If you remember we’ve been going through a series called “Peculiar People”. And of course we weren’t in this series last week because I was gone. We’re going to jump back into it. And let me just say a couple things, I think this is now the 4th sermon in this series. So if you haven’t been with us for the earlier sermons then I encourage you to go back on our facebook or youtube channel and catch up because sometimes in these series we build on some things and you may feel like you’re coming in to the middle of a movie or something if you haven’t heard those previous lessons. We started learning that God desires us to be peculiar people. That doesn’t mean we are to be strange but we are to be different. And we’ve been learning about separation and the theology of separation and standards for separation and the need for biblical principals for those standards and our beliefs.
This morning what I want you to notice in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace” (Notice this word) “sanctify”. “And the very God of peace sanctify”. The word sanctify means to set apart, to make holy. See God desires and look I don’t have time to re-preach the last 3 sermons in this series. But God does not desire people that are like the world. God desires a peculiar people, a peculiar treasure. And God says here that he would sanctify you, that he would separate you, that he would make you holy and that he would sanctify you wholly to be a peculiar people. And that he desires you will be a peculiar people completely. “And that the very God of peace sanctify you wholly”. You’re complete. You’re entire. Notice the sections of your life that he covers “spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
I want you to see from this verse that God desires you to live a holy and sanctified life. And he wants it in every area of your life. Your spirit, your soul but he also says in your body. He desires every area of your life to be in honor to him. He desires every area of your life to be submitted unto him. 1 Corinthians 6:19 “What? Know ye not that your body which is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”. The Bible says that when you got saved, not only did God take ownership of your spirit and soul but he took ownership of your body. He took ownership of everything that belongs to you. It now belongs to God.
And this morning I’m speaking on a very specific subject of clothing. I’m speaking on being Peculiar in your clothing. Now the Bible speaks about clothing and appearance and these things. The Bible speaks a lot about clothing and you say, why is that? Because the Bible speaks to every area of our lives. There is not an area of your life where God does not have an opinion or God does not want us to do something or honor him. And that would also include clothing. And let me give you some examples of this.
Here we see a verse where we see a woman is identified by her clothing. And this verse is not a politically correct verse but it’s the Word of God. And we don’t apologize for that. Proverbs 7:10 “And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot and subtil of heart.”. This chapter is about a harlot. This is about a loose woman that is trying to cause a man to destroy his life. But I want you to notice here that he is met by this woman but he is met by this woman with the attire of an harlot. And the Bible tells us that you can identify this woman as an harlot, you can identify this woman as a loose woman by the way she was dressed. Today people would balk at that. They would say “I can’t believe you would say that”. But the Bible tells us that your clothing identifies the type of person that you are. That’s why we have that quote in the bulletin “Dress how you would like to be addressed”. And ladies, if you don’t want to be looked at as an harlot, if you don’t want to be looked at as a whore, then don’t dress like one. The Bible says there met him a woman dressed like a harlot. And look, if you stay with me then you’ll see that the Bible talks about this a lot and we’re going to look at a lot of different passages.
Genesis 38:14 “And she put her widow’s garment off her”. Now I don’t have time to develop this story. This is the story of Tamar and you can go back and read it in its context. But I want you to notice that this woman Tamar was a widow and she wants to do something that is wrong. She wants to seduce Judah to basically have a physical relationship with her. And I just want you to notice what the Bible says about her clothing. Genesis 38:14 “And she put her widow’s garment off her”. So she had clothing that identified her as a widow. “and covered her with a vail, and wrapped herself, and sat in an open place, which is by the way to Timnath; for she saw that Shelah was grown, and she was not given unto him to wife.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be an harlot;” You say why? Because “She had covered her face”. And we see at this time that harlots would dress in a certain way. They would cover themselves with a vail and wrap themselves and Judah saw her and thought of her that she was an harlot because of how she was dressed.
And this is the theme that we find in scripture that the way you’re dressed will identify who you are. Today people don’t want to hear that but it’s the truth. Look, if you have a baseball cap point to the side and baggy pants which you can’t hold up showing off your underwear and you’re dressed like some sort of hip-hop rapper then people are going to assume certain things of you. They’re going to assume you’re a thug. You say, that’s not fair. Hey, it’s human nature to look at someone and see how they’re dressed. Look, if someone comes in with a bit cowboy hat and belt buckle and boots on, I’m going to assume they’re a cowboy. Look, if someone asks me what kind of music I think that guy listens to, I’m not going to say Snoop-Dogg. No, he probably listens to country music. Why? Because your clothing identifies who you are. People often say, don’t judge a book by its cover. But I often say, if you don’t judge a book by its cover then how do you judge a book? I mean, try going to the library and picking out a book but not looking at the cover. You’d have to read the entire book to know what it’s about. The cover is there for a reason and the way you dress identifies what type of person that you are.
Now, we’re going to look at 1 Samuel 16:7 and this is a verse you need to know about. It’s a verse that the liberals will often throw at us when we preach sermons about clothing, and standards and separation. They’ll throw this verse at us but what’s funny is that this verse proves the point. This verse is about David when he was anointed to be king in Israel. 1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him:” (Because remember, Samuel was looking at the Brothers of David and they were big and they were tall and they were strong. And he was thinking, this must be the one that God wants. And God is saying “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him:” Notice “for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”. And the liberals will say, see it doesn’t matter how you look on the outside because the Lord looks at the heart. But here’s the point, the verse is telling you that man looketh on the outward appearance. Because men are not God. We cannot see your heart. We can only base what we know about you based on what we see.
And here’s what you need to understand, the Bible is clear that your testimony before man is extremely important. So let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father. They say, well this verse proves that it doesn’t matter. But if anything this verse proves that it does matter. Now look, the Lord seeth not as man seeth but man does look on the outward appearance. Now let me just say this about clothing, when we talk about clothing we must realize that clothing is important. And it’s important because it’s important to God. And we’re going to look at a lot of places and look at a lot of references to see what God says about clothing. But let me just say this, we must keep clothing in it’s proper perspective.
Matthew 23:25 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter,” (Jesus is looking at the Pharisees and saying you’re right on the outside. Your clothing. Your standards. The way you carry yourself. Everything about you is correct. “for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”. Here’s what Jesus is saying, it doesn’t matter if you’re right on the outside if on the inside you’re living a sinful life. If on the inside you’re not right with God. Understand this that the appearance is important because it’s important to God but you can have the outside right but the inside wrong. He tells the Pharisees that they are whited sepulchers. When we look at you we see this beautiful monument. It’s like going to a cemetery and seeing a beautiful monument of someone who is dead. But on the inside you’re full of dead men’s bones. So let me say this that there is a tendency of fundamentalists to make too much of the outward appearance. Realize your inside counts too. And on the inside you should be right with God. And on the inside you should love the Lord.
But notice, Jesus is not being critical of the outward appearance. Because he says “Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter,” (Don’t miss this) “that the outside of them may be clean also.”. He doesn’t say, just focus on the inside then forget about the outside because God just looks at the outside. No he says first make sure you’re right on the inside but then go ahead and clean up the outside. So what is it that God wants in our appearance? God wants us to have an appearance of being godly, being holy, being close to God. But he does not want us to have the appearance while on the inside we’re far away from God. He says I want you to be close to me on the inside but then I want the outside to reflect the inside. “cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.”
So I want to speak to you on your clothing. And I want to give you 3 Biblical guidelines. Guides that God gives us in scripture in regards to how to clothe ourselves as Christians. Because if you have a desire to be holy to God and please God and walk with him then these are guidelines that you should apply and also maybe for your children. You ought to follow these standards in your life that are very clearly taught in scripture. Now le me say this, we don’t want to develop a holier than thou mentality where people pride themselves on how righteous they are on the outside when the inside is full of dead men’s bones.
You say, why preach this sermon? If you’ve been with us for years then you know that about 1 time per year I’ll preach a sermon on clothing. When I was developing my sermon calendar several months back, this was the sermon planned for this week. If you’re here this morning and it’s your first time here then lucky you. You chose the week where I’m preaching on clothing. I preach on clothing when it comes up in scripture but other than that I preach on it 1 time per year. The Lord has blessed our church in that we are a growing church. We are not one of these old, dead churches that has had the same crowd for years. The Lord has blessed us at Verity Baptist Church in that every week we have guests at church. We are blessed to have new believers and people that have gotten saved and we’re helping to grow. We’re discipling them and for that reason I preach a sermon once a year on this because every year our church has new people in it. And they need to learn these things. They need to be taught these things. They need to be discipled in these areas.
But you know what, I also preach it for those of you who have already heard it. Because what I’ve realized is that we need to be reminded of what we believe and why we believe it. And otherwise people think “I haven’t heard it in a while so it must not be important”. No it’s still important. And we should be reminded of these things. Now let me just say one more thing and we’ll jump into the sermon. Let me just address those of you who are first time guests. Because on any given Sunday, we’ll have from 2 to 5 first time guests. If you’re a guest here today then I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you chose this Sunday to be your first Sunday with us.
But let me say a couple things. If you’ve never heard what I’ll say this morning then you have no reason to feel bad, you have no reason to feel guilty, we’re not picking on you or bashing you. This is a sermon that was chosen for this Sunday and you just happen to be here. But you know what, I’m glad you’re here because even if you don’t agree, you can walk away and say that he backed everything up with scripture. You see, you need to know not only what you believe but why you believe it. It’s good for you to know what the clothing standards are but you need to be able to prove it in scripture. If a neighbor or family members asks you why you dress a certain way then the answer better not be “My pastor said so.”. That’s the wrong answer. You need to have a scriptural principal that gives you that standard. But if you’re here for the first time, don’t feel guilty, we’re not looking down on you. Everyone here heard this for the first time at some point. This was new to everyone at some point. I always say this, don’t you want to go a church where you’re learning new things. What’s the point of going to a church where you already know everything. It’s good to be challenged. It’s good to say “Wow, I never knew those things. I never knew the Bible said that”.
But let me say this to our members, don’t ever walk up to a visitor or someone new and look down on them for how they’re dressed. Sometimes I hear of people doing that and I want to get the picture of when they first showed up. It’s like man they look better than you when you showed up. Here’s the point. We’re all growing. We’re all learning. Maybe you’ve heard this before 100 times. Praise the Lord. It’s good to be reminded. Maybe it’s the first time you’re hearing it and that’s ok. Follow along in scripture. Write down some notes. I thought that’s why you came to church to learn the Bible. That should be the reason you showed up for church. To learn the word of God. To learn the Bible. To learn these things.
Let me give you some guidelines to clothing. 3 guidelines the Bible gives in regards to clothing. And by the way, I’m not going to tell you to wear this, don’t wear that. Wear Nike, not Adidas or not this name brand. These are guidelines, scriptural guidelines so you can determine what it is that you should wear to please the Lord. Guideline #1, God wants your clothing to be modest. And by the way, if anyone ever walks up to you at our church and tries to correct you or insult you on your clothing, please come and tell me. And it will be dealt with. Because we’re trying to avoid the hypocrisy of the Pharisees where you’re trying to hold something over someone. “Well I’m more righteous than you are.”. No, the fact that you’re even bringing it up shows that you are carnal. It shows that the inside is full of dead man’s bones. So we of course should be graceful. We should understand that we’re all at difference stages in our life. We’re all growing at different paces. And maybe you’ve heard this before and you’re not willing to accept it. Look, that’s between you and God. You say, what is your job as a Pastor? My job is to teach you the Word of God and try to influence you but at the end of the day, you need to make the decision for what you are going to do, for your family and what you think God wants.
The first guidelines to clothing is that God wants you to be modest. 1 Timothy 2:9 “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves”. I want you to notice here that he talks about women but these principals can be applied to both men and women. Now he talks about women because women like clothes. It’s a big deal to women. There are some metrosexuals that are really in to their clothes but most manly men don’t care about their clothes. They don’t really care about what they look like. If you need some proof, look around. So he talks to women but these standards can apply to both men and women. “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety;”. I want you to make notice of these words: Modest, shamefacedness, sobriety. He says “not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.”. Now let me just give you a couple definitions. Modest means having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one’s merits or importance free from vanity, egotism, boastfulness or great pretensions. Free from ostentation or showing extravagance. The word modest means that you’re not trying to be flashy.
He said the word shamefacedness. The word shamefacedness means modest or bashful. Showing shame. And again the idea is that it’s not out there. It’s not flashy. It’s not in your face but it’s modest. He also uses the word sobriety means the state of being sober or temperance or moderation, seriousness, gravity. And here’s what I want you to understand, The first thing that God tells us in regards to our clothing is that he desires us to be modest. As Christians, the Bible teaches we are not supposed to dress to show off or bring attention to ourselves. Now let me just deal with something in verse 9 because he also says not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array. People will say that God is against people wearing jewelry or doing nice things with their hair. The problem with that is that when you look at Proverbs 31 of the virtuous woman, you see that she dresses nicely and takes care of yourself. So it’s not that he’s you wearing jewelry but he’s against you wearing jewelry to the point where it’s excessive or flashy. He’s against you doing your hair to the point where it’s excessive or flashy.
Let me give you another verse. 1 Peter 3:3 “whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and wearing of gold and of putting on of apparel”. Now again he says putting on of apparel. He’s not against people putting on apparel but it should not be this outward, flashy showing off. Verse 4 “But let it be the hidden man of the heart”. Notice the emphasis on the inside. When the inside is right then the outside will be right. “but let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible but the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God a great price”. Look, this is how a godly woman should be described of having a meek & quiet spirit. And I don’t have time to develop this but when you go back to the proverb of the harlot or woman committing adultery, it says that she is loud and stubborn. You know ladies, you should not be characterized as someone who is loud. The Bible says you should be characterized as someone who is meek and quiet. But along with that meek & quiet spirit is an outward appearing of modest clothing. Of not being flashy. Of not bringing attention to yourself. So when you get up in the morning, you should ask “Am I dressing to bring attention to myself?”. Am I putting on clothing that is meant for people to look at me when I walk in a room and everybody looks at me and how I’m dressed. If the answer is yes then you’re wrong. Because God desires Christians to dress in a way that is not modest, not flashy, not bringing attention to yourself. And again, this doesn’t mean ugly. Because the virtuous woman is dressed in purple and silk. She’s dressed beautifully. But she’s not dressed to bring attention to herself.
And let me say again, this applies to both men and women. And men, you should not dress to be flashy. And every time I preach this I bring up this example because I think it’s a good example. I just got back from the Philippines but if I walked in to church this morning, and the service is already started and Matt is leading music and I come in through the back. And Pastor Jimenez walks in with a red suit on, red shoes and a hat with a feather, don’t you think everyone will look at me and say “What in the world happened with him in the Philippines”. If I just walk in here with my suit down to here and a rolex and bracelets and a chain and I’m just walking like this from the Philippines. Would that be modest? That would be flashy. That would be bringing attention to myself. I’d be dressing just so people would look at me and laugh. And some of you would be like “Oh, that’s cool”. Shows your background. But am I dressed bad today? I think I look nice. I don’t care what you think. My wife said I look nice but look, this suit is not flashy. I have a gray suit on, a white shirt, a blue tie. But there’s no place in the world I would walk in to and people would be like “Look at that guy”. Because it’s nice but it’s modest. As a Christian, you should dress nicely but modestly. You should dress in a way where you’re not bringing attention to yourself.
When it comes to men, it’s funny. But often women will dress like a harlot, dress like a whore to bring attention to themselves. And that Bible says that’s not right. God doesn’t desire you to dress in a way bringing attention to yourself. First guideline in scripture is that you dress in a modest way. And it can be nice, it can be beautiful. But it should not be flashy or directing the attention to you. You say, why is that? Because as a Christian, our entire purpose is to bring glory to God. And when we do anything that takes the attention away from God and puts it on ourselves, we’re wrong. Recently there are all of these Pastors doing the TD Jakes thing. When I was a kid I used to watch TD Jakes because I found him funny. But I never paid attention to what he preached but I was like, look at how he’s dressed. These TV Preachers are often like that because no one is paying attention to what he’s saying but wondering, where did he find that?
So guideline #1, dress modestly. Look, young lady, young man, old lady, old man, when you get dressed in the morning before going out, ask yourself if you’re dressed to bring attention to yourself. Guidelines #2, clothing should cover your nakedness. Well you’re going to say, well Pastor isn’t that obvious. Well we’re going to see that it’s not that obvious. What God considers naked and our world consider naked are not the same. The world will look at someone and think “Oh, they’re fine”. But God would look at the same person and say, they’re naked. And look, we’re going to look at a lot of scriptures. You might say, I don’t know if I agree with this but can you just follow along in the Bible and realize that this is what the Bible teaches. Can you at least agree that everything we’ve concluded comes from the Word of God. Because here’s the question, what does God consider nakedness?”. Exodus 28:42 “”And thou shalt make them linen breeches” (This word breeches means pants). “to cover their nakedness”. You say I didn’t know the Bible talked about that. The Bible talks about everything. You say I didn’t know God talked about clothing. Because you haven’t read it. When you read the Bible you’ll realize that God has an opinion about everything. And let me tell you something, God’s opinion is always right. And if you think “that’s not the way I grew up.”. Well then you grew up wrong. Well that’s not what I think, then you’re wrong. Well that’s not what society says, well society is wrong. Because the Law of the Lord is perfect.
Thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness. What do you mean God? Notice. “from their loins even unto the thigh they shall reach”. So here we see the first area that God considers nakedness and it’s your loins. Now look, I don’t want to get in to a lot of detail. This should be fairly obvious. But this is the part of the body that is the reproductive organs. God considers this as nakedness. Now, hopefully nobody would disagree with that.
But let me show you what else is considered nakedness. Isaiah 20:4 “So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot,”. What do you mean by that? “even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.”. God considers your backside or rear end as nakedness. You say Pastor Jimenez, isn’t that obvious? I don’t know. Is it obvious when you’ve got beaches and oceans and lakes and water parks all over the world where people are showing their buttocks. Isn’t it obvious? Well obviously not. So you say, well that’s when you’re swimming. Well again, you need last week’s sermon. You believe in situational ethics. Look, right is right and wrong is wrong. If it’s wrong for a woman to walk in to this church building on a Sunday morning in a bathing suit or bikini or in her underwear and everyone would be appalled and say how dare she, what nerve, and we’d be asking her to leave and throw a towel on her then it’s wrong for her to do it at the lake or the pool. You just need to decide if you’re going to be a hypocrite or not. Is it nakedness or not. You say, oh well loins and buttocks are naked and that’s obvious. And there are tons of verses we could look at on this subject but I’m just showing you 3 for sake of time.
Isaiah 47:1-3
Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
I want you to notice that in verse 2 he says uncover the thigh and then in verse 3:
3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered,…
When did he say it was naked? When the thigh was uncovered. This is not the only place the Bible teaches this but the Bible teaches that your thigh is nakedness. So not only your loins, the area between your ribs and hips. Not only your buttocks on your backside. But God says your thighs are nakedness. So below your loins to your knees, God says that’s nakedness. So God says that when you clothe yourself, I desire you to cover your nakedness. So let me ask you a question. I’m not sure if you realize it but you walked in to a Baptist Church this morning. That means we are Biblicists. That means the Bible is our authority in all matters of faith and practice. If you wanted someone to lie to you, go watch Joel Osteen. If you wanted someone to lie to you then go watch some prosperity preacher that’s going to tell you that you’re great, everything is fine, throw money in the offering plate. But if you want to know what the Bible says then it will tell you that your thigh is nakedness. And God says I want you to clothe to cover your nakedness. Let me ask you this, should Christian ladies be wearing bikins? Do they show your thigh? They show your nakedness. How about short shorts? Should Christian ladies be wearing those? But now, we have to ask should metrosexual guys be wearing short shorts also. And the answer is no, because your thigh is your nakedness. How about mini-skirts? How about any skirt that shows off your thigh? How about a skirt with a long slit that shows off your thigh? Here’s all I’m saying, if you desire for modestness then you’ll wearing clothing that will cover your nakedness. And here’s the thing that’s funny, people all over this world are walking around naked and they have no idea that they’re naked.
Revelation 3:17 “And because thou sayest that I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing”. I want you to notice what Jesus says to this church. “And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor”. He says, you don’t even know that you’re wretched. You don’t even know that you’re miserable. You don’t even know that you’re poor. And then he says this, you don’t even know that you’re 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”. Why is Jesus telling the church of Laodicea that you’re sitting in church naked. I wish you would buy of me and put on clothes that thy nakedness do not appear but you know what, you can go to most churches in America here today and find a whole lot of women that are sitting there with their mini-skirts on and they’re naked. And they don’t even know it. And look, if this is the first time you’ve heard this then we’re not mad at you or trying to guilt trip you or embarrass you. But you know, our priority at Verity Baptist Church is to teach the entire counsel of God.
And when it’s the sermons about love thy neighbor which we need a revival of not gossiping, and loving our neighbor, and being kind, we need to preach that with authority. But you know all the sermons that the world doesn’t like, we need to preach those with authority also. We’re not ashamed of any of it. We’re for all of it. Are you embarrassed to get up and preach sermons like this. I’m never embarrassed to get up and preach the Bible. I’d be embarrassed to get up and lie to you and tell you that don’t worry about it, the Bible doesn’t talk about clothing. Look not on the appearance, God looks on the heart. No the Bible talks about clothing a lot. He says he wants you to wear modest apparel. Guideline #1, your clothing should be modest. Guideline #2, your clothing should cover your nakedness. Let me say this as it comes to these 2 points. Not flashy, cover your nakedness. You should dress to not draw attention and a Christian should not wear something that would cause the opposite sex to lust after them. You say, should Christians wear these low cut shirts exposing their chests. “Well Pastor, it’s not nakedness. You can’t show me a verse in the Bible that says it’s nakedness”. Ok, is it modest? Are you dressing like that to bring attention to yourself? Are you dressing like that so people will see you? Well then you’re not right, you’re wrong. And the bible teaches that women ought not dress in a way to bring attention to themselves.
Matthew 5:27 “Ye have heard that it hath been said of them of old time thou shalt not commit adultery”. This is Jesus speaking. “But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart”. Let me say this because this is the primary application. That men are not supposed to look on women they are not married to lust after them in their hearts. Job said “I made a covenant with mine eyes, why then should I think upon a maid”. Psalms says “I will set no wicked thing before my eyes”. So look, we’re not making an excuse for me. The Bible says that when men look on a woman to lust after them he’s committed adultery with them already in his heart. So look, nobody wakes up one day and then commits adultery. The major sin is a result of all of the small steps between. And the first step to David committing adultery with Bathsheba was David looking on Bathsheba with his eyes and looking on her and lusting after her. I’m not saying that every man that looks at a woman will commit adultery. But here’s what I’m telling you, you need to learn to control your eyes men and you need to learn to control the internet.
And look, if you’ve got a smart phone then you need to have some system to guard yourself or you have a teenage boy, don’t just give him a phone with free access to everything and anything the world has to offer. You are insane. You need to put protections on those things. Men you need to protect yourself. You say, Pastor why are you saying this? Men, you want to ruin your life. You want to just end up with your life being destroyed one day? Do you think Pastor just wake up and say “I’m going to go be with prostitutes today”. No, it happens with a process. It happens with decisions. So look, we’re not minimizing men’s fault. Men need to make sure they control their eyes and that you have some sort of safeguard to your phone and laptop. Honestly, I’m trying to limit my access to laptops and internet. You want in to my office, you won’t see a laptop there. You won’t see a computer in there. I’ve got a computer at home that I use with my wife. You say why? I’m just trying to make sure that I don’t ruin my life. Maybe you don’t need this but what I’m saying is that I’m not in anyway taking away the responsibility from men from this verse. Men need to learn to control their eyes. But with that said.
But I also want you to notice what that verse says Matthew 5:28 “But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” You say, why? Because women dress immodestly they take part in that sin. Women will say, I’m going to dress however I want and that’s their problem. No, it’s your problem too. You need to make sure that you’re dressed modestly so you’re not tempting men to lust after you. Now look, if they’re lusting after you then that’s their problem, God will punish them for that. But you know if you dress immodestly, then you’re drawing attention to yourself. Make sure you aren’t dressing in a way specifically to draw men’s lust toward you. Why are you preaching this toward men about lusting. Because women generally don’t struggle with this. I don’t think women are just like “Look at that guy and they lust after some hairy, ugly fat guy or whatever”. Generally it’s men that are struggling with that so it doesn’t matter what the women do. It doesn’t matter what society does. It doesn’t matter what Hollywood does. Men, you need to learn to control your eyes. You need to make safeguards to protect yourself. You need to make sure you’re not making provision for the flesh. But at the same time ladies, make sure you’re not dressed in way provoking them to lust after you because you’re partaking in that sin as it says he’s committing adultery with you. He’s committing adultery with you in his heart.
Some of you are like, could you go back to the Philippines? When it comes to clothing, #1 – modesty. The guidelines for your clothing should be modesty. #2, nakedness. You ought to cover your nakedness. #3, God wants your clothing to identify your gender. Clothes should identify your gender, male or female. Let me prove it to you. Deuteronomy 22:5 “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man,”. According to this verse, there is clothing that pertains to a man that a woman should not wear. “neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment”. According to this verse, there is clothing, there is a garment that pertains unto a woman that a man should not wear. “for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”. There is clothing that only a man should wear and clothing that only a woman should wear. And here’s the question that I have for you. What type of clothing pertains to a man that does not pertain to a woman? I mean is it socks? Is it shirts? Is it shoes? Maybe it would be easier if we answer the 2nd question. “Neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment”. What clothing only pertains to a woman where if a man wore it then we would say, “Wow that’s not right”. Look, you know the answer to this question. If a man walked in to church right now with a beard and hairy legs, big smelly guy with just the nicest Sunday dress, high heels and the hat that he bought at “Dress for God”. Look, if a guy walked in here wearing a dress then we would all say that’s weird. Get him out of here. Get him away from our children. Why? Because there is clothing that belongs to women that does not belong to men. It’s dresses & skirts. So would it be wrong for a man to put a dress on? The answer’s yes.
Look, the day is coming. The day is coming. I believe there will be a day (hopefully not when I’m preaching) maybe when the next guy takes over this church. He will say “Men should not wear dresses” and people in the congregation will roll their eyes and think here he goes again. Because look, it’s coming. It’s coming. You can walk out there right now and see men wearing dresses and we still smirk at it. We still our eyes. But there will be a day when people start thinking it’s normal. So look, if we all agree that wearing a dress or skirt only pertains to a woman then let me say, I’m not trying to offend you but I’m not apologizing for the Word of God either. The Bible is clear that men are to wear pants and that women are to wear dresses. You say, I can’t believe you would say that. Ok, well let’s see what the Bible says. Let me just break it to you, God talks about everything. When I want to preach a sermon on clothing, I don’t have to sit there and wonder what to say. There is so much to say in the Bible because the Bible talks about everything.
Exodus 28:42 “And thou shalt make them linen breeches”. The word breeches is the old way where we would spell the word britches or pants. “to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:”. This is God speaking to men. Leviticus 6:10 the Bible says “And the priest shall put on his linen garment,” (talking about men. Notice) “and his linen breeches”. God tells men to put on breeches or britches. Leviticus 16:4 “He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh,” (That’s your britches) “and shall be girded with a linen girdle,” (That’s your belt) “and with the linen mitre” (That’s your hat). “shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.”. I want you to notice, that all throughout the Bible God is telling men to put on breeches, put on britches, put on pants.
Ezekiel 44:18 “They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads,” (That’s a hat) “and shall have linen breeches upon their loins;” (Those are pants) “they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.”. He says to put on britches.
Daniel 3:21 “Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen,” (That’s a Germanic word that means pants). “and their other garments,”. Here’s all I’m trying to tell you, throughout the Bible you only see men wearing pants. I’ll challenge you. If you can find the verse in the Bible where women are wearing pants then I’ll stand up here next Sunday, apologize for the sermon and say I’ve been corrected. It turns out there’s a verse where women are wearing pants. But you know what, you can’t find it. Because the Bible is clear that there is clothing that belongs to men and clothing that belongs to women. Women are to wear dresses & skirts. Men are to wear breeches or pants.
Remember the 2nd sermon in this series. I had the illustration of the word waxing worse & worse. I had the guys come up here and one of them represented the world and one of them represented Christians. And we were talking about how most Christians believe separation is a distance from the world. That as long as they stay a distance from the world then they are living a separated life. And we talked about how the problem with that belief system is that the world is waxing worse & worse. So if I’m a Christian and here’s the world and separation is a distance from the world, the problem with that is that the world is getting worse. And if separation is just a distance, as the world gets worse, then I will get worse, and I will get worse, and I will get worse. Because as the world gets worse and worse then I’ll get worse. Because look, back when the world was here, Christians were here. But now, the world’s over here and Christians are over here. Same distance but the Christians are now standing in the same place that the world used to stand. Look, that illustration applies perfectly to clothing. Because 100 years ago, every Pastor in America would have preached that it’s wicked, it’s a sin, it’s cross dressing for a woman to wear pants. But today, the average Independent Fundamental Baptist Church, the Pastor’s wife is wearing pants. Why? Because their separation was just a distance. Their separation was not based on the word of God but based on just being a little different from the world. And now they’re doing the same thing the world used to do. Look, we talked about this last time, our separation is fixed on the Word of God. It doesn’t matter how bad the world gets, the Bible says men and women are to dress differently. Look, if there was ever a day where this needed to be preached it would be today. When the Sodomite (LGBTQXY & Z) agenda is being promoted. We need Christians to stand up and say God has made a difference between male & female. He desires them to live differently, act differently, God made them different for a reason. And God says your clothing ought to identify your gender.
Let me say this, if you’re here this morning and you say that I’m a lady wearing pants, we’re not against you. We love you. You’ve never heard this before. We’re not guilting you. Every woman in this auditorium heard this for the first time at some point. We’re not against you but we’re also not going to compromise on the Word of God. This is what the Bible teaches. This is what God says. Honestly, I preach something like this and some get mad and say I’m never coming back. But look, if you’re honest with yourself, you know intuitively that everything I’m saying is true. Let me prove it to you. And I use this illustration every time I preach this. And look, every time I preach this sermon I keep the points the same. You say why? Because some of you have been coming for 5 or 6 years and I just want to drill these thoughts in your head. When it comes to clothing, you ought to consider modesty, nakedness, identity. You ought to consider modesty, nakedness, identity. I want to drill in the minds of our young ladies here, that will become teenagers one day that they ought to consider modesty, nakedness, identity. Modesty, nakedness, identity. Modesty, nakedness, identity. Is my clothing modest? Am I covering my nakedness? Am I being clear on my identity, on my gender.
Look, you know it’s true. 40 of our people were in the Philippines this past week. The Philippines is predominantly people can speak English. But you know, a lot of people speak Tagalog. I’m not Filipino but I look Filipino so I had some people coming up to me trying to speak in Tagalog and I’m like “Yo quiero Taco Bell”. I’m like, I’m not Filipino. I just play one on TV. I don’t know what you’re saying. But you know what’s funny? Even in a country where you don’t speak the same language, it’s really easy when you want up to a restroom and see these signs on the door to figure out which to go in to. No one says “I wonder which one is correct”. I don’t speak Tagalog. Which one’s male. Intuitively you know. And if you’re honest you’ll say, “I don’t like him, I don’t like what he’s saying, I don’t like his little jokes but he’s telling the truth.”. Because it’s the Word of God. It’s what the Bible says. Because God desires for men and women to be different. He desires for your clothing to identify your gender.
Let me give you one last one and we’ll be done. Not only does God desire for your clothing to identify your gender but for your hair to identify your gender. 1 Corinthians 11:14 “Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.”. And look, I’m not going to develop this chapter for sake of time but the Bible is clear that God desires men to have short hair and women long hair. I preach this and people say how short is short and how long is long. Is it #2 on the clippers or #4 on the clippers? You know the Bible doesn’t tell us that but if someone walks up to you and says your hair is long then it’s long. And look ladies, if someone walks up to you and says they like your short haircut then it’s short. I can’t tell you an exact measurement but if people acknowledge it as being short then it’s short. If people acknowledge it as being long then it’s long. When you walk in to a Starbucks and you’ve got 2 things in front of you and they both have the same skinny jeans on and they both have the same shaggy haircut that’s kind of long and kind of not. And you’re seeing a couple holding hands and you aren’t sure if it’s 2 women holding hands, 2 men holding hands, a man and a woman, a woman and a man, they all look the same.
All I want to say is that the blending of genders is the agenda of Satan. You say, Well I’m just going to keep wearing pants. Well go ahead and help Satan with his homosexual, transgender agenda but God desires a difference. If people can’t tell you’re a woman then you’re doing it wrong. If they can’t tell you’re a man, look we live in society today where men are just effeminate. Men are effeminate today. You say, oh it’s just in California. It’s everywhere. In the Philippines, half the time I’m like is this guy a queer. I don’t even know. I’m just going to give him the benefit of the doubt and give him the gospel and let God sort it out because I can’t tell. It’s just the Hollywood, Babylon USA movement going over the world. Look, men dress like men. You’re not going to catch me with a pink tie on. You’re not going to catch me with skinny jeans on. God desires there to be a difference between the sexes. God desires for them to look different.
Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”. Look, it doesn’t matter to me if you walk out of here saying “I Love that Preaching” or you say “I hate that preaching”. It really doesn’t make a difference to me. What matters is what does the Bible say. And if you walk out of here and say “He made all that up. The Bible doesn’t say that.”. Then you weren’t paying attention. Because we went through scripture after scripture and saw that God desires, the guidelines he puts in scripture are that when you get dressed you ought to consider your modesty, am I considering myself, am I dressing in a way bringing attention to me. You ought to consider your nakedness. Am I covering my nakedness, all of it. And you ought to consider your identity. Are you being clear about your gender. Am I being clear? God wants women to have short hair. God wants men to have long hair. God wants women to put on dresses and skirts. God wants men to put on pants. This is what the Bible teaches. I realize that this is not what society is teaching. This is not what the world says. But this is what the Bible is teaching.
Here’s all I’m telling you. If you’re going to be a peculiar people, separated unto God. A holy nation, a sanctified people. Like we started the sermon – holy and complete. Not only in your soul and spirit but in your body then you better allow God to have control over your clothing. Let’s pray.