies and girls are invited to these things.
Lots of people just show up to these things.
And so all ladies and girls just stop in, have a good time.
There will be plenty of people there.
So that's today at 2 o'clock right here.
Keep praying for our expectant ladies in the church that they will have a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
On the back, we will be taking pictures for our annual yearbook every Sunday, September 15th through November 3rd.
And it is preferred that families with young children have their photo taken before services and everybody else get their photo taken afterward.
This year's background color is tan.
All right.
So the color is different every year.
That way you can coordinate your ensemble accordingly.
And there's a sign-up sheet posted over here to my right.
I think somebody might literally be signing up right now.
So you can sign up over there for getting your yearbook portraits.
And again, this is a nice thing for a few reasons.
Number one, sometimes you get busy with life and you end up just not taking those family portraits.
This kind of forces you to take the portraits.
Number two, you can't beat the price because it's 100% free.
And when we're done, we actually email you the high quality stuff.
We don't hold it hostage like, you know, JCPenney or something.
You know, nothing against JCPenney.
But the other thing is then at the end of the year, we have a yearbook.
And then it's cool because then you have, you know, something to remember everybody by.
And you can use it as a prayer list.
When there's that person who keeps saying hi to you and you don't know their name.
And you're just kind of like, hey, brother.
You know, you can actually kind of research it in the yearbook and like learn the names.
And be able to greet the friends by name as the Bible says.
So anyway, it's a cool thing that we do every year.
And so appreciate it if you would participate in that.
Don't be that guy who just doesn't get his picture taken, you know, because you're not photogenic or something.
It's like, you know, we all know that.
But just get your picture taken anyway.
And then reservation soul winning.
What this is referring to is soul winning on the Indian reservations.
We've knocked every door on every Indian reservation in Arizona except the Navajo reservation.
We've knocked more than half of the doors on the Navajo reservation in Arizona that is.
Of course, because only half of the reservation is in Arizona.
The other half is in New Mexico.
We're more than halfway done with the Arizona side.
And so we really want to get this done.
And we're excited about it.
And so if you want to participate, there's a cool trip coming up Friday and Saturday, September 20th through 21st.
And it includes some beautiful breathtaking scenery at Canyon de Chelly.
Sign up and information is over here to my right as well.
And then other upcoming events.
Of course, the missions conference at the beginning of November is a big deal.
And then there's a missions conference.
Or excuse me.
We already talked about the missions conference.
There's a missions trip at the beginning of December to Jamaica.
And so we've had in the past missions trips to Jamaica.
They've been super successful.
Really receptive.
In fact, at one point there was a DVD set back there all about the Jamaica missions trip that showed a bunch of preaching that happened over there in schools and different places.
So, yeah.
It's a great place.
All right.
I think that's it for announcements.
Let's sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right.
You should find the answer in front of your hymnal with Psalm 126.
If you don't have an answer, you can raise your hand and we'll sing it on that first.
Psalm 126.
When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion.
We were like them that dream.
Then goes our mouth filled with laughter.
And our tongue with singing.
Then said they about the heathen.
The Lord had done great things for us.
Whereof we are glad.
Turn again our captivity.
Oh Lord as the streams in the south.
May the soul and tears shall reap in joy.
Then said they among the heathen.
The Lord had done great things for them.
The Lord had done great things for us.
Whereof we are glad.
He that goeth forth and reapeth very precious seed.
Shout out let's come again.
Shout out let's come again with rejoicing.
Bringing it she is with Him.
Then said they among the heathen.
The Lord had done great things for them.
The Lord had done great things for us.
Whereof we are glad.
Good singing everybody.
Let's go to hymn 109.
Hymn 109.
Savior like a shepherd lead us.
We will sing it on the first verse.
Savior like a shepherd lead us.
Much we need thy tender care.
109.
Savior like a shepherd lead us.
Much we need thy tender care.
109.
Savior like a shepherd lead us.
Much we need thy tender care.
And thy blessed pastors feed us.
For our use thy folks prepare.
Blessed Jesus.
Thou has bought us thine we are.
Blessed Jesus.
Thou has bought us thine we are.
We are thy new thou befriend us.
Be the guardian of our way.
Keep thy flock from sin defend us.
Seek us when we go astray.
Blessed Jesus.
Hear oh hear us when we pray.
Blessed Jesus.
Hear oh hear us when we pray.
Thou has promised to receive us.
For as sinful though we be.
Thou has mercy to relieve us.
Grace to cleanse and power to free.
Blessed Jesus.
Early let us turn to thee.
Blessed Jesus.
Early let us turn to thee.
Early let us seek thy favor.
Early let us do thy will.
Blessed Lord and only Savior.
With thy love our bosoms fill.
Blessed Jesus.
Thou has loved us love us still.
Blessed Jesus.
Thou has loved us love us still.
May I get a sing of this one?
At this time we will pass our offering plates and as the plates go around let's turn our Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 16.
1 Samuel chapter number 16.
As we always do we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1.
We'll follow along silently with brother Corbin Brock as he reads.
1 Samuel chapter 16 starting in verse number 1.
1 Samuel chapter 16.
And the Lord said unto Samuel how long wilt thou mourn for Saul seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel.
Fill thine horn with oil and go.
I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have provided me a king among his sons.
And Samuel said how can I go?
If Saul hear it he will kill me.
And the Lord said take an heifer with thee and say I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.
And call Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show thee what thou shalt do.
And thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee.
And Samuel did that which the Lord spake and came to Bethlehem.
And the elders of the town trembled at his coming and said comest thou peaceably?
And he said peaceably I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord.
Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.
And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice.
And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said surely the Lord's anointed is before him.
But the Lord said unto Samuel look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him.
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart.
Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel and he said neither hath the Lord chosen this.
Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by and he said neither hath the Lord chosen this.
Again Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel and Samuel said unto Jesse the Lord hath not chosen these.
And Samuel said unto Jesse are here all thy children and he said there remaineth yet the youngest and behold he keepeth the sheep.
And Samuel said unto Jesse send and fetch him for we will not sit down till he come hither.
And he sent and brought him in now he was ruddy and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to.
And the Lord said arise anoint him for this is he.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah but the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.
And Saul's servant said unto him behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
Let our Lord now command thy servants which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harp.
And I shall come to pass when the evil spirit from God is upon thee that he shall play with his hand and thou shall be well.
And Saul said unto his servants provide me now a man that can play well and bring him to me.
Then answered one of the servants and said behold I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite that is cunning and playing and a mighty valiant man and a man of war and prudent in matters.
And a comely person and the Lord is with him.
Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said send me David thy son which is with the sheep.
And Jesse took an ass laden with bread and a bottle of wine and a kid and sent them by David his son unto Saul.
And David came to Saul and stood before him and he loved him greatly and he became his armor bearer.
And Saul sent to Jesse saying let David I pray thee stand before me for he had found favor in my sight.
And it came to pass when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul that David took an harp and played with his hand.
So Saul was refreshed and was well and the evil spirit departed from him.
Dear Lord thank you for allowing us all to be here to listen to your word.
Please bless preaching and bless the hearing of the word in Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Man the title of my sermon this morning is judging the appearance.
Judging the appearance of course 1 Samuel chapter 16 verse 7 is a very famous verse.
It's probably one of the most misquoted misapplied and misused verses in the entire Bible.
As far as just completely taking it out of its context and twisting it to mean something that it doesn't mean.
Okay let's see what the Bible says here in 1 Samuel 16 7.
The Bible reads but the Lord said unto Samuel look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him.
For the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart.
We're going to look at this concept.
We're going to look at this passage in great detail.
And we're going to look at many other passages in scripture that talk about the same subject.
For example Jesus made a similar statement in John chapter 7.
He said judge not after the appearance but judge righteous judgment.
Okay this is an important biblical concept but unfortunately a lot of people have missed the truth of what's actually being taught here.
And are teaching something that is false.
So first I'm going to just quickly debunk that which is false.
And then I'm going to teach you what the Bible is actually saying in this and many other similar passages.
Here's the false teaching that comes out of this is people will twist this and say God does not care about our appearance.
God does not care how we look.
And we can look however we want to look.
We can do whatever we want to our appearance and it doesn't matter.
That's number one that people get wrong about this.
The second thing that people get wrong about this is to say you can never judge anyone by the way that they look.
So if you got some guy with long hair or you got some dude in drag or something how dare you judge him based on his appearance.
Right this is the kind of stupid teaching that typically comes out of this passage.
If you Google anything about you know what does the Bible say about our appearance.
What does the Bible say about judging the appearance or whatever.
You know this little AI thing comes up at the top now.
Right and it tells you like warning you know this is still like in development or whatever.
But this little AI thing popped up and just said oh you know the Bible has no dress code.
God only cares about your heart.
That's what AI said.
That's what Skynet said to me when I Googled this.
But here's the funny thing about that.
If there's quote unquote no dress code in the Bible then explain this verse to me in Deuteronomy 22 5.
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth to a man.
Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord thy God.
Somebody needs to explain this to Google's AI.
That the Bible specifically says for a woman not to put on a man's garment and for a man not to put on woman's clothing.
Because all that you'll find is just everybody just quoting 1 Samuel 16 7.
You see the AI is doing what a lot of Christians do.
Where instead of actually reading the entire Bible what they do is just do a quick search on a word.
And then just read a verse out of context and think they know the subject.
So for example let's say they want to study the subject of hell.
They might just search the word hell in a concordance read all the verses and they're done.
Well here's the thing about that there are a lot of verses about hell that don't use the word hell.
Because sometimes it's just called the furnace of fire.
Sometimes it's just called the pit.
You know sometimes it's called the lake of fire right.
So you have all these other scriptures and so a little quick concordance search isn't always going to give you the right answer.
You got to actually read the Bible.
Okay and then if you just search the word appearance read a verse like this in 1 Samuel 16.
You're not getting the whole chapter.
You're not getting the context.
Look God does care about the way that we look.
And if he doesn't then he wouldn't have given us all these commandments telling us certain things that we should not do with our appearance.
And again I'm just going to go through this briefly because I want to get into the real meaning of judge not after the appearance.
But first we have to debunk this foolishness.
Okay that we can just mutilate our bodies and just dress like complete freaks and cannibals and transvestites.
And that God's just perfectly okay with that and how dare you speak against it.
Let me tell you something.
I am going to speak against it.
I'm going to get up from this pulpit and I'm going to thunder forth against the garbage of our society and the garbage that people are being taught today about how to look and people walking down the street looking like cannibals and transvestites are not right with God.
And they're not good Christians and they're not serving God and they don't love the Lord and I'm going to judge them right now because God said no.
And let me tell you something.
You don't look that way because you're a godly Christian going through life trying to please the Lord.
You look that way because you're being influenced by sinful, wicked, satanic things.
It's not the Spirit of God that prompted you to do those things to your body.
It's not the Spirit of God that is promoting you to look like Axl Rose.
Okay? That is not the Spirit of God.
Well none of that stuff matters.
Really? That's funny because my Bible says it does matter.
What does the Bible say?
The woman shall not wear that which pertains unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment.
For all that do so are abomination unto Baptist preachers.
Is that what it says?
No it says everybody who does that, everybody who does that is an abomination to the Lord thy God.
Women dressing as men, men dressing as women.
The Bible says they're an abomination to God.
Now it's my job as a preacher to get up and tell you that.
Now if you want I can just get up and just say I'm okay, you're okay, good sin, good devil, cold hell, let's pray and go home.
Okay? But the bottom line is that those who are doing these things are an abomination in the sight of God.
I don't want to be an abomination, you don't want to be an abomination, and we don't want to walk down the street looking like an abomination.
Because the Bible literally says abstain from all appearance of evil.
If you're not a homo, don't look like one.
If you're not a tranny, don't look like one.
If you're not a prostitute, don't look like one.
If you're not a pimp, don't look like one.
If you don't snort cocaine, don't look like somebody who snorts cocaine.
If you're not a heroin addict, don't look like a heroin addict.
If you're not a criminal, don't look like a criminal.
If you're not a gang banger, don't look like a gang banger.
If you're not a thug, quit looking like a thug.
If you're not a delinquent, don't look like a delinquent.
If you're not a rebellious punk, then don't make yourself look like a rebellious punk.
Abstain from all appearance of evil, that is in the Word of God.
Try this on, 1 Corinthians chapter 11, does not even nature itself teach you that if a
man have long hair, it's a shame unto him.
But if a woman have long hair, it's a glory to her, for her hair is given her for a covering.
The Old Testament teaches the same thing, Ezekiel 4420, neither shall they shave their
heads nor suffer their locks to grow long, they shall only pole their heads.
Poling means to cut short.
It says, don't make a ball, don't grow long, cut it short.
Nope, God doesn't care, right?
Well apparently God does care.
How about Leviticus 19, 27, ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou
mar the corners of thy beard.
Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you,
I am the Lord.
Right?
I mean, what's the Bible saying?
Don't have a weird haircut, don't have weird facial hair, don't carve any marks into your
body, don't cut yourself, and don't print anything on your body, that's called a tattoo
for those that are struggling with the English language today, in case we have any foreigners
here today who are learning English as a second language.
Because I think anybody who is a native English speaker should have no trouble with this statement.
Thou shalt not print any marks upon thy body.
I mean, I don't think that's hard to understand.
If anybody needs help, you know, we can have a quick little five minute ESL session after
the service and help you out with that.
Proverbs chapter 7 verse 10 says, behold there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot.
Was she a harlot?
I don't know, but she had the attire of a harlot.
What if I told you that you could dress like a harlot without being one?
And how about this, if it's not for sale, take down the for sale sign.
First Timothy chapter 2 verse 8, here's the New Testament.
I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting,
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 good works.
The Bible is specifically saying that women should be in modest apparel and that they
should not be wearing a bunch of super expensive clothing and jewelry and flashy things.
They should be humble and modest and focus on having a godly life than to decorate themselves
like a Christmas tree, okay?
That's what the Bible is saying.
And so look, we could go on and on, and I've done entire sermons on what the Bible teaches
about clothing, I've done entire sermons on what the Bible teaches about men having long
hair and so forth, but at the end of the day, here's the main thing I want to get across
to you today, is that your appearance does matter.
The Bible literally tells you guidelines about how the way you're supposed to look.
Now of course this is not the emphasis of the Bible, you want to know why it's not emphasized
in the Bible, because it's so simple and so easy and so basic, we don't need 10 chapters
on this.
Like we, you know, normal people don't need 20 chapters explaining them, because I could
write it on the back of a postage stamp for you.
Don't look like a freak.
Look here, you know what, you could literally put a verse in the Bible, obviously the Bible's
perfect the way it is, but you know, you got a little short verse, Jesus wept, rejoice
evermore.
You could also just put some in like, hey, look normal.
You know what I mean?
Like, like you could put something like that in there, obviously it's not in there, because
God gave us more than that.
But what I'm saying is, the reason God didn't give us even more than that, is because this
isn't a complicated subject.
So you know, he's not going to waste our time with a thousand Bible verses telling us not
to look like a cannibal, not to look like a freak, not to look like a drug addict, not
to look like an alcoholic, not to look like a gang banger.
Like he just tells you like, hey, you know, a few basic things, don't dress in drag, get
a haircut, abstain from all the parents of evil, you know, don't look like a whore.
It isn't hard folks, it isn't complicated, and you know what, there are some things about
the Christian life that are pretty hard.
The Christian life can be tough.
We all go through challenges in the Christian life, but you know what, honestly dressing
like a man isn't one of them.
It's not like, man, you know, I just got to take up my cross every day and just put on
the, put on this pair of pants every day.
It's just like, take up my cross and follow Jesus right here.
You know, this isn't exactly a hair shirt, okay?
You know, I'm just putting on normal clothes, getting, you know, it's just like, you know,
I suffer for Jesus every six weeks when I get a haircut.
I literally cut my hair every six weeks.
It's not, I don't deserve a chapter in Fox's Book of Martyrs for getting my hair cut every
six weeks because these are some of just the easiest things about the Christian life.
Super easy.
And guess what, when I walk down the street, nobody gawks at me or stares at me or laughs
at me and pokes each other about my appearance.
So it's not like, God's not telling me to go around looking weird.
See, he's trying to get me to look normal.
I don't think this is a hard subject and that's why there's not a huge amount of scripture
on it.
That's why there's not always a huge amount of preaching on it, but it's real.
It matters.
Okay.
And I can tell you right now, if you're a man today and you have long hair, you're not
right with God.
Well, how dare you judge me like that?
Let me say it again.
If you're a man and you have long hair, you're not right with God.
How do you know that?
Because the Bible says that any man who prays or prophesies having his head covered dishonors
his head and that his head is Christ and it's dishonoring to Christ.
When you pray or prophesy having your head covered in long hair.
That's the context.
I'm not going to preach the whole chapter.
I just did two months ago.
Well, there's all, you know, I bet there's a lot of long haired guys that are, that are
good Christian.
No, I bet there's zero because a man who loves Christ and loves God and loves the Bible would
know that it's a shame for a man to have long hair and you know what long hair is a sign
of rebellion.
You want to know who had long hair in the Bible, Absalom.
Because he's rebellious.
Okay.
It's a rebellion thing.
It's when women have short hair, it's a rebellion against their husbands, you know, and when
men have long hair, it's a rebellion against God.
That's what the Bible teaches.
And I'm not going to spend the whole sermon on that, but that's the true story.
Let's look at this passage in first Samuel 16 and let's look at what the Bible actually
means when it says man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.
Look what the Bible says in first Samuel 16 five, uh, he said peaceably, I'm come to
sacrifice unto the Lord, sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.
And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice.
We're in first Samuel 16 verse number six and it came to pass when they were come that
he looked on a lie up and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him.
But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature
because I've refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
Now here's what's going on.
Let me just quickly give you the context of the story.
Saul has disobeyed the Lord and God does not want Saul to be king any longer.
And so now there has to be a new king that is anointed to replace Saul.
The Lord is the one who chose Saul and the Lord's also going to choose Saul's replacement.
Okay.
So Samuel the prophet is being brought to the house of Jesse to look at Jesse's sons
in order to anoint one of them to be king.
Samuel walks in the house and before anybody says anything, before he finds out anything
about anyone, he takes one look at Jesse's sons and he sees Jesse's firstborn son and
he looks at just how tall and manly and, and just robust he looks.
And he just says, this has got to be the guy.
I mean, this guy is impressive.
Surely the Lord's anointed is before me.
Now you can forgive Samuel for thinking this because if you remember the first man that
God chose to be king, Saul was head and shoulders taller than everyone else.
So he was also a very impressive and imposing figure.
And so when Samuel sees David and he just sees, or excuse me, not David, when he sees
Elihu and he sees the, the, the, the height of his stature and, and, and just his, his
imposing physique, he says of a lie up, surely the Lord's anointed is, is before him.
This has got to be the guy.
But the Lord tells him, Hey, don't look at his face.
So you know, he had, he probably, this is what I think.
He probably had that kind of like square jaw kind of a thing going on.
You know what I'm talking about?
Kind of like you see in like a, maybe like a comic book of like a Superman or a Batman
or something, you know, kind of that square job manly face, like a really impressive face.
Right.
But he says, don't look on his countenance or on the height of his stature because he's
obviously a very tall man as well.
I've refused him.
See the Lord knew that there was something wrong with the lives heart and in the next
chapter alive is going to say some stuff to show his wrong attitude and his wrong mentality.
God already knew this guy is not the guy to put in charge of the nation of Israel, even
though he looks cool, even though he looks powerful, even though he looks impressive.
He says, I refused him.
And the reason that he refused him is because of some problems in a lives heart.
That's why he refused him.
He says, don't look at his countenance.
Don't look at the height of his stature.
I've refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on his heart.
Look what he's not saying.
Look not upon his nose ring.
Look not upon the tattoos.
Look not upon his super long hair.
Look not upon his drag outfit.
Look not upon his eye makeup.
Is that what it says?
That's not what this is about.
You see this being totally twisted to say, oh, oh, don't let it bother you that he's
wearing a dress, even though he's a dude.
No, because the Bible says that if a man puts on a woman's garment, he's an abomination.
Dude in a dress is an abomination, okay?
And you say, how can you judge that?
I don't have to judge.
God already judged that.
The context is that this guy looks powerful and impressive, but that doesn't mean that
he's cut out for being the king of Israel.
Let's keep going and see where this goes.
You know, all the different sons are brought out in succession and the Lord hasn't chosen
any of them.
So then look at verse number 11, and Samuel said unto Jesse, are here all thy children?
And he said, there remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come
hither.
All the sons are put in front of Samuel, and none of them is the one that God has chosen
to be the king.
But then the funny thing about this is that they just act like, well, that's it.
Like they're literally not even thinking about David as even a possibility until Samuel literally
has to just press the issue and say, are you sure these are all your sons?
Well, I mean, yeah, the youngest is out with the sheep.
I mean, I guess we could go get him.
They've totally discounted him, okay, and let's see what he looks like.
The Bible says here, uh, in verse 12, he sent and brought him in, and then the Bible gives
us his appearance.
And remember, the Bible, we talked about this on Wednesday night recently, how the Bible
doesn't describe any people or places unless it's relevant to the plot.
We don't just get superfluous descriptions in the Bible.
And so it says, he was ruddy and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look
to.
And the Lord said, arise, anoint him for this is he.
Now let's break this down.
What does it mean?
He was ruddy.
This is a word that we don't necessarily use in our modern vernacular.
I've never used it in my entire life and I don't think anyone has ever used it to me.
Ruddy.
Has anyone ever had this come up in a conversation?
You know, pretty much, yeah, a couple of people.
Very rare.
It's kind of an antiquated word, archaic word.
But it's not difficult to understand.
We're just not necessarily familiar with it.
It comes from the word red and it is, it is just an adjective that means red.
But the reason it doesn't just say red is because it'd be weird to just say like he's
red.
You know, that would kind of give you the wrong idea.
It's more like reddish.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
Ruddy is like reddish.
He's obviously not just a red person, you know?
Sorry, Native Americans, you know, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, what the Bible is saying here is that he basically is just ready, ruddy.
You can see where this word comes from.
The idea here is probably that he's kind of one of these guys and you've probably met
some of these guys where they're, they're, they're very white and then they're, they're,
they're cheeks are really blushed or something.
So they kind of have that kind of ruddy appearance that, that kind of a blood to the cheeks kind
of appearance, that reddish face.
Okay.
That's probably what's going on with him, you know, and, and, and here's the thing.
It also says that he's very beautiful.
And again, on the surface, this could make it sound like he's king material.
You know, I mean, he's this, he's this kind of blush cheeked dude who's super good looking.
In our modern minds, we might think, well, that's kind of how you'd expect a king to
look like really delicate and like, like, because think about the ruddiness.
Okay.
What does that kind of seem to indicate?
You'd expect somebody who's outside a lot to not be ruddy.
You'd expect them to be what?
You expect them to be tan, right?
A guy who's, who's manly and tough and he's out there and he's in the field, you'd expect
him to be tan.
You know, you thinking about Eliab, probably had more of a darker face, right?
A dark tan face.
You know, you look at a lot of just ancient art and ancient pottery, men are always portrayed
as darker than women because men are out there working and being manly and doing things and
getting darker.
But here's the thing.
We know that David actually is outside a lot.
David actually is out there with the sheep.
He's out in the field.
He's out there fighting off lions and bears.
He is a tough dude, but he doesn't look like a tough dude because his skin's kind of pale
with, with blush cheeks and he's kind of looking like, you know, we would use this word maybe
pretty boy or something, but he's not.
He's actually a manly, tough, robust individual, but he doesn't really look like one.
You know, he looked, when you look at him, he's just this beautiful young man with blush
cheeks and he doesn't look like he's a bad dude that's out there in the sun and, and
getting tan and working and doing, does everybody kind of understand what's going on here?
And look, don't, please don't get offended by me bringing up things like light skin,
dark skin and, and, and red face and blush because I'm not the author of the Bible.
You know, I'm just, I'm just breaking down what the scripture says.
It's not my fault that the Bible talks about people being fair or dark or, you know, I'm
black but comely.
I didn't write these verses.
You know, the Bible references the color of people's skins, so don't make it weird, okay?
So here's the thing, you have to understand that this scripture is describing events that
took place 3000 years ago, okay?
And what I mean by that is we're not talking about the King of England or something.
We're not talking about the Renaissance.
We're not even talking about the Middle Ages.
We're not talking about a modern period where you have these really soft kings and they're
all wearing lace and, and, and dressed weird and weird wigs and powder and whatever, trying
to look all white and pale and, and dainty.
That's not what this is.
When they wanted a king in the first place, they wanted a king, they said, to fight our
battles for us.
You know what they want?
They want a guy who's going to go out in the field and be the head of the army and that
the other side gets scared when they look at him and that their men get confident when
they look at him.
You know, they want the men on their side to be looking at him saying, this guy can
lead us to victory.
And they want the other side to be like, we don't want to mess with this guy, right?
And Saul kind of had that kind of a physique and that kind of a face, Eliab had that kind
of face, the square jaw, the big guy, the tall and broad man.
David, on the other hand, if you just look at him, he just kind of looks like a pretty
young man with blushy cheeks and he doesn't really inspire any kind of martial terror,
okay?
And that's what we're seeing in the passage here, okay?
And I hope that all makes sense to you.
But point number one of the sermon, I'm just going to have three quick points.
Point number one is don't discount someone because of their physical appearance.
And again, when I say physical appearance, I'm not saying that they're in drag or dressed
like Axl Rose.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying the way God made them.
You see, notice the two things he said, don't look at.
He said, don't look at his face and don't look at his stature.
Those are two things that we can't control.
Like this is the face God gave me.
I've not modified it in any way.
There's been absolutely no plastic surgery here, nor will there ever be any plastic surgery
here.
Okay?
This is the face that God gave me.
This is what I look like.
You know what?
What does the Bible say?
Which of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit to his stature, right?
We cannot change our height.
If you drink coffee, it'll stunt your growth, but I mean, you know, we can't just decide
to be taller or something, right?
This is the height that God made me.
This is the face that God gave me.
And God's saying, look, don't discount someone based on their physical appearance.
This is exactly the mistake that Goliath makes.
Look at the very next chapter.
Just flip over to chapter 17 and look at verse 42 of 1 Samuel chapter number 17.
And the Bible says, when the Philistine looked about, this is Goliath.
Goliath is a huge guy.
When Goliath, when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him.
And look, why did he disdained him?
Because he was a youth and ruddy.
Give him a break about those blushing cheeks, man.
And by the way, if you're one of those guys that has the blushing cheeks today, you know,
the Bible says you have a beautiful face.
So hey, you know, don't, don't get offended by me joking about it.
He was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance.
And again, fair tends to talk about, in case you think I was wrong, okay, a minute ago,
what is it usually referring to lighter skin is what it's referring to as opposed to being
out and getting tan, darker, whatever, you know, being light.
So basically he's looking at this, he's looking at him and he sees what?
He sees pale face here coming toward him, Mr. Blushy cheeks coming toward him.
And he's, and he's young.
So he's looking at two things.
Looking at his age.
Right?
He's looking at his age and he's looking at the color of his skin, the complexion and
he's saying, this guy does not look like a bad dude.
That's Mr. This is, this isn't rough and ready.
This isn't old hickory.
This isn't Davy Crockett.
This isn't Daniel Boone that we're dealing with here.
This is some mama's boy, city boy, city slicker, urban dude.
I'm not afraid of this little young green pup, right?
That's what he's thinking.
And guess what?
He ends up getting destroyed by David and getting his head cut off by David.
He gets decapitated by this little pretty boy or whatever.
Because here's the thing, David wasn't a pretty boy.
He can't control the fact that he doesn't have a lot of melanin in his skin and that
he blushes easily.
You know, he can't control that.
That's just who he is.
You know, he can't control that he's not super tall.
And what does the Bible say in the New Testament?
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in word and conversation
and charity and spirit and faith and purity, you know, young people can be used greatly
by God.
It says, let no man despise thy youth.
And so do not discount someone because of their physical appearance.
Go if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter number 10 in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians chapter
number 10.
And here's the thing, God does not use the best looking person.
God does not use the buffest dude.
God does not use the coolest looking people.
You know, God uses the people whose heart is right.
God looks on the heart and we should look on the heart and we should not despise people
because of their appearance.
Okay, we should realize and we should not underestimate people because their appearance.
And by the way, here's the other thing about David is that David is also a musician.
And make no mistake about it, despite possible appearances to the contrary, David is one
of the most manly men in the Bible.
I mean, he is a manly dude.
I mean, he is a mighty warrior.
It's not just one little story with David and Goliath.
The guy spends the rest of his life reigning over Israel for 40 years out there fighting
battles, killing the Lord's enemies.
He talks about how the Lord has taught his hands to war and his fingers to fight so that
a bow of steel could be broken by his arms.
I mean, this is a bad dude.
Okay.
Do not underestimate people and just assume, oh, he's a musician, he must be effeminate.
That's not true.
That's just a stereotype that isn't necessarily true because the sweet psalmist of Israel
is also the baddest dude in Israel.
So you don't want to just assume, oh, this guy's really into church, this guy's really
into Christianity and things of God, oh, he must be effeminate.
Oh, he's really into music, he must be effeminate.
Wrong.
You know, and just because somebody's not some big jacked muscle head doesn't mean that
they're a wimp or that they should be disdained or looked down upon or thought of as a wimp
or something like that, right?
We don't want to just judge people based on their physical appearance.
You know, and just because somebody's super white doesn't mean they don't go outside.
Some people, they just, they just cannot get a tan.
They're called British people and it doesn't matter what they do, they're going to be white
like that.
You know what I mean?
And that's just the way it is.
If I go out in the sun a lot, I get darker, I get tanner, but that's cause I've got the
DNA for that.
You know, other people don't.
Some people are just white.
It doesn't just mean, oh, super white?
Well, this must be some Dungeons and Dragons nerd that spends all the time in the basement
playing a video game.
You don't know that.
It could be super manly, super athletic, you know, out working hard, whatever.
We just don't want to jump to conclusions about people based on their appearance or
look down on people because of their appearance.
And again, when we're talking about appearance, the biblical context, talking about things
like face, height, physique, we're not talking about, uh, oh, you've mutilated yourself because
you want to look like a cannibal.
Okay.
That's not what we're talking about.
So, uh, the second point, number one, we said, don't discount someone because of their physical
appearance.
That's a mistake Goliath made, but number two, do not discount someone because they
are not eloquent or because they do not have a powerful voice.
And let's see what the Bible says about this in second Corinthians chapter 10 verse three.
It says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh for the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and having in a
readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
So we're in a spiritual warfare.
It's not a physical fight.
It's spiritual.
It's with ideas.
It's in the minds and the hearts of people.
Look at verse seven.
Do you look on things after the outward appearance?
If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him think of himself or excuse me, let
him of himself think this again, that as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's for though
I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification
and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed that I may not seem as if I would
terrify you by letters.
Now look at verse 10 for his letters say they are weighty and powerful.
This time about the apostle Paul, they're saying his epistles, he talks big and his
epistles, he talks tough.
His letters, they say are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech
contemptible.
Now of course his letters are weighty and powerful because he's writing by the inspiration
of the spirit of God.
But then it says, well, but his bodily presence is weak.
So he's not an impressive figure physically, right?
Maybe I don't know what the apostle Paul looked at like cause the Bible doesn't tell us cause
it doesn't matter, but maybe he was short.
Maybe he was ugly.
Maybe he was just, you know, skinny or weak or who knows?
That's not really the point, is it?
The point is that they said his bodily presence is weak, meaning he doesn't walk in a room
and everybody's just, oh man, the alpha male is here.
Mr square jaw line, broad shoulders, V-shaped torso is here.
And yet is there anyone who was used more greatly than the apostle Paul in the entire
New Testament?
Not an impressive figure.
And by the way, Jesus was not a physically impressive figure either because in the Isaiah
53 it says he had no beauty nor comeliness that where we would see him and desire him
based on looking at him.
We wouldn't just say like, oh wow, you know, I'm just going to believe in Christ just cause
he's just such a cool looking dude.
He's just so good looking.
No, he's just a normal looking guy.
And the apostle Paul, people are saying his bodily presence is weak and watch this.
His speech is contemptible.
Do you think that the apostle Paul was a super eloquent silver tongue to order?
I don't because he even says that when I came to you, you know, that basically I came
in weakness and trembling.
He never talks about being a great speaker.
He talks about how, well, you know what?
You need to look for the power of God, not for the eloquence of the speech.
I didn't come to you with enticing words of man's wisdom.
You know, the Bible does talk about Apollos as being a righteous preacher who was a great
order, who was very eloquent.
So it's not that God can't use an eloquent man, but it's that God often chooses to use
people that are not eloquent.
It's a better story if David kills Goliath than if Saul kills Goliath, right?
If Saul goes out and kills Goliath, Saul's only a little bit shorter.
You know, Saul's a foot shorter.
God would rather have him killed by somebody who's two feet shorter, three feet shorter.
You know what I mean?
God would rather choose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.
The weak things to defeat the strong.
God tends to use people that are not necessarily good looking, that are not necessarily those
alpha super males or something, that are not necessarily great public speakers, super charismatic,
super eloquent, super great radio voice.
You ever hear those people where their voice is just like, they have that radio voice or
they have that narrator voice kind of thing?
They just have that voice or maybe the men with that really deep, powerful voice.
And you hear these voices and you're just like, whoa, man, that guy's got a powerful
voice, right?
Just like you might look at a face and say, oh, man, this guy is impressive.
This woman is gorgeous.
This man is impressive.
This guy has got a beautiful voice.
She's got a beautiful voice.
But you know what?
Those are great things.
And if you have those talents, use them for the Lord.
But at the end of the day, God can use you no matter who you are, if you love him and
if you surrender your will to his and you want to be used by God, he'll use you.
And if you have the right heart, you can be used by God.
You can do great things for God.
Even if you don't have a powerful bodily presence, even if your bodily presence is weak, even
if your speech is contemptible, God could still use you for his honor and glory.
I've seen some of the shyest people do great soul winning.
You know, and look, I've heard some preachers over the years that were great preachers.
They had that, that voice that really just knocks your socks off.
And I've heard a lot of other preachers where, you know, frankly, in any other context, their
voice might've been a little bit annoying, but yet because they're preaching the word
of God with power, you keep listening.
I hope that's not me.
Okay.
I'm just saying it's out there.
Okay.
He says, verse 11, let's such a one think this, that such as we are in word by letters
when we're absent, such will we be also indeed when we're present, flip back to chapter five,
you're in second Corinthians 10, go back to chapter five.
So number one, we said, do not discount someone because of their physical appearance, right?
Because they're small, short, you know, either too, too pretty or not pretty enough, right?
Cause that was, you know, with David, they're looking at him saying, this, this guy's too
pretty.
This isn't a, this isn't a powerful warrior, right?
Because remember 3000 years ago, the world was a rough place.
It wasn't our sanitary society that we're living in today in the United States of America
in the most prosperous country.
This is a rough dog eat dog kind of world.
And this is Israel surrounded by a bunch of hostile nations and the Philistines and everything.
And they want somebody who can go out there and kick some butt.
That, that's what they care about.
They're not caring about the prettiest face.
You know what I mean?
And they, they just, they looked at them and they said, this guy is not going to be able
to fight.
And by the way, here's a good lesson too.
Don't just go around thinking, Oh, this guy can't fight because one day you're going to
say the wrong thing to the wrong person and find out that one of these little ruddy pretty
boys can kick your butt.
That's why you shouldn't go around picking fights with anyone because you know, people
who just go around picking fights with strangers, one day they're going to draw the short straw
and you know, they're going to mess with some, I don't know, Kung Fu master or something
that's just going to just tear them to pieces.
You never know.
Right?
It's always the quiet ones.
You know, look at second Corinthians chapter five verse 11 knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord.
We persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest
in your consciences.
What does it mean to be made manifest, to be exposed, to be known, to be clearly seen?
He said, look, God knows who we are and what we are.
Hopefully you know who we are and what we are for we commend not ourselves.
Verse 12, again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf that ye may have somewhat
to answer them, which glory in appearance and not in heart.
He said, look, it's not about what I look like.
It's not about what I sound like or my ability to speak well.
It's about who's right with God.
It's about who's preaching the truth.
It's about who's filled with the Holy Spirit.
That's what matters.
So number one, we said, don't discount someone because of their physical appearance.
Number two, don't discount someone because they're not eloquent or don't have a powerful
voice and don't discount yourself because of these things.
And so if he says, you know, well, don't discount me because of my voice or my, my skill in
speaking, how do we know who is the real deal?
By the way, just a little side note here.
When it comes to preachers, how do we know who is the real deal?
Right?
Cause we've got all these preachers out there and they're preaching different things and
whatever.
And the Bible warns us how there are all these false prophets out in the world and there
are, there are good preachers and then you got these false prophets, you know, how do
you know?
Okay.
Well, simple two ways how you know who the real deal is.
Number one, based on what the Bible says, right?
The Bible says in Isaiah 8 20 to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according
to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
So if a preacher isn't lining up with the word of God, then he's a false prophet.
It's that simple.
If he's, if he's preaching and it does not jibe with what we have in the Bible, he's
a false prophet.
I think that's pretty easy to understand.
Pretty simple, pretty clear.
I think you could use a lot of scriptures to prove that.
I just gave you one.
But number two, the Bible says you will know them by their fruits.
Beware of false prophets, the Bible says in Matthew 7 15, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Now this is a legitimate example of don't judge by the appearance.
Judge righteous judgment.
They come to you outwardly in sheep's clothing.
Is that not the appearance, the appearance of sheep, the appearance of godly Christianity,
but inwardly they're ravening wolves.
How do I know, God?
How do I know the true sheep from the wolf that is in sheep's clothing?
You shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
Even so, every good tree bring forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit.
Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
I mean, it's just, it's just this simple.
And Jesus says it six different ways to Sunday there that the good tree brings forth good
fruit, the bad tree brings forth bad fruit, and that the bad tree cannot bring forth good
fruit.
Okay.
What does it mean to bring forth fruit in this context when the Bible says that you'll
know them by their fruits?
Well, what is the fruit of the orange?
More oranges.
What is the fruit of the apple?
More apples.
What is the fruit of the lemon?
More lemons.
What is the fruit of human beings?
What's the fruit of our bodies?
When the Bible talks about people getting married and bringing forth fruit, when God
said to be fruitful to humans, what's he talking about?
When he tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful, when he tells Noah to be fruitful, when he
tells Israel to be fruitful, what does he mean?
He's talking about having children.
Why?
Because of the fact that fruit, everything is bringing forth after its own kind.
The orange is bringing forth oranges.
You don't gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles because those plants are going
to produce.
And here's what he means when he says the tree is known by its fruit.
If I walked up to an apple tree and it had no apples on it, I would not know that it
was an apple tree.
Now an expert would know.
If I walked up to a cherry tree or an orange tree or a banana tree or an apple tree, if
it didn't have any fruit on it, I would not necessarily be able to identify those things
because I don't know jack about trees.
Now you may know a lot about trees and you think I'm kind of ignorant right now, but
hey, I just don't know.
And you know what?
Jesus agrees with me that, you know, the tree is known by its fruit.
Now if the tree has bananas hanging from it, I got this one.
It's a banana tree.
You know, oh, it's trees covered in apples.
Wait, I got this one.
Apple tree.
You see, does everybody see what I'm saying?
The majority of people, they don't look at the leaves.
They don't look at the bark.
They're not looking at the stature of the tree.
They're looking at the fruit.
The quickest way to identify is what fruit is growing on it.
That's what it is.
Everybody understand?
Okay.
Well, here's the thing.
What's the fruit of the Christian is more Christians.
The Christian spiritually bears fruit by producing another Christian and people hate this doctrine.
When I preach about this, people absolutely hate this doctrine.
You know why?
Because they don't do any soul-winning.
So because they don't do any soul-winning and they don't win anyone to Christ and they
don't produce any other Christians, they don't produce any fruit whatsoever, they don't want
to believe that this, you know what they want the fruit to be like, well, I like cleaned
up some sin in my life and that's my fruit.
Well, you can clean up the tree.
It still doesn't have fruit on it.
You can trim the tree.
You can polish the tree.
You can scrape the tree.
You can do whatever, there's no fruit there.
And it's interesting when Jesus talked about us bringing forth fruit, he said some 30,
some 60, some 100 and people say, oh, it's the fruit of the spirit.
What?
30 joy, 60 peace and 100 temperance?
No because that's not your fruit.
That's the fruit of the spirit.
He brings forth those things because he is those things.
God is love.
He is the Prince of peace.
He is the oil of gladness.
He brings forth those things in our lives.
He is a spirit and he brings forth those right spiritual things in our hearts.
But you know, when a false prophet, here's what he does, he can pass to sea and land
to make one proselyte and when he's done, he makes him twofold more the child of hell
as himself.
He brings forth evil fruit.
The tree is known by his fruit.
And by the way, this is why it's so much better to listen to preachers that are actually alive
because we can actually do a fruit inspection as opposed to listening to dead preachers
from hundreds of years ago and we have no idea what the fruit was.
You see, I could, I can't get in a time machine and walk into the churches of these, of these
dead preachers from two, 300 years ago and start questioning their church members about
salvation and see if they're saved or not.
And you know, what's interesting is when we go out knocking doors and so many in this
area will knock on the doors of like 50 people that all go to the same church and they're
all saved or at least 90 some percent of them are saved and they're giving us a clear
testimony of salvation.
You know, that makes you feel pretty good about that church and about that preacher.
But what if I knock on the doors of 20 people from that church and none of them knows that
they're going to heaven?
You think that guy is a, is an actual man of God?
No way.
And by the way, false prophets are not reproducers, they're recruiters.
They can't bring forth good fruit.
So here's what they will do.
They will take away someone else's fruit.
They will say perverse things to draw away disciples after them.
Here's what they'll do.
They'll take people that I won to Christ and people that you won to Christ and here's what
they'll do.
They'll corrupt them with heresy and false doctrine and turn them against us to draw
away disciples after them.
And that's, I mean, look, I'm thinking of a particular person who was one of these sycophant
preachers that attached themselves to us and flattered us and then turned around and turned
on us.
And he literally started his church from scratch and years later said that there was not a
single person in his church that he had won to Christ, that every single person in his
church was someone that got saved listening to my preaching or had already been saved
and gotten in church through listening to my preaching.
And then he has a little special meeting with his church about how Pastor Anderson's bad
and we need to separate from Pastor Anderson.
And that's kind of funny because you literally told me that your church is filled with people
who got saved listening to my preaching or that I personally won to Christ.
And here's the funny thing about that.
You know, people can say whatever they want about Faithful Word Baptist Church and they
can talk all the smack that they want about Faithful Word and about me personally.
But you know what?
At the end of the day, everywhere I go, every single week, including this week when I just
randomly popped in to a church in Greenville, South Carolina, right, unannounced, showed
up and preached.
I had two people come up to me after the service day.
I got saved listening to your preaching.
You know what I mean?
But, but, but, but I'm so mean and I'm so bad and I'm, you know, I'm such a jerk and
I'm so, you know, what, you say whatever you want, but you know what, all you need to do
is just take a look at the boughs and what's growing on them.
Right?
Oh, you don't like the bark?
You don't like the bark of this tree?
You don't like the leaves?
You don't like the branches?
Look a little higher, my friend.
And you know what you're going to see?
The fruit of this church.
The fruit of the preaching.
The fruit of our ministry.
And you know what it is?
It's Christians producing Christians.
It's born again saved people producing born again saved people.
That's what's going on.
Then you got these false prophets out there.
They can't produce anything.
All they can do is take someone who's already saved and twist them in their mind, subvert
them, teach them junk, teach them heresy, uh, whatever they do.
All right.
It was a little bit of a rabbit trail.
Let's go to, uh, John chapter seven.
You know, I either make the tree good and his fruit good, John chapter seven, or else
make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt because the tree is known by his fruit.
You know, and what's funny is that some of the people who hate us the most will say like,
well, I know Pastor Anderson's got a ton of people saved, but, but he's just so mean and
hateful or whatever.
No, I, I'm, I, hey, I love, I'm a love preacher.
It says love Baptist, but you know, it's funny, you know, the Bible says, let us not love
in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth, person who loves you is the person
who does not the person who says person who loves you is the person who tells you the
truth, not the person who tells you convenient lies that you like to listen to.
Now I know we're deep into the sermon.
I know I'm running out of time, but I don't want you to miss this final point because
this final point is a key point, okay?
We've said so far, number one, don't discount someone because of their physical appearance.
Number two, don't discount someone because they are not eloquent or don't have a powerful
voice.
And number three, and this is a key point, don't miss it.
Do not judge situations unjustly by simply judging according to the appearance, right?
That's what the Bible is actually saying.
When Jesus says here in verse 24, judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous
judgment, he's not saying, hey, just because somebody looks like a tranny, don't judge
them.
Is Jesus saying, hey man, don't judge me because I'm in drag?
Jesus wasn't in drag.
Hey, don't judge me because I look like a heroin addict.
Jesus didn't look like a heroin addict.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
Maybe we should see what Jesus even is talking about when he says judge not after the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment.
Let's back up a couple of verses and see what he's saying.
Look at verse 21 of chapter seven of John.
Jesus answered and said unto them, I've done one work and y'all marvel.
Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, not because it's of Moses, but of the fathers
and he on the Sabbath day, circumcise a man.
If a man on the Sabbath day received circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken.
Are you angry at me because I've made a man every whit hole on the Sabbath day?
Judge not after the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Let me break that down to you.
Jesus healed a guy on the Sabbath.
Jesus being condemned for healing a guy on the Sabbath.
The way that they're judging him is just, Oh, you worked on the Sabbath.
You just broke the Bible.
You just broke God's law.
You just broke the Sabbath because you worked on the Sabbath, right?
And Jesus is saying, don't just, don't just make a knee jerk reaction based on what you
think is going on here.
You don't know what's actually going on here.
And I think there are two key reasons why people judge unrighteous judgment and why
they would judge after the appearance and not judge righteous judgment.
Two key things are going on typically.
Number one, not knowing the Bible causes you to judge unrighteous judgment because you
don't know the Bible.
So why do people judge wrongly after the appearance and not judge righteous judgment?
Number one, because they don't know the Bible.
They don't know what the Bible says.
Number two, because they don't actually know what's going on in the situation.
They're judging a situation where they don't know the actual facts of the situation.
I mean, these are the two big problems why people would judge unrighteous judgment.
One, they don't know the rules.
Number two, they don't know the facts.
It's one of those two things or both.
Often it's both.
Now in this situation, what is the problem with the Jews that are condemning Jesus?
Is it that they don't know the Bible or is it that they don't know the facts of the situation?
It's that they don't know the Bible because Jesus explained to them, wait a minute, if
it's a sin for me to heal someone on the Sabbath, then why did God command to circumcise people
on the Sabbath?
Like apparently there are exceptions to not working on the Sabbath.
There are certain things that you can do and can't do on the Sabbath if you read the whole
Bible instead of just having this overly simplistic view of what someone tells you
the Bible means instead of actually understanding what the Bible is saying and actually studying
to show yourself approved unto God.
Because he's saying, look, if you can chop off a part of somebody's body on the Sabbath,
can I actually fix a part of someone's body?
Like if you can, if you can remove something, can I restore something like, oh, so you can
circumcise a man on the Sabbath, but I can't make someone whole on the Sabbath.
You can take something away, but you can't make whole.
That doesn't make any sense.
And so it's not wrong or sinful for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath day.
And that's why he tells them, look, if your ox or your ass fell in the ditch on the Sabbath,
you'd pull it out because you're a big hypocrite.
But then I can't heal a human on the Sabbath.
And it's not like Jesus is having to work super hard to just tell somebody, hey, stretch
out your head, be healed or spit on the ground, put some clay on somebody's eyes.
You know what I mean?
Like that's not servile work.
You shall do no servile work there.
And it doesn't mean that you have to just be a blob and can't do anything.
They don't know the Bible.
They don't understand the Sabbath.
And plus they don't understand that the Sabbath is not made for man, but man for the, or excuse
me, that man is not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath is made for man.
And that obviously if there's an emergency, you know, and, and basically there's some
horrible emergency, you're gonna be like, oh, sorry, I can't go to the hospital because
it's, it's, it's further than a Sabbath day's journey from my house.
I'm keeping the Sabbath right now, so I'm gonna have to take her tomorrow to the hospital.
It's just like, what?
That'd be ridiculous, wouldn't it?
So the reason why people judge wrongly is because number one, they don't know the Bible.
Or because they don't know the facts of the situation or both.
And this causes them to just judge based on the appearance.
And what that means is that they just hear about something and just go, oh yeah, that's
wrong.
That's just wrong.
I don't, this should be obvious.
And this is a lot of people's argumentation, well, it's just obvious that that's wrong.
Really?
So what Bible verse is that?
Well, yeah, but I mean, come on, it's just obvious.
What does the Bible say?
And then, and then sometimes the Bible is always saying the opposite of what they say.
The Bible is saying it's actually a good thing and then it's right and then it's like, no,
we all know this is bad.
I mean, look what the Bible is.
I mean, you know, I don't need the Bible to tell me, well, I do need the Bible to tell
me what was right and wrong.
Folks, if we're going to pass judgment on a situation, we better know the Bible and
apply scripture to our mentality and not just sit there and think, well, I can just lean
on my own understanding.
And by the way, also just not knowing the fact, people are constantly making judgments
about situations that they know nothing about.
And part of why people do this is because they're trained to do this in many ways by
like all these like TV shows and things where it's like, you know, you're watching all these
people fighting on TV or some Jerry Springer, Sally, Jesse, Raphael or something and you're
just like, oh, well he shouldn't do this, she should do this.
You know, just, just basically just passing all these judgments on situations that you
don't know, you know, and, and things that you have no way of knowing.
And so that's what the Bible is.
But what's so funny is that you'll literally say, hey, men shouldn't have long hair.
Hey, ladies should dress like ladies.
They should wear modest apparel.
They shouldn't wear flashy clothing.
Hey, men should dress like men and have short hair.
And it's just like, judge not after the appearance but judge righteous judgment.
I mean, is that really a proper application of this verse?
Because the word, that's not what the word appearance even means in this context.
It doesn't mean don't judge based on what they've physically mutilated their body.
What it's actually saying is don't judge a situation when A, you don't know the Bible
and or B, you don't know the facts.
Rather, it's than just going with your gut and leaning on your own understanding and
just making a decision based on just, you know, just, well, just first blush.
This is what it, no, no, no.
Judge righteous judgment.
That means actually going to the word of God and seeing what the Bible says and actually
figuring out the facts before you make a judgment, if it's even something that even pertains
to you.
And so that's what the Bible is saying and the reason for this sermon is because these
Bible verses get so abused and literally you have to go no further than to just Google
what does the Bible say about your appearance?
And the answers that come up are just nothing, absolutely nothing.
There's no, God doesn't care how you look.
There's no dressing.
I mean, I saw this little daily little devotional that had the verse from 1 Samuel and it just,
basically said, Hey, you should never judge anyone based on the way they dress or look
or whatever.
And then pray this prayer, God helped me to never judge people based on those.
It's like, that's not what the Bible says.
And look, I'm not trying to go around and condemn people who are dressed wrong or looking
like a weirdo.
You know what?
If I see somebody who's dressed wrong or looking like a weirdo, you know what?
I just want to give them the gospel and preach them the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm not trying to straighten them out on their clothing or their look, but I am trying to
teach my family to look decent and I am trying to teach the church to look decent and I'm
trying to teach God's people online out there watching to look decent because God does care
about those things.
And I'll tell you this right now.
If I see a Christian young person growing their hair long, I can tell you right now
Something wrong with that heart right there.
Amen?
Something's wrong.
If I saw some pastor's wife but your head and get a flat top, you know what I would
say?
Something's wrong.
How dare you judge?
Folks, the Bible has already told us that that dishonors her husband.
You know, it's not me judging.
It's me just basically saying what the Bible is saying.
Okay.
And so we need to make sure that we're not sending out a wrong message about who we are
and that we don't walk down the street looking like a cannibal if we don't eat humans.
Right?
If we don't eat humans, then we shouldn't look like cannibals.
If you're not a prostitute, don't look like a prostitute.
If you're not a gang banger or a pimp or a drug dealer, then don't go around looking
like a gang banger, a pimp or a drug dealer, right?
I mean, look, I don't know much about Axl Rose, I'll be honest, but I have a feeling
he's probably done some drugs.
Now does that make me super judgmental to look at a picture of Axl Rose, to see a video
of Axl Rose and think, this guy does drugs?
Does that make me super judgmental?
Does anybody know for a fact if he's done drugs?
I mean, it's a stupid question, right?
Because we can all just take one look at him and say, okay, yeah, this guy's a derelict.
This guy just screams, I'm some kind of a heroin addict or I don't know if it's cocaine.
I don't know, does anybody know what drugs he's into?
A lot, just all of the above.
Now look, I don't know, maybe, I don't know, for all I know, Axl Rose has cleaned up his
life and running a car wash somewhere because last time I heard of him, it was like the
80s or maybe the early 90s.
I don't know anything about it and I'm bringing up a super old example because I'm a dinosaur
now, at age 43.
But my point is that that's not what any of these Bible verses is talking about and so
this is why AI will never replace me.
You know, maybe AI may replace certain jobs.
It's never going to replace me.
I got an AI proof job up here preaching to you the word of God, okay?
Let's bow our heads.
I got the, I don't need the AI, I got the AV, amen.
All right, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Lord God, thank you so much for your word.
Lord, help us to not judge based on appearance, Lord.
Help us not to just look down on someone because they're not good looking or they're short
or maybe they have some physical ailment or physical handicap.
Help us not to disregard or discount those people, Lord.
Help us also not to discount those who are not eloquent or maybe have a weak voice.
And Lord God, help us not to judge situations without having a proper knowledge of scripture
and a proper knowledge of those situations, Lord.
We love you.
We thank you for our church and we thank you for all the wonderful things that you've done
in and through us over the years.
We pray that you continue to bless, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
We do have a baptism shortly after the service if you want to join us outside here.
Take your hymnals now.
Go to hymn 129, 129, Rock of Ages, hymn number 129.
We'll sing it out together on that first verse and be dismissed.
129, Rock of Ages, clef for me.
Sing it out together now.
Rock of ages, clef for me.
Let me hide myself in thee.
Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure.
Save from wrath and make me pure, could my tears forever flow.
Could my zeal no languor know, each for sin could not atone.
Thou must say that thou alone gave my head no price I bring.
Simply to thy cross I cling, while I draw his fleeting breath.
When my eyes shall close in death, when I rise to worlds unknown and behold me on thy
throne.
Rock of ages, clef for me.
Let me hide myself in thee.
Good singing this morning, we are dismissed.