Sunday Evening Worship Service by Nathan Whitley First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN) Kind: sermon Scripture: Psalm 73:22-24, Romans 7:24 Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nathan-whitley--sunday-evening-worship-service-87 Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page. Free to copy and share with attribution. ------------------------------------------------------------ up your believe that he can still do Miracles when you lift up your hands lift up your hearts Hallelujah I know he can still do it he's still working miracles he's still working miracles would you clap your hands onto the Lord if he ever worked a miracle for you would you clap your hands and would you lift up your voice [Music] he's still working miracles the days of Miracles have not ceased they didn't they didn't end when the apostles died they are still happening right here right we've seen it today we've seen it today and I think he's going to keep doing it for the rest of uh until he comes back and I believe that your Miracle is within your reach but all you have to do is believe and that he can do it he'll meet you at your faith one more time would you clap your hands to the Lord amen grab your Bibles your devices we're going to go to Psalm chapter number 73 read a couple of verses and allow me to give honor to our pastors for leadership what a word we heard today what a word from our pastor that we heard this morning if you missed it you need to go back and listen to it if you were here you need to go back and listen to it a timely word I give honor to brother and sister Sloan I love these dear dear friends and what a great church they have in Chattanooga and uh I just I think they're just going to start being members here on Sunday night so uh we'll take it we'll take it I think I they're not here for me I think I know why they're here yeah and uh we love and appreciate them so very much and all of our guests we welcome you as well Psalm 73 going to read just three verses verses 22 through 24 Asaf wrote so foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast someone say Beast as was as a beast before thee nevertheless I am continually with thee thou Hast Holden me by my right hand Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to Glory I was as a beast before thee tonight I want to uh minister to you from this thought might have heard it before the Beauty and the Beast you mind know what I'm talking about no one's ever seen that before okay I'll introduce you to it tonight won't you put your Bibles down lift up your hands lift up your heart and ask the Lord to speak to you father we're so thankful for your spirit that has been here this this entire day and I know you're here again tonight and I pray that your spirit would Minister to your people and and I pray that you'd anoint my mind my lips and help me to minister to your word let us find uh Your Love even more magnificent again tonight that we might be changed and go tell others about your love for them in jesus' name we pray and everyone said amen clap your hands unto the Lord and you can be seated the Beauty and the Beast I have a nine-year-old daughter and she is going to be very upset that I'm mentioning her right now at school I have to say that there's a girl that lives with me and so but I won't do that tonight but uh since she since we brought her home it seems like we've been watching uh Disney Princess movies and even way before that I had nieces and used uh when I was uh just a young man we would watch or young boy actually we would watch Disney Princess movies so uh we've been watching Disney Princess movies for a long time where I'm from and uh here in our our little family and uh it seems like and you know just you you get used to these things they're kind of ingrained into your mind and into your your life and uh so we we brought Easton home and he's a little girl and we immediately started watching Disney Princess movies and I now I'm just of the persuasion that she's a princess and that her mother is my queen and so uh I just I just think that they're they're God's gift to me and I just believe that Miracles after Miracle are real because God gave them to me the beast and so uh if you don't believe that you don't believe in miracles just look at this baldheaded Beast uh I was in Louisiana a couple days ago and they said how old are you and I said somewhere they said you you could be 9 or 90 I was like yeah this this baby face and this bald head I could be nine or 90 uh and so but I I just I believe that God still works miracles and so we've seen we've seen um the movie The Beauty and the Beast for I more times than I would like to admit I'm sure and perhaps you're not familiar of the story uh it's a Tale As Old As Time a song as old as rhyme so let me tell you about this story a young handsome wealthy Prince becomes cursed due to a selfish prideful Choice part of his curse turns him into an awful snarling Beast he can never return to what he once was until he learns how to love and another loves him chance takes place and a beautiful young lady by the name of Belle ends up at BEAST's Castle the Beast is an ugly sight to behold he's not the kind of guy you take to meet your parents and hopes that they allow you to date him he's unrefined rude prone to fits of Rage but somehow some way beauty falls in love with the Beast but what if Beauty never fell in love with the Beast what if the beauty was so turned off by the unpleasant Beast that she escaped the castle only to leave the beast in his vile condition who could blame Belle if she wasn't attracted to the Beast he slurped his soup around until it ran down his matted and nodded Mane he didn't have the type of face that a mother could love his bedroom was an absolute mess with walls covered with torn painting cobwebs for curtains and an unmade bed and the smell can you imagine the smell the odor a wet dog coming from the rain probably smelled better than beasts and what kind of name is Beast he doesn't even have an ironic name like Harry Igor or Pugsley it's just beasts who could blame Bell if she didn't want the awkward wedding invitations you are cordially invited to the wedding of Miss Bell and Mr beasts furthermore children would have to be named minitar Sphinx or Gorgon if Bell were to run away from the Beast nobody would blame her he's a beast She's a Beauty she's kind caring loving the Beast is a hairy drooling soup slurping Beast fit for a cage and not a castle but that's not what happens is it the beauty sees what nobody else sees in the Beast Bell loves what nobody else loves in the end she made makes the Beast more beautiful than what he was before the curse this fairy tale sounds familiar doesn't it it sounds very familiar to us once upon a time there is a prince living in Paradise he was innocent and beautiful he was made in the image of his creator designed to reflect the image of God Almighty the maker had given the prince everything anyone could ever need but the prince was alone and God said it's not good that man should be alone so the Creator designed something more beautiful than man and that was woman Adam and Eve lived in Serenity Walking with God in the cool of the day all Adam and Eve had to do is keep the garden be fruitful and multiply and avoid eating from One Singular tree the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil to eat of that tree meant imminent death death is such an ugly image one word that they they don't even fathom or understand it's not even in their vocabulary yet but yet it is the Grimace of words and with and it's painted with the grimmest of colors that death would come if they ate from this tree unfortunately Adam and Eve couldn't resist you may say why not live as far away from that tree as humanly possible but like all people they stayed so close at the tree they could hear the seduction of a slithering serpent hanging from its branches come and eat you won't die his the the subtle serpent he continued his deception by saying the god the Creator is keeping something from you he knows that you will become just like him that's why he's threatened you with death Eve was so close to the tree now she could reach out and touch the fruit with her soft fingertips it wasn't what she felt with her hands is what she felt in her heart when she gazed upon that forbidden fruit one bite two bites see Adam it won't hurt you try it Adam bit into the faithful fruit and death was activated the beautiful blue sky was suddenly covered with clouds and darkness covered the Earth Adam Eve The Serpent and the Earth were cursed the once beautiful couple became beastly they became just as depraved as the animals they once had dominion over like an unruly Beast they were kicked out of paradise their actions deformed all of humanity into sinners in other words by one man's selfish prideful Choice Humanity became like the Beast brutish abominable coarse depraved loathsome repulsive monstrous sin disfigured the beautiful into beasts the ruin of mankind was the curse of sin what was once a dazzling specimen is now an uncontrollable monstrosity who could love such a beast as us Unfaithful brutish angry temperamental foul hateful loathsome nauseating vulgar Crooks adulterers Liars cheats drunken Lawless violent Rascals phonies corrupted used degraded rejected uncivilized beasts sinful humanity is a barbaric Beast losing our tempers at the drop of a hat barking with impatience slurping the soup of lust and greed while it drips down our vile countenance showing our fangs to anyone who dares offend us snarling and growling and attempt to hide how small and weak we really are we are unkempt and Prof to stay in our stink we are fit for cages and not castles that's the nature of the Beast is it any Wonder in John's Revelation or the apocalypse that he depicts that which is Antichrist as beasts John uses beast-like imagery to describe these Blasphemous creatures seven heads tin horns leopards paws like a bear a mouth like a lion another has two horns like a lamb and speaks like a dragon what a grotesque monster but that's what sin does to all of us it makes us Antichrist beastly I'm not looking for the Antichrist I see him every day when I look into the mirror we are Antichrist beastly we speak blasphemies cause Wars worship loome images sin causes us to do the things we don't nor normally do I'm nothing but a brute Beast unlovable and irredeemable so foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee that's what sin does to us it turns us into beasts Paul wrote in Romans chapter number seven he said oh Wretched Man that I am if you may if you would allow me for a moment to replace the word man with Beast oh wretched Beast that I am who will deliver me from this body of death that's what we are that's who you are I'm sorry to tell you this but every one of us are beasts because of our sin who could love a beast who would be willing to come near Beast such as us surely there couldn't be anyone of beauty and Gra Grace that could love us brutes but that's exactly what happened it wasn't chance it was ordained from the foundation of the world Jesus Christ the God man came to our shadowy Havens he wasn't put off with our stench he wasn't turned off by our ugly pride and our Grizzly Cravings our hideous howling did not intimidate him neither did our selfish behavior alarm him he came near our cage of Brokenness and began to soothe us with calming words beyond our fangs and horns there were Tears like a mistreated animal we shivered in the corner of the cage until he reached in and touched us immediately our self-defense mechanisms came crumbling down the cage door was open and freedom from our beastly nature was made available all this time we've been simply known as sinner loser failure adulterer cheater liar mistake orphan drunk unwanted ugly broken Beast who could love us but let me tell you of the beauty his name is Jesus what a beautiful name it is he's not apprehensive to be associated with our Beast ly nature he wants his beautiful name to be bestowed upon us could somebody give him praise for a moment could somebody give that beautiful name praise and worship for a moment that while I was in my sin a beast he loved us can you worship him for a moment to a quick close who could love us Jesus slowly the Beast is being tame no longer do I hunch down and shame of my behavior I stand a little straighter the rose of Sharon the lily of the valley brings me into his kingdom and gives me shelter Beauty cleans me up and clothes me with righteousness he brings me to his banquet hall and His Banner Over Me Is Love the allog together Lovely One Smiles offering Grace and reform when I fall back into my old habits of slurping sin but what if Beauty never fell in love with the Beast what if the beauty was so turned off by the the unpleasant Beast that he escaped the she escaped the castle only to leave the beast in his vile condition who could blame Jesus if he wasn't attracted to the Beast he is Heavenly he is divine He is wonderful and Majestic and I am a loathsome Beast if Jesus were to run away from the Beast that we are nobody would blame him we're beasts and he is beautiful he is kind great ious and loving we are beasts we are sinners we are selfish we are a hateful Bunch fit for a cage and not a stand to your feet but that is not what happens that is not the story of Beauty and the Beast and that is not the story of Christ and sinners Jesus sees what nobody else sees in US Jesus loves what nobody else loves he loves us even though we aren't Fit For Loving in the end he makes more makes us more beautiful than what we were before the curse of Sin Sin ruined but Grace restored sin disfigured but Grace reformed s sin killed but Grace remade in other words therefore If any man be in Christ he is a new you're not a new human you're a new creature I'm a new creation old things are passed away and behold everything has become new I want you to know you are no longer a beast in him you are a beauty in him he has taken the old and made all things new the old creature the old Beast is gone the old Beast is no longer in existence I'm a new Creator I'm a new man you see you seen the car of Beauty and the Beast you see Bell at the end of the movie IMS he turns from an animal to a prince you see he had always been a prince but sin so marred him that the princely qualities were gone you see we have been made princes ambassadors of our King we are image bearers of the one who created us but sin so Mar us into our beastly nature that righteousness and mercy met together and he turned the Beast back to you see you don't have to remain in your beastly condition there is a king there is a who wants to restore you to your place in the Kingdom why are we taking up money donations for people we've never even met or even seen because we know what they could be they're image bearers they are princes and princess and if we will just show the love of God what take place yes we're meeting physical needs physical situations just a spiritual thing we're dealing with you heard me say before it's definitely not original with me but he Jesus became what he was so we could become what we were you don't have to stay in your condition sin is ugly sin deforms it's a destructive force it Ms but Jesus has come to your cage today the light is shining through the Shadows of the curse to bring blessing and life and restoration he wants to give you beauty for your ashes he wants to anoint you with oil the oil of joy and replace your morning he wants to give you the Garment of Praise in exchange for your spirit of heaviness you don't have to stay where you are The Beauty has come to redeem the peace could you lift up your hands right now lift up your heart maybe you need to repent of your sins like Pastor talked about today maybe you need maybe you need you've already you you you've been baptized you received the Holy Spirit but maybe you need some renewal and sometimes that beastly nature oh who will deliver me from this from this body of death and you wrestle with Beast like qualities that sin wants to overtake you sometimes the anger the fits of lust the fits of greed and jealousy and pride want to take over you want to show your fangs every once in a while you want to growl and and you want to bark and you want to howl every once in a while I want you to know that the The Beauty has come to remove that nature from you today and I wonder maybe if somebody's not been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ you can be buried with him in baptism we've got someone who will baptize you here here tonight the only Bible way and that is in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins if you've not received the baptism of the Holy Ghost God's spirit living and dwelling inside of your heart he will fill you tonight if you would leave the confines of your Pew the confines of your seed and come to an altar I guarantee the beauty the rose of Sharon the lily of the valley yo the one that all together lovely one will meet you there and if you'll cry out to him and say I'm just a beast I'm just a monster he will meet you and he will turn you into the prince and the princess that you really are he'll invite you into his kingdom and give you restoration he'll place you at his table where you can commune with him I want you to know that he loves you he loves you he loves you he doesn't want to reject you he wants to accept you but all you've got to do is come to him with humility and he will extend Gra [Music] He Loves Us yes he loves us he us Oh How He Loves Us Oh How He Loves Us oh how he he loves yes he loves us he loves us he loves us oh how he us Oh How He Loves we are is our to [Music] [Music] R don't have time to make these regets when I think about the way he loves us oh he loves us Oh How He Loves Us oh how [Music] Hees yes he loves us Hees [Applause] [Music] us he L us Oh How He Loves Us oh he loves yes he loves us he loves us Oh How He Loves Us Oh How He Loves Us oh how he he loves us he loves us oh how he L us Oh How He Loves Us oh [Music] he we are dra to Redemption by the in his gra is [Music] all I [Music] don't he us yes he loves he us oh how he How He Loves Us Oh How He Loves yes he loves us he loves us oh he loves us Oh How He Loves Us oh [Music] he would you lift holy hands before Jesus right now would you thank him for loving you when you were unlovable would you thank him for caring about you when you didn't even care about yourself would you thank him for the mighty hand of Love That reached down and lifted you out of the darkness the beastly drags of sin and brought you to this marvelous life oh hallelujah oh hallelujah hallelujah Glory Glory Glory Glory Glory aren't you thankful to be reminded once again of where we've been brought from oh I'm not looking at anybody else I know that Beast that I have to see in the mirror I know that beastly life that is in my flesh but aren't you thankful for deliverance