Let me make a couple of announcements
before we begin. There's a few of us with small
children. We were discussing this the other
night, this thing of the children playing in the parking lot. And
I've tried to enforce it before now to keep all kids out of the
parking lot completely and out of the up in front of the church
also. There's been, there is some concern
that one of them is going to be hit by a car or something.
So we need to make it a fast rule. that no kids are allowed
in the parking lot period and or appear in front of the church
that they want to play. Of course, it's getting to be
winter months and need to stay inside anyway. But if they want
to play, we'll let them play in the grassy area out here to
the back. And with you ladies, I know some
of the older ladies, you're you know, afraid to back your cars
out and so forth, for fear of the children running around.
Well, my suggestion, too, is that you back in, when you come
to church, you back in the parking spaces so that you won't have
to worry about it, so you can see clearly to get out of the
parking space. And with this in mind, we do
need to have something for the kids, some area for the kids
to play in. We keep them bound up in this
building for two hours or more at a time on Sunday, and they
like to be set free and go outside and play and so forth. So somebody
brought this up that we perhaps start a little fund, make a box
of some sort, put it downstairs, I started a little fund for trying
to come up with some kind of swing set or something, some
toys or something for them to use outside to keep them away
from the parking lot and so forth. And we also need some things
for the nursery. We need another baby bed. Another
baby bed or maybe two. I don't know if there's anybody
else that's going to spring something up on us or not. But we need
another baby bed and some more toys. We need some little tables
for the two or three-year-olds to sit at in the nursery. And
so why don't we start a fund and just whenever we get a few
extra dollars or something, stick it in the box downstairs. And
by next spring, we'll probably have enough money to maybe build
us one of those pressure-treated swing sets, you know, and buy
some things that we need. So we'll create a box and put
it downstairs just for that. But we need to enforce this rule
about these kids, no kids in the parking lot period or up
in front of the church. They want to play, let them stay
in the basement or get out in the grassy area and play out
there for their own safety, for our peace of mind. I'll announce
that again before the morning, during the morning worship hour.
Turn with me to 2 Peter. Second Peter, chapter 3. I wish more of our people were
here, but it's in the Lord's sovereign providence. But perhaps
everyone will have the opportunity to hear this tape. Second Peter,
chapter 3. Before we read this, I want to
bow in prayer. Our holy God, we counted a blessed
privilege to meet together. This is the time that has been
set aside, this is the day that we meet together to attempt to
worship our God, to hear the preaching of the word, the teaching
of the word, to publicly pray together, to seek the Lord's
presence. It's a serious time. And we ask you that you would. Open our hearts, open our ears,
remove all the cares of this world from us. And open our understanding. To receive your word, to receive
instructions, convict us, convince us, Rebuke us, exhort us, admonish
us, comfort us through your word. We ask that you'd remove all
bias, prejudice, preconceived notions, anything that would
hinder us from being as a little child, being teachable, receiving
things that we need. We've asked for the preaching
of the gospel today that you would And knowing it with power.
Perhaps bring somebody to see themselves and then to see. Christ. Everywhere your gospels preached,
we ask for your presence. In Christ's great and glorious
name, we pray and ask these things. Amen. I just want to read a few verses
here in Second Peter, Chapter three. 2 Peter 3, beginning with verse 11. Well, let's begin with verse
10. 2 Peter 3, 10. The day of the Lord will come. Will come. It's definite. It will come as a thief in the
night. in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat. The earth also and the works that are therein shall
be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation or walk in godliness, looking for and
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat." Nevertheless, we, believers, saints, according
to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of him in peace without spot and blameless." And that is only
being in the Lord Jesus Christ, having your standing in him,
being in him by faith. "...and account that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul,
also according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written
unto you." as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of
these things in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable rest, as they do
also other scriptures under their own destruction. But you, therefore,
beloved, seeing you know these things, you understand these
things before, you've been forewarned, you've been instructed and taught,
beware, lest you also, being led away with the error of the
wicked, all from your own steadfastness." Now, those are all encouragements
to look to Christ and Him alone. And here is an exhortation to
use the means. I believe this is, you notice
he says here, grow. It's as if he's exhorting us
or giving us a commandment to do, to grow in grace. Believers, now let me word this
carefully. I've said this before. Many people remain babies, spiritual
babies, all their lives and never really grow to any spiritual
maturity because, I believe, they don't use the means that
God has ordained for their spiritual growth. We'll get into that in
a moment. But he says here, and he's exhorting
here, grow in grace. You remember over in the one
chapter where he says, desire the sincere milk of the word.
He didn't say you do. Believers do, but he's exhorting
us to desire. In other words, there's a diligent
pursuit after the Word of God and after this growth on our
part. Grow in grace, he exhorts us,
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To
him be glory, both now and forever. Amen. Now, keep that in mind
there as we study this morning. And we're now halfway through
the book of Romans in our Sunday morning Bible study. And I told you last week that
I felt led to deviate from these studies in order to study with
you this thing of public worship or preparing for public worship. I gave a few things in last week's
bulletin that I thought would help. prepare us to worship. And these
are the things I'm going to be dealing with this morning. Once
again, let me say that my desire in preaching and teaching is
that I might merely relate to you what this book says, not
my own opinion. I don't want to stand up here
and tell you what I think at all. I don't want to give my
opinion because it's worth Just that a man's opinion is just
that a man's opinion. You take it with a grain of salt.
Right, Henry? But God's word is to be heeded
carefully, every word of it. So I don't want to stand up here
and just give you my thoughts, my ideas, my opinion of things. But I want to bring to you every
time what this book, what I feel led to bring you from this book.
Now, the things that I originally wrote down in last week's bulletin
concerning this thing of preparation for worship, these are things
that I have personally proved, or the Lord has proven for me
in my life. These are things I have learned
by experience, by instruction from a man much wiser than myself,
with much more experience than myself and most of us in here. A man whom God has blessed greatly
and the fruit of these instructions and so forth are so very evident
in the congregation where they are expounded upon or taught
and practiced these things. So these things are necessary,
they're vital, they're proven things that help us to prepare
for worship and they'll bear fruit. And these things are not
without scriptural basis, not at all. They can be found in
the scriptures, many scriptures. And that's what I want to show
you in this study, these things. Now, I want to begin by saying
this very clearly so as not to be misunderstood. Without our
Lord, we can do nothing. Without God's Holy Spirit, without
His sovereign power working in us, amongst us, we can do nothing. We can't worship. Everything,
the desire to worship, the will to worship, the ability to worship,
has got to come from the Holy Spirit. It's got to come from
God. We can't drum it up, no matter what we do. If we stayed
in a cave all week long, so as to dismiss every thought, every
worldly thought from our mind, and merely read the scriptures
all week long. If God wasn't pleased to reveal
himself to us, to create a desire in our hearts, we're not going
to worship. That's just all there is to it.
God's a spirit. They that worship him must worship
him in spirit and truth, and the only people who are going
to worship him in spirit are those he gives his spirit to.
I want to make that perfectly clear. This thing of salvation,
the love of God comes to us. He calls us. He woos us. The
love of God is what is the root of salvation. The love of God. If God had not loved the people
and chosen them and foreordained to reveal himself to them, to
bring the gospel to them, to bring them to Christ, there would
be nobody to receive this word. The love of Christ constrains
us. Christ loved to us and Him creating a love in us to Him.
That constrains us to do what we're doing this morning. We've
got a little spark of it. By God's grace, we've got a little
spark of the love of Christ in us that constrains us to come
hear about Him. That's the only thing it brings
us. Duty won't keep us coming. Eventually we'll grow tired and
we'll stay at home and do the things we want to do, the things
we love to do. But the love of Christ constrains
us to seek Him. And the grace of Christ instructs
us. Now, no man, and I'm going to
reiterate this over and over again, no man of his own volition
or power, of his own will, can add to his spiritual stature
one inch. Can't do it. We can't make ourselves
grow spiritually one inch by anything we do. It takes the
power of God, the power of God. It is God that works in us, both
to will and to do. anything of his good pleasure.
But somehow, unexplainably, I can't explain it. I just believe it.
I just know it's so. Somehow, God has ordained means
to bring about this spiritual growth. Nobody in here would
deny that, would you? Somehow, God has ordained these
means to bring about spiritual growth and maturity in his people. Means such as prayer, study of
God's Word, preaching, singing, fellowship together, the meeting
together with the saints, fasting is not excluded. And all of these
things are vital and necessary to real spiritual growth. They
are. The scriptures are clear concerning
these things. And none, none of these things
are meant to usurp the others. They are all necessary. They
all work together. Let me give you an example. Public
worship is not to take the place of private worship. Oh, no. Public prayer and worship and
reading of the Word is not meant to usurp or take the place of
private worship and prayer. Both are necessary. God has ordained
them both. Besides, no one truly worships
or prays to God in public who doesn't do so in private. Christianity,
I say this over and over and over and over again, the Lord
is our witness. His word is our witness. Christianity
is discipleship. That's what it is. True Christianity
is discipleship. It's someone who is taking up
with a person. I mean, in love with, seeking
after, following after a person. Wanting to know a person better,
to love a person more, to be taken up with, to want to be
just like this person, that's discipleship. And to have a personal
communion with this person, that's Christianity. And this is a seven
day a week walk. None of us would deny that, would
we? That you can't walk with the world six days. and then
up and just decide to walk with God. I can't do it. I say this
for our comfort and our encouragement. The spirits, when the spirit
truly dwells in a man or a woman, they're willing to do this. They're
willing to walk with the Lord. They are seeking after Christ.
They do want to know Christ, to win Christ, to be found in
Him. They do want to be like Christ. They are endeavoring
to be like Him. They are hungry and thirsting
after Christ. They are. This is not an option. This is a fact in all believers. They are. But sometimes it's
so small. For our encouragement, it's during
the week you think, I haven't given much thought at all. But
take comfort if you've given a thought. That's more than the
world gives, is that you've given just a thought, some time to
thinking about your God and seeking after him. Just as there was preparation
to be done before the offering of the sacrifice in the Old Testament
times, much preparation. We all know that we've read the
scriptures. There was much preparation to be done, not only by the high
priest, but by all the people in regards to this thing of approaching
God with sacrifice. Many scriptures pertaining to
what the people were to do before they came to God in order to
worship him. There's much preparation back
then in the giving of this, in the offering of this sacrifice.
Even so, there's much preparation to be done now for the hearing
of the preaching of this sacrifice. That make sense? All these things
that I say, all these things work together in worship, prayer,
reading, preaching, singing. But if there's one that is of
utmost importance. It must be the preaching of God's
Word. I'll give you a scriptural example.
Paul said, how shall they call on him? How shall they call? How are they going to pray? How
are they going to sing about? How are they going to seek after?
How are they going to talk about? How are they going to converse
concerning him in whom they've not believed? And how are they
going to believe in him in whom they've not heard? Nobody's going
to come to a God they haven't heard about. They're not seeking
him. How are they going to hear without
a preacher? I didn't say that, and God's
Word says it. I'm not saying it for my sake, either. For all
of us. And again, it says, 1 Corinthians
1, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. What this world
calls foolishness. True preaching is not foolishness.
Far from it. It's the revelation of God. His
gospel is the preaching of his gospel. But the world calls it
foolishness. And it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Not only to bring a
man to Christ, but also to keep him there. See, we need the preaching
of the Word to keep us clinging to Christ, don't we? To save
them that believe. Not only does the preaching of
the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit bring about
a man to believe in Christ, but those that do believe in him,
it is the salvation of the keeping, the restraining, the constraint
of a child of God. Well, look over at Mark chapter
1 with me. Preaching is so important. God's way from the very beginning,
he's always sent a prophet or a preacher to his people to lead
them, to guide them, to instruct them, always to warn them, to
admonish them, to comfort, to speak to his people. God has
always spoken through a man, right? Now, if that Ethiopian
unit said to Philip, how can I understand what this scripture
is saying unless some man shows me? And everyone in here would
have to admit. that some point along the way,
we heard the gospel, we had it revealed to us, we had it shown
more clearly to us anyway from a man, right? From a man. So we don't deny this. I think
this is one of God's ways of humbling us, you see. If we could
figure it out on our own, we'd get the glory for our wisdom
and so forth. And because God has us come to
a man to receive this, it takes a little bit of a swallowing
of the pride, doesn't it? Especially when you come to a
younger man, right? You've got to swallow a lot of
pride to listen to a vain babbler. Well, look at Mark, chapter 1.
Our Lord himself was a preacher. Mark, chapter 1, verse 38. He
said unto them, this is the Lord speaking, verse 38. He said,
let's go into the next town that I may preach there also. But therefore came I forth. He said, this is one of the reasons,
a primary reason why I came, to preach, to preach. So dare
we, dare we resent this? Oh no, God's people don't. Our
Lord himself was first and foremost a preacher. And he sanctified
and sanctioned this office. Well, getting back to our subject
here, in the New Testament, the first day of the week was set
aside for public worship. That is Sunday. You know, the
Old Testament, the Sabbath was on Saturday, but the first day
of the week, Sunday, was instituted in the New Testament. And that
day was to be given to preaching, to prayer, to reading and singing
and so forth. And what I was just reading concerning
the preaching of the gospel, how God has chosen preaching. Need I say more of the importance
of what we do here? This is very important. This
is the most important thing that we can participate in. Certainly. Do we dare approach this time
as we, this thing as we would anything else? Do we dare approach
this day as we would any other time? Now, every day is the Lord's
day. I know that. But given our weakness,
given our weakness, given the fact that we are out in this
world and consumed with it most of the time, this is a day set
aside then. So we must approach this with
a little more A little more seriousness. Do we dare take lightly or carelessly
this thing of public worship? No. A thousand times, no. We treat it soberly, seriously,
carefully, in preparation, preparedly. Now listen, God spent the equivalent
of a thousand years on one day. A day is a thousand years, and
a thousand years is one day. In other words, he took the equivalent
of a thousand years to prepare one day. You know, that's the
reason God can be in control of, say, a speck of dust in the
sunlight over here in Africa and be controlling something
over here all the way across the continent. He spent the equivalent
of a thousand years in the preparing and the ordaining and the workings
of one day in our life. You know, I've always looked
at that scripture, a day is a thousand years and a thousand years is
a day, as meaning the shortness of time. It also shows us how
exacting or how much God put into the preparation of this
world, how God is concerned with every little detail. And that
leads me into this. Surely, he means for us to give
a few minutes in the preparation for one day,
surely. Now, remember this above all
else. No, I've got to hurry. Remember
who it is that we're claiming to approach, who it is that we're
approaching, who it is that we're confessing to be meeting in his
name. If two or three are gathered together in my name, Christ said,
I'll be right in the midst of what we were met. We're met here
to worship God. We're seeking his presence. Oh
my, if God's going to be with us, then we better remember whose
presence we are in when we approach this time, right? We're in His
presence all the time, I know that. We don't seek His presence
all the time like we do this day, do we? So there should be
a little more diligent preparation. Number one, do some reading and
praying Saturday night. Saturday night, turn the TV off,
and take a few minutes to direct your attention and your minds
toward Sunday, toward worship. Now, it's a fact. Every one of
us will have to admit that we generally wake up, we go to sleep,
and we wake up thinking about what we had the night before,
right? Now, I'll give you an example. Last Saturday night,
I started watching a golf game, and I'm a golf enthusiast. and
his others just like me. It's a disease. But I was watching
this golf match on Saturday night. Well, my team was winning. The
United States was playing the Redcoats. And they were losing. I mean, they were losing. And
they lost the match. I got so upset. I went to bed
upset. I woke up upset. And I came over
here to prepare. I come over about two hours early
to prepare, and I couldn't get that off my mind. I thought I
wanted to just beat my brain in. What do you think about a
stupid golf game? Men running around a cow pasture
chasing a white ball. Why are you thinking about this?
You're trying to prepare to worship God. That's just the nature of
the beast, isn't it? Isn't it? Whatever we're thinking
about the night before, we wake up thinking about in the morning.
So we need to... David said this. Turn over to
the Psalms. I'll quote a few before we get
to a couple. He said in one place, the blessed man meditates in
God's law day and night. He says, Commune with your heart
upon your bed and be still. Don't think about this and that
and the other, but think about him. Prepare yourself to worship
him. Chapter 16, Psalm 16, verse 7.
Look at this. David says, I'll bless the Lord
who has given me counsel. My reins, my inward person, will
instruct me in the night seasons. This is what I'm talking about.
There's something to be said about the subconscious. I'm not
going to get into that, but there is something to be said, we can't
deny it. My reins will instruct me in the night season, my inward
person, when I'm thinking about him. 3 of Psalm 17, look at this,
Psalm 17, 3, you've proved my heart, you've visited me in the
night, in the night. Look at Psalm 42, look real quickly,
I've got to hurry, I'm not going to get through this. Psalm 42,
verse 8, he says, the Lord will command his loving kindness in
the daytime and in the night, his song. shall be with me and
my prayer unto the God of my... So we need to start preparing
for Sunday morning on Saturday night. Just however much time
you can give. Now understand everything that
I say here. I understand there... I want
you to understand that I realize that there are circumstances
beyond our control. And, you know, that we're not
under the law here by any means. And I wouldn't say Oh, no, I
wouldn't say that you must give so much time this and you must
do this, must do that. God can overrule, he does overrule
all these things for our benefit. Number two, number one is to
start preparing Saturday night to do some reading and some praying
Saturday night in preparation for Sunday. Number two, get to
bed a little earlier Saturday night. in order to be fresh and
have plenty of rest. That just makes good sense, doesn't
it? If we want to be fresh the next morning to do anything,
we've got to get plenty of rest. That makes sense. We do that
concerning most everything else. Us men, we're going fishing.
Oh, man, we'll get to bed at dusk in order to get up at dawn. We'll get to bed a little earlier
Saturday night, if at all possible, in order to, number Wake up a
little earlier on Sunday morning. Wake up a little earlier on Sunday
morning in order to have plenty of time to get ready, so we won't
have to rush. So we won't be physically and
spiritually or mentally tired. That just makes good sense, right? Everybody knows that. Sleep is
the gift of God. It is. He says He gives us His
beloved sleep. Oh, it's a blessing, isn't it?
Sleep is. Stop to ponder sleep. What a
blessing some older folks have that can't get to sleep. Well,
sleep is the gift of God, but like all things, it's to be done
in moderation. It's to be done, to be taken
with thanksgiving, but done in moderation. And in Proverbs 6,
I'll just, you can turn if you want, but I want to hurry up
and read deep. Proverbs 6, here's some instructions concerning
sleep. He says in Proverbs 6, verse
6, go to the ant. Sluggard, consider her ways and
be wise. But he has no guide, no overseer,
no boss, nobody to wake him up in the morning, no ruler. The
aunt doesn't. Provides her meat in the summer,
gathered her food in the harvest. How long are you going to sleep,
oh Sluggard? He says, when will you arise
out of your sleep? Well, so shall thy poverty come
as one that travaileth. In other words, if you give sleep
to your eyes, he said in Proverbs 20, verse 13, he says this, Love
not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. Open your eyes, you'll
be satisfied with bread. I take that to mean spiritual
meaning. Don't stay in a bed. Listen, have you ever considered
why it's so much harder to wake up on Sunday morning than it
is other days? You and I were talking about
that. Have you ever considered that? Does anybody have more trouble waking
up Sunday morning than they do, you know, Saturday morning? We've
got something we want to do, go fishing, whatever it may be.
We've got something we want to do. We're out of bed as soon
as the sun peeks over the mountain, aren't we? We're getting ready
to go. Going fishing. All right. Going
golfing. Get things ready. Why Sunday
morning do we just have to drag ourselves out of bed? No, isn't
it a fact? It's a fact. Why? Well, because
of our nature, because we're so averse, and so we hate the
things of God by nature. We do. We don't want to go worship
God by nature. Plus, we studied this one time
in Ephesians 6, we're wrestling not with flesh and blood, but
against principalities and powers. spiritual wickedness in high
places, rulers of the darkness of this world. And he is attempting
to prevent us from whatever it takes to prevent us from hearing
the gospel, to prevent the Word of God entering in. So, all the
more reason to arouse ourselves, right? You know, I went through
the Scriptures and read this word early. every one of God's
saints that I read about, he spoke of them getting up early.
Getting up early. Now, if you work midnight, obviously
it can't pertain to you. But he said this, Abraham got
up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the
Lord. And he said that over and over
and over again about Isaac, about all of them. Jacob, all of them.
David, man after God's own heart now. Man who walked with God,
nobody would, everybody would admit David walked with God.
David said this, I myself will wake early. You can lay in the
bed if you want to. I'm going to get up early and seek the
Lord. He said in another place, early will I seek thee. In another
place he said, I myself will wake up early. Solomon said,
those that seek me early shall find me. That's speaking about
early in life, yes. Mary was early at the tomb, wasn't
she? Who did the Lord reveal himself
to, first and foremost, in a powerful way? Mary. She was there early,
seeking after. Scripture says, bring the firstfruits,
doesn't it? The best time of the day, your clearest mind,
your clearest thought, your most refreshed body, bring it. Sunday
mornings, get out of bed, wash our faces. Prepare for the day
of worship. Got somebody fighting us. Fourthly,
eat lightly. Now, this is tough, I know. Now,
this is tough. Calvin said, John Calvin said
this, though. Much food makes one stupid. Spurgeon said this. Roast beef
and mashed potatoes weigh heavy on the hearts of the hearers.
It's just so. It's so. It's a fact that overeating
makes us dull and sleepy. It does. It does. Barbara has
admonished me to get up and eat some fruit sugar and so forth,
and oatmeal and things that promote energy and so forth. And it works.
But listen to this. Have you ever been taken up with
something? Have you ever been so taken up
with something that you forgot to eat or else you didn't have
time to, you didn't want to take the time to eat? I don't have
time to eat lunch. Most of the time when I'm over
here, I don't eat lunch. I don't want to take the time.
I'm consumed with what I'm doing. And in the morning, I rarely
eat breakfast. But have you ever been that way? Have you ever
been so taken up with something you forget to eat or else you
don't want to take the time? That's fasting. That's true fasting. That's the fast that the Lord
acknowledges. Well, wouldn't it be great if
we were so taken up with the word and the gospel? The word
and the gospel. Well, you know, I do say this
in all seriousness, it is a sad, it is sad that we joke about
eating so much when the Lord has commanded moderation in all
things. Fifthly, Dressed modestly and neatly. Dressed modestly and neatly.
Does it matter how we look? I almost wish I didn't have to
deal with that. Does it matter how we look when we come to worship? Well, everyone, I hope the Lord
will give me wisdom here, everyone will agree. that it mattered
greatly, that it was greatly important what the kings and
the priests in the Old Testament wore. Oh my, they dare not approach
God except with the proper dress. Are we not kings and priests
to our God? Are we not ambassadors of the
King, representatives of Christ? Are we not to show our faith
by our works Are we not? Someone may argue that, well,
we're not to be, not to do anything to be seen of men. We're not
to seek to please men. Right? We're not to do anything
to be seen of men. We're not to be proud or showy. We're not to dress in such a
way that people will take notice of us. To show off or be proud
before people. No, we're not to. But the scriptures
say this. to show out of a good conversation,
that is a walk, our works with meekness of wisdom. Now everyone
will agree that we should treat the church
house, that is this building, with respect, with dignity, right? God has given it to us to be
treated with thanksgiving and dignity and respect. And we want
to show this community when we keep the grass cut and we keep
the building in good order. We want to show this community,
hey, we're serious about this thing. We're thankful for what
we have. We're serious about what we're doing here. We claim
to go in there to be worshiping God. We want everything to be
in order. Our God's an order, a God of order. And we want we
want to take care of what we have. We want to appear to be
this is the sense in which we want to appear before men as
being what we are. disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, what about the church? Not just the church house, but
what about the church, the body? Does it matter? Well, is it a shame for people
to take note of our dress that we have been to church? You know,
I often think about this. I used to dress in work boots
and blue jeans and a flannel shirt and a baseball cap. That's
what I wore all week long. That's my job. I demanded that
type of dress. And, you know, I'd put on a suit
on Sunday morning and I'd maybe run across in the morning, I'd
run across somebody that had blue jeans on and work boots
and flannel shirt and so forth. I mean, out in the world. Stop
in a store to get a paper or whatever. And I'd think, this
would cross my mind, oh, he thinks I'm a religious fellow. He resents me. What's wrong with
that? I am a religious fellow. Is there
anything wrong with looking like you've been to church? I'll tell
you this. I'd a whole lot rather people
think I've been to church than to be in the racetrack. Now,
they can misconstrue what I do down at the church. They can
say, here's another one of those hypocrites. But I'd a whole lot rather he
think, at least, that I've been down attempting to worship God
or act like a Christian or whatever he wants to think. I'd a whole
lot rather him think I've been down there than the ballgame
or fishing or the racetrack. You know, God says, is there
a scripture to tell us how to dress? By all means. Now, you all turn to this, 1
Timothy chapter 2. I gave you this in the bulletin,
Exodus 19.10 says this, the Lord said, God himself speaks to the
people and he says to tell them to wash their clothes to be ready
for his appearance. Now neatness, neatness should
go without saying, shouldn't it? Anybody can use good judgment
there. Unless you're going to dress
in sackcloth and ashes. Now, we'll accept that. If anybody
wants to wear a feed sack and put ashes on your head, we'll
accept that. But I've never seen anybody like
that. And, well, neatness should go
without saying. Well, here's the key, though,
here in 1 Timothy 2. Let me turn there myself. 1 Timothy 2. Modesty. Modesty. is the key. Modesty. 1 Timothy 2, 9. Look
at it with me. In like manner also, the women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety,
not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but
which becometh women professing godliness. with good works. Now, there are a couple of other
scriptures that pertain to a woman adorning themselves, but it doesn't
use the word apparel. But here it does. And it's talking
about clothing. So it's talking about the spirit
of a woman coming to worship with shamefacedness and sobriety.
But here in this text, it's talking about clothing. Definitely clothing. Let me read you what John Gill
says, and you can you don't have a fight with John Gill. He says, let the women pray in
like manner as the men, that is, worship God in like manner
without wrath and doubting, though they're not to lead in prayer.
But he says here, in like manner as the men, with purity of heart
and hand, without murmuring, impatience, and so forth. And
he says here, let the women be clothed in prayer, namely as
follows, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel.
Now he says this, the word rendered apparel here signifies a long
robe. That's what the word means in
the Greek, a long robe, which reaches down to the feet and
the word translated modest signifies that which is clean, neat and
decent. Yeah, even beautiful and ornamental. But the key is here, he says,
that their bodies should be covered with clean and decent raiment. He goes on to say the Israelites
used to wash their clothes. They might be ready to meet the
Lord. He says on the Sabbath day, one of their rules for the
honor of the day was that every man must be clothed with clean
or neat apparel and the clothing on the weekday wasn't to be clothing
on a Sabbath day. They weren't aware of the clothing
of the weekday that they wore on the Sabbath day. And he says
this about this shamefacedness and sobriety. He says these are
the two general rules by which dress is to be regulated. It's
right and proper when it's consistent with chastity and when it is
not immodest. When it is moderate as well as
modest. There's no religion or irreligion
in dress. But modesty and moderation are
the key. Modesty and moderation. Well,
you ladies, this is primarily directed at the ladies, isn't
it? Why? Well, because of men, it's easy for a man to dress
modestly, isn't it? He just needs to wear some casual
clothing, some neat, casual clothing. But it's directed to the ladies.
Why? Well, you ladies judge for yourselves, based upon this scripture,
what is the most modest, least revealing, least thought-provoking,
most womanly, ladylike apparel. that somebody can wear, that
a lady can wear. Judge for yourself. Take it. Pray about it. Think
about it. You know, isn't there a great
need in this day for modesty? This 20th century world that
we live in is so wicked. You know, if we go along with
the styles of the day and so forth, someday all women are
going to be topless on the beaches. They're going to be walking down
the street just where they already are. So we're going to dress
according to custom. So we won't look out of place,
we're going to have to dress just like them. Well, God give us wisdom concerning
this thing and give us a childlike, teachable spirit to say, if that's
what he said, that's what I want to do. Right. There is a verse
in the scriptures, too, and if you want to look this up later
in Deuteronomy 22, 5, it speaks of a woman wearing that pertaining
to a man. Number six, get off this subject. Number six, and I'll quit. Get
to church early. I'll include these two, six and
seven. Get to church early. You know,
back in the New Testament, the first man into the pool of Bethesda
was the first man healed, wasn't he? Get to church early. And number seven, avoid foolish
or trivial conversation before the service. You know, we're
all enthusiasts, like I was saying a while ago. Most of us think
about something the next morning that we thought about the night
before. Can we possibly talk about the Redskins, Joe, right
before the service and then get ready to worship God? Ain't no
way. Ain't no way. We need to be thinking
on things above. Besides this, let me let me give
you an illustration. I spend as much time thinking about the
opening remarks of my message as I do the rest of the message.
Maybe more, you know, starting the thing out is the key and
finishing it up, closing remarks. Well, what if I gave an announcement,
as a crude example, I'm just trying to think of something.
What if I said, if I can think of something, everybody that
comes to, let's see, everybody meet here Saturday morning at
seven o'clock and we're going to go have a picnic up on the
parkway. Now, if somebody came in, all
they heard was seven o'clock. picnic on the parkway. They might
meet that day, that night, the next morning. They might not
know when. That's a crude example. But I'm talking about when in
preaching or teaching or whatever, the opening remarks is what leads
into the message. It's what prepares. It's what.
And, you know, it's strange to me that. And it's so evident
to me that that's the time I have the hardest time. All of us have
the hardest time paying attention and we're getting in, we're getting
settled down. And somehow or another, we're just kind of...
You feel that way? Right at first, you're kind of
in a daze, and you're not really paying attention to what he's
saying right off the bat. It takes a little while to get,
you know, to wake up. Well, if we prepare ahead of
time, it might not be so. I hope those things are helpful. Thank you very much.