(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, amen. We're going to start this thing off here real quick. Look at 1 Timothy 2, verse 7. So it says this, whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. You oftentimes find Paul saying things like this to the people that he's teaching, just to reaffirm, hey, I'm not making this stuff of my own accord, I'm not trying to trick people, there's a purpose, there's a reason why I'm trying to tell you this. And look at verse number 8, he says I will therefore, so he says, hey, for that reason is why I'm telling you this, right? Because it's never popular to preach about modesty, it's never popular to preach about standards and things like this. And so he's basically saying, hey, because I have this ordination, because I'm going to speak the truth, whether it's in season or out of season, he says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Verse number 9 says, in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array. We're going to stop right there and talk about several things here before we get started. Now, a lot of people read this and they think, okay, I got this list of rules, boy, and it's going to be good. My wife's not going to wear any jewelry, maybe just the wedding ring, you wear gold, you braid your hair, you broid your hair, you sew things into your hair, however ladies do that, you got all these butterfly, you know, clips here, you're unbiblical, you're ungodly, you're not new IP, you suck, you're garbage, okay? That is not what's going on here. In fact, these verses here actually apply to both men and women. But yes, Paul addresses the women with these things because men are visual creatures and because women tend to go overboard in the world, generally speaking, with these sorts of things. Now, I'm going to give you the title of the sermon this morning. The title of my sermon is The Haunting of Figure Flaunting. The Haunting of Figure Flaunting. You say, what in the world does that mean? Well, basically, I'm preaching against us or just people in general, haunting each other, haunting other people with their figure, immodest figures, okay? Now, women oftentimes have a tendency to do this by immodest dress, but guys also can tend to fall into that trap as well. Now, what Paul's saying here, if you look at the end of verse number eight, he says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. So, men don't tend, generally speaking, to get caught up in, you know, well, I got to really show off my figure. Some do, you know, we've all got stories about that. Some do for sure. But the way that men haunt other people or especially women with their figures is by wrath, right? Showing how tough they are, showing how aggressive they can be. And we all have these tendencies. I get that. I understand that. But oftentimes, if you listen to the conversation of men, it's usually geared around work things, success. Things like that, right? And I'll talk about here, but in certain places I've been to, a lot of times men will be trying to get the attention of other ladies and, you know, basically just boost themselves up. Oh, I'm going to get this done. I do this. I do that. You know, I'm an important figure, right? Who's ever heard that? I'm an important figure. And they literally go around and they just haunt people and try to haunt these women by their figure. But the same thing applies to women. They do it the same exact way. Well, I'm going to haunt these guys with the way I look and so on and so forth. And Paul saying, hey, none of that's wise. None of that's acceptable. It's not pleasing to God. And we need to be careful when it comes to modest apparel, to modesty. Now, I'm not going to get into the details of like long hair and skirts and stuff like that in this sermon. There's some things we have to understand before we even go down that road. Because it's too easy today for people to just go, hey, you need to put a tie on. You need to do this. You need to wear this. I'm going to measure this. I'm going to measure that, right? We don't need to talk like that. We don't need to talk about that stuff. And yes, we do have standards. All of us do, right? I've got standards for myself. You have standards for yourself. We have standards for our children. We have standards in this church, right? But I think it's very, very important to understand why we push modesty and that it's not just an outward thing, okay? For example, what does the word modest even mean? It means to not draw attention to ourselves. That's what the word shame-facedness means here in verse number nine. You could think, well, what is shame-facedness here? What does that mean? It only appears one time in the Bible. Well, just change the word shame to proud. What's a proud face? Okay, and then, oh, yeah. Okay, I get it. Somebody who walks around and thinks they're King Tut, all that, and two buckets of chicken and three boxes of donuts, right? That is somebody who is proud. Proud-facedness. So shame-facedness is literally just somebody who understands, you know what? I'm still the old man. I still carry that person with me. I'm not anything special. I'm a sinner. I'm Romans 3 23, and I've been saved, okay? That is somebody who is shame-facedness. And but the problem that we have today is that people, they like to take verse nine and then begin to audit the people around them. And dudes, they love to do this, especially in our circles, right? And I've told you guys stories. I've got stories for days about this. People just, oh, I would like so-and-so. I would be interested in so-and-so. But the problem is she wears butterfly clips in her hair. That means she has broided hair and doesn't understand the Bible. What if I get married to her and she's not saved? And I know, you know, and I say stuff like this and it cracks you up, but these are things that people really say. That's the funny part. That's the hilarious part. But what you need to understand about these verses is that there are four words that connect verse number nine and verse number eight, which make it applicable to male and female. And those first, oh those four words are found in the beginning of verse nine. In like manner also. In like manner also. This is what people today just read right over. They don't pay any attention to this. They just jump straight in. We gotta hammer the females. And sometimes we do. Sometimes we do, okay? I'm not, I'm not doubting that. I'm not saying that doesn't have its place, but we need to understand these verses for what they are truly saying. And modesty doesn't just apply to men. It applies to women. It goes back and forth both ways and like manner also. So in verse number eight, when he says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up holy hands. That's a representation. That is a picture of modesty. Somebody was saying, hey, I can't handle life on my own. I need the help of the Lord. I need his guidance. I need his direction. And so that's why Paul saying, hey, make sure you don't let that slip because we all know once prayer slips pride tends to slip in its place, right? Because we carry that old man with us. He's like, hey, you've got this. You're something special. You can do it and he lies to you and he tricks you and then the next thing, you know, you are full of pride. You're the opposite of modest and you don't even realize it. And then the byproduct of that is wrath and doubting because you have this conflicting nature. You've got the new man, the hidden man of the heart, and then you have your old man. And when they start going to war and you're not sure which one you're following and you're just all mixed up, you're all confused, then guess what? You start to doubt the decisions that you're making. You start to doubt everything that you're doing and rightfully so because a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Okay, now you can leave your place there and turn to, let's see, I'm gonna have you turn to 1 Peter chapter number three. 1 Peter chapter number three. So going back to the title here, The Haunting of Big, You're Flaunting. So what are you talking about, ghosts? Well, the word haunt just basically means to appear, to habitually appear somewhere. This is why, you know, Saul, for example, okay, Saul said, hey, to the Ziphites, hey, I wanna know where David's haunt is. Where does he frequently appear? Where does his routine lead him every single day? I want to know where his haunt is. Now, in our society, we hear the word haunt and we automatically associate that with ghosts and spirits and things like that because they regularly frequent different places, right? You ever heard of a haunted house? Well, all this house is haunted. You know, always seeing these lights and these things move around and these shadows and I think I saw my Aunt B in this house, you know, I'm not sure, but it looked like it. But that's not really the full definition, okay? When we are immodest, when we are the opposite of shame-facedness, we literally haunt each other, right? I mean, think about that. Look, take this for example, you go out to another country, for example, like let's just say Japan in the summertime and I'll tell you what, every single female there is going to haunt you everywhere you go because they don't have the same type of standards we do. They literally walk down the streets in bikinis. No joke. And that haunts men, especially American men. Now, Japanese men are a little bit different. We don't have time to even get into that. That's a whole soy deal there that we just, you don't even want to know. But for the Americans, I mean, it's a big, big, big problem. It's so much of a problem that military commands are constantly having briefings, constantly telling these dudes, hey, stop looking at the women. Why? Because these guys, they don't have the Holy Spirit. They just go out there and they just start jaw-dropping and they're just like, wow, what's going on here? And then the next thing you know, all sorts of crazy stuff happens. People are, you know, just getting into disease. They're getting into, I mean, just committing rapes and all sorts of horrible atrocities on these people, you know, and you say, well, they brought it on themselves. Yeah, but you know what? That still doesn't make it right. That's disgusting. All I'm trying to tell you is that when we dress a modest or we have our inward man, or I'm sorry, our old man, and we're wearing him, we're adorning him, and we're letting that flaunt in the sight of other people, that is a haunting, right? Nobody likes to be around like a boaster or a bragger, right? But you know what? Men, we have a tendency to do that. And so that's an example of how we haunt the opposite gender. That's how we haunt other people is by basically, you know, promoting wrath, doubting, just talking a big game and stuff like that. And it ought not to be that way. So I'm gonna have you keep your place there in 1 Peter chapter 3 and go to Philippians chapter 3 real quick. Philippians chapter number 3. Want to show you one more thing here about shame facing this Philippians chapter number 3. Look at verse number 9. Philippians chapter 3. Look at verse number 9. Says this, says and be found in him not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith. Okay, and so that is the idea here. And it tells you why we ought to make that righteousness a priority to come out in our lives. In fact, if you back up to verse number 8, he says this, Yea Dallas, I count all things but loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I win Christ. And so Paul saying, hey in order to be effective as a believer, you do have to be modest. You do have to have shame facing this. Okay, and we need to understand that our old man and the side of God is shame. It's nakedness if you will. Okay, but it also applies physically. We're going to talk about this, right? There's a reason why we wear clothing and it's to cover our shame is to cover our nakedness ever since the Garden of Eden things have changed. We're no longer in an innocent state, you know, kind of like how you see a little kids run around. Sometimes they're like, I just got my diaper on. I'm happy, right? Most of us, if you went to the store and saw an adult like that, you would freak out. You'd be like, you know what? You need to get out of here. I'm calling the police. This isn't right. This is disgusting. And so I just wanted to emphasize that because people tend to just apply the shame facing this only to women and that's not right. Both male and female need to have an attitude of shame faces, which just means modesty. It's just having a countenance that says, hey, you know what? I'm no different than you. I'm a safe sinner the same way. Okay, so go back to 1st Peter chapter number three, if you would, 1st Peter chapter number three. And like I said, you know, we need to be concerned about this because this affects our overall productivity when it comes to soul winning, discipling, making first impressions and the list goes on but also it's very, very important to God and you're going to see that as we go through this sermon here. Now, I got a lot of experience with this. I've, you know, lived a decent amount of time and been around a lot of jobs where it's, you know, mostly male only and stuff and I can remember back in, I think it was 2009, I was going on a temporary job assignment up to Everett, Washington to work on an aircraft carrier and when I pulled into town, I was going down the street which leads to the gate to get into the Naval base and I look over and I almost crashed my car. I'm not joking. And when I looked over to the right, what I saw, I was like, there's a naked person into this coffee shop, naked woman. I'm like, this is insane. Did I just see that? You know, and I'm like, this is weird. So I get the base, they offload my stuff and some of the guys were just sitting around the table. I was like, hey, this is no joke, but I saw a naked person, a naked woman inside the coffee shop and you know what these guys said? They're like, oh, yeah, that's real popular here. They're like these nudie type coffee shops, you know, they're just sprung up all over here like that. In fact, that's why we volunteered to come up here. He's like, but don't worry. They're not really naked. They wear something over certain parts. That's very small. And so it's all good. I'm like, that is so stupid, man. They're still naked. You know, I had never heard of such a thing and I literally, I, you know, you just drive it down the street, it's like, what in the world is that? That is nakedness. So my first response, my first reaction was that nakedness. Their response is, yeah, that's why we're coming up here, but they're not really fully naked. That's disgusting. And then what was it? Maybe three years later, they started appearing in our small town of 15,000 people, right? Our small town of 15,000 people all of a sudden has three of those nudist coffee shops. And one of them was the opposite. It was a male one, which I helped put out a business just to let you know. And I'll tell you that here in a minute too. So these things are just so profitable. It's ridiculous. Okay, a lot of the guys that I work with, like they literally knew every girl at every shop to the point to where they knew their birthdays. They would buy them birthday presents. They would buy them Christmas gifts. They would take them things for Thanksgiving and stuff like that. Look, this is despicable, right? And you say, well, what's the big deal? Because that sells in the world, okay? That is immodest. That is disgusting. And you know what? Obviously, I'm not going to sit here and say, you know, and make a big deal of that. I'm just trying to give you an example of what the world considers modesty. They figure, well, the world says, hey, you know, it's all good. They're not really naked because they got, you know, like a six piece of cloth, okay? Well, God's going to say something quite different. Very, very different, right? But sometimes, and that's kind of an extreme situation, right? But sometimes we as Christians, you know, especially if we're not learned or if we're not, you know, reading the Word or we're just full of pride, we can kind of take a similar approach and we can kind of say, you know what? That's, you know, not really something I'm worried about. It's not really something I'm very concerned about. And it's something that we need to be concerned about. Now, going back to these coffee shops, there was one, like I said, that was ran by dudes. And, you know, every time I would drive by, because I had to drive by it on the way home, look out the bus window, and there's hardly anybody in there. I talked to people and be like, yeah, you know, nobody ever goes in there, you know? And it's because women are, by and large, appalled by stuff like that, you know? That's not what attracts women. See, the reason why men spend a lot of time in jamming on their appearance and stuff like that, is because that's what they see, right? They see, well, I'm attracted to these women and I like how they look and hopefully that's, you know, the case. Otherwise, you got to get out of this church. But, you know, they figure, well, that's how they view the world well, right? But the world will even tell you something far different because that place there didn't get the same business. You know, even the ladies that I worked with, they would be like, that's appalling. Even the hoes. Like, I don't even go through that. You know what I mean? I don't want anything to do with that. That's disgusting. I don't want some dude touching my coffee, you know, that's not wearing clothes, right? I mean, think about this. Sports, the swimsuit edition, right? Billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars of revenue every single year. Dudes will pay this to look at scantily clad women. Right? And I'm going somewhere that I'll show you this. But you don't find the exact opposite of that. You don't find magazines with dudes, if there are any. I'm sure there are for queers. But you don't find that, you know, having the same amount of clout, the same amount of revenue for women, right? And that's what I'm trying to say here. But going back to the banana hammock, I'll just finish the story since I brought it up. Once I found out about that, like my crew, we decided to make it a point every single day to prank call them. We drove these people absolutely nuts. There was this app called Prank Dial. We would use it every single day, right? And I had a couple guys, they just loved us. I'd say, hey, look, who wants to go home early today? And of course, the government workers, they'll do anything to get off a couple hours early, right? Anything, no problem. Hey, I want you to harass the banana hammock for like a half hour, right? Call them up constantly because they had a policy where they have to answer the phone, right? This is a business, right? And so we would just harass them like it's nobody's business, like very badly. I'd have guys say, hey, on your way home, you drive by that thing, roll down the window and let them know how you feel type stuff, right? And we just hounded them. Now, I don't know if we caused them to go out of business. I think just the general culture did because they were never busy, but we made their lives a living hell. I can tell you that. And you know what, rightfully so. We don't need garbage. Like, could you imagine if something like that opened here? Hopefully that day never comes, right? But guess what? I'm bringing that whole system back. We're going to harass them. We're going to get them out of town. All right. So again, I want to get back on track here to what we're talking about. First Peter chapter number three. So again, we're talking about modesty. We're not talking about the exact specifics on the standards, but rather why we do these things in general. Okay, something very important with that statement. You're in 1 Peter 3, look at verse number one says this. Likewise ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word, they also may be one. I'm sorry. They may also with the or without the word be won by the conversation. Otherwise, while they behold your chase conversation coupled with fear. We've gone over this before. This is not talking just necessarily about words and oh, they heard a conversation about the Bible and they decided to you know, all of a sudden, you know, I'm going to get right or I'm going to get saved. But it's a conversation that the wife has with the new man, right? How is your walk? How is your Christian walk doing right? That is what also helps win people over to the idea or the probability of being saved. But what you need to understand is not a guarantee because he says they also may without the word be won by the conversation with wives. So let's move on here. Look at verse number three. It says this who's adorning. Let not be that outward adorning of plating the hair and of wearing gold or of putting on of apparel verse number four, but let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible. Even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of the sight of God of great price. Okay, that is very important there. That is a very important phrase at the end of that verse there in the sight of God of great price. This all points back to our reasonable service in Romans chapter number 12, right? He's the one that paid the great price, right? And when we rejoice in that new man when we accept that and we allow him to be in control, we decided we're going to walk in the new man. We're going to strengthen the new man in the side of God. He looks at that and says that is what I'm about. That is a great price. That is what pleases him. That is his desire for us all. But let's go back to some questions here. What ties verse number three to verse number four? There are two words and they are synonymous first number three says who's adorning, right? What does that mean? What does it mean to adorn? It means to decorate. It means to ornament means to garnish it means to beautify. Okay. Now again people will falsely take these verses here and say see, you know, if you plate the hair and you've got gold on you're jacked up. You're wrong. You're not worthy to be in a Baptist Church. And then the list goes on next thing, you know, we have the traditions and the rules and standards of man. The reason why that's the case is because there's a great bit of wisdom here in the next verse that people neglect. Okay, but going back to what these are talking about. We're talking about the outward physical appearance how we dress right look at verse number four. He says bullet the hidden man, but let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit and so ornament adorn. What are we talking about here? Well, we're talking about two things that are very similar one applies to the physical the other applies to the spiritual. Okay. Now the reason why their argument doesn't hold up. Well, if you wear gold, you know, you're messed up or you got a gold ring. You better take that off and look I'm telling you this because this attitude is out there it exists and say born-again Bible-believing churches. You need to understand that and it's wrong to say that because it's like what are you saying? If okay read the rest of verse three or putting on of apparel. So it's just wearing apparel ungodly. No, right, but they don't want to talk about that. They gloss over and say well, obviously that's not what it's talking about and they're right on that. Okay, but there's something else going on here. What is the key to outward modest apparel? What is he trying to tell us here and what he's trying to tell us is really the basis for this entire sermon. It's this the inner man needs to be responsible for the outward man's appearance. That is what this sermon is all about. The inner man needs to be responsible for the outward man's appearance and there's a lot that actually goes into that. Okay, for example, somebody who gets saved today out soul winning right their inner man isn't strengthened enough to understand why we dress up the way that we do why we have stands right, but they are capable of doing it because Peter says but let what does it mean to let to allow exactly it means to allow So we who are saved who go to church regularly who have the truth in front of us who hear preaching who read the Bible who think who meditate upon these things we have the capability to let or to allow the inner man whom God designed who God paid the price for to express outwardly. Okay, that is what he is saying here and that is very important. You can leave your place there and go to Matthew chapter number 23 and I'm going to show you an example of this, right? So what Peter what Paul what they're saying is they're saying hey don't just dress up on the outside to play the part. We've all seen people come in here and do that, right? We all had we were seeing of several women come in here, right? Oh, I'm skirts only I dress modestly right, but they're sitting here giving me the third degree and they absolutely hate my guts. They hate what we're about. We don't even know if they're saved because they never talk to anybody. The only want to talk to the people that they have something in common with which is garbage. That's what they all had in common outwardly. They're like, oh look at me. I am righteous. We love everyone. We have mercy. We have just we walk with God, but that's not true. Is it because none of those people that I'm talking about ever went out and got anybody saved none of them ever read the Bible and I could tell that because of the stupid things that they would say and the stupid things that they would come in here and do come in here and stand like this because someone sitting in their seat. How's your inner man? Huh? Is that is that what God designed? Oh, but I'm dressed properly. No, you're dressed like an idiot spiritually. Jesus talks about this. This is so important. You cannot have outward modesty if you do not allow the inner man to be responsible for that modesty. It's not going to happen Matthew 23. Look at verse 25. Jesus says this woe unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you may clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but within they are full of extortion and excess and that is oftentimes what you find when you run into people. They're like, hey, I've got the outside figured out. Look at how holy I am and I got my tuxedo. I got my tie. I've got my suit right and you talk to them and you start to ask them questions and tell you I'm good. I'm good. I used to be the most wicked vile sinner and now boy, you better know. I'm something special. Really. Can you go give the gospel to somebody right now? Of course I can. Really? No, you can't you're a liar. Verse 26 thou blind Pharisee cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside of them may be clean also. You see that this is what Jesus is teaching here. You can be like a Pharisee like a scribe like, you know a Sadducee and have the perfect clothing the religious attire and all the trimmings but if it doesn't come as a result of the new man, it's immodest. And you're blind and you're a hypocrite is what you are. Oh, but Jesus just loved everybody for everything and every reason. He's got no standards. Again, you're blind. You're a hypocrite and you're a loser for even saying that verse number 27. Whoa, unto you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites just in case. Hey, just in case they didn't get the message the first time he calls them hypocrites again the second time for ye are like unto whited sepulchers which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead man's bones and of all uncleanness. That should sober somebody up. I would have loved to see the looks on their faces. Like wait a second. You're saying I'm like a casket. That's real pretty but inwardly is just full of a rotten dead corpse. Verse 28 even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. And you know, it's oftentimes the simple people that are beguiled by people that are outwardly dressed properly. Well, they look like they're Baptist. Well, they look like they're Christian. Well, they talk nice, right? But you got to look past that. What are you actually trying to say? Right? Look, remember when storm came in here wasn't really dressed honest. Maybe the you know, Jean Jack was questionable, right? We kind of tried to look the part right the next time. I think he came in here. He had a tie on and stuff and started talking about the Bible and the King James. Oh, you know, I just have a vision to get the word out in the Vietnamese language, but inwardly he was full of rottenness, right? And there were people in this church. They didn't like how that was handled. And you know, it's funny those same people were outwardly righteous. I am look at me. I always wear the tie. I always I've been wearing skirts my whole life. I don't care. Can you get somebody said you even have the new man, right? I'm even saved. Let's start there. Let's start with the inside. So he says won't you scribes and Pharisees verse 29 hypocrites because you build the tombs of the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous and say if we had been in days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with him and the blood of the prophets and of course the story goes on from there. Jesus says hey by that action by that figure that you're sending by that figure that you're haunting my people with right proves that you are of those people that killed the prophets and so I just wanted to show you there that example that it's if your modesty on the outside is not a reflection of the inner man whom God designed whom God built it means nothing. It means absolutely positively nothing. It's zero. In fact it could mean that you're a hypocrite. It could mean that you're just full of dead man's bones blind all the above. Okay, that's what I'm trying to say here. Now go to Genesis chapter number 41 Genesis chapter number 41. And so this in this is another thing like you hear people arguing about these little things like like well I'm not going to allow my wife to wear any kind of like hair clip that's you know gold or silver. It's got to be like black or white plastic. Okay can't be any kind of metal. Look man you're not allowing the new man to dictate true godly modesty which is in the sight of God of great price. That is wrong. That is not okay. We like at this church to teach the why before we teach that hey here's just all the rules. Okay because that way we can do it right. We can do it the way that Jesus said and we're not going to slip off into this Pharisee I'm sorry this Pharisaical attitude that's just only concerned with the outward appearance. Okay very very important. So Genesis chapter number 41 I'm gonna make a statement here but let's read three verses before you look down verse number 14 Genesis chapter 41. Look at verse number 14. It says this. Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon and he shaved himself and changed his raiment and came on to Pharaoh verse 15 and Pharaoh said unto Joseph I have dreamed a dream and there is none that can interpret it and I have heard say of thee that thou can't understand a dream to interpret it and Joseph answered Pharaoh saying it is not in me. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace. Let's stop right there and talk about something here. So if you have read through the book of Genesis and you've read chapter number 40 you probably remember the chief Butler and the chief Baker right. These two guys offended Pharaoh and wound up getting sent to prison right. They go into prison. They start to get to know Joseph real quick. You know they're having a good old time and all of a sudden they they being the butler and the Baker have dreams and they wake up and they're confounded like what does this mean. It's a very intense dream. God gives Joseph the ability to interpret to explain thoroughly what those dreams mean right. So the butler asks Joseph interprets that he tells him hey you know you're going to be restored to your position you're going to again go ahead and you're going to serve Pharaoh and the Baker's like well hey man what about me. You know here's my my dream and Joseph's like well I'm going to tell you what's not in season but you're going to die and be hanged and that's going to be that okay. So those two guys all get out of prison to go before Pharaoh to get their sentencing. Okay that's that's what I'm talking about here. But there's something that is very different from when the butler and the Baker get released to when Joseph gets released. Okay what do you think that is. Well if you look down at verse number 14 there's a certain thing that Joseph did that we don't read about the other two doing. Look at it verse 14 Pharaoh sent and called Joseph and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. So imagine you're Joseph you're in this dungeon here you're in this prison and these guys are like hey it's finally your opportunity you get to go see Pharaoh right now come on quick you got to go right. There's a sense of urgency there the guards like let's go. He's calling you you need to go right now instead of just running there and giving Pharaoh the interpretation what does he do. He stops and it says he shaved himself and changed his raiment and came in on to Pharaoh. Why why is that in there. Why not just write the Bible. Okay they grab Joseph and he'd get the interpretation. Why slip that in there. And it's for a very very powerful and important reason and it's because a modest appearance signals seriousness. You see Joseph was saved. You know I know people don't like to say that well you know we don't know if he was saved or not because we don't know if he followed all the sacrifices and you know he didn't actually go to heaven he went to Abraham's bosom blah blah blah. No he was saved. He had the new man inside of him and he said you know what I'm going to allow that inner man to dictate my outward appearance because it's important to God that Pharaoh see the we Hebrews are different from the world. And so he shaved himself and changed his raiment. He didn't hold on to bitterness. He didn't go before Pharaoh and start fearing and being trembling. Oh please let me out. Please let me out. I want to tell you but I need to guarantee you're going to let me out. You're going to help me out here. No he just said you know what I what I have to say the message that I have to bring forth is very important and first impressions matter. He knows he's got the truth. He knows Pharaoh is going to listen but he wants to cement that fact with his appearance. He wants to tell Pharaoh hey the message that I'm bringing you is from God not for me. And I want you to see God the inner man through my outward appearance. Okay now just think about this here. You know a modest appearance signals seriousness soundness gravity. Right that's what it signal signifies. You know for example somebody were to come in here and I'm wearing my my my tight jeans rolled up with UGG boots on and an untucked flannel. Okay. If we have visitors that day they're never going to get that image out of their heads are they? And they're not going to take me seriously are they? No especially if they're say hopefully if they're you know on fire and or they crave the truth like wait a minute what happened to the guy on YouTube? What happened to him? What is this right? They would never be I mean I would have to work over time to try to explain hey it was a prop because we wouldn't really do that. We wouldn't do something like that but that would basically signal hey what I have to say isn't important. Everything I have to say is just loose comfortable non-confrontational right? That's what that clothing style signifies right? Freedom. I'm free. I don't know. We're not like those strict Baptists. I saw those guys wearing ties and the ladies wearing skirts. That's bondage. No bondage is you not having the inner man take control of the outward appearance. That is bondage. Jesus said it. It's hypocrisy. It's blindness. And you know what? Honestly it's blasphemy. You mock God when you do stuff like that. But what about Joel Osteen? He wears a tie. Yeah, but he's full of dead men's bones. The guy is the biggest hypocrite of them all. I mean that dude is filthy filthy rich. Twice dead plucked up by the roots. Okay, so you're in Genesis Chapter number 41. You can leave your place there. I'm going to have you turn to Exodus Chapter number 28. Exodus Chapter number 28. So again, this is a reason why we dress up when we go to church right? Because we talked about this last week. First Impressions are important. Now I'm not down on if you don't wear a tie. Whatever. I'm going to I'm not down on if you don't wear a tie. Whatever, right? But we don't dress like the world does. Especially, you know, today it's pretty easy. You know, if you go to another just loose Christian Church. I mean you've got Abercrombie and Fitch. You've got Cloud. What is it? Calvin Klein, you know, yeah, you've got that style that's prevailing in their congregation. Okay, and that's how they signal to each other, right? Who's ever heard of the Purpose Driven Church, you know, by Rick Warren. It's basically this idea where a pastor shows up into a community, sends a survey out and says, what does the community desire in a church? And they take that feedback and they construct their church service off of that feedback. Well, guess what the world wants? They want what is good in the sight of the eyes. They want to be told only good things just like Ahab, right? And they want no judgment. They want no standards. They want no truth. I mean, and the list goes on and that's exactly what you see over there. That's exactly what they signify. And obviously a lot of them don't have the inner man and such, but it is a hoax. It is a game. So, let's see here. We're going to talk about something here. So obviously Joseph, he changes raiment. You know, I've been in the dungeon. I can't imagine that being, you know, a real good environment for your clothing and for your overall spirit health. But, you know, him being saved was able to let the new man, he was able to let that still come out, still have control, still be profitable. And what I want to show you now is this idea of nakedness, okay? So what Joseph did is he said, you know what? I want to go out there and I want to cover the old man. I don't want Pharaoh to see that. I want him to see the new man. So he covered the old man by coming out in the new man and said, I want my outward appearance to reflect that, right? And the reason why we have standards in clothing is to minimize nakedness. It's to minimize us flaunting our figures, which actually haunts people, okay? This is the idea here. But the world today, they have this notion that nakedness just means, okay, no clothing. And it's so hypocritical, and I'll show you why here in a minute. Well, we'll just start right now. I'll just tell you right now. What happens right now if a woman flip-flops in a bikini goes into Fred Meyer, right? Every dude's head is going to turn and look at her and, you know, and the wives are going to be slapping him and stuff like that. But she's going to go in there, she's going to shop, and she's going to walk out with her goods. That's what's going to happen. Now, what happens if a woman, that same woman, says, you know, I'm going to go in there and wear just only undergarments that are just like the bikini. Then what happens? Well, then they call the cops. Why is that? Because it's nakedness. And even in our society today, that's illegal. You cannot go into a store with your undergarments on. Everybody follow me? You understand? Make sense? Okay. Look, I looked up several dictionary definitions of the word nakedness and none of them said just without clothing. Here's one. Without conventional or usual clothing. Okay, that is what nakedness means. And this is exactly what Joseph said. You know what? I don't want this to be what Pharaoh sees. My clothes torn, my flesh exposed, all of that. I don't want him to see that. In fact, I'm going to show you now in Exodus chapter 28 that the Bible agrees with those definitions. Okay, so being naked isn't just absolutely no clothes. It's without conventional or usual clothing. And even the world agrees with this, though they say they don't. Because if you send, like I said, you send a dude, any male or female, into Fred Meyer Albertsons, it doesn't matter, with just undergarments on, you will be asked to leave. In fact, right now, they look at you as naked if you walk in there without a mask on. Just most stores don't say anything to you. So that's a whole separate issue there. But, you know, they're trying to redefine this thing as we go along. But you know it's true. If you walk into these stores in undergarments, you're getting the boot, right? But if all of a sudden it's got a logo or, you know, it's something like that, it's like, oh, well, it's okay. It's no problem. Why is that? Because we can't go to the world and get our standards from them. Right? It just doesn't work. But going back to this idea here, the Bible even talks about that. And I'll just show you this here real quick. Exodus chapter 28, look at verse number 40. It says this, And for Aaron's sons, thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles and bonnets, shalt thou make for them for glory and for beauty, and thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office. Verse 42, And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins, even unto the thighs they shall reach. Now you can leave your place there and go to Isaiah chapter number 47 real quick. Isaiah chapter number 47. And so he says, hey, you know, if the thigh is exposed, then guess what? You're naked. You cannot do the work of the priest. It is wrong. You cannot do that. And the Bible says, hey, that is nakedness, right? So this proves the fact that even the dictionary has it right. That nakedness is not just this idea of no clothing. It's actually just being exposed in that manner. Okay, and it's wrong. I'll show you something else here. This is important here. Isaiah 47, look at verse number one. So this is talking about the coming judgment of the nation of Babylon. Says this, 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. And if you're wondering why it says that there, we don't have a lot of time to get into it. But basically God used the Chaldeans. He used Babylon to correct Judah, to take them into captivity. And God is letting them know, hey, your pride has gone too far. The Persians are going to come in and wipe you out. But look at verse two. It says, take the millstones and grind meal. Uncover their locks. Make bare the leg. Uncover the thigh. Pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered. Yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance and I will not meet thee as a man. That is very interesting there. God is telling the Babylonians, hey, I'm going to make it just so your thigh is exposed, which is your nakedness, which is shame. It's shame, right? We are to be shame-faced, right? We are to be the opposite. We are not to glory in that. We are to make it a point to let the new man dictate the outward man's appearance, right? And by doing that, we're covering shame. And this applies physically, but it also applies spiritually here, okay? And so again, that, those, those two passages there, you got Exodus 28 and there's others, right? Isaiah 47, that just proves that being naked doesn't just mean no clothes. Everybody follow me? Everybody understand? Sounds good. Now going back there, you don't have to turn back to Isaiah. In fact, I'm going to have you guys go to Romans 14, but in Exodus 28, I've heard this a lot. You know, it says, make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even to the thighs. They shall reach. Now, here's where people get all caught up. Okay, well, how far down the thigh? Is it just the knee? What about an inch above the knee? Is that acceptable? What about two inches above the knee? Is that acceptable? Am I really that bad? Here's the thing. I'm not going to answer that question. I'm not going to get, I'm not going to let you get to rope me into that argument, especially not today, before we have a clear understanding of something here. First thing I want to ask is why are you asking that? Why would you ask that? Remember at this church, we push leadership through what? Through putting wisdom above what is right. You see, we want to stay away from this attitude. I'm going to say this a thousand times this year. Not that we have a problem, but I believe in this. I've seen this work. I know this works. We want to stay away from, I just want to be right. Because the reason why the person's asking that is solely for the reason to be right without being wrong. See, human nature, and I've said this before, we want to get as close to being right, I'm sorry, as close to being wrong as we can without being wrong. But when we let the inner man have the reign, and we're strengthening the inner man, we don't ask questions like that, because we're thinking, what can I do to not offend a brother? What can I do to not haunt a brother, a sister with my figure? Okay, and obviously I'm not smashing standards. We have them. We have all that stuff. We'll talk about it. We'll talk about why in a couple weeks. Okay, but for right now, I'm not going to answer that question. I want to push the inner man. I want to push what is wise versus what is just right. See, people call me sometimes, or they'll send a text message or their email, and they'll say, hey, and they want to pit these pastors against each other. Well, this pastor says that you could just do open breastfeeding in the service, and this one says you can't. Where do you stand? Because we're thinking about moving. I will not respond. I will not let you rope me into that kind of behavior, because at this church, we're going to push what is wise versus what is right. Let's say, well, what is wise? What do you think is wise to look at that? Look, you can open breastfeed right here. I'm not going to say nothing to you. I'm not even going to look. Do whatever you want, because at this church, we're going to teach you what is wise. See, people, well, I, you know, I'm going to come in, I'm just going to do that, because that's, that's the way I feel, and I'm right, and I'm not wrong, and you can't prove it. You know, we can battle back and forth, because it's not clear. I mean, we can go to Proverbs chapter 5, and talk about that for a moment. We can, we can go to other passages, and we can argue all day long, but it's not profitable. I want us, as a church, to think, what is my brother going to think about this? What is my sister in Christ going to think about this? Am I in any way, shape, or form, signaling pride? And I want you to think, you know what? Well, there are rooms available, right? There are places that you can go. We've designed this building to function in a way, to provide modesty. I want you to make the right decision. I want you to make the wise decision, rather. Does that make sense? So I'm not going to sit here and argue. You know, people do this all the time. Well, are you in this pastor's camp, or are you in this pastor's camp? Look, I'm not trying to like, lose friends. It's hard enough to make friends in this job. You know what I mean? And whatever they decide to do, that's great. I'm not offended. Do whatever you want. I trust them. These guys are all saved. They all have the Holy Ghost, but I will not be roped into this fight, and in this battle. We're going to push a culture here that says, hey, we are a church that will go above and beyond, whether it's right or not. Oh, you can't stop me from going to McDonald's. I'll do it. We don't want that attitude here. Especially the last time I went there. Especially the last time I went there. Right? So the point is, we want to go above and beyond. That's what wisdom says. Leadership says, hey, I don't even want to take the chance of making somebody uncomfortable. Because you could be right all day long. You can be right until the day you die. But are you wise? I'll say it a thousand times. I'll say it every week. I don't care. Until that becomes the law of the land. Romans chapter number 14. So we're going to start to wrap this up here and kind of build off of what I just said. All right, look down at verse number 13. Romans chapter number 14. Look at verse number 13. Says this, let us not therefore judge one another anymore, judge this rather than no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. Do you want to know what that is? That is wisdom. That is prudence. That is somebody who says, you know what? I'm going to conduct myself in a manner to where I don't offend a brother or sister in Christ. Now we can't but help to offend the world. It's going to happen. You walking down the street in a neighborhood with a King James Bible, offend the world. And amen, praise God, they can say whatever they want. We don't care. But when it comes to the brethren, you know, God cares deeply about how we function, about what we do, about the order of the services, about everything that goes on in his local congregation. And you know what needs to go on above everything is wisdom. Is this attitude of putting other people first. This idea that says, hey, I don't want to haunt somebody with something just because I can. Because you know what? It's not wise. It isn't wise. It doesn't produce leadership. It doesn't edify people. It doesn't build up. Look at verse number 14. I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean to him, it is unclean. So when somebody says, hey, I don't eat this. I don't drink this, whatever, you know, we shouldn't be like, well, the Bible says that we can and it does. Obviously, I'm not talking about drugs and alcohol. I'm just talking about normal foods or whatever. Okay, we are not to take it and rub it in the other person's face. Verse 15. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charity? Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died. Hey, we ought not to be a people that destroy each other just because we want to be right. It's not wise. It's not okay. Verse 16. Let not then your good be evil spoken of. Hey, let not your good right response. Well, I got this and I got that. Hey, don't let that destroy somebody else's life. And that's what these people do that want to call an email. Well, whose side are you on? Well, I'm not on your side. I can tell you that right now. I'm on both of their sides because I'm not going to make it an issue. That's ridiculous. It's stupid. And it's unbiblical. And you're not wise. Oh, but I've watched a thousand sermons. You're still an idiot. Verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteousness and peace and joy and the Holy Ghost. Go read Micah chapter 6 verse 8. What does God require of us? To walk justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. That is what this verse is saying right here. Verse 18. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God improvement. That is the goal. Now, of course, we want to be right. Of course, we want to teach standards. Of course, we're going to teach precepts and principles and all of these things. And we're going to exercise these things. But you know what? When it comes to the brethren, you know what we're going to do? We're going to be merciful. We're going to be loving. We're going to be kind. We're going to be a people that says, hey, we need to build this thing up so that we can continue to grow it. Because your time here on Earth is valuable. It's limited. It's precious. Don't throw it away by this stupid, ridiculous attitude. Well, I got to be right. I'm right. You're wrong. You might be right. But are you wise? Are you somebody who could look well to their going? I want to go to a different church. Look at verse 19. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another. This is not talking about the world. This is not saying we need to go out and say, hey, I know that the salvation message offends you and I just want to let you know that God loves you and he's happy with you and all dogs go to heaven. No, this passage that we are reading applies to those of us who are saved, who have the inner man, who have the capability to allow it. Understand me, to allow it to make the outward appearance. Acceptable before God and men. Now, I do want to leave you with another statement here. Turn to Hebrews 12. Almost done. I'm not sure if I'm original with this. I think it might be, I don't know. I tried to look it up on the internet and I couldn't find it. But it's just something, especially for ladies, okay? Somebody says, hey, what is one thing you could say to ladies to give them like a guiding principle to help them with dress or even guide? Both, okay? I would say this. The more flesh you show, the more eyeballs grow. The more flesh you show, the more eyeballs grow. It's a fact. Oh, but I'm going to church and all the dudes, no, dudes are dudes. And women are women. And the more flesh you show, the more figure you show, the bigger the eyeballs grow. This is fact. We all have a fallen nature that we walk around with every single day. And so I would say, let that be your guiding principle. Don't sit around and, oh, what about, how many inches is this? How many, no. The more flesh you show, the more eyeballs grow. Prove me wrong. I want somebody to prove me wrong. You say, well, were you supposed to wear a hijab and be like a Muslim? No, shut up. You stupid. It's not what I'm talking about. You know darn well what I'm talking about. If you let the inner man, if you allow him, if you allow him to dress you, to clothe you, to adorn you, if you're concerned with that, which you should be, everybody should be, and you allow the inner man to dictate the outward man's appearance, you're not going to have trouble. And yes, we'll teach you why we do these things. We'll teach you what is biblical. And we'll teach you the standards and give you verses and all of that. And you know what? Don't get caught up into that and saying, you know, this is the principle thing here. No, the principle thing is wisdom, okay? That's the principle thing. The other stuff is just to strengthen the inner man, to strengthen that and to actually show you. Because again, when people get saved, they don't know this. Somebody has to teach this stuff, okay? So again, the inner man needs to be responsible for the outward man's adorning, okay? And again, your clothing is important. It sends a message. But it really is only bottom line evidence of what's going on on the inside. Because it can be faked. People can put on the proper clothing and come in here and talk a certain way and deceive people. It happens every week in church somewhere in America. Now, I do want to leave you with this here. This is a vision that I have for this sermon here. And some motivation. Hebrews 12, look at verse 1. It says this, Wherefore seeing, we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Bible says there, and I believe this, that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. All eyes are on us. Not just down here, but I do believe in having the people are looking down. They know what we're doing. They know what we're about. Now, we don't know exactly how that looks, but this verse should sober you up a little bit. This verse should be motivation that, hey, we have to be a church that says, wait a second. We do have that capability to allow our inner man to be responsible for how the outward man looks. And it matters to God, right? But you know, we do have a cloud of witnesses every single day. We have a cloud of witnesses in here. We have a cloud of witnesses when we're out in the community, when we go to the store, when we go to work, when we go visit family. We have a cloud of witnesses and how you dress is honestly a reflection of your heart. Are you walking in the heart of the old man or the one of the new man? It's what it boils down to. It's very, very important to understand, you know, there's a war on lust, you know, and anytime the government wants to get involved in a war on something, it just increases, right? And so knowing that and understanding that should be motivation. Hey, we can actually do something. You know, we could fight all day long this war by how we dress. As long, don't miss it, as long as it's the inner man who's responsible for the outward man's adoring, okay? And if you have questions like, I still don't understand like how, you know, if this garment's modest or this thing's modest, you know, we'll get into that in greater detail in a couple weeks. But again, what's more important than that and what's going to make that come natural is allowing the inner man to be responsible for the outward man's appearance and understanding you have to strengthen that inner man, right? And another thing, like I said, again, we want to be wise versus just right. You know, the apostolics, for example, you know, they'll come up and they'll want to argue with you, you know, over the length of dresses. The Mennonites, well, you should have the little cap on your head, you know. Where's your Dixie plate? Where's your Dixie bowl cover? You don't have one, you're a modest because your hair is showing. Oh, we only pray with our hair, shut up. You're misinterpreting all that and you missed the boat completely and you're full of hypocrisy, you're blind and you're full of dead man's bones. So with that being said, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for the wisdom that we find every single week in your book. I just pray you help us to resonate with us, Lord. Please help us to apply to our lives. Please help build this church out to be a church that considers others before our own selves, Lord, that we may edify one another, build each other up to go out and...