Psalm 149
“He will beautify the meek with salvation”
There is a new television reality series called EXTREME MAKE OVER. In this series they select certain individuals who feel they are in need cosmetic help and attempt to make them beautiful.
# 1
A man from the back mountains of Tennessee found himself one day in a large city, for the first time standing outside an elevator. He watched as an old, haggard woman hobbled on, and the doors closed. A few minutes later the doors opened and a young, attractive woman marched smartly off. The father hollered to his youngest son, “Billy, go get mother.”
#2
One man once said to his co-worker, “My wife spent four hours in the beauty shop the other day.”
“Wow, that is a long time,” answered his co-laborer.
“Yeah, and that was just for the estimate!” he replied.
# 3 A young man once boasted, “My wife inherited her beauty.”
“How is that?” asked a friend.
“Her uncle died,” he explained, “and left her a store.”
The Bible speaks of a beauty that doesn’t come from cosmetics but comes from Christ.
Christ can take a dirty heart and make it clean. He can take a disturbed soul and make it peaceful. Christ can take a dull life and make radiant. Christ can and wants to bring beauty to our lives.
I. The Divine INTENTION - “He WILL BEAUTIFY”
“He will beautify” gives us the divine desire of God. When God created the world, He made it beautiful. Genesis 1 declares five times that God looked at what He had created and it is recorded that He said it was good. However, sin marred that which God had made, and God wants to make beautiful again that which sin has marred and tarnished.
A. There is a love of beauty that man shares with God
When man finds something beautiful, he wants it for himself and for those he loves. Man shares this love of beauty with God. God is preparing Heaven for those He loves, and He is sparing no cost. Revelation tells us that the abode of the righteous will be splendid and glorious. It has streets of pure gold with single pearls for gate, and single gems for the foundations.
B. There is a loss of beauty that man sees in life
Sin destroys that which God made beautiful.
After sin, man’s paradise became a wilderness. The roses contain thorns, and the docile tiger suddenly became a hungry meat-eater. O sin, what hast thou done to this earth! This earth is under the curse of sin!
However God wants to give unto man “beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” It is not God’s will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
II. The Divine PROVISION - “He will beautify the meek WITH SALVATION”
God wants and desires to bring loveliness into living that has been destroyed by sin, and He does it by what the Bible calls salvation. God wants to save and transform individual lives.
A. Salvation is wrapped up in a person
Acts 4:2
1. The notice beyond exemption - “Neither is there salvation in any other”
In Christ alone is cleansing, pardon, forgiveness, and life everlasting. Jesus is not a value that we can negotiate, nor is He a preference we can reject.
2. The name beyond expression - “None other name under heaven given among men”
No other Savior but Jesus; no salvation if He is rejected; no other name to save from destruction, unless He is accepted. No man ever came, or can come, to the Father but by Him.
3. The need beyond exemption - “We must be saved”
It is imperative - we must be saved! Being saved is not a choice; it is an absolute must. Every man needs salvation.
B. Salvation is worked out in a process
For many the Christian life could be described as an “up and down” or an “on and off” experience. Paul describes the Christian life as an “in and out” experience. Christ having been received must be released to do what He wills with us!
Salvation consist of an inward and an outward work. There is something to be worked out because of someone who is working in. The work that God has done in our hearts must be worked out from within so that it is visible in our daily lives. “Work out” was used in a couple of ways that is suggestive to what Paul is saying:
1. The believer is to experience a FULL Christian life
A miner goes into a mine and works that mine to get out all the valuable ore in the mine. The miner attempts to get the utmost value out of what was securely in his possession. As a Christian I am to mine what is already mine. I am to work the mine of salvation and enjoy all that it has available to me in Christ.
Paul wanted these Philippians believers to experience all they had in Christ Jesus. What their salvation had given them, Paul wanted them to make real in their life.
Many believers are spiritually rich but are living as spiritual paupers. They have never experienced or enjoyed all the wealth they have in the salvation.
2. The believer is to experience a FRUITFUL Christian life
The words “work out” is also used of a farmer working a field. The farmer plows the field and, cultivates the field so that it will produce the finest harvest possible.
Our life is like a field. We are to be fruitful and productive as believers.
We are chosen, commissioned, and commanded to bear fruit as believers. We are to cultivate our lives in such a way as they can be productive.
We are to work out our salvation “with fear and trembling.” It is not “with fear and trembling” lest we might lost our salvation, but lest we might use it amiss. We are not to be flippant or haphazzard with the priceless salvation we have.
III. The divine CONDITION - “He will beautify THE MEEK with salvation”
The only thing that keeps back anyone from enjoying all that God in His love is waiting, willing, and able to do, is PRIDE. Pride is a rock over which many men stumble into hell. It is better to lose your pride than to lose your soul. PRIDE IS THE DEVIL’S DRAGNET IN WHICH HE TAKES MORE FISH THAN ANY OTHER, EXCEPT PROCRASTINATION.
A. Must be humble enough to admit my need of Christ
Man will never get saved who is not humble enough to admit his need of salvation. God “resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.”
In England several years ago, a saving and loan association celebrated their 40th anniversary. Some of the directors decided it would be a good thing to give away some great prizes. They would give away these prizes by holding a beauty contest. Someone came up with the idea that since it was their 40th anniversary, let’s give the prizes only to a lady who is 4O years old. However, they ran into a problem. The ladies beautiful enough to win the contest would not admit they were 4o years old.
God has a wonderful salvation He wants to give away, but He will not give it to anybody who will not admit their need of Christ.
B. Must be humble enough to submit my will to Christ
God never burglarizes the human will. Every person must come to Christ and trust Him of their own free choice. The only thing that stands between salvation and the sinner is the sinner’s will. The only thing that stands between God’s extreme make over is the sinner’s will.
Conclusion:
A policeman once asked a crook, “Why did you steal the purse?”
The crook answered, “I was not feeling well, and I thought the change would do me good.”
There is one change that will do you good. That is the change Christ can make in your life. Come to Him, and He will make your life beautiful.
II Corinthians 5:17.
