The sermon, titled 'Christians and Clothing,' delivered by Jason Dohm, focuses on modesty and gender distinction as reflections of the gospel message, drawing from Romans 12 and 1 Timothy 2. It emphasizes the importance of modesty as an expression of the gospel and a reflection of God's image, urging believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices. The sermon stresses the need for visible gender distinctions in clothing, as rooted in God's creation of mankind as male and female. Practical advice is given on how to address these issues within families, including the roles of fathers and husbands in guiding clothing choices. The sermon calls for sensitivity and self-reflection rather than judgment of others, highlighting the need for ongoing awareness and adjustment in personal and family standards of dress as acts of worship and obedience to God.

The sermon text for today is from Romans 12 and also from 1st Timothy 2. Romans 12 verses 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. First Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 10.

Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I am speaking the truth in Christ, and not lying, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire, therefore, that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

In like manner, also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation not with braided hair gold or pearls or costly clothing but which is proper for women professing godliness with good works. Amen. Let's pray. Our God, we are dependent on You. All of us are.

And we are dependent on You, especially this morning, that we would know Your heart, know what You love, Know your desires, especially in the area of clothing. We need your teaching, we need your care, we need your love, we need your grace, we need your mercies upon us. Oh, help us please God. In Jesus' name, Amen. The format this morning is different than any of us have had.

I'm going to speak first on modesty. Modesty in dress, modesty in the Gospel. Then Jason is going to speak on gender distinctions, and then I'm going to come up for a few final comments, application. That does not mean that this will be really an overly lengthy message either. Jase and I have worked on this and have our goals.

So why? Why modesty? Next week we're going, we're starting a long journey through John and we've been going through a couple things here in our break, so why modesty? It's not because anybody's come to Jason and I and said, hey, you guys need to speak on this thing. What happened is several months ago, Jason and I just talking about things, things in our own families, we both noticed that there had been a drift in our families in this area.

And so our concern first was for our families. And thinking through why the drift that we had seen. And then that goes to our concern for our example to the church as well. And when I look at my own family, This was subtle. It is subtle over time.

You may say, well, James, we haven't seen it. Well, I'm glad, but I have. This has been subtle over time. And all of a sudden, one day, I was looking at my family going, uh-oh, uh-oh. How did this happen?

As I talked to Rebecca, how did this happen? It was subtle, it was a drift. And what it came down to, it's really me, me as the father. It came down to me blaming myself for not paying attention and letting this drift happen. And having to talk with Rebecca and the family on how do we not only just stop the drift, the rest of the drift, but I don't have time just to reverse, just graduate.

There's some areas we need to just jump back. So that's what happened. This is a men's and women's topic. I understand that. First Timothy talks about the men.

But when it comes to clothing, Paul and Timothy and Peter and 1 Peter really are addressing the women. So primarily I'll be addressing the women when it comes to modesty. But men, I have a lot to say to you. I have a lot to say. Be ready.

Now Sovereign Redeemer Community Church, we are very, very thankful. Jason and I are very, very thankful for the overwhelming demonstration of modesty and gender distinction that we see here. Very thankful. This church is way more sensitive to these topics than 99 percent of the population, than most of professing Christians. This is not meant to be a heavy handed message or a rebuke.

We're not even going to talk about specifics. We'll give you plenty of application to talk about in your home. We're not going to talk about specifics of a certain type of dress or what you must wear. Here's my caution to you. Resist applying this to other people while you're listening to this.

That should be every week, but resist that temptation. Stop it if you find yourself doing it. That's what I just tell you to stop it. If you find your mind going, Oh, I hope she's listening to this. Oh, I wish she was here.

Or I hope that father's hearing this. Stop it. Stop it. Okay? Work hard to apply this to your own heart.

Please do that. And listen with the assumption that you have a blind spot here. I did. It doesn't mean you do, but I did, Jason did. Listen with an assumption that you have a blind spot, something's happening, at least a drift possibly.

Be open to that and our tendency is to think that they are the legalist or they are the worldly one. You know what? They are probably thinking, they may be thinking the same thing of you. You're the legalist or you're the worldly one. So resist any of those temptations and work hard to apply this to yourselves.

Now, everything in scripture is important because it's in scripture and God had it written for us. Some of the things that God does, though, we can see just how important it is, and clothing is one of them. It started back in Genesis 3. So in Genesis 3, you have sin coming into the world through Adam and Eve. And what do Adam and Eve do?

They try to hide themselves from God. And it's a recognize not just that they're naked, but that they have a complete separation from God. Now God who is completely holy, they recognize, I do not have fellowship with God anymore. So they try to hide themselves from this holy God. They try to use fig leaves just to cover certain portions of their body.

And what does God do? He comes along and He says, you aren't clothing yourselves right. First he gives them the curses, but along with the curses is a promise of salvation. That will to come by faith, believe this, and you will be saved is what he's telling them. He says, and I'm going to show you how to really clothe yourself.

And There's a lot of spiritual aspects to the way God clothes them that you can talk about in the spiritual aspects and applications there. But bottom line, God clothed them. God was the first one to clothe people properly. That's in Genesis 3. That's important for us to pay attention to.

God calls them tunics, coats in the King James. I encourage you, we're going to hand these out. I encourage you to read Jeff Pollard's booklet on this. He goes into types of clothing and all the word meanings of coats and tunics and all that. I encourage men and women, fathers, mothers, I encourage you to read it first.

There's some sensitive topics in here before you decide to just read it. We're going to read it on Sunday afternoon to our whole family. I encourage you to read it first. So turn to 1 Timothy 2. I'm going to be first in my short time.

1 Timothy 2. The setting here in chapters 2 and 3 are primarily directed, Paul's concern is for the order and conduct in the church. That's the primary concern in chapters 2 and 3. Now the overwhelming reason why Paul is concerned is not for order itself, and not for conduct itself, but how their order and conduct reflects on the gospel. Let me build this foundation for us to see why this is a gospel issue.

In chapter 2, verses 1, the first half of 2, we see that there's an exhortation for supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving thanks made for all men for kings and all who are in authority. And then you have the why after that. That we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all goodness and reverence for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior." He uses Savior to lead into this. So these prayers for all men and kings and authorities for a peaceable life, a quiet life in reverence is good, God says, to pray for those things. He starts talking about the Savior, then we have why.

In verse four through six, this heightens it more. Who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth? For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time." Why do we want a peaceful life? Why do we want this quietness? Why do we want to pray for all this?

Because God says it's good, but also so that we can be proclaimers of the gospel in all we do. It does make it easier to go out and stand in a corner, an abortion clinic out here in Griffin's parking lot, for the sake of the gospel and proclaiming the gospel. And everything that comes after these verses is for that church order. Wives, deacons, right? Back to Acts.

Deacons, elders, submission. It's all there and It's all for the sake of the Gospel. And in verse 8, jumping back there now, where we will spend most of our time, well, the rest of the time, in 8 through 10, Paul says, I desire therefore. The importance of everything that comes next is the gospel. He just went through the gospel.

A desire therefore for the sake of the gospel, here's your conduct. All the way through. Modesty is important because what you wear is a reflection of the gospel. First Corinthians 620, for you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. Glorify God in your body.

You belong to God. He created you. You belong to him there, just from creation. But then he bought you with a high price to save you. Top of that.

1 Peter 3, 1 through 6. Not going to read it. But it is very similar in layout to 2 Timothy. Paul and Peter agree on modesty. 1 Peter makes it very clear that modesty's foundation is, quote, the hidden person of the heart.

The hidden person of the heart. A heart that is transformed by the Gospel. We are to be motivated in all things, including our dress, by the gospel. Jesus' love for you and your demonstration of love for Him through your clothing. Listen to 1 Corinthians 10.31.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Church, you want to be modest in everything you do. You want to be modest in everything you do because you are concerned about the gospel. You are concerned about glorifying God. That is important.

Now let's walk through 1 Timothy 2, starting in verse 9. In verse 9, we have at the beginning here, that the women adorn themselves. Adorn themselves to put in order to arrange, to make ready, prepare. This is an action, something you're doing and it needs to be an intentional action. Every time you wake up, or every time you change clothes during the day, you are making a decision.

You will face this topic at least once a day when you get up. At least once a day, maybe several times a day. But as you make this decision asking your question, am I going to adorn myself in a way to not distract from the gospel, and in fact proclaim the gospel in a way that pleases my Savior, the bridegroom? Now Ladies, you think about how you would dress in a way that would please your bridegroom. That is in a special way.

Now, do not come dressed in a wedding dress every day. I'm not saying that. Don't do that. That would be sin because that would be drawing attention to yourself in a wrong way. But you're dressing in a way that pleases your Savior who bought you at a high price.

Think through this, continuing. So you adorn yourself, ladies, in modest apparel. Jeff Pollard helps us with how to think through modest apparel. Modesty. The inner self-government, rooted in a proper understanding of one's self before God.

So in order to understand one's self before God with inner self-government, you have to have a heart that's been transformed by the gospel to be anything concerned of your standing before God and understanding what that is before God, understanding that God is holy, I am not, I am sinful. And it took the death of Jesus Christ, the substitutionary atonement in my place, taken on the wrath of God, for me to be saved and have that heart and cause me to repent and believe, which leads me to, which outwardly displays itself in humility and purity from a genuine love for Jesus Christ rather than in self-glory. Modesty like humility is the opposite of arrogance. It does not seek to draw attention to itself or to show off in an unseemly way." Some Bible verses to back up these thoughts. 1 Peter 5.5 tells us to be clothed in humility.

Romans 13.14 tells us to put on, to clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust." Isaiah 61.10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God for He has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." James, this isn't talking about physical clothing. No, but this is our example. This is what Jesus talks about when He talks about how we are to clothe ourselves and think about ourselves.

Modesty is a reflection of the gospel, a reflection that we are clothed in Jesus Christ, that we are clothed in garments of salvation, that we are clothed in robes of righteousness, that we are clothed in Humility. Not to draw attention to ourselves, make much of ourselves, but make much of Christ. So continuing. Women, adorn yourselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation. This is shame-facedness in the King James.

This is a reverence. This means a regard for others and self-control. A regard for others and self-control. Here's where we're going to start getting to some specific applications. Turn to Philippians 2.

Hasn't been too long since we've been there. I didn't look it up, but it's relatively fresh in our minds, especially popular verses like these. Philippians 2, look at verses 3 and 4. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, But in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself Let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others regard for others and self-control We see it here in selfish ambition and interest of others. So first, check yourself for any selfish ambition in your clothing choices.

Are you self-controlled in your clothing choices? Talks here about immodesty really of ostentation. What does that mean? Well, Paul helps us here, as well as Peter, with talking about braided hair, gold, pearls, costly clothing. Let me translate this a little bit more for us.

Selfish ambition is your ambition to be showy, to be dressing to impress, for extravagance, for vainness, to boast, is your ambition to be revealing, to be enticing. Look at that. You say it's not, but maybe it's hidden there somewhere. First Timothy and First Peter, they're not saying you can't have nice hair. It talks about adorning yourself, that you can't have jewelry, that things can't cost a lot of money, that You have to dress from the thrift shop.

Sometimes there's a good thing to pay for more. You pay a lot for a wedding dress, or have to sew it, or whatever. Go ahead. The occasion may call for it. But is your goal to draw attention to yourself or boast in Jesus.

The second part of this, are you looking out for the interest of others in your clothing? Ladies, modest clothing is looking out for the interest of the men in this church and that you're around. It is. It includes your brothers in Christ that were bought with a precious price that have to go to war to battle with their eyes and their thoughts every day. Our homes and here should be a place of refuge.

Especially in church you should not be a distraction to the worship of God and the gospel. People, men, they're responsible for their own sin. They're responsible for their own sin, and less can happen with the most modest of apparel possible. That can still happen. Men are responsible.

But don't lead them in temptation. Look out for the interests of theirs, because they're brethren that want to love God and worship God with their eyes and their mind. Listen to Richard Baxter. Richard Baxter says this, You must consider that you live among diseased souls, and you must not lay a stumbling block in their way, nor blow up the fire of their lust, nor make your ornaments their snares. But you must walk among sinful persons, as you would do with a candle among straw or gunpowder.

Or else you may see the flame which you would not foresee when it is too late to quench. Ladies, you're like the candle here is what he's saying. And men have sinful eyes and sinful minds, and you're walking through it like they're straw and gunpowder. A candle gets close to that straw or gunpowder, Boom. I think it can just go off quickly.

Listen to what Jeff Pollard says on these lines, too. First, he quotes Matthew 5, 27, and 28. You have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Jeff Pollard's commentary on this. Men must guard their hearts and minds.

They are responsible for God for how they use them. However, women often don't seem to realize that by this same commandment, they are responsible to dress modestly. They are not to dress in sensual, luxurious, or expensive fashions, lest they provoke others to sin. Man must answer to God for the way he uses his eyes, while women must be cautious not to cast a stumbling block before men. Listen to this example of David.

David's horrible sin with Bathsheba was clearly his fault. Yet, Bathsheba's unwise and imprudent public nakedness certainly fueled the fires of David's lust. Bathsheba failed to govern her modesty. David failed to govern his eyes. Candle, gunpowder.

And it didn't go well. Man was murdered. Children die. Heartache. Now, be generous in a comment here.

Any modesty here is probably out of ignorance really. A cluelessness. Don't think of being called ignorant as just, oh, he's being mean to me. No. It's really just a lack of awareness, a lack of knowledge of something, a lack of awareness.

Ladies, are you ignorant of the war of lust that men deal with daily? And the effect you can have on their eyes and hearts, It doesn't take much. It doesn't. Here's some applications here to the ladies. Where does your clothing draw the eyes?

Anywhere inappropriate? How do you know? Do you have a full length mirror in your house that you can look at? If not, get one. Get one in mom's room, in your room.

Get one. All right, and look. Get other people's observations. Get your parents' observations. Ask your mom, ask your dad.

Get observations. Don't limit the observation of yourself to yourself. Get help. Now, husbands, fathers, men, listen up. The bulk of this is on you.

Time to tune back in if you haven't been listening. There's a lot here for you. Are you ignorant and unaware of the devouring that the ladies in your house can take, the devouring of other men's eyes that the ladies in your house can take, and it's your responsibility to protect them. Your responsibility. Help the ladies in your home examine their wardrobe.

Men, help them. You are responsible. If you don't do this, who is? Who's going to do this if you don't? The culture?

Their peers? The less discerning among us? The stores? The advertisements? Who?

Who's going to influence them and tell them what is good? Oh, I'm better than that. That's going to be your standard? Husband's fathers, This is your responsibility. You must govern this.

Mothers too, but men, you own this. And it means at times you will come across as the bad guy. You will. But You own this. Al Martin calls this holy testosterone.

You own this. Quit you like a man. Ladies, I recognize this can take a lot of time to get your wardrobe in order or when you're shopping for things. And I am so appreciative when that happens. The men here are appreciative when you take that time.

It takes time. It can take hours to find one set of clothing for the beach. It can take hours, but go do it and have a great time doing it. Spend the day doing it. Men, Pray for their success.

Ladies, be patient in it. Don't be anxious about it. Be patient. Men, pray for their success. If they can only come home with one outfit and all you ever have is one outfit, fine, be it.

And if anybody complains that you only have one outfit, because that's the only thing you have that you can find that's modest to wear here or at the beach or outwards and they complain about it, tell your parents and they won't hear, come tell me and Jason. We'll talk to them. We're thankful. You can wear the same outfit week in and week out and I'll be fine. I probably won't even notice myself, but still.

Men, no clothing purchased or sewn is approved to wear until you say it is. You have the final say. And it's the same for men's clothes. Men, none of your clothing should be approved to wear until your wife says, yeah, okay, that's modest. It should be the same thing.

It can be returned. It can be altered. Dad, when this clothing comes into your house, examine it as a man would examine clothing. From all angles, examine the coverage, examine the fit, examine the showingness, the see-through, especially in the sun or if we were swimming. Is this really walking up to the line and pushing the limits?

Is that really where we want to be? Examine it from them walking, from them sitting, from them standing, from them picking up things, from them holding babies, that reach and grab and pull and tug. That takes time, but your ladies have spent, I'll just encourage them and encourage you to encourage them, they have spent a lot of time on this. You spent a lot of time on it as well. You own this.

I own this. Also it is not once approved, always approved. Standards change. Children grow. I'm not a child anymore, but adults grow and change.

And we are slow. We are very slow to acknowledge that change. It costs money, it takes time. Oh, I'll get back in those size whatever's. Right?

But it happens too slow. Be aware. Be aware of what's going on. Husbands and fathers, don't you want to protect them from the lustful devouring eyes. Don't you?

Men, don't you want to be protected? Don't you want to be protected from being distracted in a conversation, especially here at church with your sisters in Christ? Don't you want to be protected from being distracted in worship? Don't you want to joyfully participate in hospitality to other people's homes without thinking, oh no, I'm going to have to prepare myself for battle over there? Well, you might have prepared yourself for battle because your own mind is horrible no matter how anybody's dressed.

But please, man, you want to be protected. Protect your brothers. Ladies, I said don't be anxious about this. Jesus teaches us in Luke, don't be anxious about your clothing you're wearing. He'll care for you, pray for you.

You know this is a concern for him. Just be patient. You can still dress well. You don't have to be frumpy. You can still dress well, and you're really encouraged to dress well and adorning yourself.

Look at the woman in Proverbs 31, she was dressed well. Seems like she may have had a decent amount of money as well, but she was dressed well. And that was not condemned, that was commended. So last part quickly here, Jason will come up, verse 10, let me get back to 1 Timothy, which is proper for women professing godliness with good works. Professing godliness with good works.

Right back to the focus, the purpose of modesty is showing a heart that's been transformed by the gospel. 1 Peter 3, 5 also agrees with this and says that modesty is a demonstration by women that trust God. You're trusting God with your clothing. It says here that adorning yourselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation is a good work. It is a good work.

Ladies, you're not going to stand up here and preach. You're not going to stand up and pray in church. Those are good works, but this is a good work. This is a good work. It's a good work of proclaiming the gospel.

It's a good work of proclaiming the power of the gospel in self-control and humility and looking out for the interests of others, the transforming of your heart. And let me finish my part with Romans 12, 1 through 2. Now you've heard all that. Keep all that in mind. Modesty in the Gospel as you listen to this.

I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. This is reasonable, very reasonable. It really is. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that Good, there it is again, what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Modesty proves that which is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Modesty does not start with rules. It cannot, it must not. It cannot, it must not. It starts with the gospel and is motivated by the gospel. I'm very thankful for what we just heard.

James and I have been working closely together throughout the course of the week, and so I'm not surprised by anything that he said. I'm delighted by it. And I trust I will not surprise you. I agree with every word that was just said. And so anything you didn't like, you can put that in both of our accounts.

We are shoulder to shoulder on this. In terms, the reason we've structured our time this morning as we have is so that he would say some things, then I would have the opportunity to just add some commentary on it, color commentary, and then he's going to come back up. And the reason for that is so that having heard what I said, he also has the opportunity to just kind of fill out what I said, or if I said something that's easily misunderstood, He'll also have the opportunity to clean up my mess. So I want to begin with a couple of comments on the modesty portion of this. In terms of The effect on men, there's really two things to consider.

What is covered and how it's covered. What's covered? Is enough covered? And under that a subheading would be, does it stay covered? Meaning, you can be covered, everything is fine, and then you sit down and what was covered is no longer covered.

You have to be aware of that. How is it covered? This is not just coverage of skin with the new fabrics which are stretchy and form fitting. A tight fitting, form fitting thing is symbolic coverage, Which means that what's underneath comes to the surface because of how the covering is. This is not just a question of is there fabric over-skin, but how is the coverage?

Is it so tight? Is it so form-fitting? Is the fabric such that the actual covering becomes symbolic because it how it fits reveals what is is underneath The example of that recently in our home has to do with me and running a tire. And me just being insensitive to things I should have been more sensitive to. And Janet actually spoke to me and said, I don't think this covers enough.

And even the way that it covers isn't good and helpful. You know what? The cycle time for me to evaluate that and understand is this right or not right was really short sometimes it takes me a while to come around to this but it was pretty much instantaneous where I thought you know what that's exactly right so you know what I did thank you Sam's Club I went and I got rid of the old stuff and for a reasonable amount of money. I got all new Garments, okay So so this isn't just this isn't just about ladies and them having needing to replace certain things in their wardrobe. The most recent example on our house had to do with me and just becoming insensitive to it.

The point is, this is not going to be a one week consideration. This is an ongoing area where we need to keep up our sensitivity in these two categories, modesty and gender distinctiveness, over time. And it's going to, we'll continue. In a year and a half or two years, we're going to be drifting again at the dome house. You can believe it.

This is how it works. We just need to come back and make sure that we're refreshing our sensitivity to these things. And I remember maybe 15 years ago, this was two houses ago, so it was a long time ago, a criminal who shall not be named here gave Megan a Barbie. And so we had this big decision to make about like what do we do with Barbie. As I recall, Barbie stuck around for a little while, but she disappeared at some point.

I don't know what happened. And so This became an opportunity for Megan and I to go out on the front porch and for me to just talk candidly about Barbie and godly men, the kind of man who I would want her to marry and that she should want to marry, and how a godly man views a woman who is proportioned like Barbie and dresses like Barbie. This brings it home. This brings it home. Dads, how will your wife potentially, but at least your daughters, understand how a godly man is affected and views these things unless you help them with that.

How will they know? Their brains don't function like our brains do. There is a key difference. It is different. I'm so glad for the words that James was using.

Men, godly men, go to war every day with their eyes and with their thoughts. Ladies, did you know that? Fathers, we have to help our daughters to understand what happens. How to see these things because they're not thinking like us. God made them different.

Praise God. He made them different. But it's our responsibility to help them understand. Here's a couple of rules of thumb. Would I be concerned if someone wore this in front of my teenage son or daughter?

That's a really good question. Teenage sons or daughters, their bodies are changing, their chemical makeup is different, meaning they have hormones that are driving different feelings and sensations and affections than ever. What I'm considering wearing, would this be problematic if somebody else wore this in front of my teenage son or daughter, would I be thinking, oh, I gotta keep an eye on this. That's a good question. It helps us think about it.

Or a close cousin to that. Like, if someone wore this in front of my spouse, would I appreciate it? Would that be okay? Or would I maybe not appreciate it? These are things that would help us think through the things that we're considering wearing.

My topic is declaring gender distinction in clothing. I picked the words there very carefully. We are declaring things when we get dressed. And so I'm going to make a case that God wants us to maintain gender distinction, but it's more than just maintaining it. It really is a declaration of something that when we get dressed, and I'm arguing that we make a declaration that we really are different, that God has made us male and female.

There's a recognition of that in how we dress. The structure of my time is going to be to look at two texts, and then to make a case to you and exhort you to something. Actually, two somethings. So, two texts of Scripture and then an exhortation on two points. The first is Genesis chapter 1, so please turn there.

Genesis chapter 1. Genesis is the book of beginnings. It's so important because we learn about what God has in mind from His design of things. We get a front row seat to his design of things in the early chapters of Genesis. In Genesis 1 verses 26 and 27 we have the creation of God of mankind.

Hopefully you're with me. Genesis 1 verses 26 and 27. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, He created them. The creation of mankind was and is in the image of God. God actually wanted the earth to have an expression of what He is like. We can't perfectly be the image of that because God is transcendent.

But God wanted the earth to have His image and so He created us. But within that image bearing creation, there is not uniformity, but there is a certain level of diversity that God, in order to display his image as he intended to display it, he wanted a level of diversity that he built into the creation of mankind. He made them male and female. That's not for biological reasons. God could have reproduction.

God can do anything. So this is not about chemistry and biology. This is about God and how He wanted His image expressed in the world. He made them male and female. This is also true of the animal kingdom, but it's never said.

In the lead-up to the end of this chapter and the verses that I just read, God blesses the animals and He makes them multiply. We know that the multiplying comes through male and female, but He never says explicitly that He made them male and female. He only does that with the creation of mankind. It's explicitly said of mankind, He made them male and female. He only does that with the creation of mankind.

It's explicitly said of mankind, he made them male and female. So this is not a human convention for practical reasons or for any other reasons this this comes out of the mind of God gender Distinction is not a human convention not not not not not It's God's idea it's God's design We are made distinct by God and never intended to be interchangeable. I'll say that again. We were made distinct by God and never for a nanosecond intended to be interchangeable. Look over at chapter 2 verse 18.

And the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him." So it's so clear. Distinction, not just interchangeable parts. He made man and woman in chapter 2. We get more detail.

We sort of get the color commentary on chapter 1 and chapter 2. He sees that man is alone and so he makes a helper comparable to him. Now look at chapter 3 verse 16, This is the second half of verse 16 in chapter 3. This is the curse. Sin has come into the world.

And this is what God says to the woman. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Don't think good about this desire that she has for her husband. We see exactly the same words again in chapter 4. Now look over to chapter 4 verse 7.

Cain is hating his brother Abel because Abel's sacrifice has been accepted by God, but Cain's has been rejected. And instead of repenting, which is what Cain should have done, he just hates his brother, that God accepted his sacrifice. And here's what God says to Cain in chapter 4 verse 7, If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. It's exactly the same words that are used in the curse and what God says to the woman.

Cain, sin's desire is for you. That's not a happy thought. Sin wants to gobble you up. Sin wants to dominate you. Sin's relationship to Cain is as the wife's relationship to her husband in what God is pronouncing in the curse in 3 verse 16.

Sin wants to dominate Cain. Came. And it's being said here that while harmony was the creation of the man-wife relationship, that disharmony comes from the curse of being plunged into sin. Sin is going to want to dominate the wife in this, in making her desires for her husband. She wants to dominate her husband.

She wants to switch places with what God has designed. She wants to become an interchangeable part, or even reverse. Really what's being said is she wants to reverse the roles in the distinction that God has made. Now this is compounded and accentuated with a new covenant consideration of marriage. Think about that for a minute.

God in Genesis 1 and 2 says that He's made them male and female. This is in the mind of God, this is the design of God. He wants to express his image in this way. So male and female has to do with expressing the image of God in the way that he wants it expressed. But in the New Covenant, male and female is given additional meaning in Christ in the church okay so it was clear and compelling in Genesis but it is over the top When we get to a new covenant consideration of what all this really means in Christ and how he relates to the church and how the church relates to Christ, try to make that interchangeable.

Try to make Christ and the church interchangeable. As if the church could just be the head, or the church could counsel Christ. Could have authority over Christ. Could be the same as Christ. Here's an implication.

It will not do to have men acting like women or to have men or have women acting like men or vice versa. I don't know which I said first. I'm lost now. Neither is good. Men shouldn't act like women.

Women shouldn't act like men. They were made male and female And then we get the expansion of it under the New Covenant. This is really a representation of Christ and His Church. Male and female is a representation of Christ and His Church. So it will not do to have us acting like interchangeable parts or switching roles.

Why? Because the image of God, the picture that God has intended is either lost or confused or both when you start becoming interchangeable parts, Switching roles. The image of God is lost or confused or both. And the image of the Gospel, the picture of the Gospel that God is intended with male and female, with man and wife, with Christ and the church, is either confused or lost or both. When you start switching roles or becoming interchangeable parts.

That's Genesis 1. Now turn to Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 22. Did I say 22? Deuteronomy 22.

Verse 5. I want to argue even before I read this verse that it's grounded in what we just studied in Genesis 1. It is grounded in God making men and women distinct. He made them male and female. It was his design.

This verse is about that, I'm arguing. Deuteronomy 22 verse 5. A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God." So we'll just start in reverse order to say what whatever's in view here is an abomination to God. Really strong language. Now a comment on the context.

There is none. Well, there's nothing that sort of leads into it that explains why verse 5 is here. There's nothing coming out of it. Coming into it you have your brother's donkey or his ox, and coming out of it you have birds' nests. So there probably are some connections here, but they're certainly not on the surface.

This verse really is a truth that does not need what comes before it or comes after it. I am looking at it in isolation, but it is very isolated where it is in Deuteronomy chapter 22. This is about what we wear. A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man. Nor shall a man put on a woman's garment.

This is about our clothing. This is about what we wear, what we put on. Not only did God create a clear distinction, but He wants a clear, visible distinction. He made them male and female. Nobody here needs to be told that we are different.

Men and women are different, but God actually wants this to be visible. You make that conclusion from a single Old Testament verse? Well, to me this is a really clear verse. If it doesn't mean that God wants a clear visible distinction between men and women, I have no idea what it means. So it is a really clear verse.

But in addition, consider what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 14 and 15. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul is talking about men and women and how they should be different and the different roles that they have. Listen to what he says in 1 Corinthians 11 verses 14 and 15. Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? But if a woman has long hair it is a glory to her for her hair is given to her for a covering.

So in Deuteronomy God through Moses says there should be a clear visible distinction in what men and women wear. A woman should not wear what pertains to a man. A man should put on things that women wear. And Paul seems to extend that in 1 Corinthians 11. This is even about the appearance of hair.

We're not given, this isn't fleshed out. We might like to have another half page. Explain exactly what you mean here. On hair, how long is long enough? At a very, very, very minimum, I think you would have to say based on what Paul says if a husband's hair is longer than his wife's hair There's a problem.

You're out of whack on that Now let's apply this What does this mean what what is what? God says through Moses in Deuteronomy 22.5 and what God says through Paul in 1 Corinthians 11. What does it mean when we try to apply it to life? It means that none of us are at liberty to just wear anything we want. None of us.

None of the men are at liberty to just wear anything that they want. None of the women are at liberty to just wear anything that they want. God has reserved the right to set boundaries around what we wear. Can you imagine the gall? God reserves the right to be God And to govern.

Remember what we saw in Psalm 14 last week. The fool says in his heart there is no God? Well, sort of. The fool says in his heart there is no Elohim. There is no ruler and judge.

That's the God we have a problem with. Well, this is the God that we are dealing with. The God of the Bible. The God who reserves the right to rule and judge. Elohim.

I'd like to suggest a rule of thumb. Another rule of thumb. If I'm a man and I'm wearing clothing that would not be questionable if a woman wore the same thing, I have to change. I have to change my clothes and I have to change how I'm thinking about things. In other words, if we take what I'm wearing, and it comes off me, and it goes on to Janet, and nobody blinks an eye and says, what is going on here?

That's a problem. I have to change in the way that I'm thinking about this. Here's an example. There are jeans now, they didn't exist when I was a teenager, but they exist now, that when a man wears them, you instantly go look at that effeminate man. Right?

Do these genes not exist? That when you look at a man who's wearing this cut of gene, this style of gene, often this color of gene, you say, is he trying to tell the world that he's homosexual? Because of the effeminacy of it. That is a problem. That fails the test.

You can take those jeans off his body and put it on the body of a woman and she looks feminine. She can wear them and preserve Her femininity. That's a problem. Men shouldn't be wearing clothes like that. In like manner, there are outfits that women wear that if those outfits came off of the body of the woman and they were put on the body of a man, the man could preserve his masculinity in wearing those clothes.

That's a problem. That's wrong. That woman has to change the way she's thinking about her clothes and she has to redo her wardrobe. At least that corner of her wardrobe. I would like to propose that in our circles, in our circles, which are strange circles indeed compared to what's out there, But in our circles, this is a greater issue for women.

I hear a lot, I live with a lot of women. Jake and I are vastly outnumbered. So we get the feminine perspective on this. I hear a lot that masculine clothes are more comfortable and warmer in winter. It's hard to buy clothes that meet both of these standards.

In other words, James talked about modesty, and now I'm talking about gender distinction. If you say these are the two things, and men go out to buy clothes, okay, they need to cover, and they need to cover in the right way, and they need to be masculine for me, that I have no trouble. I can go out and I can economically and quickly clothe myself. I hear it's not true of women. That if you task a woman with finding clothes that are both modest, they cover enough and they cover it in the right way, and that are gender distinct, they're very feminine, that it's going to cost you more money and a whole lot more time.

So, we're not talking apples to apples when we come at this from a man's perspective and a woman's perspective here. It is a greater challenge by a long shot for the women. Let's talk about pants. Women and pants. I have fellow pastors, some of my favorite ones, that I love and respect, I've learned a lot from, that do not believe that there is even a category of feminine pants.

They don't even accept that as a category. I don't agree. I'm talking for me. I'm not talking, I'm not giving a position for the church. I'm just saying, I do believe that there is a category of women's pants.

But I think you've got to be very careful. We have to acknowledge that there is a cultural element. My pastor friends who hold that position, there's no such thing as feminine pants. One of the things that is driving them, and they look back in history and they see that sixty years ago, seventy years ago, the adoption of pants by women was actually rebellion against gender distinction, and they're right. They are right.

By and large, 60 or 70 years ago, when pants were adopted by women, it was actually a statement. Something was being declared when that happened. And it was rebellion against gender distinction, which is God's idea. Which is God's idea. We are many decades later now, and I'm not prepared to say at all that women who are wearing pants now are making that declaration.

I'm not prepared to say that. I don't believe that's true. So I hold a different view. But holding that different view, I just have to say, women, be so careful. It is easy to lose the gender distinction.

But I think we have to acknowledge that there is a cultural element here. I want to be careful in how I say this because I'm not talking about Relative ethics, meaning the spirit of the age changes and we just roll with the spirit of the age. I don't want to make it sound like that. I'm just saying that some of the things that would have been considered very masculine dress during the time when these words were written we wouldn't view the same way now. So there is a cultural element to this.

And we know this is true. You let any of our men run around in a pair of capris. Why are we laughing? Because there's a cultural element and everybody knows what capris are and represent. And it ain't masculinity.

Let me suggest adding this phrase to your household vocabulary. Are you ready? Two words. Add this to your household vocabulary. For the ladies, trend feminine.

Trend feminine. Ladies, as you consider this, please don't do a knee-jerk reaction on anything that was said today. Please chew on everything that was said today. Go study your Bibles. Think about it.

Chew on it. Don't react. In either direction. Don't react quickly. Just do on this a bit.

If you go away and you find out, you become convicted, I'm not sure I have the right spot. I'm standing on the right spot relative to gender distinction. Purpose to dress more feminine more often. Purpose to dress more feminine. If you have things in your clothes that are masculine, and it wouldn't be a problem if you put them on a man's body, go get rid of that.

But if you've got things that are not as gender distinct as you think that they should be, then purpose to trend feminine, to dress more feminine more often. Why? Because the world is blurring these lines like never before. We must be distinct. We must be distinct.

In my mind, this would have been so much less important 20 years ago than it is now. It's more important because of the pressure the world is putting on us to eliminate the distinction. So we actually need to counter that by accentuating the distinction. I think it's important. Speak more about that in a minute.

This is the case I want to make to you. So we've been to the two places, we've been to Genesis 1, we've been to Deuteronomy 22. Here are the two things I want to exhort you with. James and I, he's already mentioned this, but I want to repeat it. We're thankful that we're among such serious minded Christians.

In other words, the people who don't take their Bibles seriously tend to not stick around. So we're always preaching to people who take their Bibles very seriously. And when we preach and when we make good, strong connections to Scripture, that's really all it takes for you. If we preach on a topic, even sort of a hot topic, and we make good strong connections to scripture, we handle it rightly, we see movement. That's our experience of preachers in this church.

We preach and if we handle the text right, we see movement. And I expect that's what's going to happen here. My guess is we're going to see some adjustments in both categories. And I'm grateful for that, but I'm hoping for more than that. We're not just trying to move the culture.

We are trying to move the culture of the church some. But we're not just trying to do that. We're hoping to see All of us embrace the wisdom of God in these things, so that the movement is worship. Not just conformity to the new culture. Do you understand the distinction of what I'm saying?

We'll be grateful for the movement if it's a movement in the direction of faithfulness to Scripture. Who wouldn't be grateful for that? But what we want is really this to be something where we say, okay, we see more clearly than we ever have the wisdom of God in modesty, the wisdom of God in dressing in a way that brings to the surface gender distinction, and God, you are wise, so count us in. Not like we don't want our elders furrowing their brows at us, so count us in. But God, you are wise, count me in.

Listen again to where James left off, Romans 12, 1 and 2. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Brothers and sisters, can't you feel the world conforming us? Meaning the pressures are there all day, every day, where the world is wanting us to squeeze into a mold which is not as modest as the Bible would have us be.

And the world is squeezing us into a mold that is not as gender distinct as the Bible calls for. What does Paul say to that? Paul says, consider the mercies of God. Consider that you're owned by God. And He bought you with the blood of His own Son.

Living as a sacrifice to God, a sweet smelling aroma before Him is a reasonable service in light of the cross. It's nothing. We want our hearts to be such that, like if I become convinced that the Bible says that I should wear a tuxedo when I jog, that I'm like, I'm in! I'm in! I want to use that as sort of a ridiculous example to say, let it be that whatever would please the Lord is what we want to do.

No matter how ridiculous it seems out there, that if we're convinced that scripture would have it be true, we want it. Let dress be a category of worship for you. Secondly, number two, I want us to see the importance of the place of this in our world, meaning we're in a rapidly changing world in the category of gender distinction. Of gender distinction. You should view it as your mission to push back against those ungodly changes which are blurring and erasing and obliterating the lines between men and women, God making male and female.

The world is pushing us to interchangeable parts. If the people of God don't stand up to say, no, no, who will do it? Who will do it if not us? If the people of God will not stand up to say God is wise and is designed and good, and we won't embrace the beauty of God's wisdom, who will do it? No one will if we don't.

To the extent that we get this right, we will be rendering an important service to our fellow man. Our neighbors, our unbelieving neighbors, are going to get gobbled up by the erasing and the blurring of gender distinctions. And women are going to get the worst of it, let me tell you. You don't have to be a prophet to know that women are going to be ill-treated when men and women become interchangeable parts. I have a friend in Delaware who says this, if you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly.

What does he mean? He means whatever you decide to be, go for the biggest, baddest version of it. If you're going to be a bear, don't be a panda bear, be a grizzly bear. The big one, the bad one. Women, if God made you a woman, be the wonderful, feminine, distinct version of it that God has meant you to be.

Embrace it. If you're going to be a woman, be God's woman to display his image in ways that only you can. Don't let those elements of the image of God be lost in our world. Be a grizzly. If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly.

A final comment. We should think of this in two different ways. We should think about our position, we should think about our trajectory. Our position is, how is my life accurately described today? When we think about modesty and gender distinction, where am I now?

If I just pull all the clothes out of my wardrobe, what position am I in today? So, then hold up the word of God. Am I modest enough? Am I gender distinct enough? But then there's trajectory.

Where am I headed? It's possible that your answer to position is, I am modest enough and I'm gender distinct enough, but to have your trajectory be such that if I continue in the direction that I'm going now, it won't be long until I'm neither. Where am I headed? Everybody's got a trajectory. Hardly anybody stands still.

We have different influences in our lives that are pointing us in a direction. So evaluate. Where am I today and where am I going? And let scripture be your rule. A couple Comments.

Nothing Jason said that surprised me. New as outline going into today. Agree. It's good that Jason and I agree on this. And hopefully one of the reasons why we did it this way is just to lay the weight that's on both of our hearts that started with ourselves, and also for you just to see the unification of your elders on this, it's an important topic.

It doesn't mean that our families won't address it slightly differently here or there, but we are unified on the trajectory we want to be on. A couple things on distinction. Just to help your mind just how important this is in distinction. If you have a desire or if you are addressing as the other gender, what you are really doing is you are stealing the distinction that God created them for. And you are rebelling against God is what you're doing.

If you desire that or do that, you're stealing from God. You're saying, God, you were not wise. You were not right. In the words Jason used, I love that. And this one other thing on the battle that's happening for gender distinction.

Yes, it's in our clothing, but it's also in our words. We know there are people trying to take the pronouns of the male pronouns out of Scripture for God. And so it should be no surprise that that then affects our society. The Christians, brethren, keep using boy-girl, he-she, father-mother, husband-wife. Be the light to the world that those pronouns matter and they are real and they can't be switched.

They cannot be switched. Use it. Be the light to the world that This is what it means and not just to throw it in their face because it's grounded in the Word of God. So thankful for the Scriptures. Just a couple closing thoughts.

Think of these as my opportunity for extended teaching. At Sovereign Redeemer Community Church, we desire a place, listen carefully, we desire a place where someone, a visitor, using that word intentionally, a visitor could come in the doors, be dressed immodestly, right to a point, but be dressed immodestly, be dressed with the distinction of the opposite gender and welcomed. Not self-righteously judged as if we were never in that spot. We desire that. We need to have that so when we're out the abortion clinic or on the corner or in our workplace or in the grocery store, wherever it is, we can converse with people.

Why? Because their problem is way deeper than their apparel. That's the problem. It's a way deeper issue. Modest clothing and gender distinction is not their problem.

It's their heart. It's their heart that either needs saved by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, or maybe they're a young Christian, an immature Christian, less sensuous, that just needs cared for. Gently, carefully cared for. Oh brethren, such were some of you. Don't think more highly of yourself than you ought, especially of where you came from.

Remember Psalm 14 from last week, please. Now, just some application, final application. This better stir up conversations in our homes. And here, but it's better stir up conversations in our homes. None of us have this down, none of us ever will.

We will need to be vigilant. Jason talked about that. Here are some applications how to apply. Husbands and fathers, Be gentle, be sweet, be sensitive, be kind, be gracious, be humble with your conversations with your wife and daughters, especially if you haven't had this conversation a long time or ever. Be that way.

Repent and be responsible for what is worn in your house. Discuss this with your wife first, please, before addressing your whole family. And work hard at agreement of establishing the standard that's going to be in your home and the process that's going to be used for evaluating the current wardrobe in your home and the process that's going to be used for evaluating what is allowed to come into your home and kept in your home. Mothers, wives, be gentle, be sweet, be sensitive, be kind, gracious, and humble in your conversations with your husband, especially if you've never talked to them about this in a long time or ever. But do this.

Wives, mothers, examine what's in your closet first before you go address your daughter's closet. Please, Be that example. There might be some things you need to address quickly with your daughter or your husband or your sons. But please, first address yours. Be that example.

What are your daughters learning from you? Are they learning the good work of modesty? Daughters, please be patient with your parents' adjustments. Be very patient with us. Pray.

Pray for yourself that you can be Joyfully submissive in this area and honoring. Please. Sons, you're not getting off the hook here. Sons, single men. Looking at a couple of them, I was looking for another one, but anyway, there they are.

Sons, single men. You have a closet too. And you need to, if you're in your parents' home, so you need to joyfully submit. Pray that you can joyfully submit and honor your parents. If you're not in the home with your parents anymore, you're out, you've established your own household, hey, you get some help.

Get some help. Get some help if your parents are nearby, from other men you trust. Ask me or Jason to get observations of you. Let us help you. There are standards for you too.

What does your closet say about your heart's desire to glorify God? And lastly, Don't you dare, men, all men, don't you dare ever blame a woman for your sin. It's your sin. You have to own it. Pray, pray for your sisters, in Christ especially.

In church, lastly, be patient with one another. Please, Think the best of one another. Please. Including our words that Jason and I have, we can easily misspeak. We can easily say things that don't come across with the intention of caring for you and loving you.

So please come to us and let us know where we misspeak or you need help for clarification. Be patient with your brethren. They may come to you and be asking you about why you do something, or if you thought, be patient, think the best of them, that they're not trying to hurt you or make you change in the way they think you should go, but just want to have a conversation because they're caring for you. A father, one man may go to another man and say, I want to talk to you about your wife or your daughter and understand how you got here. Be patient with them.

Understand they're trying to sort this out as well. And go to your brethren. It's love that happens. And please pray for one another. Pray for one another.

So let's pray. God, thank you for your word. Thank you that we stand on your word. Father, I know we don't stand perfectly. We know that.

So help us. Be gracious to us. Be merciful to us. Especially God, have us as one another be gracious to one another. Be caring and long-suffering and patient as you are.

Thank you Jesus. Amen.