["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Let's go ahead and find our seats this evening.
Find the seats, find the hymnal.
You turn to page number 245.
Song number 245.
The old account was settled long ago.
Song number 245, sing it out on the first.
There was a time on earth when in the Book of Man,
when all the cow was standing for sin to yet begin.
My name was at the top and many things below.
I went unto the keeper and settled long ago,
long ago, long ago.
Yes, the old account was settled long ago.
Hallelujah, and the record's clear today.
For he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago.
Song number 245, on the second.
There, oh, the count was large, going every day.
For I was always sinning and never tried to pay.
But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and hope,
I said that I would settle, settle long ago, long ago,
long ago.
Yes, the old account was settled long ago.
Hallelujah, and the record's clear today.
For he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago.
When in the happy home, my Savior's home above,
I'll sing with him some story and praise him for his love.
I'll let forget that book with pages wide as snow.
Because I came and settled, and settled long ago,
long ago, long ago.
Yes, the old account was settled long ago.
Hallelujah, and the record's clear today.
For he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago.
Let's finish on the last.
Oh, sinner, trust the Lord.
Be cleansed of all your sin.
For thus he hath provided for you to enter in.
And then if you should live a hundred years below,
up there you'll not be printed.
You settled long ago, long ago.
Yes, the old account was settled long ago.
Hallelujah, and the record's clear today.
For he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago.
Amen. Great seeing you.
We want to welcome you to Verity Baptist Church here on our Sunday evening service.
We are glad to see everyone here this evening.
Let's open the service with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we love you.
We thank you for the opportunity to be in your house this evening, Lord,
and thank you for a great day you've given us.
We thank you for these people who would come sing praises to you, Lord,
and learn your word, Lord.
Pray that you bless the service.
Pray for the singing, the preaching, the fellowship, Lord.
We pray that everything that be said and done this evening will bring glory
and honor to you in the name of love.
In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
All right, so now time for favorites, where if you're selected,
we will sing a stanza from the song that you pick.
Go ahead, brother Nate.
Song number 55.
When the road is cold up yonder, I'll be there.
Song number 55, sing it out on the first.
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no longer
and the morning breaks eternal bright and fair,
when the save of us shall gather over on the other shore
and the road is cold up yonder, I'll be there.
When the road is cold up yonder,
when the road is cold up yonder,
when the road is cold up yonder, I'll be there.
Now go ahead.
45 on the second.
When I can read my title clear, song number 45.
We're going to sing it out on the second.
Should earth against my soul engage in my retorts me,
then I can smile at Satan's rage
and face the frowning wood,
face the frowning wood,
then I can smile at Satan's rage
and face the frowning wood.
Now you need to go ahead.
328.
228.
Song number 228.
Song number 228, love to tell the story, sing it out on the first.
I love to tell the story of us and things above,
of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story because I know it's true.
It satisfies my loving, that's nothing else can do.
I love to tell a story, this will be my human glory,
to tell the old story of Jesus and his love.
CC.
84.
Song number 84.
Jesus is coming again, song number 84.
Song number 84 on the first.
Marvelous message we bring,
Glorious arrow we sing,
Wonderful voice of the King,
Jesus is coming again,
Coming again,
Maybe morning, maybe noon,
Maybe evening, maybe soon,
Coming again, coming again,
Oh, what a wonderful day it will be,
Jesus is coming again.
Let's go ahead.
379.
This will be the last song for favorite song number 379.
Soul winning song, bringing in the sheaves,
let's sing it out with some passion, alright?
Sing it out on the first.
Sowing in the morning, sowing seeds of kindness,
Sowing in the noontide and the dewey,
Waiting for the harvest and the time of weeping,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves, bringing in the sheaves,
We shall come rejoicing, bringing in the sheaves,
Amen.
Alright, well let's take our bulletins tonight.
We'll look at some announcements real quickly.
If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand
and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up
and we will get one for you.
The verse this week, Psalm 119, 11,
Thy word have I hid in mine heart,
that I might not sin against thee.
And that's a good verse there.
We like that.
If you open up your bulletin,
you'll see our service time Sunday morning service,
1030 a.m.
We had a wonderful service this morning.
We're glad you're back out tonight,
of course, for the evening service.
And we do have a service time Sunday morning service,
and we do invite you to be with us on Wednesday night
for the midweek Bible study at 7 p.m.
We call it the most encouraging service of the week.
If you look at our soul winning times,
our main soul winning time was on Saturday mornings
at 10 a.m.
And then we have additional soul winning times.
Thursday and Friday are postponed for now,
but on Sundays at 2 p.m.
And of course, if you are a soul winner,
I want to remind you that if you have any salvations,
make sure you add those on your communication card.
On the back of the card,
let us know that you have some salvations
so that we can add those to the bulletin.
And of course, if you have a map
that you did not finish,
just clearly mark what was done, what was not done,
and put it in the bin in the foyer,
in the main foyer back there,
and we'll get that recycled through
and make sure that it gets done.
And if you're running late,
you can always call us or text us
at the number there, 916-868-9080.
Let us know that you're planning on being there,
but you're running late.
That way, our team captain's gonna have a partner
and a map and everything you need.
Of course, we are family integrated.
We've got mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms,
so please make sure you're using those as needed.
And if you need to be baptized,
please let us know.
We have a baptism tonight, so praise the Lord for that.
We'll do that, of course, at the end of the service.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events,
we have the Lord's Supper service
coming up on Wednesday, March 27th.
We just want you to make a note of that
and make sure you are here for that
and make sure you don't miss that.
And then the Easter service, of course, is on the 31st.
We have a soul-winning push
coming up on the 28th, 29th, and 30th.
So we'll have soul-winning at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday
and then on Saturday at 10 a.m.
We'd like to get as many of our soul-winners out there
as possible so that we can, of course, canvas the area,
preach the gospel, invite people to Easter.
And also, you should have one of these cards in the bulletin.
You should have a packet of three cards.
And, of course, it's inviting people to Easter
and our grand opening service.
It talks about the Cadbury eggs
and the special music and all that.
So make sure you're using this card
as a tool to invite people to Easter.
And don't forget about that.
And then, of course, there's other things there,
Next Generation Youth Rally.
If you'd like to sign up to clean the building
on Wednesday, April 10th,
that's a special cleaning time for the youth rally.
We would really appreciate your help.
I looked through the communication cards this afternoon
and I saw that one of you signed up to help us with that.
So thank you.
But we could probably use a little more help
if you wouldn't mind.
So if you're able to help with that,
we would appreciate your help regarding that.
And then, of course, there's other things there
for you to look at.
And don't forget to turn your cell phones off.
Replace them on silent during the service
so that they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin,
birthdays and anniversaries for the month of March.
Today is Caleb Urquiza's birthday, March 17th.
And then later this week,
we have Madison Pendleton's birthday on March 19th
and Zuri O2's birthday on March 23rd.
There's other things there for you to look at.
I would like to say thank you to all you ladies
who texted my wife this afternoon,
just telling her you're praying for her,
wishing her well.
We appreciate, of course, all of your kindness.
I got some questions about that.
And I just want to say, you know,
obviously my wife, when she tore her gastric anemia,
you know, that's a pretty, it's a serious injury,
but that was, you know, she needed crutches for that
and it was going to take six weeks,
is what we were told, for her to heal that.
But now with this blood clot,
the blood clot is a much more serious condition.
So just be in prayer for her.
And specifically, of course, she's in a lot of pain.
She can't really walk.
But just pray that,
she's going to be on blood thinners for six months,
so just pray that there's no complications,
that it gets healed and that there's just no,
nothing comes of it or arises as a result of it.
So we just appreciate your help and your prayers with that.
And I think that's it for the announcement.
So let's go ahead and take the chorus of the week.
And we're going to sing,
He is mine as we prepare to receive the offering tonight.
Sing it out on the first.
Long before the fall of man
God designed the master plan
He exchanged the sinner power
the sinless one
Jesus left us, throne on high
Came to earth to bleed and die
He said, Father, not thy will
but thy be thine
He is mine
I am last beyond all measure
He is mine
I have hardened, raw, and free
to the bright
I shall be
He is mine
Sing it out on the second.
Through God's mercy and His grace
He has prepared for us a place
where words cannot describe
the matchless beauty there
We will praise the perfect Lamb
King of kings, the great I am
He has made the joys of heaven
ours to share
He is mine
I am last beyond all measure
He is mine
I have hardened, raw, and free
to the bright
I shall be
He is mine
Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you. We thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight.
Lord, we pray that you bless the offering, the gift, and the giver.
We pray that you bless the time set aside for the preaching of your word.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Please open up to Numbers 27.
Numbers, chapter number 27.
If you didn't have a Bible, please raise your hand.
And I know you can read your Bible.
Numbers, chapter number 27.
We read the entire chapter as our custom.
Just keep your hand up and I'll show you what will come by.
Numbers 27, make it in verse number 1.
Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Heber, the son of Gilead, the son of Makar, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph.
And these are the names of his daughters, Mala, Noah, and Hoggla, and Milcah, and Tirzah.
And they stood before Moses and before Eliezer the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation,
by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah,
but died in his own sin and had no sons.
Why should the name of our father be done away among his family?
Because he had no sons.
Given to us, therefore, a possession among the brethren of our father.
And Moses brought their cause before the Lord.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, The daughters of Zelophehad speak right.
Thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren,
and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die and have no son,
then he shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
And if he have no daughter, then he shall give his inheritance unto his brethren.
And if he have no brethren, then he shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren.
And if his father have no brethren, then he shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family.
And he shall possess him, and shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this Mount Eberim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel.
From now seeing it, thou also shall be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered.
For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation,
to sanctify me at the water before their eyes, that is, the water of Meribah and Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh,
set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, which may go in before them,
and which may leave them out, and which may bring them in.
Let the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd.
The Lord said unto Moses, Take thee, Joshua the son of men, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thy hand upon him.
And send him before Eliezer the priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight.
And thou shalt put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient.
And he shall stand before Eliezer the priest, who shall ask counsel for him, after the judgment of Urim before the Lord.
At his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.
And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And he took Joshua, and sent him before Eliezer the priest, and before all the congregation.
And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. God, I thank you for your word and for our church.
Please meet with us tonight, dear God, and ask that you be with our pastor. Please strengthen him and fill him with your spirit.
We love you. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen.
Amen. Alright, we're there in Numbers, chapter 27, and I'm going to do my best to be able to preach tonight.
I still just, these allergies are not wanting me to preach, but I'll do what I can.
Of course, this morning we finished Numbers, chapter 26, and tonight we are continuing into Numbers 27.
And the first part of this chapter focuses in on five young ladies, and these five ladies are called the daughters of Zelophehad.
And they are actually first mentioned in the previous chapter, Numbers 26.
Let me just take you there real quickly. You thought we were done with Numbers 26, but I've got to show you one more verse, and then we'll be done with Numbers 26.
But if you go back to Numbers 26 and look at verse number 33, Numbers 26 and verse number 33.
Numbers 26, 33 says this, and Zelophehad, the son of Heifer, had no sons but daughters, and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Melah and Noah, Hagla, Milcah, and Terzah.
So the first time that we're introduced to these five young ladies is here in Numbers 26, and we are introduced to them as a result of them being five sisters, the daughters of Zelophehad.
But we're also given the names of each one of the sisters, Melah, Noah, Hagla, Milcah, and Terzah.
What's interesting is how often these young ladies are mentioned in the Bible.
And you may not know them very well, these aren't characters that are often cited, they're not like the most popular characters in the Bible, but they're mentioned a lot in Scripture.
They're actually given a lot of real estate in the Bible.
And it's interesting, especially when you consider the fact just how other women in the Bible who are maybe more well-known or more famous, how little they are mentioned in the Bible.
For example, this morning there in Numbers 26 we saw the name of Jochebed, which is Moses' mother.
She's mentioned one time in the whole Bible, we saw it there in Numbers 26.
If you're familiar with the book of Judges, you might remember the name of a woman named Deborah.
And Deborah, of course, was the only female judge in the Bible.
And she's mentioned just in two chapters in the book of Judges, Judges 4 and Judges 5.
Priscilla shows up in three chapters in the Bible, in Acts 18, Romans 16, 1 Corinthians 16.
Ruth has a very small book in the Bible, just four chapters.
Elizabeth shows up in one chapter in the Bible, in Luke chapter 1.
Hannah shows up in two chapters in the Bible, in 1 Samuel chapter 1, 1 Samuel chapter 2.
Lydia, now of course at this point I'm just mentioning my daughters, but Lydia shows up in only two verses in Acts 16 verses 14 and 40.
And these are all really well-known women in the Bible, and they don't show up a lot in Scripture.
But yet these daughters of Zelophehad, they are actually mentioned in five different passages of Scripture.
We saw them there in Numbers 26, they're also mentioned in Numbers 27.
They get pretty much half of the chapter in Numbers 27.
In Numbers 36, at the end of the book of Numbers, they get an entire chapter dedicated to the daughters of Zelophehad.
They're mentioned in Joshua 17, and they're mentioned in 1 Chronicles chapter 7.
So these five young ladies are brought up a lot throughout the Bible.
And what's interesting is not just that they're brought up, but that in four of the five times that they are mentioned, all five of them are mentioned by name.
So except for 1 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse 15, every time the daughters of Zelophehad are brought up in Scripture,
they're brought up as a unit, the daughters of Zelophehad, but then we're given the names of each one of these young ladies.
I mean, consider the fact, we don't know the name of Noah's wife.
We don't know the name of Lot's wife. We don't know the name of the little maid in the story of Naaman.
We don't know the name of the woman with the issue of blood that touched the hem of the garment of Jesus.
We don't know the name of the woman at the well, but yet four times in Scripture, these young ladies come up and they are named, all five of them.
And I think what we should gather from that is that there is an importance. We should emphasize what God emphasizes.
And there is an importance in the Bible that God places upon this story of the daughters of Zelophehad.
Now, by way of introduction, what I would like to do is to maybe help you understand the importance of this story.
And then we're going to dig into the chapter, and I'm going to give you an outline, and we're going to learn about the daughters of Zelophehad from this passage of Scripture.
But just by way of introduction, let me explain to you what I believe the value of the story and the importance, why it is that they're mentioned so often, and why God gives us this story.
First of all, what I want you to understand, and we're going to see it here in a minute, the reason that the story even appears in Scripture is because the five daughters of Zelophehad, they have a legal problem.
They have a legal question, and they are being in some way discriminated against. I don't know if that's the right word, but they're being overlooked for sure.
And they've got a legal matter that needs to be settled, and they bring this matter, of course, to Moses, and then Moses brings it to God.
And there's importance here regarding legal ramifications for the ownership of land in Old Testament Israel.
And I'm just explaining to you why this is important in the context of the book of Numbers, and why it would be important to the children of Israel, because there's some real questions about how land ownership is to be inherited, and what is to happen in certain situations that needed to be addressed.
Some loopholes that had not been answered, and these five daughters of Zelophehad bring up this legal ramifications, and it is dealt with in Numbers 27.
And then I'll just give you the heads up that it is also dealt with, again, another aspect of the same problem in Numbers 36.
And I'm going to avoid Numbers 36 for now. We'll look at that when we get there later on in our Bible study.
Now that's why this story would have been important to the ancient Israelites, to the people who are contemporaries of the daughters of Zelophehad, because these were real questions that needed real answers, real matters that affected real people, and it needed to be brought up.
However, with that said, let me just say this, and we read the passage already before the sermon started, when we look at this passage in Numbers 27, what we're going to see at the end of the passage is that God pretty much gives His rule.
He gives His thoughts regarding their question, and what is to be done. And when you actually read the latter part of this portion, so half of the chapter deals with the daughters of Zelophehad, and then the other half deals with Moses and Joshua,
we'll get to that next Sunday morning. But when you look at this passage, the second half of the passage reads a lot like the book of Exodus, the latter part of the book of Exodus where God is simply giving instructions and giving legal code, giving legal directive.
And what I want you to understand is this, that it's not that, because this is a question that people often ask when it comes to the daughters of Zelophehad, and it's this idea, why did they have to raise this question?
Did God just forget? Did God not think about this possibility that affected the daughters of Zelophehad, and therefore they had to bring it up, they had to raise the question, and it had to be dealt with.
And I would submit to you that I do not believe that for one second, that God just, it slipped His mind, or He forgot. Obviously God is omniscient, God is omnipotent, God gives a lot of detail in a lot of different areas,
and God is ready to not only answer their question, but to take the answer even further. So then the question is, why would God not give this instruction to begin with?
And I believe the answer to the question, and we're going to look at it when we begin to dig into it in a minute, but I just want to build this context for you so you can understand it.
I believe the reason that God did not give the answer to the question to begin with is because God wanted the daughters of Zelophehad to raise their hands and ask the question.
God wanted them to approach Moses and Eleazar and bring this matter, because God wanted this story documented in the Bible, and that is emphasized, or it's made clear by the fact that God has this story come up over and over again.
He has their names, the names of these five young ladies brought up over and over again. It's referenced, and what happened with the daughters of Zelophehad becomes a case study, and people reference it and say, well, this is what happened with the daughters of Zelophehad.
I believe that God did not answer the question because He wanted this story to happen. Now let me just help you, and I hope you can understand this. I don't know if this type of stuff is interesting to you.
I love studying the Bible, and I love studying history, so this is interesting to me, but let me just help you understand why then, the next question would be, right, why does God want this story in the Bible?
Why does God hold back on certain rulings knowing that it would affect certain people who would then raise the question, why does God want this story documented?
If you study history, if you study ancient history, which obviously the Bible is considered ancient history, and if you look at ancient history, one thing that you'll find is that, number one, there's a lot of limitation when it comes to ancient history.
In fact, the Bible itself is the greatest historical documentation of ancient history. There is no other source that is more full and more descriptive than the Bible itself.
I'm not talking about the Bible as the word of God, although it is the word of God. I'm not talking about the Bible as a sacred book, although it is a sacred book.
I'm talking about just looking at documents that were written a thousand years ago, two thousand years ago, three thousand years ago, looking at documents that would be considered ancient history.
There is nothing even close to the amount of information that the Bible holds as a historical document than any other sort of ancient literature.
When you look at ancient literature, if you look at ancient literature from, for example, the Roman Empire, or from the Greeks before the Romans, or the Persians, or whatever it might be in the ancient world,
one thing that is often brought up in regards to ancient literature is the fact that we have very little insight into that world, number one, to begin with,
but we have very little insight in that world when it comes to the life and the quality of life and the type of things that happened in the lives of people like women, slaves, poor individuals,
because history, a lot of the documentation we have regarding history is very limited because of the fact that it's very old,
but it's also limited because of the fact that the documentation that we do have for history often is centered around rich and powerful men.
When we have letters of men writing back and forth and we're able to read those letters and that gives us a little insight into the culture of that time,
it's usually kings and governors and people of high authority that are writing and documenting these things.
When histories are written, they're usually written about war, about battles, about generals, about famous men, rich men, powerful men, kings, things of that nature.
So when it comes to how was the life of just a young lady in the Roman Empire? What was the life of a young lady under the Assyrian Empire?
What was it like in the life of just a young lady or a poor young man in one of these empires of the ancient world?
We don't have a lot of documentation. I'm just telling you what the secular world would say.
There's not a lot of documentation to give us a lot of insight.
So they often say, you know, in the Roman Empire we think that women did X, Y, and Z or in the ancient Greek world we think that women did this or did that and they've got their thoughts.
They think in Athens they maybe did certain things and had a certain culture and in Sparta they had a different culture.
But they honestly don't know because there's just not a lot of documentation.
What we have in Numbers 27 is God documenting for us and preserving for us insight into the life of five young ladies that we normally would not have seen, not even in the Bible.
So we get a lot of insight here and I think the value to the story, though there is a value to the legal ramifications regarding the land and inheritance,
God could have easily just given us that answer in a legal form and that would have been good.
But the reason for the story is because of the historical insight that we get regarding the treatment of women.
We are able to now look into the culture 3,000 years ago or however many thousand years ago ancient Israel under the leadership of Moses and not look at Moses a leader, Aaron a leader, Eliezer a leader, but look at five young ladies and how they were treated in this ancient culture.
And I think what we can learn from this is how God sees women and the type of value that God puts on women.
Because the truth is this, today we've got the feminist movement that would look at fundamental Christianity and say, they'll look at the Bible and say the Bible is a book that takes the position of male chauvinists.
The Bible diminishes the status of women. The Bible tries to limit the value of women. So we've got to look at the Bible and ask ourselves, is that true? Is that what we see in the Bible?
And I think the daughters of Zelophehad are a perfect case story, not just for the legal ramifications of land and inheritance, but for the historical context of how it is that God expected and how it is that God wanted women to be treated in the Bible.
So with all that said, let's dig into the story. Let me give you three thoughts regarding the daughters of Zelophehad. And if you'd like to write these down, I'd encourage you to do that.
And of course, on the back of your course, there's a place for you to jot down those notes. Look at Numbers 27 and verse 1, the Bible says this,
Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hephir, the son of Gilead, the son of Makar, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, and these are the names of his daughters.
So notice that they're not only brought up as a unit, the daughters of Zelophehad, but then they are named specifically. Number 1, Mala, 2, Noah, and 3, Hagla, and 4, Milcah, and 5, Terza.
Now I want you to notice here Numbers 27 verse 2, And they stood before Moses, and before Eliezer the priest, and before the princes, and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
Now if you're familiar with, of course we've been studying the book of Numbers, if you're familiar with the book of Exodus, if you're familiar with the children of Israel under the leadership of Moses,
You know that Moses instituted a judge type of structure and leadership where there were judges that were over the people, some a thousand, some hundreds, some tens, but there was, the congregation was divided into groups that had a judge over them, and people brought the matters to them.
We learned this in Exodus chapter 18, but anything that was too difficult, then that would be brought to Moses, and Moses would be almost like what we would consider the Supreme Court.
Anything that was too difficult for them to figure out on their own, they would bring that to Moses, and Moses was the final authority, and of course Moses would bring these things to God.
What we see here is that these five daughters of Zelophehad, they come and they stood, the Bible says, think about who they're standing in front of.
They stood before Moses, this is the political leader of the nation of Israel, and before Eliezer the priest, this is the high priest because Aaron is now dead, he is the spiritual leader of the nation of Israel,
and before the princes, these are just all of the other political, powerful people of the nation of Israel, and all the congregation.
This is done in a public format, and just to help us kind of understand what's going on, this would be the equivalent of these five daughters of Zelophehad today going and standing before the Supreme Court,
or going and standing before Congress. They are going to the leadership of their nation, and here's what I want you to get from this, and if you'd like you can write this down.
Point number one that we see from this story is this, that the daughters of Zelophehad were not intimidated by authority.
They were not intimidated by authority. In fact, not only were these young ladies not intimidated by authority and specifically male authority, they actually appeal to their male authority.
I want you to understand why the daughters of Zelophehad are here. They are here because of the fact, this will become clear as we go through the text, their father is dead.
They have no male representation to represent them in the nation of Israel. We know from Numbers 26 that everyone from the first generation at this point is now dead.
So not only is their father dead, but their mother is presumably also dead, so it's not like their mother is there to represent them or to marry someone that would represent the home.
They have no brothers, this man Zelophehad only had five daughters, and none of them are married at this time.
So there is no male to represent them or their cause or their family, and they come to Moses and to Eliezer and to the princes and to the entire congregation with this appeal.
What we see from the daughters of Zelophehad is that they were not intimidated by authority. Not only were they not intimidated by authority, but they actually appeal to their male authority.
Let me just say this, the fact that women are under authority, the Bible is clear about the fact that there is patriarchal authority according to the Bible.
That daughters are under the authority of their father, and that wives are under the headship of their husbands, and pastors are to be men who rule well in these things.
But I want you to understand that the fact that women are under authority does not mean that they cannot appeal to their authority.
In fact what we see is these young ladies appeal to the authority of their lives. They go to Moses, to Eliezer, to the princes, and to the congregation.
And we're going to dissect this here in a minute, but let me just read verses 3, 4, and 5 for you. Look at verse number 3.
They said, our father died in the wilderness, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died in his own sin and had no sons.
Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family because he had no sons? Give unto us therefore the possession among the brethren of our fathers.
We're going to come back to those two verses and dissect them in a minute, but I want you to notice verse number 5.
I want you to notice how Moses responds, and Moses brought their cause before the Lord.
So I want you to notice that the daughters of Zelophehad were not intimidated by their authority. In fact, they're not only are they not intimidated, they appeal to their male authority.
But I want you to notice that they are then affirmed by their male authority. They come and bring this question and bring this problem, bring this appeal to their authority.
And here's how Moses responds, verse 5, and Moses brought their cause before the Lord.
I want you to notice that the response by Moses, the response by Eliezer the priest, the response by princes and all the congregation does not seem to indicate that these young ladies were out of bonds or out of their place, that they were doing something that they shouldn't be doing or that they were doing something wrong.
In fact, they just come to appeal this before the Lord, before Moses and before Eliezer, before the princes and the congregation.
And the Bible seems to indicate that Moses didn't even bat an eye here, verse 5, and Moses brought their cause before the Lord.
So the question is this, did women have the right in Old Testament Israel, in the ancient world, to be able to raise their hands and ask a question and even bring a complaint and say, hey, there's something that's going on here that's not right.
There's something that's going on here that needs to be addressed. There's something that's going on here that needs to be fixed. Don't let the world and the feminists of today tell you that you have a Bible that teaches that women need to just be abused and not listened to in any way, shape or form.
Because when we look at the story of the daughters of Zelophehad, what I see is five young ladies with no husband, with no brothers, with no father, with no male representation, yet they were not intimidated by authority.
In fact, they appealed to their authority. And they are affirmed by their male leadership. So it's not like their authority says, who do you think you are coming in here asking this question? No, Moses brought their cause before the Lord.
So I said number one, the daughters of Zelophehad, what we see from this passage is that they were not intimidated by authority. And don't misunderstand what I'm saying.
I'm saying that they were not being intimidated doesn't mean, I don't believe that they're being rebellious here in any way or being rude in any way, they're being respectful, but they're not afraid to go and say, I've got a problem.
So we see from the daughters of Zelophehad, they were not intimidated by authority. But I'd like you to notice secondly, not only do we see from the daughters of Zelophehad that they were not intimidated by authority,
but I'd like you to notice secondly tonight that we see from the daughters of Zelophehad that they were not silent in their submission. You've heard me say this many times, submission is not silence.
The Bible commands a wife to submit to the authority of her husband, but the Bible does not command the wife to then live in silence under that authority.
In fact, submission in any area of life, whether it's a man submitting to the authority of his boss at work, whether it's a child submitting to the authority of their parents, whether it's a wife submitting to the authority of her husband, in no way does submission ever equal silence.
In the Bible, those who submit have the right to ask a question, raise a concern, and maybe bring something up. What we see here is that these young ladies were not only not intimidated by their male authority, but they were also not silent in their submission.
Why don't you notice the emphasis? Look at chapter, verse number 2, number 27, verse 2.
And they stood before Moses and before Eliezer the priest and before the princes and all the congregation by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Notice the word, saying, saying. They spoke.
Notice what then God responds in verse 7. The daughters of Zelophehad, notice this is what God said. This is God speaking. The daughters of Zelophehad speak right.
I want you to notice that these daughters of Zelophehad were not only not intimidated by their male authority, but they were also not silent in their submission.
In fact, I would say this, not only were these young ladies not silent in their submission, these young ladies were well-spoken, and I'd like you to notice their well-articulated argument.
Keep in mind, they're coming to Moses as a judge, and they are bringing a legal case to someone that can do something about it.
And I want you to notice, it may not seem like much when you just read the verses, but there is a very well-articulated series of arguments made by these young ladies.
These young ladies obviously, there's five of them, I don't believe all five of them are talking, but they obviously thought about this before they came.
They discussed this. They thought about it. They brainstormed the arguments that needed to be made. Then they picked one of the sisters, maybe the one who was the most comfortable speaking publicly, and she takes the lead.
Of course, one of them is speaking here, but I want you to notice the arguments that are made. They're very well-articulated arguments made by these five young ladies.
Argument number one, they begin by stating why it is that they are there for judgment, why it is that they have even come. Look at Numbers 27, verse 3.
The first thing that comes out of their mouth is this. Our father died in the wilderness.
They begin, their first argument is stating why they are there, why they are coming to Moses, why they are coming to Eliezer, why they are coming to the princes and to all the congregation.
They begin by articulating why they are coming for judgment. Why are they coming? Our father died in the wilderness.
Then they make the argument as to why their father should not be denied an inheritance. Look at it, verse 3, argument number one, why are we here? Our father died in the wilderness.
Then they said this, and he, referring to their father, was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah.
Notice that sometimes people will try to say these were the first feminists in the Bible, but I want you to notice that you do not see in these daughters of Zelophehad a bad spirit towards their father.
Their father is dead, but in fact they are concerned with making sure that they defend and that they protect the reputation of their father.
They said our father died in the wilderness, that's why we're here. If our father was alive then he would be here, he would be the one representing us, he would be the one coming to Moses.
But we're here because our father died in the wilderness, and then they're careful to say, and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah,
they're careful to tell Moses our father was not part of that rebellion with Korah, part of the 250 princes, he was not any of that, but died in his own sin.
But died in his own sin. And sometimes I think people make a big deal about when they say that he died in his own sin, you know, what was he into, but again, keep the context in mind.
We know from the previous census, the entire previous generation has died. And what they're saying is, look our dad wasn't perfect, but he wasn't conniving, he wasn't rebelling, he wasn't with the rebellion of Korah,
he just died as a sinner in his own sin as part of the generation that died in the wilderness. And then they say this, and had no sons, and had no sons.
I want you to notice that they are making a well articulated argument to Moses, why are you here? Our father died in the wilderness, why do you think that your father should not be denied an inheritance?
No, we don't think that he should be denied an inheritance because he was not in the company of Korah, he did not take part and participate in some major sin that would cause him to then lose his inheritance.
He just died due to his own sin, he just died because he died like anyone else who's a sinner, and had no sons. The argument they're making is this, our father should not lose his inheritance simply because he died with no sons.
Do you see the argument that's being made here legally? Then there's a third point to their argument. You find it in verse 4. They then make the argument as to why they should receive the inheritance.
In verse 4 they say, why should the name of our father be done away from among his family because he has no sons?
He said look, our father was imperfect but he wasn't a bad guy. The only problem he had in this current context and culture is that he had five daughters and no sons.
And they're making the argument, why should the name of our father be done away? Why should he die and because he doesn't have a son to carry on his inheritance to give his land to, then his land should just be taken away and his name should be removed.
Why should our father be forgotten simply because he had no son? Notice the argument. Why are you here? Our father died in the wilderness, that's why we're here.
What do you want? Well we don't want our father to lose his inheritance because he was not in the company of Korah, he just died in the wilderness and the only problem he had was that he had no sons and we don't think it's right that the name of our father should be done away from among his family because he had no sons.
We see a well articulated argument and then I'd like you to notice the bold and daring appeal. Look at the last part of verse four. Here's a request.
Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father. Up to this point in the history of the nation of Israel, and by the way, let's just remember the context.
They've not even entered the promised land yet. They've just been wandering in the wilderness. They're just getting ready to enter into the promised land.
But they make this request and say, look everybody, the land has been, we believe by faith is going to be conquered and it's going to be distributed to families and we're under a patriarchal system so it's distributed to the names of the fathers and when the fathers have sons and the land continues on and that name under their sons
but our father had no sons and we don't think that his land should be taken away and we don't think that his name should be taken away simply because he had no sons. He was not a wicked person. He was not in the rebellion of Korah.
His only fault was that he had five daughters and no sons. That's no fault of his own and then they make this big bold daring appeal and daring request.
They say, give unto us five young ladies who are not married, who do not have husbands, who do not have sons, who do not have a father, who do not have any male representation in the ancient world.
They said, give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
I just want you to notice that these young ladies were not only not intimidated by their authority, they were also not silent in their submission.
They said, there's a problem here. There's an issue with the current legal system. It's not fair that our father would lose his inheritance and our family would lose his inheritance.
Not because he had no children. He had five children. They just happened to all be female.
They bring this well articulated argument to Moses and they make a bold and daring appeal.
Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
I said number one, we saw the daughters of Zelophehad were not intimidated by authority. Number two, we saw that the daughters of Zelophehad were not silent in their submission.
And I'd like you to notice thirdly tonight, the daughters of Zelophehad were vindicated in their case.
Notice God's ruling regarding the daughters of Zelophehad. Look at verse five. Numbers 27 and verse five.
And Moses brought their cause before the Lord.
Again, we don't see Moses saying, who do you think you are? Why are you even here?
They bring this cause to Moses and apparently Moses' response is, you've got a good point.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know the answer to the question. Let me go ask God.
The Bible says that Moses brought their cause before the Lord and God then makes a ruling regarding the daughters of Zelophehad. Look at verse six.
And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, the daughters of Zelophehad speak right.
They are vindicated in their cause. God himself looks down at five young ladies. How old are they? We don't know.
We know they're old enough to go to the Supreme Court. We know they're old enough to go to Congress.
We know they're old enough to go to Moses and Eliezer, the princes. We also know they're not married, so they're probably young.
Five young ladies lost their father, presumably lost their mother, have no brothers, have no male representation.
They go to God. They go to Moses who goes to God and they say, we have a question. We have a concern.
We see a problem here in this legal system. And then God, Almighty God says, they're right.
The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. Thou shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance.
Let me just be clear about something. What we do know of the ancient world when it comes to other systems of government,
I'm talking about the Babylonians and the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Mesopotamians, is that females owning land was unheard of.
But in the Bible, the God of Israel says, thou shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren.
Thou shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
I want you to notice that we see God's ruling regarding the daughters of Zelophehad. But it doesn't just stop there.
Not only do we see God's ruling regarding the daughters of Zelophehad, but we also see God's review regarding the daughters of Zelophehad.
As a result of this case and this appeal and this issue being brought up, God actually makes a change to the law.
And it's documented here in Numbers 27. Look at verse 8. In verses 5, 6, and 7, He makes a ruling for the daughters.
He says, they speak right. Thou shall surely give them a possession, and it shall pass unto them.
But then in verse 8 and 9 and 10 and 11, He actually changes the law for the nation of Israel.
He says, and thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, if a man die and have no sons, then he shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
And if he have no daughters, see God, it's not that this took God by surprise. God already knew this needed to be dealt with.
He just wanted to give the daughters of Zelophehad the opportunity to raise the question.
Once they asked the question, not only does God answer the question, verses 6 and 7, not only does He change the law, verse 8,
speak unto the children of Israel, saying, if a man have no sons, he shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
But then God takes it further and says, let me go ahead and answer other questions that need to be answered.
Verse 9, and if he have no daughter, then he shall give his inheritance unto his brethren.
And verse 10, if he have no brethren, then he shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren.
Verse 11, and if his father have no brethren, then he shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family,
we would call that a near kinsman, and he shall possess it, and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute,
look at the words, a statute of judgment. God says, I'm making a new law.
We're calling it the daughter of Zelophehad law.
A statute of judgment as the Lord commanded Moses. God said, if a man dies and has no sons,
then his property, his land, his inheritance goes to his daughters.
If he has no daughters, then give it to his brethren, his brothers.
If he has no brothers, then just find a near kinsman and give it to them.
But keep it within the family.
This is a legal ruling, and it's historical insight.
And to me, the historical insight is more important than the legal ruling, although I think that at this day and age,
every young lady who heard the story, every young lady who read Numbers 27 found this valuable.
But the historical insight to me is amazing because in the Bible we see five young ladies
who were not intimidated by their authority, who were not silent in their submission,
and who were vindicated in their cause.
Now what I'd like to do is to spend the rest of our time, now that we understand that,
the sermon tonight is going to mirror the outline in some ways of the sermon this morning.
Now that we understand the story and we've seen these three principles,
let me give you four thoughts regarding the treatment and perception of women in the Bible
that we can gather from this story.
And this is the application part of the sermon, and maybe you'd like to write these things down.
Thoughts regarding treatment and perception of women in the Bible.
Number one, the Bible does not ask women to turn off their minds or intellect.
The Bible does not ask women to turn off their minds or intellect.
When I look at the five daughters of Zelophehad, you know what I see?
I see five young ladies who are confident, who are competent, and who are very good communicators.
When I look at these five young ladies, and maybe this touches my heart,
the Lord has blessed my wife and I with six children.
We have our two oldest, of course, our boys, but we have four daughters.
So I can relate to someone like Zelophehad who has five daughters.
And when I look at these young ladies, you know what I see?
I see young ladies that are confident.
They don't have anybody in their corner.
They don't have anybody on their side.
They don't have a husband. They don't have a brother.
They don't have a father. They don't even have a mother.
They don't have anybody to defend them, to help them, to speak up for them,
to try to make sure that they don't get taken advantage in life.
But these young ladies said, we're just going to go talk to Moses ourselves.
And we're not just going to go there.
They had confidence to go there, but they had more than confidence.
They had competence.
They understood the law. They were able to make arguments.
They understood this doesn't make sense, and they could explain why it doesn't make sense.
And they brought an argument that not only changed the mind of Moses, but changed the mind of God.
They were confident, and they were competent, and they were communicators.
They could articulate. They could speak.
They could bring their case.
And here's what I'm saying to you tonight, is that the Bible does not ask women
to turn off their minds or intellect.
And we see that in the story of the daughters of Zelophehad.
They speak right, is what God said.
And look, I don't think that this is the case in the vast majority of Christianity.
I definitely don't think this is the case at Verity Baptist Church,
because we have a different culture here that my wife and I have been careful to create at our church.
But I will say this, that the world, I believe, will often attack the Bible,
and attack fundamentalist Christianity.
They'll attack preachers like myself, who preach the King James Bible,
who preach conservative Christianity, who preach the Bible,
and because we teach what the Bible rightly says,
that husbands are to love their wives, and wives are to submit to their husbands,
and then they'll accuse them and say,
oh, you just want some stupid woman, you want some ignorant woman,
you want some woman that's just barefoot, in the kitchen, doesn't know anything, isn't educated.
That's what they will portray on us.
I don't think that's the truth in the average home.
But let me just say this.
I do feel like at times I have seen a little bit, especially around young men that aren't married,
because like we talked about this morning, everyone's an expert at the thing they don't do.
But oftentimes around young men who aren't married, or maybe young men that are newly married,
there's this idea that, oh, a woman needs to just be quiet, she doesn't know anything,
her opinion shouldn't be valued, she shouldn't speak, there's no point in listening to her.
Listen to me, the Bible does not indicate, when we look at the ancient world,
we do not see in the Bible that we have these women that just can't speak, they don't talk,
they don't have a thought, they can't formulate an argument.
No, we see the five daughters as a lot better, and they are confident, and they are competent,
and they are communicators.
And I'm just here to tell you that I do not believe the Bible asks women to turn off their minds or intellect.
I believe that women should submit to their husbands, no doubt about it.
But submission does not mean you have to turn off your brain.
Go to Genesis chapter number two, if you will.
I mean, I look at these young ladies and I think to myself, Zelophehad must have been very proud up in heaven.
And he had these daughters who were confident, and look, I'm just saying to you,
yes, do we believe that the proper role of a wife and a woman is to be a keeper at home?
Absolutely, the Bible says that.
I believe that the greatest thing that a woman can do is to have children, be married obviously,
have children and raise those children for God.
That is more important than running some company.
That is more important than pursuing some career.
The Bible is clear about that.
But please understand, we should never take this attitude that says,
well, my daughters, I have four daughters.
My daughters, I want my daughters to grow up to be godly, virtuous, Proverbs 31 women
that get married and have good marriages and they're keepers at home
and they raise children at home and they homeschool them.
I hope, that's my dream for my daughters.
By the way, that's the dream of every young lady.
And the only time that they lose that dream is when they are brainwashed by feminist public school and college education.
Because if you take a bunch of little girls and don't just poison them with a bunch of thoughts from the government,
you know what little girls all on their own play? House.
They carry dolls around and they play that they're getting married.
Nobody teaches them that. I never taught my daughters to do that.
They just do it.
Because God has put that desire in their heart because that's God's will for their life.
But please understand this.
My goal is to have a daughter that gets married and is a keeper at home.
Okay, but make sure she graduates from high school.
I mean, I've heard the craziest thing like, my daughter doesn't need to learn to drive,
my daughter doesn't need to have a diploma, my daughter doesn't need to learn.
It's like, are you kidding me?
I'm not feeling well so I've got to be careful with my words.
I see the daughters of Zelophehad being these incompetent, helpless, hopeless,
they just can't do anything, they're insecure. Is that what you see?
Because I see confident, competent communicators.
I see women that have intellect and they can speak up and they can say and they can help Moses.
So number one, the Bible does not ask women to turn off their minds or intellect.
Let me just say this, number two, and we've already spoken about it a little bit but I'll just say it again,
the Bible does not ask women to never raise a disagreement, argument or question.
I've already said it, but submission is not silence.
In fact, not only are wives supposed to be submissive,
but the Bible says that they're supposed to be a helpmate to their husband.
Are you there in Genesis 2? Look at verse 18.
Genesis 2.18, and the Lord God said,
It is not good that a man should be alone, I will make him and help meet for him.
Listen to me men, you are not stronger or smarter than God.
And if God Almighty God could have enough patience to listen to five young ladies to listen to their question and their argument,
and then God in heaven says, they're right.
The daughters of Zelopheh, they speak right.
If God says that, husband, you could listen to your wife.
And this idea that says, I'm a man, I don't need to listen to my wife, I don't want to hear her opinion, I don't need to say anything,
you're an idiot.
I don't know how else to say it, you're a moron.
God literally gave you a wife to help you, to be your helpmate.
The one person who God said, this guy's an idiot, let me give him somebody who's competent and confident,
let me give him somebody who can articulate some things here.
Why don't you listen to her?
I'm not saying let her roll, I'm not saying let her run the show.
You're in charge, God will hold you accountable.
You need to make sure that you are the head of your home.
But being the head of your home doesn't mean your wife's a slave.
Because the Bible does not ask women to turn off their minds or intellect,
and the Bible does not ask women to never raise an argument, a disagreement, or a question.
In fact, man, I would say this, you would be smart to listen to your wife.
I'm not saying to do everything she says, but at least hear her out.
I mean, if God in heaven would listen to the five young daughters of Zelophehad,
and say, hmm, they make a good point, then don't you think you could?
Go to Proverbs 31, Proverbs 31, open your Bible just in the center.
I realize I'm going to get emails where they're going to say, you're teaching,
you're trying to, I don't know, I don't even know what they're going to say.
And I don't care because there's morons.
I am not speaking against the fact that men are to be leaders in their home,
and wives are to submit, I'm not speaking against any of that.
But what I'm saying is, no matter what area of authority you find yourself in,
look, men, you say, well, I'm the boss at work and I don't have to listen to anybody.
You're an idiot.
Just because they work for you doesn't mean that they don't have a brain
and maybe they see something that you don't see.
And again, I'm not saying that you should let the employees run the show
and that they should make all the decisions without you.
I'm not saying that at all.
But what I am saying is this, a wise man realizes that in the multitude of counselors,
there's wisdom.
And look, I happen to serve and I happen to live a life where I find myself,
in most cases, being the authority.
I'm the husband in my marriage, so I'm the head.
I'm also the father with my children, so I'm in charge.
My wife is also in charge of the children,
and she's the one that deals with them most of the time.
But in instances where we're both there, I outrank her.
I'm the pastor of the church.
So in church, often, obviously, the Bible says that the pastor rules,
and I'm in charge.
I have staff.
I've got three full-time staff guys.
I pay them.
They don't work for me.
I work for them, which puts me in charge.
In most areas, in fact, I could probably spend most of my life
only being in situations where people have to listen to me
and I don't have to listen to anyone.
But do you think we would have got here without me listening to some guys?
I'm talking about this building.
You think our church would have got to the place where we are
without me allowing people who are under my authority to say,
no, here's what I think we should do with the safety team.
No, here's what I think should be done with the ushers.
No, here's what I think we should do about the building.
No, here's what I think the offer that we should put in.
Look, I'm just saying this.
Just because you're in charge doesn't mean that you've got all the answers.
And it actually, in my opinion, takes a confident leader to say,
I'd like to hear what you have to say.
It's the insecure man who says,
don't say anything because I don't want to be wrong.
But God allowed for these five young ladies to come,
and then God says, they're right.
Listen to them.
The Bible does not ask women to turn off their minds or intellect.
The Bible does not ask women to never raise a disagreement,
argument, or question.
Number three, the Bible does not ask women to be helpless
and financially destitute.
In the Bible, we just saw it.
Women have property rights.
They have a right to own property.
They have a right to have finances.
Let me give you another example, Proverbs 31 to 16.
Proverbs 31 to 16, the Bible says this,
she considerth the field and bieth it.
This is a virtuous woman.
She considerth the field and bieth it.
With the fruit of her hand, she planted the vineyard.
Look, let me be clear about my position,
and you can take whatever position you want.
You don't have to listen to me.
You can be an idiot.
I have a happy marriage.
You can go ahead and be the moron that's just unhappy the rest of your life.
When it comes to finances and marriage, I believe this,
that a husband and wife should have united finances.
There should not be.
There should not be this concept of his money and her money,
his account and her account.
That is stupidity.
It is not a concept you find in the Bible.
The Bible says when you get married, you become one flesh.
Everything is united.
With that said, let me say this.
If you don't agree with this idea that says the wife needs to have no access to money,
no access to anything,
is that what the virtuous woman, the Bible says she considerth the field and bieth it.
The five daughters of the law they had one day are going to get married,
and they're bringing property into that marriage.
Do what you want.
I don't care what you do in your marriage except for when it ends up in my counseling desk.
But what I'm telling you is this.
You can't tell me that the Bible asks women to be helpless and hopeless and financially destitute.
Now if your wife has a gambling problem,
okay, then I can see why you may not give her access to the account.
If your wife has a shopping problem and she's used the mortgage payment to buy things,
I'm not talking about that.
Somebody's going to come ask me an awkward question,
and I'll be like, oh, good night.
I'm just saying in general, the Bible does not ask women to be helpless and financially destitute.
In fact, what we see with the daughters of the law they had is that until they had a husband,
and until they had children, they were allowed to have property.
What do you think they were going to do with that property?
I mean, what do you honestly think they were going to do with that property?
You know what they were going to do with that property?
You know why they're concerned about that property?
I mean, let's just be honest.
Why are they even raising the question?
Obviously they love their dad.
They don't want their dad's name to disappear.
They don't want the inheritance to disappear.
But what are they actually concerned about?
You know what they're actually concerned about is how are they going to provide for themselves?
You know what they wanted with that property for?
So that they could then go cultivate it.
So that they could have herds on it.
So that then they could provide for themselves.
You know what the Bible is teaching us?
That these five young ladies who found themselves alone in this world,
God said, give them some property.
Let them be financially secure.
And you know, I'll be honest with you.
One of the prayers that my wife and I have for our children,
one of the things that I specifically pray for my daughters.
Obviously I pray for my sons and I pray for them that God will lead them to choose the right careers
and that they would have jobs that would allow them to be faithful in church
and that they could provide for their families and all that.
But you know, one thing that I pray for my daughters is this.
I pray that God will help myself and my wife specifically,
because my wife is the one that has vigorous,
the vast majority of raising the children falls under her scope of authority.
One thing that I pray is this,
that if my daughters ever find themselves alone in this world,
I literally, this is a prayer of mine, not having any to do with this sermon.
I often pray for my daughters that if they ever find themselves alone in this world,
if their father dies one day, which is going to happen,
and their mother dies one day, which is going to happen,
maybe they're married and their husband dies,
or they just for whatever reason find themselves alone in this world,
that they would have the competence and the confidence to be able to provide for themselves.
But the way that some fundamental Baptists treat women,
it's like you almost want your kids to like not have,
like they can't drive there, they don't know how to speak to anybody,
they've never done anything.
Look, is that what you see with these young ladies?
These young ladies are strong.
Now they're going to get married, which is what chapter 36 is all about,
and we'll deal with that when we get there.
And I don't think they're rebellious in any way, shape, or form.
But what I'm saying to you is that the Bible does not ask women to turn off their mind or intellect.
The Bible does not ask women to never raise a disagreement or argument or question.
The Bible does not ask women to be helpless and financially destitute.
And if you, man, need a woman who's stupid and helpless and hopeless,
that speaks more to your inability, to your insecurity.
It speaks more to your lack and fear of leadership.
Because you know, as you grow in a leader, you have to,
I lead a church with men in it that are way smarter than I am.
And a strong leader says, look, I may know a lot about the Bible,
I'm trying to know a lot about the Bible, but I don't know a lot about HVAC.
I don't know a lot about drywall.
I don't know a lot about the structural integrity of buildings.
So let me find some guys who know stuff like that.
And in those areas, I submit myself to them.
Do you understand?
And that's not weakness on my part.
That's actually just being smart.
The Bible does not ask women to turn off their minds or intellect.
The Bible does not ask women to never raise disagreements or arguments or questions.
The Bible does not ask women to be helpless and financially destitute.
She considerth a field of biotin.
Let me give you a fourth one, and we'll finish up.
Go to Ephesians, if you would, in the New Testament.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians.
Go to Ephesians, let me give you the fourth statement.
The Bible does not diminish the status of women.
It raised it.
The world, the feminist world would say, oh, that book, that Bible, it tries to keep women down.
But just be clear of this.
The Bible does not diminish the status of women.
In fact, historically, the Bible raised the status of women.
I'd like to read for you, you go to Ephesians, I'm going to go there in a minute,
but I'd like to read for you an excerpt from a secular college textbook.
And I'm reading this to you because of the fact that this is not written by some fundamental Baptist,
this is not a college textbook from a Bible college.
This is not an article from the sword of the Lord.
This is just a secular college textbook.
If you want to look it up, fact check me.
It's called World History, Culture, States, and Societies to 1500.
I'm reading to you from chapter 6, page 255.
This is literally just a college textbook that is used in secular universities all over this country.
And here's what they said.
These are people who study the ancient world, ancient literature.
Here's what they said about the Bible.
They're talking about the empire of Rome.
That's the context.
Let me just read it for you.
Here's what it says.
Furthermore, gender roles in Roman society were extremely rigid,
as all women were subject to male authority.
Indeed, the paterfamilias, or head of the household,
had the power of life or death over all living under his roof,
including, in some cases, adult sons who had their own families.
Christianity challenged all of these traditional relationships,
nullifying any social differences and treating the slave and the free the same way.
Furthermore, Christianity provided a greater degree of freedom
than women had previously known in the ancient world,
with only the Stoics coming anywhere close in their view on gender roles.
Christianity allowed women to serve in the church and remain unmarried if they so chose,
and even to become heroes of the faith by virtue of their lives or death,
as in the case of early martyrs.
It's interesting to me that when you look at the secular world,
and they look at the Bible, which is an ancient document,
within the context of the ancient world, you know what they say?
They say the Bible did not diminish the status of women, it raised it.
You say, well how can that be?
Well, understand, are you there in Ephesians?
Look at chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5 is probably the most, just the climactic chapter in the Bible regarding marriage.
The Bible talks a lot about marriage,
but this is probably like the number one chapter on marriage,
and the roles of husbands and wives in marriage.
Now when we read Ephesians chapter 5, or when society reads Ephesians chapter 5,
through the lens of the 21st century, or of individuals in 2024,
what they find highly offensive is how the portion on marriage begins.
Ephesians 5, 22, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.
So when women feminists in 2024 read Ephesians 5, 22,
they are just appalled.
I mean, they're just like, can you believe it? Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands.
They don't even get to verse 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved the church,
they're so upset just where it started.
But let's put ourselves within the context of the people that Paul was writing to
in the first century, the church of Ephesus, which would have been a city under the Roman Empire,
it's what we would call a Hellenistic city under Greek culture,
and he's writing to these individuals in the first century under the Roman Empire.
We just read from a college textbook, what was the culture of the Roman Empire?
They had a patriarchal system that was so extreme that a father could just decide
to put anyone in his household to death, and that was within his rights.
And all women were subject to all men.
So when a woman in Ephesus in the first century read these words, Ephesians 5, 22,
wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands as unto the Lord, you know what they thought?
Well, what's new?
This is the type of society we live under, women submit to men.
But what's new is that it says unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.
The Bible does not teach that all women are to submit to all men.
In fact, some of you jokes of a man, I'd love to see you try to boss my wife around,
and I used to say she'd punch you in the face, now she's on crutches, she might just beat you with the crutch.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife, he is Christ as 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 and everything.
The only new thing might have been this idea like, oh, I'm only supposed to submit to my own husband,
but the idea of submission would have been something that was completely just normal to the first century woman
in the context with which this was written.
But you know what would have been completely revolutionary?
It's verse 25.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
That is sacrificial love.
Paul looks at the wife and says, wives, submit yourself unto your husband as unto the Lord.
That would have been the normal status quo, but when Paul then looks at the husband and says,
but you, sir, make sure that you love your wife in a sacrificial way, even as Christ also loved the church
and gave himself for it, that was radical.
And then when Paul would take it a step further in verse 28 and say, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.
Not only in verse 25 do we have sacrificial love, in verse 28 we have selfless love.
He says, love your wife the way you love yourself.
Now, the way you love yourself is a selfish love, but if you love your wife the way you love yourself,
that's actually a selfless love, so ought men to love their wives even as their own body.
He that loveth his wife loveth himself. Hey, that was revolutionary.
That concept raised the status of women in the first century.
And it wasn't just Paul. Go to 1 Peter chapter 3.
1 Peter chapter 3. We'll be done here in a minute.
1 Peter chapter 3. If you go backwards, if you're warm you can give more to the vision offering.
1 Peter chapter 3. If you go backwards from Revelation you have Jude, 32, 1 John, 2 and 1 Peter.
1 Peter chapter 3. Notice what Peter writes.
In the first century, in the first century, which I just read to you from a college textbook,
which the historians of the ancient world tells us that a man could have just had his wife put to death just because he wanted to.
Anyone living under his authority, under his roof, could have just had them put to death just because he wanted to.
In that context, Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, says this, 1 Peter 3.7,
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the white, as unto the weaker vessel.
He said giving honor. That would have been unheard of.
And even more is the next statement, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered.
Here Peter says, not only should you honor your wife, but he says your wife is your equal as being heirs together of the grace of life.
And don't misunderstand me. I preach a lot on the subject of authority and judgment and discernment and leadership.
I've preached a lot on that, but please understand this. Though God gives us different roles, and sometimes we have a role of leader,
sometimes we have the role of follower, and look, that's true in any area of life.
I'm the pastor of Verity Baptist Church. I run the show here, but when I'm a guest speaker and I go preach at some conference,
you know what I do? I submit myself under the authority of that pastor.
Because in that context, I'm not the boss. He is.
So we understand that we oftentimes come in and come out. I taught it before to our church.
You need to look at it as hat. Sometimes you wear the hat that says authority. Sometimes you wear the hat that says submissive.
Sometimes you wear the hat that says leader. Sometimes you wear the hat that says follower.
But you know what the Bible teaches is that no matter where you find yourself in that role,
whether you're the boss and they're the employees, or you're the husband and she's the wife,
or you're the pastor and they're the people, no matter where you find yourself in that authority structure, we're all equal.
Your wife, you may be the head of the home, and she should submit under your authority.
And by the way, husband, it'll be easier for her to submit to your authority when you're lead for her benefit.
When you don't lead for your own benefit, but you lead for the benefit.
Look, the best leaders in this world are those who lead for the benefit of those that follow them.
But what I'm saying to you is that even in those roles of authority, we're equal.
Peter says in this passage that wives should submit themselves to their husbands,
but he also reminds husbands that they should honor their wife as unto the weaker vessel,
and as being heirs together of the grace of life.
It says she's your equal.
Now look, go to Galatians chapter 3 if you would, if you go backwards.
If you kept your place in Ephesians, I'm not sure if you kept your place in Ephesians, I meant to ask you to do that.
But from Ephesians, if you go backwards, you have Galatians.
Think of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says that Jesus, the second member of the Godhead, submitted himself to the authority of the Father.
The Father is the head, Jesus submitted himself.
But Jesus is co-equal, co-existent.
He's equal with God the Father.
He's equal with the Holy Spirit.
The roles of authority and submission do not diminish the value of an individual.
They did it for Jesus, and they don't for your wife.
Let me just end with this, Galatians chapter 3 and verse 28.
The concept of equality in the Bible is all summed up.
I believe you can sum it all up in this one verse, Galatians 3, 28.
There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female.
What is he saying? He's saying these things don't exist.
He says, look, there are Jews and there are Greeks.
There are those who are in bondage and those who are free.
There are males and there are females.
But what he's saying is this, you need to understand that that level in Christianity doesn't matter.
When it comes to Christianity, there is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female. Why?
For ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
We're all equal in Christ.
That doesn't mean that there aren't some that have authority and some that don't.
It doesn't mean that there aren't times that you need to submit to your authority and all of that.
But what it means is this, that the Bible does not ask women to turn off their minds or intellect.
The Bible does not ask women to never raise a disagreement, argument, or question.
The Bible does not ask women to be helpless and financially destitute.
And the Bible does not diminish the status of women.
In fact, it raised it.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you.
We thank you for these portions of scripture and for this insight into ancient culture and the ancient world.
To help us understand these things and to comprehend these things.
And Lord, help us not to take things further than God did.
I hope people understood my heart and the point of this sermon.
All I'm saying is that if God would take the time to listen to five young ladies,
to think through what they're saying, and if God would say, yeah, they're right.
Maybe there's a husband who should start at least listening to his wife.
Maybe men should not have this attitude.
But if they have the attitude, that they're smarter, they don't need anybody to speak into their lives,
help them to realize that their wife is an asset.
She's a help meat to help them live better lives.
Lord, I pray you'd help us and be with us.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Well, God bless you. I want to thank you for being here tonight.
And we're going to have, of course, Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song.
Just want to remind you that if you would not mind, make sure you just pick up around your area there, your row.
If your kids took, you know, the hymn books or whatever, made a mess.
If you wouldn't mind kind of cleaning that up and putting things back.
We would appreciate it. It helps the cleaners on Sunday, on Monday.
And of course, if there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
Make sure you go back there and look for your name on the nine chapters a day.
If you don't mind, we appreciate you taking the time to do that.
And if there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know.
I hope you know that my wife and I pray for you, we love you, and we're here for you if you need us.
Actually, no, we have a baptism. We'll have Brother RJ come and lead us and then we'll do a baptism after that.
Amen. Let's grab our song books and turn to page number 137.
Song number 137 as we are preparing for baptism this evening.
Song number 137. Do me a favor, if you can see pastor up there, just do this, alright?
Song number 137, sing it out on the first.
In times like these, you need a savior.
In times like these, you need an anchor.
Be very sure, be very sure, your anchor holds.
And there's a solid rock, this rock is Jesus.
Yes, he's the one, this rock is Jesus.
The only one, be very sure, be very sure, your anchor holds.
And there's a solid rock.
In times like these, you need a Bible.
In times like these, oh be not idle.
Be very sure, be very sure, your anchor holds.
And there's a solid rock, this rock is Jesus.
Yes, he's the one, this rock is Jesus.
The only one, be very sure, be very sure, your anchor holds.
And there's a solid rock, finish all on the last.
In times like these, I have a savior.
In times like these, I have an anchor.
I'm very sure, I'm very sure, my anchor holds.
And there's a solid rock, this rock is Jesus.
Yes, he's the one, this rock is Jesus.
The only one, I'm very sure, I'm very sure, my anchor holds.
And there's a solid rock.
Alright, well we have Madeline Gonzalez coming for baptism tonight.
And of course, Madeline is Deacon Oliver and Ms. Melody's daughter.
And it's one of the girls that's growing up in Verity Baptist Church to be confident and competent.
And we're glad for her.
And Madeline, have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior?
Alright, by your profession of faith, I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
buried in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in the newness of life.
God bless you.
Alright, well thank you very much for being here tonight.
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
I'm going to ask Brother R.J. to dismiss us with a word of prayer.
Amen, let's pray.
Be your heavenly Father, we love you, and we thank you for that sermon, Lord.
And thank you for the women of our church, Lord.
And thank you for everything you do for us.
We pray that you be blessed this evening.
We pray that you keep us safe, Lord, and bring us back to church on Wednesday.
We love you and Jesus, and I pray. Amen.
We love you and Jesus, and we pray.