Good morning. Welcome to our vignette today. It is entitled, Don't Judge a Book by its Cover. This little idiom means that the outward appearances are they're just not a reliable, we could say, an indication of the true character of someone or something. simply looking at someone and judging their worth or their value by their appearance it's just not the thing to do and so today I want to take this little idiom and I want to apply it to four well-known persons from the scripture and the very first person you will know very well and it's Moses now just think about our title don't judge a book by its cover and now think of Moses now we first meet Moses in Exodus chapter 2 and he's a three month old three maybe going on four month old baby he's lying in a basket he's floating on the Nile River Now, if we were to judge this book, this little tiny creature's book, judging like a book, judging a book by its cover, this little tiny creature, we would say, well, what value does he have? He brings nothing to the table. He's not a giver. He's a taker. He can't contribute anything at all. But oh, you just wait until the pages in his book there will be written he will be written as one of the greatest of servants of the living god don't judge a book by its cover the next let's think of david now david uh had seven big handsome brothers turn with me to first samuel chapter 16 and we're going to look at chapter verse one You recall that Jesse, David has a long history. He was the great, great grandson. I may need one more great of Ruth. David's family was from Ruth. and Boaz. And here we find David as a boy, but he's got seven gigantic, handsomely, uh, big brothers. And God has sent Samuel the prophet Samuel to Jesse's house. And he says in verse one of chapter 16, first Samuel. Now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul since I've rejected him from being King over Israel? fill your horn with oil and go i will send you to jesse the bethlehemite for i listen to this for i have selected a king for myself among his sons isn't that incredible a king from i have selected a king for myself among his sons and so samuel puts his hush puppies on and off he takes he goes to jesse's house and he tells them, I want to see your boys. And guess what? They're verse six. Then it came about when they entered that he looked at, uh, uh, Elib and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at his appearance. or the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For God sees, not as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord, the ever-existing One, the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital R, D. that's Yahweh, that's the ever-existing one, looks at the heart. And so right away, we see that something's different about the Lord. He's not like us. We're not like him. We look at the outward. We judge the book by the cover. He does not. He sees the heart. And so each of Jesse's sons passes in front of Samuel The Lord keeps saying, nope, nope, nope, not that one, not that one. And look at verse 10. Thus made seven of his, Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel says to Jesse, are these all your, the children? And so Jesse answers, there remains yet the youngest and behold, he's tending the sheep. He's really of no account. He's just a kid. He's just a boy. He's out there, you know, watching over the sheep. I didn't even think about him. But look what Samuel says. Uh-uh. We're not going to sit down until he comes. verse 12 and so he sent and brought him in now he was ready with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance and the Lord said arise anoint him for this is he this is he that he wasn't he wasn't like his brothers his dad said oh yeah yeah yeah yeah there's a youngest but he's out there with the sheep um but just think Verse one, the Lord said, I have selected a king for myself. He's the one, David is the one. David is a big deal in scripture, big deal. But here he's just a boy. But yet God's choice of him. See, God sees what we do not see. God does not judge the book by the cover. And God is going to mark this man out, this David. for greatness and the most exhausted, exhaustive, magnificent privilege. Because in the pages of where David's name is mentioned, there will be written the name that is above all names. And it will be David's greater son. the Lord Jesus Christ he is the Messiah yes he is our Savior but he is also the King and this one will rule on David's throne in his person in Jerusalem literally for 1,000 years and that's the kingdom reign of Christ and we're all waiting for that event and it's going to turn out just exactly as the Bible says because God had it written it's his decree But if people looked at David's book by a cover, they wouldn't see this. But God doesn't look at the cover. He looks at the heart. Even in Revelation, Jesus says of himself, oh, by the way, he's called the root of Jesse. He's called the root of Jesse in chapter five of, um, or the root of David, not Jesse, sorry. In chapter 5, let me get over here. My Bible's falling apart. Chapter 5, verse 5, he is the lion. Stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome. So he will open the book with the seven seals, bringing on the tribulation. But he's called the root of David. And also, Jesus says of himself, in Revelation 22, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things to the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright and morning star. So David had the highest, exalted, greatest privilege, magnificent privilege, to have the Lord Jesus Christ as his descendant, as his greater son. The next I want to talk about is the Apostle Paul. And this is very interesting because Paul, the Apostle Paul, had a pedigree that was impeccable. And you'll find that in Philippians chapter 3, verses 4 and 6. Just an impeccable, impeccable pedigree. And he came to know the Lord in the most dramatic way, dramatic fashion. You remember in his his life totally he went totally in the opposite way after meeting Christ on the Damascus Road in Acts chapter 9 and really that's what repentance is is that you're going this way and you repent and you're going the opposite way from which you always walk from which way you always went and that's exactly what the Apostle Paul did but it's interesting to know what the Corinthians how they viewed Paul Let's look and see what the Corinthians, they were judging that book by the cover. In 2 Corinthians 10, verse 10, it reads like this. He says, for they say, the Corinthians, quote, his letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible. Can you believe they're saying this of the Apostle Paul? Now see, they're judging the book by the cover. look at what it says his personal his letters boy he can write letters there his letters are weighty and strong but his personal presence is unimpressive we're not impressed and his speech is contemptible my goodness my goodness He, judging the book by the cover with Paul, it was incredibly short-sighted and terribly judgmental. They said he's unskilled in speech and that his appearance is unimpressive. Oh my goodness, judging the book by the cover. That's what they said about the Apostle Paul. and he wasn't and he admits that he was not a profound speaking orator that wasn't his deal but he was a teacher a gifted teacher gifted by God teacher and he taught clearly and simply as possible and though he was an intellect he was a super duper profound thinker he was an intellect but he put the spiritual goodies from scripture on the lower shelf so that that people could read and Have read to them and to be able to study and to understand Understand God's Word He did that Paul did that we can read it. We can study it and by the illumination of the Holy Spirit who dwells in every believer and The Holy Spirit will illuminate for us. And then we have been given human teachers and books, but those are not our authority. The Bible is our authority. And we do not need to just sit around and listen to people, pastors, preachers, evangelists, Bible teachers, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. that's wonderful and God's given to us but make sure who you listen to make sure make sure and the only way you can make sure that what you're listening to is right and accurate is if you know scripture if you do not read your Bible personally and and make it a habit it like brushing your teeth you can be led astray, because deception is out there. And so I beg you, I plead with you, if you're not reading your Bible every single day, if you don't have a commentary sitting beside you with your Bible, if you're not praying, Lord, show me today what I need to learn from your Word, because it's inspired. It's the inspired Word. It's God-breathed. And it's the most incredible journey. If you haven't started it, or if you're in this journey of reading God's Word, It's an incredible journey, incredible, irreplaceable journey. And so Paul put the goodies, he was a gifted preacher, gifted teacher, and a teacher teaches, a preacher proclaims. Very interesting, the difference. So he puts the goodies, the spiritual goodies of scripture on the lower shelf so we all can read and we can all study and we can understand. by the illumination of the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. And you know, Paul wrote 13 books of our inspired, inerrant, authoritative scripture. God breathed, well, so much for judging the book by its cover, huh? And the last but not least, I want us to think about the Lord Jesus Christ. And most everyone that saw him judged him wrong wrongly I want us to turn to Isaiah chapter 53 and Isaiah 53 was written 700 years before Christ was born and yet this is about the Messiah he would be the suffering servant Don't judge a book by its cover, and here are some profound verses that would fit our class today. Isaiah 53, verse, let's just look at one so we'll have a context. Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? And we're going to verse two. For he, Jesus, Messiah, grew up before him God the Father like a tender shoot like a root out of parched ground remember we just read he's the root of just of David he's the root we just read that didn't we yes we did like a root out of a parched ground look at this now he has no stately form our majesty that we should look upon him nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. So if you judge the book by the cover, which is what we're talking about today, and if we are hung up on outward appearances, we would not choose Jesus. We would not have anything to do with him because he was not a Hollywood, beautiful person, a people person like that. He was not. This tells us that he was not. He had no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. Because you see, his true intrinsic beauty was hidden from people. He had intrinsic beauty. He's beautiful. He was gorgeous. He was exceptional, but it was hidden from people. Because God does not look on the outward. God does not want us attracted to his son because he's a handsome man. God wants us attracted. to His Son, because He is very God, very man, who died not for His sins, but for ours. His intrinsic beauty, for those who know Christ as our Savior, is not hidden from us. We see His beauty, His glory. Outward appearance is irrelevant to God in His choosing and in His decrees. So judging a book by its cover is a rather foolish thing to do, don't you think? I'm wondering if you and I are not guilty of this very thing. This is Lacey Couch. It's been from my heart to yours.