Amen.
The title of my sermon this morning is The Beauty of Holiness.
The Beauty of Holiness.
The Bible reads there in verse number 1, Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty.
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
And this is a phrase that's used in a few other places.
You don't have to turn there, but if you would actually turn to Psalm 96, but while
you're turning to Psalm 96, 1 Chronicles 16, 29 also says, Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness.
2 Chronicles 20, verse 21, the Bible reads, When He had consulted with the people, He
appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as
they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth
forever.
Look down there at Psalm 96, verse 9, O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness,
fear before Him all the earth.
And so, according to the Bible, holiness is a beautiful thing.
Now what does the word holy mean?
Well if you study the Bible and compare scripture with scripture, you'll see that the
word holy is used interchangeably with words like set apart, sanctified, sacred,
and it basically means something that is set apart for God's use, or set apart for
divine usage.
If you look this word up in the dictionary, you also get a good definition where it
says dedicated or devoted to the service of God, the church, or religion.
That's what the dictionary says for holiness.
I think that's a good, accurate definition.
Now if you would go to 1 Peter, chapter number 3, toward the very end of the New
Testament, 1 Peter, chapter number 3.
The beauty of holiness.
Holiness is beautiful.
And so the first thing I want to show you from the Bible is that the most beautiful
attribute that a woman can have, according to the Bible, is holiness.
Now women tend to care a lot about their appearance.
And our society thinks about the appearance of women, and what is attractive, what is
not, what is beautiful, what is not.
And according to the Bible, holiness is what's beautiful on a woman.
Look what the Bible says in 1 Peter, chapter 3, verse 1.
Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word,
they also may, without the word, be won by the conversation of the wives, while
they behold your chaste conversation, coupled with fear.
Watch verse 3.
Who's adorning?
Let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of
putting on of apparel.
See this is what the world thinks is going to make you beautiful as a woman, right?
Just spending a lot of time on the fancy hairdo, putting on a bunch of jewelry, or
expensive designer clothes, that those are the things that are going to confer beauty.
But he says, as a godly Christian, let not that be your adorning.
Don't adorn yourself with the plating the hair, the wearing of gold, the putting
on of apparel.
The implication here is costly apparel, expensive clothing.
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
You see, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
And God says, well here's my taste in beauty, right?
I look down and I see that meek and quiet spirit of a godly, submissive, righteous
wife.
And he says, that is what is beautiful today.
Not necessarily the world's standard of beauty.
And here's the wonderful thing about holiness being your beauty standard, is that it's
incorruptible.
Now what does it mean to be corruptible?
Things that are corruptible would be like food that you buy at the store and it has
an expiration date that's not very far out, right?
Because in a short amount of time, that food is going to become corrupt.
It's going to decay.
It's not going to be edible, right?
When things rust, when metal rust, that's metal corrupting, right?
When a piece of fruit, when a banana starts turning black, then it's becoming corrupt.
And what the Bible is saying here is that physical beauty, the hairdo, the clothing,
your physical features, that stuff's all temporary.
It's all going to fade.
It's all corruptible.
But the hidden man of the heart is incorruptible.
What do we mean by that?
The older you get, you don't necessarily just keep getting more beautiful.
You know, the graph doesn't just go like this, you know, the whole time.
But when it comes to godliness, when it comes to righteousness, you know, you can
keep on getting better and better, right?
Because beauty fades, but if beauty is based on godliness, righteousness, holiness, you
can still be beautiful at any age.
No matter how old you are, you can be beautiful.
The Bible says in verse number 4, let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which
is not corruptible.
Even the ornament, ornament would be like accessory, right, something that you would
put on to make yourself more beautiful.
The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price.
For after this manner in the old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned
themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands.
Man, that looks good on a woman, doesn't it?
Being in subjection to her own husband.
Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters ye are as long
as ye do well and are not afraid with any amazement.
Likewise ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife
as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life that your
prayers be not hindered.
Go to 1 Timothy chapter number 2.
So according to 1 Peter chapter 3, women need to be more focused on what's going
on in their heart, what's going on in their life, how righteous they are, how godly
they are, if they have a meek and quiet spirit, if they're submissive to authority
because that, my friend, is more important than an outward appearance of just putting
on apparel, putting on gold, plating your hair.
Look what the Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter 2.
We have the same idea here in verse 9.
And like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel.
This is the opposite of the costly apparel and all the fancy stuff that we saw over
in 1 Peter 3 and elsewhere in Scripture.
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.
Right?
The good works are the adornment.
Now when the Bible says here modest apparel, it means multiple things here, okay?
Number 1, it means that your clothing is not super expensive, right?
That's one meaning of modest here.
Another meaning of modest here is that your clothing is appropriate.
And how do I know that?
Because he says you're dressing with shamefacedness and sobriety.
Now the word shame is associated in Scripture with nakedness, right?
All throughout the Bible, you will find just verse after verse after verse where
shame and nakedness are side by side.
Why?
Because every normal person, if they were caught naked, is ashamed or embarrassed, right?
If I said, hey, go outside and walk down the street nude, you know, you'd be humiliated.
You'd be embarrassed, right?
Of course, you just wouldn't do it.
But I'm saying if you had to be in a situation where you somehow lost your clothing or something,
it'd be pretty embarrassing, wouldn't it?
You say, well, not me because my physique.
You're a weirdo, okay?
People who just want to show off their naked body are weirdos.
It's exhibitionist.
Normal people want to cover their nakedness in public.
And look, even if you're this weirdo that's just like, hey, look at me, you know what?
Other people are embarrassed.
Other people are ashamed.
It's still a shame to have that nakedness.
Now of course some people, you're right, don't have that shame.
But that's why God's commanding you to dress with shame-facedness.
Be a normal person who doesn't just show your naked butt in public, right?
Because that ain't normal.
And the Bible's saying that we should have shame-facedness and sobriety.
We should be clothed with modest apparel.
Now this is especially directed at women simply because women tend to have more of
an issue in this area than men.
Obviously men should also wear modest apparel, right?
We don't want to be foolish and just think, well, the women are supposed to wear
modest apparel, but I'm going to wear a $5,000 suit, a bunch of gold jewelry and
chains and whatever, or I'm going to go out on a speedo or something.
Typically that would be stupid to think that God wants that on a man if he doesn't
want it on a woman.
It's being directed at women because typically when it comes to the lust of the eyes, it's
normally directed at women because of the fact that women tend to care more about
the appearance.
Men throughout history have typically not had time to think about their appearance
and it just isn't as important to us as men.
We are not as into decorating ourselves.
And so that's the point here.
That's why it's directed at women.
Obviously you flip this over and also apply it to men.
Men should also cover their nakedness, be shame-faced and not deck themselves out
and decorate themselves like a Christmas tree.
It says, but which become with women professing godliness with good works.
Look at verse 11, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer
not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed then Eve and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being
deceived was in the transgression, notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing if they
continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety, right?
Holiness confers beauty more than the trappings of this world.
In God's sight and in the sight of those who are following God and in the sight of
those who love God.
You see, those of us who follow God and love God, we are hopefully bringing our thoughts
into conformity with his thoughts, our ways into conformity with his ways.
And so his view ultimately becomes our view as we grow in grace and become closer to
that standard of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You say, well, Pastor Anderson, you know, what about ungodly women who look beautiful?
If you would turn to Isaiah chapter three, you say, you know, you're saying that, you
know, holiness is what brings beauty, but what about ungodly women who look beautiful?
Are they not beautiful?
What's going on with that?
Well, here's what the Bible says about that.
Verse 11, verse 22 says, as a jewel of gold and a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which
is without discretion.
So if you have a beautiful woman that does not have discretion, meaning she doesn't
know how to act, she doesn't know what's appropriate, she doesn't know what should
be said and what should not be said, the woman who's beautiful but doesn't have any
discretion, God compares that to putting a jewel of gold in a swine's snout.
And the idea here is that the jewel of gold is beautiful, but that little bit of beauty
does not negate the overall ugly image, right?
So you could have a physically outwardly beautiful woman, but if she doesn't have character,
if she's not godly, if she's not righteous, if she's not doing all the types of things
that we see in first Peter three and in first Timothy chapter two, well, then guess
what?
That outward beauty is not going to make up for the fact that she's an ugly person.
Why is she ugly?
Because of unrighteousness.
Oh, but she looks great.
Well, yeah, as long as you don't have to talk to her, as long as you don't have
to interact with her, as long as you don't have to be around her, as long as you
don't have to be married to her, as long as you don't have to live in the same house
with her, she looks great.
But the Bible says that's like putting a jewel of gold in a swine's snout.
It's not enough to fix the problem.
It's not enough to over, well, you know, she's got some issues, but boy, is she beautiful.
It's not enough, my friend, because it's all about being righteous and godly and Christian.
That's what's beautiful, my friend.
The Bible says in Proverbs 31, 30, favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman
that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
That's what the Bible says in Proverbs 31.
Now look at Isaiah 3, see, physical beauty will naturally fade over time, right?
We talked about the incorruptible attributes versus the corruptible outward attributes.
Physical beauty is going to fade, but God also has a way of taking away beauty
from prideful, ungodly people and making them progressively uglier over time.
And I'm talking in the most literal sense.
So not only will beauty fade for everyone, but you know, when you're out there living
an ungodly life, when you're arrogant and prideful and not submitted to God, God
will often take away your beauty as a punishment.
Look what the Bible says in Isaiah chapter 3, verse 16, moreover, the Lord saith, because
the daughters of Zion are haughty, and haughty here, H-A-U-G-H-T, this doesn't mean she's
a smoking haughty, okay?
This is haughty as in arrogant, prideful, puffed up, right?
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, that's why I'm pronouncing it like haughty,
you know, just to make it sound different.
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with stretched forth necks.
This doesn't mean to walk with a stretched forth neck, it means that they have their
nose up in the air, that's what arrogant people do, right?
They look down their nose at you.
And so they've got a stretched out neck and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they
go and making a tinkling with their feet, 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.
Of course the word discover here is an older meaning which means uncover, it's like the
opposite of covering something, to discover it, okay?
Not like, you know, Columbus discovering Hispaniola or something.
So the idea here is that God is going to make them something ugly and shameful, he's
going to smite their head with a scab and he's going to discover their secret parts.
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.
Now obviously some of this language will bother people as being too archaic.
Here's what's so funny about this, right?
People would say, oh man, the King James, it's too hard to understand, it's too
archaic.
We're talking about this, we're talking about fashion.
I mean do we have to re-translate the Bible like every 10 years as the fashions change?
I mean you're never going to be able to keep up with fashion lingo.
I mean fashion is constantly changing.
Look you could come out with a Bible today that just dials this lingo in to the, you
know, 20 years from now the fashion lingo will probably be different because fashion
is just something that changes and honestly you just have to use a little bit of common
sense and think through these words and God forbid you may even just have to reach
for a dictionary.
And by the way, I use the dictionary every single week of my life.
I'm always looking things up in the dictionary.
Whenever I go to use a word, even if I know the word but I'm just not 100%,
I want to make sure I'm using it correctly, I'll look it up in the dictionary.
When I'm reading books, I don't think I've ever read a book where I didn't have
to look up at least one word in the dictionary.
You know, that's just the way life works folks.
So don't be one of these people that just wants to have like the drooling mouth breathing
version of the Bible which, you know, just requires no intellect.
Get some smarts and read a King James.
Let's work through this language here.
It says their calls, now that's a hard word, right, C-A-U-L, call, but what's
funny is I look up in the dictionary, just a modern dictionary, not a special dictionary,
just a basic modern, in fact, just dictionary.com app on your phone.
Everybody's got a smartphone, dictionary.com app or grab the Webster's off your desk
or whatever you got and this is what it said, a net, excuse me, why are you just
yelling Holy Spirit apropos of nothing, what, okay, well you need a real dictionary
too.
All right, pipe down buddy, all right, I'm preaching please.
A net lining in the back of a woman's cap or hat is what this said when I looked it
up in the dictionary.
So a net lining in the back of a woman's cap or hat, number four, a cap or hat made
out of net formerly worn by women because it's no longer in style.
This is why we don't use this word necessarily.
Now here's the thing about this is that if you read the rest of the Bible, the
word call is used a lot in Leviticus when they're butchering animals and basically
it talks about the call above the liver and it's referring to the gallbladder.
And so, you know, it makes sense that it's the same type of thing.
Hey buddy, you don't need to talk to my family, you can just get out, all right?
This isn't your church pal.
What a dork.
It's so funny when a first time visitor wants to come in and teach me and teach you,
who is that guy?
Does anybody, you know, cause I can sit down if we want to hear that guy, I can sit
down and we can bring, you want me to go get him real quick?
I think he's still in the parking lot.
You want to listen to a random stranger or did you come to hear actually the ordained
pastor of the church?
I mean it's all, you know, cause I, I got other things I can do, you know, what in
the world?
Uh, beloved.
So the call, if you think about, if you think about the gallbladder, the call above
the liver, you know, it's basically kind of this sack or something, right?
That's holding fluid or whatever.
So this is I guess like a sack to hold the hair or whatever.
But I'm sure that the Holy Spirit already told you that according to our friend.
And then it says they're round tires like the moon.
Now obviously these are not the tires on your car, but it's probably connected to like
the word attire and we would often use the word like headdress.
So it's basically like a headdress.
It's some kind of an attire for the head.
It's you know, some kind of a cloth type of a head garment.
Now obviously we don't know exactly what it is, but it doesn't really matter.
Like we don't have to know exactly what this is because of the fact that it just
means fancy, stylish things that aren't really necessarily practical clothing.
It's things that people are wearing to decorate themselves.
I mean it's that simple, right?
So we don't need to necessarily know exactly what this means.
Move on to the next verse, verse 19, the chains, the bracelets, and the mufflers.
Obviously we know chains are like necklaces or other little chain ornaments, bracelets,
self-explanatory mufflers, and this might take people aback at first.
They're thinking about something that makes a car sound quieter.
But again if you look at some of the dictionary, I typed in muffler and definition number
one in a modern dictionary was a scarf worn around one's neck for warmth.
Even before the car part, that was definition number one was the scarf.
This is probably some kind of a decorative scarf or like what we might call a veil or
something, right?
It's something along those lines.
Verse 20, the bonnets, the ornaments of the legs, the headbands, and the tablets,
and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels.
By the way, if you're looking for an easy memory verse, Isaiah 3.21 is a great, if
you just want to have a verse memorized, the rings and nose jewels.
It's one of those really succinct verses right there, so put that on your Bible memory
list.
If anybody says, quote a verse quick, you know, Isaiah 3.21, the rings and nose jewels.
Done.
Changeable suits of apparel and the mantels and the wimples and the crisping pins.
Okay, so the wimples, I again looked this up in the dictionary, wimple, definition
number one in a modern dictionary, a woman's headcloth drawn in folds about the chin, formally
worn out of doors and still in use by some nuns, all right?
So you know, again, it's not in style unless you're a nun.
And I don't think nuns are even trying to be in style.
But it says in verse 20, or at the end of verse 22, it says the crisping pins, right?
This would be probably what we would refer to today as a curling iron or a crimping iron,
you know, for those of you from the 80s, you know what that is?
I don't know if crimping irons are still a thing, but it was, man, it was a thing
in the 80s, I'll tell you.
There was a time.
The glasses and the fine linen and the hoods and the veils.
Here's what God's saying.
Look, you've got all of this outward show, all of these fancy little ornaments and things
that you're putting on.
Right?
At the end of the day, I can take all that away from you.
I can put a scab on your head and discover your secret parts, right?
And you're going to be humiliated.
Look at verse 24.
It should come to pass that instead of sweet smell, there shall be stink.
And instead of a girdle, a rent.
Instead of well-set hair, boldness.
And instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth and burning instead of beauty.
You take too much pride in your hair, God can literally make your hair fall out.
God has a way of taking away beauty from those who are prideful and arrogant and
think that they're so cool.
God can take you down a notch.
And the Bible says that God exalted the proud, but that he abases the humble.
And so we need to make sure that we don't get wrapped up in our own appearances and
things and spend a bunch of time working on appearance.
You know, God wants us to work on our heart and he wants us to work on our life and
our actions and our obedience to God.
That is where real beauty comes from, my friend.
And you know, any day of the week, a godly, righteous, Christian woman is more beautiful
than the worldly, sleazy, loud-mouthed women of this world.
And I don't care which one is more objectively beautiful because life isn't objective.
Life is subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
We say, well, whose opinion counts?
God's opinion counts.
And to me, my opinion counts because I'm me and your opinion counts to you.
And you say, well, this guy over here, he's got a different opinion.
Well, he needs to get the right opinion.
But God, look, God can take away your beauty.
But not only that, sinful people tend to make themselves look ugly, even just by themselves,
even without a divine intervention.
Sinful people tend to make themselves look ugly.
You know, we've all seen those pictures that'll pop up on social media from time to time
like, oh, this is this girl before she became a feminist and this is her after
she became a feminist.
This is before she went off to college and got her, you know, degree in justice
studies or whatever.
And you know, and this is her afterward, right?
And she starts out just like a young, pretty, normal teenage girl and then she comes out
looking just this gross looking lesbian looking thing, right?
Lesbians are gross looking.
They're ugly.
They're gross.
And you're like, well, this is your opinion.
No, it's just the true story because God can make you look ugly and sin has a way
of making you look ugly and sinful people have a way of making themselves look ugly.
You know, think about the gross looking lesbians.
You know, I, you know, we don't even need to even mention the transvestites and all
that.
I mean, that's the ugliest pile of sick that you can imagine.
And by the way, I know it's going to hurt people's feelings.
Tattoos are ugly, weird piercings, the ring and the snout like a cow, like a milk
cow drinking so much that your nose starts looking like the nose of an alcoholic.
You know, you can tell somebody who's an alcoholic just by looking at their nose.
And by the way, when people go get a nose job, nobody walks in and says, make it look
like an alcoholic.
I want to look like I've been drinking hard for the last decade.
That's not even on the menu.
Not that I've ever been to a plastic surgeon, but I'm just guessing that ain't on the
menu.
And by the way, here's what else is ugly.
Short hair on women.
Long hair on men is ugly.
That's why the Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 14, does not even nature
itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it's a shame unto him.
And you know what?
The apostle Paul is appealing to common sense in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
And he actually says, look within, look inside, ask yourselves, judge in yourselves.
Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered or does not even nature itself teach you that
if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him.
But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her for her hair has given her
for a covering.
You see, just you say, why is it wrong for men to have long hair?
Number one, because the Bible says wrong because men are made in the image of God and
Jesus didn't have long hair.
God doesn't have long hair.
Okay.
That's what it says in 1 Corinthians 11.
Read the chapter before you get in my face about that.
But the thing is, you know, number one, God says not to have long hair as a man.
But number two, it's just be obvious that you shouldn't have long hair as a man.
Well, you know, who are you to say that?
But the Bible says that inside people just know instinctively that men are supposed to
have short hair and that women are supposed to have long hair.
Now, who am I to argue with God if God says that it's...
Now, some people would say, well, look at nature and decide.
No, that's not what the Bible is saying.
Because I've had some people bring this up, the fact that, you know, if you look
at a lot of species in nature, the male is typically more decorated than the female,
like say, for example, a peacock.
And we could go through a whole bunch of different species.
And so to somebody who doesn't really know a lot about animals, to somebody who doesn't
really know a lot about biology, they could point to that and be like, well, see, look,
look at that, you know, hey, let's look at nature.
Except what you don't understand is that if you actually studied biology, here's
what you'd find out.
Species where the male is super decorated and the female is looking bland, like, for
example, peacocks and so forth, are typically species where the male is just mating with
as many chicks as he can and doesn't even care and isn't even sticking around to raise
the kids.
And that if you actually look to species where both parents are involved with child
rearing, where there's actually an investment on the part of the father, typically the
males and females look very similar to one another, like humans.
Obviously, humans are not animals, but some of the same principles obviously apply to
all living organisms in general.
We as human beings, men and women, don't really look that different, okay, because
we're both involved in parental care.
We're not just these men who just go around and just, you know, impregnate a hundred
females, live fast and die young.
Yeah, there are animals out there that do that, my friend, but I'm not an animal.
You're not an animal.
When God says nature itself teaches you, he's not saying, hey, go on the discovery channel,
see how animals live and go and do that likewise.
Is that what you think he's telling you?
It's absurd.
Why would God tell you, go live like lower life forms, go live like an animal?
It's not what he's saying, my friend.
When he says nature itself teaches you, he's not saying go into the peacock and learn
his ways.
What the Bible is actually telling you is that nature, meaning just common sense, that
which is innately natural to us, what we instinctively know, our human nature teaches
us that it is a shame for a man to have long hair and for a woman it is a glory under.
This is why worldly people in the 1960s when they want to rebel against society, rebel
against their parents, rebel against Christianity at the end of the 1960s, they grew their
hair long.
But the normal attribute for a man is to have short hair.
The normal attribute for a woman is to have long hair.
Nature itself teaches you that.
Again, not looking to the animal kingdom, folks.
Nature itself, again, let scripture be your guide.
Right before he said nature itself teaches you, he said judge in yourselves.
Look inside, think about it instinctively.
We know this to be the case.
Men have short hair, women have long hair.
Of course, there are aberrations to that for all kinds of reasons, but that doesn't
make it right.
You see, there's the beauty of holiness and then there's the ugliness of unholiness.
You say, well, I like tattoos.
I like long hair on men.
I like short hair on women.
I love that caked on makeup look where you paint your eyes to look like an insect.
I like that kind of moo cow ring in the middle of the septum.
I just love those effeminate guys and those butch women.
I just think they look great.
Who's to say my opinion's wrong?
God.
That's who.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 12, verse 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but
be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and
acceptable and perfect will of God.
We need to renew our minds and get God's standard of appearance and beauty, not the
world standard of appearance of you.
Be not conformed to the world.
Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Go to Isaiah chapter 28.
Isaiah chapter number 28.
And look, I'm not here to hurt anybody's feelings today.
I'm not here to tell you that you're ugly or something like that because here's the
thing about that is that, you know what?
We can all make ourselves beautiful in God's sight in the most important way possible,
which is by serving God, loving God, being a good Christian.
That's always going to make you look good.
And even if you've lived a sinful life in your past and you've damaged your body
through drugs, I mean, you know, it's funny people get offended when I say these
things, but some of this stuff should just be kind of common sense like newsflash,
meth doesn't give you better teeth, right?
Like using meth is not going to improve your dental hygiene.
How dare you say that?
Well, okay.
Well, if that's obvious, if we can all agree that meth is not going to help you
have better dental hygiene, right?
If we can all agree that meth is damaging your teeth, well then can we
agree that alcohol is damaging your nose?
Can we agree that smoking as a woman is probably going to make you look older
sooner?
Like I'm not trying to hurt your feelings.
I'm not preaching this to hurt somebody's feelings who's already gone down this
road.
I'm preaching to a bunch of children and teenagers and young people who've not
yet made these mistakes.
And I want to tell them, look, work on your godliness, your Christianity.
That's more important than your outward appearance.
And if you want to be beautiful, then dress like a lady.
Be modest.
Don't dress like a hoochie mama.
Do not mutilate yourself or print any marks upon your body or do any of these
things, right?
God says no.
As a woman, be feminine.
Long hair, dresses, skirts, modest apparel.
That's what the Bible says, okay?
Men, right?
Men, we don't care.
All right, move on.
So renew your mind and start seeing the beauty of holiness.
Isaiah chapter 28 verse 1 says this, woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim
whose glorious beauty is a fading flower which are on the head of the fat valleys
of them that are overcome with wine.
Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one which has a tempest of hail and a destroying
storm as a flood of mighty waters overflowing shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under feet and the
glorious beauty which is on the head of the fat valley shall be a fading flower and as
the hasty fruit before the summer which when he that looketh upon it seeth it while
it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up.
He's saying, look, some fruit, you know, you pick the fruit, you just eat it immediately
because it's going to spoil immediately.
It's the hasty summer fruit.
You grab it.
It's already overripe.
You better eat.
It's like, hey, we better finish these avocados today.
We got to finish these bananas today, right?
We got to eat this fruit today because tomorrow it's going to be rotten.
He said that's what your beauty is like when you're living a sinful life, when you're
a drinker, when you're a partier, when you're full of pride, when you're not serving
the Lord, whatever physical beauty you may have today, that's something that is going
to fade away quickly.
It's here today, gone tomorrow whereas godly Christian beauty is something that ages well
and that you can have for a lifetime.
In that day shall the Lord of hosts, verse 5, be for a crown of glory and for a diadem
of beauty unto the residue of his people.
Now look, what am I saying this morning?
I'm saying, look, the beauty of holiness.
Here's the facts.
From God's perspective and from the perspective of Christian people, okay, a girl who is
dressed in feminine modest clothing and has long hair and looks like a Christian and
acts like a Christian and is not a loud mouth, worldly, sinful, whatever, you know,
is more beautiful than the sleazy girls that are out there.
It's just the way it is.
You say, well, I don't agree with you.
Then you're wrong and you need to renew your mind because God says, hey, it's the
beauty of holiness, right?
Now that's not to say that wicked things or sinful things don't have their own type
of beauty or a deceptive beauty, a vain type of beauty or a temporary beauty or something
like that.
But again, that type of beauty, when you get to know the person, their spiritual
ugliness ends up overshadowing it.
And I think we've all probably experienced this in our lives where we meet someone
who is objectively a nice looking person, a handsome man, a beautiful woman, and then
as you get to know their rotten personality, they just look worse to you every day, right?
Or on the flip side, you meet someone who is homely on the outside.
You know, you meet them and you're just thinking like, wow, you know, this person's
a little hard to look at.
But then as you get to know their personality, you learn to love them for who they are
and they just look more and more beautiful to you all the time.
And I'm not, look folks, I'm not just talking in like a romantic kind of way or
whatever.
I'm just saying in general, just in general, just because here's the thing, we're
not talking about necessarily even getting romantic, we're not even necessarily talking
about the opposite gender.
I mean I'm just saying people who are bad people look ugly once you know how bad
they are and the worse they act, the uglier they get in your mind because beauty is in
the eye of the beholder.
You know, it's sort of like when you go to name your children, right?
And your spouse pulls out a name and you go, oh, I don't like that name.
99% of the time, you know why you don't like that name?
It's not just that there's something wrong with that name, it's that you knew
some kid in school with that name that you didn't like.
Right?
You know?
And then you hear another name, oh yeah, I like that because that guy was cool.
And so that's a cool name to you, right?
The name is cool because it was a cool guy that had that name.
You don't like that name because that guy was a dork.
And so then, you know, that ends up shading how we feel about the name.
Well, beauty, physical appearance is the same way where it's shaded by a person's
actual attributes and character.
And I don't care how good looking you are, if you're not a godly Christian,
then godly people are going to ultimately find you unattractive.
You know?
And young people, they care so much about the way that they look.
They care so much about impressing the opposite gender.
And I get it because, of course, it's totally natural and normal for teenagers
and young adults to be thinking about these things all the time
because god has built in that desire because he wants us to get married and have a family.
I mean, if we didn't have that desire, then we would just go out and do whatever
and we wouldn't even have time for a girlfriend or wife, you know what I mean?
God has built in those desires so that people will actually get married
and have a family and do those things, okay?
And so it's totally normal to think along those lines.
But let me tell you something.
If you think that the way to get girls is to dress and act in a non-Christian manner,
you're going to get the wrong kind of girls.
And if you think that the way to attract a young man that you could date
and potentially marry is to, you know, just get as naked as you can
and just as immodest as you can and just act as worldly as you can
and just show him what a bad girl you are or something, you know, that's foolish.
It doesn't make any sense, okay?
The right kind of guy is going to be looking for godly attributes.
And when he sees you violating biblical standards of appearance
and he sees you as a woman cutting your hair short
and trying to mutilate yourself to look like this world
and printing marks on your body like a cannibal and doing all these things,
then, and you know what?
Look, I will never stop preaching against tattoos, okay?
So just fire me now if you don't like it because I will never stop.
And again, I'm not mad at anybody who has tattoos because tattoos are permanent.
So I get it. They don't come off.
But let me tell you something.
To those who have not yet gotten a tattoo, that's who I'm preaching to.
If you've already got a tattoo, then go cry about it later, get offended, whatever.
I don't care. I'm not even preaching to you.
You know, quit thinking it's all about you because it isn't.
And I've said it before.
As long as there is one newborn baby in this church that doesn't have any ink on their flesh,
I will preach against tattoos.
As long as there is some person in the church that doesn't have tattoos,
I will keep preaching it, okay?
I don't care if 90% of the church is tattooed.
And I don't know what percentage of our church is tattooed,
but it's a pretty high percentage.
You know, so if you're tattooed, don't feel all bad because you're not alone.
Look to your left, look to your right.
You just saw someone with a tattoo, okay?
It's the world that we're living in.
It's our culture. It's our society.
But you know what? I'm only 42 years old.
I still grew up in a time when tattoos were prison or military.
You know what I mean, right?
Anybody remember those days?
Like, I'm just some old man up here.
Like, I'm 42.
I remember a time when, first of all, only men had tattoos,
and it was because they went to prison or they'd been in the military.
You know, the sailor, you know, he's got the Popeye the Sailor,
you know, he's got the Anchor or whatever, okay?
And look, I don't care what you say.
I don't care what you think.
The Bible says, thou shalt not print any marks upon thy body.
I'm done.
Case closed. I'm done.
You know, I'm against it.
And you know what?
It makes you look more like a cannibal than a Christian.
It's not been a godly thing throughout history because it's not biblical.
Okay? I'm against it. I don't care.
I'm going to keep preaching it.
I don't like it.
I don't think it's right.
I don't want my children and your children getting tattoos.
If they get tattoos, then let them go get tattoos.
And you know what?
But at least I warned them and told them not to.
And if they did it anyway, that's up to them.
Not my problem.
And look, again, I'm not chastising people who've done it
because, you know, we've all made mistakes.
Some people's mistakes are more visible than others.
You know, some people might even have tattoos where the sun don't shine
and we don't even know about it.
You know?
They got like a heart with an arrow through it on their butt or something, you know?
I saw that on a cartoon too.
So it's probably out there because usually art is imitating life.
And I saw it on Bugs Bunny, so it's probably a thing.
You know, those are pretty much the two tattoos that you'd see.
It's pretty much the anchor on the arm or the heart on the rear end, you know?
Whatever.
But that was probably from the 1930s or something.
But let me tell you something, my friend.
God does care about the way that we look.
And I know that churches don't preach on this.
They don't care about this.
They don't talk about this.
But if God doesn't care about the way that you look,
then why did he give us a chapter in 1 Corinthians 11 about the length of your hair?
Why does he say that a woman should not wear that which pertains to a man?
Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment.
Why does he say for women to adorn themselves in modest apparel?
Why does he talk about covering your nakedness?
If God doesn't care, then why does he bring it up?
Why does he talk about it?
Why even go into it?
Because he does care.
You see, everybody today says, well, only the inside matters.
Outside doesn't matter.
Only the inside matters.
Wrong.
Both inside and outside matter.
It's just that the inside matters more.
The Bible says, Cleanse first that which is within the cup and the platter,
that the outside of them may be clean also.
And so we should always work on the inside first.
The inside is the most important thing.
The inside is the main thing.
But then that internal change should emanate to our external appearance,
and it should change the way that we live our lives in general
and the way that we look.
And you know what?
You know and I know that if I got up here as the pastor of the church
and I got up here with long hair and tattoos
and I'm wearing short shorts up here,
you know what?
You're not going to take me seriously.
And if you do, you're probably a bit of a bozo too
if that's the kind of pastor you want.
Like if you want a pastor up here in short shorts and, you know,
long hair and, you know, a face tattoo or something,
it's like, what in the world?
You say, well, yeah, but you're the pastor.
Yeah, but we're all Christians here, you know.
We're all serving God.
We're all brethren.
And so people get offended when you preach about clothing.
People get offended when you preach about our appearance.
People get offended when you talk about these things.
And that's why a lot of people just won't talk about them.
Well, I don't care.
So I'm just going to talk about everything that the Bible talks about.
I'm just going to talk about all these things.
And if you don't like it, then lump it.
It doesn't matter because at the end of the day,
it's my job to preach the Bible.
And at the end of the day, I'm hoping that children and teenagers
and young adults will see the wisdom in what I'm saying
and will actually follow the Bible's teachings in this area.
And look, there's an obsession today among young people,
and it's probably always existed.
There's an obsession with being normal,
even as they make themselves look like a freak.
It's ironic, but it's a thing.
Teenagers have this kind of dual desire to stand out and to fit in at the same time.
And these two ideas are in tension with one another.
But that's what teenagers are like.
Teenagers really want to belong and fit in and be normal.
And then at the same time, teenagers want to stand out.
So they stand out by doing what everybody else is doing, too,
and then they can fit in.
It doesn't make sense, but it's how teenagers are.
Unfortunately, they fall prey to these peer pressure
and pressures of Madison Avenue and pressures of this world
to conform to these standards.
And you know, it always cracks me up when everything's about normal.
Folks, God has called us to be a peculiar people.
You say, why can't faith-forward Baptist churches be normal?
Because there's already like a hundred normal Baptist churches.
Just pick the one that's closer to your house.
Faith-forward Baptist church isn't normal.
Faith-forward Baptist church is special.
And you know what? I don't want to be normal.
I want to be a peculiar person.
I want to be special.
I want to be something different.
I don't want to be conformed to this world.
I want to be transformed into something different.
And so, you know, it's just like, oh, well, this is what normal people do.
You know, oh, why can't I just go to the beach and just wear a normal swimsuit?
Translation, I want to wear a swimsuit that shows my naked butt.
I want to show my naked butt to the world is what that really means.
Can I wear a normal swimsuit, something normal?
Because a normal swimsuit shows a girl's butt, right?
So you think that the naked butt is normal.
Maybe it is normal.
But you know what? Last time I checked, there's no Bible verse that said,
Thou shalt be normal.
It said, be ye holy, for I am holy.
God wants us to be set apart for divine service, set apart for God's use.
God says, cover your thighs, cover your buttocks, cover your nakedness.
We have a normal swimsuit. Then don't be normal.
I didn't even think about it, but this is the perfect time to start preaching about this because it's April.
And people are starting to go swimming.
And you know what?
I do not let my wife or daughters go out in a normal swimsuit
because I don't want them exposing their naked butts in public.
And I don't want them even showing their thighs off in public and showing their crotch in public
because you know what?
The Bible says that we should cover our nakedness from the loins to the thighs and cover our buttocks.
So you've got to cover your butt, you've got to cover your loins, you've got to cover your thighs.
Hey, this is what the Bible teaches.
Yeah, but you know, normally it's a string bikini.
Okay, so what?
What else is normal now?
You know, one time my sister and I were doing fire alarms together
and we walked into a bed bath and beyond and the manager was a transvestite and his name was Norm.
And my sister said, Define irony.
A transvestite named Norm.
That's an ironic name.
But what about when it just becomes normal for sodomites to exist
and just normal for, you know, I don't know, whatever other weird things coming down the pike.
You know, everything becomes normal eventually when everybody starts doing it.
You know, when a society is like on the cusp of being destroyed by God
and they're just indulging in all kinds of wild things, well then it just becomes normal.
You know, I mean, you know, people tell you, I mean, think about the Muslims.
Let's get on them for a while. You're uncomfortable.
Let's talk crap about someone else for a minute to give you a break.
How about the Muslims, right?
Their prophet married a nine-year-old.
But you know what they'll tell you? Yeah, but that was normal back then.
On what planet?
That was never normal, you pedophile freak.
But that's what they say.
Folks, I've confronted a hundred Muslims with, well, you know, Mohammed was married to a nine-year-old.
And they're like, no, no, no, she was six when they got married.
That's what they say to me.
They always correct me like, no, no, that's not true, she was six.
I'm like, okay.
And then it's like, she was six.
I'm like, yeah, but then they consummated the marriage when she's nine.
Yeah, they're like, yeah, that's right, yeah.
Get it right, buddy.
I'm like, well, that's a pedophile.
No, no, no, you understand, that was normal back then.
What are you basing that off of?
First of all, there's no actual historical document to say that that was normal, except just Muslims saying it's normal.
You can't find actual real documents saying that.
Look, folks, I haven't studied everything, I don't know everything, I'm not an expert on everything, but I've studied a lot of ancient history.
A lot.
A lot of ancient history.
A lot.
Okay?
And I'm talking reading original sources in the original languages, okay?
I have studied stuff when it comes to ancient history, and let me tell you something, that was never normal.
That is a bunch of crap, okay?
But let's just pretend for a minute, let's go into, you know, this lala Muslim land where that was once normal.
Then it was a society of perverts.
Then it was just a whole pedophile peninsula.
I'm talking about the Arabian peninsula, amen?
But look, the point is, that's never been normal, but even if it were normal, if that's normal, then I don't want to be normal!
I want to be godly, I want to be Christian!
And look, hey, there are countries in this world where Islam's normal.
Get me out of there!
Hey, there are countries in this world where Hinduism's normal.
I don't want to be there.
I want to be right here, okay?
Why?
Because I want to live in a Christian society, a Christian culture, where normal is a little closer to what God says in the Bible.
But does that mean that what's normal in our culture is always biblical?
Just because we're living in a somewhat Christian society?
No, my friend, because as our society drifts from the Bible and drifts from God and becomes de-Christianized, a lot of sinful things are becoming normal.
And so if it can be normal to marry a nine-year-old, well then that just shows you how weird and perverse normal can get.
Well, I just want to be like a normal teenager.
I just want to be like a normal, live a normal life.
I want to be like Norm at Bed Bath and Beyond.
I want to be normal like Mohammed.
I want to be normal.
Hang normal.
This is normal.
Is that even mean?
Just be like everybody else.
Just follow the crowd.
Well, last time I checked, the Bible says thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil.
And look, I don't care if other pastors are saying something different.
I don't care if society is saying something different.
At the end of the day, what the Bible says, man, I got me and the Holy Spirit and the Bible, and I'm up here to preach the Bible, and I don't give a rip.
And if half the church is offended and walks out, then don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you.
All right?
Because life will go on.
This church existed before you got here, and it'll, except my family, of course, did not exist before you got here.
But it'll exist after you're gone.
And so this is what the Bible says, the beauty of holiness.
The Bible says the beauty of holiness.
I challenge you to get a beauty standard, to get a beauty makeover where holiness is the first concern.
Get a holiness makeover.
I mean, is that what you think about, you know, when you go to get dressed as a man or as a woman, think like, well, first of all, let me make sure what I wear is honoring to God.
You know, just holy.
I want to be holy.
I want to be modest, shame-facedness, sobriety.
You know, I want to make sure that I'm a man.
I look like a man, and nobody's wondering what gender I am.
Nobody has to double take because, you know, it's like you look at the, you know, it's sort of like this.
It's like in a science fiction where like, you know, somebody has like an enhanced vision where all kinds of like little readouts are coming on the screen, right?
It's like you're going through life, and you're seeing all these people, and, you know, it's like target acquired, you know.
And then it's just like, it's like you see the hair, and it's like subject is male.
But then it's like, then you look at the, it's a skirt, and it's like subject is female.
And then you look at the shoulders, and it's like subject is male.
And it's just like, you know what I mean?
It's like, it's like you're going through life, and it's like, you know, long hair, subject is female.
And then it's like pants, subject is male.
You know, it has breasts, ah, you know.
God is not the author of confusion.
Give yourself a holiness makeover.
Make yourself look in a way that's Christian and godly and above reproach.
And then second, then you can think about being in style.
I'm not saying not to be in style or to look good.
Hey, then think about being in style.
Then think about looking cool.
I want you to be cool. I want you to be in style.
But you know what, not at the expense of what God wants.
Think about God first.
But then even above your physical appearance, before you even look in the mirror, before you even think about what you're going to wear,
pray, read the Bible, work on obeying the authority in your life, being a good Christian, right?
Because those things are more important than even your appearance.
Work on the inside first, the inner man, the incorruptible man.
And then when you go to your appearance, say, well, first of all, let's make sure it pleases God.
Now let me ask you this.
Is it impossible, is it impossible to look and dress in a way that pleases God and to look cool?
And in style in 2024, is it impossible?
Somebody help me out. Is it impossible?
Do you think it's just impossible, like I have to choose between these two?
Now let me say this, if I have to choose, I'm going to choose pleasing God.
But this is what's so funny about this, you don't even have to choose.
And by the way, I see literal atheists in this world sometimes that are dressed in a way that I would 100% approve of.
I mean, I've seen a literal atheist woman, long hair, dress, feminine, modest, covered, literal atheist.
Why is she doing that? Is she doing that because of a religious conviction?
No, she's just trying to look good and she just happened to get it right today.
She just nailed it, right?
And then you see guys that are just worldly, sinful, atheist guys, you know,
and they're just wearing a pair of pants or wearing a pair of shorts that goes down to their knees, normal shirt, short hairdo.
I mean, do people just say, oh, I see that you have short hair, you must be a Christian.
Oh wow, ma'am, I noticed you have long hair, you must be a Christian.
I mean, are people tapping on the throne in public, oh, you're in a skirt, you must be a Christian.
No, because guess what, there are all kinds of atheists and agnostics and Hindus and everybody else out there just wearing normal nice clothes that are honoring to God.
So it is not impossible to both honor God and be in style.
So why don't you just do both?
But you just have to show how edgy you are and rebellious you are.
You know what, you're going to attract the wrong kind of mate.
The bad boy, the bad girl, you know what, it's real fun to date that person maybe, but it's not going to be fun when you've been married to them for five years.
Let me tell you something, when you've been married for five years, you're not just like, oh man, I'm glad he's such a bad boy.
I love it how he just does whatever he wants and just goes out and just parties and I don't even know where he is and it's just so bad.
Oh, he's so bad.
You think that's what women are saying?
Like, oh, she's such a bad girl, I just love how she just flirts with other guys and she just disobeys me and spends all the money and just dresses like a hoochie mama.
Ooh, it's bad.
Here's the thing about that, guess what, when you're married, you can look at your wife's naked butt whenever you want, but you know what, normal men don't want her showing it to the world.
They want it to be for them, not shown to the world.
And you know, if you're like, well, I don't mind.
Okay, what other areas are you a weirdo?
Folks.
You say, well, I think it's beautiful.
Well, then look at it on your own wife.
We all think it's beautiful.
You know, behind closed doors, not out in public, that's embarrassing.
That's shameful.
The beauty of holiness.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Lord, please help us to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, Lord.
First of all, help us to realize that it's the inside that matters most, Lord, and to spend more time reading our Bibles and praying and doing godly deeds than staring at ourselves in the mirror, Lord.
Help us to worry more about the inside.
But second, Lord, help us to make sure that our outward appearance does conform to scripture and not conform to this world.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.