Amen.
The part of the chapter I want to focus on is beginning there in verse 29 where the Bible
reads for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would
none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof, therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their
own way and be filled with their own devices.
Flip over to Isaiah 53, just a few pages to the right in your Bible there.
Isaiah chapter 53, God said in Proverbs chapter 1 that these people they didn't want his advice,
they didn't want to do things his way, they didn't want his counsel or his reproof and
therefore they would eat of the fruit of their own way.
And all throughout the book of Proverbs God is giving advice to young men and teaching
us the right way to live our lives and to follow that godly path.
In Isaiah 53 verse 6 the Bible reads, all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned
every one to his own way and the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all.
And the title of my sermon tonight is, Men Going Their Own Way.
Men going their own way.
Now what did the Bible say in Proverbs 1?
It said hey listen to the Lord, listen to his advice, follow his counsel or you'll eat
of the fruit of your own way.
In Isaiah 53 it talked of sinful men that they like sheep had gone astray and turned
every one to his own way.
You don't have to turn there but in Ezekiel 22 31 the Bible says, therefore have I poured
out my indignation upon them, I've consumed them with the fire of my wrath their own way.
Have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.
So the Bible doesn't speak very well of going your own way, does it?
No the Bible says it's God's way or the highway, not going your own way.
Now what is this thing, men going their own way?
Well before I even explain to you what it is, number one, just the name of it's wrong.
Because the Bible says don't go your own way, go God's way.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Men going their own way often abbreviated as M-G-T-O-W which is a terrible abbreviation.
It doesn't spell anything.
But this is a movement today that is sort of picking up steam in the United States of
America amongst, and I use this term loosely, men, that basically it's like the opposite
of feminism.
So basically feminism is to women what men going their own way is to men.
It's like a man's version of feminism is the best way to understand it.
Here's what it says on their website if you go to M-G-T-O-W dot com.
Men going their own way is a statement of self-ownership where the modern man preserves
and protects his own sovereignty above all else.
It is the manifestation of one word, no.
Ejecting silly preconceptions and cultural definitions of what a man is, looking to no
one else for social cues, refusing to bow, serve and kneel for the opportunity to be
treated like a disposable utility.
So it's just men whining about being a doormat or something.
And living according to his own best interests in a world which would rather that he didn't.
Now let me just stop right there and say this.
What was just expressed in that paragraph from their own mouth of some of the people
behind this movement, obviously this movement is not defined by one website, but it's an
attitude of me first, self above all else I want to make sure and protect my own sovereignty.
I want to live and look out for my best interests.
Right away this should be seen as non-Christian because Christianity is about self-sacrifice.
Even the son of man, Jesus Christ, did not come to be served, but he came to serve and
to give his life a ransom for many.
He said he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many.
Christianity by nature is about esteeming others better than yourself.
It's about serving others, sacrificing for others.
So this is a self-centered thing even on the surface.
And then right under that it has a definition of sovereignty because it's all about preserving
your own sovereignty above all else.
The meaning is supreme power or authority, autonomy, independence, self-government, self-rule,
self-determination, freedom.
Look it's all about self.
We ought to be submitted to the Lord and not be just completely going our own way.
Let's go his way.
You say, well Pastor Anderson, you're missing the point about men going their own way.
It's about not letting women rule over us.
Well, you know, I'm all for that, amen to that.
But here's the difference between biblical Christianity and men going their own way.
Biblical Christianity says I'm going to get married and I'm going to be the boss in my
home.
I'm going to be the head of the home.
Men going their own way says, ah, women are all so bad I just have to be single so I can
do my own thing.
So it's a movement that eschews marriage.
Now let me read to you from Wikipedia under the article for, this is the first paragraph
of the article under men going their own way, MGTOW.
It's a mostly pseudonymous online community supported by websites and social media presences
cautioning men against serious romantic relationships with women and especially marriage.
The community is part of what is more broadly termed the manosphere.
I mean we're living in some strange times, amen.
MGTOW used the word gynocentric to describe conditions that favor women to the detriment
of men and are opposed to such circumstances.
MGTOW believed that there's a systemic gynocentric bias, these are some big words tonight, against
men including double standards and gender roles, bias against men in family courts,
lack of concern for men falsely accused of rape and lack of consequences for their false
accusers.
So basically it's just a lot of whining.
It's just like feminism where women whine about how bad it is to be a woman and how
they're getting the raw deal.
It's the opposite where men whine about how bad it is to be a man and how they're getting
a raw deal.
And so they refuse to get married as a way to rebel against the system because they say
well marriage is just all about putting women over the top of men and making men subject
unto women and that's how our society is so they eschew marriage.
So let's see what the Bible says.
Flip over if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 7.
So number one, the name is wrong because going our own way is bad according to the Bible,
number one.
Number two, the philosophy is wrong because it shuns marriage when the Bible says that
marriage is good and a blessing.
While you're turning to 1 Corinthians 7, the Bible says in Proverbs 18.22, who so findeth
a wife, findeth a good thing and obtaineth favor of the Lord.
Hebrews 13.4 says marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers
and adulterers God will judge.
So this whole attitude of men going their own way, here's what it is in a word, it's
fornication.
It's fornication.
God has ordained marriage.
God has commanded marriage for those who want to be physically active, for those who want
to actually have intercourse with the opposite gender.
Marriage is the only way to righteously perform that activity.
And so if you're going to skip marriage, you are what the Bible calls a fornicator or a
whoremonger to just have these casual relationships where you're trying to stay out of a serious
romantic relationship and especially out of marriage.
This is a movement that is based on fornication and whoredom.
Sometimes it even promotes prostitution as being a great way for men to meet that need
in their life.
I mean that's wicked as hell.
The Bible says marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge.
And let me say this, since the MGTOW is so concerned about men being falsely accused
of rape, here's a newsflash for you.
You'll never get falsely accused of rape if you don't sleep with someone that you're not
married to.
It's kind of hard, and look, I'm sure that there are men who falsely get accused of that
when it was consensual but then they get falsely accused of that, but you know what, it's pretty
hard for me to feel sorry for somebody getting punished when they're being a fornicator in
the first place and God killed twenty-three thousand fornicators in one day.
So to sit there and say, we gotta do something about all these poor guys that are being falsely
accused of rape, why don't they do something called being a virgin until they get married
and then they won't have to try to defend the fact that the girl wasn't too drunk to
consent or whatever.
It's all wickedness.
I'm not going to get involved in some movement to try to protect these guys.
Why don't these guys protect themselves by staying pure and following God's plan for
their life which is to get married and to abstain from fornication.
The Bible says for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should
abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel
in sanctification and honor.
That will solve that problem right away.
Then there's no question about whether she consented or not because you wouldn't be doing
that whoredom outside of marriage.
And when you're married, she consented when she said, I do.
And you consented when you said, I do.
And you got a marriage license to prove it, amen?
Men going their own way.
Number one, the name is wrong.
Number two, the philosophy is wrong, a philosophy that's against marriage.
Marriage seems to be under attack from all sides today.
Everybody's so tied up on this issue of queer marriage.
We need to protect even just the traditional marriage.
It's under attack even from straight people who want to say, hey, don't get married or
don't get a marriage license.
We need to stay with the institution of marriage.
Don't give up on the institution of marriage.
Just because our world perverts it, just because people abuse it, we as Christians
must stay with that institution because it's biblical and God's word never changes.
And I don't care what our society does, I don't care what the law says, marriage is
honorable and all, and it always has been, it always will be, and it's not optional.
It's mandatory unless you're going to be celibate.
Now the Bible does say that it's okay to be single, right, as long as you are celibate
while you're single.
And you know, later you could choose to get married.
But look, if people choose to be single and they choose to abstain from a relationship
with the opposite gender, that's okay.
You know, the Bible says that most people, that's not for them, but that there are certain
people where that is for them.
But that's not what M-G-T-O-W is.
Men going their own way isn't about, you know, remaining single so you can serve Jesus
Christ full-time.
No, it's about remaining single so that you can serve yourself full-time.
That's what it's about, your self-autonomy, that's the most important thing.
No, that's not the most important thing.
Look down at your Bible in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 1, now concerning the things whereof
you wrote unto me, it is good for a man not to touch a woman, nevertheless to avoid fornication,
let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.
Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence, and likewise also the wife unto the husband.
The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband, and likewise also the husband
hath not power of his own body but the wife, to fraud ye not one the other, except to be
with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come
together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.
Now right there in verse 4, as a man, when you get married, you give up some autonomy,
don't you?
You give up some of your self-governing right there, because according to 1 Corinthians
7, 4, it says that the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife.
So when I married my wife, her body belongs to me, my body belongs to her.
That's called marriage, and I don't care if M-G-T-O-W doesn't like it, it's Bible.
Give up some autonomy, okay?
You're married now.
So there's a certain obligation that you have to your wife.
What is that obligation?
Well, there's a physical obligation that's described here.
Everybody knows what this is talking about that ought to.
If not, see me after the service if you're an adult that doesn't understand this.
If you're a man, I don't want to get in a weird conversation with a woman.
But anyway, everybody knows what it's talking about, so there's a physical obligation,
but number two, there's also a financial obligation, right?
The Bible talks about your duty of marriage, and the Bible talks about the fact that also
a man's responsibility is not only to be physical with his wife, it's also to provide.
The Bible says if any man provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own
house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.
So when I married my wife, there's an obligation now that I'm going to provide for her.
I'm going to pay the bills, I'm going to put a roof over her head, I'm going to feed her.
So there, I've lost a little bit of freedom, haven't I?
I've lost a little bit of autonomy.
But that's called life, okay?
That's being a Christian.
That's following God's way.
And if I have to choose between my own way and God's way, I'm going to choose God's way
every time.
First Corinthians 7 tells us that to avoid fornication, we should every man have his
own wife, and that every woman should have her own husband.
Then he goes on later in the chapter to discuss the exceptions to that, and to say, you know
what, there are some people who have a gift of God where they could basically not be married,
I'm just paraphrasing the rest of the chapter, but he says that they could basically not
be married and be totally satisfied with that.
You know, some people are just okay being single, they could just serve God and live
their life.
That's a minority.
And that's okay, not against that at all.
But for the vast majority of people, marriage is God's plan for our lives.
Now the Bible tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 3, and if you would flip over to Colossians
3.
In 1 Timothy 3, the Bible tells us in verse 4 that one of the qualifications for being
a pastor is one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with
all gravity, for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care
of the church of God?
So one of the qualifications for being a pastor is that you rule your house, and you rule
your house well.
And then the Bible says that if a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how can he
take care of the church of God?
So therefore, as men, it's our responsibility to lead in the home.
The Bible says that the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.
So God has ordained men to be the leaders in the home and to rule their houses.
And this attitude of this men going their own way is basically men who are failing to
lead.
Many of them haven't even tried yet, but they've already failed in their own mind.
And so they're saying, well, you know, marriage these days is just all about being enslaved
to a woman.
Well, that's not true, because if you would rule well, then you would be the head of that
home.
You would be the boss in that home if you would rule well.
And that's a whole other sermon that I've preached many times on how to be a good husband
or marriage advice from the Bible and how to lead.
And that's a difficult subject, and it's a difficult task in 2017.
But we wouldn't want you to have to do anything hard now, would we?
Today instead of taking on the difficult challenge of being a husband in 2017, of being a godly
man in your home and ruling well your own house, many people have just thrown in the
towel and just quit and failed in their own minds and just said, it's impossible.
If the case of the man be so with his wife, then it's not good to marry.
That was the first men going their own way in the Bible.
You know, they look at America, they look at society, they look at 2017 culture, and
they say, if the case of the man be so with his wife, then it's not good to marry.
No, wrong.
It is good to marry.
The Bible says, whoso findeth the wife, findeth the good thing, and obtaineth favor of the
Lord.
It's our job to be godly leaders, to stand up and take the leading role in the home.
But number three, not only is the name wrong, not only is the philosophy wrong, but thirdly,
this men going their own way movement, it's negative and hateful toward women.
It says feminism is often negative and hateful toward men.
This men going their own way movement is negative and hateful toward women.
What do I mean by that?
Well, they basically portray all women as out to get men, out to rip them off, abuse
them, use them, just milk them for everything they're worth.
Well, that's not how all women are.
What kind of a woman hating philosophy is this to just demonize all women?
Or sometimes they'll just demonize all American women and say, well, you know, if you marry
a woman from another country, you could get something better, but, you know, here in the
United States, they'll make these generalizations out, all women are feminists and all women
are just out to get you and out to rip you off.
This is a woman hating philosophy.
Now what does the Bible say in Colossians 3 verse 18, if you're there in your Bible,
Colossians 3 verse 18, it says wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is
fit in the Lord, verse 19, husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them.
And what we see with this movement is a bitterness toward women in general and a bitterness toward
a wife.
Flip over to Ephesians chapter 5, if you would, Ephesians chapter 5.
It portrays all women as out to get men and use them and rip them up.
And this whole debate about the marriage licenses, which there's no debate in this church, friend.
You get legally married in our church or you get out of our church.
If you're in our church and you're not legally married and you're sleeping together, you'll
be thrown out of the church as soon as that's found out.
Let me just make that real clear.
The Bible says that if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator with such a one
know not to eat and put away from among yourselves that wicked person, anybody who's here and
you're living together and you're not married, you're living in sin, you're living in fornication,
I'm talking legally married, not some fake marriage.
You know what?
You get married and then you can come back.
Not allowed.
We don't allow these fake common law so-called marriages.
They're not legal in the state of Arizona and we don't allow it here.
It's junk.
You know what I noticed though about this opposition to getting a marriage license?
Because you know, I preached that sermon about marriage license and just got tons of negative
comments on YouTube.
Just tons of negative comments.
But you know, I scrolled through just scores of comments and you know what I noticed?
I can only find one woman who is against my sermon and I found like 50 men saying no
to marriage licenses.
Why?
These are men who have commitment issues.
These are men who don't want to make a commitment.
They don't want to get married legally because they want to be able to just walk away.
That's why.
They want an easy way out.
And let me tell you something young lady, if you're with one of these dudes that tries
to hide behind this like, oh, marriage licenses are unscriptural.
Let's just do a little fake little, you know, whatever.
Hey, you know what?
You better get away from that guy.
You tell him to put a ring on it and get a real marriage license or see ya.
Don't fall for that garbage.
He's playing you like a fiddle.
Don't fall for that junk.
Isn't it amazing that there's 50 times as many men saying don't get a marriage license.
You know why?
Because women want that security.
Women want the security of having a legally binding marriage.
They want to actually be married.
Okay.
But this men going their own way thing distains marriage licenses and says, you know, marriage
license, you're just signing your life away.
You know what you're saying?
You're saying I'm planning now to fail to lead.
And then my wife's going to walk all over me and rip me off.
Why would you marry such a wicked woman?
Why don't you find a godly woman to marry that's not going to rake you over the coals?
And then, you know, see, I don't lay awake at night wondering like with the covers pulled
up to my neck like, if my wife divorces me, am I going to have to pay alimony?
You know, I don't sit and wonder like what the laws are and, you know, what are the laws
on child, you know, what are the, I don't know what, here's the thing.
My wife and I, you know, we're staying married.
We're happily married.
We've got the Bible as our guide.
We love each other and we're not really worried about exactly how family court works.
And so, you know, we need to just go into marriage saying it's God's institution.
We're going to, and the Bible teaches getting legally married.
I proved that up one side and down the other in my sermon a few weeks ago or whenever that
was.
The point is, you know, we need to get married because the Bible said so and not say, well,
you know, it's slanted toward women.
Not in my house, it's not.
You know, marriage is whatever you make it in your home.
You know, if you follow the Bible, that'd be like, what if they made a law against spanking
your kids?
We're still going to spank our kids because the Bible said so.
So we don't look to the law of the land to tell us how to have a marriage or how to have
kids.
But we do get legally married because that's biblical for the government to enforce marriage
laws as I proved up one side and down the other in my other sermon.
But there in Ephesians 5, if you would look at verse 22, wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands as unto the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ
is the head of the church and he is the savior of the body.
Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands
in everything.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but this does not look like marriage is oppressive toward
men in the Bible.
Does this look oppressive toward men to you when it sits there and says that as the church
is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything?
You know, it sounds like as a Christian man, I can actually be married and still be the
boss and still lead.
That's what the Bible says.
Then look what it says next in verse 25, husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved
the church and gave himself for it.
Hey, thank God that Christ didn't go his own way.
It's a good thing Jesus wasn't a man going his own way because what did he do?
He loved the church and gave himself for it.
Amen.
That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.
Let me ask you this.
When Christ found her that would become his bride, was she perfect?
No.
He sanctifies the church.
He cleanses the church.
He washes the church by the water of the word that he might present it to himself, a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish.
You know what that's called?
Leadership.
Leadership, right?
We don't need our wife to be perfect.
We can still take the lead and have a good marriage and make things work.
That's the job of being a husband.
It says, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies, verse 28.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth
and cherishth it, even as the Lord the church.
For we're members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife,
and they too shall be one flesh.
This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the
wife see that she reverenced her husband.
So the bottom line in verse 33 is that men are to love their wives as themselves, and
the wife is to reverence her husband.
Now flip over to Ecclesiastes chapter 7.
Now that phrase, love your wife as yourself, think about the fact that the Bible said that
in the end times, in the last days, one of the signs of the end times would be that men
would be lovers of their own selves.
Now being a lover of your own self is also known as narcissism, right?
Because narcissus was this mythical character who fell in love with his own reflection in
the water, okay?
So this is narcissism, being in love with yourself, right?
And the Bible said in the last days, men would be lovers of their own selves.
And this is what we see with this men going their own way.
It's all about me loving myself, not loving my wife, but loving myself.
Now stop and think about this today, and you know, I don't want to get too weird in the
sermon tonight, but I don't want to get too weird in the sermon tonight, but we're living
in some strange times.
And if you've seen that Japan documentary that we did, it ties in a lot with what I'm
preaching about in the sermon.
If you haven't seen it, there's DVDs back there on the shelf of that Japan kamikaze
nation DVD that we did, because a lot of this weird stuff comes out of Japan first.
That's where a lot of it starts, okay?
And what you're seeing now is that people today are disdaining a normal relationship
with a woman called marriage, where they love her and sacrifice for her and provide for
her, and you know, it's about the other person.
You know, when you get married, it's not about just gratifying yourself, it's about gratifying
the other person, right?
It's about being there for them, it's about what you can do for them, not what you can
just get out of it for yourself, right?
Women should go into marriage to serve their husband, and husbands should go into marriage
to serve their wife, right?
It's not about yourself, it's about the other person.
And obviously there's an authority structure there where the man is the boss, but at the
end of the day, the man leads for her benefit.
It's a benevolent dictatorship, where he gives her what's good for her, not just, let me
just do everything my way for myself.
It's not a selfish thing at all.
But today we have people who don't want to have a normal relationship with the opposite
gender today, instead they literally want to have a relationship with a computer.
And I know this sounds weird, but it's only going to get weirder.
Give it five years, ten years, fifteen years, people are going to start having robots and
computers as their wife or girlfriend.
Why?
Because they're in love with themselves, that's why.
This is all about themselves.
There's already the Nintendo Love Plus, and it's literally a little video game where you
have your virtual girlfriend and you talk to her and you get to know her, and you have
a relationship with a video game.
With an art, you know, I don't even want to call it artificial intelligence because it's
not even to that level.
It's a low level technology.
But this technology snowballs.
And pretty soon, people are going to be having just hours and hours of conversation with
a machine, and falling in love with a machine, and having a relationship with a machine.
It's computers, it's video games, it's Nintendo now.
I don't know when the Lord is coming back, but if Christ doesn't return for many decades,
pretty soon it's going to be full blown robots.
And I know that sounds weird, but it's true.
They're working on it right now, friend.
Why?
Because men are lovers of their own selves.
It just shows where their heart is that they would prefer to have a relationship with a
machine or with a computer or with software than they would with a flesh and blood person.
Why?
Because the machine requires nothing of them.
The machine was built for one purpose, to gratify them.
That little anime girlfriend on Nintendo Love Plus is just there for them to get kicks.
She doesn't get anything out of that relationship because she doesn't even exist.
She's not even real.
You know, you're in love with some middle aged dude that programmed that teenage girl.
That's the weird part.
You know what I mean?
You're sitting there, you're having this relationship with a machine, why?
Because you don't love your neighbor.
You don't love your wife, a real human being.
You love yourself.
So you go through this charade, this fraud, this farce, oh I love her so much.
It's a hunk of metal.
You love yourself is what it really comes down to.
It is men shall be lovers of their own selves being fulfilled in a way that none of us ever
thought it would.
You know, and in that Japan documentary we show where people, you know, this guy, they
ask the guy the question, you know, what if you have to choose between your wife and Nintendo
Love Plus, the character?
And he just pauses and says, well that's a choice I hope I'm never going to have to make.
Because his wife doesn't know that he goes on this Nintendo game and just spends hours
a day.
And then they're advertising these anime girlfriends in Japan that they wake you up in the morning,
they text you throughout the day.
So when are you coming home?
It's weird but it's real.
Japan's leading the way with, they have a thing called herbivore men and it has nothing
to do with eating plants.
It's just a term called herbivore men and it's basically their version of men going
their own way.
Where there's just a giant section of the Japanese population that just refuses to date,
refuses to get married, and they just have the video games, they go to prostitutes, whatever.
But they don't have a normal, righteous relationship with the wife.
It's wicked.
This is the way the world's going.
Now let me say this, are you there in Ecclesiastes 7?
I don't want you to take this the wrong way.
So listen carefully to what I'm about to say.
I don't want you to misconstrue what I'm about to say, okay?
This movement is a woman-hating movement, which is wicked.
But let me say this, women have always been the way that they are right now.
That's how women are.
Now I'm not saying women are bad, but I'm saying that there are bad women out there.
And there have always been bad women out there in the past and there always will be in the
future.
Why?
Because there's nothing new under the sun.
So the same temptations that we go through, the Bible says there's no temptation taking
you, but such is his common demand.
The same marriage struggles that we have today in 2017, people had those marriage struggles
thousands of years ago.
Let me show you a scripture to prove it.
Look at Ecclesiastes 7.26, and again, I don't want you to misunderstand this or take this
the wrong way, but look what the scripture says in Ecclesiastes 7.26.
And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets and her hands
as bands.
I mean, that's pretty rough.
What's a snare?
A trap.
What's a net?
It's a trap.
What are bands?
They lock you up.
The ball and chain.
But see, this is not talking about just women in general, this is talking about a wicked
woman.
This is what a wicked woman is like.
So there were women like this back in Solomon's day.
You know, snares, nets, her hands as bands, who so pleaseth God shall escape from her,
but the sinner shall be taken by her.
Behold, this have I found, saith the preacher, counting one by one to find out the account,
which yet my soul seeketh, but I find not.
One man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found.
So he's lamenting here finding a good woman.
And he's talking about these wicked women out there.
And look, doesn't Proverbs 31 kind of say the same thing when it says, who can find
a virtuous woman for her price is far above rubies?
So the struggle was there back then also to find a virtuous woman, and there were a lot
of wicked women out there.
I mean, that's just life.
It was the same way then.
So this new attitude that says, well, it's just in our generation that women are wicked.
No, no, no.
It's the same as it's always been.
There are good ones and there are bad ones.
There are good men and bad men.
It's the same thing.
Now, what a lot of people don't understand, though, is that not every woman that's worldly
or sinful or feminist is not a horrible person.
They're not a rotten person.
They might have just been taught that way.
And actually inside, they may have a good heart, and they may actually long to do what's
right on the inside.
And with the right leadership, with the right preaching, the right friendships, the right
role models, they could actually become a godly person.
So you can't just always expect the woman that you meet to just be perfect.
I was going to say out of the box, but that's what I was preaching against five minutes
ago.
But you know, you can't just expect to just meet a woman who's perfect just like you're
not going to meet a man that's perfect.
Ladies?
Right?
I mean, people are human.
They have faults.
Now, obviously, you don't want to marry somebody who's fatally flawed.
You don't want to marry somebody who's wicked.
You don't want to marry somebody whose heart is wrong.
But you know, there are a lot of women out there that are nice women.
There are godly women just waiting to happen, even though right now they're not godly.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Now, look, let me use, you know, my wife is a perfect illustration of this.
People look at my wife and they think, wow, Pastor Anderson, you're so lucky because you
have a godly, submissive, righteous wife.
She loves the Bible.
She loves the Word of God.
Amen.
But let me tell you this.
When I met my wife, she was a left-wing liberal, okay?
And this is what she said to me today.
In German, there's an expression that she was so left that there was no room to even
put a razor blade between her and the left wall.
That's how left she was.
That's how left-leaning, okay?
And you know, I've jokingly said that Obama wasn't around back then, but if Obama would
have been around when I met my wife, she would have been an Obama supporter.
Okay, she was left-wing.
She was feminist.
She's European.
She's from Germany, which is, you know, that's the way most women over there.
Some people get the idea that I imported, you know, this fine German import, you know.
They think that I imported a wife that was submissive because, you know, all the American
women are just, you know, they're just all shot.
You know, you gotta import them from the other side of the world.
Wrong.
Okay.
My wife is from a country that's more liberal and more, it's not Iceland, but, you know,
it's more liberal and more feminist than America.
I mean, Germany's pretty close, you know, it's getting to Iceland levels.
And so, the point is, though, that here's what changed my wife.
She got saved.
And you know what, when my wife got saved, and all of a sudden a light bulb comes on
when you get saved, the Bible calls being saved being enlightened, and the Holy Spirit
moves in, and she starts reading the Bible, and she gets under godly preaching, and she's
singing the hymns, and you know what, she's a new creature.
So, you know, don't get this weird attitude that says, oh, well, you know, the whole western
world, the women are all bad.
We need to just stay single and just go our own way.
Wrong.
What you need to do is be a godly man, is a good place to start, number one.
And then number two, you need to find a woman who at least wants to do right, who at least
loves the Lord.
Even if she's not perfect, of course she's not going to be perfect.
And you need to be a role model.
You need to teach her.
You need to help her and show her love, and show her the love of Christ, and teach her
the word of God, and, you know, women respond to leadership.
They're wired to be a follower.
And they need the right leader to lead them in the right path.
You know, but it makes me sick, this woman-hating mentality.
It makes me sick.
And I hear it all the time.
I hear people say things like, oh, I live in New York City and all the women here are
whores.
That's garbage.
I guarantee you there are tons of godly women living in New York City, even.
Guarantee it.
Oh, all the women are all whores.
Really?
Because at the public school in Tempe or McClintock High, the statistics show that half of the
girls graduating from that college have retained their virginity.
So how is it that everybody's just this horrible whore and wicked and they all want to rip
you up?
They all want to marry you and chew you up and spit you out and take your alimony.
Look, are there women out there?
Oh, yeah, you better watch out for those women.
You gotta watch out.
But let me tell you something.
There are good women out there.
There were back then, and there are now.
And you know, a lot of men, too, they're looking for the wrong thing.
They limit themselves to only Barbie doll-looking bimbos.
And then they wonder why they can't find the virtuous woman.
Basically, they want a woman who looks like Proverbs 5, 7, and 9, but is a Proverbs 31
on the inside.
That's what they're looking for, right?
They're looking for a woman in the attire of a harlot.
They want her to be just all dolled up and just scantily clad and looking like a hoochie
mama, looking like a hooker.
And then they wonder why she doesn't want to stay home and raise kids, you know?
I don't know what the deal is.
You know, why don't you realize that favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman
that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
Why don't you start looking at women for what's on the inside instead of just focusing on
a Hollywood outside appearance, right?
Why don't you look for a godly woman and not get all obsessed with her looking like Madison
Avenue puts forth as the model of what women should look like.
And you know what?
You'll find that there are a lot of women out there that are worth marrying for you,
young man.
And you don't have to join this weird, sissy, whining, lame, cowardly, men-going-their-own-way
movement.
This movement, this M-G-T-O-W so-called, should be just discarded.
Anyone who talks about it should be embarrassed if they claim to be a part of it.
If anyone breaks up to me, I'm going to say, you know, you're lame.
You sound like a complete loser.
You're a weakling.
You're a coward.
You're wicked.
Because that's what this movement is, it's junk.
And it's a woman-hating movement.
You know what?
There are good men, bad men, good women, bad women.
It's all about whether or not they fear the Lord.
It's all about whether or not they love the Lord.
Okay.
So don't give up on marriage.
If you're a young single man, there's no woman out there, you know what?
Why don't you just broaden your horizons a little bit and pray unto the Lord and get
out there and start meeting people.
You're going to find one that's worth marrying if you put in the work.
And the same goes for the ladies.
You know what?
There are plenty of good single guys out there and one of these days it's going to
happen for you.
Hang in there.
Let me conclude with this verse, Psalm 18, 30, as for God, his way is perfect.
The word of the Lord is tried.
He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
Now what's a buckler?
A buckler is a shield.
You know, God's word is a shield.
I don't need to hide behind some movement to protect my autonomy.
You know, I can go the way that God has ordained for me to go just behind the shield of God's
way, not my own way to shield and protect myself at all costs.
You know, I'm willing to expose myself.
You know, I'm willing to open up to somebody and hide behind the shield of the Lord and
his way, the tried and the true.
His way is perfect.
Let's bow our heads in that word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord.
I know that we're living in tough times, Lord, where a lot of women and men have been brainwashed
by feminism.
There's a lot of bad preaching in churches that teaches lies about marriage.
Now the trend, Lord, seems to be that pastors' wives just leave them and then they just keep
on pastoring like nothing happened.
Even though their marriage has failed, Lord, raise up a generation of men to lead churches
that stay married and preach the truth on marriage and raise up a generation of men
who are willing to accept the challenge of being a godly husband and women who will be
that godly wife and to be that help meet for him, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.