Bibles tonight to Proverbs chapter 31. We will get there eventually. Proverbs chapter 31. And if you're familiar with your Bible, you know that in Proverbs chapter 31 is the gold standard of womanhood, if you will, from the Christian worldview. Proverbs 31. Are we all there? Let's pray. Father, we thank you again so much for the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for giving us a book, preserving it, helping us to understand it. Lord, you've given us every answer and everything, every need that could come in this life. Thank you for that. But most important of all, you gave yourself. You gave yourself at Calvary, shed your blood, that we might be cleansed. And Lord, we thank you so much for what Jesus did at Calvary. Thank you so much for loving us before we loved you. Lord, I pray tonight that you'd minister to us. Lord, I pray that you would speak to us. Lord, you have a clay vessel to use tonight. And Lord, I pray that you would fill this vessel with your Spirit We want to hear from heaven. We don't want to hear from the vessel. In fact, put a watch by its mouth and a guard by its lips. We want to hear from you. So Lord, fill it with your spirit and your power and your passion, your words, your wisdom. Lord, help us tonight to glean some things from thy word that will help us and strengthen us, edify us, keep us faithful until you come. And we'll thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Now last week, before we delved into the virtuous woman, I mentioned a couple of things about understanding where this information is coming from. And it's not coming from some psychologist or what have you. we are getting our information from the scripture. And that's so important to keep in mind. We talked last week about understanding what the scripture's all about. I'm gonna expound on it just a little bit tonight to make sure it's clear. And the reason I'm bringing this up is there may be a tendency to balk at some of these things in the text. And you may look at it and say, I don't wanna do that, or that preacher ain't gonna tell me to do this, preacher ain't gonna tell me to do that, it's not about that. It's about what you have on your lap. You have to answer some questions. Number one, is that the inspired Word of God? Are you holding in your lap the inspired Word of God? We know it is because the Scripture says, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16 and 17, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. There it is. Understand this, that's not circular reasoning. Some people will say, oh, you Christians, you know, you use circular reasoning. You believe the Bible's inspired? Because the Bible says it's inspired. It's not circular reasoning. It would be if the Bible were one book. But the Bible's not one book. The Bible is 66 books written by over 40 authors on three different continents and different times and different conditions and all that. So you've got one book over here commenting on the other 65, actually commenting on itself and the other 65, and saying all scripture is given by inspiration of God. That's not circular reasoning. That's the statement of one man about everything. So we know it's inspired. Secondly, and this is where the line gets drawn with a lot of us, we believe it's preserved. In fact, I think God would be stupid or incompetent to inspire it and then lose it. But that's what the majority of churches in this valley who confess to be Bible believers, who believe the original text, believe that somehow that was lost, it wasn't preserved, and the Greek scholars have spent, I don't know how many editions now, 25, 26, 27 editions, trying to find what really is the word of God, because God lost it. What an incompetent buffoon, if God inspires it, and by the first or second century, he loses it. I mean, is that the kind of God we worship? I mean, was there a scene going on in heaven 1,800 years ago, you know, and the Lord's saying, hey, Michael, have you seen Matthew? I've lost Matthew. No, Lord, I ain't seen Matthew. Gabriel, have you seen Matthew? No, I ain't. How, he must have lost Matthew. Have you seen Mark? No, Mark is gone. Do you think that scene ever took place in heaven? God gave us his word, inspired it, and if he's gonna do that, he certainly is going to preserve it. And the question is, where did he preserve it? Well, the manuscript evidence all points to it being preserved in a King James Bible. And all the other Bibles fail to produce that kind of manuscript evidence. So we believe it's preserved. Psalm 12, six and seven says, the words of the Lord are pure words, a silver trident, a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. We've got the promise. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Now, there are those that say, well, he's talking about Israel. Can you read? Verse seven, the words of the Lord are pure words. He's talking about words. The them has to connect to something. And the closest thing for them to connect to are words. And so God has preserved His words from the time of the psalmist writing that to what we have today. We believe God preserved His word. Isaiah 40 and verse 8. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. Jesus said in Matthew 24, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words, plural, my words shall not pass away. So God inspired his book. He preserved it. You have it in your lap if you have a King James Bible. Thirdly, we understand that the scripture is sufficient. And again, that's the next step that many of us fail to take. Yeah, preacher, I believe that Bible's inspired, word of God. Yes, sir, preacher, I believe that King James Bible is the word of God. Is it sufficient for you to live by? Well, preacher, that tithe and stuff, you know, I don't make that much money, you know, and that 10% stuff. Well, you believe it's inspired, you believe it's preserved, but you stumble. at the aspect of it being sufficient in all matters of faith and practice. 2 Peter 1 verse 3 says, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. We have all things we need that pertain unto life and godliness, he says, through the knowledge of him. Where do we get the knowledge of him? In the scripture. So the Bible's inspired, it is preserved, and it is sufficient. Again, due to the nature of the following subjects, it's very important to keep the above statements in mind. And so when dealing with the text, let's say you have a problem with the text. There's texts that we have problems with in the Bible. I'll give you an example of a text we all have a problem with. Any text that has to do with fasting. How many of you love those texts on fasting? We just kind of breeze over that. But it is sufficient, it's supposed to be sufficient, we're supposed to, that's where our sufficiency should be in obeying the scripture. And yet we see fasting, it's like, oh. And we jump to the next one. So here's what we have to do. When we see these texts, we have to ask ourselves some questions. Again, is the text the inspired scripture? Has it been preserved for us in the King James text? Now, here's the third one. Has it been rightly divided? Meaning, is it appropriate for the church age believer? Because when you take your Bible and say, I preach, I believe it's inspired, I believe it's preserved, I believe it's sufficient. Okay, you have to interpret it correctly. You have to rightly divide the scripture. I'll give you an example. Back in the 70s, the blessed 70s, preachers would rant and rave, and rightfully so, they would rant and rave about the unisex movement and women wearing pants and all that stuff, and they would go to Deuteronomy chapter 22. And let me ask you a question. Is Deuteronomy in the New Testament? Is it one of the prophets? Is it a psalm? What is it? Okay, Deuteronomy is in the law. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, classified strictly as the law. So it is in the law. And Deuteronomy 22 in verse five, this is what it says. The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garments, for all that do so are an abomination of the Lord thy God. I agree with that statement. The problem is preaching that from that text, that's the problem. And I'll show you why it's the problem. The preachers that would run to that text right there and rant and rave about unisex, and that was a big deal in the 70s. 70s had no idea what things would be going on in 2020, 2020, 22, whatever it is. But they would rant and rave about that, and so be it. But they got their text from Deuteronomy 22. and they miss something in Leviticus 19, because that's also the law, right? When you go to Leviticus 19 in verse 27, it says, you shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mire the corners of thy beard. The same crowd that was preaching against the unisex thing is ranting and raving about men having facial hair. And you look at that and say, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. You went to Deuteronomy, which is in the law, to prove your point about unisex dress, but now you're going to preach something which in the same law is contradicted by the scripture. What does it say? You shall not round the corners of your heads. Every one of us that gets a haircut, they take the number two, and they go around like that, and they round the corners of your head. Scripture says it's not supposed to be that way for the Jew under the law. Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Could I ask you a question? How could they mar the corners of your beard if you didn't have one? You see the implication there? In the Old Testament, men had beards. Read through the scripture. They humiliated a couple of David's men. Remember how they did that? They cut their pants off right up here, and they shaved off half their beard. So men had beards in the Old Testament. In fact, prophetically, they plucked the beard of Jesus Christ out of his face. But when they rant and rave about men having facial hair, they seem to miss that right there. And yet there's nothing in the New Testament that says anything about men having facial hair. There is something that says about the hair. It's a shame for a man to have long hair. But the crazy thing is, if you're gonna go to Deuteronomy and rant and rave about women not to wear that which pertaineth unto a man and a man put on woman's garments or stuff like that, Can't you read a little farther? Can't you look at another book there in Leviticus and say, wait a minute, it also says we're supposed to have beers. And here's the crazy thing. They're preaching against unisex. Men should be men, women should be women. Men should dress like men, women should dress like women. What is one of the most defining things between the genders that makes, it doesn't make a man a man, but is only true of a man 99% of the time and not true of a woman? What is it? This stuff right here. Wouldn't that make a difference? You want men to look like men, men should be growing their beards. I mean, according to their reasoning. Now, if you don't have a beard, I'll forgive you. Someday you'll get right with God and you'll grow one. But anyway, that's one of the most defining things of the sexes, that men can have facial hair and, unless they work in the circus, women cannot. Men cannot get pregnant. Women can get pregnant. That is another defining line there. There's a third one. I used to always tell people there's a third one. When men look at a gas gauge, E means empty. When a woman looks at a gas gauge, E means enough, and it's not. Anyway, there are some defining things. And facial hair is one of the defining things. In fact, the Mennonites, that's one of their doctrines. You're not allowed to shave. That's a defining thing with them. But just, again, it's the hypocrisy, it's the dilemma that preachers put themselves in when they go to the Old Testament. to find a verse that goes along with their pet peeve, and then they preach it, and somebody sees this other stuff and says, wait a minute, I'm confused. I understand where it came from. It all stems from the 60s when men started, men, males started growing their hair and growing their beards and putting flowers in their hair and going to Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco and free love and free sex and dope and all that stuff and psychedelic and rock and roll and so to oppose that The preachers would take the opposite position. If a hippie had long hair and a beard, it must be wrong. Listen, we don't get our doctrine that way. We don't get our doctrine by looking at the heathen and saying, you know what, the opposite must be true. In most cases it is, but that's not where we get our doctrine. We get our doctrine from the scripture. And, you know, they may be doing something, the hippies may be doing something that is scriptural. It doesn't mean they're right. It simply means the scripture's right. When somebody's preaching on something, if they've got the inspired word of God, if they've got the preserved word of God, are they rightly dividing the word of God? Are they going to the right place to get their text? We're the church age. And if you wanna find the books that are for us, you start at Romans, you don't start at Matthew, and you don't start in Deuteronomy. with Romans and on is Church Age Doctrine. And I can put an end to, an ending point for that, but let's just say from Romans on, that's Church Age Doctrine. And the idea is, let's find a truth from the New Testament, and there may be a verse in the Old Testament that supports that. But you've got to have the New Testament where the doctrine comes from. So that's a question you have to ask, is that was what that guy preaching, is that New Testament Church Age Truth. Or is he trying to take something out of the Old Testament and shove it into the New Testament because he doesn't like something? Fourthly, we can go to the Old Testament if the principle of the text is appropriate for today. You go to the Old Testament, you see something and read something in the Old Testament, and You're not gonna do it the way they do it in the Old Testament, but the principle is there, and the principle is good and appropriate for our day and age. Let me give you an example. We're gonna be looking at this shortly, but you're in Proverbs 31. Look down at verse 19. One of the things about the virtuous woman, it says in verse 19, she layeth her hands to the spindle. The spindle was the pin used in spinning wheels for twisting the thread, and on which the thread was twisted or wound. And her hands hold the distaff, which is the staff of a spinning wheel to which a bunch of flax or toe is tied and from which thread is drawn. So what's he saying there? He's saying this about a virtuous woman. She knows how to use a spinning wheel. And she knows how to make thread. And if you know how to make thread, you probably know how to make material and all that stuff. And so she's making the clothes for her family. Does that mean that you have to go out and buy a spinning wheel? Does that mean you have to get a bunch of tow and a bunch of flax and start making your own thread and make your own material and what have you? Is that what that means? Listen, there's nothing wrong with making your own clothes. My girls for years made their own clothes because it was so hard to find stuff that was modest, they decided to go to Joanne's, get the patterns, and cut it all out and make their own clothes. They made plenty of clothes, beautiful stuff. I remember one year, I think we've been visiting Rock of Ages, and they invited us to one of their big meetings in Elgin. And they said it'll be an old-fashioned Sunday. So my girls went out, my wife went out, and they went to Joanne's, and they got some beautiful patterns for old-fashioned dresses. And they made these beautiful, beautiful dresses. When I talk about stuff like this, I'm not talking about Little House on the Prairie kind of stuff. I'm talking about beautiful stuff that they made, very long and very modest, but beautiful stuff. And so they made all this stuff. They actually made me a pair of knickers, because I had to have something old-fashioned. And we went to this meeting. The problem is that nobody told the people at the meeting that it was Old Fashioned Sunday. So we walk in, you know, all dressed in old fashion, started looking around and saying, uh, somebody didn't get the memo here. And yeah, we were the weirdos that had all the old fashioned clothes on while the meeting was going on, trying to explain to people, we heard it was Old Fashioned Sunday. But the point is they could make stuff. There's nothing wrong with making stuff. It's good to have a skill in that way. Because again, we live in a world where modesty is not that important. And so sometimes you have to make your own dress. Sometimes you buy a dress that you like and you have to modify it. I think when my girls got married, they would get a wedding dress and then there was a lady that we used to go to who could fix it. to make it modest for a wedding. Because I don't know what the deal is that for some reason at weddings, all the standards seem to go away. And all the dresses are something you would never wear in church unless it was for a wedding. So they had this lady that would help modify these wedding dresses and stuff like that. The point is, don't have to make your own dress. Here's a virtuous woman who is taking care of her family and she's doing it the best way she can. She knows her family needs to be clothed and so she says I've got to get the flax, I've got to get the tow, I've got to make the thread, I'm going to make the material, I'm going to make the clothes for my family. So why didn't she do that? Because Walmart was closed. Well they didn't have Walmart. You didn't walk downtown somewhere and go through the store and pick out what, if you wanted to be clothed, you had to make it. So how does that apply today? A virtuous woman knows how to shop and she knows how to get clothing for her family and she makes sure her family is clothed the way they should be. My wife is very good at that. I have, I can't remember the last time I bought clothing. She says, I saw a suit for you. I thought you'd like it, so I bought it. OK. Or it comes home from someplace. I got a couple of shirts for you. I think you'll like it. Or you get them in the mail. OK, that's great. She believes in taking care of somebody too stupid to get dressed correctly. So she says, I'm going to make sure he at least looks good. And that's the principle that's taught behind it. The virtuous woman makes sure her family has the clothing that's needed. So we took a scripture in the Old Testament, we found and we determined the principle behind it, and then made that application to us today. You can do that. So if it's inspired, if it's preserved, if it's rightly divided, if it's the principles are there, Then the fifth thing is this, so if all that is true, then is it sufficient for me to live by? If it's inspired, if it's preserved, if it's rightly divided, if the principle is valid, then is that sufficient for me to live by? Should that be something that I apply in my life? That's the question. It's not a matter of what the preacher said or what the preacher didn't say, and I don't believe this, I don't believe that. The idea is you've got a Bible, you've got the Holy Spirit, you have access to the throne of God, figure it out, figure it out. And if your heart is right, you're gonna figure it out. and you're gonna do what's appropriate. Now, having said all that, let's get into Proverbs chapter 31, and we're gonna read a few verses. Proverbs chapter 31, starting at verse 10. Excuse me. Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool and flax, worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchant ships. She bringeth her food from afar. She rises also while it is yet night and giveth meat to her household on a portion to her maidens. She considereth the field, and buyeth it. With the fruit of her hand, she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good. Her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor. Yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry. Her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it, and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favor is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates. So this is the statement on a virtuous woman, and we'll look at these things bit by bit. The word virtuous, by the way, is found three times in scripture here, in Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 4, which we'll look at eventually, and in Ruth chapter 3 and verse 11. Virtuous means morally good, acting in conformity to the moral law, practicing the moral duties and abstaining from vice, being in conformity to the moral or divine law as a virtuous action. Basically what it's saying is this. You have the scripture. And in that day, you have the law. A virtuous woman would conform her life to that law and live accordingly. And by doing so, she would gain morality. She would be considered good. That's how a virtuous woman became a virtuous woman. You have the scriptures, you know what's right, and you just start doing what is right. Every Christian woman can be a virtuous woman for three reasons, and I've kind of mentioned these before. You can be a virtuous woman because you have the scriptures as a guideline, you have the indwelling Holy Spirit for power, and you have a promise from God. Say, what promise is that? I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And so there's no reason why any Christian woman could not be a virtuous woman. And as I look out here tonight, I see a lot of virtuous ladies. Hopefully there's somebody listening on Sermon Audio that is not and really needs this message. But just again, this is the gold standard of the Christian worldview for women. Every Christian woman should desire to be a virtuous woman. Virtue, listen, virtue generates power and demands respect, and it becomes your reputation. And that's the kind of reputation you should want to have. And young ladies, very important, you should begin now developing a reputation that is virtuous. That should be your goal. So a preacher, when I get out of high school, that'll all come together. It doesn't work that way. You have to start developing some things right now. And when you do graduate from high school and what have you, then you're going to have those characters already in practice. Now, we have a good example of a virtuous woman and a young lady by the name of Ruth. She's the only young lady in scripture that is referred to as a virtuous woman. So go to the book of Ruth. You can keep your finger in Proverbs 31, but go to the book of Ruth. We'll start at Chapter 1. Ruth is a Moabitess. Say, what does that mean? She's from Moab. And if you remember your story that Naomi and her husband left Israel, and they left Israel because their logic overcame their faith. Let me repeat that. They left Israel because their logic overcame their faith. So what do you mean? Israel was going through a drought or a famine. Logically, you got to get out of there and go someplace where you're going to find food. Faith says God will supply. This is the land he told us to be in. We're gonna stay in his land and he will supply our need. That's what faith says. Logic says get out of there, go down somewhere, go to Moab, go to Eden, go somewhere where they've got food. In our day and age, people make that same mistake. It was a very refreshing conversation I had, we had Thursday night when Royal was in here. Royal was talking, we're talking about places to live. And Royal, he mentioned, he said, man, I would love to live up north, you know, where it's cool, you got cool weather and all that. And he said, I'm familiar with the stuff, you know, the different cities up north and all that. And he said, you know, I would move, except there's no good church up there. And if there's no good church up there, I mean, you have to go all the way into Gallup to find something that we'd classify as a good church. He said, I can't move. As much as I want to move, because the weather's cooler and all that, I can't move because there's not a good church. There are people that make that mistake. Logically, I'd rather live up there, it's cooler. I can get a job up there, or I'm gonna look for a new job, and I'm gonna look that place. Well, let me ask you a question. Is there a good church up there? Is there a good church up there? But logically, I could get a job up there, I'm gonna make more money, or they wanna transfer me up there, and it'd be a lot more of a pay increase and all that, but is there a good church up there? Well, logically, preacher, I'm not asking you logically. I'm asking you the faith side of it. Is there a good church up there? I've seen young families that have moved out of churches, good churches, for a job advancement or what have you, and there's no good church in the area. Where's your kids gonna go? What are your kids gonna do when they don't have a good church to go to? What are you gonna do? You never make a move to a new location unless you know there's a good church in that location. But logically, don't tell me logically. Faith is first. And if you're going to go by logic at the expense of faith, you're making a mistake. And that's exactly what Naomi and her husband did. They made a mistake. Logically, we should go down to Moab. They've got food down there. We're going to die here, you know. Faith should have said, stay here, God will take care of you. If you're living right and you're in his land like you're supposed to, God will take care of you. Although you may not be able to figure out how that's gonna happen right now, trust the Lord, he'll take care of you. I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread is what the scripture says. But their logic overpowered their faith. They went down to Moab and it wasn't long before the thing became a mess. They had two sons who married two young ladies, Ruth and Orpah. And while they were there, I believe her husband's name was Elimelech, I could be wrong, but he died. The two sons died. And Naomi finally came to the realization, we made a mistake. We made a mistake. And she told her two daughter-in-laws, you go back to your family, I'll go back to Israel. And Orpah gave her mother-in-law a big kiss on the cheek and said, see ya, and headed back to the heathen ways of the Moabites. Ruth, on the other hand, said, I'm not going back. And Ruth made this statement. Look at verse 16, Ruth chapter one, verse 16. Ruth said, entreat me not to leave thee, but return from following after thee. for whither thou goest I will go where thou lodgest I will lodge now listen thy people shall be my people and thy God my God she had converted while she was down there she watched Naomi live how they lived how they talked about their God And Ruth said, you know what, that's going to be my God. What did the Moabites offer? Malcolm, Balaam, and some other kind of pagan nonsense. Ruth said, I know none of that stuff is real, but this God right here, you talk about this God right here, that's going to be my God. And so she said, thy people shall be my people. I'm going to become a Jew. Thy God, my God, I'm going to be a believer in Jehovah God. Verse 17, where thou diest will I die and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also of ought but death part thee and me. She said, I am with you all the way. And that's hard to turn down. So Naomi said, okay, you can come back with me. And so they make the trip back to Israel. And in the process of time, there's a fellow there that's got a, ranch, I will, or a big vineyard. And they were growing food and what have you. And so Ruth goes, and you're able to glean in those days. They didn't have welfare, but when the people picked their crops, they were to leave the corners untouched. So the people that couldn't afford anything, that was their welfare. They would go to the corners and glean what was left. And Ruth goes there to glean. She ends up meeting her future husband there. But listen to the statement in verse 11 of chapter three. Ruth chapter three verse 11 says this, and this is this fellow talking to Ruth. And now my daughter, fear not. I will do thee all that thou requirest. Now listen, for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. How did that happen? Did Ruth walk in with a big sign on her shirt? A virtuous woman right here. Apparently, Naomi said, boy, that young lady's something. That young lady has been by my side. She's never caused me any problems. She's always been moral. She's always been good. She loves our God. She loves our people. And word got around that this Ruth is something to the point where the entire city knew that she was virtuous. That was her reputation. And that's a very good reputation to have. If you, ladies, young ladies, if you want to have any kind of reputation, that's the kind of reputation you want to have, of being a virtuous woman. The world will mock that, by the way, because their worldview of a woman is a whole different ballgame. But in God's sight, in the sight of God's people, that's a wonderful reputation to have, a virtuous woman. And there's a bad example of another woman. Go to Matthew chapter one. You've got one virtuous woman who has a great reputation. You've got another woman who has to deal with a bad reputation. And that's in Matthew chapter one. And we get to read the genealogy a little bit tonight. That'll be exciting, right? There is some interesting stuff in the genealogy. Look at verse 3. Let's start at verse 3. Judas begat Phares and Zerah of Tamar. You remember reading about Tamar in Genesis. Phares begat Ezra. Ezra begat Aram. Aram begat Amminadab. Amminadab begat Nason. Nason begat Salmon. And Salmon begat Boaz of Rakeb or Rahab. So it's quite possible that Salmon, Salmon however you want to say it, Salmon, married because Salmon might have been one of the spies that went in there. No, Josh and Caleb were the spies, but they told Rahab, when we come in, put a red or scarlet thread hanging out your window so we'll know not to bother you. And some believe that when the Jews actually went in there, the person that found Rahab and the family was this Salmon, or Salmon, or however you want to say it. And some believe he married her, okay? And notice, Salmon begat Boaz of Ruth. Boaz begat Obed of Ruth. Obed begat Jesse. So there she is in the messianic line. What's the problem with Rahab? Rahab was an incredible woman. I mean, you read the story in Joshua. She was willing to hide the two spies when they came by. And she said, we've heard about your God. Your God did this in Egypt and he did that in Egypt. And I'm on your side. And I'm on the side of your God. So she's showing some faith. She exercised faith in the God of the Jews, and as a result, she and her family were spared at Jericho, and she ends up in the Messianic line. That's a pretty good deal. Problem is, she's got a reputation. She's having a hard time getting over. Go to Joshua chapter two. We would refer to her reputation as tarnished. Joshua chapter two, look at verse one. Joshua chapter 2, look at verse 1. And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went and came into a harlot's house named Rahab. So she had the reputation of being a harlot. Go to chapter 6. Chapter 6 and verse 17. and the city shall be accursed, even it and all that are therein to the Lord, only Rahab the harlot shall live." She and all that were with her in her house because she took care of the messengers when they came. Referred to as Rahab the harlot. Well at that time there was no other way to refer to her. She was Rahab the harlot. Go to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11 is the hall of faith. And some very, very great people are in that hall of faith. Abraham, Noah, Moses. Great people. Rahab's in the hall of faith. Hall of faith, I'm sorry. Hebrews 11, verse 31, but look at how she is referred to. By faith, the harlot Rahab. Perish not with them that believe not, when she had received the spies with these. Don't you think they would have known who Rahab was without referring to her as the harlot? But that's the reputation that she had. And that carried through with her. Go to James chapter 2. James chapter 2. James trying to make a point, so he's going to go back to the Old Testament and try to give an example. And in James chapter 2 and verse 25, he says, likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works? So she is known throughout scripture as Rahab the harlot. What a reputation. You would think after getting in the messianic line and you would think after giving birth to the great, great grandfather of David that certainly we would get rid of that moniker, if you will. But no. So there are two types. There could be two types of a virtuous woman. One, which you'd naturally expect, is one that has a good reputation. And two, one trying to get over a bad reputation. Both can be virtuous with the Holy Spirit, but it is a whole lot easier to have a good reputation than to have to live your life trying to fight and get rid of a tarnished reputation. Young ladies, again, listen to me. You don't want to spend your life getting over the stupid mistakes you made as a teenager or as a young lady. Let me repeat that. You don't want to spend the rest of your life trying to get over the stupid mistakes you made as a teenager or as a young lady. The problem is once that reputation gets tarnished, it's really hard to clean it up again. You can, but you're going to have to work a little extra harder trying to clear up that reputation. But in everybody's minds, in the back of their minds, they're gonna say, I remember her. So that's gonna be kind of difficult. So any Christian woman, no matter what your past was, you can be a virtuous woman. The problem is you may have to deal with a past that's giving you a problem. Young ladies, let me emphasize this. Your reputation is incredibly important. Don't do something stupid as a teenager or as a young lady that's going to carry with you through the rest of your life, please. Begin to develop and work on that good reputation, that reputation of virtue. Do it now. Do it while you're whatever age you are. Do it now. Let that be what carries you through. Let that be what people know you as, a virtuous woman. That is so important. Somebody wrote this, So in our Sunday school classes and in our junior churches, I sure hope that's what's being emphasized. I sure hope every opportunity you have to elevate the virtuous and the good and to warn not to hurt or ruin your reputation. I hope that's one of the things we're emphasizing in our junior church. That is very important for our young ladies to know. All right, so that's virtue. It starts out by talking about a virtuous woman. Now, some of these verses kind of, they say something here, then down here they kinda add to that, then down here they add something else to it, so we're gonna look at it by subject as opposed to verse by verse. And the first thing in there, after the virtuous woman, is trustworthiness. That's what we're gonna look at. So Proverbs chapter 31, go back there, and we're gonna start at verse 11. It's something called trustworthiness. Proverbs chapter 31, starting in verse 11, says, the heart of her husband does safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. A virtuous woman is somebody the husband can trust. You say, well, all husbands trust their wives, don't they? Oh, no, no. And that's an issue for another time. But Proverbs 18, verse 22. says this, whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing and obtaineth favor of the Lord. Proverbs 19 and verse 14. Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers and a prudent wife is from the Lord. And prudent, by the way, means cautious and circumspect and practically wise and careful of the consequences of enterprises and measures and actions and cautious not to act when the end is a doubtful thing. Proverbs 31 verse 23, her husband is known in the gates when he sitteth among the elders of the land. And Proverbs chapter 12 and verse four, this is the other place where virtue shows up. It says virtuous woman is a crown to her husband. So here's a lady that has a good reputation and one of the things about her is she's trustworthy. Her husband can trust in her. And when he talks about his wife, he realizes, I found a good thing. He found a good wife. And she becomes the crown to her husband. Nancy Reagan. Some of you remember dear Nancy, wife of Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a philanderer when Hollywood started to go bad on him. He's starting to toy around with politics in the Screen Actors Guild. And in the meanwhile, he is a philanderer. And he met Nancy, and he knew there was something different about Nancy, and Nancy fell in love with him. Nancy didn't wear a halo either, but they got married. And Reagan said one of the things that stopped him from his philandering was watching Nancy. and how Nancy cared for him and how Nancy loved him and how Nancy did a bunch of things for him. And that changed him. And Ronald Reagan would admit to this day, if he were alive, that the success that he had as a governor and as a president had a lot to do with Nancy Reagan. She was a crown to her husband. And somebody said, a long time ago. In fact, the first printed citation of this that can be found, and you've heard it before, was printed in the Port Arthur News from February 1946, where it started, the story read, behind every great man, there's a great woman. How many have heard that? That's the first time it was ever in print that we could find, was in 1946 in the Port Arthur News in Texas. It was set about an athlete, an athlete that just won the most courageous athlete in 1945. He received a trophy. He was a quarterback for Dartmouth. He had been a quarterback, goes off to fight in the war, and he comes back. I don't know that much about the story. Apparently when he came back it was a courageous thing. And so when they interviewed him, he said this, they say behind every great man there's a woman. Well I'm not a great man, there's a great woman behind me. I think he was talking about his mother. But that's the first time that showed up. And you don't realize how true that is? Behind every great man is a great woman. She is the crown to him. and his heart can trust in her. She has earned the trust of her husband and virtue is not necessarily tied to her husband. A virtuous woman can live in today's world with or without a husband because number one, she learns how to trust in the Lord with all her heart. She's trustworthy because she knows how to trust in God. Proverbs chapter 3, trust the Lord with all thy heart and not thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he'll direct thy path. Psalm 37, Jeremiah chapter 29. And the husband, or he, I'm sorry, the Lord, is her grace and glory. Psalm 84 and verse 11 says, for the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. So if she's married to her husband, she's married, actually she's married to her husband. If she's married, her husband responds to her with trust. If she's unmarried, she is considered trustworthy by her friends. A trustworthy woman. And there's an interesting thought is this, that she's trusted in the horizontal realm. Now, when I say horizontal realm, I'm talking about people to people. That's the term that's used. In the horizontal, it's people to people, okay? But she's trusted in the horizontal realm because she trusts in the vertical realm. The vertical is man's relationship with God. So if you're trusting the Lord here, that's gonna carry over here. And that's why she's trustworthy, because she has that vertical trust in the Lord. And because of that, her husband can trust in her, doesn't have to worry when he leaves for work what's going on in the house. Some men have that worry. Some men, when they go to work, are worried about what's going on at home, because they can't trust their wife. A virtuous woman can be trusted because she trusts in the Lord. Now, there's another thing about her, and that is, look down at verse 13. There's a few verses we're gonna put together here. Another thing about a virtuous woman is she's active and industrious, active and industrious. Look at Proverbs 31, look at verse 13. She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchant's ships. She bringeth her food from afar. She rises also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it. With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. Look down at verse 18. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good, her candle goeth not out by night. Look at verse 20. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor, yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. Look at verse 24. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it, and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Verse 27, she looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. This is a woman that is active, that is industrious, we might even wanna say entrepreneurial. Now, could I destroy a myth for you tonight? And I don't know where this came about, probably in the hills somewhere. But let me try to destroy a myth tonight that God never said that you have to be barefoot and pregnant all your life. This woman, obviously, is not barefoot and pregnant. She is industrious, she's working, she's buying and selling property, she's planting a vineyard, she's manufacturing material, and she's selling it to the merchant. So this idea of being barefoot and pregnant, I don't know where that came from, figure of speech, and it's commonly associated with the idea that the woman should not work outside the home and should have as many children as she can during the reproductive years. Let me help you with that. A woman can work outside the home, but the number one important thing is you gotta make sure your family's taken care of first. That family is the most important thing. That household is the most important thing. And if you can do that and you have time to work outside the home, go for it. Go for it. This lady here, Suffice it to say, she's a multitasking woman. And they say women multitask and men don't. How many have heard that one? You know, men are focused on one thing. And women can do all kinds of things at the same time. That's true unless they have a phone in their hand. If they have a phone in their hand, forget it. They're not gonna do anything. When you get the phone out of their hand, boy, they can multitask and do all kinds of stuff. And men, it is true. Men just focus on one thing. And we try to be good at that. But this lady is a multitasking woman. And the first thing we see about her, she's a home manager. Proverbs 31, look at verse 15. She riseth also while it is yet night, giveth meat to her household and a portion to her maidens. She fulfills her responsibility to the household, which would be the husband and the sons, which enables them to go and work in the fields or whatever they do. And that was the way the old, the way the farmers used to do it. They would get up in the morning, there'd be a great, well, it was different in some ways. In this case, she's cooking the meal before they go out to work at the field, packing a lunch and saying, don't come home until you get your job done. I'll have dinner waiting for you. One of the ways in America was that the guys would get up early before sunrise, they would go take care of what they could take care of, and as the sun's rising, they would come back, she'd have the meal all prepared for them, and they would stuff themselves, pig out, so they had enough to carry them through the entire day, and they wouldn't be seen again until the sun was setting. There would be stuff they could take with them and take a lunch break or what have you, but that was the idea. The men are out there working the fields, doing that kind of stuff. She's in the home and she's taking care of what needs to be taken care of in the home. She takes care of her husband and sons, gets them to the fields, and then it says maidens. The maidens are either her daughters whom she's training or the employment of another young lady or young ladies from somewhere else. But she is training her daughters. Let's just say they're her daughters. She's training them how to do what she's doing. And that is so important. That is so important. You never, and this could be for boys or girls, you never let Your kids lay on the couch with a bottle of pop soda, whatever you want to call it, Coke, and a bag of potato chips, playing video games all day while you're working in the house. That's the dumbest thing you can do as a parent. As a mom, or even a grandma, you're teaching your children how to do stuff. I remember when my oldest daughter was tall enough, and we even had a little stool. She would stand on a stool next to my wife at the sink, drying dishes. As my wife was teaching her, this is how you wash dishes, and do that. Next thing I know is they're out in the kitchen, and she's teaching them how to cook. And they're stirring stuff up, and they're trying to work the can opener, you know. Next thing I know, they're making some meals that'll just blow your mind. because they were trained how to do that. My daughters know their way around the kitchen. I know that because they always yell at me when I go in the kitchen. Dad, don't get in that, don't move that, don't put that there. Okay. And then I'm watching with the sewing machines and they're making these dresses and I'm watching them do all this other stuff while they're in school, while they're doing their school, you know, and all that stuff. And my wife is right there training them how to do all that stuff. So what good did that do? Well, it really helped them a lot. When they got married, they didn't have to learn how to cook. Yeah, that's one of the worst things. That's one of the worst things that can happen in a marriage is when two people get, we got married for love. Yeah, but you're gonna have to eat. And if she doesn't know how to cook and you don't make enough money to go out to eat every night, you're gonna have a problem. And so, you know, moms, Responsibility is teach the daughters how to cook and how to do that domestic kind of stuff so when they get married, they can hit the ground running. They marry the man God wants them to have, he knows how to make a living. She knows how to handle the house and the domestic kind of stuff and they can hit the ground running. What a mistake we make when we don't teach our children and train our children in this kind of stuff. And yet there's a generation out there where they have no idea. You look at some of these young ladies in Hanom, say, get me a quarter cup, will you? What is that? The virtuous woman, she's active, she's industrious, she manages the household, and part of the managing of the household is showing the young ladies how to do stuff. And in this day and age, you say, well, it sounds like they were servants. No, they're learning. and they're being trained. If I said that 50 years ago, you'd be falling asleep. Pretty sure we all know that stuff. No, maybe 60 years ago. But that's what she's doing. She's managing the household. Look at verse 27, Proverbs 31 and verse 27. She looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread of idleness. So taking care of a household involves more than just food. It involves whatever's gonna benefit the family, and notice it talks about the bread of idleness. This virtuous woman did not spend her afternoons watching the soap operas. While the dishes are piled up by the sink, the clothes haven't been washed, and there she is watching the young and the worthless as the stomach turns, whatever these soap operas are. She knows how to get a job done. She's not idle. Interesting verse, we'll close with this out of Ecclesiastes chapter 10, you don't have to turn there. Ecclesiastes chapter 10 verse 18 says this, by much slothfulness the building decayeth, and through idleness of the hands the house dropeth through. You know, there's something called the second law of thermodynamics. If you don't take care of stuff, if you just let things go without ever doing any kind of maintenance or anything like that, I know what's gonna happen. It's just gonna poof. I remember years driving through the farm fields of Ohio and Michigan, and there would be in the fields what used to be a barn. You know it used to be the barn because you can see the roof, at least part of it, but you know what happened to that barn? Nobody took care of it, nobody used it, and so it just poof. caved in on itself. And that's the kind of barn wood you want to find. If you can contact whoever owns that and say, hey, can I get some of that wood? I mean, you're talking about good barn wood, if you want to build something. But nobody took care of the barn, and nobody used it, and it just, I'm telling you, it didn't fall over. You look at it, and just, you can see where it caved in on itself. You got to take care of stuff. And if you're one to be idle, you're going to have a problem in your home. Things have to be taken care of. Things have to be maintained. That's on the man's side and on the lady's side. You've got to take care of stuff. If you don't take care of stuff, you're going to have a problem. This virtuous woman here would not submit to the idea of being idle. Don't you think she'd like to lay down after a while and say, oh, I'm so tired. She's doing a lot. And I'm sure she took a break here and there, but she learned to stay active and she learned to stay busy and she learned to do the stuff that needs to be done. And that's one of the things that made her a virtuous woman, her activity and her industriousness. And again, we'll talk more about that next week. We've got to quit for here. Any questions or comments? All right, I hope this is encouraging. This, again, is the gold standard as far as womanhood is concerned. It's something, if you're just a preacher, I just, I can't do all that stuff. Well, it gives you a standard in which to shoot for. And God the Holy Spirit will be the strength that you need if you set that in your mind. All right, no questions, no comments. All right, so don't forget, we have church again Thursday night. Saturday, we will be going to the fair, leaving here at noon, or you can meet us down there about one. The Passau tracks, there were a ton of people there Friday night. It was just one after another, after another, after another. And I don't know if it's gonna be that way during the daytime, but if it is, we're gonna be pretty busy. So if you don't have anything to do Saturday, that's our visitation for Saturday. So you're invited to come. All right, let's close in order of prayer and we'll be done. Father, we thank you again for your word and Lord, we're in awe of what we've read tonight in scripture. What a standard that you have set for your children. And Lord, we look to you for the strength and we look to you for the help. Because Lord, as human beings, we can't meet these standards. But at the same time, we have the Holy Spirit of God living in us and the promise that we can do all things through Christ which strengthens us. Lord, I pray for our young ladies in here or in the sound of my voice, Lord, that you'd protect them from doing something stupid and having that reputation carry through all their lives. Lord, help them to desire to be a virtuous woman. Thank you again for your word. Lord, thank you for your mercy and your grace. Bring us back again safely Thursday night. Bless us, give us a good week. Help us to be good witnesses on the job. And Lord, if you would send somebody across our path, then we can tell them about you and plant a seed at least in their heart. Maybe lead them to you. Help us now we pray in Christ's name, amen. All right, you are dismissed.