God’s Will in the Area of Clothes
Modesty
By Timothy Hargett
Learn what God wants and don’t take anything personal. There is no desire to make an attack on any person or persons in this room. I get more reaction to this subject than any other. I think it all ties together to this society as a whole. This will help you to have a better standing before the Lord. We desperately need that. Prepare your hearts, no one is shooting at you.
This is the most powerful scripture I know of on the subject. Romans 13:8-10 this is the truth of the whole matter. The foundation of this message is love. This is God is love. this deals with how you are concerned about your neighbor. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Most of the reaction to this message comes from selfishness. Not understanding or willing to move over and understand the need of another person. Most of the reaction comes in the form of “That person should have better character or understand. It is that one’s fault, not mine.” concerned about the other party, it is looking to help the other person along the way. There are two sides to this sword. There is the other party as well. We do not want to set a stumbling stone in front of another brother, right?
This is the most striking passage I can give you. It strikes at the very heart of grace. The spirit of grace is not my life, my will, the spirit of grace is that Christ came to lay down his life for others. That is the spirit of the New Testament. spirit of Jesus Christ. I get more reaction once I go into the Old Testament for this. But the Bible is the final authority on all faith and practice. I will give you some practical signs in a few moments. This is a matter of love. A matter of loving someone as yourself.
Now let’s go to the most explicit passage on this subject. 1 Thess 4:1-9 There are some key words in this passage that I will bring to your attention. I think this is the most important, most direct, and most powerful passage, after you get the foundation laid.
Do you see how it ties in with love? This passage is talking about immorality. He is giving instruction to the sanctification of the church. The church at Thessolonica, is the specific church. This is pertinent to Christians, not to the lost. Pertinent to believers. He begged, as on his knee. He said I am going to give you instructions on how you ought to live, in order that you might be more fruitful. You can know this is the will of God. That is explicit. Not everytjing is the will of God, but this uses those very words. Sanctification is holiness. This sets you apart, makes you different, helps make you a perculiar people. That ye should abstain from fornication. This is a big word in the New Testament. The word is dealing with some type of sexual activities that are illicit or illegal. It comes from the word porneo, which is where the word pornography comes from. Pornography used to be, not pictures, but obscene literature. today obscene literature is accepted and pictures are not accepted. do you believe that? I have done some research. I can go in every major store in this area, and shock your socks off. If you walked in a store and saw pornographic pictures in plain view, right near the candy, you would be upset. But there is more explicit literature that will do untold damage to the minds and the souls than looking one time at a nude picture.
The places where you go shopping carry this literature. That is what porn meant when it was first given. That which is written obscene or illicit. The devil has a two-edged sword on us folks. God is so wise, He knows how to help each and every one of us.
That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour. There are 3 basic meanings for the word vessel. First, vessel is your own body. You should know how to possess your own body as a whole, your physique, your being. God has called us to holiness. How do you possess your body? Your actions, your attitudes, the way you carry yourself? Second, it means your special intimate parts. Is that OK to say it like that? The third meaning is directed to the masculine man of the home how he should possess his wife in sanctification and honor. These three areas could apply. does it hurt the passage to take all three meanings? We can say it means my body, my intimate private parts, my wife or my mate. Can we do it the other way, tool. We can take it to mean husband as well. Men need your help, ladies, to understand the opposite roles. How many of you women have ever seen a woman turn the charm on a man? Some men are in the twilight zone. Read what the Bible says in Proverbs 17. They are a simple minded man, and can fall, just like that.
Not in the lust of concupiscence. See the little word cupid as a root? Even as the Gentiles that know not God. They have given themselves to sensual satisfaction. God has ordained that the intimate life be a very special place in life, when done in the right way. He has set that it be done in the context of marriage. Anything outside of that is violation. Anything that pormotes outside of that is a violation to the god in heaven. The Gentiles have violated it in every shape and form. You can go to the capital building in Harrisburg and see what the Greeks thought about the body, if you want to go that far. We have to tell our children to turn their eyes away. The Greeks were very explicit in the body, with the body form. Clothes are missing. Modesty is not reckoned with because of the idolatry of the body. That influence is in this country, and has been there a long time. You can go to Madison Square Garden. they have the same statues in the corners where they accent the body and its physique. I would not suggest you do that.
god says not to go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter. What area is the passage dealing with? It is dealing with immorality. The Gentiles accent the body.
In the graden of Eden, Adam and Eve were nacked and not ashamed. When the fall came, their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked. God made them something to cover them. What was it? A mink stole to keep their shoulders warm? An Eisenhower jacket? A miniskirt?
He made them both coats of skins. Coats. Run, as fast as you can to the book of Revelation, and there you will find they are called robes. That is interesting. Some men cannot stand to think of wearing a robe in heaven. But others say that real men wear robes. There is a controversy in this matter.
Let no man go beyond and defraud. Defraud means to create a desire that you cannot lawfully fulfill. Back in the 90’s, I heard something open and shut the church door. I checked, and found this picture in the door. It told me about what this particular group thought about young men and their dress. Vessel can mean your body, intimate parts, or your mate. This is a picture explaining the principles of modesty for the young man. it said the man’s clothes should be careful not to accent the physique. A man should never unbutton his shirt more than one button. It is a given thing that casual look is one button undone, and a sensual look is two buttons undone. This is not the Bible, but what the world says. but we are to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. the chapter the book advises the young man to undo two buttons is the chapter for how to dress for a date, to create a sensual atmosphere.
The world understands more than the Christian understands. Verse 14 says if you have bitter When you deal with modesty, strife arises, because the wisdom of the world is used. What is this wisdom like? It is earthy, sensual, and devilish. Girls that have been saved out of the night life know this truth. Sometimes we Christians have no idea . I heard of a pastor in California who bought sunglasses for all his girls, took them to the mall, and gave them a pad of paper to write down what guys looked at, how they looked back, how their eyes went up and down the body.
This pamphlet encourages the loose flowing clothes for a man. I am not saying that jeans are wrong, but they should not be skin tight. They are not practical anyway. I would be afraid to bend over. Tell of how the pants split on you. Notice the arms even, the baring of the arm. For hundreds of years, this has been the standard.
As a teenager, I did everything that everyone else did. I had no instruction in it. But when I heard about modesty for the man, and how the body was sacred. It spoke to my heart. This is a principle, not something to copy exactly.
The second picture they gave was the girl possessing their vessel in sanctification and honor. Notice the girl is modest above her waist. She is not exposing any curves. Curves are for the husband. All the curves. contrary to that Curves movement. So when the curves are accentuated or exposed, in normal activities, and are being exposed to someone who is not the husband, that is bad. i am not concerned with what type of blouses a girl may wear, as long as it does not expose any curves, from any direction. From the side, back, front, or above. It is not see through, probably something under it to protect that it is not see through.
Notice below the waist. Is she accenting her legs? No. the curvature of her thighs? There is a reason for that. Turn to Isaiah 47. The Old Testament can be quite explicit in some of these things. Read verses 1 through Uncover thy locks, take the covering off your head. Make bear the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. These 3 things constitute being naked. Do these three things and you are naked. That is what God says.
God made two people. When he made man, he put something in them that is natural, normal, and even healthy. Same with the woman. But they have a hard time understanding each other. The best thing a man can do is to explain to his wife how he feels. A woman enjoys communication. A man should explain to her how he ticks.
Second, ladies, every good woman that I know rises the occasion, because they have no desire to hurt someone else. Those who live unto themselves, with no love for others, say the other ahs a dirty mind. The man that is sensual, that tries to make a move on a woman, does not love that woman.
A police officer said, “My goal is to see how many women I can conquer. And I am going to conquer your wife too.” That is a good time to let
Girls, we want to protect you from that type of evil, wicked men. You do not want to create in another person desires. 1967 rape increased 400% in one year. What happened that year? They took their clothes off and put on the miniskirt. But, we live in 2009, so we overcome. What do you think? I don’t think so. Modesty is a very important principle for both male and female. If a man goes beyond and defrauds a woman and goes after her, he is evil. And the same for the woman. Usually the woman deals with the passive type of defrauding.
Can you detect which pictures are modest and which are immodest? Based upon curves, and based upon design.
Ladies, read proverbs 5, 7 and the Song of Solomon to find out what features you have that mean a lot to men. Some call it the secret garden. They belong to one person. And are not to be exploited.
Brother Tim, does a man’s mind need a whole lot of imagination? One man accused me of messing up his mind for the rest of the service because I mentioned how girls flash, and how I warned them not to. Girls, watch his eyes, but don’t give him anything to look at. Don’t say he should not have a dirty mind. What do you think when you see a girl dressed nice and wholesome, Brother Paul? When she carries herself properly, it is such a blessing. clothes should draw the mind back to the face. The guys the same way. To defraud either sex is wrong.
Notice design lines, accent lines, and buttons. Designers know focal points. Watch for the pattern of your dress. Designers draw lines on clothes to draw attention to certain, intimate, special parts. They know what they are doing.
Let me draw your attention to high heel shoes. They are made for a reason. I get in trouble when I talk about them. They are so impractical, you might as well be tight-rope walkers. They were invented for men, not for women. Paul Harvey tells of a princess who was very short and was to make a coronation walk. They made special shoes for her that made her taller. To the surprise of everyone, every man’s eye was taken by this young princess as she swaggered down the corridor. The muscles those high heels reveal! Stilettos are used by night walkers. They are designed for man’s interest. Men, stand up on your tip toes and see what they accent.
Some dresses have lines that do something to men. Waistlines that drop and point, and darts, or draping. Don’t wear any clothing that reveals curves. It is not an act of love to wear these types of clothing that accent curves. It may be ignorance, but once you know, it is an act of selfishness.
Men, you think you can attract a woman by showing your muscles and blood veins, and such like. You may not work at all, but you work out. Show them what you are made of by going out and chopping a bunch of wood. Go mow the grass. Don’t be a muscle man, work from morning till night. Show you can finish a job you begin.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of this subject.
