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

and you should be equipped for your work and please do it for amen. Amen. OK, we're in Revelation chapter number three this morning. My apologies to those out in YouTube land. You guys don't know this, but the audio was really bad right now. Marcos was singing, and it was dubstep or something. He was singing, and then it was repeating his song or something like that. And then maybe he did it on purpose. Is that what it was? We got to figure it out, though, so just bear with us as we continue to work out the kinks in the live stream. Now we're in Revelation chapter number three, verse number 18. It says, 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 thine nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with thyself, that thou mayest see. And the title of this sermon this morning is The Shame of Thy Nakedness. The Shame of Thy Nakedness. Now, it goes without saying that nakedness and shame go hand in hand. I mean, that is pretty clear in the Bible. And shame is basically something that's considered to be dishonorable, improper. The Bible would use the word contempt to describe that which is shameful. And often in the word of God, it's always closely related to nakedness. Now, you don't have to turn. I'm going to read you a couple of scriptures. I'm going to go throughout the Bible here, but you can stay there in Revelation chapter 13. I'm going to read you from Revelation 16, verse 15. It says, behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Isaiah 47, verse 3 says, thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, I will not meet thee as a man. Nahum chapter 3, verse number 5, the Bible tells us, behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts. And I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. So over and over again, we see shame being used in tandem with nakedness there. And the Bible is very clear that when it's referring to nakedness it's not only talking about the privy parts of the human anatomy, but it even refers to the thighs, for example. Now, today in 2020, you have women and some even men who go out in public and they wear these daisy dukes or shorts and they're just showing off their thighs and they don't think that's naked, right? But hold on a second, we need to go according to the Bible. And biblically speaking, the Bible tells us that even when the thigh is exposed, it's referred to as nakedness in the eyes of God. Well, I don't think it's nakedness. Yeah, but who cares what you think? Let's see what God says. You know, God is the one who sets forth the rules and he states that nakedness is not only the privy members of the human anatomy, but it's also referring to the thighs as well. And the Bible tells us in Ezekiel chapter 28, verse 42, and now shall make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins, even unto the thighs they shall reach. So when the Bible talks about covering the nakedness, it covers the aspect of the loins, even unto the thighs, the Bible says, that is proof that the thighs are nakedness. Now that's not the sermon this morning, but I want to make that point there. Now, what is the solution to nakedness? Well, put some clothes on, amen. You know, put some clothes on, cover the nakedness. Don't be a savage today. Make sure that you're wearing clothing that is fit to cover your shame. Now, this goes all the way back to Genesis chapter three. We know that in Genesis, early in the book of Genesis, you have Adam and Eve, the first woman and the first man, and the Bible tells us that they are naked. And the reason that they are naked without shame is because of the fact that their eyes are not open. They have still retained their innocence. And it wasn't until Eve reached forth into the tree of knowledge of good and evil and took of the fruit, gave unto her husband. The Bible tells us that their eyes were open and they knew that they were naked, the Bible says. And what do they do? They decided to sow fig leaves together and make themselves aprons. You know, when the Bible talks about that their eyes were open, it's not referring to their physical eyes, but rather the eyes of their conscience. They finally understood that they were naked and because of that, they were ashamed. Now, what are they trying to do? They try to cover their nakedness with fig leaves, making an apron. Now, needless to say, that's not sufficient, right? An apron is not sufficient to cover the nakedness there. And what is this picturing? Well, it pictures the fact that, you know, when before salvation, when we come to the saving, excuse me, when the law slays us, when we recognize that we're sinners before God, you know, we're ashamed. And often what people do is they'll try to cover their sin. They're trying to cover their so-called nakedness by sowing these fig leaves together, aprons, what we would call our righteousness, right? They try to cover their wicked deeds by doing good works, by, you know, keeping the laws of God, by fulfilling the deeds of the law. But what is that likened unto? It's likened unto an apron. In other words, it doesn't cover much, okay? And in fact, if we were to take a literal interpretation, it doesn't cover anything, because not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. And the Bible tells us in Isaiah 64, verse six, but we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. It goes on to say, and we all do fade as a what? A leaf, you know, like a fig leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. So what was the solution for Adam and Eve? It wasn't the fig leaves being sown together to make an apron. What was the solution? The solution was that God had to kill an animal and give them coats of skin, right, to cover their shame. And we know that that is symbolically representing the Lamb of God who was slain before the foundation of the world, the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world. Jesus Christ was slain on the cross in order to pay for our sins. He resurrected in order to cover our shame. With what? With his own righteousness. So he took upon himself our shame. He took upon ourselves on himself our shame and our sin, and he imputed unto us his righteousness, of course, once we believe on him. We need the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And so there is a physical commandment that God gives that we should cover our nakedness, but it's also symbolically representing the fact that we should also cover our shame, spiritually speaking, as well. Not with physical clothing, but with spiritual. And it all begins with what? Begins with salvation, right? Now, how do we apply this to what we just read in Revelation chapter three? Well, I want to give you the spiritual application here to shame, nakedness, and clothing. In Revelation chapter three, you have the letters being written to the seven churches which are in Asia. And many people maybe are not familiar with every single individual church there, but one church that for sure a lot of people know about is the Laodicean church, right? And the reason for that is because of the fact that it's the condemnation that God gives to Laodicea that makes them stand out. What is the condemnation? That they're lukewarm. And in fact, look at verse 14. It says, and unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that thou were cold or hot. So then because thou are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. So the main thing that he tells them is this. The main criticism that he has is that they're just lukewarm Christians. It's a lukewarm church. What does it mean to be lukewarm? Someone who's lukewarm basically lacks enthusiasm, right? They lack enthusiasm. They lack zeal, excitement for the things of God. And look, folks, it's important that we do what we do because we're supposed to do it, but God also wants us to do it with the right attitude, right? And the attitude that God wants us to have is a zealous enthusiastic attitude when we serve the Lord. Why? Because first of all, serving God is exciting, amen? But not only that, you're a poor testimony when you live the Christian life murmuring and complaining and unenthusiastic and without zeal. That's a bad testimony. God expects for us to be enthusiastic and zealous about the things of God, not to be lukewarm. You have these churches today that are lukewarm churches. You go into one of the services, the singing is dead, the preaching is dead as last year's Christmas tree. There's no enthusiasm, there's no zeal, there's no excitement for the things of God. And it's a dying church. It lacks loving the Lord with all their what? Strength. You know, we as a church not only wanna be right doctrinally, we wanna be right in our disposition as well, that we would be zealous and enthusiastic, not a lukewarm church. We wanna be on fire, okay, for God. Now, I'm gonna come back to that point in just a bit. Now think about this, in Ephesians chapter six, the Bible tells us that we are to take upon ourselves the whole armor of God that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. And it gives us specific articles of weaponry and clothing that we need to have upon ourselves, right? We need to gird our loins with truth, have the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith that we may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. The Bible tells us to take the helmet of salvation, to shot our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, to have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Well, Ephesians six, when it describes this armor of God, it's partially referencing Isaiah 59. And in Isaiah 59 verse 17, it tells us this, for he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation upon his head. And he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. So what does it tell us here? It tells us that God, he clothes himself because the word clad is the past tense of clothes. He clothes himself with what? With zeal. And in like manner, we as Christians should also put on the garments of vengeance, you know, to revenge all disobedience when our obedience is fulfilled, the Bible says. But in like manner, we're supposed to be clad with zeal, put on the clothing of enthusiasm, excitement, zeal, passion, et cetera. Says he's clad with zeal as a cloak. Now, look at verse 18 in Revelation three, in light of that. That's why he tells them at the latter end, he says, and that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. Anoint thine eyes with eyes of that thou mayest see. So what is the shame of their nakedness referring to here? Their lack of zeal, their lack of excitement. And you know what God says? That's shameful. You know, when God looks at a Christian or a church that they're not on fire, they're cold, they're not excited about the things of God. He says, that's as if you were naked. That's shameful. What you need to do is be clothed that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, okay? You can see why he's giving the church at Laodicea such a strong condemnation, because they were not being clothed, they were not being clad with zeal. You know, the fact that they were lukewarm, testified to the shame of their nakedness. And look folks, we as a church, we want to make sure we keep that excitement, right? We want to make sure we keep that excitement, that zeal, that passion for the things of God. Hey, when you come to church, or if you're watching at home, you know, when we sing, don't sing like some dead Christian Presbyterian Methodist. You should sing out loud. He said, well, I don't have a good voice. Then make a joyful noise, right? You should be excited over the things of God. And I'm not saying have this superficial excitement, this camp meeting type of excitement where you're hooting and hollering, and this Pentecostal type feely thing going on with the charismatic movement. I'm talking about a genuine zeal that is excited about the things of God, okay? Now, God will often describe virtues, you know, the virtues that he wants us to have as articles of clothing, right? You see that throughout the Bible. And the thought behind this is that just as we put on articles of clothing on every day to cover our shame, obviously there's other reasons why, you know, we're trying to protect ourselves from the elements of this world and whatnot. But just as we put on articles of clothing on every day in order to cover our shame in like manner, we are to put on these virtues every day to cover what? Our flesh, right? You know, people put on articles of clothing to cover their flesh. Well, isn't it interesting that the Bible refers to our old man as what? As the flesh, right? And so when we walk in the spirit, we're not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. When we are filled with the spirit, we're actually covering the shame of what? Our flesh. You say, why is that? Well, because of the fact that our flesh is shameful folks. You know, your old man is shameful, right? It does shameful things. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It desires the things of this world. It desires that which is contrary to the spirit. The Bible tells us that the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. So what is the solution? You gotta cover your shame. You gotta cover your flesh with what? With the virtues of God, right? The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians, go with me if you would to 1 Peter chapter five, I'm gonna read to you from 1 Thessalonians chapter number five, verse number eight. It says, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet of the hope of salvation. You know, if you ever run into a drunkard, they have zero shame, right? Someone who is just completely drunk, they're completely inebriated, they say stupid things, they do stupid things, they just act like a fool because they have no shame. But you know what, to everyone else, they see their shame. You know, they're able to just urinate on themselves with no shame, but what? They become an embarrassment to everyone who is observing them, why? Because it's a shameful thing to be drunk. And it tells us here, let us who are of the day be sober. Well, how do we do that? By putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. So spiritually speaking, you know, when a Christian is not vigilant, they're not sober, they're not watching unto prayer, it's a shameful thing. When they're not able to open their eyes to behold the wondrous things out of the law of God, they don't understand the Bible, they're not vigilant, they're just kind of living carelessly, you know, whereas Satan as a roaring lion, he seeks whom he may devour. You know, Christians who are not sober, they're basically like drunkards. And what is that? That's a shameful thing to do. Look at 1 Peter 5, verse 5, it says, "'Likewise, younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, "'yea, all of you be subject one to another, "'and be clothed with," what? "'humility, for God resists the proud "'and giveth grace to the humble.'" You know, the flesh, the old man is a very prideful man. Okay, I mean, the flesh is prideful, it's arrogant, it doesn't want to be subject to the law of God, doesn't believe it needs God, you know, whereas what does God tell us when we have this new nature? He wants us to be clothed with humility. No one is naturally humble. You're like, well, I'm humble, you know, I think I'm pretty humble. Well, you just showed your lack thereof, okay? Because the Bible tells us that we need to be clothed with humility, and that means that we have to make the conscientious decision each and every day to put on that cloak of humility and recognize that if you are successful, if you have been permitted to prosper, it's because of God and others, right? Well, it's by my might and by my strength and by my wisdom, you have the wisdom that God gave you. Well, it's by my character, you have the character that your parents instilled in you. You see, humility is recognizing that God and others are responsible for your successes and your prosperity. Now, obviously, we have to do our part, but at the end of the day, you know, the abilities and the gifts that we are given are given to us by God, and so we need to make sure that we're being clothed with humility. It refers to it as an article of clothing. I mean, think about this. You know, when a baby is born, what did Job say? Naked came I out out of my mother's womb, right? Naked shall I return. So when a baby is born, it doesn't come fully clothed. You know, it doesn't have like a onesie, it doesn't come with a diaper, it doesn't come, it just comes out just naked, right? Well, you think about the Christian life, you know, when someone gets saved in like manner, spiritually speaking, okay, you know, they basically, when they're born again, they're basically naked. You say, what do you mean? What I mean is that they have not yet acquired the virtues that are available to them. You know, the virtues of humility, the virtues of joy, the virtues of discipline, the virtues of charity, all these virtues that they need to place upon themselves, they don't really come with those things. They're born again, they trusted Christ as their savior, but you know what, every Christian, every person who gets saved, they don't come with batteries included, right? They don't come already just knowing what to do, already hating sin and loving righteousness and just doing right and not incapable of doing any wrong. No, these are things that they need to learn, right? And in fact, a baby has a mom and dad who is capable of clothing them and changing their diapers and taking care of them. And in like manner, it's the same thing spiritually speaking, okay? So the flesh represents shame. The flesh is the shameful part of our being, the part that, you know, does not want to be subject to the law of God. And I mean, Paul the apostle said this, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing, for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. You say, what are you trying to say, pastor? What I'm saying is this, is that when we walk in the flesh, it's like being spiritually naked. You know, if you ever have a conversation with the fleshly Christian, they just kind of are spouting out their shame, right? Because when a Christian is in the flesh, you know, they basically utter all their mind. They let you know exactly what's on their mind and they just don't have a filter or they're just not walking in the spirit. They're not producing the fruit of the spirit or excuse me, the spirit is not producing fruit in their lives because of the fact that they're walking in the flesh. And typically their behavior becomes shameful. I mean, we all know of someone who backslid, went into the world, and now they're involved in shameful activities, right? Because that is exactly what the works of the flesh will do, that's what it will manifest. The shame of the nakedness is exposed when we as Christians begin to walk in the flesh. Now let's look at a couple of examples of this. Go to Mark chapter 14, if you would. Mark chapter 14. Mark chapter number 14. Here in Mark chapter 14, Jesus is about to be arrested in order to be taken, to be tried, to be scourged, to be crucified. And we see that he is with his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane. It says in verse 48, and Jesus answered and said unto them, you know, they come out to arrest him and says, are you come out as against the thief with swords and with staves to take me? I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you took me not, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. And they all forsook him and fled. So picture this, what do we have? We have Jesus with his disciples. They're there with them during this tribulation that he's going through. They come to arrest him, persecution arises because of the word, literally, because of Jesus. And what happens? They all forsake him. They just run. They just coward away and they run, right? Look what it says in verse 51. And there followed him, a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body. And the young man laid hold on him, and he left a linen cloth and fled from them naked. Now someone actually in our church pointed this scripture out to me, and they were just asking like, what does this mean? And originally I just thought to myself, well, it just looks like he has clothes on. And in the midst of struggle, kind of what Joseph, where he just leaves his coat, they just kind of yank the linen cloth off of him. He just takes off running, which that's possibly what have happened here. But I believe there's a spiritual application to this. And the spiritual application to this is that, notice in verse 51, that the young man who's following him has a linen cloth cast about his body. Why? When we follow the Lord, we're walking in the spirit, we're clothed with boldness. We're clothed with confidence. We're clothed with faith, right? But when they lay hold on him, when persecution comes to him, what happens? He leaves the linen cloth and he flees from them naked. So what is the application here? The application is this, when we're following the Lord, we're reading our Bibles, we're walking in the spirit, what are we doing? We're being clothed with that linen cloth of righteousness, so to speak, right? And it's cast about our naked body, it's covering our shame. Whereas when someone becomes fearful, the Bible says the wicked flee when no man pursue it, but the righteous are bold as a lion, the Bible says. God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. The flesh is always fearful. The flesh never has faith. The flesh is never confident. The flesh is never bold. The flesh is shameful, and what do we see? As soon as they lay hold on him, he just leaves his linen cloth and he goes taken off, naked as a bluebird, what does it say, blue jay or something. I mean, that's kind of embarrassing. We're, he had to run home like that. He just takes off into the woods, and he just, he doesn't care. Shameful, right? But it's a great depiction of the Christian who, when they're following the Lord, they just put on the articles of clothing of boldness and confidence, but you know what? If you're not rooted in the word of God, you can endure for a little bit, but when persecution becomes because of the word, when that arises, they flee, they fall away, they get away from God. They take off the articles of clothing, and they're once again, naked, spiritually speaking. They are exposing their shame. I mean, haven't you met people that like, when they start preaching the gospel, or when they're serving the Lord, they have a boldness about them, right? It's just like, wow, this person is filled with the spirit. They're bold in the Lord, but you know what? That same person is susceptible to becoming a shameful Christian if they don't continuously work on putting on those articles of humility and boldness and confidence in being spirit filled. You can flee away naked, showing your shame to everyone, okay, and it is a shameful thing to depart from the Lord, right? Yep. You know, the Bible says, you know, if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. You know, the just shall walk by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him, and look, any Christian who's backslidden can testify to this. They know they're not living right. They feel ashamed. They feel like they're not right with God, and look, you run into a Christian who's backslidden, and you're serving the Lord. You guys run into each other at the grocery store or at the gas station. They kind of have a look upon them that they're like ashamed for you to even see them. They're just like, oh, hey, how's it going? Yeah, you know, it's going good. Well, what is that? It's shame, because they know they're not serving God. You say, well, what if I run into someone, and they're just not ashamed at all? It looks like they're completely prospering, and they don't even like act like a Christian. Well, here's the thing. One of two things. Either one, they're just lying to you. They're trying to make it. They're putting it on a front to make it seem as though everything's just hunky-dory, and everything's fine, but in actuality, their life is just falling apart, or two, they're not even saved. Why? Because the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter number 12 that God chastens those whom he loves and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. You see, we can't get away from God without God, who is our Heavenly Father, chastising us and punishing us, okay? And so it is a shameful thing. And notice that like spiritually speaking, or physically speaking, anytime a person backslides, the less articles of clothing they actually start wearing. Ladies, they're wearing their long dresses. They look just like a fundamental Baptist, but as soon as they get out of church, they stay out for a certain time, the clothing begins to change. The miniskirts begin to come on. The daisy dukes come on. The articles of clothing begin to shed away, and they begin to put on that which is shameful. Why? Because they're not walking in the spirit. But even more damaging than that is the fact that they're, or the reason for that, should I say, is because of the fact that they're not putting on the spiritual clothing. Because more important than the physical clothing is the spiritual clothing. And if you put on the right spiritual clothing, guess what? You're gonna put on the right physical clothing as well. You know, it'll make manifest itself in your personal life. Go to John chapter 21, if you would. John chapter 21. John chapter 21. So what's the principle we learned from Mark chapter 14? Hey, you know, when you're following the Lord, the linen cloth is about you. You'll follow the Lord with us wherever he goes. You know, you'll read your Bible, you'll pray, you'll preach the gospel. You do that which is pleasing in his sight. And you're covering the shame of your nakedness. But once you become fearful, once you lack boldness, once you're no longer filled with the spirit, you'll cast that away. And some people will say, yeah, basically what you're saying is that they lose their salvation, right? No, I'm not. Because the Bible tells us that the article of clothing known as righteousness is upon us at all times, right? So that when we die, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And we'll get into it in just a little bit. But the Bible tells us that we desire to be clothed with our heavenly body, right? And once we die and we shed this carnal body, we will put on a celestial body one day, okay? Look at John chapter 21, verse number one. Now, who would you say is one of the most zealous disciples of Jesus? I would say it's Peter, right? Obviously you have the sons of thunder and that's possibly a title of them because of their zeal. But I would say one of the most zealous disciples of Jesus was the apostle Peter. He always put his foot in his mouth, but he was willing to die with Jesus. And he was one of those people who have like really high highs. When he's serving the Lord, he's just all in and just, Lord, I'll go with you into prison and even unto death. But you know what? These same people, when they have high highs, they also have low lows. So when they're serving God, it's just like 100% in. But once they begin to backslide or they begin to draw back, they have really low lows, okay? And this is kind of how Peter is. Because Peter prior to this, I mean, he's serving God. He's out there, he's preaching the gospel, he's doing right. But what happens? Jesus dies and he backslides. And what does he do? He goes fishing, okay? So he goes back to his former job and he begins to go fish. So at one time he was what? A fisher of men. But now he's just actually fishing for regular fish. In fact, that's how he started off, right? He started off as fishing for fish. Jesus came and said, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. He became a great soul winner, making a difference for all of eternity. His story is pinned down in the Bible, but then what happens? Jesus dies and Peter backslides. He goes back fishing again. Look at verse one, it says, after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberius. And on this wise showed he himself. There were together Simon Peter and Thomas called Didymus and Nathanael of Cain of Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, I go fishing. And they say to him, we also go with thee. By the way, what's the principle there? You never backslide alone, right? Anytime you decide to draw back, to go back into the world, you always take someone with you. So why not me? I don't have any influence. Well, let me say this. If you're a dad, you have a bunch of influence, influence over your wife, influence over your children. And if you decide to draw back and to just become a lukewarm Christian and you said, well, I'm just doing this for me, but I want my kids to serve the Lord. Your kids are gonna do exactly what you're doing. If you're some lukewarm, lame Christian, everything produces itself after its own kind. You will produce a family that is lukewarm. If you decide to go fishing, people will join you as well. And that's what we see. Peter was a man of influence, right? Because when he even told the Lord, he said, I will go with thee even into prison, even unto death. The Bible tells us, likewise said the other disciples. He was a leader. And in fact, prior to this, in the garden of Gethsemane, when they were supposed to be watching and praying as Jesus went to go pray unto his father, he would come back and he didn't rebuke all the disciples. Who did he rebuke? Peter. He said, couldn't thou watch with me for one hour? Why is he rebuking Peter? Because he was like the leader. So he had the influence to lead them in righteousness. But we see here that when he backslides, he takes the disciples with him as well. I go fishing, they're like, we're gonna go with you. You never backslide alone, okay? And look, there's many motives that we should have for serving God, right? The love of Christ should constrain us. We should serve the Lord because we love the word of God, because we love the Lord, because we wanna see people saved. But one of the great motivations to stay in the will of God is for the sake of others, because others are watching you. Others are basically, they're using, they see your example and they're going according to your example. So in times of discouragement, when you feel like, well, I'm not gonna do this Christian thing anymore, I just wanna go back to the world. Well, keep in mind that you're not gonna go alone. You might even take someone from church with you, right? It says here in verse number, verse three, he says, Simon Peter saith unto him, I go fishing. They say unto him, we also go with thee. They went forth and entered into a ship immediately, and that night they caught nothing. So prior to this, before they were saved, they were prospering in their business. Now it's like they backslide and they're expecting to go fishing and they don't catch anything at all. Now what's the principle there? When you backslide, you're going back to nothing. Well, I'm just gonna start working on Sundays and I'm just gonna start trying to make money and get out of church and just kind of do my own thing, because I'm trying to become a millionaire. Well, guess what? That night, you will catch nothing. Why is that? You never prosper outside of the will of God. You never prosper outside of the will of God. This book of the law shall not depart out of their mouth, but thou shall meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shall make that way prosperous, and then thou shall have good success. You see, all of us want to prosper and have good success, but some people, when they backslide, they think they can find it in the world. No, you're gonna be like Peter and his disciples and the disciples here, that they're gonna labor all night, they're not gonna catch anything, okay? Verse four, but when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. This is Jesus, of course, after his resurrection. It says, then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw for the multitude of fishes. Man, so many principles just in the scripture alone. You know, if you wanna prosper, even, for example, in your secular job, really, you can only prosper by God's blessing, right? It's only when God's hand is on it. I mean, did they change necessarily where they were fishing? During the same water, it wasn't until Jesus gave the word that they were able to enclose a great multitude of fishes. You know, what does it show us? You know, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you. So, well, you know, we're going through such a tumultuous time right now. I'm not working, okay, here's what you gotta do. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things shall be added unto you. Yeah, but that's, I mean, that's easy for you to say. You don't have my kind of bills. Oh, I didn't say I was gonna pay your bills. I didn't say that. God's gonna pay your bills. And look, folks, I don't see a caveat in Matthew chapter six, where it says, seek ye first the kingdom of God, and these things shall be added unto you, unless there's a COVID-19 epidemic going on. Then you're on your own. You know, unless there's this pandemic going on, and, you know, jobs are stopping, you know, at that point, you're on your own. No, folks, you know, God owns a cattle on 1000 Hill. He owns all the silver and gold, and the truth still remains. If you seek God and his righteousness, these things shall be added unto you. Right. But if you wanna murmur and complain and just whine and dispute, then guess what? You're gonna be like Peter. You're gonna be like the other disciples. You're gonna cast your name. You're gonna catch nothing. Hey, look, folks, why don't we just seek out God? Why don't you take advantage of this time to draw nigh unto the Lord, and have him add unto you that which is necessary to enclose a great multitude of fishes, even to the point they weren't even able to draw it in. I mean, God can prosper you in such a way that he can give you over and above, abundantly over, above all that we can ask or think, exceedingly above all that we can ask or think. You know, Jesus says unto them, children, have you any meaning? They're like, no. First of all, we don't have meat to give you. We don't have meat to give ourselves, let alone another person, right? And he's like, well, cast it somewhere else and then enclose a greater multitude of fishes. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, I mean, as close as Jesus and he knew where the fish were. Jesus can multiply the fishes if you wanted to. Jesus can make money grow on trees if you wanted to. If you wanted to. Jesus can cause the ravens to come and feed you food if you wanted to. But you know what? He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea tossed to and fro. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. Well, you know, not for me. Oh yeah, yeah, you're right, not for you. Because the fact that you're even doubting shows that you're not even worthy to see miracles like that. God only provides for those people who are willing to believe. But the Bible says, I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor seed begging bread. I mean, do we believe it? All right, let's get into the rest of the scripture. Back to the sermon here, verse seven. Therefore, that disciple whom Jesus loves saith unto Peter, it is the Lord. You know, because they start seeing his works and they're like, oh man, that's Jesus. Because Jesus is the only one who could do something like that, right? It is the Lord. Now look what it says. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girded his fisher's coat unto him, for he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea. Folks, that's not there by accident. You know, I remember reading this, even as a new Christian, I'm like, dude, seriously, you're fishing naked? Like, that's kind of weird. Now, I personally believe that he's not fully naked. What I would say is that he's probably exposing his thighs. That's what I would say, okay? You know, he's probably has his loins girt about, but he's probably exposing his thighs. He's out there in the middle of the water, fishing, probably not thinking that anyone's watching, and he's backslidden. So he's backslidden, he's not serving God. So he's just kind of being like a hippie, you know, just kind of like not wearing the articles of clothing. But you know what? As soon as he sees the Lord on the shore, he's like, it's time to put some clothes on. And notice that it says he girded his what? Fisher's coat on. Well, what were you doing before that? He was fishing. But his fisher's coat is symbolically representing it's time to go fish for men, right? And is it any coincidence that later on, we see him giving the great commission to the disciples, we see that he tells Peter to feed his sheep, feed his lamb, right? So he girds his fisher's coat on him for he was naked. Why was he naked? Because he was backslidden. He was in the flesh. He was trying to consume his own desires. Or excuse me, he wanted certain things consuming upon his own lust, okay? He wasn't serving God. He was outside of the will of God doing his own thing. And therefore he was not only physically naked, spiritually naked as well. It wasn't until Jesus came, did a miracle, that he got right with God and he girded on his fisher's coat on him for he was naked. And the Bible says that he cast himself into the sea. Good old fashioned Peter right there. I mean, who's the only, who are the only two people in history who have ever walked on water? Jesus and Peter. The only people who have ever walked on water, right? And we see that later on here, he cast himself into the sea once again. I mean, John, he's like, I'm just gonna take the boat. And he just kind of like rose himself back. Peter is just swimming out there. He's drawing nigh unto the Lord is what he's doing, right? And so what is this symbolically representing? Well, what this represents here is that, you know, when you're backsliding, you're doing your own thing. But as soon as you draw nigh unto God, once you see the Lord, spiritually speaking, I'm not saying like you'll actually see him, but I'm talking about you start seeing him through his word. You start reading the Bible, you pray, you're walking in the spirit. You know, girding on clothing includes girding on your fisher's coat, right? What does that mean? Now walking in the spirit, you're not just living a life of virtue, but you're also living a life that's winning other people to Christ. You're conscious of souls. You recognize there's lost people. You know, when you're backsliding, when you're in the flesh, you live a very selfish life. You can go about your day, run into multitudes of people and not even come across, you know, the fact that they're unsaved, they're going to hell. Whereas when you're in the spirit, right, and you gird upon your fisher's coat on you, you start recognizing, man, I need to start fishing for some men. My neighbor needs the gospel. My friend needs the gospel. My family members need the gospel. You become, you start thinking upon the people you need to win to Christ, okay? But hey, isn't it a shameful thing what Peter was doing? Wasn't it a shame that he did not have his fisher's coat on? You know, what does the Bible say? For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of God and to salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. I mean, think about this. What are some of the reasons why people don't preach the gospel? Because they're ashamed of the testimony of the Lord. They're ashamed of maybe even being a Christian, what people might think of them. They're ashamed of, they're embarrassed of what their friends or their family might think of them. It's like, what in the world? Have you become some Bible Billy, some spiritual Susie where you're just like, you know, now you're a church boy, huh? Oh, you're a church boy. And so that fear causes them to take off their fisher's coat, okay? But look folks, following Jesus includes preaching the gospel, seeing people say it, right? Like, yeah, but now, you know, we're kind of restricted from doing that. Who says you're restricted? You're placing those restrictions upon yourself. I mean, folks, going door to door is not the only kind of Sony you can do, you know that, right? I mean, Sony at the grocery store, Sony at the gas station, Sony when you're taking a walk, just being conscious of people who are around you. I mean, that's the kind of Sony we need to be doing all the time anyways, right? Not just door to door, you know, going door to door is not just a nine to five or just, you know, one to two hour ordeal that you're doing. You know, we should be conscious of souls all the time. We should gird on our fisher's coat at all times, okay? The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1.18, be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God. The Bible says, awake to righteousness and sin not, for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. This is referring to people who don't have their fisher's coat about them, okay? Go to, go with me if you would to, let's see here. Go to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. I'm gonna skip some things here. You know, we live in a society today where the shame of nakedness is actually glorified and glamorized, it's not something that is shameful. You know, but the Bible tells us what fruit had even in those things were of now, you're now ashamed, right? And so the things that maybe didn't shame you before when you became a Christian, they should shame you now, okay? You should be ashamed of those things. We should be ashamed of those things. So what is the solution to the spiritual nakedness? Well, as I mentioned, number one, put on Christ, right? The Bible says in Romans 13, verse 14, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. You know, just as every morning you wake up and you change your clothes, hopefully, unless you're like some sort of like couch potato bum, you know, and you just like, you just stay in your pajamas all day long. You know, typically normal people change their clothes, right, unless you sleep in your clothes that you're going to work with, is you don't feel like doing that in the morning. Those are the exceptions, right? What I'm saying is this, is you change. Well, in like manner, when you wake up in the morning, spiritually speaking, we need to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Hey, when you come to church, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, folks, I met people who come to our church and yeah, they're presently in church, but they have not put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's written all over, you say, how do you know? Because they behave shamefully. They behave with shame. You know, we as Christians, as soon as we wake up, you know, as you're laying in your bed, commune with God upon your bed and put on Christ. Say, Lord, help me to walk in the spirit that I may not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Fill me with your power, fill me with your spirit. Lead me today to do that which is right in your eyes, right? We need to put on Christ instead of putting on Bruce Mejia. Put on Christ instead of putting Marcos Sanchez, instead of putting on Ulysses Hernandez, instead of putting on whoever you are, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you know. Crucify your flesh with the affections and lusts and put on the Lord. The Bible says, but ye have not so learned Christ, if so be the have heard him and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, the put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt, according to the deceitful lust and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness, the Bible says. You know, we need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. And obviously when you put on the Lord in the morning, it doesn't mean that at noon, you'll still be, you'll still have that article of clothing on. How many of you like change multiple times in a day? Okay, I do that. I have this thing where it's just like, the morning close, the noon close, and then the evening close, okay. And you know, in like manner, we need to continuously put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because wouldn't you say that it's really easy to just get into the flesh, right? I mean, it's not like you put on the Lord Jesus Christ, you walk outside your door, you get into your car, and then someone cuts you off and you're just still in the spirit, you know. Someone flips you off on the freeway or whatever, or they turn into your lane without, you know, apparently their signals don't work, or they do, but they just don't use it and they just cut you off. And then you're just gonna be in the spirit. No, it's like at that point, you're getting in the flesh. And guess what? You gotta remind yourself, man, I gotta walk in the spirit. I gotta walk in the spirit. You know, some people have a hard time recognizing whether they're in the spirit. Like, how do I know if I'm in the spirit? How do I know that I'm walking in the spirit? Well, this is how you know if you are in the spirit, if you're conscious of being in the spirit. Because we don't like subconsciously, we're not subconsciously in the spirit. Sometimes we have to know that we're doing, right? So therefore, it's a recognition, I'm in the flesh, I need to walk in the spirit. Lord, fill me with your spirit, help me to walk in the spirit. And at that point, you know you're in the spirit. And look, when you're in the spirit, the Bible tells us that the fruit of the spirit is produced in our life, not fruits, fruit. So all that fruit that we see in Galatians chapter number five automatically at once become manifest in our lives at whatever interval of our life we're in at that point. You know, for example, you get cut off on the freeway and you walk in the spirit. What is that virtue that you immediately need? Peace, right? Joy, you know, you get in an argument with your wife. I mean, not argument, you discuss something loudly with your wife, right? And you get in the flesh, you walk in the spirit, you say, Lord, fill me with your spirit. And what do you have? Long suffering, love, right? And so we need to make sure that we're putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Go to Colossians chapter number three. Colossians three and verse number nine. But keep in mind that when you put on Christ, you have to put off certain things, right? So that's another way that you know that you're walking in the spirit because the Bible tells us in Ephesians four, you're in Colossians three, I'm gonna read to you from Ephesians four, put on the new man, which after God has created and righteousness and true holiness, wherefore putting away lying. Speak every man truth with his neighbor for we are members of one of another. Be angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil. So we know we're in the spirit when we're putting off the works of the flesh. We're not doing things that we know are displeasing unto the Lord. At that point, we're in the spirit, right? It tells us in Colossians chapter three, verse nine, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Now go with me if you would to Hebrew chapter 12, and this will be the last scripture that we go to. So what do we do about our nakedness? Well, we got to put on Jesus Christ. And here's a simple point, okay? We just need to despise the shame. Some people just embrace the shame. They're shameful, they know it and they love it. That ought not to be said of Christians, right? You know, some people are just like, I'm shameful and I can care less, who knows it, this is who I am. Well, that is shameful folks. Have some spiritual dignity about yourself. And how do you do that? You despise the shame. Let me read to you from Romans chapter seven. But I see another law in my members worn against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, the Bible says. So what's Paul saying about his own flesh? Oh, wretched man that I am. He despises the shame of his flesh. To the poor he's saying this is wretched, okay? And this is the attitude we need to have. I'm not talking about like self hate, okay? So I hate myself, I wish I were just dead. You know, that's not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to the fact that we should hate the old man. Hate the flesh, despise the shame. And look, when Jesus was crucified on the cross, his shame was exposed, so to speak, right? Because we see that they parted his garments, they cast lots for his garments that were parted. But what does the Bible say in Hebrews 12 verse two? Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. What shame was he was he despising? The shame, our shame that was placed upon him. Because the Bible says that he had made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, the Bible says. But you know what? He despised that shame, okay? The Bible says in Romans 8 three, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. So we as Christians should not glorify, glamorize the shame of the flesh, but rather condemn it, but rather despise it. And this is not sinless perfection because there's gonna be times when we fail, we go out of the spirit, we're walking in the flesh, we do things that are not pleasing unto the Lord. But you know what? It should not be that we glamorize it. It should not be that we glorify it, but rather we should just despise it, okay? I said that was the last scripture, but I was in the flesh and I lied, okay? So go to 2 Corinthians chapter five. But don't worry, I'm putting away lying right now and I'm walking in the spirit. See how fast that was? See how you can just kind of go between, okay? This is the last scripture, okay? See, I'm telling the truth, you know? I'm speaking truth with my neighbor right now, all right? So we should put on Jesus Christ, we should despise the shame, and then lastly, we should desire to be clothed upon. With what? Look at 2 Corinthians five verse one. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. What does that mean? You know, the longer we're on this earth as Christians should cause us to long for heaven, right? Should cause us to long for that which is eternal. Too many people got their stakes down deep in this world, where it's just like they live here as though they're going to be here forever, you know? We should loosely hold the things of this world and what will help us to do that is to long for that which we're going to be clothed upon when we go to heaven. You know, there's going to be a time where we're not battling the old man. We're no longer going to be ashamed, right? And what I mean by that is we're no longer going to have the flesh because flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And so that's something that we should look forward to, right? So what's the sermon this morning? It's just a simple reminder that, hey, during these times, we need to make sure we're walking in the spirit. And when you're out of the spirit, when you're in the flesh, you need to jump right back in and be clothed upon with humility, clothed upon with peace, clothed upon with righteousness, clothed upon with the Lord Jesus Christ, you know? And don't be a fleshly carnal Christian who's just not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Don't be like the disciple who just cast away his linen cloth and just goes out into the world naked, spiritually speaking, just showing off their shame. Don't be like Peter, who when he just backslides and he takes off his Fisher's coat. No, maybe there's someone in here today, you know, you're that person, you know, where you're spiritually naked, so to speak. It's time to put on that Fisher's coat again, amen? And be conscious of the people that we need to win to Christ, whether it's our neighbors, it's our friends, it's our family. We need to make sure that we recognize the shame of our nakedness and desire to cover it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word and thank you so much for this truth, Lord. And I pray, God, as your people, that we would continually be clothed upon and we would remind ourselves to do so, Lord, with the new man. Help us to put on that new man and to be mindful of that. And Lord, we're thankful for this clear concept in the Bible of the old man and the new man. And Lord, the shame of our spiritual nakedness, but also the glory of the new man. I pray, God, that you'd help us to continue to walk in the spirit, to not fulfill the lust of the flesh, but that you would clothe us with power and might and strength, Lord, and boldness and confidence. Lord, we love you so much and we thank you. Bless us as we go on our way. In Jesus' name.