We'll be reading from 2 Timothy 3 this evening. Reading from verse 14. I'm going to preach a message tonight that is titled, Women Preachers. And it's been nearly ten years ago that we wrote an article on this. It is in the library. And we preached on this. And I hope that you'll pay attention this evening as we go through some things. I'm going to be reading the article, and I'd like to say it's back there. You'll notice as we come to 2 Timothy chapter 3, I told somebody here recently, I said that we live in a time with a tree-hugging, frog-kissing, dope-smoking, politically correct generation, and that people have a hard time accepting the things of the Word of God. And we're going to be speaking on this subject, and I want you to understand this is not a man versus woman issue, because they are men that believe it's okay for women to preach, and there's women that believe it's not okay for women to preach. So it's not a male versus female issue. You'll notice the Apostle, as we come to this chapter, we've read this chapter many times. We've actually started many sermons from here. But he's writing to Timothy, the Apostle Paul, and he says in verse 14, he says, "...but continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and have been assured of, of whom thou hast learned them. He said in verse 15, that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Father, we thank you tonight. Again, for this privilege to assemble together, we pray, Lord, Your anointing and blessing upon the reading of Scripture this evening. We pray, Lord, that You would meet with us. We pray, Lord, that You would teach us. And we pray, Lord, that we would be on track when it comes to this particular subject and the doctrine that You have for us in Your Word. Now, again, we thank You for this time, which in Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. And you may be seated. Let me just make a few statements before we get into our outline. I'm going to use the same outline that we put in this article that will keep it simple. But notice, we're going to read verse 16 one other time, but I want to make just a few statements this evening as we get started in this. Now, let me speak to the men first of all, and then to the ladies. There's many men today that believe that women are inferior and that they're stupid. And we'll hear statements like, well, you know how women are, and things of that nature. And I believe that's a very wrong approach when we come and consider the subject of women preachers. Now, why do I say that? Well, speaking to the women, there are many women that are spiritually minded, sometimes more spiritually minded than men. And I believe that women have spiritual gifts. I believe that they excel in gifts like mercy and hospitality and helps and compassion and things of that nature. And I believe that the church could not survive without women and their ministry and what they contribute to the local assembly. I respect and honor women's faith, their service, their wisdom and their opinions. Your presence brings great joy to the Lord, I believe, and to your pastor, and also to others in the congregation. Now, I just want to say that before we get started. I believe women play a vital role in the local assembly. I believe that they're very important. And the church could not survive without them. And as we come to the Scriptures, we see many times in Holy Scripture where that women's faith exceeded even the faith of many men. And I'll make mention of that as we go along. Now, first of all, I want you to notice in verse 16, and the reason I came to this passage, I want you to see as we read this, I'm not going to stay here long, but I want you to see that the Bible is the final authority and it is the only rulebook for the New Testament church in all matters of faith and practice. He said in verse 16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. We don't need to go outside of Scripture to find the truths that God would have us to incorporate into the local assembly. Then in chapter 4, I want you to notice also that chapter 4 verse 1, that we see the apostasy that is mentioned in the last days. In other words, to reject God's Word is to reject God Himself. In chapter 4, verse 1, he said, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead that is appearing in His kingdom, preach the Word, be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. But the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." I want you to notice that as we began here this evening, is that we see here the importance of Scripture in chapter 3 and verse 16, and we see that in the last days, he talks about apostasy, that is a falling away. Now, I want you to turn with me, please, to Isaiah 3 and notice one verse from this chapter. Now, where I'm going to read each time, I would challenge you this week to go and look at the context and consider it. But notice as we come here to this passage. Now, I'm going to take one verse from this. Now, what I'm going to do is three things that we're going to consider tonight. First of all, we're going to consider the ordination of women preachers. Number two, we're going to consider the qualification of preachers. And number three, the role of women in the local church. Now, the first thing I want to consider, and I'm going to read a couple of stats here. First thing we're going to consider is the ordination of women preachers, and that is ordained female clergy. Now, we believe this is wrong, but it's still a fact in our society and in our nation. There's a feminization of the church, and it has brought great harm. Now, let me read from some of these statistics here, and then we'll come back to the Scripture. Now, there's three different reports I'm going to make mention. I believe one of these is in the article that we wrote in 2001 And one of these are more up to date. And I'm going to read from, first of all, 2010, this year. And it is titled, Women Pastors Gaining Ground in the United States. And it says here, it says, the percentage of churches in the United States employing a woman as senior pastor has doubled during the last decade. According to a new survey by Barney Group, the evangelical pollster said one church... Now, I want you to listen to this. It says one church in ten now employs a female pastor. And it says from the early 1990s through 1999, just 5% of pastors of Protestant churches were women. Barney called it a substantial gain. The majority of women in the pastorate, 58%, are affiliated with a mainline Protestant denomination such as the American Baptist Churches USA, United Church of Christ, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Methodist Church or Presbyterian Church. In 1993, it is said here that 51 women were serving as pastors of Baptist churches in the South. 115 women have been identified as pastors or co-pastors of churches affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, Baptist General Association of Virginia, Baptist General Convention of Texas, or Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Now, I'm going to come down and start quoting now from some older articles. We're going to go back to, well, let me see here. This is a mixture from the last ten years of quotes. So forgive me for that, but we're going to be giving a report from 1989, and I think also in 2001. But let me come back to our quotes here. It says, in the United States, women compose about 8% of all in the ministry. Women today compose a third of seminary students, and at Harvard and Yale seminaries, they are half of the students. The majority of mainline denominations, I'm still quoting, The majority of mainline denominations ordain women into the ministry whereby they serve as pastors, associates, deacons, chaplains, missionaries, counselors, social workers, etc. And some will not let them serve as pastors, but do allow them to preach, teach, or evangelize. As of 2001, now again, we're talking about almost ten years ago, that's when I wrote this article, as of 2001, the Southern Baptists, have over 1,000 ordained women fulfilling various roles of ministry even though they adopted a policy resolution in 1994 at a convention saying Scripture excludes women from pastoral leadership. There are over 700 in the American Baptist Church USA. Presbyterian Church USA has over 2,000. Over 3,000 in United Methodist Church. about 1,400 in the Episcopal Church USA, over 1,500 in the Evangelical Church in America, over 900 in the Christian Church, that is, the disciples of Christ, over 1,800 in the United Church of Christ, and over 4,000 in the Assemblies of God. And again, these numbers are from a Hartford Seminary study in 2001. There's only one of these numbers I gave you that possibly I could have wrong, but the rest of them are right on target. Now, there's just a few other quotes, and we're going to get back into Scripture. This is a report, and I only wrote down part of the report. I'd be reading here all night if I did not limit it. But this is a report in March of 1989, a national and international religious report. It would be March 13, 1989. It says the United Methodist Church has ordained women since 1956 and today has 4,743 women clergy. The Presbyterian Church USA, and again, I'm hoping all these numbers, they're different surveys that are done, so I hope they line up. But it says the Presbyterian Church USA has 2,419 female leaders. 1979, United Presbyterian Church, forerunner, Presbyterian Church USA, adopted a resolution requiring the congregation to elect women elders. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has 1,358 ordained women. Now these would be a lot higher now. And the Church of Scotland approved the ordination of women in 1968. U.S. women ordained to full-time ministry in 1986 increased to 20,730 from 10,470 in 1977 and represented 7.9% of all U.S. clergy according to a recent study by the National Council of Churches. The survey showed that 84 of 166 denominations ordained women to full-time ministry. Now, I know you can't remember all that. And I wouldn't expect you to. I couldn't remember it. But I went through all that very quickly to just show you that there is a problem across our land when it comes to the issue of ordaining women into the ministry. Now, do not forget as we get in the Scriptures, and I give you some comments here tonight, what I said in the very beginning about women and their role and their position, and we honor that and we respect that very much. And your place that God has given you is very, very important. But the more liberal churches become, the more women preachers that they are. That's just a fact. And as the Pentecostals and Charismatics increase, so do women preachers. They're very prevalent in those churches. Co-pastors is the big issue now. A lot of people say, well, the woman is not pastoring, but you have a preacher and his wife and they're co-pastors. So that's another way that they get around it. When I was pastoring in another church between 1985 and 1990 in central Alabama, There was a woman pulled into the church one day in this big, long car, and she was driving. Her husband was with her. She was about twice the size of her husband. And they got out of the car and came and sat down. We sat down on the patio, began talking. She had some questions for me. We sat there and talked a while, and the husband, he never said a word. She did all the talking. And we sat there for a while, and I just started ignoring her. And I started talking to him. She'd ask a question I wouldn't even answer. I'd just look at him, ask him how he's doing, whatever. And she introduced him and she said, this is my little deacon. This is her husband. This is my little deacon. And so anyway, we sat there and I just quit talking to her and just started talking to him. She wouldn't shut up. And that's the problem today. Many preachers won't speak up. Many women won't shut up. Amen. But anyway, we just sat there. And finally, they're getting ready to leave. We're walking to the car. And she said, well, just what is it your wife does? I said, my wife obeys the Scripture. She's a keeper at home. I said, you need to consider that. And she got in her car and she left. She didn't want to be around there. But we find that this is a growing problem and it is not going to change. It's going to get worse and worse as we get farther in to what is called the last days of the church age. Now, you'll notice with me as we come to this passage, and I'm going to read one verse from the book of Isaiah chapter 3. I'll ask you to read the rest of the chapter, maybe at another time. And you'll notice what we're going to see here in this chapter, that when God made known to Israel their weakness and their failure as a nation, He likened it to being ruled by women and children. You'll notice in verse 12 of this chapter, He says in verse 12, He said, As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them, My people, they which lead thee, cause thee to err," and he said, "...and destroy the way of thy paths." You'll notice he said that children are oppressors and women rule over them. Many women today are ruling the homes, they're ruling the churches, and children have become oppressors even in our own country. They rule the house as well in many cases. Now, let's turn to the book of Ephesians, in Ephesians chapter 4. Now, when we consider this subject, we're going to see that in the Bible, I'll make mention of this throughout the message, that you have apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers. And the ministers of God in the Bible, the pastors, are always men. You have Titus and Timothy and Barnabas and Philip and Stephen. When you talk about preachers and deacons, you don't have Sue the Evangelist or Joyce the Evangelist. We don't find this anywhere in the Scriptures. There's no female that wrote a book of the Old Testament or the New Testament. There's no ministerial qualifications for females in the priesthood of the Old Testament or the elders of the New Testament. Now, you'll notice as we come to this passage, and I really believe today, and I want to remind you again, our stand and what we believe about the importance of our women, our sisters in the assembly, they're very dear and very important. But I do believe, and you can write down Revelation 2 and verse 20, that there is a spirit of Jezebel that is in our church across our land today. There was the teaching there of a lady in the church, and called her Jezebel of the Old Testament. She led the people in Baal worship. She was a woman that was out of place. You'll notice in Ephesians 4, let me read a few verses here, and then we're going to get into our second point, and that is the qualifications of preachers. Now, there's many, many preacherettes today. and spiritual Jezebels who claim to be called. Now, I've got a list of names. I'm not even going to get involved in calling off their names. You know them. You've heard them on the radio. I hope you haven't been watching TV, but they're on the television, on the radio waves, and everywhere you go anymore that you hear of them. And there's many of them. And it doesn't matter to me whether they're a Pentecostal or a Baptist or a Methodist or a Presbyterian. they're out of place, and if they believe that they're called of God, they have a Jezebel spirit. Now, let me go just a little bit farther than this. There's also those women who do not claim to be preachers, and still yet they are preachers. Now, I'm going to let you think about this just for a moment. And I'm hoping you're not listening to any of them on the radio. There are those that are on radio talk shows. I've got a list of names right here that I could give you. It might shock you if I called some of them off. But they're those that are on talk radio. And what they do, they'll tell you right up front, no, we're not a preacher, we do not believe that women can preach, and still yet, they're on radio talk shows, they're leading in conversation, and they're contending with individuals that call into those shows. Can anybody think of a few this evening, and they're out of place, and I don't listen to them. Because it ain't a matter of whether they're right or wrong. It ain't a matter if they say something right or wrong. It's a matter of what God has to say. And I do not believe that we should be listening to them. You'll notice that as we come to this passage in Ephesians chapter 4, and again, I'm just going to read a few verses talking about after that Christ was raised from the dead. And you will notice that he said in verse 11, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. These are the leaders, by the way, in the church, the gifts given to the church. And he says here in this passage in verse 12, here's what they're for, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come into the unity of the faith, under the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, under the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ." You know, I also think about whenever we consider that a woman is to possess a meek and quiet spirit. How many have ever heard a woman preach? Have you ever heard a woman preach? There is no way this side of glory that a woman preacher can possess or portray a meek and a quiet spirit, it will not work. I mean, it's just not going to work. I want to say something else. Now, this will step out just a little bit farther. I mentioned women preachers, those who will stand and tell you they're called. Okay, that's contrary to Scripture. I also mentioned those who will tell you they're not called and they're not preachers and still yet they're preaching. We know some like this. They'll say, oh no, I'm not to be in the ministry, and still yet they are in the ministry and they are in a position they shouldn't be, that is teaching and contending with men. Let me compare this a step further. The many Sunday school classes across our land where women are leading in them. And you know what? One of the things they'll say, they'll say, but this is not the regular church service. It doesn't matter. We're going to see in the Bible where women are not to be leading in authority over men. It's just the bottom line. That's just what God says in His Word. We'll see that in a few moments. But let me carry it one step farther, okay? One other thing before we turn to 1 Timothy chapter 3. Another thing, what about women's conferences? conferences. You say, are you against them? I am against women teaching in large conferences around our country. My wife has had those opportunities and we say no. Now you say, well, I thought women could teach other women and they could teach children. That is what the Bible says, isn't it? But there's many ways of teaching besides standing in a pulpit. You ever thought about that? Ladies, you're teaching your children right now. You're teaching them. There's ways that older ladies, elderly ladies, the aged women can teach without standing in a pulpit. And I believe that's what God is talking about. When God says that the older ladies teach the younger ladies, I don't think He's talking about having a conference in San Francisco, and then Milwaukee, and then Miami, and you gather together 2,000 ladies and some woman gets up there and spends three days preaching to them. I don't believe that's what He's talking about. Alright, now notice with me as we come to 1 Timothy, and in chapter 3, we're going to step into our second area tonight, and that is, the qualifications of preachers. The qualifications of preachers. Now, you notice with me as we come to this passage. Now, 1 Timothy chapter 3, the entire chapter is dealing with the ordination, qualifications of ministers and deacons dealing with the local church. Pastors, evangelists, and missionaries are included in our study here this evening. We ask the question as we come to this passage, and we're going to begin reading here in verse 1. We're going to look at several verses in this chapter. But we ask the question this evening, is someone qualified, and that's what this chapter is dealing with, qualifications, is someone qualified to do something just because they want to do it or they think they can do it? And what is the answer? It's obviously no, isn't it? To give you an example, well, let's just say this. He said in verse 1, this is the true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Let's say there's a lady, she's saved, she knows the Bible, and I know women like this that love the Lord, know the Bible, and they witness, they can speak well, they've got charisma, they have a desire, The question is, is she calm? What if she's even been to seminary? What if she feels in her heart that this is what she's to do? No. See, the answer comes back, what does God say? I've had a desire for many years, not as much now, but I've had a desire over the years to fly a helicopter. But you know what? I'm not qualified. I mean, I've always been fascinated with a helicopter. And I've wanted to fly one. But would you ride with me this evening? Absolutely not. Absolutely, I'm not going to go to a church where a woman is a preacher either, you. Why? Could she preach? I know some women preachers. I could name you some that can preach better than their husband. I know of several that are like that. But it's wrong. It's contrary to Holy Scripture. See, that's the key. And that's what we're after here. James and John, they desired to sit. You remember in Mark 10, verse 35? They desired to sit on the left and the right hand of the Lord in His kingdom. But did the Lord say, yes, we're going to let you do that just because? No. David desired to build the temple, but did he get to build the temple? It's not because he's a wicked man. God just says, no, you're not going to build the temple. So what we're saying as we get started, you know, what if a sodomite come along and said, well, I believe God's called me to preach His Word. They are sodomite preachers, you know, across our land. Does that mean that he is qualified? The answer is no. The answer is no. Now, before I read in this chapter, I want you to think about something, and I'm going to use a man. I jotted some verses down just so I'd be reminded of this. And I'm going to use Balaam as an example. And the Bible speaks of him in 2 Peter chapter 2. Now, Balaam spoke to God, and God also spoke to Balaam, okay? Now you say, well, that's a good combination for a preacher. But I want you to listen to some things about Balaam, and I'm going to give you the verses. I want you to understand that he prophesied even of Christ's coming, but he was never saved. The Bible says in Numbers 22 that the Lord spoke to him. Numbers 24-7, he prophesied of Christ. But in Joshua 13-22, he's called a soothsayer. In Numbers 31.8, he was an enemy of God. In 2 Peter 2.15, he preached for money. In Numbers 22, he taught Balaam how to curse God's people. But he still yet spoke of Christ's coming, and God spoke to him, and he spoke to God, and he actually spoke to others about God at one time. Do you see where we're coming from? In Deuteronomy 13, verses 1-5, if there's a false prophet, even if he says something is true, and even if it comes to pass, God says, don't listen to him. And then in 2 Corinthians 11, verses 1-17, false prophets sometimes appear as angels of light. Now, notice as we come to this passage. He says here in verse 1, this is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work." Verse 9. In verse 9, he said, "...holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience." Verse 8 rather, "...likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to wine, nor greedy of filthy lucre." In this passage, he's talking about the qualifications of bishops and deacons, the two spiritual offices in the local church. Now, both of these offices are given here in the qualification. But in the same chapter, as in Titus 2, where he says, set things in order in the church, in Titus 1, verse 5, in 1 Timothy 3, you'll notice in verse 14 and 15, that he's dealing with the local church, how to behave ourselves in the local church. Look at this. He said in verse 14, he said, "...these things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I carry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." Now, why don't I read this? This whole chapter is dealing with ministers and dealing with our behavior in the house of God. Now, coming back to verse 1, please notice again, I want you to see, the first qualification for a bishop automatically disqualifies a woman. You say, what is it? He said, if a man. If a man. If a man desires the office of a bishop. He desires. He, not she, He, desireth a good work. All preachers, evangelists, and missionaries in the Bible were men, not women. We find that the man of God is a common expression or phrase in the Bible for preachers. He says the man of God, not the woman of God. There were no women priests, no women apostles, no women evangelists, no women pastors. In the New Testament, there was not one woman that was ever allowed or called to be a pastor. Not one. You can't find one. There's no woman evangelist or teacher. There's not one of the apostles that Jesus chose of the twelve that was a woman. Think about that. None of the priests, none of the high priests were women. There's not one of the twelve apostles. Now, if Jesus wanted to be politically correct, There should have been at least three or four of the apostles that were women. But there was not one. There's not one sermon given to us in the New Testament by a woman. Not one. All the words for preachers in the Bible are masculine. They're elders, bishops, and so forth. As a matter of fact, in the qualifications of a bishop here in 1 Timothy 3, verses 1-7, we find the masculine pronoun is used throughout this text, he, his, talking about men, the male. Well, notice as we read through this, he says, verse 1, this is a true saying, if a man desire the office of bishop, he desireth a good work. Notice with me as we come to verse 2, a bishop then must be blameless, the husband, The husband, let me say that one more time, the husband of one wife. Even Webster's dictionary clearly defines a husband as a man who has a wife. I know that's been redefined today. But even the dictionary says it is a man that has a wife. You'll notice something else in this passage. He says in verse 4, one that ruleth well. Please notice, when he uses the word ruleth, that disqualifies a woman from the ministry because she cannot fulfill her obligations and duties as a woman and rule at the same time. Even in Genesis 3 and verse 16, it says, "...thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over you." We find in 1 Timothy 5 and verse 17 that a preacher is an elder, he is a ruler. Hebrews 13, verses 7, 17 and verse 24, the elder, the ruler, the pastor, in other words, his position is an overseer. And so he is to rule. As a father rules in his home, he leads his family and so forth. He's the head of his family. The pastor is the head in the assembly. He is to oversee that assembly. She is called to help me in Genesis 2 and in verse 18. And so, man was put in charge from the very beginning. And we're in a pastoral epistle here. And we're going to see this. We're going to go to chapter 2 a little bit later. We've already read in 2 Timothy chapter 3. And so when we think about authority, the first sin in the Bible was rebellion against God's authority. You have Satan, Adam and Eve back there. And there is no authority except from God, and to resist this authority is to resist God. So a woman preacher is usurping authority over her husband and over others." Now notice what he says here in verse 4 again. He says here in verse 4, he said, "...one that ruleth well his own house, 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," notice, "...of the church of God?" You have to manipulate and twist and wrestle the Scriptures to get anything else out of this. Let's consider a word. Turn with me please to the book of Exodus chapter 15. Let's consider one word for a few moments. Me and one of the sisters in the assembly was talking about this just a few days ago, maybe a few weeks ago. I lose track of time, lose track of more time as I get older. But notice in Exodus chapter 15. What about the word prophetess? How many have ever had that thrown in your face? Prophetess. Well, weren't they not prophetess in the Bible? Yes, they were. Yes, they were. This word can be used in a number of ways. It can be used in a general way. It's a good word. Nothing wrong with the word. What I'm going to do is I'm going to give you, I think I'm going to give you, I believe, every time the word is used, if you want to write it down, it may be in here. I'm going to give you every time it's written down in Scripture. Yes, they are in this article. But I'm going to give you an extra one that's probably not in here. In Isaiah 8, verse 3, I guess it's Isaiah's wife gives birth to a child with prophetic meaning, but there's no record of her prophesying. But I'm going to give you some verses in just a moment. Every time the word prophetess is used. And we're going to go and look at two or three of these this evening. Now, we're going to begin here in Exodus chapter 15. I'm going to read the first three verses, but the verse where Miriam is called a prophetess is going to be in verse 20. Now, a prophetess is a woman, but not a preacher woman or a woman preacher. Not one prophetess ever held an office as a pastor evangelist, apostle, or priest. You have prophetess in the Old Testament, you have them in the New Testament. And we're going to take at least one here in the Old Testament, and probably maybe two in the New Testament. Now, I'm going to give you that list. You say, what is the meaning of this? Well, it has the ideal, the word prophet or prophetess are somewhat the same in the Old and the New Testament. And basically, it's someone who receives divine revelation from God. And especially of things to come. It doesn't always have to be of things to come. But receives divine revelation of God under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And they're allowed to speak these revelations to other people. We see this in the Old and the New Testaments. The only book in the Bible that's called a book of prophecy is the book of Revelation chapter 22 and verse 16. It speaks of things, even future events. There's a man by the name of Agabus in Acts chapter 11 verse 22 through 28. And I don't know if he ever preached a sermon, but he gave a brief prophecy of some things that were going to take place. Now, what are we talking about when we say a prophetess? Let me give you the verses and then we're going to look at this. Exodus 15-20, Miriam was called a prophetess. Judges 4 and verse 4, Deborah. 2 Kings 22-14, Huldah. Nehemiah 6 and verse 14, Noadiah. Luke 2 and verse 36, a woman by the name of Anna. We will turn there and read that. In Acts 21, verse 9, we'll turn over there in a moment, the four daughters of Philip. So when we talk about prophecy, it's not pastoring or being a bishop. It has to do with just simply speaking forth the truths of God's Word. future prophecy according to Scripture, or could just be speaking His Word from His Word. Divine revelation. There's many examples of this. I wrote down a list of verses. We're not going to start trying to run references for time's sake. But one is in Deuteronomy 18, verse 22. Now, let's consider this. Reading from verse 1. He says here in verse 1, He said, Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song, unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously, the horse and His ridereth He thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare Him in habitation, my Father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name." Now, please notice with me in this passage, In verse 20, we see Miriam. And by the way, this is the first time, it helps us with the meaning, this is the first time that the word prophetess is used in the Bible. And she's called a prophetess. She never preached. She never pastored. But she's called a prophetess here. And what she did do is lead other women in singing. She didn't even lead the men. She led some other women in singing. The first time, that is you. Now, notice as we read this, we see here in Exodus, in chapter 15 and verse 20, and Miriam. Now, you've got to understand, they just came through the Red Sea. They're quite excited. They've seen the miracle of God. And it says, And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went after her with timbrels and with dances. Notice, Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, sister of Moses. There's nothing in the passages that would indicate she preached, she pastored, she was a priest, she wasn't a high priest. We know who the high priest was. No indication of any of these things. But she's called a prophetess and she simply spoke for God. God revealed Himself to her in a special way that came through the Red Sea. And she's excited and she leads other women in song and in dance. Now here's the interesting thing about this. is that if you were to read Numbers 12, and I'm not going to ask you to turn there, but in Numbers chapter 12, you're going to see later that God used her as an object lesson to other women who seek authority and leadership in religious matters. Moses, remember who Moses was? Aaron was the high priest, and Miriam was their sister, and she was cursed with leprosy because of trying to usurp authority in religious matters. So both her and Aaron were in the same sin, but she's the only one who was struck down with leprosy. Aaron was the high priest, but she tried to usurp authority over a man in religious matters. And God dealt with her severely. And Moses prayed for her for the healing of this leprosy, and of course, God healed her. We don't find that Miriam anywhere preaching and teaching and holding evangelistic meetings and tent meetings and women's conferences or pastoring a church. We don't see that. You'll notice with me as we turn to the book of Luke and the New Testament, we're talking about prophetess. Now, I'm going to mention Deborah because many love to use Deborah. But Deborah was a prophetess. That's Judges 4, the entire chapter. And she was filled with the Holy Spirit. But you never find her preaching a sermon. You never find her usurping authority over anyone or any man. She did not have authority, but she did have revelation from God. See, we need to understand that God speaks to women the same as He does to men. He gives them revelation. But they're not allowed to preach. They're not allowed to usurp authority. We've read all these Scriptures so far. They're not allowed to do that. But God speaks to women. They have a special place in the church. But they're not to pastor. They're not to be leading. They're not to usurp authority in these areas. But there's many women in the Bible that God used in a mighty way. And Deborah, she lived under a palm tree with her husband and the nation of Israel came to her for judgment. There was no government in the land. Things were in chaos and the enemy had come up against them. And they came to her for advice. They came to her for advice. No king or no government of any substance in the land, and she gave her judgments on certain matters. And she did not take charge over the men, but she delivered a brief message that God had given to her. to Barak. And she never led the army. She never preached. She never lectured. She never was a pastor. She was never the high priest or one of the other priests. None of these things. The only female judge in the Bible. But we find that Barak is listed in Hebrews 11 and not her. Quite interesting when you consider Judges 4 and Judges chapter 5. Those are the two chapters that deal with this particular situation. Now, as we come to the book of Luke, we're going to see a woman by the name of Anna. And we're going to be in Luke chapter 2. And then we're going to go to Acts chapter 21. You see, Hilda in 2 Kings 22, 14 through 20, she gave a word to the king Josiah. Then in Nehemiah 6, 14 is the other one I gave you a moment ago. Does God speak to women? Yes. I've told you this before. I pastored one church with five deacons, about a hundred folks in the congregation. There are three or four elderly women in the congregation that had a lot of wisdom, and I had went to them a number of times for advice before I spoke with the deacons. I had more confidence in their wisdom and their understanding of things than I had in some of the deacons. You'll notice with me in Luke chapter 2. We find here in this passage, Luke chapter 2 reading in verse 36, it says here, And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Daniel of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age. and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayer night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spaketh Him of all them that look for redemption in Jerusalem." Here again is a woman that is not a pastor, not a leader of men in any kind of a religious way, and she is a widow. Now, by the way, if you really want to carry out the role of a prophetess, she fasted and prayed night and day. She wasn't behind a pulpit. She wasn't carrying on a conference in a different city, in a different state every week or so. She seriously humbled herself before the Lord God. Notice with me as we come to Acts chapter 21. We have a widow in this assembly. And before we have meetings or things are to be discussed, she does not speak up in the meetings as we have the men to lead in the congregation, but I sit down with her and go over the things that we're going to be discussing. I try to do it every time and say, look here, here's what we're going to be looking at and thinking about, the missionaries and the future of the church. What do you think about this? What do you think about these things? You'll notice with me in Acts chapter 20, I'm going to read two verses. And in this chapter, there's four daughters of Philip. These virgin daughters receive special revelation from God They were prophetess, but they did not preach. Now, why is this important that we emphasize this? We're talking about divine revelation that's given to women, and still yet, they're not allowed to usurp authority over men. In Matthew 28.10, a divine revelation given to two women by Jesus to deliver to His disciples. Do you remember that? He told these ladies, He said, I want you to go and tell My disciples I have risen. He gave them revelation. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary. And they were not pastoring and preaching. Jesus spoke to them first after His resurrection. He said, go tell My disciples. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, God desires that all of us would prophecy. Does that mean all of us are to be preaching and teaching and pastoring and evangelism? No. To prophecy is to speak forth the Word of God. You have many privileges to speak forth the Word of God. You can speak forth the Word of God to me as we sit down and talk if you desire to. You can speak forth the Word of God to your friends, to your children, and your family and so forth, but you just can't do it in the church service as we come together as a symbol. Why? Because God says not to. Now, here's the thing. In Acts 2, verses 17 and 18, I'm going to read here in Acts 21 just a moment. In Acts 2, verses 17 and 18, the Bible says there that your young men and your young women and your servants and handmaids all, on the day of Pentecost, prophesied and in Joel, it says that they're going to have revelation. And let me just read that to you. It says Acts 2, verse 18, it says, "...it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and on my handmaids I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophecy." What does that mean? Young and old, male and female, they're going to prophecy. What does that mean? Does that mean they're going to pastor? They're going to preach? They're going to be bishops and elders? No. That means that today in the church aid, everybody that is saved can have the filling of the Holy Spirit, whether they're young or old, whether they're male or female. And that means that everyone that can speak forth the truth of God, everyone, These young children can speak forth the Word of God if they know Him as their Savior. Whether they're young girls or young boys, you ladies, you can speak forth God's Word, but you cannot pastor and lead a congregation and usurp authority over men. That's not complicated. But there's many today that don't understand this. And again, this is not a male-female issue, because there are men today that believe women can preach, and there's women today that believe that women cannot preach. So it's not a male versus woman kind of thing that we get caught up in in our society. It has nothing to do with that. Now, you'll notice here in this passage that there's four virgin daughters And they received special revelation from God, but they did not preach or pastor. In Acts chapter 21, notice with me in verse 8 and in verse 9. In verse 8, we have these words. In verse 8, he says, day, we that were of Paul's company departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophecy." What does that mean? Come on, folks, that means that they simply spoke for the Word of God. They were saved, they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and God spoke to them. I want you to understand, God speaks to you ladies as well as He does the men. And you can speak for Him as well. Notice with me now as we come to 1 Timothy chapter 2. I told you, we're hanging out here in what is called the pastoral epistles for a reason. Notice as we go back in this time to 1 Timothy chapter 2, we were in 2 Timothy 3 and we were in 1 Timothy 3. Now we're going to 1 Timothy chapter 2. This is important. The pastoral epistle here in chapter 2 and in chapter 3 is basically dealing with public worship. That is, how to behave ourselves in the house of God. The same book gives instructions for bishops in the New Testament as we read a few moments ago. Now, we don't have the time to get down deep into these verses, so let me just read over them and make a few comments and we'll move on. But notice as we come to this passage. In verses 1 through 8, he addresses the issue of prayer and he also addresses the men. But we're talking tonight about women preachers, so let's focus on v. 9 through the end of the chapter. See, in v. 8, men are to lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting in prayer. But notice as we come to v. 9 and v. 10. He says, "...in like manner also that women adorn," that is, dress, "...themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broaded hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly ray, but which becometh women professing godliness with good works. Let the women learn in silence with all subjection." Now, before I read any father, I want you to notice two things in the passage. Many times we read this and we focus on one word, and that is silence or subjection. But I want you to notice it says something else. It says, let the women learn. Amen? You see, you ladies, you have every right to be taught the Word of God in the assembly. You have every right to sit with your husband, or if you don't have a husband, you have every right to be discipled in the church as well as anybody else. You play a major role in the assembly. Now, you'll notice he said in this passage, he said in verse 11, Let the women learn." Now, the setting here is basically the local assembly worship. He said, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. Does that mean she can't sing? Does that mean that she couldn't do responsive reading? Does that mean she could never give a prayer request? In the context, he's talking about usurping authority over a man in teaching. Okay? In teaching. He says in verse 12, he said, but I suffer or allow not a woman to teach. Now we know in Titus 2, the older ladies can what? Teach the younger. We know that the younger ladies can what? Teach their children. We know that. So that's settled. So he's not talking about that. He's talking about in the assembly, he said, but I suffer not a woman to teach, to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence. The silence has to do or pertains to preaching and teaching the Word of God in the public assembly. I mean, if you take that without putting it in its context, then you'll say a woman couldn't sing, she couldn't do responsive reading, she couldn't even open her mouth when she came through the door. And that's not what it's talking about. It's talking about usurping authority, being in a position of teaching where there's males present in the assembly. And I don't care whether that's Sunday school, radio, the local assembly, or what it is, this verse will apply. Now, let's read on in the chapter. Let's read on in the chapter. And then we're going to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. And I've got to do this quickly because our time is running out. Notice as we read on in this chapter, he said, now he's going to give you two reasons why that a woman is not to use her authority over a man. He's going to give us two reasons why that she is not allowed to preach and teach in the assembly. Now here they are. One is the creation ordinance. That's going to be in verse 13. He says four. Here's the reason. Here's the reason she's being silent as far as teaching. Here's the reason that she's not to usurp authority over the man. He says in verse 13, 4, Adam was first formed, then Eve. Now, I don't have time to go back in Genesis 2 and Genesis 3. You know the passages. But we find that in those passages in the Old Testament that we find that this is the first reason, the creation ordinance, is that man was created first. He's the leader. And she's to follow. She is a helpmate. She is not to usurp authority over him. That is God's original plan. That's before the fall. Now there's another reason I'm going to give you. But the first reason is that a woman can't preach and can't lead a church, can't be a deacon, she can't be an elder, she cannot be a pastor. It's simply that God says that in the very beginning, I created him to lead and I created her to follow. And that's the bottom line. And we're not to have a chauvinist attitude as men and push our weight around, because if we're going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and He loved His bride and so forth, we see how that He treated His bride, that is, His church. But the first reason for what we've taught tonight, that women preachers are wrong, period, is that it's associated with creation from the very beginning in the original creation before the fall. Now, the second reason that she can't preach and teach and usurp authority over man is in verse 14. And this second reason... By the way, a bishop is an overseer which has authority and is the rule in God's church. She is not to have authority. She is not to rule. She is not to be an overseer. So again, that disqualifies her. A lot of people say, what about Phoebe? Romans 16, verses 1 and 2. Phoebe was a servant. And God says, help this lady in the business that she had. She wasn't a pastor. She wasn't an elder. And people say, what about Priscilla? Read her article we handed out last week. The message we preached a few, I guess, weeks ago. We find that Priscilla and Aquila, you never find Priscilla preaching. You never find her in conferences and leading, you know, in conferences and whatever. What you do find is Priscilla sitting down with her wife in private conversation with the preacher Apollos And she participated in the spiritual conversation. And she helped, as well as Aquila, in showing this man in private conversation truths out of the Word of God. But she never pastored. She never led or usurped authority. Now, you'll notice in verse 14, we have these words. He says here in verse 14, was not deceived, notice, but the woman being deceived was in transgression. So there's the second reason she's not to usurp authority over the man. Is that here we find that, now listen, when Adam sinned, it was disobedience, Romans 5.12. He knew what he was doing. But when she sinned, she was deceived. She was deceived by the serpent. And so the fall began with a woman, in one sense of the word, usurping authority, getting out from under her husband and making decisions that she shouldn't have been making. And Genesis 3.16 says this. This is the judgment that God placed upon them. It says that He shall rule over you. Now, He's the rule from the beginning, but He shall rule over you. And now we find that the woman's desire is to control Him, and His desire is to give that up sometimes. And God says that the man you must be the leader and the provider and the ruler in your home. And He says to the woman, you must be the helpmeet and be the follower. These roles have been messed up because of sin. And again, a man sometimes just wants to give it all up and go fishing. Now, I'm not picking on you, brother, because you went fishing yesterday. But then the woman, see, the woman will look at this thing and she says, I want to be in charge. Now, this is not every woman, but in our society, we've seen this over the years. This is the corrupt nature that abides within. Turn with me, please. One other verse here. One other verse. By the way, many women, and this doesn't mean that women are ignorant or stupid or whatever, but there's been many women that's got out of their role and they have led into many heresies over especially the last 150 years. You have the Fox sisters. How many have ever heard of them and Spiritism? You have Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science. You have, of course, Jezebel of the Old Testament back there and Baal worship led the nation in Baal worship. You have Ellen White and the Seventh-Day Adventist movement. We preached on that not long ago. Amy McPherson, the Four Square Gospel Pentecostal movement. Many of these groups were started and led by women. By women. And look where they're at today. This doesn't mean that women doesn't have true spirituality. I said in the beginning of my sermon, the lay of foundation, that many women have more spiritual insight than their husbands do. I've seen this over the years. I've been pastoring for 27 and a half years. They're more spiritually minded many times than husbands are. But the rise of women preachers has led to the rise of many sects and false teachings, especially the last 150 years. Now, in verse 15, the last verse of this chapter, you'll notice with me, he says, and by the way, let me just say this, 1 Timothy 5, verse 14 tells us that women, he says, this is the good thing right here, marry, bear children, and guide the home. Women that love God, that's exactly what they want to do. And the Bible says if we don't do this, in Titus 2, verse 5, it says that the Word of God is blasphemed. Notice with me verse 15. Notwithstanding, she shall be saved. Not saved from hell. Not what he's talking about. He's not talking about salvation from hell. She shall be saved in what? Childbearing. If they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety. If they, that's all women. Some say this is Mary and the Virgin. No, all women. Now why does he include this? He's talking about motherhood. He just got through talking about the woman being deceived when she got out of her role. He's talking about motherhood. She can benefit humanity. She can be saved. In other words, if she takes her role, And she's a keeper at home. She desires to have children. She desires to follow her husband. She will be saved from trying to usurp authority. A woman that obeys these Scriptures will never tell you she's called to preach. She'll tell you she's glad that she don't have to run the church. I've had many ladies over the years Say, I'm so thankful I'm a woman that I'm not in charge of trying to make things work and take care of the business and the operation of the church and things like that. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians quickly. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, I have several of the passages and we're just running out of time. We've got to wind this down and quit. I was going to go to 1 Corinthians 11 and deal with the creation ordinance again. I'm just going to give you the verses. 1 Corinthians 11, 3 through 12. I challenge you to write those down. 1 Corinthians chapter 14, and I'm not going to do justice to this passage tonight. I was going to read several verses in this chapter. I'm going to just go and read two or three verses for time's sake. But I challenge you to read chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. The rule that's laid down here is not only for the Corinthians at Corinth, but it's for you and I today. Read chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 later. God does not change His truth in the New Testament. It's a fundamental law that's laid down. A lot of times we say, well, it's just a custom of that day. No, no, no. It's not custom. It's truth. You'll notice when we're in 1 Corinthians 14, reading in verse 33, watch this carefully. He says here in verse 33, he says, God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. Now, the context is speaking in tongues, which speaking in tongues was preaching in other languages. And he says in verse 34, "...let your women keep silent in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak." That is to preach and teach. But they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law, and if they will learn anything, Let them ask her husband home for this shameful woman to speak, that is, speak in authority to preach and teach in the church." And he says in verse 37, the things that I write unto you, he said, they're the commandments of the Lord. Now there's many other passages we could consider tonight. But again, for time's sake, let's go to one other passage and close. Turn with me to Matthew 26. Now let me remind you as we're turning here, 1 Samuel 15, in that text, we find that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is iniquity. 1 John 4-1 says, Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits. Judges 21-25, the Bible says, Everyone did that which is right in their own eyes. We don't want to be like that. There's many good and godly women that are mentioned in the Bible, but not one of them was a preacher, an elder, a priest, a bishop. Not one of them. Romans 16, verses 1 and 2, we had Phoebe mentioned there. And Paul, the apostle, said she's a servant of the Lord. And he says you need to help her, her in business. Whatever that she needs you, you need to help her. She has certain business to take care of. In Matthew 26 at the cross, Men left, but the women stayed. We find that in Matthew 28, women were the first to experience the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke chapter 8 and verse 3 is a woman that ministered unto the Lord. Again, I remind you as we started this sermon, churches don't exist and survive without women. Godly women loving the Lord, walking with the Lord, praying and seeking the Lord's will. And I'm going to close here in this particular passage. And I'm going to begin reading in verse 6 through verse 13. And I want you to notice Matthew 26, reading from verse 6 through verse 13. And I want you to see here Mary of Bethany and what God has to say about this godly woman. We see here in verse 6, it says, Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman, having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, and he sat at meat. And when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor. And when Jesus understood it, He said unto them, Why trouble you the woman? For she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured the ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Now before I read verse 13, let me say this. The indications in this passage is that this woman understood something about the cross that the others didn't understand. You remember I said women, God speaks to them and gives them revelation. And God leads them and teaches them. And there's indications here that this woman understood something that even the disciples didn't understand. Please note that in Luke chapter 18, Jesus began talking to them about His death, His burial, and His resurrection. The Bible said they understood none of these things. And their eyes wasn't open until Christ was raised from the dead according to Luke chapter 24. But there's indication that this woman had some insight that not even the twelve disciples had. And she anointed the Lord's body. And she did it for His burial. At least the Lord said this. And here's a woman that broke this alabaster box. And here's a woman that when she did this, she's given basically all that she has. And the Lord Jesus said this in verse 13, "...verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of..." What? What's the next word? "...of her." I don't know that being said about any man in the Scripture. She had a tender heart. She loved the Lord. She gave all that she had. She loved him with all of her heart, soul, and mind. Yes, the Bible speaks much of women. Two books named after women. And God has given them a role and He praises and honors them. But when a woman steps out of that role and says, I am called to preach, she has a Jezebel spirit. Bottom line. We will stop right here.