Older was Leah, the younger Rachel. Leah's eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of form and faith. Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter, Rachel. And Laban said, it is better that I give her to you than I should give her to another man, stay with me. So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him, but a few days because of his love for her. And it's perfect for Valentine's Week. Let's pick this out just for us. Then Jacob said to Laban, give me my life. My time is completed, that I may go into her and Laban gathered all the men of the place and made a feast. Now it came about in the evening that he took his daughter, Leah, and brought her to him and Jacob went into her. Laban also gave his maid, Zilpa, to his daughter, Leah, as a maid. So it came about in the morning that behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, what is this you've done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why then have you deceived me? Laban said, it is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the first born. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also for the service, which you shall serve with me for another seven years. And Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter, Rachel, as is why. Laban also gave his maid, Zilpa, to his daughter, Rachel, as her maid. So Jacob went into Rachel also, and indeed, he loved Rachel more than Leah. And he served with Laban for another seven years. Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. And Leah conceived and bore a son, and named him Rubin, for she said, the Lord has seen my affliction. Surely now my husband will love me. Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, because the Lord has heard that I am unloved. He has therefore given their son also. She named him Simeon. She conceived again and bore a son, and said, now this time my husband will become attached to me. I have borne him three sons. Therefore he was named Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, this time I will praise the Lord. Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing. And may God bless this again, fascinating tale from his holy word. You may be seated. Is the question we're going to ask tonight is, is God at work in your life? Is God at work in your life? Sometimes you've asked people that question, when have you sensed God at work in your life? The answers will go something like this. When I was protected from that horrible accident that was just about to take place, and almost miraculously, I was spared from life-changing injury. Then I sensed that God was at work in my life. Or our house had been on the market for months and months and months, and it was coming right down to it, and we were running, and we had to move, and somebody showed up, and it was the first house they visited, and they were looking for, and it all came together, and that's when I knew that God was at work in my life. It's some provision of a job or a college application is well received. We have some idea, that's when God is at work in our life, or David Edwards. David Edwards had been laid off, he's worked from a technology firm, he needed back surgery, had no health insurance, in fact his unemployment benefits. We're right on the brink of running out, and so he went and bought a power ball lottery ticket on the very Saturday that his ex-wife was getting remarried, and he won $73.7 million. He says here in the newspaper, I asked the Lord to help me out and give me a hand. I didn't think that hand would have $74 million in it. He said, me and the Lord are on pretty good terms today. Say, he'd say, today, I know that God is at work in my life. When God opened some new door and made some grand provision, some prayers answered, we have this sense, yes, God's active, in my life, in my world. Well, that's really not what the Bible says. In fact, I'd even go so far as to suggest that sometimes when some of the best and easiest moments happen in our life, that may not be the healthiest thing for us at all. Sometimes, ease of life is evidence that God has withdrawn his presence from your life. The Bible suggests that God is always at work, and he is often particularly at work in difficulty and in hardship. It wasn't very long ago that this church faced the
immorality of one of our staff members, and there were even some who would whisper and say, well, you know, this is terrible. Well, immorality is terrible, but I want to say something. God was at work. September 11th came, and we couldn't get a better picture of that, which was terrible, horrible, evil, devilish, but it's not God at work in America and in our world, even through that kind of world-changing horror and tragedy. The last Saturday evening, about this time, Joel Satterley's little brother, an Air Force pilot, for only about five months, crashed, plain-crashed, in South Dakota. So, when your 28-year-old brother dies, suddenly leaving a wife and two toddlers, and this is as horrible as life gets, and yet God's people know that in the worst days of our life, that God is at work. Is your understanding of God's working, such that when others despair over adversity, when others cry out, where is God in this? That you sense, even through your tears, that God is at work. I love the story of Ned and Jed. You know, Ned and Jed were a little thing in the paper about wolves. If you can capture wolves alive, they'd give you $5,000. Well, I knew the mountains out west were full of them, so they went to Walmart, they got to tent, they got some traps, they got some bait, they got their food in there, they're Coleman stuff, and everything, and they went out to the woods to get rich. You know, make their fortune, and they walked around through the forest for a month. They didn't hear a wolf, they didn't see a wolf, they didn't smell a wolf. I mean, they're sleeping on the ground, they've run out of all their supplies, they've run out of water, they've run out of everything, they go to sleep one night and they're laying there, and all of a sudden Ned wakes up, and he reaches over and he shoves Jed and his friend, and he says, Jed, I mean, when Ned woke up, there's 40 pairs of little yellow eyes, staring right down on the bare teeth, and they can, you know, feel the hot breath, and he leans over and he wakes up, his friend, Jed, Jed, wake up, we're rich. Perhaps that's,
perhaps that's night of optimism, but there's something about adversity that people who know their father, their heavenly father well, in the midst of it, they say, you know, this is one of the worst days of my life, but we are loved. We are well-loved, we are in the care of one who is always at work. I love John, chapter 5, I think it's verse 17, Jesus is being assailed by the religious leaders for working, or his disciples working on the Sabbath day, and you know what Jesus says to them? He said, my father is working until now and I myself am working. So while you're sitting in church tonight, what do you think your father's doing? Is it work? And when you sleep tonight, what do you think your father's doing? He is at work. He is always at work. And what I want to suggest when we read Genesis chapter 29 is that God's people ought to be filled with a sense of wonder and amazement at their God who is taking all the events of life and using them to accomplish his purposes. He is always at work, but his work will not be in the ways that you expected. He will surprise you again and again. So take your sermon outline. The first thing we'll say is this, is that God is at work through the least expected means. If there's anybody we would not just run to expect to be an instrument of God, this is what we're going to say immediately in Genesis chapter 29, yes God is at work, but the means that he will use. Well, what a fascinating story. Jacob, the Schema has pulled it off, hadn't he? He's stolen away with the with the birthright and the blessing. He's gotten away from he saw. He's gone a long way from home to Aram to his mother's family. And there he's in scourged with with Laban. He's there to find a bride for his future only to discover that Laban has two daughters. Now, what does the Bible tell us about these two girls? Rachel is fair. The Bible says, Rachel is beautiful of form and face. Now like I say, Rachel is a babe, but the fact is at this point, she's just a girl probably. She may just be 10, 11, 12 years old, but it's obvious that Rachel is going to be a beauty. Rachel stands out attractive. Now, Rachel has a sister named Leah. What does verse 17 of chapter 29 say about Leah? It says, Leah's eyes were weak. What does that mean? Do you want to know the truth? Nobody knows the truth. It's some sort of idiom from that day, but we get to give some picture of the girl with a coke bottle glasses. And it's clear by the contrast that Leah is plain and Leah is homely and let's just say they're not lining up to take a number to be a part of Leah's future or the guy. So here Jacob, the Bible tells us falls in love with Rachel. And we see God begin to work in Jacob's life. First by Laban, not offering him. This is no free room and board. Laban treats Jacob as a servant. And this would have been pretty shocking. There's some idea that he's probably not worked very hard his whole life. He was the son of the patriarch Isaac. But a far away from home, they really don't care very much. And Laban says, if you're going to be in my house, then you're going to get to work. And he discovers that Jacob is a very successful shepherd. So Laban wants labor from Jacob. And Jacob wants something that Laban has. He wants Rachel. And so a deal is struck. Seven years of labor. And he'll get Rachel's hand in marriage. And the Bible tells it, now you might say that's a hefty price for any woman. And it seems to have been a significant price to pay. And yet what do we read in verse 20? Jacob served those seven years and they seemed to him a few days. Just a few days because of his love for her, what a tender expression. He is not going to be outbid for Rachel. Nothing is going to keep him from a lifetime with Rachel. So the seven years passes, Laban never brings up apparently the arrangement. Finally, Jacob has to go and say, there's something you owe me. And the wedding feast is set. The day for the nuptials has arrived. And there's all the men are gathered and there's feasting and there's partying. And you can imagine there's a lot of wine flowing. And it gets after dark. And as was the custom, the father would bring the young girl to the tent of the groom. And yet in this case, we read that Laban does what? He takes Leah, the older sister. No doubt he dresses her in Rachel's clothes. He puts Rachel's scent, Rachel's perfume on Leah. She's veiled. It's the dark of the night. There's been a lot of wine consumed. Into the tent, she goes and one of the classic lines in all the Bible. And when morning came,
behold, it was Leah. That was one serious hangover right there. Now, Jacob is incensed. He is incensed the gall of this man to deceive him like that. I mean, oh, could ever practice such skullnuggery. And so a deal is made that yes, he's married to Leah. And he must fulfill the bridal week that first week. After that week is over, he will also be given Rachel as a wife, but for the completion of that arrangement, it will require what? Seven more years of labor for this man. Now, what do we learn from all this? This, you know, sometimes the Bible subtle. Sometimes you've got to dig in and you've got to know something about the culture in the situation. But sometimes the Bible is just one big two by four, you know, just smack you in the face. I mean, I'm going to be more obvious that Jacob is given by God what a taste of his own medicine. He took advantage of the eagerness of Esau to steal Esau's birthright and blessing just like Laban has now taken advantage of his eagerness. Jacob experiences the disguise, you know, the fooling Laban dresses up no doubt Leah just like he and his mother had him dressed up to fool his father Isaac to take advantage of him. He steals the birthright from the eldest and Laban says, guess what? In these parts, we have this old tradition that the first born has to be taken care of. You can see that all of this just crashes down on the top of Jacob and he, as one commentary said, Laban pulls off a masterpiece of shameless treachery. Jacob is forced to drink deeply of his own duplicity. So, you know, what's the foot with this? Why is God doing this? Is God at work? Well, it's obviously God is at work. And through the most unlikely means, he's using Laban. Laban and his trickery, Laban in his actions is being used by God because God is at work to root out the idolatry and the deception and the scheming and the devices of Jacob. God is using Laban. What are we saying? God is at work and he is often at work in our lives using the most unlikely means. And I want to suggest that Jacob's not the only one who needs Laban in his life. All of us have schemes to try to make it in this world without God. That's our basic bent. In the beginning of the world, the Bible says that Adam and Eve walked away from God determined that they didn't need him. They could have the garden. They could have prosperity without him. That's our basic bent in life. We are convinced that our way will work. We think we're going to bed with Rachel, but in the morning, there's always Leah. Our plans, our schemes, our determination, our idols. They look so good. They look like they'll be prosperous. They look like in the morning, there's always Leah. Think of how many people best their helps in education. Education is going to be the ticket to the good life. How many people best their helps in achievement? If you work hard, if you save, if you've got thrift, if you could make your way in this world, you can have what you... That thing is the people who get there and have that achievement or the ones who could really tell you what a false idol. Some of those who never get there are still fooled to think just a little more. I could just get there myself. How many trust the idol of family? It's relationships. If I could have a... If I could have the right husband, if I could have the right wife, the right boyfriend, girlfriend, children, whatever family... If my family, if all this worked out, then I'd have life and the Bible says, all these things often gifts from God. We take and we make them idols, believing that we can make our way in this world just like Jacob did without dependence on God. Anything we look to for fulfillment besides Jesus. That's just the way we live. The next big thing is I get my kids to college. The next big thing is we get that house built. I get that surgery behind me. Maybe we can scrimp up and if I get that promotion, we can start having kids. If I do this, we'll be able to retire. Always right out there is life. Right around the corner is when peace and fulfillment and contentment. If I could just work my seven years and get Rachel. When you get there, there's Leah. It's a great lesson from God's Word. God is so good to show us that our idols will not bring satisfaction into college. Again and again and again, God comes into our life and he uses labens to push over our idols and say, I love you so much that I'm going to give you the only thing that will satisfy your heart and that is what? That's me. That's me. First and foremost, only to me. I will bring your idols to ruin. And this is the interesting thing. Often we see our life really working. We say, see, God's at work in my life. Let me tell you something. Very often when life is going just so smoothly, it's an indication for many people that God's not there at all. He's abandoned them because of God's at work in your life. He is going to take all our schemes and all our plans and bring them to ruin so that he can give us what we truly crave and need. What? Him. Him. Perhaps you could chart back through your life. I can do it in mine. The other night I went to a basketball game. My little girls were playing and they lost in overtime the last second of the game. It was just one of those searing agonies. If you care about sports like I do, you care about your kids and you're there, it's just agonizing. And it was a flashback. When I was in high school, played on a basketball team, we were 26 and one. We were the number one rated team in the state of Florida, 124 straight teams. We were in the state playoffs. And one of my idiot teammates. I mean, I mean, I've gotten over it, but I'll never forget the ball taken, thrown down the end of the court to get on the other team. It seemed we'd beaten twice that year, laying the ball up just as the clock went to zero. The ball falling through and going to the state final four that I dreamed of my whole life was over. Last game I'd ever play over. Now, was God not there that night? Or did that night become very integral in my life to immediately say, good, that is over, Cortese. Now it's time to grow up. And I could say God used that very adversity in powerful ways. That was a long time ago. It continues to happen all the time in my life. It got a shove over our idols. God will expose your idols too. He loves you. That's what the Bible says. Whom the Lord loves, see what? Hardship comes in our life. We say, where are you, God? Believe me, I'm right there. And I'm using this hardship to draw you to myself. In the midst of hardship, God's people say, God is up to something here. He will have me for himself. He will not share me with these idols. I'd say something rotten about me. My as well, I think you figured it out. I remember a friend of mine calling me nothing long ago and he told me about this grand party, his church, through for him, like on his 10th anniversary of the church. And guess what? Thoughts ran through my mind.
Of course, that was right after he told me about the guy who filled their freezer with stakes. And that was right after the guy who was flying them to the Rose Bowl. And his grand party is church through for them. One thing I've prided myself on is I have always done humility well. And that, you know, I'm a servant and everybody else can go home, but I'll be here to put the chairs away. And it's just all about Jesus. It's not about me. And you know, and I hung up the phone as I started to think about it, you know, I was really bothered that he got a party. That's ugly, isn't it? That's not who I want to be, but it was true. Got to expose. My idol is exposed. You know, I could hear God whispering. So you're really in this for me, huh? You want to be celebrated, don't you? You think that the way to value and the way to life is recognition. You want to be honored for your sacrifice and your achievements. You think that's integral to your well-being. Well, it's not. And I won't give it to you because I love you. Not because I don't love you, but because I love you. God constantly exposing our idols, raking them away and saying to us, what? I want you to find me to be your all-in-all so that we can pray like the psalmist, whom have I in heaven but thee, and besides thee, I desire nothing. He said, I don't have anything but you, but I don't want anything but you. What a God. He's always at work. So when you face adversity, don't know, why did God abandon me? No, no, no, no. There's a label in your life, I promise. And by the way, maybe it's good to stop and say that. Some of you can point to a label in your life, somebody who has abused you, somebody who has wronged you, and you are bitter and you cannot let it go. I'll tell you something, let it go. They meant it for evil, but God allowed it for what? But God allowed it for good. He allowed something you wanted to be taken away from you so that something you needed could be given to you. Him. So let that label go. That one you want to pound a flesh from that one who has wounded you. Let it go. God used that label to give you him. Second, God is not only at work through the most unlikely means, God has at work through the least expected people. God has at work in the least expected people. Now who is the promised progenitor of the coming Messiah of the great race of God? Who is it in the story? Jacob. Jacob is the promised one. Jacob is the line, you know, fair Jacob. And what do we find Jacob to be in this account? Jacob is the liar, the cheat, the schemer. And now we meet Jacob, the polygamist. Don't you, don't you at times, you know, shouldn't the Bible be a book about virtuous characters? Isn't that the point that the Bible is sort of like fables, tales, stories of great people. And we should try to be like them. We should try to be like Abraham and lie about our lives and deny we even know them. And we should be like David and we could commit adultery and murder the husband of the woman we sleep with. And we could be like Peter and we could discriminate and we could deny Christ when we're afraid. That's fascinating. You can go from end to end of the Bible. And what? You find what? Now we can be like Samson, be a sex addict, you know? We could, we want the Bible to be this book of heroes that we should be like. And oftentimes that's the way they're presented in Sunday school. But guess what the Bible is truly? It's a story of failures. It's a story of human wrecks who need God's grace. They don't want it. They don't pursue it. They're not even appreciative after they have it. And yet God pursues them and and gives his grace and his love to hopelessly flawed people. That's the story of the Bible. That means there's hope for you and for me. The clear message of God's word is that God is at work, but he is at work in some of the least expected people like Jacob. Salvation is all of God and we contribute nothing. Somebody gave me this bit of a day, the definition of outdoor barbecuing. The only type of cooking a real man will do. When a man volunteers to do such cooking, the following chain of events is put into motion. The woman goes to the store. The woman fixes the salad vegetables and desert. The woman prepares the meat for cooking. Puts it on a tray with the cooking utensils and takes it takes it to the man who's lounging beside the grill. The man places the meat in the grill. The woman goes inside sets the table and sets the vegetables. The woman comes out to tell the man the meat is burning. The man takes the meat off the grill, hands it to the woman. The woman prepares the plates and brings them to the table after eating the woman clears the table and does the dishes. And the man asks the woman how she enjoyed her night off. And upon seeing her annoyed reaction concludes there's just no pleasing some women. It's an app description of the people sitting impused in our churches. God you can take the time off. I'll save myself. I did it. If you don't think that's true, I mean here's the description that the man contributes nothing. How'd you like your time off? We ask people regularly around here. If you were to stand before God and say why should he let you into heaven? And people regularly tell us because I did this, because I did that, because I believed, because I had faith, because I'm a church of God, because I'm a good person, I did it. I did it from top to bottom. God help. Jacob's story tells us that nothing could be further from the truth, and we better rooted out from the core of our being, that salvation is all of God. From top to bottom, beginning to end, Alpha to Omega, we contribute nothing. And until you can come to the point that you can confess before God that you are rotten to your core, and the only way that you'll ever be right with God is because he chooses to love you, not because there's anything good or wonderful or desirous in you. He overcomes the stench in his nostrils to draw you close to himself. Then and only then, can you appreciate the wonder of your salvation. Some time ago, I got a letter from a man who attended church here 13 years ago. 13 years ago, he said, I came to worship at seven rivers for the first time. It was the month of December, and I came because I was in an immoral relationship with another man. When it came to my attention that the other man had aides and was probably going to die. Fearing for my own life, I showed up at church. He said, I still remember what you said that, this is 13 years ago. He said, I still remember what you preached that Sunday. You said that Jesus had come once as a little baby, and he was coming again, and when he came again, he was not going to be acute and innocent like the Christmas cards. He was going to be a mighty warrior. And you asked if we were ready to meet him. And he said, I knew I wasn't. I went home that afternoon, and I got on my knees, and I asked Jesus to forgive me my sins. He said, I came to your church three more times before I was transferred. My company transferred me out of the area. All I did is ever go to your church four times. He said, they transferred me to New York where I was reconciled with my father, which was at the heart of my gender issues. I was reconciled to my father. I joined a church. I met the woman who is now my wife. We have two children. We are the leaders of the young couple Sunday school class. I am in seminary. I work for the seminary. I am in charge of their distance education program. God's using this man's life to bless people all over the world. You might say of all the people that walked into church that week, maybe that month, maybe that year, maybe ever in seven rivers, here could have been the least likely. Not, it's not true. You were. You were the least likely.
And when that syncs into your heart, and you believe that's true, that you are the least likely object of the love and affection of God, then you'll begin to get the gospel. When I was taking a class in seminary one time and there was this African-American gentleman in front of me, I think he was a pastor. And when the professor would get wound up, and emotional, this fellow would sit there just under his breath, you know, kind of constrained by this very white environment. But under his breath, I'd hear him say, move me. You know, move me, preach, move me. You know, there's a lot of grace talking in this church, but I hope that you find yourself at times, move. That God loves Jacob. And that means that God loves even you. People come to me and they say, pastor, I'm not going to become a Christian until I can live like one. I'm just not going to be a hypocrite about it. I'm not going to say I'm a Christian and
imagine Jacob. I'm never going to come yours until I'm really, you know, the Bible, you know, not only do some churches say, be like David, be like Abraham, be like, some churches tell you to be like, what's the ultimate crusher that a church can lay on you? Go out in the world and be like, Jesus, so great. Be like Jesus. Be like Jesus. Is that required of me? The Bible doesn't say be like Jesus. The Bible says, be found in Jesus. Not possessing a righteousness of your own, but his righteousness. You'll never be good enough. Don't wait and say, listen, I'm not signing the dotted line in this church, this Christianity thing until I clean up my act. You're at Jacob. You'll never clean up your act. Nobody ever has. That's why we need Jesus. So God is at work and the least expected people. And last of all, God is at work accomplishing the least expected results. Consider Leah before we go tonight. What must it be like to be Leah? What must it be like to be pawned off by your own father in the dark of the night to a half drunk man who doesn't want you? He wants your sister of all people? What must it be like to be unwanted, unloved, thought to be plain, always second? What must it like to have a husband who's crazy for someone else and that someone else lives in your own house? Always the neglected one. Leah's unloveliness is literally rubbed in her face every day. It's before her all the time. Leah wasn't beautiful, but she was good at something. She was good at making babies. Not only making babies, but making boys. This is a valued treasure and so Leah is going to play that hand for all its worth. And so we see as Leah names her sons, her idol. What's the idol of Leah's heart? She wants to be treasured by her husband. She wants to be first. She wants to be the beloved. She wants to be the beautiful one. The Bible says that God opens her womb and gives her children. Her first son is named Rubin. The Lord has seen my afflictions. What does she say in verse 32? Surely now my husband, he'll love me. This is the ticket. He'll love me now. Verse 33 she has Simeon. God has given me because I am the unloved one. Verse 34 she says again when she bears Levi. Now this time, this time my husband will become attached to me. See the longing of Leah's heart to be the desired one, to be beautiful, to be beautiful in her husband's eye. That's Leah's idol. I think we have any of that in our culture. Is beauty an issue in our culture? The few things that are a greater idol than physical appearance. Ron Brown was sick this week and he said when he was sitting at home watching a TV, all he saw was one ab commercial after another. Somehow or another, if I could have washboard abs, life would really work. Beauty in our culture, the top five cosmetic companies did over $35 billion of business last year. Naomi Wolf wrote a book called The Beauty Myth. In The Beauty Myth, she said that urban professional women spend up to one third on average one third of their income, on maintenance and procurement of beauty. Naomi Wolf says it's an investment well spent because studies show that the appearance of a woman has everything to do with whether she's hired, whether she is promoted, how well she is paid, how she is treated, that the better a woman looks the more she is considered to be bright, intelligent, wise, sensitive, kind, good, every kind of virtue that anyone would have want is associated with her outward appearance. Now as important as beauty is, the shame is that 48% of American women studies say feel wholesale displeasure with their appearance. We long to be beautiful. Why? Why? Go back to the beginning of the Bible. We long to be beautiful. We long to deal with externally, that which is an internal problem. We are separated from our father. What is often true of girls who don't have the strength of male influence in their life? Let me tell you something, the burden of my heart is the gross promiscuity of our day. It doesn't seem to be getting better. True love waits and all that.
One only has to look at the current dress that's in vogue among the Britney Spears generation. And what is that that a cry of the heart to say? Notice me, love me, cherish me. I'm taking my wares and I'm advertising them. Give me what I so crave. But what we truly crave is escape from the shame and the worthlessness we feel inside. That's why we spend so much on what's fascinating is you might just think, I know somebody, I know who he's talking. He's talking about that girly girl who spends all that money on makeup and they dress and they're always dressed in the night. And I'm talking just about as much about the person who utterly neglects their appearance because they are not swept up in that whole thing. They're just as swept up in it by their reaction to it. What's the only freedom from this enslavery is to see that God is at work. He's at work in Leah who has this desire for her husband. If you look at the passage verse 35, I'd almost feel like an explosion of light after three children and Leah saying, maybe now my husband will love me. When she has that fourth child, Judah, what does verse 35 say? This time what? This time I will praise the Lord. This time I will find satisfaction in my father in the God who made me. Leah comes to discover that nobody wanted her, God wanted her. And it was enough. The Bible says that the Jacob didn't love her, but God did. And so God gives Leah sons. Rachel's womb is barren. Leah is given children. And what children she's given? The head of the whole priestly tribe and then Judah. Leah is appointed by God to be the mother of Jesus. This is the line of the Messiah is through Judah from Leah, not Rachel. Rachel's beloved to Jacob, Leah, the beloved one of God. The woman nobody wanted had God for her husband. That's precious. God changes Leah's heart. He can change ours. God loves the unlovely and makes them beautiful. God sets women free from finding their sense of worth, from how their husbands, their fathers, their culture, or even in most difficult, how they themselves view them. God sets women free from that. I'll ask you to believe tonight. You may say standing here, the truth is that we look like Leah. But when God looks at us, He sees Rachel. I don't know how that, you know, people say to me, all of somebody said this to me this week, this whole grace thing that we have the love and favor of God even though we're rotten. It just seems too easy. How is it that we are beautiful when we're really ugly? It wasn't easy. Somebody had to become ugly in our place. Isaiah 53 says that he was despised. He was somebody whom no one would regard. It describes Jesus as being ugly, ugly on the cross, rejected, disregarded, the unwanted one. Somebody became ugly. Somebody bore our ugliness away so that we might be beautiful. And so to be beautiful required, it wasn't easy. It's not easy to tell you you are the love of God. You are the love of God because somebody bore your ugliness at great price. It required Jesus' death and it will require your death. You must stop trying to make yourself beautiful and accept that the only hope you have for beauty is through the beauty of Jesus given freely to you. Maybe, Pastor, you can preach to your blue in the face but I still think I'm ugly. My heart and heart, I look in the mirror. I see somebody ugly. I don't mean just outside inside. I'm ugly. Well, duh. You're ugly indeed. Is that a surprise? For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We have corrupt hearts. There is no goodness in us. Is that it like a surprise that you're ugly? I love wetting. It's the best part of a wetting. It's when the bride comes down. I kind of like it because all eyes turn to the back of the room and I'm usually standing right here. You can pick your nose. You can do anything up front. Nobody's noticing. They're all just transfixed with the bride. You know what I love about that moment? I love to watch the groom and I always think the bride is beautiful but I wonder what he must think. I always wish I could get in. I want to see her through his eyes but not to God and his eyes close with the righteousness of his beloved son. He is smitten with our beauty. Ray Cortes? Beautiful? God must be at work. Amen.