1 Timothy 2, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning of verse 9 where the Bible reads, “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, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works.” What I want to preach about this morning is the subject of women’s clothing choices, women’s clothing.
Now, you say, “Why would you preach on that? Especially, why would you direct it at women?” There are certain sins that men struggle with more than women and there are other sins that women tend to struggle with more than men simply because men and women are different. That’s why this scripture specifically addresses women’s clothing, without mention to men’s clothing. As I preach this morning, the points that I make also apply on to men’s clothing because the same principles are there but God seems to direct this more at women simply because this is something that more women are in sin in this subject. Again, men have other things that they struggle with. This is something that women struggle to get right.
That’s why if we were to walk outside these doors and after you’ve heard what the Bible says about our clothing, if we were to walk out these doors, you’ll see that there are way more women dressed inappropriately than there are men dressed inappropriately. That’s just the fact of the matter. That’s the reason for the emphasis this morning.
Now, if you would flip over. Keep your finger there in 1 Timothy but flip over to Matthew 23 because there are some that would say that we shouldn’t preach on clothing, we shouldn’t put any emphasis upon the outward appearance. It’s only the heart that matters but the problem with that is that the Bible teaches that all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it’s profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. The Bible instructs us in righteousness. I heard a preacher one time say that there are four points in that verse that says that all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Doctrine, what is right? Reproof, what is not right? Correction, how to get it right. Instruction in righteousness, how to keep it right.
The Bible says that we have everything that we need to instruct our lives to live a godly and Christian life that we will be truly furnished on to all good works and there is nothing in the Bible that doesn’t matter and there is nothing in the Bible that doesn’t need to be preached and taught. This subject is no exception but with regard to the outward appearance being important, the Bible says in Matthew 23:25, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter,” and the outside of doesn’t matter. Is that what it says?
Congregation:
No.
Pastor Anderson:
No. It says, “Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.” It’s not that God just wants is to be clean on the inside and dirty on the outside. He wants us to be clean inside and out. Now, what’s more important, the inside or the outside? The inside is more important but they’re both important. They both have significance which is why God said, “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel.” That is God’s will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel.
Now, let’s glance over there at 1 Timothy 2, at this famous scripture, and see a few of the elements here because I believe that there are three key elements involved in dressing appropriately and for lace, especially, there are three subjects that we need to cover if we’re going to talk about dressing in a way that is godly. Number one would be nakedness, covering your nakedness. That’s the purpose of clothing in the first place. Number two would be modesty which is different than simply covering your nakedness. Then, number three would be identity or you could say gender identity. These are the three issues that biblically concern our clothing. It goes for men too. Men should also cover their nakedness. Men should also dress modestly. Men should also have gender-specific clothing. They should have their gender identity persevered in their clothing.
The Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:9, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety.” Now, the shamefacedness there is a reference to nakedness because all throughout the Bible, nakedness is referred to as something shameful. That’s a common theme in the Bible. The shamefacedness there is that someone should be ashamed of themselves to just publicly reveal their nakedness. That should be a shameful thing to them. Then, the Bible says also sobriety which means seriousness. What does mean? That we should take the way we dress seriously and not have an attitude that says it doesn’t matter. No, take it seriously. It does matter what you wear or else, God would not have brought it up.
Now, let’s start out with nakedness. If you would, flip back in your Bible to Exodus 32. In the Bible, Exodus 32. While you’re turning from there to that passage, I’ll read from you from Genesis 2:25. The Bible says in Genesis 2:25 of Adam and Eve, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” This is a man and his wife naked in each other’s presence not ashamed. Obviously, within marriage, nakedness is appropriate between husband and wife but throughout the Bible, public nakedness in front of the opposite gender is called shameful over and over again.
Look, if you would, at Exodus 32:25, the Bible reads, “And when Moses saw that the people were naked; for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies.” Flip over to Isaiah 20. While you’re turning to Isaiah, I’m going to read for you from Micah 1:11 where the Bible reads, “Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked.” Nahum 3:5, “Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.” Notice that the nakedness, being publicly exposed is equated to shame.
The Bible says in Revelation 3:18, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Revelations 16:50, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” We see over, and over, and over again the Bible associating nakedness in public with shame.
Look, if you would, at Isaiah 20, where you are there, verse 4, “So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.” Flip over to chapter 47, verse 3. Isaiah 47:3 where the Bible reads, “Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.” There’s no way that this is a coincidence that over and over again shame and nakedness are put side by side. That’s why God says that a woman should adorn herself in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety.
In other places in scripture, God talks about people who become very wicked and it said that even when they committed abomination, they had no shame, neither could they blush. See, a normal person blushes at or is ashamed at exposing their nakedness. The Bible says that His desire is that women adorn themselves with modest apparel which shamefacedness and sobriety. Meaning that they still have that natural inclination to cover up their nakedness. This is what the Bible commands.
Now, you’re there in Isaiah 47, don’t lose your place but flip over to Exodus 28:42, Exodus 28:42. Let’s define nakedness according to the Bible because a lot of people could have different ideas about what nakedness is. Somebody might say if you’re wearing any clothing, you’re not naked. What if I’m just wearing a wristwatch or a hat? I’m still naked. The university in Berkeley kicked a kid out because he came to school wearing nothing but a backpack. You can make the argument, “He’s not naked,” but that would be foolishness. No one would agree. Even the most liberal university out there condemned that and said that’s nakedness.
Then, there are others who would put an extreme definition and go overboard in the other direction like the Muslims would do where they literally have women with a bag over their head because they have to cover their nakedness. They just cover them completely where literally you can’t even see their eye. They’ll put a hood over their hoods. Then, something that they can see out of but you can’t even see in. How do you know who’s under there? It’s ridiculous but obviously, that’s a going too far in the other direction of covering up too much to the point of ridiculousness.
The question is where does God draw the line? What should we define biblically as covering our nakedness or exposing our nakedness? The Bible tells us in Exodus 28:42, “And thou shalt make them linen breeches.” Now, this is referring to the priests. These are men and breeches are pants. That’s an old word for pants like you might hear the expression, “Being too big for your breeches.” The Bible says that Moses is instructed to make linen breeches to cover their nakedness from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach.
The two things that are being covered here are the loins and the thighs in order to cover the nakedness of the priest. Now, some people would say, “It says from the loins to the thighs.” We stop and start before these things exist. Here’s the problem with that, the thighs and the loins are connected. There’s nothing between the loins and the thighs. If you’re going to take that grammatical interpretation, this would just be a string, a literal string between your thighs and your loins, and that doesn’t make any sense. Obviously, God is saying to cover the loins and the thighs.
It goes from the loins to the thighs including, not excluding the loins and the thighs because if you have your loins uncovered, you’re naked. Guess what, if you have your thighs uncovered, you’re also naked. The Bible did not say to give them an underwear that would just cover their loins and buttocks. That’s not what it says. He said to give them breeches that would go from the loins to the thighs to cover the nakedness. Therefore, walking around in your underwear, you’re naked according to the biblical definition and your thighs need to be covered in order to cover your nakedness.
Now, these men in the Old Testament did not wear pants down to their ankles in this particular case probably because they’re living in warm climates similar to where we live and we often, as men, go out and we wear what would be called today “shorts,” but our shorts ought to cover our thighs, not these ones from the ‘70s with the three stripes on the side. That wasn’t cool. We should wear shorts. I’m not against shorts. Some people would say, “Don’t wear shorts,” but you can wear shorts. I know this is an oxymoron, as long as they’re long shorts because they need to go to your knee. If you have knee-length shorts, then your nakedness is covered and your dress similar to what Aaron and the other priests were commanded by God to wear, pants that went from the waist down to the knee and covered their nakedness, covered their thighs.
More evidence of this is found in Isaiah 47, where you are. Look at verse number 1, “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. Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy 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.”
Notice here that in this scripture, it says your nakedness shall be uncovered in verse 3. In verse 2, it said uncover the thigh. Now, if these were the only verse in the Bible about this subject, that wouldn’t be strong enough evidence but when we put these next two, Exodus 28:42 which specifically talks about covering the loins and the thighs, it becomes crystal clear that God wants us to have our thighs covered. That’s part of covering the nakedness. This would basically ex out your short shorts. This would ex out your miniskirts. There goes the so-called modest one-piece bathing suit that basically exposes your thighs, and in most cases, your buttocks as well.
Now, in Isaiah, where you are, if you just flip back to chapter 20, the Bible also specifically defined the buttocks as nakedness. He says in verse 4 of chapter 20, “So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.” The loins in the front, the buttocks in the back, the thighs, this is what God defines as are nakedness and it needs to be covered.
Go to Nahum 3, just a few pages derived in your Bible, Nahum 3. Whether we are men or women, we need to have our thighs covered in order to have our nakedness covered. The way that we would do that is a garment that at least goes down to the knee to cover that. Now, today, in our society, it’s the norm to wear a skirt that goes halfway up your thigh or when I was in school, even Christian school, the rule was fingertip length which is silly because of the fact that different people, that would be different for them.
Now, obviously, for most people, their body proportions are similar. It gives a rule of thumb but fingertip length isn’t found anywhere in scripture and unless you are built like an orangutan or something where your arms are super long, then that’s not going to go down to your knee, not even close. My knee is down here and this is my fingertip length. That’s almost 8 inches difference. Just off the cuff, just looking at it, it’s a pretty big difference. I remember you can see the girls trying to just sheer their spine in such a way or what was it? They stand up like this and try to contort their body in order to meet these requirements.
Sometimes, at school, they had to kneel on the floor for the knee length, and it had to touch the floor. Then, on the outdoor activities, it was fingertip length which taught children a double standard by the way because on one hand, they’re trying to make it reach the floor. Another times, they’re trying to make it go to their fingers. It’s not a consistent standard. See, any time you reject the Bible standard, you’re going to end up with inconsistent standards because if you’re going to say, “I don’t think it has to be knee-length,” then you’d have to be okay with the shortest shorts because you’ve thrown out God’s standard and you have no authority to say mid-thigh or fingertip-length. It might as well be just all the way short.
Where are you going to draw the line if you’re not going to draw the line where God draws the line? The reasonable biblical place to draw the line is where God drew the line which is to wear knee-length, knee-length shorts, knee-length skirts, knee-length on both men and women. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with wearing something longer than that, ankle-length pants on men, long skirts that go to the mid-cuff or go to the ankles, that’s fine. That’s up to you but it should be at least, as a minimum standard to the knee. Now, some people would condemn those who wear it to the knee but no, the Bible is okay with that.
Now, go if you would, to Nahum 3. Is that where I had you turn? Look at verse number 4, “Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.” The skirt being lifted up is an exposing of the nakedness in this passage.
Now, the Bible talks about women being adorned in modest apparel. Do you know what the opposite of that is? Flip over to Proverbs 7. Proverbs 7, let me show you the opposite of modest apparel, shamefacedness, sobriety, covering your nakedness. Let’s see what the Bible gives as an antithesis to this. Proverbs 7:10, the Bible says, “And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.” Notice, the Bible does not say that she was a harlot. A harlot, by the way, is a prostitute or a whore. The Bible does not say that she was a harlot. It says that she is wearing the attire of a harlot.
How would you like to be part of a story where God looks down and He’s telling the story of your life and He says, “Then, she went out in the attire of a harlot.” What a shame, right? What are you wearing? Are you wearing modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety or are you dressed in the attire of a harlot?
Now, you say, “Pastor Anderson, we shouldn’t judge according to the outward appearance. We should judge righteous judgment,” but wait a minute, why would you dress like something that you’re not? Should I come into church this morning dressed like a Catholic priest? Should I come in dressed like a Muslim cleric? Should I come in dressed like a crown? No, because I’m none of those things. If you’re not a prostitute, you shouldn’t dress like a prostitute. If you’re not a hooker, don’t dress like a hooker. If it’s not for sale, take down the for-sale sign. It’s common sense and the Bible says that there is such a thing as the attire of an harlot. It’s clear and it was around back then and it’s around now.
Now, who’s ever been driving down the street and seeing a literal harlot by the side of the road? What were they dressed like? Not that different. Not that different from the way all other women dress sadly today. If you think about how they’re dressed and then, you went to ASU’s campus, you’d see a lot of women dressed the exact same way. If you went to Mill Avenue on a Friday night, Saturday night, you’d see plenty of women dressed identical to that harlot. They might have more teeth in their mouth and look a little more cleaner and classier but I’m going to tell you something, they would look the same from a clothing standpoint. It’s true.
Now, back in 1 Timothy 2, if you would, let’s look at this verse again because it’s not enough just to cover your nakedness. We don’t want to get the idea that as long as my nakedness is covered, I’m done. I’m done getting dressed. No, there are three aspects that I want to talk about and there could even be more than three if we wanted to look at this in a different way but I think that simplifying it down to these three issues really gives us an understanding what the Bible teaches on this subject.
Issue number one is nakedness. If our bodies are covered from the loins to the thighs, if our bodies are covered in something that goes from the waist and covers our thighs down the knees, we’ve got the nakedness covered but what about the other issues? Number two, modesty and number three, identity. Let’s look at this verse again in 1 Timothy 2: 9, “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, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works.
When we look at modest apparel, it’s clear here that it doesn’t just deal with covering our bodies. It doesn’t just deal with the shamefacedness aspect of at least getting your nakedness covered. Actually, what he brings up is expensive, flashy type clothing. You see, the word “modest” in its primary definition is actually referring to something that is humble, or moderate, or not drawing attention to yourself. That is actually what modest means.
For example, if I said to you, I would tell you about my skill in such and such area about modesty forbids. That’s an ironic statement since I’m bragging by saying that but you get the idea where people say, “Modesty forbids.” What? A person who brags is immodest. If I got up and started telling you about all my great basketball skills and all my three-pointer skills. I’m using that example because I’m not very good at basketball but if I start bragging about all the slam dunks and all the games, that is an immodest behavior to brag. The opposite of that would be to not draw attention to myself, not glorify self.
Now, here is just a dictionary definition of modest. If we just look up the word “modest” in a dictionary, my favorite dictionary is dictionary.com. I find that to be a really good dictionary and it has a lot of great information on a lot of things but anyway, that’s where I got this, I believe. That’s where I usually get things. Dictionary definition number one, “Having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one's merits,” which is what I was just explaining, or “Having or showing a moderate or humble estimate of one’s importance, free from vanity, egotism, boastfulness, or great pretensions.”
Listen to definition number two, “Free from ostentation or showy extravagance” For example, a modest house. Now, a lot of people, unfortunately, in independent Baptist circles have completely sight of what the word “modest” even means and they just equate it with covering your nakedness because of the fact that that is part of modesty. That has just become the definition of modesty to many people when in reality, that’s not what the word means.
In fact, if you take this dictionary definition, and then interpose it into 1 Timothy 2:9-10, then it actually makes sense; whereas if you take the common definition that people think it means where they think it just means, “It’s when you’re exposing your nakedness that you’re immodest,” you actually see that it doesn’t make sense because the Bible says in 1 Timothy 2:9, “not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array.” What do gold, pearls, and expensive clothes have to do with covering your nakedness? Absolutely nothing but can you see how they would have to do with being humble, have to do with not being flashy, boastful, or egotistical but we live in a day of great egotism and narcissism.
Therefore, we have a problem in this area with immodest apparel. What that means is that people are obsessed with themselves and drawing attention to themselves, and making everything about them to the point where you will literally go to a funeral where you are honoring the life of someone who has passed away and it’s all about that person. You’re not there to glorify yourself when you go to a funeral. You ought not. That’s a weird thing to do. It’s egotistical, or self-centered, or narcissistic to go to a funeral dressed like a hooker because you just want to just draw the attention to yourself. “I’m going to be seen. People have seen me in a while. I want to look smoking hot so that they can all look at me.” That is so sick, and immodest, and ungodly to the point where everything has to be about you, even a funeral. How over the top.
We live in generation selfie. I’m not saying it’s wrong to take a selfie but take it of you and someone else at least. Then, it’s only like a half selfie but everywhere you go, it seems like people are just posing and taking pictures of themselves. Just these extended photo shoots of themselves. Look, I understand getting your portrait taken, getting pictures taken. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that but don’t you think you can go over the top where you’re taking a hundred pictures of yourself and just posting all these pictures of yourself, and just posting.
It’s weird but it’s the indicative society we live in where you go to a wedding and who is the center of attention at a wedding? The center of attention ought to be, obviously in all things Jesus is our primary focus, we keep our eyes on Him, but at a wedding humanly speaking, the emphasis is on the bride and the groom. It’s their big day. Who is supposed to shine at a wedding? Who are we supposed to look at and admire their beauty at a wedding? The bride. It’s her big day. It’s her special once-in-a-lifetime. Then, you see the bridesmaids dressed up like hookers.
It’s almost impossible to even find a modest bridesmaid dress which is why we often recommend to people, don’t go shopping for a bridesmaid’s dress. It’s better to just go shopping for a dress, and then just get a bunch of dresses that match, and just call it a bridesmaid’s dress because if you go to the wedding store and buy a bridesmaid’s dress, usually, it is a completely sleazy, promiscuous looking getup, and really, even just from a human standpoint, even if we were just to close the Bible, it’s so selfish, and egotistical, and narcissistic to dress in an immodest way when you’re going to a wedding or a funeral.
How about a church service? What’s church supposed to be about? Is church a place where you come and just steal the show, tell them what they’re going to get Vena, and we’re all supposed to look at you in your sequin-covered, flashing, “Hey, everybody, look at me,” short, skirt, sleazy attire of a harlot? How godless when you’re supposed to be here to worship the Lord, to study His word, to hear the preaching of God’s Word. To show up and say, “Hey everybody. Look at me.” Now, that is what the Bible means when it means modest apparel. It’s clothing that does not scream “Look at me.”
Even if you are wearing something that would be fundamental Baptist-approved, and your grandparents’ church would approve it, that doesn’t mean you’re in modest apparel if you’re shiny, and flashy, and super expensive. What does He say? No costly array. You say, “That’s your opinion. That’s a preference.” No, that’s a conviction against expensive clothing. The Bible says no.
Now, if you would, look at 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3, what does the Bible say about this subject because we look at one scripture in 1 Timothy 2, it’s often good to look at a second scripture, just a backup with what the Bible is saying. Get the mouth of two witnesses here. Look at 1 Peter 3:3, the Bible speaking of women says in verse 3 of chapter 3, “Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel 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 great price.”
In this scripture, He talks about the putting on apparel, the costly array, the fancy clothing, the gold, et cetera, and He says, instead of that ornament, you ought to have the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. Now, in Proverbs, back where we were, you don’t have to turn back there, but in Proverbs 7, when it talked about the attire of a harlot, it has parenthesis in the next verse. It says, “There met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)”
God is equating loudness and stubbornness with this attire of a harlot. Then, he contrast that with the woman in modest apparel who has a meek and quiet spirit. What do these two people have in common? They’re not drawing attention to themselves. Those who are meek and those who are dressed in modest apparel, neither one is saying, “Hey, everybody. Look at the way I’m dressed. Look at me. Everybody, look over here.” Whereas the one who dresses in the attire of a harlot and the one who is loud and stubborn as a woman which is not a feminine attribute are trying to draw attention to themselves and the Bible says no, we should not be immodest in that way.
Now, men can obviously be guilty of this. I’ve seen preachers that even were dressed like a game show host or something and wearing super flashy, super fancy clothes. We ought to not get caught up in the world’s mentality of the name brands. Now, look, if you buy a named brand because of the quality of the item, Amen. I’m not saying to waste money on junk that you’re going to have frequently replace. Nothing wrong with buying something durable, something quality, something useful but if you’re buying the named brand just so that you can show off.
Listen to me kids because kids need to hear this, I was a kid once, and I remember what it was like when all the other kids had the Reebok, and the Nikes, and the Air Jordans, and they had the Converse, and my mom took me to PayLess Shoe Store, and bought me the Pro Wings. Now, I don’t really know what the difference in performance was. Maybe that explains my lackluster basketball career, the fact that I was in a pair of Pro Wings. I’m going to use that excuse but the point is that I don’t know that but all I know is this, it’s that I wanted to be cool, and I wanted to have the named brand shoes because I wanted to be cool and I wanted to impress my friends.
You know what? If I would have had the Reebok, I’m just being honest with you, if I would have had the Nikes and the Converse, I would have been making fun of the kid with the Pro Wings because that’s just the wicked human nature that we all have, the sinful nature. The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction will drive it far from him. Children are very foolish in this area where they feel like they have to show off with the cool clothes and the name brands but when you grow up and become a man, you’re supposed to put away childish things, and we should get past that as men. Let me get on the men for a little bit. We should get past that and just wear durable, sensible, practical clothing, not with regard to showing off how expensive or how fancy it is.
This goes with suits. You say, “You’re wearing fancy clothes?” All my suits are from the thrift store. They’re all second hand. When I really want to go out and buy something real nice for myself in the suit department, I go to a place called Turn Style in Tempe. Who’s ever been to Turn Style? Yeah, the high rollers among us. Turn Style is an upscale thrift store where they only have nice stuff, really quality. The stuff looks brand new, and it’s all stylish, and really nice stuff. It’s a cool store to go to. I go there twice a year when they have the red tag clearance. I go to Turn Style. Then, I get the real nice stuff.
Typically, it’s Savers. It’s Goodwill. It’s Salvation Army. You say, “Aren’t you embarrassed to say that from the pulpit? That you’re just this total popper or slob?” No, I’m not because you know what, the clothing that you get … Then, look, I don’t believe in buying junk. The Bible talks about durable clothing. It even uses that term, durable clothing. God wants us to have quality things but they don’t have to be costly, and expensive, and flashy.
Here’s the thing, you can actually get a higher quality at a second hand store. You can get real high quality stuff that’s just used, or lightly used, or came out of a dead person’s closet, or whatever. Whereas, I’m not saying to go to Walmart and buy the cheapest clothes at Walmart because they’re going to fall apart often. Then, you’re wasting money and it’s junk. You know what? It ought to be with the concern for, “Let me buy appropriate clothing. Let me buy clothing that doesn’t draw attention to myself and stick out like a sore thumb. Let me just wear clothing that’s durable, that’s practice, that is normal, not just, ‘Hey, everybody. Look at me. I’m wearing an Armani suit. I’m wearing the fancy clothes.’”
Women, same thing, the fancy, expensive jewelry, the fancy named brand purses. If you drove to Mexico and got a rip-off version, okay fine, but I’m saying, people spend these insane amounts. Dooney & Bourke is spelled wrong or whatever, Ray-Ban is spelled wrong or whatever on the sunglasses. I bought a pair of Ray-Bans out of Mexico for 5 bucks but I have a feeling they weren’t really Ray-Bans but the Rolex watches, all the fancy clothing that’s meant to say, “Hey, look at me. I’ve got money. Look at me, I’m glorifying myself. I’m glorifying the flesh. I’m glorifying the love of money. Look at me, everybody, I’m dressed in fancy clothes.” The Bible says no, modest apparel. Humble, moderate, not drawing attention to yourself.
Now, because people have a misunderstanding of the word “modest,” they’ll point at things that are not modest and say it’s modest. For example, what the Muslim women wear, that’s not modest. Why? Because it draws attention to yourself. It screams out, “Hey, everybody. Look at me.” Now, maybe not if you’re in the deepest, darkest, wicked Muslim country, you might fit right in in your hijab and whatever they call those things, but honestly, when you walk down the street in the United States of America wearing that, you stand out like a sore thumb.
That’s not, “Look, how modest they are.” No, they’re not being modest in that apparel. They are just following a perverted false prophet named Mohammed. It’s not a biblical-based clothing scheme. They got that from the Quran. They got that from their wicked, false religion. The Holy Bible does not teach head covering, and I’ve done whole sermons debunking that in 1 Corinthians 11 and everywhere else. The Bible does not teach this over-the-top, just cover yourself in clothing from fingertip to toe to head to every part of your body, even your eyes covered. It’s nonsense.
Another group that will say, “They’re dressed so modestly. Are they Amish?” No, they’re not. No, they’re not. The Amish are a false cult that claims to be Christian. They’re not Christian at all. They are a wicked, false religion that teaches people that it’s dangerous to read the Bible. They do, yeah. People just look at the Amish and say, “It’s so wonderful, these godly Christians who dress so modestly.” No, they dress in a way that makes them stand out on purpose because even the dresses that they wear, if they would just get a normal pattern or just a normal solid color on it, it wouldn’t look that odd. It might just look like a nightgown or something.
Honestly, they wear these strange floral prints, and I’m not against floral prints but I’m talking about strange floral prints that are just unique to them that just look like they’re 150 years old, and there is no basis in reality there. There is no biblical basis for just dressing in purposely, ugly clothes to show how righteous, and how holy, and how godly we are. “Look at me, everybody. I am wearing hideous clothes because I’m so spiritual.” That is not modesty.
You can defend it all you want and say, “Hey, don’t get on the Amish.” I will get on the Amish because they’re Calvinist. I will get on the Amish because they say it’s dangerous to read the Bible and interpret it on your own, and they warned their people, “Don’t read the Bible too much. It will make you go crazy.” No, it won’t. It will give you a spirit of a sound mind. If you talk to people who are ex-Amish who’ve been saved out of the Amish lives, they’ll turn around and expose it, and say it’s wicked, all kinds of false teaching.
The Amish are Calvinists. The Amish teach their people not to read the Bible. The Amish do not believe in salvation by grace through faith. They do not believe in eternal security, the believer. They’ll just declare people unsaved if they leave the Amish. They’re the most prideful, arrogant people I’ve ever met in my life because they just walk around thinking that they’re better than everyone else. If their child grows up and is not Amish, then they pretend that they’re dead and act as if they don’t even exist. They do it. It’s real.
The Amish, they go around in their nightgowns that are purposely ugly, scowling and glaring at everyone. Hey, I thought the Bible says, “If you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others?” [Inaudible 00:40:19] the same. The Bible teaches that you’re supposed to say hi to people. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. Then, don’t even salute your brethren only. You’re supposed to salute and greet everyone. You’re supposed to say hi but no, they walk around scowling and glaring at everyone because they just have to go out in the real world for a little while and they just want to go back to their Amish paradise, and that’s to all of us.
Where is the soul winning in the Amish? Where is the go ye in all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature? They don’t even believe the Gospel. Then, they have this weird teaching where when they’re kids, hit a certain age, the do this thing called “Rumspringing” Who’s heard of this? Their kids get a certain age and they send them out to try everything the world has to offer, to try the sinful life, and decide whether they want to live for God or not, decide whether they want to be Amish or not. They can go out and drink, and party, and take drugs, and fornicate, and do whatever they want. Then, they decide whether they want to come back and be Amish for the rest of their life or whether they want to stay out in the big city, in the world, and everything.
Where is that in the Bible? I thank God I didn’t do some Rumspringing when I was a teenager. I left father and mother and cleaved on to my wife, and I was a fundamental Baptist the whole time. I didn’t go to bars, and I didn’t fornicate, and I didn’t drink, and I didn’t do drugs. I just grew up in a Christian home and I became a Christian adult. Now, was I perfect? No. Was I an idiot as a teenager? In many ways, yes, but this teaching of rumspringing is garbage. It’s nonsense. On and on, we could go. It’s not a sign of godliness to dress ugly.
Pastor Anderson is not up here saying, “Hey, ladies. Don’t wear anything nice. Be sure to look like the bag lady. Be sure to look like a homeless person. Be sure to look like you’re in a nightgown.” Is that what I said? No. All I’m saying is you wear clothing that is modest in a sense that it’s moderate, that it doesn’t draw attention to yourself. It covers your nakedness and isn’t just narcissistic, egotistical screaming, “Hey everybody. Look at me,” showing off, and flaunting your body. Why don’t you flaunt your godliness? The Bible says adorn yourself with your good works. Your adorning should be good works. That ornament should be a meek and quiet spirit, not all of this excessive fancying of your clothing, jewelry, over-the-top look. It’s not biblical.
Don’t go over the top in the hijab or the Amish nightgown either. Look, why don’t you just be modest in the sense that why don’t you just wear normal American clothing for the year that we actually live in that is in conformity to God’s Word? See, did you know that everything that he world wears is not sinful? Did you know that there are unsaved, even atheistic people in Tempe who wear the right clothing? Just because an unsaved person wears something, “I can’t wear that.” No, we should only reject that which is condemned by God’s Word.
What does God’s Word condemn? God’s Word condemns clothing that exposes our nakedness and God’s Word condemns clothing that flaunts our body, draws attention to ourselves that is showing off and egotistical. That’s what we’re talking about. Whether it’s a man or a woman wearing that kind of clothing, their heart is not right there. Then, they need to get on board with this scripture.
I have to hurry up though because there’s another issue to cover which is identity. We said number one, nakedness. Cover your nakedness. That’s pretty simple. Don’t go around naked or uncovering any part of your nakedness. I don’t care whether you say, “But we’re swimming,” but you can actually swim in clothing that covers your nakedness. “What are you against swimming?” I’m not against swimming but when you are with the opposite gender or in public, you need to dress in a way that covers your nakedness even when you go swimming. It’s not just magically, because there’s a whole in the ground with water in it, we can just strip down naked publicly.
Now, look, if you’re in your own background, I don’t care what you wear because if you’re in private, you’re in private. Wear whatever you want. Look, I’m naked every time I go in the shower or something but the point is though, you don’t go publicly naked. It doesn’t matter if there’s water involved that just suddenly makes it okay because there’s a pool there, there’s a hot tub there. No, it’s just all bets are off now. No. if you are in mixed company, meaning you are around the opposite gender, you ought to dress in a way that covers your nakedness even if swimming is involved.
Now, if ladies are going swimming in a private pool, just ladies, dress however you want. If dudes are swimming by themselves, dress how you want but when you have a mixture there, it becomes shameful to see the other genders’ nakedness. There is a way. You say, “But it’s so cumbersome to swim in this.” Are you trying to set an Olympic speed record? What are you doing? Who here is a professional swimmer? You get paid to go swimming. Then, that’s not relevant to anyone in this room. Are you trying to shave a few tens of a second off your butterfly stroke 200 meters? What are you doing?
Look, I am not trying to shave time off. I am not going to shave my legs either. Do you know what I mean? Hello? You’re not a professional swimmer. “It’s so cumbersome wearing all these clothes in the pool.” First of all, it’s not all these clothes to just cover. Look, my wife for years, my wife for over a decade or something, worn these type of modest swimsuits. They’re like a skirt attached to a swim suit. Everything made out of swimsuit-type material. She goes swimming in that thing and swim modestly. My daughter’s wear it. You know what? When they go to the pool wearing that, nobody looks at them and says, “Look at these Amish freaks.” No one thinks that.
Actually, they constantly have people coming up to them and complimenting them saying, “Whoa, that is such a beautiful swim dress,” and they’re constantly asking about it and talking to them about it because it looks so good. It doesn’t look bad. I’m not saying look bad. I’m saying, cover your nakedness. I’m not saying look bad. I am saying, don’t just stand so that … You know what I’ve noticed too? It’s that even in today’s day and age, there are even unsaved unbelievers who aren’t comfortable with the way people dress when they go to the pool, and go to the beach, and everything. Even they will have skirts and things trying to cover up and take it off as they’re getting in the water.
Why? Because it’s just natural. It’s just normal not everybody just wants to put their body on that display. It’s even weirder when a dude wears a speedo. It’s sick. If you go to Germany, just don’t go to Germany. I’ll just leave it at that. God bless the USA that at least dudes in America actually wears normal shorts. Over there, it’s a jungle out there.
Anyway, let me just get on the last subject because not only do we want to have our nakedness covered in all situations that involve being in mixed company. Number two, we want to be modest. We don’t want to just go around, showing up. You could cover your nakedness but be wearing something really tight and form-fitting and you could see how that would still be immodest or just flashy, expensive, extravagant, whatever, but just drawing attention to yourself, it’s a problem in your heart there.
Thirdly, go to Deuteronomy 22: 5. Deuteronomy 22:5 because there’s another issue besides … Deuteronomy 22:5. There’s another issue besides just nakedness and modesty because even if you’re covering your nakedness and even if you’re totally modest, you still may not be dressed properly because there’s a gender identity that matters when it comes to our clothing. This is another thing that’s going out the window today which shouldn’t really surprise us because we live in a gender-bending day.
A lot of people are going to get offended at what I say over the next few minutes but before you get offended at what I teach over the next few minutes, just ask yourself this question, is it normal that Arizona State University last week or the week before, they’re installing a men’s urinal in every lady’s room? In ASU, this came from a plumber that was working at ASU, a plumber was out there and he was installing one urinal into each women’s rest room at ASU. The guy wasn’t even a Christian and he’s just, “What in the world? What is it?” It’s just like crazy stuff.
Here’s the thing, you think I’m crazy, right, but no, it’s the world that’s crazy. Now, I know that nobody here is crazy enough to think that that’s normal to put the urinal there. If you are, then please, just get up and leave right now, and don’t ever come back, but I know that I am talking to a group of people, I am talking to 200 people this morning here that all know that that’s crazy but I submit to you that you have been influenced by the world somewhat on this issue.
Even though you haven’t gone that crazy, the Hegalian dialectic is at work. You have begun to accept things that were never acceptable in time passed, and that God does not accept because of the fact that we’ve all been somewhat brainwashed and influenced by the society that we live in, to call evil good, and good evil, put sweet for bitter, bitter for sweet, light for dark, dark for light, et cetera. We need to not get this attitude of, “No that just can’t be right. No, no, I just don’t agree with that.” What does the Bible say? Because a lot of us could have just been heavily influenced by the world on this subject of gender specific clothing.
Now, to start this out let’s just read this scripture first of all. It says in Deuteronomy 22:5, “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” The Bible is really clear here that a man should not put on woman’s garment, and that a woman should not dress as a man.
Now, don’t even come at me with, “That’s the Old Testament.” Jesus died on the cross in order to bring in a new era of cross dressing? No, He didn’t. That is foolish nonsensical doctrine to say that this is somehow repealed under the New Testament. What verse of the New Testament is that? There are plenty of things in the Old Testament that still apply. That’s why I’ve got the whole Bible here, not just the New Testament. We believe the whole Bible, all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Yes. Some things had been specifically changed in the New Testament, this isn’t one of them. Plus we have the same principle taught in 1 Corinthians 11 when it says that it’s a shame for the man to have long hair, but a woman’s hair is her glory. We have the same principle in gender-specific hair. Women with long hair, men with short hair. Now, obviously, long and short are relative terms. You say, “Why didn’t God tell us exactly what to do?” Because then, people would just have it at that exact length and that’s not the point.
Obviously, we have all different hairstyles on men around this room or lack of hairstyles. Basically, we have all different hairstyles and you’ll see many appropriate hairstyles here. It’s not that everybody has that my same haircut as a man. Unless your hair is down to your shoulders, most people would agree, “You basically have short hair.” Different levels of shortness or whatever. I like to keep my hair this way because I don’t have to ever comb it. It’s just easier and I’m not really that vain about my appearance so I just like, [inaudible 00:53:13], three on top one of the bottom. Amen. I don’t care. Other hairstyles are fine on men. If you have a Mohawk, now you’re drawing attention to yourself, aren’t you? You’re writing words in it and everything.
What I’m saying is the New Testament reinforces and reiterates the gender differences by saying that a man should not have long hair and that a woman should have a long hair. That’s reinforced. The same principle is in both Old and New Testament. It goes for our hair and it goes for our clothing.
Now, let’s play a little game. I’m going to start it. Everybody read the scripture one more time, “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” I’m going to step over the board here. I know some of you aren’t going to be able to see. You’re going to have to just use your imagination. For those who can see, you can take a look at the board here.
We’re going to play as little interactive game here this morning. I’m going to make three columns on the whiteboard. I’m going to make one column and then says men. Then, I’m going to another call and it says women. I’m going to make another call and this is both. I’m going to draw a line right here, and I’ll draw a line right here. We’re going to talk about articles of clothing and where they go in this paradigm right here. We’re going to try to agree. Let’s all try to agree, let’s all try to agree. Let’s have unity, shall we?Let’s start out, how about a dress?
Congregation:
Women.
Pastor Anderson:
hat was weak. Let’s have a little more strength and unity in that. How about a dress?
Congregation:
Women.
Pastor Anderson:
Anybody descent and say, “No, I think dude should be in dresses?” Wow, we have unanimous consent. Basically we’d say, “Everybody agrees that a dress is something that women wear. How about a skirt?
Congregation:
Women.
Pastor Anderson:
Any descents there and say, “No, dudes in skirt, it’s great.” Everybody agrees. Dress, skirt. How about a t-shirt?
Congregation:
Both.
Pastor Anderson:
Both, right? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a man wearing a t-shirt or woman wearing a t-shirt. I think that’s pretty obvious. How about a buttoned-up shirt?
Congregation:
Both.
Male:
Men.
Pastor Anderson:
Both. Men and Women both wear buttoned shirts. Buttoned-up shirt, right? Pretty basic. How about socks?
Congregation:
Both.
Pastor Anderson:
Both. All right, great. How about pantyhose?
Congregation:
Women.
Pastor Anderson:
All right, yeah. How about a bra?
Congregation:
Women.
Pastor Anderson:
All right, good. Just trying to get you back with me here. How about shoes?
Congregation:
Both.
Pastor Anderson:
All right. Shoes are good on both. All right, good. Why did I write the word both? I’m losing my mind.
Male:
Buttoned-ups.
Pastor Anderson:
Was that what it’s supposed to be? Who’s got a napkin, or a tissue, or something? You didn’t already blow your nose on it, did you? All right, good. It is wet erased. No, I’m just kidding. It wasn’t buttoned-up. What was it? Socks, socks. Yes, socks, shoes, all right. Everything making sense this morning? Everybody you still with me? Am I losing anybody? Very good. How about gloves?
Congregation:
Both.
Pastor Anderson:
Both, All right. How about a hat?
Congregation:
Both.
Pastor Anderson:
Like a ski hat? Ski hat is good, right? Really just all. Pretty much all hats. All types of hats we could say, right, in the sense of a straw hat, a sun hat, a cowboy hat, cowgirl hat or else … All types of hats, I think, we’d all be pretty comfortable with. Anybody else got any just real … We’re keeping it basic here. We’re not saying pink, blue. That changes from culture to culture. That stuff is all subjective. We’re just talking about the basic clothing that a person wears whether that’s a t-shirt, a buttoned-up shirt, a dress, a skirt, pantyhose, gloves, ski hat, other types of hats, socks, shoes. A jacket, jacket. Jacket?
Congregation:
Both.
Pastor Anderson:
How about a long coat? A long wool coat?
Congregation:
Both.
Pastor Anderson:
Both right. Jacket, coat. Here’s the thing about this. Do you notice something wrong on the shirt? Something is missing. Like nothing is in this column. Nothing. There’s nothing in that column. Does anybody notice that?
Male:
Yeah.
Pastor Anderson:
Let’s read the verse again, “he woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” Here’s the thing. That verse doesn’t make any sense because there’s no such thing as clothing that pertains to men because everything that man wear is in the both column. Everything that men wears is in the both column. We forgot one another thing, pants. Pants. Now, let’s say we put pants in the both column where modern America puts it, then you have nothing in this column and the Bible makes absolutely no sense.
Male:
How about a tie?
Pastor Anderson:
A tie? I’ve seen women wear ties. Do you think it’s a sin for a woman to wear a tie? Is Deuteronomy 22:5 a provision on ties on women? Somebody might have that viewpoint. Somebody might say, “Hey, Deuteronomy 22:5 is in the Bible for one reason, and it’s for the people who work at the Olive Garden with those ties, whatever, where the women wear a tie,” but here’s the thing about it, a tie is not even really a basic essential.
Some of these aren’t essential either, but when we think of the basic building blocks of an ensemble, people, we’re talking about a shirt, a pants, shirt skirt, dress. These are the basic building blocks. If we were to put pants in the both column, we would have nothing in the men’s column or nothing of significance in the men’s column. Then, Deuteronomy 25 would make zero sense because it would be telling you not to commit a sin that doesn’t exist but if we would have say, “Pants,” and we would include with that shorts because shorts are just a form of pants. It’s just a longer pants, it’s all that is. Pants, we could say both short and long.
Now, here’s the thing, if we were to eliminate some things from these women’s column, for example, a bra or a pantyhose, first of all a lot of women don’t wear these things, number one. They don’t wear those things especially pantyhose. My wife never wears pantyhose. I don’t like pantyhose. Some women do, whatever. The point is if we eliminate this, we end up with the colossal difference between men and women’s clothing being just a simple case of women wear dresses and skirts, and men wear pants. Everything else goes both ways which make sense because aren’t pants and skirt the opposite of one another because they both go on the bottom. They’re both the basic element of clothing on the bottoms of our bodies.
Therefore, it doesn’t make any logical sense whatsoever to say that pants can be worn by both men and women. Why can’t men and women both wear a dress? Why can’t men and women both wear skirts? Virtually, every single person … excuse me, not virtually, every single person in this room said that skirts and dresses are for women only. Then, it make sense that the opposite of a skirt or dress which is pants is for men only. Otherwise, the verse makes no sense.
Now, you say, “Is there evidence of this in the Bible?” First of all, Deuteronomy 22:5 is evidence in of itself. Otherwise you’ll be talking about clothing that doesn’t exist, but let’s look at some evidence that men wear pants because I’ve heard this doctor, “Nobody wore pants back then. Pants haven’t been invented yet.” That’s so foolish, I’m not even going to talk about it in this sermon. I’ve already dealt with it in another sermon, I don’t want to waste time on that.
Anyway, let’s go to some scriptures on pants. First of all, let’s go to 1 Samuel 24, 1 Samuel 24. While you’re turning there, let me point out to you that the word “breeches” is used five time in the Bible and it means pants. Every single time the word “breeches” is used, it’s referring to a man’s clothing, 100% of the time. Another word for pants is used in Daniel 3. When the Bible says, “Then were these men bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments.” Hosen is the old English word for pants.
In fact, in German, the modern German word is hosen. If I want to say pants in German, I’d say hosen. Same word, it hasn’t even change. There’s a little bit of a remnant of that in our King James Bible because the King James was written in 1611. The word “pants” didn’t come out until about a hundred years or so after the King James was printed. They didn’t call it pants. They called it breaches or hosen. These guys in the Bible, we’ve got one, two, three, four, five, six scriptures where men are wearing pants whether it would be called breaches or hosen, either way.
Not only that here’s some biblical proof that men wore pants in the Bible because this thing of, “Men didn’t wear pants, they’re all wearing a toga,” that is a fraud, I don’t care what your flannel graph shows. I don’t care what your Sunday school literature shows. There is no evidence for that in the Bible. People will often create a straw man argument saying, “Jesus didn’t wear pants, He wear a robe.” I’ve got news for you, robe is an upper body garment. It’s not a full body garment.
It’s something that you wear in addition to other things. No one wears just a robe unless they just got out of the bath or something. You don’t leave the house in just a robe. A robe is like what we would consider either a bathrobe, or a trench coat, or think about a king in his kingly robes. What is it? It’s all the same shape. It’s a long coat that opens in the front. That’s a robe. It’s not designed to cover your nakedness. It’s an over garment, it goes over it. You put on your kingly robes or you put on whatever the robe. To say, “Jesus wore a robe. Therefore, He didn’t wear pants” is stupid because robes are not the opposite of pants. Robes are an outer garment.
The question is what did he wear under the robe? See, when the devil wants to confuse you he’ll create sometimes a straw man argument where he’ll say, “I don’t get you to argue about the wrong thing whether or not he wear a robe.” What does that have to do with anything? The real question is what did He wear under the robe? I believe that under the robe, He’s wearing a pair of pants. Like priest in the Old Testament who commanded Israelite [inaudible 01:05:07]. What they say that he wore under the robe is a tunic. A tunic, it’s not about robes versus pants. It’s about tunics versus pants.
Now, you say, “The King James doesn’t say tunic.” Exactly. In the NIV and some of these other version, they’ll change it to a tunic that they’re wearing. Now, a tunic is a little summer dress, a little tight fitting summer dress that they wore under it. You say, “Who wore that?” The Greeks, all these upper class, super wealthy Romans and Greeks went around in tunics and togas. Who learned in school that the Greeks and Romans wore tunics and togas? A tunic with a toga over it. Those are the two articles of clothing.
The reason that they’re going around in a bunch of tunics because they’re a bunch of sodomites, bunch of homos. Study the Greek culture, study these Roman Caesars and everything, they’re a bunch of sodomites, a bunch of pervert. Of course they’re going to be going around in a dress. That’s what it is, the tunic is a dress.
Jesus didn’t wear a tunic. In fact, on history working men didn’t wear tunics. They wore pants because it’s practical. Think about how job sites, they’ll tell you steel-toed shoes, pants. They want you to wear some protective gear. Show up in a tunic and see how long you last on the construction site. Show up in a toga, it’s going to get caught on everything.
Think about going out and working in a farm in a toga. It’s ridiculous because it would get caught up on everything. It’s not a practical garment. It’s a garment for a bunch of lazy, rich, wicked people sitting around and doing nothing. That’s who wears tunics and togas. Women haven’t even worn togas throughout history.
Here’s more proof that the men in the Bible wore pants, contrary to what your flannel graph and your Sunday school teacher showed you. Look at 1 Samuel 24:3. This is King Saul, “And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.”
Is Saul wearing a robe? Is there any doubt that Saul’s wearing a robe? No, his wearing a robe, didn’t he just like a lot of people in the Bible? The skirt of the robe is that which hangs down below the waste, the skirts of the garments. Let’s keep reading. The skirt of his robe is what it says. He is definitely wearing a long robe that goes down below his waste. Everybody got that? “And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. And he said unto his men, The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.”
Now, look back at verse number 3. “And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet.” Now, what is the term covering your feet mean in the Bible? It’s used also Judges 3 of a man covering his feet, King Eglon covered his feet. That is a euphemism for going to the bathroom. When we say, “I have to go to the bathroom,” we’re not just saying, “I’m just going to go in that room for a while.” We don’t talk about what we’re actually doing at the room because it would be rude. It would be impolite to go on a graphic detail about matters of the bedroom, or matters of the bathroom, and things like that.
The Bible often euphemisms to describe these things where you just say, for example, instead of going to graphic detail, you might say that someone just used the restroom, visited the ladies room. It’s not like they just visited it, signed the guest book, and walked out. It’s euphemistic. Euphemism in the Bible for using the bathroom is covering your feet. Why in the world with using the bathroom be called covering your feet? It’s really obvious folks, because when you use the bathroom as a man you have to drop your bridges. When you do that guess what’s covered? Your feet. He’s wearing pants. He drops his pants, feet are covered.
Now, if you’re just wearing a tunic or a robe, then you would actually just lift it up to use the bathroom, no foot covering necessary. It’s not like he’s like, “I got to use the bathroom.” That’s just really silly, isn’t it? My microphone is falling everywhere here. The bottom line is that when the Bible says, “He covers his feet,” that’s more evidence that his wearing pants which shouldn’t really surprise us since God told the men in the Bible to wear pants. It shouldn’t really come as a shock that contrary to popular belief King Saul didn’t just wear robe only or a tunic under it, some sodomite, Greco Roman pervert costume, he actually wore a pair of pants. That’s why when he dropped his bridges, he covered his feet to use the bathroom. Same thing with King Eglon. He did the same thing.
I don’t want to get graphic here. I’m not trying to get graphic but the Bible talks about, and I’m not going to get graphic. If you’re not smart enough to figure that out, I don’t know what you know. I’m just going to leave it there. That covering your feet means your pants are around your ankle to use the bathroom. It’s that simple.
Also, you’ll find in the scripture, and I’m out of time but also, you’ll find in the scripture the reference to, “Gird up the thy loins like a man,” because the man would take his garment and basically gird it up, tack it in to the belt basically the part of this garment that flowed down the skirts of the garment. Why would it say gird up thy loins like a man? Because a man is wearing pants underneath so he can do that. If a woman girded up her loins, then that would be exposing of her nakedness because if her skirt is discovered, the Bible says your nakedness is a sin; whereas a man girds up the loins his garment et cetera.
The conclusion is this, The Bible says whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. Even things as simple as eating and drinking should be done to the glory of God. Our clothing matters. We should think about the way that we dress. When you get up in the morning to go to church, God’s house, or when you get up in the morning and think about going to work or going out in public, you ought to think about the fact that you need to dress in a way that will be honoring to the Lord. Is your nakedness covered? Are you modest? Have you preserved gender identity?
You say, “You’re just radical. You’re a Taliban,” or whatever. You watch too much TV because here’s the truth of the matter, did you know that a hundred years ago, it was illegal for a woman to wear pants in this country? Illegal. Not just along the books somewhere, “Very crazy laws.” No, women were arrested and put in jail for cross dressing. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for wearing pants. It’s true.
My dad was telling me about this, it was some biker chicks back in the early 20th Century. They were riding Harleys across America and they ended up being put in jail repeatedly for wearing pants and everything like that. Even when my dad went to school in the ‘60s, in high school in the ‘60s in Los Angeles, California, no pants allowed on girls at school. Girls must wear skirts and dresses down to the knee. It’s just that times have changed. It’s part of an agenda that blur the difference between the genders. Let me ask you this, Christian one, in 2016, do you believe that we lead less distinction between the genders or more?
Congregation:
More.
Pastor Anderson:
Let’s just blur the lines. No, that’s what the Devil’s agenda is for our country to bring the sodomites out of the closet and just to have this weird gender bending women’s room with a men’s urinal all in it, and all this just everybody is wearing pants, everybody is wearing the same clothes, we’re all dressed the same, we have our hair the same. Let’s preserve a gender distinction between men and women as God’s people. You say, “I can’t do anything in a skirt.” What are you trying to do? What is it that this … Here is why, the same people who tell you, “You can’t do anything on a skirt,” they’re the same people that tell you, “Everybody wore a skirt in Jesus’s day.” What? They just not do anything?
They’re like, “You can’t ride a horse in a skirt” but supposedly, Jesus is riding on a donkey in a skirt. I guess, they think he was sidesaddle. Think about it. I guess all the troops, I guess one million Ethiopians fighting up against hundreds of thousands of troops of the Jews in the Old Testament, I guess, they were all riding sidesaddle because it’s impossible to ride a horse in a skirt. You can’t have it both ways. Which one is it? I say they were riding the horses in pants like any normal person would do, right?
You say, “But then you’re saying ladies can’t ride horses.” Here’s the thing, you can’t have it both ways, friend. You can’t use that as an argument, “Well everybody wore it back then.” Back then, the men wore pants and the women wore skirts but we’re supposed to all switch now because we’re in this sexual revolution in the United States. That’s real godly, real Christian mentality.
The truth of the matter is it is possible to wear a skirt and ride a horse if you have a very long and flowing skirt. My wife has done it but it’s not a practical garment for going into battle, other things, but women don’t need to be going into battle. Here’s the thing, if you can’t do it in a skirt, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it as a lady. Maybe it’s not lady-like. There are women who wear leggings under their skirt and everything like that, or whatever to try to be modest and yet preserve gender identity, and still be practical, and so on, and so forth. Women belong in a skirt or in a dress. Men belong in pants. You say, “Are you still on that?” Yes. I’m taking it to the grave.
Let’s bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, thank You so much for Your Word, Lord and thank you so much for our church, Lord, and for all the wonderful people who come here. Thank you that we can come to Your house where we don’t bring emphasis to ourselves and our bodily appearance and show off our muscles as men, and show off and flaunt the bodies of ladies, Lord, but rather, we come here with a spiritual purpose, to bring honor and glory to You and to learn sound doctrine from your Word, Lord. Help us to always keep that emphasis and never to seek to glorify self at church, Lord, or anywhere else. Help us to preserve modesty, cover our nakedness and preserve gender identity in our clothing. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
