This sermon delves into the profound words of King David in Psalms 27, emphasizing the singular desire to dwell in the presence of the Lord and behold His beauty. It challenges the audience to seek true beauty found in the enduring sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, contrasting it with the moral decay and fraudulent activities witnessed in society. The call to embrace a crucified life, reflecting the beauty of the Lord through holiness and humility, is central to the message.

Now let us turn to Psalm 27 and see some of these ecstatic words of the great King David who sang this song. Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. You know, you would have noticed in the scripture this phrase, wanting, wanting, wanting the lackest. And here we see King David who would have had quite a span of all the luxuries available, of all the wealth, all the victories in warfare. God is quite a panoramic view of all that this world can offer. And then he stops and says, but there is only one thing I want, only one thing. You know, my dear friends, we have become a people with a multitude of interests and intrusions upon our limited capacity and time. A few pastors were going with me on one occasion and the question came up before us. And someone asked me about divorce and what should follow and so on. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke very clearly about that. The enormous problems that arise out of one divorce, the diseases, the nervous tensions, the human suffering and all the rest, the cost to this country, the state, the whole thing. One divorce. Now, I was very gratified to read recently someone who said, divorce is a sin against God, against your wife, against your children, against the family, against society and against the nation. Against the nation. Yes, of course it is. The nation is going down the drain before our eyes. Children who have never seen their dads. Children with numerous surnames entering a school bus from the same house. What is this but national suicide? And you know, the voices of preachers today are so badly muted by the fear of the pew. Powerful men in the pew or their paycheck being in danger or some such consideration. What about abiding? One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after to abide in his presence, to behold his beauty. There we must ponder a while over what constitutes beauty. You know, it's all about beauty today. It's all about the people who are dressed up to kill, you know. And so even our churches can have on a Sunday morning a lot of killers looking for their kills. How shocking. You know, but beauty is a more enduring thing than something which just lasts for a few years. Let's say before the honeymoon. That's not beauty. The beauty which the Lord gives becomes more and more attractive. It's an enduring beauty. And that beauty of the Lord Jesus is reflected in you and me. Now my dear people, what is so beautiful or thrilling about having a baby born in a cow shed? Now when I, at Christmas time, when I ask people, would you like your baby to be born in a cow shed? There's not one person who puts up his hand. Of course not. But they say here we are to adore the baby born in a manger. There's nothing so attractive or beautiful about a cow shed. Now my dear friends, can you find an instrument of torture and of slow death to compare with the cross? Would you be able to stand there for a minute? Let me tell you, I couldn't. I wouldn't be able to stand. You say, oh he's the worst criminal. Have a good look at him. Oh no, notwithstanding the fact that he would be the worst criminal, I wouldn't be able to survey the cross. It's too repulsive a sight to stand before. But how did it turn into the most beautiful thing on the face of the earth? When Christopher Columbus, who had said, the heathen in distant lands must be enlightened in their ignorance. And so I will undertake this voyage. And when he found San Salvador, you know, he called it San Salvador. When the pilgrims came to our, the first settlers, the first colonists came to Jamestown. Do you know what they did? First, they planted a cross on the beach. They did not think of the King of England or plant the British flag. They planted the cross. My dear friends, the Savior upon the cross beautified the cross. One of the cruelest instruments of execution of a person. And the cross, that cross can so beautify you and beautify me with a beauty which is enduring. You know, I feel disappointed. Let me say, I feel disappointed. I expect a lot. I don't expect fickleness and fitfulness, disloyalty, unfaithfulness. I did not grow up with these qualities around me. And when I see any of these ugly qualities appearing before me, I am very disappointed because they don't come from the cross. And many of our fights or disagreements or many of these things are simply not anchored in the cross. It's only when you depart from the cross that these things get amplified. If I am a crucified person, my dear friends, do can I stand stand there on the cross, crucified, hang there and complain of some little ant crawling on me or something? That wouldn't matter one bit. I am a crucified person. You know, our brother was drawing your attention to holiness. Holiness is synonymous with the crucified life. And when you are crucified with Jesus, nothing but his beauty comes out of you. No tit for tat there. No vengefulness there. No quarter for unfaithfulness there. Simply, there's no quarter there for any of these qualities. Which surge and overflow at a time of provocation. What are you under real provocation? That is what you really are. You know, what a variety of attitudes come out, even in the face of trivial disturbances. What does that show? The beauty of the Lord is not in you. That's all it is. The crucified life is not in you. That's all it is. The cross and you are far apart. One thing have I desired. Now, what is that one thing which you and I will ask of the Lord during this time? You see, it is very sad that America has witnessed some of the most fraudulent activities, even amongst supposed Christians. It's shocking. You know, when somebody said to me, you know, it's all put on and 2020 brought out how some of these fellows came up on crutches and they walked off without their crutches and so on. They were paid, you know, we have got it all documented. When I heard that, I said, boy, can there be such crookedness? I can't believe it. I said, I have never seen such things. I've seen the real thing. But these things I never saw. And we have made a public display of our spiritual and moral bankruptcy. My dear friends, we can't point fingers at anybody else. We must humble ourselves for the sins of the church and the revelations which came. You know, I was reading the local newspaper in South Bend, where you have Notre Dame University. And when AIDS appeared on the scene and it was a startling thing, you know, nobody knew what this new disease was. This loss of all immunity to sicknesses and infections. Nobody knew it was so shocking and startling. And some reporter went up to the seminary there and the seminarians said, this is nothing new amongst us. Cover up? Nothing new. We've known this for a long time. What do you mean? My dear people, we have done almost everything to disfigure the gospel. To discredit the gospel. And we need, can we rise to the level of Nehemiah and Daniel, who can say, we have sinned. Both I and my fathers have sinned. We ought to be able to rise to that level of prayer. If we are really interested in lifting up the nation, you and I should be able to identify when Christ our Lord identified himself with our utmost vileness. Can't I identify myself with the sin of my neighbor? Certainly. Because he's not so far different from me. My dear people, it's a fact. And I often tell the Lord, I am a spiritual dwarf. We need to rise higher to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire, to learn at his feet, learn at his feet. May the Lord help us all. Let us pray. Oh Lord, forgive our ways, which seem to have no focus at all. Just running after this kind of thing and that kind of thing. And that's out of order. This is out of order. Only reacting, never preempting. Save us Lord. Make us more prophetic, because surely you want to warn us there is danger around the corner. But alas, oh Lord, how little we pay heed to your warning voice. Let the beauty of the Lord God be upon us, we beg you. Let this abiding beauty be etched and imprinted indelibly upon us. This crucified life, oh, teach us to abide in the blessing of it. In Jesus' holy name, amen.