(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, so the topic for tonight's sermon is actually going to be a doctrinal subject that we're going to be covering. And we're going to be covering the issue of female pastors or female preachers, right? The Joyce Meyers of this world, the people who are going up and standing up behind a pulpit and running a church and pastoring. And we're going to see what the Bible has to say about all this. And I'll tell you right up front, it's not right, it's unbiblical, it's unscriptural for females, for women to be pastoring churches and to be up there and preaching. But we're going to look at all the evidence tonight. And the reason why we started, you say, well, why in the world are you starting Judges chapter 4, best of versions? Well, I'm going to start off by just kind of answering some of the things I've heard from other people who want to argue about this subject before we just get into the really meat and bones, clear-cut Scriptures and New Testament. They'll bring up, well, what about these other women in the Bible? What about them? What about, for example, here in Judges chapter 4, what about Deborah? I mean, she was the judge of Israel, so how could you say that women shouldn't be ruling or don't have a position like this if we have stories like this in the Bible of women that were in charge and doing these types of things? Well, we're going to cover all that, okay? Now first of all, I just want to mention that just because the Bible records things as happening doesn't mean that that was necessarily in God's will, that that's the way God wanted it to be, that that's the way it was supposed to be. I go into an example all the time of people who have multiple wives. God does not condone multiple wives. He has parts of His law that are there because He knows people who have multiple wives, and there are people in the Bible, that great men of the Bible have had multiple wives, okay? But it's never, that is not the way that God has designed it. You know, in the beginning God created male and female that they too should become one flesh. Therefore shall a man leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and all throughout the Bible, that is what you're going to see that is commonly taught. People do other things, I get it, but that is not a justification for that to be the right way. Let's look here at the story of Deborah, and let's look at verse number one where we start off, and you know the book of Judges is a great book, all kinds of exciting things going on, but you'll notice that God raises up these judges, these leaders, these people that go and will lead the whole nation out of trouble, because what happens consistently throughout this book is that children of Israel get into sin, they forsake God, they get into all kinds of trouble, God brings some judgment on them, and then they're being persecuted, then they're being, you know, having these nations really hard on them, and then they get right with God, they repent, they call out to God, God help us, you know, and He then raises up a judge, He raises up a deliverer, and that's where you see Samson, and here is just referencing Ehud from the previous chapter. You know, these men that God is raising up to free them from their bondage, free them from their persecution, to get them right back on track with God. It's a thing that just goes back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. So we're starting off here in verse number one, it says, and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ehud was dead. So we start off with just showing us, they went right back to their old ways, they're doing evil, they're doing wickedness. Verse number two, and the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin, king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor. The captain of Ussos was Sisera, which dwelt in Herosheth of the Gentiles. So, God says, okay, you're doing evil, now you're going to go into bondage, now you're going to be evil-intreated by this other kingdom, right? And that's the way God deals with the nations all the time. Look at verse number three. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, for He had nine hundred chariots of iron, and twenty years He mightily oppressed the children of Israel. For twenty years they're being oppressed. And they cry out unto God. They've had enough. They say, okay, God, we're sorry, help us out here. Verse number four says, and Deborah, a prophetess, and we're going to get into that word prophetess a little bit later, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. Now, it's important to note here, too, that she was already the judge. She is not the judge that God raised up to deliver the children of Israel out of their oppression. She was actually the one in charge just at that time. And we're going to see here in this story that the person that God actually raises up to do the delivering is Barak. But Barak was a weak man. Barak was not willing to do the job. He was not willing to stand up and quit himself like a man and do what he's supposed to do. He was a weakling. And it shows that. And I think it's kind of funny that we have a president now that shares the same name with Barack Obama, right? As a weak president, a weak man. And I think it's just ironic that he has that name with this other guy. But at least Barak in the Bible here, he actually did end up doing a good work. But, so you know the story. He goes, let's just keep reading here a little bit more. Verse number 5. And she dwelt under the palm trees of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim. The children of Israel came up to her for judgment. And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinuam out of Kadesh Naphtali and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and the children of Zebulun. So she has to call on Barak and say, look, hasn't God told you to do this? You know, people are going to her for judgment and she's saying, you know, she's deferring them. Now look, I also want to say, there's not anything in here saying that Deborah is a bad woman or doing necessarily anything wrong. I mean, she's directing it the way that it's supposed to go. You know, in many cases, you'll have women that end up in these positions that they aren't supposed to be in, but it's not really their fault. You know, a lot of times it's because of the fault of the man. For example, when you have a husband and a wife, and we're going to get to some of those verses in a little bit, but God designed that the man is supposed to be the head of the household. But when a man is not filling that role and he's not leading and he's not taking charge and he's not doing things, well, one has to. And when, as a man, you just leave this big void there, it's not surprising when the wife ends up filling that role. And because things need to get done. I mean, someone needs to be in charge. Someone needs to be making commands. Someone needs to be taking action. And God has put it in the man's job. But see, we're going to see the same attitude with Barak, right? So she's telling him, look, Barak, hasn't God said, like, get your army together and go up there and he'll deliver them unto you? Verse number seven, and I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon, Sisor, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude. I will deliver them unto thine hand. And look what Barak says in verse eight. And Barak said unto him, if thou wilt go with me, then I will go. But if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go. He's saying, well, only if you come with. All right, well, maybe I'll do it, but you've got to be there with me. You know, you've got to strengthen me. Come on, Barak. You know, quit you like men. Get yourself strong in the Lord. Gird up your loins like a man, Barak, and go out and fight the battle. You don't need Deborah to hold your hand while you go out and fight a battle for the Lord. But that was the attitude that he had. And she said, and then look at verse number eight, and she said, I will surely go with thee, notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine hour, for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kadesh. She's saying, okay, you know, I'll go with you. And this is a result of his own actions. And if he wasn't saying this to her, he would have gotten the honor. But she says, fine, I'm going to go with you, but you know what now? The honor that you would have gotten from winning this great battle, it's going to go into a woman, you know, unto a woman. And he's like, whatever, fine, I don't care. And anyways, turn if you would to Isaiah chapter three. Because we could see from this story, God was calling Barak to be the judge, not Deborah. God's will was that Barak would go and do the judging and raise up that judge. Now, in Isaiah chapter three, we're going to see here that actually having a woman rule over you is a curse. It's not a good thing. So it's no surprise that when we saw the beginning of Judges chapter four, that the children of Israel did evil while Deborah was the judge over them, because they were being cursed. Look at Isaiah chapter three, verse number eight, before we're going to start reading. For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord to provoke the eyes of his glory. The show of their countenance of the witness against them and they declare their sin as Sodom. They hide it not. Woe unto their soul for they have rewarded evil unto themselves. Say to the righteous that it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked. It shall be ill with him for the reward of his hand shall be given him. Look at verse number 12, as for my people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them. Oh my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths. And that's just a small section. You can read the entire chapter on your own later, but we see here Jerusalem's ruined. Judah's fallen. Why? Because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord. They are living in weakness. They are living contrary to the way God wants them to walk and he's saying, look, they declare their sin as Sodom. They're getting really bad and as a result, as for my people, children are their oppressors. The whole society is being turned upside down. Instead of children respecting their elders, instead of children, you know, listening and being obedient, they become rebellious and they become the oppressors against the people they should be honoring and respecting. It's completely turned on its head and also it says women rule over them. Instead of the man ruling, instead of the man taking charge and leading, now all of a sudden the roles are reversed. And it's a curse. And it says, oh my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err. And this is where we're at in America by the way. That's why we have a female running for president. Now look, I am not against women at all. I'm not against women. But I am smart enough to know that God has designed us differently. And as you read the scripture, you'll find that to be true. God has given us different skills, different abilities, different functions in society, in the family, in general. That men are better at certain things, women are better at other things. I love women. I love women that are feminine and love their God-given role that the Bible gives them. And I love men that are manly men that fulfill their God-given role that God has given to them. One is not better than the other, but there are different jobs. You know, Jesus Christ himself, you say, oh, but being the ruler is the greatest job. Well, Jesus said, you know, whoever's going to be great among you, let him be a servant. Right? So in God's eyes, God doesn't view things the same way that men do. And we need to get out of this concept of, oh, well, you're only worth something if you do the jobs that men do. Because God doesn't see value in that. God sees value in people doing what He's told them to do. And performing the tasks that He wants them to do. Turn if you would to Exodus chapter 15. I'm just going to briefly summarize, because the people that people bring up is, Deborah's a really good example here. I think I've illustrated you could see that, you know, Deborah's not like, not that she's necessarily, you know, the one that was trying to gain control over anything. It's just the way it worked out. In my opinion, that's the way it happened. We don't know all that much about Deborah. But she was doing the right thing of saying, you know, Barak, you should be the one, you know, judging, you should be the one leading the people in fighting this fight. And was pushing it off on him. We get the story of Ruth. Right? But see, Ruth wasn't a leader at all. Ruth was a Moabite. But you see, people like to throw names out there because they know that Ruth's a female name and there's a book of the Bible called Ruth. Right? Why is there a book of the Bible called Ruth if women aren't supposed to? Well, she wasn't a leader at all. She was of the country of Moab, one of the heathen countries. When Elimelech took his family out there and was fleeing from Israel because there was a famine, one of his sons married Ruth. He died. His sons died. So it was just Ruth and Naomi, her mother-in-law, left in the land. Ruth was a godly woman. She got saved. She loved the Lord. She took on the God of the Jews. She took on the Lord as her Lord. She put her faith in Him. And she was a godly woman who wouldn't leave her mother-in-law. She said, you know what? No, I'm going to stick with you. I'm going to help you out. I'm going to be dutiful unto you because she was left alone. So she went back into the land of Israel and ended up marrying Boaz and got honor in that she was a great-great-grandmother to King David or whatever. But the entire time she was an example of a godly woman, just like Sarah was in the Bible. But at no point was she ever some ruler or leading people. She was very humble and meek in the work that she did. Esther is another example. Now she became a queen, but she wasn't the ruler. The ruler in the kingdom was the king, King Ahasuerus. He was the one in charge. And that is evident in the story. You read all the chapters in Esther. She couldn't even go and see the king unless he called her. That was the law of the land. I mean, he ruled the land. And it was one of those things. She could be put to death if she went in unannounced unto the king. That's, you know, just to give you hope. But she's the queen. Yeah, but that was her role. He was in charge. And the reason why she even became the queen in the first place is because Vashti was not an obedient wife. Because she did not come when King Ahasuerus called unto her. But Esther was. She was another godly example of a woman who did great things, who was self-sacrificial. But again, she was not a ruler. She gained favor because of her humility and because of her godly character. So there's those two examples you can't even use as real examples. But I had to turn to Exodus 15. We're going to look at a few examples of the word prophetess in the Bible. So we're going to look at first, we're going to start with the positive or neutral references to a prophetess. And then there's a couple of negative references to a prophetess in the Bible. And it's only mentioned like five times or something. So it's not that much. We're going to look at all the examples of a prophetess being mentioned in the Bible. Because what you find more often than not is a prophet. A prophet of the Lord. Exodus 15, we're going to see Miriam. Miriam was Aaron and Moses' sister. Exodus 15, verse number 20 in the Bible reads, And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand. And all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. And you don't read very much about Miriam in general in the Bible. She's got a few references. But you never see her leading. The most you're going to see is right here when she goes out and these other women follow her. And she's just singing a song unto the Lord and kind of leading this singing of all these women. Not some big charge. And actually, when Aaron and Miriam were kind of confronting Moses about him being in charge, what happened to Miriam? She became leprous. That was God's judgment on her. Saying, oh, you think you're going to be the leader? No. And he made her a leper for a week. And, you know, Moses, of course, interceded for her. But she was also not a leader. But it calls her a prophetess. And that's not a bad thing. And it's not calling it a bad thing in this context either. And I'll just read these for you. You don't have to turn to all these examples. Because I'm just going to point out, I'm just going to read these where it talks about prophetesses. We saw Deborah already in Judges 4. It says, and Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidus, she judged Israel at that time. Huldah, in 2 Kings 22, says, So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahicham and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Azahiah went unto Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shalom, the son of Tikvah, the son of Haras, keeper of the wardrobe. Now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the college, and they communed with her. And 2 Chronicles has the same exact, almost the same exact sentence as this one. It's another recount of the same exact story about Huldah. And what I want you to notice here is the prophetess, and turn if you would to Isaiah 8, because I want you to see this one. Isaiah chapter 8. We saw Miriam the prophetess, then the next words are the sister of Aaron. Deborah a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth. Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shalom. It's interesting how right when it calls them a prophetess, it's saying who they're married to, or who they're related to. I think that's important. And when you look at Isaiah chapter 8, we'll see why. This is Isaiah doing the narration in Isaiah chapter 8. Look at verse number 1. Moreover, the Lord said unto me, Take thee a great roll, and write in it with a man's pen concerning Mehar-shal-el-hashbaz. And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Zeb-jebarachaim. And I went unto the prophetess, and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the Lord to me, Call his name Mehar-shal-el-hashbaz. So it says here, he went unto the prophetess. Who do you think is he referring to there? His wife. Isaiah was a prophet. He says he went unto the prophetess, and she conceived, and bare a son. And I think we see here that as it's referring to these prophetesses, I think there's something to be said that they are maybe the spouses or relatives of these prophets. And they're also called prophetesses. Now, in Luke chapter 2, in verse 36 the Bible reads, And there was one Anna a prophetess, the daughter of Fenuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and she had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And this is the story of when Jesus Christ was born, and he was brought into the temple. There was the one man that was told by the Holy Ghost that he was not going to die before he saw the Savior. And then there was also this woman, this great godly woman who came in and basically blessed the child also. Now, if you're not buying the prophetess thing, being maybe someone who's related or being a wife of someone, that's fine because prophetess still doesn't mean that they're necessarily in charge or ruling anything anyways. And that's kind of the other point that goes with this, and we're going to get to that a little bit later. But someone who's a prophet, someone who's a prophet or a prophetess, male or female, someone who's considered a prophet, in our terms today, we think of a prophet as someone who's foretelling the future. Someone who's talking about something that hasn't happened yet and they're prophesying of future events. Well, that's not always the case when it comes to Bible prophecy. It doesn't always have to do with future events. Really, when you read through the Bible and you study it out, a prophet is really a preacher. Someone who's going to preach God's words. Someone who is reiterating or speaking the words that God has spoken and they are being a prophet of the Lord. They are speaking for God and with God's words, of course. That's evident when you look at Proverbs chapter 31 when it says the words that were spoken on King Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. And you read Proverbs 31, it talks about the virtuous woman and there's nothing in there regarding future events at all. But it was still the prophecy that his mother had taught him. And it's all this great wisdom about finding a godly wife and all that stuff. So you can find that there just as a little bit of evidence for a prophet being someone that just preaches God's word. Now, let's look at a couple of the negative references in... Turn to Revelation chapter 2. There's two negative references to prophetesses in the Bible. In Nehemiah 6.14, the Bible says, My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noah-diah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear. So here we see a prophetess that was against Nehemiah and against the work that he was doing, among many other prophets, but it calls her out by name. But then in Revelation chapter 2, this one's really interesting in verse number 18, we're going to start reading. Revelation 2.18, And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass. I know thy works and charity and service and faith and thy patience and thy works, and the last to be more than the first. Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. Now, at verse number 20, there's a lot of things going wrong in this picture at this church. It's not just any one thing, but we can't discount. So let's read it again, verse number 20. Now I'm saying I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest, which means you allow, that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach. So one of the things he has against them is that they're allowing this woman Jezebel to teach, but not only to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, so that's another sin that she's doing, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. They're allowing a woman to teach. They're, you know, she's seducing the people to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. All three of those things. You can't just say, well, the bad thing is committing fornication and sacrificing unto idols, and ignore that they're suffering Jezebel to teach and, you know, that woman to teach. And if you look at that, the phraseology, look at the way that's written. We're going to get there in a little bit, but I'll just quote this for you. In 1 Timothy 2, 12, the Bible reads, but I suffer not a woman to teach. So right there in 1 Timothy, we're going to get to that in a little bit. I want you to turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. But one of the problems with the church in Thyatira was they were allowing this woman Jezebel to teach, and she was doing all kinds of horrible things on the side of that church. But now let's get in, you know, those are some of the examples of female preachers or prophetesses or rulers that you're going to find in Scripture, and nowhere do we really see that that's something that God has ordained or that any of it is really, I mean, nothing is very convincing to me. And keep that in light of what we're going to be reading now. Because now we're just going to get into the hardcore doctrine of what the Bible actually says about this subject, mostly in the epistles of Paul, if not completely. In 1 Timothy chapter 3, we're going to start reading in verse number 1. And this is a chapter that gives you the guidelines for what it calls here, you know, a bishop or an elder or a pastor. Those three words are used synonymously in the Bible. So if you want to have someone as a bishop of your church, we're going to follow these guidelines in 1 Timothy chapter 3. Look at verse number 1. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. It's a good thing for someone to want to be a bishop, right? A bishop then must be blameless. They must be blameless. They must be the husband of one wife. Now right there, I mean, that kind of discounts someone from being a female because if you're supposed to be the husband of one wife, I don't see how females are going to be a husband of one wife. She would be the wife of one husband. But, you know, a lot of people don't like that argument. Let's keep going. Vigilant, sober of good behavior, given to hospitality, you have to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? And I think this is a really important attribute of a pastor or a bishop that ought to be used when determining if someone is eligible to be a pastor of a church because he's saying, look, you need someone that knows how to run his own house. And he puts in parentheses there, you know, if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how is he going to lead a church where there's a lot more people there, there's a lot more overseeing to do over a church if you can't even handle your own family? Now keep a finger here. We're going to be coming back. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 11. We're going to look at a few verses here where God does establish the man to be the ruler of his own house. I mean, we're reading the guidelines here for a bishop, and if they're supposed to be ruling their own house well as one of the criteria, but then we see in other places that the Bible says the man is supposed to be ruling his house well, then how could you say, well, the woman's ruling her house well when it's not the job she's even supposed to be doing in the first place? 1 Corinthians 11, verse number 3, the Bible reads, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God. And there we see the headship given of who is in charge of who, right? God says, well, the head of the woman is the man, but the head of the man is Christ. The head of Christ is God. So that's the level of authority that goes in there, and that she is supposed to be subservient or submissive unto the man because the man is the head of the household. He runs the house. Now, I don't think it's a shock here. You know, in 1 Corinthians 11, we went over this last week when I preached a sermon on the Satanic music and the rebellion, and we covered this actually. We went a lot more in depth. We're not going to read this against us. We just did last week, but in 1 Corinthians 11, it talks a lot about this head, and you have the symbolic head and then the physical head, and it's talking about the length of people's hair and stuff, and I was saying how the rock stars of the rock and roll era, the real rebellion that they have and the rebellious attitude they have and the long hair on the men is a rebellious act against Christ and dishonors his head, which is Christ. I think that's also why we see all the female pastors out there have the really short hair, like the Joyce Meyers. I think it's the same type of rebellion in action there because the woman, it says here, is supposed to have her head covered and that that's a glory for her, and a man is supposed to have his head uncovered, and of course it shows that the hair is a covering in verse number 15. But if a woman had long hair, it is a glory to her if her hair is given her for a covering, and it defines that. You could read that all on your own later on in 1 Corinthians 11, but turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 5, where we see one more reference here to the headship of the man in the household. Ephesians chapter 5, verse number 22. Ephesians 5, 22 reads, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. The husband's the head. He's the one that is supposed to be ruling the household. You can't get any clearer than this. So if that is the requirement, if that's what God has given the role to the husband, and then one of the requirements for a bishop is that a man needs to be ruling his house well, it only goes to show that he's talking about men filling the job of a bishop. That it ought to be a man. And if that still isn't enough for you, go back to 1 Timothy and we'll look at chapter number 2. Now look, the sermon isn't against women. It's about men and women just doing their proper roles according to God. That's what it's about. It's not because I'm just trying to bash on women. I want women doing women things. I want men doing men things. 1 Timothy chapter number 2. And unfortunately, I think there's a lot of preachers out here that are afraid to step on toes and afraid to say things like this even though it's black and white in the Bible. It's not popular today. I get it. But I'm not running for a popularity contest. 1 Timothy chapter 2, look at verse number 7. The Bible reads, 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 rain, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Look at verse number 11. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. I don't think it could be spelled out any clearer than that. He's saying, look, it is not allowed for women to be speaking in church service. And notice it says, let the woman learn in silence. Because a lot of people say, well, what do you mean? A woman has to be as quiet the entire church service? What about the singing? What about this? What about that? It says to learn in silence. When we do the saying where we're praising God, we're saying worshiping God, it's congregational, that's everybody. But when it comes time for the preaching, when it comes time for the Bible study, when it comes time for this, that's time for learning and that's time for the women to learn in silence. And if you notice, we don't have a lot of it going on here, but you'll hear the men saying, amen, that's right. And showing verbally an agreement with the sermon. That's biblical. That's scriptural. There's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with a man, you know, stating something like that and showing their agreement during a service, during the preaching of the Word. But the woman's supposed to learn in silence. And he goes further to say, I suffer not means I don't allow it. I don't allow a woman to teach. And in this church, a woman will never have a teaching job. Look, it's not because I think women are stupid because they're not. They're very smart. Okay? They have a lot of skills. But one of the jobs that the Bible says is not going to be their job is to teach in the church. I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived. And this is kind of important to look at this too. Adam was not deceived. You know the sin in the Garden of Eden? Eve was deceived by the serpent. Right? The serpent was the one that went to Eve and was saying, hey, yea hath God said, thou shalt surely die. And he's saying how good the fruit is and saying, you know what? God made that rule because he knows you're going to be like God said. You're no good neither. And he kept on, he was tempting her and he was lying to her and he tricked her. Now Adam ate of the fruit also. But Adam didn't eat of the fruit because the devil tempted him. Adam ate of the fruit because his wife brought it to him. And you could argue about why Adam took an ate of the fruit, but it says here he wasn't deceived. He knew what he was doing. I mean, you could say that he knew that his wife had to die and that maybe he was trying to be honorable and noble and he ate then too so he could suffer the same judgment with her. I don't know. I've heard all kinds of different things about that. I simply don't know the answer to that. But the Bible says right here that he wasn't the one that was deceived. And going all the way back to this reason, I think it's demonstrating the difference between the way God created males and females, that it's a little bit easier in general for women to be deceived by Satan than it is for the man. And it says the woman being deceived was in the transgression, not with saying she shall be saved and child bearing if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. And this is the last very clear cut scripture from the New Testament about women not being teachers, not being pastors, not being able to fill that particular role in the church. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Chapter 14, yes sir. 1 Corinthians chapter number 14. And it's basically the same thing that we saw in 1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse number 34 is where we'll start reading. The Bible reads, Let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak. And now he's being very specific in this verse, saying in the churches, right? In church, let your women keep silence, for it is not permitted unto them to speak. But they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. What came the word of God out from you or came it unto you only? And I love this last verse here in verse 37. It's like God knew that this is really going to rub people the wrong way. What do you mean I got to keep silent in the church? He said, If any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual. Oh, you think you're spiritual? You think you know the Bible? You think you're a really spiritual person? He says, Let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. You have to acknowledge if you think you're spiritual, you better acknowledge that these verses here in 1 Corinthians 14, that that's actually the commandments of God. This isn't just Paul being misogynistic. This isn't Paul hating on women because he is brought up in a culture that demeaned women and degraded women. He says, You know what? These are the commandments of God. I got this straight from the word of the Lord. This is what God wants in His church. It's a shame for women to speak. Now, again, I didn't write the Bible. You can be angry with me all you want. You can be angry with God because it's His word. It's not my word. But, you know what? We are going to follow God's word here. And we love God's word and I'm going to preach God's word and I think this is the way it ought to be everywhere. Now, again, I'm not against women at all. But let's regard God's word for what it says and not for what's politically correct in 2016. Let's not look at something and try to change it to mean something else because it doesn't sit right with you or because that's not what I've always thought or that's not what seems right to me. Well, that's what it says. I'm not going to make an excuse for it. Just because a woman is not supposed to be a ruler or a pastor does not mean she cannot do great things for God. There's all kinds of great things. Look, we already gave a couple examples of Esther and of Ruth that did amazing things for God and they have a whole book of the Bible named after them. And their story is written in God's word. It's great. It's amazing. God chose a woman to be the mother of Jesus Christ. It's a great honor bestowed upon her. She was a godly woman. There are many women in the Bible that have been used greatly of God. But when you look at these women, they're godly women. They fit the pattern of what God has told women to be like. And the godly men are fitting the pattern of what God has told the men to be like. One last point on the prophetess thing because I wanted to get back to that. In Acts chapter 2, it says in verse 17, And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my hand maidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. Women can prophesy. But as I mentioned earlier, the prophesying isn't from behind a pulpit. It's not being the bishop. It's not being the elder. It's not being a deacon. We didn't go through the deacon verses, but basically saying the same thing, that they need to rule their own house well and be the husband of one wife and so on. Women can be used greatly of God to preach. To preach God's Word. The older women are supposed to teach the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste keepers at home. Women teach other women that stuff. And that's a good thing. That's what the Bible says that they should be doing. And also, and most importantly, is preaching the Gospel. I believe that's part of prophesying. You'll be preaching the Gospel. If you say, prophecy is only about future events, Jesus Christ is coming back again. Prophesy that. Anytime you tell someone that, you're prophesying. And, I mean, God's promising here to pour out His Spirit on men and women. He wants to use men and women. But He wants to use them in the way that He designed. And it's as simple as that. It's not degrading, I don't think, in any sense. I'm trying to think of a good example. I mean, it's not degrading for women not to be the boss. Okay? Just as much as it's not degrading for me to not give my children food when they're babies. Right? I'm not equipped with that function. I can't do that. Or to have some other job that's specific for a woman's role. Like, if you say, well, you can't do that job. Okay. Well, there's nothing degrading about that because I'm a man. You know, I'm just going to do manly things. And, you know, the woman can do her womanly things. And that's just fine. We don't have to do all the same things all the time. That's just kind of silly. And, oh, just like Anna. You know, when Anna was called a prophetess, just to give you a little bit more insight on this verse here of being prophesying. We already read this, but Luke 2 38, by reason she, coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. She was a soul winner. Anna was that widow and a godly woman. And she spake of Jesus to all them that looked for redemption. She was out there preaching Jesus. She was a prophetess. She was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's something that I believe all women should be doing. But the role of a pastor, the role of an elder, it's, we have the outline. We have the mold. And that's not a job for women. And that's why when we're doing our preaching classes, that's why it's only open for the men. If you're wondering why, it's because I'm teaching men to be, maybe one day, pastors. Those are the skills you have. Or you're going to come up and do the teaching. Because even if you never pastor, you want to come up behind this pulpit sometime and fill a pulpit for me and teach something to the church. Well, we're not going to suffer a woman to teach. We're going to do it the Bible way. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for the clear scripture, dear Lord. I don't understand how, I really don't understand, dear Lord, how people can get this mixed up. Your words are so clear on this issue, dear God. And I just pray that you would please help us not to be deceived by this. And that we would be able to get all of our doctrine straight from your word, dear Lord. And that we wouldn't be easily offended, or offended at all, by what your word teaches us, dear Lord. But that we could just receive it all in honesty and in truth, dear Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.