Holiness Part 1 Modesty and Distinction

my husband has recently been engaged in a series called the apostles doctrine and so many incredible lessons um you know that we're instructed to continue in the apostles doctrine so it's really important to know what it is that they taught and that we stay close to the original church there was a originally um all the doctrines that you see in the book of acts were the birth of the church and then all the books after that are for the maturing and the growing and the perfecting of the church and that's where we find ourselves today and all of us are on different parts of that journey and one of the um doctrines that the apostles definitely taught was the doctrine of holiness sanctification and separation real all of those the same word we will learn tonight but it's also maybe a topic that people shy away from or that they find difficult to teach i'm very nervous to teach it because i know when you say those words everybody's you know uh antennas go up in the hair on the get all defensive i want you to relax i'm not here to throw stones or judge anybody but a sincere look at the word of god and find out what it says and i because i know that the word is right and the more i dig the more i'm convinced and i started out don't be alarmed but i when i looked up after probably 12 or more hours of study i had 67 pages of notes so fear not fear not i asked my husband if i could have more than one wednesday because it's so extensive and so beautiful but it's it's not um you know it's uh it's heavy meats you know it's a lot of stuff to digest oh thank you my lovely assistant so i probably won't get to everything that i want to get to tonight but the topic of holiness is one that many people want to avoid but god puts it at a high priority and if he thinks it's important then we should also take it as something important human nature doesn't like things that require commitment or that might disagree with culture mostly our flesh really hates it i don't want to be inconvenienced in any way i want to have it my way just like mcdonald's says and i want it to feel comfortable but that's not always what is best for the spirit holiness is not a topic that applies necessarily to the unbeliever this makes absolutely no sense to the unbeliever it doesn't make any sense to the disinterested or the loophole seeker minimalist who just wants to barely get by and not seek any depth so you know i hope that if you're any one of those people that i could maybe change your mind tonight but for those and on the outside looking in it could seem very um hard and very a word that um people who don't share the same values would call maybe legalism you've probably heard that word before i hope to dispute all those claims and for those people this is a torturous torturous topic um but the the word holiness evokes all kinds of emotions from people the word standards has become almost a negative word or a curse word to some people some have been injured by poor teaching of these kinds of principles they've been um abused by the wrong approach they have been too harshly rushed through the process or never explained or treated if that's not god's plan this is supposed to be a beautiful thing it's not supposed to be anything that invokes fear in your heart but if you have been through those types of things which are very real i invite you to maybe see it through a different lens this time and see as an opportunity to grow closer to the lord so you can call up standards if you want to you can just call them lifestyle values lifestyle convictions anything you want to call them but you can't avoid them they're in the word of god we certainly don't stand here in judgment to say that someone is less spiritual if you don't agree with me or you don't agree with the word of god or even if you don't understand these things yet um or even if you just reject it outright we will still love you and you can worship here until you just the lord comes but yet it's not going to deter us from teaching what the word of god says so it's very important so here we go um first thessalonians 5 23. i do have a lot of scripture for you i'm going to be reading a lot because i don't want to um deviate too much because then i get real distracted first thessalonians 5 23 says in the very god of peace sanctify you holy not holy holy but holy w-h-o-l-l-y if i had my white board i would write that on there may god sanctify you holy means totally and completely it means that it's a process that it does not happen immediately then he goes on to say and i pray god your whole spirit soul and body will be preserved we need to understand that holiness takes place not only in our spirit and our soul but also in our bodies it takes place on three dimensions and we've learned several things from this verse i've already said holiness and sanctification is a maturing process it takes a while and that's why i have no problem with a new person who doesn't understand all of this good grief who could you don't expect your baby just to you know come out speak in the several languages and chewing stakes i mean it's not normal and it's totally fine they're just as saved as we are the minute they go into covenant with god go down in jesus name speak in tongues they're just as saved as you are but there's different expectations on us at different points in our journey but if you've lived on the planet for very long after gone through the salvation process god will start leading you into holiness and god wants us to grow up if you will to be like him so in verse 24 it says faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it so if he's called you to do it if he's told you to be holy you can be holy now anytime in the bible that it says to be perfect and it's talking about god it truly means he is perfect if it's telling us to be perfect he does not mean that we will be perfect because we will never be perfect and my husband was up here so i turned your neighbor and say you're not perfect but i always hate doing that i always say i'm not perfect but we all know it's true that none of us are perfect but what that word really is is telios which means maturing a maturing process that you would become that you would begin to grow and become you're becoming more you're becoming more mature so that's what it means about being perfect so it's god's power that actually sanctifies us and it's his power that does the work through us we cannot do it on our own people want god to save them people want god to forgive them they want a savior but they don't necessarily want a lord they like the encounter and the experience but it's the what then it's the growing up where we miss out sometimes on the most beautiful part of living for god um and that is not the spirit of the apostolic church is to just have an encounter to leave because if that were true then the bible would end at the book of acts but they went through a lot of trouble to go through all this teaching to all the churches that grew up and they had a lot of problems too just like we do so in hebrews 12 and 14 if you have that one it says follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the lord now you can look at that two ways you can follow holiness follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the lord meaning you will not make it you're not going to go to heaven without holiness you will not see the lord but then also without holiness no man shall see the lord in you without holiness no man shall see the lord in us now god's holiness is all throughout scripture it's who he is no scripture says there's no scripture that says holiness is not a big deal get over it y'all chill out i'm going to give you so much leeway do what you want there's well isn't that wonderful thank you my love okay what else can i be wishing for man i should have thought of something better no thank you oh and you're ready okay fantastic okay i can't hear what i was gonna write on there now but i'm gonna make sure i use it holy okay thank you holy that means completely does anybody remember what three things it was by uh spirit soul and body right okay so there you go thank you i feel so complete so let's look at the definition of holiness holiness in its earliest meaning means to withdraw huh that's strange well you know i'm good at other stuff writing's not one of them so it means to withdraw or withdrawn we have no problem telling people that if you want to get baptized you have to be immersed in water because that's literally what the word baptize means it means to be immersed you can't like argue it that's like the definition you can't separate the two and same thing with holiness you can't separate what it means it means to withdraw there's three synonyms i want you to know about the word holiness and the first one is withdrawal and the second synonym anytime you see the word separate and then sanctify and all the sanctification separation all the different you know conjugations of the word sank to fight now when i was growing up but i know what sanctify meant i didn't know what any of this stuff meant it's a miracle that i'm that i grew up living holy i thank my parents for living a wonderful holy example to me and teaching me the best they could but i've learned that in this generation we're losing them left and right because we're not taking the time to teach and i'm looking at all the young people right here because they're not gonna do it just because mom and dad did it they need to know what does the bible say and if we can dig it out and show them that it's really in there they're gonna follow it no problem and so i am thankful that they are in here today so holiness cannot be separated from its definition um so you cannot be holy by definition if you're not separated from something because literally that's what it means okay so we're going to be separating from something and unto something okay so we're not just going to go get in a corner and hide and say oh we're so holy look at us y'all are so bad no no it's we're separated from sinfulness and from the world so that we can be accepted by god and there's bible for all of us i promise when i get to it so um you literally cannot be sanctified unless you're withdrawal you are withdrawn from something just like baptism means immersion holiness means separate withdrawn and sanctified it's not odd it's not weird it's required it's not some obscure weird principle no literally it's the characteristics it's the character of god we are commanded to be holy don't apologize for trying to be holy oh holy or the mouth i'm commanded to be holy i know it gets weird and awkward and it's not popular but it's really weird to claim to be a born-again christian and a brand new creature and to go back to living and not withdraw from anything and never become holy or even strive to be that's what's real but it's kind of backwards in our culture holiness comes from the word godesh if you are hebrew uh godesh is the holy is the word for holiness the greek word i cannot pronounce um but it means withdrawal of course when you are holy what you are doing is withdrawing from the world and unto god so the journey of justification i'm going to get to nitty gritty stuff don't be don't worry first of all when we get saved we have something called justification and i need a bigger board no just kidding it makes me feel better to write it down just to vacation what is justification i mean that's a that's a big word justification happens when you're first saved we obey the word of god by getting into covenant of salvation by repenting by being baptized and then filled with the holy ghost at that point before god i am perfect i am white as snow i am clean i am holy i am justified i am saved and we're only here and saved through the justification of the spirit and the grace of god can i get a witness it's a new birth experience and for those who have experienced this then you know it's a wonderful beautiful thing and the will of god is that every christian would get past justification to the next step which is sanctification i know my husband probably covered all this yesterday but there's no way i could get up here and launch into what i'm going to say without doing what we call building a foundation or setting the stage so he's like i covered this last week but you know i it makes me feel better so and you may not all been in here last week so sanctification that's the part uh where i'm being made holy by learning to be led by the spirit and constantly making the effort to be separated by the world by having better choices and deciding hey is this what god wants me to do and learning through that process is the growth okay so that's sanctification that's what we're in right now that's the struggle and the struggle is real to get this flesh sanctified is no easy process and sometimes it can take a lifetime in fact it takes all the way up a vigilant fight until the third step which is glorification and that's when the trumpet sounds we're changed in an instant the struggle's over we are very totally free from the power and the presence of sin and we have our immortal bodies and we go to heaven and we have been glorified okay so we have to justification we have to have that new birth experience everything we did before that is over we god canceled that penalty it is over all of our sins are forgiven from that moment on we have to walk in daily repentance we have to die daily from that point on and begin to be molded and shaped into the image of god there has to be that process otherwise you could lose out between here and here it can happen the devil devil sees you as a temporary loss and his aim is to get you back but he can't because of the power of the holy ghost but you can choose to go back you can choose to stop the process of your growth and go back into the pledges of sin but the goal is to make it all the way through right amen so the devil sees you as separate loss but nobody in here is going back uh so i gotta hurry on so holiness remember what are the three synonyms withdrawal separate sanctify okay it's making wise choices that draw us farther away from the world and closer to god so here's a principle to help you for those that battle in your mind the question always pops up is this heaven or hell because i need to know because i'm going to get out my notepad if it's hell then i need to take some good notes so i want to help you understand that my husband has his own answer for this too which is also a very good one but let me tell you this without holiness oh i sound very serious no man shall see god some issues are clearly salvation issues you have to repent you have to get baptized in jesus name you have to receive the holy ghost it is a salvation issue you cannot be saved unless that happens you have to go through justification receiving the power of the holy ghost that's required because that same spirit is going to quicken our mortal bodies it's our ticket out of here it's going to get me off the ground and other issues are maturity issues and your neighbors say do you have maturity issues no parents with older children realize that there are different stages of growth i have a 16 year old a 13 year old and a six-year-old so i got one driving and one losing teeth so i have it all my relationship with them is different now than it was when they were two years old i didn't expect them to do chores to wash the dishes they would have broken them they would have been hurt they were not strong enough to do it i'm saving all my smarter like comments uh they weren't mature enough but god's family is the same there are people who are old and young among us some that are wealthy that are sick some of them are mature some that are immature and i don't mean that as an insult we love all of you but we must realize that there's salvation issues and there's maturing issues now i have expectations of savannah i do expect her to clean her room i help her to drive and go to the store and get milk kind of like that part of it and to help with dishes and things so that's what i have expectations of her now based on her level of maturity just like god has expectations of us as we begin to mature now i don't have standards the minute i come up out of the water speaking in tongues and that's where a lot of people get hurt and damaged is because we're forcing all these things on people the minute they come out of the water and they're still going guy guy gugu and you're like here you know carry this sword they're like what's happening so um god isn't concerned necessarily about that at that moment he wants you to be justified but after that he wants me to grow and to be like him so i won't be assembling block to myself or to someone else so um you know here's the problem some people who think if it's not a salvation issue then it's not an issue at all here's where you're wrong there are salvation and maturing issues but here here's the problem there's a lot of things in the scripture that now that i'm out of this stage that i have to obey obedience becomes my number one duty once i get through justification is obedience and maturity issues and of themselves are not salvation your convictions do not save you there's nothing powerful enough in the way i dress or where i go or don't go to save me from sin are you kidding me only the grace of god can do that okay your convictions don't save you but if i rebel against god's teaching in these areas for that's rebellion and rebellion's always a heaven or hell issue if i have rebellion in my heart then i cannot go to heaven rebellion will not enter there so here's where it becomes is it heaven or hell well it's really a matter of the state of your heart towards the things that god desires and requires so if i rebel against god's word his teaching and his spirits trying to separate me in in things the way i conduct myself my lifestyle my language my appearance where i go if i rebel against this spirit then that rebellion is going to keep me out of heaven so it is a heaven and hell issue um i don't know the exact scripture reference i'm sure all this wonderful panel of intimidating scholars over here could tell me but samuel talked to saul and saul said hey i obeyed everything god said and simon said no you didn't you did the opposite and then he said something to samuel which i just learned as i was studying in the king james version when a word is in italics then that means it wasn't in the original script so we say rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft but what he actually said was rebellion is witchcraft rebellion is witchcraft what that simply means is when you disobey you're opening yourself up to the dark side of spiritual things sanctification issues and uh and of themselves are not salvation issues but if you rebel against god's leadership okay i think i'm making my point clear here we must teach people who have been living for god for a while we must teach them to lead a godly lifestyle and if we don't we realize that we will have a spiritual problem there and our churches will be weak they will not be strong they will not be stable and they will never go on to being everything god has called them to be but at the same time we must be gracious and merciful to new members who don't understand all this they're coming from the world that knows none of this that rejects this it doesn't desire to know anything about this we must be patient and long-suffering i know i'm taking a long time with this but this is important um but after you know you've been around this place 17 years or so and you're still getting diapers put on you we have problems if my 13 year old still needs a bottle in the binky something's wrong okay so you can ride that little wave for a little bit okay but then it becomes very unhealthy it becomes very concerning your growth has been stunted something's not right so once we realize what this thing is and the maturity process and that it's biblically and godly and right to require something more of a mature christian than we would of a baby then once we realize that we can't get trapped in a corner if somebody's saying oh it's not a salvation issue just because you grow your hair long and you don't do this or that that doesn't save you we say yeah i know it's a maturity issue i don't do it to be saved i do it because i'm saved y'all can give me a good old clap right now so willful disobedience is a salvation issue the apostles obviously placed great importance on many areas of christian maturity i mean they go on and on about fruits of the spirit gifts of the spirit um all these things that you can study out how to grow up and be mature and one of those things that they talk about is holiness and our appearance and our conduct and it's extremely dangerous to know what to do and then not to do it in fact the bible says that sin and again sin will enter there so we're back to the whole heaven and hell thing it's dangerous to know that god says i like this and you say i don't care it's a dangerous thing to know that god prefers this and you say well but i prefer that that's a dangerous way to live i'm not really i know that's what you said but i'm not really interested how would you like it when your kids do that i know you said to do that but i really you know so holiness absolute requirement for christians it cannot you cannot be a christian without being holy you just can't you just can't do it first peter 3 15 or is it three three fifteen is that it but sanctify the lord god in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer uh i don't think that's the one i wanted is it maybe five or no it's one we oh i knew i was gonna do a typo in there it's supposed to be but he but as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation if you can find that one that's in there somewhere for it is written be holy for i am holy and the then what i want to show you is that in the king james the word conversation oh that means only have to talk holy okay you know what conversation actually means in the king james it means lifestyle all manner of lifestyle so conversation means lifestyle all manner of lifestyle like it's all up in everything and we got to find that reference because that's a really important scripture it's first peter three something it's one the three is just random okay so it's 115. y'all i've been all over these notes so much this miracle any of it makes sense okay so god okay so it tells us to be holy in all manner of lifestyle first corinthians 6 19 as we're oh there you go there you go go back to the other one right in front of it 15 115 there it is but as he which have called you is holy so be holy in all manner of conversation but we know it really means lifestyle all manner of lifestyle okay so then we go on to first corinthians 6 and 19 which i love because um i just a picture of going what what no you not that's your body i know that ain't how he's saying it but i love the what like duh hello where you been no but i don't know what exactly he meant but i like it so what know you're not that your body is the temple of the holy ghost which is in you which you have of god and you are not your own you have been purchased you have been bought with the price and it's not your thing do what you want to do you belong to him his house his rules you want to wear his name you have his image you have an image to uphold and it's not yours so um the holy spirit lives within you the same holy ghost the same holy spirit that dwelled in the holy the holiest of holies you are the temple of the holy ghost the holy ghost the holy spirit shouldn't dwell inside of a immodest temple an addicted temple a rebellious body there's all kinds of things that you could um type this out to be and then ii corinthians uh i think it's 6 17. man i gotta wherefore come out from among them as you've heard this in a million times and be ye separate say it the lord and touch not the unclean thing and i'll receive you that's the whole come out from them and then i'll receive you but you've got to do your part to come out and then god will receive you so we have to cleanse ourselves of all the filthiness of the flesh and the spirit that's another scripture and it just calls us to be perfect so i'm trying to hurry because i'm taking forever sorry but the thing is when you study the word you learn that god rejects people who don't obey his word i mean literally like it's very blunt he resists the proud he resists those who resist him the bible says if you love me keep my commandments if you're a friend of the world you're not a friend of mine so he really rejects those you you have a choice and he'll respect your choice but you can't have it both ways first thessalonians uh four and seven god has not called us to uncleanly to uncleanness but unto holiness and if you despise this you despise god a holy spirit doesn't dwell inside an unholy container god demands an external witness of an internal holiness romans 12 1 and 2. mine i'm just throwing the scriptures at you i know besieged i beseech you that's the strongest word paul could have used it means i beg you please therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice oh you mean my heart on the inside no your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable if there's an acceptable then there's an unacceptable acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service it's no weird big thing this is normal it's what's expected of you now it would be much easier to be a dead sacrifice because then you just lay up there as you did but to be a living sacrifice that's hard because you have to make a decision to stay on the altar you can get up but you stay there a living sacrifice is quite a challenge but he tells us that it's normal acceptable and perfectly reasonable and it goes on to say don't be conformed to this world don't be pressed into the mold of the world but be transformed the root word of that transformed is the same word of metamorphosis where a caterpillar turns into a butterfly you're supposed to be a new creature the holy ghost should change you if god's been so good to you and he brought you out there should be some evidence there should be a change in the way you walk the way you talk oh my i could go on with that so the bible says let your light so shine before men so they might see your good works do they have an x-ray machine are they looking in your heart no the only way to see what's in your heart is by what's on the outside so with that being said let's dig into one of the outward displays maybe one of the most controversial in our culture of holiness in depth and it won't probably all finish today in fact i know it won't there's no way it will but the apparel question that's a fancy word for what we wear modesty distinction two different things and i had a whole like big long thing about how god cares about clothing but it would have taken all night so i'm gonna skip ahead to some other stuff but god cares about things that we think he doesn't care about but we don't get to decide what's what he thinks is important he gets to decide what he thinks is important so modesty is an issue and distinction is another issue they're both important because you can be modest well i'm covered but i'm still but i'm now blurring the the genders the sexes and and god spells very strongly about that let's see what the word of god says and trust me why would i make this stuff up really it's it's we're not making stuff up if you will look it's in there it's in there but to have a heart to seek it out it's the difference between a sheep and a goat the goat is looking for the holes in the fence how do i get out the sheep wants to see how close can i get to the shepherd how close i get to the shepherd so before you eat y'all awake i could do my goat scream everybody be awake so it's your approach matters so if you're squirming and hating every inch of this you might want to check yourself for goat-ness doesn't mean the greatest of all time okay it means you're looking for for a way out you're looking for a hole in the fence okay and you can approach scripture that way and you can talk yourself out of anything you sure can but if you've got a sheep a mentality how do i please the shepherd how do i get as close as i can you'll find that too you'll find what you're looking for so holiness requires i pay special attention to my body how i use it how i display it and holiness encompasses so much more than just outward appearance please know that i know that and i don't have to do eight pages of disclaimers about the different facets of holiness i know i can be modest and still be a total jerk i understand that i understand there's been people that burn through that example and you've got their name on a list of why holiness doesn't work because they looked the part but they were a real gossiper and joke yes being modest doesn't make you holy i have to read it because it's better than what i was about to say there are people who dress modestly who are not holy but there are not people who are holy who do not dress modestly i'm just gonna take a drink of water on that holiness requires separation literally okay restriction of the flesh you are supposed to be a slave to righteousness i didn't write that one down the reference but i loved that when i read that to be a slave to righteousness holiness unto the lord set apart not just to be set apart but to be presented unto the lord and there is a spirit of i don't even know what on the fashion industry that's just so vulgar and just so um unclean i can't even probably use the right words to describe it and we cannot allow it to come in to our churches we cannot allow it we cannot allow it is anyone ever like me that's just like whoa wait a minute there's no way that's okay like you don't even know all the scriptures but you're just like this just can't know there's no way that you can openly say that you're a christian and behave that way or wear that it just doesn't add up it just doesn't add up and i know i'm not crazy but i know what you're thinking but sister mckay everybody's doing it but everybody's doing it how did that work out when your kids tell you that well if everybody's gonna go jump off a bridge would you go drop all right well everyone is not what i measure myself by i don't measure myself by culture we will be judged by the word of god and the word of god alone not what grandma did not what my aunt susie did not what the people who hurt me did not what hollywood did i will be judged by the word of god and listen to isaiah 35 8 and a highway will be there and it will be called the way of holiness i don't know if this is the same version or not but it will be for those who walk on that way the unclean aren't going to journey on it they're not going where you're going quit waiting for them to catch up they're not even heading the same direction they're not going on the way of holiness it's going to be for those who want to walk it and the unclean will not journey on it wicked fools will not go about it but i will but i will matthew 7 13 says enter ye at the straight gate for white is the gate broad is the way that leadeth to destruction many there be that find it but straight is the gate narrow is the way if you're waiting for it to be popular if you're waiting to be in the majority i'm sorry but it's just not gonna happen it's not about the majority it would be encouraging and that's why going to those big conferences is so encouraging because for just for a few minutes we're not outnumbered everyone's like me everyone's you know covered up and my husband's like i have to go home you know it's such a beautiful thing to come into the house of god where we respect each other where we honor god it's a safe place to worship just for a few minutes god's people his remnant are together and it's such you wonder why it feels so clean and refreshing because when you go out there you just bombarded constantly the poor men oh my goodness please ladies when they come here let this at least be one place where they have to fight every five seconds to keep their mind on god i don't know if i'll get to it tonight but you can wear a dress and be extremely immodest oh i'm going there i know what you're thinking oh mr mckee don't offend the new people i'm not going to offend the new people the new people know i love my spent 30 minutes telling him i loved him before i started this but trust me i'm the last one who wants to offend anybody i have to stand in a given account [Music] if i do offend i'm sorry but i'm more afraid to offend god we can't win souls and then just not raise them and just leave them in the nursery and abandon them the church has to be the mother and a good mother corrects a good mother teaches a good mother trains a good mother stays there through every phase of maturity what's not fair what is offensive is to set them up for criticism for judgment and for stunted growth by avoiding the topic that's not okay not only do spiritual babies need to be taught but our kids need to be taught there's not a separate rule for what they wear here and what they wear at school and you can't raise them wearing anything they want to wear and all of a sudden the minute they turn 13 expect them to love holiness and to be covered up it's not going to work that way it's a gradual training process you teach them about self-respect about dignity about class about value we are not slaves to this culture i'm not going to put you out if you've gone to the mall and see what they're marketing for our kids to wear it's disgusting and what we do in moderation they will do in excess and we have lost generation after generation because we have not taken the time to teach and i see kids out there i'm not mad at the kids someone's paying for that someone let them out the door mama take father take back authority of your home because they're being victimized they don't know it it's so normal we've been conditioned to it but i don't want them to feel left out i know the struggle is real i know it's tough but trust me it is worth it you must teach them that they're precious and valuable and worth more than gold they're not slaves to this disgusting culture there's no comparison between god's scriptural dress requirements and what's acceptable and popular in the moment in our evil society what bounces around from one evil imagination from the fashion world they do it intentionally i could read you quotes i could spend some time about the things that they say they're gonna do and what they're targeting and who they're targeting and why and i we have to also be intentional and i have to hurry on so i submit to you that if it's not acceptable for your children to wear it then it's not acceptable for adult sword either also submit to you that if it's i i want you to come and make an extra effort to be extra holy when you come to church of course to make this a safe place but why would this be the only safe place because we are walking billboards everywhere we go and i can't tell you many times i've been stopped by people in public thanking me for the way my children are dressed and the way i am dressed or if there's a need i'll be stopped to pray with somebody or to get counsel or just a word there's just something about it that they can see from a distance there's something different that stands out that's godly now this is for people and women who fear god who are full of the holy ghost and profess godliness so as christians it's logical if we're christians that we should want to know what the bible says about these things so let's trace the concept of apparel all the way through the scriptures the subject of holiness and dress is sensitive because it touches on what people treasure most our pride what we wear is very much a part of who we are our clothes reveal not only our social and economic levels but also our moral values what we wear reveals what we want the world to believe or admire about us and i'm just reading right now so i can make some headway in my notes if external holiness in dress is not developing in the life of a believer if external holiness is not developing in the life of a believer there's three culprits there's three things it could be it's either immaturity i don't mean that negative it's either a war or a worldly spirit or it's incorrect teaching or lack of teaching so if you're not growing in that area it's one of those three things so the concern of most churches though is they teach people how to become christians while not teaching them how to live as a christian as a result there are many very sincere believers who are sincerely doing what is wrong before god because they haven't been taught hosea four and six my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge because thou hast rejected knowledge i will also reject thee ignorance is not an excuse you have to get in and dig it out for yourself i can tell you what it says but you have to adopt it and believe it for yourself you have to work it out with fear and trembling if i'm gonna if if it's about eternity i'd rather overdo it than underdo it i mean i don't want to be skating like oh i'm so glad all that was required well hey i'm here whatever i'd rather be on that side of things than being like whoa i missed it so many ministers preach jesus accepts you no matter how you live or what you wear and that message is true but it's incomplete good news of the gospel is that jesus initially accepts us as we are but he will subs subsequently big word empower us to become what we ought to be we must teach people not only how to profess their faith but how to practice their faith your modest apparel silently tells the world that you now live to glorify god and not yourself first timothy 2 and nine in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shame-facedness and sobriety not with embroidered hair or gold or pearls or costly array and then peter almost has the exact same list first peter three and three who's adoring let it not be the outward adorning of plotting of the hair and wearing of gold and putting on of apparel but it goes on to say that the true beauty of a woman professing godliness is our meek and quiet obedient submissive all the things we love spirit should come our beauty should come from that so let's go all the way back to the garden mankind's very first clothing this is so cool when i was studying this at first adam and eve were clothed in innocence but after sin came their nakedness and they became it became a shame and danger to them their nakedness did not result from removing physical garments for they had never been worn rather they became aware because of sin now they're separated from god's glory which had been their covering so genesis 2 25 which i did not give them says and they were both naked and the man and his wife were not ashamed in the eyes of the and then goes on to verse chapter 3 verse 7 and the eyes of them were both opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed big leaves together immediately they knew i gotta cover up so we have man's first interpretation of what is modest he gets fig leaves together and they made themselves aprons i'll tell you what that means in a minute then you go to genesis 3 10 and he said i heard that voice in the garden i was afraid because i was naked and hid myself so he covered himself but he knew it wasn't good enough he went and hid from god and then genesis 3 21 and adam also and to his wife did the lord make coats of skin and clothe them he said nice try i get it you thought that was modest but no no so they tried to cover their nakedness by sewing together fig leaves to make an apron the hebrew word for apron is hagora h-a-g-o-r-a it probably sounds like that meaning girdle or belt loincloth apron whatever basically it covered the like if you're wearing a bikini like basically undergarments okay i'm mixed company gotta be careful here but you know what i mean so this is a garment um that was man's idea of modest apparel it still is but verse 10 indicates that adam and eve still knew that they were naked in god's sight since their covering was not acceptable to god he used an animal skin to make them a coat in the hebrew word for what he made them is coutine [Music] to make sure it's net but it's me i think they said it nay kutane kutenai that's god's replacement and you know what it means not that what is wrong with me sorry the hebrew word kootenai means a tunic with sleeves coming down to the knees sometimes to the ankles this is a garment with sleeves covering the shoulders going at least to the knees that's god's idea of modest apparel and these definitions are verified in such authorities as harris theological word book not written by him of the old testament uh hebrew and kaldi lexicon brown driver briggs hebrew and english lexicon so it's a real word and it really means that's what i'm trying to say so since god doesn't change the principles of modest apparel haven't changed either and paul goes on to say what a woman's clothing should be he says modest apparel that we just read the word that he uses is cosmisos do i sound smart yet misos cosmisos which means um well ordered becoming dignified it describes the inner self-discipline humble attitudes reflected and appropriate retire attire so modest apparel catastola and it's catastola so he says to the new testament church this is the apostles doctrine teaching to the churches he says women you gotta wear cosmismos catastoli and they're like okay what does that mean so that means apparel your clothing should be long and flowing the word apparel comes from the greek word catastoli which means a long flowing garment this word reflects directly on the style of garment the greeks called catastola which is loose fitting flowing covering from the neck to the knees notice that paul requires the same type of garment that god required because they're talking because this inspired word there's no confusion there's no uh you know inconsistencies in genesis 3. the garment of a woman should therefore cover her thigh and knee it does not have to be longer than that it can be if paul had wanted to specify ankle length garment he would have used the greek word poderos as in revelation 1 13. so not talking about distinction but just modesty pants are not modest garment for a woman because even though they are past the knee long they are not flowing garments okay they also which i'll talk about next time gird up the loins you've heard of that that's when the men would take their robe the back part of their robe and yank it up and tuck it in their belt and make it look like a pair of pants and so even job there's a script says give up your loins like a man like that's what they meant when you needed to get something done you didn't want to be all you know that's what they would say get up your loins and women did that they would be like oh no it'd be horrible be like offensive like gross oh man don't do that so um so also a tight garment is not what paul's talking about because it's also not modest because it's not a flowing garment so is it is it uniquely female because it's a dress we'll have to get a distinction next time yes is it long maybe but if it's not if it shows the form of your body then it is not modest because it is tight and it is not catastola someone's saying it getting in the nitty-gritty here so i know the men are thinking wow this is nice i wish they would have had a separate class for us but as the head of your home and as father of your children and you know the women have these restrictions because of you because men are stimulated by sights and women by touch either physical or emotional and although they should you guys should be in control all the time that's not reality and that selfish mentality that says well it's not my problem to make sure he don't fall he needs to take care of his own business that's not love it's not love for you to do whatever you want to do and come in here and make my husband struggle how is that love so there are plenty of commandments for men too i'm not absolving you of responsibility but we have to do our best to not provide a distraction or any kind of thing that would cause a man to stumble as a woman professing godliness now if you're not a woman professing godliness just toss this right out this doesn't apply to you but if you are a holy ghost-filled woman professing godliness trying to mature and become sanctified you can't avoid this i don't have the authority to rip that one out of the bible and that's modesty that's modesty and it goes on to define which i don't have time but the bible specifically defines nakedness as showing any part of the inner thigh even for men the pre the priest had to wear something called breeches which sounds like i'm trying to say britches in a funny way turn on your breaches no but it was literally b-r-e-e-c-h-e-s breaches because they had to walk up high on the altar and it could be a windy day and his robe may flap back and we could not be seeing this inner thigh because that would be shameful i don't want to do anything that god considers shameful so to him nakedness is showing showing any part from your knee up of your torso that's shameful that's being naked in the sights of god that's what he calls it and so that's why our minimum standard is a skirt below the knee because that's the only length where you're not going to sit any certain way and risk us seeing your upper thigh and thus being naked so hey how's that been for blunt so that's where that's why we're all about with the young people your skirt pull your screen down first not just because you know it is classier it is you know makes you when you dress better you behave better when you act when i'm just telling you you feel bad dress up it's true and i taught eighth grade algebra in public school and it was a very educational experience for me not them i hope it was for them but um this girl's wearing all these things and hanging out with their legs propped up on the desk all sprawled out not ladylike i mean we need a revival of lady ladylikeness yeah beautiful godly ladies that know how to carry yourself and know how to sit properly you can't sit properly in a mini skirt right above your knees so but first of all yes it does make you behave anyway back to my story and they would say miss hammer miss hammer because i was miss hammer back then before i got uh i won the prize and got to be uh elevated to miss mckee but um miss hammer said why are you always wearing dresses you always wear dresses you know and of course i didn't give a big open bible study but i did the best i could and i said well because i like to be a lady because you know i act better when i dress better and i said i want to challenge you to wear dress to wear dresses let's have let's have dress up friday and here they come they all come in their in their dresses and skirts bless their hearts i mean they weren't you know very kind of stole-ish or nothing but uh they came in with their skirts and i'm telling you they act like they were going to the prom the boys were opening doors for them they were pulling out their chairs for them they carried themselves differently because they had a new sense of self-respect god knows this about us it's innate in our culture men want a woman to respect but we have to respect ourselves and it comes all the way back to the beginning of creation if we'll do it god's way god's way god's definition of what's modest so i'm not being i feel i'm always tug you know to get your skirt down cover knees because that's what god wants we want to honor him and all that we do it's not too much to ask and it really works in our benefit can we stand up it's getting too late and i didn't even get close close to my notes i did get close i got about halfway but i asked him for three weeks so i'm coming at you again well got three claps that's better than i thought i do so next time we'll get to deuteronomy 22 and 5 which talks about how a man shouldn't wear a woman's garment and a woman shouldn't wear that which pertains to a man and why it's an abomination and why on earth does it still count after the law is over and it's 2017 is that still a thing yes and i'm going to prove it to you but just by faith believe me until then and just try it out you'll never give up anything for god that he will not reward you just continue on the journey to maturity and let god bring you into holiness and sanctification but you got to separate something you got to give something up but the less of the world means more of him and that's really what it's all about all right i love you and my husband you want to come up say anything that's it you're dismissed in jesus name amen you

Channel: Rob n Shara McKee

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Id: iNWSRilvGNc

Length: 56min 49sec (3409 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 08 2021