Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Title of this message is The Modesty Breeds Disrespect. You'll see it's going to come right from the Word of God here. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, but now are they many members as we look at chapter 12, verse 20 of 1 Corinthians? Yet but one body. So you have many body parts, but it's all one organization. It's all one organism. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee. Nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor. And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need. But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked. Immodesty breeds disrespect. Dear Father, we do pray you'll be with the preaching of thy word. Thank you, God, for our Holy Bible, this revelation that you've given us, God, to meet our every need. We thank you for your goodness toward us, your patience. Help us grow in the name of Jesus. Amen. We've been studying the importance of using this analogy of the body to learn some things about how we should relate in the local church. And last time we looked at Paul's first point. The one he emphasizes first, and that is you yourself, you are not allowed, you are not permitted to say that you have no purpose in the body. You must not disparage yourself with a false humility to cover laziness. You must see yourselves as part of the body. You must see yourself as necessary to the body. And it's very important for you to understand it does matter whether you are here or not. It does matter whether you participate. And we will be missing something if you do not give your full participation. There's so much more we could say about that. But the point is that people tend to say If I'm not the pastor, I don't have to go sole in it. If I'm not the pastor, it doesn't matter whether I show up or not. If I'm not, and you understand, and we stressed that last week, and I want to go with the Apostle Paul now as he switches gears. Not only should we not pretend to despise ourselves, but we must not despise others. He says in verse 20, but now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand. See, it's wrong for the hand to say, because I'm not the eye, I have nothing that I need to worry about or do. But this situation here is the eye saying, I have no need of the hand. Nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. What would a head be like if there were no feet to carry it around? An eye, a nose, a head, a mouth, they would not be worth very much without feet, without a body. Or put it this way, there'd be great hindrance. Would there not? There'd be great hindrance. So the context now refers to a member priding himself because of their great gifts. The eye despises the hand or the head despises the feet. So just as it would be wrong for you to say, because I'm not the Bible teacher, there's no purpose for me, and it would be wrong for the Bible teacher to say, I have no need of you, Or whatever the despising is based upon. You know, a person might not say these words, but they might feel these words. You might not go to someone and say, I have no need of thee, but maybe you act, maybe you feel as if you have no need of them. And it does matter to God whether you despise somebody in the body. Especially when it's based upon your own gifts at the Lord. Because what have we that we did not receive? God has given you everything that you are, and we ought to be sober in our estimation of what we've been given. You might treat certain members of the church with contempt. You might be rude to them. Disrespectful. I know oftentimes, You'll see certain people, and you'll say, I can't believe how nice they are. They're very nice people. But then I'll walk up and see how they speak to someone else, and it's just shocking to me. I'm like, I've never heard that person speak like that. I can't believe how rude, how despising they are to someone. It's very important that you treat every member of this church with respect. That we treat children, that we treat adults, that we treat elderly people, that everyone is treated with the proper respect. And a lot of times, because we have certain gifts, we pride ourselves. And I intend to preach a further message upon this subject of pride of gifts. But there's a sub-point right here in these verses that I want to cover today before we press home the main teaching of the chapter. He says in verse 22, much more those members of the body, your ear, your eye, your hand, your foot, But he's talking about particular members now, which seem to be more feeble or necessary. I'm not sure what these feeble members are, but the point is, he's saying there's certain parts of your body that you might tend to despise, but you actually need. Of course, we're in the day where they just cut out everything and, you know, they have all kinds of things that they say you don't need. But I'm going to tell you, what I think we're dealing with is the external body here. And maybe, since the whole context has been talking about the eye and the head being glorious, and then there's these fable members of... I imagine that it's something like this. And there's an old fable where this was actually taught. where the mouth and the eye and the nose and even the hands all got together. And they rebelled against the belly. They said, we're always protecting the belly and the bowels. And all it does is sit around and consume. So, the old fable goes that they all rebelled and said, we're done. No more shall we feed the belly. Well, you know what the end of the story is. Pretty soon the eyes grew dim, the hands grew weak, the feet grew weak, everything began to basically die. And that's when they all came to this realization, wait a second, through feeding that belly we were getting fed. And perhaps Paul is making a point similar to that. That there's people that you might tend to despise in your body. But God has a reason for them. Now we're not talking about despising them for some moral problems that they have. We're talking about simply you being proud of what you are and looking down on somebody else that might not have the gifts that you think you have. You get the point? Or maybe it's something like this. There are people in the church of Corinth that had great faith. They had great charity. They had great patience. They had great hope. But because they weren't open with some of these magnificent gifts, supernatural, miraculous ones, they were despised. Oh, you can't tell the future? You can't speak in languages. You can't do these great things. Well, you must not be worth anything. And they would begin to despise them. And so he closes this whole chapter by saying, do all speak with tongues? Meaning, God has given all kinds of gifts to that body in that day. And it's very important for us to not despise anyone, even in our day. Perhaps an elderly person. fasting and praying like Anna in the temple might be someone that is easily despised. But you might find out when all is said and done that that elderly person and her prayers and fastings were one of the most important things that kept that church together and empowered it. Many great evangelists who have been out front have testified that there was someone in the woods or someone at home in a sickbed praying for them and empowering them with the fullness of the Holy Ghost. And they might not be out front, but they might be holding the hands of a Moses. They might be really supplying some of the valuable power that keeps that church together and keeps it energized. Do you understand what I'm saying, Church of God? You might have a widow. You might have a dedicated single person. Maybe some other member, but they're used of God in mighty ways. And you might not think that you need them, but you might find out that in God's eyes, they are very important to the workings of that church. Amen. So don't despise yourself in laziness and do not despise others in pride. That's the message that we have before us today. You know, he goes on in the book of James and talks about how you're despising the poor. And the rich people were given honor. Celebrities come to church all across America. They'd be given great honor. But the poor who come in are not given much honor. Not much has changed since the days of James. And James argues with them and says, did not God choose the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He's promised to those that love Him? I don't know if it's right to nail down this application to any one group. I believe the lesson is God has a body that's diverse and make sure that you do not despise anyone because of what you've been given. But look in verse 23. Those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, talking about your human body, Upon these we bestow more abundant honor. And our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need. But God, a tempered body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lack." It appears from these verses, after studying them for a while, and most commentators are agreed, That this honor refers to clothes and such like. Now follow me, or follow what the Bible is saying here. There are parts of the body that you wisely cover because it would be a shame to not have them covered. And it would be more than just a shame. It would be quite uncomely to not have them covered. Adam and Eve, after the fall, knew this. And they attempted to cover their shame. And what they found out was their eyes, after the fall, did not see to the extent they should have seen. And God said there are still parts that need to be covered, for you are not fully clothed in your apron. So He made them coats to cover them Which is of course a picture of Jesus Christ and His blood, but there's also some practical truth here in regard to our daily lives, that many times you need to be covered in areas that you're not covered, and God sees it, the angels see it, and other people that have their eyes open see it, but you might not see it. And you might be walking around ashamed. You might be walking around and people are saying, that's very uncomely. That's very shameful. And you might not even realize that you're uncovered in areas where you ought to be covered. Now, what he says is that there are comely parts that have no need. The face and such like. They're not covered. One face might be fairer than the other face, as we see throughout the Bible, but when you look at the body as a whole, the face is something that was left uncovered. Of course, unless you're trying to hide from the wind or the sand or something like that. But for simple adornment and comeliness, The face and such like are not covered. But our uncomely parts, our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. What he means is those parts of the Bible that it would not be fit. It would not be proper to leave uncovered. You wisely give more abundant comeliness to them by adding garments." As the Bible says, adorn yourselves in what type of clothing? Modest clothing. If He says that the uncomely parts have abundant comeliness, but our comely parts have no need, that means you do not need to paint your face for beauty. It has no need. It's comely enough already compared with other parts of the body. As John Gill says, the face, the eyes, the nose, the lips, the cheeks, which stand in no need of an external covering of any outward adornment. So such are blessed with the bounties of nature and providence. Burkitt says, we put more abundant honor upon the less honorable members by a decent covering and modest adorning of them. But upon our comely parts, such as the face, we put no covering being comely enough of itself. Now, not only is this left to man, remember Paul, When talking to the Corinthians in chapter 11, it says, judge in yourself. God's put it within your heart, your sense of what is proper. Is it proper for a woman to pray unto God uncovered? Talking about having short hair. But is it just what man thinks? God says, yes, you can tell by nature. I've put it in your sense of what is right and proper. And for the most part, until man begins to sear his conscience and pervert his nature, there is a systematic sense of what is proper. There is a conformity, if you will, worldwide. Until a nation begins to fall and become uncivilized and savage. But what I want you to understand is it's not just man saying that ought to be covered. It's not just a sense inside of me when I walk into a store and somebody comes out and there's some fellow with his britches hanging down, showing his underwear and showing things that are uncomely. It's not just some sense inside of me that says, cover yourself up. There's not just something in me, but what I'm telling you that it's God Himself has ordained certain things to be covered. Do you get it? It's not just that you ought to cover them because they're uncomely, God says cover them up. And so it says God had tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that which lacked. How did He give this honor? What is this more abundant honor? Well, in a woman He gave her the long hair and He ordained that she walk in it, but to The rest of the body, there are certain parts that God, from the beginning of the Garden of Eden, after the Fall, has ordained that those parts of the body be covered. But just as everything man touches, which is led by Satan and not God, it all gets turned upside down. And so parts that are acceptable to not be covered get all covered up. And parts that should be covered up with an extra adornment, more abundant comeliness, are left uncovered. And remember, Isaiah says that man, led by Satan, turns things upside down. Now here's the ultimate conclusion. Immodesty refers to not giving abundant honor and comeliness to the parts that lack comeliness. Immodesty refers to not covering that which God ordained to be covered. And which nature, if you're walking in an upright understanding, would show need to be covered. But what Paul says is that clothes are called abundant honor. Now follow this. If certain parts of your body need more abundant honor, then it means if you do not have those clothes, that more abundant honor, you're left with a dishonorable state. Which means that if you leave certain things uncovered that need to be covered, you are dishonoring your body. You are in dishonor. And another word for dishonor is shame. So God has ordained that certain parts of your body, it's no shame to leave uncovered. It's honorable as it is. But certain parts of your body are shameful if they're uncovered. And you are walking in shame. You are walking in dishonor. You are manifesting shame and dishonor. And it's natural in man, when he sees dishonor, to say, that's dishonor. Which means it's a natural response to disrespect that which is dishonorable. And I don't think there's a single man, and if there is, something's wrong with him and he's probably high on marijuana, but I don't think there's a single man that sees somebody coming out of a parking lot with their britches hanging down and says, I'd like to have that man for my son. in law, I'd like to have that man to marry my daughter. Notice Romans 1 says, Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lust of their own hearts. And what do they do to their own bodies? dishonor their own bodies between themselves. And I say that dishonoring your body, it's a stepping stone. The first stage of dishonoring your body is uncovering parts that should be what? Covered. So when you uncover parts that ought to be covered, you are manifesting shame. And that causes the whole body to be dishonored. And of course they go further and dishonor their bodies by living like unclean animals. And worse. There are some differences between male and female in what needs to be covered to preserve honor. A man's head does not need the extra hair and he's not considered naked. That's considered honorable. But a woman to have hair that way is considered dishonorable and she's supposed to have the extra hair to have the extra glory and the extra honor. And it's the same with other areas of modesty. Some things are plainly the same. They ought to be covered. But I want you to understand, that which is not properly covered and should be covered is dishonored. This is why so many have argued, and rightly so, that when people are immodest, they disrespect their bodies. And it's true. Now, the world gets confused in all of this. The world would light since it followed psychology and not the Bible. And even many Christian psychologists, quote, have admitted that we got all this self-esteem, self-image, we got it all from the psychologists such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow and such like. The world following a psychology generation is philosophically confused. So here's what the world would like to say. The world would like to say, if you go out and do drugs, and woman, if you dress like a harlot, the world would like to say, you obviously have low self-esteem. And to whatever degree you go down that road of the dark side, and the red light trash, and all of that, or even pretend and dress like it, they say you must have low self-esteem. That you would dishonor yourself in that way. And what they find out when they put them on TV and begin to interview them, these people that disrobe themselves and strip and do all these ungodly things, is they all sit up there and say, I love myself. And the world's confused. And they say, well, what about your self-esteem? They say, oh, I have gloriously high self-esteem. And they think, OK, are they lying? I mean, what's happening here? It goes against everything that they've ever believed. And I can straighten it all out for them by simply opening up the Bible. And the way you straighten it out is simply this way. People that do unseemly things, don't have low self-esteem, they have high self-esteem. But the truth of the matter is, they're very selfish people. Instead of following God's law and caring what God cares about, instead of honoring their parents and others, they honor themselves. They esteem their own feelings and desires above others. They do not care what God thinks. They don't care whether they tempt others to sin. They don't care if young people follow their destructive paths. They're very selfish people. And this all comes out when you interview them. It's all about me, me, me, me, me. Now, what I would say, according to the book of Proverbs and the rest of the Bible, is this. People that are very selfish, that love themselves, that esteem themselves more than they do God or anybody else around them, actually end up in self-hatred in the manifestation. And not only do they dishonor their own bodies, and this is the paradox of it, they cause others to dishonor them. So I would say, I don't care if a girl says, I love myself and I have great high self-esteem. I don't care what you say. If you walk around with parts of your body that ought to be covered and they're not, everyone around you, no matter how much you esteem yourself, are disrespecting you. And not only that, Your self-love is like the old Greek picture of narcissism, where the snake's eating its tail and swallowing itself. By concentrating all your attention on yourself, you're actually degrading yourself and going down this destructive path of self-destruction. So I would tell them, instead of saying, you know what young lady, the fact that you would dress like this, the fact that you, what you really need is to learn to love yourself. No, that's not what you tell them. What you tell them is God gave you a body and you ought to love God and respect that body that God gave you and take care of it and cover it and keep others from despising you like they're going to do if you get out here and uncover yourself in such ways. So the point is turn people to God, like society always has. Turn people to God. Say, but don't you think you ought to tell them to respect themselves? Depends on what you mean by that. Don't respect your own decisions and thoughts above God's thoughts. Don't respect your feelings above God's feelings. Depends on what you mean by respect yourself. If what you mean is God gave you a body and you ought to honor it because it's sacred, then by all means respect yourself. And I would say immodesty, promiscuity, all of these things are self-hatred and are dishonoring your body and are disrespectful. Now, let's test all of this. Because the Bible says here, and really this is enough, but I'm going to show you that there's other witnesses throughout the Bible. Those members of the body, talking about your human body, which we think to be less honorable, and we can pause right there and say, now remember Paul said, a time's coming when man's going to lose its mind. Which means a lot of things that they all understood in that day, that's just dishonorable to uncover. You're going to get to a place of hardening in society where people no longer see it as dishonorable. But there's enough light still left in man where anybody that walks in immodesty is going to be disrespected. Those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor. Meaning we cover up our private parts. We cover up those spots. of our body, those parts of our body that should not be exposed to public view. And then God endorses this extra honor since he ordained it. God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that parts which lack, meaning he ordained it to be clothed. And if all of that being the case, Then it follows, if you fail to bestow more abundant honor, i.e. clothes, upon the less honorable parts of your body that need to be honored with clothes, you end up dishonoring yourself. Are you exposing that shame to the eyes of others? Now, it doesn't take much to ask a simple question. If you have shameful parts of your body, that are shameful when they are exposed, and you expose them, then you cause others to despise you. Look at 1 Corinthians 11. Judge in yourselves. Is it comely? that a woman pray unto God uncovered. Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it's a what? Shame unto him. But if a woman have long hair, is it a shame? No, it's a glory. It's that more abundant honor that God ordained for her to have on her head. For her hair is given for a what? A covering. But God, sometimes you don't have hair to cover you. He didn't ordain hair to cover. He ordained you to use clothing, garments, like He used the coats in the Garden of Eden. Now look at Nahum, chapter 3. I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will discover, that means uncover, thy skirts upon thy face, and I will show the nations thy what? Nakedness, and the kingdoms thy what? Shame. Well, there it is. Nakedness is what? Shame. Otherwise it wouldn't be naked. My face isn't naked right now in the sense that it's shameful for me to expose it. Isaiah 47, take the millstones, grind mill, uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover thy thigh. On a woman wears her leg. From knee to foot. Here is her thigh from hip to knee. Uncover, make bare the leg, uncover thy thigh. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered and thy what shall be seen? Shame shall be seen. An exposed leg on a woman is what? I don't care what people think today. This is the Word of God. God said if it's exposed, it's a shame. If your thigh is exposed, it's a shame. And most in America still agree with that, whether they enforce it or not. Most fathers still agree with it. Most mamas still agree with it. Most pastors still agree that the thigh is a shame. But I did an experiment for the past 10 or 15 years, when I get them alone in private, I find out they really secretly agree that the leg's a shame too. They just lost all power to enforce it. Or shall I say they've lost all motivation to enforce it. And what I say is if you put the battle where God puts the battle, you'll have a better time keeping modesty, will you not? Again, what do we see over and over again in the Bible? If God ordained certain parts of your body to have more abundant honor, and you don't put those clothes on it, now you've dishonored it, or you've exposed the dishonor to the eyes of people, and God says that dishonor is shame. So it's shameful for you to expose to anyone certain parts of your body that ought to be covered. Do you get it? Alright, now look at Revelation 3. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. And white raiment, that thou mayest be what? Clothed. That the what? Shame of thy nakedness do not appear. Now, every now and then you get some hippie who says, well, we don't believe it's a shame. And I'll say, well, it's not a shame between husband and wife, but it is a shame in public before everyone else and even before your children, hippie. And they say, well, we don't think it's a shame. You know what you say to that? Well, most of mankind does. They say, well, we want to show that it's not shameful. Even San Francisco, they try to be so hip and cool and, you know, up to date, as they call it, and they wanted to allow public nudity. So a whole bunch of ugly men decided to come out and start being nude, and now it's grossing everybody out to such a degree that even San Francisco is saying, okay, no more of this public nudity. What happened? What happened, San Francisco? Even San Francisco and all the filth could not stand it. That's something, isn't it? That's something, isn't it? But you know what? It doesn't matter what people think. It doesn't matter. What did God say was a shame? That's all that matters, isn't it? I don't think this is shameful. I don't care. I didn't ask you. Well, this is ridiculous, Pastor. I don't think that's shameful for a woman to expose her leg. God never asked you. He never asked me. And when He called me to preach, He said, preach the Bible. And, sadly, Much of what's in the Bible goes so against this modern culture today. But I can take some comfort in just going back a few years and finding that this fall away from the truth has been a very recent thing in many ways. Alright, let's keep moving. Our point has been, God has ordained certain parts of your body. to have more honor, meaning clothes. And when you don't put that more honor on them, it's dishonor. But that's not my only point. My other point is that when you do not cover with honor that which is dishonorable, shameful, other people who see your shame or dishonor will despise you, disrespect you. And what I'm saying, no matter how hard they try not to do it, it's natural. That doesn't mean they should be mean to you or wicked to you in some way, but what it means is it's a natural reaction to despise and disrespect that which walks willfully in dishonor. And you do need to distinguish that which is willful sin from that which is people just don't know. And even though you tend to despise and disrespect, we still need to be gentlemen and godly and do what's right in our words and speech and patience and allowing people to grow. You understand all that, I hope. But let me give you an important verse. Lamentations chapter 1. All that honored her despise her. What's the next word say? Because? Why do they despise her? Because they have seen her nakedness. Have you ever seen that played out? Folks, wake up and listen. Young people, young people, wake up and listen to what I'm saying today. Do you know that there are girls that come out and become these celebrities? And everybody likes them. And they begin to get popular. And then all of a sudden they start exposing themselves for attention. And before you know it, it's over. It's over. Their allure, everything that gave them attention, it's gone. Then they just become the Madonnas, where people are just grossed out by the whole thing. Even the feminist ladies and everybody, they're like, this is just disgusting, it's just gross. And, you've seen this played out. I remember in school, some girl would be very, very popular. But she was very modest and wouldn't date anyone. And what I'm telling you here is the principle in the Word of God. When you dress immodestly, people disrespect you. Is that in the Bible? They despise her? There it is, right there. Paul says the dishonorable parts of your body need to have more abundant honor, meaning clothes. And if you don't have clothes on them, you are walking in shame. Let's go back now to see this principle of lamentations taught in earlier days. Let's go to the Waterloo Daily Courier, September 30th, 1895. On Sunday evening, September 8, 1895, the Reverend George E. Scott preached a sermon in which he took strong grounds against the wearing of bloomers, puffy pants, by women. This sermon has been more extensively referred to in the newspapers of the United States than any other sermon ever preached in Iowa. Requests continue to be received for it. Recent requests having come even from the faraway state of Texas. Well, I don't have time to give you this whole sermon, but I thought that since it was such a popular sermon that shocked America, and not just shocked America, but people thought it was so good they wanted to keep requesting it in the newspapers of America, I thought it would be important now, over a hundred years later, to give you just a little bit of that sermon, alright? The sermon, Deuteronomy chapter 22, 5, the preacher got up and said, The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. And he goes on to say, Women who presume in the face of God's law to publish to the world in the open light of day by the dress that they usurp God's rules in man. Their masculinity is an abomination to God and certainly an infinite disgust to men. He says, I have no desire to be sensational. Distinction between the sexes stands as a bar to immorality. Now, listen to what he just said. Distinction between the sexes stands as a bar to immorality. What he's saying is as long as women look like women and men look like men, we're not going to have the problems in our society like we're having today with the gay pride parade marching through downtown Fort Worth. Well, they changed the distinction between the sexes and we are having problems with immorality, are we not? They're having to go back and put their laws back on the books and start enforcing them. Bestiality and pedophilia and all of these wicked things that are happening in our society right now. And I'm telling you, right here at the foundation was this cross-dressing which opens up the door. Now listen to what he says. Cross-dressing tends to destroy female modesty. Till womanly modesty shall be driven out to die. So he says they start out just by wearing pants, and before you know it, they start growing even more immodest in areas. It opens the door, if you will, to start showing shameful parts of their body. Then he quotes the poet's line, first we pity, then we endure, then we what? Then we embrace. He's saying this is going to happen incrementally in society to where pretty soon that which is abhorrent to all the men. In 1895, another newspaper that had some women over in Paris and in England and places that decided to start putting on bloomers and all the boys and men went to class and started studying real hard. They had no interest whatsoever. And it really shocked the world. They put it in all the newspapers. They said, what was happening to the men? They have no interest whatsoever in even courting these girls. Why did all their interest disappear? And they went and interviewed them and they said, I have no interest in some woman dressing like a man. But what happens is incrementally you grow up with this and you begin to tolerate it. You begin to tolerate it. But notice what he says. A woman's crowning glory is her modesty. And it goes without saying. And that which tends to deprive her of it, as this insanity, is evil and ought to be suppressed. Now here's my point. It tends to destroy men's respect for women. This preacher said modesty destroys a man's respect for women. You know, there's a big problem today. There's no respect for women. I'm not sure, but this might be, I know the lesbianism and all of that, it's all deranged and perverted, but this might be one reason of this national epidemic of this abuse of these 28-year-old teachers that are going after the children. Women are starting to write that this culture and how men have become, we're just treated as objects and there is no respect whatsoever left among men. They're all aware of this problem. The world's writing about the problem. But nobody wants to address the fundamental root of the problem. Because it's not politically correct to do so. It's old-fashioned. Should a man rape someone or disrespect them or treat them badly simply because they're not dressed right? Absolutely not. But is there a tendency that is natural in men? Even the early feminists said, make sure you keep your long feminine garments in modesty. We're launching a feminist revolution here. But they even warned, in all their anti-Christ confusion, they warned that if you lose your femininity, these men will begin to prey upon you because there'll be nothing to remind them that you're women. You'll seem like just a, not a separate creation that needs to be honored, but just a lesser version of a man. And a man knows, if they start pulling his beard and start doing all kinds of things, a man bows up, you know, and he wants to challenge the other man and try to exercise his grace and everything he's supposed to do. But, and especially if you have a weaker man come and do it, you know, it's easy for men that are not walking in truth and righteousness to begin to react because they forget they're women. And there's nothing to remind them that they're women. And they haven't grown up with the distinction that this is a woman and she's different than you are and you need to treat her with respect. They haven't grown up with that. But what they're trying to do is still teach men or boys to respect women because they're different, but yet everything in their education, everything in their school, everything they see on TV says they're not different. They're equal in every respect. So a boy says, well then why treat them different? Why not use them? Why not see them as objects? And it's wrong and it's perverted. But I'm telling you that the Bible says all that honored her lost that honor because they have seen her nakedness. And it says right here, the old preacher said it tends to destroy men's respect for women. And he says, I am not different from other men touching this matter. Every man's feelings are under a law. A man would forfeit the respect of women should he appear among them attired in their dress." You ever think about that? Oh, Madonna sings a song that says, why is it that our society accepts women wearing men's clothes? But she says, it's not right. Boys ought to be able to put on girls' clothes and be accepted in society. And that's what's happening in a lot of proms and a lot of schools. Boys are showing up in dresses. And everybody's saying, what are you doing? You can't do this. Principals are coming out and saying, no, this isn't going to be tolerated here. They say, well, why are the women wearing tuxedos? Why are women wearing pants? And the principals have no argument. They have nothing to say. They would probably have him arrested. And rightly so, says the preacher. All right. Summing everything up. The Bible says there's parts of your body that are shameful and dishonorable. And you have to bestow, and God ordained it, more abundant honor which is closed upon those parts of the body. And if you don't put that more abundant honor, you're exposing your shame. And not only is it shameful, but it causes others to despise you. If you don't want to be treated like a fool, don't act like a fool. If you don't want to be treated as a shameful, dishonorable person, don't walk in dishonor. That's the first step, right? And what we've seen is preachers have agreed, and the Bible says it, that to the degree that you expose your nakedness, you cause others to despise you. Covenanteyes.com It says 97.4% of males, these are mainly young people, there was a bunch of young people they interviewed, say that girls can dress attractively without being immodest. Well, all of society is telling you that you have to dress immodest to be attractive. But fathers are complaining that they're going to Walmart and Target and these places, you've got to find somewhere else to shop, folks. And they're going and they're seeing little peace signs and little harlot clothes. And this is the junk, the tramp clothing that the girls are... You know what? Where are they getting this from? It's coming from the marketers. It's coming from the society that's pushing it. As well as the TV shows and the idols that are given to these young girls. But in spite of all of this indoctrination and propaganda, 97.4 teens and young people, males, say that they believe a girl can be attractive and still be modest. A lot of girls don't believe that's true. They say, but I have to dress in modest if I'm going to be attractive. Then why'd God say adorn yourself in modest apparel? Modest apparel, it must still be attractive, right? God says it's still attractive. 97% of boys and men say it's attractive. So why don't we take those little people that think they're fashion designers, and I found the ones that really think they're hip on fashion, when I talk to the men, 97% of the men say, I don't like how she dresses. But yet the women want to follow these women that think they know fashion, when 97% of the boys and men say they don't like it. You ever thought about that? Well, if you haven't, I'm making sure you do. Amen? 95.4% of males say that modesty is an important quality for their future wives to have. Did you hear that? Even in this corrupt, perverted age, and this was public school kids, homeschool kids, it was a big, diverse number of young people. 95.4%. Now, wait a minute. Won't they turn their head if they see immodesty? Won't they use it, objectify it? Some of them will. But they don't want to marry them. You get it? They don't want to marry them. They say, well, I thought you liked so-and-so. Well, I do. Would you like to marry her one day? No, I don't want to marry her. Well, would you like to marry? Oh, that modest girl over there. That's who I want to marry." Well, really what that means is you're using a modest girl, but you like to marry the modest one. Young ladies listening, nod your head. 75.6% of males, even in this corrupt day and age, say that they have less respect for an immodest girl than for a modest one. And I think that the number, 75.6%, is only because they were afraid to answer the question. You go to any young fella, you know, that's a nice young man, and say, would you disrespect an immodest girl? He's afraid to say, I'm not going to disrespect her, no. Because he's been programmed in his whole education to say, no. But even in spite of all that programming, 75% admitted, yes, she's immodest. I disrespect her. I see her as less intelligent. I see her as less right with God. They interviewed one 17-year-old fellow, and this is typical. He says, if a girl flaunts herself, it changes everything about what I think of her. Well, that's right out of the book of Corinthians. To start with, I automatically assume she's not a Christian or is at least not taking her walk with Christ seriously. If you flaunt yourself, you have the attention, but you instantly lose their respect and admiration." That's quite intelligent for a 17-year-old, isn't it? He said, no, you've got to distinguish attention from respect. Are girls being told that today? Are young folks being told that? No. They see the attention and society is putting these women up and they look so bold and brash and they're getting the attention. Just watch how society uses them up and spits them out and begins to mock them and degrade them. It's a sad thing to see, isn't it? But they're communicating, if you dress like this, you'll get the attention. Yeah, you will. But will you get respect? No. No. A random Yahoo question produced similar results. And those are pretty cheap answers, but I was very surprised that all the people that began to write, it was pretty much consistent with this. All the men said, yes, you might give them your attention as objects, but really you disrespect them. Shanti Feldhahn, or whatever her name is, in The Male Factor says, given the common male assumption that women wear figure-showing outfits to purposely tempt or manipulate their male colleagues, it is not surprising that some men view such women with less respect. Shanti doesn't understand where it's coming from, but she's just gone into the workplace and interviewed them and took all these men and said, now Luke, when these women come in here like this, what do you think? The men say, she's obviously trying to get higher up on the ladder. Or she's trying to just tempt people, or whatever, just be an object of attention. Strangely, when she went to all the women, of course, what woman's going to admit? Yes, I'm trying to climb the corporate ladder, you know. Most of the women said, no, I'm not dressing to tempt anybody. I'm just trying to do what's fashionable. So, they went to these women. Are you aware? That the men around you treat you or thinking in their mind that you must be foolish, that you don't have any sense. One reporter writes, men might laugh and joke about such women, but they don't consider them to be on a level with those they might love and respect. You don't want your sister that way. You don't want your daughter that way. You don't want your wife that way. You don't want your mother that way. Even some women are getting angry, and they're feminists, but they're writing books like Female Chauvinist Pigs, Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture. And they're arguing that women, you're participating in this self-objectification willingly, falsely believing that this is female empowerment and liberation, but you don't understand. You're just basically shaming yourself and shaming women. in making us to be further objectified and mistreated and disrespected in society. We might not agree with how she wants to solve the problem, but we can agree with her that that's exactly right. It seems that every year it gets more raunchier, more disgusting, just in public. And I'm telling you, immodesty breeds disrespect. It's a natural law and you can't change it. You can't change it. You can do everything you can to minimize it. You can let little boys play with little so-called doll babies and let them love the color pink. You can do everything you can to try to feminize the males so women will not be objectified But just look over at the countries right now that are supposed to be so forward, and look at the rape, look at the brutalization, the beating, the domestic violence that are coming out of those countries that are supposed to be your models of liberation. It's not working. It's not working. So what's the answer, preacher? Whatever God said to be covered, cover it. And that's the first step. That's the first step toward fixing this whole problem. And even today, preachers have written and told me they might whistle, holler at certain girls walking down the street, but then they see a godly woman and they say, yes ma'am. They treat them with respect. And it's just up to you folks. Paul said even in his day you could follow the domestic godly modest women that are treated with respect, and everybody wants as a daughter, a mama, or a wife. Or you could follow the harlots, who nobody respected. Paul said, adorn yourselves with modest apparel. Be like one of these women. Be like the godly women that are respected. Dear Father, we do thank You for Your goodness. We do thank You for Your Word that gives us what we need, Lord. I do pray. For the young ladies of this church that you help them. Not follow the ways of the world, God. I do pray they would honor their own bodies. And they would dress in a way to be respected and honored. I do pray for some of the older ladies who have been through some of the propaganda and feminism of this age. And they've been taught all their life that this attention is respect. God, help them learn a new way of thinking. Help them learn a new way of thinking. And help them root out, Lord, whatever's still left. in them that could cause them to uncover their shame. It may everyone see that as a preacher, as godly men of this church, we have no intention of hurting women or disrespecting them. with our modesty standards that you gave us. But Holy Father, it's part of how we do honor them and respect them and put them on a pedestal and let them be crowned with this crown of modesty. Our virtuous daughters, our wives. In the name of Jesus, we give you thanks. Amen.