And looking to 2 Timothy 3, I want us to take notice of the pastoral reminders, statements, and charges the Apostle Paul gives to Timothy as it relates to shepherding Christ's sheep among the local church in a world that lives in rebellion toward God. 2 Timothy 3, beginning in verse 1. This snow also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away. And then verse 10. But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Chapter four. I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering in doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. If we could condense all that Paul is saying to Timothy in three simple statements, I believe we can safely conclude that Paul wants Timothy to accept the fact that people will become more inwardly stubborn and more outwardly sinful in their attitudes and actions as the weeks and months and years pass. This is the first ministerial truth being highlighted by Paul to Timothy. The first truth is a reminder that the world that Timothy is going to minister in is going to become increasingly ungodly. The general word Paul uses is the word they in verse three of chapter four. They, says Paul, those under the sound of your voice, those who have been among the congregation and those who visit the congregation from time to time, will not be able to endure sound doctrine, sound teaching, because sound biblical teaching will not justify them becoming conformed to the image of this world. So the pastoral word of Paul to Timothy is the need not to become surprised at the increasing ungodliness of the world and the strong influence this world will have on those inside of the church. The second ministerial truth being highlighted in this pastoral letter sent to Timothy is the pressing need for Timothy to be faithful in confronting the ungodliness of people inside and outside of the church by preaching the whole counsel of God's word at all times. This is the commanding call of 2 Timothy chapter four, verses one and two. The commanding call of Paul is for Timothy to hold up the mirror of God's word so that others might assess themselves by God's standards rather than their own standards. The commanding call is for Timothy to preach Not to preach his own opinion, not to preach entertaining stories, not to preach political policies. His command given by God through Paul is to preach the word. And you will notice that Paul explains that the Word is properly preached when Timothy takes the truth of God's Word and reproves, rebukes, and exhorts. The Word is properly preached when the preacher, through the Word, exposes sin and preaches with conviction. The Word is properly preached when the preacher, through the Word, admonishes those under the sound of his voice to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts so that we, God's people, might live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. The word is properly preached when the preacher preaches in a spirit of urgency, urging those in the church to live entirely for the Lord in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. This is the second ministerial truth. Paul is seeking to etch on the heart of young Timothy. The first truth is the reality that the ungodly world is going to do all they can to pull Christians away from Christ toward its unholy practices. And the second truth is the reality that Timothy must do all that he can to hold fast to the faithful word of God while encouraging God's people to avoid becoming like the world. So in my mind, I see it as a kind of tug-of-war match. The world on the one side has the rope and is striving to pull Christian towards its side. God's people are on the other side of the rope holding on, but sometimes their hands get tired. Sometimes they're tempted to give in and give up. So the pastor at the other end of the rope with God's people has to keep encouraging God's people to dig their feet deeper into the dirt, to dig their feet deeper into God's Word, and do all that they can to stay away from the world side. That's what Paul is telling Timothy. Timothy, we're in a war. The temptations of the world are real. People battle with it day in and day out, hold fast to the word and keep Christians fighting against the world. And then the third ministerial truth being highlighted in this pastoral letter to Timothy is the unavoidable reality that when Timothy does what God wants him to do, in faithfully preaching the truths of God's word among an ungodly culture, he is going to be hated for it. Paul says in this letter, I'm sorry to break it to you this way, little brother, but all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. As you continue to preach the whole counsel of God with conviction and authority to a people who love themselves and the things of this world more than God, you are going to be hated. You are going to be rejected. You are going to be viewed as someone who is radical. You are going to be branded as judgmental. You are going to be labeled as mean-spirited. Timothy, listen. Others are going to come in your church, they're going to hear your pointed preaching, and they will get offended at your message, and they will turn away from it, never to return. How's that for a church growth strategy? Why don't we find that in pastoral books on the New York bestselling times list? Or even on Christianbook.com for that sake. Paul says, Timothy, listen, if you preach the Bible faithfully, as Jesus did, as God commands you to do, most people are going to turn away from your church and they are going to find a preacher who doesn't confront sin and preach principles of holiness. I'm sorry to break it to you, little Tim. That's in the Greek. But there are going to be instances in which people you dearly love among the flock, leave the flock that you're shepherding because in that tug-of-war match, their ears will begin to develop a tingling sensation which will lead them to seek soft, non-confrontational talks that the motivating life coach is giving at the religious institution down the street. Paul says, Timothy, if you do ministry right, there are going to be occurrences in which people will seek out a religious spokesperson who will tell them what they want to hear. Namely, think happy thoughts, stay positive, and refrain from talking about sin. Others are going to find a so-called pastor and preacher who will praise them, humor them, and entertain them through nice stories. They will convince them that God never judges anyone and God is satisfied when Christians live however they want. The time is coming, Timothy. when you will look like a failure for doing what is right, while the mega pastors with the mega churches and the mega ministries will seem to be successful because they preach safe sermons, educational sermons, historical sermons, academic sermons, continuous calming sermons, funny sermons, rather than reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. But so be it, Timothy. You have been called of God to preach the truth even when few want to hear it. You have been called to encourage God's people to be transformed in their mind rather than conformed to the world. You have been called to endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ so that the congregation you are shepherding might learn something of what it means to suffer for Christ in an ungodly world. These are the pastoral reminders and charges of 2 Timothy chapter 3 and chapter 4. Here they are again spoken from the perspective of Paul. Timothy, those to whom you minister to, are going to grow increasingly more ungodly. This world is going to grow in ungodliness and sadly, it's going to affect the professing church. Timothy, as people grow increasingly more ungodly, you must take the hammer of God's word and you must chip away at the hard, stubborn, selfish, rebellious hearts and wills of men. And Timothy, as you do so, people are not going to like it. People are going to hate you and persecute you because you, of all people, have the audacity to tell them that there are areas of their life that they need to examine, repent of, and reform to the standard of God's Word. They will hate you, but no, Timothy, it's not you that they hate. It's God that they hate, and it's God that they are kicking against. What we read in 2 Timothy chapter three and four is pastoral class 101, such as the life and ministry of a true and faithful preacher of the word. Now I don't say this to make you feel sorry for me or any other pastor, but I do say this so that you will recognize something of the spiritual battle that preachers are in. Every time a faithful pastor opens the Word and expounds the Word and seeks for God's people to know the Word as it is, he is engaging in a battle. He's engaging in a battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. He's engaging in a battle against the sinful, stubborn wills of men, women, boys, and girls. You need to understand. that deep down in the heart of a true pastor, he really does want to be liked by others. You need to understand that as the faithful pastor prays and studies and prepares to preach his sermon, that he is not purposely trying to make his sermon offensive for the sake of being offensive. But if he is to be true, to God and His God-calling given by the Spirit. He must, in the preparation of the sermon, prayerfully think about how to preach the word to others through the biblical means of reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. He must think about the ways Christians are becoming conformed to the image of this ungodly world, and the preacher must call things out in hopes that God's people will grow in personal and collective sanctification. That truly is the heart of every faithful pastor that I know, of those even who step on toes hard. It's not their intention to break your toe, but just to cause a little pain to wake you up. So here we are in the continuation of our examination of the broad subject of biblical discernment while we specifically investigate what the Bible says about the topping of clothing. And I know, I know that some have taken personal offense to the truths that I have been emphasizing. I am aware of the fact that there are some outside of the church and inside the church who think that the pastor is a little extreme for meddling in people's so-called personal business. And I can sense the curiosity as to why I would waste my time preaching a series of messages on the need for Christian people to examine their clothing choices by the principles of God's word. So that being so, I thought it might be appropriate, helpful, and I hope spiritually profitable for the pastor to answer a few questions others in the congregation have regarding the topic of clothing, while at the same time having the congregation answer a few questions the pastor has in regards to the topic of clothing. So in the time that we have together tonight, I want to answer your questions and your concerns about what I have said thus far in this preaching series on clothing. And then I want to conclude by having you provide answers to questions and concerns that I have about the topic of clothing. All right, so in everything I do, I want to be fair and I want to be balanced. I hope you have seen that that is my heart over the last eight years. In everything I do, fair and balanced and biblical. I don't want to brush off anyone's serious concerns. I want us to be Berean believers. Don't take what I say as truth simply because I say it. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica in that they searched the word with all readiness of mind to see if what the preacher was saying is so. I want us to hold each other accountable to the truths of God's word so that all of us will strive to live a life that is well-pleasing to God. So with that said, I begin with the first question. that has been pitched toward the pastor this week, which is the common sensible why question. Why? Pastor, why are you preaching about the topic of clothing? Let me give you three simple answers. Answer number one, because the Bible speaks about it. Because the Bible speaks about it. And if the Bible speaks about it, I am called to preach about it. Remember the pastoral charge to Timothy? Since all scripture has been given by inspiration of God and is profitable, then all scripture is to be preached by those who have been called to pastor and preach. Why am I speaking about the need for our clothing choices to be gender-specific, modest, appropriate, presentable, clean, decent, humble, and unassuming? Because that's how God expects the clothing choices of His children to be. As I've showed you already, the Bible gives principles and guidelines for clothing in Genesis 3, in Deuteronomy 22, 5, in Proverbs 31, 1 Peter 3, and 2 Timothy chapter 2. Lest you think that I'm preaching my opinion or some fictitious old-fashioned tradition invented by men, I challenge you, I challenge you to read the biblical text and to see for yourselves that I'm giving you truth that has been inspired and preserved for us by God Himself. And I'm of the opinion that if God has something to say about clothing in His Word, then it is worthy enough for a pastor to preach on it, despite whether others want to hear it or not. So this is sub-point answer number one. Why am I preaching a series of sermons on the topic of clothing? Answer, because God's word speaks about it, not once, not twice, not three times, but a handful of times. All right, sub-point answer number two, why? Why do I occasionally get worked up in preaching about the topic of clothing? Answer, because I'm convinced that many professing Christians are becoming increasingly conformed to the image of this world through the clothes that they wear. I'm persuaded that over the years, Christians and Christian churches have developed a let's worship God however we want mindset. And it has led to Christian people in the world looking like the world through their standards of dress, and it has led to Christian people in the church wearing and accepting clothing that is tighter, lower, shorter, and more revealing. Listen, if you will consider what used to be normal to what has become normal today, both outside and inside of the church over the past 70 years, you cannot deny that with every decade that passes, the clothing choices of men and women are becoming more sensual, more casual, more sloppy, and less gender-specific. Think about it, from the 60s to the 70s, from the 70s to the 80s, from the 80s to the 90s, from the 90s to the 2000s, from Y2K to 2024, the trend has been less and less and less. Some of your grandmas would be shocked at what they see today. Your great grandmas would be shocked I told my wife that I'm fearful if we continue in this trend, that in 20 years, most people living in the United States will look like some Indian tribes and go around wearing nothing. Listen, I challenge you to think about this. The farther and farther our nation strays from the truths of God's word, the more and more immodest and careless we become in our clothing choices. Take up the challenge, prove me wrong. This is my pastoral concern. And to be clear, my pastoral concern is not so much for the lost world, but for the Christian world to be an influence to the lost world. I'm concerned for our personal and collective testimonies For Christ, I'm concerned that our saltiness is losing its savor. I'm concerned that there really is not much difference between so-called Christianity today and the world. My pastoral concern is that in our becoming more and more like the world, we are blurring the lines of Christian distinction, which only ruins our testimony for Christ. I'm concerned, I'm deeply concerned that Christians have become desensitized to sin. I'm concerned that sin is no longer exceeding sinful. I'm concerned that the things we used to blush over, we don't blush over anymore. I'm troubled that the local church which is called the pillar and the ground of the truth, the local church, which is called the house of worship, the house of prayer, can sometimes be a place where Christians can be stumbling blocks to other Christians by what they wear. I'm preaching this series of messages because I'm burdened. by the troubling thought that over the last several decades, the world has influenced Christians towards its sinful lifestyles by its spiritual carelessness more than Christians influencing the world for Christ by its separation and holy lifestyle. That's sub-point reason number two as to why I'm preaching a series on clothing. I'm convinced that many professing Christians have become and are becoming more conformed to the image of this world through the clothes that they wear. And then connected with sub-point answer number two is sub-point answer number three. I'm preaching this series of messages because over the years, most pastors and preachers exhort God's people ambiguously And in that, they thoughtlessly assume that those who hear their voice will properly apply such ambiguous truths to their life. Why am I preaching this series on clothing? Because I'm persuaded that pastors and preachers over the years have wrongly assumed that merely quoting a verse from Scripture without giving specific application is satisfactory Exhortation. Let me explain. Far too long, pastors and preachers have stood behind a pulpit and have exhorted God's people to be holy. Is that in the Bible? First Peter chapter one, be ye holy. Pastors say children of God need to be holy, and they do. Pastors and preachers say from the pulpit, it's needful for God's people to guard their testimonies for Christ, to come out from the world and be separate, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the world. Pastors over the years have passionately said from the pulpit Sunday by Sunday, do not love the world. Do not be conformed to the image of the world. Avoid being a stumbling block to others. And do you know what happens? Do you know what happens? Here's what happens. God's people sit in the church and they shake their heads and they say, amen, pastor, that's right. And they think that all is good. because the sermons rarely mention specifics. And by specific, I mean pastors rarely teach people the specific ways in which we can grow to be more like Christ and less like the world. You see, ambiguous statements. I'm saying that pastors are scared to teach others how to apply Bible truths to their life. So the pastor says, don't be like the world. And the one who dresses like Britney Spears and Taylor Swift thinks, well, I'm not like the world because I don't cuss, I don't smoke cigarettes, and I go to church. The pastor says, come out from among them and be ye separate, says the Lord. And the one who posts pictures of themselves in a bikini on their social media account says, I've come out of the world because I don't practice witchcraft anymore. Ah, you see, it's a cherry picking Christianity. Well, I am holy and I am not worldly because I don't do this and I do this. You see, a pastor can say, live for God, don't be an offense to the gospel, grow in holiness. He can say that abstractly while failing to challenge others to think about the specific ways they can be a brighter light for Christ through their attitudes and actions. So what am I doing? I'm coming along in this series and I'm saying, Houston, we have a problem. We Christians have become like the world in our clothing choices. We Christians have become like the world through the influence of feministic ideologies. We Christians have become like the world through our treating animals like humans. We Christians have become like the world through the entertainments we allow in our lives. And we Christians have become like the world through the way we worship God in church. I know, we want the pastor to talk about everybody else who's not here. I know, we want to point our fingers towards those evil politicians and blame them for society's problems. But I'm taking the finger of God's word and pointing it at us, those who claim to know the truth. And I'm saying that we are the primary reason why our nation is the way it is. Not just in dress. but through every aspect of life. Why am I preaching a series of sermons on discernment and dress? Because Christians have developed a careless attitude about living for God. The first question that is pitched toward the pastor is the why question. The second question that is pitched toward the pastor is the don't you realize question. It goes something like this. Pastor, don't you realize that God is more concerned about someone's heart than someone's clothing? The answer is yes. I do recognize this, and I've given an answer to it in my first sermon. But for sake of clarity, with the desire to present truth in a biblical, balanced way, I will emphasize it again. Listen carefully. What someone puts on their body does not conclusively make them spiritual, holy, or godly. Did you hear what I said? What someone puts on their body, namely clothing, does not conclusively make them spiritual, holy, or godly. A woman can wear the most modest dress that covers their body from the top of their neck down to their toes and be an unholy, wicked, sinful, rebellious woman in her heart. A man can walk into this church building with a beautiful silk three-piece suit with shiny dress shoes, a presidential tie, and a new haircut and be more unholy than the drug addict on 5th and Crocker downtown LA. Are you listening? What you and I wear on the outside does not make us acceptable to God. What you and I wear doesn't change the nature of our hearts. The Pharisees went around parading themselves in fine clothing and Jesus rebuked them strongly because their hearts were not right in the sight of God. Because salvation and even sanctification is not about cleaning up the outward man. Salvation and sanctification is about God cleansing, washing, and transforming the inner man. Salvation and sanctification is not about what we do. Salvation and sanctification is about who we are in Christ before God. We considered this truth this morning, didn't we? The Pharisee was outwardly religious, outwardly righteous, but he was inwardly lost. The publican who cried out for God's mercy because he knew his heart was deceitful and desperately wicked was justified in the sight of God because his faith was resting on the propitious work of Jesus Christ. So let me say it again loud and clear. God is more concerned about people's hearts than people's clothing. The prophet Joel told the people of Judah to rend their hearts and not their garments and return to the Lord. But there is a nevertheless. Nevertheless, this being true, nevertheless, The Bible does tell us that what is in our heart will show itself through our attitudes and actions. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Proverbs 27, 19, as in water, face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man. And for those who still deride me preaching on a series on clothing, I would have you know With my wife and the longstanding church members of this church as my witness, I have never, ever preached specific standards of clothing from this pulpit. I have never given specific criteria of do's and don'ts. I have never turned away anyone yet from entering into the doors of this church for not wearing some required uniform. I have never said that wearing a tie to church is a forgotten fruit of the spirit. I have never publicly condemned anyone for wearing or not wearing a particular type of clothing. In fact, the truth is, I despise such preaching. In my 21 years as a Christian, I have sat under preaching that places certain standards on Christians that cannot be supported by the truths of God's word. I have sensed, I have seen the legalistic, pharisaical spirit that comes from such preaching, and I abhor it. If specifics cannot be backed up by the Bible, I'm not going to hold others to such standards. But at the same time, I have and I will take the truths of the Bible and I will preach principles against the sloppy, casual, I don't care, God doesn't care attitude that is poisoning our churches. So on the one hand, Your tire does not make you spiritual. Sorry to burst your bubble. But on the other hand, it can and does reveal something of where your heart is with God. Sorry to burst your bubble too. Be careful of the extreme pendulum swings to the left, to the right. It goes both ways. You are not more holy for dressing up. And the one side says amen, but you are not more holy for dressing down either. Ah, everyone's guilty. Dressing like your grandparents doesn't make you more holy. But dressing like a grungy gangster doesn't make you holy either. God wants your heart yielded to him. And if it is yielded to him, it will be seen in your attitudes and actions by those around us. Again, I'm not listing specifics, I'm just listing a principle. It will be seen if your heart is yielded to God. In some way, the humility of your heart, the response to living for Christ will be seen and known. All right, now let me give you third common question and concern that has been pitched toward the pastor over the last several weeks. Pastor, it seems that you are primarily attacking the clothing choices of women and not men. Why are you speaking about how females wear clothing more than how males wear clothing? Now let me just say, such a question is a sincere, valid question that deserves an honest answer. And if truth be told, I have been addressing the clothing choices of women more than men. And my honest, straightforward answer to this third question is, I'm addressing the dress of women more than men only because God, through his word, addresses the attire of women more than men. Such a truth cannot be denied if you will honestly examine the scriptures. Through the Proverbs, specifically Proverbs 31, the virtuous woman. Among the third chapter of Peter's first epistle addressing the woman who's married to an unsaved man. Second chapter of Paul's first letter to Timothy speaking to the modest apparel of women in church. You will find specific statements being made that are primarily connected on how women ought to dress rather than how men ought to dress. I'm sorry that bothers you, but that's just Bible. If you have an issue with something in the Bible, your issue is not with me, but with the one who wrote it. I'm just the messenger, I didn't write it. The Bible does not speak about the attire of a harlot man, but the attire of a harlot woman. Jesus did not say, whosoever looks at a man to lust commits adultery in her heart. The Bible says, whosoever looks at a woman to lust commits adultery in his heart. Now, this is not to say that women cannot and do not lust after men with their looks, but this is to say that God knows something about the particular temptation that men struggle with more than women. Are you with me? God knows something. He is God. He is all-knowing. He knows something about how men and women are wired. And let me add here also that in my years of pastoring, I've never heard of, I haven't seen a woman being tempted to sin through the clothing choice of a man at church. No, wait, no, it could be that I'm completely ignorant of such things going on, and if so, I would like to ask all of the women of our church to approach me privately if there is ever an occasion in which a man wears something to church that causes you to stumble. Please, please, I'm giving you permission now. If a man wears something to church and it's causing you to stumble and we need to take care of it, please come to me. I will be happy to take care of it. But listen women, let's be honest for a moment. You and I both know that the greater problem in this world and in the church is not with men's dress but with the women's dress. It just is. Men are visual people to state things discreetly because there are children in this room. And I'm wondering, I'm wondering, I'm wondering. Why some women want to get upset with me about women covering their body parts when I'm only trying to help their husbands and their sons. Do you want your husbands and your sons to be pure or not? I could spend an entire sermon on this one question alone, but I need to refrain. My answer to why it seems that I am focused on the women more than the men is simply because The Bible addresses the clothing of women more than men. And come on, women. More times than not, you like to go clothes shopping more than men. Yeah? I don't know about you, but I despise it. I would rather hit my head against the wall than go to the mall. You can ask my wife. Drives me crazy. But women, on the other hand, love it. They value clothing and are tempted to be more sensual in their clothing. And they need to be more careful with how they present themselves toward the male gender. So that being said, God has given discerning principles to help guide women in their clothing choices more than men. Do you think God might know something about where we would be in 2024? Way back then. And it's helping us now? Maybe, maybe. Maybe he is God. Now if it will help some women to feel better about things, I can direct a few statements at the men. Would that help? Men? Let me tell you what our problem is. Our problem is not wearing things that reveal. Our problem is not so much with being immodest. I think our problem is just being too casual, looking too scrubby. I mean, we have the tendency as men to just grab whatever and go with it, yeah? We go to the laundry basket, and if it doesn't smell, hey, that's good enough, yeah, okay, we're good. All right, I'll get after the men if you want me to. Women? Wearing tight, short shorts is not the most appropriate thing to wear in church and even among others in the world. Used to be cool, maybe back in the day, yeah, maybe not. Men, don't sag or bag your pants. When you bend over, it can be very, very, very inappropriate and embarrassing for you and others. Men, unbuttoning the top button so that you show off your chest hair may not be the most suitable thing to do in church. This is not an Elvis concert, this is a place of worship. We are not worshiping an earthly king, we are worshiping a heavenly king. Men, if you have to use Vaseline to put on your skinny jeans, then you and I need to go shopping together. I will endure it and I will pay for the jeans. And that's saying a lot. Men, listen, you are called to lead your home, to lead your wife, to lead your children. Listen, you set the tone. So show your boys what it looks like to dress nicely. Show the young men of our church what it looks like to dress for the occasion. We are at church, not the beach. We are worshiping God, not playing volleyball. Single men, single men who want a nice godly woman to marry, you will be respected more by a godly single lady if you take care of yourself and dress nicely. That's just the way it is. So take the pastoral challenge. Have I attacked the men enough? Enough to be balanced at least. Some say no. The men say yes. If I have, I'll move on to my second half of the sermon, which I need to preach very quickly because of time. Having provided to you answers to your questions and your concern regarding my series on clothing, now I have a few questions I want you to answer in regards to my preaching. Are you ready? Question number one. For those who charge me with being too judgmental for preaching on principles and clothing, can you not be charged with being too judgmental in your opinion toward me? Those who want to get mad at me and cry, judge not that you be not judged, can you not be properly charged with wrongly judging my motives? See, it goes both ways. People come in this place crying, Pharisees, legalism, judgmentalism. That Calvary Baptist Church is legalistic. The pastor wears a suit and a tie, and in so doing, he thinks he's better than everyone else. That Calvary Baptist Church is so judgmental, not one female among the church wears spaghetti straps. They're Pharisaical, they're holy rollers. Wait a second. What did you just say? What are such people doing? They are condemning people they don't even know. And they are doing so with no Bible verses other than misquoting, judge not that you be not judged. See, we've been programmed to think that that judgment only goes one way. Not so. So to those who would accuse me of wrongly judging others, my question for you is, have you made wrong judgments of those who desire to be modest? Have you made judgments toward me, toward others, toward our church? Question number two. Are you not bothered by the lowering of dress standards in our culture? And I'm just talking broadly now. Are you not bothered by the lowering of dress standards in the culture? I mean, we now have United States senators who are pushing the normalization of wearing shorts and a hoodie at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. Is that the direction you wanna see our culture go? What would you think if you went to your doctor's office and the doctor came in the room looking like a gangster rapper with a Snoop Dogg t-shirt smoking a joint? Would you trust him with your heart surgery? Oh, you judge her? What would you think about someone representing you in the courtroom looking like a hick? Come on now, would it not lower the tone of seriousness? I mean, think about our president. What if our president went around wearing sweatpants and a football jersey? You think people might take him seriously? And yet, you know what's normal in high schools now? I see it when I go on Onaga towards the high school. Half the kids are wearing pajama pants. And I think, what? They just, what, rolled out of bed and just went to school? And then, what, go back to home and roll back in bed? What? What? When did this come normal? Like I said, if we keep going in one direction with no pushbacks, in 20 years, anything and everything will be acceptable. Listen to me. You think it's shocking what we see on TV shows and movies now? I mean, it's almost nothing. In 20 years, it may be nothing. We just accepted it, accepted it, accepted it. That's how you boil the frog. It's just slow, slow, slow, slow before you know it. I'm sorry, that's not the world I want my children to grow up in. I'll push back as much as I can. It's not what I want. Question number three, are you not bothered? Now let's get specific, let's bring it home. Are you not bothered by the casualness of worshipers among the worship of God in the church? Again, it's not so much the clothing, but the attitude, the spirit, making it into a Starbucks, rock and roll concerts. Are you not bothered that many times Christians will dress up more for a funeral or wedding than for a church? I don't get that. They'll dress up for a dead guy who's not there, but they won't dress up for a living savior who died and rose again, right? Are you not troubled that Christians will dress sloppier for church than they will a job interview? Oh, you'll dress up for a job interview. You'll smell good, you'll look good, and ooh, it's important. What, but less than? Are you not bothered that we have pastors and preachers looking like they're going to the skate park with holes in their skinny jeans while they talk to others about the holiness of God? That's inconsistent. Go back and listen to my sermon on Fun Church. We now have pastors dressing up, or should I say dressing down, like Super Mario Brothers. What's wrong with us? I'm not suggesting that men wear a tuxedo to church. I'm not suggesting that women need to wear fancy, expensive silk dresses. But I am suggesting that it seems strange to me that courtroom dress standards are higher than most churches claim in their worship of God. Are we not worshiping the eternal judge or not? You know, in the courtroom, there's no bubble gum chewing or popping. In the courtroom, there's no clipping of the fingernails. We come to church, I won't do it. Every church has fingernail clippers. What? I'm concerned that worshipers among Christ's church look no different than people at a sporting event or a dance club. Come on church, I'm asking you to think about this. If pastors don't help Christians think about these things, who will, who will? If the church does not encourage Christians to think about standards of holiness and separation, who will? Who will? And then tied in with this is my fourth and final question. How else do you want me to preach? How else do you want me to preach to you and others? I'm often tempted to preach a sarcastic sermon on how some would like me to preach. It would go something like this. You are all good people. Really nice, kind-hearted, loving people. We all struggle. Nobody is perfect. God doesn't care how you live. God doesn't judge. So it's okay to listen to what you want to listen to. It's okay to watch what you want to watch. It's okay to date whoever you want to date. It's okay to marry whoever you want to marry. It's okay to say whatever you want to say. God's Word is more like an entertaining abstract story, not really a moral guideline for life. And then next week, I come back and say, you all did such a fantastic job. Good job. Keep it up. Everyone gets a gold star. You are perfect. Our church is perfect. Keep thinking nice, happy thoughts. Stay positive. And here's a nice story about how Jesus helped feed people who were hungry. Thank you, Brother George. Amen. Let's think back to our opening text. Paul told Timothy to do what? Three words, preach, proclaim, herald the word. Preach the word. How does he do that? What does it look like? Everybody says they preach the word. All the Christian churches around Yucca Valley say they preach the word. What does that look like? Boil it down, get specific. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Have you read the Bible you claim to believe? The prophets called out profaneness in the temple. Jesus went into the temple, the place of worship, and flipped over tables, charging people to get out because of the casual, irreverent worship taking place. The apostles called out the misuses of Christian liberty. The apostles urged others to guard their testimonies by putting others first. You want me to just keep my mouth shut? Christians are becoming worldly and they are struggling with sexual lust. Listen, church, more and more men are struggling with sexual lust more than ever before, more than ever before. It was bad in Corinth, but it is accessible to us more so. At least in Corinth, you could go home and hide from it, right? But now we have it, boom, in our face. More and more men and women are addicted to pornography. More and more young people are losing their virginity at a young age. More and more marriages and families are being absolutely destroyed by pornography and adulterous relationships. Sexual images are being pushed in our faces everywhere we turn, again, How else do you expect me to preach? Seriously, think about it. This goes back to our interdiction, back to Paul's warning to Timothy. The world is becoming increasingly more ungodly, so what's the answer, what's the solution? For pastors to just sit back and watch it all fly by? For Christians just to give in to the culture's influence? No, the answer is for pastors and Christians to push back. to live distinctively different from the world, and to preach the truths of God even if the world doesn't want to hear. How else do you want a pastor to preach? My time is up. I've answered some of your questions and concerns, and now it's time for you to answer some of my questions and concerns.