Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the importance of praising God regardless of our feelings, drawing from the example of Jesus who, despite feeling forsaken and distressed, chose to declare God's name and faithfulness. He encourages believers to not let their emotional struggles hinder their worship and to understand that spiritual maturity involves a commitment to God's will despite personal turmoil. The sermon challenges the congregation to reflect on what truly attracts them to Christ, warning against superficial motivations that focus on personal gain rather than the sacrificial love of Jesus. Ultimately, Beach calls for a deeper understanding of Christ's sacrifice and a genuine desire to follow Him for who He is, rather than for what He can provide.

In spite of the fact that he felt like God forsook him, and the fact that he was in a spiritual warfare, and the fact that inside he was feeling like he was poured out like water, he was empty on the inside, he was so distressed, but yet in verse number 22, it says, I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation, will I praise thee. So you see what the Lord Jesus did was even though he was in touch with how he felt, and even though he was capable of articulating by the Holy Spirit very, very powerful words describing the turmoil that he went through, yet those feelings, and this is where you and I need to be very, very, very careful that we pray that God give us understanding, even though he had those feelings, those feelings did not affect his decision to praise God. In spite of how I feel, I will praise thy name, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, I will speak of thy faithfulness, I will declare thy righteousness, I will praise you in spite of how I feel. Now let me ask you a question this morning. How do you feel? What are you going through? What difficulties are compassing you this morning? God's word to you, beloved, God's word to you this morning is this, praise me anyway, worship me anyway. Don't let your feelings affect your decision and your will to worship God. Don't let what you're going through affect the testimony of your lips. And as you are enabled by God to learn this price... Is someone back there? Norman, are you back there? He's back there smiling, I see him. He doesn't want to admit it. I'm sorry about that, but it's something that happens with these kind of things. Alright, sounds like we're back to normal. It's a little loud, Norman. Just put it down a little bit. Thank you, that's good. Alright, as we were saying, there's an important lesson here this morning. Spiritual maturity is characterized through a continual commitment by the strength of God's spirit to the will of God and to do the will of God, listen, in spite of how we feel. All the problems that are going on, for the most part, in our lives as families, husband, wife, children, and in the church, stem from the believer going into seasons of emotional distraught, going into seasons where our feelings are raging. Listen here, that's not where the problem is because Jesus himself went through that. The problem is when we allow these things to affect our will. We allow these things to cause us to go into hiding, and we refuse to praise the Lord. So this morning, I believe, as we continue to worship God, if you would, by faith, reach out and worship the Lord your God, in spite of how you feel, based on who he is, based on his faithfulness, God will bring you into a new walk with him, a lovely, liberating experience with him where you can learn that you don't have to be bound to what you're going through. You don't have to deny it. You don't have to pretend it's not there. And it's not that you won't experience pain, but don't let it affect your decision to praise God, even as Jesus taught us. So Father, I pray this morning that you will help us see this wonderful truth, and that you will liberate us, Lord, from being caught in the things that we're going through. And you would show us, Lord, that you are sovereign God sitting upon the throne. And even though my soul within me is crying out in despair, and my mind doesn't understand what's happening, and I feel forsaken, I feel hurt, I feel wounded, even though all of that is happening, Lord, I will praise you. I will lift up my voice to you and sing praises to you, not based on how I feel, but based on the Word of God. And I know, Lord, as I do this by faith, you promise to meet me and to bring me into a revelation of thyself. So I do it, Lord, in Jesus' name. Hallelujah. Let's sing and worship Him now with all of your heart in spite of how you feel today. He bore a pain and a weight that no man has ever known, nor shall any man know. In 2 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, For he, that is God, hath made him, that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, sin. Now let's just stop there and think of it for a few moments. For he, God, hath made him, the Lord Jesus Christ, sin. Now if we turn to Isaiah chapter 53, we see that the prophet Isaiah prophetically spoke about this very truth. Beginning in verse number 1, Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who hath believed our report? There's so much unbelief in the world today. There's so much doubt and skepticism in the world today. There is so much disputing. There is so much activity in the world today that reflects what went on at Morris Hills. Remember Morris Hills when they came and debated and each man had his own philosophy? But God's Word says this morning, the Spirit prophetically speaks this morning and says, Who hath believed our report? Our report. The report here is referring to the testimony that has been declared through the Holy Spirit in many vessels in the Old Testament and then finally all captured and gathered up in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who hath believed that report? What report are you believing this morning? There's many different things that we believe. There's many different things that we preoccupy our minds with. But the Spirit of the Lord and the Word of God this morning are saying, Who hath believed our report? There is a report this morning. There is a testimony this morning. There is a message this morning that is worthy of our belief. It is worthy of our consideration. It is worthy to be pondered and considered and wholeheartedly believed this morning. For He, God, hath made Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, sin for us. Isaiah chapter 53. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. There's nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ that is appealing to our natural senses. This is why it is such a tragic thing in Christianity today to be taking the heavenliness of the Lord Jesus Christ and the beloved message of the fact that Christ's soul was made a sin offering for us and to take that spiritual message. The message doesn't appeal to the natural senses of man. There's nothing in that message that entices the human nature, the fleshly nature, the eyes of man, the ears of man. There's nothing in that message. So what is happening today is through the overtime work of lying and deceiving spirits. There is a message being brought into Christianity today that is seeking to entice men, seeking to interest men, seeking to attract men, but it's not on the basis of the fact that Christ has become a sin offering. It's on the basis of something else. It's on the basis of appealing to the human nature, come to God so that you can get what you want, or come to God so that you can be happy, or come to God and God will work out all of your problems. Come to God and He'll give you nice things. Come to God and you'll be cool. Come to God and you'll fit into the status quo of being a Christian. Come to God. And there is an appeal being made. There is an attraction that is arising in Christianity that is indeed attracting people. But I would question this morning what it is that's attracting people. What is it that is enticing people today? What is it? What is enticing you today? What has got a hold of you today? What has got your interest today? What rapport are you meditating upon day and night? What thoughts have gripped your mind and your heart today? For He hath made Him sin for us. He hath no form nor comeliness. And when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid as it were our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. For He hath made Him sin who knew no sin. And He hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted. Yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death. Because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. Again, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. For by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great and He shall divide the spoil with the strong. Because He hath poured out His soul unto death and He was numbered with the transgressors and He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse number 24. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse number 24. Beginning in verse number 21. For even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow His steps. Who did no sin neither was guile found in His mouth. Hallelujah to God. Christ committed no sin neither was guile found in His mouth. What a blessed Savior. What a blessed living God. Who when He was reviled, reproached, mocked, lied against, slandered, forsaken, betrayed. You can use all of these words in addition to this here. Who when He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered He threatened not but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously. Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed. Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. There is no attraction. There is no comeliness. There is nothing in Him that we should have desired Him because apart from the grace of God we're always looking at something to see what's in it for us in a selfish way. Apart from God's grace working in our life no matter what we look at we always perceive it in the fashion of how it could benefit us. How it can exalt us. How it can put our names in neon lights. How it can make us great. How it can make us wonderful. How it can do something to prosper the plans of my own heart. But when you look at Jesus Christ and you see the Lamb of God you don't see anything in Him that promises us that He's going to exalt us or prosper our own plans or somehow be an advantage to our own sinful desires. Therefore, therefore, the testimony about Jesus Christ is this. He hath no form nor comeliness. Oh my God, He hath no form or comeliness to the man that looks at Him with eyes that are blind. He hath no form or comeliness to anyone that looks at Him with scales on their eyes. Because to the natural man when they see the Son of God they don't see a winner, they see a loser. When the eyes of natural man look upon the Son of God they don't see a conqueror they see a defeated one. They don't see a rich man they see a man that is stricken with poverty. They don't see a wise man they see a foolish man. Beloved, what are you after this morning? What are you looking for when you come to God? What are you looking for when you see the Lord Jesus Christ? What is the attraction of your heart today? And when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him. There is no beauty in the Lord Jesus Christ that would measure up to the standard of the 1990s. The Lord Jesus Christ wouldn't look too good on Self Magazine today. He wouldn't look too good in the latest publication of the famous magazines today. I can't think of any of them off mind because I don't read them. But I know that when I go into a bookstore there's a host of magazines and there's always a good looking guy or a good looking girl that's on the cover. But when we look at Jesus we don't see a man that looks good according to the standards of the time. We don't see a man who's got a perfect haircut. We don't see a man who's got a perfect beard trimmed. We don't see a man who's got the hottest fashions of the day. We don't see a man walking around with a chip on his shoulder. You know, going with the song of the age. You know, walking in step. Hey man, what's up dude? You know, what's happening? We don't see that in Jesus. We don't see a man that is beautified by the spirit of the world. But I fear and I tremble when I see that there is an interest within Christianity to find a Christ like that. They're looking for God to somehow conform and somehow make Christ up to the standard of the age. And it's dreadful. Never forget the testimony, beloved, of the Scriptures. When we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Beloved, may I encourage you this morning to carefully consider the attraction of Christ has to be based upon an awakening in our spirits regarding the fact that Christ has become sin for us and thereby is the only way that we can be rescued from eternal damnation and the only way that we can live godly in this present evil ungodly world. When the attraction of Jesus Christ when you look at Jesus and look at His word and consider what Christianity really is and it is no longer the essential fact that Christ became an offering for sin and thereby is my personal atoning sacrifice and has brought me to God through His blood and now has delivered me from the spiritual bankruptcy of my sin and my flesh and now He is enticing me He is keeping me and He is causing interest in me to grow that I might become like Him. If that is not the passion of our heart then may I warn you in the love of Jesus Christ that you are being seduced by the spirit of this world and that the Holy Christ is now no longer an attraction to you because of what He truly stands for but you are attracted to Him for a wrong reason and you will be disappointed. You will be disappointed if you are after Him for a reason other than for this purpose was the Son of God made manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil in your life and in my life. I am after Christ because Christ is God's Son Christ has received God's ultimate pleasure and Christ is the only liaison between me and God and that now that I am a Christian now that I am a Christian Christ is my life. He is not just a past Savior that I look to in the past thank God He saved me back then He is a present Savior He is keeping me He is saving me now from the corruption of the world He is delivering me now from the defiling desires within my flesh He is not only a past Savior who died for my sins at Calvary but I must know Him today because He is a living Christ He must be my life today He must be my sustenance today He must be the food that my soul feasts upon today He must be the subject and object of my meditation today He must be the passion of my heart tomorrow He must be my hope for tomorrow He must be everything Christ Jesus must be my all and all When we begin to follow after Him and it's not really because we realize that oh God I want to be like Him but we start following after Him because we see Him as a genie in heaven who is going to give us what we want what we want we become self-deceived Turn your Bibles to Revelation please Revelation chapter 3 verse number 14 Revelation chapter 3 verse number 14 I would like to submit to you that the reason why the church in Laodicea received such a scathing rebuke from the Lord Jesus Christ is because they in fact forgot that the attraction that Christ ought to bring to the soul is not one where there is a promise that I will succeed in the prosperity of my own plans and my own dreams and that Christ is not a genie in heaven there to just give me what I want They failed to understand that Christ's purpose in being the head of the church is to bring the church to an end that He might be all in all and they failed to see this and became seduced that is Christ became attractive to them The Bible says there is no attraction to Christ from a natural point of view Christ doesn't offer anything to you in your sinful life but certain death and judgment Christ stands before God and before the church as the end of my life the end of my way the end of my sinful passions the end of my vain imaginations the end of my arrogance and pride when I see Christ the Holy Son of God I see a kind of life I see a kind of righteousness I see a kind of character that God is well pleased with and I see that's the only kind of character that I have Now watch what happens when Christ begins to appeal to us and it's not based on the appeal that comes to a soul that's awakened and realizes that Christ is my sacrifice for sin Christ is my life and now I must die I must die and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceus write These things saith the Amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the creation of God I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot I would thou wert cold or hot So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot I will spew thee out of my mouth Notice the confession of this church Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing That sounds to me like the very testimony of the world That sounds to me like it's the desire of every single human being who has not tasted of the grace of God They want to be rich They want to be increased with goods and they want to be in need of nothing So they called themselves Christians They were in a church Jesus addresses a church in Laodicea They called themselves Christians They named the name of the Lord But they had this confession I am rich, increased with goods and in need with nothing So there must have been some kind of a transition that occurred where the attraction of Christ was no longer based on the fact that he was God's perfect righteousness and therefore I must renounce my own self-righteousness I must renounce my own self-will I must renounce my own self-sinful desires and I must go after him that what he is in character might be reproduced in my life Somehow that kind of an attraction was supplanted and replaced with I am attracted to Christ because he is going to make me rich He is going to prosper me He is going to give me what I want and it is no longer the believer looking at Christ and seeing he is a sign to me that I have died to my old self and now I see in him the kind of life that God wants me to have and it somehow turns from that and we start following after Jesus because we think he is going to bless us in our endeavors rather than enable us to lay our lives down and die Christ is calling us to die that we might live his life Christ is calling us to forsake all that we might be wholly preoccupied with the passion of his will and thou knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see as many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent again beloved may I ask the question this morning what is your attraction I'm afraid that many times people are going around looking for church and what they're looking for is how crafty are these believers how wise are they how skilled are they how much talent is there what kind of lofty plans do they have what kind of lofty programs do they have what is attracting the Christian today is it a vision of the crucified Christ who poured out his soul as a sin offering is that the test that Christians are using nowadays in order to determine what is good and wholesome and health giving gospel preaching or is it the wisdom of men the craftiness of the preacher the amount of money the church has how contemporary we are beloved when it's those things that are attracting our heart we are being seduced I say we're being seduced those things begin to take the place and the foremost importance within our hearts and lives and we forget that Christianity is not about those things Christianity is not essentially about those things Christianity is about men and women who have been enlightened by the grace of God and who have seen that they are lost sinners deserving of eternal separation and they behold the Lamb of God and they see that Christ was made a sin offering for them and they pour contempt upon their pride and they cry out and say God have mercy on me a sinner that's what the gospel is all about that's what Christianity is all about men and women who have been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and are walking in the kingdom of God's dear Son men and women who do not boast of their wisdom men and women who do not boast of their accomplishments but men and women who boast in God alone who claim the righteousness of Christ as their hope and their life oh yes struggles difficulties heartaches and sorrows yes but our attraction is the fact that God's dear Son God is the lover of our soul and we love Him and the most important thing in our life is to know and do and finish God's will John chapter 4 John chapter 4 you remember this story where Jesus had been talking to the woman at the well and had indicated to her that if she knew the gift of God and who it is that said to her give me a drink she would have asked of Him and He would have given to her living water and then she ran to Samaria and told all the village citizens there to come and see a man who told me everything I've ever done and that brings us to verse number 30 of John chapter 4 then they went out of the city and came unto Him in the meanwhile His disciples prayed Him saying Master eat oh if they had only known Master eat Master eat what did Jesus say but Jesus said to them I have meat to eat that you know not of Jesus was eating a meat that they had no idea of they had no clue and of course because they hadn't understood what it meant to follow Jesus Christ at this stage of the game yet immediately their minds went to the natural carnal way of thinking and they said in verse 33 therefore said the disciples one to another hath any man brought him anything to eat did somebody beat us to the punch does this guy have other disciples other than us who's helping him out and Jesus said unto them my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work have you come to know this meat yet beloved you who call yourself Christian you who claim His name have you discovered this meat that Jesus feasted upon that His disciples at this time had no clue of I assure you beloved every one of these disciples eventually found out what this meat was and they feasted upon it and you know where it led them it led them to a martyr's crown every one of them except John this is what Josephus tells us in history we don't know what happened to John but we know that history can trace every one of the apostles they were martyred they were crucified they were killed they discovered this meat and what this meat was to them was God it is Your will it is Your Christ it is Your Son living His life through me it is me accepting the death that was brought to me when Christ was crucified on the cross when Jesus was crucified He was there crucified not because He committed any sin He was crucified because He was a substitute for you He was not only a substitute He was the representative man He was representing you there on the cross He was crucifying you Paul said in Galatians 2.20 I am what? Crucified with Christ in Romans chapter 6 He said that He was buried with Christ He died with Christ and He rose again with Christ so that when He rose again with Christ He keeps in the waters of death that which is not of God when you go down into the waters of death it's a sign that you have gone under water you've gone into judgment everything in you in your flesh in your sinful nature is reckoned by God is crucified buried and dead and you are no longer to associate with it anymore because you are now raised from the dead and you are united to Christ the answer to your struggles is not fighting with sin it's not fighting with the flesh no! it is simply becoming preoccupied with Christ as I live in Christ what does the word say? He that abides in Him what? does not continue in sin He that abideth in Him does not sin it doesn't say He that fights against sin in the flesh and wrestles with it doesn't sin it says He that abides in Him does not continue in sin it's Christ He is our life He is our righteousness so this meat that Jesus was feasting upon was a heart that was wholly committed to His Father look what He says in John 5.19 verily, verily, I say unto you the Son can do nothing of Himself the Son of God said He could do nothing of Himself the Son of God had absolutely no confidence in Himself the Son of God had absolutely no confidence in doing anything apart from being strengthened and enabled by His Father in Heaven that's the meat that Jesus feasted upon He lived by the Father He prayed the Bible says that many times Jesus would be up late at night the sun would have been set and multitudes would come and He would minister to them and heal them and then you know what the very next verse says and early the next morning before day He arose and prayed that means He went to bed late and He got up early why? because the Son can do nothing of Himself but was in absolute dependence upon the Father to give Him all that He needed every day of His life but when Jesus spoke these words to His disciples He was speaking to a Peter who said what? O Lord, though all forsake you, I won't a man inflated with self-confidence a man inflated with ego a man infatuated with the powers of his own abilities you know what happens to such men and women? they fail this Christian life is not accomplished through the strength and might and tenacity of human power it is accomplished through souls who are weakened and recognize they have nothing and depend moment by moment upon the power that comes from the living God working in them through the Holy Spirit and the power of the Word of God that's living in their heart that is the strength that the church needs to plug into what's going to happen to you and I when we really, really, truly come before God and say Lord I don't want Christ to have an attraction to me unless this attraction is based upon the truth of who He is and what He's come to do if Christ doesn't attract me because I see in Him a life free from sin and I can escape from sin and wickedness if I see something other than that when I see Jesus, I am being seduced I'm being attracted inordinately to Him He didn't come to do anything other than that but to place a people in this world who would be what? different, peculiar set apart, enclosing let's turn our Bibles to James James, chapter 1 knowing this that the trying of your faith works patience but let patience have her perfect work that you may be perfect and entire wanting nothing if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that gives to all men liberally and abradeth not and it shall be given him but let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord a double minded or another translation is double desired double desired a double minded man is unstable unsteady, unsettled in all his ways let the brother of low decree rejoice in that he is exalted but the rich in that he is made low because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away for the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat but it withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways blessed is the man that endures temptation brothers and sisters in verse 2 it said count it all joy when you fall into many temptations now it's saying blessed are you if you endure temptation it's not good enough to find yourself in testing the blessing is pronounced not upon that man but upon the man who endures temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him beloved remember the word of God this morning Christ our savior was made a sin offering for us, he was made sin God's purpose in sending the son of God was to bear your iniquities and my iniquities that we might escape the tyranny of sin self and the devil and be sons and daughters of the living God ever manifesting the divine attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ all of his lovely character is what we are to be manifesting when the attraction of Christianity is no longer Christ and becoming like him and dying out to everything that we are that's not pleasing to God and we see Christ in a worldly way and we're attracted and we name the name of Christ in our Christianity in our church there's attractions there that are interesting us that are not really bringing us to that end of dying to self then beloved let us take heed lest we be deceived lest we find ourselves in the same situation that the Laodiceans were in blind, miserable, naked and poor and not even knowing it may God give us a fresh revelation of the son of God this morning and create in us a hunger and a longing to know him so that we can feast upon the meat that we can be so desirous to know his will and do his will and that our lives will be characterized by prayerful lives that search the scriptures that we might know and do and finish the will of God in our lives may God grant it to each and every one of us let's bow our hearts and pray thank you Father for the word thank you for the Holy Spirit I pray Lord that you would by your word and by your Holy Spirit deliver every one of us from anything that has got our attention that's attracting us that is not leading us to the son of God where in reverence and humility we bow down fall before him and cry out saying Lord not my will but thy will be done Lord if there's anything influencing our lives that's not making us weak so that we can trust in God but strengthening us in our own sinful selves I pray Lord in the name of Jesus that that power would be broken that every one of us would rediscover the true attraction of the cross an instrument of death an instrument of escape from all that we are in our sinful lives so that we can come into all that Christ is in his heavenly nature Lord may this be that which attracts multitudes of people who will gather under Jesus Christ and be changed I'm asking this Father for your honor and glory through your Son Amen Can we just sing that one chorus? Lord you are more precious than silver you don't have to play it on the piano you can just start it out and let's sing it from our hearts and may it be true Lord you are more precious than anything