Bible Study -John 19/Truth - 8/24/21
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Review: Do you have a Lord?
Review: Do you have a Lord?
Last week we ended with, their statement “We have no God but Caesar.” One reason they had gotten to that point was because they ceased to fear God.
Pilate gives us an example here.
Earlier in the meeting with Jesus, he asked the question: What is truth?
Truth
What is 2 plus 3 ?
Ok, but how about 1 plus 4?
Now you might say that the answers to both questions are 5,
But what if I would tell you, that that answer is good for you, but not for me. I feel the answer should be 6. That is my truth.
Though it clearly states he thought Jesus was innocent, through pressure from the people, had Jesus crucified.
His actions didn’t line up with his beliefs.
Cognitive Dissonance
The felling we have when our actions don’t line up with our beliefs.
You might consider yourself an honest person, but you lie about something.
That uncomfortable feeling, is your mind trying to jive this belief you have about yourself, and the actions that you have taken.
More than 60 percent of born again Christians in America say there’s more than one way to get to Heaven.
Millennials and Generation Z Christians – between the ages of 18 and 39 say that Buddha, Muhammad and Jesus are all valid paths to salvation.
More than 30 percent of young Christians even believe that Jesus was a sinner. It’s a stunning development.
So what happens when a person lives in cognitive dissonance too long?
1. One result is they no longer feel strongly about truth.
a. This is where compromise lives. We say we believe the bible, but we don’t line up our lives completely to it.
b. To solve this dissonance, we justify, or change our beliefs.
Craig Groschel wrote a book about it called “Practical Atheists” when we say that we believe in God, but we live as if there is no God.
In our math example, what is truth? Where do we refer for the proof that 2 plus 2 is four?
The laws of mathematics existed before there was a man to make the concept concrete! Before man was, one plus one equalled two. Long after man ceases to exist, it is still true. It is because God is the one that created us! He created math.
The law is true.
We can ignore it, try to change it, scream loudly that we don’t believe it, tell everyone it’s just not fair, but it is still the law.
There are moral absolutes also.
These laws, before ever written down for man to read, where written in our hearts. We inherently understand that there is good and evil. We understand to crush an innocent baby is wrong. To violently attack an innocent person and take their life is wrong, evil.
How do we understand this? Because before it was ever written down, God wrote it in our conscience.
Now we have the written evidence in God’s Word.
To most of us, that should be a relief. We no longer have to wonder where the lines are drawn, we have evidence, laws, that show us what is right and wrong.
Yet many choose to take those truths, and play loosely with them.
**the porn producer who proclaims salvation but doesn’t change
**the stripper who said God said it was ok to keep stripping
Most of us see this as ridiculous!
If we change, from having “No god but Caesar...” to Jesus being our Lord and Savior, we understand that our actions must change or all of our words are empty.
In John’s gospel, they put to death Jesus, rather than admitting that their ideas were wrong!
Holiness – the Beauty of Modesty
Holiness in our dress
Intro: Jesus shared
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
Having the inside of the heart purified must come first, and
then the outside should follow! Secondly, we should grow in grace and in the knowledge of the
Lord. Leaders should set the example in how Christians should dress and present themselves as
living witnesses of the change wrought inside the soul through the salvation of Jesus, the Holy
Ghost baptism, and one’s walk with God. How would Jesus dress me? He dressed Adam and
Eve.
I. The Bible roots dealing with dress begin with Genesis chapter 3
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his
wife, and were not ashamed.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
The word "coats" used here is from the Hebrew word, 'ketho neth," which can be
translated tunic or coat
C. God made this important, and it is not an optional topic to be avoided
II. The Bible teaches against revealing and viewing nakedness
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told
his two brethren without. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their
shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces
were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
A. In Leviticus Chapters 18 specifically but also in Chapter 20, there many warnings about
uncovering the nakedness of family members.
6 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.
their nakedness: I am the LORD.
C. While these verses are also speaking of right and wrong relationships, it is speaking in
direct reference to the fact that God doesn’t want nakedness exposed.
D. When discussing modest dress, the object of concern is not necessarily the clothes
themselves, but the nakedness that they are intended to cover up.
E. Until we understand what God calls nakedness, and that He considers it sin to reveal or to
view, we are somewhat missing the point. Exposing nakedness is a shame.
3 Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
vengeance, and I will not meet thee as a man.
G. The pattern continues that God wants our nakedness covered always.
8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.
time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware
unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
The Beauty of Holiness
I. Here the God is also speaking of their spiritual condition, but does He not use an
illustration of accepted truth in the natural to prove His point in the spiritual?
III.The New Testament deals with outward appearance.
9 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;
1. Modest – kosmios– well ordered, moderate, regular, or well behaved. Translated
"modest" (1Tim. 2:9) and "of good behavior" (1 Timothy 3:2).
9 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;
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
2. Apparel – katastole – apparel, equipment, dress, or clothing.
The thought is clearly clothing of good behavior
1. Shamefacedness – aidos: a sense of shame or honor, modesty, bashfulness,
reverence, regard for others, respect. Modesty is defined as, “Freedom from conceit or
vanity; propriety in dress, speech, or conduct; decent; limited in size, amount or aim;
humble; shy; chaste.”
2. Sobriety – sophrosune: soundness of mind, self control, sobriety. Sobriety is
soundness of mind; in Acts 26:25, is is “soberness;” in 1 Timothy 2:9, 15, “sobriety;”
25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.
9 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;
15 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.
"sound judgment" expresses the meaning. It is that habitual inner self–government,
with its constant rein on all the passions and desires and hinder the temptation to these
from arising.”
3. The word "sobriety" seems to indicate an inner strength and self-government.
God’s instructions indicate that a Christian woman would demonstrate through her
apparel temperance in desires and passions. Her appearance would be characterized
by restraint and self–control (rather than indulgence). Sobriety is visible in a Godly
woman’s clothing and appearance.
6. It is interesting that the definition of the Greek word katastole seems to imply
something long and “let down” rather than short or “hiked up.”
a) Paul was here exhorting women who were already wearing loose, long garments to
be modest!
7. Adam Clarke in his Commentary on the New Testament had this to share: “The
apostle seems to refer here to different parts of the Grecian and Roman dress. The
stola seems to have been originally very simple. It was a long piece of cloth, doubled
in the middle, and sewed up on both sides, leaving room only for the arms; at the tip,
a piece was cut out, or a slit made, through which the head passed. It hung down to
the feet, both before and behind, and was girded with the zona round the body...The
katastole seems to have been the same as the pallium or mantle, which being made
nearly in the form of the stola, hung down to the waist, both in back and front, was
gathered on the shoulder with a band or buckle, and a hole or slit at top for the head to
pass through, and hung loosely over the stola, without being confined by the
girdle...A more modest and becoming dress than the Grecian was never invented...It
was too rational to last long; and too much like religious simplicity to be suffered in a
land of shadows, and a world of painted outsides.”
23 and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
spotted by the flesh. Clothing can be stained spiritually.
Whether for lasciviousness or fleshly convenience, what is our attitude concerning certain
manners of dress?
1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.
3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
4 But 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.
5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
IV. There should be a distinction of sexes in dress
5 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.
neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto
the LORD thy God.
Some balk at this verse, but it describes God’s feelings about unisex fashions.
B. The origin of pants began with the priesthood
1. God had warned Moses concerning the public ascent to the Altar of Burnt Offering –
they wore robes but they were warned to not expose themselves.
26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
be not discovered thereon.
3. The Lord instituted a new type of garment beginning with the priesthood – Pants for
men.
40 And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.
41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:
from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach:
5. God always uses the ministry to set the example, and an entire cultures have been
affected.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
b) Polygamy is against the law now in most cultures, but it began by example.
6. It’s been shared, There might be a modest pair of pants for a woman, but thats not the
reason that they wear them and a modest pair of pants have not been seen!
7. In the Bible days, women did not wear crotched garments. Pants have a crotch. Men
in the Bible days wore crotch garments. Not only that, women in any society did not
wear pants until close to the middle of last century. Pants are called britches in the
Bible, and britches were worn exclusively by men for the first 5,950 years of human
existence (which means up until about sixty to seventy years ago).
8. Though society has changed, God’s feelings have not.
C. The uncovering of the thigh is mentioned as part of the shame of judgment.
1. Isaiah 47:2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: Uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, Uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.
2. How long is long? Which lengths could undeniably be classified as long? Are there
sleeves? What is the motivation to wear skirts as short as one can get by with?
3. Should not the question be: Is the nakedness covered?
D. The history of religious standards of dress and modesty in the United States reveals some
important points.
1. Makeup was illegal in the Colonies before the Revolutionary War.
2. All churches promoted wearing of dresses for women and pants for men until the 40’s
and 50’s as the Holiness Movement extended to the churches in America.
3. In the Air Force in the 1960’s, a lady could not enter the Commissary unless she was
wearing a skirt or dress (no pants allowed).
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The Beauty of Holiness
4. Also, long shorts on men has risen as an issue. Some say they are ok, but they should
have the same standards as a woman, below the knee sitting down. New Christians
and those who not aware of God’s holiness should not be given a litmus test of these
standards. Someone unacquainted with holiness may wear certain things, but a
minister or educated Christian should never lower their standards.Galatians 2:18 For
18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. (out of
context but meaning applies).
5. This isn’t about being critical, judgmental, or holier than thou, but rather the sharing
of leadership uniformity that the standards be set for example and not for legalism.
6. This is not a New Testament Christian Church thing either, but rather, there are many
published writings that promote these same general guidelines from many sources,
and Bible verses and historical backgrounds are used throughout.
7. The Holiness of God is what makes people beautiful in His sight.
8. Psalm 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in
2 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
the beauty of holiness. Psalm 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness:
9 O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness: Fear before him, all the earth.
fear before him, all the earth. 2 Chronicles 20:21 And when he had consulted with
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.
the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of
holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his
mercy endureth for ever. 1 Chronicles 16:29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto
29 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name: Bring an offering, and come before him: Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty
of holiness.
V. Lasciviousness is also a major issue
It refers to the practice of debauchery, lewdness, or licentiousness. In a word, to be lascivious
is to be lustful. Lasciviousness was condemned not only by Jesus, but also by Jude and the
apostles Peter and Paul. Interestingly, the word lasciviousness is not used in the more modern
Bible translations, but is found in the older versions such as the King James Version.
A. Lascivious behavior may include the method of dress when the goal is to appear sexy or
sensual. Lasciviousness also encompasses viewing sexually explicit media. This would
include salacious magazines, movies, and television, as well as outright pornography.
Numerous studies have shown that pornography is highly addictive, and countless
marriages have been destroyed as a result of it.
B. Proverbs 7:10–11 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and
10 And, behold, there met him a woman With the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn; Her feet abide not in her house:
subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house...
C. Despite the fact that this woman was married (Proverbs 7:19–20), her clothes revealed
19 For the goodman is not at home, He is gone a long journey:
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, And will come home at the day appointed.
her heart i.e. what was inside was revealed through her dressing!
D. Lascivious behavior is prevalent in the work environment where both men and women
work in close proximity. Sexual harassment laws have helped curtail unwanted advances
from fellow–workers, but flirting, suggestive touching, and inappropriate language are
commonplace. Lasciviousness is also exemplified in worldly dancing.
E. Without question, today’s postmodern society encourages men and women to be “sexy,”
but we must understand that Christians are to be virtuous.
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The Beauty of Holiness
F. 1 Corinthians 6:19–20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a
price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
G. It’s important to understand that those who indulge in lasciviousness are putting their
souls in dire jeopardy as well as the others that would be ensnared consciously or not.
H. Habakkuk 2:15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to
15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, That puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, That thou mayest look on their nakedness!
him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
I. If we cause someone to lust after us intentionally, the Lord will hold us accountable!
VI. It’s the ministry that must set the standard and hold the holiness line
A. Some many times we are looking for a checklist, or set of rules… which is the easy way
out. Checklists foster a "minimalist" attitude about Christianity… "how little can I do and
successfully keep the rules?" The motive behind that is "how much can I sin, and still be
acceptable?”
B. The Bible gives a warning: Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto
13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
C. Christianity is not legalism or performance based, but rather we are saved by grace, not of
works. Many confuse holiness with the outward appearance only, but inwardly, if there is
envy, jealousy, bitterness, and hatred, then first a work of salvation grace is necessary.
D. But our society has become fleshly, immodest, unholy, and sexually driven.
E. The ministry must teach anew what used to be understood and acceptable mode of dress.
F. None of this is a church–required dress code but rather the ministry is to set an example.
G. The beauty of holiness is that which looks natural, neither dowdy nor synthetic.
Conclusion: Our primary emphasis is reaching people with the message of the Lord Jesus
Christ. However, real Christianity works from the inside out (get the inside clean, the outside
will come clean according to Jesus). Holiness is from the inside of our heart, and as we grow in
grace and in the knowledge of the Lord, we’ll learn our liberties in the Lord, but also keep our
separation from the world as He commanded. 1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for
16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
I am holy.