This document discusses how appearances can be deceiving and warns that people should not judge based solely on outward appearance. It notes that while some try to hide their true nature or flaws, eventually one's inner self will be exposed. The document encourages dressing and behaving modestly so as not to mislead others or damage one's credibility in influencing people towards Christ. Overall, it stresses that true character lies within and cannot stay hidden forever, so one should ensure their inner and outer selves align with godly virtues.

1. Appearances
Do people see the genuine
you?
Or do they see the fake you?
Remember that appearances
can be deceiving.

2. Introduction
• Appearances are everything to most honest
people.
• Those not honest have to resort to trickery
and deceitfulness so their true colors are not
exposed.
• When one pretends to be something they are
not, we call them a hypocrite; We call them a
deceiver; We call them fake; Or any number
of other things.
• God does also.

3. •Many people have an ugly side that they
do not want exposed.
•It could be a vice or an addiction.
•Famous people do not want to disappoint
their fans.
•Sports figures know that many are
looking up to them, so they keep their
drug addictions hidden from the public.
•Once they are exposed it causes shame,
and possibly their downfall in the eyes of
the public and from their own families.

4. •Most people just want others to look
upon them favorably.
•Sometimes this is to fuel an ego trip
they might be on.
•Sometimes, it is because they take a
responsibility seriously.
•Whatever the reason, appearances
are important.
•They are also important to God.

5. •One of the warnings parents always
tell their children (if they really care
about them) is that appearances are
deceiving.
•This is how most con artists operate.
•This is how magicians perform their
craft.
•And this is how Satan gets a hold of a
soul.
•All by giving a false appearance.

6. •Colossians 2:23: "These are matters which
have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom
in self-made religion and self-abasement
and severe treatment of the body, but are of
no value against fleshly indulgence".
•All error and false teaching begins with the
appearance of being something good.
•This is how deception works.
•It makes people comfortable that following
this doctrine will get them to heaven.

7. •Jesus often spoke of the appearance of the
Jewish leaders in His day.
• Matthew 23:25 "Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the
outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside
they are full of robbery and self indulgence".
•And in verse 27, Jesus made the analogy of
painting the tombs white and making them
pretty, but they are still full of dead men's
bones.
• Jesus exposed the hypocrisy of the “spiritual”
leaders of the people.

8. •In the Old Testament Jeremiah gave us a
similar teaching:
•Jeremiah 2:22 reads: "Although you wash
yourself with lye and use much soap, the
stain of your iniquity is before me' declares
the Lord God".
•Cleaning the outward does not clean the
inward.
•One can take a bath all day long, but if the
inside is rotten, no soap can make it clean.
•Proverbs 16:2 reads: "All the ways of a man
are clean in his own sight, but the LORD
weighs the motives".

9. •Appearances can be deceiving.
•A girl may wear clothing that is
popular, and she thinks she looks
pretty.
•A guy just might see someone who is
easy and loose.
•While that may not be a girls
intention, she should be aware that
people are watching her clothing and
her behavior.

10. • People show pictures of themselves on social
media all the time.
• If you do that you can probably testify that
many have made advances seeking more
than friendship.
• This come from the opposite and even the
same sex.
• We must be careful how we show ourselves
to the world.
• Do we demonstrate spirituality, or
worldliness?

11. •1 Timothy 2:9-10 “Likewise, I want women to
adorn themselves with proper clothing,
modestly, and discreetly, not with braided
hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,
but rather by means of good works, as befits
women making a claim to godliness”.
•Jewelry and hair styles are not as important
as proper behavior.
•We see enough ugly behavior in this world as
it is.
•We certainly do not want to give that to the
world.

12. Conclusion
•If we are going to be an influence to others to
lead them to Christ, we need to be aware of
our appearance.
• The moment we are exposed as something
different, our credibility is gone, and possibly
so is the soul that was listening to you.
• Our appearance comes in the form of dress,
behavior, and actions.
• Perhaps if more people considered how God
looked at them, they would change their
behavior and appearance to reflect a more
godly lifestyle.