I want to talk to you this morning
for a few minutes about dressing. Dressing. Parents teach their
children early, or at least they should, how to dress for school,
for play, for dinner, for summer, for winter. They teach them how
to dress. No mama or dad lets kids dress
any way they want to if they care about the kids. I remember
when I was in high school, We had a class, a class taught only
to juniors and seniors in high school. You would think by that
time they'd all have learned how to dress. But the teachers
spent a good bit of time teaching us particularly how to dress
for making an application for employment. They taught us how
we ought to, what we ought to wear, how we ought to present
ourselves. And when someone asks me to go with them somewhere,
I usually want to know where we're going, what the occasion
is, because I always like to dress appropriately. And frankly,
I get a little tired of going to the banks and dealing with
tellers wearing blue jeans and T-shirts. I just, I'm from a
different era. I get tired of it. I was in a
doctor's office the other day, a chiropractor, and a fellow
walked in, And I thought, what's the janitor doing in here? This
is a young fella, looked like he hadn't bathed in two or three
weeks. His hair was all messed up, hadn't been cut in a while,
hadn't been combed in a while. He didn't have much beard, but
what he had wasn't shaved much, wasn't trimmed like his at all,
just messy, just messy. And he came in wearing a pair
of tennis shoes and some sweats that looked like they were big
enough for me, and he was about the size of my wife, and that
was the chiropractor. I was a chiropractor. When I
left, I told the receptionist to just cancel my next appointment.
She said, something wrong? I said, yeah, the doctor needs
a bath, a shave, and some clothes. I just, I get sick of it. We ought to respect one another
and ourselves enough to dress properly. I stand in the pulpit
deliberately, not with an open collar or in shirt sleeves. I'm
here about business that's earnest. and I want to present myself
in a way that you understand I'm earnest about what I do. So the title of my message is
How Should I Dress? And I can tell by the look on
your face what on earth is Brother Don getting into today. Turn
to Romans chapter 13, Romans chapter 13. How should I dress? Let's read verses 11 through
14. And that knowing the time, that
it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent. The day
is at hand. Let us therefore test off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let
us walk honestly as in the day. not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but
put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the
flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. In this portion of scripture,
the Apostle Paul was inspired of God the Holy Ghost to use
a parable to teach us something very, very important. using the
parable of one waking up in the morning, getting out of bed and
preparing for the work day. He tells us how to dress for
the day. Obviously, Paul is not talking
about the clothes we're to put on our bodies, but about our
daily spiritual attire. The apostle speaks of his Roman
brethren as men and women knowing the time. Do you? Do I? What is the time of day with
you? What is the time of day with me? If we are believers,
if we are born of God, if we've been raised from the dead, it
is no longer the dead of night with our souls. The night is
far spent, the day is at hand. There was a time when the dense
darkness of ignorance engulfed us. But the grace of God has
made us light in the Lord. I was asleep in the darkness
of death and sin. Asleep in the darkness of death
and sin. But God brought me out of darkness
into his marvelous light. I sank in dark despair. All was night without a moon,
without a star, without hope. and I feared that eternity would
be for me the blackness of darkness forever. How I thank God that
he saved me from that hopeless gloom, raised me from the dead,
awakened my soul, and gave me the light and joy of day in Christ
Jesus. That day of light has come that
shines brightly in my soul, and that's the work of God's grace.
The son of righteousness for you who believe has risen upon
your souls with healing in his wings. Blessed be his name. Christ is the son that never
sits. Still, all around us, we see
night and darkness. We look anxiously for that day
when our well-beloved will appear, when his kingdom shall cause
us to awaken his likeness, and that eternal day will be upon
us. But tonight is far spent, and
the day is at hand. What blessed words of hope and
cheer. What is the time then that Paul's
speaking of? What is this time that he would have us to know?
It's the early morning. It's the dawning of an eternal
day. That's what life for the believer
is. It is awaking from darkness and
death and the sleep of death to the morning day. We walked
out this morning and heard the birds just singing as carefree
as they could be, how happily they sing in the mornings as
the sun begins to shine. Morning, the dew is freshly upon
the ground. That's the time he speaks of
here in an allegorical way We have been born of God in the
dawning of day the dawning of eternal day is upon us a day
in which we must arise and put off the works of darkness and
put on Christ Jesus the Lord for now is our salvation nearer
than when we believe and Now let's look at these verses together.
Look at verse 12. The night is far spent. The night of time, the night
of this present evil world, with all its darkness, sin, and heresy
will soon be over. Just imagine, just imagine. Soon there will be an end to
all war and all strife, An end to all division and all injuries. An end to all disappointment
and all hurt feelings. An end to all pain and all sorrow. An end to all sighing and all
trouble. An end to all tears and an end
to all sin. The days it had. The days is
ahead, and in just a little while, the night of darkness, affliction,
and trouble will be gone, and the day of glory will appear.
Then there will be no more night, no more darkness, no more doubts,
no more fears, no more unbelief, but one continued bright shining
day. One constant day of uninterrupted
comfort, joy, and communion with God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let us therefore, Paul says,
cast off the works of darkness. If I were to ask you, what is
the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? First
thing you do when you wake up? Most of you would not realize
what you do first because it's so common. Tell you the first
thing you do. you throw back the covers. First
thing you do, just throw back the covers. You cast off the
nightclothes. Nobody except in a very cold
house gets up and walks around in sheets. Nobody does. And nobody except, I shouldn't
say nobody, you might see it somewhere, nobody with good sense
gets up and walks around the streets in sheets. Nobody. They
cast off the nightclothes. They put off their bed covers
and their pajamas and put on their work clothes for the day.
Paul says, cast off the works of darkness, all evil works,
all wickedness, anything and everything. That's contrary to
or inconsistent with God who is light. With Christ, the light
of the world. With the spirit of light that's
in you. With the word of God, which is
a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathways. Cast off everything
contrary to that. Well, preacher, why do we have
to do that? Because it's constantly with you. Cast off everything
contrary to light, and let us put on the armor of light. The armor of light, that's the
whole armor of God we read about over in Ephesians chapter six.
If you wanna look at it again, Paul says in verse 11, put on
the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. And then he tells us what it
is. It's the girdle of truth. It's the breastplate of righteousness,
the gospel of peace. It's the helmet of salvation,
the sword of the spirit. So every morning, As the day
sun arises, cast off the night clothes and put on the light. You and I live in this dawning
day. Let us in this morning of eternity
now cast off darkness, everything contrary to the light of God
and put on the armor of light. Put on continually the helmet
of salvation, the girdle of truth, the gospel of peace, the breastplate
of righteousness. Put it all on and stand fast
without question. The armor of light in this context
in Romans chapter 13 refers to good works. Good works we must
be careful to put on every day. Good works we must be careful
to put on every day. For men getting dressed, one
of the most difficult things to get right is tying a necktie
just right. Have you learned how to do it
first time yet, Skip? I haven't. It's always a little too long
or a little too short, or the knot's crooked. And I'll stand
there and work with it, work with it, work with it, work with
it, because it's important. Otherwise, you'd be distracted.
If I stood up here and my tie was hanging over here, you folks
would be looking at that tie the whole time I'm preaching
and pay no attention to anything. Put on, put on good works for
necessary uses. It's not something that just
happens, but with effort, with care, put them on. Paul speaks
of those good works in Titus chapter two, and tells Titus
to remind folks of these things, and you'll be a faithful servant
of Christ. Put on these good works, good works by which we
would adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Take care to look
your best. Take care to look your best. There's nothing wrong with that.
In fact, folks who look like they just got out of bed when
you see them at 10 o'clock in the morning, there's something
wrong with them. There's a lack of respect for
themselves and a lack of respect for you and a lack of respect
for what they do. Don't treat Christ that way.
Don't do that. Adorn the doctrine of God, our
savior, putting on these good works. Pastor, what's Paul say
about that? Look at verse 13. Let us walk
honestly as in the day. Now that word honestly might
be rightly translated honestly, but it has a much more common,
stronger meaning. I'll give it to you. Walk decently. Walk decently. Walk as people
dressed in the armor of light. Live in a way that's becoming
to one who lives for God and lives by the gospel, not in rioting. Isn't it amazing how specific
the apostle gets in these things? He talks about things that you
don't hear many people say anything at all about, rioting. Children
of the day. are not to live for pleasure
and debauchery. That's what rioting is. Living
just for pleasure. It makes me feel good. I won't.
Rioting. And drunkenness. He's talking
about common things of nocturnal activities, drunkenness. It's
shameful for anybody. Not in chambering and wantonness.
Those things refer specifically to every form of sexual perversity. They must have been just as common
in the Roman Empire as they are in the United States of America
in the 21st century. He's talking about fornication,
adultery. Sodomy, all the defilements of
the bed. I know folks get upset and get
real angry and fuss. What right have you to set a
judgment over me? I'm not setting a judgment over anybody. I'm
just telling you these things are destructive to you and destructive
to society. Well, people who love each other,
you got nothing to tell, no right to tell them what to do. Adultery,
fornication, and sodomy are not acts of love. Then those are
the highest acts of selfishness there are. That's selfishness. That's total disregard for everybody
but me. Don't live in disregard for other
folks. Live in disregard for yourself.
Not in strife and envying, contention, quarrels, fussing and fighting,
getting involved in conflict. Those things are always the consequence
of pride, Living for yourself, living to gratify the lust of
your flesh. Verse 14. But instead of putting these
on, instead of putting these on, what do you mean? Do you
know in order to engage in all the evil things that Paul just
spoke of, you got to make plans. You got to make plans. It doesn't
just happen. You got to figure out a way to
get by with it. It doesn't just happen. Now, put that off and
put on Christ. Put on Christ. You get up in
the morning, every morning, and make plans to follow Christ. Make plans to worship the Son
of God. Make plans to walk with Him.
Make plans to serve Him. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we've come to the heart of
the matter. If we would dress as we should, if we would go
through the day of time walking with God and serving Him, if
we would do good to men and not harm, we must put on the Lord
Jesus Christ. As a man takes off his big clothes
in the morning and dresses for work, children of God, get up
every morning in this morning of time and put on the Lord Jesus
Christ. The righteousness of Christ is
compared in scripture to a garment. Christ himself is described in
all his personal work as the garments of salvation. He is
called the bestrow. His righteousness is fine linen,
clean and white, a change of raiment for God's elect. This
righteousness is put on us in free justification by God our
Father. It is put on us in regeneration,
or put in us in regeneration by God the Holy Ghost. It's put
on us and put in us by Jesus Christ, our great High Priest
and our Mediator. And it is put on by faith in
Him. We receive the righteousness
of Christ by faith. Only as we're dressed in His
righteousness do we come to God and stand before Him. And we
put on our Savior day by day in the exercise of faith in Him,
as we make use of it, trusting Him, His blood, His righteousness,
His intercession, His grace, His power, as our only access
to and acceptance with God. We put on Christ and believers
baptism. In the watery grave, we say to
God and the world, I'm crucified with Christ. I'm buried with
Christ, now I live. I live now by Christ, in Christ,
with Christ, for Christ, to walk with him forever in the newness
of life. That's what baptism is. We put
on our Lord Jesus Christ as we come to Him and worship Him.
We put Him on as we take the bread and wine of the Lord's
Supper. And we must put Him on every day. Notice how Paul speaks. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Put Him on as Lord. God, I awake this day and I hereby
confess you, my sovereign Lord, I'm yours. You chose me. You made me. You bought me. You
called me. I'm yours. I give myself freely
to you. Put on the Lord Jesus, your Savior. You redeem me, you save me, you're
my righteousness. Oh, blessed Savior, I delight
to call you my Savior and give myself to you as such. Put him
on, the Lord Jesus Christ, your anointing. How is it that God's
priest, went about the tabernacle, and the temple, and the holy
place serving God. What qualified them? They had
to have the right garments, and they had to have the right sacrifice,
and they had to have the right anointing, holy oil on their
right ear. and holy oil on the right thumb,
and holy oil on the great toe of the right foot. How come?
Because the right hand is the hand symbolizing service and
labor, and this is accepted to God only through Christ Jesus
our Lord, who by His Spirit has made us partakers of His holiness,
made us partakers of His nature. And make not provision for the
flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof. We can't put on Christ if we
make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Now that's where the rubber hits the road. That's the struggle,
the conflict, the warfare we have day by day, is it not? Paul is not telling us not to
make provision for our families, for our physical bodies, for
our food and clothing and such as that. He's not to, any responsible
man is responsible to provide for and take care of his family.
Responsible to feed, clothe them and raise them, to protect them,
to defend them. That's not what Paul's talking
about. When talking about the flesh, he's talking about this
old man. his old nature, make no provision for it. Every heaven-born
soul knows that there are two natures in him, the old man and
the new, the carnal and the spiritual, the flesh and the spirit, that
lusteth against the flesh, lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh. And these two are contrary one
to another. Paul never talks about living
for God without reminding us of this fact. We have in us two
natures. In 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 7,
Galatians 5, everywhere poor Paul talks about living for God,
he's in there, don't forget, don't forget, I understand, you
live in constant warfare. Like Paul, with the mind we serve
the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. There
are two eyes in every believer. Two eyes in every heaven born
soul. I that serves God and I that
serves the flesh. I that loves God, His law, His
righteousness, His truth, His gospel, and I that loves iniquity
and everything evil. There is the I which is born
of God and the I which is of the flesh. There is the I that
delights in the things of God and the I that despises them. Now those are painful, humbling
facts. But this painful, humbling fact
is known to us only by the blessed discovery of God the Holy Spirit
in grace and mercy to our souls. The unregenerate man, the lost
soul, those who are yet dead in trespasses and sins have no
struggle about these things within. They feel no conflict, they experience
no warfare, but rather they live dead in trespasses and in sins. You and I will live in this struggle,
this conflict, this warfare, till we drop this flesh in the
grave. If we're born of God, we will
never be released from this warfare. And God has purposed it so. He purposed it so for our good
and His glory. Let me remind you again of the
hymn John Newton wrote. I ask the Lord that I might grow
in faith and love and every grace. How many times have you asked
such? Oh God, let me grow in faith
and love and every grace. Might more of his salvation know,
and seek more earnestly his face. It was he who taught me thus
to pray, and he I trust has answered prayer. But it has been in such
a way as almost drove me to despair. I hoped that in some favored
hour, at once he'd answer my request, and by his love's constraining
power, subdue my sins and give me rest. Instead of this, he
made me feel the hidden evils of my heart, and let the angry
powers of hell assault my soul in every part. Yea, more, with
his own hand he seemed intent to aggravate my woe. Across every
fair design I schemed and blasted my gorge and laid me low. Lord,
why is this? I trembling cried. Wilt thou
pursue thy worm to death? Tis in this way the Lord replied. I answer prayer for grace and
faith. These inward trials I employ
from self and pride to set thee free. and break thy schemes of
earthly joy, that thou mayest find thine all in me. Let me remind you of just a few
things about this warfare within, and I'll be done and send you
home, I hope, dressed for the day. Number one, there remains
in us, in every living child of God, indwelling corruption. Each of us carries with us a
body of sin and death, which harasses us and afflicts us and
troubles us continually. What poverty, what leanness of
soul it causes. How barren it makes the ordinances
of God, the worship of God. At times, neither a sense of
sin nor of God's mercy and love move us. At times, our hearts
are harder than steel and colder than ice. Nothing moves us. Nothing breaks us. Nothing inspires
us. Nothing melts us. Nothing affects
us. And then God the Holy Ghost comes
in grace and power and creates a hunger in the soul. Sets before
us Christ Jesus crucified and the banqueting table of his grace
just full and running over with good things from the Lord, mercy
and grace and righteousness and redemption, forgiveness and forbearance
and long suffering and patience and goodness, all from God for
us. And then everything's blessed.
Oh, how blessed. Brother Merle said to me Tuesday
night after the service, he said, he said, I came here praying
that the Lord would let me see the Lord Jesus and worship Him.
And he answered my prayer. I'll tell you what happened real
soon. The fire's gone and the light
put out and you're struggling again. How quickly the soul sleeps again. The means of grace though we
still follow them, read the Word, and try to pray, come to the
house of God and listen, but it becomes a mere form of godliness.
Prayer, oh, how hard it is. The Word of God, how sealed it
is. The joy of faith, how long gone
it seems, the love of Christ, how far off it appears. And when
we sleep, Individually, or the church collectively, when we
sleep, as in the night. Our Lord tells us in the parable,
the enemy of our souls comes and souls tears in the field. Men creep in unawares, denying
the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ, turned the grace of
God into lasciviousness. Heresy spread and abound. You
remember Paul when he's speaking of the church at Corinth with
a strife and a division, he said, he said, these things are evil
with you, but heresies must come. And this is how Satan seizes
the opportunity and so's tears in the kingdom. Lukewarmness
sets in. Distinct gospel doctrine no longer
prevails. Sometimes Evil comes in and you're just
unaware of it. Compromise runs rampant under
the pretense of brotherly love and compassion. Those and countless
other sad consequences of lethargy creep in unawares when the Church
of God sleeps in her day. Therefore, God the Holy Ghost
demands us to wake up! cast off the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light. Here's the second thing. It should be evident to everyone
that it is God's gracious purpose in leaving us in this present
state of warfare between flesh and spirit to make sin appear
exceedingly sinful to us. You see, neither man nor angel
nor all the creatures of the earth really have any sense of
sin. But the heaven-born soul, knowing
the plague of his own heart by nature, is taught by the Spirit
of God and feelingly taught something of the horror of sin. The horror of sin. Not in others, but in me. Not in others, but in you. I've read a passage of scripture
several times in preparing this message. I want you to look at
it. Jeremiah chapter 2. Jeremiah chapter 2. Here is God's gracious purpose
in this, at least in part. He makes our wickedness to be
both our teacher and our corrector. Look at verse 19. Thine own wickedness
shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee. You heard me preaching this morning,
and Let me tell you how you listen. I'll tell you how you listen.
You, you who've heard what I've been saying so far. At first,
this is just ridiculous. And then, you're not talking
to me. You're not talking to me. But
the problem has been all along, every word I've said pierces
right to your heart. And now you're forced to acknowledge
your whole body. That's me. The evil, the corruption,
the ungodliness. That's me. That's me. It is our weakness,
in our weakness, when God graciously makes us to know our weakness,
that we are made strong by his grace. This is exactly what Paul
was dealing with in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. When he talks about
that man, or 2 Corinthians 12, he talks about that man in third
heaven, and then he comes back to the earth and he says, got
a thorn in the flesh, messenger. Satan is constantly, the devil
himself is constantly beating me, and beating me, and beating
me. God take this away. And the Lord said, oh no, it's
best for you to live this way for now. Best for you to deal
with it stored in the flesh for now. See, my strength is made
perfect in weakness. You will know my strength for
you only as you know your weakness. And you will walk in my strength
for others only as you know your weakness. Here's the third thing. This consciousness of a body
of inbred sin from which, though renewed by
grace, we cannot disentangle ourselves. We just can't disentangle ourselves. And yet this consciousness of
it sweetly forces us by the grace of God to trust Christ alone
for all our salvation and all our acceptance with Him. You
remember how Paul, we'll turn back there, you don't have to
remember, turn back to Romans 7. Paul is in Romans chapter 7 discussing
this very warfare. And then in verse 24, he says,
oh, wretched man that I am. Who wouldn't pity such a man?
Who wouldn't pity such a man? Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? How can I get rid of this? I
thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind,
I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of
sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, to them who are born again, to them who believe
God, that is who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. It is indeed a blessed gift of
grace to have the sentence of death in ourselves that we should
not trust in ourselves. Here's the fourth thing. God our Father graciously and
sovereignly, mysteriously and wondrously overrules evil for
good in this process by which God's elect groaning under the
load of sin are divorced from their pride and self-righteousness. Nothing but grace, the continual
humbling work of God's grace within can accomplish this purpose. You see, we are so wed into some
imaginary goodness in our poor fallen nature that it takes constant
mortification wrought in us by our infirmities to teach us what
we are. How very blessed it is when humbled
in the dust before God to be rooted out of our self-righteousness. It's indescribably better for
you and me to be made watchful and jealous over our hearts by
reason of conscious sin than that we should be proud, secure,
thinking ourselves something when we're nothing. Fifth, knowing what we are. Knowing the darkness of our souls
by nature. Knowing what God has done, is
doing, and shall do for us by his grace. How kind, gracious,
tender, forgiving, merciful, forbearing, and loving. We ought
to be with one another, especially our fallen brethren. If a man be overtaken in a fault,
you which are spiritual restore such in one. In the spirit of
meekness, considering yourself, you're made out of the same stuff. Who makes you to differ from
another? What have you, what do you have that you've not received
if you received it? Why do you strut around like
a peacock as if you hadn't received it? One more thing. In the light of all this, I say
to you, my brothers and sisters, it's daytime. The morning of
eternity has dawned upon us. Get dressed. Put ye on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Whatever tends to endear Christ
and enhance our need of Him and make Him more precious to our
souls, that's what's best for us. And what can accomplish this
purpose? More than a sense of our daily,
hour by hour, moment by moment. Now listen to me. I chose my
word deliberately. felt need of Him. Only when you feel your need
of Him will you seek after Him. Only when I know and feel in
the depth of my soul how dirty I am and how I must have Christ
will I seek Him. precious Lord Jesus let me be
anything or nothing and less than nothing that my soul may
be humbled and you exalted alone as God my Savior of Him are you
in Christ Jesus who of God has made into us wisdom and and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Oh, God, make me
to be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, that I may know Him. fellowship of His sufferings,
in the power of His resurrection, being made conformable unto His
death. Children of God, get dressed
for the day. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you who are yet in the darkness of nature's night. Oh, awake. Spirit of God, breathe. Awaken
the dead and cause them to rise up and put on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Take him now. Believe him. Put
him on and walk with God in the light forever. Amen.