"Is it ok to wear jewelry and makeup?" - Pastor Joe Crews

tonight we're going to answer the question that's come into our box what do you think about the wearing of jewelry and makeup is this biblical now I'm going to take a little longer than usual answer this question tonight because I realize that it might be a very sensitive question as some people and I like to really make certain that I'm not giving just my opinion on something you know it doesn't matter what I think about it by the way that question is worded in a sort of awkward way because it doesn't matter one bit what I think or what you think and you know it doesn't even matter what this church or that church of this preacher of that creature thinks about it the only thing that I'm concerned about tonight friends is what does God think about an issue that's the important thing isn't it and of course that's what we want to find out here tonight we're going to look at it purely from that standpoint now listen love is the greatest thing in the world I think all of us realize that Jesus gave those two great Commandments you remember he said love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind love your neighbor as yourself love is a fulfilling of the law everything we do in this world my friends well to do it because we love the Lord everything we do in relation to our service for God our obedience our keeping the commandments of God is to be done from the motive of love not a fire escape I think I talked to you before about a fire escape religion there are a lot of people that have this they really do they know there's a fire down at the end of the road and they don't want to go in it so what do they do they force themselves to do all the things they believe that Christian people ought to do in order to stay out of the fire now that is a miserable miserable religion friends when we obey God and keep his Commandments and anything else we do we should do it because we love him with all our hearts now we do that all the time on a human basis don't we we really do my wife prepares my favorite dish when I come in at night not because she's afraid I'll divorce her but because she loves me and she wants to please me and when her birthday or anniversary approaching I will watch and listen carefully to see if I can detect what you'd like to have now she doesn't have to hit me over the head to let me know you know the little women have ways of doing that but when I find out friends I will gladly get it for her because I liver see and in in the same way I love God in fact I love him more than I love my wife and I'm always looking through this book the Bible to find little hints and indications from God as to what how did please him now shouldn't we be doing that all the time friends we ought to be reading the Bible and searching the Scriptures and trying to find out how to please them and what will make him happy in fact there's a verse in the Bible I'll quote it to you it's out of the 20th century translation of the Bible Ephesians 5 and verse 10 it says always be trying to find out what best pleases the Lord another wonderful motto for a Christian always be searching the Bible to find out there how to please him and what we do whether it's a little thing or a big thing that should be our motive and God should not have to threaten us friends to get us to do things all he needs to do if we really love him are our eyes and mind we'll be quick and keen to respond to it and we'll we'll do it because we love it look at this text in in psalm 32 verse 8 it's one of my favorite Psalms but in the eighth verse of Psalm 32 God says I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go I will guide thee with mine I be not as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding whose mouths must be held in with bit and bridle as they come near unto thee now God said look I want to guide you with my eye I don't want I want to instruct you with my eye I want to be able to just glance at you and correct you and you'll respond to me because you love me I don't want to have to jerk you around like a horse or mule to correct you I just want to glance at you with my eye and have you to be corrected now friends I believe that for somebody who loves that that's all which it that's needed is that right and we ought to be very sensitive to God's will by studying the and finding out what he says in there and what pleases him and what displeases and friends listen if I find that something displeases the Lord even if he gives me a hint and a good indication he doesn't have to say look you do this or else I'll throw you in the fire if you don't do this he doesn't have to say that to me all he has to say is look I don't like that and shouldn't that be sufficient friends should not be sufficient now the question tonight is what does God think about the wearing of makeup and jewelry not what Joe Cruise or anybody else thinks what does God think does he like it or does he dislike it and I say friends if we can find the answer to that question of the Bible we've got the answer to the question that came into question box haven't we we ought to have it I hope we have it if we can find that out now what does the Bible say does God give us any hints or indications here in the Bible as to what he thinks about this practice well I'm going to go right through the Bible reading a number of verses tonight and by the way all of these verses will be in a little book that will be handed out as you leave the meeting today and this will contain every text that I'm going to give right now plus a lot more as well I think about 46 texts so if you don't get to write these down you'll get them all as you leave this will be given one to a family as you go out from the meeting today but now the first text I like to read is found in the first book of the Bible Genesis chapter 35 and God said unto Jacob arise go up to Bethel and dwell there and make there an altar unto God that appeared to thee when thou fled us from the face of Esau thy brother then Jacob said unto his household and to all that were with him put away the strange gods that are among you and be clean and change your garments and let us arise and go up to Bethel and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me in the way which I went and they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand and all their earrings which were in their ears and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem now this Bethel is a place where Jacob was converted to remember that it's where he struggled with the angel and became a new man out there and now he's taking his family back to that sacred spot and a bit build an altar there to worship God in the dead his family at that holy place but before he went up there to take his family they laid aside these things the the ornaments and fact they buried them there it says they got rid of the strange gods which were in their hand and the earrings which are in their ears and then they went up to the altar of God after burying those things there and going to the altar now I gather friends that they had a good reason for this we're going to find as we go on reading in the Bible both old and new Testament that these things were marks of the heathen people and that God did not approve of these things all right now there's what you're going to notice as we go along when they went up to dedicate their lives they laid aside those things buried them and then went up to the altar of God you come on to the next chapter of the Bible and Exodus and chapter thirty and thirty three X ODIs 33 here the Israelites are headed toward the promised land verse 1 the Lord said to Moses depart and go up hence verse 2 and I will send an angel before thee and I will drive out the Canaanite the amorite the hittite the perizzite the hivite and the jebusite unto a land flowing with milk and honey for I will not go up in the midst of thee for the hour to stiff-necked people lest I consume thee in the way and when the people heard these evil tidings they mourned and no man did put on him his ornaments for the Lord had said unto Moses say unto the children of Israel your stiff-necked people I will come up into the midst of the in a moment and consume thee therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to do into thee and the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments about the Mount Horeb now friends before they could go into the Promised Land God made him take off their ornaments you say well now what does that have to do with us you know that's something happened way back in the Old Testament it has no application today the people living under the new company here in the new testament times well friends let's find out if it has anything to do with us please come to the new testament now 1st corinthians 10 and the first few verses and here we read something very interesting about the israelites as they came up out of egypt referring back to that same time i read just now in the book of Exodus it talks here about how they went through the Red Sea and and they came and verse 7 it says in verse 6 rather now these things were our examples talking about the Israelites as they began their journey to the promised land now these things were our examples to the intent we should not lust after evil things as they lust it neither be idolaters as were some of them neither let us commit fornication is some of them committed neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted neither murmur ye as some of them murmured verse 11 now all these things happened unto them for examples and they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come now listen everything that happened to that ancient nation of Israel happened as an example for us friends there is a direct parallel between ancient Israel and modern Israel where modern Israel you see and they're coming out of the bondage of Egypt represents are coming out of the bondage of sin they're crossing the Red Sea represents baptism for us because it says right here and they were all baptized unto Moses and the cloud and the sea so that represents baptism for us they're going through the wilderness represents our going through this old dark world of sin and they're coming into Canaan represents our coming into the heaven of Canaan see beautiful parallel and it says it all happened for an example for us and so when we come back here and read that before they could go into the land of Canaan they had to lay aside their ornaments my friends there is a parallel I really believe that it's an indication of what pleases the Lord now you come on down to 2nd Kings 9 and verse 30 and we find the first recorded instance of the use of colorful cosmetics now this is the first either inside or outside the Bible we don't have any record even from secular history of any earlier use of colorful cosmetics than this text right here in second Kings 930 and when G who was come to Jezreel Jezebel heard of it and she painted her face and tired her head and looked out at a window that's the first record we have of a woman her face and it was Jezebel doing it you know who Jezebel what not a very savory character was she she destroyed hundreds of God's of prophets and was a very very wicked woman of course and I know my dear old Baptist father used to say she's painted up like Jezebel have you heard that expression this is where it came from of course because she apparently originated the practice as far as we know because it's the earliest known instance of it well we can come over into the many writings of the prophets we come for example to to Isaiah chapter three and notice a very interesting record here about the daughters of Zion verse 16 says moreover the Lord Seth because the daughters of Zion or haughty and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes walking and mincing as they go in making a tinkling with their feet verse 18 and that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet and their calls and their round tires like the moon the chains and the bracelets and the mufflers the bonnets and the ornaments of the legs and the headbands and the tablets and the earrings the rings and those jewels now some of these we don't even recognize they're oriental objects of adornment over in India for example where I lived for five years you see all of these things they have the nose jewels of course that are mentioned here and the bangles and everything else covering their bodies and after describing the fact that the daughters of Zion were wearing these things come on down a few verses now and see what God thought about it and what he said about it in chapter 4 verses 2 to 4 in that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel and it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy even everyone that's written among the living in Jerusalem when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst era by the spirit of judgment by the spirit of burning God says I'm gonna wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion after describing it and then he said the ones that are left are going to be holy and beautiful and glorious and comely which means good-looking you know the women put these things on to make themselves good-looking but God apparently doesn't see things the way we do friends and he said I'm gonna wash away the filth of these daughters of Zion and then he says those that are left are gonna become light and beautiful and glorious and holy so we get a pretty good idea here again of the way God looked upon these things now notice he says here rings he says rings now I've had people say to me I've had a high school senior say to me well you know God wasn't talked about my class ring because that's not really an ornament that's a symbol of my of my being a senior so he wasn't talking about that he was talking about other kinds of rings and then I've had masons say the same thing you know they have a Masonic ring and they said well you know my ring signifies the fact I belong to the lodge and so God was going about this ring he was talking about other rings and then of course there's the birthstone ring and the friendship ring and the engagement ring and the wedding ring and you could go right on down the list and it would be easy I think for any of us to say well you know God who I'm talking about the one I got on he's talking about everybody else's now friends what are we trying to find out here as we read these verses we're trying to find out how to please the Lord is that right not how to get around pleasing him see we're trying to find out how to please him now I can equip a logo the kind of ornaments I'm wearing the kind of rings and I can say well God didn't mean this but friends I'm I don't want to run any risk of displeasing God do you I'm trying to find out how to please him I'm not trying to find out how much I can get by with and still make it to heaven now God is not saying here you take that off or else no he's not all he's doing is giving us some hints and some indications of what he likes and what pleases him and what I'm saying is friends if we love Jesus with all our heart we'll want to do the thing that pleases him and we'll not want to run any risk of displeasing him that's what I believe now sometimes people say we're brother Joe what about the wedding ring you know that one that one really is a sort of a sacred thing what do you find anything in the Bible my friends about any any sign or symbol of being married you've got anything in the Bible about that you know what a marriage is made up of promises that two people make to each other isn't that right promises do you know where that wedding ring came from let me read you something interesting I've got here in my hand a page out of the book by Cardinal John Newman one of the princes of the Cardinals of the Catholic Church he wrote a book entitled an essay on the development of Christian doctrine and in this book he gave some some very interesting statements about how paganism came in from Sun worship into the Catholic Church here's the statement he makes in this book he said Constantine in order to recommend the new religion to the heathen transferred into it the outward ornaments to which they had been accustomed in their own now here's a Cardinal of the church saying that when Constantine came into the Catholic Church he brought a lot of pagan things with him he says it is not necessary to go into a subject which the diligence of Protestant writers hadn't has made familiar to most of us the use of temples and these dedicated to particular Saints incense candles holy water asylums processions the ring in marriage turning to the east images at a later date are all a pagan origin and sanctified by their adoption into the church now friends that ring originally represented the disk of the Sun it was worn by the pagan Sun worshipers to honor their Sun God and to be with him constantly to remind him of the disk of the Sun and when Constantine brought all these pagan objects into the church he brought that ring with him and they and the nines of the church began to wear it to represent being married to Christ or married at the church and from there it passed under Protestantism as a sign of marriage but it's not in the Bible at all Merritt I know people who think that don't they they don't have that little piece of metal on their finger they're not married and they pull it off at times and say they're not married when our friends are married because you make vows to God and to each other that's what marriage is and that little ring doesn't mean a thing I don't have to prove that I'm faithful to my wife to the public I don't have to prove to anybody I keep my promises I'm faithful because of the promises I made but I just mentioned this to give you a little background and to show you that we don't have to quibble over the kind whether it's a class ring a Masonic ring or any other ring I say let's give God the benefit of the doubt why run a risk of displeasing him and if he doesn't like rings let's say well that's it we won't bother with any of them come on down to the next book of the Bible which is Jeremiah chapter 4 verse 30 and when thou art spoiled what wilt thou do though thou Clovis I self with crimson though thou dekha Slee with ornaments of gold though thou Renta sty face with painting in vain shalt thou make thyself fair thy lovers will despise thee they will seek to our life now all through the Bible God uses a woman to represent the church remember that a woman to represent the church he's married to the church he's the bride he's the bridegroom and and and he uses this woman to symbolize the relationship with his faithful people but friends when his people became unfaithful and turned away from him how do you think the the woman is represented the Bride of Christ she's represented is going after her lovers and becoming unfaithful to him see and in every case that I can read here in the in the prophets my friends when she turns away symbolically from her husband to go after her lovers she puts on all of the adornments in other words it's used in the Bible is a symbol of apostasy and a symbol of unfaithfulness here he's talking about the his bride and he says thy lovers will despise thee though you clothe yourself with ornaments of gold and rent you're faced with with painting he says they will despise thee they'll seek thy life going on into the next book of the prophets in Ezekiel chapter 23 he uses two women here to represent a Judah and Israel in verse 36 he gives them names even he said the Lord said moreover unto me son of man without judge Ahola and a whole yay declare unto them their abominations that they've committed adultery and verse 40 and furthermore that you have sent four men to come from far unto whom a messenger was sent and lo they came for whom that it's wash thy self painted star eyes and Decca sigh self with ornaments he said you've turned away from me you've gone after your lovers and you put on all these things and have become unfaithful to me you find that same thought repeated again in the little book of Hosea chapter 2 13 verse 13 and I will visit upon her the days of Balaam wherein she burned incense to them and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels and she went after her lover's and forgot me say at the Lord same thing again turning away from him going off to commit spiritual adultery and putting on all these things which are used in the Bible as a symbol of unfaithfulness coming over into the New Testament we find similar statements in first Peter 3 1 2 3 likewise II wives be in subjection to your own husbands that if any obey not the word they also may without the word be one but the conversation of the wives and this word conversation of course is the word meaning the deportment the conduct not just the speech but rather the whole way of life while they behold your chaste conversation couple with fear whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold now this word plating by the way is a Greek word meaning to weave ornaments into the hair see it's the word here is plating and there's another use of it will read now in Timothy in just a moment but it says let it be the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit then we come back to 2 Timothy here first Timothy 2 verse 9 it says in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety not with broided hair or gold or pearls and this word bro dude that's the word I was thinking of plated in Peter and here it's bro dude but it's the same original word meaning the weaving of ornaments into so it says not with this but which becometh women professing godliness with good works so these are just a few texts now and friends to me these give and this is not all of them by any means you'll find most of them go in the little book you'll receive but I've just read enough to show you the hints that are given in the Bible and I think they're a little more than hints really I think they're more than a little Hanson indication now somebody may say well brother Joe you know those are that's a little thing you're talking about a small little inconsequential thing of course it is well let me ask you something for it how do you show your love the most but the big things are the little things you do well you ask any lady you know I'm sure my wife would appreciate a new washing machine or a new dryer for her birthday but if I came in one day with a little bunch of hand-picked flowers that I'd gone out in the field and gathered for her and come in and say honey I'm gonna dry the dishes for you today she would appreciate that lot more than the washer/dryer she really would it would show my love for her a lot more because she she would know that I'd never go out and pick those flowers for any other reason except that I wanted to please her show my love to her it's in those little things folks that we do that really show our love you may think this is a small matter maybe it is but I believe it's in those small things that we really show our true love to God and our willingness to put him above ourselves you've just been listening to Joe Cruz on the remarkable question of what the Bible has to say on the use of cosmetics and jewelry I'd like you to have Joe's little book on this topic and in a minute I'll tell you how to get it but first here are the amazing facts singers with the song this could be the year when Jesus comes [Music] with [Music] [Applause] [Music] we do [Music] [Music] so the time [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Oh Oh [Applause] [Music]

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Id: TH23Qj5KYV0

Length: 26min 39sec (1599 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 12 2019