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

Hey, man, we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and I'm actually preaching out of Exodus 28, which is gonna be what I'm preaching out of tonight, too, so I didn't wanna have to have it read twice today, but I'm preaching a two-part sermon today about the priest's garments. Now, I could probably spend a lot more time in this passage in Exodus, so go ahead and turn to Exodus 28, and we'll come back to 1 Corinthians chapter 11, but Exodus 28 is 43 verses, so it'd be tough to cover that just in one sermon, especially when I'm only covering four verses of it in the first sermon. But my first message out of Exodus 28 is actually going to be more of a preachy-style sermon. It's not gonna be necessarily a Bible study-ish style sermon, although every sermon I preach usually has a lot of Bible in it, so but I wanna preach on three specific subjects that are, and two of the subjects are probably gonna piss people off, but it's the Bible, so the Bible just upsets people anyway, and you could probably just close your eyes and turn to a chapter, and the world's gonna get upset with whatever's in that chapter, and then so-called Christians will get upset about what's in that chapter, and then sometimes even real Christians get upset about what's in that chapter, so we wanna take God's Word at face value, and obviously my opinions are my own opinions, but the Bible says what it says, and people shouldn't get upset about those things, which brings me to my first point, and let's look at Exodus 28, verse one, excuse me, and my first point is that the priests were purely men in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, the leaders of the church are men, purely men. It's not women, so look at Exodus 28, verse one. It says, and take thou unto thee, Aaron thy brother and his sons with him, so obviously Aaron's a man, his sons are men, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, so the priest's office is an actual position, and God is saying that they're supposed to be specific people, and these specific people are supposed to be men that have this office. It says even Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons, so they're specific people, but the first point I wanted to make is that the priests in the Old Testament were purely men, and in the New Testament, that does not change. Now I understand that the Bible says that there's neither male nor female, and that's when it comes to salvation, or who God loves the most. God loves everybody the most. He loves men and women equally. He doesn't just love only men, but God does have an order of things, and the order of things is is that men lead, and that's the way it is in the home. That's the way it's supposed to be in the government. It's supposed to be that way in the home. It's supposed to be that way in the government, and it's supposed to be that way in the church. Now this world has gone topsy-turvy, and inside and out, and there's a lot of things in this world that are just not the way that they're supposed to be, but in God's perfect world, which some day will be, then things are gonna be set right, and in this chapter, God is clearly laying out that his priests are supposed to be men, and that is not downgrading women. That's just how it is. And the office of a priest is a full-time position, and the offerings that came in were used to support those men, but let's look at Genesis chapter three, verse 16 now. Go ahead and turn to Genesis chapter three, verse 16. So why is it that men are the ones that are supposed to be in leadership? Well, I mean, it does go back to the curse. It goes back to the curse, and people will say, well, why are the men leaders? Well, the Bible explains it to us in Genesis 3.16. It says, and this is not a very popular 3.16 verse. Most of the 3.16 verses are, but this is not one that's popular. It says, unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. Who is supposed to be the ruler in the home when it comes to the husband and wife relationship? So you have that term, who wears the pants in the family? It's supposed to be the man that wears the pants in the family. So the man is supposed to rule over the home, and it's supposed to be a benevolent dictatorship. Obviously, I'm not condoning men beating their wives or mistreating their wives, but someone has to be the boss of the home. It can't be a 50-50 split. And in the 60s and 70s, and everything went crazy in this country, and rules got reversed. And now, it's so crazy now that they have, even Disney has changed, all their superheroes are all women now. They've destroyed all their own franchises like they're bankrupting themselves on purpose. They call the Marvel universe now the M-She-You. And they've destroyed the Star Wars franchise and made that all women. It's almost like someone's paying them. Some shadow organization is just paying people to destroy society by making everything about women. I mean, even women's sports is being destroyed by men saying that they're women, and then they're smashing all their records, and nobody's supposed to say anything about it. It's just, we wanna protect women, we wanna stand up for women, except for when it comes to sports, and then a man becomes a woman and then breaks all their records. It's crazy. But if society would just get back to normative behavior that the Bible spells out, then this place would be a lot more tranquil and a lot more normal. So the Bible says that the man shall rule over, the husband shall rule over the wife. So now let's go back to First Corinthians chapter 11. People just have this weird idea that women are made in the image of God also, but that's actually not true. And you're like, well, I thought I was. Well, you're similar to what a man is, and you're a human being, and you're a woman, but that's not actually what the Bible teaches. So look at First Corinthians 11, chapter, verse number two. The Bible says, now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you, but I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man. So talk about the leadership, right? And the head of Christ is God. Now skip down to verse seven, it says, for a man indeed ought not to cover his head for as much as he is the image and glory of God. So who's the image and glory of God? A man, right, isn't that what it says? But the woman is the glory of the man. So is God the glory of the woman or is man? Says man, doesn't it? For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. And look, that shouldn't upset you, that's just the order of things. And God still loves you, you're not lesser than man, but that's just the order of things, that's just how God did things. And look, God is not a woman. But yet, even other religions and a lot of people say, well, when they refer to God, they'll say, well, she. It's like, no, it's not she, it's he. It's the male pronoun, he. And so when God made man after his own image, he made him a male, because God is a male. He's not a female, he's not both parts. He's not a hermaphrodite, he's not both sexes or whatever, he's a man, he's a male pronoun, okay? And the Bible teaches that here very clearly, doesn't it? Now let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. I don't know if I read verse nine in that chapter, but it says, neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. So look, yeah, I think I did, but God knew it was not good for man to be alone. And so he created a help meet for him. And that means fitting. So the women complete us, and help us, and make us, we become one flesh. I'll get to those verses here in a minute, but 1 Corinthians 14, 34. But what I'm really talking about is leadership though here. And it says, and I'm trying to explain why it is the way it is. So 1 Corinthians 14, 34 says, let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. Now people will say, well there's no verse that says in the law, in the Old Testament, that they're supposed to be quiet inside the church. But it says that they're supposed to be under obedience, doesn't it? And did you know that when people say the law, they're talking about Genesis also? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. That's the five books of the law. Now even though Genesis isn't specifically the law of Moses, but it's considered one of the books of the law. So in Genesis 3, 16, it says, he shall rule over thee. This is what it's talking about. Ruling is, you know, if you rule over someone, they're in obedience under you. And so, why would it say they're commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law? Because that is the rule of law in God's world. That's the way he wants it to be. Now look at verse 35, it says, 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. So is God for women preachers, yes or no? No, because they're not permitted to speak in the church. Now people will say, you know, it's not like you have to just like, as soon as you walk in the door. Look, this isn't the church. This is the church building. So when you walk in the church building, I don't expect you to like zip your lip and not talk and just, you know, you're just like, the sign language would be talking anyway. So it's just a different way of talking. But it's talking about during the church services, you're not supposed to be speaking and talking and amen-ing and things like that. During the preaching services, okay, obviously you can sing out to the Lord. We all sing together. You know, if I'm asking you a specific question in like, you know, before prayer time, how's this thing going or whatever. But what I'm not gonna do, is I'm not gonna have a woman get up here and tell their testimony. I'm not gonna have a woman get up here and tell, preach you a short sermon. I'm not gonna have a woman get up here and preach to other women, because the Bible says that that's not, you know, the men are supposed to be the teachers. The men, there's a reason why. But it says, let them ask their husbands at home, for it's a shame for women to speak in the church. So even to ask a question like that in the middle of a service would be wrong. If you have a question, just go home and ask your husband, because they're the ones that are supposed to be your spiritual leaders, and they're supposed to answer that question for you. Now turn to First Timothy chapter three, verse one. First Timothy chapter three, verse number one. And so really, I'm mainly just kind of focusing in on who's supposed to be in leadership, and you know, really, there's three, those spheres of authority in every sphere a man is supposed to be leading. So, you're like, well you're a man, you must really just like that you get to be an authority. Well, I didn't make the rules, you know? I just try to follow them to the best of my ability. But you got churches all over the place where there's co-pastors, you know, they'll put their flyers out and they'll say, pastor and co-pastor, whatever. Or you'll see on the side of their little marquee that says, pastor Joyce whatever, Joyce Myers, and it's just like, that shouldn't be possible. How is it that a woman is a pastor of a church but they're not even supposed to talk in the church? They're not supposed to speak in the church. First Timothy three one says, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Does it say she? No, it's he, if a man desire the office of a bishop. So, and a bishop is an overseer, that's what it means, a bishop is the one that oversees the things in the church. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife. So, and then so obviously it goes on to give the rest of the qualifications, but you have to be the husband of one wife. So how does that work for a woman? And if the man is supposed to be the spiritual leader of the home, and he's just the leader of the home period, then how does that work if your pastor is your wife? How does that work? Well it doesn't work because it's unbiblical and it's wrong. I mean, how does Joyce Meyer's husband sleep at night knowing that his wife bosses him around and tells, she's his spiritual leader and probably tells him what to do at home too. I mean, talk about wearing the pants in the family, I mean, her haircut says it all, doesn't it? And that joker, love that joker, love that smile. Anyway, so it says, we'll skip down to verse four, it says, one that ruleth well his own house. So one of the qualifications of the bishop is that they rule well their own house. So as a man, you have to rule well your own house to be a bishop, and so it does not just fly in the face of a woman being a pastor, yes it does. It says having his children in subjection with all gravity. And if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? So if you have women leading, then you're completely out of balance in two areas of your life right here. If a woman is a pastor, she's ruling the house and she's ruling the church, two spheres of life that they're not supposed to be ruling over. And so how is it possible that women are pastors? Well, people just throw the Bible out and they say, see there's neither male nor female. It's like, that doesn't negate these verses. Show me in the Bible where a woman is a pastor, you can show me places where women lead when men are failing, like Deborah, but she still doesn't lead them into war without Barak going with them. She's like, no you need to go. And he's like, well if you go with me. Obviously they lived in a time of, maybe Barak was wearing skinny jeans, I don't know what was going on back then. But he would only go with her. But at least he finally went and they won. But we're in a time right now where men are being portrayed as these soft, weak men, and really it's kind of becoming true. You know, they're feeding soy to the masses and just, you know, men are apologizing for just existing right now. Especially white men are apologizing for just existing in this world right now. And it's getting ridiculous. But we should never apologize for God's word when it says what it says. You see how offensive this is? Like, when we go out of these walls, this is highly offensive to people. Everything I'm saying right now is super offensive. It says, but look at verse 11. Excuse me, let's turn to First Timothy chapter two, verse 11, First Timothy chapter two, verse 11. I mean, I've showed you several verses already so far. They're pretty clear, right? First Timothy chapter two, verse 11 says, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. So be quiet and learn being in subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. So really, God takes a hard stand against women teaching men and taking authority over men at all. Now, let me just caveat this a little bit, all right? Just because you're a man doesn't give you the right to boss around every woman in the world, all right? So don't get this weird mentality that you're the boss of every woman because you're not. Now, if you're the president or you're the king or something like that, you have some authority over the women that are subject unto you. But there's still other spheres of authority that you would not have subject, you wouldn't have, you know, they wouldn't be subject unto you. So, but yeah, I mean, you're supposed to be, your wife's supposed to be subject unto you, all right? And your children, unto you. So I'm not even the boss of all the women in this church. I'm not, maybe spiritually, and one of the things that pertain to church, I am. But even so, the husband still has more authority in their lives than I do, way more. Now, when it comes to things that are involved in this church, I do have the authority, but husband can go home and say, well, I override that. But there might be consequences to that, you know, when it comes to like things that, you know, if I make a rule and someone just decides to break it and they don't care what I say, well, there's gonna be consequences to that rule. But it doesn't mean, you know, I don't have ultimate authority over people here. This is not a cult, you know, people wanna keep calling it that, but that's not what it is, so. Anyway, it says, I suffer not a woman to teach, nor do you serve authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. So explain to us why. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. So, you know, the consequences of Eve being deceived, you can thank her, ladies, is that, you know, she was deceived. And so because she was the one that was deceived by the serpent, Adam was not deceived, then that's why God does not allow women to teach or serve authority. That was part of the curse. Remember in Genesis chapter three, that the man will rule over you. So, now turn to Genesis 1, 26. Genesis chapter one, verse 26. I kinda saw this, like, argument going on online about how talking about something to the effect of how women, how we're not created in God's image or women are created in God's image and it's just like, I mean, it flies in the face of scripture, it just does. But again, I'm not downgrading women or saying that women are bad or wrong or whatever. It just, you have to teach the Bible and truth. You can't just make it say what you want. And I'm definitely not down on women. I'm married to one. I love women. I have daughters, I have many granddaughters. And I love them all. I don't downgrade them or think they're lesser than me. Of course I don't. That's ridiculous. You think I'd rather be with a man? Living with a man? No. You think I'd want my boys to come move back in with me over having my wife at my house? You're crazy. First of all, they eat too much. They'd be, I couldn't afford them. You know, I'd much more prefer living with my wife for many different reasons, okay? So, look at Genesis 1, 26, it says, and God said, let us make man in our image. It's pretty clear, isn't it? Does it say woman? No, it says man in our image after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over the earth and over every creeping thing they creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image. That's super clear, isn't it? In the image of God created he him, and then it has that semicolon there that says male and female created he them. It's not saying that he created woman in his image, he's just saying that he created man and woman. But look at verse 26 again. Look at how many times it says man in our image after our likeness. And then look at verse 27. God created man in his own image, in the image of God created. I mean, it's just like saying it over and over again so we'll get it that man is created in his image. I mean, isn't that what it's saying? So how can you say that, I mean, there's actually people saying that we're not created in God's image. The Bible is very clear about this, that men are created in the image of God. Isn't it? I mean, it's super clear. Now look at Genesis chapter two, verse number seven. Genesis chapter two, verse number seven. And don't get away from the overall point that the Levites were supposed to be men. The priests of the Lord were supposed to be men. And then leadership in the New Testament did not change. In the New Testament, the leadership is supposed to be men. And that extends to the home, and it always has been that way, and that extends also to government. And it always has been that way. God didn't put queens up to be, that was not a thing. And any time there was a queen that tried to rule over, I think it was Athaliah or whatever, what happened to her? She got killed, didn't she? And the only reason why she became queen is because she killed all the royal seed and one escaped. And she was a horrible person. And then he had Jezebel, but I don't think she actually ruled, but she was definitely evil and was killed too. But I mean, in England you had queens ruling at certain points, and they really got away from how things were supposed to be too. But anyway, so Genesis chapter two, verse seven says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. So this is, you know, in Genesis two it kind of explains how he does things, all right? And then obviously he names all the animals, and all the animals were named the names that he named them. Skip down to verse 18. It says, and the Lord God said, it is not good that man should be alone. I will make him and help meet for him. God didn't want Adam to be alone, and he said it wasn't good that he was alone actually. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them, and whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field, for Adam there was not found and help meet for him. So none of the animals that God made would suffice to be a help to him in his task that he was doing, and tilling the garden, and all that stuff. Now look at verse 21, it says, and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. So God takes one of Adam's ribs, he does a surgery on him, and the surgery is successful, but the point of the surgery is to make his help meet. And it says, and the rib, so ladies, what are you, really? You're a McRib, you're a rib. Which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman. So that's why you're in the image of man, because you were taken from man. He used the man's DNA to make women, basically. And he created woman, and brought her unto the man, and Adam said, this is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh, she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore, shall man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh. So that is what the Bible teaches about marriage, that they shall be one flesh, but it makes sense, because really, Adam, he married his rib, you know? But obviously, she was her own person, with her own conscience, with her own mind, and she ate the first man out of house and home, and then they both, together, basically destroyed our lives by making us have to die someday. But obviously, hindsight's 20-20. That fruit looked pretty good, or whatever. But really, this is what the Bible teaches about men being in leadership, and that's why. Obviously, men had their own curse, too. Sometimes, it can not be fun to be the leader. Sometimes, as a lady, it's probably nice to be able to say, well, let me ask my husband. My wife does that, well, let me just ask my husband what he thinks, you know? And that's a good, it's actually a good thing to do, because maybe you shouldn't make that decision without talking to your husband first, actually. But sometimes, it's actually, it's a way to be able to buffer things that people are trying to throw at you, but also, it's just the right thing to do. And we complete each other, and women complete the man. That's why God made woman to be a help fitting or meet for the man. And we can't get along without you. This world won't go on without you. The Bible has a lot of great things to say about women. Jesus hung around with women, they took care of him, they ministered to him. Women have a lot of great things to add to society, but being the leader is just not that thing, okay? And you have a lot of great qualities, a lot of great things that you can add to this world and to our lives, and it's just not, leadership is not one of those things. That's just something that God put in the laps of men. And men, we need to lead. We need to take up the role that God gave us and lead and be strong leaders, because that's what's lacking today in this world. And we gotta push against the MCU type mentality that's going on in this world, where they wanna put a gay chick in everything and make it gay and lame, right? So anyway, let's move on to point number two. So point number one is, let me make sure I'm saying this right. Point number one was, the priests were purely men only in the Old Testament, and they're also in the New Testament. Obviously, we're kings and priests, obviously, unto the Lord our God. And obviously, in the New Testament, the leadership is men only. So now, look at number two, the pedigree of the priests was of the tribe of Levi. There was a specific tribe that was picked, and so the pedigree of the priests had to be of a specific tribe. And if their name was not in the genealogy, even when the Jews' temple was destroyed by the Babylonians, they had to reconcile their genealogy, or they could not be priests and Levites, and they were cast out of the priesthood, because it was so important for them to be of that family, that specific family. So Moses and Aaron are brothers from the tribe of Levi, and Aaron was the high priest, and his four sons were also priests that dealt specifically with the service of the tabernacle. And the sacrifices, and God chose who it would be. So he chose the Levites. Why did he choose them? Does the Bible ever tell us why he chose the Levites? No, it doesn't really tell us, does it? And he divided them specifically, he divided the tasks of the Levites to specific family members. And Moses, obviously, was like the judge of Israel, or he wasn't called the pastor, but he ruled over the children of Israel. He didn't really have necessarily a title, but the judge system was put into place. So I just kind of assumed that Moses was a judge, basically. He was also the spiritual leader in some way, shape, or form, but his brother was the high priest. Must be nice that all your family members are all the priests, right? But God is the one that divided it, God's the one that declared those things, but people from the outside would think, well, how come Moses, all his family members are all, all his family members get to do all the special work, and they get to be the full-time workers, and they get to eat of all the offerings, and they get to partake of all this stuff. I kind of have this feeling that, you know, if Moses were alive today, he'd be accused of nepotism, wouldn't he? And, you know, specifically, Moses' brother gets to be the high priest. You know, he's chosen to be the high priest. Why is it Aaron? Why does it get to be him? Why does Moses' brother get to be the one that's chosen? God just doesn't explain why. He just said, this is what it's gonna be. You know, like it or lump it. And people didn't really call that into question, but other people called their leadership into question. You know, all the people are holy. And so there was people within the family that were fighting over positions, like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. But, you know, there's this thing called nepotism, and sometimes people take it to levels that it shouldn't be taken to. You have a really extreme example where, and let me explain what nepotism is, first of all. Nepotism defined as the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives, friends, or associates, especially by giving them jobs. So, isn't that what people would say is going on here in this story? With, you know, Aaron and his sons get to be the priests. They get to go into the special holy place. Aaron gets to go into the holy place once a year. His sons get to be into the tabernacle. Nobody else got to go in there. It was just them. And all the rest of the Levites, all their family members got to pack up the tent. They got to move all the furniture. There were specific families that moved the furniture and rolled up the tents, and all that stuff is right there. That was all in one family's job. Nobody else was allowed to touch it. Nobody was allowed to come near it, or they were thrust through and killed for it. So, specific family. And so they got to be the ones that did it. Now, the word nepotism comes from the 17th century, from the French language, and it's from, you know, it has some roots in the Italian language, and it comes from the Italian word for nephew, with reference to privileges bestowed on the nephews of the popes, and who were, in many cases, their illegitimate sons. So, the popes would hand out favors because they're their nephews, but they're actually their sons, and they're giving them all these jobs, these specific religious jobs. So, that's the ugly side of nepotism, where people are just getting stuff without any merit whatsoever. They haven't earned it. It's just because they're family, they get all these special privileges. And so, nepotism's been criticized since ancient history by several philosophers, including Aristotle, Valovar, Confucius, Confucius saying nepotism bad, condemning it as both evil and unwise. When I worked at Walmart, they had specific policies called fraternization, where a husband and wife weren't allowed to work in the same department because one would be able to tell the other what to do, and so they wouldn't allow that to happen. You could even be family in the same section, because if you were allowed to tell your family what to do, or husband and wife, or whatever, and then the managers and supervisors weren't allowed to date people within their own section, because then favoritism could be showed to people. And you know, that makes sense. I don't understand the husband and wife thing, unless the wife is ruling over the husband, then that does make sense, okay? But, so I mean, I understand, you know, that it can, nepotism can be a bad thing. But Romans chapter two, verse 11 says, for there is no respect of persons with God. God doesn't respect who, you know, if I sin and Bill sins, he's not gonna say, well, since Pastor Thompson is the pastor of the church, I'm gonna let him pass because he's the pastor. That's not how God is. God's gonna condemn me, and he might even actually condemn me worse because I'm the pastor. But he's not a respecter of persons. He's not gonna just let people slide because of position and things like that, or because of what family you're in, or anything like that. In James chapter two, verse nine, it says, but if you have respect to persons, you commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors, or whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend at one point, he is guilty of all. Now, why am I reading that? Well, because I feel like that we're supposed to be equal in our judgment with everybody. And as the pastor here, I do have family members who go to this church. But should I not be equal with my family members as I am with other church members? Shouldn't I treat everybody the same? Now, obviously, I love my wife more than you. Sorry, I do. But if it comes to me, but obviously, I still have to have the correct judgment when it comes to biblical things with my wife as I do with anybody else. I have to have the same standard of judgment with my children and with my grandchildren as I do with anybody else in this church. And that is a standard that I do try very hard to uphold. And so I can't just be a respecter of persons and divvy out jobs based upon who my family is and who they're not. So, and I think it's funny, God picked the Levites, you know, he picked them, specifically, this family to be, and then he picked who would be the high priest later on after the order of Melchizedek. He picked his only begotten son and from a different tribe. But think about this, so God the Father, who did he pick to be the savior of the world? His son, Jesus. Is that nepotism? I mean, how far do people take this kind of stuff? Is it wrong that God the Father picked his son to be the savior of the world? I mean, some people say that's nepotism. I mean, that's bizarre, but people might say that. But when God chose Jesus to be the savior of the world, he didn't say, well, I'm not gonna pick my son because I don't want people to accuse me of nepotism. He didn't say, I'm picking the tribe of Levi, and you know, that's because I like Moses better than everybody else. We don't know why he picked them. We don't know why he picked the tribe of Levi, why he picked Aaron, why he picked that certain line, because as far as you can see, in the Old Testament, the man Levi wasn't really the greatest guy in the world, was he? He's one of the guys that killed all the men of Shechem by tricking the men into getting circumcised, and then went in and slew all the men and then took captive their wives and children and basically pillaged their whole city. So not exactly the greatest guy in the world. Of course, his relatives today are still trying to chop people, still trying to circumcise people today, so maybe there's a little connection there. I would just say this, that God chose Jesus Christ because he knew he was gonna get the job done. He's God, and also because he was his son. So is he wrong for doing that? Of course he's not. He's God, he gets to pick whoever he wants. And nepotism isn't inherently wrong. But that's what people say, because that's what is repeated by people over and over again. It's not inherently wrong to pick people because they're your family members. I would say for humans, it's wrong to pick family members without having merit. But obviously, most people love their family members more than they love other people, and some people can't separate judgment based upon family members. And even like Moses, when his brother and sister are going against him, he was asking Miriam to be restored and made whole immediately, and God's like, no, she needs to be outside the camp for at least seven days. But Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, they went down into the pit. Obviously, they were still talking bad about Moses, and Aaron didn't even get in trouble, it didn't seem like. Miriam's the one that gets in trouble. So anyway, she probably was later on like, how come Aaron didn't get in trouble? How come he didn't get spanked? I don't know. So I don't know. I don't think nepotism is inherently wrong as long as you're not just basing it on bloodline alone or family alone or friendship alone or association alone without merit at all. Because how could it be wrong if God commanded it to be done? Didn't God say that the Levites were supposed to be the ones that were priests? So if God commanded it to be done, so how's it wrong then? So human beings, we wanna say what's wrong all the time, but when God says something is the right thing to do, then how can we go against that and say it's wrong? You know what I mean? And obviously, that's not how he picks leaders now. The New Testament has changed things. The priesthood being changed by necessity of, of course, Jesus Christ dying on the cross. But it's not to say that those Levites didn't have expectations to keep. They did. If one of them was born a dwarf, if one of them was born a hunchback, if one of them had some kind of blemish, they were not allowed to be serving in the priesthood. They were set aside and they still, I think they still got to partake of some of the things, but I don't think that they're allowed to serve in the tabernacle. But even when the kings ruled in the time of the children of Israel, how did they pick who succeeded the king? They didn't just say, well, who's the best person for the job now? Who's the most qualified? Who'd they pick? Anybody know? Their sons. And that really didn't work out that great in a lot of cases, but sometimes it did. So, but God is the one that removes those ones that need to be removed. God is the one that takes down the kings and he's the one that sets them up. And sometimes he would make sure that that whole bloodline got cut off and then he would replace with a new kind of king. And that's happened throughout history in multiple different kingdoms. But to say nepotism's always bad is not really true. It's not always bad. So, I would just say this, that some people can get too extreme one way or the other. And I just don't think that it's always wrong to put your friends or family and give them jobs or positions that you give other people. What about family businesses? I know specifically people in here that have family businesses that allow their children to work for them. Is that wrong? Is that nepotism? It is. Is it wrong? No, it's not wrong, okay. Is it nepotism, though? I mean, to give your children opportunities in your own business, it's not wrong. Now, some people will give their children the keys to that kingdom and they'll just, no matter what, and let them run that business into the ground. And that was probably the wrong person to give it to. You don't wanna give the keys to your business to Hunter Biden and let him run with it. Because you might be answering questions in front of Congress someday because of it. But, or just not showing up to Congress like he did, but so there's all different ways that people, that nepotism exists in this world, but it's not necessarily wrong. But you do have the bad cases in the Bible, like Eli. His sons were priests. He was the high priest. His sons were reprobates and they served as priests. But what was the problem there? Well, he allowed his sons to just continue doing what they were doing and doing all the wickedness that they were doing. And he confronted them about it, but he didn't really do everything he probably could have. He should have probably removed them as being priests and then God ended up killing them because of what they did. So Eli did not have control over his house and his whole house was judged and God put another line of high priests because of what he did or what he didn't do, really. And then Samuel, he was a high priest and he was also the judge of Israel and allowed his sons to become judges. And they were not qualified. They were taking bribes. They were taking lucre. And Samuel was a good man. He was, as far as the Bible describes him, was a great man of God. But he had a blind spot with his sons. So if you have a blind spot, you're not able to judge correctly on those situations and that's not a good thing. So it's just kind of one of those things that you have to be able to judge those situations correctly and sometimes our love blinds us to things and we can't see the truth behind those things. But there's extremes that people will go to and they'll say it's just never right to have your family members take positions or whatever. And when it comes to like churches and stuff, you'll see that pastors hand off their church to their son no matter what or their son-in-law no matter what. And it's just like, how'd that work out with Jack Scott? That didn't work out good, did it? But maybe there wasn't any signs of Jack Scott being bad until later on. I don't know, I mean, I wasn't there. But I know that he did end up turning him out bad. He was questioning the King James Bible and having affairs with 17-year-old girls or whatever in his church. But the question of like, I know that sometimes people would say, well, it's never right to ordain one of your family members in a church. And I don't know that I would take that position. Because, I mean, what if your church is the best at training people for the ministry and your son goes to that church? Would you think that you need to send your son to a different church to have them train and qualify for a different place? What if you send your son to a different church and they make it tougher for that person than they would everybody else? Is that being a respecter of persons? I mean, I just don't think that you should make it harder than you would for other people. I think that then you're becoming a respecter of persons and you're making, it's poor, I think that then it becomes poor judgment. But everybody should be qualified as a pastor based upon their own merit and what they are qualified to do. And it shouldn't have anything to do with whose son you are. Because that's, I mean, and that's my personal opinion about it, but it also, the Bible kinda is on the side of just being balanced when it comes to these things. Who ordained Aaron? In this chapter, at the end of the chapter, God tells him to ordain his brother. God tells him to ordain his nephews, all of Aaron's sons. Was that wrong? I mean, just how far are you willing to go with the nepotism thing? Are you gonna side with Aristotle or are you gonna side with God? I mean, seriously. Are you gonna side with the Walmart executives or are you gonna side with what God says? And to say it's wrong to ordain your own children or what if it was just my uncle or my nephew or something and he went to this church and he was qualified and he did all the things he was supposed to do and everybody approved of him and I ordained my nephew some years down the road, would that be wrong if he was qualified? I mean, I don't think it would be. And if I felt like he went through the training, he was good to go, I would ordain my nephew. But some people think that you should never do that. You should send him off. Send him off to someone that has a bone to pick. Send him off to someone that's gonna put him and make it harder for them to get through to be the pastor. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I know people have mixed opinions about that but I just don't necessarily agree with that. So I just try to be balanced on topics like this and not necessarily go swing one way or the other. I don't try to push my sons to be pastors. I never have done that. But I also don't discourage them to be pastors either. I don't say, well, don't ever be a pastor. Why would I say that? That would be, I mean, I just, well, let them decide what they wanna do. It's not my choice. They're not papa called and mama sent. But they're also, I'm not gonna just deny them. If they wanted to become a pastor someday, I wouldn't just say, no, don't be a pastor. Or, and I don't say, you gotta be a pastor. Everybody needs you. The world is counting on you. Ask them. I've never said anything like that to them. I don't tell them to be pastors. But would I stop them if they wanted to be a pastor? No. I don't force my family members to serve in this church but they serve in this church. Should they be allowed to serve in this church? I think that it's fine. I mean, the Levites all served together, didn't they? And God told them to. You know, it's like, well, we're in the New Testament pastor, now it's nepotism. Okay, whatever. Well, if I would have waited for people that, other people, like, I mean, it was great. We had brother Sean and we've had brother Bill and we've had other people that have done song leading in our church before. But, you know, when we first started this church, we had a one-handed piano player that couldn't play and then, you know, Nia just kind of learned the songs and, you know, when people set their mind to do the work and they are the best person for the job, I don't care who it is, I'm gonna put them in the position to do the job because they're the best person to do the job. And if that's my kids, then that's my kids. If that's, you know, whatever. So, but I don't just let Remy preach here. I let everybody preach here. I mean, if you say that I'm not an equal opportunity pastor then you would just be a liar. Because I let everybody do stuff here. So, I just, but I also think that I shouldn't just discourage my family members from serving because shouldn't my whole, shouldn't the whole church serve together? And so if my children serve and my grandchildren someday serve in this church, should I stop them from doing that? Because it gives them some sort of an advantage? I mean, isn't it nice to have an advantage of two Christian parents and so your children get saved? Oh, that's nepotism. You should go, you should just not allow them to be in your family and just adopt them to some atheists and see if they get saved somewhere. I mean, that's just stupid. But anyway, so, not being a respecter of persons does work both ways. It's not just a benefit to non-family members, but it's a, but in families, but in family members of the people in my family that attend this church and serve in this church, everyone has an equal opportunity to serve. And if any man is qualified, if anyone is faithful, if anyone has a willing heart, if anyone has a talent, if anyone has an ability, if anyone's a hard worker, if anyone is faithful, you can serve in this church. That's just, so I'm not a respecter of persons when it comes to that. And here's the thing. If someone is faithful in doing a job, this is my policy. I don't remove that person from doing that job because any time I've ever done that, then it's always been a mistake. So my policy is that if someone's doing a job, a task that they've been doing for years, I'm not gonna remove them from that job unless there's a sinful reason that they're not able to do that job anymore, then I would remove them from that job. But I'm saying, you can have all the talent in the world. You can be the best pianist in the world, and if you don't show up for church on time, or if you just only come to church once a week, I'm not gonna have you play the piano for the church because to be the piano player for the church, it's kind of important that you're actually at the services, right? Or if you're a song leader here and you never show up for the services and you're supposed to be leading songs, then you can only, the Bible says that we're supposed to be good stewards of our responsibilities. It's required that we be good stewards of the things, the talents that God's given us, and the abilities that he's given us, and the tasks that he's given us to do. So Aaron's sons were supposed to be holy, and if they weren't holy, what happens? They pay the price. So what happened to Nadab and Abihu later on? They get smoked, don't they? So look, don't go too far in the wrong direction on either way of this whole nepotism thing because God is gonna root out the people that don't belong in those positions anyway. So I think that people just need to have a balanced approach when it comes to being unjust when it comes to nepotism. Move on here. All right, let's go to point number three. It'd be my last point here. Let's move on to, let's go back to Exodus 28, verse two. The purpose, number three is the purpose and picture. So hopefully that made sense, the whole nepotism thing. I mean, I know there's differing opinions about that, but I mean, God actually installed nepotism as a law in the Old Testament. So, and then he allowed his son to be the savior of the world, and he's the priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. So, obviously he's God too, so. But, so he picked the right person who happened to be his son, you know? I mean, Moses ordained his family members into the ministry and other family members too, I'm sure. So anyway, number three, the purpose and picture of the priest's garment. So the priest, and tonight I'm gonna get more into the actual garments the priest wore, but the priest specifically had to wear certain garments for the service of the Lord. It was not optional. They had to wear them. And the reason why they had to wear them is because they were for a special purpose. It wasn't so people go, oh, look at me, look at how holy I am. This is why I wear these special garments. That wasn't, that wasn't the purpose. There were, I mean, actually it kinda was. Look at how holy I look, but it was a picture of how holy Jesus actually was going to be. So it wasn't like, they weren't supposed to be looking at Aaron as if he was holy necessarily, but how that pictures Jesus, basically. So last week I preached out of Psalm 29. And in Psalm 29 verse two it says, give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. And Exodus chapter 28 verse two says, and thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. So they were supposed to be looking at the glory and the beauty of the garments because the Lord is, because it pictures the beauty of holiness. So they're supposed to look at the garments and look at that beauty, look at that holiness, because like I explained last week, glory and beauty are a picture of holiness. And sin is a picture of ugliness and blackness and so on and so forth. But holy is, meaning you're set apart, and so that outfit did set them apart from other people, didn't it, in appearance. So that is kind of the picture that they're set apart and they're different, those garments are different. And this picture's for us how God feels about us being wholly separated and apart in our lives. So it pictures the holiness of the future high priest and the sinless Lord Jesus Christ. And yes, even our clothing should be glorifying to God in some way, shape, or form. We shouldn't be wearing stuff that makes us appear sinful. So like wearing shirts that have like Metallica or somebody was wearing like a Motley Crue 666 shirt on the airplane the other day and I was just like, how are you like Motley Crue and you're like 16 years old or whatever. Anyway, but they're famous for their song Shout at the Devil and a highly satanic rock band. Anyway, but first let's look at First Timothy chapter two verse nine. First Timothy chapter two verse nine. So the purpose of the holy garments were for glory and beauty. And that glory and beauty is supposed to be for holiness. The beauty of holiness is the glory we're supposed to be due to God's name. And so when we picture righteousness, it's supposed to be a picture of holiness. Glory means to shine bright or whatever. And obviously you know what beauty is. But First Timothy chapter two, nine says, 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. So obviously we're supposed to be modest in our dress also and this is specifically talking about women in this passage, but our apparel in the New Testament is supposed to be modest, isn't it? So I'm not supposed to be up here wearing flashy clothes. If I walked up in the high priest's garments, that'd be really weird. But for that time, it was to picture the Lord Jesus Christ because he is holy, he is sinless, and all the stones and everything represented the children of Israel. He had the shoulder onyx stones with the names of the 12 tribes. All that stuff represents something. But we in the New Testament are supposed to just be modest and adorn ourselves with modest apparel and not wear super flashy, super expensive clothing. So modesty is not excessively large or elaborate or expensive. Dressing or behaving so as to avoid impropriety or indecency, especially to avoid attracting sexual attention, typically used of a woman, of clothing, not revealing or emphasizing the figure, in the mid-16th century from French, from the French, I don't know how to pronounce that word, but from the Latin modestis, keeping due measure is basically where it comes from, the etymology of the word, relating to modus measure. So when it's modesty, keeping due measure. So in the Bible it has a standard of nakedness is from the loins unto the thighs, right? So that's keeping due measure. So modesty, part of modesty is covering up the parts that other people aren't supposed to be seeing, but it can also be where you're drawing attention to yourself, and so this outfit here that the high priest and the priest were supposed to wear was done specifically for a reason, but we don't dress that way now because that would draw undue attention to ourselves and that picture's already been completed in Christ. So there's no reason to dress in the wizard outfits anymore. Those weren't wizard outfits, but now people copy that style of clothing to a certain extent and you have Catholic priests wearing full-on dresses with these ornate giant headpieces on and all these weird golden crooks. Every religion pretty much has these cosplay costumes that they wear to look more righteous and holy. I'm just saying that in the New Testament that is not a thing, and so this was for a specific picture in a specific time period. In 1 Peter 3, it says, who's adorning? Let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and wearing of gold or putting on apparel, but let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God a great price. So again, this is pertaining to women, but men can take this also and just understand that it's not about dressing flashy or whatever. God wants us to be meek in our hearts, and women, it says, a meek and quiet spirit in their heart, what God's really wanting to look at, he doesn't care about how flashy your clothes are, he cares about what's on the inside, is basically what it's saying. And in the New Testament, again, dressing flashy is not necessarily a thing. Wearing Armani suits and tailored suits, this is just a regular suit, it's not a super expensive suit or something. I think we should still look nice, obviously, but I don't think it's about who's wearing the alligator shoes and all that kind of stuff. But isn't it wrong, but people would say, well, is it wrong for these priests to wear what they were wearing back then? No, because God commanded them to do that. But God doesn't command us to do it now, and so there's no purpose behind it, because again, the picture is of Christ, and him going into the holiest place once a year, Aaron, the high priest, with all those special garments on, with the blood on his ear and on his thumb and on his big toe, represented Christ going in there with the blood, his own blood, and presenting that on the mercy seat to the Father. And that's what it pictured, and the picture is his righteousness, and then the 12 tribes representing Israel, of course, and Israel of the future. So we are the Israel of God now in the New Testament, and so he took that upon his heart, and he got the judgment, the Urim and the Thummim, and those were inside the garment, and tonight I'll go into that, like I said, more thoroughly, but that stuff is all a picture for us. But Matthew chapter 23, verse eight says, But be not called Rabbi, for one is your master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren. The thing that I love about God is that he, even though he's God, he still loves us, and he puts us not on an equal ground necessarily, but he still is not afraid to call us, ashamed to call us his brother, and he gets down on our level, so to speak, not as far as like, obviously I know he's God or whatever, but he does these things for a specific reason. In Ephesians chapter two, verse 19, it says, Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. So kind of rolling it all back to the whole family thing, he picked a family for that time, and he picked them for what purpose? We don't know, but in the New Testament, we're all family, and so we're all brethren, we're all family, Christ is our master, and we're all brethren, and so when you think about that, there was a family of priests that served God in the Old Testament, but now we're all family, and we're all priests, you know what I mean? So the goal was to show us the picture of what was gonna be in the future of the New Testament and in eternity future. Go ahead and turn to Hebrews chapter two, verse 10. Hebrews chapter two, verse 10, and I'm almost done here. Hebrews chapter two, verse 10. So in the New Testament, we are that family. We have a family relationship. We are the household of God. So the household of God means that we're family with God. We're in God's family now, and so in times past, the Gentiles were not part of God's family in that way, and now we are part of God's family. Look at Hebrews chapter two, verse 10. It says, for it became him for him, for whom are all things, excuse me, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons under glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings, for both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one. For this cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee, and again, I will put my trust in him, and again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. So this is the purpose of the high priest is, and Jesus Christ being that faithful high priest, he made reconciliation, so he's gonna declare his name unto the brethren. He's not ashamed to call us brethren, and he wants us all to be in the household of faith, in the household of God, and all of us to be brethren, not just the Levite family, but everybody. So the clothing helped the children of Israel to see the picture of the faithful and sinless high priest who is our brother as well, making him family. We inherit with the Lord, he's our friend, he's our brother, he's our Lord Jesus Christ, and what's interesting is that in order to receive this, we literally don't have to have any merit. So when you go back to the whole nepotism thing, sometimes the best person for the job is someone in your family, and that person has merit, and they deserve that job. But what's interesting about us, we get to be in the family of God based upon no merit of our own at all. We literally don't have to do any works to get that. We don't have to be qualified to be in the family of God. We don't have to be qualified to be the sons of God or the daughters of God, we just have to what? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then we get to be, we get the nepotism, right? For no reason, just like the Levites. Why did God pick the Levites? Has anybody figured that out yet? I think he doesn't tell us because it's a picture of the fact that they didn't have to do anything to be picked, they just got, they just, it's just who God picked. And so we don't have to do anything to be picked either. All we have to do is put our faith in Christ. We have to be faithful. And so we're part of the family business. We get to get in on the family blessing without doing any works for it. Hashtag nepotism, right? We get to get in on God, you know, eternal rewards. Christ is our brother. It said, I read those verses to you just a minute ago. He's not ashamed to call us brethren. We're part of the family of God. We get to get in on it. Jesus Christ is our Lord, he's our master, he's our savior, but he also says, you know what, you're my brother, you're my friend. And hey, by the way, you get to inherit all the blessings that I get to inherit also. Hashtag nepotism. You get it for nothing, just because you're my family. John 1-12 says, but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. He gave us the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, it has nothing to do with our bloodline, nor of the will of the flesh, not because someone else wants us to be saved, or that our own flesh wants to be saved, nor of the will of man, it's not by our will, or again, somebody else's will, but of God. Whose will was it for the Levites to be the priest? God's will. Whose will was it that Moses was the leader? God's will. Whose will was it that Aaron was the high priest? God's will. Whose will was it that Aaron's sons were the other priests? God's will. Whose will was it that Moses ordained those men? God's will. So, again, it all rolls back to really nepotism isn't a bad thing necessarily, it's good for all of you, isn't it? When we all get to go to heaven and be in the church of the firstborn, because of the fact that we're in the family of God, it's not a bloodline thing. In the Old Testament it was, but again, it pictures some greater truth. And that greater truth is that Jesus Christ is that shining example, and he is set apart from everybody else. He has all the jewels in his ephod and all that, the special outfit that the high priest wears, because that represents something. And then the priests, they didn't have the special ephod with all the jewels in it, but they had a white linen outfit on. What does that represent? The righteousness of the saints. They were priests also, but Jesus was the one that went, the high priest is the one once a year that went in to the holiest place, and then Jesus Christ pictures that in the fact that he went one time, and now we get to serve with him for all eternity. So, pretty cool. That's why he picked Levi, just because, because it pictures us not having to do anything. It's not on our merit that he picks us, it's faith, it's belief, it's trust. Exodus 28 four says, and these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate and an ephod and a robe and a broided coat, a mitre and a girdle, and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. So number one, the priests were purely men only. Number two, the pedigree of priests was of the tribe of Israel, or I mean of Levi, and the purpose and picture of the priests' garments was that it was a picture of things in the New Testament, and of course of Jesus Christ, and the fact that we get to get in on the blessing, and we get to get in on the neptism. He gave the kingdom to his son, and we get to inherit as sons for no reason, just because he loves us. So let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the scriptures, and Lord, we thank you so much for the free gift of salvation, and the fact that we get to inherit with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we all are part of your family, Lord, and we didn't do anything to deserve it. We just thank you for it, and the pictures of the Old Testament that show us the truths of the New Testament, and we ask that you just bless the rest of the day, in your name we pray, Lord Jesus, amen.