To God be the glory!

"Now, let's see. What am I going to wear today?"

You know, that's a question that each of us has to ask ourselves everyday.

And there are several factors that help us answer that question.

One factor would be, "What am I going to be doing today?"

I'm not going to wear a suit

if I'm going to be doing yard work.

Another factor would be, of course, the weather.

And I'm not going to wear short sleeves if it's going to be very cold outside.

But you know, there's another factor that we need to consider every time we go to

our closet and

that is the "modesty" factor.

If you've been to the mall recently, or turned on the television, or looked at

billboards as you've driven down the highway,

then you know that our country has a serious problem with the way that we

clothe ourselves. Sexually provocative is the way of the day.

And it would certainly be an understatement to say that the world is

confused with regard to how we should clothe ourselves.

I want you to notice this cartoon that a friend of mine drew.

In the cartoon, the doorbell rings and one girl says, "Oh dear, that's the

doorbell and here I am in my underclothes."

The other girl, who's actually wearing far less says, "I'm dressed, I'll get it."

I like the cartoon because it illustrates,

very well, how confused our society is

with regard to the clothing issue.

And, it's gotten to the point that

people are really not even embarrassed about the exposure of their bodies.

In fact, it's encouraged.

There's a commercial that I've seen, I think it's about dieting. But the whole

theme of the commercial is to lose enough weight so that this woman

will be able to wear this

little bitty bikini and to show off her body at the beach.

And she's not embarrassed about it.

You know, in Jeremiah, chapter 6,

Jeremiah says that the people of his day had lost the ability

to blush.

Listen to the words of Jeremiah 6:15:

"Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?

No! They were not at all ashamed;

nor did they know how to blush."

And you know, we live in a world just like that today.

Many people today have lost the ability to blush over the exposure of their

bodies. They're just like the people of Jeremiah's day.

They're not ashamed.

I know a man in his seventies, and he told me that

when he was young, girls blushed

when they were ashamed.

He said but now they're ashamed when they blush.

One preacher said,

he said, "I would like to find out what kind of fruit Adam and Eve ate that made them

realize they were naked..."

He said, "...Because I'd like to pass it around again."

He said that tongue-in-cheek,

but he's right. Because many people need to have their eyes opened

about what is appropriate

and what is inappropriate.

Because again, the world is very confused with regard to this matter of clothing.

But a Christian

isn't like the world.

A Christian can't be like the world.

We're different. We've been called out of the world. 1 John 2:15 says:

"Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world,

the love of the Father

is not in him."

Romans 12:2 says:

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

But, very sadly, this problem of immodesty, lack of clothing,

has affected Christians

and it's crept into the church. You know, there are some places were men don't

want to serve on the Lord's table because of young ladies who are dressed

immodestly

in worship.

And there are wives

who don't want their husbands to teach the teenagers

because of the way that some of the young girls are dressed; or maybe I

should say, the way they are not dressed.

And you know, this is a very unpleasant subject to teach about.

And sometimes it's embarrassing both to the one teaching it

and also to the hearers. And

sometimes, people who like to dress immodestly get angry because they feel

like they're being insulted.

And sometimes when teachers teach on this subject,

people will accuse them of having a dirty mind.

And I guess that, along with the anger, has caused some to just avoid the subject

altogether.

I guess they feel like it's not worth the grief.

But you know, if we're going to be pleasing to God,

we have got to discuss it. We have got to be right about this matter.

Whether or not we want to admit it,

when a woman goes into public in modern-day swimming wear, or

she's wearing short-shorts, or a short skirt, or with her midriff exposed, or

wearing clothes that are too tight,

she's doing something that's sinful.

She's taking the sexual impulses that God has instilled in men

(to draw husbands and wives together)

and she's corrupting them. She's allowing them to be cheapened.

Now, she might not know that she's doing it, but she's distorting sex as God

designed it.

Now, why is it the case that

man is sexually impressed by the woman?

You know, it's not an accident. It's because God made us that way.

Now, why did He do that?

Genesis 2:24 says:

"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave unto his

wife, and they shall be

one flesh."

The reason man is sexually impressed by, and attracted to woman, is because of

God's design.

But you know, there's a big difference in the physical attraction of a husband and

a wife

and that of a man who is physically attracted to a stranger on the beach,

or at the pool, or at the mall.

First, let let's talk about the husband and wife.

The Bible says: "Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of

your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you

at all times;

And always be enraptured with her love." Proverbs 5:18 and 19.

Now, that's a husband and a wife.

Now listen to the difference. Here's a man and a woman to whom he's not married.

Matthew 5:28 says: "But I say unto you

that whoever looks at a woman to lust after her

has already committed adultery with her

in his heart."

Someone might try to rationalize and say, "Well, so long is nothing physical happens

there's nothing wrong with it."

I heard someone say, "It's alright to look,

so long as you don't touch."

But you know, that's not right.

The Bible teaches that God is concerned not only with our actions,

but also with our hearts. Matthew 5:28.

In Job 31, verse 1, Job said:

I have made a covenant with my eyes;

Why then should I look upon a young woman?"

You see, Job understood

that it would be wrong even to look on a young lady in a lustful manner.

Alright, this matter of properly clothing ourselves is certainly important

and the world's very confused about it.

And so, what I want to do is to list some considerations to help guide us in

knowing how we ought to dress ourselves.

Number one. The first consideration should always be:

"What God said, God's law."

You know, sometimes people will say, "Well, the Bible really doesn't tell us how to

dress ourselves."

But that's not true. The Bible does tell us.

Some of it's very specific,

and some of it's in principle.

But, the Bible does tell us.

Now, I want to begin in the book of Genesis,

Genesis chapter 2 and verse 25.

The Bible says about Adam and Eve:

"... they were both naked, the man and his wife,

and they were not ashamed."

Now, why were they not ashamed?

Because apparently, they weren't aware of the fact they were naked, according to

verse 7.

But, after they ate of the forbidden fruit, "... the eyes of both of them were opened..."

and they were made aware of their condition;

"... and they sewed fig leaves together, and they made themselves aprons."

The New King James says "coverings."

Now, this word means: "A girdle

or loin cloth."

One version says: "They made themselves loin coverings."

Another version says: "They covered themselves around the hips."

But, what's very interesting is that the clothing they made was apparently not

adequate,

because verse 21 says:

"Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made

tunics of skin, and clothed them."

Now this word for

"coats of skins"

is a "tunic," "a long shirt-like garment." Strong's Concordance even gives the

definition of "a robe."

It was a garment

that started at the shoulders and flowed down like a long shirt.

Now, they had made themselves "loin coverings,"

but the Lord made them "robes,"

and clothed them.

Now, the implication seems to be that they were not adequately covered.

And notice that when God came into the garden,

Adam said, "... I was naked; and I hid myself."

Now, he had fig leaves covering him, in his loin area, but still he refers to himself

as being naked.

And God doesn't argue with him. God says,

"Who told you that you were naked?"

Now secondly, I want to consider another passage, this one from the book of

Exodus, chapter 28.

Now, the section of the chapter that we're going to be looking at is dealing

with the making of the priest garments under the Mosaic system.

Now, beginning in verse 40,

the text says, this is from the New King James version:

"For Aaron's sons you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them.

And you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty.

So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You

shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister

to Me

as priests..." Now listen to verse 42: "... And you shall make for them linen

trousers

to cover their nakedness;

they shall reach from the waist

to the thighs."

Now, notice especially this phrase "they shall reach from the waist to the thighs."

One version puts it this way,

"... reaching from the hips

to the knees..."

Now, what was the purpose of this garment? The text says, "to cover

their nakedness."

Thomas Eaves, in his tract on modesty, he wrote:

"In the Old Testament it was considered nakedness

when one had his thighs uncovered."

And he cites this verse as proof.

So, what do we have so far?

In order to be covered adequately,

a garment started at the shoulders and it went down to the knees. Now, the third

passage I want us to notice,

is from 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 9 and 10.

It says this:

"In like manner also,

that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel,

with propriety and moderation,

not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,

but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works."

Now, there are three things I want us to notice in this passage.

The first one is "modest."

The word "modest."

Now this word means: "Orderly,

well arranged,

or decent."

The idea is that she's to adorn herself, or beautify herself,

in a way as to not draw undue attention to herself. Now, in the immediate context,

what he's discussing is a woman who's overdoing it, that is she's over dressing.

She's wearing