All right, we're here in Isaiah chapter 20, and we're continuing our series on common
versus normal.
Common versus normal.
And if you were not here last week, let me just give you a quick recap as we went through
the introduction of this sermon.
We're talking about the difference between the words common and normal.
And common means it's something that occurs quite often, okay?
And this can vary depending on what culture you're in.
And one of the examples was that in India, it's common to pray to a cow, okay?
It's not common here, but it is common in India, okay?
But that's not normal.
This represents what's normal, okay?
And God gives us a standard on right and wrong, okay?
This is normal, and this is the world we live in today.
This is common.
And unfortunately, because this is common, it makes people think that it's normal, okay?
So most people, they think this is more normal than this.
This is the soul winner, okay?
Living for God, this is vais pangi, okay?
Most people think that guy, girl, hyop is more normal than this, okay?
And that's the reality, okay?
So we're looking at things that are very common in our society, but they're not normal.
But I did say in the first sermon, we're not just focusing on the LGBT in this series.
In fact, it really doesn't have much to do with it.
We're looking at things that are very weird and strange, but even believers can be guilty
of these things.
And your average, everyday person here in the Philippines can be guilty of these things.
And so what we're talking about here today is clothing, okay?
And so during the sermon series, you need to keep an open mind on what I'm saying and
see what the Bible says.
I am sure a lot of what I'm going to say here today is new information to a lot of you,
okay?
Allow the Bible to be your guide, and if it's something that maybe you're guilty of, then
just change.
If you've never heard of it, I'm not preaching against you like you're a bad person.
I'm showing you what the Bible says, and you make the decision if you're going to apply
it or not.
And if you disagree, search these things whether they're so, as the Bereans did, okay?
So in Isaiah 20, as we're talking about clothing, the first thing I want to start is talking
about nakedness, okay?
Because clothing, by and large, the number one thing for clothing is you're just covering
up your nakedness.
That's the main purpose of it, is to cover your nakedness, okay?
And so notice what it says in Isaiah 20 verse 2, Isaiah 20 verse 2, at the same time spake
the Lord by Isaiah the son of Amos saying, go and loose thy sackcloth from off thy loins,
and put off thy shoe from thy foot, and he did so walking naked and barefoot, okay?
Now this is a very unique situation where God asks the prophet to walk around naked
and barefoot, okay?
Now I do not believe God would ever ask a saved person to commit a sin.
I don't believe he was walking around naked in front of women, okay?
But he's walking around naked basically to show how shameful they were, okay?
And so he's walking around naked and barefoot according to the Bible here in Isaiah 20 verse
2.
He would not ask someone to commit a sin, but he's showing them how embarrassing it
is by basically embarrassing himself, you know, in front of them.
Verse 3, and the Lord said, like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three
years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia.
So he does this as a sign and a wonder.
Once again, not in front of women, because that would be a sin, but he does it in front
of men showing how embarrassing that is to their culture.
Now look, I think I would never do that in front of men either, okay?
It's weird.
I'm glad that that's not what God called me to do here in the Philippines.
It's a weird mission.
I don't want to do that.
But he's doing it to show the shame and embarrassment of their countries, okay?
Verse 4, so shall the king of Assyria lead.
But what I want you to understand here before we go to verse 4 is it's showing you that
being naked is a shame.
It's an embarrassment.
Look, if you are naked according to the Bible, you should be embarrassed by that.
It's a shame.
It's not something you should think is a normal thing, okay?
Look, it's normal for a baby to run around naked.
They don't think anything of it.
But look, when you're an adult, cover up your nakedness, okay?
You should be embarrassed to be naked.
In the world we live in today, the way people are dressed, they are walking around naked
half the time according to the Bible.
And that should be embarrassing to people.
You especially as a saved person should say, okay, what does the Bible say?
I'm not going to get anywhere close to that.
I want to live my life around here what's normal, not what the average person is doing,
okay?
Verse number 4, what does it mean to be naked?
Well, verse 4, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians' prisoners and the
Ethiopians' captives, young and old, naked and barefoot.
So what does it mean to be naked even with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt?
So the Bible says that if your butt is uncovered, that's naked.
I would hope we would all agree with that, okay?
But I do want you to realize not everybody in this country agrees because people go down
to the beach all the time and they've got their buttocks uncovered for everybody to
see.
And they think there's no problem with it.
Well, wait a minute, what did the Bible say?
The Bible says that's naked.
Did it say it's naked as long as you're not, unless you're at the beach?
If you're at the beach, it's okay to basically show off your butt.
Is that what it said?
No.
We don't believe in situational ethics, that God changes based on the circumstance.
Okay, you're trying to get your buddy saved, well go into a bar and drink with him.
And that's okay.
Is that right?
No, because God's standard doesn't change.
And so what God says is if your butt is uncovered, it's naked.
And we as believers should say, you know, amen, I agree with that, okay?
Obviously that's naked, it's not appropriate, and yet we live in a world today where people
are running around naked all the time and they think nothing of it.
What is this, that if a woman came into this room wearing a bikini, what would our reaction
be?
We'd be like, let us help you put on some different clothes before you come in here.
Now look, I don't look down on people who are coming here dressed in different ways,
but there's also kind of an extreme where it's like, look, that's not appropriate to
have people wearing bikinis here in the house of God.
Now 99% of people would be, okay, yeah, I agree with that, I'm not going to do that.
But then they'd go down to the beach and think nothing of it.
Why?
Because it is common.
So they think it's normal.
But wait a minute, God's standards over here.
It's not normal even if it's common.
And so even though most people are doing this, that doesn't make it normal, okay?
And so look, according to the Bible, if your butt is uncovered, it's nakedness, okay?
Now turn to Exodus 28, Exodus 28.
Because look, the world would say yes, you should cover up your nakedness.
But if you ask the average person out there, what is naked?
Then they would pause and say, you know, I don't know.
Now there's certain things that they would say are naked.
And I think most people would say that's naked, not everybody, but most people.
But then if you ask them direct questions, well, I mean, is this part of your body naked?
Is this part?
They wouldn't know what the answer is, because they do not have a standard.
So they're not really sure.
And depending on where you live, different things are naked to different people.
And certain parts of the world, they cover up more.
I mean, 100 years ago, at least I know this for sure in the US, when you look up time
lapses of videos from the time through ages, 100 years ago in America, everybody was covered.
Even at the beach, women did not walk around wearing bikinis at the beach.
That was considered naked.
I mean, when Elvis was first on TV, like 60 years ago or so, they only even did the video
of him from the waist up, because they said it was perverted and crude to show anything
below the waist, even though he was fully clothed by the way he was dancing.
They considered that bizarre and wicked.
That was like 60 years ago.
Now it's just like good night.
They don't just show their whole body doing something.
They just show them without any clothes on.
No big deal.
The world is changing quite a bit.
It's going more and more towards this direction.
And the average person is starting to think, well, that's a little bit extreme in the day
we live in today.
And they keep moving towards what's common.
That's what we're seeing in the world.
So first off, with nakedness, your butt uncovered is naked, according to the Bible.
Exodus 28, verse 42, Exodus chapter 28, verse 42, Exodus 28, verse 42, and thou shalt make
them linen britches to cover their nakedness.
So linen britches is referring to pants, and we'll talk about that later on during the
sermon.
But it says that these pants were given to these men to cover their nakedness.
Cover up the part of their body that's naked.
Now your pants are covering up a large part of your body, most pairs of pants, okay?
That doesn't mean every part is naked.
It's going to specifically tell you what part is naked that it needs to cover up, okay?
From the loins, even onto the thighs they shall reach.
Now the loins are referring to basically your reproductive organs, the part of your body
that everybody just about would say is naked, okay?
And it says onto the thighs.
So look, realize your reproductive organs are right around here.
It's not saying from here to the top of your thigh, because that covers a very small space.
It's saying from here to your knees, all of your thighs, okay?
What the Bible's saying is from here, basically your waist, because remember on the backside
this is naked.
So basically from your waist down to your knees, that whole part of the body is naked
according to the Bible, front and back.
They're covering up the nakedness.
So look, if your thigh is exposed according to the Bible, according to Exodus 28 verse
42, that is nakedness.
Look, this is not my opinion.
I'm showing you what the Bible says.
Now to some of you here, you might say, man, I've never heard that preached before.
Yeah, because very few churches preach what the Bible says.
I'm just showing you what the Bible says.
From the loins, even on the thighs they shall reach.
That's what it's saying.
This part of your body, and this is not the only verse, we'll look at another one.
This is the part of your body, the Bible says this is nakedness.
So anywhere from here down to your knees, according to the Bible, that is nakedness.
Now here's the thing, when you go out in public, you see plenty of women walking around and
their thighs are exposed.
Now according to the Bible, that's nakedness.
Now this applies to men as well, but if we're honest, this is something that women are more
likely to be guilty of based on the clothing that's out there, okay?
It's hard to find good clothes today, but you'll see more women doing this and their
thighs will be exposed according to the Bible, according to Exodus 28 verse 42, that's naked.
And here's the thing, as a believer, it should be embarrassing to us to basically be dressed
where we're naked, okay?
We should look and say, wow, if that's what the Bible says, I'll make the change.
Why?
It should be an embarrassment, okay, to us.
We shouldn't want to walk around where we're naked, okay?
Now turn to Isaiah 47, Isaiah 47.
And look, I've applied this to my life as well because I used to go running a lot and
I would run wearing not just shorts, but wearing long soccer pants that go down to my ankles
as well, because when you run, your shorts kind of bounce up and down.
And I said, you know what, I don't want to have any of my thigh exposed.
Why?
Because it's nakedness.
And so when I went running, when I used to play basketball all the time, look, you play
basketball, you jump up and down, your shorts are going up and down, right?
And so when I play basketball, I will basically cover up that part.
I don't, now if you have long shorts, it's not a problem, but what I'm saying is for
both men and women, we should strive to say, I don't want this part of my body showing.
Why?
The Bible says it's nakedness, okay?
Now obviously, you know, at your free, in your house, you know, in your room, whatever
you can dress, however, but I'm just saying you go out in public in front of other people,
you know what, you should want to cover up that part of your body.
Now look, I'm not saying that you have to basically, you know, be like a Muslim and
just cover up every single part of your body.
I'm not saying that.
I'm not making up my standard.
I'm showing you what God's standard is and what the Bible says is that if this part of
your body is exposed, it's nakedness.
Now this is something the world agreed with like a hundred years ago.
They used to agree with this.
If you walk around today, nobody really agrees with this anymore, right?
The way people are dressed, nobody even knows this anymore.
That is why we need to preach it so people know what the standard is.
I'm showing you what the Bible says and your thigh exposed, you know what?
That is nakedness according to the Bible, okay?
Exodus 47 verse 2, Exodus 47 verse 2, and it says that Exodus 47 verse 2, take the millstones
and grind meal, Exodus chapter 47 verse 2, Exodus chapter 47 verse 2, take the millstones
and grind meal, uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh in Exodus 47 verse
2.
Uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers, thy nakedness shall be uncovered, thy nakedness
shall be uncovered.
Uncover the thigh, your nakedness is uncovered, okay?
Realize what I'm saying is this, if you wear a pair of shorts that are at your knee, there's
nothing wrong with that.
If you walk around wearing, I used an example where you're running and your shorts are moving
around, but if you have longer shorts that would never happen, but you can go walking
wearing shorts and it's fine.
But walk wearing shorts that go to your knee, okay?
Not the short shorts, okay?
You know, the old, in basketball back in the 70s and 80s, like the basketball players,
they had the shorts that like went to here.
It's like, look, that's wrong, why?
They're naked, okay?
I remember I was on a soccer team, this was before I was saved.
But even, and this is why I'm saying common versus normal, because even as an unsaved
person who was younger, I played on a soccer team where the shorts they gave us, which
were team shorts, team uniforms, they were kind of short.
And we're all like, hey, can I have longer shorts?
Say why?
Because this is built into us that you don't want to cover up, you know, uncover parts
of your body.
Now people might not know the exact standard, but even as a kid, we were just like, look,
I don't want this, this much of my thigh exposed.
Now I didn't realize it goes right to the knee and that's the standard God gives, okay?
God tells us exactly what it is.
But just built into you, into your conscience, you know that there's parts of your body you
don't want to have uncovered.
The reason why people are changing to this side is because the world is brainwashing
you, and it becomes common, and then it starts to feel normal when naturally this is what
feels normal to you, okay?
We understand there's parts of your body that you don't want uncovered, but the world is
brainwashing people and they're moving further and further this direction.
So the Bible says here in Isaiah 47 that if your thigh is uncovered, it's nakedness, just
like in Exodus 28 verse 42.
Turn to Genesis chapter 2, Genesis 2, Genesis chapter 2.
So I want you to realize that when it comes to your clothing, number one, your goal should
be I'm just covering up my nakedness, okay?
That you're not just going out there without any clothes on, but not just that you're going
out without any clothes on, but also just that you're covering up the parts of your
body that the Bible would define as nakedness, okay?
That's what you should do.
Even if you're just doing basic things, and look, I believe if you go out to the mailbox
and you're going outside, just put on the clothes you need to so you're covering up
the nakedness.
Why?
It should be a shame if other people see you naked.
That should be how you feel about it, okay?
Genesis 2 verse 24, Genesis 2 verse 24.
Genesis chapter 2 verse 24, therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and
shall cleave unto his wife and they shall be one flesh.
And they were both naked, referring to Adam and Eve, the man and his wife and were not
ashamed.
So here's an instance where the Bible says they're both naked and they're not ashamed.
You say, Brother Stuckey, I thought that you were supposed, I thought you said you were
ashamed or embarrassed, and it's natural if you're naked that you're going to be embarrassed
by that.
And this is before they actually ate of the forbidden fruit.
And before they ate of the forbidden fruit, they were naked and they didn't realize, wow,
this is inappropriate.
We'll go to Genesis 3, Genesis 3.
Because this is a picture of a baby, okay?
Because a baby, when they die, they go to heaven, just like Adam and Eve were innocent
before they had sinned.
But then a child reaches an age where they can understand, and once they can comprehend,
they must be born again.
Not the fleshly birth, but the spiritual birth, okay?
And once children reach this age, babies reach an age where they realize, oh, it's not normal
for me to run around without any clothes on.
Isn't that true?
When they're young, they have no problem with that.
Look, my son, you know, we basically, you know, we're giving him a quick shower or bath.
He just thinks it's fun.
He just runs out of the shower, just running around without any clothes on.
We're like, Zeph, stop.
It's like, let's put on a diaper on, you know, that's wrong, right?
But he's only two years old.
They don't understand at the age of two.
They, you know, just go out, and as parents, you've got to stop them, because they'll just
run around naked in front of anybody.
They don't think anything of it, okay?
But then they're going to reach an age, I hope Zeph reaches that age, they're going
to reach an age where they're just like, oh, this isn't appropriate.
And look, you don't have to tell them that, and we should tell our kids that, but look,
it's built into them.
There's certain parts of the body we just shouldn't be showing.
You say, how do you know that?
Well, Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter three, I'm glad you asked, Genesis chapter
three, verse seven, this is after they eat of the forbidden fruit, and the eyes of them
both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons.
So after they commit this sin of eating of the forbidden fruit, their eyes are open,
the Bible says, okay?
This is a picture of a baby that would go to heaven, they're innocent, they reach an
age of accountability, so to speak, and all of a sudden their eyes are open, wow, we need
to cover up.
And this is Adam and Eve.
They eat of the forbidden fruit, and then all of a sudden they're like, whoops, what
am I doing?
They're trying to cover up.
Why?
They just knew it's wrong.
It wasn't a Bible verse that told them, it was just built into their conscience.
And so when it comes to clothing, especially with nakedness, this is built into us what's
right and wrong.
Now because the world is changing, we see that and we get brainwashed and desensitized
to this, but it's built into us to know there's certain parts of the body we should cover
up.
How do you know that?
Because it's in Genesis 3, which is a picture of babies and anyone who has kids, look, when
they reach that age, all of a sudden they realize, man, I need to cover up.
It's built into them, but they don't realize that when they're first born, okay?
Now turn in your Bible, actually look at verse 8.
And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
So it says God's actually walking in the garden.
I believe this is basically the Old Testament, you know, the Son of God there in the Old
Testament walking with them.
He's actually there, it's not just a voice from heaven, walking in the garden in the
cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
amongst the trees of the garden.
They are hiding themselves.
Why?
They're embarrassed.
Okay?
It would be like if you weren't wearing clothes and all of a sudden the door opens, you're
going to quickly run to the bathroom or whatever, because you'll be embarrassed to be seen.
And they are hiding from God because, you know, they're doing their best to cover up
everything with their fig leaves of aprons.
We don't really know how much they were able to cover up, but they're just like, man, we're
just going to hide from God.
This is not appropriate.
Okay?
Now obviously a husband and wife, there they are together, it's fine for them to be around
each other, okay?
We understand that.
But around other people, obviously you should be wearing clothes, okay?
You should be covering up your nakedness.
That's what we see here in Genesis 3.
Now turn to Revelation 3, Revelation 3.
You say, Brother Stuckey, why is it then that the world is not embarrassed that they run
around naked according to what the Bible says?
Well, a couple things about that.
Number one, they're brainwashed by the world, but number two, they are embarrassed about
it to some degree.
You say, how do you know that?
Because sometimes you preach the gospel to people and all of a sudden they start covering
up parts of their body.
They do it kind of subtly where they kind of cover up.
Why?
They're embarrassed.
They think it's okay out there in the park, but you're preaching the gospel to them and
they don't make it obvious, but sometimes you see them kind of just cover up parts of
their body because they don't feel comfortable showing that part of the body when you're
talking about the Bible.
All of a sudden they're just like, oh, this is not right.
We've all seen that soul winning, right?
Where they just kind of try to cover up and they do it really where it's not obvious,
but you know what they're doing.
They're a little bit embarrassed.
Obviously as soul winners, we don't try to point it out to them or embarrass them.
We just go on with the gospel, but I see it happen all the time.
We're preaching the gospel in the park and I will see ladies basically trying to cover
up parts of their body.
They just don't feel comfortable.
Why?
This is built into you.
It's built into you.
Now it's good to see what the Bible says so we know this is the direct law.
This is the cutoff line, et cetera, et cetera, but I just want you to realize this is just
built into us that we know there's certain parts of our body to cover up.
We see that in Genesis 3, but also just as we go soul winning, we see it all the time.
This exists, okay?
Revelation chapter 3, Revelation 3, and it says in verse 17, Revelation chapter 3 verse
17, because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest
not that thou are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.
The Bible says knowest not, which means you do not know, and the Bible is saying here
that there are people that do not know that they're naked.
Now this is not directly referring to your clothing.
It's giving an example of things, but we can use it as an illustration that you don't realize
that you're naked.
And look, there are people walking around out there.
They have no idea what the standard is.
They don't know what is nakedness.
I'm sure there's people in this room here today, like, man, I have never heard this
before.
Yeah, I'm sure the Catholic church never taught you this.
I'm sure the Baptist church never taught you this.
But this is what the Bible says, that there are people that do not realize they're naked.
And in today's world especially, when we look outside, there are people that don't realize
that they're naked.
There are people that don't realize that jeans were meant not to have holes in them, right?
When I was growing up, once your jeans and pants got holes in them, you got rid of them.
Now you're like, oh, man, there's no holes in these pants.
I got to put holes in it before I'll start wearing them.
Look, I just had to get a few new pairs of pants because all my pants ended up getting
holes in them.
For me, I got new pairs of pants.
For the world though, nowadays, it's like the cool style.
It's like, you know, they got all these holes in their pants everywhere, and it's just like,
okay.
See, the world's changing.
But here's the thing, I mean, and there's nothing, if that's the style you want, that's
perfectly fine as long as there's not holes here where your thighs are uncovered.
If you just want holes here where your shins and your calves are, I mean, go ahead.
It's not naked according to the Bible.
But if you have holes here where the thighs are or on the back, look, that's naked according
to the Bible.
So that should be an area of your body you're covering up according to the Bible, okay?
Now notice what it says in verse 18.
See here's the thing, people don't realize they're naked.
That's why we're just showing what it is.
And look, when it comes to going to the beach, and look, I wouldn't say directly, because
I've been to the beach before in the last couple years, I'll say this though, I don't
really like going to crowded beaches where there's just, you know, tons of women running
around naked.
You say, why?
Because, I mean, you've got to, like I talked about, if it gets into your eyes, it's going
to get into your heart.
So like if you go to the beach and there's like, you know, there's a million people,
then it's like you ought to go like this, just kind of trying to cover up and not see
things.
Why?
Because here in certain beaches where there's not that many people, I think that's a decent
time to go.
Even when I used to go to the gym regularly, I would go at times where there wouldn't be
a lot of ladies there.
You say, why?
Because I don't want to see like a bunch of ladies that are basically showing off all
their body.
You know, not, not, and here's the thing, you know, obviously as a married person, but
even if you're unmarried, it's just like you let that enter into your eyes, it will enter
into your heart.
Okay?
So I would go like really early in the morning, really late at night where there's basically,
you know, not women doing that.
Why?
Because it's not appropriate.
Okay?
So I don't want to be around that.
Now the Bible says here in verse 18, Revelation 3, verse 18, say, Brother Stuckey, this is
a rough sermon.
It's only going to get rougher from here.
Okay?
In some ways, this could be like the most, you know, hardcore sermon I've preached.
Because seriously, I don't like, I don't like preaching stuff unless I prove it from the
Bible.
So it's like this whole sermon's packed into one.
Okay?
On clothing.
This is a rough sermon for a lot of people because of the fact the world's really changed.
And unfortunately, a lot of us don't realize that some of the clothing we wear is just
not what the Bible would say we should be doing.
Okay?
Revelation 3, verse 18.
Revelation 3, verse 18, I counsel thee to buy me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest
be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear.
The Bible says it should be a shame to you to be naked.
It should be embarrassing to you if you're naked.
Okay?
Matthew 5.
Matthew chapter 5.
And so the first thing we're looking at is nakedness.
Now my belief is the only thing that biblically has proven that there's verses that clearly
show this is that your nakedness comes from here to here.
And people ask the question, well, is this nakedness for a guy or a girl?
Because some people would say that it's wrong for a guy or a girl not to have their shirt
on, that that would be naked.
Some people would say it's naked for a girl and not for a guy.
I don't think there's really anyone that would say it's wrong for a guy but okay for a girl.
But then some people would say, you know, that it's wrong for both of them or it's not
wrong at all.
Okay?
Now I will say this.
I can't point to a verse in the Bible that's going to say that this would be nakedness
if your area above your waist is uncovered.
But I do want to show you something in Matthew 5.
Because just because it's not naked, it doesn't mean it's appropriate for me to run around
without my shirt on.
Okay?
Just because the Bible doesn't directly say, it should be a shame to you if you're naked.
But just because there's not a verse that says, hey, you know what, it's naked if you
do, even if it's not naked, it doesn't mean I should just walk out of here, just take
off my shirt and just walk down the street.
No, I'm not going to do that.
Okay?
You say why?
Well, notice what it says in Matthew 5 verse 27.
Matthew 5 verse 27.
It says in Matthew 5 verse 27, ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou
shalt not commit adultery.
And so the Bible says that we're obviously not supposed to commit adultery.
And this is something that they had heard, and that's obviously true.
But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed
adultery with her already in his heart.
And the Bible talks about committing adultery in your heart if you lust after a woman.
And obviously this can go both ways.
But in reality, guys are probably more likely to lust after women.
And women are probably more likely to be dressed in a way that they would be lusted
after.
I think we would all agree on that.
Okay?
But what I want to show you here in Matthew 5 verse 27, in verse 28, is the Bible says
that if a man were to lust after a woman, he's committed adultery with her already in
his heart.
With her.
You say why?
Because usually if a guy lusts after a woman, part of the blame is on the way the woman's
going to lust.
That doesn't make the guy innocent, but what it says is, look, if women were to dress in
a way where a guy would lust after them, then basically the guy is committing adultery with
her already in his heart.
So look, this goes both ways that, you know what, yeah, it's wrong for guys to lust after
women, but women should dress in a way where they won't be lusted after.
Now there's obviously directly what's naked, but I just want to be honest, and we all know
this, this area is an area guys will lust after.
So as women, you know what, you should try to cover it up.
I'm not saying it's naked, but we're getting to the next point, which is modesty.
And I want you to realize as both guys and girls, look, it's not something that's modest.
We should try to cover up.
Okay?
Why?
Because guys will lust after you, ladies.
That's the way it works.
Okay?
Now it's not right for guys to do that.
It's wrong.
When it comes to the sins of the eyes, it's something guys struggle with more.
The sins of the tongue, I believe ladies struggle with that more, according to the
Bible.
But I want you to realize you can help with that, ladies, by dressing appropriately.
So even though it's not directly naked, here's the thing.
Is it going to cause guys to lust after you?
And if you dress in a way that causes guys to lust after you, you are partaking in that
adultery.
This is not my opinion.
It's Matthew 5, verse 28.
Every word of the Bible matters.
It says, with her.
Because usually if a guy lusts after a woman, it's usually because of the way she's dressed.
Let's be honest.
That is usually the reason.
So look, as guys and girls, make sure you cover up your nakedness from your knees to
your waist on both sides.
But also just dress in a way that's modest.
Now turn in your Bible to 1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy 2.
And look, I'm showing you a lot of stuff here today.
You don't have to agree with me on everything, but it's something that I try to live as my
standard.
And quite honestly, I don't go swimming a whole lot, but when I go swimming, I don't
go without my shirt on.
Because I just don't think that's modest.
I don't think it's going to change based on the situation.
I wear a shirt, and I try not to wear a white shirt, because that's kind of see-through
usually.
Because I just don't want to as a married guy being shown off part of my body, okay?
And why?
Because even if it's not naked, it doesn't mean it's modest.
1 Timothy 2, 1 Timothy 2 verse 9, 1 Timothy 2 verse 9.
It says in 1 Timothy 2 verse 9, and like men are also that women adorn themselves in modest
apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair or gold or pearls or
costly array.
And the Bible talks about wearing modest apparel.
Apparel is your clothing, and not only should you try to avoid being naked, but when you're
picking out clothes, you should wonder, is this modest?
Now it highlights with women, because with clothing, it's something women care about
more.
As a guy, I basically reach in the closet and just rip something out, okay?
It's like, whoops, I guess I'm wearing a red shirt here today, okay?
It's like, I don't care.
I'm not trying to match or anything like that.
It's like, oh yeah, my shirt matches the chairs.
That was intentional, right?
I don't care, right?
I just pull out whatever.
It doesn't really matter to me, okay?
I just pull out whatever.
It's like, oh, I got a pair of socks.
Just put on whatever.
I don't really care, okay?
But obviously with women, they care more about how they're dressed, okay?
One thing you should look at when you're being dressed, though, is this modest.
That should be important to you as ladies, and look, this is something that needs to
come from the heart.
Not that you're just like, oh, I have to follow these strict rules.
I hope you just love God in your heart and say, I'm going to cover up what's naked, but
just in my heart, I just want to please God.
If you're married, I hope you're saying I want to please my husband, too, okay?
Not just that I'm covering up my nakedness, but also I'm just dressed in a modest way.
I don't want other guys to lust after me, and look, I don't want women to lust after
me, and I don't want guys to lust after my wife.
If you're married, it's like you two become one, okay?
That decision was made a long time ago.
You don't want to dress in a way to make somebody else attracted to you, okay?
Verse 10, verse 10, and it says, but which becometh women professing godliness with good
works, and the Bible says the way you dress can be in a godly way or an ungodly way, okay?
So you say, Brother Stuckey, does this really matter to God?
It does matter to God because all things matter to God, and the outward does not matter as
much as the inward, and kind of the proof that I don't believe it matters as much is
because this is really my first sermon I've preached on clothing because I wanted to just
kind of cover everything, not just leave anything where people could have questions
to show you exactly what the Bible says.
It's like the home run punch right there, you know, the heavyweight punch knockout.
So yeah, I understand this can be a tough sermon.
I'm just showing you everything the Bible says about clothing, and honestly, you know,
I probably won't preach on this for another year, okay, other than maybe a little bit
here and there, but a whole sermon on it, but I'm just showing you what the Bible says,
okay?
Now turn in your Bible to 1 Peter 3, 1 Peter 3.
What makes this tough, I don't know if it's necessarily that people would disagree because
they see it in the Bible, but a couple of things, one, because people are afraid that
people will make fun of them for the way they're dressed, like I don't want people to make
fun of me, but two, because it's hard to find clothing that's actually appropriate today.
Look, when we went to the store to get pants recently, it's like, man, it's hard to find
them because the way they have the pants done now, they want to have these tight pants,
and it's like, look, I'm not a sodomite, I don't want to dress like a sodomite, I just
want normal pants, okay, I don't want these tight form-fitting pants.
It's literally hard for men and women to find the right types of clothes, and it's like,
I got a couple of new pairs of shorts, like basketball-type shorts, and I'm looking at
all of them, it's like, man, can I just find one that goes to the knee?
It's just like, it's really hard, it's not easy, and because it's difficult, some people
just kind of give up on it, or they get kind of frustrated by it, but look, God's standard
is not changing, even though the world is making it difficult to live for God.
His standard is still the same, and I understand it's going to be tough for men and ladies
especially to find those clothes that are appropriate, but we should strive to do that.
Why?
We should cover up the nakedness, number one, and because we should dress in a modest way,
okay?
1 Peter 3, verse 3, 1 Peter 3, verse 3, it says, who's adorning, let it not be that outward
adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel.
And so the Bible speaks about the outward appearance of putting on of apparel, and then
it's going to highlight how it comes from the heart to begin with.
The inside matters more, but I just want you to understand that doesn't change the outside.
Look, man looketh on the outward appearance, and that's just a fact.
We all look on the outward appearance.
We form judgments when we see people, the Bible says that.
You say, well, we shouldn't look on the outward appearance.
We should look on the heart.
Look, I can't see your heart.
How can I see your heart?
All I can see is the outside, and look, you form judgments about people based on the way
they're dressed and the way they look.
It's just reality.
Don't pretend like you don't, okay?
If somebody came in here, if a woman came in wearing a bikini, you would form opinions
about her, right?
You would say, man, she hasn't been to church in a long time, okay?
It's like, that's not how you dress to church.
You're going to form opinions.
When we go soul winning, isn't it true when we go to these parks with a lot of people,
we're looking around saying, okay, who's the most likely to get saved?
Isn't that what we're doing?
Because there's so many options here.
You're looking around saying, okay, here's someone who's probably less likely to get
saved.
Look, if somebody is just dressed a certain way, somebody is a Sikh, they have a turban
on their head from India, you're thinking, they're not likely to get saved, okay?
You're probably going to go for people that are a little bit younger in their teens or
their 20s or something like that.
They're probably more likely to listen and get saved, okay?
We all form opinions about the outside and it's true, God looks on the heart, but the
outside usually represents what's on the inside, okay?
That's the reality of the matter.
Now turn in your Bible to Deuteronomy 22, Deuteronomy 22.
And so number one, when it comes to clothing, we should cover up our nakedness.
Now what's common in the world today is that people are showing off their nakedness in
the Philippines, okay?
It's a lot different than what's normal.
And because of that, people are being brainwashed, okay?
But even above just covering up your nakedness, very few people are actually dressing conservatively,
modestly, as the Bible would say.
We should try to dress in a modest way because here's the thing, you can wear clothing that
you might not be naked, but you're still showing off every part of your body and you're
causing guys to lust after you and you're not dressed in a modest way.
And most people, the way they're dressed today, it's not very modest.
They're bringing attention to them by the way they're dressed, okay?
And so number one, when it comes to clothing, consider nakedness, consider your modesty,
but also clothing is meant to define your gender.
You dress in a certain way and it's gonna tell people that there's men's clothing and
women's clothing.
What does that mean?
Well, Deuteronomy 22 verse five, notice what it says, the woman shall not wear that which
pertaineth onto a man, okay?
The Bible says women should not wear clothes that belong or pertain to a man.
They're man's clothing, okay?
Men's clothing, okay?
Then it says, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment.
So women should not wear men's clothing and men should not wear garments or clothing that
belong to women, okay?
What the Bible's saying here is that there is women's clothing and men's clothing, okay?
Certain things that are different, God made us differently.
For all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God, okay?
The Bible does not say that wearing the clothing is an abomination.
It says all that do so are abomination.
God says if a person dresses in a wrong way, then they are the abomination, not the clothing
that they are the abomination.
It kind of goes to another level, okay?
Now an obvious example of this is when we see guys running around with dresses here
in the Philippines, which is pretty common here in the Philippines, and you can understand
why God says they are the abomination, not just the clothing.
You say why?
Because usually that means they're a sodomite and usually it means they're a bad person
when they're dressed like that.
They're wearing those clothes and it's like they are the abomination, okay?
Not what they're wearing is the abomination, but they are the abomination.
So if a guy were to wear a girl's clothing and a girl were to wear a guy's, you say well,
what does it mean then?
What clothes are women's clothing?
What clothes are men's clothing, okay?
Now look, I think everybody in this room would say that men should not wear dresses, right?
Let's say I showed up here today, you know, basically to preach and I was wearing a pair
of blue jeans instead of pants.
Your first reaction would be like, oh man, Brother Stuckey's wife's gone, he forgot to
do the laundry, right?
He forgot to do the laundry since his wife's gone for a little while, so now he's wearing,
you know, he forgot his dress pants, and that would probably be right, right?
If I showed up and I was wearing like jeans instead, but you wouldn't say what in the,
you'd just be like, Brother Stuckey forgot to do that, right?
But what if I showed up wearing a dress today?
I mean literally what would your reaction be?
I mean everybody would just leave the room, right?
You'd be like what in the world, that's disgusting, right?
It's weird for a guy to wear a dress.
Look, if any guy showed up here today wearing a dress, it's like, I don't know if I've made
this clear, guys that will help me out, if somebody comes in the middle of the service,
some guy wearing a dress, stop them at the door, and I'm not saying throw them down and
kick them or whatever, I'm just saying look, guys are not wearing dresses here at church.
It's not appropriate, okay?
Because 90 whatever percent of the time that means they're just a big fan of Ice Pong eat
and they're just an LGBT member, right?
They're a sodomite, right?
And it's like guys, obviously, you know, guys wearing dresses in church, that's disgusting.
Now we see it all the time and because it's very common, it feels normal.
See people see this all the time and they don't think it's weird at all.
Now look in America, let's ask Brother Duncan, are there a lot of guys wearing dresses in
America?
No, they aren't.
People are shocked when they come here.
They thought this is a conservative country in the Philippines.
Well then how come in America we don't see guys running around wearing dresses?
I've seen that like twice in my life.
Once was in San Francisco and then the other time was just at a random gas station convenience
store and I'm just thinking what in the world?
You know that guy's wearing a dress.
You don't see it very often even in California.
Here in the Philippines you see it all the time and it's so common.
That is the reason why this country is so supportive of the LGBT because it's really
common and all your heroes on TV are wearing dresses and so it feels normal to the world
even though God's standard didn't change.
You say what are you trying to say?
Well I think we would agree that when it comes to dresses and skirts we would say those belong
to women, not to men.
But if dresses belong to women you have to ask yourself what is the clothing that pertains
or belongs to men?
If dresses belong to women then the alternative for guys would be the pants.
You see if it's wrong for a guy to wear a dress it'd be wrong for a woman to wear pants.
You say now wait a minute brother Stuckey.
I don't see that here.
Well you have to ask yourself this question.
What is the clothing that pertains to a man if it's not the pants?
That's the primary clothing.
I agree it would be weird for a woman to wear a tie or a suit and things such as that but
the primary thing is women wear dresses and men wear pants.
You say how do you know that?
Well turn to Exodus 28.
Let me say this that I have never been to China but I am confident if I go to China
and I have to use the comfort room I can pick the right room.
Say how do you know you'll pick the right room?
Because you know what there's a sign on the door for men and women.
Now you say brother Stuckey do you speak Mandarin Chinese?
Ni hao.
There you go.
Ni hao.
Ni hao ma.
That's about it.
I don't speak Mandarin Chinese but even at some signs they don't even have the letters.
It doesn't necessarily say men, women, lalaki, babayi.
It doesn't necessarily say that but there's a picture below and I forgot to bring this
picture here today but I think we all know it.
You go to a restroom the picture of men is of somebody wearing pants and you know that's
for men.
Then you see another picture and it's somebody wearing a dress or a skirt and you say wow
that's for women.
So you see that there's clothing for women and there's clothing for men.
This is the world standard.
The world even knows it.
It's not just my opinion.
The world knows that okay and look I've never been to China but pretty much all around the
world I can guarantee you it's the same way.
They have to have a way to tell people hey here's the restroom for men.
Here's the restroom for women and guess what they do?
They have a picture because the world recognizes that pants are for men and dresses are for
women.
I will not admit that now but I want you to realize something that in the United States
of America just going back 100 years ago it was illegal for women to wear pants.
You would be arrested for women wearing pants.
You say why?
Because look when a guy wears a dress you say he is cross dressing.
The world used to say well if a woman were to wear pants she's cross dressing.
Why?
Because this belongs to a man and she's wearing it.
Now I understand there's a lot of people here today.
This is new information for a lot of you.
I'm not mad at you.
I'm not trying to point anybody out or anything like that.
I'm just showing you what the Bible says and we're going to look at a lot of verses that
talk about basically pants are for men according to the Bible.
But I want you to realize that if it's wrong for Vice Pangeet to wear a dress it's wrong
for a woman to wear pants.
But you say but wait a minute everybody's doing it.
Yeah it's very common.
So it feels normal.
That's the point of this series.
Because it's common it feels normal.
But I want you to realize I don't believe this is built into people.
I believe built into people we understand there's a difference between men and women.
Look men are generally taller than women.
Men are generally stronger than I hope you know you're married I hope you're stronger
than your wife.
Okay men are generally stronger than their wives.
There's differences between men and women and we understand that there are differences.
Turn to Exodus 28.
Just because very few people realize this is the standard that doesn't really change
anything.
Exodus 28 verse 42 the Bible reads Exodus 28 verse 42.
Exodus chapter 28 verse 42 where we started Exodus 28 verse 42 and it says now shall make
them linen britches to cover their nakedness is referring to men here but it says britches
which isn't a word for breeches okay breeches are britches which is meaning pants okay now
turn to Ezekiel 48 44 Ezekiel chapter 44 Ezekiel chapter 44 Ezekiel chapter 44 and
I don't have time to go through all of the verses that talk about basically men wearing
pants but that is what you're always going to see in the Bible and look the only response
I've heard against this is they go to the part with King Saul where David cuts off the
skirt of his garment and they say oh the skirt of his garment he was wearing a skirt
or a dress no no the skirt of your garments the bottom part okay it's not saying he was
oh the skirt of his garment oh King Saul was running around with the dress on like he was
from Scotland or something right he's competing in these like you know Highland games or whatever
with bagpipes no it's talking about the bottom part of his outfit the skirt of his garment
okay Ezekiel 44 verse 18 Ezekiel 44 verse 18 they shall have linen bonnets upon their
heads and shall have linen breeches upon their loins they shall not gird themselves with
anything that causes sweat and these are the men that would basically be doing the the
requirements of God and what it said is they should be wearing linen breeches upon their
loins what they're wearing is linen breeches okay now Daniel 3 Daniel chapter 3 Daniel
3 Daniel chapter 3 Daniel chapter 3 now I do want you to understand I'm not saying that
pants and dresses are the only thing that I think pertain directly to men or women because
look I don't wear high heels I think a guy wearing high heels would be pretty weird obviously
if a guy was wearing a bra that would be pretty weird that would be women's clothing okay
it's not for guys so I understand it's not only dresses and pants I'm just saying that's
the primary thing we're thinking of okay we're basically if if one below now here's what
people say though but wait a minute brother Stuckey there's men's pants and there's women's
pants isn't that what people say what's the difference between men's pants and women's
pants they'll say well women's pants are really tight so is that modest if women are wearing
really tight clothing that reveals basically themselves are really tight clothing no that's
not modest okay no pants are for men and look I don't believe the men should have tight pants
okay there's men and then there's women men's clothing and women's clothing okay now what it
says in Daniel 3 verse 21 is this Daniel 3 verse 21 then these men were bound in their coats their
hosen now hosen is an old word that refers to pants okay it says they're hosen and their hats
and their other garments and were cast in the midst of the burning fiery furnace here are men
that are once again wearing pants look you're never gonna see men wearing dresses in the Bible
okay it doesn't take place you see men wearing pants so the pattern we're seeing of men and
women is we see men wearing pants hosen britches breeches okay and women wearing dresses or skirts
okay now you might say this well brother Stuckey there's a lot of cultures though where the men
do wear like dresses and things such as that like for example I mentioned in Scotland in
Scotland you'll have men that wear kilts which are basically these red type you know skirts or
whatever and like it's common they they're using bagpipes and they have these skirts on okay or
for example in India you know lots of times you see basically they're just wearing these long
dresses as men and they're like I've seen it before they're trying to ride a bike and they're
having trouble because their dress is getting in the way so they have to like pull it up as men
you know to basically be able to ride the bike or whatever but you see that in these cultures but I
want you to understand something as I mentioned this is something that's built into us and you
will see heathen cultures where they basically know the law of God written in their hearts and
they're intentionally just rejecting what the Bible says and as they reject it as a culture
the average person sees it and gets brainwashed okay look when I mention India I can't think of
a country that is rejected become more heathen than India okay I mean what a wicked country that
is and yeah you know what men are wearing dresses all the time because they knew the law of God
written in their hearts and they rejected it and they worship they're worshiping cows right from
Romans 1 they worship cows they worship rats they worship all these animals and they've rejected God
and the things they know that were built into their mind as a culture they're just men are
wearing dresses and doing all kinds of heathen things and the result of that is you know what
people see this and they think it's normal and so look I'm sure over there you're gonna see a
lot of guys wearing dresses that are not sodomites but they just think it's normal because it's
built into them look plenty of people in Scotland guys that wear kilts are not sodomites they think
it's normal because it's very common and you know what's gonna happen in our country in the next 25
years people are gonna think guys wearing dresses very common and you're gonna start seeing kids in
elementary school just start wearing dress guys just little boys wearing dresses to school because
they think it's normal because it's common and we're gonna see all kinds of guys running around
wearing dresses that aren't sodomites but they think it's normal why because it's very common
but God's standard doesn't change and I want you to understand that even if every guy in this
country was wearing a dress the pattern we see in the Bible is men wearing pants God's standard does
not change okay and the world by and large still understands is because a sign on the door
at restaurants you see men with the pants sign the picture and women with the dresses okay now
turn in your Bible to first Samuel 16 first Samuel 16 and so when it comes to our clothing the things
we should consider consider your nakedness according to the Bible basically to from your
knee to your waist on both sides is naked we need to cover that part of her body up okay that should
be something we pay attention to when we're dressing but also to dress in a modest way even
if you're not naked are you modest or are you bringing attention to yourself by the way you're
dressed okay and look obviously I think as we're talking about this this is more so as we're
talking about basically covering up your nakedness and not causing people to lust after you but at
the same time you know you shouldn't just wear these crazy clothes that people are just looking
at you like I come in here with these big alligator red shoes or something like that like look at the
Pope with his red shoes and things such as that you look at that you're like what in the world
right it's drawing attention to yourself okay it's not modest so when we dress make sure that we're
covering up nakedness we're modest but also that the way we're dressed identifies our gender okay
that we're dressed in a way where we know this is men's clothing and this is women's clothing if
you're a woman lastly I want to quickly show you just talk about briefly also we should consider
with our coat clothing what is culturally inappropriate culturally inappropriate what
I mean by that is not something that is directly a sin but in the culture you live in people might
look at it as a sinner weird okay now we're in first Samuel 16 verse 7 I want to show you this
where it says but the Lord said unto Samuel look not on his countenance or on the height of his
stature because I've refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the
outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart we know that God does look at the hearts
we cannot look on the heart as people we look on the outward appearance and I want you to understand
when people are looking at you when you go out in public what are they going to be thinking based
on the way you're dressed because we're talking about clothing and there are certain things that
are not really a sin but they're kind of inappropriate for the culture you live in let me
give you an example of what I'm talking about in the Bible Jacob got his son Joseph what a coat
of many colors a coat of many colors probably means like orange and blue and pink and red and
green and purple look if I showed up with a coat of many colors today or or someone else that you
didn't know you back is that guy a sodomites right because if you wear a coat of many colors in
today's world people might think you're a sodomites right I mean there's certain colors that I'm
probably not going to wear I don't really necessarily think that there's certain colors
but this is a sin for a guy to wear this color because a woman's color necessarily but in our
culture there were certain colors that they're going to look at and say well that guy is you
know a sodomite or whatever okay there's certain clothing and so look there is certain clothing
that you should be culturally appropriate with the culture you live in I think the coat of many
colors is probably the best example but it just kind of goes back to the point where I want to
dress as much as possible to look like a man and nobody's going to question that I don't want to
dress in a way where someone's going to be like oh you know I don't know about that person because
when we go sewing sometimes you look at people based on their hair and based on the way they're
dressed and you're like is that a guy is that a girl is that you know you don't even know based
on the way they're dressed and the way you determine that is primarily based on the hair
length and based on their clothing and look as a guy I just want to dress and look like a guy okay
dressed like a man and so look when it comes to our clothing this is what we should consider
remember yes the world and what is common is pretty bizarre in our country and so for some
of you you might be hearing this sermon and say man I've never heard this before I think this is
out in left field but with everything we go back to what does the Bible say and realize when it
comes to what's normal it's right over here and God's standard does not change no matter how much
the world gets different okay so remember with your clothing consider your nakedness your modesty
identifying your gender and also just dressing in a way that is culturally appropriate let's close
in a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father thanks for allowing us to be here today and just seeing
what you have to say about clothing and we know that all things in the Bible all of our lives
every part is important to you God help us to try just our best to dress in a way that would be
modest that we would cover up our nakedness and we would dress to define our gender God and help
us just to love you as much as possible and I know this is new information to people and it's
not something we preach on much but we want to preach on all parts of the Bible God help us to
apply this to our lives and we pray this in Jesus name Amen