If you would please turn with me in your Bibles this evening to 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2. We have looked at the book of Genesis, the beginning of the human experience of wearing clothes, where it began, why it began, why we still are in that practice. We've seen the necessity of it. Now with all of that as a foundational endeavor, we're going to come to the most specific passage in scripture that regards this subject. It's quite interesting that it is within the context of worship. So, we're going to read chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. We're going to read through verse 10. Let's stand together, give our hearts attention, to the inspired and infallible and preserved word of God. First Timothy, chapter two. Let us hear God's wonderful word. I exhort thee, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto 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. Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting, in like manner also. that women adorn themselves in modest apparel with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broided hair or gold or pearls or costly array, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Amen. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. Let's unite our hearts in prayer. We have read thy word, O God. That's the best part of what I will say this evening. Thy word, thy holy, inspired, thy God-breathed, infallible word. I thank thee for it. I thank you that it is the sword of the spirit and I pray that thou would come by thy mighty spirit this evening and fill our hearts. Lord, I know there are some weary bodies here this evening. Minds perhaps tired. I pray with all of my heart that would come with a refreshing spirit. Enliven us. Lord, surprise us. Fill our hearts with holy energy that we might hear thy word and be transformed. Now, O Christ, help me as I speak to thy people from thy precious word. This is a faulty vessel here, Lord. You've given all preachers throughout the ages an impossible task. Fallible men trying to handle the infallible word That Lord our hope is not in our studies or in our delivery It is in thee and that mighty power of the world to come the blessed spirit for which we pray Now O Christ Come in power We pray it in thy name. Amen Please be seated Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, wrote a letter to his son in the faith, Timothy. That letter tells us that Paul left Ephesus for Macedonia and left Timothy to continuing ministry in Ephesus, one of the four most powerful cities in the Roman Empire. The citizens of that city were enslaved to sensuality, materialism, magic, and the occult. Not unlike what we see in our own darkening culture today. Furthermore, Ephesus was the center of Roman emperor cult worship. and the demonic worship of the goddess Diana. Nevertheless, in that stronghold of spiritual wickedness in high places, Christ, the crucified and resurrected Lord of glory, established a church. Paul left Timothy there to defend the gospel and sound doctrine because false teachers were deceiving the Ephesian congregation. They penetrated and were overturning entire families. So Paul exhorted Timothy to defend the apostolic faith He ridiculed the false doctrine as fables and vain jangling and corrected their erroneous use of God's law. Paul proclaimed that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And that Christ's goal in converting him was to display a pattern, to show down through the ages God's mercy and patience with great sinners. He then exhorted Timothy to war a good warfare against the false teachers. Because false doctrine dishonors God, robs Christ of His glory, quenches the Holy Spirit and cannot produce a holy life. That is precisely what the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the wonderful gospel of the grace of God, does under the power of God's Spirit. It transforms sinners. It gives them to the miracle of grace that we call the new birth. It gives them a new heart, new desires, new goals, a new life. They are new creations in Christ. False doctrine cannot produce that. In fact, the false teachers had infected and affected the Ephesian church. Its order, its prayer life, its interpersonal relationships, even its leadership, and worst of all, its mission as the pillar and ground of the truth. The churches of Jesus Christ are to be bastions of God's truth. Jesus prayed, Father, sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. And that is what every pastor appointed by God is to do. He is to preach the sanctifying word. And false doctrine cannot accomplish what that word does accomplish. So Paul began the damage control by instructing Timothy that earnest prayers were to be made for all kinds of people. which included kings and all that were in authority. God, our Savior, wanted the Ephesians to pray for all kinds of people because He desires to save all kinds of people and has provided a Savior for all kinds of people. Almighty God wants them to come into the knowledge of the truth. What is that truth? 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. That gracious salvation was proclaimed then. It has been proclaimed down through the centuries. It is being proclaimed now. And it will be proclaimed until the Lord Jesus Christ returns. And what is the effect of all that preaching? Changed lives. That's what the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation, does. It doesn't just fill people's mouths with religious words. Oh, I'm a Christian, now I'm going to heaven. That's an important thought. But we've got lots of folks who profess that today whose lives expose the lie of their profession. God's people are a transformed people. That gracious salvation accomplished by the eternal Son of God made flesh results in changed lives. Not perfect people, but changed lives. Really changed lives. And they keep changing. They keep changing. God does not save a sinner for him to remain inert. What does that have to do with the subject at hand? Everything. That is the context that prepares us for our passage. The notion of modesty cannot be separated from the transforming power of the gospel of God. It is a manifestation of new creaturehood in Christ. In our context, the first thing Paul mentions is praying men. And secondly, modestly dressed women. What an interesting combination. We could spend a message just on that, but we won't. But why does he go to those things after all that he said? Because it is clear that the false doctrine of the false teachers has infected the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's affecting the order of the church. When you look around today, if you know anything about biblical ecclesiology, If we see anything, it's disorder. It is disorder. The God of Scripture is a God of order. When He saves us, He takes these broken and shattered, sin-stained lives and begins to order them. And a church should be a collection of people that are moving from rising up out of disorder into order. We're all at different levels. We all move at different speeds. We can put all the caveats in there, but that's the fact of the matter. Christianity is not an inert, a static thing. It is living because the very power of God fills the hearts of His people. They are real members of the Kingdom of God. And we saw, and we see, the power of the Kingdom in Christ. Read Matthew, read Mark, read Luke, read John, and what do you see but the glorious power of God sweeping into the world through His Holy Son, the King of the Kingdom. And we see Him in His power, in His glory, when He speaks, when He works His miracles. We see that the Kingdom is real. And we ought to be seeing that, we understand, in a slightly different way, but the reality of it. Now, we're in that kingdom, if we're God's children. We are inhabited by the Spirit that fell on Christ at His baptism. So there ought to be something about our lives that's always going forward. That's why backsliding is such a terrible thing. That's why letting our Christian lives decay is such a terrible thing. We should be moving forward. So, praying men and modestly dressed women are both results of God's work in the lives of people. These two issues are directly connected to gospel transformation. The gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation, and that salvation manifests itself from the inside out. And the out is godly living. So our subject in this message will be modestly dressed women. And the title is Women and Modest Apparel. Women and Modest Apparel. May our gracious Heavenly Father fill our hearts with his word and spirit. And may Christ, the head of the church, bless us with his presence. Well, let's consider Paul's vocabulary of modesty in this inspired text. The Spirit breathed upon the Apostle Paul and he wrote to Timothy in like manner also. That's directly connected to verse 9, verse 8 where he says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere. It's the I will that is in like manner. What we mean by that is this is an apostolic command. It is an authoritative word from God then for the lives of any of his churches anywhere at any age. This is apostolic authority speaking both to men and their responsibilities in this context and to women. In like manner, I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety, not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array." Well, the first thing we want to do in considering this is to take up a little history of the English word modest. The Oxford English Dictionary, considered by many to be authoritative regarding our language, tells us that the English word modest apparently arose from the Latin modestus, which means keeping due measure, or keeping within measure. Moderate. In the 1560s, from the Middle French, with apologies to Brother Vincent, Modeste, it meant having moderate self-regard. Moderate self-regard restrained by a sense of propriety or humility. By the 1590s, that word was applied to women as not improper or lewd, pure in thought and conduct. Interesting that it morphed into a term primarily applied to women. Certainly, modesty applies both to men and women. But it would seem, as John Calvin says in his sermons on this subject, that it is a sin that women easily fall into. It is quite obvious the Lord speaks to the men about prayer and to the women about the way they're dressing as they're coming to the congregation of worship. By the 1610s, it was applied to female attire. Had to do, first of all, with an attitude and the way it was manifest. But then that focus came to be the clothing manifesting the attitude. And so it came to mean not gaudy, not showy. So the Word has been with us for 500 years, meaning primarily, and this is important, moderate. Restrained by a sense of propriety, what is suitable for occasion. And not extreme or extravagant. It was eventually used to describe female dress that was not offensive in a sexual way. Now, when we turn to modern dictionaries, we read definitions such as these. One, having or showing moderate estimation of one's own talents, abilities, and value. Two, having or proceeding from a disinclination to call attention to oneself. In other words, something built in that does not want to call attention to itself. Three, reserve or propriety in speech, dress, or behavior. Four, free from showiness or ostentation. Now children, not a word you're probably using at this point, but ostentation is a good word to know. It means an exaggerated display. An exaggerated display of sexuality, wealth, or luxury, intended to attract attention. So to be modest is to be free from that. Number five, moderate or limited in size, quantity or range. We might say he had a limited budget. He had a modest budget. But again, the idea is not extreme. These are all various notions, ideas, applications of nuances of the word. It's obviously a word that's applied across the board in a number of ways. Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary defines modesty as, quote, that lowly temper which accompanies a moderate estimate of one's own worth and importance. He then added, females, modesty has the like character as in males, but the word is used also as synonymous with chastity or purity of manners. That's going back to some of the early definitions. In this sense, modesty results from purity of mind. Now Webster, by the way, the original Noah Webster was a believer. If you have not ever read through the 1828 dictionary, it is filled with scripture. And if you want to be encouraged, read his introduction and little biography where he tells you, he said, man, I hated the doctrines of grace. And then the Lord saved me. I'm not saying everybody that rejects the doctrines of grace is lost, but he understood that in his heart and in his mind that the resistance and rejecting against God's sovereignty was something that he lived in. And a lot of people do. They don't want God to be God. Quite interesting. But anyway, that's why we get from time to time these mini lectures in his definitions. Quite a contrast to modern dictionaries. So notice, in this sense, modesty results from purity of mind or from the fear of disgrace, an ignominy fortified by education and principle. Unaffected modesty In other words, real, not phony. Real modesty, genuine modesty. Something that's not put on is the sweetest charm of female excellence. The richest gem in the diadem of their honor. Close quote. I don't think many today regard women in this way. And of course, many men don't want women to be modest and pure. Now, according to these definitions, modesty is a broad concept, not limited to sexual connotation. We must understand that it is a state of mind that expresses a humble estimate of oneself before God. God sees you all day, every day, every day. You are never out of His presence. So we must have a view of ourselves that's in harmony with what God is seeing. And that's not usually the estimate of ourselves that we carry. We live, quorum deo, live in God's presence. Modesty, like humility, is the opposite of boldness. It's the opposite of arrogance. It is the opposite of showiness. Look at me! A modest person does not seek to draw attention to himself or herself or to show off in an unseemly way. Now, I want to be careful. In another message, we'll probably only have one more as far as modesty goes, but we want to point to the fact that there are occasions when, of course, we're supposed to stand out. But not because we're trying to show ourselves off to everybody. We want to be representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we as members of the kingdom are to be like a city set on a hill, then quite obviously the Lord intends for the world to see us. But this is talking about Purposefully drawing attention to yourself because of your pride. Not because we are representatives of the living God. Living in a modesty that is foreign to the world. Webster apparently links chastity with modesty because chastity means moral purity in thought and conduct. And by the way, another word, we can hear it but we don't always know what it means. Chastity means abstaining from sexual activity that is outside of marriage. It originally was connected to the idea of virginity. A woman who is not laying with a man, as the scriptures say. Moral purity, like humility, will not exhibit inappropriate sexuality any more than ostentation. Showing off oneself for everybody to admire you. So with that, let us consider a little study of Paul's Greek vocabulary of modesty. We're going to look at five words that Paul uses in this verse. And they're important to our understanding of what a biblical, what a Christian modesty is. The first word is adorn. In like manner also that women adorn themselves. The basic idea of the Greek word cosmeo means to put in order. We get the word cosmos from it. The cosmetics. In fact, I remember as a youngster, I don't know that I hear women say it anymore. But I hear women say, I've got to go get myself in order. That's exactly what the word means. Getting yourself in order. Hence, the idea here is to cause something to be beautiful by decorating. Put it in order. Paul says to the women, put yourselves in order. The Greeks thought that order was an essential part of beauty. And so that is certainly underlying such terminology. It is appropriate for women to decorate themselves in an orderly, tasteful way. Sloppiness is not modesty. And sometimes people can wear outlandishly things covering themselves to be singular. And at that point, even though their bodies are completely covered in their pup tent, they're not modest. Because modest is not extreme. It's moderate. It's moderate. That's the very heart of the word. Great problem, of course, in our day is that the fashion industry believes that beautiful means sexy, sensual. Now, this is not some fevered fundamentalist pastor who's foaming out something that's coming from a fevered mind. I spent years looking at books from the fashion industry. They say this with clarity. The modern idea of beauty is sexiness. So that's the idea behind what they're going to design. They want to package your body to look a particular way. And from year to year, they expose a different part of the body. One year it's the legs, one year it's the shoulders, another year it's the breasts. They'll do everything they can to package, repackage, package, repackage. But the idea is that you want to be beautiful means you need to be sexually attractive. Now, we're not saying the opposite is to be, well, let's be ugly. That's not the idea. The idea is to be moderate. The idea is to cover yourself biblically for the right reason. A Christian woman should adorn herself to display purity, not sensuality. Virginity, not availability. Holiness, not promiscuity. So, women are to adorn. They are, indeed, to cover themselves. And to do it properly, we need to understand some of the other words that Paul uses. The next word is modest, or it's translated into English as modest. In modest apparel. It's an adjective here. In this context, modest does mean well-ordered. Adorn yourself in a well-ordered, appropriate way. And when applied to women, here it means modest. Through the mouth of Paul, Christ calls women to dress appropriately to the occasion. And here he's talking about, apparently, worship of all places. We should look like godly men, identifiably men, and godly and virtuous women. Identifiably women. In an appropriate way. Well-ordered. Beautiful. Now, he's calling them to dress appropriately to the occasion and appropriately to their profession. Women professing godliness. So we have all of us that are Christians have a profession of faith. I believe. in the living God, the one true and living God. I believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus Christ is the incarnate, incarnate Son of God who came into this world to save his people from their sins by keeping the law in their place, dying upon Calvary's cross, rising again, ascending into glory, being seated at the Father's right hand and coming again. I believe that. Paul says, if you believe that, There's a life and an expression of life that goes with it. In fact, it arises from it. Beauty and order in a woman's clothing adorns her profession of faith in Jesus. Thomas Oden, commentator. comments, quote, The apparel of the worshipper, says Paul, is to be in good taste, well arranged, modest, respectful, for the adornment of the body is like God's adornment of the cosmos. Orderly and beautiful. To understand the very words that Paul chooses puts the lie to the idea that women have to all show up looking like they're about to go to the nunnery. It's the fact. But many, in the eyes of many, the idea of even being, quote, attractively, modestly dressed is somehow the manifestation of harlotry. That is not true biblically. Thirdly is the word apparel. The Greek word that Paul uses for apparel is very important. It can mean clothing as a symbol of behavior. Adorn with modest apparel. Clothing as a symbol of behavior. Now, many of us don't think that way. We just go, oh, let's see, blue, wore that yesterday. Okay, blue jeans and green t-shirt today. But we often don't remember the very origins of this. First, this was to cover our shame. And secondly, it's expressing something. I have books on the language of clothing, which we had time to spend on this. But your clothes are talking. Every single day, your clothes are talking. They are saying, this is an expression of my heart. By his choice of words, Paul is linking the internal behavior with the external clothing. He has chosen a word specifically that moves from the inside to the outside. It expresses something that is real. internally and then manifests itself externally. Paul very skillfully moves from external garments to internal modesty and self-control. In other words, when your clothing is in view, so is your heart. The Apostle Peter describes exactly the same thing. He says that a Christian woman's apparel should not be that outward adorning of planting the hair and of wearing of gold or of putting on of apparel. But let it be. We're going to spend at least one evening on that passage. But let me say this in the event that we don't get there. when it says putting on of apparel that ought to make us all sit up. Wait a minute, aren't we supposed to be clothing ourselves? And it's because we think that he's giving a list of do's and don'ts here. And he's not. He's giving an example of what true modesty and what true dressing before God is and isn't. In other words, he's saying, if your beauty is just what you put on, you're not beautiful. If it's just the putting on of apparel, well, you've put clothes, you've become a clothes hanger. The idea with these things is not a complete ban on gold or that type of thing. You have to throw away your wedding band. You could never wear a necklace. And yet throughout the scriptures, God's saying, yes, I'm putting a necklace on a man. So I mean, these are the kind of things we have to back up and say, what? What's he talking about? What he's talking about is your beauty is not what you put on in and of itself. Your beauty begins in what you are. And then you manifest what you are by what you put on. He says, let it be the hidden man of the heart. in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Commentator William Mounts says that the words adorn and apparel have a dual meaning. Clothing and a person's general deportment. Paul says that they are to dress in a way that is in keeping with their Christian character. In keeping with their Christian character and to concentrate on what is most important. While their dress is an issue, their attitude is Paul's true concern. And we're gonna talk about this a little bit more in just a few minutes when we talk about interior and exterior. But for the moment, we will close that quote and say that this brings us to an extremely important point. Modesty is first and foremost a matter of the heart. The problem is that when, at least to my experience, most modern American Christians get the idea that it's about the heart, they think it's just about the heart. And what I'm trying to point out to you is that the very words that Paul is using includes both. The attitude of the heart and how it expresses itself in what it puts on. So, to focus on clothing first is to miss the issue. That brings us to the word shamefacedness. This word means reverence. All. Respect. For the feeling or opinion of others or for one's own conscience. All. And when was the last time you stood in all? because of your responsibility to others' conscience. When was the last time you reverenced someone else's conscience? The Spirit of God has moved Paul to use words that dig down past just the exterior translation. reverence, awe, or respect for the feeling or opinion of others or for one's own conscience. Now this word means that a person knows where the boundaries are and desires to stay within them. That's the idea that we mentioned earlier of a sense of propriety. Propriety is that which is acceptable, appropriate to the occasion. I mean, there's some things I would work on in my yard, I would wear when I'm working in my yard that I wouldn't wear when I come to worship. That doesn't mean that worship is to be a fashion show either. But it means there's an appropriateness about coming into God's, coming into the congregation of God's people, the temple of the Holy Spirit. And I should be realizing I'm coming into God's presence. What's appropriate for that? So the idea of someone being shame-faced doesn't mean in some way that they're embarrassed or ashamed. It's an older word that carries the idea that someone knows where the boundaries are and they stay within them. They want to stay within those boundaries. That's the idea. I, Howard Marshall, another commentator says, quote, here it refers to the decency with which women should behave. This includes the avoidance of clothing and adornment, which might be showy and extravagant, as well as sexually enticing. J. N. D. Kelly writes, quote, what is probably foremost in his mind, Paul, is the impropriety of women exploiting their physical charms on such occasions, and also the emotional disturbance they are liable to cause their male fellow worshipers. This is brought out by the words that are translated shamefacedness and sobriety. The latter stands for perfect self-mastery in the physical appetites, someone who's got self-control. As applied to women, it too had a definitely sexual nuance, close quote. In other words, a woman who is shame-faced. Again, the word doesn't really give you much insight into its meaning, because we don't use it anymore. But that idea is here's a woman who understands the occasion, and she understands the impact that her presence will have in that occasion. She knows where the boundaries are, and her purpose is to honor God, to worship and adore God, and to edify her brothers and her sisters in the Lord. So what would be an appropriate way to dress for that? Not the showiest, gaudiest thing that you have. It could either be extravagant. Check it out. Do you know how much this dress cost me? Or, I look red hot, right? Don't I look desirable? Attractive? Wrong attitude. That's not a shame-faced person. So, our fifth word is sobriety. You know, I'm going to stop after this because I don't want to go too late this evening. And we'll have a part two and that's fine. So what does sobriety here mean? It means good judgment. Self control, as we have seen, sobriety or self control is one of the most important words that Paul uses to express the visible Christian life. I don't if you're drifting, come back and hear that in the pastoral epistles. Paul, we could we could say it this way. And I don't mean this to be irreverent, but Paul is like self control crazy. He used the words over and over, 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, Titus. In fact, when he describes the young men, he says one thing. All right, Titus, I want you to preach to the older women, the older men, the younger women. And for the young men, tell them to be self-controlled. Which is what most young men are not. This became, at the end of his life, one of the things that Paul hits over and again. Why? Because we're vessels of the Holy Spirit. God dwells within us, and our lives should show it. Our lives should show that we're beginning to mortify and overcome the things we were once enslaved to. We're not like the world, just coming apart at the seams, but we're people who actually understand. We know who God is. We know his great and glorious sovereign power. We know that he works wonderfully in every providence of life. We know who he is. And we know that Christ loved us before the foundation of the world, that he died in our place, that his blood washes us clean, that his resurrection is for our everlasting life and justification. He's interceding for us now. Do you really think that God can intercede for you daily, and you can't control your mouth? Do you really believe that? We might not say we would, but very often our lives do it. Yeah, well, I'm just that way. I mean, it's just the way I came. Yeah, that's the way you came, but Christ saved you to transform it. sobriety, self-control. It's all of grace. It's all by faith in the Lord Jesus. See, we've got a Christianity out there that doesn't love Jesus. We've got a Christianity out there that doesn't change. It looks like, watches, listens to everything that the world does. And it's usually three or four years behind the world and doesn't do it nearly as well as the world. It's a weak, omnipotent, I would say joke, but there's nothing funny about it. It is irrelevant. It's not dangerous. True Christianity is dangerous, not in a guns and bombs way. True Christianity is dangerous because it's changed people telling other people how to change in Christ. Now, all of this means we have to know who we are. We have to know who Christ is. We have to know what he's done in us as well as what he's done for us. And then we need, by faith, to begin to walk according to who and what we are. Are we new creatures or not? If we are, all the seeds of sobriety and self-control have not been shortchanged. You have them. You've got to believe God. I've got such a bad temper. Yeah, I can appreciate that. I know what a bad temper's like. But I also know that God helps us to mortify them. Or something we haven't preached enough, and I know I have not preached it enough, is the mortification of sin. It is one of the most important parts of the Christian life. And that's all part of self-control. I see and I know. I mean, when someone comes to me and says, I sinned again, I always do this to them. What were the circumstances? What were you doing? How did it happen? Very often, it's the same thing I heard last time. And it's like, what do you need to do to stop that? What do you need to do to stick the broomstick in the spokes of the wheel? What are you doing to mortify it? Sobriety. Paul is here declaring, he is describing and he is declaring the habitual inner self-government. Remember those words, the inner self-government with its constant reign on all the passions and desires which would hinder the temptation to immodesty from arising. In other words, you can control it. I'm not saying it's gonna be easy. I'm not saying it will not be without sometimes an exceptionally fierce battle. But we've got the armor of God, the sword of the Spirit. We've got everything infinitely necessary to walk this life. It's all in Christ. It's all of grace. But it's a reality that we must lay hold of by faith. Women exercising sobriety has a woman exercising sobriety has understanding about practical matters and is therefore able to act sensibly. Where does that come from? Well. If you've got good, faithful Christian parents, or even parents that just had common sense, you can learn some of those things from them. But ultimately, this rises up from the Holy Spirit and God's glorious truth from the Word. By the power of God's Spirit and grace, a Christian woman has command over her bodily passions. And so do men. Self-control is a gift of grace, the product of faith, and an evidence of conversion. Because the Spirit of God is all part of God's plan to make us like Christ. So we have to learn how to mortify the deeds of the body. We have to learn how to walk using the will that God has given us. Well, we will end with this tonight. I had a number of applications, but we're not gonna get there this evening. So, as we conclude part one, it will be with this. What then does Paul mean by encouraging the women to modest apparel? What does he mean by that? Taking all these words, taking these five words and putting them together and thinking about the context that we see them in, Christian modesty is the inner self government rooted in a proper understanding of oneself before God. Which is outwardly displayed in humility and purity from a genuine love of Jesus Christ. The inner self-government rooted in a proper understanding of oneself before God, which is outwardly displayed in humility and purity from a genuine love for Jesus Christ. And where do you get that love? You can't buy it at the store. You can't order a gallon of it. Where do you get it? You get it from coming to the Holy Word. and bathing in Christ's love for you. Learning who he is, how glorious, how holy, how pure, how selfless, how sacrificial he was for fools like me, sinners like you. We come and we see him, whether it be hanging on the cross or seated at the father's right hand. It's all for his people, all because he loves his people. That's our resting place. When that love grips our hearts, it kindles a love that we show back with our lives for his glory now and forever. Amen. Thank you, Lord, for your kindness. Help us now. Help us as we go. Take these truths. Take these words in these thoughts and help us to think them through. And, oh, God, I pray that that would help us to be a people that are not, quote, modest out of some legalistic pride, out of some desire just to be different, but that every aspect of our lives is to be to thy glory out of love for thee. We prayed in Jesus's name. Amen. Let's stand. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will. working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's go in the name of the Lord.