for the sake of all those who
could not make it this morning, and kind of like Miranda writes,
so that whatever I say or do here may be used, not against
me, but in favor of me. Because some of the things I
want to deal with this morning are controversial. I have experienced
a little bit of anxiety over some of the things I'm going
to deal with here, and I hope, I hope, I pray, I believe that
what I say will not be taken, that it will be taken in the
spirit in which it's given. That is, out of love for you,
out of concern for the glory of God. concern for the good
of this church and our witness and testimony to the gospel.
I don't believe anybody in here has any cause to suspect. My
motive. My attitude in this thing of
the ministry for my love for you. All right. We're going to talk about this
thing called Christian liberty, and our text is in 1 Corinthians,
chapter 8. 1 Corinthians, chapter 8, and
this is exactly what this passage deals with throughout the chapter.
Paul, as a matter of fact, deals from 1 Corinthians 8 on through
several chapters with some problem areas in regards to this thing
of Christian liberty. He also dealt with it in the
book of Romans very clearly. And we're going to deal with
our subject, we're going to deal with things that we allow ourselves
to do, like he said in Romans 14.22. We're going to deal with
this thing of what we do, what we eat, what we drink, even to
what we wear, and the clothes we wear. Now, first of all, I
want you to look at 1 Corinthians 11 before we get into the text.
1 Corinthians 11, this verse here, I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians 10,
this would be a If I had a text, if I had a verse I want you to
consider throughout the course of this lesson, this would be
it, OK? I want you to have this verse
printed indelibly upon your hearts and your minds this morning.
Indelibly means forever though, doesn't it? This morning and
from here on, OK? Now look at it with me. Verse
31 of 1 Corinthians 10, chapter 10, verse 31. or drink, or whatsoever you do. Now, doesn't that mean everything?
Whatsoever you do, do all. Why? For your own convenience,
for your own comfort, for your own pleasure, or to the glory
of God. giving none offense, look, read
on, give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles,
nor to the church of God, even as I, Paul says, I please all
men in all things not speaking mine own profit, but the profit
for the good, the edification, the benefit of many that they
might be saved or come to know Christ." Now, he's not talking
at all about compromising the gospel. He said, if I seek to
please men, I'm not the servant of Christ in another place. But
here he's talking about whatever other areas that may cause difficulty. I want to avoid offense in any
area. All right now the gospel is an
offense the cross of Christ is an offense and Paul said we're
not going to we're not going to pair that not whatsoever not
going to compromise that. But you remember those verses,
OK? Whatever we do, whether we eat, whether we drink, whatsoever
we do, do all to the glory of God, giving no offense in anything.
Paul said, even as I seek to please men in all things. You
remember that? All right. Now, listen to me. Do not misconstrue or fail to
understand what I'm saying here this morning. Don't do it. What we say, what we eat, what
we drink, what we wear, has nothing to do whatsoever with our salvation,
nothing to do with whether or not God accepts us or rejects
us. We are saved, we are justified,
we are redeemed, we are sanctified, that is, made holy by what Jesus
Christ did, said, ate, drank, wore for us, period. Can that be any plainer? Our
eternal standing before God Almighty is fixed eternally. We are complete
in Christ before God, completely accepted. The believer is free
from the law, free from the law that would condemn him, and free
from regulations for his salvation. But now, look here at 1 Corinthians
9, verse 21. 1 Corinthians 9, he says, to
them, verse 21, Paul says, but to them that are without law,
Paul said, I became as without law, being, now look at this,
in parenthesis, but we're not without law to God, but under
the law to Christ. I want you to see that definite
distinction. What I'm talking about there is believers' freedom
from the law, from rules, regulations, and so forth, for his standing
before God. Our subject here is Christian
liberty and what we are free to do, be, eat, or not free to
do, be, eat, drink, wear, or whatever. Now, I've got to add
this. I'm going to have to clarify
and qualify everything I say this morning. I shouldn't have
to, but I want to for everyone's sake. I don't want to be misunderstood
here at all. We're not looking for freedom
for the flesh. When we talk about Christian
liberty or freedom, we're not looking for freedom for the flesh
or opportunity. We're not looking to be able
to make provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lusts or desires
thereof. But we're talking about freedom
from the flesh. There's freedom, that's liberty,
Terry, freedom from flesh, freedom from sin, freedom to serve God. Conformity to Christ is the goal,
the ultimate goal of every believer, conformity to Christ. Right? That's what it's got to be in
the heart and motive of every believer, conformity to Christ
in all things. present your bodies a living
sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, well-pleasing." The
believer wants to be pleasing to his God and glorified. Now,
Paul had to deal with a problem here, back in that text here,
1 Corinthians 8. He had to deal with a problem
that we don't face here. He had to deal with this problem
of the eating of meats that were sacrificed to pagan idols. What happened back then was that idol worship carried on many
of the same sacrifices that Judaism did. They slaughtered animals
and took the blood and so forth. You'll find that in most pagan
religions, bloodshed. Well, they were doing it then
at the same time, and the meat that was left over from those
sacrifices to pagan idols, the priests, those false priests,
the people involved, were selling that meat in the marketplace.
or selling it in the form of a meal, cooking it up and serving
meals for people to eat, poor people and whatever, which was
a good thing. And people were going in and
eating this meat. People were buying it, and so
a lot of people had trouble with it. A lot of believers in Christ,
it was pricking their conscience that they were eating this meat
sacrificed to idols. They were troubled with it. Now,
we don't have that problem today, do we? We don't have this to
deal with. And so I've got to make this
relative to us right now, don't I? I have to make this passage
of Scripture as to what it's dealing with. I have to make
it relative to what we do today, or what's going on today, and
apply it today. And we are faced with some things
today that are controversial. OK, so I'm going to apply this
to the things that we are faced with. All right, now look at
verse 1 in the text. Now he says, Now as touching
things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge.
Knowledge, not all knowledge. We don't know everything. We
know some things. We know the doctrines of grace.
We understand some things from the Scriptures, but we know so
very little. We understand some things from
the types and the symbols that we have seen in the Scriptures.
We have some discernment, but not all. I mean, we don't have
all discernment, not all knowledge. All right? That's the reason
we're sitting here this morning. Now, we know that we all have knowledge
about these things, but knowledge puffs up, he says. Knowledge
puffs up. Just pure head knowledge, that
is, will puff a man or woman up with pride, self-worth, bigotry. But love, he says here, charity
or love edifies. Love to God's Word, love to others,
seeks how it may edify one another. That's what Paul said in another
place. Not be superior over or lord oneself over. or have one
up on somebody. But love seeks how it may edify
one another. True love, like in 1 Corinthians
13, edifieth. And no matter how much, he said,
though I understand all mysteries, no matter how much we know, no
matter how much we know, or no matter how much we do, that I
give my body to be burned, give all my worldly goods and so forth.
If we be without a principle of love to God, for his honor,
his glory, and love to others, my knowledge is useless." It's
vain knowledge. Listen to this. If our gospel
does not make us better people, then it's just useless head knowledge,
isn't it? Huh? If it does not conform us
to the image of Christ, what good is it? Right? The life of a regenerated child
of God changes from self-serving, self-seeking,
self-satisfaction, to God-serving, to people-serving. Right? Can't deny that from Mr. Pearson.
Don't want to. The life of a believer is no
longer his own. And I'm building the foundation
of what we're going to say here. The life of a believer is no
longer his own. He said, you're not your own.
Brother Coffee preached or touched on that. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. You
belong to somebody else. So he says, whatever you do,
you're supposed to be doing it in service to him, answering
to him, for the glory of him. Whatever you do, say, eat, drink,
wear, wherever you go. All right? Everything, all self-seeking,
goes out the window. All self, all personal opinions. Oh, I think, that's got to take
a back seat. Now we say, what does God say? Not, oh, this is what I think.
No, that goes out the window. What does God say? All self-satisfying,
all indulgent. And listen to this. All public
liberties go out the window. All public liberties go out the
window for the good and the benefit of others. He said all men. Somebody say, well, you're just
talking about brothers here, a friend and a brother. Not so. Look at verse 19 of chapter 9.
Look at 1 Corinthians 9, verse 19. Paul said, though I be free
from all men, that is, who is he that condemneth? Nobody can
lay anything to my charge. He said in another place, I'm
not going to let anybody bother me, not these self-righteous
Pharisees. I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded. You cannot convince me otherwise.
I'm free in Christ. I'm free from all men. Yet, look
at verse 19. I have made myself a servant
unto," A-double-L, "...that I might gain the more." Read on. Look
at verse 22. He said, "...to the weak I become
as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to
all men, that I might by all means save, or witness, or minister
to some." Is that clear? Not talking about just brothers,
is he? He's talking about just the way we conduct ourselves
before believers? No. No. Out in the world, there aren't
very many believers out there. Now, he says in another place,
giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed.
Avoiding every appearance of evil, or what the world, what
people may consider evil, whether eating or drinking, once again,
whether eating, drinking, or whatever we do, say, act, or
how we look, all for the glory of God Almighty. That's what
we want, isn't it? I believe that's what we want
here at Central Baptist. Now, look at verse three. Now,
verse two, if any man thinks he knows anything, by the way,
he says, he knows nothing. If we think we've got a lot on
knowledge and what we're supposed to do and how we're supposed
to be in the doctrine and so forth, then we better start all
over again and become as little babies, teachable, teachable,
sitting meekly, humbly listening, learning. But, now verse three,
if any man loved God, the same is known of God. True God lovers. True children, true disciples
of Christ, are known, first of all, by God. God knows who he
is, right? He is set to their seal, something. This is the foundation of God.
Stand assured, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He knows them. And God's people are known by
men. They're known by God, and they're
known by men for their piety. Now, we make disparaging remarks
with that word. I say it all the time. I say,
oh, he's being, he's just being real pious. You know what piety
means? You know what pious means? It
means godly. It means devoting. I want to
be pious. I don't want to be falsely pious
or ultra-pious or holier-than-thou sort of thing. But I do want
to be pious. And God's people are known by
God and by men for their piety. They're different. They're different
people. Verse 4, Now as concerning, therefore,
the eating of those things that are offered in the sacrifice
unto idols, We know that an idol is nothing. He says, we know that an idol
is nothing, nothing in the world, and that there is none other
God but one. An idol is nothing, he said,
nothing. There's only one God. We know
that, believer. He's writing to the Corinthian
church here. He says, we know that. An idol is nothing, it's
a piece of wood. piece of silver, whatever. We
know there's only one God. Now look at verse 5 and 6. For
though there be many that are called gods, whether in heaven
or in earth, as there be gods many and lords many, many called
gods, Christ said, did not I say unto you that you are gods, small
g, that means rulers, some authority in some area, some of us in here,
perhaps. have some authority over some
people in the workplace or whatever. You're gods, little gods, little
g's, in the biblical sense of the word, okay? He said there
are many small g's, little gods and lords In Britain today, they
still call these men in the Parliament, Lords of the Parliament, Lord
and Lady. I don't much like that, but nevertheless,
men. And so Paul's making a distinction
here. And I'll add this, there are many Jesuses too. And, but
Paul says, we know that there's just one God, capital G, one
holy, sovereign, absolute creator, ruler, and controller, and one,
look at it again, verse 6, but to us there's but one God, the
Father, of whom are all things, and we in, or by, or under him,
and one Lord Jesus Christ. Many Jesuses, but one Lord Jesus.
Christ, by whom are all things, by whom all things consist, by
whom all things were created, and we, by or under him, we're
the Lord, we're under his dominion. One Lord, one sovereign, reigning,
ruling King, one Jesus, one truly successful, vicarious Savior,
one Christ, one anointed, one man approved. One elect, one
chosen representative of men, one man, one mediator, one intercessor,
one. There'd be no doubt about it.
We know that, Paul said. We know that. Now, verse 7. I've been talking about this
knowledge concerning things offered to idols, eating of meats and
whatever. Now, it says, how be it? Verse 7. How be it? There is not in every man that
knowledge that you have. For some with conscience of the
idol unto this hour, some with conscience of the idol unto this
hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol, and their conscience,
being weak, is defiled." Now do you get the picture here?
There's a young, weak, immature believer who comes in, and he
sees these older believers in the church eating this meat,
or doing this and that and the other, and he's bothered. He doesn't understand that it
has nothing to do whatsoever with his salvation, and he's
bothered by it. He's troubled to be in that place.
He's troubled to be in the midst of all that paganism. I'm not
sure it was a good thing, anyway, but he's trouble with it, and
Paul is talking about that here. Now, he says in verse, look at
Romans 15 with me. Look over at Romans chapter 15.
Some do not have the spiritual, mature spiritual knowledge that
all believers have. that some believers have. Some
are still troubled with this or that, OK? Some have their
weak consciences defiled, troubled and upset. Look at Romans 15,
verse 1. So here is what Paul says. This
is not advice here, this is command. We then that are strong ought
to bear the infirmities of the weak, ought to bear, put up with
the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Well, I've got this freedom. He's just weak. He's just ignorant.
He just doesn't know. He'll learn someday. I've got
my freedom. No. No. Paul says, no, don't
let that be. You tossed your freedom out the
window for the sake of this man's soul. Let every one of us, verse
2, please his neighbor for his good to edification. That's plain
in it. We read that in another place. For even Christ pleased not himself,
even Christ pleased not himself. The scripture says in Philippians
2 that he took on himself the form of a servant. Oh my, how
he bound himself. How he left total freedom, my
soul, freedom unspeakable, glory, to bind himself. to bind himself
under rules and regulations and laws and touch not, taste not. He's the Lord of glory, but he
bound himself to all things, to all things for our good. And
the scripture says so should we, because we're his servants,
we're his servant. Now back to the text. First Corinthians
eight. Now, he says meat commendeth
us not to God. Meat doesn't have anything to
do with our relationship with God, or whether or not we're
accepted or rejected by God. And neither if we eat, are we
better or more acceptable to God. Well-pleasing to God, are
we the better? Neither, if we eat not, are we
the worse? No better or worse. For eating,
drinking, or the clothes we wear, the way we look, it has nothing
to do with our relationship with God. It's not going to alter
His love for us. That's eternal. That's fixed. It's not going to alter that
eternal, everlasting covenant ordered in all things, that's
sure and sealed with blood. Not going to alter that. Thank
God. Not going to do it. What we eat,
drink, wear, what we do and so forth may prove our closer relationship
with God, though. You know that? It may prove a
closer relationship on our part with God, not His with us, but
ours with Him. It may prove an all-out desire
to please God in everything that we do and say and whatever. even
to the point of denying ourselves? There's nothing wrong with self-denial
as a matter of fact, it's commanded. If any man come after me, let
him, what does he say? Deny himself. Take up his cross
and follow me. All right? Is it clear now, is
it clear that our standing, our relationship with God is fixed?
If you trust Christ, It's fixed. Boy, I like that. That's the
good news of the gospel. It's fixed. If you do trust Christ,
you'll want to please him in everything you do, everything
you say, all that you are. And what you do and say and how
you look and this and that and the other may signify how much
you want to please your God. OK? All right? All right. Verse 9, take heed. Now, he says, now
listen up, we're in 1 Corinthians, chapter 8. Verse 9, he says,
now, take heed, or be careful. Christ said this in another place,
take heed that you do not your own. Be careful, take heed, watch
out, be concerned with. Be careful that lest by any means,
in any way, this liberty, this freedom you have becomes a stumbling
block to them that are weak. Take heed, the believer is free
to eat what he will. To drink what he will. To wear what he or she will. To do what he or she will. In keeping with God's Word. In
moderation. Moderation with temperance. OK? But we are free. We are free. Look at Romans chapter fourteen
with me. Romans fourteen. Verse twenty-two. Romans fourteen twenty-two. He
says this here. Do you have faith? Verse twenty-two. Blessed are your eyes, they say.
Blessed are your ears, they hear. Blessed is your heart, it has
faith. Blessed gift of God Almighty, if you have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. You're a blessed man or woman.
If you have faith, do you have liberty? Do you have faith? Have
it to yourself before God." Now, he has to be talking about liberty
here, not talking about having your faith before God, because
we're the witness of our faith to others. Having liberty or
faith or being firmly convinced of the freedom, the liberty you
have in Christ, you have to have it to yourself before God. Happy
is he that condemneth not himself and that thing which he alloweth,
that thing which he allows himself to do in privacy. OK? Does that mean throw all restraints
to the wind? Huh? Of course not. God said, be ye holy, I'm holy.
Hopefully the thing we allow ourselves to do will be that
which we want to glorify God with. Hopefully the things we
do and say and eat and drink and wear and so forth will be,
we'll want to do it to the glory of God. Freedom is not freedom to do
whatever you feel like or want to do. Freedom is to be able
to do whatever you see that God tells you to do. Not bound by
the flesh, not bound by the lust, not bound by the desires. The
self-pleasing, the self-seeking of the flesh, right? That's freedom. The flesh binds us, doesn't it?
The wants and desires and pleasures of the flesh. All right? So that doesn't mean that anything
goes. You allow yourself to do anything,
my soul. I tell you what, the older I
get, the more I understand, the more I see that some things are
just not expedient. aren't necessary, aren't helpful,
aren't edifying, and I need to avoid them like the plague. Because
this old flesh, boy, is just going to rise up at the slightest,
slightest notion, the slightest spark, the slightest thing, will
just have this monster called me attack me. And Paul says that even though
all things are lawful, free for the taking, the usage, he says
some things just aren't good for us. All right, now there are no taboos
in our society concerning eating. As a matter of fact, people like
to brag about it. That's bad. Gluttony is just
as much a sin as drunkenness. You know that? It really is. But there are no taboos in reference
to what Paul had been talking about here and eating. But we still have other things
that cause problems for men and women. Now listen to me very
carefully from here on. Drinking. Drinking of alcoholic
beverages. Paul said in Romans 14.14 that
there is nothing. Goes into your mouth, it defiles
man, but what comes out of the heart. And Paul said, I'm persuaded
by the Lord Jesus Christ, because he said that, that nothing, there's
nothing unclean of itself. Right? There's nothing wrong
with alcoholic beverages. They're good. They're medicinal. As I've said before, soldiers
in the Civil War who were having their legs cut off with an old
rusty saw, They were sure glad for a slug of whiskey, weren't
they? Sure glad. It's the only medicine they had.
Even the scriptures even recommend it at times for your stomach's
sake. Take a little wine for your stomach's
sake. Ross Barnard, I've got to say this. Bernard recommended
for self-righteousness sake. He said, I hear people say, liquor's
never touched my lips. Bernard used to say, they ought
to take a bath in it. Liquor for the self-righteousness
sake. No, I'm not condoning drunkenness
in any way. You know that. That's evil. It's
wicked. But I have liberty, the believer
has liberty to drink whatsoever in moderation, in moderation,
within the confines of my home. There is the qualification. Within
the confines of my home. And we've been reading about
not offending anybody in any way, OK? Out in public, there is a possibility
that a brother may see you, or others may know you, and bring
reproach upon the gospel and this church. And it's just not
wise. Avoid it. Okay? Isn't that good
advice? If you don't have to drink out
in public, do it. Now, if you're in Kalamazoo somewhere,
leave it up to your own discretion, but I'm telling you, be careful.
Take heed. That's your liberty. becomes
it doesn't become a stumbling block to them that are weak.
Smoking. Smoking. Smoking is still very much unacceptable. Or chewing. Let's get on that. This is Franklin County, by the
way. Chewing or snuffing is still unacceptable by some today. You
women ought to quit it. Chewing. But I'm not so sure
that there's anything good about it, anyway. I mean, really, I
don't, I'm not so sure there's anything good about it, unless,
now God created tobacco, didn't he? Unless it would be for its
occasional relaxing qualities. See a man smoking his pipe, he
just looks like He could just die right there. He may. But
he just looks so peaceful. Somebody said a man who smokes
a pipe is usually a good man because he's too busy loading
and unloading that pipe to get into anything. But they look
so peaceful. But it sure is bad for your health's
sake when done intemperately. It sure is bad. It causes cancer. The Surgeon General has determined
They're putting everything they can on a pack of cigarettes now.
Look out, warning, danger, skull and crossbones. Don't do this,
as well as they should. But I know people, and I'm going
to have to go beyond my time this morning. I've got something
else to deal with, boy. I know men who smoke, even preachers. make this an issue. I know a
pastor who went to hold a meeting somewhere, and the man found
out he smoked a pipe, and the pastor made an issue out of it.
Whether or not he could or could not smoke his pipe, and it became
a problem. He ended up staying in a motel.
He got bitter at the pastor. That just should not be. I'd say, just to be perfectly
honest with you, this thing's on tape. Well, look at verse 10 now. He
says, If any man see thee, which thou hast knowledge, sit at meat
in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is
weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered unto
idols? I'll give you another illustration. I'll turn it off
for this day. I know two young preachers one
time. Years ago, it was before I'd
ever been a preacher, and one of the young believers said,
I was riding in the back seat where two young preachers had
come, and they both, they were third preachers, and they both
started smoking pipe, because certain noble preachers smoked
pipes. And they smoked pipes, and they
both contemplated. They were smoking at the same
time. Both contemplating, well, people
are going to get a pen if they put it, if they read it, and
so forth. And I was a young believer, an unknowing believer like myself
at the time, and they were talking about their vision and how they
were going to play off of this. And I spoke up straight away.
If you take a stone on a pen and it's going to die, I don't
think you should read my book. A young Elihu finally spoke up. You should speak. Gray hair should
speak wisdom, but not always. Here we go. Address. Speaking this morning, I'm preaching
this morning on drinking, smoking, and women wearing pants. You
think I'm kidding you, don't you? This is an area of controversy
that needs our attention. The Scriptures are not silent
here like they are on smoking. There's no mention of smoking
in here. There is mention of how we dress in the Scriptures.
Is it important the way I look before other people? Yes, it is. It is especially
in the house of God. I want you to turn with me to
1 Corinthians chapter two. I mean, I'm sorry, 1 Timothy
chapter two. Is it important? Now, ladies,
I love you. You know that you believe that.
I've never given you any doubt to cause my to suspect my love for you. All
right. Now it's understood, it should
be understood, that out in public we shouldn't look dirty or unkempt
unless we're a diesel mechanic or a service station owner. It
cannot be helped, right? But I'm dealing more with than
anything, I'm dealing more with this thing of public worship,
all right? Now there's very little said
in the scriptures about the way a man dresses in the scriptures.
It's easy for a man to dress modestly and acceptably, right? I mean, just about anything he
wears within reason is conservative and modest and so forth. But
there's much said in the Scriptures about the dress of a Levite and
a priest, about their garments, and the folks that came to worship,
the Israelites. God said in Exodus 19.10, he
said, you have the people, he told Moses, he said, you have
the people, wash before they come to meet me this morning,
sanctify themselves and wash their clothes and present themselves
decent and presentable. And are not we all kings and
priests unto our God? Yes, we are. Shouldn't we look
like we're serious about what we're doing here this morning?
Certainly. Shouldn't we have respect for
the things of God? By all means, the utmost respect. The preacher or the pastor should
conduct himself and dress himself in a manner that is befitting
the dignity and the respect which this office deserves, right? I, for myself, I want to always
act and dress in such a way that will adorn the doctrine of God
my Savior. I want to make this church proud
to call me its pastor at all times. to introduce me in the
public place as your pastor. I don't want anybody to be ashamed
of me. OK? And my pastor taught me,
taught us young preachers this. Nobody is offended by proper,
decent, conservative dress. Nobody. Nobody is going to be
offended by that. But many people are offended
by sloppiness, worldliness, or liberal attire. All right? And
like I said, just a moment ago, I try to dress, I try to even
dress myself conservatively, respectfully. I've got a bright
green jacket, sport coat, that I used to wear with Mindy out
on the town. Thought I was something else. I stuck out. But I'm just not going to wear
it in the pulpit. I'm just not going to give anybody any cause
to go away from here remembering what I wore. not thinking about
what I said. All right? If you'll notice,
I'm not calling attention to myself here at all, but if you'll
notice, I wear mostly conservative clothing. Many say it's square,
old-fashioned. At all times, especially in here,
though, especially in here. Now, there are times when I'm
working in my yard or on my car and I need a part to fix my car.
And I'm not going to go take a shower and put a tie on and
go to the advanced auto parts. Sometimes I get in my car, put
a ball cap down over my eyes so nobody can recognize me, and
go in there, get a part, go to the hardware store, get a bag
of grass seeds. I'm working out in the yard.
It's a good sense, you know. It's a thing of law and regulation.
But I don't go to the bank, I don't go to the post office looking
like a slob. And I certainly don't come to
the church house looking that way, too. Working men and women. Working men and women many times
have to come to the church house wearing their work clothing,
okay? There's nothing to it. My soul, if you have to wear
sackcloth, come. Come. But there are other times
when we have plenty of time. that preparation should be made
to look as decent, to dress in a manner that is respectful of
what we are doing here, and that distinguishes us from what the
rest of the world is doing today. Right? The rest of the world
is either sitting in the bar or on the creek bank or going
hunting. And what's wrong with looking like I've gone to church?
I have. Like I said, it's easy for men
to dress fairly neatly and conservatively. Women are dealt with more specifically
here. Look at 1 Timothy 2, verse 9. He's talking about praying
and worship, and he says, in like manner, verse 9. Women adorn
themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety."
And he goes on to mention that you cannot be overly adorned
with this and that and the other. Modest apparel, shamefacedness,
modest apparel. What is that? What is that? Well, I strongly believe, based
upon this scripture and other scriptures, which I'll mention
in a minute. that a woman and that young ladies
should wear modest feminine attire when they're in a church house,
namely, dresses. All right? Now, I've dealt with
this before, and I did not come right out and say pants. I dealt
with it very specifically before, a year or two ago, and evidently
I didn't say pants. Evidently nobody understood what
I was saying or else everybody chose to ignore me. But now nobody
will misconstrue what I'm saying. It's on tape. I firmly believe, now nearly
every lady in here at some point in time has done this, is doing
this. And I don't want this to be an
embarrassment to anybody right now at all. Don't do it. I'm
instructing us here along this line. What we do is supposed
to glorify God and edify other people, not strictly for ourselves,
for our own comfort, for our own convenience sake, for the
glory of God, right? All right. Now, listen to these
reasons. Let me give you some biblical
reasons for this, ladies. The glory of God. The bride in
the scriptures is talked about as being adorned for Christ with
robes, with robes, with coverings. This is a type of humility, a
type of humility. You remember the young girl,
Ezekiel 16, that Christ, that God came along and covered her
with his what? Skirt. his robe, his skirt. This is a picture of humility,
a picture of meekness, a picture of femininity, a picture of modesty
before God and men. We're to cover the form. Don't
expose, don't accentuate the form. Listen, ladies, women are
the greatest single objects of lust and desire on the planet.
You don't know what runs through these animals called men through
their minds. We're to do everything to avoid
that, especially when it comes to worship God. OK? Cover the
form. Deuteronomy 22.5 says this, and
God had good reason for saying this. He said, Let not the woman
wear that which pertaineth to the man. Now, use good discernment
now. At places where people work,
there's women that dig ditches now. You can't dig a ditch in
a dress, especially in the church house, though. Practically speaking,
let me give you some practical reasons here. A visitor comes
in. Now, here's the context of the
passage. A visitor comes in, and we had
this happen one Wednesday night. Two ladies came in who were dressed
very conservatively in dresses. They were nice, neat, respectful-looking
ladies, and found out later on they were from a local church
and they were looking for a place. A visitor comes in, a weak believer. We don't know their heart. We
don't know who they are. They may be a believer. And that particular Wednesday
night, nearly every one of our ladies was wearing pants. And
I thought, oh, my soul, are they going to hear anything I say?
Is that going to be a stumbling block? Look at verse 12, not in 1 Timothy,
but in the text. 1 Corinthians 8, 12. When you
sin so against the brethren, you wound their conscience. You
sin against Christ, practically speaking. And the word, the scripture says
that we're to become all things to all men. Practically speaking, let me
give you some more reasons later. I've got to deal with this in
depth because I sure hope I don't get, I sure hope this doesn't
bring up a point of contention here. This is not an issue of
salvation. But I've given you some good advice here. For the
glory of God, for the sake of the gospel, for the good of the
church, for the good of everybody that comes in here. All right? Nearly every one of you ladies
put on a dress to go interview for a job, don't you? Nearly every one of us would
wear a dress if we were going to entertain the Queen of England. We are entertaining God Almighty,
and we are to adorn ourselves and do what we do for the glory
of God, respectful of the place that we are in. Those of you who work in the
clothing industry will appreciate this. Do you know that 75% of
the clothing industry as ruled now is shaped by homosexuals? Yes. It's a fact that the dress,
the modern dress of men and women now is going toward a genderless
dress. That is, no distinction between
man and woman. Right? It's fact. Who did that? Homosexuals are behind this.
Men want to look like women and women want to look like men.
And our children, now let me get to our children here. I believe
our children ought to dress in such a way that is becoming this
place and to teach them respect for what we're doing here at
this place. To teach them respect. say this as diplomatically as
possible. I remember seeing a child with a t-shirt with a picture
of a rock star on it, and their name emblazoned all over it,
and I thought, my soul, we're here to exalt the face, the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and here this person is Folks, our children even need
to be adorned in such a way that they respect this place, what
we're doing here. Let's teach them that. The world
needs to know that we at Central Baptist Church still want to
act, look, think, walk, live according to this book. Old-fashioned?
You better believe it, buddy. If people want to call me old-fashioned,
so be it. I want to be fashioned like the
saints of old. I don't want to be conformed
to this world. I don't want to go the way it's headed. And even to the point of the way
our building looks, the grounds, the things we do, the way we
eat, dress, and so forth, it needs all for the glory of God. Right? Now, verse 13, let's finish. He said, If meat make my brother
to offend, I'm not going to eat it as long as I live. Paul said, in his company, anyway.
And we have liberty, and now listen to this very carefully
as I close. I want you to don't misunderstand what I say. Would
everybody listen to me? Particularly you ladies. We have
liberty to do or not do these things. And you have liberty
to disagree with me as long as you have scriptural basis for
what you do. Right? As long as what you do and what
you say and what you wear, that you can bring forth plausible
arguments that what you do or say or wear, if you do it for
the glory of God Almighty and not for your own convenience
or comfort. Is that right? I, as I said before, you know
my love for you, my soul. And I'm not going to put this
on the wall and say, you'd better abide by this or you're not a
Christian, you know, or you can't come here. My soul. I hope you
know me better than that. But I hope you will consider
the wisdom in some of the things that we've dealt with here from
the Scripture. I've tried to be true to the
Scriptures here. as true as possible. God bless you, and give us love. Amen. Thank you very much.